By John Davies, Founder Renegade Training

Born just a few years after the U.S. Civil war, Frank Lloyd Wright is recognized as the greatest American architect in history. Through his career that spanned over 70 years, he revolutionized the organic merging of the natural surrounding habitant with the functional needs of the user. Remarkably, approximately 80% of his over 500 designs that were built still stand today, as brilliant and awe-inspiring as ever. Whether it is the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, Taliesin West in Arizona or the extraordinary Fallingwater in beautiful rural western Pennsylvania, each Lloyd Wright creation intertwines nature, form with powerful functionality.

Not so surprisingly creating a powerful body can and should merge the goal of functionality as well. All training, whether it be to gain the oft-used but rarely defined term “strength“, add muscle-mass, lose body-fat or develop athleticism needs to be merged with the functionality of creating a body that can remain healthy, fit, active and virile throughout your life. Yet sitting here, looking out to the ocean in a crisp autumn morning, a fresh pot of the morning black nearby, it would appear form and functionality is sadly lost to this generation of readers in the fitness world. Collectively too many authority figures of the present exercise industry are wrapped warm and tight within a safe cocoon of similar activities exclusive to the weight room and have based many ideas on pristine environments that oddly only exist in the gym. Today’s exercise game is communal village of Tolstoy’s syndrome, where the “credible” science that they have snuggled themselves tightly in has unraveled because in doesn’t carry over to real life situations. Strength training is merely a piece of this puzzle that should help us have a life worth living and I live a life that men half my years cannot imagine keeping up with.

First of all let’s dispel some basic notions that have filtered through to the perversity of the modern “iron game”. While many of us have wide ranging goals and objectives, like the work of Frank Lloyd Wright your training needs to recognize that there is a symbiotic flow between form and function. This ridiculous term “functional training” that is now an overused marketing term, is best served as a punch-line to the bad training notions of this era because all training when done right has purpose and is “functional”. The key to this statement, is “done right” but rarely are exercises taught correctly and still even rarer it is to find people understand the true objective of it. The moment exercise does not carry over to real life goals and objectives, its sensibility is lost and the user is destined for failure. Sadly the basic, almost elementary goal of having training improve the quality of your life is something that few fully embrace or are even aware as a possibly. Unfortunately many consider weight training, functionality and health akin to ethical boardroom…a non-existent dream and an impossible marriage between the two. Through a correct program you will not only achieve your goals of strength and mass (if that is your goal) but equally develop an athletic physique that is merges explosive power with grace that will last throughout your lifetime. However shocking it may to hear, while something most in the “iron-game” want you to consider lifting a weight akin to quantum physics, resistance training is extraordinarily simple as we are basically either pushing, pulling or squatting a weight with proper form. Form, functionality, strength and health bleed together when mixed right.

With this in mind–one exercise or should I say grouping of exercises needs to be a cornerstone of every resistance program but is oddly performed so incredibly bad in most gyms, that being “Squats“. Squats are a rarity in strength training because they can be performed with variety of styles, with equally varied levels of intensity to satisfy an incredibly broad spectrum of goals. While naturally the bodybuilding community employs the movement for superior hypertrophy needs, athlete’s will make use of Squat for building power and explosive legs and yet equally if you are just the average gym-goer, the benefits of Squatting are far-reaching in your life. With proper technique employed it will help develop tremendous range of motion, strengthen the lower back, enhance work capacity that will carryover to all other training and dare I say life. In an even odder twist of fate, while in the modern gym the epidemic to perform curls appears to run rampant and mirror space is dwindling–if you want great arms and a powerful back, the route starts in the Squat rack. The super-compensatory effect of Squatting will cause full (insert gregarious bellow of seam bursting snarl) body muscular growth and development beyond any resistance movement. Now before we get started I want you to first forget the plain-old vanilla idea of performing Squats. For advanced development in both size, strength and yes functionality, the method of Squatting needs to expanded to include a diverse selection of movements and intensity levels. This will allow us to stay ahead of the adaptation curve that is so problematic to training and ultimately lead us all-around development and satisfying our goals. Prior to looking at these exercise variations we should first understand the Renegade Concepts of Training which are clearly adhered to within each component of training.

I. Movements trained, not musculature; I want to stress this point because this is likely one of the most problematic notions to get across for those unaccustomed to the Renegade philosophy on training and the modern gym machine-based training environment. This has far reaching implications of virtually facet of training most notably because of the impact of movement generation and how it will create a more balanced development less susceptible to injuries or muscular imbalances and ultimately greater gains.

II. Efficiencies of movement reinforced

III. Motor patterning and grafting of proper sequencing

IV. Postural alignment is perfected; In time “posture” is going to become the major buzz word / concept in the mainstream fitness market as people realize that building towards and maintaining correct posture will allow us to live a pain free life, develop the esthetic look we want while in all actually performing the exercises correctly as we are in the correct body position to do so. Because of this (along with other training protocols) you will notice that we utilize free weights only. While some will argue that it is a safer environment and allows them to work with a heavier load, machine based training eliminates the body’s need to stabilize itself and over the long run can have a negative impact and create muscular imbalances (this will in turn reduce the impact of our training). Additionally we avoid any use of training gear such as wraps, straps, belts or lifting suits unless there is specific medical rationale as it will further create a dependence on assisted lifts, retards growth and the bodies ability to maintain correct posture.

V. Stabilization in the most destabilized training environments; the Renegade athlete is trained over time to stabilize themselves in any destabilized (both physical and psychological) environment because of the use of chaotic training measures. In another one of those odd twists of fate, a world where nothing is stable the only predictable element that you can consistently account for is that unpredictable events to occur. Be prepared for random changing events.

VI. Force developed such that it can be projected, accepted and redirected at maximal levels.

VII. Adopt chaos as your “home”; This is a book topic to be released in the future–but let me say succinctly and to the point. Life will throw you a lot of curveballs (or maybe just a Sal the Barber, high and tight fastball) and you sure as hell better acclimate yourself to being able to adapt to changes and adversity. In my career of training athletes, the one secret to be taught that everyone can take advantage of is learning to overcome adversity. That is the essence of sport training that any person can make use of. When you do something do it with all your might, do it like your life depends on it. Eat, sleep and breathe intensity. Do that and let hell rain down and while others wilt and cower, my crew will turn it on.

That said within the basic plan of attack we will employ the following Squat styles within Renegade broad resistance program.

1. Olympic Squat
2. Front Squat
3. Overhead Squat
4. Box Squat
5. Hi Box Step Up
6. Rx Squat

Olympic Squat: As you walk into the rack, grasp the bar firmly with complete and absolute control and allow it nestle along your traps. With a good inhale of the lungs, the chest up, back strong walk out of the rack under control. Initiate the movement by pushing the buttocks back. Ensure the angle of the hips and knees are the same as you descend to parallel or rock-bottom position, and then begin to reverse the motion in your ascent as you drive up against the floor. Pay particular attention that the torso lean isn’t too far forward. Typically because of weak hips, hamstrings and lower back, many well intentioned lifters lean over too much and the lift becomes more of a back lift. As technical efficiency improves the speed of the descent is going to increase radically so you’re dropping fast and as smooth as Kentucky bourbon, stopping at the base of the lift and then exploding back up.

Front Squat: There are two definitive ways to perform the Front Squat, the Olympic style, which is my preference and the adaptation known as the bodybuilding style.

The Olympic style typically allows greater weight used not to mention the ability to work the movement into training complexes as level of expertise improves. In the movement the bar, sits in the “rack” position as it rests on collarbone / shoulder region. The lifter may in fact allow their hands to open yet have total control of the bar. The elbows turn under the bar, basically with the upper arm parallel to the ground and the torso stays taunt and firm. The feet are spaced roughly shoulder-width apart and turned out slightly. Drop into the squat by pushing the butt back into a full rock-bottom squat then push drive up and thru.

Of course for those who try this lift for the first time they will invariably realize the main issue will be flexibility to grasp the bar and may find it better to use the “bodybuilder” style, often associated with the blonde bomber, bodybuilding legend Dave Draper. To perform this style, walk in the squat racks and align barbell across your chest and shoulders. Cross your arms over the bar, hold and support the bar with your hands. Torso is strong, chest open and completely the lift as in the Olympic style.

Overhead Squat: I recall teaching this lift many years ago and getting looked at with complete bewilderment. Some 10 or 15 years later as I spoke of online–it further attracted nay-sayers in the strength community as an ineffective exercise (that there fat and out-of-shape physique was unable to perform). Luckily now overtime, the public is slowly starting to realize this is one of the great movements that will challenge virtually every goal in training (and the Renegade Wheel of Conditioning) . Overhead squats will develop tremendous total body strength, an impenetrable core and great flexibility. For many this lift will immediately identify tremendous weakness in hip flexibility, poor gluteal development as well as insufficient strength in the shoulder capsule. In performing this lift your grip is quite wide, outside the rings akin to a Power Snatch grip and your arms straight. The bar will be aligned at or slightly behind your ears with back arched. Squat down by pushing your hips and butt back to complete squat depth and back up.

Box Style: The Box Squat is used primarily to enhance hip flexibility and best served for these purposes as a form of “active recovery”. Performing this movement appears to be relatively simple but it will immediately signal weaknesses in the posterior chain and hips. Setting up with your feet much wider than shoulder width (this will vary depending on hip flexibility and hamstring strength), with a tight arched back, push that booty way-back, knees out “spreading the floor” and sit to a low (stable with varying heights of 10-16 inches) box. The torso needs to be kept tight throughout the lift including during contact on the box too many lifters “collapse” and once again the movement becomes a back lift. Drive off the box with the hips and hamstrings tight.

Hi-Box Step-Up: This movement is decidedly not the “step up” you would have performed right after that “grapevine”in that 80’s step class and is actually one of the best exercises you’ll ever find for leg development. In fact it is so difficult that most photos you’ll see them done incorrectly with an obvious push off the incorrect leg. The box height for greater glute development is set up so that with your lead leg planted on the top of the box and your base foot is off its heels, the lead thigh is parallel to the ground. For greater quadriceps emphasis box height should be lowered. Again as I noted, rarely is this exercise performed without cheating and to avoid jerking upwards by using the base foot, squeeze the toes of the plant leg and drive upwards with the plant foot on the box.

Form, functionality blended together to suit your goals. Whether it be for mass development, sporting needs or you want to live a healthier and active life, proper use of Squats can make this happen. Like Frank Lloyd Wrights great work, your body needs to be trained so that you can live healthy and painfree forever. Now the question is how to put it together. To find out more join us for the next part of this ongoing series.

Editor’s Note:
To find how to put together the ultimate training program for athletic development, for seam-ripping leg development, for a pain-free and virile life always, just join us for the next part of this ongoing series for Coach Davies. Be sure and visit the ProSource forum as Coach Davies and the rest of the Renegade crew discusses this, diet choices that every person needs to follow in today’s world and his sternly recommended supplement choices from ProSource for maximal training results and to live a clean & healthy life:

• Acetyl-L-Carnitine
• Alpha-Lipoic-Acid
• Joint-Command
• Omega-1250
• Phosphatidylserine
• Multi-Vitamin
• And the only protein up to his demanding requirements NytroWhey Extreme

John Davies, Founder Renegade Training
Chat Live with Coach Davies in the Renegade Training forums!

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 21st, 2007 at 5:56 pm and is filed under General Health & Fitness, Training Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.