Live Strong
Rules of getting strong first
Originally published in Fitness Magazine, by Lil Bianchi, strength and conditioning coach and founder of OTG Athletic [http://www.otgathletic.co.za/]
One of the mostly popularly undervalued and frequently overlooked values of exercise, especially by the female population, is strength development. Strength is the legendary precious mirror of the realm of weight loss, health and fitness. As is often the case, I come across women who view strength training as a “system” designed for mane, physique and muscle. A common perspective shared by a vast majority of women is that this type of “exercise” is intended for top-level buffalo wrestling and is usually considered to be superfluous in the realm of weight loss and general well-being.
This mentality that surrounds us implies that I have women who come into my Fitness Centre with some apprehension, harboring reservations that adhering to my methods and techniques when it comes to exercise will cause the seams of their tank tops to come apart. The truth is that to effectively achieve one’s objectives, regardless of whether they be fitness, weight loss, or enhanced sports performance, your training basis must be rooted in strength. Yes, for you to be fit, agile, lean, and fast or simply be able to comfortable wear skinny jeans, strength is a key requirement.
Strength is the foundation of physical exercise. A strong base in strength will yield more favorable results, regardless of your physical objective. To build the framework of a viable and effective “machine” that gets rid of fat at an increased speed and further enhance your capacity to intensive training, you have to create a substructure. As such, the performance capability of the human body is based on your strength and power productivity. The higher the force you can apply, the better your body can perform an action. According to past journals, strength is seen as a skill and how often you practice your skill, will decide how far you will come to mastering it.
Cyclists, marathon runners, surfers, sprinters, wrestlers, canoeists, boxers, swimmers, and every other form of sportsperson will increase their chances to be better by being strong. As Mark Reifkind, a senior Russian Kettlebell Instructor and top athlete expresses it: “Strength fixes everything”. This however does not imply that every sportsperson has to build immense strength, but to put it plains, regardless of your personal and physical objective, strength is a significant factor. With a specific aim of pushing ahead and building fitness, endurance, power, and speed, you need a specific measure of toning and sinew. There are a few basic guidelines I live and mentor by when including an effective strength program into the schedules of my athletes, weekend fighters and regular housewives. Although I won’t go into details on planning, nor discuss rep figures, intensity and sets, I will give you this guidance:
Keep to the following basic principles and gain more life improvements.
Rule #1: Don’t make your workout routine too complex.
Keep it basic as this is what works. Adhere to the essentials. Avoid the techy devices to the amateurs in neon headbands doing sit-ups on the mat. At OTG we believe in a slogan we embraced from Eric Bach, a famous fitness coach: “Success lies in the ruthless execution of the basics”.
Rule #2: Pick workouts that favor compound movements over isolation workouts.
While exercising you need to transfer power through not just one joint. This won’t just develop strong muscle, but additionally strengthens tendons and joints while reinforcing connective tissue and increasing strength through various planes. This builds general strength over size.
Rule #3: Improve on flaws to develop new strengths.
Be certain your workout regimen is intensive and concentrate on your shortcomings. Focus on the aspects where you “suck”.
Rule #4: Get specific.
Regardless of your sport, so long as you are an athlete, you have to concentrate on training that focus on your movements and simulate your flow. The strength of a fighter rises from the ground up – a punch is pulled from the ground and delivered from the hips. It is therefore advisable for athletes to concentrate on movements instead of muscles.
Rule #5: “overtraining” does not exist.
There is just under-recovery. Set aside time for recuperation or set aside time for failing. That’s all!
Rule #6: Observe what every other person is doing and do the exact opposite.
There are lots of different “experts” in the world today and not sufficient expertise.
Rule #7: Get strong first
A decent workout regimen has a strong basis, a solid foundation and a sturdy substructure. Try not to let your self-esteem meddle with your procedure. Do what is needed to attain success and keep on pushing the advancement of the human shape. Strengthen your body and it will strengthen your mind.