Hail to the Dinosaurs!
I've been having a lot of fun lately with my
new favorite exercise.
It's one that I've done before, but I got away
from it. Now I'm back to it -- and I'm really
glad to be doing it again.
It's a three-exercise compound movement
using a barbell.
1. Clean the barbell to the shoulders.
a. I prefer to squat clean the bar, but you
can power clean it if you prefer.
b. You perform one just clean, and then
move on to the next part of the movement.
2. Perform one to three front squats.
a. Remember to keep your elbows as high
as possible on the front squats.
b. To perform these correctly, you'll need to
wear lifting shoes with a heel. Otherwise,
you'll lean too far forward at the bottom
of the movement.
c. If you perform reps in the front squat, do
them consecutively.
d. Note that you can do three reps in the
front squat on your first working set, then
add weight and do two reps in the front
squat on the next set, and then add weight
and do one rep in the front squat on the third
(or fourth and fifth) work sets.
3. Finish with a press, push press, power
jerk or split jerk.
a. Do one rep of whatever overhead lift you
choose to finish the movement.
That's one set: one clean, one to three front
squats and one overhead lift. A total of three
to five total reps.
Begin with a light weight and do a series of
three to five progressively heavier warm-up
sets.
After the warm-ups, do three to five working
sets.
This is a great way to get a fast, hard workout
that combines "stand on your feet" strength
and power training with a good conditioning
workout.
If you have dumbbells or kettlebells, you can
perform the combination with dumbbells or
kettlebells. It also works with sandbags.
If you don't have a squat rack, this is one of the
very best ways to work your legs with nothing
but a barbell.
For extra leg work, finish up with a few sets
where you do one clean followed by three to
five reps in the front squat and no overhead
lift. This may allow you to go a bit heavier in
weight, but even if you don't add weight you
will be working your legs extra hard by doing
the extra reps.
Note that you can make the front squats even
harder by performing them pause style.
You can make this a complete workout, or
you can include other exercises. I like to do
it after my clean and jerks.It serves as a
good leg workout for an older trainee.
This is one of those "No Excuses" workouts. It
doesn't take much in the way of equipment --
and it doesn't take much time -- so there's
no excuse for not doing it.
Give it a try and let me know how you like
it!
As always, thanks for reading and have a
great day. If you train today, make it a good
one.
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. Issue no. 3 of the Dinosaur Files Quarterly
is available in your choice of hardcopy or Kindle
e-book. Go here to grab it:
Hardcopy
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurfiles_quarterlyorder.html
Kindle e-book
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaurquarterly_03_kindle.html
P.S. 2. My other books and courses are right
here -- including links to my other e-books on
Kindle:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "A champion makes
it work; everyone else makes excuses."
-- Brooks Kubik
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