A change would do you good.....

Most of us fall into a comfort zone with the workouts and exercises we do, heck really everything we do in life becomes a routine. In order to get the best results you need to be mixing things up. Below I have given some examples of common sticking points and a new alternative to make things better.

1) You do the same 45 minutes treadmill run/walk for your cardio. **Talk about boring and not effective! Who wants to run on a treadmill that long anyway....I know I don't.

CHANGE TO: Intervals on the bike 3 minute warm-up 1 minute work ( fast as you can ) / 1 minute rest ( slow ) x 8 rounds=16 minutes of work 3 minute cool down Finish some ball slams for 4 rounds 15 slams If done hard enough 16 minutes of intervals should wipe you out

2) You cant get your triceps to grow because you do nothing but pushdowns. ** Maximize your fiber recruitment by doing an exercise in which a greater load can be used.

CHANGE TO: Close Grip barbell presses Do 4-6 weeks of close grip presses on your tricep days and watch them grow! Do 5-6 sets of 10 reps

3) Your legs aren't growing with your usual low-mid rep leg routine. ** Switch to high reps with high weight. This is brutal but you will get a ton of new growth.

CHANGE TO: Leg press with high reps 3 sets of 25-30 reps

4) Your bored with your weight loss workout. ** Here is a unique set-up.

CHANGE TO: My Deja vu style routine

A1) Pushups 8 reps ( if your strong do 15 )
A2) Lateral shuffle with cones ( put cones about 30 feet apart ) go there and back 5 times

* Repeat this 4 rounds

GO RIGHT INTO NEXT GROUP

B1) Two arm bent over dumbbell row-12 reps
B2) Jackknives ( burpees ) -6 reps
* Repeat this 5 rounds

Go RIGHT BACK AND DO 1 ROUND OF A1/A2 AND THEN ONE ROUND OF B1/B2 AGAIN

Rest 2 min

C1) Lying tricep extensions with barbell-12 reps
C2) Lateral hops-back and forth equals 1, do 10 reps
* Repeat this for 5 rounds

GO RIGHT BACK AND DO 1 ROUND OF A1/A2.....B1/B2.....C1/C2. THEN MOVE INTO THE NEXT GROUP

D1) Pulldown/or Pullup- 8 reps
D2) Squat jumps-8 reps
* Repeat this for 5 rounds

GO RIGHT BACK AND DO 1 ROUND OF A1/A2.......B1/B2.....C1/C2......D1/D2. Done!


4) You need to improve your core ** Don't always wait til the end of your workout to do your core work.

CHANGE TO: Doing your core work at the beginning of the workout while you have the most energy. By doing this you wont have the tendency to cheat and head out of the gym early while doing minimal core work.

Snow day!!!

It snowed like crazy yesterday in Chicago and has continued to do so today. Despite living in a city that sees bad weather like 70 percent of year people for some reason freaked out over this storm. I must say that the combination of thunder, lighting and snow is crazy but it was not the end of the world like the Chicago media made it seem to be. Watching the news it seems there is bad weather all over the country the last couple of days even in Dallas for the Super Bowl. Many people are not going to work and school and will have plenty of free time sitting at home. So I thought this would be a perfect time to suggest some things to do while bumming around the house.

1. Try and stack up against a Navy Seal. See how many pushups you can do in 2 minutes. Minimum would be 42 pushups, but the average would be 100. Make sure you have proper form. Challenge yourself!

2. Quick blast routine:
Minute 1-2: Some form of cardio like jump rope, running the stairs or running in place
Minute 3-4: As many pushups as you can
Minute 5-6: Stairs, jump rope or running in place again
Minute 7-8: Squats as fast as you can
Minute 9-10: Back to the cardio....but this time try and do as much as possible!

3. List your goals. List both short-term and long-term goals. Then re-evaluate your current workout routine. Are you getting the results you want with what you are doing?

4. Go outside and shovel. Great for the core, shoulders, back and legs.

5. Quick combo routine:
Use something that resembles a dumbbell like a gallon of milk- do 15 reps of one arm rows then immediately do 10 jackknives ( burpees ) and repeat this for 6 rounds.

6. Cook! Now is your chance to make a good meal and prep the rest of the weeks meals.

7. Checkout this motivational video. Its about being a champion. Not just for sport but for life. If this doesn't get you pumped then I don't know what will.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtAdneAfzcc

Drop body fat with this

Timed workouts are something that most people don't do so give this a try. Use a stopwatch or cell phone as a timer. These types of workouts are high in volume and force you to maintain a high level of work throughout the entire routine.

Your goal is to get as many rounds as possible with good, proper and consistent form in 5 minutes without resting. Don't get sloppy just to get the reps in. Move quick. After 5 minutes is up rest for 1 minute and ONLY 1 minute. Repeat for 5 more minutes and make sure you get as many rounds as you did in the first set. Rest 1 minute and then do a final set of 5 minutes once again trying to equal the amount of rounds you did in set 1 and 2.

A1) Cable rows-10 reps
A2) Goblet squat ( look at picture above )-10 reps
A3) Ball slams-10 reps


Here is another trio to do with this same 5 minutes of work to 1 minute rest ratio repeated 3 total times.

B1) Push press with dumbbells-10 reps
B2) Lunges with dumbbells-6 each leg
B3 ) dumbbell curls-8 reps

Tricep tri-set

Diamond push-ups ( hands form the shape of a diamond on the ground and keep your elbows tight to your sides throughout the movement)- 12 reps

SUPER SET

Dips-12 reps

SUPER SET

Standing reverse pushdowns-12 reps

**Repeat this without rest but do 10 reps instead of 12 on the second time around.

Rest 2 minutes.

**Start back from the beginning on this tri-set and do 10 reps for each exercise and then without rest do another round this time doing 8 reps.

Done.