Exercise of the Week: TRX Modified Single Leg Burpee

Why is it a modified burpee? Because it doesn't involve a push up in the bottom position or a jump at the end. That would be the next progression so stay tuned for that one. And modified or not, this is still a difficult exercise.

Random Thoughts...

....looking back at 2011 and looking ahead to 2012 a few days late.

• I do not think I have changed much from a training perspective in the past year. If I have in fact changed ways it has been by making things a bit simpler. Just establishing basic movements patterns and building on those movement patterns by going to an exercise that would be the next progression or by adding some load to that existing exercise. What I have found is that about 80% of the population could fit into the same training program with some tweaks here and there for each individual. And if more I could get more people to do more of the simple stuff on a more consistent basis I think they would all be "more better".



• I love the expression on a guy's face when he looks over at the women next to him who is doing the same exact exercise, but she is using a lot more weight than he is. Oh yeah, she's also a lot leaner than he is. I've started to see more of a shift of women realizing that it's okay to to be strong. "Strong is the new skinny".



• Excuse me for being harsh, but I have to be honest. If you can not do a particular body weight exercise, let's say pull ups for example, you are either too fat or too weak.



• If people did a better job of setting their goals they might do a better job of achieving their goals. A lot should go into your goal setting. Your goal should be measurable. Your goal should have a specific time frame. Your goal should be achievable. You should establish behavior based goals that are going to get you to your outcome based goal. And then "the goal is to keep the goal the goal". You following me?



• If you are going to rush through your warm up, you may rush your self into injury. Any good training program should have a pretty solid warm up. Some foam rolling, maybe some static stretching and then anywhere from 5-8 dynamic flexibility and mobility exercises. Ten minutes of your total workout time. Maybe 15 minutes at the most. So you can spend 10-15 minutes a couple of times per week trying to prevent injury or you can skip the warm up and bitch about your newest ache and pain and be missing sessions because you're hurt.



• Is it you can't squat or you do not want to take the time to learn how to squat properly? As a number of strength coaches have said, it's probably not the squat that is hurting you. It is the way that you squat that is hurting you. The same could be said for deadlifts.



• The most inspirational video I've seen in the past year:

• I saw a change in the past year as far as the way people have looked at advice they have been given in the past. I saw more people start to look at things that they have been told for awhile and realize what they have been told doesn't hold much truth to it. What are some of the things I'm talking about? Stuff like low fat is the way to go. Nice theory, except that since a low fat diet has been promoted as the way to go obesity rates have risen. Also, in regards to fat we've been told saturated fat is bad for us. Well, not all saturated fat is bad for us. We actually need some saturated fat in our diet. It's where the saturated fat is coming from is the problem. Hopefully people start to question more of this mainstream advice, because I think a lot of this mainstream advice has lead us to where were today...a country with an obesity rate close to 70 percent.



• I started realizing just how important getting enough sleep actually is. I've always thought I could get away with 5-6 hours of sleep a night. And I actually could get away with it. But once I started to read about sleep and how it may be the the missing link to weight loss or fat loss issues, I worked on getting 7-8 hours of sleep per night. Then when I talked to others that were struggling with weight loss I realized they were not getting anywhere near 7-8 hours of sleep per night on a regular basis. Then seeing studies were those who got enough sleep each night were much more successful with weight loss. For instance, those who tend to sleep less tend to have higher caloric intakes over the course of the next day. Sleep also might be the number one way to control stress. More stress equals more cortisol which equals more belly fat. Sleep is also a top five priority when it comes to recovering from your training sessions. In a nutshell, focus on getting 7-8 quality of hours of sleep per night. You can catch up on your Facebook in the morning and DVR your shows for the next day. You need to sleep more.



• One other thing I've changed is trying to stay away from plastic as much as possible. I'm not talking about swiping the old credit card. I'm talking about plastic bottles and food containers. And I'm not talking about helping the environment. I'm talking about helping your own personal environment. Drink and eat from a lot of plastic and you're going to be drinking and eating a lot of toxins. Toxins that could be dangerous to your health and toxins that are going to keep you from dropping that unwanted body fat. Stop buying cases of plastic water bottles and and go buy a filtered water system instead. Spend a few extra bucks on some glass food containers rather than the plastic ones that are being passed from one party to the next. Stop microwaving your food in plastic containers if it is in a plastic container. Microwave your food in a glass dish or bowl instead. Now is using plastic less the only answer to your health and body fat issues? Of course. not. But it may be one of the issues that you can actually do something about.

Here's a late toast to a Happy and Healthy 2012!! Cheers!!

Exercise of the Week: Offset Kettlebell Walking Lunge

You do not need to re-invent exercises in order to get some variation in your training or to change the training emphasis. Sometimes it's as simple as changing the position of the resistance or the way the load is being held. You could use a barbell or dumbbells. You could use a Goblet hold or hold the weight at your sides. You could do front squats instead of back squats. Simple stuff that leaves you plenty of variations.

With walking lunges you have plenty of variations to play around with just by switching the position of the load being carried. You could carry dumbbells at your side. You could carry a dumbbell in only one arm to challenge your core stability a bit more. You could carry a dumbbell or barbell overhead.

Here I use two different carrying different positions: carrying the kettlebell down at one side and holding another kettlebell overhead in a bottoms ups position to challenge the shoulder and core stabilizers a bit more.

Exercise of the Week: Single Arm Overhead Press

Exercise of the Week: TRX Body Saw / Push Up

Accelerated Fitness Coaching Tip: Knees Out

Exercise of the Week: Band Resisted Single Leg Deadlift

Exercise of the Week: Inverted Rope Climb

Here's a pretty cool exercise that is going to get after a couple things: your upper back, your biceps, your grip strength and your core stability. You can perform sets for time or for a number of trips up and down the rope.

Exercise of the Week: Elevated Ab Wheel Roll Out w/Band Resistance

Two ways to make the ab wheel roll out harder: work from an elevated surface or add some band resistance. Here I put the two together to make an already hard exercise a much harder exercsie.

Accelerated Fitness Coaching Tip: Palms Up

Exercise of the Week: Show and Go Workout

The following video is a supplemental conditioning workout taken from strength coach Eric Cressey's excellent product, Show and Go. The exact workout calls for five sets of the following circuit with about 60 seconds of rest of between each circuit.

Open House: Sunday, November 6

Accelerated Fitness Open House

When: November 6, 2011 / 9am-12pm

Where: Accelerated Fitness, 153 North Street, Lexington

Schedule of Events:

· Free Bootcamp Class 9am-9:45am

· Free Power Vinyasa Yoga w/Julie 10am-11am

Food and refreshments will be served. For more information, contact Rich Ruffing, (781)538-6664 or rich@acceleratedfts.com

Exercise of the Week: Split Squat w/Single Arm Row

Exercise of the Week: Alternating Standing Cable Row

I know I haven't put up a quality blog post lately. Between training existing clients, taking on new clients, working on the business, looking for some quality part time help and managing my fantasy football team I haven't been left with much time. I guess once football season is over I'll have more time.

I am still going to try an get an exercise of the week video up on a weekly basis. And I hope to continue to do so without repeating any other videos I've put up over the last couple of years.

This week's video is a variation of a standing cable row. This variation is a bit different in that there is an isometric hold on one side while movement is occurring on the other side. With this variation you're going to tax the scapular retractors a bit more and get the added benefit of some core stability work in terms of working on resisting rotation through the lumbar spine.

Time to get back to the waiver wire. Have a great week.

Exercise of the Week: Low Pulley Single Leg Deadlift

Some of My Favorites

Every now and then I am asked "What is the best blah, blah, blah.....?". It might be an upper body exercise or weight loss method or snack food. I would say nine out of ten times the question is "What is the best exercise to get rid of this?" as the individual points to their over expanding waistline while holding onto a 32oz beer in the other hand.

I hate answering the "what is the best" question because what is the best has to be applied on an individual basis. What I consider to be the best lower body exercise for me is not necessarily going to be the best exercise for you. My best exercise may leave you limping around and cursing me out for three weeks. In just about every case there is no "best" that can be applied to every individual. What I can tell you is what some of my favorites are when it comes to exercises, foods, stretches, etc. A lot of my favorites have worked for me and in some cases have also worked with a good number of my clients.

Favorite snack: Natural peanut butter on Ezekiel bread with a few banana slices and bit of natural honey. Actually put some type of nut butter on anything and it will always rank up there on my favorites list.

Favorite Protein Shake Combo: Two cups of coconut or almond milk, 5-6 frozen strawberries, a handful of spinach, a tablespoon of some nut butter, a tablespoon of coconut butter, 6-8 ice cubes and chocolate protein powder. This blends together nice and heavy. I don't like thin shakes. I like them a bit thicker since it takes a bit longer to consume. And I've been throwing some spinach into most of my blended shakes. It gets me an extra serving of greens that I'm usually missing over the course of the day. And you can't even taste the spinach in there.

Favorite Upper Body Exercise: Any chin up variation. It could be weighted chin ups or just body weight chin ups for higher rep sets. It could be fat grip chin ups or towel chin ups. As long as it's not proceeded by the word "kipping".




Favorite Mobility Exercise: The Spiderman lunge. There's just so much you can do with this exercise. You can add in a hip lift. You can add in some thoracic rotation. You can precede it with a knee hug. Lots of variations you can do to work lower and upper body mobility




Favorite Oatmeal Combo: 1/2 cup of oatmeal, a bit of almond or coconut milk, a few banana slices, a scoop of chocolate protein powder, and a tablespoon of natural peanut butter.

Favorite Piece of Cardio Equipment: The Schwinn Airdyne. It's about 1/5 the cost of a quality treadmill or elliptical and about 5x harder than either. Spend anywhere from 8-15 minutes doing intervals on this thing and that's all you need. It's also one of my favorite's because I think it's the number one most hated piece of training equipment by my clients.

Favorite Piece Nutritional Advice: Increase protein intake. First thing I find with most people's nutritional intake is that their protein intake is too low so I suggest having a protein source with each meal. Making sure protein intake is up is usually going to mean you're eating higher quality foods, displacing carbohydrates, stabilizing blood sugar and maybe even dropping your daily calorie intake.

Favorite Training Sneaker: It used to be the Nike Free until I just picked up the New Balance Minimus. The latest Nike Free has gone away from it's original minimalist concept by increasing the heel lift. With the New Balance there is very little heel lift to give you that barefoot training feel. Not only that I love the look of the shoes.


Favorite Beer: I can't have a favorites list with out listing my favorite beer which would be.....Guinness. Some people pick and choose their times to drink Guinness. I can drink it year round. A good salad or a nice piece of steak with a pint of Guinness. Now we're talking. I do have my doubts about Guineas Black Lager though. When something is so pristine as Guinness, why mess with it?

So what are some of your favorites?

Exercise of the Week: Turkish Get Up to Overhead Walking Lunge

Exercise of the Week: Jungle Gym Pull Up

Adjusting the handles of the Jungle Gym XT up to their highest possible height gives us another variation for pull ups. Using the Jungle Gym XT allows for internal and external of the shoulder which increases demand on your shoulder stabilizers. It may also be a good variation for those who feel chin ups really beat up their elbows.

Exercise of the Week: Modified Single Arm Push Up

Modified as in from an elevated upper body position. Not modified as in push ups with your knees on the floor. The higher bar the bar is the easier the movement should be and vice versa.



And if you can do a one arm push up from the floor, God bless you. You're pretty damn strong.

Your Gym Checklist

Here's a pretty simple checklist to help you get the most out of your workouts:

• Have a plan. Know what your workout is going to be before you step into the gym. Know your warm up. Know your strength routine. Know your conditioning. Know what your next workout is going to be so that day's workout doesn't hinder your next workout. Sounds like a training program, huh? Yeah, that's the suggestion. Get on one.


• Leave your cell phone behind. Potential emergency? Ok, I'll excuse you for bringing your cell phone in. But I wouldn't consider emergencies to be scheduling your dinner plans, checking up on everyone's Facebook status or texting your new girlfriend about how her day went. And when you do pick up that phone call in the middle of the workout, don't tell the other person on the other end you're working out because you're not.


• Forget about body part splits. The number one complaint I get from people is that they do not have enough time to get a workout in. That could easily be solved by eliminating body part splits. You only have two hours of the week in get a workout in? Do full body workouts. You only have three hours of the week to get a workout in? Still do full body workouts. You have more than three hours of the week to get a workout in? Ok, maybe we can split it up into upper and lower body days, but we're still not doing a chest and calves day.


• Get a good warm up in. The warm up may be the most underrated component of anyone's workout. The warm up sets the stage for the rest of the workout. Have a crappy warm up and you are usually going to have a crappy workout. As I've mentioned in the past a good warm up will consist of of some foam rolling, static stretches for trouble spots and then 5-8 dynamic flexibility movements.


• Do some power work. Power training is not just for athletes. And power training is not just Olympic lifts. The first thing to go as we age is our ability to generate power so all of us should be including some power training early on in the workout. Power training includes medicine ball throws, upper and lower body plyometrics, Olympic lift variations or dynamic effort bench presses, squats or deadlifts.


• Choose at least one "big bang" exercise. Focus on one main exercise for dedicated strength work. Use a variation of a squat, deadlift, press, or chin up with a rep range in the area of 3-8 reps per set. I haven't come across many "average" trainees who should not be focusing on getting stronger.


• More pulling than pushing. For every pressing exercise perform at least two pulling exercises. It will do wonders for your shoulder health and help with structural balance.


• Do at least one single leg exercise. It could be a split squat, a rear foot elevated split squat, a reverse lunge, a single leg deadlift, etc. The list goes on and on, but it does not include single leg extensions or calf raises. Besides helping balance out any left to right asymmetries, single leg training is great from a conditioning perspective. Do a couple sets of dumbbell rear foot elevated split squats and you will be gasping for air at the end.


• Core stability. Try to include at least one core stability exercise. It could be be an anti-extension exercise (prone plank variations), an anti-lateral flexion exercise (side plank variations and farmers walk variations), an anti-rotation exercise (cable chops, cable lifts and belly press variations) or a hip flexion w/neutral spine variation (Swiss ball pull in, Val Slide pull ins or straight leg sit ups).


• Get out in 60-75 minutes. Yeah, I know. Tom Brady's workout lasts 2-3 hours. I hate to burst your bubble, but I do not think you are an elite athlete on the same level as Tom Brady. If your workout is taking longer than 60-75 minutes, you're wasting too much time flipping through People magazine, wasting too much time trying to get the cute girl's phone number or your programming just stinks. If you want to throw in some conditioning work or interval training at the end of your session, then you can break that 60-75 minute mark. But I see no other reason why your workouts should take longer than that.


• Post workout nutrition. Probably the one area that 9 out of 10 people screw up. Your workout is over, but the the recovery and and enhancement process has just begun. Aim to get some post workout nutrition in the form of a shake or meal to help speed up the rate of protein turnover and replace depleted glycogen stores. The sooner post workout, the better. And if you want your carbs, this is the time to get them in.

Exercise of the Week: Scap / Yoga Push Up Combo

Here's a nice combo exercise to use as part of your warm up The first part of the exercise is a scapular push up which is trying to establish retraction and protraction of the scapula. Notice that the elbows do not bend.

The second part of the exercise is basically a downward dog, hence the "yoga' in naming the exercise. Here we're trying to establish thoracic extension.

Exercise of the Week: Single Arm TRX Pistol

Getting Your Hip Hinge On

Warming up....Effectively

The days of just half assing it on a treadmill or an elliptical and calling that a "warm up" are over. In fact they have been over for a good period of time now. And that also includes just doing a couple seconds of hamstring stretches and a few arm circles. Instead, we now know an effective warm up will raise your core temperature, excite your nervous system a bit and target dynamic flexibility and joint mobility. Sounds like a lot, but it can be accomplished in anywhere from 5-10 minutes with as little as five exercises and may be as many as eight.

When putting together an effective warm up there are a couple things I'm usually focusing on:

1. Ankle mobility


2. Hip Mobility


3. Hip Stability


4. Thoracic Mobility


5. Scapular Stability

The following is a short video of a warm up that really anyone can use. It does not require a ton of space, consists of eight exercises and should take you no more than 8-10 minutes once you get the hang of each exercise. Just do me a favor. If this warm up is to be effective, really focus on each exercise. Remember the days of half assing it are over.

Exercise of the Week: Suspended Push Up w/Feet Elevated

Random Thoughts...

• If you are not getting results with your training or nutrition program, you can not blame the program if you are not adhering to the program. Are you doing exactly what the program is telling you to do? Are you following the program on a consistent basis? 90% adherence to a program is ideal. 80% adherence can still get you some noticeable results. But once you start to slip below that 80% number, your results will go down. If the program is telling you to do X, Y and Z, but you're only doing X you can't blame the program because you are no longer following the program. It's your adherence to the program that's the problem. Blame yourself.

• I read something the other day that stated that 1 lb in front of your spine places about 4 lbs of pressure on your spine. Think about that for a minute. If you are carrying a lot of weight around your midsection, you are askingyour spine to carry four times as much weight. In a nutshell, pot bellies equal sore lower backs

• In terms of weight loss, I think what's going on in your head is more important than what is going into your mouth. A day doesn't pass where I do not hear someone talking about the next diet they are going to go on. Or the diet they couldn't get past two days on. Or how they know what to eat but they just are not doing it. I listen to people talk about their nutrition more than actually doing something about their nutrition. There is something psychologically holding them back from doing something about their desired weight loss. You have to change the mindset if you want to change the waistline.


• Better chance your back is hurting because you can not squat or deadlift than your back is hurting from actually doing squats or deadlifts. Got me? If you don't have the mobility and strength through the hips to execute a proper squat or deadlift all that stress is going where? To your lower back.


• Speaking of lower backs again, Dr. Stuart McGill states that those who have stronger lower backs are those who tend to have back pain. Why? They are constantly using their lower back for tasks they shouldn't be. Having muscular endurance is what you should be aiming for in regards to the lower back.


• Unless you happened to do something nuts, like drop a barbell on your chest and crush your sternum or try jumping on to a 50 inch plyo box and shatter your shin, in very rare instances can one exercise be blamed for your injury. Now if you've been doing this particular exercise over and over again with crappy technique, yeah, you can blame the exercise. The more logical reason you are hurt is probably because of your lack of mobility, lack of strength or downright poor posture. Or in other words lousy movement patterns repeated over and over again are to blame. Then you go perform "that" exercise and voila...you're hurt.


• You think you are more likely to get hurt for having no cardio or from having the strength of a kindergartner? Strength wins again!!


• Here's one I don't get, "I want to get in shape before I start working with a trainer." Huh? But I've heard that a couple times lately. So what are you going to use the trainer for after you get in shape? Have him or her count your reps or stretch your hamstrings out for you? Or someone to talk to about the Real House Wives financial issues?

• I would bet since the creation of Facebook the number of cases of insomnia has risen dramatically. Can't sleep? Stop going to bed with your cell phone by your side like it's a teddy bear. You can check up on Facebook first thing in the morning. I'm sure you are not missing much.

Exercise of the Week: Half Kneeling Anti-Rotation / Anti-Flexion Press

Exercise of the Week: Backwards Prowler Drag to Prowler Push

A great way to get the legs and lungs burning for some conditioning work. Drags and pushes are also very knee friendly for anyone that is suffering from any type of knee issue.

Imbalanced to Get Balanced

One of the components of any well written strength program should be balance. I'm not talking about ridiculous looking stand on a Bosu Ball balance. I'm talking about balance between movement patterns. For instance is there as much horizontal pulling work as there is horizontal pushing work within your program? Is there as much hip dominant work as their is quad dominant work? Is there single leg work in order to balance out left to right asymmetries?

Now this is taking into consideration the individual this program is written for is balanced to begin with. They have no left to right asymmetries. They hold pretty close to perfect posture. Their shoulders are in line with their ears. They have no existing or pre-existing injuries. Their balanced strength program is going to match up pretty good with their own physical balance. Wouldn't that be nice? But this type of individual rarely exists. In fact, this type of individual may be extinct.

What I'm usually seeing are imbalanced individuals. I'm not assessing their psychological state, just their physical state. Their posture may be way out of alignment. They may have a big strength discrepancy between the right and left sides. They may have poor glute function or have the look that they were born without any glutes at all. So a balanced program is not going to work for this type of individual, which again happens to be the majority of us. A balanced program for an imbalanced individual leads to...imbalance.

So what we should be focusing on is more imbalance in your training program. Exercises or set and rep schemes that are going to try to bring you back to neutral. Imbalanced in a good way. For instance:

• More horizontal pulling volume than pressing volume for those with shoulder or postural issues. Could be 1-2 more pulling exercises, could be a higher number of sets, or could be more reps per set. May be even eliminate all pressing work for awhile.
• More shoulder external rotation work than shoulder internal rotation. Exercises such as bench press or pull ups involve internal rotation of the humerus so you want to add in more exercises that address external rotation of the humerus. These exercises could be rowing variations, side lying or cable external rotation exercises, band pull aparts or prone T-raises.
• More hip dominant work than quad dominant work. More sets and reps of deadlifts, glute/ham raises and Valslide leg curls than sets of squats.
• More core stability work than trunk flexion work. Actually, lets just forget about trunk flexion work all together. That means no more mindless 100 rep sets of crunches.
• More single limb work in your program. I am not just referring to lower body exercises such as split squats or single leg squats, but also referring to upper body single limb work. Some examples are: dumbbell rows, single arm dumbbell presses or single arm cable rows.

It basically comes down to doing more of what you probably were not doing and less of what you were. Create the imbalance to get balanced.

Exercise of the Week: Overhead Medicine Ball Slam

Good exercise to use prior to a strength session to fire up the nervous system. Good exercise to use to train power. Good exercise to use as part of a conditioning circuit. And sometimes it's just good to throw something....hard.

TRX Basics

Exercise of the Week: Alternating Scapular Wall Slide

I would say that some version of the scapular wall slide is included in 80-90% of my clients programs as part of their warm up or as a "filler" exercise. This version takes into account the asymmetrical nature of most upper body movement patterns. Try to keep both arms pinned back against the wall the entire time.

My Top Five....

....ways to fix your squat. I hear people saying that they can not squat because it hurts their knees or hurts their lower back or it hurts their right big toe. Yes, that may be the case. But what I picked up from strength coach Dan John is that the actual movement of squatting may not be the problem. It's the way that you are executing the squat that is the problem. Hell, if your squat looks like this, yeah, it's going to hurt.

Here are five ways to help fix your squat pattern.

1. Increase ankle mobility. If your heels are coming up or you are getting to much forward lean as you descend into the squat chances are that your ankles are jammed up. It comes as no surprise with our poor choices of footwear or our tendency to ignore what's going on down at the foot and ankle. To increase your ankle mobility prior to your strength session do some foam rolling or stick work through your lower leg and then follow that up with some ankle mobility exercises suck as ankle rocks.
2. Loosen up the hip flexors. If you are not able to get good depth in your squat without a good amount of forward lean you may have some tight hip flexors. It's no surprise considering what we do the majority of the day....sit. Also those who are tight through the hip flexor area tend not be able to recruit their glutes as much from what is referred to as reciprocal inhibition. If you want to squat well you have to use your glutes well. So as part of your warm up do some foam rolling though the hip flexor and TFL areas followed by some static stretching of the hip flexor area followed by some low level glute exercises (bridges, marching bridges or single leg bridges). Or between sets of squats you could perform some hip flexor mobilization exercises.
3. Push the knees out. As you descend into the squat think about forcing your knees out and do the same thing on the way up. This will allow you to sink into your squat a bit better and also recruit your glutes that much more. Again, a good squat needs good glutes. If you are having trouble with this concept, as part of your warm up place a mini band around your knees and simply press out against the band as you squat. You should not allow the band to buckle your knees in and should really feel the glutes working.
4. Chest Up. Your squat should not look like a deadlift. Or better yet it should not look like you are on your way doing to doing a face plant. Good squat technique will have a chest up, shoulders down and back posture to reinforce as much of a neutral spine posture as possible. Now some of you may have trouble getting into this position because of that evil movement pattern I mentioned before ....sitting. Sitting behind a desk or in a car for most of the day is not going to do nice things to your thoracic mobility. The ability to extend through the thoracic spine is just not there and should be worked on. Some good drills to work on your thoracic mobility are thoracic extensions on a foam roller, side lying extensions / rotations or quadruped extensions / rotations.
5. Squat everyday. Yes, you heard that right. Squat everyday. I'm not talking about barbell squats or any other type of significantly loaded squat pattern. I'm just talking about the squat pattern itself. As part of your warm ups or as fillers between sets of exercises you could perform exercises such as squat to stands, regular old body weight squats or some light goblet squats to do the trick. This is another philosophy borrowed from Dan John who basically says if it's important, do it everyday.

Exercise of the Week: Swiss Ball Plank Roll Out w/Feet Elevated

Exercise of the Week: Plank Triceps Extension

Damage Control

Let's say you've been working out and eating pretty well on a consistent basis. Maybe you've been doing so because you have that one week of vacation coming up and you want to feel and look your best on your vacation. You want to feel good about yourself on the beach or hanging by the pool. Or maybe you're training for an event that's going to take place a few weeks after your vacation and you're afraid this vacation is going to set you back big time. That week of vacation could be the first week of the summer. Putting on five or so pounds during the first week of summer I do not think ever made anyone feel good.

So that week of vacation rolls around and what are you to do? You can try to keep things under control by eating somewhat right and getting some type of exercise in. Or you can just say, "Where's the food....and the beer?" Then you go ahead and consume nothing but beers, pina colada's and fried foods with the only exercise coming from dragging your beach chair through the sand.

So what are you going to do? Some people will say that there is no way to keep up with your at home routine while on vacation. There are too many temptations and who wants to exercise on vacation anyway? That's fine. But how are you going to feel about yourself when you come back from vacation and hop on that scale for the first time? Or you can be the other type of person who knows they may not keep up with their existing routine, but they can do some damage control while they are away. And it really isn't that hard if you do a few of the following things:

1. Pack some protein. It really isn't that hard to travel with some protein. Meal replacement powders will hardly take up any space in your luggage. And last time I checked it isn't illegal to cross the border with some protein powder. When you're away and feeling hungry or in danger of skipping a meal it's easy to mix up a shake in a blender bottle or use the actual blender for something other than alcholic beverages.



2. Don't skip breakfast. You're on vacation. You probably have plenty of time over the course of the day unless you're traveling with the ultimate tourist who does have you scheduled for everything. You have time for breakfast. You probably get up whenever you want. You might even be able to eat what ever you want. Find a protein source and a fruit or vegetable source and you're good to go. Just like at home breakfast sets the tone for your eating habits the rest of the day.



3. Do something you normally wouldn't do. You don't have to follow the same exercise routine that you're doing at home in order for it to count as exercise. You could do a body weight circuit. You could go mountain biking. You could go for a long hike. Just from a mental standpoint it's going to be a bit refreshing. Get out of your comfort zone a bit and do something. All exercise doesn't have to be sets and reps.



4. Pack for exercise. You do not need a ton of equipment to get a quality workout in. As I just mentioned you may not even need any if you just want to do some body weight training. If you would like to spice up that body weight training a few things that are easy enough to pack are: Valslides, Superbands , a jump rope and even a TRX. That stuff could pack in any bag or suitcase. Or if you're traveling by car you could even bring along a kettlebell or medicine ball. I'm guessing you could probably get a better workout in with that stuff than you could with some of the outdated equipment you will find at a lot of hotel gyms.



5. Be Menu Smart. I hear people blaming eating out frequently for all their weight loss troubles. And the tendency to eat out is probably going to be greater when on vacation. Sorry, I don't buy that excuse. Most menu's have something fairly decent you can eat. You usually have a bunch of options. You don't have to go with the creamy salad dressings, fried appetizers or piles of mashed potatoes that come with your meals. Ask for some extra veggies instead of the fries. Can't get the veggies? Then just pass on the fries. And I think most menus do not consist entirely of pizza and fried foods. Look for something grilled or broiled and some greens. It's not the menu that's usually the problem. It's your decision making that's the problem.

I know. You're hating me right now. I'm coming off as the fun police. I'm not saying you can't have fun on vacation. Just saying that if you're worried about packing on that "vacation five" that you can do something about it.

Exercise of the Week: Band Resisted Close Grip Med Ball Push Up

I know there has got to be a shorter name for this exercise than the eight words I'm using to name it. Any suggestions?

Know Your Rest Periods

I think one of the most underrated variables when it comes to a successful strength program is the amount of rest taken between sets of an exercise. People will understand which exercise is the best for each scenario and how many sets and reps to do based on their goals but they have no understanding of what their rest periods should be. It comes as no surprise to me when people complain about not getting stronger when they are flying around the gym from one exercise to another with hardly any rest. On the other end of the spectrum you have people complain about how they are not dropping any body fat when they are taking 3-5 minutes of rest between each set. And then the other scenario you have is the rest period changing from one minute for the first two sets to three minutes for the next set to 30 seconds for the last set. With rest periods being all over the place it's tough to judge where you stand with each set.

The rest period between sets should depend upon a couple factors. One is the goal of the your training program. If strength is your primary goal rest periods of at least two minutes should be taken. In fact if you are training for maximal strength 3-5 minutes of rest between sets is suggested in order to allow the central nervous system to fully recover. If muscle mass is the primary goal rest periods should be in the 60-90 second range. If muscular endurance or fat loss is a primary goal you may want to take your periods down to 30-60 seconds between each set.

The second factor that should determine your rest periods is the selected exercise. For instance, a set of weighted chin ups is more physically demanding than a set of concentration curls. You know that funny looking exercise where you sit on the end of a bench and stare at your biceps hoping that it's getting bigger? So you would probably want to take more rest between sets of chin ups than sets of biceps curls. The more physically demanding the exercise is, the longer the rest period you may want to take.

Nice gloves

The third factor that should determine the amount of rest is the repetition range in which you are working. Pretty simply, the lower on the rep range you are working the longer of a rest period is suggested. Doing sets of 1-3 reps may warrant a 3-5 minute rest period. The higher on the rep range your are working the shorter the period is suggested. Doing sets of 12-15 reps may warrant a 30-60 second rest between sets.

Now that you have an understanding of the importance of your rest period and how long they should be, are you going to track them? It's not that hard. Just pick up a cheap digital wristwatch or stop watch. You do not need anything fancy. Something that just tells time. Personally, if I do not work out with a watch on I feel out of place. I hate staring across the room at the clock on the wall, if there is a clock on the wall. In the case there is not one available I'm left guessing about my rest periods. And any time it comes to guessing in regards to your training I think you are headed down the wrong road. Every part of your training should have some reasoning.

Warrior Dash Recap

I think the last time I did a race recap was about four years ago after having completed my third Boston Marathon. I think that was also the last time I entered any type of race. The training leading up that marathon and the punishing 26.2 miles that followed made me never want to do any distance running again. So I didn't. Distance running became 400 meter intervals down at the track.

So four or so years off the race circuit, it was time to get back to it. I recognized the growing popularity of these mud runs, had some friends who expressed some interest in it and knowing that it was only a 5k, I said , "Let's do it". I figured the training couldn't be that hard and I wouldn't have to spend much time out on the roads getting my aerobic fitness up. It also provided a bit of a challenge, something I really needed to give my training a bit of a spark.

So my training leading up to the race was mainly spent in the gym. I continued with my normal strength training routines, would finish up the strength work with some sort of conditioning, did one day a week of Prowler pushes or 400 meter runs and went out for a 2-2.5 mile run once a week. I figured others may have the edge on me with their aerobic fitness, but I would have the edge on getting through, over or under the obstacles. But honestly, I didn't know what to expect.

So race day rolls around and that morning it is absolutely pouring. Luckily my wave wasn't starting until 2pm. The rain had stopped late that morning so I figured it would give the course some time to dry out a bit plus I wouldn't have to deal with pelting rain in my face the entire time. The only downside could be that the course was going to be pretty beat up by then.

I get to the course and all you can really see is the start and the finish. The start is about a 100 yard climb up a dirt hill then disappears into the woods. Ok, not too bad I thought. Kind of what I expected. The finish is about a 20 ft climb up and over cargo nets, then a run or slide on your ass down hill, whatever option you wanted to chose. A little bit more running on flat land and then crawling through another series of cargo nets. Again, not bad I thought.

I get to the start. No warm up. No one was warming up and I didn't want to look the fitness pro going through his dynamic warm up. I'm in the first couple of rows of the starting line so I can make a quick climb up that starting hill without having to weave through a bunch of stragglers.

The gun goes off and up I go. Remember it's only a 100yard climb or so and I'm going up at a pretty good pace. I get to the top and when I do my legs are already feeling it. Damn. Ok, no problem. The next part of the race is downhill, but it turns out to be a downhill like I never could have imagined. A downhill run through 1-2 feet of mud, leaping tree stumps, falling on my ass, falling on my face, avoiding branches, avoiding helpless others. And then it goes back up hill much the same way. Then downhill. This goes on for a good mile and a half. My legs are already shot. I'm sucking wind like I haven't in a long time. I'm close to falling on my face every five feet. Every minute I'm thinking, "When do we get out of the woods? When is the next obstacle? What the hells is this?". I see people start walking and I start walking. Bad move and not any easier because I'm still trying to prevent myself from sliding down from one side of the trail to the other. And then finally the first obstacle. A series of four foot walls to get over followed by crawling underneath some ropes. Then back to the crappy trail running and this god awful hill that just seemed to go up and around forever. More walking.

The hill is done and leads out to this open field. "Nice", I thought. Wrong again. The entire trail through the field was sloped so there was never any flat ground. Again fighting to stay on my feet. And this trail seemed to meander forever. The other side of this field seemed so close yet it was so far away. Now I'm looking forward to the obstacles because I can actually give my legs a bit of a break. Next obstacle is about a 15 foot rope climb over a wall. Piece of cake. Then back to more slogging through these trails, but I can hear some music in the background so I know that the finish has got to be near. By this time I have so much mud in my eyes I can barely see and I can't wipe it out because every piece of me is covered in mud.

A quick leap over a fire pit and now I can see the finish. I'm actually feeling better now. Another climb this time over a 20 foot cargo net wall and the rest of the run is downhill. Except I chose to do what every other person is doing. Go down the hill on my ass. Much quicker except for trying to untangle from the pile of bodies at the bottom. A bit more of a run. A climb through some elevated cargo netting and done. Forty minutes later.

What was three grueling miles was actually a lot of fun. I did underestimate how difficult this thing was going to be though. I didn't realize I would have to run through two feet of mud for a mile and a half. That was easily the worst part of the race. My legs were cooked early and never really recovered. I thought my upper body strength would serve me well and it really didn't.


I plan on doing races like these in the future and now that I kind of know what to expect I think I would switch up my training a bit differently. I would:

• Do more hill running and lengthen the distance of my Prowler sprints to build up strength endurance in my legs and get myself used to feeling that uncomfortable burning in my legs


• More metabolic circuit training with an emphasis on the lower body.



• Run in anything besides Nike Free's. A great shoe to work out in at the gym. A terrible shoe to run through the mud with. I felt like I was on ice skates the entire time.



• Hold back a little in the beginning of the race not knowing what is looming ahead.

All in all it was a great day day. I had lots of fun with my friends and family. The beer tasted delicious at the end. And I look forward to doing it again.

Exercise of the Week: Single Leg Squat w/Contralateral Load

Here's a way to load the single leg squat once you've been successful with the bodyweight version. Place a kettlebell or a dumbbell in the arm opposite the working leg. Some would go to a weighted vest after the bodyweight version, but let's assume you do not have access to a weight vest. Or if you want to get a little nuts you can use a weight vest and this contralateral load.

The Other 23

Let's assume that each of your workouts is lasting around an hour. You've put in an hour of honest, hard work in the gym, at the track or out on the road with a desire to lose weight, get stronger or just get healthier. Give yourself a pat on the back because you are doing more than a majority of people are doing. Now here's where my cynical standpoint comes in. In reality that is only one hour of twenty four. That's four percent of your day. If you're getting in 3-5 hours of exercise each week, that's only 2-3% of your week. All the hard work that you just put in at the gym can easily be undone by letting the remaining hours of your day or go to absolute hell. Poor nutrition. Not enough sleep. Poor recovery methods. You name it. Maybe this is why you are not getting the results that you think you should be getting. It could be the reason why you are not losing weight, getting stronger or improving your posture to name just a few things.

So let's take a look at some factors during the 23 hours outside of your workout that can help accelerate your results:

• Sleep. About 5-10 years a go I recall the optimal number of hours of sleep each night was suggested to be about 8-10 hours each night. Figuring that was not feasible for a large percentage of the population, the suggested hours of sleep each night is now 7-8. And I still think that a good number of people are not getting those 7-8 hours of quality sleep in. Sleep is the ultimate recovery method. Also, getting enough sleep each night has been shown to help with weight loss. Getting enough sleep each night will help lower cortisol levels and result in increased production of growth hormone which is the body's number one natural fat burner. Plus, it's hard to train hard with getting adequate sleep. Rather than sleepwalking through your workouts, get your sleep in at night. I don't think you're missing much quality television at eleven o'clock. If you are, DVR it.
• Nutrition. This is usually the deal breaker when it comes to weight loss. You can not out train a lousy diet. All the hard work you just put in over the course of that hour can easily be undone by loading up on processed foods, skipping meals, not getting enough protein, etc. The list goes on and on. I know some people who workout so they can eat all types of junk and overindulge on some bad tasting beers. What kind of thinking is that? That is a situation of constantly spinning your tires. Instead you should be looking to accelerate your fat results through good nutrition. Also, good nutrition is another one of your top recovery methods enabling you put in a quality training session each time you hit the gym.
• Posture Correction. What good is doing all this postural correction work in the gym if you're just going to go sit behind a monitor for 5-7 hours in a slumped posture? Probably not much. If you want to fix your posture or want your shoulders or lower back to feel better, posture is something you have to be constantly aware of throughout the course of the day. If it means me putting together a recording on your Ipod that says "Chin up, chest up, shoulders back, get tall" and you have to listen to it all day, let's do it. If you are one of those people who has to sit behind a monitor all day, try to get up out of your chair every 20-30 minutes to get extended out. Good posture doesn't just result in feeling good. It also looks good.
• Mobility / Flexibility. A foam roller costs about $20. A decent mobility or stretching session will take you about 15-20 minutes. A lot of the those nagging pains that you are dealing with can be eased up by putting some foam rolling and mobility work together on a routine basis. It doesn't require that much time. An episode of the Bachelor lasts two damn hours and you can't get on the floor to roll and stretch for 1/6th of those hours? The choice is yours. Again, get yourself feeling good so that you can train to look good and feel good.
• N.E.A.T. What is N.E.A.T.? It's non-exercise activity thermogenesis. Basically this the non-structured activity that occurs outside your training sessions. Increasing your activity outside of your training sessions can account for hundreds of extra calories burned throughout the course of a day without you really even thinking about it. Go take the dog for a walk. Take the stairs rather than taking the elevator. Go for a walk to get something to eat for lunch, unless it's a walk to pick up KFC's famous Double Down. Get outside and do some shoveling or mowing the lawn. Walk nine holes of golf. The way I play golf has me trekking up, down and all over the place leaving me exhausted by the end of a round. Just try to get away from being so sedentary.

There are probably other factors that come into play over the course of those other 23 hours that you have control over. The point is to get control of those 23 and get control of your results. Stop sabotaging yourself.

Exercise of the Week: Overhead Walking Lunge w/Hip Lift

This exercise of the week is a nice exercise to use as part of your dynamic flexibility training or warm up. It's an exercise that I took from Eric Cressey's Show and Go program. In addition to addressing hip mobility, particularly through the hip flexor and hamstring areas, it's a good exercise to help open up your shoulders. One key point is that when the hands go up overhead, really press the palm of one hand and the back of the other hand into each other. Doing so will produce a nice isometric contraction in your scapular stabilizers.

Exercise of the Week: Standing Rope Pulldown

How Did She Do It?

How did she do what you ask? I'm referring to a client of mine who over an eight week period dropped her body fat percentage by just under five percent. That five percent was about nine pounds of body fat gone over that eight week period. Anytime you're looking at a loss of one pound of body fat per week you're looking at some pretty remarkable results.

I'll be the first to say that her remarkable results were not achieved by any special type of diet, extreme workout program or spending an extra 6-8 hours in the gym each week. What she did was actually pretty simple. But she applied this simplicity on a consistent basis. And every time she was faced with a situation that may have comprised her progress she asked herself, "What is more important?"

So what was it that she did exactly? Just a few tweaks to her training and nutrition:

• Adding an extra hour of training each week. She went from training around 2-3 hours per week to 3-4 hours of training each week. That extra hour was an hour of strength training, not slow steady state cardio.
• Spending more time foam rolling and stretching to enhance recovery and deal with the increased training volume. You can't train consistently if you are consistently sore or injured.
• Sticking to the basics as far as exercise selection: split squats, inverted rows, DB incline presses, push ups, half kneeling cable chops and lifts, etc. No circus act exercises. No wacky Bosu ball madness. Exercises that are hard. Exercises that give you the biggest bang for your buck. Trying to hit the basic movement patterns every workout: some pushing, some pulling, a hip dominant exercise, a quad dominant exercise and some core stability work.
• Stopped worrying about calories and started worrying about foods. Calories will take care of themselves when the focus is on nutrient dense foods. Plus calorie counting is an inexact science unless you are weighing every single food item. Or unless you're eating everything out of a box or a bag that has a nutritional label.
• Increased protein intake with the goal of getting her around 100 grams of protein a day. Prior to that she was around 50-75 grams of protein per day which was not nearly enough. To get her up to this 100 gram level I emphasized the importance of including some source of protein whenever it came time to eat. My next goal with her is to get that protein intake even up a little bit more.
• Cut back on carbohydrate intake which kind of goes hand in hand with increased protein intake. In a lot of cases increasing protein intake displaces carbohydrate intake. The carbs that were part of her nutritional intake were consumed at breakfast or when they came during the day the majority of them came from fruits and vegetables. Carb intake from grains was reduced dramatically. When it comes to dropping body fat carbs need to be dropped.
• And here is the the one a lot of people are not willing to do: cut back on the alcohol which was mostly red wine. Less red wine meant less calorie containing beverages which meant less calories taken in overall. More than anything, cutting back on the alcohol showed me what was important to her. She wasn't done in by any social pressure that could have sabotaged her progress.

The changes to her training and nutrition were the easy part. The adherence to each change was the hard part. The greater the adherence, the greater the change which is what we ended up seeing. The funny thing is that now that this transformation challenge has ended she has a desire to keep up with it. What initially started out as a challenge has turned into a new lifestyle.

Exercise of the Week: Alternating DB Bench Press

Hey guys, Monday doesn't mean you have to bench press. There are other options such as this exercise of the week. If your training has gotten a bit stale (benching every Monday for the last 15 years will do that) or if your shoulders are feeling a bit beat up (benching every Monday for the last 15 years will do that also) substitute the Bench press with the Alternating DB Bench Press. In addition to some great shoulder stability work you're going to get some core stability work. A good bang for your buck exercise.








Go Bruins!!

Nutrition Tip of the Week: Have a Grocery List

As mentioned previously, it's tough to eat well if you're not prepared to eat well. Part of being prepared is going to involve your weekly grocery shopping. At least I hope it's done on a weekly basis and I hope it's not done at the Cumberland Farms around the corner.

To get the most out of your shopping you really should have a grocery list. Now a grocery list with stuff on there such as Oreo's and strawberry milk is not what I'm actually referring to. Instead a grocery list that has a number of fruits and veggies, some protein sources, some carb sources, some fat sources and all the spices, oils and what not to flavor up your meals or add to your recipes. Here's a list I've borrowed from the Metabolic Cooking Cookbook that should entail everything you might want to consider:

Veggies Asparagus__ Bell Peppers __ Broccoli__ Brussels Sprouts__ Cabbage__ Carrots__ Cauliflower__ Celery__ Cucumber__ Eggplant__ Fennel__ Garlic__ Green beans__ Kale__ Lettuce__ Mushroom__ Okra__ Onion__ Radish__ Snow Peas__ Spinach__ Tomato__ Zucchini__

Protein Tuna__ Salmon__ Halibut__ Haddock__ Tilapia__ Sardines__ Shrimp__ Scallops__ Chicken Breasts__ Ground Chicken__ Turkey Breasts__ Turkey Bacon__ Extra Lean Ground Beef__ Beef Roast_ Sirloin steak__ Venison__ Buffalo (Bison)__ Ostrich__ Pork Tenderloin__ Pork Chops __ Whey Protein __ Eggs__ Egg Whites__ Cottage cheese__ Greek yogurt__

Carbs Oatmeal__ Sweet Potatoes__ Pinto Beans__ Chickpeas__ Kidney Beans__ Black Beans__ Oat Bran__ Wheat Bran__ Quinoa__ Bulgur__ Ezekiel Bread__ Whole Wheat Pasta__ Brown Rice

Fruits Banana__ Apples__ Orange__ Pear__ Apple Sauce (unsweetened)__ Grapefruit__ Kiwi__ Peaches__ Strawberries__ Blueberries__ Raspberries__ Apricot__

Fats Natural Peanut Butter__ Natural Almond Butter__ Olive oil__ Flaxseed oil__ Macadamia nut oil__ Coconut Oil__ Almonds__ Walnuts__ Peanuts__ Macadamia nuts__ Avocados__

Other Apple Cider Vinegar__ Balsamic Vinegar__ Red Wine Vinegar__ White Wine Vinegar__ Salsa__ Red Hot Sauce__ Worcestershire sauce__ Chili powder__ Ground paprika__ Onion powder__ Ginger powder__ Cumin powder__ Clove powder__ Chili powder__ Cayenne pepper__ Ground turmeric__ Curry powder__ Ground nutmeg__ Dried oregano__ Dried parsley__ Dried basil__ Dried sage__ Bay leaves__ Rosemary__ Parsley__ Red Pepper Flakes__ Black Pepper__ Sea Salt__ Stevia__ Dijon Mustard__ Extracts (vanilla, almond, etc)__ Low sodium beef or chicken broth__ Low sodium soy sauce__ Lime juice__ Lemon juice__ Pure cocoa powder__ Almond milk__ Coconut milk __

Exercise of the Week: Bench Glute Bridge

Here's a good exercise to target the all important glutes. Think about driving the heels into the floor and locking the glutes up in the top position to prevent hyperextension of the lumbar spine.

Nutrition Tip of the Week: Be Prepared

So you know what to eat. You know how much to eat. You know when to eat. All this knowing is actually the easy part. Actually doing what you know is the hard part and it becomes even harder if you are not prepared. Dr. John Berardi says, "Sometimes good nutrition is not about the food as much as it is about making sure the food is available when it's time to eat". You can not expect to carry out good nutrition by just winging it. You have to have good foods available. You have to know what your next meal or snack is going to be. Even better you should know what your next 3-4 meals or snacks are going to be.

If you are looking for some magical preparation strategies there really is none. Good preparation strategies consist of habits such as: having a grocery list, cooking up some meals on Sunday for the upcoming week, getting up a bit earlier to make sure you're prepared for the upcoming day or maybe having some supplemental protein at your disposal.

Being prepared will help you develop consistency. Developing consistency will help you be successful.

Exercise of the Week: TRX Circuit

My version of "cardio":

15 Bulgarian Squats each leg

15 Fall Outs

15 Glute Bridges

15 Suspended Push Ups

15 Inverted Rows

3-4 times through the circuit with 90 seconds of rest between each circuit.

Nutrition Tip of the Week: Simple Carb Cycling

If you have established sound nutritional habits on a daily basis (examples: eating breakfast, protein at each meal, 7-10 servings of fruits or vegetables a day, etc.) you might be free to consider some more specialized nutritional strategies. One of the strategies that I'm actually in favor of is carb cycling. It can be made to be as easy as you want or as hard as you want. I'm going to give you the easy version that I feel is effective for most individuals. It's as simple as this: Consume a higher amount of carbs on training days and consume a lower amount of carbs on non-training days. Dr. Jon Berardi sums it up nicely when he says, "Your carbs have to be earned".

First let's understand what a training day is. A training day is a day where you got a fairly intense workout in. It's not a day where you did some light aerobic work, went for a walk or played a round of golf. In your heart and your mind you know what a training day is. Second, let's understand that carbs have two very potent properties which both come from their effect on the hormone insulin. They can be anabolic in nature helping you build lean muscle mass. Or they can help you store body fat. So on training days we want to take advantage of carbs in helping us build lean muscle mass. On non-training days we want to lessen the chances of storing body fat.

On a training day you can allow yourself a higher intake of carbs preferably ingesting that higher intake around your workout window: pre-, during and post-. It's a day where you can allow yourself some starchy carbs and more fruit than usual. If carbs are up on these days you want to keep fat intake down and protein intake up.

On non-training days, try to limit your intake of carbs from starches. Your primary sources of carbs on these days are fruits and vegetables. Your fruit intake should be a little lower than that of a training day. Protein intake should be maintained on this day and you can allow yourself a higher fat intake.

One more thing to consider. The leaner you are to begin with the higher amount of carbs you consider consider on each day. On the other end, the more body fat you're carrying around the smaller amount of carbs you may want to consider on each day.

Remember, "Your carbs have to be earned".