Three years ago, I read ‘Body by Science’ and it changed the way I think about exercise completely. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to find a gym in Ottawa that used this type of training. I then asked Google for results on ‘HIT bodyweight’ and found Drew Baye and Project Kratos. After reading most of Drew Baye’s blog and watching any videos I could find with him, I purchased Project Kratos and started my experiment.
Doing a workout once a week at home was perfect for my life situation at the time: two young children and full time jobs for my wife and I. Despite the infrequency I made progress surprisingly quickly. The squat, heel raise and back extension exercises almost tripled in under six months. But I quickly plateaued on exercises like the pushup, chinup and crunch. I tried many different things: negatives, forced reps, more rest, less rest, split routines, etc. but nothing allowed me to break through the plateau.
I started experimenting with different programs like GMB and GB, but all I lacked the mobility to do even their entry movements. I also read ‘Supple Leopard’ by Kelly Starret and ‘Roll Model’ by Jill Miller and realized that mobility was probably my limiting factor. It took a while before I was able to add my reading about mobility into my exercise mental model. Here is my current exercise model that I used to setup my latest exercise routine and goals.
Each movement has three components: mobility, skill and strength. These three components are related is non-linear ways. Even if they cannot be separated, it can still be useful to think about the effect of each component on a movement:
Do the joints, connective tissue and muscles that participate in the movement have the range of motion required? There are three answers to this question: yes, no and almost.
Examples of “almost” include missing shoulder range of motion so that the lats are not properly engaged for chinups or pullups. When only the arm muscles are used, the number of reps will always be limited and risk of shoulder injury is higher.
Another example is doing a squat without full ankle or hip range of motion. The squat is possible but it may lead to a rounded back and that can lead to joint wear and injury.
There are many examples of world class athletes that are still able to excel even with mobility limitation but they often pay the price for it later. If mobility restrictions are not addressed, injuries and plateaus will keep happening. More complicated movements often require more range of motion but developing range of motion takes much longer than building skill or strength.
Mobility is more than stretching. Increasing the range of motion requires convincing the nervous system that extending further is safe. This requires that the muscle be strong enough and lots of time being relaxed at the end of the range of motion. The fascia are also involved. Sometimes there can be adhesion of fascia layers that prevent proper movement. I have experienced many times injuries and pains resolved using a lacrosse ball or ART where force is applied to a trigger point.
Skill is the neurological coordination required to do a movement efficiently. Some movements require little practice, some full body movements require lots of practice to coordinate all the muscles and parts of the body properly. This is why practicing a movement without going to failure can still result in extra repetitions or apparent strength gains.
Full muscle contraction is another skill that is an important part of HIT. Learning to contract a muscle or a set of muscles under intense discomfort takes practice.
How best to simulate the body to produce the desired adaptation response of greater power output and/or muscle size? This is the component that HIT has focused on. The slow movement to momentary muscular failure protocol works well, but there are limitations. If a mobility or skill component is lacking, this will prevent a trainee from achieving proper muscular failure and simulating an adaptation response.
The best way to training for strength is HIT: short, infrequent movement to momentary muscular failure.
Skill training is best done when the muscles are rested as many skills require strength to perform properly. Skill training therefore works best with many repetitions using a lighter load with careful focus on form.
Mobility training is very different from skill or strength training. It takes lots of time and is specific to each individual body. It works best when done daily and integrated into other daily activities. I have had to find creative ways to combine a usual activity with stretching or working on fascia. For instance I will read in straddle stretch and meditate in squat position.
How best to combine all this information into a weekly program? That depends on the goals and time available of course.
If the goal is maximum ROI for minimum time investment, HIT strength training has the best returns. Movements that do not require skill or mobility components will have best return and this is why many HIT gyms use machines. Bodyweight HIT works but many of the movements have a mobility and skill component and each individual will experience different limitations.
The next step is to add mobility and skill practice. Unfortunately both these require significantly more time investment. Choose a specific skill and do daily mobility and skill repetitions.
For example I choose L-Sit and Crow Pose as skills and I do daily shoulder and wrist mobility followed by those skills on days when I do not do HIT strength. The mobility work takes 15-20 minutes. The skill work only takes a few minutes. I try to fit some more skill work in during the day to maximize the repetitions.
I have carved out a time for this every day. I will keep going while there is progress and then switch to something else when I stop progressing.
Thanks for reading this far. The key to staying motivated is progress and the key to progress is focusing on very specific goals.