- Cameron McGarr, C.S.C.S.
I decided to start this post off with a quote because it ties into exactly what I've been talking about, and I simply could not have said it better myself. In fact it even discusses an argument I failed to mention when discussing the benefits of running, and that is its convenience. As for the laws:
Law #1: The longer your body, the more difficult the exercise.
- The logic here is simple. The more distance between the muscles you're using and your pivot point, the more mechanical force required for perform the move.
- ex: pushups from the knee are much easier than regular pushups using your feet as a pivot.
- ex: to make the ordinary squat more difficult try raising your hands above your head, if this is too difficult place your hands behind your head
Law #2: The further you move, the more muscles you use.
- This is simple physics, mechanical force = force (weight) x distance. Since we're discussing body weight movements, force is static, but to increase or decrease the difficulty of the exercise the distance traveled can be adjusted. All of these examples are about increasing the distance your body has to move in order to complete a repetition.
- ex: try doing situps with a rolled up yoga mat under the arch of your lower back
- ex: make any style of pushup more difficult by placing your hands on dumbbells or a stack of books (for even more of a challenge perform the pushup with one hand on a basketball or soccer ball alternating hands each repetition by rolling ball back and forth at top position)
- ex: make lunges or squats more difficult by adding an extra pump to each repetition. To do this, lower your body all the way, but rather than return to starting position, raise your body a half of the distance then return to lowest position and finally back to the starting position.
Law #3: Muscle recruitment increases as elastic force decreases.
- We are all familiar with this law, as you lower your body the muscles buildup high amounts of elastic energy (a survival mechanism which allows us to "snap back" quickly) decreasing overall muscle involvement. To apply this law, pause in the lowered position of any exercise (2-5 sec), allowing the elastic energy to dissipate, than return to starting position and repeat.
Law #4: Exercises that involve movement in more than one direction require more muscle.
- Without getting too scientific, the body moves within three geometric planes: sagittal (forward and backward/up and down), frontal (side-to-side) and tranverse (rotational). The majority of traditional exercises (bench press, squat etc.) focus on the sagittal plane or the frontal plane (lateral lunges or side bends). Our bodies are rarely trained on the tranverse plane. Thus, for an added kick to any body weight exercise, add a rotational movement.
- ex: a rotation can easily be added by adding a torso twist to exercises such as the lunge, situp or pushup (look up "t-pushup" if you're confused ... trust me, they are insane)
Law #5: The less contact your body makes with the ground, the more muscle the movement requires.
- Again this law is simple physics. The stability of an object decreases when less of said object is making contact with a solid surface. Chances are at some point you've all heard about "stabilizer muscles", this is simply the science behind it. Making our bodies less stable, in essence forces our stablization system to kick in, making any exercise instantly more difficult. This is why exercises like the bench press are considered one-dimensional, because so much of our body is balanced on a nice comfortable bench.
- ex: Hold one foot up during virtually any exercise to increase the difficulty dramatically.
Law #1: The longer your body, the more difficult the exercise.
- The logic here is simple. The more distance between the muscles you're using and your pivot point, the more mechanical force required for perform the move.
- ex: pushups from the knee are much easier than regular pushups using your feet as a pivot.
- ex: to make the ordinary squat more difficult try raising your hands above your head, if this is too difficult place your hands behind your head
Law #2: The further you move, the more muscles you use.
- This is simple physics, mechanical force = force (weight) x distance. Since we're discussing body weight movements, force is static, but to increase or decrease the difficulty of the exercise the distance traveled can be adjusted. All of these examples are about increasing the distance your body has to move in order to complete a repetition.
- ex: try doing situps with a rolled up yoga mat under the arch of your lower back
- ex: make any style of pushup more difficult by placing your hands on dumbbells or a stack of books (for even more of a challenge perform the pushup with one hand on a basketball or soccer ball alternating hands each repetition by rolling ball back and forth at top position)
- ex: make lunges or squats more difficult by adding an extra pump to each repetition. To do this, lower your body all the way, but rather than return to starting position, raise your body a half of the distance then return to lowest position and finally back to the starting position.
Law #3: Muscle recruitment increases as elastic force decreases.
- We are all familiar with this law, as you lower your body the muscles buildup high amounts of elastic energy (a survival mechanism which allows us to "snap back" quickly) decreasing overall muscle involvement. To apply this law, pause in the lowered position of any exercise (2-5 sec), allowing the elastic energy to dissipate, than return to starting position and repeat.
Law #4: Exercises that involve movement in more than one direction require more muscle.
- Without getting too scientific, the body moves within three geometric planes: sagittal (forward and backward/up and down), frontal (side-to-side) and tranverse (rotational). The majority of traditional exercises (bench press, squat etc.) focus on the sagittal plane or the frontal plane (lateral lunges or side bends). Our bodies are rarely trained on the tranverse plane. Thus, for an added kick to any body weight exercise, add a rotational movement.
- ex: a rotation can easily be added by adding a torso twist to exercises such as the lunge, situp or pushup (look up "t-pushup" if you're confused ... trust me, they are insane)
Law #5: The less contact your body makes with the ground, the more muscle the movement requires.
- Again this law is simple physics. The stability of an object decreases when less of said object is making contact with a solid surface. Chances are at some point you've all heard about "stabilizer muscles", this is simply the science behind it. Making our bodies less stable, in essence forces our stablization system to kick in, making any exercise instantly more difficult. This is why exercises like the bench press are considered one-dimensional, because so much of our body is balanced on a nice comfortable bench.
- ex: Hold one foot up during virtually any exercise to increase the difficulty dramatically.