That said, when doing paired sets, make sure your pairings meet one of these rules: They include exercises using the same piece of equipment. They include exercises pairing a piece of immobile equipment (e.g., a bench press, squat rack or machine) with exercises using mobile equipment (e.g., dumbbells, resistance bands, or body weight). They include exercises pairing two pieces of mobile equipment or body weight

When yousquat, for example, your glutes help distribute and share theload placed on your lower body with other muscles, like yourquads and hamstrings. If your glutes are weak, in other words,other muscles have to compensate

For example, let’s say you rely heavily on your quads to lift and jump. Thisincreases your chances of developing patellofemoral pain syndrome (genericknee pain) because you’re loading your knees instead of the big engines ofyour hips.

training your glutes burns more caloriesthan training other body parts, especially when you perform glute exercises ina progressive manner

This is one of the mechanisms by which creatine is thought to work, as it increases a cell's fluid volume, which may then promote cell growth.

in-series hypertrophy refers to muscles growing by actually getting longer, like adding segments to a rope

The soleus initiates slow contractions, while the gastroc initiates fast contractions. (Cordo et al., 1982)

The medial and lateral heads of gastroc function differently from one another; the medial head works much harder than the lateral head to eccentrically resist knee extension.

If you want the calves to grow you need to make them do what they're not used to doing.

The guy with really long Achilles tendons, high calves, short muscle bellies, and a higher percentage of slow twitch muscle fibers will have a much more difficult time making his calves into cows than the guy with shorter Achilles tendons, low calves, long muscle bellies, and a higher percentage of fast twitch muscle fibers.

Free weights reign superior, machines allow us to do things we can't do with free weights: Training muscles in various ranges of motion, providing for unique positions, isolating various joints and muscles, and/or providing constant tension throughout full ranges of motion.

Leg Press Pros

The Second Rep

However, my research indicates that muscle fibers within a muscle can function differently from one another even if they don't have separate heads. For example, during my research I noted that the upper rectus abdominis and lower rectus abdominis function differently.

training through a spectrum of repetition ranges is best for those looking to maximize muscle growth. Our recent study looking at a varied versus constant loading protocol suggests a potential benefit to such an approach, at least for increasing growth in the upper body musculature (Schoenfeld et al 2016).

the short-term nature of resistance training studies leaves open the possibility that results may be at least in part attributed to a novelty effect and that findings might diverge over time.

Hip, ankle, and thoracic mobility drills, core stability drills, and glute activation drills can go a long way in helping people reach proper depth. However, due to anatomical variations at the hip such as cam or pincer femoroacetabular impingement syndrome, there are plenty of lifters who will never be able to deep squat with proper form (Lamontagne 2009).

Because the three mechanisms of hypertrophy feed off one another, it's best to follow a daily undulating or concurrent periodization scheme, as opposed to a linear model.

Muscle Damage: Focus on the Negative

The key is to keep constant tension on the muscles by maintaining a continuous cadence (no rest between reps) and reversing direction just short of lockout or just before bottoming out, depending on the exercise's strength curve.

most lifters have some "sweet spot" below the one-rep max for which mechanical tension on the targeted muscles is at its highest. Adding additional weight won't increase mechanical tension and may actually shift it away from the desired muscles and onto passive structures or other muscles.

the ideal number of sets per week would be somewhere between 15 and 30 depending on the muscle group in question, the exercises chosen, and the inherent recovery ability of the individual.

Sticking to solely heavy work or solely high-rep work won’t build the optimal physique – you need the best of both styles of training if you want to reach your maximum muscular potential

Movements that place the greatest tension at long muscle lengths (in a stretched position) are best suited for creating muscle damage.

Movements that either place constant tension on a muscle or place the greatest tension on a muscle at shorter muscle lengths (in a contracted position) are best suited for creating a pump.

In general, performing squats, deadlifts, hip thrusts, bench presses, military presses, chins, and rows will ensure that you’re maximizing mechanical tension across the various muscle groups. However, one exercise alone will not maximize tension on the entire spectrum of fibers within a muscle.

Elevated barbell reverse lunge

Dynamic Pigeon

One-Arm Quadruped Hip Circle

they help you develop a more well-rounded body that’s not just stronger and better looking but also more mobile—benefits that the typical warm-up on the treadmill or bike simply can't match.

Joints are designed primarily to function in their mid-range of motion, but they also need activity using their full range of motion in order to stay healthy and maintain their current range.

Metabolic Conditioning Protocols

Steady-State Cardio Exercises

Supramaximal Interval Training

the type of cardio conditioning you do corresponds to the set-and-rep scheme used in the preceding strength-training portion of the workout. On days when you spend the most time on the strength-training portion—the workouts with the most sets (e.g., four per exercise)—you use SMIT, because it takes the least time of the cardio-conditioning methods. In contrast, on days when you do the fewest sets (e.g., two per exercise)—which is where you spend the least time on strength training—you perform steady-state cardio because it takes the longest of the cardio-con-ditioning methods. And on days when you do three sets per exercise, you use one of the metabolic conditioning protocols because they require a moderate amount of time

Recall, however, that muscle growth can result from using the lower rep ranges generally associated with strength building, and strength increases can result from using the higher rep ranges generally associated with size

For instance, research has shown that daily variations in intensity and volume (sets and reps) are more effective than weekly volume variations for increases in maximal strength; they may also lead to greater gains in muscle size (11,12,13,14)

the smartest approach is to incorporate bothheavy-load, low-volume work and lighter-load, higher-volume work in an undulating fashion.

Ab snail

Suspension biceps curl

Specifically, the performance programs use the most exercises in the speed and power category and the fewest in the size category, whereas the muscle programs reverse that pattern

one of the biggest differences between the performance workout programs and the muscle workout programs lies in the choice of which exercise cate-gory you do first (when you’re freshest) and which you do at the end of the workout (when you’re more fatigued).

bigger muscle mass better dissipates the impact force and vibration caused by events such as falling, getting punched, and taking or delivering a football hit

it's mathematically and physically impossible for anyone to match, or even come close to replicating what they can bench press in a push from a standing position. It also tells us that the heavier you are, the more horizontal and diagonal pushing force you can produce from the standing position (regardless of your weightroom num-bers) because you have more bodyweight from which to push

Metabolic stress: Increasing time under tension (TUT) increases metabolic stressand gives you incredible pump, or muscle-cell swelling. This swelling cancause both an increase in muscle-protein synthesis and a decrease in proteinbreakdown, which are essential components of the process by which the bodyrepairs and grows muscle tissue after exercise (4,5,6)

muscle damage refers to muscle-tis-sue microtears that occur when working muscles tire and struggle to resist theweight while the muscle fiber is lengthening eccentrically. This can cause theactin and myosin to be forcibly ripped apart, thereby causing damage.

Mechanical tension: This tension is exerted on the muscles from movement andexternal loads to reduce, produce, or control force.

One of the best workout methods to achieve both of these goals is to perform medicine-ball throwing exercises. When throwing the ball, unlike when lifting weights, you don’t have to slow down at the end of the range of motion; you can just let the ball fly. Therefore, simply throwing the ball in different directions (remember, power is direction specific) trains your body to generate explosive power without putting on any brakes.

However, you won't lose athletic ability if you regularly do athletic actions while integrating some general bodybuilding concepts

As you can see, using general exercises to get bigger and stronger does help you improve your overall athletic ability and functional capacity. But this approach has its limitations, which is why the functional-spectrum training system also incorporates specific exercises—to produce benefits in the areas where the general exercises fall short.

Compound exercises can be classified as general exercises because they don't necessarily reflect any specific force-generation patterns.

In short, different load placement and body position during an exercise changes the force generation and neuromuscular coordination demands of the exercise. Cross-body exercises utilize a different type load placement and body position than compound exercises

However, in such cross-body movements, force generation is still limited primarily by whole-body stability, as well as joint stability (10).

The serape effect was a term coined to describe the diagonal prestretch of four pairs of muscles (rhomboids, serratus anterior, external obliques, and internal obliques) that occurs when rotating the shoulders and hips in opposite directions. The pre-stretch of these four pairs of muscles creates a snap-back effect (like snapping a rubber-band), which increases force production and movement efficiency in rotational actions such as throwing or kicking

These total-body power exercises also closely match the force-production patterns of fast, ballistic, sport-type actions, which involve what is called a triphasic muscle-fir-ing pattern.

Total-body power exercises are categorized as specific exercises

your power is initiated by the larger, stronger muscle groups in the central part of your body, whereas the smaller muscles of your extremities are used in fine movements and coordination (i.e., skills)

the three pillars of power:•Vertical or diagonal power•Horizontal power•Rotational power

Working on sport skills with specific exercises is not the same thing as working to improve specific force-generation and neuromuscular coordination patterns

because these exercises do not necessarily reflect the specific force-generation and neuromuscular coordination patterns of many common move-ments in athletics, their positive transfer into improved performance potential is less obvious.

General exercises are essentially conventional strength-training exercises and may consist of either compound or isolation movements using free weights, cables,

The simplest and most straightforward way to implement the principle of specificity is to select exercises similar to the target activity with regard to the joints about which movement occur and the direction of the movements. In addition, joint ranges of motion in the training should be at least as great as those in the target activity

Although all athletes should use well-rounded, whole-body exercise rou-tines, supplementary exercises specific to the sport can provide a training advantage.

there are many factors that limit one’s ability to develop pressing strength while standing, including stability and neuromuscular control of the core musculature, the individual’s weight, the base of support the individual utilizes, and the direction in which the pressing motion is performed

When designing a program to train isometric torsional endurance or strength of the trunk musculature, the 1-armed cable row may be considered

Thus, for a client or athlete where back loading is not a concern, the standing bent-over row exercise may be preferred (being mindful of maintaining the neutral spine curve, which ensures the spine to maintain the highest tolerance level

if a client or athlete is prone to having low back trouble, the inverted row could be considered given the very modest lumbar spine load. On the other hand, thoracic and upper back musculature is more substantially challenged.

Inverted rows spare the back with more neutral spine angles and may be more appropriate for those who have less tolerance to spine motion and load

spine stiffness is a direct predeterminant of spine stability.

some exercises may be better for rehabilitation (modest muscle activation with low spine load) and others for athletic training (higher muscle activation resulting in larger spine load).

The reason why the lunge is so functionally pertinent is that it exemplifies walking, running, stair climbing, balance, and change of direction in sport (ie. agility).

The main issue with traditional calf raises is that you end up rolling more weight toward your pinky toes as you raise your heels.

Walking Calf Raise

The dynamic maximum strength of the calves is a basic prerequisite for short sprints and should be regarded as a performance reserve.

In other words, strength training at longer (stretched) muscle lengths (that includes an eccentric component) not only causes muscles to be stronger at long lengths, but also promotes flexibility by causing muscle fibers to produce new sarcomeres in series within a muscle, which allows the muscle to lengthen more (6, 7).

I'll concede that if you want to do all you can to help improve the strength of the core muscles to transfer force by limiting trunk movement, you've got to use some isometric core exercises.

Nordic hamstring curl

This agrees with other research, which showed that the lying leg curl (where movement originates at the knee joint) elicited significantly greater activation of the lower lateral and lower medial hamstrings compared to the stiff-legged deadlift, where movement originates at the hip joint, such as in a Romanian deadlift. (5)

Well, as you descend into the bottom of the squat or lunge (in hip flexion and knee flexion), the rectus femoris is trying to lengthen at the knee but shorten at the hip, and ends up staying roughly the same length. Then as you ascend (performing hip extension and knee extension), the muscle is trying to shorten at the knee but lengthen at the hip, and again ends up staying about the same length. (3)

backward sled pulls

research shows the rectus femoris seems to grow more from single-joint, machine-based knee extension training relative to the other three quadriceps. (2)

Copenhagen hip adduction exercise

a 2015 systematic review found that hip adductor strength was one of the most common risk factors for groin injury in sport. (2)

The 15 Strength Training Principles

all exercises that involve free weights and cables have a point within the range of motion (ROM) where the exercise is hardest on the muscles involved, and another point where the exercise is the easiest based on the lever-arm (i.e. moment arm) involved.

Horizontal pressing exercises like bench presses and push-ups effectively strengthen the pecs when they're in their mid to lengthened range. However, they don't strengthen the muscles when the pecs are in their shortened range, like when the arms are straight out from the torso

In practical terms, you don't need to do exercises like dumbbell front raises if you've already been doing a few compound pressing exercises of different angles, especially exercises like incline presses and overhead presses.

You see progress from either adding weight using the same number of reps, or by doing more reps with the same weight.

There are only foundational fundamental training principles, like overload, specificity, individuality, etc., that need to be practiced. And it's these principles that dictate the exercises that should be included and how they're applied in a comprehensive training program. In other words, exercises are just methods that allow us to apply principles

Reverse Crunch

Leg Lowering

Barbell Quad-Set

Dumbbell Complex

Dumbbell and Bench Tri-Set

1 – Low Cable Tri-Set

Romanian Deadlift (RDL) Lunge

An upright torso places much more emphasis on the quads while a forward trunk lean can increase the recruitment of the glutes and hamstrings

Three Ways to Use Partial Reps

Partial reps can be extremely beneficial for building strength. Incorporating them into your workouts can help you to develop strength better than just exclusively going "full range of motion" in many common pressing and lower body exercises.

the smartest approach is to use both heavy-load, low-volume work with lighter-load, higher-volume work in an undulating fashion.

mechanical tension can be created either by lifting heavy loads for fewer reps or by lifting medium loads for more reps. So, either can create a stimulus for muscle growth (16). Not to mention, regularly varying sets and reps is an effective means of improving muscle strength and size (17, 18, 19, 20).

So, mechanical tension is really the driving force of muscle growth, and muscle damage and metabolic stress are just the physiological results of it

Here's a free webinar

Dynamic Warm-Up for Speed and Power Athletes

Variation of the exercises may be as important, if not more important, than changes in volume and intensity, and can also result in more complete muscular development.

As you gain mastery over one habit and it no longer requires practice and focus, add another, but never before that. In practice, it could be learning to consistently drink more water, gaining another hour of sleep, adding more vegetables to your intake, keeping a journal, or practicing stress-reducing techniques.

Add a bit of logic to this emotional roller coaster: There are 3500 calories in each pound of fat. If you lost 3 lbs. on the scale yesterday, did you figure out how to burn 10,500 extra calories? The same concept applies in the opposite direction. Did you eat 10,500 EXTRA calories yesterday? This fluctuation is normal - treat it that way.

3 Best Shoulder Warm-Ups

Top 20 Mobility and Warm-Up Exercises

Observations for the shoulder blade and the upper arm can be seen from the front and side views with the overhead squat, pushing (pushup) and pulling (cable row) motions. The movements to note during an overhead squat assessment for possible signs of UCS include:

Some basic assessments that can be implemented to identify distortion patterns are gait observations, overhead squat, pushing and pulling motions, and static posture analysis. With any postural assessment—static, dynamic or transitional—UCS can be observed by watching head position relative to the shoulders, and the arms and shoulder blades relative to the ribs.

First, it can serve as a stand-alone phase of training that will help the client achieve better postural control and endurance. Second, it can be applied as the movement preparation for a workout.

Over time this forward head position leads to ligamentous creep deformation having lasting neurophysiological effects. This was demonstrated with a feline study that found the creep deformation that occurred over the first 30 minutes did not recover with 10 minutes of rest and was present up to seven hours later. 5 The other finding of this research was even more alarming: the primary risk factor was not the load but rather the duration of the load. The implication of this is concerning given we spend an average of 2.8 hours a day using our mobile device.

“Posture effects and moderates every physiological function from breathing to hormonal production. Spinal pain, headache, mood, blood pressure, pulse, and lung capacity are among the functions most easily influenced by posture

1 – Bilateral Four Corners Farmer's Walk

One of my favorite knee-friendly strength training exercises is the half-squat, half-deadlift.

Incline Prone Lateral with External Rotation

Poliquin Incline Lateral Raise

Further, when using a dumbbell, the diameter of the dumbbell plates puts the weight forward of the axis of rotation of the shoulder, placing high levels of stress on the muscles involved in external rotation (such as the teres minor and the infraspinatus) that help stabilize the shoulders.

The second most important nutrient for functional hypertrophy is glutamine, the most abundant amino acid in the body. Glutamine is the primary building block in the intestinal lining and it restores the intestines, improving gut health. It also lowers inflammation and supports digestion.

Short-term adaptations include increased cycling power; total work performed on the bench press and jump squat; and improved sport performance in sprinting, swimming, and soccer (Volek et al. 1997; Mero et al. 2004; Wiroth et al. 2001; Tarnopolsky and MacLennan 2000; Skare, Skadberg, and Wisnes 2001; Mujika et al. 2000; Ostojic 2004; Theodorou et al. 1999; Preen et al. 2001). Long-term adaptations when creatine monohydrate supplementation is combined with training include increased muscle creatine and PCr [phosphocreatine] content, lean body mass, strength, sprint performance, power, rate of force development, and muscle diameter (Kreider et al. 1998; Volek et al. 1999; Vandenberghe et al. 1997). In long-term studies, subjects taking creatine monohydrate typically gain about twice as much body mass, fat-free mass, or both (i.e., an extra 2 to 4 pounds of muscle mass during 4 to 12 weeks of training) as subjects taking a placebo (Stone et al. 1999; Noonan et al. 1998; Kirksey et al. 1999; Jones, Atter, and Georg 1999). The only clinically significant side effect reported in the research literature is weight gain (Kreider, Leutholtz, and Greenwood 2004; Kreider et al. 2003); however, many anecdotal claims of side effects, including dehydration, cramping, kidney and liver damage, musculoskeletal injury, gastrointestinal distress, and anterior (leg) compartment syndrome, still appear in the media and popular literature. While athletes who are taking creatine monohydrate may experience these symptoms, the scientific literature suggests that these athletes have no greater, and a possibly lower, risk of these symptoms than those not supplementing with creatine monohydrate (Greenwood et al. 2003; Kreider et al. 2003). The position stand also included the statement, “The tremendous numbers of investigations conducted with positive results from creatine monohydrate supplementation lead us to conclude that it is the most effective nutritional supplement available today for increasing high-intensity exercise capacity and building lean mass.”

Star Excursion Balance Test (SEBT)

New movement patterns, especially those performed when unstable, are generally learned at a low velocity. However, most sports are performed at high velocities, resulting in a contradiction of training specificity (Behm 1995; Behm and Sale 1993).

he reality is that improving one’s ability to perform certain sporting skills is not about replicating what that specific movement looks like, but rather it is about replicating the specific force generation patterns involved within that movement pattern. In other words, when the focus is only on what the exercise looks like, one can easily make the mistake of loading sport-specific skills instead of working on improving the specific force generation patterns used to perform sporting movements. The problem with this is that the movement skills required in sports have accuracy components that are exact—not similar.

In addition, performing compound exercises with reduced loads and increased volume on instability devices may still be of benefit to individuals wishing to improve or maintain the general health benefits of exercise, as well as individuals in a deload training phase who need to decrease forces and velocities to allow for recuperation

I would add that workhorse athletes often make the best coaches later on.  Since they didn’t have the extreme talent that let them succeed “easily” they tend to be the ones who take apart their sport and chosen activity bit by bit.  They study every aspect of technique, nutrition and training to try to eke out the most of whatever talent they do have.

is it conceivable that part of what makes people willing to put in the 10 years of grinding work to get good at something is an innate characteristic?

The Adaptation Continuum

The Training Continuum

The Sports Continuum

Glenn Pendlay Olympic Lifting Techniques DVD is available from OTP for $39.

So when muscle starts pumping out IL-6 into the system chronically it goes to the brain and makes people fatigue sooner.  This happens when glycogen levels get depleted and we know that exercise performance is harmed when this occurs.  And suddenly we have a potential link from the earlier observation of muscle glycogen being involved in overtraining.

Current models of adaptation to training include all stressors onto the trainee or athlete: job, money, relationships, school, etc.  They all add up to the total (allostatic) stress load on the athlete.

However, by the strictest definition, overtraining has not truly occurred unless the athlete’s actual performance level has fallen.  He may be tired, he may feel run down but if performance hasn’t actually dropped, he hasn’t become overtrained.  At least not yet.

Between those two things, overtraining or even overreaching tends to be rare in the general population.  Not impossible, mind you, just rare.

It became clear early on that true overtraining, whereby it took months to recover to previous performance levels, was fairly rare.

That might mean 1-2 sets maximum per muscle group/per exercise.  You can add a set each week as you rebuild yourself to your previous volume.

When layoffs get much longer, a month or more, the rules change as both neural adaptations and muscle mass are often lost.  This means that my “twice as long to return” rule of thumb starts to become less and less useful

So over a few days off, very little if nothing is lost.  For very technical activities (such as Olympic lifting) often “groove” is lost quickly which can manifest itself as a performance loss

This is where warmups (how Dan John implements this idea) can be used to great benefit.  Consider someone who wants to get better at the Olympic lifts.  If they were to start every workout with a warmup consisting of some basic barbell complexes including power or squat cleans such that they got 15-20 good reps at the start of every workout (on top of whatever they did in training), imagine how many reps they might achieve over the course of a year compared to someone training the movement once or twice per week without the warmups.  Or without focused deliberate practice warm-ups.  If doesn’t go up exponentially, but it adds up over time.

being an expert at one task has almost no bearing on the ability to be expert in another task, even if those tasks are somewhat related. 

Med ball overhead

Similar to the above ideas, lifters performing explosive movements (e.g. cleans) often benefit from working up to a heavier weight in a slower lift (e.g. RDL or deadlift).  When the lifter moves back to the explosive lift, the weights usually feel much lighter and often move faster.

Additionally, there are times when static stretching may be absolutely required prior to weight training; usually this occurs when someone has a severe flexibility limitation that prevents them from performing an exercise in good form.

But it’s even more insidious than that: these medium days end up being too easy to really stimulate fitness, but too hard to allow complete recovery. It’s this weird no-man’s land that doesn’t accomplish anything good.

But most people aren’t satisfied doing that kind of training. They don’t like doing the short duration (an easy/active recovery workout might only take 20-30 minutes). They figure that if they took the time to drive to the gym, they should do a full workout session. So the duration starts to climb.

So three days of hard workout might be followed by three days of very easy work or even taken completely off. The hard/easy concept is still being adhered to, just on a slightly longer time frame.

the simple fact is that high-intensity training can NOT be sustained in the long-term without dietary carbohydrate. Eventually glycogen gets depleted, performance falls off and folks overtrain.

The studies that low-carb advocates always like to cite are invariably not calorie controlled

Do metabolic weight room stuff for 25 minutes, intervals for 20 minutes and that leaves 15 for warm-ups and cool-downs. As long as the other four days per week are completely off, this might be workable. For a while anyhow.

To my knowledge, pretty much every study done comparing interval training to steady state (in terms of fat loss or metabolic adaptation) has done it in isolation. The subjects were neither dieting nor doing any other form of training such as weight training.

Muscle groups of the training exercise must be the same as the competition exercise. Range of motion and the direction of movement of the training exercise must be the same as the competition exercise.

It's fairly rare to see someone with a 4.6 or better forty yard dash who can't vertical jump 30 inches

The bigger the propulsion force, the greater the acceleration. The body inclination can affect this, but to get into more incline position some pre-requests needs to be  in place first.

Muscles have a role in the transfer of energy from one joint to another. The phenomenon of energy transfer from joint to joint is a very interesting mechanism that along with  reactive-elastic function allows cost-effective functioning of the human body. An illustrative example of energy transfer is a function of hamstrings.  M. quadricepsextend the knee joint, and if you keep your hamstrings length the same (isometric contraction) such as a non-elastic rope, extension of the knee will ‘transfer’ over the hamstring to hip extension too. In this way m. Quadriceps extends the hip with the help of coordinated actions of  the hamstring muscles.  This ’enegry transfer’ phenomena occurs in all bi-articulated muscles (ones that cross two joints).

The strength that makes the most elite sprinters faster than their counterparts was the ability to produce more isometric force in one tenth of a second, against an isometric resistance in the hip, knee, and ankle joint, through flexion and extension. 

The amount of time that should be devoted to learning the lifts should depend on the fatigability of the nervous system. This should be somewhere around a half hour to 45 minutes for most people, and only then if working with a competent coach. This should leave plenty of time to maintain previously gained strength.

It’s arguable that many athletes spend far too much time trying to “isolate their core,” when in reality, the trunk’s primary function is to act as a bridge between the upper and lower body and as a lightning rod between the hips and shoulders. It’s far more functional and time-efficient to instead perform compound exercises that require the movement of multiple motor segments, joints, and limbs and build trunk strength as well.

our feet are indeed an engineering marvel, with 26 bones, 33 joints (20 of which are articulated), and over 100 tendons, ligaments, and muscles.

it’s my job as a coach to know when to push and when to back off. The upcoming five-week preseason block is the time of year to really push hard because the technical and tactical components of the game won’t come back into play for a while.

As a general rule of thumb I encourage people to jump and or sprint once to twice a week (power and speed), lift something heavy a minimum of once a week (strength), go for long walks daily (aerobic endurance), and do muscle burning (anaerobic glycolytic) and muscle building (hypertrophy and strength endurance) type work a minimum of every 7-10 days.

here are some really good research at what actually cause exhaustion, and to make it short, it is not the failure at the periphery. it is the conscious decision to stop it

Foam roll to address „restrictions“ in musculo-fascial tissues Isometric stretch, that utilize 3D stretching concept to further address common „restrictions“ in musculo-fascial tissues Activation work, to „wake up“ given muscle groups (usually glutes, hip rotators and scapulae stabilizers) that are in a „give mode“ Dynamic mobility to further activate and warm-up the body (and to decrease any negative effects of static stretching), imprint some appropriate movement patterns and provide a progressive transition to main workout

I believe they can be harmful to the disks if they are not performed properly. One issue is that as momentum builds up, you might stretch further than you could otherwise. It’s not that performing the exercise will immediately cause an injury. It’s like a cavity in that the effects progressively worsen over time and make you a regular patient of a chiropractor.

Use a Semi-Inline Foot Stance

Use the Lunge-to-Squat-to-Lunge Test

Maintaining a forward torso lean onto the heel of the front leg is essential. In fact, this may be the most critical cue. It ensures the hips are pushed back posteriorly and actively engaged throughout the exercise. A good lunge involves solid hip hinge mechanics. An overly upright torso places greater stress on the knees and low back while minimizing stress to the glutes and upper thighs. That's not what you want.

Build your foundation first. For lunges, that foundation begins with the feet and ankles.