I was perusing Instagram a few months ago when I came across my friend’s, Andrew Coates, feed. He had just posted a video of himself performing an impressive set of Supported Bulgarian Split Squats.
Or, Hatfield Squats for the meatheads in the house.
It was something like 365 lb for 5 repetitions.
As I said, at first I was like “huh.”
Then I was like, “damn, that’s strong.”
And then I was like, “pffft, whatever, I want in on this parade.”
At that point I was roughly 5-6 weeks post Achilles repair surgery and was training pretty aggressively in the gym. That said I was still looking for ways to expand or improve upon my Trainable Menu.
I.e., Focusing on stuff I could train rather than stuff I couldn’t.
A day or two later I posted a video of myself performing a set of close to 300 lb for 6-8 reps on my NON-affected leg. I tagged Andrew who then tagged a few other colleagues who were also inspired by his escapades; one of whom was Luka Hocevar, owner of Vigor Ground Fitness in Renton, WA.
Some good ol’ fashioned friendly competition ensued.
Each week we continued to post our progress and I enjoyed it, which was weird because, despite what coaches on the internet like to pretend, I fucking hate performing single leg work.
1. Nazi’s
2. Kipping pull-ups
3. People who wax poetic about keto.
.
.
.
44. Single leg work.
45. Talking about feelings.
Anyway, as it happens, myself, Andrew, and Luka teamed up to write an article for T-Nation.com that just went live today. In it we break down anything and everything as it relates to the Supported Bulgarian Split Squat and why you should consider adding it to YOUR training arsenal.
It should come as no surprise to anyone who’s read this site for any length of time that I love me some LOLCats, beef jerky, pantless anything (insert things like writing, cooking, reading, crime fighting here)Deadbugs.
I feel they’re one of the most underused and underutilized exercises out there, due in no small part to how innocuous they look. This is unfortunate because they offer a ton of benefits and have applicability to pretty much every person, athlete or non-athlete, injury-free or not.
Not only are they a superb core training exercise, but their versatility in that they can be tweaked and progressed or regressed (depending on a person’s ability level) is what also lends them to MVP (or, MVE – Most Valuable Exercise) status in my book.
Plain ol’ vanilla deadbugs – when done right (controlled cadence, movement comes from hips and shoulders and not lumbar spine, with a full exhale – are more than challenging for 90% of the population. I’ve had professional athletes and very strong individuals humbled by this “wimpy” looking exercise.
To that point, I am never too quick to jump on the “lets make this exercise harder for the sake of making it harder” wagon. Because, frankly, more often than not…it’s not necessary.
SIDE NOTE:this is why I’m amused at people who feel the need to up the ante on things like foam rolling. We now have people using foam rollers with spikes and bumps (some even vibrate) on them or even PVC and lead pipes, thinking they’re more effective.
I’m half expecting rolling on a live grenade to be the next progression.
It has to hurt in order to work.
However, this isn’t to imply that the deadbug exercise can never be progressed or made more challenging. Truth be told: I’m always intrigued whenever I come across new variations. Like this one. which I came across yesterday:
What Does It Do: Well, it’s a deadbug, so it’s already a killer anterior core exercise, and serves as a great way to teach someone to dissociate lumbar movement from hip movement. I.e., the idea is to maintain a neutral spine position and not allow the lower back to “fall” into extension as you move the extremities.
With this variation, however, there’s a bit more in play:
1. First, it’s important to “vet” individuals for this exercise. If they lack ample shoulder flexion to bring their arms overhead, it won’t be a good fit.
2. Holding the KB above makes it easier to engage anterior core (which will help to posteriorly tilt the pelvis, which is important for those people stuck in excessive APT).
3. Lowering the KB (under control) cues the individual to create a flexion moment in the abdominals while simultaneously promoting an extension moment in the thoracic spine (where we want extension to occur).
4. Too, adding the “reach” at the end (where you keep the rib cage locked to the pelvis) is another fantastic way to increase more core demand and strength (and allow flexion, albeit with a teeny-tiny bit of load. Don’t worry, you’re spine will live).
Key Coaching Cues: To reiterate above, go SLOW when lowering the KB. Own the movement, keep the ribs down. When it comes to the reach: try not to get movement from flexing the neck. Instead, “lead with your chest,” as if the chest were pushing the KB towards the ceiling. Hold for a 2-3s count, lower, switch legs, and repeat.
3-6 reps per side should be more than enough to respect the movement.
“Five more days and we’ll be on our way to the airport.”
Those were the words uttered by Lisa no less than 47 seconds ago as I was sitting down to type these words. You can call it what it is:
1. Me stalling before I get to the meat and potatoes of today’s post.
Or, more to the point….
2. Just trying to rub it in a little bit that I’ll be going on vacation in a few short days. Sorry.
Needless to say, this week serves as a double-edged sword. Sure, on one side, dangling like a carrot teasing me, there’s vacation, and its promise of balmy weather, crystal clear water, all-you-can-eat-buffets (first time at an all-inclusive resort), beach, and many, many, many naps.
But before all that happens, it’s a storm of clusterf***edness from now until then trying to sew up all loose ends on programs that need to be written, deadlines for articles that need to be met, and trying to avoid all the articles online about the horrible, terrifying, and sad Malaysian Airlines disaster from this past weekend.
As someone who’s already nota huge fan of flying – I’d rank it below having a bad case of the flu, but a shade above “talking about my feelings” – these headlines aren’t doing me any favors.
Nonetheless, to start this week off here are some cool articles to check out.
I thought this was a knowledge-bomb of an article by Brian. I distinctly remember picking up my copy of the classic text Nutrient Timing by Dr. John Ivy and thinking that it was the gospel.
It was borderline sacrilegious to delay or worse, skimp out on pounding your protein shake immediately after finishing your last set. If you did fall into this camp, you’d lose all your gainz!!!!
Well come to find out, we “may” have overblown the whole post-workout anabolic window teeny tiny bit, and meal frequency may not be as big of a deal as we all have been led to believe.
In the end, it comes down to doing what works best for YOU. Not what some article tells you to do.
I have a lot of respect for Luka. My man griiiiiiiinds, and works his tail off. And in the end, he’s been able to achieve a ton of success.
He’s not someone who talks a good game and then fails to walk the walk. He’s IN IT.
I first met Luka back in 2007 when we first opened up Cressey Performance. He came across the country to hang out with myself, Eric, and Pete for like a week to do nothing but hang out, pick our brains, train, and see what it took to start a small business from the ground up.
Fast forward to today and he’s arguably one of the most successful fitness entrepreneurs in North America. He’s built a very successful training facility in Seattle. He’s a coach, an author, a businessman, a traveller.
Recently he was impetus behind one of the most anticipated events the industry has seen in years – the Change the Game event held on Las Vegas.
Nevertheless, I highly suggest checking his stuff out. It’s heartfelt, it has passion, it doesn’t hold your hand, it’s real.
