Cabin Fever Workouts

This weather giving you a little cabin fever?  Caught up on all your DVR programming and last six months of People magazine?  Here are five workouts you can do anywhere, at any time with little to no equipment.


30/30s

• Pick 5-8 exercises depending upon what you have access to.  If you do not have any equipment you will be just fine with body weight.
• You should pick at least one lower body exercise (squat variation or lunge variation), one upper body exercise (push up, rowing or pressing variation), one core exercise (plank or sit up variation) and one total body or power exercise (jumping jacks, burpees, jump squats, kettlebell  swings, etc.)
• Perform each exercise for 30 seconds.  Rest for 30 seconds between each exercise.  After last exercise in circuit rest for 60-90 seconds and then repeat for another 2-4 rounds.
• Want to make the circuit harder?  Perform each exercise for 40 seconds and rest for 20 seconds between each exercise.
• Example Circuit using just body weight:
• 1. Forward Lunge (right leg)
• 2. Forward Lunge (left leg)
• 3. Prisoner Squat
• 4. T-push up
• 5. Sprinter Sit Up
• 6. Burpees

Ladders

• Pick 2-3 exercises depending upon what you have access.
• There are a few different combinations you can use.  If you are using two exercises pick one upper body exercise and one lower body exercise.  If you are using three exercises pick one upper body pulling exercise, one upper body pushing exercise and one lower body exercise.  The other three exercise option is to pick one upper body exercise, one lower body exercise, and one total body exercise.
• A few ways to do the ladder.  You can work up the ladder, down the ladder or work up and then back down.  You can also go up and down the ladder by 1's, 2's, 5's and work up to or from any number you want.  The higher the number, the more rounds you will perform.
• Example Circuit:
• 1 push up or plyo push up
• 1 jump squat
• 2 push ups
• 2 jump squats.....
• Work up to 10 of each and then work back down the ladder to one rep of each.

On The Minute

• Pick 1-3 exercises, preferably compound exercises such as kettlebell swings, medicine ball slams, dumbbell push presses or burpees.
• Start each exercise on the minute performing 10-15 reps of each exercise.  Rest once all reps are completed.  Next round starts on the next minute.  The longer the reps took you, the less rest you have.  The shorter the reps took you, the more rest you have.
• Perform 10-20 total rounds.
• Progress from week to week by adding reps to each exercise or by adding rounds.
• Example Circuit using two exercises.:
• 12 kettlebell swings on the minute.  Rest until next minute starts.
• 12 goblet squats on the minute.  Rest until the next minute starts.
• Repeat this sequence for 5-10 rounds of each exercise.

Inverted Ladder

• Pick one upper body exercise, one lower body exercise and one "cardio" type of exercise such as jumping jacks, jumping rope, burpees, mountain climbers or jump squats.
• One exercise is going to work up the ladder.  One exercise is going to work down the ladder.  And the "cardio" exercise will stay the same each round.
• You can work up and down the ladder by any number you want and perform as many rounds as you want.
• Example Circuit:
• Round One: 10 squats, 20 push ups, 25 Jumping jacks
• Round Two: 12 squats, 18 push ups, 25 jumping jacks
• Round Three: 14 squats, 16 push ups, 25 jumping jacks....
• Work up to 20 squats, down to 10 push ups and keep jumping jacks the same each round.

Prep, Cook, Get Ready

• Get into the kitchen and get your meals ready for the upcoming week.  Cut, cook, refrigerate...what ever it takes you get some food prepared.  You could spend a half hour in the kitchen or spend 60 minutes in the kitchen.
• Know what your breakfasts, lunches, snacks and dinners are going to be for at least the next 2-3 days.
• While you are in the cabinets and refrigerator toss away everything that does not coincide with your health, weight loss or body composition goals.  Last years Girl Scout cookies, the half eaten bag of chips, the left over cake...they all have to go.

20 Random Nutrition Thoughts

I had a 20 Random Training Thoughts blog post a few weeks ago so it's time to follow it up with a 20 Random Nutrition Thoughts post.

1. If fat loss is your goal, calories do matter.  Females should aim for a daily calorie intake that is around 10x their body weight.  Males should aim for a calorie intake around 12x their body weight.  Be sure to recalibrate those numbers once weight is lost.
2. Without getting too complicated here is an easy way to measure out servings of proteins, fats, veggies and starches:  protein - palm, fat- thumb, veggies- fist, starch- fist.
3. Two things that should be constants at every meal: protein and veggies. Females should have at least one serving of protein (a palm) and at least one serving of veggies (one fist).  Males should have two servings of protein (two palms) and at least two servings of veggies (two fists).
4. If there is one thing you can always eat more of its veggies.  At any meal, on exercise days, on non-exercise days, at breakfast, on Halloween. Vegetable intake is basically unlimited.
5. The one macro-nutrient that should remain constant on a daily basis is protein.   Whether you did not get off the couch all day or whether you crushed it at the gym your protein intake should be the same which is roughly around 0.8-1.0 grams per pound of body weight.
6. If carb intake goes up, fat intake should go down.  If fat intakes goes up, carb intake should go down.  If both are going up at the same time then we are in trouble.
7. If carbs are going to go up, they should go up on days you work out.  These are days where you can have starchy carbs.  Days that you are not working out you should keep carbs at your baseline levels and avoid starch intake.  You should "earn your carbs".
8. If you are over 15% body fat and looking to lose weight carb intake other than those coming from fruits and vegetables should be kept under a 100 grams a day.  The leaner you are, the more carb tolerant you usually are.
9. Be careful of your fruit intake.  Eating too much fruit will not make you fat, but it can prevent you from losing fat.  Keep fruit intake to 2-3 servings a day.
10. Whether you eat eat three meals a day or 4-6 small meals a deal what matters is your total calorie intake at the end of your day.  Meal frequency has been shown to have no effect on metabolism. Some do better managing their daily caloric intake by eating less frequently. Others do better by eating more frequently.
11. You have heard that everyone should be drinking at least eight cups of water a day.  That may work for some, but not for others. Water intake should be proportional to your body weight.  What you want to be aiming for is a water intake that is about half your body weight in ounces. So if you weigh 150 pounds shoot for 75 ounces of water a day which is just over nine cups a day.
12. Two easy ways to get your water intake up: Pound a large glass of water as soon as you get out of bed.  The other is pick up a 20-30 ounce canteen or glass water bottle.  Fill that up a couple times a day, add that to the large glass of water you pound early in the morning and then add that to the glass or two of water with each meal.  Your water intake should be taken care of.
13. Fat still gets a bad rap.  The real problem is not fat as an individual macro-nutrient.  The problem is where that fat is coming from and the other nutrients it is combined with.  Fat from a McDonald's Big Mac is different than fat which comes from omega-3 containing grass fed beef.
14. Most of your fat intake should be coming from whatever your source of protein is at each meal.  If you are going to add some extra fat some good sources would be: fish oil, coconut oil, avocado, and nuts such as walnuts or almonds.
15. Does the Paleo diet work?  Yes for some, but not for others.  Does Atkins work?  Yes for some, but not for others?  Does vegan work?  Yes, for some but not for others. There is no one diet that works for everyone no matter how well that book is selling on the New York Times best seller list.  Find what works best for you.  But which ever one you choose you are going to have to give it time to figure out if it is working.  Whichever route you go, give it at least four weeks.
16. If you look for some of the similarities between some of the most popular and successful diets, which does not include the Cookie Diet, what are you going to find?  A common theme of increased protein intake, decreased starch intake, increased veggie intake, getting fat from high quality sources, a lower overall calorie intake than your present calorie intake and eliminating processed foods.  There is really no magic to these magic diets.
17. Two easy ways to sneak more vegetables into your day:  omelets and shakes.  Throw some peppers, broccoli, spinach or other vegetables you may like into an omelet.  Throw some kale or spinach into your shakes.  Believe me.  A shake that is blended up with some spinach or kale may not look so good.  But you can not even taste the spinach or kale if you have a bunch of other ingredients in there.
18. A simple way to make up a shake that covers all your bases: include a liquid (water, almond milk, coconut milk, etc.), a protein source (protein powder, Greek yogurt or cottage cheese), a fruit (berries, berries and more berries) a green vegetable source (spinach, kale or greens powder), maybe a fat source (walnuts, pecans, almond butter, coconut oil, etc.) and whatever spices or sweeteners you want (cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla extract, pumpkin spice, honey, stevia, etc.).  Throw a couple ice cubes in there if you like a thicker shake.  One thing to note though is if you are being calorie conscious be sure to measure out how much of each you are putting in.  Calories can add up quickly.
19. Try an elimination diet every now and then.  For 30 days pick one thing to eliminate such as alcohol, grains or dairy and take it out of your diet completely.  Make note of how you feel after those 30 days.  Do you feel less bloated?  Has your joint pain decreased?  Do you have more energy?  Are you sleeping better?  If you can answer yes to one or more of those questions you may be onto something.
20.  You can not eat well if you do not have good foods available.  You can not eat like crap if you do not have crap foods available.  Get into your cabinets and refrigerator.  Get rid of all the crap and restock with foods that are going to match up with your daily habits and goals.  Good nutrition starts with being prepared.  "If you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail".

20 Random Training Thoughts

1. Based on the nature of our everyday lives most people need to focus on hip and thoracic mobility.  That being said you can not go wrong by including exercises such as Spider Man lunges, reverse lunges with overhead reach, side lying windmills and quadruped extension and rotations as part of your warm up.
2. If you have anterior knee pain start your lower body training with a leg curl variation such as a lying leg curl or slide board leg curl.  It serve as a nice additional warm up since the stress placed on the knees with leg curls is not the same as the stresses from squats or lunges.
3. Your core training can be broken down into four basic categories: anti-extension (front plank, dead bug, bird dog) anti-rotation (belly press, cable lift), anti-lateral flexion (side plank, suitcase carry) and hip flexion (Swiss ball jackknife, 1/2 get up).  By the end of the training week you should have done at least 1-2 exercises in each category.  
4. Sorry to disappoint you, but every training session is not going to be a record breaking training session.  Some days you got it.  Some days you don't.  That's the nature of the beast.  The days you got it, push it.  The days you don't, hold back.
5. Lunge variations are not just limited to forward and reverse variations.  Work some lateral lunge variations in: goblet lateral lunge, off set lateral lunge and slide board lateral lunges are some options.
6. There is more to making an exercise harder than just adding weight or reps.  You can change the grip, increase the range of motion or change the tempo to make things harder.  You can make chin ups harder by going to fat grip chin ups.  You can make a split squat harder by going to a rear foot elevated split squat.  You can make a dumbbell incline press harder by taking a three second pause in the bottom of the lift.  There are many, many options.
7. Use a variety of different holds with your lower body training and you will get a variety of training effects.  Use a goblet hold to get more of a core anti-extension training effect.  Use an off-set hold to get more core stability work in terms of anti-extension and anti-rotation.  Use a barbell to really jack up the load and move more weight.
8. Have aching elbows?  Do 1-2 sets of high rep band press downs as part of your warm up to get some blood flow pumping to that elbow region.
9. The best thing you can probably to do to get more results from your training program is not to write up your own training program.  If you are writing up your own programs you are most likely going to include what you like and not include what you don't like but probably need.  There is plenty of great resources and coaches out there that have quality programs for you to use.
10. The next best thing you can probably do to get more results from your training is find a training partner.  You know and I know that we are more likely to skip that last set or interval when no one is looking.  Or may be it is just me that is guilty of this, but I do not think so.
11. Five things you should add to your gym bag if you are training at a commercial gym, because the chance of said commercial gym having any of them is slim: 1) a lacrosse ball for self myofascial release work  2) Val Slides for different lunge and core exercises 3) a few different Superbands (1/2 inch thick, one inch and maybe a 1.5 inch) for warm up exercises, for band assisted chin ups, for band resisted push ups or for different core training exercises  4) Fat Gripz if narrow bars really take a toll on your elbows, to use for farmers carries and to get a different training effect  5) a Gymboss interval timer to keep your interval or circuit training spot on without having to peek at your watch or search around the gym for a clock.
12. Do not get married to one training tool whether it is  kettlebells, dumbbells, the TRX or God forbid the Bosu Ball.  Not every tool is good for every job.   The more tools you have in your toolbox the better off you will be.
13. A nice change of pace from your training can be to work in a body weight or mobility day to get some type of training stimulus while also promoting recovery.  A simple circuit of such would be something like: Quadruped Extension/Rotation x8/side, Yoga Push Up x8, Single Leg Glute Bridge x8/side, Split Squat x10/side, RDL w/reach x10/side, Inverted Row x10, Prisoner Walking Lunge x8/side, Side Plank x30s/side.  Go through the circuit 3-5 times.
14. Squat everyday.  This does not mean loading up a barbell and throwing a few plates on each side. You have plenty of other options that can be worked into your workout, your warm ups or if you are just hanging out at home: prisoner squat, squat to stand, goblet squat or an overhead squat with a dowel are some examples.  The one pattern that tends to deteriorate the most as we age is our squat, especially if we do not keep up with it regularly.
15. Have pain in your shoulders or elbows when placing a bar across the top of your back for squat or lunge variations.  Go to a pinkie-less grip. Index, middle and ring fingers will go around the bar.  Pinkie finger will go beneath the bar.  I picked this tip up from strength coach Joe Defranco and it has done wonders for my elbows and shoulders.
16. Include some type of power training into your workouts at least once or twice a week.  Power is one of the first things to go as we get older.  Not only that it is a great way to to get you in the right mindset for a workout.  And power training is different for everyone.  For some it may be work on the agility ladder.  For others it may be skipping drills.  For others it may be medicine ball throws.  You really do have a lot of power training options.    
17. Injuries can always be worked around.  Injuries should not be a built in excuse to stay away from the gym.  If you are having lower back pain I would suggest staying away from loaded lower body exercises such as squats.  Focus more on single leg variations.  If your shoulders are cranky focus more on horizontal pulling exercises.  If your lower back and shoulders hurt go through a mobility workout like the one I listed in point 13.  
18. Want to get better at a particular exercise?  Hit that exercise early in the week, early in your workout.  The exercise you hit early on is usually going to get the most focus mentally and physically.
19. Sometimes you just need to throw training rules out the window and just TRAIN!  Notice I said sometimes, not all the time.  Every now and then test your self with a gut check workout.  Or maybe you saw a workout someone else was doing and wanted to give it a shot.  Go ahead and give it a shot.  Maybe your current training does not call for a timed mile or max set of push ups, but you want to give it a shot.  Go for it!  It's all right to break the rules now and then.  I repeat, now and then.
20. Pick a performance related goal.  Do you want to run a 5K in 25 minutes?  Do you want to be able to do one chin up?  Do you want to be able to 15 straight high quality push ups?  Do you want to be able to deadlift 2.5 times your body weight?  Once you set a performance related goal it is easier to set up your training since your training should be helping you get to your goal.  

Exercise of the Week: Tall Kneeling Alternating Chest Press

When people think in terms of horizontal pressing exercises most think of different dumbbell and barbell variations along with the many push up variations.  And if you were going to use all those variations you would have plenty of different choices to sprinkle throughout your training programs depending upon the situation.

Another horizontal pressing variation I've been using more of lately are cable press variations.  With the cable you're getting a different mode of resistance in addition to more freedom for the scapulae to move along with some lower body and core stability work.

With the following exercise, the tall kneeling alternating cable chest press, you're going to get a few things you wouldn't get from an alternating dumbbell bench press: recruitment of the glutes for stability and working the core in terms of resisting extension and rotation through the lumbar spine.

Don't expect to load the weight up on this exercise unless you really want to butcher it.  So it's not going to be a primary exercise that Hans & Frans would use to "pump you up", but it is a nice accessory exercise.

Sitting Isn't The Only Problem

Exercise of the Week: SLDL / Reverse Lunge w/Row

I try not to get to crazy with different exercise variations just for the sake of variety.  But if I come up with or come across a variation that I think is going to be beneficial while also provide a training effect I'm going to use it.  Here's an exercise variation that combines three exercises: a single leg deadlift (SLDL), a reverse lunge and a single arm cable row.  I would use this exercise as an accessory exercise as part of a total body workout with the rep range being 5-6 SLDL's and reverse lunges on each leg.

Exercise of the Week: Push up w/ Val Slide Combos

I feel one of the best ways to challenge your core is through push ups and push up variations. I also feel  one of the best training tools you can use to challenge are Val Slides.  So why not put the two together to make things even a bit more challenging?  The following video shows a few different push up variations that incorporate the Val Slides.  Take a look: