Focused core work is important if we want to build a strong, lean core that not only looks amazing but also helps us run faster, lift more and prevent aches, pains and injuries!
We need moves that really activate and work our abs and glutes while strengthening everything between our shoulders and our knees, down our frontsides AND our backsides.
The more muscles we can work at once, and the more planes of motions we can move in, the stronger our core will be and the faster we will achieve results.
That is why I love these 10 Bodyweight Core Moves. They work your core from every angle and even get your blood pumping so you can burn fat as you strengthen your core.
10 Bodyweight Moves To Redefine Your Core
I use these 10 Bodyweight Moves in my 28-Day Core Burner to help clients get faster results. These core intensive exercises work both your anterior and posterior chain. They include rotational and anti-rotational moves and really work your core from every direction.
They work your balance and not only work your abs, but also your oh so important glutes. These moves will give you more bang for your buck in less time!
1. Single Arm Plank Jacks:
This is a great cardio-core move that will also build shoulder stability and work on anti-rotational core strength. You’ll feel this working everything between your shoulders and your knees as you start to sweat!
This is an advanced move though. Beginners may need to start with the Basic Plank Jack or even a Plank Step Jack. It can even be done with your hands up on an incline to modify!
To do Single Arm Plank Jacks, set up in a high plank position with your hands a bit closer together under your shoulders and your feet together. Brace your abs and make sure your body is in a nice straight line.
Then jump your feet out wide, and as you do, lift one hand to touch your opposite shoulder. Resist the urge to really rotate as you lift the hand or let your butt go up in the air. Try to keep your hips down and your core as square to the ground as possible.
Jump your feet back together and place the hand back down. When you quickly jump your feet out again, this time lift the other hand to touch your opposite shoulder. Jump quickly back in and lower the hand back down. Keep repeating the jack with your feet, alternating which hand you lift to tap your shoulder.
Beginners can do a basic Plank Jack without the shoulder tap. For the Basic Plank Jack, click here.
2. Mountain Climber Turkish Bridge:
This rotational exercise will work…well…basically everything! It works your abs, the muscles around your rib cage, your glutes, you shoulders and your quads. Heck even your back!
To do the Mountain Climber Turkish Bridge, set up in a high plank position with your feet about shoulder-width apart and your hands under your shoulders. Then drive one knee in and across your body to the opposite elbow, like a cross-body mountain climber. Move to straighten that leg back out and, as you do, kick it back over your body to rotate open into the Turkish Bridge.
So if you tucked your right knee in, you will then rotate your right leg back over your body to the left as you lift your right hand up off the ground so you can fully rotate open.
You’ll lift your hand up toward the ceiling as you place the foot of the leg you kicked over flat on the ground. That knee will be bent as your other leg stays straight. Keep your hand on the ground under your shoulder and bridge your hips up by squeezing your glute. Make sure the foot of the leg you kicked over is flat on the ground to help you engage and load that glute. Pause here briefly and really focus on bridging up as your hand stays under your shoulder.
Then bring the leg back over and in for the cross body mountain climber. Feel around your rib cage work as you rotate as well as your abs in the mountain climber and glutes in the bridge portion. Move at a controlled pace so you can feel everything working.
Beginners may need to do the move with their hands up on an incline or even break it down and do a set of Cross Body Mountain Climbers followed by a set of the Turkish Bridge.
3. Warrior III Abs:
Balance moves, such as the Warrior III Abs, not only strengthen your feet and legs, but also help you build core stability. On top of that, the Warrior III Abs will also work your glutes and improve your hip mobility!
To do Warrior III Abs, set up in the Warrior III position, balanced on one leg with your raised leg driving back toward the wall behind you and your hips square to the ground. Reach your hands out overhead, reaching toward the wall in front of you.
Staying hinged over, crunch the knee of your raised leg in toward your chest as you pull your elbows in toward your knee. Really use your abs to crunch your elbows toward your knee. Do not stand up though as you crunch.
Then extend back out. Stay balanced on your standing leg and try to stay hinged over as you tuck and extend. Do not touch your toe down unless needed to stay balanced. Beginners may tap it down between reps to rebalance or even reach their hands out in front to lightly touch the wall.
4. Side Plank Adductor Raise:
Your inner thighs, or adductors, are important core muscles that contribute to hip and knee stability. One great way to work them to build stability, as you strengthen your glutes and obliques, is with the Side Plank Adductor Raise.
To do the Side Plank Adductor Raise, set up in a side plank from your forearm and feet. You will want you elbow to be under your shoulder and your feet unstacked with your bottom foot in front and even slightly angled forward. Lift up into the side plank position with your top hand on your hip and your chest not rotated toward the ground. Drive through the sides of your feet and flex your feet to engage even your lower leg.
Holding this position, lift and lower that bottom leg, raising it up a few inches then putting it back down at a controlled pace. Stay up in the side plank the entire time and don’t let your hips sag. Do not place your top hand down to assisted.
If you need to modify, bend that top leg and place the foot flat on the ground behind you OR even regress fully to a side lying adductor lift. Both are shown below.
5. Dolphin Planks:
This plank almost makes you look like you’re doing everything wrong. You are going to sag your hips AND round your back at the top. But talk about a way to kill your abs!
The plange plank position, or rounded position at the top where you draw your belly button in, is going to get your abs shaking. And then when you dip your hips, you are just lowering down and stopping just before your abs disengage. AKA you are making your abs work to brace and stabilize as you move up and down in the plank position and getting your core intrinsic stabilizers to really work!
To do Dolphin Planks, set up in a plank from your forearms and toes (advanced) or knees (beginner). Make sure your shoulders are stacked over your elbows. Brace your core and engage your back as you hold your body in a nice straight line from your head to your heels or knees.
Then sag your hips toward the ground without completing relaxing onto the ground before rounding your back up toward the ceiling. You want to sag your hips only as low as you can without your low back taking over. You should feel your abs still engaging.
When you round up at the top, you aren’t simply sticking your butt up in the air. You want to round your entire back and perform the pelvic tilt. It is almost like you are doing the “cat” in the cat/cow stretch. Do not push backward too much as you do it. Keep your shoulders stacked over your elbows.
Then lower back down and sag your hips before rounding back up. Pause in each position to really feel your core working. Beginners can do this from their knees, off an incline or even modify and do the Vomiting Cat on their hands and knees.
6. Posterior Plank Mountain Climbers:
Often when we think about working our core, we think about working our abs and the front of our body. But our posterior chain is also important to work because one of the most important muscle groups of our core is the GLUTES!
Posterior Plank Mountain Climbers not only work your abs but also your posterior chain, including your glutes, back and hamstrings. The move also works on hip extension and will open up your chest. It is a great move to reverse all of the forward flexion we do sitting hunched over our computers and phones!
To do the Posterior Plank Mountain Climbers, sit on the ground with your legs out straight in front of you and your hands down behind your butt on the ground.
Then, driving up through your heels and your hands, press your hips up toward the ceiling and press your chest out. As you bridge up, squeeze your butt and lift your hips up as high as you can while keeping your legs straight and your chest pressed out. Do not shrug your shoulders at the top as you press your chest out.
Hold at the top with your body in a nice straight line. Do not hyperextend your back. Then slowly tuck one knee in toward your chest. Tuck it in as far as you can.
Then straighten the leg back out. Place the foot back down then tuck your other knee in. Feel your glutes and hamstrings working to hold you up as your abs work to tuck your knee in. Beginners can start with a tabletop variation as they tuck instead of the full Posterior Plank.
7. Cross Body Knee with Lateral Raise:
This standing core move is great if you can’t get down on the ground. Plus it is a unilateral move that will work your abs and glutes, especially your glute medius. Unilateral moves are great to help correct imbalances and make sure that each side of your body pulls its own weight!
To do Cross Body Knee with Lateral Raise, you’ll want a chair or wall right in front of you that you can lean forward and place your hands or forearms on.
Leaning forward bring one knee up and across under your body toward your opposite elbow, drawing your abs in as you tuck. Then kick the leg up and out to the side as high as you can but do not rotate as you kick laterally. Feel your glute working to lift. Do not really lean away but instead keep yourself balanced by leaning onto something.
After kicking out, lower your leg down and tuck your knee back in toward your opposite elbow, feeling your abs and not just your leg work to draw the knee in and across your body. Move at a controlled pace. Tucking and then performing a lateral raise or lateral kick.
8. Side Lunge with Knee:
Working your legs and abs at the same times is the perfect way to build a strong core AND burn more calories in less time. Anytime you can get more muscles working at once, especially BIG muscle groups, you up your calorie burn as you build strength.
The Side Lunge with Knee will get your blood pumping as you strengthen your legs, glutes and abs, especially your obliques.
To do the Side Lunge with Knee, start standing tall then lunge out to the side, sitting your butt back as you hinge forward slightly and load your glute. Push your butt back and sink down, bending your outside knee as your other leg stays straight. You can reach to the ground or keep your hands at your chest. It can even be helpful to reach the opposite arm toward the heel you lunged out with to help you sit back.
Then quickly drive back to standing and, without touching your foot down if possible, drive that knee up and in across your body. You can rotate your upper body toward that knee almost as if pulling someone’s head down and across your body into your knee. Touch the toe down if needed then repeat the lunge back out followed by the quick knee drive.
Feel your legs working with the lunge and your abs working with the knee drive and rotation.
Beginners may not sink as low in the lunge or step out as far. They may also touch their toe down to balance between the lunge and knee drive.
9. Curtsy Lunge to Leg Lift:
Moving in every plane of motion is key to building a strong core that prevents injury. And this Curtsy Lunge to Leg Lift not only gets you moving in different directions, but it also combines a compound leg move with a more glute-focused movement to really make sure your glutes are working. It really targets the glute medius with the Leg Lift, which is an important muscles to strengthen for hip stability!
To do the Curtsy Lunge to Leg Lift, start standing tall with your feet together. Then lunge back, stepping your foot across and behind your front leg so you sit back into your front glute. You aren’t lunging straight back, but are instead crossing behind as you keep your chest facing forward. Keep your front foot pointing straight ahead too. If you rotate open as you cross behind, you won’t get the benefit of the curtsy lunge.
Sink down into the lunge, sitting back in your front heel as you feel your front glute load. Then drive through your front heel to come back up to standing. Lightly tap the toe down to balance if needed and then raise your leg out to the side for a lateral raise.
Feel your glute on the side lifting your leg laterally then touch the toe down and repeat the lunge. You will shift your weight toward your standing leg, but don’t lean way to the side just to lift your leg up higher. Beginners may not sink as deep in the lunge.
10 .Spiderman Mountain Climbers:
I love cardio-core moves that also work on your mobility. That is why Spiderman Mountain Climbers are a must-do move. They will work on your hip mobility as they strengthen your legs, shoulders and abs (plus they’ll really get your blood pumping!).
To do Spiderman Mountain Climbers, start in the high plank position from your hands and feet. Then, keeping your core engaged, step one foot up and outside your hand into a nice low spiderman or runner’s lunge. Try not to let your butt go way up in the air as you step your foot outside.
Beginners will then quickly step back into plank and then step the other foot forward into a lunge on the other side. They will move as quickly as possible, stepping their foot all the way outside their hand.
More advanced exercisers will jump from lunge to lunge. The faster you jump between lunges and the less you pause on each side, the harder the move will be. Still try to keep your butt down and make sure to land in a lunge with your foot outside your hand each time.
Want quick 10-Minute Bodyweight Core Burners using these moves?
“I don’t want to do that. I feel unbalanced and awkward and I can’t lift as heavy.”
I had a new client tell me this when I explained that he’d be doing Single Leg Deadlifts.
My response?
“That’s exactly why you SHOULD be doing them.”
His statement though shed some light though on why so many peopled DON’T use unilateral exercises in their training.
Yea…Many of them are awkward to start. They challenge our balance. They challenge our mind-body connection and coordination. And we CAN’T often lift as heavy with them to start.
But these moves we try and avoid, are some of the best ones if we want to truly get functionally stronger and prevent injury.
And I think part of what helps us start including moves we aren’t comfortable with is the understanding of WHY they are important.
So…here’s why unilateral moves are important to do! (And at the bottom of the post I share some of my favorite unilateral moves!)
Why You Should Include Unilateral Exercises In Your Training
To quickly summarize and list the benefits before I explain them in more detail…
Correct/reduce imbalances that could lead to injury.
Improve your proprioception and mind-body connection.
Ever only feel one side really get sore from your workouts?
Maybe you always feel your dominant side taking over during bilateral moves (aka moves like the squat and such where both sides are working together)?
Or maybe you’ve had injuries on one side that just keep flaring up? And you can’t seem to get that side to feel like it is working the right way.
Whether you’ve experienced one, or even all of these, you need to use Unilateral Moves in your training.
Unilateral moves force each side to work independently, which is why it can help correct imbalances. When you work each side independently, your stronger, dominant side can’t compensate and take over.
With bilateral moves, we can compensate. We can rely on our dominant side. We can recruit muscles that really aren’t meant to handle the load. This creates imbalances and compensations which can lead to injury.
Injuries can cause muscles on one side of your body to shut off, which can lead to further compensations, imbalances and injuries. And not properly strengthening your weaker side, or underactive muscles, can lead to aches and pains on both the same side of your body or even the OPPOSITE side.
With unilateral moves, you prevent your dominant side from taking over and you can correct those imbalances that can lead to overuse and injury.
You force each side to work equally and you can really focus on even doing EXTRA on that weaker side to help correct the deficit! You can “close the gap” between both sides by focusing on your weak areas and forcing that weaker side to do what your stronger side can.
I often tell clients to do the reps on their weaker side first so they know what they can do and they do the same on that stronger side. You may fear this will “hold your stronger side back,” but instead it makes sure you don’t perpetuate the imbalance. Heck, in this case, if you’re going to do more reps on one side, you should do more on your weaker side.
You can also correct the imbalance by using the same weight and reps you can on that dominant side on that weaker side even if you have to “pause” at a point in the reps. (Keep that pause short and your body won’t necessarily process it as rest!)
So you can use these unilateral moves to strengthen that weak side and stop perpetuating the imbalances.
But on top of that you can improve your balance, core stability and mind-body connection throughout your body by using these moves.
Standing on one foot, or loading down one side or rowing with one arm adds in an element of instability, which challenges your core. And when you stand on one foot, you definitely work all of those stabilizers muscles that will improve your balance.
Unilateral moves can build functional strength for those times we are off balance or reaching and not necessarily centered or lifting with both sides. You can work on your rotational strength, so your ability to rotate and control the rotation (aka not hurt your back) as well as your ANTI-rotational strength aka your ability to RESIST forces acting on you that could otherwise cause you to turn or twist in a weird way!
So whether you want to prevent injury, look better or get stronger so you can lift more or run faster, you need to include unilateral moves.
Yes, RUNNERS unilateral strength training is key for you especially if you want to strengthen your gait to run faster and more efficiently AND prevent injuries!
If you’re now sold on unilateral training, try these moves!
10 Of My Favorite Unilateral Moves
Single Leg Deadlift – A must-do move whether you want to correct imbalances, strengthen your core, improve your balance or just simple get a strong backside is the Single Leg Deadlift.
To do the Bodyweight Single Leg Deadlift, stand up nice and tall, balancing on your right leg with your knee slightly bent and your left toe lightly touching the ground. Your arms should be hanging down by your sides.
Then lift your left leg back toward the wall behind you as you hinge over, keeping your back flat. As you hinge over, extend your arms down toward the ground. Make sure to sit your butt back as you hinge over and not simply lean forward.
Do not reach your arms toward the ground and let your back round. It doesn’t matter if you touch the ground, just extend your arms down toward it as far as you can without rounding or “squatting.” Your standing knee should be soft but isn’t going to bend extra as you hinge over.
Hinge over as far as you can with good form and then drive through that standing heel to come back up to standing. Feel your glutes work to bring you up nice and tall. Squeeze your glutes at the top and repeat, hinging back over on the same leg.
Single Arm Anti-Rotational Row – Improve your posture, pull ups and anti-rotational core strength as you strengthen your back without your stronger side taking over!
To do the Anti-Rotational Single-Arm Inverted Row, grab one handle of a suspension trainer in one hand and place the other hand across your chest. You can also reach the free arm up as if holding a strap if that will help remind you to keep your shoulders square. Set up with your body in a nice straight line, squeezing your quads, glutes and core and pressing your chest out. Make sure to relax your shoulder down and back and not shrug up.
Walk your feet forward to an appropriate incline. The closer to parallel you are to the ground, the harder the move will be. Make sure that you choose an incline that allows you to row with proper form and feel your back working. You do not want your shoulder to shrug.
Square up your body and then row up. Do not let the side not holding the strap rotate toward the strap as you row up or the shoulder of the arm not holding a strap to drop open. You want to row up as if you are pulling with both arms. That means your body shouldn’t close toward the strap or your shoulder shouldn’t open toward the ground.
Drive your elbow down and back as you row up and row your chest all the way up to the handle. Do not shrug your shoulder as you row. Then lower back down. Do not let your back round or your body open up toward the ground as you lower. Repeat rowing back up, making sure that you don’t bounce off the bottom or rotate as you repeat.
Single Arm Plank Rotation With Knee – Talk about a move to build functional core strength and shoulder stability! This unilateral move will challenge your core stability for sure!
To do the Single Arm Plank Rotation With Knee, set up in a side plank position from your hand with your bottom leg in back of your top leg.
Then lift that back leg as if kicking it back and up toward the ceiling slightly. Reach your top hand out in front of you and overhead. Your chest will rotate toward the ground as you lift up into this side plank position with your opposite arm and leg raised.
Rotate your chest back open as you tuck your raised leg under and forward, driving your knee forward as you tuck your raised arm down to meet it. Try to touch your knee to your elbow as you rotate your chest back open and away from the ground.
After slowly tucking the knee to the elbow and feeling yourself pivot around that shoulder then kick the leg back out and reach back out and overhead with your hand. The muscles around your rib cage should really be working.
Move slowly to stay balanced and try to keep your hand on the ground under your shoulder. Beginners can tap the toe down behind them or even just do the knee tuck without the kick out.
Cossacks Squat – Not all unilateral moves have to mean you are COMPLETELY balanced on one side. Lunges and moves like the Cossacks Squat reduce the balance and instability while still getting each side to work on it’s own. And while they may “reduce” the balance element, they are still more unstable than equal bilateral moves. AKA they are a great way to work up even to full unilateral moves!
And the Cossacks specifically will really help you improve your mobility!
To do the Cossack Squat, stand with your feet nice and wide apart as if you are going to do a Side Lunge (feet will be wider than shoulder-width). Shift your weight to one side, bending that knee and sinking down into a side lunge as you rotate the toe of your straight leg up toward the ceiling.
Sink as low to the side as you can, dropping your butt down to the ground while keeping your heel on the ground. You will feel like you are sinking into a deep squat on one side as your other legs stays out straight with the toe up.
Then push back up out of the squat and come to standing tall with your legs straight and feet still wide apart. Then shift to a squat on the other side, sitting down as low as you can while keeping your heels down.
Beginners may not be able to sink as low in the squat. Do not try to sink lower by squatting down and letting your heel come up. Sink only as low as you can while keeping your heels down.
Advanced exercisers can hold a weight goblet style.
Step Down – The Step Down is a great way to strengthen each glute and leg individually and improve your balance. And unlike the Step Up, you can’t cheat and allow your other leg to assist in the movement. Plus, you can improve your mobility as you strengthen through a full range of motion.
To do the Step Down, start standing on a bench or box. Stand close to the edge so that you can step off of it to the side with one foot. The higher the box you use, the bigger the range of motion you can do. You can also decrease the range of motion if you aren’t yet strong enough by using a lower box or by not sinking all the way down. You do not want to go too low and end up setting your foot down on the ground so that you can push off.
Standing near the edge of the bench with your other foot right on the side or hanging off, slowly hinge forward sitting your butt back as you drop the foot on the side down toward the ground. Keeping your back flat, push your butt back as you bend your standing knee to drop your foot toward the ground.
If you can, lightly touch the toe of the foot to the ground, but make sure you do not drop it all the way down so that you can push off of it. Sink as low as you can then drive right back up to standing. Make sure you are only driving through your standing heel and not using your left foot on the ground.
Do not rock forward as you come back up to standing. Really use your glute and drive through your heel. Stand back up nice and tall and squeeze your glute at the top.
Then repeat, sinking back down.
Go as low as you can and complete all reps on one side before switching.
Split Squat – When we think lunges, we think about stepping forward or backward…or maybe even sideways. And these are all great unilateral variations. But if you want to train the most basic lunge movement, you need to start with the Split Squat.
This is a great move to strengthen your legs and core to help you run faster and squat more. It is also a great way to build toward the Balance Lunge without as much instability. Plus, you can improve your strength through a full range of motion as you get up from a half kneeling position on the ground!
To do the Split Squat, step one foot forward into a wide lunge stance. Keeping your chest up nice and tall, stand with your front foot flat on the ground and the heel of your back foot up so that you are on the ball of your back foot.
Then drop your back knee down toward the ground. Do not go forward as you drop your back knee down. Really sit back in your front heel, while keeping your foot flat on the ground, as you bend your front knee and drop your back knee down. You can touch your knee to the ground if you have the strength and mobility. Your weight should be centered as you lower down to the bottom of the Split Squat. To make the move more challenging, touch your knee down and pause so that you have to drive up from a dead stop.
Then drive back up to standing, keeping your weight centered. Drive through your front foot and the ball of your back foot. Feel your quads and your front glute really working to bring you back up to standing. Do not lean or round forward as you lift back up. Come back up and then repeat the move on the same side. Really focus on keeping your weight centered as you lift and lower.
Plank Shoulder Taps – This is one of my favorite plank variations because it is a great anti-rotational core move that also builds shoulder stability. Having to fight your body wanting to rotate as you slowly move from hand to hand will make your core work!
To do the Plank Shoulder Taps, set up in a high plank position from your hands and toes (advanced) or hands and knees (beginner). Place your hands under your shoulders and closer together while your feet or knees should be wider apart to provide a more stable base. Bring your feet or knees together as the move becomes easier to make it harder on your core to stabilize. By having your hands closer together and more centered under your chest, you will also provide yourself with a more stable base. It is very important that you remain stable with this move or you can stress your shoulder.
Then, bracing your abs and engaging your glutes so that your body is in a nice straight line, lift one hand up off the ground, moving it slowly to touch the opposite shoulder. Keep your hips square to the ground and do not rotate as you lift your hand to touch your shoulder.
Do not let your butt go up in the air or your hips sag toward the ground. Touch your opposite shoulder then slowly place your hand back down on the ground. You want to move at a very controlled pace. Lift the other hand and tap your other shoulder. Do not rotate as you lift. Try to keep your body still and simply lift the hand to touch the opposite shoulder.
Fire Hydrant – Especially if you’ve had any injuries, you need to include unilateral isolation/activation moves to help correct those imbalances and get the underactive muscles working. That is why Fire Hydrants are key. They will help activate the glutes to build hip stability so you can run faster and lift more. This move is key to get the glute medius working so that you can also prevent hip, low back and even knee pain.
To do Fire Hydrants, start on your hands and knees with your hands under your shoulders and your knees under your hips. Flex your feet. Keeping your arms straight and your feet flexed, raise your right leg out to the side with the knee bent to 90 degrees.
As you raise your leg out to the side, you want to keep your ankle in line with your knee and not let your foot get above your knee or your knee go up above your foot. You want to try to raise your lower leg parallel to the ground when you lift your leg out to the side.
You should feel the outside of your hip and glute working to lift the leg to the side. Don’t simply lean away to get your leg up higher. Keep your core tight and lift from the hip using your glute. Hold at the top then lower back down.
Make sure to hold for 1-2 seconds. Do not rush through the lift or simply swing the leg up. Make sure you do not bend your arms to get your leg up higher. Squeeze your butt and make sure you feel it activate.
Range of motion isn’t important as long as you feel your glute working. You may even feel this in the leg you are kneeling on because your glute is working to stabilize. Complete all reps on one side before switching.
Glute Bridge with Rocks – Unilateral moves are a great way to correct imbalances, but they can also be a great way to progress exercises instead of adding weight. HOWEVER, sometimes those unilateral moves are TOO challenging so we can’t do them correctly and end up compensating still.
That is why having moves that isolate each side WITHOUT putting the full strain on one side at a time can be key…just like with lunges and such. The Glute Bridge with Rocks is another great move that, while still bilateral, allows you to get in some unilateral activation. It is the perfect way to regress the Single Leg Glute Bridge, but also just a great variation on its own!
To do the Glute Bridge With Rock, set up like you are going to do the Basic Glute Bridge. Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the ground. Your feet should be about hip-width apart and your knees should be in line with your feet and hips.
Bend your arms to 90 degrees and then drive through your arms, upper back and heels to bridge up. Squeeze your glutes and brace your abs to bridge up.
Then slightly release the contraction in one glute and rock to bridge one hip up slightly higher. Really focus on contracting that glute.
Release that side and rock your other hip slightly up to contract that glute harder. Keep your abs braced as you rock slightly and alternate contracting each glute a little bit extra at the top of the bridge.
Do not let your low back take over as you hold at the top and work to contract each glute a little bit extra. Also, do not let your hips sag down toward the ground.
Stability Press – The Stability Press is a great anti-rotational core move that really works your obliques and glutes. It is a great move to help prevent low back and hip pain, especially if you find you have pain only on one side!
To do the Stability Press, you can use a resistance band or cable. Hold a handle in both hands and turn to the side so you are sideways to the anchor point and step away from the anchor point so that there is tension in the band. You want to make sure there is tension or the move won’t be challenging. Stand with your feet no more than shoulder-width apart. The closer your feet are together, the harder the move will be. Choose a stance though that challenges you while allowing you to maintain good form and not lean away.
Bring your hands into the center of your chest and squeeze your glutes while you brace your abs. Standing up nice and tall with your chest pressed out, slowly push the band straight out from the center of your chest until your arms are straight out.
It should be a struggle to press the arms straight out because the band is trying to rotate you back toward the anchor point. Your core should have to work to stabilize and press straight out from your chest. Do not let your arms rotate open and go back toward the anchor. Maintain a nice tall posture with your shoulder blades drawn down and back and your core engaged. Make sure you also don’t lean away.
Then slowly bring your arms back in and repeat. Move slowly to really have to fight the band. If you move too quickly, you won’t get as much out of the move and you’ll probably get sloppy and let yourself rotate toward the anchor point or even shift open and push away. If you allow your stance to rotate open or if you lean away, it will make the movement easier and won’t force that inside side (the side closest to the anchor point) to really work to stabilize.
Start training unilaterally with the moves above or even some more fun variations in the video below!
Often I get asked, “Is it better to do strength or cardio training? How many days of each should I do?”
But workouts aren’t necessarily only one or the other. Strength workouts can have cardio elements and cardio workouts can have strength elements.
Yes, you can focus purely on one or the other, but there is a huge gray area in the middle where your workouts can be a little of both.
Where you can build strength as you improve your conditioning!
That is why I love workouts that use weights BUT also get your blood pumping with full-body movements and very limited, if any, rest intervals.
That is why I love the 7s workout below!
The lower reps in this workout allow you to use heavier weights, which, combined with limited rest and full-body exercises, really gets you breathing hard and your blood pumping!
So if you’re ready for a workout that is both strength and cardio, try the 7s Blast below!
The 7s Strength-Cardio Blast
You will complete 7 rounds of 7 reps of each of the 7 move below. Choose weights that challenge you and barely allow you to complete the 7 reps. Better to have to rest or put down the weight briefly toward the end than to be able to easily complete the 7 reps in a row just to get done faster. Time how long the workout takes you and try to beat that time next time. It is a combination of trying to rest as little as possible while also choosing weights that really challenge you!
Record your weights and times to try to beat next time! It is great to include this workout in your routine for 3 weeks straight so you can see improvement before switching things up!
For more about each move and modifications, check out the exercise descriptions below!
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Goblet Squats – To do the Goblet Squat with a kettlebell, take one kettlebell and turn it upside down, holding it on the bell. Set your feet between hip-width and shoulder-width apart. Keeping the kettlebell in at your chest, draw your belly button in toward your spine and sit your butt back. Squat down and keep your chest up and don’t let your back round forward. Sink your butt down as low as you can, keeping your heels on the ground. Try to touch your elbows to your knees, but not at the expense of really leaning forward or rounding over. Then, driving through your heels, come back to standing. Do not lean or rock forward as you stand up. Come all the way up and squeeze your glutes at the top then sink back down. If you don’t have a kettlebell, you can sub in a dumbbell. You can also do a Barbell Front Squat if preferred.
Pull Ups – To do a Basic Pull Up, stand with a pull up bar overhead and in front of you. Grab the bar with your palms facing away and about shoulder-width apart. Hang from the bar with your body hanging straight down. Press your chest out and even lean back ever so slightly. Then pull your chin up above the bar, leading with your chest. Drive your elbows down as you lead with your chest. Once you get your chin above the bar, lower back down, fully extending your arms. Try not to swing a ton or kick. Repeat, pulling yourself back up to the bar, leading with your chest. Beginners can do foot-assisted pull ups, jumping pull ups or, if needed, Inverted Rows. Do not sub in lat pull down because it won’t get your core working the same as the others will.
Kettlebell Swings – To do the Kettlebell Swing, set the kettlebell (or bell) down on the ground and slightly in front of you in between your feet. Hinge over, bending your knees slightly and pushing your butt back as you lean forward. Keep your back flat and then reach your arms out and place both hands on the handle, tilting the bell back toward you. Hike the kettlebell back between your legs like you would a football. Pull it back and up between your legs toward your butt. To power the bell out, forward and up, squeeze your glutes and drive your hips forward as you stand up nice and tall. Pop your hips forward and propel the kettlebell up off your hips. Do not worry about how high the bell goes. Squeeze your glutes as you stand tall. Then wait to hinge back over as the bell comes back down. Your forearms need to connect with your hips before you hinge back over and bring the bell back down and through your legs. Do not lean forward and hinge over before the kettlebell comes back down. You want to hinge in response to the kettlebell not before. And you do not want to turn it into a squat. You want to hinge at the hips and push your butt back and soften your knees. Then squeeze your glutes again and thrust the kettlebell back up as you come back up to standing. You can also use a dumbbell or even sub in a band hinge instead.
Burpees – To do the Basic Burpee, start standing with your feet together. Then bend over and place your hands on the ground as you jump your feet back into a high plank or top of a push up position. From that high plank position, perform a push up, dropping your chest down to the ground. Then push back up to the plank position and jump your feet into your hands. Come back to standing and jump up off the ground before repeating the movement. If you can’t perform a full push up, you may drop to your knees for the push up or stick with the Beginner variation. If you want to get more of a cardio workout, you will want to keep the movement quick so skip the push up if you can’t do a full one. If you want more of an upper body workout while still getting your blood pumping, put in the push up even if you have to do it from your knees and it slows you down. Beginners can put their hands to a bench instead of going all the way down to the ground. They can also take out the push up or do the push up from their knees.
Knees to Elbows – To do the Hanging Knees To Elbows, hang from the bar with your palms facing away. Then pull down on the bar and draw your shoulder blades down and back as you tuck your knees up toward your elbows. You should really feel your lats engage as you bring your knees up toward your elbows. Then slowly lower your legs back down. Beginners may not be able to raise their knees all the way up to their elbows and that is ok to start. Just focus on engaging the lats!
Wall Ball – To do Wall Ball, hold a med ball in both hands at your chest and stand with your feet about hip-width to shoulder-width apart. You can stand facing a way to throw up at or you can simply throw up toward the ceiling.
Then squat down with the ball at your chest. As you explode up out of the squat, press the ball from your chest throwing it as high up as you can. It is ok to explode out of the squat and jump as you throw the ball from your chest up as high as possible. Make sure that as you throw you extend your body and your arms up toward the ball. Then catch the ball either straight off the throw or after a bounce on the ground and sink right back into the squat and repeat. Do not round forward as you sink into the squat while holding the ball at your chest. This also doesn’t have to be a squat where you sink your butt all the way to the ground, but you do want to make sure to sit your butt back and down. Throw the ball as high as you can. Add weight if you can easily throw it super high or as high as your space allows!
Sit Ups –To do the Full Sit Up, you can do a variation where you reach up overhead as you sit up or you can reach toward your toes. Reaching toward your toes can help if you struggle to roll up and keep your abs engaged and working. To do the Full Sit Up (with a reach toward the toes), lie back on the ground with your legs out straight and your arms overhead. You can also reach your arms up toward the ceiling if you want to limit the assistance you get from “swinging” your arms. Then roll to sit up, first lifting your shoulder blades then the rest of your spine and finally your low back. As you “roll” up, reach your hands forward and toward your feet. Then lie back down, reaching your arms back overhead. Repeat, sitting back up. If you struggle to sit up, you can hold light weights in your hands. The weights actually can make it easier.
We are each starting our fitness journey at a different point with different experiences and different abilities.
That is why it is important to understand how to modify exercises and workouts to fit our needs.
Heck even if you’ve been exercising for awhile, you may find at points you need to modify due to injury or even simply because you took some time off.
For that reason, I want to go over some basic tips to help you modify moves and workouts as well as a few modified variations of moves you may often see in workouts!
(Please note, this is a very long article. If you want regressions to 5 Basic Moves click the linked text above. If you want the tips, just scroll down)
3 Tips To Help You Get Into A Workout Routine (or BACK into one!)
Often when we begin a new workout program, we are extra super motivated. But we are also extra super deconditioned. Whether we’ve been out with an injury or…well…life has just gotten in the way, we often come back to a workout routine nowhere near where we’d like to be.
And sometimes we even have expectations of where we should be that cause us to push way too hard, way too fast and do way too much!
When you go from zero to 60 right away (aka you get super excited and go all out even trying to be right back where you feel like you should be), you not only risk injury, but chances are, you’ll also make yourself so sore you can’t workout consistently, which may make it hard for you to get in a routine.
Because part of getting started is not only taking it slow to avoid injury but also about getting in a routine. It’s hard to get in a routine if the first days you just destroy yourself.
Start slowly.
I even like to tell my clients coming back…Start as if you sort of aim not to be sore for the first week. Trust me…Most of the time, you’ll still get super sore, BUT it will be more tolerable if you pushed as hard as humanly possible.
Less is more. It allows you to keep going. To rebuild SMARTLY AND to set yourself up with goals that keep you on track.
Getting so sore you can’t move, can make it hard to go back into the gym the next day if you set your goal to go to the gym 5 times a week for an hour each time.
Also, trying to go from never working out, or working out in a very limited way, to doing as much as you’d ideally want to do, isn’t an easy transition.
Sometimes you have to find a happy middle ground. Say ideally you’d want 5 times a week for 1 hour a day. What about starting with 3 times a week, 30 minutes a day?
Seems way easier mentally, right?
It’s a much smaller commitment to start, making it an EASIER commitment to start.
And when something is more easily attainable, we stick with it and even EXCEED our own expectations. And not only hitting our goal, but sometimes exceeding it, can create the momentum we need to not only continue, but fully commit.
Reaching a goal is motivational. On the flip side, giving ourselves too much and expecting too much to start (even if we “should” be able to do it, especially eventually) can actually prevent us from developing a routine.
You want to almost underwhelm vs. overwhelm yourself and your body to start so you can develop a routine.
LESS IS MORE.
Start slow so you can rebuild your body stronger. Start slow so you can get in a routine. Start slow so you can get consistent and see results.
Less is more means starting with a schedule you know without doubt you can commit to and workouts that are shorter and lower in intensity.
Less is more in a way summarizes even Tip #2 and #3 below!
Tip #2: Regress to Progress
As I mentioned already, often we come in with expectations of where we should be and what moves we should be able to do. But jumping right back into those variations can lead to injury. And often if we are just beginning, we can’t properly perform moves, which can lead to us becoming discouraged or even injured.
So we need to remember to REGRESS TO PROGRESS to start.
Just because you can lift a weight or do a move DOESN’T mean you are A. doing it well or B. using the right muscles.
That is why it is key to sometimes make a move even easier to start to make sure you are doing it correctly, ESPECIALLY as you fatigue. And rebuilding slowly with regressed moves and weights allows not only our muscles to adapt, but also our connective tissues, which can easily get overloaded if not prepped correctly AND take way longer to heal!
Plus, whether you’ve never worked out before OR have been out with injury, especially injury, your mind-body connection probably isn’t as good as you would hope it was.
What does that mean?
It means that because of poor movement patterns, either due to sitting too much and a lack of activity OR even injury, we don’t necessarily recruit the right muscles to perform the exercises.
Our bodies take the path of least resistance, meaning we recruit the muscles we have the best mind-body connection with instead of necessarily the big muscles that SHOULD be handling the load.
So when you jump into working out, even if you can perform an advanced variation, you are probably more focused on “getting the move done” than on the right muscles working. Because of this, you could end up with an injury (or maybe even another injury seemingly unrelated to your previous one).
So you need to regress so you can focus on the right muscles working and slowly progress to keep the right things working. If you just go through the motions of a harder move, you WON’T get more out of your workouts. You’ll only really perpetuate imbalances and compensations, which can lead to injury.
DON’T JUST GO THROUGH THE MOTIONS! Work out SMARTER.
Regress to progress so you can establish a mind-body connection that allows you to use the right muscles for the movements. You’ll end up stronger!
Tip #3: Build the FOUNDATION
This really overlaps with regressing to progress in that you need to restore a proper mind-body connection and regress moves as necessary to get the right muscles working.
However, it isn’t just about regressing moves, but also about using activation, foam rolling and stretching exercises to make sure that you are mobile and strong through that full range of motion.
Compound moves are KEY to building full-body, functional strength. We don’t really live every day life doing isolation exercises. That is why it is key to regress compound moves so we can do them correctly.
HOWEVER, the more muscles working and the more joints involved in a movement, the harder it can be to focus on the muscles working instead of just doing the movement.
That is why isolation moves used as ACTIVATION are key to make sure the right muscles are working and rebuild that mind-body connection and reverse the imbalances and compensations we’ve created.
Movements that isolate and activate the glutes, abs and back are super key as we spend way too much time in forward flexion. AND activating these three muscle groups means we’ll open up tight hips, prevent our low backs from overworking and mobilize our shoulder blades, which will go a long way in PREVENTING most injuries from occurring.
Rebuilding your foundation happens by including Foam Rolling, Stretching and Activation BEFORE your workout to get your body working correctly. Loosen tight muscles, mobilize your joints then get the right muscles working through the full range of motion.
Then add weight and intensity to get your blood pumping and build strength!
But if your foundation is weak, if you can’t engage the right muscles and if your mind-body connection isn’t there, you’re not going to reach your goals near as quickly OR you may even end up injured and worse off than where you started.
For more activation exercises, foam rolling moves and stretches to help you rebuild your foundation:
Want guidance and coaching to help you dial in your workouts AND your diet to match your needs and goals? Schedule a call with Redefining Strength to chat about program options!
5 Basic Moves And How To Modify Them For Your Needs
Almost every move out there can be modified to fit your fitness level. Yes…Sometimes a move isn’t “right” for you, but often simple swaps can make you able to still get benefit from a movement!
Below I want to review 5 moves you see in many programs and how you can modify, and even progress them, to fit your needs.
The Burpee – It’s a horribly wonderful move that truly is a full-body workout in one movement. It is also a ridiculous hard movement. It requires not only strength, but a good aerobic base AND even more mobility than we realize to get down and up.
Often to modify the burpee, we simply take out the push up.
Maybe we go one step further even and step back instead of jumping back into the high plank position.
But guess what?
Sometimes that isn’t enough.
What if you CAN’T get all the way down to the ground?
How about putting a box or bench in front of you and instead of putting your hands on the ground to move into plank, you put your hands on the bench?
Sounds more doable, right?
There is always a way to regress a movement to fit your needs. And as you get stronger and more mobile, you can slowly lower the incline until you can get your hands all the way down to the ground.
Then you can start by stepping back as you move to the ground. And then start jumping back instead of stepping back into plank on the ground.
Then maybe you add in a push up from your knees.
And then finally? Well finally maybe you’re doing the full burpee and even some fun variations!
Another “modification” I use for the burpee at points is the Spiderman Mountain Climber OR even Half Burpee. I like both of these moves because they take out the down-up part of the burpee while still being more cardio. And both can work on the mobility that is really required to get down and up from the plank position in the burpee.
For the Spiderman Mountain Climber, you can advance and regress as necessary too. The variation I usually use to modify the burpee is the Modified Spiderman Mountain Climber.
To do the Spiderman Mountain Climber, start in the high plank position from your hands and feet.
Keeping your core engaged, step one foot up and outside your hand into a nice low spiderman or runner’s lunge. Try not to let your butt go way up in the air as you step your foot outside. You also want to work to get your foot up as close outside your hands as possible. This will help improve your mobility. If you can’t step all the way up, you can readjust to get it as close as possible.
Beginners will then quickly step back into plank and then step the other foot forward into a lunge on the other side. They will move as quickly as possible, stepping their foot all the way outside their hand or as close as possible, working to get a little further each time.
More advanced exercisers will jump from lunge to lunge. The faster you jump between lunges and the less you pause on each side, the harder the move will be. Still try to keep your butt down and make sure to land in a lunge with your foot outside your hand each time.
Another great way to modify the burpee and improve mobility while getting your blood pumping is the Half Burpee. With this move, you can keep in the push up to add in the upper body work of a burpee or take it out to modify. This is a great way to remove the down-up from the burpee too without losing the benefit of the move!
To do the Half Burpee, set up in the high plank position with your hands under your shoulders and your feet about shoulder-width apart. Then jump both feet up and outside your hands so your in a squat position or frog position. Try to really jump all the way outside your hands.
Quickly jump back into plank. Try not to let your butt go way up in the air as you jump from the squat back to plank and from the plank into a squat. Back in the plank position perform a push up. Beginners may go down to their knees to maintain proper form during the push up OR simply take the push up out altogether.
Then after returning to plank, move quickly, jumping into the squat position and back out into plank before doing another push up. Do not let your hips sag or your butt go up in the air in the plank/push up position.
Beginners can also even step one foot at a time up to move into the squat position instead of jumping.
Squat:
The Squat is a great compound lower body exercise to work your quads, hamstrings and glutes. However, often people avoid the squat because they are worried about injuring their knees.
And yes…with certain injuries, squats aren’t a move you should be doing. The problem is, far too many people avoid squats thinking they’ll cause injury when they won’t.
A huge reason most people think they’ll hurt their knees with squats is because they don’t know how to squat properly. It may be due to the fact they’ve never learned proper form or it may be because they have mobility issues and their glutes are underactive.
That is why it is important to know how to regress squats so you can do them properly and build up without injury.
One of the best ways to learn how to do the basic bodyweight squat is using a bench. The Bench Squat is a great way to teach you how to load things properly while giving you the security to perform the movement because you have something you are sitting down to. And let’s face it…This is why a squat is important. You should be able to sit down to a chair or a toilet no matter your age!
Even if you lack a bit of core stability or mobility, the Bench Squat gives you a way to squat without risking injury as you work to improve your mobility and activate the right muscles.
To do the Bench Squat, you will want to pick a box or bench that let’s you squat to at least parallel to the ground. Beginners can start with a higher box and work down to even below parallel. Sometimes even when coming back from knee injury, a limited range of motion squat is a great option.
Stand in front of the box or bench and face away. It can also be helpful if you are nervous to start seated on the box to set up and then stand up. Set up with your feet about hip-width to shoulder-width apart. Then squat down to the box as if sitting back. You want to make sure you are sitting your butt back and down to the box. Do not lean forward too much and hinge at the hips.
Also, do not come forward onto the balls of your feet. Sit back with our chest up. Sit all the way down on the bench or box then drive back up to standing tall. Try not to rock forward or lean forward as you come up, but think about driving through your entire foot on the ground. Make sure your heels stay down at all times.
Come back up to standing and then repeat. Do not plop onto the bench. Control your decent and then quickly stand back up.
The lower the box or bench, the harder the move and the bigger the range of motion you are strengthening through!
After you feel comfortable squatting to a box about parallel to the ground, you can begin to not actually relax and fully sit on the box, but instead just hover right above it. And from there you can move into a full bodyweight squat.
If you’re still struggling to feel comfortable with the full bodyweight squat and lack the core stability and even mobility to squat without the bench, you can also try a Counterbalanced Squat.
You can do a Counterbalanced Squat in a number of ways. You can hold onto a pole or suspension trainer to help you remain stabile and work through a full range of motion. However, you do want to make sure you don’t turn it into an upper body exercise.
Holding the trainer or pole can help if you lack a bit of core stability. And the assistance can often help you get a bit lower in that squat as you work on your strength and mobility.
Or you can even press a weight out at shoulder height. Holding a weight out with your arms extended can help you brace your core and perform a fuller range of motion.
To do the weight Counterbalanced Squat, hold a dumbbell or sandbag in both hands at chest height. Stand with your feet about hip-width to shoulder-width apart. Then, as you sit your butt back and squat down, press the weight out at chest height. You want a weight that is light enough you can press out without shrugging your shoulders, but enough to help you sit down and back while keeping your chest up.
Sink as low as you can with good form, making sure to sit into your heels instead of rocking forward onto the balls of your feet. Then drive back up to standing and, as you do, you can bring the weight back into your chest. You can also hold the weight out the entire time, but often the press out and then pull back in can help you to sink down and stand back up with proper form.
Another way to modify the squat, and even tell if a lack of ankle mobility may be contributing to your inability to get lower or even load your glutes correctly, is to try a Heels Up Squat.
To do the Heels Up Squat, you can use plate weights or a small block, but you want something an inch or two high to place your heels up on as the balls of your feet and toes rest on the ground. With your heels up on the weights and your feet about hip-width to shoulder-width apart, squat down. Sit back into your heels on the plates, but do not let your toes come up. Keep your chest up as you sit down.
Then drive back up through your heels to come to standing. Do not rock forward as you stand back up. Squeeze your glutes at the top and repeat the squat. If you find you can get lower with ease, you may want to start working on your ankle mobility a bit more.
Band Mini Squats can be another great way to help activate the glutes as you squat. The band right below or above your knees can help get your glute medius and minimus especially engaged and working as you squat. If you’ve suffered from knee valgus or your knees caving in as you squat, this is a great way to train a proper position.
To do a Mini Band Squat, place a band just above or below your knees and stand with your feet between hip-width and shoulder-width apart. Your feet should be parallel. Putting the band below your knees makes the move harder while putting the band above your kenes can make it easier to activate your glutes.
Then sit down until your thighs are parallel to the ground. You can go lower if you are able to maintain proper form. Do not let your knees collapse in as you squat down and keep your chest up. You want to make sure you are pressing out against the band.
Then drive back up to standing, pushing through your heels. Do not rock forward onto the balls of your feet. Your knees shouldn’t cave in as you stand back up. This move is a great way to make sure your glutes are engaged while doing a squat. Beginners may want to perform the squat with band down to a chair or bench to help remind them to sit back as they squat.
To progress the basic squat, you can add weight or even change up the tempo. Changing up the tempo can mean slowing down the movement or even making it into a quick squat jump. Or you can even make it a unilateral move and do a Single Leg Squat variation!
If you can’t do a jump squat, remember you can always just do a quicker bodyweight squat without leaving the ground or you can even do a squat to calf raise. The Squat to Calf Raise is a great way to mimic coming off the ground and work to improve your triple extension (aka extension of your hips, knees and ankles) without actually leaving the ground. It will also get your blood pumping.
For even more squat variations, check out the post and video below!
Push ups are a great upper body and core exercise. But a full push up is by no means an easy move to do…and do PROPERLY.
It not only requires, chest, shoulder and tricep strength but also a great deal of core strength. It’s basically a moving plank!
Too often when people try to advance the push up, they end up doing the worm, or their head is forward as if they’re smelling the ground or their elbows flare way up by their head. All of these things can results in not only injury, but you not really getting the full benefit out of the movement that you should.
And who wants to waste time doing a move that doesn’t really benefit them!?
The problem is, when we go to modify the push up, we all too often just turn to Knee Push Ups. And while those can be a great way to modify the full push up, they don’t force you to engage your core the same way you would during a full push up AND they can often still be too advanced and cause you to compensate.
That is why the Incline Push Up is such a great way to modify. It allows you to choose an incline that allows you to perform the movement with perfect form AND forces you to engage your core in the same way you’ll have to with a full push up. As you get stronger, you will simply lower the incline until you reach the ground.
To do an Incline Push Up, find an incline that allows you to perform push ups with perfect form. It may have to be higher to start, but you can use anything really – a wall, bench, shelf or bar at an appropriate height that allows you to drop your chest all the way down while maintaining perfect form. A smith machine even at a gym can be a great adjustable incline.
With your hands on the incline, place your feet together and your hands right outside your chest. You may want to set up at the bottom of the push up so that you know your chest will hit the incline right at nipple height between your hands. By setting up at the bottom of the push up, you can ensure that your upper body will be in perfect alignment with your arms forming an arrow shape (->) with your body. You do not need to keep your arms right in by your sides; however, you don’t want your elbows to flare up above your shoulders or you will put more strain on your shoulders.
Drive back through your heels to engage your quads as you brace your core and keep your body in a nice straight line. If you press forward onto your toes, you are going to make your push ups weaker because your legs won’t be engaged to help keep your body in a nice straight line. Then press up from the bar, extending your arms out all the way and locking out at the top. Do not round your back at the top.
As you press up, make sure your body moves as one unit. Your head should be in line with your spine and your hips shouldn’t sag toward the ground or your butt shouldn’t go up in the air. Make sure your shoulders don’t shrug as you push up. You also don’t want your back to round at the top of the push up. Do not tuck your chin in toward your chest or let your head jut forward. Feel your back working and even the muscles around the sides of your ribs supporting your shoulders.
Then with your body moving as one unit, lower your chest back down to the bar. As you perform the movement, if your feet are together, you may even feel your inner thighs working to help keep everything tight and in a nice straight line. Even at the bottom of the push up, do not relax. Keep everything engaged so you can press right back up.
As the incline becomes easier, make it lower and lower. If your form starts to falter, do fewer reps from the lower incline or regress the incline and bring it back up.
As you work to lower the incline for your push ups, you can also add in some Eccentric Only Push Ups to help you learn to take on your own bodyweight while keeping your core engaged correctly through the push up movement.
These can be a great way to use a lower incline or even no incline at all even if you can’t still complete a full push up.
To do Eccentric Only Push Ups, set up in a high plank position with your hands outside your chest and your feet together. Your body should be in a nice straight line from your head to your heels. Brace your core, flex your quads and drive back through your heels. Feel your back even engage to support your shoulders. Then, keeping your body in a nice straight line, slowly begin to lower your body down to the ground. Lower as slowly as possible until you hit the ground. Make sure your chest hits first and that you don’t sag your hips or let your head go forward.
At the bottom release then sit back and simply reset in the high plank position. With the Eccentric Only, you are simply lowering down as slowly as possible and using that slow lower to learn how to maintain proper form and keep everything engaged even while you’re not yet able to do a full push up.
Another way to regress the push up, is by doing a Band Push Up. Like with the Incline Push Up, your body still has to engage and work as one unit, but you are reducing the amount of weight you have to move.
To do the Band Push Up, hook a band around two anchor points close to the ground. The lighter the band and the closer to the ground you put it, the less assistance you’ll get and the more it will only help at the bottom. The band should have tension on it when anchored and be parallel to the ground. Set up in a push up from the ground with the band about at the bottom of your ribs and your hands under your shoulders and body in a nice straight line to your feet. Your feet should be together.
Then lower down, dropping your chest to the ground or just an inch off and press back up. As you lower, the band will help you control the decent and maintain a nice straight line from your head to your heels since your arms won’t need to handle your full bodyweight yet.
Then once you lower down, press back up. Make sure to focus on engaging your core and performing the push up with proper form.
The cool part about the band is it can also be used later to add resistance to the push up. To do an Advanced Band Push Up, you’ll simply place the band under your hands but instead of in front of you, you’ll want to put it across your back. That way it will resist your push back up!
For even more tips to help you improve those push ups and strengthen your weak links, check out these 5 Tips To Improve Your Push Ups.
And if you’re ready to advance your push ups, try some of these fun 31 Push Up Variations! And beginners, some of these you can even use off an incline to keep things fun and interesting as you target different muscles!
Want guidance and coaching to help you dial in your workouts AND your diet to match your needs and goals? Schedule a call with Redefining Strength to chat about program options!
Have you had Pull Ups as one of your goals for awhile? Feel like you’ll just never get there no matter how much you work on them? Feel like all you ever do is get better at the assisted variations?
Well maybe it’s because you’re not doing the right assisted variations or using them in the right way!
If you just keep trying to do MORE REPS with assistance, instead of fewer reps with constantly harder and harder variations, you’ll simply become better at the assisted variation.
Plus, depending on the type of assistance you use, it may be causing you to not learn how to properly engage at different points in the pull ups.
While Band Pull Ups are a popular way to modify the pull up, they are not my favorite.
Why?
Because bands give the most assistance at the bottom and often start us at a point where we never have to learn how to engage our back properly at the bottom.
Ever feel like if you just started a little above a dead hang you could easily do a full pull up?
That’s because you haven’t been working to learn that initial engagement from a dead hang. You aren’t able to engage your back and go from just hanging to retracting and depressing your shoulder blades. And if you’ve been using bands, it’s because the band puts you in a position where you’re above that initial engagement point.
So because the band hinders you from learning that initial engagement, they aren’t my favorite way to modify. (Of course now knowing that, you can use them if that isn’t your problem OR even keep using them but also include Mini Pull Ups. Just always know why you are using certain moves and their upsides and downsides!)
Instead of doing Band Pull Ups, I like to use Foot-Assisted variations or even Jumping Pull Ups…and with both you can even use a controlled Eccentric to build even more strength!
The Foot-Assisted Pull Ups are a great way to control exactly how much assistance you give yourself and even adjust as you fatigue. Plus, you can provide consistent tension throughout the entire move.
To do Foot-Assisted Pull Ups, hang from the bar or trainer and place your feet flat on the ground in front of you or your toes right behind you. Either foot position works, just make sure you set up so you can pull straight up without arching your back or letting your hips come up and forward. You don’t want a huge arch in your body or to turn this into a row. You want a vertical pull.
As you hang at the bottom, you’ll want to move from a dead hang with your shoulder up by your ears to retracting your shoulder blades down and back as you press your chest up toward the bar. Leading with your chest, pull yourself up.
Use your feet only as much as needed to pull up. Your goal is to use your back and arms as much as possible. Pull your chin all the way above your hands and try to get your chest to your hands.
Then lower back down, fully extending your arms at the bottom, returning to the full dead hang. Feel your back working as you lead with your chest to pull up and lower down. You don’t want your upper traps or arms to be the only thing you feel.
To make the move harder, use your feet less or even just one one foot. You can also change up the tempo of this movement and do a very controlled slow lower down. By slowing down the eccentric portion aka the lower down, you will spend more time under tension, which can help you build more strength more quickly.
If you’re ready or maybe don’t have a bar at a height you can use your toes, you can also modify the pull up by doing a Jumping Pull Up with slow eccentric.
To do the Jumping Pull Up, set up under a bar that is high enough off the ground that you can hang from it, but low enough that you can use your legs to help get your chin up over the bar.
Hang from the bar with your feet flat on the ground. You can do this with either a chin up or pull up grip. Then jump, and at the same time, pull yourself up with your arms to get your chin up over the bar. Only use your legs as much as is needed to get your chin over the bar. Think about leading with your chest as you jump up.
At the top pause if possible and then slowly lower yourself back down, fully extending your arms at the bottom before you jump up again.
Try not to pause at the bottom or let go of the bar but quickly repeat the move, slowing down the lower down to take on your own bodyweight as long as possible. By slowing down the lower down, you’ll spend more time under tension AND take on your own bodyweight even though you’re not yet able to do a full pull up.
With both of these modified variations, it is best to do fewer reps with a more advanced variation. If you’re looking for that first full pull up, you don’t need to be doing 10 reps, but instead 1-3 reps with the hardest variation you can do!
Ok so say these are all well and good but you want to modify the pull up because you don’t have a bar to do them from and they are included in your program?
Two great exercises I will sometimes sub to modify the Pull Up are the Band Lat Pull Down and the Inverted Row.
Both of these can help you build back strength and work on your scapular mobility to improve your pull ups as well as your posture.
To do the Band Lat Pull Down, anchor the band up high and, holding a handle in each hand. Walk back away from the anchor point and set up in a lunge stance.
Lunge back while facing the anchor point and lean your chest over your front knee. Your back leg can be straight, but you want to make sure to lean forward so that you work your lats and are performing a movement that mimics a vertical pull.
Reach your hands up overhead. There should be tension in the band with your arms extended. If there isn’t, move back. Then pull the band down toward your shoulders, driving your elbows down and back. The movement should mimic you pulling yourself up to a bar for a pull up.
As you pull down, pinch your shoulder blades down and together. Focus on working your back muscles. You want to feel the sides of your back pulling the band down. Don’t just go through the motions. You want to consciously activate the big muscles of your back.
The slowly extend your arms back out and repeat. Each time you pull down, drive your elbows down and back.
Keep your core engaged the entire time and your back flat. Do not start to straighten up and turn this into a row instead of a pulldown.
You may also feel this move in your legs because you are holding a low lunge. You can do pulldowns with a few different grips. You can have your palms facing the ground (pull up grip), palms facing you (chin up grip) or palms facing each other (neutral grip).
Change the tempo or move back further from the anchor point to make the move more challenging. Just like with the pull ups, you can slow down the eccentric portion.
And while the Inverted Row is a horizontal pull, unlike the Band Lat Pull Down that mimics the vertical pull, it is a great move to supplement your pull up work and even modify the pull up to start.
To do the Basic Inverted Row, you can either use a Suspension Trainer or a Bar. Using a Suspension Trainer, hold a handle in each hand with your palms facing in. Walk your feet forward so that your body is at an incline. The closer to parallel to the ground you get, the harder the move will be.
Hang from the straps with your body in a nice straight line and your chest pressed out. Engage your core and glutes and keep your legs straight. You want a nice straight line from your head to your heels. Do not let your low back arch or your hips sag toward the ground.
Then drive your elbows down and back to row your chest up to the handles. Keep your body in a nice straight line as you row up and do not bounce off the bottom. Keep your wrists straight as you row up. Also, do not shrug your shoulders.
Then lower back down. Do not lose tension at the bottom. Make sure to keep the chest pressed out and your body in a nice straight line. Do not swing to row back up.
Make sure to feel your back and arms working to row and not just your arms. Focus on feeling your back pull.
As you build up your pull ups, you can even have some fun playing around with these 28 Pull Up Variations.
And for 3 keys to help you improve your pull ups, check out this Pull Up post as well!
Deadlift:
The Deadlift is a must-do compound exercise that trains the hip hinge movement and works your entire posterior chain aka your backside. But it is far from an easy move to do, especially with a barbell which is the most common variation we see done and taught.
The hip hinge is a fundamental movement but one that isn’t easy for many of us to do because we want to either turn it into a squat OR simply lean forward. It’s hard because all too many of us sit for way too many hours during the day and our hips become tight so our glutes don’t want to fire correctly and we instead want to squat or load our low backs instead of hinging properly at the hips.
That is why it is important to learn the hip hinge movement before moving on to the barbell deadlifts. No back injuries please!
A great way to modify and learn the hip hinge movement is with the Band Hinge or even the Kettlebell Deadlift.
The Band Hip Hinge teaches you to load your glutes and hinge at the hips properly without simply leaning over. It is also a great move to activate those glutes (and one even advanced exercisers should include).
It is such a key modification because it activates the glutes and trains you to “push the ground away” to power the hip extension. Too often when people go to deadlift, they think about simply picking the weight up, which can cause them to lose tension and end up lifting with their backs. Training to “push the ground away” helps you focus on using your legs to lift the weight up.
To do the Band Hip Hinge, anchor a band behind you and step into the band so it is below your hips. Walk away from the anchor point so that there is tension in the band and stand with your feet about hip-width to shoulder-width apart. The more the band tries to pull you back (aka the further out you walk), the harder the move will be.
Then hinge over, allowing the band to pull your butt back toward the anchor point. Make sure your knees are soft so that you can sit your butt back and load your glutes. You will need to have a slight bend to your knees to keep you from flying back with the band.
Then explosively drive your hips forward to come back up to standing tall. Think about driving through the ground to extend your hips as you squeeze your glutes at the top. You may lean slightly forward against the band, but you want to stand up tall and drive your hips forward against the band without arching your low back.
Stand up tall and squeeze your glutes then quickly hinge back over before repeating. This should be a quicker move and you should really focus on loading your glutes as you hinge over and then on quickly driving your hips into extension as you stand back up, squeezing your glutes hard at the top.
Also, make sure you don’t lock out your legs OR squat to much as you hinge over. Make sure there is tension in the band even as you hinge over. Think about this move almost as if you are going to leap forward.
Another great way to learn the deadlift is using a kettlebell. During the barbell deadlift, it is key you keep the bar right up against your body. If the bar drifts away, people will often load their low backs to lift.
BUT it can be awkward to basically “scrap the bar up your shins” as you deadlift. Which causes people to try to keep the bar away from their body, which puts them at risk for injury.
So to avoid the bar drifting away and to teach you to sit back and keep the weight by your body, a kettlebell can be a great way to modify!
To do the Kettlebell Deadlift, place a kettlebell in between your feet as you stand with your feet about hip-width to shoulder-width apart. Your feet should be parallel and the kettlebell should be back by your heels.
Sit your butt back and hinge at the hips so you can reach and grab the kettlebell handle with your spine and arms straight. Your knees will be soft so you can load your glutes. As you hold the ketllebell, create tension through your arms and engage your lats to keep your back flat.
Then drive the ground away as you lift the weight up. Stand up nice and tall and squeeze your glutes at the top. Then sit your butt back as you hinge at the hips to drop the weight back toward your heels.
Make sure you don’t lean forward to lower the weight out in front of you as you put it back down. Really make sure to lower the kettlebell back down toward your heels, forcing yourself to sit back and hinge at the hips with your knees soft. You don’t want to just lean over or let your back round. Load your glutes and sit your butt back, bending your knees to allow yourself to load your glutes. Do not lock out your legs.
Another must do variation of the deadlift is the Single Leg Deadlift. But what if your balance sucks and you still want the benefits of the unilateral move? Because the unilateral move, or one sided movement is key to help build core strength as you correct imbalances between both sides. During a unilateral move, your strong side can’t take over!
To modify the Single Leg Deadlift, you can use a slider or even do a Staggered 80/20 Deadlift. Both of these variations will give you the benefits of a unilateral move and allow you to start working toward that full single leg move while helping reduce how much balance is needed. These moves may be “modifications” but they are great moves for even the advanced lifter especially if they add weight!
The best variation to start with is the Staggered 80/20 Deadlift.
To do the Staggered 80/20 Deadlift, you can hold a ketllebell in both hands down in front or a sandbag up at your chest (any weight can actually work in either loading position). Stand with your feet about hip-width apart then step one foot back toward the instep of the other foot or even back toward the heel. Do not put that foot any further back then your heel. Lift up onto the toe of that back foot so it is just lightly on the ground for balance and that back knee is bent.
Then push your butt back and hinge over softening your front knee as you sit back and load your glutes. Keep your back flat as you hinge over and feel your hamstrings stretch and glutes load. Then drive back up to standing and squeeze your glutes at the top. 80-90% of your weight will be on that front leg with the back leg really there for balance. You will feel that standing glute and hamstring load. Do not rotate or shift your weight back toward the staggered leg as you hinge and drive back up.
The Slider Single Leg Deadlift, is another variation that focuses on each leg individually without the balance requirements of the full single leg variation. This one can be tougher for people as often it becomes a lunge instead of a deadlift. You want to remember your weight is all on the standing leg and you are just allowing the foot on the slider to slide back for balance.
To do the Slider Single Leg Deadlift, you can hold a weight at your chest or down by your sides OR even unilaterally loaded aka in one hand. The unilateral load can challenge your core even more BUT don’t add this if you can’t perform the basic move correctly…This is a way to advance this move. Place the ball of one foot on a slider and stand nice and tall.
Then, hinging at the hips, push your butt back with your knees soft. As you hinge, your foot will slide back on the slider. Do not think about sliding back though. Your focus is not on how far you can slide back. You want to keep your weight centered on that front leg and only lightly on the slider.
You want to feel a stretch down the hamstring of your standing leg as you sit back and load your glute. Keep your back flat as you hinge over.
Then driving through the standing foot, come back up to standing, sliding your back foot back in as you stand up. Squeeze your glute at the top. Remember you are focused on that standing leg and using the foot on the slider only to stay balanced.
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I want to ask you a couple of questions…And tell me if these sound familiar….
Have you ever had neck, shoulder or upper back pain?
Do you feel like your upper back and neck are constantly tight?
Do you have poor posture and tend to round forward?
Have you been struggling to improve your pull ups no matter how much you work at them?
Heck have you ever tried to work on pull ups only to end up with neck or shoulder pain?!
Maybe all of the above even!?!
Do you feel like no amount of stretching helps permanently and that you just have to keep doing more and more for momentary relief?
Unfortunately that is because stretching alone isn’t the answer.
Stretching alone doesn’t solve the problem for a two main reasons…
We aren’t stretching the RIGHT muscles.
We don’t get the right muscles activated so we keep overusing the wrong muscles.
Often our back “feels” tight so we stretch it.
But that tight feeling often isn’t from muscles being shortened.
When muscles are shortened, stretching can really help. But in this case, stretching a muscle that is overly lengthened may feel good for a moment but doesn’t SOLVE the problem. Our back may “feel” tight and even gets trigger points because our chest is overly tight and causing our back muscles to be over-stretched.
Therefore stretching our back alone doesn’t really SOLVE the problem.
If we’ve suffered upper body pain or injury and sit hunched over a computer or walk texting on our phones, often the big muscles of our back aren’t working correctly and carrying the load they should be carrying. It can also cause our chest and lats to become tight and our shoulder blades to become less mobile.
This leads small muscles, like our rotator cuff muscles, to become overworked, which can injured to injury. It can cause neck pain and shoulder pain.
But only stretching won’t get the right muscles working.
Stretching the right muscles, aka the muscles that are SHORTENED and TIGHT, can help open everything up, but then we NEED to activate the right muscles.
If you don’t then ACTIVATE, you’ll keep overusing muscles that weren’t meant to be the prime movers!
So if you’re ready to get the right muscles working to improve your posture AND even your pull ups, you’ll want to start including these 5 moves daily even!
Using these 5 moves, you can relax tight muscles and activate the big muscles of your back! They combine foam rolling, stretching and activation to help you restore mobility and build that mind-body connection.
Chest Foam Rolling:
Neck, shoulder, upper back pain? Always feel like you have “knots” in your back, but the relief from massage or stretching is only temporary?
Well guess what? Part of the problem is that your chest muscles are tight and actually perpetuating you rounding forward and even the rounding forward of your shoulders.
So to help relieve those aches and pains and help yourself get the muscles of your back working correctly, you need to start rolling out your chest.
To roll out your chest, you can either use a bigger foam ball against the ground or you can use a smaller, harder ball in a doorway.
To roll out your chest using a foam ball against the ground, place the ball on the ground and lie face down on top of it with the ball starting right at the side and top of your chest beside your shoulder joint and below your collarbone.
Holding the ball there, begin to sweep your arm overhead and then back down toward your legs. You can sweep your arm almost as if making snow angels. Or you can move your arm overhead and then tuck it under to reach down toward your feet and rotate your shoulder a bit. You can make full and partial sweeps to dig into a spot.
Then move the ball a little more toward your sternum and repeat. You can work all along underneath your collarbone, holding on any tight spots and moving your arm. You want to make sure to work all around the front of your shoulder joint and toward your sternum.
To roll out your chest in a doorway, it is best to use a smaller, harder ball instead of the foam ball.
Stand facing the wall besides the doorway and place the ball between your chest and the wall. You want to be right on the edge of the wall so that you can extend your arm forward through the doorway. Place the ball in your chest right by your shoulder joint. Hold on any tight spots as you work down toward your armpit then up under your collarbone. You will want to lift your arm out in front as you roll as well as out to the side like you did on the ground.
Lat Foam Rolling:
Because we sit way too much hunched forward over our computers, phones or even our bikes, our lats can become tight. It is important that you get everything loosened up if you want to improve your posture and your pull ups.
To roll out your lats, you can use a ball or a roller. Start by lying on your side with a roller under one armpit along the side of your back. Extend the arm on the side with the roller up above the roller. Then rock forward and backward on the roller, rotating your chest toward the ground and then up toward the ceiling as you roll on the roller so it hits toward your ribs and then toward your back.
Hold on any tight spots you find then move it lower down the side of your back. Hold on any tight spots as you go and make sure to rock forward and backward as you make your way down your side.
As you work down your side, you may want to rotate slightly more toward your back. Work all the way from your armpit to about the end of your rib cage.
Be careful as you work your way down your lat. Do not start to hyperextend your low back or tense to arch over the roller.
Kneeling Thoracic Extension and Lat Stretch:
When we sit all day in forward flexion, hunched over, our spine is in flexion. This stretch works on the exact opposite – extension. It will help you reverse the hunch (improve your spinal extension) as you stretch out your lats and even your triceps.
To do the Kneeling Thoracic Extension and Lat Stretch, place a box, bench or table on the ground in front of you. Kneel on the ground facing the bench and place your elbows up on it about shoulder-width apart. Make sure that you are kneeling far enough away from the bench that you can lean forward and drop your head between your elbows as you press your chest toward the ground.
From this kneeling position, relax your chest and head over, sitting your butt back. Press your chest toward the ground and feel your spine extend. You should feel a nice stretch down your triceps and lats as well as through your thoracic spine. Try to extend your back as much as possible as you press your chest toward the ground, but don’t simply arch your lower back. Keep your abs braced so that you force your mid and upper back to extend.
Breathe to stretch deeper and then relax back out and repeat, trying to get further with each rep.
If you really feel your elbows constantly sliding out on the bench, you can hold a dowel or even a towel between your hands to help keep everything in line. You can also increase the stretch by bringing your hands back toward your head as you maintain extension.
Pull Downs:
Once you’ve foam rolled and stretched to loosen tight muscles, you have to get the right muscles activated and working. Otherwise you’ll just end up constantly stretching everything only to tighten back up because you keep overusing muscles that aren’t meant to carry the load.
The Pull Downs are a great activation exercise to work your lats and lower traps and help mobilize your shoulder blades.
To do Pull Downs, hold a band, or even a towel, in both hands with your hands about hip-width apart. Slightly pull out on the band so that there is tension on the band or towel. Press your chest out and reach the band overhead, keeping the band/towel tight between your hands. You may need to adjust your hands in closer if the band is light. On a towel as long as you pull out with your hands a little wider than shoulder-width you should be fine since it won’t stretch like the band. You want to pull out on it so your hands are just slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
Then pull the band down toward your chest, as if pulling your chest up to the bar during a Pull Up. Lead with your chest as you draw your shoulder blades down and back and feel your back working to pull the band down. As you pull the band down, keep it tight between your hands.
Hold at this bottom position. Really press your chest out and engage your upper back as you hold. You want to think that you were leading with your chest up toward the bar. Do not arch your low back even though you want to press your chest out. Make sure you also don’t simply feel the outsides of your shoulders working, but instead feel your back. If you only feel your shoulders, you may be using too heavy a band or you may be too focused on pulling out on the band instead of down.
Scapular Push Ups:
The Scapular Push Up is a must-do move.
If you have a desk job, want to improve your posture, improve your pull ups…heck improve your deadlift or press or just about anything, this is a must-do move!
It works on mobilizing your shoulder blades to create shoulder stability. It will activate your back and the muscles around your rib cage. It can even work your core.
You can do this move from the quadruped position or modified push up position to start. Beginners may even need to do it off the wall if they aren’t able to isolate and move their shoulder blades.
As you can actively recruit the proper muscles, you can do the scapular push up from the high plank or forearm plank position.
No matter your level, you can also do Single Arm Scapular Push Ups off the wall, which is my current favorite because it also allows you to address imbalances between your right and left sides.
To do Single Arm Scapular Push Ups, set up facing a wall. Place one hand up on the wall at about shoulder height. Your arm should be straight, but make sure you aren’t shrugging. You can be at a slight incline to make the move harder by walking your feet back, but start standing more vertical to the wall so you can really focus on proper movement of your shoulder blade.
Then, keeping your elbow straight, press your chest toward the wall as you feel your shoulder blade retract back. You should feel your shoulder blade move toward your spine. Do not shrug your shoulder as you focus on moving the shoulder blade. Pause then relax back out.
Make sure you don’t shrug or bend your elbows or rotate to try to make the movement bigger. Keep your core tight and isolate that one side working. You will feel the muscles along the side of your back and your ribs working. You can even put the opposite hand below your armpit on the working side to feel those muscles working.
Posture Or Pull Ups?
While these exercise will help with both, if you’d like to learn more about one or the other, click below! I’ve got programs to help with both
I LOVE the deadlift. It is an amazing compound movement to target your posterior chain aka your entire backside.
But it is also a more complicated move than we give it credit for. And there are a ton of variations to choose from.
First let’s discuss WHY you should use the deadlift. Then we’ll review form and breakdown the conventional deadlift before explaining what variations to use and how to use them!
So Why Use The Deadlift In Your Workouts?
Deadlifts are ESSENTIAL to include because they:
Are a compound move that works numerous muscle groups at once.
Are a hip hinge exercise to train a functional movement pattern
Work your backside to reverse the constant flexion we sit in or walk in as we text all day.
Work on hip extension to strengthen our glutes to help us run faster and lift more.
Because deadlifts are a compound exercise, you work more muscles at once.
This not only helps you build functional strength because muscles have to work together to perform a movement, but it also helps you burn more calories in less time because more muscles are working at once. And compound moves that use the large muscles of our body, also allow us to lift MORE weight!
And on top of being a compound movement, the deadlift is a hip hinge exercise that works our posterior chain AKA our BACKSIDE!
What is a hip hinge?
It is a movement that loads your posterior chain when you hinge, aka flex your hips, to push your butt back then extend your hips to stand tall using your glutes. It is a functional move we need to do every day to reach down to the ground to pick things up…like a DEADLIFT!
The problem with this functional hip hinge exercise?
All too many people do incorrectly.
They simply lean forward without loading their posterior chain. Or they turn it into a squat.
Or they recruit their low back and hamstrings to do work their GLUTES should be doing.
So how do you deadlift properly to get the benefits of the deadlift and really work your backside?
How To Deadlift With Proper Form:
The most important thing you can ask someone is, “Where do you feel working?”
And with the deadlift, they can answer “upper back.” Or “glutes.” Or even “hamstring.” Actually all of the above. Especially their glutes.
However, the one place they shouldn’t feel acting as the prime mover is their low back. Which honestly too often is!
So how do you do the deadlift properly?
There are three things I think are key:
Think about pushing the ground away with your feet INSTEAD of lifting the bar off the ground.
Push your butt back to hinge over don’t just lean forward.
Squeeze your butt hard at the top!
Thinking about these 3 things, here’s how to break down the Conventional Barbell Deadlift or the traditional or main deadlift variation.
To do a Conventional Barbell Deadlift, set a barbell up in front of you. Walk up to the center of the bar with your feet parallel and about hip-width apart. Set up so your shins are right up against the bar. You do not want the bar to drift away from your legs or you risk loading your low back.
Hinge at the hips, pushing your butt back as you reach to grab the bar just outside your shins. Your knees should be soft as you push your butt back to grab the bar, keeping your back flat.
Think about engaging your lats and upper back to keep your spine flat. Traditional form will tell you to keep your head in line with your spine and look out on the ground in front of you. Powerlifting form will often tell you to look up to help you pull up. Choose the one that feels most comfortable without straining anything weird.
With your arms straight and core engaged, put tension on the bar. Then drive through your feet, pushing the ground away to lift the bar up off the ground. Exhale as you lift, “dragging” the bar up your shins to stand up.
At the top, stand tall and squeeze your glutes to fully extend your hips. Don’t lean back at the top or arch your back. Squeeze your butt, then lower back down. Keep the bar close to your body as you lower. Control the decent so you don’t drop the bar, but don’t eccentrically lower.
Once you touch the ground, you can either perform a quick rep without pausing or you can completely release at the bottom and repeat.
The key is really to keep that bar close to your shin, drive the ground away and even use your breathing to engage your core. Do NOT try to squat or simply lean or round over. Keep tension through your upper back and engage your lats. And sit your butt back, hinging at the hips.
Your knees should be soft, but your exact knee bend will be dependent on your mobility. Do NOT actively bend your knees and turn this into a squat though!
So what if you aren’t comfortable with the barbell? What if you’re a beginner? Or what if you want to target different muscles and challenge your body with a new variation?
Check out these deadlift variations below!
Deadlift Variations And When To Use Them:
There are so many great variations of the deadlift you can use to regress and progress the movement and even change up exactly what you’re working or use different tools that you may have available.
Yes, it will always be posterior chain, but you can isolate each glute, add in more adductor or even engage your hamstrings or core more.
Because the deadlift is a more technical move, there are a few ways I like to teach the deadlift and hip hinge movement WITHOUT the barbell.
Three versions of the deadlift I like to use with beginners are:
The Bodyweight Wall Hinge
The Band Hinge
The Kettlebell Conventional Deadlift
I’ve found these three deadlift variations to be an easier way to teach and train the hip hinge movement so that people learn to load their glutes and posterior chain instead of just leaning forward or engaging their low backs.
Here’s how to perform each and why each can be a great training tool.
The Bodyweight Wall Hinge – When you are first learning a movement, it is key to start with your own bodyweight. If you can’t do the move without a load, you haven’t earned adding a weight. Remember you need to EARN the weight and more advanced variations. No point in doing something if it won’t be quality. Hard for hard sake won’t get you results!
So the Bodyweight Wall Hinge is great for beginners because it helps them learn the hip hinge and deadlift movement without any weight. This allows them to focus on feeling the right muscles working. And by using the wall as a guide, you can learn to load your glutes and push your butt back.
To do the Bodyweight Wall Hinge, stand in front of a wall facing away. You want to stand between 3-6 inches away from the wall so as you hinge over, you can use the wall as a guide to help you push your butt back. AKA you want to hinge over and touch your butt to the wall. This will prevent you from simply leaning forward.
Stand nice and tall facing away from the wall. Then hinge at the hips, pushing your butt back to touch the wall. Keep your knees soft as you hinge over and your back flat. Then drive through your feel to come back up to standing tall. Squeeze your glutes at the top to extend your hips. Don’t lean or arch back though.
Then hinge back over again, pushing your butt back to touch the wall. The wall is a great training tool to teach yourself to push your butt back and load your posterior chain. I even sometimes use it as a reminder with clients as they add a load, especially with Good Mornings.
The Band Hinge – A resistance band is another great training tool to help you remember to load your glutes. And it also adds some resistance to really get those glutes burning. This variation, while a great way to regress for the beginner, is also still an important move for advanced lifters because it really activates those glutes.
It’s great for glute activation, teaching the hip hinge for deadlift and reminding people that, while the Conventional Deadlift means some knee bend, it is NOT a squat! It also teaches you to “push the ground away” to power the hip extension against the band.
To do the Band Hinge, anchor a band or loop behind you and step into the band, bringing it right up below your hips. Walk away from the anchor point so that there is tension in the band and stand with your feet about hip-width to shoulder-width apart. The more the band tries to pull you back (aka the further out you walk), the harder the move will be.
Then hinge over, allowing the band to pull your butt back toward the anchor point. Bend your knees slightly as you push your butt back to help load your glutes and keep you from flying back with the band.
Then explosively drive your hips forward to come back up to standing. You may lean slightly forward against the band, but you want to explosively stand up and drive your hips forward against the band, contracting your glutes as you do.
Stand up tall and squeeze your glutes then quickly hinge back over before repeating. This should be a quicker move and you should really focus on loading your glutes as you hinge over and then on quickly driving your hips into extension as you stand back up, squeezing your glutes hard at the top.
Do not lean back or arch your back as you stand up. Also, make sure you don’t lock out your legs OR squat to much as you hinge over. Make sure there is tension in the band even as you hinge over.
The Kettlebell Conventional Deadlift – The third deadlift variation I like to use to help teach the deadlift is the single kettlebell Conventional Deadlift. This is a great way to load down the hip hinge, but teach people to really sit their butt back instead of just squatting down.
With the barbell Conventional Deadlift, we can often struggle with keeping the bar back against our shins and legs. And this can cause us to load our low back. Because we can have a tendency to let the bar drift away, it can be a struggle to sit back and load our glutes and even drive the ground away when we are first learning.
This is why I like to often use the kettlebell instead of the barbell when someone is first starting out. The fact that you can place the kettlebell back between your legs and toward your heels can really help ingrain the proper hip hinge movement and proper loading of the glutes.(BONUS: I even find that often the height of the kettlebell can help prevent people from wanting to squat as much.)
To do the Kettlebell Conventional Deadlift, place a kettlebell in between your feet as you stand with your feet about hip-width to shoulder-width apart. Your feet should be parallel and the kettlebell should be back by your heels.
Then sit your butt back and hinge at the hips so you can reach and grab the kettlebell handle. Your knees will be soft so you can load your glutes. Engage your lats as you grab the weight and keep your back flat.
Then drive the ground away as you lift the weight up. Stand up nice and tall and squeeze your glutes at the top. Then sit your butt back as you hinge at the hips to drop the weight back toward your heels.
Make sure you don’t reach out or lower the weight out in front of you. Really make sure to lower the kettlebell back down toward your heels. You don’t want to just lean over or let your back round. Load your glutes and sit your butt back, bending your knees to allow yourself to load your glutes. Do not lock out your legs.
Along with these three basic variations to really learn the hip hinge movement and even return to basics to make sure your foundation is strong (yes I LOVE using the Band Hinge even with my most advanced lifters), there are a variety of deadlift variations you can use to target your posterior chain in different ways and even work your core and balance.
Single Leg Deadlift – The Single Leg Deadlift is a must-do move for beginners and advanced lifters alike. It is an essential move to include because it will not only work your posterior chain and train the hip hinge, but it will also improve your core stability and balance.
It is also key because it is a unilateral exercise, which means it will work each side individually and help correct any imbalances. Aka if you have a stronger and weaker side, this allows you to make sure both sides are working and strong!
Beginners can start by doing more of a staggered stance deadlift or even a deadlift with one foot down on a slider. Once your balance improves, you’ll want to do the full Single Leg Deadlift.
To do the Single Leg Deadlift, you can use kettlebells, dumbbells or a barbell. You can even unilaterally load the move down to make it even more challenging for your core and your balance.
To do the basic move with bodyweight, start standing on both legs. Lightly touch one toe on the ground as you shift your weight onto the other leg. Begin to then hinge over, lifting your raised leg toward the wall behind you. Push your butt back and even slightly bend the knee of the standing leg to load your glutes.
You do not want to squat, but you want to soften your knee to push your butt back and load your glutes. As you hinge at the hips, don’t let your raised leg swing way open and don’t simply lean forward. Really focus on loading that standing glute as you feel your hamstring as well.
Keep your back flat and hips as square to the ground as possible. Do not worry about straightening the raised leg if it makes your hips rotate open.
Then driving through your standing foot, come back up to standing tall. You may tap your toe at the top, but do not use your other leg to help you come back up to standing. Stand tall and straighten your standing leg as you contract and squeeze your glute at the top. Really feel your hamstring and glute work to help you come back up to standing.
Then hinge back over and repeat. Make sure you don’t round toward the ground. When you add weights, you’ll want to think about dropping the weights down and back toward your standing heel to help you sit back. You’ll also need to engage your lats and upper back to support the weights.
Do not let your low back take over and make sure to brace your core. Complete all reps on one side before switching. Remember if you are starting out and balance is an issue, use a staggered stance, slider or even no weight to start.
Good Mornings and Straight Leg Deadlifts – The Deadlift is a posterior chain exercise and your glutes are definitely the prime mover, HOWEVER, you can make the deadlift focus and work different muscles to different extents. One great Deadlift Variation to really work your hamstrings, is the Straight Leg Deadlift. And when you make it a front-loaded move like the Good Morning, you force your abs and core to work even harder!
To do the Straight Leg Deadlift, you can use barbells, kettlebells, sandbags, dumbbells or even resistance bands. I even like front-loading it down for the Good Morning variation. If you front-load the movement, hold a sandbag up at your chest cradled in your arms. You’ll wrap your arms around the bag and then pull it into your chest engaging your upper back to support it. Stand tall with your feet about hip-width apart.
Then, bracing your abs, hinge over at the hips, pushing your butt back as you keep your back flat. Feel your hamstrings and glutes loading as you hinge over. You will want to very slightly bend or soften your knees to help you push your butt back, but do not turn this into a squat.
After hinging over, drive back up to standing, pushing through your feet as you squeeze your glutes at the top. Do not rock forward, but instead drive straight up. Keep your abs engaged and do not round over.
Stand up nice and tall and squeeze your glutes, then hinge back over and repeat. Do not simply lean forward. You will want to keep your legs straighter but NOT lock out your knees.
Sumo – The Sumo Deadlift is another great variation if you want to target your legs a bit more and even get your adductors working. For some, this deadlift variation even allows them to lift heavier weights than the other variations. However, because of the wide stance, you will want to make sure to take care of your hips as the external rotation and wide stance can occasionally be hard on them.
To the Sumo Deadlift, beginners can start with a kettlebell just like they did for the Conventional Deadlift. You can also use a sandbag, dumbbells or even a barbell.
For the Barbell Sumo Deadlift, set your feet wider than shoulder-width with your toes turned out slightly and your shins against the barbell. Reach down and grab the bar between your legs about hip-width apart. Hinge at the hips as you bend your knees to sit your butt back and grab the bar. Keep your back flat and engage your lats and upper back to support the tension on the bar. Make sure your knees are in line with your ankles and hips. You do not want your knees caving in with the wide stance.
Then driving up through your heels, come back up to standing. Think more about pushing the ground away than on picking the bar up. You won’t want to lose tension in your upper body as you initiate the pull so it can help to think about pushing the ground away. This can also help you focus on using your legs and glutes.
Drive all the way up to standing tall and squeeze your glutes at the top. You do not want to lean back, but you do fully want to extend your hips. Then begin to lower the bar back down, siting your butt back as you hinge over to return it to the ground. Stay in control of the bar, but do not turn this into a slow eccentric lower down.
Make sure to keep the bar close to your body the entire time to make sure you are using your posterior chain to lift!
Unilateral Loads – With all of these great deadlift variations, you can also change how you load the move. From making the Conventional Deadlift a bit easier for beginners by using kettlebells to even making moves harder and more core intense by front loading OR even adding a unilateral load.
Unilateral loading is a great way to work on anti-rotational core strength and stability. It allows you to add weight, but make your core work even harder to stay balanced. Because you are adding weight on only one side though, make sure your core is ready for the challenge of fighting your body’s urge to compensate and rotate or you risk injury.
To unilaterally load down any variation, you can simply hold a kettlebell, sandbag or dumbbell in one hand. For the Single Leg Deadlift, you can hold it in the same or the opposite hand from your standing leg and for the conventional, you can hold it like a suitcase outside one side. Just make sure to do reps holding the weight on each side.
All of these moves can be used in your programming to work your posterior chain and strengthen those glutes. Make sure to pick variations that target your specific goals and don’t hesitate to mix things over progressions to not only challenge your body, but even focus on your weaker areas!
