Wednesday, August 8, 2012

ASSet Pt. 2


Recently ESPN.com did an article discussing the most important muscle/part of the athlete's body, http://m.espn.go.com/wireless/story?storyId=8132777, and it came as no surprise to what that muscle is - your Butt!! Besides looking good in jeans, Lulu Lemon pants, workout shorts, bathing suits or your birthday suit, there's no more important muscle to train on your body then your glute max. Your gluteus maximus, or butt, is one of the strongest muscles on your body with a primary function of hip extension, which is the movement you do as you stand up from a chair or jump to high-five your friend. Now, here comes the fun part -training your glutes. You can ask anyone of my clients, in my opinion, the most important exercise you can do in the gym is the squat! Unless you have a goal of looking similar to a flamingo, and I'm not judging if you do, you have to squat. AND SQUAT TO PARALLEL. There have been countless times I have walked into the gym and have seen the squat bar loaded with plates, only to find the individual squatting only going through a quarter range of motion, then complaining about their knees bothering them. What they don't understand is that their knee pain is a direct result of their embarrassing squat reps. If they would let their ego go and drop the weight, they would get stronger and abolish their knee pain. My recommendation for anyone starting out and wanting to learn proper exercise mechanics is to pick up the book, "Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training" by Mark Rippetoe. It's life changing!



Happy Squatting,
Big K

3 comments:

  1. I am a freak about form. I am always afraid of doing something wrong and hurting my joints, for the most part I feel I am pretty good at form, but I can always learn more. Thanks for the book suggestion I look forward to buy it and to learn from it! -Mari

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  2. Do you have to do squats with weights or can you do it with your own body weight?
    Thanks K and K - Jen

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    1. To really change the shape of your rear - you need weight. There is no harm in doing squats without weight and that can be a starting point if you've never squatted before, but there should be a progression to weighted squatting.

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