RichRuff Training Exercise of the Week: 300 Meter Runs

Summer is officially here and if you've still got that unwanted spare tire hanging around your waistline, get your butt over to the nearest track a couple of times per week. Stop wasting your time with long, boring runs on the treadmill or elliptical and start doing some interval training or sprint work.

I feel that runs ,or what some of may call sprints, in the 200 meter to 400 meter range are the most effective track workouts for melting some fat away. A workout that I've been doing personally and also with a couple of clients is made up of 300 meter runs. A sample workout would look something like this:

• 10 minute Dynamic Warm Up (walking lunges, skips, bodyweight squats, reverse lunges, etc.)
• 4 50-75 meter build ups
• Run 300 meters, walk 100 meters. As you as you get to that starting line, take off again. Repeat 4-8 times.

Recommendation

If you're struggling with your nutrition, or even if you're eating pretty good, I advise you to go over to the Men's Health website and sign up for the Eat This, Not That newsletter. It's a free newsletter that will be sent to you via email every couple of days or so. The thing I like about it, is that it's pretty realistic. It's not going to tell you to avoid all carbs and eat nothing but green vegetables. Instead it's going to tell you what beers are the worst for you or what to order if you're going to a chain restaurant. It's pretty practical. Ladies, I know it is men's health but you should sign up for it especially if you what to know what mixed drink is less damaging to your waistline. The link is below:

http://www.menshealth.com/cda/custom.do?incFile=etntnl.jsp

I also recommend the book.

Be Prepared

There are some essential rules or guidelines that I feel people must follow in order to be successful with their diets or nutritional habits. One is to have a small feeding every 3-4 hours. Another is to be taking in protein with each feeding. But there's one that I feel is more important than the rest: be prepared.

If you do not know or have an idea what your next meal or feeding is going to be, your diet is doomed to fail. If you don't have the foods that make up a good nutritional plan, you're doomed to fail. If you're running to the vending machine or always searching for the next meal, you're doomed to fail. It's the same idea as going to the gym to workout. If you have no plan or training program, what kind of results do you think you're going to get? Not optimal, right?.

So how do you prepare to eat right? Here are some tips that may help you out:

1. Being prepared starts with your shopping list. If you're not shopping for good foods, you can not possibly eat good foods a majority of the time.
   
2. Plan out you're meals in advance. Know or visualize what you're going to have for breakfast, lunch, dinner and all the meals in between. Sunday night is a good night to do this.
   
3. Stop relying on fast foods or munchies. Having a takeout meal here or there isn't bad, but you're better off preparing your own meals.

RichRuff Training Exercise of the Week: Kettlebell Windmill

I use this exercise to serve three main purposes:

1. Core conditioning
2. Shoulder stabilization
3. Posterior chain strengthening

If you don't have a kettlebell lying around, no worries. Just use a dumbbell.



A couple of key points to think to remember with this exercise:

1. Keep a slight flex in the knee of the front leg and think about pushing your hips back in order to engage your glutes and hamstrings.
2. Keep the arm holding the kettlebell as straight as possible. Your arms should form a pillar like position in the bottom position.
3. Keep your eyes focused on the weight
   

Visit Perform Better Training Zones for the best ideas in equipment and training for functional training, full body training, and rehabilitation.

My Top Five....

.....moments form the Celtics Game 6 embarrassment of the Lakers:

1. Kevin Garnett running over Paul Gasoft to establish post position early in the first quarter.
   
2. Ray Allen nailing wide open threes in the second half with Sasha Whatshisname no where in sight.
3. Rajon Rondo doing it all (steals, assists, rebounds, knocking down a couple of jumpers).
4. Phil Jackson looking absolutely "bedraggled" because his team of softies looked absolutely helpless.
5. The clock reading 00:00 and the final score reading 131-92....good guys.

What a year!!

Question to RichRuff Training

I have weak shoulders, or I guess you can say I slouch and have bad posture. What machines at the gym would benefit me in strengthening the muscles on my back where the shoulder is?

Kar


Hi Kar. I'm not a big advocate of using machines, especially when it comes to correcting muscular imbalances. That being said here are some exercises I'd recommend: scapular wall slides, prone cobras w/scapular retraction, any row variation, prone reverse flys, dynamic and static blackburns and side lying shoulder external rotation. If you really want to correct this imbalance, eliminate any pressing exercises for awhile and focus on those exercises that require scapular retraction.

RichRuff Training Exercise of the Week: Push Up Finisher w/Swiss Ball

This is what some refer to as a "finisher" that I like to throw on to the end of upper body workouts from time to time. Other people may refer to it as a Mechanical Advantage Set. Watch as I start from the hardest position, toes on the ball, and take that just short of failure. From there, I walk myself back a bit further, ball around the knees, and take that to failure. And then from there, I walk to the last position, ball around shin level, and take that to failure. Give it a shot.

My Top Five....

....songs to get me through a workout.

1. Rooftops - Lostprophets
2. G0 - Common
3. Get It On The Floor - DMX
4. Show Me What You Got - Jay Z
5. Rise Above This - Seether
   

Honesty

There's a good majority of people out there who begin a training program with fat loss as their number goal. Yet after being on a training program for 8-12 weeks, there's another good majority of these people who have yet to drop any substantial bodyfat or make any progress towards their goal. I see and deal with these people all the time. Their training program is laid out for them. They are told what they should be doing on their off days. They are told what their nutrition has to be like in order to reach these goals.

So when asked if they are following their training program the answer is, "Yes". When asked if they are eating right for fat loss, the answer is "Yes". On the surface, they seem to be telling the truth. But if I dig a little deeper, I'll find that only part of the truth is being told.

They are really not getting the 5 hours per week I recommend. They are getting 2-3 hours. And during these 2-3 hours they are not following the suggested training program or are going through it with a half-hearted effort.

They really are not eating for fat loss. Yes, they're following the dietary guidelines laid out for them but they're only doing it 50% of the time. Instead they should be compliant at least 80% of the time. (And frozen chicken tenders do not count as a lean meat!!).

Not only are these people not being honest with me, they are not being honest with themselves.
And until they start being honest about their nutrition and training program, that bodyfat is not going anywhere. Start being honest and start seeing results.

My Top Five....

.....ways to become more efficient in the gym.

1. Use a full-body routine or follow an upper body/lower body split.
   
2. The majority of your exercises should be multi-joint exercises.
   
3. Use an alternating set scheme.
4. Replace your slow, steady state "cardio" with a high intensity interval routine.
5. Stay away from the machines. Movements should be body weight, free weight or cable based.
   

RichRuff Training Exercise of the Week: Cross Body Pull w/Extension

Some people may call this a PNF pattern. I call it just what it looks like.