Joe ‘Jitsu’ Christopher

A complete workout can be achieved with only a small floor space and your body.  If over 30 free body exercises aren’t enough for you, then hanging from a chinup bar or wall, balancing on a rail or exercise ball, adding weight with a kettlebell..dumbbell, medicine ball and a heavy bag can help to add variety.  Focus on performing exercises through the entire available range of motion and maintaing excellent form of exercise position.  Squats, Pushups etc… should be done on 1-leg as much as possible and I like to do a 1-legged neck bridge as well for balance and core control.

Minute Method

Pick a dozen of the below exercises (alternating 4 of each Core, Upper & Lower body exercises) and perform as many as possible of each exercise for exactly one minute.  Take less than 15 sec rest before proceeding to next exercise.  Add exercises to lengthen workout as required.

Dice Solitaire

Keep a Postcard of below exercises noticing there is a number between 1 & 12 assigned to an exercise in each body range.  Then roll the die and do a preset number of each of the exercises on your card that have the number corresponding to the rolled die.  You can also choose to do the same number of exercises as the number rolled.  Roll again until fatigued.

Simple Cards Solitaire

Choose order of  exercises to be done.  Deal a card and do that number of the next exercise on the list.  Continue dealing until out of cards.  Face cards as 15 makes this a 400 repetitions workout in less than fifteen minutes!!!  and you’ll never do the same exercise more than twice.

Complicated Solitaire Variations

Assign each suite as Core, Upper, Lower and one body range will do double work (two suites).  Make Aces 1, Jokers wild 50, make face cards be 11 and 12s etc…  specific cards require specific exercise, such as suicide king has to do 20 handstands. 

This is especially good if playing with someone else and a great way to keep going through the same deck if playing with someone else until one person TAPS.

Exercises:  these are listed in approximate order of descending difficulty, and prefixed by the range of the body they most address; Lower, Core, Upper Body, the 1-4 of each are considered advanced, the 5-8 are intermediate, and the 9-12’s are basic or for getting started (or when you want to do an awful lot of reps…):

 START AT THE BOTTOM

1.  (L) Pop-ups
1.  (C) Leaning Back to Reverse Pushup
1.  (U) Handstand Press
2.  (L) One-Legged Reverse Squat..Leg Raise
2.  (U) 1-armed pullup
2.  (C) Bag Situps
3.  (L) 1- legged Squat
3.  (U) Fingertip Pullups
3.  (C) Extended Arms Pushup
4.  (U) Wide Pullups (grip out, full hang)
4.  (C) Neck..Back Bridge
4.  (L) Exploding Star JumpJacks
5.  (C) Burpee..Sprawl Jump Squats
5.  (L) Hindu Style Squat or Bathak
5.  (U) DiveBomber..Dog Pushups..Dand
6.  (C) JackKnifes
6.  (L) Flat Footed Reverse Squat
6.  (U) Chinups (shoulders grip in, full hang)
7.  (L) Toes only Reverse Jump Squat
7.  (U) Bench or Chair Dips
7.  (C) Mountain Climbers
8.  (L) Narrow Stance Toe-only Squats
8.  (U) Elevated Plank Pushups
8.  (C) The Bow (Yoga hold)
9.  (U) Diamond Pushups (nose to diamond & lockout)
9.  (C) Hanging Straight & Side Leg raise
9.  (L) Grape Stompers
10. (C) Superman Stretches
10. (U) Hanging Shrugs
10. (L) Forward Lunges
11. (L) Boot Strappers
11. (U) Plank to T-Pushups
11. (C) Sit-Out
12. (U) Pushup with Row
12. (L) Side Lunges
12. (C) Bicycle Crunches
 

I like to end with several sets of 8-strike combos on a heavy bag or a partner’s focus mitts  but ALWAYS when finished, be sure to spend 5 minutes doing side-to-side hip stretches and other flat stretches and rolls to “de-tense” and help avoid sore muscles.

Below are explanations of form for some of the exercises:

Hindu Squat..Bathak 

Here’s a description of the hindu squat with text taken directly from Furey’s website:

1. Begin with your feet shoulder-width apart and your toes pointing straight ahead.

2. Keep you back straight and lower your buttocks until your thighs are parallel to the floor.

3. As you lower your buttocks your hands are BEHIND your legs, and they follow you toward the ground.

4. As you hit the parallel-to-the-ground position, you simultaneously raise your heels from the floor.

5. Push off your toes, raising your body to a standing position.

6. As you raise your body, your hands come IN FRONT of your body. They continue to rise until they are level with your chest.

7. Once you have reached the up-position, you pull your arms in toward your chest as if you are rowing a boat. Make tight fists with your hands and pull. Your elbows will be close to your body as you pull.

8. Inhale as you pull your arms in, exhale as you lower yourself.

9. Repeat without stopping for as many reps as possible. In the beginning, depending on your condition, you will be able to do 25-50. When you can do 100 without stopping, your conditioning level is improving.

10. When you can do 500-straight Hindu squats, you’re making great progress.”

This type of squatting cannot be taken lightly, and I don’t recommend it for everybody. The footing for these squats presents a challenge to one’s balance, so there’s a real danger of tweaking a knee or an ankle if you become unstable. Consider foregoing the “rowing” movements of the arms, and do these squats with one hand on a chair or table for safety. Personally, I do it the “traditional” way, but others should make adjustments as they see fit. A few more points…most kinesiologists will tell you that letting the knees go farther than the toes when squatting is a no-no. The hindu squats definitely break this general rule, so keep in mind that you’ll be going against the grain of conventional wisdom. I use to have nagging pain when climbing stairs, but that pain has totally gone away since starting these on a regular basis. My advice for doing these is very simple…start slow and always control your descent.

Stomping Grapes

There are two variations to this movement, and you need both to get the entire benefit. First movement…stand with your legs together, and bring your knee as high as possible. Make sure you stand completely straight…the goal is to raise your knee and touch your chest. Alternate legs, repeatedly. Raise your leg with CONTROL, don’t jerk it up and try your best to touch your chest at the top. Second movement…clasp your hands above your head as if you were being frisked by a cop. Now, raise your knee straight up to the side with the goal of touching your knee to the underside of the arm. Keep your body completely erect, and don’t jerk the leg. If you are facing North, your knees and toes should be pointing due East/West when you do this movement. Try to attain/maintain this alignment and really explore the range of motion on this second version. In the beginning, 20 to 25 reps each leg is good for both variations. Try to work up to a minimum of 50 each leg. This sounds (and looks) like the dumbest exercise in the world…I cannot begin to express the benefits my hips have attained in terms of strength, flexibility, and endurance. Give it a try, and see what you can get out of it.

Exploding Star JumpJacks

Don’t do these until your muscles and joints are warmed up pretty good. I recommend wearing athletic shoes and exercising on a somewhat soft surface (carpet or a mat). Slowly lower yourself into a full squatting position. Now explode upward and forward as high, hard and fast as you can. As your body reaches it’s apex…extend your arms and legs into a “star” jumping jack shape. Cushion your landing by flexing your knees, don’t land with stiff legs. Jumping and extending not only develops power, but also challenges your coordination and body control. Go for quality, not quantity on these. Five to ten is plenty.

Bootstrappers

Get yourself in a standard pushup position. Now walk your hands back until they are about 2 and a half feet in front of your toes (adjust accordingly for your body size). You are now in a “jack knife” position with legs straight. Now bend your knees until your butt touches your heels, arms are still straight. Straighten your legs and repeat continously. This is another good warm-up exercise for the legs, but also really helps strengthen the knees.

Lunges

Stand with feet close together. Now step forward (or sideways) with one leg into a deep lunge, and keep the other leg straight. Push yourself back up and repeat with the other leg. Be careful not to let your knee go farther than your toes on the leg that lunges forward (or sideways). Lunges and hindu squats comprise my core movements for lower body takedowns strength and endurance. Dumbbells or a weight plate are also good to add resistance when you start getting used to these.

JackKnifes - This is my second favorite ab/torso strengthener.   Lie flat on your back with legs straight and arms extended above your head. Now, “jack knife” your body by raising your legs straight up, and crunching your stomach until your toes and fingers meet straight above your body. Legs and arms are straight thoughout the movement. Imagine that you’re squeezing a giant lemon with your body.

Burpees 

It is reported that these are favored among convicts in the California penal system due to the fact that one can get a total body workout with a minimum of space. Currently I don’t do them, but these were my favorite exercise about 3 to 4 years ago. Start in a standing position with feet close together. Now, squat down and put the plams of your hands outside and slightly forward of your feet. Advanced variation is to Sprawl down.  With your weight supported by your hands, thrust your feet backward so that you are in the traditional “up position” for a standard pushup. Do a pushup and return to the up position. Immediately after the pushup, pull your feet up to your hands in one movement, and stand back up to the original position. This is one “rep”. These will flat wear you out in short order, and are a good overall body conditioner. This exercise is great in that it challenges the lungs, coordination, balance, and muscular endurance. Breathing is the key, and you have to find your personal rhythm for this in order to progress with this movement. Try to do anywhere from 20 to 30 in the beginning. Here is a “Twenty-up” workout with these for grins. Basically, you do a one rep set, then a two rep set, then three, then four, until you get to a twenty rep set for a total of 210 burpees. Sometimes it’s easier to start with twenty and work your way down. Just keep the rests between sets to a minimum. Sweat city.

Dog Series..Dand..DiveBomber
One quick point before we go through the exercise: These movements are NOT held longer than one phase of the breath. This means that when you inhale you should move into one position and when you exhale you should move into the next. This forces you to slow your motions and that makes the Dog Series either an excellent warm-up all by itself or a deceptively brutal part of your workout!

To begin the Dog Series get into a regular pushup (Middle) position. Make sure that your hands are directly under your shoulders and then spread your feet for some balance.  The key points in this position are that you exhale SLOWLY and make sure that your elbows are directly against the sides of your torso. At the bottom of this position your entire body is flexed and should be just a few inches off the ground.

The Down Dog (Back) position.  Make sure your hands are still shoulder width apart and your feet are still spread for balance. When you push back into this position, make a controlled exhale and finish with your arms, back, and legs as straight as your flexibility allows. When you get back into this position you may want to walk your toes up towards your hands a bit to get a better hamstring stretch and facilitate the pushups that will follow.

Take a controlled inhale through your nostrils and come through the “Middle” position to the (Forward) Up Dog position, To do this, keep your hips just off the ground and “look up” while straightening your arms. . Your hands and feet should have not moved from their original position, but your head should be forward and looking up at the ceiling.  This is the biggest sticking point for people as far as flexibility goes so if you’re not completely warmed up or you have poor flexibility, take it down a notch and don’t come up so far.

A controlled exhale and SLOWLY lower yourself to the “Middle” position and then back to the Down Dog to do it again. 

By the 2nd or 3rd set, you should start feeling this in your shoulders and Triceps. Nice!

T Pushups

This involves movement in both the saggital and transverse planes: or, more simply, it involves both a push and a twist. Your starting position is on the floor, push-up ready. You want to push up with straight arms, then twist to one side and extend your arm straight up to the ceiling, as your body makes a lower-case “T”, keeping your body in complete alignment again. You are working on stabilizing your body in this “T” position with your shoulder arm that is still straight on the ground. Focus on pushing your body and stabilizing after you twist in this position for about a 1-2 count before rotating back down and performing the rep again, but then twisting to the alternate side. As soon as you get this down, you can begin to add weights, as in dumbbells on your hands. You will be lifting the weight as you twist to each side, which will make this move tougher for sure. You can start with 5lb dumbbells and as you get stronger, move up from there.

Pushup with Row

You can add a pull to your push-up for some extra variation. First, you want to grab some dumbbells that you will be able to perform a one-point dumbbell row with (for me, I use 12 lb dumbbells). You want to push yourself up into the top, or plank, position of the push up, each hand on a dumbbell. Your feet will be on the ground.
Once in the plank position, you will row one arm at a time, straight back, with your elbow in tight to you, and then lower it. Then, row the other arm in, and lower it. Repeat 10 times for each arm, complete 2 sets.
With the additional rows as you push up, you will add extra focus to your back as you continue to focus on rotational stability and core strength, zeroing in on your chest and shoulders for the push up.

Extended Arm Pushup
The extended arm push up is a step up from the traditional plank. This is a good exercise that will strengthen the entire body, with particular attention to the core. Do not attempt if you have a history of back problems.  For this movement, you will begin lying face down, with arms extended. You will then press upward, with out stretched arms. Ensuring that you have good alignment from ankle to hips, and shoulders.  Hold the upright position for several seconds, before lowering yourself back to the ground.  Continue for several repetitions, each lasting 5 to 10 seconds.

Bridging:  
The following sequence should put you in a safe and proper back bridge.

1. Begin by lying flat on your back, heels close to buttocks.
2. “Flare your neck” i.e. lift chin, tilt head.  Note: The pivot point is the crown of your head, not the back of your head.  This is a critical step to prevent unnecessary muscle strain and possible injury.
3. Place hands next to your ears, palms down, fingers pointing towards toes.
4. Raise your hips off the mat, “pinching the coin” (i.e. contract glutes) and gently transfer the weight from the crown of your head to the top part of your forehead.  Forehead is preferred over the top of your head.  For safety, I strongly recommend that you keep your hands on the mat for added balance and stability.  As you get stronger and more comfortable you can fold your arms across your chest.  Hold this position for hold for 5-60 seconds.  Place hands on mat and recover to the starting position.
5. when done your set number of reps on 1-4  then bring your knees to your chest, hugging them with your arms, tuck your chin and gently roll back and forth.  Each vertebrae should sequentially touch the mat one after the other.  There should be no flat spots!  “Become the ball.” 
6. Stand up and perform the isometric/PNF type hamstring stretch.  Bend at the hips, hold at a comfortable range of motion, contract glutes and hamstrings 5 seconds, exhale – relax, then lower to new range of motion.  Repeat 3-5 times or until progress ceases.  For safety, be sure to Bend your knees prior to recovering to the standing position.
7. Perform Front Bridge (optional).  Hold for equal time as back bridge.

Much of above is compiled with aid of articles by Craig Stovall, Matt Furey,  Mike Mahler as they have already done a most excellent job in their explanation of certain exercises.

Enjoy, JoeJitsu