The King Of All Exercises

8.08.2010

Blog

Mike Gittleson was the Director of Strength & Conditioning at the University of Michigan for 30 years and was a part of 15 Football Championships in that time. He explains, “The King is Dead, Long Live the King.”

The Barbell Squat has been dubbed the King of all exercises. CrossFit enthusiasts argue and say the King is not the barbell squat, but the high repetition air squat or free body squat and others claim the one legged squat is King. For most coaches the barbell squat throughout the years has remained the King of all exercises.
This concept of the pontification of the barbell squat has been handed down from gym to gym, school to school, and from coach to coach for decades. The truth is the King is Dead when it comes to contact sports. Without question the King of all exercises is the Neck Machine.

The neck is the most valuable part of our structure. It protects the brain. Therefore without question an exercise that trains the musculature of the cervical spine and head is the most important thing that can be done by any athlete.

The head and neck should not be treated as warm-up exercises that are done before strength training begins nor should this important body part be classified as pre-hab.

The muscles of the cervical spine are to be trained as a system. Training the sides of the neck one day, front and back another, and another day shrugging is side stepping when designing a program. A training program should be approached in exactly the opposite way. We should write down our neck exercise routine and then fit in all other desired exercises around neck training.

If there is only time for one exercise it must be the neck. If you have to eliminate the abs, the bench press, the lower back or even the Barbell Squat to make time for neck training in your program… then do it.

We must protect our athletes and lower subconcussive forces FIRST. This is not an argument it is being sensible, responsible and it means doing the right thing.

Record every repetition of neck work that you do. If neck training is important to you, it will be important to your team.

Change your record boards to include neck training and place the results above the barbell squat.

The King is Dead, Long Live the King of Exercises……Neck Training.

6.2.2023

Closed And Open Chain

Open kinetic chain exercises of the lower limb are movements, where the distal segment is unloaded and free to move. The opposite is true of closed kinetic chain exercises, whereby there is enough resistance to prohibit free motion.

Closed kinetic chain exercises are movements such as squats, Pendulum Squat Pro, leg presses and lunges, while open chain exercises are actions like leg curls, leg extensions and the Pendulum Reverse Glute Ham.

The kinetic chain can be understood as interrelated joints and body parts working with one another during motion. This creates a chain of events that affects the movement of neighboring joints and segments.

The advantage of open chain movements is that they tend to be better at isolating muscle and often are selected for specific rehabilitation and used to accentuate performance. While closed chain movements in general would be classified as more functional and closely approximating movements that are used in sport and daily life.

Open Chain Reverse Glute Ham

Closed Chain Pendulum Power Squat Pro

Closed Chain Pendulum Power Squat Pro XT

5.11.2023

Arkansas Baseball Weight Room

5.11.2023

2-for-2 Method

Some trainers, coaches and athletes use what is called the 2-for-2 Method for increasing training load. The rule is if the trainee can perform two or more repetitions over one’s ‘repetition goal’ in the last set of an exercise, for two consecutive workouts, the weight is added for that particular exercise the next training session.