Hi.
Tonight I did the Upper body Focus 1 workout for the first time.
And I had a hard time understanding some of the moves.
Some movements were not that easy to see exactly how to do. And some were over even before I got to do more than one or two reps.
I understand that it can take a few repeats to understand them correct. But as an “introduction” to the upper body focus workouts, I found it a bit too fast for each step.
The things I had a hard time to understand and see: Lat press with a hold - not a lot of movement in the video. a different angle could be usefull, and better explanation on how to execute the “hold” and where to “feel” it. Quadruped Pull-in with hold and also Push-out version.
Pull in/push out? which dorection. forward/back motion, or sideways? I have no idea…
And again, which muscles should you “feel” tighten. Low Side plank with scapular Presses
Maybe it’s because I’m not so used to the correct names, but I’m not sure what the scapular press is yet. Also, video example has very little movement. Chin tucks from a quadruped position
The video didn’t show what I would think was a chin tuck. this movement left me with no cluse…
I know that the strength training videos are really good, and I use them from time to time and I’m sure I’ll get it dialed in at some point.
But if I were a new user, and tried this for the first time. I’m not sure I would try it again.
Maybe some if this feedback can be used for future upgrades.
Just loaded up the video for a quick look and I’d suggest:
Lat press with a hold - You need your feet sufficiently far forward that you are “lifting” your body weight away from the wall. The feeling should be that all the work is in the backs of your shoulders, pushing your shoulder-blades together.
Quadruped Pull/Push - You should be focussing on holding your position so you don’t actually move but you should feel like you are trying to pull your arms and legs inwards (laterally) or push them outwards (without them actually moving, so you are just loading one side)
Low plank with scapular presses - Imagine a press-up from plank position where all the work is in your shoulders, you let your body “drop” towards the mat by allowing your shoulder blades to come together at the back, then raise yourself up by pulling your shoulders in-front of yourself and as close to bringing your shoulders together “under your chin” as you can manage
Chin tucks from quadruped - The least “obvious”. Get into quadruped, pull your neck vertically upwards as far as possible and then feel like you’re pushing the crown of your head away from your body while pulling your chin towards your chest, then relax and let your head drop to neutral, repeat…
Finally, do you have the audio on or listen to music? If you don’t have the video audio on, there is further spoken instruction in the videos, which may help.
I have audio on, else I wouldn’t get anywhere
So I did the Pull/Push in the wrong direction.
Still not entirely sure about the last one.
I just feel that the video moves along very quickly if it’s also supposed to be an introduction.
I wouldn’t mind if it had more time on each movement, and perhaps some close ups of the movements - or even an animated move that could show the specific move.
For those who haven’t been used to strength and movement, there are many dificult moves and names.
For yoga and strength videos, I recommend watching the videos without doing the activity first to get a feel of what’s going on - you can delete the activity after it’s done so it doesn’t show up on your calendar (no one seems to appreciate anything other than green ticks on their calendars ).
Do you pause and rewind at the times you miss the exercise or don’t understand what’s being demonstrated?
Didn’t have time tio replay the video, as it was a “warmup” for a race.
But later I had a look again. And it still it was a 50/50 change of doing the quadruped push/pull right/wrong.
And the chin tuck. Maybe I’ve done too much of Abi’s yoga, but a chin tuck is the chin to the chest…
I was used to do the old 30 min Upper body strength, which was pretty straight forward, and good video example.
With all these new static holds, and small movements, the video example isn’t showing the moves as good, and the speech is very fast - for a first time experience.
This is the only strength video I’ve tried in the new SYSTM, but I hope the others are easier to understand - (for new people)
I understand. It’s a bit difficult first time which is why I recommend a pre-watch.
It’s just practise, I think. If you were to have joined a class at your local gym you may find that’s it not easy to keep up with the instructor and you miss a few moves or get it wrong first time.
I don’t find this an issue but I agree that there may be a way to make it easier for first timers.
I agree, here. I only did my first SUF strength workouts a few months ago and I found I couldn’t keep up even with the intro full body workouts. But once I did a couple of them I started to learn the exercises and what to expect and then it was much easier to follow along and keep up.
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