At Performance Technology and through the creation of Powerbags and Powerbag Training System, we have shown that resistance training is about far more than the development of strong, powerful muscles. We have focussed on the end goal and desired performance outcome and then refined our training to utilise Powerbags in the most appropriate ways. In so doing a comprehensive spectrum of movements and exercises are outlined to ensure high quality movements are drilled and power is layered onto this enhanced technique. With correct training judgements improvements in conditioning and performance are significant.
The premise is simple. Learn to move correctly through all plains, ensure form is consistent then bring in the power moves and intensity.
Adding muscle and explosive strength to a frame that suffers from poor movement, poise or posture is akin to sticking a supercharged engine in a car with an inappropriate chassis and suspension system. It might look OK at first glance but closer inspection will reveal an ineffectual machine with long-term performance and mechanical problems.
Even if all you are looking for is aesthetic development and are less concerned with physical performance, should you still not move, stand and hold yourself correctly in balance and with poise? After all it is these extra dimensions that separate the great from the masses. They also guard against the kind of joint and tendon niggles that seem to afflict so many.
It is imperative to develop effective movement patterns at the origin of any resistance training programme. If a golfer ‘grooves’ a flawed swing the results are always going to be disappointing. Similarly the gains in resistance work are far greater and provide long-term benefit only when executed with control and accuracy. The huge variety of Powerbag based exercises can then effectively add strength, power and muscular endurance onto good movements, utilising: throwing, lifting, rotational and diagonal actions, catching, movement drills and patterns.
Through attention to variation in training the process becomes a continual development with focus on high quality throughout every aspect of each session. It is through this approach that the possibility of reaching and even exceeding performance and functional training targets will occur.
Resistance training must be about far more than how much weight one is able to lift in a restricted number of exercises. It should be about how your training work impacts on your life in terms of performance, activity and health. When you create this mind set through your training, each decision made about what exercises you include within your programme, the form and precision with which you execute them and the attention and rigour you apply to each exercise or movement determines whether your efforts elevate you from a plateau to the next level of performance.
It is self evident that to develop excellence you have to input quality and part of this means you don’t limit what you are able to achieve by missing out important or critical stages in your training development. Many coaches agree a key physical attribute defining elite performance is the ability to harness and execute power and performance through technique. If you accept this it seems obvious that the training and preparation that you undertake should make this as likely as possible.
Coming from a background of working with high-level performers we use many elite sporting analogies, however the same concepts hold true for anyone who does anything physical in their lives. In the same way a great sprint athlete needs to move with power and precision to excel and win, an 85-year-old slipping needs to regain his balance before the slip becomes a fall with the possibility of injury. In effect both parties have to impart a precise quick, powerful movement if they are to be successful, not a slow strong action. We are talking then about the development of power and control over a wide variety of movements rather than the limited range of movements we often see performed in typical training environments. We are not just talking about machine-based training here, but also the potential limitations of using bars and dumbbells or any system where the link between training approach, application and desired results are not fully recognised.
Some of this may not sound too far away from the language used in disciplines such as yoga or Pilates. And indeed their focus on the ability to control and position the body in flowing movements with poise is certainly reflected in our philosophy to training and exercise.
In concert with yoga practitioners, we believe your training and preparation should become part of a fascinating education where you will continually develop, set and reach new goals. It is something to be enjoyed rather than endured.
Powerbag training might not offer all the answers to effective training, but it is based on principles that create the optimum chance of improvement and success. The responses we are getting to our training approach and the tools we have developed from elite performers in many sports, the military, rehab patients and schools indicate we are providing significant improvements over many resistance training systems. Our approach to training has been developed through years of working with elite performers, observing first hand what works and what does not. Powerbags linked to the Powerbag training philosophy has provided an important part of the answer to genuinely successful training. |