As I start looking at my own programming moving forward for X amount of time out of the gym with minimal equipment there’s a few things I wanted to share with everyone in terms of how I go about putting something together for myself & my online clients that is going to serve me long term that I think everyone can benefit from.
WE CAN’T JUST THINK NOW,
What can we be doing now to improve performance & increase our ceiling of potential for down the track once things normalize? We all of a sudden have an abundance of time available – well most of us anyway.
You see, it is 100% accurate when someone says we are only as strong as our weakest link!
Meaning if we want our big compound lifts numbers to improve we often need to do more than just the big compound movements themselves.
So what do do we need to be doing?
We need to get “really” good at the stuff we neglect & really SUCK AT that will assist execution & performance to the compound movement itself. The stuff we know we should be programming more often, the not so sexy stuff! The work we often leave to the end of a workout & often walk out of the gym saying “next time”
Here are some suggestions as accessory exercisers to aid hip, core, shoulder stability, posture & mobility. These will all raise our ceiling of potential down the track!
LOWER BODY
Split squats-Shrimp squats-Pistol squats-Bulgarian split squats-Single leg deadlifts-Single leg hip thrust-Glute bridge-Poliquin step ups-Side step ups
TORSO STABILITY
Core Stability should get SMASHED ATM!
Single leg balance work-Side planks-Copenhagen side planks-Bird dogs-Pallof press with a band-Dead bugs.
BREATHING & BRACING
There is a lot to be gained by learning how to create proper intra abdominal pressure, This takes a lot of practice to master! Very few people do this optimally.
This will help provide whole body stability which increases strength, it is initially easier to practice with lighter loads so NOW is the a great time, execution of proper bracing is movement pattern specific so it needs to be praxticed in a wide range of movement positions. This will include learning how to breathe optimally also, I recently learnt that to consider the main breathing muscle (diaphragm) fully functioning we should be able to breathe in one breathe slow enough & deep enough that it takes up to 60 seconds.
That’s not a typo, the more optimal this muscle is operating the more room this creates for improvement in bracing, stability & performance.
UPPER BODY – SHOULDER STABILITY
Trap 3 raise-Postural holds-Rhomboid holds-Powell raises-Band face pulls-Band prone external rotation-Upside down KB press-Anything rear delt.
MOBILITY (THE BIG 3) ANKLES-HIPS-THORACIC SPINE
I asses all my clients & it’s rare to not find restriction in at least one if not all of these key areas.
If we clean these areas up injury risk drops significantly & movement quality goes up just as quickly, when movement quality goes up it increases the ceiling of potential. The ankles need full dorsi flexion to reach good squat depth, hips are the power house of the body, they need lots of stability & flexibility to move through full range optimally without restriction.
Can you raise your straight arms up over head without feeling restriction? No, not many people can.
So that rules out chin ups & overhead pressing, start prioritizing thoracic mobility & functional stability around the scapular & shoulder joint itself with some of the movements above. This needs consistency, it’s fighting a lifestyle of flexion.
In 4-6 weeks with at least 10 minutes spent a day a minimum of 4 times a week posture & shoulder stability will improve if the corrective work is actually done correctly. Program lots of this stuff in now while we are all limited on what we “want” to be doing, we can focus more on what we actually “need” & watch that performance improve when the gyms reopen!
PEACE!