FAQs

Sorry about the confusion on timings – not a daft question at all. In terms of the duration of a workout / training session you are right that we are talking about 4 exercises for around 90 seconds each.  I train like this myself and personally find that a session for me takes closer to 10 – 15 minutes if I include the time that I spend getting changed and moving from one exercise to another….and panting at the end!

When doing the row, my hands fatigued before the rest of my body.  Any suggestions on how to modify the towel handle?

The grip can be a weak link in this exercise.  To work around it, first of all adopt a more upright stance, moving your feet further from the door so the levers change making everything easer.

Secondly, what we can do is to “pre-exhaust” the back muscles – the latissimus dorsi / lats – so that they are tired and they give out before the grip.  One easy way is with what is called a Timed Static Contraction (TSC).

 

My recommendation is that you do all 4 exercises in a single session.  Do the moves one after another and try to move between exercises with as little rest as possible.  There are a couple of reasons for this prescription:

 

I’ve read HillFit four times and have begun the journey over the hills so to speak…but what I stumbled over was my  confusion as to how you do the exercises. Are they static or repetitions?

Thanks for the support and sorry for the lack of clarity.  This is definitely one for the FAQs.

• Wall sit – yes this is a static exercise.  You hold the position until you can’t hold it anymore.  The position is strong and puts the muscles in a safe position.   Progressions are to move towards the 90degree, maximum lever position then to add weight.

• Push up – the pushup is a motion:  up and down nice and slow.  The plank is as much as anything a test.  If you can’t hold the pushup plank position for a minute you are not going to be able to maintain the proper body position to allow you to do full pushups – your “core”/ posture will collapse long before your chest/arms/shoulders.  Working that plank will help to develop that core stability and strength in the postural muscles that is needed to allow you to do full pushups.   While you are developing that stability  the idea is to choose the easier options – wall pushup, pushup from desk, pushup from the knees.  These will work the chest/arms/shoulders without the posture / core limiting you.  Ultimately I’d like people to do full pushups but for most – even most men – they are too hard and the easier progressions will be needed.  In this way the plank in essence becomes a 5th exercise in the routine.  Do your modified pushups and then at the end do your plank to develop the core / postural strength that you need to do full pushups.

• Towel row – is intended to be motion.  Check the FAQ page for a suggestion on preceding it with an isometric exercise to make it harder.

• Hip Raise – is intended to have motion.  The key thing there is to actively squeeze the butt before you start to move.

I also gave a reply to a lady a few days ago:

Hip Extension

First of all, hip extension.  We are focussing on the “hip hinge”, not the lower back.  The focus is on the glutes too rather than the hamstrings.  Before you move at all, squeeze your “bum cheeks” together, then lift your hips in the air, keeping that squeeze on.  To keep the work in the glutes, try lifting your toes so you are really pushing only through the heels.

These movements to me are all too fast, but the movement pattern is what we are aiming at:

http://youtu.be/uU2xYwNzV4c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nv7iGFQqsDE&feature=player_embedded

An alternative and one which is probably easier and which to be honest I do myself, is to do the move in a kneeling position.  This is often described as a kneeling hip thrust or a kneeling squat.   You can search on YouTube for some examples, but the movement is the same as the hip extension I prescribe in the book.  There is a decent description here:

 

Mike Reinold calls it a kneeling hip thrust and describes it here: He writes well, but if you are performing he move slowly as I recommend, then I think you can do it without the dowel and bands.  Do it wearing a weighted rucksack to add resistance,.

Again as in Hillfit I would recommend a slow movement style, taking perhaps 10 seconds for each phase of the motion, up and down

On page 19 of Hillfit:Strength in the chapter on Performance Principles I say:

If you want a more precise prescription as a guide, then I would advise that you aim to take 10 seconds each for both the lifting and lowering portions of the movements, taking special care to go smoothly at the turnarounds – the top and bottom of the motion. Remember that we want the benefits of exercise while we wish to avoid unnecessary wear and tear. Moving slowly and deliberately will help minimise those risks.

So the idea is that you take around 10 seconds to pull yourself to the top position and then 10 seconds to lower yourself to the start  for each repetition.   Continue doing this moving slowly and deliberately – think of the slow careful movements in tai chi – with the aim of reaching failure in around 90 seconds.

So if each repetition is taking around 20 seconds in 90 seconds you will be going up and down about 4 or 5 times.  If you can continue at that careful speed for more than 90 seconds, then add some weight or try the Times Static Contraction that I mention above on the FAQ page