ChristianStrengthTraining.com

One of my new year’s resolutions is to post the best of my devotions with our Christian Fitness Bootcamp group on Tuesday/Thursday nights.

Might as well start with one that should grab your attention and boost my search engine ratings

You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it! - John 14:13-14

Over the last few months, two names have become verbs that everyone can recognize.

Tebow (and the act of Tebowing) has become synonymous with praying.

On the other end of the spectrum is Sandusky.   I think you can gather what the verb version of this name refers to…let’s move on.

What if your name became a verb?  What would it be associated with?  I would love it if someone said, “Yesterday, I was Rhymering, and it was amazing!” and have them referencing anything like Tebow that was synonymous with Jesus, prayer, faith, hope, etc.

I am the last of this particular branch of Rhymers.  Both my brother and I have girls, so I feel responsible for leaving the Rhymer name in good standing and something that my daughter can be proud of.  What will be your legacy and if your name became an action would it represent all of the fruits of the spirit that Paul wrote about, or all of the compassion that was embodied in Christ?

Live with Strength!

Jason Rhymer

Happy New Year! I thought we would kick off 2012 with a huge post of basically every exercise I know or have used over the years. This post would have been unbearable if I had to describe each one, but you can send me any questions or comments you may have about how to do them. I also suggest searching online and there is a good chance you can find videos of everything here. I have provided some video links from our Power Devo archives.

Spoiler alert - I cheated a bit at the end, but there are actually way more than 365 exercises here. One other thought…it is not about how many you know, but how many can you master! A few of these can a long way to creating a lifetime of strength and physical success.

Here are 365 exercises to keep you busy this year. Oh wait, it’s a leap year…take two.

Here are 366 exercises to keep you busy this year.

1-”To change the world, starts with one step.” - Dave Matthews. Take that first step. Open your front door and run or walk. 5 minutes, 5 miles, whatever you can do. But take the first step and move!
2-Buy a $9 or $10 jump rope and *explore.
*You will see me use the term “explore” alot. Exercise and being healthy forever is a journey of discovery. Explore means do it, time it, try moving with it, have fun with it, make it hard, make it easy, do it and see what you discover about the exercise and yourself.
3-Squat - still the king of all exercises…over 250 muscles are used when you squat.
4-Overhead squat
5-Back squat
6-Front squat
7-Zercher squat
8-Goblet squat
9-Deck squat
10-Unevenly-loaded squat
11-Go to Plankville - Planks or pillars (you can Google either one) are the most basic core exercise that you need to master.
12-Side plank
13-3-point plank
14-2-point plank
15-Walk the plank (RRRgghh, Matey! - must be said with pirate voice)
16-Planks with limb abductions
17-Planks with limb abductions and internal/external rotations with those limbs
18-Push-ups - top 2 or 3 upper body exercises of all time.
19-Spider push-ups
20-Band or weight on the back push-ups
21-Scorpion push-ups
22-”Thread the needle” push-ups
23-Push-up holds (at top, mid-position, or bottom)
24-Wide-grip push-ups
25-Triangle (close-grip) push-ups
26-Plyo-pushups
27-Wheel of Push-ups (Classic Power Devo video here)
28-Bearcrawl push-ups
29-Pick up something heavy and carry it. This is the oldest exercise of all time.
30-Overhead carry
31-Suitcase style (arms by your side carry)
32-Shoulder carry
33-Odd/Unstable Implement carry - ask your company for one of the empty big water bottles from the break room and fill it with water, lead shot, sand, etc. Cap the end and explore with ways to carry it.
34-Stationary Lunges
35-Lateral lunges
36-Walking lunges
37-Jumping lunges (split jumps)
38-Reverse lunges
39-Wheel of Lunges (works same as the Push-up Wheel above)
40-Pull-ups - barely edging push-ups in my mind as the best upper body exercise of all time
41-Wide-grip pull-ups
42-Banded pull-ups
43-Close-grip, underhand pull-ups
44-Jumping pull-ups (Power Devo coming soon…what a tease!)
45-Deadlifts (I pick it up, I put it down - who has seen that commercial?)
46-Romanian Deadlifts - the best lower body/posterior chain exercise that nobody does.
47-Jefferson Deadlifts
48-Sumo Deadlifts
49-Deadlift with single-arm dumbbell/kettlebell at your side
50-Dips
51-Banded dips
52-Weighted dips
53-Moving dips - playgrounds have those low parallel bars. Stay in the top of dip and move across them.
54-Jumping jacks
55-Rotational jumping jacks
56-Horizontal arm jacks
57-Moving jacks - forward, lateral, backward
58-Weighted - hold light dumbbells
59-Defensive slides or side shuffle
60-Burpees (Classic Power Devo video here)
61-Push-up burpees
62-Single-arm burpees
63-Single-leg burpees
64-Moving burpees
65-Weighted burpees with light dumbbells
66-Push-up rows or Renegade rows
67-Duck walks
68-Rotational duck walks
69-Bear crawls
70-Rotational bearcrawls
71-Backwards bearcrawls - sneaky shoulder workout
72-Inchworms
73-Backward inchworms
74-Frog hops
75-Single-leg hops
76-Rotational single-leg hops
77-Broad jumps
78-Rotational broad jumps
79-Star jumps
80-Rotational star jumps
81-Hip turns
82-Gorilla hops
83-Giant skips
84-Crossovers (or grapevine or Karaoke)
85-Climb a tree
86-Jump a fence or wall (Classic Power Devo video here)
87-Go to a playground and explore - there are 4 great playgrounds within a 10 minute drive where I know I can explore with climbing, crawling, monkey bars, jumps, etc. If you have little ones, this is a no-brainer…they have a blast and you get in a sneaky workout.
88-Go through a fence. No, not like a battering ram. Find a fence that you have to weave your body through. This is great for hip mobility. Metal hand rails up ramps are great for this.
89-Hanging straight-leg raises (pikes)
90-Hanging hip flexions
91-Hanging oblique hip flexions
92-Hanging med ball or light dumbbell hip flexions
93-Hanging dollies - flex hips to 90 degrees and do leg splits
94-Hanging circumductions
95-Russian twists
96-Russian twists with implements
97-Russian twists with arms overhead holding a band or dowel rod
98-Military press
99-Push press
100-Seesaw press
101-Band press and pull aparts
102-Band press, pull apart, and rotate the trunk
103-Kettebell (KB) swings
104-KB high pulls
105-KB clean
106-KB clean and press
107-KB snatch
108-112- Double KB work on all that were mentioned above.
113-Med ball (MB) woodchops
114-MB woodchops with slam
115-MB giant circles
116-MB lunge and twist
117-MB push-up (one arm on and one off, alternate)
118-Windmill press
119-Barbell snatch
120-Single-arm barbell snatch
121-Barbell high pulls
122-Barbell power cleans
123-Barbell hang cleans
124-Barbell clean and push press
125-Barbell clean and jerk
126-Good mornings
127-Single-leg good mornings
128-Single-leg Romanian Deadlifts (darn, forgot this before when talking about RDLs)
127-Assisted pistols
128-Bodyweight pistols
129-Loaded pistols (ha, best name on the board)
130- I’ll have the combo platter…you could combo almost anything we mentioned, but here are a few of my favorites:
131-Reverse lunge & band row
132-Lunge/curl/press
133-Squat/curl/press
134-Lateral lunge/alternating press
135-Staircase sprints (Classic Power Devo video here)
136-Staircase bounds
137-Staircase hops
138-Staircase spider push-ups
139-Backward Staircase climbs
140-Backward spider push-ups
141-Turkish Get-ups - my personal favorite of all-time
142 -Banded Turkish Get-ups - you can change the pull on the shoulder depending on where the band is anchored. Tremendous for any throwing athlete.
143-One-arm rows
144-Band rows
145-Lat. pulldowns
146-Upright rows
147-Bent rows
148-Planks with feet raised in bands
149-Planks with feet raised in bands and performing different lower body movements:
150-Plank pikes
151-Plank hip rotations
152-Plank walk-ups
153-Plank knee tucks
154-Plank alternating hip flexions
155-Plank push-ups and alternating hip flexion combo
156-Massive suicide on local high school football field (just realized that might not be the best phrase for search engines)
157-Bleachers anyone?
158-Nature trails at local park. We have a several great parks around us that offer beautiful off-road experiences
159-Picnic table training
160-Park bench training (Classic Power Devo video here)
161-Low box/step training (Where did I put my Jane Fonda leg warmers?)
162-Lateral steps on the step
163-Running man drill on the step
164-Lateral running man drill on the step
165-Split jumps on the step
166-4 Corners on the step-place a band, kettlebell, barbell, and med ball off of each corner of a step. Perform 10 fast lateral steps, then go to a corner and use that implement. Repeat until you have hit all of the corners. This is a great two-person program.

Try something old again. We are always looking for the new fad or fitness trend, but do you remember this?
167-Pick-up basketball at a local park
168-Dust off your 1982 Jimmy Connors Special, find a friend, and go chase…uh, I mean hit some tennis balls
169-Swim!
170-Bike
Slap on an ankle weight and hit the following:
171-Hip abductions
172-Hip flexions and knee extensions
173-Hip flexions into hip extensions (donkey kicks)
174-Squat/hip abduction combo
175-182-Join a social league of your favorite sport or seek revenge from old PE nightmares. You can find organized competition at any age and level for almost any sport. Track & field events, ultimate frisbee, flag football, dodgeball, kickball, soccer, sand volleyball, bowling…start searching in your area and get after it!
More barbell goodies:
183-Steinborn squat
184-Wrestler’s Twists
185-Bench Press - Honestly, I have not done these in years and find them very overrated
186-Incline Press
187-Decline Press
188-Pullovers - These are very underrated
189-Bulgarian split squat
190-Overhead Bulg. split squat
191-Bulg. Split squat/curl/press
192-Bulg. split squat with med ball rotations
193-Barbell floor wipers
193-Reverse trunk twists
194-Prone barbell rollouts
195-Glute/ham raises

196-272- X-Vest - One of the easiest ways to load any of the challenges we have mentioned is to throw on a weighted vest. There are many versions of vests, but I recommend the X-Vest as the best.

272-365- Ultimate Sandbag - my buddy Josh Henkin is the sandbag guru. Honestly, sandbags could have their own list of 365 applications. I highly recommend checking out Josh’s site and you can find his videos all over the web. Almost every exercise can be modified for the sandbag, but there are many things you can do with a sandbag that you cannot easily do with traditional weight equipment. Here is one of my favorites for shoulder mobility and full body coordination:

366-Sandbag “bows” - start with the bag laying beside your foot (on the outside). Squat, rotate to grab the bag and lift it, taking the bag toward the opposite shoulder (across your body); take the bag around your head, and touch the ground on the outside of the opposite foot. From straight-on, the motion is in a “bow” pattern.

Ok, so maybe I am tired of thinking/typing and bailed on you at the end, but seriously adding kettlebells, med balls, X-vests or sandbags to all of these can make this list go on forever.

Let me know what you think; make this your best year yet; and live with strength!
Jason

No time to post today…busy, busy, busy.

Christmas is almost here! How could I possibly take time to workout, get in a devotion, and share it all with you! Yikes!

Ok, enough “Tom Foolery”. Integrate fitness and your spirituality into everything you do….Christmas, vacations, doing your taxes, watching TV, playing with your kids. You will have more fun with each of those activities and be more efficient with your time. A light workout while decorating your house is better than no workout at all!

Live with Strength,
Jason

Beautiful Fall day in Charlotte. Hope you are making the most of it. Here are some ideas for a creative workout with a picnic table in our “Everyday Fitness” series.

Here’s a new Power Devo exploring the mindset of the Good Samaritan and showing 3 interesting push-up variations: scorpions, thread the needle, and rolling push-ups.

We have a new part of Rhymer Fitness that I am proud to introduce. It actually developed this year through training for the Spartan Race, the Warrior Dash, and the USMC Mud Run. It is our obstacle course racing team called Team John 9. Our shirts say, “He put mud on my eyes…and I could see.” That is what this year has been about with this style of training for me. I was the guy who said, “Don’t run, just do intervals, or burpees, or swing a kettlebell until you can’t move.” I had no idea what was in store as I signed up for the Spartan Race back in March. It’s like my eyes have been opened to a completely new style of training and I love it. How often do we tell God, “I finally have it all figured out, I’ll put the calling you gave me on hold for now.” If we are really following Him, we have to be ready to go where he leads! Getting a little mud in my eye (and scraps on my legs) helped me find joy in a completely different kind of fitness program. What is out there for you?

Here are some before and after pics from this weekend…Live with strength!

The wind wouldn’t allow the audio to hold up on my camera to give you the Devo part of these training videos, but here is a simple thought based on a comment I got about the previous beach training Power Devos.

My friend, and awesome coach, Kirsten Quick mentioned how she loved that I view everything through a “fitness eye”. I see a fitness opportunity in a lifeguard chair and the boardwalk railing. I love that comment, because that is what God wants us to do…view life through a “Christian eye”. There are always opportunities around us to live like Christ if we are aware and open to see and hear Him.

Here are your last two Beach Power Devos:

Now, let’s put that into a full training program:

We are honored to have a good friend and super-smart coach send us a training video this week.

Check out what Troy Anderson shares with the Rhymer Fitness and Christian Strength Training crowd:

It is easy to get bored and fall into the classic rut of doing the same acceptable kettlebell exercises all of the time.

This can be a huge issue on a several fronts:

1) Doing the same movement over and over can and probably will have a negative impact you desire to train, obviously a bad thing

2) This could also lead to chasing crazy and ineffective movements just for the sake of having something new and interesting to do, this can and usually does reduce the value of your training session or at a minimum makes them inconsistent from a training stimulus standpoint

3) It could also lead to more frustration because you realize you need to change some aspect of training but you are limited on equipment or funds for getting new equipment.

We all realize that the kettlebell is a great training tool for achieve many different types of fitness and performance goals.

We also know that the deadlift is a great movement that can really provide huge benefits to our bodies.

That said when combined and after a certain period of training using a single kettlebell and doing traditional deadlift can definitely lead to the 3 issues above.

That’s why I wanted to share this simple little video tip below to help you see some of the tweaks and modification you can use when you only have 1 kettlebell and you still want to get value from your deadlift workouts.

Enjoy

Troy M Anderson

Lose Fat With Kettlebell Training
Kettlebell Workouts on Facebook
Have a Question about Kettlebells Fat Loss Training Email Us
FREE Kettlebell Fat Loss Community

Here’s part 2 of our series on Everyday Fitness…using everyday objects or locations to get a great workout.

Here’s the link to the Athlete’s Topical Bible that I mention in the Power Devo.

Live with Strength!
Jason