Some warning signs that you may need to improve your training fitness are:

• Your rest periods between sets are getting longer;
• You get tired quickly during the training session or need extra caffeine/stimulants to get you fired up;
• You have been doing heavy, near-max work for a while.

Improve training ‘fitness’ by spending a couple of weeks doing higher reps at 70 per cent of max. So for weightlifters that would be sets of 3-5, and for powerlifters sets of 5-8.

The best time to do this is just before you start a new strength cycle, on return from holiday or if you have been stagnating for a while.

Active rest is also under-utilised by strength athletes. Personally I use walking, circuit training or kettlebells. It makes you a fitter and more mobile human being, and this can help you tolerate more training and therefore get stronger. 10-15 minutes of high intensity circuit training will improve fitness and make you feel energised.

One of my favourites has always been Ross Enamait’s Magic 50. It has some of my favourite exercises in it and it kicks my butt! The Magic 50 is:

5 dumbbell snatches each hand
5 dumbbell swings each hand
10 burpees (with press up of course)
5 rounds for time

I also find that cleaning up my diet helps me to feel fitter and more dynamic. Often when you are going through a heavy phase of training it can be tempting to eat whatever is around; getting the calories in is important to support the training. However, in a ‘fitness’ phase you should be less hungry and tired and therefore this is the ideal time to sharpen up the eating strategy.

So how do you get fit to train?

More from gubernatrix

• Improve weaknesses with unilateral exercises
• How to: one arm dumbbell snatch
• Does lifting more always mean you get stronger?
• Five secrets of more effective training

This thought struck me as I was watching a climbing film, Alistair Lee’s Onsight where one interviewee comments that when you try to explain headpointing (practising a route on a top rope before leading it) to anyone who doesn’t climb, they don’t understand the point of it at all. It’s the same with functional fitness. I mean, since when has fitness not been functional?

Unfunctional fitness

“Veronica and I are trying this new fad called uh, jogging. I believe it’s jogging or yogging. It might be a soft j, I’m not sure, but apparently you just run for an extended period of time. It’s supposed to be wild.” – Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy

Somewhere down the line, the view was formed that a lot of so-called fitness activity was actually unfunctional. It may have looked like fitness and sounded like fitness and perhaps some fitness was gained as a by-product, but the overriding aim and ambition was to look good naked.

Shiny new contraptions were invented to assist in this goal, as well as accessories, pharmaceutical products and supplements. Perfection could only be attained with the right gear.

Now, I’d like to look good naked as much as the next person so I am not questioning the validity of this ambition. But could you argue that in the modern world, all you need fitness for is to look good and stay healthy, since work, rest and play can all be carried out with the minimum of physical effort? Is that the modern function of fitness?

Physical culture

This became the philosophy in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when the popularity of ‘physical culture’ was at its height.

Eugen Sandow, both poster boy and mastermind of physical culture, wanted to show that an attractive and healthy body was within reach for anybody who was prepared to follow a simple exercise regime.

Physical culture acknowledged that exercise could actually have good looks as an end. Lifting weights would not only make you strong, it would make you beautiful.

We got to the point where, like pop, fitness ate itself. It has certainly become an end in itself. So instead of needing to be fit for something, you can now just be fit. Fit for anything – and nothing.

Modern life is now so geared towards our own convenience, where we have so little need to lift, carry, walk, run or climb that we are obliged to make deliberate efforts to set time aside for fitness because we are just not getting this effect from normal life. So the culture has arisen where fitness is pursued in a gym environment for 30-45 minutes three times a week. It is no longer just part of daily life. For many people it has even superceded sports.

Functional fitness

Functional fitness is about linking fitness to real functions once more. It is designed to reflect movements and functions found in daily life – sled pulling, wood chopping, rope climbing and so on.

I have heard people say, “What’s the point of that? I’ll never have any need to chop wood or pull a sled!”

But the great thing about functional fitness is that you use ordinary objects found around the home or the garage. You don’t need expensive equipment or posh gyms to get fit. A sledgehammer is not only much cheaper than a cable machine, but you might actually be able to use it for other tasks as well. Smashing your old furniture up, for example.

Functional fitness is a simpler approach to fitness. The point is to get fit, not to spend lots of money on machines and supplements. Functional fitness practitioners appreciate simple and versatile equipment like the skipping rope, gymnastic rings or kettlebell. In fact many people get a lot of pleasure from making their own kit.

There is a feeling of self sufficiency that comes from making things or using objects imaginatively that improves your mental wellbeing as well as your physical health (and your financial health, come to that). We may not ever really expect to be dropped in the jungle and have to fight our way out, but it is comforting to think that we are capable enough to have a decent chance.

Functional fitness also takes a holistic view of fitness itself. Fitness encompasses strength, speed, endurance and agility. It includes short, sharp efforts as well as lengthy ones. Most people end up with a bias in one particular direction according to their own preference and build, but functional fitness aficionados make an effort to cover all areas and work on their weaknesses as well as their strengths.

You will often find functional fitness practitioners training outside or in a fairly basic indoor environment. Simple and functional environments are appreciated as much as simple and functional equipment.

Elitism

“Gym Jones is private and isolated from the modern fitness ideal precisely because we believe that attitude to be poison. We believe that a proper training facility is separated from the complacency of the general public, and has its own set of rules and values. We believe that nothing of value may be acquired by simply going through the motions; real fitness is earned.” – Gym Jones

There are people in the world whose jobs involve functions that could be classed under ‘fitness’ – soldiers or firefighters, for example. But many people are simply pursuing fitness for its own sake. And if we’re honest, to be better than other people. Underlying a lot of so-called functional fitness is simple elitism.

Personally I’m all for elitism. I like being fitter/cleverer/healthier than the majority of the population. But let’s call it what it is. In this spirit, I appreciate the honesty of Crossfit’s “forging elite fitness” tag or Testosterone Nation’s strap line of “unapologetic muscle building elitists”. Even the quasi-cultish mystique surrounding Gym Jones could be forgiven on the basis that it is more interested in being true to its values than in being loved.

Many of the functional fitness methods or schools are elitist in outlook. It is an acknowledgement that fitness is more than simply staving off obesity and incapacity for as long as possible. It is about being as good as you can be or as good as your motivation can make you.

There are times when functional fitness, like many interesting concepts, disappears up its own backside. There is an awful lot of gumph spoken about hunting and gathering and being ‘ready for anything’.

I used to be sceptical of this ‘ready for anything’ attitude. It seemed faintly ridiculous for middle-aged suburban men and women to be training as if for battle on the off chance that guerilla war is going to break out in Maidenhead. And if a meteorite does hit the earth wiping out all supermarkets, our survival is going to be more about bushcraft knowledge and a high degree of efficiency than supreme physical fitness (more Ray Mears than Bear Grylls, if you know what I mean).

“Like it or not, we are the product of a very long process of adaptation to a harsh physical existence, and the past couple centuries of comparative ease and plenty are not enough time to change our genome. We humans are at our best when our existence mirrors, or at least simulates, the one we are still genetically adapted to live. And that is the purpose of exercise.” – Mark Rippetoe

But like anything, it is a matter of degree. Some people train to be able to kick a football around with their kids, others want to complete a mountain marathon. Ultimately it is about finding out just how capable you are, and the harder you push the more you adapt.

So functional fitness is the practise of all-round training using basic equipment in an unfussy environment, preferably outdoors. If you are lucky enough to have some real wood to chop or a genuine reason for pulling a sled, lucky you. If not, you may have to make one up.

What are your thoughts on functional fitness? Is the ‘functional’ redundant? Would you call yourself a functional fitness practitioner?

More from gubernatrix

• What is functional strength anyway?
• Fitness on a budget
• Bodyweight or bust!
• “300″ workout

Further reading

• Budget training by Ross Enamait
• Ritual vs Routine – a leftfield take on the relationship between fitness and physical attractiveness from Bodytribe
• 30 days without weights – bodyweight training
• Why Gym Jones is a private facility
• Funckey – the functional fitness community in the UK

Why do unilateral exercises?

Many of the best functional strength and conditioning coaches advocate unilateral work:

“Most athletes and people in general need to focus more on unilateral (single leg) lower body work than bilateral (both legs) lower body work. For non-powerlifters, most of life occurs on one leg.”
- Alwyn Cosgrove, 10 Things I’ve Learned

“Whether or not you wish to use barbells, I still advocate unilateral training. There are clear benefits (ex. coordination, stabilization requirements, the ability to target specific imbalances, etc.). A complete strength plan should include a unilateral element.”
- Ross Enamait on his forum

There are many good reasons to incorporate unilateral exercises in your training programme:

• To improve strength imbalances in the body
• Help to prevent injury due to undiagnosed weaknesses
• Safer, as they involve less weight and decreased load on the back
• Functional – lots of things in sports and in life occur on one leg or arm!
• Easy to do at home with limited equipment
• Train oft-neglected aspects of fitness, such as balance

It’s not necessary to do unilateral exercises all the time (although you can if you want) but it is worth incorporating them into a training cycle every so often.

Injury prevention

If you have ever tried to bench press with two dumbbells at the same time, you may have noticed that one dumbbell goes up easier than the other. Most people have strength imbalances in the body due to the fact that we favour one side or another for functional movements but often the first time people find out about it is when they get injured.

“If you are in the strength and conditioning game long enough you are going to encounter structural and muscular imbalances along the way. These imbalances and weakness occur naturally and by way of accident or injury. Rarely if ever will these situations correct themselves.”
-    Michael Rutherford, Dumbbell Unilateral Training Alternatives, Performance Menu

Sometimes an injury in one part of the body can be traced back to a weakness in another part of the body. These can be difficult to diagnose, especially if you coach yourself. So one option is to train in a preventative manner and try to cover all bases from the beginning!

How to perform unilateral exercises

Watch my video demonstration of the key unilateral exercises and read on below.

Almost any lift that you do with two hands or two legs can also be done with one hand or one leg. You may have to change the equipment, such as using a dumbbell instead of a barbell.  Some of the most effective exercises are:

• Single leg squat (pistol)
• Single leg stiff legged deadlift
• One arm dumbbell swing
• One arm dumbbell snatch
• One arm dumbbell press (either bench or overhead)
• One arm clean and press/jerk

Single leg squat aka pistol

Single leg squats can be done on the floor or on a raised platform. The floor version requires more flexibility but is harder to add weight to. Hold your arms out for balance and squat down as far as you can go.  If you want to add more weight to the move, hold a dumbell in one or both hands, or wear a weighted vest.

Single leg stiff-legged deadlift

This is a great move as it puts more strain on the hamstring and less on the back than a conventional stiff-legged deadlift.

Hold a dumbell in each hand and slowly push the hips back, lowering your arms towards the floor. Keep the back flat.

As in the pistol, maintaining your balance is tricky, so take it carefully. Make sure that you keep a slight bend in the working knee, but not too much so the hamstring is worked.

When doing one leg exercises, I recommend you wear flat trainers rather than trainers with a lot of air as they tend to wobble!

Exercise guide to the One arm dumbbell snatch

Exercise guide to the One arm dumbell swing

Magic 50 workout

A classic strength and conditioning workout from Ross Enamait, who is a fan of unilateral exercises. This lung-buster incorporates both the dumbbell snatch and swing to provide a great full body workout.

5 rounds as fast as possible of:

5 x dumbell snatch each arm
5 x dumbell swing each arm
10 push-up burpees

You can set the timer to go off at regular intervals, such as every minute. This would allow you, for example, to do a circuit that involved changing exercises every minute without having to worry about looking at a clock or a watch. This is extremely useful if, like me, you do a lot of your circuit training on your own or outside where you are not in sight of a clock.

Moreover, the Gymboss allows you to set two interval lengths, so you can use it to do tabatas – where you need one interval of 20 seconds and one interval of 10 seconds.

I’ve been using a Gymboss interval timer for several months and I think the product is so useful that I have decided to host some links to the site. If you decide to get one too, you can give your much-needed support to this site by purchasing your Gymboss via the banners and links here.

Workouts using a Gymboss

Interval timers like Gymboss make a whole host of conditioning workouts much easier, especially if you work out on your own.

1. Tabata protocol

The Tabata protocol consists of 20 seconds of maximum intensity exercise, followed by 10 seconds of rest. This cycle is repeated 8 times, for a total of 4 minutes. Tabatas can be performed using any exercise. The key is to perform at maximum intensity, which has the effect of increasing aerobic capacity and raising the body’s metabolic rate for long after the exercise itself has finished.

If you have never tried tabatas, you are in for a surprise! 20 seconds doesn’t sound like a very long time, but the body fatigues more quickly than you expect, especially if you are not used to high intensity work. Whatever exercise you choose, whether squats, press-ups, burpees or something else, count the number of reps you do in the first 20-second interval and try to get the same number of reps in each of the subsequent intervals. It’s a lot harder than you think.

Read more:

Ross Enamait on the effectiveness of tabatas

2. Crossfit Workouts

Some Crossfit workouts involve timed intervals, such as the popular Fight Gone Bad. In this workout there are five stations:

1. Wall ball
2. Sumo deadlift high pull
3. Box Jump
4. Push press
5. Row

You perform each exercise for one minute before moving on to the next without a break. When all five exercises are complete, you rest for one minute, then start round two. Fight Gone Bad is usually performed in either three- or five-round versions.

Read more:

Gubernatrix does Fight Gone Bad with Crossfit London

3. Circuit training

You can use the Gymboss to put together your own circuits for high intensity workouts. A favourite circuit of mine is:

1 minute row
1 minute thrusters (front squat followed by push press)
x 3 rounds

Simple, tough but very rewarding!

Read more:

Ross Enamait has some more ideas for timed intervals that he has summarised in this guest post for Workout Routines.

To start with, here are five sites you’ll love if you have any interest in strength training.

In need of new ideas? Check out All Round Strength and Conditioning. Jason is always on the lookout for innovative, interesting and sometimes slightly wacky ways to get strong and flexible! He’s also got plenty of his own ideas. This is quite possibly the only website where I can guarantee you’ll see something you’ve never seen before!

• See some of Jason’s inventive training ideas.

Want to know everything about training with weights from the ground up? Need a friendly female perspective? You need Stumptuous.com: Women’s Weight Training in your life. You don’t have to be a woman to appreciate this site, it’s read by a lot of men too. Krista includes articles on everything about weight training and nutrition. Her wry style will likely have you laughing out loud too.

• Check out her series on exercise form: From Dork to Diva

Scott Bird of Straight to the Bar trawls the web every day for the best in strength articles and video clips. There’s always something new and interesting to see here. He covers everything from parkour to strongman, with plenty of powerlifting and bodybuilding in between.

• Read this useful article on holding the bar in the front squat

Ross Training is the website of strength and conditioning coach Ross Enamait. His no-nonsense, low-tech, train-at-home philosophy has won a dedicated following, particularly among boxers and martial artists. Ross also stands out among ‘internet gurus’ for his down to earth approach. He is actively involved in his lively internet forum and resolutely refuses to believe his own hype.

• Check out his video clips and you’ll see why we all want to be like him!

If you are in the UK, Warrior Training is the home of those of us who follow Ross training and similar methods. Schwinners has recently added a lot more video and article content, although for me the mainstay of the site is the training logs. Some great ideas to be found here!

Except that I don’t have a basement. Or a garden, let alone a tree. I don’t even have a back yard. I live in a small flat with an outside stairwell and a concrete area that’s about half the size of a small back yard!

However, this doesn’t mean I can’t do my strength training at home. I just have to be more inventive about it. There is a wide range of strength exercises you can do using only your own bodyweight and whatever walls, railings, stairs you have to hand.

But surely, you are thinking, you can’t get really strong with bodyweight exercises? Well, here’s what strength training expert Alwyn Cosgrove has to say on the matter:

“In my training facility everyone begins with bodyweight exercises. You have to earn the right to lift weights in my facility. Now I’m sure some of you are jumping up and down right about now, convinced that your bodyweight is not enough for you to get a ‘good workout’. You think you’re much too strong. And you’re probably right. If you’re an Olympic Gymnast that is. Remember – most gymnasts use primarily their bodyweight in their conditioning programs and have no problem developing great physiques and great strength levels.”

It’s possible to work the whole body using just your bodyweight. You can train strength, core and explosive power. There are many exercises you can use; in the following video clip I demonstrate a few of my favourites.

The exercises I demonstrate in the clip are:

1. Strength

Pull-ups – with an overhand grip, these work the back (particularly the lats), arms and core. Unluckily I don’t have a bar, just a rather awkward bit of wood that I can’t grip properly. If you don’t have any kind of bar to hand you can use a ledge instead. Not ideal, but at least your fingers will get really strong and you can consider taking up rock climbing!

Inverted rows with underhand grip – these also work the whole back and the underhand grip gives the biceps a bit more of a workout

One-legged squats – also known as pistols, this exercise works the legs (particularly quads and glutes) and the core. You can do these standing flat on the ground, but using a step or a box will allow you to go lower and get a more beneficial range of motion, especially if your hamstrings are not very flexible. You can add weight to the move by holding a heavy object out in front of you. An old telly, perhaps! This exercise is great because it trains balance, flexibility and co-ordination as well as leg strength.

Modified handstand push-ups - handstand push-ups are excellent for working the shoulders. I’m sorry to say that I can’t crank out many full handstand push-ups, so I use this modified version with my feet on a wall at right angles to my body. The closer your hands are to the wall, the harder the exercise is. If you don’t have a handy wall of the right height, you can use a chair. A tip is to keep your head between your arms, so you are looking at the wall behind you not the ground below you. If full handstand push-ups are too easy for you, increase the range of motion by putting each hand on a brick or a concrete block.

Chest dips – a wide arm grip works the chest more, whereas a narrower grip works the triceps.

Tricep extension – this works the triceps and the core. This version of the exercise is more challenging than it looks, but if you find it too easy, raise your legs up so that your body is parallel to the floor to increase the difficulty.

Don’t forget, you can add a weighted vest to any of these exercises for additional challenge.

2. Core

Most people know the popular bodyweight exercises for core, such as sit-ups and crunches, bicycle, twists, plank and so on. For this reason, and because the core is being worked in most of the other exercises, I have only included one core exercise in this video demo.

V-ups – works the core, particularly the abs. Holding a weight in your hands will increase the intensity.

3. Explosive power

This is an area of strength often neglected in training. Power is a function of strength and speed and I believe it is necessary for anyone who wants to claim all-round strength.

Clap push-ups – also known as pylometric push-ups. I demonstrate the basic version here but you can spice up your clap push-ups by using blocks or steps. For example, you can use the corner of a step to do power overs (check out my Fun With Press-ups article if you don’t know what power overs are).

Stair jump – this is my outdoor replacement for a box jump. If you have a sturdy box, that would probably be better as you would be able to perform the exercise faster. The flight of steps I use happens to be 25 inches high. I recommend the stair or box jump to be at least 24 inches, more if possible. This is a great exercise for explosive leg power and vertical jump training.

Tuck jump – this exercise trains the explosive power of the legs and is also a great conditioning exercise. Really try to get the knees as close to the chest as possible, no half measures on this one! A good exercise to finish with.

So, no more excuses. See how inventive you can be in your own backyard or garden. Ross Training and Dragon Door both have plenty of ideas too.

What’s your favourite no-equipment bodyweight exercise?

What is the dumbbell swing?

The dumbbell swing is an ‘old school’ exercise. It is similar to the dumbbell snatch but not as technical, so you might find it easier to get to grips with it.

It is performed with a dumbbell either in one hand or both hands. You swing the dumbbell in front of you with a straight arm and let it arch up until it is directly over your head.

The dumbbell swing is a full body movement and is particularly good for hamstrings, glutes and hip extension.

Why is it such a great exercise?

Like the dumbbell snatch, the dumbbell swing works the whole body and is great for the hips as the explosive powerhouse of the body. Strength coach Joe DeFranco, for example, recommends the swing for vertical jump training.

This old time exercise has recently become more popular. Part of the reason for its renaissance is the growth in kettlebell training, which utilises the swing. Not all gyms have kettlebells however, so the dumbbell is a useful alternative.

How to perform the one-arm dumbbell swing

Step 1

Squat down with legs slightly wider than shoulder width apart and hold the dumbbell between your legs, slightly in front of you.

Step 2

Keeping the arm completely straight, drive upwards through the legs and apply a powerful push to your hips to bring them forward. This will swing the dumbbell outwards and upwards in front of you. There is no need to use your arms to lift it up as the dumbbell will rise with the momentum generated by your hips. Just make sure your arm remains straight. The front shoulder muscles (anterior deltoids) do come into play, but they are not the primary mover in this exercise.

Step 3

Let the dumbbell swing all the way up until it is over your head. Use your other arm for balance. When the weight is over your head, lock out and hold the position. Be careful not to let the weight drift backwards over your head. Engaging your core will help to bring the swing to a stop.

Step 4

To return to the starting position, simply reverse the movement of the swing. Do it in a controlled fashion, and don’t forget to bend the legs again. Don’t just let the dumbbell drop.

Here is the two-handed dumbbell swing, as demonstrated by Krista Scott-Dixon.

Do it the old school way

For really heavy swings, you might want to consider using the split jerk stance as used by the guy in this post from Straight to the Bar, who is swinging a massive 123 pounds! The stance is more stable and he gets his body right under the weight.

Notice that he also does a starting swing to the halfway point before going for the full swing. This is recommended when you are going heavy. If you are putting the weight back on the floor each time, you can use a starting swing for every rep, but if you are not putting the weight on the floor, you need only use the starting swing on the first rep.

I wouldn’t recommend going heavy like this if you are new to swings!

How to use the dumbbell swing in your training

The dumbbell swing can be performed heavy for strength or with a lighter weight for a great conditioning workout.

It goes very well with the dumbbell snatch. In my article on the dumbbell snatch, I quoted a routine from Ross Training called Magic 50 which utilises both the dumbbell snatch and the dumbbell swing.

I tend to use the dumbbell swing mainly for conditioning or to warm up for a full body weightlifting session. The exercise mimics some of the mechanics of the squat in the lower body, so would be useful as a warm up for squats.

Video clips

Crossfit kettlebell swings

Crossfit’s Annie demonstrating the swing. This clip deliberately shows both good and bad form. Although she’s using a kettlebell rather than a dumbbell, all the advice on form applies to both versions.

Dumbbell swing with split jerk landing

As mentioned above, as an alternative catch and land position for heavy dumbbell swings.

Related posts

One-arm dumbbell snatch

What is the dumbbell snatch?

The dumbbell snatch is a version of the Olympic lift, the snatch, performed with a dumbbell in one hand. You move the dumbbell from the floor to above your head in one explosive movement.

The dumbbell snatch is a full body movement and most of the major muscle groups come into play, particularly legs, shoulders and core.

Why it is such a great exercise?

The dumbbell snatch requires strength, agility, power, speed and balance to perform. It really is the complete athletic movement. It is easier to learn and perform than the barbell version, and people are more likely to have access to dumbbells than to barbells so it can be used in a variety of situations.

This exercise requires a great burst of energy to perform. It is good fun and very rewarding to be able to pick a weight off the floor and have it locked out over your head in one smooth movement.

The dumbbell snatch is also one of the most versatile strength exercises. Sometimes I go for a maximum set, but with a lighter weight and higher reps it is also an incredibly effective conditioning tool. And since it requires such energy and involves the whole body, I often use it as a warm-up exercise when doing heavy weight training.

How to perform the one-arm dumbbell snatch

Olympic lifts are a lot easier if you can get your head around the idea of dropping under the weight. When you first pull the weight off the floor, most of the work is being done by your legs, which are driving upwards. Once your legs have fully extended, the weight has probably come up to your chest and at that point you squat down very quickly so that your body is now under the weight and driving upwards again. If you don’t do this, it’s your arms and shoulders that will be doing the lifting, when really you need to make use of the big muscles in your legs to do the donkey work.

It’s a bit weird at first getting the timing right, but once you get it, you see how effective it is. The better your technique, the more weight you can snatch.

There are some video clips at the end of this article. Sometimes it makes more sense when you see the exercise in action!

Step 1 – starting position

Take up a squatting position with your feet slightly more than shoulder width apart, toes slightly turned out for stability. The dumbbell is positioned between your legs, as close to the body as you can manage without damaging any important bits! The dumbbell handle is parallel to the body.

You can either start with the dumbbell on the floor or in the ‘hang’ position, with the dumbbell a couple of inches off the floor. I usually start in the hang position, as shown in the picture. The main advantage of this position is that you don’t have to squat quite as low at the start. But if the weight is very heavy, it might be advisable to start from the floor.

Whether you start with the weight on the floor or in the hang position, your arm should be straight but not stiff and locked-out. I’ve got my other arm stuck out to the side to aid with balance. As with any squatting position, your back should be flat.

Step 2 – drive up and pull

When you start the pull, drive upwards powerfully with your legs and thrust your hips forward. This gives you the momentum you need to lift the weight – you don’t have to deliberately pull it up with your arm. Using the momentum generated by your legs, let your arm rise up with it. Shrug your shoulders to help it up.

You should try to keep the dumbbell close to your body. In the picture, I could have the dumbbell a little closer to my body really.

Step 3 – catch and drive up again

By the time the dumbbell has reached your chest, your legs are practically fully extended and your hips are coming forward. At this point, you drop into a squat so that your bodyweight is underneath the weight. The dumbbell has travelled up with the momentum of the initial push, and you want to ‘catch’ the weight before it succumbs to gravity and falls to the floor. As soon as you are underneath it, drive upwards again and lock out the arm above your head.

In the picture above, you can see that because I have squatted again, my body is practically in the same position that I started, only now the weight is above my head. I finish the move by standing up straight with still arm locked out.

When you see Olympic weightlifters perform this move with a heavy barbell, they drop into a deep squat for the catch. In the one-arm dumbbell snatch exercise it is not necessary to squat that low. You can squat as much as you want or feel is necessary to complete the exercise. This is known as a ‘power’ snatch – when you only use a partial squat to catch the weight. Often you will find that if you can’t lift a particular weight, squatting lower will make a difference.

If the weight is getting heavy, I sometimes incorporate a jump. It gives you an extra bit of power! Olympic lifters always jump – Olympic lifting is about jumping with weight. The ‘stomp’ down helps you to drive up more powerfully and – if you land with your legs a bit wider – increases your stability when you ‘catch’ the weight.

Step 4 – return to start for next rep

Having completed the overhead portion of the exercise, you can either return the dumbbell to the hang position or return it to the floor before the next rep.

If I am using a slightly lighter weight for explosive power and conditioning, I return to the hang position and do the next rep with the same arm.

If I am using a heavy weight, I return the dumbbell to the floor and swop arms for the next rep.

How to use the dumbbell snatch in your training

You can incorporate this versatile move in many different ways, for example:

• as a warm-up for weight lifting
• as part of an explosive strength routine
• as part of a conditioning routine

Ross Enamait has a great conditioning routine incorporating the dumbbell snatch called Magic 50. It consists of 5 rounds for time of the following:

5 x dumbbell snatch with each arm
5 x dumbbell swing with each arm
10 x burpees (with press-up)

I will be covering the dumbbell swing in the next article in this series.

Video clips

Female athlete performing power snatches with jump

This video is a good example of a power snatch with a jump. The female athlete in this clip is lifting a fairly heavy weight and she really stomps the jump well.

Crossfit workout incorporating dumbbell squats

This is a typically tough Crossfit workout featuring the dumbbell snatch. It’s interesting to watch because each of the participants has a slightly different style. They all squat quite deeply, partly because I suspect they have been instructed that way, and partly because the weight is quite challenging and gets more so as the workout progresses!

I used to train in the advanced group at British Military Fitness (I was always at the back!) and I would get really nervous before a session, knowing the pain and effort that was coming in the next hour. I sometimes get nervous before a heavy weights session, especially if I’m not feeling at my best.

But this is how progress is made. The key to training, whether it is strength or conditioning, is regular progression – and progression means getting to somewhere you’ve never been before. Whether it is 5kg on your max deadlift or knocking 30 seconds off your 100 burpee time, you are taking a leap into the unknown and it is somewhat scary. You don’t know how your body is going to react, you don’t know how it’s going to feel. But you have to overcome this fear in order to make progress. And deep down, you have to believe that you can.

Your brain will always try to stop you before your body actually gives out. It’s a built-in safety mechanism. This is why it really helps to have someone else to push you, and why I was grateful for being shouted at by ex-soldiers and forced to run up hills when all I wanted to do was lie in the dirt and cry.

If you want to make serious progress you simply must be prepared to push yourself past the point at which you want to stop. You might not necessarily enjoy it while it lasts, but you will be incredibly psyched once it’s over and really happy that you got a new personal best.

So if your workouts don’t scare you….maybe you need to make them harder!

And while we’re on the subject of cutting through the crap, if you are a woman, take note: none of the strength training approaches below will result in you getting too big and bulky. In fact, you’ll get stronger, fitter and leaner. And it’s quite likely that you will be able to out-lift a lot of men to boot!

Maximal strength

As the name suggests, this is the heaviest you can possibly lift in a given exercise. Your maximal strength is determined by your 1 rep max (1RM), the most you can lift for 1 repetition. Maximal strength can be trained in the rep range of 1 – 5, using anywhere between 80% – 100% of your 1 rep max. It’s not a good idea actually to train to your 1 rep max too frequently. It’s something you can test every few months or years if you want to.

Here is a video clip of Annie from Crossfit going for a new 1 rep max on the clean.

In theory, you can use any lifts for maximal strength training, because you will be training for max strength in that lift. However, the more muscles involved in the lift and the bigger those muscle groups, the stronger you will get all over. I tend to use the power lifts – squat, deadlift and bench/chest press – for maximal strength training.

Olympic lifts – snatch and clean & jerk (or clean & press) – are also good for max strength training as they involve the whole body. But do note that unless you have good training in olympic weight lifting it is better to use the dumbbell versions of olympic lifts when going heavy, as they are technically much easier and you still get the strength benefits.

Maximal strength training has a beneficial effect not just on the muscles but on the central nervous system (CNS). This is important in any kind of strength training. It is the CNS that recruits motor units in the muscle fibres in order to perform a lift. The more you train the CNS, the better it gets at recruiting motor units – which means more muscle fibres are activated and you get stronger.

Explosive strength

Explosive strength is the ability to exert a lot of force in a short space of time, usually in order to propel yourself somewhere. A long jump or a 100m sprint requires explosive strength. It’s all about turning raw strength into speed.

As you might imagine, explosive strength is significant in many sports and activities. Pylometric training is often used to develop explosive strength. This type of training usually involves launching yourself into the air using either lower or upper body. Lower body pylometrics would include box jumps or tuck jumps. Upper body pylometrics would include clap press-ups or power overs.

Explosive strength is great fun to train. It’s very useful for sports and will increase your overall athleticism.

Strength endurance

Strength or muscular endurance is the ability to repeatedly generate force over a long period of time. Lactic acid builds up in the muscles, like it does when running for instance, and training for endurance both delays the lactic threshold and trains you to push through it.

Strength endurance is very functional. There are not many moments when we would be required to lift our maximum but there seem to be plenty of times in life where strength endurance is required – loading boxes into a van, for example.

Press-ups are a popular exercise to test strength endurance, doing as many as you can in one go. However, any strength exercise will train endurance if performed for a high number of reps, say 15 or more, at 50% or less of 1 rep max.

A lot of women are advised to weight train using 15 reps or more. They are told that this will prevent them from getting bulky or too big. This is bad advice because it means that women who only train this way are totally missing out on maximal strength training, which is so beneficial to the body. We already know that training for strength at 1-5 reps doesn’t make women big and bulky. Training endless repetitions will extend your lactic threshold but won’t make you stronger or allow you to develop the muscle that will help you burn fat and look lean and athletic.

Classes like Body Pump favour high reps of low weights. This mainly has a conditioning effect but doesn’t build significant muscle unless you are an absolute beginner – when lifting any weight at all will have an effect. I am not denigrating Body Pump; I used to do it and enjoyed it very much. But it is not particularly effective for strength training once you’ve got past the absolute beginner stage.

Bodybuilding

Bodybuilding has really entered the mainstream in recent years. If you join a gym the programme you will be given will generally be a bodybuilding programme. Resistance machines that you see in gyms have come from the bodybuilding world, although other strength trainees do use them for specific purposes.

Although the primary focus is on aesthetics, bodybuilding is a type of strength training. But bodybuilders are interested in muscle growth – hypertrophy – and therefore train to those ends. Bodybuilding exercises usually include the big compound exercises such as squat, deadlift and bench press, along with other exercises that work a particular muscle or muscle group. Bodybuilders rarely use olympic lifts.

Many bodybuilders use the rule of thumb that hypertrophy is best achieved by working in the rep rage of 8 – 12 reps, and 60-80% of 1 rep max. However, there are other methods around, such as 20-rep work, rest-pause training and super slow rep work like HIT.

Functional strength

In a way, functional strength is the opposite of bodybuilding, although I wouldn’t want to labour that too much. All types of strength are functional up to a point, but the type of training used has a different aim.

Functional strength has a use or purpose beyond the training itself, whether for sport, fighting or life in general. It is characterised by all-round strength, not just one type, and generally goes hand-in-hand with good fitness and conditioning. Functional strength training therefore includes all the types of strength training identified above: maximal, explosive and endurance.

Proponents of functional strength often incorporate objects from life, such as tyres, sledgehammers and sandbags, to highlight the functionality of the training. Trainees are encouraged to use whatever is around them or build up their own gym at home. Using one’s own bodyweight as resistance is a key part of functional strength training – what could be more convenient or useful?

Functional strength training is often used to train fighters, soldiers and law enforcement officers. Popular functional strength proponents include Ross Enamait, Gym Jones, Crossfit.

Conditioning

Conditioning isn’t a type of strength training, but strength training has a significant conditioning effect, so it’s worth talking about here. In the minds of many people, strength training and aerobic conditioning are two separate things, to be trained on separate days or in separate sessions. But often, they can be one and the same thing. Any kind of strength training will raise your heart rate. A set of heavy deadlifts will leave you panting and sweating! If you cut down your rest times so that your heart rate remains elevated, your strength training session will also be an aerobic conditioning session.

Circuit training is one good way to achieve this. Rather than doing three work sets for one exercise then moving onto the next exercise and doing three sets of that, you would train first one exercise, then the other, then back to the first and so on until you had completed three rounds. You can do this with as many exercises as you like. The point is to structure the circuit so that when you move from one exercise to the next you are working different muscles. For example, you could go from leg press to tricep dip. This gives the first muscle group a chance to rest a bit. So you can cut down recovery time between sets and exercises and keep your heartrate elevated, getting that conditioning benefit.

Putting it all together

You can train different types of strength – say, maximal strength and explosive strength – in the same session. It is worth bearing in mind, though, that whichever type comes second will probably suffer somewhat in performance.

You can also devote one session to one type of strength. For example, have a maximal strength day, followed by a day or two of recovery, then an explosive strength day. It’s up to you how you train, depending on what you are trying to achieve. I believe that whatever your goals, it is worth doing at least one heavy session a week. I think it gives you an excellent strength base from which to pursue all kinds of other strength and athletic activities.

It’s also very exciting to realise that you don’t have to be a professional strength athlete to lift a good deal more than your own bodyweight. I’m aiming for a double-bodyweight deadlift next!

Acknowledgements

Classification of types of strength and the rep ranges and percentages quoted come from Ross Enamait’s book Infinite Intensity.