If you told George Bush and the boys on Capital Hill that instability ruled the world, they would look at you like you were crazy. But instability does rule the world The fitness world! How would you feel if, instead of working your chest, you also worked your ankle, knee and hip complex? Thats dozen of extra muscles that you are robbing your body by not working them out! I have each client, whether it is an online or in-person client, do workouts that involve instability to help your body unlock and access these muscles. Adding simple exercises, or even altering the workouts you do already, can really improve your overall health. So, you are probably asking:
How the heck can I unlock these muscles? Well, theres a few ways to do it, so stop living in a comfortable, stable environment when you workout..thats for Bush and the boys in DC! Lets start simple. Stand on one foot when you work out! By standing on one foot, you will immediately place your body in what the fitness world called a proprioceptively enriched environmentwhich is a fancy term for unstable. By doing this, you are doing a few things: First, you are concentrating on your form! Try to do cable chest presses on one foot fast and uncontrolled. It wont work, you will fall over. So it forces you to go slower, and that hits your muscles harder and, therefore, causes them to grow more, quicker! Also, by standing on only one foot, you are immediately using dozens of muscles in your legs and core to stabilize your body. So, when doing those cable chest presses, you are now using muscles all throughout your legs and core instead of just your chest! You are literally tripling your workout, just by standing on one foot! Have you ever alternated your arms when working out? If you arent, you are robbing your core muscles stabilizing your body as you work out. And remember, stabilization is crucial to your physical development and injury prevention! By alternating your arms on various workouts, say, while doing flat bench chest press, your core muscles are forced to work overtime as they stabilize your body while one arm is doing the press and the other one is still at your chest. So, instead of just working out your chest and triceps while doing the exercise, you are now working out your abdominal complex also! You are literally doubling or tripling the number of muscles you are working out, just by alternating your arms. In the next issue, we will answer the question: Is Your Workout Putting You on the Fast Track to Injury? |
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