📌 Core Takeaways for Personal Trainers:

• What is LMT? It is the practice of moving with load rather than simply lifting load in static, isolated sagittal planes. It integrates full-body kinetic chains, ground reaction forces, and fascial elasticity.

• Why Trainers Love It: LMT skyrockets client engagement, delivers intense metabolic conditioning without high joint compression, and trains rotational core strength that directly transfers to daily function and athletics.

• The “Bazooka” Versatility: The Bazooka is a dynamic flow exercise that challenges decelerative force absorption, weight shifting, and multi-directional core stability—and can be loaded using almost any tool in your gym.

Traditional strength training relies heavily on static, linear movements like the barbell bench press, back squat, and deadlift. While these lifts build undeniable foundational strength, human life and athletic performance rarely happen in a single, fixed plane of motion.

This is where Loaded Movement Training (LMT) becomes a game-changer for personal trainers and strength coaches.

Flow-style movements can be created using barbells, kettlebells, steel mace, ViPR PROs, or even dumbbells. In this featured video breakdown, movement specialists Trevor Tom and Shawn Corkery guide you through the mechanics of the “Bazooka” flow and demonstrate how to adapt this powerful multi-planar movement across a variety of gym tools.

What is Loaded Movement Training (LMT)?

Coined and popularized in the functional training space, Loaded Movement Training is defined as moving with load in multi-directional patterns.

Traditional weightlifting generally isolates muscles and moves heavy loads up and down along the sagittal plane (flexion and extension). LMT, by contrast, integrates the entire body by combining full-body movement—squatting, lunging, reaching, shifting, and rotating—with continuous external resistance.

Instead of just stressing isolated muscle bellies, LMT loads the fascial network and connective tissue lines across continuous anatomical chains. This trains the body to absorb, store, and release energy dynamically, mimicking how we naturally move in sports, work, and everyday life.

Why Personal Trainers Love Loaded Movement Training

Incorporating LMT flows like the “Bazooka” into your client programming delivers massive functional and business benefits:

• 1. Real-World Functional Transference: Real life is messy, rotational, and unpredictable. LMT conditions the nervous system and connective tissues to handle awkward loads and multi-directional forces safely, drastically reducing injury risk for your clients.

• 2. 3D Core Integration: Forget traditional crunches or static planks. LMT forces the core to dynamically stabilize, decelerate, and transfer force across the frontal and transverse planes while the extremities are in motion.

• 3. High Metabolic Demand with Low Joint Compression: Because LMT distributes forces across the entire kinetic chain rather than overloading a single joint, you can drive elevated heart rates and caloric expenditure using lighter weights.

• 4. Enhanced Client Retention: Flow-style training is fun, challenging, and highly engaging. Introducing dynamic tools like the ViPR PRO, steel mace, or kettlebell flows breaks up the monotony of standard gym routines and keeps clients coming back.

Functionality of the “Bazooka” Flow

The “Bazooka” is a dynamic, full-body flow movement named for the way the exercise tool is cradled, driven, and extended across the body—resembling the mounting and firing motion of a bazooka.

Biomechanical Breakdown & Muscle Activation:

• Decelerative Force Absorption: As you drop into the lateral or rotational loading phase of the Bazooka, your hips, glutes, and core must eccentrically absorb the weight.

• Transverse & Frontal Power: The movement requires explosive weight transference from the back hip through the core, driving rotational power through the shoulders and arms.

• Dynamic Footwork & Ground Reaction Force: The feet must pivot and drive into the floor, teaching clients how to transfer energy from the ground up through the hands.

Adapting the Bazooka Across Gym Equipment:

Trevor Tom and Shawn Corkery demonstrate how changing the training tool subtly alters the leverage, mass distribution, and grip demands of the Bazooka:

• ViPR PRO: The gold standard for LMT. The rubber compound absorbs impact, and the offset handles allow for seamless shifting and rotation.

• Steel Mace: Heavily offsets the weight toward the globe end, requiring immense shoulder mobility, grip strength, and anti-rotational core control.

• Kettlebell: Offers a compact center of mass that forces smooth deceleration during the catch and press phases.

• Barbell / Landmine: Provides a rigid lever that allows clients to push heavier loads through a fixed arc of rotation.

• Dumbbell: The most accessible entry point for beginner clients learning the basic footwork and weight-shifting mechanics.

How to Program the Bazooka in Your Sessions

You can easily integrate the Bazooka flow into several parts of a client’s workout:

1. Movement Prep / Dynamic Warm-up: Use a light dumbbell or ViPR PRO to prime the nervous system, hips, and core in multi-planar patterns before heavy lifting.
2. Core / Rotational Block: Pair the Bazooka with a static anti-rotation movement (like a Pallof Press) for complete 3D core development.
3. Metabolic Finisher: Perform timed intervals (e.g., 40 seconds of Bazooka flows, 20 seconds rest) at the end of a session to spike metabolic output.