Airin Avery, a respected fitness trainer and recent PhD graduate, imparts her wisdom on effective workout strategies on Instagram. She recently demystified the common 4×12 workout programs, explaining the necessity of understanding intensity, progression, and the real effort required to see results. In a candid post, Avery shared, “A program which only subscribes to 4×12 of everything isn’t denoting the intensity of your sets…This, single-handedly, is the most important aspect of progress. You cannot teach an athlete how to make progress if you aren’t making them train hard and engaging in some form of controlled progression.”
In 2021, Avery received her PhD. She thanked all the people who supported her in the caption of this Instagram post. “Thank you to everyone here who has shown support or encouragement to me over these past 5 years of my PhD journey. It has been an incredible ride and I am immensely grateful for the help I’ve received along the way. I am not self made. I am composed of everyone who’s taken time out of their day to build me up.”
Avery likes to do squats to stay in shape. She shared this post on Instagram sharing her tips for improving squats. “If your wrists hurt like crazy when you’re front squatting, plot twist it probably isn’t your wrists that are the issue. Usually when people have wrist pain it’s because they are letting the weight shift onto their wrists because they aren’t keeping elbows high. Or they just don’t have the right positioning to begin with. Try this drill: Strap into the bar like you’re going to front squat. Stand with a partner lower yourself while they cue to keep your elbows up.”
Avery talked about the importance of back exercises in this Instagram video’s caption. “The lats are not the only muscle in the back. And trying to reduce the ROM to ‘bias’ the lats misses this fact. Think of the RDL. Plenty of people claim that you should reduce your ROM to ‘target the glutes’ or ‘stay within their active range’. But how does this help you develop the rest of the musculature involved in extending the hip. The glutes aren’t the only muscle which do so. Simply put, the more you stretch the system (all of the back) the more development you will see through the whole back. You aren’t biasing the lats more, you’re poorly leveraging a load, and leaving gains on the table.”
Avery talked about the importance of scheduling exercises in this post’s caption. “In order for fitness to work in your life you’re going to have to learn how to show up and get things done when you’re schedule is busy. January might be the perfect time for you to start, but what happens when summer rolls around or the holidays when things get busy again? ✨You have to quit the habit of stopping and starting to reach that next level✨”
In the previous Instagram post, and her most recent one, Avery is seen doing pull-ups. NASM states that these workouts have a lot of benefits. “If you enjoy the convenience of bodyweight exercises and the challenge that they bring, then you may already know that chin ups and pull-ups are among the most effective bodyweight exercises to strengthen and develop muscles in the upper body. Don’t let the fact that their bodyweight exercises fool you; these demanding moves require proper form and technique to build strength and prevent injury.”