Instagram is full of fancy exercises and many people try to reinvent the wheel. Sorry to disappoint many people, but some Russian athletes from the 1950s probably did those exercises before (they were so far ahead of their time it's ridiculous...).
A reason why many people see a lack of progress or experience a plateau (or worse, experience an injury) is because they haven't laid the foundation yet. They skipped the important fundamental work.
Since buying a Nordic Hamstring machine for the gym, I've been hearing many people talk about it and say how great it is.
It is a fantastic tool in my opinion, especially for building strength in the hamstrings, but hearing this worries me a little because people might try it out without having the prerequisite base of strength for it.
Although you can use bands to decrease the intensity, people often forget it is a supra-maximal exercise (greater than their maximal capacity)... So rather than progressively increasing the intensity and volume, people jump straight into an exercise they aren't prepared for. And if you're needing to use a bunch of bands to help with the eccentric, what's the point? Just strap yourself in a leg curl and get strong there.
I used the Nordic Hamstring as an example, but this applies to training as a whole.
There are periods of time when we need to step back, refresh on the basics, and rebuild ourselves before we get back to the more fun, higher-intensity work.
Are slow eccentrics fun? Do I get excited about doing sets of 10-12 reps of BB Cyclist Squats with a 4-0-1-0 tempo? No. But every time I go back to regular tempo lifts, my strength sky rockets and my joints feel healthier.
I can't stress enough the importance of taking your time and establishing a base level of strength. For the bench press, get strong at DB Presses (all angles) and build the upper back and scapular retractors with Chin Ups or Pull Ups. For the squat, slow down your tempo or do sets of higher reps. And for the deadlift, spend some time building brutally strong hamstrings, lats, and abdominals.
By building a large base of strength through the use of "less sexy" work, you're setting yourself up for success down the road.
It's not always what you can do in the moment, but rather what you can do down the line and being consistent that matters. You won't be too consistent if you're always banged up or injured.
Take your time and build yourself. Don't just test yourself every day.
Train hard folks.
Coach Max
Comments