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The fitness world goes through these phases in which certain exercise and theories get the most attention. Today, core training receives the most popularity among people who are trying to shape up their mid-section and achieve 6-pack greatness. However, the core is comprised of muscle located in the center of the body that stabilizes the body when it is in an upright position. When you walk, run, jump, squat, and lift weights you are using your core muscles. These muscles also control the head, neck, ribs, spine, and pelvis (Dominques & Gajda 1982). In addition, achieving a strong core will allow for greater neuromuscular efficiency, an increase in functional strength, and leads to improved performance on and off the field.

I believe that the best exercise to train your core is the overhead squat (OHS). The overhead squat is a very physically demanding exercise that not only challenges your core but, also every muscle in your body. If you have never done an overhead squat before, you must first start out light and focus on maintaining proper form throughout the whole exercise. A good way to practice is to start out using a PVC pipe or a broom stick. Using a wide grip, extend the bar over your head slightly behind your ears by retracting your scapula (shoulder blades) and maintain that position. Set your feet into a good squatting position while keeping your torso upright and your eyes focused straight ahead. Now, take a deep breath and hold it as you descend as deep as possible making sure that your heels are flat on the ground and your hips pushed back. When you are ready to ascent from your squat, stand up slowing and exhale while keeping your chest upright and your heels still flat on the ground.

 Practice makes perfect!  The more OHS you do will lead to greater flexibility, strength, and core strength.  It is also a great way to correct a lot of muscle imbalances you may have, which will help you prevent injuries from occurring and allowing you to move more efficiently. 

1.  The Bench Press: 
“How much can you bench?” seems to be the question that every gym rat would like to know when you tell them you workout. In my option, I think the bench press is the # 1 most overrated exercise that is performed in the gym (especially on Mondays/National Bench Press Day). The reason I think this way about the bench press is because I am a man of functionality and I believe that you should train movements and not body parts (the body building era is over!). The only time you are lying on your back and pushing something heavy off of you is when you are getting your ass kicked in a fight or in competition.

2.  Bicep curl:  
I absolutely hate this exercise! I will just quote Alwyn Crosgrove who is a well renowned strength & conditioning coach and an overall great guy. He states, “If you cannot achieve 10 pull-ups on your own, you have no right doing bicep curls”. I’ll just leave it at that because I can go on for days about why this exercise is irrelevant…

3.  Leg press:
Ok, let’s load up 8 plates on each side of the leg press and have people be AMAZED about how much weight you are pressing. Let’s see…
8 plates x 2 sides = 16 plates total
16 plates x 45 lbs = 720 lbs that you are pressing while you are reclining in a chair with your feet up. That is amazing! So if you can leg press 720 lbs…How much can you squat???
(I had a professor once told me that “leg press is only functional for truck drivers”)

4.  Seated Adductions: 
Women love this exercise!…They believe that if they do enough reps, the fat will melt off of their inner thighs. Not only is this not true, but this will cause a major muscle imbalance in the body especially in women. For example, the next time you see someone squat notice their knees and how they move (in or out). If the knees move in towards one another then that is a perfect example of someone who has tight adductors. Having tight adductors will lead to someone having weak glutes and not having a strong ass will lead to sprain ankles and knee problems.

5.  Tricep Kick Back:
This exercise is ridiculous because for you to perform this exercise you must pull your arm into shoulder extension and maintain an isometric muscle contraction (no movement) in your latissimus dorsi and posterior deltoid. In other words, you are not just working your triceps in this exercise because your motor neurons are firing to your lats and deltoids to hold you in the proper position. You won’t be able to overload the triceps with weight and thus you will not see any gains by doing that exercise…throw it out!

Honorable mention
• Forearm curls
• Crunches
• Knee extension                                                                                                                                                               

Got to love Mondays

uh???

 Northridge CA, 91325

The body it divided into three planes in which movements are performed. These planes consist of the sagittal plane, frontal plane, and transverse plane.

1. The sagittal plane divides the body into right and left halves and 80% of movements in the gym are performed in the sagittal plane. Exercises in the sagittal plane include bicep curls, squats, walking lunges, crunches, shoulder press, triceps extension, shoulder flexion/front raise, etc.
2. The frontal plane divides the body into front and back halves and is associated with adduction and abduction. However, there are not as many exercises that are performed in this plane. Exercises in the frontal plane consist of lateral lunges, hip abduction, hip adduction, and lateral shoulder raises….I think that’s all of them.
3. The transverse plane (my favorite) divides the body into top and bottom halves. Anytime you are rotating/twisting your body, you are performing movements in the transverse plane. Exercises performed in the transverse plane include cable chops, Russian twist, crossover crunch, transverse lunge, and any other movement that involves rotation.

 
The next time you exercise, it would be a good idea to incorporate more lateral movements in the frontal plane, as well as more rotational movements in the transverse plane. If you play a sport, it is crucial to focus on movements in the frontal and transverse planes. Even in everyday life, you are performing movements in all three planes and training movements rather than body parts will allow you to improve the way you move on and off the field. If you want to look like an athlete, you must train like an athlete so challenge the body in multiple planes!

Finish your workout by doing a “finisher”.  Take any multiple joint exercise (squats, push up, jumps, burpees ect.) or a combination of two multiple joint exercises and ladder down from 10 reps down to 1 rep.  After you finish the prescibed amount of reps, you get that amount of rest in seconds.  For example, after you have completed 10 push ups, you get 10 seconds to rest.  After 10 seconds of rest you should be doing 9 push up and after that, you get 9 seconds of rest and so on.  However, when you get to the reps of 5 – 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 …there is no rest in between those sets. 

Heres how it goes…

10 push ups 10 squat jumps…10 second rest

9 push ups 9 squat jumps…9 second rest

8 push ups 8 squat jumps…8 second rest

7 push ups 7 squat jumps…7 second rest

6 push ups 6 squat jumps…6 second rest

5 push ups 5 squat jumps…no rest

And then 4 – 3 – 2 -1 with no rest in between

Incorporate a finisher at the end of your workouts will benefit the “afterburn” effect/EPOC  (excessvie post oxygen consumption) witch will allow you to burn more calories hours after you have completed your workout.