I grade the exams of future personal trainers. To be more specific, I grade the same exam over and over and over again. Certain terms have been beaten into my skull and sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and scream “gliding, condyloidal, ball and socket, hinge, saddle, pivot!”
OK, that doesn’t actually happen, but at some point, it might. The reason I bring this up is that it wasn’t until an exercise physiologist who recently took our exam spoke with me on the phone. We enjoyed a conversation about the problems of this world and of fitness, and at a certain point, he spoke up and stated “All people do is live in flexion and the sagittal/frontal plane.
This may not mean too much to you yet, but let me explain with extreme brevity.
Flexion: is the decrease of the angle such as a bicep curl for your biceps
Extension: is the increase of an angle such as cow pose for your back
Sagittal: An example would be squats
Frontal: an example would be lateral raises
At this point, I will stop with the terms and get back to what is important. Basically, we overwork the movements and muscles of the body that we already experience in our everyday life! For example…
We sit all day and put pressure on our quadriceps while reducing the activity of our hamstrings and glutes…we then overtrain our quadriceps in the gym in comparison to our hamstrings and glutes. We are doubling down on “flexion” of the quadriceps when in reality they need some serious extension and movements in other directions.
Our bodies are supposed to move in a transverse plane as well which is basically a rotation of the body. By not doing this, we lose fluidity and are at a greater risk for injury, muscle tightness, and weak muscles where we need it.
So here is what I propose! Since most people dramatically over-train, what if your 6-day per week workout schedule where you would typically lift weights in a traditional manner looked more like this…
Monday: Weight training
Tuesday: Extension training
Wednesday: Transverse training
Thursday: Weight Training
Friday: Extension training
Saturday: Transverse training
Sunday: Relax
If you followed such schedule for say 30-minutes to an hour per day, it is my belief you would experience greater strength and muscle gains while creating a body that will sustain you for many years to come.
If you have questions on how to implement this, please ask! I would love to see at least a handful of people make these changes and see a radical improvement to their physique and health!
