Recently, a jiu-jitsu fighter came to my strength and
conditioning class at the Rickson Gracie Center in Los Angeles.
This guy's also a powerlifter, and damn proud of it. Before the
class, he took it upon himself to tell me how much he could lift.
At the top of his list is a raw parallel squat with two and a half
times his bodyweight. Guys like to brag. It's in our nature. All
that Testosterone, you know.
Anyway, it was odd that he mentioned his powerlifting numbers
since he knew that I was already familiar with what he could lift.
I've seen him train at Gold's Gym in Venice many times and we've
talked shop on a few occasions. In fact, that's how he happened to
be in my class that day: I had invited him.
When he showed up for my class his first question was,
"where are the weights?" I told him that all of the
weights had been stolen by a band of iron thieves. I was kidding,
of course. "Believe me," I told him, "you wouldn't want to do these
exercises with extra weight."
Actually, we do use stuff like heavy sandbags, dumbbells,
kettlebells, and resistance bands in the class, but I hadn't
brought them out yet. And you know what? It didn't matter anyway,
because he couldn't even make it through the first fifteen minutes
of bodyweight exercises before he threw in the
towel.


Bodyweight exercises are notorious for separating the men
from the boys.
He promised to return when he was in better shape, but that was
months ago, and I haven't seen him since. Go figure.
My point is that bodyweight exercises can be damn tough. This is
good news for anyone who doesn't have access to a gym and wants to
train more often, or just wants a change of pace. And it's even
better news for your joints.


Are You Strong?
I've talked about keeping your sets less than fifteen seconds
for maximum motor unit recruitment. And I'm often telling people to
lift heavy. But when I say heavy what I really mean is challenging. You don't need a lot of iron on the bar, if
any, to get an awesome workout, provided you know what you're
doing.


If you think you need a barbell to build great guns, think
again.
If you can't perform certain bodyweight exercises for more than
fifteen seconds, there's no reason to perform the same basic
movement with additional load. A guy who can't do twenty push-ups
has no business doing barbell bench presses. Don't get me wrong,
fifteen seconds isn't the limit for bodyweight exercises,
especially when higher levels of anaerobic endurance is the goal.
But it's a good start.
The powerlifter I mentioned could perform a raw, parallel squat
with 580 pounds, but he couldn't do one single-leg squat in my
class. In my world, we call that weak, not
strong.
How's it possible for a guy with a big squat to fail at one
single-leg squat? The human body is really good at compensating for
underlying weaknesses. Big prime movers such as the low back and
hamstrings take over, while the glutes and outer hip muscles sit on
the sideline. When a coach or fellow lifter sees a guy knock out an
impressive squat or deadlift, they assume that the guy must be
strong. Maybe so, but he might not be strong in the muscles that
need it most.


This guy might be strong, but maybe not in the muscles that
need it most.
The real test comes when you challenge the lower body muscles
with a movement that challenges mobility and stability strength. If
a guy can squat two and a half times his bodyweight, I want to see
how many single-leg squats he can do with perfect form. If
everything is up to par, he should be able knock off six reps while
holding 25% of his bodyweight. Very few avid lifters can do it, and
they have the stiffness and joint pain to prove it.

In my experience, it's much easier to develop a big Olympic lift
or powerlift if a guy has sufficient mobility. This is akin to the
idea that it's easier to make a fast guy strong than it is to make
a strong guy fast.
Try out the following bodyweight exercises. Once you achieve the
goals for each exercise, you're free to return to more traditional
barbell exercises. You'll be amazed how quickly you'll boost your
deadlift, squat, snatch, or any other lift once you free up your
joints and get the right muscles firing again.




Three Killer Bodyweight Exercises

Single-leg Squat
At the top of my list of bodyweight exercises for the legs is
the single-leg squat. It enhances ankle, knee, and hip mobility and
stability strength. But this is one tough mother of an exercise so
I usually test people first with the modified
version.
The modified version looks like this.

1 | 2

Description
Stand on your right leg with your left knee bent to 90 degrees.
While keeping your torso vertical, lower your left knee straight
down until the left leg rests on the ground. Don't let your foot
hit the ground before your knee. Repeat with the left
leg.
GoalPerform ten reps with each leg before you attempt the single-leg
squat.
If you can't perform ten reps of the modified version, perform
three sets of as many reps as possible three times each week. Once
you reach ten reps for each leg, move on to the more difficult
version.
The original version looks like this.

1 | 2

Description
Stand on your right leg with your arms out in front and your
left leg held in front slightly. Push your hips back and drop into
a full squat while keeping your torso as vertical as possible. Your
heel should not come off the ground. If it does come up, stretch
your calves. Repeat with the left leg.
Goal
Perform ten reps with each leg with perfect form. Once you reach
that goal, return to barbell front and back squats, and relish the
ease in which you reach the bottom position.

Hand Walkout
Core strength is essential to overall power and health.
Unfortunately, most people waste their time with non-functional
abdominal exercises. The hand walkout builds core strength as well
as anything you'll find, and there are two added benefits that most
core exercises can't offer.
First, you'll increase shoulder mobility. Second, you'll enhance
lat size and strength. More lat strength is especially important,
since the combined forces of the lats, abdominal wall, and glutes
coalesce to build super stiffness (a term that Dr. Stuart
McGill is about to make famous).
Just like the single-leg squat, there are two versions of the
hand walkout. The first version is with the knees
down.
Here it is.


1 | 2 | 3



Description
Start on all fours with your hands shoulder width apart and at
eye level. Walk your hands forward while keeping your arms
straight. Continue as far as possible before walking your hands
back to the starting position. That's one rep. Don't let your hips
and stomach sag as you walk your hands out. If you can reach the
fully outstretched position, your stomach should not be touching
the floor (if it does touch you need to lose that gut).
GoalPerform ten reps with each rep ending in the fully outstretched
position.
Once you can perform ten reps with your knees down, you're ready
for the advanced version. You'll perform the same basic movement
except you'll start with your legs straight and knees up (the
starting position of a push-up, as shown below).

Walk your hands out while keeping your legs straight and knees
off the ground. I guarantee that it's probably the most difficult
core exercise you've ever tried. Few can do it, and even fewer can
do more than one.
Goal
Perform five reps with your legs straight and knees off the
ground. There really is no progression after this advanced version.
You'd be hard pressed to find another anterior core exercise that
comes close in terms of difficulty and results. Focus on adding
more reps over time, if you feel the need.

Inverted Hamstring Stretch (single leg deadlift)
I'm shocked by the number of athletes who lack the ankle, knee,
and hip stability strength to stand on one leg for more than ten
seconds. And once they are cued to shift their torso forward,
things get really ugly. This is especially true with jiu-jitsu
fighters and wrestlers, since they spend so much time on the
ground.
This exercise isn't as challenging to overall strength as the
single-leg squat and hand walkout, but it's just as important. Once
you perfect the inverted hamstring stretch, you'll have more hip
mobility to go along with your stability strength. The proper
technique is paramount. Anything short of perfect and you won't
derive noticeable benefits.
Here's how it looks.

1 | 2

Description
Start with your feet shoulder width and your arms out to the
sides with your thumbs up. Your shoulder blades should be pulled
together. Push your hips back and shift your torso forward while
extending your left leg straight back until it's parallel to the
ground.
Keep a slight arch in your low back as you shift forward in
order to put a greater stretch on your hamstrings. Squeeze your
right glute as you return to the starting position. This move
should be relatively slow and under perfect control.
Goal
Perform 15 perfect reps with each leg. The newfound stability
strength and mobility will carry over well to all deadlift and
squat variations.


Final Words
Your goal should be to achieve the recommended number of reps
for each exercise. Once you accomplish it, perform one or two sets
of each exercise at the beginning of your weight training workouts.
They serve as a perfect warm-up that activates your muscles by
enhancing neural transmission.
Another great benefit of these bodyweight exercises is that they
can be performed anywhere. Instead of wasting your time on a
treadmill, spend 15-20 minutes cycling through these exercises for
three workouts per week.

Don't let the lack of additional load fool you into thinking
that these exercises aren't beneficial. I guarantee you'll feel and
look better once you master them.
For more of Waterbury's information, pick up his e-book The
10/10 Transformation here.
His book Muscle Revolution can be purchased here.


Chad Waterbury is one of the world's leading experts on
developing muscle for the goal of enhancing performance. His novel
training methods are used by athletes, bodybuilders, figure models,
and fitness enthusiasts of all ages and from all walks of life. He
has an M.S. in Physiology from the University of Arizona, and he
specializes in the neurophysiology of human movement and
performance. He currently trains, consults and lectures around the
country.



© 1998 — 2008
Testosterone, LLC. All Rights Reserved.