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The second exercise—the StrongFirst hip bridge—will stretch the hip flexors, the muscles on the top of the thighs that act like brakes for the glutes.
Squeeze a pair of cushy shoes—the kind I do not recommend for lifting—between your knees. This will force you to brace your abs and to extend your hips instead of overarching your lower back.
I must stress this point: This is not a muscular endurance exercise. Your job is not to see how long you can hold the bridge, but to get the maximal glute contraction and the greatest range of motion. Drive your pelvis through, as the Thai kickboxer in the earlier picture—not fast, but strong. The goal is for the pelvis to rise high enough for the thighs to form a straight line with the torso.
get-up will be kind enough to explain it to you. Your abs will fire like crazy; peak activation in excess of 100% in all main midsection muscles has been documented in a get-up with only 50 pounds.
Most trainees—kettlebell and other modalities—tend to settle into a speed most comfortable for the given exercise, the pace at which the momentum makes the exercise the easiest. Thus, they do lazy pendulum swings and rush through their get-ups. This is the opposite of what you want if you are determined to get maximum results.
The sky is the limit when it comes to generating power with a moderate-size kettlebell. You do not need more weight, reps, or fatigue to take your swings to the limit: Just add power. Brandon Hetzler clocked our instructors swinging a paltry 24kg bell with almost 10G, making it “weigh” over 500 pounds. So swing hard and do not worry about the numbers—unless these numbers come from an accelerometer.
I repeat: Holding back on your swing power will produce substantially inferior results. With 10 reps per set, only 10 sets total, and talk test generous rests, you have no excuse for taking it easy.
Imagine a video of your reverse punch that’s broken down into 10 frames. At what point do you begin to tighten the muscles you want to be firm so you make good, solid contact? A new student starts tightening as soon as the movement begins. He is self-conscious about the motion. He is trying to remember technical
details. He is using all sorts of energy by squeezing his muscles long before his fist reaches the target. A more advanced practitioner, in contrast, stays loose and relaxed until frame number seven or eight. At higher levels, the tensing takes place at frame number 10, the last moment. From there, more mastery comes when you do not tense at the beginning of number 10, but at the last part of it. The karateka calls this ability “turning laziness into technical mastery.” Note that this kind of “laziness” does not refer to slowing down or weakening the contraction, but to limiting its duration,
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The least productive, most exhausting and injury-producing form of resistance training is a high-rep semi-grind—think of the ugly last reps of a long set of pushups or bodyweight squats.
Imagine your truck is stuck in the ditch and you have 10 guys at your disposal who can pull it out. If you let just three guys pull, it is more likely one of them will get injured because they have to work considerably harder than if all 10 guys were pulling on the rope. This is how you should think of motor unit recruitment. There is no reason to do slow-grind reps that overload fewer motor units when you could recruit all the motor units and minimize muscle strain.
It is equally important that you not only maintain high speed, but finish each rep with a powerful glute cramp and abdominal brace.
In addition to building power for knockout strikes and winning deadlifts, this exaggerated glute contraction protects the hip joints and spine. If you can no longer pinch your cheeks, the gig is up. Ditto for your abbies: Failing to tense them at the top of the swing not only robs your power, but also endangers your spine.
Between bouts of heavy exertion, karate practitioners stand around with deadpan faces and perform shinkokyuu—deep abdominal breathing.
