Feeling pretty talkative tonight so I thought I'd follow up the killer workout with a quick post on correct posture, stretching, flexibility, and range of movement because you know, safety first...Anyway, something that really gets on my nerves when in the gym, and is frankly painful to watch - are people using terrible technique and showing lack of discipline around the free weights, because its dangerous. As I've mentioned before, the worst mistake someone can make whilst working out, is not using the right posture and therein the right technique, not only does it completely counteract the exercise that you're trying to do, but it puts you in danger of snapping some shit up and being unable to train for possibly months on end. For example of an upper body exercise, bicep curls - regardless of whether you're using dumbbells or a barbell or an EZ Curl bar, your body should not be swinging or leaning! All of the movement should come from your biceps, triceps, and elbows. You may not even realise that you're swinging or leaning, my tip for that is try performing the curls with your heels and shoulders consciously pinned to a wall behind you - if your technique was wrong, then you'll find the exercise considerably more difficult, if not, then your technique is bang on. For an example of a lower body exercise, bent legged barbell Deadlifts - now there's a hell of a lot of technique in that exercise, even if it seems simple. You have to first consciously make the right movements and keep the correct body position whilst moving through the whole exercise. After you've done that, it begins to happen subconsciously, however I find that its good to force yourself to go over correct positioning and movement consciously throughout the exercise, its just good practice. For example when I'm performing a deadlift, I'm conscious of keeping my back straight, my shoulders back, my legs bent, and my hips pushed back with my core engaged. It seems like a lot when its written out, but it all fits perfectly in the execution of the exercise. Honestly, try looking on youtube for videos showing the correct execution of an exercise that you may be unsure of, there's hundreds of them readily available.
One thing that really does help correct posture and technique is definitely stretching, and stretching often. I'll try and list my favourite exercises and do my best to cover the whole body, I'll even post links alongside them to show images of their execution. The stretches that I'm about to list were shown to me by the same person that helps me with workouts, and if you've got twitter you can find him at @Greg87King ; so if the following exercises are useful to you, be sure to drop him a tweet and let him know how awesome he is.
Calf Stretch - From a standing position, place the ball of one foot upon a slightly raised surface/wall, being careful to keep the heel firmly planted on the floor, slowly lean forward into the stretch, hold when you feel it working. - Calf Stretch
Hamstring/IT Band Stretch - From a standing position, place one leg in front of you on a raised surface, keep your heel on the surface and point your toes towards the ceiling, also keep your back straight. When you feel the stretch in your hamstring, proceed to then rotate your foot inwards until you feel a stretch in your IT band (the outside of your upper thigh) - Standing Hamstring Stretch
Hip Flexor Stretch - From a kneeling position, place one foot out in front of your body, keep your hips square, and slowly push your body forward whilst slightly twisting your body, holding when you feel the stretch. - Hip Flexor Stretch
Quadricep Stretch - Whilst standing, bend your knee so one foot is behind you with the other planted on the floor. Grab your foot with the hand of the same side, and gently pull it towards your hamstring. Quad Stretch
Groin Stretch - From a sitting position on the floor, bring the soles of both feet together. Proceed to slowly push your legs down towards the floor. Groin Stretch
Chest Stretch - Begin on the floor on your hands and knees, place one hand on the floor and the other arm on a swiss ball next to you, drop your body towards the floor until you feel a stretch. Chest Swiss Ball
Stretch
Lat Stretch - From a kneeling position, place both hands as far in front of you as possible, one on top of the other, with the bottom hand being faced palm up, and the top palm down. Then proceed to extend your arms away from you on the opposite side to the bottom hand, and sink your body towards the floor - hold when you feel the stretch. Lat Stretch
Bicep Stretch - Place your arms behind you, stretched as far as possible. Hold your hands together with your palms facing away from you. Hold when you feel a stretch. Bicep Stretch
Tricep Stretch - Place one arm over your head, bending your elbow, proceed to use your free arm to lightly push down on the elbow. Hold when you feel the stretch. Tricep Stretch
Shoulder Stretch - Place one arm across your body, using the other one to pull it in closer, hold when you feel a stretch. Shoulder Stretch
I think I've covered the whole body in those stretches, of course thats just a basic framework, feel free to add to it. As well as stretching, you can try to lengthen your muscles in other ways, such as using a cylindrical object, preferably something made of a strong, unflexible material. Try just placing your muscles on top of it and rolling them over it. For example, if you sit on the floor with your legs stretched out in front of you, and place one calf on top of the cylinder, and the other on top of that leg, then just move your body forward/backward so the cylinder rolls over every part of your calf, and where it hurts the most, hold that position until you feel the pain begin to ease. This can be done in a plank position with the cylinder on your quads, a seated position with it on your hamstrings, or a side plank position with it on your IT band. Honestly doing those sort of exercises really does lengthen your muscles and improve your flexibility tenfold. Couple them with stretching and you'll see an immense difference. Flexibility is such a key factor when performing exercises with regard to helping you keep the right technique.
The last point that I'd like to make, is the point of using a full range of motion in your exercises. Too often I see people in the gym (mostly males) performing various exercises with a weight that is blatantly too heavy for them and therefore they perform about half of the actual rep. Take the bench press for example - Dropping the bar about an inch towards your chest is not a repetition, it is a waste of your time and will have no real effect. If you can't seem to push out a full rep, then its more than likely that the weight you're trying to lift is too heavy for you. In which case just drop the weight, there's no harm or shame in switching to a lower weight to make sure that you get full range of movement and therefore maximum benefits. Full range of movement is so so important when it comes to weightlifting, because you will progress rapidly if an exercise is done properly. The technique and execution are just as important as the monstrous weights that you're lifting, so think about that when you're next in the gym. As always any feedback is appreciated and welcomed - questions, suggestions etc. Either comment on this post or follow and tweet me @_bazinga_punk_ , thanks for reading!
Keep testing the limits!
Alex.
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