F45 Training Long Island City

Happy Trainer Tip Tuesday!

During front squat, a common discomfort we can experience is wrist or shoulder related. If we ever have pain or discomfort across wrists, or issues with mobility at the shoulder during a front racked squat, there is potential prep work that can help OR modifications that are useful.

Ideally in our front racked position, the barbell has rolled into the finger tips. This gives our shoulders and elbows space to pull forward and up, creating a strong rack for the bar by making a shelf with our shoulders and chest for the bar to sit. However, this position can be uncomfortable on the wrists for some folks, especially if we experience wrist or shoulder inflexibility (remember every body is different and that is okay!)

Before front racked squats– warm up the wrists, stretch out the forearms, stretch and warm-up the shoulder joints. This may enable the front rack position to become more accessible by priming your body for it!

If discomfort persists and prevents you from performing the movement well:

🔴 Try the crossed elbow position. Still roll the bar up until the clavicles, and use the shoulders as a shelf for the bar, but cross the arms over each other so the wrists lay flat and on top of the bar.

🔴 Lighten the load on the bar

🔴 Less fingers gripping the bar (pull out the pinkies, OR unwrap thumbs from front side)

🔴 As a last resort — Back rack the barbell

Try the variations and modifications as needed! Next week we take a look at the other Peak movement option for this phase!

HAPPY TRAINING!

Welcome to the PEAK Phase of Series 2, F45! This Phase we will be seeing two peak performance lifts on Thursday — the front racked squat and the bench assisted dumbbell row! Today, let’s take some time to talk the front racked barbell squat.

Setting up a Front Racked Barbell Squat—
🏋🏽‍♀️ Start by cleaning the barbell up to the clavicles:

1️⃣ Bar should be placed over the shoe lace part of the foot
2️⃣ Hinge the hips back, bend the knees, grab the bar about shoulder width distance apart or a little wider
3️⃣ Pull the bar up to the chest, maintaining it close to the body, as you extend the knees, and drive the hips forward. Speed and power will be your friend here. As the bar gets to chest height, whip the elbows forward and up to end up with the bar landing across the clavicles.
5️⃣ Roll the bar back into the fingertips to allow the elbows to stay high and the bar to stay back on the shoulders/chest.

🏋🏽‍♀️ Once the bar is racked, hinge the hips back and bend the knees. Allow the spine to stay extended, while leaning the torso slightly forward to counterbalance the hips.

🏋🏽‍♀️ Drive through the feet, straightening the knees and driving the hips forward and up to stand.

Next week we will discuss what to do if any wrist or shoulder inflexibility makes it hard to front rack the bar!

Happy Training Team!

It’s Trainer Tip Tuesday … on a Wednesday 😘. This week let’s chat about the stimulus focus we will see on Thursday— incorporating half or partial reps for each movement programmed.

Why half-reps?

🔥 Partial or half reps have a similar effect as pulsing, with a slightly larger range of motion. Working in half range or through a partial range between full range reps doubles the work, helping build muscular endurance.

🔥 Depending on where you perform the partial or half range, this approach can also help build position specific strength (working the half rep in the most optimal range, or where the contraction point is the strongest, can help build the strength overall, and help us overcome plateaus in any particularly sticky or weak spots in the over all range in a movement).

🔥 Half reps built into the working set can also help build hypertrophy, as it essentially doubles the volume of work done in a work set— helping us build more muscle.

Next week we break down the last stimulus focused concept we will see for our Hammer Thursday’s — tempo work! Until then, HAPPY TRAINING.

Happy Trainer Tip Tuesday! This Thursday’s stimulus focus in our hammer workout will be continual pulses. Let’s chat about why this is effective.

Why pulse? And what is considered a good pulse?

💪 Adding a pulse to a movement, or performing reps in super small, controlled ranges of motion, increases muscle activation by keeping a targeted muscle group under tension. This can help build endurance in that muscle group, as it can lead to muscle fatigue at a faster rate— a push past the fatigue and maintaining the movement for longer periods in small ranges will build that endurance.

💪 A good pulse is not a bounce, but a precise, controlled, SMALL range of motion, think 1-3 inches. This requires us to learn how to properly stabilize, and utilize the desired muscle groups with precision — which can lead to more stable joints as well as improved mind-body connection over time.

Next week we’ll address another type of stimulus work— half reps! Happy Training Team!

Happy Trainer Tip Tuesday and welcome to the Build Phase of Series 2, F45! This Phase is all about slowly progressing our fundamentals and technique and shifting our focus to the performance lifts we will see in the Peak Phase of Series 2– rows, squats, and explosive box jumps. Think of a sustainable build, so in the next phase we can push performance. On Thursdays, we will see more variations of these lifts programmed, with a different stimulus focus built in each week. Let’s look at each stimulus focus and talk about the WHY behind it.

Week 1, our stimulus focus for each movement will be incorporating a pause in the bottom most range of the move or in the part of the move where you’ll feel the biggest contraction.

So, why add a pause?

💪 Adding a pause helps us slow down, which gives the brain more time to register stimulus feedback — aka we give ourselves more time to FEEL what we are supposed to feel and therefore develop a stronger mind to body connection

💪 Adding a pause at the bottom most range of a move creates more work for the muscle— recovering from a stretched position or a Deadstop requires more muscle fibers to activate at once!

💪 Adding a pause in the deepest contraction of a move forces us to squeeze harder, another way to challenge the muscle group working, helping us eventually derive more power from that muscle group, later on

Next week we will look at another stimulus focus, why adding pulses can make a difference. Happy Training Team!