IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF YOUR LIFTING AND MAKE BETTER PROGRESS WITH MY FOUR MOST READ ARTICLES OF 2017
The quality of your training plays a huge part in the level of success you experience. Very often, the effort and commitment given to training outweighs the results and progress achieved. Training with bad form and poor movement quality leads to poor training adaptations and little carry over to athletic performance. Likewise, training too hard, too often can also interfere with progress if it means you cannot recover effectively between sessions. To help you get the most out of your efforts and make the gains you really want, here are 4 of my top lifting articles from 2017.
1) EFFECTIVE WARM UP EXERCISES FOR BACK SQUATTING WITH GOOD TECHNIQUE
If you want to get the most out of your session, as well as reduce the risk of injury, an effective warm up is paramount. A warm up for any exercise should be individual and specific, but there are general guidelines that should be adhered to regardless. A warm up should start general and get more specific, be no longer than 10-15 minutes, raise your core temperature and include movements that prepare you physically and mentally for the task you’re about to perform.
2) HOW TO PERFORM THE CONVENTIONAL DEADLIFT WITH PROPER FORM
The deadlift is a simple movement. The the bar is pulled from a dead stop position on the floor, with the feet flat and the arms locked out. The pull is finished once the knees, hips and shoulders are locked out. Most of the largest weights will be lifted with this movement and it has tremendous carry over for strength, speed, power, hypertrophy and overall athletic performance. However, it is commonly performed with poor technique which can slow down or prevent progress at the least. In worst case scenarios, injuries and subsequent avoidance can result. As such, it is well worth spending time to master the coaching points to help drive effective and continual progress whilst minimising the risk of injury.
3) CORE TRAINING FOR LIFTER – THE PLANK WALK OUT
The core is made up of the muscles around our midsection that connect directly to our vertebrae and all the muscles that attach from the pelvis to the spine. These muscles of the bum and hips, of the lower back and of the stomach and sides all work together to control and stabilise the body. Training these muscles enhances the body’s ability to both resist and produce movement. For lifters training the compound barbell movements with heavy maximal or sub-maximal weight, it is vital to maintain spinal integrity throughout the movement. The ability to keep a stiff, stable spine under heavy loads is crucial for them to safely and effectively lift the most amount of weight.
4) HOW TO KNOW WHEN TO TAKE A BREAK FROM TRAINING
You are probably very familiar with the “go hard or go home” attitude when it comes to training. You’re either a big advocate of this yourself, or you definitely know of at least one person that lives his or her life by this rule. If you’re not pushing yourself every session in the gym, busting your ass grind out that last rep, then you’re missing out on potential gains, right? And if your muscles aren’t aching, then you clearly haven’t trained hard enough and that session was just a waste of time!? In most cases, this is far from the truth! Far too many people train too often, at such high intensities, that this actually inhibits the positive affects they expect to be seeing from training.
