Tag Archives: Strength

01May 2013

Getting Strong with a Bodyweight Program

Getting strong with a bodyweight program can be very simple. You just need to follow some very basic principles:

  • Your body does not know how much weight is being lifted. You and your mind quantify the amount of weight by pounds or kilos. It’s a human-made system. Your muscles only understand one thing: stress.
  • Hence, the more stress you place upon a muscle, the more that muscle will react. Whether or not the muscle grows stronger will depend on what you do after the workout.
  • The only way you can get weaker is if you do not do anything to place greater stress on the muscle. This is why many endurance-type workouts often cause a decrease in strength.
  • In order to increase strength through bodyweight training, a base level of fitness must be established. My opinion is that one should be able to perform 5pullups, 10 pushups, and 20 bodyweight squats before attempting any other strength goals.
  • There are numerous training methods for improving strength through bodyweight training. However, the most important thing you must learn is how to make an exercise more difficult.
  • Simple changes such as hand position, leverage, and sophistication can make a movement more difficult. These methods can also make a movement easier. For example, if you are unable to perform a fullpullup (palms facing away grip), you may find a chinup (palms facing you grip) much easier.
  • Strength is an important component to all aspects of fitness. In order to increase lean muscle mass, you need strength. In order to lose fat, you must perform certain exercises. These exercise will also require a base level of strength.

Follow these tips and you will find yourself much bigger and stronger through bodyweight training. For more information on bodyweight training, check out Bodyweight Exercise Revolution.

Click here for more information.

07Mar 2013

Methods Workout

There really isn’t that much of a difference between strength endurance, maximal strength, and fat loss programs. As I was talking to a friend on Facebook:

Friend
10:20pm Jan 11th

u know its funny do u really have to run in order to build endurance? or are there other ways of doing it?

Me
12:42am Jan 12th

dang son. It’s OBVIOUS you haven’t been going to my website.

Friend
12:42am Jan 12th

lol hahaha

Me
12:53am Jan 12th

well, basically it depends on what kind of endurance you want to develop. I think the biggest thing that people don’t realize is that everything is connected. If you increase you base strength, it’ll help you increase your endurance.

Running distance will help with recovery. Calisthenics will help you improve your max lifts and vice versa. Your body is designed for survival, and hence all your workout should revolve around elements of ….well…EVERYTHING.

Does that make any sense?

Friend
1:09am Jan 12th

yes. how about if u wanted to lets say prepare yourself to be a mountain climber. or something that exerts ur body in such a way what would you have to work on endurance wise

Me
1:47am Jan 12th

Good question. I have a background in martial arts, which is basically a power and endurance sport. Mountain climbing is more of a strength endurance sport. You don’t need to exert maximal power in order to pull yourself up and climb a mountain, however you do need good agility, base strength, and flexiblity if you need move out of a region really quickly (if you’re in danger).

Now, just ask yourself a question: what the hell does running have to do with climbing a mountain? Nothing really. The best way to get better at mountain climbing is to climb mountains. 30 minutes on a Rowing machine is better than 30 minutes on a treadmill because of the type of trianing you’re doing.

Rowing is a fully body workout emphasising the back and the legs. Climbing is a fully body workout working the back and the legs. In addition, you’d want to work on your grip, lung capacity, and mental toughness.

Me
1:52am Jan 12th

What I’m trying to say is that in order to develop a decent training program you need to first identify the elements that you need to achieve your goal. Once you do that, you find out your weaknesses, and start building a routine around that.

I have a huge problem with typical bodybuilding routine because they’re typical bodybuilding routines, and focus only one one thing: making one muscle bigger without regard to any other qualities out there.

So if you wanna be a mountain climber, train like a mountain climber. If you want to be a gymnast, get yourself on some rings. If you want to lose fat, than do everything in your power to raise your metabolic rate.

But the most important thing is that you include as many parameters as possible, creating an element of randomness.

As you can see, a lot of high intensity exercise can help you improve multiple qualities at once, including endurance, fat loss, strength, and size. One fitness program that does this effectively is the Athletic Body Workout.

Click here to Grab your Copy of Athletic Body Workout

06Mar 2013

Workout Compound Exercises

If you have very little time in your schedule to weight train, then you should try to maximize your time in the gym. Maximizing your time means sticking to compound exercises and picking a set/rep scheme based on your goals.

Compound Exercise per Bodypart:

Chest – Bench Press (Barbell, Dumbbell, Flat, Incline), Arm Pull-overs (Barbell, Dumbbell)

Back – Rows (Dumbbell, Barbell)

Legs – Squats (Barbell, Dumbbell, Back, Front, Overhead),

Shoulders – Clean & Press (Power, Hang), Shoulder Press (Barbell, Dumbbell, Push Press, Push Jerk, Arnold)

Sample 3-day template for Size and Strength:

Day One

Squat Variation 8×3

Bench Variation 8×3

Row Variation 8×3

Press Variation 8×3

Day Two

Squat Variation 5×5

Bench Variation 5×5

Row Variation 5×5

Press Variation 5×5

Day Three

Squat Variation 3×8

Bench Variation 3×8

Row Variation 3×8

Press Variation 3×8

Now, this is just a general template for you to use for increasing your strength and size with compound movements. If you’re looking for a more well-rounded fitness program using compound movements, than I suggest you check out Athletic Body Workout.

Click here to Grab your Copy of Athletic Body Workout Today!

28Feb 2013

3 Key Points to Help you Develop Strength-Focused Fitness Programs without Weights

For the past few weeks, I’ve been getting lots of requests from readers who need some help developing a strength-focused bodyweight fitness program. I decided to organize some of my best tips into a post…

Intensity and Strength

Read More →

20Feb 2013

Make your Quick Workout even Quicker by Setting up an Obstacle Course

Image by The Bunny Ears Network

The Japanese show on the channel G4 titled “Ninja Warrior” is the perfect example of setting up obstacle courses to test strength, speed, and endurance.

  • You don’t need complicated equipment to set up your own obstacle course. What I’ve done in the past is to take all the equipment I have and place it out in my back yard.
  • Then, I’ve just tried to create something intense and difficult.

Here is a sample workout:

Round One:
5 Kettlebell Clean and Press each hand
5 Burpees
10 Resistance Band Punches each hand
Sprint

Round Two:
10 Kettlebell Clean and Press each hand
10 Burpees
20 Resistance Band Punches each hand
Sprint

Round Three:
20 Kettlebell Clean and Press each hand
20 Burpees
40 Resistance Band Punches each hand
Sprint


Check out the video of round three:

If you want more information on high intensity home training, then you should check out Gladiator Body Workout::


Gladiator Body Workout

  • Gladiator Body Workout is an Athletic Fitness system which combines Dumbbell and Bodyweight exercises along with interval training to help you Drop Fat, Build Lean Muscle Mass, Get Stronger, and Improve Athletic Performance.
  • If you purchase the Combo Pack, you can also get two other eBooks which Author Coach Eddie Lomax sells separately: “Ultimate Gymless Workout” and “Extreme Dumbbell Fitness.” When you include all the workouts in all three systems, you’ll get literally months worth of fitness programming.
  • The Basic version sells for just $27. Each separate eBook in the Combo Pack sell for $27 but coach is giving them to you for just $49.00.


I’ll Give you TWO FREE Bonuses if you Grab Gladiator Body Workout Today. Click Here for More Information

19Feb 2013

Am I a Bodybuilder or a Crossfit Athlete?

Image by Nadeem

I’m not a bodybuilder!

I’m not a Crossfit athlete!

No matter how many times I try to tell people that I do not belong to a particular category of fitness, people still tend to categorize me!

“Oh but you’re a bodybuilder,” says a customer at my Dad’s store while we’re talking about nutrition. “You’re a CF (CrossFit) athlete,” writes my bodybuilder friend on AIM.

Why do we Categorize?

Human begins use categories as a way to store information. It’s a great way to organize information, but a dangerous way of living your life. If you call yourself a Crossfit athlete, or a Bodybuilder, you will forever be a part of a stereo type of training methodologies and will inadvertently disregard anything that does not fit into the Crossfit or Bodybuilding methodology.

I feel that there are certainly things that bodybuilders can learn from Crossfit athletes, and vice versa. Each method has a particular flaw, and the best way to fill in the gaps is to “reach across the aisle” and try something new.

I think people should follow some sort of hybrid of a variety of fitness programs. Use the following guide to create your own unique program:

High Intensity Training

  • Crossfit, Heavy Duty, Tabata
  • Pro: Exercise can be done in a short period of time.
  • Pro: You can improve strength and mass dramatically (depending on program)
  • Pro: Can drop fat and improve athletic conditioning dramatically (depending on program)
  • Con: May not be suitable for beginners
  • Con: Can easily lead to over training and fatigue if there is poor focus on diet

High Volume Training

Strength-Based Training

There you have it. Try each program out for a few months.

Then:

  • Choose one program that you really like and know will stick for the rest of your life
  • Identify the strengths and weaknesses of that program
  • Fill in the weaknesses of the program using principles from other programs.
  • Now create your own website and brand your program!
25Jan 2013

Maximum Motor Recruitment with Bodyweight Training

Motor units are the functional units of a muscle. The percentage of motor units activated at a given time will determine the amount of force (power) that muscle produces. The force generated by a muscle needs to match the needs of the activity. For example, you do not want to recruit maximum motor units while washing the dishes or picking up a small child. However, you do want maximal motor unit recruitment when sprinting to the finish line or catching a bus.

When you lift fast, you recruit greater motor units with each repetition. According to Strength Coach Chad Waterbury, maximum motor unit recruitment is only sustainable for the first 15 seconds of a movement. Your smallest motor units are recruited first, followed by your larger motor units. However, you can recruit your larger motor units if the weight is heavy enough and the speed is fast enough. Since we can’t really know what “fast enough” or “heavy enough” means without being strapped to all these complicated devices and machines, the best thing is to lift the heaviest weight as fast as possible.

Now, with bodyweight training “heavy” gets replaced by “difficult.” The key is to consistently move onto different variations of a movement when that movement becomes too easy. But most trainees don’t know what too easy means. They go after unecessary repetition numbers and wonder why they’re not getting stronger or bigger. Well, high rep movements do in a way help improve strength levels, but not as well as moderate repetitions. High repetitions do nothing for strength levels.

Image by Combat-Aging

Move Faster and Stronger

We can use Waterbury’s 15 second theory in our bodyweight training as well. Here’s how you do it:

  1. Take basic movements such as a pushups and pullups, and see how many repetitions you can do in 15 seconds. I can do 15 pushups and 5 pullups in 15 seconds each.
  2. Design a routine where you are doing circuits of pushups and pullups. Lets assume you decide to perform 3 rounds of 15 pushups and 5 pullups. The entire workout should take you a minute and a half, theoretically.
  3. Since each round is slower than the one before, the workout may end up taking 2-4 minutes, depending on your recovery time.

Your goal is going to be to move faster each time you perform the workout. With bodyweight training, it is not the load that matters, but the illusion of load. As you get more and more tired, your body thinks you are lifting heavier weights, and so taking as little rest between sets is another important aspect.

The Wrap-Up

Lets assume that your workout time was 3 minutes. Keep hammering at the workout until you’ve dropped down to accomplishing the workout in under 2 minutes. Once you’ve accomplished this feat, switch to more difficult variations, and test your 15 seconds max for that exercise.

This approach to program design accomplishes a few things:

  • It gives you a 15-second time frame for recruiting as many muscle fibers as possible. Remember, anything after 15 seconds and you’re recruiting your smaller fibers as opposed to your fast-twitch, larger fibers which are essential for improvements in speed, power, and strength.
  • When you work to drop your total workout time and improve your work capacity and recovery, you get faster. Your sets will end up lasting less than 15 seconds, which give you a greater benefit when it comes to recruiting maximal muscle fibers.
  • Muscle fiber recruitment also depends on the necessity of the activity. Once you’ve become faster, it’s time to move onto another, difficult variation. Difficult variations are the bodyweight version of lifting heavier weights.

Exercises to Try

This video features some very great advanced bodyweight exercises to use as you progress with your training:

Related Products and Resources

Shawn Lebrun shows you the basics of putting on muscle mass and dropping fat in his eBook, “Simple Steps to Getting Huge and Shredded.” A lot of his clients using the information from the eBook have put on 15-25 lbs of muscle in as little as 8 weeks. Check out the eBook here.

Coach Eddie Lomax teaches you how to successfully use bodyweight training to accomplish your fitness goals.. The best part about his eBook is that he shows you how to steadily progress with your bodyweight workouts, and even gives you templates to help design your own workouts. Check out his eBook, “Workout Without Weights.”

My free Intense Bodyweight Workout Manual features three training programs with simple methods of progression. The manual is especially useful for individuals that have limited time and equipment to exercise. Download it for free here.

03Jan 2013

This 5 Year Old Girl Can Do More Pull Ups Than You!

Let’s check out the video…

5 year old girl does pull ups

Can she do more pull ups than you?

30Dec 2012

How to Train for Strength

Dave Tate

Dave Tate. Photo by Elite Fitness Systems.

Most trainees believe that training for muscle mass is the same as training for strength. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. There is some correlation between the two. If you train for strength, you will put on a little bit of muscle mass, and if you train for mass, you’re likely to gain some strength. But this only occurs when a “training crossover” takes place. More about this later. Read more.

28Dec 2012

How to Design an Effective Quick Workout

Image by Somewhat Frank

I spend a lot of time on this website talking about quick workouts. It’s time to give you guys a primer on how to design such a workout:

Step One: How long will the workout last?

  • Determine how long you want the workout to last and make that your time period or TP. You can choose a TP of 20 minutes, 10 minutes, or even 5 minutes. But be careful. The shorter the TP, the more intense the workout will be.

Step Two: Choose your Exercises

  • Use the following video to decide which exercises you wish to use.


Step Three: Organize your Exercises

  • Use the following table to determine how many repetitions you should perform per workout:

Table 1:

Goal

Rep Range
Mass Gain
8-12 reps
General Fitness
8-20 reps
Strength
1-8 reps
Fat Loss
12-20 reps
Athletic Fitness
12-20 reps

Step Four: Put it all together

Here is a sample 10 minute workout with the goal of General Fitness:

Maximum rounds in 10 minutes of:

Pullups 8 reps
Pushups 14 reps
Bodyweight Squat 20 Reps

Wait a sec, how did you come up with that workout?

The truth is, there is a certain amount of creativity and experience involved in designing quick workouts. What I did in the above workout was put together a triset, or three exercises back to back without rest.

  • The goal is to perform as many rounds, or sets of the workout as possible in 10 minutes, without rest. If your goal was to increase strength, then you would still use a 10 minute time frame (or any other time frame, depending on your schedule).
  • The exercises you choose will need to be difficult. Remember, for strength you need to be working in the 1-8 rep range. It is suggested you use some for of exterior resistance if you are unable to or do not wish to perform more difficult bodyweight exercises.
  • It is also suggested that you take some rest, at least 60 seconds, between each set.


BONUS TIP:

Forget the Cardio

Most trainees spend too much time on distance or steady state cardio, especially while trying to lose fat. Cardio is just one tool in the battle against fat, but not a necessary one. If you replace your hour-long cardio sessions with short 10-15 minutes of intense exercise, you will save an enormous amount of time and may even achieve better and faster results. Here are some articles for more info on this topic:

If you enjoyed this article, then please subscribe to Shah Training for free. Click here for more info.

19Dec 2012

Fitness Tips from a Client: D-Raj

11Dec 2012

Increase Strength, Gain Muscle, and Lose Fat with Metabolic Conditioning

image011

I love this concept of Metabolic Conditioning – training which adequately taxes your musculature and cardiovascular system. This style of training makes a lot of sense for law enforcement officers, military personnel, and mixed martial artists. However, does it make sense for the average joe who’s just looking to get into better shape?

  • The truth is that the average joe does not need incredible amounts of strength, nor does he need amazing cardiovascular conditioning. Maximal strength and extreme endurance are two ends of the fitness spectrum. Metabolic conditioning simply combines these two aspects together to develop base levels of strength and endurance in a rather short period of time.
  • When I look at things, I try to think of ways I can accomplish a lot of work in a short period of time. Saving time is one of the most important things to me. It means I have more time to focus on other aspects of my life.
  • Health and fitness is important, but I personally can not imagine spending an hour a day working out. Unless I’m training for a particular event, it simply is not necessary. Our society likes things in “packages.” I want this, this, this, this, and this, and I want it quickly.
  • Well, metabolic conditioning can give you all of it, and can give it to you quickly. Let me warn you. Metabolic Conditioning (MetCon) will not turn you into a bodybuilder, powerlifter, or distance running. If you plan to participate in these sports, then you are on the wrong website.
  • I believe that what our society needs is a “best of both worlds” solution. First, there was the aerobic revolution where everyone started doing hours of cardio per week. Tae bo, zumba, and anything else that had to do with aerobics was extremely popular.
  • Then, with the introduction of such infomercial products as Bowflex, strength training was touted as the end-all solution to health and fitness. However, even to this day not enough people are strength training.

But there is a better, smarter way of exercising. MetCon simply combines two methods of training – strength and cardio – and packages it into a form that is fun, exciting, challenging, and produces results.

What are the Benefits of Metabolic Conditioning Workouts?

The main idea of metabolic conditioning is to move extremely fast amongst a variety of tasks. So, for example lets take a workout that alternates between Burpees and Chinups. Burpees will train your lower body and upper body pushing strength, while Chinups work your upper body pulling strength.

So here’s the workout:

5 rounds for time of:

  • Burpees, 10 reps
  • Chinups, 5 reps

This workout is a definite “puke buster.” It’ll get your heart rate up, especially performing those burpees, as long as you keep moving back and forth between the two exercises as fast as possible. Increase heart rate will tax your cardiovascular system.

The goal of this workout is to be able to perform more work in a shorter period of time. For example, if the first time you performed this workout your time was 10 minutes, and the second time you did it in 8 minutes, then you’ve made a 2 minute improvement in time. If you can do 50 chinups in a shorter period of time, you’ve effectively improved you levels of strength.

I’ve talked about importance of lactic acid when it comes to improvements in mass gain. When lactic acid is released into the blood stream through a high intensity workout, certain chemical reactions take place, which release Human Growth Hormone (HGH). HGH is a vital component in muscle recovery, mass gain, and fat loss.

In other words, if done properly and at a high enough intensity level, MetCon aids with:

  • Mass Gain
  • Strength
  • Fat Loss
  • Cardiovascular Endurance

Is this all I need to Do?

Yes, if you’re comfortable with a decent level of strength, mass, and endurance, then this is all you need. However, if you wish to specialize in one particular aspect of fitness then there are some modifications you’d need to make with your training:

Strength    -    Perform 2 Metcon Workouts per Week with 2 Maximal Strength Workouts (Choose 1-2 exercises per session)

Mass    -    Perform 2 Metcon Workouts per Week with 2 High-Volume workouts incorporating Isolation Movements

Fat Loss – Perform 2-4 MetCon Workouts per Week. Start off with 10 minutes of extra steady state cardio per week, and steadily increase as needed.

Cardiovascular Endurance – Perform 1-2 Metcon Workouts per Week with 2 Steady State, distance cardio workouts per week

Show me How to Do MetCon Workouts

Gimme MetCon Workouts

Ready to give MetCon a try? Well, the Rounds of Fury program features in the Ultimate Gymless Workout is FULL of MetCon Workouts!

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Hope that helps,

Parth Shah