Welcome to a new week!
Over the past few months, I’ve been sharing a steady diet of exercises on my blog using a kettlebell, Swiss ball and even a 25-year-old medicine ball.
This week, I’ll show you how to get ready for exercise with an example of some movements that I do as a dynamic warm-up.
You can perform these in a light and easy way or as hard as you want to make it, depending on your level of fitness and readiness.
In this warmup, I’m using the Renegade, a universal joint attached to a sleeve into which an Olympic bar fits. This is also known as a Landmine, and in this demonstration I couple the device with an Eleiko barbell, then connect the Renegade into the hole in the middle of a 25-kilo plate lying on the floor.
In my video, I show you a variety of movements so you can do something a bit more creative and fun in the gym when you don’t feel like pushing yourself too hard.
It should be pretty obvious what I’m doing, so I’ll leave it up to you to be intelligent enough to decide if these movements are good for you based on your current state of physical readiness.
I recommend starting with slower, less intense movements. After you get warmed up, you can pick up your speed, change the tempo and alter the depth or amplitude of the movement.
The gym can be a beautiful place to exercise your creativity, and not do what everyone else is doing or what other people wrote about in books.
The time you spend in the gym is also a great opportunity to use your right brain and do some something creative and nourishing for you. Your experience can be every bit as artistic as painting with colored pens, studying objects in nature or arranging flowers.
Just be conscious about basic biomechanical principles so that your creativity doesn’t end up helping an orthopedic surgeon make payments on his Porsche Carrera!
If you’re not sure how ready you are for this warmup, it may be a good idea to consider taking my classes on Scientific Core Conditioning or Scientific Back Training first.
Most shoulder, knee, back, neck and even foot and ankle injuries are cause by deficits or an inability to stabilize your core. My classes will teach you more about proper breathing techniques, strengthening your back and activating your core safely and effectively.
Love and chi,
Paul
