What exercises to do between sets to improve technique

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

You don't have to spend the time between approaches checking social media or useless chatter. You can make those minutes worthwhile by improving your flexibility and technique.

Fillers (from fill - "fill", "fill") - exercises that are performed between sets and improve joint mobility and movement technique. These can be dynamic stretching movements or activating exercises that involve sleeping muscles.

Why do filler exercises

Fillers help:

1. Relax tight muscles. By relaxing your muscles through stretching, you increase your range of motion and improve your technique.
2. Improve joint mobility and stability … The ankle and hip joints, the thoracic spine need mobility, but the knee joint, lower back, and neck need stability. If you lose mobility in one joint, the adjacent joint, which must be stable, compensates for it. By restoring lost mobility with fillers, you help other joints increase stability.
3. Relieve tension from strength training. During strength training, tension is necessary to ensure proper body position and joint stability. However, it persists after you have done the exercise, and even after the end of the workout. Filler exercises can help you release tension immediately after a set.

How to choose filler exercises

The table below shows a few basic strength exercises and indicates the muscles you need to work on to improve your technique.

Traffic	What is worth working on
Squat	Ankle mobility, thoracic spine mobility, hip mobility, strength of the anterior core muscles
Bench press	Upper Back Strength, Shoulder Stability, Front Hip Mobility, Hip Stability, Shoulder Stability
Deadlift	Thoracic spine mobility, hip mobility, good hamstring stretch
Schwung	Thoracic spine mobility, shoulder stability and mobility, core stability

When choosing exercises, consider not only general needs, but also your personal characteristics. For example, if your hamstrings are squeezed, in between sets of deadlifts, it is better to choose exercises to stretch it, and not to activate the buttocks.

Deadlift fillers

One of the main limiting factors in the deadlift is the undeveloped mobility of the thoracic spine.

1. Stretching the back and shoulders

Before starting the deadlift, stretch your shoulders and back on a bench with a stick in hand.

During this stretch, try to go down as low as possible, but do not stay in the pose for a long time, 3-4 seconds will be enough. Do five reps.

2. Mobility exercises

Perform movements to develop the mobility of the thoracic spine as fillers. Twisting on the floor on all fours works well.

Get down on your knees, put one hand on the floor, put the other behind your head. Perform twists to the side of the arm that is on the floor, touch the floor with your elbow and return to the starting position. Do five reps on each side.

3. Stretching the hip flexors

Stiff hip flexors prevent the buttocks from fully engaging in work, so dynamic stretching of the quadriceps and hip flexors can be performed as a filler.

Roll your pelvis down and sway back and forth, feeling the quads and groin muscles stretch. Do 5-8 reps on each leg. If you feel that the muscles in one leg are tighter, stretch it for longer.

4. Stretching the hamstrings

Stiff hamstrings prevent you from moving in full range, forcing you to round your lower back at the extreme point of the deadlift.

Here's a good way to stretch your hamstrings with an expander: put a loop over your leg and pull your straight leg towards you. 5–8 gentle swaying per leg will be enough.

Squat Fillers

1. Development of mprofusion of ankles

If you lack ankle mobility, you won't be able to keep your back straight while squatting, and you certainly won't do a full squat with your thighs touching your shins. Therefore, add fillers to stretch the ankle muscles before squats.

One of the simplest stretches is the forward lunge. Lunge forward, keep your standing leg straight behind, press your heel to the floor. Sway gently in a lunge, deepening the stretch. Perform 5-8 movements for each leg.

Another good option is the pancake lift, which simultaneously strengthens and stretches the muscles. Perform 5-8 lifts.

Exercise with a turn of the lower leg stretches well the calf muscles. Place the toe of your foot on a step or other elevation and try to rotate the knee outward. The movement will not be visible from the outside, but you will feel the increasing pressure. Do the exercise five times on each leg.

2. Prevention of sunken knees

If the knees curl inward while squatting, it spoils the technique and negatively affects the health of the knees.

This error can occur due to weak buttocks or stiff adductors. Even if you turn your toes outward, as you lower into the squat, the stiff adductors will pull your knees inward.

To avoid this, use two exercises. The first is rolling out the inner surface of the thigh on a massage roller.

Press the massage roller with your body weight and slowly roll the entire inner thigh from the knee to the pelvis.

The second exercise is a "frog" with outward rotation of the legs. Sit in the frog pose with the thighs open, the legs parallel to each other, and the toes turned outward. Try to spread your knees as wide as possible, place your hands on your forearms.

Lift the right and left shins alternately. When the lower leg is lifted, the leg rotates at the hip joint. Returning the lower leg to the floor, try to deepen the pose a little. Repeat five times on each leg.

Bench press fillers

1. Activation of the buttocks

During the bench press, professional athletes always arch their backs because this allows them to reduce the range of motion of the bar and push more.

For a good arch, you need strong back extensors and glutes. The stiff gluteal muscles transmit leg strength and provide stability to the body on the bench. Before doing the bench press and between sets, it is advisable to do activating exercises for the buttocks.

Try the frog glute bridge. This exercise engages the glutes and excludes the hamstrings.

Try to raise your pelvis as high as possible, tense the gluteal muscles at the extreme point. Perform 5-8 lifts.

Another good exercise is the side leg raise. Here you need to rise as high as possible and at the same time feel how the muscles are straining. Do five reps on each leg.

If you have an expander, try side steps with it. This exercise also tenses the gluteal muscles well.

2. Maintaining mobility of the upper back

The tension of the muscles during the bench press enslaves the thoracic spine, which has a negative effect on subsequent exercises. Maintain your back flexibility with deadlift fillers. You can also do a standing upper back stretch.

Find an elevation that is at the level of your hips or abdomen, put your elbows on it, put your palms together, take a step back - this is the starting position.

Bring your pelvis back, gently bend your knees, pull your chest down, stretching your upper back. Return to starting position and repeat. Do the exercise five times.

Fillers for Schwung

In between sets, use fillers to develop the mobility of the thoracic spine and activate the buttocks. The former will provide free movement of the shoulder blades, the latter will strengthen the hips and core muscles so that you can press the bar with optimal strength.

You can also use other stretching and muscle activation exercises as fillers, depending on your limitations. Lack of hip mobility - do hip opening exercises, tight shoulder muscles prevent you from squatting with a barbell on your chest or overhead - correct round shoulders.

Take a closer look at your movements, find out what is stopping you from performing them with perfect technique, and add fillers to correct your limitations.