Follow adamrees on Twitter

Friday, October 16, 2009

If I could only pick 2.....Top 2 exercises

Who would win, Superman or Flash?

Conan the Barbarian or Conan O'brian? Conan

The Rock or Barack?
The Rock Obama

And the real question would be, The Incredible Hulk or Hulk Hogan???

Well that one's no contest. Hulkamania forever

But really, if it came down to a winner takes all exercise, what would I pick? Well this is very tough, and very general, and I actually consider it pretty stupid to boot. Who cares, you'll always be able to use other stuff. But anyway, just because I can I decided to ponder this query. Here you go.

If I had to only pick 2. They would be
  1. Reverse lunge
  2. Renegade Row
Both are ground based, compound movements that use a ton of energy (calories) and are completely functional. Both are great for the core and can be loaded to meet anyone at any level. Don't underestimate their difficulty either. They'll knock the shit out of you.
These two can meet Reggie Bush as well as your junior high athlete.

The reverse lunge is (if done correctly) post chain and hip dominant. Works through a large range of motion of which should stretch out the entire hip region, hip flexors and gluteals. It's unilateral so you're taking care of your bodies asymetries (problems caused over time by repeatedly using only one side of your body, or due to compensations). Balance is going to come into play as well here, of which will improve greatly with strength. Developing strength in this manner has been proven multiple times to improve balance and therefore also decrease injury rates and improve performance. This is why sitting on your wuss bosu ball isn't doing you any good.

This girl does a decent job. I don't enjoy her choice of shoes nor do I agree with the depth but you get the idea.

The renegade row is a true look at bracing through the core, but that's not all it's great for. You're also building strength through your entire back. The pulling motion is excellent for building strength through the upper back and healthy shoulders. Then there is also the stabilization that the opposite shoulder and arm is having to perform. Overall great exercise.


There you have it. Go try em out.








2 comments:

  1. The female above in my opinion has good depth but I question the use of a bounce to rebound upward out of the hole. She would effectively generate more strength by having her thumbs over the bar rather than under which enable more tension on her entire upper body.

    ReplyDelete
  2. To be honest, you sound like a 22 year old that just read his/her first book on strength and conditioning and are on top of it all.

    You are entitled to your own opinion though.

    ReplyDelete