MST: Photo Session

Today I had my first taste with how the Modified Strongman Sessions will run after I lead a taster session this morning to get some photos and videos for the website.

It went very well, everyone enjoyed the experience as it meant using a lot of equipment that you would never find in other gyms. Using some of the equipment also creates some of the most effective sessions for strength, fat loss and work capacity that you will have ever experienced. They don't call them the 'ropes of death' for nothing!

As a session that's an extra to my personal training, biosignature and supplement business this is proving to be very popular with over 30 people signing up for the launch on February 5th. I'm hoping that Elite-Bodyworks can be the leaders in this type of training in the area and begin to receive recognition for the types of results that this training will produce!

Modified Strongman Training

Using Modified Strongman Training (MST) we can deliver some of the most challenging and demanding sessions you will have encountered when training. This type of training not only increases strength but because of the tremendous amount of lactic acid built up, MST is fantastic for encouraging fat loss and changing body composition.

MST combines classic strongman lifts such as tire flipping, farmer’s walks and deadlifts with a modern approach and training protocols that transfer to the athletic population and also for people wanting that extra edge when training. Strongman training uses exercises that are directly correlated to sport thus making this true “functional training”.

The group-based workout ensures a highly motivating atmosphere and team challenges within the session, such as tire battles, tug of war and different types of races, only increases the enjoyment of the session.

The Fitness Experts is the only gym in the surrounding area that offers this type of training so this is a fantastic opportunity not to be missed.  What’s more, the first session is completely FREE.

How will Modified Strongman training benefit you?

• Increase strength
• Decrease body fat
• Improve athletic performance (increase speed, power, agility)
• Decrease risk of injury (increase bone, ligament and tendon strength)

Sessions are open to males and females of any age and teams looking for a group session.

There will be a maximum of 8 people per session to begin with. Sessions must be booked in, please follow the link.

If you are a sports team looking to improve your team’s performance with a training system sure to give you the winning edge we can set specific times for you to train.

MST will begin on Saturday 5^th February and will run between 11-12pm and 12-1pm.

Price: £9 per session or £27 for a calendar month. Fitness Experts members will be given individual sessions at £5.

For more information please email jsmith.picp@hotmail.com

VMO Training

VMO is the abbreviation for Vastus Medialis Oblique, one of the quadriceps muscles that sits on the inside of the knee. This little talked about muscle is essential not only for optimal knee function but also athletic performance whether it's a track or field event or a team sport.

The VMO is the one of the muscles responsible for increasing jump speed and power because it the primary muscle responsible for the stance phase, the part where you switch from an eccentric to a concentric. Charles Poliquin has noted not only this but in his experience the most powerful athletes are those who spend least time in the stance phase.

So once learning this, how do we train this little muscle.

Different forms of step ups are vital to begin with if the muscle is weaker than it should be, Poliquin and Petersen step ups for the really weak or unco-ordinated. Females especially will need to start with less challenging exercises to build proprioception.

Then you can move on to split squats and full squat variations. It is essential in both exercises that you use full range of motion to ensure full VMO activation. The muscle is most active at the top and bottom of the range. An exercise to really target the VMO is 1 1/4 squats which is basically an extra quarter movement at the bottom of the range. This is however an advanced exercise and you should go through all the other variations first.

Hopefully this gives you a little more insight into the VMO, it's functions and how to train it effectively.