Why Saying 'no' Matters in Your Gym Programme Too.
Throwing 10 exercises onto a whiteboard is easy. Effective gym programmes exclude more than they include.
Throwing 10 exercises onto a whiteboard is easy. Effective gym programmes exclude more than they include.
If Instabook is a social distraction and your colleague bothering you is a work distraction, then bicep curls and tricep kickbacks are the gym version of a complete waste of time. Don’t get me wrong, they have a place (if the uplighting is good and your beau is watching), but honestly, who has the time to waste 30 mins of their day on an exercise that garners 1% results?
Knowing what exercises to exclude from your strength training is the science. Afterall, no one has reinvented heavy things that I know of, and for the vast majority of us balancing a joyfully packed life requires effective use of our time and the biggest bang for buck exercises.
Of course some goals are highly bespoke, as are some athletes. If you are rehabbing or disabled then tailoring your prescription is important and this is where experts must guide you. And of course your intensity (loading) is dependent upon your expertise. For the most part however the human body is designed to move and load through three planes and full ranges of motion. So before you add in the isolated single joint fillers that are the gym version of celery, throw some better nutrients into your programme and make the most of the rare time you spend prioritising your own needs.
Squat: Utilise a Goblet hold to learn the pattern before progressing to Back Squats
Hinge: Your hips will thank you for RDL’s, Bridges, and Deadlifts
Lunge: Split Squats are a staple and challenge your stability with Forward Lunging
Pull: Work up to a Pull Up with assisted Lat Pull downs or a loaded Row
Push: Nothing beats a well executed push up. Brush your elbows past your rib cage
Rotate: Woodchop loading progresses effectively into landmine rotations
Walk: Engage your grip and shoulders with a heavy carry. Dumbbells work well.
None of the above is new and we will take no credit for any of their inventions. Rather, the skill of an effective programme is deciding what you leave at the door and how to best use your 18-25 sets of work today. Side note; if your programme is taking you longer than 45 minutes to complete and you are not a pro athlete, something is wrong. Set your alarm and get to work with effective loading not stocking fillers.
In the video below, Tom talks about the science behind our programming at Pinnacle. And why causing fatigue is easy, but creating adaptation on the least amount of work requires science.
What are your thoughts on programming? We’d love to hear from you. Comment on the section below!
Forrest Gump was just a story.
No one should just get up and run. Not even Forrest. Respect your movement by prepping effectively first
Driving a car towards a wall without testing the brakes at speed makes you foolish (politely). Dropping an egg and salt onto a plate and expecting it to be an omelet makes us wishful. Likewise we need warming up to be our best. Our joints, muscles, lungs, and circulation are not airbags.
If you climb out of your commute and hit the pavement you are creating a kinetic storm in the forces you expect your body to transfer. Equally, if you roll out of bed and demand your coordination to be ready for a pre breakfast match of Padel then your body will one day tell you that you should have primed some sporting shapes more effectively first.
There is a reason that high performing individuals rehearse their actions and ensure they nutritionally, physically, and cognitively prep. And there are lessons that we can all learn from the athletes, business leaders, and individuals around us who seem to effortlessly defy fatigue. Yes they might have a higher baseline of output, but more controllably they schedule a non negotiable window before crucial execution to warm up. They read their notes before a key speech, execute imagery skills before a big race, and always always always pay more attention to readying their performance than ignorantly expecting the mind and body to respond on demand.
So what can you do to best protect yourself before your next Sunday league training or park run? Respect yourself to add 10 minutes and activate the movement pathways and response systems of the body so that your output exceeds a cold engine.
At high specificity the exercises and techniques for warming up will vary. But for the other 99% of us the means to activate your muscles and rehearse for our sport will be similar enough to create non negotiable rules for anyone to follow;
Move your body through increasing ranges of motion that simulate the activity: Before running 5km move through a Runners Lunge to mobilise hips & ankles;
Gradually increase your breathing rate, lung, heart, and circulatory functions from their resting state to the activity intensity: If you expect a HR of 175 bpm on the football pitch, make sure your warm up identifies this with high velocity pitch runs and 30s small sided games;
Activate the specific movement patterns building to a competition intensity: Before accelerating, decelerating, turning, and jumping on the squash court, complete Side Lying Clams, Glute Bridges, Deadbugs, and IYT’s.
Follow our Runners Lunge flow as a generic primer before any activity to prep better than simply a Redbull on the motorway.