By MIKE ROBERTSON, MS, CSCS, USAW
However, while there are many similarities between the hips and shoulders, there are a few fundamental differences as well.
Without getting too geeky here, the biggest difference is in the passive (non-muscular) stability provided by each joint. The ball sits much deeper in the socket of the hip, versus that of the shoulder.
In fact, many biomechanists would describe the ball of the shoulder as something similar to a golf-ball sitting on a tee!
So while both need tons of range of motion, the shoulder will always inherently have more motion than the hip, just due to its structure.
your Joint-health Arsenal
I’ve actually covered the “how to” section of this extensively before on elitefts.com. If you missed it, please make sure to check out the link below:
The Keys to Upper Body Injury Prevention and Strength
What I want to focus on are a handful of joint health measures, and get you focused on doing them religiously to keep yourself healthy over the long haul.
Joint Traction
Traction is awesome because it helps “open up” the joint at hand.
Think of it like this : every time you squat, bench press, or deadlift, you’re compressing your joints together.
And if you’re out of alignment or move poorly, this will increase the wear-and-tear on specific sections of those joints.
To counteract this, joint traction (also known as “distraction”) can help open that joint space back up. Not to mention the fact that it just feels good!
For the big guys I’ve worked with, I like to throw in a quick traction session both pre- and post-workout.
Pre-workout is beneficial because it helps open up that joint space, improves mobility, and just gets you feeling good.
Post-workout, you’ve just spent the last one to two hours beating the hell out of your joints with heavy weights. I don’t want my clients walking out of the gym feeling like shit, so a few minutes of traction helps open that joint back up and gets it feeling immediately better.
Dynamic Mobility Exercises
Dynamic mobility exercises are critical as well. In this case, I also like to do them at two times:
1. Pre-workout (after your traction and self-myosfascial release work), and 2. On off-days as an active recovery session.
Dynamic mobility exercises/stretches are fantastic pre-workout because they not only work on the flexibility/
extensibility of a muscle, but they also use the nervous system to help control that motion and provide stability.
Stability really is the name of the game if you want to be big and strong. If you’re floppy and unstable, you’re not going to be able to turn on those big prime movers (pecs, lats, quads, hamstrings, glutes, etc.) the way you’d like.
On off-days, rather than sitting on our duff and doing absolutely nothing, why not perform a quick-and-dirty foam rolling routine/dynamic stretching routine to loosen up and get ourselves feeling a bit better?
Guys and gals who are consistent about this report less soreness between workouts, better mobility, and fewer injuries. Quite simply, why wouldn’t you start doing this?
Static Stretching
While dynamic stretching/mobility work is all the rage, I’m still a fan of the old school static stretching.
When your goal is to move 1000-pound squats, or to break into the 308-pound or superheavyweight class, you get bigger and stronger.
Big and strong is cool, but big and strong also means stiffer. Stiffness can help you move bigger weights, but ultimately, you need to have enough flexibility/mobility to get into the right positions to compete in your sport.
When it takes you that same 1,000 pounds to break parallel? Houston, we have a problem.
I like to recommend five to ten minutes of foam rolling, followed immediately by 15-20 minutes of static stretching right before bed. This helps you unwind and relax, which has another additional benefit: better sleep and recovery.
If you want the quick and dirty static stretching session, focus on these critical areas:
• Pecs,
• Lats,
• Hip Flexors,
• Quads,
• Calves,
• Hips,
• Hamstrings, and
• Lower Back.
If you do nothing else in this guide, try stretching three to four times per week for 15-20 minutes. I guarantee you’ll see and feel a noticeable difference in your body.
Summary
Powerlifting is an amazing sport. I always enjoyed training, but it wasn’t until I started competed in powerlifting that I realized how much I loved it.
I meet powerlifters all the time that are every bit as passionate, and it always hurts me to see them have to quit the sport they love due to injury.
By following the basic guidelines I’ve provided here, you can add pounds to your total and years to your career.
What do you have to lose?
It may not be ingrained in our male DNA, but when most of us started lifting weights, it sure seemed like all of our workouts (no matter what the goal) were genetically predestined to be bench press, biceps curl, and
triceps pushdown marathons four to five times per week… and not much else. I know that my own workouts sure looked like this when I first started weight training way back in the late 80s. I don’t get to visit the typical commercial gym too often these days, but each time I do, I feel like I have time warped back to the 80s—as I see most guys doing the same stuff I did over twenty-something years ago. For whatever reason, not much has changed, and it’s not their fault. They just don’t know any better. So, what’s a dude to do? I am going to show you how to do better based on several things that we have learned over the years.
First, let’s be honest, dudes: you could probably stand to lose some “L-B’s” of body fat (I should note that back in the 80s and 90s, we referred to guys most often as “dudes” in our vernacular instead of the currently in vogue term of “bros”). Many guys, myself most definitely included, tend to find ourselves in a perpetual
“bulking” or mass-gaining mode. Why is this? Interestingly, for a lot of us dudes, the mirror often lies, and we will see a much leaner version of ourselves staring back at us. However, if we were to take an honest self-evaluation, such as a body composition test or to take some simple photos with only trunks on, many may be very surprised and/or shocked with the results. It can be a real eye-opener when you learn that you are not nearly as lean as you think you are. In other words, that 14-15% body fat that you think you are sporting…
it’s probably much closer to 21-22%. If you have taken this evaluation and have decided that it is time to get leaner, it is also time that you overhaul your training program and make it more suited to the task at hand.
I write training programs at one of the leading fat loss gyms in the world, and we have quite a few males who have come from the same place that you and I have. These guys are now typically middle aged and looking to shed some fat, stay strong, and still feel a bit athletic while holding on to their inner “dude.”
I am going to share with you what I feel are some of the biggest mistakes that I see most guys make—when left to their own devices—in regards to formatting their weight training programs for fat loss. Fixing these mistakes immediately will fast track your progress and get you to your fat loss goals. I am then going to share a snapshot of an eight-week training program that we have used with great success for dudes just like us.
1. DUDES ORGANIzE ThEIR TRAINING lIKE A “BODyBUIlDER.”
I certainly mean no disrespect to the competitive bodybuilding community by the above statement, and I don’t think there is anything wrong with bodybuilding as a competitive pursuit—I am a fan. There is certainly a lot to learn from bodybuilders. In fact, most dudes get our first exposure to weight training through bodybuilders via muscle magazines and the Internet. The problem is that most guys think that following the routines of competitive bodybuilders is the best way for the average person to train for fat loss. They will typically organize their training sessions in terms of the body parts or muscles trained. This is actually not very logical and not as productive as it could be since, in reality, your body works as an integrated unit—not as individual parts or muscles. By the way, have you ever wondered how it was decided that certain muscles get their own day while others don’t? It doesn’t really make sense to base how we allocate exercises to our training days simply by using muscle groups as the main organizing factor. It makes much more sense to base the allocation in regards to what the body does as it relates to basic human movements. If you think more in terms of training basic movements and the body as a whole (the way it actually works), you will actually train muscles as a by-product and get the results you desire. I really like a quote that I originally heard from strength coach Nick Winkleman of Athletes’ Performance who stated, “When we just train muscles, we forget movements, when we train movements, we never forget muscles.”
The other big problem with this approach is that time is a major limiting factor for most typical dudes. We all have extremely busy lives with jobs and families. Do you really have the time to dedicate to training that a