100 movements, and why each one is there
Not a directory. Every exercise here carries the coaching cues, the reason it is in a sport program, the sets and reps it is actually prescribed at, and ranked alternatives with a reason for each.
Legs, hips and posterior chain
Adductor Slide-Out — eccentric
The groin taken out to length under its own control — the exact mechanism of a reaching tackle or an overstretched stride
Cues & alternativesBack Squat
Base strength to win the collision
Cues & alternativesBarbell Back Squat
Base lower-body strength — bowling drive + batting stance
Cues & alternativesBarbell Hip Thrust
Loaded hip extension — the engine behind acceleration
Cues & alternativesBox Jump
Vertical power for marking + ruck taps
Cues & alternativesBroad Jump
Horizontal shot power on the double-leg
Cues & alternativesBulgarian Split Squat
Single-leg power + change of direction
Cues & alternativesCopenhagen Hold (long)
Adductor strength at full length — groin strain is a top-three injury in every cutting sport, and this is the position it happens in
Cues & alternativesCountermovement Jump
Builds the jump height behind leaps + grand jetés
Cues & alternativesDeadlift
Maul + cleanout drive
Cues & alternativesDeep Goblet Squat Hold
Loaded end-range hip, knee and ankle at once — the bottom position, held long enough to change it
Cues & alternativesDepth Drop → Rebound
Reactive power off the floor
Cues & alternativesDepth Drop → Stick
Deceleration + ACL-safe landing
Cues & alternativesDrop Landing → Stick
Trains the safe landing that prevents ACL tears
Cues & alternativesFront Squat
Quad and trunk strength in the upright posture sport actually loads
Cues & alternativesGoblet Cossack Squat — deep hold
Adductor and hip length under load, held in the deepest position — the shape a cut or a lunge actually asks for
Cues & alternativesGoblet Squat
Base leg strength
Cues & alternativesHang Power Clean
Triple extension = sprint acceleration
Cues & alternativesHang Power Snatch
The fastest lift in the gym — trains rate of force development directly
Cues & alternativesKB Swing
Explosive hip power + conditioning
Cues & alternativesKettlebell Swing
Repeatable hip-extension power that also banks conditioning
Cues & alternativesLateral Bound
Change-of-direction power
Cues & alternativesLateral Bound → Stick
Controlled change of direction
Cues & alternativesLoaded Adductor Frog Hold
Deep abduction and adductor length held long enough to change it — the base position for guard work, low blocks and wide bases
Cues & alternativesNordic Curl
Hamstring injury prevention — the #1 AFL injury
Cues & alternativesNordic Curl (or Sliding Leg Curl)
Hamstring strength that prevents the #1 athletic injury
Cues & alternativesNordic Hamstring Lower
The most-evidenced hamstring exercise there is, done as a slow lower into a hold rather than a fall
Cues & alternativesOverhead Squat Hold
Ankle, hip and shoulder range in one chain, held long enough to expose and then change the limiting one
Cues & alternativesPause Squat Jump
Concentric-only jump — pure starting strength
Cues & alternativesPower Clean
Whole-body explosive power
Cues & alternativesReverse Nordic — hold at length
Quad and hip-flexor length under load — the other half of the Nordic, and the range a sprinter runs out of first
Cues & alternativesRomanian Deadlift
Posterior chain for driving legs
Cues & alternativesSeated Straddle Good Morning
Adductors and hamstrings at length together — the wide, low position a slide tackle or a low ball ends up in
Cues & alternativesSingle-Leg Calf Raise — bottom hold
Achilles and calf capacity at full stretch — the position that decides whether a sprint start or a landing hurts
Cues & alternativesSingle-Leg Hip Thrust
Glute + hamstring strength for sprint power
Cues & alternativesSingle-Leg Hop → Stick
Single-leg landing control on the catch
Cues & alternativesSingle-Leg RDL — hold at length
Hamstring length under load on one leg, held at the end of the range where strains happen
Cues & alternativesSissy Squat — bottom hold
Loads the quad and the knee in full flexion — the position a deep landing, a lunge for a ball or a low turn puts it in
Cues & alternativesSliding Leg Curl — eccentric hold
Hamstring eccentric with the hip extended — the sprinting position, which a Nordic on its knees never loads
Cues & alternativesSpanish Squat — long isometric
A long knee-extensor isometric, the first-line loading for a sore patellar tendon and the cheapest jumper's-knee insurance there is
Cues & alternativesSplit Jump → Stick
Trains the soft, controlled landing that protects ankles + knees
Cues & alternativesSprint
Top-end speed — the most athletic quality there is
Cues & alternativesSquat Jump
Explosive leg power for jumping + sprinting
Cues & alternativesTrap Bar Deadlift
Foundational power output
Cues & alternativesTrap Bar Jump
A loaded jump — peak power output with no barbell skill to learn first
Cues & alternativesTuck Jump
Reactive power + fast feet
Cues & alternativesVertical Jump → Stick
Triple-extension power that feeds punch force
Cues & alternativesPush, pull and shoulders
Barbell Bench Press
Primary chest mass + pressing strength
Cues & alternativesBarbell Row
Mid-back strength — what holds posture together late in a game
Cues & alternativesBench Press
Pushing strength in contests
Cues & alternativesCable External Rotation — end-range hold
The rotator cuff loaded where it actually fails — at the end of the range, decelerating the arm after the ball has gone
Cues & alternativesChest-Supported Row
Upper-back strength + posture
Cues & alternativesChin-Up (or Band-Assisted)
The best test of upper-body relative strength
Cues & alternativesDB Bench Press
Upper-body pushing strength
Cues & alternativesDB Bent-Over Row
Posterior chain + back health
Cues & alternativesDB Fly — stretch hold
Pec length at end range under load — the tissue that shortens on everyone who benches and presses
Cues & alternativesDip — bottom stretch hold
Pec and front-shoulder length under real load — the range a press never visits and a fall or a hand-off finds immediately
Cues & alternativesEccentric Chin-Up — dead-hang finish
Loads the elbow and biceps tendon at full length under control — the tendon that complains in every grappling, climbing and bar sport
Cues & alternativesEZ-Bar Curl
Biceps mass
Cues & alternativesGi / Towel Row
Grip + back endurance specific to grappling
Cues & alternativesHalf-Kneeling Landmine Press
Overhead strength for shoulders that do not love a strict press
Cues & alternativesIncline DB Press
Upper strength for shielding the ball
Cues & alternativesInverted Row (under a table or bar)
Back + biceps strength — no bar? use a sturdy table edge
Cues & alternativesLandmine Press
Pressing power on the punching line
Cues & alternativesLat Pulldown
Back width + pulling strength
Cues & alternativesPike Push-Up
Overhead pressing strength for handstands
Cues & alternativesPush Press
Overhead marking + ruck contests
Cues & alternativesPush-Up
Upper strength for lifts + partner work
Cues & alternativesScapular Pull-Up — bottom hold
Strength at the very bottom of the hang, which is where a shoulder is most exposed and where nothing else in the program loads it
Cues & alternativesSeated DB Shoulder Press
Overhead strength for contests, marks and intercepts
Cues & alternativesWeighted Chin-Up
Contested marking + tackle strength
Cues & alternativesWeighted Dip
Heavy pressing that loads the triceps and lower chest together
Cues & alternativesWeighted Pull-Up
Wrestle + grip strength
Cues & alternativesCore and anti-rotation
Heavy Suitcase Hold
The trunk resisting a sideways pull, held — the shape of every one-sided carry, collision and pull in sport
Cues & alternativesHollow Hold
The braced core every line comes from
Cues & alternativesJefferson Curl (light KB)
Loads spinal flexion and hamstring length together, then holds there — the range you land and bend in, owned rather than avoided
Cues & alternativesWeighted Side Plank — long hold
Lateral trunk endurance under load — the side that gives way in a fast bowler's side strain and in every one-armed carry
Cues & alternativesWhole-body movements
DB Pullover — stretch hold
Lat length and thoracic extension held at end range — overhead room for reaching, marking and throwing
Cues & alternativesFarmer Carry
Grip and a braced trunk under a load that is genuinely heavy
Cues & alternativesHeavy Sled Drive
Scrum/maul leg drive
Cues & alternativesKB Windmill — bottom hold
Hip hinge, thoracic rotation and an overhead shoulder held in one shape
Cues & alternativesLoaded 90/90 — hold each side
Internal and external hip rotation held at end range — the range that runs out first in cutting sports
Cues & alternativesLoaded Ankle Dorsiflexion Hold
Ankle range decides whether the knee or the ankle absorbs a landing — and it is the first thing to stiffen after an ankle sprain
Cues & alternativesLoaded Thoracic Rotation Hold
Rotation range from the mid-back rather than the low back — the difference between a shoulder that turns and a lumbar spine that pays for it
Cues & alternativesMB Rotational Slam
The hip rotation behind a heavy cross + hook
Cues & alternativesMB Rotational Throw
Hitting + slap-shot power
Cues & alternativesMed Ball Chest Pass
Upper-body power with no deceleration phase — you release instead of stopping
Cues & alternativesMed Ball Overhead Slam
Full-body extension into the ground, and it stays honest under fatigue
Cues & alternativesNeck Harness Eccentric Lower
Eccentric neck strength, which is what actually resists the head being moved for you — the collision-code version of a Nordic
Cues & alternativesPlate Neck Iso Hold (4-way)
A stronger neck reduces the head acceleration behind contact injuries, and an isometric hold is how it is safely loaded
Cues & alternativesProne Trap-3 Shoulder Raise — top hold
The lower trap, which sets the shoulder blade for every overhead action and switches off first when the shoulder is sore
Cues & alternativesSled Push (heavy)
Direct transfer to the leg drive in a tackle
Cues & alternativesSleeper Stretch — loaded shoulder hold
Internal rotation range in the back shoulder — the range a bowling, throwing or serving arm loses first, and the one that precedes the impingement
Cues & alternativesSlow Eccentric Step-Down
Eccentric knee control on one leg — the quality that decides whether a landing or a deceleration is absorbed or survived
Cues & alternativesStanding OHP
Lineout lift + contact strength
Cues & alternativesTibialis Raise — end-range hold
The front of the shin, which decelerates every foot strike and every stop — the muscle behind shin splints and the one nobody trains
Cues & alternativesWeighted Couch Stretch
The hip flexor and quad at full length, loaded, which is where a long season leaves them shortest
Cues & alternativesWeighted Dead Hang
Decompresses the spine and loads the shoulder at full overhead range — the cheapest overhead flexibility work there is
Cues & alternativesWeighted Pigeon Hold
External hip rotation at full length under load — what a deep lunge, a turn-out and a guard position all run out of
Cues & alternativesWrist Extensor Eccentric — end-range hold
The wrist and forearm loaded eccentrically — the only thing shown to fix a stubborn tennis elbow, and the joint every hand-plant and stick sport punishes
Cues & alternativesStart training properly
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