Several weeks ago, I had a great group of girls come up to IFAST for assessments and programming.  The goal was simple:  To get them moving and feeling better, and eventually taking their athletic endeavors to the next level.

Now let me begin by saying this wasn’t your average group of girls.  They were a strong, athletic bunch, and I’d put them up against almost any “bro” at the local fitness facility.

What I’m getting at here is this – these girls were seasoned veterans, and had a pretty darn good idea of what they were doing in the weight room.

They presented with a lot of the same issues, however, so we took some time at the end of their session to do some coaching on basic lifting and stretching techniques. They definitely knew what they were doing, but with a little coaching I knew they could really unlock the potential of their bodies. I wanted to make sure that when they went home, they were performing the exercises in the correct manner.

And that’s what today’s lesson is all about.  Is a program that’s geared towards your needs and goals important?  Absolutely.

But we tend to overlook what may be even more important – how you do things! A split-squat or lunge sounds pretty easy, until you consider all of the following factors:

–       Your propulsion point on the front leg

–       The position of your back leg

–       Your torso angle

–       Where your knee is in relation to your hip and foot

Obviously there’s even more to it than that, but hopefully you can see that even a seemingly “simple” exercise like a split-squat or lunge can actually be quite complex when you really dig in and analyze it.

Next time you head to the gym, don’t just mindlessly blow through your program.  Really try to feel what’s going on, and work not just to throw more weight on the bar, but also to better understand how you move.

When you start to realize it’s not just what you do, but how you do it, you start to really understand what your body is truly capable of.

Have a great week of training!

Stay strong

MR