LITTLE ROCK — It’s good to appreciate your strengths, but knowing your weaknesses can change your life.
Strengths and weaknesses, as they relate to fitness, are easy for many of us to recognize within ourselves. Many of us feel ultra-confident about one aspect of fitness and equally self-conscious about another.
This week, I’ll discuss the value of what I call “weakness training” and will also present a new exercise designed with a specific weakness in mind.
Weakness training involves taking three big steps. First, a full evaluation of your strengths and weaknesses must be completed to identify which aspects of your fitness would be considered weaknesses. This step is critical because it’s not simply about comparing your flexibility or strength statistics against “normal” values on some chart. Rather, the evaluation serves as a tool for identifying weaknesses and then comparing them against your overall fitness goals.
Step two is listing the fitness priorities that matter to you. Whether that’s cardiovascular endurance or body composition, these priorities should be spelled out in an attempt to clarify what drives you to the gym each day.
Finally, compare your fitness evaluation results against your priority list. Any high priorities that rank low on your fitness evaluation should be the first areas addressed.
Make that comparison and you’ll spot weaknesses that are also important to you personally. As a result, you’ll have the information necessary to adjust your training.
Beginning your weakness training, at this point, is simply a matter of adding activities designed to improve your problem area.
Someone with the goal of increased flexibility who showed poor flexibility results in the evaluation might consider a yoga class. Another person who wants to run a 10K but scored low on cardiovascular endurance could join a running club.
There are any number of ways to transform your weaknesses into a strength - having a clear direction for your training. It’s just a matter of mustering the willpower to initiate change.
This week’s exercise was designed for some of my clients who are interested in gluteal development. Weak gluteal muscles are a common problem, and the Mini Leg Press really attacks this area in a safe, effective manner.
1. On a standard leg press machine, place your feet close together (6 to 8 inches apart) and as high as you can on the foot plate. Move the seat as far forward as you can handle to increase the hip angle as much as possible.
2. Select a medium weight.
3. Press through your heels and move the foot plate one foot from the starting position. You’ll feel your gluteals engage.
4. As you reach the one foot mark, slowly return the foot plate so it’s close to the starting position. If the machine has a weight stack, don’t let the weights touch.
5. Repeat this controlled press for 15 repetitions using as much gluteal contraction as you can. Do two or three sets.
The Mini Leg Press isolates the gluteal muscles by limiting the range of motion on a standard machine. This strategy can be utilized on other strength machines, too, and it can be a very effective way to hone in on a particular portion of the body. Enjoy!
Matt Parrott has a doctorate in education (sport studies), a master’s in kinesiology and is certified by the American College of Sports Medicine.
ActiveStyle, Pages 28 on 04/16/2012