One of the beautiful aspects of Bullworker is each product offers a complete home gym in one compact fitness device. However, the hundreds of exercises and training options you have may also have you asking, where do I start? What do I do?
And for some of you, your fitness goals might be simply to reduce your risk of injury and improve basic movements of life. While for others, your goals might be to accomplish peak performance in certain sports, hobbies, or lifestyles.
In this series we are going to breakdown a variety of Bullworker exercises. We will start with exercises we believe to be foundational, the most important if you will, giving you the biggest bang for your buck by improving your daily movements and reducing your risk of injury.
As you start to build a strong foundation, we will continue the series by transitioning from fundamental compound exercises (engaging numerous muscles at once) to a focus on smaller more minute muscles for specific goals and performance.
Your Gift
The following Hierarchy of Exercises are not scripture. Rather the list is designed to help you find what works best for you. We all have different goals. We hope you enjoy whether you prefer to select a few fundamental exercises to help play with the grandkids or practice them all to achieve peak performance and fitness levels.
It is important to note, these exercises are broken down according to what we believe are key to building strong able bodies for the modern lifestyle. There are many approaches to fitness one can take for various reasons. We do not give medical advice and you should always consult with your physician or medical professional prior to starting exercise routines.
How are we selecting exercises?
The modern world has a number of professions and lifestyles which create a range of physical demand and posture habits. However, we recognize that a significant amount of our lifestyles have us sitting for the majority of the day, the average person sits for over 6 hours a day. Our bodies are designed to respond to their environment to become as efficient as possible at performing or conforming to that environment.
You can imagine, with the average one of us sitting for 6 hours a day, we have become pretty good at it. Unfortunately, sitting is not the best posture for our physical health and we start to pay for those actions with poor posture, body tension, muscular and skeletal imbalances, and even pain or injury.
When we sit, we tend to round our shoulders forward, hunch our back, tighten our hip flexors, stick out our necks, and much more. This causes our anterior muscles to shorten and posterior muscles to compensate, or try to. In addition, a lot of us tend to overtrain the front of our body (chest and abs) and undertrain the back of our body, the posterior chain.
Therefore, we have selected exercises that are not only fundamental to your body’s movements but also help to balance your skeletal and muscular system bringing you back into neutral postures and releasing some of your tension.
Things to Remember
Exercise and your fitness journey should become a part of your lifestyle. The more you can make it routine and consistent the better your benefits will be. Your fitness journey is a marathon, not a sprint.
Form
Start slow. Focus on your form and familiarizing yourself with the movements. Listen to your body and practice Intentional Flexation. Intentional Flexation is being deliberate with your movements and practicing your mind muscle connection to actively engage the muscles your are calling on during an exercise.
TUT
Do not confuse resistance with results. Slow controlled repetitions create more time under tension (TUT) for your muscles which is where the magic happens. Jumping to too high of resistance usually leads to improper form (wasted efforts), fast reps (not as beneficial), and possible injury.
Progressive Overload
Resistance is still a very important piece to your exercise routine but only after you form and body control are sound. It is important to find a resistance that challenges you. We suggest finding your sweet spot between a range of 60% – 80% of your maximum effort. The last few reps should start to burn. Embrace the burn, that is where the growth is happening.
Proper Nutrition
All the exercise in the world will not out train a bad diet. Make sure you are feeding your body the proper nutrients to recover and build back stronger.
Rest
A good exercise routine should help you sleep better. Sleep is when your body recovers and builds your muscles back. Ensure you are prioritizing good sleep hygiene.