Last time, we covered how to make any exercise harder. If you’re just beginning or re-starting your fitness journey after many months off, regressions are just as important. In many ways, a small step back can launch you several steps forward.
Regressions can be your best friend and by using them, you’ll be able to concentrate on correct form and drastically reduce the chance of injury. There's no point taking time off and coming back just to get injured straight away.
So here are 7 ways you can make working out a little bit more comfortable…
1) Get mobile
If a partial squat feels awkward or you simply don’t feel your upper back muscles working on a pulling movement, then chances are you lack mobility in the hips, ankles or shoulders.
Performing an effective mobility drill, for all joints, before or during your warm-up can drastically alter the range of motion your body can run through.
This is unsexy, like the thought of Donald Trump in a Borat thong unsexy, but is a key component to performing exercises easier and more effectively.
Yes, we went there.
2) Activate all the muscles you can (or should)
When you get tired doing any exercise, it’s time to pull in all the help you can get.
Struggling with that last bicep curl? Try squeezing your butt tight as you bring the dumbbells up.
That last rep on the bench press pissing you off? Try pushing your body further into the bench and your feet into the floor as you lift.
In a perfect world you should be doing this with all of your reps anyway. But when you’re tired, out-of-breath and the thought of heading home to a houseful of kids on a sugar rush is on your brain it’s hard to remember all of the cues all of the time.
3) Change Lever Lengths (Angles)
No matter what you weigh, most of it lies around the hips. When you change the lever length, by elevating your body for example, it takes away some of the weight, allowing you to do the exercise with full body alignment instead of a half-baked hips-to-the-roof version. Doing a push up with your hands on a box or bar is much easier to perform than with your hands on the floor.
4) Start From The Bottom
“…now we're here. Started from the bottom now my whole team f-——g here” Drake’s not just riffing on his pretty stellar upbringing he’s also giving you a tip. To make an exercise easier sometimes it’s best to put yourself in the bottom (or half-way) position of the movement.
It can simply be starting in the sitting position of a squat, thumbs to nipple start on a push-up or getting your alignment right on split squats.
In that position, you’re stable and can think about activating the correct muscles with less distraction. This will stop your knees wavering in a squat, stop the collapse of a push-up and help with the balance of a split squat.
5) Take advantage of the equipment around you
One of the best ways to fix an ugly squat is to simply put a box behind you and use it as a target to sit back against. This solves any forward knee sheering or elevated heels that can be common.
Using a bench or a pair of Equalizers can help progress your push-ups. Using a super band for pull-ups can help you navigate the climb, which is the hardest part of the exercise.
6) Perform assistance exercises
To get better at something, one way to do it is by repetition. Doing ten push-ups a few times per week will eventually lead to 11,12, 13, 15 etc… to a certain point. Then you may have to play around with rep ranges, and maybe some assistance work.
But say you’re stuck on just doing one proper push-up and nothing seems to be working no matter how many times you try? Assistance work may help.
Speaking very generally, one reason that women are unable to do as many push-ups as men is that there’s a huge, natural difference in upper body strength – particularly at the shoulders.
So the reason why women may find it harder to do push ups is not necessarily because their chest or triceps are weak, but because they are unable to keep shoulder stability throughout the movement.
Employing other exercises such as scapular push-ups, wall slides, planks and rows with a pause, will really help develop your shoulder stability and will lead to better push-ups.
7) Drop some weight
This one’s obvious, but it’s quite hard to be straight up with people about it.
If you want to do chin-ups or pull-ups then dropping a few pounds will help as you won’t have to lift as much of your own body weight.
If you want to do any single leg exercises, step-ups, lunge, single-leg agility ladder drills - dropping weight is key to not only performing them better but also by decreasing pressure on your joints.
If you come across someone who’s 5’0 and weighs 90lbs dripping wet, chances are that their push-ups and pull-ups will naturally be better than most; simply because they aren’t carrying around a lot of weight.
Band assisted exercises are a great way to help offset some of your weight while still being able to perform the exercise with perfect form.
Summary
So there you have it – lots of ways you can make any exercise easier. But maybe the biggest factor to consider is stubbornness. You’re reading this at home or on the toilet (let’s face it, it’s good material for that) nodding your head, but when it’s time to do the work you get pigheaded and push through with horrible form, hoping the end is near.
There are absolutely times you should push through, like a bat-shit-crazy-ex-on-steroids, but not when it’s the first set of your first class.
Chill out. Find your base. Take your time. Results will come much quicker when you follow a logical regression.
Kevin & Victoria
P.S. Need help getting back on the fitness track? Then you should absolutely check out our Reboot Challenge that launches on Monday, September 21st. Early bird pricing of 50% off is on now or until all 20 spots are gone.
