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Unleaded: Thighs/Hips Anterior & Posterior by Mark Hatmaker

  


[The photo is of Bronze Era physical culturist Bobby Pandour, just one of many Old Schoolers who built themselves without squats. Mr. Pandour thought they were bad for his back. Keep his development in mind as we proceed.]

6 Exercises Total.

2 Programs

One Program asks for no more than 5-minute s per day.

Program 2 requires 17-minutes for 2 training sessions per week.

Read on…

In Old School thought the Thighs, Hips, & Lower Back were all one interconnected unit often referred to as “The Seat of Power.”

Boxers, Wrestlers, Combination Men, Rough n Tumblers all recognize “No Legs, No Bottom.” [Translation: No leg strength/stamina no fight grit.]

There is an Old Fighter’s Maxim, “When a fighter’s legs go, he’s done.”

This refers to, if there is no energy to move around the ring, get up and down off the mat, get up that hill and provide cover-fire, well, the fighter no matter how skilled, how knowledgeable, he can no longer contribute to the battle in any meaningful way.

5 Ways the Legs Can Diminish the Fighter

·        Lack of Stamina. One may have cultivated tremendous strength for 5-6 big power-lifting bursts but lack of the “Go back to the well” aspect required for fighting into deep rounds or scouting that slot canyon into the dark of night can still be off the table. You know the canyon I mean, one where the contour lines on the map lie tight like the rings of a tree—that beast, requires real thigh/hip/lower back stamina.

·        Lack of Strength—One may have the one-foot-in-front of the other endless stride of Pheidippides going to Marathon but that does not necessarily translate to the bursting strength of getting up off the ground with those two hombres trying to hold you down, or the ability to hump two jerry cans of water up to the mesa to keep your compadres alive in the Arizona sun.

·        Lack of Stability—One may have strength from 90 degrees to full [often gym strength is seen in less than this Range of Motion] but, often, if we exceed these “gym boundaries” we find knee-wobble, side-to-side knee-shearing instability, presumed balance issues which may just be poor side-to-side strength and weak proprioceptive adaptation.

·        Lack of Mobility—Old School thought did not separate flexibility from Range of Motion [ROM.] Mobility, a hot word these days, was all about “training into the holes.” The deep stretch of loaded ROM is where real flexibility is built, and, as it turns out, modern science confirms an Old School thought, more strength is built “in the stretches” than in the peaks.

·        Lack of Joint Health [i.e., injury]—Many of us have chosen unwise sports [combat, off-trail expeditions, demolition derby, etc.] which can lead to injury from external forces. Or, we have internal injury as our own bodies turn on us—arthritis etc. The Old School Thought and the science agree, it seems wise joint articulation can recover and restore much of what we lose from both forms of injury. Particularly with deep unilateral stability demanding work.

·        My botched knee-surgery and 4 years and running avoiding of a complete hip-replacement [3 doctors opinions said “Do it”] seem to say that these Old School Unleaded Methods work. I was told I could not walk around Dollywood [a local amusement park] with my daughter without a cane within a year if I skipped the surgery. 4 years, no surgery—still boxing, wrasslin’, swimming, kayaking, climbing canyons like I never did before. Hell, I may still have a surgery in my future, but I’ve already bought four years of adventure. This Unleaded bet has been mighty good to me.

What You Will Not Find in the Program & Why

Weights

·        All exercises can have a weighted option at the top end.

·        Disclosure: I do not weight any of them myself. I find the synergistic stack more than sufficient to provide all the burn I can ask for without the iron. All the strength gains plus stability minus the spinal compression forces.

Pistols

·        Admittedly a fine single-leg strength feat but…

·        The learning curve can make it too steep a barrier for some to jump to a more functional unilateral load. There is a wiser simpler Old school answer that any can do.

·        Also the need to extend the off-leg complicates the issue while asking the pubic symphysis to do something it is never required to do in athletic activity. [More on this to come.]

Hindu Squats

·        Fine wind-builders but…

·        Mighty poor strength builders.

·        We can build both leg strength and leg “bottom” without the need of Hindu Squats or high reps of any sort. [You will rep no higher than 4 sets of 10 in The Unleaded Program. Ever.] Get ‘er done and go train for the fight!

High Reps

·        See prior bullet points.

·        I repeat—High Reps are a waste of your training time.

·        A waste of your fun time.

Plyometric/Fast Twitch Work

·        Old School thought asks us to train slow-twitch and fast twitch muscle fibers separately.

·        The Master and the Aristotle Program will get your strength and stamina gains.

·        The fast twitch Jumping Battery of 4 Exercises are found in Unleaded: The Tarzan Twelve, to be released in the Fall.

·        But…Do Not Train Fast Twitch & Slow Twitch back-to-back.

·        They will interfere with the gains of one another.

·        There needs to be a 1-hour window [minimum] between the two components.

·        Sequencing in all Unleaded material is key.

·        I repeat KEY.

 

What You Will Find in the Program & Why

Synergistic Stacking

·        If you use the Master’s Program you are opting for all 6 exercises in a single session.

·        The exercise sequencing and rep numbers build naturally to a coup de grace of total hip/thigh/lower back fatigue. [No worries, it is temporary, recovery is quick and smooth to proceed with life and fight training.]

Anterior/Posterior Vitality

·        If you choose The Aristotle Program, there are only two exercises per training session.

·        They will be dual stacked so that both the Anterior and Posterior chains are attacked.

Unilateral Stressors to Create Contralateral Stability

·        4 of the 6 exercises use Unilateral execution.

·        That is, only one limb is trained at a time.

·        Why?

·        To maximize bodyweight load for accelerated muscle gains.

·        To add a muscular stamina component that will also “mimic” HITT work without having to do HITT.

·        To build stability through all aspects of the limb’s movement without the second dominant [or non-injured limb] taking up slack for the falling behind limb. [Injured limbs and “falling behind” limbs will be brought to equity/recovery via this method.]

·        Seldom do the legs act in synchronous concert in everyday life.

·        We take one step at a time, climb a rock wall one placement at a time, kick the head one leg at a time.

·        We educate the limbs in isolation as they will be used in life, adventure, and combat.

·        Now, about Contralateral Stability.

The Importance of the Pubic Symphysis Joint

·        The pelvis is not one solid piece of bone.

·        The pubic symphysis is a joint in the pelvis that connects the two halves of the pelvic bone. 

·        It's made up of a fibrocartilaginous disc, ligaments, and soft tissue, and is designed to withstand compressive and tensile forces. 

·        The pubic symphysis also allows the pelvic bones to move and rotate slightly under certain conditions, such as when walking, running, throwing kicks, hitting mat scrambles, etc.

·        Old School thought being aware of this central mobility of the pelvis asks us to train the entire pelvis to learn to adapt to the shifting forces via unilateral load.

·        Unilateral loading educates, strengthens, and tempers the tensile strength of the pubic symphysis.

·        Unilateral loading does not allow us to lock down the pelvis, asking the two halves to behave as an immobile one.

·        Joint mobility is about true internal mobility and not surface assumptions.

Lower Back Strength & Stability

·        The musculature of the pelvis is so intertwined with that of the sacrum and lumbar spine that wise leg exercise choices contribute to strengthening and adding stamina to the lower back without the need of separate lumbar strengthening exercises and/or adding compressive forces to the spinal column via weight.

·        Those with any disc issues will find the approach manna. Strengthening and restorative.

·        The unilateral stressors that feed though the pubic symphysis ask the lumbar spine to also stabilize and “correct” for offset loading just as one finds with everyday movement in combat ore lifting groceries from the floor.

·        Again, seldom are stabilized synchronous forces found outside of gym-desined movement.

·        Train for the world, not the gym.

Sequencing

·        If you are using the Unleaded Conditioning Protocol you will train Warrior Abs first.

·        Then Unleaded: Thighs/Hips Anterior & Posterior

·        After that use the other sequences as per Unleaded Prescription.

·        If you use the Master’s Thigh/Hip Program do not train Warrior Walking that training day. [See next session for the why.]

·        If you use the Aristotle Program you will still need to program Warrior Walking for fat loss and stamina conditioning.

The Two Programs

·        The Master’s Program hits all 6 Unleaded Thigh/Hip exercises in a specific sequence with prescribed timing.

·        Due to the demands on the cardiovascular system, there is no need to train “cardio” further that day.

·        Get on with life, combat training, hitting the river, etc.

·        The Aristotle Program is the golden mean.

·        You will train only one anterior/posterior pair per day.

·        Hit the three pairings over a 3-day training cycle.

·        Rest 1-day.

·        Repeat the sequencing.

·        Additional “cardio/fat loss/stamina” work is still on the table as the “bottom” demands are lesser than found in the Master’s Program.

That’s more than enough freebie.

For the 6-Exercises in specific detail.

Scaled versions for all levels.

The Two Programs, well…see here.

PS-The Black Box Brotherhood [Members of our subscription service get this at more than 1/2 off. Ura to The Brotherhood!]

Info on becoming one of The Chosen.

Available Volumes in The Unleaded Program

·        The Pliant Physique

·        Core Stability

·        Hips Stability

·        GFF: Grip-Fingers-Forearms.

·        The Chest Battery

·        The Back Battery

·        The Shoulder Battery

·        Warrior Walking

·        Warrior Abs

Upcoming Unleaded Volumes include…

·        Hidden Gems: Stabilizing Muscle [Pre-Hab, Re-Hab, & the True Core]

·        The Shotgun Muscle Trifecta: Strengthening the Peripherals

·        The Shock Muscle Trifecta: Ballistic Motion for Combat Athletes

·        The Tarzan Twelve: Feats to Show Off What You’ve Built

·        And complete Batterys for Core: Abdominal Strength and Rotational/Extension Game-Changers, Thigh-Hips-Knees, Shoulders, Biceps, & Triceps.

·        Static & Dynamic Batterys to unite Whole-On Strength.

·        The Unleaded Female Warrior Program

·        [Each Program is a DVD/Booklet package.]


Resources for Livin’ the Warrior Life, Not Just Readin’ About It

The Black Box Warehouse

The Rough ‘n’ Tumble Raconteur Podcast

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