– The kettlebell goblet squat is often used to teach good squat technique, as it helps you to keep an upright torso and sit back with your hips.

– The goblet squat trains the core and upper back in addition to the lower body.

– If you have trouble doing the kettlebell goblet squat, a landmine squat could be a more effective alternative. If you’ve mastered the goblet squat, adding a curl at the bottom of the movement, or doing it on one leg, are good progressions.

Kettlebell Goblet Squat: How To Do It & Get Ripped

As the movie Dodgeball taught us, “If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball!” To some extent, the same logic can apply to squatting: if you can do a kettlebell goblet squat, you can do ANY kind of squat (or at least you’ll be able to learn much faster). The kettlebell goblet squat teaches sound movement mechanics for squatting, allowing you to work your legs without excess stress on your lower back or knees. It’s a foundational movement for anyone who likes to train with kettlebells, or who ultimately wants to train heavy back squats, front squats, power cleans, or a range of other more advanced movements.

We’ll start by showing you how to execute the kettlebell goblet squat with great form, tell you all the muscles it works and how, and then provide some alternative exercises you can use to become a sound and strong squatter.

Let the game begin!

How To Do The Kettlebell Goblet Squat

Step 1. Hold a kettlebell in front of your chest by the sides of its handle. Draw your shoulders back and downward (think: “proud chest”), and tuck your elbows in close to the bell—try to get your forearms as vertical as you can. Stand with your feet between hip- and shoulder-width apart, and turn your toes out a bit—up to 30 degrees if you need to.

Step 2. Tuck your tailbone and draw your ribs down so that your pelvis is parallel to the floor. Take a deep breath into your belly, and brace your core. Actively twist your feet into the floor, but don’t let them move. Think of your legs as screwdrivers, or that you’re standing on grass and trying to twist it up beneath you. You should feel the arches in your feet rise and your glutes tighten, creating tension in the lower body.

Step 3. Keeping a long spine from your head to your pelvis, push your hips back and squat down, as if sitting down into a chair. Squat as low as you can while keeping your head, spine, and pelvis aligned. Push your knees apart as you descend. You should feel most of your weight on your heels to mid-foot area. If you feel your lower back beginning to round, stop there, and come back up. Keep your torso as vertical as possible—you shouldn’t have to lean forward or work extra hard to hold the bell upright. Avoid bending or twisting to either side.

Step 4. Drive through your feet as you extend your hips and knees to come up.

Benefits of the Kettlebell Goblet Squat

First and foremost, the goblet squat is an excellent teaching tool for learning the classic squatting movement pattern correctly. When most people begin squatting, whether with their bodyweight or a barbell on their back, they have trouble sitting back on the descent and activating the muscles of their hips. They tend to lean forward excessively to maintain balance, and that can lead to a range of problems: squatting too shallow, rounding the lower back, letting the knees collapse inward, allowing the heels to rise off the floor, etc.

In the goblet squat, you hold a load in front of your body, and it acts as a counterbalance. As a result, you’ll feel more comfortable opening your hips and sitting back with them—you don’t feel like you’re going to fall backward when you begin the descent, because the weight of the kettlebell is gently pulling you forward. This allows you to squat deeply with an upright torso, and that makes it possible to activate the greatest amount of muscle throughout your legs, while minimizing shear forces on the spine. As you descend, your elbows naturally travel inside your knees, which is a reminder to push your knees out to make room for the elbows. Doing so helps your knees to align with your toes, and that prevents the knee pain so often associated with knees that collapse inward.

Positioning the kettlebell in front of the torso makes your core brace your spine more or less automatically, so you can argue that the goblet squat builds strong abs as well. Furthermore, holding the weight in front of the chest asks a lot of the shoulder and upper back muscles, and fighting to maintain good shoulder alignment strengthens your posture. This can pay big dividends if you go on to train more challenging types of squats, such as the back squat and front squat. It can also help make you stronger at presses and pullups/rows too.

Due to the vertical torso position, the goblet squat is much easier on the lower back than a back squat is. If you recently injured your low back doing back squats, or just can’t get the hang of them, the goblet squat is a great squat variation to regress to in order to clean up your form. In this regard, it has a lot in common with the front squat, and goblet squats are often used to build up to training front squats. With the lighter loads used, however, the goblet squat is more user-friendly and easier to master.

Because the goblet squat is relatively easy to master, it works well in circuits and other fast-paced workouts that train the whole body. You can pick up a kettlebell, knock out a set, and move on to the next thing. Only the most advanced athletes or lifters could be as efficient with back squats and other barbell variations, so it’s no wonder why the goblet squat is popular in exercise classes and for home-gym training.

Muscles Used In the Kettlebell Goblet Squat

The kettlebell goblet squat is really a full-body exercise, but it’s treated mainly as a lower-body lift. Here are the muscles it recruits, from the top down.

• Upper back (traps, rhomboids)
• Deltoids
• Lats
• Wrist flexors and extensors
• Rectus abdominis, and deep core muscles
• Spinal erectors
• Quadriceps
• Glutes
• Hamstrings
• Calves

While the goblet squat does work a lot of muscle, it’s not a great choice for someone looking to make big muscle gains—at least not long-term. It will certainly help to improve your squat technique and strengthen your back, legs, and core, but as you progress your loading on the goblet squat, you will reach a point where your upper body can’t support the weight anymore, while your legs still feel strong. At this stage, it’s wise to advance to front squats or back squats, which will let you go heavy enough to ensure that your quads gets trained to the fullest.

However, that isn’t to say that goblet squats can’t be done with heavy weight, especially if kettlebells or dumbbells are all you have to train with. Some lifters have done reps with well over 100 pounds, which makes for an impressive test of overall body strength. But the difficulty and awkwardness of getting such heavy weight into position makes moving on to a different type of squat a more practical progression.

How To Stretch Before Doing The Kettlebell Goblet Squat

The kettlebell goblet squat is as beginner-friendly a squat as there is, but it still requires mobility in some key muscle groups to perform correctly. You can loosen up your ankles, hips, and quads beforehand with these drills from Natalie Higby (@natalie.higby on Instagram), co-founder of The Durable Athlete. Perform each for 2–3 sets of 5–10 reps.

Ankle Roll On Edges of Feet

Step 1. Stand with feet about shoulder-width apart and place your hands on your knees. Begin circling your knees outward (left knee counter-clockwise; right knee clockwise) while rolling on the outer edges of your feet. Raise  your heels as your knees come forward, and move slowly and smoothly.

Step 2. Perform your reps in one direction, and then repeat in the opposite direction. If you have trouble keeping your balance, hold onto a sturdy object for support.

Straight-Leg Hip Circle

Step 1. Hold onto a sturdy object for support. Tuck your tailbone under and draw your ribs down, so that your pelvis is level with the floor, and brace your core. Raise one leg in the air in front of you, keeping your knee straight, and pointing your toes up. (If it’s difficult to keep the knee straight, raise the knee only to where it’s about to bend; no higher.) Allow a soft bend in the leg that’s supporting you. 

Step 2. Rotate your leg 90 degrees out to your side, and then begin turning your toes toward the floor as you draw the leg behind your body. Return your foot to the floor. That’s one hip circle.

Step 3. Repeat in the opposite direction, engaging your glutes as you lift your leg behind you, and then rotating the foot outward. Continue alternating directions each rep. Again, if you can’t raise your leg high without it bending, keep your leg lower to the floor and make circles from there.

Kneeling Hip Extension

Step 1. Kneel on the floor in a tall position—shoulders and hips stacked over your knees. Your toes can be pointed into the floor, or flat. Place your hands on your ribs and pelvis and draw your ribs down so that the two areas pull closer together. Your pelvis should be level with the floor. Brace your core, and squeeze your glutes.

Step 2. Keeping a long spine, begin leaning back slowly, so that you feel tension in your quads. Go as low as you can control, and then bend your hips to sit on your heels. Extend your hips to come back up to a tall-kneeling position. Over time, work to lower yourself a little further before you bend your hips.

Alternatives to the Kettlebell Goblet Squat

Once you’ve gotten the basic goblet squat down, you can experiment with the goblet squat with curl. In this variation, you squat down, lower the kettlebell until your arms are straight, and curl it back up. Doing so helps reinforce good posture in the bottom of the squat. If you can keep your spine and pelvis alignment while you move the kettlebell further in front of your body, you can be sure that your squat pattern is strong and stable. It’s also a great way to make you slow down each rep of the exercise. Once they realize that the goblet squat makes it much easier to squat properly, many people have a tendency to rush their reps, bouncing out of the bottom. Adding the curl forces you to be more intentional with your movement and maintain muscle tension throughout the range of motion. This can help prevent your knees from bending inward or outward and your tailbone from tucking under too much, and it will lead to better results.

Kettlebell Goblet Squat With Curl

Step 1. Set up as you did to perform the regular kettlebell goblet squat.

Step 2. Squat down. When you’re as low as you can safely go, hold the position. Extend your elbows, lowering the weight until it’s just above the floor.

Step 3. Curl the kettlebell back up to your chest, and come back up out of the squat.

Kettlebell Bulgarian Split Squat with Goblet Hold

Single-leg squatting is a must for athletes, since so many sports movements require you to push off or land on one leg again and again. The Bulgarian split squat (aka rear-foot elevated split squat) is perhaps the most challenging single-leg movement, and when it’s done holding a kettlebell in the goblet squat position, you combine the core and back training of the goblet squat with the increased range of motion and stability demands of single-leg work.

Step 1. Stand about lunge-length distance in front of a bench. Hold the kettlebell in front of your chest as you would to goblet squat, and rest the top of one foot on the bench behind you. Your back knee should be bent about 90 degrees.

Step 2. Bend your front knee, lowering your body until your rear knee is just above the floor, and your front thigh is about parallel to the floor. Make sure your front heel doesn’t rise off the floor. If it does, place your foot further in front of you. Your spine should run parallel to your front shin throughout the exercise. So it’s OK if your shin is angled forward a bit in the bottom position, and your back matches it.

Landmine Squat

While the goblet squat is ideal for beginners, some people will find that they still have trouble keeping their torso upright while performing it. In this case, using a barbell in a landmine unit can be a great solution. With a landmine squat, the load is held in front of the body the same as it is with a goblet squat, but the bar is anchored to the ground and travels on an arc. This all but guarantees that you’ll stay tall while you squat, because if you bend too far forward, the bar will poke you in the chest.

Step 1. Load one end of a barbell into the cylinder of a landmine. (If you don’t have a landmine, the corner of a room can suffice; just protect the walls with a towel.) Hold the opposite end of the bar with both hands and stand in your squat stance. Twist your feet into the floor to create tension in the lower body as described in the goblet squat directions above.

Step 2. Lower into the squat as deeply as you can, and then extend your hips and knees to come back up.

The post Kettlebell Goblet Squat: How To Do It & Get Ripped appeared first on Onnit Academy.

– The single-arm kettlebell front squat helps teach good squatting technique while training the legs and core, primarily.

– You must master the goblet squat and should be familiar with the kettlebell clean before trying the single-arm kettlebell front squat.

– If squatting with the kettlebell is awkward for you, using a barbell in a landmine unit provides an alternative.

Single-Arm Kettlebell Front Squats: How To Do Them & Get Ripped

Squatting with a kettlebell in one hand is a basic but full-body exercise that, once mastered, teaches you to flow from the kettlebell clean into a squat, and, from there, sets you up to press overhead. It works a tremendous amount of muscle and can burn a lot of calories, making it useful for both muscle-gain and fat-loss goals. The single-arm kettlebell front squat is also a great way to engrain good squatting technique. It trains the legs, as any squat does, but also forces the upper back and core to engage in order to maintain alignment. Below, we’ll teach you to perform the movement with perfect form, show you why it’s a must for your workouts, and give some alternatives that work the same muscles and movement pattern.

How To Do The Single-Arm Kettlebell Front Squat

A true kettlebell front squat begins from the floor with a clean. If you’re not familiar with the clean, let Onnit Coach Eric Leija, aka “Primal Swoledier,” bring you up to speed.

Step 1: Stand with feet between hip- and shoulder-width apart, straddling a kettlebell on the floor. Keeping your head, spine, and pelvis in a straight line, bend your hips back to reach down and grasp the kettlebell. (Don’t crush it; a somewhat soft grip will allow you to spin the weight around your wrist more easily when you clean it.) Allow your knees to bend as needed as you reach down for the bell. Draw your shoulder blades back and downward (think: “proud chest”), so that both are level with the floor, and focus your eyes on a spot on the floor a few feet in front you.

Step 2. Clean the kettlebell to the rack position (up to the shoulder). If you’re fairly new to the clean, it may help you to turn the handle of the bell to face the heel of your opposite foot (opposite of the hand you’re using to grasp the bell), which helps facilitate rotation. Extend your hips forcefully to stand up, pulling your elbow backward to keep the weight close to the front of your body, and spinning the kettlebell around your wrist until it stops at your shoulder when you’re standing tall.

If cleaning from the floor feels unsafe for your lower back, you may clean from a hang position, which begins standing. Simply bend your hips back and swing the weight back between your legs, and then clean it up to shoulder level.

When you’ve gotten some variation of the kettlebell clean down, you can use it to get the kettlebell in position for the front squat. You can also combine the two movements into one fluid clean-and-front-squat flow.  From the standing position with the bell racked at the shoulder (after you’ve cleaned it), the single-arm kettlebell front squat goes as follows.

Step 1: Hold the kettlebell with your forearm as vertical as possible and your wrist straight. Turn your toes to point out slightly—more if you have trouble squatting deeply, and less if you’re fairly mobile in your hips. Take a deep breath into your belly, and actively twist your feet into the floor, but don’t let them move. Think of your legs as screwdrivers, or that you’re standing on grass and trying to twist it up beneath you. You should feel the arches in your feet rise and your glutes tighten, creating tension in the lower body.

Step 2: Squat as low as you can while keeping your head, spine, and pelvis aligned, and pushing your knees apart. If you feel your tailbone beginning to tuck under, stop there, and come back up. Keep your torso as vertical as possible—you shouldn’t have to lean forward or work extra hard to hold the bell upright. Avoid bending or twisting to either side.

Step 3. Come back up, extending your hips and knees. Complete your reps on that side, and then switch sides and repeat.

Benefits of the Kettlebell Front Squat

Holding a load in front of your body acts as a counterbalance, so that when you squat, you’re able to sit back with your hips as you descend with little fear of losing your balance. This better activates your glutes and hamstrings while allowing you to keep an upright, vertical torso, and is much safer for the lower back than barbell back squatting (which often results in a forward lean of the torso that puts the lumbar spine at risk). In addition to engraining good squat mechanics, front squatting activates the core to a high degree. The weight wants to pull you forward, so you have to battle to stay tall with good posture. The muscular tension this creates throughout the body builds tremendous strength, and has carryover to other squatting movements (including the back squat) that have you using heavier loads. So, while it provides a great workout for a trainee of any level on its own, the kettlebell front squat also serves as a stepping stone to mastering more complex lifts.

When you perform the front squat with only one kettlebell, the demand for stabilization is even greater. Holding one weight will tempt you to bend or twist in its direction, so you have to work to keep your tall position even more than you would holding two kettlebells. As so many activities in sports and in life require you to stabilize an uneven load (throwing a ball, carrying objects, holding an opponent in a grappling drill), the single-arm kettlebell front squat is highly applicable. Of course, any kettlebell front squat variation also works the legs. Because it allows for such a deep squat, you can be sure you’ll work your quads hard through a big range of motion, while also recruiting the glutes and hamstrings.

Kettlebell front squats can be done heavy for low reps to build maximum strength and muscle, and lighter for higher reps as part of a conditioning circuit or kettlebell complex (in which multiple exercises are strung together). The kettlebell front squat is an essential move one must know in order to link other exercises together in a complex or “flow.” For example, you can clean a kettlebell, go right into a squat, and then come up and press it overhead. Or row the bell from the floor, and then clean it, squat it, and step back into a reverse lunge. So, owning good front squat mechanics with the kettlebell opens up a range of movement that leads to endless training possibilities.

Muscles Used in the Kettlebell Front Squat

One of the great selling points of any kettlebell front squat variation is that it’s a full-body movement. But to be specific, you can expect the single-arm version to work the following muscles (mainly).

• quadriceps
• hamstrings
• glutes
• internal and external obliques
• rectus abdominis (the six-pack muscle)
• spinal erectors
• transverse abdominis (deep core muscle)
• multifidi (core)
• front and lateral deltoids
• latissimus dorsi
• trapezius
• rhomboids
• forearm flexors

How To Stretch Before Doing the Kettlebell Front Squat

Use these drills to warm up and help mobilize your hips, upper back, and shoulders before you train any kettlebell front squat variation. Perform 2–3 sets of 5–10 reps for each.

Full Mountain Climber

Cat-Cow

Kneeling Arm Thread

Alternatives to the Kettlebell Front Squat

The single-arm kettlebell front squat can be done by inexperienced lifters and advanced athletes alike, but if you’re brand new to kettlebell training, you should master the basic goblet squat first. This will get you used to holding a load in front of your body, and it will clean up your squat technique. Also, stabilizing one kettlebell (or dumbbell) with both hands is less complex than controlling a bell with only one arm.

Goblet Squat

Step 1. Hold a kettlebell under your chin, gripping it by the horns of its handle. Stand with feet between hip- and shoulder-width, and turn your toes out 15 degrees or more. Try to get your forearms vertical, and your wrists straight. Take a deep breath into your belly, and twist your feet into the floor to create tension.

Step 2. Squat down as low as you can without your tailbone tucking under. Spread your knees as you do. Your knees should end up in line with your big toes.

Step 3. Extend your hips and knees and stand tall again.

If you need a little more stability when you do your clean, the one-arm landmine squat clean can be a good alternative. The landmine—a long metal cylinder in which you can load one end of a barbell—provides the freedom of movement that makes free weights great, but with a little more stability and an arc of motion that’s easier on the joints. It can also make the squat more user-friendly if you have tight ankles or back problems.

One-arm Landmine Squat Clean

Step 1. Load one end of a barbell with a plate and anchor the other end in a landmine unit, or, wedge it into a corner.

Step 2. Start in the same start position as the single-arm kettlebell clean/single-arm kettlebell front squat, but grasp the end of the bar with one hand and a pronated grip (thumb pointing back at you, and palm facing the same side leg).

Step 3. Begin pushing through your heels to extend your hips and knees and pull the bar off the floor. Your shoulders and hips should be in sync with each other as they rise. When the bar passes your knees, finish extending your hips, knees, and ankles explosively, and pull the bar straight up in front of your body. Keep the bar as close to your body as possible as you pull it upward. The objective here is to pull the bar as high as possible as your body becomes upright. The pull should make your shoulders shrug and your heels leave the floor.

Step 4. Pull the bar up to your same side shoulder (right shoulder if you’re using your right arm); at the top, quickly flip your hand over to catch the bar in front of your shoulder with your palm now facing the midline of your body.

Step 5. Drop down into a full squat, keeping the end of the bar in front of your shoulder. Then stand back up with the weight. Lower the bar back down and repeat. Complete your reps on that side and then switch sides and repeat.

The post Single-Arm Kettlebell Front Squats: How To Do Them & Get Ripped appeared first on Onnit Academy.

 
This explosive hybrid movement will get your heart rate up while strengthening multiple muscle groups and movement patterns. By combining these two you add a more ballistic element to the squat forcing you to stay tighter and more compact. The carryover is fantastic for athletes looking to build leg and posterior chain strength without needing extremely heavy loads.

Step 1: Deadlift a kettlebell to the standing position.

Step 2: Hinge quickly and pull the kettlebell back to build momentum.

Step 3: As you snap forward, but before letting the weight travel out in front of you pull up and quickly switch your hand position to the horns of the kettlebell.

Step 4: From this position smoothly perform a squat.

Step 5: As you finish the top of the squat change your hand position again quickly to grab the bell with two hands by the handle and perform the bottom part of the swing.

Tips and Safety: Make sure you can perform a swing and squat properly before attempting this hybrid. The transitions are subtle, but crucial at performing this movement properly without dropping or putting too much wear on your elbows, wrists and shoulders. Time your breathing so that you are exhaling at the top of the swing/transition to squat and as you ascend from the bottom of the squat.

The post Kettlebell Swing to Goblet Squat Exercise appeared first on Onnit Academy.

 
This movement is a great precursor to the swing without adding a ballistic component. It will help build your posterior chain along with your core while adding flexibility in your hips. It is a fantastic movement to build body awareness to prepare yourself for the swing and other ballistic hinging movements. It will also build upper body strength and flexibility with the position of the kettlebell.

Step 1: Two hand clean a kettlebell and bring it around to sit nicely between your shoulder blades.

Step 2: Pulling your shoulders back and maintaining a wide, proud chest, focus on bringing your hips back to the wall behind you.

Step 3: Focus on getting a slight stretch on your hamstrings as you perform this movement. If you do not feel the stretch shift your hips back to the wall behind you more.

Step 4: Maintaining core tension pull yourself back to the starting position.

Tips and Safety: Maintain a long spine throughout this movement. This will ensure a safe spine throughout the exercise. Focus on retracting your shoulder blades as tightly as you can to keep from your shoulders rounding. Do not go below parallel as you hinge. To finish the movement safely bring the kettlebell around your shoulder back to the start position. Do not go to failure with this movement.

The post Kettlebell Good Morning Exercise appeared first on Onnit Academy.

The Side Swing is a powerful rotational variation that will build rotational power as well as coordination and body awareness. Make sure you can perform the outside swing before attempting this movement.

Step 1: Place a kettlebell on the outside of your right foot with a slightly narrow stance.

Step 2: Hinge and squat to get into position to be able to grab the kettlebell while keeping your shoulders higher than your hips.

Step 3: Maintaining a long spine and proud wide chest snap your hips and launch the kettlebell out to your left side.

Step 4: Once fully standing downswing the kettlebell back across your body while hinging to avoid hitting your knees.

Step 5: Repeat using the momentum from the drop

Tips and Safety: There will be a slight rotation at the bottom of the swing. Even with this maintain a long spine and proud chest to avoid rounding or overly rotating. Do not let your knees buckle. As you downswing to your right your right knee will be slightly more extended than your left. The opposite will occur when performing this movement with your right hand. Keep your shoulder backed throughout the movement to maintain control.

The post One Arm Kettlebell Side Swing Exercise appeared first on Onnit Academy.

Then…

● Boredom kicks in.
● Results aren’t happening as quickly as expected (“I’ve been doing this program for 3 days! I should see results by now”.)
● Insert typical excuse.

The grass is always greener, right?

When it comes to success (in pretty much all things in life), consistency is one of the most important attributes you can have and that goes double for your training plan.

One of the worst things you can do for results is bounce from plan to plan. Don’t get me wrong. There’s a level of variety that’s needed for your body’s and sanity’s sake, but going into every workout without a plan will get you nowhere fast.

I’m a huge proponent of “Instinctive Training” and listening to your body, but sometimes you need to tell your body to shut the hell up and do the work whether you feel like it or not.

Mistake #1: Program Hopping

I’ve made this mistake many a time in the past. I’d start on a plan only to change course before my goal had been actualized. Like I said, the grass is greener, eh?

This is the number one mistake because I’ve seen it happen over and over again. If you try something for 3-7 days and it doesn’t work, it’s because you didn’t give it enough time. If you try to accomplish too many goals at once, you’ll never stick to any one thing long enough to see dramatic results.

EVERY. SINGLE. CLIENT (in MBody HQ, online, or through MBody Pro) who has seen the best results are the one’s who stuck to the plan for the duration of the plan.

Solution: Make sure you know exactly what you want as well as the price you are willing to pay to get there. Once you’ve done that, find a plan and stick to it for at least 14 days (30 is better) before changing courses.

Mistake #2: Getting Too Creative

“If I’m doing ____ plan can I also include running, HIIT, Oly lifting, swimming, hiking, biking,” etc, etc.

Don’t get too creative when following a plan. When you throw everything and the kitchen sink into your training agenda, it tends to weigh the whole thing down and causes you to lose focus.

When you find or create a plan that works for you, try to remember the ever-popular mantra of the self-help guru: K.I.S.S. Keep it simple, Sally. Or is it Stu? Whatever…

Solution: Don’t overcomplicate things. Use what’s useful and disregard the rest. Thanks, Bruce Lee.

Mistake #3: Not Tracking

I’ll be honest. I could probably put Tracking or Not Tracking in many a list. You know why? Because tracking is that important.

If you’re interested in changing your body or your performance for the better, then you need to think of yourself as a mad scientist performing endless and countless experiments on yourself. Every step you make should be spent trying to find better ways to work with your body. Not the general “you,” but the YOU sitting there reading this.

Solution: Get one journal and make that your Holy Grail of results. How certain foods react with you, how you are progressing with a plan, changes you’re seeing or feeling, etc. The Devil’s in the details. Always.

Always remember that consistency trumps intensity any day of the week. It’s not what you do once in a flashy, loud scene that will make a difference. It’s what you do day-in, day-out behind closed doors. Only after the time has been put in will the results reveal themselves to the world.

3 Mistakes that Cause Your Weight Loss to Plateau

The post 3 Mistakes that Cause Your Weight Loss to Plateau appeared first on Onnit Academy.

The ground can give you a fantastic strength and conditioning session with calisthenics, plyometrics, body flows, and more, but the pull-up bar will help you build a powerful upper body, grip and core.

There are many reasons you should be doing (a lot) of pull-ups and variations and I don’t just mean throwing in a couple of half-assed sets towards the end of your workout.

It Hits Multiple Muscles at Once

Let’s get the obvious reason out of the way that the pull-up and its friends are compound movements that will give you the most bang for your buck. With each pull you hit many of the muscles in your back, biceps, shoulders, forearms, grip, and core. Time efficiency for the win.

There Are Always Ways to Progress

No matter what level you’re at, there are a multitude of movements and combinations that will turn you into a freaky strong gorilla. Keep reading for my 5 favorite ways to make the pull-up harder.

You Will Build Tons of Pulling Strength

This translates into easier submissions and will allow you to defend against your opponent much more handily.

Alright so let’s get into it. Here are 5 of my favorite ways to make the standard pull-up harder…

#1: Change the Grip

This is one of the easiest ways to make your pull-ups more effective if you’re a fighter. By adding a pair of Fat Gripz (if you don’t have access to those a simple towel or gi will do just as well) will be wildly beneficial.

This is going to help build finger and grip strength. The more open the hand is, or the softer the handle is, the harder you have to squeeze to keep yourself from plummeting to the ground.

You won’t be able to go heavier on this at first, but when you can build to a heavy weighted thick grip/towel pull-up you’re going to have bone-crushing grip strength in your corner.

#2: Change the Tempo

Two ways that I make pull-ups more difficult is by changing the tempo to force them to go excessively slow as well as incorporating static holds at different points in the movement.

The next time you try a pull-up try breaking it down into five points.

1. Starting position is a dead hang
2. 1/4 up (elbows slightly bent)
3. 1/2 way up (elbows at 90 degrees)
4. 3/4 up (chin almost at bar)
5. Finish position is chin above bar

Hold each section for 15 seconds on the way up and on the way down. Aim for three reps. You will be unpleasantly surprised at how terrible this is, but it will help build strength in various arm positions which will carry over into your grappling sessions.

#3: Partner Pulls

This one is more of a core workout and incorporates a static hold, but the difference here is you’re going to need a partner for it. The downside of having a partner pull you is that you can’t exactly gauge how much pressure is being applied. The plus side, however, of having someone to motivate and push you (literally, as well) makes this extremely beneficial.

Try This:

Partner A, you’re going to get into a 1/2 pull-up position with your elbows at 90 degrees. At this point you’re going to bring your legs up bending your knees.

Partner B, here’s where you come in. You’re going to (gently, at first) push down on Partner A’s knees trying to bring them straight to the ground.

Partner A, mind your back on this to make sure you don’t excessively strain to keep your legs up. Be prepared to suffer (in a good way). If Partner B is pushing hard, just politely remind them that payback’s a bitch.

Hold for rounds of 20-30 seconds.

#4: Use Your Bottom Half

Combining knee raises with pull-ups/chin-ups is a surefire way to activate the core at a greater level and make the pull that much harder.

Try performing a series of pull-ups with your legs at different heights and positions (straight in front, slightly out to the side, knees bent, etc).

Only one word will come to mind when you bust out sets of 5-10 reps like this: brutal.

#5: Use Uneven Grips

This is probably my favorite because it’s the one I do the most often and see the highest return. By incorporating uneven grips/levels/movements, you build strength from different angles.Your first assignment is to find as many different places to do a pull-up (in other words wherever there’s something high enough and strong enough to hold your weight). Any park, trees, low overhangs; pretty much anything will do.

Because I don’t expect most of you to run out and start testing the strength of every tree branch in your neighborhood, an easier way to incorporate this is to use different grips on the squat rack at your local gym.

Try using the sides, the upper cage, one hand on the bar and one hand on the cage, etc. This is going to build your grip, too, but it will do wonders for building your overall pulling strength from different angles which will definitely carry over into your grappling.

One of my favorites is the Lateral Pull-up. I like to grab the handle of a power rack and put my other hand on the rack. If you don’t have access to a rack then a typical pull-up bar will do.

As you pull-up, pull yourself on one side only (transfer all your weight to your right side as you pull-up and then come back down). Repeat on the other side for the same amount of reps.

Just like strength, pull-ups are a skill, which means you need to practice them constantly. Try incorporating one the above methods on three separate training sessions.

I don’t like to go to failure with my pull-up training, but I like to combine high volume and high intensity.

Monday: Thick grip weighted pull-ups (1-5 rep range)
Wednesday: Static Holds (15-30 seconds per hold)
Friday: Multiple Angle Pull-ups (5-12 rep range)

There are literally hundreds of different ways to do a pull-up, but try focusing on these five variations (even within these there are multiple variations). I’m not even including muscle ups, one arm pull-ups, climbing, swinging, shimmying from bar to bar, etc.

My goal with this article is to inspire you to get creative and think outside the box when it comes to your pull-up training. Do the same as everyone else to look and perform the same as everyone else. Challenge yourself in all areas of your training and watch your performance in your competitions take off.

Now get out there, grab a bar and start taking your strength to another level!

The post 5 Ways to Build Maximal Strength with Pull Ups appeared first on Onnit Academy.

What is Odd Object Lifting?

Any weight that is unevenly dispersed could constitute an Odd Object. When I was 18, I was at my then girlfriend’s lakehouse with her cousins. I spent three hours throwing kids in the lake and SHIT was I sore in places I normally wasn’t.

Sure, a heavy set of deadlifts or overhead presses can get the work done, but this was different. I realized right then that by picking up a weight which was uneven (and then throwing it) was amazingly effective at hitting EVERY muscle in my body and was fun as hell.

Some other objects besides medium-sized kids that you can lift:

•Sandbags
•Atlas Stones or Heavy Rocks
•Kettlebells
•Heavy Steel Clubs
•Another Consenting Adult
•Literally ANYTHING Heavy!

Benefits of Lifting Odd Objects

Odd Objects provide the body with a training stimulus that mimics an opponent better than most forms of lifting. They force you to stay in a near constant state of tension that will dramatically increase overall body strength, power and control.

Besides the obvious fact that by lifting heavy things you will get stronger, you also increase your own body awareness. By lifting a weight that’s shifting around, doesn’t have a balanced center or is INCREDIBLY hard to grip, you have to focus a greater amount of attention at the task at hand making you aware at EVERY movement necessary to hoist that weight. This type of training has benefits beyond crushing your opponent.

Odd Object Lifting makes you comfortable in uncomfortable positions. Because of that body awareness you develop it will also help keep you injury free. Since you are being insanely mindful of the task at hand, you’re not just half-assedly throwing weights around.

Think about those times you’ve hurt yourself. Was it when you were completely focused or was it when someone called your name in the gym and you stupidly looked? That’s what I thought.

How about we get into some specifics now, shall we? Let’s take a heavy sandbag you plan to raise to each shoulder. Similar to Olympic lifting and ballistic kettlebell work (snatches, cleans, juggling) there are lots of moving parts.

You set up over the sandbag with your hands around the sides (using the handles defeats the purpose). You tighten up your core, control your breath and while driving with your legs pull as hard you can to get that dead weight up to your shoulder.

Here’s where the magic lies. As you start to pull all those grains of sand say to each other, “Hey guys, this idiot thinks he’s going to lift us. Let’s all run in different directions and make this as hard as possible.”

So while the weight on a barbell is evenly distributed the sandbag moves all over the place changing the focus of the lift the entire time. Since that weight is transferring, you have to compensate all while maintaining strict form and alternating between relaxation and tension.

Sounds a lot like a suplex with an opponent flailing around, right?

How to Start Lifting Odd Objects

So, how do you get started throwing around stupid heavy, moving odd objects? Well, in this case start small and start light to get the feel for it.

Let’s take keg cleans. Don’t fill a keg to the brim and then expect to lift it the first time. If you’ve spent your life in the gym lifting barbells and using machines you’ll be in for a rude awakening. Treat the lift as the only thing you’re doing rather than incorporating it into a circuit.

Get used to the lift and practice the movement first and foremost.

Set the timer for 60 seconds and clean it (we’re still on the keg in this scenario, but the tool isn’t important.) Reset after each lift. Rest two to three minutes just as you would with a power or Olympic lift and repeat for 3-4 more sets. Once you’ve got the hang of it you can start adding the weight.

If you’re advanced, you’re going to do the same thing; but you’re going to increase the time to 90 seconds to 2 minutes and move a little faster performing as many perfect reps as possible. As long as you’re not feeling pain or extreme discomfort, speed it up.

You’ll find after a few reps you’ll be hitting your cardio BIG TIME all while building strength.

Have you ever watched the Strong Man competitions on ESPN (of course you’ve spent half a Saturday watching four in a row. Who hasn’t?) The atlas stones event is one of my favorites. The blend of strength, agility, power, work capacity and flexibility make it a lesson for all fighters.

Move heavy things as quickly and safely as possible to create an indestructible athlete.

So, let’s get out here, pick up heavy crap, throw it, run with it, pull and push it and above all else – have some fun doing it!

The post Odd Object Lifting for the Indestructible Fighter appeared first on Onnit Academy.

The alternating kettlebell swing is an incredibly powerful, ballistic exercise that will effectively strengthen your posterior chain as well as grip, shoulders and core. To ensure safety makes sure you can effectively perform the one arm swing.

The added hand transfer does a fantastic job at building upper body strength, rotational power, and hand-eye coordination.

Step 1: Place a kettlebell in front of you about a foot distance away.

Step 2: Maintaining a long spine and wide, proud chest, hinge and grab and pull the kettlebell back to create momentum with one hand.

Step 3: Once you reach the peak behind you snap your hips forward launching the kettlebell forward.

Step 4: Right before you reach the peak of the kettlebell in front of you (about chest height) quickly change hands and finish the movement.

Step 5: As you downswing maintain that long spine to avoid rounding.

Step 6: Snap your hips forward launching the kettlebell in front your repeating the motion switching back to the first hand.

Tips and Safety: Time your breathing so that you exhale at the point of exertion and inhale at the downswing. Keep your arm tight into your shoulder socket to maintain a safe shoulder throughout the movement.

As you downswing keep a proud, wide chest to avoid rounding in your upper back or rotating. The last rep you should put the bell down safely maintaining the good form your just kept throughout the movement.

Do not rest until the bell hits the ground. Allow your other arm to swing naturally behind you as your downswing to build the momentum for another rep.

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