Archive for the ‘Conditioning’ Category

Swole 101: The Elusive Quest for a Six Pack

Thursday, October 20th, 2011
Female and Male Abs

Nowadays, it seems everyone is after a toned midsection. Some people won’t even stop until they achieve shredded washboard abs. A six pack has come to be an important quest for many persons, however, many are misled as to the method to obtain it.

One common misconception is that cardiovascular exercise is the most important aspect of dialing in a six pack. Another misconception is that doing 1000 crunches a day is most important. Wrong on both accounts! Diet possibly plays the greatest role in obtaining a six pack. Let’s see why.

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HIRT and Swolen

Wednesday, September 21st, 2011
Cleans

HIRT and Swolen is a High Intensity Resistance Training routine that you can use to either burn fat, build muscle, or maybe even both. It is a circuit of compound exercises performed back-to-back-to-back without rest (sometimes called a giant set), followed by a taxing abdominal superset.

You can use HIRT and Swolen twice a week with light weight in addition to your standard workout routine, if you are looking to get ripped. If your only goal is to build muscle, then use more weight and opt for 90 seconds rest between sets, but be careful not to overtrain if you are still performing your standard workout routine.

Prescription:

  • 5 sets
  • 5 reps per set
  • no rest during the set, that means no rest between exercise and no rest between reps
  • 1 rep means you have to complete each of the exercises back-to-back-to-back once
  • Level 1: 90 seconds rest between sets
  • Level 2: 60 seconds rest between sets
  • Level 3: 30 seconds rest between sets

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Jillian Michaels RIPPED in 30 FREE DVD Giveaway

Tuesday, September 20th, 2011
Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30
Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30

I still have 8 of these babies to give away to YOU for free!
1 winner will be chosen every Friday from 9/23/11 – 11/11/11!

Update!

That’s right, I gave away a dozen or so of these DVDs back before it ever came out. Now, 6 months later, everyone loves the DVD and I seem to have uncovered another 8 copies! They don’t do anyone any good sitting around my computer, so instead of selling them, I’m going to give them away.

All you have to do is follow the simple qualifying instructions, and you could win a copy too. All previous entries are null and void, so lets restart this campaign and give some DVDs away for free.

I’m sure plenty of you will enjoy working out at home in your living room instead of dragging your butt to the gym. Actually the Jillian workout would be great for anyone looking to take a day off from weight training, and it would be perfect for anyone who regularly works out at home, especially those who use DVD workouts.

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How to Mix HIIT and Endurance Cardio

Monday, August 1st, 2011

How to Effectively Combine HIIT Sessions with Endurance Cardio

Ripped Woman

Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention please: walking or jogging for hours on the treadmill, peddling for hours on the stationary bike, climbing a mountain on the StairMaster, and plodding away on the elliptical trainer is NOT the best way to burn calories!

We’ve seen a hundred studies telling us that high intensity interval training (HIIT) burns more calories and fat, speeds up your metabolism, and is less catabolic than hours of endurance cardio. HIIT can also be far less boring, will actually help you build more muscle tissue, and increases your resting metabolic rate.

HIIT: Twenty minutes of HIIT cardio improves your VO2 max, burns a ton of calories, increases your metabolism, and maintains or builds muscle tissue all at once.

vs.

Endurance Cardio: Sixty minutes of endurance cardio is not only boring as hell, it also increases cortisol, burns muscle tissue (protein) for energy, and halts protein synthesis.
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How to do Windshield Wipers for Ripped Abs

Wednesday, July 27th, 2011

I’ll get around to writing up a more detailed explanation shortly. For now, here’s a great video showing you how to do windshield wipers. It’s not an easy exercise but it will pay off with wonderous results.

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Gymnastics Training is Tough but it Won’t Turn You Into a Bodybuilder

Wednesday, June 1st, 2011

Someone, I think in the forums or maybe in a comment to another post, asked earlier today why gymnasts are so muscular even though they don’t lift weights, and if starting gymnastics training would be a good idea for him to gain muscle.

Regarding the question “why are gymnasts so muscular?” I direct your attention to the following video, which captures mere school girls training for gymnastics. Observe the 5 million jumps, flips, hand stands, band training, and sprinting. Even when you use only bodyweight for these exercises, the power and repetitions over time are going to build really strong muscles – in the core, arms, legs, everywhere.
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How to do Box Jumps

Wednesday, April 27th, 2011
Woman Box Jumps

How to do Box Jumps

Box jumps are a great exercise for your legs, and can be performed on just about any variable flat surface. They hit your posterior chain – calves, quads, glutes, and hamstrings – pretty hard.

Box jumps can be used for cardio workouts, neural activation training (NAT), high intensity resistance training (HIRT), and high intensity interval training (HIIT) circuits. They are often used in CrossFit WODs (Workout of the Day), and are a staple exercise in plyometric training. Plyometrics have a wide range of athletic and real sporting applications; they are used, for example, to increase jumping ability, leg strength, hip drive, and explosiveness.

Box jumps are a simple movement. They require you only to jump from one flat surface up onto another flat surface, then either step or jump back down, depending on the purpose of the exercise.

What if You Can’t Perform Box Jumps?

To excel at box jumps, you have to develop strength, flexibility, speed, power, coordination and balance. Without a basic foundation in these core exercise stills, you should not attempt a box jump, and whatever you do, don’t follow the box jump tips at eHow unless you never want to know how to do proper box jumps.

Be sure you are comfortable with bodyweight squats. If you can’t do bodyweight squats then you’ve got a real problem and should not be attempting box jumps.
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The No-Gym Workout Routine

Friday, April 15th, 2011

Update: Here’s an old post I put together right quick for someone who just needs a quick workout at home. Originally posted on May 3, 2007.

At times you will find yourself unable to get to the gym or dojo. Things in life just happen. So we do we do in a time like this? Strongmen will find that keeping various equipments around the house such as a sled, a large tire, a yoke, a keg, a sledgehammer, or even a 10lb wedge for splitting logs, will keep us completely satisfied when we need to workout but can’t make it to the gym. Therefore, this article is targeted more towards the people that are vacationing or on a business trip away from home, and perhaps for those strongmen that want a change from log presses, keg carries, and truck pulls, for a week or so.
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P90X Male Weight Loss Testimonials

Wednesday, March 16th, 2011

Order P90XWith so many at-home cookie-cutter workout routines out there, I figured it would be a great idea to discuss one of the best: P90X. After all, P90X is pretty cheap compared to paying a gym membership and hiring a personal trainer.

Will P90X turn you into a bodybuilder, a powerlifter, an Olympic gymnast, a marathon runner, or a sport-specific athlete? Oh, hell no!

Could P90X possibly get you in the best shape of your life with a minimal initial investment? Could P90X strengthen your body, improve your cardiovascular fitness, help heal nagging injuries, and dial in your 6-pack abs for summer? Oh, hell yes!

Click here to check out all of the Project Swole P90X articles, tips, tricks, hints, and reviews.

P90X Has Transformed These Five Men

Dale Bramall, Altaf Rahamatulla, Kellend Brookover, Nick Baker, and Derek Wheatley all have written testimonials about their motivation for and their journey using P90X workout DVD and their full weight loss program, which is a 90 day program with an exercise DVD, training in how to portion foods, which foods to choose, and a coaching system that has worked very well for all five of these men.

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I Have 10 More Copies of Jillian Michaels DVD Ripped in 30 to Give Away

Thursday, March 10th, 2011
Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30
Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30

If you don’t know, well now ya know!

Bad news first

The sixth copy of the new Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30 DVD that I had planned on giving away to a lucky Project Swole reader had gone missing. It was recently found to have been destroyed by a dog. It is not salvageable and will never be given away.

Now the good news

The publishing company has sent me 10… count them TEN… more Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30 DVDs to give away for FREE.

Therefore, for the next 10 weeks I am going to give away one copy of the DVD every Monday night, starting on 3/14/11.

You can find the original post with all the qualifying instructions here:

Jillian Michaels DVD Ripped in 30 Giveaway

It is very easy to qualify… over 30 people have qualified to date. Just check out that post at the link above and follow the instructions.

I’m closing the comments on this post because I don’t want any activity here. Whatever you have to say or ask about the FREE DVD, please submit a comment at the original post.

Thanks for playing!

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