Writen By: Simone Kay
Get strong with these 5 essential movements and take your fitness to a whole new level.
Every person I have ever trained has had a very specific individual goal. How you tweak the variables of your program will determine your level of success in the achievement of that goal.
You can exercise all you want, but if your program doesn’t include a healthy little dose of the BIG 5 every week, then you may be robbing yourself of the opportunity to realise your full potential.
Here they are- the BIG 5:
PUSH, PULL, CARRY, CRAWL, RUN
PUSH - Use basic warding patterns using the environment around you or your workout buddies; or sled push a big weight - whatever you choose pushing is a guaranteed way to get your inner power house fired up. Pushing makes you strong from the inside out.
Try these …
Tackle hold warding patterns
Heavy ViPR Push & Crawl (2 of the BIG 5 in 1)
Sled Push
PULL - Shifts the focus to the muscles at the back of the body, whilst keeping your centre and the stabilisers in the game. When you pull you feel strong, you become acutely aware of what is and what isn’t playing the game and success always comes with a magnificent sense of achievement.
Try these …
Roman Ring pull ups (the slow kind, no kipping)
Tug of war
Rock climbing
CARRY - because cavemen had to carry dinner home on their shoulders! Carrying strength is essential to ‘getting it done’. To carry effectively you need to be able to pick something up, move it around your body - overhead, to the side, on the back, move with it and then put it down again without injury. Carrying teaches your body to be strong under load.
Carry these …
Sandbags
Logs
Kettlebells & ViPRS
CRAWL - everyone must crawl before they can walk. Crawling connects the whole body for movement. Spend an hour with a 6 month old baby learning to crawl and copy their actions for a pretty incredible full body workout. You will find the challenge amazing.
Get going with these …
Commando crawl (belly to the ground)
Bear crawl (knees off the ground)
Crab crawl (sideways)
RUN - Author Christopher McDougall suggests we are “Born to Run’. I think he’s right! Running gets your whole body working. Connected from the ground up, tissues throughout the body respond to gravity to ground reaction force, the heart and lungs are fully in the game, and the endocrine system checks in with a release of good hormones when we get the tempo right. So many positives from running.
Runs to try …
7km trail run
1km sprint time trial
400m interval training
NOW, RATE YOUR PROGRAM:
Is anything missing from your workout regime?
To get the BIG 5 and have fun with them take yourself outside the box. Climb trees (pull), play tiggy with your kids (run), wrestle with your partner (push), play twister (crawl), pick up heavy stuff, move with it, and put it down again (carry).
Maybe you already have a program that’s working pretty well for you but you know something else is needed. Add one from each of the BIG 5 each weekday and feel the change.
Try the BIG 5 for BIG results!
