Thankfully, the intentions behind this industry chatter are typically genuine. Coaches want to help clients achieve results, and the general public is simply looking to feel better. However, amidst the confusion is a growing need for the fitness industry to develop a common language that both professionals and consumers can understand. And that common language should focus on helping society move better and more often for the long haul.

Promote Movement Quality

Changing the language of the industry may feel like an impossible task, but two principles are undeniable:

• Put movement quality first.
• Help people move more.

Regardless of your goals (muscle hypertrophy, strength, performance, etc.), these two factors are critical for the industry to head in the right direction. A movement-based approach to training has the potential for magic, and it needs to start in gym class for kids. The lack of a proprioceptive-enriched movement lifestyle for children is a major concern for society.

However, it is never too late to restore what Gray Cook calls “movement competency.” Here is Gray’s definition of how to find movement competency:

This we test with movement screening. If screening reveals pain or dysfunction in the form of limitation or asymmetry, there is a movement competency problem. Alternatively, there is a basic movement-aptitude problem—pick your term, but make the point. Adequate competency suggests acceptable fundamental-movement quality.

Achieving movement competency will be hard if we focus our fitness programs purely on looking better. I am a bodybuilder at heart and have worked on building bigger muscles and looking better since I was 15. Fast-forward almost 20-years and I have realized that my chase for aesthetics has left me with faulty movement patterns. I am now forced to work on improving my movement competency instead of working on looking good.

This doesn’t mean that I will never be able to work out for aesthetics, but I do need to earn the right to make that the sole focus of my training. Building muscle is increasingly important as you age, but you can still have a high-level of movement competency at any fitness level. Building muscle and getting stronger should be your main goal, once you start moving well.

A Catalyst for Change

This was my catalyst for developing a movement-based approach to hypertrophy training. In the past, bodybuilders would maybe perform light static stretching, five minutes on a cardio machine, and a few warm-up sets before jumping into a 25-set workout of chest and triceps. Young lifters without a lot of miles on their body can get away with this method for a while, but this approach may eventually leave you with asymmetries, injuries, pain, and frustratingly slow progress.

You don’t have to be in your fifties to have an old training age. As Dan John says, “It’s not the years, it’s the miles.” I have been training hard for almost 20-years with a week off here and there, but not often. The miles are deep in this young body.

If you want to last in the lifting game for the long run, endless sets of eight to 15 reps per body part may not be what your body needs. So, what should a person chasing a bodybuilding-type physique do instead of the typical splits? Revisit and master fundamental human movements and do them with realistic sets, reps, and loads. If you focus on moving better first, you will be surprised how fast your body will be able to get back to lifting heavy objects, often.

A Collaborative Design

Like any other trainer or strength coach, my philosophy has evolved over the years. These days, I follow philosophies of various tried-and-true methods.

Functional Movement Systems (FMS) is a useful approach to understand movement baselines and exercise modifications. Most people would benefit from an FMS screening. Along with a detailed health history at intake, FMS provides a solid foundation when designing programs. For the beginner or veteran, the fundamentals are where you start and finish.

Every strength and muscle hypertrophy program should include some variation of the following movements depending on the goal of the individual. This list is largely inspired by the legendary Dan John:

• Push: push-ups, bench press, overhead press
• Pull: dumbbell row, inverted row, chin-ups, pull-ups
• Squat: goblet squat, front squat, back squat, single-leg squat
• Hinge: deadlift, kettlebell swing, single-leg deadlifts, Olympic lifts
• Loaded Carry: farmer’s carry, suitcase carry, overhead carry, sandbag carry
• Groundwork: rocking, rolling, creeping, crawling, Turkish get-ups
• Core/Rotation/Anti-rotation: ab wheel rollouts, cable press outs, chops, lifts

The New Age Bodybuilding Template

Below is a foundational hypertrophy template that consists of lifting 3 days per week for 6 weeks. Dividing your strength and conditioning into four to six week phases will keep your body fresh, resilient, and improve general physical preparedness. This length of time seems to be the sweet spot, since most people have what I call “Exercise ADD.”

Program Components:

1. Correctives
2. Movement Preparation
3. Lift Weights
4. Finisher

Correctives

Correctives are based off of FMS and health history. For example, a perfect score for an Active Straight Leg is 3/3, 0 for pain. Your goal should be to achieve symmetry (a score of 2/2 or 3/3). If your score is 2/1, the following corrective exercises will use core and motor control to improve alternating hip flexion and extension.

• Alligator Breathing: Lay down in a comfortable position for 2-3 minutes. I prefer on the stomach to feel the abdominal wall. Breathe in and out through your nose. Focus on pulling air deep into your belly. It may help to imagine pulling air down into your feet.
• Assisted Leg Lowering: 10 reps each leg
• Cook Hip Lift: 5 x 10-second holds each side

Movement Preparation

Before you begin your workout spend 5-10 minutes on the following movement preparations:

• Kettlebell arm bars: 5 each side
• Half-kneeling kettlebell halos: 10 reps
• Goblet squat w/prying knees: 5 reps
• Lunge Matrix: 6 reps
• Plank to Down Dog: 10 reps (not in video)
• Inch Worm: 10 reps (not in video)
• Jump Rope: 2-5 minutes (not in video)

Lift Weights

Below are the rep rotations for the three lifting days. Organize your week so that you don’t lift two days in a row.

• Monday (or Tuesday): 5 x 5
• Wednesday (or Thursday): 8 x 3
• Friday (or Saturday): 3 x 8-12

The following exercise options are based on the fundamental movement patterns:

• Push: One-arm kettlebell press, single-arm bench press, push-ups
• Pull: Inverted row, chin-ups
• Squat: Goblet Squat, single-leg squat, front squats
• Hinge: Deadlift, single-leg deadlift, kettlebell swing
• Loaded Carry: farmer’s walk, suitcase carry
• Ground Work: Turkish get-ups, crawling and rolling
• Core (rotation/anti-rotation): McGill Big 3, rollouts, anti-rotation press outs

Finisher

Pick one conditioning finisher per training session:

• Air Bike Sprints: 6-8 rounds of 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off
• Concept2 Rower: 1,000 meters
• Ski Erg Sprints: 3 rounds of 1-minute on, rest 2 minutes in between sprints
• Sled Push/Pull: 5 x 50 yards
• Battling Ropes: 8 x 20 reps for 2 arm slams. Rest 30 seconds between sets.

Cool-Down

Proper recovery will provide your body with a better base to keep building muscle for the long haul. Before you skip out of the gym after your workout, run through this cool-down routine:

• Alligator breathing: 2 minutes
• Head nods: 10 reps up and down and 10 reps side to side
• Bird dogs: 10 reps/side
• Rock backs: 20 reps
• Egg rolls: 20 reps
• Get up and down off of the ground: 5-10 reps
• Baby crawling, Spiderman crawling: 30-40 yards each

Change Is Here

I will always be a meathead at heart. I love bodybuilding and I am amazed at the amount of weight powerlifters can move. But the “pedal to the metal” workouts eventually take their toll.

If we continue to direct the general public towards endless sets of body-part split workouts, force Olympic lifting on people who are not ready and may never be ready to perform, and max out on the squat, deadlift, and bench press, the long haul may never come. Let’s focus on keeping people moving instead.

The post Move Well First: A New Path for Coaching Fitness appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

The problem with taking a program straight from a magazine is that they often fail to integrate details on fundamental human movements, proper mobility, and self-care. While building muscle mass should be one of the primary goals when lifting weights, you can’t ignore performance, longevity, and overall health. Improving joint mobility, flexibility, power development, and athleticism all have a place in a bodybuilder’s program.

Bodybuilding should really be about creating a more resilient, strong, and muscular body for the long haul.

Bodybuilding is about having bigger muscles, but it’s also about improving your overall health and fitness.

Bodybuilding as a Foundation of Overall Fitness

Anyone looking to improve their physique could be called a bodybuilder. The stereotype that all bodybuilders are meatheads that perform body part splits, eat chicken and broccoli, and stay tan year round is untrue and unfair. Bodybuilding is more than that.

If you are looking to build muscle, lose body fat, move better, and stay healthy, you need to start by constructing a base of strength. Outlined below are the elements of my New Age Bodybuilding template. Integrating these concepts into your program will not only help you build muscle, but also form a foundation to stay lifting for years. If you are new to lifting and looking for a way to improve your body, start here. For the advanced lifter, it never hurts to go back to the fundamentals.

Bodybuilding Foundation: Warm Up, Correctives, and Movement Prep

The following corrective exercises can be done at home, on an off day, or before a workout. 

Active Straight Leg Raise: Leg lowering progressions help improve the hip hinge. This is also a great drill to improve mobility.

1. Lie flat on your back.
2. Using a strap or a band, bring your right leg up to the beginning of the stretch and hold for a few seconds while keeping your left leg straight and flat.
3. Raise your left leg, keeping it straight as possible while raising it even with the right leg. Repeat 10 times.
4. If the right leg loosens a bit, then increase the stretch, but the left leg needs to return to the ground straight and flat (calf touching before the heel without any turnout) on every rep.
5. Switch legs and repeat.

Take your time with this drill. Keep in mind that this is not a hamstring stretch, but rather an alternating pattern of hip flexion and extension. Both legs are equally important and it also has a core-strengthening component if done properly.

Couch Stretch: This is an excellent hip flexor stretch to improve hip mobility.

1. Grab a pad or other soft surface for your knee.
2. Start with your back to the wall.
3. Put one knee on a soft surface and bend it back until you have your foot up against the wall. The other knee should be bent in front of you at 90 degrees.
4. Maintain an upright posture at all times.
5. Hold for 30-60 seconds and repeat on the other side.

McGill Sit Up: The McGill sit up will strengthen your core and protect your back.

1. Lie on your back with your left leg straight on the floor. Your right knee should be bent with your foot flat on the floor.
2. Place your hands palms down on the floor underneath the natural arch in your lower back. Don’t flatten your back.
3. Slowly raise your head and shoulders off the floor without bending your lower back or spine, and hold this position for 7-8 seconds, breathing deep the entire time. That’s one repetition.
4. Perform 4-5 reps, rest for 30-60 seconds, and then switch legs so that your right leg is straight and your left is bent. Repeat for a total of two rounds per side.
5. For an added challenge, raise your elbows off the floor as you curl up. And for an even greater challenge, contract your abs before you initiate the movement, and then curl up against that force.

Other corrective exercises:

• Rib pull or Brettzel stretch for overhead movements (5-10 deep breathes per side)
• Bird dog for core development and lumbar spine protection (3 sets of 5 reps per side)
• Glute bridge and hip lift progressions to improve posterior chain and open up anterior chain (3-5 sets of 10-second holds)

In addition to these corrective exercises, spend 5-10 minutes before each workout focused on original strength reset drills like breathing exercises, head nods, rolling, rocking, crawling, and getting up and down off the ground. Perform 10-20 reps per movement depending on the time that you have.

Finally, before you begin your workout spend 5-10 minutes on the following movement preparations: 

• Arm-bars: 1-2 sets of 30-60 second holds each side
• KB Halo: 10 reps each direction
• Prying goblet squat and Cossack squats: 5 reps each side
• Lunge matrix (forward, lateral, rotational): 5 reps each side
• Plyometrics or jump rope: 2 sets of 5 reps for plyometrics and 2-5 minutes for jump rope

Continue to page 2 for for strength training progressions, performance standards, conditioning, and recovery.

Bodybuilding Foundation: Strength Training Progressions

The following is a list of progressions that will prepare your body for more traditional bodybuilding exercises. These movements will ensure that you have the foundational strength and baseline movement ability to train safely and effectively.

• Turkish get up progressions: Unloaded, loaded, half, and full get up. Make sure that form is sufficient with the half Turkish get up and the full get up before you add weight. Strive for 3-5 reps per side for each progression.
• Pull up progressions: Hangs, holds, and full reps. For hangs and holds, do 3 sets of 10-20 seconds to build positional strength. Perform straight-arm hangs first and then move to holds at the top of the rep. Once you have developed enough upper-body strength, the 5-3-2 method works well to train full pull ups. Inverted rows are a good substitute if your overhead mobility is not sufficient.

• Squats: Goblet squat, front squat, single leg, or pistol: Once a proper goblet squat can be performed with 16-24kg for 5 reps, the double kettlebell front squat and barbell front squat can be introduced. For the single leg squat, use a bench or medicine ball for a tactile cue to manage the depth of you squat. Once you can perform 3-5 reps above parallel, progress to a full pistol squat. Start with 2-5 sets of 3-5 reps.
• Pushing exercises: If you can hold a push up plank for at least 30 seconds, move to full push ups. Once you can perform 15 push ups, progress to dumbbell bench press or kettlebell floor press for 3-5 sets of 5 reps. If your overhead mobility is not a concern, utilize the kettlebell overhead press for 3-5 sets of 3-5 reps.
• Hinge progressions: Once you can perform a correct kettlebell deadlift, move on to the kettlebell swing. Progress to barbell deadlifts only after you are comfortable with the hip hinge movement pattern. The single-leg kettlebell deadlift is an effective exercise to reduce asymmetries and help strengthen the hinge pattern.
• Loaded carries: Farmers carries, suitcase carries, single-arm rack carries, and if overhead mobility is sufficient, the single-arm overhead carry should be utilized in your program.

For efficiency, pair the following exercises: 

• Get up progressions and loaded carries
• Hinge and upper-body pushing exercises
• Squats and pull up progressions

If you can’t do pull ups right away, start with hangs and holds until you develop positional strength and stability.

Bodybuilding Foundation: Performance Standards for Beginners

Most athletes want to jump right into the highest standard possible and forget about establishing a sound base. This can lead to burnout or injury. The standards below will help guide you toward the choosing the proper progression:

• Farmers Carry: 75% of bodyweight (combined weight in each hand) for 60-90 seconds.
• Kettlebell Swings: 100 two-handed swings in less than 5 minutes. Women should use a 16kg bell while men should use a 24kg bell.
• Turkish get ups: 5 reps on each side with the same size bells used for the swing.
• Push ups: 3 sets of 10+ for women, 15+ for men.
• Chin up/pull up holds: 30 seconds for women and 45 seconds for men. Once this is established, women should shoot for 2 sets of 1 rep and men should aim for 2 sets of 5 reps.
• Squats: Once 5 perfect reps can be done with a 16kg bell for women and a 24kg bell for men, progress to the double-kettlebell front squat and eventually the barbell front squat. Progress slowly.

Once you meet these standards, you can start to add traditional bodybuilding exercises, such as bicep curls, triceps extensions, and dumbbell lateral raises to round out your program.

Bodybuilding Foundation: Conditioning

Having a solid conditioning base is important for a beginning bodybuilder to promote general physical preparedness, work capacity, and fat loss. Your conditioning program should focus on improving ballistic movement patterns (e.g., the kettlebell swing) and utilize movements that stimulate a metabolic effect without beating you up. Keep in mind that conditioning should not be done haphazardly or to excess. Below are three conditioning workouts that are hard enough to produce results, but approachable for a beginner.

• 100 kettlebell swings done in sets of 10-20 reps. Record your time to track progression.
• 2,000 meter row. You can cut the distance in half if 2,000 meters is too much. Alternatively, feel free to add distance, but cap it at 3,000 meters. Record your time to track progression.
• Assault/Airdyne bike intervals: 6 sets of 30-seconds on, 30-seconds off.

Bodybuilding Foundation: Foam Rolling for Recovery

Foam rolling is a technique that is often utilized incorrectly. Most people assume that it helps enhance increased mobility before workouts. However, it is best performed after workouts as a recovery method for these reasons:

• Your body experiences a significant level of local inflammation and delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) after a tough workout. Targeting soft tissue helps reduce this soreness and improve recovery.
• Foam rolling post workout helps clear out inflammation and lymphatic pooling, aiding in recovery by reducing local tone of the tissues.
• It helps drive blood into local areas, helping to clear out waste.

After each workout, foam roll the following areas for at least 5 minutes: 

• Posterior chain: calves, hamstrings, glutes, thoracic spine, lats
• Anterior chain: thighs, hips, inner thighs, pecs

A Base for Bodybuilding Longevity

Don’t be afraid to go against the norm in the sport of bodybuilding. Without a proper foundation of movement and a roadmap of progression to follow, you may find yourself hitting a plateau, or even worse, dealing with an injury. Bulking up your traditional bodybuilding workouts with corrective exercises, warm ups, body resets, strength training progressions, conditioning, and recovery will provide your body with a better base to keep building muscle for the long-haul.

More on the Why and How of Bodybuilding:

• Lift Stuff: Add Mass to Your Body and Years to Your Life
• 4 Reasons Bodybuilding Is Important for Weightlifting
• Super Sets: What They Are and 4 Ways to Do Them
• New on Breaking Muscle Today

Photos 1, 5 courtesy of Shutterstock.

Photos 2, 3, 4 courtesy of Justin Grinnell.

Photo 6 courtesy of Craig Marker.

The post A New Age Foundation for Life-Long Bodybuilding appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

While any well-developed CrossFit program does cover a lot of ground, there are a few exercises I feel that CF folks would benefit from that I very rarely see these in a CrossFit program.

Some may argue that since certain exercises will never be included in a CrossFit event, they are not worth taking the time to do. I beg to differ. Would you tell Kelly Starrett that his mobility WOD was worthless, just because you wouldn’t see his corrective exercise drills in a WOD at your local competition or during the CrossFit Games Open? I don’t think so.

You would try his new mobility drill in order to improve your movement in a certain area of the body, thus leading to a better kipping pull up or clean and jerk. Your goal as a CrossFitter is to try to improve across many areas of fitness, in any way, shape, or form. Whether it is some new shoes or wrist wraps, more soft tissue work or an extra weightlifting session, you will do whatever it takes to improve your Fran time, become a fire-breather, and lift heavy ass weight above your head.

I have found five strength-based exercises that have helped my competitors improve in all aspects of CrossFit. The main reason is that these strength-based exercises are unilateral, while many of the weightlifting exercises in CrossFit are bilateral. Let me go onto say that nothing can replace the barbell for true strength. But, some of these unilateral strength-training exercises can help improve the big lifts by reducing muscular imbalances, asymmetries, and the risk of injury.

You see, adding explosiveness to an asymmetry issue is a problem. You can’t just add a bunch of Kinesio tape to your shoulders and knees and expect to get better. You need to deal with this issue with a systemic approach that includes the weak side, addresses mobility and flexibility issues, and perhaps even has you do aggressive rehab work. Do all this and watch all of your CrossFit moves improve.

Now, you don’t have to become a total rehab, corrective, and mobility Nazi in order to correct your asymmetries and muscular imbalances. In fact, as long as you are doing some soft tissue work and warming-up before your workout, you can simply sneak in these five strength-based unilateral movements and see dramatic improvements in the way you move and feel.

I heard this quotation before, from Charlie Weingroff: “Training equals rehab; Rehab equals training.” The best training rehab I ever used was to include more symmetry work in my strength programs for my athletes. It was like magic. After four weeks of doing one-arm presses, Bulgarian split squats, and one-leg bench hip thrusters, they suddenly were squatting, deadlifting, and Olympic lifting much better, and with no pain. Goal accomplished!

Why These Exercises?

There are a few movement patterns that CrossFitters generally want to get better at:

• Pulling – pull ups, rope climbs, pull phase of Olympic lifts
• Squatting – pistol squats, front squats, back squats
• Hinge patterns – Olympic lifts, kettlebell swings, deadlifts, and any other posterior chain-dominant movements
• Overhead movements – handstand push ups, snatches, overhead squats, overhead presses, jerks

If you notice, one common thing with almost all of these exercises is that they are all bilateral movements. This means you are using both sides of your body at the same time. By doing this, you do run the risk of compensation patterns, since no one has a totally symmetrical body. Over time this can lead to more muscle imbalances and compensation patterns, possibly resulting in pain or injury.

I have found five strength-based exercises that help get the body back in balance and become symmetrical again to improve these movement patterns:

1. One-Arm Dumbbell Row
2. Front Rack One-Leg Bulgarian Split Squat
3. One-Arm Overhead Press
4. Barbell One-Leg Deadlift
5. Barbell One-Leg Bench Hip Thrusters

Let’s take a look at the amazing benefits each one of these symmetry exercises have to offer.

1. One-Arm Dumbbell Row

Horizontal pulling is the most underused movement pattern in CrossFit. Pull ups are a great back builder, but horizontal pulling balances out all the overhead movements that CrossFit usually entails. The one-arm dumbbell row helps build tons of upper back strength and helps reduce the risk of injury of the shoulders. Most CrossFit athletes spend the majority of their day sitting, which causes the rhomboids and the mid and low traps to get lengthened throughout the day. By adding the one-arm dumbbell row, you wake up these muscles that help stabilize the scapula.

2. Front Rack One-Leg Bulgarian Split Squat

This exercise has been around for ages, and for a good reason. You can build tons of strength and even flexibility in the hip flexors and quads without stressing the low back too much. Again, we sit a lot, causing the hip flexors and quads to shorten. By placing the back foot on a bench, we actively stretch the hip flexors and quads one leg at a time. You can also load up this exercises quite a bit to improve overall lower-body strength and muscle growth. I have added this exercise in many of my CrossFit athletes’ programs, in place of back squats, and watched them demolish their front squat and power clean records.

3. One-Arm Overhead Press and Push Press

Vertical pressing movements like push presses teach your chest and shoulders to work in unison with your hips and core. Now, do this with only one kettlebell and dumbbell and see how much your core and shoulders have to work even harder to press the weight above your head. By always pressing a heavy bar above your head, you can cause many compensation patterns to happen during this movement. By adding in some one-arm overhead presses, you challenge each side of your core, shoulders and chest to work harder to press the weight. Get both sides of your body equally strong and watch your overhead press personal records increase.

4. Barbell One-Leg Deadlifts

A strong posterior chain for a CrossFitter is as valuable as gold. To perform heavy Olympic lifts, you need to have some strong hamstrings, lower back, and glutes. By adding in one-leg deadlits you balance out your posterior chain muscles in order to help increase your Olympic lifting, conventional deadlifts, and even box jumps. By cycling in one-leg deadlifts, you also place less stress on the lower back and hips, which can help increase your training volume of the posterior chain, without overtraining.

5. Barbell One-Leg Bench Hip Thrusters

Having strong glutes is a must as a CrossFitter. You can do all of the squats and deadlifts you want, but sometimes that may not be enough to activate the glutes properly. One-leg hip thrusts have been a mainstay in my training for the past few months. I really like it because it’s a back-friendly, knee-friendly exercise to work the posterior chain. The “glute guy,” Brett Contreras, has done a ton of research on variations of the hip thrust. He has found that hip thrusts are one of the best ways to strengthen the glutes. If you have an athlete who is dealing with some injuries, add these in to keep their posterior chains strong and balanced. The one-leg bench hip thrust is the perfect exercise to strengthen the posterior chain, while giving your body a break from the heavy squat grind.

Photos courtesy of CrossFit Impulse.

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