In a previous article, I noted how the range of motion of crunches is not conducive to building a strong core. Crunches will only effectively engage the rectus abdominal muscles, while some of the surrounding important core musculature is not addressed. Ultimately, it is a basic exercises that serves...
Range of motion etiketine sahip kayıtlar gösteriliyor. Tüm kayıtları göster
Range of motion etiketine sahip kayıtlar gösteriliyor. Tüm kayıtları göster
Is there Such a Thing as "Too Much" Mobility?
By Fitness ve Body Blogçusu at 12:14
exercise, Fitness, Flexibility, Mobility, Range of motion, ROM, sports, stability
No comments
If you Google "mobility," you can find pages upon pages of articles about how to improve your mobility at any given joint. Thoracic mobility, shoulder mobility, ankle mobility, and the like are central themes on fitness blogs all over the internet (mine included). As a trainer, it satisfies me to see...
3 Reasons Why Your Poor Mobility is Holding You Back
By Fitness ve Body Blogçusu at 12:18
exercise, Fitness, Lifting, Mobility, Olympic lifting, Power, powerlifting, Range of motion, sports, Strength
No comments
So many lifters are willing to complain ad nauseam about their lack of mobility, but very few of those people are willing to get up and fix it. Most individuals would prefer to deadlift heavy and get their heart rates up than spend about 10-15 minutes addressing their muscular imbalances and chronically...
Don't Use Machines, Become One
By Fitness ve Body Blogçusu at 19:03
Body weight exercises, Calisthenics, Compound exercises, exercise, Fitness, Free weights, Functional, Isometric exercises, Machines, Range of motion, Shear force, stability, weight training
No comments
"The human body is a machine which winds its own springs."-Julien OffrayYou've taken the first step and bought yourself a gym membership. Now you think to yourself, "okay, what the heck do I do with all of this equipment??" Some of the machines in there look like Medieval torture devices. It's easy...
Why Crunches are a Waste of Time
By Fitness ve Body Blogçusu at 13:17
Abdominals, abs, Core strength, Crunches, exercise, Fitness, Gymnastics, Range of motion, stability
No comments
We've all been guilty of it at one point or another: pounding away hundreds of crunches in hopes of getting a "six pack." The fact of the matter is that many people care about "getting abs" for their aesthetic value rather than focusing on training them for developing stability and core strength. It is called your "core" because that is where every movement initiates. Whether you're squatting, deadlifting or doing an overhead press, it all starts with a tight, strong core. The core muscles allow you to stabilize your hips and shoulders: that is their primary function. Treat these muscles as the gateway to total body strength. You want to see real "core strength?" Look at a gymnast or a pole dancer--they have complete and total control over their centers of gravity. Essentially, developing a strong core means manipulating your center of gravity efficiently and effectively.
Russian Olympic gymnast Alexei Nemov |
So why are crunches a waste of time? There are many reasons, but the main reason being that crunches are only really engaging the rectus abdominis muscles (the superficial muscles that can make up a "six pack"). This means that your intrinsic core muscles (like the transverse abdominis), your obliques, and your hip flexors are all left unactivated. To be more efficient and really develop core strength, you must utilize all of the rectus abdominis and activate the hip flexors. The hip flexors will help stabilize your pevis in exercises like the squat or the deadlift. As I mentioned earlier, the CrossFit methodology notes that "[they] train [their] athletes to think of every exercise as an ab exercise." While doing designated core exercises can be beneficial, you must remember to engage your abs in every exercise that you do.
If you're looking for specific "core" excercises, here are a few: v-ups, ab roll-outs, hollow holds, bird dogs, deadbugs, GHD sit-ups, toes-to-bar (or knees-to-elbows), and L-sits on rings or parallettes. For demonstrations of these exercises, refer to YouTube: there are a lot of great demos of each movement on there.
The most important thing to note, however, is that if you really want "6 pack abs," you must, and I repeat, must make sure you follow a healthy diet. Body fat percentage is what really accounts for visibility of muscles. You can't expect to counteract eating a whole pizza by doing 100 v-ups and running a mile; our bodies simply do not work that way.
Range of Motion and Mobility
By Fitness ve Body Blogçusu at 10:57
exercise, Fitness, injury, Kelly Starrett, Mobility, MWOD, pain, Range of motion, ROM, Supple Leopard
No comments
In athletes and deconditioned clients alike, range of motion restrictions are an ever-prevalent issue. Either the individual is not using a full range of motion in a given exercise because he/she wast taught to perform the movement as such, or he/she has severe mobility restrictions.
If you have the ability to train through a full range of motion and neglect to do so, you are doing yourself a disservice. Movements like the pull-up, squat or push-up are the most frequent examples I see in the gym. Men and women alike bust out a quick and sloppy set of push-ups without their chest touching the ground or their elbows fully extending. By using the full range of motion for these exercises, you are not only stimulating more muscle fibers (and therefore getting stronger), but you are also ingraining proper movement patterns into your brain that will be applied across the board.
Training through a full range of motion is extremely important in both injury prevention and treatment and developing strength to your maximum potential. As the famous Kelly Starett, doctor of Physical Therapy and owner of CrossFit San Francisco, warns us:
"If you have ankle pain, chances are good that your calves are tight and are pulling on your ankle, limiting your range of motion. If you have knee pain, chances are good that your quads, hips, hamstrings and calves (all of the musculature that connects to your knee) are brutally tight. It's no mystery why you have pain: You can't get into the correct positions or move with good form because you're missing key ranges of motion. Mitigating overtensioned systems using mobilization techniques feeds 'slack' to the 'injured' site, reducing localized joint pain by improving the efficiency of the system"In a nutshell, if you're experiencing pain in any given joint, it's probably because you have some tight muscles and are therefore missing full range of motion in that area.
A good percentage of the people I've met have difficulty getting into a full squat because they lack the proper hip and ankle mobility. Before you can even think about putting a barbell on your back, you have to address your poor squat mechanics.
Fortunately for you all, there are many ways of correcting movement dysfunctions and restrictions in mobility. Tools like a foam roller, lacrosse ball, or bands are all useful tools in getting rid of tightness and other movement restrictions.
For more information on specific exercises to mobilize any given area, check out www.mobilityWOD.com.
Sources:
- Starrett, Kelly. "Home." MobilityWOD. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Sept. 2013.
- Starrett, Kelly, and Glen Cordoza. Becoming a Supple Leopard: The Ultimate Guide to Resolving Pain, Preventing Injury, and Optimizing Athletic Performance. Las Vegas: Victory Belt Pub., 2013. Print.