HELLO FRIENDS
This is a continuation of a previous article, StrongFirst: Principle Based Strength.
It will explain the first 4 points of the StrongFirst ‘S‘ : principles of workout organization
1) Mobility / 2) Reactivity / 3) Skill / 4) Speed
Workout Organization
This topic is important for those who desire efficiency and want to get the most out of their workouts.
You may think that you can just walk into a gym and start benching, or skip from one type of workout class to the next, and some how ‘get in shape’.
The truth is that if you want to get in shape (whatever that means) and not just be good at benching or just OK at every known exercise -you have to plan out, step by step, the path to your goal.
Remember, if you fail to plan you plan to fail.
The majority of people don’t have fitness goes beyond just getting fit.
That is because they have no idea of their physical limitations nor their physical abilities relative to others.
So for the general person I will use the very general goal of getting fit as the end point, so that we can begin with the laying out of the step by step process towards it…. sounds fun….right?
I want to make this aspect of your life easier
If you follow the order laid out by the StrongFirst ‘S‘ you will find yourself on the fast track to fitness success.
1)Mobility
- Soft tissue work first. Do this in order to get the tissue moving in the right way.
- Foam roll, Band work, Active Stretching
- Write down a mobility goal, ideally have it relate to an exercise you know you will be doing later i.e. better hip mobility in the deep squat.
- Some Movement Patterning work for the exercises you know you will be doing later is a good idea.
2) Reactivity
- Having slow reactivity means you have a slow nervous system, this is an indicator of how much time you have left.
- you can train reactivity in many ways:
- vision and balance drills
- catching and tossing drills
- pursuit drills
- It is important to do this prior to lifting, because the effects of this type of training will increase your ability to produce strength later in the workout.
- Doing this after a workout will reduce the training effect.
3)Skill
- 5-10 minute period
- work on one exercise you want to learn
- or on a part of an exercise you know you need to get better at
- do this after reactivity drills to increase their training effect; the brain learns best stimulated but not fatigued.
- do Skill movements super slow motion if possible first
- gradually increase speed as proficiency increases, if anything, leave the speed for the next section.
4) Speed
- 10-20 minute period
- Speed, like skill work, is done prior to any excess fatigue.
- Speed development means fast twitch muscle fiber development.
- Metabolic waste is detrimental to speed I.E. no one gets faster as a game progress.
- This includes jumping, explosive kettlebell movements, Olympic lifting, sprinting, plyometrics and the like.
I hope you enjoyed this, stay tuned for part 2
and other related articles
All the best!
Your Friendly neighborhood Trainer 🙂