6 Upper Body Ab Exercises

By Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS


The thought of having to do an additional 20-30 minutes of
abdominal work after a regular workout can sometimes be enough for
you to skip the ab training altogether. But, with these six upper
body exercises, you'll gain all the benefits and more of a regular
ab workout, without the extra time.

This 15-minute upper body workout will not only build your arms,
your chest, and your back, but every one of these exercises is also
going to work your abdominals.

So this workout will include as I mentioned 6 exercises, but they
will be broken down into 3 supersets at 5 minutes each.

So, the first superset will pair chin-ups with spiderman pushups.

Now, just because these aren't specific abdominal exercises don't
think your abs will walk away unscathed. I remember training a
client before and a couple of days after doing the chinup exercise
she commented how shocked she was that her abs were so sore.

With proper form, the chin-up exercise can very powerfully target
your abs.

For proper form, begin in the dead hang position. Now, keeping your
body tight, brace your abs and pull your body up and chin over the
bar, then in a controlled fashion, lower your body down. You will
noticeably feel this exercise working your lats and your biceps.

Perform enough repetitions that take you until one short of
failure. For example, if you can do 15 repetitions, then only do 14
and so on.

After the chin-up exercise, you will move into the spiderman
pushup. In this exercise, you will get into a regular pushup
position, and then as you come down bring your knee up to your
elbow and back down. Alternate sides.

As previously noted, each superset pairing will be done in five
minute intervals. Once finished with the first superset, move onto
the next upper body combination of one-arm standing dumbbell
shoulder press and heavy weighted dumbbell rows.

For the one-armed shoulder press exercise, place the DB at shoulder
height with your palm facing outward. Next, brace your abs and
place your opposite hand on your side to ensure your obliques are
working while pressing up with the DB. Do eight repetitions for one
side, and then switch to the other side.

Immediately after completing your repetitions for the shoulder
press, move to DB rows. This time you will choose a weight you can
normally do 10 times, but now try to get 12 repetitions. However,
be sure to use only good form.

By keeping your body and back in a straight position, you will end
up working your abdominals very hard, especially as you get closer
to failure and your obliques work against rotation. If you find
that you need to take a 5-10 second rest after ten repetitions in
order to use perfect form for the remaining two, then do that.

Again, you will do this superset for five minutes going back and
forth between these two exercises.

To finish off the 15-minute workout, you'll do two arm exercises
that simultaneously work your abdominals. The first exercise is the
lying dumbbell triceps extension. Now, in order to get a good ab
workout from this exercise, when you're at the bottom position,
drop a little more and you stretch your abs. Then, bring the
dumbbells back up overhead and repeat.

That little extra stretch at the bottom of the exercise will really
work your abdominals to give you that six pack abs look, much like
the stability ball rollout when you stretch out at the end of that
exercise.

The final exercise is the one-armed standing dumbbell curl. For
this exercise you want to begin in a braced position. Since you
will be using a heavy weight, your abs will have to work very hard
throughout this exercise. To get in proper position, if your right
arm is working, then your left leg will be in front. You can do
this exercise for 6-8 repetitions per side.

That's the 15-minute upper body workout that will work your abs
just as hard if not harder than any ab crunching workout you could
possibly do.

For DVD workouts using these exercises please visit:

=> Click Here for more info!!!

Circuits Plus

A lot of OT at work, not a lot of time to write, lately.

I’ve been doing a combination of 2 types of workouts that when mixed create a tremendous amount of variety over a period of time.

The first part is I pick come core exercises, by core I do not mean ab/lower back core, I mean like squat/ bench/ deadlift/etc, to do on 3 days of the week [ Mon. – Wed.- Fri.]
My example will now be as follows:
Monday - Squat and Rows
Wed – Bench and Sandbag shoulders
Fri. – KB Clean and Press and Atlas Stone lifts

Depending on your goals you can work these in a variety of ways, let’s go with strength for now, sets will look like this.
Week 1 – 5x5
Week 2 – 4x4
Week 3 – 3x3
Week 4 – Test
There are few ways you can test – you can go for your 1 rep max, which maybe hard in some execises like atlas stone lifts. What you can also do is test your reps at a given weight, for example if on squats you were able to do 5 reps at 405lbs, test what you can do now for 1 set.

Now depending on your conditioning or how you feel week 5 can be a back off week or start week 1 again, using heavier weights of course.

Now I know you are thinking, “that’s it?” no it is not. At the same time you will also do circuit training after the 1st part. You will create 2 circuits of 4-6 exercises, an exaple would be:
Circuit 1
Thighs
Upperbody push [chest shoulders]
Biceps
Calves
Abs
Grip

Circuit 2
Hamstrings
Upperbody pull
Tris
Calves
Obliques
Grip
You can see how with 2 circuits being done with the 3 part 1 workouts it creates some variety.
You want to do 2-4 rounds of the circuits without overtraining. It is easy for me to say week 1, 2 rounds, week 2 3 rounds, etc, but life happens. I know for my self I may want to do 4 rounds one day and work takes its toll and I get 3 in. The bottom line is after your workout you only have yourself to answer do, “was it your best effort?”.
I also like doing my circuits interval style using “Workout Muse” for this. “Workout Muse” is premade MP3s in various time intervals. Give them a look >>>>Click Here <<<<<

Perplexed about complexes?

Ever train using complexes? Why not? Complexes are a series of exercises strung together to be completed one right after the other. Sort of like circuit training on steroids. I was emailed great info today from BJ at "Workout Muse" which will give a better explanation then I could so here it is...


Types of Complexes:
- There are 3 main types of complexes listed below in order of difficult from easier to hardest:

1.) Succession: complete all reps/time of a certain drill before moving to the next drill
2.) Sequence: shift from one drill directly into another until you complete the entire complex
3.) Combination: join several drills together to form one smooth drill

- Complexes are not limited to kettlebell training as you can also perform dumbbell, barbell, bodyweight, band, suspension training, med ball, and cable complexes


The Top 6 Ways to Build a Perfect Complex

1.) Choose the load for a given complex based on the load you can use for your weakest movement within the complex. In other words, if your weakest movement is the push press in a complex, be sure to select the appropriate load for the prescribed rep total or work period for the push press and use that same load for all other movements.
2.) Place your weakest movements earlier on in the complex when you are most fresh. Examples include weak sides (weak arm, weak leg, weak rotation to one side), lagging muscle groups (glutes, upper back, hamstrings), and lagging movement patterns (hip-dominant and upper body pulling movements).
3.) Place higher skill movements that require lots of coordination and motor skill earlier on in the complex when you are most fresh. Examples include olympic lift variations like snatches, cleans, and jerks.
4.) Place fast, explosive, and power training movements earlier on in the complex when you are most fresh. Examples include ballistic kettlebell exercise variations and bodyweight plyometric exercise variations like squat jumps, plyo push-ups, and box jump.
5.) Ensure proper exercise flow by ordering the exercises in your complex to allow for smooth, seamless transitions. For example following KB Goblet Squats with KB 2-Arm Overhead Presses is ideal because the holding position at the top of each exercise is the same.
6.) The only limitations when performing complexes are skill set, paint tolerance, exercise recall, and fitness level. However, the exercise selection and ordering for complexes is unlimited!

The Workout of the Week!!

1- KB Push-up
2- KB 2-Arm High Pull/Swing
3- KB Goblet Squat
4- KB 1-Arm Clean and Press (L)
5- KB 1-Arm Clean and Press (R)
6- KB Threaded Lunges

Late update ...and it is not a park bench

Well as you may or may not know I completed my March quest of 10,000 swings, a little more actually. It started out pretty easy, but as it went on it became more difficult both physically and mentally. I was hoping to be able to move up in the weight I was swinging, but for reps that was not the case. I pretty much stayed within the 16kg - 32kg range. I did use the 48kg a few times, but not often. As for recovery I increased my protein intake by @20 grams a day and that helped a lot. Also towards the end of the month my sleep became deeper...which I am not sure why, but it helped. Give it a try sometime, 10,000 swings in a month, see how you do!

Recently I received an email about a new training, a protocol I would say. It isn't so much as a program, but how to take you current training to a new level, with out injuries. It is an innovative training based on your body’s feedback. The DVD's are sold out for now but you can get on the waiting list by CLICKING HERE!

A little bit of a rant about the gym...still have the usual one about cell phones while working out ---- WHY????????? Are you so not in control of your life you can't be away from the phone for < 1 hour????
- A new one, the gym was packed recently, I guess holiday season, and I wanted to use a flat bench for flies. All were being used , one had a gym bag on it. I asked around and one guy told me he was using it. He was ... to hold his bag, he was doing curls and standing tricep extensions. So I waited about a few minutes, then handed him his bag and took the bench. You know he actually went to the gym manager and complained. The manager came over and when I told him the story and it was confirmed by others he just laughed at the guy and poined to the locker room and tole him that there are lockers in there for his bag. So remember equipment have purposes besides being your valet, there are other people in the gym wanting to use the bench for its purpose....

New realease 3XM - sale!!!!

Triple Threat Muscle - 3XM

An Interview with Jason Feruggia:

Most guys are being told to follow bodybuilding splits, train multiple times a day, and other non-sense training tactics that don’t work. What tips do you have for people looking to build muscle as fast as possible?

The key to making consistent size gains is making consistent strength gains (in a hypertrophy rep range) while eating enough food and allowing enough time for recovery. You need to constantly be doing more weight or more reps. The body will respond to any given stimulus one time and one time only. If you place the same demands on it a second time (like pressing the same weight for the same reps) nothing will happen. You must always be forcing it to adapt and thus you must always ask it do something it isn’t used to.

The easiest way to do this is add more weight or do more reps with the same weight.
Aside from making consistent strength gains the next most important thing to consider is training frequency. To improve anything in life you need to do it frequently. Building muscle is no different. So you want to train a muscle as frequently as possible, while it is in a fresh and recovered state. This means that you should be training each body part once every 2-5 days, and not once a week like a lot of the muscle mags recommend. That’s too little frequency. The more times you can stimulate growth throughout the year the better. Obviously 104 growth stimulating workouts per year for each body part would be a lot better than 52.

I have seen the phrase “stimulate, don’t annihilate” on your blog in reference to training. Can you explain what you mean by this and the relation to training volume?

To elicit a training response you need to present the body with a stimulus that it isn’t used to. This stress will cause the body to adapt. The body adapts by building itself up bigger and stronger.

Where people go wrong is that they think they need to annihilate the muscle in order to elicit any type of response. This is completely counterproductive. When you annihilate the muscle with tons of sets and reps and intensity techniques like drop sets you drastically increase your recovery time. And as I mentioned previously, frequency is very important. So when you increase your recovery time you have to decrease your training time. You’re shooting yourself in the foot.
The key is to do just enough to stimulate size and strength gains but not annihilate yourself so that it takes forever to recover, or worse- that you put yourself in a state of overtraining.

Triple Threat Muscle is your new program. What separates this program from all the others and can you tell our readers why you created it?

My Muscle Gaining Secrets program is specifically geared toward skinny guys, hardgainers and beginners. This is more of an intermediate/advanced program that is more athletically based. So while the main focus is still on building muscle there is also a shift toward a bit more speed work, mobility and conditioning in Triple Threat Muscle.
The new program was created for the typical weekend warrior or Average Joe who wants to look and train like an athlete but doesn’t actually have the time or recovery ability to spend more than a few hours per week in the gym.

I spent the last two years experimenting on a wide group of individuals to come up with the most effective and fastest way to do this. Triple Threat Muscle is the result of two years of hard work and is based on all of my findings.

And finally, what general tips can you give to our readers who want transform their bodies?

Strength train 3-4 days per week.
Lift heavy and keep most of your sets in the range of 3-10 reps.
Don’t go to failure.
Train each body part 2-3 times per week.
Don’t do more than 12-16 total sets per workout.
Always strive to get stronger.
Eat natural, organic foods and avoid anything processed.
Sleep 8-10 hours per day.
Minimize stress.
Get out in the fresh air and sun more often.

>>>>>For More info click here<<<<<

Here’s a Quick Way to Prevent Diabetes with Fitness

Here’s a Quick Way to Prevent Diabetes with Fitness

By Su Rollins

What effect does exercise have on glucose levels?

It is quite easy to manage diabetes when you incorporate a program for exercise in your daily routine. Such exercises have been shown to have positive effects for people who are suffering from diabetes, especially those who have low glucose levels. One example is exercise being able to channel muscle energy, convert it into glucose and then using that glucose as fuel. At the start of it, the body will just use the glucose that has been converted into glycogen from one’s muscles. Glucose is also found in your bloodstream. If you maintain a long term exercise program, it is highly likely that the levels of your blood glucose will not dip. Also, glucagon and other hormones found in your body will also be released. These hormones and glucagon work together and break down all of the liver’s stored fat and then converting such stored fat into more glucose. It is best that you engage in exercise frequently, because your body will improve. It will develop a sensitivity to insulin, as well as help you gain better control of the body’s glycemic index.

Why is the effect of exercise on glucose levels important to those with type 2 diabetes?

As previously explained, the exercise will have a great effect on your glucose levels. This is actually quite important especially for patients of type 2 diabetes. There are a lot of studies that indicate a better control of one’s glycemic index in diabetes patients, but only if they engage in regular exercise. Those who fail to establish a regular routine for exercise have results which are not as good. Thanks to exercise, you get to improve on your insulin sensitivity. This means you need to use less medicines and attain adequate control over their blood sugar levels.

Should patients with type 2 diabetes exercise more often or differently than otherwise healthy people?

There are, of course, people who become at risk for hypoglycemia due to the combined effects of their diabetes and engaging in high stress exercise. This happens during exercise and after it, too. If you think about it though, people can also be at risk for hyperglycemia simply for having poor control over their diabetes. Therefore, the leaders in this field recommend engaging in moderate exercise for a minimum of 2 hours and 30 minutes, or 90 minutes if they want to do vigorous exercise.

What type of exercise is best for type 2 diabetes patients?

In light of this, the frequency of the routine is more important that the kinds of exercise one engages in. There are many researches wherein an abundance of benefits result from both weight training as well as aerobic activity.

When should patients be discouraged from exercising?

Some patients have a higher risk of developing injuries from the stress of an intense exercise program. Such patients include those with higher cardiovascular risk, those over the age of 35, and those leading sedentary lifestyles. These patients should be thoroughly evaluated before beginning a new exercise program. Patients with severely low blood sugar levels should wait until their condition improves.

About the Author - Su Rollins writes for "Hypoglycemic Diet Blog" , her personal hobby blog focused on tips to prevent and cure hypoglycemia using the right diet and nutrition.

My Medical Emergency; This Happened Today by Jon Benson

My friend and fitness author Jon Benson sent me this email. I have his permission to share it with you, despite the really personal details... turns out that he had a near-fatal event in the gym and wanted to share the story with his readers. I was blown away by what he did in the name of "preventative medicine"... so read this. It may just save your life.

Tom

My Medical Emergency; This Happened Today
by Jon Benson

Sometimes you have to nearly lose it all to realize what you truly have.

I can honestly say that I have come close to death several times in my life. I've had my share of accidents, medical emergencies, and a near-fatal accident while driving.

But there was something about just laying on the gym floor today with two doctors hovering over me that gave me serious pause.

Time for some major reflection.

Now, before you get too alarmed (for those who know me, or just think I'm a pretty good guy... ; )... fear not. I did not have a stroke or anything like that, thank goodness.

What I did have was a major drop in blood pressure... so much that I came dangerously close to entering the "coma" zone.

I kid you not.

And trust me... I felt like I was slipping fast.

My girlfriend was there with me. I had her kneel down and, just like Spock in an old episode of "Star Trek", I had her slap me several times in the face. Hard!

"If my eyes roll back, hit me harder."

The doctor probably thought I was nuts... but I know that's one way to elevate my blood pressure.

So, what happened? Am I falling apart at the relatively young age of 46? Is my dietary and exercise advise dangerous after all?

No... and here's why:

I actually VOLUNTEERED for this.

Before you think I've totally lost my marbles, hear me out. If you listen to the rest of the story, you'll see that not only has my advice been of great value when it comes to exercise and dietary strategy... it actually ended up saving my butt!

-----------------------------------------
Really Bad Genetics Meets
The Cath Lab: A Wild Encounter
-----------------------------------------

First, the "volunteered for this" bit needs explaining... right? Right.

If you read my first book, published in 2004, called "Fit Over 40" (read more at http://www.fitover40.com) then you may recall that I went into great detail about my poor genetics and horrible health in my early and mid-30s.

Since then, and knowing exactly how bad my genetics are for such things as high blood pressure (oh, the irony!), heart disease, and stroke, I adopted the dietary plan and exercise routine I use to this very day. The very ones I cover in "The Every Other Day Dietplan" and "7 Minute Body."

(If you don't have these books and want them, you can get both here... http://www.everyotherdaydiet.com -- oh, and I have a short video up on this page if you have not seen on a 1-minute fatloss tip... )

Now, let's get real folks: Dietary power and exercise MAY not be enough to overcome really bad genetics when it comes to certain diseases. And being ever curious, I wanted to know exactly how my own health was doing on my plan. So a month or so ago I paid a visit to the hospital to have some tests ran. All my yearly check-ups were okay, but I wanted a closer look at my heart... and I mean "literally".

I wanted to be "cathed"... this is where they insert a camera into your heart, going up the femoral artery in your right leg, and take a look around. If they find anything dangerous, like a clogged artery, they can fix it right then and there with a stent. A stent is a metal device that presses plaque against the artery wall and opens up a clogged artery.

Of course I hoped I would not find such a thing... and certainly nothing worse. I mean, can you imagine? "Mr. Benson, you need a quadruple bypass!"

I could not, that's for sure... and I was fortunate because, as you probably guessed, I didn't hear those words from my doc.

It's hard to get a cath done as it's a risky procedure. I can't even tell you how I managed to pull it off ... that's how touchy the hospitals are when it comes to this kind of stuff. Afterwards, I volunteered to do 5-10 workouts at their heart care facility so I could hook myself up to some nifty gadgets. I get to watch my EKG (how my heart is functioning during cardio and weights... and it works like a charm!) and really nice doctor folks come by to check my blood pressure (which is always low) during the workout.

Yep... the doc and I wanted to put my workout plan to the test, I guess you could say. I wanted to do it just to make sure I was 100% healthy during my training. You never really "know" I suppose, so I was up for it. And my doctor wanted me to do it just in case what he found during the cath was serious. There's a lot to this process, and there's some details I don't wish to cover for privacy sake... but anyway, back to my story.

It's long, but it may save your life too. : )

-----------------------------------------
The Good News... The Bad News...
And The Stupid Jon News!
-----------------------------------------

Turns to find out I made a few mistakes... some pretty costly mistakes... but (get this) none of them had to do with my dietary or exercise plan.

During the cath, here's what the doc said:

"Jon, your heart's two primary arteries look good... hardly any obstruction at all. And they are nice and thick from exercise." For a guy who has had a cholesterol level of over 400 before, and a history of heart disease in the family, this was really good news.

"However, your genetics are catching up to you in one of your arteries.... and you need to be more aggressive with your drug treatment to make sure we don't have to go back in here one day!"

Er... what??

Yep... turns out that the only thing that saved me from a BYPASS (that's right) was what the doctor called "an enormous amount of peripheral arteries formed from years and years of weight training and exercise."

Wow.

"Look right here Jon..." (He showed me my beating heart on camera... freaky...) "See all these arteries? Well the average person doesn't have them. You do. Congratulations... you earned them."

Wow again. And remember, I only workout with weights 3-4 times per week and my workouts are rarely over 21 minutes (time under the weight.)

-----------------------------------------
What I Did Right... And What
I Did Wrong... And Why This
Could Save Your Life
-----------------------------------------

So, listen up folks as I'm about to tell you everything I did wrong for the past several years... how it ALMOST cost me dearly (a bypass?... no thanks!)... how I managed to prevent it... and how I ended up on the gym floor today with doctors all around me.

It's all related. And again, sorry for the novel-like email, but (again) this may save your life.

First, here's what my excellent cardiologist said I did RIGHT:

1. Exercise: "Jon, your exercise plan, to put it bluntly, saved you from a great deal of pain... in fact it probably saved your life as these blockages would have been far worse without it." With it, I had only one artery with enough blockage to warrant the drug therapy that I should have been on for years... more on that in a second...

2. Dietary plan: "Jon, your diet is perfect for this condition... low in carbs, high in protein and healthy fats is all anyone can do in order to help fight this genetic killer." Yep... again... prevention in the form of dietplan saved my butt. Or rather my heart. : ) But it wasn't enough... at least for one artery. However, it WAS enough to prevent them from having to do surgery on me.

"Jon, the take-away here is simple: Exercise and dietary plans, even the very best, may not be enough for super high-risk people... but in your case your lifestyle saved your life. And it certainly prevented you from having to have any serious surgery to correct a truly broken heart."

Talk about EXCITING news... yep... you CAN beat this killer, even when you have MY horrible family genetics. However, like me, you may need some help... more on that in a second.

3. Blood pressure: "Jon, your blood pressure is excellent. Your lifestyle and very low-dose diuretic has kept your formerly sky-high blood pressure (it was 200/110 when I was 32!) to an excellent 118/78." But you know doctors... even "excellent" isn't enough and they recommended a stronger BP med for "my intense weight training."

So, I listened... and ended up on the floor today. You see, many doctors do not realize the POWER of weight training compared to cardio. My blood pressure never budges during cardio, but less than 3 minutes into a resistance (weight-training) session it goes down like the stock market after a bad news day.

I mean SHOOTS down. I tried to explain this by letting the doctor see the veins in my legs... "Doc, my veins are MUCH larger than the average person's... trust me, my pressure is fine." "Jon, just try it for a few weeks."

Bad mistake.... like I said, I ended up on the gym floor today with a blood pressure of 72/45. If I hit 40, I'm literally in a coma. 5 points away... very scary. Needless to say the doc took me OFF these meds and let me do it my way: With my Every Other Day Dietplan (low-carb most of the days) and good-old exercise.

If you have high blood pressure, I URGE you to take up weight training or resistance (body-weight or band) training. Of course, ask your doc about it first... but I've seen first hand for three weeks now how powerful my weight training sessions are compared to intense cardio sessions.

They are night and day folks... weights RULE. Cardio is good, but weights are best. Both of course would be the best course for ultimate health, but most people do far too much cardio and far too little resistance training.

-----------------------------------------
Oops...
-----------------------------------------

Now, here's what I did WRONG:

1. Cigars: "Jon, you cannot afford to smoke cigars... ever. They have lowered your protective HDL to a dangerous level. Stop NOW!" That's all it took folks. Yes, I smoked cigars for many years, but fortunately I was never an addict. I quit that very day.

Guess what? 10 days later my HDL DOUBLED (no kidding)... and without drugs. Of course that's not all I did...

2. Fat too LOW: "Jon, you've lowered your dietary fat too low... this affects your HDL." Yep, I normally eat about 35% dietary fat... and I cut it down to 20% to help me get ready for a photoshoot. Now that I put it back to where it belongs, I still have my abs (yep!) and my HDL is raising as I type.

3. Stress: "Jon, you are simply working too hard not to do some form of meditation or de-stressing." So I dove back into my meditation CDs. (I'll tell you more about Holosync and my hypnosis CDs in my next email... very cool stuff.)

4. Advil: "Jon, you take 4 Advil before you train? You're nuts! That stuff can cause sticky plaque formations!!" You know, I may never even had an issue if I had known this (and not smoked cigars) a few years ago. Live and learn!

5. And finally... oh, this hurt to hear... no drugs! "Jon, if you want to make sure you beat this thing, you simply must take some meds to help." Okay, I resisted any form of statin drug for the past 15 years (drugs to lower cholesterol.) I opted to try natural stuff... but unfortunately for me I was never too consistent. And I paid the price.

So the doc and I came to a compromise: I would take the LOWEST dose of statin along with 400 mg of CoQ10 (scary, but this was my idea, not his, and statins deplete this heart-friendly enzyme!) But I wanted a natural solution to the real issue: small particle LDL. You see, I've known for years that I carry the gene that makes LDL "small". LDL is not dangerous unless it is small... that's why "total cholesterol" means nothing to me. I've seen folks have heart attacks with a cholesterol level of 130. No joke. But their LDL was super-small... like mine.

And guess what? Dietplans cannot really help this. Well, they can HURT it (too many carbs, too many toxic fats, etc.) but they cannot shift the LDL from small to large.

For that, you need plain old niacin. Just a simple B vitamin... but in not-so-simple doses. In fact it's considered a drug at the dose you have to take, and you should NEVER take niacin over 50 mg without a doctor's supervision as it can be very toxic to the liver.

-----------------------------------------
The Conclusion: The Power
Is In Your Hands
-----------------------------------------

In conclusion, I'm A-Okay... my heart pumps and functions "like that of a strong 20-year-old" (my doctor's quote) thanks to the extra arteries I developed from my exercise program (how cool!) ... but in order to keep that one artery in check, I'm taking his advice and taking much better care of myself than I have been.

Today I learned that this does NOT mean taking blood pressure meds...thankfully... : ) But I had to make some changes. Some of them were "stupid" changes... sure, I know cigars are not good for you. I know you need good fats in your dietplan. I could have used common sense and figured out that 4-8 Advil on workout days was... well, stupid.

But the good news, which is what I choose to focus on, is this: In the areas that 95% of people NEVER change, I didn't have to change much at all.

Dietary plan and exercise.

Turns to find out that what I was doing works great... and it did, in fact, save my heart and quite possibly my life.

For more on my dietplan and exercise routine, go here:

Everyotherdaydiet

Thanks for reading, and I wish all of you good health!

Yours In Fitness,

J O N B E N S O N

P.S. I got lucky in many ways, but especially so when it came to my doctors. Both of my doctors are young and savvy enough to be up on the latest research on nutrition. They know NOT to buy into this "low-fat" nonsense for heart health. (I'd use a harsher word, but kiddos may be reading... : ) That only works for about 10-15% of the population. The rest of us need to lower our CARBS, not our fats... but the way I do it I get to keep my favorite carbs in my dietplan every week.

The little that I do eat keeps me happy as a clam, and keeps my heart nice and healthy too. A little bit of bad food will not hurt most people... but eating it every day can flat-out kill you.

Please... take this seriously. I promise, my dietplan and exercise routine is a PLEASURE to follow... but if you don't follow it then find one that IS enjoyable for you to follow... and do it.

Life is too short, you know?

The TT Abs Bootcamp Workout (and Big 7 Fat Burning Circuit)

This is just 1 of the new 31 TT Bootcamps workouts, and specifically,
this is Part 2 of 3 for the TT Abs Bootcamps series.

It's called "Abs Endurance" because of the endurance nature of the
abs circuit at the end of the program, but like all TT workouts, it
is a total body fat blasting program.

REMEMBER - Train at your fitness level...take extra breaks if you
need them. Do only one round of each circuit if you are have not
been exercising recently.

Train safe, train smart, and have fun.

Enjoy!

TT Bootcamps Workout #8 - Abs Endurance: Part 2 of the Abs Bootcamps

Warm-up (20 seconds per exercise) - 10 minutes
- Bodyweight Squat
- Stick-up
- Kneeling Pushup or Pushup Plus
- 1-Leg Hip Extension (20 seconds per side)
- Plank (40 seconds)
- Side Plank (20 seconds per side)
- Run in Place
- Rest 1 minute and repeat 1 more time.

TT Strength Circuit (30 seconds per exercise) - 5 minutes
- Bulgarian Split Squat or Forward Lunge or 1-Leg Deadlift (30 seconds per side)
- 1-Arm KB or DB Press OR Elevated Push-ups (30 seconds per side)
- Optional if you have equipment: DB Row or Bodyweight Row
- Rest 2 minutes before repeating 1 more time.

Water Break - 2 minutes

TT Big 7 Circuit (20 seconds per exercise) - 10 minutes
- Jumping Jacks
- Prisoner Squat
- Spiderman Climb Pushup or Close-grip Pushup
- Band Row or KB Row or Cross Crawl
- Diagonal Lunge (20 seconds per side)
- Inchworm
- Rest 2 minutes before repeating 1 more time.

Water Break - 2 minutes

TT Depletion Circuit (30 seconds per exercise) - 10 minutes
- Total Body Extension or Jump Rope
- Cross-Body Mountain Climber
- Reaching Lunge (30 seconds per side)
- Squat Thrusts
- Shuttle Run or Run in Place
- Rest 2 minutes before repeating 1 more time.

Water Break - 2 minutes

TT Total Body Abs Endurance Circuit (30 seconds per exercise) - 5 minutes
- Pushup Plank
- Get-up (30 seconds per side)
- Optional: Stability Ball Plank
- Rest 1 minute before repeating 1 more time.

Cool-down, Stretching & Water Break - 10 minutes

Hope you enjoy that workout.

And if you want Parts 1 & 3 of the TT Abs Bootcamp series plus all
31 new TT Bootcamps workouts, just visit this website:

=> For more of the Bootcamp Click Here!

You'll get 31 total body workouts - including the 3-part TT Booty
Bootcamps program - that you can do with minimal equipment (and even
use in your own bootcamps if you are a trainer).

An swinging update and info

Alright, so I am at the ½ way point of the month and here is an update as to where I am at with the “10,000 swings” challenge:

Day 4 during the course of being at work 600 with 40lb bell – 8429 remain –will attempt to knock out @2000 the next 3 nights at work,Day 5 1280 !!!!! {At work every hour did some},Day 6 Barely 200, Day 7 - 380, Day 8 - 410, Day 9 – 330, Day 10 – 460, Day 11 - 300, Day 12 – 230, Day 13 [work] 800, Day 14 – 300, Day 15- 200 all this equals 3539 left.

This is A LOT harder then I thought!!! Most were done one handed with a 16kg bell or a 24kg bell. I am glad I am ahead of schedule so I will start trying heavier bells.
Here is some good nutrition info!


5 Nutrition Tips for Fat Loss



By Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training

This is always tough to admit, but nutrition is more important than
your workouts when it comes to fat loss.

And since diet is more important than exercise, I've decided to
spend a lot time sharing nutrition tips this week, starting with
these 5 diet secrets:

1) Your nutrition program doesn't have to be extreme.

Hold up on making any extreme diet changes. Make sure the nutrition
plan you've chosen is sustainable. Simple diet changes go a lot
farther than you might think.

Why not just eat more whole, natural foods rather than trying to go
on an impossible-to-stick-to ultra-low carb extreme plan?

2) Get the junk out of the house.

If it's in your house, you'll eat it...and trust me, this goes for
me too. When I visit a relative's house for holiday, I always eat the
treats they have sitting around. That's why I keep the junk out of
my house.

So whatever your weakness is, keep it out of your home.

Success is that simple.

3) Fill in the "diet-killing" gap.

For some folks, the diet-killing gap is between work and dinner.
For others, it's between dinner and bedtime, but for almost
everyone, there is a point in the day when we suffer from mindless
eating.

So make sure you have alternatives...as soon as you come home from
work, cut up vegetables and dip them into hummus. That will keep
you full on a small amount of calories.

After dinner, if you need something sweet, stir up chocolate
protein powder into a small bit of plain yogurt. That will satisfy
you.

4) Chew your food 5-10 times before swallowing.

Most people eat so fast they only about 1-2 times. You'll really
notice a difference and you'll slow your eating so you feel full.

5) Have a bowl of broth-based vegetable soup before a meal.

American researcher Barbara Roll has published a lot of studies
showing that this will help you reduce the food you eat.
Surprisingly, consuming just water doesn't seem to do the same
trick.

So those are just 5 of the diet secrets we have for you this year.

Stay tuned for proven secrets to help you lose fat in 2010.

Click here for more....

Into swinging???

I was following a thread about this article on “Nofearfitness” about a Kettlebell challenge. No contest…no prizes just a personal challenge…10,000 swings in one month.

That’s a lot!

Well it is if you’re honest with yourself. If for example you use a very light weight, you are not pushing yourself, and it isn’t much of a challenge.

I have decided to do this in the month of March, 31 days, that means @ 323/day. I know my conditioning sucks, so I’ll start out with 16kg and my 40lb ones for single hand swings and then move up from there. I will also continue to do my regular workout, as much as I can, the 10k swings will become a priority. There will be days where I’ll try to build up a reserve to allow lighter load days. Nutrition will need to be adjusted as well as rest for recovery.

I will post my results daily on twitter and facebook starting March 1^st…

Are you actually PAYING to be FAT??

By Brad Pilon

Here's a fun trick for you...

Right now, I want you to lift your shirt up..just a bit. Make sure
no one is looking and just take a quick look at your stomach.

What's staring back at you?

Maybe 6 pack abs, but probably not (just guessing)

Your probably thinking 'Fat. Brad right now I'm staring at extra
fat, at least a little more fat than I WANT to be seeing'

Let's face it, the MAJORITY of us have at least a little
more fat than we want to, but I want to point something else
out to you..

You are also looking at your DEBT.

That's right, you PAID HARD EARNED MONEY for every single one of
those calories sitting in the form of fat on your stomach!

AND, even more devastating is that you pay HARD EARNED MONEY to keep
every single one of those calories!

Fat represent nothing more than Extra Food that you ate at some
point in your life.l

Food that you payed money for.

Bottom line - Learning to Eat less can solve a lot of problems,
it's the quickest way to get lean, and it's an important way to get
your financial life in check.

You can't control the mortgage rates, or the price of gas for your
car, but you can control how much money you spend on food,
especially when you really want to be lean anyways!

So I guess what I'm trying to say is, the next time you go out for
a quick bite to eat, you need to ask yourself "Am I actually PAYING
to be fat?"

It's harsh, but it's also a great motivator to keep your eating in
check.
And remember - Eat Stop Eat is one of the best ways to lose weight
without spending ANY extra money. NO special supplements, NO
special diets, heck...you don't even need to "buy organic" to lose weight.

In case you haven’t seen this video of how Brad Pilon gained 8lbs in one work out check it out HERE

>>>>----->DISCOUNT SUPPLEMENTS CLICK HERE!!!!!!

Winter Olympics Workout for Fat Loss

The Winter Olympics are the hottest event in the world right now,
and fitness expert Craig Ballantyne has created a special workout
for you so that you can join in the excitement.

You can use this to burn fat at home with little or no equipment,
and join in the spirit of the inspirational Olympic Games at the
same time. Enjoy!

Over to Craig for the workout...

We'll start with the Moguls Warmup.

I chose the moguls for warm-up, because that's where the skiers do
all those crazy moves and look really mobile. One of the coolest
events, for sure.

1. Jumping Jacks - 20 reps
2. Duck Unders - 6 reps per side
(You'll step to the side squat down and duck under as you move)
3. Stickups - 10 reps
4. Seal Jumps - 20 reps
(These are like jumping jacks, but cross your arms in front of you)
5. Pushups -10 reps
(Let's pretend you wiped out so you have to do pushups to get back up)

Next, we move into the first event...

The Ski Jump
Do a 10 second hold in the bottom of squat and then do a vertical jump
Repeat 3 times, then move to...

The Downhill Ski Race
1 Long Jump
10 Bodyweight Squats
1 Long Jump
6 Walking Diagonal Lunges per side
1 Long Jump
20-30 second squat hold in bottom position
Repeat 3 times.

Next up, we move to Speed Skating Strength Training

1. Skater Jumps or Lateral Lunges - 8 reps per side
(Beginners must do the lateral lunges)
2. Spiderman Pushups or Elevated Pushups - 8 reps per side
(Let's pretend we've had another wipe-out...so we need to do
some pushups to practice getting up)
3. 1-leg Squats or Reverse Lunges - 12 reps per side
(Beginners must do the reverse lunges)

Take a water break here, and then move to more strength training,
this time courtesy of a weird sport...Curling.

The Curling Strength Circuit
1. Lunges - 15 reps per side (you can use weights if you want)
2. Spiderman Climbs - 10 reps per side
3. Close-grip Pushups - 20 reps
4. Biceps Curls - 10 reps per side
(Why curls? Because curlers love to drink beer, so you can do
dumbbell curls to practice for post-game beverages)

Take another water break.

Optional: Hockey Strength Circuit (Use dumbbells or kettlebells)

1. Split squat - 8 reps per side
(to build strong skating muscles)
2. 1-Arm Standing Shoulder Press - 8 reps per side
(to practice raising your stick in the air after you score a goal)
3. DB Row - 8 reps per side
(to strengthen your upper body & grip for hockey fights)

Figure Skating Bodyweight Strength Circuit

Now we combine bodyweight exercises for strength and finesse...

1. Reaching Lunge - 10 reps per side
2. 1-Leg RDL - 8 reps per side
3. Pushup or Dip or Overhead Press - 8 reps

Take another water break.

Sliding Sports Circuit (bobsled & luge)

1. Bobsled Push - 20 seconds
(For this, you'll need a "prowler sled" or a punching bag or weight
plate that can be pushed across the floor to simulate the start of
the bobsled race...or you could just do a 20 second sprint)

2. Stability Ball Plank or Plank - 45 seconds
(to simulate holding your body in the luge position)

3. Side Planks - 25 seconds per side

Next up, the plain ol' weird Biathlon (a combination of cross-country
skiing and shooting). We'll modify it so that we do:

1. Shuttle Sprints - 15 seconds
2. Plank - 60 seconds
(to simulate the shooting position)

And if possible, add in some type of skill component to simulate the
shooting...maybe shoot some basketball free throws...or shoot a
Supersoaker at a target on the wall...no wait, bad idea.

But I'm sure you can come up with something. (Safety first!)

And that's it.

Finish with a water break, cool down, awarding of some gold medals,
and closing ceremonies.

Hope you enjoyed that fun workout!

To find out more about these unique workouts and exercises, visit:

=> CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO!

Nutriiveda

Here is the info on the protien powder I've been using with great success! Loss @11lbs in about 1 month with the only change is adding this!!

NutriiVeda Ayurvedic Weight-loss Product

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NutriiVeda is the first product of its kind in the industry and identifies proper digestion as its key component for effective weight management and overall health. With the introduction of NutriiVeda, Zrii is continuing to expand the opportunity for people to naturally take charge of their health.

Ayurveda identifies proper digestion as essential to overall health and a key component of any effective weight management product. Rather than just helping people lose pounds, Ayurveda aims to rid the body of excess fat and toxins, while promoting the transformation of unhealthy tissues into the foundational building blocks for vibrant health. Therefore, Ayurveda acknowledges that even seemingly “skinny” people can have suboptimal digestion and tissue formation, which is why the science focuses on transforming the entire body, rather than just losing weight.

* NutriiVeda™ supports fat metabolism. As a low-calorie, nutrient-dense meal replacement product, NutriiVeda also helps enhance fat metabolism for healthy weight control.
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FOR MORE INFO CLICK HERE!!

5 Reasons to Avoid Cardio for Fat Loss

Maybe you've been told that cardio is the best way to lose fat...but
if you're not getting results with that long, slow, boring program
then I have shocking news for you.

Recently, Men's Health and Women's Health fitness expert Craig
Ballantyne emailed me the top 5 reasons why trainers should stop
telling their clients to do cardio.

I was surprised by all of the research that is out there showing
just how ineffective cardio is for fat loss.

I know I sure won't be using it to burn belly fat in the future.

Now sure, cardio is good for endurance athletes and for your health,
but when it comes to fat loss, here are the 5 reasons to kick cardio
to the curb:

1) Cardio machines over-estimate the number of calories burned by
up to 31%. (reported in Mens Health, Feb 2009)

2) One research study found that when men and women did 6 hours of
cardio every week for one year, they only lost 6 pounds. (Reference:
Obesity 15:1496-1512, 2007. Exercise Effect on Weight and Body Fat
in Menand Women. Anne McTiernan*, et al.)

3) When some people start a cardio program, they end up eating
more, and may even gain weight because of this. (Reference:
International Journal of Obesity 32: 177-184, 2008).

4) Even scientists admit that cardio does not burn as much fat as
you'd expect based on the number of calories burned in a workout.
(Reference: Br J Sports Med. 2009 Sep 29)

5) And finally, head-to-head research has shown that interval
training works better than slow cardio for fat loss - even when
diet is not changed. (Reference: Int J Obes 2008 Apr;32(4):684-91).

Wow!

If you're like me, you would never have known about that research if
it wasn't for experts like Craig Ballantyne exposing the truth about
cardio.

Now you might be thinking, if cardio doesn't work, then WHAT DOES?

Well, don't panic. Insider experts like Craig have known for years
that nutrition, interval training, and resistance training are the
3 most important secrets for helping you lose belly fat.

In fact, Craig's workout programs have been used by millions of men
and women through his articles in Prevention, Men's Health, and
Women's Health magazine, plus through his Turbulence Training program.

Now I'll be honest with you, and don't tell Craig this, but while his
workouts in the magazines are good, they aren't nearly as fun and
effective as the workouts in his Turbulence Training System.

In fact, I want you to try my very favorite Turbulence Training
workout that you'll find here:

=> TT Bootcamp Click here!!!

It's fun, fast, effective...and doesn't require any long, slow,
boring cardio or fancy machines at your commercial gym.

So skip the cardio, because research and results prove that it just
isn't worth your time.

To your success

From 3 to 5...

I had an injury that made it uncomfortable to sit in front of a PC more then needed, so my blog paid the price.

Well…. happy belated New Years!

I won’t dwell on resolutions or goals you can search my blog for last years post if interested.
The main things about goals to keep in mind are:
• Keep them realistic
• Write them down and place them where you can see them regularly
• Tell someone to make you accountable

I’ve been doing a workout based on the great information I obtained by reading Elliot Hulse’s “Lean Hybrid Muscle”[LHM]. I am still doing fullbody workouts –of course- the thing is by using the info in “LHM” my workout design is my recovery ability has increased. As a result of this I am actually doing a total of 4-5 workouts a week now! Granted the 2 extra, Tuesday and Saturday, are “small” workouts, I wasn’t able to do them before this change; an example of my schedule is like this:

Monday – Power
Tuesday –Bodyweight/core
Wednesday – Strongman
Friday – Higher rep, bodybuilding type
Saturday – Freestyle [strongman [small], resistance interval, kettlebells …etc]

I have also been using a new protein powder, “Nutravida”, I will write more about it soon, but it has speed up recovery while burning fat. If you want more information now contact me here!


My friend Jeff Anderson, specializes in natural anabolic
hormone production, [amongst other things]. He goes over these techniques tohelp you get bigger,stronger, leaner AND does something crazy to your sex drive all this in Optimum Anabolics!

Eat Stop Eat vs The Warrior Diet | Fitness Black Book

Found this wanted to share!!! A comparison of 2 very good diets...

Eat Stop Eat vs The Warrior Diet | Fitness Black Book

For Eat Stop Eat Click here!

Warrior Diet Click Here!!

Looking for 4 Common But Useless Fattburning Exercises?

You may be wasting your time in the gym or at home if you are trying to shape your body or get rid of bodyfat.

Most people are. That is when it comes to exercise for getting rid of bellyfat and getting into better shape.

I was in the gym today (nothing new... ; ) and I saw all 4 of these exercises being performed by various gym members (again... nothing new.)

And they are useless for 99% of the people on the planet.

Here they are...

----------------------------------------------------------------------

USELESS EXERCISE 1: Walking Dumbbell Lunges

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Okay ladies, this one is for you... although I see guys do this exercise as well.

This is where you take a pair of dumbbells and kneel with one leg, then the other, and so-on, walking around the gym as you go.

The idea behind this exercise is to work the butt, and to some extent the thighs... but it's a joke. It's something invented by trainers who should know better.

If you want to build and tone your butt, exercise one leg at a time. Lunges are a great exercise for this, but save your energy. Do them on a Smith Machine or with a barbell. Work one leg at a time, too. Do not alternate legs. This just wears you out aerobically before it has a chance to get to your glutes.

Here's how I perform lunges: On a Smith Machine, with pretty heavy weights... one leg at a time. I will do 2-3 sets, or do them in my 7 Minute Body-style workout fashion. I will finish one leg (and one butt cheek) before moving to the other leg.

Why? Again, to focus on the muscle more intensely and to avoid turning a leg/butt workout into a cardio session.

Jon Benson covers exactly how to work the butt area for the best results in 7 Minute Body and 7 Minute Muscle, found right here:

click.here ----- > 7MM
----------------------------------------------------------------------

USELESS EXERCISE 2: The Sit-up

----------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm shocked that people still think sit-ups done the old-fashioned way actually work the abs. Even worse, most people have been fooled into believing this actually helps get rid of bellyfat.

Nonsense. Bellyfat is burned off when you have a good nutrition plan and through general exercise, not using exercises for the abs. Ab exercises are fine, but guess what?

I never train my abs more than 3-5 minutes. Today my ab workout took 3 minutes and 12 seconds to complete. And my abs are sore!

But without the nutrition plan, forget it... I'd never SEE my abs at all. I'd just have a nice wall of muscle with a bunch of flab covering it up.

The best nutrition plan for abs is The Every Other Day Dietplan, found here:

click.here ----- > EODD

The best exercises to do for the actual ab muscles are hanging leg raises, done slowly, crunches (if you do them right)... and that's really all you need.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

USELESS EXERCISE 3: The Bench Press

----------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm going to get a lot of flack from the guys out there who love to bench, but I'm here to tell you that this exercise for bodyshaping is all but worthless.

Why? Because most people are not built right body-wise to bench press on a flat bench with a barbell. I am not, that's for sure.

Bench presses work if you have short arms, a relatively short torso, and your shoulders are genetically strong.

Protect your shoulders and really work your chest by doing incline dumbbell presses with your palms facing OUT, not in toward your head. This protects the rotator cuff, a part of the shoulder that is often injured using barbell bench presses.

Combine this with a good cable fly or press movement and you're set. Again, you only need about 7-14 minutes of chest work tops to get the job done.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

USELESS EXERCISE 4: Most Cardio Exercises

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Yep... saved the best for last.

Here's a fact: Most cardio (bike, treadmill, glider, whatever) is a waste to time... UNLESS you do it at the right time with the right nutrition plan.

The calories you burn from cardio will be easily negated simply by eating a bagel! Hardly effective for getting rid of bodyfat. Weight training and/or resistance training at home or with your body weight, as covered in 7 Minute Muscle, is your best bet for exercise that burns-off mega-calories and keeps on burning long after the exercise session is over.

Here's how to use traditional cardio wisely:

1. Do it first thing in the morning on an empty stomach;
2. Keep your heart rate down to 75% of your max (220 minus your age x .75 will give you this number, at least approximately);
3. "Burst" for 2-3 minutes in your session up to 85-90% of your max heart rate.
4. OR, do cardio right after weight or resistance training when your heart rate is already elevated and your blood sugar is lower. Your body burns blood sugar first during exercise.

Cardio for most people only needs to be performed 3-4 times a week for 20 minutes. The only time I break this rule is when I want to get my bodyfat below 10%. Then I will do more, but only using the rules above.

Hope this saves you a ton of time with your workouts.

Enjoy your holidays!

Thomas

P.S. You can get both books, The Every Other Day Dietplan and 7 Minute Body, for a big-time discount by going here and watching this presentation:

Click.here to watch the video <-------

Top 5 Holiday Workout Gifts

Cutting it close?

Need some help???


With Christmas gifts and New Year's Resolutions only a few weeks
away, fitness and fat loss expert Craig Ballantyne sent me his top
5 gift suggestions to share with you.

It doesn't matter if you're buying for someone or if you want to
know the best workout gifts to ask for, Craig has the 5 best
present suggestions.

#5 - A Stability Ball

The stability ball is one of the most versatile fitness tools, and
it allows you to exercise your abs and back of your legs better than
any bodyweight only exercises.

#4 - A kettlebell

With a kettlebell, you can burn calories, do intervals, work your
abs, build strength, and completely sculpt your body. Beginner women
should start with a 12-18 pound kettlebell while beginner men can
start with an 18 or 35 pound bell. You should be able to find
quality kettlebells at a local sports store or online at Dragondoor.

#3 - Kettlebell Workouts

Once you give or get the Kettlebell, you'll also need workouts, and
the best source for beginner and intermediate kettlebell-bodyweight
workouts is the Turbulence Training Kettlebell Revolution program.

Click here to get this program:

=> Kettlebell Revolution

#2 - A Gymboss Timer

This little timer allows you to set two different intervals and will
alert you when each interval is up. For example, you can set it to
do Tabata Intervals (20 seconds on with 10 seconds of recovery) or
to do 30 seconds of Kettlebell swings followed by 30 seconds of rest.
It's a cheap - $20 - tool that will help you organize your workouts
and maximize your results.




#1 - The Turbulence Training Fat Loss System

With Turbulence Training for Fat Loss you can lose fat and sculpt
your body in the comfort of your own home, without doing long, slow,
boring cardio. It is a proven, guaranteed program that will help you
lose belly fat and get a lean, hard, flat stomach.

This is the #1 home workout and perfect for your New Year's fat loss
program, especially if you hate going to busy gyms.

Plus, you can even try out Turbulence Training for less than the
price of a giant, fancy coffee at Starbucks.

Click here to give Turbulence Training a 21-day try-out for less
than 5 bucks:

=> Turbulence Training Trial Click Here!!

And remember: This program is guaranteed to work for you. You have
nothing to lose - and it is the perfect program for anyone in your
family or group of friends who loves to workout.

So those are the 5 best workout presents you can give - or receive -
this year.

Happy Holidays!

Tom

PS - Don't miss out on your chance to use Turbulence Training to win
up to $1000 cash in the 7th Turbulence Training Transformation
Contest that starts on Sunday, December 27th.

Click here to get ready to get started with Turbulence Training:

=> Trial Offer Click Here!!!

More details on the 7th Transformation Contest coming soon!

SANDBAG Power Cleans!

SANDBAG Power Cleans!
By Zak Evan-esh

My favorite sandbag exercise is bar none, the Sandbag Power Clean. {This is my favorite also!!}

Nothing like gripping and ripping into a sandbag to develop nasty hand and grip strength and full body power.

Squat over your sandbag and assume the bottom position of the squat:

flat back
chest high

Grab the sandbag and rip it straight up. You want to try to get the bag air born. Catch with your arms under the bag and make sure you stand straight up.

Squat the bag down rather than dropping it.
This saves wear and tear on the bag and gives extra work to your lower body.

Try hitting the sandbag power clean for 5 x 5 reps first in your workouts.

Don’t fear the heavy bags. It’s the wrestling of the bag that really tests your physical and mental drive.

See the video below…




You don’t have to dip under the bag as David Ellis does in this video. You can try to pull the bag faster to get it higher.

Kill it!

--Zach—



For the ultimate collection of Underground Sandbag Training Click here {then on "Workouts}!!!

In Ten Cities…

Intensity - 1 : the quality or state of being intense; especially : extreme degree of strength, force, energy, or feeling
2 : the magnitude of a quantity (as force or energy) per unit (as of area, charge, mass, or time)

Yes I stole the idea for the title from a Ted Nugent album.
.
The definition is from Webster’s dictionary.

The first one describes your feelings or state while working out. There are ways of getting to that state, everyone has there own methods. Some people can just turn it on as soon as they walk into the gym, for others it is a process. It may take a few moments of meditation, thinking about what they will be doing, going over their workout in their mind before actually working out. There are the screamers, the ones who psych [spelling???] themselves up before they attempt a lift. These are just a few methods everyone has their own, or at least should. What is yours? I walk through my workout in my mind, not so much meditating, just visualizing it.

The second one is the one I really want to get into. I realize there are many views out there on how to use intensity when talking workouts, so I want to add mine.
I use the variables weight, reps, and time, to measure intensity. If you look at the above definition using force, and force being mass x acceleration, and for arguments sake acceleration is a constant [gravity] we will just use mass. Mass will be the weight we are working with, for simplicity 100lbs. Performing 25 reps of 100lbs in 5 minutes time will give us our starting point [2500lbs/5 or 500lbs/1 minute]. Increasing the intensity of the next workout can be accomplished several ways, increasing the weight, increasing the reps, or decreasing the time. Time can be increased, but if you do that, you want to finish with a higher ratio of 500lbs/1. Just increasing the time and sets, while not improving on the ratio is increasing the work but not intensity, not a bad thing, just not increasing intensity.

To work on our example of 2500lbs/5 lets increase the weight by 10lbs now that give us 2750/5 or 550/1
Or
If we decrease time to 4 minutes – 2500lbs/4 or 625/1
Or
We could increase the reps to 30 giving us 3000lbs/5 or 600/1


That is my take on intensity, which also show the importance of keeping a training journal, hopefully this clears things up or creates a discussion as always feel free to comment/ask questions!