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August 8, 2005
The correct way to focus in your strength training
There are two types of focus in strength training: external and internal. The external focus implies thinking of little but lifting the weight somehow, anyhow. When a teenage boy is trying to impress girls with his bench press and elevates the barbell with atrocious form – he will miss his shoulders when they are gone – he is externally focusing. No comment is necessary; you will reap only an illusion of strength and a lifetime of pain.
In a conversation with the Super Slow TM guru Ken Hutchins, his associate Keith Johnson, M.D., coined the word ‘internalization’ for concentrating on the process of lifting the weight instead of the results: “They urge you to beat the equipment, as… a competitor you must defeat. They teach you to externalize a feigned aggression. You do the opposite. You seem to advocate reaching inside your body. When exercising he [Hutchins’ subject] seems to turn off his surrounding environment and concentrate into an internalized trance. That’s the fitting word: ‘internalize’.”
Do not interpret the above as an endorsement of the Super Slow TM but do yourself a favor and learn from the above. And then go a step beyond. ‘Feeling the muscle’ traditionally implies trying to ‘isolate’ the primary working muscle while trying to maximally relax the rest of the body. A bad idea. Strength training authority Dr. Ken Leistner once quipped that a body molded with a number of isolation exercises – like leg extensions or triceps kickbacks – looked like ‘a collection of body parts’. It just lacks grace, power, and flow. A gymnast or a martial artist whose panther like moves you admire, NEVER isolates. He integrates.
Watch the amazing stunts of the acrobats of the Cirque Du Soleil. You will not see sagging bodies with ‘isolated’ muscles but long and taught entities. Expert performers use full body tension as a lens to focus their energy into the primary muscles responsible for the job. So feel all your muscles, not just one.
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Posted by james at August 8, 2005 5:07 AM
Comments
Posted by: Seargent Douglas W. Plummer, Kansas Army National Guard at October 11, 2005 5:05 PM