Squats

                 IT'S TRUE! SQUATS DO MAKE YOU SEXY!

NO EXCUSES!!!!!!!

Pimp That Push Up

The push up,
a solid staple in bodyweight training and always a test of strength and endurance when joining the Military forces, or fire fighting services.
so why do so many people look on it as inferior? always preferring to bench press!
the versatility of it alone makes it stand out, you can perform it anywhere, there are many ways to modify it and progress it and keep it fresh interesting and downright challenging.

Here are some ways to keep this foundation movement at the top of your go to list, try some of these progressions and rediscover one of the greatest most versatile exercise's of all time.

Feet elevated 

Hand to hand med ball

Tiger Press

Step out's

Extended

Crucifix

 Feet Elevated Pike (Shoulder Emphasis)

These are just a few of the variations I use myself and have used with clients over the years with great results, concentrate on your technique and play around with tempo,rep ranges, pyramids, sets, and I'm positive you too will fall back in love with this classic and versatile drill.

put it all together

Feet Elevated 10KG Vest Close Grip Med Ball

And of course there is always the holy grail of push up's the handstand push up! which I am still working towards.

In To The Lair Of The THING!

So todays post is video footage of the THING taking some of the guys through a simple circuit geared towards strength and fight conditioning,
some of you regular viewers of this blog will recognize Neo from the Sunday madness workouts we
also have Mustafa and I am happy to say Neo's dad! who has decided he is going to show these young
whipper snappers how its done!

On with the show,

Nice simple hand walkouts as a warm up

Incidently Yes that is the macarena playing in the background 

just another facet of the THINGS evil nature is his choice in workout music! There is something truly sadistic and unnerving about being expected to perform 3 rounds of sparring at the end of a workout with a large muscular heavily tattooed man to the sound of Boy george's Karma chameleon!

To this day on particularly bad nights I find myself wrenched from my sleep sitting bolt up right in bed drenched in sweat heart racing  screaming "RED GOLD AND GREEEEEEN" 

Some scars never heal!

Next a light circuit

Still on the light stuff

Still warming up!

The Fun Begins

And we are off! Vests and all

Some shadow Boxing To Get Those Arms And Shoulders Working

And of course it just wouldn't be a THING workout without someone being punched in the face! so some light sparring to keep that heart rate up, Neo is nursing an injured jaw from being knocked down by the THING the previous day so you have to admire his tenacity

Mustafa Gloves Up

Big Daddy Says "Let Me At Him"

The last time I saw foot work like this was in a Fred Astair movie!


More torture as we move on to grappling, This as a finisher will really sap whatever energy you have left in the tank! anyone who has never tried grappling cannot appreciate just how draining it is, plus nothing says "I love you mate" quite like a knee to the ribs! only true friends dare to show this type of affection in public.

Mustafa shows he is formidable in the arena

So there we have it a nice weight plate and bodyweight circuit geared towards conditioning this is typical of the THINGS approach to training these days with lots of burpee style drills plyometrics and weighted carry's 

What Are You Training For?

What are you training for?

I have read lots of articles on this subject, there are fitness professionals who seem to think that if you are not training for a specific goal then your training is pointless! 
But what if you are training for life?

What if the point of your training is just to feel fitter stronger happier or just good about yourself!

I know plenty of people who once competed in sports but no longer do, who now train just because it's part of who they are, likewise people who have never competed in anything
Like myself I can remember only twice in my entire life ever playing a full 90 minutes of football, people who are training so they will be around to see their kids grow up.

I did not get in to working out until my early twenties, and that was mainly focused on the bodybuilding body part split style training and the main goal was to just get bigger, I was never sporty in fact as my dear old mum used to say "you were born tired" my training interests had nothing to do with performance or strength or agility or flexibility, just plain old improved self esteem! So I could look healthier feel healthier & stronger feel more confident and relaxed in social situations, and not be the runt of the litter.

Is this not a worthy goal worth training for? A lot of the clients I train are in the 40 to 50 year old category myself included, they don't give a shit about six pack abs or getting shredded! Or benching 300lbs or deadlifting 600+

Most people just want to enjoy their lives stay strong fit healthy and active! and eat a pork knuckle once in a while when they feel like it have a few beers or wines at the weekend.

If this makes you a happy more confident person then more power to you, try and keep a balance enjoy the things in life that give you pleasure just do some work to balance it out,
If you have specific goals that's great, if you don't that's also great, work your movement patterns push, pull, squat, lunge, throw, rotate, hip hinge, carry, all these movements will come in to play at some point throughout your daily life mix up your modalities try sandbags, kettle bells, clubs, slosh pipes, body weight, calisthenics, Olympic lifts, suspension training, do anything that feels good and makes you work.
Take a GPP approach general physical preparedness.

And the next time someone asks "what are you training for" ? Tell them "LIFE"

Thankyou

 Thankyou
To all the people around the world who have stopped by this blog, whether by accident or you were looking for it specifically it has now passed 100.000 page views!
I hope you all found something informative or entertaining when arriving here.

DEAD HANGS

The Dead Hang

A sure fire way to get your arms growing, tighten your abs, strengthen your back, and seriously improve your grip strength.

Get yourself to a pull up bar take a supinated grip (or chin up grip) pull your self up get your chin over the bar lock your self in position And stay there, It's as simple as that!

Set your self a time goal if this is new to you start of conservatively with anything from 10 to 20 second holds. 

Be sure to concentrate on your breathing as with any isometric type contraction, if you hold your breath your blood pressure will rise! 

Don't snatch at the bar on the initial pull, take a firm grip think about the muscles you will be using and pull yourself up in to position recruit the maximum amount of motor units.

Once in position concentrate on breathing and repeat over and over 

'MY WINGS ARE LIKE A SHIELD OF STEEL!"

anyone who grew up watching Batfink will recognize this cartoon reference, but it will take your mind off the lactic acid burning in pretty much the whole of your upper body.

You can do these with your arms straight and solely work on grip strength but why miss out on recruiting all that upper body musculature? more bang for your buck and the more muscle recruitment the better.

Most people are quite surprised at the amount of core activation they get from a few sets of dead hangs, also glute activation. 

Of course you can do this with all manner of grips supinated, pronated, mixed, and if your a badass try hanging from a couple of towels if you want a set of forearms that will send Popeye green with envy! and once you are proficient 1 min or more, you can add load ie weight vest or simply hang a dumbbell / kettle bell between your feet.

If you are feeling adventurous try the inverted dead hang.

This is a basic precursor to preparing for the front lever.

And if your grip fails here it's a fractured skull as 1st prize! always fun to up the stakes.

Add in some hangs with your normal sets of chin/pull ups after every 3 reps hang for 3 seconds this will probably reduce your total amount of reps but will add a new challenge to your pull up workout and ramp up that time under tension.

Dont I know it!

Change Your Approach Increase Your Gains

Anyone who has spent significant time training will know that if you do not cycle your parameters 
your training will stall, lots of people on the other hand change their parameters too often not allowing time for a program to be effective.
I will admit I have a short attention span when it comes to training but have found that the simpler I keep the workout the more focused I am!
replacing exercises with movement patterns, a typical workout for me will involve a push a pull a hip hinge and a squat one workout the push and pull will be horizontal the next vertical for example


Workout 1:


1, Pull up


2, KB Clean & Press


3, Goblet Squat 


4, KB Swing


Workout 2:


1, Weighted Push Up


2, KB Row


3, Single Leg Deadlift 


4, Walking Lunge


Whenever I get the chance I will include a weighted carry either as part of my warm up main component or as a finisher,
Using this simple template allows me lots of scope to progress whilst not getting bored with any one workout and I can change the parameters as I see fit if my focus is strength I will adopt a 5x5 set rep scheme if more hypertrophy focused I will take a 4x8 approach so on and so on if I want to add a conditioning element I will keep the reps fairly high and keep my rest periods to a minimum every once and a while I will throw in the Gironda 8x8 scheme with minimal rest to overload the muscles!
but these are tried and tested parameters there are no rules really if you are one of those people who has been doing 3x10 since the day you set foot in the gym turn your training on its head! jack up the weight and do 10x3 and I promise you it will be a revelation, just remember when using a rep scheme like this it means using a weight that you can literally only lift 3 times!  alternatively if you are used to 3x10 try 1x30 with a weight slightly lighter than you normally use make it a battle trust me the pump you will receive will be phenomenal and sometimes exactly what is needed to get you out of a rut and back on the road to making quality gains!


play around with your parameters but give any one approach enough time to become beneficial I generally try to change parameters every 3/4 weeks but will stick to a basic template of movement patterns.


For mobility try adding in some animal movements I generally use them in my warm up 


1, BEAR CRAWL 50FT


2, CRAB WALK  50FT


3, SIDE APE 50FT


4, FROG HOPS 50FT


they can also be a great addition when included in a strength or conditioning program as a main component doing frog hops directly after a set of fairly heavy squats will make you feel like your legs are on fire! and as a bonus there is heaps of core activation when utilizing these types of movements and above all they are fun!


so give it a try play around with your set up and start making new gains.

2 Reasons to Start Training

 If you find yourself with a huge wobbly butt on the front of your body,

                                                        START TRAINING!!!!!!


If you find a bigger set of boobs on your back than on your chest,

                                       START TRAINING!!!!!!

Golden Moments

So in celebration of finally being able to figure out iMovie  here is a golden moment from one of the Sunday madness sessions 
THE HILL BILLY HELL CLIMB!
we loaded the THING up with as much weight as we could get him to agree too
then sent him off up a steep hill Marvelous!

I know he has fond memories of this day and dreams of one day going back to that hill and sending me up it!!!!!

New Toys for The Boys!

It has been a while since I posted anything, I have been

Busy working but had a chance to do a spot of conditioning with the THING!

Which I hate! but wanted him to try out the Python Striker I have been using it with clients mostly for bear crawls  mountain climbers & squat thrusts and it has been very popular, but it is originally designed to add resistance to strikes to improve combat training hence the name, anyway after a few rounds of being punched around the room we shot some videos.

First Round  

Brett is doing  4 rounds 24/24 sec split bike sprints and sprawl hops with mouth guard head gear and gloves

The THING is weighing in at about 115kg / 253lbs at the moment! which never ceases to amaze me how a man who allegedly lives on soup and protein powder can have his level of musculature and level of conditioning, although whenever we are together we consume a vast array of dead animals so I think maybe there is not as much soup eating going on as he claims!

Fourth Round

Now on to the new toy phase, Brett puts the Python striker through it's paces 3 rounds on the grappling bag working punches, knees,  kicks, and elbow strikes.

 

Here is a Mountain climber push up combo which works well using a kind of tabatta approach 20 sec lower body 20 upper body whilst the whole time engaging the core and shoulder girdle, rest for 10 seconds then repeat as many rounds as you like.

Each band is 25lbs resistance so will quickly sap your energy and force you to focus on your balance and coordination as you begin to fatigue.

Finally some conservative 24"  Plyo jumps, making up for the lack of height with a 10 kg vest, would have been best to start of with these to get the CNS fired up but hey, also not a good idea to do them after a day of heavy squats and walking lunges!

NUFF SAID!!!

Farmers Walk

The Farmers walk
challenging fun and damn effective, a staple in Strongman competition and training this simple straightforward drill has multiple benefits, you can use a whole host of implements to perform this drill dumbbells, kettle bells,  weight plates, dedicated farmer walk handles, jerry cans basically anything thats weighted you can grab and walk with.

1, Improved grip and forearm strength

Improving your grip strength will have positive carry over into all aspects of your training 
the grip is often the limiting factor for most people in lifts such as pull ups / chin ups deadlifts &
all types of rows you will even see a benefit in pressing movements with an improved grip.

2, improved core strength

Everyone with half an ounce of strength knowledge will now that without a strong core everything else fails! 
The farmers walk and its variations will substantially increase core activation during training! switch this to a waiters walk (holding the weight above your head) and you will see just how much core activation there is from this drill.

3, improved posture and upper back strength

In todays world with so many people working at desks for long hours weak upper back muscles are all to common leading to a rounding of the shoulders and bad posture.
During the Farmers walk the upper back muscles Rhomboids and upper Trapezius are effectively recruited and activated helping to reverse this imbalance and correct bad posture issues.

4, Improved ankle strength and balance

Walking with weighted loads will help improve ankle strength and stability which is beneficial to all human beings regardless we all have to walk at some point.

5, Improved strength and stability in the knee joint

Injured and torn ACL'S are becoming more and more common even in average people let alone athletes
improving the musculature around the knee joint such as theVMO (vastus medialis) the tear drop shaped muscle near the knee so prized by Bodybuilders will help prevent this.

6, Overall improved work capacity

Including repeated weighted carries as a warm up / finisher or as a main component to your workout will undoubtedly lead to an improved anaerobic work capacity.

7, Improved endurance 

Using weighted carry variations as a metabolic finisher to your training sessions is a great way to improve your endurance, the sheer level of overall muscle recruitment needed to execute this drill makes it the perfect way to drain the tank and push yourself that bit further and closer to your goals.


8, Fat loss


The Farmers walk has also proven to be an effective tool in the pursuit of fat loss, due to the high intensity and overall level of muscle recruitment.

G.P.P and Functional Strength & Fitness

G.P.P (general physical preparedness) 


My training philosophy has pretty much been consistent throughout my professional career 
as I am not a competing or recreational athlete or member of any amateur sport team nor do I have the desire to be, I use the much dreaded term "functional" to my philosophy 
Functional  means different things to different people, to me and in line with what I have always preached as my own personal philosophy functional means direct application to everyday life!
as the majority of clients I work with are everyday people from all walks of life who generally want to improve their strength, fitness, posture, body composition, some play sports recreationally i.e. tennis, rugby, boxing, badminton, some climb, hike, take tai chi classes, swim, but some do none of these things some only do physical activity during our training sessions, 
the rest of the time they are slaves to the desk the car and the daily grind that is life for many people today
so what do you consider functional for this type of client?
basic movements that are found in every day life, the Squat, the Push or Press, the Pull, the Hip Hinge, and my favorite and what I consider the most functional of all movements the Weighted carry


Think back over your life since childhood carrying your school bag to and from school and classrooms, I know as a child I hated being dragged to the local supermarket with my mum to help carry the shopping bags home!
who would have thought that 30 years later I would be strapping a weighted vest on and carrying the heaviest dumbbells and kettle bells I could find for distance just for fun!
how many times have you had to walk through an airport carrying your luggage?
that is what I mean by direct application and to me that is functional and what falls under the banner of G.P.P (general physical preparedness) if implementing some kind of farmers walk or weighted carry into a clients program helps them to perform more efficiently in their everyday life and makes that life that little bit easier then damn I think thats just about as functional as it gets!


For years prior to this I trained body part splits following old tried and tested bodybuilding routines this is fine if size aesthetics and proportion are your main goals but as the years past and yeah I got bigger and stronger I didn't necessarily perform better! in my never ending quest for mass I gained significant muscle mass but also significant fat and became less agile, slower, dare I say it less functional!
which became all to clear to me the day I tested my home made sled for the first time 
I boldly laid out the drill, "10 double KB squat's with the 20's 
then grab the sled (60kg) and drag it across the park then repeat the squats"

Too Easy!

Off to a good start

"Houston we have a problem"!

The THING basking in my utter failure and the knowledge 

that conditioning is everything!

"Across the park" my Arse! this is the photo taken at about 50ft  in to my drag! I was a crippled gasping lactic acid filled wreck

a dark day indeed

so did all those years of body part splits help with my general physical preparedness "HELL NO"!

There's a reason the forces make you do bodyweight drills and run assault courses with full packs and kit, to get your body working as a single unit!

So why not train that way? if the people we depend on to fight wars for us don't train in a gym why should we?

I'll admit this is a kind of rambling roundabout way of saying what I have always said on this blog get outside climb stuff throw stuff  jump, squat, swing, and use your body the way it's supposed to be used as a single multi functional unit 

Use big compound multi joint lifts the more joints involved in any single movement the more overall muscle recruitment there is, this way of training is beneficial for multiple goals be it strength, fat loss or fitness/conditioning you just tweak the variables! weight, reps, sets, rest periods, calorific intake

too suit your desired goal.