The body has four load-bearing joints: the shoulders, the knees, the hips and the ankles. When you stand up straight, all of these joints are in alignment. Being active helps to keep everything in alignment. Inactivity can lead to things getting out of whack. When joints move out of alignment, you start experiencing pain. This can affect all areas of the body including the neck, head and back. Misalignment also creates weakness. You may be able to push a lot of weight but unable squat and move seamlessly under a low hanging branch.
Full Range Lifting
Many weightlifting regimes have abandoned the concept of full range of motion. Each section of the body is just a piece of the bigger whole. Modern strength training focuses on isolated muscles as opposed focusing on movement of the body as a whole. This is due in part to being able to measure a specific strength such as bench presses. Any workout regime should encourage movement over the full range of motion. This requires cross training. Enable maximum strength from every position requires compelling the shoulders, hips, knees and ankles to move across every plane of possibility.
Synergistic Training
The body is adept at adapting to the stresses put upon it. That is why we sometimes hit plateaus when using the same workout routine for too long. If you link exercises and training techniques together, you can synergistically break through plateaus and reach new limits.
- Superset – Performing a set of two different exercises back-to-back is called a superset. It is an advanced bodybuilding technique. To perform a superset, you should pick exercises that affect parts of the body that are close together, such as biceps and triceps. Do a full set of one exercise followed immediately by a full set of the second exercise.
- Combination exercises – Combining two different exercises into a single repetition can really push your muscles to the limit and give you great results. You want two exercises that can easily transition from one to another. A good combination exercise is a deadlift to a row. This allows you to fluidly transition the upward movement of the deadlift all the way upward to a chin row.
- Add Cardio – Circuit training is a great way to synergistically combine the benefits of weight training and cardio. During circuit training, you work through single sets of several weight training exercises and fluidly completely several circuits in a row with little to no rest in between. You get the benefits of an elevated heart rate while performing weightlifting exercises.
Holistic Weight Training Exercises
The idea of holistic weight training is to train all different parts of the muscle cell. This means you aren’t focusing on what body part or muscle. You are focusing on the body as a whole and the interconnectedness of each muscle group. Variance is key. You want to incorporate high reps, low reps, long slow reps and fast explosive reps along with specific holistic workouts. This means every time you are hitting the gym you are doing something a little different.
A holistic training day is ultra-high intensity. You don’t want to train this way every day. The idea is to perform each exercise as one big set consisting of 10-12 reps of each exercise. Take a short rest before performing another giant set. Here is an example of a lower body holistic workout.
- Squats – This trains primarily the thighs, hips and buttocks. Many lower body routines revolve around the squat. They are great for developing core strength.
- Romanian Deadlift – This exercise is deceptively simple looking. The romanian deadlift sports impact is controversial. It is believed to be the Holy Grail for hamstrings. Approach with caution.
- Lunges – This is another great exercise for building and sculpting several muscle groups. It focuses on the thighs, buttocks and hamstrings.
Remember you want to perform 10-12 reps of each exercise. Do not take breaks between exercises. Do two to three circuits with little to no rest between each.
Taking a holistic approach to weight training will take your strength to a new level. You will notice more flexibility and a full range of motion. Holistic training takes into account the movement of the body as a whole; therefore, you get even gain in all muscles without losing flexibility.