The Five Keystone Exercises for Size and Strength

Below is an excellent tutorial presented by Josh Hewett and Craig Hirota of Top-Form Fitness and Team Barbarian. The exercises presented will make a solid cornerstone to your training. Each movement is explained with in-depth detail. Take the time to watch this well-presented video. **SPOILER ALERT** Make sure you stay tuned to the last few minutes. Josh had included another TEN BONUS tips to help boost your training goals. Don't miss it!!

Now if you happened to be wondering what I like to use as a primary mass and strength builder, I personally choose the deadlift as the king of all exercises. It's my opinion and I'm sticking to it. I think no other movement hits the body quite like deadlift. The deadlift involves almost every muscle of the body with strong emphasis to the posterior chain. My personal favorite is the trap bar version!!

Thanks for reading and check out the tutorial below,
Ron

TRAIN * COMPETE * WIN




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The Bootstrapper Squat

For those bodyweight trainers that are not familiar with the bootstrapper squat,here is a great explanation given by Scrapper of "http://www.trainforstrength.com/".




Pic. 1 The starting position is usually the most difficult for people to visualize. They either have their hands too close to their feet (or fingers under their toes!), too far away to maintain balance or their arms are inside their legs creating potential elbow damage. The starting position is crucial to performing Boot-Strappers correctly, so learn to set yourself up right the first time and keep it up every time!
Start by squatting down and balancing yourself, momentarily, on your toes and get into position by slowly leaning forward and putting your hands on the ground just forward of your shoulders. Make sure to keep the toes pointed forward with heels off the ground, and that your knees are together. Relax your body and maintain a 60-40% weight distribution between your feet and your hands with your Hamstrings and Glutes resting on your heels. (pic. 1)




From the starting position all you have to do is try to straighten your legs and stop when your heels touch the ground. From there bring your Glutes back down until they touch your heels and you've completed 1 repetition (or half a repetition if you're doing these in 4-count fashion). (pic. 2)

Quick note: If you feel this exercise in your hamstrings, you are suffering from poor flexibility. Bootstrappers will burn your quads like few other things will! Mixed with various other exercises Bootstrappers quickly point out the weakest link in your body.

Kettlebell Bootstrapper Squat

This clip is courtesy of Jason Ferruggia. This is a great utilization of combining a kettlebell with a very underrated lower bodyweight exercise.