Exercise Medium

Exercise Medium?! What the hell does he mean by “Exercise Medium”? Well faithful readers I am talking about what you perform exercises with, be it a barbell, dumbbell, sandbag, kettle bell, etc. Despite what pushers of certain fads would have you believe each of them are good for certain things and shit for others. I’ll try to stay within the limits of my experience, so if I don’t cover something its cause I don’t know shit about it and/or have never used it.

The Barbell –

This neo-ancient device (hah! I made up a new term) is good for a whole assortment of weight lifting masochism. You can do just about anything with a barbell, and the weight can be made balanced, immobile and easy to grip. You need a barbell to really lift. Period. The lifts I think the barbell surpasses all others are the ones that carry the most mass: Bench, Deadlift, and Squat. No other medium replaces a barbell on the big three and for the most part, many of the countless the variations on the big three (incline bench, side deadlift, hack squat, etc.) are best left to barbells as well. Honorable mention goes to the one handed barbell snatch, cause it’s a great exercise that really supercedes the balance and stability required of the one handed Dumbbell snatch.

The Dumbbell –

The dumbbell is a great way to begin to add some work for your stabilizer muscles as well as break up bilateral movements (movements involving two limbs) into two unilateral exercises. In some cases, the total of two unilateral movements can (and probably will) be more than their bilateral equivalent. For example, the sum total of a left and right DB curl will often be greater than a barbell curl using both hands. Most exercises you can perform with a pair of Dumbbells can also be done with a barbell, but there are still a few that are very notable. For example, DB bench press seems to put more emphasis on your pectoral muscles and an element of instability to your bench. Also of this ilk is the twisting deadlift, this can be done through other mediums but requires a 2 handed grip on most others. Exercises that are unique only to the dumbbell and cannot effectively be replicated through other means are exercises like Tate presses and Twisting snatches. One handed bench presses can be done with either a barbell or dumbbell but should probably be lefts to DBs.

The Sandbag –

My inspiration for making this abomination of an article. Sandbags are a very useful tool for adding a moving, unsettled, unbalanced weight. If you find yourself ever wresting with an object of this nature (say a human) you should consider incorporating sandbags into your workout. I have come to think that sandbags are most useful for things like cleans, cleans and presses (how else are you going to get the bag up to push press position?), Cleans and jerks, and most throwing motions. In my Randomness program I include an exercise call fence tossing that is really great for developing the muscles needed to throw somebody, and can best be done with a sandbag. One drawback to sandbags is that you can’t do snatches very easily. It sucks, but luckily god invented:

The Keg –

That’s right a keg. Buy one, drink the contents, then fill it with water/sand/concrete for an appropriate amount of weight. The water is nice cause it will move around a be a LOT more unsettled than sand will (instability that is > than a sandbag). Basically kegs are best for any movement that a sandbag can be used for as well as my personal favorite: Snatches! “But if a keg is more encompassing why even bother with a sandbag?” Glad you asked. As you may be able to tell just by taping on your keg it’s made of metal, and this means that the shape will not change as the keg is heaved and thrown and lifted. A sandbag is something you really have to wrestle with because if you look at you keg a little closer you will notice handles… handles that don’t appear on a sandbag. This makes it easier to grip, but it also means a sandbag will work your grip harder (important for development). So we can see that a keg and a sandbag (while having similar exercise potential) are two separate animals that need to be treated separately.

That, for now, is the full extent of my experience. Oh there’s some language on trap bars, pull-up/dip belts, and weight vests. that I could include, but I won’t. I will do my best to update this as soon as I explore KBs and CBs.

How do I make a routine out of all this?

Why don’t I show you what I would do

Day 1 –

BB Back Squat

BB Good Morning

Sandbag Clean and press

DB Tate Press

Pull-ups

Day 2 –

DB incline Bench Press

BB Flat Bench press

Keg Snatch

BB Overhead Squats

Day 3 –

BB Deadlift

BB Stiff legged Dead lifts

BB Close grip Bench press

BB Bent over row

Sandbag Clean

Well There you have it. As you can see I didn’t go apeshit with the unconventional stuff because, quite frankly, it’s not always the best thing to use. But it does add new elements to your strength training game. The reps I would use are, of course low for your main lifts (in this case the first lift on each day) higher for supplemental lifts, (tri, chest, hams, etc.). For the keg and sandbag lifts I generally treat them as exercises I can’t max out on, so I keep my reps between 4 and 10 per set. In addition to this type of routine you can use your sandbag and keg for shouldering, loading, throwing, etc. for good GPP. That’s all for now, Happy lifting!