Popular fitness goals include increasing definition, losing weight, building muscle, or reducing body fat - all of which are great goals! However, there are three other areas your Peak Coaches recommend incorporating into your goals and therefore your fitness routines.
IMPROVING YOUR FUNCTION
Developing stability, core strength, and flexibility are foundational components to protecting your skeletal system.
1. STABILITY As you know, we love working single-leg and balance challenges into the Peak program. By doing this, we are working on your ankle and core stability. Performing exercises that are proprioceptively challenging will ultimately reduce your risk of injury when performing daily activities, working out, or playing sports.
2. CORE STRENGTH “What’s your favorite childhood memory?” “Not having back pain.” We’ve all been there. Trunk muscle weakness by itself is a risk factor for low back pain. An easy way to reduce this risk is by building a strong core beginning with the muscles along your spine called your local stabilization system. Exercises like 60-second planks, floor bridges, and prone cobra will strengthen these muscles which provide support from vertebra to vertebra.
3. FLEXIBILITY Want to know the first thing Peak Coaches train with all clients? Mobility. Before you begin training in a heavy resistance program, we must first correct muscular imbalances. Curious as to the cause of those imbalances? Let’s think about the impacts of poor flexibility.
When your brain sends a signal to your body to perform a motion, it is set on getting the job done. Your body knows to find the path of least resistance. So, when you are not flexible enough to perform the motion using the proper muscles, your body will enlist another to do the job. At the end of the day, this continues to strengthen the wrong muscle and contributes to the muscular imbalance. To prevent this from happening when working out, we must first make sure you have the flexibility to perform the motions at hand to build up those weaker muscles. Make sure you are performing your daily Peak workouts each week to improve your stability, strength and mobility.