The average SEAL carries gear weighing up to
75lbs. At the same time, he may need to carry
a down man, or climb over a 10ft high wall.
So strength is critical to our success,
especially core strength. I'm Navy SEAL
Instructor Lieutenant DeCoster. Core strength
is an integral part of sports. Whether you're
boxing out in basketball, breaking a tackle,
or hitting a golf ball 300 yards, your strength
comes from your core. Lets get started.
Hi, I'm Instructor Castro and today we're
gonna go over an intense core strength training
routine with my demonstrator, Lieutenant
DeCoster. This routine will consist of 3
exercises. The first will be overhead squat,
the second will be glute/ham developer sit-up,
and the third will be glute/ham developer
back extension. We're gonna go ahead and
demonstrate those movements now. For the first
movement, the overhead squat, you go ahead and
use a dowel, a PVC pipe, or a broomstick for
this movement. You bring the load 8-10 inches
overhead and maintain an active shoulder.
Active shoulder means you're pressing your
shoulder up into your ear to stabilize the
weight. We want your stance about shoulder
width, a nice squatting stance. At this point
he's going to descend into a deep squat. Once
his hip breaks the crease of his knee he's
gone deep enough. We also wanna look for this
lower lumbar curve to make sure he's not
rounding his back. Once he starts rounding
his back he's losing the integrity of his back
and he's gonna set himself up for injury. At this
point he drives off of his heel, heels and rises. Good.
Descend. If the weight becomes too much to
manage, you can go ahead and dump it forward.
Good. And bring it overhead. For this exercise,
we do not use spotters. It's imperative you do
not have anyone spotting you because you can drop
the weight on them. We'll do 5 repetitions of
this exercise. You'll put your weight down, and
we'll move over here to the glute/ham developer.
We're gonna go ahead and sit in the glute/ham
developer and you wanna be slightly behind the
pads. At this point, he's gonna lower down, touch
the bottom, and sharply extend his knees to come
up. Good. This is a safety point, if he comes up
with a soft knee - go down - a soft knee being
not extending it - good, come up - he's placing
a lot of stress on his lower back. So to
alleviate that stress on his lower back, we
sharply extend the knee and that brings us up.
One more correct one. Good.
Notice the velocity when he does it correct,
that's because he's getting the hamstring
involved. He'll do 10 repetitions of that, and
he'll flip over on the glute/ham developer.
Once he flips over, we're gonna do 10 hip
extensions. The reason this is a hip extension
is cause his pelvis is slightly past the pad.
His back at this point is static, and his glute
and ham are active. What I mean by active is
these are the muscles that are being used to
raise him. Come up. Good. And down. Notice the
back is static again, and the glute and ham are
raising him up. Come up. Good. You'll do 10
repetitions of this. That's 1 round, 5 overhead
squats, 10 glute/ham developer sit-ups, and 10
back extensions. What the workout is, is as many
rounds as you can do in 20 minutes.
For those of you who don't have access to this
specialized equipment, we're gonna now show you
3 simple substitutions for these exercises. The
first being the overhead squat with just a
broomstick, dowel, or even a piece of wood.
Same points of performance we covered earlier.
Good. Same reps, 5 reps. Place the weight down.
For the back extension, our substitution is what
we call a superman. For the superman you're gonna
lie prone, and then you rise your chest off the
ground. Good. And back down. Same amount of
reps, 10 reps. For the substitution for the
glute/ham sit-up, we're gonna do regular
sit-ups. Good.
All the way down and all the way up.
If you don't have a buddy to spot you,
you can use 2 dumbbells to hold your feet in
place. And the reps will be the same.
And now we're ready to start the workout. 3 - 2 -
1 - go. Remember, it's 5 overhead squats first,
then 10 glute/ham developer sit-ups, then 10
glute/ham developer hip extensions. Lieutenant
DeCoster has trained for a long time at this
movement. Most of you will have to start with
an empty bar, or even the dowel, for the first
time you try the overhead squat. If you don't
have access to a glute/ham developer for the
sit-ups, you can easily do regular sit-ups on the
ground. Good. Remember, the important thing here
is extending the leg to minimize the stress on
the back. He's demonstrating full range of
motion. Good, nice speed. Once he's completed
these he's gonna flip over. The substitution for
this exercise if you don't have a glute/ham
developer is prone supermans. Good. He's going
all the way down and all the way up. His back
is static, and his glute and ham are active.
He's just completed 1 round. Now he's gonna
repeat for as many as he can do in 20 minutes.
Remember to use proper form when doing these
exercises, and increase your maximum rounds
each time you do it.