Yonge and Eglinton Chiropractor and 3 Small Tips in the Gym with Massive Effects

Friday… Friday…Gotta Get Down on Friday…. Ahem. Sorry about that.

Hi guys,

So today I have 3 simple tips/ideas that may be just what you need to get the gains you are looking for.

1. KEEP THOSE SHOULDERS BACK

Although this should be done for most if not all exercises there is one particular muscle group in mind that this will have great effects on: the Chest. After careful observation in the gym this little mistake was evident on most individuals. So when doing a bench press/chest fly the tendency is for people to push up/out all the way forward. When you do this though, your shoulders tend to follow and come forward. You are actually recruiting your shoulder muscles into the mix and thus are activate less of the pectorals.

Focus on keeping those shoulders from rolling forward and you should feel that increased burn in your chest.

2. THROW A ROPE IN TO THE MIX

A rope can be incorporated into a bunch of exercises as oppose to only primarily the tricep pulldown (which is what I see it being used for 99 percent of the time). Rows, bicep curls, lat pulldown, chops, pretty much anything you can do on a multi-purpose cable machine can use a rope. This will help work not only those muscles that you are trying to target but also help work on your grip strength.

Increased grip strength will then in turn help you if you hit standstills in deadlifts and conventional close grip rows.

3. TRY UNILATERAL (ONE SIDED) TRAINING/LIFTING

By only loading one side of your body your body is forced to activate internal muscles that will act to stabilize your core.

A Suitcase Carry (holding a dumbbell in one hand and walk in a straight line turn around and come back) for example will activate a muscle called the Quadratus Lumborum which . This muscle is important in core stabilization as well as stabilizes the 12th rib during breathing and helps in changing direction when sprinting and dodging.