Small Changes Big Results

Have you ever stopped and wondered why it is sooo hard to do a pull up? I have been weightlifting for seven years and can FINALLY do FOUR unassisted pull ups! Whoop!

Your body is in a position that forces your back and arms to lift your entire body weight! So the scientific laws of motion and leverage are working against you!

All body weight exercises can be just as challenging if you apply these principles:

LAW NUMBER ONE

To be leaner, Be LONGER

As you increase the distance between the force (muscles) and the end of the object you are trying to lift (our body) you decrease your mechanical advantage. So the longer your body, the weaker you become and the more your body has to work.

Apply: Raise your hands above your head so your arms are straight and in line with you body for lunges, squats, crunches and sit ups.

LAW NUMBER TWO

Take the SPRING out of your STEP

When you lower your body during any exercise, your muscles build up elastic energy. This acts like a coiled spring. The  elasticity allows you to bounce back up and reduces the amount of work that your muscles have to do.

Apply: Take a 4 second pause at the bottom of any exercise. This is how long it takes to discharge all of the elastice energy of a muscle. Your body will have to recruit more muscle fibers to get you moving again.

 

LAW NUMBER THREE:

 

Go the DISTANCE

 

In a weight free workout  you can't incease the force beyond your own body weight, so the only way to work more is move farther with each rep.

 

Apply: For bodyweight exercise such as lunges, pushups, and sit ups. Your range of motion ends at the floor. The solution is to move the floor farther away. Try placing your front or back foot on a step when doing lunges or position your hands or feet on a step when doing pushups.

 

 

LAW NUMBER FOUR

 

Add a TWIST

 

Human movement happans on three geometric planes: the sagittal plane (front-back- up- and down), the frontal plane (side to side), and the transverse plane (rotation). Many common body weight exercises like squats and side lunges are performed on the first two planes. But, we rarely train on a transverse plane.

 

Apply: Simply rotate your torso to the right or the left in exercises such as the lunge, situp, or pushup and fully engage your core in addition to the muscles in those movements you are targeting.

 

 

LAW NUMBER FIVE

 

Get off the FLOOR

 

The less of an object's surface area that touches a solid base, the less stable the object! Fortunately we have a built in stabilization system: our muscles. So knocking yourself a little off kilter makes the exercise harder by recruiting more of muscles.

 

Apply: Hold one foot in the air during pushups, squats and planks!