Lengthen and Strengthen Workout

Lengthen and Strengthen Workout:

When it comes to performance both in the gym and out of it, flexibility is the biggest limiting factor for many people. Many people think they are weak in a certain area based on previous experience and are surprised to find out that they are just lacking mobility. In order for your body to function properly your muscles must be able to relax just as well as they can contract. If this isn’t the case, you will be fighting the resistance in your own body combined with that of any weight you are attempting to lift. When your muscles learn to relax properly, your lifting capacity will increase dramatically. I use the term learn for a reason, because flexibility is more about your mind and nervous system than it is about short muscles. In fact short muscles rarely have anything to do with your immobility.

This workout is designed to teach your nervous system strength within a range of motion, something that stretching simply cannot do. While stretching does have benefits when done properly, it isn’t able to teach your nervous system how to perform under tension the way dynamic range of motion can. Today’s workout is designed to help you gain that strength within a range of motion.

Today’s Workout:

• Cossack squat - Five per leg, alternating
• Straight leg deadlift - Twelve total
• One leg deadlift - Six per leg
• One leg clean - Six per leg
• High/low Windmill - six per hand
• Split lunge - Six per leg

This workout will open up your hips in both the flexor muscles and the extensors (glutes and hamstrings). It will also open up your shoulders with the windmills and even take you through some power phase exercise with the one leg cleans. As you can tell, there is a lot of balance involved too, so take your time and be methodical. You may find bare feet are best for balancing, a hard gym floor may also be easier than grass or sand. Feel free to repeat this workout for up to three rounds, or just add it to your existing routine. It makes a great warmup for more intense training days and works great as a stand alone practice. Remember, anytime you lengthen muscles beyond what they are used to, they will become much more sore than if you train them within their normal range of motion. Take it easy at first and you may be surprised how sore you get. If you keep training these exercises, you will develop amazing flexibility that will have a dramatic impact on your other lifts and your daily life. Have fun!

Peter Hirsh