© Copyright 2014, Josh HenkinA Dragon Door Publications, Inc. productionAll rights under International and Pan-American Copyright conventions.Published in the United States by: Dragon Door Publications, Inc.5 East County Rd B, #3 • Little Canada, MN 55117Tel: (651) 487-2180 • Fax: (651) 487-3954Credit card orders: 1-800-899-5111 • Email: support@dragondoor.com • Website: www.dragondoor.com

ISBN 10: 0-938045-56-3 ISBN 13: 978-0-938045-56-4This edition first published in June, 2014Printed in China

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher,excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

Book design and cover by Derek Brigham • www.dbrigham.com • bigd@dbrigham.comPhotography by Don Pitlik

DISCLAIMER: The author and publisher of this material are not responsible in any manner whatsoever for any injury thatmay occur through following the instructions contained in this material. The activities, physical and otherwise, describedherein for informational purposes only, may be too strenuous or dangerous for some people and the reader(s) should consult a physician before engaging in them.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword

Introduction....................................................................................1

The DVRT Movements..............................................................29

The New Functional FItness .................................................135

Upper Body DVRT Drills ..........................................................143

Training with a Twist..............................................................187

Shoveling ...................................................................................199

Core Training ...........................................................................203

Building Muscle.......................................................................229

DVRT Programming ...............................................................243

Are You Excited Yet ................................................................269

About the Author ....................................................................273

Acknowledgements

Changing the way we view and perform fitness is anything buteasy. It would not be possible without the people in your life tohelp motivate and support your ideas. My beautiful wife, Jessica,who was my inspiration and driving force to create and push toinnovate and stay focused no matter the obstacles placed beforeus, I can’t thank you enough.

To my good friend and colleague, Troy Anderson, who challengedme to keep striving to do better and to think outside the box, Ithank you for your great friendship and professionalism. Thisbook would simply not be possible without John Du Cane andDragon Door having an open mind and a willingness to keepevolving and pushing the fitness industry to move forward.

FOREWORD

Robert dos Remedios

t may sound a bit cliché, but as a strength and conditioning professional for over 24years I have literally ‘seen it all’. I have had the opportunity to meet and observesome of the best and worst fitness and conditioning professionals in the world. Ihave also had the opportunity to experience just about every ‘training tool’ or piece

of equipment ever made.

Another phenomenon that I have witnessed quite recently is the evolution of the ‘inter-net trainer’. These creatures are characterized by a few common traits: lack of real-worldexperience, a disregard for actual practitioners in the field and their experience, a disregardfor the education process, and false promises based on false experiences.

In my experiences hands-on hours in the trenches working with actual clients and ath-letes is where you BEGIN the journey to becoming a successful trainer. I have found thatthe best coaches and trainers are the ones who continually seek continuing education in anattempt to hone in and sharpen their knowledge base and skills. In this process, we are ableto not only find what works for us but we can also objectively analyze what and whysomething doesn’t work for us. With the multitude of coaches and trainers out there youwould think there would be a very large percentage of them that fall in this category of‘lifelong learners’, sadly this isn’t the case. Most trainers and coaches don’t really want tolearn new things; they simply want to surround themselves with information and peoplethat validate the things they are already doing.

In the case of tools or training equipment I have found that we very often get caught upin the latest ‘cool’ training toy and often implement these tools for the sake of using them.The biggest problem is that most of the time the tools themselves are just that…tools.There isn’t any sort of educational system behind its implementation and use in a trainingprogram; therefore it’s easy for us to treat it as a toy or gimmick that can easily be elimi-nated from our training.

So why am I pointing these things out?

Enter Josh Henkin and his Dynamic Variable Resistance Training (DVRT) system.

I have had the great fortune to become good friends with Josh and I cannot say enoughabout how much I have benefitted from his knowledge and his Ultimate Sandbags. Josh is,for lack of a better term, a ‘renaissance man’ when it comes to training and conditioning.His background as a former Division I athlete along with his academic preparation, hostof other certifications and 20 plus years of experience has afforded him a great eye whenit comes to analyzing and dissecting human movement and conditioning. Josh is the per-fect example of the lifelong learner I described earlier. The DVRT system he has developedis based on sound movement and mechanics and more importantly, it is grounded insound progressions and regressions based on individuals. This is a one of a kind trainingsystem that actually focuses more on movement than the tool itself. It is often hard tograsp this concept especially when we are talking about a training tool like the UltimateSandbag but in Josh’s system, the tool itself almost seems secondary to the sound messagethat his education conveys. They truly go hand-in-hand with each other like no othertraining I have ever experienced.

Josh is constantly observing, interacting, and consulting with coaches and trainers allover the world, and by doing so, he has developed one of the most sound andeffective/efficient training systems I have ever seen.

Josh travels the world presenting and educating fitness professionals and has built avery strong group of DVRT certified trainers. In fact, Josh has revolutionized the func-tional fitness industry in a very short period of time. His DVRT program has became acornerstone for elite programs like the US Army Special Forces Recruiting Battalion,SWAT teams, and top fitness facilities from around the world. Coaches from over 80countries are now using the DVRT system worldwide…and this population is growing ata record pace. Why? IT WORKS.

While Josh’s Ultimate Sandbags themselves are amazing training tools, without hisDVRT system and his constant stream of updated education for its implementation, itwould simply be a bag full of sand thus making it a tool that could easily be removed fromany training program. With the combination of the tool and the education system, the

Ultimate Sandbag has become a vital piece of our training programs; I can confidently saythat they will be a part of my programming for the duration of my career.

I am very fortunate to have Josh Henkin as a mentor, resource, and friend. He is a selflessindividual who is always ready and willing to help anyone, a master at creating amazingtraining methods and exercises, and he’s also one of the smartest people I know. Now youhave the great fortune to be introduced to him and his training systems…. hold on, this isgoing to be an exciting journey!

Robert dos Remedios, MA, CSCS, MSCCCollegiate Strength & Conditioning Coach / Author2006 NSCA Collegiate Strength & Conditioning Professional of the YearCSCCa Master Strength & Conditioning Coach

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INTRODUCTION

he current age of fitness is tough! It is more confusing, with more ideas, moreconcepts, and even better tools being thrown at everyone. In 20 years of being inthe fitness industry, I can’t think of a time when people had so many options forprograms and training tools. It’s enough to make your head explode! In fact,

there is so much “stuff” out there that there has been almost a rebellion against new ideasand training programs. To be honest, it is hard to blame both coaches and fitness enthusi-asts for their skepticism.

That makes writing a book like this one even more difficult. Outwardly, it may appearthat I am trying to bring back yet another “old time” strength training tool. I understand.We need a re-introduction of another “ancient” or “old school” training implement likewe need another bad remake of an ‘80’s classic movie (why did they ever redo Footloose?).However, before you make a snap judgment let me assure you of one thing, this isn’t likeany training program you have experienced before.

If I told you I was going to teach you a system for getting people to move better within amatter of minutes, would you be interested? How about if I offered you a system thatallows almost infinite progressional exercises to be created so not only can you have vari-ety, but purpose in your training? Would you be intrigued? If I told you that this is unlikeanything you have done before and that the feeling is totally unique, would you be willingto hear me out?

If your cynicism tells you no, I understand, Maybe you will want to flip through thisbook another time. I must forewarn you, looking at pictures and trying to decipher ourintent without reading the “whys” will only add to your confusion. Yet, if the answer isyes, I welcome you to come on a really exciting journey with me through a system that Ihave seen time and time again transform how people see exercise, movement, and overallfitness. Welcome to the world of Dynamic Variable Resistance Training!

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A Fancy Word for a Sandbag?You might have just jumped on guard. You might be thinking, “Oh man, he tricked me

into reading a book about ‘sandbag training’?” Let’s address the elephant in the room.This is NOT a book about “sandbag training”. Why? There are many reasons that this isnot a fancy way of trying to get you to read and learn about the benefits of “sandbag train-ing”. First, an implement can never be a system. Probably the biggest mistake of many fit-ness professionals today is confusing a system with a training tool.

The easiest example is something we see every day at the gym. The barbell is a trainingtool. I can’t remember ever hearing someone say that they were going to head off to thegym to do some “barbell training”. This would seem odd by most accounts because thebarbell is seen as a means to an end. Bodybuilders have used barbells for decades to helpbuild significant amounts of muscle and impressive physiques. Powerlifters have used bar-bells to create high levels of force in their three competitive lifts. Weightlifters have usedbarbells to gain Olympic glory, but their lifts are very different from what a bodybuilder orpowerlifter might consider. In each example, the barbell may play a prevalent role, but themethod and intent of the training is VERY different. That is why when people ask if DVRTis just “sandbag training,” I say absolutely not!

You may still have some questions on why this is not a book on “sandbag training.” Youmight have noticed that every time I mention “sandbag training,” I use quotation marks.Simply knowing that you’re lifting a bag of sand doesn’t tell you much about the actualtraining process. We should be choosing methods and implements based upon their abilityto deliver us specific results.

Sandbags have been around for a long time, I certainly didn’t invent them. Some anthro-pologists believe that ancient Egyptians used sandbags for some form of physical condi-tioning. This may make sandbags one of the earliest tools for functional training, as thegoal was probably to perform better in warfare rather than looking good for social mediapictures. In all seriousness, ancient Egyptians probably used sandbags more out of conve-nience than any super scientific thought process. Remember, items such as metal werehighly valuable and probably would not have been as accessible for such needs. How doesthis impact the modern fitness landscape? And more importantly, how is this STILL not asandbag book?!

One of the most damaging sayings that has become popular in fitness is, “a tool is just atool.” You don’t have to have a Ph.D. in biomechanics to realize that both saws andscrewdrivers are tools. Try using the saw to screw in something and see how far you get.Tools matter! They matter a lot! For some strange reason, fitness is one of the few indus-tries that purposefully tries to downplay our tools.

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Absolutely, there are those that try to define their training by the tools they use. Thisapproach is just as faulty. However, many coaches fall into the trap of applying new train-ing tools simply for the sake of variety or novelty. Many even try to rationalize using a dif-ferent training tool by using vague goals of becoming “more powerful” or “stronger.” Isn’tthis the goal of any training tool or method?

The reason DVRT isn’t just about “sandbag training” is that “sandbag training” meansabsolutely nothing! DVRT is a system of implementing variable resistance tools to achievespecific outcomes. That may come in the form of getting you to master the squat patternfaster, teaching you how to connect your entire body in one synergistic manner, exposingyou to true multi-planar training, increasing your inter and intra-muscular coordination,and so much more.

That may all sound fine, but here is the even harsher truth. Sandbags stink! People oftentell me that sandbags aren’t new, and they are right! The fact, however, that they have beenaround as long – or longer than – any other fitness tool and yet have never been a focalpoint of fitness training tells us one of two things. The most obvious is that using variableresistance tools doesn’t work. I don’t believe this, as we have seen too many cultures usevariable resistance tools for many reasons. I think the concept would have died if it just did-n’t work. The other possibility, and the one I’m advocating, is that we have lacked both theright vehicle to implement variable resistance training and a systematic means of using sand-bags in strength training programs. I believe that people have tried to use the wrong tool fortoo many years. If you don’t have the right tool, it is hard to create the right outcome!

That Dirty, Dirty BagReally, how important is having the right tool to do the job? I don’t know; ask surgeons,

carpenters, computer specialists, military personnel, heck, even most athletes! The answeris that it’s VERY important! In order to really understand the difference in tools, let’s lookat two very different practical examples.

In the early days of the barbell, it wasn’t the 7-foot length that we see most often today.The first barbells were probably more like 4-5 feet in length. Why does this matter? Earlylifters used the barbell very differently. Instead of focusing on a very small number of exer-cises that focused on how much weight could be placed on the barbell, athletes used allsorts of movement patterns with the barbell. Many of these great athletes’ feats of strengthwould be considered incredible by today’s standards. These great lifters wanted to add achallenge to all movements to build a more broad ability to be “strong”. From lifting withone to two hands to using different angles, positions, and postures, old-time lifters per-formed all sorts of exercises with the smaller barbell.

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The words of one of the first proponents of weightlifting in the US, Mark Berry, rein-forces the idea of building the body up with a broad scope, rather than using very specifictraining. Berry believed that athletes only needed to specialize after performing a morebroad scope of training. In 1925, Mark Berry was a National Weightlifting Champion,and he coached the US teams in ‘32 and ‘36. He wrote in one of his legendary barbellcourses, “Actual lifting should be undertaken only after long and careful preparation in thedevelopment and training of the body.”

When the barbell became larger and more focused on activities such as Olympic lifting,everything changed. As the length of the barbell extended, the focus shifted from move-ment to weight. Lifters began specializing in particular exercises rather than building abroad scope of drills. Add in the squat rack and other specialized equipment, and now thebarbell’s use to seems reduced. That doesn’t stop some from romanticizing it though!

“But Josh, it is just a bag of sand!” If that is what you think, then the kettlebell is just aball with handle, stability balls are giant beach balls, barbells are long stick pieces of metalthat you put weird cylinder pieces of metal upon. Dumbbells are the worst. They’re clearlya complete rip-off, given that they’re only a quarter of a barbell . Obviously I am some-what mocking this thought process, but more importantly, I’m trying to bring to light thatour focus first and foremost has to be upon what we are trying to accomplish. Secondly,these tools have intended uses that make them more or less valuable depending the goal oftraining.

In all honesty, a homemade sandbag isn’t the same thing as the DVRT system. Not evenclose! This is because DVRT has a specific intent, with layers of progression and a purposeto your use of the sandbag. You can’t even perform 90% of what is used in the DVRT sys-tem with that infamous duffel bag.

I want you to keep asking one question as we go through the DVRT system — “Why?”Keeping asking “why,” and it will change how you train and the results you achieve. If Idon’t answer the “whys” for you, then I haven’t done my job!

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Answering the First QuestionIf we are going to ask ourselves the “why” question, then we must start with the most

obvious: Why are we using variable resistance tools? Are barbells, kettlebells, dumbbells,suspension units, body weight, or any of these standard fitness tools wrong? Not at all,but this is where understanding what tools can offer to your training is very important.

At first glance, variable resistance tools could be classified under “odd objects.” For lit-erally centuries, coaches and athletes used a host of odd objects for their fitness training.What is an “odd object”? Just as the name suggests, these are implements that are awk-ward, non-conforming, and anything but balanced. Examples of odd objects includestones, barrels, logs, and yes, sandbags.

If the idea of lifting these objects causes you to cringe and get nervous, you have everyright to be! Without going into a deep discussion of the technical benefits of these imple-ments, you know one thing. They are darn hard to lift! In fact, one of the most legendarymodern strongmen, Steve Justa, was asked, “What is the hardest kind of weight to lift?”He replied, “An awkward weight is the hardest.” (Dinosaur Training, p. 113)

Barbells, dumbbells, and even kettlebells are static and predictable weights. They areperfectly balanced and tend to move in a specific groove, repetition after repetition. Thesport of kettlebell lifting is even based upon this concept. During competition, athletes willsnatch, clean, and jerk kettlebells for ten minutes straight! I guarantee you aren’t going tosee the same type of events with odd objects.

The fact that odd objects are “hard” doesn’t really justify their use though. There has tobe more benefit than just outwardly appearing “hardcore.” Fortunately, the use of oddobjects goes much deeper than this superficial first appearance. Renowned strength coachAlan Hedrick explains some of the more relevant benefits to odd objects:

“...applying the concept of specificity, it makes sense that training with a fluidresistance is a more sport-specific method of training as compared to lifting exclu-sively with a static resistance because in most situations, athletes encounter adynamic resistance (in the form of an opponent) as compared to the static resis-tance. Further, because the active fluid resistance enhances the need for stabilityand control, this type of training may reduce the opportunity for injury becauseof improved joint stability.” (NSCA Journal, Vol.25 Number 4)

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The benefits more modern coaches like Coach Hedrick have witnessed training groups suchas the Air Force Academy are the same benefits that the old strongmen got from these tools. Inthe legendary Brooks Kubik’s book, “Dinosaur Training,” he relays the same sentiment:

“A barbell cannot approach a heavy barrel or a heavy sandbag when it comesto developing the type of rugged power that is required in any form of physicalcombat or contact sport. It is too easy to control a barbell...objects that by theirvery nature never fall into any sort of lifting groove.” (Dinosaur Training, p. 112)

In both the case of serious strength training and that of athletes, both these gentlemenidentified the role of hitting the stabilizers of the body. What are stabilizers? These are thesmaller muscles of the body that help support our joints and allow the big muscles to dotheir jobs. In many cases, it is the stabilizers of the body that fail far before the primarymuscles are exhausted. This is the very reason we rarely see people who can press overheada pair of kettlebells of the same weight they could on a barbell. It’s also the reason peoplefail to bench press a pair of dumbbells the same weight as a barbell. Why? The barbell ismore stable than either implement, removing much of the instability dumbbells and kettle-bells provide.

It stands to reason that objects that shift, move, and do not have a consistent movementpattern would work the stabilizers to a higher degree. You might be thinking, though, “Butwill this make me strong?” Great question! When we see lower weights on these oddobjects than we would normally see on the barbell it leads to the question of whether ornot obtaining great levels of strength is possible.

Understanding how the body produces strength becomes increasingly more important.The nervous system, not just the muscles, is the primary means for increasing strength.With the nervous system we have two ways the body can improve strength. One is intra-muscular coordination. According to the National Academy of Sports Medicine, intramus-cular coordination is “the ability of the neuromuscular system to allow optimal levels ofmotor unit recruitment and synchronization within a muscle.” Huh? This basically meansthat, the more efficient your nervous system is at recruiting muscle fiber, the stronger you’llbe. It is estimated that untrained individuals can really only access 60% of their muscles’capabilities, while highly trained weightlifters can reach 80% or higher. Improving intra-muscular coordination is very powerful, but doesn’t really relate to our use of odd objects.

The other form of neural coordination is intermuscular coordination. With intermuscularcoordination, we teach the muscles how to more efficiently work together to produce forceand movement. Think of intermuscular coordination as riding a bike. At first we can oftenbe shaky when we get on a bike. But over time, we smooth out our riding as our muscleslearn how to work together more effectively and efficiently. The same process happens dur-ing exercise, and is why most programs will work, but for a limited period of time.

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Intermuscular coordination is very relevant to the lifting of odd objects. Barbells, dumb-bells, kettlebells, and even bodyweight exercises tend to develop a specific “groove” as thebody learns how to perform the exercise better and better. The way we then must challengeour body is often by adding more of a stimulus such as more weight or more repetitions.However, odd objects offer a very different approach. By their very nature, odd objectsnever repeat the same exact movement.

In the 1990’s, coaches were starting to pick up on the idea of improving stabilizerstrength as a primary means of improving both performance and health. While there hadbeen a large move toward free weights, many coaches who were promoting the new ideaof “functional fitness” weren’t satisfied with using free weights in the style of bodybuild-ing, powerlifting, or even weightlifting. They believed these other iron sports had a poorcarryover to everyday activities and sports. In order to address the idea of more “func-tional” forms of training, they used unstable surfaces r to improve stabilizer strength aswell as intermuscular coordination.

Unfortunately, science would later show that unstable surface training did very little toimprove strength and in fact did not activate areas of the body such as the “core” any morethan standing on more stable surfaces. A 2009 study by Willardson, et al in the Journal ofApplied Physiology, stated definitively, “Therefore, fitness trainers should be advised thateach of the aforementioned lifts can be performed while standing on the stable groundwithout losing the potential core muscle training.”

The inability of these surfaces to produce better gains in many of the body’s stabilizersmay be attributed to the fact that the surfaces were TOO unstable. Like other trainingvariables, instability may need to be more progressive in nature. In a 2006 NationalStrength & Conditioning paper reviewing various forms of instability, David Behm andKenneth Anderson discussed why too much instability can be counterproductive forstrength and performance gains:

“....found force deficits of approximately 60% when performing an isometricchest press action with an un- stable base (Swiss ball). On the one hand, thesedeficits might promote the essential point of instability training: that becauseforces have been demonstrated to be lower with unstable conditions, training inthat environment is of utmost necessity to ensure action-specific strength adapta-tions.”

That doesn’t mean that we need to turn all exercises into stablity-based training.Beginning in the 60s, and increasing through the 70s and 80s, machines became very pop-ular in fitness training. Although they were initially believed to be better and safer than freeweights, we found that machines were the exact opposite! Because machines offered somuch stability and a predetermined movement pattern, we began to see our bodies become

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dumber! They no longer had to stabilize the joints and coordinate the entire body as much.The specialized pattern that was determined by the machine caused all sorts of overuseinjuries.

Internationally recognized corrective exercise expert, Paul Chek, calls this issue “patternoverload.” Why can pattern overload lead to injuries and plateaus in your training? Chekexplains pattern overload as:

“...injury to soft tissues resulting from repetitive motion in one pattern ofmovement, or restricted movement in one or more planes of motion. Althoughpattern overload is much more common in an environment such as machinetraining, which restricts freedom of motion, I’ve also treated numerous cases ofpattern overload in workers and athletes who were unrestricted in their trainingmovements.”

The issue of pattern overload makes free weights a far better alternative to machines.However, the natural evolutionary trajectory of free weights leads to odd objects. We beginto see that odd object training is not about being hardcore or underground. It is instead avery important means for preventing injuries and improving the health of your body.

Before You Go to the Junk Yard...There may seem to be no end to the benefits of odd objects. They can hit more muscles

than any other form of training. Odd objects teach our bodies to work more efficiently.They burn more calories. They are just brutally effective! However, before you go out scav-enging for a wide array of odd objects, there are some issues to consider.

When I began to use odd objects, I fell in love. I was using them to help rehabilitate alow back injury that ended my collegiate athletic career. Focusing on the benefits men-tioned above, I was both inspired and intrigued to see for myself the results of odd objects.I used everything from tires, kegs, stones, and yes, homemade sandbags.

For a period of time, I saw the results that I had read so much about. However, just asquickly as I experienced these benefits, I hit a plateau. It dawned on me, “If everyoneknows the power of odd objects, how come they never became the foundation of strengthtraining?” It would make sense that with all these positives, the use of odd objects wouldbe commonplace. As I began to ask myself these questions of “why,” I started to under-stand why my results had plateaued.

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One of the biggest epiphanies for me was my discovery that what made odd objectsgreat was also what made them a problem. The fact that odd objects were so unstable, sohard to manage, made it difficult to both introduce odd object to people as well as to makeproper progressions. Part of my inability to create progressions and programs was basedaround two dilemmas.

The first was the fact that I treated odd objects like barbells. I created my exercises toreplicate barbell lifts and programmed them in the same manner. Odd objects obviously donot behave like barbells. This means going up by small increments is almost impossible.Treating odd objects like barbells also meant that the programming was all wrong. Theexercises were far more fatiguing and stressful, but I didn’t adjust training variables such assets and repetitions accordingly. Not appreciating these differences created overtrainingand injury.

Trying to use odd objects to introduce people to specific barbell type lifts was also aproblem. Since odd objects were so difficult to lift, most people weren’t provided theopportunity to learn the movement within the exercise because they were so overstressedby working with a “non-cooperative” implement. I quickly realized the instability madeusing odd objects almost impossible for most general fitness clients.

Between the immense amount of stress that odd objects provided to the body and thehuge challenge of coordinating the movements, I found myself relegating odd objects tospecialized phases in training for a limited time. That is till it dawned on me!

What if odd objects were not programmed and implemented just like our more commonstrength training tools? What if odd objects had to be treated differently? What if we hadto program more because there were more variables to consider? Quickly, I began myhunt!

I went on to read as many current and old-time strength training books as possible. Ifound myself quickly becoming disappointed time and time again. While I would findmentions of odd objects, finding more than ten pages was an extreme rarity. This told methat most coaches and athletes had probably run into the problems I experienced. Seeingthe consistent theme of a belief of odd objects, but a decision to never make them founda-tional made me reconsider the whole genre.

Eventually I began to understand the fault in odd objects existed in two primary issues.We needed to make odd object training far more progressive. This meant that odd objectshad to have the capability of being stable or unstable. In order to have people learn andbecome introduced to this form of training, odd objects couldn’t be brutal all the time!How do we create this when many of the implements themselves prohibit stability?

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Enter the USBTrying to change things that have been around for centuries seems like a recipe for disas-

ter. Who am I to change how things have been done forever? My goal was simple, I believedin odd object training, but knew unless I could make it more progressive, more accessible tomyself and my clients, they would end up sitting in the corner as they had for centuries.

Where do you even begin? I decided that I would have to focus on one odd object — theone that I believed to have the greatest potential to change how fitness was performed.This odd object that could offer the most diversity and benefits. It would be the sandbagthat grabbed my vision.

Why the sandbag? Even with my homemade duffel bag, sandbags seemed to offer moreversatility than any other odd object. They were unlike any other training tool I hadtrained with in the past and, I thought, with a little engineering and forethought, I couldsolve some of the limitations of the sandbag.

The second issue proved to be a larger challenge. The tools themselves had to be changed.Change odd objects though? Isn’t that sacrilegious? When we look at the evolution that thebarbell, dumbbells, kettlebells, and even suspension units have gone through to match thecurrent training mindset, it made sense that odd objects might have to go through the sameprocess. We had to make our tools work for us and not fall victim to their limitations.

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Problems? What were problems with homemade sandbags? After all, they have beenused so long by some of the strongest athletes in the world. Why change? I realized that thesandbag was more than just an unstable training tool. When I examined why I had prob-lems having my clients progress with my duffel bags, I realized that I was only focusedupon two variables, yet, there were far more that had to be considered.

First and foremost I focused upon the weight of the sandbag. Isn’t that how we gaugeanything we do in the world of strength training? I obviously assumed that between theweight and unstable nature of the sandbag, my clients just had to get stronger and moreused to the movement of the sandbag. The truth is that I had not considered the impact oftwo very important training variables that would become foundational principles in mynew system.

One day I was making a new sandbag for my clients’ training when it hit me! When Ilooked at the sandbags I had lined up (at this point I had made quite a few), there wassomething so obvious I was almost embarrassed by the fact I hadn’t seen it earlier. Theywere all VERY different sizes. Since I didn’t bother making sandbags in five pound incre-ments, there was at least a 10 pound jump in weight in most of my sandbags. This causedthem to appear significantly different.

It hit me! Sandbags weren’t just difficult because of their weight or shifting internal load,but also because the change in their dimensions changed stability and perceived load. Inorder to test my theory, I began to fill some bags not with sand, but other filling materialssuch as dry rice. Using other fillers gave me the dimension without as much weight. Thisbegan to completely change how we trained with the sandbags. Now I had the option ofnot only changing just the weight, but also the dimensions of the sandbag. This made sand-bags more stable. In the past I had neglected this important aspect of sandbags because Iwasn’t able to control the dimension of a homemade sandbag, Lighter ones would actuallyshift and move more than heavier sandbags. This is a big reason that lighter sandbagsseemed almost as difficult as heavier sandbags.

The idea of changing dimensions is not anything we see in most other strength trainingtools. The barbell does not change its dimensions at all. This means it moves in the samepath, in the same manner, no matter what the load. This static variable makes it easier toprogress to heavier weights.

Kettlebell athletes, however, recognize the role of dimension and deliberately control it.In kettlebell sports, all of the weights are exactly the same dimension. The purpose of keep-ing all the kettlebells the same size is that they are able to groove such a specific techniquethat doesn’t have to change no matter the weight. Since kettlebell sport is based aroundstrength-endurance, it makes sense to make yourself as efficient as possible.

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Understanding the role of dimensional weight training opened up a very powerful doorfor me. I didn’t want to make people efficient at lifting. I could make very subtle changesother than just the weight they lifted to stimulate very powerful results in their training.However, in order to use dimensional changes, we would have to begin a process of stan-dardization. Having too little control was just as bad as not being aware of the role ofdimension.

That is why the first job was to create a sandbag with strategic sizes. Each size wouldhave a role. Smaller sandbags would be more compact and rigid. They would be more sta-ble overall and easier to use when we performed more complex exercises. Larger sandbagswere obviously capable of holding more weight, yet, more important to me was the factthey would be more unstable at similar loads. With a very simple and purposeful change,we now had the option to make sandbags stable or unstable. This would increase the num-ber of people we could expose to sandbag training and make it far more progressive. Thenext change would absolutely rock the very foundations of sandbag training.

Getting a GripOdd objects like sandbags have

long been considered one of themost powerful means for improv-ing one’s grip. Brooks Kubik ravesabout the power of lifting suchobjects for grip training, empha-sizing, “They give your hands atremendous workout just by hold-ing them!” Using sandbags is agreat way to build what Kubikcalls “Herculean” grip strength.

Why are sandbags possiblyamong the very best tools for gripstrength? As grip expert JohnBrookfield explains, there are sev-eral types of grip strength. Inorder to build great grip strength you must possess crushing, pinching, and wrist strength.Most forms of strength training only develop one or two of these. Even lifting thick barswill build crushing and some wrist strength, but completely misses pinching strength.Sandbag training allows the development of all three.

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Understanding grip strength and its role in training will also help explain why I did themost unthinkable thing possible. I added handles to the sandbag! What? Why? The ques-tions came in droves. People wanted to lynch me, accusing me of ruining the very essenceof sandbags. Before the pitchforks come out and torch-wielding purists show up at myhouse, let me explain why this was the most powerful and important addition to sandbags.

Although I am a fan of grip training (strong hands were a necessity for classic strong-men), I also understand its limitations. It doesn’t take an anatomy book to realize that thehands are not the most powerful area of the body. Many points, especially the legs, are farstronger than our hands. If we couldn’t work around the limitation of grip, we could nevertrain other areas of our body. Many powerlifters and old time strongmen knew this, asthey developed a mixed grip to perform very heavy barbell lifts like the deadlift. I Theyrealized that they would have to place their body in a position where their hands did notlimit them in order to lift the massive poundages for which these athletes are known. Themixed grip allows a stronger grip that makes it possible to lift more weight. Weightliftersfound something similar in their use of the “hook” grip. Gymnasts use very specific handpositions on the rings to perform their amazing strength feats.

If other strength athletes could find ways to avoid being limited by grip, why couldn’t wedo the same for the sandbag? When I ask strength coaches why the sandbag has never beena foundational strength training tool considering so many of its unique benefits, I rarely geta solid answer. Truth be told, in trying to stay “true” to sandbags, we also made them verylimiting. We couldn’t develop the same power and strength we aimed to achieve with theother strength training tools.

It just made sense to me – why not give us the option of either? By placing the right han-dles on the sandbag, we didn’t take away the opportunity to train our grip. Instead, weadded the ability to train more strength qualities than ever before!

Placing handles on the sandbag didn’t necessarily decrease our grip strength training,though. Handles allowed us to increase strength in two important ways. For us to reallyappreciate these more subtle grip factors, I need to address an important limitation in griptraining.

When I trained for competitive strongman competitions, I was not unfamiliar with han-dling heavy weights in my hands. Heavy cleans, deadlifts, and chin-ups had been part ofmy athletic training programs for many years. Strongman, though, challenged my grip inwhole new ways. As I began to train with other strongman athletes, I began to realize thatmy grip was relatively weak. The demands of strongman placed some pretty uniquestresses upon one’s grip.

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Realizing this was a pretty significant weakness, I did what any good athletes does. Imade it a priority. EVERYTHING quickly became about grip training. Thick bars fordeadlifts and clean and presses. Farmer’s walks as far as I could travel. Sandbags, stones,you name it, I included it into my training. But in less than a month, I felt one of the mostdebilitating pains I have ever experienced. Pretty soon gripping even a jar hurt very badly!Forget holding onto a weight bar of any sort, I was in pain! Again, like any good athlete, Ihad overtrained my grip and created such a bad case of elbow tendinitis that it almostcompletely prevented me from training!

The moral of my story is that grip training, like any other form of training, must be doneprogressively and cyclically – and of course, wisely. If you don’t take my word for it, youcould be stuck with same horrible pain that forced me to wait months to recover from.That’s right, our body often gives us harsh lessons about pushing too hard and too fast. Ittook probably at least triple the time to recover from the injury I had incurred than it didto cause it in the first place.

This also means that if sandbag training were only about grip, then we couldn’t use itthat often. It would appear in a cycle here and there, but again, it wouldn’t lend itself tofoundational forms of strength training.

My goal is not to scare you away from grip training or to deter you from using sand-bags. However, it is smart to consider all aspects of what this form of training provides. Italso means that we need to see how grip training occurs in less obvious forms with the useof the handles. One of the most exciting opportunities handles provided to me as a coachwas to introduce more movement-oriented training. More specifically, I got the opportu-nity to build rotational strength in my clients.

Rotational strength is very important and I will cover it later in this book, but it requiresvery fast moments of relaxation and tension. During sandbag rotational movements, thesandbag itself builds great amounts of speed and force. Think of a gymnast on the unevenbars. She begins to move slowly, and as she picks up speed, she must constantly changehow much tension she applies through her body and the bar. It’s the same with the sandbag— the hands have to work “smarter” to coordinate efficient movement, and we get a farmore dynamic form of grip training.

The addition of handles also completely changed the form of gripping for exercises likeclean and presses, snatches, and rowing. Olympic lifters and kettlebell enthusiasts can tellyou that when you perform many of these dynamic exercises you don’t clench down on theweight and hold on for life. Instead, we see another dynamic grip, a moment where we havehigh tension to almost no tension. Gripping too tightly during more dynamic exercises actu-ally prohibits the lifter from performing the exercise optimally. Alternating between tightand loose grips allows us to move athletically with sometimes very high loads.

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This dynamic grip doesn’t occur with exercises such as rows though, so why bother? Thechange in leverage may at first seem subtle, but as we learn to appreciate leverage as a con-siderable training variable, we see how impactful it can become. With the barbell, the cen-ter of mass is right where we grip. By adding the handles to the sandbag, we now grip agood distance away from the center of mass. This makes any weight feel heavier. If youdon’t believe me, try this: Grab a dumbbell and kettlebell of equivalent weights. Chancesare you are going to find the kettlebell heavier, even though the dumbbell is the sameweight. This is because the grip of the kettlebell is further from the center of mass thanwe’re used to with a dumbbell. However, with sandbags, this is even more impactfulbecause unlike the kettlebell, there is almost no weight in the handle itself. The sandbag’sentire weight is further from our gripping point.

During exercises such as rows and curls, this is what makes the sandbag feel more chal-lenging, even though there is not much weight shift to the actual sandbag. That will alsobegin to help explain one of the most misunderstood benefits of adding handles to thesandbag. Many think that adding handles to the sandbag would take away from the insta-bility aspect. The truth is the exact opposite!

When I looked at how we grabbed the duffel bags I made, I realized a few things. In gen-eral, we would grab on the outside of the sandbag, much closer to that of a barbell. Wewere holding closer to the center of mass and actually increasing the stability of the sand-bag. Even grabbing on top of the sandbag, we were actually holding relatively close to themost stable point of the sandbag. What I really learned was that what made the sandbag sochallenging was NOT the shifting and moving of the sandbag, but the fact that most peo-ple were simply limited by their grip. Since the duffel bag forced people to grab directlyonto the sandbag, people were always limited by their grip strength, and never really got toexperience the instability of the sandbag.

For a better illustration of my point, let’s look at a classic sandbag exercise, the clean andpress. Watch a video on YouTube or pull out an old time book and look at the recommen-dation for the sandbag clean and press. During the clean, the lifter will grab the outside ofthe sandbag, making the sand all move to the same point in the middle — if it is looseenough to even move! Upon bringing the sandbag to the chest, many will either continueto hold onto the outside of the sandbag (in the case of more loosely filled sandbags), orshift their hands so their palms are underneath (typical of more tightly filled sandbags).Either scenario actually increases the stability of the sandbag.

However, with the addition of specific handles, the weight during the clean is far morefree to move and shift. Upon reaching the challenging fist position for the press, the load israrely caught with an even amount of weight upon either arm. Now we can handle moreunstable sandbags as we press in this position, and not only have a challenging weight, buttrue instability of the sandbag.

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The opportunity to re-invent the sandbag was exciting and intimidating, actually mak-ing the sandbag specific for strength and fitness was motivating. Yet, I also knew that somewould be scared of the change, we all know people can often be fearful of what they don’tunderstand. However, I believed so strongly in the unique benefits the sandbag could pro-vide. Of all the issues to resolve with the classic idea of a sandbag, I began to favor oneamong all other. By attaching handles, I went from having a handful of barbell-like exer-cises available (never seen more than about 20 ever described) to building a progressivetraining system that had well over 400 purposeful drills. That is NOT an exaggeration, Icould use my sandbags to create over 400 exercises!. I am absolutely convinced there is nosystem that could replicate this type of versatility and progressive nature. None.

What I had created wasn’t just a sandbag anymore; it was the “Ultimate Sandbag”. Iwanted to call what I had created very simply what is was. The Ultimate Sandbag wasn’tjust the very best sandbag. Now that I had the right tool, I could start seeing the trainingand programming of fitness goals in a whole new light.

The more I began to use the Ultimate Sandbag, the more I began to have a growing dis-dain for the old duffel bags. I had wasted so much time and energy in working with suchan inefficient tool. I finally realized that I never really had a plan or purpose with the train-ing that I had been putting both my clients and myself through. The programming that wastaking shape made me want to distance what I was doing with the Ultimate Sandbag fromthe same issues I knew so many other coaches and fitness enthusiasts were experiencingwith odd objects. That is why I knew we had to call this something different. This was nolonger just sandbag or odd object training; this was becoming a whole new system of fit-ness and performance training. It was becoming the foundation of Dynamic VariableResistance Training (DVRT).

The SystemIn creating a whole new system of training, I wanted to change how people looked at the

exercises they selected, the way they structured their programs, and how they saw theentire landscape of strength training. Not a lofty goal at all!

The only way to accomplish such an ambitious goal is to have a system. A lot of peopleget scared of systems. They believe that having this type of structure will take away creativ-ity, versatility, and fun from training. Having a system of training doesn’t do any of this. Infact, it allows us to build so much more in all these areas.

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Think of a system simply as a map. The goal of a map is to provide us direction and pur-pose. I can wander along a trail for quite some time only to learn there was a far moredirect path to my end. Most people right now are wandering in their fitness journey. Theyknow where they want to go, but the map is so confusing that they train in a constantstate of being lost. If we don’t have a plan, a map, then we can’t problem, we can’t defini-tively know we are making true progress, and we can’t continue to build toward evenlarger goals.

The truth is that systems allow us to be creative. They are organic, and they allow us alot more freedom than we usually realize. On the other hand, not having a plan causes usto feel like we are throwing darts against the wall, HOPING we are doing something thatwill get us closer to our goals. It is the lack of a map that holds many back from everachieving their fitness goals. Have you ever heard of anyone of any level of success gettingthere because they just did random things? You think top 500 companies don’t have aplan? You think military generals don’t have a plan? You think that even sports coachesdon’t have a plan?

What is the DVRT map? Let’s begin the journey.

At first glance it may not seem as though DVRT is a new form of strength training. Insome cases this is true. We see that the following concepts are based upon the traditionalconcept of “progressive overload”. Many are familiar with this idea of building upon moreweight over time. We can think to the ancient tale of Milo and his bull. In order to gain theclassic strength of the ancient Greeks, Milo carried his young calf. As time went on, Milocontinued to carry his calf, but of course as the calf aged it became larger and larger.Eventually, Milo was carrying the full adult bull, something he would have not been ableto do if he started his training by beginning with the bull. This simple tale is an easy way toillustrate that we need to incrementally challenge our bodies over time to make themstronger and more fit.

As helpful as the story of Milo is in conveying the message of progressive overload, it canalso be misleading. Milo’s journey was rather incomplete. With his carrying of the bull, weonly see one means of becoming stronger and more fit, and that is increasing the weight welift. The truth is that progressive overload should be known as progressive stress. The

PRINCIPLE 1: PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD

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whole point of stressing the body with weight is to challenge its normal state. Author andprofessor John Jesse wrote in his book, The Encyclopedia of Wrestling Conditioning:

“Gradualness and progression are the keys to the body’s physical and psycho-logical adaptations to the stresses of greater training and loads and increased lev-els of competition. It should be remembered that the body or its system do notadapt to increasing demands at a steady non-ending pace...The body reacts to thenew stress immediately, but takes a certain time to adapt to the stress. Once itadapts to the added stress then the load can be increased.” (p. 36)

There are several things we can learn from Jesse’s point. The first is that if we focussolely on load we will hit plateaus at a much faster pace. This is especially true in DVRTwhere the weight of the actual implement cannot be changed without rather large jumps inweight. It was not lost on old-time strength athletes that the body can only handle verysmall jumps in weight. In fact, one of the biggest fears in moving from the classic globebarbells and dumbbells to the current plate-loaded versions was that the jumps in weightwere too large. Great strongman and author Alan Calvert wrote about his dislike for thefirst plate loaded weights:

“The principal defect of bells that load only with plates, is that they cannot beincreased in weight except in jumps of 5 lbs or more. In order to practiceweightlifting safely and successfully you must have a bell that can be increasedone ounce at a time if necessary—and this alone makes it unwise to use a bellwhich loads only with iron plates.” (Alan Calvert) The Milo System of HeavyWeightlifting (Philadelphia: Milo Barbell Company, n.d, 13).

The idea of such tiny loads being added may seem silly to us today, but it shows us whythese great strength athletes became great. They knew how far a little stress could go inaltering the body.

Another point in Jesse’s writing was the idea of a singular stress being applied to thebody. The reality is that the vast majority of training programs, whether deliberately ornot, apply multiple stresses to the body at once. Either applying too much stress or notbeing aware of the amount of stress we are using can cause early plateauing or even over-training of the body.

If load or weight is not the only variable for us to consider, then what other aspects oftraining cause stress upon the body? Below I have listed the training variables that actuallymake up the progressive overload that we THOUGHT we all knew. Once you see thisextensive list, you will quickly realize how often we only program a very small portion ofwhat is possible and necessary in physical training.

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• Weight

• Speed

• Holding Position

Seeing these nine variables of progressive overload can seem quite overwhelming andcause most coaches to simply ignore them. The idea that “ignorance is bliss” is definitelyone reason so many training programs fail. If we do not appreciate what and how thesedifferent training variables apply to our training then can truly create a great trainingsystem.

In many of my DVRT educational programs, I joke with coaches that the great side ofDVRT is that there are a lot of options and the bad side is that there are a lot of options.You have to want to become a better coach, whether you’re coaching yourself or trainingothers. My job at this point is to take you through the process of how you can simply orga-nize these variables to create some of the best training programs you will experience.

Weight While it may seem obvious that weight is an option, some may misconstrue this book

and think I am anti-weight. This couldn’t be further from the truth. I want to load andprogress all our movements. The key is I want you to see beyond weight ; it’s not the onlyor even the most important variable. Realizing this will open a huge door to continuallysuccessful training programs.

Because weight is generally the first variable that people focus upon, I believe it is worth-while to address first. In our DVRT system, increasing an Ultimate Sandbag by 5 or 10pound increments is unrealistic and, truthfully, unproductive. While microloading is defi-nitely valuable for long and short-term gains, we can do so by using all of the progressiveoverload variables together.

• Body Position

• Range of Motion

• Volume

• Density

• Plane of Motion

• Implement Stability

PROGRESSIVEOVERLOAD VARIABLES

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Is this a shortcoming to the DVRT system? I don’t believe so. As far as I know, only onetraining implement is loaded in the smallest of weights — the barbell. Kettlebells, dumb-bells, and even bodyweight don’t progress in the same tiny increments that we would see inthe barbell. In fact, one of the primary reasons I was initially drawn to kettlebells was thefact that kettlebell programs offered training beyond simply going up in weight.

You may say that dumbbells and kettlebells do go up by 5 or 10 pounds. Not quite.Most times when you see these implements in the gym you simply see more of them. Theactual implement itself is rarely incrementally loaded like a barbell. Would this not give thebarbell a major advantage? No. In fact, this makes many coaches short-sighted in theirprogramming. I recall when kettlebell training regained popularity in the US. Initially theprimary weights were 16, 24, and 32 kg. The idea was that you had to learn how to moreintelligently manage the progressive overload variables learn how to make lighter weightsfeel heavier and heavier weights feel lighter. I found myself becoming more creative in myproblem solving with my programs, and gained a better appreciation of how these vari-ables can work together to make more productive workouts.

Learning how to combine all these variables at once takes time, especially if they aresomewhat new to you. That is why I am going to provide you with a host of programs fordifferent fitness levels that you can use as a template to help you upon your journey.

SpeedI trained quite some time before I began to appreciate the impact of speed in a program.

I recall being absolutely blown away in the late 1990’s with the innovative writing of astrength coach name Charles Poliquin. Poliquin was a big advocate of altering tempowithin an exercise to create very specific outcomes. His recommendations made sense, butactually applying his concepts made me even more of a believer.

In the gym, I couldn’t believe the impact of changing the speed of different portions of anexercise. Weights that I thought were quite easy were all of a sudden incredibly challenging.Weaknesses I never knew I had exposed. Most of all, I was breaking all sorts of strengthplateaus.

Unfortunately, the contemporary fitness scene has more and more coaches ignoring thisvery valuable variable in favor of “sexier” very fast movements. I admit, it is quite amazingto watch someone who has fantastic control of their body and weight to move seeminglyeffortlessly with high weights in an athletic motion. However, this approach also createsseveral issues.

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Faster speeds, especially downward, put significant force on the body. While this canbecome a benefit over time, it can also cause injuries. Biomechanics and Soviet sports train-ing expert Dr. Michael Yessis finds that high speeds produce more stress on the body thanheavier weights moved at slower speeds. “When the shift is ultimately made to explosive-ness training, the forces created in these exercises reach as much as twenty times your bodyweight. To withstand such forces, you must already have concentric, eccentric, and isomet-ric strength.” (Yessis, 2008)

Does this mean you can never move fast and you shouldn’t? Not at all. In fact, I amgoing to share with you when and why moving fast is most appropriate. However, asrenowned strength coach Chris Frankel says, “You have to EARN the progression.” Usingthe DVRT system takes discipline, focus, and patience. This isn’t unusual in the develop-ment of any athletic ability.

Growing up, my sport was basketball. I lived and breathed it for almost 13 years of mylife, and had the wonderful privilege of playing at a relatively high level. Yet almost nocoach had a bigger impact upon me than my high school varsity coach. A devotee of theBobby Knight approach in many ways, he was emphasized the development of fundamen-tals and believed that you could beat raw talent with discipline. He was right, as we beatquite a few teams over my high school career that were far more athletic than our ownteam. One even had a future NBA player on their team, while ours had none.

I see my coach’s teachings coming out in some of the ways that I create training pro-grams. I remember one of his rules of practice was that you could never be found shootingthree point or other trick shots right before practice. He gave us a very specific routine. Ifwe arrived early, we were to grab a basketball and sit about two feet from the basket. Wewere to shoot at least 20 one- handed shots from only two feet away. Once we shot 20, wewere to move back about a foot and do the same. This practice would continue and wouldfeed into other fundamental drills.

I know some of my teammates were frustrated by this routine. They wanted to practicethe cool moves we saw NBA players doing during games. However, our coach was tryingto teach us what made the great players truly great. They wanted us to be disciplinedenough to work on our foundational skills so that we could not only be good, but great.He often spoke about the fact we would run into an opponent that was faster, more ath-letic, taller, etc. At that point we had to rely on the skills that we had practiced, the funda-mentals that we could perform better than anyone else. Training for fitness and perfor-mance is much the same.

You can run out there and do some of the “cool” movements that you see on television,message boards, or YouTube, but you will never be truly rewarded with the results that youare looking to achieve. Do not forget to EARN the progression.

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Is speed training, then, all about just making you have patience and discipline.Absolutely NOT! I often ask coaches I teach, “When you are uncomfortable, do you movefaster or slower?” Inevitably everyone says faster! Moving fast has a time and a place. It isa great skill to develop over time. However, there are some tremendous benefits to bothalternating your speeds and focusing specifically upon slower speeds.

The primary reason that many people choose to move fast in their training is that theybelieve they are creating more of a metabolic or conditioning type of training effect. Thereality is quite different. A 2012 study by Christopher Scott, in the Journal of AppliedPhysiology, looked at three different types of tempos used during exercise. Fast, moderate,and slow tempos were used to see which caused the greatest change in post-exercise oxygenconsumption (EPO) and calories burned. Surprising probably many, the group that had thebiggest changes in these energy expenditure measures was the slow tempo group!

Why would slower tempos be more effective for burning calories and having a positivechange in EPOC? There are probably two primary reasons. Slowing down temposincreases the time under tension (TUT). Coaches like Charles Poliquin believe that TUT isa vital training variable for increasing strength, building functional muscle, and decreasingbody fat. While weight and other more popular variables of training are important,Poliquin theorizes that the actual “tension” on the muscle produced by weight and trainingcauses the changes that we all aim for in our workouts.

The second reason that slower tempos might be related to such positive changes is thefact that people are able to actually integrate the right muscles to a movement. Learning tolift heavy or fast weights is a definite skill. The nervous system – and not just the muscles –plays a key role in training. Since most people have certain dominant muscles and muscleactions, they can easily skip over the most important muscles without the correct trainingpatterns! A highly skilled lifter has built the ability to turn on the right muscles at the righttime, enabling him or her to perform incredible feats of strength without having a largebody weight.

We can learn to build this type of control and strength, but we have to learn how tomove slowly before we can move fast. Using slower tempos will help us learn how to coor-dinate the right muscles at the right time within an exercise. Slower tempos will help uslearn proper position and alignment during our movements. Utilizing slower tempos willhelp us build a solid base to tolerate heavier weights and higher forces. Adjusting thetempo also helps us build functional muscle to help prevent injury during more challengingprograms.

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Is Slow Only for Beginners?It’s easy to think the above recommendations only apply to new trainees, but alternating

speeds can help athletes at all experience levels. Alternating speeds is important dependingup the goal. Using specific pauses, for example, allows us to challenge areas of the bodythat we may find weak. For example, using a pause at the bottom of our squattingsequences will eliminate momentum. Coming up from a squat with our programmed pausewill give us important feedback about whether we are truly able to use our hamstrings andglutes. Initiating the drive out of the squat with a forward lean of the trunk gives us feed-back that we may have a weakness in this area of our body.

Using pauses at specific joint angles allows us to introduce some of the great benefits ofisometric training. One of the primary weaknesses of isometric training is the fact that weonly have a carryover of this type of strength for 15 degrees above and below the jointangle we are training. In other words, we don’t necessarily get strength throughout a jointsfull range of motion during isometric training. Realizing this issue with isometrics, Dr.Yessis suggests the Soviet idea of “dynamic isometrics”. During the downward phase of apush-up, for example, we can stop at different points in the movement and hold the posi-tion – something along the lines of one-third of the way, halfway, and two-thirds of theway down. Then we try to create a great amount of force to accelerate our body back tothe beginning. Such training is incredibly intense and should not be used all the time. Usingvarying forms of isometrics and pauses is a great example of how alteration of speed canhave very positive effects for any fitness level.

Speeding It UpWhen can you go fast? The reality is you are going to introduce speed very early in your

training. One of the best and most subtle benefits to the DVRT system is that you have tolift the weight from the ground every single time. It can be easily argued that one of theworst inventions ever was the squat rack! Lifting weight from the ground requires us toaccelerate the USB into any one of our holding positions. Therefore, from a functional per-spective, learning how to create force quickly is necessary. We don’t lift every day objectsslowly either. However, the trick will be in how this is introduced and how much weemphasize faster forms of training.

One of the easiest and most beneficial times for introducing faster speeds is during thelifting of a weight. Focusing on trying to accelerate even heavier weights faster has been toshown to stimulate more of our fast-twitch muscle fibers. University of Oregon State pro-fessor of exercise and sports science, Patrick O’Shea, states “at 100 percent maximumeffort, however, the percentage of slow-twitch fibers involved is only 5%, while fast-twitch

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fatigue resistant is 15 percent, and fast-twitch fatigable is 80 percent.” This can stimulatethe muscle fibers that have a high potential for strength, power, and hypertrophy by goingslower with heavy weights.

Trying to stimulate these muscle fibers is very important for overall health as well. As weage, our fast-twitch muscle fibers are among the first things to go. Possessing great strengthand the ability to demonstrate power may even reduce our risk of common sources ofinjuries, such as falls, as we age. Coaches and fitness professionals often make the mistakeof focusing on the cardiorespiratory development of older people rather than progressivetraining of power and strength. Big mistake!

Hopefully we now have a greater level of appreciation for the role of speed within anexercise. To making managing these various tempos and other training variables easier, wearen’t going to prescribe specific counts. Instead, I will provide you guidelines dependingupon the movement and goal. Of course, there are certain exercises for which no speedalteration is necessary. Those more closely related to the classic Olympic lifts cannot besafely or effectively performed at altered speeds.

Holding PositionOne of the most unique aspects of the DVRT system is the emphasis on various holding

positions of the USB. Most training programs pay little attention to this very importanttraining variable. Overall fitness and performance training programs almost never specifi-cally address the holding position of the weight. Too appreciate the role of holding posi-tion, let’s look at a famous sport that develops great strength with this very concept.

In gymnastics we see athletes perform amazing feats of strength, all without any externalload. Most gymnasts build their strength and body control without ever adding any exter-nal resistance to their training programs. How could this occur and how does this help usbetter illustrate the role of holding position?

Gymnasts use a very simple technique time and time again. They alter the body position togive an exercise the feel of increased load. Leverage is key and is relevant to external loadstrength training as well, but outside of gymnastics, gymnastics, athletes rarely apply the con-cept. The placement of the USB can completely change the outcome and feel of an exercise.

As we go through the foundational DVRT exercises, you will find that load can increase ordecrease stability. The same weight can be used in a different holding position to stress differ-ent segments of the body or even planes of motion. Therefore, by simply changing how youhold the weight in relationship to your body, you can make an exercise more or less difficult.

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A big reason that holding position has never been a big part of programming is that ourclassic tools haven’t offered enough variation to make it a primary focus. For example, abarbell typically can be held in five different positions (hips, front rack, zercher, upper back,overhead). Dumbbells and kettlebells typically have about 5 holding positions (outside hip,inside hip, front rack, goblet, overhead). The Ultimate Sandbag, however, offers us at leastELEVEN different holding positions to more effectively stress this training variable.

This isn’t just about creating variety or theoretical hype. A study by Gullett et al.,directly compared front and back squatting. The researchers concluded, “The front squatwas as effective as the back squat in terms of overall muscle recruitment, with significantlyless compressive forces and extensor moments.” The study was performed with lighterloads used during the front squat. The moral of the story here is that we can stress the rightmuscles and take pressure off sensitive structures of our body if we realize the potential ofholding position.

In the later chapters describing our DVRT exercises, you will see how holding position iseasy manipulated to make incremental changes in weight. In most cases, in lower body-dominant DVRT exercises we will change how we hold the weight before we change howwe stand with the weight. This rule takes us into our next concept — body position.

Body PositionMost coaches and fitness professionals are very careful about the load increases they rec-

ommend to their clients. It would be unusual to find people increasing weight by more thanfive or ten pounds at a time. If I suggested that we should move people up by increments offifty pounds, many of you would think I had lost my mind. Yet, trying to progress peoplewith very unstable forms of body position poses the same issues that adding large amountsof weight would provide, therefore demonstrating how some important training variablesare neglected during the development of our fitness programs.

We see it every day at gyms and training facilities around the world. We squat, deadlift,or maybe even clean. Then, if we are believers in functional training, we add in exercisessuch as lunges, step-ups, even pistols. However, moving from a squat to a lunge or a dead-lift, and then to a single leg deadlift is anything BUT progressive. These are quantum leapsin body position for people. Yet because we never see body position in this manner, wedrastically increase the level of intensity of a workout or exercise and never understandwhy the program begins to fail.

As in my example with gymnasts, body position can be very progressive. We should tryto make the most minimal jumps in our lifting postures and positions. Slightly adjusting

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how we stand when we perform an exercise begins to tax our body in new ways. Breakingour most stable positions, we force different chains and systems in the body to work harderto maintain correct alignment. You will find that even modest changes in body position canquickly lead to signs of significant weaknesses in different areas.

For example, when we move from a stable overhead pressing position to our staggeredstance, the body wants to shift as we press. All of a sudden we feel our stance leg trying tocreate more stability by driving into the ground. The hip begins to contract harder to avoidany compensation, and our core braces to help build that stable foundation.

The concept of body position probably makes sense to you, as most of us have experi-enced some variety of the above example. But how much of a difference does it reallymake? A 2012 study in the Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research by Saeterbakken,et al, actually compared the differences between pressing overhead from a standing orseated position as well as the use of dumbbells compared to barbells. This study found thatthe upper body was engaged differently depending upon whether a lifter was standing orsitting. The standing position used more muscles, as did the use of dumbbells over barbells.What does this tell us? As the researchers in the study state, “In conclusion, the exercisewith the greatest stability requirement (standing and dumbbells) demonstrated the highestneuromuscular activity of the deltoid muscles, although this was the exercise with the low-est 1-RM strength.” Such studies validate what we see all the time in the gym — that theuse of unstable implements and progressively challenging body positions allows us to stim-ulate more of the body, even at lower loads!

The great part of DVRT is that I have systematically laid out both lower and upper bodydrills using the concepts discussed in this book. As you get more proficient with the properuse of body position, you will find that you will discover new ways to add small layers ofprogressions to your training programs.

Range of MotionDetermining appropriate range of motion – which is by no means exclusive to the DVRT

system – is vitally important for both safety and obtaining the desired training effect.Exercises frequently must be modified to meet individual needs. Training from a compro-mised position is a very advanced training technique that is only appropriate when thelifter has spent extensive time preparing and needs to compromise his or her position tomeet training goals.

When we start changing body position and planes of motion, we often see a very largealteration in levels of stability. Range of motion can be subtly changed to introduce moreadvanced movement and training concepts and to add more layers of progression.

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A great example is during our lateral lunge deadlifts. The lateral lunge deadlift is a pow-erful DVRT exercise that teaches us how to perform a foundational movement pattern in adifferent plane of motion. However, changing from the more stable Saggital plane to theless stable Frontal plane requires a very large leap in both coordination and stability. Tomanage the new stress we are applying to the body, we can do something as simple as tak-ing a small lateral step. While this may seem obvious, I have often seen trainees try to per-form the “ideal” motion. The result is that they create too much instability to properly per-form or benefit from the exercise.

Altering range of motion makes adding progressions and variety to our training rela-tively easy, but keeping training purposeful. Range of motion can make an exercise feeleasier or harder. We can use this strategy to increase perceived load of an exercise andweight.. A great example is one of our favorite foundational DVRT exercises, the Bear HugSquat.

Because of the loading position of the Bear Hug Squat, we often see lifters achieve muchdeeper squat positions than they are typically accustomed to. When people go deeper intothe squat position, they are extending the range of motion and increasing the level of diffi-culty of the Bear Hug Squat. This is another way we can make the same weight feel heavier,by progressing people to greater ranges of motion.

A very different example is using range of motion to achieve specific goals. In the worldof Olympic lifting, athletes lift from different levels to train very targeted angles and quali-ties. For example, non-weightlifters will use higher lifting positions in the Clean and Snatchto improve what is known as rate of force development. This is simply the speed at whichan athlete can create force. Since most sports have forces occurring at almost milliseconds,just being able to create a lot of force is not enough to be a great athlete. One has to be ableto generate force as quickly as possible.

In DVRT we can create a similar focus by changing the dimension of the UltimateSandbag. As Ultimate Sandbags get heavier, their dimensions change. As the UltimateSandbag becomes larger, the range of motion decreases in exercises like Cleans andSnatches. This means that we don’t necessarily to go heavier to make a DVRT exercisemore challenging or to focus on developing specific qualities. Simply changing the dimen-sion of Ultimate Sandbag can offer us a similar opportunity with some additional uniquebenefits.

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Stability of ImplementOne of the goals in developing the Ultimate Sandbag was to create a tool with immense

versatility. This also meant facing the challenges odd objects pose. The greatest challengemay have been about the level of stability of the implement itself. Because all of the tradi-tional strength training tools are static in nature, people often misuse unstable objects. Thenew training apparatus is so exciting to many lifters that they don’t program or introducethis concept appropriately. Excitement quickly fades and is replaced by frustration andeventually abandonment of the idea of unstable implements.

People can become very excited about the concept of unstable objects and quickly findthemselves trying to employ objects such as kegs, slosh pipes, etc. These types of trainingtools are ALWAYS unstable, and because of the drastic changes in stability, it’s only possi-ble to do a very limited number of exercises. This challenge in programming also makes itvirtually impossible to create appropriate progressions to introduce and succeed with theseimplements.

While most think sand is always unstable, we can actually achieve a wide variety in levelsof stability. Sand, is not as unstable as other mediums such as water. In fact sand is a farsuperior means in providing a better intermediate point in progressive instability. As I dis-cussed in the previous section, changing the dimension of the Ultimate Sandbag used is theprimary method for altering its stability.

That means that in our DVRT system, we can alter the stability of the Ultimate Sandbagnot just by adding weight, changing body position, or altering range of range of motionand speed, but also by changing its dimension. Using the SAME weight in a different size,the Ultimate Sandbag will alter the feel and movement of the weight. Therefore, we need toknow how to control this variable and decide what we want to emphasize with theUltimate Sandbag – load, stability, or a combination of both! Standardization means wecan have more control in our program.

We can periodize and plan stability in the same way we periodize and plan load and vol-ume. When we see ourselves progressing to more unstable body positions such as lunging,we can add stability to the implement. Combining the stability of the implement with theright holding position makes complex movement patterns accessible to more lifters.

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THE DVRTMOVEMENTS

ow that we have some of the principles of the DVRT system laid out, we candiscuss the progressions of the DVRT exercises. Understanding the princi-ples of DVRT will provide a much deeper meaning for all of these valuabledrills. Throughout the descriptions, I will refer to these principles so that

you may see how they play out in real examples.

You will find that we are going to refer to exercises in the category of “movement pat-terns” and not necessarily exercises. One of the most important differences in the DVRTsystem is the focus upon the different movements we can perform instead of getting mar-ried to any one specific exercise. Of course, there is a preferred method for progressingpeople through these different movement patterns, but these are guidelines, not stonetablets. Understanding the rules is important, but as Oliver Wendell Holmes points out,“The young man knows the rules, but the old man knows the exceptions.” Begin by tryingto follow the progressions I lay out for you, but over time build the confidence to break therules when appropriate.

Remember, you don’t have to perform any one exercise, you have to find the “RIGHT”exercise for your goals.

Foundational Hip HingingIt may seem a bit unusual to begin the exercise portion of this book with a discussion of

hip hinging. The reason for this is practicality more than deep science. You see, one of theworst inventions of the modern fitness era had to be the squat rack. In old time strongmandays, lifters had to bring the weight from the ground into various positions in order tosquat. We saw everything from the unique Steinborn lifts, to Ed Zercher’s squats, to moreaccessible lifts like the modern Power Clean. Each had the similar intent of just getting theweight into position to squat or perform a host of other exercises.

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Lifting heavy weight from the ground became one of the main qualities of a true strong-man. The measure of a true strongman was often gauged by how much weight they couldlift overhead, how much they could carry, and how much they could lift off the ground! Ofcourse, the invention of the squat rack gave many future lifters the ability to slowly moveaway from this highly valuable training concept. In fact, we now have squat racks that youdon’t even need to walk out of to get into your squatting stance. What a shame!

Learning how to perform what we call the “hip hinge pattern” is vital to properly liftingweight off of the ground. After I herniated several discs in my low back, doctors wereadamant about not “bending over” to lift anything off of the ground. Instead, they encour-aged me to squat to pick up items . While they were not wrong in telling me not to “bendover,” the advice to squat was poor advice.

Hip hinging refers to our ability to load the hamstrings and glutes to produce what isknown as hip flexion and extension. While bending over at the back makes the low backthe main contributor to lifting, hip hinging in this manner allows these powerful muscles totake the majority of the load and spare the low back. The reason that the back sides ofmany athletes are large is because the hamstrings and glutes are your power center. Notusing them is not only inefficient, but places the low back at great risk.

Why is squatting not the better answer? It’s simple: someone who can’t hip hinge usuallyhas an even worse squat. While the squat does have elements of hip flexion and hip exten-sion, the hip hinge relies less on the quadriceps and places greater demand upon those pow-erful hamstring and glute muscles. It is also often easier to get people into a proper hip hingethan it is a great squat because the hip hinge requires overall less range of motion in the hip.

When I refer to hip hinging, many people may instantly believe I am referring to the dead-lift and can’t understand why I don’t just talk about the deadlift already! The truth is thatthe deadlift is one of many hip hinge movement patterns. As I often remind coaches at oureducational programs, a deadlift is a hip hinge, but a hip hinge doesn’t HAVE to be a dead-lift. Remember, we have to perform the right exercises for our fitness goals and abilities.

Now, to become a total hypocrite, I am going to talk about the deadlift first. What?!Before you shut this book in anger and disgust, let me explain the differences and why wewill touch on the deadlift, but not stay there.

The deadlift is a great foundational hip hinge drill because it provides us both the ele-ments of a stable body position and load position. Having the Ultimate Sandbag in thedeadlift position allows us to handle more weight and to have the weight serve as a meansof determining correct alignment and posture. In a moment we will cover how to performthis exercise correctly, but I must make a quick detour to explain why the deadlift is not along term exercise in our DVRT system.

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There should be very littlespace between the forearms

and lower body, youshouldn’t find one running

into the other.

Take a stancejust about hipwidth apart.

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If we were to only focus on load in the DVRT system, we would see that the deadliftquickly becomes a lift of diminishing return. As the weight of the USB increases, so does itsdimension. This results in the USB becoming larger and actually decreasing the range ofmotion in the deadlift. Focusing only on the weight and the deadlift would allow us to rea-sonably assume we have used the USB to the full extent in the hip hinge exercise progres-sions. The reality is much different.

Using the deadlift in the DVRTsystem is simply a means of estab-lishing correct hip hinge patterningso that we can continue to stress ourbody in its ability to perform a hiphinge under many conditions andstressors. The deadlift at this point inour training is going to allow us toidentify improper movement pat-terns so we can establish correcttraining habits early in training.

You will find the USB acts as agreat tool in seeing these compensa-tion patterns in the hip hinge andparticularly the deadlift. There aretwo common compensation patternswe will see in the deadlift. The mostobvious is when the lifter performsmore of a squatting pattern ratherthan a hip hinge. How can we seethis with the USB? If the USB or yourforearms run into your knees whenperforming the deadlift, this is aclear sign that you are squatting andnot hip hinging. While there shouldbe very little space between the fore-arms and lower body, you shouldn’tfind one running into the other. Theother simple way of determiningcompensation in a squatter is right atthe beginning of the lift!

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During the set-up of the deadlift we take what we call a neutral grip position on the USB.This is different from the grip position used with a barbell . When the lifter gets set to lift,if the knees are going in between the handles this means he is immediately set to squat andnot to hip hinge. Many lifters will try to compensate for tight hamstrings and go wide withtheir stance. Don’t fall for this trick. Take a stance just about hip width apart!

The other most common compensation happens at the upper back. It is safe to say thatour legs are stronger than our upper back and we should see the smaller muscles in ourupper body fatigue before the muscles of our lower body. Yet there is a major problem withallowing this to occur in real life. Try this little experiment for a moment. Round yourshoulders like you are slouch-ing. Once your shoulders arerounded try to round yourlow back, pretty easy isn’t it?Now, let’s try the opposite.Try to hold your shouldersdown and back like you weretrying to get into your bestposture. Now hold this posi-tion and try to round yourlow back. Almost impossible!

This simple demonstrationillustrates to anyone theimportance of the upper backdictating what happens at thelow back. Many lifters losetheir position in their upperback and yet continue to per-form heavy exercises likedeadlifts. Now their low backgoes from becoming a stabi-lizer to a prime mover, whichit does NOT like!

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Before you start writingto me that this is a tech-nique elite powerlifters orstrongmen use, I wantyou to ask yourself a veryimportant question. Areyou an elite powerlifter orstrongman? If the answeris no, then I will ask youto trust me in the tech-nique I am about to showyou.

I alluded earlier to thefact that we grab onto theneutral grip handles onthe USB when we deadliftor perform most of ourhip hinge exercises. Whydo so when we don’t dothis on the barbell? Theneutral grip hand positionallows us to open theshoulder joint and makesit easier to set our shoul-ders “down and back”.When you get into thisposition in your upperbody, you should see thatthe lat (or underarm area)and space between theshoulder blades become

tense. These muscles are going to help “lock us” into the correct alignment so that wedecrease the likelihood that we are lifting with our low backs.

If this is a preferred gripping method how come we don’t do the same on the barbell?Well, hopefully it is obvious that we don’t do the same because it is not possible! That does-n’t mean that powerlifters and weightlifters don’t try to use the same concept. Coaches ofthese athletes often use the idea of “trying to break the bar” before they even lift the weightoff the ground. This coaching style is used to try to simulate the same concept. However,the barbell has more of a closed shoulder joint position, which makes it more challengingto get into the same good lifting posture.

This issquatting,

not hinging.

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My point is that this is both a safer and easier position to attain when lifting, so why notuse it? Plus, if we tried to use the concept of “breaking the bar” on the snatch grip handles,it wouldn’t work! The handles would move and change the dynamics not just of the lift,but the movement of the USB itself. So, don’t try to use the USB like a barbell. Realize thenuances that make it both highly effective and versatile.

Many of the actual concepts of the deadlift stay true once the correct lifting posture isestablished. We want to focus on pushing through the heels and keeping the movement ofthe hips in line with the actual movement of the USB. If the hips rise up too fast and areabove our shoulder position, we are going to again end up lifting with our low back. Wewant to get as “tall” as possible when we are pulling the USB off of the ground while hold-ing the shoulders in that “down and back” position the entire time.

The way down from the deadlift pull is where again we see the difference between theDVRT system and other methods. It is not uncommon to see great lifters simply drop theweight from the top of the deadlift or to quickly follow the weight down. In both cases thethought process is to avoid “wasting” unnecessary energy while lowering the weight andto avoid injury. Since most injuries occur during the lowering or deceleration phase of a lift,many lifters simply decide to avoid it completely.

In DVRT we think a bit differently! By adding layers to our training, we’ll have manyopportunities to safely and effectively train the deceleration phase. Since we have alreadyestablished the fact that the weight on a USB deadlift is not going to be the same as theweight associated with elite barbell lifts, we can safely employ a deceleration phase.

This is where we are going to see tempo play an integral role in the performance of thedeadlift. Instead of just dropping the USB or quickly dropping with the weight, we aregoing to do the opposite! I often start people with the deadlift by taking a 5-second countin the lowering phase. Right off the bat, we will see people that struggle to hold their shoul-ders in the correct position. The isometric strength — which many people lack in the upperback — can be problematic when we start trying to perform very dynamic lifts or holdsthat require such strength.

The slow lowering phase also allows us to find compensation patterns in the hip hinge.Can people connect the hip hinge pattern with holding tension in the lower body? Believeit or not, this can be counterintuitive to many people, creating tension at one segment andmovement at another. However, this is very important in establishing a base for more ath-letic types of training.

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Because of the tempo associated with this form of training, we have to make sure the rep-etitions are appropriate. Even though the actual weight may not be heavy, using high temposcan accelerate fatigue. Repetitions of 5-6 are definitely on the high side of such training.

It may appear that the deadliftis really only a basic teachingexercise. Isn’t it something wewould outgrow in a matter ofjust weeks? I realize most liftersexposed to the deadlift continueto use it as a core lift eventhough the only means for pro-gressing the exercise is to addmore weight. While that maynot seem like a bad idea, usuallythis is at the expense of improv-ing other qualities they need toimprove at the same time. Whatother qualities? They might needto work on stability, improvemuscle weaknesses, and muchmore!

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The slow lowering phasealso allows us to find

compensation patterns inthe hip hinge.

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What are we to do if weight with the USB decreases range of motion and going heavierdoesn’t yield our ideal goals? We can start to use other DVRT principles to add layers to thedeadlift. Typically, in lower body-based drills, we will change the holding position before wechange the body position. However, the deadlift is the exact OPPOSITE! To continue tostress the deadlift and set a great foundation to our hip hinging patterns, we will actuallyalter our body position.

The key will be doing this as progressively as we would add weight or repetitions to anexercise. This is where we first introduce our “Staggered Stance” to DVRT exercises. Asmuch as I would love to take credit for the Staggered Stance, we have seen this pattern inmany different sports arenas over the centuries.

Most athletesactually use a

staggered stancewhen they are in

their sport.

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Most athletes actually use a staggered stance when they are in their sport. The staggeredstance may improve leverage, make it easier to change position and direction more quickly,or improve the ability to react to an opponent. In the Olympic press, the staggered stancewas used for leverage. Before barbells expanded to the now-standard 7-foot length, strong-men used a staggered stanceto stress the legs withoutadding more weight to theirbodies.

We are going to use it forALL of the above reasons,plus a few more! Before wedelve too deeply into thestaggered stance, let me beclear in defining the position.Staggered stance is simplytaking our standard liftingposition and sliding one footback so that the toes of theback foot line up with theheel of the front leg. The keyis to not allow the back foot’sheel to touch the ground.This small detail changes theentire dynamics of all exer-cises performed in staggeredstance as well as the stabilityof the movement.

The staggered stance mayimprove leverage, make iteasier to change position

and direction more quickly.

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The subtle difference in stance will change how we move, how stable we feel, and howheavy a weight seems. It also makes our compensation patterns more obvious. All of theprinciples of the deadlift will hold true, but we will all of a sudden notice some significantchanges.

Whenever we feel unstable, our body will work toward creating stability. In the case of thestaggered stance deadlift, this first occurs when we move back toward a squatting positioninstead of a hip hinge. Such a compensation often occurs as the body tries to leverage itselfin what it perceives to be a weak position, or tries to overcome more isolated flexibilityissues in the hamstring — issues that are often masked in the bilateral position.

The key is tonot allow the

back foot’sheel to touchthe ground...

...this changes theentire dynamics of all

exercises performed instaggered stance as

well as the stability ofthe movement.

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What are the key compensations we are going to continue to watch for?

• Lateral sway (usually to stance leg side)

• Loss in shoulder position and tension

• Rounding in low back

• Rotating the hips

Don’t roundthe back.

Don’t swaylaterally.

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Staggered stance is not a true single leg exercise. The rear leg is active and providesaround 30% of the total effort. You want to “dig” into the ground of the rear leg to createsome stability and help counteract some of the rotational and lateral forces acting upon thebody. You will be amazed how what was a relatively easy weight to lift with great form allof a sudden becomes more challenging by working in this staggered stance position.

The theme of decreasing stability will continue as we move to the rear step deadlift. Sinceit is not realistic or practical to keep moving a few inches back at a time in our deadlift, wewill eventually take a more drastic route with our body position by using the rear-step dead-lift. Unlike its more advanced cousin, the single leg deadlift, the rear-step deadlift has a smallsegment of true single leg stance as we step back, but then uses the back leg to create somestability.

The rear leg isactive and providesaround 30% of the

total effort.

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As with the staggered stance, welook for similar compensationswhen we move to the rear stepdeadlift. The benefit of the rear stepdeadlift is we can use the DVRTvariable of progressive range ofmotion to vary the level of instabil-ity the lifter encounters. We canintroduce the movement with a rel-atively short stepping action andover time increase the length of thestride. Obviously, as we continue tolengthen the step, the lifter’s posi-tion becomes less stable and he orshe spends more time in the singleleg stance.

The rear-step deadlift offersmany of the same challenges asthe staggered stance, butbecause of the increased inten-sity of this unstable position,we have to watch for someadditional compensations.

• The lead foot pointinginward

• The knee of the front legpointing inward

• The back leg stepping outward rather than in linewith the hip

The Rear StepDeadlift.

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I have to forewarn you at this point. It is easier to take the route of just staying with whatis comfortable and easy. I ask you to think of the words of Jean Vanier, “Growth beginswhen we begin to accept our own weakness.” Accept that there are things we need toimprove upon, and even embrace them! Focusing only on your strengths will allow forresults for a little while. But results eventually stall because we aren’t addressing our weak-nesses and may even end up with injuries. True growth in our fitness goals will come whenwe spend time on and even prioritize the drills we don’t feel as strong or confident in per-forming.

It’s easy to argue that these deadlift progressions are more functional than just bangingout deadlift after deadlift. Whether it is picking up your child from the ground or compet-ing in a sport, movement while lifting real world objects is rarely perfect. The gym is reallythe only place we see very sterile movements. Usually there are a multitude of actions hap-pening at once, as we apply forces and forces are applied to our bodies. As you can see,these types of progressions reinforce that “real world” type of training and strength!

DVRT Deadlift Checklist

• USB begins against the shins.

• Hold onto the neutral grip handles.

• As you descend to the lifting position, if the knees run into your elbows you are squat-ting and not hip hinging.

• Pull the shoulders down and back.

• The crease of your elbows should pointing almost straight ahead.

• Drive through the heels and stand as tall as possible. Begin lowering the USB by slidingit down the thighs while keeping the arms locked and maintaining tension between theshoulder blades.

• Take a 4-6 second lowering phase.

• As you move to different body positions, look for changes in posture and lateral move-ments.

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Two Steps Forward, One Step BackThe goal of DVRT, which I will reiterate time and again, is to provide challenges to our

movement skills that are as incremental as possible. It is easy to get caught up in novel exer-cises while forgetting the process of moving and feeling better and stronger! But to makethese concepts as incremental as possible, we need to understand why and how we exposepeople to different stresses through these DVRT progressions.

We just covered three foundational DVRT hip hinging exercises, all focusing on progres-sively increasing levels of instability. Many at this point would expect us to move into thepopular single leg deadlift. However, going to true single leg is a quantum leap for manypeople, especially if they want to perform this exercise well!

Do we want to get to the point where we can perform true single leg exercises?Absolutely! However, we have room to layer better exercises to get people to the pointwhere they can demonstrate true control in these more advanced movement based drills.

In describing the hip hinge foundations, I touched on the concept of the upper back andits importance in proper hip hinging. The upper back is part of the equation in maintainingproper alignment and posture. However, the trunk muscles also play a critical role in mak-ing sure we don’t compensate during the hip hinge.

Lack of strength through the trunk muscles will cause our midsection to flex and beginto inappropriately load the low back over the hips. The hip hinge position is similar to thefront plank, during which we try to hold our body stationary for a specific period of time.The goal is to avoid any collapse in our body’s alignment. The hip hinge pattern is verysimilar, except the stress upon the trunk is changing as the joint angle is altered.

Gravity still plays a role in the lifter’s ability to hold this stable trunk position, but nowload adds in additional stress. Therefore, we can see the hip hinge pattern not only as whathappens at the hip or the upper back, but also as a core stability exercise. Typically, heavierloads will continue to challenge the upper back and core stability, but there is a point ofdiminishing returns as you go heavier with USBs. Time to shift focus away from the USBright? Not quite!

We used body position, range of motion, and tempo in the first three DVRT drills for thehip hinge.. Now we can alter load position to change the dynamics of the exercise oncemore. Because we are changing one variable, we need to regress one of the more intensevariables, body position. Therefore, we will begin to use load position in our more stablebilateral base position.

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This new holding position becomes known as our Front Loaded Good Morning. Thegood morning exercise is not a new drill. Weightlifters have used it for years to helpimprove specific portions of the clean. However, because of the weight placement on theupper back, many lifters notice that the exercise takes a toll on their low backs. By simplychanging the holding position to the front, we change all of the negatives of the goodmorning – minimizing low back stress and reducing the shoulder mobility required to ben-efit from the drill.

The Front Loaded position begins bylooking very similar to a standing plank.When the USB is held in this position, thetrunk muscles must fight the tendency toflex forward. Many people mistakenlyassume the Front Load position is the sameas the Front Squat holding position. Whileat a quick glance they could look similar,the reality is they are significantly different!

In the barbell front squat, the barbell sitsin the crevice of the shoulders. The entireframe of the body absorbs the weight, notthe shoulders or arms. Weightlifters canoften front squat with their arms extendedout in front of their bodies due to this spe-cific positioning. Therefore, more weightcan be applied to the body in the frontsquat position. Front Hold is closer to theclassic Zercher position.

The Front Loaded positionbegins by looking very

similar to a standing plank.

When the USB is held in thisposition, the trunk muscles must

fight the tendency to flex forward.

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The Zercher position comes from the 1930’s strongman Ed Zercher. He’s known formany feats of strength that would incredible by today’s standards, most notably his veryunusual lift stance. Ed Zercher would squat so low that he would scoop his arms under-neath a barbell laying on the ground. From here, he would set his body and actually squatwith the barbell in the crooks of his elbows. He didn’t perform this exercise with casualweights. Instead, Ed Zercher was knownfor performing this exercise with weightsexceeding 500 pounds!

If you look at pictures of Ed Zercherperforming his namesake exercise, youmight be a bit horrified by the positions hewould achieve in performing this exercise.Zercher was an unusual weightlifter as heperformed many unique lifts and obvi-ously built a very specific tolerance to suchtraining drills. However, understandingwhy he performed this lift may be a bitmore enlightening. In the 1930’s, squatracks or stands were still not common-place; therefore, lifting such loads requireda bit of ingenuity and yes, risk.

Because squat racks and stands wouldeventually become standard in weightrooms, this could explain why the Zerchersquat eventually became rather obsolete.Some hardcore lifters would still continueto practice the Zercher squat, but it dra-matically decreased in popularity. So, whybring it back to the DVRT system and is ittruly a Zercher position?

The holding position of the USB versusthe barbell encourages a more uprightposture during the squat, making the

arms more active in the lift.

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There are a few different reasons I prefer tocall this the Front Hold position rather thanZercher – none of which are intended to dis-honor to this great strongman! The most pro-found and least obvious to many people is thedifference in weight distribution and dimen-sion. In the classic Zercher barbell squat, theweight sat at a position very close to theumbilical of the body. Because the dimensionof the barbell is quite small compared to theUSB, the weight is very concentrated in thisregion of the body. Placing the weight in thisposition causes several changes in movement.The first is that the barbell is very close to thecenter of the body’s mass, allowing moreweight to be handled compared to the USB.This position additionally creates more stressin the upper back, and the inability of theupper back to maintain its position – ratherthan the strength of the trunk muscles –becomes the limiting factor in the exercise.

The USB, due to its dimension, will sithigher upon the body, placing more stress onthe anti-flexor muscles of the trunk.Therefore, the upper back doesn’t fatigue asquickly, allowing more stress upon the legsand trunk muscles. This small difference inholding position of the USB versus the barbellalso encourages a more upright posture dur-ing the squat, making the arms more active inthe lift. Again, because the barbell has such asmall dimension compared to the USB, theupper arm has nothing to work against andcreates more stability through the body byintegrating the upper back to a higher degree.

I don’t know if Ed Zercher really everthought of his lift as an “anti-flexion” trunkexercise. Maybe, maybe not. In order to convey the role of the trunk in these exercises I liketo make a direct comparison to the front plank. Changing the intent of a drill helps bringto light some that the drill is about more than just squatting!

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Now that we understand the whys, we may have a whole new respect for the FrontLoaded Good Morning. Will this still stress the hamstrings and glutes? Absolutely!However, the most profound impact you will feel is in the upper back and trunk. Our idealposition is to achieve a horizontal trunk position with no rounding of the low back. Westill want to see the weight shift back upon the heels and the hinging at the hips. Lack ofstrength in the upper back and trunk will be shown by early flexing of the torso as youbegin to hinge into the exercise.

Because of the placement of the USB in the Front Hold position, we must provide a meansfor the body to create stability against what will feel like a heavier load. As we hinge duringthe Front Loaded Good Morning, the weight will begin to feel significantly heavier.Therefore, the action of the upper body is very important. We want to use the dimension ofthe USB to our advantage and actively pull the weight into our body causing the shouldersto stay “down and back” easier and for a longer period. During the Front Loaded GoodMorning, we see how changing body angles can have a profound impact on the perceivedweight we are lifting.

Use the dimension of the USB to actively pull the

weight into the body causingthe shoulders to stay

“down and back” easier andfor a longer period.

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One of the most common mistakes dur-ing any of the Front Loaded exercises,especially the Front Loaded GoodMorning, is that lifters will allow theirelbows to slowly extend. If the angle of theelbow starts to increase, the lift won’t lastmuch longer as the exercise will turn froma whole body movement into a bicepsexercise. Sorry, those biceps will be nomatch for the weight in this position andoften lead to poor postural alignment. Ifyour biceps start doing all the work, it’s agood sign you need to take a break andcome back to the exercise after you’verecovered.

If the angle of theelbow starts to

increase, the liftwon’t last much

longer as theexercise will turn

from a whole bodymovement into abiceps exercise.

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Once we establish proficiency in the Front Hold Good Morning in our base stance, it isvery easy to begin to use the same progressions in body position we utilized in the deadlift.One of the great benefits of using DVRT is that once you become comfortable with theprogressions you quickly see where the next movement lies and how easy it is to createwhat feels like limitless progressions for your training the training of others.

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DVRT Front Hold Good Morning Checklist

• Pull the USB into the body by actively pressing into the USB with the forearms. Pull the shoulders down and back by pulling into the body.

• Have a slight bend in the knees.

• Begin to push the hips back while keeping the USB pulled into the body. The chestshould remain tall.

• As you become closer to horizontal to the ground, the need to increase the pull to theUSB and keep the chest tall increases.

• Only go to parallel to the ground or the point prior to the low back beginning toround.

• Drive upwards through the heels to a tall standing posture.

Busted!While I may have just done a dissertation on the value of the Front Hold position, there’s

a very obvious question here. How did you get the weight in this position?! Since we arenot going to borrow the very creative and risky idea of Ed Zercher, we need to use a differ-ent approach. That means we need to teach how to accelerate off the ground with the USB.

Before we delve too deeply into accelerative lifts with the USB, it’s important to note thedifference between using these lifts early in training as positional exercises and later intraining as exercise in of themselves. Because learning how to accelerate the USB into thevarious holding positions is necessary, we introduce the speed component of lifting ratherearly into training. We do so with the understanding that it is used first as simply a meansto getting the USB into position to perform other lifts. Such an understanding will bereflected in the programming. For example, we may perform one Power Clean followed bysix Front Loaded Good Mornings. A ratio of 1:6 (one accelerative repetition to six stabilityrepetitions).

Why do we have to be so cautious about introducing accelerative lifts if they are neces-sary? The hip hinge progressional drills lay the foundation for accelerative drills to be usedmore commonly in training. We can’t do quickly what we can’t slowly. Learning how tomaintain position and posture under varying conditions and understanding how to absorband decelerate force are principles critical to the proper performance of accelerative lifts.

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Ignoring them will give us some temporary satisfaction in using novel drills, but theprogress will be stalled quite quickly when injury or improper technique come around.

So, I share with you the DVRT accelerative foundational drills with the hope you willfollow my recommendations and promise yourself to always follow safe and sound train-ing principles.

The Bear Hug CleanI am going to get a bit off course here and

follow the DVRT principles rather than tie insimply back to our Front Loaded GoodMornings. I do so in order for you to con-tinue to get more and more comfortable withthe principles of DVRT. As I mentioned ear-lier, in lower body dominant lifts other thanthe deadlift, we will focus on changing loadposition before body position. In lower bodydominant lifts, that means we begin from astable holding position and progress intomore challenging holding positions.

The first of our accelerative progressions isthe Bear Hug Clean. What is a Clean?Especially a Bear Hug Clean? Some peoplelook at the following accelerative DVRTdrills that have the word “Clean” in themand think they aren’t true to the name. Thisis because most people think of the OlympicClean when they first think of the term“Clean”. The Clean came about as a way forold time strongmen to get the weight fromthe ground to their shoulders. Clean referredto doing so in one “clean” motion – meaningthe weight did not rest on any segment of thebody before getting to the working position.Therefore, the Clean can be performed tomany different levels and with differentimplements as long as it does not stop at anypoint along the movement.

The BearHug Hold.

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Bear Hug refers to our end holding position. As will be discussed in the squatting section,the Bear Hug position is our most stable of the lower body dominant holding positions. TheBear Hug works so well because it keeps the weight in line with our center of mass.Consequently, we are able to handle more weight and feel more stable in this holding position.

The Bear Hug Clean is not an overly complex movement, but possesses several nuancesthat often get overlooked by even more seasoned lifters. One of the most common mistakes oflifters and coaches is not being aware of the extended range of motion that occurs in the BearHug Clean. While the barbells, kettlebells, and sometimes USBs will allow lifters to start theload at about mid-shin height, the Bear Hug Clean requires the lifter to assume a much deeperposition. To lift the USB in the Bear Hug Clean, we must “scoop” our hands underneath theUSB. This instantly creates a deeper lifting position that we must adopt to have the ability toget in without rounding of the back.

Don’t worry if you find yourself unable to assume the Bear Hug position from the floor.There is rather simple solution; simply elevate the USB. By using a step or another USB, youcan elevate the weight into a position you can more safely attain. What is important is beingaware of this change in the range of motion so that you can appropriately adapt the startingposition to your current mobility level.

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Once we are able to obtainthe correct lifting posture, thereare some additional subtle tech-niques we must explore. Themost crucial is the placementand action of the arms. WithUSB exercises such as the BearHug Clean, we don’t have adirect handle to grasp. This canthrow people off, as almosteverything in the weight roomhas a handle! Instead we wantto “scoop” our hands under-neath the weight.

This position is very similarto the strongman technique oflifting Atlas Stones. I rememberthis technique very specificallyfrom my days competing inamateur strongman competitions. At first, lifting stones was so awkward – there was nogood place to hold the weight! Novice lifters often make the mistake of trying to compensatefor the lack of a handle by overusing the upper arm. It doesn’t take long to know you madethis mistake. I recall – and not fondly – having horrible bicep pain for almost ten days aftermy first Atlas Stone session!

After the pain subsided, I decided to try again. After all, it only ALMOST killed me thefirst time! This time, though, I was a bit wiser. I was fortunate enough to be training with prostrongman Kevin Nee at the time. When you are surrounded by people stronger and moreexperienced than yourself, it’s smart to pick their brains. Kevin explained to me that my errorwas in trying to lift the Atlas Stones with my arms instead of my body. I didn’t understandwhat he meant. He explained to me that most people try to compensate for not having agood grip on the Atlas Stones by actually using the arms more. Instead, he went on to tell me,you want to think of your body as a machine crane. Use the arms simply as an extension ofthe body.

I was pretty ashamed of myself for not thinking of this simple, yet profound techniquemyself! After all, it is the same concept that I teach in deadlifting and Olympic lifting drills.But because I felt awkward, I had forgotten a lot of these same sound lifting concepts. Don’trepeat my mistakes! Don’t forego sound lifting principles just because the USB is a uniqueimplement!

Don’tround the

back.

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The body, much like a crane, needs a stable foundation from which to operate.. This foun-dation includes important motions such as such as actively locking the arms, rotating theshoulders “down and back,” and actively sticking the chest out. If we begin the movement bybending the elbows, we have just destabilized our entire foundation!

The action of the Bear Hug Clean is so fast and so many things must happen at once, thatthe line between a really good repetition and one that never leaves the floor is thin. One ofthose key differences is how you align yourself with the USB. When you assume the liftingposition for the Bear Hug Clean, if more than half of the USB is in front of you when you areready to lift, the Clean will never happen!

If more than half ofthe USB is in frontof you when youare ready to lift,

the Clean willnever happen!

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Your ideal setup will place your body right over the midpoint of the USB with the broadside facing up toward you. Assume a hip hinge position, and as you reach your end point,begin to bend the knees. As you bend the knees, don’t allow the torso to become upright;maintain that hip hinge. Slide the hands underneath and spread the fingers to create alarger base and cover more surface area. Lock the elbows, rotate the shoulders, and stickthe chest out.

At this point you are ready to lift! Realize that you are actually bringing the USB a rela-tively short distance. Therefore, you don’t need to lift with maximal effort. Doing so causesmany to “over pull” and get out of control with the USB. The lift is quick, and if done cor-rectly, the weight is actually released from the arms and caught in the Bear Hug position.This means the Bear Hug Clean is a vertical pull and it is crucial that the arms simply directthe weight up the body, not out and away. The elbows must come directly up the body andnot extend out in front.

This is where you instantly get feedback ifyou are moving fast enough in the lift! If, dur-ing the performance of the Bear Hug Clean,you can’t lift the weight into position or catchit less than 50% above your arms, you didn’tmove fast enough! A perfect lift means that thearms felt no tension and the hips created suchgreat speed that the weight “popped” up intothe arms at about 50/50 weight distributionabove and below the arms.

Practicing the Bear Hug Clean is importantbecause it teaches us two important skills.First, we learn how to create speed and assumeour base holding position for squatting. . Thesecond, more subtle point is mastering themanipulation of speed. Great athletes have theinnate ability to gradate force rather than justgoing from 0 to 100 mph. The Bear Hug Cleanhelps us learn this important skill that will helpus understand how to be efficient and pur-poseful with our movements.

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DVRT Bear Hug Clean Checklist

• Begin by standing over the middle of the USB.

• Scoop the hands underneath the USB. Make sure the low back is not rounded.

• Lock the arms and pull the shoulders down and back.

• Don’t squat. Instead, set the hips so that the chest is pointing closer to the ground thanit is pointing ahead. Sit the hips back where the chest is closer to pointing towards theground rather than pointing straight ahead.

• Explosively drive the hips, and direct the USB straight up the body.

• Create enough force from the hips to release the USB just prior to chest height, andclasp the arms around the middle of the USB.

• Make sure you are set in, absorbing the force, and then drive the hips back and releasethe USB to the ground.

The Power CleanWhy talk about the Bear Hug Clean first? Especially when we consider I was talking

about Front Loaded Good Mornings? If we are going to create and follow a system, thenwe need to understand how different lifts change the variables of our system. Introducingthe Bear Hug Clean allows us to accomplish several goals at once:

• Assess mobility

• Teach foundational principles of creating a stable foundation

• Understand how to produce force

• Learn how to gradate force production

The Bear Hug Clean has a shorter distance to cover than the other accelerative USBdrills. Therefore, we are going to progressively learn how to create and absorb more force.The Power Clean is a perfect bridge for learning these concepts.

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Most people will be familiar with the Power Clean from the world of Weightlifting. ThePower Clean is a variation of the standard Clean. In the Power Clean, the weight is caughtin a quarter squat position. In the Clean, however, the weight is caught in a front squatposition. Why is there a difference between the movements?

In the more competitive Clean, the weight is pulled and then the lifter jumps “under-neath” the weight. This means that the distance the weight actually moves is shorter thanthe Power Clean. This is important in the world of weightlifting because lifting heavierweights is the goal of the sport. More weight can be lifted when the distance the weight hasto travel is reduced. In the Power Clean, the weight must travel a greater distance, so moreforce needs to be created.

Learning to create more force is one thing, but learning to absorb force is quite another.Absorbing force doesn’t just happen with the lifting of the weight, but also as the weightcomes down. Since we see the majority of sporting injuries occur during such deceleration,we need to be aware that lifting in the Power Clean means also learning how to absorbforce from a higher positions.

Don’t get me wrong, the DVRT Power Clean is relatively easy to teach and learn. Yetdifferent lifters can face different obstacles. In beginners, being fearful of the “catch” canmake it difficult to fully commit to the Power Clean, resulting in a less than optimal lift.

Creating a lot of force that you can actually control is challenging for some people.Unfortunately, for the accelerative DVRT exercises we are describing, we can’t changespeed incrementally like we would some of the other variables. Trying to go “kinda fast”usually results in poor technique development and actually places the lifter at a greater riskfor injury. That is one of the big reasons we spend so much time on the progressive move-ments mentioned earlier in this section – to build some of the base qualities that will beused in these exercises.

Probably one of the most difficult concepts to get across to people that are new to accel-erative lifts is to avoid lifting with the arms. Just like in the Bear Hug Clean, the arms aresimply an extension of the hips. Because we have a very upper body-dominant culture,developing this concept can be challenging and we may have to use another exercise tohelp remove the tendency to use the arms.

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A Detour In over 20 years in fitness, I have learned there is no

such thing as the perfect exercise. Instead, the rightexercise is one that helps you meet your individ-ual goal. Very honestly, the Power Clean maynot be an ideal exercise for some at the begin-ning. Again, we are teaching it as a positional lift,but we can use another very powerful drill to teachmany of the components of the Power Clean – the High Pull.

Before we delve too deeply into the High Pull, let me remindyou coaches of something. If I ask you the purpose of coaching, mostmight say something like, “to teach,” or “to get results,” and you would be right! However,we are also in the experience industry. I have seen many very smart and qualified coachesfrustrate clients because they are not being flexible enough to find the right exercises for theirclients. If you or the client become frustrated, chances are good that you won’t stay on this orany program for very long. So, I ask that you try the methods I am going to share with youeven if you feel as though you can teach the Power Clean to anyone!

Taking the time to learn such strategies allows you to problem solve when necessary.The High Pull will be a powerful tool in your toolbox. It’s something you can go to quiteoften, but on occasion you won’t need it to teach the Power Clean. Even if this is the case,I will explain why the High Pull is a very useful exercise and can enhance your experienceand your clients’ learning.

The High Pull has many advantages, according to former US Air Force Strength Coach,Allen Hedrick:

“The movement pattern used when performing the clean high pull is very sim-ilar to those commonly seen in many sports. The majority of the power devel-oped in either the clean or the snatch occurs during the second pull phase (themovement from just above the knee until the bar reaches approximately sternumheight)... As discussed, one advantage of the clean high pull over the full clean isthat the athlete doesn’t have to catch the bar. As a result, you can typically useheavier loads. This is especially true for athletes with technique issues in the catchphase where a lighter than optimal load must be used because of their inability tocatch the bar correctly. This heavy load, combined with the fast bar velocity seenin this movement, is responsible for the high power outputs that occur when per-forming this exercise (an average of 52 watts per kilogram for male athletes).” (T-nation.com, 2012)

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Coach Hedrick also cites the lower injury potential of this exercise as the perfect lift forthose wanting to develop power.

We want to use the High Pull for all the reasons that Coach Hedrick mentioned, as wellas some others that are rather unique to the DVRT system. One of the other main advan-tages of the High Pull is that , because there is less emphasis on technique compared to theClean or Snatch, we can spend time focusing on key principles. Our primary goal in theHigh Pull is to teach people how to make the weight weightless as it comes up the body. Toremove fear and enhance the technique associated with pulling weight explosively up thebody, we need to learn how to create powerful extension through the body.

Using the arms too early in these accelerative lifts often causes the body to create flexionversus extension. Flexion in the body shows itself with the biceps flexing, the shoulder rollingforward, the chest dropping downwards, and the trunk rolling in. When this occurs we can-not create the power and position that is required to perform these more dynamic lifts.

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One of the primary reasons athletes useOlympic lifts in their training is to stimulatewhat is known as triple extension. That isthe rapid extension of the foot, ankle, knee,and hip. We see this type of synergistic actionwhen we run or jump. If you want to experi-ence the impact of this chain, try this: Getready to jump as high as you can. Before youleap, point your toes upward Now JUMP!Chances are you are going to feel almostglued to the ground and be unable to pro-duce much force. This shows you how to justaltering the foot/ankle in the chain cangreatly change the amount of force you cancreate.

Before you leap,point your toes

upward.

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Don’t worry, I am not going tohave you focus on these three compo-nents. They happen as a byproduct ofapplying the right amount of force inthe right places. This chain, though,will help the weight in your High Pullappear weightless in the arms. If youare feeling an arm pump or as thoughyou did a set of upright rows afterperforming the High Pull, you knowyou aren’t doing it quite right!

The High Pull is rather easy tolearn partially because it’s easier toidentify common mistakes. The set-up is identical to the deadlift (makingit even more important that we feelproficient in the deadlift), and themovement of the weight is the same .However, the difference is in theamount of force and speed we use inthe High Pull. Instead of just trying to“stand tall” with the deadlift, we aregoing to think of EXPLODING,almost like a jump with the HighPull. Upon starting the High Pull, theUSB should travel straight up thebody, reaching right about chestheight.

When the USB reaches chest height,the elbows should be higher than theUSB and not pointing downward.Position of the elbows will ultimatelyhelp determine whether we get thatgreat full body extension we are look-ing to achieve, or fall into more of aflexed posture. The elbows can tellyou a lot about the quality of theHigh Pull and should be one of thefirst things we key on in the move-ment.

When the USB reaches chestheight, the elbows should behigher than the USB and not

pointing downward.

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What happens next is very different from what happens in many Olympic lifting circles.After this explosive pull that occurs in the High Pull, many Olympic lifters will “dump”the weight. Meaning they don’t try to come down with the weight, as that is often viewedas very risky. In DVRT we actuallywill teach you how to come downwith the USB. But why risk it?

Eccentric forces happen all the timein real life situations – when we run,jump, and even in every day activities.I remember many years ago perform-ing hill sprints on a rather rocky hill.The somewhat unstable surface ofrocks seemed to create a pretty cooltraining effect when I was runningupward, but was more than a bitnerve wrecking when I was joggingback down. All of a sudden I lost myfooting, and one of my legs started tofly out in front of me. As soon as thishappened, my other leg INSTANTLYcaught me! I remember this so vividlybecause I was shocked at how one legcaught my body in the matter of aninstant! My hamstrings and gluteshad to contract within milliseconds toensure I didn’t fall.

While most coaches and programswill talk a great deal about producingforce, the truth is we can’t be close tocomplete unless we know how tostop or decelerate efficiently. Even inthis book we have discussed thepower the hamstrings and glutes candevelop, but these muscles also spenda great deal of time acting as deceler-ators and resisting forces acting uponthe body. Why is training the bodyeccentrically and learning these decel-eration components important?

The elbows should not belower than the USB and not

be pointing downward.

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Scientists have known for some time that these movements contain both concentric andeccentric actions. Together they produce more efficient movement. A 2003 article in theJournal of Orthopedic and Sports Physical Therapy:

“Muscles operate eccentrically to either dissipate energy for decelerating thebody or to store elastic recoil energy in preparation for a shortening (concentric)contraction. The muscle forces produced during this lengthening behavior can beextremely high, despite the requisite low energetic cost.”

As with all other forms of training, though, the eccentric training must be performedincrementally and with great purpose.

The primary reason that these DVRT accelerative lifts are taught after a foundation ofhip hinging has been established is because of the high forces they create not only upon lift-ing the weight, but also while lowering the weight. The first series of hip hinge progres-sions is very powerful because it allow us to slowly learn how to move and absorb muchlower eccentric forces. There are three reasons that people can experience injuries duringvery fast deceleration:

1. Poor Flexibility/Mobility: In quickly lowering a weight, you simply do not have timeto consciously think about how you are moving. The body relies on more pre-pro-grammed (feedforward neural loops) training and capabilities. If you don’t move wellfrom a specific area of your body, another area is bound to take up the work and canbecome excessively loaded. Poor flexibility and mobility can make it almost impossi-ble for you to attain a good lifting posture that can efficiently dissipate large forces.

2. Lack of Strength: It is easy to become enamored by how “cool” a lot of these acceler-ative lifts look. However, because we are dealing with much higher forces, we neednot only strength in developing high levels of force, also in absorbing them. As biome-chanics and strength training expert Dr. Michael Yessis, states, “When the shift is ulti-mately made to explosiveness training, the forces created in these exercises reach asmuch as twenty times your body weight. To withstand such forces, you must havealready concentric, eccentric, and isometric strength.” (Yess, p. 149)

3. Improper Movement Patterns: If we don’t know how to get into the right posturesand positions, we can quickly overload the wrong structures of the body. This is whywe teach the slow tempo deadlift before drills like the High Pull. A common error indecelerating the weight from the High Pull is occurs when the shoulders to round for-ward during the descent. Working on the slow tempo deadlifts (and their variations)prior to such explosive lifts teaches people how to “catch” their shoulders in the rightplace. By learning to maintain the tension in the underarm during the hip hinge pro-gressions, we are starting to pattern this for use in other drills, such as the High Pull.

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That is why I need to reinforce to you that DVRT isn’t about just teaching you moreexercises, but a system of progressive movement! Being aware of what we are trying toaccomplish in these lifts allows us to not only gain the benefits we desire, but also avoidsome of the common pitfalls.

More than anything, the purpose of thisdiscussion is developing awareness, as thewhole point of using the High Pull prior tothe Power Clean is that it is a relatively easylift to learn. It’s ideal for a relative beginner.

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When you focus on what you are trying to achieve and how to do it safely, you start tosee how powerful the High Pull can become. The primary goal of the High Pull is to teachthe lifter how to make the weight feel weightless in the arms and how to remove some ofthe fear of the USB coming into their body. Within a few sets of performing the High Pull,the lifter should be able to perform the Power Clean with much more confidence and pro-ficiency.

In fact, I love to use the simple combination of High Pulls to Power Cleans that SeniorDVRT instructor Troy Anderson created. You can use either a 2 or 3:1 ratio of High Pullsto Power Cleans for this drill. The idea is to take advantage of the “groove” you get byperforming a few High Pulls to then hit a great Power Clean. From a coaching perspective,this allows our clients to practice very specific concepts. However, from a client or lifter’sperspective, we get to both train important attributes and get a workout! The only precau-tion here is that you must make sure the set terminates once technique in either lift appearsto be deteriorating. An ideal starting point is to perform a cycle of two High Pulls and onePower Clean three to four successive times and then rest.

DVRT High Pull Checklist

• Begin in the same position as the deadlift.

• Explode by trying to “jump” the USB to chest height.

• Drive the elbows upward, pointing them toward the sky.

• Open the chest. Don’t collapse and flex as you pull the USB upwards.

• Quickly drive the hips back and catch the USB with the upper body, and don’t let theshoulder round forward.

• If done properly, there should be little to no sound upon the USB returning to theground.

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Back to the Power CleanWith some quick work we can get people performing the Power Clean in a short amount

of time and feel accomplished in the process. I would still caution against making thePower Clean a core exercise until some additional time is spent developing quality in theHigh Pull. Especially in light of the new era of strength-metabolic training, the High Pullwould be able to be performed with more quality for a longer period during fatigue thanthe Power Clean. Use the Power Clean for some time as a more technical lift until the lifterdemonstrates proper proficiency in the drill.

What makes for “proper proficiency”? Since 2005, I have had the opportunity to workwith a lot of different populations and develop some standards I look for lifters to obtainto prove they have built the skill to use the Power Clean as a primary exercise.

Performance Keys of the Power Clean—the lifter mustperform 10 repetitions while doing the following

• Proper starting alignment on every repetition with the hips and shoulders in the cor-rect position without any bend in the elbows.

• USB starts close to the shins.

• The USB stays close to the body on the entire lift, with the elbows never extending infront of the body.

• Upon receiving the USB in the catch, there is no impact upon the chest. Instead,there’s a “scooping” action of the arms underneath the USB.

• USB is lowered by simultaneously driving the hips back and unwinding the arms withthe elbow never moving forward from the body.

• The USB is received back in the start position with minimal impact on the ground.Sound is a good gauge here. A loud “thump” is indicative of losing control of theeccentric.

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Proper lowering ofthe Power Clean.

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Properperformanceof the Power

Clean.

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Handles in wrong position.

Wrong handles.

Over using arms.

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But What About the Olympics?Discussion of the Power Clean cannot be complete without distinguishing the differ-

ences between the Power Clean and Clean. While Olympic lifting has seen quite a rebirthin recent years, there is still a great deal of misunderstanding regarding the “whys” of spe-cific lifts and their place in various fitness programs.

The primary goal of Olympic lifting is to lift the more weight. The Clean we see in theOlympics allows the lifter to pull more weight a shorter distance. The Power Clean is usu-ally used by non-Olympic lifting athletes as a means of improving what is known as rate offorce development (RFD).

What is RFD? Most sporting actions occur at incredible speeds. In some of these situa-tions, athletes can be very strong, but if it takes them too long to express their strength thenthey may never be able to us their potential in the sport. RFD looks at taking that strengthand teaching the athlete how to use his or her strength faster. Below is a little example illus-trating who may actually be the stronger athlete.

Athlete A can squat 500 pounds. It takes Athlete A .2 seconds to develop 200 pounds offorce. At .4 seconds Athlete A has almost 400 pounds of force, and at up to .8 seconds candevelop the full 500 pounds.

Athlete B can squat 350 pounds. It takes Athlete B .2 seconds to develop 250 pounds offorce and only .3 seconds to develop the full 350 pounds of force.

If we were looking at the speed at which most sporting and every day activities occur, weshould expect Athlete B to actually perform at a higher level. Why? Even though Athlete Bcannot develop as much total force as Athlete A, Athlete B can produce force more quickly.A full second is actually a very long time in the world of sports, so an athlete needs to bestrong and fast. The Olympic lift variations are thought to help the development of thistype of speed.

The Olympic lifts themselves don’t usually develop actual strength. Instead, strengthcomes through a host of assistance exercises that these lifters perform over their careers.Since RFD is the primary goal, we need to only really focus on the Power Clean and notthe Clean. Performing the actual Clean provides very little or no additional benefit com-pared to the Power Clean. In fact, Strength Coach and Olympic lifting expert Will Flemingstates, “I teach hang power clean exclusively to my athletes. Equal RFD, and a much fasterrate of acquisition.” If we can get the same benefit and avoid unnecessary risk and frustra-tion, it seems like a win-win.

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ShoulderingThere is definitely something primal about grabbing something from the ground and

tossing it over your shoulder. We can easily envision cavemen grabbing their kill and toss-ing it over their shoulders to carry it back to their camp. While this action may be primal,a lot that has changed in our ability to safely reproduce these “primal” actions .

Squatting and pull-ups are quite primal, and yet we struggle in our modern society toperform them well. Shouldering has far more complexity because of the nature of the boththe implement and the movement. Just like the Bear Hug Clean, Shouldering requires us toassume a very deep position if we choose to lift the USB off of the ground. The same pre-cautions should also be taken to ensure that you – or your client – are able to maintain theproper lifting posture.

I realize some people actually encourage a rounded back posture, which has been notedto help athletes in combat sports. In John Jesse’s 1974 landmark book, “The Encyclopediaof Wrestling Conditioning,” he writes, “The use of heavy sandbag and their large circum-ference forces the lifter to do this lifting with a round back instead of the traditionalstraight back lifting with a barbell...It develops the low back and side muscles in move-ments that are identical to the lifting and pulling movements of wrestling.” (Jesse, p. 204)

Ironically, Jesse points to a tragic end in the same book, emphasizing that the athletes hewas seeing in his more modern era didn’t posses the same conditioning or work ethic heonce observed in previous years. “...the English speaking countries, particularly Americaand Canada, were faced with cultural problems. With machines doing most of the workthe majority of young men entering athletics were not drawn from a background of laborwork in the mines, on the farms, in forests or on the docks.” (Jesse, p. 65)

While it is easy to want to implement very elite method that Jesse suggests in roundedback lifting, we have to be even more cautious and aware of the fact that most athletesshouldn’t be placing themselves at such risk. Over 30 years later, Western cultures have notbecome more progressive in their health and fitness training. Instead, the decline has con-tinued. Take home message? Lift with the suggested postures in this book!

The set-up to Shouldering is the same as the Bear Hug Clean, and now it should be evi-dent why we discussed the Bear Hug Clean as a precursor to Shouldering. Because itrequires far more force to get the USB over the shoulder with the Bear Hug Clean, learningthe Bear Hug Clean prior to Shouldering establishes a great foundation. We can even useour starting point in the performance of the Bear Hug Clean as our base for Shouldering.

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Incorrectset-up.

CorrectShouldering

set-up.

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The primary difference with shouldering is that the weight will be brought to one side ofthe body. Shouldering is the first time we see the role of asymmetrical loading in the formof weight versus body position. During the earlier hip hinge progressions, as soon as weexposed the body to asymmetrical loading as soon as we began to split the legs. However,the weight remained balanced and evenly in front of our body. Shouldering places a greatdeal of emphasis and stress on the asymmetrical loading position.

Even though the weight begins in the same position as the Bear Hug Clean, as soon asthe pull begins the weight starts to be transferred to one side of the body. The motion of theweight moving as it is being lifted has several profound effects on our training.

The primary goal in all our asymmetrical loading patterns is to challenge the body’s abil-ity to maintain its alignment and posture while producing force. The body experiences agreat deal of complexity in movement, even though this seems like it would be a relativelysimple activity. We see asymmetrical loading all the time in every day activities such as car-rying groceries or holding a child. Yet people who regularly do these activities tend to beprone to experiencing low back issues because we rarely prepare our bodies for theseunique stresses.

What is so different about asymmetrical loading? It requires a synergistic balance of pro-duction of force from one area of the body and resisting forces from another. Leadingspinal expert, Dr. McGill, writes in his book “Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance”,about how unique this movement is to the body. In his study of elite competitive strong-men, the body actually uses stability to help create force and balance:

“Curiously they needed more hip abduction strength to succeed in events suchas Super Yoke and the Suitcase carry than they could create in their hips. Howcould they perform a feat of strength that was beyond what a joint could pro-duce? We quantified asymmetric carries such as the suitcase carry and found thatquadratus and the abdominal wall were challenged to create this unique butessential athleticism.” (McGill, http://www.craigliebenson.com)

The “core” seems to be greatly elevated during such asymmetrical loading positions dueto this need to create force and stability at the same time. However, this concept has largelybeen relegated to carrying weight, and ignored in many of our strength lifts. Coaches andathletes alike tend to skip asymmetrical loading during their strength training. This proba-bly traces back more to a battle with ego than with any sound scientific principles. Uponwhat do I base such a strong comment?

Most coaches and athletes are quite humbled by what asymmetrical loading does totheir ability to use weights. Unfortunately, we get caught up in a numbers game rather thanfocusing on the value of these lifts. Asymmetrical drills take far more coordination,

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stability, and varying types of strength than their more stable relatives. Dr. McGill evenpoints out such stable drills don’t address the full needs of athletes:

“World-class strongmen (who carry heavy loads) nor professional football andsoccer players who run, plant the foot and cut are trained with the squat, as itdoes not emphasize the quadratus lumborum or the abdominal obliques (whichthese athletes use). Have clients spend less time doing squats, and redirect them toasymmetric carries, such as the farmer’s walk or bottoms-up kettlebell carrywhich build the needed athleticism in a much more “spine-friendly” way. In greatathletes, power is generated in the hips and transmitted through the stiffenedcore.” (McGill, 281)

DVRT ShoulderingChecklist

• Assume the same starting position asin the Bear Hug Clean.

• Get the body set before lifting andbegin with a fuller USB.

• Create more force, as the distancerequired to get the USB into positionis more than required with the BearHug Clean.

• Proper Shouldering should create lit-tle “hard” impact upon the shoulder.

• Hold the USB on the shoulder for afew seconds to learn how to absorbthe asymmetrical lifting position.

• Upon descending, place the opposingarm upon the USB to help deceleratethe weight downward.

• Quickly drive the hips back and keepthe USB close to the body.

Compensationlaterally.

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The SnatchYou may have been wondering, are we going to talk about the Snatch? You may have

already been eyeballing the workouts wondering, “Where are we going to Snatch?” Asrecently as 2005, the Snatch was a nearly forgotten exercise. Fast forward a few shortyears and you can find some form of the Snatch as much as you can a squat. Thanks to theincreased popularity of kettlebells and the re-birth of Olympic lifting by groups likeCrossfit, the snatch has come back full force!

Some derive a lot of mystique from the Snatch, and in some ways, they’re right to do so!The snatch is one of the more athletic-looking lifts, and requires the entire body tosequence just right to make the movement appear effortless, powerful, and athletic.However, in terms of the DVRT system, the Snatch is simply another holding position.Yes, there are some unique benefits and considerations to the movement of the UltimateSandbag, but really we are just hitting a higher end point.

Believe it or not, many old time strongmen saw the original form of Snatching in a verysimilar way. Where the Clean was simply getting the weight from the ground to theirshoulders in one “clean” motion, the Snatch was viewed as a means of getting the weightoverhead in a quick motion. Instead of stopping at the shoulders and then pressing theweight overhead, the Snatch required the power of the hips. Even then, strongmen real-ized the hips is where power really began.

One and two-arm snatches were quite common. Dumbbell, barbell, or kettlebell, thegoal was the same. In order to get the weight quickly overhead, the entire body had towork together to lift great loads. As the sport of Olympic weightlifting grew in popularity,different versions of the Snatch evolved. Most of the techniques we see today are basedupon the sport of Olympic weightlifting, where the goal is to lift as much weight as possi-ble. Therefore, we see the adoption of specific techniques centering around this goal aswell. This is perfect for those that wish to be accomplished in the sport. However, youdon’t have to be an Olympic weightlifter to benefit from the Snatch.

Understanding that the Snatch is a higher holding position, we then understand that it isthe most explosive hip hinge. In order to get the Ultimate Sandbag to the catch position,we have to create more force considering the height of the catch.

The actual act of Snatching the Ultimate Sandbag is a combination of the barbell andkettlebell. We don’t, and shouldn’t, swing the Ultimate Sandbag between our legs, so wecan’t get the preload that many often achieve with kettlebells. The start more closelyresembles the barbell because the Ultimate Sandbag begins right against our shins from adead stop. But this is where the similarities to the barbell end!

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Many lifters become confusedbecause the handles of the UltimateSandbag in relationship to the weightare much different than with the bar-bell. That is why I like Cleaning theUltimate Sandbag. Snatching can feelquite unique as well. The handles canstart the weight a bit higher than thebarbell (especially in larger UltimateSandbags), and by changing the startposition we change several dynamics ofthe Snatch.

First, we have to move faster to getthe weight overhead. We don’t have therange of motion in the legs to build upthe speed. Secondly, many lifters feel asthough they have to create even moreextension through the entire bodybecause the center of mass is furtherfrom the handles. In other words, youcan get a very explosive movement withan Ultimate Sandbag Snatch eventhough the weights will be lower thanthat of a barbell.

The rotation of the USB over ourhands is very similar to standard kettle-bell movements. If you have good ket-tlebell technique, you should be able torather quickly adapt to the UltimateSandbag. There are, however, some dif-ferences that can provide a very differ-ent feel. These include the fact that theUltimate Sandbag has no weight in thehandles, and that all the load is at thebottom of the Ultimate Sandbag. Thismeans that we have more weight com-ing over the top of our arms and haveto be more exact with the movement.

Holding the USBwith improper

Thoracic Extension

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The biggest mistake in Snatching either a kettle-bell or Ultimate Sandbag is very similar. Most peo-ple don’t feel strong, but can anticipate the need tomove fast. Consequently, they over-grip the USBhandles. The problem with over-gripping is that itdoesn’t allow the Ultimate Sandbag to rotate prop-erly. Like the kettlebell, it can cause a rather violentswinging of the weight and an unhealthy impactupon the forearm.

A rather loose grip is required to allow the rota-tion of the Ultimate Sandbag over the arms. Thekey is to think of driving the Ultimate Sandbag’sweight straight up and not to swing the weight outaway from the body. All the components of theDVRT accelerative drills stay true and have tocome together to get that perfect feel where thelower body drives the Ultimate Sandbag upwardsand the arms explosively dive underneath toreceive the weight overhead. It’s a beautiful thingto watch.

I have heard one common complaint with theUSB Sandbag Snatch. This is that the weight feelslike it sits longer on people’s heads. Is this a defectwith Snatching Ultimate Sandbags? I began towonder, until I watched more and more peopleperform the lift. I found that it wasn’t the UltimateSandbag at all; it was the fact that people didn’thave enough mobility and flexibility in their upperbodies to get the Ultimate Sandbag into the correctposition. The barbell’s wider grip and the fact thatthe kettlebell is a singular implement make it easierto hide compensations. However, they are exposedwith both arms in a narrow position. If you havethe right amount of movement in the upper body,even a Burly Ultimate Sandbag caught overheadwon’t come into contact with your head. You willfeel the shoulder blades tightly contracting andabsorbing the weight. If you find yourself being abit tight, don’t worry. Stay tuned for some solu-tions I introduce in the overhead pressing series.

Correct holdingposition and

Thoracic Extension.

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The Snatchprogression.

DVRT Snatch Checklist

• Keep the Ultimate Sandbag as close to theshins as possible, with the broad side ofthe USB facing you.

• Grab onto the snatch grip handles andlock the arms.

• Pull the shoulders into the “down andback” position and don’t unlock the arms.

• With the weight of your body throughyour heels, explosively pull the UltimateSandbag, with the elbows driving towardthe sky.

• As the Ultimate Sandbag reaches foreheadheight, begin to slightly dip and drive withthe arms locked overhead.

• Allow the Ultimate Sandbag torotate through the hands, andcatch the weight by squeezing theshoulder blades together and lock-ing the arms overhead.

• Coming down requires the simulta-neous motions of driving the hipsquickly back and unwinding thearms.

• Do not let the elbows or the weightswing out away from the body.

• Make sure to “catch” the UltimateSandbag in the start position bylocking the arms and holding theupper back in place.

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The Snatchtop position.

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Squatting ProgressionsA fitness book that quickly transitions from the exercise section with a discussion on

squats. How innovative, right? Most people misunderstand how squatting progressions fitinto the DVRT system. If you expect me to launch into a discussion about the squat being“the king” of lower body exercises, you’ll be disappointed.

Is the squat pattern important in our DVRT system? Absolutely! Is it more importantthan many of the drills we are going to discuss? Probably not! The squat serves as a perfectexample of a series of movements with a stable body position designed to develop founda-tional skills. Because we are well-balanced compared to other more dynamic lower bodyexercises, the squat serves as a wonderful base to teach people some fundamental move-ment skills that will help them eventually progress to some of these more complex move-ment patterns.

Why is the squat NOT the king of all lower body exercises? There are several issueswhenever we give a singular exercise such distinction. When we make such claims, they areoften tied to the load that can be applied to an exercise. Have we ever seen someone lung-ing or performing step-ups, or any more unilateral exercise with the same weight as we seein the squat? Not unless these people are hanging out with Big Foot or the Loch NessMonster .

It makes sense that we can load the squat more than most other lower body exercises.We are in a stable body position and oftentimes we are using a position (i.e. on the back)that is a very stable and strong loading position. However, does more weight equate to bet-ter results? According to one of the top researchers in spinal health and performance, Dr.Stuart McGill, the squat may not be the dominant exercise we make it out to be in training.

“Retraining the gluteals cannot be performed with traditional squat exercisesthat utilize a barbell on the back. Performing a traditional squat requires little hipabduction. Consequently there is little gluteus medius activation and the gluteusmaximus activation is delayed during the squat until lower squat angles arereached. It’s a quadriceps exercise. In contrast to the traditional squat, a one-legged squat activates the gluteus medius immediately to assist in the frontal planehip drive necessary for leaping, running, etc. together with sooner integration ofgluteus maximus high in the squat motion.” (McGill, p.224)

Learning to squat is important – very important. However, if we stop at squatting, if wealways prioritize squatting as our dominant lower body exercise, we are going to becomelimited in our training. Let’s examine why squatting is so important to learn and why itserves as a foundation for training.

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The squat does have a ton of benefits that we do want to optimize. Squatting integrateslots of of muscles (especially using the loading patterns in our DVRT system), which isimportant for functional strength, fat loss, and better performance. As performance andrehabilitation expert Paul Chek states, squatting is one of our “primal movement pat-terns.” (Chek, 2001) Squats are very natural and utilize fundamental movements.Unfortunately, our current lifestyles of sitting in chairs and such has definitely changed ourabilities to squat well.

We have lost our ability to squat well, but how does that really negatively impact ourhealth and performance? Physical therapists such as Gray Cook use deep squatting as anassessment tool to measure mobility in the thoracic spine, hips, knees, and ankle. Thiskinetic chain is important for both squatting and more advanced movement drills. Lack ofmovement in one or more of these areas can make us more prone to injury or inhibit ourability to develop force or strength.

More times than not, injuries begin to form before we ever actually “feel” them. Why?When one segment of our body does not function well, the next link in the chain begins toabsorb higher than normal forces. All of a sudden a structure becomes excessively loadedbecause one of its “teammates” isn’t doing its part. For example, sometimes knee pain canbe traced to problems in the ankle or foot. Low back pain can be related to lack of move-ment in the hips and so on. Remember the classic saying, “We are only as strong as ourweakest link!” We are probably also only as injury-resistant as our least mobile area.

Learning the foundational squatting patterns does allow us to build a great base ofstrength and, as mentioned, movement skills. These principles in the squatting pattern willserve as the basis for more complex skills.

The Bear Hug SquatOur hip hinging patterns taught us how to bring the USB into our Bear Hug position. As

I explained in the Bear Hug Clean, this position is our most stable holding position forlower body dominant drills. In the squatting patterns, the Bear Hug is especially importantbecause of the counterbalance the weight of the USB provides. There has been no shortageof well known strength coaches that have insisted, “Learn to use bodyweight before mov-ing to weight.”

Such statements assume that we are always using weight to make movements more chal-lenging. The truth is that we can use weight to help provide us feedback in performing thecorrect alignment and posture for our exercises.

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We see this in real life training all the time. When we ask novice trainees to performbodyweight squats, they tend to have all sorts of compensation patterns. One of the mostcommon occurs when trainees lean forward as they squat. At first glance this might seemlike an issue with the hip flexors. While that might be the case, something very interestinghappens when we suggest slight changes such as placing some pressure on a post oranother stable object. By simply gaining a little stability, the squat of the individual usuallyimproves by leaps and bounds. Did this person just become more flexible? Probably not.Instead, what likely happened is that we reduced their body’s own braking system. Ourbody naturally tries to protect us when it perceives danger. One of the most commonmeans for doing so is creating flexion in the body.

Ever noticed when you try to balance on what feels to be an unstable surface, your bodytends to clench more? We see tension in the jaw, the biceps, and other standard flexors ofthe body. This is part of our early infant response to danger and is an attempt to protect

Bad BodyweightSquat.

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our bodies and gain stability. If we can remove fear or, in the case of squatting, the stress ofan unfamiliar movement, the body can start to use the right muscles and patterns.

The Bear Hug Squat functions in much the same way, except instead of holding onto anobject for balance, the weight of the USB will provide a counterbalance to help the lifter

stay in a better squat position. TheBear Hug position is so powerful thatwe will even see more seasoned liftersable to obtain more upright posturesvia the Bear Hug Squat.

The Bear HugSquat.

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Why is this upright position important? As a 1989 study by Russell et al, found, “....lowback injury risk was influenced more by trunk inclination” (University of Maryland,Department of Education). The more we “lean forward” during a squat, the more pressurewe experience in the low back. We must ask ourselves the true goal of the squat. Is it toload the legs or the low back? I would imagine most of you answered the legs. The uprightposture in the Bear Hug Squat will begin to become the more standard position in body-weight squats. This means we are getting stronger, but also patterning a healthier andimportant movement skill.

A more upright torso has two other benefits that are important for our health and per-formance. Most people will find being upright in their squat allows them to squat muchdeeper. An increased depth during a squat will help create mobility in the ankles, knees,and hips, but also, as McGill states, “...gluteus maximus activation is relatively low untilquite deep in the squat position.” (McGill, p.244)

The trouble with getting into the deep squat position is that most people do not possessthe ability to do so without rounding their low back or pelvis as they assume the deepsquat position. The idea is to be able to squat deeply without losing the position of the lowback or pelvis. Again, the counterbalance of the USB in the Bear Hug position helps peopleget much closer to obtaining this deep squat position. The strategies are something that topstrength coaches like Eric Cressey have found to be very valuable to teaching their athletesthe RIGHT squat. “If you give these athletes a counterbalance out in front of their body,though, their squat patterns ‘clean up’ very quickly,” Cressey says.

One of the most important features of the Bear Hug Squat is that it teaches us to inte-grate the upper and lower bodies. Just as we discussed with the hip hinge progressions, theupper back and body can determine a lot of what happens to the low back during thesquat. In fact, Eric Cressey again hits on one of the major mistake a lot of lifters make inperforming the squat:

“Your athletes will also never transfer force correctly to the bar if it’s not solidlypositioned on the upper back. Activating the lats and pulling the bar down intothe upper back immediately tightens the entire upper body. Also, given the lats’attachment on the thoracolumbar fascia, it increases core stability as well.”

Using the barbell in this manner is very important for safety and strength. However, it isabsolutely impossible to do with any other object in this position other than the barbell.Holding the USB in front of the body in the Bear Hug Position allows us to create this sametype of contraction and action in a different manner. The result is the same, though, creat-ing stability and strength.

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Holding the USB in the Bear Hug position requires us to have an “active” upper body.We DO NOT want to casually hold the weight. Rather, we want to focus on trying to ripthe USB apart with our forearms. Trying to focus on this action, we see our elbows start todrive towards our ribs, which creates tension in the underarm (lats) and between the shoul-der blades. This position usually determines the quality of the squat and the ability to per-form numerous repetitions.

In order to optimize the Bear Hug Squat’s potential, we have to understand some of themistakes people make when using it. The Bear Hug Squat is both an easy exercise to coachand one for which it’s easy to identify very glaring compensations. Let me briefly coversome of these common mistakes so that you can ensure you safely benefit from the BearHug Squat.

Too light of a weight When we start a new exercise, we often assume using a lighter weight is safer. While

using too light of a USB will not hurt you, the light weight will also not provide the coun-terbalance that allows you to benefit from the Bear Hug Squat. It is a classic Goldilockschallenge – not too heavy, not too light, but just right. How can you tell the difference?

The upper body can’t support a weight that’s too heavy. A very obvious sign of the USBbeing too heavy is the shoulders shrugging upwards. In essence, the body is trying to usethe dominant (although they shouldn’t be) upper traps instead of the lower lat and trap inthe upper back. The shoulders should be able to remain “down and back” if the weight ofthe USB is appropriate.

How about if the weight is too light? We should be able to notice a difference betweenour ability to bodyweight squat and our posture in the Bear Hug Squat. If you are findingthat you don’t balance more on your heels and you are not finding yourself in a moreupright posture, you may want to try to use a heavier USB.

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Squatting with different dimension USBs.

Excessively small USB Remember, the dimension of the USB will sometimes impact the outcome of an exercise.

Why would the dimension of the USB impact the Bear Hug Squat? The answer goes backto weight distribution. Part of the reason that the Bear Hug Squat is so effective is that theweight below the midline of the arms that helps “pull” the body into position. If we use asmall USB then we don’t get any of the weight distribution below this midline and we don’treceive the help in grooving that better squat.

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Excessively flexible USB Very early in this book, I spoke about the problem with how many people saw odd

objects was that they were always unstable. I went on to state that my goal in developingthe DVRT program is to address the fact that this doesn’t make these tools progressive.Let’s use the Bear Hug Squat for a great example. If I am using a very loosely filled USB, asI assume the Bear Hug Squat position I am likely to notice one of two things. The mostprofound is that the weight will fold over and the top half will be moving away from mybody. This creates a longer lever from the arm to the trunk and upper back and makes thesame weight feel MUCH heavier. A looselyfilled USB may also have the weight shifttowards the bottom as one holds it in theBear Hug position. This means that as weare performing repetitions of the Bear HugSquat the weight is getting heavier.Obviously we don’t want to handle themost amount of weight as we are fatiguing.Therefore, you will want to select a moredensely filled USB.

Folding over USB.

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Relaxing the upper body As previously mentioned, the upper body will do a lot to determine your position

throughout the Bear Hug Squat. Tension applied into the USB is going to make the differ-ence in being able to maintain that more upright posture as you fatigue or not.

Sitting back first In most traditional back squatting techniques, we are taught to “sit the hips back” as an

initial cue. This is done to get the pelvis moving in the right direction and to somewhatcounteract the load upon the upper back. Because the weight distribution is different in theBear Hug Squat, I recommend cuing “knees out” first. This cue helps create space for the

pelvis to move, and then we can sit back intothe motion. Otherwise we can create an unnec-essary lever arm on the low back.

Because the weightdistribution is different in theBear Hug Squat, I recommend

cuing “knees out” first.

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How the Bear Hug Squat differs from the Goblet Squat.

DVRT Bear Hug Squat Checklist

• Wrap the arms around the middle of the USB.

• Pull the shoulders down and back, elbows pulling into the ribs.

• Begin by pushing the knees outward and slowly begin to sit the hips back after the knees begin to bend.

• Try to push the knees outwards without allowing the feet to rotate excessively outward.

• As you descend, work to maintaingreater tension in the upper back.

• Descend into the lowest position pos-sible, trying to sit back upon theheels.

• Pause for a brief moment and drivethrough the feet to accelerate thebody upward.

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Front Loaded SquatA good DVRT Power Clean will set you up to succeed at the Front Loaded Squat. Just as

with all drills performed in the Front Loaded position, the squat is going to tax the trunkas well as the lower body. Those that have a weak trunk will find the Front Loaded Squatvery humbling.

The Front Loaded Squat truly makes the squat a full body exercise. Yes, the lower bodyis still very dominant, but we can see weaknesses through the trunk and upper back thatmake it an overall body exercise. Unlike the Bear Hug Squat, the Front Loaded Squatinhibits how much the weight is helping us move and starts to stress our movement skillsto a higher degree. However, with the load placement in the Front Hold position, we arestill able to maintain a more upright posture than with most other forms of squatting.

Since the many benefits of the Front Loaded position have already been covered, let’saddress how to optimize the Front Loaded Squat and how to avoid some of the more com-mon mistakes.

Making Front Loaded Squat into a Front SquatWhenever I am in front of fitness professionals and ask them what exercise the Front

Loaded position reminds them of, the answer is almost always “Front Squat.” The differ-entiation between the Front Squat and the Front Loaded position is not just a matter ofsemantics. As discussed earlier, the Front Squat has the entire body support the weight.Even though it appears as though the weight is resting upon the shoulders, the entire bodygives strength to the exercise. If we treated the Front Hold Squat like the Front Squat, wewould not be able to support much weight or for any type of duration. The fact that theUSB would have to literally be supported by the shoulders makes it impossible to appropri-ately stress the lower body.

The Front Loaded Squat is somewhere in between the Zercher and Front Squat. Theweight of the USB sits higher than that with a Zercher and lower than with a Front Squat.Consequently, we don’t want to begin with the body in the wrong position. The incorrectlifting position would appear with our elbows much higher, as is typical in the Front Squat(the upper arm parallel to the ground). Instead, we want to see our upper arms tucked intoour ribs and our forearms more perpendicular to the ground.

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The Front Loaded Squatshould have the upperarms tucked into the

ribs and the forearmsmore perpendicular to

the ground.

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Being lazy in the upper bodyI see it all the time, more so with Ultimate Sandbags than you would see in barbell

Zercher Squats. The dimension of the Ultimate Sandbag requires more activity from theupper body to maintain proper posture and alignment. To avoid this, after you clean theUSB and tightly press into your chest, you should not see your arms extend during the exer-cise. If the elbow starts to extend, then you are done for in the lift, as your biceps are notgoing to be able to support the weight and this will pull the upper body into a bad“crunch” position.

Don’t round upperor lower back.

Don’t flareelbows out.

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An active upper body is absolutely critical for postural alignment, but it will also betremendously helpful to have your body over the right base of support. A lot of times, asthe weight of the USB pulls people forward, their body feels as though it is shifting moretowards the toes. We want to be more mid-foot to heels when we are squatting. As youdescend into the squat, the more you pull the USB into your body, the more you will findyourself staying over the mid-foot/heels, rather than moving toward the toes. This simplestrategy will make you feel stronger and definitely save your knees!

The right elbows at the right timeI just stated that you should have your elbows tucked into your ribs. That is true to start

the Front Loaded Squat and a good general rule of thumb. However, the reality is that asyou squat, your elbows will come slightly upward. Your elbows should never obtain theposition you would find in the classic barbell squat, but slight elevation forward is appro-priate. In fact, cuing the elbows is very important for coming out of the bottom of the posi-tion without flexing forward.

The transition from the bottom to rising upward should be done with control. Nobouncing to use momentum. Using the bottom position appropriately, we can gauge theuse and strength of our hamstrings and glutes while teaching great body control. The rea-son most people cheat during this section of the squat is because it is very challenging andhumbling. However, we can use strategic cuing to really help with this process. Uponreaching the bottom of the Front Loaded Squat, pause for a brief moment, and simultane-ously drive through the heels and try to drive the elbows upward. The action of the elbowscreates extension in the upper back and helps stay you tall rather than flexing forward inthis weaker position.

Not enough time under tensionIf we are going to make the comparison of the Front Loaded Squat to that of the Front

Plank, then the programming needs to match. Some people use the Front Hold Squat butchoose to move very quickly through all portions of the lift. This is partially due to anattempt to use momentum to overcome a challenging position, and it can also be due to alack of control. In either scenario, we can clean up a lot of these issues by slowing downthe movement, predominately the lowering phase.

In training of the Front Plank we will generally use extended timed intervals to buildtrunk endurance. We can do the same thing in the Front Loaded position in two differentways.

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1. Slow Down the lowering phase: Focus on lowering yourself from anywhere from afour to six second count. Once at the bottom position try to accelerate to the startwithout flexing forward.

2. 1 1/4s: One of the most challenging types of training 1 1/4s accomplishes a few goalsat once. We extend the time under tension of the set and we emphasize the hardestportions of the lift. Descend slowly (about three to four seconds) into the bottom ofthe squat. Pause for a one to two second count. Then rise only a quarter of the wayand pause for another one to two count. Slowly descend back into the bottom posi-tion without bouncing, and pause for another one to two seconds. Then accelerate allthe way to the start position. That is one repetition!

With these changes in tempo andtime under tension, you may quicklyfind yourself adjusting the weight of theUSB you are using and the number ofrepetitions you are planning for in yourtraining. The benefits of such trainingwill definitely reward your patienceand better programming.

The FrontLoaded Squatexecuted with

good technique.

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DVRT Front Loaded Squat Checklist

• After cleaning the USB, pull in to the body, trying to bring the USB as closely into thebody as possible.

• Pull the shoulders down and back; keep a tall chest.

• Begin to squat by slightly pressing the knees outward.

• The elbows will slightly elevate as you descend into the squat. The elbows should nothave to rise to parallel to the ground.

• Once the bottom position is reached, “DRIVE” the elbows upwards and pushthrough the feet to help create extension in the torso.

Shoulder SquatYou can always tell when a training tool has a long, storied history. It doesn’t take more

than looking at the signs of many different gyms to see a variety of training silhouettesthat are integrated into a gym’s logo and the member’s consciousness. You can see imagesof deadlifting with a barbell, kettlebell snatches, sprinting, etc. I would say if you had tothink of the same in the world of DVRT, many would jump and say “SHOULDERSQUATS!” The image of Shoulder Squats is definitely a byproduct of the long history ofsandbags and other odd objects. We may be able to attribute this to the fact it is one of thepositions, like the upper back in barbell training, where we can expose the body to a greatdeal of load. After all, it would be far more efficient to carry a heavy odd object on ourshoulders than on our backs.

We can imagine ancient civilizations carrying heavy objects to build their houses andstructures by heaving them upon their shoulders. Primitive cultures are often imaginedcarrying their kill over their shoulder. In fact, the idea of carrying a weight upon one’sback are a more modern result of the agricultural era. Odd objects would have been awk-ward to carry on the upper back. Just getting them onto the upper back would have beena feat in and of itself, and probably very inefficient.

However, just because it was done once upon a time doesn’t mean we should do it inmore modern programs. In the DVRT system, the Shoulder Position is one of the mostimportant and under-appreciated holding positions. Many lifters actually misuse thisexercise and holding position because they don’t attempt it with the right intent.Understanding why we are using the Shoulder position and Shoulder Squat will give us

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insights into what makes the exercise so important, why we see compensations, and howwe progress in the movement.

When discussing the Front Hold position we used the holding position that parallels theprinciples of the Front Plank. Understanding the relationship of holding position with ourDVRT holding positions we could use a similar comparison of the Shoulder position as arelative of Side Plank. The difference in body positions during these planking sequenceschanges the emphasis from training muscles to developing kinetic chains.

What is a kinetic chain? Whenever our body produces movement, we don’t see one mus-cle operating alone. Rather, a specific sequencing of many muscles is producing force,resisting force, and creating stability. In physical therapist Diane Lee’s book, The PelvicGirdle, she identifies four “sling systems” of the body. These different sling systems arechains of the body that help us produce motion. Dysfunction in one area of the chain cancreate an imbalance of certain muscles and/or problems with other slings.

In the performance ofShouldering the USB, we dis-cussed exposing the body toasymmetrical loads. Thevalue became quite obvious,but we also saw that mostcoaches had relegated suchtraining to the end of a work-out, and only to exercisessuch as various carries. Infact, McGill’s greatest con-cerns about the squat are thatit does not typically train thequadratus lumborum andobliques. These concerns canbe addressed by using theShoulder Squat. Combiningthe benefits of both move-ments creates a type of“super hero” exercise.

Don’t shiftlaterally.

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Of course, like most DVRT drills,the Shoulder Squat is more thanthrowing the USB up on a shoulderand squatting. The Shoulder Squat isone of the most difficult exercisesbecause the squat already challengesour movement in key areas of thebody. Adding the asymmetrical loadthat we find in the Shoulder Squatjust amplifies the challenge of havinggood movement.

How do you know if you have theability to perform the Shoulder Squatwith good technique? I’ll give you twoways, one with a coach and oneassuming that you don’t have the lux-ury of a coach or even a training part-ner. We do want to be careful with theShoulder Squat. While it can yieldvery powerful results, the uniquestress we have spoken so much aboutcan tax areas of the body that arequite weak and ill- prepared to absorbthis training.

In our DVRT certifications, wespend a great deal of time breakingdown the compensations of theShoulder Squat. Having a coach ortraining partner watching your move-ment can be of great help. Once theUSB has been shouldered, have thecoach watch you squat from behind.Ask them to imagine a line verticallydissecting you into two equal halves.The ultimate goal is that you are ableto squat with the USB upon the shoulder and have your body move relatively the same onboth sides. What we are watching for are large deviations from one side or the other. Ourgeneral rule is that if you feel as though you need a tape measure to see the difference, thenthe squat is good! We are looking for LARGE noticeable changes and you will know themwhen you see them.

Don’t elevateshoulders.

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If the hips look relatively even dur-ing the Shoulder Squat, you are nothome free yet. You will then want towalk around to the side of the squatand see how the feet appear.Compensation through the feet isextremely common as they move toalter leverage and position of thepelvis. The body is very creative ingetting around movement issues. Byaltering the position of the pelvis tocompensate for tightness, the feetshift. We can see one foot becomemore externally rotated (turned out-ward), while one foot shifts backfrom its original position, and/oractually steps outwards from the mid-line.

The foot position is one of the easi-est ways to self-assess your ShoulderSquat movement. Upon Shoulderingthe USB, use a line in the ground(many gym floors have small lines inthe ground that you can use), or use adowel rod by your feet. After per-forming a few repetitions of theShoulder Squat, look at the feet priorto lowering the USB to see if any shifthas occurred. Many lifters are quiteastounded how their movement haschanged, even though they don’t feel any active movement by their bodies. Again, wearen’t looking for microscopic changes in one’s movement, but rather very distinct changesin position.

Am I trying to dissuade you from using the Shoulder Squat? On the contrary, I want youto appreciate the complexity that the Shoulder Squat provides. My sincere hope is that youtransform how you see this valuable DVRT exercise and have the patience to workthrough the DVRT system in order to improve in such core movements.

Of course, such a discussion on movement begs the question, “If I see these compensa-tions, how do I get better?” We have to appreciate the fact that complex movements such

Don’t movefeet.

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as the Shoulder Squat do not allow us to pinpoint a specific muscle. Rather, we look at achain and pattern of muscles in the system. The reason for the various compensations mayvary.

We can use my own body as a great example. My herniated low back discs actually arepushed more to the right than straight back or the left. When I load the right shoulder dur-ing the Shoulder Squat, I have a much more challenging time avoiding compensationbecause the discs have disrupted the chain on the right side of my body. Knowing some-one’s health history can definitely give you insight into the compensation patterns youmight see in the Shoulder Squat. In the case of orthopedic issues, you may never actuallysee a true balance between the two sides. However, we can definitely expect to seeimprovement in the deviations and a decrease in the amount one side alters its movement.

The other reason that we see such compensations in the Shoulder Squat is that we havenot patterned the squat well enough. The complexity of the asymmetrical load creates toomuch neural stress, and our body tries to work around the asymmetrical load and altersthe squat pattern. Therefore, it is VERY important that people work through the DVRTprogressions to make sure they pattern the squat in increasingly more demanding posturesand loads. Most just continue to load in their strongest positions and do little to challengetheir postural integrity.

Working through Bear Hug and Front Hold DVRT squats enable you to properlydevelop that squat pattern. This means not just trying to perform them for a few trainingsessions and then moving on. Instead, try playing with tempos, positions and angles. See iflifters can perform the majority of repetitions, keeping all of the details of these lifts in per-fect harmony Without building faulty compensation patterns. I tell coaches all the timethat there are no special awards for rushing people to more complex and demanding exer-cises if their clients have not earned the progression!

Outside of just focusing on the foundational squatting patterns, how else can we buildthis lateral stability? In some of the upcoming DVRT progressions, we are going to seeadditional strategies we can implement to progressively build these qualities. However, Iwant to briefly introduce two other concepts within the DVRT model.

In the very beginning, I spoke about DVRT being a program and system. That means weare not married to a training tool. We need to use the right tool to accomplish our traininggoal. Building this lateral stability may require using tools outside of the USB. One of themost obvious and best exercises are side plank drills. Scientists like Dr. McGill have foundthat progressive Side Plank variations are a great way to isolate and provide more focusedtraining to the quadratus lumborum. Since the QL is often underutilized and weak , mak-ing sure that it both possesses good strength and is functioning at a high level is veryimportant.

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The ShoulderSquat executed

with goodtechnique.

Looking outside of the USB is alsovery helpful. Remember, this is a system,not an implement-based program. Oneof the reasons that the Shoulder Squat isso challenging is because we have a com-bination of axial loading and asymmet-rical stress. Having the load directlyupon our frame puts a lot of stress onour nervous system to maintain posturewhile also trying to move. However, wecan alter the position of the load andactually decrease the amount of stresswe are applying to the body by movingthe weight more in front of our body. Inorder to do so, we are going to have tochange implements to the kettlebell. Thekettlebell one-arm rack squat is one ofthe best exercises to progress peoplefrom bilateral loading into more asym-metrical positions. Focus on the goaland not the implement!

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Identifying one’s weaknesses and experimenting with a few different DVRT conceptsshould allow you to see progress in the asymmetrical loading positions. While it may seemlike quite the process, I can ensure you that you will be rewarded with greater levels offunctional strength, movement, and a decreased likelihood of becoming a part of the 80%of the Western population that will experience low back pain!

DVRT Shoulder Squat Checklist

• Make sure the body is in proper alignment once the USB is received upon the shoulder.

• Watch for the feet moving to compensate, the hips shifting, or the torso leaning.

• Begin the squat like the other DVRT squats, but be aware of continual shifting or mov-ing of the feet, torso, or upper body.

• Drive through the heels to ascend from the deep squat position.

• The opposing arm may extend out to the side to help maintain balance.

The Re-Evolution of Squatting?Understanding our history of strength training allows us to also better understand why

things have changed. Many people believe that barbell squatting has been in our trainingvocabulary ever since the beginning of fitness. The truth of the matter is that barbell squat-ting is a rather recent creation.

For years, squatting with a barbell was done in a great variety of ways with the weightplaced in all sorts of positions and squatting ranging from being on the ball of foot, to flatfooted, to feet completely together to knees flaring out. The modern back and front squatswould only become popular as the creation of squat racks and the sport of Olympicweightlifting gained popularity, but this wasn’t until the 1930s. That means for quite sometime, athletes and strongmen built strong legs a variety of ways.

A wide variety of squats were key in the development of the old time strongmanphysique. Somehow, we have lost many of these great lifts. Without knowing it, we madeour training more limited and created an even bigger hole in our lower body training. Ourgoal in DVRT is to create the most progressive movements. When most people begin lowerbody training, they start with exercises such as squats and deadlifts, and then move to drillssuch as lunges, step-ups, and single leg deadlifts. As great as these exercises are, this is farfrom an incremental progression.

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While most coaches would never dream of just stacking piles of weight on their client set toset, this is exactly what most end up doing when we think in terms of their body position.The body angles and positions of a squat to lunge are not subtly different; they are drasticallychanging one’s level of stability. For many lifters, this dramatic change in body position canbe like adding huge amounts of weight to a lift. Don’t worry, there is a better way!

The idea of Staggered Squatting came to me after watching how many athletes would setup in their sports. Wrestling is a perfect example of how athletes need to maintain a stablefoundation while still being quick on their feet. In wrestling, many athletes never take abilateral stance. Having your feet even with each other makes it difficult to change direc-tion and react to an opponent. Of course, in strength training we don’t have to react to aload like an opponent, but wouldn’t it make sense to assume positions a bit closer to whatwe see in many sporting environments. Isn’t this more “athletic”?

I realize changing the way squatting is performed seems outrageous! Yet if we startthinking of movement in the real world instead of in the weight room, we see these differ-ent types of squatting patterns. If we can get our minds out of the world of Powerliftingand even Olympic lifting, we can see the value of squatting in a wider variety of ways. TheStaggered Squat offers some really interesting benefits that most would overlook.

Why is it that more single leg dominant movements such as lunges, step-ups, single legdeadlifts, and pistols are almost never performed before drills such as squats, deadlifts, anda variety of pulls? This type of programming speaks to our bias toward heavier weightedmovements. Some coaches will even suggest that many of the single leg- based movementsmentioned are all about stability and not about strength (such a topic could be a book in ofitself). The Staggered Squat actually satisfies both load and stability requirements. We haveslightly destabilized our body, but not so much that we can’t apply appreciable loading.

Even though we are speaking about Staggered Squatting as a progression to the morecommon bilateral squat variations, Staggered Squatting can be more. Because the stanceassumed in the Staggered Squat opens the hips more than in the standard squat, those withrestrictions in their find the Staggered Squat much more doable. We can use the StaggeredSquat as a means of introducing the squatting pattern to those who have difficulties withthe standard squat variations.

The idea of a Staggered Squat is not necessarily unique to the DVRT system. Othercoaches have used the idea of an off-set position squat to “mix up” their squats. Some real-ize the more unilateral loading you get by splitting the feet, and others find that the move-ment feels far more natural than the typical gym squats. However, some approaches are notideal . For example, you will see some internet gurus speak about elevating a foot on a plat-form and perform at an angle. Elevating a leg tilts the pelvis while the body is loading. Thisis not ideal for most lifting situations and can aggravate some low back issues.

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The StaggeredSquat.

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Other coaches will use the Staggered Squat but commit a fatal flaw in its performance —they don’t raise the back heel! Some have called this a B-Squat where the feet are split, butboth feet remain flat. This poses two potential problems. The first is that the pelvis begins totry to rotate. Rotation of the pelvis can be a primary cause of low back issues. The less obvi-ous issue is that most people “get stuck” by keeping both feet flat in an odd, not quite alunge, not quite a squat movement. The range of motion gets decreased. Greatly diminishingthe value of the movement.

The DVRT Staggered Squat tries to resolve all these issues while increasing the value of themovement. The Staggered Squat begins by assuming your squatting stance and then movingone foot slightly back so that the toes of the back foot line up with the heel of the front foot.The heel of the back foot elevates so that pressure is being applied to the ball of foot of therear leg. Applying pressure through the ball of foot allows us to prevent the hips from rotat-ing and provides some stability.

Notice that at first we take a stance the width of your standard squat. This provides us alarger base to work from, and therefore a more stable base to learn this form of squatting.Over time, the stance can be brought inward, reducing the base of support and making theStaggered Squat more of single leg exercise. As we work through all DVRT progressions, wemove from stable to unstable positions.

DVRT Staggered Squat Checklist

• Assume a squatting stance and move one foot back so the toes of the back foot line upwith the heel of the front leg.

• Keep the heel of the back leg off the ground for the entire movement and place forcethrough the ball of foot.

• Make sure to squat into the movement and do not lunge. This means allowing the hipsto sit back and keeping pressure through the flat foot of the lead leg and ball of the rearfoot.

• Over time you can slowly move the feet closer together, reducing the base of support. Indoing so, point the toes straight ahead, but still allow the hips to travel back in themotion.

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Advancing the MovementIf you think so far we have only covered some foundational principles in hip hinging and

squatting, you are correct! However, I do hope that I have changed the way you are look-ing at these movement patterns and that you see how meaningful they can be in choosingspecific drills in each section. At this point, you are freed from being a prisoner to the sameexercises all the time, and should feel confident because you have far more options toaddress your training goals and individualize your training.

The progressions of squatting and hip hinging could seem overwhelming, with so manyexercises and progressions to choose from. It could feel like too many options. However,before we start speaking about progressions, let me be forthright about some obviousquestions that are probably on your mind.

“Is there ever a good time to back squat a USB or odd object?”No! I would love to give you an exception, but I have never found one. For the reasons

that I provided earlier in the squatting chapter, placing the USB or any odd object on theupper back causes many issues and few solutions. There are major issues in safely gettingmore significant loads in this position, as there can be significant compromise to the lowback and shoulder. The back position provides no benefit and increases the likelihood ofissues such as greater forward lean, and ultimately the positions we discussed offer a fargreater benefit than placing the load on the upper back, especially while minimizing forcesupon the lower back.

“How do I know to use the different holding positions in squatting or body positions in hip hinging?”You don’t need to achieve specific weights to move from one progression to another.

You need to determine what you are trying to accomplish with each variation and where itis placed within the workout. Yes, basically, “Why are you using that exercise?” Evenmore important to note is that posture and technique determine all. If you move from oneposition to another but show very obvious compensations in either the performance of thedrill or the posture that can be maintained during the exercise, you have pushed yourselftoo hard and too fast.

Some people will be able to progress in certain drills with specific movement patternsfaster than others. There will be those that find more stable standing positions with differ-ent holding positions much easier than those drills that challenge our body’s positional

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changes and vice versa. You will have to follow some of the programs and the progressionsoutlined in this book to see what works best for you!

“Can I overhead squat in DVRT?”You can, but like all drills we teach in the DVRT program, you should have a specific

purpose for using such drills. People who already possess great shoulder and upper backflexibility can perform such drills, but I am not sure if it actually builds this flexibility asthere are limited progressions in this position (we can increase both shoulder and upperback flexibility through a host of other DVRT drill progressions).

The overheadsquat with USB.

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The Most Underrated Exercise? The mere mention of lunges makes some athletes feel less like lifters and more like

they’re in an aerobics class. The long history of lunges being a part of music pounding fit-ness classes and spandex laden fitness television programs makes most serious strengthathletes laugh at the thought of a lunge. But could YOU be missing out on how tremen-dous this exercise can be for your programs?

I personally found myself being quite biased against the idea of lunges. Heck, you could-n’t load the barbell up and see the plates falling off the side when doing lunges like youcould with squatting. Lunges were only those exercises that you performed after youtrained your serious lifts like squats and deadlifts. Very shortly, though, life would teachme to become more respectful of the lunge.

If I reflect on my past training history in a very honest way, I would have to tell you thatmost of the reasons that I didn’t use lunging as a core part of my program was only for tworather superficial reasons. The first being I had turned into that lifter I mentioned. I felt asthough I was too good for them and that real strength was based upon the big loads, theones where you felt the bar almost bending as you took it out of the rack. In reality, I hada big discrepancy between what I could perform on the more stable lifts such as squats anddeadlifts and what I could perform in drills like lunges. That led me to the second reasonthat I just did not like lunges – I wasn’t very good at them at all!

At the age of 14, I was playing basketball at the local park like I had done for years.Only this day I would land upon the crack in the ground that turned my foot almostupside down! Tearing about every ligament in the ankle, I was told I would possibly neverplay sports again. I would prove the doctors wrong and play again at even higher levels,but I never fully recovered from the ankle injury. To this day, working my right side is farmore challenging than my left. Don’t worry though, I did what most athletes do. I dideverything in my power to hide this compensation. More ankle braces, specific shoes, tap-ing. I used everything and anything available to avoid actually addressing the problem ofmy lower leg instability.

It didn’t matter to me. I was building my lower body strength with the classic strengthlifts, so not using lunges didn’t seem to be a big deal. After all, I saw my squat and deadliftnumbers go up and up. I couldn’t be hampering my progress, could I? Seeing success in thegym did prolong my neglect of many forms of lunging. What did it matter if I wasn’t goodat lunges? I was getting strong, wasn’t I?

Of course I thought I was getting strong, and more important to me, capable of playingmy sport at a higher level. Yet six months after returning to basketball, I herniated twolumbar discs during a high school game. At the time I didn’t tie the ankle injury to my low

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back, herniated discs are pretty unusual in a 14-year-old. Even more interesting is the factthat the discs ended up herniating towards the right side, same side as my ankle injury.Interesting.

There is no way for me to prove that the ankle injury created a greater potential forinjuring my low back. However, as I began to learn more about how the body actuallyfunctions, I began to suspect that it was a possibility.

A 1999 study in the Journal of Orthopedic and Sports Physical Therapy found that peo-ple with low back pain on one side of their body, also had excessive foot pronation on thesame side as the low back pain.

With the research there to help us better understand how the body functions, we have toask – why don’t the great strength athletes use the lunge more in training if it works? Thereis a mistake that many of even the best fitness professionals and strength coaches make allthe time. It is differentiating what is performed in sports such as Powerlifting and Olympiclifting and what happens outside of the gym. While these iron game sports offer benefits tofitness enthusiasts and athletes alike, they work in very sterile environments.

In the real world and in most non-iron sports, there are components of stepping, accel-eration and deceleration in different angles and directions, unpredictability of movement,and horizontal — not just vertical — transfer of the body. For all these reasons, when wethink of functional training models, we can’t be locked into the classic iron sports. Butbecause the earliest strength coaches were from Powerlifting and Olympic lifting, thetraining systems associated with these sports became the predominant training systems.

Most real world and sports activities are predominately performed in a single leg and/orsplit stance. It is more rare to find every day activities being performed in our standardsquat or deadlift types of positions. Does this mean that these lifts serve no benefit? Quitethe contrary, and I’ll address this shortly for those that are getting nervous that I may besuggesting we get rid of all bilateral drills. As renowned strength coach Mike Boyle says,“I’m not anti-bilateral exercise; I’m pro unilateral exercise.”

Before you move toward closing this book and thinking this is some crazy “functionaltraining” nonsense, most of you are already on board with this concept and don’t evenknow it! If I asked you whether a true one-arm push-up or a 315 bench press is more rare,probably most of you would answer the one-arm push-up. Don’t like this example? Doyou love kettlebells? Even when using double kettlebells in training, the arms move inde-pendently, creating all types of unique stress on the body. Ever notice that many of the pri-mary kettlebell lifts are one-arm in nature? Early in the book I mentioned that it is rare tofind someone who can dumbbell bench press what they can barbell bench press. Yes, eventhe use of dumbbells lends itself to a predominately unilateral type of training.

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I’ll give you one more example before we get down to the nuts and bolts. We tend tomarvel and revere the strength of some of the classic strongmen like Eugene Sandow,Arthur Saxon, George Hackenschmidt, and many others. The lift they often demonstratedas their ultimate test of strength was the bent press. Yes, a one-arm exercise using the bar-bell! It wasn’t the bench press; it wasn’t the squat. Maybe these old time strongmen wereeven smarter than we originally thought!

If we are confident in the use of unilateral training for the upper body, why wouldn’t itmake sense to use it for the lower body as well? We tend to see upper body unilateral exer-cises such as one-arm push-ups or one-arm chin-ups as relatively elite exercises. Why can’twe view movements such as the lunge in the same manner?

In reality, it all goes back to a general bias in favor of heavier loads. We shouldn’t be ableto lunge as much as we can squat. The performance of the squat places us in a significantlymore stable body position than the lunge. Realizing this is more of a difference of physicsthan it is a measure of strength can alter how we see most unilateral dominant exercises.As with the dumbbell bench press, we have far more instability and therefore smaller mus-cles firing off to stabilize our body.

I understand, you are a bit nervous. Change breeds anxiety. After all, when was the lasttime someone in the gym asked you, “How much can you lunge?” Probably never is myguess, but that is ok. They are missing out – big time!

What is the big difference? Is it just a function of stability and not strength? Coach Boylemakes a strong case for the greater focus of unilateral dominant exercises:

“When we stand on one leg, as in a one leg squat, we engage three muscles thatwe don’t use in a two leg squat. I know some will say we use the adductorsbecause the knees move apart in the descent, but this isn’t the same. The key tothe lateral sub-system is that we engage these additional muscles in their normalrole of stabilizers, not as movers.

“In addition, in any single leg exercise, bodyweight becomes a more significantpart of the resistance. Voila, functional training: training the muscles that we’reusing in the way that we use them. Bottom line: this doesn’t happen in any ver-sion of the double leg squat.

“In a conventional double leg squat, we simply strengthen the prime moversand neglect the stabilizers. Using the car analogy, we get a bigger engine, butmaybe bad tires.”

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Again, you must be asking yourself, “If unilateral exercises are the way to go, how comeI don’t see more people prioritizing them?” The truth is that it is changing, maybe slowly,but we are seeing strength coaches and fitness professionals slowly changing the way theysee training. Quoting Coach Boyle once again, “Single limb training is a logical outgrowthof what we now know about functional anatomy. It’ll promote greater muscle growth andgreater muscle strength because it works more muscles. Knowing the way the body worksallows us to develop and utilize exercises that work not just prime movers, but stabilizersand neutralizers.”

I get it, I really do. What I am asking you to do is take a giant leap of faith toward seeingunilateral training in a new way. Science is one thing, but what about the real world? Do Ihave any real proof that what I am suggesting actually works?! Interestingly enough,Strength Coach Ben Bruno actually put single leg training to the test! For one year, hedropped all bilateral quad dominant exercises and performed only unilateral versions.Initially he was also hesitant about such an experiment:

“At first I struggled with the stability aspect of the single-leg exercises. I foundit difficult to use much weight at all, and almost quit the experiment after the firsttwo weeks because I figured it was a lost cause. But I stuck with it, and after aninitial learning phase of about 3-4 weeks, my balance began to improve. And mynumbers on the single-leg exercises started to skyrocket. For example, in the firsteight weeks, I went from using 40-pound dumbbells for Bulgarian split squats tousing a 275-pound barbell. I also went from not being able to do one bodyweightsingle-leg squat to using over 100 pounds of external load for 6-8 reps.”

Some pretty impressive numbers, but does the result mean only getting better at theseexercises?

Shockingly, no! Coach Bruno states his previous best squatting effort with 225 was 21repetitions – not too shabby at all! After his year-long test of not performing ANY bilateraltypes of squats he was able to hit a pretty remarkable 35 repetitions! His thoughts on hisexperience and the impact of unilateral drills?

“If you treat the single-leg work as an accessory movement and do it at the endof the workout and don’t push the loading, then sure, it’s not going to do muchfor strength – it becomes more about building stability and evening out imbal-ances between legs, which is fine. If you put it first in the workout and follow theprinciple of progressive overload, however, then it becomes a strength exercise.”

Ah, I can hear the “hardcore” squatters and deadlifters getting more and more woundup. Some may be ready to shout at me, “He probably BUILT his strength on the founda-tion of deadlifts and squats.” This is true! That is why, in the DVRT system, we begin with

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movements such as our hip hinge and squatting progressions. Which DVRT exercises weprioritize really begins to depend on our goals, fitness levels, and needs. Where most peo-ple STOP at squatting and deadlifting, we are just beginning our journey of movement. Inthe beginning, squats and deadlifts will serve as an important foundation, but over time wewill see the priority begin to switch, and this type of training philosophy keeps you pro-gressing and growing in your fitness goals.

Defining the LungeOne of the issues with the lunge is that we tend to think of this movement in very limited

terms. The actual lunge is a “primal movement.” This means it is not just an exercise, buta movement pattern like we see in the hip hinge. A primal movement is often thought ofmovement skills we naturally possess, but due to our largely sedentary lifestyles, we losethe ability to perform these foundational skills.

Lunges can be a lifter’s and coach’s best asset because of the incredible number ofoptions available in DVRT principles. Examining the lunge means we have to first identifythe correct body position – an oft-neglected part of lunge training! When most peoplethink of the classic lunge, they envision people performing walking lunges around theentire length of the gym! While walking lunges offer one variation, they are just scratchingthe surface of the many options, and don’t always provide the right starting point.

Lunging usually refers to a stepping motion in many different directions, where one legis positioned forward with knee bent and foot flat on the ground, while the other leg ispositioned behind. Such a broad definition allows for a lot of variation and alteration tothe exercise. For our starting point, we are going to try to assume an upright trunk posi-tion and a rather static lunge known as a split squat.

Because EVERYTHING we do in the DVRT system is designed to become progressive,we need to make the lunge similarly progressive. Removing the stepping action from thelunge can help assist us in gaining the fundamental skills of the lunge.

The fear factor can become a real problem with the lunge. Often we can see the lifter’strunk start to crunch and flex forward as the stride shortens. While this can be attributedto lack of flexibility and mobility, we cannot underestimate the body’s desire to try tomaintain balance and stability by creating flexion in the body. Realizing there is a fear fac-tor in the lunge for some, we need to introduce the elements of instability into the lunge asprogressively as possible.

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Don’t flex forward.

Don’t take too short of a stride.

Don’t taketoo long

of a stride.

Don’t let the knee fall inward.

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Spending more time in the split squat position allows people to gain confidence andbecome more familiar with the movement of the lunge. All exercises have an element ofneurological learning, so as the brain makes the body smarter, we will see the stability ofthe lifter improve. This is very similar to what we see when someone rides a bike their firsttime. They may seem very unsteady and thenover time become far more capable.

If we can reduce the fear aspect of anymovement, the body will likely turn off thebrakes. In the case of the lunge, this meansthose nasty hip flexors. The hip flexors canbe a huge sticking point in many lifts. Thisgroup of muscles often tightens as a result ofchronic sitting, unbalanced training, and/orto try to protect the body from perceivedunstable situations. The hip flexors willoften inhibit our movement if they decide todominate, and they can pull our bodies outof ideal postural alignment. The split squatcan often help in both dynamically stretch-ing the hip flexors and helping tell the brainto turn off the brakes and allow movementin the front part of our hips.

The key in performing the split squat is tomake sure you are set up in the correct pos-ture. Most people who feel uneasy in anytype of split lower body position will assumetoo little of a step. The problem comes whenwe perform the split squat. The front heelrises off of the ground, putting a great dealof shear through the front knee. It oftenreminds me of Strength Coach Dan John’ssaying about squats, “Squats don’t hurt yourknees. The way YOU squat hurts yourknees.” We can take the same philosophyand apply it to split squats and lunges. Manyof the knee issues people experience are aresult of poor set-up and execution of themovement.

Correct posture forbeginning position of

Split Squat and Lunge.

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A few simple guidelines are going to save most of you from experiencing the aches andpains some do by performing the split squat and lunge incorrectly.

DVRT Split Squat and Lunge Checklist

• Make sure the stride of the front leg is long enough to allow the heel of the front legto stay on the ground in the bottom position.

• The stride should not be so long that the low back starts to extend rather than mov-ing from the hip.

• When descending into the bottom position, a slight transition of the body going for-ward is acceptable. However, the body should be lowered more vertically than hori-zontally. Think of bending both knees simultaneously, as most people get in trouble.

• Make sure to ini-tially keep the torsovery tall, allowing astretch in the hip ofthe rear.

• Keep the dominantamount of pressurethrough the heel ofthe front leg andthe ball of the footof back leg.Actively use bothsides, even thoughyou are assuming amore unstablestance, making iteven more impor-tant to optimizeboth sides of thebody.

Correctposture for

finishedposition of

Split Squat andLunge.

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Loading PositionOnce we establish the foundational movement patterns of the split squat, we can now

strategically plan how we will establish the loading positions. The split position allows usto take advantage of more holding positions and the ability to stimulate and challenge thebody in unique ways. As per our principle of loading position, we move from stable tounstable. However, you are going to see a more extensive list of options. Some may seemsubtle and others more dramatic. Everyone responds to the different holding positions dif-ferently, so think of the following as guidelines rather than commandments!

Unlike the squatting series, we actually do not begin with the Bear Hug position. Greaterloading in the DVRT system creates a larger USB. In the split position, we run into logisti-cal issues. When using larger USBs we would end up running into our lead leg with theload. Additionally, because we do not have the same movement in the pelvis in lunging andsplit squats that we see in bilateral squatting, the counter balance of the USB would not beas profound.

I am a great believer in theOliver Wendell Holmes say-ing, “The young man knowsthe rules, but the old manknows the exceptions.” Inother words, it is okay tobreak the rules if you knowwhat the rules are and whyyou are deviating from them.In the case of loading posi-tion, it is ok not to begin ourlunge or split squat serieswith the Bear Hug positionand move immediately to theFront Hold series. The pur-pose and technique willremain the same as what weexperienced in the squattingseries. The challenge willremain resisting the forwardlean, especially now that weare in a position of compro-mise with the body unstable.

TheFront

Hold SplitSquat.

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Even though we are using the more static Split Squat position to help gain balance andconfidence in the lunge progressions, we still have to step in the right direction to assumethe Split Squat. Most coaches actually start their clients with the far more aggressive for-ward step, which requires decelerating both body weight and the USB. By actually step-ping backward, our center of mass stays over our base of support. Consequently, we arefar more balanced and have less weight to decelerate when getting into the Split Squatposition.

Starting with the Front Loaded position isn’t too innovative. However, where we gofrom there will shake up our loading progressions a bit. In the squatting series, I discussedat length the challenge of having an asymmetrical load. In the split squat and lungingseries, we begin in a body position that immediately exposes us to rather high asymmetri-cal loads. When we add in the USB to the equation, we see TWO asymmetrical loadingpositions, and we add a great deal of complexity and intensity to our exercises.

Contralateral SuitcaseSplit Squat.

Ipsilateral SuitcaseSplit Squat.

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Because this combination of body and load position creates high levels of complexityand intensity, it also requires more progressive movements. This is where the uniquedesign of the USB comes into play. Unlike most training implements, which require us toconform to the tool, we have made the USB to address the specific goals in our DVRT sys-tem. The “suitcase handle” becomes crucial in our split stance progressions.

Because our center of gravity is around the bellybutton area, it’s easier to remain stablewhen the weight is below the center of gravity rather than at the Shoulder position. Thedirect loading upon the frame of our body creates an immediate challenge to our posturalalignment than the suitcase position.

Working the Suitcaseposition allows us tointroduce the combina-tion of asymmetricalbody and load positionin a more balanced lift-ing posture. However,don’t be fooled; this is avery challenging drill.Like all of our DVRTdrills, the intent of theexercise will help dictatethe performance.

Begin by deadliftingthe USB into theSuitcase standing posi-tion. From here, per-form the same back-ward step to assume theSplit Squat position.Immediately you willfind your body resistingthe pull of the USB offto one side.

Don’tcompensate.

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This “pull” you experience is a more intense form of what is known as multi-planartraining. Multi what?! Our body predominately functions in three planes, as discussed inthe principles section of this book. We have Sagittal, Frontal, and Transverse. While thereis no quiz for later, understanding these three planes helps us realize that we can creategreater intensity beyond just loading. Whereas the simple action of walking requires us touse all three planes of motion, most of our strength training largely in the Sagittal plane.

Functional training gurus in the late 1990s believed we had to shift focus and actuallymove in all three planes. While they were correct, they misunderstood how instability actu-ally integrates multiple planes. In order to just balance in the Split Squat position, we haveto resist forces in both the Frontal and Transverse planes. By adding the USB into theSuitcase position, we exponentially increase the body’s need to resist these other planes.That is why even lighter loads in this exercise seem so much more stressful to the lifter. Wewant to emphasize control and stability.

Just as with most new drills, altering tempo will go a long way toward teaching us suchconcepts. A number of people actually try to rush through these drills, and are unpleasantlysurprised by how fast their balance is thrown off. Instead, we want to slow down, espe-cially during the lowering phase of the Suitcase Split Squat. Slowing down the body natu-rally allows it to find where it needs to be in space, and groove the motion so that we canbuild upon these holding patterns.

The interesting thing is that we don’t immediately proceed to the Shoulder position.Splitting our body position and having the asymmetrical load of the Suitcase means that wehave to consider how the USB will feel differently depending upon which side is holding theload and which leg is forward. Don’t worry if you are feeling a bit overwhelmed at thispoint. I will soon outline the progressions for you, and as you get more familiar with usingthese concepts, they will feel far more natural in programming your workouts and you willsee how the DVRT principles begin to transfer even to non-USB based drills.

When we are in the Suitcase Split Squat, the USB theoretically should start in what wecall “rear leg position.” In this position, USB is on the same side as the leg that is splitbehind and is helping support the Split Squat. The rear leg position creates a cross patternthat should help stabilize the body . Think of walking – the arm works in conjunction withthe opposing leg. Cross patterns happen often during everyday activities.

Of course this means that the USB on the same side – known as “front leg position” –should be more challenging. With all the load upon one side of the body, the USB shouldfeel harder to control and balance. As I mentioned earlier in the lunge section, not everyoneresponds the same. Some of you will feel more balanced by switching these progressions.Just realize that everyone’s nervous system is slightly different. Use these as guidelines andbe in tune with how your body responds.

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The Shoulder position becomes our next holding position (after the suitcase). Does thismean we don’t spend time loading the Suitcase or Front Loading hold patterns? No, butbecause the USB doesn’t increase its weight by five pound increments, changing the hold-ing position may offer a more subtle change to the perceived load than trying to add smallincrements to your USB or moving from one size to another.

While the Shoulder position is very difficult to maintain in the Squatting pattern, theSplit Squat and lunge allow us to optimize what may have been impossible in the previouspatterns. The fact that we have to stretch the hips is a primary reason that the Shoulderposition is much more versatile and accessible in the split positions. With the higher pointon the body that we saw in the Suitcase holding position, the Shoulder position is more dif-ficult to stabilize. The additional axial loading (weight pressing from the top of the spinedown), we instantly turn on many stabilizers of the trunk and change the dynamics of allour movements.

Ipsilateral ShoulderSplit Squat.

Contralateral ShoulderSplit Squat.

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The progression of the Shoulder position is the same that we utilized in the Suitcase pat-terns. We want to begin by loading the shoulder of the rear leg, followed by the shoulder ofthe front leg. The increase stress to the body can show itself in subtle and not so subtleways. For some lifters, slowly moving up and down without falling off to the side in theSplit Squat with Shoulder load is quite a feet in itself. If you find that you’re one of theselifters, have some patience; you just need to learn how to become more comfortable andstable in these patterns and positions.

In more subtle ways, we can see the compensation in the hips. In several cases, you willfind the hips rotated. For example, when we have the USB in the Shoulder position on therear leg load, we can feel that hip rotate away. If the weight is on the right shoulder with theright leg back, it is easy for the right hip to actually turn away from the body. This is defi-nitely a sign of instability and compensation. If you can’t really tell if you are falling victimto this compensation pattern, follow these guidelines to help make sure you don’t!

Not Good!Don’t let thehips rotate.

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DVRT Asymmetrical Loading Lunge Pattern Checklist

• Keep the shoulders square.

• Drive through the ball of the foot of the back leg.

• Push through the back hip – slightly forward – to make sure the hip doesn’t rotate.

Split Squatting and lunging are not true single leg or unilateral lower body drills. Sincewe have both legs in contact with the ground, we still have some stability from the back leg.Taking advantage of the rear foot is important for progressing to more complex patterns,handling heavier loads, and sometimes for decreasing the amount of stress that peopleplace on the front knee. By actively using the back foot (primarily the ball of foot, as theheel will remain off the ground), you will activate a lot of the supporting muscles on therear leg side. This includes a lot of the important trunk and hip muscles that prevent rota-tion and collapse of the non-primary stance leg. Muscles such as the quadratus lumborum,internal/external obliques, glute medius, and many more have to function synergistically toprevent unwanted movements.

These five loading positions don’t exhaust our options. Instead, they form the baselinefor a solid foundation. The mistake many coaches will make in creating programs basedaround the DVRT lunge progressions is rushing people through these foundational move-ments and onto the “cool” variations we will describe in the upcoming chapters. The rea-son we discuss these variations first is to provide a solid base for people to perform morecomplex drills. Not following these progressions can make it very frustrating for coach andlifter alike. Remember, this is why I keep so strongly pointing to the system, and not justfocusing on the tools that we are using in the program.

DVRT Loading Position Progressions

• Front Load

• Suitcase Rear Leg

• Suitcase Front Leg

• Shoulder Rear Leg

• Shoulder Front Leg

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Front Load

SuitcaseRear Leg

ShoulderRear Leg

ShoulderFront Leg

SuitcaseFront Leg

1

2

3

4

5

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One Giant StepOnce we have established these loading patterns in a static position, our goal is to move

to more dynamic actions. Most importantly, this means actually taking a step and creatingmore acceleration and deceleration in the drills. Choosing the RIGHT stepping pattern inlunge progressions is where a great deal of programs go wrong! The direction we step dur-ing the lunge completely changes the outcome of the exercise. I remember learning this thehard way myself. I never really focused on systematizing the lunge patterns I programmed,I thought to myself after an extended period of predominately using forward lunge pat-terns to lunge backwards, “What is the big deal after all?”

The training session went well overall. I found myself trying to gain the same groove thatI had in the forward lunge in the backward or drop step lunge. Rather quickly, I foundmyself applying more challenging loads during the workout and feeling pretty good aboutthe choice to switch things up. I learned my lesson about two days later, when I suffered agreat deal of soreness that I hadn’t experienced with my previous lunging exercises. Thesoreness was pretty intense, and even light workouts were challenging. I quickly realizedthat different lunging patterns posses different coordination patterns. Just switching thecoordination needed for each lunge direction would enable progressive intensity and hitspecific qualities that I knew I needed to systematize to a much better degree.

Which way do we go first then? We can go forward, backward, to the side, crossover,and even diagonally. The direction we choose to lunge affects the leverage of our body.While most of us are more familiar with the forward lunge, the fact of the matter is thatthis would not be the ideal progression for introducing most people to lunging. When welunge forward, we have more of our body weight to decelerate Remember, it is decelerationthat most people struggle with really absorbing. In the reverse step (we call drop step inDVRT) lunge, we actually keep more of our body weight in one position, making usstronger over our base of support.

I know, you feel more comfortable going forward and you think that I am making a lotout of nothing. The reality is that you have probably patterned the forward lunge becauseyou have performed it for far more repetitions. If we break down just the biomechanics ofthe movement, you would see the difference. Don’t worry though, I won’t get into a boringdiscussion of joint angles and such. We see the truth of forward lunges all the time in thegym. How many times have you seen people lunge forward and, upon trying to return tothe start position, they perform a stutter step in between? You know that point – they taketwo to three steps before they can get themselves all the way back to the start. You willalmost never find the same happen when people perform a drop step lunge.

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The drop step lunge isn’t just a good position for beginners, though. Drop stepping isanother powerful form of hip extension, and utilizes the same movement pattern we usedto perform our hip hinge progressions and power movements. Now we can really see howstrong the glutes and hamstrings are in working together, because it is very difficult in thisposition for the low back to cover for their weaknesses. Being in a split position alsocauses the hip muscles to not just produce force, but resist the lateral instability that thelunge offers. Ever notice how your heart rate doesn’t take very long to jump to a significantdegree even though the weights may not be very heavy? Such a change in heart rate can bedue to not just the work the muscles are performing in accomplishing the lunge, but alsothe amount of energy the body must use to prevent motion.

If you can’t tell, the drop step lunge is one of my favorite positions because it representsanother “big bang for the buck” DVRT drill. We can achieve a lot of goals at once, andhave a better opportunity to expose people to many of the loading patterns that were dis-cussed in the Split Squat series.

The drop step lunge also allows us to create some powerful exercises. If we see that thedrop step is a powerful hip extension exercise like our Power Cleans, High Pulls, and oth-ers, then we see we can also use the drop step to perform similar types of lifts. By learningthe Power Clean, High Pull, and other explosive exercises from the drop step lunge posi-tion, we are learning how to create force from a more athletic and challenging position. Ifyou break down activities such as running and jumping, you would want to progress toforms of more unilateral power movements. In athletics especially, many of the powermovements are based off of more unilateral actions and training, and as such would helpus prepare the body more effectively for these demands.

However, I do have to emphasize again: don’t rush through the progressions. When westart to perform power drills in the drop step lunge position, we need to worry about whatgoes down as much as what goes up! Since gravity increases the acceleration of the USB andwe are in a more unstable position, we have to have gained a great deal of proficiency inboth the power based USB exercises and the different loading patterns in the DVRT system.

To help prepare lifters for this much greater demand, I have a series of steps to help themprocess the challenge. One of them is the addition of what we call “balance step.” One ofthe most common errors in the performance of Olympic lifts is that lifters don’t “finish thehips.” What does that mean? For the lifter to produce the most power, the hips need to fullyextend. That creates that most powerful triple extension discussed earlier in this book.

The idea of fully extending the hip isn’t unique to Olympic lifts. In the performance ofother lifts such as the deadlift or many kettlebell drills, “finishing the hips” makes a big dif-ference, by keeping the work in the hips and not in the low back. The balance step helpsus teach this concept, as even elaborate diagrams may not help people actually understandwhat we are trying to accomplish.

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The balance step refers to the action of coming up from the bottom of the lunge to a sin-gle leg stance, bringing the back leg parallel with the ground. Don’t worry, this isn’t somekind of DVRT circus trick. Bringing the leg up to this position requires the stance leg tofully lockout, and creates full extension in the hip. Try it just standing. Pick one leg up tothis balance step position, but keep the stance leg slightly bent. Feels almost impossible tobalance doesn’t it? Now, try the same motion but try to fully lockout the leg and drivepressure through the heel of your stance leg. Noticing a great deal of balance?

The balance step allows us to be more stable for two reasons. When you fully lock outthe leg, you should feel the glute of the same side start to tighten up. The glutes are veryimportant for not just extending the hip, but also for lateral stability of the hip . Withoutthem, we have very little resistance to lateral instability. Further, the balance step creates achain reaction where the muscles of the hip, upper, and lower leg all kick into a higherdegree to create tension and stability. If you feel a bit unbalanced, that is okay – totallynormal even! Don’t give up, as single leg stance strength is very important and will go along way in preparing you for the more demanding DVRT exercises.

Early in this book I talked about the fact that the number of variations and progressionsin the DVRT system is both a benefit and a disadvantage. The benefits is that anyone canbenefit from the system and it can be taught in a progressive manner. The drawback is thatboth the coach and lifter can feel overwhelmed by all that is available to them. I’ve pro-vided a table below to simplify the systematization. If you spend time actually trying to usethese concepts, you will find they are no different from learning a new exercise. Could bea bit tough at first, but once you find the groove, it is actually relatively easy and highlyrewarding!

DVRT Drop Step Lunge Progressions

• Front Loaded Drop Step Lunge

• Suitcase Load Rear Leg

• Suitcase Load Front Leg

• Shoulder Load Rear Leg

• Shoulder Load Front Leg

• Front Hold to Balance Step

• Suitcase Load Rear Leg to Balance Step

• Suitcase Load Front Leg to Balance Step

• Shoulder Load Rear Leg to Balance Step

• Shoulder Load Front Leg to Balance Step

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The key concept you should notice is that once we change one variable, we progresswith another. At first we wanted to expose the drop step lunge, then we went through theloading patterns, and when we added instability with the balance step we had to gothrough the loading series once again. The goal is to avoid overly stressing the body, caus-ing it to struggle to recover and progress through the various movements.

The Front Load.

The Suitcase.

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The Shoulder.

The Balance Step Shoulder.

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Take Off! Once we have spent time developing the progressions listed above, we can start intro-

ducing the power movements from the drop step position. The progressions are going tochange a bit, but for good reason. Many people are surprised that lifting the USB in thesepower-based movements isn’t as challenging as they expected. However, coming down is awhole different story! The fear and inability of correctly coming down from these powermovements with the USB leads many coaches to never teach them. Big mistake!

Of course we don’t want to rush people through any type of training, but not utilizingthese lifts is often the result of coaches and lifters not realizing the small progressions theycan create to use the drills for their current ability levels.

Lift Unstable, Lower StableI can always tell that the role of body position in programming workouts is new to a lot

of people (even well-trained fitness professionals), because they don’t feel comfortableoptimizing this variable. What makes the drop step power movement so difficult is thatwhen we are trying to lower the weight, we have a combination of high speed and unstablelifting position. The solution is quite simple. Let’s focus on only one aspect of the lift at atime and remove the excessively challenging portion. How?

Even though I stated that lifting the USB up from these positions is not as challenging asmany would believe, it’s certainly not easy. We do want to gain proficiency with liftingbefore we teach lowering. I didn’t mention that what makes performing the power move-ments in the drop lunge additionally challenging was the fact that the weight is not right infront of us. The USB will actually travel to the side of our body and have to come up ourbody at an angle. This is something that most people are truly unfamiliar with, but it is farmore representative of what happens in the real world scenarios.

To help learn this unique movement, we want to exclusively focus on the power comingup on the lift. Instead of coming directly back down with the USB after we perform ourpower movement, we will come down into a deadlift position. Since the deadlift is farmore stable (and should be very comfortable at this point as well), we can lower theweight into a deadlift and reset. Setting up the power movements in such a manner allowsus to focus upon lifting from an unstable position, but lowering the USB in a much saferstable position. It also provides us an opportunity to focus on one or two techniques ratherthan four or five!

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Performing the power movements in this manner goes a long way toward decreasing thelearning curve of these DVRT drills. Remember, greater success in learning and teachingenhances both our training results and the experience of the program! However, it is curveball time again.

When we teach the power movements from thedrop step lunge, we actually teach the Power Cleanprior to the High Pull. The reason for now confus-ing you is that the purpose of these two exerciseshas changed. In our hip hinge progressions, we usedthe High Pull to teach you how to make the USBfeel weightless and create force from the hip and notthe upper body. In the drop step lunge, the HighPull isn’t necessary to teach this concept because ifwe are performing drop step power movements, wehave already developed the skills of these two lifts.

The RotationalLunge Clean

executed withgood form.

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The High Pull becomes more challenging than the Power Clean because it creates morespeed and makes it more difficult to transition from one position to another. The PowerClean allows us to create a definitive stopping point and set our bodies up to lower theUSB in the deadlift position, whereas the High Pull becomes almost one seamless motion.In order to perform the High Pull drop lunge well, we have to be very comfortable with thePower Clean version.

Working from the drop step lunge helps us to identify some common errors that mayexist in the Power Clean. Two of the most common can be quickly spotted by using theDrop Lunge Power Clean:

Incorrect elbow movementWhen people try to build or maintain stability they will gravitate toward their bad

habits. A very noticeable one occurs when the elbows only come up a portion of the way,ending at about half of the movement. This is very problematic as it causes the USB to cre-ate a lot of torque, and because the lifter is not directing the weight, the weight ends upsmacking them in the chest. Of course we call this incorrect, and need to address it imme-diately.

Swinging of the USBThe second issue usually stems from people trying to rush through the progressions dis-

cussed in the lunge section and jump to DVRT drills they aren’t quite ready to perform.That often shows itself in incorrect timing and swinging of the USB out in front of thebody. Once the weight gets too far ahead of the body, there is no way to redirect andabsorb the load correctly. The USB should travel straight up the body, as we have seen inthe earlier power drills discussed.

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Rotational LungeHigh Pull.

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Watch for collapsingknees and

compensation.

Focusing on getting comfortable with simply accelerating the USB upward has tremen-dous benefits and shouldn’t be rushed. The drop lunge explosive movements are so impor-tant because they are a better representation of functional power than the standard bilat-eral power exercises. You will, in fact, find that the better you become at the drop lungepower drills, the easier the more common Power Cleans, Shouldering, and other move-ments feel in your training.

The final challenge – and the moment you know you are ready to try the most uniqueand possibly powerful DVRT exercise – is when you are able to perform the drop lungepower series with both the ability to correctly direct the weight upwards and to absorb theweight on the downward phase. Then you may welcome something truly unique in theworld of functional fitness and performance based training – The Rotational Lunge.

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THE NEWFUNCTIONAL

FITNESS

’ll admit it, some of you will probably struggle to see the value in some of ourDVRT drills until they actually perform them. Squatting, hip hinging, even lungingcan seem all too familiar. What I’ve written can’t be significantly different, can it?Hopefully I’ve explained the “whys” well enough for you to dedicate time to these

progressions, as they lay the foundation for the more truly unique DVRT drills.

For many, working through the foundational DVRT drills will be a wake-up call. Wetend to cynically evaluate contemporary fitness programs. With so much informationbeing shared, ideas being expressed, and theories being tested, it can be easy to reject whatlooks very different as inferior to what we feel more comfortable doing. In fact, I have readmany times about coaches and lifters stating that there is nothing new in fitness and it hasall been done before.

How sad it must be to think that there are no new ideas. What would that mean for thefuture of fitness? The reality is that we have been burned by the novel exercises and pro-grams so many times. Our “hope” for new ideas and programs has been lost. Part of theproblem lies in same issues that I came across in my journey toward developing this systemand the USB.

If we choose to see exercise and fitness the same way, we will of course begin to recycleideas. However, if we can make the choice to take a look outside the proverbial box, awhole new world can open to us.

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I’ll give you an example that occurs all too often. If I bring up the term “functional” tomost coaches, there is usually a big eye roll and sigh that follow. I understand, the typicalbuzzwords in the industry get overused, overhyped, and then suffer a severe backlash fromthe industry they were trying to help change. Functional training itself went from trying toget people off machine training to odd “circus” type of training, to a strong focus onOlympic lifting, powerlifting, and a bit of intense body weight training. Is that wrong,though? Isn’t that what we should be focusing upon?

Functional training as a concept was very profound. Legendary sporting coaches likeVern Gambetta understood that there was huge difference between the needs of an athleteand what we saw in the average weight room. Coach Gambetta’s philosophy was basedaround “involving controlled instability” and working in all three planes of motion. Eventhe more progressive gyms that utilize Olympic style lifting and powerlifting were stillleaving out these very important elements of athletic development.

My hope is that what we have covered in terms of manipulating these “new” trainingvariables is changing the way you see all these movements, enabling you to see how theyare adding new challenges to our training and physical development. Simply looking at thedrop step power drills we discussed in the last section should change how you see even themost familiar of exercises and movements.

Functional training really was meant to teach the body how to move, how to producestrength in all types of postures and positions, and ultimately to deal with the unpre-dictability of both sport and real life. This isn’t necessarily a new U.S. idea either. TheOlympic coaches of the former Soviet Union understood the value of creating a betterbridge from the weight room to the sporting field. They coined the term “imperfectiontraining.” The Soviet coaches employed different strategies, such as blind folding athletesas they lifted. They poked them slightly during a lift to force the lifter to react to an unpre-dictable force, for example. The trouble again was this: How do you quantify these tech-niques, progress them, and have a far more developed system for their use rather than ran-domly trying to apply these stresses?

So far you have seen my approach for doing just that. DVRT, with its emphasis onchanging holding positions, body position, direction of force, speed, and all the othertraining variables becomes a system unlike any other. Unfortunately, most people don’tfully explore the depth of these concepts and only scratch the surface of where we can gowith functional movement. A great example of this is the Rotational Lunge.

If I had to point to my ONE exercise that most expressed the concepts of DVRT, itwouldn’t be Shouldering – as many would believe – but rather, the Rotational Lunge. Allthe dynamic components that allow one to actually perform the Rotational Lunge areunlike anything else! So, what is the Rotational Lunge?

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Don’t let the name fool you, the term “rotation” actually refers to the action of the USBand the weight, not the body. The Rotational Lunge is a very strong anti-rotational exer-cise. What makes the Rotational Lunge so challenging is that we are moving in one direc-tion while the USB pulls us in all different directions. The fact we are doing this all from anunstable body position makes this an even more dramatic drill.

The RotationalLunge.

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The Rotational Lunge is performed by using ourdrop step lunge. We do so because we need to cre-ate the powerful hip extension that will give pro-jection to the USB. As we drop step into the lunge,the USB begins to rotate to the side of our body.Moving from right in front of us to the side meansthe USB is moving through different planes ofmotion as we are moving and trying to resist lat-eral instability forces.

The RotationalLunge.

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The body only rotates through the thoracic spine, which offers a great deal of rotation,especially compared to the lumbar spine. With our hips fixed forward, we don’t want totry to rotate through the low back. The powerful hip extension upon rising from the dropstep lunge is what gives the USB movement and challenge. In order to better understandwhat is happening during the Rotational Lunge, let’s reverse-engineer the movement.

Since the Rotational Lunge appears so unique, most people miss fact that we can trace itback to a more popular exercise, the kettlebell swing. Closer examination of the kettlebellswing will reveal a weight passing back through the body, causing the body to absorb theforce and then create a powerful hip extension movement to re-transmit that force out infront of the body. Yes, basically the Rotational Lunge is a much more complex kettlebellswing. Like the kettlebell swing, we can break down the movement to make it more acces-sible for more fitness levels.

What makes the Rotational Lunge unique is also what can make it an incredible chal-lenge to perform correctly. The trajectory can prove especially challenging. Unlike ALLDVRT drills we have already discussed, the USB is being projected out in front of the bodyand not “up” the body. Not only is this a different type of pattern we must learn to coor-dinate, but more importantly this pattern creates a long lever arm to the USB. As we pro-ject the USB out in front of the body, the weight of the USB changes. The USB can gaingreat momentum that many people have a difficult time learning to control.

Due the longer lever arm of the Rotational Lunge, we can start to learn the principles ofthe Rotational Lunge by first spending time on the Drop Step Power Clean and High Pull!Ah, yes, there is a very specific reason that I chose to address these drills prior to the intro-duction of the Rotational Lunge. I want you to get good — no, REALLY good — at theDrop Step Power Clean and High Pull before moving onto the Rotational Lunge. A bigreason that coaches again can’t implement the Rotational Lunge is they don’t spend timeprepping people. Instead they see a unique drill and just throw it into the training programwithout much consideration. I want you to question “why” all the time. If you can answerwith more than, “Because I like it”, or “I want to be stronger or more powerful,” you canrest assured you are on the right path for greater fitness goals.

Back to the Rotational Lunge. In many cases you will see me emphasize speed with theRotational Lunge. In order to get that powerful projection of weight like we see parallel inthe kettlebell swing, we need to move quickly and explosively. However, that doesn’t meanwe have to do this all the time. One of the advantages the Rotational Lunge has over thekettlebell swing is that it can be performed at varying speeds. The progression I have usedto even get clients in their 60s to benefit from the Rotational Lunge are as follows.

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• Slow Same Side

• Slow Alternating Sides

• Slowly Increase Speed Alternating Sides

The RotationalLunge can beperformed at

varying speeds.

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Why do we focus on one side at a time, and why go slow when the Rotational Lunge issuppose to be so dynamic and explosive? The same-side phase of the Rotational Lunge issurprisingly important. Using the same-side approach allows us to introduce the uniquemovement of the USB and groove a pattern. Even though no two repetitions of theRotational Lunge are the same, you will find the specificity principle kicking in, which willgive you more confidence . There is also a different coordination pattern between stayingon one side as opposed to alternating. Try this: simply try to slide your hands in throughone another. You will notice that one hand is always on top and one is always on the bot-tom. Now try to reverse so that the other hand goes on top and the other on bottom. Oddfeeling, isn’t it? We tend to under appreciate how finely tuned our nervous system is to veryspecific activities.

The hand example is a rather simple one, especially given that in a movement like theRotational Lunge we have far more complexity and components occurring. Movingslowly at first will obviously remove the projection of the USB, but that is okay at first.Our goal at this point is to teach how to deal with the USB moving in a different directionthan our body moves. If we think about it, just about all our other exercises have theweight moving in line with our body’s actions. Trying to resist the movement of the USB iswhat makes this our most pronounced multi-planar drill.

In the earlier sections of this book, I spoke at length about the different planes of move-ment and why they are so important to our functional fitness programs. Even though mostmovements in the gym occur in line with our body, there are many sporting actions andeveryday activities that do not. Even a common task such as lifting a child requires multi-planar training. I remember first picking up my niece, and she was far from a rigid and sta-ble weight. She would be constantly moving, which meant I was not just lifting her up anddown, but had to resist the forces she was creating in all types of different angles when sheplayed with me.

In sport we see such actions all the time. I remember growing up in Chicago as a bigBears fan. It is hard to think of too many athletes that make you think of football and theBears like Walter Payton. I was young at the height of his career, but can vividly rememberhis amazing runs – he seemed invincible. Not being an especially large athlete, WalterPayton would run over defenders and put more punishment on the defense than it seemedhe ever received. A running back almost never has the luxury of just running straightahead. They are constantly changing direction, accelerating and decelerating, absorbinghits and all angles during pretty much any motion. They are constantly in the midst ofmulti-planar work. In either example, we see that real world movement is not about justmoving up and down or side to side. It is a combination of all these patterns, and demon-strates our real need to integrate this concept wisely into our functional fitness programs.

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There are few exercises in my mind that do this as well as the Rotational Lunge. Don’ttake my word for it. NSCA Strength Coach of the Year, Robert Dos Remedios, has theRotational Lunge in his top 5 movements for his athletes:

“This is an exercise that I have been saying the past few years, could be myfavorite exercise of all. I can’t emphasize how great of a move this is…sure it’s agreat knee-dominant exercise that we can really load up etc. but we can createsuch great rotational force (especially when we start to swing the bag much like aKB swing!). Having not only to drive the load back up to the standing positionbut also having to deal with the deceleration of the load as it rotates around ourbody creates an amazing environment for getting stronger AND preventingfuture injury.”

DVRT Rotational Lunge Checklist

• Deadlift the Ultimate Sandbag and begin in a tall standing position with the armslocked and shoulders back.

• Initiate the movement by simultaneously drop-stepping and slowly rotating theUltimate Sandbag to the same side as the lead leg.

• Keep pressure through the front leg’s heel and the ball of foot of rear leg.

• Slowly continue to descend, but do not rotate past the side of the front knee.

• Keep the chest tall for the entire movement while bending both knees.

• Drive through the heel of the front foot to pull the body all the way back up andtighten the glutes at the top, while driving into the ground with both heels.

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UPPER BODYDVRT DRILLS

t would be easy to believe that the great majority of DVRT exercises revolvearound just the lower body. Hip hinging, squatting, and lunging are all very stronglower body movements. Is there really anything different or unique in upper body-based drills?

Absolutely! However, I do have to preface the discussion of the upper body-dominantDVRT exercises with the disclaimer that these drills also include the entire body. Veryshortly I will show you that the upper body, trunk, and lower body are all very closelyrelated.

Where do we start? There are two primary drills we will discuss, and each offers verydifferent training effects . The first is the overhead press. Old time strongmen believedmuch of the strength of an individual was measured by their ability to lift weight overhead.Everything from the overhead press to the legendary bent press were favorites of thesegreat and graceful athletes. Why was the overhead press so valued?

Why do so many people value the bench press while the old time strongmen thought theoverhead press was one of the top methods of measuring strength? One reason may not benearly as deep as we may like to think. As with squatting, the overhead press was greatlyimpacted by the development of racks and eventually benches. The squat rack and benchdidn’t exist during the era of many of these great athletes, leading them to find all types ofways to lift weight overhead and test their strength. Who knows if people like EugeneSandow would have fallen in love with the bench press or not?

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I like to think they would have always seen the incredible value that overhead pressingoffers and still would have favored the overhead press over the bench press. I realize thatwill get a few people up in arms, but let me explain. Notice that I have been referring to thedrill as an overhead press and not a “shoulder press.” The overhead press requires theentire body to create force to get a weight safely and effectively overhead. Any weakness inthe body’s chain will all of a sudden weaken the strength of our overhead press.

Understanding the differences will have a profound effect for those who have tradition-ally struggled with pressing overhead in their shoulders. If we look at the anatomy of theshoulder, we see it is not nearly the size of many of the stronger and bigger muscles of ourbody. In fact, the shoulder is quite small and really needs the help of the other muscles tobe safe and strong.

To illustrate how the entire body is so critical in the performance of the overhead press,let’s look at what may appear to be a completely different exercise – the front plank. Atfirst glance it may seem difficult to see any relationship between these movements. Uponcloser examination, however, we can find a great deal of similarities.

How do we typically progress the front plank? We move people from the forearms up tothe hands, extending the arms and causing increased leverage. From the standard begin-ning of the push-up position, we can create more stress by changing leverage and movingthe arms out in front of the body. If we were to continue to move the arms farther and far-ther out in front of the body, we would find our arms almost extending overhead. Ofcourse at some point we would end up on our face, but if we move to a standing positionand use an external load instead of gravity as our primary stressor, then you can see wecontinue the front plank progression.

Yes, I am suggesting that the overhead press is just as much about the trunk and lowerbody as it is about the upper body. The overhead press is a great example of what func-tional training is really all about. Yes, that highly criticized term is not just a buzzword.Rather, it is about teaching our body how to work smarter and to use our body’s systemsto collaborate to create more efficient and effective movement patterns.

If we can agree that the overhead press shares a great deal with the front plank then wecan take many of the concepts of the front plank and apply it to the overhead press. Thisincludes important principles such as creating tension by applying force in the groundwith the feet, actively locking the legs to build a stable foundation in the lower body. No,don’t worry, you won’t magically pass out or have your knees explode if you lock out yourjoints. You have plenty of muscles, tendons, and ligaments which make doing so almostimpossible on a conscious level. Instead, you will find that the hamstrings and glutesbecome highly active, and we have already discussed how important these muscles are inour overall strength and efficiency.

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The glutes especially play a big role in the overhead press. Many people actually fail inboth their glutes and trunk, creating a very weak platform for the upper body to actuallyuse as a base for performance. How? You can quickly see the difference for yourself with-out any weight. Stand up and keep a soft bend in your knees. See how much you can bendforward and back through your low back when you have the position of soft knees. Nowtry to press through your heels and stand as tall as possible. When you do so, you shouldfind that your knees straighten and your glutes tighten. If you try to squeeze your glutesas tightly as possible, you should feel your pelvis tilt slightly back. Now see how muchyou can move forward and backwards while maintaining this tension. Finding that is itvery difficult to do so? Good, you are setting forth a strong foundation for the rest ofyour body!

Moving up the chain of the body, we come to the challenge of creating a rigid trunk.Our body possesses a natural “weight belt” through both the deep and more superficialabdominal muscles and fascia in the trunk. Creating proper pressure in the torso increaseswhat is known as intra-abdominal pressure. Basically, the pressure in the torso helps sta-bilize the spine and prevents motion. You should be beginning to realize that the overheadpress is less and less about the shoulders and more about learning to maximize the entirebody.

As we move up the chain to the actual upper body, we don’t look first at the actualstrength of the upper body, but rather at its mobility. Joint mobility is defined by theAmerican Council on Exercise as, “the degree to which an articulation (where two bonesmeet) is allowed to move before being restricted by surrounding tissues (ligaments/ten-dons/muscles etc.)… otherwise known as the range of uninhibited movement around ajoint.” The definition of joint mobility seems rather simple, but what I have learned overthe years is finding out why a joint is limited isn’t nearly as easy as it might seem.

In Thomas Hanna’s revolutionary book about movement and pain, Somatics, he statesthat one of the most common errors of practitioners is treating the site of actual pain.This thought process has given rise to a whole new method for therapists and coaches totreat pain and injuries. We can use the same approach in trying to understand lack ofmobility in the upper body.

Realizing that everyone may not be able to initially perform the overhead press is cru-cial! I have consulted with many individuals who start a training program and complainabout a specific exercise causing them injury. When I ask if anyone ever qualified them toperform these exercises, they look at me with confusion. The issue typically doesn’t arisefrom an exercise being bad or dangerous. Rather, people rarely evaluate whether an exer-cise is appropriate for their capabilities and/or goals. Injuries are usually the result of try-ing to makes someone perform an exercise they don’t have the necessary movement skillsto do well!

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What does it mean not to have the right capabilities? The overhead press is the perfectexercise to see this point rather easily. You can perform a rather easy self-assessment byusing a mirror to watch your own movement. Make sure you can see your torso in the mir-ror. Place your feet together to standardize this little assessment, and use the same positionevery time. Slowly move your arms straight overhead for three repetitions. Performing a fewrepetitions will provide us a much more reliableidea of your body’s movement. On the third rep-etition hold your arms overhead and try to see afew key points.

Pressing bothsizes of USBs

(pressing styledepends onsize of USB).

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Don’t flareelbows out. Incorrect catch

position.

DVRT Overhead Press Checklist

• Are both elbows able to fully lockout, or does on remain slightly bent?

• Are both arms aligned with the ears?

• If the arms reach an even position with the ears, do you feel your low back archingsuch that you feel like you are leaning back?

• Is the space between your ears and arms even from side to side, or is one side in posses-sion of far more space than the other?

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Noleaningthroughthe low

back

Incorrect catchposition.

These three rather simple self-assessments allow us to gain quite a bit of information.Most people will find themselves with either a compensation in their movement or animbalance from one side to the other. This is especially true if you have ever experiencedsome type of injury.

Without telling you what is causing these issues, we first want to determine if you cansafely perform the overhead press. If you are like many, you may have to go through someof the progressions I am going to lay forth in this chapter. You will find performing theRIGHT exercise is much more important than any one of the more advanced segment youwills see in the latter part of this book. You will be surprised how much faster yourprogress in training is if you focus on those movements that are right for you rather thanbecoming enamored by the cool exercise of the week.

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As far as why we see some of these compensations, we can only talk in generalities.Without the ability to specifically assess everyone and anyone that reads this book, I canonly give very general guidelines to enhance our movement skills.

The HipsIt may seem odd, but yes, the hips have a lot to do with what happens at the shoulders.

Because major muscles of the hip flexors actually start on the lower part of the spine andconnect to the front part of the hip, they can actually pull the body into a slouching posi-tion. Problems with the hips also manifest themselves with the abdominals getting “tight.”If you slouch forward, you can see how problematic it can become to get your arms prop-erly overhead. A very simple stretch for this entire area can be a good gauge to see if this isan issue for you. If, after performing the drill, you find increased range of motion in gettingyour arms overhead, you know this will become part of your pre-workout arsenal.

The Thoracic SpineWhat part of the spine? The thoracic spine is the middle portion of your spine, generally

around the shoulder blade area and a bit below. The body actually has three portions tothe spine, and the thoracic is one of the most neglected when it comes to discussions ofhealth and performance. Because the lumbar spine (lower back) gets so much attentionbecause of the high rate of injury, most people never realize that movement of both the hipsand the thoracic spine can greatly alleviate many ailments.

While the body can be very complex, some simple rules do apply. One of the main rulesthat impacts our health is that if an area doesn’t move well, the areas above and/or belowwill try to take up the slack. This usually leads to inappropriate movement or stress to anarea, and the low back is a great example of these issues. The low back is not supposed tohave a great deal of motion. This segment of the spine is more of a point for providing sta-bility than motion. However, both the hips and thoracic spine are supposed to possess agreat deal of movement. Issues in these two areas definitely lead both to issues in the lowback and shoulders.

A few simple drills can do wonders to see if lack of mobility in the thoracic spine. Theseare slow drills that require you to really focus upon where you are trying to establishmovement rather than just rushing through to get them done. It only takes a few repeti-tions to get a positive result, so have patience and you will find both your body and train-ing really improving!

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A combinationAnyone who has been in fitness and performance training for any time realizes that

issues in the body or compensations usually are the result of a few issues, not a singularone. When the body creates compensations in one area, it sets off a domino effect. We aretrying to hit on “big bang” movements, drills that will most likely increase your movementcapabilities the fastest.

The tough part is that we could spend a great deal of time working many different areas.The chest, the lats, the shoulders themselves, and more could all be directly worked uponto try to improve the movement of the arms overhead. However, this more isolated versionof trying to increase movement may be somewhat futile.

Just as strength is highly related to our nervous system, so is movement and oftentimeslack of movement as well. There are a lot of instances where people’s lack of flexibility isn’tdue to the muscle being tight as much as it is the nervous system trying to protect the body.Because the body may feel vulnerable in one area, it will shut it down as a means to protectit. By “waking up” some of the dormant muscles that should be working, we can all of asudden get so much more movement out of an area of the body. One of my go-to exercisesfor this is tall kneeling around the world.

Tall Kneeling Aroundthe World

This drill is great for stimulating a greatdeal of the core muscles (both deep andsuperficial), dynamically strengthening thelats and chest, and activating the ham-strings and glutes. For such a relativelysimple drill, the results can be quite pro-found.

Don’tCompensate.

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Tall KneelingAround the

Worldprogression.

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The Warm-upOne of the mistakes I made early in my

career was spending so much time warmingup that my clients got bored and lost time.That doesn’t mean it isn’t important. Thetruth is that my warm-up was highly ineffi-cient. I spent so much time trying to stretchevery muscle individually. I made the mis-take of trying to train the body in a func-tional manner, but warm it up very non-functionally. The following warm-up seriesis far more effective in the results it providesand the time that is required. Definitely awin-win.

• Rockstar Reach Stretch: 5 repetitions per side.

• Lunge and Thoracic Spine Stretch: 5 repetitions per side.

• Tall Kneeling Around the World: 3-5 repetitions per side.

Repeat Twice

One of the major mistakes people makeduring such warm-ups is that they try tomake them into a workout. We are just try-ing to get the body prepped for the demandswe are going to place upon it during themain workout. Pre-fatiguing the body doesvery little to enhance how we move or per-form. That is why the above circuit repre-sents a situation where more is not better; better is better. It is the quality of the movement,not the quantity of repetitions we try to squeeze out.

RockstarReach

Stretch.

Lungeand

ThoracicSpine

Stretch.

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Back to the PressIt might seem like quite a detour to come back to overhead pressing. However, it is

VERY important. Nothing, absolutely nothing, can sabotage a well-intended fitness pro-gram like injury. A lot of people won’t have the patience to actually implement what I haverecommended above. Those are the same people who, in a short amount of time, willbegin to rub their shoulders and begin to think pressing overhead is just an unsafe exercise.Big mistake!

Once you have set yourself up to perform the overhead press well, we have so manygreat ways to train this movement. In the upperbody-based DVRT drills, we are going to focus onchanging body position before the holding posi-tion of the USB. This is very important in the over-head pressing series because the USB is going tofeel unstable during the holding positions.

I often chuckle when people get a bit frustratedwhen pressing the USB overhead, because they saythings such as, “This is moving!” Well yes, amajor reason we are using the USB and notanother implement is that we want it to move.Because the USB will feel a bit unstable, we wantto learn to create stability through our body first.We can work toward decreasing the amount ofstability that the body offers as a means of makingthe overhead press more challenging. Remember,we aren’t changing the USB by small increments,so these body positions will be very important inyour ability to progress through the series.

The first key is to make sure you clean the USBinto the right position. With all the work that weput into teaching the Power Clean in the earlychapters, we are going to slightly tweak the move-ment. Instead of catching the USB in the FrontLoaded position, we are actually going to work tocatch the USB upon the fists. The difference in thecatch of the clean simply stems from having a dif-ferent intent for the movement. Because our aim isto press overhead, we can’t have the end positionbe the Front Load.

Clean theUSB into the

rightposition.

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You learn a lot of lessons performing the clean to fists. If you have any faults in yourclean, they will come about during this drill. While it is possible to get through some tech-nical issues when you are learning to clean to the Front Load position, the clean to fistsneeds a lot more precision to get the USB in the correct position. Some common faults thatwill lead to an inability to get the USB on the fists include:

• Only allowing the elbows to bend 90 degrees. This will cause a “flip” of the USB thatwill make it virtually impossible to get on the fists.

• Allowing the arms to come out in front of the body. You’ll get into a wrestling matchthat the USB will always win.

Don’t catch too farout in front.

Don’t scooptoo early.

• Too much force: Theamount of force you createis very important to yoursuccess in this drill.Insufficient force will meanthat the USB does not gethigh enough to catch in thecorrect position. Too muchforce can cause you to overrotate the USB so that youcatch the USB on the backside of the wrists. THIS isone of the most commonerrors and has the highestpotential to cause injuriesin the shoulder.

People often overlook thisissue because they think restingthe USB on the back side of thewrist is similar to using the ket-tlebell. There are some big dif-ferences between the kettlebelland USB that cause this to beproblematic. The kettlebell,when cleaned correctly, rests onthe back side of the wrist. Thisallows the wrist to easily main-tain a straight position. Whenthe USB is cleaned incorrectly, itrests on the part of the wrist closest to the thumb. Instead of the wrist being straight, it ispulled at an awkward angle, which can cause strain to the wrist.

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Don't scoop tooearly in the

motion.

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Even more important is the fact that, when the kettlebell rests on the backside of thewrist, the distance from the hand to the shoulder is quite small. A short distance allows usto focus on building stability through the lat and providing a safe base from the kettlebellto press. However, in the case of the USB, this incorrect holding position causes the dis-tance from the hand to the shoulder to increase, especially as the weight of the USBincreases. Now the shoulder has no help from the supporting structures of the upper bodyand becomes a front shoulder press. Such pressing is extremely risky to the integrity andhealth of the shoulder.

Poor distance ofshoulder to hand.

Good distance ofshoulder to hand.

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Patiently learning the correct technique will help you improve your performance andkeep you healthy. You may have to slow yourself down a bit and think of your clean to fistsas skill work rather than as an exercise at first. Such training can be challenging. However,I will present a few different ways you can both practice and get a terrific workout.

Pressing ConsiderationsBefore we can consider progression, we need to ensure that we have great technique

when pressing. Here are the keys to a great press:

• Clean to fists with hands almost in line with shoulders (do not clean to fists and leavethe hands significantly narrower than the shoulders).

• Drive into the heels to activate the hamstrings and tighten the glutes. This gives astrong base to press weight overhead.

• Brace the abdominals to create tension through the trunk and the glutes in the pelvisto prevent leaning forward or back.

• Drive through the underarm to press the USB overhead to the crown of the head.

• Maintaining tension through the lower body and trunk, “pull” the USB down to thechest again.

(NOTE: pressing a Core/Power USB will differ from Strength/Burly USB)

Once you have these foundations built into your routine, you can move onto program-ming. As mentioned earlier, some will struggle initially with the clean to fists. Patience doeshave its reward, but we also want to be mindful that frustration can cause a negative train-ing experience. If you can learn to perform a clean with such an awkward implement,imagine how much you will improve when you go to more stable tools such as barbells,dumbbells, or even kettlebells.

To build time for practice while improving your fitness, we will rely on programming tohelp solve these issues. The overhead press requires a great deal of body tension. Due to thehigh tension developed during the press, high repetitions are difficult to achieve. Using theright programming, we can address the practice needs of the clean to fists, refine our press,and if desired, build volume in this lift.

Very simply, we are going to use a ratio of clean to fists and overhead presses. The ratioprogramming allows us to balance out the programming depending upon our goals.

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Initially we are going to keep it simple in a 1:2 ratio. That means one clean to fists to twooverhead presses. Such a ratio is great for practicing and gaining fitness. We can repeat thiswithin one set any number of times. For example, in a beginner series we may repeat thisseries two times, giving us a total of two clean to fists and four presses overhead. For moreintermediate to advanced levels, you can extend this process up to four or five times withinone set. This results in five clean to fists and ten overhead presses – something that wouldbe hard to replicate if we performed five clean to fists and then ten straight presses.Programming like this is extremely helpful, especially in a group setting.

Probably the worst way to initially program the clean and press (combination of theclean and fists with overhead press) is by using timed sets or intervals. When people feelrushed as they initially perform these movements, they tend to re-create their mistakesmore frequently. Therefore, intervals and speed are an advanced programming variable.

Not only does speed lead rushed performance, but with the USB there is another pro-found impact to training by increasing speed. When you start to lift the USB faster, the USBitself becomes more unstable. Most people are not used to the instability of the implementwhen they program, and don’t realize they are layering more complexity than they believe.Trying to move quickly and technically well can be a great challenge, and doing so with anunstable weight can be MUCH more difficult.

Speed can be a powerful means for adding progressions and instilling good lifting princi-ples. The key here, however, is to go slower rather than faster. While the clean to fist alwayshas to be fast, the press can actually be manipulated to add another layer of incrementalprogressions. When we move slower, we can easily see the compensations – what strengthcoach Dan John calls, “leakage of strength.” This leakage occurs when we lose tension andstability, inhibiting the ability to demonstrate strength

When we slow down the movement, we have to appropriately accommodate the numberof repetitions. Moving slower is very fatiguing, so moving back to a ration of 1:2 clean tofists to presses or even 1:1 will help manage fatigue and maximize performance. Repeatingthis type of slow cycle two to three times in a set is usually ideal. Even though fatigue accu-mulates rather quickly, we can see quick recovery as well. Therefore, we can take relativelyshort rest intervals (20-30 seconds) between our sets.

What part of the press are we performing slowly? We are going to emphasize the lower-ing phase of the press. Remember, when the USB is all the way overhead, we have thegreatest amount of weight acting upon our trunk and lower body. People who allow “leak-age of strength” or compensation during the press will often see a shaking of the body as ittries to create stability. It is all right, though. We want to go through our checklist againand make sure that we are adhering to all our principles of good pressing. As we are ableto integrate the body more efficiently, we should see less shaking.

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Changing Body PositionIt is so important that you realize these progressions may constitute weeks or months of

training. In the later sections of this book, I will provide you some programs that satisfyboth your desire to have variation in training and your need to achieve results. However,don’t ever feel rushed to work through these different progressions. If you spend more timedeveloping that strong foundation by adhering to good DVRT lifting concepts, you will beshocked at how much faster you reach those fitness goals.

We have worked through the foundational techniques in the Clean and Press and wehave challenged your stability and strength by slowing down the speed of your press. Nowwe will alter stability and strength again, but by a different means. That is changing howwe stand as we press. This is not just a strategy to compensate for the USB not being ableto micro-load. Instead, this is a superior means for developing strength.

Very few athletic activities try to micro-load like in weight training. Even body weighttraining never adheres to the idea of such incremental loading. Sprinting and running ath-letes rarely implement the small changes in performance that are necessary in weight train-ing. The reason that so many people focus on trying to make such small jumps in weight isthat they don’t understand how to really enhance the nervous system.

Yes, the nervous system is far more impactful to your strength gains than the size of yourmuscles. We want to teach the body how to work smarter, to tap into the muscles, particu-larly the ones it wants to be lazy about using. I guarantee if you work one or two sets ofthese different body positions prior to your standard bilateral pressing stance, you willprobably feel stronger. You didn’t get stronger in the few minutes it took us to performthese drills. Instead, your body got smarter.

The concept of changing the body position during a pressing motion isn’t all that unique.When you look at how the push-up is commonly challenged, we alter body position in ahost of different strategies. We know from many different push-up variations that changingleverage and stability can greatly intensify the exercise and hit muscles we had forgottenlong about. But if using such techniques are good enough for the body weight exercises likethe push-up, how come we can’t use them during external loaded drills?

Using these progressions in body position will teach you so much about your weak-nesses. In the later chapters I will show you how you can use these varying body positionsto create simple periodization models that will keep your progress moving forward for avery long time!

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Our DVRT principles tell us that we start from stable and move to unstable. That meanswe have to learn how to correctly perform what we will call the bilateral Clean and Press.This body position will refer to what we typically see in the performance of overheadpressing – the feet in line with each other and a stance hip width or slightly wider. Try tothink of this position as similar to that of a push-up, but starting with a wider base in thelower body.

The first step in stressing the body positionvariable is to reduce our base of support. We aregoing to move our feet to what is known as themilitary press position. Yes, most people thinkthe military press refers to just a classic shoulderpress. However, the term comes from both thestance that soldiers assume in saluting officers aswell as the fact that in early military programs,you can see pictures of soldiers training in thefield with smaller barbells, pressing from this veryposition.

The MilitaryPress.

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The MilitaryPress.

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As mentioned, the key in the military press is that we are changing stability by alteringyour base. We can again make the exercise more difficult by moving the feet together in apush-up. See how we our exercises and programs complement one another and are notmutually exclusive? It is actually very impor-tant for your long-term progress that yourealize that your tools and exercises are basedupon very similar concepts, even though theymay outwardly appear very different.

TheStaggered

StancePress.

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With the military press position, we can see the stress of having both a relatively unsta-ble load and body position. The military press stance places more emphasis on resistinglateral forces, and therefore begins to transform the overhead press from a largely domi-nant Sagittal plane exercise into a more multi-planar movement. Watch for compensa-tions, which can include tilting side to side and front to back. Not only can we see similar-ities between the overhead press and the push-up, but also to the front plank. As the USBmoves to overhead, the trunk is being heavily worked, and the principles in exercises likethe front plank become very important in resisting these forces.

When do you move to your next progression? Achieving proficiency in a certain USBweight is not as important as establishing the ability to perform the movement without anylean in any direction. You can definitely continue to load this position, and I highly encour-age it as people move right through the military press far too fast. The military press givesus a great combination of both working on stability and load.

Once you have seen that you can perform the military press without any compromise inleaning or excessive movement, we can integrate the staggered stance. Just as with some ofthe lower body-based DVRT movements, the staggered stance is quite valuable in theupper body dominant drills as well. Staggered stance combines both a narrow base like inthe military press, and an off-set position. This not only introduces lateral instability, butalso rotational forces that the body must work against.

We also see in the staggered stance the great importance of utilizing the lower body andcreating force from the ground up. If the stance leg is “loose” it will be very difficult tomaintain the correct lifting posture. However, if we learn to really drive into the groundand use the hip to create a more stable base we can greatly enhance both our core andupper body stability.

What we haven’t discussed is how the USB will continue to add instability throughoutthese progressions. In the initial Clean and Press, we might feel some mild instability fromthe USB (depending on the size of the USB). As we move to less stable body positions, wenotice that the instability of the USB becomes a variable we must consider during the per-formance of these drills. That is why it is important to remind you that speed plays a cru-cial role in the success of implementing these drills. You will find that you prefer to try tomove fast when you don’t feel comfortable or strong. Not only does this reduce the effec-tiveness of the DVRT drills, but it also makes the USB feel even more unstable. Therefore,when you move from one progression to another, o slow down the tempo and really focuson proper body control. This is especially important because the next jump in body posi-tion is quite significant, and not adhering to these concepts can make it very difficult toincorporate these drills into your training programs.

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You may notice that changes in body position for the overhead press remove joints fromthe equation. In the very early forms of the overhead press we want to teach you how toefficiently use your body and the natural support systems it provides. As we progressthough, we begin to remove some of these stability methods in order to really emphasizesome key segments of the body.

What are these “key segments”? We are referring specifically to the trunk, hips, and yes,the upper body. Continuing to move through these progressions, we get to see if we reallyare maximizing these areas of the body to their full potential. As you get stronger with thefollowing drills, you’ll be astounded to see that they make the previously mentioned drillseasier. This is due to training our nervoussystem and awakening many of the smallermuscle groups, which are often dormantwhen the body is more stable. Why not startwith the next two drills then? The previousprogressions teach us how to systematically

TheKneeling

Press.

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use the body. Moving directly into the following drills is, for many people, like going up 50or 100 pounds in weight in an exercise. It is important to remember that stability needs tobe as progressive as load!

These two elusive body positions I am referring to are both kneeling and half-kneelinglifting postures. By removing foot contact and not allowing you to generate as much forcefrom the lower body by unlocking the legs, we now are increasing the work being per-formed by the trunk, hips, and upper body. This is a fantastic way to make a lighter weightin some of the other overhead progressions feel like work once again.

Kneeling is often taught first in our DVRT system because of the more symmetricalalignment it allows. Even though we have reduced the contribution of the lower body, wehaven’t eliminated integrating from these drills. Most people make a very big mistake innot being aware of proper usage of thelower body in the kneeling and half-kneeling postures, causing them tostruggle excessively in learning how toperform them correctly.

Maximizing these two variationsrequires us to once again begin bylooking at the lower body. If we allowour feet to lay flat, we can’t integratethe lower body. By positioning the feetso that the ball of the foot is in contactwith the ground (dorsiflexion), we canstill use the glutes and hamstrings, butto a lesser degree. There of course aredoubters, so you can simply try thisconcept for yourself. Assume thekneeling posture and relax the feet.Place your hands upon your glutes andhamstrings. How much tension do youfeel? Probably very little. Now plantthe ball of your foot into the groundon both sides of the body and activelypress into your feet. What happens tothe tension in your glutes and ham-strings? More than likely, you felt ahuge increase in tension in these areas.This isn’t cheating at all. Think of yourpush-ups again. When you lift one leg

KneelingPress

compensation.

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off the ground, you don’t rely on justthe trunk muscles. Instead, you have todrive even HARDER into the leg still incontact with the ground. Using suchtechniques is the intelligent way to makethe body function as it was meant to.

The half kneeling position is used as amore complex body position due to theasymmetrical stance. Just as in all ourDVRT drills, the split stances in any sortwill increase the amount of rotationalforces our body must resist, as well asfully expose if we have compensationsfrom one side to the other. Asymmetriesare among the biggest causes of injuryand obstacles in increasing perfor-mance. Improving any asymmetries thatmay exist often results in improvedstrength, performance, and health.

The Half-Kneeling

Press.

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Don’t bendlaterally.

Don’t take toowide of a stance.

Don’t archforward

excessively.

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Once again we must start with the set-up. The goal is to create an “L” with the front andback side of the body. Slowly drop to the bottom of a split squat position (more about get-ting in position shortly), resting the rear knee on the ground. Ideally both hips stay in linewith the pelvis and don’t move outwards. We now have many components to the overheadpress. There is the asymmetrical position, the reduction in joints being used, and a narrowbase. In other words, don’t underestimate the value of this movement or the difficulty inperforming it well!

The front heel should be flat, and our “L” should be established in the front leg. If wetake a step that is too long, we won’t be able to apply the right amount of force into theground, and if our step is too short we won’t be able to use the heel of the front foot. Therear leg should assume a position similar to the one used in our kneeling variation. Settingthe body correctly allows us to work from a proper lifting position. When we begin topress from the half kneeling position we look for a few key elements:

• Can we keep the body from moving forward or backward during the overhead press?

• Do we lean through the low back as we press the USB overhead?

• Does our hip rotate as the exercise is being performed?

Both the kneeling and half kneeling positions obviously apply a great deal of stress to thebody beyond just the load of the USB. We need to program appropriately, and more thanfive repetitions of such drills is not recommended.

It is pretty shocking to most people that we have created so many variations of basicallythe same movement. By altering both speed of movement and body position, we develop anumber of ways to progress and program the overhead press beyond just the load of theUSB itself. Does it work, though? I can tell you from personal experience that the answer isa resounding YES!

In 2011 I had a fusion to my neck, which prohibited me from lifting any significantweights for a few months. During my recovery, I used light USB loads combined with var-ious body positions to address other weaknesses in my body and to improve the coordina-tion of my right arm once again. Curious to see if what I was actually doing was working,I tried pressing a 97-pound kettlebell 6 weeks post surgery. Even though this was met withhuge opposition from my physical therapist wife, my compulsive desire to see where Istood overruled her common sense. However, to both of our shock, I was able to press thekettlebell five times! Prior to the surgery I was unable to press the 53-pound kettlebell once.

Did the surgery help? Of course, but my body was in recovery mode. During this time Ilifted no heavier than 50 pounds total, and yet I was able to press quite a significant

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weight. While my neurologist was less than pleased with my attempt at this goal, he wasamazed at the recovery I had made without traditional physical therapy. I am not going tosuggest you repeat my journey, but I am living proof that these methods work very well!

Get a GripOnce we have moved through these five overhead body position progressions, we can

now work on integrating holding position. It may seem somewhat impossible to alter theholding position. After all, isn’t this way we press weight overhead? Both arms moving upand down in a vertical plane? That is how we press most other objects, but the USB is notmost other objects. When it comes to pressing overhead we have two very different strate-gies we can integrate to enhance our strength and stability.

Off-SetWhen I created the USB I wanted to create a tool that could offer the most versatility pos-

sible and do things that no other implement could replicate. An example of this is utilizingthe off-set grip. We moved from stable to unstable in body position, and now we are goingto do the same by changing how we hold the USB. The off-set grip allows us to transformthe USB into a one-arm press. Just about any time I show this progression to people theylook at me with a very confused expression. How in the world is this a single arm presswhen there are two hands on the implement?! Once again, it all comes down to leverage.

The Off-set gripposition.

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The off-set grip makes it virtually impossible for the outside arm to provide any force tothe overhead press. It simply acts as a means to balance the USB as it moves overhead. Theobvious question is, “Why use the USB in this manner when I can lift dumbbells or kettle-bells one-arm overhead?” There are several very good reasons to add the off-set grip toyour arsenal.

The Off-set gripposition.

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The first has to do with using the USB for any drill – the live weight element! When wemove to the off-set grip, the press arm actually absorbs more of the instability of the USB.The increased instability created by the off-set grip forces the lifter to integrate all aspectsof the body much harder. We are able to identify the “leakages” of strength much fasterbecause the compensations in movement will become far more profound.

Although the off-set grip offers more instability during the actual press, it does makecleaning the USB into the press position much easier. For those that struggle to clean theUSB in the standard pressing variations, the off-set grip may actually serve as a very usefulway to bridge this gap. Instead of getting frustrated and feeling like you cannot get betterat the clean, you can integrate the off-set grip to start building a foundation for the Cleanand Press movements.

One of the most common leakages of strength comes when people lean to the side asthey press a weight with one arm. Because the off arm tends to be lazy, we don’t create anystability on the opposing side of the body. By actively gripping the USB while pressing, weteach the lifter how to create stability on the opposite side, which is really the whole pointof using unilateral drills like the one-arm press.

The last reason for using the USB has to do with economics. Any smart business personknows you always have to look at your return on investment (ROI). The USB has a HUGEROI! It is really the only implement that can be effectively used as a single or double armimplement. In the barbell’s early years, it was used by famous strongmen in a similar man-ner. Older versions of the barbell were shorter in length, allowing lifters to perform unilat-eral or bilateral lifts. As the barbell grew to its current length, it became more difficult toactually implement these one-arm drills because the leverage of the barbell created suchgreat levels of instability. The USB enables us to use a single implement for both purposes,greatly expanding the versatility and problem solving abilities of the USB.

The Arc Press To maximize the potential of the DVRT system and the USB itself, you must look at both

without the glasses of standard gym training. Doing so opens up a big world of trainingoptions and programming possibilities. One such option is the Arc Press. Moving the USBto the Shoulder position, we create another powerful overhead pressing variation.

Instead of the weight moving only vertically during the overhead press, we can now adda horizontal component. Increasing the angles of force we apply to the body, we can inte-grate more muscles into the lift, especially those of the trunk and hips. I have tried to stayaway from using the term “core” in this book, as it either confuses people or is met with

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cynicism. Understandable, but the truth is that the core does exist and it is made up of acombination of the trunk and hips. Notice that I did not say abdominals, but rather thetrunk. The core doesn’t just mean the abdominals, as the lats, the low back muscles, andfascia are all crucial to the stability of the trunk. Given that we have both superficial anddeep abdominal muscles, thinking of the core as just “the abs” really undervalues what thecore can do for performance and injury prevention.

The core’s job is often to resist movement. A great example occurs with the lateralmotion that our body must resist during everyday tasks like walking and running.Although these tasks are commonly perceived as simple, the reality is that these are com-plex movements that require a great deal of optimal body integration to be performed well.That is why the DVRT program has such a heavy emphasis on lateral stability in drills suchas the Shoulder Squat, Rotational Lunge, and now the Arc Press.

The Arc Press is a different overhead press from the off-set position. Both holding posi-tions offer single-arm training, but it different ways. The off-set grip press allows theweight to sit in front of our body, and this is our strongest pressing position. During theperformance of the Arc Press the USB is rotated so the weight is laterally stressing the body,even before beginning the press.

The Arc Presswith correct

gripping.

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The Arc Presswith correct

gripping.

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As with the Shoulder Squat, we want to make sure we don’t alter our posture at anypoint, including by having the USB rest upon the shoulder. The outside arm becomes thepressing arm with an additional challenge. As if it weren’t enough to lift the USB with onearm or at a very different position, there’s also the fact that there’s no handle to grip. That’sright, we are gripping directly upon the USB. All of a sudden we have a great deal of inputand stress going through the hand, down the arm, and to the rest of the body. This is why somany people struggle at first with the Arc Press. Their bodies don’t understand how to coor-dinate a movement without a stable handle to grab. Not very functional if you ask me!

Gripping the middle of the USB is one part of the equation. The other is to grab towardthe bottom of the middle ofthe USB. Gripping too high onthe USB will place too muchweight below your pressingarm, and will feel just aboutimpossible to press. ImproperUSB holding techniques canalso lead to logistical issuesthat I will address veryshortly.

Very similar to the off-setpress, the other arm acts as aguide for the pressing arm. Asthe weight transitions to themid-point of the body, we findthe load shifting from onearm to the other. The ArcPress then becomes a press forone arm and a pull for theother arm. Making that tran-sition requires us to reallybrace through our wholebody to ensure we preventany leaning in one directionor the other.

Don’t shiftlaterally.

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The Arc Press is almostalways performed with a reallyslow tempo. While we can pushpress and use other means to getthe USB up overhead, there isgreat value in learning how todecelerate that weight as theUSB moves from one side of thebody to the other. As with allDVRT drills, adding speed addsa great deal of complexity andinstability. Unfortunately, Ioften observe lifters trying toadd speed to the Arc Press,causing them to lose all focusand/or control over the body’sposture and alignment . The ArcPress often proves to be mostvaluable in the slow and steadymindset.

Logistical IssuesAs great as the Arc Press is to perform (one of my favorites in fact), there are some set-

up issues that we have to consider and address. The Arc Press is best to implement withsmaller USBs. In the DVRT principles section, I discussed times where a more stable USBis far more effective, and this is one of those times! A smaller USB also means a more com-pact and stable weight. The orientation of the USB and the movement during the Arc Presscreates enough instability on its own. We need to actually create some stability by makingthe USB move less.

The question is, “How do I get stronger with the Arc Press?” Since some of you will usea weight at first that is much lighter than you could handle in the standard Clean andPress, we can jump progressions a bit. Instead of starting with the bilateral stance andmoving to military and so on, we can begin by bringing you right to kneeling and half-kneeling positions. By combining slower speeds and unstable body positions, we can makethe Arc Press a challenging drill.

Don’t bobthe head.

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At some point, load isgoing to be a variable we willwant to improve upon. Anissue arises when we progressto larger USBs. Moving froma Power to Strength orStrength to Burly causes sig-nificant changes in dimen-sion. Having a USB that islightly loaded with a largerdimension means a USB thatwill fold as it is used duringthe Arc Press. For many, theactual press is not limitingbecause of the weight of theUSB or stability problems.Rather, the problem is thatthe folding USB is too cum-bersome to press overhead.There are three relatively easysolutions to this problem.

Different Filling MaterialThe name Ultimate Sandbag definitely implies the filling of the USB with sand.

However, that is not necessarily the best option. In movements such as the Arc Press, wemay want to increase the load and dimension of the USB. But dramatic increases in bothcause too much stress, and altering the filling material can be very helpful. Over the years,we have experimented with a host of filling materials such as rubber mulch, rice, and bird-seed. While other materials can definitely be used, these are both inexpensive and easilyaccessible. These materials give density to the USB and make it easier to make the jump toa large USB.

The Towel SolutionPossibly the simplest, but the method we have used the least is to take a heavier, but

more unstable USB and simply add towels or similar materials increase the density of theUSB. Easy to do and easy to remove over time, this method just shows how easily we cansolve what first appears to be a significant issue in the use of specific USB drills.

Too Flimsy of USBduring Arc Press

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Leveraging the USB

In the above description ofthe Arc Press, I discussedgrabbing onto the middle ofthe USB. While this is thestandard recommendation,we can manipulate where wehold the USB to adjust forthe increasing weight. Byholding onto more of thefront end of the USB andallowing the rest of the USBto almost fall behind thebody, we can work with evenunstable USBs, as we arepressing less weight and haveto move less of the USB overthe head.

How to manipulateleverage.

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The Many Ways to Overhead PressI have learned in the past few years that offering more options isn’t always welcomed by

people. New options can seem overly complicated and confusing. That is why the pro-grams included in this book are going to be incredibly helpful in getting you accustomed tothe DVRT system. These principles, programs, and drills will quickly become secondnature to you. Implementation seems to be one of the best ways to solve the intimidationfactor that many encounter. Yes, you have to actually use this information!

In order to simplify the progressions a bit, I have broken down the overhead progressionsinto categories so you can get an idea of where to start. Once your confidence grows, youwill be able to jump around a bit to meet your own specific needs and goals. This isn’t a lin-ear progression; you can use any of these movements at any time as long as you have iden-tified them as the best method for helping you achieve your fitness and performance goals.

BILATERAL PRESSWITH BILATERAL STANCE

BILATERAL PRESSES INDIFFERENT

BODY POSITIONS

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BILATERAL PRESSWITH MILITARY STANCE

BILATERAL PRESSWITH STAGGERED STANCE

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BILATERAL PRESSWITH KNEELINGPOSITION

BILATERAL PRESSWITH HALFKNEELING POSITION

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OFF-SET PRESSWITH BILATERALSTANCE

OFF-SET PRESSWITH MILITARYSTANCE

OFF-SET SERIES FOLLOWINGBILATERAL PRESSPROGRESSIONS

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OFF-SET PRESSWITH STAGGEREDSTANCE

OFF-SET PRESSWITH KNEELINGPOSITION

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OFF-SET PRESSWITH HALFKNEELINGPOSITION(Opposite side: easier)

OFF-SET PRESSWITH HALFKNEELING POSITION(Same side: harder)

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ARC PRESSWITH BILATERALSTANCE

ARC PRESSWITH MILITARYSTANCE

ARC PRESS SERIESFOLLOWINGOFF-SET PRESSPROGRESSIONS

ARC PRESSWITH STAGGEREDSTANCE

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ARC PRESSWITHKNEELINGPOSITION

ARC PRESSWITH HALFKNEELINGPOSITION

Seeing the progressions in these categories should help you become more confident withthe progressions that I discussed. This doesn’t at all exhaust the options available, but givesus a strong foundation. Transforming the overhead press from what a shoulder exerciseinto a multi-purpose overall body movement not only provides so much more versatility,but also meaning to this movement patter.

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TRAININGWITH A TWIST

f DVRT is really a complete training system, then we can’t leave out functionalmovement patterns such as rotation. Interestingly, many coaches stay far awayfrom the concept of rotation. Ironically, our bodies are meant to produce a greatdeal of rotation and learning to use rotational forces in our performance of many

activities helps us create far more force and efficiency in movement. If we look at a host ofsporting actions that have a great deal of power, such as kicking, punching, change ofdirection, throwing, and even aspects of sprinting, rotation plays a very large role.

Why is rotation so greatly feared and neglected by many training programs if it is soimportant? While rotation is immensely beneficial, it also has the potential to cause injury.My confusion, though, is if we go through progression and teach rotation like any othermovement pattern, is the risk any greater than any other series of movements we teach? Ithink the rewards and proper progressions truly outweigh the potential risks involved.

I would rather make the argument that avoiding teaching rotational movements notonly creates an incomplete program, but actually sets us up for a higher risk of injury. Theold saying, “If you don’t use it, you lose it,” applies very well to the functionality of thebody. There will inevitably be times when we need to rotate. Having neither the ability orknowledge of proper rotation is a high risk proposition.

Rotational training is the final plane of motion that we learn to move through. It makesense that if natural human movement has three planes, we should eventually learn tomove through each. While I hopefully made a strong argument for rotation-based training,I also have to say that the following training concepts do have a higher level of complexityto them. Therefore, I suggest that you spend time working through most of the previousdrills before moving to the rotational aspects of your training. As with all the movementpatterns we have covered, I am going to show you how to progress and identify if you areready to perform rotational drills.

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Before we get into those progressive DVRT drills, it is worthwhile to address why somany coaches have apprehension to rotational based drills. One of the easiest ways to her-niate a disc in the lumbar spine is by moving the spine into rotation and flexion. That iswhy it is important to differentiate rotation of the body from rotation of the spine. Whileit may sound like a matter of semantics, the difference is very important.

The lumbar spine does not have much rotation available. That is why it is even moreimportant to teach people the difference between rotating through the low back and rotat-ing through the hips. That’s right, the hips are a ball and socket joint that allow a great dealof movement, including internal rotation of the hip. When the foot rotates inward and cre-ates force up through the hip, the hip creates this very powerful rotational force, not twist-ing through the low back.

That is why exercises such as Russian twists, which lock the feet and hips into place, areoften far from ideal for people’s low backs. Since drills like the Russian twist preventproper motion of the foot and hip, most of the rotation is left to the low back That is whereissues arise, and a great deal of force is being applied to the low back. It cannot absorbthese stresses well. Like all our movement patterns, the important issue is not whether themovement is good, but whether it is being taught and performed properly.

Make sure topivot throughthe hip ratherthan twistingthrough the

low back.

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A Matter of the HipsUnfortunately, many people lack the proper hip motion to perform the rotational pat-

terns well. Without a trained professional to evaluate your hips’ specific movement, it isdifficult to definitively say whether or not you possess this range of motion. However,looking at how we hold certain postures and positions can give us valuable feedback.

The Shin SquatWe are going to use a rather simple movement to make a very general evaluation of your

hips’ ability to internally rotate. Simply by sitting in the Shin Squat, we are placing the backleg in a position where we can see its ability to internally rotate. The goal of the Shin Squatis to sit in this position while maintaining a tall trunk posture. If you are unable to inter-nally rotate the back hip, you will find that you have to lean away from the back leg andsupport yourself by placing your hands on the ground. Some may cramp in this position,showing that the body is trying to protect itself from a position it perceives as dangerous.

In either scenario, we are using the Shin Squat as a simple self-assessment tool. If youfind yourself either unable to hold the upright trunk posture or cramping, you may want tospend time working on your hip mobility prior to performing the drills in the latter part ofthis chapter. What should you do? Addressing all of the possible reasons that you could beexperiencing these issues is beyond the scope of this book. But some of the drills in theoverhead press warm-up section also carry over into improving hip mobility for rotationaltraining.

The tightShin Squat.

Theproper

ShinSquat.

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One other issue to consider is coordination. While the ability to internally rotate the hipis important, I have found that far more people can’t rotate properly. Improving coordina-tion in rotation is why I have structured the progressions in the manner you will see. Atfirst we are going to want to try to isolate the motion as much as possible so you can reallyfocus on correctly integrating all the components of proper rotation. As we move throughthese progressions, we will add more joints to the movement and leverage the body andload differently to stimulate various aspects of the rotational movements. You have seenthroughout this book that no DVRT drill is performed for some random reason. This willbe especially true for the sequence of our DVRT rotational drills.

Rotational PressAfter trying to teach rotational training to so many different populations, I found success

with the use of the Rotational Press. Our trunk maintains a vertical position throughoutthe exercise, allowing us to really focus on the quality of the movement without much com-promise to the spine at all. The Rotational Press allows us to help the lifter feel how properrotation through the body can generate power and efficiency in the entire body.

After we have cleaned the USB into our pressing position, we can place focus on what ishappening from the ground up. The key is the ball of the foot driving into the ground androtating at the same time. Unfortunately, the best way to think of this action for most peo-ple is to simply think of “putting out a cigarette.” I know, I wish I had a better cue thatreinforced healthyhabits, but this cueseems to be universallyunderstood. We wantto separate just simplyturning the foot and hipwith a very deliberateaction of creating agreat deal of force intothe ground.

Foot pivoting—think of “puttingout a cigarette.”

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As the foot rotates and creates this force into the ground, our torso follows the move-ment of our hip and we begin to feel this drive going all the way to our upper body. If I amrotating through the right hip, I will actually be moving toward the left. Don’t worry, it isALMOST impossible to move in the wrong direction. Performing the Rotational Press cor-rectly, you will have feel as though you are lifting less with your arms and upper body, andsimply continuing the rotational action thatbegan at my foot. Those that try to lift andpress will struggle a bit more because pressingfrom a rotated position is a much tougher bodyposition. Our goal is to make it one synergisticmovement so we can take advantage of theforces being driven through the body.

TheRotational

Press.

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Once the USB is locked out over the crown of our head we want to make sure that bothlegs are in proper position. The side of the foot that caused the rotation should feel asthough it cannot rotate inward much further. The leg should lock by continuing to pushthrough the ball of the foot, not letting the heel come into contact with the ground. Bylocking out the rotating leg, we are again giving support to the low back by activating thatglute to make sure we don’t try to move through our lumbar spine.

Too much lowback

compensation. Too much outin front

compensation.

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The action of the stance leg is equally important. We can even use what happens on thestance leg to gauge much mobility we possess in this side of the body. When the rotationalmovement occurs, the stance leg (the one that is not moving) should be able to remain veryclose to neutral (pointing almost straight ahead). Those with limited mobility in their hipsare going to find that as they rotate, the stance leg begins to rotate as well. That definitelyis a sign of mobility issue through the hips, and should be addressed before progressing anyfurther through our series.

With all DVRT drills, we have to pay attention on the downward phase as well. This isa tremendous opportunity to reinforce important principles that will carry over to ourmore complex rotational patterns. As the USB reaches the crown of the head (not beingpressed out at a angle!), we are going to use the principles from the overhead pressingseries and pull the elbows into the ribs. Yes, actively and slowly pull the USB back to thebeginning of the press position while simultaneously rotating the leg back to the bilateralpressing stance. Do not just let the USB “fall” from the top position, and don’t forget torotate the leg purposefully. By being very deliberate in the lowering action, you will natu-rally continue the rotation to the other side of the body. Focusing on the rotation of thebody through the movement of the feet, you will find yourself wanting to use the momen-tum you purposefully created to help press to the opposing side. The moreyou find yourself becoming efficient in this movement, the less “arms” you will feel. Theweight of the USB will be dispersed through the entire body.

Learning how to create this almost effortless press is the whole point in starting with theRotational Press as our foundation to rotational based movements. In the earlier part ofthis section, I discussed that rotation is our way of moving more efficiently. TheRotational Press does a terrific job of demonstrating this very concept as we begin to gainhigher levels of proficiency in the DVRT exercise.

Inside Out CleanYou can spend a great deal of time utilizing the Rotational Press to meet many different

goals. The Rotational Press is positioned perfectly to allow us to build progressive loading,and allows us an opportunity to build smarter combination DVRT movements. When youfind yourself being able to use the Rotational Press for both of these goals, you can beginto introduce the Inside Out Clean. Our form of progression in the DVRT rotational drillsis going to be a combination of both adding more joints to the exercises and being veryaware of the angles we create.

In the case of the Inside Out Clean, we have many different variables to consider. As weidentify more variables, we have to realize we are increasing both the complexity and

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intensity of the drills. Make sure you have spent time building the foundations with theRotational Press and aren’t trying to rush to “new” exercises for the sake of novelty. At thesame time, the Inside Out Clean is a very deliberate DVRT progressional movement tohelp us bridge the gap into achieving these more challenging rotational drills.

Speed, increasing the number of joints used, and the angles we will load the body allmake the Inside Out Clean a very important drill to introduce. One of the foundationalDVRT principles that I have been repeating throughout this book is that of moving fromstable to unstable progressions. The Inside Out Clean begins and ends in our stable hiphinge position, very similar to what we see in the deadlift and other accelerative DVRTmovements. This is much different from how most rotational drills are introduced into fit-ness programs.

Whether we are looking at wood chopping band and pulley exercises or medicine balldrills, the great majority of these drills both begin and end in a less stable body postures.For our purposes, that means starting and ending in the rotational positions. When mov-ing from other planes of motion to the transverse plane, we take quantum leaps ratherthan using incremental jumps.

Most of the rotational drills I just mentioned with other training tools require a hiphinge to be added to the patterns. This is very important for creating higher levels ofpower, but also means we need to learn how to absorb these forces and make sure wearen’t trying to produce power from our low back! The Inside Out Clean also takes advan-tage of the hip hinge pattern. However, we don’t do it in a rotated position. We begin in amovement that you already have developed, so you should feel strong and stable.

The motion is almost identical to that of the Power Clean, but we quickly pivot throughthe ground and catch the USB in a rotated position. To perform the Inside Out Clean well,we not only extend the hips explosively upward, but also at an angle. This means simulta-neously pulling up and pivoting. Doesn’t this mean the catch ends in the unstable positionthat I just claimed was unsafe?

We are producing power from our strong and stable position to assist the power of therotation. The stable hip hinge produces significant force, and we continue this force torotation. This might seem like mere semantics, but it makes a big difference and is funda-mentally different from trying to produce all of the force via rotation.

The difference also lies in the fact that we catch the weight with a vertical torso andextension of the hips. While the rotation is a somewhat weaker position, the increased sup-port from the lower body and changed leverage makes for a stronger stance. It is very sim-ilar to the one we just learned how to achieve with the Rotational Press.

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Catching the USB in this position also means that when we come down with the USB wecan absorb the weight in a much safer and stronger position. That means we are going torotate and hinge the hips to catch the USB back into the deadlift posture. When the forcesare highest, we are putting ourselves back in a very safe postural alignment, which we havepatterned with all the DVRT movements leading up to this series. When force productionis highest, we are working from that strong hip hinge posture to allow us to introduce thisvery dynamic lift.

The Inside Out Clean is highly effective on two additional fronts. The first is that if youhave any faults with the Power Clean, they will become very evident here. Common mistakessuch as not fully extending the hip or swinging the USB out in front of the body are amplifiedby the Inside Out Clean. From a conditioning and effort side, the Inside Out Clean will causea greater metabolic effect because of the complexity of the movement and the additionalmuscles needed to both produce and absorb the force created. This means that over time, wecan vary not just our reps, sets, and weight inthe Power Clean, but the plane of motion wechoose to work in as well.

The InsideOut Clean.

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Rotational Clean and High PullThe Inside Out Clean solves an initial issue of decreasing the amount of eccentric load-

ing we introduce during a rotated position. From a functional perspective, we do need toeventually introduce how to absorb the downward motion of rotation. This may causesome hesitation by some strength coaches, but this can be done with a plan and does fulfillour ideas of functional training. Many sporting actions occur with a quick preload of thebody before producing full power. If we look at many throwing motions, for example, wesee that the athlete takes advantage of elastic energy through the body by rotating backbefore they move forward. You can see howmuch more power can be developed by per-forming this small action before the actualthrowing movement.

TheRotationalClean andHigh Pull.

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In our DVRT training, we have a far more predictable environment and can progressthis type of training by controlling range of motion, angles, and other important trainingvariables. Managing range of motion is one of the best ways to make these drills moreaccessible and reduce overall risk. Again, the old adage, “Use it or lose it” is particularlyrelevant here. Trying to pretend that this type of movement doesn’t occur in everyday orsporting life doesn’t make us less prone to suffering injury. In fact, a stronger argument canbe made for the opposite. One reason that people get hurt performing pretty mundanetasks is that they have never trained these ranges of motion or patterns before. Don’t let thescare tactics of some keep you from fully developing what your body was meant to do –move in all sorts of angles and positions!

For the DVRT rotational drills where we work from the outside of the body, we will usethe knee height as our goal. Since height varies, working from the floor can be easy forsome and a huge change of leverage for others. The knees help balance out the field.

Unlike with our first introduction of DVRT accelerative drills, now we are going to usethe Clean before the High Pull. The Clean in the rotational series gives us a definitive stop-

ping point where we can re-evaluateour posture and position. Before wetry to quickly rotate and absorb theforce of the USB in this more chal-lenging position, we want to makesure we start from the right align-ment. That means when we clean theUSB we should receive the weightwith both feet planted into theground and the weight of the bodydistributed between our mid-foot andheel.

The catch of the Clean really is themidway point of the two lifts. Thestart and end of the drill are the twomost critical points of the these tworotational USB drills. At these twotimes, you’ll find yourself in a rotatedposition. Let me emphasize again thatwe don’t have the rotation occurringfrom the low back, but rather thehips. Just like in the original hip hingeseries, we can do a great deal to makesure you don’t try to move through

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the low back by paying attention to the shoulders. As we move to more unstable bodypositions, the tendency to round the shoulders will increase. Therefore, either when we areabout to start the lift or when we come back down with the USB, we want to make surethe shoulders never round forward but rather lock into place to help absorb the force com-ing down or help direct the weight moving upwards.

Catching the USB in the Clean gives us a moment to remind ourselves of these importantconcepts, and to initiate the movement by a quick rotation of the outside hip and foot.That is why the Clean is used prior to the High Pull. Thinking about the correct move-ments is very different from actually having to react to the USB moving across the body.This shows us the difference between feedback and feedforward systems. Feedback occurswhen we have the time to self-correct the movement while it is occurring, while feedfor-ward relies on our training to pre-program the right actions into the brain. This is a bigreason that football coach Vince Lombardi, said, “Practice doesn’t make perfect, perfectpractice makes perfect.” Understanding why I am taking you through this journey is justas important as the drills that you learn along the way!

When we move to the Rotational High Pull, we have to quickly move from one side ofthe body to the other. Done correctly, you really begin to feel what it is like to generateforce from the ground and up through the entire body. You begin to get a fluid action ofrotating from one side to the other with the combination of the extension of the hips androtation of the feet making a nearly seamless action from side to side. When you are ableto use the energy from one side of the High Pull to create power on the other side, youknow you are starting to get the hang of rotational movements.

I have to remind you, though, that this isn’t our initial goal. When we first introduce theRotational High Pull we want a definitive stop when the USB is received on the other side.We do so to ensure that you are in a position to pull again. We never want to see you per-form any lift from a bad posture, so we need to make sure you have come down with theweight in the right position to lift again to the other side.

Even though we may be transitioning from one side to the other in a slower manner, thisdoesn’t reduce the effectiveness of the exercise to any degree. By moving from side to sidein a rapid pace we use elastic energy which may eventually be optimal for more condition-ing types of workouts. However, when we remove this deliberate momentum the body hasto work harder to create that initial pull for the Rotational High Pull. Therefore, usingboth strategies can be very helpful for different purposes. The setting up and stoppingbefore we transition rep to rep helps develop the skill of the exercise as well as optimizespower production. Whereas quickly moving side to side can teach us reaction skills andbuild more specific conditioning.

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SHOVELING

here are important similarities between all of the rotational DVRT movementswe have covered. The USB creates a small lever arm and stays close to thebody. The leverage of the weight we lift is a point of consideration in many pro-grams. That is due to the fact that more times than not, the weight stays rela-

tively close to the body. However, with the popularity of drills such as kettlebell swings, wehave to reconsider how the lever arm of the exercise can influence both the progressionswe set forth, and the outcomes of the exercise.

One of the biggest reasons that lighter kettlebells can be swung to produce force that issimilar to heavier barbells is the leverage they create by being swung out in front of thebody. When we swing a 35-pound kettlebell out in front of the body, as the weight movesfurther away from us it is much more than 35 pounds. When we swing the kettlebell back,the momentum of gravity with our body behind it greatly increase the difficulty of theswing.

That is the same reason that I have introduced a series of DVRT drills where the weightof the USB has stayed relatively close to the body. We can focus on the more challengingfoot movements and body positions when we feel more in control of the weight we are try-ing to move. Adding leverage definitely provides more complexity. You must already bevery proficient in the rotational movements to earn the right to perform.

There are many positive benefits of extending the leverage of the weight. In a 2012 studyof both weightlifting and kettlebell exercises, researchers found that, “Short-termweightlifting and kettlebell training were effective in increasing strength and power.” —Otto WH, Coburn JW, Brown LE, Spiering BA. Effects of weightlifting vs. kettlebell train-ing on vertical jump, strength, and body composition. 2012. J Strength Cond Res.

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These researchers found that weightlifting (as in the Olympic lifts) was better forstrength development than the kettlebells. However, here is the interesting point for boththe power and strength development side: The weightlifting group used an 80% maximumweight, while the kettlebell group used a 35-pound kettlebell across the board. So, eventhough the weights used for the kettlebell group were less than those of the weightliftinggroup, there were significant improvements in power compared to the weightlifting group.Of course, with these parameters we wouldn’t expect a 35-pound weighted squat to com-pare to a squat of 5 times its weight. Not all weight is equal, and leverage plays a very bigrole in power development. Since most kettlebell drills have a bigger horizontal componentthan classic Olympic lifts, we have to assume this is the main reason we can see appreciablepower gains in spite of the inferior loads.

What I love about our DVRT system is that we are capable of both! We can have theloading during the vertical type pulling thatoccurs during weightlifting, and we havesome unique drills that provide that horizon-tal loading that we see in kettlebell exerciseslike the swing!

Shovelingsequence.

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Compare DVRT shoveling to the kettlebell swing. The obvious difference is that thefocus on the transverse plane that Shoveling provides us is far more difficult to achievewith the kettlebell. Don’t worry, kettlebell fans! I am not suggesting you abandon your ket-tlebell swings. Instead, I want you to consider what DVRT drills such as Shoveling canbring to your training.

Shoveling includes all the movements we find in the earlier DVRT rotational drills.However, instead of moving the USB upward along the body, the USB will be projected outin front of the body. With this increased leverage, we need to be aware not just of whatgoes up, but what comes down as well.

In order to even think that Shoveling is the right exercise for your training program, youhave to have developed proficiency in all the DVRT rotational drills listed prior. There aretwo reasons that having worked through the previous progressions is so critical. The firstis that Shoveling is very similar to the Rotational High Pull. That means quickly movingfrom one side to the other, so we really don’t have time to adjust our form during the lift.Instead, we have to use the quality movement skills we built in the previous drills.Secondly, the lever arm of the USB during Shoveling creates much more weight than the

actual weight of the USB.

In the end? Don’t skip progressions!There is a reason that DVRT is a systemand not just bunch of cool exercises.Why do people struggle or not see theresults they desire? Because they chooseto ignore my advice and find themselvesoverwhelmed because they didn’t taketime to establish a strong foundation. Ifyou have the patience to work throughthe levels of DVRT drills you will defi-nitely find the results worthwhile!

I probably make Shoveling sound abit scary, and that is not my goal. It canbe a relatively simple drill to learn aslong as you take the time to workthrough drills like the Rotational HighPull. You will find the principles ofShoveling to be the same as kettlebellswings, so if you have a background inkettlebell training you will definitelylove Shoveling!

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While Shoveling carries a lot of similarities to the kettlebell swing, overall the USB doesnot function well in a swing. The difference between the structure of the USB and kettle-bell means that the USB does not function well in a linear swing. Remember, it is not aboutwhich tool is superior, but when is it appropriate to use a different tool! That is why theUSB works better for rotational based training than the kettlebell. Make sure to under-stand your training tools!

The range of motion during the actual performance of Shoveling is very similar to that ofthe kettlebell swing. We are not looking to squat the motion, but rather to pull the bodyinto an active hip hinge and create a strong base to drive the USB away from the body. Wecue Shoveling by working from no lower than knee height and making sure you don’t over-rotate the USB. The side of the knee is typically ideal for the end point of the Shovelingmotion. We don’t want to start rotating through the low back, so a bit more decelerationis needed to ensure that we keep the motion through the hip. That means really driving thehip closest to the USB back to absorb the weight, and quickly rotating the opposing hipand driving that ball of foot into the ground.

The fast motion of Shoveling is largely based upon your ability to keep the shoulders inthe right position and the elbows locked. When people begin to bend their arms, they seemto start to lift the USB with their arms rather than projecting through the hip. Such com-pensations in technique definitely mean we are losing value to the Shoveling action.

One of the most common mistakes during Shoveling is that people are so concernedabout rotating to the opposing side that they miss what happens in the middle. The middlepoint of Shoveling is one of the most important. During the transition from one side to theother, we want to fully extend the hips and plant through the heels. This ensures we gettrue power development, while helping us actively pull the weight back into the right posi-tion.

Just as with the kettlebell swing, Shoveling can be performed at high hip speeds, but notnecessarily large swings with the weight. By focusing on the hip movement rather than theheight achieved with the USB, we can avoid trying to lift with the arms. The projection ofthe USB with Shoveling is really a byproduct of the hips “pushing” the weight away fromthe body. That is why we don’t need to go any higher than chest height when we are estab-lishing a top end range to the movement. While there may be some slight variance with thisidea, overall, chest height serves as an overall great cue.

When you are trying to establish the weight you want to use for Shoveling, remember,we also have to consider the dimensions. Even if you are an experienced kettlebell lifter, beconservative during your first few sessions working with Shoveling. For men I recommendworking with the Power USB and women either the Core or Power USB. We want the USBto be less awkward because the combination of the body position, pattern of motion, andthe speed are big enough changes to stability.

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CORE TRAINING

hroughout this entire book we have been discussing the role of the core in cre-ating success in a variety of movements. It may seem inappropriate to suggest

there are specific exercises that work the core, as all our movements are predi-cated largely upon proper integration of the core of the body. We’ve already dis-

cussed how the core is integrated into so many different movements, so having a section onjust core training might seem unnecessary. What this core training section of DVRT isreally designed to do is to provide us the opportunity to really focus on the core.

During drills like the Shoulder Squat, Front Loaded Good Mornings, Military Press, andso on, we have a ton of core work going on, but we’re also working other major musclegroups. It may be hard to improve the core when we have such complexity to an exercise.Therefore, the DVRT drills outlined in this section are going to be specifically geared toimproving our ability to integrate the core. Just as with our other movements, you aregoing to see layered progressions that make this DVRT drills accessible to any fitness level.

Using core training as a movement may seem somewhat odd considering through mostof these drills the core actually produces very little movement. Yes, the gluteals do workhard to extend the hip, but the trunk typically sees minimal dynamic action. Preventingmovement is the foundational role of the core. While most people train the core to flex thespine in actions such as crunches and sit-ups, this may not be the primary role of the core.Research by leading spine specialist like, Dr. Stuart McGill, shows that the core is reallytrying to provide resistance to the trunk rather than activating very dynamically itself.“The lumbar torso must prepare to withstand all manner of possible loads, includingsteady-state loading (which may be a complex combination of flexion/extension, lateralbend, and axial twisting moments) and sudden, unexpected complex loads together withloads that develop from prehensive ballistic motion.” (McGill, 168) What Dr. McGill istrying to espouse, is how “reactive” our core must really be to properly absorb and toler-ate many of the stresses that the spine endures in what seem to be rather every day activi-ties. That is why learning his technique of bracing and resisting many of these motions cango a long way in enhancing performance and health.

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Lateral Bag DragsOne of my absolute favorite drills is the Lateral Bag Drag. I may be a bit biased because

this is a drill I used a great deal myself in rehabbing my upper body after my neck fusion.After my fusion, my greatest challenge was gaining coordination and stability back in myright arm and shoulder complex. Holding even a push-up on plank position often causedfatigue in the area, and I knew this would require some work.

Of course I incorporated Front Planks, but the Lateral Bag Drag quickly became a staplebecause of the varying levels I could use and the increased work it created in my upper body.

The LateralBag Drag.

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I created the Lateral Bag Drag as a means to teach people what bracing the trunk actu-ally felt like. Dr. McGill writes extensively that bracing, not drawing in, of the torso buildstrunk stability. Great, but how do you actually teach people how to create this action thatcan really only be felt by the lifter as there is no movement? We can create squatting, press-ing, and most other movements simply because we can actually see the moving parts. Inbracing, we really can’t see what is happening on the inside of the individual. What shouldthis feel like, and how do I know I am performing bracing correctly? These are all ques-tions I had, but didn’t know how to help my clients get the answers.

What led me down the path of the Lateral Bag Drag was my attempt at solving a sec-ondary problem. When I tried to employ the aspects of overhead lifting, I began to see a bigissue. Many people lacked mobility in their thoracic spine and shoulders. II would have toaddress these issues specifically, but this didn’t mean I would have to wait to clear up thesemovement problems before I could teach good fundamentals of lifting. How could I savemyself and the client time in teaching them the components of lifting overhead if theydidn’t have the mobility to lift in the first place?

Get them horizontal! I kept finding that a lot of people lacked both mobility andstrength in the upper body and shoulder stabilizers. My clients had no idea how to holdtheir scapula in the right place, create tension in their lats, and more! What I found is thatI could work on their direct mobility issues and complement that with foundational stabil-ity and strength work from a horizontal position. Being in a horizontal position, we coulduse gravity to stress their bodies and use posture and position as feedback.

There were still a few issues. My clients could build to holding a push-up positionquickly. They seemed to improve in their stability and strength faster than we couldimprove their mobility, so what could we do? Given that some of my clients had severerestrictions in the overhead positions, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to compound the problemby building the muscles that roll the shoulders forward. I wanted to accentuate the stabilitycomponent as I began to find that people in the push-up position not only lacked aware-ness and strength in the upper body, but in their core and lower body as well. The more wechallenged their stability, the more we could see where these weaknesses were.

All of a sudden the equation came together. I wanted to teach the principles of drivingthrough the feet, tightening the lower body and pelvis, bracing through the trunk, andproper tension and positioning of the upper body. Small goals, I know, but the answercame in the form of the Lateral Bag Drag.

The Lateral Bag Drag addresses all of these goals and allows for plenty of progressions,enabling proper training and quick success. Moving to one hand in the push-up position ismore than enough of a challenge for most people. The stability of two hands and two legs onthe ground is a whole different world from lifting an arm off the ground. I would even arguethat lifting an arm is much more difficult for most than is lifting a leg off of the ground.

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Realizing how challenging these DVRT progressions can be, don’t try to rush throughmany of these progressions. We are going to discuss and describe the primary means of per-forming the Lateral Bag Drag and then provide you with regressions and some very funand effective progressions.

Here is your rather simple goal for the Lateral Bag Drag: DON’T MOVE! I am referringto your position and alignment. We are trying to see when we perform the Lateral BagDrag if the feet, hips, and/or trunk rotate, does the pelvis sink or hike up in the air. Do wesee the shoulder unwind and begin to round forward, even if the head stays in good align-ment? There are several check points, but we are going to focus on the big things first!

Start in a push-up position with the feet rather wide. How wide? We don’t want to seethe pelvis start to move upwards or the feet rotate inwards. I have found that the widestthat most can manage is to move each leg three steps to the side from the standard push-upposition. Once we determined our lower body position, we want to make sure we set upthe upper body so that the shoulders will line up directly above the hands.

Now that both ends of our body are set in the proper position, we can press throughboth the balls of the feet and lock our arms into place so we rise to the top of the push-up.Continuing to drive through the balls of the feet, we then try to lockout the legs andactively squeeze the glutes. You should feel a lot of tightness in the lower body, pelvis, andtrunk at this point. That is good! This tightness will give you a very strong base to operatefrom and keep your low back from moving.

What occurs in the upper body is as important as what is happening at the lower body.As our arms lockout we want to “corkscrew” our shoulders so that the crease of ourelbows points almost straight ahead. Don’t move the hands; just try to “roll” the shouldersinto this position. You know you have done this correctly if you feel tension begin in theunderarms. Maintaining this position in both the lower and upper body is critical duringthe performance of the Lateral Bag Drag. Often you will see compromise in one of theseareas when you actually start performing the drill.

The final part of the Lateral Bag Drag is the Ultimate Sandbag itself. People are oftensurprised how a little weight can go a very long way with the Lateral Bag Drag. TheRotational Lunge and the Lateral Bag Drag are two key exercises for which having a morecompact Ultimate Sandbag becomes very important. Even if we don’t consider the weightcomponent, larger Ultimate Sandbags will drag for a longer period, making the exercisemore difficult.

The drag portion of the Lateral Bag is one of the most overlooked and improperly per-formed aspects of the exercise. Most people become very task oriented and only see theUltimate Sandbag traveling from one side to the other, paying very little attention to HOW

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the Ultimate Sandbag is transitioned. I have even seen some people, thanks to YouTube,who toss the Ultimate Sandbag from side to side or try to pick it up and move it from oneside to the other. Tossing or picking up the USB make the movement far less valuable.

The actual dragging of the Ultimate Sandbag causes friction on the ground, which pro-vides additional resistance to the Lateral Bag Drag. Trust me, you would think that moreresistance unnecessary once you begin the Lateral Bag Drag, but the friction is differentfrom just adding more weight. The friction created by dragging the Ultimate Sandbagrequires the body to constantly change where tension is being created. You will find thatone area begins to work harder than another depending upon where the Ultimate Sandbagis in the dragging sequence.

In order to really enhance this concept, the Lateral Bag Drag is always performed at aslow count. The more advanced you are, the more slowly you should be able to drag theUltimate Sandbag. You will find that increasing the duration of a repetition causes rapidfatigue, so that beginners will have to use more moderate tempos along with shorter repe-titions. That also means we can make the exercise more difficult by intentionally movingslower or increasing the number of repetitions for a set. Yet even with increasing repeti-tions, 10 repetitions performed on each side is quite high.

With the Ultimate Sandbag starting right underneath one underarm, we begin to reachacross the body to begin the dragging aspect. As soon as the opposing hand lifts and beginsto reach across the body, we are watching for compensation throughout the body. Our firstpoint to check is the feet. If we begin to see the feet rotating, it is easy to see this continuedthroughout the chain of the body. We begin to see the legs twist, the hips rotating, and allof a sudden we take a very powerful anti-rotational exercise into a rotational exercise. Agreat example of the need to understand the intent of every exercise.

If we see the feet rotating (typically the heel falls inward), we can provide some feedback.By using the hands of a partner or a small band around the ankles, we want to feel our-selves pushing slightly outward against the resistance. The position we are working from inthe Lateral Bag Drag makes even small things feel challenging, so be very aware of theamount of tension you are applying to the body. A small amount is more than appropriate.

The knees become the next checkpoint, as we want to ensure that the legs remainedlocked out. If we bend even slightly at the knee, we will lose tension in the pelvis and seethe hips drop. Keeping that good lockout will be necessary throughout, and grows inimportance as we fatigue.

Moving right up, we hit the hips. We should be able to actually see tension being createdby the glutes. The glutes are a very important point on the body, so not providing stabilityhere usually leads to a collapse in both posture and strength. Once the hips are checked we

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want to look at shoulder position. Can we see and feel tension in the underarm? Are thecreases of the elbow facing almost directly ahead? If you want to quickly see that under-standing these details is important, just quickly drop down to a push-up position. Withoutpaying much attention to the other segments we have discussed, simply begin with theshoulders corkscrewed and then deliberately allow the elbows to rotate outward. Do this afew times and you will begin to see how the tension shifts from the upper back and under-arm to the shoulders. A lot of people “rest” on their shoulders in push-ups because they donot understand how to use the rest of the upper body.

If you go through this checklist, you will quickly see how this teaches us all the principlesthat carry over to overhead lifting. This means you can use the Lateral Bag Drag as apreparatory drill to teach these movements, build up the foundational strength we will beneeding, or even as a warm-up to some of your overhead pressing drills.

The last challenge is to see what actually occurs as the Ultimate Sandbag drags across thebody at slow speeds. Since we are constantly going through our checklist, do we begin tosee compensation at any point? If so, we can try to cue that specific area and see if the liftercan correct the fault. However, if the issue persists, this could mean we have reached apoint where the set needs to be terminated, or we can try to drop to a regression to see if weneed more time to develop these skills and the strength to demonstrate them well.

The RegressionOne of the most under appreciated aspects of the DVRT system will always be how we

can make any exercise not just more difficult, but regress the movement to allow a personof any fitness level to perform it. The Lateral Bag Drag is no exception. To perform thestandard Lateral Bag Drag variation described above, you usually have to be able to holdthe top of a push-up position for at least one minute. Does this mean that we can’t intro-duce the drill at any other time? Absolutely NOT!

Some coaches see dropping to the knees as somehow less “hardcore,” but it still fitswithin the scope of our system and can be highly effective as a regression. The kneelingposition can be used during the same training cycle as other Front Plank variations as ameans of slowly introducing the concepts of the Lateral Bag Drag.

The key to getting positive results from the kneeling position all goes back to our set-up.People frequently use the kneeling position incorrectly, leading to a quantum leap to themore standard push-up position. We will use our hands and shoulders as a guide for cor-rect alignment. Keeping our shoulders remain over our hands instantly moves our bodyweight forward. All too often, people “sit back” too much in the Lateral Bag Drag or other

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kneeling push-up variations. This doesn’t stress the necessary muscles enough. Having thecorrect upper body alignment solves this problem and allows us to load both the trunk andthe stability systems of the upper body.

The KneelingLateral Bag Drag.

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What occurs at the lower body is equally as important. Most people forget that kneelingdoes reduce our base of support that we achieve in a wider stance in the standard LateralBag Drag. Even though we have more of our body weight supported on the ground, thisreduced base of support can still make taking one hand off the ground and anti-rotationaltraining quite challenging. To provide more stability and to use the lower body to youradvantage, flex the feet to dig in the balls of the feet into the ground. Once you do so, youshould feel the hamstrings and glutes tighten, giving you a more stable foundation. Mostpeople lift their feet off of the ground at first. This doesn’t allow us the opportunity to inte-grate the lower body into the movement, and we see all types of collapses in the pelvis,trunk, and/or upper body. Since we are going to be using this strategy in future progres-sions of the Lateral Bag Drag, it is more than worthwhile to establish the concepts as earlyas possible.

Once we are set in the correct position, we can perform the Lateral Bag Drag in the man-ner we did in the initial introduction of this movement. Even very strong individuals canfind this variation challenging and worthwhile. After all, this isn’t about just having just astrong abdominal area. It’s also about having a strong connection through the body –something that even the strongest of lifters sometimes lack.

Other variations also allow us to progress the Lateral Bag Drag. One very helpful idea isto reduce the amount of distance the USB actually drags upon the ground. We can focus onjust dragging the USB from one side of the body to the middle, and then back to the startingposition. This both reduces the amount of stress on the torso and the time under tension.

The ProgressionsI am more than confident that quite a few of you that end up reading this book will

quickly discover many variations that can be performed off of this movement. Truthfully, itcan feel like there’s no end to what one can create once the original cues are accomplished.However, when we do add variation it could come at the expense of our original intent ofusing the Ultimate Sandbag. We still want to stay true to what the exercise is trying to teachus about movement and not start building bad habits just in the name of variety.

Some may leap to the idea of using a heavier USB. In my experience this is NOT the bestmeans of progressing the Lateral Bag Drag. I cannot tell you how much more intense evenadding just five pounds to your Ultimate Sandbag can make the movement. It literally canbe the difference between feeling very confident and proficient in the movement and find-ing that the Ultimate Sandbag feels almost glued to the ground.

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Instead, move slowly! Moving slowly is more beneficial for our goals, even if this meanswe reduce the repetitions of the set or workout. Performing six repetitions at a 3-4 countversus 2-3 at a 5-6 count may not sound like a logical progression, but people are oftenastonished at how intentionally moving slower is far more taxing than trying to knock outmore repetitions.

Speed is one option. Another is to make the Lateral Bag Drag into a complex. Push-upsare an obvious and very effective choice. However, realize that as the pushing muscle tire,your ability to pull across your body and hold the top position will decrease. If you do addany of these possible progressions to your arsenal, make sure to appropriately reduce therepetitions and slowlybuild back up.

• Push-ups

• T Push-ups

• Lateral Body Walks

The Lateral Bag Drag withone arm push-up.

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The last suggested movement listed above may be a bit unfamiliar to some. As we pullthe USB across the body, instead of pulling it right back the other direction we can actuallymove the entire body! By walking both the feet and hands across the USB, we add someinteresting stresses to the body. Walking the body in this manner will give us that powerfulupper body stabilization that occurs in the single arm position. We have to resist both thelateral forces and rotational forces of the walk that are trying to pull the body out of align-ment, and we have to learn to keep a tight lower body during a dynamic action. This isreally fun and effective means of progressing the Lateral Bag Drag assuming you don’tallow faulty techniques to creep into the exercise.

Around the WorldThe Lateral Bag Drag teaches us how to make our body very rigid, but this by itself isn’t

very functional. Our core needs to also know how to be mobile and change how muchforce it creates. You will notice when we create a lot of tension in the core, we are discour-aging movement from other areas of the body. The reality is that most daily life activitiesand sporting actions require very quick moments of a rigid core combined with a core thatcan quickly contract and relax. This allows us to create movement and express force. Youcan feel how awkward it would be to hold this much tension in every day life just by tryingto walk around with huge amounts of tension in your trunk.

The Around the World may be the perfect complement to the Lateral Bag Drag for thisvery reason. Where the Lateral Bag Drag is very rigid, the Around the World is very fluid.Which one is better? Neither, both are concepts that we want to address during training.

In the Overhead Pressing section, we introduced you to a variation of the Around theWorld in a kneeling position. The purpose of that drill was to actually avoid rotation andcreate rigidity in the torso. The variation we are discussing now is quite different (noticeyou have to understand the intent of a movement to decide if it is helpful to your goals). Weare going encourage a lot of movement throughout the entire body. Trying to hold the stiff-ness that we create during the kneeling variation would actually be counterproductive tothis version of the Around the World.

You can place the standard standing Around the World in the same section as our otherrotational based DVRT movements. The motion of the Around the World is created not byswinging USB up and around our body, but rather by pivoting and moving our bodyaround the USB. This may sound like semantics, but intent can change the outcome of amovement. In the kettlebell clean, learning how to move the hand around the kettlebell is apopular cue to avoid slamming the weight into the forearm. The barbell deadlift is oftentaught by thinking of pressing into the ground rather than just picking up the weight. Sucha simple cue and change in thought process can dramatically change the amount of tensionone feels in the low back during the barbell deadlift.

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Aroundthe World

series.

By concentrating on wrapping our bodies around the USB, we avoid the swing motionthat often occurs. If the USB starts to swing away from the body, the lifter will try to createstability by reducing their motion at the feet, hips, trunk, and upper body. The wholeessence of the Around the World is the synergistic motion that stems from all these seg-ments. The Around the World is initiated by pivoting to one side, with the USB rotating tothe opposing side and being caught by the elbow. The position of the elbow will correctabout 90% of the issues that we see in the performance of the Around the World. What doI mean by “catching” the elbow? As the USB begins to come around the body, the elbowsclosest to this side must quickly lock into the ribs and set a strong foundation for themotion to continue. If the elbow comes away from the body, this will create a lever armand encourage a swing motion of the USB.

Once the elbow locks into the side of the body, the momentum created by the strongpivot and the outside arm will come just over the top of the head. The USB will continue tobe wrapped around the body until we hit the upper back position. When first introducingAround the Worlds, I will have lifters stop in this position. This is because this is both avery strong learning position as well as a site where a lot of things go wrong!

The upper back is one of our holding positions in the DVRT system, and this is the firsttime we will discuss its use and purpose. At a very foundational level, the upper back posi-tion will allow us to see the amount of motion in the thoracic spine and shoulders. Manylifters will find getting into this position very difficult because of the lack of mobility theyposses in these regions. If you cannot get into this position without discomfort, then youare not quite ready to go here. Others will find this position gives them a huge tricepsstretch – just one more reason we are going to start with rather low loads in the USB.

When getting into the proper upper back position, the weight of the USB tries to pull thetrunk into extension. This means that we have to use the entire core to resist this extensionand hold a more neutral body position. That requires the trunk to brace and the glutes totighten. A lot of people miss this position because they are consumed by trying to swing theUSB around their bodies. Pausing in this position allows us to emphasize the benefits of theupper back.

The extension that the USB wants to create here also means we can use it for a few otherexercises. Notice that we didn’t use the USB in the upper back position for the squattingvariations? This is not just due to the stress the position causes to the back, but alsobecause of logistical issues.

One of the biggest reasons that the barbell can be stabilized on the back is due to theshelf that most lifters create. If we watch how both powerlifters and Olympic lifters posi-tion their shoulders as they get under the bar, the upper back creates a platform for theweight to sit upon. This provides stability to the weight and allows them to support moreload. The problem with the USB in this position is this very thing! The USB must be held in

this Upper Back position, which means that no shelf can be created. Therefore, many liftersattempting to squat the USB will either have to lean very forward or hold most of theweight on their necks. Neither is a productive or healthy way to perform the movement. Ifyou are absolutely set on back squatting (even in light of the evidence I supported above),please use the barbell and not the USB!

This doesn’t make the upper back position useless, though. We can use the upper backhold in movements such as lunges and step-ups. Why is ok but squatting is not? The reasonthat the upper back holding position works for these exercises is that we want to create atall torso in both of them. We want to avoid the forward lean, and a little bit of weight canbe effective in accomplishing this goal. This way we are not putting our shoulders, back, orneck at risk. Using the upper back holding position to correct the faulty forward lean inboth lunging and the step-up is very effective and easy to implement!

Let’s go back to the Around the World. Performing the full movement can be over-whelming very technical. In order to make the Around the World more accessible to morepeople, we focus on one side at a time. This means we will use the upper back holding posi-tion as our end point, and unwind to the same side the USB came up the body.

With all the moving parts the Around the World requires, we need to slow down speedto ensure that we learn how to coordinate our movements. One of the most common mis-takes people make in the performance of the Around the World is that they try to applyspeed far too early in the progressions. The complexity of the Around the World itself,combined with speed, usually ends with swimming the USB instead of moving the body.Feet end up staying firmly planted into the ground, hips don’t rotate, and all the tremen-dous benefits that this DVRT drill offers are lost.

Moving at a slow speed, making sure that we are learning how to wrap our bodiesaround the USB, and working one side at a time makes learning the Around the Worldmuch easier. All of a sudden, instead of having a very complicated drill, you can immedi-ately begin to feel the benefits the Around the World has to offer.

If we are looking to making the Around the World more of a workout, we can do halfturns combined with a lunge or step-up movement. We quickly get a cool complex of dif-ferent movement patterns that flow together very effectively. Focusing on a such a complexallows us to build the repetitions of the Around the World and refine our skills before wemove to the full version.

Performing the entire Around the World is when things get really fun and powerful! Themovement is largely dependent upon the continual movement of the feet. It will be the piv-oting of the feet that helps continue the motion and movement of the Ultimate Sandbagwithout any swinging or upper body muscling in the exercise. If you find that your feet areno longer pivoting, you need to slow down the movement, use less weight, or you have

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tired and need to terminate the set. Why? When people don’t move their feet, they start try-ing to move through the low back. I think we have discussed enough times why this is farfrom optimal or desirable.

When we go all the way in the Around the World, we want to make sure to hit thatimportant upper back position. People often get in a rush to simply get through the move-ment, and start missing important segments to the drill. We can move all the way aroundbut still stop for a brief pause at the upper back position to do a body check. Since we havealready described why this is such a great position, we don’t want to be bypassing it in ourprogram! Keep the intent of the drill true to the desired outcome and don’t become a victimof mindless repetitions.

Once proficiency in the Around the World is demonstrated, we can slowly add speed.Like the Lateral Bag Drag, the Around the World can feel much heavier even with modestchanges in weight. Therefore, we often will work on increasing speed or add repetitions.The Around the World drill is a very fluid exercise, so it lends itself very well to higher rep-etition protocols and you may be shocked by how taxing it becomes!

Besides being incredible for reactive core training, shoulder/thoracic mobility, and teach-ing rotational skills, the Around the World is incredibly metabolically taxing. Time andtime again we see people hitting 90% plus maximum heart rate outputs when they reallybecome proficient at the Around the World. We don’t typically think of “core training” asbeing so taxing to the body. Once again, people often underestimate the ability of DVRT todo things better. This is just another way that the DVRT system makes your training moreefficient and effective.

The Around the World is one of those DVRT drills that has nearly infinite layers onceyou build the proper skills. Taking the time and having the patience to do so will rewardyou with not just incredible results, but options to keep sophisticating movement to unbe-lievable levels over time.

CycloneBesides having a fun name, the Cyclone is a signature move in the DVRT system. At first

glance it can seem like a very overwhelming motion. Some may be incredibly intimidated bythe Cyclone, but if we understand the DVRT program, the fear is replaced by excitement.

The Cyclone is a combination of Shoveling and the Around the World. Instead of havingthe weight of the Ultimate Sandbag project far away from the body, the Shovel is quicklytransitioned into the Around the World. The constant movement of our feet allows us tomove quickly and efficiently to rapidly absorb and retransmit the force to produce aunique full body drill.

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TheCycloneseries.

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Trust me, the goal is not just to create a novel drill. The Cyclone is really the combina-tion of rotational power, deceleration strength, reactive core ability, and upper body mobil-ity. All of these parts are why with rather light loads, heart rates can go far beyond people’s90% maximum.

The quick movement of the Ultimate Sandbag is something unlike what we see in mostother areas of lifting. Just like lifting “heavy,” fast drills are usually done with the feetfirmly planted into the ground and the weight moving in line with the body. The Cyclonebreaks all those rules and creates what I believe to be a far more athletic type of lift. Wehave to react, rotate, decelerate, and still be strong. If you ask me the ingredients that makeup athleticism, it would be hard for me not to include these concepts as the cornerstones.

You will learn to be fluid, and you will quickly find where your weaknesses lie instrength, mobility, or deceleration abilities. Feeling proficient in both Shoveling and theAround the World will make the transfer to the Cyclone much easier. Shoveling teachesyou how to get in the right positions to both start and stop, and how to project theUltimate Sandbag.

Bridge to PulloverLying on the ground and performing functional movements seems counterintuitive.

After all, functional training is supposed to make us work in ways that we may encounterin everyday life or sport. n truth, functional training is designed to teach you how to movemore efficiently and effectively. Working from the ground actually works within the princi-ples of the DVRT system.

Our concept of working from stable to unstable positions and postures allows us to takemovements all the way to the ground. After all, there is no more stable position than theground itself. Sometimes making people very stable is the best means for teaching themhow to perform very precise movements or for introducing movements that have morecomplexity.

One such example is the outwardly simple but very powerful Bridge to Pullover drill. Ifyou have followed what we have set forth in the earlier sections, the core is not just theabdominals or even the low back, but the hips as well. The hips that help stabilize thepelvis, and that can go a long way toward both preventing and treating low back issues.

Teaching people to use the hips can be a challenge in of itself. That is why we spent agreat deal of time in the early sections discussing the Hip Hinge pattern before we got tomore classic exercises like squatting. However, gaining really great motor control of thehips can be an issue. Outwardly, lifters can make their technique look good, even to the

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trained eye. Yet they are experiencing an abnormal amount of low back pain and/or dis-comfort. That makes the Bridge to Pullover a great drill for beginners and advanced indi-viduals alike.

The hip bridge is not a new exercise to many, but it is one of the most incorrectly per-formed drills. Most people cheat the hip bridge and never actually train or even feel theright muscles. What are you trying to work? The hip bridge is not just about training mus-cles, but making sure they function in the right sequence. The hip hinge that we spoke somuch about in the earlier sections is not just about using the hamstrings, glutes, and lowback, but also about the order in which they are used. Many people actually develop dys-functional patterns and never use one of these three muscles, or they do so in a sequencethat doesn’t provide proper stability in the low back, which is the primary reason we per-form these drills.

The key is toperform a small

pelvic tilt tohold the torso

in place.

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What is right? Ideally we would see the hamstrings, then glutes, then low back fire in avery fast sequence. However, most people work from hamstrings directly to the low back,completely missing the glutes. This is a big problem, but a common one. More importantly,how do you know that you may have such an issue? When bridging, some will almostimmediately cramp in their hamstrings. The cramping that many experience is oftenrelated to the body trying to project itself from weakness in the area. This is often due tothe fact that the glutes are not working.

Before we can get too far into the full Bridge to Pullover, we have to make sure that youare setting yourself up correctly. When we lie on our backs, we want the palms facingupwards. Doing so will discourage us from using the upper body and prevent the abdomi-nals that flex the spine from trying to produce the motion. We want the lower body to pro-duce the force, and the trunk to simply stabilize. In other words, you shouldn’t feel like youare performing a maximal effort when you bridge. If you do, you will encourage the wrongareas of the body to become active.

What comes next may be one of the most challenging aspects, even though it is one ofthe smallest movements. When people initiate the hip bridge, they almost inevitably atsome point being to lead with the low back. Most coaches aren’t sure how to cue lifters notto use the low back, and are left with vague cues like, “use the hips more!” The problemcomes in the actual set-up just prior to the movement’s beginning.

The key is to perform a small pelvic tilt to hold the torso in place. You want to gently –and I can’t emphasize the word gently enough – roll your pelvis so your low back applieslight pressure to the ground. At no point should you feel the upper abdominals wanting toflex the trunk forward. Rather, you need a solid contraction in the area below your umbil-ical. For some, this will be an issue of coordination, but it is not unlike what happens whenwe press overhead or at the top of many of our hip hinge movements. Learning this skillobviously has great value not just for this exercise, but for good movement overall.

Using this little pelvic tilt goes a long way in preventing the low back from becoming themajor source of motion. Once you lock the pelvis into place, either the pelvis will gostraight up or the body will try to shift backwards. Trying to lean back is the other com-pensation and we want to avoid leaning back as much as moving through the low back.The hips need to go straight up.

Now, really dialing in the hip bridge, we can bring in the movement of the pullover. Thisisn’t the classic bodybuilding goal of increasing the rib cage or such things. We have twoprimary goals with the pullover. The more subtle reinforcing how to utilize the lats.Remember, understanding how to create tension in the underarm will be important for ourability to stabilize in the push-up position and when pressing overhead.

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The bigger reason that we are using the pullover in the hip bridge is to challenge thebody to resist extension in the torso. That’s right, now that we have created a strong hipbridge with a strong body alignment, we want to use the weight of the Ultimate Sandbagto try to pull us into extension. Of course, we want to resist the force by strongly engagingboth the lower abdominal area and the hips. Simply allowing the arms to carry the weightoverhead is a means of incrementally increasing the intensity.

The Pullover to Bridge.

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When we can hold the right position and carry the Ultimate Sandbag completely over thetop of the head, then we can progress the movement. Like the majority of our DVRT drills,going up in weight is an option, but it may be not the best one. The lever arm that the pullover creates makes small Ultimate Sandbags feel much heavier than their actual weightwould indicate. Therefore, since we don’t typically move up by a very small amount ofweight, we are going to look to alter body position as a means of progressing this movement.

It won’t take much to make the Bridge to Pullover by altering body position. Slightlyelevating one leg can completely change the dynamics of the exercise. We don’t have to liftthe leg high to immediately feel the impact of going on one leg. Moving to a unilateralmovement not only makes one side work harder, but adds rotational forces to the Bridgeto Pullover. Avoid rotating the hips during any variation of one legged Bridge to Pullovers.

The UnilateralBridge toPullover.

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Over time, you will keep challenging yourself by first lifting the off leg to eventually 90degrees, and then slowly straightening it out. The most difficult form will be when the off legsits just off the floor and completely straight. Having the off leg in this position adds a longlever arm, and will improve the ability to properly hip bridge and keep the torso aligned.Take your time, though. Determine which position gives you the best ability to perform theexercise well. Once you can work through all these levels, increasing the weight of yourUltimate Sandbag will feel far more reasonable.

Leg ThreadingYou are probably wondering, heck, even waiting. When I am going to discuss performing

Turkish Get-ups?! After all, Ultimate Sandbags are perfect for a variation of the TurkishGet-up. My answer is that they are and they aren’t. Holding an Ultimate Sandbag on theshoulder while trying to get up off of the floor is quite a unique experience. It is differentfrom holding a weight overhead, and the only thing I can compare it to is having someonelay right on top of your body!

This makes the Ultimate Get-up a valuable exercise for anyone who is looking to empha-size core strength or who has shoulder limitations. I am not going to suggest that theUltimate Sandbag on the shoulder is a better version than holding weight overhead; it’s justdifferent.

What we are looking for is not just your ability to get off of the ground, but the manner inwhich you do so. We are trying to see if you can integrate the right muscles of the core to per-form the get-up or if you start to compensate for a weak core structure. What does compen-sating look like? During the get-up, the set-up is the same as with the weight overhead. Wetake a “v” position with the legs, with one straight leg and one leg bent as though we weregoing to perform a bridge.

The Ultimate Sandbag rests on the shoulder that is on the same side as the bent leg. As wetry to roll and sit-up, if the straight leg comes off the ground, we have a compensation pat-tern. This is a strong sign that our body has given up on the ability of our core to work syn-ergistically to bring the body upward, and has substituted the hip flexors. In this instance, Iam referring to the abdominals, hamstrings, and glutes when I mention the core. While thehip flexors technically make up the core, we are trying to minimize their role at this point inthe movement.

Part of the issue can be strength and integration. Using the wrong approach in the get-upportion can also be a problem. The heels of both legs are actively pushing into the groundand are not in a relaxed state. We want to feel tension in the hamstrings and glutes before weeven begin to move. Now we have a strong foundation to move, and can focus on using theright muscles.

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Straight legstays on the

ground.

Straight leg comesoff the ground.

The lower body isn’t the only player in getting up; the upper body also plays an importantrole. Coming up is not a straight sit-up motion. Rather, we are going to roll and use a drivethrough the outside arm to once again place force into the ground to help us up. The armhelps activate the lat, transferring force through the rest of the body. It is also a stabilizingforce for the next phase of the DVRT we are about to perform.

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At this point, we are going to diverge from the traditional Turkish Get-up. Don’t get mewrong, it is possible to do a Turkish Get-up with the Ultimate Sandbag . But there’s an issuewith coming back down. After rising off the ground with the Ultimate Sandbag, the weightis going to rest upon the shoulder, dispersed evenly. That makes coming back down to thefloor a bit of an issue. The USB ends up returning to the floor before the body.

Does that ruin everything? I think it makes the movement awkward, and after all the exer-cises we have discussed throughout this book, hopefully it is obvious that we don’t need tojust copy other exercises. The best and most important aspect of the Ultimate Sandbag inthis position is the shoulder position we hold. Consequently, we are going to want to reallyemphasize what the shoulder position does in challenging our movement and strength. Thatmeans we don’t need to perform a get-up. We can do something a bit different.

Leg Threading makes it possible to stress the shoulder position that forces the body toresist lateral force. When we have introduced the shoulder position in past exercises, we havealways had a vertical torso, which makes distributing the weight a bit easier. As I describedthose exercises, easier and easy are not the same thing!

Moving through Leg Threading, we work the torso in all types of angles. The challenge ofkeeping the trunk in good alignment becomes much greater when we are both moving andholding the Ultimate Sandbag on the shoulder. The primary goal of stressing the trunk is toslow down the speed. The complexity of the movement is another great reason we slowdown Leg Threading.

Dropping the bentknee outwardscompensation.

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LegThreading.

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To move from one position to another, we need the hip bridge that we built in the Bridgeto Pullover – as well as hip mobility – to seamlessly move our body. Like all our DVRT drills,there is an ideal and many levels to regress. I say this because the amount of movement andstability that Leg Threading requires could discourage many from even trying. Many thinkregression is a bad word that means you are unfit. Nothing could be further from the truth!

I experienced this lesson working with a former professional strongman. He was formerbecause he had hurt his back so badly that not only could he no longer compete, but he toldme he was unable to perform a body weight squat without pain. Going from a high level ofathletic competition to being unable to perform the foundational task of squatting your ownweight is a hard thing to swallow. However, he possessed a great attitude and more impor-tantly, a desire to get better.

All day, this very strong athlete gave his best, going through many of our DVRT drills. Hedid what he could, and modified what seemed like too much. Until we came to it. When westarted to cover Leg Threading I thought we had hit the limit. The once-positive attitude wasmet with a facial expression that said it all, “NO WAY!”

Why did this exercise seem impossible to him? He watched the full version – all these mov-ing parts that seemed to force positions he had never used and that asked parts of his bodyto work that I don’t think he had ever worked. Maybe I could have forced him through themovement. Instead, I tried to stay true to our principles. I had to look at modifying the rangeof motion. Some may argue doing so compromises the integrity of the exercise. That is thedanger in seeing something as an exercise and not a movement. A movement has a host ofdifferent levels and versions. I wanted him to perform the movement of Leg Threading.

What did we do? We simply altered the range of motion. I didn’t ask him to bridge as highor to move his legs as wide. I know, not really innovative, but how many people are discour-aged from an exercise because they cannot perform the “ideal” version? Get over what isideal, and work on what is both safe and effective for you and your current ability levels!

Back to our strongman, though. I had shown him what level I wanted him to work at, andhe is was up for the challenge. In all honesty, I didn’t have big expectations for him, but Iwanted him to experience it, as now he was a coach. If he was going to be teaching theseconcepts to others, I wanted him to have a baseline for what it felt like. I went on to help afew other coaches with their technique, and as I came back to him, he was doing it! Not justthe version I had provided him, but the entire Leg Thread. I was completely shocked. He wassmiling, but most improbable of all was that he stood up after and started to squat. I askedhim if he was in pain and he said that he felt so good he wanted to try. It was the first timethat he was able to body weight squat without pain! Are you going to get the same result? Isit going to happen as fast? I can’t really tell you that, but being persistent and staying true tothe concepts can help you accomplish some pretty amazing things!

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One of the concepts that Leg Threading taught him was not necessarily to just drive harderthrough his lower body, but how important integrating the body really becomes in buildingstrength and stability. In Leg Threading, the best example is what happens with the arm.Once we are in the sitting position, we want to make sure that we corkscrew the support armin the same manner that we used in the Lateral Bag Drags. I am constantly amazed how timeand time again, emphasizing the corkscrew can make or break the bridge. By corkscrewingthe arm, we engage the lat and cause a chain reaction throughout the whole body. Wheresomeone can’t bridge one moment, as soon as they engage the upper body, it becomes almosteffortless. The correct arm position is what is going to help us move the lower body in alltypes of angles.

The actions of bridging and supporting of the arm allows us to move our straight leg all theway across the body. If we freeze the motion in time, we see a different version of a SidePlank. Instead of just working on hitting the lateral side of the trunk, we are combining itwith stability of the arm and hip as well. Whether you want to use this as a “core” drill, a“warm-up” to your overhead work, or a finisher, Leg Threading has so many terrific applica-tions because of how many issues it addresses at one time!

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BUILDINGMUSCLE?

e talked a lot about concepts like functional training throughout thisentire book. While it may sound great to build strength that transfers to

the real world and increases our overall health, you may still find your-self asking one question – will I look better?

The simple answer is YES! Of course, you have to remain consistent with other impor-tant factors such as nutrition and sleep. Seeing the amazing results people get from apply-ing the DVRT system even surprises me at times. It is the adherence to a program – basedupon strong principles and using an amazing tool – that seems to bring about such change.

The best part is that DVRT isn’t a program that requires you to live and breathe fitness.You don’t have to be a professional athlete, or perform two daily workouts to accomplishsignificant goals. Pedro Morales is a perfect example of someone who took his life backinto his own hands and dedicated himself to these very ideals. His results?

“Hands down the best program I’ve ever seen or been on, The program is sim-ply genius. Today February 7, 2012 I weigh 219.6 lbs. I haven’t broken the 220lb barrier in over a year, this is with 3-1/2 months of training, that’s 30.4 lbs ofweight, I definitely put on some muscle, so I know I lost a lot more then 30.4 lbsof fat. My energy levels are through the roof. The depression is gone. I feel strong& healthy. I’m getting my mobility back & my posture has improved we are talk-ing night & day deference, and this is just ½ way to my goal.”

Pedro’s story is not an anomaly; it is the result of dedication, consistency, and adherenceto the principles we have outlined here for the DVRT program. The DVRT system willgive you what you put into it. Can you build muscle? Absolutely! Can you shred fat? Ofcourse! Is it really possible to get in incredible shape with minimal space? No doubt!

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The Ultimate Sandbag has so much versatility we didn’t even cover in this book. I didn’twant you to get into all the exercises that are possible with the Ultimate Sandbag. Instead,my goal was to introduce you to a new way of thinking about fitness programs. In thatspirit, I will touch on a few exercises that are highly effective but didn’t quite fit into thejourney I was hoping to take you through.

Bent-Over RowsIn the very early sections of this book, I outlined the many benefits of the Bent-Over

Row. What I did not discuss were the incredible combinations that you can create and theways you can manipulate the system for different exercise goals.

The Ultimate Sandbag is a far more powerful tool than people realize. The fact that wehave so many gripping options is only one element. Changing the grip you take on yourrows will change some of the muscle activation in the upper body. I have provided the tablebelow to give you some idea of how changing the grip on your Ultimate Sandbag can alterthe outcome of your bent-over row variations.

Grip Option Mechanical Advantage Stability LevelSupinated Strong Focus More on Biceps Involvement and Lats

Neutral Strong Good Combination of Biceps and Scapula Retractors

Pronated Moderate Less Biceps and More Focus on Scapula Retraction

End Cap Rows Minimal Grip Will be Limiting Factor and the Center of Mass Will Be Away from Grip

Off-Set Moderate (Depends Creates a Unique on Above Gripping Asymmetrical Loading Options) Variable

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Supinated Bent-Over Rows.

Neutral Bent-Over Rows.

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Prontated Bent-Over Rows.

End CapBent-Over Rows.

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Off-Set Bent-Over Rows.

Bonus one Grip Bent-Over Rows.

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The unique emphasis on gripping the Ultimate Sandbag also allows us to use more of themuscles used in the upper body. Therefore, we not only have grip position, but extraemphasis in some variations on grip strength as well. We have to select the right variationfor our goals.

Don’t worry, if you don’t know which one is right for you, simply rotate the type everyfew weeks. I often recommend that people incorporate two versions in a training cycle,with a third day being devoted to drills like pull-ups. Why a ratio of 1:2? I find most liftersdon’t have good scapular retraction and need to learn how to perform retraction of theshoulders correctly. They often lack strength in this area. Many lifters forget that as goodas pull-ups are, they also tend to cause internal rotation of the shoulders if done too fre-quently. Considering many people already suffer from rounded shoulders, I want to prior-itize correcting this issue.

Along with variation, work through tempo. As mentioned in our first discussion of theBent-Over Row, many people simply rush through the movement. Work on slower lower-ing tempos. Add pauses and use different repetition schemes. If this all feels a bit over-whelming, don’t worry, you can also follow some of the workouts I am providing at theend of this book.

Biceps CurlsSince functional training has gained such popularity in both the fitness industry and gen-

eral population, exercises such as biceps curls have almost become outlawed! As withmany new concepts, we tend to suffer from an overreaction to some of the concepts. Aredrills like biceps curls bad? Of course not. The better question is: how many of them do weperform and how much of our workout do they make up?

Biceps can be very useful and teach us important lessons about movement. The currentfitness overemphasizes going hard and fast all the time. No wonder injuries accumulatefaster and goals are never met. All of us can benefit from preparing our bodies for moreintense training. You don’t think bicep curls are important? Some of the strongest athletesin the world may disagree with you!

Competitive strongmen have long used biceps curls to help prevent bicep tears. Theimmense strain placed on both the tendon and muscle during classic strongman events likestones and farmer’s walks make biceps curls part of the strongman arsenal. Listen to theadvice of top-level amateur strongman and strength coach, Jason Nunn: “Distal bicepstears are very common in strongman. Doing these high rep curls will help develop the ten-sile strength of the tendons involved.” Don’t think doing a few sets of biceps curls will getyou kicked out of the functional training coaches club!

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We must go beyond the biceps to maximize the benefits of performing this much-maligned exercise. Take your eyes off what is happening at the arm. If we zoom out, wecan see that biceps curls actually work the upper back and core to a great degree, especiallyas the weight gets heavier or our grip gets stressed more. When the weight sits in front ofour body in the initial phase of the biceps curl, we have to actively pull our shoulders downand back, while locking our legs and tightening the glutes.

That’s right! Many of the same tips I have given for so many other DVRT to producestability apply here as well. All too often people allow their shoulders to round forwardand crunch into the weight when they perform biceps curls. If you follow the tips of DVRTstability, you will find that your upper back and core get hit almost as hard as your biceps.They don’t move, though. They learn how to fight the weight of the Ultimate Sandbagpulling them forward. Another chance to teach the concepts of good movement doesn’tsound like a waste of time to me at all!

Biceps Curls.

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Just like the Bent-Over Row, the Ultimate Sandbag biceps curl has many variations. Notonly can we curl it from a few different handle positions, not only can we curl it from dif-ferent body positions, and not only can we make it one handed or two, We can also placethe Ultimate Sandbag in some unique holding positions.

My favorite is placing the Ultimate Sandbag in a vertical position. Instead of holdingonto the handles of the Ultimate Sandbag, you are now holding onto the Ultimate Sandbagitself. This changes two important variables. The most obvious is that by no longer holdingthe handles, our fingers and grip are taxed to a higher degree. Just like the Bent-Over Row,this will actually increase the usage of our upper body muscles and really work the arms.Getting grip and biceps strength is a double bonus!

Grip Curls.

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Less obvious until you actually perform Grip Curls is that by holding the UltimateSandbag vertically, we have a lot of weight pulling against us. The weight of the UltimateSandbag usually feels heavier in this position, probably because of the unique combinationof leverage and grip strength. Using grip curls at the end of a workout or as part of a circuitis effective and remains true to our ideals of functional training.

Don’tcompensate.

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CarriesThe concept of carrying weight has become popular once again – relatively speaking, at

least. The idea of walking around with weight may seem a bit odd for some. Old timestrongmen, though, greatly believed in the idea that how much weight you could carry wasa sign of your overall strength. There were three attributes that made for a good strong-man: how much weight they could pick up from the ground, how much weight they couldput overhead, and how much weight they could carry.

Having competed in more modern day strongman competitions, I can tell you carryingweight hits muscles that are simply hard to explain. Some coaches like Dan John believethat carrying weight can be completely transformational. He explains, “The loaded carrydoes more to expand athletic qualities than any other single thing I’ve attempted in mycareer as a coach and athlete. And I do not say that lightly.”

What is it that makes carrying weight so unique? When you hold weight, your bodyinstantly starts to feel the compression. To maintain your postural alignment, both thelarge and small muscles of the body have to become very active. This combination of allthese muscles working together helps activate your body’s natural weight belt system tocreate stability for the spine. Is that it, though?

I think the combination of this compression and walking adds dimension to this type oftraining. After all, if you are performing many of the drills in the DVRT system, beingunder compression of weight is not a new idea. DVRT drills like Front Loaded Squats,Shoulder Lunges, and even Lateral Bag Drags and Overhead Pressing all require a greatdeal of compression in the trunk. I believe things differ when you add the simple act ofwalking.

Walking wouldn’t seem to complicate things. After all, we do it every day. Walking withweight changes the game because the feel of the weight differs with every step. As with allour DVRT drills, the goal is not simply to complete the task, but also to correctly performthe movement. The weight in loaded carries tries to alter our postural alignment, anddepending upon which holding position we choose, it can change what areas of the bodywe feel being stressed.

Those that are somewhat familiar with loaded carries might instantly think of the exer-cise called farmer’s walks. A farmer walk is simply carrying a weight down by your side asyou walk. It’s a simple sounding task, but not so easy to perform. The farmer’s walk is agood drill, but I like some of our DVRT options even better.

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The DVRT and Ultimate Sandbag variations move the weight from down by our sidesto much higher positions. This simple change often completely alters the feel of carryingweights. A higher carrying position requires more work from the trunk, upper back, andin some instances, arms as well. Why do most people favor the farmer’s walk? To be per-fectly honest, it is due to the fact you can handle more weight and it is much easier than thewalking variations I am about to describe. But if you are up for the challenge, here is oursystem of loaded carries:

Bear HugThe Bear Hug comes back as our founda-

tional holding position because it allows us tomaintain a more upright torso position. Fartoo often, lifters will get into loaded carryingpositions and begin to lean back to counterbalance the weight on the body. Such a com-pensation is a big no-no, as it only puts thelower back under more shear. The overallgoal of any of the loaded carries is to maintainas undisturbed a walking posture as possible,not just heave the heaviest weight possible.

The Bear Hug walk calls heavily upon thearms and upper back, along with the trunk, tomaintain a tall walking posture. While walk-ing, you will find that your breathing becomesshortened because your body must maintainthe tension through the trunk. Learning totake shorter and timely breaths is key to keep-ing the duration of the loaded carry at chal-lenging levels. However, this unique fatiguethat loaded carries such as the Bear Hug walkprovide are exactly what make people tire inthe first place. Becoming more proficient andsimply more fit with these carries will goalong way toward improving some of yourother lifts and specific conditioning as well. Tactical athletes such as fireman should per-form such work because of the unique stress of their jobs. Being under heavy loads forlong periods of time is a type of fatigue that can’t be simulated by just classic running orother conditioning methods.

The Bear Hug Carry.

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Front HoldMy personal favorite is the Front Hold position walks. Why? These exercises are both

challenging and highly accessible. Since we have already paralleled all Front Hold posi-tions to the Front Plank, we can quickly see this becomes a walking plank. By taking theUltimate Sandbag from the Bear Hug to the Front Hold position, we also have changedthe body’s center of mass making it even harder to hold our walking posture. This is oneof those drills you feel pretty instantly. As soon as you take that first step you can feel yourcore turning on big time! The body isn’t just fighting the pull of the Ultimate Sandbag for-wards, but the walking action causes lateral forces to torch the obliques as well!

The higher holding position of the Front Hold additionally increases the work load onthe upper back and arms. I have seennumerous lifters fail in their ability to holdtheir shoulders in the classic “down andback” position because their lats and upperback fatigue. If you can perform the FrontHold walk well, you will feel as though youjust got done with a tough set of pull-ups inyour upper back!

The FrontHold Carry.

Don’t leanback.

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ShoulderThe Shoulder position is often the trickiest of the loaded carries. I see it all the time on

the internet. Guys and gals load up their shoulders and try to run or walk. Unfortunately,you see all types of compensations. You see people’s hips sitting to one side, their trunksleaning, and even knees caving! The Shoulder loaded carry requires even more attentionthan the Shoulder Squat because of the instability walking causes through the pelvis.

Our goal hasn’t changed from the Bear Hug to the Shoulder loaded carry. We don’twant to see our walking stance altered. Doing so will most definitely result in sore, if notinjured, low backs. Most people allow a collapse of their torso to one side, completelyoverloading structures like the quadratus lumborum. A funny-sounding muscle that youdon’t want to make angry! The result can sometimes be almost as painful as a disc injury!

Attention to quality of movement is key inboth getting the desired result and keepingyou clear of harm. Being disciplinedenough to follow these standards will pro-vide you with some powerful strengthgains.

TheShoulder

Carry.Don’t

compensatelaterally.

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OverheadThe Overhead position battles

closely with the Shoulder position forthe role of most challenging loadedcarry position. The more balancedloading position makes it somewhateasier to maintain good alignment,but the longer lever arm definitelymakes walking quite the challenge.Add in the fact that the UltimateSandbag provides more instability inthis position, and you have one heckof a feat of stability and strength.

I must preface the rest of thedescription of the Overhead loadedcarry with the fact we have to ensureyou have the upper body flexibility toget into the correct position. Muchlike the Shoulder holding position,many people compensate greatly dur-ing their Overhead loaded carries.Compensations, though, are not sub-tle; they usually come in the form of a really bigcurve in the low back. As I discussed in theOverhead pressing series, we don’t want to see anincreased curve in the low back at any point of theUltimate Sandbag being overhead.

Some people can actually start in the right pos-ture, but as soon as that first step is taken, theybegin to arch. If we start in the right position andthis type of compensation occurs, this could be due to a core weakness rather than aninability to move properly in the upper body. Learning how to brace more effectively whilepulling the shoulders down and back are keys to helping stabilize the trunk.

More unstable Ultimate Sandbags are really fun with Overhead loaded carries. As youpick up speed or walk longer, you will find the instability increases, making the body workharder. That means you don’t have to perform huge weights to get a great benefit from theDVRT Overhead loaded carries. Sometimes using a very unstable Ultimate Sandbag ismore than enough.

The Overhead

Carry.

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DVRTPROGRAMMING

o far I have provided you the pieces to the puzzle. Exercises and progressionsare really just pieces of a program. The art of fitness comes from understandinghow to put these pieces together to match your goals. Some people get over-

whelmed by all the movements that are possible in our DVRT program. andcan’t even imagine how to put it all together. Going back to principles, though, you will seethat it is relatively easy to piece together a well thought-out plan for your fitness goals.

Is a program really necessary, though? Should I just go by how I feel that day? Doesn’t aplan keep me from addressing the unpredictability of life? Isn’t “confusing” my muscles farmore effective than following a consistent program? These are the questions that the cur-rent fitness climate breeds. Truthfully, I find these to be excuses that are not founded onmuch science, but are rather a result of our culture’s tendency to suffer from varying levelsof A.D.D.

In an era where we communicate with 140 characters and check the news in literally sec-onds, our desire to spend any appreciable time thinking about what and how we wish toaccomplish our fitness goals seems to go far against the grain. Yet, if you look at successfulorganizations, they all have a strong foundation and a good plan. How many Fortune 500companies do you think are built without a business plan? How many times do generals gointo battle without a plan? Would you feel good if your doctor didn’t have a plan for treat-ment of an illness? While it may seem ridiculous to some to put your fitness program in thesame category as business, military, or medicine, the reality is it isn’t too far off. To get aspecific result, you need a specific plan.

What most people don’t understand is that a training program is just that – a plan. Youcan think of a plan as providing you direction or being a map. It is hard to find where youare going if you don’t have a map or directions. Yet this is the very way people addresstheir fitness goals all the time.

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Don’t get me wrong, your plan and program won’t always be right. They will need to betweaked, re-evaluated, and altered to the unpredictable variables that life will throw atyou. Knowing the rules means you understand when it is necessary to break the rules. Asstrength coach Charles Staley says, “You can’t deviate from a system you do not have.” Ifwe do not have a plan, we cannot even attempt to identify why we are not making theprogress we desire. It also means that we don’t even really know what is working so wecan continue to implement the successful ideas. To help you better understand the value ofprogramming, let me quickly dispel many of these common programming myths.

Truth: The reality is that your body needs to get somewhat accustomed to a program.Since many of the early changes in a program (yes, any program) are due to the brain coor-dinating the body more efficiently, we need to allow some adaptation to occur so that themuscles and metabolic systems can be more appropriately challenged. Think of a programlike riding a bike. The first few times you feel unsteady, you can’t really balance, and thenafter a few times you start to smooth it out. You can then ride faster, longer, and moreaggressive trails. Your program is very similar; you can’t really train the muscles or otheraspects of fitness if you don’t allow some familiarity with the program. Otherwise yourbody is always learning how to “steady the bike,” and doesn’t get much better at anything.

Still a bit doubtful about how effective this concept is for training? If you don’t thinkhaving a program works in fitness, look at the performance of Olympic athletes in track &field, gymnastics, weightlifting, and heck, most sports. They all work off of a plan.

The truth is at some point, our body becomes too efficient and changing the program isnecessary. Researchers find this time from to be somewhere between 4 and 8 weeks. Abeginner can be on a program longer than a well-trained individual. This is due to the factthe more advanced trainee has a more efficient nervous system.

I need to keep my body guessing!

MYTH 1

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Truth: There are many issues with this line of thinking. Possibly most notable is the factthat those that preach this concept actually do not have much random work in their train-ing. Many of these individuals are merely trying to justify doing what they like and aregood at. It is shocking to see those that promote the idea of random workouts usually cen-ter their training around 5 to 10 specific lifts. Not too much randomization there at all!

Focusing on what we like and what we are good at is not unusual, and even a programcan’t prevent this altogether. However, if you sit down and really analyze your program-ming, the truth is usually very glaring. Making a commitment to yourself by putting yourweaknesses first in your workouts is a very powerful way to achieve progress much faster.

Let’s address the whole predictability factor now. Even unpredictability in the world ofsport requires planning. Whether you have played American football, basketball, baseball,tennis, lacrosse, soccer, or pretty much anything, you practice and prepare for the sport.You spend a considerable amount of time developing the skills and abilities that are neces-sary for high level performance in your sport. Of course, each of these sports has a strongelement of unpredictability – from weather and the elements to facing a highly skilled ath-lete. Your opponent has also trained, has specific strengths and weaknesses, and has devel-oped a strategy and plan they want to execute. You have to both react to your opponentand perform at the highest possible level.

In most team sports, the most successful coaches are those who can make adjustmentsduring the game. However, adjustments are based upon the foundation of a great plan.How would you feel if you knew the coach of your favorite team went into the champi-onship game with no game plan, no strategy, and just said they were going to react to theunpredictability of the game? Such an approach would seem odd on many accounts. Just asthe coach would have to make adjustments to a game plan, it is very likely you, over time,will have to do the same to your training. This doesn’t make a program wrong or unneces-sary. Quite the opposite, you will find knowing which aspect to change is far easier than ashotgun approach.

My program needs to be random to meet the unpredictability of Life

MYTH 2

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Truth: A training program is not etched in stone, and is not designed to remove the joyfrom training. In coaching for over 20 years, I can tell you that there is a great deal of funin accomplishing specific goals. The opposite happens with random workouts. You willfind often find these individuals constantly searching for more novel exercises and uniquetraining tools to make up for the fact they don’t find themselves getting any closer to actu-ally reaching their individual goals. This becomes a pursuit that seems to have no end, astrying to find a new stimulus every workout becomes time consuming and more times thannot, futile.

If, after reading this book, you don’t see how to make purposeful progressions, I haven’tdone my job. The goal of the first section of this book was to describe how simple it is tomake a small change that yields big results. We have the power to have fun and still stayfocused. One of the biggest challenges in achieving goals is possessing the dedication to stayon a path toward accomplishing your goals. DVRT is set up to help you have variety. Italso helps you avoid forgetting the big picture of achieving your specific goals!

The Beginner ProgramWhat makes for a beginner program? If you have had a three month or more period of

time off from training, I would ask you to start in the beginner’s section. While threemonths does not seem to be a great deal of time, certain fitness qualities can drop rapidly,and rebuilding and preparing the body for more intense forms of training will definitelyallow for a faster return to your previous fitness levels.

The focus of the beginner program is to teach proficiency for the foundational move-ments. I want you to get better at them because they will serve as a strong base for everyother form of training we implement. Many of these movements have us working in bothstable holding and body positions to help us feel more confident with these foundationalmovements. Therefore, show some discipline and patience with the training. Trying to rushto the more intense variations is something that far too many people try to do. You’ll onlybe met with plateaus and early stagnation in your training.

Designing a program takes all the“fun” out of training.

MYTH 3

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How Much Weight?One of the most challenging aspects of the DVRT program is to provide you with guide-

lines on what size and weight of USB to use. I am going to provide you some general rec-ommendations. However, these are just that – general. If you need to adjust the weighteither up or down, make sure to do so . As a base I recommend women work with a PowerUSB between 25-30 pounds and men with a Strength USB at 50-60 pounds. In reality, youare going to do best with one additional USB – women with one heavier USB and men withone lighter USB. This would be a Strength USB at about 40 pounds for women and a PowerUSB at 30 pounds for men. While this may seem like a more significant investment, thetruth is that you will find your gym almost complete with just these two sizes.

How Often?The beginner programs are based upon a three day a week training schedule. While some

of you may be capable of handling more, it doesn’t mean you are necessarily better servedby performing even more workouts. It is normal in our culture to think more is always bet-ter. Remember that even good training like the DVRT system is still considered a stress tothe body. The key with any fitness training is to apply the right amount of stress to thebody, while still allowing the body to recover and improve overall fitness. The old gymadage that, “you grow outside of the gym, not in it” rings very true.

If you doubt that three days a week of focused training can produce strong results, thenit may be better to hear the same idea from another source. Weightlifting championTommy Kono is one of the most legendary American strength athletes. He’s also a pioneerin the sport of Olympic Weightlifting. He explains, “You can train 2 or 3 times a day, 5-6days a week like the Europeans, but it doesn’t necessarily mean you will improve that muchfaster.” Moreover, he opines, it may lead to overtraining, injury and bad habits that comefrom lifting tired. Says Kono, “Training three times a week tends to create more enthusi-asm, and because you enjoy the training, you put more heart and soul into it and reap thebenefit of improving faster.” If it is good enough for a world champion then it may be wiseto give it a try yourself.

This doesn’t mean that you should not participate in any additional activity. Quite theopposite, the non-scheduled training days can have activities such as yoga, hiking, andother enjoyable training that is lower intensity. These non-scripted training days can bevery helpful in facilitating greater recovery, building a stronger foundation, and keeping themind fresh and excited. Being excited to train is an important aspect of developing a pro-gram. Most people believe that they must painfully go through every workout, dreadingevery minute of it. You will be far better served if you find how to make training a moreenjoyable habit.

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What if the workouts are too easy or too difficult?

My rant in the earlier part of this chapter reinforced that programs are plans. You canalter the plan if it is not working for your own personal fitness levels. Coaches do this allthe time for their clients, so absolutely feel free to adjust the program to your needs. One ofthe most obvious factors you can change is simply the weight of the USB. However, ourassumption is that you are really using no more than two USBs for your training.Therefore, you might find the weight perfect for some exercises and too heavy or light forothers. What do you do?

If you find the weight of the USB too light, then our first variable is speed. Begin to con-sciously slow down the speed with which you lower the Ultimate Sandbag. A 5-6 secondcount is as long as we typically extend the eccentric phase. That doesn’t mean at selecttimes you can’t be a masochist and work up to ten seconds! Talk about brutal. That isn’tthe only way we can manipulate speed. Adding pauses in the bottom position of the lift isa great way to not only make the weight of the USB feel heavier, but to spike up the heartrate and build tremendous strength. Pauses of 3-5 seconds are a tremendous way of incor-porating deliberate pauses. Legendary bodybuilding innovator Arthur Jones spoke exten-sively about the use of altered tempos for building a strong body.

In these introductory workouts, we use typically stable holding and body positions. Thatmeans you can try to introduce less stable holding or body positions to DVRT drills youfind too easy. That might mean performing a Front Loaded Squat instead of Bear Hug. Itcould mean performing Staggered Deadlifts in place of our standard bilateral deadlifts.This might be a bit challenging to integrate until you become more familiar with these pro-gressions. Altering speed and load will serve as your tools for making your DVRT work-outs more challenging until then.

Let’s look at the other side – what if the workouts are too hard? Of course, reducing theload of your USB is an option. However, you may find yourself running into the sameissues as before. Some DVRT drills are perfect with the weight, and others are far tooheavy. Moving too quickly isn’t ideal when we are trying to develop quality movement pat-terns. Speed probably won’t be the variable that we manipulate the most; we want to main-tain a pretty consistent moderate tempo.

That leaves us with volume and rest intervals. What is volume? Think of volume as thesets and repetitions. You will find that there are ranges for both. This gives you the freedomto alter and progress in your workouts without just adding weight. By adjusting sets andreps, we realize that the real world can often factor into the quality of your workouts. Oneof the best known scientists in performance and fitness training, Dr. Mel Siff, called this

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type of training “cybernetic periodization.” This futuristic term simply referred to the ideathat technique, volume, and load may have to be altered workout to workout. You mayfind yourself exhausted from a long day of work, stressed by all of life’s commitments, ora host of real world activities. In such situations you can work on the lower end of both setand repetition schemes. If you are having a great day, then you can push the upper limits –simple, but often underrated.

Can you go below either the sets or repetitions I recommend? Of course! If you find asingle set to be the only way to get your workout in, then I am all for it. Science has shownthat cumulative training delivers a result, not a singular workout. Therefore, keeping onyour schedule is more important than how much you killed yourself that day. Sometimesdoing less but actually moving will help your body recover, and does help to maybe relievesome stress and elevate your mood. I can’t tell you how many times I considered skippinga workout, but decided to alter my program just in the manner I am describing and endedup finishing the workout feeling good and upbeat. A complete 180 from how I felt prior toperforming the training session.

The rest intervals also play a key role. Most people don’t pay attention to the rest timein between sets. Yet they play a large part in the outcome and intensity of the training ses-sion. It probably wouldn’t surprise you to hear that most people try to keep their rest inter-vals as short as possible. Does this help in improving fitness? Absolutely! However, thisapproach is very intense, and the great majority of people cannot do it on a consistentbasis without overtraining. Just like weight or the number of training sessions, making therest intervals harder and harder isn’t always better.

This is especially true for beginner workouts. Building great technique as a foundation isso very important for getting great results. Having too little rest between exercises or setscan cause fatigue to accumulate so quickly that technique often suffers. Having a bit morerest allows us to train much harder and maintain technique in our earlier phases. As we gothrough the different levels, we will place greater demand on your ability to perform whilefatigued. That means you are more than free to increase the rest intervals if you find your-self tiring out so fast during the workout you feel like you aren’t performing the DVRTdrills well any longer. Start by adding 15-30 seconds and see if that makes the workoutmuch more feasible.

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Weeks 1-6 BeginnerWorkout 1Exercise Sets Repetitions Rest IntervalsA1. Deadlift 2-3 12-15 60 seconds

A2. Overhead Press 2-3 8-10 60 seconds

A3. Bear Hug Squats 2-3 8-10 60 seconds

A4. Bent-Over Row 2-3 10-12 60 Seconds

A5. Front Plank 2-3 30-45 seconds 60 seconds

Workout 2Exercise Sets Repetitions Rest IntervalsA1. Front Hold Squat 2-3 30 seconds 60 secondswith 2 second pause at bottom

A2. Bent-Over Row 2-3 30 seconds 60 seconds

A3. High Pull 2-3 30 seconds 60 seconds

A4. Push Press 2-3 30 seconds 60 Seconds

A5. Side Plank 2-3 30 seconds 60 seconds

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Workout 3Exercise Sets Repetitions Rest IntervalsA1. Staggered Deadlift 2-3 8-10 each side 60 seconds

A2. Kneeling Half Press 2-3 6-8 60 seconds

A3. Front Loaded 2-3 8-10 per side 60 secondsDrop Lunge

A4. Body Weight 2-3 5-8 60 Seconds

A5. Around the World 2-3 10-12 per side 60 seconds

Weeks 7-13 BeginnerWorkout 1Exercise Sets Repetitions Rest IntervalsA1. High Pull 1-2 10/8/6 As little rest as possible

A2. Chin-ups 1-2 3/2/1 As little rest as possible

B1. Bear Hug 2-3 5-6 per side 60 secondsStaggered Squat

B2. Kneeling Press 2-3 6-8 60 Seconds

B3. Inch Worm 2-3 8-10 60 seconds

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Workout 2Exercise Sets Repetitions Rest IntervalsA1. Front Hold 2-3 30 seconds 45 secondsForward Lunge

A2. Bent-Over 2-3 30 seconds 45 secondsHand Grip Rows

A3. Front Hold 2-3 30 seconds 45 secondsGood Mornings

A4. Military Push Press 2-3 30 seconds 45 seconds

A5. Side Plank 2-3 30 seconds 45 secondswith Knee Tuck per side

Workout 3Exercise Sets Repetitions Rest IntervalsA1. Staggered Deadlift 2-3 8-10 per side 60 seconds

A2. Drop Lunge to 2-3 5-8 per side 60 secondsHalf Kneeling Press

A3. Bear Hug Squat 2-3 6-8 60 secondswith 3 second pause at bottom

A4. Staggered 2-3 6-8 per side 60 SecondsBent-Over Row

A5. Hand to Chest 2-3 8-10 per side 60 secondsTouches from Push-up position

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IntermediateWhat qualifies someone for an intermediate program? If you have a minimum of six

months of training behind you, you may attempt these programs. This doesn’t ensure thatyou have worked on these specific movement skills long enough that you are going to feelproficient. If you find that the following programs feel like they are too much either on thefitness or movement side, definitely jump to the beginner programs. Don’t worry, justbecause I have labeled them “beginner” doesn’t mean that a host of ability levels wouldn’tbenefit from performing them. After all, not being familiar with the Ultimate Sandbag maymake these workouts initially much more challenging. It is possible that after a month ofthe beginner programs, you will feel much more confident tackling these intermediateworkouts.

As we progress through the different levels, you are going to see more variables beingmanipulated at one time. The thought is that as your fitness and movement skills continueto improve, your ability to tolerate more intense workouts and exercises will improve aswell. What are you going to see? We will definitely be working on challenging your abilityto stabilize your body under various conditions. Some exercises will focus on changingbody positions, while others will challenge your holding position by working one side ofthe body at a time. We will incorporate specific tempos, and finally repetition, set, and restintervals that will be relevant to the intermediate level.

Weeks 1-6 IntermediateWorkout 1Exercise Sets Repetitions Rest IntervalsA1. Rear Step Deadlift 3-4 6-8 per side 30 seconds

A2. Clean and Press 3-4 5-6 30 seconds

A3. Front Loaded 3-4 5-8 30 seconds1 1/4 Squat

A4. Off-Set Grip Rows 3-4 8-10 per side 30 seconds

A5. Super Plank 3-4 6-10 30 seconds

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Workout 2Exercise Sets Repetitions Rest IntervalsA1. Right Shoulder 2-3 10/8/6/4 As little rest Drop Lunge as possible

A2. Right Off-Set 2-3 5/4/3/2 As little rest Push Press as possible

A3. Left Shoulder 2-3 10/8/6/4 As little rest Drop Lunge as possible

A4. Left Off-Set 2-3 5/4/3/2 As little rest Push Press as possible

B1. Chin-ups 2-3 3-5 30 seconds

B2. Kneeling 2-3 5-6 per side 30 secondsAround the World

Workout 3Exercise Sets Repetitions Rest IntervalsA1. Power Clean to 3-4 30 seconds 30 secondsFront Hold Good Morning

A2. Kneeling Press 3-4 30 seconds 30 seconds

A3. Rotational High Pulls 3-4 30 seconds 30 seconds

A4. Side Plank 3-4 30 seconds 30 secondswith Reach per side

A5. Grip Curls 3-4 30 seconds 30 seconds

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Weeks 7-13 IntermediateWorkout 1Exercise Sets Repetitions Rest IntervalsA1. Staggered High Pulls 3-4 8-10 per side 30 seconds with rest between sides

A2. Military 1 1/4 Press 3-4 5-8 30 seconds(1/4 at the top)

A3. Front Loaded 3-4 6-8 per side 30 secondsFront Lunge

A4. Kneeling 3-4 8-10 per side 30 secondsFront Body Circles

A5. Single Leg Bridge 3-4 6-8 per side 30 secondsto Pullover

Workout 2Exercise Sets Repetitions Rest IntervalsA1. Slow Rotational 2-3 10/8/6/4 As little rest Lunge with Pause as possibleat Bottom

A2. Clean and Press 2-3 6/4/2/1 As little rest as possible

B1. Shoveling 2-3 30 seconds 30 seconds

B2. Leg Threading 2-3 30 seconds 30 seconds per side

B3. Body Rows 2-3 30 seconds 30 secondswith Hip Hinge per side

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Workout 3Exercise Sets Repetitions Rest IntervalsA1. Shoulder to Shoulder 5 5 with 2 second 30 secondsSquat Right pause at bottom

A2. Mixed Chin-up Right 5 5 30 seconds

A3. Shoulder to 5 5 with 2 second 30 secondsSquat Left pause at bottom

A4. Mixed Chin-up Left 5 5 30 seconds

B1. Lateral Step 2 40 seconds 20 secondsHigh Pulls

B2. Side Plank with 2 40 seconds 20 secondsRow Right (switch every 20 seconds)

B3. Front Load Carry 2 40 seconds 20 seconds

AdvancedThe word advanced can be a dangerous one. There is a great deal of responsibility that

comes with being a more advanced trainee. Being advanced does not just refer to a fitnesslevel or strength ability. It is the ability to combine how well we move, integrate muscles inour body, and yes, our strength and fitness.

As we move to more advanced DVRT programs I also expect that you are able to getmore out of each movement. One reason that you see a change in the amount of repeti-tions performed is that at this point, we really should be able to work at an intensity thatgets us more out of doing less. We can handle heavier Ultimate Sandbags, as well as movein less stable patterns, along with working a the full spectrum of speeds.

One of the biggest differences from a beginner to a more advanced trainee is the abilityto move efficiently, with the assistance of a well-trained nervous system. Strength CoachCharles Poliquin describes neurological efficiency very effectively:

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“Neurological efficiency refers to how effectively an individual recruits thehigher threshold muscle fibers, and is of special concern to prepubescent athletesand all female athletes. Having these groups focus on sets of 1-2 reps may not bean efficient use of training time as they often cannot recruit a significant numberthe high-threshold fibers in the first place, especially if they have no previousweight training experience.”

This is why more advanced lifters can focus on a few complex lifts, where a beginnerneeds to build a strong body and gain exposure to a wider spectrum of movement patterns.

There are people who can get to the advanced DVRT workouts rather quickly, but start-ing at the beginner or intermediate workouts might be more advantageous. Even if you dohave an extensive background in functional training, the unfamiliarity of the DVRT move-ments and Ultimate Sandbag take a little bit of time. After a month’s worth of training youcan try the first phase of the advanced workout series.

Weeks 1-6 AdvancedWorkout 1Exercise Sets Repetitions Rest IntervalsA1. Rotational Clean to 5 5 30 secondsFront Hold 1 1/4 Squat

A2. Pull-ups 5 5 30 seconds

B1. Shoulder Drop 3-4 6-8 per side 30 secondsLunge to Balance (increase hold time on balance up to 3 seconds)

B2. Lateral Bag Drag 3-4 5-6 per side 30 secondswith Push-up (incorporate up to 3 second pause at bottom of push-up) B3. Shoveling 3-4 10-15 per side 30 seconds

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Workout 2Exercise Sets Repetitions Rest IntervalsA1. Rotational Lunge to 2-3 12/10/8/6 As little rest Chest Height per side as possible then 2 minutes after the ladder

A2. Rotational Presses 2-3 6/4/2 As little rest Chest Height per side as possible then 2 minutes after the ladder

B1. Leg Threading 2-3 30 seconds 30 seconds per side

B2. Grip Rows 2-3 10-12 per side 30 seconds

B3. Cyclone 2-3 30 seconds 20 seconds per side

Workout 3Exercise Sets Repetitions Rest IntervalsA1. Lateral Step Shoulder 3-5 6-8 per side 30 seconds

A2. Off-Set Staggered 3-5 8-10 per side 30 secondsRows

B1. Shoulder Up Downs 3-5 8-10 per side 30 seconds

B2. Kneeling Press 3-5 6-8 30 seconds

B3. Around the Worlds 2-3 30 seconds 30 second break per side in between

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Weeks 7-13 AdvancedWorkout 1Exercise Sets Repetitions Rest IntervalsA1. Single Leg 2-3 5/4/3/2/1 As little rest Bent-Over Row per side as possible then 2 minutes after the ladder

A2. Staggered 2-3 5/4/3/2/1 As little rest Squat to Press per side as possible then 2 minutes after the ladder

B1. Rotational 2-3 30 seconds 30 secondsHigh Pulls

B2. Lateral Bag Drags 2-3 30 seconds 30 seconds

B3. Biceps Curls 2-3 30 seconds 30 seconds

Workout 2Exercise Sets Repetitions Rest IntervalsA1. Rotational Lunge 4-5 40 seconds 20 secondsto Clean alternating sides

A2. Push Press 4-5 40 seconds 20 seconds

A3. 1 1/4 Front 4-5 40 seconds 20 secondsLoaded Squat

A4. Leg Threading Right 4-5 40 seconds 20 seconds

A5. Leg Threading Left 4-5 40 seconds 20 seconds

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Workout 3Exercise Sets Repetitions Rest IntervalsA1. Lateral Step Clean 5 6 On the minute to Lateral Lunge Right for 20 minutes

A2. Staggered 5 6 On the minute for Clean and Press Right 20 minutes

A3. Lateral Step 5 6 On the minute for Clean to Lateral 20 minutesLunge Left

A4. Staggered 5 6 On the minute for Clean and Press Left 20 minutes

B1. Single Leg Bridge 2-3 6-8 per side 30 secondsto Pullover

B2. Side Plank 2-3 45-60 seconds 30 secondswith Leg Raise per side

Explaining DVRT ProgramsSome of the methods used in the DVRT programs may be familiar, and others may

appear to be a foreign language. There are many programs we can create using the DVRTsystem. They vary in their intent and stress, so you will see more or less at various levels oftraining. These methods are largely used to maximize the many benefits that DVRTUltimate Sandbag Training offers and minimize the one limitation of not being able to addincremental loads set to set. Once you understand how to perform these workouts, it willbecome much more obvious what we are trying to achieve.

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Standard Repetitions / Set ProtocolsMany people don’t think that we use standard sets and repetitions because we don’t

add incremental loads from set to set. That isn’t true at all, and keeping it more familiar atfirst allows people to focus primarily on the technique and not on the complexity of theworkout. In the early phases of training, we are going to perform more movements andestablish a good movement vocabulary by not really specializing. The repetitions aregoing to be higher and we are going to try to give enough practice and intensity to setforth a great base.

As discussed earlier, the standard repetition and set protocols allow us to have a range.If you are feeling great and want to push the upper limits of both sets and repetitions, thenyou are free to see if you can hit the high ends of both. If you can accomplish this, then thefollowing workout you can either add weight to your Ultimate Sandbag, or slightly reducethe rest time to see if you can repeat your performance. Most people tire though, and youwill see a drop off in performance from set to set. That isn’t a bad thing. We usually don’tprogress until the top end is achieved for both sets and repetitions. This is a simple buteffective gauge for progress.

Climbing the LadderThere is a problem. If I am recommending you NOT place your focus on changing the

weight of your Ultimate Sandbag, how in the world do you create workouts? I know, youmay be thinking you are going to perform some unimaginable number of repetitions, butthat isn’t it either. There is a secret that no one talks about. This is the fact that we have alot of great ways to make better workouts if we don’t focus on just “more weight.” Youhave to think outside the box of “how much and how many.” However, once you learn afew of these strategies, you are going to wonder why you never used them before!

These methods I am alluding to work particularly well for those pieces of equipment thatdon’t change weight easily. As I discussed in an earlier chapter, only the barbell is a tool towhich can add incremental weights. For other equipment such as dumbbells, kettlebells,even bands, you have to have more of them if you want to change the actual weight. So, isthe barbell the best tool to use? As discussed in “What is DVRT,” a focus on just goingheavier does little for long-term progress or health of your body. What do we do?

One of the most effective strategies I have found is the concept of ladders. What is a lad-der? I originally got the idea of ladders from kettlebell expert Pavel Tsastouline.Kettlebells originally came in three different sizes, with about 20 pound increment

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changes between them. Not very “incremental” at all, but that was the point. Kettlebellshad been used quite a bit by the Soviet military because with just a few pieces of equipment,you could perform a wide array of exercises and programs if you knew how to manipulateother training variables.

A ladder can be an ascending or descending series of repetitions. It is often best to alter-nate or superset two movements that really don’t compete with each other. Alternatingsquats and overhead presses typically works better than squats and cleans. Does it meanthat you CAN’T use both techniques? Absolutely not! However, I’ll be honest, combiningexercises that hit similar segments of the body is a lot more advanced than breaking up theregions of the body.

A typical ladders series may look like the following:

• Overhead Press 1/2/3/4/5

• Front Loaded Squats 1/2/3/4/5

The above series is accomplished by performing one repetition of each, then without rest,proceeding to two repetitions each, and so on until the series is completed, followed by 1 to2 minutes of rest.

Why is this method so effective? If you do the math that gives us 15 repetitions of eachexercise. Why not just perform 15 repetitions instead of using ladders? The ladder methodhas a few advantages. The first is that we can handle more weight for the 15 repetition lad-der style than the classic style. Whenever possible, using more weight (assuming combinedwith great technique) will yield better results for fat loss, strength gains, and overall bodyconditioning. What, wait, huh?! Did I not just spend the majority of this book talkingabout weight being overrated? Yes, and it is, but the role of weight is also easy to misunder-stand.

When most people create their fitness programs, they don’t focus on variables such aschanging stability and speed of motion. However, if we do change these variables and canuse the best weight for the movement, then absolutely we should take advantage of theopportunity. If you are using different instability techniques and playing with variables likespeed of motion, then yes, use the highest weight that allows you to have good technique!

Ladders also allow us to manage fatigue much more efficiently. In all honesty, when yousee most people perform a standard set of 15 repetitions, a great portion of the series is justflat out ugly because the lifter has accumulated so much fatigue. Whenever possible, wewant to keep the quality of work at a high level. Better work will always produce a superiorresult that just makes you tired, promise!

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Lastly, it is just more fun — as well as easier — to mentally focus on the work you areperforming, rather than counting what seems to be endless repetitions. You are more likelyto repeat a workout if you find it engaging rather than boring and uninteresting.

The example I provided above does not prevent us from using other forms of ladders. Wecan still utilize higher-repetition ladder schemes, but this typically is used along with exer-cises that have more of a “flow” to them rather than very definitive stops and starts. Hereare a few DVRT exercises that would fit higher repetition protocols:

— Rotational Lunge— Rotational High pull— Shoveling— Around the World— Lateral Lunge High Pull

Even some of our Ultimate Sandbag Training exercises that possess the common startsand stops can work well with higher repetitions due to the rhythmic motion you develop.Such exercises are:

— Power Cleans— Bear Hug Squats— Power Snatches— Front Loaded Good Mornings

I have provided a number of ladder workouts for you to try immediately and find thestyle that works best for you. In these workouts, I demonstrate a variety of different waysto integrate the ladder method and allow you to experience what these variations feel likein the scope of a well organized program. I am sure you will find them extremely challeng-ing. but they may also be among the most fun workouts you’ve ever performed!

Density TrainingThe idea of Density Training is new for a lot of people. It is not a training variable that

too many are familiar with programming, but some people are actually already usingDensity Training in their workouts. Density refers to doing the same amount of work inless time. For example, if you simply wanted to do 100 Bear Hug Squats and found you fin-ished in ten minutes, that would be your 100%. If you performed the same workout aweek later and finished in 9 minutes and 30 seconds, you would have improved your fit-ness in the realm of density. So, even though the weight hasn’t changed and you haven’t

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performed more repetitions, you finished the same amount of work in less time – improveddensity.

There are several forms of density training we can implement, but one of my personalfavorites is the idea of Escalating Density Training (EDT) developed by Strength CoachCharles Staley. There are a few benefits of using EDT as the primary means for attainingdensity in your workouts:

1. EDT makes it easier to measure your progress.

2. The EDT method allows you to easily adjust the training to your current fitness level.

3. EDT is a self-regulating system that will ensure you don’t end up venturing intounsafe training methods or overtraining.

EDT begins with finding a weight that you can use for about twenty repetitions. However,since weight isn’t our only factor or the easiest variable to adjust, you can also find the bestvariation of a movement. For example, Shoulder Staggered Squats may be too challenging toperform for twenty repetitions with your Ultimate Sandbag, but you can use the USB withFront Loaded Squats. Therefore, Front Loaded Squats are the variation you will incorporate.I have provided some outlines, but you can adjust the exercises if necessary.

Similar to ladders, you will find yourself alternating between two non-competing exer-cises, usually with the focus on different regions of the body (i.e. lower or upper). With thetwo exercises determined, we will set a time interval, usually about 10-15 minutes, for theworkout. The goal will be to perform the specified number of repetitions for each exercisewhile trying to take as little rest as possible between exercises.

What you will find is that you will rest less in the beginning, and as you tire, the restinterval will increase. Instead of counting mindless repetitions, the goal is to see how manysets you can perform in the allotted time. So if you are able to perform eight sets your firsttime , then the next time you perform the workout you will attempt to beat that number ofsets. The goal is obviously to rest less between sets. This is an easy way of tracking animprovement in your fitness levels.

You may be asking yourself, “Why such a light weight for a small number of repeti-tions?” Your goal is to perform anywhere from 8-15 sets. If you can do more than this, theweight is too light. If you can’t achieve the minimum of 8, the weight is too heavy. If youagain think about the design of the program, we can take the standard 20 repetitions and,let’s say, 3 sets. That yields us 60 repetitions, with probably half of them being less thanhigh quality. Performing 10-12 sets of 5-6 repetitions provides us the same amount ofwork, but with much higher quality of work.

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If you have never performed EDT or any form of density training before, I recommendyou find a good pace for the first workout. Let this be your standard, and through the fol-lowing workouts you can begin to push yourself to a new level while demonstrating greattechnique. Don’t worry about underestimating at first; it is often better to err on the side oftoo few rather than too many. Over a few workouts, you will find what works best for you!

Inferno IntervalsOne of my personal favorite methods is using intervals or timed sets in our programs.

Intervals allow you to focus on the quality of repetitions and work on another variableoutside of weight – speed. The faster you can perform an exercise with great technique,the closer you get to performing what we call High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).

What is HIIT and why should you care about using this style of training? HIIT is basi-cally short bouts of really intense exercise followed by a specific rest period. The key isboth the idea of “short bouts” and “intense” exercise. Research has shown that this styleof training is better for fat loss than traditional long duration, steady state “cardio”.

What researchers are realizing is the post-exercise recovery period may be extremelyinfluential on the overall outcome of a training program. To lose body fat, it is moreimportant to take into account the overall calories expended rather than the amount uti-lized from fat(1). Research shows that when the same number of calories are burned usinghigh-intensity and low-intensity exercise, the amount of body fat loss between thesegroups was not significant(2). In fact, a study performed by Tremblay et al.(3) examinedthe differences between endurance training (ET) and high-intensity intermittent-train-ing(HIIT). The endurance group performed their training for 20 weeks and burned anaverage of 120.4MJ per session. The HIIT group performed their program for 15 weekswith an average expenditure of 57.9MJ per session. In other words, the endurance groupburned more energy during their training sessions. However, the results of body fat testingshowed the HIIT group lost significantly more body fat. There has to be something hap-pening to the body beyond simple caloric expenditure.

Okay, why is the high-intensity group losing more body fat? There are a lot of theories,but no concrete facts. With exercise, basically everything is still theory and we just try toemploy effective methods. Knowing how the body works allows us to manipulate it forbetter results. One of the more popular theories is that high-intensity exercise will result ingreater post-exercise energy expenditure and fat utilization(4). This means you end upburning calories for hours afterward – some believe as many as 16 hours after training.

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Another theory is the influence of growth hormone(GH). GH is the anti-aging hormone,and also is effective at regulating body fat. A high production of GH is useful for maintain-ing low body fat levels. The body naturally produces GH in response to high levels of lacticacid. Lactic acid is responsible for the burning sensation you feel during strenuous exercise.As described in Kraemer and Fleck’s excellent text, Designing Resistance TrainingPrograms, “... this energy source [lactic acid] contributes a moderate-to-high percentage ofthe energy during activities composed of high-intensity work interspersed with rest periodsand high-intensity activities lasting longer than 25 s, such as interval run training andwrestling.” So, short rest intervals – 45 to 90 seconds – with anaerobic training lasting atleast 25 seconds cause high levels of lactic acid. This would cause a greater production ofGH, so in theory, greater body fat loss.

A third theory can be a little more confusing because more explanation of exercise phys-iology is necessary. During the recovery period of high-intensity exercise, higher levels offree fatty acids can be found, with increased use of fat during the recovery period.Rasmussen et al. found high-intensity exercise resulted in greater acetyl-CoA carboxylaseinactivation, which in English means an increased utilization of free fatty acid oxida-tion(5). Finally, many studies have also shown that high-intensity exercise suppressesappetite to a greater degree.

Maybe this is a bit more science than you are interested in seeing, but I do believe that itis important for people understand that science has shown us better ways to get fit. We justhave to implement the techniques the right way! What is the “right way”?

To be clear, this style of training is NOT easy. As I discussed earlier, the high effort isparamount in getting all the great body fat burning effects we are talking about. Casuallygoing through repetitions doesn’t cut it. Trying to perform as many repetitions with greattechnique in the amount of time designated is going to be your initial standard forimprovement.

The good news is that the bouts of “work” are typically 30-45 seconds. I find that goingto a minute usually causes too much fatigue, and going over 60 seconds also takes thetraining out of the HIIT style. Therefore, you have to work as hard as possible during thatspecified time frame. That may mean going faster (my preferred method), going heavier, oradvancing the exercise.

Don’t worry, there is a rest period, but that too is important. Typically rest will be quiteshort, only 15-60 seconds. If you are following these workouts and you are finding them tobe TOO intense, then increasing the rest time slightly is a great way of tailoring the workoutsto your own ability level. Instead of the traditional approach of just adding weight as youprogress, you can simply decrease the rest interval time until you are working in the desig-nated time frames. A good rule of thumb is decreasing your rest by 5 seconds every workout.

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Below is a practical example of how you can progress your intervals:

Week 1: Clean and Squat: 15 Seconds of Work, 60 Seconds of Rest

Week 2: Clean and Squat: 20 Seconds of Work, 55 Seconds of Rest

Week 3: Clean and Squat: 25 Seconds of Work, 50 Seconds of Rest

Week 4: Clean and Squat: 30 Seconds of Work, 45 Seconds of Rest

Intervals are a powerful tools for getting stronger and leaner. You can make them pro-gressive and fun. Your focus doesn’t have to be on counting endless reps, but on workingagainst the clock. You will be shocked how much more fun and challenging such workoutscan be when applied correctly.

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ARE YOUEXCITED YET?

y biggest concern with writing this book was not that you wouldn’tbelieve what I was suggesting is true and not that you wouldn’t think whatwe talked about was interesting. No, my worry is that you will never actu-ally try the DVRT system. I completely understand that what I just wrote

is a lot of information. It is asking you to change the way you see fitness and strength, it isasking you to differ from many other programs and ideas. I wouldn’t ask you to make allthese changes if I didn’t truly believe there was a better way.

Just because I believe it doesn’t mean that I don’t expect you to have some doubts. I amnot going to ask you to try the DVRT system because we have military personnel and eliteathletes using the programs, or because some of the top fitness facilities in the world areadopting these concepts. Rather, I want you to try DVRT because it can provide YOU withthe results you really want. But you can’t just sit there and read what I am talking about;reading will never help you achieve your fitness goals. Instead, you have to get up and getto work!

You can find literally hundreds of excuses for avoiding this challenge, but there is onebig reason you can’t afford to make excuses. That is the promise of such powerful results.When I ask you to “try” the DVRT system, I don’t mean for a workout or a week. I amasking that you do it for at least a month. It takes time to fully understand the depth of theprogram.

Many top fitness professionals and strength coaches need some time to appreciate thefull scope of the DVRT system. As Strength Coach Dave Quevedo recently wrote, “Themore and more I see the body positions of how parents hold their young children (infants& toddlers) the more my appreciation for Josh Henkin’s DVRT system and the UltimateSandbag grows. So many practical uses for the system and the tool.”

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When I say DVRT is so much more than a “sandbag” program, I really mean it. Itchanges the way you see every day activities, as Coach Quevedo mentioned. You start toreally evaluate what fitness and movement are all about. Most of all, you start addressingand accomplishing your OWN goals, not those that other people have for you!

In fact, if you had to break down DVRT into just two movements, I would suggest theClean and Press and Rotational Lunge. That’s right, just two! If you spend ten to fifteenminutes, five days a week, trying to knock out as many sets as possible of five repetitions ofthe Clean and Press and ten Rotational Lunges, I know you will see amazing changes. Iprobably could have written an entire book just on the value and power of these twomovements, but as I keep saying, I wanted to give you much more!

I don’t want you to have exercises. I want you to have a system, a philosophy. I don’twant this to be what you do just for the use of the Ultimate Sandbag. Instead, I wantDVRT to change how you see everything to do with fitness. That may be a lofty goal, butthat is why I am devoting my life to bringing awareness to more effective and accessibleforms of fitness. If it can change my life and those of so many, how can you NOT at leastgive one month to see if it can do the same for you?

Is It Really For Everyone?In 2002 I became interested in kettlebells because of one simple statement. I heard kettle-

bells were “the working man’s weightlifting.” The idea of being able to achieve great thingswithout the need for expensive equipment, coaching I could never get, and with the limitedtime my clients and I had to devote was pretty exciting. In fact, I think many people wereintrigued by the very same idea.

However, recently the philosophy of fitness has changed quite a bit. There is a desire tofeel elite, even to feel better than others. I get it, people want to feel special. They want tofeel as though they are doing something that not just anyone can perform. Ideas fromOlympic weightlifting and gymnastics have flooded even the mainstream fitness arena. Isthis bad? Probably not, but I think we forgot our mission. We have gotten away from mak-ing fitness accessible and real for people.

I have no problem if you want to practice your training, if you want to spend hours inthe gym. I have no place to judge. In my mind, though, that’s not helping people. That issetting up unrealistic expectations and goals. I didn’t want DVRT to be elitist, I wanted itto be something that a busy parent, office worker, athlete, or serious fitness enthusiastcould all greatly benefit from using. Maybe the DVRT loses some sexiness because of this,but I think back to the purpose of coaching and our program.

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Former college football coach Ara Parasheghian said, “A good coach will make hisplayers see what they can be rather than what they are.” In my mind, the same can be saidof fitness programs. I don’t want DVRT to show you what you cannot do. I want it toshow you what you can do! I want you to see that you can continue to strive to be betterand make huge changes with a bit of dedication and hard work.

Is this to say that the DVRT program and Ultimate Sandbag Training aren’t as challeng-ing as other fitness programs? Nothing could be further from the truth. DVRT means wecan work with an elite strength athlete or someone looking to begin a fitness program. Wecan make them fitter, stronger, and more mobile than they ever thought possible! That isthe essence of DVRT. It isn’t a sandbag program, but an innovative fitness system that willcompletely change everything you ever thought possible about fitness, strength, move-ment, conditioning, and most of all, feeling your best!

1. Coyle, E.H. Fat Metabolism During Exercise. [Online] Gatorade Sports Science Institute. 1999, March 25.

2. Ballor, D.L., J.P. McCarthy, and E.J. Wilterdink. Exercise Intensity Does Not Affect the Composition of Diet- andExercise- Induced Body Mass Loss. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 51:142-146, 1990.

3. Tremblay, A., J. Simoneau, and C. Bouchard, Impact of Exercise Intensity on Body Fatness and Skeletal MuscleMetabolism. Metabolism.43:814-818, 1994.

4. McMillan, J.L., et al. 20-hour Physiological Responses to a Single Weight-training Session. J. Strength Cond. Res.7(3):9-21, 1993.

5. Rasmussen, B.B., and W.W. Winder. Effect of Exercise Intensity on Skeletal Muscle Malonyl-CoA and Acetyl-CoA Carboxylase. J. Appl. Physiol. 83:1104-1109, 1997.

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References:Yessis, Michael, Secrets of Russian Sports Fitness and Training. Michigan: Ultimate Athlete

Concepts, 2008.

McGill, Stuart, Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance. Waterloo, Canada: BackfitproIncorporated, 2006

Kubik, Brooks, Dinosaur Training: Lost Secrets of Strength and Development. Louisville, KY,Brooks Kubik Enterprises, Inc., 2006

Jesse, John, Wrestling Physical Conditioning Encyclopedia. Pasadena, CA. Athletic PR, 1974

Hedrick, Allen, “Using Uncommon Implements in the Training Program of Athletes.” Strength& Conditioning Journal: August 2003 - Volume 25 - Issue 4 - ppg 18-22

Behm, David & Anderson, Kenneth, “The Role of Instability with Resistance Training.”Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research: 2006, 20(3), 716–722

Beckwith, Kimberly, Building Strength: Alan Calvert, the Milo Bar-bell Company, and theModernization of American Weight Training. Ann Arbor, Michigan, ProQuest LLC, 2008.

Saeterbakken, AH & Fimland, MS, “Effects of Body Position and Loading Modality of MuscleActivity and Strength in Shoulder Presses.”Journal of Strength and Conditioning ResearchVolume 27-Issue 7-ppg 1824-1831

Scott, Christopher. “The Effect of Time Under Tension and Weight Lifting Cadence on aerobic,Anaerobic, and Recovery Energy expenditures”. Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism.2012. 37(2), 252-256.

LaStayo PC, Woolf JM, Lewek MD, Snyder-Mackler L, Reich T, Lindstedt SL. “Eccentric mus-cle contractions: their contribution to injury, prevention, rehabilitation, and sport.” Journal ofOrthopedic and Sport Physical Therapy: 003 Oct;33(10):557-71

Gullett, Jonathan C; Tillman, Mark D; Gutierrez, Gregory M; Chow, John W. “ABiomechanical Comparison of Back and Front Squats in Healthy Trained Individuals.” Journal ofStrength & Conditioning Research: January 2009 - Volume 23 - Issue 1 - pp 284-292

“The Clean High Pull.” T-Nation. n.d. 25 Jan. 2012

“The Case for Single Leg Training.” T-Nation. n.d. 24 April 2007

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist, JoshHenkin, has been in the fitness industry for over 20 years.In the early 2000’s Josh began writing articles on newmethods of functional and performance training. Overthe years Josh has written over 100 articles for variouspublications including Men’s Health, Experience Life,REPS, and many other fitness publications.

Teaching has been a great passion of Josh’s as he haslectured at some of the top fitness conferences in the US.His work has been recognized not just in the US, but allover the world as well. He has lectured in over 10 coun-tries worldwide and is highly sought after for his innova-tive functional training concepts.

2005 was the year everything changed for Josh as he created his Dynamic VariableResistance Training (DVRT™) program as an innovative way to look at functional train-ing. Since the inception, DVRT has been taught to top training facilities, personal trainingbusinesses, and military units all over the world. In fact, in 2008 Josh was commissionedby the US Army to create an entire fitness program inspired by DVRT for the US ArmySpecial Forces Recruiting Battalion.

DVRT also saw the creation of the Ultimate Sandbag™. A specifically designed variablesresistance sandbag that met the demands of a highly detailed fitness and performance pro-gram. The Ultimate Sandbag completely changed how people perform their fitness andperformance programs due to the incredible versatility and effectiveness of both theUltimate Sandbag and DVRT system. The Ultimate Sandbag has grown from an idea in hisgarage in 2005 to being used in over 80 countries worldwide.

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