BASIC MOVEMENT
Before putting a heavy-ass barbell on your back— WHICH YOU SHOULD ’CAUSE IT’S ONE OF THE MOST EFFECTIVE AND SAFE WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR OVERALL HEALTH AND IMPROVE YOUR QUALITY OF LIFE ESPECIALLY IF YOU’RE NOT A YOUNG BUCK ANYMORE— make sure you're able to access basic movement beforehand, I'll lay down some super simple stuff that you should be able to do and that if you don't, you can work at it at home, to improve your coordination, mobility, and quality of life and create a nice base for you to tackle your JOURNEY THROUGH THE QUEST OF G-G-GAINZ! HAHAHA
Suppleness helps A LOT with how our body feels during the day— and mobility sometimes is superbly underrated.
I was required to attend a motivational seminar for my job a couple of years ago, the orator was a Martial Arts instructor, he trained several UFC legends and was talking about their mindset, their grit, their training, their background, you know the drill, that sweet talk trying to instigate discipline in the company's ranks.
At some point, the dude called every single one of the people in attendance to go on the stage, and break a wooden board, he would instruct them how to throw a punch and the people would go there and break the goddamn thing.
It was there that I realized how TERRIBLE is the coordination of the majority of the people attending the event, there were approximately 80 people there, and I would be surprised if 5 threw a decent punch engaging their entire body to do so.
And it was not only that they didn't punch correctly, but it was also a complete lack of basic coordination, even getting up on stage was incredibly difficult for several people since the little stairs were utter poop, and that made me realize that a lot of the people that read my stuff here, is just beginning to engage in fitness, and potentially they never had any form of structured physical education.
So that inspired me to design some basic standards for you to work towards AT HOME, in order to improve your coordination.
The following are simple mobility and calisthenics drills, that you SHOULD be able to do before you try to engage in any sort of rigorous resistance training, doesn't mean that you NEED to have this type of mobility, it just means that you SHOULD.
SQUAT HOLD.
In order to develop the basic mobility and coordination to squat correctly with a barbell, you need to be able to squat with your body weight, your feet should be shoulder-width apart, slightly facing outwards and completely connected to the ground at all times, squat down until your butt is almost touching your heels, and hold the position for 5 minutes.
TOUCHING YOUR TOES
The most basic stretch of the posterior part of the leg, while keeping your legs straight, try to touch your toes, if you can't work at it.
HOLD YOUR FOOT BEHIND YOUR BUTT.
The most basic stretch of the anterior part of the leg put your foot behind your butt and hold it with BOTH HANDS, if you can't work at it.
EXTENDING YOUR ARMS PAST YOUR EARS.
Fully extend your arms up, now without moving your head forward, bring your shoulder joint slightly behind your ear.
If you can't do that, grab a broomstick and while holding it with both hands try to circle it all the way back to your butt around your entire body, the wider the grip the easier it will be.
SIT ON THE FLOOR WITH CROSSED LEGS
Self-explanatory, just sit on the floor like a kid or someone meditating, if you can't, work one leg at a time by placing your leg on the bed like you would when crossing your leg, and then drive your hips towards the ground, use your arms as support a let your hip socket be liberated from all that tension.
JUMPING JACKS
Film yourself doing jumping jacks, see if everything moves in synchronicity and if you don't look like an utter dork while doing it, if you do look stupid doing it, you gotta start doing them more often.
KNEE UPS.
Bring one knee to your chest, then bring the other, then bring one foot to your butt, then the other.
Count to 100.
PUSH-UPS
Do 20 clean full range of motion push-ups, if you can't do this, there's no reason for you to bench press.
These are all low-hanging fruits, waiting for you to master them, they'll provide you with the most basic coordination so you can progress and do awesome shit later, be it squatting a shitton of weight or learning how to backflip.
Don't neglect the basics and your journey on THE IRON PATH will be filled with thy blessings of ALMIGHTY BRODIN!
LFG!
Big KISS,
THE POTATO MAN