Archive for Exercise of the Week
Sandbag Cleans
I recently posted a different “Exercise of the Week” just a few days ago….but hopefully none of you will mind another one.
Sandbag training has really gained in popularity over the last couple of years. I hesistate to call it a trend, because I think sandbag training has the potential for much more longevity. I think this for a few different reasons. Among other things, sandbags are durable, portable, extremely versatile and there is a bag to literally accommodate any strength range. Yes, I said ANY strength range. You can literally push, pull, toss and drag them in limitless movement variations. Use them for developing strength, conditioning, power, endurance, agility and coordination. What can I say….we’re big fans of sandbag training at Hybrid Fitness.
One of the exercises I like to impose on my unsuspecting clientele is the Sandbag Clean. It requires the perfect balance of strength, power, coordination and focus. It works multiple joints and muscles simultaneously and really gets the heart pumping. Are you convinced yet? If not, you’ll have to try it for yourself and see what I mean.
- Stand in front of a sandbag with your weight evenly distributed on both feet and knees slightly bent.
- Keeping your back flat, bend at the hips and knees and reach down to grab the sandbag.
- Keeping head up and back flat, explosively stand erect by pushing the ground away with your legs as you simultaneously pull / clean the sandbag up in front of your body and catch it at shoulder height.
- Your knees should be bent to approximately a 1/4 squat position during the catch phase.
- Lower the sandbag to the starting position.
Here’s the breakdown of what the sandbag clean looks like:
Sandbag Clean "start"
Sandbag Clean "middle"
Sandbag Clean "finish"
Sometimes, pictures just aren’t enough..so here’s a video showing the clean in real time. It also comes with a pulldown exercise description, too. (click the link or the graphic to view the video)
We don’t sell our own sandbags so if you’re looking to pick some up, we suggest you go here.
Got questions? Post them to the comments section and we’ll answer them ASAP.
Keep training hard!
Jason
www.hybridfitness.tv
P.S: You can view and create videos like the one above by utilizing the video exercise library and workout builder from Hybrid Fitness. Join the community and see what the buzz is about.
Exercise of the Week: Sportband Overhead Squat
As most any educated member of the fitness industry will tell you, a squat is much more than just a leg exercise. In fact, it could be considered a “total body” exercise. Many muscles in both the upper and lower body are fully active during a squat.
Now lets factor in a sportband. Sportbands are a great method of applying resistance. We talk about them a lot on the blog and the main site. They work well because of their portability and durability, but also because they can provide resistances from a few pounds to several hundred pounds. Seriously, a band that provides 200lbs of resistance can practically fit in your coat pocket. It might look a little weird, but it’ll fit. I’ll spare you the sportband backstory in this post, but suffice it to say, we’re big fans of sportbands for a number of reasons.
One of the great exercises you can do with them is the Overhead Squat. The link below will take you to a video from the Hybrid Fitness video database with a full explanation of the movement.
My recommendation would be to start with a light resistance band and move up from there. Try a few repetitions and make sure your shoulders and back are stable. Be sure to move slowy through the motion until you get ccomfortable with body position and mechanics.
Give it a shot and tell us what you think. If you need to know where to get ultra-high quality sportbands, we recommend you go here. Tell them Hybrid Fitness sent you.
If you want to create videos like this for yourself for yourself, your clients or a blog/website, go here.
Until next time, keep training hard!
Jason
www.hybridfitness.tv
HFL’s WEIGHTLESS LEG WORKOUT:
Back in the 1980’s there was a fitness company called Health for Life. The company was started by Jerry Robinson who graduated from Stanford with a degree in Biomechanics. Health for Life or HFL as it came to be known; was a company ahead of it’s time. They produced many books and videos which applied current science to strength training and conditioning. Some of their most well know programs include the titles “Legendary Abs”, “Power Forearms” and “Synerstretch”.
I was always a fan of the HFL courses and still own every book they ever produced. Below is an excellent bodyweight leg training program which comes from one of the lesser known HFL titles, “The Weightless Workout”. I have used this program extensively both personally and with my clients. Give it a try, I am sure you will find it very effective.
1. One-Legged Squats @ 8-10 reps each leg
2. One-Legged Hamstring Bridges @ 8-10 reps each leg
3. Sustained Tension Side Leg Raises @ 8-10 reps each leg
4. Modified Russian Lunges @ 6-8 reps each leg
5. Running Stairs @ 10-20 Floors
The Basic introductory level is: one set each of the first three movements only.
Level (1) is: 2 sets of the first three movements and 1 set of the fourth.
Level (2) is: 4 sets of movement 1, 3 sets of movement 2, 2 sets of movement 3, 3 sets of movement 4, plus the stair running.
Each series should be done with no rest between exercises.
Stay on a level as long as it is challenging. You can do all the sets of one exercise and then move on to the next or do one leg all the way through the series before returning to do the other side.
Exercise descriptions:
1. ONE-LEGGED SQUATS: Stand perpendicular to a wall, about arms length away from it. Extend your arm out to the side and place your palm against the wall at just under shoulder height. Angle the foot farthest from the wall out ward 45 degrees. Bend the other leg (non-weight-bearing) back. Keeping your body upright, lower yourself until the non-weight-bearing knee is close to (but not touching) the ground. Support yourself by leaning against the wall. Press yourself back up to starting position. Repeat for desired number of reps, and then repeat with other leg.
2. ONE-LEGGED HAMSTRING BRIDGE: These are killers if you have never tried them look out! Lie on your back with one leg extended, heel on the ground. Hold the other leg up off the floor (as if you just threw a knee). Pushing through your heel, flex your hamstrings to lift your body (imagine you are pulling your heel in to your butt but it doesn’t move so your hips lift up instead). Lower and repeat for desired number of reps. Repeat on other leg. You can control the resistance and the degree to which the Glutes contribute by changing the distance you place your heel relative to your buttocks. The greater the distance, the greater the stress on the hamstrings. The lesser the distance, the greater the Glutes contribute to the movement. For most, only the position with the legs almost fully extended will offer sufficient resistance to make the exercise effective.
3. SUSTAINED TENSION SIDE LEG RAISES: support your self by holding onto a fixed vertical pole. A fence post or lamp will do, as will the edge of an open door. Position your self, sideways to the pole. Angle the foot closest to the pole as if you were doing a classic side-kick. Raise your leg straight out to the side as high as it will go. Don’t worry if it won’t go up very high. Your foot should be parallel to the floor. You should be able to draw a straight line through your shoulder, hip, and ankle. If you bend forward at the waist, or twist over so you are facing down, rather then sideways, you decrease the stress on the target muscles. Slowly lower your leg from the raised position, but only by a foot or so. Then reverse direction and go back up. (Don’t bounce as you change direction.) Repeat up and down never touching your foot to the ground, for the desired number of reps. Repeat on other leg. Add ankle weights when it gets to easy in the standard version.
4. MODIFIED RUSSIAN LUNGES: Begin in lunge position, bent at the waist, with your weight over your toes of the front foot and your rear leg extended behind you, slightly to the outside. Your chest should nearly rest on your forward thigh. Slowly push yourself up about 6-8 inches; you should also travel slightly forward. Lift your rear foot off the ground as you push your self up. The angles at your hip and waist must not change during the exercise-in other words; your chest should remain in the same relation to your thigh throughout the movement. Lower and repeat for the desired number of reps. Repeat on the other leg. When done right these are felt in the Glutes a great deal. Tweak until you know you are hitting the right position.
5. RUNNING STAIRS: Try doing 10-20 one-story sprints, preferably two stairs at a time. Work up to that number slowly! Also be careful to keep one hand on the stair rail to catch yourself if you lose your balance. To limit the aerobic component run up and walk back down in between sprints. To increase resistance add a weighted vest or a backpack full of heavy books or sandbags.
This workout is excellent for soccer players or any athlete looking to maximize performance using no extra equipment. Give it a try and let me know what you think.
PAU for Now
TAKU
www.hybridfitness.tv
Exercise of the Week: 3 Great Push-up Variations
Looking for a little variety in your training? Give these push-up variations a shot. Push-ups are one of the best bodyweight exercises you can do. Mixing up how the movement is performed can have a profound impact on the intensity of the exercise.
These variations may look simple, but they get challenging very quickly.
http://www.hybridfitnessvideos.com/showPlaylist.php?1230768490
Post any thoughts / questions to the comments section.
Good luck & keep training hard!
Jason
By the way, we have dozens more push-up variations available as well as hundreds of other exercises in the video database at www.hybridfitness.tv Access to the database and the ability to export custom video playlists are available to all Hybrid Fitness members.
Exercise of the Week: Divebomber Push-Up (with VIDEO)
Hi Everyone:
This is a follow up to an earlier post on the divebomber pushup. The post got a lot of traffic and some great feedback, so I decided to post it again, this time with a video.
Click the link below to watch the video. There is a feature on the video player that gives a description of every exercise in a particular playlist. When watching the video, just click on the area titled “Exercise Description” and a it’ll appear immediately.
Feel Free to link to this post or copy the link and send it out. If you want to make your own video playlists, custom workouts or just see and read how hundreds of exercises are performed, come over to Hybrid Fitness and check it out for yourself. See you there.
Keep training hard!
Jason
www.hybridfitness.tv
Rock Around the Clock - An OUTSTANDING Upper Body Workout
By now most of you know that I am a minimalist when it comes to my strength training program prescriptions. My goal is to find the least amount of volume that will trigger the maximum growth response. This must be determined on a case by case basis as no two individuals are exactly alike with respects to recovery ability, health, nutrition, injury status etc.
Some of the workouts I create appear quite simple on paper but as many have come to find out, looks can me deceiving. After all it is not the weight you lift but how you lift the weight which determines your ultimate outcome from any training program. When you give your all to a handful of sets you will quickly find that no more is needed.
Today I am going to outline a brief but challenging upper body workout. It is comprised of five pairs of opposing push-pull exercises. that’s ten total sets for your entire upper body. There is no direct arm work but believe me your arms will get plenty of stimulation from this program.
The exercises are as follows:
1. Upright Row - Dips
2. Low Cable Row - Decline Bench Press
3. Horizontal Row - Flat Bench Press
4. High Cable Row - Incline Bench Press
5. Chin-up - Standing Press
You may begin with any paring as long as you proceed from that point in the workout forward. There are two ways in which to begin this program. First; you can start with a paring that has movements that are challenging for you or which represent areas of your musculature that you feel need work*. Second; you may start with a different paring every workout. This will allow for longer periods of progression with less likelihood of adaptation plateaus (provided you are recovering fully).
The entire workout should take approximately 16 minutes to complete if you are working hard. This assumes that each set will take roughly 60 seconds to complete and that you will rest 90 seconds after each pairing. I suggest that you do all of your warm-up work before hand and then proceed through the bulk of the workout using maximum resistance for each movement pairing.
Choose a weight or resistance level that you feel would be challenging to perform 6 repetitions with. Then do your best to achieve 8-10 repetitions on each set. Do not terminate the set at an arbitrary number, continue until no further repetitions can be completed with perfect form. Besides the 90 seconds rest intervals between parings, strive to keep rest to a minimum and move quickly from one exercise in a pair to the next. Write down your start and finish times (excluding warm-ups) as well as the repetitions completed and the resistance levels used for each movement. When you can complete 10 reps or more with perfect form then bump up the resistance by 5%.
PAU for NOW
TAKU
*If you do this I recommend that you still switch the order every 3-4 weeks or so to avoid adaptation plateaus.
A Must-Try Lunge Variation! (w/video)
[digg=http://digg.com/health/Must_Try_Lunge_variation_for_leg_strength]
Lunges have been a training staple forever. Front lunges, back lunges, lateral lunges, reaching lunges, transverse lunges and many, many more….all of which have their purpose and, when done correctly, can be incredibly beneficial to overall leg strength and endurance.
Here’s a variation you may not have tried, but is very challenging. It’s essentially a combination of a forward reaching lunge and walking lunge. The key is to take a large step and lean the body forward as you bend the forward leg. Touch the fingertips to the floor, then press off the lead leg and transfer immediately to the same lunge with the opposite leg. As you lunge, keep the back leg mostly straight, with a slight bend at the knee. All of this results in a greater range of motion as compared to a regular walking lunge. You’ll understand when you try a couple sets.
A couple points to consider are:
- Keep looking forward as you lunge, limiting the “hunching” or rounding of the upper back
- Keep the motion constant - try not to pause between steps
- Make sure the power from each step comes only from the lead leg
For added intensity, hold a medicine ball or dumbbells in your hands and “reach” with them as you normally would with just the hands. A weight vest is also great for upping the intensity.
Start with about 30 steps and see how it feels. If you’re confined to a limited space, walk the perimeter or do laps, making sure not to pause when you switch directions. After the the first round of 30, pause for about 20 seconds and begin a second round. If you’re just too damn strong, add some extra resistance and try again. Trust me, there’s a big difference between these lunges and your average walking lunge.
If you don’t notice a difference, watch the video again and make sure you’re doing the same motion. Instead of using that mirror to pose in front of, use it to check your form. 
Good luck and train hard!
Jason K.
www.hybridfitness.tv
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnNyuoar0og&hl=en]
Use the Smith Machine…Yeah I said it!
[digg=http://digg.com/health/Use_the_Smith_Machine_Yeah_I_said_it]
In the video below you will see some ideas of how you can use a Smtih Machine to teach people a variety of body-weight pushing and pulling movements. If you have never tried any of these your self you may find some of them to be more challenging then you might think. If you are a trainer and always thought the Smith Machine was a waste of space then perhaps you will see that it can in fact be a useful tool at times. As with most fitness tools you may find that the Smith Machine may be used for a broad array of fun and challenging exercise options. Just remember to keep an open mind, have fun and use your imagination.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyQAdvqfkC0&hl=en]
PAU for NOW
TAKU
www.hybridfitness.tv
Training the Neck (with video)
The question of training the neck came up on one of the forums recently so I decided to put up a little something here to address it. First let me say that I am a fan of neck training. I recommend it to all of my athletes. As a matter of fact I encourage all of my clients to do some form of neck training, unless of course they have some sort of pre-existing condition that would preclude them from doing so.
I highly recommend neck training to all combat athletes. Along with the obvious combat sports such as Boxing, Wrestling, and MMA, I also include other high contact sports such as Rugby, American or Australian rules football, Lacrosse, and Ice Hockey on my combat sports list.
If you are already doing some form of neck training and are happy with the results, keep up the good work. If you are looking for a quick and easy way to strengthen your neck, give the following routine a try.
PAU for NOW
TAKU
Neck Routine: Begin with one set of Shrugs with enough weight to fatigue within 60 seconds. Do one set of 60 seconds pushing head into a small stability ball in all four directions. Finish with a final 60 second set of shrugs. Alternate methods not shown include but are not limited to, using a neck harness attached to cables or resistance bands, as well as manual resistance either solo or using a partner.
(An alternate method for neck extension is also shown in the video below). Using this method you would bridge, forcing the neck back into the stability ball with muscular force aided by gravity.
1. Shrugs: Barbell / Dumbbell / Cable
2. Neck Flexion
3. Neck Extension
4. Lateral Neck Flexion (right and left)
5. Shrugs: Barbell / Dumbbell / Cable
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_ZuSBPONS0&hl=en]
Band Resisted Back Extensions (with video)
At Hybrid Fitness we do our best to keep things as simple as possible. When we want to work someones Mid-Section (often referred to as the “Core”) we know there are only three things we need to do, some form of spinal flexion, some form of spinal extension and some form of rotational movement(s). None of these movements needs to be done for multiple, long, drawn out sets. Nor do they require hundreds of repetitions per movement.
A great exercise device for training the muscles involved in hip and spinal extension is the Glute-Ham-Gastroc raise platform. Unfortunately most commercial gyms do not have the traditional, “Old-School” version of this device (the one where your body lays out parallel with the floor). Instead What you seem to find are these 45 degree angled versions. I think some expert decided that the angled version was safer then the original and suddenly the originals were almost no where to be found.
The problem with these “safer” versions is that as you move through the range of motion, gravity is no longer fully opposing your movements and the resistance seems to fall off at the worst possible time. In the video below you will see how I like to overcome this problem with the use of a simple resistance band. Give these a try next time you visit the gym. I am sure you will quickly become hooked on Band Resisted Back Extensions.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goReie_Mmw0&hl=en]
PAU for NOW
TAKU
