Dooley Noted: 1/25/2014
Oh – the gym.
It’s chock-full of people with the best intentions with often improper guidance.
People pack the treadmills, stationary bikes, and ellipticals. Then, they follow it up with seated resistance drills like deck flyes, leg press, seated military press, leg extension, leg curl, you name it.
They believe it’s “good” for them. Perhaps this all works for them.
But I see much more of the converse.
I see the shock on my patients’ faces, when I tell them the following:
“You can use any machine you want, as long as you first give me all of the following:
– one solid push up
– one solid pull-up
– one 60-second hard style plank
– 5 quality squats
– 5 quality deadlifts
No compensations. Just clean form. Then you can use the machines if you just can’t give them up.”
People love those machines – and I may not be able to stop it. It’s an old, debunked yet permeated paradigm to break.
While they compromise, I must make people step away from the machines so they can become more tolerant to using them.
You don’t have to give up the machines, if you love them.
I won’t make you. You’re in charge.
But I will urge you to first move well and build a base of functional strength, before you put yourself on a machine that yields most of the control.
For me, I prefer an empty space, where I’m building strength under MY control.
But as always, it’s your call.
– Dr. Kathy Dooley