Random thoughts.....

• 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

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!

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

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

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.....

• 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

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.