Fun with Barbells

Scott Andrew Birdby Scott Andrew Bird | October 18, 2007
Filed in Articles


BarbellsAfter some pondering, and questioning what else we could do with a barbell, the authors of All Around Strength decided to try and become flying squirrels using 2 Olympic bars, and 2 45 lb. plates. The set up is very simple, put a plate on each end of both bars, and all of a sudden you've got a nice set of parallettes.

But unlike solid parallettes these ones move sideways and offer a new plane of unstable training. Obviously if we had all day we could come up with all sorts of interesting exercises, but here's a few ideas. The main concept we were able to train well was abduction, and adduction.

So here are some of the exercises we came up with, and hopefully these can help spark some interest or give a new idea or two. I will say that if you do these, it's at your own risk, they're not very stable and it is very easy to fall or get injured.

Barbell Fly and Flying Squirrel

Here's the Barbell Fly and Flying Squirrel combined. Basically you get on the barbells however you can and fly your arms out, and straddle your legs so that you're spread out like a flying squirrel, and then bring them back together.

Double Barbell Jackknife

The Double Barbell Jackknife; essentially getting on two barbells and allowing your arms and legs to drift apart, and then closing them back up, as you would in a jackknife.

The Angry Cat

The Angry Cat, or semi dive bomber abduction and adduction; not sure how to describe it, just watch and see.

Double Barbell Split Pike

The Double Barbell Split Pike; this one is essentially having one foot forward and one foot back, and then spreading your legs and closing them together.

Double Barbell Bridge and Curl

The Double Barbell Bridge and Curl; doing just a simple bridge on the barbells, and then allowing the legs to drift out, and curling them back.

The Amazing Flying Squirrel

The Amazing Flying Squirrel; essentially doing a fly and leg abduction simultaneously and then closing them back together. For some added variety you can go one leg at a time, or only go on one side a at a time.

Double Barbell Squats

Double Barbell Squats, with some minor adduction; just balancing on the bars and squatting, and allowing the legs to drift apart for added instability.

Nothing beats finishing with an L-Sit.

L-Sit



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Discussion

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