“Do not judge a man’s strength by the size of his biceps. Things do not always look what they seem.”
– Pavel Tsatsouline
In my opinion a normal human being should aim to be strong. And when I say strong, I’m not talking about those bulked individuals with a strange gait. Anyone (of any age) can become stronger by working consistently for this. Unfortunately, most people are more WILLING to be strong than doing what they need TO DO to be strong. Yes, these are different things. And yes, it’s not easy. One thing is WANTING a top-of-the-range Porsche, another thing is DOING the things needed to have a top-of-the-range Porsche. With strength is the same situation. To be strong, you need to have a plan (or have someone design a plan for you) and to work consistently to execute that plan – this is what your objective should be: to execute the plan. That’s it. You do not become what you THINK about every day, you become what you DO every day. Yes, there are no miracles, no one gets stronger without effort and without spending the time necessary for that to happen. The fitness magazines and the marketing associated with this industry want to make you believe that it’s possible to get stronger or leaner without great effort and quickly. It’s because of these kinds of messages that people still believe in shortcuts and / or allude to the power of genetics. They want it all but they don’t do anything (nothing useful at least). And then they still blame genetics!
There is one thing you should be aware of right now, strength is a skill. And in this sense, strength is the ability to generate more tension in muscles. And that is why strength is the basis for the development of speed, endurance and even flexibility. Like all skills, there are techniques or more appropriate ways to develop it. And that’s what I’m going to share with you. I will teach you some techniques for you to get stronger faster but this will only work if you apply them consistently in training. So, do them! Some of these techniques have already been used with me and with my clients / athletes, so I can assure you that they work and that they are scientifically proven, if that interests you as well. And before explaining them, I want to refer to Pavel Tsatsouline (I love reading his books), since he has been one of the individuals who has shared most of the “Russian secrets” of strength and one of the persons who have inspired me most in this journey. I hope I can meet him someday. Ready? Let’s do it!
- Irradiation
This one is easy, this one any five-year-old understands.
First make a bicep curl set of 5-6 repetitions with good form, keeping the elbow close to the body and without tilting the trunk back. You can use a dumbbell or a barbell. But a serious dumbbell, it’s not worth using Barbie and Ken-style dumbbells, let these tools for people to have fun in aerobic classes! After doing this set, rest for a few minutes and make the following changes: before doing the movement again, i) squeeze hard the dumbbell or barbell; (ii) squeeze your glutes as if you wanted to crack a nut with your buttocks and (iii) tighten your abs and imagine that Mike Tyson will punch you in the stomach.
If you can do these three things, you will realize that the weight will get lighter and you will be able to do a few more reps – in a better and safer way. The explanation is this: when you create tension at various points in the body this will increase total body stability (via the neural impulses produced by the contracting muscles) and this stability / force will irradiate (i.e. spread) to the neighboring muscles as if it were an electric current to start the engine. And the most interesting part lies on the fact that the strength of a particular muscle, for example the bicep, can be amplified if the neighboring muscles also help! Have you realized why in the union lies strength? The formula is simple: more tension = more stability = more force.
- Bracing
Who still does arm wrestling in school? I perfectly remember the times when I was in school and this was one of the games we did in during class breaks or when we had a hole in our schedule. I remember very well the agonizing look of my classmates when they were about to be defeated or their expression of jubilation when I let them gain advantage and then finished strong. Yes, this was fun at the time! And yes, most of the time I won ?.
I gave the example of arm wrestling because I think this is the best way to understand this phenomenon. Lets’ see: an individual who can generate more tension before squeezing his opponent’s hand will have a superior neuromuscular activation level and a clear advantage over an individual who only begins to squeeze when someone (the referee) gives the signal to begin the “combat”. According to Prof. Yuri Verkhoshansky, if we create a sort of pre-tension in the muscles before starting a dynamic contraction, this can lead to increases of up to 20% in performance! Now imagine the advantage you can have if you can apply this technique and if your opponent does not know about it.
Try this technique as follows. Do five normal push-ups and relax on the floor between reps. Then do another five and this time think about creating tension in the whole body, that is, think of squeezing your glutes and abs before pushing against the floor to come up. If you do this well, you will realize that you are much stronger than you thought. Therefore, the key to this technique is in creating tension in the whole body before counteracting resistance. If you do not create this tension before, you will remain weak. Do not be that person.
- Power Breathing
First, a few notes on breathing. Proper breathing is very important to maximize performance, a normal person breathes on average more than eight million times a year and it is more likely that he will not do it efficiently. If there was a movement pattern that you had to repeat 23,000 times a day, would you not make an effort to improve it? Think about this a little bit. Most people only use a small percentage of the body’s ability to extract oxygen from the air into the lungs because they tend to breathe only with the upper body (apical breathing), instead of breathing deeper by using the most efficient respiratory muscle we have, the diaphragm (I think we do not talk much about the diaphragm in fitness / bodybuilding magazines because this is an invisible muscle that will not really impress women). But the fact is that this daytime breathing will affect several things: your recovery ability, your anatomical structure, the functioning of your autonomic nervous system, and your cognitive ability. So, if we are talking about performance optimization, be sure to improve your breathing patterns as well.
Second, regarding power breathing, this technique consists of holding the breath during the various phases of lifting. For example, the legendary Bruce Lee used to say that in the martial arts the power of breathing was more important than body strength. In general, the effect of breathing patterns and intra-abdominal and intra-thoracic pressure on strength is strangely ignored or misunderstood by fitness professionals and some medical authorities. These authorities seem to forget that orthopedic injury is much more common than cerebrovascular injury. That traditionally taught breathing pattern of inhaling when we lower the weight (eccentric phase) and exhaling when we raise the weight (concentric phase) may be useful in some cases (and we can’t say that’s wrong) but it’s not the one you want to do when you want to generate as much tension / strength as possible in the muscles. Why? Because the increase in intra-abdominal and intra-thoracic pressure will boost muscle excitability (through the pneumo-muscular reflex) and it is this process that will guarantee more stability in the spine and that will amplify your strength. This is the most natural way to produce strength! Yes, your fitness instructor may have said that forced exhalation of air against the glottis (i.e. the Valsalva maneuver) is hazardous to your health and that you may have a stroke doing this. But is this assertion correct? Prof. Yuri Verkhoshansky and Dr. Mel Siff, two of the world leading authorities on strength training, say the following in this regard in the book Supertraining, one of the strength training bibles:
“For example, the Valsalva maneuver associated with holding breath has a vital role in increasing intra-abdominal pressure to support and stabilize the lumbar spine during heavy lifting… It has been corroborated on many occasions that stress on the spine is decreased during any movement against high resistance and that exhalation during lifting increases the risk of injury to the lumbar spine. Thus, it is unwise to follow popular medical advice that people must exhale during the effort”. The authors further add: “while this may be appropriate for patients with heart disease or hypertension, this same action performed by an athlete who is doing squats or heavy lifting overhead, can seriously compromise spine stability and safety”.
Got it? This means that any healthy person can and should apply this technique if they aim to get stronger and lift heavy loads in a safe way. People with hypertension and heart disease should be more cautious in this regard but please note: this is not to say that they can’t strength train, there are many other ways to develop strength. By the way, it is already well documented in the scientific literature that these people can and should do strength training to improve their condition!
- Successive Induction
Successive Induction, such as the Law of Irradiation we have seen above, is another of the Sherrington Laws exploited to the maximum by the Russians. According to this law, contraction of a muscle – for example, the triceps – will make your muscle antagonist – in this case, the biceps – stronger than normal. In the early 1980s scientists suggested that this technique had a disinhibiting effect and later confirmed that a strength training program that included pre-tensioning an antagonist muscle (i.e. successive induction) was more effective than a program of conventional training. And the most interesting thing is that these benefits were not only limited to an acute performance increase, but also resulted in long lasting strength improvements.
Do the following test. Grab a barbell or free weight and get ready to make a bicep curl set with a load that allows you to do 5-6 solid repetitions. Remember, hold your elbows close to your body and do not lean your trunk back. Do one set and count the number of repetitions you can do with good form. After resting for a few minutes, keep the same weight and do another set, but this time using this new technique. When you bring the weight up, apply the other techniques you already know (irradiation and bracing) and on the descent apply the technique of successive induction, “pulling” the weight down with the triceps. In this way, you will give the biceps some rest on the descent (by preventing them from locking the movement) and will allow the triceps to also have a more active participation in the movement. You should expect to be able to do one or two more reps this way!
Therefore, when applying this technique, you will have two engines controlling the movement. And because of the co-contraction of both muscle groups, this technique may also offer greater benefits in terms of joint stability since the stress on them will be reduced (note: do not forget to discuss this with your doctor if you have joint problems).
Finally, my advice to you is this: if you want to start lifting heavy loads safely begin applying these principles in training (if you can’t do this alone ask someone you know to help you) and enjoy learning one of the skills (i.e. strength) you will need most to optimize your health. And be patient, do not expect to learn all these things from one day to another – it takes time and practice, good practice of course.
See you soon!
Pedro Correia
References
Tsatsouline, P. (1999). Russian Strength Training Secrets for Every American. Dragon Door Publications.
Tsatsouline, P. (2003). The Naked Warrior. Master Secrets of the Super Strong – Using Bodyweight Exercises Only. Dragon Door Publications.
Verkhoshansky, Y; Siff, M.; (2009). Supertraining. Sixth Edition – Expanded Version. Ultimate Athlete Concepts.
Verstegen, M.; Williams, P. (2014). Every Day is Game Day. Penguin Group.
“We don’t believe there is one way to swing a club; we believe there is an infinite number of ways to swing a club. But we do believe there is one efficient way for all golfers to swing a club and it is based on what they can physically do.”
– Titleist Performance Institute
If you’re reading this, you’re probably interested in improving your physical condition to make more birdies, hit longer drives, and increase your longevity as a golfer. Or, perhaps, your goal is to become the best player in your club or win the next Match Play Championship. No matter what your motivation is, the fact is that if your goal is to improve your game, this will require you to prepare yourself a bit better than most golfers I know. And better does not necessarily mean training longer hours!
If you´re still one of those players who spends hours and hours hitting buckets of balls on the driving range hopping that this will help you improve your golf game, you need to change your strategy. Hitting buckets of balls in the driving range and making chips and putts is not enough. If you truly want to improve your performance in this sport, your practice needs to include general athletic development exercises and specific physical training for golf, in a progressive and periodized manner.
This means that what you normally see in the gym has nothing to do with what you need to do to hit farther, straighter and to go through the 18 holes without getting so tired.
First: Is your swing efficient?
The only way to determine whether your golf swing is efficient or not is through a 3D Biomechanical Analysis. What we can see in the traditional video imaging used by most golf professionals / teachers is just the swing style. There are many golfers who do not have a particularly attractive swing (e.g. Raymond Floyd, Jim Furyk or John Daly) but the reason why these players were or are successful is because their swing is efficient. Having an efficient swing for a golfer means transferring energy (without leaks) through the feet, knees, hips, spine, shoulders, arms, wrists down to the club head and ultimately to the ball. With the data obtained through the 3D system, we can check the kinematic sequence of each player, that is, we can measure the speed of rotation of each body segment involved in the execution of the golf swing and determine if each segment is accelerating and decelerating correctly.
When we look at Jim Furyk and Ernie Els swing through video analysis (and through the naked eye), we can see that both swings are quite different from each other, however, when we look at the kinematic sequence of each player, we find that it’s difficult to see a significant difference between the two swings. This means that although Ernie Els and Jim Furyk have completely different swing styles, they both share the same kinematic sequence.
All great players start by generating speed from the hips and transferring that energy through the torso, arms and club. This is the efficient sequence in the downswing.
The golf swing is a complex multi-dimensional movement that involves a highly coordinated action of the entire kinetic chain (feet, knees, hips, spine, shoulders, arms and wrists) and takes less than two seconds. The golf swing is therefore a ballistic movement which, in order to perform efficiently (i.e. with a correct kinematic sequence), it’s necessary that the various body segments are properly prepared to deal with the inherent shear and rotation forces in this movement. Hence the importance of what follows.
Second: The Physical Assessment in Golf
Before we get to the physical training itself, it’s important to know what your physical limitations and asymmetries in terms of movement are (one of the main causes of injury). Because of this, it’s essential that you perform a functional assessment for golf, preferably with a qualified professional that knows what he’s doing. In the same way that you go to the doctor for exams to find out how your health markers are, you should also do an initial assessment with a golf fitness specialist to find out how your body behaves during a golf swing and which are the main limitations / compensations.
The physical evaluation in golf consists of performing several tests in order to measure the functionality of the body movement patterns necessary for golf, that is, the measurement of various indicators of its stability, mobility, balance and various performance parameters such as strength, power and cardiovascular capacity.
This type of assessment is the starting point for playing better and for preventing injuries. If you still think that your body is fine and that you don’t need any intervention at this level, you’re more likely to be wrong. Our body was not designed to lead the way we live today, so you can be pretty sure there are things in your body that need some work. If you still do not believe me, think of golfers you know who have never complained of back pain or pain in another part of the body (wrists, shoulders, elbow).
Your body is the determining piece of equipment in your game. The quality of the clubs, balls, gloves, shoes and the latest drive or putt on the market, are certainly not the most important aspects. I still see many golfers too preoccupied with the new gadgets and the style of clothing, when in fact these are not the most important things to get more birdies. What will, in fact, bring you better results is improving your body’s functional skills to hit the ball more efficiently and safely.
Final Remarks
Many players fail to perform an efficient golf swing not only because the movement itself is complex but also because their bodies are not properly prepared to deal with the forces generated during the movement.
Keep this in mind the next time you hit balls or have a lesson with your golf teacher, maybe that’s why you can’t do what your teacher asks you to do. There is no point constantly insisting on improving technique if there is no synergistic effort in improving physical skills. The swing you can perform is directly related to what your body is prepared to do – think of the golf club as an extension of your body.
In the next articles I will share the most common characteristics in this relationship between the body and the golf swing and suggest some exercises so that you can improve your performance on the golf course.
Stay tuned!
Pedro Correia
If you still exercise to “burn calories,” you have not yet realized the purpose of a physical training program and the importance that movement has in our lives. The least important thing about exercise is the number of calories you burn! And that’s what I’ll try to explain in this article.
The power of exercise goes far beyond calorie burning, caloric expenditure is just a (nice) side effect of the type of exercise we do. Exercise consists of potentiating the release of powerful molecules and hormones that “talk” to our body’s organs (it’s not just food that has this kind of influence), and that determines what’s going to happen. And usually, the higher the intensity, the more beneficial the hormonal response.
Therefore, a well-designed physical training program has more to do with increasing energy levels, movement precision, vigor, muscular strength, mobility, agility, speed, work capacity and with an improved hormonal profile.
The Calorie Fever
I still see a lot of people worried about the calories in their food, the calories they burn when they exercise, the calories they consume each day, and I ask: How did we get here? What kind of message is being propagated that made people so obsessed with calories? Is calorie counting that important? Let’s see.
In order to discover the amount of energy in food, scientists burn food samples in a bomb calorimeter. And, to my knowledge, a bomb calorimeter does not share the same physiology and genetic makeup as a human being. As far as I know, a bomb calorimeter does not depend on the functioning of the various systems in the human body which are the real players in the way energy is absorbed and used (examples: digestive, endocrine and nervous system). This way of thinking is most likely unsustainable and ineffective long-term. This way of thinking is too reductive and does not solve the main problem – people’s lack of education regarding the importance of what we eat throughout our lives. Is it just me who finds it strange that most people are more concerned about their cell phones, cars and computers than with the origin and composition of the food they eat?
In fact, just look around and you’ll acknowledge that this is not the path to follow!
It is true that if we have the goal of losing fat mass, we must create an energy deficit, that is, the balance between the amount of calories (energy) entering our body and the amount of energy (calories) burned, must be negative. That’s the number one rule in rigid weight loss programs and that’s why we see Biggest Loser contestants training several times a day.
(Note: I should remind you that the Biggest Loser is a contest in which the goal is to lose weight in the shortest time possible, it’s not a contest to see who gets out of there healthier – if this was the goal probably there was no audience).
However, there is a lot more to be said. There are good calories and bad calories. The foods we eat, besides having a certain number of calories (which can be very difficult to determine with accuracy and can be highly variable), also have different properties with respect to their composition of macronutrients (protein, fat, carbohydrates) and micronutrients (minerals, vitamins, phytochemicals). These bioactive properties and compounds are what makes the difference and what should be studied preferentially. In my way of looking at things, it is more logical to first check the functionality of food (i.e. how its nutrients work) and then look at its caloric density, which can also be more or less functional depending on the objectives, morphology and specific conditions of each individual.
(Note: If you still think low fat diets are the most suitable for weight loss check the following study published in 2003 in the New England Journal of Medicine here, where it was shown that people on a high-fat diet lost more weight as those on a low-fat diet, the diet generally recommended by leading health organizations. But, of course, adherence to the diet will be the most important factor).
Back to calories…
Because the absorption of these nutrients will depend on the functioning of our digestive system – which in turn is governed by the endocrine system (think of hormones) and the nervous system (think of neurotransmitters) – and the health of the organs involved in the digestion process (mouth, esophagus, stomach, pancreas, small intestine, large intestine, liver, gallbladder), it becomes easy to understand that the web of relationships in the human body is much more complex than simple calorie counting. Albert Einstein has a quote that fits perfectly here: “make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.”
The Power of Exercise
Anyone that is minimally informed about exercise already knows that long distance aerobic training is not the best choice for improving body composition and may even have opposite effects (catabolic effects) due to the pronounced increase in cortisol levels.
This has been known for a long time but it’s always important to remember. This study published by Tremblay, Simoneau and Bouchard in 1994, showed that the group that did 15 weeks of interval training burned NINE TIMES more fat than the group that did aerobic training. And this was in half of the time period!
What you need to “burn calories” is to increase the intensity of your workouts for certain periods of time, it’s this type of stimulus that will increase your metabolism and accelerate fat loss. In this study, a 30-minute training session of metabolic resistance training caused a 38-hour increase in metabolism – the famous afterburn effect or EPOC (post-exercise oxygen consumption). Let’s put this into perspective. Let’s say you trained this way on Friday morning. With this training method your body will still be in a “fat burning” mode on Saturday night, when you’re having dinner with your friends or with your boyfriend / girlfriend.
And why do I insist on combining a good diet with good training? Because I’m aware of the evidence on this topic. This study from 1999 showed that those who did aerobic training and strength training on a low calorie diet burned 44% more fat than those who merely followed dietary guidelines. As I’ve been saying, diet is the most important component for those people who want to lose fat, however, once that aspect is assured, only strength training and interval training can actually bring your results to a higher level. In my opinion, the fact that this study was based on a low-calorie diet combined with aerobic training is limiting, but we have to bear in mind that these are usually the guidelines of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). The guidelines are intended to facilitate nutritional guidance offered by practitioners, but unfortunately that is not what I have observed when I discuss these issues with some colleagues.
I think you have already realized that the type of training you do can be a great ally to put your body in an energy deficit and consequently in fat burning status. Now I will try to explain why this is the least important of all. Stay with me!
Like nutrition, physical exercise is key to improve health, performance and body composition. You’re probably tired of hearing this. But it’s not any kind of physical exercise that works. Doing hundreds of crunches to lose belly fat, using all the gym machinery, running 10 miles a day, doing Pilates twice a week and doing 100 power cleans in the shortest time possible is not enough. You can call it physical exercise if you want, but it’s not just this kind of physical exercise our body needs. A more comprehensive approach is needed.
We need Good Movement (we shouldn’t start running in the first place)
The concept of “move more for your health” is insufficient for our real needs and to improve quality of life. We need good movement, we need to acquire movement competency in the first place. I am talking about the ability to perform fundamental movements with good form. Fundamental movement patterns such as squatting, hinging, pushing, pulling, throwing, carrying, walking, running and jumping.
From my point of view, running should be the last step in this process and yet what we most frequently see is people running all crooked and with an obvious deficit in muscle strength. But the problem is not theirs, they are trying to do something for their health (and probably that’s all they know), the problem is that most of them are not aware that running is a skill, which requires preparation, practice and training. Cristiano Ronaldo did not become the best player in the World over night, it took many hours of training (in the field and in the gym) to reach this level. Although it’s relatively easy and affordable for anyone to put on their shoes and just go out for a run, running also requires preparation, practice and training (technical and physical).
It is necessary to have stability, mobility, strength (every step we take on the ground is subject to the action of gravity and the speed we run, generating reaction forces of 2 to 5 times our body weight), symmetry, quality of movement and good musculoskeletal health. Running to get healthy or fit is one of the greatest physical distresses on our body if we don’t have a solid foundation. First, you need to be in good shape to run. If you don’t hone good movement skills, you are more likely to get injured. According to the available literature, the incidence rate of injury in runners may exceed 90%, this is more than any other sport. Plantar fasciitis, stress fractures, patellar tendonitis and patellofemoral pain are just a few examples. Check this systematic review if you’re interested in learning more.
Again, don’t get me wrong, I’m not anti-running and I admire the effort and suffering capacity of all runners. I think we should all be able to run (by the way, that’s how we evolved as a species), the problem is that most people who run are not properly prepared to run and there are fundamental learning steps that should not be overlooked in order to prevent structural imbalances in the musculoskeletal system and injuries. Cleary the simplistic idea of “move more” is not enough.
A new way to look at training
Different types of training can affect the way our genes work and how they interact with our cells. With good training it’s possible to decrease chronic inflammation, improve insulin sensitivity, strengthen the cardiovascular system, improve lipid profile, slow down normal aging, burn fat (as we’ve seen in more detail above), increase confidence and self-esteem, increase energy levels, increase mental strength, improve a number of physical skills that we need for our daily life activities or sports practice (such as strength, stability, mobility, balance, speed, agility) and our different energy systems (ATP-CP, glycolytic, and oxidative). As we age, these skills naturally decline, but the fact is that with a more comprehensive training program it is possible to reverse and / or at least mitigate this decline.
Most people think that genes are the brain of the cell, they believe that if genes don’t tell you what to do, the cell dies. But if you remove the genes from the cell, the cell is still alive, eliminating waste products and behaving just like another cell. So, instead of genes being the brain of the cell, think of genes as your instruction / repair manual. When a worn part of the cell needs to be repaired or when new substances need to be produced, genes will give instructions for doing so.
Every cell in our body is surrounded by a fatty membrane, which is filled with thousands of receptors. These receptors receive information from different parts of the body and pass this information into the cell to form / encode new proteins, burn more or less fat, etc. (Note: this is why it’s important to eat good fats and avoid the hydrogenated fats present in most processed foods so that the cell membrane is more permeable to nutrient delivery.) It’s this membrane with receptors the cell command center so if we remove these membrane receptors, the cells die. This means that cell function is highly influenced by external factors, namely through hormones and other molecules that bind to these receptors.
These messenger molecules are not randomly created by our body, they are created according to our lifestyle, diet, thoughts, behaviors, temperature, light, sound and… our type of training. It’s possible to be born with some defective genes – for example BRCA 1 and BRCA 2, which increase the risk for breast cancer – but it’s these messenger molecules / hormones that will determine the degree of activation of these genes. Therefore, controlling these hormones means controlling the body.
(Note: Don’t you find it strange that almost 90% of health care costs is related to treat health conditions, while 80% of health problems / diseases arise as a consequence of our lifestyle and the environment we’re exposed to? Check this TED talk from Dan Buettner to realize why we are walking in the wrong direction).
High-intensity exercise is the one that induces a more favorable hormonal environment, with an increase in hormones such as testosterone, growth hormone and IGF-1, interleukins with an important role in inflammation (IL-6), muscle tissue maintenance (IL-15) and growing of new blood vessels (IL-8), lactic acid (which has the ability to keep us young by stimulating the release of testosterone and growth hormone) and nitric oxide, a vasodilator which plays a key role in regulating blood pressure, muscle strength and erectile dysfunction. Unfortunately, long running does not produce the same effects. Compound movements, which require a combination of strength and stamina, in short periods of time, are those that will put your muscles to “talk” more with your body. Burning calories is only a minor side effect when compared to the amount of hormones and other signaling molecules that influence how our body works.
To be clear, we are talking about intensity coupled with movement quality. Intensity coupled with bad movement will have the opposite effect: INJURY.
Conclusion
It’s urgent to give rise to a new mentality on training the movement skills that we will need throughout our lives. And this is a serious limitation of most group classes in conventional gyms. The instructors are obliged to follow a certain beat and choreography. Individualized feedback is almost non-existent. People don’t have time to understand or to learn the movements. And no one learns anything if they don’t know what it’s for, no one learns anything if they don’t understand how it’s supposed to feel and its practical implications. In addition, most machines in gyms annihilate the sensory and body perception that we, humans, need. We live in a three-dimensional world, in a world of constant adaptation and spatial exploration, so it makes no sense that machines and choreographies of group classes dictate the rules of our movement.
And why is it important to learn efficient movements? First, an efficient movement happens when a body is able to produce force through a coordinated action between the various body segments without energy leaks and demonstrating a natural ability to exploit maximum range of motion. Second, it’s movement that will allow you to play more time with your children, change the furniture at home, improve your day-to-day performance and your performance in your recreational activities.
Look at this type of training as the foundation, the support you need to get stronger, faster, smarter, more agile, more competent in a series of physical attributes that will allow you to perform better in the activities you enjoy doing. Would you like to start playing tennis? golf? volleyball? Would you like to start surfing? paddle board? weightlifting? powerlifting? dance? climbing? triathlon? Would you like to be faster when you play football with your friends during on weekends? Obviously, each modality has its specific abilities, but they all share the same foundation: human being’s adaptability capacity. To improve these specific skills safely, you first need to improve your fundamental movement patterns. And to sustainably keep improving these fundamental movement patterns, you need to train better and respect the developmental stages of each one.
To sum up, the great advantage of better training (and I remind you what we learned about the power of exercise, good movement and a new way of looking at training) is to improve your quality of life, maximize your performance and, above all, giving you the freedom and autonomy to choose the activity / sport that you always wanted to try but never had the courage or opportunity to start off.
Think about these things next time you go to the gym to walk on the treadmill with your headphones on and watch some TV series for 40 minutes while looking at the calories burned on the monitor and at the workouts or exercises other people are doing.
See you soon!
Pedro Correia
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