A while ago I posted a blog on the the relative ineffectiveness of typical glute strengthening exercises such as the clam and side lying leg raises and recommended some more effective exercises. I have had a few requests for a video of these to show more clearly how to perform them so here you go.
Whether you are training to run a marathon or lose weight, tone up and get fit there are three basic training errors that can hold you back from reaching your goals. Every client I have ever worked with has been making at least one of these. Have a read and see if any of these apply to you.
I was recently reading a well known running magazine when I came across an article regarding Machine weights vs Free weights for running. The article gave a balanced argument for both but recommended that maybe beginners would be better off starting with machines.I’d like to say that without doubt performing weights using a Machine should NEVER be done by any runner, beginners, intermediate or advance, and especially not for people with an injury.No if’s but’s , no exceptions at all.
Not only are they not performance enhancing I would strongly argue they are performance dehancing. Continue reading »
The Gluteus medius is situated on the side of your hip and controls the movement of your pelvis in the frontal plane. In English that means it control how much your opposite side hip drops when you walk or run. To feel what I mean, stand on 1 leg and let your other hip drop towards the floor. Now lift it back up again – you have just worked your gluteus medius. To see what I mean simply watch any catwalk model walk and observe how the hips move from side to side and the pelvis tilts side to side when looking from behind.Weakness in this muscle is very common and is responsible for a number of injuries including Iliotibial Band (ITB)Syndrome and knee pain.
One common exercise given by health or fitness professionals is to lie on your side and lift your top leg off your bottom leg and hold it there for up to 60 seconds. This does work the Gluteus medius but does it help stabilise the movement of your pelvis when you walk? Continue reading »
There has been an increasing amount of publicity and attention being drawn to the concept of functional training. Whilst the ideas behind this is well founded I feel it is promoting a concept that doesnt actually exist.
The idea is that certain exercises are functional and others are not. For example a bench press is non-functional whereas lying on a ball doing a press with dumbells is functional or doing a sit-up is non functional whereas holding onto a medicine ball and twisting your body from side to side is.
The problem with this is that there is no clarification of what functional is. What does functional mean? Continue reading »
