Archive for September 2009
Sled Training Madness!
While squatting and deadlifting are my two lower body favorites, I’ve incorporated sled training a couple of times per week for some extra lower body work and conditioning. Sleds are a great way to build lower body power and strength. You drag, push, pull, any which way you want.
My sled is homemade and was incredibly cheap and easy to make. I just went down the street to a local tire shop and grabbed a used light truck tire. I went to Lowe’s grabbed an eye bolt, 1ft of chain, and a clip. I drilled a hole in the tire, inserted the eye bolt, attached the chain and clip, put an old rope through it, and viola! I think I spent a grand total of $4!
You can take it anywhere. All you need is some open space and a healthy dose of intensity. There have been many times where my sled has reduced me to a puddle in the middle of the street in front of my house! If you are not using sled training, you’re missing out on a great tool!
Check out the videos below to see how this cheap yet effect tool works!
I performed 5 rounds of this circuit and my legs were toast! Dragging on pavement or concreted grabs the bottom of the tire providing you with some extra resistance!
Below is another video with some upper body work using sleds with some sandbag training mixed in.
What are your favorite sled exercises?
Sometimes you have to think outside the box when it comes to training. If you’re lacking a barbell go down to your local tire dealer and make your own. Not having all the fancy stuff or access to a gym is NO EXCUSE not to train.
Stop making excuses and starting building up your homemade equipment collection.
The Missing Link to Muscle Growth
Lack of muscle growth for many individuals is sore subject. They train hard with great intensity but just don’t seem to be able to make they gains they’re looking for. So what’s the missing link? In a word, RECOVERY.
Unfortunately a lot of folks do a lot of things right but completely over look the importance of recovery work. If your body cannot recover from one training session to the next, its growth potential will be severely limited.
I like to either squat or deadlift twice per week. If I don’t put in the work to recover and take care of my body that second day of squatting or deadlifting is a waste of time. Sure, I can push through soreness to get the lift in but if I cannot attack the lift and that training session turns into a maintenance workout, which is not what I’m looking for. My ability to recover makes all the difference.
Before you think, “I don’t have time to do extra recovery work in the gym”, most recovery work can done away from the gym without taking up tons of your time. Below are a few recovery musts to ensure you continue to grow.
Food
We’ve all seen the EAS commercials with NFL quarterback Brady Quinn telling us not to waste our workout! I know he’s hocking EAS products but the message of the commercial is dead on. Your muscles need nutrients to grow and the easiest way to refuel your muscles after a tough training session is to eat within 60 minutes of your workout. Your post workout meal helps to refuel your muscle’s glycogen stores. Not only does this help with muscle recovery but prevents your body from using your muscle as fuel, promoting fat metabolism. The bottom line is your muscles need fuel to grow and recover and if they don’t get enough, you simply won’t grow.
Too bad he's not as good at quarterbacking as he is at training!
The Warm Up
I’m not a huge fan of stretching before you train. Your muscles are too cold and too tight to start pulling on them. Instead, I prefer movement based dynamic warm up. Movements such as walking toe touches, walking lunges, pushups, squats, and band pull aparts are my favorites. A movement based warm up will get your muscles warm and get your CNS firing. This is especially helpful if you’re still sore from the previous workout. I also like to use this on off days when my muscles are particularly sore. This will force blood into the sore muscles aiding in recovery without further exhausting them.
Soft Tissue Work
This might be the most neglected aspect of recovery. The easiest way to stimulate the soft tissue and to message the muscle is to use a foam roller, tennis or lacrosse ball, or message stick. Foam rolling helps to message the muscle, forcing blood into it, thus aiding in recovery. This is not the most pleasant experience in the world as I have been reduced to high pitched shrieks when using these methods. But trust me, you’ll feel like a million bucks afterward. Get rolling immediately after your workout. This type of soft tissue work will help reduce scar tissue build up, which over time can lead to muscles becoming extremely tight and achy. Foam rollers and message stick are wonderful but if you have a particular knot, my favorite is a lacrosse or tennis ball because you can really hone in on one spot. You can use the balls just like a roller or stick but they’re particularly helpful for those hard to reach areas of the back. Simply place the ball between you and a wall and start moving about. When you get to a tight spot keep the pressure for 15-30 seconds before moving on.
These three simple methods which can be done any place at any time are key to your body’s ability to grow. A few months back I made a concerted effort to be more consistent with my recovery work. As a result, I’ve recovered better than I ever have after and between particularly intense training sessions and made steady gains in strength and lean mass. I know it’s a cliche but I wish I would’ve know back then what I now know about the importance of recovery.
How to improve your Pull Ups and Chin Ups
Pull ups are your best friend if you want to develop rugged upper body strength and a muscular back. I’ll be honest with you, pull ups and chin ups are HARD! They are often a neglected exercise because they are so difficult and most people just are not good at doing them. But, just because something is hard doesn’t mean you should shelve the exercise! Here are few tips to help improve your pull ups.
Practice, Practice, Practice!
The only way to get good at pull ups is to do pull ups. With pull ups especially, practice makes perfect. Focus on sets with low reps. For example, if your max is 5 consecutive pull ups, try performing 3-5 sets of 2-3 reps. This will give you plenty of practice and sets of low reps will help you build strength and confidence.
Frequency is key as well. Perform pull ups or chins at least a couple of times per week. Remember, stick to your multiple sets of low reps. Try to add a rep to each set every week. If the first week you performed 5 sets of 2 reps (10 total pull ups), try to complete 5 sets of 3 reps. Don’t worry if you don’t get all 15 pull ups. Record the total number and keep working until you can get all 15 reps.
Set a Goal
Another way to improve your pulling power is to set a goal. Pick a total number of pull ups you want to complete and try to get to that number in as few sets as possible. If your target number is 30 and you knock them out in 6 sets, go for 5 sets next time.
Patience and Progression
Like I said above, people get discourage because they aren’t good at pull ups or they don’t think they’re improving. You are not going to go from from only do 5 consecutive pull ups to doing 20 in a couple of weeks or months. Improving a skill, such as performing pull ups takes time.
Don’t get discouraged. Even if you do just one more pull up than you did last week you ARE getting stronger. As long as you’re increasing your volume (either more sets or more reps per set) you’re progressing and getting stronger.
The Greatest Training Program in the World doesn’t mean Jack!
The greatest training program in the world does not mean a thing if your nutrition isn’t on point. The sad reality is most people will hit their local gym this evening after work tonight and completely waste their time. It will be a waste not because of poor planning or lack of intensity. It will be because their diet before they get there and after they leave will not be on point!
Most people get up in the morning and just grab a schmuffin and a Mountain Dew from Sheetz and don’t eat anything until about 1pm which probably is some kind of fast food option or vending machine delicacy.
They hit the gym on an empty stomach, work their tails off, go home and either eat everything in sight because they’re starving or grab something quick on the ride home.
Whether you’re trying to build muscle or burn fat, your diet, nutrition, meal planning, whatever you what to call it has to be be top notch. Nutrition is probably 90% of the muscle building/fat loss equation, if not more.
Below are a few tips to help you tighten up your nutrition.
1. Eat More Fat!
That’s right, I said it! If you’re trying to add muscle and or lose fat, you have to get enough dietary fat. Dietary fat is calorie dense and helps with muscle building as well as fat burning. Fish oil, macadamian nut oil, and olive oil are excellent sources. Add at least a tablespoon daily. Fish oil is a must. Everyone should get 6-12 grams of fish oil per day.
2. Eat More Whole Foods
Try to get the majority of your calories from whole, natural, and unprocessed foods. Fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, and lean cuts of meat pack a heck of punch. They’ll give you the proper amounts of fat, protein, and carbs needed to add slabs of lean muscle while helping you burn the fat.
3. Hydrate
If you’re not getting a gallon of water a day start doing so ASAP. Proper hydration ensures all your body’s proccesses function properly. It also is a huge aid in recovery. If you aren’t recovering properly, not only will your training suffer, your metabolism could as well. Stay away from sodas and juices. Not only do they provide you with empty calories, many sodas and juices have chemicals in them that leech valuable nutrients from your body causing you to become dehydrated.
4. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. If you’re not eating breakfast every morning you should be. After a good night’s sleep your body is in a fasted state and is screaming for nourishment. It revs up your metabolism and prepares you for the day. Oh here is a plus, it should be your 2nd largest meal of the day next to your post workout meal.
5. …ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Proper rest is critical. At least 6 hours a night is ideal. If you can get more do so. Sleep aids in recovery. In fact, growth hormone release is highest at night, aiding in muscle building as well as fat loss. The best way to ensure you get enough rest is to give yourself a bed time!
Put these tips to good use, tighten up your diet and your results should dramatically improve.
Training and nutrition go hand in hand. Both have to be on point in order to achieve success!
Sandbag Complexes
Sandbags aren't just for dudes!
I love sandbags!
They are a great tool to mix in with your regular training. Sandbags will make your whole body strong, from you core to your grip.
Today I decided to do a full body workout with just sandags. Rather than do the traditional sets and reps workout, I decided to thrown in some complexes to mix things up a little bit.
A complex is a series of exercises done consecutively without putting down your implement. Complexes can be done with barbells, dumbbells, sandbags, med balls, etc. A complex must be at least two exercises but can include as many as you want. Your only limit is your imagination.
Check out my sandbag complex workout I put together this morning and let me know what you think.
The whole workout looked like this:
Complex #1
1a. Clean – 5 reps
1b. Squat – 5 reps
1c. Overhead Press – 5 reps
1d. Reverse Lunge – 5 reps ea. leg
I did 3 rds with 70lb bag and 2 rounds with the 95lb bag.
Complex #2
2a. Shoulder – 5 reps ea. side
2b. Squat – 10 reps
(for this one I shouldered the bag, squatted down and returned the bag to the ground for a total of 5 reps shouldered, and 10 squats)
For good measure I finished with 5 rounds of 20 sledge swings (10 ea. side) and 20 reps of band curls and triceps extension.
What’s your favorite complex? I can be sandbag, barbell, dumbbell, or whatever.
Let’s hear it!
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