Tuesday Gym Tips (it is a numbers game)

Sick of using the same reps/sets/exercise patterns? well stop using them. Lets make things interesting by using some great techniques and creative thought to make your workout more interesting.

A majority of the fitness population have heard the same advice when it comes to strength training. 3 sets of (some amount of reps), why not 4 sets? why not 2 sets? Lets talk numbers.

Take a few minutes before lifting to figure out what area of your body you want to improve that day.

Get to the gym and warm up with body weight exercises and stretching (10 minutes).

Pick the major muscle groups you're going to be hitting and start warming them up with light sets of movements that work that specific muscle group. Doing these light sets are important and will reduce the possibility of injury.

Since you have hit the major muscles, your secondary muscles are now warmed up and ready to be focused on. since they will be partially fatigued at this point but still feeling ready for work, hit them hard. Drop sets/ ladders/ pyramids/ partial rep sets with light weight burn sets/ heavy low rep sets.

now that you have hit the major and minor muscle groups to be focused on. hit some of the weak points you missed, calves, forearms, core, lower back.

At this point you should be pretty well roasted and praying that it ends soon. This is the point where you can walk out, or keep going for that extra mile.. literally. Follow up your workout with intense cardio, (double unders, interval sprints, sprint a mile, high box jumps, tabata style interval training". 

Now that you have put in all the possible energy you could expend. Be sure to spend the next 30 minutes and eat and drink. Consume the amount of calories you need to replenish or eat slightly less if your looking to lose weight. Water is just as important and food, drink plenty of water to ensure you aren't dehydrated.

Workout 

21 - 15 - 9 Reps

Wall Ball Throws ( 20#, scale down to jumping air squats)

pushups 

Between each round, run 400m with wall ball, or 10# weight 

Go hit the gym!

It is always a good time to get fit

          I don't want you to be concerned with getting a beach body. I don't want you to be looking to get fit for you 10 year high school reunion. It is time to get in shape for you and for the reason of you deserve to be happier.

         Everyone will find a weakness in their life that they can either face right then, or put it off for later. When that weakness is something to do with health, putting it off may be the worst option you could choose.

       You are stronger than you think you are. You just need to take some time and think about what your doing. Once you convince yourself that you can do it, you will. It won't be a quick process, over time you will struggle and need to be pushed but that is life. Keep up the hard work everyone. Get ready for a hard week of training! 

- Mike

Total Strength

          What makes you physically strong? This is often a source of constant debate and there are many differing opinions as to what constitutes a strong person. That is because there are a number of different types of muscular strength.
What are the different qualities of muscular strength and what is best type to have? Or do we have to train in all aspects of the strength game. If so, what ratio between the different strength types should we aim for?

          In the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries the common measure of strength was a 200lb press overhead, these remember were the days before the squat and bench had come into existence. 


Relative Strength
 
Relative strength shifts the question from “How much can you bench?” to “How much do you weigh and how much can you bench?”
In the interests of not filling this article full of scientific jargon and technical malarkey, what is the best layman’s definition for relative strength? The easiest way to explain it is the ratio between the total weight being lifted and the total bodyweight of the lifter. The easiest example is a 200lb lifter bench pressing a 300lb barbell. In this case the ratio is 1.5, that is to say, the lifter is bench pressing 1.5 times their bodyweight.

Explosive Strength
 
Explosive strength is best explained by the Oxford Dictionary of Sport Science & Medicine. Their definition: “The ability to expend energy in one explosive act or in a series of strong sudden movements as in jumping, or projecting some object (e.g. a javelin) as far as possible.” So our bench press question becomes, "How fast can you push the bar from chest to lockout in the bench press"

Muscular endurance
 
In short, muscular endurance refers to the ability to sustain a number of muscular contractions over a sustained period of time. So to use the bench question again it shifts to, "What is the most amount of reps that you can bench for a set period of time?" or just "How many reps can you continuously bench?" Bodybuilders who utilize high volume, high rep training with reduced time between sets certainly have a certain amount of muscular endurance.
 
What aspect of physical strength should we focus on?
 
As old school trainers, relative strength should always be a primary focus. Depending on what aspect of the iron game you are focusing on, you need to balance out the other three types of strength accordingly. Most importantly do not ignore any of them to your peril. Old school muscle men essentially liked to take a generalist approach to strength and then developed a specialty interest within this. These days, trainees tend to specialize from the outset which leads to imbalances in overall physical strength.

 Workout 7-25 (The Test)

Run 1 mile

3 sets of pushups till failure

Max situps in 1 minute

run 1 mile

Max distance lunges in 1 minute

Wall walk ups

run 1 mile

 

Personalizing Your Routine

          Sorry for this recent disappearance. I have been trying to make as much time as possible for clients and the gym so i can make my impact. I now have 9 full time clients and they are all making progress in what ever way that they were looking to make. But all of them are increasing their health.

        No routine will work for everyone, that is why a personal trainer is useful for helping create a workout built for you. I have a baseline routine i start people off on. It revolves around 3 days (upper, lower and total), but some people need more attention to certain points. Some of these special points of attention are agility, core, rehab and endurance. They don't need their own day, but touching on them more often than other things may sometimes be useful.

1) Find your weak points and work on them.

2) Use your strengths as a break from working hard on the weaknesses
    Ex: I have weak triceps but a strong chest. Hit your triceps and then do a chest exercise (which also works your triceps) to work on your weaknesses more than your strengths.

3) Push yourself harder than you think you can.

4) Don't let things get in the way of eating healthy and making time for the gym.

5) Ask for help if you are unsure of a movement, Also google is useful. I love when people ask me if their form is alright. It is a free 5minute PT session.

6) Someone in the gym knows more than you do. They are the ones to watch and learn from.

7) When creating your routine, always include a warm up exercise in the beginning, and a warm up set at the beginning of each muscle group.

8) Don't over-train a certain muscle group, or do to much of a single type of cardio.

Use any of that information if you find it useful. Even if you know about these things, it is good to hear it again from time to time.

Workout 7-23

With a 20 minute clock running

Jump rope 2 minutes 

perform as many push ups as possible until failure

(write down your # of pushups)

(start from the beginning again)

keep performing jump rope and max pushups until you run out of time. your score is the # of pushups you complete

You can do jumping jacks, Rowing machine, 2 minutes of running, 15 Double Unders as a sub for the jump rope. you can do pushups on your knees as a sub for standard pushups. 

Post your score in the comments.

The Next Step, High Intensity Training (Turning Steal)

Do you know those exercises you hate to do? you should do more of those. 

Recently i was asked what the next step would be to see more gains. They had been seeing great results and they want to go further. This is a common question I hear quite often. As a personal trainer, my first response to someone would be to get some personal training with me of course. A personal trainer can restructure workouts and diet plans. There are a few tricks and tips i can share to help out the avid fitness buff looking to get more out of their workout.

Decrease your rest! Stop texting, facebooking, tweeting, and socializing in general. I understand that the gym is a great place to pick up girls or guy, but if a girl/guy sees you absolutely crushing a workout and focused, shoot them a smile. If all goes well they will slip you their phone number and leave it at that.

If you usually take a minute of rest between sets, take 45 seconds. If you aren't used to doing super-sets of multiple exercises, start incorporating them into your routine (back to back exercises with no rest).

Do core movements between other exercises to get your abs worked out while not spending more time in the gym. Doing this also keeps your heart rate up and you will get more out of your time in the gym.

Drop Sets are great for taking a good routine to the next level of training. Example: A set of hammer curls by itself can be a great exercise if you push yourself to keep good form and get enough reps and sets in. After you are about to fail with your set, pick up a lighter weight (5 - 10 pounds lighter) and do another set right away. and then take your rest. This can work for almost every exercise.

Diet is a big part of progress, if your trying to gain. Eating one more meal can make a big difference on how your body recovers and receives its energy. If you are trying to lose weight, tracking your calories and allocating calories per meal is an important way to make sure your not over eating on a meal to meal basis.

Hydration is something i assess with every client and anyone i give a fitness consultation too. It is just as important as whether or not they smoke or drink alcohol. Everyone can drink more water, even if its just a glass more per day.

Sleep is necessary for everyone in different ways. Getting enough sleep per night to rebuild and function is important for body builders. and maintaining a healthy sleep cycle is important for those trying to lose weight so they can get thru the day without napping and to keep a healthy metabolism.

Consistency is a defining mark of an individual looking to maximize their progress. 5 meals every day, enough water every day, working out on a regular basis and not eating the wrong foods on a weekly basis.

Once you have met most of these by yourself and you hit your next plateau is when you should consider getting a personal trainer. If you are unable to push yourself to achieve what was just laid out in this list, you should also get a personal trainer to push you to reach your goals.

Workout 7-10 (Turning Steal)

 5 Rounds of

Single Arm Flat Bench (12-15 reps on each side)

Rotating Shoulder press (12 - 15 reps)

Front plank (1 minute)

Drink some water

5 Rounds of

15 Walking Lunges (15 on each leg)

20m of max distance frog jumps

2 minute of Farmers carry (hold weight in right hand for one minute,

And then carry it for another minute in left hand)

5 minutes of continues ab work

If you can think of an ab exercise, 

do it until you cant anymore and then do the next one 

that comes to mind until the 5 minutes is up.

 - Mike

 

Drop down and give me 1000! Setting goals, and reaching them.

When faced with an insurmountable task, how do you achieve victory? This is what people face on a daily basis when they set goals that "Seem" unreachable, but with the right mindset anything is possible.

"What I’d realized was that I had a “talent” and it was called working harder."

Training hard without consistency is nothing. Genetics without training hard is nothing. It all starts with consistency. Consistently outworking everybody else, that’s the trademark of a champion.
 
Make it your mission to work harder, more consistently but also smarter than the next guy. Before you know it, your genetics will have improved.

 Anything worth reaching is going to take hard work and time, are you committed?

Workout 

Complete 5 rounds for time of:

• 50x double unders (jump rope) OR 200 single unders (jump rope) OR 200 tuck jumps
• 100m KB farmers carry (70#/53#) OR any thing heavy
• 25x burpees OR 50 pushups & Jumping Jacks & mountain climbers
• 200m run

Supplement Sunday time with Mike

Let us sit down for a moment and talk about what vitamins and minerals you take into your body. Do you get everything you need daily from your diet? probably not... this is where the multi vitamin comes into play.

In the fitness world there is a problem with over complication. Muscle movements and routines are are confusing to the general gym base because of all the opinions floating around.  Supplements are infinitely more confusing unless you have a degree in nutrition/chemistry or pharmaceuticals. Even with those degrees i can't promise that you won't be overwhelmed with great PR and misleading statistics from the companies who have spent decades telling everyone that this one pill will make them ripped/skinny/strong.

This weeks topic is the multi-vitamin. I am starting with this one because i can recommend this one to anyone and everyone. weight loss, muscle growth, muscle/join rehab and over-all fitness can all be linked to having the right amount of vitamins and minerals. Now don't get what i am saying the wrong way, a vitamin wont solve all your problems, however, it will help you go in the right direction. Here is that tiny disclaimer at the bottom of every TV ad ever, "With proper exercise and nutrition, this vitamin will be the most useful".

Is there a difference between walmart brand vitamins and more expensive ones? It all depends on the active ingredients and how they are produced. instead of breaking down how vitamins have been synthesized in a lab and how the price of the product is reflective upon its marketing. Here is a list of 100 vitamins and their overall score. But don't just go by this list, i would pick a highly rated product and then crosscheck it with another website to make sure their isn't a bias on the one website!

Next weeks supplement will be Protein!

Today is a Rest Day in the Sisu Fitness World. But that doesn't mean you cant

make some gains. Get out and do some shopping to prepare your cupboards and

your refrigerator for when those food cravings kick in! If you have junk food 

sitting around in its easy to open and premade packaging, you will find yourself

grabbing a bite (or several bites) whenever you find it convenient.

Prepare some small healthy snacks around 250-500 calories to grab when those

mid morning/afternoon/evening cravings come on. 

Here are 9 tasty options!

-Mike

Hydration, Hospital Room Realization

I am sitting in a Hospital room with my Mother who has just broken her back. However, the lady in the next room has a very bad cold she is having trouble recovering from. Two completely unlinked events but what is one of the main ways to treat both patients? Saline solution. Also known as salt water. This solution hydrates the body and allows the body to function the best it can. Anyone who comes into the ER will most likely be given an IV of this solution. 

But i feel fine, i don't need more water! Dehydration is a very serious deal. Dehydration results in a reduction of the volume of blood in your body and a thickening of the blood that puts a strain on your cardiovascular system, increasing your heart rate. It also results in an imbalance of electrolytes that control the functioning of cells, which can lead to seizures, involuntary muscle contractions and loss of consciousness. Symptoms of dehydration include dry mouth, dizziness, extreme thirst, reduced urination, sunken eyes, low blood pressure, rapid breathing and confusion.

This becomes even more serious for athletes. Exercising while dehydrated causes micro traumas to the body and can cause your brain to swell. A study published in the October 2005 issue of the "Journal of Athletic Training" showed that muscle microdamage increased in individuals exercising while dehydrated in hot, humid conditions. Swelling of the brain can also result from exercising while dehydrated. While drinking water to replace fluids, the body's cells may take in the water too quickly. The cells can swell and rupture, including those in the brain, leading to a life-threatening situation"

So when the days get hot this summer and you want to stay in shape and enjoy the outdoors, make sure to drink your water, and lots of it. 

Workout

Its time to introduce Fluffies! 

This is a favorite core workout of mine.

There is three exercises you must complete to failure to do fluffies!
Tea cup holds (perform until failure)
6 Inch feet holds (perform until failure)
Feet elevated crunches (perform until failure)
As soon as you fail, switch right into the next movement! NO REST

 

Your feet should NEVER touch the ground thru this entire workout. i promise it will hurt, but will be
well worth it in the end.

- Mike

Want To Be Heathy, But Won't Work For It

Being in good health is expected in our society.

We expect to do as we please and just avoid certain things and live our lives happily. It takes hard work and dedication in fitness and diet to almost promise a healthy life. But even then there is some things out of your control such as genetics and accidents. The things that can be controlled should be controlled daily.

Eating healthy, stay active and drinking water.

As a personal trainer i have clients from the age of 19 to 75. It is amazing to me to hear the stories of fitness and health from the 75 year old and try to apply it to the younger clients. But somethings from back in the day don't work anymore due to science proving them to be unhealthy. You have a chest cold? smoke a lucky strike!.

I wish i could help every single people that i come to, but i only have so many hours in a day. i love that i am getting booked up client wise, but i am always looking to help everyone (the reason for this blog), so please take any information and use it how you see fit. 

Workout (Body Armor) 

Body armor is a workout routine i designed for mixed martial arts and to keep your

upper body and core as strong as possible. building up muscle "Dense muscle" helps take

imparts from opponents and give you all around mid line strength.

Dumbbell shoulder press (3 sets of 6 - 8 reps)

Incline chest press (4 sets of 8 - 12 reps)

Flat flys ( 3 sets of 12 - 15 reps)

Roman chair crunches (3 sets till failure)

Russian twists (3 sets till failure)

Crunches (300 total, go until failure, take a deep breathe and go again)