Good morning everyone.
After a nearly two months off from our newsletters my team and I are excited to get the ball rolling again.
We hope you all had a great end to your summer, start to your fall, and are back in the gym and eating well.
Okay, lets get at it!
To build a lean, strong, and healthy body, many of us are under the impression that we have to include very advanced and complex exercises in our workouts.
Exercises like Olympic lifts, kettlebell swings, and exercises like squatting on a balance board while holding a weight over our head.
Do these complex exercises have a place and provide value for advanced individuals looking for a particular and intense challenge? Yes.
But do you have to include these types of very advanced exercises to build a lean, strong, healthy body? No.
While building a lean, strong, healthy body is hard, it does not have to be complicated.
In fact, the best, most effective, and safest exercise programs are often very simple in their approach emphasizing basic exercises based on fundamental human movements. (For instance exercises such as squats, deadlifts, lunges, and hip thrusts for the lower body. Push ups, rows, overhead presses and pull downs for the upper body. And plank based exercises for the core.)
Why?
First, basic exercises are inherently less dangerous than more complicated exercises. So by sticking with basic exercises you significantly reduce your injury risk.
Second, it is much easier to learn and perfect the form of a basic exercises than that of an advanced exercise. And this means you can start increasing their difficulty and seeing results from them sooner than you can from very advanced exercises.
And finally, basic exercises are the foundation upon which more advanced exercises are based. So even if you did need to include many advanced exercises in your program, you wouldn’t be able to execute them properly without mastering the basic exercises that precede them first. (For instance, you cannot properly swing a kettlebell without first mastering how to deadlift.)
We know that advanced exercises have a draw to them. They are impressive to see performed. They are used by elite athletes. And they are extremely challenging.
But the vast majority of us are not elite athletes. We have not built the physical foundations needed to be able to safely perform many advanced exercises. And many advanced exercises carry a much higher injury risk than more basic movements.
So when you build your exercise program, keep it simple and keep it basic. Emphasize basic exercises based on basic human movements, avoid overly advanced exercises, and master the fundamentals.
By doing so you will significantly decrease your risk of injury and significantly increase the overall effectiveness of your exercise program.
Your exercise and dietary coaching team.
Zach Moore Training.
And everyone, if you found today’s article insightful, inspiring or enlightening and you have a friend, family member, colleague or peer who you think would benefit from what we’ve talked about here today, pass on this email please.
One of the best things you can do for those you care about is helping them to build a healthy and great looking body. A body that is strong, capable and moves without pain and a body in which they feel confident and happy.
