Become a Master Wizard of These 4 Spells / Moves

 

Getting started

When less experienced clients ask me what they should be doing on their own, I usually will say something like “keep it simple, safe, and effective; burn calories and don’t hurt yourself”. How to be a master of moves?

After that, I like to introduce the idea that if you are just starting off as a level one lifter, you need to be focusing on level one exercises. I’ll then ask if they played Dungeons and Dragons growing up? I usually get a no; but then I’ll explain that in the beginning of the game, as a Wizard, you will only be able to perform a few different spells during the initial period, and that period lasts until you gathered enough experience to learn new ones.

This idea is a good way to communicate the need for good foundational exercise selection when beginning to train on your own. This allows me a framework to communicate when they are ready to start adding new exercises to their spell-book.

This being said, I see these four body weight exercises (listed below) as great level one spells for novices to learn and intermediates to review. For the sake of the blog, we’ll say that this spell book is designed for the average wizards with no particular wizarding goals, just be a better fundamental spell-caster.

The Stationary Lunge. This is your levitation spell

Start with your feet hip width and take a big step back with one leg.

Bend both your knees slightly, and square up your pelvis and shoulders.

Lean forward a few inches and press you weight down into the heel of the front leg.

Bend your knees slowly allowing your body to descend towards the floor, go down until your knees are at a 90 degree angle. Make sure that you maintain an upright posture through the entire movement.

While maintaining proper alignment, press down into the ground and elevate your body back to the straight legged position.

Repeat the movement as many times as you can maintain control.

The High Plank. This is your fireball

Work your way down into the high pushup position.

Keep your elbows slightly bent to maintain the muscularity of the triceps.

Keep your body in a straight line from head to heel and keep your eyes locked on a spot on the ground.

Maintain a strong concentration on keeping your back flat and your core braced.

Hold for as long as you can tolerate without losing the form.

Progress by adding controlled pushups to the movement.

The Single Leg Bridge. This is your protection spell

Lie down on your back with your legs straight out, bend one knee to 45 degrees with the foot going flat onto the floor.

Draw you lower back down into the floor by engaging the lower abs.

Press down into the floor with the heel of your bent leg and lift your hips up as high as your can while simultaneously lifting your straight leg up to the ceiling.

Keep your pelvis stable and repeat as many times as your can.

The Side Plank with reach through. This is your magic missile

Lay on your side and prop your forearm with your elbow up at a 90-degree angle.

Stack your feet on top of one another.

Lift your hips up and balance with your body held firmly in a straight line position.

Reach your top arm down under your body allowing your top shoulder to rotate forward.

Open your body back up to the starting position with your arm reaching straight up to finish the movement.

Repeat as many times as you can tolerate.

Once you can repeat these movements in sets of over 20-30 reps without fatiguing or losing the form, then you can look to add more resistance and complexity to the exercises. Just as a wizard would know when it is time to hit the library for more spells.

David is a personal trainer at CLIENTEL3, for more information on how to build your own personal exercise library and how to become a master of moves contact us to schedule a complimentary consultation.