This is something we at ALIVE push all the time. This article written by Scott Shannon goes into great detail from a military stand point, but can help you with everyday living.
Today we’d like to share an incredibly effective way of building high levels of strength that immediately transfers to real-world operational needs.
And remember, “operational needs” are self-defined. For soldiers in
the field they may involve combat applications, but for our
Commandos on the home front, “operational” could just as easily
refer to sport, work, or home life. Your training should focus on making your life better, rather than make you a slave to a program.
When it comes to building a killer physique using simple tools and the weight of your own body, few have equaled the sinewy power and raw strength of a gymnast. Those guys and gals are absolutely incredible! They control their bodies with effortless grace,
bursting explosively into leaps and turns and suddenly stopping on
a dime with the utmost control.
Incorporating aspects of gymnastic style training into your bodyweight routine can take your strength gains to entirely new levels. And you don’t even need a gym to do this — plenty can be done using portable tools.
One tool commonly associated with gymnasts has been part of the
full equipment-based TACFIT program from its inception: portable
gym rings.
The instability of the rings forces you to focus on achieving
stability before you can perform any movement. Focused
concentration engages the nervous system throughout every second of
the exercise, and THAT is what builds strength quickly. Ring
training taps into this like no other tool.
The opposite of this is a “motor set.” Motor sets happen when
training becomes rote. They’re the precursor to the dreaded
“plateau,” where gains stop, progress stagnates, and people fall
off the exercise wagon.
When you practice many repetitions of a movement, that movement
becomes much easier to perform, to a point where it becomes
automatic. The simpler the movement, the quicker this adaptation.
It’s simply how the body adapts to imposed demand, and exercise is
designed to take advantage of that.
The thing is, your body is really good at adapting to stimuli, and
if you want constant gains you’ve gotta stay one step ahead of it.
When the nervous system is not challenged enough, it dials ‘effort’
down to a lower level. In essence, it gets bored. And that’s when
your progress grinds to a halt.
That’s one of the great benefits of introducing gymnastic-style
ring training to your personal TACFIT program. It’s tough enough to
keep your nervous system focused on the task at hand. That means
incredible strength gains in a short period of time. And it also
means a hell of a fun workout!
Portions of TACFIT are done at ALIVE.