Weekly Workout 2/27/13

Core! Use your core in nearly every exercise. When I work with fighters developing their core (more than just their abs) it helps them to take punches and gives more power on their punch. Runners, both distance and short length, become more efficient and shave times. Explosive movements and change of direction (which are all measures of athleticism) are also strongly tied to core. 

Dips

 

 Don’t believe me? Work your abs heavy and then run or lift; go play a game of basketball. You’ll notice movements you utilize your core that you had no idea. Long story short, you’ll notice most the exercises and workouts I suggest are total body and core centric.

Here’s what I have today:

Warm-up: 10 minutes of jogging or other cardio exercise. Some other good alternatives would include jumping rope and a row machine.

After your warm-up feel free to get a few minutes of dynamic stretching in before beginning the following circuit. Do the circuit as many times as you can for 25 minutes:

A.      (5) Prisoner Push-ups: Do a pushup, then when you return to the top, hold your plank and bring your right knee to your chest. Then switch and bring your left leg to your chest. So its push up knee to chest, knee to chest, push-up, knee, knee, pushup, etc.  Another way to think of this is a combination of a pushup and mountain climber into 1!

B.      (10) Jump Squats: Squat down and explode up as high as you can.

C.      (15) Russian Twists: Sit on your back and balance with legs off the ground. Clasp hands together and touch ground to your side then over to the other side.

D.      (5) Step Over Push-ups: Do a pushup, step over in a plank, Pushup, stepover, etc.

E.       (20) Mountain Climbers: In a plank bring one knee towards your chest and then alternate feet.

F.       (10) Dips: Find a bench or elevated surface and lower to the group keeping your legs straight out in front of you.

After your 25 mins, stretch for 3-7 minutes incorporating both static and dynamic stretching techniques.

Some of the new exercises not covered before:

Russian Twist

Step Over Pushup

Mountain Climber

Eat Great....Even Late?

College eating was the best. As a Freshman, living in the dorms, there was “late night”. Late night was four times a week when they opened the cafeteria from 10:30pm to 12:00am. On the menu: omelets, pizza (with ranch of course), and hot wings. Oh, and if you are looking for dessert, we did of course have soft serve ice cream. It wasn’t a wonder when the “Freshman 15” (or 25 for me) came creeping up as the year progressed. In fact, late night runs to 24hr restaurants were a near daily occurrence.

So what’s the big deal? Why the weight? Well, it’s all about timing…and content. It not only matters what you eat, but when you eat it. I’ll get a chance to dig deeper into carbs and the glycemic index, meal by meal composition and amount, but the top offender these days is what people are eating once the sun goes down.

Here’s a real high level covered by the NY Times last year.

Here’s another good read on a late-eating study.

So what’s the deal?

It’s tough to get into the specifics without touching on a bit of biochemistry. In short, when you eat and then go straight to bed you are increasing your need for your metabolism to process calories and your metabolism switches speeds and processes as you go to bed.  Your brain function and the caloric needs of your body decrease at night, so adding un-needed calories, especially carbs, promotes fat storage. Late night eating is typically impulse or crave driven and is high fat/carb. So how do you fix your late night habits, especially if you are hungry?

1.       Eat your dinner early.  I have athletes who have trouble sleeping even though their late night eating is great. The general rule, eat the majority of your dinner as early as you can and then light snacks after.

2.       If you are within 2-3 hours of bed, cut the carbs. Carbs are easily converted to glycogen (used to power cells) for ready to use fuel. BUT, when your glycogen stores are full (because you aren’t burning as much fuel late at night) then additional carbs are converted to glycogen and then directly to fat.

3.       Water first.  If you are hungry right before bed first drink water. Studies show that we can at times we can be confused between hunger and thirst. The need to fulfill your thirst is generally a stronger urge.

4.       Fiber second. Fiber generally has no calories (which you don’t need anyways before bed) and can fill you. Try a salad with some light dressing.

5.       Fats third. If you are still hungry (and being hungry wakes you up like me) then have a small amount of healthy fats from unsaturated fats. Some examples, nuts and peanut butter…. in small amounts. Fats are slowly processed and a small amount will leave you feeling full longer.

Plyo's- Weekly Workout

We often talk about Plyometrics in fitness. In fact, they come up more and more as a recommended workout for athletes, weight loss, and general fitness. 

 

 

 So what is a plyo?

 

"Plyometrics -- also known as jump training -- is a training technique designed to increase muscular power and explosiveness." (For more information on their history and a few of their many benefits go to this webmd article)

One of the major pieces missing on the Webmd article are the weight loss benefits associated with plyometrics. When I work with clients and athletes it is easy to meld plyo's with interval training (like in my workout below). Interval training is directly associated with fat loss and increase of both stamina and short-burst strength. 

I think this article on livestrong does a great job describing the benefits and risks of plyo's:

Livestrong on Plyos

To minimize the risk associated with a workout that incorporates fast-twitch/explosive movements remember to take a good 7-10 minutes of warm-up before jumping (quite literally) into these workouts. Avoid long periods of static stretching beforehand, and make sure your muscles are elastic (the warmer you are the more stretch in your muscles).

Here is my Plyocide workout for this week. Use it 1-2 times either in replacement of a cardio or lifting exercise. It also incorporates some core-work as well. Core is used for everything and even if it isn't your "ab day" you should have some core work daily.

Warm-up: 7-10 minutes of cardio at a moderate intensity.

Circuit 1 (Repeat 2-3 times)

 

15 Jump Squats*

10 1-Leg Push-ups

25 Traditional Situps*

10 Box-Jumps*

Circuit 2 (2-3 times)

20 Split Squat Jumps*

15 Lateral Jump-ups

25 Knee to Opposite Elbow (in a plank)*

10 Burpee Box Jumps

Cool down  and stretch 5-7 minutes (include your static stretching here)

 

Exercise Descriptions-

 

Jumpsquat

 

Single Leg Pushup

 

Box Jump

Split Leg Jumpsquat

Lateral Jump-ups

Knee to Elbow in a Plank

Burpee Box Jumps

* Denotes exercises which you can use a medicine ball to increase difficulty. Here are a few links if you don't have one:

Reactor Rubber Medicine Ball - 8.8 lbs./4kg

Empower 6-Lb. Fingertip Grip Medicine Ball

 

Getting Started

Motivation (which I'll get to several times) is hard enough. Before you start you need attainable goals which can be evaluated and measured; not lofty goals like "Lose a bunch of weight" or "be healthier". Generic goals are well meaning but nearly impossible to sustain or evaluate. Here is good article on goal setting:

http://www.askmen.com/sports/bodybuilding_100/123_fitness_tip.html

Nearly 73% of New Year's fitness goals result in failure (http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/2013-100k-transformation-contest-press-release.html), so how do you set yourself apart from the pack and achieve those goals?

1. Start Small and Specific- For example, "Lose 5 pounds in the next 4 weeks through healthier eating and regular exercise" or "Do 1 pullup unassisted by March 15th". When putting yourself through the discomfort of changing your lifestyle you need a "win"  to stay encouraged. Setting attainable goals will encourage you to continue on to those bigger goals that are further off in the distance.
2. Consistency- Set aside a specific time every workout day and hold yourself to that. There is a big difference in your mind between "I'm going to workout at 5:30pm every day after work" and "I am going to workout every day at some point in the day". For me, I wake up early to get a morning run every day at 6:30am rain or shine.
3. Just get there- At certain points, your motivation will be low, it's inevitable. When your motivation is low, how do you get those workouts done and not fall off the bandwagon. Just get there and worry about the workout later. When I'm up to run in the morning, my focus isn't how far I have to go or whether it is cold outside or not- it's just getting into my running clothes. Likewise, when it is time for my workout at night, I just worry about getting my workout close in the car and walking in the front door of the gym. When you get to the actual location of your workout (even if it's downstairs in your workout clothes) your chances of skipping out are considerably lower if you are at the location before evaluating whether or not you "want" to do it.
4. Law of Numbers- It is inevitable that you will miss a workout, or eat something you know you shouldn't but you can't let that discourage you. What matters to your body is what you do the majority of the time. So if you skipped a workout, or ate an unhealthy meal when you told yourself you wouldn't, don't forget about all those other good healthy decisions you made before. What you did the days preceding  still matters and have a lasting impact on your overall fitness and health.  

Why 640fitness?

So why are we here? Why do we care about fitness? And what's with the "640" thing anyways?

Well, maybe you are here because over 1/3 of Americans are what the CDC classifies as obese and you want to take strides to lower your weight: http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html

Or maybe it's because fitness is overwhelmingly good for us in the short and long term:
http://fitness-health-wellness.com/short-long-term-effects-exercise-cardiovascular-sys/

No matter the case, this blog is designed to teach you how to provide sustainable fitness and weight loss results....fitness for all 640 muscles in the body. I know it works, and I know you can do it, because I did it.

I went from 240 lbs to 175, and have kept it off over 3 years now. It's not easy, and the shortcuts don't yield results. No miracle pill and no magical trick to sweat out your weight by wearing sauna suits. So come along learn a few things about fitness that I use with numerous students, clients and professional athletes.

By the way-If at any point you want to know more, get a personal program designed for you, or just throw a few ideas my way, feel free to send a message.