DKXtremeFitness: Angrybirds Thursday Workout - 03 - 08 - 2012

Well, tonight I was present throughout Dan's entire workout. I believe my presence helped up the level of intensity for him since I was there to correct his form at all times and watch for any deviations, which seldom occurred. Because of this, my hat's off to him once again for doing most of the exercises correctly.

Here are some mistakes identified and corrected:

1) Hammer Strength Iso Lateral Low Rows - There was a little too much cheating during the hammer strength low rows in the last few reps. However, given the weight he was using and since it was his first time doing this machine, I let it slide. Next time, he needs to maintain his upper body pressed against the padding and not use any momentum for pulling the weight. All motion should be reserved for the arms which act as hooks, yet the pulling needs to be performed by the back, specifically the Latissimus Dorsi as well as other smaller ancillary muscles.

2) Dumbbell Flat Bench Presses - Range of motion was too short, although the idea of time under tension was at work, the movement was not necessarily being performed correctly. He was only lowering his upper arm down to parallel and not allowing other stabilizing muscles to activate in aiding with the pushing motion of the dumbbells when lowering them further. In order to trigger all muscles, I made him increase his ROM (Range of motion) all the way down towards his chest as if an imaginary bar existed between the two dumbbells.

Additionally, Dan was failing to press the dumbbells together which promote the same aforementioned function. When utilizing the shorter range of motion, you are truly not taking advantage of triggering as many muscles as possible. The more muscle groups involved, the better the results produced. He corrected himself and was able to perform them in the right manner after I let him know what should be done (See the video below).

3) Lateral Raises - Here the only mistake was not having the dumbbells being held in front of him (pressed together) and rather at his sides (parallel to his hips). In doing this he is once again failing to activate certain muscles and shortening his positive and negative motions by several inches. Another mistake that was corrected was that he was failing to imitate a pouring motion at the top of the movement. In other words, the motion should be analogous to pouring water from a jug, the jug being the dumbbell. Regardless of these mistakes, he quickly got the gist of what was suppose to actually take place during the exercise:

-A very slight knee bend

-Maintain a slight angle with the back while keeping it straight with zero arch

-Control the cadence and the weight

-Keep feet together and not shoulder width apart to stabilize his center of gravity.

4) Hammer Strength Curls - The only issue here was derived from the use of a heavier weight that caused Dan to sacrifice good form and look real sloppy while performing this exercise. I let him finish the set so as to not interrupt his flow. Once finished, I quickly grabbed dumbbells that were 10lbs lighter respectively. This quickly helped him maintain good form. Prior to lowering the weight, he was utilizing a lot of momentum and his elbow was too far back which incorporated other ancillary muscles instead of the sole purpose of the exercise: isolation of the contraction/flexing of the biceps brachii.

By positioning his elbows a bit more forward, the focus immediately shifted entirely to his biceps and he mentioned he felt that it was much harder to lift the weight in that manner. This further proves that his form was way off.

One more note, we switched his leg raises from being done on the decline bench to a flat surface such as a mat due to his complaints of some aches and soreness in his lumbar region. I posit that this stems from his height of 6'6" which makes working in certain areas a bit difficult. Since what we are trying to do here is build him up and make him healthy and strong (and not hurt), shifts and changes will be done accordingly with regard to what feels natural to his body.

Overall, the workout was good. He had great form aside from the aforementioned slip ups which were easily corrected due to my presence and oversight in this session.

Below is his workout (with some action shots) breakdown for tonight:

Decline Abdominal Sit Ups - 2 sets - 12, 10 reps - BW

Lying Leg Raises (on mat) - 2 sets - 6, 6 - BW

L-Flyes - 1 set - 25 reps - 5lbs

Dumbbell Standing Military Press - 1 warm up set, 2 work sets - 20, 12, 11 reps - 15, 30, 35lbs

Iso Lateral Hammer Strength Low Row - 2 sets - 15, 15 reps - 90, 90lbs