Cruel and Unusual Exercises

by Mike Hanley

Do you ever wonder how song writers or comedians come up with their lyrics or material? As a person who loves music as well as a good comedy, I always wondered that very question. When I started my career in coaching & training athletes I started to research other coaches as well as come up with new ideas for old exercises of my own. Then it clicked. The more a person surrounds themselves with the subject at hand, the more thoughts come to mind about that subject. As I listen to more music, I realized that some musicians would steal some of their material from other musicians as did comedians do the same. Well as a strength coach, when I see exercises done by other reputable coaches, I do the same thing especially when I think it can benefit my athlete.

The exercises that I will teach in this article are a combination of both. I have been fortunate enough to meet & correspond with some of the best coaches in the industry as well as come with some pretty neat exercises of my own. The exercises will be a mixture of old school movements that everyone knows with a tweak or two to them. There will also be some exercises that you probably have never seen before. In the fitness industry, things seem to change like the whether so we have to continue to educate ourselves & find new ways to train our athletes. This does not mean change everything that we have learned works, but simply implement new & unusual exercises to keep our athletes interested.

Jump Stretch Band Triple Extension

This exercise is a great tool for teaching an athlete how to obtain triple extension (extension of the ankle, knees, & hip joints) for the Olympic lifts. It also is excellent for developing power, explosiveness and speed-strength. This movement can be used with athletes such as mixed martial artists, wrestlers, and any other sport that involves throwing an opponent. This exercises works wonders for your posterior chain which is extremely valuable to any athlete.

Coaching Tips:

Choke a Jump Stretch Band around something stable & wrap your arms through the band.
Hands should grip the opposite forearm securely.
Back up so the band has no slack in it, sit back in a squat position.
From the squat position, explode from the hips while throwing your hands with the band over your head. This will look similair to a back extension. Continue exploding the hips, knees and toes until you reach triple extension.
As the band starts to pull you forward, quickly sit back onto your heels in the squat position.
This is a fast movement & should be perform with caution.

The Jump Stretch Band Triple Extension can be performed a number of different ways. Normally I would not suggest an athlete to perform an Olympic movement for more than 6 reps per set due to their form breaking down & risk of injury however this exercise can be done for more reps than six. I have my athletes perform this for sets of 3 reps as fast as possible with up to 12 sets. This can be used as a dynamic effort movement for an athlete similar to Louie Simmons prescription of their Dynamic Effort speed squat or speed bench. You can also use this exercise as a conditioning tool however I will only do this with advanced athletes due to the level of difficulty getting used to the band tension. You can perform this movement for timed sets such as 30, 45, or 60 second intervals. It can be included in a circuit of exercises as well as done by itself like in a Tabata Method (20seconds on, 10 seconds off x 10 rounds). This is very taxing on the body so work up to this amount of volume.

Push Up Hand Walks with Band

The Push Up Hand Walks with the Band is a favorite of mine for many different reasons. For one, it works lots of muscles which is particularly important for field athletes since they are using their body as a unit. It also can be made into a fun & competitive game so long as it is done correctly. And it is quite hard to perform. This exercise is a version of a movement I learned from the man himself, Mr. Thibaudeau. I believe he used this exercise in an article of his on T-Nation years ago. It’s great for the abdominals, as well as the entire upper body, not to mention the conditioning aspect of it.

Coaching Tips:

Wrap a resistance band around both wrists. Place both feet on airex mat and go into a push up position.
With glutes & abdomials contracted & braced pull your body forward with your lat muscles by walking on your hands.
Do not let the hip area sway side to side, keep the hip region non moving.
You can also go backwards working the shoulder region by pushing yourself backwards. Always keeping the torso tight and motionless.

This is a great tool for strengthening the shoulder girdle as well as building some upper body size. You can use this exercise for GPP, prehabilitative, as well as warm up purposes. You can perform this movement in sets of a prescribed distance as well as time. You perform it as part of a GPP circuit or as a warm up or finisher to an upper body session. Another option is to perform the movement without the band which makes it less challenging for the beginners.

Cable Crunch with Med Ball Crush Grip

This exercise is a hybrid exercise that kills two birds with one stone. It is an old school abdominal movement with a grip strengthening component to it. It is an excellent way to work the abs while simultaneously developing grip strength.

Coaching Tips:

Take a medicine ball & a weight belt. Wrap the weight belt securely around the medicine like shown above.
Attached the buckle of the belt to the cable attachment also like shown above.
Kneeling down in front of cable column, grip med ball with hands on side of ball.
Hips should be above your knees, hands above the head.
In a curling motion, crunch the elbows into the knees using the abs to do so.

This exercise can be done with any workout whether it be an upper body, lower body or full body. I would suggest doing this at the end of your workout since you will need your forearm strength for more compound movements that require heavier weights. This will definitely tax your forearms for sure. You can do them for sets of higher reps as well as sets with heavier weight however there is a point of diminishing returns where the weight can become too heavy for you to perform the exercise correctly & effectively. I suggest doing sets on the range of 5 reps and going as high as 25 reps. That’s IF you grip can hold on that long. This is a great tool for any athlete that requires them to use their grip against opponents such as in football, mixed martial arts, wrestling. It is also excellent for athletes that use a bat, stick, or ball such as basketball, hockey, lacrosse, & baseball.

These 3 exercises can be added to any training program for a little twist to a mundane routine. Try them out and let me know what you think.