Functional Workouts Archives | Page 2 of 3

High Intensity Interval Training Cuts Your Workout in Half!

Brian Dick So I have some good news and bad news… The Bad News: According to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), the average adult should undertake at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise a week. This equates to roughly 3 to 5 weekly workouts at 30 to 60 minutes a piece. While it’s …

High Intensity Interval Training Cuts Your Workout in Half!

Squat Variations for Functional Strength

Functional Workouts, Miscellaneous / By Brian Dick

Brian Dick While I’m a huge fan of the behind the back squat for developing useful athletic functional strength, I’ve recently heard an interesting perspective on squats from an older bodybuilding.com forum comment. (FYI – Bodybuilding.com has a tremendous amount of interesting information including a lot of information on things completely unrelated to fitness.) A person on …

Squat Variations for Functional Strength

What are the benefits of doing push-ups and other “functional” exercises like pull-ups in addition to a weight-training routine?

Functional Workouts / By Brian Dick

Answer by Brian Dick: The benefits of functional exercises such as push ups, pull ups, body squats, burpees, handstand push presses, etc. are: 1. They are free or virtually free. You can do them at home, at a park, or as an add-on to your standard gym workouts. 2. They are compound movements (usually the …

What are the benefits of doing push-ups and other “functional” exercises like pull-ups in addition to a weight-training routine?

What are some underappreciated bicep exercises?

Functional Workouts / By Brian Dick

Answer to: What are some underappreciated bicep exercises? by Brian Dick: Overhand Bicep Curls (either with straight bar or easy curl bar). What I like about the overhand grip is the amount of engagement that occurs with the brachioradialis muscle group. This muscle group (which runs along the forearm to the outside portion of the …

What are some underappreciated bicep exercises?

What are good assistance exercises for improving your squat?

Functional Workouts / By Brian Dick

Answer to: What are good assistance exercises for improving your squat? by Brian Dick: I don’t think I’m answering your question directly, because you asked specifically about “assistance exercises,” but assuming positive results will help you overlook the indirect answer, here are my suggestions: Squatting with chain/band resistance. By adding chains or elastic bands to …

What are good assistance exercises for improving your squat?

Compound Workouts for Functional Strength Gains

Functional Workouts / By Brian Dick

by: Brian Dick Excuses excuses. So you don’t have time to hit the gym? Try compound workouts to speed your workouts and maximize your gains. Not to mention, compound workouts more closely mimic the functional strength and movements needed in your average day. 3 Examples of Compound Workouts Burpee-to-Pull-Up: While the burpee is an excellent …

Compound Workouts for Functional Strength Gains

TRX Training Tool

Functional Workouts / By Brian Dick

I am a subscriber to Men’s Health (I’m getting the magazine for free by just filling out surveys online – I highly recommend this by the way, it is legit. I thought for sure it was going to spark a lot of junk mail/email, but I just get the magazines I ordered…sorry about the aside, …

TRX Training Tool

Mixed Weights For Functional Gains

Functional Workouts / By Brian Dick

One of the biggest benefits of working out with dumbbells is that you can’t “cheat” your workout by having your dominant side take over when you’re struggling. Dumbbells force the lifter to apply equal effort from both sides of the body. While switching to dumbbells for most of your workouts will increase your symmetry and …

Mixed Weights For Functional Gains

Plyo Pull-Ups?

Functional Workouts / By Brian Dick

As we’ve mentioned numerous times, pull-ups are some of the most important exercises to incorporate into your workouts to gain functional strength. While some advanced pull-up advocates choose to add weight to make their pull-ups more difficult, our team always opts for adding explosiveness for difficult rather than weight. Examples of pull-ups that include explosive components: (Beginner) …

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Top 5 Dynamic Core Workouts (We’ve found for functional strength gains)

Functional Workouts / By Brian Dick

Core Strength The base of all functional fitness movements is a strong core. When discussing the core, many people simply think of ab crunches or sit ups. There are two major flaws with this thinking. The core includes all muscles from the upper thigh to just below the nipples — INCLUDING your BACK MUSCLES. Static …

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