EXERCISE LIBRARY
KEBOFIT ACADEMY
PRESS UPs
Traditional pushups are beneficial for building upper body strength.
They work the triceps, pectoral muscles, and shoulders. When done with proper form, they can also strengthen the lower back and core by engaging (pulling in) the abdominal muscles.
Pushups are a fast and effective exercise for building strength. They can be done from virtually anywhere and don’t require any equipment.
Doing pushups every other day can be effective if you’re looking for a consistent exercise routine to follow. You will likely notice gains in upper body strength if you do pushups regularly.
No matter what your level of fitness there is a press-up for everyone, from beginner to advanced.
HOW TO PERFORM A PRESS UP
• Keep the abs braced and body in a straight line from toes/knees to shoulders.
• Place the hands on the floor slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
• Slowly lower yourself down until you are an inch off the ground.
• Push through your chest, shoulders and triceps to return to the start position.
• Keep your body in a straight line at all times.
BEGINNER PRESS UP
(on the knees)
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Start in a box position on all fours, hands on the floor slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
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Keep the abs braced
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Slowly lower yourself down until you are an inch off the ground. Your arms should finish in a V position with your elbows behind you and not flared out to the side.
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Push through your chest, shoulders and triceps to return to the start position.
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Keep your body in straight line and abs braced.
INTERMEDIATE PRESS UP
(knees back)
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Progressing from box position, move your knees further back so your body is now like a triangle hands on the floor slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
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Keep the abs braced
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Slowly lower yourself down until you are an inch off the ground. Your arms should finish in a V position with your elbows behind you and not flared out to the side.
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Push through your chest, shoulders and triceps to return to the start position.
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Keep your body in a straight line and abs braced.
INTERMEDIATE PRESS UP (PART TWO)
(knees to full)
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Progressing from triangle position into full press ups. Raise knees and ensure body is straight.
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Keep the abs braced
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Slowly lower yourself down until you are an inch off the ground. Your arms should finish in a V position with your elbows behind you and not flared out to the side.
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Lower the knees again
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Push through your chest, shoulders and triceps to return to the start position.
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Keep your body in a straight line and abs braced.
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Repeat
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This will take time but once you are comfortable doing a press up this way start moving onto performing more full press ups.
MUSCLES WORKED
While the push-up primarily targets the muscles of the chest, arms, and shoulders, support required from other muscles results in a wider range of muscles integrated into the exercise
Such as:
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Abdominals
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Stabilisers (back of body)
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Forearms
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Joints & tendons
SQUATS
The most obvious benefit of squats is building your leg muscles – quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves. Performing squats also create an anabolic environment, which promotes body-wide muscle building, improving muscle mass.
Squats, and all of their variations, are a great exercise for the whole body. This is a good move if you want to burn fat.
• Stand with your feet just greater than shoulder-width apart.
• Start the movement at the hip joint. Push your hips backward and “sit back into a chair”. Make your hips go back as far as possible and drop into the squat.
• Squat as deep as possible, but keep your low back tensed in a neutral position.
• Do not round your lower back.
• Push with your glutes, hamstrings, and quadriceps to return to the start position.
progressionS
1.squat jump
1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
2. Start by doing a regular squat, then engage your core and jump up explosively.
3. When you land, lower your body softly back into the squat position to complete one rep….Think a spring like bounce!!!
2.KETTLEBELL SQUAT
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Using the technique above. Hold the horns at both sides and keeping the Kettlebell at chest height throughout the squat movement
3.KETTLEBELL THRUSTER
When it comes to getting the heart rate racing and hitting almost every muscle in the body then you can’t get much better than the Kettlebell Thruster exercise.
The Kettlebell Thruster is a complex combination of a kettlebell squat and a kettlebell overhead press. The kettlebell squat should provide the momentum to drive the kettlebell up and into the top position.
Although the thruster may look easy when performed correctly, it’s a more advanced kettlebell exercise and does require a certain amount of skill and conditioning.
1. Start with feet shoulder width apart, safely pick up kettlebell and hold it with both sides either side of the horns.
2. Begin to squat by flexing your hips and knees, lowering your hips between your legs. Maintain an upright, straight back as you descend as low as you can.
3. At the bottom, reverse direction and squat by extending your knees and hips, driving through your heels. As you do so, press the kettlebell overhead by extending your arms straight up, using the momentum from the squat to help drive the weight upward.
4. As you begin the next repetition, return the weight in front of the chest before squatting.
Muscles worked
Squats have developed a reputation as a booty-building exercise — but the truth is that they strengthen almost every muscle in your lower body.
When you do squats, the muscles worked include your quads (front of legs), glutes (bum), hamstrings (back of legs), calves and even your core muscles.
With the addition of the over head press (thruster) you then target pectorals (chest), deltoids (shoulders), triceps (arms), trapezius (upper back).
KETTLEBELL DEADLIFT
The Kettlebell Deadlift (this is technically the Kettlebell Romanian Deadlift)is an extremely useful exercises that targets the back side of the lower body, helps get used to the Kettlebell Swing movement, strengthens the lower back lumbar muscles.
Primarily targeting the hamstrings, the Kettlebell Deadlift essentially turns your body into a lever where your hip is the fulcrum and where you can (in a controlled manner) raise and lower a weight through your core using your legs as the driving force.
A properly performed Kettlebell Deadlift can help you:
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get stronger
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gain muscle
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burn tons of calories
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improve your athletic performance
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help reduce your risk of injury
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Place the kettlebell between your feet.
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Push your hips back toward the wall and don't bend your knees to get to the handle.
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Once your shoulders are just above hip height, you can drop your hips to grab the bell.
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Squeeze the handle hard.
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Make sure back is flat and chin is tucked (head looking down ahead of you)
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Push into the ground with your feet and get your hips through.
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Try and make sure knees and hips return to the top together at the same time.
The Wrong Way
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Low rounded back
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Hips and shoulders at same height
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Knees cave forward
Progressions:
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Double kettlebell deadlift
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Single leg deadlift
MUSCLES WORKED
KETTLEBELL SWINGS
The swing could be the king of the kettlebell exercises. It is usually the first pattern taught to new lifters after squat and deadlift show no problems and people can move correctly with loading at the hips.
The best advice here is to feel it in the hamstrings. Stand with your back to a wall, take a short step forwards, then sit back and hit the wall with your butt – obviously without the kettlebell! This pattern ensures you load the hamstrings, flex at the hips and use the posterior chain to accelerate the kettlebell rather than a squat pattern.
Equipment Required:
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Kettlebell (weight should be appropriate to ability and experience)
Before You Start
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Ensure your training area is ‘safe’
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Perform a dynamic warm up
(1 + 2) Start Position
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Feet shoulder width apart, neutral spine and squat down, place two hands on the kettlebell handle
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Stand and hold in front of hips
(3) How to execute the exercise
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Drive/Push hips backwards, Kettlebell between thighs
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Drive feet into the ground ‘gripping’ floor with the toes
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Inhale and brace creating abdominal pressure
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When point of transformation is reached snap hips forward contracting the glutes
(4) Point of transformation
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Kettlebell is propelled forward at snap to approximately shoulder height
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Arms should have a relaxed tension and the shoulder should be ‘sucked’ into the joint
Key Coaching Points
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Root feet into ground creating a solid power base
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Hinge at the hips DON'T SQUAT
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Keep a neutral spine throughout exercise
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Snap hips forwards to the completion of the movement
Progressions
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Single arm swing
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Hand to hand swing
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Double Kettlebell swing
MUSCLES WORKED
The Kettlebell Swing works a ton of little and big muscles – this is apparent from how tired you can get after doing many of these. Below are the highlights of the main muscles worked.
PRIMARY MUSCLES
Hamstrings
Deltoids
Glutes
SECONDARY MUSCLES
Abdominals
Tibealis Anterior
Lower Back/Lumbar
Forearms
Calves
But as you can see a stack of muscles are hit which makes this exercise unbeatable as a fat burner and muscle builder.
KETTLEBELL rows
An excellent upper-body pulling movement; the bent over row will build strength in the back and biceps muscles.
Pulling exercises are a necessity to ensure balance for the upper body. There is an alliance between pulling and pressing muscles. The better you get at pulling, the stronger your pressing will be and vice versa
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Assume a standing position while holding a kettlebell in your hand with a neutral grip.
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Hinge forward until your torso is roughly parallel with the floor (or slightly above) and then begin the movement by driving the elbows behind the body while retracting the shoulder blades.
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Pull the kettlebells towards your body until the elbows are at (or just past) the midline and then slowly lower the kettlebells back to the starting position under control.
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Repeat for the desired number of repetitions
Progression
Double Kettlebell Row
The process and technique is the same as the single arm row. It’s just that you have two bells to contend with. Keep your body tense, watch your breathing (inhale on the pull, exhale on the lowering phase) and do not round your back!!
Muscles worked
Muscles worked with rows
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Deltoid (shoulders)
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Latissimus dorsi (back)
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Teres major (above lats)
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Rhomboids (in between shoulder blades, under trapezius)
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Triceps brachii (back of arms)
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Pectoralis major (chest)
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Erector spinae (large group of muscle that run down the back)
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Trapezius (between shoulder blades)
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Other core muscles
The muscles worked will vary depending on the row variation.
Lunges
Bodyweight lunges are fundamental from both a strength and a physiological standpoint; it would do you some good to master the lunge in its most natural state before progressing to weighted variations.
• Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and hands clasped behind your head or on hips.
• Step forward with one leg, taking a slightly larger than normal step.
ALTERNATE
REVERSE LUNGES
PROGRESSIONS
LUNGE JUMPS
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Start by performing a normal lunge
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Brace the abs and jump switching legs mid air
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Land softly and controlled into a lunge position
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Repeat for the recommended required repetitions
KETTLEBELL LUNGE
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Same instructions as bodyweight lunge
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Hold the kettlebell at chest height throughout the lunge movement
KETTLEBELL REVERSE LUNGE
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Same instructions as bodyweight reverse lunge
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Hold the kettlebell at chest height throughout the lunge movement
Muscles worked
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Targeted muscles include:
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Glutes in your hips and bum
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Hamstrings
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Quadriceps in your thighs
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The calf muscles in your lower legs
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Your abdominal muscles
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Back muscles act as stabilizers during the exercise.
BURPEES
They need no introduction....
Burpees are an awesome, calorie-torching, strength-building, full body exercise that can be added to any routine or workout finisher.
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Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
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Drop down onto your hands and feet. Then thrust your feet back so you are in a push up position. Thrust your feet back in and then stand up.
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You can add a vertical jump at the end as well
Progression
floppy burpee
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Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
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Drop down onto your hands and feet. Then thrust your feet back and lower your body to the ground simultaneously.
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Press up from the ground, draw the knees in, stand, jump and clap your hands over head.
Welcome to floppy burpee land
Muscles worked
Burpees are referred by pros as being the single best exercise ever.
Burpees target and work more muscle groups than any other bodyweight exercise
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Your upper and lower legs: quads, hamstrings and calves.
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Your bum: hip flexors and glutes
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Your lower and upper back: erector spinae and lats (latissimus).
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Upper body: chest and shoulders
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And of course your arms, abs and core muscles
There are other secondary muscles working, but you get the idea. Tons of muscles working in just one exercise.
