We have three new exercises for you in Week 4 of our Strength Training Series that’ll challenge you and help to improve your functional strength.
Video Transcript
Ryan Kohler 00:03
Here in Week 4, we’re going to add some new exercises for you.
Our new ones this week are the sumo deadlift, which is a variation on the previous deadlift you’ve been doing, that’s going to target a little bit more of the back of the legs or that posterior chain. Then, we’re also going to bring in lat pulldown to target the upper middle back, and a new core exercise called the bird dog.
Sumo Deadlifts
Ryan Kohler 00:23
With that, let’s head over and start our Sumo Deadlifts. Here in Week 4, we’re changing up our deadlift to a sumo deadlift. We’re going to do three to four sets of eight to 10 reps. Now, the difference here is we’re not lining our feet up about hip width apart, but we’re going to take a wider stance this time, still deadlifting just a wider stance. What this does is puts a little bit more focus on the glutes and the inner thighs, and everything else basically remains the same.
You’ll want to have your toes pointed out a little bit, find a comfortable position. We’re going to let our hand position also come in on the bars. Everything else from the previous deadlifts remains the same, we’re going to still create that tension, find that neutral spine, draw the shoulders down and back, and then drive the feet into the ground. Once we get above the knees, bring those hips forward, and then we reverse that for the trip back down. Once we get below the knees, start bending them, let it come down to the ground.
Sumo Deadlift Regression
Ryan Kohler 01:22
If the Sumo Deadlift seems a little bit too advanced, and you’re not ready for it yet, you can regress this and start off with some lighter weight and learn the movement before moving to the barbell. To do that, we’ll take a kettlebell here, we’re going to still get in our wide stance, and then we’re just gonna come down, take the kettlebell by both hands, find that same position, and then go through that motion like that, just like we would at the bar, but we’ve got the safety of the kettlebell and not an entire barbell.
Lat Pulldown
Ryan Kohler 02:07
Our next workout is the Lat Pulldown, this is a great one to work those lats in your back and really help with posture and your pulling strength. So let’s get going. We’re going to look here at two to three sets, eight to 10 reps, we’re set up here with bands. I have bands attached to the top of the squat rack, and I’m going to start myself here in a nice tall athletic position kneeling on the ground.
Another option if you’re at the gym, there’s lat pulldown machines where you’ll get the bar, and you can do it there too. So from here, what I’m going to do is pretend that the the band is actually attached here, not at my hands, because when I draw down, I want to pull down through my elbows all the way down, feeling those lats in the back, actually contracting and coming together. We will come up nice and slow like this, and then we’ll repeat that for the number of sets and reps that we have.
Bird Dogs
Ryan Kohler 03:02
As we get into the end of Week 4, we’re going to finish up with another core stability exercise called the Bird Dog. For this one, what we’re going to do is come on to all fours here, we’re going to try to get our hip right over our knee, and then a shoulder right over our hand. From there, we’re just going to tighten up our core here, and then we’re going to alternate, and let’s start with left arm and right leg. We’re going to extend those out, and then come back in. Then we’ll repeat that eight times, and then we’ll do it on the other side, eight times. Just like that. We’ll repeat that for two sets.
One of the keys with this is make sure you keep those hips stable. We don’t want to see this happening. Where you’re hyperextending, we want to see everything stay nice and consistent and stable like this. Then come back down.
Alright. That’ll do it for Week 4. Good job this week, we had a lot of new exercises. Next week we’re going to come back with a lot of the workouts you already know and just one new one for you next time. We’ll see you then!
