All to many of today’s athletes are doing the same exercises and getting the same results (or lack there of) far too long.  I cannot tell you how many young and mature athletes are using isolation exercises in an attempt to get bigger, stronger, and faster.  i do believe in exercise rotation to avoid accommodation by the nervous system however, these individuals are missing out on huge gains by not incorporating these lifts to be what I consider “Bread and Butter” of any training regiment. routine!

Here are the top  movements for athletes. Add these to your arsenal and get freaken strong!!

1) Box Squats:  Box squats should be a staple in your lower body training.  I consider this exercise and it’s other variations (front box squat) essential for building and developing tremendous leg strength and explosiveness while eliminating almost all stress off of the knees.   Founder of Westside Barbell Club in Ohio, whose  club has done more to popularize box squats than anyone else in America, describes the benefits of box squatting in one of his articles—“Many trainers have found that a great deal of flexibility can be developed while box squatting by going lower than normally possible and by using a wider stance.”

The major benefit of box squatting is that any lack of flexibility you may have can be overcome in a short matter of time by adjusting the height differences of the box working your way down until you have reached parallel or slightly below. This also isolates and ensures you have a correct shin angle and the major muscles of the all to mentioned “posterior chain” the glutes, hams, spinal erectors, hips, and abs are all firing and are totally pre-stretched and overloaded simultaneously, producing a tremendous stretch reflex.  You many have heard many negative things about box squatting but infact  Box squats eliminate many of the problems encountered when doing traditional squats. Gone are the knee problems associated with the knees traveling way past the toes. You’re also limiting the stretch reflex so box squatting becomes much like a deadlift (another must do mentioned later) in its ability to build explosive strength.

Box squats also teach an athlete to stay tight and explode up using the hips, hams, and glutes. This is essential for any sport that requires running or jumping, which is pretty much all of them! Some other huge advantages of box squatting include less soreness than traditional squats, allowing you to recover faster and train more often, and there’s no guessing on depth so as Louie say’s ” if you do 1,000 squats you’ve done atleast parallel or slightly more.” . Box squatting is typically done with a wider stance again producing more power, less knee pain, and more frequent training sessions due to the ability to recover faster from box squatting. The recomeded form for box squatting is

1)approach the bar and get tight creatting as much tension in your whole body especially your lats.

2) take no more than 2 steps back and keep a wide stance

3) Take a deep breath and fill your belly with as much as you can and decend forcefully but under control

4) sit on the box as if there was a scale on it and you wanted it to read 20lbs lighter than your actual weight

5) explode up and get your hips through the “zone” while pushing your knees out.

Using this proven technique your max poundage and explosiveness will go through the roof and keep you safe.  This exercise is great for ME training or DE training movements. If using the box squat for DE/Speed i recommend using jump stretch/woody bands or 5/8″ chains.

2) Deadlifts: If the squat is king then the deadlift is kings helper. Now, before we i discuss any more about this fantastic exercise i want to clarify a few things. Some of you have heard that deadlifting is terrible and should be avoided or some other crazyiness some globo gym rat told you. I’m gonna be honest with you and even a little blunt, that’s bull shit!!! i could go on and on but to stay the course i’ll rant later. Upon learning proper technique (that’s where the issue is) and  when done properly, the deadlift and its variations (trap bar) may be the single best mass builder and speed developer on the planet. If you could no other exercise but deadlift you would be stronger and more developed than your normal gym goer who bench, curl, and shrug.  Just the other day i had a kid come in and tell me that he isn’t allowed to bench or deadlift because his coach says it’ll hurt his back and shoulders but yet he is proscribe the power clean and snatch.  Are you freaken kidding me? I’ll let you think about that one for a minute.

Deadlifts (and its variations) are important for several reasons. They build tremendous starting strength. very important if your an athlete. Many athletes are good at there sport but are unable to produce a high rate of force and explosiveness. Deadlifts strengthen the posterior chain, building power and strength in the hamstrings, glutes,  spinal erectors, calves, and the entire back ensuring absolute strength. Like squats, deadlifts build insane strength in the hips—the seat of power for all sports while also building boulders of muscle. Nothing will make you grow from your calves to your traps like heavy deadlifts and its variations. The deadlift can be extremely useful for injury prevention. Some believe that the moderate to high hamstring activity elicited during the deadlift may help to protect the anterior cruciate ligament during rehabilitation commonly seen in many of todays female athletes.  All of my women athletes are not do some type of deadlift every week sometimes heavy and other times explosively.

Like the squats, deadlifts can be used as ME, DE, or moderate repetition exercises. try using the 5×5 training method and watch your body transform from head to toe all while building insane strength and explosiveness.

3) High Pull/Clean Pull: Along time ago Olympic lifting was thought of as the only way to get an athlete strong and explosive. It stormed many high school weight rooms while some of these other “must do” exercises became forgotten. Now this is true to some degree but remember that Olympic lifters are a sport and event in it of themselves that take many years of coaching and practice to perfect technique.  Alot of times as coaches we’re not fortunate enough to have alot of time with an athlete or client so i like to keep it simple and go with what works and easy to learn. Now with that being said, I don’t coach or have any of my athletes/clients perform any of these lifts except for one and that is the HIGH PUll.  Like the deadlift, the high pull builds tremendous starting strength and requires a great amount of force to overcome a static barbell or dumbbell.  It also develops all of the, here it is again “posterior chain” upper back, and the all too often overlooked grip strength (mentioned again later).  Some may think that they are hard to teach but if you can already deadlift and can do an upright row then it’s no problem.  i can teach this in one session and have athlete doing this for strength or conditioning.  Another great bonus to this exercise is that you can do them with kettle bells, dumbbells, med balls, sand bags, and for added grip strength sandbags.  Have fun with this one and make sure that you do it.  i suggest 1-2 reps for strength and 40-45% of your max when doing timed sets.

4) Romanian Deadlifts: The Romanian Deadlift or RDL as its commonly known is a fantastic exercise that all too often gets replaced by cybex leg curls.  Many people don’t know this or they forget that the hamstrings are not just knee flexors but hip extensors as well.  This accessory exercise should be done after squattting or deadlifting and they build muscle, flexibility, and power in the hamstrings, glutes, and even those spinal erectors.  This exercise is also great for athletes because it closely relates the “athletic position” used in all if not most sports.  Think about a basketball player getting ready to rebound a basketball.  I have found this variation better than the straight leg  because the other one tends to use more spinal erectors and as weight becomes heavier form can be skewed all while neglecting the hamstrings.

Should you want to vary your ME lower training regimen you may start with RDL’S.  I highly suggest not doing these or anyother exercise in a smith machine but in a power rack.  But keep in mind this exercise is better suited as an accessory lift for squatting and deadlifting rather than the main part of the session.  I typically have my guys do 3-5 sets of 4-8 reps.

5) Rowing and Chinning variations: Too many athletes and gym goers only pat attention to what i like to call “mirror muscles.”  Understandable yes but i cannot stress this enough if you neglect or approach the rear side of your body while training I promise you let me repeat I promise you that you will not get stronger on the bench, squat, and/or deadlift and it’s only a matter of  time before you have bicep, rotator cuff, pectoralis tears, or shoulder impingements requiring time out from training while the competition is out dominating. because there doing barbell rows, towel pull ups, rope climbs, and other forms of horizontal/vertical rowing.  Heres another tip, just like the hamstrings your back should get a 2:1 ratio over your pressing muscles so the next time you head into the gym maybe start your upper  body session with 3 sets of as many chinups as possible.  check this variation out here.

6) Sandbags: This is one that has been around for a while but is finally making a comeback.  Lifting and carrying these things develops incredible amount of “BRUTE” force all while adding some variety to your weight training session.  You can use these as conditioning tools, grip tools, strength tools and the great thing is that you can make your own for $20.00.  If you ever tried sprinting and running in the sand you remember how much harder you ahd to work so you can imagine the fight you’ll have cleaning and pressing 80 lbs of sand over your head.

Alot of the guys at my gym call them “body dumps” because we sometimes will squat real heavy weight and then have to bear hug a 100 lb sand bag and get around the building as quickly as possible.  When the guys return they just dump them in exhaustion.  Another variation that is really good for athletes is the Bulgarian sandbag which you can make out of inner tubes (discussed on a later post) and use them for a variety of drills.  use them for strength, use them for conditioning, use them for both, but whatever you do just use them!!

7) Heavy Tire Flips: Like the sandbag this one is fun and really bridges the gap between the weight room and the playing field.  There are many times that our guys will flip heavy tires on max effort day replacing squats and deads.  We have a 510 lb but if your a real beast you may use 700-800 lb tires.  Another great thing and this is huge is that most tire places will just give you them so there is no additional cost involved outside of time looking.  Use them for contest relays, strength, and conditioning.  I recommend 3-6 sets of 3-5 flips or if doing for time see how many your athletes can get in one minute.  See it in action here.

The Prowler!! The Prowler is the “must have” if your an athlete, gym owner, or coach.  It is king of the road when it comes to conditioning.  You can push it or pull it for time, distance, strength, or speed.  This can also be used on a ME day to add variety and competition to your clients/athletes.  You can use it in the snow, on the grass, or on the pavement.  The Prowler is also great because you can use it laterally, which most athletes ignore. Most sports involve almost all lateral movement yet so many coaches and athletes neglect to train in that manner.
I like to use it as a finishing movement especially after a lowerbody training session but also as a conditioning tool on off days from the weight room. Because there is no eccentric tension to this you shouldn’t be to sore from this which is huge if your training and playing your sport.  alot of times you’ll have kids constantly doing “2 a days” year round thinking more is better when the prowler allows you to get strength and conditioning all in one in under an hour without jeopardizing any other needed elements for that athlete.  check it out in action here.

9) Grip Work: How many footballs get dropped, tackles missed, and reps missed all because you just couldn’t hold on?  this is highly overlooked when it comes to any type of training regimen but should be included 2-3 x’s per week on lower body days.  There is nothing fancy here but i’ll tell you what will really help is all you lifters getting rid of those damn lifting straps for every single exercise, set, and rep you do.  you’re killing me witht that crap.  A great way to train your grip indirectly is through the use of thick bars during your upper body sessions or even deadlifting.  Just by using one of these bars I’ve had guys add 15-20 lbs to a bench and deadlift without changing the training remimen.  There are thousands of ways to train your grip i.e. sandbags, thick bars, towel pull ups, softball chins, plate pinching, dynamic pinching, wrist flexion, you name it just make sure you incorporate some form of it into your training program.  you may train for time, reps, and heavey.  wathch your biceps grow too!!!  There are many great resources on grip training James Brookefield, Smitty over at Diesel Crew and the rest of those guys (they’re crazy) and Coach Joe Hashey (another crazy guy) of synergy athletics.  Check this wild grip exercise out!!!

10) Parallel Bar Dips: Last but not least is the parallel bar dips.  some would argue that this is terrible on the shoulders and elbows and my answet to them is ” I suppose that goofy hammer strength machine is more natural and provides a better pump.” When we walk our hands are in a neutral or natural position.  I feel that its very necessary to to train the arms that way.  I’ll give you an example, i’m 5′10″ and 193 lbs.  I’ve had 3 rotator surgery’s on my right side all from awkward falls during my highschool football career.  Bummer right, well I was advised to not do any bench pressing, military presses, and you guessed it…Dips.  Well I’m stronger now and have full ROM in that shoulder all while doing paralle bar dips with 100 lbs of chain around my neck for 8-11 reps.  Some advice huh?  my arms are bigger, shoulders are broader, and my bench is bigger now than before my sugeries.  Check out Parallel Bar Dips here.  If your an athlete, want bigger arms, or big bench get to dippen !!!!