New Year's resolutions - steps to success

The advice I'm about to give will be counter culture since I don't promote a "quick fix" or some fast way to show your abs.  I'm all about living long and being healthy.  Perhaps those who want to start out with some super-fast-weight-loss-fitness-program will come back to me when they have tried that and failed. (not that I wish for anyone to fail at this.)

Runners, Runners Everywhere

A co-worker joked about the number of people in his neighborhood who were going for a jog on Jan 2nd (last year).  There were people everywhere in his neighborhood.  Within 2 weeks, nobody was running.  This is absolutely the way it works for most people

Right now, some of you are thinking, "but that's not gonna be not me"!  Well, 100% of those people who started running and quit thought the same thing - otherwise they wouldn't have started!

Ground Rules:
You'll want to follow 4 ground rules as you move towards being more healthy:
(1) change your life in small steps - continuous improvement!
(2) take on healthy habits you intend to continue
(3) don't simply reach for fat loss, go for a healthy life!
(4) don't do it alone

Why #1?
The more things you change - the faster your willpower runs out.  you should target a 1 year plan, not a 1 month plan.  52 weeks until next year, change 1 thing a week - it really adds up!

Why #2?
The only people who are successful long-term are people who actually change their life habits, not simply a crash diet.

Why #3?
crash diets can take off fat, but they are dangerous and imbalanced and do not enforce lifelong changes.  Exercise is essential to health, but needs to be grown slowly

Why #4?
Your success will improve dramatically if you are simply talking to someone else about what you are trying to do.

My normal method I advice people is to work towards "targets". If you can accomplish them by sheer willpower, you are amazing.  The rest of us will need to move incrementally towards these goals.

Targets:
(1) exercise 4 sessions a week
(2) eating real food- no more processed food.  (vegetables, lean meats, healthy oils, fruits, nuts seeds, little starch and no sugar)
(3) 8 hours of sleep per night
(4) 8 glasses of water a day

I have made a very short list of things which are actually hard.  Are there MORE things you can do?  Yes, but these are the big ones. If you spent an entire year building up to success to these, you would be well on your way to a lifetime of health.

Enjoy!
Brian

Tim Ferriss' 3 min slow carb breakfast

Pretty good video by Tim Ferriss' about a fast good breakfast for you.  Spinach is one of the most nutritions things you can eat.  Add black beans or lintels to his suggestion here for a longer lasting breakfast with more fiber (for fullness and satisfaction).

Brian

What are Olympic Athletes taking?

I found a nice little study in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition which compared supplement use between the 2002 and the 2009 Olympics in Finnish elite athletes.

What was initially surprising to me was that supplement use OVERALL dropped during that period.  I figured that better and better stuff was going to come along but it seems all the major categories took a drop.  Well, real food is winning out!  (sometimes)

Power and strength events use more supplements than motor-skilled events, buy still saw a drop in usage across the different groups.  Yet, there are five categories of supplements that saw an INCREASE in usage.  These were the cream of the crop.  Several of them won't be a big surprise if you are a regular reader of TheDailyFit.  (more on that below)

In 2002, 81%of all the athletes used some kind of supplement.  In 2009, 73% used supplements.  They found that younger athletes used less supplements than older ones.  My question - when you get older, do you get smarter or more desperate?  The study didn't address this.

From 2002 - 2009
Amino Acids: 3.8% to 7.3%  (DOUBLED!)
Fatty Acids (fish oils and others) 11% - 19% (NEARLY DOUBLED)
Homeopathic 0.4 - 1.6% (QUADRUPLED)
Multivitamins 53% - 57%
Antioxidants 0.7% - 2.0% (NEARLY TRIPLED)

The categories were not directly defined.  Amino acids covers a broad range, might include protein or only specific amino acids.  Antioxidants might be VitC, Resveratrol, Pycnogenol, Vit E... who knows.  Homeopathic is extremely broad and even more difficult to nail down than antioxidants.

The point is - elite athletes - even when the economy is bad, still can afford a few things.  The things they are buying increasingly are aminos, fish oil and antioxidants.  Multi-vits still come in solid with over half of athletes using them.

Keep strong!
Brian

Eat Beans, Live Longer

I have been very interested in the Paleo diet for a while.  Indeed, the Crossfit movement is hooked on it for good reason.  When people eat Paleo, they lose fat, gain muscle and their performance improves.  This large-group experience is hard to ignore.

(My current opinion is that most people leave their bad-carb lifestyle and trade it for organic fruits and vegetables, and relatively-clean organic, grass-fed meat - this will give a huge boost in performance.)

Loren Cordain is a highly educated Anthropologist (not nutritionist) but when reading his book, I had a bone to pick with him.  Namley: his take on beans.  He says don't eat any beans!

Performance is one thing and survival is another.  When modern ethno-biologists study lifespan of humans and health, BEANS are a major component to living long.  (Google: BLUE ZONES and get some more on this.)

A study was done several years ago that I really like that hits this point home.  Put simply, the more beans you eat the less chance you have of dying.  (Obviously, there is an upper limit to this and the study did not attempt to answer this question.)

The short version: in a study of  785 people over a 3 year period, for every additional 20 grams of legumes a day was associated with an 8% drop in risk of death.  This was consistent even when other lifestyle factors and ethnicity was taken into account.

To quote the researchers:
"The significance of legumes persisted even after controlling for age at enrolment, gender, and smoking. Legumes have been associated with long-lived food cultures such as the Japanese (soy, tofu, natto, miso), the Swedes (brown beans, peas), and the Mediterranean people (lentils, chickpeas, white beans)".


Enjoy,
Brian, TheDailyFit

Build lean muscle. The Slow Rep = the Grow Rep

not an example of light weight

When researchers were trying to tackle the issue of building muscle for an older population (age 50-70), they had a few problems: This population can be prone to high blood pressure, sometimes risk of stroke, they face natural muscle wasting (Sarcopenia), and sore joints that can't handle heavy weights.  Since lifting heavy is known to increase blood pressure during the workout, this demographic really has the deck staked against them.

What they learned can help us all, especially those who don't have access to a lot of equipment.

How do you build muscle without lifting heavy weights? 

It is well recommended that to gain significant muscle tissue, one needs to lift in the 80%+ range of their one-rep maximum (1RM).  Example: if you can bench press 200 pounds, 1 time and one time only, then your 1RM is 200#.  If you want to gain peak strength you need to perform sets with 160# or more in order to really stimulate those muscles for growth.  Of course peak strength is not the only thing to develop there is also endurance and power, but we'll stick with strength for now.

Japanese researchers discovered muscle mass could be built using 50% of the one rep max if the proper technique was observed.  This allowed them to build muscle without spiking blood pressure.  The key to this technique is not only moving slowly, but also to make sure your muscles don't get to "take a breath".  I'll explain.

Many people like to rest in the "locked position".  With a squat, this is standing fully upright; with the pushup, this is arms locked out or paused with your chest on the ground.  In either case, your muscles are getting a break and that break is allowing more blood to flow in.  This gives the muscle more oxygen and makes you feel better.

With the Slow Rep (or Temp Rep, as I've seen it called by others), you take 3 seconds to go from the top position to the bottom position, you pause at the bottom for one second (with the pushup - this is NOT resting your chest on the ground), then take 3 seconds to return to the top position.  Don't rest at the top at all! Continue to the next rep: 3 seconds down, 1 second pause at the bottom and 3 seconds up.

It is the starving of your muscle for oxygen that results in physical growth and strength increase (technically, the lack of oxygen stimulates intra-muscular enzymes that promote growth).

Finally, the researchers took nearly every set to failure.

Some ideas:

Try mixing up your interval training.  Instead of doing all your reps as fast as you can, try them all using the Slow-Rep or Tempo-Rep tecnique.

Another thing you can try is 5 Slow-reps immediately followed by 10 normal ones.  This brings a great burn!

BTW, that is a real picture.

A magic number to tell how young you are

All that beauty makes smart researchers

Norwegian researchers studied 9,000 people and have determined a rating system to show you how fit/healthy you actually are.

Below you will find (1) the calculator for that fitness/health level and (2) the workout they recommend for people who currently don't exercise but want to improve their heart health.  This can be done with as little as one-17 minute exercise session a week.

(1) Use the calculator the researchers invented. - this gave me a rating (VO2MAX) of 57.  It said my fitness age is younger than a 20 year old, nice.  (for the calculator you will need to convert your waist measurement to centimeters.

(2) Here is the workout they outlined.

10 minute warmup
4 minutes where your heart rate is 90 VO2Max.
3 minute cool down.

This could be done on a stationary bike or treadmill.  Effectively, you need to be working out at 90% of your max heart rate. This can be calculated by: 220-your age.

More on the research here.

Enjoy,
Brian

Top 7 habits of those who lose weight and keep it off

already using the home gym

American College of Sports Medicine has reported on the top 7 habits people used to keep weight off and I wanted to share.  They are listed by what % of people did them.

92% exercise at home

78% eat breakfast every day

75% Weigh themselves at least once per week

63% watch less than 10 hours of TV a week

54% Burn more than 2,000 calories a week through exercise

40% Exercise with a friend

29% include strength training

so...

(1) removes your biggest excuse - the workout is right there in your home

(2) kick starts your metabolism and, when done right, reduces your hunger for the day

(3) keeps you on track - measuring your results

(4) TV makes you stupid - what else can I say?  Stick to the inspiration and educational - ditch "junk food" tv

(5) this means 5 sessions of 400 cals each - that is a serious commitment to exercise.

(6) accountability - ring, ring, "you training today?"

(7) builds lean muscle tissue to drive metabolic burn all day

Enjoy,

Brian

Cut cravings throughout the day - the right breakfast is the key

yum - satisfaction

Researchers at University of Missouri used an MRI to determine brain patters of satisfaction and fullness from eating or not eating breakfast.  They also asked participants to fill out questionnaires to report their experiences with the different breakfast options.


Teenagers were given a choice of 3 options for breakfast: (1) skip it, (2) 500-calorie breakfast meals containing cereal and milk (which contained normal quantities of protein) or (3) higher protein meals prepared as Belgium waffles, syrup and yogurt.


Sciencedaily.com reports:
Compared to breakfast skipping, both breakfast meals led to increased fullness and reductions in hunger throughout morning. fMRI results showed that brain activation in regions controlling food motivation and reward was reduced prior to lunch time when breakfast was consumed in the morning. Additionally, the higher protein breakfast led to even greater changes in appetite, satiety and reward-driven eating behavior compared to the normal protein breakfast.


Essentially, eating some breakfast reduced cravings and impulse snacking during the day.   The "high protein" meal was better and reducing cravings and snacking than the other breakfast and MUCH better than not eating at all.


Even better than waffles, syrup and yogurt is egg scramble with bell peppers and onions.  If you have issues with cholesterol, use one regular egg and the rest egg whites, top with salsa.  (one whole egg per day has been proven to not alter LDL cholesterol) .  It's a low calorie meal that gets your metabolism going for the day.


Enjoy,
Brian

Burning fat through exercise - when to eat and when not to eat

Gym Rat

Right now, for getting in shape the fastest possible I still think the best plan is what I have been laying out for months: (1) real food, high vegetable diet (2) high intensity exercise (3) 8 hours of sleep, and (4) 8 glasses of water a day.

BUT

Some folks just LIKE low-intensity exercise like walking or jogging.  In that case - what is the best timing for eating to get the most of the fat burning?

At low intensities  (25-50% VO2 MAX) if you consume carbs before exercise you will BLUNT fat burning.  Meaning - if you eat before a walk your body will burn the ingested calories first before burning fat.  These workouts are best done fasted.  The  rating "VO2 MAX" rates with how much exertion you can do based on how much oxygen your blood can hold.  A good rule of thumb is that if you can carry on a conversation you are 60% or less than VO2 MAX.  Walking and a light jog fall into this category.

Above 60% VO2 Max, carbs will increase your performance without suppressing fat burning.  (For very high intensities - circuits, sprinting and the like are best done avoiding food for several hours prior)  Exercising at a level where you can't really do much talking (running, rowing, stairclimber) is above 60% VO2 MAX.  A good idea is to eat is some kind of nut-butter sandwich (peanut butter, almond butter) with only a small amount of honey or jam.

You would be wise to consider how many calories you intend to burn. (CALORIE USAGE CALCULATOR)  If you eat a 300 cal sandwich but only fast walk at 3.5MPH for 30 min, you're only going to burn 130 cals.  Not a good investment of your time.

The purpose of eating would be to fuel a harder workout - don't eat just to eat.  Eat some calories if it takes you to a higher level of performance!  If you're only going out for a light walk, do it on an empty stomach for best results.

Enjoy,
Brian

Timing of meals defines what KIND of weight is lost

The following is a study back from 1997 but still great simple info to implement.

You've heard the phrase "Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper" if you want to lose weight.  This is nice advice but not only does it go against some natural urges - namely the urge to eat a bunch of food before you fast for 8 hours (rebuilding your body while you sleep), but it also causes you to actually lose weight you don't want to lose.

Two groups of women were put on a diet.  Each group had the same number of calories per day.  Group AM had 70% of their calories for breakfast and 30% for dinner.  NO LUNCH!  Group PM had 70% of their daily calories for dinner and 30% for breakfast.  After 6 weeks they switched and they followed the opposite protocol for another 6 weeks.  The results of the study are shown in the following graph.

The overall results of weight loss:

This shows how eating most of your calories for breakfast will cause you to lose more WEIGHT but eating most of your calories in the evening will cause you to lose more FAT.  Keep in mind this is in a calorie restricted setting - these people weren't just eating anything they wanted.

Enjoy,

Brian, TheDailyFit

Source: J Nutr. January 1997, 127 (1) :75-82.

FULLTEXT: http://jn.nutrition.org/content/127/1/75.long

Another format for beginners - mix up your intervals with this!

Lots of folks mention they don't know where to start.  The answer is : SOMEWHERE.  Starting is more important than knowing the best or fastest way.  Imagine waiting 2 months to find the perfect method?  You'd be better off taking 30 min walks every day to get yourself going.  There are a ton of workout programs out there.  Today many seem to be all about the EXTREMES (P90X, Crossfit, Insanity, etc).  It really takes a lot to build up to these.  What most people need is a format to being with.

My last post was on intervals and doing 60 seconds of effort with 60 seconds of rest or 30/30.

This one is about a circuit.  A circuit is a mix of exercises where you keep rotating between movements but you don't take any planned rest.  In reality you'll HAVE to rest as you go but as SOON as you catch your breath you continue.  It keeps the effort high, but it's YOUR OWN LEVEL and can be easily adjusted.

Typical Circuit

5 pushups/knee pushups
5 situps/crunches
5 squats or lunges
return to first exercise.  Keep performing that circuit until a time runs out - 10 min or 20 min or even 30 min.

this will make exercises easy enough so you can rapidly continue to the next movement.  This will cause your heart rate to go up rapidly but not too high.  You can pace yourself and usually do a workout like this for a longer period of time since you are spending a good amount of your time "moving to the next exercise"

another example

10 pushups
10 situps
10 squats
return to first exercise.  Keep performing that circuit until a time runs out - 10 min or 20 min or even 30 min.

the more reps per set, the faster the muscles tire.  Now, more of your time is spent in the exercise.  But right about the point when the muscles would want to stop, you're moving to the other exercise.

25 pushups
25 situps
25 squats

return to first exercise.  Keep performing that circuit until a time runs out - 10 min or 20 min or even 30 min.

now, even if you can make it through one round of each exercise without stopping, most people will have to start resting mid-set.  This type of circuit tires a muscle out much, much faster and feels very different from the other two.  It builds a lot of lactic acid.  It will make you feel much more tired, longer after the workout.

Brian, TheDailyFit

Interval workout template - not sure where to start?

Below is a workout I set up for a friend of mine from High School.  He wanted to lose some weight and had enough time to do about 30 min of exercise a day.  He was simply walking on the treadmill for 20-30 min a day so I set this up for him to help him gain some lean muscle mass while still burning off a lot of fat.

Diet: He changed his eating to several small meals a day, made sure he was getting protein in each one as well as some vegetables at each meal.  He follows the high-intensity protocol and does not eat carbs for 2 hours after an interval workout.  This boosts his Human Growth Hormone which will aid fat loss and recovery.  He drinks 10 glasses of water a day and eats a lot of lean meat, eggs, nuts, seeds, vegetables, fruit, some starches, and healthy oils.  He's trying to get to about 2400 cals a day.

He's trying to lose a total of 90 pounds and is down 20 in the first month (a very UNsustainable pace but good for him because he's got his eating under control)

He is training on THIS tempo:

Monday: Interval bodyweight

Tuesday: Interval Cardio

Wednesday: Interval bodyweight

Thursday: Interval Cardio

Friday: Interval bodyweight

Saturday: Interval Cardio

Sunday: rest

or you can use this weekly tempo

Monday: Interval bodyweight

Tuesday: Interval Cardio

Wednesday: rest

Thursday: Interval bodyweight

Friday: Interval Cardio

Saturday: rest

Sunday: rest

Interval Bodyweight:

Use 60 seconds to attempt as many reps as you can at an exercise (listed below)

Rest for 60 seconds and move to a different movement.

Repeat 10 times for a total of approx 20 minutes (depending on your ability and time available).  Half of that time you will be resting.

Take your pick from these exercises:

Pushups/knee pushups

Squats

Arm Haulers (google it)

Situps/crunches

Lunges

Plank

Bridges (google it)

You should pick 2, 3 or 4 exercise to do each workout and rotate through them as a circuit.  Try different exercises each time you do it, or at least change the order you are doing them.

Pack as many reps into a 60 second window before you move on to another exercise (rest as you go along if you need to).  It’s okay to rest during that 60 seconds but keep your volume as high as you can. Then, during your 60 second rest period – record how many you did of the exercise.

Example

Minute 1: pushups for 60 seconds, record total reps

Minute 2: rest

Minute 3: situps for 60 seconds, record total reps

Minute 4: rest

Minute 5: squats for 60 seconds, record total reps

Minute 6: rest

Minute 7: pushups for 60 seconds, record total reps

…

Minute 17: squats for 60 seconds, record total reps

Minute 18: rest

Workout complete

Interval Cardio:

For 60 seconds run/sprint as fast as you can

For 60 seconds rest

Repeat 5-10 times

If you are ever to sore to do any Interval Cardio,  just walk/run for a 20-30 minutes “Steady state” or “easy pace”.  This will keep your tendons and ligaments stimulated and burn fat.

Product Spotlight - BCAA - bad taste, good function!

Bitter, but it builds :)

BCAA is one of my favorite supplements.  It has been around for years.  BCAA is short for Branched Chain Amino Acids.  Your muscles are made up mostly of water and proteins.  The proteins are primarily made of 3 key amino acids : L-Lucine, L-Valine, and L-Isolucine.  Those are called the Branced Chain Amino Acids.

A recent study showed giving these 3 amino acids to mice extended their lives.  I don't know if this transfers to humans but much research has shown it is safe and this study in particular suggests it might even be very good for you.

BCAA protects your muscles during workout and stimulates muscle repair afterwards.  It reduces muscle soreness, and speeds your recovery.  It contains NO calories so it's pure muscle-building goodness.  When you're trying to increase your metabolism, adding lean muscle tissue is your primary goal.

Did I mention it's cheap?

I have experimented with all kinds of protocols and times of day to take it.  The best time to take it in my experience is (1) take 10-15 grams before your workout and (2) put another10 grams in with 20 grams of whey protein after a workout.   All the other times of day I have used it have really done nothing but waste my money.

This particular brand is nice because it has more L-Lucine than other mixtures.  The justification for which I won't get in to.  Let's just say that's a good thing.  You can buy other mixtures that taste better but I just put this stuff on my tongue and drink it down with water.  If you mix with a good chocolate protein you'll be fine.

Brian, TheDailyFit

New Study - how to keep burning calories after exercise

Nice Hat

A very carefully designed study was just completed that shows how to continue burning calories after an exercise session.  It's not about what you do after, but what you do DURING your exercise session that counts.  Intensity is the key.

This is relatively new evidence and I am unsure how far you can extrapolate it.  The studies parameters were cycling (pretty hard) for 45 minutes.  This caused an initial 420 calories to be burned (during the cycling) and 37% more to be burned over the next 24 hours (without any other activity).  The secret of the "intensity" factor is that the participants were unable to carry on a conversation.  This is about 70% of VO2Max (for the technical folks)

Thought I find this interesting and noteworthy, I prefer to examine the other facts of weight loss and metabolism that show that 65%+ of all calories burned in a day are "resting" metabolism.  In order to increase your resting metabolism you need to be building lean muscle.  Lean muscle is built through resistance exercise, weights, bodyweight movements and also high-intensity intervals.  If you increase your lean muscle tissue you can have big effects on that 65%.  You'll burn more calories sleeping at night than you ever could during a workout.  But you'll have the benefits of burning calories while you worked out too!

Brian, TheDailyFit

Nothin' like CRUSHING a personal record

I am so fired up for my workout crew.  Tonight we ran "Murph" (see below) and everyone posted some seriously awesome gains.

Please keep in mind - these are people who are training hard 2-3 times a week.  Our sessions are about 30 minutes long.  I say that because some people think they have to train hours a day, 6 days a week to get fit.  Not true.  You just have to train smart!

These gains are awesome for me to see as a coach.  I also posted my own personal record.

"Murph" (in honor of Lt. Michael Murphy, USN SEAL)
Time yourself to complete:

run 1 mile
100 pullups
200 pushups
300 squats
run 1 mile

You can partition the bodyweight exercises how you like.  We did 20 rounds of (5 pullups, 10 pushups and 15 squats).  COMPARE these results to last time.  Impressive improvements.

My time: 30:30  (first time I tried it I scored 54 minutes)
Taylor: 31:00 (both Taylor and I posted 5+ minute improvements since August)
Evan: 34:30 (BEST IMPROVEMENT!)

Amalia: 34:00 Amalia did some jumping pullups but all-in-all a great "Murph" time for her first go at it.

Reflections on 8 months of training

Let me just say, if you only learn one thing from my experience it's this:

When you set a goal, don't merely work towards that goal, plot your course from where you are to where you are going.

I trained hard for nearly a year for this event and I was totally unprepared.  Why?

I did not train according to a defined goal.  Oh, I trained hard, but I didn't train according to the standards I would need to fulfill.  I trained in such a way that I could bring people along with me.  (that's not so bad, by the way but that's what I did).  When  took my first test I was completely unprepared for the format.  I had not trained that way, I had the tools but didn't push myself in the right way.  I had the Olympic bar but didn't use it often because I was busy training 12 other people.

It's not only about "beginning with the end in mind", it's about plotting a course from A to B.

This fact has completely revolutionized the way I am now going.  More on that in another post.

In the end, I accomplished my goal.  The goal was to try as hard as I could and not give up. I ended at the point I was disqualified for not being able to complete a single rep at the prescribed weight.   I could have tailored my training better but in the end, I only had 30-40 minutes a day to train and that would not produce the kind of athlete needed to compete in "the games".  I would have to ditch the people I was training with and go solo.

In the end, I think I would rather have relationships than status.

Get strong!
Brian

Muscular focus - it's not only about circuits

Muscles are in a constant state of protein synthesis (growth) and protein breakdown (shrinking).  In fact, they both happen at the same time.  If you put the muscle under stress (exercise) you get more synthesis than breakdown.  If you sit around and watch TV for a week, you get more breakdown than synthesis.  Pretty simple stuff.

Sometimes we do circuits to get the heart rate way up there to build cardio strength as well as muscular endurance.  Sometimes we add a little more rest in there to get a more "muscle building" focus.  Don't worry ladies, this kind of thing will not make you big.

Just remember: more lean muscle = higher metabolism = less body fat.

Workout:

4 sets of each station.  Rest 1 minute after each pair of exercises. Complete all 4 sets before moving on to the next station.

Station 1
5 Walking lunges, each leg (with weight.  We used 95 pound barbell)

10 walking lunges, each leg (no weight)
rest 1 minute


Station 2
10 ring pushups
20 regular pushups
rest 1 minute


Station 3
5 weighted pullups (pick weight, we used 20#)
5 pullups (no weight)
rest 1 minute

Progressions - a great way to measure muscular endurance

A progression is a great way to see how far you have come in your training.  I am a huge fan of measurement so you can know your success.  Many people only measure their weight: "how much have I lost?".  This is a very small picture of what is happening.  Physical results follow physical performance and performance is much easier to measure.

A progression is a series of exercises you go through until you can't do any more.  If the first time through was too easy, you make the next one harder.  The key to them is HOW you do them.  You must not rest during the entire progression.  There are natural transitions between movements but those are all the break you get.  If you stop during the set, you record your stopping point and try to beat it next time.

Here's what we did last night.

3 weighted pullups
6 pushups (no extra weight)
repeat these 2 exercises, starting at 10#, then 20#, 30#, 40#

If you finish the progression rest 5 minutes and repeat as 4 weighted pullups and 8 pushups.

Here's another we did.

10 overhead dumbbell press (with only one dumbbell)
20 goblet squat (with same dumbbell as above)
repeate these 2 exercises, starting with10#, then 20#, 30#, 40#

If you finish the above progression successfully rest 5 minutes and repeat as 15 overhead dumbbell press and 30 goblet squats. 

Balance and Strength

Strength, Endurance, Conditioning and speed are only a few aspects of being in shape.  In reality, there are many more.  One of the most often neglected is balance.  Truth be told, we don't work on it a lot but our regimine adapts pretty well when we do.  Try this workout, it takes about 20 minutes.

First do sets of 5, then 6, then, 7, 8, 9 and finally 10 for the people with more time.  My lunch training class only got to 9.  It was enough.

Holding a single dumbbell (I used 40#, my team used a 30#) perform the following sequence.  This is generally called a "Dumbbell Complex" becaues you don't set the dumbbell down until you're finished with the sequence.

Standing on right foot

Dumbbell press (right arm)

back extensions (let weight hang down)

one leg negative squat (hold weight upright again, but use left foot to stand up only, use right foot only on the way down)

Now, switch to left foot and repeat all the above with dumbbell in left hand.

After that sequence, do pullups, then go back to top.

so your first set will look like this:
5 right dumbbell press, 5 right back extension, 5 one leg negative squat, 5 left dumbbell press, 5 left back extension, 5 one leg negative squat, 5 pullups.  Then on to 6....to 9.

Diet Spotlight - 4 hour body

Tim Ferris - (Four Hour Work Week).

This is probably one of the more interesting diets I've ever looked it.  It has most of my favorite components laid out in a simple plan.  As with all diets I question it's sustainability.  That point aside, a friend of mine from work is trying it out and has rapidly lost 10lbs of baby weight in about 3 weeks.  She both breastfeeding daily (that burns about 500 cals/daily) and is exercising twice a week using high-intensity techniques also from Tim Ferris (author of this eating plan).

Things I like
(1) real food
(2) organic, grass-fed beef
(3) unlimited vegetables
(4) slow carbohydrates in the forms of legumes*
(5) simple rules
(6) lean proteins
(7) cheat day!
(8) easy meal prep - due to simple meals

Things I don't like
(1) kinda boring - sustainable?
(2) low fat (this can be good or bad) fat tastes good!
(3) egg whites (almost) exclusively - my gripe here - egg whites are good for you YES, but 1/2 the protein in the egg is in the yolk and ALL the vitamins.

*this legume point is an interesting note here: though my other favorite diet (the paleo diet) does not permit legumes they are a part of the diet in the societies on earth who love the longest - they can't be all that bad.  So notwithstanding the research for the paleo diet, my personal "jury" is still out on them.  Tim includes them b/c carbs ARE energy.  Fast carbs are basically fat unless you're eating them after a workout (which he also includes here).

RULES for the 4 hour body.

2nd workout of the day

I love this style of working out.  It really jacks up the heart rate, increases your power output and generally wipes you out.

Once every 4 minutes for a total of 5 rounds do the following:

10 Sumo Deadlift High pull with 95 pounds total barbell
10 pullups
10 toes to bar
10 pushups
carry 40# dumbbell 100m

That set took roughly 2 minutes (my best time was 1:43, Taylor beat me at 1:41).  Use the remainder of the 4 minutes to rest (if you can call it rest :) )

easier version if you only have dumbbells:


10 Sumo Dead-lift High-pull with one dumbbell
10 arm haulers (see my old videos for demo)
10 leg lifts
10 pushups
carry that dumbbell 100m or hold it for 40 squats

Enjoy!
Brian

Another WaveReps workout - I almost had a mutiny

I took my afternoon crew through this one and they almost revolted against me.  It was the hardest they had done yet.

Rep rounds of 5-10-15-20-5-10 (left off 15, and 20 because we ran out of time)


Dips
Pullups
Jump Squats
overhead dumbbell press (2x30#)
upright rows (1x40#)

So the first round you do 5 of each, the second round you do 10 of each and so on.

18 minutes was the time to complete (skipping the last 15 and 20).

Train hard!
Brian

from uncomfortable to hard

Take a workout you do find easy and making it very hard can be just a few simple tweaks.  Change is a good friend for muscles.  Your body adapts quickly to changes in tempo, resistance, method, etc.

A favorite crossfit workout of mine is called "Cindy":

max rounds in 20 min of:
5 pullups
10 pushups
15 squats

I've reached 28 rounds on this one. Not saying that was "easy" just that I'm comfortable with the setup.  That means it's time for change!!  So I grabbed my lunchtime crew (I now have two separate classes - one during lunch MWF and one in the evenings M and Th) and tried this with them.

Max rounds in 20 min of:
5 weighted pullups (1x30# dumbbell)
10 diamond pushups
15 split jumps (count total jumps not each leg)

---that was a "gasper".  I only got to 14 rounds.  Actually a little disappointing for me but it felt good.

My crew did an easier version perhaps you would be interested.

Max rounds in 20 min of:
3 weighted pullups (1x30# dumbbell) NEGATIVE PORTION ONLY (partner assisted going up)
10 diamond pushups
15 lunges (total steps, not each leg)

Take care friends!
Brian

10 minutes, one exercise, what could go wrong?

Sometimes you work you way through the weekly workouts and you just want to focus on a single exercise.  Maybe you only have 10 minutes and you want to make it count.  Here is a great way to use that time.  The heart rate doesn't go high like some other things we do at thedailyfit.net but it will leave your legs quivering (if that's what you're looking for)

(1) pick a single exercise (my example is the squat)
(2) grab a pair of dumbbells that are basically hard for you (unless you're doing something like a pushup, then dumbbells are kinda silly)
(3) perform that movement 10 times in rapid succession
(4) immediately drop the weight to the ground (if weight is involved)
(5) immediately perform the same movement 10 more times using a 3/3 count (3 seconds down, 3 seconds up, no pause)
(6) repeat this every 2 minutes for 5 rounds.

Here is how I would normally write it out:

every 2 minutes for 5 total rounds do the following:
10 dumbbell squat 2x40#
10 slow squat (dry) using 3/3 count
rest remainder of 2 minutes.

Back at it

Most of my trainees have had some time off (hence the clock) for vacation and other things so I decided to go easy on them.  Just kidding.

This is a fun mix of exercises.  The intent as always is to build muscle and burn fat.  A recent study demonstrated the enzyme stimulated in our muscle "AMPK" is a master switch to burning fat for fuel.  Sounds good to me.  So here is another of that kind of workout.

Complete the following triplet 5 times.  But after each time you do it, select one of the below exercises to do.  Once you complete it, go back and do another of the triplet.  So I don't want you to do 5 rounds of the triplet at once, just one round and then the additional exercise.

Triplet:
10 pullups
20 pushups
30 squats

additional exercises (in between each triplet)
100m farmer carry 2x40#dumbbells
20 sumo deadlift high pull 95#
100 squats
20 weighted dips (30#)
20 weighted situps (20#)

My time was 14:55
Taylor was 15:00
Amalia finished 16:45

the body rewards effort

If you want results, you must work for it. There are no shortcuts, at lest not any legal ones.  Hard effort brings more results than light effort.  This is where most people say, "I thought walking burned more fat than running!"  It does but only WHILE you are doing it.  Run 1 mile - burn 120 cals; walk one mile burn 80 cals.  Which do you think will add up faster?  The body might burn less at that time but it will have to catch up later.  The payoff is more muscle, less fat and a longer life.  Any takers?

10 rounds of
10 1-arm row (hold pushup position with one arm and row with the other) 20# dumbbell EACH ARM
15 pushups
20 squats

my time: 15:20
2nd attempt (5 hours later using 25# each arm): 14:14

The transitions are tight on this one.  Your heart rate will be very high and you will probably have to rest a lot along the way.  Time yourself to complete it.  Try the workout again in a month.

Strategies for the New Year!

With the new year comes all kinds of ideas and schemes.  For the record, I have seen many so-called diets come and go in my short 35 years.  I have seen many "New Year's Resolutions" and a vast majority of them are dead by January 20th.  For every 5 people I see start P90X, 3 don't finish, 1 gets hurt by it and another  get results from it.  My strategy for most people is:

Lasting success is slow success.  So here are some things to start you off.


(1) focus on one simple exercise discipline.  If you are still doing it at the end of January then move on.
For example,  if you are doing nothing, start some walking or a simple workout a week.  Even one workout a week can cause beginners to gain muscle mass and lose fat.  Figure out what one or two days work with your schedule and start putting them in.  A simple 10 pushups (or knee pushups), 10 situps (or crunches) and 20 squats repeated 3-5 times will amount to a very good start for most people.  As you progress you can start to vary your workouts and increase your time.

(2) focus on one simple diet discipline.  For some people it might be simply drinking 2 glasses of water (16 ounces) 30 minutes before each meal.  This one small thing can cut nearly 100 cals out of each meal without you even trying.
Already doing that?  Try removing just soda from your diet.
Already doing that?  Try cutting out sugar.  Just doing this will help most people lose a good deal of weight.  It is not easy but pays long term rewards.
One of the new guys training with us said he is not drawn to sugar, but salty fat stuff.  To him I suggested shifting his bad fats to good fats.  Shift your usage away from the corn oil and the canola oil to coconut oil, olive oil, avocado.  Definitely remove fried foods. An excellent book for this is "Cook This, Not that" ($9.98).  The recipes are easy,  super good tasting and basically healthy but not to a fault.  It's not a book for "perfect" eating which most people can't do anyway.

(3) get enough sleep.  The average number of hours of sleep in the USA currently is 6.5.  Realing your life so you can move towards 8 hours.  Loss of sleep INCREASES APPETITE and SLOWS METABOLISM.  So by sleeping more you will give your body more rest (more health), eat less calories without even trying and burn more calories while you are awake.

If you are forging ahead of these there are lots more but keep it simple!  Examples: switch to foods with one ingredient, add another day per week of training, remove processed foods, increase green foods, add supplementation...

There are many more things, but work through these first so you are not overwhelmed.  Be blessed!
Brian