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A Beginners Guide to
Building Strength,
Flexibility, and Motor
Control through
Bodyweight Training
CONTENTS
Introduction
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Chapter Two: Moving Past Physical Barriers (Including a Full Physical Assessment)
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Outroduction
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INTRODUCTION
Starting a new exercise regimen is intimidating, especially if it hasnt
been a regular part of your life.
There can be confusion about which program is best, what type of
training to focus on, and - the most common question we get - where to
start.
Well, where to begin all depends on where you are at right now, but no
matter where that is, there are three main areas of focus: Strength,
Flexibility, and Motor Control.
Those three elements comprise the whole of what physical fitness is and
knowing how to work on each of them solves half of your issues. The
other half is actually doing the work.
In this guide, well first take a look at what the basics are. Everyone
says thats the place to start, but what exactly does that mean?
Then well take a deeper look at each of those basic elements, starting
with an assessment of your current abilities, then moving on to specific
recommendations for what you need to work on the most.
Chapter 3 will give you the tools to start building the kind of strength
you need.
And in Chapter 4, well look at building motor control, even for the
clumsiest among us.
We recommend reading this guide all the way through, as it will help you
determine what you need to work on, and how.
Strength
Flexibility
Motor Control
And what is deemed appropriate for these elements will depend upon
what you need to work on to improve whatever skills you've chosen to
pursue.
1. Think of the movement itself and what you need to do to simply get
into the starting position.
2. Think about what you would to need to be able to do, in order to move
into the position with control.
3. Think about what elements you need in order to complete the
movement.
Step One in this case would include strong and flexible wrists to hold
yourself steady, and an appropriately strong core to keep your back
straight.
Step Two, your triceps, shoulders, stomach, back, legs and hips need
to be strong enough and coordinated to allow you to move into the
start of the push-up with control.
Step Three of completing the push-up requires all of the above plus
the addition of controlling it all in motion.
The basics are fundamentals which comprise a platform from which you
can push off and explore.
An appropriate amount of strength, flexibility, and motor control has to
be developed before even starting on the exercise itself, as those are the
basics for the movement. When those are achieved, the full push-up is
then a basic exercise for further exercise performance. A fine distinction,
but a crucial one if you find yourself unable to perform a "basic"
exercise.
The goal of push-ups as an exercise is not to do more push-ups, but to
be able to do enough push-ups with good form to prepare your body for
further skills. You could just keep doing more and more push-ups, if
that's what you want. But we are looking beyond that.
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1. Squat
2. Crosslegged Sitting
3. Longsitting
4. Supine Hip/Knee Flexion
5. Hooklying Crossleg Hip Rotation
6. Shoulder Combined Motions
7. Prone Backbending
8. Neck Motions
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And for quite a lot of people these are very difficult, if not impossible, to
do in the beginning.
This isnt a reason to give up, but it does require some awareness of
potential issues, along with smart planning to overcome and move on
from them.
Below, I'll describe some of the most common issues I see in new
clients.
Then, I'll share how to figure out what particular weaknesses may be
holding you back or may get in your way if you don't address them.
Finally, I'll give you my recommendations for addressing these issues
head on, without slowing down your progress.
Let's get you set up for success.
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Again, its a great idea, and you would get a lot of benefit from doing this
simple stretch throughout the day. Yet its better to address specifically
whats going on with your body and what you need. Its more efficient that
way and I think we can all agree that we should try and get the most out
of the time we can make for our training.
You may already know what your weak spots are, especially if youve
been working on some of the skills we teach.
Again, what Ive talked about above are very common issues and even
working on these areas in a general way will be very helpful. But now I
want to show you a way to find out what in particular *you* need to work
on to make the most out of *your* time. And one of the great things
about this is that the moves are simple, intuitive, and you can get started
on it right away.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4U-sPKDbXm8
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Ill describe each exercise/hold in detail, and how each one tells you
about your bodys makeup, and what may hold you back if you dont take
care of it as soon as possible.
I recommend you take some video of yourself performing each of these
assessment exercises, as that will allow you to look back and see your
progress.
Its quite common for people to not really know whats going on in their
bodies, especially if theyre fairly new to exercise. So, taking some video
can give you some visual feedback and help you understand what needs
to change.
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To take the squat further, you can practice the frogger jump, as I
demonstrate in the video. This will give you an even better idea of your
current level of mobility.
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2. Push your hands and feet into the floor, raising your hips up as high
as possible.
3. Bring your heels as close to the floor as possible (ideally they should
be flat on the ground).
If you have flexibility issues in your hamstrings, hips, lower back, or
shoulders, those issues will show up loud and clear in this hold. Thats
why I love using this particular position, as it gives me a quick and clear
look at whats going on with a persons flexibility in a wholistic way.
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Take the time to warm up correctly and youll be saving yourself from
grief later.
If you know you already have problems that go beyond just needing a
proper warm-up, then youll have to be even more vigilant about
warming up and doing more to strengthen and stretch your wrists.
In this article, we share complete programming for extra warm-up and
rehabilitation using two fundamental positions (flexion and extension).
Take your time and be patient with wrist stretching and strengthening, as
it can take quite a while before your hands and wrists get adjusted to the
work. But if you work on this sooner rather than later, youll be preparing
yourself much better for the road ahead in learning bodyweight skills.
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In the A position, youll notice that the hips should be up high and the
chest brought down to form the A. You simply cant do this properly
with tight shoulders.
The same is true with the bear walk, only now youll be adding the
components of shoulder strength and motor coordination, along with
shoulder flexibility. If you feel fatigue in the shoulders in trying to keep
the proper positioning and movement, then you are already aware of the
muscles working hard with these moves.
We presented a comprehensive shoulder article which addresses all
these concerns. From flexibility to motor control, there are a great
variety of exercises and concepts you can use to help bring your
shoulders up to par.
Our detailed post on the hips gives you a better look at whats involved
with the various muscles, along with stretching, strength, and motor
control exercise examples.
This other article shows a different sequencing that may help you
more in the different rotational angles at the hips.
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And finally, if you feel that your hamstrings are the primary villain
holding you up, heres a post devoted entirely to opening your
hamstring flexibility.
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Below, we'll explain the four kinds of strength and three rules for
building them, along with links to resources to help you do it.
Absolute Strength
Relative Strength
Strength Endurance
Below, I'll explain what each of these types of strength are, and what
they'll mean to you.
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Absolute Strength
Absolute Strength is the maximum force your musculature can exert for
a particular action, whether its a press, a squat, or a pull.
Usually this type of strength is measured in terms of total weight lifted.
The sport of powerlifting is a good example of athletes training for
absolute strength. For them, everything is geared towards improving
their 1RM (1 Rep Max) in three lifts - the squat, bench press, and
deadlift.
The application of absolute strength for most of us comes when you
need to pick up something heavy, or move it out of the way one time. The
ability to lift your couch up so you can clean behind it, pull a heavy gate
with a rusted hinge, and push a big boulder that's in your path require a
higher degree of absolute strength.
If you don't have enough, then you simply wouldn't be able to perform
those actions.
In general, training for this involves lifting weights at 85%+ of the
maximal weight you can lift for several sets of a a few repetitions.
Relative Strength
Relative strength concerns your maximum effort in relation to your
bodyweight.
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But we don't need to be this technical to think of power in our daily lives.
In our style of training, increased power is usually measured by how fast
we can move our body around. For instance, we can can see how
powerful we are by how high or far we can jump. Another example
comes from fighting sports, where power is measured by how hard you
can punch and kick.
You are trying to deliver a great amount of force to your target, and may
have a high level of strength, but if you are too slow, you'll lack power.
The specifics of training for power usually involve lighter forces in high
speed movements for several repetitions with long rest periods. This
encourages explosive performance with low fatigue.
Strength Endurance
Strength Endurance is the ability to perform a near maximal level of
strength repeatedly over a period of time. Defined by Mel Siff in the
classic text Supertraining,
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We see this in daily life when we have to do the dreaded task of moving
furniture up and down stairs or carrying very heavy boxes.
The next time one of your friend's ropes you into helping them move, you
can take comfort in knowing that you'll be demonstrating your strength
endurance! (But maybe make them buy you a couple beers at least.)
Training for strength endurance is pretty darn uncomfortable and has
you working at high levels of force with as little rest as possible. Too little
rest and you'll burn out, too much rest and you won't get the effects
desired.
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She was likely skinny fat before, which basically means a person that is
outwardly thin but with very little muscle on a frame of bone and fat.
When she began participating in regular strenuous activity with martial
arts drills and exercises, she gained muscle and strength at a pace that
would make most long term exercisers pretty jealous.
It's not that martial arts classes are the most efficient way to gain
strength and muscle; it was simply because she had a starting point of
significant weakness.
Yes, randomly increasing regular activity levels may be an okay way to
improve your strength, but it certainly isn't the most efficient.
The most efficient ways to improve strength follow certain rules:
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For pull-ups, you can use bands, or a tall box to take some
weight off of your arms.
In the hollow body hold, you would bend your knees and bring
your arms to your sides and, if necessary, even add a cushion
behind your upper back for support.
For squats, you can hold on to support and use your hands to
help you up.
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Hollow body holds can evolve into planks, front levers, human
flags and so on with more difficult leverage holds.
The permutations are nearly endless - that's the beauty and appeal of
bodyweight only training.
You can perform exercises that require nothing more than the space to
do them in, or use equipment such as the rings, parallettes, monkey
bars, etc. to increase your strength throughout your training life.
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This doesn't mean that you won't improve strength any longer, but it's
not your main objective and the improved strength will be just a pleasant
side effect of working towards your primary goals.
When you let go of the thought that you have to do one thing forever, or
conversely, everything at once, you will have a different view of what
exercise and fitness can do for you.
It can be an exciting process full of new challenges instead of drudgery
you make yourself perform because it's good for you.
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Perhaps they wouldnt be winning any dance competitions any time soon,
but they improved. And its no surprise they did, as nearly everything we
do can be changed with consistent and mindful practice. No, not
everything, but a lot more than we think.
In this chapter, Ill go over what body control is all about, the various
ways to think about it, how to develop it, and a good process to start
working on it.
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we consciously think about at the time, but just a sense of knowing when
a person is moving well.
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If you can perform a skill smoothly with as little tension as possible for
the task at hand, then youve got it.
Youve developed and exhibited good body control.
Walking is a good example. Its a generalized motor pattern that is a
common human function.
But we also all have individual ways of walking from habits likely started
when we were children, followed by other patterns developed when we
get older from injuries, cultural and personal affectations, and other
random inputs.
So we have a pretty simple motion, one foot in front of the other with the
alternate upper limb swinging at the same time, but with likely billions of
small permutations that make a gait pattern unique to an individual. And
some peoples walking patterns are so distinctive you can pick them out
of a crowd just by their gait.
Likewise, dancers can all perform the same steps in the choreography
and be synchronized, but the best ones dont all look the same.
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Adequate Strength
Adequate Flexibility/Mobility
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc6AbQXPICU
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Click here to watch a demo video on motor control exercises for the
shoulders:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o47GYJtu-C0
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Removing weight from the actions by either lying down or being on your
side decreases load, and that may make movements freer and less
restricted.
Its easy to see that lifting your hands over head is less difficult while
lying on your back, than it is standing up. Hip and lower body movements
in particular are much easier to perform with a decreased load. In this
way, the stress of doing the movement is lessened, which improves your
concentration and performance.
You can also go the other way and add weight or resistance to the chosen
actions.
Sometimes adding load improves muscle contraction, and the sensation
of having something to push against stimulates the nervous system in
a new way.
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For example, you could work hip movements separate from spinal
motions and then move on to shoulder rotations on your side.
Imagination and visualization is key in this approach since you arent
performing the entire move.
Visualizing yourself performing while moving in component parts will
help integrate the movement when you go back to trying the whole
movement again.
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OUTRODUCTION
This Getting Started Guide was
designed to help you understand
your current abilities, and assess
your most pressing needs. Weve
given you the tools to decide
where to begin your efforts - with
strength, flexibility, and/or motor
control - and recommendations
for getting started.
Obviously, theres a lot we havent covered in this guide, but these basics
will serve you well for education and exploration of where you need the
most help in a new training program.
When youre ready for more, our new program, Elements, is designed to
help you begin working on strength, flexibility, and motor control in a
comprehensive package. Elements is designed as a start from scratch
program that gradually guides you from where you are at to the
achievement of very good movement fundamentals.
Thank you. We hope to see you soon!
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