strength mob – Ben Musholt

All WIRED Up

Ben Musholt — Sun, 17 May 2020 21:06:00 +0000

What’s up Strength Mobbers?! This workout is a little different than the other circuits I posted, since it was originally designed to be used in by the WIRED magazine.

It didn’t make it into the article, but it’s a good workout nonetheless. The idea was to come up with a simple session that people could do at home during quarantine. The intended audience wasn’t necessarily someone with a garage gym at their disposal. Floor space, and a yoga mat were the main constraints.

Rather than using barbell like in the pictures, people were supposed to load up a backpack or duffle bag with some textbooks or other heavy items from the house.

Let me know what you think of the changes. Do you like having fewer warm-up and cool-down exercise? It’s good idea to mix-up your routine every now and then. I might start playing with the format of Strength Mob workouts based on your feedback. Let me know your thoughts!

Working Out Around an Injury

Ben Musholt — Mon, 24 Jun 2019 02:42:52 +0000

What’s up everybody?! The Strength Mob took a little a hiatus after I injured my back at a trampoline park at the end of last December. It’s all good though, and I’m getting into the swing of things again.

If you’ve ever been laid up with an injury, I’m sure you can appreciate the desire to stay fit. It’s maddening to watch your strength waste away. With that in mind, I thought it would be fun to share one type of workout that I had been able to do while on the mend.

Given the injury, my back was intolerant to heavy loading and compression for a good 3 to 4 months. Thus, I had to come up with some alternatives. I should mention however, that this was well after I was out of the acute phase. There was a good 6 weeks of taking things VERY easy. Lots of gentle mobility, light aerobic work, and some classic lumbar exercises.

Heavy squats and deadlifts were out. Even shoulder pressing and handstand development were off the table for a while. No squats, deadlifts, or pressing – what was an athlete to do?!

For the lower body, the workaround was to add in more single leg work, like step-ups, single leg hinging, and lunges. For the upper body, it meant lots of pulling movements, as well as plenty of the isolation exercises that bodybuilders use.

Have a peek and let me know what you think. What are some of the ways you work around an injury?

Let’s get moving!

Ben Musholt — Thu, 21 Jun 2018 14:29:36 +0000

Adjustments: If you don’t have a barbell, hold a kettlebell or dumbbells in the front rack position. If spiderman pull-ups are too challenging, scale back to regular pull-ups, or jumping/eccentric pull-ups as necessary. If ring dips are out of your grasp, try jumping/eccentric dips, or bench dips for a beginner option.

How I did it: 185 lbs for front squats, + 25 lbs extra for the ring dips.