What you want vs. what you need.
Imagine going through elementary and high school only studying the subjects you wanted to study. I know for sure that Math would be nowhere on the list. My days would have looked something like this:
1st Period – Gym
2nd Period – Art
3rd Period – Lunch
4th Period – Gym
5th Period – Biology or Gym
Sounds awesome doesn’t it?
And now imagine that from the time you are a kid you could eat whatever you wanted for every meal. No pestering to eat your veggies.
I don’t know about you, but I am pretty sure my new favourite veggie would have become Fruit Loops with a side of Smarties.
Random thought…Are there ‘Smarties’ outside Canada? I have an idea maybe not – they are basically the same as M&Ms…back to business…
Again, that sounds pretty awesome, until you think of the consequences. I would have become a 400lbs 10 year old who only knew how to do gym and a bit of finger painting. Not what you would call a promising future 🙂
So luckily (I say in hindsight) my teachers and my parents knew better and made sure I got what I needed first and foremost and then sprinkled in the stuff that I liked.
I see a lot of you and a lot of my colleagues make the exact same mistakes.
If you go to the gym and do your own workout, I know for a fact you do the exercises you like, the ones that feel good, that look cool or are really hard. That is all great, except that you completely neglect the areas that you either don’t know or choose to ignore because – – insert excuse here... I will give you a list so you can see what sounds familiar:
- You don’t have time
- You don’t even feel that exercise
- That is way to easy for you
- You have never been hurt before
- You just have to finish up one more set of biceps curls
- You don’t even know that these essential ingredients are missing
Don’t worry, it is not just you, I see fitness professionals do it all the time – in fact there are entire tribes of professionals who do this exact thing as part of their methodology. To them it is more important to make the client ‘feel like they got a great workout’ than it is to give them the most productive workout possible. Crazy eh?
But don’t worry, you don’t have to fall into that trap or make that mistake with your own training and here is the formula I want you to follow to make sure. This is what your workout should look like….
Step One: Static Stretch Circuit – choose four stretches and hold them for 30 seconds on each side.
Step Two: Dynamic Mobility – choose four dynamic warm-up exercises and do five reps on each side.
Strep Three: Strength Training – instead of heading to the water fountain on your rest break, add in one of the following some stabilization work:
- Side lying shoulder external rotation
- Bungee shoulder external rotation at 90/90
- Bungee shoulder internal rotation
- Scapular retraction
- Scapular protraction
- Single leg balance with your eyes closed
- Quadruped hip extension for glute activation
- Side lying clamshell for glute medius strengthening
- Deep overhead squat for mobility
- Quadruped superman for spine stabilization
The list could go on and on – but try adding just two to your current routine and see what a difference it makes. You will be amazed.
So as much as I want to be the cool teacher or the cool babysitter who just lets you do whatever you want to do, I care too much about you to see you waste your time and your talent.
If you are having trouble coming up with ideas, here are some resources for you:
Stretches
If you cannot see the video above, simply click the link below…
http://youtu.be/Qnge82ewNTo
If you cannot see the video above, simply click the link below…
http://youtu.be/h-R9cf7AkuY
Dynamic Mobility
If you cannot see the video above, simply click the link below…
http://youtu.be/N7i1Q4MKLLk
If you cannot see the video above, simply click the link below…
http://youtu.be/lpZkRS0Lz9U
Stabilization/Activation
If you cannot see the video above, simply click the link below…
http://youtu.be/iX3cMON00Jg
If you cannot see the video above, simply click the link below…
http://youtu.be/M3-gLh95Wm0
If you cannot see the video above, simply click the link below…
http://youtu.be/Ak6RXlLpvjk?t=2m22s
And if you want to take out ALL of the guess work and have me design the program you need (for under $15 per month) then you will definitely want to check out Goalie Workout Club or Hockey Workout Club.
Happy training.
Cheers,
Maria