goergen1
08-08-2007, 04:24 PM
Balance
by Steven Plisk
Imbalances are a leading cause of non-athleticism, injury and/or chronic orthopedic problems, and thus a sound program must include movements for every major muscle group. It is very possible to make big gains in the weightroom and see little or no functional transfer if you sandbag certain exercises or stretches, allowing antagonistic muscle-group deficits to develop. Do not neglect your abdominals, hip flexors or hamstrings!
For this reason, we will include a pulling (flexion) exercise for every pushing (extension) one such that each movement plane is worked equally in both directions. In the case of lower-body training, basic movements like the Squat & Deadlift can be balanced out effectively with the Glute-ham raise, abdominal work and the isolation exercises included in the super circuit. However, this becomes more challenging in the case of upper-body training because of the mobility of the shoulder girdle and resulting need to offset traditional pressing exercises; hence the value of high / low cable stacks and free-body exercises (e.g., chin / pull-up).
by Steven Plisk
Imbalances are a leading cause of non-athleticism, injury and/or chronic orthopedic problems, and thus a sound program must include movements for every major muscle group. It is very possible to make big gains in the weightroom and see little or no functional transfer if you sandbag certain exercises or stretches, allowing antagonistic muscle-group deficits to develop. Do not neglect your abdominals, hip flexors or hamstrings!
For this reason, we will include a pulling (flexion) exercise for every pushing (extension) one such that each movement plane is worked equally in both directions. In the case of lower-body training, basic movements like the Squat & Deadlift can be balanced out effectively with the Glute-ham raise, abdominal work and the isolation exercises included in the super circuit. However, this becomes more challenging in the case of upper-body training because of the mobility of the shoulder girdle and resulting need to offset traditional pressing exercises; hence the value of high / low cable stacks and free-body exercises (e.g., chin / pull-up).