By Tony Gracia, Head Coach and Co-Founder at Industrial Strength.
This series of articles highlights fifteen of my favorite exercises that I think are awesome and do not get the appreciation they deserve. The first week of installments focused on major lower body strength developers, the second week on upper body strength movements, the third week on unilateral lower body strength exercises, the fourth week on various functional strength and athletic development exercises, and this final week on core strength.
UNDERRATED EXERCISE #14 = Kettlebell Drag Through
The kettlebell drag through combines the anti-extension nature of the bodysaw with a new anti-rotation component. One thing to keep in mind with these is that they are pretty easy to cheat on, so you have to be disciplined in order to do them well and get the benefits from them … otherwise you are just wasting your time. As far as benefits you can expect, they will strengthen the front of your core in a similar way to the bodysaw, while also including your side muscles quite a bit more now. They key here is to not let your hips or shoulders twist as the weight moves, meaning you are still being challenged by gravity front-to-back, and now also by the weight moving back-and-forth across your body, which will make your body want to twist. On the whole these are similar to bodysaws as far as difficulty and higher / more demanding in terms of complexity.
HOW TO DO THEM
- Assume a push up position with your alignment otherwise the same as for the bodysaw; you will also need a light kettlebell on the floor about one-foot to the right of your chest / rib cage area
- Moving only your left arm (and upper left portion of your torso) reach underneath your body for the kettlebell, grab it, and drag it to a similar position on the left side of your body.
- Once the kettlebell is in place, replace your left hand back in its starting position, and repeat the process with your right arm.
- It is crucial that nothing on your body moves from your belly-button down during the exercise … you are essentially a statute from your belly bottom to your toes. In particular your hips & lower back are not allowed to a) rise up, b) sink down, or c) twist in any way
- To make the exercise harder, you can place your hands in front of your shoulders instead of under your chest – be careful, this can be deceptive … it gets hard fast!
- I recommend sets of about 60-seconds
