Goal setting will forever be a huge part of most people’s end of year wrap up. The new years resolutions will be posted and the motivation to achieve things will be at an all time high. With this I’d like to provide a push towards setting performance based goals and being kinder to yourself in the new year and beyond.
Get mobile:
Understanding the importance of mobility is something I feel that everyone only ever works out the hard way, once an injury has occurred. Time and time again I will hear excuses as to why stretching is too hard, there is no time, it isn’t as important as being strong and so on, but for the purpose of this blog I am going to help you realise how incorrect that is.
Training with intent:
For the purpose of this blog post I’d like to talk about neurological adaptations to strength training, and in particular the value of training with intent. Intent refers to how hard and fast you aim to shift a weight and is an important part of training with weights, however often overlooked.
Understanding hydration:
Today I am going to dive into hydration, and more importantly, dehydration; in an attempt to shed some light on the topic to help keep you safe and performing at your best whilst exercising. I tie heat and exercise together as it’s a pretty noticeable trend than when the weather heats up, people are more inclined to start chasing down their body goals for the Summer.
Addressing the real issue:
For the purpose of this blog I’d like to talk about how I believe every exercise to be a test, and every corrective to just simply be an exercise. My thought lies on the simple premise that everyone is at a different level with their training and their ability, and that one corrective exercise which I may not need to perform, could be a challenging exercise for you. I often see people who are misinformed with exercise technique, and either perform the exercise wrong or try and find a way to make it simpler.
Improving motivation:
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.
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.