DOING THINGS RIGHT

Before I start rambling about some technical-sounding mumbo jumbo, I will start with a basic observation that everybody could probably relate to. Sometimes, people just don't do things right.

There are infinite amounts of bad practices and habits that can be done (and also those that have yet to be discovered). From the addiction to #selfies, to those unnecessary roars and dropping of weights, to the lack of consideration expressed by one's refusal to re-rack the weights, the list will probably be extremely long and equally hilarious to read. I will begin with a couple of can-be-done-right actions that can be detrimental to one's quest for improvement.

Please bear with the text, and enjoy as you do. There will be a summary below too!

1. FULL RANGE OF MOTION

I will admit that I also was (and sometimes still am) guilty of not utilizing the full range of motion for every single rep. You will probably see a lot of "big" people in the gym handling ridiculously heavy weights in a ridiculously constipated fashion with limited movement. Some would probably look like they are doing shake weights with the barbells or dumbbells that stay where they began: either too near to, or too far from the person. As a newbie, I was tempted to catch up on the weight that I lifted. It can be tempting especially when you see others doing likewise. I didn't lower the bar close enough to my chest when I was doing the bench press, I didn't squat as low as I should, I did not pull far enough to feel any flexing done by my back, so on and so forth. The result was not good. I did grow stronger though. You will become stronger as long as the actions that you would be doing are within the range of motion that you have been training in, but you will also be vulnerable if you would assume that you are that strong when you are to exert effort on the range of motion that you are not used to. You might end up overcompensating with other muscles and hurting yourself. In short, your useful strength will be as limited as your range of motion. Aside from that, your posture and weight will be imbalanced. You might feel that the muscles are growing in an awkward fashion, and that you are not as quick as you used to be. So please, do this first concept right! Training with the full range of motion will help your body deal with situations that would involve efforts that require relatively more difficult ranges of motion. This will be helpful when you would want to improve balance, explosive strength, and technique. I will jump to the next concept, which will be the flex.

 

2. FEEL THE FLEX (when necessary)

To further improve the execution of each rep, one must know what the intended outcome is. Some activities train explosive strength, and would require the body to act as a unit. Aside from the individual body parts' strength, technique and brain power must be improved for those activities as well. Regardless of your intended outcome, it is always good to have exercises that give you the chance to feel the flex. Do the reps slowly, do not jerk and do not cheat. Once in a while, let the intended parts do the work. Reserve the whole body efforts for the explosive power lifting sessions. In other words, do not dead lift a row, and do not squat a bicep curl. Feeling the flex on the conventional days would properly increase strength and endurance of the involved parts. If you think of it fairly, a good concentrated rep on a lighter weight will be more beneficial to the targeted muscle group than an awkward whole body cheat movement that involves parts that should not be involved.  As tempting as it may seem, adding weights while adding unnecessary jerks and movements reduces the actual workload to your targeted parts. It will compromise proper and balanced muscle and strength gains as the cheating process takes the weight away. Other parts will be trained to do unconventional motions, and in effect, they will be stealing the gains that you could have achieved with your intended targeted parts. In short, you actually might be putting more effective weight to your rep if you do it right than if you cheat on it! You will also avoid injuries by doing the reps slowly and properly. It is not cool for the compensating parts to do more than they are capable of just to satisfy the ego that requires you to always lift heavy. You'll never know when the compensation would be too much, and something will just snap with any slight slip, overexertion, or flaw in execution.

SUMMARY

Using the Full Range of Motion

+ Increases both the strength and the range that the strength can be applied to

+ Reduces risk of injury (related and unrelated)

+ Strength will not be imbalanced thus speed and posture should not be compromised 

Feeling the Flex

+ Improves strength and endurance of involved parts

+ Reduces risk of injury (related and unrelated as well)

+ Will improve balance as well, thus keeping posture safe and sound.

Coming Soon . . . .  #3.SCORE WITH THE CORE!

Clean N' Mean