Training for performance or general fitness requires a total body approach. Your body is more like a symphony than a 3 chord rock and roll song. So your training should reflect this complexity. Most men love to press and curl, and these areas rarely need encouragement. The lower half is often neglected and is usually last on the average person’s list of priorities.
3 things to keep in mind.
• Dynamic flexibility drills like A skips, walking lunges, backward knee outs, inch worms, and spider man crawls are all terrific warm ups that increase heart rate and improve flexibility. Great starters for just about any training day.
•Train the lower body with more frequency. Try starting your week with lower body work and move it up on the priority list. Hitting the squat rack is a start, but not the solution. Athletic and everyday movement is complex. Life doesn’t happen in a singular plane with slow controlled movements. Make sure your training prepares you for the world outside the bubble of your pretty little health club with all its fancy leg machines. Your lower body training needs more substance than leg press, a few lunges, and leg ext/curls. Incorporate more dynamic movements, lateral, plyometric, and agility drills. Add these to well balanced resistance training movements like front squats, pistols, and straight legged dead lifts to increase functional strength and performance.
•Don’t forget to static stretch. Static stretches are best performed at the the end of your training. Inverted hurdler, hip, and hamstring stretches, are just a few good things to increase in frequency.
Flexibility work, Strive performance style resistance training focusing on multi- joint/ multi-plane movement will ensure a more balanced performance and physique.
Variations of split jumps are one way to increase explosive and functional strength to your lower body.