Recently in Movement Monday Category

Ive been away in Indonesia for a wee while, and havnt had a chance to post. But im back now just in time for Christmas so thought id pop up a quick post before all the festive mayhem.

When it comes to grip training, seems every man and his dog has a different way to train the hands. Im not gonna say whats good or bad, as theres different aspects of strength relating to the hand, or any body part for that matter. An interesting method is the thick barbell. Its basically a barbell that is thicker than normal. This means you cannot wrap your hands around it so much, placing more stress on the hands to maintain grip. Some say this takes away from a "crushing" force to more of a "pinching" but any training is better than no training - and if you try it youll probably notice the difference.

Heres a vid from Zach Even-Esh doing an incline bench press with a fat or thick barbell. Great thing about using the thick bar is you can do "normal" exercises and get a good grip workout at the same time, saving a bit of time in the long run.

Ill post some more stuff on grip soon as its kinda essential for martial arts, especially praying mantis.

So in 7 Star Praying Mantis kung fu that i do there isnt a lot of high kicks, but that doesnt mean we shouldnt train them, and its always good to have strong flexible legs. Contrary to popular belief, strength and flexibilty go hand in hand, and you'd be suprised at how flexible bodybuilders are. In simple terms a weak muscle resists stretching more, as the body fears the muscle will be damaged, so strenghtening muscles (particularly in a lengthened or strecthed position) will actually help flexibilty.

Once again Im a lazy bugger, and I have a youtube video to do the work for me. The exercises shown are great ways to increase flexibility and kicking, so have a look. Theres also some other great videos from Elastic Steel, the guy who made this video.

Ok I admit its Tuesday, but..Movement Tuesday? it just wouldnt sound the same, would it.

So todays exercise is the hack squat. You may have heard of it, but probably never tried it. I can say Ive never seen anyone do it in the gym. Well actually I barely see people doing squats or deadlifts in the gym so maybe that says something.

Anyway, Old George Hakenschmidt was a Russian strong man and wrestler and he invented the "Hack Squat" you can find more info on the guy here.

So the hack squat is kinda like a deadlift with the barbell behind your body. I like it because you can lift a lot of weight like a deadlift but it tends to get the quads(front thight) more than a standard deadlift which works the hamstrings(back thigh) more. I also raise my heels by putting some plates down to emphasise the quads even more. Its also much easier to learn than the deadlift in my opinion, and newbies dont have the problem of hitting their shins, which can happen when deadlifting with poor technique.

This is a great exercise if you dont have a squat rack, and as a supplement to other key leg exercises (i.e front and back squats and deadlifts).

I forgot to take my camera to the gym so Ive pinched a video off youtube to show you how its done. It may feel a bit weird at first, but its an exercise you can quickly learn (in my opinion) just remember the basic rules of keeping a good/safe body position - knees in line with feet, back slightly arched, not rounded, chest out, head neutral.

You can see this guy also stands on plates to emphasise quad involvement. Remember to squeeze the all impotant glutes (i.e your ass) as you lift. You can do it with a standard overhand grip, or switch grip, or basically whatever you want - just give it a go.

enjoy.

So usually, on a Monday I go to training after work, then I come home and do the Movement Monday. This Monday however, Ive been knocked down with illness, and it seems theres no exercise for me at the moment.

As you can see being sick has taken its toll on me, physically, psychologically and fashionably. However, a day wrapped up in robes and fluffy Lilo hats will see me back stronger than ever next week

And believe it or not I actually do wear that hat around the house - its suprisingly warm

Todays movement is another mobility type movement, and one you've probably seen before.

The bridge is often done by gymnasts, and its a great exercise to stretch the shoulders, back, hip flexors (front of hip) as well as the chest and abdominals. Its called the bridge because old russian coaches used to play the card game "bridge" on young gymnasts stomachs...and gullible isn't in the dictionary.Yes it looks like a bridge! congratulations Igor.

Doing it is rather simple: start on your back, try to put your heels as close to your buttocks as possible - this will give you more leverage when pushing up. Put your hands, facing your feet by your shoulders and ears. Then all you need to do is push up into the bridge. If you lack flexibility its gonna be tough, but this exercise will help improve it, so dont give up. Do the bridge for timed holds, starting at 10seconds, then as you get better you can work up to 30seconds - 1 minute.

The goal is to get the arms and legs straight while in the bridge. You can probably see from the pic I need to work on shoulder flexibility a bit more. More bridges for me, woohoo. 

Each Monday Im going to post up a movement I like. Now Im assuming the masses that read this blog..ahem,..the two people that stubbled across it while looking for porn, are not educated in areas like anatomy, physiology and the like, so I'll refrain from using technical terms where possible.

Im not gonna give you a training plan, but just exercises that Ive come across from various places that I use and think are useful and that people might like to try, and possibly include them in their training if they feel they are beneficial

Ok, so the sumo squat is named so because, well, sumo wrestlers do it. But dont be fooled, they are amazing athletes and there's muscle under that there blubba'

To do the squat, start standing with feet about shoulder width apart or a bit more, now turn the feet out. Its best to start small and aim for about 45 degrees turnout from your centerline. Now all you need to do is squat down while keeping your feet flat on the floor. You can place your hands on your knees for support, and try to maintain a straight back.

The goal is to increase the depth of the squat while maintaining good body alignment. Take it easy on the amount of foot turnout (external rotation) at the start because if the hips arent flexible enough it can put a bit of strain on the knee, like all things take it step by step.

This is not really an exercise to be done for high repetitions, as its more for flexibility in the groin and is great for increasing range of motion in the groin and hips. I like to do it in the morning for 10 or so reps and maybe 2 or so sets, good for loosening up. There you have it, now give it a go. 

Note: You can do this with weight, but get the movement and flexibiliy down first before adding weight unless you like injuries - also there is a deadlift version of this exercise, but the mechanics are different.