What are the best excercises/plyometrics that are rarely used???

[MrWay2Big]

Are there any great exercises that any of you use that are rarely used by anyone else that have good benefits? Example: I've seen in an issue of Men's Health, a chest press workout where you would use two different weighted dumbbells for each arm. I've only seen someone do this on one occasion. The benefit: your brain tells the arm with the heavier dumbbell that it's going to have the same weight resistance as the arm with the lighter weight, in turn, making the arm with the heavier weight work harder. Anything like this you guys have?

 

[jumpshot903]

I don't know about any secret exercises that are gonna blow your mind, but i think one area people neglect which helpes in my mind improve lifts is med ball circuits. I find med balls done the right way work greatly to improve explosivness/power and inturn help to improve main lifts by strengthing muscles not used in normal splits.

Other then that i really would be curious as to some odd lifts people do that yield results.

 

[bigintensions]

An exercise that I use that I never see done by anyone else is towel grip pullups. They work alot more muscles including grip strength.

 

[jumpshot903]

An exercise that I use that I never see done by anyone else is towel grip pullups. They work alot more muscles including grip strength.

Good one, i actually just tried those the other day after hearing there good for grip strength. They really felt good, and different holding yourself up like works some different muscles.

 

[MrWay2Big]

An exercise that I use that I never see done by anyone else is towel grip pullups. They work alot more muscles including grip strength.

Good stuff. I've integrated that into my back workouts along with other pull up variations and grips.

 

[Resolve]

Full Squats and split squats. Yeah, everyone knows squats are good - but at least nobody at my gym knows how to freaking do them.

Also facepulls, cable pullthroughs, floor press, push press and JM press.

 

[ZiR RED]

Second resolve on correct squatting and ancillary movements.

In addition, core (= more than just abs) is neglected and glutes.

Plyometrics are one of the most ill-correctly prescribed and used exercises. Everytime I see a local training having a client do plyometrics, or someone following a crossfit routine doing plyos I cringe.

Br

 

[MrWay2Big]

Second resolve on correct squatting and ancillary movements.

In addition, core (= more than just abs) is neglected and glutes.

Plyometrics are one of the most ill-correctly prescribed and used exercises. Everytime I see a local training having a client do plyometrics, or someone following a crossfit routine doing plyos I cringe.

Br

What makes you cringe about the plyos?

 

[ZiR RED]

IN Personal trainers: Using high impact plyos for conditioning. Over weight people performing plyos and putting a lot of uneeded stress on the joints. People with muscular imbalances who don't know how to squat jump or land correctly awaiting injury.

In cross fitters: Excessive impact (i.e.: when doing a box jump over 18" inches you should slowly lower yourself to the ground..not jump off). A break down of technique resulting in poor motor programming when doing plyo's for conditioning (which is all CF uses them for).

Plyos are meant to be low volume, high recovery periods, and at high velocity/acceleration to build power and enhance the SSC. This means they are NOT a conditioning exercise - they are a neural exercise, and must be treated as such.

Also, there are guidelines and restrictions for who can perform plyos and at what intensity set by various associations. And there's a reason why: a 200 pound lady who cannot squat her own body weight should not be doing plyos. An athlete who cannot do a body weight squat without the knees coming in or back rounding should not be doing plyos.

Br

 

[MrWay2Big]

IN Personal trainers: Using high impact plyos for conditioning. Over weight people performing plyos and putting a lot of uneeded stress on the joints. People with muscular imbalances who don't know how to squat jump or land correctly awaiting injury.

In cross fitters: Excessive impact (i.e.: when doing a box jump over 18" inches you should slowly lower yourself to the ground..not jump off). A break down of technique resulting in poor motor programming when doing plyo's for conditioning (which is all CF uses them for).

Plyos are meant to be low volume, high recovery periods, and at high velocity/acceleration to build power and enhance the SSC. This means they are NOT a conditioning exercise - they are a neural exercise, and must be treated as such.

Also, there are guidelines and restrictions for who can perform plyos and at what intensity set by various associations. And there's a reason why: a 200 pound lady who cannot squat her own body weight should not be doing plyos. An athlete who cannot do a body weight squat without the knees coming in or back rounding should not be doing plyos.

Br

So for a beginner in plyos, what would you recommend? Ive been messing around with plyos lately but after reading your post, I was way off. Mainly on the low volume, high rest portion. I've been prepping for bootcamp (leaving April 16th) and been trying to get away from the heavy weights, hitting them occasionally and really trying to develop muscles that I've neglected and working on strength endurance. With that said, any recommendations with my training?

 

[ZiR RED]

First, I'd check this out (and even join) for some really good info:
http://www.nsca-lift.org/tsac/mp.asp

For conditioning: Prowler pushes, heavy rope work, plate stacking, sand bag work, etc. should make up the majority of your conditioning work. A lot of strong man applications will be really beneficial here too such as yolk walks, farmers walks, log presses, tire flips, etc.

For strength, I see no reason to stop doing heavy weight training in the gym. Focus on compound movements with lower reps. You don't necessarily want to build size, but rather maintain or even increase strength.

Br