Band pulls for bad abs, bad strikes and throws and bad intentions

God bless you all. Did you ever do an exercise that really allowed you to “grip it and rip it?” Something that allowed you to not only build raw strength but express animal emotion and power. Band pulls fit right up that alley.

Most people, probably not the ones reading this newsletter, but most average trainees never master an exercise well enough to be in a place where they should be attacking it with absolute raw emotion. But the big time champions, even if they look calm, are doing that. Make no mistake about it, emotional intention makes a big difference in your strength. When you’re a beginner trying to master an exercise you’ve got too many things to concentrate on to really put your raw power into it, but in the long term you should be looking to master any exercise that you do past the need to be consciously thinking about the technique. It should be honed to a level that it just flows and then your other powers will come into play.

Some exercises however are simple enough that you can put your whole self into it without much conscious thought. The deadlift while it isn’t like that the first time or two, is something that very quickly lends itself to a more integrated level of physical and mental effort. Band pulls are something else that you can do almost immediately and get that same integrated training.

Now by band pulls I’m actually referring to a couple of specific exercises, but you can build serious strength and endurance with all kinds of movements with a hard core rubber cable set. That’s why I train with them. I generally use the Lifeline Chest Expander and Portable Power Jumper sets, (a traditional length cable set and a long cable set for leg and full body use).

Here are two of the exercises I’m really talking about. Cable twists and cable throws. For both exercises begin by attaching one end of your cable to an immovable object. I’ve used a power rack as well as the bumper of a truck, anything that won’t move when you give it a good pull. For the twist, pull the cable tight and assume an athletic stance at a 90 degree angle from where your cable is attached. Then tighten everything up and twist as if you were chopping a tree down. Keep the handle of the cable close to your body. Do a set or two keeping your hips locked in place and just twisting your torso, then crank it up and do a set or two using leg and hip power to drive the twist.

Cable throws start with you stretching the cable set tight, and get in an athletic stance facing the object that you have the cable set anchored to. Now pull the set while imagining you’re actually throwing an opponent. Step away with your left foot and pull the set, twisting as you go, following with your right foot. You should finish with your torso parallel to the ground facing the opposite direction with your hips kicked backward as if to lift an opponent and throw him with your hips over your shoulder.

Both of these exercises integrate strong abdominals with a leg, back, hip and whole-body movement. Because they force you to stretch the cable harder and harder the longer distance you cover and in effect actively pull back against you, they allow you to really build some speed into your movement and therefore into the nerve firing muscles you’re working. Plus they’re simple and allow you to really attack the movement working strength, speed and conditioning all at the same time.

It’s a terrific way to build unified strength and abdominal movement together and a terrific way to take your training to the next level with unified exercise and mental intention. Crank it up… your results will get you just as excited as the exercise itself.

If you want to learn more about killer exercises like this that have multiple purposes and really build efficiency into your workouts as well as unbelievable strength you need our Twisted Conditioning Series and our Martial Arts book.

You wanna see exercises like this really performed live as well as 90 other exercises with a real world, hard core training tool? You should be looking at our Power Jumping DVD.

If you want the complete cable training set with over 165 exercises you should get the Power Jumper DVD and the Cables DVD together! What a killer pair.

Twisted Conditioning I –
Twisted Conditioning II –
Super Strength & Endurance for Martial Arts –
Power Jumper DVD –
Cables DVD


Find them all here at Stongerman Products