Accelerated Fitness, LLC

Accelerated Transformation Tip #2

2012-02-20T08:55:00.002-05:00

To get your overall protein intake up you should be having some source of protein at every feeding opportunity. Having protein at each feeding is going to do a couple of things:

Provide a bit of a boost to your metabolism. The thermic effect of protein is higher than that of fat or carbohydrates. In simple terms, it takes more energy to digest protein than fat or carbs.
Improve lean muscle mass and help with recovery from workouts. The rate of protein turnover will be sped up especially if a post-workout shake is consumed.
Reduce body fat. Isn't this really what every one is after? Consuming protein at every meal is usually going to displace those fat storing carbs.
Help control blood sugar and increase satiety, which will in turn leave you feeling full longer and reduce hunger

So where are you going to get your protein from? Here is a list of your best sources:

Grass fed beef or bison or non-grass fed lean, red meats
Chicken or turkey breast
Ground chicken or turkey breast
Organic omega-3, cage-free eggs or organic egg whites
Fish such as wild salmon, shellfish (shrimp, scallops, lobster), tilapia and canned salmon
Greek yogurt
Low-fat cottage cheese
Turkey or beef jerky
Whey or casein protein powder

Exercise of the Week: TRX Rip Trainer Reverse Lunge

2012-02-14T20:30:00.002-05:00

I just picked up the TRX Rip trainer last week and have just begun fooling around it. One of the first exercises I've done is using it with a reverse lunge pattern to get some core stability work in. Where's the core stability component? By resisting the rotational pull of the Rip Trainer as you perform the lunge pattern you're getting some anti-rotation work in. Take a look.

Stay tuned for some more RIP Trainer exercises.

Accelerated Transformation Tip #1

2012-02-12T11:46:00.003-05:00

“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”. Results based nutrition starts with good preparation and good preparation starts with your weekly grocery shopping. Here are some suggestions to how you should be navigating the grocery store and what you should be loading up your shopping cart with:

· Most of your items should be found on the perimeter of the store. This is where you will usually find produce, dairy and meat products. Processed foods are usually going to be found in the center aisles, with the exception of a few miscellaneous items.

· Produce. Load up on leafy and green vegetables and brightly colored fruits and vegetables. Some examples are: spinach, broccoli, kale, tomatoes, bell peppers, berries, apples and pears.

· Proteins. High quality lean proteins are essential for fat loss. Proteins to include in your shopping cart are: chicken breasts, ground turkey, lean beef, ground beef, bison, wild fish, cage-free eggs, egg whites and Greek yogurt.

· Navigate the aisles for flavor. To add some flavor to your meals look for sea salt, black pepper, Italian seasoning, cinnamon, crushed garlic, ginger, hot sauces, jarred salsa and vinegars for salads and vegetables. Go with cooking oils such as coconut oil and olive oil.

· Allowable aisle items. There are a few packaged items that will help expand your meal options a bit more. These include: beans, canned pumpkin, jarred tomato sauce, canned tuna and salmon, whole or steel-cut oats, raw nuts, nut butters, coconut milk and unsweetened almond milk.

Last stop: the frozen section. Frozen veggies are a good option when you run out of fresh produce. Frozen fruits and berries can be used for shakes. Sprouted grain products, the preferred type of grain, are usually found in the frozen section.

Exercise of the Week: Single Arm Cable Chest Press

2012-02-08T20:24:00.004-05:00

Some would regard this as an upper body exercise. I look at this exercise more as a core stability exercise. Proper execution of will invole resisting extension and rotation of the lumbar spine as the loaded arm returns to the starting position.

For all the meatheads looking for a chest pump while blowing through a set of partial reps with too much weight...go back to the Nautilus machine.

Exercise of the Week: Amped Warm Up

2012-01-30T21:16:00.003-05:00

Here's a total body dynamic warm up borrowed from Jim Smith's and Joe DeFranco's great DVD, Amped.

8 Push ups

8 Striders

8 Striders w/reach

8 Glute bridges

8 Glute bridge w/reach

It will take take you all of 3-4 minutes.

Accelerated Fitness Coaching Tip: Neutral Grip Pressing

2012-01-26T20:35:00.002-05:00

Exercise of the Week: 3 Point Extension / Rotation

2012-01-23T20:04:00.003-05:00

Another thoracic mobility exercise. This one incorporates some shoulder stability on the arm that you're posted up on.

Exercise of the Week: Yoga Plex

2012-01-16T20:22:00.003-05:00

This a great exercise that I've seen done by a number of different strength coaches and trainers. It's a great bang for your buck exercise that could be worked into your warm up. You're getting in some hip mobility, some shoulder mobility and some thoracic mobility. It's basically a few movements thrown together: push up, downward dog, striders and thoracic rotation.

Exercise of the Week: Valslide Leg Curl w/Cable Resistance

2012-01-08T21:00:00.003-05:00

When I was first introduced to the Valslide leg curl a few years back I loved the exercise but the question I had was how to progress the exercise. I just didn't want to keep adding reops just to make it harder. It didn't take me long to figure out different progressions whether it was using a band for resistance, using weight plates for resistance or going to single leg versions.

Hereis another a version I just started using, the cable resisted version. All you need a is a low pulley or two. Then strap in to a couple of ankle straps, place your feet on a couple Valslides and go to work.

Exercise of the Week: Supine Face Pull

2012-01-03T21:06:00.003-05:00

Please excuse the attention seeking black lab that makes an appearance at about the 20 second mark of the video.

Exercise of the Week: TRX Modified Single Leg Burpee

2011-12-26T21:08:00.005-05:00

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...

2011-12-26T14:42:00.007-05:00

....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

2011-12-18T20:34:00.005-05:00

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

2011-12-12T19:29:00.000-05:00

Exercise of the Week: TRX Body Saw / Push Up

2011-12-06T20:55:00.002-05:00

Accelerated Fitness Coaching Tip: Knees Out

2011-12-01T20:40:00.000-05:00

Exercise of the Week: Band Resisted Single Leg Deadlift

2011-11-28T20:30:00.001-05:00

Exercise of the Week: Inverted Rope Climb

2011-11-21T20:37:00.003-05:00

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

2011-11-15T21:24:00.006-05:00

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

2011-11-09T15:41:00.001-05:00

Exercise of the Week: Show and Go Workout

2011-11-07T21:05:00.002-05:00

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

2011-11-02T17:26:00.004-04:00

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

2011-10-31T20:47:00.003-04:00

Exercise of the Week: Alternating Standing Cable Row

2011-10-24T21:07:00.004-04:00

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

2011-10-17T21:54:00.001-04:00

Some of My Favorites

2011-10-12T20:40:00.013-04:00

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

2011-10-10T21:31:00.001-04:00

Exercise of the Week: Jungle Gym Pull Up

2011-10-02T20:41:00.006-04:00

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

2011-09-25T20:22:00.005-04:00

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

2011-09-20T09:55:00.004-04:00

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

2011-09-18T20:24:00.003-04:00

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

2011-09-12T14:10:00.002-04:00

Getting Your Hip Hinge On

2011-09-08T21:54:00.000-04:00

Warming up....Effectively

2011-08-31T21:03:00.003-04:00

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:

Ankle mobility

Hip Mobility

Hip Stability

Thoracic Mobility

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

2011-08-28T20:00:00.002-04:00

Random Thoughts...

2011-08-22T15:18:00.014-04:00

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

2011-08-21T17:10:00.004-04:00

Exercise of the Week: Backwards Prowler Drag to Prowler Push

2011-08-14T18:12:00.007-04:00

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

2011-08-10T17:06:00.006-04:00

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

2011-08-07T19:57:00.003-04:00

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

2011-08-04T20:06:00.000-04:00

Exercise of the Week: Alternating Scapular Wall Slide

2011-07-31T20:25:00.005-04:00

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....

2011-07-26T10:41:00.007-04:00

....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.

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.
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.
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.
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.
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

2011-07-25T21:23:00.002-04:00

Exercise of the Week: Plank Triceps Extension

2011-07-18T21:03:00.001-04:00

Damage Control

2011-07-12T11:45:00.015-04:00

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:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

2011-07-11T16:06:00.004-04:00

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

2011-07-10T18:02:00.008-04:00

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

2011-06-27T12:56:00.011-04:00

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

2011-06-26T19:15:00.006-04:00

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

2011-06-21T15:02:00.003-04:00

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

2011-06-19T20:39:00.005-04:00

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

2011-06-12T20:36:00.002-04:00

How Did She Do It?

2011-06-08T10:31:00.007-04:00

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

2011-06-06T16:25:00.003-04:00

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

2011-06-02T11:25:00.007-04:00

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

2011-05-23T19:21:00.006-04:00

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

2011-05-22T20:50:00.003-04:00

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

2011-05-16T20:34:00.005-04:00

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

2011-05-15T20:46:00.002-04:00

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".

Exercise of the Week: Prowler Chest Press

2011-05-08T19:53:00.004-04:00

Just another use for the Prowler in addition to pushes and drags. This is an exercise that can be used on an active recovery day, as a high rep finisher at the end of a workout or part of a medley of exercises.

Nutrition Tip of the Week: Post-Workout Nutrition

2011-05-04T16:08:00.004-04:00

The most important time of the day to get your nutrition right may be during the post-workout period. Let’s think about it. You’ve just put yourself through a fairly intense workout. Energy stores are down. Cortisol levels are up. Protein breakdown is occurring. To counter these side effects from your workout you want to provide yourself with some nutrition that will: bring cortisol levels down, bring insulin levels up, increase protein synthesis, replace depleted energy stores, enhance recovery and preserve lean muscles mass. All of this can be accomplished through a post-workout shake consisting of protein and carbohydrates. Yes, I said carbohydrates. This is the time of the day where you may be the most insulin sensitive meaning that the carbs ingested are going to be directed to skeletal muscle tissue.

The preferred type of post-workout nutrition is in liquid form since liquids are more easily absorbed than whole foods. The quicker the nutrients are absorbed post-workout, the better. In regards to quicker absorption rates, you may also want to go with whey protein since this a faster digesting protein than other proteins. Again, the sooner the better in regards to post-workout nutrition.

Another benefit to a potsworkout shake is that it can bring up your daily overall protein intake for those who are having a difficult time doing so. Remember, a healthy, active individual should be aiming for around 0.8-1.0g of protein per pound of bodyweight.

Exercise of the Week: 20/10 Battling Rope Intervals

2011-05-02T20:56:00.004-04:00

Here is some upper body conditioning you could do with the Battling Ropes:

20sec work, 10 sec rest. Repeat for 8 rounds. Rest for 2min. Repeat for another 8 rounds

You could use any patterns you want. In the following video I use four different patterns: in/outs, circles, alternating waves and slams.

Nutrition Tip of the Week: Some Worthwhile Supplements

2011-04-28T14:36:00.003-04:00

Before considering any supplement, take a look at your overall nutrition. If you are guilty of such things as skipping breakfast, not ingesting protein at each feeding or routinely passing on fruits and vegetables, supplementation may not be the answer to your nutrition issues. Aim to improve your nutrition before you search out for supplements. With that being said, people who are pretty good with their nutrition and are active on a regular basis may be lacking essential macro- and micro-nutrients. Or maybe they want to accelerate their fat loss, enhance recovery or bolster their overall health. In these cases you may want to consider one or more of the following supplements:

Fish Oil: can help with cardiovascular health, joint health, cognitive function and fat loss.
Protein Supplement: can help bring up your overall protein intake, which should be around 1g/lb of body weight for an active individual. Will also help speed up recovery.
Multivitamin: can help bring up micro-nutrient deficiencies for optimal overall health.
Greens Supplement: provides antioxidant support especially when regular fruit and vegetable intake is not optimal.
Green Tea Extract: provides anti-oxidants along with the benefit of stimulating your metabolism.

To pick up one or more of these supplements check out Prograde.com.

Exercise of the Week: Side Plank w/Low Pulley Row

2011-04-25T20:26:00.003-04:00

My Top Five....

2011-04-21T12:13:00.005-04:00

....coaching cues that I repeat on a daily basis.

"Butt back". Too many people break at the knees first when attempting to squat. When squatting you have to get your butt back in order to get those glutes working to generate any amount of decent strength. That and pushing your butt back is going to take some stress off your knees. If you're having a hard time with this concept go to box squats where you're actually trying to sit back on the box.
"Shoulders back". The effectiveness of any pulling exercise is going to rely on your ability to bring your shoulders back as you bring your arms closer to your torso. From a posture standpoint your shoulders should sit back. When doing any rowing exercises think about driving your blades together. When doing any vertical pulling exercises think about bringing your shoulders down towards your back pockets...if you have back pockets in your shorts or sweats.
"Get tall". This phrase is probably the most repeated one throughout the day. This one doesn't even apply to any specific exercises but is more of just self awareness. Getting tall puts your spine in the alginment it wants to be in. Plus it looks a hell of a lot better and exudes confidence. I hear people say, "Strong is sexy". I might start using "Tall is sexy".
"Glutes tight". Everyone has glutes, but you would never know it by the way people do not use them. Again, this is another cue that is just going to make an exercise more effective. If you're in a half kneeling position tightening up your glutes is going to increase your stabilization. If you're doing a deadlift or kettlebell swing, tightening up the glutes is going to help you finish off the lift. Being a tight ass in some parts of your life isn't such a bad thing.
"That ain't it". This usually occurs after I've told someone what exercise they are going to do, show them that same exercise and then I have them go do it. The problem is that when they go do it, it looks nothing like anything the exercise they are supposed to be doing. A split squat turns into a standing single leg hamstring curl with an overhead press. That's when I know someone is not really tuned in and instead thinking of who is about to get voted off of Idol that night. So sorry to see you go, Pia.

Nutrition Tip of the Week: Cut Back on Calorie Containing Beverages

2011-04-19T17:47:00.005-04:00

With fat loss in mind, all of your fluid intake should come from non-calorie containing beverages such as water and green tea. Eliminate the fruit juices, alcoholic drinks and sodas. In the average American diet beverage consumption accounts for about 22% of daily calorie intake with most of that 22% coming from added sugars. Some popular beverages and their calorie and sugar content are:

• Minute Maid Apple Juice (8oz.): 118 calories, 26g of sugar
• Fresh orange juice (8oz.): 107 calories, 20g of sugar
• 20oz. bottle of Coke: 239 calories, 66g of sugar• 1 Budweiser: 145 calories
• 1 glass of red wine: 127 calories• 1 12oz. margarita: 556 calories, 16g of sugar

Aim for about eight cups of water a day as well as 1-2 cups of green tea a day. In addition to green tea’s anti-oxidant benefits it has been shown to have a positive effect your body’s metabolism.

Exercise of the Week: Goblet Single Leg Deadlift

2011-04-17T17:35:00.003-04:00

The Wrap

2011-04-16T18:51:00.003-04:00

Got to have some fun with the girls on The Wrap Yesterday. You can check out the show here: The Wrap: Episode 15

Nutrition Tip of the Week: Time up Your Carbs

2011-04-13T07:55:00.003-04:00

When it comes to fat loss, your carbohydrate intake must be earned unless those carbohydrates are coming from fruits and veggies. In other words you have to exercise if you want those other carbohydrates and you have to do two things:

1) Focus on whole grain, unprocessed carbohydrates.

2) Save those carbohydrates for within 1-2 hours after exercise.

When it does come time for you to ingest those carbohydrates try to minimize your intake of carbohydrates sources such as sports drinks, soda, cereals, muffins and bagels. Basically all the junk. Some preferred sources of carbohydrates outside of fruits and vegetables are:

Beans/legumes
Sweet potatoes
Steel cut or whole rolled oats
Oat bran
Sprouted grain breads, English muffins or tortilla’s
Quinoa

Exercise of the Week: Staggered Push Up Walks w/Val Slides

2011-04-10T19:58:00.006-04:00

Here's another hand walking variation that I finished off a workout with the other day.

Nutrition Tip of the Week: Eat Healthy Fats on a Daily Basis

2011-04-07T18:33:00.003-04:00

Do not fear fat. About 30% of your daily caloric intake should come from fat with an equal balance of saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. To achieve this balance focus on adding healthy monounsaturated fats (extra virgin olive oil, nuts, avocados) and polyunsaturated fats (nuts, some vegetable oils, fish) to your daily food intake. Your saturated fats will come from animal proteins, eggs and dairy.

To make sure you’re meeting your suggested amount of healthy fats a fish oil supplement is suggested. The suggested amount to supplement with is about 2-3 grams per day. For those looking to accelerated their fat loss, 5-6 grams of a high quality fish oil is suggested on a daily basis. Taking a fish oil capsule with each each meal will get you to those dosages.

Exercise of the Week: Val Slide Alligator Walks

2011-04-03T18:14:00.005-04:00

I saw this Exercise of the Week done by strength coach Jason Ferruggia and just saw it recently performed by strength coach Tony Gentilcore. It's a great core stability exercise, a great shoulder stability exercise and a great exercise to finish off your workout with. A couple of different ways to use it as part of your program:

You can go for a set distance forward as one set.

You can go for a set distance forward and back, trying to make a couple trips.

You can go for time in one direction or both directions

You can go for reps. Take 3-4 steps forward with each hand and then reverse direction for 3-4 steps. Continue back and forth.

If you don't have a pair of Valslides around, no big deal. Just place your feet on anything that would slide along the floor.

Random Thoughts...

2011-04-02T10:14:00.005-04:00

I've seen quite a few workouts lately that call for 50 chin ups? Really? 50 chin ups? I know a handful of people who can do five good chin ups. I would like to know how many chin ups the people writing up these workouts can actually do. Maybe it's not so unrealistic if you have 30 minutes to put aside to knock out 50 chin ups. Then I saw another workout yesterday that called for fifteen 400-meter runs...hard. That's a world class 800-meter runner workout. Not for someone who's trying to get ready for a 5k or lose 5-10 pounds.
Sometimes I think it would be less painful to drop a 100lb dumbbell on my foot then to hear people ask me to do "abs" or to do some crunches "to get rid of this" while pointing at their midsection. Last week, right after I had someone do a set of Valslide Body Saws, which comes as close to a "core" exercise as possible, they asked me, "Can we do some abs?". Where's that dumbbell? Make it 120lbs.
I think a good majority of the time it's not the training or nutrition program to blame for not getting results. It's the adherence to the program that is the problem. When a program calls for four sets of reverse lunges with 8 reps in each set, 3 sets of 15 reps of machine leg curls is not the same thing. Or when a nutrition program calls for eating breakfast each day, eating breakfast only three days of the week is not the same thing. Stop blaming the programs and start blaming yourself. If you really want to achieve success you're going to have to comply, most of the time. A little cheat here and there is fine, but the less and less you start complyng the less and less your chances of success are.
In regards to programs, one thing I never do is write up my own program. If I did it would consist of things I like to do or things I'm pretty good at and long rest periods between exercises. It probably wouldn't consist of things that I need to work on, set/rep schemes that I hate or some type of interval training that is going to crush me. So as a trainer if I am not writing up my own program, why is someone who doesn't have a good grasp on program design writing up his or her own programs? Yes, I'm speaking to you Bobby Bench Press.
One simple quick fix to getting leaner? Give up the booze. You want a beer or a glass of wine here and there. Fine. But if you're really looking to shed that body fat the alcohol has got to go. A couple things happen with frequent alcohol consumption. One, it's just empty calories. Two, when you're out crushing beers the fat burning process is turned down. Your body will metabolize those frosty brews before it metabolizes anything else. Third, if you are Harry Hangover chronic alcohol consumption is going to suppress your testosterone levels. I'm not saying to give it up forever. But try giving it up for a month and see what happens.
Strength coach Dan John has an approach on fat loss that I particularly like. He suggests attacking it for 28 days. Go all out. Get strict for 28 days. Step your training up. Cut all the crap out of your diet. Dial in for 28 days. Hell, it's only a month. Once that 28 days is up, just go back to some type of maintenance plan.
I don't care how much you sweat, how sore you are, how winded you are after a workout or how many calories you burned. None of these three things will necessarily result in getting stronger, getting leaner or improving performance. The funny thing is that the people who desire to sweat or be sore are usually the ones who are not getting anywhere with their workouts. It's easy to sweat or get so sore that it's painful to sit on the john. Do jumping jacks in a sauna for 5 minutes or jump off a 20 foot roof a couple of times. Show me you can go from doing zero to a couple chin ups. Now I'm impressed and you're probably leaner and stronger.
Remember, we're hosting Warrior Workouts every Sunday @10am.

Oh yeah, one final thought. The Red Sox are what they are: not very good.

Nutrition Tip of the Week: More Fruits and Vegetables

2011-04-01T09:07:00.004-04:00

Just like your mother said, "Eat your vegetables". And you can throw in some fruit to. Seems like a pretty basic tip, but I know few people who actually get in the suggested amount of 7-10 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Actually I know few people who get in 3-5 servings a day. 7-1o servings may sound like a lot, but it really is not if you're eating every 2-4 hours and include 1-2 fruit or vegetable sources each time.

So what are the benefits of all this fruit and vegetable consumption? One they are an excellent source of all those vitamins and minerals that some of us tend to be deficient in. Two, they help balance your blood pH. Proteins and grains tend to be acidic whereas fruits and vegetables are more alkaline. Being in an acidic state can mean the loss of bone strength and muscle mass which can further compromise your fat loss or weight loss goals.

So do what your mother told you....and probably continues to tell you.

Exercise of the Week: Prowler Shuttle

2011-03-27T16:21:00.011-04:00

We have a new toy to play with at the studio, the Prowler. I decided to test it out the other day for my conditioning work with some Prowler Shuttles. About 15 yards in one direction (since that's all we have for a straight away) with the high handles. 15 yards back with the low handles. Trying to get as many back and forth runs in one minute as possible. Rest for two minutes and repeat.

Once the weather turns this thing is getting outdoors for some longer runs.

Nutrition Tip of the Week: Protein at Each Meal

2011-03-26T10:23:00.003-04:00

Ok. Hopefully I have you eating breakfast and taking something in every 2-4 hours. Now, I'll get into what you should be including with each breakfast or each meal. Remember, they are not meals. They are feedings. Times for fuel.

Every time you eat you should be having some source of protein. It amazes me when I look over a client's food log and see the minuscule amounts of protein they are getting in over the course of the day. The suggested intake of protein for an active individual is one gram of protein per pound of body weight. I know few people who are getting anywhere near this suggested amount. I usually do not see intakes of over 100 grams a day and I don't know any clients who weight less than 100 pounds.

So to get your protein intake up, again, you should be having some source of protein at every feeding opportunity. Besides getting your overall protein intake up, having protein at each feeding is going to do a couple other things:

Provide a bit of a boost to your metabolism. The thermic effect of protein is higher than that of fat or carbohydrates. In simple terms, it takes more energy to digest protein than fat or carbs.
Improve lean muscle mass and help with recovery from workouts. The rate of protein turnover will be sped up especially if a post-workout shake is consumed.
Reduce body fat. Isn't this really what every one is after? Consuming protein at every meal is usually going to displace those fat storing carbs.

The next thing is finding your sources of protein. Here are some ideas:

Lean meats such as ground beef or turkey, chicken, bison, red meats (sirloin, round, tenderloin)
Fish such as salmon or tuna
Eggs
Low-fat dairy (cottage cheese, Greek Yogurt)
Whey or casein protein supplement

Next week, some more ideas at what to include with your protein.

Exercise of the Week: Val Slide Hip Flexion / Push Up

2011-03-21T20:35:00.004-04:00

Another push up variation. The key here is to resist flexion of the lumbar spine as you bring the knee towards the chest. Focus on hip flexion, not lumbar flexion.

Nutrition Tip of the Week: Eat Every 2-4 Hours

2011-03-17T21:02:00.004-04:00

Breakfast Ideas

2011-03-15T15:00:00.004-04:00

Last week in a video I mentioned eating a quality breakfast should be the first step towards following a good nutritional plan. If time is an issue for you, which is probably the number one excuse for passing on breakfast, here are some pretty simple breakfast's that can be put together.

Breakfast Ideas

Greek Yogurt w/cinnamon and berries: Mix 1 cup low-fat Greek yogurt with 1 tsp cinnamon and ½ cup blueberries

Quick Protein Oatmeal: Stir ½ scoop whey protein powder into ½ cup cooked oats. Add in any of the following: ¼ cup berries, 1 tbsp natural peanut or almond butter, 1 tsp cinnamon.

On the Run: 2 boiled eggs and ½ cup blueberries

Mixed Berry Shake: Combine ½ cup frozen strawberries, ½ cup frozen blackberries, ½ cup frozen blueberries, ½ cup nonfat plain yogurt, 1 scoop whey protein, 1 tbsp honey, and 1 cup of ice in a blender. Blend until smooth. You may have to add a little water, doing so 1 tbsp at a time. Stevia may be added for additional sweetness.

Breakfast Replacement Shake: Combine ½ cup frozen berries, 1 tbsp natural peanut butter or 1 tbsp coconut oil, 2 tbsp whole oats, 1 cup water or unsweetened almond milk, 1 scoop whey protein in a blender. Blend until smooth.

Exercise of the Week: Half Kneeling Around the World Slam

2011-03-14T20:35:00.005-04:00

The one thing missing from our facility is a concrete wall to do some rotational medicine ball throws. Yes, I can do some partner throws with clients, but once the weight of the ball and the power of the throws goes up so do the chances of jammed fingers, broken windows and innocent bystanders getting plunked.

So that leaves me to doing slams and slam variations for most of the medicine ball power training. Here's one I particularly like:

After working on this for a couple of weeks I would progress this up to a standing position and then maybe to a split stance or single leg position.

Nutrition Tip of the Week: Eat Breakfast

2011-03-11T16:19:00.003-05:00

Got Pain?

2011-03-09T14:32:00.004-05:00

Accelerated Fitness will be offering a rehab based class on Saturdays @12:30pm. This class, run by Marco Sanchez, will show you the best exercises to help reverse and prevent aches and pains in the most common joints. Classes start soon, so sign up now!

Marco is a Strength & Conditioning Specialist experienced in rehab protocols for all major joints having worked with many college and professional athletes from the NHL, NFL and MLB.

Exercise of the Week: Single Leg Squat/Deadlift

2011-03-07T13:35:00.004-05:00

I'm using the Airex pad as a reference point by trying to get the unsupported knee to touch, not crash into, the pad each time. If you can not get that low initially start off with a higher contact point. Maybe a couple Airex pads or a couple aerobics steps.

Accelerated Fitness Transformation Challenge

2011-03-03T15:44:00.002-05:00

The challenge has been issued.

Accelerated Fitness will be starting it's first transformation challenge on March 14. Yes, it is a contest and there will be prizes awarded. But it's not just about a contest. It's not about what Charlie Sheen would call "Winning". It's about the challenge that you are about to impose on yourself. Can you dial in your nutrition and training for twelve weeks? Can you find the time to get that extra workout in over the course of the week? Do you have the willpower to say, "No, bread please".? It's time to stop telling yourself "I can't" or "I don't want to". It's time for some accountability.

Transformation Challenge Guidelines

•The challenge is open to everyone. You do not need to be a client of Accelerated Fitness in order to participate. If you know someone who might be interested please pass this information along. Long distance contetstants are welcome to join.
•There is no cost to participate. Maybe the cost of some mental anguish from time to time.
•The contest will run from March 14 to June 12. Please get me your before pictures by March 14. Yes, before and after pictures are involved. If you need help with your before and after pictures we can do them here at the facility. Also, if you would like to do body composition measurements we can take those at the facility also. Body composition measurements are not a requirement, but nice to have.
•There will be one judge, yours truly. First and second place prizes will be based on who has made the biggest change with their before and after pics. Oh yeah, there is a short essay required before the end of the challenge about what you have learned about yourself over the course of the 12 weeks. Get your pencils ready.
•One other requirement. Let's have some fun with this thing. If you're going to complain or be miserable for twelve weeks, I reserve the right to boot your *ss out.

If you have any questions please send an email to rich@acceleratedfts.com or call (781)538-6664.

Exercise of the Week: Val Slide Bodysaw / Plank Walk Up Combo

2011-02-27T19:19:00.004-05:00

I'm not reinventing the wheel here. In fact, I'm sure there are plenty of other strength coaches or trainers who already came up with this exercise. I'm just taking two of my favorite core stability exercises, the Valslide Bodysaw and the plank walk up, and putting the two together.

Random Thoughts

2011-02-24T19:58:00.008-05:00

Your carbs should be earned. Days that you have performed a workout you can be a bit more lenient with your carbs. This doesn't mean woofing done a bag of chips or guzzling down a liter of soda. More fruits. Maybe some grains. Some extra carbs in your post-workout shake such as some honey or rolled oats. Good carbs from good sources. Days when you're not getting a workout in, cut back on your carb intake. Try to limit it to mostly fruits or vegetables. Or maybe you can get away with some carbs in the morning when you to tend to be a a bit more insulin sensitive.

I love talking about carbs. Here's a tip I picked up from the book, Ultimate You. To decide if a packaged food has too many carbs for you go to the label. Add up the grams of fiber and protein. Subtract that number from the grams of carbs. If that number is greater than 10, that food is too high in carbs. If that number is between 5 and 10, that food is acceptable. If that number is below 5, good choice.

"If you fail to plan, you plan to fail". Are you just doing workouts or are you on a program? Do you have the time blocked out over the course of the week to execute your program? Do you have the necessary foods to put good meals together? Do you know what your next meal is going to be? Just some things to think about if you want to get to your goals.

I'm sometimes amazed at the little things people will not do to help themselves when it comes to injuries or injury prevention. Most of the injuries they are dealing with are of the overuse variety which could probably be aided by some foam rolling and stretching. Or increased water intake. Or taking some fish oil. Or getting some decent sneakers or shoes on your feet. Instead they constantly hurt and complain about being constantly hurt. I'll stop ranting there.

I just finished finished up Eric Cressey's Show and Go program which is a 12 week program I'd recommend for anyone, male or female. Great programming. Great variety. It was probably the strongest I've gotten in the last 10 years and without the motivation or help from a training partner. Trying to do one rep maxes in the bench press is not exactly a good idea. But I also set new PR's with my weighted chin ups (2 reps w/100lbs of added resistance) and a new one rep max in the front squat (305). I attempted 315, but that didn't go so well. Had to dump it in the bottom position.

Now it's on to another training program, the Lean Hybrid Muscle Program. I'm using this to get ready for a couple of these crazy obstacle type of races that have suddenly become popular such as the Tough Mudder, Warrior Dash or Spartan Race. Also doing it to have a bit more fun with my training. Sometimes I think we lose sight of that. Training is not always going to be fun, but it should be fun from time to time. We deal with too many stresses to not have fun when you step into the gym. And as we get older we tend to do less things that are fun from a physical standpoint. Get some fun back into your training from time to time. Just do not take that to mean doing Crossfit or some other crazy s**** that just doesn't make any sense. Actually Crossfit and crazy s*** are the same thing, huh?

Speaking of training, I love reading and watching all these stories about these NFL prospects getting ready for the NFL combine. I love the numbers: the 40 yard times, the reps is in the bench press, the vertical jump heights. I love watching the ways these guys get ready for these tests. Maybe I'll try getting for the combine next, but I think my days of running sub-5.0 second forty's were over about ten years ago.

Coming back from the Functional Movement Screen seminar got me to realizing how crappy most people move and even how crappy I move. I've been fortunate enough to stay clear of injury for the last 4-5 years despite training pretty hard, but one day it might catch up to me. It's not only from an injury perspective where it's a problem but also from an efficiency perspective. If I can move better, movements become more efficient. Moving with more efficienctly will hopefully lead to more strength, speed and power. Now if I could move well enough to make my golf swing become really efficient, I will kneel down and pray to the FMS gods.

This post is aimed at parents of kids who are playing hockey, but I think it applies to most sports. Take a look here.

Going to be running our first body transformation challenge. The challenge is going to start on March 14. Who's in? Come on get signed up. Bloat yourself up for the next couple of weeks, stop training, let your posture go to hell, get your before photos taken and then game on.

Can someone tell me why every Crossfit workout is named after a chick? And then explain to me the purpose of a kipping pull up. To me it just looks like a pull up gone bad. Why not take the time to develop the strength to do a good set of chin ups or pull ups?

Excuse me for the f bombs in that video.

Alright, enough beating up on Crossfit...for now.

Exercise of the Week: Sled Row / Sled Push Combo

2011-02-20T14:14:00.004-05:00

For the sake of variety and to challenge myself a bit, here's a finisher I performed after this morning's lower body workout:

Three rounds of three times down and back with about three minutes of rest between each round. After one case of cardiac arrest it was time for a five egg omelet and some chicken sausage.

Twelve Years, Lots of Changes

2011-02-17T20:11:00.010-05:00

It's been about twelve years since I broke into the training field. Since my first training gig as a part-time trainer at a commercial gym a lot has changed in the field of strength and conditioning, whether it's the way I train myself or the way I train my clients. I look back at some of the stuff I did and ask "What the hell was I thinking?". Sometimes I don't think I was. I was just going along with any "advice" from Muscle and Fitness. Or enjoying a few cold ones with the buddies on a Thursday night had prevented me from doing any thinking on a Friday morning. Aw...the Purple Shamrock. Those were the days.

Lets take a look back at different spots along my training history, without tying in any stories of those late nights, bad financial mistakes or girlfriends gone bad.

1999 - My first training gig at a commercial gym. I had a degree in Sports Biology, was in shape and read Mens Health and Muscle & Fitness. Maybe some Shape Magazine now and then. I thought I knew how to train. Armed with a clipboard and a room packed full of machines I went to work, running clients through every damn machine. Everyone did sets of anywhere from 12-15 reps. For ab work (the word core had not been used at the time) I had clients do every crunch imaginable in anywhere from the 25-50 rep range. All cardio was at least 30 minutes in duration. And carbs were in. Fat was out.

2001 - I broke out of that commercial gym and got my first job at a training studio. I had no idea these places even existed. About 1200 sq ft full of machines, dumbbells up to 50lbs and two flat benches. I went from being a crappy trainer to a less crappy trainer. I started to focus a little bit more on continuing ed, but really still didn't know a whole lot. Even without knowing a whole lot people wanted to train with me. I was doing anywhere from 38-46 sessions a week of one/one training, running myself into the ground while I was running clients into the ground. At the same time I was doing some long distance running, training for the marathon. I was thin, weak, and hurt getting out of bed every single day. And I was still thinking low fat was was the way to go, evidenced by my daily corns muffins or cinnamon raisins bagels (sometimes both) for breakfast.

2004 - I moved onto my next training studio. I started to get my training information from better sources and the light started to finally turn on in my head. I started to do just about everything opposite of what I had been doing for the previous five years. No more long, steady state cardio. Interval training was in. I cut back on the carbs. Very little bread and multiple chicken Caesar salads on a daily basis. No more putting the moms on the inner/outer thigh machines to tone up. More single leg work. More core work, a lot of which was done on the Swiss ball. More continuing education. Started attending more seminars and investing in books and videos. I finally realized, "Hey this is my career".

2007 - This is right around the time I started to become more aware of the business side of things as it related to personal training. Before whenever I went to to a training seminar it was all about training. More seminars started to include the business of training. So as I started to think more about the business side of things. I asked myself, "What the hell am I doing working for someone else?". I was usually the one who followed the company line. I put in a lot of hours. Always tried to please the bosses. Was always working to get better as a trainer. So why not log the hours and get better as a trainer but be my own boss? So in the spring of 2007 I took that leap. I knew it would be hard starting up on my own, but I didn't think it would be that hard. Again, it was more than just training clients whenever I could. I had to learn about putting up a website, about blogging, about marketing, about print materials. There was always something to do, but I was enjoying the process and the challenge. It took about 6-7 months to build up a pretty solid in-home training business that just consisted of one on one training. Oh, yeah. I did make the mistake of getting back into distance running. A friend talked me into running the marathon with him and after multiple calf pulls, a stress reaction and four of the hardest hours of my life on a miserable spring day, I gave up distance running.....for good.

2010 - Still doing the in-home thing and also sub-contracting out of one gym. Still doing mostly one/one training with some partner training sprinkled in from time to time. But in as as little as 2.5 years, the entire training landscape had changed when the economy started to go in the tank. Also 2.5 years of driving around in my SUV from house to house from 6am to 8pm was starting to wear on me. I can not remember how many stop lights I fell asleep at and even for me sports radio can get a bit old. I needed to do two things. One, was to try and the push the semi-private model a bit more. The semi-private way of training was the new wave of training. It made training more affordable and also has the Biggest Loser type of effect, minus Jillian Michaels and Bob What's His Face. Put people in a group setting and people are usually going to achieve higher levels of success. The other thing I needed to do was find a place to call home for my training because I was tired of living out of my car. After about five months of searching for a space, getting the space built out, getting it outfitted with equipment and having a few clients ready to make the switch, Accelerated Fitness opened it doors. Again, I thought I knew what I was getting myself into...wrong.

2011 - Here we are in 2011. Accelerated Fitness has been open for about eight months now. It's been a lot of work. It's been an even bigger challenge. Not all things have turned out like I thought they would. When the local newspaper hooks you in for for a series of advertisements and then you realize what the readership is of that newspaper...that's a bad idea. But every moment has been a learning moment, business wise and training wise. Clients are gravitating towards the semi-private training. Some clients still prefer the private training. I can say in the last six months I've never done more continuing education ever in that time frame. I became a certified TRX trainer, became a Level one Precision Nutrition Coach and was certified as a Functional Movement Screen specialist. Yeah, I need to learn more about business, but I also have to continue to get better as a trainer. And I still have not gone back to any distance running. Funny thing is that I'm only 2-3 pounds heavier than when I was running 30-40 miles a week. Better nutrition. Better training.

What will the rest of 2011 and beyond bring? I haven't the slightest clue to be honest. Just keep changing with the times. Continue to develop the business. Continue to work with clients. Figure out what works. Figure out what doesn't work. Just keep on keeping on.

Exercise of the Week: Feet Elevated Swiss Ball Push Up

2011-02-13T19:28:00.003-05:00

Doing the Little Things

2011-02-10T10:15:00.005-05:00

If we just did some these little things maybe we would move better, get stronger or have an easier time losing weight.

Eat breakfast. I've read some stuff lately that suggests eating breakfast does not help with weight loss. And the numbers in these studies that the authors provide prove their point. That's all well and fine. But from what I see, people who eat breakfast tend to be leaner. I'm not going to provide you with any research, because I do not have any that proves my point. I just know what I see from the people I train, the friends I have and the people I talk to. Those who eat breakfast are leaner.

Stretch. I love it when people debate about when to stretch, how long to stretch for and what type of stretching to do, when the fact is most people are not doing any type of stretching. Take 10-15 minutes out of your day to stretch if you want to move or feel better.

Stop using the same side. What side do you carry your gym bag on? What arm do you use to walk the dog? What side is the mouse on? Probably the same side all the time. And it's probably the same side of your neck or the same shoulder that is hurting all of the time. Switch it up. Is this the root of your neck and shoulder issues? Probably not. But it sure isn't helping

Get out of those heels. This is a classic. I'll listen to women complain about back or knee pain. I'll look down at their feet and they're wearing 2-3 inch heels that they barely could squeeze their feet into. So, I suggest it may be time to get out of those joint wreckers. "But I like to wear heels" is usually what I get back. Look good or feel good? Your choice ladies. Oh yeah, getting out of heels also means trashing your Nike Shox.

Sleep. If you want to feel well or train well, you have to sleep. Seven or eight hours of a sleep a night is what you should be getting in. And the sooner before midnight, the better. Every hour before midnight is equal to about two hours after midnight. And who needs late night TV anyway? Conan? Not funny. Leno? Not funny. Letterman? Funny from time to time, but not funny enough to keep me up late.

Eat some fruits and vegetables. Preferably more vegetables than fruits. But I know a lot of people are not even getting in at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day, so just eat one or the other whenever you can. I've never known anyone to be less healthy or get fat from eating too many fruits and vegetables, excluding chocolate covered strawberries.

Drink some water. Is there anything water is not good for? Probably not. I've even read that those who suffer from back pain could benefit from drinking more water. Could you drink too much water? Probably not, unless you have a long car ride planned. When drinking water becomes bad for you, let me know.

Stand Up. The biggest culprit of shoulder, neck and low back injuries? Sitting. Over the last twenty years or so we have some how ingrained sitting as a new movement pattern. We sit down at breakfast.... if we're eating breakfast. We sit in our cars or cramped train on the way to work. We go sit down behind a computer or desk for a couple hours. We go to lunch and sit down. We go back to our desk and sit down again. We get back in the car or cramped train again and do what? Sit down. Should I keep going? It's no wonder people are moving worse than ever. Take the time to get up from your desk, go for a walk for lunch or do whatever you can to get tall and get extended.

Get stronger. This tends to be what I always get back to when it comes to training or when talking to someone about starting up a new program. Your first priority should be to get stronger. Too many people are too weak. Too many people get hurt too often because they are too weak. Are you more likely to get hurt because you do not have enough cardio? Or are you more likely to get hurt because you have the strength of an eight year old girl? Or worse, can that eight year old girl can do more and better push ups than you?

Stop Drinking. You want to get leaner? Those beers are not helping. Hey, if you're happy with the shape you are in, keep doing do what you're doing. Drink all the Bud's and Guiness you want. But if you have your mind set on a desired body fat percentage those empty calories and workout wrecking hangovers from a few too many wobbly pops have got to go. It's called a beer belly for a reason.

Precision Nutrition Coaching

2011-02-07T19:56:00.003-05:00

Now that I am a Precision Nutrition Certified Level One Coach, we will be implementing the Precision Nutrition Coaching Program at Accelerated Fitness.

Precision Nutrition is a nutritional system created by Dr. John Berardi geared towards making you look fit, get and stay healthy and increase your performance. In my opinion, and I guess it's a biased opinion, this is the best approach to nutrition out there. Success with this system and it's guidelines is just about guaranteed.

The coaching program will start with an introduction to Precision Nutrition. As part of this introduction you will be asked to fill out a number of questionnaires such as:

PAR - Q
Medical History
Readiness for Change
Three Day Dietary Record

The questionnaires allow the coach to get an idea off your current dietary practices, whether it's no breakfast, Fruit Loops for breakfast or three eggs with turkey bacon. These questionnaires will also help in the goal setting process. From this point on, thirty minute bi-weekly meetings will be set up to discuss your dietary food log, take measurements, discuss suggested nutritional choices and re-analyze goals if need be . The duration of the introduction period is twelve weeks and costs $199.

Upon completion of the twelve week introduction period, you can continue on with the coaching program by signing up for the monthly coaching program. Again bi-weekly appointments will be organized to discuss the dietary food log, take measurements and receive continued support. As part of the monthly program more advanced nutritional and supplementation strategies will be discussed that were not discussed in the in the introduction. The cost of the monthly coaching is $49/month.

If you have any questions about the Precision Nutrition System please visit www.precisionnutrition.com or send an email to rich@acceleratedfts.com.

Exercise of the Week: Swiss Ball "Stir the Pot"

2011-02-06T13:43:00.003-05:00

This core exercise was popularized by low back specialist Dr. Stuart McGill. In order to perform the exercise:

Get into a plank position with your forearms resting on a Swiss Ball.
Maintaining this plank position, circle your forearms in one direction until they come back to center. Then circle your forearms in the other direction. Keep going until all reps are complete are the time is up.

You can perform this exercise for reps (doing 6-10 circles in each or direction) or go for a specific period of time (30-60seconds). To increase the difficulty of the exercise you can use a smaller ball, narrow your feet or elevate your feet.

Basic Fat Loss Programming: Part Four

2011-02-02T09:11:00.005-05:00

The last part of your fat loss program has to do with your conditioning. Some call it cardio. Some call it energy system training. I am going to refer to it as conditioning. The goal of the conditioning part of the program is to throw that final log on the fire that is your metabolism and accumulate a bit more blood lactate. And from a time perspective we are trying to create an aerobic effect while keeping efficiency within your program.

The conditioning work is going to take you no longer than 10-15 minutes. With the duration being only 10-15 minutes you are going to have to push the intensity to get the desired result. If at the 10 or 15 minute mark you are feeling pretty good, you have not pushed hard enough. Some may get to the 6-8 minute mark and can not go any further. That's fine.

The conditioning routines you can include are endless. You can use body weight circuits. You can use cardiovascular equipment. You can use kettlebells or dumbbells. You can combine all those things. You can go for time. You can for reps. I just want you working hard.

I will give you two routines that I frequently use with my clients. One which is based on time, the other which is based on sets and reps.

Time Based

Using the elliptical, Airdyne, jump rope or even using a body weight exercise or two, such as burpees or jumping jacks, you're are going to work for a designated period of time and then recover for for a designated period of time. For example:

Week One: 15s work/45s recovery repeated 6x
Week Two: 15s work/45s recovery repeated 8x
Week Three: 15s work/45s recovery repeated 10x
Week Four: 15s work/45s recovery repeated 12x

Then at the fifth week you are going to go to 20s work/40s recovery intervals repeated six times. Use that work to rest period for four weeks adding two rounds each week. At week nine, go to 30s work/30s recovery intervals repeated six times. Use that 30/30 ratio for four weeks adding two rounds every week.

At the 12th week you should be doing 30s work with 30s of recovery for 12 rounds. Simple, yet effective.

Rep Based

This rep based conditioning work will be based on body weight exercises. The exercises will be: reverse lunges, T push ups, jump squats, Inverted rows and burpees. Perform each exercise back to back with no rest in between. After the set is complete you can catch your breath for the suggested rest period that is allowed. The sets, reps and rest are:

Week One: 3 rounds, 6 reps of each exercise, 2 minute rest
Week Two: 4 rounds, 6 reps, 2 minute rest
Week Three: 3 rounds, 8 reps, 2 minute rest
Week Four: 4 rounds, 8 reps, 2 minute rest
Week Five: 3 rounds, 10 reps, 90sec rest
Week Six: 4 rounds, 10 reps, 90sec rest
Week Seven: 3 rounds, 12 reps, 90sec rest
Week Eight: 4 rounds, 12 reps, 90 sec rest
Week Nine: 3 rounds, 12 reps, 75sec rest
Week Ten: 4 rounds 12 reps, 75sec rest
Week Eleven: 3 rounds 12 reps, 60sec rest
Week Twelve: 4 rounds, 12 reps, 60sec rest

Each week the amount of rounds, reps or rest is beating manipulated to progressively make each conditioning routine harder. You will do more total work or more work in a shorter period of time.

As much as I love conditioning work for it's efficiency and it's effect on your metabolism, you have to be careful about overusing this type of work. Do this after every strength training session and you will never recover for your next strength session. The strength is where the majority of focus should be and where you are going to get most of your results from. I do not want you going into a strength session feeling beat up or not recovered. For those reasons I would suggest doing conditioning work a maximum of only 2-3 times per week, not on back to back days and not the day before your next strength session.

For some other ideas on some conditioning work I would suggest you check out Cardio Strength by Robert Dos Remedios. He gives you a ton of effective options to use and lays it all out for you for the price of about $12-15.

So that's it. I've given you some ideas, set up a template for you and given you some options for each situation. The programming is actually the easy part. The hard part is getting your butt in the gym and taking it to the next level. It doesn't matter what program you are on if your are not going to work hard. Take a good program, exert little effort and the results will be minimal. Take a crappy program, exert a ton of effort and you are going to get results. Take a good program, exert a ton of effort and you are going to get your best results.

Good luck.

Exercise of the Week: Front Foot Elevated Bulgarian Squat

2011-01-31T20:59:00.006-05:00

Two things about this week's exercise:

It could go by many different names: Bulgarian Squat From a Deficit, Rear Foot Elevated Split Squat From a Deficit, Front Foot Elevated RFESS or whatever else you want to call it.
If you hate Rear Foot Elevated Split Squats, you're really going to hate this version. Hate is good in this case.

This version of the Rear Foot Elevated Split Squat increases the range of motion by elevating the front foot which makes the exercise harder. Placing the front foot on a single aerobics step should do. You can choose to load the exercise by holding a dumbbell in one arm, both arms or in a goblet position. I do not suggest using a barbell because another one of the added difficulties of this exercise is getting into the starting position.

Weighted Chin Up w/100lbs

2011-01-26T20:30:00.003-05:00

I have been working on some fat grip weighted chin ups for the last couple of weeks as part of Eric Cressey's Show and Go program. Today, feeling strong, I decided to ditch the Fat Gripz on my last set and see if I could get a rep or two in with 100lbs attached to the dip belt. My previous best was 90lbs a little over a year ago.

Yes, there is 100lbs there. Two 45's and a 10lb plate on the back side.

Basic Fat Loss Programming: Part Three

2011-01-26T17:08:00.003-05:00

Alright. Time to get to the grass fed meat and sweet potatoes of the program, the strength portion. When setting up a program towards fat loss, I usually design the workouts around the following basic principles:

Total Body Workouts
Multi-joint or compound exercises make up most of the movements
Use supersets, alternating sets, tri-sets or something similar
Keeping rest periods fairly short (30-60 seconds)

The above principles have been shown to induce the largest amount of blood lactate. Increased levels of blood lactate correspond with increased levels of growth hormone, which happens to be the body's number #1 natural fat burner. But no, you are not going to produce the amount of growth hormone that is going to leave you with a head the size of Barry Bonds.

Besides the fat burning purposes of the above principles, these principles also work from a productivity standpoint. Can you burn body fat on other programs that have upper body and lower body days or split into body part days? Sure. But the number one complainant I get from people who are struggling with body fat loss is that they just do not have the time to get their workouts in. They have it built into their head that they need 7-10 hours of exercise a week to shed those love handles. For someone who who could be classified as advanced, yeah, that may be the case. But I know very few advanced people. Standing on a Bosu ball trying to throw a medicine ball through your legs does not classify you as advanced by the way. It classifies you as lost. I would throw a good portion of these people into the basic category. Remember this is a program for fat loss. With a basic program and a basic individual yet can get results with as little as 3-5 hours of exercise per week...if it's programmed right.

As mentioned in a previous post the program will have two different workouts: Workout "A" and Workout "B". The first week you will do Workout "A" twice and "B" once. The following week you will do Workout "B" twice and "A" once. So it looks like:

Week One: Day 1 -A, Day 2 - B, Day 3 - A
Week Two: Day 1 - B, Day 2 - A, Day 3 - B

Then week three looks like week one and week four looks like week two.

Within each workout you will see a couple things:

Movement patterns rather than exercises. This gives you the option of plugging in your own exercises depending upon what you have available and enables you to basically switch up your program every 3-4 weeks. This does not mean to do a different exercise with each workout. This is not P90x. This is not Insanity. Stick with the exercises you selected for 3-4 weeks and then plug in another exercise that fits that movement pattern.
You will see each exercise will have a designation of a number and a letter before it. This designation sets up your alternating sets. For instance if you see 1A) and 1B), you will alternate between these exercises with the suggested rest periods until all sets are completed. Then you will move onto the next pairing
A rest period will be suggested. Again, the rest periods should be kept fairly short to get the largest fat burning effect. With the larger compound movements in the beginning the rest periods will be a bit longer. With the exercises at the end that are not quite as demanding, the rest periods will be a bit shorter. Shorter rest periods doesn't mean to go light on the weights though. I still want you to push the intensity with each set. You should select a weight that would not take you beyond 2-3 reps of the suggested rep range.

So here we go. I suggest performing 1-2 warm up sets of the first two exercises in each workout. The heavier your starting weight the more warm up sets you will need. Just do not gas your self with the warm up sets. Keep the reps around the five rep range, giving or taking a few reps.

Workout A
1A) Squat: 4 sets, 8-10 reps, 60s rest
1B) Horizontal Pull: 4 sets, 8-10 reps, 60s rest

2A) Single Leg Quad Dominant: 3 sets, 10-12 reps, 60s rest
2B) Horizontal Push: 3 sets, 8-10 reps, 60s rest

3A) Push Up Exercise: 3 sets, 15-20 reps, 30s rest
3B) Scapular Retraction: 3 sets, 12-15 reps, 30s rest

Workout B
1A) Deadlift: 4 sets, 8-10 reps, 60s rest
1B) Vertical Pull: 4 sets, 8-10 reps, 60s rest

2A) Posterior Chain: 3 sets, 10-12 reps, 60s rest
2B) Vertical Push: 3 sets, 8-10 reps, 60s rest

3A) Anti Rotation or Anti-Flexion Core: 3 set 8-10 reps or 30-45s for planks, 30s rest
3B) Shoulder External Rotation, Triceps, or Biceps: 3 sets, 12-15 reps, 30s rest

Examples of exercises you could use for each category are:

Squat: BB back squat, BB front squat, BB Bulgarian squat, single leg squat
Horizontal Pull: seated cable row, inverted row, DB Row, bent over BB Row
Single Leg Quad Dominant: split squat, forward lunge, Bulgarian squat
Horizontal Push: bench press, close grip bench press, DB Bench Press, BB floor press
Push Up: weighted push ups, band resisted push ups, feet elevated push ups
Scapular Retraction: prone Y or T raise, band pull aparts, face pulls
Deadlift: BB deadlift, sumo deadlift, suitcase deadlift, trap bar deadlift, rack pulls
Vertical Pulls: chin or pull ups, band assisted chin or pull ups, X pulldowns
Posterior Chain: Val Slide leg curl, glute/ham raise, Swiss ball leg curl, pull thru's
Vertical Push: DB incline press, BB overhead press, DB push press, BB push press
Core: kneeling cable lift, side plank, side plank w/row, belly press, landmines
Shoulder Ext. Rotation: side lying, cable, 90/90 cable, elbow on knee
Triceps: rope pressdowns, X pressdowns, lying DB extensions, EZ bar extensions
Biceps: DB hammer curls, EZ bar curls, BB curls, cable curls, TRX curls

In the last part of this series I'll suggest some conditioning work or finishers to perform at the end of each session in order to get that fat burning engine running not only during the workout, but also for a good period of time after your workout. Until then, get training.

Exercise of the Week: Cable Resisted Side Plank

2011-01-23T17:59:00.004-05:00

I fool around with different exercises from time to time to see if I can come up with different variations or different ways to load a particular exercise. But the exercise has to make sense. It has to have a purpose. I'm not doing it for the sake of doing something different just for the hell of it.

Here I came across a different way to perform your traditional side plank. The side plank is classified as a core stability exercise. It is used to train stability by resisting lateral flexion. By adding resistance from a low cable setting we can also add in some anti-rotation training. You will also get the benefits of training some scapular stability here also.

Basic Fat Loss Programming: Part Two

2011-01-19T05:55:00.007-05:00

So in Part One, we went over your pre-workout foam rolling and stretching. From here we are going to progress into your dynamic flexibility and joint mobility warm up. This part of the workout has probably been the biggest change to most training programs over the last ten years. I remember just throwing a client on a treadmill or elliptical for 10-15 minutes thinking that was an effective warm up. It was nice to get the blood flowing and increase the core body temperature, but that's about it. Then the corrective exercise craze started and dynamic warm ups become popularized. In addition to increasing blood flow and core body temperature a dynamic warm up will provide more central nervous system stimulation and heightened mental awareness for the upcoming workout. You basically become more tuned into what is about to follow.

A dynamic warm up can be different for each individual and this is where corrective exercises can be placed. For instance someone that is suffering from chronic knee pain may want to emphasize some hip extension, hip abduction and mobilization of the hip flexor area. Or someone that is dealing with some shoulder pain may want to work on some thoracic extension, thoracic rotation and scapular retraction exercises. I would usually suggest performong 6-8 exercises as part of your dynamic warm up.

The video below samples a pretty basic dynamic flexibility/joint mobility warm up that coud be used for the typical individual: lack of hip mobility, stiff through the thoracic spine, maybe dealing with some low back issues and has a tough time squatting correctly. The exercises are:

Side Lying Thoracic Rotation

Cradle Walk

Heel Pull Back

Overhead Walking Lunge

Split Stance Broomstick Shoulder Mobilization

Squat to Stand

Perform about 8-10 reps of each exercise. It may take you a couple minutes longer initially, but once you get used to the exercises and transitioning of one exercise to the next the dynamic warm up should take you no longer than 8-10 minutes.

Now these are just exercises I would suggest using for the warm up portion of the fat loss program I am about to lay out for you. If you already have a dynamic warm up that works for you, great. If you want some other suggestions of exercises to include as part of your warm up there are plenty of great products out on the market today such as Eric Cressey, Mike Robertson and Bill Hartman's Assess & Correct or Mike Boyles Joint by Joint Warm-up and Training DVD.

All parts of your warm up are covered, time to move onto the part you are probably waiting for. Time for the fat to be burned.

New Golf Fitness Training Program!!

2011-01-18T17:24:00.004-05:00

Accelerated Fitness is now offering it's Golf Fitness Training program for the first time. Become a better golfer through this training program by working on dynamic flexibility, joint mobility, core strength and endurance and rotational power. Just do not ask for any swing tips.

For more information or for pricing please call (781)835-0564 or send an email to rich@acceleratedfts.com.