JULY 2019/MUSCLE & FITNESS 33HERE’S HOW: BY WOLE ADESEMOYE PHOTOGRAPH BY SURBEY PHOTOGRAPHY
l Place your feet under the bar, in a
narrow stance directly below your hips,
with your shins as close to the bar as
possible (individuals with large body
types may need to start further away
from the bar, then pull themselves closer
once in position) and your toes pointing
either straight forward or very slightly
outwards.
l Standing tall- with soft knees, neutral
spine, and your head in alignment -
break at the hips and push your bum
back, allowing your upper body to
tilt forward until you feel a significant
stretch in the hamstrings. It
is important to keep
the shins vertical
at this point,
imagining that
your legs are
buried up to
your knees
in sand while
you drive your
hips back. This
will cause some
flexion at the knee;
however, you are not
focusing on bending the
knee similar to a squatting movement,
rather you are focusing on simply
pushing the bum backwards.
l At this point, if you have tight
hamstrings or longer limbs, you will
probably not be able to reach the
bar yet. With your shins remaining
as vertical as possible, hips driven
backwards and your back in a neutral
position, you may now flex the knees
to drop the bum slightly, allowing your
hands to grab the bar as close to the
shins as possible, without the arms
interfering with movement at the knee
(larger individuals may find their knees
drive forward over the bar at this point,
which is fine and is why they may have
had to start further away from the bar
at the beginning of the lift).
DEAD RIGHT
l You are now in the bottom position,
however before you can lift you must
create tension in the back and brace
the trunk. To do this externally rotate
the elbows, imagining you are trying to
bend the bar around you, and squeeze
your triceps into your lats - all the while
pinching your shoulder blades and
pushing your chest up and through your
shoulders. Your head should still be in
line with your spine, looking at the floor
roughly 1m in front of you, not directly
forward.l To brace, take a deep breath into
the gut and hold, pushing the air ‘out’,
imagining you are wearing
a weightlifting belt (if you are not
wearing one) and you are trying
to burst that belt open with the air in
your stomach. You have now created
a strong trunk and should be ready to
begin your lift.l With your shins as vertical as
possible, hips driven back with tension
in the hamstrings, back flat with head
in alignment, a braced trunk and tight
upper back you may now begin to lift
by ‘pushing’ the floor away from you.
The hips and shoulders begin to
rise at the same time and as the bar
begins to slide up the shins and past
the knees, drive the hips forward into
an extended, standing position with a
proud chest (up and out), but without
over extending the spine (it is also
important to note that the elbows
do not flex during the lift and the
arms remain straight during the entire
movement).l To lower the weight, simply drive
the hips back, allowing the knees
to flex, lowering the bum as the bar
passes the knees. This keeps the bar
as close to the body as possible
without travelling ‘around’ the knee.
Please also note that upper back
tightness and trunk strength should not
be compromised during the lowering
phase of the lift.l If the back begins to round at any
point during the movement, lat tension
has been lost and the position must
be reset or weight lowered.l Lifters may also experience a quick
lifting of the bum at the beginning of
the lift. This is due to a lack of tension
in the hamstrings and is usually the
precursor to a rounding of the back.
This can be fixed by resetting your
position with a focus on driving the hips
backwards, pulling 10% of the weight
at the beginning of the lift to ‘find’
tension before pulling the full weight,
lowering the weight or by strengthening
the posterior chain with assistance
exercises.Internationally renowned bodybuilder
Wole Adesemoye has re-signed
with longstanding nutrition partner
Maximuscle.
Wole has quickly cemented himself
as one of the top bodybuilders
in the world, winning the WBFF
Championships three years running
between 2014 and 2017.
Last year was a standout year for
Wole, the full-time fireman took
home the coveted WBFF World Title
in Las Vegas. He is now preparing
to defend that title in Barbados later
this year.
Talking on this partnership,
Wole Adesemoye, said: “I am over
the moon to be going into my 10th
year with Maximuscle. I have been
a part of some amazing things
in that time, but I have never been
more excited about the direction
of the brand going forward than now.
I can’t wait to see what we can achieve
together.”
Dan Wood, Sales Director for
Maximuscle, added: “We’re delighted
Wole has signed on for another
year, he is a fantastic role model and
ambassador for our brand, and we’re
glad this fruitful relationship can
continue.”
Instagram: @woleadesemoye