Form Focus – Session 2.3
Today I came into the Studio 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. 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 I’m 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 I’m more of a morning person, I’ve decided to start workout in the morning to increase my focus, and thereby increasing my fitness.
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About the author
Dwayne Wimmer founded Vertex Fitness Personal Training Studio in 2001, excited to bring a new concept about personal training to the people of Philadelphia’s Main Line in Pennsylvania. Driven by knowledge and results both, while a strength coach at Villanova University, he worked closely with world class athletes such as Brian Westbrook, formerly of the Philadelphia Eagles, on strength training and conditioning for optimal performance. Dwayne’s client base extends much further than world class athletes. Along with athletes, he works with adolescents to seniors, and he’s a highly acclaimed and sought out personal trainer who has received numerous awards, such as Best of the Main Line Personal Training Studio and Best Main Line Personal Trainer. A graduate of Missouri Western State University, Dwayne has a Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Education, with an emphasis in Coaching. Aside from personal training, he’s spent time as a physical education teacher, strength and conditioning coach, and a football coach, but has found his passion and home in the fitness industry, inspiring and reaching out to others. As a strong believer in continuing to learn, Dwayne has also taken classes at East Stroudsburg University toward a Masters Degree in Sports Management. He can add author to his list of accomplishments, having created a chapter in the upcoming book The Soul of Success with Jack Canfield, renowned for the Chicken Soup series. To get to the point where he is now, Dwayne has always been thankful for the support of his father, a man who always believed in his mission and saw the need for what it was that Dwayne envisioned. During his free time, Dwayne is an avid motorcyclist who enjoys viewing the amazing landscapes and finding good restaurants to enjoy that are off the beaten path. He also takes advantage of opportunities to travel and experience many other cities while attending fitness seminars and giving presentations about the industry he is so passionate about. As a way to give back to the community that has been a part of his entire life, Dwayne has created Vertex Fitness PUMPED (People United Making Progress through Education and Donations), which provides support to area non-profits through a community-wide outreach effort. At this time, they help three non-profits per year in the Philadelphia area. For more information from Dwayne, you may contact him at (610) 525-6604, dwayne@vertexfit.com
I 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
Dale,
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!
Dale–
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.
Brodie,
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!