Towering at six-foot, two inches tall, and 270 pounds, actor, model, and bodybuilder Mike O’Hearn is a force in the gym. He hasn’t maintained his lifestyle for so many years without sufficient training strategies and the methodology of his Power Bodybuilding program.
O’Hearn uploaded a video to his YouTube channel on Oct. 8, 2022. He was joined by several fellow gym members, including a local chiropractor and various clients, to guide them through proper ways to safely execute heavy compound movements and demonstrate what “not to do.”
O’Hearn enters the gym with a purpose: to get an incredible workout and walk out better than he entered. This couldn’t happen if he were injured, so he puts immense focus on his form to execute exercises safely and precisely as intended. Check out the video below:
When discussing form with the chiropractor, who O’Hearn trains as a client, O’Hearn joked that everyone learning proper form would eat into the chiropractic clientele, suggesting poor form leads to the need for chiropractic adjustments.
People can push themselves too hard in the gym. While O’Hearn loves the warrior mentality, given that’s how he’s tried to live his life for the past four decades, he recognizes that people 100 percent intent on training harder will also have to put in that much effort into recovery. Training with proper form might help optimize programming, improve results, and help stave off injury.
Mike O’Hearn on Proper Form
The advice that O’Hearn hopes lifters take away is that consistency is the most important aspect of the lifter’s lifestyle. You have to train smart for the long haul, and your form always matters.
O’Hearn demonstrated how not to perform a deadlift, transitioning into how you should. He emphasized a traditional deadlift is inherently a lower back exercise, one should steer toward using the whole body to pull and lower the weight. This will relieve some pressure off the lower back and treats it similarly to a Romanian deadlift.
O’Hearn’s clients have to drastically lower their working weights with the new slow and controlled form he coaches.
The deadlift should be a push if you want to do this for a long time.
O’Hearn explained that ego lifting — lifting heavier than one is capable of with good form — leads to mistakes in the gym. Everyone is capable of executing exercises with perfect form, but their egos can prevent them from doing so.
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O’Hearn’s long-standing chiropractor client commented on the spinal mobility of the average person:
Most people blow out their backs in the morning just bending down to put on their shoes. But if they did deadlifts like that, that would actually strengthen them.
When discussing the benefits of training for longevity with his younger client, O’Hearn touted many ways to lift effectively, whether it be powerlifting, lifting like a bodybuilder, or training for a particular sport. Knowing your goal and the methodology to achieve it through proper form with mindfulness toward longevity could allow for better long-term results regardless of the lifting style.
O’Hearn then demonstrated how to perform a row for safety and function. His athletes utilize the same weight they used for the deadlifts on the rows for a general idea of what weight to work with. O’Hearn calls these two exercises “Farm Boy Lifts,” which he explains is a combination of picking up bales of hay and tossing them.
It’s about that rotation, working the whole back through a full range of motion.
Everyone continued to a plated-elevated sumo deadlift, which O’Hearn demonstrated on a female athlete and a male athlete.
When you are doing sumos, don’t think about lifting up your chest. Think about kicking that ass in from the start, that glute/hamstring contraction, lift into it.
O’Hearn explains that deadlifts strengthen backs and spines, as well as the muscles that support them, including connective tissue. For O’Hearn, deadlifts are one of the building blocks of longevity when done correctly. The functional gains are also beneficial, such as putting on your shoes or lifting a heavy box without the risk of tweaking a muscle in your back.
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O’Hearn hopes people will attempt this style of training — Power Building — at least once. He wishes he had had this knowledge when he started and believes you should feel every repetition perfectly once you’ve mastered the movement. When O’Hearn was growing up, the mentality was “attempt it, and then talk about it.” But O’Hearn sees too many younger athletes talk first and execute after if they execute at all. From O’Hearn’s point of view, form comes first, and then action is what matters.
Featured images: @mikeohearn on Instagram
