My boss one told me that doing the same thing for 10 years is not equivalent to 10 years' worth of experience. It's actually 1 year's worth of experience being done over and over again for 10 years. It was a simple statement, yet profound.
When you do something, you should always strive to improve yourself. Maybe you improve yourself over time and after going through personal experiences. Other times you improve by reading about the subject matter or talking to like minded souls - changing ideas and opinions.
In my career as well as my short years of being a fitness junkie wannabe I have made some stupid mistakes. I look back and realize that I have learnt a lot over the years but I also realize that I still have a long way to go. Just a moment ago I read my past blog entries and there are some that I'm kind of embarrassed about.
Most of them are when I write about direct work for certain muscle groups like the glutes, triceps, back and abs. I know now that our body functions as a whole and doing isolation work would actually not help you much. It might help in terms of cosmetics (to a certain extent) but I don't think it will help to enhance your overall strength.
Doing barbell squats will work your core, and glutes. Doing the overhead press (or any other type of presses) will work your triceps. Doing deadlifts will build up your traps in no time. You don't really need too much of direct work. But there are exceptions...
Like direct grip work. I have a sissy grip and doing direct grip work would be extremely beneficial for me. Especially when training for the deadlift. I've discovered that my grip is hindering my deadlift progress. I've a feeling if I don't do something about my grip strength it will one day hinder my chin up progress as well as my overhead press progress.
What other direct work do you think is relevant? Jason and Kev... what are your thoughts on this?
2 comments:
Grip work (as stated), triceps, lats - in my opinion, needs direct work.
Grip strength is of prime significance when it comes to any exercises that require a direct contact with your palms. Grip strength also helps prevent the wrists from bending under heavy weight to avoid possible injuries. I think I'm just stating the obvious here.
So what would I recommend for grip work? I spent about RM12 for a pair of deluxe grip by Kettler many months back and it has helped my grip strength tremendously; you can exercise your grip anywhere, anytime. A few weeks back I was telling my brother about how effective these grips can be in increasing strength. He didn't pay much attention to it until we decide to crush each other's hands in a test of grip strength. I basically crushed his hand like a crumpled piece of paper, easily. He has since then started to use my grippers lol.
I do full ROM and isometric grip exercises. I also do farmer's walk in the gym for additional isometric work. Wrist curls? I hardly do them.. not one of my favourites, though they'd help for grip strength. Oh, and chin ups work the forearms isometrically as well. Good stuff.
For triceps, a strong set of triceps help tremendously with overhead and bench presses. Full body dip work works best for me; nothing else comes close to it.
Lats.. It's good to do some lat pulldowns or bent over rows to specifically target the muscle group. Chin ups wouldn't be that effective since biceps are aiding in the movement. Wide grip pull ups would be the best.
I'm in a hurry, sorry for the messy reply.
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