Archive for the ‘Conditioning’ Category
Thursday, February 28th, 2013
Everything You Need to Know Barbell Complexes
Hitting a plateau can drive you insane. Some people take months just to bump their bench press up by five pounds. A plateau is a good indicator that there’s something about your routine that just isn’t working for you anymore, and it means that it’s time for a change. Adding barbell complexes to your routine is a great technique for breaking plateaus. Barbell complexes are difficult, requiring you to perform several barbell exercises in a row as one set with no rest in between sets.
Benefits of Barbell Complexes
As a form of cardio, barbell complexes have several benefits over traditional cardio workouts. Barbell complexes burn a ton of calories but do not release cortisol the same way traditional cardio does. Cortisol is a stress hormone partly responsible for inducing fat storage in the body. However, barbell complexes release anabolic hormones that help you cut fat, making barbell complexes a great tool for cutting fat while you get out of your plateau.
The time required for traditional cardio can also be a bit of a drag, clocking in at thirty minutes or more. Barbell complexes are very fast-paced, and depending on how many sets you do, you may finish in ten to fifteen minutes – half the time of traditional cardio.
(more…)
Tags: barbell complex, cleans, Conditioning, exercise, fitness, Olympic complex, overhead press, snatch, Weight Training, weightlifting
Posted in Conditioning, HIIT Routines, HIRT Routines, Weight Training | No Comments »
Thursday, January 31st, 2013
Everyone knows that to have visible abs, a good clean diet is absolutely essential to get rid of the fat covering them. However, this article is about creating bullet proof abs, not flimsy beach abs. The type of abs that are useful in sports, taking punches to the stomach, and that make for a strong core.
Having a strong core helps prevent back pain, so don’t skimp on regular abdominal work!
-
Static Holds
Having the strength to hold your body in a certain position is key in several ways. There are examples of static hold training being useful for every day situations, and for athletic endeavors.
When you’re driving, activating your core to support your spine will release stress on your back, and bring your shoulders into better alignment. When you are rock climbing and stabilizing your body to keep it from moving, or trying not to move your upper torso back and forth while running… static holds are everywhere.
Some key exercises to perform are planks, both on your hands in the push up position, on your elbows, and on your sides using one hand. An even more advanced position is raising one leg on your side – known as the starfish pose (right) – which causes a lot of imbalance and seriously engages your core.
Still too easy? Try adding a weight vest or holding a dumbbell or kettlebell overhead with your free arm.
(more…)
Tags: ab workout, abdominals, abs, exercise, fitness, six pack, tips, workout
Posted in Best Exercises, Conditioning, Fitness Tips | 1 Comment »
Sunday, January 6th, 2013
If you are the type of person who enjoys physical fitness, then you’ve no doubt tried several different types of exercise, from basics like jogging, cycling, and swimming, to instructional classes in yoga, Pilates, and step aerobics, to workout DVDs for P90X or Insanity. But if you’re looking for an up-and-coming exercise regimen that is going to continue to challenge you for a while, then perhaps Crossfit should be on your radar.
The only real caveat with this intense form of exercise is that it is all too easy to injure yourself if you’re not careful. Since you are pushing yourself to your physical limits with timed circuits that require you to fit as many reps into the allotted time as possible, you’ll find that you tire long before you’re through. So it’s not only important to know your limits, but also to observe proper form in every exercise. Here’s why.
(more…)
Tags: Crossfit, exercise, fitness, form, health, safety, technique, workout
Posted in Conditioning, Exercise Technique, Fitness Tips, Injuries | No Comments »
Friday, June 29th, 2012
Any physical activity makes you expend more energy and as a result, if you are an active person, you will burn fat. Normally, the body will transform carbohydrates into energy. However, fat is used as fuel for metabolism and movement.
You could also use thermogenic foods and supplements, such as caffeine and hot peppers, to facilitate faster results, but diet and high intensity exercise are the two top ways to lose weight fast.
Weight Training and Burning Fat
Aside from a sensible diet, your fat loss program should include physical activities such as weight training and conditioning drills. However, the training sessions should implement an appropriate fat loss strategy for optimal results. Training with heavier weights and fewer reps has shown in numerous studies to preserve muscle mass on a low calorie diet, increase strength, stimulate fat burning, and elevate metabolism.
It is a common myth that we should train with low weight and high reps when trying to lose fat – that strategy is just a prescription for strength and muscle loss.
(more…)
Tags: burn fat, cardio, fat loss, intensity, intervals, lose fat, lose weight, weight lifting, weight loss, Weight Training
Posted in Conditioning, Fitness Tips, Weight Training | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 12th, 2012
How to Eat Properly When Running to Lose Weight
Aside from getting out there and running some serious interval sprints, losing weight is a matter of calories in versus calories out.
When it comes to the burning side, running is one of the best training programs out there for burning the extra pounds and keeping them off for good. Not only that, running is cardiovascular exercise per excellence, thus doing it a regular basis will boost your endurance levels, help you ward off heart related problems, and get you in the best shape of your life.
Nonetheless, backing up your running program with a proper diet is the surest way for permanent weight loss results. For that, here are the diet guidelines you’ll need to lose the weight without sacrificing performance and energy for the workout.
(more…)
Tags: cardio, Conditioning, fat loss, lose fat, lose weight, run, running, sprinting, sprints, weight loss
Posted in Conditioning, Diet | No Comments »
Monday, May 14th, 2012
Want massive forearms?
Aside from freaky traps, lumpy forearms are an excellent way to tell if someone is strong. Forget about pecs, biceps, even legs. If you are hella strong, you will most likely have thick, meaty traps and forearms. In order to get sick forearms, you have to use a variety of grip and forearm training.
Here is an interesting exercise called the Double Rope Climb. This is great training for both forearms and grip. Unfortunately it is Not easy to implement unless you have two strong ropes and something on which to anchor them. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t last long if I tried this.
This is another exercise that could be performed on back day, for conditioning drills, on “arm day” if you have an “arm day”, in a grip training routine, during circuit training, or integrated into a HIIT routine.
Watch out for that rope burn!
(more…)
Tags: finger strength, forearms, grip, hand strength, training, videos
Posted in Conditioning, Exercise Technique, Videos | No Comments »
Friday, May 11th, 2012
Here is a great plyometric exercise that you probably never do. It can be used in HIIT training or any other kind of conditioning workout. You can even use it at the end of a leg workout to really kill those wheels.
How to use this single exercise for a 20-25 minute HIIT workout:
- Lie on your belly, on the floor, jump up to a standing position, then immediately jump up onto a box. Very simple.
- Do 5 sets of 5 reps with 30-45 seconds rest between sets. Execute the reps as fast as possible with good form.
- Take 3 minutes to rest and do some ab work – maybe some fold-ups or something.
- Do another 5 sets of 5 reps.
- Finish up with 3 more minutes of abs.
Stretch for 3-5 minutes.
HIIT workout complete!
Watch the Prone to Box Jumps video below.
(more…)
Tags: fat loss, jumping, jumps, legs, lose fat, lose weight, plyometrics, plyos, weight loss
Posted in Conditioning, HIIT Routines, Videos | 2 Comments »
Sunday, May 6th, 2012
If you want a debriefing on my most recent stance on endurance cardio versus high intensity intervals, check out this post:
High Intensity Intervals are Far Superior to Endurance Cardio
Once you understand how useful HIIT training is for fat loss, read about the following routines that you can use to burn fat and get in awesome cardiovascular shape.
(more…)
Tags: cardio, cardiovascular, Conditioning, fat loss, fitness, lose fat, lose weight, routines, training, weight loss, Workout Routines
Posted in Conditioning, HIIT Routines, Workout Routines | 1 Comment »
Thursday, October 20th, 2011
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.
(more…)
Tags: 6 pack, ab training, abdominals, abs, bodybuilding, Diet, myth, myths, nutrition, six pack, swole 101
Posted in Bodybuilding, Conditioning, Diet, Fitness Tips, HIIT Routines | 5 Comments »
Wednesday, September 21st, 2011
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
(more…)
Tags: circuit training, Conditioning, fat loss, fitness, hirt, lose fat, lose weight, Olympic lifts, resistance training, weight loss
Posted in Conditioning, HIRT Routines, Weight Training, Workout Routines | 13 Comments »
Tuesday, September 20th, 2011
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.
(more…)
Tags: celebrity, dvd, fat loss, giveaway, Jillian Michaels, lose fat, lose weight, Ripped in 30, weight loss
Posted in Celebrity, Conditioning, Motivation, Product Reviews, Social Networking, Workout Routines | 143 Comments »
Monday, August 1st, 2011
How to Effectively Combine HIIT Sessions with Endurance Cardio
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.
(more…)
Tags: cardio, cardiovascular, endurance, exercise, fat loss, hiit, lifting, lose fat, training, Weight Training, weightlifting, workout
Posted in Conditioning, Fitness Tips, HIIT Routines | 11 Comments »
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.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvN7uGX5QP4
Tags: 6 pack, ab training, abs, adominals, Conditioning, exercise, fitness, ripped abs, windshield wipers
Posted in Conditioning, Videos | No Comments »
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.
(more…)
Tags: bodybuilding, Conditioning, gymnastics
Posted in Bodybuilding, Conditioning, Kids, Sports, Videos | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, April 27th, 2011
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.
(more…)
Tags: ankles, box jumps, calves, glutes, hamstrings, hips, jumping, knees, legs, plyometrics, posterior chain, quadriceps, quads
Posted in Conditioning, Exercise Technique, Weight Training, Workout of the Day | 1 Comment »
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.
(more…)
Tags: body weight, Conditioning, Workout Routines
Posted in Business, Conditioning, Workout Routines | 12 Comments »
Wednesday, March 16th, 2011
With 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.
(more…)
Tags: Conditioning, dvd, exercise, fat loss, fitness, lose fat, lose weight, P90X, routine, Testimonials, weight loss, Weight Training, workout, workout routine, Workout Routines
Posted in Conditioning | 1 Comment »
Thursday, March 10th, 2011
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!
Tags: celebrity, dvd, fat loss, free, giveaway, Jillian Michaels, lose fat, lose weight, Ripped in 30, weight loss
Posted in Celebrity, Conditioning, Motivation, Product Reviews, Workout Routines | No Comments »
Tuesday, November 9th, 2010
SMASH YOUR WAY TO NEW RESULTS!
Justin Woltering of JustinWoltering.com writes today’s guest post. Justin has years of experience perfecting his exercise and nutrition program. He has spent countless hours mastering training flexibility, core strength, power and speed, cardiovascular fitness, and meditation. Having trained, and trained with, powerlifters, martial artists, bodybuilders, and various athletes, Justin knows what it takes to gain muscle, lose fat, or get into peak physical condition.
Are you tired of your current routine?
Do you want to increase athletic performance while creating the ideal physique?
If so, then try this sledgehammer and kettlebell workout to get better results then ever before.
(more…)
Tags: build mass, build muscle, Conditioning, Guest Post, Justin Woltering, kettlebell, muscle building, sledgehammer
Posted in Conditioning, Workout Routines | 10 Comments »
Friday, September 3rd, 2010
I found this great slideshow on Men’s Health yesterday depicting a 175 lbs Men’s Health editor working in with NFL football star Dwight Freeney during one of Freeney’s offseason workouts. It is hilarious, fun, interesting, and educational all at the same time.
You will get an idea of how NFL players train in the offseason, which you can then use to add some conditioning drills to your own workout routine. The modified MH workout routine at the end of the slideshow leaves something to be desired, but the slidehow itself is worth your time.
Who is Dwight Freeney?
Dwight Freeney is a 6’1″ 270-pound, Pro Bowl defensive end and all-time sack leader for the Indianapolis Colts. He is powerful, explosive, fast, and generally pretty intimidating. Peep the slidehow:
The Dwight Freeney Workout
Tags: Conditioning, football, nfl
Posted in Conditioning, Sports | No Comments »
\
