| Good morning Friend!
How's your week of training going?
Since I've already completed all 3 challenge workouts, I'm now practicing, phase 10. So far so good. The 1-Leg MB Front Twists are quite interesting so you're going to have fun figuring those out and the 1-Leg Hurdle Hops w/ a Continuous Bounce are also interesting as you become aware of how long you stay on the ground (Amortization Phase) b/w each hop. That's it for the foreshadowing as I'll save the rest for the Phase 10 Overview.
In the meantime, I wanted to share an update about how to carry your equipment. When the program first launched I used a rolling suitcase to carry my gear in because I had a lot of stuff besides the roller & mat and at some point, someone had a smart idea to also get a suitcase and begin carrying his/her equipment in like I did too. As members progressed from regular dumbbells to Power Blocks, more people started to adopt the rolling suitcase model. I didn't really have any reservations about it, until I started to think about your programming and how I could introduce Weighted Carries into the program.
Weighted Carries: Farmers Carries, Suitcase Carries and Waiter Carries Have you ever used a wheel barrow? Do you remember how awkward it was with the single wheel and how much balance it required to stay upright and move? Do you remember the grip, core, and postural stability required to keep it upright? Do you remember the leg strength required to move the wheel barrow?
How about carrying 2 suitcases? Have you ever carried 2 suitcases? What's the current, airport weight threshold, 50lbs? That takes some core, grip, postural stability and then the leg stability and strength to locomote with them.
How about carrying 1 suitcase? You've done that plenty of times. Ever find your self leaning to 1 side to hold your suitcase? Have you ever noticed your grip, core, posture and leg strength required to carry it?
Have you ever been a waiter, busboy or bartender or have you ever carried a platter at shoulder height or over your head? That takes a whole different core, posture and leg stability and strength challenge. Not so much grip strength on this one though.
Now considering all of these different carries, have you ever notice where you carried your head? I'd be willing to bet push ups, that 99.999....% of people carry their weighted implement with a forward head posture vs. packed (head pulled back with chin tucked). Hmm? You didn't think of that did you. You don't go through your postural stability checklist like we hammer home in Q1 during our 4 point stability plank series or like we address often times every workout, "head packed (head pulled back & chin tucked), shoulders down & back with chest up and pelvic neutral (ribs down, butt tucked & pubic bone tilted up)". It's o.k. I forget sometimes too.
Well weighted carries as you can imagine are an awesome strength, conditioning & corrective exercise as they train postural stability, core strength, hip & leg strength, grip strength and ipsilateral strength to name the big one's. They also have a metabolic effect and can develop work capacity and stamina.
They're really popular too. Google the following and check out the # of hit search results that come up:
There are many more variations and when you get into the different implements you could carry it gets even more diverse.
Implements This is a brief list because you could carry almost anything and turn it into a workout, so we'll stick to common gym equipment.
- Dumbbells
- Kettlebells
- Sandbags
- Barbells
- Trap Bars
- People
- Medicine Balls
So weighted carries are fun and good for you is the take home message and while I figure out how to fit them into your workout card programming, let's start by making them a part of your regular boot camp training schedule by teaching you how to carry them to and from the gym.
How To Carry Your Equipment? Here's a super efficient way to store and carry your equipment to and from the gym, that makes you stronger and makes you look stronger.
- Lay out your exercise mat.
- Lay down your towel inside the middle of the mat and start it at 1 end of the mat.
- Lay your mini bands down perpendicular to your towel & mat, on top of your towel.
- Lay your roller down, perpendicular to and on top of the mat & towel.
- Roll up the mat & roller like a sleeping bag, until it's tight and not loose.
- Place the mat and roller on top of your 1" super band.
- Take 1 end of the super band and pull it through the other end.
- Pinch the bands as close to the roller as you can.
- Take the long end and wrap it under the super band against the roller.
- Make a loop and pull the super band through the loop.
- Now slide the 1/2" band through the new loop you've created.
- Wrap the 1/2" band around the roller towards the side opposite the loop.
- Place your arms through each loop so you're back is against the roller and the super band loop is on the other side of the roller away from your back.
- Wear it like a back pack.
- Squat down & grab your dumbbells.
- Stand as tall as possible.
- Walk.
Making change happen!
Your coach,
Mike Alves
p.s. what'd you think of this idea and video?
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