An All American Way for an Iron Clad Low Back

Where did we go wrong? I mean, isn’t that the REAL question to why our society is so much weaker, injury prone, and badly out of shape? Scary enough the answer to this question was given to us probably 40 years ago! 

In his book, “Wrestling Physical Conditioning Encyclopedia”, legendary fitness expert, John Jesse wrote the following…..

“In accepting the concept of progressive resistance training with weights, the coaching profession in the English speaking countries, particularly America and Canada, were faced with cultural problems. With machines doing most of the work the majority of young men entering athletics were not drawn from a background of labor work in the mines, on the farms, in the forests or on the docks. With increasing affluence, urbanization and mechanization, children were losing the philosophy of hard work and patience to attain a goal.” (Jesse, p. 65)

Listen, I am far from going to suggest we go back to factory working and most of us didn’t grow up on a farm. I know I didn’t! I grew up in Chicago and while there were days it FELT like my Dad had us working in a factory, the reality is we grew up like most kids of the 80’s and 90’s. I am not going to claim either that I WISH I had to endure the tough life of working on the mines, or the really challenging manual labor of the early and mid-1900’s. 

Yet, I think we can take away lessons from these times and those that still do understand what this type of work taught us about not just our fitness, but building incredible resiliency. Who better to do such a thing than our resident Farm Strong expert, Troy Anderson, DVRT Master (Farm Strong Training)…..

Today’s video was inspired by the Farm Strong environment

Even more so by the act of ‘doing work’ aka work capacity which is held in high regard here on the farm and yet seem to allude almost all in the fitness industry.

Today we look at real world  application at it finest in something we call the Farm Strong Press.

Which carries a mix of 3
different lifts:

Power Clean: FarmStrong taking hay bales from ground to chest.

Bench Press: accelerating press at approx. chest level.

Overhead Press: completing a press at head level or higher.

At Farm Strong we are strong believers in the overhead press and its need in expressing shoulder functional mobility and strength.

Even though it is waning in popularity among many in the ‘functional fitness’ world.

The Farms Strong Press maybe the perfect functional formula for shoulder health and functionality especially when performed with the Ultimate Sandbags neutral grips.

Also with the Farm Strong Press we should shine light on the key DVRT concept of an implement dimension which I think the hay bale illustrates very successfully.

Let’s take a look what we have with the Farm Strong Press

It’s not uncommon to perform 100’s of reps of the Farm Strong Press during the course of an afternoon.

Here’s what you have in application:

Bi-Lateral Strength/Power – Med Load – High Reps

Natural Press/Strength – Med Load – High Reps