Exercise of the Week: Landmine Suitcase Deadlift

Exercise of the Week: Hurdle Jumps

Most people tend to think power training is only useful to athletes.  These same people usually also think that doing an Olympic lift such as a hang clean or snatch is the only way to train power.  These people would be wrong on both accounts.

The truth is that power is the first thing to go as we age.  And if we do not train it it is going to go even faster.  The other truth is that you do not need to be doing Olympic lifts to train for power.  Medicine ball throws, squat jumps and plyo push ups are just a few examples of power exercises.  We could even consider agility ladder training to be power training for some people.

Another reason to include power training as part of your workout is to ramp up the nervous system before a strength training workout.  A couple sets of med ball slams or box jumps could lead to better performance in your main strength exercises.

One more thing about power training is that there should be a progression to follow just as there would with other exercises.  For example a jump progression would be box jumps to squat jumps to what happens to be the exercise of the week, hurdle jumps.



The volume of jumps doesn't need to be high so I'll usually program two to four sets of 3-6 jumps

28 Tips to Being Lean in 2013

Knowing that a good number of people based their New Years resolutions around weight loss or fat loss, I threw up some fat loss tips on the Accelerated Fitness Facebook page.   For those of you who didn't see them or missed some of them, here they are wrapped up nice and neat for you....28 tips to being lean in 2013.

1. If you're setting a goal make it a behavior based goal not an outcome based goal. Behavior based goals are such things as getting in four hours of exercise a week, eliminating alcohol, getting 8 hours of sleep each night, etc.. Outcome based goals are such things as losing 10 pounds or dropping your body fat percentage.  
Behavior based goals will hopefully take you to your outcome based goal. Behaviors are ultimately under your control whereas outcomes may not be.
2. Now that you know the difference between a behavior based goal and an outcome based goal, you should only be setting one behavior based goal at a time. Set that behavior based goal and and comply to it for a two week period. If you are able to comply for two weeks then you can set another goal.  Set one goal at a time and you are going to have a greater chance of success. Set more than one goal at a time and your chances of success go down
3. For seven days keep a food log. Write down everything you ate and drank, whether it's a glass of water, a handful of nuts or jar full of M & M's. The food log is not going to be used to track your calories, but instead open your eyes to what you are actually eating and create a bit of accountability. Plus, numerous studies have shown that keeping a food log can result in weight loss.You can keep track on a blank piece of paper, use one of many apps on your smartphone or use a website such as Fitday.
4. Eliminate calorie containing beverages. That means dropping orange juice, soda and the big one that is going to make people unhappy...alcohol. I am not saying to give up alcohol forever, but how about for a four week period? If fat loss is important to you, you will do it. If it is not, keep drinking away.
5. So if you are eliminating calorie containing beverages, what should you be drinking? Water...lots of it. Aim to drink half your body weight in ounces of water. For example, if you weigh 150lbs aim to drink 75oz. of water throughout the day.
6. One way to hit that water intake number is to down a big glass of water as soon as you get out of bed. As far as the rest of your intake goes I would suggest purchasing some type of canteen and aiming to polish off a couple full containers each day.
7. Plan your workouts and nutrition for the upcoming week. What days are you going to workout? What are those workouts going to consist of? Do you have your "super foods" available? Do you know what you are going to eat tomorrow?   "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail."
8. Aim for at least 7-8 hours of sleep each night. Sleep may be your best recovery tool, your best stress reliever and your best hormone regulator. If you are having trouble getting quality sleep in make sure you are: avoiding caffeine later in the day, creating a comfortable sleeping "environment", shutting down your electronic devices at least half an hour before you head to bed and the sooner you get to bed before midnight the better. It's been said that every hour of sleep before midnight equals two hours of sleep after midnight.
9. Supplement with 3-5 grams of fish oil each day. Make sure you are using a high quality fish oil supplement. How do you know it's high quality? At least 50% of the fish oil should be made of EPA and DHA. For instance, if you look at the bottle and each serving contains 1000mg of fish oil you want at least a combined total of 500mg from EPA and DHA.  In addition to fat loss fish oil can help with joint health, cognitive function and help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
10. Keep your vitamin D levels up. A large percentage of the population is vitamin D deficient. Being deficient in vitamin D has been associated with: decreased muscular strength, higher levels of body fat, decreased insulin sensitivity and lower levels of testosterone in men.  To keep your vitamin D levels up try to get 10-20 minutes of exposure to sunlight each day, supplement with vitamin D3 and eat vitamin D rich foods such as salmon and tuna.
11. Drink 2-3 cups of green tea a day. In addition to it's high anti-oxidant content and numerous health benefits, drinking green tea on a daily basis can help with fat loss.  Now is green tea going to help with fat loss on it's own? No. But it's one other component to add to your fat loss arsenal if your main fat loss principles are in order.
12. Lower inflammation. It's tough to lose body fat when your body is an inflammatory state. If your joints constantly ache, you have digestive stress or are getting sick on a frequent basis you are in an inflammatory state.  How do you lower inflammation? You can start by: eliminating grains, eliminating sugar, eliminating dairy, eat grass fed beef, supplementing with fish oil, getting more sleep and lowering your stress levels.
13. Include a protein source with each meal or snack. In addition to having a higher thermic effect than carbohydrates or fat, protein will help stabilize insulin levels and keep you satiated for a loner period of time.  Having protein each time you eat will also help bring up your daily protein intake which should be around 0.8-1.0 grams per pound of body weight.
14. Your carbs must be earned. On workout days you can have some starchy carbs with the majority of those starchy carbs coming in the post-workout window. On days you are not training you should be staying away from starchy carbs with carb intake coming from fruits and vegetables.
15. With each snack or meal make sure to add a vegetable source. Increasing your vegetable intake will help balance your blood PH which for most people is on the acidic side. Fat loss becomes harder when your blood PH is on that side.  You can also add in some fruit to help with this acid base balance, but try to limit your fruit intake to about two servings per day.
16. Check your adherence to your first behavior based goal. Have you been at least 80% compliant for two weeks? If you can say yes now is the time to set another behavior based goal. If you have not been 80% compliant keep working on that first behavior based goal.
17. Limit your exposure to plastic. Aside from effecting your overall health, chemicals from plastic can contribute to higher levels of estrogen and inhibit fat loss. Try to avoid drinking from plastic water bottles, storing food in plastic containers and especially microwaving your food in plastic containers.
18. Do not fear fat. Eating fat will not make you fat. All types of fats are an essential part of your diet: saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. Good sources of dietary fat are: nuts, olive oil, coconut oil, avocado, grass fed beef and free-range poultry and eggs.  Consuming dietary fat should not be a concern. Where you are getting your dietary fat from should be the concern.
19. Think more in terms of workout intensity than workout duration. In other words, replace your slow steady state cardio with some high intensity interval training. Fat loss is more about creating a a hormonal "disruption" than creating a caloric deficit.
20.  Include a good warm up before your strength training. It's tough to train for fat loss when you can't train for fat loss because you are hurt.  A good warm up would consist of some foam rolling, may be some static stretching for trouble areas and 5-8 dynamic flexibility or joint mobility exercises ( glute bridge variations, thoracic mobility exercises, wall slides, mini band walks, etc.)
21. Use supersets rather than straight sets. An example of a superset would be performing an upper body exercise, rest, then performing a lower body exercise, rest. Repeat in this fashion until the programmed number of sets for each exercise is completed. This method of training can induce higher levels of blood lactate and allow you to get more work done in a shorter period of time.  You could also perform push/pull supersets, tri sets (an example being lower/upper/core) or quad sets (an example being lower/upper/lower/upper) to get the same effect.
22. Your strength training should be just that, strength training. Focus on getting strong not trying to "tone up" or burn fat. Strength is the foundation of many qualities such as hypertrophy, power and yes, fat loss.  "Get strong to get lean" - Dan John
23. During your strength training session, keep your rest intervals between exercises in the 30-60 second range. Shorter rest intervals combined with moderate to high intensity strength exercises will result in higher blood lactate levels thereby promoting fat loss.You could also perform push/pull supersets, tri sets (an example being lower/upper/core) or quad sets (an example being lower/upper/lower/upper) to get the same effect.
24. Incorporate uni-lateral lower body training into your routine. Uni-lateral lower body exercises such as single leg squats, rear foot elevated split squats, step ups and walking lunges can be metabolically demanding, especially when done in the 10-15 rep range or with some additional load (dumbbells, kettlebells, weight vest, etc.).  Personally I hate step ups and rear foot elevated split squats. Why? Because I usually need to be hooked up to an oxygen mask after each set.
25. Stop jogging. Remember, fat loss training is more about the intensity of your training rather than the duration of your training. If anything jogging may be helping you hold onto body fat rather than burn body fat. Also, long duration steady state training can lead to higher cortisol levels which in turn can lead to holding into body fat in the umbilical area.  If you are currently jogging try to replace at least 1-2 of your jogging days with some high intensity interval training or a body weight circuit.
26. Can the crunches. Crunches will do nothing for you from a fat loss perspective....until you do 250,000 of them. That's the number of crunches it would take you to burn one pound of body fat. Remember, fat loss is a result of your overall training and nutrition.
27. Simplify. Simplify your training. Simplify your nutrition. The truth is very few of us could be placed in the "advanced" category therefore not requiring complicated training programs or nutrition protocols. Most of us would be better off if we just applied simple concepts on a more consistent basis.  Eat more vegetables on a daily basis. Eliminate processed food on a daily basis. Get 3-5 hours of exercise in on a weekly basis. You get the idea.
28. Fat loss is a lifestyle. It's not just your training. It's not just your nutrition. It's not about one supplement. It's not about what you're doing some of the time. It's about what you are doing all the time. It's about what you are doing on a daily basis. It's the sum of of your training, your nutrition, your recovery, your supplementation, your stress management, your sleep cycle, etc. The list goes on and on.

Want more info like this?  Go to the Accelerated Fitness Facebook page where you will get everything from fat loss tips, to exercise videos to links to other articles.

Exercise of the Week: Half Kneeling Landmine Twist

I've shown a few different Landmine exercises recently, but what I haven't done is explain to you what exactly the Landmine is.  The Landmine is a piece of equipment that can be used for rotary or single limb training.  Here's a picture:

It's a nice piece of equipment that will run you close to $300.  If you don't feel like shelling out $300 for this bad boy you have another alternative where you can just about do the same exercises as you can with the Landmine.  The solution?  Wedge one end of a barbell in a corner.  A pretty simple and cost free alternative, right?

Now that we know what the Landmine is here's another exercise that can be used, the Half Kneeling Landmine Twist.  As with other core exercises I like to use a from the ground up progression meaning the first progression is in a tall kneeling or half kneeling position.  From there we will move to a standing position. Then from the standing position you can move to a split stance or single leg stance. Here in the half kneeling position the focus should be on two things: contracting the glute on the downside leg and keeping the knee of the upside leg straight ahead the whole time.  Doing these two things will re-enforce hip stability as the core is trained through a rotational pattern.  Take a look: