Matt Hank

I was talking to a client of mine and she was telling how it is difficult to workout on her own because she does not know what exercises to do. I told her not to over think things and let us start by creating a general workout template to help design your workouts. This is what I suggested for a full body workout.

· Choose a Pulling Movement

o Rows - bent over, standing with cables

o Pull Up variations

· Choose a Pressing Movement

o Shoulder Press - dumbbell/kettlebells

o Chest Press - push ups, standing with cables

· Choose a Squatting or Lunging Movement

o Squats - bar, dumbbells, single leg squat variations

o Lunges - multi-directional, walking lunges

· Choose a Rotational Movement

o Chops – cables, plates

o Medicine ball Exercises – chops, twists, rotational slams

· Incorporate Interval Training (part I and part II)

o Treadmill

o Bike

o Eliptical

o Jump Rope

This gives you a basic template to start with when designing a workout routine to do on your own. I would suggest picking one or two exercises from each category and circuiting three exercises together. After that choose three more exercises and circuit those together. Those two circuits along with an adequate warm up and intervals thrown in will make a great workout.

Train Hard-Train Smart
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If you are looking for some crazy high intensity/make you vomit type of workouts Crossfit may help satisfy your needs. This website has a workout of the day that is insane most days of the week. These type of high intensity circuits are great for fat loss and building muscle mass. I usually incorporate variations of these circuits with most of my cliental to bring about positive changes in their body composition. There are a few aspects about Crossfit that I do not agree with 100%, but if you are looking for a way to structure your workout so you feel sick after you complete it then you should check out this site.

Here’s an example of a Crossfit workout (it is today’s “workout of the day”):

Three rounds for time of:
24″ Box jump, 50 reps
185 pound Deadlift, 21 reps
30 Pull-ups

A common principle in most of my posts is that the body moves in more than one direction - not just forward and backward, but also to the side and rotates.  The lunge and the shoulder press are easy ways to incorporate multi-plane movements.  Check out this video and implement these exercises into your workout routine.

Train Hard-Train Smart
www.asap-pt.com

This is a great variation to the traditional pull up.  I use this with many of my athletes and clients who do not have the upper body strength to perform a series of regular or kipping pull up.  You can use cardio steps or a bench and place it right under the pull up bar.  The other pull up variation I illustrated was a band assisted pull up, check it out.

Train Hard-Train Smart,
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These transverse plane (rotational movement) exercises need to be incorporated in every athletes training program.

Rotational training is not just important for baseball, softball, tennis and golf athletes.  Those specific sports require an athlete to be efficient in the transverse plane and this is obvious to most people.  What about other sports such as volleyball, soccer and football.  Look at all three of these pictures and notice the amount of rotation taking place at the hip, core, and shoulder girdle.

Train and develop these movment patterns.

Train Hard-Train Smart
www.asap-pt.com

Here is a simple body weight workout that incorporates conditioning with strength training.

· 30 second interval of body weight squats

· 30 second interval of push ups

· 30 second interval of a front bridge matrix (email me for further description)

· Complete 6 rounds (continuous running clock) – Calculate the total number of repetitions

· *No rest in between stations - when you rest you are just lowering your total score*

It is not rocket science. This is a very simplistic idea of how to incorporate a blend of metabolic conditioning and strength training into a workout routine. Try this same routine in two weeks and try to beat your total repetitions. This is an easy example of how to monitor your fitness progresses.

Train Hard-Train Smart

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After a doctor has diagnosed the injured knee (with an MRI or manual tests for ligament structure) and determined there is no structural damage, it is time to find out why there pain in the knee. The thing about this knee pain is that the knee itself is not the problem. It’s easy for doctors to say “Oh there is no structural damage, just have your son/daughter do some exercises to strength the knee like leg extension or hamstring work.” This is just trying to mask the symptoms instead of resolving the problem. In fact, those recommendations are terrible because you may be putting more stress on the injured knee – place shear forces on your knee by doing leg extensions or partial leg extensions and isolate your hamstring muscle by doing knee flexion exercises. First off, your hamstrings primary role in functional movements is not concentric knee flexion so don’t waste your time doing hamstring curls. You are training the body to do something that it would not normally do in a baseball game or volleyball match. Instead, let us start to look above and below the knee for what is causing the problem. Most times chronic knee pain is the result of dysfunction of the ankle or hip joint. We need to make sure the ankle and hip have the proper amount of mobility and stability. The pain may also be coming from the core, back or even the shoulder. That’s right - shoulder girdle dysfunction can cause lower body injuries. Once we have determined the weakness within the kinetic chain, then it is appropriate to design a program to alleviate this knee pain.

Train Hard-Train Smart,

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Most athletes want to be strong and fast.  You need to train to improve both variables - speed and strength.  The ability to generate maximum strength and produce high speeds are different motor abilities. For younger athletes, they will likely see improvements in speed and strength when performing heavy strength training. This is the case because the majority of young athletes have no prior lifting experience and are relatively very weak – At that point anything they do safely will help. However, the same athlete will see greater performance gains if also training with high-velocity movements (training the rate of force development). It is important to incorporate Olympic lift variations, plyometrics and speed drills into a performance program. Exercises that enhance the rate of force development become even more important for athletes that already have a solid strength base. For stronger athletes, their speed will start to peak if they only continue to incorporate heavy resistance training. It is very important to incorporate high-velocity movements if an athlete is looking to improve their overall speed, quickness, and agility.

Take home message: Athletes need a balanced training program to improve their overall athletic development. They need to increase their relative strength (incorporating heavy resistance exercises) and improve their rate of force development (incorporating high-velocity movements and exercises).

This is a great strength and mobility exercise.  My intention with this exercise is to address the hip and shoulder in all three planes of motion.  The hip and shoulder/Thoracic Spine require a fair amount of mobility in sport and daily activities.  Also, these two areas of the body need to work together to produce powerful movements such as throwing a ball or spiking a volleyball.  Finally, this illustrates the importance of core strength because the powerful core musculature is connecting the shoulder and hip together.

The first sequence of repetitions attacks the sagital plane (forward and backward motion).  I am getting complete extension and flexion from the shoulder and the hips.  The second sequence of repetitions is addressing the frontal plane (side to side motion).  This plane of motion is addressed less frequently in many strength programs compared to the sagital plane.  Within this movement there is abd- and adduction occuring through the hip and shoulder joints.  The final sequence of repetitions targets the transverse plane of motion.  This plane is also rarely considered when designing a strength training program.  In this video my shoulder and hip go through full range of internal and external rotation.  The key element to this sequence of exercises is that the hip and shoulder are working together to produce this movement in all three planes of motion.

Train Hard-Train Smart

www.asap-pt.com