Difficult, functional bodyweight routine

Popular in combat training.. ..great conditioning. No equipment needed.

Hindu Squats/Dands: Just to warm up, get a good heart rate and some blood flow. These can fatigue you quickly. It's just a simple squat, right?
How to do them correctly: http://www.cbass.com/Furey.htm
No cheating, breathe out on the way DOWN, in on the way UP; this is difficult to adapt to and very important to the squat's effectiveness.
Bring your heels up as you come down, ATG- ass to grass, calves touching your ass.
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/mahler19.htm
Explode up, don't tip forward. Remember to use your arms. The squats should be smoothly done in rapid succession. Should look like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPSVpo4mzNI

Hindu Push Ups/Bethaks(not military divebomber push ups): As many as you can do.
How to do them correctly: http://www.animal-kingdom-workouts.com/hindu-pushups.html
These differ from dive bomber push ups because these are the yoga positions of downward facing dog and upward facing dog done fluidly. Sort of like a sea wave. Also, unlike a divebomber, you don't bend your arms a second time to get back to the starting position: http://www.mattfurey.com/hindu_push_ups.html.
Should look like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ax_yqdvyscU

Wrestlers' Bridge: Pretty similar to a gymnast bridge except the ultimate goal is to support your weight with your neck while your NOSE touches the floor. Or your forehead as pictured above. Most people are afraid of this but all you have to do is start slowly, even if you are already pretty flexible. No one will reach the finished position over night.

The Progressions: Progress through these over weeks/months/whatever you need

#1: Knees, hands and head: sitting on your knees, touch your head to the floor. Use your hands to roll your chin into your chest. Hold. Roll your neck until your nose touches the floor. Repeat as many times as you see fit. Concentrate and hold.

#2:Knees and no hands: Do the same as before, this time with your hands behind your back. Use your knees to roll your head/neck.

#3: Feet, hands and head: Standing on the balls of your toes and supporting yourself with your hands roll your head/neck. Do not push with your feet.

#4: Feet and no hands: Place your hands behind your back and do the above.

#5: The Reverse Bridge with hands: Lie flat on your back, thrust your hips out and flex your upper body. Use your hands to support yourself. If you can, touch the top of your head, your forehead or your nose to the floor and hold. Video of the Reverse Bridge: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aeMAvPgIsg Push from your legs and hips to roll your neck back and forth(as far as it will go, either the top of your head, your forehead or nose to the floor).

#6: The Reverse Bridge. No hands: Same as above but fold your hands across your chest.

Video of the progressions (mute it, the music is annoying): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rd8YrWU4OS4

You can do these at least 20 minutes after every meal. After just a week of doing these you'll feel more flexible. If you're not sweating after 10 or so hindu squats, evaluate your form until it is very difficult to do 20 in a row. By breathing in on the way down and out on the way up, you are conditioning your lungs: http://www.notyouraveragefitnesstips.com/best-workout-routines/hind... (also talks about the difference between these and dive bombers)

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Permalink Reply by Rage_Proletaire on August 27, 2010 at 8:27am

^^ Awesome. I started something of an early-morning/late-evening regimen, primarily to regain some flexibility. Don't remember how long I've been keeping it up (a few months), but it didn't take long to find improvement, and I've stuck with it consistently. I'd watched some AmDrag match and got tired of sitting still... the man is a butterfly, and I wanna be a butterfly, too.

I'm excited about working up to that bridge; I only incorporate new things into the routine when I have too much time and get bored. It'll be more fun to have an "ultimate goal" of sorts, methinks.

I do squats with dumbbells, but my form ain't always so great -- will try the above (w/o the weights) and see what happens.

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Permalink Reply by Madamoiselle De Sade on August 27, 2010 at 10:01am

Rage_Proletaire said:

^^ Awesome. I started something of an early-morning/late-evening regimen, primarily to regain some flexibility. Don't remember how long I've been keeping it up (a few months), but it didn't take long to find improvement, and I've stuck with it consistently. I'd watched some AmDrag match and got tired of sitting still... the man is a butterfly, and I wanna be a butterfly, too.
I'm excited about working up to that bridge; I only incorporate new things into the routine when I have too much time and get bored. It'll be more fun to have an "ultimate goal" of sorts, methinks. I do squats with dumbbells, but my form ain't always so great -- will try the above (w/o the weights) and see what happens.

That's cool that you've stuck with a routine that long after seeing progress. I wonder how many hindu squats Bryan Danielson can do? He (and Misaki Ohata) reminds me of "Gotchism"- any time I see a wrestler in great condition (not bodybuilder style) I think of Karl and Frank Gotch keeping this tradition of the above exercises in their training. Most wrestlers, amateur, catch or otherwise, use at least 2 of these exercises in their training; I've heard stories of new trainees doing 500 hindu squats a day in class.
And not being able to walk afterward.

I think I saw one of the new Hart boys (Tyson Kidd) wearing a t-shirt that said "gotchism".