Test your limits with this brutal, 4-exercise workout circuit.
On most days you head to the gym and ‘do the right thing’. You take out your training log, follow the reps and sets, add a little more weight than last week and walk out the door feeling pretty darn good about yourself. Other days, you’re not quite ‘feeling it’ and you spend less time squatting and more time chatting up the hot chick in the power rack. Hey, it happens. (more…)
Often you are provided with a rep range. For example, you will be asked to do 3 sets of 6-8 reps. When you see these rep ranges, you should be striving to achieve the highest number in the range in each set. Unfortunately, I’ve noticed people skimping by, and doing the minimum amount of reps per set. To put it simply, 6 or 7 reps just isn’t the same as performing all 8 reps.
Skimping on reps can dramatically impede your athletic progress, since most of the positive adaptations in exercise come from exceeding your comfort barrier and grinding out those last and most difficult repetitions. Little differences in the way you approach these strength sets, can dramatically alter the outcome of your training.
Let’s say you are doing 3 sets of 6-8 reps of shoulder press and determine that 150 lbs is an appropriate weight for you. Maybe you’re feeling a little tired, and decide to do 6 reps per set, even though you’re capable of doing 8 reps per set. We can calculate the effect of that decision by using the formula for work, which is just force x distance.
Here’s an all-time great shoulder fix.
Fortunately for you we are always messing around (experimenting) on our human guinea pigs (athletes) at the gym (lab). This practice leads us to ever more complete ways of thinking, and even more elegant and efficient practices. Today’s shoulder fix is one of these. I love this mob because it ties together so many tissue systems in a single whack. It catches the first rib, gets into the scalenes, catches the fascia, etc. The test retest is insane. This neck/shoulder junction creates a ton of problems like thoracic outlet issues, shoulder problems, and downstream neural dynamic issues. And it’s simple to do. Grab a super friend to help wind up your shoulder into the last ranges of rotation. Prepare to be mind blown. Two minutes to freedom.
Courtesy of mobilitywod.com.
While you were toiling away on the treadmill, a slow-burning debate among fitness experts was catching fire: Is exercise an effective strategy for losing weight? Or is the effort ultimately a wash, triggering hunger pangs that make you replace everything you burned and then some? A decade ago no one thought to ask this. Too much food makes you fat. Exercise burns calories. Ergo, exercise makes you less fat. Then research began to find that not everyone who exercises loses weight. Impossible as it may seem, some people actually gain a pound or two.
The problem: The range of individual responses to exercise is huge, says veteran weight-loss researcher Timothy Church, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of preventive medicine at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. “We don’t understand all of it,” he says. Fortunately, however, we understand enough to throw cold water on four of today’s most insidious weight-loss myths. (more…)
Sometimes the best exercise is the one you’re not doing. and why, exactly, is such a great move not part of your training? Probably one of two reasons: a) you don’t know it exists, or b) it’s so challenging that you’d rather skip it and do something easier.
The following nine exercises are ones we feel every physique-conscious guy should practice. Some you’ve heard of but are ignoring, and others are so unique we bet they’ve never crossed your mind. Either way, it’s time to add these moves to your repertoire.
WHY YOU SHOULD BE DOING IT
“Front squats have really helped my quad development, especially when I was preparing for the Ironman,” says Heath. “Most people don’t do front squats, because they’re uncomfortable and there are easier alternatives, but to really add size to the quads, they’re a must.”
HOW TO DO IT:
In a power rack, place the bar across your front deltoids with your forearms crossed in front of you and hands gripping the bar. unrack the bar, step back, and begin the set standing straight up with your feet about shoulder-width apart and your elbows pointed straight ahead, not downward.
Keeping a slight arch in your lower back, squat down over your heels, keeping your elbows up, until your thighs reach parallel with the floor. Press up through your heels until your knees are extended but not locked out. (more…)
What is DeltaFIT? It’s an all-new fitness system based around “metabolic resistance training.” The kind of intense, fast-paced training that lights your muscles on fire, torches fat, and skyrockets your endurance. The kind of training that makes you sweat buckets.
If it doesn’t jump out at you, Delta, or ∆, is a Greek letter that, in mathematics and science, is used as a symbol for “change.” In the case of DeltaFIT: Change your body. Transform it. Make it look, perform, and feel better. The DeltaFIT mantra: “Make a change!”
While “FIT” is seemingly obvious, it’s also an acronym for Fast Intense Training. FIT is what makes change happen. Sweat is what makes change happen. In fact, at Men’s Health DeltaFIT we have another saying: “That’s not just sweat. Those are change droplets!”
So how about it: Are you ready to change? With Men’s Health DeltaFIT, you have all the tools you need. Each week the DeltaFIT team will bring you articles on cutting-edge training techniques, cool new exercises, and the top fitness gear.
Courtesy of Menshealth.com
Infomercials are right about one thing: Exercise devices can put you on the fast track to a six-pack. But the best ones don’t go by names like Ab Rocket or Torso Tiger, and you won’t see them on late-night TV. They’re already in your gym, says David Jack, general manager of Competitive Athlete Training Zone in Acton, Massachusetts. Add these four to your ab routine to accelerate your gains.
EXERCISE
Kettlebell mountain climber
HOW TO DO IT
Lay a kettlebell flat side down with its handle facing away from you. Place both palms on the round part, and assume a pushup position. Slowly bring one knee as close to your chest as you can. Touch the floor with your toes, and quickly return to pushup position while maintaining good form. Repeat with the other knee. Alternate legs for 30 seconds.
BENEFIT
The instability of the kettlebell forces your abs, lower back, and hips to work harder than they do in a traditional mountain climber. (more…)
I consider the standing military shoulder press to be one of… if not the best upper body lifts! Why? Not only does this lift sculpt some pretty impressive shoulders but it will greatly increase your upper body strength for other lifts. To get the most benefits out of this exercise, we are going to take a look at how you can utilize a “power surge” to lift the weight while increasing ab definition all at once. Implementing this sneaky technique will help you bring out the best in other pressing movements. I truly believe that every man and woman should include this exercise into their regular weight training program.
Generate A Boost In Your Shoulders By Contracting The Abs
This is one of the biggest reasons why I highly recommend standing for this particular lift. When standing, the abs act as the mediator between your hips and your shoulders. So by contracting the abs, it provides a very stable foundation for you to push upwards from. This will also help increase a greater contraction in both your shoulders and triceps. Thus, maximizing the amount of weight lifted. (more…)
If you’re looking to really build your core, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve taken and outlined the keys to the core of UFC champ Jon Jones. So whether your looking to get in the ring for an MMA bout or want to look great at the beach this summer here’s a few tips that will get you exactly what you want.
Find your threshold
A fight doesn’t end when one guy does 12 kicks or 12 punches. Combat sports are ruled by the clock. That’s why you don’t count reps or sets at the Wat. Instead, you exercise in 3-or 5-minute intervals to simulate rounds in a fight. “The goal is sustained intensity over time,” Kru tells me. It’s brutally efficient. Time-based training forces you to go as hard as you can for as long as you can and to find your own maximum work rate. You learn to pace yourself—fast.
To try it, pick three exercises—the pullup, squat thrust, and goblet squat, for example. For each, see how many you can do with good form in 1 minute, with no rest. As soon as you finish pullups, start doing squat thrusts, and as soon as you finish those, start squatting. Rest for 1 minute and do another set. The short-term aim is to improve the total number of reps you can do in a minute. In the longer term, you also want to increase the resistance you use. Typical Kru workouts are variations of this: 10 to 20 rounds of calisthenics, lifting, striking drills, and sparring, and then stretching. (more…)
Have you been skimping on your workout with these unintentional crimes against fitness (more…)
FOLLOW US: 
Copyright: © 2011 JAYBIRD GEAR, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
