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Ideas for movement
May. 18th, 2011 09:40 amI'm ready to start lifting heavy things (namely, my ass) again. Resistance training resumes next week. These tips on moving like a fit person, from my good friend and yours Scott Sonnon, arrived in my inbox this morning. Good timing, Scott.
1. Decompress the specific joints to be used. Joint mobility is great. So is dynamic flexibility. Great warm-up activities. However, if you bring a scalpel instead of a pickax, you'll accelerate your results and distill your warm-up to the exact movements you require. Whatever movement youʼre about to do, circle the joints to be used 10 times in both directions before starting. Smoothly and slowly. Tension to extension. Exhale into the tightness. Shave off the tension a little at a time.
2. Activate the core. Perform four 1-minute sets of front, side, other side, and rear plank holds after your specific mobility warm-up. Effort comes from the core outward (called proximo-distal trend by the neuro-geeks), so if you start with an exercise not to condition the core, but to "switch it on," you'll see greater output in your exercise. And with only 4 minutes, this guarantees that you'll invest the time on bringing all of the body online for your exercise.
3. Vibrate the muscle pattern used during the exercise, in between sets. Don't stand around between sets of exercise. Turn off the muscles you just used to their resting length. A shortened muscle produces consecutively lesser force the more it shortens (remains tight). So in between sets, shake off and out the muscles you just used and get them (including and foremost, your facial muscles), so that you come back with greater strength on subsequent sets, rather than diminishing strength which is the norm.
4. Put effort into the technique, not into the repetition. This mantra isn't some cliche regarding focusing on "form." It's a very specific "structural alignment" issue from biomechanics. The goal isn't to get from point A to point B, but to increase the strength around the joints needing to be stabilized, so that the joints needing to move do so with greater strength and precision. So, each time you begin a set, visualize what you want to strengthen, and if you don't know, it's usually the joints adjacent to the joints you want to move. For example, instead of trying to curl a dumbbell, pull your shoulder blade down, fix your wrist in place and flex your lat and pec at the same time, as you exhale tightly. The dumbbell magically floats upward.
5. Roll out tension like pulping a grapefruit. Okay, many people are starting to use foam rollers to remove tension, but most trainers miss the primary concept. Fascial density - the thick leathery straps which prevent nutrition from reaching the area that needs it, from giving you resting length (and as a result strength, see #3), and from allowing you ease of activity - doesn't just break up when you roll non-specifically. It only "pulps" when you extend the tissue to it's maximal length. So, whatever you want to roll out, stretch it and keep it expanded, then roll. For example, if you want to roll out your erectors, arch forward rather than fall backward over the roller (and better yet, use a small ball rather than a roller).
1. Decompress the specific joints to be used. Joint mobility is great. So is dynamic flexibility. Great warm-up activities. However, if you bring a scalpel instead of a pickax, you'll accelerate your results and distill your warm-up to the exact movements you require. Whatever movement youʼre about to do, circle the joints to be used 10 times in both directions before starting. Smoothly and slowly. Tension to extension. Exhale into the tightness. Shave off the tension a little at a time.
2. Activate the core. Perform four 1-minute sets of front, side, other side, and rear plank holds after your specific mobility warm-up. Effort comes from the core outward (called proximo-distal trend by the neuro-geeks), so if you start with an exercise not to condition the core, but to "switch it on," you'll see greater output in your exercise. And with only 4 minutes, this guarantees that you'll invest the time on bringing all of the body online for your exercise.
3. Vibrate the muscle pattern used during the exercise, in between sets. Don't stand around between sets of exercise. Turn off the muscles you just used to their resting length. A shortened muscle produces consecutively lesser force the more it shortens (remains tight). So in between sets, shake off and out the muscles you just used and get them (including and foremost, your facial muscles), so that you come back with greater strength on subsequent sets, rather than diminishing strength which is the norm.
4. Put effort into the technique, not into the repetition. This mantra isn't some cliche regarding focusing on "form." It's a very specific "structural alignment" issue from biomechanics. The goal isn't to get from point A to point B, but to increase the strength around the joints needing to be stabilized, so that the joints needing to move do so with greater strength and precision. So, each time you begin a set, visualize what you want to strengthen, and if you don't know, it's usually the joints adjacent to the joints you want to move. For example, instead of trying to curl a dumbbell, pull your shoulder blade down, fix your wrist in place and flex your lat and pec at the same time, as you exhale tightly. The dumbbell magically floats upward.
5. Roll out tension like pulping a grapefruit. Okay, many people are starting to use foam rollers to remove tension, but most trainers miss the primary concept. Fascial density - the thick leathery straps which prevent nutrition from reaching the area that needs it, from giving you resting length (and as a result strength, see #3), and from allowing you ease of activity - doesn't just break up when you roll non-specifically. It only "pulps" when you extend the tissue to it's maximal length. So, whatever you want to roll out, stretch it and keep it expanded, then roll. For example, if you want to roll out your erectors, arch forward rather than fall backward over the roller (and better yet, use a small ball rather than a roller).