K.I.S.S. Strength Training – two basic moves … that’s it, sort of.

“Two moves, are you kidding me?”

Well, sort of, that’s really my attempt to create a catchy blog title because I think that’s the thing to do in the blog world, right? Reel you in with some non-sense about only needing two exercises and six minutes a day to get the body of your dreams? Can it really be that simple, actually ….

I was stopped by a rec league buddy of mine who wants to stay in shape and he told me while on a business trip a trainer from Chicago gave him some really great advice about training,

“she told me to work on pulling and pressing strength, and that’s it. And it really made sense.”

That’s when I decided to write a little on the subject … because we humans certainly know how to complicate things, and the fitness “industry” is no exception.  With so many cardio machines, infomercial products, group exercise classes, and 90 day fitness programs promising to deliver just the waist toning, fat burning results you crave out there to choose from, what is a person to do?

K.I.S.S. – that is, keep it simple, stupid.

There are two fundamental patterns of strength you not only want to improve, but you want to excel at, (darn it!) to deliver all the fat burning, athletic performance enhancing, quality of life benefits we all require to live our lives at any age and any fitness level or endeavor. (That was a mouthful, I’m just trying to say this is important, yet VERY simple.)

1. Pulling Strength – pulling a heavy door open, starting a lawn mower, picking up your child (that is, pulling him or her off of the floor), picking up a bucket of sand or luggage
2. Pressing Strength– standing up from a chair (therefore ‘pressing’ your feet into the ground), getting up from the floor (a split squat (kneeling) position), pushing open a heavy door, pressing luggage up overhead and into a bin.

   

 Simple, right? When planning your strength training workout, or when you perform your training session today, think about each exercise you do: are you pressing (pushing) or pulling?

• Are you pushing against the floor to do a push up?
• Are you pulling a bar towards you?
• Pulling a dumbbell from a lower position to a higher position (biceps curl)?
• Are you picking things up off of the floor (kettlebell deadlift)?

Now if you are sitting there imagining yourself sitting on your favorite Nautilus machine not sure whether you are pressing or pulling, here’s a word or two of advice: GET OFF THE MACHINE! For the love of Pete, train your body, not a machine. Move your body, don’t move a machine. Simply put, and this is probably the most important line in this blog:

if your exercises do not look at least a little something like daily or athletic activities, you are probably doing the wrong exercises. OK, I digress …

Keeping these (pulling and pressing movement) ideas in mind, let’s look at a single training session, to ensure it is balanced with regards to your strength training. Here is a sample day for someone doing strength training 3 x/week, which we generally recommend:

Warm Up & Movement P.R.E.P.

• Walk or bike for 6-10 min to raise your body (and muscle tissue) temperature, or you can jump right into your P.R.E.P. work below
• Sequential (dynamic) stretching – sun salutation, toe touches, back bend reaches to the wall, bird dog work
• Foam rolling – to massage trigger points and release knots in your thighs, hips, and upper back

Strength Training

*This is where you consider your pulls or presses, and choose 2 upper body pulling, 2 upper body pressing, and 2 lower body exercises (either pulling or pressing.)  Pair up these exercises so you are performing a pull then a press, or an upper then a lower body movement. You should now have 3 pairs of exercises (we call these pairings “supersets”), 6 movements total. Perform each “superset” 3 times, moving back and forth between these two movements, rest 30-60 seconds between each pairing. Here is an example:

• Seated Cable Pull Down (upper pulling)
• Bench Squat (lower pressing)

• Smith Machine Push Up (upper pressing) – see video below
• Standing Dumbbell Biceps Curl (upper pulling)

• Step Back – off box or platform (lower body) (video of these at the end of this post)
• Lying Dumbbell Triceps Extension (upper press) (video of variations is below)

 That covers your entire body, with 2 presses, 2 pulls, and 2 legs. A general rule of thumb is to get stronger in the 12-15 repetition range first for 3 sets of each exercise. Then increase the weight and move into the 8-12 rep range, then the 5-8 range. You can increase weight and decrease repetitions every 2-3 weeks. After 6 weeks, pick 6 new exercises. Here are your dumbbell triceps variations we use in boot camp, in the weight room, and that you can perform at home on your floor with 8-12 lb DB’s:

Finish this workout with a 10 minute interval on the treadmill walking hills, or jumping rope on and off for 30 seconds, and you have an excellent total body strength/interval workout that will keep your resting metabolism cooking along higher than usual for the next 48 hours.

Finally, finish that session off with a healthy source of protein and nutrient dense carb such as an apple and a glass of milk, and you will be seeing results in no time!

Final Tips:

• Journal your training sessions – try to get a little stronger each time you walk into a workout
• Pick one or two moves each day you train and really push it a little harder on those two more than the others
• Stick with a similar workout for 3-6 weeks, getting stronger with each move, then mix it up and begin fresh with new exercises. This keeps the body from building up a tolerance to those moves, and shocks it into change, something others call muscle confusion

Next Blog – next I plan to throw together a 3 part series on improving your push up. A push up is a great total body move that strengthens your core, arms, and postural muscles, not to mention the other 100 muscles it challenges with every repetition you attempt. Stay tuned ….

Here is a quick video of the Crossover Step Back, mentioned above:

When training, “go hard or go home” … but keep it S.A.F.E.!