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Quadrapedal Movement
Quadrapedal Movement is basically walking on all fours, thereare many different methods for this that work different muscles. The two we allknow from elementary school gym class are the bear-walk and the crab-walk.Trying to emulate the grace of different animals on all fours is great trainingfor balance, coordination, strength and stamina.
1.) Get as low as possible. Useyour abs and lower back to keep your hips close to the ground.
2.) Move in a controlled manner.Try to reduce impact on your wrists as much as possible. The goal is to looksmooth and cat-like
3.) Know your limits as far asfatigue is concerned. Getting tired and taking a face plant IS NOT the goal ofthis exercise
The Back Extension
The best place to perform backextensions are on a dedicated glute/ham developer in the gym, where your feetare anchored and your hips rest on a pad, leaving your upper-body free to movein a full range-of-motion. We utilize these in the Primal workouts quite often,but there are many times where a GHD isn't available. In this situation thesuperman back extension that is performed on the floor is a great substitution.
1.) Lie facedown on the floor,legs together, hands overhead, shoulders next to your ears
2.) Draw your abs in towards yourspine and contract your butt.
3.) Raise your legs and torso offthe ground together, arching your back. You will accomplish this by activatingyour lower back, butt (glutes) and the muscles of the back of your thigh(hamstrings).
4.) Raise as far as possible whilestill keeping your arms in line with your head and your legs coordinated withyour arms.
5.) Hold for a count of 3, thenlower in a controlled manner.
6.) Stop just short of completelylowering and repeat for desired reps.
The Basic Handstand Press
Learning the different presses tohandstands is one of the best ways to train for an awesome strength-to-weightratio and absolutely killer core strength and stability.
1.) Stand with feet together orslightly narrower than shoulder-width.
2.) Bend at the hips and placeyour hands slightly in front of your feet at a bout shoulder-width apart,fingers spread.
3.) Start leaning forward ontoyour hands, raising up on your toes, the goal is to get your hips above yourshoulders.
4.) As your weight shifts, yourfeet will begin to raise off the ground, continue to slowly shift your weightuntil you can statically lift your legs up by extending your hips, to bringyour feet, legs and hips above your shoulders.
5.) Even if you can't get thepress, working the static lean and trying as hard as you can to press ahandstand is excellent core-training.
The Box Jump
The box jump trains a quick andpowerful reactive force in your lower legs and hips, perfect for maintainingmomentum between multiple techniques in a complicated environment.
1.) The technique I often use is abox-jump/depth-jump cobo. If you are relatively untrained or have any possibleinjuries, a regular step down from the box would be indicated. Stand in front of the plyo-box or otherobject you are using for a platform. Your feet should be shoulder width apartof slightly wider.
2.) Crouch down, bending at yourhips and knees, swinging your arms behind you.
3.) Explode upwards, coordinatingthe swing of your arms with the jump to maximize momentum.
4.) Tuck your knees and hips,spotting your landing on the edge of the box.
5.) Jump backwards slightly,making sure to clear the edge with your shins and knees, but minimizing theheight you gain off of the box.
6.) Spot your landing, absorb withyour toes first, flexing at the ankles.
: notice, minimal knee bend.
7.) With minimal knee bend,explode immediately back onto the box. This should be a function of your hipsand calves more than your quadriceps.
: The power from the jump is a function of a powerful hipextension.
8.) Pause and repeat. If you havea history of overuse injuries in your knees/lower legs, or you are relativelynew to training, a step off the box into a powerful jump would be moreappropriate. The goal would still be to cycle them as fast as possible.
The Broad Jump
The broad-jump is a classicplyometric exercise. When performed for high-reps, it becomes a metabolicconditioning test of the highest caliber.
1.) Stand with feet should widthapart.
2.) While bending forward at thehips, bend your knees into a half-squat. Swing your arms behind your body.
3.) Explode into a forward jump,timing the swing of your arms to maximize momentum.
4.) Land, absorbing the shock in ahalf squat and bringing your arms back behind you.
5.) Immediately repeat, using themomentum from the first jump to carry you through.
How to measure your broad jump: Abroad jump is a standing, two footed jump measured from the tip of your toes attake off, to the back of your heels upon the initial contact with the ground atlanding.
The Burpee
Burpees, aka Squat Thrusts, are alot of pain in a small package. This seemingly simple movement will test yourstrength, power and endurance all at the same time.
1.) Start in the same position asthe squat, feet slightly wider than shoulder width apart, weight balanced overyour toes and heels. Your abs should be drawn in, spine in a neutral curve.Your toes may be turned out slightly.
2.) Squat down, same as the squat,but as you reach parallel with your thighs, lean forward and end with yourpalms on the ground, fingers facing forward.
3.) Jump your legs back,landing in push-up position; torsostraight and in line with your hips, hands a bit more than shoulder-widthapart.
4.) Do a push-up
5.) Jump your legs back to thefull-squat position, hands lightly resting on the ground.
6.) Jump out of the squat,swinging your arms above your head in coordination with your leap.
7.) Land on your toes, bending your knees slightly to absorb theshock of the jump. Repeat steps 1-6
The Dip/Ring Dip
Gives the pull-up a run for it'smoney for the most effective upper-body exercise available. Requires strength,power and stamina in the higher reps. Add the instability of rings and you havea winning combination.
1.) The preferred implement fordips is a pair of gymnastics rings. The stabilization required for the movementactivates every core muscle available. The free-hanging structure also allowsfor a more natural range of motion. This being said, our workout is designedfor both effectiveness and convenience, so you can perform them on any parallelsurfaces. Shown here are dips between two chairs.
2.) Start in the support position;elbows straight, torso in line with your legs, abs drawn in.
3.) Lower in a controlled manner,bending at the elbows. Keep your hands in towards your body (this lessens thestress placed on your shoulders)
4.) With rings, it is possible tolower until they are even with your armpits. The range of motion is such thatit places much less damaging stress on your shoulders. If you are performingdips on parallel bars, it’s a good idea to stop near the point where yourelbows are at a 90 degree angle.
5.) Pause in the bottom position,then press back up by engaging your chest and triceps. Keeping your core tight(belly button drawn towards your spine, hips and butt contracted) helpstransfer the power to the rings or bars more efficiently.
6.) End in the support position.Repeat.
The Dive-Bomber Push-Up
The Dive-Bomber push-up is a greatexercise for strengthening the entire chest and shoulder complex, combining amulti-planar movement with an aspect of core control for a great all-aroundaffect.
1.) Begin facing the ground, yourhands regular push-up width, feet wide apart. You should be bent that hips,butt towards the ceiling, in an upside-down “V”.
2.) Activate your abdominals bydrawing your bellybutton to your spine. Flare your elbows out, lowering yourhead towards the ground, and flatten out as if you were trying to slide yourhead under a low bar.
3.) Keeping your chest slightlyabove the floor, continue the arc, driving your head upwards towards theceiling, ending with your arms completely extended, your back arched, your hipsslightly above the ground, and your weight supported between your hands andyour toes.
4.)Reverse the motion, going back under the imaginary bar. This counts as one rep.
The Front Plank
The front plank is an excellentexercise for overall core stability and endurance.
1.) Lie facedown, with yourforearms resting on the floor.
2.) Push up off your elbows,supporting your weight on your elbows and toes.
3.) Keep your head in line with your body. Draw your bellybutton towards your spine to keep your torso straight and your toes pulledtowards your shins.
4.) Hold for allotted time.
5.) When this becomes too easy,you can raise your opposing arm and leg, enhancing the support aspect of thehold.
The Handstand Push-Up
The handstand push-up is a killerupper-body exercise with almost endless possibilities. You can assist thisexercise by first placing your feet on a high wall or rail, and making itcloser to an extremely steep decline push-up. Once that is easy you can do itbalanced against a wall, then begin to attempt them free-standing. Once youhave free standing HSPU's down pat, you will have mastered a good bit ofstrength, power and body control. For a full range of motion, try them out on aset of parallettes*.
1.) Though a free-standing HSPU isthe eventual goal, must people will need assistance of some sort. The mostcommon way to assist the balance aspect is by performing the exercise with yourback against a wall.
2.) Face the wall, bend over andplace your hands a bit wider than shoulder-width, around a foot from the baseof the wall, fingers spread to assist stability
3.) Kick up into the handstand,leaning your heels against the wall to assist your balance.
4.) Lower slowly. The goal is toget your face to floor level.
5.) Press back up, it helps to“grip” the floor with your fingertips and engage your core, drawing yourabdominals towards your spine and engaging your glutes, hamstrings and quads,this enhances stability and allows efficient transfer of power from your tricepsthrough your shoulders.
6.) If you can’t push-up from fullrange of motion, work on repeated eccentrics, where you lower slowly, return toyour feet and kick back into the wall to repeat the lowering portion.
*Parallette Construction - A veryuseful piece of exercise equipment that can be made quickly and cheaply. Whatyou need: About 6-9 feet of PVC or ABS pipe (decide how much you need based onthe measurements below). Four T connections. Four elbow joints. Eight end caps.(the diameter can be 3/4-1 1/2 in. depending on the size of the person to usethe parallettes) Your local hardware store should have this great stuff.
1. Cut two 10-14 in. pieces ofpipe. (These will be the portions you hold onto) Stick an elbow on both ends ofboth of these pieces.
2. Cut four 3-8 in. piecesdepending on the height you want, keep in mind the elbows and T joints will addto the total height. The most important part of this step is to keep all thesepieces the same length. Place these in the other end of the elbows, and attachthe T joints to the free ends.
3. Cut eight 4-6 in. piecesdepending on the base width you desire. Wider is more stable, but takes up morespace. Place these pieces in the available slots in the T joints and cap theother ends. You now have parallettes. 4. You will want to score the surface ofthe grip portion of the parallettes with a wire brush or scouring pad so thatchalk will stick to it for a better grip.
The Hollow Rock
This gymnastic form exercise isused to strengthen the hollow position desired for many gymnastic techniques.It's also a great all around core-stability movement.
1.) Lie on your back with yourarms stretched overhead and your legs straight. Then lift your feet and handsapproximately a foot off the ground and press your lower back into the ground.A spotter can assist here by attempting to place a hand underneath the lowerback of the trainee; if the hand can get under, the lower back is not pressedfirmly enough into the ground.
2.) Rock back and forth on thebuttocks and lower back, holding a rigid body position.
3.) After five repetitions, holdthe starting position for five seconds.
4.) Repeat.
5.) Once you can perform 8 cleancycles, move to the next appropriate progression.
Progressions:
1.) Perform the hollow rocks asdescribed above. After five reps, however, instead of holding, perform fiveV-snaps by raising your upper body and hands simultaneously so that your feetand hands meet approximately above your navel. A common error is to lift the feetonly—be sure to lift your upper body and legs at the same time. Once you canperform the progression eight times (that’s 40 boat rocks interspersed with 40V-snaps), you are ready to move on to the advanced move.
2.) Rock/V-snap/hold: This time,do five hollow rocks; hold for five seconds; perform five V snaps; repeat. Ifyou can repeat this sequence 8 times you'll never have trouble with anothercore exercise again!
The Kipping Pull-Up
The kipping pull-up isn't aboutcheating to increase reps, but rather a method of incorporating your entirebody into the movement to maximize power output over time. It is especiallyuseful in workouts that require high-rep pull-ups for time.
1.) Hang from the bar, arms atfull extension.
2.) Tilt your head back and pick aspot on the ceiling. Shorten this line of sight throughout the move.
3.) Start by engaging yourabdominals, curling your torso and bringing our hips and legs up powerfully.
4.) Towards the top of this curl,begin your pull by opening your chest and pulling your shoulder bladestogether.
5.) Take advantage of the momentumcreated by your legs to pull your elbows towards the ground powerfully. Yourbody will move in a vertical arc, towards your back, then back in towards thebar as you move upwards.
6.) Pull the bar to your chest,still focusing on the spot on the ceiling, elbows should be in towards yourribs.
7.) To lower, you will reverse theupward movement, pushing away from the bar at the top to move in an arc towardthe ground. This will help to avoid over-swinging so that you may use the powerof the eccentric phase of the movement to initiate the next pull up.
8.) Once you reach full extension,immediately utilize this stretching power as the initial momentum of the nextpull-up, repeating the leg-kip and upward arc for the next rep.
For a great video that showsCrossfit's kipping progression, paste this link in your browser:
http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/eva-on-kipping.wmv
The L-Pull-Up
The L-Pull Up is a killerfull-body exercise that tests your core strength and stability as well as yourmental toughness.
1.) Grasp a pull-up bar with palmsfacing away from you (pronated). With straight arms and legs, lift your legsuntil they are extended straight out in front of you in an L position.
2.) Perform a pull-up, maintainingthe L position. If your legs drop, you will still get tremendous benefit out ofthis movement.
3.) If maintaining even anapproximation of an L position is clearly impossible for you, a spotter canassist by holding your feet up, or you can bend your legs and hold your thighsup, parallel to the ground.
The L-Sit
The L-Sit is quite possibly theking of all abdominal exercises, establishing your core as a stabilizingelement, which is its most common role. A lofty goal to shoot for is 3:00 inthe L-sit, good form, on the floor.
1.) The L-sit is one of the mosteffective abdominal stabilization exercises around. They are easier to train ifyou build yourself a pair of parallettes , but they can be practiced on thefloor as well.
2.) Sit on the floor, backstraight and in a neutral position, legs together and straight in front of you.
3.) Your hands should be placednext to your hips, flat on the floor, fingers pointing towards your toes.
4.) Press up off the ground andkeep your legs at a 90 degree angle to your torso by contracting your lowerabdominals and your hip flexors. Remember to breathe as normally as possible.
5.) Hold for as long as possible.It is best to quit if your form gets too sloppy, as this leads to diminishinggains and the possibility of lower-back injury.
6.) Rest an appropriate time andrepeat until you’ve completed the required total time for the static hold.
The Lateral Bound
Lateral bounding is theside-to-side equivalent of the broad jump. It trains the explosiveness of ourhips and legs and improves our ability to change directions quickly and retainspeed.
1.) Stand on your right leg, leftfoot off the ground.
2.) Squat slightly with your right leg, then use your leg,hips and butt to explode laterally to your left
. Fully extend your ankle, kneeand hip. The goal is maximum height and distance laterally.
3.) Land on your left leg, absorbing the impact to maintainbalance.
4.) Hold for a count of three, and then repeat to the otherside.
The Leg Lift
The first step in a functionalgymnastics strength progression, this will work your entire core while alsostrengthening your grip; the two prerequisites for functional strength.
1.) Grasp a pull-up bar with yourpalms facing away from you.
2.) Maintaining straight arms andlegs, and keeping your legs together,
lift your legs as high as you can.
3.) Lower slowly, then repeat.
The Lunge
The lunge is another foundationexercise for complete lower-body development that can be performed forhigh-reps for a great metabolic conditioning aspect.
1.) Stand upright with your feetshoulder width apart.
2.) Step forward with your rightfoot, keeping your torso upright. Bend your back knee until it almost contactsthe ground, and your front knee until your upper thigh is parallel to theground.
3.) Sit back towards the back leg,focusing on your glutes and hamstrings.
4.) Engage the back of your thigh to straighten your legs,standing up and stepping forward with the rear foot, keeping your torsostraight, your abs engaged and your head in line with your spine. Repeat steps2 and 3.
The Neutral Spine
The neutral spine is a positionwhere you retain the naturally occurring curvature of the spine without excessstrain. This position is of utmost importance to prevent severe injury, sotaking the time to find the appropriate position is worth the extra effort.
Finding Neutral Spine. The mostchallenging part of achieving neutral spine is feeling a neutral position ofthe pelvis. Before attempting to align the entire body in a standing position,begin by identifying neutral pelvic alignment lying down on the floor on yourback. Bend your knees so that your feet are hip distance apart about 6-10inches away from the back of the legs. Your feet should be flat on the floor.In this position, the lower region of the back will not be pressed down ontothe floor. You will be preserving the natural curve of the lower spine. Placethe heels of your hands on the two bones on the front / top of the pelvis.Place your index fingers on the top of your pubic bone. You will be making atriangle with the bones you can feel on the front of the pelvis. For mostpeople, this triangle will be in a horizontal plane when the lower spine is inneutral. Visualize a glass of water balanced inside the triangle. Using themuscles of the abdomen, (not the legs) press the lower back down towards thefloor. This is a posterior tilt of the pelvis and the glass on water wouldspill onto your chest. Release the pelvis back to neutral, then over-arch thelow back in the opposite direction. This is an anterior tilt of the pelvis andthe glass of water would spill out between your legs. Work through this rangeof motion several times trying to initiate the movement in the abdominalmuscles leaving the legs and feet relaxed. After several repetitions, allowyour pelvis to come back to neutral, a midway position somewhere between theover exaggerated posterior and anterior tilts. The amount of space between yourlower back and the floor will vary according to the natural curve of yourspine. Take this new awareness of neutral lumbar spine with you into a standingposition where you can now align the rest of the body.
1. Place the feet hip width apart.This is a little closer together than shoulder distance apart, which is acommon fitness position.
2. Beginning with flexed or bentknees, straighten up into a full standing position. The knees should remain softened,not locked. Think about pulling up through the mid-line of the body.
3. Focus on finding the neutralposition of the pelvis that we identified lying on the floor. You may need towork through the posterior/anterior positions a couple of times before settlingin neutral. In order to maintain this position, you must activate the deepmuscles of the abdomen and continue pulling up through your center.
4. Relax your shoulders down androll them back. Retract and depress your shoulder blades. Think about bringingyour shoulder blades in towards your spine and sliding them down towards thefloor.
5. Bring your head into alignmentby centering your ears over your shoulders. You might need to extend your chinforward and back to find the centered position. Your nose should be oppositethe very tip of your spine where it connects with the head.
6. Review the natural position ofthe spine. Feel the feet centering the weight of the body and solidlysupporting you on the floor. You should feel ready to move in any direction.
The One-Arm Push-Up
The one-armed Push-up is anextremely useful bodyweight strength training tool. Contrary to popular belief,it doesn't just work your pushing power, but also incorporates a huge amount ofcore stability if performed correctly.
1.) Lying face-down, place yourfeet wider than shoulder width apart, facing straight down, on your toes.
2.) Place your working hand a fewinches outside your centerline and spread your fingers wide for stability.Place your non working hand behind you, across your back.
3.) Draw your abdominals in, andstabilize your entire torso. As you press up, your torso should remain in astraight line with your legs, and your chest should be parallel to the ground.
4.) Pause at the top and lower slowly,stop directly before resting on the ground and repeat.
5.) If you can’t quite perform theexercise in perfect alignment right on the floor, start with your upper-bodyelevated, over time, move closer to floor level. If you can perform 10 perfectfloor-level OAPU’s, start elevating your feet. Once that is easy, try onearm/one foot, picking up the foot on your working hand’s side.
The Overhead Squat
The overhead squat is a gatewaymove to the Snatch, and as such it develops strength and stability throughoutthe entire body. When performed without weight it is an excellent warm-upexercise, taxing both balance and flexibility.
1.) Grab a broomstick with bothhands and hold it above your head, arms straight, shoulders upwardly engaged(raised and in towards your ears)
2.) Perform a squat , sinking yourhips down and back, going as deep as possible while still keeping your back ina neutral position , your heels on the ground, and the broomstick straightabove your head
The Pistol
The pistol, or One-Legged Squat isan excellent test of balance, coordination, strength and power for your entirelower body. If you can't perform them free-standing, you can assist with achair or broom-stick for balance.
The movement is pretty basic:
1.) Stand on one foot, with yourother leg straight out in front of your body, hands to your side or slightly infront of you.
2.) Squat down slowly, attemtpingto keep your weight balanced between your toes and heel. You may need to moveyour hands in front of you for balance.
3.) Hold for a moment, then stand back up. This will take apretty strong contraction with not only your quads, but also your glutes andhamstrings.
For a good article about thepistol that breaks down the major components and suggests training methods toimprove each, check out Power-Athletes Magazine.
The Pull-Up
The Pull-Up is one of the mostfunctional exercises around, combining strength, power and coordination in amovement that most untrained individuals struggle to complete. For a Traceur,however, the skills gained from the pull-up are of utmost importance.
1.) Hang from the bar, arms atfull extension. Hands can be facing towards or away from you. Mix it up tobalance out muscular development, but spend more time on the grip that is weakest.
2.) Tilt your head back and pick aspot on the ceiling. Pay attention to shortening this line through the range ofmotion.
3.) Start the pull by engagingyour upper back muscles, opening your chest and bringing your shoulder-bladescloser together.
4.) Rather than thinking ofbending your arms, imagine pushing your elbows towards the ground, this keepsyour back engaged.
5.) Pull the bar to your chest,elbows tucked into your body. This ensures that you recruit the maximum amountof available muscles, rather than just your biceps.
6.) Lower completely to full extension. Repeat. For workoutsthat involve exercises for time, the kipping pull-up helps maximize poweroutput over a given time frame. It also improves full body coordination in awholly functional way.
The Push-Up
The push-up is perhaps thequintessential bodyweight exercise; it's simple, useful and efficient. Bymixing up the situations in which you perform the push-up, it can have manydifferent effects on fitness.
1.) Lie on your stomach on thefloor, abs drawn in, feet together.
2.) Place your hands palms down onthe floor, slightly wider than your shoulders at nipple level. Elbows should betucked in towards your torso.
3.) Keeping your abs engaged andyour torso in line with your legs, press down into the floor, straighteningyour arms, keeping your elbows in line with the sides of your torso.
4.) At full extension you shouldbe on your palms and toes, body in a straight line, abs and lower back engaged.
5.) Slowly lower back to thestarting position by imagining you are pulling yourself towards the floor. Keepyour torso straight throughout the movement.
6.) Stop just short of touchingthe floor with your chest, pause, then press back up.
7.) Repeat.
The Russian Twist
The Russian twist works theobloquies to a greater extent, rounding out abdominal development.
1.) Start in the same position asthe sit-up; knees bent, abdominals drawn towards your spine to reduce the spacebetween your lower back and the floor. Breathe normally.
2.) Curl up until your shouldersare off the floor, and clasp your hands together.
3.) Crunch up and twist to theleft, bringing your hands to the left of your legs and towards the floor.Concentrate on the contraction on your right side, and hold this position forone second before lowering.
4.) Repeat to the right
The Samson Stretch
The Samson stretch is a greatprecursor to any workout, combining balance and flexibility throughout theentire body.
1.) Interlace your fingers andraise them overhead so your palms are facing the ceiling, engaging yourshoulders up and towards your ears.
2.) Step forward into a lungeposition with the knee of the rear leg touching the ground.
3.) Stretch your hands up, andstretch/sink into the lunge. Look up towards the ceiling.
4.) Maintain balance and hold for3-5 seconds, repeat on other side.
The Side Plank
The side plank balances out thecore stability afforded by the front plank with a lateral component.
1.) Lie on your side with yourforearm on the ground, elbow directly under your shoulder.
2.) Push up off your elbow and theside of your bottom foot, drawing your belly button towards your spine andcontracting your hips to keep your torso straight.
3.) Hold for allotted time.
4.) As this becomes easy, avariation is to lift your lower leg, supporting on your upper leg alone.
The Sit-Up
The sit-up is the best-knownexercise for trunk flexion. Full range-of-motion sit-ups have come under firein the last few years, but a full ROM on every exercise is extremely importantfor proper development of its full potential. Only perform the sit-up to theextent that you can retain a neutral spinal alignment throughout, thus avoidingpossible lower-back injury.
1.) Lie on your back on the floor,knees bent. Engage your abdominals so that your entire spine is in contact withthe ground. Attempt to minimizethe space between your lower back and the surface on which you are laying.
2.) Choose the position of yourhands and arms according to your abdominal strength. The closer your hands areto your head, the more difficult sit-ups become. As a beginner, rest your handsat your sides. When you get strong, you can cross your arms across your chest.Eventually, cross your arms behind your head with each hand on the oppositeshoulder if you're able. (do not interlace your fingers behind your head, asyou will have a tendency to pull on your head for leverage, risking injury toyour neck)
3.) Keeping your bellybutton drawnin towards your spine, begin to curl up from the floor, one vertebra at a time,exhaling while focusing on absolute tension throughout your core.
4.) Rise as far as possiblewithout unnecessary jerking or loss of tension. You will probably stop abouthalf-way to the upright position. Pause here briefly.
5.) Lower in a controlled manner,keeping the same core tension, and controlling your descent so that you lowerone vertebra at a time. Keep your breathing rhythmic, breathing inhaling duringthe descent.
6.)Pause at the bottom, touching your back lightly to the ground and retainingtension in your abdominals. Repeat.
The Squat
The bodyweight squat is adeceptive exercise. When performed with the correct form at a blistering pace,it tests the mettle of even the toughest fitness enthusiast.
1.) Start with your feet slightlyfarther than shoulder-width apart. Your toes may be turned out slightly. Keepin mind your knees should track straight with the line of your feet, so adjustyour feet accordingly.
2.) Your weight should be balancedbetween your toes and heel, ears over shoulders, shoulders over hips, abs drawnin.
3.) Begin to bend your knees,keeping your weight balanced on your heels and toes. Imagine that yourhamstrings are actually pulling you towards the ground.
4.) Remember, the line betweenyour thighs and knees should be parallel with the line of your feet.
5.) As you bend your knees, youwill be sitting back, keeping weight on your heels. Your knees should be eitherin line or slightly behind the vertical plane of your toes.
6.) Go as low as you can whilekeeping a neutral spine. When you get to a point where your lower back beginsto arch excessively, or your heels lift off the ground, you have reached alimit of flexibility.
7.) Pause slightly, and thenengage your glutes, hamstrings and quadriceps, pressing yourself back up.Remember to keep your abs drawn in and your spine in a neutral positionthroughout the move. Weight should still be evenly distributed between yourheels and toes.
8.)Repeat.
Variations:
Jump Squats- Perform a regularsquat, but extend your knees and hips forcefully, exploding from the ground,coordinating an upward swing with your arms to gain maximum height. Land on theballs of your feet, and absorb the shock quietly. Immediately repeat for the nextrep.
Tuck Jumps- Perform a jump squatand tuck your knees into your chest in the air. Keep your back in a neutralposition and bring your knees up rather than rounding your back to meet youknees at the top. Reverse the motion on the way down to land on your toes andabsorb back into a squat.
The Warm-Up
A thorough warm-up is essentialfor both effective strength-training and efficient intra-day recovery... Lightexercise is the best tool for improved recovery in-between hard workouts. Somelight jogging, hiking, swimming or easy Parkour followed by a thoroughstretching session is perfect. Along those lines, I have decided to puttogether the most useful and broad-spectrum exercises into a standardizedwarm-up for our WOD, and this by itself will be an excellent rest-day activity.General calisthenics performed until you raise your core temperature over awide-range of movement options are an excellent way to flush your body ofaccumulated toxins. Each exercise should be performed in a rep-range thatallows for a raise in body-temperature, heart rate and range-of-motion, withoutaccumulating undue fatigue. Substitutions for each exercise are fine, aseverybody has a different level of fitness, so if Dips are too hard, thenperhaps try push-ups, or knee push-ups. If 10 is too many, than perform as manyas possible within the range of an effective warm-up is concerned. As youfitness improves, your warm-up will mirror this improvement. The standardizedwarm-up will be as follows:
3 Rounds:
15-25 Squats
10-15 Pull-Ups
10-15 pushups
5 Samson Stretch Each Side
Agility Work- Mark a 10-rungladder on the floor, each rung 12-18 inches apart. Perform the followingagility drills as a circuit, repeat 2-3 times:
High Knees, one step per-block
High Knees, two steps per-block
Side-step, two steps per-block
High Knees, backwards, one stepper-block
Butt-kicks, one step per-block
Burpee/Quadrapedal Movement-Perform 5-count burpees, one count for each movement, in control. After 3,perform :30-1:00 of random, varied quadrapedal movement. Repeat as needed or asyou feel inspired to ;)
Rest as needed between eachexercise, keeping in mind that the goal isn't to kill yourself, but rather tofacilitate a raise in core-temperature and improve the pliability of yourmuscles and connective tissues. If you do this on a rest day, it can befollowed by a good session of stretching (issue 3 of the Performance Menu, withan excellent feature on flexibility). If it is before the workout, leave thestretching for the very end of the entire workout session.
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