The Quick Ass-Kicker

I DON'T HAVE TIME. No combination of four words in the English language annoy me more. This is the most common excuse I hear as to why someone doesn't exercise. Well let me tell you something. If you have time to stuff another bite of fast food in your mouth; you have time to workout. I think there may be a misconception out there that a decent workout needs to be hours long, but this is not reality. If you give yourself 30 minutes a day you can make a significant change to your body. If you still want to tell me that you don't have time for that then stop reading my blog because your full of shit and you want to talk a big game, but not do anything about it.

The Quick Ass-Kicker

This workout is so named for 2 reasons....1) It is quick....2) It is an ass-kicker. For this workout to be effective you will need to fully invest yourself for the whole 30 minutes. You will have to push through and adhere strictly to the work/rest periods. If you can't do a specific exercise just do what you can and work up to it slowly. Doing something is better than nothing (always remember that). This program is meant to be run as a 4 exercise circuit. You will do all exercises for 1 minute a each without a rest between. After you have done 1 circuit, you will take a minute rest and then start again.  The four exercises plus the rest will take 5 minutes total. You will do the whole circuit 6 times totaling 30 minutes.

Getting Started

Here is what you will need to get going:

- 1 pen

- 1 pad of paper

- Some way of keeping time. Stopwatch, a smart phone with a clock, an actual clock, or something similar

When you do each exercise you will keep track of how many reps you can complete in the 1 minute time period. The goal is that each time you do this workout you will try to improve by doing more reps in the same 1 minute period. 

The Routine

Exercise 1 - Squat Thrusts

Start by standing with your hands at your side. Squat down and place your hands on the floor, just outside your feet. With your hands firmly placed on the floor, jump back with your feet so that you end up in a push up position. Keeping your core tight, quickly jump the feet back to the position between your hands. Return to the standing position. Repeat

Here is a video: http://www.exrx.net/Aerobic/Exercises/Burpee.html

My only gripe with this video is his sloppy form. Keep the core tight when you jump back so you do not sag. If this variation is too tough then walk out and back instead of jumping. If you want a greater challenge add a jump at the end to make it a true burpee.

Exercise 2 - Power Jacks

I must give credit where it is do. I got this move from Shaun T's Insanity series and I love it. It is TOTAL BODY. Start in standing with you hands by your side and core tight. Start the jumping jack as normal landing with your feet wider than shoulder width. As your feet hit the ground you are going to go into a squat and bring the hands down wide to your sides so that they are outside your legs (almost so that they . Push from the bottom of the squat forcefully to drive yourself into the up portion. The rest is like a regular jumping jack. As you come up your feet come together and you clap your hands overhead.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Be6OlkdeXMU

Her form is good, but she doesn't go down far enough for my liking.

Exercise 3 - Mountain Climbers

Starts in a basic push up position with your shoulders over your hands. Leaving one foot on the floor bring the other forcefully up to your chest. Quickly alternate so that as one foot is going back the other is coming forward. This almost looks like you are running with your hands on the ground.

http://www.exrx.net/Aerobic/Exercises/MountainClimber.html

Exercise 4 - V Push Ups

A little exercise of my own. It can be found on insanity as well, but I was doing these long before it cam out. Start in a push up position with one main difference. Bring your butt way into the air so that your body resembles an upside down v shape. Before you start rotate your hands inward slightly so that your fingers are pointing towards each other. Slowly bend your elbows and lower yourself to the ground making sure to keep your butt in the air and your elbows pointed out to the sides. You will not go down more than 4-6 inches. Push yourself back up and repeat. Sorry no video for this one.

So there you have it. 30 minutes of work. No excuses. Try this program 2-3 times per week with at least one days rest between.

Spot Reducing....please stop asking me!

As a trainer I have answered a lot of questions for my clients over the years. The number on question I get however sounds something like this: "How do I lose weight from [insert body part here]?". I cannot tell you the frustration that I get trying to answer this question. Infomercials and fad weight loss/exercise plans have the general public believing that it is actually possible to reduce fat from one particular region of the body. I think I have seen just over a million different gimmicks on how to get a slim midsection. It is a million dollar industry. Let me tell you something.....IT IS A LIE! This myth in the fitness industry is known as spot reducing and any trainer worth their reputation knows better than to tell a client that it is possible. Study after study has been conducted to test this "theory" and all say the same thing. It can't be done. Not possible. Don't bother. Knowing what I know it is hilarious to me when I see someone in the gym doing crunch after crunch, killing themselves. And for what I ask? 

Let me explain a little better. Imagine that you have something; anything that has a definite shape to it. You can tell what it is just by the shape of it. (Imagine this object as your abdominals). Now let's say you take that object and cover it with a thick blanket. Then another and another. (this is like fat around your midsection) The object (your abs) are still there, it just can't be seen because of the layers of blankets (fat) over top of it. You can try to emphasize the underlying object as much as you want (which is basically what you are doing when you crunch yourself to death), but without removing the blankets on top (fat) it will be very hard, nay impossible, to make out the shape. 

This analogy is similar to muscle in your body. The muscle is underneath your fat. You can build the muscle as much as you like, but without removing the fat over the top all you end up with is a well built muscle under fat. When you build the muscle it increases in size. When you don't burn the fat over the top the bigger muscle underneath can actually make you look heavier than you really are, especially when it comes to the midsection. Some may ask, "doesn't muscle burn fat?" Yes it does, but the fat loss isn't necessarily from the area over top of that particular muscle. The myth of spot reducing has a person believe that they can target fat loss to one area of the body, but the body is a fickle beast. It loses weight form where it wants to, and my experience has shown me that the midsection is usually the last (and most difficult) place to lose from.  Does this mean it is impossible to attain a nice slim midsection you'd be proud to show off? Absolutely not! What it means is that it will take hard work, exercise, and a clean diet to get there. 

So stop wasting gym time doing things that don't work and focus more on a quality workout that emphasizes calorie burn and cardio. Crunches are fine. They will still build the muscle. Just don't expect to get a six-pack from doing them alone. 

So next time you are watching t.v. at 1:00am and you see a piece of equipment that "promises results" you will know better. Save the 4 easy payments of $19.99 and invest in a gym membership and some lessons with a qualified trainer instead. They will go a lot further in getting you towards your goal than a cheap piece of plastic that is destined for your next yard sale will ever do.

Getting Strong vs. Getting Big vs. Getting Lean (Part 2 - Getting Big)

For the mass of young men that flood into the gym day in and day out there is only thing they want. Bigger muscles. Many men will kill themselves in the pursuit of a bigger chest, shoulders, and arms. Unfortunately for many this goal will never be realized because beginners and novices really have no idea what the hell they are doing. Let's start with some common misconceptions.

Getting big, or muscle hypertrophy, is all about getting the muscle cells to grow. The principle sounds simple enough. Lift weights and gain muscle. It is all about how you lift the weights however that dictate how your muscles will grow. We have already covered the getting strong portion of lifting weights. Lift heavy weights for low reps. Getting big is all about lifting moderate weights for moderate reps. The reason we lift this way for hypertrophy is because muscle growth is all about getting the muscle to fatigue. When I say fatigue I don't just mean tired. When lifting for muscle hypertrophy you need to push yourself to the point where you cannot lift for even one more rep. You need to push past the muscle burn to reach your goals.

So what do I mean by moderate weight and moderate reps? As I touched on in part 1you need to start with finding your rep max. This will help you get into a range for the amount of weight you should lift. Moderate weight will usually fall into the 60%-80% range of your 1RM. Moderate reps will fall between 8-12 reps. A good program will vary between these ranges week to week and workout to workout.

So now some helpful tips:

1) When lifting for hypertrophy pick 3-4 different exercises for a body part and work within the rep and weight ranges, making sure you vary the weights and reps.

2) Split your workouts with at least 2 days rest between body parts. When lifting for hypertrophy you will work each body part or region once a week. When starting out I always recommend something similar to the following:

Day 1 - Chest
Day 2 - Back
Day 3 - Legs (Quads, Hams, Calfs)
Day 4 - Rest
Day 5 - Shoulders/Traps
Day 6 - Biceps/Triceps
Day 7 - Rest

3) Consume adequate protein. Muscle growth is basically about protein growth. Just like you can't build a house without wood. you cannot build muscle without protein. Muscle cannot be built with carbs or fat, just protein. Aim for at least 1 gram per pound of body weight.

4) Use good form! Form is always important when lifting weights, but when trying to grow muscle always use strict form even if it limits the amount of weight you are lifting.

5) Pre and post-workout meals are essential. Pre-workout you want to consume about 20-30 grams of protein along with a source of complex carbohydrates such as a a piece of fruit. Immediately post-workout consume around 30-50 grams of protein and around 30-50 grams of simple carbs. Limit fat post-workout because it can inhibit protein uptake. Use this to your advantage! This is the time when you can actually have sugar! Some of my favorites include gummy bears, chocolate milk, and angel food cake. Consuming simple sugar after a workout will help to push the protein into the muscle cells where it can be used for building muscle.

6) Log your lifting. Just like logging your food, writing down your workouts will make you more aware of what you are doing. This will allow you to see the progress you are making, but it will also allow you to see if you are doing the same lifts over and over again (which is a no-no!) Variation is king when it comes to lifting weights. Remember the principle of progression. By varying the lifts you do you will prevent the body from getting accustomed to the lifts and hitting a plateau.

So there are the basics of getting big. Keep reading future posts to get more helpful hints and tips on advancing your program.

Stay healthy my friends!

Getting Strong vs. Getting Big vs. Getting Lean (Part 1 - Getting Strong)

Many novices are not aware that your goals, with regards to your weight training program, will dictate how you lift. This becomes painfully obvious when you go into the gym and see a newbie trying to curl way too much weight for way too many reps. I think, with men especially, there is a mentality that if a little is good, then more must be even better, but this isn't the case. More often than not this person will see insignificant gains, become frustrated, and quit lifting.

In my last post I talked about three principles that govern weight training. Specificity, overload, and progression. Of these three, specificity will be the star today. How you train will be SPECIFIC to your goals.

Many peoples goals can be broken down into three basic groups. Getting strong (strength), getting big (hypertrophy), and getting lean (endurance). Now granted, some people may have more than one of these goals in mind at the same time and that's fine. It is completely possible to advance more than one of these areas at once, so long as you realize that it will more than likely take some trail and error to do so.

GETTING STRONG
People often make the mistake of thinking that they can get strong by lifting the most weight possible for the most reps possible. Sorry. No. While this person will undoubtedly become stronger they will not attain their peak strength without training properly. Mirriam-Webster defines strength in about nine different ways, but the best way they define strength is "the power to resist a force". This definition in the true weight lifting sense is somewhat incorrect in that strength and power are different animals, but that is a different blog for a different day. So basically strength is the ability to resist a force, or in term of lifting weights it is the ability to generate a force. Not just any force, but what we call a maximal force. In the strength and conditioning world we measure a person's maximal force with something called a repetition (or rep) max test. There are many different variations of this test but most often we use the 1 rep max (1RM) test as the benchmark. As the name implies this test is the maximum amount of weight that a person can move, or the max force they can generate, for one repetition. The 1RM test is a true measure of a person's strength capability. When my client's goal is to get stronger I regularly test their 1RM at regular intervals. This way they can see the progress they're making in their program.

Keeping in mind that getting strong is about moving the most weight it is correct to draw the conclusion that when training for strength you should lift heavy weights. The part where most screw up is they attempt too many repetitions and they do not rest enough. If you ever get the chance to watch an Olympic weight lifter train you will notice that they will rarely, if ever, lift for more than 5 reps in a set. Many times their sets will be between 1-3 reps each. In addition, about 10% of their time is spent lifting, and the other 90% is spent resting. Rest periods when lifting for strength should ideally be between 2-5 minutes. Some people are of the mindset that resting for this long is counterproductive, but it is essential to allow for maximal recovery between sets. Maximal recovery means that maximal effort can be exerted in subsequent sets. This leads to more weight moved during a session and thus an overall more effective workout.

When starting a strength program the first step is testing your rep max. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE always do this part with a professional! Testing your 1RM can be dangerous if you do not know what you are doing. If you go this website you will find a trainer locator:

http://www.nsca-lift.org/trainers/traineragree.asp

I cannot stress enough the importance of using a trainer to help you find your rep max. Allow me to stand on my soapbox for a minute and also say that your trainer should be a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist or CSCS. This certification is only available through the NSCA and is only available to persons with a college degree. I do not mean to offend other certifications or personal trainers, but CSCS devote their life to strength and conditioning and their knowledge is unequaled in this area.

Once you get your rep max you now have your benchmark. You can use this number to compare your subsequent lifts and track your progress. If your future RM goes up than you have obviously gained strength. Just as with all training endeavors it is critical to note that people differ in many ways and what works for A may not work for B. With that in mind the following program should work for most beginners:

Week 1: 3 sets, 5 reps, (60%, 70%, 80%)
Week 2: 3 sets, 4 reps, (70%, 70%, 80%)
Week 3: 3 sets, 3 reps, (70%, 80%, 90%)
Week 4: 3 sets, 3 reps, (80%, 90%, 100%)

This is meant to be done for one month. After that month you will test you rep max again and you should see an increase in your 1RM.

When attempting this program please keep these helpful tips in mind:

1) Eat enough to fuel your body. You can run a car without gas, and likewise you cant run your body without food. Eating enough is vital when lifting for strength. Most often people lifting for strength should expect to gain some weigh in the process and should be consuming around 17-19 calories/pound body weight. In addition make sure you are getting at least 1g protein per pound. (especially making sure to consume around 25g before your workout and 40-50 after)

2) Rest is essential! I applaud your effort to want to go all out everyday, but going all out will lead to burnout. You need to rest at least one day, but ideally 2, between these workouts. Also make sure you are sticking to the 2-5 minute rest period between sets. When lifting less weight you can rest less, but as you get into the 90% and 100% of your RM the 5 minute rest is important.

3) Lifting for strength according to this plan is for the "big" lifts like bench press, squats and deadlifts...not for curls. If you are interested in bigger arms to impress the ladies then read future posts for my hypertrophy plans. Trying to lift heavy weights with some lifts is just ridiculous and can lead to injury.

So there are the basics. After you have done this a while you may begin to plateau. If that is the case then hire a CSCS and they can hep you revamp your program to see more gains. Keep reading for Part 2-Getting Big. Until then, stay healthy my friends!