Have you watched the clip of Terry Crews making his pecs bounce? Left, right, left! This amazing feat of control over your chest muscles is not a skill you learn or some special protein supplements, but a testament to the amount of work you put into building your body. This level of control only comes when the weightlifter pays extra attention to the movement involved in the exercise. This principle carries onto any form of physical exercise; when you pay extra attention to how your body moves, the more control you gain over your muscles, and the better your movement gets.
Every time you do something it becomes more familiar to you, and therefore it gets easier for you to do. Tracking your progression gives you milestones to celebrate, which will increase your motivation in the long term, and noticing improvements in how your body moves is definitely an achievement. You’ll need to understand the different systems your body implements to enable motion to be able to acknowledge how your movement is improving.
WHAT MAKES OUR BONES CLICK?
Let’s talk about the lever system, the body’s biomechanical system that combines muscles, joints, and bones to enable movement. In the human body, the joint serves as the fulcrum, the bone as the lever, and the muscles as the source of the effort or force. Your body contains several different types of joints, muscles, and bones, but understanding how they work together gives you an overview of how they all work together.
To understand how the lever system works, we can discuss how the bicep curl works. You’ll notice that you’re told to keep your arm firmly in place, and only your forearm should be moving. Your forearm's ulna and radius form the lever, and your elbow is the fulcrum. Your bicep is the only muscle that creates effort in this exercise because of how you position your arm. When you can’t lift a dumbbell beyond a certain point, it means your bicep and the dumbbell are creating equally opposing forces. Rather than telling yourself you just need more muscle building protein, just look in the mirror and be proud of yourself for basically storing a dumbbell in your bicep.
FOCUS ON FEELING THE MOVEMENT
Understanding the functioning of the lever system gives you an insight into the importance of form during exercise. It doesn’t matter if you’re taking the best protein powder, your biceps aren’t going to get big if you can’t do a curl properly. Athletes have very efficient movements due to impeccable form during exercise, and that comes with practice, not nutritional supplements. Ensuring correct form means you are activating that muscle in particular, rather than also asking the neighboring muscles for help. Pay close attention to your form, focus on your targeted muscle, and absolutely smash this set. But don’t forget to accelerate your muscle recovery using protein supplements!
With great power comes great responsibility, but while working out to get to that great power you’re definitely going to experience a lot of soreness on the way. Protein supplements are always a great help, but warming up is necessary. A proper warm-up that involves stretching and compound movement will help you significantly lower the chance of injury. Your joints are fairly susceptible to injury, especially your knee because of the weight it carries around all day, but the injury risk is lowered with the correct warmup. Even if you’re taking the best omega 3 supplement, your body still needs a warm-up!
NOURISH YOUR BODY TO ALWAYS STAY MOBILE
Nutrition helps you keep injuries and soreness at bay. Indeed, your diet or nutritional supplements can’t save you from the inevitable accidents that happen from time to time, but they can help mitigate the consequences. The foods you eat should be providing you with a wide range of nutrients that help keep your body healthy. You’re probably thinking, milk for my bones, whey protein for my muscles, and maybe ghee for my joints? Let’s examine what nutrients each part of your lever system benefits from:
- Bones: Your bones are made of collagen, a protein, and reinforced with calcium phosphate! While calcium is indeed the most important for bone health, minerals like magnesium and phosphorus and vitamins C and D are also very important. These nutrients are most commonly found in fruits and vegetables, like strawberries and broccoli.
- Joints: The area where 2 or more bones meet. It's mostly composed of connective tissue. Foods with anti-inflammatory properties, such as ghee and turmeric, are the fertilizers of your joints. There is a different element in each food that contributes to its anti-inflammatory properties, such as omega 3 fatty acids in salmon and curcumin in turmeric. You’ll find a long list of food and drink with anti-inflammatory properties!
- Muscles: Protein is the main component of muscles, and also the primary requirement. Foods can either contain ‘complete’ or ‘incomplete’ proteins, where ‘complete’ proteins have all 9 types of amino acids you need. Complete proteins include fish, poultry, eggs, soy or dairy products, red meat, and whey protein! Your muscles also need a list of micronutrients such as calcium, magnesium, glutamine, vitamin D and B12, potassium, and iron, which means that all the ingredients of a chicken salad are contributing to your muscles.
TERRA ORIGIN CAN HELP YOU STAY ON YOUR TOES
Being conscious of your motion improves your understanding of your body and helps you care for it better. Perhaps you feel like your muscles can do more, but your joints are aching too much already. To ensure you’re nourishing your whole lever system at once, let Terra Origin help you have the strongest lever resting upon the most reliable fulcrum with an unstoppable force to create a healthier you. In Archimedes’ words, “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.”
Terra Origin 100% Grass fed Whey Protein is a complete source of protein, also containing calcium and omega 3, therefore helping you build lean muscle while strengthening the framework of your body and aiding your joints. Our Organic Plant Protein aids your muscles with 5 plant based protein sources, your bones with calcium, and also helps your joints with the anti-inflammatory properties of flaxseeds. Terra Origin Greens Superfoods contain micronutrients such as Vitamin C, antioxidants, amino acids, and several others, which all help your complete lever system. Lever up your exercise with a strong lever system thanks to Terra Origin!