Weigh Yourself Down For Improved Performance

Why Wear A Weight Vest?

A weight vest is pretty much exactly as it sounds: a vest that fits over the torso and allows for varying amounts of resistance through the form of weighted plates that can be inserted into the front and back of the vest in secure pouches. With their high versatility, they provide a wide range of benefits to your training, including increased strength and endurance, improved cardiovascular benefits, musculoskeletal, as well as being a great tool for variation.

Before strapping on a weight vest, you need to ask yourself if your current level of fitness would allow you to step up the intensity of even the most basic movements. For example, if you struggle to perform 10 full-length body-weight push ups, dips, or pull ups, then you should probably first focus on building up your general fitness level before adding any extra resistance. As you do so, you can start to strap on the vest without weight to become accustomed to the fit and feel while performing cardio, such as running, and other body-weight based movements (squats, push ups, pull ups, etc) before then adding some weighted plates in the pouches.

Battle Ropes

Battle, or War Ropes provides you with a full body workout, and can be used for either low-impact exercises or HIIT workouts, making them great for both beginners and athletes alike. Even just performing waves for a long and steady period of time, you’ll reap the benefits over long-duration cardio on treadmills and stationary bikes. This is due to them being a strength-based exercise as well as cardiovascular, meaning you’ll burn twice the amount of fat than you would slugging away at long-duration cardio, and in half the time!

There are 3 main elements to consider with battle ropes, and they are: intensity level, rope weight/resistance, and repetitions/duration. Ideally, the less reps you perform with the higher-intensity the better. You need to overload your muscles to make a real difference. If you perform dynamic exercises with battle ropes (any exercises that use joint movement), then you will be seeing an improvement in your mobility and an increase in the range of motion in your joints.  Stability will be enhanced through excessively repeating the movements performed with the ropes whilst standing with your feet planted on the ground.  It will come after mobility is improved and strengthened over time. In a nutshell, forcing them to endure the exercise at a constant pace without momentum to aid them means that they are being trained in a completely new way. Consequently, they’ll also gain strength in an area where they were previously weak, providing ‘the missing link to training.’

Kettlebells

Training with kettlebells can really help amplify your power output. Since most kettlebell movements cannot be performed slowly, they develop a special quality known as power-endurance, or your ability to produce movements over an extended period of time. This differs from strength-endurance. Strength- endurance is your ability to produce force over an extended period of time. kettlebell training teaches your body how to contend with a constantly changing center of gravity. The design of the kettlebell also adds another unique component to your grip training. Since many kettlebell exercises take place with your arms in an overhead position the muscles responsible for assisting the breathing process are engaged in muscular activity, not allowing them to assist in the respiratory process. “Small is the new big”

Medicine Ball Throws

Medicine ball training is about purpose and transfer, and great for torso strength and added conditioning. Routines that are high-repetition and continuous are considered work capacity and will develop pillar or core strength. Due to the dynamic nature of medicine balls, I like to include them within my workouts that in ways that challenge the body with movements that focus on stabilizing and mobilizing joints and working the muscular systems.

Throws can be thought of as one part coordination and another part neuromuscular power. The medicine ball throws for power, whether for distance or height in any direction and style, are very total body.