In the quest for weight loss, many of us have fallen into the calorie-counting and macro-tracking trap.
We diligently monitor our food intake, restrict calories, and meticulously calculate our macronutrient ratios, all in the pursuit of shedding those stubborn pounds.
And yes, while these approaches often result in weight loss on the scale, the quality of that weight loss is rarely considered.
It's time for a paradigm shift because not all weight loss is healthy.
When it comes to getting strong, fit and flexible in midlife, it's time to change the game plan.
Once you hit 40+, you can't approach training like you're fresh out of college or in your prime twenties.
That youth mentality just won't cut it anymore.
We've got to be smarter about how train.
In midlife, it's not uncommon to deal with aches, pains, and old injuries. It's tempting to use these as excuses to skip the gym altogether, but that's the worst thing you can do. Movement is life, and staying active has a boatload of benefits, no matter your fitness level.
Being busy in midlife can make finding the time to train challenging.
You want to stay in shape, have more energy, and feel strong, fit, flexible and capable.
Let's be honest. Things are slightly different beyond 40—lack of sleep, high stress, a demanding schedule, and a general lack of time.
Weight gain, fatigue, joint pain, and the like all start to creep up on you.
It can leave you feeling worried about your physical health.
But where do you start?
What's going to be the best use of your time when it comes to training?
A lot of gymnastics skill seekers experience wrist pain as they train to build strength, increase flexibility and unlock new gymnastics skills.
Gymnastics training requires a lot of wrist strength and flexibility.
Think about the wrist extension in push-ups, handstands and planche training.
Think about the wrist flexion in the false grip.
Balancing on your hands also requires a lot of wrist strength.
Mastering strict dips can be challenging for a lot of adult gymnastic skill seekers. Strict dip requires significant upper body strength, particularly in the triceps, chest, and shoulders. They also require flexibility in the chest and triceps—adults with limited shoulder flexibility struggle to perform dips without pain.
Mastering the correct form for strict dips involves understanding the body
positioning, proper muscle engagement, and coordinated movement.
The squat is a popular strength exercise, second only in popularity to the deadlift. However, many adults have trouble performing full range of motion "ass-to-grass" squats because they have tight calves, which limit ankle dorsiflexion.
Not only does this affect our squats, but it also affects lunges, step-ups, pistol squats, and even our forward fold (pike and pancake) flexibility.
In part 1 of this post I talked about how a lack of shoulder flexion affects our handstand alignment. Often, this presents itself as a banana handstand.
As a quick recap, tight pecs, biceps, lats and teres major are the main muscles that impact shoulder flexion range of motion.
Foam rolling and stretching can help to lengthen these muscles and improve our overhead flexibility.
However, we can also add strength training to speed up the process while increasing shoulder strength and stability.
If the above muscles are short and tight, the opposing muscles may be weak.
A common problem adults experience when learning to handstand is a lack of shoulder flexion. They lack the strength and/or flexibility to open the shoulder angle to 180 degrees of shoulder flexion.
This affects the alignment of the handstand.
The workaround is to arch the spine.
This allows us to align our wrists, elbows and shoulders and balance our hands, resulting in a banana handstand.
A banana handstand isn't wrong, but it will limit your handstand progress.
A lot of adults want to do strict pull-ups, but they lack strength and don't know where to start.
Unlocking your first strict pull-up can be tricky. It can feel like you'll never have the strength to do strict pull-ups.
It's frustrating.
Over the last three weeks, I've shared the 3 key milestones that I like to use for helping adults unlock their first strict pull-up. In this post, I will recap these milestones so you can hopefully see the method to my madness.
Forward fold flexibility is pretty much the same as core compression strength. We’re trying to close the angle between the torso and the legs. But instead of focusing on the anterior chain strength, we’re talking about the posterior chain length.
Forward fold flexibility is about stretching the posterior chain muscles - soles of the feet, calves, hamstrings, glutes, back, and even neck muscles.
Most adults find it hard to touch their toes. Bringing your nose to your shins often seems like an impossible feat.
This is where choosing the correct progressions is critical to your success.
