We all know that fitness is good for us physically; it reduces stress and keeps us at a healthy weight. But sometimes it can be hard to know where to start and how to progress your fitness level. Fitness includes many areas: cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speech, agility, balance, coordination and accuracy. We have the ability to increase any of those areas!

But, who has time? Here are a few short workouts at home that require little to no equipment. Everything can be modified so that all fitness levels can increase in just minutes a day.

Note: Before starting any of these listed below, check with your doctor to make sure that your heart is healthy enough for exercise. If you have knee pain, check with your physician before completing this exercise.

Exercise #1 Box Squats

Background: I love box squats because the nature of the exercise makes your body perform the squat correctly. I believe the most important exercise to do regularly is the squat. This variation of the squat can be performed at home and all you need is a stable chair. This is also an exercise that beginners and athletes can perform to strengthen knee stabilizing muscles and control at the bottom of the squat.

To perform: Start with feet close to chair or surface you are sitting on to. The chair should rest about the height of your knees.

• Pull your arms parallel to the floor.
• Lower your hips and sit them as far back as possible.
• Keep your back straight and weight on the heels.
• Look straight in front of you and keep your arms up and parallel to the floor.
• Once fully seated, stand up while keeping the knees pointed outward with arms fully extended in front of you.
• Do not use your arms to push off you knees – make your legs do the work!

Option # 1: Complete as many box squats in 5 minutes as possible. This one is easy to do during commercials or while watching the news.

Option # 2: Complete 30 box squats, take a 2 minute break, then complete 20 box squats. After taking a final 2 minute break, complete 20 box squats. Done!

Option # 3: If you want to progress the exercise, stop just before touching the seat and hover for a few seconds. Or, complete the exercise with dumbbells resting on the shoulders or a barbell on the back. Another way to increase the difficulty is to try 10 minutes of reps or 2 rounds of 5 minute reps with a short break in between.

Four Reasons Squats Rock:

1. Squats work not only the legs; but the hips, back, abdominal muscles, and calves. It’s a while body workout with one easy movement.
2. Keeping your arms raised maintains correct positioning of your back while also working the shoulder and arm muscles.
3. Building muscle will burn more calories throughout the day, even when you are not being active.
4. Toning the muscles that support the joins will help decrease pain in the knees, hips, back and help prevent injuries down the road. 

Kylie Ludemann specializes in occupational therapy. She received her education at Creighton University and practices at OCH/Advantage Therapy. To contact Kyle, call Advantage Therapy at (417) 889-4800.

Even when I’m not in the squat rack at the gym, I’m still in it. I’ve got my big beak peering across looking at people’s form. I wouldn’t ever go stick my nose in unless I felt it was appropriate or if someone was amazing enough to ask my opinion. But nevertheless, I’m still watching.

Yesterday I watched as someone took to the rack.

The sets started out really well. His squats were deep. That’s not to say they couldn’t be cleaned up some, as they always can (Strength Training London personal training anyone?) however, they were still better than most.

Then the weight went up, and up, and the squats got less and less deep. Ending in quarter squat repetitions. As much as I wanted to, I kept my distance and concentrated on my weighted pull ups. Now perhaps he wanted to finish with quarter squats but I’m guessing not. He was scared he couldn’t get back up if he went deeper, he also felt his back being loaded and had second thoughts about pushing his luck.

This morning in my CrossFit London Thursday class I programmed the CrossFit Total. Three movements (squat, overhead press and deadlift) and three attempts to hit a new personal best.

Again the curse of the shallow squat struck.

They were not as pronounced as what I’d seen the day before but still as the big weights rolled in, form and in particular depth rolled back out. There were a few different kinds of culprits:

Culprit 1 – The No Way José.  The warm ups look great: full depth, chest up, driving the bar up with no balance issues. Then when the weight gets heavy it’s just a case of “you know what if I keep going I’m not coming back, screw that”. And it’s done.

Culprit 2 – The Bum Searchers. Those who get so far and then slow the movement right down as they gingerly search for the correct depth. The bum wiggles it’s way down in the hope it will get below parralell. By the time it’s found we are already looking at game over. The stretch reflex is lost, momentum is gone and coming back up is pretty much out of the question.

Culprit 3 – The Balancing Act Victims. At the bottom the weight pinned them forward. The chest didn’t rise with the hips and gravity showed up and spanked them, hard.

So a few suggestions on what to do you shallow lot:

1. Practise at sub maximal weights. Strength is built at sub max weights and that’s where form is drilled too. Ensure your volume sets are deep and strive for perfect form everytime.
2. Don’t fanny around at the bottom. Get down, get depth, get out. Sit there and that’s exactly what you’ll do – stay sitting there.
3. Use box squats, pause squats, dynamic lifting and other corrective methods to clean up your act. Research them on the Internet or ask your local friendly Strength Training London coach to go through them with you.
4. Find some miserable old goat who likes to criticise everything and work out with them. Yes, it’s great to be told how amazing your squat was, but it’s even better if someone can pick holes in it and tell you how to improve. What’s that? Strength Training London coaching again? What a good idea. Though if all else fails and you can’t get a mate or a trainer to check out your form use a camera or phone to video your form then you can pick it to pieces.

I will soon be running another Strength Training London workshop at Paris Gym in Vauxhall, I’ll be covering the Back Squat again but in more detail than the previous introductory Squat workshop. Members of the gym make sure to get booked on if you feel you need some help with brushing up on form.

And for my CrossFit London UK members, I’ll be hitting the back squat hard for the next couple months employing a Texas Method approach to try and clean up the form and take you into another 1RM attempt feeling much stronger.

If you found this article interesting, entertaining or informative please take a moment to share on Facebook or other social network sites. Spread the love.

Chris Howard is a strength coach and personal trainer working out of gyms in both Vauxhall and Bethnal Green.

chris@strengthtraininglondon.com

Jackson is new to these. Today he hit a PB with 180 kg plus 40 kg of chain for a triple. I am excited to see the difference this makes. We are using the giant cambered bar as I want to rest his elbows which take a hammering from benching and squatting.

Next week is max effort week for a single. I have challenged him to hit 210 plus the chains. Let’s see how mentally tough he has become.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPsK53H7r8w

Only issue was that I felt a twinge in my knee on the way down. I don’t think it is serious but it has blown up. I will ice tonight and see what it’s like tomorrow. The fact I would come off the box with 365 makes me think it’s just a strain. I hope so.

Compare to: Friday, January 13, 2012

Assistance:
A1: Seated Good Mornings: 3×8-12 (#)
A2: Cable Crunches: 3×8-12 (#)

MetCon:
AMRAP 10:

5 Burpees
10 Air Squats
20 Double Unders

Post total number of rounds to comments:

Post WOD:
Biceps Exercise of Choice: 3×8-12

Here is what Jim Wendler has to say about box squats being bad for the back.

“Box squats are bad for the back: I hear this all of the time but am reminded of a famous quote by Meg Ritchie, former strength and conditioning coach at the University of Arizona. “There are no dangerous lifts, just dangerous coaches.” I’ve seen very bad box squats and I’ve seen very good box squats. I’ve also seen really awful bench pressing but no one is battling that exercise. When people tell you that box squats are bad for the back ask them to show you the evidence. Since THEY attacked box squats, THEY should provide you with the information. Not the other way around. Also, if you are a coach and are using the box squat, please do us all a favor and learn how to do it and learn how to COACH it. You’d be saving everyone a lot of headaches and time if this were followed.”- Jim Wendler

Compare to: Friday, December 16, 2011

Assistance:
A1: Dumbbell Reverse Lunges: 3×8-12 (#)
A2: Glute Hamstring Raises: 3×8-12

MetCon:
Alternating TABATA:

Kettlebell Swings 1.5/1 Pood
Situps
Back Extensions
Box Jumps 24/20″

Post total number of reps to comments:

Compare to: Friday, November 18, 2011

Assistance:
A1: Seated Hamstring Curls with Bands: 3×15-20
A2: Glute Bridges: 3×15-20

3 Rounds of:
30 Situps
30 Russian Twists
15 Leg Raises

Assistance:
A1: Seated Hamstring Curls with Bands: 3×15-20
A2: Glute Bridges: 3×15-20
A3: Seated Good Mornings: 3×8-12 (#)

3 Rounds of:
10 Weighted Situps (25#)
15 Leg Raises
20 Weighted Russian Twists (25#)

“max effort lower body”
- 7 x 3 box squats
- 3 x 12 pistol squats on elevated platform (w/ 30 lbs)
- 3 x 6 pistol squats on the ground
- 3 x 10 GHD raises (10 lb med ball)
- 3 x 10 med ball slams

Got up to 308 lbs on my last set of box squats. I was pretty happy with the weight since squats aren’t my best lift. I threw in some pistol squats as a crossfit element. I still need to work on my flexibility and leg strength in order to do certain WODs with high reps of  pistol squats.

That was the last workout this week. I’m going to enjoy the weekend and then get ready to start up some crossfit WODs again on Monday.

8 x 2 Box Squats
5 x 3 Clean Pulls
3 x 10 GHD Raise

After a long break, I’m trying to get back to the regular routine. Today was all about explosiveness. I heard of box squats from Westside Barbell. They are supposed to increase your squat max and build explosive hip strength. This was my first time ever doing it, so I really focused on keeping my shins perpendicular to the floor. My last set was at 264 lbs. I could have done more but I was more interested in exploding up off the box.

The box squats was a great warm-up to the clean pulls. I felt pretty good on my form and I could tell I was exploding well. My last set of clean pulls was at 286 lbs. I used the hook grip and I definitely felt like my thumb was going to come off. I’m still getting use to the grip, but I can tell that I am lifting more because of it. I finished off the day with 3 sets of GHD raises. Instead of going slow, I came up as quickly as possible. Again, stressing power and explosiveness. Today’s workout didn’t cause me to sweat very much, but I know I got something out of it. My squat form improved and my hamstrings really do feel the burn.

Training time: 8am to 9am

Warm up: Foam Rolling, Stretching, Dynamic Mobility Drills

NBL = Number of Barbell Lifts

A. SSB Box Squats:

45kg x 3 x 2, 65kg x 2 x 2, 85kg x 2, 105kg x 1, Belt on: 115kg x 1, 125kg x 1, 135kg x 1, 145kg x 1, 152.5kg x 1, 160kg x 1 (PR)

NBL = 19

Hang from Pull-Up bar stretch

Conventional Pulls- worked up to 305×7 x3 *beltless

Done as a complex:
Spud Strap Fallouts- 15 x3
Decline Pikes- 5 x3
Hanging Pikes- 5 x3
Crunch Ups-10 x3

This workout was brutal. On Sundays, I drive about 70 miles to the nearest decent gym and make a point to crush weights for the entire afternoon. If it’s important, I get it done on Sundays. It’s also nice that one of the two Chipotles in South Carolina is 5 minutes from the gym.

The box squats went very well, ended up working up to a double with 285+ about 160 lbs in chain. I got a fair amount of volume in on the way up to that weight, so I feel like I got some quality raw work in today.

This was my second workout in my scaled-back Smolov deadlift cycle, and I can tell already, this program is either going to build a shit ton of strength and work capacity OR absolutely bury me. Hopefully the first. Got some advice from the locals on my pull, so hopefully implementing the things we talked about will bring up my weaknesses and make this training cycle even more effective.

After squatting and pulling, I got suckered into training abs with a couple of the strongmen. This sucked and I almost puked. Short rest intervals are normally fairly vomit-inducing, but when you’re doing nothing but contracting your abs for 10 minutes straight, it’s almost a sure thing.

This was a three hour workout when it was all said and done, wouldn’t have made it through without my amazingly high-tech peri-workout nutrition protocol:

Actually, this little gem went down yesterday morning (4/27/10).  A very busy day — complete with a dash out to the RDU airport to pick up Meesus TTP, among other things — prevented me from posting this in a more timely manner.

Anyway, here’s the workout:

wide stance box squat (just below parallel): 135 x 5; 185 x 5; 205 x 3, 3; 225 x 3, 3, 3 — explode off the box

weighted dips (all sets w/ black band, doubled): 45 x 7 sets of 4 (in a superset with box squats); then 45 x 5 sets of 3 (in a superset with DB snatches)

dual DB power snatch: 40 x 5; 50 x 4; 65 x 3, 3, 3

I finished-up with two sets of bodyweight GHR’s x 15 reps; “free-fall” negatives, catch/rebound with the body parallel to the ground, and explode back up.  Remember that in the GHR, we want to lessen the contribution of the lower back, and accentuate the contributions of the glutes/hams.  It’s essential, then to maintain a relatively rounded back and ensure to drive the torso all the way through until the thighs are perpendicular to the ground.

A few notes: The dual DB power snatch example video I’ve linked to shows an exaggerated kick/foot-stomp the likes of which I am not a fan, nor do I employ.  The foot stomp is supposed to be an Oly lift technique reminder (the “catch” foot positioning being wider than the “pull” positioning, therefore you should hear/feel your feet re-plant) that has somehow slipped into the personal training “lexicon”, so that now in gyms across the nation you’ll see people doing this exercise with feather-light weights, and stomping away as if they’re at a Riverdance audition.  Just don’t do it; if you can still jump like Tinkerbell in this movement, for Crissakes, grab heavier dumbbells.

The box squat: this is primarily a hip/glute/ham exercise — not a quad exercise.   To perform this movement properly, think of sitting back (waaaaay back) in a rolling office chair so that by the time your butt hits the seat, your knees are splayed wide (attempting to “spread the floor” with your feet, which are “torqued” into the ground) and your shins are at a slight angle back.  This is counter-intuitive to most, and a different movement (and set-up) altogether from the high-bar, Oly squat (or front squat, for that matter…or a RFESS).  Now from this position, you want to explode off of the box.  How?  Think once more of sitting in that office chair.  Now, with your shins at that “backward” angle we talked about earlier, pull yourself so that you roll forward.  Feel your glutes and hams engage?  Yeah, that’s what we’re looking for.  This is really a “squat” in name only, and maybe it would be better if the movement went by another name entirely.  The problem is, we hear the word “squat” and all of a sudden, all we can think of is the movement we learned when we were first introduced to the iron game.  Not that the old school squat is bad, it’s just not what we’re working today; another tool for another time.  Anyway, it takes a good while to get the technique of this movement properly ironed-out.  It is, however, well worth the time investment.

Anyone been to the Earth Fare grocery chain?  It’s kind of like a spiffier Whole Foods, and without the tattooed employees.  I dunno, maybe I like things a little grittier, but I if I had to choose between the two, I’d opt for Whole Foods.  The Earth Fare crew does make a fantastic variety of paleo-friendly chicken salad, though; an awesome tarragon kale, and roasted sweet potato/bell pepper side dish as well.   Kudos to the kitchen staff for those eats!