My Top 8 Exercises for School or Home

Exercise is one of the beautiful freedoms of life.

Coaching large classes of students and staff has forced me to simplify, and in my opinion, improve, the ATG system.

In doing so, I realize how much easier this makes it to apply ATG from a minimalistic home gym, too.

Here are my top 8 observations so far:

1 of 8: With the slant step up I can set up 10 boards on the ground, and easily scale by angle, distance of step, and load! From the weakest to strongest knees at my school, everyone can win with this, and so simply! This is perhaps my favorite observation, since with this alone we can consistently reduce knee pain and improve athletic ability.

2 of 8: With the same slants, I can scale squats by COUNTERBALANCE and load! This, too, has all students winning at their own level. General progression is from bodyweight to full reach (light plate) to partial reach (heavier plate) to no reach (dumbbell), and then optionally loading on the body (barbell). The loading implements are simply a means to an end. The combination of load AND counterbalance is a basic truth for knee/squat ability - and again: so simple to apply!

3 of 8: If you have basic loading tools, then you automatically have an ideal ATG Split Squat regression system! By elevating the front foot and using assistance from a rack ahead of you, you can scale difficulty. Many students - and even faculty - are now pain-free on flat ground with exceptional mobility. Some students are even loading.

Note: WHY WOULD WE LOAD?

Loading becomes a personal matter relative to the forces you want to handle in life.

Life itself is a risk every time you walk out the door.

Through experience we gain knowledge which improves our prediction and control of outcomes.

BUT NOT FOR KNEES.

We avoided that subject for 50 years due to fear stemming from 1970s assumptions without evidence, which has since proven the opposite of the assumption!

They went the route of AVOIDING PRESSURE instead of understanding and predicting pressure!

And fortunately, human bodies aren’t machines.

Human bodies adapt, if exposure is on a gradient scale.

REAL EXAMPLE:

Dunking a basketball was an example of something I could not do prior to this concept of Knee Ability.

Not only was I naturally incapable of jumping high enough to dunk, when I tried to practice jumping, my knees would get injured.

Knee Ability then gave me a route. As my ability went up, I found I could handle demand with less knee pain and eventually: no more knee injuries.

Now I’ve been able to dunk - AND HAVE NO KNEE INJURY - for over 10 years.

I know exactly how much ability I need to be able to dunk without knee pain.

This has been a priceless gift for me, and so I pretty much stopped pushing past the level of ability which correlated to my body being able to dunk without knee pain.

Just yesterday I was on the court with my players. Not only was I able to enjoy the thrill of dunking, I also got one of my players to complete the first dunk of his life! And he had knee pain just a few months ago! When I was in his same shoes, I continued downhill due to lack of a well-known system of Knee Ability. Soon I was on drugs for the pain. Then I was on a high from the drugs, not realizing I was further injuring my knees. Then I was a surgery patient. Then I was hooked on painkillers for years afterward. I get chills now, thinking about helping a student not only experience a priceless memory for life, but also learn a route that improves his chances of NOT going down the drug and surgery spiral that I went down. I really stopped being myself. I was so bummed, in so much pain, that I didn’t treat others the way I wanted to. Simply having more control over this resulted in me being a much better person, but that’s who I was all along, masked by confusion of why my body was such a barrier in my life.

4 of 8: The dumbbell seated deadlift allows me to help anyone improve inner thigh flexibility plus lower back strength! When in doubt, I start trainees with no weight. This exercise vastly assists winning with the next one…

5 of 8: The dumbbell standing deadlift with emphasis on flexibility of the upper hamstrings allows me to improve flexibility and strength at the same time. Start light. Think of exercise in terms of mastering basic abilities at HIGHER LEVELS over YEARS. You could take almost any subject and become world-class with that approach. The greatest successes tend to be built on the basics - but at higher levels than the norm!

Both 4 and 5 give you a route for uncommon lower back protection via strength AND more childlike mobility in harmony. While stability around the spine is LEGIT, so is the ability to not stress your back out in the first place!

6 of 8: The hanging leg raise allows me to help even the slowest athletes begin working the muscles that pick up the legs, while also challenging the fastest athletes. Progression is from knee height, till the trainee can raise knees to triceps for 20 reps. Then we raise knees to triceps, straighten legs, lower down, and repeat!

7 and 8 of 8: With simple $40 rings, I’m able to train every student and staff on rows and pull ups.

Rows scale by how far you stand back. And while I haven’t had to use this, you could progress pretty much infinitely by starting the process over one arm at a time.

And I coach pull ups on a scale of 3 levels. Level 1 is assisting with your legs up AND down. Level 2 is assisting with your legs up, but fully handling your weight on the way down. And Level 3 is a pull up without assistance from the legs.

All items in this thread are relatively affordable, easy to use, and scalable.

And all items are either already made in America or in the process of being made in America, so my ATG equipment line will be going strong for you for decades to come - hopefully centuries.

Exercise is one of the beautiful freedoms of life. My goal is to make it simpler, more fruitful, and more enjoyable for you.

Yours in Solutions,

Ben

For all these exercises and a few more, in my new Standards program: atgonlinecoaching.com

And for the equipment used, as well as our flexible, foot-shaped shoes with a bit more cushion than most barefoot shoes: atgequipment.com