TheNeuroStrengthCoach

Using two kettlebells, pick them up and clean them into a front racked position. Stay in a fight stance with feet about shoulder width apart on a 45° angle. Move the back leg forward to switch stances while simultaneously lowering the kettlebell near your hip with a slight bend in your elbow replicating an uppercut punch. Finish with the kettlebell in the clean position. Continue this by alternating each rep. Try to time your step with your uppercut so it flows and you can use your hips and core as well as your arms.

Line up the bench so that your eyes or nose are under the bar. Place a yoga block where the chest and abdomen meet or wherever you plan on benching too. Grab the bar in a close grip width about shoulder width apart. Bench press with the bar path in line with the nipple line or the lower pec. Take the barbell off of the J Hooks by doing a pullover as opposed to rounding the shoulders. Make sure your feet are planted, and keep the chest sticking out and try to grab the bench with your shoulder blades. Lower the bar until it touches the yoga block and hold it for 1-2 seconds (if unspecified). Bring the bar back to the lockout position by using the triceps and not just the shoulders by keeping the elbows in and keeping your back tight. Imagine you are pushing your body away from the bar and not the bar away from you. This will keep your bench tight and avoid energy leaks. When you are done with the designated repetitions, rack the bar onto the J Hooks. Trainer Tips: The goal is to limit the amount of elbow flexion in order to maximize the usage of the triceps and minimize the usage of the chest. Depending on your strengths you may bench more this way or less this way. Reducing the range doesn’t automatically mean you will lift more. This may expose weak triceps, but will be used to build them up.

Build your Front Lever with "Ice Cream Makers" aka band Assisted front lever swings.

Set your pins or spotter arms of your rack to the designated height in your program. You should have records at all heights as they build different starting strength based on different joint angles and leverages. If unspecified mimic the joint angles shown in this video with the hips above parallel. Choose either a shoulder width stance or slightly wider. Position yourself under the bar and get into the Zercher position grabbing the bar with the crook of your elbows. Keep your arms parallel and separated when using light to medium weight. When the weight gets REALLY heavy, you may want to interlock the fingertips as seen later in the video. Brace your core, take all the “slack” out of the bar by creating as much whole body tension as possible and getting as tall as you can before driving through the legs and sending the hips forward to lift the bar off the pins. Whenever you are deadlifting or squatting try to focus on moving the hips forward as opposed to lifting the weight UP. Lower the weight under some control but don’t waste all your effort on the eccentric.

Set the back of your bench to about Sit at the end of a bench with a dumbbell resting on your thigh (closer to your knee than your hip). Use a knee pop to lift the dumbbell into place and simultaneously lower yours back until you are laying on the bench. Rotate the wrist so the palms of hands are facing away on a slight angle with the elbow slightly tucked in. Keep your shoulder blades squeezed back and imagine you are grabbing the bench with your back. Keep your shoulders down and back and press the dumbbell until your elbow locks out. Lower the dumbbell under control until it touches your chest. Repeat for repetitions. If you can’t sit back up with the weight, you can drop it safely to the side. You can also rotate the dumbbell back to neutral position, bring the knee to the end of the dumbbell and use a body rock to sit up and stand up while holding onto the dumbbell.

Lay on your back under the barbell with the plates elevated on blocks. “Blocks” can be soft plyo boxes like in the video, bumper plates, plastic exercise steps, stacked mats, plywood pieces, etc. Engage your lats keep your core tight and bench press the weight off the blocks until the elbows are extended and fully locked out. Don’t waste too much energy on the eccentric and make sure to rest the weight completely on the blocks before pressing again and avoid bouncing the weights off the blocks. These are great for starting strength and working on your sticking points. They help build the rate of force production as well.

Lay on your back under the barbell with the plates elevated on blocks. “Blocks” can be soft plyo boxes like in the video, bumper plates, plastic exercise steps, stacked mats, plywood pieces, etc. Use a closer grip where your elbows are under your fists at about shoulder width apart (unless your program specifies otherwise). Engage your lats keep your core tight and bench press the weight off the blocks until the elbows are extended and fully locked out. Don’t waste too much energy on the eccentric and make sure to rest the weight completely on the blocks before pressing again and avoid bouncing the weights off the blocks. These are great for starting strength and working on your sticking points. They help build the rate of force production. Trainer Tip: When close grip benching the bar-path is usually slightly closer towards the hips than directly above the pectoral muscles. The wider you grip the bar, you will naturally want to press higher towards your neck. This exercise will build massive tricep strength which is ~75% of your bench!

Use blocks to elevate the height of your barbell to reduce the range of motion. “Blocks” can be soft plyo boxes like in the video, bumper plates, plastic exercise steps, stacked mats, plywood pieces, etc. Get into a modified sumo stance (slightly wider than shoulder width), with the feet facing either straight ahead or slightly turned out, depending on your hips and preference. Round the back and grab the bar with the crook of your elbows. Bring your hips up high with your knees bent, taking the slack out of the bar before lifting the bar off the ground using your legs and lower back. Extend the hips through and lockout the knees and glutes at the top when your back is straight. Lower the bar under control doing the exact opposite movement unless you are hitting a 1RM you can drop the bar. This is a more advanced exercise that is very old school. Don’t be afraid of the rounded back positioning. Like ANY other exercise, it is safe as long as you safely and slowly progress and don’t rush lifting heavier weight that the tissues can’t handle. Lifting off of blocks reduces the range and allows someone with less mobility to build it up over time. Pro Tip: Keep your arms parallel and separated when using light to medium weight. When the weight gets REALLY heavy, you may want to interlock the fingertips as seen later in the video.

If the weight is light you can Zercher deadlift the weight off of the floor, but we prefer to use blocks or a squat rack so we don’t waste our energy on the lift – as seen in the video. Lift the weight in the zercher position (bar in the crook of the elbows) and walk! Slow controlled steps are ideal. Keep your core braced as much as you can (dynamic bracing – because you are breathing too) and walk for the alotted distance or time given by your program. Pro Tip: Keep your arms parallel and separated when using light to medium weight. When the weight gets REALLY heavy, you may want to interlock the fingertips as seen later in the video.

Line up the bench so that your eyes or nose are under the bar. Grab the bar around shoulder width (unless specified otherwise by your program) and bench press with the bar path towards your lower pecs. Take the barbell off of the J Hooks by doing a pullover as opposed to rounding the shoulders. Make sure your feet are planted, and keep the chest sticking out and try to grab the bench with your shoulder blades. Lower the bar until it touches your body and hold it for 2 seconds (if unspecified). Bring the bar back to the lockout position by using the triceps and not just the shoulders by keeping the elbows in and keeping your back tight. Imagine you are pushing your body away from the bar and not the bar away from you. This will keep your bench tight and avoid energy leaks. When you are done with the designated repetitions, rack the bar onto the J Hooks. Trainer Tip: When close grip benching the bar-path is usually slightly closer towards the hips than directly above the pectoral muscles. The wider you grip the bar, you will naturally want to press higher towards your neck. This exercise will build massive tricep strength which is ~75% of your bench!

Set your J-hooks of your squat rack so that the barbell sits at about abdominal height. Set a bench or box at the back of the squat rack. If unspecified, the box height should be at a height where your hips and knees are parallel at the bottom or so that your hips are an inch below your knees at the bottom. If that height is 18 inches and you only have a 16 inch box, you can add a plate onto the box to increase its height, add a mat, etc. Grab the bar in the zercher position with the crook of your elbows. Keep your arms parallel and separated when using light to medium weight. When the weight gets REALLY heavy, you may want to interlock the fingertips as seen later in the video. Your feet should be wider than shoulder width with the feet and knees turned out slightly. Stand up straight, take a deep breath, hold your breath in your stomach and brace your stomach by expanding your stomach into the entire belt, not just the front. If you don’t have a belt imagine you do and follow the same technique to take load off of the spine and onto the abs. Sit all the way back onto the box keeping the torso tight the entire time so that your shins are vertical at the bottom. Relax the hip flexors only for a second and then reengage the hips to stand up with the bar. Try to “spread the floor” on the way down and up in order to keep your hips tight by pushing your feet and knees out and apart. Catch your breath and then re-brace for the next rep. When you are done with the reps, take small steps and wiggle your feet back to a narrower stance and run the bar straight into the rack and lower it on the J-hooks. Trainer Tips: Make sure you set your safety pins a few inches below where the barbell will be when you are at the bottom of the squat. If you fail you can just lean slightly forward and dump the bar on the safety pins. Also when you rerack the bar, try not to look left or right and go off of feel not vision. Looking left and right can cause the bar to tilt and potentially miss one of the hooks. We are sitting all the way back here to make the squat more hip and glute dominant. This will be a different form than a regular free-squat but will translate to the free squat by teaching you to use the stronger muscles and not just leg-press the weight with your quads.

Set your plyo boxes or stacked blocks to the designated height in your program. You should have records at all heights as they build different starting strength based on different joint angles and leverages. The boxes should be far enough apart so that the plates are safely supported on each box and so you have room for your stance. Choose either a shoulder width stance or slightly wider. Position yourself under the bar and get into the Zercher position grabbing the bar with the crook of your elbows. Keep your arms parallel and separated when using light to medium weight. When the weight gets REALLY heavy, you may want to interlock the fingertips as seen later in the video. Brace your core, take all the “slack” out of the bar by creating as much whole body tension as possible and getting as tall as you can before driving through the legs and sending the hips forward to lift the bar off the blocks. Whenever you are deadlifting or squatting try to focus on moving the hips forward as opposed to lifting the weight UP.

Set your plyo boxes or stacked blocks to the designated height in your program. You should have records at all heights as they build different starting strength based on different joint angles and leverages. The boxes should be far enough apart so that the plates are safely supported on each box and so you have room for your stance. Get into sumo-type stance under the bar and position the bar into the desired position (I prefer low bar). Grab the bar wider than your shoulders to your preference and shoot your head under the bar creating a pocket for the bar with your traps. Keep your elbows up and your wrists rounded so that the weight doesn’t hurt your wrists. Brace your core, take all the “slack” out of the bar by creating as much whole body tension as possible and getting as tall as you can before driving through the legs and sending the hips forward to lift the bar off the blocks. Whenever you are deadlifting or squatting try to focus on moving the hips forward as opposed to lifting the weight UP. Trainer Tips: Anderson variations (concentric squats) build massive starting strength and can be done at all different heights to work on sticking points and generating power out of the hole. Expect your Anderson squats to be less than your free squats as you are starting from nothing. You don’t have the advantage of the stretch reflex that you get from the eccentric portion FIRST.

Hang from a pullup bar, smith machine, or whatever horizontal bar you have access to with a tight grip and the shoulder blades relaxed. You can tuck your knees if you need the room so your feet don’t hit the floor. An active hang would have engaged upper back muscles, but for this you want the body as long as possible. You can keep your head behind your arms like in the video, but feel free to move your head forward as well if you’d like.

Sit on a bench and take 1 dumbbell and stack it on your shoulder with both hands under 1 head of the dumbbell and not on the handle. Your hands will be in a diamond grip position similar to a diamond pushup where the handle of the dumbbell is between your thumbs and your pointers in the little triangle or diamond your hand makes. Slowly position the dumbbell behind your head with the elbows up nice and high. Lower the dumbbell under control keeping your upper back and core tight until the elbows are completely closed and the triceps and lats are stretched. Flex your triceps to bring the dumbbell to the overhead position and squeeze your triceps when your arms are locked out. Repeat for repetitions. When you are done you can return the dumbbell back to your shoulder before bringing it in front of you and lowering it to the bench or the ground.

Stand straight up and take 1 dumbbell and stack it on your shoulder with both hands under 1 head of the dumbbell and not on the handle. Your hands will be in a diamond grip position similar to a diamond pushup where the handle of the dumbbell is between your thumbs and your pointers in the little triangle or diamond your hand makes. Slowly position the dumbbell behind your head with the elbows up nice and high. Lower the dumbbell under control keeping your upper back and core tight until the elbows are completely closed and the triceps and lats are stretched. Flex your triceps to bring the dumbbell to the overhead position and squeeze your triceps when your arms are locked out. Repeat for repetitions. When you are done you can return the dumbbell back to your shoulder before bringing it in front of you and lowering it to the ground.