Alwyn Cosgrove

Repost from Perform Better

The Benefits of Using a Superband for⁣
Side Plank Rows⁣
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At the Perform Better Summit, Alwyn Cosgrove explains the benefits of using a Superband for side plank rows instead of a cable machine.⁣
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With the band, coaches can react in real time, adjusting the resistance based on the client’s performance-something you can’t do with a cable machine. ⁣
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Whether it’s adding or reducing resistance during the last rep, this tool allows for dynamic coaching and helps push clients to the next level.⁣
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It’s not just about the exercise, it’s about maximizing the coaching moment!

It's a "loaded" metcon.
One length — heavy sled push.

One length — heavy sled drag.

One lap (two lengths) — farmer's carries.

Every minute on the minute. 5–10 rounds. 15–30 minutes of work.

Pick loads you can move the distance in 25–30 seconds.
Go heavier than that and your rest disappears — and rest is what lets you keep the quality high round after round.

That can be the whole session or you can use it to close out a strength workout.

Simple.
Brutal.
Repeatable.

Program it.

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⁣𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗦𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗣𝘂𝘀𝗵 𝘁𝗼 𝗣𝘂𝘀𝗵-𝗨𝗽⁣
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Easy one to describe - you push the sled explosively from a squat pattern. Low. Body almost flat to the floor,⁣
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Then you drop. Chest to the deck. And you press yourself back up off the floor.⁣
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That's the rep.⁣
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For Hyrox athletes, this one is built for the burpee broad jump station.⁣
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Most coaches train the leg drive and the press as two separate things. We don't. Because on race day they don't show up separately — they show up stacked on top of each other.⁣
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Look at what that station actually asks for. Your legs are already cooked coming into it. And now you've got to get down to the floor, press your own bodyweight back up, and jump forward. Again. And again. When there's nothing left in the tank.⁣
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The sled teaches the legs to keep driving when they're tired. The push-up teaches the chest and arms to put you back on your feet when they're tired too. Stack them in one movement and you train the exact quality the burpee broad jump tests:⁣
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Can you keep producing when you're gassed?⁣
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It builds the wall ball too — and not by accident.⁣
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It builds the wall ball too — and not by accident.⁣
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Driven low, the sled is a squat. You extend out of a loaded position the same way you stand up out of the bottom of every wall ball rep. And with the torso dropped near the floor, the press runs straight up the line of your spine — the same line you drive the ball to the target. Squat, then press up. That's the wall ball. ⁣
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You're rehearsing it under load.⁣
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That's the whole game. Not max strength. Not peak power. Repeatable output under fatigue.⁣
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That's the whole game. Not max strength. Not peak power. Repeatable output under fatigue.⁣
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Program it.

Turns out our clients have a lot to say about being coached by a Scotsman. 😂🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

The accent? Iconic. The standards? Brutal (in the best way). The results? Speak for themselves.

Today Scotland face Brazil with a World Cup knockout spot on the line — so we had to send him off right.

Everyone let’s wish Scotland good luck! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿💙

Three presses, same load, different amounts of help from the legs.⁣
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𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘁 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀: No leg drive. Bell goes from rack to overhead on shoulder and triceps strength alone. Builds raw pressing strength and shoulder stability.⁣
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𝗣𝘂𝘀𝗵 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀: A quick dip and drive from the legs launches the bell past the sticking point, then you press it out. The legs get it moving; the shoulders finish it. Lets you handle more load or more reps, and trains power transfer from hips to hands.⁣
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𝗣𝘂𝘀𝗵 𝗷𝗲𝗿𝗸: Same dip and drive, but instead of pressing it out you drop a second time, dropping under the bell and catching it locked out, then stand. The legs do almost all the work. Allows even heavier loads to be used.⁣
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How to use all three in one set:⁣
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Start strict. Press until you can't get another clean rep. Don't rack it — switch to push press and keep going. When the push press dies, switch to push jerk and squeeze out the last reps.⁣
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You've built a mechanical drop set without changing the weight. Each variation recruits more of the body, so you keep moving the same load after the prime movers fail. The shoulders get taken deep into fatigue while the legs extend the work well past where a strict set would stop.⁣
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Great for a finisher or a density block. Two kettlebells, one set, three gears.

Don’t be afraid to progress push ups - using suspension straps or rings, elevating feet changing arm position and even adding load.

There’s a tendency amongst coaches to think of push ups as an entry level exercise, or something that we only do for high reps.

You can load them up and make them a primary strength or hypertrophy exercise.

The offset landmine skater squat is a single-leg squat with a stability tax built in.⁣
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The load sits in the hand opposite the working leg. That's the whole point. The weight tries to pull you toward the loaded side. Your stance hip won't let it.⁣
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So the working glute — the medius especially — fires to keep the pelvis level and the torso stacked. You don't cue lateral hip stability. The load cues it for you.⁣
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This isn't a counterbalance. It's a challenge. The bar makes the rep harder to own, not easier to balance.⁣
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It also mirrors how you actually move. Opposite arm, opposite leg — that's gait, that's sprinting. Loading across the body trains the same cross-body control that shows up when you run, cut, and decelerate.⁣
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The core pays too. Obliques and QL on the working side resist the sideways pull. Quiet, but it's there.⁣
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And you still get everything the skater squat already gives you. Unilateral quad and glute strength. No bar on the spine. Imbalances exposed and addressed. A knee-friendly descent.⁣
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Strength plus frontal-plane control in one rep. ⁣
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Run it as a single-leg strength piece or a low-spinal-load accessory. Switch the working leg, switch the loaded hand. Both sides earn it.⁣
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Program it.