First off, NO that's not the health Club I'm talking about, that's my weightroom at my college. I know what you were thinking...."What type of health Club has PLATFORMS?!). Okay, so I have a great facility at my college where I train our athletes but I actually like to get away from that place once in a while and actually train in nice, plush, high-end health club. I just throw on my Ipod and go back to my little corner and use the squat rack (it's the thing most of the members think is a curling rack...) to perform my Olympic lifts etc. Anyway, during my workouts I get to observe members and trainers as they go about their workouts. I wrote an article on my website called "10 Things I see People doing WRONG in the gym". I won't post the entire thing here on my blog but I will share a couple of the things I see....
#4 – “Scared to use ‘athletic’ exercises during training’
There’s a reason athletes look the way they do folks…it’s their training. Effective, functional training will result in great results in less time. The Olympic lifts such as the snatch and the clean and jerk can be used to improve overall fitness, promote flexibility and balance, improve strength and power and much more. Don’t be scared of the technical aspects of these types of lifts as there are VERY simple variations such as clean pulls, jump shrugs, and push presses. Try some, you will not be disappointed!
There’s a reason athletes look the way they do folks…it’s their training. Effective, functional training will result in great results in less time. The Olympic lifts such as the snatch and the clean and jerk can be used to improve overall fitness, promote flexibility and balance, improve strength and power and much more. Don’t be scared of the technical aspects of these types of lifts as there are VERY simple variations such as clean pulls, jump shrugs, and push presses. Try some, you will not be disappointed!
How about this one....
#2 – “Isolation Exercises”
Okay, pet peeve #3, the overweight guy or gal who spends all their time doing bicep curls and calf raises. Guess what guys, there’s not a whole lot going on in your body when you do these types of exercises……even if you are standing on a balance board when performing your isolation bicep curls! Compound lifts such as squats, presses, rows, lunges etc. are the way to go as they are far superior for not only burning calories and increasing fitness, they are also better at getting you stronger! These type so of exercises are functional in nature….this simply means that they allow our bodies and muscles to get stronger in the exact same fashion that they will have to work in real, everyday life.
Okay, pet peeve #3, the overweight guy or gal who spends all their time doing bicep curls and calf raises. Guess what guys, there’s not a whole lot going on in your body when you do these types of exercises……even if you are standing on a balance board when performing your isolation bicep curls! Compound lifts such as squats, presses, rows, lunges etc. are the way to go as they are far superior for not only burning calories and increasing fitness, they are also better at getting you stronger! These type so of exercises are functional in nature….this simply means that they allow our bodies and muscles to get stronger in the exact same fashion that they will have to work in real, everyday life.
Head over to my website @ www.coachdos.com to read the entire article.....I'm sure some of the things I talk about will be quite familiar to many of you. BTW, This article is included in the Liftstrong project that my good friend Alwyn Cosgrove put together along with TONS of unbelievable articles by some of the best minds in strength and conditioning today. Visit www.liftstrong.com and pick up your copy....it's for a tremendous cause folks.
