Daily Maestroism

DM #248

Thursday, January 26th, 2017

DM #248: CrossFitters, I’m looking at you! ?Rock climbers, not looking at you so much. That ? you do is super grip intensive and straight up tough.
Anyway, got an inquiry today about continental cleans (look it up) and it reminded me that I’ve been meaning to drop this as a DM. I actually had a woman in one of my @RockTape RockBlades courses a few months back who looked strong as hell, but complained that no matter what the workout was, her grip was always the first thing to go. Clinical pearl for all my clinicians: if something don’t sound right, don’t just add more exercises to the HEP ?, investigate further. Yes, sometimes you simply need to improve your grip strength, but, sometimes that’s just a symptom, not the actual problem.

So, what’s the connection here? Well give this a try and experience irradiation, first hand. Pun totally intended. Make a fist with one or both of your hands and squeeze. Squeeze as hard as you possibly can. Keep going. Keep going. Keep going. As hard as you can!!! Ok, stop. One of the things that you may notice, is that as you try to grip harder, you start to recruit other muscle groups in your body, including your core.
So how does this translate into CrossFit or whatever activity you’re finding to be blowing out your forearms (keep it PG please ?). Well, if your “core” isn’t doing what it’s supposed to be doing when it’s supposed to be doing it, one way that your body might try to help it out is by gripping harder onto whatever it is you’re holding. Efficient? Not really. But does it make your nervous system feel safer now that your “core” is working? Absolutely. And safety is ALWAYS at the top of the food chain. Solution? Get that midline doing what it’s supposed to be doing and let your forearms worry about something else.

So, take home message? If your forearms are ALWAYS burning and your squad keeps looking at you like what’s your deal, check out that midline….and then tag me when you PR Helen.
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