Cardio before weights, or weights before cardio? Toes pointing in or out when squatting? Descend to 90 degrees when squatting or go all the way down? Touch the chest with the bar when benching, or stop an inch away? Lock the elbows at the top or keep them soft? What is more effective, dumbbell or barbell training? Treadmill or rowing machine?
Have you ever been confused about what the best way to proceed with your exercise regimen might be? You are not alone. What might compound the issue further is the sometimes conflicting advice we might be given by two or more separate fitness or health professionals.
If you’ve ever been in a gym with more than one fitness instructor on the team of staff, you might have experienced this first hand. Or even worse, we might read 10 different articles online giving 10 different solutions to the problem, making things all the more complex. Which answer do we trust? It is a tough decision to make, so how are we to go about it?
How you approach your training really will depend on what you are trying to achieve from indulging in that training in the first place
Sticking to trusted, peer-reviewed books and websites written by experts and academics is a sensible strategy indeed. However, even in this case, you might leave even more confused if more than one answer is presented. Today I shall attempt to furnish you with some clearer answers to your training dilemmas.
The overriding decision will always be that of your relevant medical professional if you were prescribed a specific course of action as treatment for some ailment or condition. Your doctor or physiotherapist might have reasons behind their advice that are not plain to see to the rest of us.
Failing specific advice from a relevant competent medical professional, perhaps the best answer of all to ambiguous exercise questions is: “It depends on your goal.” How you approach your training really will depend on what you are trying to achieve from indulging in that training in the first place. If you’re torn between two schools of thought, both answers might indeed be correct; however, only within their specific contexts. Let’s examine some of the problems we opened with.
Cardio before weights? Who said every single workout needs to incorporate both cardiovascular and resistance training anyway? You might decide to split them up into two separate workouts if you wish to develop both abilities equally, simultaneously building aerobic fitness as well as muscular size and strength.
If time constraints dictate you must perform both on the same day, then why not vary which style of training you open with? If your main goal clearly favours one form of training over the other, then the answer will be a lot simpler; if you wish to focus on aerobic fitness, start with the cardio; if you wish to focus on building muscular size and strength, then go with the weights first.
What about the perennial squat issues regarding foot orientation and depth? Should you point your toes directly forwards and keep your feet parallel to each other, or should your feet be slightly turned out? If you are squatting purely for the purpose of increasing your performance in the squat exercise, then you will want your toes pointing wherever your knees will travel.
For most people this will mean slightly turned out. With heavy weights on your back, you won’t want to produce any unnecessary rotational torque forces acting on the knee or ankle by having your toes pointing in a different direction to where your knees are moving.
If, however, you are perform-ing squats to build strength for another sport, then con-sider where your feet will be planted when performing the predominant movements employed by your sport. If you need to run or jump directly forwards, then you will certainly benefit more from a parallel foot stance.
What about depth? Depth in the squat is traditionally to parallel to the floor or below. Purists will say that anything above parallel is simply not a squat. Personally, I tend to favour this view; however, squatting ability will often vary greatly according to the individual.
Maximum potential depth will be limited by several factors, including hamstring flexibility. Generally, the back will start to buckle or bend when a certain depth is reached, because the tight hamstrings are pulling on the pevis, tilting it and resulting in the back rounding.
At whatever depth this starts to occur, this could be said to be your own personal limit. More depth is always preferred, and subject to working on hamstring flexibility, you can always improve on your ability to perform a fuller range and more productive squats.
We also mentioned the bench press exercise, the cause of much debate in gym circles. The main issues seem to be the range of motion employed from the chest to lockout, as well as placement of the feet.
Should they be flat on the floor or raised in the air with knees bent to a 90-degree angle? If you are into functional strength or athletic conditioning, then you will favour a closed kinetic chain with both feet on the floor for stability.
As far as lockout is concerned, if you favour muscular development, stopping just short of lockout and maintaining constant smooth motion will generate more continuous tension through the working muscles, therefore more growth stimulation.
If you are confused about these issues or others, send in your e-mails for an in-depth discussion on this very page.
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