Our series on the ideal exercise continues today, and this one is all about beginners. I have the ideal whole-body exercise for you, and I’ll walk you through it step-by-step. I’ll let you know precisely what you need to do. I want to make sure you understand this, not just for a couple of weeks, but for three months. Guys, let’s get started by breaking down 10 fundamental movement patterns that each beginner needs to learn. Okay, so it’s crucial to comprehend not only that you must learn these ten movement patterns, but also that within each movement pattern, there is an exercise variation that we will develop. We’ll progress them from level 1 to level 2 to level 3, with the distinction between these levels being either the complexity of the exercise or the amount of weight that can be loaded onto the exercise. In both of those situations, it’s crucial to make sure you’re pushing yourself forward.
So, how does it appear? We refer to the first action pattern as the horizontal push. Here, we perform an action like, let’s say, the push-up at its most fundamental level, using the shoulders, chest, and triceps. Additionally, I prefer the push-up as a Level 1 variation because it calls for you to develop some scapular controls with your hands securely planted on the ground. But after that, we switch to a dumbbell bench press. We remove the earth as a support that can help us develop that stability, and now we must possess that stability on our own. Dumbbells have the advantage of floating easily, so if you have any imbalances between your right and left sides at the beginning, you’ll notice it here. Because when you execute the Barbell Bench Press at Level 3, if you have any imbalances there, they may be somewhat concealed because both hands are resting on a fixed bar. The Vertical Push is the next movement sequence that we will cover. And in this instance, the main muscles involved in overhead pressing are the triceps and shoulders. We begin with a 1-Arm Dumbbell Press because it is simpler to move with one arm at a time and you can more easily spot imbalances between your right and left sides. Additionally, using one dumbbell at a time also places less of a demand on your abdominal stability.
However, when we increase it to Level 2, we now need to press them together. Again, moving more weight over your head requires more core stability and control, but if we move forward in the correct direction, we’ll get there. We then proceed to Level 3, where the barbell overhead press is once more included. The complexity of this exercise rises because you now have to move your body around the bar rather than the dumbbells moving around your body. However, you can load this exercise even more heavily. The Horizontal Pull is the next design we move on to. Now that we’re discussing the arms and back, we begin with a move known as the chest-supported row. When we are in this posture, we don’t have to rely on the strength of our low back to complete the row; instead, we can concentrate on strengthening and developing our pulling muscles.
However, we can remove that support and change to a Tripod posture in Level 2. And while you still have some support here—you don’t have to use your low back to support your complete body and the area—you have reduced the amount of support and increased the strain on your pulling muscles. Naturally, we can then easily transition to the barbell at Level 3.
In order to maintain your body in the proper posture and position to be able to pull, in this case, heavier weights, you do need that support and strength of the low back.
The Vertical Pull is the next position we progress to in this sequence. And we are aware that the fundamental exercise being discussed here is a pulldown. If you have access to a pulldown machine, you can actually weigh this to the point where even a complete novice can do it while using light weights. Alternatively, if you don’t have access to that, you could just use a band over a pullup bar and perform a tied pulldown.
When we advance, it is clear that we are able to train ourselves to perform pull-ups. Therefore, when performing assisted pull-ups, we now use a band.
Depending on the tension of the band you’re using, this will reduce your body weight by anywhere between 50 and 80 pounds. Of course, our ultimate goal is for you to be able to perform Pullups on your own without any help at all by the time you reach Level 3.
This leads us to the Hinge, which is our movement pattern. Right now, the focus should be on learning how to draw with your hips and posterior chain instead of your upper body because, when used properly, these muscles can be some of the strongest pullers in the body. Therefore, what we do is begin with a movement that is called a Pull through at Level 1, where we simply concentrate on hunching back at the hips and then using a strong hip extension to bring ourselves back to a vertical position. And with an RDL, we take it to Level 2 without having to raise it completely off the ground as you would with a Deadlift. Instead, we simply learn how to use the hips within a condensed range of motion to achieve that potent hip extension. Of course, as I’ve already stated, Level 3 brings it to the ground with one of the best exercises we can perform: the deadlift, the premier exercise for developing and strengthening the posterior chain.
This leads us to the squat, which is the following movement pattern. Here, gentlemen, we’re referring to your capacity to levitate and decelerate your body in space. Naturally, we’re going to begin with a squat variant, the dumbbell drop squat. It will actually show any beginner the precise position their body should be in when they perform the squat because the dumbbell will descend through the center of gravity and move your body into the proper position. This is the aspect of it that I like the most compared to any other. But we can’t fill that heavily enough to move forward indefinitely. We must therefore learn how to raise the dumbbell in Level 2 to the Goblet posture. You must be able to manage that up there as well, even though it is a little more difficult.
which is the traditional Back Squat and a great progression to Level 3. Naturally, we will be able to use the most weight here while maintaining the same correct mechanics that we used to master the squat with the lighter weights.
Now there is a connection between the seventh and eighth movement sequences. They are a different take on the lunge. And as an athletic strength coach, I can tell you right now that one of the most underutilized but valuable movement patterns you should learn is the lunge. We begin with a static variable in which we simply move our bodies up and down in space while placing one knee in front of the other, much like a squat. We begin with a basic Split Knee using only our body weight. Remember that the level we’re at is determined by the exercise’s difficulty or weighting.
As we progress to Level 2, we actually add weights while maintaining the same Dumbbell Split Squat posture, working both sides while going straight up and down and strengthening our quadriceps.
The Dumbbell Bulgarian Split Squat is one of my all-time favorite workouts after we take it a step further. Working on one side once more, but we can definitely increase the load we use here and the difficulty on the front leg as well.
The Dynamic Lunge variant is used when we want to add movement to the exercise.
At Level 1, executing a Reverse Lunge puts you in a Biweight scenario once more. The Reverse Lunge is my favorite exercise because it is easier on the knees if you already have any joint problems.
Then, we move on to Level 2, where we perform a single-sided or suitcase reverse lunge while adding a single dumbbell to this exercise. This is advantageous because it will necessitate greater hip stability in the frontal plane while you maintain the Saddle Plane action. Naturally, we can increase the number of dumbbells in Level 3 to execute the heaviest variation, which is just the dumbbell reverse lunge.
We now proceed on to the ninth movement pattern, which is a move called the Core Flexion.
Learning how to correctly contract your abs requires an understanding of the importance of pelvic rotation and spine flexion. In Level 1, we’re going to start with a Rollup, which is very basic. This Pilates exercise trains you how to stand up off the ground as well as how to control your descent back to the ground segment by segment.
This advances us to Level 2, where we can now execute a move known as the Jackknife. We now face some extra weight challenges because the legs themselves will be able to support that since they are being kept off the ground. The Hanging Knee Lift at Level 3 is an even more challenging exercise. It is now necessary to be able to control your body while hanging from a bar because we are attempting to curl the pelvis rather than just use the hip flexors and lift the knees. Finally, there is the Carry, another underutilized but equally significant moving pattern. Guys, you need to develop your grip strength, hand dexterity, and ability to move it fluidly in space.
At Level 1, we begin with a Suitcase Carry, where one dumbbell is placed on one side; of course, you will be exercising both sides. We now switch to a farmer’s carry, where you are carrying a dumbbell in each hand, which will clearly add to the weight you are carrying. The third and most difficult of these is the overhead carry, so we proceed on to that. As I hinted at earlier with Press, there are a lot more core demands put on your body once you get those arms overhead. How do we progress through these stages and movement patterns so that we have a clear understanding of the strategy you need to employ?
The first month of training, which is broken up into three exercises (A, B, and C), is where we begin. Your total body exercises are the A and B workouts, which you execute alternately on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. So, the first week is A, B, and A, the second week is B, A, and B, and so on through weeks three and four. Throughout the entire month, the C exercise will take place on the days between Tuesdays and Thursdays.
How do we divide up those ten moving patterns into A, B, and C now that we have them? In A, the Squat movement pattern is the first to be performed, then the Vertical Push, the Horizontal Pull, and finally the Lunge, in this instance, the Static Lunge variation.
The hinge, the lunge, performed dynamically this time, the horizontal push, and finally, the vertical pull is all included in the B exercise. The last two that I mentioned, the Core Flexion movement pattern and the Carry movement pattern, were actually paired together in the C exercise.
What does that imply for Level 1 in particular, and what will you actually do? The exercises that we put in here are those Level 1 exercises, and we have those movement patterns again broken down into those three workouts. Each of these movements will be carried out three times for 12 to 15 repetitions until form is lost. Or, to reach Form Failure using only movements that require body weight. Guys, the objective here is to improve your movement proficiency; loading the weight at this point is not the goal, hence the greater rep range.
We’re taking a step back here, folks; we’re only talking about six workouts over the course of this month. You might be thinking, “But I already do bench press.” In order to master these movements and set yourself up for success in the future, I want to make sure that you learn how to construct that foundation from scratch once more. Therefore, each of the exercises presented here can help you achieve that goal and get ready for the upcoming month. Now we are in the second month. We now raise the Level to the Level 2 exercises in the second month. The organization will not change. The movement patterns are still grouped together, but because the routines have changed, we now have new workouts. Thus, D, E, and F are now available, with D and E being those total-body exercises performed alternately on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Then, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, we have those core and bearing exercises. Now that the Level 2 exercises are in place, you guys can see as I put them in that the objective has slightly changed from merely creating a foundation to actually attempting to strengthen that foundation. Additionally, the repetitions and sets will alter. The reps will be reduced to the eight to twelve range, with a weight selection that allows you to fail within that rep range while still completing each repetition with excellent form. As you continue to gain experience with these movement patterns, you have the choice of adding another set to this one to increase the volume.
Which, as I said, positions us for victory at Level 3. You can legitimately continue doing this for longer than a month as of month three, guys. Think of this as a video that continues on giving, guys. I wanted to make sure that our beginners had a path to follow so they could succeed and gain as much as possible. After laying a solid base, we’ll disassemble it once more with the H, G, and I workouts, still broken down into the same set of movement patterns, but this time we’ll add the Level 3 exercises.
The only exercises remaining in this level are the classic barbell exercises, which can be done in three sets of five or three sets of eight for strength. On that incredibly solid foundation that you took the time to completely rebuild, the idea is to now create that foundation of strength. You want to make sure that you continue to add weight and gradually overload these movements as you carry out these exercises, ideally in three rounds of five. If you are able to complete the three sets of five in the prior workout, you would do that by adding five pounds to each workout on each lift.
You would repeat the weight from the prior workout if for some reason you weren’t able to complete all three sets of five. If you miss again, you may have overshot your target weight. If so, you should reduce your target weight by five pounds and try again. And traditionally, the weight you’re going to use here to begin with is going to be a weight you know you can accomplish the five reps for while still challenging you. Based on the success for failure I just stated, you will always be able to modify them as we go. Now that you have a step-by-step strategy plan, guys. As usual, I’ve provided images for you to use in order to ensure that you can follow this strategy step-by-step. And what would you do after this? You people really have to decide. You can definitely stay in this third phase and at Level 3 and keep adding weight if you want to continue developing your strength in that way.
Guys, if you want to change your objectives and just concentrate on gaining muscle, I truly have step-by-step plans with nutritional game plans all over Athleanx.com. Please give your feedback and thumbs up below if you enjoyed the video, guys. Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Because this is a beginner’s film, why were you late?
I’m no longer a novice. You’re not, are you?
No. Check out these biceps. Why do you always display your muscles when we’re discussing beginner-level topics? because they are attractive.
Okay. Guys, be sure to give the movie a thumbs up if you found it useful and want to see more in this series. Please let me know what you need and I’ll do my utmost to provide it. To ensure that you never miss a new video when it is released, select subscribe and enable notifications if you haven’t already. This is what?
I’m flaunting my quadriceps. You mentioned various muscles.
I’ll see you guys later, guys. They appear excellent.