Abbie Gregory Personal Trainer

How low can you go? 😎
Let's talk SQUATS!
How low should you go??🤷🏻

It depends!!
On what??
The specific individual person in question! And thier:
1.Hip anatomy
2.Mobility
3. Goals
(For a free fitness asessment DM me)

Buttt.....🍑

IN GENERAL:

DEPTH: A good rule of thumb👍🏻 is to try to get your thighs parallel to the ground at the bottom of your squat. Most of the benefits of squatting can be achieved at this depth.

STANCE: placing your feet about shoulder width apart works for most people. Some will need a wider stance than others to achieve adequate depth. While some can achieve parallel with thier feet only hip width apart.

GOALS:
1. If mobility allows you to do so SAFELY there may be some benefit in going below "parallell" for muscle growth and functional mobility, but, it is not absolutely necessary.
2. If you want to focus more on the GLUTES 🍑: a little wider stance with toes flared out a bit and getting low enough(at least paralell) is recommended.
3. If you want to focus on QUADS: a narrower stance with toes pointed foreward should do the trick.

NOTE: For power lifting, usually, the hip crease must come below the knee crease at the bottom of the squat for the lift to count!

Which way is better??🤔 Top image or bottom?

I say top! And here is why:
1. What is the goal?
-To work the abdominals!

2. What do the abdominals do when they contract (consentrically)??
-They flex the spine!

3. What's superior in growing most any muscle?
-Full range of motion!

To get the best ab engagenent (and best ab growth results) do exercises that involve more spinal flexion!

Just lifting the legs to parallel on the Roman chair (bottom picture) or while performing a hanging leg raise, involves very little spinal flexion and will mostly be engaging your HIP FLEXORS!
Will you still feel something in your abs? Sure!...but they will mostly be stabilizing isometrically and not contracting with full ROM.

Try doing full range of motion (legs can be bent at knees or straight as shown) with butt tucking under at the top... and tell me you don't feel a difference!

If you are doing it right, most people can do less than 10 reps before fatiguing.

Train smart my friends, and get those abs poppin! 🤓❤

Photo credit:

Avoid these plyo mistakes!! 🤦🏻

Most of us can bebefit from incorproating plyos into our routine.
Plyometrics like the box jump (above) are great for athletic performance and explosivity....but
So many people use them incorrectly or at the wrong time!! 🤦🏻

Avoid these common mistakes:

1. Doing plyos to fattigue❌

2. Doing them when you are already fattigued (like the end of a workout) ❌

3. Not resting enough between sets or doing too many reps❌

These can train poor movement patterns and wont give you the most explosive performance benefits.....at a certain point you will just be doing some fairly intense cardio and are at higher risk of injury.🙅🏻

🆗 So how do you get the most benefit? 🤓

1. Train explosive moves on thier own or BEFORE other training/lifting. ✔

2. Treat them like a skill, not a "finisher" ✔

3. Do fewer reps and before your form starts to break down, STOP! ✔

4. Focus on explosivity and CONTROL...especially for the landing phase of movements. ✔

👍🏻Follow these tips so you don't accidentally train poor movement patterns or risk injury unnesesarily.

Pigeon stretch and 90-90 drill - Static stretching vs. Mobility drills.
1. What's the difference?
2. Why do them?
3. When should you do them?

Static strerching: -holding a stretch in one position for several seconds/minutes
-good for flexibility
- sends signal to relax chronically tight muscles
-positive effect on recovery
-max benefits if you hold stretch for over 1 minute.
- best to do AFTER your workout
OR ON REST DAYS TOO!

Mobility drills:
- repeating movements with the intention if improving rage of motion
- improve ability to move throug full range of motion during exercises and daily activities
- alleviate pain due to poor movement patterns
-train new/better muscle recruitment patterns
- do these BEFORE you workout
OR ALL THE TIME!