External rotation of the shoulder allows for the lats to be strongest. The lats are the prime movers in pull-ups. Imagine holding your arm straight out in front of you and tucking your elbow to your hip then rotating outwardly (right elbow towards the right - left elbow towards the left). This both brings your shoulders back and externally rotates them. This is where the lats are strong, and should be the movement you mimic when doing pull-ups.and other lat work (back).
Elbow position should be tucked at all times throughout the movement. If it hovers up and outwards the lats will be weaker. So ultimately this paints a picture of starting the movement with externally rotated shoulders and as you raise yourself by contracting your lats, keep your arms tucked and let off a bit on the external shoulder rotation. Sink back down and open your shoulders again.
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Thursday, June 26, 2014
The Mind Muscle Control and Kin Shi-Hai Do
Three years ago I mentioned the Mind Muscle Control with its connection with Max Sick. Here is a chart of the exercises which help with the muscle control, which I pointed to last time. At the time, I was utilizing that list of exercises on a daily basis, and saw results. I found that it was quite strenuous as well. It was clear to me that the lats were over emphasized and the legs and arms were under emphasized. I wasn't able to utilize the ab section because it's too advanced and requires too much development. When I first started doing that type of muscle control, I stopped doing yoga entirely to focus all of my energy on it. As time went on, I did less and less of the full list, and ended up dropping it and resuming yoga.
I only practice that old muscle control style maybe 1-2 times a week. What I've found is a new list of exercises which I feel are more intuitive and easier to do, and there's a larger emphasis on arms, which I really like. Everything's more relatable with this new list. The legs again aren't explored that deeply, but the abs exercises are more accessible. This new form of muscle control comes from a Japanese system called Kin Shi-Hai Do. I found out about this via a google search on muscle control. The site was hosted on angelfire. If you're not tech savvy, angelfire was one of the original web hosting companies alongside geocities in the late 90s. And it's funny that there are gems like these throughout the net - a 20 year old relic touting basically the ultimate knowledge of the universe. Ironically, I often filter my news and information for the latest available content, yet it would seem that age pairs well with some things in life.
If I had to state one source for muscle building and general fitness information it would be the from the oldtime strongman books from lifters and authors such as Eugene Sandow, Max Sick, Arthur Saxon, etc. Interestingly enough, in the year 2014 it's impossible to be able to tell which man is or is not on a form of steroids or a performance enhancing drug. People use insulin, human growth hormone, and extra testosterone to make themselves superhuman - to recover faster and be stronger. It's often said that only the winner of competitions is remembered in history, and in the world of bodybuilding and powerlifting, none of the winners are clean and legit (non abusers of steroids). So there is a heavy distortion as to what is and isn't attainable that exists today that didn't exist 100 years ago.
I train naturally, and thus I feel I need an edge on everyone else to look my best, be my strongest, and to recover as fast as possible. That is where the mind muscle connection comes into play as well as yoga. So without further adieu, here is the newer muscle control site that has an exercise list. The exercises end with abs, and afterwards I like to use an ab roller.
I only practice that old muscle control style maybe 1-2 times a week. What I've found is a new list of exercises which I feel are more intuitive and easier to do, and there's a larger emphasis on arms, which I really like. Everything's more relatable with this new list. The legs again aren't explored that deeply, but the abs exercises are more accessible. This new form of muscle control comes from a Japanese system called Kin Shi-Hai Do. I found out about this via a google search on muscle control. The site was hosted on angelfire. If you're not tech savvy, angelfire was one of the original web hosting companies alongside geocities in the late 90s. And it's funny that there are gems like these throughout the net - a 20 year old relic touting basically the ultimate knowledge of the universe. Ironically, I often filter my news and information for the latest available content, yet it would seem that age pairs well with some things in life.
If I had to state one source for muscle building and general fitness information it would be the from the oldtime strongman books from lifters and authors such as Eugene Sandow, Max Sick, Arthur Saxon, etc. Interestingly enough, in the year 2014 it's impossible to be able to tell which man is or is not on a form of steroids or a performance enhancing drug. People use insulin, human growth hormone, and extra testosterone to make themselves superhuman - to recover faster and be stronger. It's often said that only the winner of competitions is remembered in history, and in the world of bodybuilding and powerlifting, none of the winners are clean and legit (non abusers of steroids). So there is a heavy distortion as to what is and isn't attainable that exists today that didn't exist 100 years ago.
I train naturally, and thus I feel I need an edge on everyone else to look my best, be my strongest, and to recover as fast as possible. That is where the mind muscle connection comes into play as well as yoga. So without further adieu, here is the newer muscle control site that has an exercise list. The exercises end with abs, and afterwards I like to use an ab roller.
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