Form and Range of Motion

Today I watched a video Beachbody live sessions with:

Shaun T & Chalene & Leandro

I won’t lie I looked up some pictures of Leandro because he’s too cute and I love his Sculpt workout because it works everything. But mainly in the Shaun T Live chat I had to hear about 2 things which I will talk to you about today and they are FORM and RANGE OF MOTION

Now in P90X Chest Shoulders and Tri’s Tony and the kiddies have what is called Push Up Bars and Tony tells us they give you about 6 inches more depth so you can have a deeper range of motion. Range of motion is simply how deep, how high, basically the degree you can go. Like in lateral movements, how quickly and how fast can you get there, deeper range of motion works more muscles.

So Form is key to the range of motion because of the fact that without proper form we lose our results

It is good to tuck our abs under to protect our lower back and squeeze our abs since they work in opposition to one another.

Shaun T said something about the form of pushups, V Pushups and the tricep dips that I have tio mention

1. Pushups—if you can’t get a good range of motion when you do them quickly, go slow. Going slowly helps work more of our muscles and builds muscle memory and will allow us to do it at a later date, faster. Let’s not worry so much about our numbers that we forget our form and don’t work the muscles we intend to . The other part about pushups is that again, squeeze those abs and tuck them in as well as a flat back, neck and neutral spine—in other words, they must be aligned

2.  V Pushups- same here, but make sure that you are in a V and that your elbows flare out to the sides, this looks like a downward dog but you can modify ANY exercise whenever you are tired and need a break OR you are not strong enough…YET

3. Tricep dips—this is not a move for your abs, though if you lift your hips to where they look like you’re humping on the floor it will not be an ab move but a “move you do until you hurt your back—or feel it in your lower back” When you’re doing an exercise, as you get into it by at least rep 6 you should feel it in the place you’re supposed to be working. If not, check your form

Range of motion

In pushups, Shaun T suggested that we go slow. Now, let me jump tracks to Chalene Extreme for a second. CHalene has a breakdown where we do the move we just did but slower, so that we contract the muscle we’re working and take out momentum. THAT is why going slow is where it’s at until you can get stronger and do them at a faster pace. THIS is where results ALSO live because with a weight I can swing it, or I can use my shoulder, bicep, tricep, quad to flex instead of letting momentum do all the work for me. Ain’t nobody got time for that

So, even if you have to modify these, make sure that you don’t worry about numbers too much and play with a range of motion.

Some examples

Chest and Back P90X, Tony instructs Mara to do as many Diamond pushups as she can as low as she can then go to her knees.

In P90X Chest Shoulders and Tri’s when Phil is doing the leaning tri’s in the chair, he says that while his elbows flare out while he’s doing the move, that it’s ok because his form isn’t too hinkley

When your form goes, you are done

In Insanity, Frank does a move, he’s often in the middle row behind Tanya and Shaun tells him to take a break. If you can’t adjust your form and do it correctly in the moment, either pause or fix your form. Good form=good results=looking good and feeling good.

We want you not only to look good, but to feel good

So in conclusion: Mind your form and play around with a deeper range of motion!