Max Shank

Friend Zone Exercises

December 30, 2015 By Max Shank 8 Comments

Max Shank Side Plank With Leg Lift

Ladies, you have that friend who is awesome in every way but just doesn’t excite you. He’s funny, smart, nice, and doesn’t look horrifying–but for some reason he just doesn’t strike passion in your heart.

Because of this, whether he knows it or not, he is stuck in the friend zone.

Let’s take a moment of silence for all the gentlemen before us who have fallen into the friend zone.

In today’s world, the same thing has happened with certain exercises. Because social media is now a window into people’s lives, you’d think that training was all back flips and heavy deadlifts. The problem is that anyone who doesn’t have a thorough understanding of exercise and building a well-balanced program, doesn’t see the important foundational stuff.

The following exercises get no love because they just aren’t that sexy.

Rows
Split Squats
Push Ups
Side Planks
Single Leg Deadlift
Mobility training in general

Rows always get cast aside in favor of pull-ups or chin-ups. This is not to say that these exercises are bad, but rows are actually the better choice for most people. The postural benefits along with the promotion of shoulder health and biomechanics from rows far outweigh pulls or chins. Consider adding rows to your session either as a big strength movement or as a high rep accessory work movement toward the end of your session. Then, even if it’s not considered all that cool, post it on Instagram with the hashtag #IDoRows.

Split squats, walking lunges, rear foot elevated split squats, jumping lunges are all great exercises. The humble split squat is another exercise that gets little to no love. First, they are extremely user friendly. Second they do a terrific job of mobilizing the hip flexor/quadriceps and ankle/toes of the rear leg. The toe and ankle mobility is easy to avoid during normal lunges and other substitute exercises. Lastly they also are crucial for owning split-stance balance which will have a good carryover to other areas of life.

Push-ups… if you’re not clapping your hands or spinning around like a whirling dervish, then push-ups just don’t have that “shiny-thing” appeal. However, if done properly, the push-up will help you get stronger upper body pushing muscles. Also, push-ups train the abs to maintain stability–which has been proven to help prevent back problems. The push-up also allows for full scapular movement–important for maintaining shoulder health–unlike the bench press.

Side planks don’t look that cool, but they really turn on your lateral chain. The oblique and gluteus medius are important for stabilizing the pelvis (especially while you’re on one leg). This is sometimes a magic bullet for improving function in the upper and lower body.

Master RKC Max Shank Single Leg Deadlift with Barbell

The single leg deadlift is another exercise that is absolutely awesome for improving mobility, strength, balance, and coordination–all which have great carryover to athletics. The main criticism is that it’s just not heavy enough.

I beg to differ (barbell and kettlebell examples):

Wake up your glutes and get to work on some single leg deadlifts. They are especially challenging if you hold the weight in the hand opposite of the leg you are standing on.

Joint circles for mobility training aren’t all that cool looking, but they are a key component of a well rounded health and strength plan. In the RKC we take care to mobilize the joints before heavy lifting to prevent injury and enhance strength. Most people are too stiff, not too loose–you have to mobilize those joints every day if you want to be able to stay loose.

Side note: Mobility drills actually look kind of cool at 4x speed in my #5minuteflow video:

Don’t forget the exercises that will stand by you through thick and thin, and reward you with sustainable progress through your whole life.

Better every day,
-Max

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Master RKC Instructor Max Shank is the owner of Ambition Athletics in Encintas, California. He is very active in martial arts, competes in the Highland Games, and promotes a holistic approach to overall fitness. For more information about Max please visit www.ambitionathletics.com.

Max Shank is also the author of Master the Kettlebell, now available in ebook and paperback format.

The Best and Simplest One Kettlebell Workout

May 27, 2015 By Max Shank 12 Comments

Max Shank Single Kettlebell Workout

With the following single kettlebell workout, you can work on all your strength movements in one session with 2-6 sets of 3-8 reps. Each movement provides an adequate amount of rest for the next item in the superset. The finisher, which consists of swings and planks or pushups is a great way to add some cardiovascular work as well as some extra core/arm training.

Superset the exercises below for 2-6 rounds:

Press (up to 80% effort)
Row (up to 80% effort)
Squat (front squat or goblet squat)

Then perform kettlebell swings and planks (or pushups) for 2-5 sets

Together, this workout covers all the main strength movement categories:
Upper Push (press and/or pushups)
Upper Pull (rows)
Lower Push (squats)
Lower Pull (swings)

Part of the reason that programs generally work well is that they provide workouts which are already designed for you. If you struggle to think of what you should do at the gym, you’re less likely to do as much work–or any at all! It’s very helpful to at least have a go-to workout in your collection.

Another great thing about the workout listed above is that you’ll probably want to do more reps of rows than presses anyway. This often happens because most of us can row with more weight than we can press. In other words, you’ll likely press the same kettlebell 5 times and then row it for 8-10 reps with the same weight (which will put both exercises at 80% of your effort). That’s a good thing!

Finally, this takes very little time–I was recently able to do 3 rounds of each part in about 12 minutes.

It’s so simple that it almost seems too silly to work, but it does–and it covers all of your bases regardless of which kettlebell you use. For example, if you choose a kettlebell that you can press once, the workout might look like this:

Press x 1
Row x 5
Squat x 6
Or whatever rep range is within your 80% effort.

It’s beautifully simple, and it can really remove some potential barriers to training consistently–you can do a version of this workout anywhere in a very short amount of time.

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Max Shank is also the author of Master the Kettlebell, now available in ebook and paperback format.

Practical Programming

April 1, 2015 By Max Shank 10 Comments

Max Shank Teaching In Germany

Programming is a scary word for coaches, trainers, and exercisers. There seems to be this mystic fog of confusion centered around the idea that the way you put an exercise plan together will completely make or break your gains. Obviously we are all afraid of wasting our time in the gym, so it’s natural for us to feel this way about it–we want optimal results!

There has been a ludicrous amount of time, energy, and experimentation in trying to determine some of the best training plans and methods. You can take a simple idea: “Exercise=good” and after years and years of research, start to worry about whether you did enough transverse plane movements at 85% of your 1RM on Day 4 in week 3 of your 12-week periodized program within a 3 year macrocycle.

Confused yet? Yeah I know.

Here’s the thing, there is a decent amount of science and experimentation to back this stuff up, so in theory it makes sense.

However, my two main issues with complicated programming are centered around the following:

1) Reality
2) Who is this for again?

In a land where unicorns roam free and butterflies kiss the cheek of every child, maybe these intricate plans make sense. However, we live in the real world. We get in an argument with the wife, the kids keep you up all night, you’re stressed out at work, maybe you got super drunk last weekend or didn’t get enough sleep the night before. Whatever it is, we are not consistent nor are we precisely linear. A good plan allows for wiggle room based on how you feel on a given day. Trying to force a certain amount of reps/sets or movements on a day where you maybe shouldn’t is a surefire way to injure yourself. Don’t force square pegs into round holes. Take advantage of the days when you feel good, and don’t push your luck on the days where you don’t.

Most of the best-known and revered programs in the world all center around heavily specified activities like powerlifting/Olympic lifting or gymnastics. What we fail to remember is that these programs are geared toward PROFESSIONALS in these SPECIFIC sports. Last I checked, most of us are just trying to feel better, look better, and then perform better. I don’t know about you but I don’t get paid by the pound when I do a deadlift. The issue here is that we are sacrificing the main goal (better health and fitness) for the secondary cause (lifting more weight). I know that we love measuring things, and it’s a very efficient metric, but let’s not forget why we are lifting weights or training in the first place!

Professional athletes sacrifice health for performance all the time–because they are paid to do so. If you’re not getting paid to lift more weight, you might want to rethink using a program that is built for those who do.

Here’s some parting wisdom when it comes to putting a plan together.

Your nervous system likes frequency over intensity, so train full body workouts and hit all the main patterns every session.

Upper Push
Upper Pull
Lower Push
Lower Pull

Be flexible. When you feel super strong, throw on some extra weight. When you don’t feel 100% focus more on things like flexibility and medium weights.

Max Shank Twisted Flagstand

Build your plan around the rest of your life.

One of the biggest problems with any plan is consistency. So take a look at your schedule for the week and find the BEST times where training will fit around that–you want to remove as many barriers as possible when it comes to working up the motivation to work out. Have a plan for when you can’t make it to the gym so you can still train at home or at the park–it’s always good to have a plan B.

The challenge is not in lifting the weight, the challenge is in having the resolve and forethought to be consistent over the long term.

Better every day.
-Max

***Master RKC Instructor Max Shank is the owner of Ambition Athletics in Encintas, California. He is very active in martial arts, competes in the Highland Games, and promotes a holistic approach to overall fitness. For more information about Max please visit www.maxshank.com.

Max Shank is the author of Master the Kettlebell, now available in paperback and ebook format.

He has also recently released Ultimate Athleticism, an ebook and training program.

Put your pistols down!

July 16, 2014 By Max Shank Leave a Comment

The pistol has long be heralded as the king of bodyweight leg exercises. In some regards, rightfully so, it requires an incredible amount of mobility and stability in the ankle, knee, hip, and core. It is an impressive demonstration of these qualities–but is it the best way to train your legs?

The answer is that it depends.

One thing that I always try to do is identify what the goals, and the natural trends of the average exerciser. We can assume that the goal of the exercise is to improve strength and flexibility in the lower body on one leg without the use of heavy external load. I would hope that the goal is always to move better and become more athletic as well–this is something we put a lot of emphasis on at the RKC, being a complete, well-rounded athlete.

The natural trends that exercisers and athletes alike fall into are that of a body that spends too much time in a seated position.

If the goal of exercise is improvement, then the effects of excessive sitting must be counteracted.

The main effects are as follows:

Loss of hip extension
Loss of ability to disassociate hips from each other, and trunk
Loss of thoracic extension
Stiffness in cervicothoracic junction (where neck meets back)

Even in a well executed pistol, the posture of the thoracic spine is nearly always caved forward (forcing the neck to make a sharp turn in relation to the spine), and both hips are in flexion–not off to a fantastic start. These issues aside, the pistol is still a terrific measure of relative flexibility, which is why it is included along with appropriate flexibility drills and progressions in RKC Level 2. Being able to do a pistol should be the goal, not necessarily making them a cornerstone of your training.

A better solution exists, and that is the airborne lunge. It’s the single leg exercise that everyone forgets about, and it has secret benefits that the pistol does not have.

As you can see in the video above, in the bottom position, one hip is in flexion while the other is in extension (just like sprinting, walking, etc). The posture is significantly improved and there is no spinal sharp turns. You will also get a little more overall hip mobility and glute activation when doing airborne lunges. Lastly, the airborne lunge is also much easier to load up to a heavy weight. My two favorites are with double kettlebells in the rack and a barbell held in the zercher position if you want to go exceptionally heavy.

Get stronger, run faster, all while increasing flexibility and movement quality–the airborne lunge is a win-win.

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About Max Shank, Master RKC: Max Shank is not only an extremely gifted teacher, but one of the most well-rounded and capable athletes in the world. From excelling in Muay Thai and Jiu Jitsu to performing impressive feats of strength in weightlifting and gymnastics, Max has… Read more here.

Fitness, Health, and Performance

February 26, 2014 By Max Shank 3 Comments

What is the primary goal of exercise? What is the primary objective to training at all?

The answer is that it depends entirely on the individual. However, most of us will fall into the health category. This would include anyone who is not a professional athlete getting paid for their level of performance. Fitness and Health typically go hand in hand, but Health is the primary goal. It is possible to be fit (physically) but to be unhealthy (pain, disease, malnutrition). Therefore we must look at Health first. Then we can address fitness and performance.

There are a few cases where you may have to sacrifice health to excel at a sport (i.e. cutting weight for wrestling, or taping up an ankle instead of resting because you are the star quarterback playing in the Superbowl.)

As you can see those instances are few and far between. So focus on Health before performance. The really cool part is that being healthy will actually unlock your potential by eliminating negative effects of distress/sickness.
When you are in pain or unhealthy, a couple things will happen:

1) Cortisol (stress hormone) is elevated constantly from pain which decreases growth hormone, testosterone, muscle growth, recovery, strength, etc.

2) Pain is depressing and will be psychologically damaging over time. Do not develop an association between pain and exercise!

3) When you feel pain, your brain will compensate by making you weak, tight, or both so you don’t do any more damage. This obviously makes you weaker or stiffer–the last thing you want.

4) Basic nutrient deficiency can also play a factor in your decreased health and performance

-Fatigue

-Apathy

-Simple Vitamin D deficiency, for example, can cause muscle fatigue, weakness, and even depression

So realize, moving forward, that health is not only a precursor to fitness and performance, but health enhances performance, as well as quality of life.

Common Sense

My best friend’s dad told us when we were young that, “Common sense isn’t very common.”

I have found the last couple decades to have confirmed that statement.

So, with that said, here is an abbreviated list of the most important common sense to be applied to your training.

1) If it hurts, don’t do it.

2) Don’t try to put square pegs into round holes.

3) Heavier does not mean “better.”

4) More does not mean “better.”

5) Your personal goals are yours and yours alone, and they are meaningful

6) You don’t have to do anything

Keep these simple things in mind when you approach your training or coaching.

Fitness Folks

The overwhelming majority of exercisers want the following things in this order:

1) Look better

2) Lose Fat and Build Muscle (see #1)

3) Feel better

4) Get stronger

This is an important reality to understand whether you are a coach or athlete.

Even if you think you are neither of the above, you are an athlete; you just play a different sport.

Maybe your sport is losing ten pounds or walking up the stairs without getting tired after the first 5 steps. We all have goals and should approach them with the same dedication that professional athletes pursue their own goals.

Educate yourself, and attack your goals, whatever they are.

The first thing you have to do is to simply be healthy.

Then move well.

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Check Your Neck (Before You Wreck It)

May 3, 2013 By Max Shank 1 Comment

I’m imagining this is you, exercising.

I can’t tell you how many people walk into my gym with neck and/or shoulder pain. Okay I can, it’s a lot—probably half. There are a couple of factors that cause this:

Forward head posture
Poor Breathing
Lack of disassociation between neck and shoulders during exercise

Let’s break down the problem that’s causing your forward head posture.

Lack of thoracic spine mobility
Shoulders rounded forward (tight pecs)
Cervical immobility

Fortunately you’ve been given tools on how to deal with thoracic immobility (Joint by Joint approach). This could include foam rolling, lying rib pulls, or one of many other thoracic mobilizations.

Tight pecs can be simply addressed by some SMR (Self Myofascial Release) via a lacrosse ball against the wall:

and followed up by some wall slides:

Cervical spine immobility can be caused by a number of factors. For the sake of simplicity, the scope of this article will cover fascial tightness and lack of joint awareness or motion. Fix it by rolling out the levator scapula (between your shoulder blades and your spine) and your traps with the lacrosse ball. Next step is to take care of your awareness of good neck position.

Do this by gliding your face forward and backward (think funky chicken), trying to maintain length through your spine. Do 5 reps nice and slow. You’ll be amazed at how uncoordinated it is at first.

(Editors note: I doubt this will do anything for your gobbler). Finish with some good rotations left and right, through a full range of motion—think about lifting through your crown.

Next step is breathing.

We all start knowing what to do here and somewhere along the line it gets pretty messed up. Most folks breathe through their mouths (not ideal) and the shoulders elevate with every breath. Also not good when you consider we take an average of 20,000 breaths per day. You can imagine how 20,000 dysfunctional breathing shrugs might have an impact on your neck health.

Quick fix #1: Start breathing through your nose. Seriously that’s it. We’re designed to inhale and exhale through the nose, start doing it. All the time.
Quick fix #2: Breathing exercise: Lay face down with your forehead on your hands so you’re comfortable. Place an ankle weight (book, medicine ball, small child, etc) on your low back around your sacrum. Breathe for 5:00 (through your nose) trying to lift the weight with each inhale. The weight gives you instant feedback and gives you something to push into, making it much easier.

Combining these 2 things will not only increase orthopedic health, but also increase performance by improving your kinetic efficiency. However, it’s a total waste if you keep breaking yourself in the gym:

Disassociation between neck and shoulders during exercise is imperative if you want to maintain optimal strength and athleticism. Bench, check your neck. Rows, check your neck. Weight overhead? Check your neck.

The point is that you should be able to rotate your neck left and right freely during exercise. This is most easily experimented with during pushups or one arm presses.

Pushup:

Assume pushup position
Rotate neck left and right (if your ROM feels strained, try to lengthen your neck)
Drop into a pushup
Rotate left and right (“check your neck”)
Pushup back up

Overhead Press:

Bring dumbbell or kettlebell to the shoulder
“check your neck”
Press dumbbell or kettlebell overhead
“check your neck”

You should be able to move freely during almost any exercise or stretch you’re doing. Not only will it save you a lot of trouble dealing with neck and shoulder pain, but it will also elevate your performance by improving your upper body coordination, making you stronger.

-Max Shank

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Single Leg Deadlifts: Do Them or Else

February 6, 2013 By Max Shank 10 Comments

Though initially I thought it was unnecessary to explain the ridiculous benefits of single leg deadlifting, I am finding that many people are still not convinced of its amazing power. There seems to be many people who dismiss it as being too light or for ladies only.

This should dispel that lack of understanding:

When done properly, the single leg deadlift can be loaded up to truly impressive amount of weight, that which lifting will require an impressive blend of strength, balance, and athleticism.

Athleticism? Yes athleticism. Think about what stance most sports assume; either single leg or split stance—that is, one hip in flexion and one in extension. Own this position under load and you will become instantly more athletic. Run faster, jump higher, hit harder.

When it comes to kettlebell training the posterior chain has one obvious ballistic movement: The Swing. I don’t need to convince you all of the benefits of the swing, but we should recognize that is has its limitations in posterior chain strength. The load is simply not heavy enough, even with a pair of beasts at 212 lbs. That’s a measly 106 per leg. Grab the same pair of bells for some single leg deadlifts and we are now approaching some serious posterior chain strength.

If swings are power work for the posterior chain, then single leg deadlifts are the strength work. These two moves, used concurrently, will yield massive strength, athleticism, and improve your overall movement quality.

Quick tips on how to perform the exercise:

Set up with the weight as close to your midfoot as possible.
Reach the free leg up and back and make your spine long
Maintain a straight line from your crown to your free foot throughout the exercise
The standing leg should bend at the bottom, straighten at the top (just like a swing)
Go Heavy!

Better every day,

-Max

Max Shank, Master RKC: Max Shank is not only an extremely gifted teacher, but one of the most well-rounded and capable athletes in the world. From excelling in Muay Thai and Jiu Jitsu to performing impressive feats of strength in weightlifting and gymnastics, Max has the ability to do it all–and do it well. Choosing to lead from the front by his own example, he has dedicated his life to Strength and Health. http://ambitionathletics.com

Fit to Lead: Do you Practice what you Preach?

December 26, 2012 By Max Shank Leave a Comment

It’s an unfortunate turn of the fitness industry that we look to internet-only gurus for guidance. These same folks have a modest athleticism at best, and are barely-functioning-overweight at worst.

But man can they make a sweet website and market the heck out of it.

Now I am not one to fault anyone for making a living; I’ve now owned a very successful gym for close to 4 years and travel around the world teaching everything I know about strength and health. I love it. I live it.

What I hate?

Empty promises.
Unrealistic expectations.
Lies.
An overwhelming lack of integrity.

When you say (or write) one thing, and do another, it’s fake. We have leaders that people look to for help, who don’t practice any of their own teachings. They have an avatar of themselves that portrays an idyllic fictional character that bears little to no resemblance to their true self.

And these are the “leaders.”

I believe you lead by example—bottom line.

Being a leader should come with great responsibility and scrutiny. Challenge the leaders to not only talk a good game, but to walk it.

Being a leader is a privilege gained through effort, ability, and ambition.

When I look to someone for advice, I look for someone who not only has the quality that I’m looking for specifically (strength, flexibility, etc), but also has all of the desirable qualities that I’m looking for. Why would I take training advice from someone who is an alcoholic chain smoker? Steroid user? Weak? Fat? I don’t care how good their article on “10 minutes to your beach body” was. They are not fit to lead.

If you want to be strong and healthy; look for those who are both. Look for the leaders who lead by example.

I have chosen to lead. Not with flowery words or hyperbole.

I lead by example.

With you, In Strength and Health,

-Max

Max Shank, Master RKC

Max Shank is not only an extremely gifted teacher, but one of the most well-rounded and capable athletes in the world. From excelling in Muay Thai and Jiu Jitsu to performing impressive feats of strength in weightlifting and gymnastics, Max has the ability to do it all–and do it well. Choosing to lead from the front by his own example, he has dedicated his life to Strength and Health.

http://ambitionathletics.com