Categories
Strength Training

Pop Quiz and Body Mechanics

Pop Quiz! When does your kettlebell swing begin? Answer to follow…

Summer fun is coming to a close and a new batch of delightful memories are tucked away. Echoes of lakeside laughter and the patta-a-pat of little feet marching down the dock ramp are fading with the setting sun. I enjoy one last long gaze across the lake, feeling content with another year of honest fun for the family. Moments on this dock are the building blocks of ours and our children’s childhood, the dock itself a solid foundation. Three months out of the year I regard this dock with fondness, appreciation, and a touch of nostalgia. But there are two days when I stare it down like a confronted beast in the wild: Opening day and closing day. In true DIY fashion, we put in and take out our dock each year, like many Mainers do. It is a quick annual ritual with little pomp and circumstance, and usually without issue, save for a few moments when someone moves too fast or not fast enough on one side. This weekend I took care of the haul out with my 82-year-old dad. I’d guess the 20-foot long ramp is over 500#s and the float must be close to 800 or 900#s on its own. My dad and I work well together, swiftly, safely, and always with a joke or two to lighten the mood.

The first part of the job was to take out the fleet attached to the dock. The motorboat got tucked away in its winter home, and the kayaks were brought on shore. Next was the big lift and haul of the ramp. We brought it up on shore in what seemed like a snail’s procession, inch by inch. When it was time for the float, I suggested we wait for help, a few “strong backs,” but Dad was ready for the project to be done- so we continued. The logistics of getting this massive float out of the water and away from shore with our DIY manual tactics are sometimes riddled with comedy (yes, people have ended up backside in the water with a splash), and always flirt on the edge of disaster (we all know the risks involved moving something big and heavy). Almost at its final destination, progress came to a halt as the float hitched itself on a large rock. It needed a clear lift on one end. Without much thought, I squared up to the float. With a slight bend in my knees, my back flat, hinging at the hips, I grabbed hold of the edge and, squeezing my glutes, lifted. Dad gave the beast a good nudge, and we cleared the rock and finished the job.

The achievement of this job was all about body mechanics. Bringing my deadlift form to the task was notably a success. Having suffered back injuries in the past, I am astutely aware of the importance of good form and mechanics. All it takes is an over-reach, twist, or pull and we can be laid up for days. All of us are learning proper form and paying close attention to how we move through our exercises and hopefully bringing this same awareness to our everyday lives. Proper technique, from start to finish, is essential to staying injury free. So when do our movements start?

Pop Quiz Answer! Our kettlebell exercises do not start on the first swing. They actually start when you walk over to the cluster and choose your weight. Too often we see people grabbing a bell sideways, or with a rounded back. This is an invitation to injury. Treat the initial pick up as though it were a deadlift- stand near the bell, slight bend in the knees, hinge at the hips, back flat, inhale and press through your heels. The same rule applies when selecting your dumb bells for box squats, presses, weighted lunges, or re-racking your plates after bigger lifts. Keep good form even during your prep and you minimize the risk of injury. Bring this good habit to your everyday life and you save yourself a lot of backache in the yard, on the lake, or even with a bag of groceries. There’s still a few weeks left for hammock time, and as long as I am getting in and out of that safely, these should be good.

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Exercise Tutorials

The Cossack Squat

Looking for exercise movements that are hidden in our everyday lives is like a treasure hunt. We train at the gym to prepare us for the other 23 hours in our day, but we don’t always recognize those exact movements. It’s fun to spot them when we can. Ever compare when you are walking up your front steps with your groceries hanging at your side to walking lunges or farmer carries?—similar movements. Or how about that awkward hover you employ so you never have to touch a public toilet and a traditional squat? –yes, same movements. One of my recent finds in my daily treasure hunt is the Cossack Squat. Not only was it fun to discover, but I am also excited to share it with you here. This exercise was in our programming over a year ago, and might not be something you have done in a long time, if ever. I highly recommend it, and have a link below for instructions on form and technique.

This particular variation of squat prepares us to be ready and strong no matter what direction life comes at us. I love a good exercise metaphor! The Cossack Squat is a lateral squat movement where our weight is shifted to one side, keeping the knee over the toes while the other leg is straight out and with its toes pointing straight up to the sky. What’s happening here? Increased range of motion, opening of the hip flexors, ankle flexibility, while also engaging hamstrings, quads, glutes, and core. It’s a powerhouse movement. Being ready for anything, flexible, and strong are exactly why I work out- and I also aim to have that same mental readiness, flexibility, and strength. In my mind those characteristics are parts of the best version of myself. Ta-da! My perfect metaphor exercise all rolled into one.

Much to my delight I realized I spend hours doing Cossack Squats when I sail. I often find myself in this position on the leeward side of the boat when trimming the jib. I hold this position for as long as I need to get the sail properly trimmed. On the next tack I pivot to the other side. Throughout the season I have gained stability in this position and increased my range of motion exponentially. I have seen this movement in lots of sports and I understand the value of training in 3d, as opposed to just front and back, or up and down.

As a student athlete my son was a soccer goalie and a first-baseman in baseball. The Cossack Squat was a staple in his dynamic warm-up. Every game I saw him employ this lateral movement, a reach for a play at the plate, or a stretch for a save in the net. Its always been apparent that the ball, and of course life, doesn’t just come straight at you in a soft lob down the middle. I encourage you to work the Cossack Squat into your warm up too.

What movements that you do at the gym can you find in the treasure hunt of your everyday life?

For a tutorial on how to do a proper Cossack, click here:  https://www.spotebi.com/exercise-guide/cossack-squat/

 

Categories
Flexibility/Recovery Motivational Personal Development Strength Training

Brick Foundation for Strength Training

Last night we got to do barbell bench presses and I remembered my first time doing them- again an intimidating exercise when it’s new. Historically these have a very masculine appeal and are not very ladylike. So the first time I did them I looked at the bar over my head and had a little chat with it making a deal that I would guide it down nice and steady to my sternum and that its job was to return safely back to the rack on my exhale. Just using the bar seemed like a big deal, almost suffocating in a certain way. Well here I am into my 2nd year of bench pressing and without hesitation I load up the bar and do some reps. (I still have my little chat with each set, just so we know we are on the same page.) It’s fun; it’s challenging; I’m sweating, and maybe even a little grunt escapes from my chest on the final rep. But I still remember when it was just the bar and how heavy that was at the time. It wasn’t just that it was heavy- it was that it was new and unfamiliar- my body didn’t really have a script for that movement. The closest thing might have been tossing my son up into the air with a giggle and catching him on the way down when he was a toddler, but I probably stopped doing that long before he was 45 pounds, and that was nearly 20 years ago. So the foundation was weak or nonexistent, but now, over time, brick by brick, I’ve built a solid foundation and can set the barbell moving without delay.

It’s good to remember this progression when it comes to exercise and strength training. Each movement no matter how small is another brick in the foundation of our strength. I often hear people lamenting their modifications during a new exercise or while recovering from an injury, a break, or illness. “I hate that I can’t do a full lunge, squat, jump, curl, press, etc.” I remind them how important this time is for their bodies and for learning or relearning a movement, to get programmed and to create proper form for safety and longevity. Each modified curl is still a curl. The smaller or more basic the move, the better we are creating proper form, and training our bodies so we can add complexity, increase range of motion, and add weight to our lifts as we progress.

It’s important to do what we can and recognize our own biomechanics. This might change from day to day- our hip flexors might be tight one day and another we are able to drop into a deep squat. When we modify a movement to adjust for these changes we leave judgement at the door and celebrate our self-knowledge, exercise safely and get a more effective workout.

When modifying, use the cues from the instructors and think about the purpose of the exercise and what movement patterns are included. Choose a modification that addresses the same muscle group and works toward this same purpose. When you are ready to add a challenge you can choose to increase your efforts when it feels right.

My challenge to you this week is not to see a modified exercise as “less than” but rather as its own valuable movement. We are layering our foundation of strength- brick by brick.

Categories
Exercise Tutorials Strength Training Uncategorized

Prevent Injury In the Shoulder Press With These 3 Tips

In this video, Hunter Grindle goes over several tweaks you can make to your shoulder press form to prevent injury and make your shoulder press more efficient!

Categories
Exercise Tutorials Strength Training Uncategorized

Bar Position In The Bench Press

In this video, I talk about where to position the barbell in the bench press movement.

There a lot of different variations of the bench press, but some put more strain on the shoulders (especially the rotator cuff). If your main goal is to gain strength, then you will want to make sure you position the bar closer to the bottom of your chest.

This will allow more muscles to be worked, and will help you lift more weight.

You can apply this to your pushups too… just move your hands down, closer to the bottom of your chest, and you will feel that the movement works a lot of different muscles.

This will make the pushups harder, but you can adjust to this by moving your legs in, or even going on your knees. From there, you can steadily progress to a full pushup.