Exercise of the Week: Prowler Chest Press

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.

Exercise of the Week: Val Slide Alligator Walks

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:

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


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


3. You can go for time in one direction or both directions


4. 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.

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

Exercise of the Week: Half Kneeling Around the World Slam

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.

Exercise of the Week: Single Arm TRX Row w/Rotation

Basic Fat Loss Programming: Part One

I would bet that for the general population at least 80% of you work out with fat loss being the number priority, especially this time of year. In other words you want to get "ripped" or "tone up". I would also bet that 80% of you are going about it the wrong way: worrying too much about how many calories you are burning, spending way too much time doing steady state aerobic work and using a set/rep scheme that is doing very little to elicit fat loss.

There are many theories about what a fat loss program should look like. There are also many advanced methods. Methods that may be beyond the scope of the general population and the scope of this post. What I want to do here is lay out a pretty simple template for you...the general population. Something that is not going to confuse the hell out of you, yet something that is going to be effective. Something that is not not going to require a ton of time, may be 60-75 minutes max with each workout. Something that is going to get you looking like The Situation, not like Snookie. So, let's move onto the programming.

I'm basically going to lay out a template for you with some suggestions for each part of the template. The template is going to consist of two workouts that can be used over the course of the week. You will alternate through each workout over the course of each week. For instance if you are going to perform two workouts per week, you will perform each workout over the course of the week. If you're going to perform three workouts per week, one week you will perform Workout A twice and Workout B once. The next week you will do Workout B twice and Workout A once. Got it?

Each workout will be divided up into four parts:

1. Foam Rolling & Static Stretching
2. Dynamic Flexibility/Joint Mobility
3. Strength work
4. Interval training or conditioning work

Today, let's cover Part One: Foam Rolling and Static Stretching.

I know the question you are asking right now is, "What the hell does foam rolling and stretching have to do with fat loss? Am I going to roll the fat off my body?". Nice idea, but "no" is the answer. It has to do more with training over the long haul. For any fat loss training program to be effective it must be performed frequently. You can not train frequently, especially with any intensity, if you are going to keep getting hurt. So foam rolling and stretching are going to lessen your chances of injury and and increase your chances of training frequently.

If you do not have access to a foam roller, go get one.


If your gym doesn't have a foam roller, go join another gym or ask them to spend the $18 to get one. Once you have your foam roller you're going to execute about eight patterns, spending about 20-30 seconds with each pattern. The areas I suggest working on are:

1. Quads
2. Hip Flexors
3. IT Band
4. Glutes/Piriformis
5. Adductors
6. Lats
7. Rhomboids
8. Calves
9. Thoracic Extensors

This should take you no more than 5-10 minutes. Foam rolling is going to set you up for your static stretching. The idea behind foam rolling or any other type of self myofacial work is to reduce the density of the muscles and facia, in turn making them more pliable when it comes time to stretch.

After you are done foam rolling you are going to perform your static stretches. Why are you stretching now? One, as I just mentioned your muscles are going to be a bit more pliable after working on the foam roller. Two, it just has to do more with what people tend to do. Put stretching early on in the workout and people are probably going to do it. Put stretching in at the end of the workout and people are probably going to head to the car early without getting in any stretching at all.

With the static stretching you want to address areas that are overly tight. For a good amount of people this will be the hip flexors, hip external rotators and the upper trap area. If there are some other areas that might be issues for you, you may want to address those. Below is a video of some stretches I will use prior to a workout.

Your foam rolling is out of the way. Your static stretching is out of the way. About 15 minutes has passed. Time to get moving. In Part Two, I will cover your dynamic flexibility/joint mobility warm up.