“The Legs Feed The Wolf”
I'm not sure if you've ever seen the movie "Miracle"? It's the story of how the U.S. Hockey team rose to the occasion and beat "the unbeatable" Soviet Union to claim the Gold Medal in the 1980 Olympics. This team was led by coach Herb Brooks. Coach Brooks had a 45 second drill called "The Legs Feed The Wolf".
He essentially promised his team that although they may not be the most talented team--they will certainly be the best conditioned team.
The premise behind coach Brook's quote comes from the nature in how wolves hunt. Wolves need strong legs to locate, stalk, and chase their prey to survive.
Lacking the strength to endure means death...
After some digging. I learned wolves would stalk their prey for up to 10 miles. If you were a wolf that lacked the strength to endure a 10 mile hunt?
... you'd starve and DIE!
The stronger your legs are... the stronger and better conditioned your entire body will be. Which is why swings, deadlifts and squats are essential to not only improving how you look...
... but also how you perform on a daily basis.
You hear people at tradition gyms talk about "leg day." Or how they dread leg day. Well at Hardstyle... (that's my gym) EVERYDAY is leg day.
In Jiu-Jitsu aside from a strong grip, you MUST have strong hips and legs (especially if you're a guard passer).
A guard passers mentality is aggressive.
... and Being RELENTLESS is the name of the game. Possessing the ability and sheer will power to outlast your training partner or opponent is a must.
But if you got Bambi legs?
Good luck out runnin' the wolves.
How cute is this little guy??
In today's workout
I'll showing ya how to get your legs crazy strong with the double kettlebell front squat. This simple (but not easy) exercise can be an all-in-one... one stop shop conditioning protocol.
How so?
Well, not only will it get your legs stronger. It'll toast your abs and drive your heart rate up after only 3 squats.
My good friend and colleague Chris Lopez, SFG II, founder of kettlebellworkouts.com and thealphadadproject.com did a really cool demonstration to figure out ...
which get your better conditioned? the front squat or the burpee?
To display the power and effectiveness of the front squat, he had a gentleman perform a quick heart rate test followed by 10 burpees. The gentleman's resting HR was 78 BPM if I recall correctly.
After the burpees his heart rate hit 138.
Following a 1 minute rest his HR returned to 96 BPM. Then Chris had him perform ONLY 3 double kettlebell front squats and...
His heart rate hit 168 BPM!
Even is you take into account he started with his resting HR at 96 BPM (compared to 78 with the burpee). This would still put his HR at 150 BMP after ONLY 3 front squats.
So.
... if you're tired of swings, snatches, and deadlifts or looking to "mix it up" give today's workout a try.
Workout Details: Front Squat [ONLY] using, "ladders"
Kettlebell size recommendations:
- Gentleman: Double 16-24kg
- Ladies: Double 10-16kg
Set a timer for 20 minutes and perform the following ladder.
➣ (3, 6) x 20 minutes.
Perform as many ladders possible with good form inside of 20 minutes. Simple but again, NOT EASY.
If you want to scale this out over the week and add a little variety you tweak ONLY one variable... the time.
Breakout for the week:
- Monday - Set timer for 15 minutes and perform as many ladders possible.
- Wednesday - Set a timer for 10 minutes and perform as many ladders possible.
- Friday - Set a timer for 20 minutes and perform as many ladders possible.
Give it a try and let me know how it goes!
-hec g.
P.S. If you're new to kettlebell front squats and want to make sure you're doing them right. I put this together to help ya out.