Hi everyone from your personal trainer Andrea Nolli. We go quickly to the question of today.. Sometimes ago a woman, quite experienced in fitness, asked me what I was thinking about a strange exercise to develop gluteus muscles performed by a famous Instagram fitness model that she was following. Instagram influencers?? Not all of them experts! Often I see them performing absurd, complicated and risky exercises just to get more and more followers. Why should you be practicing an easy, well known, boring and simple exercise like a squat, when you can do a new type of exercise, balancing on two benches with five or six anklets, fixed with few elastic bands while bouncing a tennis ball? Are you looking to be an acrobat or you just want to train? Do you think this activate much more the gluteus? Let's stop dreaming, come back with our feet on the ground and, instead of starting with strange exercises, let's learn well the basic ones. I can ensure that they look easy but months are needed to learn it properly. I'm talking about the fantastic four and not referring to the famous movie of Marvel, instead of four exercises that everybody, who has not medical impediment to train, should be able to do properly.
Excluding for a moment pull-ups, fantastic four are:
-deadlift
-squat
-bench press
-military press
The execution of those exercises is defined by precise rules, which are linked to biomechanics, and by fitness specialists. Those exercises are the base and from there everything starts: if I have learned well the bench press and retracting shoulder blades, I can utilize this technic also during pull-ups and rowing; if I have internalized the extension of my back, which is a must for lunges and squats, then I will be able to do a perfect lunge and I will understand the difference between an exercise at leg press and a squat. Last thing and we move on with the analysis of the fantastic four: all of these movements are involving more joints simultaneously and therefore an high number of muscles; so please do not ask your trainer which muscles is developing one of the above mentioned exercises! He or she would need half and an hour to answer!
Let's get started! A perfect deadlift!
The deadlift has been seen often like a pulling exercise; it is instead a pushing exercise! A common mistake in the starting phase is to jerk the barbell losing tension on the arms: this is because deadlift is often identified as a pulling movement. The initial phase of the deadlift, the moment in which the barbell from the floor reaches the height of the knee, must be a movement that takes place following the pressure of the feet on the ground, gradually allowing the simultaneous extension of the two joints involved (knee and hip). The muscles engaged in this lift are many: gastrocnemius, femoral, abductor, quadriceps, lumbar, dorsal. Many are the variations, we will only focus on the classic deadlift from the ground. When performing this exercise we need to use Olympic barbell and discs. They have a specific and established diameter and they ensure the right distance of the barbell from the ground. The arrangement we have a look today is the one defined by the Italian Federation powerlifting.
Starting point: we need to position ourselves at 5 to 7 cm from the barbell, with feet straight and legs open more or less like shoulders width.
Going down: we go down till the shinbone (tibia) touches the barbell, we take the barbell with both hands, strong grip but relaxed arms. Then, the most difficult part: we need to extend the back and push the chest outside so that the arms are straight like cords.
Diaphragm Breathing: we breath like in yoga class, inhale blowing the belly and letting the diaphragm going down, at this stage we stop breathing and hold in apnea during the entire lifting up.
Cervical: the cervical needs to be aligned with the rest of the vertebrae spine. So, please do not watch at the mirror or at the nice lady or guy next to you!
Lifting up: now we are ready to lift. I need to imagine to push the feet into the floor and slowly let the barbell slide on my legs keeping it in contact with it. Knees and hip joints will move simultaneously and back must remain extended.
Standing: once reached standing position, the exercise is over. Now you can slightly overbalance foreword and quickly bring the barbell on the floor. Do not do the other way around because you risk to damage your back! The barbell needs to go down as quick as possible like if you want to get rid of it.
Deadlift, as the other exercises, should be anyway performed under supervision of a qualified trainer!
In conclusion, stop searching tons of fancy exercises: the basic ones, if properly performed, can bring good results!!
See you next time with another fantastic exercise!
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