Sample Workout

Here's a workout executed by one of my clients this morning. This is her Day Two workout including warm-up, strength work and conditioning work. Nothing crazy. Plugging exercises into a template and just straight forward hard work to get it done.


Warm Up

• Foam Roller: quads, IT band, thoracic spine
• Static Stretch: warrior lunge stretch (30sec); sleeper stretch (30sec)
• Mobility: side lying thoracic rotation (x8), single leg bridge (x10), inchworm (x6), reverse lunge w/reach (x8), forearm wall slides (x10), squat to stand (x8)
• Activation: side plank (2x30sec) supersetted w/ prone incline L, Y, T, W (2x8 each)

Strength

• 1A) DB Bench Press, 3x8-10
• 1B) TRX Rear Foot Elevated Split Squat, 3x10-12
• 2A) Split Stance Single Arm Cable Row, 3x10-12
• 2B) BB Floor Press, 3x10-12
• 2C) Val Slide Body Saw, 3x8-12

Conditioning

• 20 squats
• 20 forward lunges
• 10 jump squats
• 10 squat thrusts
• No rest between exercises; rest 90sec at end; repeat 2x
  

Hardstyle Kettlebell Training Workshop

Accelerated Fitness and Skill of Strength have teamed up to offer Kettlebell Workshops this fall. Mike Perry, RKC, invites you to learn Hardstyle Kettlebell training techniques. In this intro workshop you will learn all of the basics you need to to know to begin training with kettlebells.

When: October 23, 2010 10am-12pm

Where: Accelerated Fitness, 153 North Street, Lexington, MA

Cost: $99

This is a great workshop for current kettlebell users who want to refine their technique or for beginners looking to start training with this incredible tool.

What you'll learn:

• The Swing
• The Snatch
• Goblet Squats
• RKC Hardstyle Plank

Space is limited - sign up now!!

Exercise of the Week: Kneeling Rope Battle

What's It For?

So someone asked me what the sledgehammer and tire were for? What else would they be for? To sledgehammer the tire, one of my preferred "cardio" methods.

Breaking the Bank

Some studios and gyms will try to wow you with an $8000 elliptical or perhaps an ab device that performs liposuction as you do crunches. Sorry, but we're not going to do that at Accelerated Fitness. We'll make much better investments such as our newest pieces of equipment: a tractor tire and sledgehammer. We had to do some budget analysis before making the purchase, but after getting a tire for free and a sledgehammer for $26 at Home Depot, we thought we could afford it.

Lessons Learned

It's been about three months now since the doors have opened at Accelerated Fitness. In those three months I've already learned a lot whether it comes to opening your first business, whether it's related to the business aspect or in this case the fitness aspect. No one said it would be easy and I never expected it to be. Long hours working in the business and on the business. Figuring out what type of programming or training is going to work. Turning away 95% of the door to door salesman you that has a product to sell you even though you probably have no use for it. Trying to look for good help. All of these instances has taught me a lesson along the way. If you're a trainer or aspiring trainer looking to open your own place there are a couple things you might want to think about.

One, being a good trainer does not mean you're going to have a thriving business. Don't get me wrong. First and foremost I think you should strive to be the best at what you do. Be a great technician first. But even though you may be the best trainer in town, it doesn't mean people are going to come running through your doors when they open. You have to understand the demographics. You to have understand what people want. You have convince people your services are worth it. There's always going to be another business that offers services that cost less or claim to be the best. Understand the business of fitness as much as you understand fitness.

Two, you can spend as little as you want or as much as you want on equipment. Looking through a Perform Better catalog is like looking through the Sears Christmas catalog. "I want this, this and that..". What are you trying to get done in your studio? How much functionality does each piece of equipment have? I think you need your obvious stuff: dumbbells, power rack, and adjustable benches. It's nice to have some sort of functional trainer, but may be not necessary. In our case I felt it was since we were going to be focusing on group training, which also meant we should go with the dual stack version as opposed to the single stack. Do not break the bank on cardio equipment. A new elliptical can cost upwards of $8000. But how useful is it really? Some people may be able to outfit an entire studio for that much.

Three, meet with and talk with everyone that you can. Talk with the Chamber of Commerce. Talk to the local golf pros. Talk to chiropractors. Talk to other strength coaches or trainers you may know in the area. Talk to the dog groomer. Just talk to anyone. Let people know who you are and where you are. You never know what situation is going to pop up that may benefit your business. Who knows what connections the dog groomer may have? And never think of this time as a waste of your time. A real waste of your time is sitting behind the desk hunting down ex-girlfriends on Facebook.

Last, spend your advertising dollars wisely. A small ad in the local newspaper can run you anywhere from $200-$400/week. And then everyone that publishes some sort of local magazine is hunting you down looking for you to purchase space in their "renowned" publication. Your best is to use other avenues for advertising. Create a Facebook fan page. Get a blog started. Hold free open gyms or bootcamps. Offer free trial sessions. In my opinion you have a much better chance of getting people through the doors those ways.

Exercise of the Week: Standing Cable Lift

This week's exercise is the next progression in the Cable Lift progression after working from the half kneeling position as part of your core stability training.

Random Thoughts...

• I'm having some serious writer's block right, even though I'm not a writer. So that is why you are getting a random thoughts post and why this post maybe really random.
• Nice to see the Jets fall flat on their face this past Monday night. Undisciplined football. Bad penalties. A horrific offense. Hopefully they fall even harder this upcoming Sunday against the Patriots. Then we will see how much bravado Rex Ryan has.
• If there is one area I'd like to see people put more focus on during their workouts, it's their warm up. This is assuming that people actually even have a warm up as part of their workout. 5-10 minutes on the elliptical I would not consider a warm up. A few arms swings and leg swings is probably not enough either, although you're starting to get headed in the right direction. A proper warm up should address areas where flexibility or mobility is limited, excite your central nervous system a bit, get your blood flowing and mentally tune you in to your upcoming workout. If you're having a hard time putting a warm up together, take a look at Mike Boyles Joint by Joint Warm-up and Training DVD or another excellent DVD put together by strength coaches Eric Cressey, Bill Hartman and Mike Robertson, Asses and Correct.
• Personally, I hate single leg training. It exhausts me. After a set of Bulgarian split squats or reverse lunges I can usually be found crawled up in the corner wheezing for air afraid to face another set. And I think a lot of other people feel the same way. I think it could be the most demanding part of any exercise program. And I think it's also a reason why people avoid it at all costs. If you want to get to where you want to be, you're going to have to pay the price sometimes.
• One nice spice that you can use on just about anything is cinnamon. I put it in my coffee. I mix it in with my yogurt or cottage cheese. I put it on my peanut butter sandwiches. I throw some in the blender with whatever else is in there and mix up a shake. What's the deal with cinnamon you ask? If I know that it can help reduce blood sugar levels, increase insulin sensitivity and help reduce cholesterol, I'm going to use it.
• The more variations you can do off a base exercise, the more valuable that exercise is. Think of all the variations you can do off of chin ups, push ups, squats, deadlifts and lunges, none of which require a Bosu ball. All these exercises should be staples of your training program.
• The number one factor determining whether you're going to be successful with your training or nutritional program? Compliance. Are you following the plan at least 70-80% of the time? Less than 70% and your chances of success are probably going to be negligible. Above 80% of the time and I think you're going to be pretty successful.
• Are the Red Sox still playing?
• We plan on holding an open house here at Accelerated Fitness on Oct. 16. There will be a free bootcamp class held in the morning, followed by some food and refreshments. We are also lucky enough to have one of the local massage therapist come in do some chair massage. I'll follow up in the upcoming weeks with more details.

Have a great weekend everyone. Down with the Jets!!

Exercise of the Week: Dual Cable Step Up

My Top Five.....

....things under $20 you can carry in your gym bag, besides sweaty socks and weightlifting gloves.

1. The Tiger Tail. Foam rollers are great, but might not be something you want to carry around in your gym bag. The Stick can be equally as effective, if not more, when it comes to self myofacial release work, but the Stick costs $28. Another version of the Stick, but at a lower cost, is the Tiger Tail. It's particularly great for working out those nasty trigger points in your calves or peroneals that should not be overlooked.
2. Lynx Grips. I get it. If you're a chick you don't want callouses. If you're a guy, I don't get it. But rather than wearing those silly looking gloves, how about using the Lynx Grips. In addition to preventing callouses, they will provide a bit more cushion to the grip and will fatten the grip up a bit. Working with a fatter grip can lead to increased performance when it comes to exercises such as chin pull ups or deadlifts and can help protect your shoulders.
3. A Superband. Adding some band training into your training program can add some variety to your training. It can add difficulty to an exercise such as a band resisted push up. Or it can deload an exercise and make it a bit easier. One of my personal favorites in this case is band assisted chin or pull ups. Gravitron machine no more.
4. Ab Wheel. All the fancy ab training equipment in a gym that costs thousands of dollars and I've been into some that don't even have this simple piece. Is it something I would suggest throwing in everyone's gym bag? Probably not. But it's something I feel people could or should work up to. I love ab wheel roll outs as an exercise. They work the abs in the the function they're supposed to work, anti-extension and spinal stabilization.
   
5. Blender Bottle. Not a bottle to hold water in, but a bottle to mix your post-workout shake in. First thing that should be done after a workout is to down that post-workout shake, not check Facebook. The sooner post-workout the better. Protein synthesis goes up. Insulin levels go up. Cortisol levels go down. Recovery is enhanced. All good things. All good things not enough people are doing.

Exercise of the Week: Val Slide Body Saw

All core training starts with the plank and is built off the plank. As your core stability gets better and the plank becomes easier, it might be time to move onto another exercise or move to a harder version of the plank. To make the plank harder you can do a couple things. You can reduce your base of support by narrowing your feet or going to single leg or single arm versions. You can elevate your feet to make it a bit harder. Or you can do some movement or perturbations as you focus on maintaining that stable spine. That's what you'll see in this video of the Valslide Body Saw. The client in the video is performing a front to back slide with her feet resting on the Valslides. Notice the neutral spine throughout the duration of the exercise.




You can go for time or you can do a certain number of reps. Or to increase the difficulty of the this exercise you can just take it through a larger range of motion.

Get your Valslides here.

Still Behind the Times

The fields of strength and conditioning and health and fitness have come a long way in the last 10-15 years. With more research made available and more trainers and coaches bettering themselves through continuing education these fields have been as strong as they have ever been. It has been great thing. When I pick up a copy of Men's Health or Men's Fitness, they're no longer aimed at just bodybuilders or guys looking to put on freakish amounts of muscle. They're now aimed at the average guy who wants to drop a couple pounds, get stronger and be able to move around without worrying about when his back is going to blow out.

So I feel good about how far these fields have come and then I walk into a commercial gym and it feels like I've been transported by a time machine to a gym in 1980 minus the abundance of leg warmers and bad mustaches. Not as many people as I thought are taking this new information and research and actually using it. Or worse, may be they're just ignoring it.

The idea that interval training is superior to slow steady, state cardio for fat loss has been pounded into the ground for the last 5-1o years. But what's the majority of people doing? Slow steady state cardio work. So the fat loss battle continues with these people.

The biggest buzz word thrown around in the last decade or so is "core" when it comes to training. Everyone wants to do core training. Well, the role of the core is stabilization, yet how much of that do you see being done in gyms? Crunches will trash your spine and are a waste of time. So why the hell are the majority of people still doing them? Their core area still looks bad and probably functions worse.

Or even something as simple as using the foam roller. The benefits of self myofacial release have been proven and thrown at us for years also. I could count on two fingers how many people are actually using the foam roller to address trigger points or adhesions that have built up. Others are using the rollers to do some circus style training. Or worse, the gym doesn't even have one. So they're still walking around trying to figure out why they're still hurting and why their stretching program isn't working.

And let's not even discuss the thigh machines. You know the ones that belong in a gynecologist's office?

It's time to get with the times people. I'll bet you you're still not watching your 14 inch, black and white TV with rabbit years since better TVs have become available, right? Well, better training ideas and concepts have become available. Start using them.