When you lift a weight, are you focused on where youre feeling it? If not, pay attention the next time. You may need to adjust a few things to move the effort and hit the muscles correctly. Lets take lat pulldowns for example. Many people feel these more in their arms (or nowhere specifically) instead of in their upper back and lats where they should. Gah! Or they turn this into a row by moving all around. First, if your hands and forearms tire before your back, get straps or hooks. You need them. - Adjust the knee pad so that its pretty tight to hold you in place. Reach up and grab the bar and sit down. - Sit with good posture, shoulders down and back, slight arch in your lower back. You should be pretty much 90 degrees with the bench. I imagine being in a tight box - pushing my lats out to touch the sides, chest lifted and slightly out to touch the front, back arched and butt touching the back. I cant lean forward or back because Im in the box. Strange but it works. LOL. - Pull the bar towards you, taking about 1 second to smoothly pull it to about the top of your chest. If you have to move your head to keep from getting hit with the bar, youre probably sitting wrong. It should glide close but not hit you or make you adjust. If you had a hat, it would knock the brim. - Pause at the bottom for a second and squeeze your lats hard. Ladies, think bra strap muscles and trying to rip the band of your sports bra. Guys, youre outta luck on this image. ;) - Take 2 seconds to return the bar, resist the pulling. Think onnnnnne, twoooooo. Fully extend your arms at the top and feel the stretch down your sides. Check in with your posture. Chest up! - Repeat for your reps. The last couple should be tough and you should feel like you need to lean back to pull down, but still able to resist it. If you dont feel this urge, try adding weight the next set. If you need to lean back more than a tiny bit to pull, lighten it. If youre having trouble, try these steps with a very light weight so you can feel the muscles working and get that connection first. Once you feel it, its much easier to know what to sense with more weight.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Dec 2014 14:22:12 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015