Hello again loyal follower(s),
Things have been busy the past few weeks here. New job, new hours, and new responsibilities. It taking a little adjustment, but I think I can start updating more regularly ( I know, I've said that before). We'll see how it play out.
Quick work out updates:
The explosive fitness work out are going great. I've had to adjust my work out frequency drastically. I'm up to about 3 weeks between my EF work outs. Seems like a long time not to be training, but the time is spent recovering and training in other ways.
My morning body weight training is going well. I make small changes depending on the day, but the general play is 50 push ups, 50 toe touches, and 50 body weight squats. I add some variety by doing front pulls and other band/chest expander exercises about every other day and I do a few reps on the old ab wheel a couple days through the week. I've also been using this as my grip training time a few days through the week.
I've been a bit lax lately on my resistance aerobic/cardio training. I plan on rotating my resistance aerobic/cardio training with some hill sprints and/or Tabata type interval training. I'm hoping implement this plan later this week or next.
If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below or email them to me. Thanks. Until next time, take care and always try to improve.
Steven DG
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
Static Contraction, Explosive Fitness, and Partial Movements, Oh My!
Greeting fellow health and fitness enthusiast(s),
In the past, I've mentioned that I use a training method called Static contraction and use a explosive fitness machine. I realized that I really didn't explain this type of training or the machine. So, I'll explain them from my perspective, give some info, and provide some links.
Static contraction training (SCT) is a form of isometrics (more on static contraction in the following paragraphs). Most of use have heard of isometrics. If you haven't, isometrics are a type of strength training in which the joint angle doesn't change and the muscle doesn't shorten, thus a static contraction. There are 2 ways to accomplish this, either by exerting force on an immovable object (too heavy to lift or move with the desired muscle(s) or exercise) or by flexing the muscle. The first way is self explanatory. The second way is pretty straight forward as well and most of us have done it. An example is imagine someone asks you to show them your muscle, if not too modest or embarrassed you will position your forearm and upper arm at some position and contract your biceps muscles while your arm stays at the same angle. Congratulations, you now know the basics of isometrics and to an extent static contraction training.
Partial movement training and lifting. This is another thing that is straight forward and simple, however, many people try to overcomplicate. Essentially, all that is happening is that only some of the range of motion is utilized. It can be any part of the movement but for our purposes, we'll focus on the strongest range of motion. Every movable joint has an angle range that is much stronger than the rest (the strongest range is dependent on joint and the individual). Heres an example, imagine your jaw bone when eat or bite. If you try to take a bite with your mouth fully open, you probably won't have a huge amount of biting strength. Now, is you don't open your mouth as much or just barely, there should be a tremendous increase in your biting power. To my knowledge, many of the old time strongmen used some type of partial movements in their training and/or acts. Two of the most impressive and amazing feats performed was the hip lift and the back lift. Both of these have a relatively small range of movement, but literally thousands of pounds were lifted (Google Paul Anderson back lift).
Static contraction has been around since any animal has exerted force on an object or flexed a body part without changing the joint angle or muscle length. The rise of modern static contraction training (SCT) is the result of work from John Little and Pete Sisco. Between the two of them, they discovered the optimum exercises and range of motions for maximum muscle fiber activation among other things. For more info on Pete can John, here are a few links
Pete Sisco:
His site http://www.precisiontraining.com
Some articles he wrote on bodybuilding.com: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/sisco.htm
John Little
His site: http://www.maxcontraction.com/little.htm
SCT and heavy partial movements place a tremendous amount of stimulus on the body. This huge amount of stimulus (with adequate recovery) not only strengthens the muscles but the ligaments, tendons, and bones.
When using isometrics and/or STC with conventional equipment and immovable object, measuring progress is difficult. To perform work outs using this training method special equipment was needed. This equipment didn't exist in a practical home use fashion, until Tony Reno invent it, thus explosive fitness equipment was born. The equipment is now a couple model generations old and has undergone many changes since it's conception. The machines continue to evolve and I believe that design is very close to perfect. It's really ingenious in concept. It's a closed system, where the only moving part is the deflection of the material from the force exerted and the force is measured by a meter. A friend of mine calls it "the pressure place." For more information, check out the explosive fitness site.
Explosive Fitness:
Home Page: http://www.explosivefitness.com/
Road map and timeline page: http://www.explosivefitness.com/TheStreamline.html
I hope that this was able to provide some insight into my training. The above mentioned methods and equipment are a component of my current strength training program. They may not work for everyone, but it works for me. Now that you know about it, you can try it, and see if it works for you. Please feel free to leave any questions and comments below. Until next time, take care and try to improve.
Steven DG
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
The past couple weeks in review and my gymnastic experience.
Greeting loyal follower(s),
As promised, I'll catch you up on my training and some reasons that I've been so busy of late. The past couple weeks, I've been on the search for a new job. I wasn't having a great deal of luck, but one of my part time jobs offered me a full time position. So, I decided to take it and my first full work day starts in a few hours. Unfortunately, my shift begins before my jujitsu class starts and my shift ends after the class dismisses. :( Sadness to say the least.
Over the past 2 weeks, I decided to hit jujitsu hard and grapple as much as possible. I trained with, practiced with, and taught as many people as I could in the time frame. In that time frame, I believe that my skills, abilities, and conditioning improved. I diversified my training partners, I used as much of the height and weight spectrum that was available to me. Unfortunately, during this time an injury occurred, not to me but one of the under belts. Long story made short, while doing some grappling, the guys face hit my elbow and broke his face. It was an accident but I still feel bad about it. However, things happen. If you read this Shawn, sorry buddy and I hope you're recovering well.
Last Thursday, I had a gymnastic experience. One of my jujitsu buddies is also a gymnast. In case you haven't noticed, I'm a fan of physical culture and training and I wanted to get a feel for gymnastics. My friend gave me a crash course on the still rings, pommel horse, and high bar. A brief summary of the experience, fun but hard. I learned some basic techniques and I also learned that I am not built for gymnastics (especially the pommel horse and high bar). For those 2 events, my arms are way too short, my torso is too long, or a combination of the 2. I could go into details, but just think about the positions that are performed on the pommel horse and my above mentioned build (hint: I dragged my junk). Hopefully, that's been enough said.
The gymnastic training effect was awesome, today is 5 days after and I still have some muscle soreness. I've decided that I'm gonna get some rings to train with (not gymnastically). The rings made simple exercises exponentially harder. Pull up and chin ups, normally, I can do a couple hand fulls, not so on the rings. Dips, usually not a problem, HARD on the rings. Push ups, normally not an issue, on rings an entirely new level of muscle activation. All I can say is awesome.
Well folks, that's all that I have for today. If you have question or comments, please leave them below or if you know me personally drop me an email. Until next time, take care and try to improve.
Steven DG
As promised, I'll catch you up on my training and some reasons that I've been so busy of late. The past couple weeks, I've been on the search for a new job. I wasn't having a great deal of luck, but one of my part time jobs offered me a full time position. So, I decided to take it and my first full work day starts in a few hours. Unfortunately, my shift begins before my jujitsu class starts and my shift ends after the class dismisses. :( Sadness to say the least.
Over the past 2 weeks, I decided to hit jujitsu hard and grapple as much as possible. I trained with, practiced with, and taught as many people as I could in the time frame. In that time frame, I believe that my skills, abilities, and conditioning improved. I diversified my training partners, I used as much of the height and weight spectrum that was available to me. Unfortunately, during this time an injury occurred, not to me but one of the under belts. Long story made short, while doing some grappling, the guys face hit my elbow and broke his face. It was an accident but I still feel bad about it. However, things happen. If you read this Shawn, sorry buddy and I hope you're recovering well.
Last Thursday, I had a gymnastic experience. One of my jujitsu buddies is also a gymnast. In case you haven't noticed, I'm a fan of physical culture and training and I wanted to get a feel for gymnastics. My friend gave me a crash course on the still rings, pommel horse, and high bar. A brief summary of the experience, fun but hard. I learned some basic techniques and I also learned that I am not built for gymnastics (especially the pommel horse and high bar). For those 2 events, my arms are way too short, my torso is too long, or a combination of the 2. I could go into details, but just think about the positions that are performed on the pommel horse and my above mentioned build (hint: I dragged my junk). Hopefully, that's been enough said.
The gymnastic training effect was awesome, today is 5 days after and I still have some muscle soreness. I've decided that I'm gonna get some rings to train with (not gymnastically). The rings made simple exercises exponentially harder. Pull up and chin ups, normally, I can do a couple hand fulls, not so on the rings. Dips, usually not a problem, HARD on the rings. Push ups, normally not an issue, on rings an entirely new level of muscle activation. All I can say is awesome.
Well folks, that's all that I have for today. If you have question or comments, please leave them below or if you know me personally drop me an email. Until next time, take care and try to improve.
Steven DG
Friday, October 9, 2009
Training for the Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT)
Greetings health and fitness enthusiasts,
Today, I have a special treat for you. Some tips and tricks and training advice for the Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT). For those of you unfamiliar with the APFT, it
is the army's way of evaluating a soldier's fitness levels. Personally, I don't believe
that it's the best test to evaluate fitness levels (especially after you learn some of
my tips and tricks ;) ) but it's at least standardized. The test consists of three
events in the following order: Push ups- maximum number of repetitions in a 2
minute time limit, sit ups- maximum number of repetitions in a 2 minute time limit,
and a two mile run for time.
Each event has a set of standards that are based on age and gender. Each event is
score between 0 and 100 points. The minimum total passing score is 180 points with
a minimum of 60 points per event.
Tips and Tricks
Push ups: The key here is technique and practice. DO NOT FLARE the arms. This puts extra strain on the shoulders, increases the chance for injury, and uses up energy that could be put to use doing more push ups. I like to start out with my hands close together and slide them wider as the test continues (slide not lift, lifting can lead to disqualification). This does 3 things: 1) it shifts the exercise from weaker triceps to the stronger chest muscles, 2) reduces rate of fatigue, 3) reduces the range of motion and travel distance to do a push up. Foot placement is an over looked key to adding a few more reputations. This depends on the size of your feet, place them up to 12 inches apart and bring your heels together. Sit ups: Again, technique and practice. Make sure your legs form 90 degree angles and spread your knees/legs/feet apart to where you have the lease amount of resistance from your body (make sure things don't get in the way and make it harder). 2 mile run: Keep moving. Don't stop moving, even if you must slow to a walk. The air borne shuffle is a good method depending on your needed/wanted run time. If running on a track, hug the inner loop as much as possible. This is a shorter distance than running on the outer loop.
Training
Push up and sit up training: This is the method that I used while in the reserves. Take the number of push ups or sit ups that you want/need and divide that number by 2. Then do 3 sets of them. Example: if you want 60 push ups and sit ups. Do 30 push ups then 30 sit ups. Keep your rest under 1 minute, then repeat 2 times. Adjust this accordingly if you have a high goal or not where you want to be. Try to add 1 or 2 reps per week. Depending on your current physical training program. Do this work out 1 to 3 times per week. Running tips: Don't be a heel striker. Try to minimize landing on your heels when running. Heel striking not only slows down the run but increases the chance for injuries such as shin splints. 2 mile run training method 1: The only way to get better at running is to run. Here are a couple training methods to prepare for scoring well on the PT test. You must condition for both distance and speed. There are a few different ways to do this. Here are the methods that I used. Break your runs into a distance day and a speed day. On distance days you want to work up to about 2.5 miles, you may choose more or less. I like 2.5 miles because it allowed me to have more reserve capacity when running just the 2 miles. Speed days choose shorter distance and run it as fast as you can, then take a break short break. Repeat until tired, alloted time is up, or desired number of reputations have been completed. Try to shoot for at lease 40 yards. Alternate speed and distance days. Try to do this 2 or 3 times per week. 2 mile run training method 2: The speed distance method: This method combines the speed and distance days into 1 and is best when used on a track or area with defined 1/4 mile increments. Calculate the number of laps needed to get the distance. 2 miles divided by 1/4 mile track equals 8 laps. Take the time you want/need and divide that by 8 this gives you the time per lap in minutes multiply by 60 to get seconds per lap. 13 minutes divided by 8 equals 1.625 minutes times 60 equals 97.5 seconds per lap. Now that we calculated our lap time, this is the maximum time per lap to make our goals. Try to keep the laps under this time. After each lap rest/walk/catch your breath for 1 to 2 minutes. After your break, run the next lap and rest. Repeat this until tired or number of desired laps are completed. After each work out, try to reduce rest time by a few seconds per work out, don't try to make jumps over 5 or 10 second per. Eventually, the rest time will reach 0 and all laps will be completed in succession resulting in the desired run time. 2 mile run training method 3: Combine the previous 2 methods. Alternate between speed run, distance run, and speed distance run. This adds more training variety.
Training schedule:
You may decide to incorporate this into an existing program or use it as a main plan. Experiment and see what works best for you. You may decide to do push ups and sit ups 2 days a week and run 3 days per week, push ups and sit ups 3 days a week and run 2 days per week, or alternate your weeks.
If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below. Until next time, take care and always try to improve.
Steven DG
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Exercise Jargon: Terms with descriptions and my thoughts
Greetings loyal follower(s),
You have my apologies for not updating this blog over the past few days. I intend to dedicate a particular time to update the blog in the future. To summarize the past week, things are busy but are going well, I'm still training and improving (I'll share the details tomorrow or later in the week), and have been brain storming on what to share.
I've decided to share some words that are thrown around a lot. Though, technically not jargon, many of the words I feel are overused/underused and/or not fully understood. I hope to enlighten and share my thoughts about some commonly used terms.
Aerobic activity/exercise: Activities that primarily use oxygen to fuel the metabolic processes. These are mostly lower intensity activities such walking, standing, jogging, etc. These activities are usually performed for extended amounts of time.
Anaerobic activity/exercise: A short duration but higher intensity activity that does not use oxygen for metabolic activities. These are strength and power related activities such as sprinting,
weight lifting, etc.
Atrophy: The wasting away of body tissue. When applying this to fitness and exercise, it is the lose of strength and/or muscle and bone mass. The old saying, "if you don't use it, you lose it," pretty much sums up the basics, excluding injuries, diseases, etc.
Cardio activity/exercise: Cardio is short for cardiovascular which is the circulatory system of the body. The circulatory system consists of the heart and blood vessels. The heart pumps blood which carries oxygen and nutrients to the tissues of the body and waste products and carbon dioxide from them.
Cardio vs. Aerobic: This is a pet peeve of mine. I've heard so many people say, " Today, I'm doing cardio," or something similar. This bothers me for a couple different reasons, 1) if you're living, you're technically doing cardio. Right? Reason 2) suppose the definition of cardio you want to use is specifically applied to exercise by elevating your heart rate. Well, lift a heavy weight a few times and see if your heart rate is elevated. It will be. This is just a pet peeve of mine. If you contest my reasoning, please leave a comment below.
Conditioning: This varies between who you ask. So, I went to a very knowlegable source that would clearly define conditioning. According to Merriam-Webster online dictionary, www.merriam-webster.com, " 1 : the process of training to become physically fit by a regimen of exercise, diet, and rest; also : the resulting state of physical fitness." Sounds good to me.
Hypertrophy: An increase in the volume of an organ or tissue caused by an increase in the size of the cells of the organ or tissue. In exercise and fitness this generally refers to either muscular hypertrophy or ventricular hypertrophy (both explained below).
Muscular Hypertrophy: This is an increase in the size of the muscle cells in skeletal muscle which results in bigger and/or stronger muscles. There are two types of muscle hypertrophy, sarcoplasmic and myofibral. This will simplify and separate the two different types. 1) Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is an increase in volume of the muscle cell (bigger but not necessarily stronger). When weight training, this is usually in the 12 to 15+ range. 2) Myofibral hypertrophy is an increase of the myofibrals of the muscle cells (stronger and more dense but not necessarily bigger).
Ventricular Hypertrophy: This is an increase in the size of the heart chambers that pump blood. This condition can occur from disease, but let's focus on the positive health and fitness possibilities. If this occurs as a result of physical training your body has adapted to be more efficient and pump more blood to the body with each heart beat.
Well, ladies and gentlemen, I think that this will be enough for tonight. If you have any questions, comments or want more terms explained, please leave them below. Until next time, be good and always try to improve.
Steven DG
You have my apologies for not updating this blog over the past few days. I intend to dedicate a particular time to update the blog in the future. To summarize the past week, things are busy but are going well, I'm still training and improving (I'll share the details tomorrow or later in the week), and have been brain storming on what to share.
I've decided to share some words that are thrown around a lot. Though, technically not jargon, many of the words I feel are overused/underused and/or not fully understood. I hope to enlighten and share my thoughts about some commonly used terms.
Aerobic activity/exercise: Activities that primarily use oxygen to fuel the metabolic processes. These are mostly lower intensity activities such walking, standing, jogging, etc. These activities are usually performed for extended amounts of time.
Anaerobic activity/exercise: A short duration but higher intensity activity that does not use oxygen for metabolic activities. These are strength and power related activities such as sprinting,
weight lifting, etc.
Atrophy: The wasting away of body tissue. When applying this to fitness and exercise, it is the lose of strength and/or muscle and bone mass. The old saying, "if you don't use it, you lose it," pretty much sums up the basics, excluding injuries, diseases, etc.
Cardio activity/exercise: Cardio is short for cardiovascular which is the circulatory system of the body. The circulatory system consists of the heart and blood vessels. The heart pumps blood which carries oxygen and nutrients to the tissues of the body and waste products and carbon dioxide from them.
Cardio vs. Aerobic: This is a pet peeve of mine. I've heard so many people say, " Today, I'm doing cardio," or something similar. This bothers me for a couple different reasons, 1) if you're living, you're technically doing cardio. Right? Reason 2) suppose the definition of cardio you want to use is specifically applied to exercise by elevating your heart rate. Well, lift a heavy weight a few times and see if your heart rate is elevated. It will be. This is just a pet peeve of mine. If you contest my reasoning, please leave a comment below.
Conditioning: This varies between who you ask. So, I went to a very knowlegable source that would clearly define conditioning. According to Merriam-Webster online dictionary, www.merriam-webster.com, " 1 : the process of training to become physically fit by a regimen of exercise, diet, and rest; also : the resulting state of physical fitness." Sounds good to me.
Hypertrophy: An increase in the volume of an organ or tissue caused by an increase in the size of the cells of the organ or tissue. In exercise and fitness this generally refers to either muscular hypertrophy or ventricular hypertrophy (both explained below).
Muscular Hypertrophy: This is an increase in the size of the muscle cells in skeletal muscle which results in bigger and/or stronger muscles. There are two types of muscle hypertrophy, sarcoplasmic and myofibral. This will simplify and separate the two different types. 1) Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is an increase in volume of the muscle cell (bigger but not necessarily stronger). When weight training, this is usually in the 12 to 15+ range. 2) Myofibral hypertrophy is an increase of the myofibrals of the muscle cells (stronger and more dense but not necessarily bigger).
Ventricular Hypertrophy: This is an increase in the size of the heart chambers that pump blood. This condition can occur from disease, but let's focus on the positive health and fitness possibilities. If this occurs as a result of physical training your body has adapted to be more efficient and pump more blood to the body with each heart beat.
Well, ladies and gentlemen, I think that this will be enough for tonight. If you have any questions, comments or want more terms explained, please leave them below. Until next time, be good and always try to improve.
Steven DG
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Today's work out: 1 October 2009
Greeting loyal follower(s),
I hope that your day is going well. Just finished with today's strength training session. I believe that it was simple and straight forward. Pressing exercises or work out A using static contractions on the explosive fitness machine.
Warm up: Rotations and active stretches followed by some push ups, resistant bands military presses, squats, and some toe raises. I didn't perform many of the exercises, they were just for helping me warm up the areas that I intended to work.
The work out went very well. I set 3 new personal records and 1 cycle record. So, progress in 4 of 5 exercises and a high percentage in the remaining exercise.
Work out A:
Exercise---------------Percentage from previous work out or cycle best.
Bench Press-----------104.32%
Triceps Press----------102.75%
Shoulder Press--------101.72%
Leg Press-------------103.46%
Toe Press------------- 99.81%
Push ups: 25 reps
Squats: 25 reps
Toe raises: 25 reps
Bull dog push ups: 25 reps
Cool down: Static stretches.
The last exercises are to get some blood and nutrients flowing to the used muscles. That's all for today. Until next time, stay well and always try to improve.
Steven
I hope that your day is going well. Just finished with today's strength training session. I believe that it was simple and straight forward. Pressing exercises or work out A using static contractions on the explosive fitness machine.
Warm up: Rotations and active stretches followed by some push ups, resistant bands military presses, squats, and some toe raises. I didn't perform many of the exercises, they were just for helping me warm up the areas that I intended to work.
The work out went very well. I set 3 new personal records and 1 cycle record. So, progress in 4 of 5 exercises and a high percentage in the remaining exercise.
Work out A:
Exercise---------------Percentage from previous work out or cycle best.
Bench Press-----------104.32%
Triceps Press----------102.75%
Shoulder Press--------101.72%
Leg Press-------------103.46%
Toe Press------------- 99.81%
Push ups: 25 reps
Squats: 25 reps
Toe raises: 25 reps
Bull dog push ups: 25 reps
Cool down: Static stretches.
The last exercises are to get some blood and nutrients flowing to the used muscles. That's all for today. Until next time, stay well and always try to improve.
Steven
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Daily work out 24 September 2009
Greeting loyal follower(s),
Today, like yesterday, things didn't go as planned. Yesterday, the weather didn't cooperate with me to allow an outdoor training session. I was still a bit sore from the previous days training, so I decided to have a recovery day instead. However, I didn't neglect to do my daily rotations and stretches.
Fast forward to today, Thursday 24 September 2009. Again, the rain would have made outdoor training difficult. I was in a time crunch and decided to have a quickie instead of neglecting my training. I don't have a huge amount of space in my house, burpees, squat jumps, and similar exercises are difficult to perform in there. I chose some basic but staple exercises that have a tremendous training effect.
Warm up: I did a quick warm up with rotations and active stretches.
Work out:
50 Toe touches
50 Push ups
50 Bw squats
Cool down: Basic static stretches
Total time: Less than 10 minutes
Toe touches: These are a great and underutilized exercise. I usually do a few as part of my warm up. I decided to use them as a way to utilize a great number of muscles in short amount of time. I changed my foot and leg placement a few times to add variety and to slightly change the muscles being emphasized. Even though they are called toe touches, a person doesn't actually have to touch his/her toes. I actually prefer to place my hands at the side of my hips or clasp them together behind my back. I then bend forward at the hips as much possible, keeping my legs straight or slightly bent while looking forward, this keeps the back straight. Do not bounce at the bottom or over do the range of motion. You want this to be a nice active controlled movement. Failure to follow this advice can result in injuries. I then reverse the motion until I'm standing erect. I began with my straight feet and legs together for about 10 reps. Then changed to a pigeon toed or toes in position of about 45 degrees. My legs were relatively together and my big toes touched, but my heels were separated. This position feels both weak and tight for me. I did 15 reps like this. I then switched to a toes out position of about 45 degrees with my heel together for 10 reps. I then widened my stance and repeated the above foot positions for 5 reps each.
Push Ups: Another great exercise. Nothing fancy here. Focus on keeping your body straight (don't swag or sway your back), keep your head and neck neutral or look forward, and don't flair your out (try to keep your elbows by your side or pointing toward your feet as much as possible) I like to start with my hands very close at the beginning and space them further apart as I progress. Narrow hand placement puts more emphasis on your triceps and wide more on your chest.
Squats: Again, another great exercise. I held my arms out in front of my body for these today. This helps with balance and personally, I can do them more quickly this way. Again, nothing fancy. Just try to keep your back straight and focus on going up and down. I started with my feet hip width apart and used the foot placement variations I mentioned earlier in the toe touches.
I finished up with some static stretches. Toe touch 20 second static hold, squat 20 second static hold, and finished with a static corner stretch for 20 seconds.
So here it is, a quick 10 minute body weight work out that can be done almost anywhere. I hope that this has entertained, enlightened, and/or inspired you.
Until next time, stay strong and always try to improve.
Steven
Today, like yesterday, things didn't go as planned. Yesterday, the weather didn't cooperate with me to allow an outdoor training session. I was still a bit sore from the previous days training, so I decided to have a recovery day instead. However, I didn't neglect to do my daily rotations and stretches.
Fast forward to today, Thursday 24 September 2009. Again, the rain would have made outdoor training difficult. I was in a time crunch and decided to have a quickie instead of neglecting my training. I don't have a huge amount of space in my house, burpees, squat jumps, and similar exercises are difficult to perform in there. I chose some basic but staple exercises that have a tremendous training effect.
Warm up: I did a quick warm up with rotations and active stretches.
Work out:
50 Toe touches
50 Push ups
50 Bw squats
Cool down: Basic static stretches
Total time: Less than 10 minutes
Toe touches: These are a great and underutilized exercise. I usually do a few as part of my warm up. I decided to use them as a way to utilize a great number of muscles in short amount of time. I changed my foot and leg placement a few times to add variety and to slightly change the muscles being emphasized. Even though they are called toe touches, a person doesn't actually have to touch his/her toes. I actually prefer to place my hands at the side of my hips or clasp them together behind my back. I then bend forward at the hips as much possible, keeping my legs straight or slightly bent while looking forward, this keeps the back straight. Do not bounce at the bottom or over do the range of motion. You want this to be a nice active controlled movement. Failure to follow this advice can result in injuries. I then reverse the motion until I'm standing erect. I began with my straight feet and legs together for about 10 reps. Then changed to a pigeon toed or toes in position of about 45 degrees. My legs were relatively together and my big toes touched, but my heels were separated. This position feels both weak and tight for me. I did 15 reps like this. I then switched to a toes out position of about 45 degrees with my heel together for 10 reps. I then widened my stance and repeated the above foot positions for 5 reps each.
Push Ups: Another great exercise. Nothing fancy here. Focus on keeping your body straight (don't swag or sway your back), keep your head and neck neutral or look forward, and don't flair your out (try to keep your elbows by your side or pointing toward your feet as much as possible) I like to start with my hands very close at the beginning and space them further apart as I progress. Narrow hand placement puts more emphasis on your triceps and wide more on your chest.
Squats: Again, another great exercise. I held my arms out in front of my body for these today. This helps with balance and personally, I can do them more quickly this way. Again, nothing fancy. Just try to keep your back straight and focus on going up and down. I started with my feet hip width apart and used the foot placement variations I mentioned earlier in the toe touches.
I finished up with some static stretches. Toe touch 20 second static hold, squat 20 second static hold, and finished with a static corner stretch for 20 seconds.
So here it is, a quick 10 minute body weight work out that can be done almost anywhere. I hope that this has entertained, enlightened, and/or inspired you.
Until next time, stay strong and always try to improve.
Steven
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
The daily work out for 22 September 2009
Hello again ladies and gentlemen,
I hope everyone had a great weekend and that your week is going well. If you've been keeping up with the blog, then you know that I've been pushing my self in each work out. However, the harder we push ourselves, the more we need to pay attention to our recovery. I had originally intended to not work out on Saturday and Sunday, but hit it hard on Monday. On Monday morning, when I awoke, I didn't feel as energetic as I as expected. So, I grabbed my home blood pressure kit and got a quick reading on my blood pressure and heart rate. Sure enough, my heart rate was elevated, which provided more evidence that I hadn't adequately recovered.
Tuesday. I checked my blood pressure and heart rate, heart rate was normal, so it was a training day.
The training session consisted of static contraction pulling movements on the explosive fitness machine, followed by some light chest expander work. My explosive fitness work out 2 or B consists of mostly pulling exercises.
Below is the exercises and percentage (%) of maximum intensity of the previous workout.
Work Out B:
Ab crunch----------------103.5 %
Lat Pull down-------------101.9 %
Standing Bicep Curly------118.1%
Bent Over Row------------108.2%
Dead lift---------------------91.6%
Shrug-----------------------92.6%
The purpose of using the chest expander at the end of this work out was to increase the blood flow to the previously worked muscles. Thus, bringing more nutrients to the muscles.
Chest expander:
Front Pulls: 40 reps
Behind the back later raises: 20 reps
Lateral Raises: 20 reps
Bicep Curls: 20 reps
Shrugs: 20 reps
Overall, I made progress and improved. The reduced percentages in the dead lift and shrug indicate 1 of 3 things: 1) I didn't try hard enough or wasn't motivated enough. That didn't happen, 2) I expended too much energy on the other exercises, or 3) Those muscles hadn't fully recovered from previous work outs/activities. So, it was some combination of reason 2 and 3.
Until next time. Take care and try to always improve.
Steven DG
I hope everyone had a great weekend and that your week is going well. If you've been keeping up with the blog, then you know that I've been pushing my self in each work out. However, the harder we push ourselves, the more we need to pay attention to our recovery. I had originally intended to not work out on Saturday and Sunday, but hit it hard on Monday. On Monday morning, when I awoke, I didn't feel as energetic as I as expected. So, I grabbed my home blood pressure kit and got a quick reading on my blood pressure and heart rate. Sure enough, my heart rate was elevated, which provided more evidence that I hadn't adequately recovered.
Tuesday. I checked my blood pressure and heart rate, heart rate was normal, so it was a training day.
The training session consisted of static contraction pulling movements on the explosive fitness machine, followed by some light chest expander work. My explosive fitness work out 2 or B consists of mostly pulling exercises.
Below is the exercises and percentage (%) of maximum intensity of the previous workout.
Work Out B:
Ab crunch----------------103.5 %
Lat Pull down-------------101.9 %
Standing Bicep Curly------118.1%
Bent Over Row------------108.2%
Dead lift---------------------91.6%
Shrug-----------------------92.6%
The purpose of using the chest expander at the end of this work out was to increase the blood flow to the previously worked muscles. Thus, bringing more nutrients to the muscles.
Chest expander:
Front Pulls: 40 reps
Behind the back later raises: 20 reps
Lateral Raises: 20 reps
Bicep Curls: 20 reps
Shrugs: 20 reps
Overall, I made progress and improved. The reduced percentages in the dead lift and shrug indicate 1 of 3 things: 1) I didn't try hard enough or wasn't motivated enough. That didn't happen, 2) I expended too much energy on the other exercises, or 3) Those muscles hadn't fully recovered from previous work outs/activities. So, it was some combination of reason 2 and 3.
Until next time. Take care and try to always improve.
Steven DG
Friday, September 18, 2009
Today's work out: 18 September 2009
Welcome ladies and gentlemen to today work out. Today was simple, yet exhausting. Let me tell you what I did.
As usual, I begin each work out with some warm up activities. The usual rotations, body twists, and active stretches.
Equipment: Bulgarian Training Bag (BTB) and a concrete slab from a hardened bag of quikrete approximate weight 100 lbs. For safety reason, I DO NOT RECOMMEND carrying solid objects like this on your shoulder or overhead. A sandbag (or other less solid object) would be a much better choice, but sadly, I don't have one at the moment.
The work out:
50 Push ups
50 Squats
20 around the world swings with the (BTB)
Carries: As simple as carrying an object is, it can become very challenging. For my safety and not to scare/freak out my neighbors, I decided not to carry in the street. I instead choose to carry the slab from my parking area, around my yard, up some steps, and back to the parking area. Then to reverse process: Parking area, steps, yard, and back to my parking area.
I began with shoulder carries in a clockwise direction. After one rotation, I switched shoulders. Once I completed that rotation, I switched shoulders again and proceeded in a counter-clockwise direction. Switched shoulders and completed my 4th lap. This is very challenging to the core muscles, especially the obliques on the side opposite of the carrying shoulder.
20 around the world swings with the (BTB)
Carry some more: This time I carried the slab in front of me by my waist and belly button. This was especially taxing on my grip, biceps, and upper back. I completed 2 clockwise rotations and 2 counter-clockwise rotations.
20 around the world swings with the (BTB)
10 Burpees
20 mountain climbers
Cooldown.
Well folks, that was my work out in a nut shell. I hope that you enjoyed it and it has inspired you. Until next time, train smart and always try to improve.
SDG
As usual, I begin each work out with some warm up activities. The usual rotations, body twists, and active stretches.
Equipment: Bulgarian Training Bag (BTB) and a concrete slab from a hardened bag of quikrete approximate weight 100 lbs. For safety reason, I DO NOT RECOMMEND carrying solid objects like this on your shoulder or overhead. A sandbag (or other less solid object) would be a much better choice, but sadly, I don't have one at the moment.
The work out:
50 Push ups
50 Squats
20 around the world swings with the (BTB)
Carries: As simple as carrying an object is, it can become very challenging. For my safety and not to scare/freak out my neighbors, I decided not to carry in the street. I instead choose to carry the slab from my parking area, around my yard, up some steps, and back to the parking area. Then to reverse process: Parking area, steps, yard, and back to my parking area.
I began with shoulder carries in a clockwise direction. After one rotation, I switched shoulders. Once I completed that rotation, I switched shoulders again and proceeded in a counter-clockwise direction. Switched shoulders and completed my 4th lap. This is very challenging to the core muscles, especially the obliques on the side opposite of the carrying shoulder.
20 around the world swings with the (BTB)
Carry some more: This time I carried the slab in front of me by my waist and belly button. This was especially taxing on my grip, biceps, and upper back. I completed 2 clockwise rotations and 2 counter-clockwise rotations.
20 around the world swings with the (BTB)
10 Burpees
20 mountain climbers
Cooldown.
Well folks, that was my work out in a nut shell. I hope that you enjoyed it and it has inspired you. Until next time, train smart and always try to improve.
SDG
Thursday, September 17, 2009
My work out for 17 September 2009
The weather outside was gloomy today. It rained last night and randomly throughout the day. I questioned if I would be able to do an outside work out today, would settle for indoor calisthenics and body weight exercises, or wait until jujitsu and try to grapple my self into submission.
The rain stopped, so I taped my toe and was ready to go. I grabbed my two 5 lbs dumbbells and gymboss timer and began my work out. The work out consisted of 30 minutes of heavy hands walking, consisting of 6 cycles. Each cycle consists of 50 seconds of a particular heavy hands exercise. I have mentioned the technique that I use before, but I'll go through the sequence quickly. 1) Walk and pump, 2) chest flies, 3) Walk and pump, 4) lateral raises, 5) Walk and pump, 6) overhead press.
The humidity level was high, so I knew that this would be an interesting. I decided to change things up today and tried a different route. I'm glad that I did, this new route is way more challenging that my old one. The hills are steeper and the general route is more exciting.
I try to keep these work outs as balanced as possible. I don't live in a neighborhood where I can easily walk around the block and return to my house. I must navigate the neighborhood and return using the same general route (the general exception is if I'm biking, which allows me to cover more distance and be more creative in my return path). To do this, if I intend to perform a 20 minute work out or 4 cycles, that's two cycles to a particular point, turn around and come back home.
Today, as I was nearing the end of the 3rd cycle, I passed a sign that said "dead end". Today's work out did not take me to that destination. However, my new goal for my heavy hands walking work out is to reach the end of that street within 15 minutes or 3 cycles. This is a way to self monitor both my intensity and progress, and it gives me a way to compete with my self and a goal to reach.
Once I returned home, I place my weights and timer on the ground and began performing burpees and mountain climbers. These are normally not a problem, but I was jelly after 10 of each. I then finished with some cool down exercises and stretches.
Thank you for your time. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below. Remember, stay strong and keep improving.
SDG
The rain stopped, so I taped my toe and was ready to go. I grabbed my two 5 lbs dumbbells and gymboss timer and began my work out. The work out consisted of 30 minutes of heavy hands walking, consisting of 6 cycles. Each cycle consists of 50 seconds of a particular heavy hands exercise. I have mentioned the technique that I use before, but I'll go through the sequence quickly. 1) Walk and pump, 2) chest flies, 3) Walk and pump, 4) lateral raises, 5) Walk and pump, 6) overhead press.
The humidity level was high, so I knew that this would be an interesting. I decided to change things up today and tried a different route. I'm glad that I did, this new route is way more challenging that my old one. The hills are steeper and the general route is more exciting.
I try to keep these work outs as balanced as possible. I don't live in a neighborhood where I can easily walk around the block and return to my house. I must navigate the neighborhood and return using the same general route (the general exception is if I'm biking, which allows me to cover more distance and be more creative in my return path). To do this, if I intend to perform a 20 minute work out or 4 cycles, that's two cycles to a particular point, turn around and come back home.
Today, as I was nearing the end of the 3rd cycle, I passed a sign that said "dead end". Today's work out did not take me to that destination. However, my new goal for my heavy hands walking work out is to reach the end of that street within 15 minutes or 3 cycles. This is a way to self monitor both my intensity and progress, and it gives me a way to compete with my self and a goal to reach.
Once I returned home, I place my weights and timer on the ground and began performing burpees and mountain climbers. These are normally not a problem, but I was jelly after 10 of each. I then finished with some cool down exercises and stretches.
Thank you for your time. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below. Remember, stay strong and keep improving.
SDG
I'm back and work out update
Hey everyone,
Sorry for the long delay in updates. I have been on hiatus in regards to blogging. My new resolve it to update at least once per week, but preferably daily or after each work out. A brief update from the past month. I've still been working out, getting stronger, and still experimenting with heavy hands exercises. Since my last update, I have set a new personal record on the lat pull down using the Explosive Fitness machine (I smashed my old record :) ). Over the last couple weeks, I have strayed from my daily regiment of 50 push ups and squats. I hope to reinstate this practice ASAP.
Yesterday, Tuesday September 15, was a phenomenal day of work out goodness.
My strength training secession consisted of static contractions presses on my Explosive Fitness machine. The exercises of the day were: Bench Press, triceps press, shoulder press, leg press, and toe press. I set three records yesterday on the current EF cycle. One in the bench press, one on the leg press, and the final on the toe press. I am fast approaching some of my all time personal bests and hope to exceed them in the near future.
I believe that it is important to set both short term and long term goals. An example using the leg press in the EF work out:
* short term goal least 30 lbs more than my last work out.
*intermediate goal (next 4 to 8 weeks) tie and/or exceed my best press.
*intermediate long term: exceed the normal common limit of 2500 lbs using the EF method.
*long term goal (several years) tie or exceed a world class strongman leg press of 3427 lbs(BTW, I'm over half way there).
Later in the evening, after my resistance training, I went to my jujitsu class. When things would slow down or we would take a break, I would head over the the chin up bar and alternate between chin ups and pull ups. I would do 3 to 5 reps, then repeat on each break. I also had the privilege of grappling with a very talented and conditioned individual for 10 to 15 min straight. That was the butt kicker of the day.
Today, I intended to do some heavy hands work and/or sandbag/odd object carrying as my conditioning for the day. However, I had two drawbacks and did not work out today. 1) the weather was crappy and rained most of the day 2) Last night, I managed to break/dislocate my toe and didn't realize it until I woke up this morning. I know, I know, it's just excuses and I agree, but sometimes a person just doesn't feel it and has to take a break. The trick is to not make it a habit, but only use it when necessary.
Thanks. Have a great day and always strive to improve.
SDG
Sorry for the long delay in updates. I have been on hiatus in regards to blogging. My new resolve it to update at least once per week, but preferably daily or after each work out. A brief update from the past month. I've still been working out, getting stronger, and still experimenting with heavy hands exercises. Since my last update, I have set a new personal record on the lat pull down using the Explosive Fitness machine (I smashed my old record :) ). Over the last couple weeks, I have strayed from my daily regiment of 50 push ups and squats. I hope to reinstate this practice ASAP.
Yesterday, Tuesday September 15, was a phenomenal day of work out goodness.
My strength training secession consisted of static contractions presses on my Explosive Fitness machine. The exercises of the day were: Bench Press, triceps press, shoulder press, leg press, and toe press. I set three records yesterday on the current EF cycle. One in the bench press, one on the leg press, and the final on the toe press. I am fast approaching some of my all time personal bests and hope to exceed them in the near future.
I believe that it is important to set both short term and long term goals. An example using the leg press in the EF work out:
* short term goal least 30 lbs more than my last work out.
*intermediate goal (next 4 to 8 weeks) tie and/or exceed my best press.
*intermediate long term: exceed the normal common limit of 2500 lbs using the EF method.
*long term goal (several years) tie or exceed a world class strongman leg press of 3427 lbs(BTW, I'm over half way there).
Later in the evening, after my resistance training, I went to my jujitsu class. When things would slow down or we would take a break, I would head over the the chin up bar and alternate between chin ups and pull ups. I would do 3 to 5 reps, then repeat on each break. I also had the privilege of grappling with a very talented and conditioned individual for 10 to 15 min straight. That was the butt kicker of the day.
Today, I intended to do some heavy hands work and/or sandbag/odd object carrying as my conditioning for the day. However, I had two drawbacks and did not work out today. 1) the weather was crappy and rained most of the day 2) Last night, I managed to break/dislocate my toe and didn't realize it until I woke up this morning. I know, I know, it's just excuses and I agree, but sometimes a person just doesn't feel it and has to take a break. The trick is to not make it a habit, but only use it when necessary.
Thanks. Have a great day and always strive to improve.
SDG
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Motivation and a short work out
Hello everyone,
Today was a slopy rainy day. So, not a huge amount of motivation to get out side and work out. Honestly, I was not motivated to work out. Of course, I did my morning routine of rotations and stretches this morning, but did not really feel like doing more today. I've been pushing some of my work outs lately, which as we know puts stress on our bodies. This caught up with me today. Last night I didn't sleep well. While we sleep, our bodies rest, recover, grow, and heal. That didn't happen for me, so today, I was both sore and tired.
This evening, my girlfriend and I watched the Julie and Julia movie at the local theater. I enjoyed it more that I thought. Aside from being entertaining, it reignited my daily desire to persevere and push through the obstacle that was before me.
When I returned home, I readied myself and my chosen pieces of equipment. I have been doing push-ups, squats, and crunches almost daily, so today I shook things up. I choose to start off with some quick grip work, followed by running the bands on my chest expanders.
Grip work:
Warm up with CoC guide 10 per both regular crush and reverse crush
Warm up with CoC sport 10 per both regular crush and reverse crush
Warm up with CoC trainer 4 per both regular crush and reverse crush
Work out:
Front pull at attention and back press at attention.
These exercises were super setted. Front pull followed by back press. I started with number 1 resistance and performed 10 reps per exercise. I immediately grabbed number 2 and repeated the process. Same with number 3. I couldn't perform front pulls with good form using number 4, but I performed 10 reps with it on the back press. I immediately picked up the number 5 and performed 10 reps on the back press. I grabbed the number 6 expander for the back press, but only managed to get a couple shake reps.
I did a few cool down exercises after I put the bands up. A very quick work out that only required a little motivation and perseverence. Writting this up required more time that my work out.
Thanks and have a great day.
P.S. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below.
Today was a slopy rainy day. So, not a huge amount of motivation to get out side and work out. Honestly, I was not motivated to work out. Of course, I did my morning routine of rotations and stretches this morning, but did not really feel like doing more today. I've been pushing some of my work outs lately, which as we know puts stress on our bodies. This caught up with me today. Last night I didn't sleep well. While we sleep, our bodies rest, recover, grow, and heal. That didn't happen for me, so today, I was both sore and tired.
This evening, my girlfriend and I watched the Julie and Julia movie at the local theater. I enjoyed it more that I thought. Aside from being entertaining, it reignited my daily desire to persevere and push through the obstacle that was before me.
When I returned home, I readied myself and my chosen pieces of equipment. I have been doing push-ups, squats, and crunches almost daily, so today I shook things up. I choose to start off with some quick grip work, followed by running the bands on my chest expanders.
Grip work:
Warm up with CoC guide 10 per both regular crush and reverse crush
Warm up with CoC sport 10 per both regular crush and reverse crush
Warm up with CoC trainer 4 per both regular crush and reverse crush
Work out:
Front pull at attention and back press at attention.
These exercises were super setted. Front pull followed by back press. I started with number 1 resistance and performed 10 reps per exercise. I immediately grabbed number 2 and repeated the process. Same with number 3. I couldn't perform front pulls with good form using number 4, but I performed 10 reps with it on the back press. I immediately picked up the number 5 and performed 10 reps on the back press. I grabbed the number 6 expander for the back press, but only managed to get a couple shake reps.
I did a few cool down exercises after I put the bands up. A very quick work out that only required a little motivation and perseverence. Writting this up required more time that my work out.
Thanks and have a great day.
P.S. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Monday Morning work out
Hello everyone:
Today's work out was simple but effective. Here's what I did.
Warm up:
Rotations: neck, shoulder and hip
Body twists.
Active stretches: Arm swings, leg swings, and toe touches.
Finger flicks.
Grip work using Captain of Crush gripper (CoC).
Grip and reverse grip: Guide (G) 10 reps, Sport(S) 10 reps, Trainer (T) 4 reps.
I felt warmed up from this and began my work out.
Work out:
Push ups: 50 reps
Crunches: 50 reps
Body weight squats: 50 reps
Glute bridge: 15 reps
Cool down:
Hip flexor stretch
Toe Touch hamstring stretch
Body Twists
Overhead Reach
Chest fly stretch
Well, that was the work out. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below.
Thanks and have a great day.
Today's work out was simple but effective. Here's what I did.
Warm up:
Rotations: neck, shoulder and hip
Body twists.
Active stretches: Arm swings, leg swings, and toe touches.
Finger flicks.
Grip work using Captain of Crush gripper (CoC).
Grip and reverse grip: Guide (G) 10 reps, Sport(S) 10 reps, Trainer (T) 4 reps.
I felt warmed up from this and began my work out.
Work out:
Push ups: 50 reps
Crunches: 50 reps
Body weight squats: 50 reps
Glute bridge: 15 reps
Cool down:
Hip flexor stretch
Toe Touch hamstring stretch
Body Twists
Overhead Reach
Chest fly stretch
Well, that was the work out. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below.
Thanks and have a great day.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
work out of the day
Hello everyone,
After setting up this account and posting my first post, I thought that I should do more today.
So, I'm gonna post my work out of the day.
I've recently been experimenting with a type of exercise called Heavyhands. This type of exercising was invented and named by Leonard Schwartz, M.D. Unfortunately, I have not read his book and know all of the facts. However, the basics of the system (from what I understand) is to walk while carrying hand weights as you perform exercises. This type of exercise, supposedly, is great for increasing your VO2 max.
I walked for 25 minutes and used two 5 pound dumbbells.
My timer was set for 50 seconds per exercise. Each cycle consisted of 1) pump and walk 2) chest flyes 3) pump and walk 4) bent arm lateral raises 5) pump and walk 6) overhead military press. I completed 4 cycles of the exercise sequence.
My walked started on a level paved street. The street then goes down hill and followed by another hill. After completing my second cycle, I turned around and headed back to my starting point. The first half was a warm up. The up hill climb while carrying the weights and performing the exercises really increased my heart rate and breathing. I was thankfully relieved when the street began to level out again. By this time, my shoulders were feeling the burn.
When I reached my starting point, I laid the weights down and performed 30 push-ups. I then grabbed my Bulgarian training bag (BTB), draped it over my shoulders and performed 30 squats. Followed by 20 push-ups and 20 squats with the BTB. My finisher was some swings using the BTB and some gripper work.
Summary:
25 minute cardio
30 Push-ups
30 BTB squats
20 Push-ups
20 BTB squats
BTB swings
Gripper work.
Cool down with stretches.
Hope that you enjoyed.
After setting up this account and posting my first post, I thought that I should do more today.
So, I'm gonna post my work out of the day.
I've recently been experimenting with a type of exercise called Heavyhands. This type of exercising was invented and named by Leonard Schwartz, M.D. Unfortunately, I have not read his book and know all of the facts. However, the basics of the system (from what I understand) is to walk while carrying hand weights as you perform exercises. This type of exercise, supposedly, is great for increasing your VO2 max.
I walked for 25 minutes and used two 5 pound dumbbells.
My timer was set for 50 seconds per exercise. Each cycle consisted of 1) pump and walk 2) chest flyes 3) pump and walk 4) bent arm lateral raises 5) pump and walk 6) overhead military press. I completed 4 cycles of the exercise sequence.
My walked started on a level paved street. The street then goes down hill and followed by another hill. After completing my second cycle, I turned around and headed back to my starting point. The first half was a warm up. The up hill climb while carrying the weights and performing the exercises really increased my heart rate and breathing. I was thankfully relieved when the street began to level out again. By this time, my shoulders were feeling the burn.
When I reached my starting point, I laid the weights down and performed 30 push-ups. I then grabbed my Bulgarian training bag (BTB), draped it over my shoulders and performed 30 squats. Followed by 20 push-ups and 20 squats with the BTB. My finisher was some swings using the BTB and some gripper work.
Summary:
25 minute cardio
30 Push-ups
30 BTB squats
20 Push-ups
20 BTB squats
BTB swings
Gripper work.
Cool down with stretches.
Hope that you enjoyed.
First Post
Welcome to my first post!
This blog will consist of the following: my thoughts about various aspects of health and fitness, my work outs, published and/or recognized facts regarding health and fitness, and other tidbits of information that I find interesting and/or helpful.
Why did I choose Ironmutt Health and Fitness? Ironmutt is how I view my philosophy toward health and fitness. Let's break Ironmutt down into two words, iron and mutt.
Iron has two different meaning to me regarding my philosophy: 1) hard, strong, unyielding examples: iron minded, iron willed, iron bodied, etc. 2) the physical presence of something to lift, press, or move.
Mutt: a mixture or combination of many different forms. In my opinion, there's not a pure "best" type of training. Many people become fixated on a single type of training, such as body weight only, kettlebells, etc. If you like training that way, just do it. However, I believe that just focusing on one type will neglect other areas and leave "holes." To have a well rounded diet, we must eat a variety of foods. To have well rounded fitness, we should train in a variety of ways.
Ironmutt Health and Fitness: a resolve to improve health and fitness by incorporating a variety of different methods and techniques.
*Disclaimer: Before starting or changing your exercise regiment, diet, and/or supplement use, please consult your health care provider. Information provided on this blog is for education purposes only.
This blog will consist of the following: my thoughts about various aspects of health and fitness, my work outs, published and/or recognized facts regarding health and fitness, and other tidbits of information that I find interesting and/or helpful.
Why did I choose Ironmutt Health and Fitness? Ironmutt is how I view my philosophy toward health and fitness. Let's break Ironmutt down into two words, iron and mutt.
Iron has two different meaning to me regarding my philosophy: 1) hard, strong, unyielding examples: iron minded, iron willed, iron bodied, etc. 2) the physical presence of something to lift, press, or move.
Mutt: a mixture or combination of many different forms. In my opinion, there's not a pure "best" type of training. Many people become fixated on a single type of training, such as body weight only, kettlebells, etc. If you like training that way, just do it. However, I believe that just focusing on one type will neglect other areas and leave "holes." To have a well rounded diet, we must eat a variety of foods. To have well rounded fitness, we should train in a variety of ways.
Ironmutt Health and Fitness: a resolve to improve health and fitness by incorporating a variety of different methods and techniques.
*Disclaimer: Before starting or changing your exercise regiment, diet, and/or supplement use, please consult your health care provider. Information provided on this blog is for education purposes only.
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