Which Exercise is the Best?

Today while training i had a client ask me, "If i was asked to bench press a few months down the road, however, leading up to that day i don't have access to a bench press, would i be in trouble", great question. Lets break this down.

Flat Bench Press - moderate strength, moderate stability. As a movement it is a (no pun intended)  bench mark exercise. But could you go thru life never having access to a flat bench for bench press? Or  get everything you need out of a gym that doesn't have a bench press?

The answer is simply yes.

By breaking down the movement of the bench press and finding the strength and stability in other movement, you could become successful in achieving a decent bench press.

Smith Press - Using the smith press with a flat bench to achieve the movement of a bench press is strictly a strength movement and little to no stability. Remember that the bar is counter balanced and doesn't way 45 pounds by itself. Using this machine to train your chest for the strict movement of a bench press will have its benefits, but if faced with standard 45 pound bar that isn't restricted in its movement, you might find some issues with stability.

Machine Chest Press - The machine in the gym that you put the pin in the weight stack and continue until you can no longer lift anymore. This machine is a classic in a machine based gym. The movement isn't that natural and it won't prepare you by itself for a standard bench press.

Dumbbell Chest Presses -  You will find yourself doing this workout at some point and it will be harder that you think. You can no longer rely on a controlled weight stack or smith press. You now have to control the weight in the x,y and z axis with no assistance. But slowly but surely over the months you will find yourself putting up more and more weight. As you get stronger, without even knowing it, your shoulder stability and control of the weight becomes more and more efficient in the movement itself. But you won't get up the amount of weight you will find in a standard bench press.


Putting them all together. By using specific movements for their strongest traits, smith press for the movement, machine press for the strength, and dumbbells for its stability; you will be in good shape with enough training for any old school bench press. If you can do 70 pound dumbbell flat bench presses, you will be able to do 200 pounds or more on a flat bench.

Workout 6/21/2013

Walking lunges 20 lunges on each leg

rest 30 seconds

3 rounds

30 air squats

25 Max distance forward jumps

20 push ups

15 mountain climbers

10 burpees 

 rest 30 seconds

50 sit ups 

 

Consistancy, not quick what you think. Caveman Style.

When i say consistency is key, my clients get it confused sometimes. 

Diet and fitness: keeping up with a healthy balanced diet every meal of every day is what makes the   biggest amount of improvement in how people look and feel. I do allow cheat meals, not because people need them, but because we are all human and we like to enjoy certain things, some of which might not be the best diet choice.

       -Earn your cheat days: Before major eating holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter) i like to host workouts where my clients/friends/family have a chance to earn their meal and help make up for the massive amount of calories about to be eaten.

However, consistency to me also means keeping in touch with our ancient background. If something has worked for humans for hundreds of thousands of years, don't change it. Caveman had to chase down their food, kill it, and carry it home. This is the core to my training. My diet also revolves around what was available to humans for the majority of time compared to the recent discoveries of farming and the industrialization of food production.

What is the best choice for footwear?

In a recent law suit, sketcher's shape ups have been sued for causing injury in the feet, knees and hips of wearers. The "Ground breaking" design of the semi circle arch causes stress fractures to bones and increases stress on joints and forces them to move in a way they aren't meant to move. They also have been proven to not cause anymore benefit to the body than regular walking. Source

Barefoot Running: I don't care if you have to wear those silly looking nylon shoes/socks that are banned by most military branches, these are a better option for you than any other footwear. Decreasing the padding underneath ones foot causes them to run the way the body is supposed too (lightly heal striking is okay). We are lucky and cursed to have shoes to protect our feet, but in the process we have become used to landing heavily on our heals which is not very efficient for us.

"most proponents add, because landing near the front of the foot will require less oxygen and effort and allow you to push harder at any given speed and ultimately run faster or longer."

Live like a caveman/cavewoman the best you can, from your diet and fitness to how you travel from point A to point B. 

Caveman Workout

LSD Run or Swim (Long Slow Distance, how far you can travel in 1 hours worth of time at a moderate pace). 

Every minute on the minute for 20 minutes

5 pullups (or jumping pullups)

10 pushups

15 Air Squats. 

Note*If you fail to compete a round when the minute ends, just start right into pullups for the next round. 

Bonus -  if you had to cut some of the sets short, just make up the reps you missed out on at the end. Great bonus right?? 

Personal Trainer Mike

Getting the Core You Want

Everyone wants to have a 6 pack or a toned midsection but don't know how to get there.

 It takes hard work but in ways that can be done without changing to much of what you do. Adding simple changes and adding increased focus during your workout will get you to where you want to be.

Step 1: Variation to the norm. Crunches and situps are a thing of the past; its time to learn some new twists (literally).

Use the pullup bar in your gym or a sturdy tree branch and do knees to elbows, toes to bar, knee raises. Adding in new movements causes your body to make new connections and adapt to the added stress.

Step 2: While workout, instead of taking that 30seconds - 1minute of rest, drop down and hold a plank for your rest period. or if you are using a flat bench, do some leg levers or flutter kicks. Decreasing rest keeps your heart rate up to increase fat burning and adding core movements between sets really add up for the amount of reps done. Added bonus of decreasing the time spent in the gym because of the time you aren't spending at the end of your workout just doing core.


Step 3: Increasing core stability. Certain movements can be done sitting can also be done standing for added benefit. If you are doing dumbbell shoulder presses sitting on a bench, Stand up! The weight being lifted has to now be balanced and controlled thruout your body which activates your core and mid line stability. To increase this effect even more, do single arm shoulder presses at a time. This causes you have to balance your upper body and to keep everything stable.

My goal is to not get you abs, it is to stabilize your mid section which helps you -

• More functional workouts that translate into daily life activities
• Improved performance in sports
• Reduction in the risk of injury
• Better ability to function each day
• Interesting workouts that challenge you in new and different ways

 Workout: June 17th, 2013

Run 1 Mile 

30 push ups

30 sit ups

30 mountain climbers

Run 1 Mile

 

Fitness one step at a time. (From couch to Sisu Strength)

   A lot of people think of fitness as a destination and not the journey.

                

       With TV gimmicks like one pill a day and (30 Day, 60 Day, 90 Day) fitness plans, you would think people would ask; What do you do after the 90 Days? Rinse and repeat for the next 275 days of the year. This system of being unhealthy, getting "Fit", and then becoming unhealthy is a vicious cycle that is embraced by health marketers. 

Done with (any fitness DVD), start the next new BETTER one! or the old one again but with more intensity! 

Don't get me wrong, i love that people are trying to better their lives and take a step in the right direction. However, i want them to see these fad diets and workout plans as just that, a step and not the final destination. 

The ideal situation would be someone coming to me and telling me, "well i did this fitness dvd and it was good, but i don't know where to go from here". This is where a personal trainer gets to step in and show them alternative workouts and keep their intensity up.

Today's workout is the most important workout of the week

Go out grocery shopping with all the coupons you can find and i know there is a lot so no complaining that eating healthy is expensive if you just do some preparation. Get enough food to last you a week. Looking ahead to your week, determine if you have enough time in your day to prepare food at the time of you eating it, if not prepare your meals today. I usually prepare a few meals as a back up if something coming up.

The biggest set back i see for my clients and friends/family who are trying to get healthy is, "I ran out of time and grabbed what ever food i could while walking out the door". Well, you could prepare ahead of time to have a healthy substitute or even easier, don't buy and keep unhealthy food. Don't let your split second decision mess up your diet for the day, prepare for that moment of weakness and don't give yourself the option to grab something unhealthy. 

Here is a healthy option for a grab and go snack that you keep in your freezer to grab when you need it and prepare it when you have time! No Excuses! 

Mexican Paletas (Fruit Icepops)

And here is a simple recipe for a Paletas de Melon.

And other Paletas

Go have a healthy day. Monday's post will be up first thing in the morning.

Handstand Pushups, Step by Step Instruction

Handstand pushups seem useless used just for showing off, but the movement is actually useful. It is a body weight movement you can do anywhere and works your shoulders, stabilization muscles, and core. There is a process to get to the handstand pushup but i will start with the simple pushup. Hands shoulder width apart, feet on the ground and just get very proficient in them. After many many pushups i suggest using a step up box and putting it under your feet so your feet are slightly elevated. Eventually increasing the height of the box until you can put your feet on a bench and do plenty of pushups. (See Picture Below)

As you increase the height of your feet you will also increase the amount of weight that is transferred to your hands also to work the muscles and develop the movement needed to get to the handstand pushup (or at least to the next step).

The next step is to walk your hands back towards the bench to get closer to the position your upper body will be in while in the handstand position. Practice this form of pushup while keeping your feet on the bench for stability. 

We are getting closer! while you are in the position, do nice controlled pushups. Get comfortable while being upside down and pause in different spots in the course of the pushup movement to build your confidence.

The next step is get in the normal pushup position with your feet flat against a wall and to walk your feet up the wall and to walk your hands backwards until your body is in a 45 degree angle. This may take some practice and you might want to remove your shoes if you care about your wall.

Put a mat under you so you feel safe from fall damage which may happen but you aren't going to fall to far. Practice walk ups and then walk back down the wall until you are back in the normal pushup position and Repeat! 

Keep building your strength control and confidence until you can walk up the wall far enough so that you are almost vertical and hold that position to get the feeling of a handstand hold (also a great workout in itself). While in this position lower your head onto a mat slowly, if you can't push back up, that's okay. keep practicing until you have the upper body strength to hold the handstand for 30 seconds and then slowly lower. 

After a while you will feel confident from all the practice and steps, and with someone present you can have them spot you so you feel safer from falling away from the wall!

The Final extra step!

Practice single arm dumbbell or kettlebell presses and holds. continue building up your strength and stability and eventually you can attempt single arm handstand holds and pushups!

Keep up the hard work and don't quit!

Strength: Physically Mentally

You are in the final portion of a grueling mid summer marathon, the last water station was a mile ago, but it seems like a marathon away in itself, and the finish lines seems twice the distance. You have ran this this distance a dozens of times in the past and thousands of times in your mind. You start to think one more step but each step seems harder and your becoming frustrated. Do you want to quit? you could walk off right now and no one would blame you, look how far you've gone and how great you did. You would probably get a pat on the back for the effort.

You Quit... and say yourself, i will do better next time. 

I am going to provide 5 stages of preparation that you can apply to anything, and will help you succeed in fitness, challenges and life in general.

Step 1: Being physically ready: If you were going to climb a mountain, would you use a stepper machine for the distance you would be doing to get to the top of the mountain? Or, would you climb smaller mountains to get used to the climb you will be facing in the future. This may seem intuitive, but the fact that you KNOW you can complete the task ahead of you due to training leads us to the next step.

Step 2: Mental readiness: I will start this off with a quote from a brilliant and amazing man. "Do not fear the man who practices 1000 different kicks but fear the man who practices the same one kick 1000 times." - Bruce Lee. Practicing what is ahead of many times mentally prepares you to be victorious in what ever you put your mind too.

Step 3: Controlling your Emotions: Don't let your emotions get in the way of victory. If you see someone running slightly faster than you and pass you while running. Do not try to match their pace, hold steady and keep a cool head. This applies to any competitive sport.

Step 4: Using your intuition: I face this anytime i am pushing my limits. While running a night time half marathon i started to feel a pain in my leg. From countless runs i knew that this pain is due to my form slipping into the undesirable area from fatigue. Change your stride and continue on and the pain will subside and you lose no time. compared to someone who will feel pain, won't know how to handle it and quit. This step is the hardest to grasp and takes plenty of time and training to conquer your predispositions.

Step 5: Putting your heart into it: When times get tough, and you know what has to be done. Use what ever strength you have left and get it done. Failure is always an option while training, however, failure in the line of battle is not an option. And if you don't feel like finishing the race, or going the extra distance while in a lifting competition because it might be hard. This means you failed yourself somewhere along the line of training.



Using these steps and the motivational advice from the previous post. Motivation Post . You are in the right step to controlling your life a bit more. Don't accept excuses anymore. The day i decide that it's okay to give up will be the day i am dead.

Workout

Pushups for 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds. Do this for 8 rounds. (4 minute workout)

Rest 1 minute

Situps for 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds. Do this for 8 rounds. 

Rest 1 minute

Air Squats for 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds. Do this for 8 rounds. 

This is known as a tabata and they are amazing. The workout will take you 14 minutes total (including built in rest), so be sure to give it your all.

Fitness Motivation (Bonus Post)

"The end goal of fitness is to live a better, healthier life. "

The process to get there is long and drawn out with focus on diet, exercise, sleep and hydration. With each one of those topics a long process in itself. I find it easiest to take them all one by one and break them down until you no longer have to think about them individually. Exercise turns into a habit, diet turns into a life style, sleep comes easy and for enough hours, hydration turns into running to the bathroom because you forget just how much water you are drinking.

“Just know, when you truly want success, you’ll never give up on it. No matter how bad the situation may get.”

The start to this long journey is to get and stay motivated. There are many forms of motivation and more and more coming onto the market every year with the advent of technology. 

Self Motivation: Wanting to better yourself and using your will power to make it happen. This is the basic free package of motivation. This is the one that is tried and true and is for the strong willed individuals.

Forced Motivation: This is similar to self motivation except there is usually an ulterior motive for making a change. Whether it was out ancient ancestors having to become fit and stronger to find a mate or to survive; or modern day humans who have to make a change so they can manage their diabetes or have a minimized risk of injury, or other health related topics.

Point Based Motivation: a rather new form of motivation that comes from digital tracking of exercise and exertion. First Pedometers and now phone applications that tell you how many calories you have gone thru in a workout. A great tool to have at your disposal whether its for losing weight, or tracking how many calories you need to take in to gain weight (healthy weight).

Short Term Psychological Motivation: Looking at motivational pictures, videos, quotes and stories. These will only effect you for about 5 minutes before your mind becomes focused on something else. However, if seeing a motivation picture gets you out of your seat and in the mindset to work out, keep doing it!

      - Long Term: Take a motivational source and hanging it on your wall, keep it ask your background on your phone, computer, putting that picture of the goal you want on the mirror in your bathroom or on a sticky note on your wall and dont take it down until its reached.
Ex: I used to have a sticky note with a big 300 on my wall until i had reached the 300 pound bench press goal that i set for myself.

Use what ever technique you need to get yourself headed into the right direction. If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments below.

Workout 

50 - 40 - 30 - 20 - 10

Mountain Climbers

Pushups 

Situps

(50 reps of each movement, and then 40 reps of each movement)

Rest 5 minutes, Run 2 miles at a moderate pace.

No Excuse Arms and Shoulder Workout

I always put shoulders into the mix when it comes to upper body workouts. Whether it is chest/back or arms, because one way or another shoulders are being worked. This is going to be another post for anyone who does not have access to a fitness facility. This workout can be done anywhere, but i would suggest doing these workouts outside and get some fresh air and some Vitamin D from the sun.

Shoulders - Raises: if you have resistance bands, use them here; or you can use any household object that has some weight to it (get creative ex, Brick, rock, metal pole). I want you to use the one of the rules for weight lifting to make gains, this one being exhaustion from reps rather than weight. holding onto a brick with one arm, raise your arm until the brick is right in front of you, and then slowly lower it back down until your arm is just about at your side and then repeat. Nice slow reps with control and confidence.
       
        You can do this same movement for side raises.
Reps of 20-30 on each side, scale accordingly with weight you are using. If you find yourself having to swing your arm to get to the next rep, STOP! bad form is not tolerated. and then do two additional sets, keeping good form in mind.

TIP 1: Always start with your dominate side because it is stronger. what ever number you get, you better damn well push it to get the same number on your weaker side.

Box Assisted Handstand Pushups:

These are easier than you think, and easy way to start out is to have your feet on an elevated surface in the position of a normal pushup. Slowly walk your hands back until you are in the position seen in the picture above, or as far as you feel confident in going, (you are stronger than you think, i promise). I want you to do 3 sets of 10, after the 10th rep, take your feet off the box and get into normal pushup form and do pushups until you can't lift your chest off the ground again with good form.

TIP 2: Be sure to stretch out after each set or workout, the more stretching the better, even flex the muscle group you are working to regain blood flow to the area.

Arms - For biceps we are going prison style for training, (Don't ask me why i know this). Pick up your school bag that is gathering dust in the corner since it is summer time, and fill it with any heavy objects you can find. I don't care how heavy the bag is as long as it makes you work hard.

Gripping onto the handle or strap, do bicep curls while standing up, one arm at a time. do not let your arm full extend at the bottom of the rep, and don't let your arm totally curl at the top (this keeps your bicep activated and working the whole time).

You can do this same movement as a reverse curl by simply reversing your grip. See Picture Below

Warm up with a moderately heavy bag, and add weight until you can only get 6-8 really difficult but doable reps, and then take out weight and go again (no rest) and then take out some weight and do it again. Switch arms are repeat. Follow this up by doing 12 reps with a decently heavy weight for 2 more sets. You can do this same pattern for both normal and reverse curls.


Pullups: Find a sturdy branch or ledge and do pullups or jumping pullups. Do them until you cant anymore, simple as that.

Triceps - Diamond pushups, With your hands on the ground in pushup form, except you are going to bring your hands together so that your hands form a diamond with your thumbs and pointer fingers.
3 sets of 20reps, if you fail, shake your arms out and then go right back into it until you get to 20reps, rest 1-2minutes and repeat.

Assisted Dips: Sit on the edge of a bench or sturdy chair. put your hands on the edge of the chair and support yourself on only your arms so you can move your butt off the edge of the bench/chair and using your feet to just keep you balanced. If this is to easy, you can use another elevated surface to put your feet up on so all the work your doing is going mostly to your arms.
4 or 5 sets, rep wise everyone will be different, do them until you are about to fail, but push it really hard.


No gym, No problem. Fitness Everywhere.

No Excuse Legs and Core Workout

One of my favorite combination  to work together during a session at the gym. Mainly because you cant do one without working the other in some way. However, there are ways to benefit from this and also ways to separate and focus what is being worked.

No Excuse Leg Workout

Simple exercises that can be done anywhere with no equipment for legs all revolve around the squat and leg raises (also an ab workout). A few variants of the squat. 

Air Squat:  With no weight, simple squat down so your upper legs break parallel. Stand back up and repeat. be sure to do this slowly and controlled.
     
       - Goblet Squats: Same movement as the air squat except hold onto something in front of you (Anything heavy will add resistance). 

       - While in the lowered air squat position, shuffle yourself to the left and right without standing back up.

       - Jumping Air Squats:  Exactly how it sounds, While going back up the standing positions, stand up faster than normal and jump into the air.

       - Frog Leeps: Same movement as jumping air squats, except in the movement of jumping, launch yourself forward. Upon landing, continue the air squat movement and back into a deep air squat.

Since there is little to no weight added for these movement, do them for a considerable amount of reps. anywhere between 20 - 40 Reps. And for a few sets.

Example - 30 reps of Air Squats right into 30 reps of Frog Leeps.
                  Rest 30 Seconds
                  20 reps of Air Squats right into 20 reps of Frog Leeps.
                  Rest 30 Seconds
                  10 reps of Air Squats right into 10 reps of Frog Leeps.
                  Followed by a set of Crunches until you cant do anymore, Push It!!

No Excuse Ab Workout

There are a dozen or so muscles that make up the core of a persons body. Hitting all of them is what gives someone that well defined, strong core. Not abs, but core. I stress this because someones 6 pack isn't going to keep them from pulling a muscle or resisting injury from sports/exercise. We will start with the deep (internal) core muscles and work our way out to the muscles everyone likes to show off (me included), but hard work and determination all year and a healthy diet allow these muscles to show. 

Planks: Front Planks/Side Planks, I believe we all have done them either in high school gym class or because we saw someone doing them and they looked like they might be useful. My motto with training myself and others is, "Your brain stops you from reaching your full potential", your body can be pushed harder than you think it can be. Scientifically your brain stops you because your afraid of pushing it to hard. Yes there is a fine line between a lot of work, and over working to injury. 

6 Inches: Laying on the ground and holding your heels just 6 inches above the ground, For an added bonus workout, do this exercise on a flat bench or other raised flat surface and hold your legs in the 6 inches position, this way, as you fail and your legs fall; they will still continue to be working as your legs fall below the parallel position since your legs will be off the ground from the start.

Flutter Kicks: Same as 6 inches except alternate flutter kick your legs. 

Leg Levers: Again, similar to 6 inches except alternate the height of your feet between 6 inches and a foot off the ground. 

Normal Crunches/ Side Crunches: exactly how it sounds. 

Toe Touches: while laying flat on your back, point your legs straight up in the air, attempt to touch your toes with your hands and crunch up to get even closer to reaching. 

There are plenty of other exercises i use with my clients, but i would be giving away all my secrets for free! i cant have that now or else i would be out of a job. 

Work hard, and then work harder

-Zolo