Posts Tagged ‘Band Training Tips’

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Band Tri-plane Cardio-Strength Part 3

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

Band Training for Rotational Strength… Tapping into our power centerband-1blog

 

Your body loves to rotate and by now you know that this is your body’s power center.  What is funny to me is that very few people every work rotational running or rotational pulling.  It’s always in the same old straight plane.   This has alot to do with our medical profession and the old fitness approach we got growing up.  Machines were the best.. Wrong.  

As for the medical field, they would rather we just avoid the issue by not rotating.  Well try avoid rotating all day.   Good luck…. It will not happen.

But I am not suppose to “twist”!!  Thats right.. Twisting is rotation without using your whole body.. especially your hips.  Twisting will crush your low back and knees.  Rotation will not.  Most people twist. 

 

It has never made sense to me knowing that our power comes from our ability to rotate.  If you don’t use it you lose it.  Interestingly, I think this also is why we lose our balance and why falling is a big problem, especially in our  senior population.

So it’s time to start looking at how you are going to start training the rotational plane.

Let me get you started.

 

Reactive Training.. Powerful Results

 

Dave Schmitz

 

PS…  With the Total Fitness package you get my 4 week Beginner workout which has several rotational based workouts.  Keep that in mind if you struggle figuring out how to use your bands to train rotation

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Resistance Band Drop Sets for Better Arms

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

 By BJ Gaddour, CSCS, YFS

Now I know that the real benefit of resistance band training in the way the band man does it is its ability to integrate multiple force vectors and planes of movement with any given exercise.

This allows for greater muscle activation which leads to greater calorie burn and thus greater fat loss.

But sometimes you just want to work your arms and that’s it… and I get that.

I mean we all have an area of our body that we just like to attack and then show off in the hours between workouts, right ;)

And for me, like most guys, that area is my arms.

Whenever I feel like hitting my arms after completing my strength training (10-15 minutes) and total body metabolic training (20-30 minutes) components, I add in a little 4-minute 20-10 Tabata finisher performing band drop sets.

Here’s how it works:

I select 2 movements, one that works my biceps and one that works my triceps.

Then I perform 4 consecutive sets of one exercise, starting with the highest band tension I can handle for at least 8-10 reps and then dropping band tension from set to set.

I then immediately repeat this process for the second exercise as outlined below:

Set 1- Band Shoulder Presses-  Green XLarge Band
Set 2- Band Shoulder Presses-  Purple Large Band
Set 3- Band Shoulder Presses-  Black Medium Band
Set 4- Band Shoulder Presses-  Red Small Band
Set 5- Band Curls-   Green Band
Set 6- Band Curls-  Purple Band
Set 7- Band Curls-  Black Band
Set 8- Band Curls-  Red Band

Band training allows you to very quickly and easily move up and down in resistance without needing much space.

I use 20-10 interval workout music powered by Workout Muse to get the job done. I just press play and the music tells me exactly what to do so I can focus on getting nasty with my bands.

Check out the video below to see me crank out this awesome arms workout:

 

 

Give it a shot and let me know how it goes

Crank it!
BJ

 

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BJ Gaddour is not only a tremendous friend but also an outstanding fitness professional.  His revolutionary ideas using workoutmuse have not only impacted my workouts, but have made my bootcamps using bands unmatched by my bootcamp competitors.   Bands and Workoutmuse can give your bootcamps a definite market abvantage.

All the workouts found in the  FitnessBandBootCamp are set up to be used with exclusive Resistance Band Training Workoutmuse sound tracks that come with the entire kick .   Bands and workoutmuse will not only jump start your workouts but now it can jump start your camps.

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Band Training for Punching Strength

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

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Have you every seen a Boxer that was good and fat.  Ok maybe a few heavy weights but when you get into any weight classes below that, these guys are ripped through the trunk.

Is it any wonder, when you look at how functional the art of punching occurs.

From a neuromuscular standpoint, punching uses the concept of reciprocal training to enhance punching power.  Simply stated, your body uses pulling to enhance pushing.  See our body often use the opposite side of the body moving the opposite way to enhance movement on the other side of the body.

This happens with running all the time.

As a result a few years ago I started to do band reciprocal training to enhance my arm action with sprinting.  This training helped but what  I got as bonues benefits were a great  reactive trunk workout and a alternative way to maximize my heart rate without running.

Seeing and trying is a must when it comes to reciprocal training.    Here are a few tips to doing effective reciprocal push - pull training.

1. Don’t always emphasize number of reps. Instead see how fast you can push each individual rep by reloading on each rep. You will see how I do this. Interestingly, I think quality reps burn even more calories than if you just try to knock out a lot of reps.

 

2. Also don’t keep your feet the same. Change it up on every round. Your trunk and hips will hate you but your back will love you. By the way if you are into hitting the heavy bag. Do this workout first and then go hit the bag. Look out because you may bring it down.

 

3. Make sure you stay athletic and let the system load. As I always say, learn to load and you are guaranteed to explode with incredible punching power.

 

4. No low back pain. This means you are not loading and instead are trying to muscle with your upper body. Your punch starts from the floor and must go through your hips…. Use them.

 

I hope you enjoy this weeks RBT Live 43 Episode and as always please leave thoughts and comments below.

 

Reactive Training.. Powerful Results

Dave “The Band Man” 

 

 

PS..  The Advance Total Fitness Package is the perfect package to learn about tons of other band training options to enhance reciprocal strength.  It  provides you all the bands you need as well the the training DVDs to get you strarted and the really good thing is you save about 30% automatically.

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Band Training with Barbells

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009

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Resistance Band training has long been considered as a secondary option to strength training when compared to dead weight resistance like dumbbells, barbells and kettlebell.  However it is really comparing apples to oranges when you evaluate the 2 from a strength curve standpoint.

Dead weight follows the traditional bell shaped curve with muscle recruitment being on the vertical vector and range of motion on the horizontal vector.  Muscle recruitment increases to mid range and then slowly decreases as you complete the full range of motion.

Resistance bands are a progressive straight line that reflects a continuous increase in muscle recruitment as range of motion increases.

So the question is not which is better, the question is why not implement both types of strength training into your program or why not combine the two and make dead weight training a full range of motion muscle recruitment training tool by adding bands.

This week’s RBT Live does exactly that.  It combines the best of dead weight training with band training.  The results…… a tremendous total body workout that maximizes muscle recruitment.

 

Reactive Training … Powerful Results

 

Dave “The Band Man” Schmitz

 

With this week’s RBT Live all about getting under the bar, I have to let you in on a new program we are using at my local high school to develop absolute strength!!  It was developed by an outstanding young performance coach and good friend of mine, Ryan Englebert ,  who used this program to get himself super strong to play for the Cincinnati  Bengels and now uses it to get HS kid freakishly stronger.   

I have the incredible opportunity to see first hand how Ryan does it so and I am really glad he is finally gettng this out to everyone.    If you are looking for a program to develop “incredible absolute strength in your athletes the   E-Test Drop 2 System is something you need to check out. 

I’m a band guy but when it comes to developing “Freakish”  absolute strength in my athletes, I just talk to Ryan about what we need to do under the bar.

Now I have to teach him about pricing because at $49  the E-Test Drop 2 System    is a steal.

Make sure you at least take a moment to see what the excitment is all about

E-Test Drop 2 System     Stronger - Faster - Better!!

Stronger - Faster - Better!!

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Split it up and Get Stronger Part 2

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

Did you know that the scapula can drive the hip to get stronger??? Yep.. it sure can.

It’s call posture.

When the scapula is retracted down and back it can stimulate the hip to work harder.

Our body has a posture template which many of you are fully aware of. Its what your mom told you to do when you were growing up.

So keep the shoulders slightly retracted, belly pullled in and the butt has to work.

By using the split stance all of this falls into place much easier because L5-S1 is more stable and therefore the trunk can work more effectively.

Let me see if I can show it better than write it.

Keep in mind the relationship of the hip flexor and the shoulder because it will happen especially in many of us guys.

See you tomorrow for the final special episode on how to use bands to knock out a great split squat workout.

Reactive Training… Powerful Results

Dave Schmitz

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Split it up and get stronger Part 1

Monday, October 26th, 2009

If you have not watched this video please do so before you continue reading.   I do not know Mr. Boyle personally but I have read many of his writings.   I respect him for his unwillingness to never settle for what is but always analyzing what could be.   He simply never stops learning and trying to teach others.

 Mike Boyle’s thoughts on Squats

Mike’s theory on Single legs squat drove home why I find the staggered stance to be so effective at teaching people how to integrate their lower torso with their upper torso which when all is said and done is how this body was designed to work. 

Mike’s states that the low back is the limiting factor not the glutes when it comes to bilateral squats.   Subsquently by going into a split stance the lower extremities, especially gluts and quads, are more effectively trained.   I would say it is not just a low back but globally a trunk limiting factor.

If we are able to assist the trunk (specifically the lower abs) to stabilize the low back (specifically L5-S1) than we create less of a force leak at that point and allow the weight or vertical vector force to be dealt with using the lower torso.

Keeping the transition area of L5-S1 stable is what allows us to transfer force production to the lower torso when the load is coming from the top - down

I thought it would easier to show you than tell you so.. Here you go.

 

 

 See you tomorrow to discuss why the scapula and shoulder love the split stance as well.

Reactive Training.. Powerful Results

Dave Schmitz

www.resistancebandtraining.com

 

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“Kettlebell - Band Multi-vector Training to enhance hip explosiveness”

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

 

As I started to train more with resistance bands it soon became apparent to me that bands were not just a strength training tool but could also be a muscle activation tool.  

Resistance bands flat versus tubular structural charateristics allowed me  to attach bands to our body in many places.   Anytime you attach a band to the body, be it at the hip, the trunk, the wrist or the lower leg, you immediately create a tactile sensation that wakes up the muscles associated to that region.

For instances, if I attached a band  around the hips and face away from the band attachment, I immediately heighten the awareness of gluteal muscles because of the posterior  force vector being applied to the anterior hip .   

This can be very helpful if you are trying to improve hip extension which we all know is a key functional movement when it comes to creating horizontal or vector explosiveness of the body.

Now by applying another dead weight training tool that also enhance hip extension, you can train with multiple vectors and really compliment the deadweight movement.   This is what I refer to as multi-vector training.

Multi-vector training  can serve to enhance function in 2 ways:

1.  By complimenting the movement and activating key muscles  to become more active in the movement. 

2.   By creating vectors that oppose each other and cause the body to become more unstable or overloaded to one side.

I will address #2 in the near future but for today we want to use it to compliment a movement. 

Today RBT Live is all about using bands to in multi-vector training set up to increase hip extension with the kettlebell swing. 

I hope you enjoy this week RBT Live  “Kettlebell - Band Multi-vector Training to enhance hip explosiveness”

 

 

 

 

If you are looking for more ways to incorporate multi-vector training you may want to check out ResistanceBandsUnleashed DVD series.  It will provide you over 50 plus ways to implement bands independently or inconjunction with other training tools.

Training Beyond the Contraction

band-3blogDave Schmitz

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Serious Strength Training with Band Repeat Sets

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

 

Repeat sets are one of the Partner Band Training options I will often implement within my bootcamp setting.

It provides me a way to effectively manipulate the workout in 3 different ways

 

1.  Allows me to push clients into using heavier bands to train with.  The powerlifting community taught me this concept of using several low rep sets to increase work volume with heavier loads.   Most people can do 2-5 reps vs. concerning themselves with 8-10 reps. 

 

2.  Repeat sets is an easier way to bring new campers into partner band training without the initial concern with holding.   All the new camper has to be concerned with is performing the exercise which I as an instructor can easily monitor.  It also teaches stabilization in between sets which preps them for partner holding.

 

3.  It allows you to do more total body exercises or teach more advanced variations of exercises to specific groups.  Example being.. split squats with or without an overhead press.   High pulls with or without a step.

 

Heres a simple Repeat Set Partner Band Training Workout

  1. Push Press
  2. Split Squat Left
  3. High Pull
  4. Split Squat Right
  5. Squat Pull

Repeat sets are an outstanding way to get bootcampers rocking with a bigger band.

Let me know what you think

 

Training Beyond the Contraction

 

Dave Schmitzrbt-partner-band-exercises

 

 

Repeat sets is just one of several Partner Band Training concepts available on the new Partner Band Training DVD and manual.  For more information on how to get Partner band training started  click HERE!!

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Speed trainng with Resistance Bands

Thursday, August 13th, 2009

 

I had the pleasure this summer to work with over 180 athltetes of all ages and genders.    Of course we trained a ton with RBT and as the athletes return back to their respected teams this fall they are absolutely crushing their team workouts not to mention their speed tests.

One of the reasons why I think they do so well is because of  the amount of time we put into working on deceleration speed at the “point of transformation”.

The point of transformation is the time it takes an athlete to go from a decelerated state into an accelerated motion.

Obviously the shorter this time is, the faster they get out of their breaks or the less ground contract incurred during  a linear speed drill.

The point of transformation I feel comes down to 3 things…100_0562

 

1.  How well integrated are your decelerators.  Is the trunk  providing the glutes a stable  point for them to apply force to decelerate and than accelerate.

 

2  Are the trunk stabilizers being recruited fast enough to prevent the upper torso from getting to far outside the center of gravity and thus over loading the lower torso.

3.   Is the trunk stabilization strong enough  to allow the arms and legs to aggressive swing around to create counter balance to decelerate and than reverse that motion to create a driving force for acceleration.

 

What I see is athletes do not like to crank the arms and often position the feet incorrectly because they do not have good trunk integration with the upper and lower extremites.

 

As you watch the follow video I think you will see how that is true.  

 

Enjoy this weeks RBT Live… College Athletes Training with the Band Man

If you are wondering what is the best bands for speed development..

your Best Band package for speed training is right Here.

 

 

Training beyond the Contraction

Dave Schmitz

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Why Tubes and Bungee cords don’t work for RBT

Sunday, August 9th, 2009

 

I know many of you watch  my videos and than try to reproduce the workouts using bungee cords or tubular training devices.    

Why do I know this??

Because I use to have a closet full of this stuff until I came across flat continuous looped layered resistance bands.

 

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Here are 3 reasons why you should not attemp RBT drills with these devices.

 

1.  Tubular elastic devices are molded and will not withstand the aggressive pressure I  put on bands with my workout routines.  Tubular devices can be used for light upper torso or rehabilitative exercise but when it time to get after it be careful.   

2.  Tubes and bungee cords are round and will not adhere to the body.  As a result they roll and slip making drills like running and double crossover set ups difficult to do.   Hooking them on your feet is next to impossible.  Also they will not stay in place to create good propriceptive feedback with core or hip stabilization training. 

 

3.  Nylon covered tubes and bungee cords have a stopping point and do not allow for overstretching to accidiently occur.   This an injury waiting to happen, my friend.    If you try to do aggressive running drills with these,  you are back injury waiting to happen and if it is a client… Well you don’t want to go there.    Even if you try to adjust your running it will not work.  First you or your client will not work as hard because you are worried about getting jacked up and secondly as you keep going you will naturally keeping working out further and further without knowing it until all the sudden you stop.  It is not pretty. 

 Lets Just Stop the madness!! 

 Let’s agree on one thing…. Resistance bands are in a class by themselves and if you stay connected with me, it will be flat layered continuous resistance bands only.  I have  emptied my closets of everything else.

By the way,  partner training is virtually impossible to do in bungee cords or tubes. 

Why do I bring this up??

I have been doing Partner Band Training  since I first started training large groups 8 years ago.   It is simply the best way to crush  it with bands.    Over the next 2 weeks I will be launching a brand new Partner Band Training product that will solidify why RBT is in a class by itself.

Stay connected and make sure you shoot me some of your band stories. 

Always enjoy seeing how others are doing with RBT.

 

 

band-3blog

 

 

Training Beyond the Contraction!!

 

 

Dave Schmitz

 

 

 

 

Your #1 Resistance Band Training Headquarters

www.resistancebandtraining.com

 

 

 

 

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