Latest from Coach in Full-body-exercises

This One Kettlebell Move Helped Me Achieve Two New PR Lifts

Harry Bullmore — Tue, 14 Nov 2023 06:00:59 +0000

The Turkish get-up isn’t a glamorous move. It’s not done at speed and you’re never going to use a head-turning weight, but adding this kettlebell exercise to my training resulted in serious benefits in and out of the gym.

It lifted the hood on my body and gave my workout-worn shoulders, elbows and knees a tune-up. These are areas I need in good working order for the Olympic weightlifting and gymnastic elements of my regular CrossFit training.

Over the past couple of months my coach has included it in my training at least once a week as an accessory movement. Most of the time I’ve completed three sets of six reps on each arm with a light weight, while on occasion I’ve been challenged to go heavier, using a descending 3-2-1 rep scheme across three sets.

Learning how to do this move isn’t a straightforward affair. The video above from regulated healthcare charity Nuffield Health is a good place to start and Coach also has a step-by-step guide to how to do the Turkish get-up.

I also found the form pointers in this video from Squat University’s Dr Aaron Horschig useful.

How The Turkish Get-Up Benefited My Training

It Strengthened My Shoulders

Shoulder stability—the ability of the surrounding muscles to hold the joint steady—is something I’ve been trying to improve for some time. That’s because it’s vital for everything from technical barbell exercises including the snatch and overhead squat to bodybuilding stalwarts such as the overhead press and bench press.

Supporting a kettlebell overhead as you transition from lying on the floor to standing recruits the large and small muscles in and around the shoulder, such as the deltoids and rotator cuff, to keep the weight under control.

By adding Turkish get-ups into my training I was able to strengthen these muscles, helping my shoulders feel more stable and robust—one-rep max bench, here we come.

It Added A New Dimension To My Core Training

Too often, people get fixated on crunches vs sit-ups when trying to strengthen their abs, when we all would benefit from broadening our horizons with hanging abs exercises, isometric holds and loaded carries, to name a few.

Rather than the stomach-focused burn of umpteen sit-ups, I could feel the muscles all around my abdomen being used which resulted in a welcome boost to my core stability.

My Barbell Lifts Benefited

The Turkish get-up has helped my mobility and joint health, keeping me injury-free, and improved my core strength. Perhaps as a consequence I’ve also noticed an improvement in compound exercises like the barbell squat, clean and split jerk.

Since adding Turkish get-ups (and another unsung hero, heavy Bulgarian split squats) into my weekly plans, back squats have started to feel far easier and smoother, and my five-rep max has bounced up by 11lb.

I’ve also broken my stubborn 225lb split jerk PR by a few pounds—something I can’t help but feel my upgraded shoulder strength and stability has played a leading part in.

How To Do The Turkish Get-Up

Nick Harris-Fry — Wed, 08 Dec 2021 06:58:02 +0000

Getting up is a movement most of us do without ever thinking about it. After all, we get up out of bed every morning. Sure, it might seem tough sometimes, but that’s usually due to a heavy night the day before, rather than any difficulty with the movement itself.

However, if you were to lie down and get back up to a standing position ten times right now, you might be surprised how tiring it is. Then consider adding a kettlebell into the mix and having to hold it in exactly the right way when you stand up. Yes, the Turkish get-up is tough.

The movement involved in standing up while holding the weight challenges the strength of muscles all over the body, as well as testing your balance and co-ordination. You might not believe us now, but when you wake up the morning after a hefty round of Turkish get-ups suffering DOMS in muscles you didn’t even know existed, you’ll have a new appreciation for the exercise.

To get the most out of your get-ups, you need to nail the form, which is trickier than with most exercises. It involves a series of movements, each of which has to be done in a very particular way. For expert advice, Coach spoke to Chris Mandac, personal trainer and Third Space kettlebell expert.

How To Do The Turkish Get-Up

From a lying down position, stand up while holding a kettlebell. But, of course, it’s more complicated than that. Here’s Chris’s guide:

1. “Lie flat on the floor, face up, placing the kettlebell 12 inches beside your right arm. Roll onto your right and grab the kettlebell with two bent arms. This is important; trying to lift with just one arm will damage your shoulders.”

2. “Roll onto your back firmly gripping onto the kettlebell. Let go of it with the left hand, and bench-press the weight up with your right. Make sure your arm is fully vertical from the floor and your elbow is locked out. Unless directed, the kettlebell will now be held in this position.”

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3. “Bend your right knee and plant your foot firmly onto the ground. Lift the right shoulder off from the floor, sort of like doing a twisting ab crunch, supporting your weight on your opposite elbow.”

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4. “Pop off from your left elbow onto your hand, the hand should be slightly behind but out wide. Raise your butt and extended left leg off the floor. With your left hand and right leg planted on the ground, begin to pass your left leg underneath you, knee and toes on the ground.”

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5. “Stand up and hold the position, then return to the starting position by performing all steps in reverse order, in one smooth movement. Once you get proficient, set a timer for five, 10 or 15 minutes and do as many TGUs as you can. Trust me, you’ll be breathing.”

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Turkish Get-Up Benefits

“You’ll develop strength all along your spine and tremendous stability in your shoulder,” says Mandac. “It’ll help with your posture, and you’ll develop strong legs and feet.”

“Moreover, the TGU is also a tremendous core exercise. Getting up off the ground is a great skill and it’s your core that makes this possible. Doing it with weight makes it that much better in terms of body development.”

Turkish Get-Up Form Tip

The kettlebell Turkish get-up is a move that builds strength and balance through your whole body, as well as teaching you to create tension and stability in a variety of positions. With lighter weights you might get away with bad form, but as you go heavier you’ll need to keep the weight directly overhead, allowing you to lift it efficiently. Start with a shoe balanced on top of your fist to teach yourself the form, then progress to a kettlebell. For a real challenge, you can eventually move on to doing this with a barbell.

The Best Full-Body Exercises For All Levels Of Gym-Goer

Nick Harris-Fry — Wed, 15 Sep 2021 13:10:43 +0000

To accomplish any fitness goals it is necessary to run through a variety of exercises as part of your gym routine – and not just because doing the same exercise over and over again would get boring after a while. However, if you are short on time and want moves that hit multiple muscle groups in one go, turn to these full-body exercises.

We asked Toby Lynes, The Fitting Rooms Gym personal trainer, to name and explain his favourite beginner, intermediate and advanced full-body exercises, and we’ve added in a few of our favourites as well. Despite the name, these exercises don’t work every single part of the body, but you can be sure they’re going to hit several muscle groups and many of them provide a cardiovascular workout as well.

Beginner Full-Body Exercises

Burpee

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“This is a great cardiovascular exercise,” says Lynes, “because it requires you to move your whole body from a horizontal position into a vertical position as quickly as possible. The movement requires a lot of muscle groups to work in co-ordination, including your shoulders, abdominals and lower body, especially your quads and calves. In order to power all these muscles, your heart rate will increase, which also means you’ll burn a lot of calories.

“From standing, place your hands on the floor by your feet, then jump your legs back so you end up in a press-up position. Jump your legs back in so your knees are close to your chest, then jump up and raise your hands above your head.”

Medicine ball slam

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“This is a fantastic movement for developing power, strength and speed,” says Lynes, “as well as burning a lot of calories. The muscle groups worked in this exercise are mainly your abdominals, quads, glutes, calves, back and shoulders.

“In a wide stance with your feet either side of the ball, squat down to pick up the ball then stand up on tiptoes and raise the ball above your head as quickly as possible. When you have fully straightened your arms overhead, throw the ball straight down as hard as you can.”

Dumbbell Romanian deadlift

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“This is a great exercise to strengthen your posterior chain – the muscles that run from the back of your neck to the back of your ankles – especially the hamstrings, glutes and back muscles,” says Lynes. “Hinging at the hip under the load is particularly good at improving your hamstring mobility as well as increasing strength.

“Stand holding dumbbells with your palms facing towards you. Draw your shoulder blades back and down, tuck your pelvis under into a neutral position and brace your abdominals. While maintaining this posture push your hips backwards with your knees slightly bent, lowering the weights in front of your legs. Don’t allow your spine to round. As soon as you feel your spine starting to curve, stop the movement and return to the top by bringing your hips forwards.”

Rowing

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If your definition of “full-body exercises” includes the heart and lungs, rowing might be the best full-body exercise of all. Throughout the rowing action you’ll hit the legs particularly hard, but your core and upper body don’t get off lightly – plus your heart will start pumping pretty much the moment you sit on the machine. On top of this, you can do either low-intensity steady session (LISS) or HIIT on a rower easily.

Crab walk

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It might not be the most glamorous move you can do in the gym, but the crab walk is a simple and effective way to hit a number of muscles, including your shoulders, triceps, quads, hamstrings and core. Sit on the floor with your feet planted in front of you. Put your hands just behind your glutes, shoulder-width apart, and raise your hips off the ground. Then move around on all fours for a minute. We bet you’ll be surprised by how much your muscles are burning after 60 seconds of scuttling.

Jumping jack

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Whether you prefer to call them jumping jacks or star jumps, this PE classic is well worth including in your training. The jack works your arms, legs, core and shoulders while getting your heart pumping as well, and of course requires no equipment at all. Stand with your feet closer than hip-width apart and your arms extended and by your sides. Jump and spread your legs while raising your hands above your head. Land on your toes with your legs spread wider than shoulder-width apart, then jump and bring them back under you while lowering your arms.

Bear crawl

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If you’re looking to find full-body moves, crawls are a great place to start, and the bear crawl might be the best of them all. It’s tough on the core, shoulders and quads in particular, and if you speed up the movement it can also produce cardio benefits as well. To do the bear crawl, get on all fours supported by your hands and toes and move forwards and backwards, as space allows, without letting your knees touch the ground. Throw in some sideways crawling as well to work your muscles from even more angles.

Lunge to press

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Pressing is great for your upper body. Lunging is great for your lower body. Combine them in one fluid movement and you have a fantastic full-body exercise that also improves your balance and co-ordination.

Stand holding dumbbells by your shoulders. Take a large step forwards and lower until both knees are bent at 90°, but don’t let your back knee touch the ground. While holding that position, press both dumbbells above your head and then lower them slowly back to your shoulders. Push through your front foot to return to standing. Alternate the leg you lunge with for each rep.

Farmer’s Walk

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A great exercise for beginners, but one which can carry you a long way, all the up to World’s Strongest Man in fact. As a standing exercise this will really work your core, as well as your legs, forearms and upper back if done for an extended period of time.

If you’re in a gym dumbbells or kettlebells are your best best, although a barbell or trap bar will also work. If you find yourself in a dedicated strongman facility make for the farmer’s walk handles.

The move is as straightforward as you’d think – walk with your arms by your sides holding heavy weights – but since you’re loaded up, it’s wise to nail your posture. Stand upright, straighten your back, keep your shoulders tight and your chest proud.

Getting the weight right is difficult, but as you’re holding them by your sides in a natural position you have the option to try something slightly heavier. Aim for something like 20kg for dumbbells or kettlebells.

Intermediate Full-Body Exercises

Chest-to-floor burpee

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“Add a press-up to the movement to include your triceps and chest in the muscle groups being worked,” says Lynes.

“From standing, place your hands on the floor by your feet and jump your legs back so you end up in a press-up position. Perform a press-up, making sure your chest touches the floor, then jump your legs back in so your knees are close to your chest. Jump up and raise your hands above your head.”

Dumbbell hang clean and press

“The hang clean and press can be very useful for developing power when the load is heavy,” says Lynes, “but also can be used in a HIIT session to get the heart pumping and burn calories. The main muscle groups worked are the quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves, shoulders, back and abdominals.

“The starting position looks like the halfway point on the way down of a deadlift – back flat and hips pushed back, with arms hanging down, hands holding the dumbbells with palms facing you. From there you stand up as quickly as possible, shrugging your shoulders up to your ears and going up high on tiptoes. This movement creates the momentum to enables you to lift the dumbbells from your sides to your shoulders. Then press the dumbbells above your head, bring them back down to the shoulders and return to the starting position.”

Turkish get-up

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It’s a little-known fact that every time you stand up in Turkey, you have to do so in a very particular sequence while holding a kettlebell. That’s why everyone is so strong there. The Turkish get-up is an outstanding exercise that shows how a simple movement can be hugely effective: you really are just moving from lying down to standing up while holding a weight, and yet it strengthens muscles all over the body.

Broadly speaking, you hold a kettlebell in an outstretched arm above you while bending one leg underneath you and then pushing up to standing, but we recommended reading our full guide to the exercise for a more detailed description of the movement.

Wall balls

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This dynamic move is perhaps the only one that can challenge the burpee for the title of most exhausting exercise. Even with a light medicine ball the demands on your upper and lower body and your cardio fitness are high.

Stand facing a wall, close enough that you can catch the rebounding ball. Hold a medicine ball by your chest and drop into a squat. Push up explosively through your heels and use that momentum to throw the ball with both hands at a spot on the wall approximately 3m up. Catch the ball and begin the next rep immediately.

Crocodile walk

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From the top press-up position, lower yourself close to the ground, keeping your body in a straight line. Begin crawling by bringing one knee up towards the elbow on the same side while simultaneously moving the opposite arm forwards. Focus on keeping your posture the same throughout.

If you want to mix things up, reverse the movement so that you’re crawling backwards.

Advanced Full-Body Exercises

Man maker

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“A man maker consists of a variety of movements strung together,” says Lynes. “When the dumbbells are heavy this exercise challenges your strength, in particular your core, back and shoulders, as well as your cardiovascular system.

“Stand holding dumbbells by your sides. Bend your legs to place the dumbbells on the floor by your feet but don’t let them go, and jump your legs back so you end up in a press-up position. Perform a press-up, then row one dumbbell to your chest at a time while holding the press-up position with the rest of your body. Jump your legs back to your hands and perform a clean by standing up quickly, shrugging and lifting the dumbbells to your shoulders. Then go into a deep squat with the dumbbells resting on your shoulders. When you stand back up, use the power in your legs to create momentum to press the dumbbells overhead. All of that is one rep.”

Deadlift

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“This is one of the best compound exercises for developing strength through your posterior chain,” says Lynes.

“Stand with your toes under the barbell. Bend your knees, lean over and take hold of the bar with your hands just outside shoulder-width apart and your palms facing you. Push your chest out so your spine is in a straight line and straighten your lower back. Breathe in and brace your abs. Pushing through your feet and keeping your spine straight, lift the bar until you are standing in an upright position. Breathe out at the top, then breathe in and brace your abs again. Keeping your lower back straight and chest out, lower the bar slowly back to the floor.”

Just make sure you have nailed the form before you think about seriously upping the weight, because too many don’t follow that advice and do themselves a mischief. Our deadlift exercise guide should help, but there’s no substitute for an expert checking your form in person.

Medicine ball over the shoulder

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“This exercise is advanced because it requires the individual to learn how to brace correctly through the ‘corset’ of the body – all the core muscles including the lower back – in a rounded or flexed spine position,” says Lynes, “whereas a deadlift has a straight spine position.

“Start in a wide stance with your feet either side of the medicine ball. Squat down as low as you can – don’t worry about trying to keep a straight spine. Hook your hands, wrists and forearms around the ball to get a firm grip. As you pick up the ball, drive your hips forwards, and push up onto your toes to create the momentum and power to enable you to throw the ball over your shoulder. Turn around and repeat, throwing the ball over your other shoulder.”

Barbell thruster

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“This exercise combines a front squat and an overhead press,” says Lynes. “It’s great option to add to a HIIT session and it challenges your lower body and shoulders.

Hold the bar in front of your throat so it lies across your collarbones with your palms facing up and elbows pointing forwards. Squat to a good depth then explode up, pushing through your legs, and press the bar above your head. As the bar comes back down, start to lower into your next rep.

Kettlebell snatch

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The kettlebell snatch is an excellent exercise that works the whole body hard, but it’s also technically difficult. Make sure you follow this form guide closely to avoid the risk of injury and maximise the benefits of the move.

Stand with the kettlebell on the floor in front of your feet. Hinge at the hips to reach down and grab the handle. Swing the kettlebell back between your legs to create momentum. Drive your hips forwards and straighten your back to lift the kettlebell. Once it reaches chest height, flip your wrist under the kettlebell so it rests on the back of your wrist as you push it up above your head until your arm is extended. Reverse the movement to bring the weight back to the start.

Burpee pull-up

For this exercise you’ll need a pull-up bar, a bit of floor space around it and a lot of determination, because this isn’t easy. Stand beneath the pull-up bar, drop your hands to the ground and jump your feet back so your body is in the top press-up position. (If you want, now is the time to do a press-up to make it even harder.) Jump your feet back to your hands, then jump up and grab the bar with an overhand grip and pull yourself up. Once your chin is above the bar, you can count a rep.

This Exercise Ball Workout Hits Muscles All Over The Body

Nick Harris-Fry — Wed, 04 Aug 2021 12:56:01 +0000

Exercise ball, gym ball, stability ball, Swiss ball – whatever you call it, introducing one of those big squidgy balls to the workout equation can add an extra degree of difficulty to exercises that involve a chair or a bench. When you rest any part of your body on one during a move, you increase the core challenge because you have to maintain your balance while supporting your body on an unstable surface.

That’s not the only way to use one, though, and this six-move workout from Marvin Burton – head of fitness at Anytime Fitness when he shared this workout – uses it in a variety of ways to help challenge the entire body. If you’ve got one lying around at home unused this workout is a great way to get some use out of it, or if you’re a committed gym-goer it’s ideal for breaking the monotony of pumping iron or pounding the treadmill, and challenge your body in a new way.

“This is a six-exercise superset programme,” says Burton. “Perform the exercises in pairs, with no rest between the two exercises – you can rest after you’ve completed both. Perform all sets of each superset, then move on to the next pair.”

1A Wall squat

Sets 3 Reps 12 Rest 0sec

“Stand with your arms by your sides and the ball positioned between your lower back and the wall,” says Burton.

“Squat down by lowering your hips towards the floor. Keep your feet flat on the ground and press into the floor to keep tension in the leg muscles.”

1B Hamstring curl

Sets 3 Reps 12 Rest 30sec

“Lie on your back with your heels on the ball and your legs straight,” says Burton. “Lift your hips off the floor. Press downwards into the ball with your legs and pull the ball towards your bum so your hips rise and the soles of your feet end up on the ball. Reverse the action, keeping your hips off the floor throughout.”

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2A Jackknife press-up

Sets 3 Reps 12 Rest 0sec

“Roll over the ball and extend your body into a press-up position, with your shins on the ball,” says Burton.

“Perform a press-up, then roll the ball in towards you by bending your knees and bringing them towards your chest. Then extend your legs back to a straight position to return to the start.”

2B Back extension

Sets 3 Reps 12 Rest 30sec

“Lie face down on the ball so it’s positioned under your stomach,” says Burton. “Place your hands on the sides of your head and set your feet wide apart on the floor to form a stable base. Hyperextend your back to raise your chest. Lower to the start position under control.”

3A Knee drive

Sets 3 Reps 6 each side Rest 0sec

Get into a plank position with your forearms resting on the ball and your body forming a straight line from shoulders to heels. Alternate driving your knees up towards you chest, with the knee touching the ball each time.

“Try to keep your hips low and avoid excessive upper-body movement,” says Burton.

3B Hands-to-feet transfer

Sets 3 Reps 12 Rest 30sec

“Lie on your back with your legs and arms extended and pointing at the ceiling and the ball held between your feet,” says Burton. “Lower your arms and legs towards the floor, then before your limbs touch the floor bring your arms and legs back to the center and transfer the ball from your feet to your hands. Lower the ball behind your head, then raise your limbs again and transfer the ball back to your feet.”

Anytime Fitness has over 160 gyms across the UK. Visit the website to find your local gym

Five Moves For A Full-Body TRX Workout

Jonathan Shannon — Thu, 29 Apr 2021 09:06:54 +0000

There’s a lot to love about the TRX, the most well-known brand of suspension trainer. The first is that virtually any exercise you do on these straps can be made easier or harder simply by moving closer or further away from the anchor. The second is that you can set them up in both the most mundane of places, like your bedroom door, as well as more exotic places like the beach, so you can work out with a bracing sea breeze. The third is that the whole caboodle is fit-in-a-drawer small. The thing we love most, however, is that by adding instability to well-known moves, you’re always giving your core a good going-over.

That’s why we’ll be rifling through our drawers until we find the one we stored our TRX in, to run through these five full-body exercises, recommended by Charlotte Tooth, senior course instructor for TRX UK. To turn the moves into a workout, throw them together into a circuit. Split a minute between work and rest periods for each exercise, depending on your fitness level, doing as many rounds as you wish.

1 TRX Squat

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Targets: thighs and glutes

Set the straps to hip height and stand facing your anchor point, feet slightly wider than hip-width apart, elbows bent and in line with your ribs. Sit back and down as if you are sitting on an invisible chair, bending at the ankles, knees and hips. Push your knees out to keep them over your toes and keep your back straight. Push back up to standing by straightening your legs and squeezing your glutes.

Tooth says: “Try not to lean away from the straps too much. Your weight should be in the front/middle of the foot so your legs do more work than your arms.”

2 TRX Arabesque

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Targets: hamstrings and glutes

Set the straps to hip height and stand facing your anchor point, holding the handles, elbows bent in line with your ribs. Lift your left knee into your chest, then hinge forward from your hips and kick your left leg out behind you. As you tip forwards, reach your arms forwards and press down into the handles to activate your back and core muscles. Keep your standing knee slightly bent. Return to standing the way you came, pulling your left knee to your chest. Complete all the reps on one side, then switch.

Tooth says: “Slightly turn out your lifted leg for more activation in the sides of your glutes. You’re looking to feel a stretch in the back of your standing leg as you hinge forwards.”

3 TRX pike

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Targets: core, shoulders and back

Set the straps to calf height and, facing away from the anchor point, place your toes in the foot cradles. Place your hands under your shoulders and lift up to a strong plank position. Make sure your body forms a straight line from your head to your heels, and that your feet are flexed and pushing into the straps. Begin to hinge at the hips, raising your bum as you look back at your ankles. Keep your arms straight the whole time. Slowly lower back to a plank position, gazing at your fingertips.

Tooth says: “Think of pushing your armpits back towards your thighs as you pike, so you don’t end up leaning too far forwards! Maintain an active plank so you don’t lose your form.”

4 TRX suspended lunge

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Targets: thighs, glutes and core

Set the straps to calf height and stand facing away from the anchor point with your right foot hooked into both foot cradles. Hop forwards a little so there’s some tension in the straps. Keeping your weight over your left leg, begin to bend both knees and lightly tap your right knee on the floor behind you. Press hard into your left heel to bring yourself back up to standing, pulling your right knee forwards as you stand. Mirror the movement of your raised leg with your opposite arm to help you balance. Complete all the reps on one side, then switch.

Tooth says: “Keep your weight forwards by leaning slightly over the front leg, as if you were looking over a cliff. If you struggle with balance, have a chair nearby.”

5 TRX Y-raise

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Targets: shoulders, back and core

Lengthen the straps as far as they go and, facing the anchor point, stand on the balls of your feet, holding the handles with your arms extended and overhead, forming a Y shape. Lower your arms slowly in front of you, directly in line with your shoulders, bringing your feet to flat. Keep tension in the straps the whole time. Return to the Y shape by pulling your arms back above your head, ensuring you keep your arms straight. Your body will move backwards and forwards, controlled by the movement of your arms.

Tooth says: “Keep those elbows straight! If you are tempted to bend them, you may have made the exercise too heavy. Move back an inch or two to make it easier. Straight arms keeps the work in the shoulders!”

Buy TRX Home 2 | £179.95

Try The 30-Day Squat Challenge To Build Functional Muscle

Joel Snape — Mon, 17 Aug 2020 11:07:20 +0000

If you really put your mind to it, the list of things you can achieve in a month is almost endless. You can get a working knowledge of a new language, or become proficient on the saxophone – or even go from a squat beginner to someone who can complete 250 in one go.

In general, 30-day challenges are a great way to work on your fitness, because they give you an achievable short-term goal to keep you focused. The motivation to lose weight or get fitter is obviously no bad thing, but without something clear and defined to work towards, it’s all too easy to skip a session or two then slide back into inactivity.

And of all the 30-day challenges you might try, a squat challenge is one of the best. That’s because the unweighted squat is a strong contender for the finest bodyweight exercise in town. It works almost every muscle in your lower body, hitting big muscle groups like the quads, hamstrings and glutes especially hard. The squat also improves your core strength by strengthening the muscles around your stomach and lower back, and if perchance you’re dreaming of owning a six-pack one day, firming up these other muscles with squats is an important first step towards helping the exterior abs shine.

The squat also builds functional strength by working your legs in a manner that’s typical of the way they are tested through everyday movements and sports. If you want more power and speed in your legs, and increased resistance to injury, you should be squatting regularly.

It’s a challenge with a lot of upside, basically, so get squatting. Below you’ll find pointers on how to squat with perfect form, plus the 30-day challenge itself. Go forth and squat, and we’ll see you in a month, when you have legs like pistons.

How To Squat

Start by standing with your feet hip-width apart, toes pointing forward, chin up and core braced.
Hold your arms out in front of you or by your sides – just don’t put your hands on your legs, whatever you do.
Lower yourself until your thighs are parallel to the ground - the best way to describe it is like sitting down on an invisible chair. Go lower if you can – as long as it doesn’t hurt (and you can keep your balance) you’re OK. If you’re not sure if you’re going low enough, try squatting onto a box that’s slightly lower than knee height. Each time your glutes make contact with it, that’s a legitimate rep.
Stand back up and repeat.

Form Tips

You’re going to be doing a lot of squats over the next month, so you want your form to be perfect. Here are a few common mistakes to look out for and pointers to follow.

Don’t let your knees cave in because this will make you less stable and can lead to injury problems. Concentrate on keeping your knees out as you push back up.
Keep your heels grounded. You should be driving through your heels to come back up in your squats. Make sure you’re not leaning forwards during the exercise because this can bring your heels up. If you’re struggling to keep them on the floor, put weight plates or something similar under your heels during your squats until you develop the flexibility to keep them on the floor.
Point your toes slightly outwards, to 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock, if you feel like your squats are being restricted. This will line up your feet with your thighs during the movement and improve your ankle mobility.

Once you’ve perfected your form, it’s time to take…

The 30-Day Squat Challenge

Perform the prescribed amount of air squats each day. Try to do them all in one set, but if you do need to take a breather, try not to pause again for at least ten more reps. It’ll be tough, it’ll burn, but you’ll have buns of almost literal steel by the end of it.

Day 1	50
Day 2	55
Day 3	60
Day 4	Rest
Day 5	70
Day 6	75
Day 7	80
Day 8	Rest
Day 9	100
Day 10	105
Day 11	110
Day 12	Rest
Day 13	130
Day 14	135
Day 15	140
Day 16	Rest
Day 17	150
Day 18	155
Day 19	160
Day 20	Rest
Day 21	180
Day 22	185
Day 23	190
Day 24	Rest
Day 25	220
Day 26	225
Day 27	230
Day 28	Rest
Day 29	240
Day 30	250

Once you’ve done the 30-day challenge, try to keep it up by squatting at least twice a week.

Pin or print our 30-day squat challenge

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How To Do A Burpee And The Benefits of Burpees For Fat Loss

Nick Harris-Fry — Thu, 09 Apr 2020 13:26:01 +0000

The first time you do a burpee you might wonder what all the fuss is about. Although it’s renowned for being a brutal bodyweight exercise that burns fat as fast as it boosts fitness, and is often used as punishment if you skip a section during obstacle course races, none of that tallies with how you feel after performing just one burpee.

But keep going and 30 seconds later you’ll be wondering how it’s possible for so many muscles to be aching and your lungs to be burning at the same time.

There is no fun way to do burpees. Whether you take them slow and hit a certain rep count, or try to cram in as many as possible within a set time period, they knacker you out faster than just about any other exercise out there. That’s the bad news.

The good news is that all that effort is absolutely worth it. The burpee works your arms, back, chest, core, glutes and legs—you name it, it works it. And burpees also spike your heart rate as much as sprinting for a bus does—one reason it’s a firm favourite among the high-intensity interval training (HIIT) crowd. And all of those benefits come without the use of any equipment, so you can do the burpee anytime and anywhere.

Read on to discover the best ways to include this effective exercise in your training.

Benefits Of Burpees

It’s important to extol the virtues of burpees before telling you how to do them, because once you’ve knocked out a set you’ll need some convincing to put yourself through that again. So here goes.

The burpee is a true full-body exercise, working most major muscle groups while also improving your cardiovascular fitness, and testing your balance and co-ordination. If you could only do one exercise for the rest of your life, the burpee would be a smart pick for keeping you in the best shape possible.

Not only do burpees work a range of muscles, they do so in a functional manner, so you’ll notice the improvements to your strength and mobility in your day-to-day life, not just in the gym. That’s if you even go to a gym—because you don’t need to for burpees, which require zero kit to do. All that’s needed is the steely determination required to get you through them… and perhaps an understanding neighbour who won’t complain about the frequent jumping up and down.

If you’re not convinced by our explanation of the merits of burpees, perhaps a word from the man who did more than 67,000 of them in a year might help. Craig Peters achieved the feat in 2016, when he started with one burpee on 1st January, then added one for each day of the year, finishing with 366 burpees on 31st December (madness to do it in a leap year), for a grand and terrifying total of 67,527 burpees.

“I do feel fitter—I’m much leaner, I’m in the best shape I’ve been in for a long time,” Peters told us after he completed his year of burpees. “I used to have a lot of back problems but I have had no problems in the past 12 months. It’s made my body stronger and more flexible. It’s little things like running for a bus or going upstairs—you certainly feel a difference. It’s a hell of a lot easier.”

The burpee is also an exercise that’s easy to vary and combine with other exercises so you work the body in different ways. You’ll find an extensive range of variations below, but first let’s run through how to do the standard burpee.

How To Do A Burpee

The classic burpee is a four-point move. From a standing position, drop into a squat with your hands on the ground just in front of your feet. Then kick your feet back behind you, keeping your arms extended so you are in a raised plank position. At this stage, the more adventurous can throw a press-up into the mix, which really ramps up the difficulty.

In the basic burpee, you remain in the raised plank and jump your feet back towards your hands. Then round off the manoeuvre by leaping into the air with your arms straight above you. Then do it all again.

(Image credit: undrey / iStock / Getty Images Plus)

Burpee Form Tips

“There is a lot going on when you do a burpee,” says trainer Dan Baldwin of Six3Nine. “This means there's the potential to make the burpee harder and reduce the amount you can do, which means you're wasting energy and reducing the exercise's effectiveness.” Follow this five-point form guide to perfect the burpee and reap the worthwhile rewards, then use these tips when taking on the ruthlessly efficient burpee workout we've devised below.

Mobilise: “The burpee can put a lot of stress through your ankles, knees and wrists,” says Baldwin. “Make sure you're thoroughly warmed up and you've done some mobility work, including press-ups, lunges and squats, to loosen up the joints.”
Break it up: “The burpee can be complex so to start with, split the move into two parts: a squat thrust and a deep squat jump. Make sure you are comfortable with each phase of the exercise before combining the two.”
Squat thrust: “For the squat thrust make sure your shoulders are directly over your hands, and your legs are extended into a press-up position. When jumping your feet in and out, keep your shoulders above your hands – don't let them move backwards or forwards.”
Deep squat jump: “For the deep squat make sure your hips are sitting back and try to keep your chest as upright as possible. Explode up and ensure you cushion your landing by bending the knees as you make contact with the floor.”
Get some air time: “Once you're happy you can perform both with good form, add the two together. Your arms can play a part here and as you transition from the squat thrust to the squat jump, swing your arms forwards and above your head for maximum height.”

Common Mistakes To Avoid

Skipping Steps

As you begin to tire, it’s a common impulse to want to skip certain steps in order to make the burpee easier. Don’t beat yourself up about it, we’ve all been there but remember what your school teachers told you—you’re only cheating yourself. Applying the correct level of intensity to the burpee at all times ensures you reap all the heart-healthy, muscle-boosting benefits. If you begin to falter, rest briefly then go again.

Neglecting Your Core

The plank stage of the burpee is pivotal to ensuring your abdominals get sufficient stimulation. Ensure your shoulders are parallel to your wrists, keep your core contracted and engaged and your back straight, neutrally aligned with your glutes. Many make the mistake of arching their back, negating the positive effects the burpee has on the abs, while also risking injury.

Doing Too Many Reps

As is the case with virtually every other exercise, doing more reps for the sake of it does not directly correspond to a successful workout. Focus on nailing the correct technique as explained above first, and this will help you to progress more smoothly.

How To Improve At Burpees

Burpees are commonplace in CrossFit workouts, with speed and efficiency paramount to recording a good time or score. So if you want to get better at burpees, who better to ask than CrossFit Games athlete Emma Tall?

“There are a lot of burpee variations in CrossFit, but in general I would say rhythm and breathing are key,” says Tall, who spoke to us at a Reign Total Body Fuel event.

Tall recommends maintaining a fast but consistent pace that you can stick to, and trying to keep your breathing controlled throughout. Don’t make the mistake of going all-out from the off and holding your breath through a few reps, because this is sure to leave you gasping for air.

Tall also advises to keep your movements to the absolute minimum, especially once you progress to variations such as burpee box jump overs or bar-facing burpees.

“This applies to most movements, but try not to take extra steps, walk around or waste time and energy on something that doesn’t give you another rep,” says Tall.

Six Burpee Workouts

Burpees can be incorporated into circuit training, used to warm up before other exercises or done over and over again to act as your entire workout.

100 Burpee Challenge

The 100 burpee challenge isn’t a warm-up, it’s a workout and a half: just do 100 as quickly as you can. The first 15 shouldn’t take much more than a minute, but the rest will take a lot longer. Any time under 10 minutes for the full 100 is pretty darn impressive. If you’re nowhere close, try this format to pace yourself, which adds up to about 16 minutes of rest: Do one, rest for 10 seconds, then do two and rest for 20, all the way to 10, then back down. That’s 100.

The Burpee Ladder

The burpee ladder is another way to build a workout around this king of all exercises. Start with 10 burpees, have a quick rest, then do nine, eight and so on. If you’re feeling brave, do burpees, press-ups and sit-ups on every rung. It’s a weird feeling to view sit-ups as a welcome break.

Max Out

This dynamic workout will build up your tolerance to the lactic acid inevitably flooding your legs and help increase your anaerobic performance for a fitness boost with a large scoop of fat-burning benefits.

First, find out your maximum set by doing as many burpees as you can before having to stop. Reduce that number slightly, and perform three sets with a 30-second rest between. For example, if your maximum set is 20, rest for 30 seconds then do 15 for your working set, rest another 30 seconds, then repeat a further two times. Now breathe, hard.

CrossFit Open Workout 12.1

The CrossFit Open is an annual fitness competition which kicks off the CrossFit season and it’s designed so everyone can take part, no matter their level of fitness. The first workout of the 2012 CrossFit Open tasked people with completing as many chest-to-floor burpees as possible in seven minutes.

If you want a target to aim for, Kristan Clever posted the best women’s score with 143, while Scott Panchik topped the men’s rankings with 163.

Death By Burpees

The “Death By” format makes for an excellent workout finisher and requires you to complete an ever-growing number of reps in a set period of time.

Here, complete one burpee in the first 30 seconds, then two reps in the next 30 seconds, then three reps, and so on until you can’t complete the reps in the time allowed.

30-Day Burpee Challenge

A one off not enough? Then try our 30-day burpee challenge. The beauty of this training plan is that it’s scaleable—it’s based on your current fitness level, established by the test on day one.

Best Burpee Variations

Chest-to-floor burpee

This tougher variation is about as common as the standard burpee, so don’t be surprised if it’s what’s expected of you in an exercise class that involves burpees. It’s the same as the standard move except that when you reach the raised plank position, you perform a press-up, lowering your chest to the floor, before you jump back up.

Burpee tuck jump

It’s annoyingly easy to combine other exercises with a burpee to make a Frankenstein’s monster of a move, as this nasty variation shows. Perform a burpee as normal, but when you leap into the air afterwards, raise your knees to your chest. This will increase the cardio benefits of the exercise and also ensure you aren’t half-arsing your jumps, which is common when pushing through a set of burpees.

Dumbbell burpee

A surefire way to make any exercise trickier is to add some weight and you can do that with the burpee by holding a dumbbell in each hand. It’s better to opt for hexagonal rather than circular dumbbells for this, because you’ll be supporting your bodyweight on them so you’ll want a stable base. Perform your burpee as normal, holding the weights at all times—and add a renegade row if you want to make the move even tougher.

Single-leg burpee

If you’re looking for a straightforward way to increase the difficulty of burpees without introducing equipment or extra movements, try doing it on one leg. This will ramp up the core control required to avoid toppling over to one side, as well as beefing up the benefits to the leg muscles that are working to compensate for the lack of support from the other leg. You can alternate which leg is grounded or complete all your reps on one side before swapping. Try this with the chest-to-floor burpee for a truly tough variation.

Burpee pull-up

Makes you sick to see those words put together, doesn’t it? But hear us out. Burpees and pull-ups both have a decent claim to being the single best bodyweight exercise you can do, so meshing them together into one super-move creates something truly special. Perform your burpee as normal (press-up optional), then as you jump up, grab the pull-up bar with an overhand grip and haul yourself up until your chin is level with the bar. Lower under control until your arms are fully extended, then let go and continue into the next rep. The pull-up is a brilliant back, shoulder and arm exercise that complements the cardio and strength benefits of the burpee perfectly. This variation is brutal, but well worth the pain.

Maintain A Healthy Frame With This Strength Workout For Beginners

Nick Harris-Fry — Wed, 07 Aug 2019 09:30:23 +0000

This may come as a bit of a shock, but Public Health England recommends that everyone should find the time to fit in a couple of resistance workouts a week. Yes, pick your jaws up off the floor – it’s not a new idea, but a review of the evidence in 2018 reconfirmed its importance.

That’s on top of the 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity a week (or 75 minutes of vigorous activity). Hitting your aerobic activity target each week is great for your lungs and heart, but there are distinct benefits to strength training that you might be missing out on. Maintaining strong bones and muscles becomes especially important as you get older, and you’re well advised to build up your muscle and bone mass as a young adult to help avoid issues later in life. It’ll also help satisfy NHS guidelines that state that a casual acquaintance should comment “Have you been working out?” at least once per lifetime.

For more info on the importance of strength training, plus a beginner routine that works all the major muscle groups, we spoke to Andy Page, strength and conditioning coach at Pure Sport Medicine’s clinic on Chancery Lane in London.

Why is it important to include strength training in your exercise routine?

There is no substitute for strength as you age. At Pure Sport Medicine we see a high proportion of clients with joint overload issues and difficulty recovering from traumatic injuries because they have poor strength to start with. Bone strength is related to load applied, which means if you don’t load your skeleton, it becomes weaker and more prone to fractures. If you load your skeleton with higher force than it’s accustomed to, it will become stronger and more resilient, just like our muscles when you lift weights.

Finally, if nothing else, muscle is an active tissue, unlike fat, so just having more of it will burn more calories throughout the day, even if you are just sitting at your desk.

What kind of strength exercises should beginners use?

Strength training should initially be multi-joint movements based around normal daily tasks. If the aim is to maximise your time, focusing on one isolated movement or one joint will be counterproductive. Using more muscles in a compound (multi-joint) movement will be more transferrable to movements you make in everyday life, burn more calories, and produce more endorphins to help elevate mood and relieve stress.

Strength Workout For Beginners

Beginners should not work with heavy loads, so light weights that allow you to do between eight and 12 reps of each exercise are perfect. Aim to do between two and three sets of each exercise twice per week.

Goblet squat

The best starting point for any lower-body programme should come from the ability to squat. The goblet squat is the ideal way to perfect the movement before moving on to more complex squats. Hold a kettlebell or dumbbell close to your chest and squat down slowly, pushing your hips back, until your thighs are parallel to the ground. From this position, drive back up to standing, leading with your chest. Working in front of a mirror will help you make sure you keep your knees in line with your feet and your torso upright.

Dumbbell step-up

The step-up is an ideal entry point into the world of single-leg exercises and using dumbbells makes it easier, mobility-wise, than using barbells. Set the step at a height that ensures your thigh is parallel to the floor when you place your foot on it. Holding dumbbells at your sides, plant your foot on the step securely and drive up powerfully, focusing on contracting the glute in your leading leg. Finish standing on the step with the opposite knee raised, then step back down.

Glute bridge

The glutes are often overlooked but they’re a key muscle group. One of the most common causes of lower back pain is poor glute activity, and strong glutes will make everything far easier, from running to squatting to avoiding injuries. The simple bridge is a great way to work on them. Lying on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on floor, squeeze your glutes and push your heels into the floor to raise your hips. Your body should form a straight line from knees to shoulders, with your torso straight and your abdominals tight.

Press-up

For upper-body strength you can’t go too far wrong with the simple press-up. Focus on keeping your abdominals tight and try to keep your hips at the same height as your shoulders. Make sure to lower your body in a controlled manner and drive powerfully back up to the starting position.

Seated row

The row is a key compound movement to develop your back muscles. You can do the seated row on a bench facing a cable machine or with a resistance band. Pull the handle or band towards you at rib height, keeping your arms close to your body and taking your elbows back as far as possible, then slowly return to the starting position. Actively squeezing the shoulder blades together at the top of this exercise is great way to develop the upper back and promote healthy posture.

Box jump

Power is an aspect of training that’s often overlooked, especially by beginners, but it’s a great way to develop strength in everyday movements. You can begin to develop power by jumping onto a box at least 20-40cm in height or, if at home, by jumping forwards as far as possible. Jumping and landing has a positive effect on bone health too, so power/jump training has a place in any workout.

How To Do Wall Balls, Including Form Tips From CrossFitter Aniol Ekai

Harry Bullmore — Mon, 06 May 2019 05:08:10 +0000

The phrase “balls to the wall” does not, against all expectations, have anything to do with testicles. Instead it derives from the world of military aviation and the handles on the throttle control levers, which are ball-shaped. To achieve maximum power pilots would push these balls forward as far as they went, to the cockpit wall. Hence “balls to the walls”, signifying all-out effort.

Coincidentally, all-out effort is what’s required to get through a session of wall balls, undoubtedly one of the best medicine ball exercises. This testing compound exercise, beloved of the CrossFit community, is second only to the burpee for inducing muscle-aching exhaustion.

The whole body has to work while performing wall balls. The squat part of the exercise focuses on the lower-body muscles—your quads, glutes, calves and hamstrings—before the throw section powers up your chest, back, shoulders and arms. The entire movement also works the core and gets the heart pumping.

Doing wall balls quickly becomes a race to see what stops you first—screaming muscle pain or lung-busting exhaustion. It’s worth the effort though, because this exercise will make you functionally fit, increase your VO2 max (put simply, how efficiently your body uses oxygen) and improve the way you move—in life and sports.

How To Do Wall Balls

First, select your medicine ball. The weight recommended in CrossFit workouts is 20lb/9kg for men and 14lb/6kg for women, but you can adjust it to suit your fitness. The fitness race HYROX has the same standards as CrossFit for Pro competitors, but dials this down in the mass-participation competition to 14lb/6kg (men) and 9lb/4kg (women).

If you’re working out in a CrossFit box, there will usually be a wall with heights marked (10ft for men and 9ft for women) so you can keep each rep consistent.

Once you’ve sorted your ball and your wall, hold the former up to your chest and face the latter. Drop into a squat until your thighs are at least parallel to the floor. Then push up through your heels and maintain that momentum to throw the ball against the wall. Catch the ball on the rebound and immediately drop into another squat. Make sure you don’t stand too far away from the wall—you don’t want to waste momentum and power by throwing the ball too far forward and leaning over to catch it.

How To Improve Your Wall Balls For CrossFit

If your CrossFit workout includes wall balls you need to prioritize speed, preserving your strength and avoiding “no reps” (not meeting CrossFit’s exercise standards, so it’s not counted).

To help you master those three elements, we spoke to Reign Total Body Fuel-sponsored athlete and professional CrossFitter Aniol Ekai, who shared his top tips for more efficient reps.

“The most important thing for beginners is to stand an arm’s length away from the wall,” says Ekai. “If you stand too close to the wall or too far away, you risk a lot of no reps and you might start being pushed forward or backward by the ball.”

His second tip concerns saving your muscles, which is a good idea if you’re tackling a lot of wall balls, as you do in the Girl WOD Karen (a Girl WOD is a subset of CrossFit benchmark workouts named after women), which is simply 150 wall balls done as quickly as possible.

“Don’t stay with your arms outstretched at the top of the movement,” Ekai says. “If you do just 15 or 20 then you won’t get tired, but if you have to do 100 or 200, that’s going to be three or four minutes standing with your arms above your head, and that’s going to make you really tired.”

Finally, continue to breathe regularly and stay relaxed. There’s nothing like a few breathless reps to jack your heart rate up to a level that’s not sustainable.

Wall Ball Workout Ideas

CrossFitter Aimee Cringle shared her tips for CrossFit Open Workout 23.1 which featured wall balls. (Image credit: Matt Melling)

Do 10 to 15 reps for three sets or build them into a circuit—simply try to cram as many reps as possible into the interval prescribed.

Or you can take a lesson from CrossFit classes and build them into a simple 21-15-9 workout with another exercise, doing 21 reps of each, then 15 and finally nine. For example, you could do wall balls and burpees, completing the whole thing as fast as possible.

If that sounds tough, stop reading now, because wall balls featured in CrossFit Open Workout 23.1 and it’s even tougher: a 16-minute AMRAP of 60-calorie row, 50 toes-to-bars, 40 wall balls, 30 cleans and 20 ring muscle-ups.

How To Do The Thruster—A CrossFit Staple For Total-Body Conditioning

Harry Bullmore — Fri, 25 Jan 2019 11:07:31 +0000

The word “thruster” strikes fear into CrossFit fans the world over, yet they continue to do the move. Why? Because it’s effective.

The thruster is a one-stop shop for total-body conditioning, developing muscular endurance and delivering significant cardio fitness gains. If you want to put this to the test, see how hard you’re breathing after a quick 10.

The ability to rattle through reps is an important skill for any competent CrossFitter to master—you’ll need to do 45 thrusters to finish the CrossFit workout Fran, which is a rite of passage for box-goers.

To help you perfect the technique and improve your performance we spoke to professional CrossFit athlete Victor Hoffer. But before Hoffer discusses the finer points of the thruster, here’s which muscles the thruster works and our explanation of thruster form.

Which muscles does the thruster work?

The squatting part of the moment targets all the major muscles in your lower body, with your quads, hamstrings and glutes all put to work. As you move the weight up your core takes over, and then the overhead press section strengthens the entire upper body and your shoulders in particular.

How To Do The Barbell Thruster

Start with the barbell in a front rack position, across your shoulders in front of your neck. Your upper arms should be roughly parallel to the floor. Your elbows should be pointing forward and bent so you can hold the bar with your hands.

Keeping your elbows high, squat down until your hips are level with, or below, your knees, then explode back up to standing. As you do this, use the momentum from your leg drive to extend your arms straight up and drive the barbell overhead.

Lower the barbell back to the front rack position on your shoulders and immediately start squatting to transition into the next rep.

This should be one fluid movement, rather than a separate front squat and push press, and the bar should travel in a vertical path—straight up and down. At the top of the rep, your hips, ankles, shoulders, elbows and wrists should all be in line.

You can approach the barbell thruster in two ways. Going for a heavier weight and doing low reps will help you build power and strength. Alternatively use a lighter weight and up the reps for a faster-paced, fat-torching, high-intensity workout.

Thruster Form Tips

So now you can do a thruster. Great. But one is rarely enough. In CrossFit, you’re most likely to see thrusters performed at speed, and there’s a knack to doing that efficiently and effectively. To help you get the hang of it, here are professional CrossFitter and Represent 247 athlete Victor Hoffer’s top tips.

Maximize your cycle speed

Hoffer’s first piece of advice is to move weight quickly where possible, rather than grinding through reps.

“A lot of people take a very long time with their thrusters,” he says. “If you check how long people need to do 10 reps, I might need 25 seconds, but some people might need 32 or 33 seconds.”

While we wouldn’t expect you to match the speed of a professional CrossFit athlete for RX weights, try dropping the weight and developing your ability to move at speed.

Break up long sets

To keep your speed up during long sets, Hoffer suggests taking a short-and-often approach to breaks, rather than holding on for a large set and then taking an age to press the barbell overhead because you’ve lost the lung capacity to keep up the momentum.

“I prefer to do a quick set, breathe, another quick set, breathe, rather than long sets,” says Hoffer.

Hoffer also divides up a big set into a series of sets that gradually shrink in size, helping keep your motivation levels high. In practice, that might mean splitting the 21 reps in the first round of Fran into an eight, seven and six.

Common Thruster Mistakes

Thrusters aren’t especially complicated, but there are still a few pitfalls Hoffer has spotted people falling into when performing them.

Letting the barbell travel forward

In the CrossFit Open, we usually have a lot of thrusters,” says Hoffer. “You see people try to do them faster and push the barbell out in front of them, but the better position is to have the barbell over the shoulder and hip.”

To minimize the risk of costly no-reps in competition, make sure you’re locking out your arms directly overhead.

For reference, in CrossFit Open workout 23.2—a one-rep max thruster—a rep was credited when “the athlete’s hips, knees and arms are fully extended, and the bar is directly over, or slightly behind, the middle of the body”.

Not going low enough

You shouldn’t sacrifice form for speed at the top or bottom of this exercise, says Hoffer, who sees a lot of people not going low enough on the squat.

To meet CrossFit’s movement standards, “the crease of the hips must clearly pass below the top of the knees in the bottom position”.

Thruster Workout

This workout from Hoffer is designed to increase your muscular endurance. It keeps your heart rate high, simulating an Open-style workout, so you can practice performing thrusters under fatigue.

Complete the following in two minutes then rest for one minute. Complete five rounds in total.

Thruster x 10
Burpee box jump over x 10
Thruster x AMRAP

Thruster Variations

Dumbbell Thruster

The form doesn’t differ much, but there are benefits to doing the move with dumbbells. First, if you have any wrist or shoulder issues that flare up when using a barbell, using dumbbells might be more comfortable because you hold them with your palms facing during the thruster, rather than the overhand grip used with a barbell.

The other major advantage dumbbells have over barbells is that they’ll train each side of the body separately, so you can’t rely on one stronger side to push the weight up. Identifying and addressing imbalances in your muscles is important for reducing the risk of injury. If you notice that one side struggles with a weight that the other is managing comfortably when doing the thruster, it’s worth targeting your weaker side in your workouts until both sides are equally strong.

To do the dumbbell thruster hold two weights by your shoulders, with your palms facing. Drop into a squat, then push up and press the weights straight overhead until your arms are fully extended. Then lower the dumbbells back to the starting position.

Kettlebell Thruster

The kettlebell thruster offers many of the same benefits as the dumbbell thruster, working each side of the body separately to expose and correct any weaknesses, but there are a couple of reasons to use kettlebells instead of dumbbells. One is that you might only have kettlebells available (a very good reason, that) and the other is that the off-centre load of the kettlebell can provide an extra challenge to your core while you perform the thruster.

Hold two kettlebells in the rack position by your shoulders with the bell resting on your forearm and your elbows pointing down. Drop into a squat, then drive back up and push the kettlebells overhead.

Single-Arm Thruster

This is one of the rare occasions where halving the weight can increase the challenge of an exercise, to your core at least. Holding only one dumbbell or kettlebell during the exercise (don’t do single-arm thrusters with a barbell, obviously) means your body has to work to resist rotating towards that side, strengthening your core muscles. You might find that a lighter weight is required to avoid being pulled over to one side, but otherwise perform the dumbbell or kettlebell thruster as normal, holding the weight by your shoulder and pushing it overhead as you come out of a full squat.

How To Do The Kettlebell Swing

Sam Rider — Tue, 11 Dec 2018 12:12:44 +0000

With the rise of functional fitness, kettlebell training has soared in popularity. Racks of kettlebells are a fixture in commercial gyms and CrossFit boxes alike, and they feature in many bootcamp workouts. In all those settings, the most common kettlebell exercise you’ll see performed is the kettlebell swing.

It’s a worthy flagbearer too. In his book The 4-Hour Body, efficiency guru Tim Ferriss even heralded the Russian kettlebell swing as the ultimate one-move full-body exercise, arguing that all you need to eviscerate fat, strengthen your glutes and boost your deadlift strength is to perform 75 reps with a reasonably heavy kettlebell, two to three times a week.

If you want to learn how to do a kettlebell swing, you probably shouldn’t be copying the people you see doing it in the gym. Why? Because most people are doing it poorly at best, or downright dangerously at worst. That’s why we turned to Matt Wright, co-founder of the Earn Your Stripes fitness program and chief growth officer at The Fort Athletic Club in New Jersey, USA, for the definitive guide to this excellent exercise.

How To Do The Kettlebell Swing

The two-arm swing is the first kettlebell move you should master. It will teach you the basic movement pattern that forms the foundation of most kettlebell exercises, which you can then harness for more advanced variations. It’s also known as the Russian kettlebell swing. There is an American kettlebell swing, detailed in the progressions section below, which is a more advanced move—read into that what you will.

The set-up

Start with the kettlebell on the floor slightly in front of you and between your feet, which should be shoulder-width apart. Keeping your legs fairly straight, push your butt back and hinge at the hips to grasp the kettlebell with both hands, palms facing toward you. Then, says Wright, “pinch your shoulder blades together” to avoid rounding your shoulders.

The pull

Pull the kettlebell off the floor and swing it between your legs, keeping your weight in your midfoot and heels. Your arms should be resting against your body and your back should be flat. You should feel your hamstrings load up at this point, braced for action.

The swing

Now it’s time to turn on the power. Drive your hips forward to swing the kettlebell forward, allowing the weight to rise to shoulder level.

The return

Your arms should still be straight, with the kettlebell feeling weightless in this top position, says Wright, and your abs and glutes engaged. Allow the weight to return between your legs while ensuring you hinge at the hips, not the knees, to lead into the next rep.

Kettlebell Swing Form Tips

(Image credit: Getty Images/zoranm)

Shoulders: Keep your shoulders relaxed to avoid shrugging the kettlebell and ending up with your shoulders around your ears.

Glutes: As your arms come away from your body, squeeze your glutes to prevent overextending your lower back.

Head: Your head position should be neutral. The gap between your chin and your chest shouldn’t change throughout the exercise.

Elbows: Focus on keeping your elbows “soft” throughout the swing. Keep your arms relaxed to take the tension out of your arm muscles and harness the momentum from the weight of the kettlebell instead.

Knees: Your knees should remain fairly straight during the swing. The motion should be initiated from the hip hinge. This is a posterior chain movement (the muscles on the back of your body), not a quad-dominant one.

Common Kettlebell Swing Mistakes

Zero hip drive

“In every gym I’ve been to, the technique seems to vary, and you see some horrific demonstrations,” says Ashton Turner, co-founder of London’s Evolve 353 gym.

The most common mistakes he sees are an excessive knee bend, no hip drive, and too much arm involvement, turning what should be a dynamic, full-body thrust into an awkward front raise. “Ideally, your forearms should stay in contact with your body until you drive the kettlebell off your hips,” he says.

Relying on your upper body

“Don’t make the common mistake of using the upper body too much to get the weight moving,” says kettlebell master trainer Mike Mahler. “This limits what you can lift and how many reps you can do, and makes you far more likely to develop back issues.”

Instead, you want all the power to come from the posterior chain and in particular the hamstrings and glutes. “Put your entire body into each rep and keep the bell close to your body until the hip drive begins, then use your hip drive to swing the bell to shoulder level,” Mahler says.

Squatting rather than hinging

Wright says that “squatting rather than hinging, rounding at the shoulders and lifting with the arms” are by far the most common mistakes with this exercise, leading to greater stress on the lower back and shoulders, while stifling the “free-flowing” element that makes kettlebell training so effective.

His cues to address these errors are to concentrate on generating power from your hips, rather than the upper body, and gripping as if you’re “trying to rip the kettlebell handle apart”, exerting outward force on the handles helps to engage your upper-back muscles.

Benefits Of The Kettlebell Swing

(Image credit: Getty Images/Thomas Barwick)

The kettlebell swing might be commonly associated with fat-burning workouts and cardio-boosting metabolic conditioning circuits, but it is equally effective at developing explosive strength and power throughout your posterior chain.

In one study, which pitted kettlebell swing workouts against jump squats, those doing the former reported a 9.8% increase in maximum strength and a 19.8% improvement in vertical jump height, similar to the gains seen in the jump squat subjects.

In the paper, published in the Journal Of Strength And Conditioning Research, subjects performed 12 minutes of kettlebell swings, alternating 30 seconds on with 30 seconds off, twice a week.

Regular kettlebell swing training will also encourage you to keep your shoulders in a healthier position, offsetting the urge to slump your shoulders over your desk and forge mental grit and resilience that’ll cross over to any other workout you might do.

Kettlebell Swing Progressions

Once you’ve nailed the two-arm swing, start using these variations.

Kettlebell one-hand swing

Draw on the same technique outlined above but keep one arm out to your side as you swing the bell between your legs and up to shoulder level with one arm. “Keep your form similar to the two-hand swing,” says Turner. “It’s a very similar movement so concentrate on your hip drive. It requires more oblique work to prevent your body from rotating.”

Kettlebell swing swap

Now you’re just showing off. This drills hand-eye co-ordination as much as power. “Change hands at the highest point of the swing, where the kettlebell is weightless. You can take one hand off the kettlebell before the other hand is on it—but beginners should swap over while still holding on to the kettlebell,” says Turner.

American kettlebell swing

More power, more punch. This version follows the same technique as the Russian swing but requires you to let the weight rise until almost directly overhead. Be sure to stop before it goes completely overhead or you might find it pulling you off-balance. “It might look flashy but it’s a good test of your overall co-ordination, timing and control of the kettlebell,” says Turner.

Kettlebell Swing Workouts

10-Minute Fat-Torcher

Perform as many swings as you can in 60 seconds, using the form pointers above, and record the number of reps you complete. Rest for 60 seconds, then perform another minute of swings. Complete five rounds in total. Aim to beat your total rep score every time you attempt the challenge. “I do this as a quick and easy fat-burning exercise,” says Turner.

Swing ladder

Do the following moves in order without resting:

10 double-arm swings
10 left-arm swings
10 right-arm swings
10 swing swaps

Then do nine reps of the same four moves and continue that pattern until you do one rep of each move.

“This is a great test of your grip strength,” says Turner. “It’s a quick high-rep workout that involves doing 220 reps in just 15 minutes.”

About Our Experts

Get help deciding on which kettlebell to buy with our expert guide to the best kettlebells.

The Farmer’s Walk Is The Epitome Of Training Efficiently

Nick Harris-Fry — Tue, 20 Nov 2018 09:54:52 +0000

If your Christmas traditions involved settling down to watch burly men achieve incredible feats on The World’s Strongest Man, you’ll likely be familiar with the farmer’s walk, or the giant farmer’s walk as it’s known on the show. The hulking behemoths that compete for the title generally carry an absurd 160kg in each arm.

The current Guinness world record for the fastest farmer’s walk uses slightly more modest 150kg weights and is competed over a distance of 20m, with Laurence Shahlaei from the UK currently topping the charts with a time of 6.73 seconds. So far, so what has this got to do with you? Well…

“Loaded carries such as farmer’s walks are now receiving appropriate recognition within the wider strength training community, having previously been in the exclusive realm of the World’s Strongest Man contest,” says strength and conditioning coach Jack Lovett (spartanperformance.co.uk). “And it’s about time too, because these lifts are simple to perform and extremely effective at providing a multitude of benefits simultaneously.”

These benefits include developing a strong core brace, which ensures the spine remains neutral by protecting against both shear and compressive forces; enhanced proprioception (your sense of where your body parts are positioned), because you must move with the load while maintaining a braced core; increased willpower and focus, because loaded carries are tough to do; and, of course, muscle growth because of the extended period of muscular tension, especially in the upper back, forearms and legs.

“If you never perform any type of loaded carry then you are missing out on all the above benefits from a single exercise,” says Lovett. “They are the epitome of training efficiently. In terms of simple impact, [US strength coach] Dan John rates loaded carries as the number one ‘game changer’ for athletes. I couldn’t agree more, and they will work just as well for the non-athlete too who wants to increase strength and muscle mass.”

The farmer’s walk is the original loaded carry and the easiest to perform. You can use dumbbells, kettlebells, regular barbells, a trap deadlift bar or specific farmer’s walk handles. Here’s how to do it.

How To Do The Farmer’s Walk

Stand tall with weights held by your sides. Keep your shoulders tight and your back straight. Take short, quick steps as you walk a set distance, which will likely be limited by the size of your gym, unless you really are a farmer and have the luxury of a field.

It can be tricky to get the weight right, but given that you’re just holding it by your side, you can carry a hefty amount. Start off with some of the heavier dumbbells and kettlebells (20 to 30kg), and if that’s not enough of a burden, grab a small barbell and load it up. Some gyms will have special farmer’s walk barbells or handles you can strap onto the heavier disk weights.

Walking for a longer distance in one go or increasing the amount of walks will also ramp up the challenge.

Farmer's Walk Variations

Zercher Carry

(Image credit: unknown)

And if you still want a hypertrophy benefit from your strength work, try the Zercher carry, where you walk with a barbell in the crook of your arms. To perform a Zercher carry, take a barbell out of a rack by positioning it in the crook of your arms. Brace your core before you lift and keep your torso upright throughout the move. If you need to put a pad on the bar to protect your arms, that’s fine. Walk either for a set distance or for time – 40 seconds will provide a good challenge.

Kettlebell Carries

If your gym doesn’t have standard farmer’s walk handles, kettlebells make for a more than handy replacement. They have shorter handles and, thanks to their shape and size, are much easier to keep stable. While this may not call upon as much core strength, it acts as an excellent precursor for progression. Kettlebells are also great for grip strength.

One-Arm Carry

A tricky test of core strength, the one-arm farmer’s walk is the natural progression from the standard two-arm version. In addition to the trap- and back-building benefits garnered from the standard carry, this variant recruits much of the core abdominal fibres in order to stabilise the body. One-arm lifts are also a great way to iron out any muscular imbalances.

Inverted Kettlebell Carry

If your shoulders are feeling battered and bruised from a heavy benching session or too much time at a desk, then give the inverted kettlebell carry a try. Holding a single kettlebell in one arm upside down by its handle, brace your core and keep a neutral spine. This move activates the rotator cuff muscles like no other carry, and the rotator cuffs are crucial for shoulder mobility and range of motion.

How To Do The Jumping Jack

Nick Harris-Fry — Tue, 14 Aug 2018 09:20:15 +0000

It’s easy to be snooty about jumping jacks, but it takes a brave person to rock up in a busy gym where everyone else is busting out biceps curls and clanking iron, and knock out a set of flawless jacks. But you should go ahead and do just that and screw the haters, because the jumping jack is a great exercise, even if you just use it to get your heart pumping at the start of a workout.

Before we cover the benefits of the humble jumping jack, however, a word on its relation to star jumps. They are the same. In the UK we tend to use both terms and while we once leaned towards star jumps, we’re increasingly following the lead of the US and Canada which prefer jumping jacks. So there you go. We’ll leave it up to what you call them.

Back to those benefits. The jumping jack is a full-body exercise, targeting your arms, legs, core and shoulders – plus, as mentioned above, it’s also a cardiovascular exercise. As a result there is basically no workout in existence that wouldn’t benefit from the inclusion of jumping jacks in your warm-up. And if you’re a fan of HIIT sessions it makes for a great addition to your circuit, because you can hardly fail to raise your heart rate with a full-throated round of jacks.

How To Do The Jumping Jack

If the last time you did jumping jacks was at school, you might well make one key mistake when attempting them again as an adult: trying to move your legs out to the sides and back to the middle before you land. The jack is a two-jump move. Trying to get through it in one leap is a recipe for embarrassing disaster.

Stand with your arms by your sides and your feet hip-width apart. Jump off the ground and spread your legs so your feet land wider than shoulder-width apart, simultaneously taking your hands above your head. Maybe you clap your hands, maybe you don’t. Dealer’s choice. As soon as you land, go into another jump, bringing your arms and legs back to the starting position before you land. Stay on your toes throughout.

Five Pilates Exercises For Beginners

Nick Harris-Fry — Tue, 24 Jul 2018 12:37:06 +0000

There are very few people on Earth who would not benefit from adding some Pilates to their day. If you’re training to improve your sporting performance, want to lift more in the weights room, are rehabbing an injury or simply trying to avoid ever picking any up, Pilates can help. And that’s not all.

“We train a bunch of sportspeople and athletes who use classical Pilates to enhance their current training regime and limit injuries, as well as office workers, gym-goers, beginners, those looking to lose weight, get stronger and improve their mental health, and everyone in between,” says Gaby Noble, owner of Exhale Pilates London.

“Men in particular traditionally work their muscles in isolation a lot, while classical Pilates has a flow to it, mobilising the joints through every exercise. This different way of training is highly beneficial, making sure that you get a full-body workout and none of the smaller muscles get missed out.”

To help introduce Pilates into your weekly routine, we asked Noble for five exercises beginners can try at home.

Arm circles

Objective: To stretch your shoulders and upper back while strengthening your pelvis, shoulder extensors and back stabilisers.

Lie on your back with your knees bent, feet on the floor and upper back elevated on one or two pillows (a foam roller can also be used). If you haven’t got too much tightness, then slightly drop your head off the back of the pillow to create more rotation in the shoulders. Hold either small weights or a bottle of water in each hand as you do the following three moves.

(Image credit: Unknown)

Move 1: Keeping your legs bent with your knees in line with your hips and your feet flat on the floor, extend your arms overhead with your palms facing. Inhale as you move your arms in an arc out to the sides and towards the floor. As you exhale, draw your abs into your spine and bring your arms back to the center. You can hug yourself to get a further stretch each time you bring your arms back. Do this three to five times, taking progressively deeper breaths while maintaining a stable pelvis and keeping your abs drawn into your back.

Move 2: Extend your arms overhead with your palms facing in the direction of your feet. Keeping your arms straight, inhale as you drop one hand behind your head and the other hand towards your hip. Exhale as you return to the starting position. Repeat the move but on the opposite sides. Do that sequence three to five times.

Move 3: Extend your arms overhead. Make large circles that take both your arms back to the side and then back to the center. Do this three to five times in each direction. Keep the range of motion comfortable – don’t overextend your shoulders.

Glute bridge

(Image credit: Unknown)

Objective: To work your spine, stretch your quadriceps, and strengthen your glutes and hamstrings.

Lie on your back with your knees bent and in line with your hips, and your arms by your sides. Reach your fingers towards your toes and keep your chest open. Inhale and lift your pelvis off the floor, squeezing your glutes and moving your knees towards your feet to open up your hip flexors. Hold your breath for a count of three, then bring your spine back to the floor slowly, vertebrae by vertebrae, as you exhale. Make sure your bum is the last thing to touch the ground. Do this three to five times breathing progressively deeper each time to release further tightness in the hips, chest and spine.

Thigh stretch

(Image credit: Unknown)

Objective: To stretch and strengthen your thighs, as well as your quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, abs and hip flexors.

Kneel with your legs hip-width apart. Extend your arms out in front of your body at shoulder height, holding small weights if you like. Make sure your knees, hips, shoulders and ears are in line and there’s no arch in your lower back. Inhale, drawing your abs into your spine, and lean back, lengthening your spine so you feel like your body’s being extended through the crown of your head. Exhale and return to the starting position, bringing your arms back down to your sides. Do this three to five times, extending the stretch each time.

Chest expansion

(Image credit: Unknown)

Objective: To strengthen your shoulder and elbow extensors, and develop trunk stability. It’s also beneficial for your posture, breathing and neck.

Kneel with your knees hip-width apart and arms by your sides. Create tension in your arms by drawing your fingers to the floor and lengthening your neck. Keeping a straight line from your knees to your ears and maintaining the length in your neck, inhale, draw your abs in and up and move your palms behind you, drawing your shoulder blades together. Keeping the rest of your body still, turn your head to the right, then left, then back to the centre. Exhale as you bring your arms back in line with your hips. Keep your glutes and abs engaged throughout the movement. Do three to five alternating head turns.

Wall roll-down

Objective: To relax your neck and shoulders, and massage your spine.

Stand with your back and pelvis against a wall, and your feet about 30cm away from the wall. Push your spine against the wall without tucking or arching. If you find that’s too hard to do, bring your feet a little closer to the wall. Extend your arms in front of you, then circle them, inhaling as they go up and exhaling as they come down. Do this three to five times, then reverse the direction.

Draw your chin to your chest to stretch the back of your neck. Relax your head forwards as you slowly peel the spine off the wall, moving one vertebrae at a time. Keep your abs braced but everything else relaxed. Let the weight of your head and shoulders hang heavy. Go as far as you can while keeping your pelvis against the wall. Do one small circle with your torso like a rag doll and let the momentum move your arms for two more circles, then reverse the direction. Start rolling back up against the wall, one vertebrae at a time. Do this two to three times. To finish, press your hands into the wall and walk forward.

For more info on Exhale Pilates and to book in for a class, visit exhalepilateslondon.com

More About Pilates

This Beginner Pilates Workout Will Improve Your Posture
Use This Pilates Workout At Home To Strengthen Your Core
Challenge Yourself With This Pilates-Inspired Core Workout

How To Do The Mountain Climber Exercise

Sam Rider — Fri, 06 Jul 2018 06:52:14 +0000

The mountain climber is one of those full-body exercises that look simple enough, yet are painfully easy to get wrong. Like using a rowing machine and failing to synchronize your arms, legs and core, a poor set-up or poor execution can make you dread mountain climbers.

But get the form right and remember a few simple cues to keep your technique on track and you’ll quickly see why they’re so often used by personal trainers.

Once you realize their effectiveness for boosting your cardiovascular fitness, torching calories and simultaneously strengthening your abs, chest and shoulders, you might even learn to love them.

To learn how to perform the mountain climber with flawless form, how to avoid common pitfalls and identify variations to spice up your bodyweight workouts, we spoke to Matt Wright, co-founder of the Earn Your Stripes fitness program and chief growth officer at The Fort Athletic Club in New Jersey, USA.

How To Do A Mountain Climber

The set-up

Start on all fours, with your hands shoulder-width apart and arms extended. From here, step your feet back to assume the top position of a push-up, supporting your weight on your hands and toes, with your core muscles engaged to keep your body in a straight line from shoulders to ankles.

“Your hands should be positioned underneath your shoulders throughout,” says Wright. “This will alleviate any stress through the joint. And don’t forget to breathe.”

The movement

Keeping your core braced and shoulders above your hands, bring one knee forward to your chest, then return it to the starting position as you simultaneously bring the other knee forward. Keep bringing one knee to your chest while the other returns to the starting position, ensuring the rest of your body remains stable.

The tempo

Once you’ve nailed the basic form, try experimenting with your pace. Speed up to challenge your cardio fitness, or slow down to make your abs work harder. “When driving your knees under your body, don’t think only about what your legs are doing,” says Wright. “Emphasize pulling with your core.”

He also stresses the need to keep your hips level. “Speed usually leads to poor form—especially causing the hips to shift above the rest of your body so keep them low.”

Common Mistakes With Mountain Climbers

The most common mistake people make with mountain climbers, especially as they tire (which doesn’t take long with this exercise), is allowing their hips to rise while the shoulders move towards their feet. You’ll know it’s happening to you because blood will start rushing to your head, compounding the effect of your heart beating furiously through your chest. Here, Wright explains why this happens and how to correct it.

Chest shifts towards feet

This frequently happens for the purposes of self-preservation. “People often push their hands away to help take the strain off their core and shift the weight onto their chest and shoulders, which are often stronger,” says Wright. Instead, hold firm and trust your core muscles to stabilize your body as you shift your weight forward so your hands are directly under your shoulders.

Hips lift

This tends to occur in tandem with the chest shift. Raising your hips too high, Wright says, “is an indication of a weak core”. If you can’t keep your hips in line with your shoulders and ankles for the required duration of your working set, he suggests breaking the move down into one leg drive at a time.

The Benefits Of Mountain Climbers

The chief benefit of the mountain climber exercise is in raising your heart rate. For that reason, it’s commonly included in bootcamp-style workouts where the goal is to improve cardiovascular fitness, using functional, bodyweight exercises.

There’s no kit required, it’s relatively entry-level—so long as you heed our advice on common mistakes to avoid—and it’s ruthlessly effective. Just 30-60 seconds of well-executed mountain climbers is usually enough to have you blowing hard.

Part of the beauty of the mountain climber exercise is its versatility. “There are so many variations,” says Wright. “The push-up to mountain climber, inchworm to mountain climber and cross-body mountain climber are some of my favorites.” Small tweaks with the tempo of the exercise can also shift the emphasis of the move, turning it from a cardio challenge into a strength exercise for your core muscles.

“If I want to switch from cardio to strength with my clients,” says Wright, “I’ll get them to hold a plank for 10-15 seconds to start, then shift into a slow and controlled alternating knee drive for the remainder of the minute.”

Mountain Climber Regressions

Elevated mountain climber

If you find the traditional mountain climber a little tough on your arms, shoulders and core, Wright suggests placing your hands on a raised surface like a bench or box. This lightens the load on those parts of your body, allowing you to focus on effective technique.

Mountain Climber Progressions

Cross-body mountain climber

To enlist the obliques in your mountain climber workout, move your knee towards the opposite elbow when you bring it forward and slightly rotate your torso. You should still be able to maintain a good pace while you do this, but move slightly more deliberately than you do with the classic mountain climber to ensure good form.

Gym ball mountain climber

Supporting your upper body on a fixed surface makes mountain climbers a little easier, but putting your hands on an unstable surface like a gym ball makes them infinitely harder. Trying to maintain perfect form while the ball moves beneath you increases the challenge to your core significantly. For these, focus on slow and controlled movements and build the pace gradually.

Spider-Man mountain climber

This testing variation targets the obliques as well as the lower abdominals and will help improve your balance and hip flexibility to boot. From the top of a push-up position bring your right knee toward your right elbow. You can either tap that foot to the floor before taking it back to the starting position or keep it raised throughout the movement for an extra superhero-worthy challenge. Once your right foot is back in place, repeat the movement on your left side.

Wall mountain climber

Be warned: this advanced progression should be performed with extreme caution to avoid face-planting. Raise the stakes for your arms and shoulders by taking your feet off the floor and pressing them against a wall. Your body should now be parallel with the floor. Slowly bring one knee forward to your chest, then replace it on the wall and bring the other one forward. The pace will be slow, but the rewards will come in the form of greater upper-body strength.

About Our Expert

Hang Clean: Instructions, Form Tips and Variations

Joel Snape — Tue, 23 Jan 2018 09:38:06 +0000

In This Series

Introduction

Cleans – of some sort – should be a part of any self-respecting man’s workout. They build explosiveness, teach full-body coordination, increase your jumping power and because they use so many muscles flood you with delicious growth hormone, meaning you’ll get better results when you go back to biceps curls. Finally, they’re so metabolically demanding that you’ll burn fat for hours after a session, with none of that tedious treadmill cardio you’ve been doing.

Full power cleans (the sort you see in Olympic weightlifting) are one option, but starting the clean from a hang position makes it ideal for beginner lifters, or as part of a fat-burning barbell complex (where you do multiple different barbell moves back-to-back in a circuit to send your heart rate soaring). Experienced lifters will also use this variation to build explosiveness.

Hang Clean Instructions

(Image credit: Unknown)

Start by holding the bar with a shoulder-width grip in front of your thighs. Squat down slightly, then  drive through your heels to explode upwards, using the momentum to help pull it up to chest height and catching it on your chest. Pause for a second, then lower the bar back to the start position. Keep your core muscles braced throughout.

Hang Clean Form Tips

Think jumping

You’ll start with the bar already in your hands – deadlift it off the floor, then do a quarter-squat before driving off the floor as powerfully as you can, almost as if you’re jumping. The bar should fly up – now all you have to do is catch it.

Hang Clean Variations

Snatch

Duck under the bar to 'catch' it overhead. This requires excellent co-ordination and shoulder flexibility, so try it with a light bar to begin with.

Start in a deadlift position with the bar off the floor.
Lift the bar powerfully.
Duck beneath the bar to “catch” it with straight arms. Keep a natural arch in your back.
Stand up straight.

One-arm dumbbell snatch

Work each side of your body independently. This is especially useful for sports conditioning.

Hold one dumbbell between your legs, keeping your shoulders square.
Lift the weight powerfully in front of you.
Squat beneath the weight to catch it.
Stand up straight.

Clean and jerk

(Image credit: Unknown)

This exercise targets so many muscle groups it's a workout in itself. Make sure you use perfect form throughout.

Start in the deadlift position.
Lift the bar powerfully.
Drop beneath the bar for the catch.
Stand up straight and steady yourself.
Drop into a lunge and press the bar overhead simultaneously.
Stand up straight.

A Strongman Champion Reveals How To Beast Tyre Flips

Jack Lovett — Thu, 14 Sep 2017 12:25:33 +0000

The benefits of tyre flips

Tyre flipping is a movement with huge benefits for many people, but it’s often misunderstood or done wrong. If you want to get all the rewards, you need to understand the move.

Firstly, it’s a full-body stimulator. There isn’t a single muscle this exercise won’t recruit and strengthen, including stabilising muscles, which is something traditional barbell and dumbbell movements can’t claim. I find it’s particularly beneficial for contact sport athletes as a bridge between the weights room and the playing field.

It helps develop force from the ground up, because all flips require an explosive lower-body drive that extends up into triple extension and through the hands. Tyre flipping can also be used to develop endurance, benefiting athletes and non-athletes alike.

Finally, tyre flipping helps develop a formidable level of mental toughness – it’s not something you can approach casually. Suitably weighted tyres require total commitment and complete application, and in my experience the best results always come from such effort. Here’s how to get the most out of this fantastic exercise.

Go big or go home

Rather than let my athletes start with tiny tyres and work up, I start my entry-level or beginner clients with 250-300kg, and work up to 300-350kg for experienced/heavier clients. There are two key reasons for this. Firstly, the tyre needs to be heavy enough to elicit the required training effect, and secondly, depth is crucial.

Your tyre should be a minimum of 20in (51cm) thick to allow the athlete to get into the optimal tyre-flip position – thinner tyres encourage a “sumo deadlift” lifting position, also known as the “biceps tearing” position. If you find yourself setting up with your shins close to the tyre, back rounded and arms inside your legs, you’re going to end up lifting with your arms instead of your legs and back.

So aim for a big tyre, but also remember that tyres are not a standard piece of professional gym equipment – they are mostly used or damaged, and very worn. I strongly advise using a tyre with a suitable edge to ensure a safe and secure grip

Run the numbers

Here’s a little secret: tyre flipping isn’t that hard. You never lift the total weight, and I have many athletes who can’t squat with double their bodyweight tearing through triple bodyweight tyres or even heavier. A successful flip depends on how you flip the tyre. Is it slowly and passively (which makes it feel heavier) or is it explosively and aggressively (so it feels light)?

With all that in mind I like to focus my clients’ training on achieving roughly the below standards before considering the 300kg tyre:

Squat: 1.75-2 x bodyweight or 200kg (whichever comes first)
Deadlif t: 2-2.5 x bodyweight or 220kg (whichever comes first)
B ench press: No required standard but I do like 140kg as a minimum target for committed men
Clean: No specific standard but the better you are, the more potential you have for a good tyre flip

Clean up your technique

This is your set-up for a solid tyre flip:

Put your chin on the tyre lip.
Drive your chest and shoulders into the tyre wall but not over it (the hazard with too narrow a tyre and sumo stance lifts).
Stand with feet back from the tyre to facilitate a forward lean – the angle should be roughly 45˚ but this will vary depending upon individual biomechanics and lever length as well as tyre size.
Flip with the legs and not the arms.
Explode from the start. You aren’t getting paid by the hour! Be aggressive.

The biggest mistakes I see in tyre flipping come from not being aggressive enough. If you do just enough to get it off the ground and then fight the tyre up by any means, you’re going to get a slow and ugly flip. The tyre will clear your knees from the initial drive if your execution is explosive enough, at which point it more or less flips itself.

Backing off from the tyre is also a big no-no when I’m coaching. Anyone who partially flips the tyre then has to back off slightly as the tyre falls backwards is not getting the benefit – it won’t get you more explosive and stronger. It’s also an injury risk.

Move on up

Nobody needs to flip a 500kg tyre. We have one at Spartan Performance, but it certainly isn’t required flipping for all. Many of the benefits of tyre flipping can be achieved in the 300-350kg range, and I reserve the 500kg for strength athletes who have them in an upcoming contest at that weight.

If you have solid technique and a strong base of gym numbers, these sets and reps can be useful to progress in tyre weight.

6-10 singles (2-3min rest) @ 300kg
8-10 singles (90sec rest) @ 300kg
5-6 x 3-5 (2min rest) @ 300kg
3-4 x 8-10 (2min rest) @ 300kg – not required, but I like using this
Repeat steps 1-4 @ 325-350kg and move on when you can

At the northern qualifier for sub-105kg strongman this year at Spartan Performance, the best result was nine flips of a 500kg tyre in 75sec. You don’t need to get that strong, but you can certainly improve on what you’re doing now – and if you approach it with the right mixture of intelligence and aggression, you’ll do it without injury.

For more from Jack Lovett visit spartanperformance.co.uk

Weight Plate Exercises To Burn Fat And Add Muscle

Joe Warner — Thu, 09 Mar 2017 10:16:37 +0000

Some people think that doing a fat loss workout means slinging the weights around any way you like and racing through your reps because losing fat is about getting your heart rate up. And while that is a part of it, there’s a smarter way to approach your sessions that will both burn fat and add muscle. The key is to slow down your reps and make sure you can feel the target muscle working.

“Time under tension, which means the time your muscles spend working during a set, is important in terms of getting muscle adaptations – even if fat loss is your goal,” says Tirrel Grant, director of Square Mile Fitness.

“Really focus on contracting the muscle and work both the lifting and lowering parts of the move – don’t just let the weights drop down.”

Performing your reps like that makes the moves much harder, so although you’re moving the weight slowly, the extra effort required to control them will mean that your heart rate will be high and you’ll get the full calorie-burn benefits.

The following fat-burning workout uses minimal equipment – just one weight plate – meaning it's ideal for when the gym's busy. We've also got a 20-minute weight plate workout, below, for when time is short.

Total-Body Weight Plate Workout

This workout has five moves, with the first two paired to create a superset. Do all the reps of exercise 1A, rest for 10sec, then do all the reps of 1B, then rest for 60sec. Repeat this for four sets, then move on to exercise 2. The final two moves are also performed as a superset. Keep your abs, lower back and glutes engaged for every rep of every set to keep your body stable and improve power transfer between your upper and lower body.

1A Squat

(Image credit: Photography: Glen Burrows. Model: Tirrel Grant)

Sets 4 Reps 10-12 Rest 10sec

How Bend at the hips and knees with your chest up and your weight on your heels.

Why “This move is great for building muscle in your quads, hams and glutes,” says Grant.

Progression Pause in the bottom position for one second, then squeeze your glutes to get back up.

1B Bent-over row

(Image credit: Photography: Glen Burrows. Model: Tirrel Grant)

Sets 4 Reps 10-12 Rest 60sec

How Bend at the hips and let your arms hang down. Row the weight up to your chest.

Why “Most guys don’t do enough pulling moves. This helps to build balance,” says Grant.

Progression Squeeze your shoulder blades together for one second at the top of the move.

2 Pinch carry

(Image credit: Photography: Glen Burrows. Model: Tirrel Grant)

Sets 4 Distance 30m each side Rest 10sec

How Hold a weight plate between your thumb and fingers and walk for 30m.

Why “Grip, rather than muscle, strength is most people’s limiting factor,” says Grant.

Progression Extend the distance you walk by 10m for each hand.

RECOMMENDED: The Best Ways to Improve Your Grip Strength

3A Halo

(Image credit: Photography: Glen Burrows. Model: Tirrel Grant)

Sets 4 Reps 8-10 Rest 10sec

How Move the weight up and across your body, then over your head and down the other side.

Why “This is great for building rotational strength, which is often ignored,” says Grant.

Progression Doing this explosively, with real power, will recruit the maximum number of muscle fibres.

3B Crunch reach

(Image credit: Photography: Glen Burrows. Model: Tirrel Grant)

Sets 4 Reps 8-10 Rest 60sec

How Lie on your back with your knees bent. Crunch up, keeping your arms straight and vertical.

Why “Adding weight to an abs move means you’ll work in a rep range that adds size,” says Grant.

Progression Increasing the time you take to lower back to the start will make it harder and more effective.

20-Minute Weight Plate Workout

How often do you get to the gym only to find that the dumbbells and barbells are all taken? It’s often the case during peak periods, but they’re busy for a reason – for many, it’s the only time they can train, and a lack of training equipment can quickly derail a session. That's why the experts at our sister brand Men's Fitness put together this simple workout, to help you ensure you'll never be left twiddling your thumbs again.

All you need is a single weight plate to do the five moves in this total-body muscle-building and fat-burning workout, and the best bit is you can get it done in little more than 20 minutes. Make sure you warm up first with some bodyweight press-ups, squats and lunges and some dynamic stretches, then you’re good to go.

How It Works

This workout has five moves. The first two moves are paired in supersets. Do all reps of move 1A, rest for 10sec, then do all five reps of 1B, then rest for 60sec. Repeat this for four total sets, then move on to exercise 2, which is a straight set. Perform this move as instructed, rest, then repeat. The final two moves are another superset, which follows the same pattern as the first one. Keep your chest up and abs, lower back and glutes engaged throughout to maintain good form.

Pick a weight plate that allows you to perform all the reps with correct form throughout while still providing a challenge.

1A Plate Press-Up

(Image credit: Future)

Sets 4 Reps 8-10 Rest 10sec

How: With a plate on your upper back, bend your elbows to lower your chest down. Then press back up.

Why: The extra weight increases the difficulty of the move, forcing your muscles to work harder.

Progression: At the bottom of the move pause for two seconds, then press back to the start.

1B One-Leg Plate Row

(Image credit: Glen Burrows)

Sets 4 (two each leg) Reps 8-10 Rest 60sec

How: Hinge forwards at the hips. Raise your back foot and row the plate up to your chest.

Why: It works your back and biceps, while standing on one foot also activates your core more.

Progression: Hold the plate against your chest for a two-count, squeezing your biceps and back.

2 Weight Plate Carry

(Image credit: Glen Burrows)

Sets 4 (two each hand) Time 30sec Rest 60sec

How: Stand tall holding a plate in one hand. Keeping your chest up, walk for 30 seconds. Keep your heels off the floor for the duration of the set to keep your lower abs engaged and work your muscles harder.

Why: It works your grip strength as well as most major muscle groups to raise your heart rate.

Progression: Hold a plate in each hand to increase grip strength and work every muscle harder.

3A Lunge Press

(Image credit: Glen Burrows)

Sets 4 Reps 6 each side (alternating) Rest 10sec

How: Hold the plate and take a big step forward to lunge down while pressing the plate overhead.

Why: This is another total-body move that requires your core to work overtime to stabilse your body.

Progression: Do a double press when at the bottom of the lunge to work your shoulders and core harder.

3B Woodchop

(Image credit: Glen Burrows)

Sets 4 (swap sides each set) Reps 10 Rest 60sec

How: Hold the plate to one side of your body then raise it diagonally, with straight arms.

Why: It works your shoulders as well as your obliques (side abs) to maintain torso stability.

Progression: Once you can do ten reps with ease, increase the rep count by two reps per set.

Crocodile Walk Exercise: A Core Cruncher

Nick Harris-Fry — Thu, 28 Jul 2016 12:36:56 +0000

When detailing the best features of a crocodile, impressive core strength would probably not make your top five. But make no mistake, behind those terrifying teeth and limb-rending claws is a muscle-bound mid-section any fitness fiend would be proud of.

Mimicking the crocodile’s walk is thus an excellent way to strengthen your own core, and the movement is also especially taxing on the arms and shoulders. The crocodile walk is a combination of press-ups, the plank and crawling, so it targets a whole load of muscles at once.

RECOMMENDED: Core Exercises

The Benefits

The crocodile walk is a total-body workout that will improve your endurance, and build strength in your core, arms, legs and shoulders. Keep the movement slow and controlled for maximum benefits. That said, if you want to really go for it, a real crocodile can hit 11mph on land, so that’s something to shoot for.

How To Do It

(Image credit: Unknown)

Start in a press-up position, with your legs and arms shoulder-width apart.
Lower yourself down until your torso is as low as it would get during a press-up. You should aim to keep your upper body as low as possible throughout the exercise, bracing your core and glutes to ensure your posture is correct.
Begin walking by bringing one knee up towards the elbow, simultaneously moving the opposite arm forward. Then repeat on the other side.

The croc crawl is surprisingly hard, so don’t set yourself too big a distance the first few times you try, instead aim to keep going slowly for 30 seconds (you can go backwards if you run out of room), before taking a break and trying again. It’ll get easier once you become accustomed to the technique, and then you can add it into circuit training.

Crocodiles are not the only animal whose perambulation is worth copying if you’re on a fitness kick. If the croc walk is proving too tricky, you can instead opt for the bear crawl. The premise is the same, crawling along on all fours, but you don’t have to get your torso so close to the ground, making it slightly easier on your upper body.

(Image credit: Unknown)

The Ultimate TRX Workouts

Sam Rider — Fri, 27 May 2016 11:47:28 +0000

Doing the same moves every session will only lead to your progress stalling and your motivation evaporating. Basically you’ll get bored with the barbell. That’s why getting to grips with suspension training will get you back into the muscle-building groove. An hour-long session with a suspension trainer like a TRX significantly boosts levels of the muscle-building hormone testosterone, according to a study in the Journal Of Strength And Conditioning Research. After subjects did suspension training for 23 exercises, blood samples showed total testosterone levels were 18.6% higher than those taken halfway through the session, while levels of the stress hormone cortisol were 25% lower two hours after training. Try these two suspension training supersets to start adding size and strength, then move onto the longer workouts below.

Chest and back session

Move 1A is TRX press-ups, where you do press-ups but with your feet elevated in the handles. Move 1B is TRX inverted rows, where you hold the handles in both hands with your heels on the floor and your body straight, then pull yourself up towards your hands. Do ten sets of ten reps, resting 60 seconds between each set.

Quads and hamstring session

Move 1A is TRX split squats, where your back foot is elevated in a handle, and you lower into a lunge and then come back up. Move 1B is TRX squats, where you hold both handles and, keeping your chest up, squat down as low as you can. Do ten sets of ten reps on each leg for move 1A, and 20 reps of move 1B, resting 60 seconds between each set.

The Travel TRX Workout

When you’re travelling, whether for work or leisure, you can find yourself surrounded by confusion. Home comforts are missed, your passport plays hide and seek, and exercise routines get trampled – which means your levels of lean muscle can suffer. But there is a solution to stay trim on the go: you can harness this chaos, using a TRX and a deck of cards. Whenever you have a spare 20 minutes, just hook the suspension trainer over your hotel door and let the cards shape your workout.

How it Works

Letting chance take over means no workout will ever be the same. “This method of muscle confusion, where you frequently vary the moves and rep ranges, makes sure this never becomes easy and your muscles get comfortable,” explains Bradley Simmonds, the PT and fitness model demonstrating this circuit. Staying out of your comfort zone will keep your heart rate high to churn through calories and keep your body fat levels low. And if nothing else, you’ll be able to pass the time with solitaire if your flight ever gets delayed.

Directions

Set a timer for 20 minutes. Shuffle the deck, then turn over the top card. Match the suit to the move here. The number is how many reps you need to do between one and 14 (ace can be high or low depending how hard you’ve been hitting the in-flight G&Ts). Keep going until you finish the deck or, more likely, run out of time. Rest as needed. The joker means you do all the moves to failure, then rest for 60 seconds.

Hearts: Jump squat

(Image credit: Unknown)

Hold the TRX handles with straight arms and lean back. Lower into a squat, keeping your knees wide apart, then drive up powerfully and jump.

Spades: Inverted row

(Image credit: Unknown)

Grasp the handles so your palms face down and lean back, arms and body straight. Pull your body up to your hands. Pause at the top, then lower.

Diamonds: Chest press

(Image credit: Unknown)

With straight arms, hold the handles with the straps over your shoulders. Bend your arms to bring your hands to your chest. Press back up.

Clubs: Pike

(Image credit: Unknown)

Put your feet through the handles and get into the top of a press-up position with straight arms. Contract your core to bring your feet towards you and raise your hips.

The Ultimate TRX Workout

Strength and conditioning specialist Alexis Antonopoulos has designed this workout to target all the key muscles. To do the workout you should complete all nine exercises back to back, with a two-minute rest between each. Repeat this three times, or if you prefer, to failure. Each move should be done for 16-20 reps unless otherwise stated. Tailor the difficulty of each exercise to your needs by altering the length of the ropes to change the angle the exercise is performed at. The closer you are to the ground, the harder it is.

Chest press

Targets Chest, triceps

Assume an incline stance with your feet shoulder-width apart. Lower your chest towards your hands, keeping your entire body as straight as possible - similar to a press-up - then return to start position.

Beginner Start from kneeling position

Intermediate Start from a standing incline position

Advanced Add a weighted vest or raise your feet using a step

Squat

Targets Quads, hamstrings, glutes

Stand facing the TRX holding a neutral grip. Keep your arms straight and sit into a squat position with your legs parallel to the floor. Use your glutes to return to a standing position.

Beginner Arms straight, regular squat

Intermediate Do a small jump at the top of the squat

Advanced Do the same but only use one leg, alternate the leg you use between reps

Plank

Targets Core

From a kneeling position place your arms through the loopholes so the TRX is resting halfway down your forearms. Lift your knees off the ground so your feet are the only part of the body still in contact with the floor. Ensure your body is in a straight line and try to maintain a 90˚ angle at your elbow and shoulder joints.

Beginner Hold the position for 20-60sec

Intermediate Slowly open the angle at your elbow and shoulder by just a few centimetres to increase the tension in your core, then return to the start position – 16-20 reps

Advanced Maintaining a strong core position, reach one arm forward several centimetres while lifting your opposite foot off the floor as high as you can. Return to the original position and repeat on the other side – 16-20 reps

Bodyweight row

Targets Biceps, back, shoulders

Take the handles, lean backwards with extended arms and walk forward three small steps. Keep your chest high and pull your body up until your chest touches the handles. Squeeze your shoulder blades together and slowly lower back to the start position.

Beginner Follow the form guide exactly

Intermediate Increase the decline by only walking forward two little steps

Advanced Add a weighted vest or alternate between each leg – or do both if you’re feeling brave

Hamstring drag

Targets Hamstrings, glutes, core

Adjust the TRX loops until they are about 30cm off the floor. Sit on the floor in front of the TRX, place both heels in the loops and lift your hips off the floor. Keep both feet flexed towards your shins and your legs hip-width apart. Press your heels into the foot cradles, elevate your hips and pull your heels towards your glutes before returning to the start position.

Beginner Follow the form guide exactly

Intermediate Lift your hips while bringing your heels towards your bottom

Advanced The same as intermediate but only using one leg at a time

Jackknife

Targets Core

Keep the TRX loops about 30cm off the floor. From a kneeling position put your feet in the loops and assume a full press-up position so your feet are suspended. Pull your knees in towards your chest and return to the start position, engaging your core to keep a straight back the whole time.

Beginner Follow the form guide exactly

Intermediate Pull both knees diagonally across your body towards the opposite elbow, return to the start position and alternate

Advanced Use just one leg (the opposite leg remains above the floor in line with your body

Triceps press

Targets Triceps

Adjust the TRX so it is at mid-length. From a standing position take the handles and extend your arms overhead in front of your body and walk back for a couple of small steps. Keeping your upper arms rigid and your body aligned, bend your elbows and lower your body to make a 90˚ angle of flexion. Slowly return to the start position and repeat.

Beginner Follow the form guide exactly

Intermediate Extend the TRX until it’s longer than mid-length

Advanced The same as intermediate but only use one arm at a time

Bulgarian split squat

Targets Quads, glutes, hamstrings

Adjust the TRX until the loop is at knee height. Assume the same stance as a regular split squat (a forward lunge position), but place your rear foot through one of the loops. Maintain upright posture and lower your back knee until you feel a stretch in the hip flexors of the rear leg, then return to the start position.

Beginner Follow the form guide exactly

Intermediate Add a weighted vest

Advanced Hop at the top of the movement

Side Plank

Targets Obliques

Adjust the TRX so the loops are around 30cm off the floor. Then, lying on your side, put your feet into the loops and lift your hips off the floor so your weight is supported by the TRX and your forearm. Hold steady and raise the opposite arm to make a T shape.

Beginner 20-60 seconds each side

Intermediate Do side plank dips: lower your hips 5cm from the floor, then lift them up as high as you can while maintaining form – 16-20 reps each side

Advanced Thread the needles: reach with your opposite arm underneath your body, rotating at the waist and slowly return to the start position – 16-20 reps each side

Circuits to build explosive power

Max Anderton — Tue, 09 Sep 2014 06:37:17 +0000

Virgin Active clubs have recently got a load of new kit. Some of it's straightforward, some... not so much. Virgin Active are calling this new collection of kit Fitness 5 and in case you've noticed them appear at your club and don't have a clue what to do with them here's a brief description of each followed by two strength and explosive power-building circuits you can use them for.

Bulgarian Bag

Created by Bulgarian Olympic athlete Ivan Ivanov, they're designed to help strengthen your core and develop agility. The Bulgarian Bag can be used as a free weight for dynamic core work, or added to your body weight to make jumps, squats, press-ups, and power crunches work even harder.

TRX Rip Trainer

This challenges you in all three planes of motion and works on your strength and cardiovascular conditioning, as well as improving fluidity and range of motion.

Battle ropes

Battle ropes give a high-intensity workout, building your core strength and improving full-body conditioning.

TiYR

The TiYR is soft but heavy, minimal but effective total-body training tool. You’ll engage every muscle through your legs, core and upper body.

Plyo box

These high-density foam boxes can help you develop power, full-body explosive strength, and buold cardio endurance. Thanks to their innovative construction they’re easy on your feet, ankles, knees and hips.

CIRCUIT 1 – (repeat 3 times with 90 seconds rest between each circuit)

Tire Flips – 1 minute

Squat down and drive the tire up and then push it back down to the ground again and repeat.

Squat and press – 20 reps

Stand in a squat position and hoist a Bulgarian Bag onto the back of your neck. Squat down into a deep squat and press the bag above your head and bring it back to your neck before standing up.

Battle ropes: Alternate waves with jump squats – 45 seconds

Hold a rope in each hand and whip them up and down alternately. After two reps on each side perform a jump squat.

TRX Rip Trainer hockey shot – 15 each side

Stand sideways on holding the rip trainer with both hands and replicate a hockey shot. Pivot on the balls of your feet for as wide a range of motion as possible.

Plyo box press-up – 20 reps

Place your feet on a plyo box and do press-ups as normal.

CIRCUIT 2 (do this twice after the first circuit with 90 seconds rest, or four times by itself with 90 seconds rest)

Farmer's walk – 20 steps

Stand in the middle of a tire, use the handles to pick it up with your hands out to your sdies. Walk out 10 steps, turn around and walk back 10.

Bulgarian Bag power snatch – 15 reps

Drop to a squat position. Hold the bag at knee height in both hands, shrug your shoulders back and bring the bag up above your head untill your arms are extended and the bag is in a press position. Lower slowly and repeat.

Battle ropes: Alternate waves with jump squats – 45 seconds

Hold a rope in each hand and whip them up and down alternately. After two reps on each side perform a jump squat.

Plyo box jumps – 45 seconds

With your feet shoulder-with apart squat down and jump up on to the middle of the box. Step back down and repeat.

Like most circuit-based workouts the more intensely you do each exercise the more benefit you'll get. Now, take advantage of being one of the few people in the gym who actually knows how to use all this new-fangled kit.

How to get a beach body

Nick Hutchings — Fri, 16 May 2014 06:18:06 +0000

‘Before going on stage I’ll do an improvised workout with a resistance band to accentuate my muscles,’ says Ty Ogedegbe, 2013 Musclemania Mr Universe.

Do 12 reps of each exercise with minimal rest. Do the first round of the circuit with a slow tempo and the second round faster.

‘Varying the tempo will provoke a better response from the muscles so they look more defined,’ says Ogedegbe. New research in the Journal Of Strength And Conditioning suggests a pump can last for up to 52 hours.

Shoulders

lateral raise
Stand on the middle of the band. Grab both ends and raise your arms until they’re horizontal.

Arms

Biceps curl
While standing on the band, curl your arms up from your sides.

Back

bent-over flye
Bend forward, bring your hands in front of your knees and then out until you feel a squeeze in your lats.

Chest

Wide-grip press-up
Discard the band, place your hands twice shoulder-width apart and press up to failure.

Click for more on Fitness Model Management

Convict conditioning, strength and muscle

Nick Hutchings — Fri, 16 May 2014 05:04:29 +0000

If you read our prison workouts secrets story, you'll want to know what workouts reformed ex-con Clint Warren did to get in such good shape.

Ta-da...

How to do these workouts
Days 1, 3, 4 and 6 include superset workouts. To do these, perform 1A and 1B back to back, rest for 60sec, then move on to the next set of the same moves. Repeat for the other supersets. Perform the burpees sessions as fast as possible. With all other moves concentrate on performing the eccentric (lowering) stage slowly to build more muscle.

Day 1 and 4
Upper body - These supersets focus on pulling and pressing moves to build size and strength

1a) Wide-grip pull-up Sets 10 Reps 10 Rest 0sec

- Hold a bar with an overhand grip, hands twice shoulder-width apart.

- From a dead hang, pull up until your chin is above the bar.

- Lower slowly back to the start.

1b) Press-up Sets 10 Reps 25 Rest 0sec

- Get into a press-up position with your body in a straight line from shoulders to heels, arms just wider than shoulder-width apart and fully extended.

- Lower slowly until your chest is a fist’s width from the floor.

- Press up powerfully.

2a) Bodyweight row Sets 6 Reps 15 Rest 60sec

- Get into a crouch under the dip bar and grip both ends with a neutral grip.

- Put your feet on a box or step to take more of your weight and keep your body in a straight line from head to toe.

- Pull down on the dip bars by bending your arms.

- When your chest is at bar height, lower slowly back down.

2b) Handstand press-up Sets 6 Reps 6 Rest 60sec

- Push up off one foot into a handstand against the wall.

- With your entire body tensed, bend your arms until your head is a fist’s width from the floor. Control the move by lowering slowly and steadily with your feet touching the wall.

- Press back up explosively. If you find it too tough, do five-second handstand holds instead.

Day 2 and 5 Conditioning and lower body - A plan that gives a hit of HIIT and works your thighs, glutes and hamstrings

Morning

Burpee Sets 5 Reps 40 Rest 60sec

- Start in the top position of
a press-up.

- Jump your feet forward, tucking them under your torso.

- Leap up, clapping your hands overhead.

- Reverse the move to the start.

Evening - Do ten rounds of the following as fast as you can.

1) Jump squat Reps 25

- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, hands in front of your chest.

- Lower into a squat until your
thighs are parallel to the floor.

- Leap up, pushing your arms down to create momentum.

2) Lunge Reps 10 each side

- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.

- Take a big step forward with one leg until your back knee is almost touching the floor, making sure your front knee doesn’t get ahead of your front foot.

- Push through your front foot to come back up to the start position.

- Complete all the reps one one side, then switch to the other side.

3) Single-leg glute-ham raise Reps 10 each side

- Lie on the floor with your legs bent at 90˚ and feet flat on the floor.

- Your hands should be out to your sides.

- Raise your hips and lift one leg until it is in line with your torso.

- Complete all the reps one one side, then switch to the other side.

Day 3 and 6 Abs and lower back - These sessions are designed to get you a rock-hard midsection

Morning

Burpee Sets 5 Reps 40 Rest 60sec

- Start in the top position of a press-up.

- Jump your feet forward, tucking them under your torso.

- Leap up, clapping your hands overhead.

- Reverse the move to the start.

Evening

1a) Wide-grip hanging leg raise Sets 10 Reps 12 Rest 0sec

- Hang from a bar with an overhand grip, hands twice shoulder-width apart.

- Tense your core to raise your legs until they’re parallel to the floor.

1b) Back extension Sets 10 Reps 20 Rest 60sec

- Lie on the back extension machine, the bottom pad against your calves, your hip crease just above the top pad.

- With your hands crossed over your chest, lower your upper body until it’s at 90˚ to your legs.

- Raise your upper body until your body is in a straight line.

2a) Sit-up Sets 6 Reps 40 Rest 0sec

- Lie on the floor with your knees bent, feet flat on the floor and hands behind your ears.

- Tense your core and raise your upper body until your torso is vertical.

- Lower slowly back to the start.

2b) Back bridge Sets 6 Reps 12 Rest 60sec

- Lie on the floor with your knees and arms bent so your feet are flat on the floor and hands are tucked in under your elbows.

- Push off your feet and hands until you’re in a bridge position.

- Tuck your head in, then return to the start.

3a) Abs wheel roll-out Sets 4 Reps 20 Rest 0sec

- Kneel on the floor holding the abs wheel just in front of your knees.

- Tense your core and roll the wheel out as far as you can without letting your upper body touch the floor.

- Roll it back to the start position.

3b) Dorsal raise Sets 4 Reps 20 Rest 60sec

- Lie on the floor with your arms and legs stretched out.

- Lift your entire body off the ground apart from your midsection.

Master These Skipping Techniques To Boost Your Cardio Fitness

Liam Curtis — Fri, 25 Apr 2014 04:44:23 +0000

The warm-up of choice for boxers the world over, skipping is also one of the ultimate exercises for improving your cardio fitness. Pick up a rope and master these different techniques to add a new challenge and some variety to your training programme.

Adding skipping to your workout will keep your mind focused and your feet busy – not to mention making you look like the next Muhammad Ali. Developing a variety of moves with the ropes also builds your coordination, balance and a strong core. Start off simple with the basic rope jumps. That’s both feet together and your hands to the side while maintaining a straight posture. Once you’ve mastered this it’s time to try some more advanced techniques.

360s

How? Make sure you have plenty of room to perform this technique and avoid injuring yourself or anyone foolish enough to be near you. Do the standard skipping motion and add a 360 turn at a consistent pace to really get your feet thinking. Try to complete one full turn to the left and then to the right before carrying on normally.

Why? Improves flexibility and strengthens your hip-flexors

Alternate feet

How? Start with your standard skipping pattern before busting into what looks like a dodgy dance move. Simply spring from one foot to the other alternating from left to right. Ensure only one foot hits the floor between each skip. If you’re finding it hard you probably need to speed up your arm rotations.

Why? Strengthens bone density and burns more calories

One leg

How? This is a great exercise for your calves as it isolates those muscles each time you interchange legs. Aim to keep a steady pace throughout rather than burning out too quickly. Set a target between 50-100 jumps on one leg at a time. Each time you stop simply take a quick breather and carry on.

Why? Tones your calves, improves balance and ensures both legs get an even workout

Criss-cross

How? Once you start having a little more confidence use this move to show off how much you’ve learnt. It takes a steady degree of coordination and a good rhythm to master. Once in the standard skipping motion cross your feet in the middle so that they overlap before uncrossing them with the next swing of the rope and repeat. The faster you skip the easier it is.

Why? Develops coordination and boosts your heart rate

Ali shuffle

How? This technique is by far the most difficult to grasp but when you nail it the sense of achievement makes it worthwhile. Named after Muhammad Ali, the technique has you firing one foot in front of the other in a short field of motion. At first it may seem awkward and unnatural but repetition will help coordinate your legs.

Why? Improves coordination and builds core strength, plus it'll make you look like The Greatest himself

Practice makes perfect so remember to take it slow and build up your range of skipping techniques over weeks not days. Skipping for 20 minutes will burn around 250 calories, strengthen your core and help improve your motor skills. It won’t be long until you’ve mastered all the techniques and are floating like a butterfly (bee stinging optional).

Most common weightlifting injuries

Nick Hutchings — Fri, 24 Jan 2014 04:52:24 +0000

Most gym related injuries are due to one of two things: poor technique and failure to gradually increase loads. One common example of how things go wrong is introducing kettlebell swings too early into a back-strengthening programme. Most weightlifting injuries can be avoided, but after treated sports and gym related injuries for almost two decades, I continue to see fitness programmes ruined by injuries that can easily be avoided. Here are three of the most common and some simple tips to help avoid them.

Shoulder impingement

What it is: A ‘squeezing’ or irritation of the rotator cuff tendons under the bone at the point of your shoulder (the acromion).

How it's caused: Under the acromion, there is about 1cm of space for the rotator cuff tendons to slide through. When this is narrowed, it irritates the tendons. The three things that commonly lead to reduced sub-acromial space are a lack of shoulder blade and rotator cuff control, poor lifting technique, and a stiff middle back (thoracic spine).

What the symptoms are: Pain at the front or side of your shoulder, particularly when doing shoulder presses, incline bench presses and upright rows.

How it's diagnosed: A good physio will diagnose it easily using simple impingement and scapula control tests. Occasionally they may arrange a scan to look for changes in bone shape or tendon health.

What the treatment is: When shoulder impingement is diagnosed correctly, the rehab program will focus on improving scapula control and rotator cuff activation (keeping the ball snugly in the socket). Once the scapula position and control are corrected, the shoulder pain usually disappears.

Prehab treatments: My top tip for preventing shoulder injuries in the gym: make sure you can see your hands. If you can’t, then your shoulder is probably in a vulnerable position. Unless you are weight training for a specific task – baseball pitching, for instance – then consider whether you need to put your shoulder in these positions. This rules out a few exercises, such as behind-the-neck presses, but in the long term your shoulders will love you.

Lumbar disc prolapse

What it is: Between your vertebrae are shock absorbers called intervertebral discs. Within each disc is a toothpaste-like structure called the nucleus. Overload can cause the nucleus to protrude out of the disc, causing nerve compression and sciatica (burning leg pain).

How it’s caused: While our ancestors spent much of their time hunting, todays lives are more sedentary. In particular we spend too much time sitting – an activity that increases disc pressures in the lower back by 50% (or up to 100% if slouched). As a result many people head to the gym with their discs already under strain. If they then perform a kettlebell swing, deadlift or squat incorrectly, the disc can prolapse.

What the symptoms are: Back pain, buttock pain and even leg pain. Pain when coughing and sneezing is common. In more severe cases there can be strength and sensory loss.

How it's diagnosed: Most disc injuries are diagnosed in clinic using a few simple tests, but can be confirmed with MRI.

What the treatment is: Exercise to help offload the injured disc, improve lumbar posture and specifically strengthen the surrounding musculature.

Prehab treatments: Before performing exercises that load the spine, spend ten minutes walking on a treadmill or a few minutes lying on your front while propped on your elbows. This reverses the direction of disc pressure. It’s also worth spending some time acting like our ancestors - monkeys and fish. Climbing and swimming are two of the best de-compressive type exercises for the spine, and are great cross-training exercises for the whole body.

Patellofemoral maltracking

What it is: A shifting of the kneecap (patella) as the leg bends or straightens, often because of muscle imbalance.

How it's caused: Your kneecap sits within a groove at the bottom of your thigh bone (femur). This is the patellofemoral joint (PFJ). It is controlled by the quadriceps, but when there is overload or muscle imbalance the patella can ‘track’ off its groove, causing irritation and inflammation.

What the symptoms are: Pain when climbing stairs or doing squats, lunges or leg presses. It is also common among runners and cyclists.

How it's diagnosed: PFJ maltracking is normally diagnosed without needing to resort to expensive tests. Scans are usually normal, but a good physio assessment of the PFJ – including muscle balance tests - will usually uncover the cause of the problem.

What the treatment is: Rehab, rehab, rehab. Around 90% of cases are due to one of three problems: foot pronation, weakness of the inner quadriceps (VMO) and gluteals, or an overly tight ITB (iliotibial band, a tendon-type band on the outside of the thigh). Specific rehab to correct these problems is successful in most cases.

Prehab treatments: Avoid taking your squats beyond 90˚ of knee bend. There are only a few athletes that require deep squat strength. If you’re not one of them, there’s no need to overload the knees. And stretch your calves. Tight calves contribute to foot pronation, which contributes to PFJ maltracking. Stretch three times per day, holding stretches for 30-60sec.

Cameron Tudor is clinical director of West London Physiotherapy

No Excuses workout 11

Andy McKenzie — Fri, 13 Sep 2013 06:31:29 +0000

Combining cardio work with a simple bodyweight exercise such as the press-up creates a demanding total-body challenge that simultaneously improves endurance and strength. This workout is against the clock so it will also test your ability to keep going when the pressure is on and people are waiting for you to get out of the way in a busy gym. Your task is to complete 300 press-ups as quickly as possible with a bit of rowing thrown in for good measure.

The workout

You start the workout by rowing 300m as fast as you can. However long this takes is the time you have to complete as many press-ups as possible. In other words, if the row takes you 56sec, that's how long you have to do as many press-ups as you can. Repeat this process until you've completed 300 press-ups.

There's a catch, however. If you take longer than 60sec to finish the 300m row, for each additional second you must perform one straight-arm burpee before you even think about starting the press-ups. This eats into your press-up time though, because the clock starts as soon as you step off the rower.

Exercise guides

Press-up Ensure that every rep goes through the full range of movement. Keep your lower back strong by bracing your gut and your butt as you push from the floor, especially in the latter stages of the workout.

Straight-arm burpee From standing, place both your hands on the floor outside your feet. Drive both legs out behind you, keeping the glutes tight. Return by driving your feet back towards your hands, and then jump up with your hands above your head.

Rowing Set a distance of 300m on the rowing machine and give it 100% until you've completed it. Driving with your legs and then using your arms at the end will make your leg and back muscles do most of the work, giving your arms some respite for the press-ups.

Next month: The barbell 100 challenge

No Excuses workout 10

Andy McKenzie — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 06:39:35 +0000

Results have to be earned and a high level of conditioning is no easy task. Put simply, if you attack your body in the gym it will fight back and make you a bigger, stronger beast. Try this session to show your body who's really in charge. Go for it as hard as you can and remember: no excuses.

The workout

Minimal equipment is key. The rowing machine is unforgiving and perfect for cardio, kettlebells are great for swinging and increasing heart rate, and the dumbbells will crush you towards the end.

Round 1 1,000m row into 100 KB Swings 24kg
Round 2 750m row into 75 Push Ups
Round 3 500m row into 50 DB Push Press (20kg)
Round 4 250m row into 25 Man Makers (20kg)

Complete this as fast as possible, maintaining correct form for every exercise.

Exercises

KB swings Hip drive and aim for the kettlebell to reach eye level every rep then let the kettlebell do the work on the way down.

Push-ups Chest and chin should touch the floor every time. Lower the body under control, pause and explode back keeping the gut and butt tight for lumbar control.

DB push press Start with the dumbbellss on the shoulder and then dip and drive through the hips and heel as you push them overhead and hold for one second before lowering.

Man makers Start standing, then drop into a press-up and perform one rep then do alternate single arm rows before standing back up and performing a push press – that's one rep!

Penalty

The only penalty for this session is on you for taking too many rest periods and prolonging the agony.

Cover Model Workout

Joe Warner — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 05:32:09 +0000

Cover model star David Peters wowed on ITV’s hit show Take Me Out with his big arms, wide chest and rock-hard abs. Here’s how he got his body.

Perform the exercises in the order listed, resting for 60 seconds between each set and 90 seconds between each move.

The workout

Perform the exercises in the order listed, resting for 60 seconds between each set and 90 seconds between each move.

Gym ball jackknife

(Image credit: Unknown)

Sets 3 Reps 12

Why This works your upper and lower abs in a single move.

How With your hands on the ground, rest the tops of your feet on a gym ball with your legs straight. Keep your core braced as you bend your knees up to your chest, rolling the ball towards your hands, then return to the start.

Dumbbell press-up

(Image credit: Unknown)

Sets 3 Reps 10

Why This variation of the classic move works your core harder to stabilise your upper body.

How Hold a dumbbell in each hand with palms facing one another. Lower your chest down to the ground before pressing back up powerfully.

Barbell roll-out

(Image credit: Unknown)

Sets 3 Reps 12

Why This surprisingly tough move works every muscle of your core to create an impressive six-pack.

How Kneel on the floor and hold the barbell with a wide overhand grip. Keeping your arms and back straight and core braced throughout, slowly roll the bar away from you until your body is just off the ground. Keeping your torso braced and shoulders strong, roll the bar back to the start.

Bench press

(Image credit: Unknown)

Sets 4 Reps 8

Why The classic lift for building a big, hard chest.

How Lie flat on a bench with your feet planted on the floor and grab the bar just wider than shoulder-width apart. Lower the bar to your mid-chest before pressing the weight upwards until your arms are fully extended.

Back squat

(Image credit: Unknown)

Sets 4 Reps 8

Why Big compound moves such as the squat fire up your metabolism and promote the release of muscle-building testosterone.

How Bend your legs to lower the bar until your thighs are at least horizontal with the ground and then drive up through your heels until standing. Keep your core braced and make sure your knees point in the same direction as your feet throughout the move to take the pressure off your knees.

Deadlift

(Image credit: Unknown)

Sets 4 Reps 6

Why This works almost every muscle in your body to burn fat and craft a solid core.

How With feet flat, squat down and grab the bar with hands shoulder-width apart. Hold the bar with an alternate grip (one overhand and the other underhand) Keeping your back straight and your head facing forward throughout, lift the bar using your legs and driving your hips forward. Pull your shoulders back at the top of the move and carefully lower the bar to the ground.

How to improve your Olympic lifts

Joel Snape — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 11:14:52 +0000

In This Series

Introduction
Olympic lift assitance moves

Performing heavy Olympic lifts can be problematic – not only because you’re lifiting massively weighty plates but also because most gyms frown when you drop a 100kg bar on the floor after you’ve finished a set.

The four moves in the Olympic lift assistance section on the right will help you perfect the form you need to go bigger, avoid injury and, due to the fact that you’re using lighter weights, stop you getting told off by nearby personal trainers because you're no longer making an awful racket when you drop the bar.

Here's something else that will help you get better at Olympic lifts – our Olympic lift video guide.

For more fitness-boosting stories, subscribe to the magazine. We'll give you five issues for £5.

How The World’s Fittest Man Works Out

Joel Snape — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 09:39:03 +0000

In the 2011 Reebok CrossFit Games, Rich Froning battled through seven workouts covering everything from handstand walks to open-water swimming. Ultimately he took the men’s overall title and was crowned ‘Fittest Man In The World.’

Froning combines Jim Wendler’s 5-3-1 programme with traditional CrossFit workouts to make sure he’s strong, agile and superbly conditioned. We’ve picked four of our favourite CrossFit workouts to get you started on the programme. They’re all possible to do with kit you’ll find in your gym, and they’re all short enough to do in conjunction with a strength workout in one (admittedly knackering) lunch hour.

Kelly

400m run
30 box jumps (men: 24-inch high box; women: 20-inch high box)
30 wall balls (men: 20lb medicine ball; women: 14lb medicine ball)

Annie

This workout is also performed for time. It features two exercises – double-unders and sit-ups (the CrossFit kind where you touch your shoulders and hands on the mat, then touch your feet halfway through) – and you alternate between the two. Complete 50 reps of each, then 40 reps, then 30, 20 and finally 10.

Eva

Five rounds for time.

How To Do The Dumbbell Squat To Press

Nick Hutchings — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 13:29:39 +0000

The best full-body exercises are often a combination of two moves, because that’s the simplest way to involve as many muscle groups as possible. The dumbbell squat to press is a great example of this, since it combines one of the best leg exercises with one of the best shoulder exercises, and moving between the two brings other muscles into play as well.

Below you’ll find more info on the benefits of the exercise, plus a form guide and a quick dumbbell workout you can try that uses the move.

Dumbbell Squat To Press Benefits

Doing any kind of squat is always worthwhile, and adding dumbbells increases the challenge to your lower body, with the glutes and quads in particular benefiting from the move. Holding the weights by your shoulders also increases the work your core does during a squat to keep you stable.

For its part, the overhead press works your shoulders, as well as muscles in your upper back. Your core will again be working to keep you stable as you press the weights above your head, and if you do the entire dumbbell squat to press at pace you’ll quickly ramp up your heart rate and improve your cardiovascular fitness, which is why it’s a top move to add to HIIT workouts.

How To Do The Dumbbell Squat To Shoulder Press

(Image credit: Glen Burrows)

Stand with your feet hip-width apart. Hold a dumbbell by each shoulder, with your elbows bent at 90˚ and your palms facing forwards. Lower into a squat until your thighs are parallel to the floor, then drive back up explosively and press the weights overhead until your arms are fully extended.

Dumbbell Workout

Now you know the move you can use the dumbbell squat to press in this fast-paced dumbbell workout. Complete four rounds of the following as fast as you can. Log your time, then try to beat it next time.

1 Dumbbell bench press

Reps 30

Aim to use 10kg weights for this. Lie on a bench and hold the dumbbells either side of your chest with your elbows bent at 90˚. Press the dumbbells up until your arms are straight. Lower slowly.

2 Dumbbell squat to shoulder press

Reps 20

Aim to use 10kg weights for this.

3 Dumbbell jab

Reps 25 each side

Drop down to 5kg weights for this move. Get into a loose boxing stance, with one foot slightly ahead of the other. Hold the dumbbells in a vertical position in front of your neck and upper chest. Punch one arm forwards, turning it as you go so the dumbbell is horizontal at the end of the movement. Repeat on the other side. Continue alternating arms and keep your core braced throughout.

Andy McKenzie Home Workout

Joel Snape — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 09:43:28 +0000

McKenzie calls this brutal workout 50 Reps To Hell. "You do 50 reps of the first move, 49 of the second, 48 of the third, 47 of the fourth, 46 of the fifth and then repeat the circuit dropping a rep for each move until you get down to one. You have to get though it as fast as you can." It clearly works – just look on the right to see what phenomenal shape he's in.

1 Clap press-up

"Your chest must touch the floor during each rep. Once you hit the floor, take your hands off the ground and clap them together above your head," says McKenzie. "It'll stop half press-ups creeping in."

2 Double-under skipping

"You can do two-footed jumps over a sandbag if you don't have a rope," says McKenzie. "Just do it fast!"

3 Dead hang

"Either hang straight from the bar or, if you're feeling adventurous, use something to test your grip strength, such as ropes or towels," says McKenzie. "The important thing here is continually crush when gripping and brace your whole body to create extra tension."

4 Prisoner squat

"Keep your hands behind head and elbows pushed back at all times," says McKenzie. "Make sure your thighs are parallel to the ground at the lowest point of the move."

5 Inverted row

"Set the bar to hip height," says McKenzie. "Your chest must touch the bar and your whole body stay rigid throughout the movement."

Workouts from top personal trainers

Joel Snape — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 09:26:10 +0000

Mark Bennett, senior wellbeing adviser at Nuffield, Moulto
'I’ve put together a ViPR workout that will burn fat, improve your cardio and build muscle with moves like the leopard crawl, woodchop and lateral toss. It’ll bump up your heartrate and increase your metabolic rate for around six hours after the workout.'

Go for 20 reps each of:
- Leopard crawl
- Active lateral toss
- Swings
- Row to uppercut
- Burpees
- Woodchop
- Squat

Janet Malinowski, creator of LA Fitness' Dance Fusion workout
'It would have to be an intense combination of high-intensity interval training and plyometric work – an all-rounder for cardio, conditioning and core strength. The exercises below are one set – perform each one consecutively, rest for two minutes and repeat for a total of four sets. This will always be intense. '

Four sets of:
20 Burpees
20 Squat
20 Jumps
20 Clap press-ups
20 Scissor jump
20 Plyometic sit-ups

John Williams, campus training coach for David Lloyd
'I’d recommend a ViPR workout – if you don’t have one in your gym, you can do a lot of the moves with a sandbag or powerbag. The one I’ve put together consists of three mini-circuits geared towards reconditioning, vitality and performance. You can easily blast through it in 17 minutes.'

Reconditioning circuit
- 20 steps Staggered stance with medial tilt
- 20 Step over squats
- 20 Step with lateral shift
- 10 Step thread the needle

Vitality circuit
- 10 Squat thread the needle
- 20 Lateral shuffle with tilt
- 10 Front carry to deadlift
- 10 ViPR flip

Performance circuit
- 20 Shovel drill
- 20 Anterior step with uppercut
- 20 Ice skaters
- 10 Cylinder lift

Subscribe to the magazine for more effective total-body workouts.

Test your strength

Coach Staff — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:19:28 +0000

As tests of strengths go, there’s nothing better to judge your power than the humble deadlift. Requiring the fast-twitch muscles to fire spontaneously throughout your calves, hamstrings, quads, glutes, back and core, it’s the only move, other that the squat, that requires your whole body to work as one in order to lift a great, big barbell off the floor. And more than that, it will flood your body with muscle-building testosterone, helping you to get truly stacked.

‘The deadlift should be a staple of most workouts,’ says Neil O’Dell, a personal training expert at Premier Training. ‘It builds raw strength throughout your body, targeting the whole posterior chain of muscles from your calves to your lower back, including your hams, quads and glutes. It can also enhance your ability to be explosive in sports and help increase the strength and stability of your core and spine.’

One of the best and easiest way to work out how good you are at the deadlift is to see how much you can lift as a percentage of your bodyweight. Here’s our quick guide. But before you start deadlifting, you'd better read our deadlift form guide from world record deadlfiter Andy Bolton.

0.5 x bodyweight – poor
Practise your technique with just a barbell to get your muscles accustomed to the full range of the move. When comfortable, add a light weight and aim for a few high-rep sets each session.

1 x bodyweight – average
Improve the strength of your lower back muscles with sets of supermen and swap the barbell for dumb-bells to improve your core stability and balance.

1.5 x bodyweight – good
Perform one-legged Romanian deadlifts with dumb-bells to work each leg individually and improve stability and control.

2 x bodyweight – excellent
You're a machine! Enter a local strongman competition immediately.

Now you've got your deadlift down, it's time to learn how to improve your squats for even more all-body power.

For more strength tests, subscribe to the magazine. We'll give you three issues for £1!

How To Do The Lunge To Press

Nick Hutchings — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 06:10:28 +0000

Combination moves like the lunge to overhead press are a great way to increase the amount of muscles you target during a workout when short on time. It’s not hard to see why doing one of the best leg exercises and one of the best shoulder exercises in one go is good for you, but actually combining the two brings with it extra benefits you might not expect, such as an increased workload for your core muscles as well as a bonus cardio challenge.

Below you’ll find a full run-down of the benefits of the move and a form guide for the lunge to press, so you can upgrade your dumbbell workouts with one of the best full-body exercises.

Lunge To Press Benefits

Weighted lunges work all the major muscle groups in the lower body to some extent, with the quads and glutes doing most of the work. Your core is also engaged to keep your body stable during the exercise, and even more so when combining lunges with presses, since lifting the weights above your head introduces more instability to your upper body.

The overhead press hits the shoulders, triceps and upper back in particular, though it also engages your pecs. Doing the lunge to press thus works large muscles throughout the body, which in turn will get your heart pumping and introduce some cardiovascular benefits as well.

How To Do The Lunge To Press

Stand with your back straight, feet shoulder-width apart and toes pointing forwards. Hold the dumbbells either side of your head with your palms facing forwards. Brace your core muscles and step forwards into a lunge, lowering until both knees are bent at a 90° angle. Your rear knee should end up close to the floor and your front knee shouldn’t go past your front foot.

Stay in the lunge position and press the weights overhead until your arms are straight. Bring the weights back down to your shoulders and push back up to standing, then lunge forwards on the other leg. Throughout the move make sure you keep your core muscles engaged so your back is straight, and keep your head up with your gaze forwards.

How To Do The Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift To Row

Sam Rider — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 09:53:50 +0000

Performing the same exercises over and over again soon becomes dull and limits your muscle growth. Incorporating variations on traditional moves into your routine will shock your body into new growth and improve your performance.

Top trainer Gideon Remfrey turns standard exercises such as the deadlift into multi-faceted, multi-plane exercises such as the single-leg Romanian deadlift to row, and the side lunge with reverse cable woodchop.

"They require lots of energy," says Remfrey, "Which means you get a big calorie burn, and are mentally tough. They’re also quite sporty – the side lunge with reverse cable woodchop is similar to the movement you might make when playing a backhand in squash."

How To Do The Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift To Row

(Image credit: Glen Burrows)

Sets 3 Reps 9-12 each side

Retract your shoulders and lift one leg slightly behind you. Lean forwards from the hips and, at the bottom of the move, row the dumbbells. Lead with your elbows rather than your upper traps and squeeze your shoulder blades together.

More Combination Exercises

Side lunge with reverse cable woodchop

(Image credit: Glen Burrows)

Sets 3 Reps 9-12 each side

Lunge with your right leg, with your toes pointing forwards and your torso upright. Chop up and over your right shoulder, keeping your hips facing forwards and your arms locked, so that the rotation comes from your torso.

Jason Anderson’s ten-minute fix

Coach Staff — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:26:06 +0000

(Image credit: Unknown)

Squat push-press combo

Sets: 2 Reps: 8-10

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, toes pointing outwards slightly. Hold dumbbells at shoulder-height, palms facing each other. Lower into a squat until your thighs are parallel with the floor. Keep your back and head upright.

(Image credit: Unknown)

Stand up and press the weights directly above your shoulders.

(Image credit: Unknown)

Bring the dumbbells back to shoulder height, but with your palms facing forward, and go down into another squat.

(Image credit: Unknown)

Stand up and press the weights directly above your shoulders.

(Image credit: Unknown)

Lower the weights to shoulder height again, and go down into a squat again while twisting your torso to the right.

(Image credit: Unknown)

As you stand up, turn your torso to the left and press the dumbbell in your right hand up and across your body. Return to the start. That’s one rep. Press the dumbbell to alternate sides at the end of each rep. Each rep should take between 12 and 15 seconds.

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2B Back extension

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1 TRX Squat

2 TRX Arabesque

3 TRX pike

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