Hips

Hips

            Most people wouldn’t think of your hips as being a muscle or even something that has any importance but they couldn’t be any more wrong.  Hips are what flexes your whole body, they give motion to everything from long track runs to short punches in a fight.  Many exercises require hip rotation and strength and even more exercises work the hips and make them stronger.  The rotation and power of the hips are what separate good athletes and mediocre ones.  This post will discuss all the different forms and exercises that involve your hips and hip flexors. 

            First off, the hips are what move your whole body, you move your hips your body naturally moves with them, some better than others.  It might seem simple to just move your hips, but lots of people don’t know how to move them right or they are poor in moving them.  Boxing, running, wrestling, swimming, tennis, soccer, MMA, and many other sports use the rotation of the hips to get done what needs to be done.  Even though may not notice it, hip rotation is everywhere.  Take it from Elvis and his crazy hip shaking, it’s important. 

            So to insure that your hip movement is good, let’s look at a few exercises to help you.  Romanian dead lifts (RDLs) are a great lift to bring lots of weight to your hip flexors.  First grab a barbell with fairly heavy weight on the ends of it, and then hold it next to your body while standing straight up.  Allow the bar to slowly descend down against your thigh, with your legs straight, until it reaches the top of your knee.  When you let the bar fall down your thigh keep your back as straight as you can and only bending your knees slightly as you go down.  Stick your butt out as you do it to activate your hips.  Once you reach the top of your knee, pull the bar back up to the starting position and repeat the motion.  With this lift, sticking your butt out while performing it brings flexibility to your hips.  The same lift can be performed with one leg, where you do the same motion but now as you let the bar fall you stick one of your legs behind you keeping your leg straight and then bringing that leg back when you finish the lift. 

           Other exercises like rack pulls bring maneuverability to your hips while also really challenging your balance.  With a rack pull you create the same motion as an one leg RDL but when you bring one leg up as you bring the bar down, you leave it up, pulling it through, as you do the remainder of the lift. 

These are your basic lifts for hip rotation, hip movement, and balance that you most often see in the gym and can help you in many different things in life.  Remember, we’re all in this together, keep your stick on the ice.

           

Flexibility and Stretching

Flexibility and Stretching

            Before you ever plan to exercise or lift weights loosening the muscles and stretching the fibers is always a good idea.  Doing simple calf stretches and arm stretches help to prevent injuries and discomfort from lifting.  Over time the more you stretch the more flexible you will become. 

            Stretching is a good way to start out a lift.  If you plan to lift heavy weight or to do any sort of sport stretching will help increase your performance.  When you stretch you are extending the fibers in your muscles so that they are looser and can perform better.  It also brings blood to your muscles increasing operation and strength from lifting.  While your muscles are loose cramps and discomfort are less likely to occur.  Also drinking a lot of water will reduce the chance of cramps while performing. 

            Leg, arm, calf, back, and neck stretches are almost always key before lifting or playing sports because they are the most used.  For leg stretching, you can simply stand straight up and touch your toes, or sit on the floor, extend one leg out and reach for your toes from there.  You can also lay on your stomach and pull one leg up to your butt as close as you can.  To stretch your calves, you can find a sturdy wall or support, put your heel a few inches from the wall and press your toes against the wall while leaning into it with your body.  Swinging your arms around and throwing them as far as you can behind your back will stretch them out, and rolling on your back and neck will loosen them up for your performance. 

            The more often and more intense stretching you do the more flexible and less likely to cause injury you will become.  Remember, we’re all in this together, keep your stick on the ice.           

Boulder Shoulder AGAIN!

Boulder Shoulders AGAIN!

            We’ve already discussed the importance of the shoulders, also known as the deltoids (also known as delts), because of their full rotation movement and how they take the weight of many exercises.  But they also have a whole new importance and usefulness in daily activities and more importantly physical contact sports.  The delt gives full extension to the arm and allows it to maneuver across your whole body.  In most physical sports you are either moving your arms around a lot, or you have to keep your arms in a specific position for long periods of time.  In sports like football, or track, you are constantly moving your whole arms to give yourself forward momentum and speed while running.  In sports like wrestling, boxing, and martial arts, you need to defend yourself by always keeping your hands up by your jaw or down by your legs. 

            In boxing or wrestling you need to work your shoulders in a different way than most athletes.  Most athletes work shoulders to gain mass and strength, which is perfectly fine, but for boxing and wrestling, the focus should be more towards speed and power.  For example, in boxing, you go to throw a punch, if you’ve been working your shoulders hard and heavy, your punch will most likely be slower and easier to dodge and counter.  If you’ve been working your shoulders light and high repetitions, your punching will be faster and with the right technique will be much harder.  This goes for many sports based on the quickness of your shoulders to move your arms or extend your arms.

            So in order to get the speed and strength you need in your shoulders, you need to do light weight exercises and high amounts of repetitions, and this is also a good way to add definition and tone to your muscles.  By adding less weight you are not straining the shoulder and you are not breaking down as many fibers to make them big and slow.  And also by adding higher reps to each set you are still getting a good, strong, tiring workout, like you usually would.  Also when working shoulders you want to hit all three heads of the shoulder to make sure they are strong and ready. 

            One great lift to hit all three heads in your delt, is called the anti-gravity press.  The anti-gravity press is done by bringing a bench to about a thirty degree incline.  Grab a light barbell, and lay on the bench with your stomach resting against it and your chest above the top of the bench to allow full mobility while performing this lift.  Grab the barbell and push it outward away from your body without letting it fall away from you.  Then return the bar back to your chest while still keeping it in the air.  This is a very difficult lift which is why light weight is very important.  This lift along with other basic lifts will add strength and speed to your shoulders which is essential to most sports.

            Well always remember to work your shoulders with light weight and a lot of reps to give you that speed in sports.  Remember, we’re all in this together, keep your stick on the ice.   
here is a website to show the details of what im talking about http://www.livestrong.com/article/525164-muscles-that-get-stronger-from-boxing/