TSC stands for Throw-Sprint-Carry, which are the three main components of each metabolic circuit workout. We designed this protocol to be used as an adjunct to strength and hypertrophy workouts. In other words, if you want to gain muscle without losing your hustle, the TSC circuit is just what the doctor ordered. Here’s a bit about the three components of TSC circuit training:

1. Throwing medicine balls. These require total body force summation in different planes of motion (depending on how you are throwing the ball) at fast speeds. This is something that you certainly don’t get from doing compound lifts, which is why feel it serves as a nice complement strength training.
2. Sprinting: I certainly don’t have to tell you about the benefits of sprinting, or go into detail about how it’s a pillar of athleticism. I will say that, we incorporate sprints second in the TSC sequence, because we found that beginning with the medicine ball throws serves as a nice preparation to explode into the sprints without fatiguing the legs and increasing risk of injury.
3. Carry Complex: Technically this is what we would call a farmer’s walk complex, which is a series of dumbbell exercises interspersed between several sets of dumbbell (farmer’s) carries.

There are six total workouts, which will be posted over a four-week period. You can jump in any time or follow along as we go. If you want to add these workouts into your current training schedule, here are the days the workouts will be posted:

• Week One: Monday (Workout 1) and Thursday (Workout 2)
• Week Two: Monday (Workout 3)
• Week Three: Monday Workout 4) and Thursday (Workout 5)
• Week Four: Monday (Workout 6)

I invite you to no only try out the workouts provided, but to use this approach as inspiration to develop your own TSC metabolic circuits. To learn more about TSC circuit training, you can read this article I wrote explaining the program in greater depth. Now get to work!

Week 4, Day 1 – TSC Circuit B

THROW

Medicine Ball Soccer Throw w/ Alternate Leg Step (8-10lbs): 4 x 6
Medicine Ball Rotary Punch Throw (8-10lbs): 4 x 6

SPRINT
Shuttle (50yds between cones): 300, 300, 200, 200

CARRY
Heavy Dumbbell Racked Carry x50yds
Light Dumbbell Bent Over Rows (alternate arms): 10 total (5 per side)
Heavy Dumbbell Farmer’s Carry x50yds
Light Dumbbell Overhead Press x 8

The post Strength & Conditioning: Nick Tumminello – Week 4, Day 1 appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

TSC stands for Throw-Sprint-Carry, which are the three main components of each metabolic circuit workout. We designed this protocol to be used as an adjunct to strength and hypertrophy workouts. In other words, if you want to gain muscle without losing your hustle, the TSC circuit is just what the doctor ordered. Here’s a bit about the three components of TSC circuit training:

1. Throwing medicine balls. These require total body force summation in different planes of motion (depending on how you are throwing the ball) at fast speeds. This is something that you certainly don’t get from doing compound lifts, which is why feel it serves as a nice complement strength training.
2. Sprinting: I certainly don’t have to tell you about the benefits of sprinting, or go into detail about how it’s a pillar of athleticism. I will say that, we incorporate sprints second in the TSC sequence, because we found that beginning with the medicine ball throws serves as a nice preparation to explode into the sprints without fatiguing the legs and increasing risk of injury.
3. Carry Complex: Technically this is what we would call a farmer’s walk complex, which is a series of dumbbell exercises interspersed between several sets of dumbbell (farmer’s) carries.

There are six total workouts, which will be posted over a four-week period. You can jump in any time or follow along as we go. If you want to add these workouts into your current training schedule, here are the days the workouts will be posted:

• Week One: Monday (Workout 1) and Thursday (Workout 2)
• Week Two: Monday (Workout 3)
• Week Three: Monday Workout 4) and Thursday (Workout 5)
• Week Four: Monday (Workout 6)

I invite you to no only try out the workouts provided, but to use this approach as inspiration to develop your own TSC metabolic circuits. To learn more about TSC circuit training, you can read this article I wrote explaining the program in greater depth. Now get to work!

Week 3, Day 2 – TSC Circuit A

Perform 3 rounds with 3 minutes of rest between rounds:

THROW
Med Ball Push Throw w/Alternate Leg Step (8-12lbs): 4 x 6
Med Ball Side Rotary Scoop Throw (8-12lbs): 4 x 6 per side

SPRINT
Shuttle (25yds between cones): 300, 300, 200, 200

CARRY
Heavy Dumbbell Racked Carry x 50yds
Light Dumbbell Uppercuts x 10 (5 per side)
Heavy Dumbbell Farmer’s Carry x 50yds
Light Dumbbell Bent Over Rows x 10

The post Strength & Conditioning: Nick Tumminello – Week 3, Day 2 appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Push ups – the purest, most powerful tool in your training arsenal. That is, provided you know how to use it! In this article, I’m going to show you:

1. Why the way you’re currently doing push ups sucks and then give you three small form adjustments that make for big improvements – like more muscular recruitment and less unwanted joint stress.
2. My top five push up variations (you may not have seen) that you can immediately use to add a new movement challenge to your workouts and take your push up training to the next level.

Related: The Best Chest Workouts for Muscle Mass, Strength, and More

Three Common Push Up Mistakes and the Quick Fixes

Put simply, there’s doing push ups, and then there’s doing push ups well. Now, you already know that sagging your head or hips toward the floor is a mistake, which is why I have not included it on this list. Aside from that obvious one, here are the three most common push up technique mistakes I see plenty of athletes and even fitness trainers making. I’m also going to give the quick fixes you can use right now to make your push up safer, more efficient, and much more effective

Common Mistake #1 – Arm Angle

Put simply, the longer the lever arm, the less leverage you have, and the shorter the lever arm, the more leverage you have. When applying this to the push up, in order to maximize your ability to create force and get better leverage on each rep, keep your elbows closer to your body instead of flaring them out at a 90-degree angle, which is typical for how most people do push ups.

Left: wrong; Right: correct.

The Quick Fix: Keep your elbows closer to your sides at roughly a 20- to 40-degree angle from your body. This shortens the lever arm, which gives you an immediate mechanical advantage when doing push ups.

Common Mistake #2 – Elbow Positioning

When done well, the push up strengthens the entire upper body pushing musculature, including the chest, shoulders, and triceps. However, many people allow their elbows to move past their wrists, either behind or out to the side of the wrists. This not only places unwanted stress through the elbow joint (which elevates risk of an overuse injury at the elbows), it also makes the push up less effective because it reduces the chest and shoulder involvement, and makes it more of a triceps-dominant movement.

Left: wrong; Right: correct.

The Quick Fix: Keep your elbows above your wrists through the entire push up action. Your elbows should form a 90-degree angle at the bottom position of the push up.

Common Mistake #3 – Hand Positioning

If your hands are pointed slightly inward, as is often the case in how many people perform push ups, it usually encourages people to flare their arms out away from their sides, which is the issue we covered in mistake number one. Not to mention, pointing your hands inward also forces for your elbows to move out beyond your wrists in the manner I just addressed in mistake number two. In short, better hand placement encourages better elbow alignment and shoulder positioning.

Above: wrong.

Above: correct.

The Quick Fix: Turn your hands outward slightly, pointing your fingers outward, away from the middle of your body at roughly a 45-degree angle. Doing this will help keep your elbows and arm in a better position for maximizing strength and minimizing unwanted joint stress.

If you’re still unsure that you’re accurately picking up what I’m putting down or would like to see these push up tips in action, then check out this video:

Top 5 Push Up Variations

The beauty of the push up is that it’s one of the most versatile exercises you can do. There are literally endless variations you could try, which can make it confusing when deciding which to use. So, to help narrow the field for you, I’ve provided a list of my top five battle-tested push up variations. These are the five used most often in my Performance U training approach. They make the push up more challenging and add some new movement to training programs in order to make sure clients and athletes consistently get stronger and have fun while doing it.

Note: The “home base” push up position (i.e. shoulders, elbows, hands, along with not allowing your head or hips to sag) I covered above is what we apply to all push up variations.

1. Push Back Push Up

This variation resembles the diagonal pushing action of an incline dumbbell press, so it focuses more on the shoulders. Not only have we found that the push back push up is a great way to strengthen your shoulders, but it also forces you to use your abdominals to remain stiff and strong when your arms are extended above you. This makes this move a nice core exercise, as well.

2. The Superman Push Up

When we’re looking to combine an advanced core stability challenge into the push up, we go to the Superman push up.

Set up: Assume the push up position with feet shoulder width apart.

Action: Drop into the bottom of the push up. As you rise to the top of the movement, lift your right arm out in front of your body, while simultaneously lifting your left leg off he floor so it’s in a straight line with your right arm. Pause at the top position for one second. That’s one rep. Drop back into the push up and repeat the same action on the other side.

Coaching Tips

• Do not allow your torso to rotate at the top.
• Keep your torso straight throughout the movement. Do not allow your hips or head to sag toward the floor at any point.
• Keep your legs straight through this movement and do not allow your knees to bend.

3. The Break-Dancer Push Up

This is a rotational version of the Superman push up. Although we do exercises for substance (i.e. for the training benefits they provide), the break-dancer push up is also a great way to impress the know-it-alls at your gym.

Set up: Assume the push up position with feet shoulder width apart.

Action: Perform a pushup and as you rise to the top, twist to your left side while you simultaneouslyraise your right knee to meet your left elbow. On the next rep, after you’ve dropped back into another push up, raise your left knee to your right elbow.

Coaching Tips

• While rotating your torso, move your hips and shoulders at the same rate. Do not roll your hips before your shoulders
• Bring your knee up to your elbow and keep your hand in front of your face. Don’t bring your hand down to meet your knee, as that’s a cheat.
• Keep your torso straight throughout the movement. Do not allow your hips to sag toward the floor at any point.

4. One Arm Push Ups

To me, the one arm push up is not only at the top of the push up food chain, it’s also the king of all upper-body pushing exercises. Yes, that means, unless you’re a powerlifter or training for a bench press combine test, if we had to choose between the bench or the one arm push ups, we’re going with the one arm push up all day long and twice on Sunday. No, I’m not saying the bench press is a bad exercise or that we don’t use it. How we program one arm push ups along with the bench press is something I’ve written about extensively in other articles. There’s no need to repeat myself here, so I’ll just say that although the one arm push up is not performed from standing, it can have a high transfer into standing pushing strength because it has a heavy involvement of the core, hips, and lower body to control body position, which are the factors involved when producing pushing forces from a standing position rather than when lying on a bench.

Plus, when performing one arm push ups, you’re not only promoting unilateral strength, you’re also training the serape effect, which is the force production relationship between your shoulder and opposite hip via the torso. This connection is responsible for actions like running, throwing, and punching.

As with the traditional push up, we’ve put lots of thought into maximizing the benefit from one arm push ups through specific technique cues. I discuss and demonstrate all of this in this video:

5. Triple Threat Push Up Protocol

This really isn’t a push up variation as much as it is a protocol using the basic push up. That said, it’s still a new twist on a classic move, which adds variety to how you use push ups. When we want to add volume to a workout, and create an insane muscle pump, which are both linked to increases in muscle hypertrophy, we’ll use one of the these two triple threat push up protocols. Also, we’ve used these triple threat push up protocols to help people achieve 100 push ups.

How it works: Both of these push up protocols are based on the triple drop-set concept. They both begin with the most difficult push up variation and progressively work down to the easiest version. We go for max reps (technical failure) on each push up.In other words, as you fatigue, the exercises become easier, allowing you to continue to crank out high-quality reps with less risk of injury.

Here’s how to perform the advanced push up triple threat:

If the addition of the extra weight plate (in the above video) was a bit too much for your ability, then no problem. This second version of the push up triple threat has your name all over it:

Recommended Reps, Sets and Push Up Workout Tips

• We usually choose one push up variation to perform per workout
• We usually perform 2-4 sets of a particular push up variation
• For those who can do one arm push ups, we’ll go for 4-5 sets x 2-5 reps per arm.
• For other push up variations, we like to do repetitive effort set up by doing as many reps as you can in good control.
• Rest 90sec-2min between sets. We’ll rest 2-3min between triple threat sets.
• If we’re doing a body part split type routine, we’ll perform push ups as part of an upper-body workout.
• Lower rep push ups (i.e. one arm push ups) are done earlier in a strength workout, whereas repetitive effort push ups variations and protocols are usually used toward the end of a strength workout.

Click Here to Get Started on Coach Nick’s TSC Circuits

The post Pimp Your Push Up: 3 Common Mistakes and 5 Challenging Variations appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

TSC stands for Throw-Sprint-Carry, which are the three main components of each metabolic circuit workout. We designed this protocol to be used as an adjunct to strength and hypertrophy workouts. In other words, if you want to gain muscle without losing your hustle, the TSC circuit is just what the doctor ordered. Here’s a bit about the three components of TSC circuit training:

1. Throwing medicine balls. These require total body force summation in different planes of motion (depending on how you are throwing the ball) at fast speeds. This is something that you certainly don’t get from doing compound lifts, which is why feel it serves as a nice complement strength training.
2. Sprinting: I certainly don’t have to tell you about the benefits of sprinting, or go into detail about how it’s a pillar of athleticism. I will say that, we incorporate sprints second in the TSC sequence, because we found that beginning with the medicine ball throws serves as a nice preparation to explode into the sprints without fatiguing the legs and increasing risk of injury.
3. Carry Complex: Technically this is what we would call a farmer’s walk complex, which is a series of dumbbell exercises interspersed between several sets of dumbbell (farmer’s) carries.

There are six total workouts, which will be posted over a four-week period. You can jump in any time or follow along as we go. If you want to add these workouts into your current training schedule, here are the days the workouts will be posted:

• Week One: Monday (Workout 1) and Thursday (Workout 2)
• Week Two: Monday (Workout 3)
• Week Three: Monday Workout 4) and Thursday (Workout 5)
• Week Four: Monday (Workout 6)

I invite you to no only try out the workouts provided, but to use this approach as inspiration to develop your own TSC metabolic circuits. To learn more about TSC circuit training, you can read this article I wrote explaining the program in greater depth. Now get to work!

Week 3, Day 1 – TSC Circuit B

THROW

Medicine Ball Soccer Throw w/ Altrnate Leg Step (8-10lbs): 3 x 7
Medicine Ball Rotary Punch Throw (8-10lbs): 3 x 7

SPRINT
Shuttle (50yds between cones): 300, 300, 200

CARRY
Heavy Dumbbell Racked Carry x50yds
Light Dumbbell Bent Over Rows (alternate arms): 12 total (6 per side)
Heavy Dumbbell Farmer’s Carry x50yds
Light Dumbbell Overhead Press x 8

The post Strength & Conditioning: Nick Tumminello – Week 3, Day 1 appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

TSC stands for Throw-Sprint-Carry, which are the three main components of each metabolic circuit workout. We designed this protocol to be used as an adjunct to strength and hypertrophy workouts. In other words, if you want to gain muscle without losing your hustle, the TSC circuit is just what the doctor ordered. Here’s a bit about the three components of TSC circuit training:

1. Throwing medicine balls. These require total body force summation in different planes of motion (depending on how you are throwing the ball) at fast speeds. This is something that you certainly don’t get from doing compound lifts, which is why feel it serves as a nice complement strength training.
2. Sprinting: I certainly don’t have to tell you about the benefits of sprinting, or go into detail about how it’s a pillar of athleticism. I will say that, we incorporate sprints second in the TSC sequence, because we found that beginning with the medicine ball throws serves as a nice preparation to explode into the sprints without fatiguing the legs and increasing risk of injury.
3. Carry Complex: Technically this is what we would call a farmer’s walk complex, which is a series of dumbbell exercises interspersed between several sets of dumbbell (farmer’s) carries.

There are six total workouts, which will be posted over a four-week period. You can jump in any time or follow along as we go. If you want to add these workouts into your current training schedule, here are the days the workouts will be posted:

• Week One: Monday (Workout 1) and Thursday (Workout 2)
• Week Two: Monday (Workout 3)
• Week Three: Monday Workout 4) and Thursday (Workout 5)
• Week Four: Monday (Workout 6)

I invite you to no only try out the workouts provided, but to use this approach as inspiration to develop your own TSC metabolic circuits. To learn more about TSC circuit training, you can read this article I wrote explaining the program in greater depth. Now get to work!

Week 2, Day 1 – TSC Circuit A

Perform 3 rounds with 3 minutes of rest between rounds:

THROW
Med Ball Push Throw w/Alternate Leg Step (8-12lbs): 3 x 7
Med Ball Side Rotary Scoop Throw (8-12lbs): 3 x 7 per side

SPRINT
Shuttle (25yds between cones): 300, 300, 200

CARRY
Heavy Dumbbell Racked Carry x 50yds
Light Dumbbell Uppercuts x 12 (5 per side)
Heavy Dumbbell Farmer’s Carry x 50yds
Light Dumbbell Bent Over Rows x 10

The post Strength & Conditioning: Nick Tumminello – Week 2, Day 1 appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

TSC stands for Throw-Sprint-Carry, which are the three main components of each metabolic circuit workout. We designed this protocol to be used as an adjunct to strength and hypertrophy workouts. In other words, if you want to gain muscle without losing your hustle, the TSC circuit is just what the doctor ordered. Here’s a bit about the three components of TSC circuit training:

1. Throwing medicine balls. These require total body force summation in different planes of motion (depending on how you are throwing the ball) at fast speeds. This is something that you certainly don’t get from doing compound lifts, which is why feel it serves as a nice complement strength training.
2. Sprinting: I certainly don’t have to tell you about the benefits of sprinting, or go into detail about how it’s a pillar of athleticism. I will say that, we incorporate sprints second in the TSC sequence, because we found that beginning with the medicine ball throws serves as a nice preparation to explode into the sprints without fatiguing the legs and increasing risk of injury.
3. Carry Complex: Technically this is what we would call a farmer’s walk complex, which is a series of dumbbell exercises interspersed between several sets of dumbbell (farmer’s) carries.

There are six total workouts, which will be posted over a four-week period. You can jump in any time or follow along as we go. If you want to add these workouts into your current training schedule, here are the days the workouts will be posted:

• Week One: Monday (Workout 1) and Thursday (Workout 2)
• Week Two: Monday (Workout 3)
• Week Three: Monday Workout 4) and Thursday (Workout 5)
• Week Four: Monday (Workout 6)

I invite you to no only try out the workouts provided, but to use this approach as inspiration to develop your own TSC metabolic circuits. To learn more about TSC circuit training, you can read this article I wrote explaining the program in greater depth. Now get to work!

Week 1, Day 2 – TSC Circuit B

THROW

Medicine Ball Soccer Throw w/ Altrnate Leg Step (8-10lbs): 3 x 6
Medicine Ball Rotary Punch Throw (8-10lbs): 3 x 6

SPRINT
Shuttle (50yds between cones): 300, 300, 200

CARRY
Heavy Dumbbell Racked Carry x50yds
Light Dumbbell Bent Over Rows (alternate arms): 10 total (5 per side)
Heavy Dumbbell Farmer’s Carry x50yds
Light Dumbbell Overhead Press x 6

The post Strength & Conditioning: Nick Tumminello – Week 1, Day 2 appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

When the good folks here at Breaking Muscle approached me about designing a workout plan, I knew immediately that this was a great opportunity to share a metabolic conditioning protocol used in the Performance U training approach that we call TSC Circuits. TSC stands for Throw-Sprint-Carry, which are the three main components of each metabolic circuit workout.

In this article I’m going to share with you why we designed the TSC metabolic conditioning protocol, how we recommend using it in various weekly splits, along with providing you a six-week workout progression that involves two different TSC metabolic circuits.

Who Should Use TSC Metabolic Circuits?

Put simply, strength training is the way to go when your primary goal is to get bigger and/or stronger. However, if you want to accomplish that without sacrificing your levels of athleticism and conditioning, you’ve got to do some other forms of training that demand these fitness qualities.

This is exactly what we designed the TSC metabolic circuits to deliver big on. We designed this protocol to be used as an adjunct to strength and hypertrophy workouts. In other words, if you want to gain muscle without losing your hustle, the TSC circuit is just what the doctor ordered.

Why Use TSC Metabolic Circuits?

As I alluded to above, we designed TSC metabolic circuits to include aspects of training that may be missed when doing strength and hypertrophy work:

• The first part of the TSC metabolic circuit involves throwing medicine balls. These require total body force summation in different planes of motion (depending on how you are throwing the ball) at fast speeds. This is something that you certainly don’t get from doing compound lifts, which is why feel it serves as a nice complement strength training.
• The second part of the TSC metabolic circuit involves sprinting. I certainly don’t have to tell you about the benefits of sprinting, or go into detail about how it’s a pillar of athleticism. I will say that, we incorporate sprints second in the TSC sequence, because we found that beginning with the medicine ball throws serves as a nice preparation to explode into the sprints without fatiguing the legs and increasing risk of injury.
• The third and final component of the TSC metabolic circuit is a carry complex. Technically this is what we would call a farmer’s walk complex, which is a series of dumbbell exercises interspersed between several sets of dumbbell (farmer’s) carries.

Since the carry complex is slower, non-explosive, involves less complex movements than the sprints and the medicine ball throws, it is placed at the end. In addition to the strategic order of the TSC metabolic circuit protocol, we’ve also made sure to leave no stone unturned.

In that, the medicine ball throws demand a total body effort, the sprints are lower body dominant, and the farmers carry complex demands a upper body dominant effort.

In other words, the TSC metabolic circuit gives you upper body conditioning, lower body conditioning and total body conditioning exercises to ensure that each aspect of conditioning is covered.

Not to mention the cumulative metabolic effects from performing all three of these conditioning aspects (total body, lower body and upper body) back-to-back as you do in each TSC circuit round.

When to Use TSC Metabolic Circuits?

Since we use the TSC metabolic circuits as an adjunct to the training of those whose goal is to add hypertrophy or strength, we include one TSC metabolic circuit workout per week.

Here’s a list of how we include a TSC metabolic circuit training day within various weekly split setups:

Body-Part Split, Training 4x Per Week

• Monday: Back and Biceps
• Tuesday: Legs and Abs
• Wednesday: Off
• Thursday: Chest and Triceps
• Friday: Off
• Saturday: TSC Circuit Day
• Sunday: Off

Body-Part Split, Training 5x Per Week

• Monday: Chest and Triceps
• Tuesday: Legs and Abs
• Wednesday: Back and Biceps
• Thursday: Shoulders and Abs
• Friday: Off
• Saturday: TSC Circuit Day
• Sunday: Off

Upper-Lower Split, Training 3x Per Week

• Monday: Lower-Body
• Tuesday: Off
• Wednesday: Upper-Body
• Thursday: Off
• Friday: TSC Circuit Day
• Saturday: Off
• Sunday: Off

Upper-Lower Split, Training 4x Per Week

• Monday: Lower-Body
• Tuesday: Off
• Wednesday: Upper-Body
• Thursday: Off
• Friday: Total-Body
• Saturday: TSC Circuit Day
• Sunday:

Total-Body, 3x Per Week

• Monday: Total-Body
• Tuesday: Off
• Wednesday: Total-Body
• Thursday: Off
• Friday: TSC Circuit Day
• Saturday: Off
• Sunday: Off

How to Perform the TSC Metabolic Circuits

In this program I’m providing you with two TSC Circuit workouts – an “A” workout and a “B” workout. Whether you decide to use one of the training splits I listed above or use your own split, I recommend doing a TSC metabolic circuit workout once each week.

I’ll be providing you with a six-week progression, which involves alternating each week between workout “A” and workout “B.” We’ll be publishing them over a four-week period, so you’ll be able to plan in advance.

Now, I’m going to go over some general guidelines for performing the two TSC metabolic circuit workouts I’ve provided, along with any other TSC circuits you may design for yourself.

Then, I’ll go over the specific exercises in each of the two TSC circuit workouts to make sure that when hit the ground running, you are running in the right direction.

General guidelines for performing TSC metabolic circuits:

• One round of the circuit involves performing a single set of each of the medicine ball exercises listed, followed by one round of shuttle sprints for the distance indicated, and finishing with a farmer’s carry complex for the reps in distance indicated.
• The goal is to perform each circuit round in his little time as possible. That said, if you need to rest at any time; rest as much as you need as little as you have to.
• Rest for the time indicated between TSC circuit rounds.
• If you are performing a TSC workout outdoors, I recommend you use a rubber medicine ball for the throwing drills against the wall. However, if you are performing the TSC workout indoors, I recommend you use a Dynamax medicine ball, which doesn’t require you to stand as far away from the wall as when using a rubber medicine ball. This way you don’t take up as much space in the gym in order to accommodate the others who may be working out at the same time as you.
• When performing the medicine ball throws, make sure that each throw is as hard as you possibly can. One each throw you want to think that you are trying to break the ball on the wall. Also, make sure to hit the wall at a spot that’s no lower than your waist height. Doing so allows the ball to get a nice bounce right back to your hands, so you can go right into the next throw.
• When performing the sprints, I recommend to jog up to the starting cone and begin your sprint once you reach the cone instead of beginning from the still position. It’s no secret that quick starts can elevate your risk of pulling a muscle when doing sprints, so the jog up start is used in an effort that we feel reduces this risk. Keep in mind that we’re not running these prints to improve our forty-yard dash time. If that was the case, we’d certainly start from the still position as that is what is required during the combine-style test. But since that’s not what we’re training for here, we have the freedom of modifying the start in order to try to maximize training safety.
• To perform the farmer’s carry complex you will need two sets of dumbbells: a pair of heavy dumbbells and another pair that are approximately 40-50% lighter than the heavy pair. For example, a 70-pound pair and a 35-pound pair. You’ll use the heavier pair to perform the farmer’s walks and the lighter pair to perform all the in-place exercises. Your place both sets of dumbbells at the same starting cone that you used for the sprints.
• When performing the farmer’s carry aspect of the complex you’ll walk one lap between the cones you used on the shuttle sprints. That said, in the workouts I provided, one day you perform shuttle sprints with the cones 25 yards apart in the other day you perform shuttle sprints with the cones 50 yards apart. One day that you perform shuttle sprints with the cones 50 yards apart, you’ll simply use three cones instead of two, placing the third cone in the middle at the 25-yard mark so you can use it when you get to the farmer’s carry.
• On the workout program I provided you, you will perform three rounds of each TSC metabolic circuit for the first four weeks. One weeks five and six you will perform four rounds of each circuit. That being said, the reps do slightly increase on each consecutive workout for the first four weeks.
• Since you are alternating which workout you do each week for six weeks, you end up doing a total of each circuit three times. And, as I said above, each workout requires you to do a bit more work by either increasing the reps within each circuit, or the amount of rounds you do of a given circuit.

How to Perform the Exercises in the TSC Metabolic Circuits:

Note: I’m only describing the exercises that you may not be familiar with, as you already know how to do exercises I’ve included in each workout, like bent over rows, farmers carries with the dumbbells at your hips, farmers carries in the rack position with the dumbbells at your shoulders, an overhead dumbbell presses.

This video shows you (at 40-sec mark) how to perform both the medicine ball soccer throw with alternate leg step (from circuit B) medicine ball side rotary scoop throw (from circuit A) (at the 1:13 mark):

The medicine ball push throw with alternate leg step is performed in the same manner as the soccer throw with alternate legs step except the ball is exploded off of your chest (like a bench press style motion) instead of from overhead.

This video demonstrates how to perform the medicine ball rotary punch throw (at the 2:11 mark):

To perform the shuttle sprints, place two cones or water bottles roughly 25 yards apart or 50 yards apart depending on which workout you’re doing. Sprint as fast as possible back and forth between the cones. Touch the cones each time while being mindful not to cut back to the other direction at each cone faster than you can control.

• If your cones are 25 yards apart: 6 round trips = 300 yards
• If your cones are 25 yards apart: 5 round trips = 250 yards
• If your cones are 25 yards apart: 4 round trips = 200 yards
• If your cones are 50 yards apart: 3 round trips = 300 yards
• If your cones are 50 yards apart: 2 round trips = 200 yards

This video will show you how to do dumbbell uppercuts.

Final Thoughts

In addition to the two samples workouts, keep in mind that what I’ve given you here is a metabolic workout formula that you can plug a wide variety of exercises into.

I invite you to no only try out the workouts provided, but to use this article as inspiration to develop your own TSC metabolic circuits.

The post The Throw-Sprint-Carry Metabolic Circuit Workout Protocol appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

TSC stands for Throw-Sprint-Carry, which are the three main components of each metabolic circuit workout. We designed this protocol to be used as an adjunct to strength and hypertrophy workouts. In other words, if you want to gain muscle without losing your hustle, the TSC circuit is just what the doctor ordered. Here’s a bit about the three components of TSC circuit training:

1. Throwing medicine balls. These require total body force summation in different planes of motion (depending on how you are throwing the ball) at fast speeds. This is something that you certainly don’t get from doing compound lifts, which is why feel it serves as a nice complement strength training.
2. Sprinting: I certainly don’t have to tell you about the benefits of sprinting, or go into detail about how it’s a pillar of athleticism. I will say that, we incorporate sprints second in the TSC sequence, because we found that beginning with the medicine ball throws serves as a nice preparation to explode into the sprints without fatiguing the legs and increasing risk of injury.
3. Carry Complex: Technically this is what we would call a farmer’s walk complex, which is a series of dumbbell exercises interspersed between several sets of dumbbell (farmer’s) carries.

There are six total workouts, which will be posted over a four-week period. You can jump in any time or follow along as we go. If you want to add these workouts into your current training schedule, here are the days the workouts will be posted:

• Week One: Monday (Workout 1) and Thursday (Workout 2)
• Week Two: Monday (Workout 3)
• Week Three: Monday Workout 4) and Thursday (Workout 5)
• Week Four: Monday (Workout 6)

I invite you to no only try out the workouts provided, but to use this approach as inspiration to develop your own TSC metabolic circuits. To learn more about TSC circuit training, you can read this article I wrote explaining the program in greater depth. Now get to work!

Week 1, Day 1 – TSC Circuit A

Perform 3 rounds with 3 minutes of rest between rounds:

THROW
Med Ball Push Throw w/Alternate Leg Step (8-12lbs): 3 x 6
Med Ball Side Rotary Scoop Throw (8-12lbs): 3 x 6 per side

SPRINT
Shuttle (25yds between cones): 300, 250, 200

CARRY
Heavy Dumbbell Racked Carry x 50yds
Light Dumbbell Uppercuts x 10 (5 per side)
Heavy Dumbbell Farmer’s Carry x 50yds
Light Dumbbell Bent Over Rows x 8

The post Strength & Conditioning: Nick Tumminello – Week 1, Day 1 appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Double leg training is effective and certainly should be a part of a comprehensive lower-body training program. But we all have one leg (i.e., one side) that isn’t as strong or as well developed as the other. And, single leg (not double leg) oriented exercises are the most optimal way to focus on improving your muscle balance. Not to mention they are also an effective way to add a new training stimulus and exercise variety to your lower-body workouts.

Below there are five lower-body exercises listed – four advanced single-leg exercises and one very cool double-leg exercise combination move. Lower-body exercises can be classified as either hip dominant (like an RDL) or knee dominant (like a squat). Two of the single-leg exercises listed below are hip-dominant and the other two are knee dominant. To round things off, the final double-leg exercise is a combination of the two joint actions, hip dominant and knee dominant.

Knee Dominant: Barbell Reverse Lunges from Deficit

Standing on a platform (that is, from a deficit) increases the range of motion, which increases the training stimulus on the lower-body.

How it’s done: With a barbell across your shoulders, stand on top of an aerobic platform or on top of a 45lb plate. Step backward with your right foot and drop into the lunge position allowing your back knee to lightly touch the floor. Then reverse the movement by returning to the platform. Alternate legs each time.

Knee Dominant: Single Leg Knee Tap Squat

How it’s done: Stand in front of an aerobic step platform on your left leg with your right knee bent and hovering over the platform behind you. Slowly squat down, keeping your weight-bearing foot flat. Tap your back knee lightly on the platform before reversing the motion. Perform all reps on the same side before switching.

When performing with bodyweight, outstretch your arms in front of you as a counterbalance.

When performing with dumbbells, hold one at each shoulder in the racked position so they’re parallel to one another. One end of each dumbbell will be resting on each shoulder.

Hip Dominant: Barbell One Leg Romanian Deadlifts (RDLs)

Performing single RDLs with a barbell is more difficult than using a single dumbbell due to the width of the barbell, which causes more weight shifting that you must control.

How it’s done: Stand tall balancing on your left leg while holding a barbell in front of your thighs. Hinge forward at your hips while keeping your left knee bent at a 15-20 degree angle until your torso and rear leg become roughly parallel to the floor before your reverse the motion. Perform all reps on the same side before switching.

Note: The video below not only demonstrates the Single Leg Barbell RDL, it also shows you how to do one of the Triple Threat Protocols we developed at Performance U.

Hip Dominant: One Leg Hip Thrusts (Shoulder & Hip Elevated)

Popularized by my great friend Bret Contreras, this is a great move for improving the form and function of your glutes.

How it’s done: Sit on the floor with your mid-back and shoulders resting against a bench or box, and your heels on top of another bench or box or the same height. With your knees bent at 90 degrees, lift your left leg into the air and drive your hips toward the sky as far as possible without overarching at your lower back, so your body forms a flat tabletop-like position. Slowly lower your hips back down to the floor and repeat all reps using the same leg before switching sides.

Combo: (Two Leg) Dumbbell Squat + RDL

This exercise just takes two great moves and combines them into one great exercise, which we love to place at the end of a comprehensive lower-body workout.

How it’s done: Hold a pair of dumbbells by your sides and perform a squat by sitting back with your hips and bending mostly at your knees. Once you return to the top (standing position), move the dumbbells in front of your thighs and perform an RDL by slightly bending your knees (15-20 degrees) and hinging forward at your hips until your torso is parallel to the floor. One squat + One RDL = One rep!

As you’ll see demonstrated in the video below: Be sure to maintain a lordodic lower-back curve throughout this exercise.

Note: If you don’t have a strong grip, you may want to use wrist wraps for this one, so your grip doesn’t limit the weight you use and take away from the intensity or weight-load your legs experience.

Lower-Body Workout Plan

Now that you know how to safely perform each of the exercises covered above, here’s how to put these exercises together into a comprehensive lower-body workout plan you can immediately use:

• Barbell Reverse Lunges from Deficit: 3-4 sets x 8-10 reps each leg
• Single Leg Knee Tap Squat: 2-3 sets x 10-14 reps each leg
• Barbell One Leg Romanian Deadlifts (RDLs): 3-4 sets x 8-10 reps each leg
• One Leg Hip Thrusts: 2-3 sets x 10-15 reps each leg
• Dumbbell (Two Leg) Squat + RDL Combo: 2-3 sets x 8-10 reps

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