Glute-ham developers are evil.

It's getting warmer. That means hydrate to stay cool and to keep moving. You don't want to have to sit out because you're getting dizzy. If you do start feeling dizzy, flushed, cold sweats, or you actually stop sweating, make sure you let us know immediately. What you don't want to do is start gulping tons of water. You want to cool off first and then drink small amounts of water. Pour water on your head and neck first. Pour some in your mouth, swish it around, and spit it out. It's not thirst that will kill you, it's the heat; and if you start vomiting, you'll just dehydrate even more.

Also, a bunch of people have already asked me about what to do while on vacation.. This may seem like a novel concept to some, but what about enjoying your friggin' vacation!? Adhering to strict personal obligations seems to counter the entire concept of vacationing and traveling to get away from the obligations of normal day-to-day stuff.. Seems like I'm in the minority with that thinking though.

I was glad to see the postitive feedback from the back muscles write-up I did last week. Glad everyone enjoyed the visual aids as well. Female athletes really do help drive the point. Females don't grow big muscles like guys do (I'm refering to competitive sports, not body building/sculpting) and as such don't have the extraneous musculature like a guy athlete would. It would have been hard to explain the value of that specific muscle group if the athletes also had very well-developed shoulders or pecs or other muscles. But they didn't. The olympic pole vaulters are lean and very efficiantly designed. There is no room for spare muscles since it's just more baggage to travel with when flying upside-down over a pole that stands at just shy of 20 feet. So they have to make the most of what they have and need. Thus the value of a big strong back above all else becomes very obvious, especially in their sport. We can even look at swimmers and notice how developed their backs get and how skinny their legs are. You don't want big heavy legs sinking your bottom end; you just want enough muscle to keep kicking. I can keep going on about the erector spinae's value for any and every sport, but I think everyone gets it.

I am a huge fan of the Glute-hamstring developer, or GHD for short and we happen to have 2 of them in the wooden center. Few people know what the machine is let alone how to use it properly, but maybe some of you will like it.

Here's a video of how it is utilized: This is the most challenging movement on it as well.




This variations is probably the most beneficial and doable by most:




Here's a variation to emphasize spinal extension:




And finally, here's a good use of the abmats and a car if you feel like getting a little brave at home:



Note: This peice of equipment is quite advanced and will demoralyze even the best of athletes. So if you get on it and dangle like an ornament, please keep in mind that its incredibly challenging and must be progressed into. Meanwhile, keep building the back muscles in more doable fashions.

You can try holding a bridge for 3 sets of 1 minute on, 1 minute off. You can alternate between bridge and plank for various time intervals. You can do like 15 hip extensions into a bridge and then hold the bridge for 30 seconds. You can add those movements into some high-output sprints, but make sure you do them slowly and controlled instead of you you all do your supermans (looking like flopping fish to crank through them fast). Get creative but stay focussed and purposeful.

Let me know if you have any questions and I'll try to adress them in the comment thread.

Enjoy

I'm out!