Key points
Keeping your shoulder blades tucked is even more critical for your spine and upper body stability with this exercise. You may want to use the scapular tension exercise for the pull chain to wake up your traps before doing this technique.
If you feel a lot of strain behind your knee, try regressing back to the cross ankle bridge on the straps with your foot closer to your knee.
You can add additional support for your knee by pushing the ball of your foot into the handle as you lift your hips.
Hypertrophy phase exercises for the extension chain
Extension chain finishers
Like with the flexion chain, you can employ any of the progressions as an isometric finisher where you hold the top position for 20-30 seconds.
These are also an excellent chance to work on placing tension along your entire extension chain and not having the tension "pool" into one muscle group or another.
You can also use a regressed level for a set of hard reps. For example, floor hip extensions for 15-20 reps is a good finishing set after doing some x ankle hip extensions on the straps.
Extension chain focused exercises
Hamstring curls
These are the same hamstring curls as the squat chain hypertrophy exercises. With the extension chain variations, feel free to play around with cross ankle and even single leg progressions of this exercise.
Strap bridges
Classic bridge exercises use a lot of spinal extension to bend backward. This is a beneficial exercise, and I encourage anyone willing to learn it to use it. However, the premise behind GSC is to use less technically demanding exercises that anyone can do, and back bending is something many people struggle with.
With that said, back bending bridges do bring a lot of benefits to the spine, and they are a great way to relieve stress in the joints. That's why I created this strap bridge exercise to make the benefits of bending back more accessible to those who have a hard time pushing off of the floor.
You can perform this exercise for reps, or as an isometric finisher for 20-30 seconds.
Chapter 10
Grind Style Hips & Obliques
Last, but certainly not least, we come to the final support chain, the lateral chain. This is one of the least popular areas to work, but it's by no means less necessary than the others. In some ways, your lateral chain may be one of the most critical areas you can train for health and performance.
Think of this as the tension chain that helps glue all of the other chains together so your body can work as one cohesive unit. It incorporates both your flexion and extension chains together while also including muscles in your push, pull and squat chain. This is also the chain that can address some of the weak links that may hold the other chains back. Adding some proper lateral chain work into your program can do wonders to shore up your weaknesses while helping you become more resilient.
Tension control phase exercises for the lateral chain
The biggest challenge with the lateral chain is learning how to coordinate the tension control along each side of your body. Most folks find their biggest weakness is in their hips, which is why the following hip exercises can be beneficial.
As with the tension control exercises for the extension chain, the tension exercises for the lateral chain can bring more benefit when you practice them on a daily basis.
Standing isometric hip abduction
Like with the isometric hamstring exercises, this technique is done standing with your weight equally distributed between your feet. Apply tension to your hips as if you’re trying to spread the floor apart with your feet. It’s helpful to maintain tension along your squat chain so fill your legs with tension including your glutes.
This exercise can be a little tricky at first, especially since these muscles are not very large, and many people have poor tension control in this area. Try experimenting with altering your foot position to modify the angle of resistance. Many people find they have an easier time controlling their tension with their toes slightly turned outward.
Countertop pressing
Like with flexion and extension chain work, lateral chain tension is used to "pull" your body together rather than push your upper and lower half apart.
Countertop pressing helps you apply this pulling tension by pressing one hand down into a table or countertop. You should feel your obliques and spinal muscles contract while doing this. Just as with all leaning, you can use this exercise to get a feel for where your shoulders and hips should be for optimal body alignment.
Stability control phase exercises for lateral chain
T-planks
T-planks are one of the best lateral chain stability exercises because they require a lot of control along your entire body as you transition from one side to another. The technique also requires a lot of control in your shoulders and improves the mobility in your wrists.
The trick with this technique is to move in a smooth and controlled motion from one side to another. It’s not something you’ll want to rush through just to complete a given number of reps. Take your time with each transition and really focus on pressing your supporting hand straight down into the floor. Pause at the top and point your other hand straight up to the sky.
T-plank shifting
This is a slight variation on the first exercise, only instead of shifting from one arm to the other for reps, you'll hold one position and shift yourself around. You can move your hips up, down, forward, back, and also twist your body around. Just be sure to move in a smooth and controlled motion since there's a lot of potential leverage on your shoulder in the T-plank position.
Strength phase exercises for lateral chain
Traditionally, lateral chain work is done as an isometric exercise and for a good reason. Lateral bending and twisting can be a bit of a risky move, especially when loading with external weight. This is why many lateral exercises, like suitcase carries and deadlifts, are used to work the chain with isometric tension.
The lack of external load with bodyweight training offers several significant advantages. For one, these exercises place your lateral chain directly against the pull of gravity to maximize resistance on the working muscles. The second benefit is you can safely move and flex your spine under resistance since there is no acute application of resistance like with a weight. Lastly, these progressions make it possible to challenge your lateral chains with a lot of resistance due to leverage.
Level 1 Wide stance side plank
This is an ideal place to start training your lateral chain. The wide foot placement gives you the support to improve your lateral strength so you can lift yourself up off the floor. A wide stance also makes it easier to dial in the alignment of your upper body.
There are several progressions you can employ with this exercise, including lifting your hips higher off the floor or using a narrower stance. Lifting your hips helps you learn how to improve the tension control along your full lateral chain while working on using tension in your back for shoulder stability.
Key points
Avoid allowing your hips to twist or push back which pulls your hips and shoulders out of alignment.
Keep your shoulder blades retracted so you’re supporting your upper body with the muscles in your back rather than the shoulder joint.
Place your elbow back slightly, so you rest your weight a bit more on your forearm instead of the point of your elbow. This creates a more stable and comfortable position.
Don’t forget that your lats are an important part of your lateral chain. Keep some tension in the lats associated with your supporting arm to improve stability and decrease shoulder stress.
Level 2 Foot on top planks
This is the classic "side plank" exercise where you place one foot on top of the other. Doing so removes a lot of stability from the lower body and forces your whole lateral chain to work harder. As with step one, this is also a challenging opportunity to improve your alignment and take note of any bending or twi
sting you may do to compensate for weak links.
Key points
The same points in the wide stance plank apply here as well, only now your objective is to keep your feet, hips, and shoulders in a perfect straight line.
If this technique creates too much instability, you can progress the wide stance plank by moving your feet in closer to each other to gradually remove the support of using a wider stance.
Level 3 Side bends
These are essentially the side plank done for reps. Start with your hips near the floor and lift your pelvis upward while squeezing the floor together between your bottom foot and arm. You may or may not get your hips all the way to the floor, so don’t force it. Let your hips gently touch the floor and lift them straight up in a smooth and controlled motion as high as you can comfortably manage. Pause at the top and repeat.
Key points
Pay attention to where your range of motion is coming from. Sometimes, you might lock your spine in place and move only at your hips. Other times, you might want to focus on bending your spine. Both methods are fine, so experiment with what feels best for you.
If this exercise is a bit much for your spinal muscles, cut the range of motion in half and don’t lower your hips all the way to the floor. Increase the range as you feel ready.
As always, avoid the temptation to use momentum or let the hips pop up in a fast motion. Smooth and controlled reps will maximize results while ensuring less stress on weaker muscles.
Level 4 Strap side plank
Just as with the flexion and extension chain, suspending your feet in a suspension loop will remove the friction of the floor while elevating your feet slightly. Both of these variables will force your lateral chain to work harder to create more stability and hold your body in a straight line.
Key points
Start off with your hip on the floor while you place your feet into the loop of the Grind Straps. Align your body in a straight line and press down into your feet to lift your hips up to apply resistance.
Make sure your shoulder is in alignment with the anchor point of the strap. If your shoulder is forward or back, you'll find the strap will make your body shift and twist.
Level 5 Strap side bend
These are just like the floor based side bend where you lower your hips toward the floor and then lift them straight up while maintaining straight body alignment.
Be mindful that having your feet elevated on the straps will not only make this harder due to instability but also allow a larger range of motion. Don't force yourself to make your hips touch the floor. Use whatever range of motion feels comfortable for now. Your lateral mobility will improve as your muscles grow stronger and more stable.
Key points
Be on the lookout for even the slightest discrepancies that make you want to bend, twist, or shift around as you move through the reps.
Avoid the temptation to look down at your feet or move your head forward as this will take your neck out of alignment with your spine and cause potential strain.
Level 6 Side bend with stretch out
This final level uses the movement of the straps to elongate yourself as you lower your hips to the floor. You then pull yourself together as you lift your hips up and hold the top position for a second. Stretch yourself out slowly as you lower your hips back down.
Key points
As with all side planks, keep your weight off the point of your elbow and more on your forearm to make the exercise safer and more comfortable.
Just like with the body saw planks, don't try to stretch yourself out as far as you can, especially at first. Always maintain control and only move within 80-90% of your possible range to avoid overloading your lateral chain and causing strains.
Try pressing down into the strap with your bottom foot to improve tension in your supporting hip.
Hypertrophy exercises for the lateral chain
The strength exercises in the grind phase are pretty much all you need to build a strong and robust lateral chain. Plus, most people aren’t too interested in building bigger lateral muscles, but sometimes it can be fun to finish off with the following exercises.
Strap hip abduction
This is an excellent suspension training exercise that emphasizes the abductors in the hips while also working with your extension chain. The setup is just like with the hamstring curls only instead of pulling your heels closer to your hips, you'll be pushing your feet apart with your toes pointing upwards. The further you push your feet apart, the harder this exercise becomes so go as wide as you can without using momentum.
Strap Russian twists
This exercises takes the classic oblique exercise and gives you some variation with the straps.
Start off sitting upright with your knees slightly bent and your hands pressing down into the handles while keeping your arms straight. Lean back as you press into the handles to add resistance to your abdominals. From there, twist to the side with your hands pressing down into the handles. Pause at the top and move to the other side under control. Be sure to not “swing” your arms back and forth with momentum.
Chapter 11
Grind Style Workout Templates
Now that you've been introduced to the GSC approach, and the exercises for each workout, it's time to explore some of the fun ways you can put all of the pieces together into a weekly routine.
But before we dive into some sample workouts, I wanted to take a moment to cover some of the basic principles I've learned over the years to help make workouts work for you.
#1 Your routine is an influence to your success, but not the cause of it
I used to believe that every little detail in my workout plan could make or break my results. As such, I spent an incredible amount of time analyzing my workout from every conceivable angle. Should I do cardio before strength? What if I did dips and pull-ups as a superset, or is it best to just do all my sets of one exercise before moving to the next? Is an upper-lower body split better than push-pull or is full-body better with shorter workouts?
Looking back, I probably spent more time and effort trying to perfect my routine than I spent actually working out. Eventually I came to realize that true success doesn’t come from dialing in a perfect workout formula. It comes from taking basic, muscle challenging exercises, and becoming more proficient at them. The progression of your techniques is what's most important, and if you can manage that, you'll get what you want regardless of what your workout routine looks like.
So feel free to play around and experiment with these routines, or just make up your own to do what you like. Just remember your goal is to create more muscle tension and get stronger. Beyond that, the rest is just details.
#2 Keep things balanced
There aren’t that many ingredients that go into an effective routine. For one, you need to make sure you’re incorporating exercises that create muscle tension in a productive way for your specific goals. Since GSC is all about creating tension for the sake of building strength and muscle, the basic 4-phase format of a GSC workout has you covered.
Another essential ingredient is to keep your workouts balanced, so you're working your whole body. Again, working all 6 tension chains will help you achieve a decent amount of balance, but it's easy to overemphasize some areas over others. This is especially the case with bodyweight training where moves like push-ups and pull-ups get a lot of attention, but hip extensions and leg work are sometimes neglected.
It's perfectly fine to place a little more emphasis in some areas that are weaker so you can bring them up to speed. Sometimes, it's a good idea to do more rows or lunges just to wake up the muscles in those areas. Just be sure to not overemphasize any one area for too long, so your body both looks and performs in a balanced way.
#3 Your routine can only work if it fits you
A good routine is like a pair of shoes. It can have all of the latest scientific design behind it, but it won't work if it doesn't fit you.
There are several
things an effective routine must fit, including your schedule, energy level, equipment, and preferences. It doesn't matter if running 3 miles a day and practicing a 90-minute powerlifting workout is supposedly the best way to get in shape. That plan won't work for you if you hate to run and can't fit a 90-minute workout into your busy schedule.
Avoid the temptation to cram as much work into your life as possible. One of the biggest reasons why people fail to stick to a workout program is they strive to spend as much time and energy as they can in an effort to maximize results. When life gets a little rough, they can't maintain their high-maintenance habits and quit. The smart thing to do is to cut back and adjust so you can continue to move forward.
The most straightforward advice I can give is to use what you have. If you only have 10 minutes, then adjust your routine to fit that parameter. If you're tired and don't have much energy, then use what energy you do have. Usually, this is just a matter of adjusting the volume of your workout. So instead of doing 3 hard grind sets just do two or even one. Or maybe don't do a full grind workout at all and just loosen up with some stability exercises. Always remember there's no such thing as an ineffective rep, set or exercise. Everything has at least some value, no matter how small it may seem.
#4 Stick with the same basic routine for at least 4-6 weeks
Our modern fitness culture has conditioned us to always look for the next shiny trend or fad. There's always a flashy new method or program promising you the body of your dreams, and it's conditioned us to quickly get bored with what we're currently doing. Some plans even advocate doing random and different things in every workout to prevent boredom.
Grind Style Calisthenics Page 8
