To lift heavy, you must be flexible!
If you want to be super strong, you must also be super flexible.
Just look at the best Olympic and powerlifters, they are all super flexible.
That, right there, is flexibility.
Go ahead. Try a squat that deep. Keep your chest up while you do it and your heels on the ground throughout the entire movement.
While you may be able to do it, squatting like that isn’t easy, or even doable for most people.
But if you want to lift heavy weight, you need to work on it.
If you aren’t flexible, you risk injury when you add weight. The weight of a heavily loaded barbell forces your range of motion to increase.
If you can’t perform a full range of motion on a squat with just your body weight, your body isn’t ready to handle the additional weight of a barbell because the extra weight will force your body to complete a fuller range of motion than it is ready to handle.
This “weight-assisted stretching” isn’t good for you! If you push it too far, you will end up injured!
So start mobility and flexibility training! You don’t have to be Gumby, but if you want to lift heavy, you need to have great flexibility in your shoulders, hips, hamstrings, and ribcage!
I cuddle with my foam roller…maybe you should too!
Posted on March 6, 2012, in Benefits of doing "man" exercises, Workout and tagged Exercise, flexibility, flexibility training, foam roller, hamstrings, Heavy lifting. Bookmark the permalink. 6 Comments.
Man Bicep 
I found out about your blog through MDA, and I really enjoy it. Would you ever consider posting a short video tutorial on your foam rolling routine? I know I should be doing it daily, but I’m not really sure if I’m doing the exercises properly.
Definitely! I’ll try to film something this weekend!
ok…i guess i will just be a ‘little’ strong since i am only somewhat flexible:) Foam rolling hurts so bad….but feels so good afterwards!
Make sure to not skip the IT bands and adductors. Many people only do the quads, back, hamstrings and glutes but those IT bands and adductors are some of the biggest problem areas.
I also like to use a tennis ball on my piriformis and hip area.
i will try the tennis ball(maybe you could include that on your video?). i looked it up the other day but haven’t tried it. I do the IT band but haven’t done the adductors….it just seems so awkard to get to with the roller.
How long is your routine…how long do you roll one area? And do you hold the spots that are sore or do you just do slow rolling?
Hitting your adductors is awkward because you look like you are humping the foam roller. But you’ve got to do it!
I’ve never timed my routine to be honest. I do it by feel. If an area isn’t sore I spend less time…maybe even 10 rolls (down and back being one). If it is sore I’m sure I can spend almost a minute on it.
I slowly roll but if I find a knot, I do try to apply pressure to release it.