Strength Training Safety and Specificity

One of the goals of strength training is to reduce the likelihood of injury during training.  Compared with other sports and fitness activities, strength training is actually quite safe — if and when athletes adhere to basic safety principles.

Specificity should also be an important consideration when designing an exercise program to improve performance in a particular sport activity.  Exercise selection should be determined in accordance with the demands and movement patterns of the sport.  A strength training program designed around sport-specific exercise movements can improve performance and reduce the likelihood of injury.

SAFETY

• Always perform a dynamic (movement-based) warm-up activity — or warm-up sets — with relatively light weight in order to stimulate blood flow to the muscles and improve connective tissue (ligaments, tendons) function.  Avoid static stretching as a warm-up.
• Perform exercises through a full range-of-motion.
• When performing a new exercise, or when training after an extended layoff (multiple weeks), use relatively light weight and gradually increase as proficiency allows.
• Don’t “work through” pain, especially joint pain.  Working through some muscle fatigue or post-exercise muscle soreness is usually okay, but severe and persistent pain may be a warning sign to have the injury examined and treated medically.
• Never attempt maximal lifts without appropriate preparation, (technique) instruction, and supervision.
• Avoid “bouncing” at the bottom of the squat exercise, as this type of movement can cause muscle injury.  Observe proper squat mechanics — keep the knee in a vertical plane through the foot and hip.
• Athletes should build adequate lower-body strength before beginning a lower-body plyometric program.
• Perform several varieties of an exercise to improve muscle development and joint stability.

SPECIFICITY

• Exercise selection should reflect the qualitative and quantitative demands and movement patterns of the sport.
• Joint ranges-of-motion should be at least as great as those in the target activity.
• Utilize visual observation and video as tools to facilitate exercise selection and determine movements important to that sport.
• Exercise selection should include the three major planes — frontal, sagittal, and transverse, in order to strengthen movements between the planes.
• Training should be movement-based, and not muscle-based.

Your thoughts?

WE BUILD STRONGER ATHLETES!

We provide motivated athletes with a simple, customized training plan to help them improve performance and reduce injury risk.

Strength Training Safety and Specificity

One of the goals of strength training is to reduce the likelihood of injury during training.  Compared with other sports and fitness activities, strength training is actually quite safe — if and when athletes adhere to basic safety principles.

Specificity should also be an important consideration when designing an exercise program to improve performance in a particular sport or activity.  Exercise selection should be determined to reflect and support the demands and movement patterns of the sport.  A strength training program designed around sport-specific exercise movements can improve performance and reduce the likelihood of injury.

SAFETY

• Always perform a dynamic (movement-based) warm-up activity — or warm-up sets — with relatively light weight in order to stimulate blood flow to the muscles and improve connective tissue (ligaments, tendons) function.  Avoid static stretching as a warm-up.
• Perform exercises through a full range-of-motion.
• When performing a new exercise, or when training after an extended layoff (multiple weeks), use relatively light weight and gradually increase as proficiency allows.
• Don’t “work through” pain, especially joint pain.  Working through some muscle fatigue or post-exercise muscle soreness is usually okay, but severe and persistent pain may be a warning sign to have the injury examined and treated medically.
• Never attempt maximal lifts without appropriate preparation, (technique) instruction, and supervision.
• Avoid “bouncing” at the bottom of the squat exercise, as this type of movement can cause muscle injury.  Observe proper squat mechanics — keep the knee in a vertical plane through the foot and hip.
• Athletes should build adequate lower-body strength before beginning a lower-body plyometrics program.
• Perform several varieties of an exercise to improve muscle development and joint stability.

SPECIFICITY

• Exercise selection should reflect and support the qualitative and quantitative demands and movement patterns of the sport.
• Joint ranges-of-motion should be at least as great as those in the target activity.
• Utilize visual observation and video as tools to facilitate exercise selection and determine movements important to that sport.
• Exercise selection should include the three major planes — frontal, sagittal, and transverse, in order to strengthen movements among and between the planes.
• Training should be movement-based, and not muscle-based.

Your thoughts?

WE WILL HELP YOU BECOME A BETTER ATHLETE!

We provide motivated athletes with a simple, customized training plan to help them improve performance and reduce injury risk.

Train Like an Athlete for a Better Physique

Training with a focus on performance, instead of aesthetics, will help you build a lean, functional body that will feel better, look better, and perform better.

Here are a few tips:

Lift Heavy.  Instead of using weight that you can easily lift, push, or pull, opt for heavier weight that challenges you for your desired number of repetitions, each set.  Your last few repetitions, of your last set, should be a struggle, if you can complete them at all.

Keep Moving.  Turn your workout into a metabolic circuit by reducing rest intervals between sets.  Proceed from one exercise to the next, allowing as little rest as you can manage while maintaining proper form and technique.

Train Movements, Not Muscles.  Incorporate exercises like burpees (squat thrusts), medicine ball slams, dumbbell squat to press, and jumps to your regimen.  Try to avoid machines and use free weights whenever possible, since machines tend to restrict movement to a very narrow range-of-motion.

Upgrade Your Diet.  Eliminate (or at least reduce) sugars from your diet, and make protein and produce the centerpiece of each meal.  Avoid big meals, instead aiming for 5-6 small meals and snacks throughout the day — advance planning and preparation is the key.

Get STRONGER, Get FASTER!

Your thoughts?

Train for Performance

For most young guys, “fitness” is about being as big as possible.  As we mature, we realize that fitness has little to do with the size of our biceps and more to do with how we function and perform.

Performance training involves determining what your body needs on a given day (based on your activities), setting performance goals, and creating – and executing – a plan of action that’s aligned with your goals.

Performance training is movement-based training, not muscle-based.

Performance training is about getting stronger, not bigger.  It’s about becoming more powerful, faster, and improving your endurance, mobility, and joint stability.

Trust me, you’ll get the aesthetics you’re looking for from training for performance.

Get STRONGER, Get FASTER!

Your thoughts?

Strength Training Safety and Specificity

One of the goals of strength training is to reduce the likelihood of injury during training.  Compared with other sports and fitness activities, strength training is actually quite safe — if and when athletes adhere to basic safety principles.

Specificity should also be an important consideration when designing an exercise program to improve performance in a particular sport activity.  Exercise selection should be determined in accordance with the demands and movement patterns of the sport.  A strength training program designed around sport-specific exercise movements can improve performance and reduce the likelihood of injury.

SAFETY

• Always perform a dynamic (movement-based) warm-up activity — or warm-up sets — with relatively light weight in order to stimulate blood flow to the muscles and improve connective tissue (ligaments, tendons) function.  Avoid static stretching as a warm-up.
• Perform exercises through a full range-of-motion.
• When performing a new exercise, or when training after an extended layoff (multiple weeks), use relatively light weight and gradually increase as proficiency allows.
• Don’t “work through” pain, especially joint pain.  Working through some muscle fatigue or post-exercise muscle soreness is usually okay, but severe and persistent pain may be a warning sign to have the injury examined and treated medically.
• Never attempt maximal lifts without appropriate preparation, (technique) instruction, and supervision.
• Avoid “bouncing” at the bottom of the squat exercise, as this type of movement can cause muscle injury.  Observe proper squat mechanics — keep the knee in a vertical plane through the foot and hip.
• Athletes should build adequate lower-body strength before beginning a lower-body plyometric program.
• Perform several varieties of an exercise to improve muscle development and joint stability.

SPECIFICITY

• Exercise selection should reflect the qualitative and quantitative demands and movement patterns of the sport.
• Joint ranges-of-motion should be at least as great as those in the target activity.
• Utilize visual observation and video as tools to facilitate exercise selection and determine movements important to that sport.
• Exercise selection should include the three major planes — frontal, sagittal, and transverse, in order to strengthen movements between the planes.
• Training should be movement-based, and not muscle-based.

Get STRONGER, Get FASTER!

Your thoughts?

Get Functionally Fit in 2015

It’s New Year’s resolution time and, for some of us, that means a major overhaul of our diet and exercise plans in 2015.

For others, a few modifications to our current regimen is all we’ll need.

And, of course, there will be those of us for whom 2015 — from a fitness perspective — will be “business as usual.”

Regardless of your plan, don’t just get (or stay) fit in 2015… get functionally fit.

Functional training means challenging yourself with exercises that not only build strength, but also require balance and stability.  Avoid or minimize stationary, machine-based exercises that “lock” you into single-joint and/or isolated muscle group movements.

Free weights generally require more balance, stability, and core activation than machines and can also provide for a greater range-of-motion.  And don’t limit yourself to pushing and pulling exercises.  You can use kettlebells and medicine balls to bend, twist, turn, carry, swing, toss, and throw.

Perform more unilateral exercises — those that work one arm, one leg, or one side of the body — as an alternative to traditional bilateral exercises.  Single-leg exercise versions of the squat, Romanian deadlift, and Bulgarian split squat work the entire lower body and prevent the stronger limb from compensating for the weaker one.  The same principle applies to upper-body exercises like single-arm presses and rows.

Perform more exercises on your feet, as opposed to sitting or lying down.  Try using a suspension trainer, like the TRX, and you’ll activate your core with every exercise you do.

If you’re going to do cardio, get away from the traditional slow, steady paced jog.  Incorporate high-intensity interval training into your routine.  Add exercises and drills that require backpedaling, lateral shuffling, hopping, skipping, and lunging.

Do more movement-based training, and less muscle-based training, and you’ll look, feel, function, and perform better than ever.

Looking for some help, guidance and/or direction to get started?  Contact us today via our website.

Get STRONGER, Get FASTER!

Your thoughts?

Train Like an Athlete for a Better Physique

Training with a focus on performance, instead of aesthetics, will help you build a lean, functional body that will feel better, look better, and perform better.

Here are a few tips:

Lift Heavy.  Instead of using weight that you can easily lift, push, or pull, opt for heavier weight that challenges you for your desired number of repetitions, each set.  Your last few repetitions, of your last set, should be a struggle, if you can complete them at all.

Keep Moving.  Turn your workout into a metabolic circuit by reducing rest intervals between sets.  Proceed from one exercise to the next, allowing as little rest as you can manage while maintaining proper form and technique.

Train Movements, Not Muscles.  Incorporate exercises like burpees (squat thrusts), medicine ball slams, dumbbell squat to press, and jumps to your regimen.  Try to avoid machines and use free weights whenever possible, since machines tend to restrict movement to a very narrow range-of-motion.

Upgrade Your Diet.  Eliminate (or at least reduce) sugars from your diet, and make protein and produce the centerpiece of each meal.  Avoid big meals, instead aiming for 5-6 small meals and snacks throughout the day — advance planning and preparation is the key.

Get STRONGER, Get FASTER!

Your thoughts?