Strength and Power Tower

Hey everyone, so stoked. You're with me. So this is a tower session. It is built on the foundation of squatting, of lunging, of dead lifting and doing that in a weightbearing upright position so that we can translate that to power performance and activities of daily life. You see this guy with me, Mikko Gonzalez. So I hope that you'll enjoy this session.

You'll join in with all of it and and make it through. We are with you this whole entire time. Let's get you set up. So we're going to be starting with the push through bar. I've got one blue spring attached to it. The weight really isn't that necessary, but if you have a blue spring or any spring, make sure that you're attached from the above. From the top. We also have two lighter Springs kind of at medium height here.

These are yellow Springs with handles. And then finally we have one long purple spring. It's a heavier spring with a loop on it. We'll be using all of these during the session, but the whole idea is to have this set up so that we can flow through everything as a whole and that we don't really have to change any of the settings for you to make it a really efficient and a really effective workout. So let's begin.

I'm going to start with us kneeling on your tower with the hands on your push through bar. As a reminder, everybody's a snowflake, so you're going to have to adjust your body positions in micro adjustment as needed for you. And that's totally fine. You might see Nico and I doing this during this workout as well, and that's what it's all about, right? Body position on the tower is your body position on the tower. We're going to begin with some spine mobility with everyone's favorite, the cats. So from here, straighten your elbows out. Exhale, nod the chin to the chest, roll yourself down. Try and keep those hips stacked above your knees. Feel how your spine is moving.

Take a little bit of back extension as you come through. Exhale, drop the tail round the spine, rebuild yourself. When you get to the top, I want you to hold on to that. Push through bar. Let go one hand and take a nice big backstroke. Yeah, and then do that again. Take your cat stretch first, nod the chin to the chest roll down. I'm going to give you two of these at this pace and you're learning them and then we'll start to pick up your tempo a little bit just to play with that and big backstroke to the other side and all the way around. Cat, stretch it out. Draw the chin towards the chest round. Feel your spine and move. This is your opportunity to check in with your system and see what's happening in your spine today. Good backstroke, reach and around and do that again.

Round roll down. Extend through a little. Watch the hyper extension of the elbows. That's what I'm telling myself. I know that and big backstroke, shoulder mobility here, spine mobility, round roll down in through little back extension. Bree, build yourself. Come back up, they backstroke around and let's do one more exhale. Nod the chin to the chest, roll down a little bit of back extension and come back and through and take a little rotation, shoulder mobility around and through my handle out. Cut up. I'm just going to unhook it and let it go on down from here.

You're going to love to hate me now because we're going to transition into an upright position, but to get you there, I want you to walk back a little bit. Hold onto your bar and we're going to do some isometric. Get up, get downs. Think about your lead leg because you're going to be alternating, so you're going to put one foot down, get up to your squat position, get back down, alternate legs, other side squat, hit it, come back down. Alternate. So one, two and down. Yes, strength and power. Life is about getting up and getting down, isn't it? Strength and power is what is going to do that for you.

So find that squat, hit it and then lower down and out of it. Two more. One, boom and lower out. Oops, I forgot to alternate last one. Hit and come back down. Now. I think you're ready to stand up. So let's come back. Find that isometric squat stand all the way up. Bring yourself up to standing. Take a look down at your base of support.

Make sure that you're a little bit about why, sorry, not wider, but about shoulder distance, but negotiate what feels good to you. From here, I want you to inhale, bend your knees, drop down into a squat. Exhale, drive up through those heels. Start to think about your biomechanics here. You're using this bar, which is a great assist for you right now, but can you really focus on sitting back with your hips, keeping your chest relatively lifted, equally weighting each heel, getting the posterior chain or the backs of those legs nicely activated here and drive up. Let's speed them up here a little bit. Good and down and press through the feet. Give me four more and press. Watch those knees.

Try not to let them go towards one another. You want to keep them tracking over the feet. Two more times. Down and up. Last one here. Down and up. Walk your feet together. Weight transfer to one of your legs, lifting the other knee up.

We're going to take this into a dead lift. As you send that lifted leg back behind you, the push through bar comes down, you find that dynamic flexibility on the back of your standing leg and you bring yourself back up nice and controlled. So you've got stability of your standing leg, mobility of the leg that is lifted and also negotiation of the single leg balance here and come up and reach back and come all the way up. Give me two more of these, just like this. That front leg is really starting to take the brunt of the load and come back up.

And now from here I want you to take that deadlift come out and as you come back, land in a lunge. Yes. Now you're going to go straight to that dead lift again and then back to that lunge, 90 90 lunch here to the deadlift and in. So that front leg should definitely be feeling some strength and power now and you've got four more and land and three. And I know what you're thinking, Erica. Let's get to the other side. We're going to get there. I promise.

Just one more and land stand it up. You made it other side. Lift that other leg. Find your balance, test the waters, get into that dead lift. Find my dynamic flexibility on the other side. You're training a hip hinge, you finding the back of that standing leg, the hamstring and the gluteal connection and reach and bring it back home. There is a why behind the what we are doing in everything that we do with movement because it translates into every day life and I believe to move better is to live better and that's very, very important.

Two more and then we're going to go straight into that lunge and last one here. Send that leg away and then come back up and then we'll take that dead lift one more time. And then as we come back, we hit that 90 90 back into that dead lift now and 90 90 and dead lift and 90 90 and out and 90 90 you got two more. Get to about 10 of these and last one and 90 90 step it up and in pivot and open up your stance. Again, you might need to move a little bit of your position on the tower and that's totally fine. Use this bar. It's there for you. From here I want you to start to take a nice open second position or a wide leg squat, trying to keep your chest lifted here so you're not hindering forward like so, right? You want to stay upright like you're trying to slide down a wall a little bit.

And then we're going to start to play here in four more of these good M three and up. Inhale as you lower exhale as you come up. Last one. And now from here we'll see how we do. Can you take that Sumo squat, come up, weight transfer and touch that tower floor and lift the other leg and come back out and down. Good and up and transfer. Touch and out and down and up.

Transfer. Touch and out. One more time and up. Transfer touch and out and down. So a little bit of a curtsy needing to adjust that foot a bit. Let's take it to the other side, but I'm going to get you there.

So grab back onto that bar and why not give me another set of squats. So inhale, as you come down, exhale as you lift again, driving through those heels, keeping your chest lifted, finding that triple flection at your ankles, at your knees, and at your hips. That's really what a squat pattern is and your range of motion is your range of motion. I don't know what your knees are doing today or your hips or your ankles. One more time. Inhale as you squat, exhale as you lift, pivot and face the other direction.

Again, open up that stance. Arm can be out, hand can be on your hip, and we're just going to begin with that nice wide second position. Press up, down and up again, trying to keep the chest nice and lifted here. That's for, let's get to about 10 of these. So you've got five more opening up those hips, taking a different angle of the legs, feeling a little bit more inner thigh here. Great. Two more times down and up. And this one is going to be a little negotiation here.

So from here we're going to take that Sumo squat pattern. You're going to Sumo squat, you're going to negotiate, come in and touch kind of like a skier or a a space, sorry, space, a, a a speed skater, come back out and Sumo squat again. Come in and speed skate and out and down and up and speed. Skate and out and down. Two more times. Up and speed.

Skate out and down. Last one, up and speed. Skate and out and Sumo squad. Great job. Turn face your push through bar and unhook that spring and say goodbye to it. Make sure that you have that bar out of the way and that your handles have now become available to you. So, Oh no, I'd actually like to start with this long.

Purple spring first. So let's go here. What I want you to do is bring your L, your loop all the way up to your elbow. And again, this is a negotiation. Bring your fingers back behind your head. Support your head with your hands and support your hands with your head. What do I mean by that? Don't pull your head forward. Pull your head back into your hands now I don't know, but can you bend over to the side away from your tower and then bring it back up.

Opening up that lateral line that's closest to the tower and connecting with the lateral line that's on the other end. And again, micro adjustments are totally fine here. Three more. And bending to the side and last too and the range of motion might not be huge because of the weight of this spring. And that's fine too. Now hold it here. Can you now take a step out to the side with that outer leg and take a side lunge. Now negotiate. Bring yourself back home. Ooh, I made it here. I go and out and you got to really get that core and that trunk involved here. Try and keep your toes and your heels pointed North, South here in this sidelined four, you can take those sitz bones back with you a little bit.

Three nice team and two good and one we got to get to the other side, my friends, but remember me, I'm going to flow you there. So turn and face your tower. Grab onto that loop with the same side arm that had it hooked. Step back with that, the um, the spring side leg. And from here you're going to take a 90 90 lunge. And as you rise up, you pull 90, 90 pull.

Make it powerful down. Pull that spring down, pull that spring. Just because it's a leg spring doesn't mean we can't use it for our arms. Strength and power for more pull, three pull. Good to lower body, upper body and trunk. All engage. Before we get to the other side, we have to do the other side here. Switch your hands and switch your foot.

Remember, one side might feel different than the other. It's okay. Take the 90 90 pull on that spring as you lift down and pull down. Pull up. Good and pull. Make it powerful. Four and three good.

Two and one. You made it. Switch your sides. That loop comes up to your elbow. Again, negotiate. Think about maybe where you were out on the other side and set yourself up. Pull the head into the hands and see how your side bend feels as you bend over away from the tower and bring yourself back up. Right? Good. Inhale.

Maybe as you bend, exhale maybe as you lift, but just breathe. Do what feels good for you. Know that you're opening up one side, connecting deeper on the other and for more, but always focusing on the quality of movement three and bring it back home to know you know what's coming next and one we're going to take it out to that side lunge, so side lunge, Cisco bones. Go back and negotiate that spring as it wants to pull you back to the tower, right? Finding that little mini balance on that tower, leg and out, and in four more. 4:00 AM three last two. Great and one super job.

We're going to come back to this spring in a little bit, but for now, before we move down to a kneeling position, we're going to stay standing for a little bit longer. You now need your handles, so give yourself a moment. I'm just going to let you know that this is a negotiation exercise because you're going to be in a lower body kind of squat position. You have to negotiate your trunk and your arms. So let's test it. I want you to bend your knees.

The heels are going to lift and you're going to come into a knee bend or kind of a crouch here so you can feel these Springs. Now from here, can you straighten your knees and stretch your arms? Inhale as you bend and crouch. Exhale as you reach and punch. Inhale as you bend and crouch. Exhale as you reach. No. Can you make it a little bit more explosive? Reach and inhale. Exhale her.

Each coordinating your movement and her H hit it to bore and her reach. Last one and reach. Good ditch. Only one handle. Step the non handle leg forward. Pivot a little, almost like you're on a surfboard. Kay. Bend your knees from here. If you guys know me, I'm from California. I'm a stand up paddler from here.

I want you to stand on that board and I want you to punch. Inhale, exhale, rotate, punch. Make it powerful and punch. Drive through that arm. Feel that rotation of the spine with the load of the spring. Four more, 4:00 AM three punch and two punch. Yeah, and one powerful. From here, we're going to do a superset, meaning we're going to add in a layer of those crouches to the punches. Before we get to the other side. Flow. You know me.

Here we go. See if you can find that sweet spot. If you struggled on it last time, can you make it better this time? Come down into that crouch. Let's do two. Just negotiating reach. Inhale as you bend and crouch. Exhale as you find it. Good. Now let's really make power out of this.

Drive, stability, core, upper body, lower body coordination. Inhale, exhale, reach. Good. Five and four. Great. Three. You got it. Two more. Stay focused. Strong mind, strong body. Inner athlete, good ditch that handle other side leg that's not associated with the spring. Step it forward. Slight pivot. Find your stance right from here. We're going to throw that punch.

Boom. Inhale, exhale, throw it and throw it. Keep your legs strong, keep your core relatively stable, but mobile enough that you need to rotate to throw that arm. Good. Three more, three and two and one. Very nicely done. We're going to keep the handles in play and I know what you're thinking when can we stop standing right now? So move down onto your knees, pick up those handles and again, find the best position for you.

You can start back on your heels with Nico and I if that feels okay on your knees, but if this doesn't feel good on your knees, don't do it. Just stay in high kneeling as you rise up. I want you to take chest expansion and negotiate that stability core here. As you come up higher onto those knees, that's stability core. That spinal sandwich has to really kick on from the front to the back of the body. Inhale, exhale as you press great. Three more times.

Press last to press. We're just going to change the leg position. Last one right now. So do me a favor. Step one foot forward, doesn't matter which foot cause you got to do both sides, right? And you may need to move back a little bit, but I want you to come up into that 90 90 isometric lunch and give me chest expansion. Again, press and forward. Press and forward press. That's three. Let's get to eight.

There's four, four more press and three push and to push and one push lower down. Great. Put both knees back down. Sit back on your heels. Just two chest expansions up and down to reorganize yourself. So come up, press through those arms and lower back down. Last one, press and lower down. And I hope you remember which foot was forward because now you need to switch sides. So bring that other foot forward. It's just eight inner athlete is on. Are you ready?

Rise up. Find your isometric lunge, press back eight and seven and six. Chest is open, spine is tall and four and three you're almost done and one lower down. Very nicely done. Can we sit down now, Erica? Yes you can. So let's have a seat. You know me, I like to move things through body positions in a flowing manner and bring your feet up against those poles. From here you have handles on these Springs, so it's going to feel a little different than that roll down bar, which is fine, or the roll at bar. What I want you to do is bring your knuckles together, bend your elbows, and on an exhale I want you to just roll all the way down. Keep your hands into your chest.

If you can head touched this touches the table and enroll yourself back forward. Your feet may come away from the bars a little bit because you may need to get over some flesh on the backside of your body and that's fine. Okay. We all have different soft tissue, so do what feels good for you and roll it down. Again, feeling your spine mobility here and exhale rolling up. Now let's add onto this and take it into a bridge. So want you to roll it down and as you get almost all the way down, start to bend your knees, extend your arms out next to your sides, and then you can exhale. Roll up into a bridge position, keeping pressure down through the hands.

Roll down out of that bridge position, and then sequentially roll yourself back up and find the poles with the feet. Good. Let's do that again. Exhale as you roll down, staying in a nice lifted sort of flection if you can, meaning not just collapsing on the spine, roll up into your mobility bridge, opening the hips at the top, connecting on the glutes and the hams. Exhale, roll down. Good. Extend the legs forward as you nod the chin to the chest and roll back forward. You've got one more of these exhale as you roll down, get to that table, extend the arms, bend the knees, shoulders are connected with that table for feedback. Use that feedback here and then exhale, roll all the way down and connect the feet up against those poles and roll yourself back up. Great, let go those handles.

I told you we come back here. So we're coming back here now what I'd like for you to do is take your arm and bring that loop up to your elbow. Your feet stay up against the poles. You're just going to pivot them and find the sweet spot for you where you can stay connected. Okay, bring the fingers back behind the head, but notice this bottom arms kind of in the way. So I like to put it down a little bit. Now we're going to flex it the side body by using the spring exhale as you lift and inhale as you come down [inaudible] and inhale.

So trying to keep those legs closed up against the poles that closes up your chain and gives you that opportunity to really get that side body to bend. Last three. Okay. And the last two good. Last one here. And of course we have to do the other side.

So let's turn on over and do the other side before I finish you up with some back extension. So just pivot your feet. Again, trying to find the position that works best for you for that connection point. Take that loop up to your elbow, come down onto your side body, keep that bottom arm pointed a little bit forward so that you can get to the table. And then exhale, lift and inhale, come down. Yeah, good. Inhale focusing on that lateral line, that lateral flection of the upper lateral line, but don't just collapse on the lower lateral line for more. Good. And three, you've got this two more and last one. Very nicely done.

Take your arm out of that loop and we're going to turn onto our bellies facing the push through bar and grab those handles for a bit of back extension. So in this position, your legs can be slightly wide, they can be narrow, but please do what's best for your lower back. I like to have my legs slightly apart and I like to have my pubic bone Saif softly pressed towards the table. You're going to grab your handles with your hands, reach your arms on the outside of the tower and place the forehead down from here. Coordinating the upper body. The back extension and the whole longitudinal system or the backline.

You exhale, push down into the Springs, lift up into back extension, make a nice circular pattern of the arms and then lower down. Breathe how it feels good for you. Some people like to do back extension on an inhale and some people feel that they can coordinate their movement and activate their abdominals and their lumbo pelvic region better on that exhale. So it's totally up to you and for more good trying to translate this all the way from the top of the crown of the head all the way down the whole back line of the body and maybe even into your heels. Good two more times. Dig deep into that nice thick water with your arms.

Make it feel very active. And last one here, come up and all the way around. Do yourself a favor. Let go of those handles. Pretty straight. Hands down next to your shoulders and if feels good for you, press yourself up and over into a rest position or a child's pose while you're here. Really focus on that posterior breathing, filling up the lungs from the back, and maybe even wiggling your pelvis a little bit here to let go of any undue tension in your lower back region. One more cycle of breath here and exhale. Let it all go and then slowly bring yourself back into gravity.

We've been in non weight bearing for a little bit of time in this workout and stand. Notice your feet down on a firm surface area. Think about your big toes. Think about your little toes. Think about your heels. That sense of foundation, that tripod of support that we all need and know and love. And from here, allow your arms to float. Has an extension of the spine. Good. Take one roll down with me as you roll up and over, let the arms drape. Let the spine mobilize.

Take an inhale. When you reach your bottom and exhale. Use your abdominals, your trunk to rebuild yourself. Segmentally bone by bone. Visualize the spine stacking itself. The crown of the head is the last thing to go to the ceiling. The arms come up one last time. They're buoyant. Good.

You flex your risks at the top and you stay open to the possibility of moving better to living better. Thank you so much.