stumptuous.com

Most fighters end up with certain muscles totally overdeveloped. Because of the way grappling works, the psoas muscles get very, very tight. However, many non-grapplers also have a lot of psoas problems, simply from sitting all day. The psoas shortens and becomes tight. An overdeveloped, shortened psoas means less mobility, reduced speed, and greater risk of injury.

Remember that one of the big lies in the gym was that women should stick to machines and stay away from free weights? Related to that is the lie that one should “start out” on machines and then “graduate” to free weights. Well, here’s why it ain’t so, as well as why free weights are often better for women.

Prostrate yourself before the bitch goddess, FORM. For those who anger her meet her wrath.

Good form is called good form for a reason—it’s the best way to do an exercise (I know you’re thinking, “Well DUH”, but this really doesn’t seem to be obvious to many people). It’s the most efficient and effective way for your body to execute a certain movement so that it is challenging yet safe.

After being immersed in weight training for so long, it’s rare that I see a new, interesting exercise. However, a new exercise is often a great way to alleviate workout boredom. Interestingly, many of the “new” exercises I discover are in fact quite old ones that were part of the physical culture of previous generations, and were forgotten with the advent of “modern” training methods. With the resurgence of interest in older, pre-steroid era training methods, these exercises are reappearing. Many of these exercises are excellent, functional exercises with various applications to sport. I’ve also included one that I came up with on my own. These probably already existed in some form or another, so I don’t flatter myself that I’m the Leonardo da Vinci of training or nuthin. If you’re looking for some novelty and a new challenge, give these a try.

Maryssa, reigning champion of the 25-lb bodyweight class, demonstrates correct use of alternating grip in the deadlift.

by Lauren Brooks, RKC

Come on ladies! Are you sick of watching men do pull-ups and you can’t even do one? I know I was! As a fitness coach I stay current with the latest developments. I am always looking for workouts to stay in shape that are not only effective, but also fun. Since most of my clients are more concerned with having a lean physique than with developing real strength, it’s been a challenge to convince them that training for strength is an excellent way to become leaner.

Come on, admit it, we all envied Demi Moore after that pushup footage in GI Jane. A one-arm pushup is a neat party trick, it looks cool and butch, and pushups in general have a wonderfully basic military flavour to them.

Pullups are a cool exercise. They look tuff, they feel butch, they’re low-tech, and they are one of the best exercises for all-round upper body strength.
Pullups are also darn hard for the average woman to do. Most untrained females who are older than 10 and heavier than 50 lbs can’t do them. The good news, though, is that most trained women CAN do them. It just takes practice, patience, and time. So, if you’ve always wanted to do a pullup, or you have to do a few to pass a military or police fitness test, this article is for you!

Few movements are as fundamental to life and sport as the squat. Sadly, few movements are as badly mangled in the average gym as the squat. No worries — this little progression will get your butt kissing the floor in no time!

Few people can knock off a perfect squat on the first try, or even the first several tries. Learning the basics of a squat is relatively simple, but perfecting the technique takes time and practice.

All right! Now we get to the fun part! Time to learn the Queen of Exercises, the squat (although maybe the Olympic lifts should be the Queen of Exercises, and the squat should be the Princess of Exercises, but not like a Lady Di sort of princess with all the bulimia and stuff; perhaps republicans would prefer the Prime Minister of Exercises or at the very least Minister of Finance since everyone knows the bean counters run the show anyway, but I digress).

In Part 1, I discussed the myth that people shouldn’t learn to squat because they don’t need to, or that machine leg exercises are a good enough substitute. Sure, machines can come in handy and they have their place, especially in rehab. But the skills gained from squatting cannot be matched by a machine. In this section, I’m going to discuss what the squat actually does for you.

The squat is, perhaps, the single best exercise for leg strength and development.
Problem is, the squat is often taught incorrectly, and it’s stigmatized as difficult and dangerous. People warn that it is bad for your knees and back, inappropriate for beginners (or anyone not a male collegiate athlete), too hard to learn, blah blah the sky is falling, etc. So, let’s go through all the scary things we’ve heard about squatting, to debunk them one by one.

A strong midsection is essential to your game. A marvel of engineering, the torso manages to twist, lean, give power to a punch, stay upright, even support an opponent’s weight, and keep you breathing throughout, all with only one supporting “tent pole”: the spine. Much of the torso isn’t bone; it’s gooshy stuff and 26 feet’s worth of last night’s dinner. So where’s the magic? It’s in the coordinated effort of the midsection muscles: abs, obliques, low back, deep torso muscles along with the diaphragm and pelvic floor muscles.

By guest author Ron Dykstra

After reading many, many years worth of borderline worthless magazine information, much of it written by ghostwriters and not athletes, I was burned out on this style of “training”. High volume moderate weight training using multiple techniques to extend sets performed twice a day just did not work for me. I guess I wasn’t taking enough “Get Swole” or whatever magic bullet the magazines were shilling for. My training goals were not realized, but I stubbornly continued to lift, and one day I met a tribe of lifters that were not pumpers, posers, or complete narcissists: Enter the weightlifter.

How to really get abs of steel: throw some weight on those crunches, and include Table Push-Aways and Fork Put-Downs in your routine.