By Traditional Means Necessary

Categories: Uncategorized Sep 15, 2013

We understand that some of you reading this may really enjoy "traditional" strength training. Others of you may believe that traditional means of training are tried and true and you're just not going to spend much time crawling around out in a field of grass somewhere. So, because of this, we have decided to suggest a few "traditional" exercises for strength training. These exercises are presented through the lens of our Original Strength mindset.

If you will recall, the principles we try to follow when reclaiming our original strength are:

1) Activate the vestibular system

2) Cross midline and/or engage the contralateral patterns

Lets look at some "traditional," original strength approved exercises:

The One Arm Kettlebell Swing

Many kettebell swingers have reported impressive health benefits they have received from swinging a kettlebell. Most often times you will hear stories about back pain being relieved or overall athleticism being improved. Why do you think that could be? If you look at a kettlebell swing, you will quickly realize that there is a great deal of vestibular system activation that comes from swinging the bell. A person swinging a kettlebell will fold at the hips until their torso is almost parallel with the floor and then they will explode to a standing position. This movement is repeated over and over again inside of a set of kettlebell swings. As you know, the vestibular system is tied to your core muscles. If you regularly, and repeatedly stimulate and activate your vestibular system, you are regularly and repeatedly activating your core muscles. Reflexively, you are strengthening your center. This can go a long ways towards relieving back pain and improving athleticism.

Not only that, but if you are swinging a kettlebell with one arm, you are contra-laterally loading the body. For example, if the kettlebell is in the right hand, the left leg will be loaded more in order to generate force during the swing. In a sense you are tying your X together through this contralateral loading. This is not quite the same as engaging in a contralateral movement pattern, but it is similar as the X (your body) is being loaded contralaterally.

For these two reasons, we believe there is some merit in performing one arm kettlebell swings for those people who enjoy "traditional" forms of strength training.

The Turkish Get-up

The Turkish Get-up (TGU) was made popular by the kettlebell movement. With a TGU, you hold a weight (or not) in one hand and transition your body from lying to standing and then back to lying, all while holding the weighted arm over your head.

The TGU is an exercise that can help a person regain their original strength because when done properly, it incorporates a roll towards the midline of the body as the person performing transitions from lying flat on their back to prop themselves up on their hand.

Also, because the TGU itself involves going from lying to standing, it obviously has an effect on the vestibular system.  Any exercise that teaches a person how to transition from the ground to standing is a good exercise. In fact, there is probably more benefit in simply "playing" with a TGU without a weight than there is performing a TGU with weight. Playing with a TGU allows a person the opportunity to explore these transitions from lying to standing and then back to lying.

Lastly, because of the manner in which a TGU is performed it too is an exercise that contralaterally loads the body. The plant hand (the hand that supports the body) is the opposite hand of the plant foot (the foot that lifts the body).

The TGU addresses both the vestibular system and contralateral loading. It can help tie the body together.





Contralateral Single-leg Deadlifts

The single-leg deadlift (SLDL) is another hinging exercise in the same family as the kettlebell swing. The contralateral SLDL is performed by deadlifting a weight off the ground while only standing on one leg. As the name would suggest, the weight is held in the opposite hand of the leg that is doing the work, thus loading the X (the body) contralaterlly. Like the swing, the SLDL activates the vestibular system, though it is a much slower movement. However, the contralateral SLDL truly loads the X contralaterally as only one foot is in contact with the ground. This can be a great exercise for those days when you just don't feel like crawling 200 yards.

The Hindu Pushup

Made popular by Matt Furey in the early 2000s, the hindu pushup is an interesting exercise. It is like combining head nods, rocking, and pushups and yoga all into one exercise. We particularly like it because of the head nod, rocking similarities.

A hindu pushup is performed by transitioning from the "downward dog" position to a pushup position to a Cobra position, then back to a downward dog position. Ideally, this exercise is to be performed at very high reps. During the hindu pushup, the head and neck go from flexion to extension over and over again, just like doing head nods. Also, the shoulders and the hips work together in a rhythm similar to rocking. In other words, the hindu pushup certainly stimulates the vestibular system.

Another interesting benefit of the hindu pushup is that because it is usually done for high repetitions, it encourages diaphragmatic breathing. In fact, if you are not using your diaphragm during this exercise, you cannot reach high numbers of repetitions. If you remember from Original Strength, the diaphragm is essential for tying your X together. Without a properly working diaphragm, you cannot become as strong as you were intended to be.

This exercise has benefits that would normally be easy to miss if one were not looking through the lens of original strength.



This list is by no means exhausted. There are probably other exercises out there that could be viewed as beneficial through an original strength lens. However, our purpose is to get you to understand that real strength and performance can best be achieved through moving naturally, with our God-given movement patterns, the patterns that made us resilient as children.

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