One of the things I’m most proud of in our facility is the quality of coaching that we give our clients. We’re definitely not your ‘sure any old slop will do’ type of gym.
When it comes to any type of exercise, you must understand and respect the forces that are applied to your joins, muscles, connective tissues, etc. when you train. Fail to do this and you open yourself up to so many problems and untapped results.
Loading up bar and placing it on top of your spine and then squatting down with a rounded back or buckled knees isn’t something to be taken lightly.
Performing a chin up and then just free-falling down to the bottom position until you crank on your shoulders, elbows and low back to stop you isn’t something that you should be part off your program.
Likewise, allowing a barbell loaded up with 60, 70 our 80kg to drop down and bounce off your chest during a bench press is absolutely crazy and asking for trouble.
But unfortunately this is exactly what you’ll see in so many gyms and ‘health’ centres. People with a poor understanding and huge lack of respect for the forces at play and the issues they can cause. Using weights that are too heavy to control safely or performed with poor control is a recipe for disaster yet one of the most common things you’ll see.
Here are 2 ideas to help you get the most out of your training so that you keep yourself healthy, achieve better results, enjoy your training and stand out from the crowd as being someone who actually has a clue about they’re doing when they hit the gym:
- Slow down the speed you lower the bar at- this will give you a great feel for the exercise and whether or not you have your technique dialled in. You’ll have time during each rep to diva quick analysis of the exercise and make corrections if you need to
- Use pauses throughout your reps to avoid momentum taking over and cranking on your joints, connective tissues, etc. There is a time for momentum but not if you don’t have your technique spot on. Again, this also has the added benefit of giving you time to analyse if you’re doing the exercise right, if you’re knees are buckling, etc.
These 2 tips are nothing new to people in the know but for most gym goers they are a super powerful, untapped tool for really taking their training up a notch. Performing exercises too fast before you’ve earned the right to do so has so many pitfalls while slowing them down has so many benefits.
You’ll have to use a bit of a lighter weight but trust me, you’ll still be working hard and you’re results won’t suffer.
Want to learn more about this, take a few minutes to check out this week youtube video and let me know your thoughts in the comments section
Leave a Reply