Issue 131

August 2015

Kevin Kearns, S&C coach to elite athletes, presents his best training tips. Here, Kevin shows how to develop titanic strength with the ultimate functional training tool – the Atlas ball.

You’ve got to train smart for MMA. You need functional strength to give you the explosive power and stability to shoot for a takedown, stay strong in the clinch or finish a submission.

For a lesson in true functional strength, we can look back hundreds, if not thousands of years. People had to be a different kind of strong to chop down trees, build homes by hand and stack bales of hay. All that lifting, pulling, carrying and throwing was all in a day’s work.

So to build that real old-school strength, I’d advise you put the kettlebells, dumbbells and suspension trainers to one side. Okay, so they might clutter up your gym floor in the meantime, but you wouldn’t have found them lying around centuries ago. 

Instead, use an Atlas ball, which is modeled on the huge stone balls used by the giants in strongman competitions. These are ideal for functional exercises that use compound movements to train the major muscles in your body and emphasize its natural ability to move freely.

Just the act of carrying it out of my vehicle was a hard work in itself, but that was nothing compared to the actual workout. 

And, boy, did it hurt the next day, but it felt natural – like my body was meant to on a genetic level. I could feel muscles that I only usually feel when I use my axe to cut wood or push a wheelbarrow to move logs. 

If you don’t believe, give it a go, because the following workout is designed to work every muscle in your body, especially those you didn’t even know you had.

Lumberjacks, 5-10 reps

Stand with the Atlas ball between your legs. Squat down and wrap your arms around it, then press it up over one shoulder. Repeat on the other side for one rep.

Stair carries, 60 seconds

Shoulder the Atlas ball like in the lumberjack exercise or carry it with a bear-hug. Once it’s up, climb the stairs.

Knees in clinch, 10 reps

Place your hands on the ball with your feet behind you in a push-up position. Now pull it in and out and hit it with alternate knees. 

Atlas slams, 5-10 reps

Similar to lumberjacks, squat down and shoulder the ball. Now in one explosive motion throw it straight down. 

Push-pull push-ups, 1 minute

Get in a push-up position with the ball in front of you. Push the ball with one hand, then scramble forward and push it again. When you run out of room, stay in the push-up position and pull the ball back to where you started. 

Stairway to hell, 3 sets of 60 seconds 

Put the Atlas ball in front of a staircase. Now push the ball up one stair at a time from the push up position. With a spot you can try coming down the stairs slowly. 

Power punch, 30-60 seconds

Lie in a push-up position with the ball one or two feet away from the wall. Explosively push the ball away so it bounces off the wall. Alternate between using your left and right hand. 

Overhead smashes, 30-60 seconds

Stand about six inches to a foot away from a wall. Raise the ball overhead and slam it against the wall.