Physical Subculture

[ May 5, 2007; 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. ] The sport of Weightlifting, has old roots.  Today, although internationally popular, it is most alive in American eyes only through the Olympics, but otherwise unseen in most modern gyms and ‘athletic clubs.’  But for empowerment, performance and complete body conditioning, the original weight lifting concepts and techniques are unparalleled.

Although the modern competition involves the […]

[ April 7, 2007; 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. ] A wise person once said that the definition of insanity is doing the identical task repeatedly expecting different results.  Let’s review the anatomy of the spine and in seconds you’ll understand the insanity of common spine training.

If the spine is the ‘core,’ why do we train it by lying on the floor?  RISE UP.  Let’s […]

[ March 3, 2007; 12:30 pm to 3:30 pm. ] We’re famous for our strange exercises and approach to training.  But do you really know what the concepts of the Physical SubCulture are?  More important than a collection of funky exercises are the ideas of program design. Trumping even that is the grand philosophy addressing the question ‘why are we here?’ Let’s go in depth […]

Bench max. Simple.  Heavy.
Then try out this bad boy:  Take a sand bag (although a barbell will work if you’re really careful).  Latch it to the pull up bar on your squat rack (we use the straps from our sled). Walk out with it at arms length and then explosively press it (see pictures below).  Absorb […]

Max squats.  No box, no bands, no chains, no pins.  Straight up squats!
Heavy walkouts followed by heavy sandbag lunges.  3 sets, keep goinh heavier on the walkouts.  Lunges are with 50 through 150 pounds of sand on your back. about 100 feet worth of lunging.
Stifflegged deadlifts/saxon bends/farmer’s walk.  Go for reps on the deadlift 10 […]

One bar.  deadlift.  hang clean. front squat. overhead press. goodmorning.  One into the next. In fact the first four movements really flow well into each other.  Then just lower the bar behind the neck after the press (which can be push or jerk style) for the goodmorning.  Bring the bar back to the beginning and […]

Today is a challenge meant for speed production.
Dynmaic effort (super fast) squats with bands.  12 sets of 3 reps.
Switch lunges/squat rows. 10 each leg/10-12 reps on rows (make it heavy) 3 sets.
Bueler’s (old school style)/barbell rollouts.  10 per side/10… more if you can.  3 sets, non-stop.
 
Al showing squat rows (above), Mieke doing a driving bueler, […]

Simple to do, but exhausting.
Grab a pair of dumbbells (or kettlebells), and do a pushup with them in your hands.  Use the speed from the pushup to go right into a row with one of your arms (or both if you think you’re a super hero).  As soon as that dumbbell hits the ground go […]

The Swing
 
Pictured is the kettlebell version but anything can be used for weight.  Try this one with the cat. With a dumbbell you can take the weight over the head.  This was one of the original Olympic lifts about a century ago, along with a host of other one- and two-handed exercises, including the two that are still […]

The Windmill
 
The windmill is a favorite at Bodytribe.  We use it not only as an exercise for spinal strength and overall flexibility, it can be used as a great assessment tool to check out if the body has a message or two for you to heed.  Any tightness or weakness along certain chains of motion […]