Mindconnection Brainpower Informational eNewsletter 2024-04-21

Right around the age of 40 or 50, it's common to realize that, oops, I need to exercise. The flabby gut, the pancake butt, and a general feeling of accelerated aging are some of the things that bring this on. The typical solution is to get a membership at a gym and start going. Once there, it's often a matter of straining and grunting on various machines while walking around with a towel and water bottle trying to look serious. Many women will spend too much time stretching, and many guys will spend most of their time doing biceps curls and bench presses in poor form.

The result is a body that is not functionally stronger six months later. In fact, the resulting muscle imbalances make it less functional. And this person just quits.

The US Army focuses on building your foundation. You see an Army guy, he's got much bigger hamstrings than the gym rat guy. This is also true of most martial arts schools (for the same reasons). I use my hamstrings quite a bit, and not just in martial arts and climbing. The other day, I was pulling dead leaves from one of my yuccas, and I felt the tension in my hamstrings. So here is what I suggest, if you are feeling that "oops I need to exercise" urge. Start with foundation exercises.

Even if you've been training for years, you might want to scuttle your existing program and replace with what I am about to describe. However, if you have a respectable string of years not ever missing a workout, then modify the "one training day" thing so you can keep your streak. I'm coming at this from the bodybuilding / weight training approach, but other approaches are also valid. Other valid approaches include the Army's calisthenics (burpees, pushups, etc.) but they do not include low-intensity programs because you need time under tension not just time and you need metabolic stress which is not something low-intensity programs produce.

Here is the outline:

Serious weight trainers have Leg Day. Designate one day per week to be your Leg Day. For now, that will be your one training day (this does not include exercise, such as parking farther out, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, doing housework, doing yard work, etc.). Pick two types of squat to do. Focus on getting your form perfect. This will work your entire posterior chain, as well as much of your anterior. Don't use any weight at first, then slowly add it in each week as you master the movement. Do four sets of each, resting no more than 30 seconds between sets until you get to where you obviously need a longer rest. Take a minute, then resume. After a month, add another type of squat. Keep growing this out until you have a full suite of leg exercises (they actually work much more than legs, but for convenience we call them leg exercises).
Now pick a day to be Chest Day. Not "pecs" day, but Chest Day. The only exercise you will do for the first month is flyes. The point of these is to open your chest. So you start at maybe 15 degrees above horizontal and let the weights pull your hands down as far as those pecs will allow. Guys, especially, will use far too much weight. So start off with no weight. Then next week use a pair of gym shoes, one in each hand. Master the movement. Then step up to light dumbbells or weight plates, maybe 5lbs. Each month, you will add exercises. Add triceps exercises to pair with your pecs exercises. Add dumbbell presses, add band crossovers. Add the bench press only after you master the movement of all the other exercises; do 4 sets of 8 reps. Use only the empty bar for a month, until you master the movement. Then each month increase the weight by 5lbs until your form is difficult to maintain. Then back off by 5lbs, this is your bench press weight.
Do the same gradual additions with shoulders. Focus at first on the rear delts, as these tend to be paper thin in Americans over the age of 30. Side delt raises, overhead presses, and variations of same.
Do the same gradual additions with back and biceps, with back work being the main point of it. Biceps are useless without a strong back. Pull-ups, chin-ups, wide lat pulldowns, narrow lat pulldowns. Add these in gradually.

With this approach:

It's not overwhelming at first. Or at any point. You build up to it.
You prioritize developing good form over the idea of moving weight. You avoid injuries and make faster progress this way. Too much weight during a given exercise means non-target muscles will kick in and you'll lose two of the three triggers for the adaptive response.
You don't have to master a bunch of different exercises at one time. You learn one very well before adding another. This really flattens your learning curve.
Because you begin by working the large muscles, you get faster results than the person who walks into the gym and focuses on the small muscles (e.g., biceps).
You really exercise your ego control muscle! This is perhaps the most important thing to do.

Note also:

The bench press as done by most people is mainly a front delt exercise with little effect on the pecs. To correct this, avoid the ego trip of using too much weight. Use enough for it to be challenging, but focus on your form. Shoulders back not rotated forward, back slightly arched, legs not involved in the exercise, bar coming down almost to chest.
Biceps curls, as done by most people, fail to work the most important part of the biceps. When you lift something such as your end of the couch you're helping your buddy move, you don't have your arms positioned with your hands almost to your shoulders. You have your arms almost fully extended. So do full extension curls. These require a lot less weight than partial reps that go from 2/3 extension to full contraction. I do mine with 10lbs, at the end of my workout. This is ample weight, my arms are highly developed around the elbow as you can see in my photo.
Generally, wherever you can introduce the stretch in an exercise you will get the most growth. This range of motion is where the muscle is weakest, so the adaptive response is driven especially hard. A couple of studies showed 40% more muscle growth using this technique versus not using it.
Always squeeze at the end of the movement. This is what makes the difference, for example, between side delt raises that grow muscle and side delt raises that don't.
Poor form occurs because the person hasn't had the proper coaching and/or because they fear the other folks in the gym will ridicule them for not using enough weight so they have to cheat to lift too much weight. Nobody worth being around cares how little you lift. But an experienced lifter will be glad to give you pointers. Personally, I think hiring a qualified trainer is a good investment.
Go deep with squats, but don't take squats past your natural range of motion. If, for example, you're doing front squats, you should be able to feel your natural bottoming out point. It's dictated by your hip flexors. If you exceed this, you go off balance and you can do substantial injury to your knees. Yet another reason to not use too much weight.

Mindconnection eNL, 2024-04-21

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