Archive for June 27th, 2007

27
Jun

EoW: BOSU Ball Pushups

By petar 0 Comments
Categories: Exercise of the Week

For this week’s exercise of the week (EoW) I have chosen BOSU Ball Pushups.
I think that the pushup is the greatest exercise ever created. Why? Well besides that fact that you can do pushups anywhere and at any time, it is the most effecient exercise in the world: its like hitting a pack of birds with one stone. A proper pushup targets the chest, back, arms, and core. Basically its an all-in-one kinda deal.

Unfortunately, too many of the average gym-goers neglect this wonderful exercise. Little do they know about the power that it beholds. For instance, two years ago I was trying to increase my one rep maximum bench press. I incorporated pushups to all of my workouts. I noticed that after a period of time my max kept increasing and increasing. Six months after following my intense regimen of pushups I was able to reach my personal best (285 lbs for those that are curious). Since then I have lost a lot of muscle mass, but through my continuing utilization of pushups, I can still bench press 225 lbs. So there you have it.

I believe in pushups so much that they are a regular part of my clients’ workouts. This week’s exercise of the week is a variation of the pushup that I have my more advanced clients do. It is done on a BOSU Ball which you should find at your local gyms. BOSU stands for BOth Sides Utilized and its simply a stability ball that has been cut in half. By placing your hands on the flat part of the ball, your muscles are forced to work as stabilizers (to prevent the ball from moving) in addition to providing the force that allows you to push up and down. This makes the pushup more effective, because it forces your muscles to do two things at once. Not only is that conducive to more results than regular pushups, but it also burns more calories.

So here’s how it goes:
pushup1.jpg

First you want to grab onto the edges of the ball and fully extend your legs. Try and make a straight line with your body. Engage the abdominals by bringing your tightening up your belly button towards your spine.

pushup2.jpg

Next you want to lower yourself until your triceps/upper arms are parallel with the ground. Keep your abs, back, and chest tight as you do this. The trick is to keep the BOSU ball from shaking, try to make it as stable as possible as you push up and down on it.

pushup3.jpg

If you are feeling adventurous, rotate the ball to one side, do a pushup, and then rotate to the other side and do a pushup. This will make your shoulders work a little harder.

So there you go. Try it out and let me know what you think!

27
Jun

Marathon Training

By petar 0 Comments
Categories: Cardio and Strength Training

n1405471_31701962_624.jpgLast March I completed my first marathon. While training for it I kept a blog in which I talked about my training. I found the entire experience to be both mentally and physically challenging, very time-consuming and grueling…and I LOVED it! The feeling that I had during the last 50 meters is indescribable and made the whole experience worth it. Therefore, a month and a half after crossing the finish line I registered for my second marathon. I have learned a great deal from my first marathon, from the importance of taking care of your running shoes to making sure to take pepto bismol to prevent an upset stomach during the race. I think the most important thing that I walked away knowing, though, would be the importance of proper cross training. Training with weights in the gym, in addition to my training runs, allowed me to run the race in optimum physical condition and prevented me from injuring myself.

All too often we hear about people who sustained injuries during their first marathons. And usually, thats because they did not properly prepare for the marathon. The biggest mistake that a runner can do is to ignore strength training. The body is chain, and the different muscle groups are links in that chain. By ignoring a link and allowing it to become weak, the whole chain suffers. That’s why its important for runners to properly take care of their bodies; if they want to achieve their optimum performance level, they need to ensure that every muscle group in their body is in good shape. Strength training guarantess optimum performance: it strengthens muscles and the joins around them. There is the misconception that simply running is enough of a workout, especially for the legs. Proper strength training can not only prevent injury, but it can increase performance. It can make a runner faster and improve their muscular endurance. There is also no danger of “bulking up”, because marathon training requires such a great expenditure of calories, that there are not enough calories left to result in muscle buildup.

So whats a good workout for a marathon runner? One that includes the entire body, is intense, and done for time. For instance:
5 sets done for time of
500 meters row,
30 squats to overhead ball throws,
15 pullups,
20 pushups.
That means that the workout is done as fast as possible. The muscles are trained to become faster, stronger, and with more enduring. The workout is very cardiovascular and thus is very beneficial to the marathon runner.

All of the effort that I put in the gym while preparing for my first marathon paid off. I walked away injury free and felt good enough immediately after the race to chug a beer with a friend of mine. I am hoping that other runners will take my advice and adopt a proper resistance training routine to their marathon training.

27
Jun

The “300″ Workout

By petar 2 Comments
Categories: Strength Training

300-poster3.jpgThe “300″ is one of the year’s most popular flicks. I actually have not seen it yet, but I am somewhat obsessed with it. Why? I am impressed by the amount of physical preparation that the actors put in. The cast and crew enlisted at the Gym Jones facility in Utah to prepare themselves to be Spartan Warriors. They did not train to look like Warriors; they became them. What’s the difference? Instead of using machines and traditional single-planar exercises that bodybuilders use, the actors trained like elite athletes in tough and grueling conditions that mimicked the type of workouts that the Spartans used to go through. Take a look at this clip to see for yourselves.

The clip is narrated by trainer Mark Twight at the Gym Jones Gym in Utah. As you can see, the workouts that the actors went through were intense, total body inclusive, and lacked traditional gym equipment. The idea was that such workouts would be very efficient in increasing both the body’s metabolic rate and muscle synthesis. In the words of Mark Twight, “appearance is the consequence of fitness.” The training that the actors went through did indeed lead them to physiques that reflected the hard work that they had put in.

So what was a typical workout? There was no such thing. One of the most fundamental principles of fitness is that spontaneity is necessary for improvement; if the body gets accustomed to a workout, then its perfromance plateous. Therefore, to see constant improvement, workouts have to be mixed up so that the body never adapts to the workouts. With this in mind, the actors rarely did the same workout twice. However, there is one workout that sheds light onto how the actors trained. The trainers at Gym Jones dubbed it the “300″ Workout. It goes as follows:

25x Pull-ups
50x Deadlift at 135 pounds
50x Push-ups
50x Box Jumps on a 24 inch platform
50x Floor Wiper at 135 pounds
50x KB Clean and Press with a 36 pound Kettlebell
25x Pull-ups.

Thats 300 reps total. This workout served as a rite of passage on the set, and though only half of the cast and crew were able to complete it, symbolizes a typical workout session at Gym Jones. I actually decided to give it a try yesterday. It encompasses a lot of different movements and muscles, so it allows for you to do excell in some parts of it, while suffering through others. So for instance, because I don’t do too many deadlifts and clean and presses, I had a hard time with those. However, I flew through the pushups and pullups. If you are brave enough, I dare you to try it out for yourselves!

From reading about the training that went into the “300″ I have became a fan of Mark Twight. His training philosophy is very similar to mine, albeit more philosophical. To put it simply, he believes that through proper fitness we can truly learn about who we are and really experience the essence of living. I will let you read more about him and Gym Jones at your own leisure. And don’t forget to try out the “300″ workout to truly appreciate the hard work that the actors of the movie put into preparing for it.


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