Strength Training
Climbing the Strength Ladder
Guest Post by Aj Lee
If you’re anything like me, always trying to find new ways to simulate growth and avoid the boredom of traditional rep schemes, I may have something for you to add to your strength toolbox. Several years ago when training for the RKC the topic of “Ladders” was presented as a means of training hard without burning out. Here’s how it works:
Ladders are multiple sets of an exercise performed with minimal rest with progressively more reps (e.g., 1-2-3-4-5 for compound movements, 10-15-20 for heavy double swings). The ladder starts off very easy but gets progressively harder, builds up to an all out performance, backs off, and starts all over. There is no hard fast rule as to the number of reps or rungs, as I like to call them, it depends on the exercise and if your goal is strength or conditioning. Generally if I am training for strength I use one or two big movement lifts, with lower repetitions and longer rest. If I want to train my conditioning I may choose to go add more exercise, rungs and shorten the rest time between them.
Military Press is Great for Ladders
Here is one strength ladder I use:
Deadlifts - 1-2-3-4 reps (usually done with a weight that is 75 to 85% of my 1-rep max) I will try to get 2 or 3 ladders in totaling 20 to 30 reps.
Military Press - 2-4-6-8-10 reps (usually done with a weight between 60 to 70% of my 1-rep max)
The next one is a great full body workout and can be done with short rest to enhance your conditioning:
Pull-ups – 1-2-3-4 reps
Military Press – 1-2-3-4 reps
Double Kettlebell Snatches - 1-2-3-4 reps
Double Kettlebell Front Squats – 1-2-3-4 reps
In this program do one ladder of each exercise and move to the next. Repeat the circuit one to three times, dropping the reps if needed.
Do Some Deadlift Ladders and Watch Yourself Grow
As you can see with ladders the only limits are set by your creativity. One important point to remember is the recovery aspect, do not wait until full recovery before you climb the next rung, a great tip is to use a timer and see how long it takes to finish a ladder and use that as a guide for the next sets, your goal will be to either meet or beat your time. Ladders are an effective and fun tool to add to your next training session. Have Fun!
Underground Strength & Fitness: Keynote 2
Kira is back again with his second installment of of his keynote series of Strength and Fitness. In his newest video he shows you exactly where to set up your own playpen (gym) and what toys (equipment) you can use to fill your playpen with.
If you have a little time, check it out below;
Also check out his site The Pound Online
Playpens from thefightgeek on Vimeo.
Why Has Nothing Changed? Improper Wrist and Forearm Strength Training
Guest Post and Free Sample Workouts by Jedd Johnson of the Diesel Crew
If you’re a baseball player, you know that hand strength and forearm strength are very important to your game.
This is something that my coaches told me all the years that I pitched.
So, when I was 12, my parents got me this weird looking wrist-strengthening thing that you put your hand inside of and then performed wrist flexion. It kind of looked like this thing (see picture below), only it had a resistance dial that you could turn to make it tighter:
After like 3 weeks of that, even if I had the dial turned up to the toughest levels, I could do endless repetitions while watching TV and riding a unicycle.
Well, maybe I wasn’t that strong at 12, but the machine was essentially a pointless device.
When I got to high school I was shown other forms of wrist training. Dudes at the gym introduced me to wrist curls. They felt cool and made the veins in my forearms pop out like crazy, so I did them religiously.
When I got to college, I was shown the wrist roller. It was a PVC handle with a rope tied to it and at the end of the rope was a 2.5-lb weight. It was so light it was a joke. I remembered feeling a pinching in my shoulder every time I did it, but I never said anything and just kept on doing it because everybody else was doing it too.
Contrary to what you might be thinking, the purpose of this article isn’t to tell you my life story about wrist training. Actually, I want to change your life story going forward about the way you train your grip and forearms, so you can take your game up to a higher level.
You see, I haven’t played baseball for 10 years, but in the meantime I have become a strength and conditioning coach and it amazes me that to this day, kids that are 12 years old are still training with the similar wrist flexion devices I was.
Kids in high school are telling me that their grip work still involves mostly wrist curls and maybe some tennis ball squeezes, and I talked to a guy I know that goes to college and he says they don’t do ANYTHING for their grip there, let alone the pinch-your-rotator-cuff front wrist roller.
So, I ask, “Why Has NOTHING Changed in the Last TEN Years?
It’s time to change the way we think about Grip and Forearm Training. A steady diet of wrist curls, wrist roller and squeezing a tennis ball is BUSCH LEAGUE at BEST – it sucks.
Think about it this way…
Those three movements work mostly wrist and finger flexion. That is only one movement pattern of the wrist and forearm.
You see, the wrist and forearm work together to move in 6 main ways:
- Flexion: Moving the palm toward the front of the forearm
- Extension: Moving the back of the hand toward the back of the forearm
- Radial Deviation: Moving the thumb-side of the hand toward the radius bone of the forearm
- Ulnar Deviation: Moving the pinky-side of the hand toward the ulna bone of the forearm
- Pronation: Turning the palm down toward the floor
- Supination: Turning the palm up to the sky
In order to be fully strong, you must work the wrist and forearm in all of these plains. Also to avoid injury, all these plains must be exercised, because if there is an imbalance, it can cause pain and injury as well as limit strength gains in the future.
The fingers and thumb are the exact same way. Working only flexion all the time is a recipe for disaster in the form of discomfort, strength limitations, soft tissue injury, etc.
If you capitalize on these six movement patterns of the wrist and forearm, you will be stronger than all of the other players who are just doing wrist curls. You will notice that not just the flexors of the forearm start to grow, but you will also see that the extensors in the back of the forearm as well as the other synergistic muscles will be popping out of your forearm too.
This increase in strength will allow you to hit the ball farther because your bat speed is going to go up and you’ll be able to drive through the ball with more power.
If you are a pitcher, you are going to feel more “snap” at the end of your delivery as well as more endurance during the course of the game, as well as less pain and better recovery post-game.
And for all the players on the team, you will feel more stamina in the lower arms both during games and over the course of the season, as well as being more resilient against lower arm injuries from intense play in the field and on the base paths.
So now the question is, How do I begin?
Fortunately, I have the perfect resource for you – Ultimate Forearm Training for Baseball. This manual is over 500 pages in total, and includes 300 pages of exercises. It also shows you how to keep your lower arms in top shape using stretching and preventive protocols that most therapists don’t even know about. It has 20+ fully designed workout templates, and 20 pieces of equipment you can use for grip training you can make yourself or buy at a hardware store.
This is the only resource of its kind. It is your SECRET WEAPON for lower arm strength. Make sure to pick it up now, before your opponents find out about it.
Find the product here Ultimate Forearm Training for Baseball
Editor’s note: Jedd was kind enough to include a COMPLIMENTARY sample forearm training program for my readers. You can download it here: Ultimate Forearm Training for Baseball Sample Workout
This is a great start in how to incorporate forearm training to enhance your athletic skills, increase your performance and minimize injuries. If you like it I encourage you to purchase his Ultimate Forearm Training for Baseball Manual.
I had the privilege of reading the manual before he put it on sale and I must say it is quite good. Jedd leaves no stone unturned in the 500 page manual, complete with the “hows and whys” along with exercises, do it yourself equipment instructions and tons of programs.
I make absolutely NO money off of you purchasing his product but I fully endorse it.
-Doug
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