Adding a little more challenge to the Air Squat may involve using a mini band around the knees. This will want to pull the knees towards the midline and load the hip abductors to keep them from succeeding. The thought process behind this version is that it can help engage the glutes and abductors throughout a squat pattern, this may help positively affect patella tracking (the glide of the patella into the knee joint). It can also be used to increase the metabolic cost of a r

A way of progressing the Crab Walk using the same resistance band can be to move the band from the ankle to the forefoot. The increased distance from the band to the working muscles of the hip lengthen the lever arm and makes the effort required to open up the band greater. Added to this, by crossing the ankle joint you start to challenge the ankle eversion muscles to create stability around the ankle joint and not allow the band to pull the foot into inversion.

One of the many varieties of single arm row, this supported variety where the non-working sides leg is on the bench is a very stable version where form can be very easily maintained. Due to the increased stability of this version you may find that it is possible to move more load than other varieties. The cues for this are more suited programming associated with re-conditioning of the mid-back, rhomboids and trapezius rather than hypertrophy of the latissimus dorsi.

In the same family of exercises as the I, Y and T-raises, the A-Raise is the only one that pulls the arms down into shoulder extension. The movements direction ensures that a greater amount of work is put into the lower half of the mid-back region and can be a very effective exercise for those wanting to improve the stability of the area associated with upper limb force production.

The age-old test of relative strength, which is a measure of your strength in relation to your body weight. The wide, overhand variety will tend to put more load into the latissimus dorsi relative to the other major contributor to the movement which is the biceps.

Often utilised in body building protocols, the skull crusher is a very effective way to target the triceps muscle. Maintaining a fixed spinal position will allow you to push from a firm base, this should maintained throughout to really allow isolation of force production to be created by the triceps.

The most often used hip dominant hamstring exercise, the RDL or Romanian Deadlift is often confused with the stiff leg deadlift. The important difference is the freedom given to the hips to move backwards as the weight is lowered. This allows greater hip flexion which in turn will put a greater stretch into the top of the hamstrings and gluteus maximus muscles. Making them work harder due to the increased range they must cover.

Although the focus of this exercise is historically the abdominal region, there is a great test on the hip that is in contact with the floor. This hip has load of load passing through the quadriceps, hip flexors and into the abdominal region, whereas the hip which is kicking back has a high activation of the hip extensors, most notably the gluteus maximus. This makes the high plank kickback a good no-impact choice to hit the whole body, especially when cues are utilised to in

This is a high-strain side abdominal exercise where you are resisting gravities affects pulling your torso towards the ground. Maintaining a stiff, horizontal position creates the “anti-lateral flexion” effect of the exercise, which is extremely useful when changing direction or creating explosive sideways movement.

The Instagram booty building exercise of choice the hip thruster. As much as it is synonymous with tight leggings and inappropriate camera work it’s actually a hugely effective exercise. There is strong evidence for it’s ability to improve jump height as well as short sprinting times.

A nice variation on the Plank, the high plank variety puts loading into the hand, wrist and forearm. The pushing away of the floor throughs the hand may increase the activation of the rotator cuff and make the exercise feel easier than the more traditional plank. The fact that more muscles involved may help to increase to overall metabolic demand on the exercise, but possibly reduces the load into the abdominals due to the more incline position of the body.

This high-end isometric hamstring exercise will test your isometric force capabilities at the end of the hamstrings range when it’s acting over the knee. This is an important range of motion to consider for two reasons, the first is hamstring performance when sprinting and the second is how it works when you’re landing.

Having the resistance band around the ankles if a step up from having it around your knees. This can be a useful way to progress the exercise without using a new band itself. It is a global exercise for the lateral (outside) aspect of the hip and therefore will target the all the muscles in the region as opposed to anything specific. Fantastic in a warm up and good to utilise as a filler exercise.

A nice way to progress the Copenhagen bridge without just lengthening the leg is to add a dynamic movement into the exercise. In this instance rotating the torso whilst maintaining the high hip position works really well to add variety of stress into the adductors and trunk muscles.

Targeting soleus, the bent knee calf raise can reduce the contribution of gastrocnemius and put work into the compartment of the calf muscle closely associated absorbing force. Due to the posture taken during this exercise it allows the ankle to move into a deeper range of dorsiflexion which put the soleus muscle into a greater stretch position and therefore works it through range.

If you’re looking to increase the anti-extension efforts of the single leg lowers, then the Leg Lowers is the ideal place to go. Utilising both legs simultaneously will reduce the anti-rotation and oblique sling loading but significantly increase the challenge you will feel to stop your back from arching as your legs lower. This pattern is incredibly important for any partner work, overhead work as well as handstand type choreography.

The banded version of the pull down ensure higher degrees of force is required later in range, this inner range bias ensures a high degree of latissimus dorsi and triceps long head activation in a range less difficult to stabilise. This may be preferable over a cable variety when there is weakness in the overhead position which is being worked back in to.

A Crossfit favourite due to its global nature, the thruster is the combination of a squat and military press which utilises both lower and upper limb pushing muscles. The pattern can be used as a power development tool, especially useful for jump related strength work or overhead partner or prop work. The movement is equally at home in a HIIT session due to its high metabolic demand.

Otherwise known as scaption, this exercise is a shoulder stability gem which, when executed precisely, can be very good for gaining shoulder flexion range whilst loading the part of the rotator cuff responsible for lateral rotation. Along with this there can be a very large contribution from serratus anterior which is hugely beneficial to help develop scapulothoracic stability that significantly improves shoulder, id-back and neck performance.

Shoulder lateral rotation exercises are not all made the same. In the side laying position you can gain a relatively higher contribution to the lateral rotating rotator cuff muscles (infraspinatus and supraspinatus) compared to a cable or band based standing lateral rotation. This is particularly evident if you have a history of shoulder pain.