Welcome to September! The kids are back to school, mornings are cooler, and the leaves are changing. Fall is well on its way. For our September challenge, we encourage you to even out your strengths. Our challenge is titled Sing-Arm September to encourage you to work on single arm (or single leg) movements. Injury is often the result of a cycle of poor movement patterns and muscle imbalances, so this is an opportunity to strengthen our weak spots.

This month you can choose to focus on many movements or just one, but the goal is single arm or leg improvement: pistols, the dumbbell/kettlebell snatch, dumbbell/kettlebell shoulder to overhead, dumbbell/kettlebell clean and jerk, kettlebell swings, one-handed handstands, overhead walking lunges or waiter walks, overhead squats, etc. Work your weak side!

A challenge like this has the potential to yield great results because you can always sneak in a few reps of something before or after class. Make your goal one movement or many, or try to even out your strength by weight or by reps. We all recognize where we are weaker, less mobile, or tire more easily. Single-arm work or accessory work that will help you avoid injury, move faster and (bonus) will help prepare you for our upcoming Battle for the Bell competition (check out the list of workouts).

Not sure where to start? Begin the month by grabbing a dumbbell or kettlebell and doing a baseline test on yourself of 5 reps each of the following movements with both arms/legs:

Dumbbell Power & Squat Snatch
Dumbbell Shoulder to Overhead (Press / Push Press / Jerk)
Dumbbell Clean / Hang Clean & Jerk
Kettlebell Snatch
Dumbbell / Kettlebell Overhead Walking Lunges
Dumbbell / Kettlebell Overhead Squat
Pistol Squats

Identify your biggest discrepancies, pick a number of reps per week you want to hit, and practice. Extra credit: be sure to pair your practice will mobility work. Don’t forget to write your name, your movement(s), and your reps-per-week goal on the chalkboard up front.

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