THE EXPERTS
MULTI MOVES
OFF THE CUFF
James Griffiths (JG) ‘A life with no limits’ is Wild Training founder and regular MF columnist James Griffiths’ creed. He’s recorded the highest altitude workout ever, completed 1,000 24kg kettlebell snatches in under one hour, and was Southern England's strongest man under 80kg in 2018.
ON THE FLYE
The concept of complexes is, ironically, fairly simple: you combine two or more movements into a single exercise, doubling the benefit in half the time. The movement can use the same muscle or a combination of muscles, depending on your training goals. Thanks to the huge amount of muscle trained in a single session, it ties in with recent research that shows frequency of muscle stimulation may be more effective for growth and hypertrophy than the once-a-week split style of training. Examples of complex exercises are the dumbbell squat into alternating lunge, sumo deadlift high pull, and Romanian deadlift into bentover row.
Injury to your rotator cuffs –a collection of muscles inside your shoulder joint that can be over-stretched in various movements – is far from ideal. They’re small muscles, but unbelievably important. Exercises such as scapula retractions on a chest-supported back row, internal and external band work, lying Y raises and face pulls should all be regular fixtures in your routine.
Swap dumbbells for kettlebells the next time you’re doing the chest flye. Kettlebells keep the weight on the outsides of your wrists, enabling you to maintain the same angle in your elbows throughout, working your chest even harder.