3 Intense Workout Finishers

Mike Whitfield, CTT
Creator of the Workout Finishers 2.0 Follow-Along System

Forget the muscle-draining cardio after your workout. You’re going to rock any of these 3 finishers instead. You’re welcome.

You already know that cardio (even intervals) are boring and they won’t make you look athletic and ripped. You gotta’ hit the musclezzz brotherrr. All you hit with interval training are your legs.

You are in for a treat as I’m going to show you 3 unique “twists” to using finishers after your workouts. But first, what’s the point of using finishers? Well, if you’re stuck on a plateau, want to speed up fat loss or improve your conditioning and overall fitness, then finishers can make a big difference.

You simply “plug in” a finisher after any workout. They take 10 minutes or less.

And if you have a hard time believing you can get great results in just 10 minutes or less, check out this study…

Participants performed a high intensity circuit (as found with finishers) with very brief rest periods using compound movements for only 4 minutes. The participants burned an average of 13.5 calories per minute (some participants burned even more!) and doubling their metabolic rate for at least 30 minutes

AFTER.

“This particular style of interval training has profound effects even on short-term post-exercise metabolism”, says lead researcher Michelle Olson, Ph.D., principle researcher at the Auburn University Montgomery Kinesiology Laboratory. It would take five times the amount of typical cardio exercise to shed the same amount of calories.”

So, now that you are convinced of the power of finishers, let’s talk about 3 variations that rock.

Finisher Approach # 1 – Density

There’s even a variety of approaches within this approach! First, there’s timed sets. This is when you’ll do an exercise for a certain amount of time and you’ll do as many reps as possible.

Another approach using density is when you do a certain number of rounds (supersets or circuits) in a given time frame. The set and rep schemes can be really crazy.

For the Density approach, let’s do the “”Big Switch” Finisher.

“The Big Switch” Finisher

Do the following circuit as many times as possible in 5 minutes, resting only when needed. If your form gets sloppy, you must stop and rest.

• Goblet Switch Lunge (3/side)
• 1-Arm Switch Pushup (3/side)
• Skater Hops (3/side)

Don’t worry, you don’t have to complete the madness on your own. Here’s a follow-along video of me coaching Brian through it (plus you’ll get some substitution exercises):

Finisher Approach # 2 – Gauntlets

Inspired by Craig’s original TT Gauntlet program, this is when you assign an exercise as the “gauntlet” within a circuit. So you’ll perform the gauntlet exercise, followed by a new exercise, then back to the gauntlet exercise, etc. That means you’ll do something like this:

• Alternating Javelin Reverse Lunge
• Close-Grip Pushups
• Alternating Javelin Reverse Lunge
• X-Body Mountain Climbers
• Etc, etc.

See how the Alternating Javelin Reverse Lunge is the “gauntlet” exercise?

By the way, here is how the crazy Javelin Reverse Lunge Works…

Javelin Reverse Lunge

• Stand with your feet just outside shoulder width apart holding a pair of dumbbells.
• Take a big step backwards with one leg and lower your body until your thigh is parallel to the ground. Keep your torso upright.
• At the same time press the dumbbell up by extending the arm of the same side you step back with.
• Return to the top by contracting the quadriceps, groin and hip extensors of the lead leg and bring the dumbbell back down under control.

Finisher Approach #3 – Ladders

These can trick you. This is when you do a certain number of reps of each exercise, then in the next round, you do one less rep, etc. Now you can even combine the density approach with a ladder, too. But that’s a post for another day…

For now, let’s do this simple, but effective superset ladder.

“Declined to Gobble” Finisher

Do the following superset resting as little as possible. In the first superset, you’ll complete 8 reps of each exercise. In the next superset, you’ll complete 7 reps of each. Continue in this fashion until you complete 1 rep of each exercise.

• Goblet Bulgarian Squat (8/side…1/side)
• Decline Pushups (8…1)

Here’s how to rock the Goblet Bulgarian Squat…

Goblet Bulgarian Split Squat

• Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Hold a dumbbell in front of you at chest height.
• Place the instep of one foot on a bench. Step forward with the other foot, taking a slightly larger than normal step.
• Contract your glutes, brace your abs and keep your spine in a neutral position.
• Lower your body until your front thigh is parallel to the ground.
• Keep your upper body upright and your lower back flat.
• Push up to the upright position. Stay in a split-squat stance.
• Perform all reps for one leg and then switch.

Now that’s how you finish ANY workout with an all day energy rush without draining your hard earned muscle.

Mike Whitfield, CTT
Creator, Workout Finishers 2.0 Follow-Along Video System

Get 51 Follow-Along Workout Finisher Videos and bonuses here

Mike Whitfield, CTT, has lost 105 pounds propelling his passion into the fitness industry. His unique approach of using workout finishers has helped thousands of people lose fat with his online and offline programs. He is known across the fitness industry for his effective “workout finishers” and humor. His workouts have been seen in Men’s Health, Turbulence Training, AJC and more.

Looking for the Ultimate Challenge?
Check out the UTC (Unconventional Training Challenge)

What is the most common thing people ask me about with their training?

Grip Strength? Nope

Feats of Strength? Nope

Strongman Training? Nope – not even strength training.

It’s this:

Getting into better shape, Losing a few pounds, and Finding the time to train!!!

You’re BUSY, aren’t you?

I know what you are saying => Jobs, kids, classes, babysitters, fund-raisers, church, in-laws…the list goes on and on.

If you constantly feel like you get busier and busier and have less and less time to train, I want you to check out this new book that I put together along with several friends.

Click here => No Gym, No Time, No Problem: Simple Fitness Solutions for Busy People

We tailored this book, ENTIRELY for busy people who want to get back into better shape, without having to join a gym and without having to upset their already hectic schedule.

Look, all of us who put this project together run businesses, LOVE TRAINING.

BUT, we were fed up with people not knowing how to balance all of their many life demands while also getting into better shape, so we put this book together and right now, you can get it on Amazon for dirt cheap.

Just go to this link => No Gym, No Time, No Problem: Simple Fitness Solutions for Busy People.

I know it is going to help you out.

All the best in your training.

Jedd

I was recently contacted by a gentleman named Michael Volkin about reviewing his new product called Strength Stack 52.

Normally, these types of spam messages get glanced at and then immediately deleted.

But this case was a little different.

In this case, Michael had pretty much taken an idea I had come up with years before and not only run with it, but did it in a way that was much better than the idea I had.

Check out the video below and you’ll find out exactly what I am talking about.

Strength Stack 52 Review

You can grab a deck of Strength Stack here: Strength Stack 52.

Who Is Strength Stack 52 For?

I personally think Strength Stack cards could be very valuable for personal trainers and boot camp instructors. The exercises shown are all bodyweight exercises and require very little equipment in order to perform them, so that means in many cases a great deal of clients can perform the movements all at the same time.

In addition, because most of the exercises are not actually weight room or gym-based, that means they can be done anywhere, from garages, to lawns and parks.

They can also bring a “mystery effect” to training by using the Strength Stack cards to dictate Finishers for a workout.

Finally, for those who enjoy bodyweight training over other forms of resistance work, I suggest you check this out. There are some pretty cool variations of basic exercises, like Push-ups, that are much more demanding.

Who Is Strength Stack Not For

As cool as I think these cards are, I don’t think they will be a big hit with people who base their training around Strength Development or most periodization models. In those cases, it would seem that people who train in that way will already have too much on their plate in order to add these drills in, unless bodyweight work is already being added into their regular training.

As an example, in my training, I am pretty much limited to a 2-hour spot, and I have to get a solid warm-up, train either upper or lower body, and then get in my specialized Grip and Feat of Strength Training, plus recovery work. There just isn’t any available time to add something like this in in most workouts.

Summary

If you like Bodyweight Training and like to always have a little variety in your training, then check these out. Also, if you are a Personal Trainer or Boot Camp Owner, and are always looking for new workouts and drills to throw at your clients, then this could be absolutely perfect for you.

You can grab your deck here: Strength Stack 52.

All the best in your training,

Jedd

I have had a lot of incredible and unforgettable workouts in the past.

For instance, I’ll never forget the time I deadlifted 405-lbs one repetition every minute for about an hour and then ended up with a total of 100 reps in 75 minutes or so.

I remember marathon training sessions doing strongman training out in the yard with half a dozen or more friends on more than one occasion. These were the types of workouts where you just knew it was going to take two or three days to recover from them, but you were having so much fun enjoying training that you couldn’t stop.

And I’ve also had days where the lifting I did was no fun at all, in fact it was downright scary, like the time I found one of my long-time friends tipped over in her SUV after a car accident on Christmas Day a couple of years ago and had to pull her out to safety.

But the toughest lifting of my life, in fact the downright scariest lifting of my life, took place yesterday.

The Call

I got a call from one of my best friends in the world, Tom, from where I used to work. “Hey would you be able to help John (another guy from work I am friends with) move something this afternoon?”

“Sure,” I said, “Just tell me where to be and I will be there.”

Now, ever since I was 12, I have been known as the tall guy. I was almost as tall then (6 feet) as I am now (6’ 2”), so it wasn’t unheard of for a teacher to ask me reach something for her in a classroom or for an elderly person to tap me on the shoulder at a store, or even for my grandmother to call me to come to her house and grab something.

But now, as an adult, since I worked at a company with a 1200-employee roster where I met about 3000 people from 2001 to 2010, and I was practically the only guy there that lifted weights seriously, I was also known as the strong guy. There haven’t been that many requests to help move stuff, but there have been a few. And if it is someone that is a genuine friend, I always go help them out as long as I am not sick, hurt, or out of town.

The Lathe

This Thing is a Lathe

So, around 4PM, I drove to the spot where I needed to be and found that the thing that needed to be moved was a 600-ln lathe. If you not familiar with what a lathe is, or does, then you are not alone, because I barely know either, but I do know two things about lathes:

1. Lathes are capable of extremely precise work, able to work within ranges of accuracy of like .000002 inches

2. Lathes are very heavy

I soon found out that this particular lathe, which the original owner used to craft replacement parts for guns, and that it was also upwards of 600-lbs. In fact, when it was first purchased by the original owner, the factory wouldn’t touch it. They had it strapped to a pallet, lifted it with a fork truck in order to load it into the owner’s truck and then they said they had no responsibility for it whatsoever.

I also learned that this lathe was extremely unbalanced. Talk about odd object lifting, 400 of the 600 pounds were on one side and then the rest of it was spread throughout the rest of the nearly 4-feet of length of this piece.

Also, I’d estimate the head of this lathe stood about 2.5 feet in the air, making it extremely top heavy.

I chatted with the original owner for the first few minutes and he told me some stories about being in Kuwait during the most recent gulf war and also time he spent in preparation for Desert Storm, although he never went over. His tale of a trip from one city in the Middle East to another city 8 hours away just to test fire some equipment in an area with enough sand dunes for a good backdrop in 150-degree plus heat seemed to be an eerie foreshadowing of what was about to come as we embarked upon our trip to relocate this immense lathe.

The Crew

Not sure how good at lifting lathes these guys are…?

After a couple of his stories, I heard some cars pull up and I saw the new owner, another man of about 50+ years old and two other men who I know are in their 40’s. The original owner would be of no assistance in the move, as he has a very banged up knee from his time fighting. Also, the girlfriend in the car ended up never even touching the lathe throughout the whole entire day.

I knew right away that this move was not going to be an easy one. I knew all three of these men very well, and none of them did any sort of regular exercise aside from their day-to-day jobs. In fact, I think all of them were full-time smokers putting away at least a pack a day.

Let’s just say it was clear without stating it that I would be carrying the heavy end of the lathe.

The Planning

We began assessing the weight, bulk, positioning and other factors about the lathe and how it would be best for us 4 guys to move this thing off a 4-foot work bench, 5-feet to the doorway and then another 4 feet to the truck. At the same time, the heavier end of the lathe had some sort of a gear box in it that wasn’t very sturdy, so it would not serve well as a spot to hold it.

Instead, the holding spots were four 4-inch handles that could be pulled out. Unfortunately, they were almost completely even with the bottom of the lathe, meaning we could not get our fingers under the handles unless we tipped the lathe up using a sturdy object like a board. Of course, every time we did that, the top-heavy 400-lb end of the lathe would try to completely turn over so we had to be very careful.

We got into position, holding what we could, and attempted a lift. With these three guys, it would have been impossible. We stopped the job and two of the guys went to get another guy, a friend of theirs from a nearby bar.

Fantastic. Another helper whose the better part of a 6-pack into a Thursday night bender. Awesome.

That took about 45-minutes, as I believe the two guys that went and picked up the 5th guy had a can of Old Milwaukee inside the bar, but they finally got back and I was relieved to see the 5th guy in the equation was about as big through the belly as he was tall.

Again we planned and postulated the best methods for moving the lathe. This time, we decided that instead of crushing our fingers with the lathe’s actual handles, we would use ratchet straps wrapped around our hands in sort of a human-link type of fashion to support the weight of the lathe.

This was my idea as I had seen some sort of professional movers’ commercial on the Yankees Sports Network utilizing straps, and it seemed to work very well as we were able to pick the 600-lb lathe up and move it the 5 feet toward the doorway.

The Wife-Beater

Unfortunately, once we got to the doorway, we were in trouble. The doorway was just a regular-sized doorway and there was no way for me, the lathe and the guy across from me to all fit through the door at the same time. As we all strained to support rh weight of the lathe, I tried to let the guy across from me go through the door first. To my dismay, not only did his shoulder or elbow knock a phone off the wall (and I am talking one of those out-dated phones with the obscenely short spiral cord on it) but he also got one of the little “spinny-turny” (sorry, I don’t know the terminology) handles of the lathe caught inside one of the shoulder straps of his wife beater. Yes, he and his brother both were wearing the plain-jane white wife-beaters like Eminem, and matching faded black stone-washed jeans. I am not creative enough to make this stuff up.

Eminem

Incidentally, I think Eminem could out-lift all four of my partners, put together.

The Panic

So once this handle got stuck in this guy’s favorite wife beater, he started to panic, which in turn caused all the rest of us to panic, and before I knew it, the lathe was on the floor. I don’t know how it didn’t end up on someone’s foot or over on it’s side, but it was still in one piece, an unscathed lathe, if you will.

This turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as now, we could do the unthinkable – push the lathe the rest of the way to and outside the door. In our rush and apparent Groupthink, we never even considered just lifting the table down carefully off the table and down to the floor in order to scoot it around. This was an important lesson that we built on later on this story though…

The Dog

Once we got outside, it was time for refreshments and recovery. I was given a Pepsi, while the other gentlemen somehow managed to score more cans of crisp, clean, Old Milwaukee. We took a break and I watched the original owner of the lathe throwing this mangled dog toy out into the grass and then his dog, which I am told is a cross-breed between a one sort of nice, peaceful kind of dog and a Dingo.

Dingo

If you don’t know what a Dingo is, they are these fierce, crazy pack-hunting dog-like creatures from the Australian outback which are famous for eating children. They get wild like an LSD Zombie. This dog would jet across the yard like a flash and would nearly catch the dog toy in the air, or sometimes on one bounce and I thought that it would probably be real tough to beat him in a game of Kickball 500, where you kick a ball back and forth to a guy and they have to catch it either in the air or after as few bounces as possible because they get fewer points after each bounce, and you go to 500. The original lathe owner told us that he was walking the dog one night around 10:30 PM and a pack of 6 coyotes came up along the trail and his dog, Mr. 500, killed 3 out of the 7 of them by gripping their bodies in his mouth and shaking them until their necks broke.

Would have been nice to have had
Dingo Warrior involved in this move…

After everyone finished their cold one, we tackled the lathe once again, utilizing the straps to the best of our ability. This time, the lift wasn’t nearly as hard, but somehow the original owner with the bad knee got involved and somehow crushed one of his fingers to a certain degree, but I am not sure how bad. We pushed the lathe further into the bed of the truck and they took one of our ratchet straps and harnessed it down.

The new owner drove very carefully with his new toy the entire 5 miles back to town where he lived. I am pretty sure I could have scored perfectly in the full first round of Angry Birds, playing one-handed during this drive, we were going so slow.

Then there were two surprises…

1. The two brothers, the girlfriend, and the guy from the bar all of a sudden took a mysterious detour. I was in the end of the caravan, and then they turned off the road and I was now driving behind the new owner. I followed him the rest of the way. He continued to drive very carefully throughout town, that is until he got to his driveway, at which point he decided to seemingly “floor it” and I saw the lathe wavering back and forth like a buoy out on the ocean.

2. Finally the two brothers with matching wife-beaters and faded black stone washed jeans came pulling in with a giant monster truck looking vehicle following them. To our surprise, they had enlisted the help from the brother of the 5th man in the equation, who had also been at the bar drinking as well. We were now 6 strong.

The Finish

The last part of the job would be to lift the lathe out of the truck and move it into the new owner’s machine shop, which was very dark and extremely hot.

The idea was to put this 2 by 6 board beneath the lathe and then carefully rock the lathe over the edge of the pick-up truck’s gate and then slide it down the floor. Good, efficient idea right?

Immediately upon trying this, the lathe started to slide all over the place and it nearly fell out of the truck.

So at this point, I am starting to get scared. Not only are these guys up in years, but they are also severely out of shape and now fatigued (not to mention some of them half drunk).

The Manager

When I was still at work at the company, I was in the Safety and Training field, so I had trained most of these guys on one or more occasions. I guess they felt used to listening to my guidance, because when my worry hit a climax I finally spoke up to them…

I said, “Wait guys. We need to make sure we’re doing the right thing here. That lathe almost fell off that board.”

We decided to get the 2 by 6 board out of the equation completely and we got extra straps, this time, legitimate 3-inch broad tow straps in order to lift it up from the bed of the truck, and then one of the women’s wives would pull the truck away and we would gently set it down.

Plus, at this point we had another extra guy added to the mix, the new lathe owner’s son-in-law, who thankfully had on what looked to be Spider Man sandals. We might not have noticed them, but thankfully the new lathe owner pointed them out to us under his breath, “Oh God, he’s got on sandals.”

The Work Bench

We were getting smarter with each step of the game and we were able to lower the lathe out of the truck very easily when the wife pulled the truck out from under it. Now it was a matter of pulling the lathe in through the door of the shop. I hooked the original ratchet strap under the heaviest part of the lathe and with both hands performed a partial deadlift and then scooted it backwards on top of the step-up leading into the building.

We then scooted it along the floor over to his work bench, when we got the final shock of the day…

There was no work bench.

Instead of a work bench, the new owner had a wobbly particle-board table. I couldn’t believe my eyes. It looked like it would snap if I leaned against it, let alone if we loaded it with a 600-lb lathe. The new owner assured us it would hold, as apparently he had been storing something else of a comparable weight on that very same table.

The Lift

In our final lift of the day, we hoisted the lathe up onto that table. During this maneuver, I was clenching the straps that were wrapped around my hands so hard that I popped seemingly every blood vessel in my left hand. The lathe also was sat upon the new owner’s leg for a short time before it made its way fully to the table. All 6 or 7 guys that helped on this lift (I had tunnel vision at this time, so I don’t really know who all pitched in) were huffing and puffing, thinking we were done.

The Handles

I say thinking because we had made one critical error in our planning process – the “spinny-turny” handles were positioned facing the wall, and the back of the lathe was facing out. We then had to turn this thing all the way around in order to get it facing out the right way.

At that point we were done with this insanity, and I made my way home to be with the family. While the temperature never hit 150-degrees and the trip didn’t take 8 hours down and back, it still seemed like a nearly endless affair.

The Reason

Earlier, I called this the Scariest Lifting Session of my life, or something like that, and the reason is because it was downright scary how out of shape these men were.

I found myself not only worrying about my lifting form and how to keep this monstrosity balanced so it didn’t clip off one of my fingers or jack my back, but I was also trying to best situation these guys based on their height and abilities so they didn’t get hurt as well. All of these guys have manual labor jobs they do, so through my head was running all of these thoughts like how I could make it easy on them as possible, but there was no EASY about this at all.

It made me glad to be in good enough shape to carry the brunt of the work through many of the efforts but at the same time, I was just in disbelief.

I never want to be in that position. I started lifting all those years ago so that I could be in shape all throughout life. So that I could be the grandfather that all the kids talk about as the strong grandpa.

I hope this is why you train as well. Sure numbers in competition are impressive.

Of course it’s good to look great in a swim suit…

The Health

But the most important thing is about being healthy. The strong, the size, and the power should all be the by-products or the coincidences of being healthy.

Keep that in mind DIESELS. I don’t want to sound like I am preaching, but my eyes were certainly opened up yesterday.

All the best in your training and health.

Jedd

P.S. I am very thankful that we got the lathe to where it needed to be without any serious injuries and without damaging the equipment.

P.P.S. If you are looking to get back into the game, you might want to start with Bodyweight Bodybuilding Secrets from Zach Even-Esh.

This is a huge packaged program and it is on sale at a big discount until Midnight Tonight. SO if you need to get back to form, this is a resource you might want to check into.

I got my butt kicked!

This past weekend was my family’s annual family clam bake to celebrate my parents’ birthdays. They fall within a couple days of each other, so right around that time we steam a bunch of little neck clams and drinks some assorted beverages and just enjoy each others company with a few other members of the extended family.
CHECK OUT THE REST OF THIS KILLER POST AFTER THE JUMP (more…)

I got my butt kicked!

This past weekend was my family’s annual family clam bake to celebrate my parents’ birthdays. They fall within a couple days of each other, so right around that time we steam a bunch of little neck clams and drinks some assorted beverages and just enjoy each others company with a few other members of the extended family.
CHECK OUT THE REST OF THIS KILLER POST AFTER THE JUMP (more…)

Diesel Iron Masters

With Independence Day being here, today’s Iron Masters recognition comes at a perfect time.

Today we meet LTC Nathen Acree Jr, who retired from the Army in 1995 and was recently recalled at age 59.

LTC Nathen Acree Jr

The nomination for LTC Nathen Acree Jr was sent in by his son, Austin Acree.
CHECK OUT THE REST OF THIS KILLER POST AFTER THE JUMP (more…)

Cardio is Dead!

I was going to start this post with that one picture.  You know the one I’m talking about.  That really obese chick with the leopard bikini walking on a treadmill.  Oh the sweet, sweet memories.

But I figured I would tone it down a notch and just talk about the reason “cardio is dead”.

Most of you are informed but some are not. (more…)

2010 is Under Way!!!

Today, we have a follow-up guest post from Chohwora Udu & Jim McHale, who recently sent me a copy of their book, Hardcore Circuit Training for Men to review, which I put up last week.

I’ve actually already started implementing circuit training in workouts, because I have been looking for some better metabolic work, and I must say that the bits and pieces I have incorporated so far are pretty challenging and fun. I even plan on taking this book with me on the trips I take for work, because everything is already laid out for me.

(more…)

Lean on Me

Guest Post

Barry Gibson

http://www.grapplefit.com

It’s something of an honor to be asked to do a guest post for Smitty and Jedd, especially as I’ve been a big fan for some time. For people that don’t know, my name is Barry Gibson and I own and operate Grapplefit Training in Sunderland, England. I have been the regular strength contributor to Fighters Only Magazine for almost four years now, and have had the concept of Grapplefit for at least seven years. Only now is it becoming a reality and I have my own unit where I train combat athletes full time. I also run fat loss boot camps for ladies and gents not involved in the fight game. One of my more recognizable clients is Ross Pearson – TUF season 9 lightweight winner and now UFC fighter. At the time of writing, Ross has just defeated Aaron Riley at UFC 105.

SEE THE KILLER WORKOUT VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP (more…)

Here is some more footage of us training at John Alvino’s after the first day of the Fast Track event.

In this video, you’ll see plenty of axle deadlifting, both double overhand and reverse, some Rolling Thunder, working over the heavy bag, sumo deadlifts, and more.

Nothing like meeting new dudes and within a half an hour busting on each other and having fun at a workout. Lots of sh*t talking and plenty of new friends made that weekend!

Combat Core baby!

All the best in your training,

-Jedd-

Check out the last Alvino workout here ===>

Here is a pic of Smitty and me with Bedros Keuilian from the past weekend’s Fitness Business Summit ’09.

Smitty, Bedros, Jedd

What a great info-packed weekend. I literally took notes until my hand cramped up during most of the speakers’ presentations!

Expect a lot of stuff coming your way from us! Keep checking back often, and let us know if there is anything specific you’d like to see us cover!

P.S. Thanks to our buddy Doug Fioranelli that took this pic for us!

-Jedd-

How to Build Muscle | Muscle Building Workouts | How to Lose Fat | Six Pack Abs | Build Muscle, Muscle Gaining Workouts | Build Muscle Membership Site

This weekend was not only about building muscle and getting stronger, it was also about improving your business.

I just got back last night from the Passion into Profits seminar.  It was a great experience.  There was a TON of useful information and many great ideas on how to create systems, optimizing processes and standardizes what you do everyday.

Dave is making the seminar into a nice DVD that will be available soon.

We started the trip on Wednesday…
(more…)

I was honored when Kevin Larrabee wanted to interview for the TheFitCast. It is the premier podcast for all things fitness and nutrition related.  If you hate reading or don’t have time to sit down at the computer, downloading all the episodes of TheFitCast is the perfect solution!

Throw them on a CD and listen in the car on the way to the gym, school or work!

All of the big names in the fitness industry; Cressey, Robertson, Berardi, Gentilcore, Abel, Boyle, Mohr, Waterbury, Staley…the list goes on and on – have done interviews with TheFitCast.

Get over there and sign-up right now, there is a HUGE repository of information and new episodes every week!

The Real Killer.

Look no further than your country, your state, your city, your block…your house.

Get off your *sses and get your kids up and moving!!!! NOW!!!!!!!!!!

UPDATE: Here is China’s answer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yuf8yg0Dbig

WRONG!

In the brief article below, the analogy that Dr. McGill talks about with the fishing pole, I first heard directly from him at the Syracuse seminar. As he discusses, the lateral hoop tendons of the RA wrap around to stabilize the lower lumbar.

Check out this post from Dragondoor.com

PILATES exercises could cause more harm than good to some back-pain sufferers, controversial research suggests.

Studies into the “drawing in” method, a fundamental Pilates technique, have found the process may exacerbate pre-existing back conditions.

The technique involves participants drawing in their stomachs to their spines – and lifting the pelvic floor.

Stuart McGill, professor of spine biomechanics at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, told The Sunday Telegraph that by targeting the core, transverse abdominal muscle, people were potentially weakening their spines.

“If you hollow in, you bring the muscles closer to the spine, which reduces the stability of the back, so inherently you create a more unstable column,” he said.

Professor McGill said he had reached this conclusion after analysing how varying loads and forces affected the way the spine functioned.

“Consider a fishing rod upright, with the butt on the ground,” he said.

“It would buckle with a few grams of load placed on top, (but) attach wires to the rod at different levels … and the rod will bear many kilos without buckling.

“Now bring the wire attachments on the ground closer to the base of the rod. Not only is the rod weakened, but it will buckle at a lower load. Your spine acts the same way.”

Pilates has long been trumpeted as helping its millions of followers stay toned and slim, while improving their posture and relieving back pain.

Its popularity has surged in recent years as people flock to classes.

Celebrities such as Madonna and Liz Hurley swear by its results.

Professor McGill said that although he believed Pilates in its purest form was advantageous for some, instructors should target all core muscles in the body and take into account their students’ fitness levels and injury history.

He said people should forget about “drawing in” and the transverse abdominal muscle and simply stiffen all the muscles and the abdominal wall at a level to match each task.

I have a featured article in Men’s Fitness again this month!  Check out the 30 Minute Power Workout: Abs which outlines some of the principles from Combat Core!

Smitty

I have a featured article in Men’s Fitness again this month!  Check out the 30 Minute Power Workout: Abs which outlines some of the principles from Combat Core!
Smitty