Fast and Furious Fitness

All,

It’s always great to try out new, and tougher exercises. Changing one’s exercise routine up a bit is something I’m a huge advocate of (I’ve covered this in previous posts as well), primarily because it forces your body to continually adapt to “different” stresses, thus growing stronger, but also because it keeps things interesting, and when something’s interesting, your far more likely to keep at it than if it’s the same old boring drill, day in and day out.

But, somtimes, the reverse is true as well i.e. going back to the basic exercises (not that you can’t change the basic exercises up, but most of us including myself tend to include a lot of different exercises sometimes, rather than variations of the basic ones), and working them HARD, concentrating on perfect form, and concentrating on making each rep better than the last. This holds especially true for “bad” days, or perhaps just days where you feel fatigued, and don’t really feel like doing a whole bunch of exercises in your routine.

I did this today - my workout today was primarily squats, and bridging (several variations of this). I was initially going to go ahead and do my normal routine (which includes a variety of abdominal exercises, as well as pushups), but I just wasn’t feeling “right” while doing my squats. My form was off, I wasn’t being able to concentrate well enough - and I natually got a lesser number of repetitions than I would normally in a given period of time. Tried doing Sumo squats, but my form was horrible on those as well. And as if that wasn’t enough, I’ve been having some slight stomach trouble for a while (I won’t detail what exactly was going on - but suffice it to say my stomach felt a bit bloated, and gassy) - so that was another thing (I’ll post more on that one later - an upset stomach can really screw up your workout big time).

At that point, I decided I had two choices: - a) end the workout there, or b) take a couple of exercises, and REALLY focus on them. And being the exercise-a-holic that I am, I natually chose option b).

I went back and redid the Hindu squats, focusing on good form on EVERY rep. Did the same with the jumpers, but then instantly moved on to some stretching exercises for the thighs. REALLY worked those into the ground (instead of my other squat/lunge movements, which are a bit more advanced) - and then went on to the bridging. I concentrated hard on each variation of the bridge (there are several I’ve learnt, and believe me, done right, they are a workout unto themselves). Nothing fancy after that, except for some more stretches - but boy was I hammered at the end of the workout - and that too in a good way.

This also ties into mastering a specific exercise (I’ve written about that as well in the past, but I’ll let you use the search function to find it) - there are many, many ways to make the same exercise tougher, and more intense. Very few people manage to master an exercise at the highest levels - and if you can master more than a couple of exercises (agin, look for the post on “Mastering an exercise”), let me know - you’ve really got something at that point.

So, that’s something to chew upon for today - incorporate this principle every so often in your workout, and let me know how it goes!

As always - get fit - FAST!!

Rahul

All,

What does it mean to truly “master” an exercise? 1000’s of reps in one set? Doing them super fast? Doing them with perfect form?

There are many serious trainees out there, who are proficient in various exercises, and have acheieved a good level of fitness, and continue to improve.

But, how many people can truly claim to have “mastered” an exercise?

To answer that question, let me attempt to explain what it truly means to “master” an exercise. . .

First, even the simplest of exercises can be made tougher by doing things just a little differently. There are infinite variations of even the SIMPLEST exercises, which will make the exercise that much harder. I’ll give you three examples beneath: -

#1) Table maker pushups: Point the toes outward slightly while doing this exercise, and concentrate on SQUEEZING the hamstrings, glutes, and thighs during this movement. Focus also on the inner thighs while doing this exercise (turning the toes outward makes this possible). This variations makes it harder to perform for those who have weaker inner things, or weak glutes.

#2) Reverse pushups - Concentrate on really “opening the shoulders up” during the up part of this movement. Extend the arms out all the way - yes, I know this is part of the regular movement, but go that extra inch. Really “get into the muscle” and “feel” it “open up”. Some of this is more mental, but at the end of the day, inputting a mental aspect into the exercise makes the physical part that much more challenging. Try it, and see!

#3) Hindu squats - Concentrate more on the balls of your feet, as well as the inner things during the movement instead of just the quadriceps - and you’ll feel the movement differently.

Note that these are just THREE examples - the theory applies to most, if not ALL exercises you do.

Now that we’ve estabilished that, back to the definition of “mastery”. A person may be able to knock off 25 tablemaker pushups in one set, but would he able to do these with the slight variation I mentioned in #1? Or, someone may be able to knock off hundreds of squats in a single set, but is their form and breathing absolutely correct on all the reps? Are they truly concentrating on the body as a whole while doing the exercise, or simply the thighs?

You get the picture - to be truly called a “master” at any one exercise, you would have to master all the possible (and importantly, PRACTICAL variations i.e. doing 1 Hindu squat per minute is a variation all right, but neither useful nor practical!). And even then, I’d bet you could come up with more ways to challenge yourself with that particular exercise.

Very few people, if any, master an exercise to the fullest. I know I am personally not at that level myself, though I will say I’m fairly fit, and up to 90% + mastery on a lot of the exercises I do. But, that last 10% is the 10% that matters.

So, what does it take to “master” an exercise? The basic things, really - focus hard on your reps - make sure you “change” the exercise up every once in a while - and you’ll be on your way to achieve mastery in that exercise. Once you do, drop me a line - nothing like hearing it straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak!

That’s it for this one. As always - get fit - and FAST!

Rahul