Military Muscle: 3 Web sites offer best exercise demos - Off Duty, Military Health and Fitness - Navy Times

Military Muscle: 3 Web sites offer best exercise demos

Q. There are many exercises that you have described that I have a hard time executing based on your description. Is there a Web site where I can see the movements and techniques?

A. You can find plenty of excellent Web sites that will demonstrate technique and form on most everything I write about. To find specific workouts, do a Google search for the name, and add “video” or “demonstration.”

A few of the best sites include:

• CrossFit.com. This site is a gold mine. At the CrossFit home page, the left border carries the “Exercises and Demos” link. Through that link, you will find 21 categories ranging from Olympic lifts and power lifts to gymnastics and everything in between.

These categories contain hundreds of video clips. They demonstrate techniques for CrossFit exercises, break down Olympic lifts, show the basics of the jump rope — they even have demos of how to fix common exercise problems.

The site’s daily workout posts allow you to see how several of the exercises are combined in a complete, high-intensity workout.

• MTNAthlete.com. Rob Shaul runs this site from Jackson Hole, Wyo.; I discovered it about six months ago and now wonder how I ever got by without it. It is a favorite among trainers who work with special operations guys.

Built around the basic disciplines of rock climbing and mountaineering, it has some unique exercises and lots of killer workouts. Click on the “Exercises” button on the left-hand side of the home page. It contains more than 50 video clips.

Many of those listed as a single exercise are made up of multiple exercises. For example, the “Leg Blaster” contains three exercise demos of lunges, jump lunges and squat jumps. A recent Military Muscle column discussed squat jumps; you can find a video demonstrating the exercise on this site.

Once you visit MTNAthlete.com, you will love it.

• CorePerformance.com. This is the top of the line of fee-based fitness Web sites. (It’s about $90 a year, but it’s well worth it.) It contains hundreds of video clips in different categories. The videos are particularly good because they often film multiple angles to give you a comprehensive look at how to accomplish the task. The site also will set up a nutritional program for you based on your fitness goals.

If these sites don’t have what you’re looking for, stay tuned: A Military Muscle Web site is coming soon.

Bob Thomas, a fitness trainer and retired naval flight officer, is director of the Navy Wellness Center in Pensacola, Fla. E-mail him at jomof14@cox.net.