RichRuff Training Product Review: Superbands

I love these things. They are one of my most useful pieces of equipment. When I'm training a client at their house, I have these with me. When I'm at the gym, I have these with me. I use them with out of shape clients. I use them with in shape clients. I use them for my own training. They can be used as a substitution for a piece of equipment. Or they can be added into an exercise to make that exercise more difficult or in the case of the chin up, make it easier Here are some exercises you can do with these bands:

*Terminal Knee Extensions
*Assisted Chin Up
*Band Resisted Push Up
*X Band Walk
*Triceps Pressdown
*Biceps Curl
*Barbell Squat with Bands

And the list goes on and on. To get your Superbands, click on the link below.

RichRuff Training Exercise of the Week: Single Arm Dumbbell Step Up

I like the single arm version of the dumbbell for a few reasons:

1)Placing the resistance on the opposite side of the working leg requires a bit more core stabilization.
2)I feel that more force is transferred to the working leg since it has to counteract the resistance on the opposite side.
3)When working with two arms, lack of grip endurance (which many people do not have) may cause the set to terminate earlier than desired for the second leg. For example, you perform 20 reps with the left leg holding dumbbells in each arm. But when working the right leg, your grip is pre-fatigued from working the left leg causing you may be only to get 16 or so reps. Is that confusing? I hope not.

My Top Five....

....ways to shed that extra layer of body fat that was built up over the winter.

1. Increase your protein intake. You should be having protein at every meal and aiming for at least 1g of protein per pound of body weight.
2. Cut back on the carbs. Your total carb intake should be no more than 40% of your total calorie intake.
3. Do not go longer than 3 hours between meals or feedings. Keep that metabolism stoked!!
4. Aim for 4-5 hours of high intensity exercise per week. This includes strength training and interval workouts.
5. Supplement with fish oil at every meal.

Apply these principles on a consistent basis and watch that fat melt away.

RichRuff Training Exercise of the Week: Dynamic Lower Body Warm Up

This week's video shows a couple of lower body dynamic flexibility exercises I'll use with clients before a lower body workout. Take a look.



Go Celts....and Bruins....and Red Sox!!!

"One Stop Shop"

Earlier in the week, I was performing another one of my dreadful full-body workouts. It's not so dreadful because of the difficulty or the intensity, but dreadful because I hate full-body workouts. But I feel I get the most benefit out of these full-body workouts because I hate spending a lot of time in the gym. So, I'll usually choose 4-6 compound movements, maybe an accessory movement and try to get it all done in 60 minutes or so. Anyways here was my workout:

A)Barbell Squats
B1)Barbell Floor Press
B2)Inverted Rows w/Jungle Gym & X-Vest
C) Barbell Russian Twist

Nothing to crazy. Pretty Basic. But someone made the comment to me, "Wow. You have a one stop shop there", because I I spent the entire workout in only power rack. He was almost surprised that I didn't leave the power rack the whole time. Surprised that I didn't use any machines. Surprised that I wasn't doing split squats in the Smith machine, changing the angle of my lead foot every set (that's a another post for another day).

Where am I going with this? You don't need a whole lot or anything fancy to get a productive workout in. All the answers to your workout dilemma's are found right in that small corner of the room away from everyone else. Check out my article The Power of the Barbell and you'll see what I mean.

Nice Job!!

I just wanted to congratulate the teams from Bedford (N.H.), Barnstable and Norton that participated in this years 911 Fitness Challenge. There were some incredible results from all three teams, which included losses of 8-45lbs in weight and up to 9% drops in body fat percentages.....in 12 weeks!! And after talking to all the participants, there was not a single mention of some crazy diet strategy or exercise routine. They actually did it quite simply. They increased their hours of exercise per week. They followed some sound nutritional concepts, meaning there were no very low calorie or Atkins type diets. But the most important thing, was their adherence to their exercise routines and nutrition strategies. From the sound of it, very few workouts were missed or meals sabotaged. This just goes to show what a bit of hard work and consistency can do for you. Again, nice work guys and gals.

RichRuff Training Exercise of the Week: Single Leg Squat to a Box

This is one of my favorite single leg exercises. In the video below, you will see me using a plyo box. Don't have a plyo box? Use anything!! A bench, a chair, a table, a toilet...doesn't matter



Adjust the difficulty of the exercise by either raising or lowering the height of the box. Another great "bang for your buck" exercise.

They're not the Same

I was at a client's house the other and she had her groceries out. I thought, "Good. This is the time to really see what she thinks good nutrition is." It was time to do a little label reading and get her to understand what some good foods really are. For the most part she had done a pretty good job, with the exception of the Skippy peanut butter and Special K bars. There were lots of green vegetables, some fruit, almonds and plain yogurt. Then she showed me the bread, which was whole grain bread. "Go feed that to the birds", I said. "But it's whole grain. Isn't this what you told me get?". No, I didn't. I said whole wheat.

Whole grain and whole wheat are not the same thing. But a lot of people think they are. After taking a look a look at the ingredients I got my client to understand they are not the same thing. The first ingredient should be whole wheat flour. In this case it was unbleached wheat flour. Also, each slice contained only 1 gram of fiber. The minimum that a slice should contain is 2 grams.

So next time you're shopping for bread, do a couple of things. One, make sure it is whole wheat, not just whole grain. Two, make sure whole wheat flour is the first ingredient, not wheat flour, enriched wheat or what ever else is thrown in there. And three, look for a high fiber bread. One that contains at least 2 grams of fiber per slice.

Working Out vs. Training

Are you working out or are you training? You probably don't think there is a difference between the two. Well, I do.

To me a working out is done just to get a sweat and burn some calories. There is no thinking behind it. No regard to movement patterns, exercise selections or set/rep schemes. There are no real specific goals when doing a workout. Get in the gym. Do some exercises, what ever they are. Feel like you worked and then call it a day. This is what most people do. And this is why most people fail to see any results from working out.

Training, on the other hand, involves setting specific goals and then setting a time frame for those goals. Weaknesses are taken into account and worked on. Movement patterns are considered. Balance within the program is considered. Exercises are not prescribed just for the hell of it. Each exercise is chosen for a reason. The set/rep scheme scheme is chosen for a reason. Progression is emphasized from session to session. Evaluation of your training is constantly going on. And hopefully after all these things are considered, results will follow.

Hopefully you can now see the difference. If you just want to sweat and get your heart rate up, keep working out. If you want results, start training.

RichRuff Training Exercise of the Week: Neutral Grip DB Bench Press

Since just about every barbell pressing exercise puts your shoulder into internal rotation, when having a client perform any dumbbell pressing exercises I suggest that they use a neutral grip. In fact, this is the way I've had my clients perform pressing exercises for the last four or five years. A neutral grip is one in which your palms are facing each other during the movement and is especially recommended for anyone that has any type of shoulder issues. Check out with the video below...with a little background music from Kanye West.

My Top Five....

Reasons why the Yankees will not make the playoffs.

1. Besides the Red Sox being in the AL East, the Blue Jays and Rays have gotten better. (I personally like the Devil Rays a whole lot better than the Rays).
   
2. Chien Mang Wang is not a #1 starter.
3. They will not win the AL East and the wild card competition has gotten much stiffer.
4. Not getting Johann Santana was a major mistake.
5. A-Rod....need I say more.
   

"Down go the Yankees!!"