H4 Training

E.O.M-Glute thrusters

2012-02-01T05:21:00.000-06:00

DOUBLE CLICK VIDEO TO ENLARGE FOR BETTER VIEW

February's exercise of the month is the glute thruster a great exercise that everyone should add into their program. The glutes are sooooooo important and this is one of the best exercises to target them.I was first introduced to this exercise by Bret Contreras who is simply known as "The glute guy "check him out at his site http://bretcontreras.com/

Why do glute work? Well its simple the glutes are the largest and most powerful muscle in the human body! Actually I should say the glutes have the potential to be the most powerful muscle....most of us suffer from glute amnesia ( or lack of a butt ) these days. But if your goal is strength and size then it is a no brainer to work the glutes. Having strong glutes also will help keep your back healthy! And of course....ladies who doesn't want a great looking butt! So work your glutes!

Before doing the thrusters you should make sure you are able to perform the basic glute bridge off the floor in order to progress to this exercise so make sure you are good with that first. I would also suggest trying to do these first without the weight across the hips and then progress to weight. The best way to set up yourself is to get a bench and place yourself perpendicular to it. Position yourself so that everything from the bottom of your shoulder blades and up is on the bench. Let your head stay relaxed and lose. Dig your heals into the ground ( very important to activate the glutes ) and point the toes to the sky. Now thrust the hips up focusing on squeezing the glutes at the top and holding them for a one second pause. That pause at the top is really when you hit the glutes!

Great chest/tricep day workout

2012-01-30T05:21:00.001-06:00

My philosophy is quality over quantity. Dominate the workout with just a couple of exercises and that should be plenty if the intensity is there.

Flat dumbbell chest press -6 reps ( heavy weight )
SUPER SET WITH
Flat barbell press-10-12 reps ( moderate weight )

**90 sec-2min rest and repeat for 3 total rounds

Decline barbell bench press ( 21's ) This will hit not only the chest but the triceps as well.

Do 7 full reps ( from bottom to lockout ) do 7 rest from top to half way down and up, do 7 reps from top to 1/4 the way down ( just small movement to really hit the triceps.

**Rest 90sec and repeat 3-4 total rounds

Seated machine press ( or any machine press you have )-10 reps
SUPER SET WITH
Close grip pushup-5sec lowering, 5 second hold at the bottom and then push back up with regular tempo. trust me you wont get many reps. If this is too hard for you then do them on a bench.

**2min rest and repeat 3 total times

GO DOMINATE!

Unique exercises with resistance bands

2012-01-25T05:06:00.002-06:00

CLICK TO ENLARGE VIDEO FOR BEST VIEWING

Monday Madness-Fat loss edition

2012-01-23T10:01:00.015-06:00

You don't want to worry about total calories or how many calories from fat you are burning, but instead about boosting 24 hour energy expenditure and increasing metabolism

Carbs- Good in the AM, pre/post workout periods

Move more! You might be working out hard in the gym but what are you doing outside the gym? 5 Hours of gym time leaves 163 hours left in the week. That is the time that will decide your fate in terms of getting results or not.

Order of importance- 1) Cut out sugars/starches and eat more veggies! You cant out train a bad diet as they say. 2) Exercise and exercise with intensity and a purpose!

Be committed! Those hips, that butt and gut didn't get the way it is overnight and you wont lose it overnight either!

There is a thing called volumetrics. The principal is to get full on lower calorie foods. What does this mean to you? Eat lots of green leafy veggies and proteins!

Some people say a cheat day is fine, I think a cheat meal is better. 90% clean and 10% not is a great thing to follow. But look at yourself as an individual and see what works for you.

Lifting heavy weights on a fat loss program needs to happen. You need to keep muscle mass if you want the best metabolic burning engine you can get. Guys have no issue here, but ladies make sure it gets done. Lifting heavy doesn't need to be every week but it should be cycled into your program.

Some other great options are any of my H4 fat burner workouts which you can search on here or my PHA format post.

Get Hot, Get Fit-

Go Dominate!

Giant set for giant lats

2012-01-18T05:18:00.000-06:00

A1) Hammer Strength Pull machine ( or pullup or lat pulldown )-12 reps

A2) One arm row with barbell-12 reps
* set up a barbell with one end jammed into the corner of a wall or anything that will keep it from moving. Load weight on one end and grip like it was a dumbbell row. Keep your back straight and stay in a squatted position with your non working arm resting on your hip or thigh.

A3) Decline straight bar cable pullover-12 reps
* set up a cable pulley just below hip height. Set up a decline bench in front of the cable so that when you lie down you are facing away from the cable. The bench so be just far enough so you can still grab a hold of the bar with your arms extended. Keeping your arms straight and locked. make a big sweeping motion bring the bar towards your thighs and then back to about eye level. If you start to feel this heavy in triceps odds are you are bending the arms.

A4) Speed rows-25 reps
* use this as a burnout. Grab a band and attach it around something. Get into a squatted position and rep out rows with your palms down as fast as you can. The farther you are away from where the band is attached the harder it will be. Full range of motion-reach your arms all the way forward and pull the band all the way back.

Rest 2min. Each round after you will drop the reps by 2 and increase the weight so that the exercise is challenging at that new rep count. The only exercise that remains the same in terms of the reps is the speed rows, they will always stay at 25.So for example set 2 would look like this-

A1)-10 reps
A2)-10 reps
A3)-10 reps
A4)-25 reps

set 3

8 reps on everything except the speed rows....

set 4

6 reps on everything except speed rows

Then to finish go back to the original weight you used to do 12 reps on each exercise and try and knock out another set with this weight on all 3 exercises doing 12 reps, of course still doing 25 with the bands.

MLK Day Inspiration and Motivation

2012-01-16T05:32:00.000-06:00

1) Getting through that barrier is what makes the difference- Like Arnold said, its about pushing through those extra reps. It is easy to do what you normally do and train in your comfort zone but push yourself beyond what you do and you will see the greatest gains yet! It is easy not to push yourself, most people don't. The reward in pushing yourself beyond that barrier is not only the success that will come your way but also the feeling of the journey getting there knowing you did what most do not.

2) Never give up-Walter Payton battled not only on the field of play but in life as well. When things get tough, the workouts hurt, eating good is hard, getting to the gym is impossible......this is the time to not give up, this is the time to push harder and work like never before! Giving up will lead you further and further from your goals and achievements you strive for. When you find yourself wanting to give up think about what it is you want to get and why you want to get it. Think about all the positives that will come about when you do achieve that success and how glad you will be that you did not give up but instead attack the obstacles and barriers!

3) This is your time, go and get it! Why wait? Its Jan 16th....its 2012...are you waiting for Tuesday? For Feb? For next year? For when your bigger?Stronger?Leaner? Now is your time so get after it today! There is no reason why YOU cant do anything right now. Be arrogant and realize its now or never! Don't talk about making changes or getting better...go and get it!

Skinny guy fix

2012-01-12T05:08:00.002-06:00

Some of you out there cant gain weight or muscle no matter how hard you work or how much you eat. You see others lifting with big weights and wonder if the day will come when you will be too. You don't have "guns" but rather toy pistols. If this is you then you might want to take to some of this advice.

1) Eat, eat, eat and did I mention eat some more! Classic skinny guy simply needs calories! Nutrition trumps training every time. Start off just consuming as much as you can. You must have a calorie surplus in order to pack on muscle and it needs to be significant. Eating a ton of a food in a day is actually tough and it wont be easy and will take planning, but do it! You can get some "bad" calories such as burgers and such just don't make it a habit all the time. Better fats include avocados, peanut butter galore and adding whole milk to your post workout shakes. If you eat too few of fats your testosterone levels may fall. Oh...and don't be afraid of carbs!

2) Get a great training program and stick to it! Most guys bounce around from program to program before letting one get them results. If the plan your using doesn't bring you results in 3 months then switch off it. Great programs done with the right intensity will work. Make sure that you also focus on you and what you need out of the program. If you need work on your back then make sure you get that work in and don't ignore you weak areas. For most skinny guys training between 6-12 reps will be best since they tend to have more slow twitch fibers.

3) Glutes, Hams and Quads-If you want three muscle groups that will put some size on you then those three would be it so train them! Some people can pack on the muscle just by hitting the legs more often and with greater intensity.

Extra quick fire tips

Carry a protein bar with you when you run errands or head out of the house. Now you have no excuse not to have some calories while on the run. Tri-O-Plex bars work well since they are such high in calories.

Don't over think your workouts! Focus on intensity and you will get results!

Eat breakfast! Eating a bowl of cereal doesn't count either. Eggs, turkey bacon or sausage and couple pieces of toast.

Unilateral workout

2012-01-09T06:24:00.001-06:00

Most of us out there tend to neglect unilateral work and mostly do bilateral workouts. Adding in a unilateral workout into your regimen every now and then can bring great benefits that include:

More muscle fibers becoming involved in order to stabilize the weight
The core becomes more active due to the imbalance of the load
Allows you to make sure each side is working evenly
Better concentration on form
Increases recruitment of stabilizing muscles

Here is a workout I like to use with the videos below to show how each exercise should be down. The reps in the video do not correlate to the workout they are just meant to show the proper form.

A1) Chest press with dumbbell-12 reps

A2) One arm row with dumbbell-12 reps

A3) Sumo squat with dumbbell-12 reps

**Start with left arm for the press, row and sumo and then immediately without rest go into the right arm for each exercise. This would equal 1 set. Do 3 total sets, taking 30-60 sec between sets.

B1) Prone row with dumbbell on incline bench-12 reps

B2) Standing neutral grip shoulder press with dumbbell-12 reps

B3) Deadlift with dumbbell-12 reps

**Start with left arm for the press, row and sumo and then immediately without rest go into the right arm for each exercise. This would equal 1 set. Do 3 total sets, taking 30-60 sec between sets.

C1) Standing dumbbell curl-12 reps

C2) Lying tricep extension with dumbbell-12 reps

C3) Lunge with dumbbell ( same leg as arm holding weight )-12 reps

**Start with left arm for the press, row and sumo and then immediately without rest go into the right arm for each exercise. This would equal 1 set. Do 3 total sets, taking 30-60 sec between sets.

NEW YEAR, NEW YOU! 10 Trainers give their tips for dominating the new year

2012-01-04T06:26:00.005-06:00

1. Sharon Johnson, B.S., Ace-Certified CES, is a mother of 2, a trainer and blogger who is constantly pitting her passion for health and fitness against her natural tendency to be lazy and take the easy road. She uses her blog to help herself and others “Overcome Lazy” by sharing triumphs, failures, tips and tricks on her quest for living the happiest, healthiest life possible. http://lazytrainer.blogspot.com/

• Adjust your mental description of yourself. We often define ourselves to others as being an “engineer” or an “avid White Sox fan.” Well, start describing yourself as a “healthy eater,” or a “regular exerciser.” Say it, do it, then you’ll BE it.

• Create a healthy “bucket list,” which includes some biggies, like maybe doing a triathlon and/or a body-building competition – as well as some smaller goals like trying a new recipe or a different exercise class each month.

• Plan for your success. Not a new concept, but, this time, actually do it! Schedule your workouts and pencil them into your calendar. Write down your meal plan (including snacks!) at the same time you make your grocery list. Optimum health and fitness doesn’t just happen because you want it to – you have to deliberately plan to be successful.

• Always have a home back-up plan for when time, weather or other circumstances don’t allow for your gym or outdoor workout. This also goes for avoiding the convenience food trap. Have a trainer show you a kick-butt home routine and some quick, healthy recipes you can always fall back on.

2. Gabi Regino,BA Health Promotion & Wellness/Athletic Training,MS Exercise Physiology,USAW Sports Performance certified,FMS certified.Worked at Nellis AFB for 5 years as Strength & Cond. Coach and has been teaching Personal Training certification for 5 years at UNLV

I have a huge pet-peeve with the “losing weight” goal. If this is your goal, make this your last time…..please. There is nothing more boring than this goal. You go to the gym and every day you step on the scale, and see 1/16 of a pound that you have lost. Booorrring and add depressing to this! So let the tips below enhance and liberate your life.

PICK A STRENGTH GOAL INSTEAD BECAUSE:

You will NEVER need to step on the scale again……unless, of course, you have to make weight for a competition. Otherwise, toss it or give it to your dogs to play with it.

You can hit the gym and try to beat your own personal record (PR) from the previous week. It could your squat, deadlift, chin-up, push-up, shoulder press, bench press, lat pulldown, or something else that involves weight. It could be the amount of reps, or the amount of weight for your PR.

You can say you TRAIN versus ‘workout’. The word ‘train’ infers commitment; it refers to what athletes do. If you want to look like one, then act like one and start saying “I’m going to train”. It will give you a different frame of mind.

It is liberating! No more food phobias, no more “I burned 12 calories so I can eat one raisin”! You can actually go to the gym and TOUCH your goal, manipulate your weights and see the progress almost EVERY DAY! (As opposed to NOT feeling the fat being burned, which then equates to not being sure if you did enough, which then equates to doing more, which then equates to feeling like crap, which then equates to feeling like you won’t succeed, which then equates to analysis paralysis, which then equates to why-do-it-since-I-don’t-see-the-results-anyway…..you get the picture).

You don’t have to look the same year after year. All those people that want to “lose weight” are always on the cardio machines and always look the same. Booorrring…go play with the weights, it is a lot more fun.

3.Bret Contreras-is a National Strength and Conditioning Association – Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and Certified Functional Movement Screen Expert. He has over 13 years of experience working as a certified personal trainer. http://bretcontreras.com/

Contreras earned his Bachelor’s degree from Northern Arizona University and graduated Summa Cum Laude with his Master’s degree from Arizona State University. He is currently attaining his PhD at the Auckland University of Technology, where he is also scheduled to teach Biomechanics courses.

Get rid of all junk food from your house. If it's around then chances are you'll eat it. The only way to ensure that you eat healthy foods is to not have any bad foods around to tempt you.

Make fitness a priority. You most likely take a shower every day. You probably check your email ever day. And you should exercise every day too. An hour per day of exercise is ideal in my opinion, but thirty minutes will suffice if you're extra busy. Some days you can lift weights, some days you can do high-intensity interval training, some days you can go for a walk, and some days you can shoot some hoops or do some calisthenics at home. Just make sure to do something every single day.

If you seek a muscular appearance/firm appearance, then you'll need to perform resistance training. There are many different options, but squats and lunges will work the quads and glutes, deadlifts and hip thrusts will work the hamstrings and glutes, bench press and incline press will work the pecs and triceps, chin ups and rows will work the back and biceps, military press and rear delt raises will work the shoulders, and hanging leg raises and side planks will work the abs and obliques. For your best physique, you should be performing these exercises on a regular basis.

4. Justin Thomas-Co-Owner of Instinct Fitness,IKFF/WKC/IYCA Kettlebell Certified,FMS/TRX Certified

The hardest muscle to train is between the ears. Nothing happens instantly or easily and it takes time. Pick a program or diet and stick with it for the duration. There are many paths to success pick one and stick with it. One of my favorite quotes "Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm."- Winston Churchill

A simple workout I like to call "Walk in the Park"

3-5 rounds

Work/Rest for time based on ability

A. Inch worms or walkouts (Power Wheel crawls work too)

B. Walking Swings (or standard swings)

C. Walking Press (press as you step forward)

D. Sled push or walking lunge

E. Rope pull or horizontal row. (I attach a weight to a battling rope and pull in various positions athletic stance, seated, kneeling, and plank for advanced)

5. Nick Tumminello- is the owner of Performance University – Hybrid Strength Training & Conditioning in Fort Lauderdale Florida. He trains the trainers, and athletes internationally. Check out Coach Nick’s Products, Seminar Schedule, Mentorship Programs and very popular Fitness Blog at http://www.nicktumminello.com/

Find a way to exercise that you actually enjoy. You're much more likely to stick with something that you actually like. And, we all know that the biggest issue we have that leads to fitness failure is a lack of consistency.

Do some bi-lateral exercise AND some uni-lateral exercises in your workouts. Both types of training have unique benefits. So do both and focus your energy on that instead of arguing which is better because that'll get you no where!

Make some one happy and mind your own business! Just like we want people to live and let US live. As fitness professionals and exercise enthusiasts, we can also "train and let train." Be more about making your like constructive and less about being destructive to what other are doing.

Do something fast everyday!

Find a hill and sprint up it a bunch of times. That beats the Prowler or Weighted sled any day. Plus, it's FREE!

6.Paul Lundkvist- Swedish American, personal trainer for the past 10 yrs, former national level powerlifter, one of the busiest PTs in Sweden and formerly one of the busiest in the States. Currently speaking publicly about lifestyle sustainability and training clients full time in downtown Stockholm.

http://plunkan.blogspot.com/

Follow the one and only stone set rule to resistance training: overload-do more than you did last time.

Keep track of your numbers: if you know you have to achieve overload, you know you have to know how much you did last time.

Look for results. Measure and use multi-textured devices to give you feedback-tape measure, scale, BC caliper, weights and reps, times...

Understand that the people in great shape like to live the life.

Eat clean the vast majority of the time and make bulges little. Oftentimes, the difference between people who get there and people who don't is beating this "well, now I've already cheated, I might as well go all in" feeling. Make the best out of mistakes even.

Ask yourself why you are eating.

Find substitute foods for cheat days-achieve the cheat feeling with better foods.

Be intensely active on most, if not all, days of the week.

Go all in, with regard to health and fitness, until you achieve your goals-100% focus on this goal, forget other goals right now. Get this done.

Make sure you take in what you need to take in-achieving goals is giving yourself what you need and not giving yourself what you don't.

7. Justin Russ, ACE certified personal trainer, Combine360 certified, TRX course instructor. BS exercise science.

Favorite quote: "we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit."-Aristotle

Eat real, whole, non-processed foods. increase your intake of fish and whole grains.

Go to the gym with a purpose. make your workout your "me" time--leave the cell phone in a locker, put on the ipod and get after it.

While at the gym, always stay moving. don't fall into the trap of socialization or extended rest periods between sets. superset your exercises or perform active recovery movements.

Do not underestimate the importance of flexibility and joint mobility. especially the hips, shoulder girdle, and thoracic spine.

Rather than spending time specifically on "ab" work and focusing mostly on lumbar flexion, practice "core integration" and incorporate components such as rotation, balance and instability into your strength training routine.

8. Jon Goodman-is the creator of the Personal Trainer Development Center and maintains a personal blog at http://www.jonathangoodman.ca/.You can also connect with him on Facebook or Twitter.

Get in and get out - Don’t mess around in the gym. Tabata protocol works wonders (8 sets of 20s on, 10s off). Choose a large movement that’s safe so when you fatigue and form starts to fail you aren’t put in a vulnerable position. Thrusters work well either with dumbbells or kettlebells. (video of the exercise or you can make one yourself. This isn’t me and I don’t really care whether you use it or not http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFnkJNQc5qU)

Eat your veggies - Twice a week cut up 3 large portions of veggies and make sure you finish one of them each day. It doesn’t matter what they are just make sure a lot of colors are represented.

Pick a plan and stick to it – The specifics of a workout make a lot less difference than you think. It’s most important to be consistent with your workouts and avoid the all-to-common trap of program hopping.

9. Nicole Kupish-NASM-PT certified; Kettle bell certified; Pre-Post Natal certified.Total fitness enthusiast & current Tier 3 personal trainer at Equinox Fitness in Chicago’s Loop. http://nicoleraefitness.wordpress.com/

Spend AT LEAST 30 minutes contemplating what your fitness goals for the year are going to be & WRITE THEM DOWN. These goals can't be vague like "I will lose weight, " or "I'm going to start eating healther." Setting these vague goals NEVER works. If you want to lose weight, specificy how much. In terms of eating healthier, say you will substitute vegetables for the potatoes you usually have for dinner. Write these goals down & carry them with you wherever you go. The goals should constantly be present so you are reminded of them until December 31st, 2012.

10. Andy McCloy-Andy McCloy is the owner and head trainer of Body Creations, Inc (BCI) which specializes in athletic based training for athletes of all levels. Driven by a passion to help athletes become their best BCI and Andy McCloy have trained over 50 Division 1 athletes and multiple athletes on NFL rosters. http://www.bodycreationsinc.com/

The fact is if you want to improve your body and make lasting change you have to focus on learning how to eat! Use resources like precision nutrition to help guide you throughout the process. You can't out train a crappy diet no matter how hard you try!

This tip isn't very sexy but I feel everyone needs to do some type of self myo-facial release work before their training session. Foam roll, LAX ball work, stick work. It all works! Find the pain and sit there for awhile and let it dissipate. Then move a bit further. Keep with this slow process once or twice over the entire area, giving special attention to the ITB, VMO, and glutes. I personally have my athletes and clients do 7min.

Develop great relative strength. Movements like push ups, air squats, pull ups are great for developing your physique. More advanced exercises like ring dips, ring chin ups , muscle ups, hand stand push ups, will challenge even the strongest athletes.

Bonus#11 with some of my tips and strategies

Put as much effort into your eating as you do your workouts in order to get the best results possible. Eating right will be what makes the dramatic changes for yourself.

It is easy to give up early on when you dont start seeing results, but instead stay the course and see what happens. Everyone sees results differently and sometimes it might take a little more time than expected. You didnt get fat overnight, therefore your not going to get fit in a week.

Have a plan. Where will you workout? How? What are you going to eat? Answer these questions to ensure success.

Hire a trainer. Even if it might be tough to afford one, do yourself a favor and hire a trainer for at least a couple of sessions to learn quality form and technique. The key is hire a good trainer. Look for certifications through ACSM, NASM and NSCA to name some of the most well respected. Interview the trainer and see if their personality fits with you and to hear what they bring to them table.

Bonus #12-Becca Marino- N.S.C.A. is a Certified Personal Trainer with more than seven years experience. She received her B.S. in Exercise Science at George Mason University. Becca is the owner of Fitness Inspiration and BWV INSIDEOut Inc. http://www.believeitbringitachieveit.com/

VISUALIZE.There is POWER in visualization.Become even more connected, more intimate with the level of health, fitness and wellness you want to achieve for yourself and your family through scheduling time everyday to see YOURself living the vision you have defined...to FEEL what you’ll be feeling...to DO what you’ll be doing...

Believe it. Bring it.Achieve it!I’d like to close with this, remember that 1% WINS!!... Small, consistent, daily improvements lead to stunning results!

-1% improvement today
-7% improvement at the end of the week
-30% healthier at the end of the month
-365% HEALTHIER at the end of the year!

“Those who don’t make time for exercise must
eventually make time for illness.”
-Robin Sharma

Random thoughts starting the New Year...

2012-01-02T06:15:00.008-06:00

2012 has just started, looks like you have 12 months to accomplish anything you want so get started!

Breakfast is important no matter what your goals are. If you are one of those people who just cant eat early in the morning than look to start by eating something small. Eat just one egg, or half piece of toast with peanut butter. If you can gradually get yourself used to eating breakfast the better off you will be.

The biggest obstacle in getting where you want in terms of your fitness goals this year is YOU. YOU will be the reason you get what you want or don't.

In terms of weight loss, I have found that breaking away from your regular formatted routine every 7th workout seems to work really well in keeping the body guessing. For instance if you have done two giant sets of 5 exercises ( like shown in my post called PHA ) for 6 workouts then on your 7th workout totally go in a different direction. On that 7th workout you might do a giant set of 10 exercises using ropes, sandbags or anything else maybe you haven't been using. You can do the exercises for time in seconds instead of reps for example. When you get to workout 8 go back to the routine you were using for another 2 weeks or so before changing over to a new one.

Rotating your splits works really well for building muscle I have found. If you are doing chest/back, legs, arms as a split for one week, then change the following to chest/tri, back/bi, legs or something along those lines. You can also change splits every 2 weeks or 3 or 4 weeks.

You need to be able to do pushups. No matter female or male it simply is something you must be able to do. If you already can then great now focus on challenging yourself with harder more advanced progressions. All of my female clients do pushups and do them often.

Pre New Year bicep routine

2011-12-29T16:42:00.004-06:00

Here is a giant set of bicep exercises that can help you get some new muscle growth before the New year.

A1) Seated hammer curls with dumbbells-10 reps ( both arms at the same time )
* keep your arms tight to your sides

A2) Lying bicep curl with straight bar-10 reps
*Lie on the floor and set the pulley to the very bottom. Keep your back on the floor and curl up the weight like a normal curl.

A3) Chinups-10 reps ( or as close as you can )
* If you cant do regular ones then use the assisted machine or bands.

A4) Standing band curls-20 reps ( both arms at the same time )
* Stand on band and rep out the curls as fast as you can

Rest 2 minutes. Repeat this 1-2 more times.

3 Finishers for your workout

2011-12-27T05:15:00.000-06:00

The set or exercise of your workout has the chance to make all the difference in your routine so don't go soft when the time comes! Below are some ways to add some bang to the end of your workouts.

1) Chest Press with plate pyramid

Set up 1 of each of the following 5lb,10lb,25lb,35lb and 45lb next to a flat bench. This works good with a spotter or partner to hand you the plates but it can be done without one as well. Start by pressing the 45lb plate from chest to lockout for 20 reps.Then, immediately grab the 35lb plate and rep out 20. Repeat this with the 25, 10 and 5 lb plates and then go back up the pyramid. When you get to the light plates try and move faster with the reps. If this becomes to easy then try going up and down the pyramid 2x.

2) Chinup isometric hold

Get yourself into the top position of a chinup and hold for as long as possible. Focus on squeezing the biceps as hard as you can. Hang on until you literally cant anymore. Even if you start to fall from the starting position keeping holding on until you have to let go. The time day you try this see if you cant beat your time.

3) Partner pause and press

Put about 50% of your 1 rep max on the flat bench press. Have a spotter be ready behind the bench. Lower the bar to your chest and then start lifting it up. Press it about 2 inches above your chest and then have your spotter put his hand against the bar to stop it. Press against his palm for 10 seconds letting them do the counting. Then press it about 6 inches away from your chest and again have your spotter stop it with their hand. Press against their hand for 10 seconds. To finish totally lockout the bar and hold it there for as long as you can.

25 tips to Christmas-

2011-12-21T08:21:00.016-06:00

Christmas is right around the corner so as a gift to my readers I wanted to give you 25 tips to apply into your life and training this holiday and new year.

1. Dont just eat the whites, consume yolks-the whole cholesterol thing gets over blown and most of those studies were done by cereal companies anyways. Eating whole eggs will give you those essential nutrients that just the yolks wont. My suggestion is to do 2 whites to 1 yolk or just do whole eggs every other day.

2. If you are not happy with your current results than something must change! Eat better, workout better, sleep better, stress less and re-focus. Change your path and get better results now!

3. Nutrient timing is everything. Carbs in the morning and post workout are your prime spots to consume them. The leaner you are the more carbs you can eat generally.

4. It is not the quantity of your workouts but the quality.

5. Don't make your workouts too complex, less is better.

6. Have no clue on a goal for yourself? Try and add more weight to the bar or move it faster or both!

7. At the end of the day it is all about commitment to yourself and your goals. If what you want to achieve is really that important than you need to make it important in your life. No excuses!

8. Don't be afraid of high reps for your quads. High rep training can help the legs grow. 25-40 reps is totally fine.

9. If your looking to put on more size on your arms try lifting biceps and triceps on the same day. Break away from the traditional chest/tri and back/bi days and do some pure arm workouts and see what happens.

10. If you don't eat breakfast I cant help you get better results.

11. Some of my clients have seen great results in terms of dropping body fat by doing different waves of workouts. First waive could be 3-4 weeks of high rep, light weight limited to no rest periods. Then we switch things up to heavier weight, moderate to low reps and higher rest periods in order to help maintain that muscle mass. You can keep cycling this or take a week or two and mess the two into one workout.

12. Drink water!

13. Start on your 2012 goals now! No need to wait til after Jan 1 like the rest of the world. Be better than everyone else.

14. If you see people who don't get results, well do the opposite of those people! When you see those you get results, do the same!

15. Hour workout is great, but so is 45min and so is 25min.......whatever time you have make it work for you.

16. Just do cardio and you will look ok, do weights and you will look really good, do cardio and weights and damn you will look wow.

17. If you are trying to put on muscle mass and you are having trouble its most likely a calorie thing. Eat more than you are because chances are you need to be!

18. Make your workouts hard and intense but don't beat yourself into the ground because that will cost you the next day. You want to get as many quality workouts as you can during the week so don't beat yourself into submission. Ever now and then however....go ahead and destroy yourself in a workout.

19. Range of motion is important for any exercise you perform. If you are doing full pullups don't do 3/4 pullups.

20. Take responsibility-YOU are the reason that YOU are not seeing results. No need to pass the blame plate, suck it up and realize you need to do something about it.

21. Having trouble thinking of what to eat for dinner? Veggies and protein to the rescue every time!

22. There is no best way to do anything! Certain methods work better for some more than others. Find what works for you.

23. Do ab work everyday. Your abdominals don't get as much muscular damage as other muscles therefore allowing you to train them more frequently.

24. Listen to your body. Your body will tell you when you need to change things, increase weight or take a step back. Ignorance will put you behind.

25. At the end of the day just move. MOVE!

Go Dominate! Happy Holidays! Thanks to everyone who continues to read my posts!

Taking it to the Shoulers

2011-12-19T05:54:00.000-06:00

Guys want big broad shoulders and women want toned and lean ones. Now this might not be the case all time but basically just about everyone wants nice shoulders. There are two ways to thinking when it comes to the shoulders.

A) You don't need to directly work your shoulders much due to their role in numerous type movements like pushups, chest press variations ( especially incline ) and other compound movements.

B) The delts need to be trained directly if you want true development. To not train your shoulders would lead to an unbalanced look.

I tend to agree with both of this view points. If you have great delts to begin with than I think you don't have to pay as much attention specifically to them in your training as maybe others do. However, if you lack shoulders then you do need to make sure you add direct work in. Below are some tips/strategies/exercises to try in your training.

TIPS

The delts respond best to multiple exercises and short rest periods. Try doing tri-sets like the one below I love.

A1) Seated dumbbell shoulder press-6-8 reps

A2) Standing lateral raises with dumbbells- 10-12 reps

A3) Machine shoulder press ( neutral grip with palms face if you can ) 15-20 reps

**Take 2 min rest and repeat 1-2 more times

The delts are slow twitch and recover fast. If your lacking shoulder development you might need to train the shoulders three times a week

EXERCISES

1) Lateral raises-The medial head of the delt tends to get less work than the anterior and posterior delts do in compound exercises. Some quick tips when doing the lateral raise are:

* Keep a slightly forward lean ( but not too much ) in order to target the medial delt better.

* Keep your arms straight through the entire movement.

2) Shoulder press continuation-In this set up you will take advantage of stronger body positions and controlled momentum.

* Do a set of normal dumbbell seated shoulder presses until you have 1 rep left before failure. Next, stand up and crank out more reps in this stronger position. Finally, without rest, end with push presses until failure. The push presses allows you to use your legs to give you some help when your fatigued.

** Repeat this 1-2 more times. Note-A push press is just like an overhead press except you a small dip of the legs and momentum to help push the weight up.

FIXING IMBALANCE

Most people have bigger and stronger front and medial delts and smaller and weaker rear delts. This lack of balance can causes rotator cuff issues and shoulder pain. In order to fix this aim to work the rear delts with more sets and focus on training them first. Below is a sample set up for this.

A1) Rear delt raises- 8-10 reps

** 3 sets

B1) Lateral shoulder raise ( do one arm at a time) 8-10 reps

** 2 sets per side

C1) Plate front raise- 8-10 reps. Grab a plate with your hands at 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock and raise it in front of your face until you can see through it.

** 1 set

Random thoughts.....

2011-12-13T21:00:00.007-06:00

Favorite new thing is a Bar-rito from Protein Bar ( a chain in Chicago that serves healthy protein based sandwiches, wraps and bowls ) called the Capone. It is easy to make at home so try it! Take a whole wheat tortilla as your wrap, fill it with grilled chicken, spinach, marinara, quinoa, and shredded parmesan. For a better taste finish it off by grilling it or using a panini press.

To get lean you must do different types of workouts. Do heavy strength workouts, high endurance, agility, speed, and power. Now do you have to do each of these, well not really, but the point is to expose your body to numerous styles of training in order to keep stressing the system to make new gains.

Great quick routine for the biceps-Do 1 heavy rep on one arm rows with a dumbbell then do 1 chinup. Keep repeating this sequence without rest adding 1 chinup to each set. See how high up you can go. I would use a weight you could do 5 times for the row.

Learn to do deadlifts. Hire a great trainer and learn the right technique. Done right and you have found yourself an exercise that uses tons of different muscles including traps, lats, hams, glutes just to name some. Deadlifts will bring you gains in muscle and strength as well as a great way to jack your metabolism and maximize your time in the gym. Ladies don't worry you wont get big doing them.

Around the holidays the worst thing to do is not have a action plan. Everyone is going to splurge at some point and some more than others so you need to be ready. Best bet is to kick up your workout sessions for the days prior and eat as clean as possible so that when you do cheat the negative effects are reduced.

Sleep might be the most underrated component of health and fitness. In order for your body to recover and rebuild you must get your sleep. Sometimes a lack of results that you see dont stem from a bad workout routine but are more of a product of bad recovery.

Taking it to the Triceps

2011-12-12T05:43:00.002-06:00

1) DIPS-Other than the close grip press, dips are the most effective triceps exercise for building muscle. Unlike some triceps exercises dips hit every head of muscle. Dips are also great because you can use a heavy load. Most lifter make dips too much of a chest exercise and therefore don't get the full benefit for their triceps. Focus on these pointers-

*Keep the body as upright ( vertical ) as you can. The more you lean the more chest comes into play

*Use a narrow set of bars to target the triceps more

*Lower your body until your biceps touch your forearms. Full range of motion equals full development

* Once bodyweight is easy then add a dumbbell between your leg or use a weight belt and a plate

Try this when doing dips for a shock!

Lower yourself for a 8 second count until your biceps touch your forearms. Press yourself back up using your arms and legs, the focus here being only the negative part of the movement. Do 2 more reps like this and that is one set. Rest 90sec to 2 min and do 8 total sets!

2) SEATED HALF PRESS IN POWER RACK-Great exercise to pack on muscle especially on the lateral head of the triceps ( outside ) which is generally underdeveloped on most. You will give the back of your arms more of an X look once you build the lateral head.

Set up- Place an incline bench inside a power rack with the incline at 80-90 degrees from the ground. Place the pins in the rack so the bar is resting at hairline. Grip should be shoulder width and elbows wide. Just press the bar up like a normal press. The difference is that you want to make sure you come to a dead stop at the bottom. Once the bar hits the pins let it sit for a second then explode back up to avoid bouncing.

SOME EXTRA TRICEPS FUN WITH THE OMNI-REP METHOD

Try this sequence termed Omni-rep method by the great Charles Poliquin. Basically it is a extended series of three exercises for one muscle group. You do each exercise right after one another without rest. At the end of all three exercises rest for 2min and repeat for 3-4 total sets.

A1) Standing tricep pushdowns with palms up grip- 8-12 reps
A2) Standing tricep pushdowns with palms up grip- 8-12 reps
A3) Overhead rope extensions standing -8-12 reps

PHA-Your way to a better body!

2011-12-07T05:27:00.002-06:00

Peripheral heart action ( PHA ) training was first introduced by Bob Gajda who won the 1966 Mr.American bodybuilding title. This type of training was an early form of circuit training. You basically perform two to three circuits of 5 exercises per workout, with each circuit being performed 3-4 times. PHA training is great to not only maintain lean muscle mass but also for fat loss. When you alternate exercises for the lower body and upper body you create a full body lactate effect. What is this lactate talk? It has been shown that there is a direct correlation between lactate production to the output of growth hormone production. Again why do you care with this science talk? Increases in growth hormone has been shown to boost the body's ability to burn fat. This you care about! Then the addition of the core work gives you a total body circuit.

The following is a simple template you can follow to structure your workouts

CIRCUIT A (12-15 reps per set) ** I have found using rep ranges between 8-15 works as well

A1. Horizontal pushing exercise ( ex:incline bench, decline bench, flat bench press etc )

A2. Quads-dominant exercise ( ex: squats, goblet squat, leg press, front squat etc )

A3. Horizontal pulling exercise ( ex: seated row, t-bar row, bent over row etc )

A4. Hamstrings-dominant exercise (ex: deadlift, glute-ham raise, leg curls, pull through etc )

A5. Abdominal exercise ( any you like )

**No rest between exercises within the circuit (or as little as possible). Perform the circuit three-four times.

CIRCUIT B (12-15 reps per set) ** I have found using rep ranges between 8-15 works as well

B1. Vertical pushing exercise ( ex: overhead press, lateral raises, front raises etc )

B2. Quads-dominant exercise ( ex: squats, goblet squat, leg press, front squat etc )

B3. Vertical pulling exercise ( ex: pullup, chinup, lat pulldowns etc )

B4. Hamstrings-dominant exercise (ex: deadlift, glute-ham raise, leg curls, pull throughs etc )

B5. Abdominal exercise

**No rest between exercises within the circuit (or as little as possible). Perform the circuit three-four times.

This circuit is optional and most workouts you will be fine with just doing A/B

CIRCUIT C ( 12-15 reps ) ** I have found using rep ranges between 8-15 works as well

C1. Biceps exercise

C2. Lateral work for the legs ( ex: band walks, lateral step up etc )

C3. Triceps exercise

C4. Glute work specific ( bridge, donkey kicks etc )

C5. Abdominal exercise

**No rest between exercises within the circuit (or as little as possible). Perform the circuit three-four times.

Push/pull routine to do for new muscle

2011-12-05T05:08:00.007-06:00

Last week I found myself drawing a blank on what new routine to do for my push/pull day in order to really shock the body. It was then when I remembered a workout I used to do in college and knew that would be exactly what I needed. The workout is set up differently then I normally do and odds are this holds true for you too. I always do this workout when I lift with my friend Pat and you should do it with someone as well since the workout is based on training with a partner.

** Warning this workout is not meant for beginners or anyone not used to intense workouts. This is best used for someone looking to add muscle or gain strength.

Push Component-You will get balance between dumbbell work, barbell work. bodyweight work and machine work. Not to leave any angle out you this takes you through incline, decline and flat body positions.

A1) Pushup pyramid- Start with 1 pushup, hold at the top for 2 seconds, then do 2 reps and hold at the top for 2 seconds, do 3 reps and hold at the top for 2 seconds......4,5,6,7,8,9 and then end with 10 reps. Go as far as you can push yourself even if you cant reach 10 reps. This exercise will get the chest burning right off the bat.
***NOW YOU REST AND YOUR PARTNER DOES THIS BEFORE YOU BOTH MOVE TO A2

A2) Dumbbell chest press on flat bench-12 reps
Be wise when choosing weight. You will not be able to lift what you could for 12 reps fresh so plan accordingly.
***NOW YOU REST AND YOUR PARTNER DOES THIS BEFORE YOU BOTH MOVE TO A3

A3) Decline barbell 1/2 presses-5-6 reps. Take the bar off the rack and lower it all the way down, then press just half way up, lower it back down and then finish the rep going all the way to the top which would equal 1 rep.
***NOW YOU REST AND YOUR PARTNER DOES THIS BEFORE YOU BOTH MOVE TO A4

A4) Incline Hammer press machine ( or whatever incline machine you have )-6-8 reps. The goal here is to explode up with the weight as fast as possible and then lower the weight for a 5 second count.
***NOW YOU REST AND YOUR PARTNER DOES THIS

Rest 3 minutes and repeat this whole thing 1 more round. Only change is now do the pushup pyramid in reverse order so start with 10 reps, then 9 reps, 8....ending with 1 rep. You could a third round and start back from 1 on the pushups.

PULL COMPONENT- Here we target the back with horizontal pulling and vertical pulling movements

B1) Narrow grip lat pulldown-6-8 reps. Have your hands about 8-10 inches apart and palms facing away from you.Go heavy and have your partner help on the last rep or two if need be.
***NOW YOU REST AND YOUR PARTNER DOES THIS BEFORE YOU BOTH MOVE TO B2

B2) Seated curved bar row-10 reps. palms down and arms wide.
***NOW YOU REST AND YOUR PARTNER DOES THIS BEFORE YOU BOTH MOVE TO B3

B3) TRX row-12 reps. Start with your palms facing each other and then finish the row with your palms down. If you don't have a TRX then set up a double cable pulley station with the handles set up high. Drop down into a light squatted position grab the handles and perform the same action as stated above.
***NOW YOU REST AND YOUR PARTNER DOES THIS BEFORE YOU BOTH MOVE TO B4

B4) Incline bench dumbbell reverse flys-15 reps.Lie face down on a incline bench grab a pair of dumbbells. With your arms extended towards the floor and your palms facing each other perform reverse flys under control. You do not need a ton of weight trust me.
***NOW YOU REST AND YOUR PARTNER DOES THIS

Rest 3 minutes and repeat the pulling work for 1 more round. You can do a third round as you progress.

Done, done and DONE! The next day you will feel amazing....trust me and try this today!

GO DOMINATE!

4 exercises to try!

2011-11-30T05:32:00.000-06:00

1) Pushup pyramid- Do 1 pushup, then pause at the top for 2 seconds, do 2 reps, pause for 2 seconds, do 3 reps, pause for 2 seconds. Aim to get up to 10 reps and then be able to work yourself all the way down. You can also do the 2 second pause at the bottom instead.

2) Partial overhead press-This exercise is great for size and strength for the triceps. If you need a new exercise to thrash the triceps then try this! To do this, perform a normal overhead press with a barbell using the same grip width and foot stance as usual. From the lockout position, lower the bar just until it touches the top of your hair. Press it back up and you have done 1 rep.

3) Constant tension bicep curls-Great exercise since you take advantage of muscle tension, isometric contractions and unilateral action. Begin with both arms in a fully flexed position ( think the top of the curl .) Now lower the working arm while keeping the other arm flexed. Curl up the working arm to the fully flexed position to match the non working arm. Then switch arms and do the same thing. Keep alternating until the set is finished. You cant use as much weight with this so you might want to use this after doing a heavier bicep exercise.

4) Mid range partial presses-Awesome way to keep tension on the pecs and get a feeling like never before! Grab dumbbells and get into a bench press position on your back. Simply, just don't go all the way down or all the way up. You will need to use lighter weight than normal.

RCW-#1

2011-11-28T06:10:00.004-06:00

DOUBLE CLICK THE VIDEO TO ENLARGE FOR A BETTER VIEW

Start with 2 minutes straight of jump rope

A1) Inverted row-8 reps
A2) Band donkey kicks - 15 reps per

3 sets before moving right into B1/B2

B1) Lateral pushups- 5 each direction, 4, 3
B2) Reverse drop off lunges from step with dumbbells-8 each leg

3 sets then go right into 1 set of A1/A2...then right into 1 set of B1/B2 then rest for 2 min

C1 ) Reverse grip band pulldowns- 20 reps
C2) Dumbbell sumo squat-12 reps

3 sets then go right into 1 set of A1/A2....1 set of B1/B2...then right into 1 set of C1/C2 then rest for 2min

D1) Tricep kickbacks with bands-15 reps
D2) backward/forward band walks-10 each direction

3 sets then go right into 1 set of A1/A2....1 set of B1/B2.....1 set of C1/C2.....then 1 set of D1/D2.....

Done!

Go Dominate!

Quick push/pull giant set

2011-11-23T11:57:00.007-06:00

If you are strapped for time and need some quick upper body work than try this brief routine. The rep ranges fit best for those looking to gain muscle. You can easily drop the weight on each exercise and up the reps if that is what you want as well.

Lying close grip dumbbell press ( keep your elbows tucked in tight to your sides with your palms facing each other as you press )-10 reps

Seated row with neutral grip-12 reps

Pushups-10 reps ( hold at the bottom of each for 3 seconds )** if this is too easy then add a weight vest or plate to your back

Lat pulldown with close grip ( palms facing forward )-12 reps

Rest 90 seconds and repeat 4 total rounds

It's Thanksgiving not Fatsgiving

2011-11-21T05:35:00.000-06:00

Thanksgiving is a time were you get together with family and friends and enjoy a gluttony of food and football. Delicious turkey, cranberry, mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes piled high on your plate. Other than the turkey most of the meal is heavy on the carbs which will make you heavy in the waist. No matter what your goals are you need to get active both before and after Thanksgiving.

MUSCLE BUILDERS- Go ahead and go to town on Thanksgiving. You need to hit the weights hard and chow down. If your goal is to pack on muscle eat the calories but just make sure to hit it hard the next day at the gym. You should go full body and target as many muscles as possible the day after.Below is a simple routine set up with minimal exercises to keep the workout time efficient.

Each exercise will be done as straight sets. Do 4 sets before moving onto the next exercise. Take 60 sec between sets. Do the first 2 sets aiming to reach failure between 8-10 reps. For the last 2 sets adjust the weight so you reach failure at 6-8 reps.

1) Row with dumbbells

2) Deadlift

3) Bench press with dumbbells

4) Split squat with barbell

5) Neutral grip chinups

6) Dips

WEIGH LOSS/LEANERS-You have it tougher than those trying to pack on muscle but you can still enjoy the holiday using the below strategies.

** Start off the morning do the following mini circuit. This quick morning jolt will kick start your metabolism for the rest of the days eating.

1) Jump rope-all out for 30 seconds ( if you don't have one then do the same motion and mimic having one )
2) Burpees-10 reps

Rest 1 minute, repeat this for 5 rounds.

DAY AFTER WORKOUT

1) Row with dumbbells-15 reps
2) Deadlift-10 reps
3) Pushups-15 reps
4) Walking lunges with dumbbells-10 reps each leg ( alternating legs )
5) Neutral grip chinups-12 reps
6) Sprint ( 20seconds on bike or run in place )

Take 1 min rest then repeat for 5 total rounds.

Random thoughts.....

2011-11-17T06:14:00.001-06:00

If you think your eating a ton and your not packing on muscle, then eat more!

Avocados are like natures butter. Use avocado as a spread on sandwiches, with eggs, on burgers or just eat it alone.

Eating to drop body fat doesnt have to be boring and bland. Use spices and seasonings to give your food calorie free flavor. Try the following marinades- soy sauce, minced garlic and ginger, and diced scallions. Another option is balsalmic vinegar, garlic and diced rosemary. Hot sauces like tabasco and sriracha.

Sprinting owns jogging any day! Sprinting is great for athletes. great to make your legs looker better and great to drop fat quicker. If your not doing them now, start doing them. As always proper warm-up before.

Grab some dumbbells. Next time you workout try and put down the barbell in exchange for dumbbells. You can make this switch out on almost any lift. Try doing dumbbell squats, deadlifts etc. This will stimulate change!

If you are having issues with getting your legs to grow then try doing more reps. The quads specifically respond well to high rep training and this could be the cure you need for more gains. Do sets of 20-30 reps for a couple of weeks and see what happens.

If creating workouts are a chore then focus on just doing simple exercises and doing them really well with simple progressions. For example if you 10 reps of both pullups and squats for 3 sets, then the next workout aim for 4 sets of 10 reps with those exercises. Another option on workout two would be to aim for 3 sets of 12 reps of the two exercises. Those are just two ideas for you.

H4 Fat burner #17-JK Style

2011-11-14T05:42:00.002-06:00

DOUBLE CLICK ON VIDEO TO ENLARGE IN ORDER TO SEE WHOLE SCREEN

This workout has everything in each grouping of exercises for a total body workout. Each grouping has an upper body, lower body, core and conditioning exercise. In this video Kim and Julia, both beautiful badasses ( thanks Nia Shanks for this term ) dominate the workout and show how it should be done.

Workout

After proper dynamic warm-up and foam roll tissue work-

* This workout is meant to have a fast pace and intended to have reps done with speed. Make sure the weight you use allows for this.

A1) Motorcycle row with dumbbell-12 reps
A2) Hip Thrusters ( use barbell across hips if needed for challenge)-12 reps
A3) Chops with band-15 reps
A4) Heisman hops-20-30 seconds ( focus on getting wide and moving quick ) ** time dependant on your level

3-4 sets
** Take no rest if you can handle it else aim for 30-45 seconds between sets

B1) Single leg step up ( note in video at the emphasis on hip extension at top )- 8 reps
B2) Alternating neutral dumbbell shoulder press-10 reps
B3) Bicycle crunch-25 seconds
B4) Jump rope- 15-20 seconds ( all out as fast you can )

3-4 sets
** Take no rest if you can handle it else aim for 30-45 seconds between sets

C1) Row with bands ( palms down and go for speed )-20 reps
C2) Deadlift with kettlebell ( you can use dumbbell as well )-12 reps
C3) Med ball lifts-8 reps each
C4) Skiers forward and backward-3 per leg in each direction x 2

3-4 sets
** Take no rest if you can handle it else aim for 30-45 seconds between sets

GO DOMINATE...

3 steps to lose more fat!

2011-11-10T06:22:00.000-06:00

1) Do total body workouts 3x a week

Total body workouts simply burn more calories than doing body part splits. You burn more calories since you are working more muscle mass in each session that just doing say upper body in one workout. A total body workout should include upper body, lower body, knee dominant ( squats ) and hip dominant ( deadlift ) exercises. You get plenty of core work from these compound movements so you don't have to do too much extra core work. Some sample groupings to organize your workouts are below.

example 1-

A1) Row ( pull )
A2) Pushup ( push )
A3) Squat ( knee dominant )

B1) Pullup ( pull )
B2) Shoulder press ( press )
B3) Deadlift ( hip dominant )

or example 2

A1) Row ( pull )
A2) Lunge ( knee dominant )

B1) Pushup ( press )
B2) Glute bridge ( hip dominant )

2) Focus on veggies, protein and water

Make it simple by eating 5-6 times a day and consume veggies and protein at each meal. In terms of protein eat a portion about the size of a deck of cards. Veggies aim for the green variety since they are low in carbs and full of nutrients. Protein snack ideas are below.

Jerky-buffalo or turkey best
Cheese sticks
Cottage cheese
Protein shake
Hard boiled eggs

3) Get your workout going ASAP

Need a lift to your current workout? Maybe you start off on a slow foot? A simple answer to these issues is to start your workout with 5 minutes of jump rope. Not only will you get a great quick warmup but you will burn some extra calories before you even get going. Add 30 seconds or so to each workout. As you get better build up the time until you could do 10 minutes continuous before your workout. If you don't like jumping rope then do burpees ( hate that name ) and do as many as you can for 2 minutes.

Bring the shock Tuesday

2011-11-08T13:03:00.009-06:00

It is rainy and gloomy here in Chicago today and people are tired and dragging their feet around town and in the gym. I figured this a perfect day to bring to you a workout to disrupt your normal routine. If your progress has stalled and you need something to awaken you....use this!

This workout focuses on heavy weight and low reps. The focus is power and to make the body have to work really hard to move heavy things. You will be taking rest periods since you will need the rest in order to maintain the strength and power demands. After your done with the lifting you will get hammered with the conditioning aspect. Generally most people do not lift with the high load and low reps so this will be a change and a shock. Look to use this style of workouts for the next 2-3 weeks to bring about new change.

** Remember the weights used should be appropriate and you should struggle on the final rep of each set. Spotter is highly recommended.

A1) One arm row with dumbbell- 6 reps
A2) Squat jumps-10 reps ( focus on height and drive with your arms )

1 minute rest between combos. Do 3 total sets

B1) Lying neutral grip dumbbell press ( palms face each other )-6 reps
B2) Deadlift with trap bar ( if not then use traditional bar )-6 reps

1 minute rest between combos. Do 3 total sets

C1) Mixed grip pullup ( one palm facing away and one facing toward you )-3 reps then switch hands around, 6 reps total
C2) Step up with dumbbells ( use medium box and hold dumbbells in both hands )-5 reps each leg

1 minute rest between combos. Do 3 total sets

D1) Dips ( weighted if need be )-6 reps
D2) Lateral lunge with dumbbells -6 reps per side doing one leg at a time ( let the dumbbells go between the legs as you lunge )

1 minute rest between combos. Do 3 total sets

Conditioning-

Sprints on bike - 20sec all out spring, 40 sec recovery slow ....repeat this 4 rounds

Done!

GO DOMINATE!

8 things to do to stay fit and healthy

2011-11-02T09:14:00.007-05:00

1) Eat a protein based breakfast-You will eat less throughout the day and burn more calories. If your goal is weight gain than simply eat more at this time.

2) Drink green tea daily-activates your metabolism and has been shown to inhibit bad bacteria.

3) Eat multiple meals-Take your waking hours ( time you are up ) and divide it by 3 to give you a rough estimate on about how many meals you should have a day. Up 15 hours, then have 5 meals. Think to eat more often and smaller portions.

4) Minimal alcohol-yes enjoy yourself but keep it to a small amount and not too often. Alcohol slows down the fat burning process and can lead to access belly fat.

5) No calorie counting-Just keep things simple

VEGGIES AND LEAN PROTEIN AT EACH MEAL

AVOID CARBS AND SUGARS ( post workout is exception )

DRINK TONS OF WATER

6) Rid yourself of stress-Stress can hurt your mood, workouts and life period. Life cant be spent worrying about everything so let things go and stay focused on important things. Next time you get stressed go listen to music, run or hit the weights.

7) Workout-this is obvious.

8) Get rest-sleep = recovery which = a better you.

Halloween random thoughts.....

2011-10-31T06:00:00.000-05:00

New take on deviled eggs-A friend of mine Brian Barkely introduced me to his version of this traditional dish. Take hard boiled eggs and remove the yolk just like you would for deviled eggs. Next, spoon in red pepper hummus into the empty eggs and dash on some paprika. It is the red pepper hummus that really does it. Not only is this better for you than the classic deviled egg it can be a great high protein snack.

When doing straight arm pull downs. try using a V shaped or curved bar to get better activation on the lats.

Your hamstrings respond best to low reps and your glutes respond best to medium to high reps.

Want quick advice to drop weight and lean out? Cut out the 3 whites. White bread, white salt and white flour.

Love Emeralds cocoa roast dark chocolate dusted almonds. Taste great and basically no sugar.As always with nuts watch out for the fat and calories of course.

Some motivation for you- Rocky 4 training montage...might be the best ever

Strip set for the leg press

2011-10-26T05:38:00.000-05:00

Most experts believe that the quads need high reps and time under tension to hypertrophy. Strip sets will allow you get a high amount of reps as well as place your muscles under a long period of tension. To start pile on the leg press with a weight you can do 10 reps with while keeping quality form. The 10th rep should be really difficult. Once you finish your 10 reps, have a partner strip off a plate off each side and without rest get as many reps as you can to failure. Next, strip off another plate from each side again and go until failure. Repeat this process until you no longer can finish. Some can get down until you are just pressing the sled itself.

* Notes- If you don't have a partner just strip the plates yourself but make sure to move fast. Remember leg presses in this manner can cause your blood pressure to skyrocket so be careful if you have high blood pressure to begin with.

Quick 3 considerations for fat loss

2011-10-24T06:30:00.000-05:00

1) Your workouts need to be frequent- I realize this is obvious but it needs to happen if you want the best results. Working out more frequently will give you a more elevated metabolic rate therefore you will burn more calories.

2) Training sessions need to be under 45 minutes-You have to remember that you will be starting each workout in a energy deficit since you will be cutting your calories on a fat loss plan. The fact that your energy levels will be lower wont allow you to keep up a high intensity workout for anything over 45 minutes or so. I by no means am saying not to push it however! If your workouts are designed well enough then by the 45 minute mark you should be gassed anyways.

3) Center your workouts around exercises that are the most effective for fat loss-Some exercises are just better suited for fat loss more than others are. Any multi-joint exercise will usually reign supreme. Below are some of the money exercises that should be included in any stud fat loss program.

Any variations of the below exercises works of course
*Deadlifts
*Pull-ups ( or any full body pull like inverted rows, chins )
* Push presses, presses in general
* Squats
*Step-ups
* Cleans

GO DOMINATE!

3 rep schemes for new muscle growth!

2011-10-19T06:02:00.000-05:00

1. Tempo Contrast -This is when you alternate between fast and slow tempos during one set. This hurts really bad trust me. Example would be doing 8 reps of curls like this:

Rep 1-Lower the weight for 6 seconds, and then lift the weight up with for a 4 second count

Rep2-Lower the weight for 6 seconds, and then lift the weight up with for a 4 second count

Rep 3-Explosive ( fast as you can )

Rep 4-Explosive ( fast as you can )

Rep 5-Lower the weight for 6 seconds, and then lift the weight up with for a 4 second count

Rep 6-Lower the weight for 6 seconds, and then lift the weight up with for a 4 second count

Rep 7-Explosive ( fast as you can )

Rep 8- Explosive ( fast as you can )

**Do about 3-4 sets like this

2. The 8x3 Method-Generally you think heavy weight with low reps is only for strength but you can build muscle with this method as well. The key is the multiple sets. Doing multiple sets with heavy weight targets type IIB muscle fibers which are the ones with the greatest growth potential.Here is how you do it:

* Perform 8 sets of 3 reps with heavy weight
* Don't train to complete failure ( you should be able to do a 4th rep, but you will stop at 3 )
*Keep rest periods at about 1 minute

3.Isometric/Dynamic method-This is when you add a pause into each rep. Isometric contractions can allow you to recruit up to 10% more muscle fibers than dynamic lifts. This really works good with isolation exercises. My favorite is to do this with seated rows. You would perform a regular row and then hold the contraction at the back end and try to squeeze your shoulder blades. Below is how it would look:

Rep 1-10 sec pause
Rep 2-8 sec pause
Rep 3-6 second pause
Rep 4-4 second pause
Rep 5- 2 second pause
Rep 6-no pause

Random thoughts....

2011-10-17T14:43:00.007-05:00

I will give you the biggest secret to getting the best results you have ever seen.....ready..........here it is- WORK HARD, STAY FOCUSED AND KEEP MENTALLY STRONG. That's it, seems really simple and it is, just hard to execute it and that is were people fail.

Fix your own oatmeal-More and more people seem to be getting their oatmeal from fast food joints and restaurants when it is super simple to do themselves. Buy a quality brand from Whole Foods/Trader Joe's and cook it in the microwave briefly ( I know microwaves are awful but just deal ) and then add sliced almond,dried natural cranberries and top it with some cinnamon. BOOM DONE!

2 things to focus on for losing weight and getting lean-VEGGIES and PROTEIN.

Take a break from deadlifting and squatting and start doing single leg versions of both. Start off with body weight of each and work on form. Benefits are less stress on the lumbar spine, improves the musculature around the knee and stability.

Check out this motivational video-

3 Splits I like for hypertrophy

2011-10-12T06:37:00.000-05:00

Here are some of my favorite splits to use when designing your training program with a goal of gaining lean muscle mass. Some these might not be that common but with my clients and myself I have found them to yield good results.

Split A ( this gives really good balance and lets the legs have plenty of recovery time between sessions)

M- Push/Pull ** Always aim for at least 2-1 ratio of pull to push work
T-Legs
W-Arms
Th-Push/Pull
F-Legs
S-Arms
Su-OFF

Split B ( Hit the legs right from the get go. Back gets a second day compared to just one chest day to help and correct typical imbalance between push and pull . The single chest day should be high volume since that is all you will do for the week)

M-Legs
T-Bi/Back
W-Tri/Chest
Th-Legs
F-Bi/Back ( biceps/triceps can be interchangeable depending on your weak area ) S-OFF
Su-OFF

Split C ( Here I pair lesser common groupings of biceps with chest and triceps with back. Thought is that you get more workload since these pairings don't effect one another. Every other week you can shift which pairing you do twice. Week 1-Back/Tri 2x......Week 2 Chest/Bi 2x )

M-Back/Tri
T-Legs
W-Chest/Bi
Th-Legs
F-Back/Tri
S-OFF
Su-OFF

H4 Fat Burner # 17- Simple 6 exercise routine

2011-10-09T16:37:00.010-05:00

Get your dynamic warm up in before starting this
A1) Barbell twist shoulder press ( watch the third exercise in the below video )-8 reps per arm
*http://www.youtube.com/user/H4training#p/u/16/ZoOmokj-t5A
A2) Kettlebell or Dumbbell deadlift-10 reps

Do 4 straight rounds without rest then move into B

B1) Inverted row-10 reps
B2) Cable rope backward "sled drags " ( Put the cable pulley at the very bottom and attach a rope. Facing the cable grab the rope and keeping your arms straight with a slight bend walk backwards away from the cable trying to push through the floor. Walk as far back as the weight stack allows before you walk slowly back in. This would equal 1 rep)-4 reps

Do 4 straight rounds without rest then move into C

C1) Rear foot elevated spilt squat ( elevate the back foot on a bench and place your front foot out in front of you. Start in the bottom position with your back knee on the ground and under your hip. Grab a pair of dumbbells and hold them on your side while you stand up to a tall position)-8 reps per side
C2) Cable standing chops ( put the cable at just below chest height and keeping hips and lower body locked )-15 reps each side

Do 4 straight rounds without rest

Now go back and do 3 rounds of each of the 3 combinations. Then go back and do 2 rounds of each, then go and do 1 round of each.

** You could also start at 3 and work your way down to 1 instead of starting with 4 sets.

Eat better at work-7 strategies

2011-10-06T06:04:00.001-05:00

1) Load up on healthy foods over the weekend- if you have it in your house you will have no excuse not to have food around to bring the next day. Odds are you might not have time to run back and forth to the store so get your food in one shot.

2) Make extra-When you cook dinner, cook extra for yourself to bring the next day. Not only will you save money by not eating out but you will save some extra pounds of your body.

3) Keep healthy snacks-Don't load up your desk with candy and chips, but instead with nuts, string cheese, healthy bars, yogurt and so on. What is in reach will be what you eat.

4) Look ahead when you eat out-If you must go out to eat then do your research ahead of time. Everyone has that bit of time at work when they read Facebook and other sites, so instead read the menus of local places and figure out your healthiest options. Look for:

* Lean meats
* Broth-based soups
* Greens with olive oil and vinegar dressings

5) Eat away from your desk-It has been shown people eat more when they sit down and eat at their desk. Eating at your desk will lead you to ignore fullness signals from your body making it easier to overeat.

6) Set a goal-How often will you bring your lunch is a good starting goal.

7) Eat breakfast! This is the start of your work day. Eat breakfast and you eat less throughout the day end of story.

Quick giant set bicep routine

2011-10-04T21:28:00.006-05:00

This routine goes from heavy weight and low reps to lighter weight and higher reps and ends with an isometric hold. The goal is to stress the biceps at every rep range. If done correctly and at the right weight and intensity 1 set should be plenty since it adds to 45 total reps. Go 2 rounds if you dare.

A1)Lying Bicep curls ( set up low cable pulley at the bottom and attach a straight bar. Lying on your back on the floor perform a curl)-8 reps with heavy weight

A2) Standing barbell curl with wide grip-10 reps

A3) Seated alternating bicep curls with dumbbells-12 reps each arm

A4) Standing band curls ( place a band under your feet and curl for speed )-15 reps **this will be tough trust me

A5) Chin-up isometric hold ( get into the top position of the chin-up and squeeze and hold until you can't hold on ) Done!

Are you better than yesterday?

2011-09-28T05:13:00.001-05:00

Do you wish today is better than yesterday? Are you hoping yesterdays greatness is even better today? You need to be striving for improvement each and every day.Like they say there is no such thing as standing still. If you are not doing anything to stay ahead of the game then your falling behind. Everything starts with your mindset and your mindset starts with you. Your success is what you want it to be. Think about your goals and what you want today and how you will better yourself than yesterday. Don't think about just getting closer to big goals, but think about doing better in your efforts to reach that goal than you did yesterday.

You cant guarantee that you will be in better shape today than you were yesterday, but you can control that you will do more today to get into better shape. Look at yourself right now and think about what you can do today to make yourself better than you were yesterday. If each day you improve then you will always be pushing forward and succeeding in your efforts. If it didn't happen for you today, then make it work tomorrow. Tonight when you go to bed stop and ask yourself " Am I better today than yesterday?"

LOSE THE WEIGHT! GET STRONGER! GET BIGGER! GET HEALTHY!

H4 Fat Burner- Fearsome foursome routine # 2

2011-09-26T08:20:00.017-05:00

After a proper warmup-

* Make sure the weights on the upper and lower body exercises are challenging for the rep scheme written

** You can feel free to replace any exercise with another as long as it matches with the correct movement listed.

A1) Upper body pull-Prone dumbbell row on incline bench ( lie face down on incline bench and row both dumbbells at the same time with your palms facing each other trying to squeeze shoulder blades)-10 reps

A2) Lower body-Sumo squat with dumbbell-10 reps

A3) Conditioning-High knees in place-25 seconds

A4) Core- "V" up-10 reps

Repeat this for 2-4 more rounds depending on your fitness level

B1) Upper body push- Dumbbell bench press -12 reps

B2) Lower body-Rope pull through-10 reps

B3) Conditioning-Mountain climbers-20 seconds

B4) Core-Band chops low to high ( secure the band low and chop upward )-15 reps per side

Repeat this 2-4 more rounds without rest depending on your fitness level

C1) Upper body pull-Pullup with close grip-8 reps

C2) Lower body-Lateral dumbbell lunges-alternating sides for 8 reps per

C3) Conditioning- 4 dot drill ( imagine 4 dots in a square shape on the floor and with your legs together jump to each dot clockwise then counter clockwise-each for 10 each

C4) Core- Bicycle crunch 25 seconds

Repeat this 2-4 more rounds depending on your fitness level

Why weekends are killing your fat loss

2011-09-20T21:47:00.016-05:00

Friday through Sunday seems to always create such havoc to ones personal fat loss goals. You work so hard during the week not only in the gym but in the kitchen and you seem to have the train running, but then comes the weekend. What happens, major derailment, and you let yourself fall off the cliff.

It is common for me to hear all the time from my clients: "I was doing so well during the week and then the weekend came and its like everything went down hill." Lets face it most peoples weekends are filled with social gatherings, sports games, nights out at restaurants, late night eating and drinking and anything else that you can imagine. All of these things are not in the best interest in helping you eat healthy and maintain your fat loss goals.

WHAT IS GOING ON?

Lets say that during the week your totally dominating the workouts and your eating and you have put yourself in a 3,500 calorie deficit. This equates to about a 700 calorie deficit a day and will turn into one pound of fat loss a week. Now the weekend comes around. You tell yourself you are going to stay on track but you don't and you end up eating like garbage and drinking too much. So now you end up eating 500 extra calories than you should on both Saturday and Sunday which leaves your calorie deficit to only 2500 which equals not even a full pound of fat loss for the week.

STRATEGIES TO COMBAT THIS

1) Damage control- If you know the weekend will be rough than avoid complete destruction. You can do this by eating 1 slice of pizza with a salad as the filler, instead of 4-5 slices. This can keep a really bad situation from becoming really really bad.

2) Plan ahead-If you know that Saturday night you are going out for a friends birthday dinner and drinks think about what you can do before this takes place. You can eat a good amount of veggies and lean protein before heading to the dinner which will cause you to eat a smaller portion at the restaurant. If Sunday is a morning out for brunch then limit your Saturday calories so that Sunday doesn't put you to far behind.

3) Own the weekdays! Make sure you are on your game 100% during this part of the week. Having a so so week plus a bad weekend is a recipe for disaster.

4) Weekend workouts-If you can add some exercise into your weekend the more success you will have. This doesn't just have to be an actual workout but just adding more physical activity period in any way is better than nothing. Walk the stairs at the mall when shopping instead of the elevator or escalator. Walk your dogs, take a bike ride, walk or run to the store etc.

In the end remember that YOU AND ONLY YOU HAS CONTROL ON THE RESULTS YOU GET so don't complain just make it happen!

Goblet squats

2011-09-18T16:35:00.006-05:00

How to do it-

Grab a dumbbell or kettlebell and hold it up against your chest. If your using a dumbbell than hold it vertical on one end like your holding a goblet. If you use the kettlebell then hold the horns.

While holding the weight against your chest, squat low and have your elbows slide past the inside of your knees ( look at above picture.)

Best for?

Everyone! People with back issues will find this squat with load in front of the body easier than traditional squat. Also great instead of front squats with a barbell if those hurt your wrists.

Pyramid training

2011-09-15T06:50:00.006-05:00

Instead of doing the same amount of reps for every set try pyramiding your reps. Pyramiding allows you to work throughout a whole range of rep ranges. Pyramid workouts are also great to amp up your intensity and help you build more muscle. Below are 3 types of pyramiding sets that you can use.

1) Descending pyramid-decrease weight, increase reps

* First warmup properly before starting your first set. You will then start off with the heaviest weight you plan to use on the first working set. You should aim for about 5-6 reps on set one. Each set after you should decrease the weight and increase the reps. On your fourth set or so you should be around 15 reps.

2) Ascending pyramid-increase weight, decrease reps

* First warmup properly before starting your first set. Start off with lighter weight and do around 15 reps on set one. Each set after drop the weight by about 10-20% and do less reps. So set two might be about 12 reps or so. By set four you will be using the heaviest weight yet and doing around 4-5 reps.

3) Triangle pyramid-combining the above two

* This routine involves more sets, and the higher volumes helps you to build more muscle. Start by doing the ascending pyramid in which you use light weight and high reps. Go all the way down to about 4-5 reps and then now try and work your way back up. Most likely you wont be able to hit the same reps so make adjustments and get as close as you can.This would look like this:

16-12-8-4-8-12-16

Monday leg blast

2011-09-12T08:22:00.008-05:00

Its Monday and everyone on earth is benching so why not be different and do this leg workout.

A1) Glute bridge-3 sets of 15 reps ( pause and squeeze the glutes at the top of each rep)

** these are a good way to activate the glutes before the deadlifts and also act as a warmup

Rest 60 sec between sets

make sure you do 1-2 warmup light sets before starting the heavy deadlifts

B1) Barbell deadlift- 4 sets of 8 reps

Resting 90sec between sets

C1) Forward walking alternating dumbbell lunges-10 reps per leg

Rest 60 sec and then do:

Reverse walking alternating dumbbell lunges ( make sure you push off your front leg to go into the next step )-10 reps per leg

Rest 60 sec and then repeat back to the forward lunges for 1 more set, and then the reverse for one more set

H4 Fat burner #16-Fearsome foursome routine

2011-09-07T09:43:00.001-05:00

Love this workout because it involves every aspect you would want in a good workout to lean down or to get into better condition. The resistance training allows you to maintain muscle mass which is key to metabolism. The core work is needed for all because of its importance to the overall body. Weak core, weak body. Finally, the conditioning exercises allow for a high calorie burn in session. I only put 3 separate circuits but you could add a 4th.

After a proper warmup-

* Make sure the weights on the upper and lower body exercises are challenging for the rep scheme written

A1) Upper body pull- Pullup-8reps

A2) Lower body-Split squat with dumbbell-8 reps per side

A3) Conditioning-Jackknives ( burpees )-10 reps

A4) Core-Resistance band chops-15 reps per side

Repeat this for 2-4 more rounds depending on your fitness level

B1) Upper body Push-Standing neutral grip dumbbell shoulder press-8 reps

B2) Lower body-Deadlift with barbell-8 reps

B3) Conditioning-Heisman hops-12 per side **

B4) Core-Reverse crunch-10 reps

**To learn how to do the Heisman hops watch my video

http://www.youtube.com/user/H4training#p/u/5/DoUyzLcAsuk

Repeat this 2-4 more rounds without rest depending on your fitness level

C1) Upper body Pull- Reverse grip cable row ( palms up )-10 reps

C2) Lower body-Lateral step up with dumbbell-8 reps per leg

C3) Conditioning-Lateral shuffle-8x ( distance between cones 20 ft ro so ) **

C4) Core-Plank hold for time ( whatever you can do with good form )
**To learn how to do the lateral shuffle watch my video

http://www.youtube.com/user/H4training#p/u/5/DoUyzLcAsuk

Repeat this 2-4 more rounds without rest depending on your fitness level

Done-

Putting the LABOR in Labor day!

2011-09-05T10:49:00.008-05:00

Its Labor day most everyone is off so what better way to spend your day then dominating in the gym. Below is a push and pull workout that you will love. Make it happen!

A1)Incline dumbbell chest press-12 reps ( explosive reps )
SUPER SET
B1) Incline bench dumbbell one arm row-12 reps **
** stand behind the incline bench and rest your left arm on the top of the bench. Perform a row with your right arm, then switch arms.

Do this for 1 round then take 1 minute rest before moving to A2/B2

A2) Decline dumbbell chest press-8 reps ( each rep lower the weight for 4 seconds )
SUPER SET
B2) Straight bar seated row-8 reps ( each rep hold for 5 seconds )

Do this for 1 round then take 1 minute rest before moving to A3/B3

A3) Barbell 1/2 press-12 reps ( lower the bar to just above the chest and then press just 1/2 way up, lower back down to equal one rep )
SUPER SET
B3) T-bar row-12 reps

Do this for 1 round and then take 2-3 minutes rest before starting back at A1/B1

Repeat this whole sequence for 3 total rounds

When should you see a physical therapist?

2011-09-01T08:35:00.000-05:00

Push and Pull quick combo with bands

2011-08-29T04:55:00.001-05:00

Make it happen.......NOW!!!!

2011-08-24T05:01:00.000-05:00

What are you waiting for you? Why havent you gotten yourself in the best shape of your life yet? Are you scared? Are you waiting for the perfect time? Dont know what first step to take?

Whatever your doing right now stop and think about where you would like to be. Challenge yourself here, how much better could you become? You can control your next step and not make it like any other step, you can bring on a new way of thinking, new way of doing and new way of life! Anyone can talk about doing something tomorrow or a week from now or month from now but not everyone can take action and get things done! Those who take action become successful. Dont be ordinary like everyone else, be better.....dominate!

Let me know what action you take today~

D4R....

5 ways to improve your pull-ups

2011-08-22T07:59:00.009-05:00

The lat pulldown has become more popular around gyms than the pull-ups. The reason is simple, pull-ups are freaking hard and most people cant do them well or just cant do them at all. Here are some ways to change that.

1) Lose excess weight/body fat-You need to be strong and lean to do pull-ups. The heavier you are the harder its going to be to excute obviously.

2) Do not train to failure-When your doing pull-ups if you always train to failure you end up with horrible sloppy reps and you just dont gain a benefit from it. In fact going to failure on pull-ups often tends to lead to decreases in strength and mass gains for reasons unknown, it just happens.

3) Elbows towards your sides-Think about driving your elbows down and back to really bring the lats into play and therefore avoid relying mostly on your biceps.'

4) Improve your grip strength- the stronger your grip the better your pull-ups will be. You can build grip strength by doing more deadlifts and reverse curls or by using fatter barbells. You can also do wrist curls and other exercises geared towards grip strength.

5) Train with different ranges-To do a bunch of pull-ups you need both strength and endurance. Make sure you lift with low rep ranges for strength and high rep ranges for endurance. You can use bands as assistance for the pullups if need be.

Full blast back routine

2011-08-17T10:21:00.006-05:00

A1) Seated row with V bar- You will hold each rep and focus on squeezing the shoulder blades together at the back of the movement. Rep 1-8sec rep 2- 7 sec rep 3-6 sec........until last rep is held for 1 sec. 8 total reps of course. The isometric hold is a great way to recruit more muscle fibers and has been shown to be highly effective when training the back.

**Rest 60 sec and repeat this for 3 more total sets

B1) T-bar row-This will be done as a drop set. Do your first set with a challenging weight for 8-10 reps. then immediately drop 25lbs off the bar and then try and rep out another 8-10 reps.

**Rest 60 sec and repeat this for 3 more total sets

C1) One arm row with a dumbbell and pause-Do a standard one arm row but let the weight rest on the floor at the bottom for a 1 sec pause each rep before exploding up as fast as you can. This pause will keep you from cheating and allow you to focus better on solid movements. Do 8 reps

**Rest 60 sec and repeat this for 3 more total sets

Done!

Lower body mechanics with Mike Kelly

2011-08-15T06:34:00.004-05:00

Here is another video from my friend and physical therapist Mike Kelly. This video describes the function and muscular interactions of the lower extremity. The video provides information about the critical importance of hip strength during functional activities. Hip strength provides the lower extremity with the strength and stability for gait, running, squatting and for balance. Hip strength The video demonstrates both non-weight bearing and weight bearing activities for hip strengthening. The weight bearing activities also help increase strength in functional planes.

Heart 2 Heart-Why your not getting results

2011-08-10T05:08:00.000-05:00

Another bicep routine

2011-08-07T18:38:00.007-05:00

A)Preacher curls with EZ curl bar-1 set at 5-6 reps ** Use heavy weight so that last rep is tough

Rest 1 min and then repeat 1 more set

Move onto

B) 1 set of Chinups to failure

Rest 1 minute

Repeat starting back with the preacher curls except this time you will need to drop the weight by 2.5-5lbs per side.

Shoulder health with Mike Kelly

2011-08-03T16:17:00.008-05:00

Here is a guest post from Mike Kelly, a good friend, and great physical therapist.

By: Mike Kelly

The shoulder joint is a "ball and socket" joint in which the humeral head(ball) moves upon the small glenoid surface on the scapula(socket). The large humeral head requires a significant amount of stability in this space, and the rotator cuff serves this function. The deltoid is the primary mover in many regions, but if the deltoid overpowers the rotator cuff or poor postures are used, it can alter the mechanics of this joint structure and can cause rotator cuff lesions and shoulder dysfunction.

The video describes just a few of the exercises necessary for proper rotator cuff strength. For proper shoulder health, these need to be incorporated with scapular strengthening along with other rotator cuff exercises. These are just a sampling of key exercises.

For further information, questions, or injury assessments please feel free to contact Mike Kelly, PT at DMikeKelly@gmail.com

Treadmill free cardio workout

2011-08-01T05:19:00.002-05:00

Lets face it doing cardio on the treadmill and bike gets boring after a while. Myself, I hate cardio and I know most of my clients do too. This routine is great because it is different and way more interesting than traditional cardio workouts. This routine can be done anywhere. It can be done at home or even in a hotel room or office.

Set the timer for 25 minutes and see how many complete rounds you can finish. Remember you can take whatever rest you need but try to push yourself. Record how many rounds you get and the next time out you want to top that. Do this workout for a third day and aim to beat the workout before.

1) High knees in place-30 sec
2) Jumping jacks-30 reps
3) Squat and kick-10 reps each leg
4) Back kick-10 reps each leg
5) Surfer get-ups-5 reps each side
6) Heisman hops-10 reps each leg
7) Jacknives-10 reps
8) Lateral shuffle-8 reps ( there and back equals 1 )

5 exercises to avoid

2011-07-28T09:11:00.018-05:00

Here are some exercises that most of you know you should be avoiding but you don't really know why you should be. I don't personally believe in saying "never" do exercise A, or exercise B but the following are just some exercises you should avoid or find a better alternative for. Remember almost every exercise has a potential risk to it, so just do the exercises with the greater reward relative to its risk.

1) Upright row-This is a fairly common exercise you see people doing in every gym across America to develop/strengthen their shoulder. The issue with this exercise has to do with that very muscle, the shoulder and the shoulder joint. Upright rows can cause shoulder impingement over time for many people especially if done with a narrow grip. If you are going to do this exercise try and switch to a wider grip.

OTHER ALTERNATIVES: Military press, dumbbell press

2) Behind the neck pulldowns-Pull downs to the front of the body are a great exercise, this variation not so much. Just like the upright row this exercise can cause issues with the shoulder and shoulder joint. Also, since most people lack good shoulder flexibility, they will tend to compensate by bending their neck forward and causing issues with the neck and C spine.

OTHER ALTERNATIVES: Normal lat pulldown, Pull ups

3) Behind the neck shoulder press-Are you noticing a trend here? Most of these exercise have to do with a movement in which the weight is going behind the head. This exercise has the issues as the above exercises. Shoulder problems and rotator cuff issues can arise as well as problems with your neck.

OTHER ALTERNATIVES: Shoulder press in front of the head, military press

4) Stiff leg deadlift with legs elevated-The stiff leg deadlift, done right, actually is a great exercise and should be done to improve the hamstrings, back and glutes. However, when you try and get more extreme range of motion by elevating your legs off the ground and standing on a box or step you can cause issues. What tends to happen with this approach is once you get to a certain depth on the lift you lose the arch in your back. By losing the arch in your back you shift the tension from the musculature of the back to the connective tissue and bones of the spinal column. End result is you increase your risk to hurt the low back.

OTHER ALTERNATIVES: Regular deadlift, hamstring curl

5) The basic sit up-If you like having a healthy low back then I would avoid/minimize doing floor sit ups. This old exercise ends up doing more harm than good. This exercise causes you to flex at the spine over and over and eventually can lead to damage to your discs and low back. Now I do think here and there you should toss in some sit ups because the last thing you want to lose is the ability to sit up from a bench press after pressing 300 plus pounds, that would not be good. But for the majority of your time I would use other exercises that have a higher reward than risk.

OTHER ALTERNATIVES: Planks, side planks, med ball chops and lifts

Random thoughts

2011-07-25T06:16:00.001-05:00

There are a bunch of programs that work for a while but then eventually everything becomes stale. You need to make sure you are changing your workouts. Change exercises, programs, and methods.

If your trying to get faster then work your hamstrings and glutes. If your trying to better your vertical then work on your quads.

I love beets. They are low in calories and fat, but are high in fiber and vitamins and minerals. So Eat some!

If you have no specific training goal in mind try to mix up your routine every4-6 weeks. Do weeks of strength, metabolic ( fat loss ) and hypertrophy to get the benefits of every type of training.

Plyometric training and lifting with heavy heavy loads is hard on your central nervous system and can really beat down your body. Limit these types of workouts to 1-2x a week.

Better hamstrings with this trick

2011-07-21T05:30:00.000-05:00

Sure some people will argue that the leg curl isn't functional and is garbage but I don't really care. The leg curl in my opinion is still a solid exercise to use if your trying to build someones hamstrings. Having strong hamstrings is functional!

The next time you do leg curls pay attention to your feet. Your calves can help your hamstrings lift the weight when your feet are dorsiflexed ( your foot facing your body ) and if you plantarflex ( pointing the foot away from the body) your calves with be taken out of the equation. So what does this mean to you and your workout?

GOAL IS TO LIFT MORE WEIGHT ON THE LEG CURL THEN:
***Have your foot facing your body.

GOAL IS MORE HAMSTRING STIMULATION THEN:
***Point your feet away from your body.

GOAL IS TO BLAST THROUGH A PLATEAU THEN:
*** On the concentric part of the leg curl ( bringing the legs toward the body ) have your feet dorsiflexed and use a heavier load than normal. On the eccentric part of the lift ( which we are stronger on ) have your feet plantarflexed and go for a slow tempo.

3 Exercises to add muscle

2011-07-18T08:36:00.008-05:00

Here are 3 exercises that people need to do more often to help with your muscle gains.

1) INCLINE DUMBBELL BENCH PRESS- Ok, so I know a ton of people bench and work their pecs, but not many people do incline often and with enough volume. Dumbbells are great because they allow for a greater range of motion more so than the traditional barbell does. Also, incline press will help your anterior delt ( front of the shoulder ) and upper pec to develop at greater speeds which will result in a fuller looking chest. Every 3 weeks or so try to change the angle of the incline slightly to keep yourself progressing in the workouts.

2) STIFF LEG DEADLIFT WITH BARBELL-Nothing beats these in terms of really torching your hamstrings. Focus on a controlled lowering of the bar to get that negative and then explode on the way up. Mix up your rep schemes by going heavier with low reps ( 3-5 ) on some weeks and then going moderate weight with medium reps ( 8-10 ) on others. Make sure you always keep great form and never spare the back by trying to do too much weight1

3) WALL BARBELL BICEP CURLS-I love these things because they help you avoid cheating. Normally you do a standing bicep curl and by the end your rocking, your back and shoulders are working and it becomes a mess. Now that you wont cheat as much you can get greater recruitment of the bicep than before. Get yourself against a wall and keep your butt, and whole back against it the whole lift. I stand with my feet about 1-2 feet away from the wall.

Weak Training advice

2011-07-14T06:38:00.002-05:00

Fitness professionals are naturally full of opinions and have numerous recommendations on exercise. And they’ve populated the Internet with blogs spouting their ideas about health and fitness.

There are many trainers, but there are few great trainers. Some of smartest minds in the industry are Todd Durkin http://www.todddurkin.com/, Joe Dowdell http://www.joedowdell.com/, Tony Gentilcore http://www.tonygentilcore.com//and Mike Boyle http://strengthcoachblog.com//. These are the individuals people should be listening to – they’re the experts people would be smart to follow.

Then there are so-called "celebrity trainers" … like Tracy Anderson. I’m not sure how she has become so successful. Maybe because she makes crazy claims or gets celebrity women to think she is actually smart and is getting them results. Or maybe these celebrities – like the rest of the public – just don't know any better.

If you want to get a laugh, check out her website: http://tracyandersonmethod.com/tracy/. Here are just some of her more ridiculous claims:

TRACY’S SITE: The mission of her method is to "strengthen the smaller muscle groups so that these muscles can pull in the larger muscles – which results in a lean figure that is not bulky."
*** Who knew our body's smaller muscles had such power over our larger muscles? Oh, wait … they don't! This statement on her site is not only ridiculous, but it can inspire people to work out in ways that can result in injuries.

TRACY DISCUSSING DANCE CARDIO AND THIGH-BUSTERS: "Doing 20-40 reps of each move pulls away the fat from the muscle – the cardio burns that fat to help diminish the look of cellulite."
*** A certain rep scheme pulls fat away from muscle? Wow. Her claims might be funny … if they weren’t so ridiculous.

TRACY IN LIFE&STYLE MAGAZINE: "We don't want to take away Kim Kardashian's amazing curves, so we just do specific movements to tighten the skin and to pull the muscles tight against the bone."
*** Last time I checked, you can’t pull skin and make it tighter through exercise. I’m no doctor, but I'm just saying. Also, your muscles already surround your bones. Is Tracy going to go inside your body with a wrench and tighten the bolts?

Tracy has a flashy website, she’s fit and she can drop celebrity names faster than an amateur weightlifter can drop a set of dumbbells. But I don't care and either should you. She’s clearly not educated in the field and she doesn't really know what she is doing.

The purpose of this blog post to remind you to pay careful attention to the things you read and hear in the fitness industry. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to finish my workout so I can pull in my larger muscles and tighten my skin.

Try this!

2011-07-12T13:33:00.006-05:00

Do 100 reps of pullups in as few of sets as you can. You can take whatever rest you need between sets just don't exceed 2minutes. Then next time you workout your back try and get to 100 reps in fewer sets as you did the first time around. It doesn't matter what number you start with your how many you do in each set just get to 100 in the least amount of sets. If you are not strong enough to do legit pullups then you can use the assisted machine or just wait til your stronger!

Example

25 reps-set 1

Done

Things I like

2011-07-07T07:48:00.013-05:00

Good Health brand peanut butter pretzels-Whole wheat pretzels filled with natural pb a perfect combo.

Combo of-Dumbbell hammer curls for 10 reps, followed by 10 neutral grip ( palms facing each other ) chinups. Without resting keep going back and forth between the two exercises dropping the reps by one each round. So 10/10, 9/9, 8/8 and so on until you get to 1. Of course you need to be able to do chinups in the first place.

Rosie Huntington-She is the new girl in Transformers. See above.

Ground bison+bell peppers+onions+garlic+diced tomatoes over a bed of brown rice=a perfect protein meal after a hard workout day

Unilateral work-One arm chest press, one arm row, one arm squat and lunges. Not only will you stimulate your core but you will shock the body into new growth!

Running hills-Great to build lower body strength and power. Hills also force you to drive your arms harder than running on flat ground. Nothing feels better than knocking out some hill sprints on a nice summer day.

Keep your shoulders healthy with this....

2011-07-05T07:37:00.000-05:00

This routine is a great way to maintain overall shoulder health. Heavy weights are not needed at all, 2.5-5 lb dumbbells work just perfect. Make sure you do all of these exercises under control for best form.

Do this sequence non stop for 10 reps of each exercise.

Lateral raises ( palms up )

Lateral raises ( thumbs up )

Lateral raises ( thumbs down )

Front raises ( thumbs up )

***Cross overs ( palms facing away from you )

Military press

*** The cross overs-have your palms face away from you and your arms out in front of your hips. Then bring your arms up and over your head like you were going to do jumping jacks ( minus the jump ). Cross your arms in front of your head and then bring them back towards the hips.

Try this workout if your tired of yours

2011-06-29T10:09:00.007-05:00

If you are bored with your workout today and your goal is weight loss or just to get in the best shape possible then give this a try. You will hit every major muscle group in this workout.

A1) ANY PULL MOVEMENT ( Row, pulldown, pullup, etc )-12 reps
A2) ANY LEG MOVEMENT ( variations of squat, deadlift, press, lunge, step-up etc )-12 reps
A3) ANY CORE EXERCISE-12 reps
A4) ANY PUSH MOVEMENT ( pushups, shoulder exercises. chest press variations)-12 reps
A5) ANY LEG MOVEMENT ( something different than you did for A2 )-12 reps
A6) ANY CORE EXERCISE -12 reps
A7) ANY PULL MOVEMENT ( something different than you did for A1 )-12 reps
A8) YOUR CHOICE ( pick something you need the extra work, biceps, triceps, legs, etc )-12 reps

Take rest if you need after doing all 8 exercises but try and start round 2 as quick as you can. Each round you will drop the reps by 1. So it would like this:

Round 1-12 reps
Round 2-11 reps
Round 3-10 reps
Round 4-9reps
............You get the picture

Your goal is to see how many rounds you can get in 45 minutes. If you you did 5 rounds and ended with doing 8 reps of everything then next time you do this workout try and do 6 rounds. Every workout you can also try and decrease your rest time between rounds.

A bigger back with this

2011-06-27T05:21:00.000-05:00

T-bar row-10 reps
SUPERSET WITH
Narrow grip lat pulldown-6 reps ( make sure the weight is very heavy for 6 reps )

Rest 90 seconds and repeat 4 more rounds

Decline straight bar row-10 reps
* Set up a decline bench in front of a cable pulley. Put the cable at about hip height. Lying face up on the bench grab the straight bar from behind you and pull the bar towards your thighs keeping your arms locked out and straight.
SUPERSET WITH
Decline dumbbell one arm row-10 reps
* Hold a dumbbell in your right arm and put your right leg out to the side for support. Place your left leg back on the top of the bench. Row the weight up from the floor. The dumbbell should start from the lowest end of the decline bench near the floor.

Rest 90 seconds and repeat for 4 more rounds

6 Reasons you are not hitting your goals

2011-06-22T05:10:00.001-05:00

1. All talk and no do-Quit talking about how you cant hit your goals and use that energy to come up with solutions so you can! Take action!

2. You procrastinate-Stop putting things off! If you want to get into shape then do it! Not tomorrow, not next week, not next month but today!

3. Step outside your cave-Try new workouts, exercises, read new material and even workout with new people. You will be amazed at what a change like this will do for you.

4. You give up too quick-Nothing is going to happen over night so don't put unattainable goals on yourself. There will always be obstacles to every goal so you must accept this and keep pushing forward!

5. Fear of the unknown-Maybe right now you are sitting around trying to get yourself up and hit the gym but instead you stay were you are and do nothing. Fear has come over you and thus paralyzing you to make that first step. You are scared how hard it might be and how you are going to deal with possible success and failure. You are in control of your life! Fear cant hold you back!

6. Getting off focus-Instead of focusing on your goals you start letting your mind wonder and you lose sight of the prize. Stay on the path to what you are going for and avoid letting things stray you of course.

A better butt

2011-06-20T09:14:00.000-05:00

Running alone will not get you a great butt. You need to do resistance training exercises.

Deadlifts are one of the best exercises to develop, shape and strengthen your glutes

Squats done deep enough will be decent in terms of developing the glutes. The problem is that the quads still get stimulated the most.

For best results you should train your glutes multiple times a week. Aim for 3 days a week.

Your glutes tend to have more type 1 muscle fibers. These fibers respond best to lighter loads and higher reps.

Train your glutes with heavier weights as well since this type of training activates more muscle fibers.

Work on two feet. Single leg exercises like lunges are great for the glutes but exercises such as hip thrusts and glute bridges work better for overall glute activation.

You cant spot reduce any area of the body and the same holds true for the glutes. Just because you do glute exercises doesn't mean your body will automatically burn fat around that area.

Most people have weak glutes and therefore need to make glute training a priority

Weight lifting will not cause you to get a wide butt. Your butt will get wide due to excess fat but not because of the weight training.

Random thoughts..........

2011-06-15T21:16:00.007-05:00

Sugars are ok to consume after your workout. Your insulin sensitivity is high and your body's ability to uptake glucose is high. This means you can have carbs and not worry about it being stored as fat.

Control your stress levels. Everyone has stress these days and it can bring you down quickly if not dealt with correctly. Exercise is the perfect prescription to ease your stress levels.

I love Chef Jay's Tri-O-Plex bars. They are low in sugar and high in protein. Not only do they taste great but they are made with whole food ingredients. I personally like the Banana Peanut Butter bars the best. Side note-They are high in calories so keep that in mind. http://chefjays.com/

Close grip pushups with your feet on a physio ball is a great tricep exercise!

Try doing one arm chest presses, shoulder presses and chest flys with the cables as a unique way to blast your core.

Shaking some boredom from todays workout...........

2011-06-13T09:20:00.000-05:00

Don't do your normal boring regular old routine today. Instead I want you to scrap whatever workout you were going to do and change things up. We all like to be in a routine in life and it just so happens the same holds true in the gym. Lets face it you start to do what is comfortable and next thing you know you never take that step outside your comfort zone. Maybe you are not even excited for today's workout, maybe you are even dreading it because of the monotony of the whole thing. Below I have given some ideas for you on how to change your workout for today. Who knows maybe a change will do you good.

A) If you usually do splits like back/biceps..or chest/triceps

TRY-Doing back/chest or back/triceps

** Note that doing body part splits is best suited for those looking to gain muscle mass.

B) If you do a certain exercise and or muscle group at the end of the workout

TRY-Doing that at the beginning when fresh and you will see better performance.

C) If you never do supersets or compound sets

TRY-Using both in your workout to amp up the intensity

Superset example- Dumbbell row with squat

Compound set example- Dumbbell chest press with barbell chest press

D) You do nothing but high reps

TRY-Doing nothing but low reps and heavy weight. You will stimulate new muscle and and challenge the body in a new way. Sometimes it feels good to get a heavy day in.

E) You do a low amount of sets.....say 3 sets of 8

TRY-Increasing training volume by doing more sets.....try 6 sets of 8 ( of course you might need to cut down the weight towards the end )

F) You run then lift weights

TRY-Hitting the weights first so you are not maximal strength and then hit your cardio for a brief 10-15 min interval session. This will be more effective and help you potentially burn more fat in your cardio session than carbs.

G) You don't actually workout hard

TRY-Working hard for once and see how much potential you are missing out on!

H) You workout for hours upon hours

TRY-Getting out of the gym within 45min. Cut down on the rest time and pick exercises that hit more muscle fibers and stimulate more growth in less time. Examples are variations of the squat, deadlift, presses and pullups and rows.

Now make it happen and do this today!

Go Dominate

Breakfast options

2011-06-08T05:44:00.003-05:00

If your skipping breakfast then your a fool.......make the time for the most important meal in your day! Here are some ideas for you. Remember those that eat breakfast eat less throughout the day and have smaller waist lines. And if your trying to pack on muscle then breakfast can be a great way to start your day with a high calorie content.

*2-3 eggs anyway-scrambled with tomato and spinach is ideal. Hard boiled can be done the night before.

* Low fat cottage cheese with fruit

* Greek Yogurt-best brands are Chobani and Oikos

* Whey protein-Mix with water or skim milk and frozen fruit and some flaxseed oil

* Nitrate-free natural sausage-Turkey or chicken is best. Mix it in as a scramble with eggs or by itself.

* Natural peanut butter or almond butter-spread it on whole grain bread

* Kashi GoLean Crunch cereal-not a huge fan of cereal but this one contains good stuff

Get bigger pecs for the beach with this routine...

2011-06-05T15:30:00.007-05:00

This routine incorporates the incline press which is great to build a fuller looking chest. If you have shoulder issues you should stay away from this workout since it will be demanding on the shoulder joint. You can use either the incline barbell press or the Hammer strength incline press machine. Start the first set with the most weight possible for 6 reps. The 6th rep should be really difficult if the weight is correct.
1)
Incline barbell press/or Hammer incline strength press machine-1 set at 6 reps
SUPER SET WITH
Flat dumbbell twist press -1 set at 12 reps
*( flat twist press starts off like a traditional press but as you start to press up you want to twist the weight so your palms end up facing your face at the top of the movement. If done right the movement should look like a combo of chest press and chest fly. Make sure to bring the dumbbells together at the top. You will need to use less weight then you would for a regular chest press.
**Rest 90 seconds before doing 1 more set.

2)NOW DROP THE WEIGHT BY ABOUT 2.5-5LBS PER SIDE
Incline barbell press/or Hammer incline strength press machine-1 set at 8 reps
SUPER SET WITH
Flat dumbbell twist press -1 set at 10 reps
**Rest 90 seconds before doing 1 more set.

3) NOW DROP ANOTHER 5 LBS PER SIDE. YOU CAN DROP MORE IF NEED BE.
Incline barbell press/or Hammer incline strength press machine-1 set at 10 reps
SUPER SET WITH
Flat dumbbell twist press -1 set at 8 reps
**Rest 90 seconds before doing 1 more set.

Done. You should have done a total of 6 super set combinations.

Think down go down

2011-06-02T10:01:00.010-05:00

Is a saying I like to tell my clients. Sure it might sound a little corny, but the fact is it is true. Not every workout can be stellar and amazing. It is those days when you feel at your weakest, most tired, lazy and down right exhausted that you will need to be mentally the strongest. The body follows the mind and to begin your workout and or day with a negative mindset will sabotage everything. If you grab that first dumbbell or start that first minute on the bike and instantly think to yourself how bad the workout with suck and how horrible you feel.......well the workout will suck and you will feel horrible....end of story. The mindset must be there from the start in order for you to stay focused. You never want to have a mindless workout. By this I mean do not do things just to do them because this will lead to bad workouts and a lost mindset. Imprint in your brain why you are working out and what purpose it is serving you. It is ok to acknowledge that maybe you don't have your "A" game but that does not entitle you to drag yourself both mentally and physically through your routine. When working out we are looking to get the most return on our investment. Your putting in the work and time and therefore you want to get everything you possibly can. So if you feel yourself starting off your workout with a bad mindset remember that you are in control and you can shift your focus to be more positive. Think up to go up!

Go Dominate.

E.O.M.-Prone incline dumbbell biceps row

2011-05-30T05:34:00.002-05:00

The Exercise of the month for May is a unique way to hit your biceps. Most guys out there do the barbell version of this exercise. The problem with bent over barbell row with palms up grip is it becomes way to easy to cheap and use bad form. Doing the exercise with this set up will help you get more bang for buck on the biceps.

Simply lie face down on a 45-60 degree incline bench. Make sure you rest your chin on the top of the bench to keep your head in good position. Now grab a heavy dumbbell in each hand and row with your palms facing forward. There is no need to pause at the top since our focus is the biceps and not engaging the upper back. Since you are using dumbbells this exercise is easier on the wrists and elbows.

Triceps 100

2011-05-26T18:52:00.006-05:00

Quick routine to blast the triceps with heavy volume

Reverse grip tricep pushdown ( palms facing up on the bar )-10 reps
SUPER SET WITH
Dips ( use assisted machine if need be )-10 reps
* Repeat this for 5 total rounds without rest which equals 100 total reps ( 50 each exercise )

Done!

8 Effective ways to boost your metabolism!

2011-05-24T20:51:00.009-05:00

1) Add some lean muscle-Muscle is active tissue and those with lean muscle mass burn more calories throughout the day.

2) Drink cold water- By having cold water your body will have to work extra to heat it up.

3) Eat the following-Calcium, curry, green tea, grapefruit, oatmeal, coffee, almonds, blueberries, ginger, beans and cinnamon have all been linked to improve metabolism.

4) Lower the temperature in your home or apartment-Your body will need to work harder to maintain its internal temperature.

5) Watch your alcohol-Alcohol limits your body's ability to burn fat.

6) Do interval based cardio-Just like weight training you will burn more calories and boost your metabolism.

7) Eat when you wake up-Research shows you eat breakfast and you will eat less and burn more.

8) Morning quick jolt-Try waking up and doing 25 jumping jacks and 25 jackkives ( burpees ) before you head out the door just to get your metabolism jacked up.

Burn calories with this giant set

2011-05-18T16:00:00.002-05:00

A giant set is exactly what it sounds like....its a bunch of exercises set up circuit style. This routine can be your entire workout if you do enough rounds or you can use it as part of your workout. The main focus here is lower body work and pulls. We are focusing on very metabolic lower body based exercises and pulling exercises since most people over work themselves on pushing exercises.

Round 1- All leg exercises are done for 12 reps, all pulling exercises are done for 25 reps

A1) Ball squat and slam ( squat with the med ball and then slam once you return from the squat..if you don't have med ball just do speed squats while holding a dumbbell )

A2) Band row with palms down ( move fast using a red or blue band )

A3) Drop down reverse lunges ( use a small step and start by standing on the step with both legs...step backwards and into a reverse lunge position and then bring the leg back onto the step...alternate legs....12 reps per side )

A4) Band row with palms up

A5) Deadlift with dumbbells

A6) Band row with palms facing each other

A7) Squat and press with dumbbells ( speed here! Focus on lighter weight and pressing the dumbbells as you come up...it is one movement )

Rest 30 seconds only.....then round 2 you jump to 14 reps on all the leg exercises. After doing another round rest 2 minutes and repeat the whole sequence again starting with round 1 for 12 reps on the lower body...rest 30 seconds then do round 2 for 14 reps.

Body Composition Series # 2

2011-05-16T09:09:00.011-05:00

Another full body workout to decrease body fat and increase lean muscle muscle mass.

A1) One arm row dumbbell-12 reps each arm

A2) Jacknives-10 reps

*Repeat this without rest for 4-5 rounds

B1) Neutral grip shoulder press with dumbbells ( palms face each other on the press )-12 reps

B2) Step up with dumbbell ( medium step..do all one leg before switching )-8 reps per side

* Repeat this without rest for 4-5 rounds

C1) Pullup ( medium grip )10 reps

C2) Deadlift with barbell-6 reps
*Repeat this without rest for 4-5 rounds

** This is tough combo due to grip fatigue

D1) Tricep close grip barbell press-12 reps

D2) Lateral dumbbell lunge ( alternate sides )-8 reps per side

* Repeat this without rest for 4-5 rounds

E1) Standing bicep curl with barbell-10 reps

E2) Ball slams-12 reps

*Repeat this without rest for 4-5 rounds

Now do 3 of your favorite core exercises without rest and repeat it for 3 rounds

Body Composition series # 1

2011-05-11T09:13:00.000-05:00

For anyone who is simply trying to improve their body composition, and by body composition I mean decrease their body fat and increase their lean muscle mass, than this is for you. This whole workout consists of supersets which include an upper and a lower body exercise. This is done so that your upper body will work while the lower body rests and vice versa. What is great about this routine is you will hit the whole body with core work included. The pace of the workout will be fast for maximum calorie burn.

Always properly warmup before doing any routine.

A1) Seated straight bar row-12 reps
A2) Bodyweight speed squats ( focus on the speed of course! )-15 reps* Repeat without rest for 4-5 total rounds

B1) Pushups ( with feet slightly elevated )-12 reps
B2) Deadlift with barbell-6 reps
*Repeat without rest for 4-5 rounds

C1) Cable chops for the core-15 reps each side
C2) Pulldown with off-set grip ( one palm facing you and one palm facing away on the bar )-5 reps then switch the grips and do 5 more
* Repeat without rest for 4-5 rounds

D1) Dips-10 reps
D2) Alternating reverse lunges with dumbbells-6 reps each leg
* Repeat this without rest for 4-5 rounds

E1) Glute bridges-12 reps ( squeeze the glutes!!!!!!!!! )
E2) Jackknives -8 reps
* Repeat without rest for 4-5 rounds

Finish with some quick sprints ( track, treadmill or gym floor space )

Sprints- Use any distance but ideal would be 30-50 meters

Do 1 sprint, walk that distance x 1.......repeat this 5x more.

Done!

Random thoughts......

2011-05-09T21:09:00.007-05:00

Try moving slow on your lifts. This is a great way to create more tension on the muscle and therefore bring on new growth. On the way down of the movement aim for a 5 second count, and then a 5 second count on the way up as well. Example would be bicep curl lifting the weight towards your face for 5 seconds and then lower the bar back towards the floor. Play around with different counts but don't exceed a 10 second count.

Want to burn more calories? Start your day off with a big glass of cold water which will help aid in keeping you more full and will kick start your metabolism. Also, do 25 reps of jumping jacks and 25 jacknives ( burpees ) to get you burning calories early and to get your metabolism going even more.

Cant find time for breakfast.....well then make time! Those who have breakfast eat less throughout the day, burn more calories and have smaller waist lines than those who don't. Have I got your attention now? Eat in the am!

Eat your spinach! Raw, cooked, steamed etc. Spinach is high in Vitamins A and C, both antioxidants. Also, spinach is a good source of iron and potassium.

Having trouble putting on muscle mass? Deadlift and squat more often and your whole body will grow!

Don't over look sleep. Sleep is just as important as your eating, workouts and stress. Sleep to get better results!

New training split

2011-05-03T07:23:00.013-05:00

If you are trying to put on some muscle and have found your current training split to be getting dull and your results stagnant then give this try. This split calls for a large frequency and volume of leg work. By doing legs more often you will stimulate more growth hormone and testosterone and bring about new muscle gains. Your legs will take a beating and therefore you need to make sure you stretch and foam roll every day. In this split you will be doing chest just one time a week and back two times a week since most people tend to lack back development. Below is the set up for the training split and descriptions.

MONDAY
Hip dominant leg exercise ( Romanian deadlifts, good mornings, all deadlift variations, glute bridges )
Back
- 1 vertical pull ( pullup, lat pulldown etc )
- 1 horizontal pull ( row variations etc )
- 1 other of your choice

TUESDAY
Biceps
Triceps
-Pick 3 exercises for each muscle

WEDNESDAY
Quad dominant exercise ( squats variations, leg press etc )
Chest
- pick 3 exercises

THURSDAY
Triceps
Biceps
-Pick 3 exercises for each muscle

FRIDAY
Hip dominant exercise
Back

SATURDAY/SUNDAY
OFF

Do this training split for 4 weeks and then cycle off this for a lower leg volume workout. Make sure to eat like crazy because your metabolism will be jacked up and in order to get proper growth you need to feed yourself.

7 Excuses that will ruin your eating plan

2011-05-01T14:40:00.012-05:00

1. Just one wont kill me-We all have been in that situation were that one extra slice, piece or serving doesn't seem to be a big deal or issue but in reality it is. Think about how much more work and exercise you will need to do to burn off that little bit. More often then not that just one turns into multiple just ones throughout the day and week.

2. I'm tired and don't feel like cooking so I will just hit up the drive thru-Some fast food choices have more calories in one item then someone should have in a whole day. Instead go to the health food grocery store and do the salad bar or prepared foods bar. Another option is to prep your food one night and that way you can make dinners in a more timely fashion. Don't take the easy way out when it comes to what you put in your body.

3. I'm bored- If your bored start doing crunches, pushups or jackknives( burpees ) on the floor but don't stuff your face. By eating not only will you still be bored but now you will be bored and fat and who wants to be both of those.

4. I am having a horrible day, I hate my boss, traffic was aweful, and everything that could go wrong has- If things are going bad why would you want to punish yourself by eating bad? First, don't let others control your emotions. Second, you cannot control those things going wrong so think about it that way. But what you can control is what goes in your body so do it. You can make a negative into a positive by staying in control with your workouts and eating plan.

5. I hate to waste food- No poor hungry kid will benefit from you eating and not wasting that extra food. It is ok to waste.

6. Everyone else is eating it- Good let everyone else be out of shape and fat, but you wont stray away from your goals. You run your show and no one else does.

7. I will eat better tomorrow/ I will start tomorrow-Yes you can slip and get back on track but why waste a day. Take advantage of the present and don't waste anything!

Get a butt! Top 5 glute exercises

2011-04-28T12:54:00.011-05:00

1) Full squat-This is the king of butt exercises end of story. You must get into a full deep squat which is thighs parallel to the ground to give your glutes the most work.

2) Deadlifts-If the squat is king then deadlifts are right behind in terms of effectiveness for the glutes. The key is to make sure you push through your heels on every rep to activate the backside of the body. If your doing stiff leg deadlifts you can achieve more glute activation by adding some extra bend in your knees.

3) Bulgarian split squats-A variation of the squat that is great for the glutes. Checkout my old post for the proper technique. http://h4training.blogspot.com/2010/03/eom-bulgarian-split-squat.html

4) High step ups- Proper box height should have your knee resting at a 90 degree angle. I believe you can go with an even higher box every now and then to thrash your glutes even more. When doing the step up make sure to push through your heel of the foot that is on the step. All of the work should take place from the leg that is on the box.

5) Hip thrusts- This is a great exercise that trainer Brett Contreras has made popular. The key to this is to focus on squeezing the glutes throughout and not allow your back to do the work. Watch this video to get all the details. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCm-70-9_XE

Deja Vu fat burning workout-#2

2011-04-25T20:06:00.006-05:00

A1)Chest press with dumbbells-15 reps
A2)Dumbbell sumo squat-12 reps
*Do this for 4 rounds before going into B1/B2

B1)One arm dumbbell row-15 reps each
B2)barbell deadlift-8 reps each http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Syt7A23YnpA
* Do this for 4 rounds

Now go back and do one round of A1&A2 combo and then right into one round of B1&B2

Rest 1-2min

C1) dumbbell seated overhead extension-12 reps http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbX7Wd8jQ-Q
C2) goblet squat with dumbbell-12 reps http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k19eAnKHA5g
* Do this for 4 rounds

Now go back and do one round of A1&A2....then right into one round of B1&B2 and then right into one round of C1&C2

D1) Dumbbell bent over double row-15 reps ( move quick ) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DvyD1_Ahss
D2) Jackknives ( burpees )-8 reps http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_Dq_NCzj8M
* Do this for 4 rounds

Now go back and do one round of A1&A2....then right into one round of B1&B2 and then right into one round of C1&C2 and then right into one round of D1&D2

Rest 1-2 minutes

E1) Lateral dumbbell shoulder raises-12 reps
E2) Lateral hops-10 reps each side http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQyoJU9QP6Y&feature=related
* Do this for 4 rounds

Now go back and do one round of A1&A2....then right into one round of B1&B2 and then right into one round of C1&C2 and then right into one round of D1&D2 and then right into one round of E1&E2

Random thoughts......

2011-04-21T21:02:00.003-05:00

Some post workout ideas- Take two Kashi honey oat frozen waffles and spread peanut butter in between to make a waffle sandwich. You get your protein from the pb and get your carbs from the waffles. This is a quick snack that is fast and easy. Another on the go option is greek yogurt topped with sliced almonds and drizzled with honey. This snack packs protein and carbs.

Schedule your workouts. People live such busy lives that we tend to fill up our days and bypass the gym because of it. You schedule and book appointments so why not do the same for your workouts. Treat your workouts like a business meeting.

Success is not a right. Doesn't matter how great of a workout program you have, in order to have success with it you must earn it everyday.

Do your core work at the beginning of the workout instead of the end. By doing this you will have more energy and not rush through your core exercises.

Great breakfast-Turkey bacon egg sandwich on whole grain bread. Scramble 3 eggs with spinach top it with some swiss cheese and two slices of turkey bacon. Delicious and high in protein!

I love parmigiano-reggiano cheese, I put it on so many things. I guess it is a good thing because research shows that it activates fat-burning hormones and has a high protein content compared to other dairy products