Slosh Pipe and Eric Cressay
April 10th, 2010
Over the last few months, working out hard has grown ever more fun.
It started this winter, while googling ideas for rehabilitating a rotator cuff injury, when I came across the writings of Eric Cressay. Right away I could tell he was a smart dude, who really knew his stuff when it came to training for functional strength. Eric’s ideas and hints helped heal my shoulder quickly, but it was his other articles that really got me rolling.
Decades ago I used to hit the weight room for the classic high-school guy ‘beach workout’ - some bench and curls, maybe a few dips and shoulder press, and perhaps squats. But after years of grunting through the classic 3 sets of 10, I lost interest, especially as my interest began to focus on endurance and aerobic activities.
Then about 5 years ago, I joined my good friend (and coach of the Canadian Skeleton Team) Kelly Forbes in the gym a few times. His fast-paced, dynamic routines, often employing explosive movements and handling just body weight were fun, and I could tell instinctively were helping functional strength (as opposed to beach form.) This training was really a precursor to the Crossfit (www.crossfit.com) and Gym Jones (www.gymjones.com) style practices. These hard, fast, and ever changing workouts are great, and got me back training hard again.
But reading Eric’s articles helped me understand some of the fundamental structural and strength challenges the vast majority of us face. For starters - over tight hip flexors, poor glute function, and winging scapula. I won’t get into it all here, but if you are stalled in a workout rut, or want to take your strength training to the next level, I don’t think you could go wrong taking a peek at Eric’s articles (http://ericcressey.com/articles). And don’t be put off that these are mostly written for the hideously named website, Testosterone Nation!
I particularly recommend his No More Neanderthal Series. Parts 1-3 give background information on structural imbalances, and can get a bit heavy, but for a basic, two month jolt, try the routines outlined in Parts 4 (one month) and Part 5 (the second month). You’ll be walking upright and feeling like a champion. Particularly if you sit at a damned desk most of the day (and who doesn’t?)
Oh, and while we are talking workouts, here are a few excercises I am personally loving lately:
Medicine Ball Stomps - First, find a place you can make a lot of noise, like your back lawn. A single ’stomp’ consists of taking the medicine ball from an overhead position, smashing it down against the ground between your feet, catching it on the rebound, and hoisting it back overhead. Speed is the key here. You want to go fast. Blast off a few rounds of thirty. Doesn’t look like much, but you’ll be heaving a lung in no time.
Bridge with Plates - If you can hold a bridge for more than 60 seconds (and I sure hope you can), then have a partner place a 45 lb plate on your back in the bridge position, and hold that for a minute. That was OK? Then try two plates. These will get your abs feeling like king in no time.
Slosh Pipe - A little gift from a friend in Japan. Take a 4″ PVC pipe, 10 feet long, cap both ends, and before you do, half fill it with water. This darn thing will weigh about 40 lbs, but I challenge you to hold it over head, or run down the street with it. The slosh pipe feels like you have a writhing python in your hands. A lot of fun, and a killer core blast.
The infamous torture implement
And one in use. (Note - one person holding the pipe at a time is the way to go, but this gives you an idea of the challenge!)
