Resourceful Strength: Making Big Gains With Minimal Equipment
- Are you short on equipment when it comes to your strength training?
- Are you interested in learning more about how to make serious fitness and strength gains with minimal equipment?
- Are you interested in building a solid and resourceful strength and conditioning plan using more bodyweight training, or with unconventional equipment such as kettlebells and medicine balls?
Yes, the more resources that are available to you the better, however those resources don’t always have to be defined as just having a fully stocked weight room. No, knowledge of training and the grit to leverage what resources you do have at your disposal are what will really yield you the biggest results! In short, a creative approach and the ability to tap into what you have will always trump just having access to a bunch of bells and whistles.
Resourceful Strength
Being resourceful is defined as having the ability to find quick and clever ways to overcome difficulties and challenges as they present themselves. Hell that pretty much just sounds like everyday of my life in general! All joking aside this is a very real thing and yes resourcefulness is something that I’m always working towards improving regardless of whether there is ample supply of equipment and space.
I’ve had many years of practice with this scenario and admittedly this is something that I’ve definitely gotten better at in regards to my training. I remember early on in my career when there were days, weeks, and even years I didn’t have access to all the desired equipment that I wanted to utilize in terms of my strength and conditioning program and although it presented a challenge to me it also forced me to get a lot more creative with how to employ training strategies that would deliver some big results with little need for equipment.
What I realized is that all of those obstacles were not a reason to stop because I discovered that resourceful strength is a very real quality that can be discovered by forcing creativity and simplicity. This no doubt made my pursuit of strength and conditioning a lot more impactful.
As I pointed out athletic strength can be developed through applying the correct stress within the fabric of strength and conditioning program. Of course bodyweight strength is the most common go to here, but even if all you have at your disposal is a kettlebell and a single medicine ball there are other strategies that can be applied to a situation in order to be resourceful in your athletic strength development.
Learning To Do A Lot With A Little…
One drill that I enjoy implementing to spice up the bodyweight training including a kettlebell is to perform some crossover push ups. When performing the drill execute it with one hand on the kettlebell and one hand on the ground. When ascending up out of the push up bring the hand that is on the ground up and over to place it on the kettlebell while placing the other hand onto the ground. This slight variation will create an entirely new challenge for you by having to produce some serious shoulder and core stability. Case in point…
As demonstrated here in the video there is a significant level of stability that is required by merely lifting the arm off the ground. To continue to ramp up the intensity I also generally prefer supersetting this with other exercise combinations.
As an example in this case when performing the kettlebell crossover push ups I will generally program for 3 sets of 3 to 5 reps on each arm and then perform a completely different drill behind it to complete the superset. I typically prefer alternating a push related exercise with a pulling exercise so I will usually hit some pull ups after doing a push up variation like this.
Once again resourceful strength is about taking what you have available to you and leveraging it to yield a big result. Obviously this can be done here with our own body resistance and with the addition of a single kettlebell you can immediately ramp up your push up intensity.
Another way I like to leverage body resisted movement is by leaning on sprinting. By performing sprints, or sprint conditioning variations with an agility ladder you can significantly enhance your power development and overall conditioning. This can be done in a relatively small space and with little equipment. If an agility ladder is not readily available to you then some simple chalk marks, or some well measured tape on the ground would suffice for the following drill. Check it out.
As you can see being resourceful with what is available to you can make a huge difference in your training and it doesn’t mean that you have to have access to a fully stocked gym in order to make it happen. What you need is a little knowledge and creativity.
Granted I am using a weighted vest for greater intensity for the agility ladder in the video, but at the end of the day the only way to make gains and improvement in training is by training with intent and purpose. Once again, a quality plan and a desire to get better will always trump fancy equipment and a bunch of bells and whistles.
Resourceful Strength: The Takeaway
Learn to recognize and formulate a plan of action based on what tools you can leverage at your disposal. In order to formulate such a plan you have to recognize that your knowledge of training is the key to applying resourceful strength. This will only make you better for when you do have access to a fully stocked weight room.
Remember to train with intent and purpose and to always look at performing movements with optimal technique.
Are you currently depending on a minimalist strength and conditioning program?
Are you able to organize your strength and conditioning to get the most out of your workouts?
Are you optimizing your strength and conditioning workouts to achieve functional fitness?
Post up and share here in the comments below.
Also if you want to learn how significantly optimize your fitness and physical functional make sure you check out my brand new 120 Day Functional Fitness Training Program right here below! I guarantee it’ll get you into the best shape of your life, or I’ll give you your money back no questions asked.
CLICK HERE TO ORDER MY 120 DAY PLAN TO POWERFUL FUNCTIONAL FITNESS!!!
It’s changing lives already!
Click On Image Here
Related Articles:
Pull Ups: 3 Steps To Progress Your Pull Ups For Optimal Function
3 Functional Strength Drills For Fitness And Performance
4 Guaranteed Ways To Get A Functionally Strong Body
5 Unique Strength Drills To Enhance MMA Performance And Serious Fitness
3 Steps To Build Your Turkish Get Up For MMA
3 Push Up Variations To Give You Knock Out Punching Power For MMA And Combat
Click on all images below…
If you’re looking to enhance your fitness for MMA and martial arts then make sure to check out my
90 Day MMA Strength And Conditioning Program Here.
Get ONNIT kettlebells here: (Click On Image)
For the absolute best solution for chronic and acute severe muscle and joint pain make sure to get your bottle of CobraZol Sport. It’s the absolute best product on the market and it’s been scientifically proven to alleviate muscle and joint pain having two double blind placebo studies done here in the U.S. being one of the only…if not the only topical pain reliever to have this kind of science behind hit.
Click On Image Here
This Post Has 2 Comments
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
I love the resourcefulness.
It just goes to show you that you don’t need expensive gym equipment to stay active and healthy!
Nice post.
Thanks Ryan! Yes, you are exactly right. Obviously the more equipment that is available to us the better (assuming we have the knowledge of application). However if the knowledge is present then we can also just leverage what is available to us. My whole approach is that we can do a lot with a lot…and we can also do a lot with a little! Thanks so much for the feedback Ryan and please don’t be a stranger!