BACKYARD GYM LOWER BODY GYM DAY - NEW EXERCISES

With Archie starting footy again and with training on a Friday night, we had to move his Karate night to Tuesday.

Normally I would do a specific sprinting session on this day but with a little, tiny calf thing in my left calf I went the no risk option and went with a lower body gym session in the backyard gym I have but rarely get to use during the season, especially for the lower body.

For the last couple of months I've been doing my upper body training at a public gym around the corner and all I see is pretty much 50 different blokes doing the exact same program, or bloody close to.

Squats into Deadlifts into Leg Extensions into Leg Curls into Walking Lunges - that's pretty much it.

And it gets far more boring when they do upper body - I mean how many different ways can you curl anyway?

You want to know what's really wrong with these exercises?

Here's the truth.

"Most" gym exercises are classed as general preparation exercises meaning they can and will only provide a general response.

You might get a little bit stronger, you might get a little bit bigger and you might get a little bit faster but you don't improve anything specifically.

Some of you might enter the special preparation exercise section with the use of plyometrics but they are usually programmed incorrectly so "some" of the exercise builds on the general effect of the exercises above, but most of it doesn't.

I'll make a big call but I'd say there is no more than 1% of local/amateur footballers using any exercises in the special development section which are exercises that mimic the specific actions and motions found in competitive sport.

At the top of the pyramid are competition exercises which we do use at footy training, but without training the parts that make up those movements/skills, minimal improvement is made over the long term and year after year you come back as the same player - no better, no worse.

The point is that you need to find more exercises for your training and here are some I used yesterday that you've probably never even seen before.

If you want to know more about them then let me know over on the Aussie Rules Training Facebook Page.

Band Hip Thrusts

Single Leg Band Hamstring Curls

Ankle Iso Hold (Alex Natera)

Hip Extension Iso Hold (Alex Natera)

Jammer Hip Extension (Michael Drach)

Split Stance Switch Bosch (Michael Drach)

Split Stance Pop Bosch (Michael Drach)

Single Leg Band Hip Flexion...needs a lot of work! (Michael Drach)