How to use…
The Multi Pole Station (#1)
The first station in the Windermere Community Fitness Park is the Multi Pole station. It consists of a single pole about 7 feet tall with several anchor points set at different heights and offset from one another around the periphery of the pole. The purpose of this station is to attach stretchy bands or a suspension trainer at any height to perform a myriad of pulling, pushing, and rotational exercises.
Be sure to experiment with changing the anchor points used for the exercises. For instance, try the pull and squat exercise, and others, from the low anchor attachment.
How-to Animations:
The how-to animations below provide snippets of exercises demonstrating proper form, posture and positioning.
1. Bands: pull and squat
Notes:
The pull and squat can best be described as a functional full body exercise. Functional, in that the exercise approximates actions in daily life or sport; and full-body, in that the exercise uses both the upper and lower body together, linked by the stabilizers of the core.
Muscles used:
Shoulders – posterior deltoids
Back – latissimus dorsi, trapezius, rhomboids, spinal stabilizers
Arms – biceps, forearm group
Posterior mid section – erector spinae
Lower body – gluteals, upper hamstrings, quadriceps
Difficulty:
2. Bands: shoulder rotation
Notes:
This exercise works the shoulders, mid and rear, while the body is held tall by the core posture muscles. The arms are abducted (moved away) outward from the side of the body while the upper arms are rotated towards the rear. Movements like external rotation challenge the “rotator cuff” function of the shoulder muscles.
Muscles used:
Shoulders – medial deltoids, posterior deltoids
Back – trapezius, rhomboids, scapular stabilizers, spinal stabilizers
Arms – biceps, forearm group
Posterior mid section – erector spinae
Difficulty:
3. Bands: reverse fly
Notes:
This exercise is called a standing rear fly and involves the arms starting together in front of the body, elbows fixed in mild flexion, and moving towards the rear of the body. The muscles involved are similar to those used in the above exercise.
Muscles used:
Shoulders – medial deltoids, posterior deltoids
Back – trapezius, rhomboids, scapular stabilizers, spinal stabilizers
Arms – biceps, forearm group
Posterior mid section – erector spinae
Difficulty:
4. Bands: shoulder raise
Notes:
Instead of moving the arms towards rear, the arms are raised upwards and over the head as they travel towards the rear of the body. The muscles involved are much the same as in exercises 2 and 3.
Hint: try attaching your stretchy band to the lowest anchor of the Multi Pole to increase the effective range of resistance in this and the exercises above.
Muscles used:
Shoulders – anterior deltoids, medial deltoids, posterior deltoids
Back – latissimus dorsi, trapezius, rhomboids, spinal stabilizers
Arms – biceps, forearm group
Anterior mid section – abdominals, external obliques
Lower body – hip flexors
Difficulty:
5. Bands: trunk rotation, one
Notes:
Rotational exercises focus on integrating the body’s core muscles. Be sure to stand tall and draw in your belly button as you rotate. Shorten or lengthen the arms to reduce or increase the torque (angular resistance).
Muscles used:
Shoulders – medial deltoids, posterior deltoids
Back – scapular and spinal stabilizers
Anterior mid section – abdominals, external obliques
Difficulty:
6. Bands: trunk rotation, two
Notes:
This rotational exercise adds a transverse element as the arms are moved from high towards low. Try the highest anchor point to really amplify this effect.
You can also see how kneeling and bracing with the lower body makes this exercise look like the position an athlete takes for canoe racing. This is therefore an example of exercises intensionally resembling real life activities or sport in order to focus on the muscles that drive the activity.
Muscles used:
Shoulders – medial deltoids, posterior deltoids
Back – scapular and spinal stabilizers
Anterior mid section – abdominals, external obliques
Lower body – glutes and quads as stabilizers
Difficulty:
7. Suspension device: easy pull
Notes:
By standing and leaning back only slightly from vertical, you pull less of your body weight. This is an easy introduction to pulling with a suspension training device.
Muscles used:
Shoulders – medial deltoids, posterior deltoids
Back – latissimus dorsi, scapular and spinal stabilizers
Arms – biceps and forearms
Anterior mid section – abdominals, external obliques
Lower body – glutes and quads as stabilizers
Difficulty:
8. Suspension device: pull
Notes:
By standing and leaning back more from vertical, you pull more of your body weight. This is a more challenging introduction to pulling with a suspension training device. Your body doesn’t reach vertical in this version.
Muscles used:
Shoulders – medial deltoids, posterior deltoids
Back – latissimus dorsi, scapular and spinal stabilizers
Arms – biceps and forearms
Anterior mid section – abdominals, external obliques
Lower body – glutes and quads as stabilizers
Difficulty:
9. Suspension device: chest press
Notes:
Pushing from the chest using a suspension trainer pairs perfectly with the pulling exercises above. The actions are complementary, the muscles used are complementary. As with pulling, leaning more increases the load.
Muscles used:
Shoulders – anterior deltoids, medial deltoids
Chest – pectoralis major
Arms – triceps
Anterior mid section – abdominals, external obliques
Posterior med section – erector spinae as stabilizers
Lower body – glutes and quads as stabilizers
Difficulty:
10. Suspension device: chest fly
Notes:
What’s the difference between a chest press and a chest fly? With the chest fly, the elbows remain slightly bent and no movement occurs at the elbow joint. Instead, the arms pivot away and back towards the mid line. The load increases with the outward extension of the arms and decreases as the arms near the mid line.
Muscles used:
Shoulders – anterior deltoids, medial deltoids
Chest – pectoralis major
Arms – triceps
Anterior mid section – abdominals, external obliques
Posterior med section – erector spinae as stabilizers
Lower body – glutes and quads as stabilizers
Difficulty:
11. Suspension device: reverse fly
Notes:
What’s the relationship between a chest fly and a reverse fly? They are complementary movements using opposite muscles so they make a good pair to include in your suspension training workout.
Muscles used:
Shoulders – posterior deltoids
Back – scapular and spinal stabilizers
Arms – triceps (minor involvement)
Anterior mid section – abdominals, external obliques
Posterior med section – erector spinae as stabilizers
Lower body – glutes and quads as stabilizers
Difficulty:
12. Suspension device: tricep press
Notes:
You can see from the animation on the left that while the triceps are the prime movers for this exercise, there are a lot of muscles engaged as stabilizers, keeping the body rigid.
Muscles used:
Arms – triceps
Anterior mid section – abdominals, external obliques as stabilizers
Posterior med section – erector spinae as stabilizers
Lower body – glutes and quads as stabilizers
Difficulty:
13. Suspension device: bicep curl
Notes:
As in the exercise above, while the biceps are the prime movers for this exercise, there are a lot of muscles engaged as stabilizers, keeping the body rigid. Bicep curls complements the tricep press and should be paired. Remember, if you including upper body pushing and pulling, this extra bicep and tricep work is redundant and need not be included.
Muscles used:
Arms – biceps
Anterior mid section – abdominals, external obliques as stabilizers
Posterior med section – erector spinae as stabilizers
Lower body – glutes and quads as stabilizers
Difficulty:
14. Suspension device: shoulder raise
Notes:
This exercise resembles a standing shoulder raise with a dumbbell and, you guessed it, both use the same muscles. As a rule, when one exercise has the same movement at its core as one or other exercises, even if the equipment used to perform the exercises is different, it can be said both use the same muscles.
Muscles used:
Shoulders – medial deltoids, posterior deltoids
Anterior mid section – abdominals, external obliques as stabilizers
Posterior med section – erector spinae as stabilizers
Lower body – glutes and quads as stabilizers
Difficulty:
15. Suspension device: shoulder rotation
Notes:
This exercise is like a front shoulder raise (medial abduction) but includes a critical extra: external rotation. This action challenges the rotator cuff muscles and can help to prevent shoulder issues.
Muscles used:
Shoulders – medial deltoids, posterior deltoids
Arms – mild bicep and forearm involvement
Anterior mid section – abdominals, external obliques as stabilizers
Posterior med section – erector spinae as stabilizers
Lower body – glutes and quads as stabilizers
Difficulty:
16. Suspension device: squat
Notes:
Squats with a suspension training device are relatively easy to perform as you are offsetting your body weight by hanging on to the handles and pulling a wee bit with the arms. This takes some of the load off the hip extensors (glutes, upper hamstrings) and knee extensors (quads), making it easier to squat.
Muscles used:
Anterior mid section – abdominals, external obliques as stabilizers
Posterior med section – erector spinae as stabilizers
Lower body – glutes and quads as prime movers
Difficulty:
17. Suspension device: one leg squat
Notes:
Any time you perform a squat variation with each leg separately, you are providing an opportunity to discover if one leg is stronger than the other leg. If an imbalance is noted, applying the same quantity of work to each side independently will help to correct any strength imbalance over time.
Muscles used:
Anterior mid section – abdominals, external obliques as stabilizers
Posterior med section – erector spinae as stabilizers
Lower body – glutes and quads as prime movers
Difficulty:
18. Suspension device: reverse lunge
Notes:
The lunge is a practical variation on the one leg squat. Instead of moving forward, the non-active leg steps backwards to the rear of the body. Many people find this to be more comfortable than the one leg squat shown above. You may also notice that the maximum knee flexion angle is less on the lunge. This means less load on the knee extensors (quads) and more loading for the large muscles extending the hip (glutes and upper hamstrings).
Muscles used:
Anterior mid section – abdominals, external obliques as stabilizers
Posterior med section – erector spinae as stabilizers
Lower body – glutes and quads as prime movers
Difficulty:
19. Suspension device: push up
Notes:
Here is a challenging variation on the classic push up. By suspending the legs anywhere from several inches to a foot or so off the ground, you’re essentially creating an unstable base to work from. This instability causes the mid section musculature front and rear to engage powerfully as stabilizers while the chest, front shoulders and triceps push the body up from the surface.
Muscles used:
Shoulders – anterior deltoids
Chest – pecs (pectoralis major)
Arms – triceps
Anterior mid section – abdominals, external obliques as stabilizers
Posterior med section – erector spinae as stabilizers
Lower body – glutes and quads as stabilizers
Difficulty:
20. Suspension device: hip swings
Notes:
Hip swings is a dynamic exercise that focuses on strength and flexibilty at the same time. The upper body pushing muscles (anterior deltoids, pecs, triceps) are statically engaged to create a base, the feet are suspended above the ground, and the mid body muscles front and rear pendulate the body laterally back and forth. This exercise simply feels good.
Muscles used:
Shoulders – anterior deltoids
Chest – pecs (pectoralis major)
Arms – triceps
Anterior mid section – abdominals, external obliques as stabilizers
Posterior med section – erector spinae as stabilizers
Lower body – glutes and quads as stabilizers
Difficulty:
21. Suspension device: shoulder rocks
Notes:
This exercise is similar to the exercise above in that it also promotes mid-section mobility while challenging the muscles of the upper body (shoulder girdle, chest, triceps).
Muscles used:
Shoulders – anterior deltoids
Chest – pecs (pectoralis major)
Arms – triceps
Anterior mid section – abdominals, external obliques as stabilizers
Posterior med section – erector spinae as stabilizers
Lower body – glutes and quads as stabilizers
Difficulty:
22. Suspension device: pike
Notes:
The pike is also a dynamic movement that challenges the pushing muscles of the upper body and at the same time powerfully engages the hip flexor group (iliapsoas, rectus femoris). The stabilizers of the mid-section: front (abdominals, external obliques) and rear (erector spinae) are also recruited.
Muscles used:
Shoulders – anterior deltoids
Chest – pecs (pectoralis major)
Arms – triceps
Anterior mid section – abdominals, external obliques as stabilizers
Posterior med section – erector spinae as stabilizers
Lower body – glutes and quads as stabilizers
Difficulty:
in Vancouver by