Are you ready for the most important cheat sheet since your grade 8 math final? Well, like your bestie from home class that you unfriended after that incident (THEY KNOW WHAT THEY DID) in the summer of Grade 9, we’ve got you covered.
This week in our challenge, we mentioned that one sign of progress is improving your technique, so today we’re sharing a 3Wave cheat sheet with some tips on how you can do just that!
1. Stack that posture!
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Get your spine in a neutral position by stacking your ribcage on top of your hips
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This helps keep your weight centered for more stability, and makes it easier to engage your core
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Think about ‘getting tall’ or lengthening your spine to avoid overloading your core
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To see this in action, check out the first minute of our squat video we posted at the start of the challenge here
2. Engage (Insert Picard joke) your core
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Think about pulling your hip bones or pubic bone upward toward your ribs to engage your lower core
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This helps keep your lumbar spine and pelvis stable through an exercise so you can feel supported through your lifts
3. Use your moist breath
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Beginner: learn to connect with your breath and use it to your advantage in an exercise by inhaling on the down phase of a movement, and exhaling on the up phase
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Technique – inhale from the top down, allowing your ribcage to expand 360 degrees / exhale from the bottom up, allowing your core to contract
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Advanced: Create a brace with your inhale and core for more stability under heavier loads
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Technique – At the top of your first rep, engage your core and inhale into the back and sides of your ribcage, then hold that breath. Start the down/eccentric phase part of the exercise, then to initiate the up/concentric phase, start exhaling to let out the breath and give you more support to complete the movement. Repeat for each rep
4. Don’t Rush, Geddy Lee.
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Resist the urge to move as fast as you can through an exercise. It might feel easier to move a weight this way, but it can put you at risk of injury and prevent you from getting the many benefits that exercise gives us
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Go slow enough that you can time your breath to help you with each rep
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Try to connect with the muscle group you’re using in each exercise
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Control requires strength, so if you want to get stronger, slow it down!
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A good guideline is take 2-3 seconds on the down/eccentric phase, and 1 second on the up/concentric phase
5. Consistent not Perfect. (You’re not on Drag Race, after all.)
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Fitness isn’t about having the best cardio, the biggest muscles or a certain physique. We believe it’s about taking care of yourself mentally and physically, doing your best with the resources you have at the moment, and finding joy in movement
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If you’re having an off week, that’s ok. You don’t have to make progress every week. Give yourself permission to do the bare minimum, so you can still show up for your commitment without the pressure to perform a certain way
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This challenge is about you, and at the end of the day, you know what’s best for you. It is JanYOUary after all…
If you have any questions or even some of your own top tips to add, comment below! Also if you have any predictions for this season of Drag Race… COMMENT BELOW!