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