What’s holding you back?

Are there skills you have not been able to acquire and you’re not sure why. Strength is an obvious hurdle but very often there is something else holding you back. If you can’t do a push up, you need to work on strengthening chest, shoulder, triceps, abdominals, and lower back. Pretty simple (though not easy). How about shoulder push ups? The most difficult version requires not only strength but flexibility as the body needs to fold almost in half like a jack knife. What about single leg squats? Now you’re talking strength, flexibility, mobility and stability.

To move past sticking points you must train your weaknesses. But first, identify what they are. I have limited range of motion in my wrists because my forearms are hyper-flexible in one direction and hyper-inflexible in the opposite direction. This fact severely limits my ability to do straight-arm strength exercises with my hands on the floor, exercises like the straight arm lever.

The physical training pyramid :

7. Endurance

    6. Strength

        5. Stability

           4. Flexibility

              3. Mobility

                 2. Nutrition

                    1.Rest/Sleep/Recovery

The bottom of the pyramid being the first thing that must be addressed before the next level in the pyramid. In other words, if you aren’t getting enough sleep nutrition, mobility, flexibility and so on won’t help you achieve your physical fitness goals.

Today I had a 90-minute personal training session with Sara-Clare of Agatsu in Montreal via Skype. I am working on skills that I will need in order to pass the Level 2 Kettlebell Certification and so I turned to Agatsu for training, the same people who trained me in Mobility and movement, Kettlebells, and overall personal training methods. The skills include: pistol squats, L-sit handstands and muscle-ups. Pistol squats are simple but again, not easy. Not if you lack ankle mobility and have tight calves and lateral hamstrings like I do.

Rather than flogging a dead horse by struggling to do pistol squats, I am going to be working on increasing my flexibility and mobility on a daily basis because these are the impediments to my progress. Strength comes after mobility and flexibility. These elements are slower to improve so they need frequent (daily) attention. In addition I will be neurologically programming my body to get into the positions I need to execute these exercises. I will accomplish this by regressing the movements, breaking them down, and holding those positions for repetitions. Learning which muscles must be activated is another key to successfully performing difficult movements. 

There are other tips that will help you get better at certain movements. The important thing is understanding there is a logical progression to achieving your goals. If you skip important steps, you will be less likely to succeed. There are building blocks and foundational movements that are fundamental to success.

Sometimes we need a knowledgeable and objective third party to help us identify what we need to work on and help us train for them. Anyone can benefit from a trainer, regardless of the level they are at. Sara is world-class and still has someone help her to keep improving. Irrespective of your level of training, enlisting the help of a trainer can help you evaluate your weaknesses and give you advice for improving on them. If you don’t know what’s holding you back maybe you need a coach or trainer to help you achieve your goals.