Quaranturnt Day 14 - Hammie Sandwich, Extra Hammie

​Hey Crew,
I hope you enjoyed the recovery day. Today is very much NOT a recovery day. The movement for today’s primary strength lift is the hardest body weight movement I know. Does that mean you can’t do it? Or you should skip? NO. If you can’t do something the way it is written, the answer is to scale it. 

I’ve been working really hard to make sure that every workout I write here is possible for anyone - any equipment, any strength, any experience level. If you are having a hard time with any movements due to your ability or available equipment, just ask me how to make it work for you. I am certain that everything I have written is possible for each and every one of you to do.


Now here’s a quick lesson about my philosophy on core strength. 

Tl;DR - Core training should be internally static under externally dynamic situations, and crunches or bicycles are exactly the opposite. 

For just short of 100% of the population, your core is for stability. If you are an olympic gymnast or an MLB pitcher, then you use your core for explosive movement and you can ignore my philosophy, but I’m confident I haven’t gained that kind of following just yet. 

Your core is for stability - when you crash on your skis, when you almost fall down the stairs, when you are doing a heavy lift, and when you land jumping out of a truck. Your core is not for rapid contractions unless you’re laughing or coughing (pls don’t). So why does it make sense to train your core by making many rapid contractions in the form of crunches or bicycles? IMO, it doesn’t.

No matter what you do, working your core will improve your core strength, help you get abs, whatever. But only the right training will get you the right benefits. If you want back injuries, crunches are great. If you want stability, follow my types of training. 

To properly train your core, you want to start with stability in static environments - planks, yoga postures, static holds like an L-Sit. The next level is even more valuable though, and that is holding stability for yourself (internally static) under dynamic environments (externally dynamic) - med ball planks, suitcase carries, single leg deadlifts on a yoga block. 

If you train yourself to flex your spine, then you’ll be good at flexing your spine. But if you train yourself to hold your spine strong even when everything around you is moving, then you will be safe even if you’re picking up a toddler on a cruise ship during a rogue wave. 

One last thing before I give the workout. I said a few emails ago that I would be sending out estimates of the workout. I changed my mind. I will not be doing time estimates. It takes some extra time, but more importantly, a lot of these workouts are going to take such different amounts of time depending on who you are that it would only be unfair to give you estimates. Some of you would feel like I’m expecting these to move too quickly for you, and others would just think I’m incompetent at estimating time.

Here's the IG post.