Form Focus – Session 2.3
Today I came into the StudioĀ with three hours sleep and a full day of work behind me. Knowing that the exercise was going to help me relieve my stress, I was excited to begin. Ā Today was about form and focus.
The leg lifts were done like a rock star. I really can feel my hip flexors getting stronger. The other exercises were hard. It was noticeable in my form that it was my focus that was the problem. Without focus and no energy, subsequently it is hard to progress. But, I realize even when I have trouble focusing and little sleep, if I give 100% of what I have on that day, I will get the most I can from the workout.
As, my trainer, Matt Brobust watched me struggle, he noted my form was a little off. The rationale behind the lack form is the inability to concentrate and focus due to lack of sleep and a long day. The lack of concentration may also be due to the time that Iām working out. He recommended that I should switch around the time for my workouts from the afternoon to the morning. Remembering when I started, and the fact that I know Iām more of a morning person, Iāve decided to start workout in the morning to increase my focus, and thereby increasing my fitness.
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Dale Tanner
May 23, 2015 5:28 amI hope you are doing plenty of correct, hip flexor stretching, given you are working so hard to shorten them… Maybe you are..? Short hip flexors, particularly if the right and left are not in equilibrium, is a serious postural issue. Be careful you are not gaining short-term ‘strength’ at the expense of long-term function!
The hip flexors are typically shorter than they should be in the bulk of the population, due to sedentary lifestyles and the way the hip joint flexes more readily than it extends. If one focuses purely on contractile activity of a muscle or muscle group (particularly significant for hip flexors), then one will be diminishing the functional range of movement of the related joint.
Given the way the anatomy works as a whole, compensating for imbalance in one part elsewhere, it is critical to functional longevity that we do not strive to create imbalance; we are all going to age and the sensibility with which one exercises in the present, will impact ones capacity to perform in the future.
I hope you find this useful. Please contact me if you would like more information.
Regards, Dale
Deb Pfisterer
May 29, 2015 11:00 amDale,
Loved your comment!
You know A LOT more than I do. According to my trainers at Vertex Fitness the exercises are designed to work both each sides of the muscles. That means that after my hip flexors I am on the leg press to work the other ‘half’ of my muscles so that I’m working the full range of my strength. Again, I’m not a fitness expert like you so I’m not sure if I’m explaining it correctly. You would have to contact the owner Dwayne for more details!
Keep in touch! Thank you!
Brodie Butland
May 27, 2015 10:45 amDale–
I’m not convinced that strength and function are inherently contradictory. My experience has been that heavy squats and deadlifts themselves act as a stretch. Before a training day, I usually have trouble doing much more than touching my toes with locked knees. After a heavy squat and deadlift session, I can touch the floor with my palms. Which makes sense, since you can get a much deeper stretch with a loaded movement than an unloaded movement. I’ve found that my flexibility became better than ever before once my squat and deadlift got over 300.
I do believe that things like foam rolling and stretching have their place…I use both at least twice a week after a training session…but I think the need is drastically overstated when one uses compound lifts that involve a kinetic chain along the entire body. And, in the case of the squat, a lift with a substantial eccentric component and a significant use of a stretch reflex to complete the lift.
Just my two cents.
Deb Pfisterer
May 29, 2015 10:57 amBrodie,
I’m not a fitness expert at all although I’ve done my fair share of exercising in the past, the best part of Vertex Fitness is the component of not having to stretch. I used to run track and they would make us stretch before and after. I hated it. I don’t know the logistics but I found those more disciplined with stretching got lot’s of injuries and I never did. Vertex told me stretching wasn’t necessary with their regime.
To add to my credibility I was a ballet dancer and taught by prima ballerinas from Warsaw Poland. Without being having flexibility or even the strength I have now I was able to get ‘en pointe’ after six months. Again, the teacher never had us stretch before or after ballet class. Therefore stretching had no impact on my performance. I don’t know how you can improve on ‘en pointe’ after six months. Maybe if he had us stretch it would have been three months?! I don’t know.
What I’m trying to say is, I may be a rare exception will have to test your theory before my next session. Keep in touch. Thanks for the comment!