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What’s a typical CFBB session look like?

[Part 1…]

No such thing I’m afraid… One session won’t tell you much… It won’t tell you how things tie in to the following sessions / weeks / months… But since it's a question we receive quite often, here’s a compromise… I’ll give you an explanation of the first few days of the new year, starting with our first session, Wednesday the 2nd of Jan…


Warm up: 

Nothing too mental here, just a bit of movement prep.
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3 rounds for quality of 5 prying goblet squats, 5 glute bridges and 5 halos left and right... 

- The prying goblet squat unlocks the pelvis and hips
- The glute bridge stretches the hip flexors and gets the glutes working, essentially taking the brakes off of your hip extension
 
- The halo will free your arms and upper back.

All 3 are excellent, whether you're seeking high performance or greater mobility. 

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*** Placing a foam roller or a pair of shoes between the knees for the bridge forces you to extend your hips, rather than extending the spine - See photo right... ***

Sandbag loading: 

In real life, whenever you pick something up there’s a usually a reason… Loading shopping into the car, putting christmas decorations in the loft, etc… You never really pick something up for 3 sets of 12 and leave it where you found it…  
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Sandbag loading better prepares you for actual life than its barbell counterparts, the olympic lifts, purely because there are no barbells outside of the gym, but there are a lot of fat, heavy, awkward looking objects [fridges, boxes, bags of cement… People…] that need to be moved from A to B. Sandbag loads also have the advantage of being far easier to teach and perform correctly than the Olympic lifts, meaning beginners can get stuck in from the word go. 

Sandbag loads:
- A quick lift 
- Low skill [so even if it’s your first day you can get stuck in without hours of drills…] 
- An excellent way of learning / developing violent hip extension necessary for elite athleticism
- Strengthens every muscle from head to toe

Think of it as a way of blending gym strength with real world strength.

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Turkish get ups:

These are the ultimate whole body exercise, building strength and mobility, coordination, stability and balance in all three movement planes.
Now I could reel off an impressive list of benefits - “Stimulates your vestibular, proprioception and visual systems; develops closed and open chain stability; develops linear and rotary stability; etc etc” - but how many people would actually understand any of that? 
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Turkish get ups:
- A slow lift
- Address structural and muscle imbalances
- Strengthen every muscle from head to toe
- Aid in rehabilitation

Just think of it as like a loaded yoga that teaches, repairs and builds… A tonic for the strength athlete.


​*** Below and to the right, we see Wendy practicing with a shoe before she uses a kettlebell… This might seem strange, but it’s a nice way of getting to grips with the movement without worrying about load. If the shoe falls, it means either that she failed to keep the arm vertical - the way forwards if you want to use heavy weight - or that she made a jerky transition - a big no-no… Placing it on the fist instead of the palm has the added bonus of instilling correct pressing mechanics. *** 
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Farmers walks:

Another excellent whole body exercise.

I wrote a lot about these a while back. Like the Turkish get up, I won’t list all the reasons why they’re f***ing amazing, but I will briefly touch on why they’re included today…

Farmers walks:
- Address structural and muscle imbalances
- Strengthen every muscle from head to toe
- Aid in rehabilitation
- Burns a lot of body fat…

Think of it as a shortcut to a vast array of health and fitness goals…
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So what’s so great about all of this?

- A slow / quick lift
Strength is the tide that raises all ships… Both slow reps and quick reps are necessary for strength development, and strength development is necessary for most health and fitness goals…  
- Low skill
Both a snatch and a sandbag load require violent hip extension. Using the low skill option means we can have beginners developing athleticism straight away, rather than having them spend weeks with a half pound broomstick… Followed by months with an empty bar…  
- Address structural and muscle imbalances
It’s hard to be athletic or sexy if you’re wonky AF… Hard to be pain free, too… Unilateral exercises like farmers walks and TGUs allow you to balance left and right.
- Strengthen every muscle from head to toe
In the real world, your body works as a unit… Few things work in isolation, and our training reflects this…  
- Aid in rehabilitation
I’ve given light TGUs to someone who had recently dislocated her shoulder and we built up the load gradually. It’s now her stronger shoulder… [If you’re injured, see a doctor… Please don’t rely on stuff you’ve seen on the internet…]
- Burns a lot of body fat…
It’s a lot of time under tension for your whole body… Trust me, that s*** will get you shredded.



“Sit the f*** down and have a beer…”

~ Coach Collins

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