Friday Links
(No Ratings Yet. Click to Rate!)
Loading ...This is a pretty interesting bit–touching upon the neural basis of training, talking about visualization training effects. This generally has the most relevance when hurt–even if you can’t bear weight on your knee, visualizing doing squats can work pretty well too–but at times when you can’t get into the gym to do your full lifting routine or whatever, try visualizing some heavy lifts instead.
Implications for general training here too–it’s not just the weight lifting and stress on the muscles. Your nervous system coordinates the whole assembly, so making it work better makes you more efficient too. More than one means to improved performance…of course, visualization of skills and ultimate situations have similar effects–making your nervous system more efficient. Slightly different effects, but same general principle.
On the same thread of alternative training means, this one is a personal favorite–simple, daily bodyweight holds to develop strength. This is just upper body, but you can do similar things for your core (planks–advancing to 1-arm/1-leg planks as you see fit, as well as side planks, etc), and I find split squats work pretty quickly to the same ends as well. There’s plenty you can do without weights or without much time to maintain a training effect when you’re too busy or otherwise too inconvenienced to get to the gym.
Finally, we have single-leg squatting. One of my favorite bodyweight exercises, most likely because I’m more than capable of doing them and most people aren’t. Beast Skills also has a great tutorial for this–as well as a number of guides to various other bodyweight wonders. It’s a great way to mix up your training, particularly if you’re in the off-season. I’m a firm believer that my capability to do such things with my body (specifically, handstands and single-leg squats) reflects my high kinesthetic awareness (that is, intuiting where my body is and how it moves in space and the ability to manipulate it skillfully), something that differentiates some of the best athletes out there. I’m not presuming to say I’m one of the best athletes out there, but developing in this way certainly is well down that path.
I’m working on the Beast Skills handstand tutorial, which is really fun, and exposing some core weaknesses I have. (chest stabilizers and wrist muscles). I really like mixing it up.
On the downside, after about 1000 handstands, I finally dropped myself on my head the other night, which was less than fun. Not really that painful, more scary than anything.
I spent much of my past couple years of high school perfecting the handstand.
I’d like to think my slim frame (a bit shy of 140) gives me an advantage here–less to crush me (and less to hold up as well). I also practiced lots on grass and wrestling mats.
Learning how to fall is fun though. There was a time where I was very proficient at the roll-on-back fall.