Archive for the ‘Exercise Instruction’ Category

Rolling without the Foam..My Latest Joy

Tuesday, January 31st, 2012

LOVE THIS STRETCH!

I really just wanted to share this bit of info with you guys because as it has helped me, I think it will benefit you as well. Aside from stealing hugs and kisses from my beautiful niece and hanging out with the fam, this has been one of my most exciting and most lucrative things to do lately.  My body has thanked me big time.

I have been getting in anywhere between two and four extra stretching/recovery/regeneration sessions in per week at home with a heavy band, a lacrosse ball, a pvc pipe and a sweet wooden floor that allows for above average gliding skills during the SMR (self-myofascial release).

I cannot believe how healthy my joints, muscles and body feels after the last 3 weeks of these extra rejuvenation session.

I am thinking of filming some of these home office/training lab feel good sessions so be on the look out for some training footage of some serious damage control and heavy duty foam rolling without the foam.

The fun part about these sessions at home lately is I have been able to spend some quality time without interruption on a specific muscles and get the lax ball in there and than follow that up with a static stretch for that particular muscle group.  Many times I get sidetracked at when doing certain exercises at the gym.  Usually when I am squatting, benching or deadlifting people tend to let me be however when I am lounging on a foam roller or lacrosse ball I can get sidetracked by messages, questions, etc. So doing this type of workout at home for me is ideal because it has allowed the peace and quiet I am looking for in this type of recovery workout.  Some may actually benefit by coming to the gym to do this type of workout because that will give them the most peace and quiet and if that’s so than get you butt in and STRETCH!

The other thing I think that has been really effective and helpful during these at home stretch sessions is the choice of music I have been listening to.  This is not to say that it has not been a mixture however I have been stretching and foam rolling to music that feels relaxing and soulful at the time I start my home workout.  Sometimes it’s heavy music, some days its reggae, but most always it is something in my collection of tunes that has given me some really good experiences over the years and I can feel in my soul on that day.  This type of music selection has helped tremendously in relaxing and healing some muscle issues that I have been having.  Music is key and I think if you try this home workout you will feel exactly like I do which is refreshed and this feeling is priceless for many of us with such busy, hectic lives.

Lastly I think by adding in these home recovery sessions I have been able to spend more quality time playing and rolling around with my baby boys Harley & Titan. It is pretty neat being able to roll around and stretch while the boys are licking my face, wrestling each other, bullying me around.  They have really enjoyed having me down on the floor where they are like one of them.

Here is just a quick of the top of my head list of the exercises I do during these at home recovery sessions:

  • Lax Ball SMR on calves, glutes, ITBand, hip flexors, hamstrings at certain spots, bottom of feet and anywhere that hurts
  • Leg Swings both forward/backward and side to side
  • Green Band 2 Way Hamstring Stretch
  • 90/90 Hip Stretch on Floor
  • 3 position Hip Flexor Stretch with Quad Stretch
  • Side Lying Rib Pulls
  • REPEAT Lax Ball SMR on rhomboids, lower/upper traps, rotators, delts, triceps, anywhere that hurts
  • Green Band Shoulder Dislocators
  • Standing No Money w/ Band
  • YTWL’s
  • Green Band Traction Stretches on each chest, shoulder and lat.

    THIS REALLY HURTS!

I have also included the following exercises if I felt good and need a good sweat and workout:

  • Band Pull Aparts
  • Single Leg Bridges
  • Passive & Active Leg Lowering
  • Scapular Pushups
  • Close grip Pushups
  • TRX Y-Raises
  • TRX Rows
  • One Arm KB Row (with various elbow positions)
  • KB Swings
  • KB Windmills
  • Turkish Get Ups
  • 1/2 Turkish Get Ups
  • All Types of Planks

So if you are feeling beat up and run down than back off some heavy sessions and add in some regeneration sessions and you will feel WAY BETTER!

If you are not sure what some or any of these exercises above are than just post a comment or shoot us an email letting us know and I will be sure to put some fresh educational videos up for you guys.

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Posted in Exercise Instruction, Health & Wellness, Kettlebells, Strength, Training Log | No Comments »

5 Ways to Challenge Your Training

Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012

How To Keep Progressing Your Workouts

By increasing the challenge of your exercises and workouts you will keep your body guessing and make sure your body continues to adapt by getting stronger.

If you don’t continually increase the challenge, you can hit a plateau where your body will become used to your training and not progress any further.

That is why I encourage everyone to change their workout routine at least every 4-6 weeks to make sure you can keep improving your  performance and progress.

There are several variables you can alter in order to increase the challenge of an exercise. Some of these variables you probably manipulate already, while others you might want to start to do so in your workouts.

1. Load / Weight – This is one of the most common ways to increase the intensity of an exercise. Simply increase the load by adding more weight or resistance to the exercise.

For example (more…)

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2 Single Leg Movements To Enhance Your Leg Power And Balance

Tuesday, December 27th, 2011

In the videos below I am going to show you 2 advanced single leg exercises that can help you improve your lower body power.

In addition, these two exercises will help you absorb your landings better by improving your landing mechanics and also help protect you from knee injuries.

They will also help improve your balance because you have to stabilize on each landing before starting the next repetition.

Note: These are more advanced exercises. Before you start trying these, make sure you are competent with more basic single leg exercises like rear foot elevated split squats and also 2 foot jumping exercises like squat jumps.

1. TRX Single Leg Jump

If you don’t have a suspension trainer, then you can also do this exercise by having your rear foot elevated on a bench.  If you would like to purchase a TRX Suspension Trainer than go HERE

 

2. Single Leg Barbell RDL

Make sure you keep your chest up, core braced and back straight (don’t hunch over). Move from the hip first and keep your weight on the heel.  When coming up drive that heel into the ground and squeeze the glute forward to finish the move.

Do 6-10 reps of either of the exercises.

 

If you are already in a good training routine, and have built up some single leg strength, then incorporating these exercises into your workouts will only advance you further.

If you are looking for a step-by-step functional training plan to learn how to design an effective and time efficient training program check out my coaching plans HERE

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Pull Aparts for Upper Back & Shoulder Strength

Thursday, December 1st, 2011

How To Do Pull-Aparts For A Healthy Back And Shoulders

This exercise I am going to show you is a great one to train your scapula (shoulder blade) to retract and rotate downward, which can help with correcting or preventing rotator cuff issues or shoulder impingement.

Pull-aparts can easily be added into your warmup to activate your upper back or you can superset it with another exercise during your workout.

Watch the video below to see how to perform pull-aparts…

Technique Tip – Make sure you keep your shoulders pulled back and down during the exercise you keep your scapula stable.

You can do straight pull-aparts, overhead pull aparts or do them diagonally like in the video.

Hope this exercise series helps you build a strong stable upper back and shoulders!

If you haven’t checked out Joe DeFranco & James Smith’s DVD called AMPED yet I highly suggest you do.  This is among many of the great warm up and mobility drills that are shown in the dvd.

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2 Awesome Ab Exercises

Tuesday, November 29th, 2011

Deep down inside everyone that works out would love to see their abs or what is known as a “6 pack”.  Yea some say they workout to stay healthy or to prevent injury or for various other reason but you can’t tell me that if given a choice they wouldn’t want a chiseled mid-section under that t-shirt just waiting to show it off.

Now if you don’t know this yet you are about to know that achieving that ripped midsection has more to do with what you stuff in your mouth than what exercises you select.  Getting lean enough to see your abs is nutrition based and you simply cannot out exercised poor eating.  Performing core work everyday for hours on end will not give you the abs your looking for if your stuffing calzones down your throat.

With that being said, today’s blog will be about choosing the best exercises for your core so that when you do shed those layers of body-fat your abs will look even that much better.  It is also about keeping your body healthy and a good core training routine should teach you how to use your abdominal while performing other tasks.

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5 Components to a Workout

Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011

Do Your Workouts Include These 5 Components?

To make sure you are covering all your bases with your training, you need to be including all 5 of the following components into your workout. If you include all of these you are going to enhance your  performance the right way…

1. Foam Rolling

I recommend everyone start their workout with a few minutes of Self Myofascial Release (SMR) otherwise known as foam rolling. In my facility even if you are late for a workout this is never skipped.  I would rather someone skip a set or two at the end of their workout than skip the foam rolling portion of their workout.

This is a great way to massage your muscles and improve the tissue quality so that your muscles will move more efficiently during the workout. It can also help promote mobility and flexibility in your muscles.  I suggest performing 5-10 rolls per muscle.

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2 Moves to Build a Strong Powerful Back

Tuesday, November 8th, 2011

The exercises below are both great movements to use if your goal is to get your back jacked up.  Both generate pure back strength and power and add a nice grip strength aspect as well.

The Rack Pull if done from higher pins allows you to generate more power and force from your lats, traps, and erectors.  The rack pull also  allows you to generate force from the ground up through your legs (especially your posterior chain), core and out through your arms into your grip. This is important for training because it teaches your body to allow force to transfer efficiently through your body without losing energy. (more…)

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10 Minutes to a Strong Core and Explosive Hips Using Only a Kettlebell

Tuesday, May 24th, 2011

Every athlete whether you are an NFL running back or a weekend warrior runner could use a stronger body. The most important area of the body that an athlete needs is the core and posterior chain. The posterior chain is responsible for any and every explosive movement known in the sports world whether it be running, jumping, hitting, grappling, swinging a bat, pitching a ball. They all have to do with how explosive one can be by using the calves, hamstrings, glutes, and spinal erectors which are known as the posterior chain.

The workout below is something I have been doing 2-3 times per week and it takes all of 10 minutes to do. It will improve your hip drive and protect your back all at the same time with very little time invested in it.

Men should use a 24kg or 32kg bell for both exercises and woman should use a 20kg or 24kg bell.

The two exercises are the kettlebell swing and the single arm farmers walk. It is a great coupling of exercises. What you want to do is pick a number of swings to complete whether that is 50 or 150 and do them in the least amount of sets possible until you can do all reps consecutively. So beginners pick 50 reps and perform as many reps as you can resting when needed until you reach 50 reps. If you can reach 50 reps no problem than go to 75 reps. Once you can get 75 reps in a row than go to 100 reps and so on and so forth. Make sure each kettlebell swing is clean, sharp and your hips snap making it an explosive hip thrust. Many people I see doing swings are using too much arm, too much back and not snapping their hips to perform the movement.

Once you have done all reps to complete the swings pick up your bell used in the swing and perform a farmers walk which is basically a walk holding the kettlebell at your side. Normal farmers walks are done with a weight in each hand. To unevenly load the core we are going to hold only one kettlebell and walk. Walk 25-50 yards and switch hands and repeat 2-4 times.

This simple workout is a quick and effective way to improve you hip drive which as mentioned earlier is a key component to every athlete as well as to a everday person looking to keep their hips healthy. It is also a great way to learn how to stabilize your core while moving.

Give this workout a try for a couple weeks and see how strong your back, core and hips feel!

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Bottoms Up for Grip Strength & Shoulder Health

Thursday, May 5th, 2011

In this blog and video below I want to go over some really awesome ways to improve your grip strength which will lead to a healthier shoulder.  Because of our lifestyles of driving countless hours to work, sitting at a computer all day or the many other unhealthy positions we put our body in on a daily basis I thought this would be a good time to talk about our shoulder and how we can make it STRONG.  The exercises shown below are not for the beginner or for the unhealthy shoulder.  They are for someone who has aches and pains in a somewhat healthy shoulder who may want to improve his strength in a weathered shoulder.

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Kettlebells are Cool

Wednesday, May 4th, 2011

So I have been throwing a bunch of kettlebell work back into the mix for both myself and our clients at The Training Studio and have been really enjoying it. I have gone through so many years of various training tools that sometimes I put certain ones away as I am learning some new ones and then the ones that are worth anything always seem to resurface in my programs. Well the kettlebell for me is definitely not the end all be all of training however they sure have their place in a solid training program and when in a crunch for time can be instrumental in getting a quick intense workout in.

Tonight I put together a nice workout for one of our group classes that consisted of only 2 sized kettlebells and it was a great workout. What you want to do is pick two different size bells for this workout and keep them by your side. You want to also have a interval timer like the gymboss.

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