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Craig Fingrutd: RKC, AKC, MKC |
KettleBellWorks.Com |
Izzy Barish: AKC |
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Legs Squats – BASIC TECHNIQUE Deck Squat Hack Squat Bulgarian Squat Jump Squat Side Walk Squats Snatch Squat Wide Squat Wall Squats Lifts Dead Lift Romanian Single Leg Dead Lift Single Leg Dead Lift Resting bell on leg lift Russian Hockey Dead Lift Lunges Tactical Lunge Jumping Lunges Walking Dragon Walking Duck Walking Farmers walk Side to Side Walk Weave Walk Pistols Stances Kicking move turkish new section WM, TGU, Misc. along with pictures Turkish get up – BASIC TECHNIQUE Turkish get up squat Squat Basic Technique
Squats are one of the best leg exercises. There are many different ways to perform a squat. For the basic squat, stand straight with your feet about shoulder width apart. If you have tight hip flexors you will need to take a wider stance. The feet can be either straight or turned out. There are different schools of thought pertaining to the position of the feet. We believe it all depends on how comfortable you feel so straight, or turned out, the choice is yours. Start inhaling and slowly pull yourself down to the ground with your legs while keeping your back straight. Do not fold forward at the waist and do not drop down quickly. Descend with control. Your knees should not go further than your toes. If you were to draw plumb line from the floor to the ceiling, your knees would be in line with your toes. If your knees do travel past your toes there will be a great deal of pressure on the knees which could cause an injury. The legs should track in line with the direction of the feet. The legs should not fall outside of your feet nor should they cave in. Stay flat on your feet from the heal to toe at all times. Do not come forward up on the toes in the basic squat. Go as low as you can, the lower the better. Your arms should track inside the legs and can be used as a prop against the inside of the legs to prevent them from caving in. This enables you to get all the way to the floor provided you have the flexibility. At the bottom it is ok to round your tail bone underneath you. Do not lose tension at the bottom, keep tension throughout your body. Hold for 1 second or longer before you start coming up. Exhale as you stand up. Again, perform this slowly, the same way as you came down by controlling the movement, keeping your back straight and shoulders down. Only after you master the squat, if you want a challenge, do a Power Bottom Up Squat. Go a head, give it a try, I dare you. It is not for beginners. There are a host of squats below and this is no way a definitive list. As you can see the kettlebell(s) can be held in a variety of positions.
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Deck Squat The Deck Squat works your legs, glut, back, stomach and tricep mucles. Generally, there are two ways to perform this squat. One is with momentum and the other is with no momentum. The no momentum is easier to perform than the with momentum as the legs and/or the lower torso are moving forward to take you from laying on your back to a flat footed squat position. Stand while holding the horns of the kettlebell in the standard position. There are several variations of hand positions and number of kettlebells that can be used. Squat as low as you can and sit down on your butt. Do not sit down hard or you might hurt your sacrum or lower back. Roll down until your head is on the ground. Before your head reaches the ground move the kettlebell back over your head moving from your shoulders until the handle of the bell is on the floor. Your elbows should be about 90 degrees. To come back up you have 2 choices. You can use momentum or no momentum. For no momemtum bring the kettlebell forward, with the elbows still bent, moving the kettlebell over the head then foward through the legs. Picture throwing the kettlebell direcly through your legs with explosive power. Come up from the ground and plant your feet on the ground. Rock the body back up to establish a low squat position. Stand up and you have completed the Deck Squat. When performing this with momentum you are adding even more momentum then using only the arms and the kettlebell. You are also adding the power of the hips, legs and if necessary your lower back. Bring both knees back towards your chest with your legs at 90 degrees until your thighs are on your ribs. Drive your arms foward with your legs driving forward in syncopation with the arms. Use this driving force to move your body laying down to flat on your feet in a squat position. This has to be done with explosive power. The other way to perform this is the easiest of all, that is if you can consider the Desk Squat an easy exercise. In addition to moving your legs back, come back even farther taking both your butt and lower back off the floor. This will give you extra momentum to come back up. We usually add a press and tricep extension after coming up to a standing position. You can also add a shoulder bridge after you initially lay down before coming back up. This provides a nice stretch.
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Hack Squat
This is excellent for opening up the shoulders, arms and entire upper thorasic. The positioning of the arms behind the back allows the lungs to always have room to take full breaths. It is also excellent for strengthing the stomach, legs and gluts. Squating slowly, smoothly with control will challange your balance. Maintain good body posture throughout the squat. This is not as easy to perform as it looks. Place the kettebell(s) behind your back holding the handle. The hands can be hooked gripped or a full grasp on the handle, horns, etc. Squat down moving up on the toes coming off your heals. This allows the knees to go well foward past the feet. Keep the upper body as straight as possible. Stand back up. Inhale on the way down and exhale when coming up from the bottom of the squat. Make sure you engage as much tension throughout the legs and gluts on the way up. Control the movement when going up and down moving at a slow controlled pace.
Bulgarian Squat
This squat is a combination of both strength and stretch. This will strengthen the quad, hamstring and glut of the forward standing leg while stretching the knee, quad, and hip flexor of the rear leg. Use a bench or stand making sure it is stable. Stand with the bench behind you, lift one leg back and place the top of the foot on the bench. The trick is to see how far or close to stand from the bench. You will have to experiment with this until you have the correct distance. The same rules apply as in the basic squat, keep the back straight, track your knee over your foot, knee stays in line with toes and the foot is flat from heal to toe. Inhale on the way down, exhale on the way up. Perform the movement smoothly and slowly with control and full body tension.
Jump Squat
The Jump Squat is an explosive squat that can be done several ways. Shown below is from the kneeling position All you need to do is to jump up from this kneeling posture to a squat posture. Haa, Haa Haa...All you need to do? Funny...It is not easy. If you cannot sit all way back to your heals on you butt, this might be one you want to skip. You can bounce up but the most explosive way is to perform this without any bounding. Explode from the legs and body to a squat. Use your breath by inhaling before you come up, then take a slight pause and exhale forcefully as you explode up.
Side walk Squats
Snatch Squat
Wide Squat
The Wide Squat is performed like the basic Squat but the legs are much wider like a horse stance in martial arts. All the other rules apply.
Wall Squats
Turkish get up BASIC
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Jumping Lunges
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Walking
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Dragon Walking
Duck Walking
Farmers walk
Side to Side Walk
Weave Walk
Dead Lift
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Romanian Dead Lift
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Pistols
Stances Kicking
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