Home Gym Training

With the start of winter holiday and many making the move for a quick splash of fun in sunny southern destination, allotted times for exercise often be sacrificed or fall victim to the lack of facilities. Though many will find suggesting dedication to exercise during holidays curmudgeonly, success comes to those who are able to stay the course where others fail and remain on point. It is not easy to be successful and the right of the victors podium is reserved for the dedicated, hence the very straightforward fact that is important to maintain positive work habits during holidays and loose focus.

Naturally there must be a balance between exercise, holidays and the firm realisation that common training mediums used in your standard routine is unlikely to be available and therefore changes are required within your exercise regime. Additionally being involved in participatory sports that you typically do not have time for outside of holidays will provide a healthy stimulus and break the monotony of  training that sees many mentally “burn out”.

However this winter holiday (as well as those who travel extensively) is also a perfect opportunity to branch out into different forms of exercise, with the most transportable of all involving body-weight work.

This brings up one of my favourite approaches of training I have created and one that is overwhelmingly the farthest reaching, which is DMC™.

This regime is capable of having positive impact in overall health within the general mainstream, for those recovering from injury or elite level athletes in any sport. The program is scalable to suit every level, starting with basic long duration holds and gradually becomes a system of constant movement in a near acrobatic, dance styling that requires extraordinary athletic ability. It has become a favourite for elite level sporting coaches of many disciplines, athletic therapists and even bodybuilders who have commented its remarkable effect of muscular density. Within the martial arts community it is a natural fit as it has been shown be many as a unique connection of the sports needs as well adherence to overall body and mind discipline.

With the niceties aside, the nine-stage DMC™ system is extremely mentally and physically challenging, requires acute mental focus, the ability to manage “extreme discomfort” for long stretches of time, whist always maintaining discipline to detail. It is very capable of developing explosive power, speed and work threshold, all without any costly equipment but is dependent on complete commitment and let me stress that though I am known to say many programs are “easy”, this plan is always an intense challenge.

Within the nine-stage DMC™ program, the very early opening period serves as a foundation that will serve the plan for many years before the individual is capable of advancing. Of the many key points within this plan is the attention to detail, management and enduring ongoing stress and not allowing form to waiver for the briefest of moments.

Within the following nine holds presented, body alignment and tension throughout the duration of the hold must be stressed, in particular through movements two through eight.

Each hold is performed for upwards of ninety second holds though the individual will start at one-third. Holds are continuous but depending upon fatigue the user should arbitrarily decide to sit in position “1” in between transitions to the next movement to allow the body to recover.

Position #1 “RX5”: This position should be entered from a proper one legged squat sequence but for the purposes of this review simply sit on your haunches with feet flat on the ground. You should be able to lift either leg completely straight out and maintain position before progressing.

Position #2, Bridge, hips are high with a perfect diagonal line running from shoulder to hip to knee. Shin is at or near perpendicular to the ground. Hips are thrust high with extreme tension maintained in the glutes and hamstrings.

Position #3 Table position with the ankles to knees, hands to shoulder creating near perfect 90° angles. The thighs and torso should be flat with the individual in a relaxed frame of mind.

Position #4 Table, one leg up. Of the extended leg, foot should be flat with heel “punching” upwards. The top heel should be at or behind the heel on the ground. The hips should be pushed upwards with the thigh of the plant leg parallel the ground. Arms are straight with heels of palms digging into the ground.

Position #5 Table with opposite arm reach. Maintain about position with opposite arm grasping the toe.

Position #6 Leg under: the individual pushes off the heel of the plant (right) leg back towards a table position whilst bending the (left) leg under the opposite thigh. The leg is tucked under just as the plant (right) foot is driven powerfully into the ground with the hips moving upward.

Position #7 Static Swipe: the individual turns the left 180° to face away from the body as you begin a powerful turn ("swipe"). The right shin should be at a 90° angle so instructors need to be sure of foot placement, lest some additional movements that roll from this will be skewed off course. Through the swipe maintain tension of the plant (right) leg such that thigh and opposite shin are at or near parallel to the ground. Extreme pressure must be placed with the plant (left) arm with the entire body "open" and ready for an explosive turn.

Position #8 Swipe to Turn continues the turn as they pull through driving the heel of the opposite leg (leg) upward. Their should be a direct line for the back to hips to heel and the individual should display an ability to coil and project themselves.

Position #9 Modified Pushup: slide into the "modified pushup" whereby the individual bend at the elbows to bring their head very close to the ground and then look up through their navel to create extreme tension on the rear delts.

This workout should be followed with the five major core postural holds of Plank, Side Plank, Horse pose, Superman and Flying Squirrel and static range of motion work.

Prepared by John Davies
Photo: Tammy Bravomalo

John Davies is available on his personal page on Facebook , Renegade Training™’s, Google+, Renegade Training™ on Google+ as well as or Twitter.

John’s present supplement stack starts daily with the “athlete’s advantage”, Modern, Super Cissus, PowerFull and Prime, along with additional use of Recreate, Yok3d, Anabolic Pump and Pink Magic depending upon his training cycle (workout log 1, 2, 3, 4).

Disclaimer
The information provided in “Instant Training Improvement Tips”, as well as this web-site blog is intended for informational and educational purposes only and should not be interpreted as medical advice for any condition. Always consult a qualified medical professional before beginning any nutritional program or exercise program. By reading this disclaimer, you hereby agree and understand that the information provided in this column is not medical advice and relying upon it shall be done at your sole risk

When I first began writing in the sports conditioning, health and fitness industry it was more than a slight awakening for me of how the public envisioned an exercise regime. Very honestly it was the proverbial “house of horrors’, where every conceivable error was entrenched in the exercise field that left users doomed to failure.

At that stage, much of my success in the sports arena was from taking seemingly average athletes and turning them into “giant killers”. Of interest during the precisely same time a very well known collegiate coach, later a major television network broadcaster, explained to me how his pristine weight training room was designed more as a recruiting / marketing tool than a place for work. This was completely opposite of my “gymnasium”, that was more junkyard salvage than what any would consider to use for marketing.

There were no brochures, no expensive pieces of machinery just cold metal, rafters to perform a multitude of exercises from, heavy stones, picks and shovels to dig, a personal place for sand training and still the best cold-water “treatment room” I have found. It was a place of work, not for “photo ops”, with a grimy back-alley sprint lane few would dare travel at night and everything you needed for training as well as a perfect spot for an oil change and tune-up.

Welcome to the garage gym and training at home.

Since those halcyon days the face of sports conditioning, health and fitness industry has made considerable steps in the right direction though it still has much room to go. Whereas I used to explain for what seemed to be a lifetime on the need for developing posture, tactile response and movement patterns with the use of compound exercises, dynamic range of motion work and general physical preparation, many corners of the sport conditioning industry have finally caught on. Again, while there is massive room for improvement, there is additionally cause for optimism and the next step is towards the mainstream.

The avenue to success in sports conditioning, health and fitness does not come via gleaming machinery but the approach to exercise, understanding and adhering to the basic concepts (see Renegade Concepts of Training™). Proper application will give rise to improved posture, tactile response and movement patterns via the use of compound movements, static and dynamic range of motion work and general physical preparation but very succinctly does not require expensive machinery.

Quite naturally this is a direct assault on facilities that possess gleaming machinery along with frosted windows but there is no entry fee to be a place of hard work, just sweat and a commitment to be renewed each day to unveil the greatness that lay within.

In-fact, those training at home, ala the “garage gym” has some unique advantages and part of the reason why I always had a waiting list of elite clientele.

• Convenience: obviously training at home eliminates travel time that in our business modern schedules can often derail training sessions. One look at my workout logs ( 26 October, 1 November, 22 November, 5 April) and it should be obvious that a two to three Squat session per day would be near impossible if I had to be concerned with travel.

• Distractions: generally training at home has considerably fewer distractions than the commercial facility.

• Diet and Supplementation: Quite obviously there is no need to travel time to eat or requirement to carry the arsenal of supplements with you so your timing should be optimal. As a point of nostalgia, I only wish someone had thought of taking photos in those early days with barbeque pit going strong throughout the days training.

• Cost: Very straight and to the point, training at home is generally significantly more affordable. While there is a modest start-up cost, the savings is quickly significant and over the long haul will astound.

Through the course of this week we will examine home based training systems and how to make it most beneficial to you.

John Davies is available on his personal page on Facebook , Renegade Training™’s as well as or Twitter.

Prepared by John Davies
Photo: Will Sarty

Disclaimer
The information provided in “Instant Training Improvement Tips”, as well as this web-site blog is intended for informational and educational purposes only and should it be interpreted as medical advice for any condition. Always consult a qualified medical professional before beginning any nutritional program or exercise program. By reading this disclaimer, you hereby agree and understand that the information provided in this column is not medical advice and relying upon it shall be done at your sole risk