May 18, 2011

Rubber and Rope: Two Killer Training Tools

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Tires

Battleropes

Barbells

Kettlebells

and

Bands?

Yup, it may seem like bands don’t really fit in these ‘hardcore’ training tools.

However, when applied correctly and strategically, they can really alter an exercise…well…into something else

One of my clients Laura, found out just what all these tools are capable of in yesterdays training session. One of Laura’s biggest challenges is her mobility and as a result, activation of her hips. After a thorough warm up and activation of those muscles involved with hip mobility and flexibility, I wanted her to activate them more with a few alterations of exercises we have already been doing.

I was also lucky to get them on video to show you

The first video is of Laura performing a barbell deadlift, but with bands attempting her to shift her weight and the weight of the barbell forward. However, with Laura already knowing the band is going to pull her forward, she is going to overcompensate in the opposite direction (forcing her to extend the hips and keep weight back more on heels), helping to correct her deadlift form AND force more activation of her hips. Check it out:

She has also gotten pretty adept to flipping a tire, so I thought I’d throw in an added resistance to that and make it challenging again. What this also did, is force her to be aware of her hips and placement while performing the tire flip. As a result she activated the hips more and as a result got fatigued faster.

With the Weighted Rope Pull, again I wanted her to activated her hips with working on grip and pulling strength, so I hooked up a kettlebell tied by a battlerope to serve as the apparatus in the next video. As you will see she activated her hips (got to work on her locking out her hips at the top), and worked hard on her pulling and grip strength. Awesome stuff.