Issue 022
February 2007
By Alex Gold
Continued from last month, we take a look at some common training mistakes in gyms up and down the country.
Mistake 4: Using straps to hold weights
Lots of people use straps in the gym to hold onto the bar for deadlifts, shrugs and the like. If you are having problems with your grip, work on it! The easiest thing to do is load up a bar and just stand with it, although there are different types of grip training this is the easiest way to train and will give the most carryover to other needs.
If you are a fighter, rugby player, or anyone that needs very good grip strength it will pay to devote specific time to training your grip, and avoiding doing so is the worst thing you can do! Chin-ups on a towel and thick bar training are some examples of things that you could add to your arsenal to increase your grip, which should allow you to perform better in your sport.
Mistake 5: Not warming up correctly
In recent years, a lot of research has been done into how to warm up correctly for sport. Those who are following the research will know that the old warm-up of jogging for a bit then static stretching is not only an incomplete preparation for performing strenuous activity, it can actually decrease performance!
A good complete warm-up regime will include the following:
· Increasing the core temperature of the body
· Increasing the local temperature within the muscles
· Mobilising all joints
· Activating any inhibited muscles
· Stretching any tight muscles
The best way to do this is to do.something known as ‘movement prep’, which is generally a series of bodyweight exercises that get progressively more intense until the body is prepared for action. Examples of things that may be included in a well-planned warm-up would be:
· Shoulder, hip and spine mobility work
· Glute activation work
· Series of different lunge stretches
· Over/under drills
· Skip variations and so on
Mistake 6: Neglecting the glutes
You may have heard that the glutes are the biggest muscles in the human body. Coincidentally, they are also one of the most useful. Unfortunately, they are also inactive or inhibited in a very large amount of people!
The glutes are the ‘power centre’ of the body, located directly in the centre of gravity and should be used in most movements. If you perform a deadlift, good morning, lunge, squat etc, the glutes should be one of the prime movers. Also, as I hinted at earlier, the glutes are a major contributor to motion i.e. running and jumping. However, if you have never got soreness in the glutes after a workout, there is a good chance something is wrong.
The first reason for this is simply bad training. Lots of people like to use machines to train their legs, and will do a leg extension and hamstring curl for instance, totally forgetting about the glutes. Even some who perform squats will limit the amount of work the glutes have to do by not squatting to a sufficient depth, which puts more load onto the quads. The simple answer to this problem is to perform some of the exercises I listed earlier. If you are doing these movements and are sure you are performing them correctly and still not getting any soreness in the glutes, but regularly get hamstring and quad soreness, there may be another problem involved.
The other common problem with the glutes is they become inactive. This happens when poor posture, tight muscles and bad movement patterns combine to ‘shut down’ the muscles, and other muscles take over. If the glutes are not firing correctly, the other muscles take more load. The end result of this is usually a rounding of the lower back, which can cause a multitude of injuries to this area, or a pull/tear of a hamstring. Stretch the hips and activate the glutes before activity to maximise your potential performance!
Alex Gold is a trainer and therapist specialising in working with sportsmen to increase performance. He can be contacted on 07931 561 807 or via his website, www.hardcoresportstraining.co.uk
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