30 DAY MOVEMENT CHALLENGE 1 themovementfix.com OVERVIEW The 30-Day Movement Challenge is a series of 30 videos that act as template for movement preparation that can be widely applied. Our intended application is that a gym will program 30 minutes of movement preparation into each training session for 30 days following the videos and this document. The videos can be found here: h ttps://themovementfix.com/category/30-for-30-movement-challenge/ In this document we will cover: 1. 30-Day Movement Challenge Basics 2. Suggested Methods of Implementation 3. Overview and tips for each day This document serves to bring the whole program together, explain the behind-the-scenes action, and act as a cheat sheet for quick reference. The title on each day is a clickable link to that day’s video 30-DAY MOVEMENT CHALLENGE BASICS The 30-Day Movement Challenge consists of 30 videos that cover a wide range of movements, drills, and exercises to improve your and your athletes’ movement over a 30-day period. Performing mobility drills and stretches for 5 minutes a day 4 days a week is not enough to make the changes you want and need. You have to be more aggressive and thorough in your approach. The 30-Day Movement Challenge is a great way to take your movement to the next level. Take movement training with the same importance you take strength training or metabolic training. In many cases, performance can be improved more through extensive movement training versus additional strength training or metabolic conditioning. This is why we recommended a large portion of an hour long class be dedicated to movement training. Many of the days incorporate lifting into the movement preparation. For example, if back squatting is programmed as your strength portion, instead of resting between sets, you would perform mobility and stability drills between sets, allowing for a more efficient and effective next set. Each day should be performed as a cycle that you do for 30 minutes. Day 1, for example, consists of: 50 single unders, kettlebell arm bar (10 breath hold on each side), 10 lateral lunges This cycle would be continued for 30 minutes at a comfortable pace. None of the movements in this program should cause pain. If there is pain, you need to change your technique, positions, or skip the painful movement. We never train into Hain. 2 SUGGESTED METHODS OF IMPLEMENTATION There isn’t one perfect way to implement the 30-Day Movement Challenge in your or your gym’s programming. There are several excellent ways. Here are our 2 recommendations: METHOD 1 - AS WRITTEN The first way you can implement the 30-Day Movement Challenge is to start at Day 1 and perform it each day for 30 days until you reach the end, dedicating 30 minutes to each session. This was our original intent. The programming for the workout in the training session would be programmed to align with that day’s 30 minutes of movement prep. 1 Hour Class Session = 30 min movement work (pre-selected) + 30 minutes for strength/ metabolic training (programmed to match) METHOD 2 - PICK AND CHOOSE If you follow specific pre-planned programming, this is the method for you. Pick and choose the movement prep that fits your programmed workout. If there are thrusters in your programmed workout, pick “Day 28 - Improve Your Thruster” for your 30 minutes of movement prep. If there are toes to bar in your programmed workout, pick “Day27 - Hip Mobility for Toes to Bar” for your 30 minutes of movement prep, etc. Incorporate the 30 minutes of movement prep into every training session for 30 days. 1 Hour Class Session = 30 min movement work (programmed to match) + 30 minutes for strength/ metabolic training (pre-selected) METHOD NOTES There are likely other methods that work as well. If you find that 30 minutes won’t fit into your hour of training, 20 minutes is better than 0 minutes. Many of the Days in the program blend your strength training/technique training WITH movement training. If you already spend 20 minutes in a training session on strength or technique, you can easily extend that by 10 minutes and put movement training between sets of strength/technique training. “Day 21 - Split Jerk and Shoulder Mobility” is a great demonstration of this. 1 Hour Class Session = 40 min movement work blended with strength/technique work + 20 min for metabolic conditioning 3 DAY 1 1 SHOULDER & HIP MOBILITY/PREP 2 3 MOVEMENTS: 4 • 50 single unders • kettlebell arm bar (10 breath hold on each side) • 10 lateral lunges 5 6 SINGLE UNDERS 7 Single unders are used in this sequence to get the heart rate up and develop people’s skill using a jump rope in ways other than doing double unders. 8 9 KETTLEBELL ARM BARS 10 This can be used to focus on stretching the down arm or the up arm. In the video, we describe it as stretching the down arm, but an arm bar can also be used to stretch the up arm, which is not described in the video. When switching sides with the kettlebell, DON’T TAKE THE KETTLEBELL OVER YOUR FACE. Smashed faces aren’t ever a good idea. 11 12 13 LATERAL LUNGE 14 Make sure you use the dowel to learn the 3 points of contact so you have a neutral spine throughout this movement. 15 16 The 3 points are: the back of the head, between the shoulder blades, and the lowest part of the low back (over the tailbone). 17 As long as you maintain the 3 points of contact as described, it isn’t important to us if the hips shoot back and the torso leans forward. The goal ultimately is to be able to do the lateral lunge with the dowel in an overhead squat position. However, while learning, all we need is the 3 points of contact. 18 19 20 The mechanics of the lateral lunge on the side that you are lunging toward should follow the same rules as a good squat (knee tracks over the middle of the foot and doesn’t collapse in, for example). 21 22 The mechanics of the lateral lunge on the side that you are lunging away from aren’t as important to us, do what is comfortable. You can keep that side’s foot on the ground or lift your toes off the ground and go on to your heel. 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 30 DAY CHALLENGE GUIDE 4 DAY 2 30 DAY CHALLENGE GUIDE 1 SQUAT MOBILITY & PREP 2 3 MOVEMENTS: 4 • • • • 5 6 7 TISSUE PREP SHIN 8 Roll out the front, outside, meaty part of your shin. You can use a foam roller, a stick, etc. to do this. The muscle here, the tibialis anterior, can be a limitation to ankle range of motion when it is overactive. We want to decrease the tone of this muscle to allow the ankle to move more easily. We are NOT trying to “break apart” the shin muscle or tissue in this application. We are trying to get the tone of the muscle to decrease. This requires much less pressure. Do this lightly and with ease. 9 10 11 12 ANKLE JOINT MOBILIZATION 13 This popular ankle mobilization is very useful. Use whatever band you have available. Make sure that you put the band over the tongue of the shoe and not higher. If you put it too high, you are missing the joint that you are trying to mobilize. 14 15 16 STRAIGHT LEG RAISE 17 Lie next to a squat rack or pull up rig and put one leg up on the pole with the knee straight. Be as close to the pole as is comfortable. Keep the toes pulled up toward the shins on both legs as you go through this movement. 18 19 GOBLET SQUAT HOLD 20 Use a moderately light kettlebell for this hold. Make sure you hold the goblet squat in a GOOD squat position. Don’t let your upper or lower back round forward. You may have to sacrifice depth to maintain neutral spinal positioning and that is ok. If you mobilize a squat in a less than ideal position, it won’t translate into an ideal position. If you are unsure if your back is neutral, revisit day l’s lateral lunge using the 3 points of contact on the dowel. 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Tissue prep shin (30 seconds each side) ankle joint mobilization (20 reps each side) straight leg raise (15 each side) 1 minute goblet squat hold (26#/35# max) 5 DAY 3 1 SHOULDER EXTENSION MOBILITY 2 MOVEMENTS: 3 4 • Posterior shoulder tissue prep (1 min each side) • Crab walk (you choose distance) • 15 Russian (hardstyle) swings (35#/26#) 5 6 POSTERIOR SHOULDER TISSUE PREP 7 Use your ball of choice for this (edge ball, Trigger point ball, lacrosse ball, etc.). Lightly roll on the muscles in the back of your shoulder for 1 minute. In this application, we don’t want this to be painful. If you have to hold your breath because it hurts so much, you need to use less pressure. 8 9 10 CRAB WALK 11 In the crab walk, get your hips as high as possible. If you let your hips sag, you get less shoulder extension, which is what we are after. Your fingers can point straight out to the sides or up toward your head. We don’t like the fingers pointed toward your feet in this application. 12 13 14 RUSSIAN (HARDSTYLE) KETTLEBELL SWING 15 We are doing the swings here to utilize the shoulders after working on the tissue and range of motion. The hardstyle swing is a great way to do this. In the video, we coach a neutral neck position. There are several opinions on where the head/neck should be in the bottom of a swing. We like the neck to be in neutral or slightly extended (looking slightly up). Some people will coach keeping your eyes on the horizon, which is a great cue. 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 30 DAY CHALLENGE GUIDE 6 DAY 4 1 OVERHEAD SHOULDER MOBILITY & STABILITY 2 3 4 MOVEMENTS: 5 • • • • 6 7 8 50 alternating jumps Roll out lat (30-45 seconds per side) Prayer stretch with PVC (30 seconds each side) Baby get up (3 each side, light weight or no weight) (I call this the baby get up, there is another form of a baby get up out there) ALTERNATING JUMPS 9 Here is a chance to work on the often neglected alternating jump. 10 ROLL OUT LAT 11 The lats can be a big limiter of shoulder flexion (overhead mobility). We are rolling out the lats to decrease the tone of the muscle, not trying to “release adhesions”. With that in mind, the pressure does not need to be extreme. This should be comfortable, not painful. 12 13 14 PRAYER STRETCH WITH PVC 15 This stretch is excellent for shoulder flexion and thoracic spine (mid back) extension. These movements have to go together. Visualize pulling your chest toward the ground and your hands up toward the ceiling for the greatest effect. Avoid aggressively pushing your head through as flexing your neck (chin jutted forward) will make it nearly impossible to achieve upper thoracic extension. 16 17 18 BABY GET UP 19 What we are calling “the baby get up” is really just the first 3 steps of the Turkish get up. There is a separate movement in developmental kinesiology called a “baby get up”. That is not what we are showing here. 20 21 22 In this movement, always make sure you are looking at the kettlebell and keeping your shoulders away from your ears. 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 30 DAY CHALLENGE GUIDE 7 DAY 5 1 PRESS, PUSH PRESS, & JERK PREP 2 MOVEMENTS: 3 4 • 30 single legged single unders each leg • KB arm bar (10 breaths each side) • Jerk technique work (3 strict press, 3 push press, 3 jerk balance) 5 6 SINGLE LEGGED SINGLE UNDERS 7 Everyone wants to double under or triple under like a boss, but no one wants to do single legged jumping. You have to do it to develop the lower leg strength to own triple unders. 8 9 KETTLEBELL ARM BAR 10 This can be used to focus on stretching the down arm or the up arm. In the video, we describe it as stretching the down arm, but an arm bar can also be used to stretch the up arm, which is not described in the video. When switching sides with the kettlebell, DON’T TAKE THE KETTLEBELL OVER YOUR FACE. Smashed faces aren’t ever a good idea. 11 12 13 JERK TECHNIQUE WORK 14 Perform 3 strict barbell presses, 3 push presses, and 3 jerk balances. If you have never done these before, use a dowel. If you have never performed Olympic lifting before, you may want to consult with a coach. 15 16 We used the first move in this sequence to get the heart rate up and work on calf strength, the second movement to improve shoulder mobility, and the jerk technique work is the time to use the new mobility. If you mobilize an area and then go sit in your car, you won’t keep it as well as if you put your new range of motion to use in a meaningful way. 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 30 DAY CHALLENGE GUIDE 8 DAY 6 30 DAY CHALLENGE GUIDE 1 2 MOVEMENTS: 3 • • • • 4 5 6 10 lateral lunges (35/26 or lighter) 30 second goblet squat hold (35/26 or light) 20 primal pull throughs 5 snatch balance (light weight, for technique) LATERAL LUNGES 7 This is the second time we have seen the lateral lunge, except this time we are going to use a weight. If you are not comfortable using weight, please use a dowel as seen in day 1. 8 9 During the lateral lunge with weight, you should maintain the same spinal positioning as you did in day one. Said another way, if I held a dowel up to your back, there should be 3 points of contact. If you are unable to achieve this, regress back to using the dowel as seen in day 1. 10 11 12 Hold the kettlebell by the horns and keep it close to your chest. Think about pulling the kettlebell handles apart to improve your thoracic spine extension. 13 GOBLET SQUAT 14 Use a moderately light kettlebell for this hold. Make sure you hold the goblet squat in a GOOD squat position. Don’t let your upper or lower back round forward. You may have to sacrifice depth to maintain neutral spinal positioning and that is ok. If you mobilize a squat in a less than ideal position, it won’t translate into an ideal position. If you are unsure if your back is neutral, revisit day l’s lateral lunge using the 3 points of contact on the dowel. 15 16 17 18 19 PRIMAL PULL THROUGH 20 Begin by getting in to the top of a push up position. Push your butt up toward the ceiling and pull your chest down toward the ground. Avoid trying to pull your neck through as far as you can so you can allow for upper thoracic extension. 21 22 SNATCH BALANCE 23 You worked on the mobility for the snatch, now it is time to put it to use. Perform 5 light snatch balances. We just opened up new ranges of motion, so we don’t want to go heavy. This is the time for the brain to learn how to control the new ranges under a light load. 24 25 26 If you have never performed snatch balances, either use a dowel or consult with an Olympic weightlifting coach. 27 28 29 30 SNATCH PREP 9 DAY 7 30 DAY CHALLENGE GUIDE 1 DEADLIFT PREP 2 MOVEMENTS: 3 4 • • • • 5 6 TISSUE PREP 7 8 We are prepping the tissue, not trying to break it apart. Don’t roll so hard it is painful. Use this as a time to lightly tenderize yourself. 9 STRAIGHT LEG RAISE 10 Lie next to a squat rack or pull up rig and put one leg up on the pole with the knee straight. Be as close to the pole as is comfortable. Keep the toes pulled up toward the shins on both legs as you go through this movement. 11 12 13 PALLOF PRESS 14 When doing the pallof press, there should be no motion in the spine. It should all be coming from the shoulders and elbows. We want to train the spinal muscles to prevent motion as that is what we want them to do during a deadlift. The torso should not rotate during this drill. 15 16 17 DEADLIFTS 18 We prepped the tissue of the leg, mobilized the motion using the straight leg raise, and fired the core using the pallof press; now it is time to perform great deadlifts. 19 You may need to modify your deadlift positioning in this drill in order to maintain normal spinal alignment. The 3 points of contact method described in the lateral lunge day 1 can be used to make sure that you are keeping neutral spinal alignment during your deadlifting. 20 21 22 Perform the deadlift reps at the level where you can maintain the 3 points of contact. 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1 min per leg tissue prep 10 Straight leg raises (SLR) per side 10 pallof press per side 10 deadlifts 10 DAY 8 30 DAY CHALLENGE GUIDE 1 RUNNING PREP 2 MOVEMENTS: 3 4 • • • • 5 6 TISSUE PREP 7 8 We are prepping the tissue, not trying to break it apart. Don’t roll so hard it is painful. Use this as a time to lightly tenderize yourself. 9 STRAIGHT LEG RAISE WITH CORE ACTIVATION 10 What we are trying to do with this movement is get the core musculature active while we work on hip mobility. Make sure to keep your toes pulled up toward your shins while performing the leg raise. 11 12 13 HALF KNEELING ROTATION 14 Get into a lunge position with the majority of your body weight on your knee rather than leaned forward on your front foot. Squeeze your butt. Being in this position and squeezing your butt will help to lock the low back, forcing the rotation to be achieved in the upper back. Many people get achiness in their backs while running because they over-rotate in the low back and under rotate through the mid back. 15 16 17 SINGLE UNDERS 18 This is used to prepare the lower legs for running. 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1 minute tissue prep (calves, hammies, quads) 10 Straight leg raises (SLR) with core activation 5 half kneeling rotation each leg 30 single unders 11 DAY 9 1 FRONT SQUAT MOBILITY & PREP 2 3 MOVEMENTS: 4 • • • • 5 6 7 1 min lower leg tissue prep each side 20 reps ankle joint mobilization each side 1 minute goblet squat hold (35/26 or less; pull chest through) Front squat (3-5 reps, build up to a heavy load) TISSUE PREP 8 We are prepping the tissue, not trying to break it apart. Don’t roll so hard it is painful. Use this as a time to lightly tenderize yourself. 9 ANKLE JOINT MOBILIZATIONS 10 11 This popular ankle mobilization is very useful. Use whatever band you have available. Make sure that you put the band over the tongue of the shoe and not higher. If you put it too high, you are missing the joint that you are trying to mobilize. 12 13 GOBLET SQUAT 14 Use a moderately light kettlebell for this hold. Make sure you hold the goblet squat in a GOOD squat position. Don’t let your upper or lower back round forward. You may have to sacrifice depth to maintain neutral spinal positioning and that is ok. If you mobilize a squat in a less than ideal position, it won’t translate into an ideal position. If you are unsure if your back is neutral, revisit day l’s lateral lunge using the 3 points of contact on the dowel. Since we are front squatting and building up to a heavy weight, it is VERY important that you do not “relax” in the bottom of your goblet squat. This needs to be an active position. 15 16 17 18 19 20 FRONT SQUAT 21 Now that we have prepared the ankle, calf, upper back, and hips for squatting, let’s use it. For today, we are going to use it by doing front squats. Start with a light load and build up the weight as you progress during the 30 minutes. 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 30 DAY CHALLENGE GUIDE 12 DAY 10 1 SHOULDER MOBILITY & ARCHER PUSH UPS 2 3 MOVEMENTS: 4 • 1 min tissue prep each side (30 sec pec, 30 sec lat) • 1 min prayer stretch • 10 archer push-ups (at hardest level you can do correctly) 5 6 TISSUE PREP 7 We are prepping the tissue, not trying to break it apart. Don’t roll so hard it is painful. Use this as a time to lightly tenderize yourself. 8 9 PRAYER STRETCH 10 This is similar to the prayer stretch with the PVC from day 4, except we are stretching over the edge of the foam roller. The same cues apply. Pull the chest through toward the ground and think about lifting up your hands toward the ceiling. Don’t jam your head through as that will prevent extension of the upper back (which is what we want). 11 12 13 ARCHER PUSH UP 14 These are much harder than they look. Most people will be in the first 2 stages. Watch the video carefully to see what each step includes. This movement requires a lot of upper body strength, so don’t progress too quickly as you don’t want to overload the shoulder in this demanding drill. 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 30 DAY CHALLENGE GUIDE 13 DAY 11 30 DAY CHALLENGE GUIDE 1 AT HOME HIP MOBILITY 2 MOVEMENTS: 3 4 • • • • • 5 6 7 ADDUCTOR STRETCH 8 Use a couch, bed, etc. that is at a height where you don’t have to round your back to get your leg up on it. You should be comfortable in the starting position, not stretched. The mobilization and stretching will occur as you move. 9 10 Bend forward at the hips pushing your butt back or lower your body up and down. During this adductor stretch, keep your toe pointed up toward the ceiling of even backward. Don’t let the toe start to rotate forward as that internally rotates the hip and can become pinchy. 11 12 13 HAMSTRING/NERVE MOBILIZATION 14 You should be able to use the same height object for this as you did in the adductor stretch. If you can’t, feel free to lower or raise the object. 15 When doing the hamstring “stretch”, make sure you are hinging at your hips and not rounding your lower back. If you are unsure, use a dowel or a broomstick to achieve 3 points of contact as seen in previous days on the lateral lunge. 16 17 When doing the nerve mobilization, you are going to get into a very mild stretch and then move your foot back and forth. This will put the nerves in your legs on and off tension. Don’t force through this. Be gentle. 18 19 TRIPLANAR HIP EXTENSION. 20 There are three directions in the triplanar hip extension stretch. 21 Forward and backward, Side bending, Rotating 22 By doing all three of these movements, we are improving hip extension in all the physiological ranges of motion available, rather than just in 1, which is the classic hip flexor or Samson stretch. 23 24 HIP CIRCLES 25 Now that you have worked on hip mobility, we are going to use hip circles to improve your ability to actively control your hip through the ranges of motion. 26 27 When doing this, keep your knee locked and explore the largest circle possible that you can control. This will be difficult at first, but over time you will gain the strength and stability to do it with ease. 28 29 30 1 minute adductor stretch 1 minute hamstring/nerve mobilization 30 reps triplanar hip extension 5 hip circles each direction repeat on other side 14 DAY 12 1 CLEAN POSITIONING AND TECHNIQUE 2 3 MOVEMENTS: 4 • • • • 5 6 7 1 minute thoracic spine rolling triplanar hip extension (30 total reps each leg) 10 russian (hardstyle) swings 3 position clean drills THORACIC SPINE ROLLING 8 Work on your thoracic spine going up and down and side to side on the foam roller. Don’t go down into the low back. 9 TRIPLANAR HIP EXTENSION 10 There are three directions in the triplanar hip extension stretch. 11 12 1. Forward and backward 2. Side bending 3. Rotating 13 14 By doing all three of these movements, we are improving hip extension in all the physiological ranges of motion available, rather than just in 1, which is the classic hip flexor or Samson stretch. 15 16 RUSSIAN (HARDSTVLE) KETTLEBELL SWING 17 We are doing the swings here to utilize the shoulders after working on the tissue and range of motion. The hardstyle swing is a great way to do this. In the video, we coach a neutral neck position. There are several opinions on where the head/neck should be in the bottom of a swing. We like the neck to be in neutral or slightly extended (looking slightly up). Some people will coach keeping your eyes on the horizon, which is a great cue. 18 19 20 3 POSITION CLEAN DRILLS 21 Now that we have prepped the thoracic spine, worked on our hip extension, and then actively used it in the hardstyle swing, we are going to improve our clean technique. 22 23 The 3 position clean technique drills are simple but very effective. Even if you are using an empty barbell, treat it like it is a heavy load. 24 The three positions we will be cleaning from are: 25 1. The down position (knees bent, torso vertical, bar at pockets) 2. Hang position (hips are now hinged, bar is above the knee) 3. Start position (bar is on floor) 26 27 Perform 1 clean from each position. We chose to do power cleans in this demo, but you could use full cleans if you prefer. 28 29 30 30 DAY CHALLENGE GUIDE 15 DAY 13 1 SHOULDER MOBILITY AND PULL-UPS 2 3 MOVEMENTS: 4 • Roll out lat/triceps (30 seconds per side) • KB windmill (30 seconds with arm movement) • 5 strict pull ups at hardest level for you 5 6 TISSUE PREP 7 We are prepping the lats and triceps, not trying to break them apart. Don’t roll so hard it is painful. Use this as a time to lightly tenderize yourself. 8 9 KETTLEBELL WINDMILL 10 If you have never done this before, start with no weight and have one hand holding an invisible kettlebell. Go slowly and be in absolute control. You should be hinging through your hips during this movement, not bending mainly through the spine. Do not worry about increasing the weight during this drill. For many people, this is a new and vulnerable position, so don’t push it. Develop this over time. 11 12 13 STRICT PULL UPS 14 15 We prepped the tissue and worked on movement through the shoulder with the kettlebell windmill, now it is time to put it to use with strict pull ups. Work up to the most challenging strict pull up where you can achieve 5 unbroken reps. 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 30 DAY CHALLENGE GUIDE 16 DAY 14 1 30 DAY CHALLENGE GUIDE BACK SQUAT PREP 2 MOVEMENTS: 3 4 • 10 lateral lunges (light weight) • 10 ring rows (easy enough to get chest ALL the way through) • S back squats for load 5 6 LATERAL LUNGES 7 If you are not comfortable using weight, please use a dowel as seen in day 1. 8 During the lateral lunge with weight, you should maintain the same spinal positioning as you did in day one. Said another way, if I held a dowel up to your back, there should be 3 points of contact. If you are unable to achieve this, regress back to using the dowel as seen in day 1. 9 10 11 Hold the kettlebell by the horns and keep it close to your chest. Think about pulling the kettlebell handles apart to improve your thoracic spine extension. 12 13 RING ROWS 14 The ring rows we are doing here are not the typical ring rows from a workout. We are going to make them less weighted by keeping the body vertical at the top of the rep. 15 What we want from this ring row is thoracic spine (upper back) extension and activation of the musculature in the upper back. This will help to prevent the upper back from rounding in the back squat. 16 17 18 An upper back rounding in a squat can be a mobility issue, a stability issue, or a strength issue. The ring row as used here can help with all of those. 19 BACK SQUAT 20 Now that we prepared the lower body through the lateral lunge and the upper back through the ring row, we are going to put the pieces together and back squat. Start light at the beginning of the cycle and work up toward a heavy weight. 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 17 DAY 15 1 SHOULDER PREP AND HANDSTANDS 2 MOVEMENTS: 3 4 • 10 shoulder pull oven • Hollow hold/rock (30 second hold or 10 rocks) • Hand stand drills (20-40 sec hold OR 1 conan OR 12 ft walk) 5 6 SHOULDER PULL OVER 7 Get a full length foam roller. Lie on it face up and make sure your whole spine is supported. If you are tall, it is preferable to have your head supported and your butt off the end of the foam roller a little bit versus your head dangling. 8 9 Get either a light training barbell or a wall ball when performing this drill. For some people, this will pinch in their shoulders. If that is the case, they need a different weight, different object, or different hand placement. We DO NOT do this into pain or pinching in the shoulders. 10 11 12 Make sure to keep the ribs lightly crunched so they don’t flare up toward the ceiling as you go overhead. 13 14 HOLLOW ROCK/HOLLOW HOLD 15 Make sure you do the hold if you can’t do the hollow rock really well. There is no cheating when training core stability. If you can’t do a hollow rock well, you don’t gain the strength by doing poor hollow rocks. Regress to the hollow hold if necessary. 16 17 HANDSTAND DRILLS 18 If you are new to being upside down, you may need to have a coach or buddy spot you. 19 Handstands for many people are uncomfortable. There is no reason to rush through the preliminary phases too quickly. Stay at the drill that you are comfortable with. Don’t rush through these because you will miss valuable training if you progress too quickly. If you can’t hold a handstand against the wall for 30 seconds, do not progress to the Conans. If you can’t do a full Conan without stopping, don’t progress to the free standing walk. 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 30 DAY CHALLENGE GUIDE 18 DAY 16 1 DEADLIFTING WITH GLUTE ACTIVATION 2 MOVEMENTS: 3 4 • 10 straight leg raises with core activation • 15 single leg squat patterns (5 each position) each leg • Work up to a heavy set of 4-8 deadlifts 5 6 STRAIGHT LEG RAISE WITH CORE ACTIVATION 7 What we are trying to do with this movement is get the core musculature active while we work on hip mobility. Make sure to keep your toes pulled up toward the shin while performing the leg raise. 8 9 SINGLE LEG SQUAT PATTERN 10 There are three different single leg squats we will do in this pattern. During all of them you should maintain a neutral spine position as determined using the 3 points of contact method on a dowel as discussed in the lateral lunge. 11 12 13 1. Straight back a. W hen doing this, all the weight during the reps should be on the stance leg only. The leg you are holding off the ground should not bear any weight b. Think about sitting back in a chair and lightly tap the back toe on the ground 14 15 16 2. Straight back with lift at top a. This is the same as the first squat except to finish the rep, you end with your lifted leg in front of you 17 18 3. Bowler squat a. T his begins the same as the straight back squat b. Instead of taking your leg straight back, aim your foot 45 degrees back toward your stance leg, as if you were bowling 19 20 21 In all of these squats, the knee of the stance leg should stay over the middle of the foot. The knee should not collapse in or collapse out. 22 23 DEADLIFT 24 Now that we mobilized using the straight leg raise, got the gluteal muscles engaged using the single leg squat pattern, it is time to deadlift. Start light and work up to a heavy set by the end of the 30 minutes. 25 26 27 28 29 30 30 DAY CHALLENGE GUIDE 19 DAY 17 1 SHOULDER PREP AND RING DIPS 2 MOVEMENTS: 3 4 • 12’ crab walk forward and back • 10 ring rows • S strict ring dips (or weighted if you can) 5 6 CRAB WALK 7 In the crab walk, get your hips as high as possible. If you let your hips sag, you get less shoulder extension, which is what we are after. Your fingers can point straight out or up toward your head. We don’t like the fingers pointed toward your feet in this application. 8 9 RING ROWS 10 11 The ring rows we are doing here are not the typical ring rows from a workout. We are going to make them less weighted by keeping the body vertical at the top of the rep. 12 What we want from this ring row is thoracic spine (upper back) extension and activation of the musculature in the upper back. This will help prepare you for a well-supported bottom position in the ring dip. 13 14 STRICT RING DIPS 15 16 The biggest takeaway from these ring dips is having the movement happen at the shoulder and elbow joints, instead of the thoracic spine. We see too often people doing ring dips and the movement ends up being rounding and straightening of the upper back instead of movement through the shoulder joint. 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 30 DAY CHALLENGE GUIDE 20 DAY 18 1 30 DAY CHALLENGE GUIDE AT HOME SHOULDER MOBILITY 2 MOVEMENTS: 3 4 • 30 second prayer stretch • 10 reps flexion/extension with towel • 10 primal pull throughs 5 6 PRAYER STRETCH 7 This is similar to the prayer stretch with the PVC from day 4, except we are stretching over the edge of the foam roller or a bench. The same cues apply. Pull the chest through toward the ground and think about lifting up your hands toward the ceiling. Don’t jam your head through as that will prevent extension of the upper back (which is what we want). 8 9 10 11 FLEXION/EXTENSION WITH A TOWEL 12 Grab a small towel or a t-shirt for this drill. In both directions, you want the palms of the hands facing each other. 13 When bringing the towel behind your back and lifting away from your butt, don’t let the shoulders round forward or the upper back round. Keep your chest tall. 14 15 When bringing the towel over your head, avoid leaning backward and avoid arching through your low back. 16 17 PRIMAL PULL THROUGH 18 Begin by getting in to the top of a push up position. Push your butt up toward the ceiling and pull your chest down toward the ground. Avoid trying to pull your neck through as far as you can so you can allow for upper thoracic extension. 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 21 DAY 19 1 BACK SQUAT PREP AND MOBILITY 2 MOVEMENTS: 3 4 • 10 lateral lunges • 10 glute bridges (2-3 second hold at top) • Back squatting for heavy sets 5 6 LATERAL LUNGES 7 If you are not comfortable using weight, please use a dowel as seen in day 1. 8 During the lateral lunge with weight, you should maintain the same spinal positioning as you did in day one. Said another way, if I held a dowel up to your back, there should be 3 points of contact. If you are unable to achieve this, regress back to using the dowel as seen in day 1. 9 10 11 Hold the kettlebell by the horns and keep it close to your chest. Think about pulling the kettlebell handles apart to improve your thoracic spine extension. 12 GLUTE BRIDGES 13 14 In the glute bridge, lie on your back with your knees bent and feet on the ground. Squeeze your butt and lift your hips off the ground. 15 Many people will over-use their hamstrings in this drill, so you can cue them to use their glutes by having them visualize straightening their knees as they lift their hips. This will activate the quads slightly and help to relax the hamstrings. 16 17 BACK SQUAT 18 19 Now that we have prepared the hips and ankles with the lateral lunge and activated the glutes with the glute bridges, let’s back squat. Start with light sets and work up in weight over the 30 minutes. 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 30 DAY CHALLENGE GUIDE 22 DAY 20 1 UPPER BACK AND SHOULDER MOBILITY 2 MOVEMENTS: 3 4 • 1 min tissue prep • 10 rib pulls each side • 3 baby get ups each side 5 6 TISSUE PREP 7 We are prepping the tissue, not trying to break it apart. Don’t roll so hard it is painful. Use this as a time to lightly tenderize yourself. 8 9 RIB NULL 10 Lie on your side facing a foam roller. Bring your top knee on to the foam roller. Make sure your hip is flexed above 90 degrees to lock the low back. Use your bottom hand to pin the top knee against the foam roller. Reach under your torso with the top hand and “grab” your ribs and pull yourself open. Turn your head in the direction you are rotating for maximal benefit. 11 12 13 Raise the foam roller as high as necessary so that the drill is comfortable. As you improve your mobility, your top knee will get closer to the ground in the starting position. 14 15 BABY GET UP 16 What we are calling “the baby get up” is really just the first 3 steps of the Turkish get up. There is a separate movement in developmental kinesiology called a “baby get up”. That is not what we are showing here. 17 18 In this movement, always make sure you are looking at the kettlebell and keeping your shoulders away from your ears. In each step of this movement, check to make sure your shoulders are actively been drawn away from the ears. 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 30 DAY CHALLENGE GUIDE 23 DAY 21 1 SPLIT JERK AND SHOULDER MOBILITY 2 MOVEMENTS: 3 4 • 30 second lat tissue prep each side • 1 Conan • Split jerk for load 5 6 TISSUE PREP 7 We are prepping the tissue, not trying to break it apart. Don’t roll so hard it is painful. Use this as a time to lightly tenderize yourself. 8 9 CONAN 10 If someone cannot comfortably do a conan, have them do a handstand hold against a wall for 30 seconds. 11 In the conan, try to keep the spine in neutral position. Use a taller box if necessary. Bend the knees if necessary. We do not want the low back fully rounded in this drill 12 13 SPLIT JERK 14 Now that we prepped the tissue and got it working, let’s work on our split jerks. 15 If you have not split jerked before, consult an Olympic lifting coach. 16 Start light with the split jerks and work up to a heavy load by the end of the 30 minutes. 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 30 DAY CHALLENGE GUIDE 24 DAY 22 1 30 DAY CHALLENGE GUIDE 2 HIP FLEXORS, ROTATIONAL STABILITY, AND AGILITY 3 MOVEMENTS: 4 • 10 reps triplanar in each direction, each leg • 10 rotation stability drills • Cone drills 5 6 TRIPLANAR HIP EXTENSION 7 There are three directions in the triplanar hip extension stretch. 8 1. Forward and backward 2. Side bending 3. Rotating 9 10 By doing all three of these movements, we are improving hip extension in all the physiological ranges of motion available, rather than just in 1, which is the classic hip flexor or Samson stretch. 11 12 13 ROTATIONAL STABILITY DRILL 14 Lie on your back with your knees and hips at 90 degrees. Place an abmat or a foam roller between your knees. 15 Arms should be out to the side with palms up. Slowly lower your legs to the right as far as you can without your left shoulder/arm lifting off the ground. Repeat on the other side. 16 17 18 It is important to have something between your knees during this so the rotational control happens at the spinal level instead of through the pelvis and hips. 19 CONE DRILLS 20 Use this time to work on some agility drills using cones. 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 25 DAY 23 1 SHOULDER MOBILITY FOR MUSCLE UPS 2 MOVEMENTS: 3 4 • 10 reps primal pull through • 10’ crab walk forward and backward • Muscle up work at your level (strict comes first!) 5 6 PRIMAL PULL THROUGH 7 Begin by getting in to the top of a push up position. Push your butt up toward the ceiling and pull your chest down toward the ground. Avoid trying to pull your neck through as far as you can so you can allow for upper thoracic extension. 8 9 CRAB WALK 10 In the crab walk, get your hips as high as possible. If you let your hips sag, you get less shoulder extension, which is what we are after. Your fingers can point straight out or up toward your head. We don’t like the fingers pointed toward your feet in this application. 11 12 13 MUSCLE UP 14 We want strict muscle ups before kipping. If you can do strict, you have the strength to control kipping. It is a dangerous game to try to do that the other way around. 15 If you have muscle ups already, do the drills described in the video for the first few rounds. We work on muscle ups a lot, but we don’t drill muscle ups a lot. Now is the time to work on the drills. 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 30 DAY CHALLENGE GUIDE 26 DAY 24 1 30 DAY CHALLENGE GUIDE CORE STABILITY AND THE TURKISH GET UP 2 MOVEMENTS: 3 4 6 • • • • 7 RING ROWS 5 8 10 ring rows 10’ primal crawl forward 1 TGU each hand 10’ primal crawl backward The ring rows we are doing here are not the typical ring rows from a workout. We are going to make them less weighted by keeping the body vertical at the top of the rep. 9 What we want from this ring row is thoracic spine (upper back) extension and activation of the musculature in the upper back. 10 11 PRIMAL CRAWL 12 Start with your hands directly below your shoulders and knees directly below your hips. Lifting your knees about 1” off the ground. Imagine there is a glass of water on your low back and you can’t let it spill. Take smaller steps than you think. 13 14 TURKISH GET UP 15 This is the first time we have full Turkish get ups in the 30 day challenge. Use kettlebells if you have access to them. It is preferable over a barbell due to wrist positioning. 16 17 We always want the wrist in neutral or slightly flexed. We don’t want the wrist cranked back into extension. 18 19 The Turkish get up should be done for control, not for speed. Do not rush through these. Take your time and nail the technique. 20 21 Remember, keep the shoulders away from the ears during the get up. 22 You can spend years mastering this movement. 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 27 DAY 25 1 30 DAY CHALLENGE GUIDE IMPROVING YOUR SQUAT MOBILITY 2 MOVEMENTS: 3 4 • 15 reps modified prayer stretch • 10 reps tactical frog • 1 minute hold at lowest GOOD squat position 5 6 PRAYER STRETCH 7 This is similar to the prayer stretch with the PVC from day 4, except we are stretching over the edge of the foam roller or a bench. The same cues apply. Pull the chest through toward the ground and think about lifting up your hands toward the ceiling. Don’t jam your head through as that will prevent extension of the upper back (which is what we want). 8 9 10 TACTICAL FROG 11 12 In the tactical frog, make sure you have a pad under your knees. It is very sensitive on the inside of the knees if you don’t, making it hard to relax. 13 15 Play around with the width between your knees. You should feel a stretch on the inside of your thighs. There should never be pinching in your hips. If there is pinching, change the spacing between your knees. 16 Your torso should move forward and backward, not up and down. 14 SQUAT HOLD 17 18 If you hold the squat in a position you wouldn’t want to load, it won’t translate into squatting well with a load. Hold the squat as deep as you can maintaining a neutral spine, which can be determined using the 3 point of contact method described in the lateral lunge on day 1. 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 28 DAY 26 1 OVERHEAD LOCKOUT MOBILITY 2 MOVEMENTS: 3 4 • 30 second tissue prep each side • Up to 1 minute hold on pull up hang • 5-10 push presses with light weight 5 6 TISSUE PREP 7 We are prepping the tissue, not trying to break it apart. Don’t roll so hard it is painful. Use this as a time to lightly tenderize yourself. 8 9 PULL UP HANG 10 When doing the pull up hang, make sure to keep your ribs crunched and low back in neutral. It is very easy to let your low back over-arch, which will make this drill ineffective. 11 You can change your hand width or grip from under-hand to over-hand as necessary. There should be no pain or pinching in the shoulders. If there is, change grips. 12 13 Keep your head in neutral. Don’t push it forward. 14 PUSH PRESSES 15 Because the pull up hang is an aggressive stretch, we don’t want to go for a heavy set of push presses right after the pull up hang. We want to use a lighter weight and work on technique. 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 30 DAY CHALLENGE GUIDE 29 DAY 27 1 HIP MOBILITY FOR TOES TO BAR 2 MOVEMENTS: 3 4 • 10 Straight leg raise with 2 full twists each leg • 10 primal pull through • 6-8 PAIN FREE toes to bar on the ground 5 6 STRAIGHT LEG RAISE WITH TWIST 7 In this version of the straight leg raise, we are going to pause at the top and rotate the top leg. Make sure to keep the knee locked and the toes pulled up toward the shin. Rotating the leg in this manner can help decrease nerve tension, allowing for improved hip mobility in the toes to bar movement. 8 9 10 PRIMAL PULL THROUGH 11 Begin by getting in to the top of a push up position. Push your butt up toward the ceiling and pull your chest down toward the ground. Avoid trying to pull your neck through as far as you can so you can allow for upper thoracic extension. 12 13 TOES TO BAR ON GROUND 14 15 Now we will perform a toes to bar, but on the ground. Because this movement requires lumbar flexion, we want it to be pain free and keep the reps low. If you do not have a bar as shown in the video, you can use a barbell that has weight on it or grab the post on a pull up bar. 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 30 DAY CHALLENGE GUIDE 30 DAY 28 1 IMPROVE YOUR THRUSTER 2 MOVEMENTS: 3 4 • 30 second goblet squat hold • 10 ring rows • Pull-up hang (no more than 1 minute) 5 6 GOBLET SQUAT HOLD 7 Use a moderately light kettlebell for this hold. Make sure you hold the goblet squat in a GOOD squat position. Don’t let your upper or lower back round forward. You may have to sacrifice depth to maintain neutral spinal positioning and that is ok. If you mobilize a squat in a less than ideal position, it won’t translate into an ideal position. If you are unsure if your back is neutral, revisit day l’s lateral lunge using the 3 points of contact on the dowel. 8 9 10 11 RING ROWS 12 The ring rows we are doing here are not the typical ring rows from a workout. We are going to make them less weighted by keeping the body vertical at the top of the rep. 13 14 What we want from this ring row is thoracic spine (upper back) extension and activation of the musculature in the upper back. 15 PULL UP HANG 16 17 When doing the pull up hang, make sure to keep your ribs crunched and low back in neutral. It is very easy to let your low back over-arch, which will make this drill ineffective. 18 You can change your hand width or grip from under-hand to over-hand as necessary. There should be no pain or pinching in the shoulders. If there is, change grips. 19 20 Keep your head in neutral. Don’t push it forward. 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 30 DAY CHALLENGE GUIDE 31 DAY 29 1 30 DAY CHALLENGE GUIDE FULL BODY PREP #1 2 3 MOVEMENTS: 4 • • • • 5 6 7 Lateral lunge, 10 reps Primal pull through with a push up, 5-10 reps Triplanar hip extension, 30 reps per side Crab walk rock, 20 reps LATERAL LUNGES 8 If you are not comfortable using weight, please use a dowel as seen in day 1. 9 During the lateral lunge with weight, you should maintain the same spinal positioning as you did in day one. Said another way, if I held a dowel up to your back, there should be 3 points of contact. If you are unable to achieve this, regress back to using the dowel as seen in day 1. 10 11 12 Hold the kettlebell by the horns and keep it close to your chest. Think about pulling the kettlebell handles apart to improve your thoracic spine extension. 13 PRIMAL PULL THROUGH 14 Begin by getting in to the top of a push up position. Push your butt up toward the ceiling and pull your chest down toward the ground. Avoid trying to pull your neck through as far as you can so you can allow for upper thoracic extension. Perform a push up to begin each rep. 15 16 17 TRIPLANAR HIP EXTENSION 18 19 There are three directions in the triplanar hip extension stretch. 20 1. Forward and backward 2. Side bending 3. Rotating 21 22 By doing all three of these movements, we are improving hip extension in all the physiological ranges of motion available, rather than just in 1, which is the classic hip flexor or Samson stretch. 23 24 CRAB WALK ROCK 25 In the crab walk rock, get your hips as high as possible. If you let your hips sag, you get less shoulder extension, which is what we are after. Your fingers can point straight out or up toward your head. We don’t like the fingers pointed toward your feet in this application. Instead of walking forward and backward, keep your hands and feet planted on the ground and shift your weight forward and backward. 26 27 28 29 30 32 DAY 30 1 30 DAY CHALLENGE GUIDE FULL BODY PREP #2 2 MOVEMENTS: 3 4 • • • • 5 6 Glute bridge, 10 reps (2-3 second hold at top) Handstand walk drills Goblet squat (30 second hold) Pull up hang (20-30 second hold) GLUTE BRIDGES 7 8 In the glute bridge, lie on your back with your knees bent and feet on the ground. Squeeze your butt and lift your hips off the ground. 9 Many people will over use their hamstrings in this drill, so you can cue them to use their glutes by having them visualize straightening their knees as they lift their hips. This will activate the quads slightly and help to relax the hamstrings 10 11 HANDSTAND DRILLS 12 13 If you are new to being upside down, you may need to have a coach or buddy spot you. 14 Handstands for many people are uncomfortable. There is no reason to rush through the preliminary phases too quickly. Stay at the drill that you are comfortable with. Don’t rush through these because you will miss valuable training if you progress too quickly. If you can’t hold a handstand against the wall for 30 seconds, do not progress to the Conans. If you can’t do a full Conan without stopping, don’t progress to the free standing walk. 15 16 17 GOBLET SQUAT HOLD 18 Use a moderately light kettlebell for this hold. Make sure you hold the goblet squat in a GOOD squat position. Don’t let your upper or lower back round forward. You may have to sacrifice depth to maintain neutral spinal positioning and that is ok. If you mobilize a squat in a less than optimal position, it won’t translate into a good squat position. If you are unsure if your back is neutral, revisit day l’s lateral lunge using the 3 points of contact on the dowel. 19 20 21 22 PULL UP HANG 23 When doing the pull up hang, make sure to keep your ribs crunched and low back in neutral. It is very easy to let your low back over-arch, which will make this drill ineffective. 24 25 26 You can change your hand width or grip from under-hand to over-hand as necessary. There should be no pain or pinching in the shoulders. If there is, change grips. 27 Keep your head in neutral. Don’t push it forward. 28 29 30 33 CONGRATULATIONS on Completing our 30 Day Movement Challenge Continue your journey with one of our training programs at themovementfix.com/programs 34