Move your body!

CategoriesBlog Move.

The Deadlift and YOU

The Deadlift and YOU!

While there are multiple versions of a deadlift, today we will be focusing on standard, traditional, feet-under-hips, hamstring-loading, chalk-dust-flying, hand-callous-forming, butt-building deadlifts. If this doesn’t bring up a vivid image in your mind, here you go:

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Today, I’ll have you concentrate positioning of your feet, hips, knees, shoulders, lats, hands and neck while lifting. 

This little tidbit of information isn’t being written to tell you the “right” way to do a deadlift. Because in all seriousness, lifts like the deadlift should be done in a way that is most comfortable and safe for you to perform. So the majority of the time today will be spent telling you the things that EVERYONE agrees is WRONG in a deadlift instead of some form-differences that half the world agrees on, while the other half is undecided.

The “no-nos”

  1. The rounded back
  2. Feet too wide or narrow causing internal rotation of knees
  3. Neck under tension

The fixes or “cues”

  1. The rounded back: 

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This is Stephanie the Stegosaurus…. poor Stephanie. I’m sure you can see that Stephanie’s back is all sorts of rounded. When we deadlift, we want what is known as a “neutral spine.” Here is a great example of neutral spine: 

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Notice how Handsome Harry has a wonderful straight line drawn from his hips to the base of his neck.  This is “neutral spine.” Handsome Harry’s friend, Neutral Nick also has a neutral spine, but you can see one major difference: the height of their hips. One last thing about how they are both positioned: The bar is very, very close to their shins. The farther out the bar is from you when you pull up, the more your back will round, trying to compensate for bad positioning. Here is where we dive into some of the things to fix your neutral spine issues:

  1. Hand placement: Here is the hang-up: “Do I hold the bar overhand with both my hands? Do I switch one hand overhand and one underhand?” When you pull with a deadlift, the direction of your hands say a lot of how it will pull on your body. Two hands overhand will cause both of your shoulders to pull forward automatically, but it will be even. When you pull with one hand over and the other under you will have conflicting pulls on your shoulders, traps and back.

    Here’s the answer: whatever is comfortable. However, comfortable pertains to form. So if you try to lift and your shoulders pull forward and cause your back to “round,” it’s time to bail. If you lift with both hands overhand, you would be actively working on your grip strength and endurance while deadlifting. If you flip your two hands, it would be easier to grip as the bar wouldn’t have a direction to escape your fingers. Remember, the way your hands are placed allows you to keep your shoulders pinned back and your spine straight.
  2. Shoulder placement: You should feel as if you are trying to pinch a pencil between your shoulder blades. If you feel as though you’re hunched over and your back is rounded, you should allow your traps to relax. Another way to help keep your shoulders pinned back is to activate your lats, (Latissimus dorsi) — those muscles in your back under your armpits that you use when you’re doing pull-ups.
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  3. Foot placement: Have you ever seen people pull a deadlift and their arms were touching their legs? Or they were extremely wide? Or any other kind of pull you’ve seen on “CrossFit Fails” videos where their legs looked to be doing something strange? Well because we are talking about traditional deadlift right now, there is only one answer to the question, “Where do my feet go?” UNDER YOUR HIPS! or just a little wider. The reason is so that we can create a proper form of tension throughout our knees when we are driving through our heels and pulling up. When pulling a deadlift, If your knees look like the ones on the left of the photo, you’re probably on your toes due to weight being too far forward, rounding your back because you’re off balance and generally questioning all of your life decisions up to the point where your spine snaps. FEAR NOT!
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    Quick fix: While you are standing with your feet under your hips, try keeping your toes pointed forward and rotating your knees outward, but don’t let your feet slide. Feel that? Your heels driving into the floor, your butt muscles turning on — what a beautiful sensation.
  • Neck tension: Quite simply put, neck tension is what I’m talking about when you see someone try to pull a deadlift from the ground and you can see their face straight-on making a screaming facial expression at you while you’re on the elliptical. Or this…
    image10When it comes to your neck and face, relax it. When you are at the bottom of your lift, you should be staring at the floor. And as you stand up, your neck should stay in that neutral position so that at the top of your lift, you are now looking forward. Also, another neck issue is trying to “check your form” by looking sideways into a mirror. STOP! It’s awful for you, your neck and your form. If you want input on your form, ask a trainer, someone who you’ve seen deadlift correctly or just ask someone to check on the cues you’ve learned here today and you will be fine.

Wrap it up:

So you now know that a correct deadlift starts from the ground up, making sure that your feet are spaced properly allowing your knees to track out and not inwards. You understand that a neutral spine is a happy spine and that your hand placement (underhand or overhand) has different consequences for how you are lifting. And you always need to be able to keep your shoulders pinched together from the beginning to the end of the movement. AND, no one wants to be screamed at while you are lifting, so keep your neck calm and ask a stranger for help with form. Who knows, maybe you’ll make a deadlifting buddy. So now that you know the pieces to a standard deadlift let’s put them into action.

First off, you’re standing facing the middle of the bar. You space your feet out to just outside of your hip width. Next, you’re going to bend your knees slightly, remember just enough to help lower you down — but we are NOT going into squat depth. After your knees are bent, you are going to hinge at your hips, letting your upper body position itself over the bar almost parallel to the floor while you push your butt back, creating tension in your hamstrings. Once you’re in your correct bent-over position, grasp the bar, hands outside shoulder width and remember to pinch your shoulder blades back and allow your lats to turn on.

Now the tricky part: You’re going to stand up. When you lift, we always make sure to be driving through our heels of our feet, not our toes. Driving through our heels ensures that we’re using our glutes and hamstrings. Once you begin to rise, the weight will want to pull you forward. Remember to keep those shoulders back with a “big chest” while you continue to pull that bar up along the front of your legs, keeping it as close to you as possible.  Last thing to remember as you are standing up is to make sure you are extending your KNEES and your HIPS at the same time. We aren’t doing straight leg deadlifts. 

Wow! Way to go! You made it to the top. Now what? Well, you can either drop it like a mic at a rap battle OR you can continue to deadlift by running through the motion backwards. Allowing the bar to slide down the front of your legs while you bend your knees slightly and push your butt back until the weight is all the way back onto the floor. Never stop short of the floor in standard deadlift.

Congratulations, you are no longer a Stephanie Stegosaurus. Oh, and also try to remember to check your ego before you do things like squats, deadlifts or bench press — any lifts for that matter. The most important thing in the gym: Lifting free weights has and always will be about safety. So lift to better yourself, not to impress a bunch of strangers. In time, your weights will become heavier — as long as you maintain proper lifting form.

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https://www.dieselcrew.com/how-to-deadlift-deadlifting-techniques

Flow Fitness Seattle - Team Training - Gym, Health Club - South Lake Union, WashingtonCategoriesBlog Live Fit. Move.

Get Results in Less Time

The most common problem in fitness is that people don’t have enough time to exercise. But it seems that there is a solution: Research has been building on the benefits of high-intensity interval training, also known as HIIT. In fact, some research has shown that as little as 60 seconds of strenuous exertion provides the same benefits as 45 minutes of moderate exercise.

What is HIIT? In general, HIIT involves exercises at, or near maximum effort for spurts as short as 20 seconds, with brief rest periods in between. Exercise scientists and the fitness community have become intrigued by the idea of exercising exclusively with intervals, ditching long workouts altogether — and the research now supports this.

Scientists at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, recently performed a rigorous comparison of short, intense workouts against the more traditional workouts.

They began by recruiting 25 out-of-shape young men and randomly putting them into three groups. One group was asked to change nothing about their current nonexistent exercise routines. A second group began a more traditional workout routine, consisting of riding at a moderate pace on a stationary bicycle for 45 minutes. The final group was assigned to interval training, which entailed sprints on stationary bikes for 20 seconds followed by rest. The entire workout lasted 10 minutes, with only one minute of that time being strenuous.

By the end of the study, published in the journal PLOS One, the endurance group had ridden for 27 hours, while the interval group had ridden for six hours, with only 36 minutes of that time being strenuous.  When they compared the gains in health and fitness between the second and third groups, the results were virtually identical. 

In addition, federal guidelines released in 2008 say American adults should strive for 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity physical activity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity. For more extensive health benefits, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends 300 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity or 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity. The activity should be performed in increments of at least 10 minutes at a time.

HIIT is very attractive as you can get the same benefits of the traditional moderate exercise routine in a fraction of the time, making them a boon for anyone who feels that he or she never has enough time to exercise.

So why aren’t more people doing HIIT?  Well it’s not easy and the effort is so extreme that most find it unpleasant. A 2015 study in the Journal of Sports Science & Medicine found that exercisers preferred workouts requiring lower-intensity, continuous effort than high-intensity intervals.

Now how do you best incorporate HIIT into your workout routine?  For those who are self-motivated, there are a plethora of apps that will help you build and track your own routine.  For the rest of you who are not quite as motivated, which is the vast majority, getting involved in group exercise or training is potentially a better solution because the workouts will be programmed for you and the motivation and accountability of working in a group or with a trainer will help you stay on track.

CategoriesBlog Move.

What We Can Learn from Crossfit

With the summer right around the corner, many of you are trying to figure out the game plan to drop those last several pounds or to add much-needed muscle to a less-than-stellar frame. From personal trainers and gym memberships, to P90x and Whole 30 diets, the options are limitless when it comes to fine tuning your body.

Maybe I am a little biased, but out of all the options out there (except maybe personal training), I am the biggest fan of group training, and I would be remiss if I didn’t give credit to CrossFit in making it socially acceptable to do things in a group setting, which is normally reserved for one-on-one training or for sports teams.  Though our Flow Functional Team Training Program (shameless plug) is not CrossFit, I think the CrossFit concept has made programs like Flow Functional extremely popular and a growing part of the Flow Fitness business model. Below are 5 reasons CrossFit has made group training the norm, and not the exception:

  1. Not Everyone Needs Customization: Sure we all come in different shapes, sizes and abilities, but at the end of the day, we generally have similar goals and limitations. We usually want to feel better, lose some body fat, put on some muscle and become educated about fitness. Further, we usually have a weak core, poor mobility and endurance, can barely do a push up or a pull up, and have no clue how to work out.  Except for those with serious health and orthopedic concerns, the above pretty much sums it up for most people.  Thanks to CrossFit, they have taken this into consideration and have designed training parameters that will most likely meet the goals of the masses. Call it cookie cutter; I call it brilliance. We have taken a very similar approach with our Flow Functional Program by designing modules that address the most important aspects of fitness: strength, stability, performance and endurance. (“What about flexibility” you ask? We provide at least 10 to 15 minutes of mobility and flexibility training in each workout.)
  2. Death to ALL machines: Thanks to our friends at CrossFit, most machines have been deemed as completely worthless for fitness training. In response, many facilities across the country are now trading in their leg-extension and leg-curl machines for kettle bells, slam balls, jump boxes, prowler sleds and agility ladders. These allow a larger number of people to get off their asses and train with more functional and dynamic movements, which translate into activities of daily living. Further, with the amount of open space gained with fewer machines, you can run, skip, crawl and climb your way to a much better version of yourself. Look no further than our Flow Functional training area, which is well equipped with some of the best “toys” on the market, as well as some bad-ass turf that allows for exercise variety and the freedom to move in every plane of motion possible.
  3. Picking up heavy shit and putting it down: Probably one of the things I appreciate most about CrossFit is that it has made lifting weights cool and not something reserved for bodybuilders or meatheads. Thanks to CrossFit, you will see business executives, soccer moms and former endurance athletes (who were told NEVER to lift weights) in tears because they PR’d (personal record) their deadlift and/or completed their first muscle up.  Now people come to gyms looking for squat racks, bumper plates and chalk so they can see how much weight they can safely lift. Now people are becoming more concerned about how strong they are and less worried about the scale because, guess what: Those who strength train can drastically change their body composition. Go Figure!
  4. A little competition isn’t that bad: In a generation where people get medals for coming in 1,200th place, friendly competition is something we don’t see as much anymore. This is primarily due to hurting somebody’s feelings because he or she may not have done as well as the person next to him or her. Enter CrossFit, where you are not only competing against the person next to you, you are competing against the clock, a specific amount of weight, a WOD (workout of the day), an RX (successful completion of a WOD as prescribed by the coach) and your previous best. And surprise, surprise, that little bit of extra push needed to keep up with the person next to you, makes you run a bit faster, lift a little more weight, squeeze out one more rep and think twice about taking a rest, which inevitably lead to much better results.
  5. We are family: The fifth, final and most important influence CrossFit has had on the fitness world is the sense of community, wherein everyone truly pushes each other to be their absolute physical best. They enthusiastically share war stories about their last WOD or favorite exercise. They spend time after their workout to just hang out with people they legitimately call their friends. It’s about the closest thing to being part of a grown-up fraternity or sorority outside of the military or fire department. Each person is there to lift you up, inspire you, push you and pick you up when you fall.  And most important, CrossFit is a place where members look forward to coming to work out each and every day.

At Flow Fitness, we are continuing to innovate our services and programming to become the absolute best training facility in Seattle. While we have no desire to be considered a CrossFit Box, nor are we advertising for that brand, we do have the presence of mind to acknowledge and replicate some of the great things CrossFit has done for our industry and to utilize these trends to separate us from the competition. Based on our growing membership, positive reviews on Yelp and other social-media outlets, as well as a member-usage rate well above the industry average, I’d argue to say we are on the right path.  That being said, we have taken an extra-special interest in the community aspect, which we believe will help each and every member surpass their goals in a fun and motivating environment, and serve as a place where members feel welcomed and look forward to visiting each and every day.

Barre Classes . South Lake Union area of Downtown Seattle near AmazonCategoriesBlog Move.

The Benefits of Barre

Barre classes and studios have been popping up all over town.  Barre3, Pure Barre, The Bar Method, online classes, and each gym has its own rendition of this new way to exercise.  Visit any barre studio’s website and you’ll find plenty of appealing promises: “Develop long, lean muscles.” “Sculpt a ballerina’s body.” “Improve balance and enhance flexibility.” “Reshape your body and lose weight.”

While you may not achieve all of the above, here are five benefits to adding a barre class or two to your exercise routine.    

1)  Anyone can do it: Everyone has different starting points, strengths and challenges, and a good instructor will recognize that.  Modifications for any exercise are readily available. If you are worried about not having any ballet or dance training, rest assured that you don’t need it. Plus, each person can be challenged at his or her own level in class without affecting anyone else’s workout.

2)  Barre’s tiny movements can help you get stronger: Tiny motions, many reps, intentional squeezes and pulses (otherwise known as isometric contractions) are designed to fatigue muscles to failure. If taught and done correctly, this is a good thing. Embrace the shaking if you can, as it’s totally natural for your muscles to quiver uncontrollably – it means you are exhausting that muscle. 

3)  You’ll improve your mind-body connection: The smaller movements in a barre class can bring about new levels of awareness to the body that you don’t get in other classes and workouts.  As you move through class, pay attention to the muscle(s) you are working. 

4)  It’s a full-body workout: Each class is designed to work your entire body in an efficient way.  You’ll find you are often doing two to four movements at a time — holding, pulsing, stretching, for example —in each move.  Every class works with both the upper and lower body, as well as specific focus on the core. 

5)  Barre is kind on the joints: The small, super-controlled movements that take place in barre classes, with mostly body-weight-only exercises, are kind on your joints, and are a little more difficult on your muscles!

In short, barre classes are a great addition to any workout.  If you find them fun and motivational, add a class or two to your weekly mix. These classes, in addition to regular cardio and strength training, do a body good. 

Check out Flow’s Barre Schedule here.

CategoriesBlog Move.

Landmines Are At Flow!


Flow members, we have some great news!!
We have added landmine attachments to the free weight area.
What is a landmine attachment you ask?
Well, the landmine is an amazing resistance training tool that allows for a wide variety of exercises to increase strength and coordination. All you do is place the end of a traditional barbell into the cylinder tube of the landmine and just like that, you have created a multi functional muscle building machine.
We have two types of landmines at Flow, two stationary units found in the squat rigs, as well as, a portable attachment that we keep at the front desk (pictured below).

The landmine can literally train all muscle groups an d movements including pressing, pulling, quad dominant (squats and lunges), hip dominant (deadlifts), explosive power (clean and press), and core. Further you can perform a variety of exercises utilizing different stances and positions such as standing, supine (lying on your back), single leg, kneeling, or half kneeling. Finally, because of the mechanics of the landmine, your are able to move the barbell in pretty much any direction you choose in a smooth and controlled fashion.

Below we have Natalie demonstrating one of the more basic movements on the landmine which is a bent over back row. Most gym rats are used to shoving a barbell into the corner wall of their gym to do this exercise. This not only ruins the wall and angers gym owners, but it also ruins the barbell which really angers gym owners as well as members… Fortunately at FLOW, those days are gone.

Landmine- Bent over Row Start Position

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Landmine- Bent over Row Finish Position

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Stay tuned and follow us on Facebook and Instagram as we will post videos and pictures  demonstrating the versatility of the landmine. Also, feel free to ask one of our personal trainers to help assist you on the proper use of the landmine during your next visit to Flow Fitness Seattle.

CategoriesBlog Move.

Are You Focused During Your Workouts?

Whether you are training for the Olympics or just to improve overall wellbeing, a high level of focus is necessary to achieve your desired results. Moreover, when dealing with complex functional movements, such as jumping, sprinting or lunging, focus is necessary to ensure proper form and lessen the chance of injury. Unfortunately, many gym goers view their workouts as a daunting task and sometimes unknowingly (or knowingly) use distraction tactics to “lessen” the “pain” associated with a challenging workout. These constant distractions eventually lead to a lack of focus and inevitably less-than-stellar results.

Below are a few simple tips to help you regain focus during your training and get you closer to your goals. I do realize that many of the things listed are peoples’ only motivation to go to the gym, but if you realize the detriment it can have to your training, you’ll learn that giving up these distractions will be well worth it in the long run.

  1. Put your phone on airplane mode: 99.99% of the time there is no phone call, text, email, Candy Crush level or Facebook status that can’t wait an hour or two for a response (your parents and grandparents are living proof that we can get by without a smartphone). Yet time and time again we allow a chime or a pop-up to pull us away from our workouts and suck us in to somebody else’s life. Using the airplane function allows you to enjoy your favorite playlist (which research has shown may increase performance in a variety of cases) with none of the distractions of the outside world. If you are concerned with that slight chance that somebody is in dire need of your attention, such as your wife, child or parents (your boss can wait,) make sure they have the phone number of your training facility and to only call in case of an emergency.
  2. Reading is NOT fundamental when you are training: With the growing popularity of tablets, Kindles, and iPads, you can literally have a library at your fingertips. Unfortunately, focusing your mental energy on the latest New York Times Bestseller drastically decreases your ability to truly push yourself during an “intense” bike or elliptical workout. Research also tells us the more complicated the topic, such as global politics or economics (versus reading the funny pages), the less physical energy we expend during our workout. Furthermore, trying to read and run is flat out dangerous (but I’ve seen it done). The take home message here is save your reading for the coffee shop, the bus ride home or before bedtime.  The only thing you should be reading is how fast you are running or how high your heart rate is. For the sake of brevity, the same applies to watching TV and movies (let’s call this 2a.) just DON’T!
  3. The Chatty Kathy: Sure, we know that during light exercise, we should be able to carry on a normal conversation with whoever wants to listen, but we also know light exercise is probably not going to get you where you need to be physically. The truth is, if you are chatting away during a run, a set of deadlifts or while holding a plank, you are completely disassociated from your workout.  As a rule of thumb, think: light and moderate exercise = full conversation; moderate and high exercise = two to three work sentences; maximum intensity exercise = not a peep! If you have a training partner who likes to talk while training, I suggest you switch partners.
  4. Leave vanity for the red carpet:  As great as it is to see your pumped-up shoulders after a set of bench press, watching yourself in the mirror can actually do more harm than good while working out. The main reason you should ditch the mirror is that it lessens our internal sense of balance and awareness (also known as kinesthetic sense), which also deteriorates as we age. The mirror allows you to depend on your vision as an indicator of imbalance, which doesn’t help us in the real world, where we depend on our internal senses to quickly detect small imbalances. Further, on very technical movements that require a lot of force or explosiveness (jumps, Olympic-style lifts), mirrors may slow your reaction time down as well as decrease the force you generate because you have to watch yourself go through the motion in the mirror. So instead of admiring your pump, turn your back on the mirrors, especially for movements that require coordination, balance, and high levels of force and speed. If you are concerned about form and mechanics, pull out your handy smartphone and record yourself, but please resist the desire to post on Facebook or Instagram until your workout is complete.

By making these small adjustments to your current training, you can effectively take your intensity and workouts to a whole new level leading to improved results and a better YOU!

CategoriesBlog Live Fit. Move.

5 Benefits of Exercise That Never Crossed Your Mind

You know the benefits of exercising, right?  
A great way to get in shape and/or lose weight.  Improve your health.   Help your heart.  Relieve stress. And so on…

You’re heard those reasons.

But what if there’s more?  

What if there are benefits to exercise that you no one ever tells you?

Here are my top 5 benefits of going to a gym that likely never crossed your mind.

5. Exercise can create connection — even if you never speak to anyone.  If you come to the gym on a regular basis, the front desk will learn your name or, at the very least, recognize your face. In addition, you usually see the same people.  The super-buff dude, who’s also really nice.  The angry guy who never smiles.  The perky gal, with the crazy arm swing, who runs on the treadmill every. damn. day. The old guy who still lifts more weight than you do. You may never meet them, but you feel like you know them. The simple act of exercise creates this connection to your environment and the people within it.

4.  Exercise improves your ability to think. If you’re feeling stuck at work or in life, head to the gym.  Hop on a treadmill.  Take a class.  Use a foam roller.  Let your mind wander.  Allow your blood to flow.  You just never know what answers may come.

3.  Exercise in the early morning, and you might get leaner — plus getting your workout in early sets the tone for the day and frees you up later. Researchers have discovered that exposure to morning light, whether it’s pure sunlight or bright indoor lighting, is associated with leaner body weights. Who doesn’t love that?!

2. Exercise teaches you the difference between real and imagined pain.  There’s pain that tells you to adjust or back off, and there’s mental pain that simply wants you to quit.  When pushing your body, you learn when to fight through and when to say “when.”

1.  Exercise is a chance to improve the practice of life.  You exercise when you feel like it — and when you don’t.  When the alarm goes off and you’d rather sleep. After work, when you’d rather hit happy hour.  You push yourself and go easy.  Sometimes it’s play and other times it’s pain.  And you learn to trust your body and the wisdom that it provides with each and every work out.
What’s your favorite way to exercise?
Let us know in the comments below.

CategoriesBlog Live Fit. Move.

Sculpt a Better Life With a Strong Core

** This post contributed by Dr. Traci Grandfield

Core strength is one of the major foundations to our health and, consequentially, quality of life. The definition of core is “the most central or most important part of something.”  The core is where we generate the power to drive our bodies in every action they perform. From major stressors, such as lifting weights at the gym, to small actions, such as chores around the house, our core is responsible for supporting our spine and the rest of our skeletal framework. Without core strength, your body will always struggle to hold balance and alignment and injury is much more likely to occur.

What muscles make up the core?
The core is not simply the lower abdominals.  It is composed of many muscles working together: muscles of the trunk including the abdominals and little muscles surrounding the spine called paraspinals, muscles of the hip girdle including the gluteals and upper leg muscles, and the shoulder girdle muscles. These muscles are constantly working together to stabilize your core. Core stability comes from the strength and ability of these muscles to hold it together, literally.

Benefits of core stability

Injury prevention, maintenance of low-back health, athletic performance and spinal stability are just a few benefits of having a strong core. Injury can occur to the discs of the spine, such as a herniated disc, due to lack of support during a simple activity like bending over. Without proper gluteal firing and hip stability, stress on the knees may be overwhelming. This can lead to arthritis over time or knee ligament injury.

Core stability is necessary for movement of arms and legs in athletics. If you’ve ever carried groceries, moved boxes, swung a baseball bat or golf club, shot a basketball or served a volleyball you felt the activation of your core beginning in your abdomen or trunk before the transfer of power out through your arms and legs. In fact, the more core strength you have, the better you perform in any of those activities.

While performing well is satisfying, remember that avoiding injury while playing your favorite activities is paramount. Some research has proven that optimal performance comes from optimum production, transfer and control of force and motion to the extremities in athletic activities. This means that power from your arms and legs is dependent on the strength and stability of your trunk and core muscles, which produce and transfer forces across the body.

So remember:

Core endurance = Spinal stability
Core strength = injury prevention and better athletic performance
Both endurance and strength = better balance
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If you want to feel better and improve your quality of life, contact Dr. Grandfield to find out how to get started. Getting aligned is the first step to empowering your body and mind in any endeavor. 

CategoriesBlog Move.

Training For Strength… Is it for You?  

Yes.  Yes, it is.

When I meet a potential member, I always ask them about their goals. For the most part, I hear roughly the same answer: Lose ___ lbs.,  tone (insert body part), and usually something that has to do with their core – at which point they frantically point to their abdominal area. I rarely hear that someone wants to get stronger (unless I am working with an athlete), which makes me wonder if training for strength is reserved for only those with athletic performance goals? Or is it something all of us, regardless of size, shape, age, or activity, can (and should) look towards improving?

Training to be strong can benefit everyone, and should be an area we all look to drastically improve. Training for improved strength generally consists of working with  a resistance  that only allows for 4-6 repetitions with proper form. Most believe that they are getting stronger through classes such as body pump, boot camps, HIIT, and even some CrossFit sessions, but you really are not training for strength during these sessions.  The weight isn’t heavy enough, the reps are too high, and the rest period is too short. Most of the training you are experiencing in these formats are for muscular endurance, conditioning, and hypertrophy (muscle building).  These classes have amazing benefits and should be part of your training routine, however, there are also great benefits to traditional strength training.

For starters, training for strength requires a tremendous amount of neuromuscular control and activation which helps with balance, stability, and coordination. Making vast improvements in these areas translates favorably into your daily activities  including walking upstairs, picking up groceries (or a child), getting up off of the ground, climbing, and running, to name a few. Further, because the primary adaptations to traditional strength training are neural, you can get considerably stronger, without added muscular development (contrary to popular belief). In other words, you can add strength without getting bigger. For all you “core” enthusiasts out there , training with heavy weights is one of the best things you can do to strengthen your hips, lower back, and abdominals, as core strength is a major factor in accomplishing a successful lift.

Another great benefit of traditional strength training is minimizing the loss of bone density (or in many cases improving bone density) as we age, particularly among females. Healthy bone density is crucial in reducing the occurrence of osteopenia and osteoporosis. Finally, strength training puts a tremendous amount of (good) stress on the connective tissue, including tendons and ligaments, which helps with joint integrity and drastically reduces the chance of injuries.

Now that you have learned about some of the benefits of training for strength, here are some guidelines to follow so you can begin to challenge yourself and mix up your routine in the gym:

  • If you have never worked with heavy resistance, allow your body to SLOWLY adapt to heavier weights by starting with 2 sets of 10-12 repetitions of a lighter resistance  on  all exercises. After 3 weeks, increase your weight so that you can only accomplish 6-8 repetitions with proper form utilizing 3-4 sets per exercise. Following another 3 weeks at this intensity, you should be ready to tackle weights at 4-6 repetitions for anywhere between 2-6 sets.
  • Begin each strength exercise with a very  light warm-up set (or two) to increase blood flow, train movement patterns, and “excite” your central nervous system.
  • Choose exercises that incorporate large muscles groups (Legs, Back, Chest) and are multi-joint in nature. These exercises  include weighted squats/lunges , pull-ups, deadlift, overhead presses, bench press and Olympic style lifts. Extremely heavy loads are not recommended for accessory muscles (i.e.. rotator cuff exercises, bicep curls).
  • Because of the added neural fatigue associated with strength training, as well as the need for perfect form, adequate rest time of  2-5 minutes is required to ensure safety and successful lifts over the course of your workout.
  • If you are pressed for time or want to get  more of a “conditioning effect”, you can superset (doing two exercise in successions of each other) opposing body parts (exp: Front Squats with Weighted Chin-ups) and keep your rest between supersets around 90-120 seconds. You can also superset mobility and/or accessory exercises with your lifts.
  • Because of the neural adaptations associated with strength training, your ability to lift more weight will come faster than your connective tissues’ ability to withstand it, so keep your increase in weight modest (3-5% for Upper body, 5-10% for lower body exercises) on a week to week basis.
  • Choose only 3-4 exercises during your strength training sessions, the remaining exercises should be designated for accessory muscle groups and /or mobility training.
  • Record all your workouts, including exercises, weights, reps, sets, and rest time.

Now stop reading, grab a pre-workout meal, and go get STRONG!!!!

And if you have questions please stop in and see me, or one of the other trainers at Flow.

CategoriesBlog Move.

How Effective Is Your Warm-Up?

When most people “warm-up” it consists of a light jog on the treadmill, a slow pedal on the bike, and maybe a couple of stretches from High School PE class. While on the right track in trying to raise core temperature and stretch out otherwise tight muscles, this does nothing to excite the central nervous system or prepare the body for the multidirectional movement necessary to train the body at high level. In actuality, the static stretching associated with most people’s warm-ups is doing the exact opposite by putting the body in a relaxed state and diminishing the excitability of the nervous systems.

An effective “warm-up” should take at least 15-20 minutes (especially if you are injury prone or de-conditioned), and consist of moving the body in various planes of motion (forward, backward, lateral, rotational, contralateral) in a dynamic fashion through walking, crawling, marching, skipping, and running, which tells the body that “it’s time to work”.  Further, these dynamic movements should hit all major muscle complexes that require increased mobility to function properly (examples include the ankles, hips, thoracic spine, and shoulder joint). Prior to these dynamic movements, you should take several minutes and prepare the tissue through foam rolling tight areas, which will decrease the amount of “knots” and joint restrictions that you have in your body. This will allow you to achieve better range of motion during your movement preparation exercise and workout.

As with your movement preparation exercises, your tissue preparation should consist of major muscles groups such as the upper and low legs, glutes, thoracic spine, lats, and chest. It is always recommended to begin with a standard foam roller before moving on to more complex tissue preparation devices such as lacrosse ball or rollers with a harder surface.

Guidelines for Tissue Preparation on Foam Roller (5-6 minutes):

  • Find a roller with the appropriate amount of stiffness
  • Gently roll back and forth on the given area until you find a “tender” spot. Remain on that area and add gentle pressure until you feel relief in the affected area (this may take several seconds)
  • Make sure to roll the full length of the muscle
  • Tender spots will cause a mild discomfort, but should not cause excruciating pain (if so lighten up the pressure you are placing on the tender spot.

Guidelines for Movement Preparation (10-15 minutes)

  • Make sure to due 5-6 minutes of tissue preparation prior to beginning.
  • Movements should be multiplanar including lateral, rotational and contralateral (opposite arm opposite leg)
  • Each movement should be for 6-8 reps or 10-15 yards
  • As your body becomes more in tune with the movement, progress to more dynamic functions such as crawling, marching, skipping, running or jumping.
  • Be mindful that the purpose is to prepare, not destroy, your body, so keep the intensity of each movement between 75-85 % and practice smooth transitions and full range of motion.

Questions?  Come on in, and let us know.

Article written by,
Brian Sutton, Flow GM