Wednesday, November 26, 2008

MAXED OUT and ready for Thanksgiving

Current max on bench : 335lbs
back squat: 395lbs

My goals for may are 345 on bench and 420 on squat. I am currently doing a body building workout five days a week. Everything is high reps (8-12 reps is high for me) and the rest periods are timed to start your next set right at a minute and fifteen seconds. this short time period crams a ton of volume into an hour and a half workout...
a minute fifteen might sound like a long time.... you are kidding yourself. sip of water, swig of protein drink, spot my lift'n partner, change the weight... HEY, it's my turn to go. try doing that one day for four sets of squat, even by yourself. the time limit really holds you to your workout, you stayed focused

this means you have to stay away from the clown that comes to the gym to get away from his wife and just wants to talk. THIS ISN'T A BAR, IT'S MY OFFICE SON. I'm trying to work and push weight around so I can improve myself. Unlike unhappy, complacement guy I want results. I want to get better. I want to improve. i don't lift bc it's fun. I lift to get stronger.... to get somewhere

Thanksgiving is approaching and I am sore as hell. I'm taking the day off but I will still get my five workouts this week, I'll just have to push a workout to Saturday.

take it easy

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Ways to reach your weight loss goals

You have some goals set about what you want your body to look like, how you want to feel, how you would like to fit into your clothes, etc...

Some people focus on cardio like running, jogging, swimming, group fitness classes, or cycling. Some people focus on weight lifting at high repetitions. Other people focus on diet only.

To really achieve a HEALTHY weight and to maximize the amount of fat lost and muscle gained, your goals should include part of each of those three focuses. You are serious about losing weight. You have joined a gym, maybe hired a personal trainer, and now you are looking at websites that could help you get to the slimmer, fitter you. You are walking toward your goals by checking into different opinions on how to lose weight. I want to help you figuritively sprint to your goals.

Each of you has at least an hour a day, four days a week (you could fit the fifth day in to show me up... just a thought). You should do your cardio warm up of five to ten minutes. The purpose of this is to warm your muscles up, get your blood circulating, raise your heart rate, lubricate your joints, and get your mind focused on getting into better shape. The next step in your workout should be your cardio session. 25-30 minutes on any cardio machine, any track outside, any park you want to run through. For weight loss duration of your workouts and consistency are the keys. If you can't run, jog, if you can't jog, walk. The point is to push yourself, but don't inhibit your ability to work out the next day. I want you in the gym, I want you to be active, I want you to lose weight. Push yourself every day and watch the pounds fly off, the clothes need to be given away.

Next step... Pick four machines or free weight exercises and do one to two sets of 20 repetitions. Shoot through all four exercises if the gym you go to isn't very crowded, or do a set of a weight lifting exercise and do some crunches. I want you to come to the gym, rest periods can be filled with other exercises that utilize opposing or completely different muscle groups instead of just standing or sitting there waiting to do the next exercise. Keep your heart rate up and you get to leave the gym sooner.
Cool down with a quarter mile walk on the track, treadmill, or bike and then stretch. Stretching will help your blood circulate through your body pulling the waste products that you have generated while working out into your blood to be filtered and excreted. Stretching is also a great way to cool down and end your workout.

Your diet is important. Please do not be misled by a trainer giving you diet advice... You think, "wow he/she looks great, I should eat what they eat" or "I bet they know a lot about nutrition." I got my undergrad in fitness and wellness management. I have a personal training certification. I have a strength and conditioning certification. I am getting my masters in exercise physiology. I have been lifting for ten years. I would NEVER give nutritional advice. to any one!
You need to ask a registered dietician (RD) for a diet plan. They are the experts. Do not ask some one, even in the fitness field, that doesn't have a national certification. They have to have an undergraduate degree and the RD distinction to practice what they do. Be smart ask the right people.
Even if the fitness person you ask is trying to help, they aren't the right people to ask.

Keep coming to the gym, watch you portion sizes after talking with a dietician, research workouts or hire a personal trainer, EMAIL ME, ask for help. Do something to help you reach your goals.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

NEED MOTIVATION???

check out this link if you have a minute...

this is probably the best motivation for any person wanting to take advantage of any talent they have been given...

CHECK IT OUT:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obdd31Q9PqA

I bet it works

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Speed up workout, get twice the core work

A typical workout routine looks something like cardio warmup, lift some weights or do some more cardio, stretch maybe if you get to it, and then lay on your back... exhausted... and do some half crunches until you have almost stopped sweating and then leave the gym...

A HUGE problem (well, one of the large problems) with this routine is that by the time you get to the core work, you are too tired and have lost a lot of the motivation you started the workout with. I have an idea that could help you.

Google core exercises. or use some serach engine to get some abdominal and lower back strengthening exercises... that is why i want you to type in CORE EXERCISES not just "ab routine" or abdominal circuit. In order to be balanced you need to strengthen your lower back with exercises like supermans ad hyperextensions as well as your abs and obliques with dyanmic movements that activate your core.

Use some of the core exercises that fit your current fitness level and write them down on your workout... HAVE I MENTIONED TO ALWAYS CHART YOUR PROGRESS???? Please write down your workout. If you don't write it down, your workout will move along at a slow pace, iwth a large possibility that you will not remember how many minutes you ran at what heart rate or what weight you used for how many reps. Chart your progress. Every workout you can push yourself to beat the guy or girl from that last workout.

Back to writing down the core exercises... Superset core with a weight lifting exercise. If you do 3 sets of 20 reps on leg press then after each set do a set of russian twists with a medicine ball.
Leg press
Russian Twists
Leg Press
Russian twists
leg press
russian twists

Instead of sitting on the machine or getting a drink of water after every set, throw core in to take up that time, keep your heart rate elevated, AND increase the amount of core work you get every day.

Do this with every weight lifting exercise you do... honestly, even if it is the same core exercise (not recommended) for each set of 20 repetitions and you do a cricuit of 15 exercises... that is equiavlent to 300 "crunches". 300 core strengthening reps that were all done during "rest periods" during your workout. It would take a lot more discipline to lay down after a workout and say to yourself... OK, 300 situps.

WORK HARD!
 
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