After sustaining a torn teres minor last August while messing around on the monkey bars, I’ve been sidelined from most pressing and pulling for the last four months. While I haven’t been able to do some of the big lifts I favor (deadlift, bench, military press, back squat), I have had ample time to play with lifts that emphasize stability in the shoulder and mobility in the thoracic spine. Farmer’s carries and walking overhead press-outs are at the top of the list.

Explore Self-Limiting Activities

In the video sequence, you’ll see I’ve added a balance component to these two movements. This amplifies the mobility and stability challenges and pairs them with a coordination element. Blending strength, mobility, and balance introduces a helpful “limitation” – in this case, using balance to limit load – that allows the user to focus on movement quality.

Gray Cook² talks about the usefulness of self-limiting activities, during which we limit ourselves intentionally in one of two ways. I can intentionally limit my own ability to reach a specific goal. For example, I may be able to run a 6:00 mile, but I choose to slow my pace by only breathing through my nose to focus on lowering intensity of training or targeting relaxation. Or I can introduce limiting variables – in this case, a 2×4.

Self-limiting activities are beneficial for all exercising populations, but they are especially good for rehabbing athletes who need to slowly rebuild their capacities. Since the number one indicator for future injury is previous injury, rehabbing athletes can use a self-limiting approach to learn to walk (again) before they run. Self-limiting activities are also excellent for healthy athletes looking to push themselves towards personal bests, because they help create technically proficient foundations before adding intensity or load.

Triple Threat Kettlebell Balance Workout

The workout below combines balancing, carrying, pressing, and light jumping to facilitate gains in stability, strength, and mobility. It also includes one explosive lift – the triple extension kettlebell swing – to improve athleticism and conditioning. While the 2×4 provides an artificial limit on load capacity, it also helps to pinpoint mobility and stability asymmetries that may be holding you back when not on shaky ground.

Do parts A, B, C, and D five times.

After completing each round, rest :30-:60 and shake out any residual tension acquired while working on the 2×4. Trying to do this workout 5 times with no rest can lead to diminishing returns, as the neuromuscular coordination required can be quite fatiguing.

Part A

• Farmer’s carry with a single kettlebell (or dumbbell) – walk forwards and backwards on a 2×4 (mine is 12 feet long).

Part B

• Using the same arm, clean and press the kettlebell overhead.
• Walk forwards/backwards across the length of the 2×4 while maintaining the press-out position.

Part C

• Walk the kettlebell to the middle of the 2 x 4 and set it down.
• Keep the same side leg you’ve just used in your upper body carrying/pressing as your front leg. For example, if your right leg is in front, keep it there.
• Now jump over the kettlebell and land in a split stance on the other side of the bell while also switching your stance so that the back is now in the front position. Switching stances like this makes the jump a little shorter and easier to control.
• Pivot around and complete another jump. Do this rotation until you’ve completed 4 total jumps.

Complete this entire sequence again on the other side of your body so that you’ve done the carry, walking press-out, and jumps on both left and right sides.

Then do:

Part D

• Position yourself in the middle of the 2×4. Your feet are side by side at about hip/shoulder width and your toes are aligned with the edge of the board.
• Do 10 triple extension kettlebell swings. The triple extension refers to the extension of the hips, knees, and ankles. Normal kettlebell swings don’t generate ankle extension because the heel stays rooted to the floor. The first several might be a bit wonky as you find the balance, but you can see in the video that I generate more ankle extension as I get a few reps in.

Rest

• For :30-:60, actively shaking out residual tension from all of the balancing work.

Repeat the entire sequence for a total of 5 rounds.

Expand Your Limits

This workout is easy to modify in order to increase or decrease difficulty. Using two kettlebells is one great way to add more weight. If you use two, be mindful of your posture in the press-out position, which requires a fair degree of thoracic mobility. You can also do walking seesaw presses instead of holding bells in the overhead lockout. I would only use one bell on the triple extension swings until you’ve mastered the balance aspect at the top of the swing. Sandbags and other types of load work well if you want to play with weight distribution.

The various elements of workouts like this one allow you to focus on many aspects of training, including technique, posture, symmetry, and asymmetry. Use this sequence to move more competently and push beyond whatever limits you’re currently experiencing.

You’ll Also Enjoy:

• Set the Foundation: Include Balance Drills in Your Workout
• Loaded Carries: The Ultimate Functional Exercise
• 3 Mobility Drills for Solid Overhead Lifts
• New on Breaking Muscle Today

References:

1. John, D., “The Secret of Loaded Carries,” T-Nation.com, accessed 16 January 2016.

2. Cook, Gray. Movement: Functional Movement Systems–Screening, Assessment and Corrective Strategies. Aptos, CA: On Target Publications, 2010.

The post Kettlebell Triple: Strength, Mobility, and Symmetry Exercises appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

I first learned the benefits of over/unders from Jim Radcliffe, long-time Strength and Conditioning Director for the University of Oregon football team, which is famed for working at a quick tempo during games. Coach Radcliffe utilizes the drills as part of his active warm up before football practice. Radcliffe likes to work at a quick tempo to get the team warmed up and practice at game speed. He uses over/under drills to thoroughly mobilize his athletes while also getting them warm.

Moving on a balance beam requires focus and coordination.

Before You Begin

Here are some tips for the advanced movements that are used in the workout.

• Step-Overs: Raise the knee straight up towards your chest as you step over the hurdle (rather than just opening up the hip and swinging it around the hurdle). This will give you a good sense of your active hip mobility and also keep your center of mass more directly over the 2 x 4 you’re standing on.

• Stepping Under: When going under the hurdles on the way back, try to incorporate some rotation in your foot, knee, and hip to maintain better balance and generate more athleticism than simply stepping sideways. Notice how much this rotational movement and ability to drive forward accelerates your motion under an obstacle. Imagine that you’re trying to clear the obstacle and immediately start running after coming out of your squat (with chest facing forward and shoulders square). This should help you find the rotational element of moving from a lateral to a forward-facing position.

• Crawls: Get really long on the board, keep your head above the rest of your body (to better clear the obstacle with confidence and grace), and trust the strength in your feet (flex them powerfully into the board) so that you’re not overcompensating in your upper body and trying to make the crawl a moving push up.

• Jumping: If you’re doing the jumps, you’ve probably already practiced some of my earlier workouts and are feeling more confident landing in a split stance position. The PVC is gold for jumping, as you won’t get hurt by hitting it, and it also won’t trip you up too badly if you clip it going over.

Advanced Movement Drills for Hip Mobility, Balance, and Power

The workout proceeds in order from A1, B, A2, B, A3, B. This is one round. The goal is to do 3-5 rounds of the entire sequence. The variety of moves combined with the constant small conditioning hits make this a more difficult workout, as balance and precision on the beam can begin to deteriorate under fatigue. Please take as much rest as you need to perform the movements well.

Materials Needed:

• A 2 x 4 (mine is 12 ft. long)
• 3 hurdles of different height (I have used PVC cut to length with a hacksaw and L-joints to make the 90 degree angles)
• Sandbag, medicine ball, or other weighted object you can throw without causing damage

Part A1

1. Step over each of the PVC hurdles while not losing balance, working your way down the board.
2. Work on going under two of the hurdles while stepping over the shortest one coming back.
3. Try to work on different configurations of stepping over/under each time you complete this part, alternatively leading with left/right legs.

Part B

1. Clean sandbag (or alternative object) and throw it forward.
2. Repeat 2 times.
3. Clean/shoulder the sandbag, carry it back to starting point, and set it down.

Part A2

1. Step over the low hurdle, squat down to crawl position, and crawl under both of the higher hurdles.
2. Stand at the end of the board, rotate, and drop down to crawl back before standing and stepping over the final hurdle.
3. Repeat Part B

Part A3

1. Jump over the three hurdles from a split stance to a split stance landing. Again, try to alternate the lead/back legs to build symmetry in your jumping.
2. Repeat Part B

Challenge Your Coordination

This is a great workout that incorporates a wide variety of skills in a short period of time with minimal equipment. Commit to doing some of these multi-skill exercises on your humble 2 x 4, and you’ll be amazed at your coordination when you test yourself outside of the gym.

More Balance Training from Mark:

• Set the Foundations: Include Balance Drills in Your Workout
• Power, Precision, and Balance: A Triple-Threat Kettlebell Workout
• Lateral Training for Athleticism and Injury Prevention
• New on Breaking Muscle Right Now

Photos courtesy of Mark Bixby.

The post Advanced Drills for Hip Mobility, Balance, and Power appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

But if you’ve ever watched high-level competitive athletics, you know that most lower body injuries, especially the dreaded ACL tear, come during lateral shifts, twists, or collisions. The incredible torsional impact of cutting/shifting on a football field, basketball court, or while skiing come immediately to mind.

Practice lateral movement skills to improve your ability to move effortlessly and at full speed on gameday.

Build Strong Joints

In their classic work, Science and Practice of Strength Training, Zatsiorsky and Kraemer argue that “it is especially important to strengthen joint structures in lateral movements (abduction-adduction) and in rotation relative to the longitudinal axis of a body segment.” The authors go on to argue that while flexion/extension of the knee and ankle are typically trained, lateral movements usually get shorted. They conclude:

“if the muscles and joint structures that resist lateral movement are not strengthened, the injury risk is very high….Lateral movements, however, are not trained; unfortunately it is exactly these muscles and structures that should be the training target.”

While not all coaches, especially at the youth level, train lateral movement, this type of training is a huge part of natural movement. This is because our “sport” is supposed to be practiced in nature, where navigating obstacles and changing directions are constants.

Balancing Adds Complexity

The workout I’ve put together for this demonstration is based completely around lateral movements. I’ve added the challenge of performing lateral movements while also maintaining balance on a 2 x 4. The balance component forces the participant to work on postural alignment, while the lateral nature of the movements also challenges the peripheral vision.

While I’m mostly practicing lateral movements, abduction, and adduction in this video, you’ll see that the “overs” I practice while on the beam work the ‘rotation relative to the longitudinal axis’ element that Zatsiorsky and Kraemer mention above. I will continue to develop these skills in my next video, which integrates more advanced skills, including those of lateral movement with a rotational component.

Lateral Balance Workout

This workout is divided into parts A, B, and C, which will be done in order in circuit fashion for five rounds. Rest :30-:60 each time you complete a full circuit before beginning again at Part A. You will need a length of 2 x 4 (mine is 12 ft.) and a kettlebell (or dumbbell, stone, or some other weight).

Part A

1. Lateral steps (right foot leads) down the 2 x 4; lateral steps (left foot leads) coming back.
2. Lateral hops (right foot leads) down the board; lateral hops (left foot leads) coming back.
3. Sideways two-foot jumps going right down the board; sideways two-footed jumps coming back.
4. Alternating “overs,” where you laterally step over an imaginary hurdle, switching directions between right foot leading and left foot leading, go all the way down and back in this fashion.

Part B

1. 3-5 Cossack squats (bodyweight or loaded) in each direction (not on board).
2. 3-5 lateral plank walks, lateral push ups, or lateral plyometric push ups in each direction (not on board).

Part C

1. Lateral hops to split-stance landing on 2 x 4 going down the board; about 3 jumps per side should be good. Make sure that you are aiming for a spot to land when landing on the floor so that you can practice targeted landings.
2. Two-footed sideways jumps landing in split stance going back down the board. Again, focus on precision in landing when jumping from the board to the floor. My landing spot is just 20-22” off of the board. This is a conservative distance to start with.

Practice Preventive Skills

While none of these drills are done at the high speeds of athletic competition, they are awesome foundational exercises to practice in order to achieve a better symmetry between stability, mobility, weight shifting, and postural alignment. If you put the time in to practice these skills, you’ll drastically improve your ability to make these movements effortlessly and at full speed.

More Natural Movement Training:

• Set the Foundations: Include Balance Drills in Your Workout
• Power, Precision, and Balance: A Triple-Threat Kettlebell Workout
• Beyond GPP: The New Model of Performance Training
• New on Breaking Muscle Right Now

References

1. Vladimir Zatsiorsky and William Kraemer, Science and Practice of Strength Training (Champaign: Human Kinetics, 2006).

Teaser photo courtesy of Breaking Muscle.

Photo 1 courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post Lateral Training for Athleticism and Injury Prevention appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

I’ve been an athlete my whole life, and I had been working with barbells and kettlebells since 2003. Thus, my humbling experience in the MovNat certification came as somewhat of a shock.

Since then, I’ve spent an average of three days a week continuing my strength work and three days a week working on movement practice. I have trained with expert movers – Erwan and his lead trainers, Ryan and Jarlo at Gold Medal Bodies, Ido Portal, and others – and I’ve deconstructed my patterns to become a better mover.

Today I will share some ways to create better movement in the feet and ankles, from the perspective of a gym owner who incorporates this work with individual clients and in group exercise classes.

Combine Balance and Strength

My clients are mostly sedentary, middle-aged folks who’ve compartmentalized exercise and movement into three or four sixty-minute blocks of exercise per week. Most of them don’t have much patience for general mobility work, balancing, or crawling drills that don’t elevate their heart rates or “kick their butts.” Thus, I’ve learned to integrate some of these movements as warm ups or active rest phases built into larger strength and conditioning blocks.

The following video is a sample of how we incorporate some foot strengthening and balancing work into a kettlebell/bodyweight workout. You only need a kettlebell and a two-by-four beam (mine is twelve feet long) to complete the workout. If you don’t have a beam, you can also use a concrete curb.

Strength and Balance Drills for a Solid Foundation Part One

1. 10 kettlebell swings
2. Walk forward and backwards on the beam, focusing on relaxed movement – easy breathing, loose hands, nice tall posture.
3. 5-10 push ups
4. Forwards/backwards walk on the beam, as above. This time, add 5-10 controlled calf raises with toes aligned on the edge of the beam.

Strength and Balance Drills for a Solid Foundation Part Two

1. 10 kettlebell swings
2. Back to the beam for the walks and calf raises. Now add 5 squats with toes still aligned at the edge of the beam.
3. 5-10 push ups
4. Beam sequence again, this time adding a tripod drill on the board.

Strength and Balance Drills for a Solid Foundation Part Three

1. 10 kettlebell swings
2. Move through the full beam sequence as in round two. After the tripod drill, transition into a foot-hand crawl on the beam. In the video I show this crawl going forward, but it’s also fun and challenging to try moving forward and backward.
3. 5-10 push ups
4. Precision jumps

As you’ll see in the video, I conclude the workout with some light jumping drills to work on relaxed precision landing.

1. First I work my way down the board doing a one-leg, leg-swing jump.
2. Then I return back down the board doing a two-footed broad jump.

The emphasis here is on trying to land quietly on the balls of feet. Luckily, I have one jarring, loud landing in the video so you can see what not to do on the broad jump.

Strengthen Your Foundation

Graceful natural movement requires relaxation, postural integrity, balance, and mobility. While honing these skills might not be as immediately gratifying as doing burpees, it is essential for moving well and establishing a foundation for sexier, more advanced natural movements like climbing and vaulting.

I have added the brief strength and conditioning interludes in the movement sequence so you can still get a workout while practicing these foundational skills. In my next articles and videos, I will continue to use this humble two-by-four beam and a kettlebell/bodyweight approach to build complexity and skill.

Further Reading

• Understanding and Caring for Your Feet: An anatomy intro by Lindsey Mathews
• How and Why to Strengthen Your Feet: Foot drills from Chandler Stevens
• 5 Foot Strengthening Exercises: Simple movements from David Weck

Related articles:

• Impact Forces: Simple Exercises to Strengthen Your Feet, Part 3
• Move Your Body, Move Your Brain: Training for Neuroplasticity
• The 10 Commandments of the Kettlebell Swing
• What’s New on Breaking Muscle Today

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

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