Kelly Bagget and Alex Marako just launched a remarkable Vertical Jump program for athletes who want boost their vertical jump and become more explosive.
I actually haven’t had a chance to try this program yet, so there is not formal review. However, I thought I’d post this up since they’re offering a $20 discount during the launch phase.
The dumbbell swing is steadily becoming a regular movement in most high intensity fitness programs. If you do not know how to perform this simple exercise, then here’s a few steps to get you started:
Grab a dumbbell with one hand and squat down with a wide stance. The dumbbell should hang between your legs. Make sure to keep your chest out, head up, back straight, and abs tight.
Swing the dumbbell back through your legs and reverse the direction forcefully by extending the knees and thrusting with your hips to swing the dumbbell outwards.
Make sure to keep your arms straight and neutral throughout the movement. This means that you do not use the strength of your arms to swing the dumbbell.
The power is generated with your hips. When the dumbbell reaches should height, guide the dumbbell back towards your legs. Use that momentum to move into the next repetition.
Remember that you are not bending over when you go back down. Bend your knees and squat, at least half way, through each motion. This is how you will generate enough momentum to bring the dumbbell back up to shoulder level.
Watch your breathing. Once you complete a set with one hand, repeat with the other hand.
Sample Workouts
Here’s a few sample workouts you can do with the dumbbell swing:
Beginner Workout
Intermediate Workout
Perform this workout as a circuit, resting very little between each exercise. You can rest 60 seconds at the end of the circuit. Start off with 2 rounds of the circuit.
Build yourself up to 5 rounds.
Advanced Workout
Perform this workout as a circuit. You will need to use heavier weights than usual. Start off with 2 rounds of the circuit and build yourself up to 5 rounds.
For more high intensity exercises and workouts you can do with dumbbells and your bodyweight, check out Gladiator Body Workout. Click here for more information.
Forgot to post yesterdays workout:
* Windmill, 4×10
* Clean and Press, 4×10
* Press, 4×10
* 30 Sec Rest
* Pushups, 3×10
* T-Pushups, 3×5
* Chinups, 3×5
* 15 Sec Rest
* OH Squat, 2×5
* Front Squat, 2×10
* KB Snatch, 2×10
* 15 Sec Rest
I’ve been super busy, so I hadn’t worked out for 6 days. But I’m just making excuses here. I need to get back into my high frequency workouts if I want to start seeing some progress again.
This is one of my goals for 2010. However, I’ve been noticing an interesting cycle, and perhaps you’ve experienced it too.
Your training is best around June, July and August when the weather is nice and warm (at least in New York).
Then, as the weather gets colder you go into hybernation and make excuses. Then New Years rolls around and you train hardcore for two months.
Hopefully I can train hardcore from January to the Summer, then have a “Second wind” of sorts for my training during the summer.
So in essence, instead of 5 productive workout months out of the year, I’d have 8 productive workout months.
Lets see what happens. Wish me luck!
I’ve decided that for the rest of the year, and for most of 2010, I’m going to be sticking to combination Kettlebell and Bodyweight workouts. Take a look at this workout I just completed today, then I’m going to show you where you can get the best Kettlebell/Dumbbell Workouts you can do at home.
Remember, all Kettlebells movements can also be done by a Dumbbell. Some can even be completed by a Barbell. I’ve also included bodyweight substitutions for those that do not have access to equipment:
Superset #1:
Superset #2:
Superset #3
Best Home Workouts
As you can see, combining Kettlebell and Bodyweight exercises is tough. For more Kettlebell and Bodyweight superset workouts, check out the Turbulence Training Kettlebell Revolution. Click here for more information.
For those that do not have Kettlebells, you should check out Gladiator Body Workout, which is a combination of Dumbbell and Bodyweight exercises. Click here for more information.
In addition, if you have Kettlebells and Dumbbells, then check out the Turbulence Training Kettlebell-Dumbbell-Bodyweight fusion workout. Click here for more information.
Finally, for bodyweight-only folks, you should check out Coach Lomax’s Workout Without Weights. He shows you over a 100 bodyweight movements you can do in the comfort of your own home. Click here for more information.
Standing Dumbbell Shoulder Press, 3×10, 60 seconds rest between each set – add weight to make the movement more difficult
Are you afraid of change? Change is such an interesting word. Change, variety, and “switch it up” are often popular buzz words thrown at people in the fitness industry. Many people talk about changing up their workouts, but few people do it. The perfect example is….me.
I mean, on one hand I do a lot of crazy intense things with my workouts. But, at the end of the day it’s all just high intensity bodyweight and free weights workouts thrown together in complex circuits. True change for me would be to go into my gym tomorrow and train like a power lifter. Continue reading
My favorite form of training is known as High Frequency Training (HFT). High Frequency Training is an advanced form of training which is often used to train multiple fitness qualities. These qualities include maximal strength, speed, cardiovascular endurance, strength endurance, and power. A fallacy that most trainees have is that they think they can just jump into a training program and expect results.
In order for a trainee to have long-term success, he or she must identify their individual weaknesses. The way I identify weaknesses is to first run a trainee through a workout which would measure multiple fitness qualities.
Take the following workout:
Circuit for time:
10 Push press, 75lbs
40 meter sprint
10 Medicine Ball Woodchops, 15lbs
40 meter sprint
This workout measures all the qualities mentioned earlier. By timing this workout, and observing what aspects of the workout take the longest to perform, or is the most difficult for the trainee, you would be able to build a routine by identifying weaknesses.
For example, lets say the trainee had difficulty performing 10 straight reps of the push press. There would be two problems associated with this: strength endurance and strength. First, can this person even lift 75lbs over their head? If the trainee starts struggling after the third or fourth rep, then we know it’s a problem of maximal strength. If, however the trainee has this difficulty at rep eight or nine, then it’s a problem of strength endurance. If this problem began after the 2nd or third round, then we know we have to work on recovery.
Fixing the Problems
Lets pretend that a trainee has problems with cardiovascular endurance and maximal strength, exclusively. Throwing everything to the side, you would first design a program solely to improve cardiovascular endurance. This program would most likely encompass running, jump roping, and other forms of high intensity exercises. Then you would develop a training program to help improve maximal strength. This routine would most likely use singles training or the 5×5 method to improve performance.
Lets take a look at a sample of both these programs.
SAMPLE CARDIOVASCULAR ENDURANCE PLAN
Monday
Run 2 miles for time
Wednesday
5 rounds of Jump Roping – 1 round is 3 minutes of work, with 1 minute of rest
Friday
5 rounds of Shadowboxing – 1 round is 3 minutes of work, with 1 minute of rest
SAMPLE MAXIMAL STRENGTH PLAN
Monday
5×5 Push Press
Wednesday
10×1 Deadlift
Friday
3×3 Bent – Over Row
Combining the Programs
Now, to improve both the qualities, you would simply combine the program. This would result in a two-week program, alternating with a Cardiovascular Endurance workout, and a Maximal Strength workout. We can also throw in some workouts that stress both factors in one workout.
But what happens when you need to train for more than one fitness quality. This is where high frequency training comes into play. Most athletes require more than two or three qualities to excel at their given sport. And often times in an attempt to improve at all of these qualities, an athlete runs into troubleby overtraining.
Developing the Schedule
I won’t hold back. Let me use all five strength qualities to develop an HFT schedule which would help an athlete improve at his given sport. Here are the strength qualities again:
Maximal Strength (MS)
Cardiovascular Endurance (CE)
Muscular Endurance (ME)
Power (P)
Speed (S)
The beauty of HFT is that you can combine training qualities into one singular workout. The following is a sample cycle of training that one can do:
Cycle One:
Day One: MS
Day Two: CE + ME
Day Three: P+S+MS
Day Four: CE+ME+P+S
Day Five: MS+CE+ME+P+S
The next cycle would start with CE. You would be able to develop 5 such cycles, or 25 days of training. How fast you complete a cycle will be based on the frequency of your training.
The Workouts
So lets now see what a sample training cycle would look like as workouts:
Day One:
10×1 Deadlift
Day Two:
High Octane Cardio
Day Three:
Power Clean and Press 5×5 - Time each set
Day Four:
200 Reps Dumbbell Swing for Time - Use a weight you can do for 10 reps
Day Five:
3 rounds for time:
Overhead Squat 5 reps
Double-Unders 10 reps
Pushups 20 reps
Naturally, these workouts are very simplified. I like to make them a little bit more interesting. But I hope that you can see the benefits of training at a high frequency. HFT does not mean that you perform the same style of training 7 days a week. It means that you use variations in your training methods, while still sticking to a program centered around improving weaknesses and achieving goals.
One of the best sources of high intensity advanced work outs is the Gladiator Body Workout. The Gladiator Body Workout features 6, 4-week workouts which target a different goal each week.
For example, one of the features workouts is a fat loss workout. Even though this is a fat loss workout, it will still help you increase strength and lean muscle mass. Hence, the Gladiator Body Workout is the perfect way to improve all aspects of fitness.
Just completed my first workout using the exercises I learned from Bodyweight Exercise Revolution. My first reaction was that I was surprised by how inflexible I was. I’ve been relying too much on pushups, pullups, and squats to get the job done.
Kettlebell Training is the latest method of training that actually helps you burn fat all in the comfort of your own home. The reason why Kettlebell Training works is because it makes your body work hard. And when your body works harder, you effectively raise your metabolic rate.
Raising your metabolic rate is an important aspect to long term fat loss. Your metabolism is a measure of how fast your body burns calories. Hence, the faster your metabolic rate, the more calories and fat you burn. If you don’t think that Kettlebll training is hard, then you should do the same exact workout with a Kettlebell and a Dumbbell. Use the same weight – 35lbs for a dumbbell, and 35lbs for a Kettlebell. Do the following workout:
10 rounds of:
* Clean and Press, 15 seconds each hand
* Floor Press, 15 seconds each hand
* Front Squat, 15 seconds each hand
Train with one dumbbell or one kettlebell at a time. You can do the workouts a week apart if you’d like. Or, you can just take my word for it. I actually put my friends through this same exact workout, and they told me that the Kettlebell version was 10 times worse than the dumbbell version.
Even though they were using the same weight! So why is the Kettlebell so much more difficult to use and more effective than a dumbbell? It has to do with the unique shape of the Kettlebell. A dumbbell’s weight isbalanced on both sides. You’re not working anything more than the muscles you’re targeting. However, with a Kettlebell, almost every single muscle group is being activated to stabilize that Kettlebell. Hence, more muscle is being activated at once to move the same amount of weight.
Here’s another example: Have you ever wondered why it’s easy for you to move a lot of heavy weights in the gym, but then when it comes to helping your buddy move into his new apartment, you struggle to move his oddly shaped objects. It’s because both the shape and weight of the object impacts what muscles (or how much muscle) you activate to lift or move that object.
Back then Kettlebell Training wasn’t that popular. But nowadays everyone seems to be writing training guides and making videos to help people train with Kettlebells. One of the best ones is developed by Craig Ballantyne and Chris Lopez. It’s called Kettlebell Revolution for Fat Loss. Click here to learn more about this incredible program.
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