5 Thoughts on Dumbbells vs. Kettlebells

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5 Thoughts on Dumbbells vs. Kettlebells

 

More detailed description and video below!

 

1. Weight Distribution:

Dumbbells: The weight is evenly distributed on both sides. Making the feeling of the dumbbell a little more comfortable for most exercises. 

Kettlebells: The weight is balanced down the middle. Since the weight is all in one spot it can certain make exercises more difficult and recruit different muscles.

2. Exercise Selection:

Dumbbells: Great for strength and resistance training exercises. Evenly distributed weights allow for more weight to be lifted.

Kettlebells: Great for body movement and power exercises. A balanced weight allows for you to move with the bell and create more power.

3. Muscle Activation:

Dumbbells: Typically used to isolate and activate a select few muscles at a time. Ex: The DB bench press – Muscles activated are primarily the chest, shoulders and triceps.

Kettlebells: Can be used in many different full body movements activating the whole body at once. Ex: Kettlebell snatch – Muscles activated – glutes, hamstrings, core/abs, shoulders, triceps just to name a few. Almost every muscle in the body gets activated and you develop full body neuromuscular coordination. 

4. Fat Burning Capabilities:

Dumbbells: Strength and resistance training will result in increased lean muscle mass which will increase your metabolism, leading to improved fat burning capabilities.

Kettlebells:  The quick, powerful full body movements increase fat burning by using more muscle groups and increasing heart-rate and cardio output.

5. Goal Set:

Dumbbells: Great for anyone looking to increase lean muscle mass or gain overall strength. Body builders, physique competitors and those looking to increase size will benefit the most from this type of training.

Kettlebells: Great for those looking to increase power, improve body movement and develop full body neuromuscular control and coordination. Athletes, fat loss clients and anyone looking to improve body movement will benefit the most from this type of training.

 

Now you don’t have to stick to only one or the other. Vary up your training by using both but make sure you’re primarily sticking to what is going to get you to your goal!

 

 

Written By:

Robert Jost

ACE-CPT, NSCA-CPT

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Is Body Movement Training The Next Big Thing?

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Is Body Movement Training The Next Big Thing?

What is Body Movement Training?

Body movement training can be summed up to pretty much any type of body movement done efficiently: running, walking,  jumping, bounding, rolling, cartwheels. These movements are already found in some fitness programs, but are they being done properly? And are they being worked on and perfected?

Hasn’t Body Movement Always Been a Thing?

It was a thing! Unfortunately, most people don’t move efficiently or often, leading to poor body mechanics and posture. This then leads to pain and potential injury. The vast majority of people are sitting behind desks for 8+ hours a day, followed by a few more hours in the car and on the couch to finish out the day. Our actions create habits and a habit of poor posture and inactivity doesn’t transfer well to healthy movement.

How Can I Make My Body Move More Efficiently?

Stop sitting so much, start there! For every hour you sit, make it a rule to at least get up and move around for 5 minutes. Do get a better idea of your body’s movement needs. Come in for a movement assessment. An assessment can pinpoint the body compensations and muscle imbalances developed over the years. These imbalances can come from various every day habits. You have a Desk job and aren’t very active. You play sports or have played sports and have developed imbalances because of the repetitive sporting movements. You’re an avid gym goer and have poor movement habits that lead to you doing the exercises incorrectly. Whatever it may be a movement assessment can help find the fix.

What is a Movement Assessment?

A movement assessment typically starts with a squat assessment. From this squat assessment every joint and muscle movement can be seen. Compensation patterns and muscle imbalances are determined. From there the most productive workout program can be put together to get your body moving more efficiently and in less pain! Now the true body movement training program begins!

Where Can I Get An Assessment?

More facilities are providing movement assessments than ever before, which is great for the future of body movement training, but not all assessments are created equal. Just make sure you do your homework on the place and find out if they do a movement assessment. If you live in the South Jersey area or want to complete an online movement assessment and suggestions on how to improve, we would be happy to help.

Written By:

Robert Jost

NSCA-CPT, ACE-CPT

 

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Training Aspects’  personal trainers and sports performance coaches want you to accomplish your goals. You, as the personal training client, are a reflection of our personal training and group training methods! We are here to help you accomplish all of your personal training goals!  Our main training focus are people looking to increase performance, lose weight , lose body fat and increase lean muscle. Whether you live in Cherry Hill, Haddonfield,Marlton, or any of the other surrounding areas we are here to help you Move, Look and feel as you’ve always desired…

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Top 5 Performance Exercises to Utilize Your New Ankle Mobility

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Top 5 Performance Exercises to Utilize Your New Ankle Mobility

Now that we have mobilized the ankle to its optimal movement, it’s time to perform! If you missed any of the previous articles on ankle mobility here they are Ankle Performance and you (Part 1), Signs of a need to improve ankle mobility (Part 2), Corrective ways to improve ankle mobility (Part 3), Ways to imporove ankle mobility (Part 4).

These articles will be a good guide to see if ankle mobility is an issue for you and how to improve it to get the most out of the performance exercises in this article. We are going to break down the top 5 sports performance exercises to start optimizing your new ankle mobility and really amp up your performance level!

Sports Performance Exercise #1: Single Leg Box Jumps

Single leg box jumps are a great way to build single leg stability and power. Single leg allows you to evenly develop stability and power in both legs without the compensations that may happen in a bi-lateral (both legs) box jumps. This will transfer over to sport more efficiently since your typically pushing and striding off of one leg.

 

 

Sports Performance Exercise #2: Weighted Deep Squats

Weighted deep squats are a great way to work on your ankle mobility under load or weight. This allows for your ankle to gain stability in the newly mobilized position.  Increased mobility in your ankle is great but only if you can stay stable in those new ranges of motion. (Remember only add weight when you can perform the exercise properly without it.)

 

 

Sports Performance Exercise #3: Single Leg Lateral Bounds

This exercise takes the single leg box jump a step further and adds a lateral aspect to it. The ability to laterally transfer your weight over, explode through your hips and ankle, all while keeping a stable ankle for landing.

 

 

Sports Performance Exercise #4: Depth Jumps

Depth jumps are a challenging exercise but must be done correctly. Depth jumps train your ankle and the rest of your body to absorb the force of the ground and use the elastic energy created by your ankle to propel your body into the air for a powerful jump. This elastic energy can only be created by a mobile but stable ankle.

 

 

Sports Performance Exercise #5: Sprints

Your sprint can only be as powerful as your ankle mobility will allow. If your ankle is too stiff you won’t be able to properly absorb the force of each foot strike leading to wasted energy and less power. This will also translate to poor running mechanics and potential injury down the road.

 

Written by:

Robert Jost

NSCA-CPT, ACE-CPT

 

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Corrective Ways to Improve Ankle Mobility Part 2

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Corrective Ways to Improve Ankle Mobility Part 2

 

Muscle Activations

 

What are Activations?

Typically there are many muscles in the body that will get under active or under used from muscle imbalances developed. This is where muscle activations come into play. Muscle activation exercises can increase the activity of that under used muscle.

How it Can Help

After you have already released, stretched and mobilized the affected area, activating the under used muscles can help bring back balance to the muscles and increase movement to the joints involved. Performance specific training can now be increased because muscles that were inactive and not part of the movement process, can now move efficiently and create the necessary power to move pain/wear and tear free.

Integrative Exercises

 

What is an Integrative Exercise?

An exercise that requires the body as whole to work together and activate all the necessary muscles to perform the movement efficiently.

How it Helps

This is the final piece to the puzzle. Integrative exercises help you develop stability, power and proper movement. Without integrating the movements, in most cases, doesn’t mean the process is complete. By integrating the movement back into daily life, the movement becomes a regular movement. 

 

Activations and Integrative Exercises to Incorporate

 

 

Written By:

Robert Jost

NSCA-CPT, ACE-CPT

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Corrective Ways to Improve Ankle Mobility Part 1

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Corrective Ways to Improve Ankle Mobility Part 1

There are many techniques that may help improve your ankle mobility. Manual muscle release, self myofascial release, stretching, mobilizations, muscle activations and integrations to name a few. Let’s break down techniques and how to implement them to get the most effective results.

Myofascial Muscle Release

What’s a Release?

When we overuse certain muscles they can develop tight spots (trigger points). These trigger points can start to create pain. The goal of myofascial release is to apply pressure to these trigger points until they release.

Types

The two most popular types, manual and self releases. Manual releases involves another person, usually a physical therapist using their hands to release the muscle. Self releases involve a release tool like a foam roller or softball and the person performing the release for themselves.

How It Can Help

By applying the pressure to these trigger points it will start to loosen and allow the muscle to properly lengthen. Once the muscle is properly lengthened you can efficiently move on to the next steps like mobilizations and stretches.

Joint Mobilizations

What’s a Mobilization?

Many of our joints become stiff over time from not moving enough or having poor movement habits. Joint mobilizations increase mobility through isolated body movements that target specific joints. These mobilizations can only be performed optimally following muscle release. The releases will allow for proper length of the muscle leading to increased mobilization.

How It Can Help

Joint mobilizations help improve mobility of the joint, once that is achieved you can start improving movement patterns while exercising.  It will also help you re-pattern these important joint movements back into your brain so they become habit. These habits will lead to less pain and injury.

Stretching

The regular outlook on Stretching?

Stretching feels great! However, being too flexible is just as bad as not being flexible. If the body is unable to move a certain way and you continue to push to push it past the limit. You may not realize that your body may have a restriction. Instead of the stretch being effective it’s actually stretching  something totally different then planned.

When to Stretch?

Stretching is most beneficial after incorporating the above 2 techniques. Releases and mobilizations allow for the muscles to be properly lengthened. This is when stretching is most beneficial and can actually lengthen the muscle.

How It Can Help

Properly lengthening the muscles can put the joints and muscles into proper position allowing for strengthening exercises to be more beneficial and less likely to injure you!

Check back next week  to get the continuation and second part to this article, it will include videos on how to improve.

 

Written By:

Robert Jost

ACE-CPT, NSCA-CPT

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Training Aspects’  personal trainers and sports performance coaches want you to accomplish your goals. You, as the personal training client, are a reflection of our personal training and group training methods! We are here to help you accomplish all of your personal training goals!  Our main training focus are people looking to increase performance, lose weight , lose body fat and increase lean muscle. Whether you live in Cherry Hill, Haddonfield,Marlton, or any of the other surrounding areas we are here to help you Move, Look and feel as you’ve always desired…

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Signs You Need to Improve Ankle Mobility

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Signs You Need to Improve Ankle Mobility

On a run, feeling great, out of no where there’s a weird pain in your ankle/knee. The usual response “oh it will work itself out,”  just push through it .  After the run calves are tight or maybe the dull pain comes back. You can barely walk the next day but you say “what a great run! I can really feel it.” Although it may feel like your making great progress (you know the all wise saying.. if you’re not sore you didnt do anything) these could actually be signs of something that is hindering your performance and adding up to a potential injury.

Sign of Ankle Dysfunction 1: Pain in Ankle, Knee, Hip

Pain is the most obvious sign that something is wrong. However, pain in your knee doesn’t necessarily mean the issue is your knee. Pain is a puzzle piece, the issue is the puzzle! Pain can make its way up to the knee and even the hip if the ankles are too stiff. Any time we walk, run, or jump the impact starts at the foot and ankle and then works its way up the chain. If the ankle lacks the mobility to absorb the shock of the impact it can send the shock up the chain to either the knee or hip. Leading to the knee or hip joint to overwork and compensate for the lack of mobility at the ankle leading to pain.

 

Sign of Ankle Dysfunction 2: Feet Turn Out

This is a big indicator that something is off. Even if you don’t feel pain, yet, with your feet turning out, it can be a sign of an injury brewing. Feet turning out is typically a sign of overactive calves and an under active anterior tibialis (shin area). If you have ever had shin splints this is one of the reasons why. This imbalance of the muscles of the lower leg causes the feet to not be able to dorsiflex properly. Lack of dorsiflexion doesn’t allow for proper force absorption when landing while running or jumping. This will also lead to the knees collapsing inward creating a lot of unwanted force at the knee joint. Repeat that motion over and over again and you have an injury waiting to happen.

Sign of Ankle Dysfunction 3: Your Calves are Always Tight

If your calves are sore or tight after each workout, there may be something wrong.  This tightness or soreness can lead to the problems described above, starting with your feet turning out and then eventually pain and injury. So be careful when going by the “feeling the burn” or “no pain no gain” theories. Though you must challenge your muscles to progress, soreness is not always a sign of positive growth. 

 

Stay tuned for next weeks article, tips on how to correct basic ankle dysfunction.

Written By:

Robert Jost

NSCA-CPT, ACE-CPT

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Ankle performance and you

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Function and mobility of the ankle

The ankle, one of the smaller joints but bears a huge load.  1.5 times yourweight is being applied when you are walking or standing, and eight times your weight when running. The ankle is a hinge joint The three bones, the tibia the fibula and the talus come together with articular cartilage in between. The cartilage allows the bones to move against one another smoothly and acts a shock absorber. Although the ankle is only made up of three bones, it is one of the most commonly injured parts of the human body.

Many do not have adequate ankle mobility.  From a movement stand point, decreased joint mobility at the ankle joint or tibiofibular joint. When walking, running, skating, squatting, picking something up, ankle mobility can be the difference between moving properly and getting injured. It’s like Jenga, if the blocks are built over a strong foundation, the game continues. Once the base begins to tilt the end is near! When the ankle doesn’t move properly the knee is affected. Once the knee is affected, you guessed it, the hip also begins to suffer.

The ankle up the chain:

The inability to perform a proper stride forces the body to find different ways to complete the movement. Compensation pattern do not eliminate the load experienced when hitting the ground during running; they simply shift it to other parts of the body which can lead to pain elsewhere.

Knee pain

The human body is a kinetic chain, if the knee tracks properly over the ankle there should be limited wear and tear on the knee. What happens at one joint will have an effect at another joint. The joints not sitting properly and the lack of ankle dorsiflexion when running or walking can lead to an early bending in the knee, which in turn can disrupt the whole efficiency of stride pattern.

Hip/lower back pain

Reduced dorsiflexion can increase the duration of time in which the heel is off the ground. The result… a decrease in hip extension, not allowing the person to complete a a full stride through the hip, knee and ankle. It may limit glute activation and create the feeling of tight hamstrings and in turn develop an anterior pelvic tilt.

 

Stay tuned, the next few weeks, we will focus in on the signs of ankle dysfunction and and how to fix the problem to increase performance in life, sports and performance.

Written By: Kirill Vaks

Fitness Specialist

BA,CSCS,ACSM-cpt,NFPT-sns

 

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Training Aspects Personal Training and Sports Performance:

Training Aspects’  personal trainers and sports performance coaches want you to accomplish your goals. You, as the personal training client, are a reflection of our personal training and group training methods! We are here to help you accomplish all of your personal training goals!  Our main training focus are people looking to increase performance, lose weight , lose body fat and increase lean muscle. Whether you live in Cherry Hill, Haddonfield,Marlton, or any of the other surrounding areas we are here to help you Move, Look and feel as you’ve always desired…

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3 Things to Make Your Sports Season a Success

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Top 3 Things to Make Your Sports Season a Success

Athletes want to get compete on the highest level, get stronger and dominant their sport, doing whatever it takes. Great mentality to have for the  majority of the year. During the offseason, training can be at it’s highest intensity, your body will be able to recover properly in your down time. In season, that’s another story!  Practices and games and the “on the go mentality” increases stress on the body. Active recovery and proper nutrition needs to be a focus during the season. Here are the top 3 ways to get you there.

 Sports Success Tip 1: Adjust Your Training intensity

Decrease your training volume! During the offseason many athletes are working out 5-6 times a week. This is usually the right balance between getting in as much performance work as possible, while still allowing your body to recover. Once the season starts with increased practices and game days you’re going to need to scale back on the amount of training you’re doing. Some different ways to adjust your training load can be to lower the intensity, limit heavy weights, reduce number of training days and increase recovery methods. Focus on bodyweight mobility and strength.

Sports Success Tip 2: Increase Recovery Methods

Keeping your body fresh is most important! This is the time your body needs to be performing at its peak. The last thing you want is to go out on the ice or field and feel tight, sluggish, and under perform. Consistently going out to play with tight muscles and your body moving in-efficiently can lead to potential injures that will bring your season to a halt. No matter how talented you are, if you are on the sidelines, it doesn’t matter. Increasing muscle releasing, stretching and mobilizing combined with efficient body movement training can greatly improve performance and reduce injury risk.

Sports Season Success Tip 3: Pre and Post Game Nutrition

Athletes have a Go-Go-Go mindset, Plan your food and drink!  Food and water is the same as  fuel for a car. If you have a Ferrari you can’t put regular gas in it. As an athlete you are a Ferrari. Away game trips do not give you an excuse to eat poorly.  So make sure you make eating and hydration a priority. Carbs are your friend, give the body easy energy for the athlete. An in game electrolyte drink such Accelerade or bodyarmour can be beneficial in aiding endurance sports lasting over 1 hour 1/2 – 2 hours. Plenty of water, about 12-16 fl.oz per hour pre game. During the game have a mix between water an electrolyte carb drink. Post game drink 12-16 Fl.oz per pound lost, as well as, a protein, sugar, electrolyte combination to replenish lost fluids and nutrients and begin the rebuilding process. Then a meal an hour later.

Incorporate these 3 things into your in-season training and see a huge spike in your performance.

Written By:

Robert Jost

NSCA-CPT, ACE-CPT

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Training Aspects Personal Training and Sports Performance:

Training Aspects’  personal trainers and sports performance coaches want you to accomplish your goals. You, as the personal training client, are a reflection of our personal training and group training methods! We are here to help you accomplish all of your personal training goals!  Our main training focus are people looking to increase performance, lose weight , lose body fat and increase lean muscle. Whether you live in Cherry Hill, Haddonfield,Marlton, or any of the other surrounding areas we are here to help you Move, Look and feel as you’ve always desired…

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Exercise of the Week: TRX Explosive Sled Pull

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Exercise of the week : TRX Explosive Sled Pull

Looking for a new way to use your Trx? Tired of just pushing the sled? Wrap your Trx around the base of the sled and you have created a whole new monster! The Trx explosive sled pull can be an effective exercise to implement into an athlete’s program or a fun new variation for someone looking to lose weight. This exercise can improve power production through the entire body, increase core stabilization, as well as improve overall body coordination and movement. It is also a great calorie burner and a ton of fun 😉  Give it a try!

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Training Aspects Personal Training and Sports Performance:

Training Aspects’  personal trainers and sports performance coaches want you to accomplish your goals. You, as the personal training client, are a reflection of our personal training and group training methods! We are here to help you accomplish all of your personal training goals!  Our main training focus are people looking to increase performance, lose weight , lose body fat and increase lean muscle. Whether you live in Cherry Hill, Haddonfield,Marlton, or any of the other surrounding areas we are here to help you Move, Look and feel as you’ve always desired…

Visit us:
The Ritz Plaza

910 Haddonfield-Berlin rd.

Voorhees, NJ 08043

 

 

Do You Have a Big Butt or Is It an Illusion?

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Do You Have a Big Butt or Is It an Illusion?

Wow, That girl has a huge behind (or that guy to be equal)! Your eyes may be deceiving you. Big butts, do lie. Lower back pain, tight hips, tight hamstrings are all signs of it. The issue may be your posture. An imbalance usually shown by the hips where your pelvis tilts down in the front and tilts up in the back.That tilting movement forces the lower back to arch, in turn you have a case of an anterior pelvic tilt.

 

What are Anterior Pelvic Tilt Muscle Imbalances?

As you can see from the picture the butt is sticking out, the lower back arches, the hamstrings pull up, hip flexors pull down, and the abdomen sticks out. This is a body full of muscular imbalances.

 

What are Anterior Pelvic Tilt Compensation Patterns?

Working out with these muscle imbalances causes compensation patterns, potential pain and tightness. The back arching causes overactivity of the low back muscles which in turn under-activates the abdominals. Which means your core isn’t working! The front of the hips pulling down over-activates the hip flexor muscles which causes the butt to stick out and under-activate the glutes and hamstrings. Here are a couple examples of anterior pelvic tilt during popular exercises.
Anterior pelvic tilit exerciseAnterior pelvic tilt exercise

Pain and Tightness Caused by an Anterior Pelvic Tilt

Working out while your hips are stuck in an anterior pelvic tilt may cause you pain, tightness, or you may not feel any issues. It’s like a piano hanging over the room by a string, it may stay up there for a bit but it will eventually snap. When it does, you will feel the consequences. Attack it now before a real injury occurs.

 

Does All Tightness and Pain Mean the Same Thing?

Nope! Tightness or pain in the back or hips is usually from the muscle being over active and in a shortened position. The hamstrings are a different story, refer back to the picture above and you can see the hamstrings are actually under active and lengthened. The Hamstrings are a long and especially in a anterior pelvic tilt case, overactive muscle group.

 

Don’t Stretch your Hamstrings!

If you have “tight” hamstrings  even though you stretch them, keep in mind, the hamstrings are actually already lengthened to their max leading to that feeling of “tightness”. Stretching them further won’t be beneficial and can actually make your compensation pattern worse. If you want to stretch them do it dynamically.

 

How to Combat Anterior Pelvic Tilt

The best method we have found is a combination of release, mobilize, stretch, activate, and integrate. This involves releasing and static stretching of the overactive muscles (hip flexors and lower back), the hamstrings you would still release but dynamically stretch. The dynamic stretch will limit over lengthening. Mobilize the hip joint. Activate the under-active muscles (glutes and abdominals). Then integration of all of these muscles properly into your exercise routine and/or sport.

 

If you are a performer, athlete or simply looking to get rid of some pain. Assess yourself. If, when standing, your hips are not in neutral position but tilting up instead, then, congratulations, you have an anterior pelvic tilt! We have some work to do!

 

Check back for the video solution to an anterior pelvic tilt.

Written By: Robert Jost

Fitness Specialist

NSCA-CPT, ACE-CPT

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Training Aspects Personal Training and Sports Performance:

Training Aspects’  personal trainers and sports performance coaches want you to accomplish your goals. You, as the personal training client, are a reflection of our personal training and group training methods! We are here to help you accomplish all of your personal training goals!  Our main training focus are people looking to increase performance, lose weight , lose body fat and increase lean muscle. Whether you live in Cherry Hill, Haddonfield,Marlton, or any of the other surrounding areas we are here to help you Move, Look and feel as you’ve always desired…

Visit us:
The Ritz Plaza

910 Haddonfield-Berlin rd.

Voorhees, NJ 08043