Welcome to our weekend roundup, Three of the Best! Every Saturday, we’ll post up Breaking Muscle’s top three articles of the week. These pieces have caught your attention throughout the last seven days. So here they are in one place for you to consume, digest, and enjoy.
[Photo courtesy of Shutterstock]
#1 – A Peek Inside Renissance Periodization
With training, the muscle groups may change each day, the exercises, reps, and weights we use stay the same week in and week out. Couple that with a diet plan that “everyone is doing” for building muscle and losing fat, and the results are often mediocre at best.
Enter Renaissance Periodization, a new twist on old-school bodybuilding and physique training, coupled with a more individualized approach to nutrition, to help people keep their training progressive and results-oriented.
#2 – How Abs of Steel Cause Back Pain
Have you ever had back pain? After it went away, did it come back again? Did that motivate you to do more ab and core work? Did it still come back? The recurrence of back pain despite doing back and core stabilization exercises may indicate there is a missing ingredient to the current model of core exercise programs.
You work out to improve the strength of your back and core. But what if your breathing is counteracting your training?
#3 – 5 Common Stretching Pitfalls
Why is stretching so difficult? It seems as though it should be easy and simple. Need to stretch your hamstrings. Okay, bring your feet together and try to touch your toes. Quads tight? Then from a standing position, grab the top of a foot with the same hand and draw your heel in. Like I said, seems easy right? Well, yes and no.
Stretching correctly is important to getting the most out of your recovery. No longer can you stretch your quads and call it a day. To become a better athlete and improve movement, you have to understand that mobility, range of motion, and post-workout recovery are just as important as training itself.
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