Seven Summits Body – Fitness and Training

Category: Exercise

  • Sissy Squat Mobility Rehab GPP Conditioning Exercise

    The Sissy Squat is one of my favorite warming up exercises for any other type of squat. It warms up the joints and muscles with very little risk under a very light load. It is excellent for rehab or mobility work, since you can work through a greater range of motion than when your back is experiencing compression loads (bar on your shoulders). It’s also excellent to include in General Physical Preparedness. GPP should be a large part of your early training efforts, and might be a good inclusion in a year-long training cycle just to make sure you’re not missing anything while you’re training for other more specific goals.

    In the variation I demonstrate in the video, I’m grasping the side posts of the power rack about mid-chest height. I put my toes against the bottom rail just as a marker for alignment more than anything – it’s not important since you don’t push against it. I let my butt ride outward and hang lightly from my arms, then drop my butt toward my heels and then use my upper legs to push my butt back out.

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IMgMvPb00Q

    For this training session I’m using it as a warmup for squats, so I’m doing a set of 10 just to get the blood flowing and my joints warm. I might otherwise do maybe 4 sets of 25 if I were doing it as my light leg workout. You might have other goals and needs, but just about any set/rep pattern could be used.

    3 x 10
    5 x 5
    4 x 25
    4 x 8

    Are just examples. Don’t use weight since your knee might experience too much shear force. This is a light-duty movement, and if you can use more weight, or do regular squats with a loaded bar, you should do your mass gaining training with regular squats and use this for warming up or as a toxin-flushing exercise on your off days. If you can’t do squats with a loaded bar, working your way up to higher sustained reps (25, 50, 100) might help you work into larger squats.

    Be sure to only employ a range of motion suitable for your body, and don’t try to emulate mine. If you have shoulder or wrist issues, adjust the placement of your hands, or the angle, using a table edge or door frame or some other appropriate object to grasp. Try to not to use excessive force to brace or lever yourself with your arms or hands. If you have any hip, ankle or knee issues, please be sure to limit your movement, or seek the advice of a qualified physical therapist to guide you in adjusting this motion for safety. If you’re confident that you can work through your issues safely on your own, then work toward greater range and smoothness of motion.

    Your mileage may vary of course …

  • Vertical Low Row on Lat Tower Back Training

    A strong, muscular back is important if you intend to carry a backpack, walk with trekking poles, ice climb, rock climb, or even ascending fixed lines with an ascender. With our longterm goal of the Seven Summits quest in mind, these are all important for each, if not every, one of the seven (or nine as the case may be). The image below shows me in a lockoff position rock climbing – wherein the handhold is gripped at about waist to chest level with a small amount of tension.

    Lead Solo Climbing at Rock Canyon - The Wild
    Lockoff position Lead Rope Solo Climbing

    One of my favorite exercises is a modification of a low row done vertically on a lat tower on my power rack. For the video below I set the bench under the lat pulldown of my power rack, clipped on a set of Double Handle Cable Attachment (Double-D handles), put 115 lb on the weight platform, grabbed onto the handles, and sat down with my knees under the highest setting on the knee pads. I pulled down and sat all the way back till I was parallel to the ground, laying flat on the bench.

    I get full range of motion by pulling all the way down till my hands touch my chest, retracting the middle of my upper back, and on the way up let my upper back curve so that my shoulders lift off the bench. I think if you have shoulder problems it might be best to lock your shoulders into place and only swivel your elbow up and down with the handles.

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8eJXHX2CXQ

    One thing to watch out for: some people have a tendency to flex their wrists inward at the back (retracted) position, presumably to get more range of motion (ROM) but that’s pointless and can lead to injury if you have any kind of repetitive stress at your job (typing/mousing). Pointless because the muscle you’re training is behind and below your shoulder, not in your forearm, so the extra “oomph” in your wrist won’t help much.

    Note that by laying back and keeping flat on the bench you’ll also be working your obliques a bit. Not a lot, but well worth the effort to stay flat and resist the effect of the weight pulling you up off the bench. You can modify this to work with bands, or on another type of machine, but this is my favorite. Don’t get hurt, train smart, and let me know how this works for you.