Be Water Movement Arts

Barbell Basics Course — The Joker Round.🃏

In the practice portion of our Barbell Strength Course we draw cards to determine the primary movements of the day.

The standard program is 5x5 on 2 primary movements + accessories, but every now and then — for a bit of spice — we throw the joker into the deck. 👹

If the Joker is drawn, we pivot from steady strength focusing on a couple of things, to conditioning with a bunch in a 30min AMRAP (As Many Rounds as Possible) with a twist…

The Draw: Numbered deck (shuffled 2-10’s).

Pick a card. 🎴

The suit is the movement, the number is the reps. 🏋️‍♀️ 🧮

Keep drawing for 30mins. ⏱️

Today’s Movements:

♠️ Clean
♦️ Floor Press
♣️ Bulgarian Split Squat
♥️ Landmine Upright Row

In the end, this round we got through 28 cards, which is the most we’ve drawn to date in a Joker set.

This included all the Spades / Cleans (2-10) which was definitely felt by all near the end. 😆

Nathan & Dylan decided to keep cracking on and get the whole deck in on overtime.

The rest of us were more than happy with the 28 drawn, plus a cheeky extra overtime press draw to close off the day.

That’s the beauty of our programs and the way we do things — we all go our own way together, with learning how to personalise is baked into the process.

We also don’t ’go hard’ all the time, but when we do, it’s because we feel strong and capable enough to get after it safely and effectively.

It’s not about diving in and hoping for the best, it’s about tuning in and adjusting to where we’re at on any given day.

Aidin, for instance, is in recovery so followed along with his own set of substitute movements so he could still amongst it without setting himself backwards just to follow what was on the board.

Does this sound like an approach to movement that you could be your jam?

Whether you’re keen to give our course based classes a crack, or would like to explore personal coaching options to help you start up or fine tune your own routine, we’d love to hear from you. 🤗

Reach out via DM to have a chat. ✌️

Be water my friends 🌊

Coach Clem

The Arthur [Saxon] Lift 🏋️‍♂️

Or, “another way to get a barbell onto your back without a squat rack”, in this case as a setup to perform a Jerk.

I’ve been aware of the lift for a while, but this was the first time I’ve played with it hands on.

Old time lifts have a habit of looking ‘hectic’, and the Arthur Lift is a stand out in this regard.

But, also like most Old Time lifts, it’s way less hectic than it looks when you actually start feeling it out — as long as you give yourself a good margin for error.

During this day of introductory practice there were micro improvements at each level—

We started on 20kg (unloaded barbell), then onto 30kg, 40kg, a couple of bouts of 50kg dialing in the initial launch to the back, before hitting 60kg here.

Though the last set was “the best one yet” (in terms of what I was focusing on dialing in — which was the initial launch up) there’s still plenty to improve on.

This being the case, this isn’t a ‘how to’ post telling you that you should do this lift or outlining my preferred technique to do it (which I’m still figuring out).

It’s a post about the journey — Feeling out the edges, and smoothing them out in the pursuit of . ✌️

If there’s one thing I want to imprint on our members as part of my coaching it’s not a set of movements, or “results”, it’s this. 👆

A process that looks different for everyone, depending on where you are and the set of limitations you do and don’t have, but is always driven by curiosity and conservative-but-consistent exploration rather than fear and outright avoidance. 🤸‍♀️

Don’t be reckless, but don’t be afraid to test the boundaries either… ⚖️

Be water my friends 🌊

Coach Clem

…

Keen to experience how this philosophy plays out in a class setting?

Or maybe you just want to try out a bunch of weird things with a supportive bunch of likeminded weirdos. 😆

Either way, our course based Strength Classes are right up your alley.

Comment or DM to come out to play 🤙

“All aboard the crazy train…” 🎶🤪🚂🦇😆