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):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbsETxo8Vps

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:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3ZD8s15ckc

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

****

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.

****

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.

Fitness, Health, and Performance

February 26, 2014 By Max Shank 4 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.

***

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.

Can I Gain Size with Bodyweight Training?

December 10, 2012 By Phil Ross Leave a Comment

I’ve been asked “Is it possible to gain size with Bodyweight only exercise?” The short answer is “Yes”. It’s easier to accomplish upper body size gains with bodyweight training than with lower. Without meeting you personally or at least getting to know you better, it would be impossible to adequately provide you direct program recommendations. However, I will provide some guidelines and concepts.

First, a few “Don’ts”. Do not treat your calisthenics as a quasi-aerobic or simple warm up. Find challenging movements and utilize progressions, as employed in Coach Paul Wade’s book Convict Conditioning. Or view the video version with Max Shank.

Let’s address push-up, for example. I chose those to address, because you can do push-ups, even at the most difficult levels, anywhere and with no equipment. Remember to use progressions and be certain not to skip any levels in your progression. You may form “holes” on your training and hinder your ability to achieve your highest levels. Here are a couple of YouTube clips of me performing push-up variations.

Please make certain that you employ strict technique and do not rush through the movements. The combination of 10 second push-ups and spiderman push-ups have yielded some particularly favorable results.

As far as your legs and lower body are concerned. It is difficult reaching great size with simple bodyweight exercises. Squats and Pistol Squats (Single Leg) movements with result in a great deal of strength, but not a supper amount of size. Why is this so? You are on your legs all of the time and you need to substantially increase the resistive load to stimulate muscle hypertrophy. It’s most easily accomplished with adding weight to your exercises. I prefer kettlebells, because you can use much less weight for attain results than you would have to with barbells or machines. If you don’t have access to kettlebells or if you are adverse to using weights, employ a regiment of plyometric exercise. There is a great deal of plyometric literature and exercise programs available.

Good Luck!

Coach Phil Ross

Master RKC