Posted on April 28, 2015 by Jenny Cromack

Anybody who has trained with me over the years knows how much detail I love to put into plans. I am a huge believer in getting the small details right and leaving the big picture stuff to later.

Once our personal training clients have got the key fundamentals correct then we move on to bigger and better things. This can apply to you too! Here is how a few small things can lead to big results and make the world of difference to a program.

Tempo

Whenever I start training new personal training client, I can’t stress enough the importance of tempo during repetitions. So many people walk into a gym and recklessly move weight, the outcome of that set in terms of adaptation is commonly unknown to the trainee. For example, if you’re a female and wanting to drop body fat and “tone” your muscles, you really need to believe that 15 quick and rushed squat repetitions is not really all that useful (I promise), however if I tell you that you have to spread that 15 repetitions out over 75 gruelling seconds, now were talking massive training effect. If you completed every repetition of the squat following this pattern 4 seconds down, no pause at the bottom 2 seconds back up and no pause at the top, you would have 90 horrible seconds!

By simply tweaking the tempo you have changed the exercise from a simple ‘going through the motions exercise’, to a metabolically challenging exercise. This creates an hormonal environment geared towards stripping fat like a hungry T-Rex in a cow field!

Likewise if you’re looking to develop strength research shows that each rep needs to be completed as explosively as possible, slowing down repetition speed could compromise your strength development. So the next time you’re moving the barbell or dumbbell, think at the back of your mind how long should this set take?

Scapula Position

Without sounding mad I’m obsessed with scapula position during exercises. Having your scapula in the incorrect position easily changes the emphasis on the exercise to different muscle groups, leading to poor posture and could cause injuries.

Let’s look at the bench press as an example. Commonly this is performed without retraction of the shoulder blades, this causes the anterior deltoid (front of shoulder) to become more dominant, opposed to the pectorals. By not retracting the shoulder blades into their correct position you have allowed the shoulders to roll inwards,  taking the emphasis of the pectorals. Such a small thing but can make the world of difference when your looking to build muscle in the chest.

Lunge Length

Let’s look at developing and sculpting the hamstrings, such a small variable as the length of the lunge can make the world of difference in the emphasis of the exercise. A short lunge will activate the leading quadriceps muscle significantly more during the exercise, where as a long extended lung will place more emphasis on the hamstrings and glutei group. Think about what muscle you wanting to work during your lunge sets and set the step length accordingly.

Grip Width

Another common thing I see in the gym is individuals grabbing the bar wherever feels right. The width of the grip changes drastically the emphasis of the movement. When deadlifting a wider grip is associated with more glutei and hamstring emphasis, during the bench press a closer grip is associated with the triceps.

There are thousands of small little things that can lead to big results and make a world of difference….as they say, the devil’s in the detail. If you want to know more little tips and tricks contact one of the Personal Training Team at motive8 North.