Good to see everyone back. The classes are large. The freshly trained on ramp graduates have joined up and are looking like seasoned veterans. So take this opportunity to make some new friends and mix the groups up a little. If you are part of a email list with others for supplementary workouts, make sure others know, it's more fun.
Form:
Form is pretty important. By "pretty", I mean priority. a good looking squat is the right squat. If the form is off, then it's wrong. If it's wrong, then it's probably weak at best, but more importantly, injurious. If it is wrong or looks poorly done, then something isn't doing it's job. A joint may be hinging incorrectly, and we know what that means. An entire group of muscles may be on vacation and completely inactive.. Either way, proper form must be ACHIEVED. It's not magic, it has to be worked for and it's never easy.
Lets take a look at a few examples.
This is LOLO JONES! She's amazing! Look for her redeeming herself in London this year. Take a look at her form. This is her full-blown power lunge out of the blocks. Note the perfect line that is formed by her shoulders to hips through the ankle and out through the block.. It's perfect. Now look at the other leg.. Note how perpendicular her femur is in her flight. Her shin is perpendicular to her thigh and parallel to the other side of the body, indicating balance. Look how dorsiflexed her right foot is, ready to land and bite at the track as she mirrors her left side in explosion. Look at he left arm. The humorous is perpendicular to the body and parallel to the opposite thigh, again, indicating balance. Her shoulders and hips are absolutely square, being fused together by an incredibly cinched up mid line. Her rib cage is tied down low to the hips. Every ounce of steam that this amazing athlete has is directed at her forward propulsion because that is how she will win. It's not a coincidence that her form is perfect. Think about that.
USAIN BOLT! This guy needs no intro. I have watched this video about a thousand times. I have frozen every frame and stared at each one for hours. This is the best slow motion video of them all. Every time I analyze it I find something new. A new piece of the puzzle to explain why he is so fast.
Look at his head compared to the bleachers and crowds. There is almost zero vertical displacement. All forward velocity. Look at his shoulders shrugging up, much like in a clean or a snatch, to keep his feet lower, closer to the ground. Look at his hips and shoulders staying absolutely square. Look at how relaxed he is. Look at how his hips always stay under his shoulders. His legs look like wheels, just spinning on an imaginary axis. His feet come straight up under his hips and land directly under his center mass for a millisecond before springing back up. Everything is so balanced and he can look that relaxed. Look at the others. They look funny. Some are reaching. Another keeps driving his head forward. A couple keep breaking the hips and shoulders off square. When you compare the minutest little details, it becomes fairly obvious why the winners win. Their form is perfect.
I use sprinting a lot because it is very accessible to us as humans. Humans run. Plain and simple. We are designed for it. The achilles tendon is a dead giveaway. If a doctor ever tells you you aren't designed to run, ask them why you have tendons that mimic running animals rather than a grizzly bear's.. Sprinting is the most refined form of running. A sprinter takes the running form and refines it to near perfection be removing obstacles and optimizing efficiency. As incredible as it may seem, mechanically, it's still simply running. Your joints and physiology is still the same regardless of speed and intensity. Think about that when you go on a job. Just because you're not sprinting to win, doesn't mean that your form can suck. Because of the volume of work per time, it is even more important to maintain form. With running being the most injurious activity by a huge margin, that's something to consider..
Here's some fun stuff if you get bored in the office..
6 rounds for time:
- 200 meter sprint
- 20 squats
- 200 meter sprint
- 20 leg levers
Welcome Back!
Done 1/21/12, breathless, great way to step up the conditioning!
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