Other/Mixed OS: Super Simple Strength

[Christoph W.]

Swings are a staple for sure, but I'm hoping for something more back-centric.

Swings work your back, but I know what you mean.
There's always the option of SLDL (Single-Leg Deadlift), especially loaded contralateraly, which get their own 2-3 pages in the OS Performance book.
Then there are resets like loaded bird dogs.
At my cert we did bird dogs with ankle weights and mini-bands and also combining the ankle weights and mini-bands. Those loaded resets definitely worked the entire posterior chain a lot.

If you combine swings (especially 1-handed), with SLDLs, loaded resets (like loaded bird dogs), some hanging/pullups and some carries that work the back to an extend (e.g. farmer/suitcase carry) I don't think your back will be lacking.

Edit:
There's also loaded head movements. For example lie on your belly and prop yourself up onto your forearms and then do head nods and head rotations while using weigth on your head (with the help of a little sandbag or other implement). Those work wonders for the upper back.

 

[3letterslong]

I would suggest something... different.



Climbing around tables (or chairs, if you are up for it) is the specular image of crawling.

ahahaha that was wild, I'd never seen that before. I've done exercises in BJJ where you climb around your partner's body, but never on a table. I'm definitely going to see if I can set something like this up.

 

[3letterslong]

Swings work your back, but I know what you mean.
There's always the option of SLDL (Single-Leg Deadlift), especially loaded contralateraly, which get their own 2-3 pages in the OS Performance book.
Then there are resets like loaded bird dogs.
At my cert we did bird dogs with ankle weights and mini-bands and also combining the ankle weights and mini-bands. Those loaded resets definitely worked the entire posterior chain a lot.

If you combine swings (especially 1-handed), with SLDLs, loaded resets (like loaded bird dogs), some hanging/pullups and some carries that work the back to an extend (e.g. farmer/suitcase carry) I don't think your back will be lacking.

Edit:
There's also loaded head movements. For example lie on your belly and prop yourself up onto your forearms and then do head nods and head rotations while using weigth on your head (with the help of a little sandbag or other implement). Those work wonders for the upper back.

That's fantastic advice and you're absolutely right, but I'm doing something a little bit weird. If you go onto Tim's website, he has his OS videos divided up by body part. He's kind of a mad genius that is figuring out dozens of variations on the basic resets to really skyrocket the strength of various muscle parts and he's definitely inspiring me to play with the resets to tackle certain areas of strength.

What i'm doing is almost like a bodybuilder split using OS resets. One day, I'll do a variation of rocking that targets legs (one-leg quadruped rocking with my hands elevated), the next I'll do a rocking variation the blasts the chest and triceps (one-arm quadruped rocking with arms bend at 90 degrees), the next I'll do a version of rocking that targets shoulders (quadruped rocking to pseudo-planche push-up). It probably sounds nuts, but I'm seeing fantastic results from just using different variations of the OS resets to tackle push/pull/legs.

Where I'm lacking is the pull, though. I'm finding it really hard to work my back (rhomboids/traps/rear delts moreso than lats) with this approach and I'd really love to find a way to apply this approach to that part of the back because the strength gains I'm seeing are just that good. Everything I know of that can be done in a high-rep, gentle kind of OS way merely hits the back in an incidental way instead of making it the focus of the activity. I have a feeling rowing would be perfect, but I don't have access to a rower (or a boat).

 

[Ben Strong]

Where I'm lacking is the pull, though. I'm finding it really hard to work my back (rhomboids/traps/rear delts moreso than lats) with this approach and I'd really love to find a way

One option that I have used to target some of the back muscles with no equipment (no pullup bar either) is do what I know as reverse snow angels. I'm sure it has other names as well.

You lie on your stomach, then hyperextend into a superman position lifting hands upper chest and feet off of the deck. Then you slowly and steadily move your arms from outstretched in front of you to behind your low back/glutes. Your palms will rotate 180 degrees as you pass the midpoint. Hopefully my explanation makes some sense. This is a time under tension type exercise so do it slowly and keep your glutes engaged. It will light up your lower, and middle traps/rhomboids like a Christmas tree.

 

[bluejeff]

I'm specifically wondering about some type of movement like the OS resets that specifically targets all the muscles around the scapula (like rowing probably would). You've got me wondering if I can do some kind of straight-arm lever motion... I just dropped down to the floor and was rocking back and forth in a crab-walk position, trying to hold a lever as i moved away from my hands and it felt really promising!

If rowing is the motion you're thinking of, I wouldn't try to fit a square peg into a round hole by trying to accomplish the same thing with a ground based movement. I would just do some kind of rowing or pulling. If the line of thinking around this kind of training is something akin to "natural movements," well, hanging and climbing are natural. I'd just do that.

In regards to ground based moves that would work the back, I'd say you have the right idea. Here's some more ideas:

You could mess with AG walks, but until you've done them for a while they are not easy or gentle.
Easier to harder:
-crab walks with hips down
-crab walks with hips up
-AG walks
-Beyond those I would just progress to L sits, V sits, and...
-manna wall slides (a google will turn up a few videos). Make sure you have some decent shoulder extension and wrist strength first. AG walks and L sit work would lead up to this.

Where I'm lacking is the pull, though. I'm finding it really hard to work my back (rhomboids/traps/rear delts moreso than lats) with this approach and I'd really love to find a way to apply this approach to that part of the back because the strength gains I'm seeing are just that good. Everything I know of that can be done in a high-rep, gentle kind of OS way merely hits the back in an incidental way instead of making it the focus of the activity.

Yeah that's where I would just get off the ground and do hanging and rowing. You can always regress calisthenics movements to make them more "gentle" and higher rep. You could always do a "natural" movement by tying a long rope to something heavy and dragging it in. Tim Anderson wrote about that in one of his books (Becoming Bulletproof Project if I am not mistaken). The workout consists of something like:
Tie a rope to a heavy object that will slide. Drag it towards you using only your arms. Push it back to where it started. Crawl back to where you started. Repeat.

 

[3letterslong]

If rowing is the motion you're thinking of, I wouldn't try to fit a square peg into a round hole by trying to accomplish the same thing with a ground based movement. I would just do some kind of rowing or pulling. If the line of thinking around this kind of training is something akin to "natural movements," well, hanging and climbing are natural. I'd just do that.

In regards to ground based moves that would work the back, I'd say you have the right idea. Here's some more ideas:

You could mess with AG walks, but until you've done them for a while they are not easy or gentle.
Easier to harder:
-crab walks with hips down
-crab walks with hips up
-AG walks
-Beyond those I would just progress to L sits, V sits, and...
-manna wall slides (a google will turn up a few videos). Make sure you have some decent shoulder extension and wrist strength first. AG walks and L sit work would lead up to this.

Yeah that's where I would just get off the ground and do hanging and rowing. You can always regress calisthenics movements to make them more "gentle" and higher rep. You could always do a "natural" movement by tying a long rope to something heavy and dragging it in. Tim Anderson wrote about that in one of his books (Becoming Bulletproof Project if I am not mistaken). The workout consists of something like:
Tie a rope to a heavy object that will slide. Drag it towards you using only your arms. Push it back to where it started. Crawl back to where you started. Repeat.

lol you can can tell Tim Anderson learned from John Brookfield. Maniacs.

I like the Idea of maybe just spending a lot of time in L-sits and variations. Also, I had never heard of AG walks before. I think those general positions can potentially produce what I'm looking for.

I'm already doing a lot of hanging, but I'm incorporating some row-rocking things, if you can picture that.

 

[Pete S]

Tim Anderson just came out with this Training Snack today on strengthening pushers and pullers that may help fulfill this quest:

 

[3letterslong]

Tim Anderson just came out with this Training Snack today on strengthening pushers and pullers that may help fulfill this quest:

Huh. So simple. I'll try that tomorrow.

 

[BillSteamshovel]

You lie on your stomach, then hyperextend into a superman position lifting hands upper chest and feet off of the deck.

Is that what this chap is doing at 1:02 in this video ? -

I've often thought about trying this but the list of things to do one day is huge. Anyway have a look, he does some interesting things.

 

[Birddog]

If rowing is the motion you're thinking of, I wouldn't try to fit a square peg into a round hole by trying to accomplish the same thing with a ground based movement. I would just do some kind of rowing or pulling. If the line of thinking around this kind of training is something akin to "natural movements," well, hanging and climbing are natural. I'd just do that.

In regards to ground based moves that would work the back, I'd say you have the right idea. Here's some more ideas:

You could mess with AG walks, but until you've done them for a while they are not easy or gentle.
Easier to harder:
-crab walks with hips down
-crab walks with hips up
-AG walks
-Beyond those I would just progress to L sits, V sits, and...
-manna wall slides (a google will turn up a few videos). Make sure you have some decent shoulder extension and wrist strength first. AG walks and L sit work would lead up to this.

Yeah that's where I would just get off the ground and do hanging and rowing. You can always regress calisthenics movements to make them more "gentle" and higher rep. You could always do a "natural" movement by tying a long rope to something heavy and dragging it in. Tim Anderson wrote about that in one of his books (Becoming Bulletproof Project if I am not mistaken). The workout consists of something like:
Tie a rope to a heavy object that will slide. Drag it towards you using only your arms. Push it back to where it started. Crawl back to where you started. Repeat.

That book changes my training life. Its full of gold imo. My favorite movement from that book is still crawling backwards while pulling a sled/bag then pick it up, shoulder it and walk back. Repeat. This is such a simple move that works everything. Backwards crawling is like an upper push and the dragging is the pull.

 

[Training for Life]

@3letterslong did you see this?

Crazy Enough to Work. Build your back!

youtube.com

 

[masa]

I've since switched to doing Aleks Salkins 9 minute challenge in the morning because it seems specially designed to get me to my goals. If you haven't checked out that thread, give it a look.

Yep, 10 minutes daily volume. I'm mainly aiming for ten minutes because that's supposed to be magical for shoulder rehabilitation, which are rewards I would like to reap. I'll move onto one-arm holds once i feel like my shoulders are in a good place. I've been seeing some nice stuff so far from a combo of hanging and OS, so I'm looking forward to seeing where I wind up.

I'm rebabbing my shoulder too and doing 9 min challenge currently. If I may ask, does crawling bother/irritate your shoulder?

 

[3letterslong]

I'm rebabbing my shoulder too and doing 9 min challenge currently. If I may ask, does crawling bother/irritate your shoulder?

No, I can't really remember a time that crawling irritated my shoulders, but I had to go back to baby crawling because I discovered crawling with my shoulders beside my body (and holding them there under load) was a lot more challenging than crawling with them in front of the body. Now I'm leopard crawling again and the change in shoulder position is really helping fix a lot of issues I've struggled with regarding kyphosis and impingement.

 

[masa]

No, I can't really remember a time that crawling irritated my shoulders, but I had to go back to baby crawling because I discovered crawling with my shoulders beside my body (and holding them there under load) was a lot more challenging than crawling with them in front of the body. Now I'm leopard crawling again and the change in shoulder position is really helping fix a lot of issues I've struggled with regarding kyphosis and impingement.

Thank you for your answer! I try to maintain baby crawling then, until the shoulder is fixed. I do 9 min challenge as a stand-alone program. For the future purposes, do you have a recommendations for the posterior muscle movement (as a balancing effect)?

 

[3letterslong]

Thank you for your answer! I try to maintain baby crawling then, until the shoulder is fixed. I do 9 min challenge as a stand-alone program. For the future purposes, do you have a recommendations for the posterior muscle movement (as a balancing effect)?

I do a lot of one-legged rocking (knees raised) and really focus on feeling the glutes work properly, but tbh I look mostly elsewhere for posterior work. For a long time now I've thought that crawling and KB swings were the real program minimum.

If you check out Tim Anderson's channels on youtube you'll probably find some posterior work -- he's got rocking and crawling variations for everything. He's kind of a mad genius.

 

[masa]

I do a lot of one-legged rocking (knees raised) and really focus on feeling the glutes work properly, but tbh I look mostly elsewhere for posterior work. For a long time now I've thought that crawling and KB swings were the real program minimum.

If you check out Tim Anderson's channels on youtube you'll probably find some posterior work -- he's got rocking and crawling variations for everything. He's kind of a mad genius.

Thanks for the advises! I've done some swings with the 9 min challenge, so I might just lengthen the crawling minutes to achieve the 10 mins someday and do some swings here and there. I just have to fix the shoulder first. I have to try that one-legged rocking for sure and check out the Tim's channel.

 

[3letterslong]

Thanks for the advises! I've done some swings with the 9 min challenge, so I might just lengthen the crawling minutes to achieve the 10 mins someday and do some swings here and there. I just have to fix the shoulder first. I have to try that one-legged rocking for sure and check out the Tim's channel.

This should help. It's organized by body part:

Videos | Original Strength

originalstrength.net

 

[masa]

This should help. It's organized by body part:

Videos | Original Strength

originalstrength.net

Thanks man, you're a savior! Keep up the good work!

 

[solarbear]

• Pick a superset with two of: Push, Pull, Squat, Hinge.
• Do this superset for 10 mins, nasal breathing only, resting as necessary.
• Crawl or carry for 10 mins, nasal breathing only, resting as necessary.
• Aim to take fewer breaks until you are working the entire 10 mins for each.

No but I wonder... This really has me thinking...

In the spirit of this workout. I don't really want to crawl because it looks kind of silly. So I was thinking...

What if you did 2 sets of 5 OR 1 set of 10, and between every single set you do you do a carry?
Example using kettlebells.
Carry, OHP x5, Carry, OHP x5, Carry, FS x5, Carry, FS x5, Carry, Row x5, Carry, Row x5, Carry, DBL Swing x5, Carry, DBL Swing x5, Carry

 

[Birddog]

In the spirit of this workout. I don't really want to crawl because it looks kind of silly

I was so embarrassed to crawl. I actually even reached out to Tim on it. Eventually I realized no one cares what I do and I love crawling. Now I crawl in my backyard and wave to my neighbors! Silly? Yes.. but that shouldn't keep you from such a wonderful movement.