The Functional Training Bible (eBook)

Guido Bruscia (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF | EPUB

2015 | 1. Auflage
512 Seiten
Meyer & Meyer (Verlag)
978-1-78255-372-4 (ISBN)

Infos

Discover functional training like you've never seen or experienced! This training is easy, fast and fun and it will revolutionize your health and athletic performance. It will become a new way of life! Functional training is a scientific method for personal training, workouts at the gym, at home or outdoors. The book is divided into three parts: The first, theoretical part explains the 'why' at the foundation of functional training; the second, practical part contains bodyweight exercises and exercises with various tools (sandbags, medicine ball, kettlebells). The final section proposes several specific training programs for strength, hypertrophy and weight loss. Welcome to the revolution in functional training! Get your focus and follow it!

Guido Bruscia is a Master Trainer, popular in Italy and abroad, for functional and kettlebell training. He is technical director of the Functional Training School, teacher at institutions of education for fitness and body building, personal trainer and fitness coach. He has written several bestselling books. He lives in Rimini, where he invented Personal Care, an innovative method of personal training with the goal of revolutionizing the lives of its students.

Textauszug

10.4 Lower-body exercises

Front squat

Starting position

A | Stand and hold a barbell firmly. The wrists are broken (i.e., the hands are back with the palms facing up), the hands resting on the clavicles, the elbows high and pointing forward.

A

Execution

B | Bend the legs and sit back into a full squat.

Keep the elbows high.

Aim for the deepest possible movement, maintaining the spine’s physiological curves.

Return to the starting position

Complete the required number of repetitions.

B

Discussion

I know, I talk about body-weight exercises, and I start with the frontal squat. This is meant as a reminder. This is the most neglected and undervalued exercise in gyms and in fitness training. Wrongly so! Many people begin with a classic squat without being ready for it, both technically and in terms of the coordination and fluidity of the kinematic and articular chains involved. The front squat not only teaches the correct squat technique—it is a natural preparation for it—but also, compared to its more famous cousin exercise, it features:

• fewer difficulties with the stance;

• a better load and body-weight distribution;

• a deeper movement, translating into a greater activation of the gluteus;

• a smaller load on the lower back;

• excellent stimulation of the erector spinae, the multifidus, the longissimus dorsi, the sacral-lumbar, and the quadratus lumborum muscles; and

• involvement of the rectus abdominis and the core muscle in an excellent stabilizing action.

Personally, I believe this is one of the best preventive, and even treatment, exercises for chronic lumbago, based on empirical tests with athletes. I will also admit that I consider it a treatment for acute lumbago as well, when used with core exercises that use fitness balls. This is a personal opinion, of course, but if experience counts for anything, the effects of this exercise go well beyond its appearance. Besides, it activates the gluteus to a greater degree, and this is an element much sought after by women as an objective for every training program. So this exercise is a must for anyone.

Leg flexion

Starting position

A | Stand with your legs at shoulder width. Extend the arms in front of you in a neutral position (i.e., thumbs upward); the scapulae must be adducted.

A

Execution

B | Bend the legs and sit back in a controlled fashion until you reach a full squat.

Extending the legs return to the starting position.

Complete the required number of repetitions.

B

Discussion

Discussing squats would require a whole book. In the history of athletics, there isn’t a training technique which has been analyzed more, instant by instant, moment by moment, with all its implications. Let’s examine the most important ones:

• Position of the scapulae: they are adducted in order to keep the upper back in correct position; the trapezius and the latissimus dorsi are essential for correct upper-body and spine posture.

• Spine: it is in the neutral position; performing the exercise with the greatest possible movement range must not prevent you from maintaining the spine’s natural curves.

• Movement: squat as deep as possible, taking care of what is noted in the previous points. Electromyographic studies tell us that the deeper the squat is, the more the gluteus maximus is activated and stimulated.

Look around gyms, and you will see that maybe, and I repeat, maybe, 1 person in 20 is performing a passable squat. The squat is a fundamental exercise for a total-body motor activation and for the physiological responses it generates. It is primarily important for generating the hormonal response. A training program without squats is like the opera Turandot: an incomplete work.

Asymmetric squat

Starting position

A | Stand with the legs at shoulder width. Extend the arms in front of you in a neutral position (thumbs upward); the scapulae must be adducted.

Bring the right foot 4-6 in. (10-15 cm) forward of the left foot.

A

Execution

B | Bend the legs and sit back in a controlled fashion until you reach a full squat.

Rise up again and complete the number of repetitions required.

Invert the position of your limbs and execute this exercise again with the same number of repetitions.

B

Discussion

This specific exercise was taught to me by Michael Boyle[15] in Los Angeles, with the following explanation: Do we ever, in daily and in sporting life, find ourselves executing squats or other frontal plane flexion with limbs perfectly aligned? Let’s try to work asymmetrically and see the effect it has. It is interesting to feel how the perception of the exercise and of the muscles that are stimulated changes by varying one foot’s position just a little. Specifically, the adductor and the gluteus minimus and medius of the contralateral leg work harder. A fine exercise and excellent preparation.

Squat jump

Starting position

A | Stand with the legs at shoulder width. Extend the arms in front of you in a neutral position (thumbs upward); the scapulae must be adducted.

A

Execution

B | Bend the legs and sit back in a controlled fashion until you reach a full squat.

B

C | From here, jump explosively upward, using the arms to help with the movement.

C

D | Cushion the landing phase with your legs. Take a second to stabilize your position, and then complete your repetitions.

D

Discussion

The same argument given initially for the squat is valid for the squat jump, at least partly. According to many, the squat jump is equivalent to a direct route to back ache, especially with the addition of a load, such as a barbell. Much could be said on the use of this exercise. In fact, when the loaded barbell is positioned at the level of the trapezius, its downward acceleration (not excluding body weight) applies stress on the rachis and the joints of the lower limbs. Yet all coaches will use it at some stage in the season. There is a reason for this: It is a functional exercise, because the hip extensor chain works both in its action, flexion–extension, and its function, propulsion. This exercise is effective for any expression of explosive strength and speed strength. Now some advice:

1. Start teaching the squat movement the correct way, beginning with the free-standing exercise.

2. Work with preliminary or preparatory exercises on all the kinematic chains involved (e.g., wall squats or overhead squats, which we shall soon see). Yes, work the lower limbs, but also work the spine and back extensor muscles (quadratus lumborum, erector spinae, longissimus dorsi, semispinalis dorsi, and multifidus).

3. If you are using a lighter load (a light barbell or dumbbells), position the equipment forward, as in the front squat, keeping the elbows high. You will thus reduce the load incidence on the lower back.

4. Absorb as best you can the load on the joints of the lower limbs, cushioning it. And take a second to stabilize your position. I recommend no more than five repetitions per set, given the tendon and ligament stress to which the joints involved in this exercise are subjected.

Overhead squat

Starting position

A | Stand with the legs at shoulder width. Raise your arms upward, close to the head.

Execution

B | Bend the legs and sit back to a full squat.

While you bend, extend the arms backward to keep them high and perpendicular above you.

Return to the starting position.

B

Discussion

I have always had a weakness for overhead squats; they are little-known but outstanding exercises. They require control and balance. Thanks to the long lever, overhead squats activate the parascapular and paravertebral musculatures and the humerus retractor muscles (trapezius, cuff extrarotators, rhomboid), leading to significant postural improvements. These exercises are essential to prepare the body for the heavier basic exercises. Of course this isn’t an easy exercise, at least for beginners. For this reason, the preparation and the difficulty progression are very important.

• First step: Start with an ordinary flexion of the legs. Once you have reached a full squat, raise one arm upward with a slight rotation of the trunk to accommodate for the raised arm, then return to the standing position.

• Second step: Execute a squat in which only one arm is raised from beginning to end.

Now you can do the full exercise. During the first two executions, you will be surprised when feeling the activation of the oblique muscles. The next step will of course be working with a barbell, ...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 29.1.2015
• Verlagsort: Aachen
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Sport
• Schlagworte: Body Building • bodyweight exercises • Bodyweight Training • Fitness • Kettlebell • medicine ball • Personal Training • sandbag • strength training • theory • training programms • weight loss • Workout
• ISBN-10: 1-78255-372-X / 178255372X
• ISBN-13: 978-1-78255-372-4 / 9781782553724