For this blog piece, I’d like to touch on a topic which more than likely affects all those who train. Motivation is something that will come and go, and relying on it solely to get you to a session day to day is probably going to see you come unstuck more often than not.
Month: October 2019
Maximising glute engagement:
For the purpose of this blog I’d like to touch on the role of the glutes, and how to best see increases in strength and hypertrophy in this area through the use of various lower body exercises. As the glutes are an extremely important muscle group as a whole, I feel it is important to shed some light on what is going to be your best approach to not only improving the aesthetics of your gluteal region, but also understanding how to best improve the function and strength of this area.
Progressive Overload:
Whilst the name somewhat gives away what progressive overload actually means, I feel as though it is important to further the understanding of this topic in order for you to get the most out of utilising this tool, as well as not bastardising the concept. By definition, progressive overload refers to an increase in workload from a previous time point. Something to consider though, is that there are a number of ways to actually increase workload and it is important to not mistakenly employ all of these concepts at once.
Pulling variations:
For the purpose of this blog post, I am going to dive a little into the world of weightlifting, specifically the clean and its derivatives. Firstly, I’d like to mention that I do not expect most people to have the ability to go ahead and perform a full clean from the floor, as this is a very technical movement which requires a lot of specific practice and coaching. What I do propose however, is that you become familiar with the accessory work associated with a clean, known as the derivatives. These movements, such as a rack pull, jump shrug and specifically the hang power clean have been shown to have similar if not greater benefits in harnessing athletic power and strength within the gym; making them an appealing option within a training program.
Mobility/strength continuum:
I’d like to shift the focus to another often over looked aspect of strength training; mobility. The reason I’d like to go down this road is because I’d like to put mobility and strength training on somewhat of a continuum, having mobility work down 1 end and strength training along the opposite end of the spectrum. I do not believe for a second that the 2 are mutually exclusive, in fact I believe the opposite. I think that there are a number of people who could benefit from less strength training and more mobility work, whilst there are plenty of people who are too mobile and just need to get stronger.