Lockdown Gains (With Zero Equipment)
Before I dive into some exercises that I believe will actually make a significant difference to your progress post lockdown I want to address the biggest obstacle that you'll likely have.....motivation. These are tough exercises that don't give you much in the way of short term satisfaction because who cares if you can hold a plank for an extra 10 seconds when the goal is to build brutal levels of strength. Getting yourself amped up for a set of heavy deadlifts is fun but performing numerous sets of bodyweight based exercises fucking sucks and there's that voice at the back of your head telling you that they aren't going to make a shit of difference as to whether you hit that big squat PB or not. I'm in exactly the same boat and it's taken me a while to get my head into this type of work but I can honestly say it definitely helps and this isn't just another 'lockdown training' article for the sake of it.
I wanted to choose exercises that I feel are the most worthwhile and I actually have experience of doing rather than looking for 'challenging bodyweight exercises' and regurgitating the information again. I also wanted to only pick exercises that require absolutely zero equipment, but make no mistake - if you have equipment these exercises are still going to be extremely useful.
These exercises are focused primarily on one of two areas:
1) ROOTING. Improving rooting made a huge difference to my squat numbers and refers to your contact with your feet to the floor. So when you perform a squat or any other lift where you're standing on your feet it's imperative that you provide the best possible base of support which will allow you to apply maximum force in the most effective way. Think about squatting on a bosu ball versus with your feet on the floor, obviously squatting with your feet on the floor allows you to lift far more weight because you're more stable. So what we're looking for is to improve our contact with the ground and make ourselves even more stable. Will it take you from a 200kg squat to a 250kg squat when it improves? No of course it won't but if it allows you to add even a few percent (which is extremely realistic) it might bump it up by 5-10kg which isn't to be sniffed at, especially when you factor in the reductions in injury risk.
My focus here is on trying to spread my toes and grip the floor with my big toe and little toe whilst maintaining pressure through my heel. This creates three points of contact that helps to distribute the weight over your mid foot. You'll need to play around with getting this right and then replicating every rep you perform but it's something you can practice as often as you like because there's no recovery demand from it. For more information on rooting I'd recommend watching Chris Duffin's video's on YouTube.
Exercises To Develop Better Rooting
*Single Leg Balance. Stand on one leg and balance. Now shut your eyes and balance for a minute. If you can't do this (and it's very likely you can't if you haven't practiced it) then add it in and practice. I like this exercise as it's a fun challenge, helps to develop the smaller muscles around your ankles and feet, and helps develop your levels of proprioception (internal feedback as to your body position such as 'feeling' that you're leaning too far to one side and then correcting it by shifting your position for example).
*Tempo Squats. With no equipment hold a kid or bag of sand and perform goblet squats, or even just use bodyweight. Don't be too anal about the actual tempo here, the goal isn't to perform the eccentric over 10 seconds, the goal is to focus on your weight distribution throughout the movement which is easier to do when you're moving slowly and deliberately. On the eccentric keep lowering a little and pausing continually assessing whether you're in the correct position or are you a little too far forward on your toes, or too far back on your heels. Then correct it and keep lowering. Focus on any patterns that develop such as being too far forward on your toes as you come up out of the bottom position and think about how you're correcting it. For instance you may find that trying to wedge your hips underneath yourself as you move up past parallel helps to keep you in a better position, or that your ankle mobility doesn't allow you to maintain enough pressure through your heels in the bottom range of the movement.
*Single Leg Stiff Leg Deadlifts. You can hold a weight or not. The focus here is to be able to perform the movement just like the tempo squats - with excellent control and constant assessment of your body position and whether your weight distribution is as effective as possible. Start with soft knees and maintain this position throughout the movement bringing your non working leg backwards and up in the air on the eccentric and then back towards a standing position as you straighten up. If you struggle to get your hand to the floor without losing balance then it suggests that you could have excessive tightness through your hamstrings or that your rooting is not all that it should be. You should be able to perform multiple controlled reps in a row without requiring you to put your non working leg on the floor to help with balance.
You can then apply this improved proprioception to your lifts when you get back to the gym - your squat might suck compared to how it was before the gyms closed but the movement should feel better which will allow you to build your strength up much faster than you otherwise would.
2) BRACING. I want to focus here on creating better rigidity through your midsection which in turn allows you to achieve the best possible transfer of power throughout your body which in turn also minimises the risk of the dreaded lower back injury. Again I developed my bracing largely through watching Chris Duffin's video's on YouTube so to get a clearer idea of how to brace effectively his video's are a very good watch. One of the analogies that helped me was to think about your midsection as a can of coke. If you drink the full can and then stand on it the can will crush when you've applied enough pressure. If you put a dent in the can before you stand on it you'll be able to crush it with far less pressure. Whilst maintaining an arch through your lower back is a safe position and certainly not a 'bad' thing I found that a smaller arch (more neutral) lower back position allowed me to maintain position much better as I felt more rigid which helped prevent me from folding forward with heavier weights on squats, and feel more powerful when deadlifting.
Whilst bracing is not just about your abs I think it's an area that many lifters can still improve upon so I'd like to discuss the best exercises I've found for increasing abdominal strength without needing any equipment. The goal on these exercises should first and foremost be a focus on maintaining good bracing and perfect position. Letting your lower back sag and arch on a plank based exercises or losing control on the eccentric of a dragon flag just to get more time/reps for example is taking away the whole point of performing these exercises in the first place! As well as allowing you to lift bigger weights I've found that building stronger abs (especially obliques) can help reduce lower back pain.
Exercises To Develop Better Bracing
NOTE - Progressing these exercises by developing more control is preferable to solely focusing on duration or reps because it often leads to looser form which limits the benefit. A perfect 20 second RKC plank I believe is far more beneficial than a 5 minute plank performed with lower levels of muscle activation for example.
*Side Plank. A decent level of strength should allow you to hold a perfect position (not allowing your hips to sag down) with your forearm on the floor and your feet elevated on an 8" step for 30 seconds. Whenever you perform a plank variation squeeze everything from your your feet into the ground, your glutes, abs, and fists. Adding in dips is a good progression - to do this allow your hips to sag (but not your shoulders) and then lift your hips back into position and hold for 3-5 seconds, this is one rep.
*Copenhagen Plank. Set up in a side plank with the foot of your top leg on a chair and the foot of your bottom leg pushing up into the other side of the chair. Keep a perfect side plank position without letting your hips sag and push both feet together as hard as possible. Once your bottom leg starts to lose contact with the chair the set is over. Point your toes up towards your shins to help prevent excessive strain through your knees.
*Plank Row. Set up in a regular plank position making sure you're in a perfect position. Then take one arm off the ground and stretch it out in front of you whilst focusing on minimising any rotation of your pelvis (ie try not to lean towards the side of your supporting arm). Having a band or cable that you can row from your arm outstretched to in to your side whilst keeping your arm off the ground is a great exercise but just performing this motion with no resistance will work really well (as the goal is positioning, not training your lats).
*Anti-Rotation. Stand with your feet just inside shoulder width and your arms stretched out horizontally with your hands clasped together. Press the outside of your hand into a wall (or other immoveable object) and apply as much force as possible whilst squeezing as hard as possible through your legs and abs without any shift in position. You should be imagining pushing the wall to either your left or right depending on which side you're working. Perform for 20-30 seconds each set aiming to use as much force as possible whilst maintaining position. This exercise can be performed a variety of ways if you have access to a light band such as a pavlov press and chop.
*Chinese Plank/Reverse Plank. Set up by lying on your back with your shoulders in contact with a bench and your feet elevated to the same height on a chair or other solid object, thus creating a 'bridge' between the objects. At home this can be performed with a sofa and chair or any such household objects, the height isn't important as long as your shoulders and feet are at least a few inches higher than the ground. Next push your heels down into the chair and raise your body off the ground squeezing hard through your glutes to help maintain proper position avoiding a hard arch through your back. Squeeze your abs (tucking your chin and 'crunching' down a little can help as a cue) and hold this straight body position. You'll feel this one through your calves, hamstrings, glutes, and abs. Once you can manage to hold a perfect position try raising one of your legs up so you now only have one heel in contact with the chair making the leverages far harder. Weight can also be added across your lap to enhance the difficulty of this exercise.
*Dragon Flag. A harder variation of a hanging leg raise that doesn't require equipment this is a great exercise for your rectus abs. The key here is to maintain really good control over the full eccentric portion and then trying to avoid using momentum to lift your legs back up. Set up by laying on the floor and having a solid object behind your head that you can grip on to. Grip the object and lift up so it's only your upper back that's in contact with the ground keeping your legs completely straight. Now slowly lower your legs keeping them completely straight whist staying high on your upper back. I prefer to reverse the movement and lift back up just before my lower back starts to arch to reduce stress through the discs of my lumbar spine. If you're unable to perform this exercise with straight legs then keep one of both knees bent to make the leverage more advantageous.
It Isn't Sexy But It Will Help
If you can build up your strength on these exercises whilst maintaining perfect technique and improving your rooting I guarantee that you'll be setting yourself up for better results when you get back to the heavy lifting. Try to get a friend involved and set some challenges - anything you can do to help create some consistency will be beneficial.
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