XB Strength: Explore the Moves

In the XB study from Week 2 on, we’ll be using BLOCKS – explained in the Protocol – to explore building strength. You’ll be choosing whichever moves you’d like to use for those blocks from this list of four movement types: pulls, pushes, hinges and squats. The following list offers PROGRESSIONS of movements – with increasing degrees of challenge.

Explore the MOVES sections below, and START at which ever movement in the progression feels doable as per the Protocol Guidance to figure out what’s the right level of effort.

Terms – Move, Rep, Set, Block

Before we get going, some terminology for this study
– a MOVE or MOVEMENT here is a particular action that usually has at least two main parts: getting from a START position to a FINISH position.
For example, a BOX SQUAT – starts with the butt touching the box. The finish position is standing up straight.
– a REP or REPETITION is a single complete movement. So from the start to the finish position is one rep.
– REPS or Repetitions refer to a series of repetitions as in “how many reps did you just do of that squat?”
– SET(S) – A set represents a collection of reps. Most often a set has repetitions of only one movement per set. So, in our case our sets will have 5 reps per set.
– BLOCK – in our case we are using block as a TIME container in which to perform sets. So our BLOCKS in this study are 7 mins.

FYI -GEEKING OUT ON TERMS When in conversation with “strength dogs” – folk way into strength, they might have a few variants for the above terms. For example, for some workout protocols, when doing an single sided (isolateral) movement – like single leg deadlifts, they may say one rep is both the left and the right side.
Also, in the protocol below you’re going to pick two moves and go back and forth between them for the entire block. We are counting each move as its own set. Sets for Move A; Sets for move B. In some contexts, putting more than one move together and alternating A B or A B C even is called a “super set” and counts may be for just the completed “super set”

TYPES: Pulls, Pushes (Squats, Hinges)!

XB Strength lets you choose the moves you’d like to practice. This page includes a full list of our movements, along with instructions.

YOU CAN SKIP DOWN TO THE MOVES IF YOU WANT – this is some background

We’ve broken the grouping into these four areas both to make them a little more manageable as groups, and because you’ll see these four commonly discussed in strength communities – so you’re learning the lingo. But really a squat and a hinge are also pushes and pulls.

in the strength community, a push and pull is usually upper body focused, as you’ll see, and that squats/hinges are more lower body focused.

A few years ago – ok over a decade ago really – a whole area of strength commercialization got big on “Functional Strength” and “natural movement” and decided that a “squat” is a natural movement, and especially westerners have lost that pattern with too much chair time. So true, eh? But i think it’s a little more nuanced: squats and deadlifts (the main hinge movement in a weight room) are Big Deals so they got their own category.

When thinking about applying these moves in the weekly blocks, you can think: do i have an upper and a lower, a pull and a push, as my A/B?

Principles: Angles and lever lengths and Range of Motion

To have a strength program to last a life time, a few principles can help you build strength anywhere, anytime: Joints and Levers.
In strength work, the primary focus is SKELETAL MUSCLE – the muscles attached to and across bones and ligaments. We challenge a muscle by asking it to contract, which lets it generate force. We usually do that force generation by asking a particular joint to narrow while resisting effort in the opposite direction.
The JOINT where the action is happening is also a type of LEVER – and where the pivot point is in a lever also affects how easy or hard it is to move a load.
Our bodies are replete with levers and angles at our joints.
By manipulating joint angle and lever length we can challenge our muscles

For Narrowing Joint angle Think about the simple arm curl:
bringing the wrist towards the shoulder. That’s narrowing the joint. Put a weight in your hand, that’s harder to close that angle from the arm extended out position to arm fully bent.
We use that fact in the push up. On the floor you’ll see below, we pivot the body around that elbow, but where the focus is more on the BACK of the upper arm, and the effort we feel is actually going from the bottom to press up to the top – to push the floor away. In doing that we are closing the angle of the BACK of the arm (we’re contracting the Triceps at the back of the arm to pull our body back up, pivoting at the elbow).

FOR LEVERS – think about that push up.
Now you can also probably see why doing a push up from your knees is easier than from your feet keeping your body straight: you are reducing the lever length and thus reducing the load – by as much as 62% in the bottom position.

Limiting RANGE of Motion
Another part of our muscle work is to move our joints in particular angles – their range of motion – like how far we can pull our feet back towards our shins, or point our toes forward, or rotate our feet out when standing – all range of motion.
In bodyweight work, we challenge our muscles by exploring range of motion

Think about that push up again – if we move our arms out wider it can be easier to push up – what angles are not closing as narrowly when arms are away from the body?
Or the box squat: rather than pushing our whole body up from the ground, we push up half way – from thighs parallel to the ground. We are working less of the range of motion, less of a movement challenge; one way to progress a movement.

Other ways to use range of motion as we’ll see with the “vertical pull” in a doorway below is to move our feet closer to the door or further away – to move our hands higher or lower.

So everything below in these bodyweight progressions is about how you can use angles and levers to affect range of motion and load through those ranges.

Once you have these principles – to play with these limiters – you can work every muscle in your body.

a principled way to do this exploration is to grab an anatomy text to learn the ROM’s of all the muscles and what joints they affect and how (example here)- but we can talk about how to do that another time

Pull Push/Squat Hinge – finding ones that work for you

The following sections moves through some pulls, pushes (mostly upper body) and squats and hinges (lower body), mostly from easier to more challenging. Explore – find one of each that works for you to begin Exploring Strength.

Pull Progressions

Pulls (or pull ups) are a class of movements that focus on your upper body, particularly your arm muscles, and to a lesser extent your shoulder, back and core muscles.

Vertical Pull

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Outline

Vertical Pulls are among the easiest variants because the angle of your body relative to your body weight means you’ll only be working against a very slight resistance. This makes them an ideal starting point for people who’ve never worked on their upper body strength before, serving as a gateway for tougher movements later on.

Movement Description

Stand facing a door frame or other solid vertical object. Grip the object with both hands level with your upper chest. Lean your body backwards until your arms fully extend, then pull your body back to an upright position.

Progression

Harder: Increase resistance by bringing both feet forward to lower the angle of the pull.

Tethered Door Pulls – longer way up.

TO increase the degree of difficulty of this pull, we lengthen the distance between upper body to the door – but keep our feet in the same ranges. A home artifact to use here? Old sheet, for example.

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HOW TO: Anchor an old sheet / pillowcase / towel / belt to a closed door (your tether) and you’ll have an opportunity to explore pulls at many different angles, giving you lots of control over resistance.

CAUTION! Only attempt this exercise if:

• You’ve got a strong door latch / doorframe which you’re confident can support your body weight.
• The material you’re using is tough enough to support being tugged – if there is any visible fraying or tearing, you need to stop the exercise immediately and discard the material.
• An old belt made of a tough polymer / leather material is an alternative which is usually thin enough to fit between a closed door and door frame.
• Make sure there’s nothing behind you which could injure you if you fall backwards during the exercise – a folded duvet makes a convenient crash mat.

Movement Outline

Facing towards the door and standing upright or bending your legs, firmly grip your tether at about chest height and gently lean backwards into your resting position (where your arms are fully extended). Pull yourself towards the door with both arms, pivoting from your feet, until vertical again.

Progression

Easier: Shorten your tether or grip closer to the door so you’re pulling closer to your centre of gravity.

Harder: Extend your tether or grip further away from the door to lower the angle of the pull.

Work to straighten your legs

Alternative (Face Pulls): Standing vertically, bring your arms further up the tether so your grip is level with your face rather than your chest. This slightly alters the distribution of resistance across your upper body muscle groups.

Getting Lower – Australian Rows at Home

Australian Rows are usually done with a bar, and then getting one’s chest under the bar and pulling up. It can be made easier or harder by
(a) the height of the bar or if that’s not possible (b) the position of the feet (bring them in, bending at the knees, to make it easier; bring them out and widen them for intermediate and right close together, harder, or variants of alternating leg/foot position)

There are many ways to do this: grabbing the edge of a table

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Putting a broom stick across the top of a narrow table with a towel on it

Or get two chairs and put a sturdy stick between them

Like moving a bar up higher, you can also move your body up – to increase the angle from your feet to your top pull position – by grabbing the back of the chairs

Alternative: Either widen or narrow your grip between sets to slightly alter the distribution of resistance across your upper body muscle groups. Also change grip so that your palms face up (supinated) or down (pronated). See where you feel that change in your arms – make a note in your log which version you used.

THE PULL UP – Full Horizontal, full body weight

Here we are ant the gold standard pull movement of bodyweight – not the hardest move, but the foundation, the sine cure none of upper body pull movements. Literally – so many pulls assume the pull up.

So here we go, assuming no pull up bar at home at the start of this pilot. How get to do a pull up? Especially indoors.

We begin with the Door Hang. Making a lintel comfy.

Door Hang Pull up

Another door frame exercise – this time you’ll be supporting your entire body weight through just your arms.

Basically: you grab the top of a door, hand shoulder width apart, and pull yourself up, and lower yourself back down. If you wish, put a towel at the top of the door for comfort.

CAUTION! Make sure your door frame can support your weight. Also make sure there’s nothing around you to fall on and cause injury.

PROGRESSIONS: Door Drops: This progression focuses on lowering your weight down, rather than pulling your weight up. Start stood on a stool or chair, gripping the top of thdoor frame about shoulder width apart. Simultaneously bring your feet up and gradually lower your body downwards until your arms are fully extended and your feet can land back on the supporting object. The movement should be slow and controlled. Using a door forces the pronated grip.

And heck, when the opportunity arises…pull ups, any time, anywhere

ISOLATERAL PULLS

Isolateral means focusing on one side of the body at a time – which is accomplished usually by working one leg at a time or one arm at a time. You’ll see notes in the BLOCKS page on when and how to add in isolateral moves – for now – think of these as WEEK 4+ options.

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Single Arm at a time – recommended starting WEEK 4:
A way to start exploring single arm pulls is to go back to the doorway and see how that feels with one arm.

If that feels good you can explore what are called “archer rows” with the sheets or pillow cases in the doors. In the archer you move one arm out to the side and pull mainly with the other arm you keep in the normal pull position.
Progressions: Lengthen the sheet/rope, and/or move your feet closer to being at the door.

PUSHES

Upper Body Push Progressions

Pushes (or push ups) are another class of movements that focus on your upper body, particularly your arm muscles, and to a lesser extent your shoulder, back and core muscles.

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Most pushes in calisthenics (body weight work) are based around the flat push up. If you’re comfortable doing great push ups, hands under your chest, up down – fantastic. If not, here are some ways to get going.

Cobra Push Up

If push ups aren’t yet your happy place – and even if they are – see how your shoulders feel doing this movement from Yoga, called the Cobra.

Outline

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A push up variant that places more emphasis on your core. Relatively easy compared to other variants because you won’t be using your full body weight.

Movement Outline

Lay on the floor belly first, elbows back fairly tight against the body, hands flat below the shoulders. Keeping your body below your hips flat on the floor, drive your entire upper body upwards, engaging your core and fully extending your arms.

If the Cobra Feels ok, you can move right along to check out the Hindu Push up

Hindu Push Up – with movement

You’ll notice in the Hindu Push up that it MOVES – there’s a nice flow from a kind of what in Yoga is a downward dog position (an inverted V) into the cobra. See how that feels doing 10 in a row of these as an option for one of the blocks.
If this combo move is too effortful to get a comfy 10, then let’s look at the flat push up progressions

Wall Push Up

If the cobra feels too challenging for your shoulders right now, totally fine. See how the wall Push up feels.

Outline

Among the easiest push up variants, the wall push up keeps your body mostly vertical, so your centre of gravity is always close to your movement. This is the a great place to start.

Movement Description

Stand facing a wall, leaning forward slightly, arms fully extended about chest height and shoulder width apart. Relax your arms to enter resting position, then push against the wall until fully extended until relaxing again to complete your rep.

Progressions -> Getting to the Full Push Up

The progression is lowering yourself progressively till your body is parallel to the floor.
For example, from a desk

Outline

Somewhere between a Wall Push Up and Flat Push Up in difficulty. This is a good intermediate movement.

Now some folks will try to do push ups off the floor on their knees, but let me discourage you from that, ok? Use the levels so that you’re always working the front of your body – not just your shoulders – as you develop strength

Flat Push Up

And we’ve arrived. The one and only, perfect push up

Outline

ARMS: Line up your hands so they’re directly beside your chest.
Think about keeping your elbows pretty much above your wrist for the whole movement – that will help you find your position – you can even take video to see how you manage your elbow position – and it will feel really different based on that alignment.
Thus, when you’re lowering yourself from this top position, your elbows are NOT going back; you are effectively coming forward. Try it! see how that feels.
HANDS: open your fingers – you may find turning your wrists out a little feels better – that’s fine
BACK: we call this neutral – think about your butt – that the butt and back stay at the same location – avoid letting your butt drop like at all – if you have trouble keeping that butt up, elevate your body up on chairs or a bench or a step – that will make it easier to explore what that alignment and holding it through the movement feels like

Way harder (One Armed Push Up): Exactly the same as your normal push up, but you’ll place one hand behind your back. This requires a good deal of upper body strength, so don’t expect many reps early on in your journey.

Other Push Up Variants To Come…

These are more challenging variants thant we’re exploring right at the start, but some links included below for anybody already capable of flat push ups looking for the next step in progression.

Diamond push up (https://youtu.be/6HxtxoXRFG0?t=105)
Archer push up. (https://youtu.be/6HxtxoXRFG0?t=320)
Lion push up (https://youtu.be/OrAYwJ2UCyc)
Pike push up (https://youtu.be/m1W1BGpPGMo?t=343)

And speaking of the PIKE push up…this is great prep to go to a full bodyweight push – that we will just mention here.

SKILLS MOVE Handstand Push Ups – Wall allowed.
To be balanced – the complement of the full bodyweight pull, would be a full bodyweight push. Push ups are close but they’re not the complete inversion. To get to that place we need to go to handstand pushups – and to reduce the balance challenge, we can do these against a wall – with either the chest facing the wall or the back.
We are NOT including this as one of our moves to choose as being upside down requires more adaptation outside strength work – and strength is our focus – but here is a Future path just for interest

and a great example of one self-taught approach to a free standing handstand – which is an isometric, balance move

Other Pushes

Once you get your push ups going, another upper body push is built around the dip. Where the push up lets you keep your feet on the floor, so you’re not lifting your entire body, the dip takes you to full body weight work.

Dips

One way to work a Dip at home is between two chairs, two couches, two stools. The idea here is tuck your legs up in front of you or behind you and push up. Keep your hands inline with your hips.

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Progressions: To build up your Dip,

Situate yourself between two similar sized, flat objects. Make sure there’s enough room to clear your entire body on a dip. Rest one hand either side of you about level with your core (NOT behind you). Raise your legs off the ground (adds load) and push your body upwards through your arms until fully extended.

• Progression 1: put a foot down, and use as little help as you need to help your upper body lift you up, and also support you coming down.
• Progression 2: use your lower body to help you get to the top of the movement, and then come down into the start without that assist.
• Progrssion 3: ALTERNATING LEG POSITION: you can tuck your knees underneath you (as shown) or you can also tuck them in front and work on alternating one leg out straight, then the other – or working to both legs out front
• GEAR assist: Resistance Bands. It’s possible to loop a band between your hands and rest your knees on the band as you do the move.

Lower Body Pushes: Squat Variants

Just as the bodyweight pushes for the upper body are based around the push up, the lower body pushes are based around the squat. The bodyweight full squat – getting the back of the shins to the back of the thighs – is the queen of bodyweight squat movements. It’s the gold standard. Just like the push up there are all sorts of variants, this one is the foundational template.

Box Squat – half way there

The Box squat is effectively what we do when we get up and down from a chair without using our hands on our knees or the arms of the chair. In this version however, you’re not ever sitting on the chair – you are aiming just to let your butt touch the edge of the chair or box and then to stand right back up again.

Find a sturdy box or chair. Facing away, extend your arms, feet spaced shoulder-width apart, push your bum outwards, and bring your body down and angled forwards until your bum just touches the chair.

Supported Squats – Full movement, Hanging on

This variation is particularly popular with men who swear they can’t do a full “ass to grass” squat, and who even in the gym with a big barbell, tend to stay with the box squat. We can help! Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to HANG ONTO something – a banister, door jam, door handles, your partner graciously hanging onto your mitts – whatever and AS LONG AS THERE’S NO PAIN – get down there, and get on up out of there. And rep it that way.

Honestly, in some sessions with clients we’ve done this a half dozen times and that’s all it takes to do the full version. No kidding. We could go into a lot of detail about what’s happening there but for now – as long as you need a support to let you get down (that’s usually the most tricky bit) you’ll get back up.
PROGRESSIONS Keep using the support and practice using it less and less to get down and to get up. That’s it. It’s a magical thing. You will own that squat.

Inverted Squats: Shoulder stand squats.

Shoulder Stand Squats Another variant just to work the movement without as much load can be done from a shoulder stand – if you feel comfy with that. Get into your shoulder stand – have your hands on your back for support – that’s fine, and bring your legs down into a tuck, and then back up straight again.

Full Squat

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Outline

The Full Squat maximises your movement potential by bringing you bum as close to the ground as possible, making this a more challenging variant than other squats. Drive your hips forward for power.

Movement Description

The FOCUS in the squat is the top of the thighs. So, you lower and raise yourself with your back as vertically straight as possible (avoid leaning forward). Let your knees bend and move forward over your toes as you get the back of your thighs touching the back of your calves.

Then push up, again keep straight and feel your knees pushing back – and you pushing up through your butt.

Assistance: Use a door jam, banister, door handle to help you stand – as needed – to keep your focus and work coming from mainly the top of the legs .

Isolateral Lower Body Push

Step Ups

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You can do these with stairs to get the hang of the movement, or with a low step stool, or box or with a stable chair.

The FOCUS in the movement is to LIFT your body with the bent leg, by using the bent leg and straightening it – just like we do climbing up stairs. You can lean forward over the bent leg to help lift the back leg up. PRACTICE USING AS LITTLE of the straight leg foot as possible. From standing on the box, reverse the movement, to lower the straight leg back down to the ground. Again, use the bent leg side to do the work.

PROGRESSION – start with a height of box that lets you use JUST your bent leg to stand up, where the straight leg is just being used for balance.

go sideways – Cossack or Archer Squats

Bulgarian Split Squat

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Outline

Split Squats are a challenging variant which use just one leg for power.

Movement Description

Find a sturdy box or chair. Rest the leg you aren’t using on the object. Kneel downwards on your other leg keeping your body fairly straight until your knees are at a 45 degree angle.

KJ’s

These moves are named for a buddy who created them as an alternate to the popular single leg squat known as a pistol. Effectively, these are squats, where one foot goes out front, and most of the work is done by the back leg

Box Pistol Squat

Towards a one legged squat (pistol) you can start standing on a box and ONLY work on the LOWERING part of the movement (the negative) and use your outstretched leg to help you stand up again

Next, you guessed it use the box to let you work the full pistol movement – both up and down – but use the box height to let you progress how far out you get that non-loaded leg. The goal is to get to right out in front of you.

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The full pistol is standing and lowering with leg right out. And if you get really into it – you can add load.

Here’s an example of progressing this movement

And Beyond – something i started working on some years ago with a 24kg kettlebell. Strength is a skill.

Hinge Progressions

Hinges are our final movement type, and mainly focus on lower body muscle groups, but occasionally some upper muscle groups as well. The movement changes can be quite subtle between progressions – so you’ll need to focus on technique to ensure you’re working the right muscle groups.

Wall RDL Prep

This drill is basically stand away from a wall, and reach back to touch it with your butt, then stand up straight – where you use your legs as much as possible to manage the load. That is avoid falling towards the wall, or pushing with your butt to throw yourself forward from the wall.

Keep your knees at your ankles – this helps work the right muscles.

Glute Raise

The next move to practice a two-footed hinge, is the glute bridge. The bridge is like the top part of the pull, like lifting a load off the ground. The idea – when standing – like in the wall RDL – is to straighten up, by pushing the hips foreward.

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Short Bridge

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You’ll notice that you can change the challenge by changing the hand position.

At the top of the movement SQUEEZE your butt.

Isolateral Hinges

We’re going to look at a few examples of how to do hinges by alternating legs.

Single Leg Pike Lift

Movement Description

Sit on the floor in an upright position, legs fully extended, stabilising your body with both hands on the floor either side. Keeping your leg as straight as possible, raise one upwards as far as you can, pause and squeeze your thigh at the top, then bring down again to rest. Endeavor NOT to let the leg drop, but to control that lowering.

Increase Challenge: lift both legs.

Wall RDLs – no weights

Single Leg Romanian Deadlift

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Movement Description

Stand upright, facing forwards. Bring one leg backwards as you pivot your body forwards until almost facing straight down, slightly bending your other leg.

Progressions: make this less of a balance challenge by placing a chair in front of you to assist with the movement stability – use it not for load, but just balance. Explore using your hands and arms positions – out in front, at your sides, behind your head – to see how this affect load.

Single leg Glute Bridge

Where you position your pressing foot will also add challenge to the movement.

FRONT whole body work

REACH – Towards the Hollow Body Position

With knees up back in contact ALWAYS with the floor, arms reach straight up for the sky. Pulse up – it’s a very small movement, but doing it you’ll feel it.

From strength developing working this movement, you can begin to bring your arms overhead, reaching behind you.

After that feels strong, extend your legs ALWAYS KEEP YOUR BACK in contact with the ground.

The hollow body is often used as a static hold. That is, you hold the move for time.

The Swimmer

The swimmer is a complement to the hollow body static hold, but this is a dynamic movement.

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Movement Description

Start laying face down on the floor, legs and arms fully extended so you look like a green bean. For the movement, simultaneously bring both legs up, as well as your upper body (pivot from the diaphragm), and bring both arms backwards and inwards pressing your shoulder blades together.

Progression

Start with working the upper body part of this movement first – the arm movements and raising the chest. As that progresses lift the back legs as well.

BACK whole body work

One of the best movements for the spine, and whole of the back, explored from Yoga to calisthenics, is the full back bridge. In the hinge work, the glute raises are part of a progression towards the bridge. Here we move the focus away from the hinge to this whole body movement.

In progressions, from the glute raise, we go to the Straight Bridge. This move works the shoulders in particular: hands on ground, and lifting the butt up again, but here we are creating what is often called a reverse plank.

The reverse plank or Purvattanasana in yoga is done as a static pose, but in calisthenics can be done for reps as well – smoothly, and under control. Getting to two sets of 40 is a good place to be to know you’re ready for bridging.

Angled Bridge to full bridge – if you feel like exploring

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Outline

An intermediate challenge hinge movement. The Angled Bridge is a mostly upper body exercise, using your upper back, shoulders and triceps. Keep that body curved like a bridge!

Movement Description

Find a sturdy box or chair. Lie back on object, keeping feet flat and shoulder width apart. Place hands either side of your head, palms flat on object, fingers pointing at your toes. Press through the hands, pushing your hips up and arcing your back as far as you can.

Progression

Harder (Elongated Angled Bridge): Bring your feet further forward to shift your centre of gravity further from your push, making it tougher.

Full Bridge

Outline

A more challenging hinge movement compared to previous. You’ll be engaging from both ends of your body to drive upwards.

Movement Description

Start laying on the floor, knees bent, arms both bent over behind your head, palms flat on the floor pointing towards your body. Drive your hips upwards until both your legs and arms are fully extended. Your body should be curved like a bridge (use a mirror if easier).

Lay on your back, arms flat either side, knees bent pointing upwards. Drive your hips upwards until your back is nearly straight, pivoting from your shoulder blades.

BONUS MOVES and IDEAS

A beautiful complete body movement:
the turkish get up. Can be split as upper body / lower body reps too

One more Bonus MOVE for AFTER the study: nordic curls

Some cool movements at 64

Look especially at the end for pairs work

and just stuff guys do to move around with bodyweight