My goal with this blog is to provide you with info that you can use to improve your health and fitness. I get great feedback from my personal training clients and from other members at our fitness center regarding topics for this blog. From that feedback, I’ve written about making you healthier, leaner, stronger, and more energetic. However, the one thing I’m looking for is more feedback from you, my readers.
Can I ask for two minutes of your time to give me some feedback?
Leave a short comment below to tell me the one thing you would like to know about fitness, weight loss, functional strength, toning, reshaping, eating better, making your workouts more fun and effective, or any other topic on your mind.
Of all the crazy “as seen on TV” contraptions, this one takes the grand prize. For only four easy payments of $33 each, you can have your very own “3 Minute Legs”. For your hard earned cash, you’ll receive a spring loaded seat that you can straddle and push to the floor while doing bodyweight squats or lunges.
Seriously?
Squats and lunges are fantastic exercises and should be a part of almost any program. Why you would need this thing to do them is beyond me. Have we really been dumbed down so much that we need this thing when we could just do squats and lunges without it? Not sure about the right form? Watch this video to see the right way to do bodyweight squats and save yourself $122.
Their website claims that this thing “even works your core so it flattens your abs as it’s firming your legs.” Other than your core having to hold your body in an upright position, which it does when you’re just walking down the street, I can’t figure out how this thing “works your core”. Can someone please explain this one for me?
But, it’s all OK because, according to their website, “3 MINUTE LEGS is so remarkable, it was awarded the prestigious Seal of Approval by the National Health and Wellness Club”. Ever hear of this club? I didn’t think so. Neither have I. Go ahead, check them out on Google. You’ll be taken to a site that has some regurgitated content from other sources and “reviews” of products, several of them coincidentally are from the same company producing this product.
While we’re on the topic, three minutes isn’t going to do anything for you with any workout. The only thing you’ll lose on this thing in three minutes is $122.
P.S. By the way, Thane USA, your website has a context error. When referring to the supposed science behind this device you say “it uses a principal called unloading”. In this context, it’s a “principle”.
Volleyball demands core strength, an explosive vertical jump, rotational power, and solid shoulder, chest, and back muscles.
A strong core is required in every action you perform during the game. A player with a weak core won’t be able to block a strong opponent’s hit, dig up a killer serve, or serve a wicked ball.
Hitting, blocking, and jump serving require powerful legs and the ability to move unilaterally. Strengthening the legs independently through single leg exercises will push your performance through the roof.
Getting the most power from your serves and hits requires strong shoulder, back, and chest muscles. Even more important is the ability to rely on the rotational ability of your core. Imagine a baseball player swinging a bat without rotating the body. It’s the same thing with volleyball. Your power comes from the rest of the body and your arms are just the means to contact the ball. If all the action comes from the arms alone, you’ll destroy your arm while making a disappointing strike.
In this video, we’ll show you a series of 6 exercises to help your game.
The workout consists of 6 different exercises designed to target various muscle groups. The exercises and the muscle groups targeted are:
TRX Power Pull – Back, shoulders, biceps, transversus abdominis
TRX Chest Press – Chest, shoulders, triceps
TRX High Rotation – Abdominals, shoulders, latissimus dorsi
TRX Balance Lunge – Quadriceps
TRX Suspended Pike – Abdominals, hip flexors
TRX Suspended Hip Press – Hamstrings, glutes, back extensors
You can’t do both. You have to decide. Try to do both and you’re just wasting time. Please get off the treadmill/elliptical/whatever machine and give it to someone who really wants to do something.
You’re driving everyone nuts. Please stop.
Hang up. Put the phone away. Get a real work out.
When you’re done, and only when you’re done, send me a text and tell me how well your workout went. Just don’t do them both at the same time, please.
The core. That’s where it all begins. All movement begins at the core. If you’re looking to improve your daily function, your endurance, your strength, your athletic performance, train the core and you’ll make incredible gains.
There are misconceptions about the core, so let’s take a minute to straighten that out first. Many people hear “core” and immediately think of their abs. While the abs are part of the core, there’s more. The core is defined as the lumbo-pelvic hip complex and the muscles that attach to it. It’s the rectus and transversus abdominis, obliques, hip flexors, hamstrings, glutes, spinal erectors, and latissimus dorsi. It’s basically the torso with exception of the extremities. Get a strong core and you’ll be able to do more.
There are many ways to train the core, but few are as efficient, as fun, as unique, and as portable as the TRX Suspension Trainer. Fitness Anywhere is always issuing new challenges to their followers, so I thought I’d put together my own challenge. I’m calling it the Core 500.
The workout is simple in terms of the number of exercises and the complexity of those exercises. There are just five exercises in this complex designed to challenge your anterior and posterior chain and engage your core throughout the workout. You’ll do all of the reps for each exercise before moving on to the next exercise. Your goal is to do the prescribed number of reps in as few sets as possible.
Here goes:
100 Atomic Push Ups
100 Low Rows (deep angle with feet under the anchor point)
100 TRX Chest Presses (feet under the anchor point)
100 TRX Power Pulls (50 per side)
100 TRX Rollouts
Here’s a video demonstrating the exercises in this TRX workout.
Time yourself and leave a comment below to let me know how much time it takes you to complete the workout. If you don’t have a TRX of your own yet, get one here.
He started in Astoria, OR, and is running 4514 miles, clear across the the USA. That by itself is impressive, but the rest of the story is what makes Mike a true patriot.
He’s running with a jogging stroller full of flags. Each flag is marked with the name and information or a soldier who lost their life in Iraq and he’s planting a flag each mile of his journey in their honor.
Ever wonder why there are all those mirrors in fitness centers? I’m asked that question often. Some might think it’s so you can check out the guns after your fifteenth set of bicep curls. They’re really there to check your form. Making sure you’re performing an exercise with correct form both helps stay safe and makes sure you get the greatest benefit from the exercise.
Back to the first one though. The guns. The pecs. They’re the first things people see when you’re coming at them. So, most people focus their attention on them at the expense of the other muscles that can really help these muscles grow.
It’s important to train the muscles in the front of the body that you can see in the mirror as well as the ones you can’t. The posterior chain, which includes the hamstrings, glutes, and back are critical. If your posterior chain is weak, you’ll never fully develop the “mirror muscles”.
Here is a five exercise complex that will help give you a powerful posterior. Perform this routine as a circult without rest between exercises, doing the prescribed repetitions and repeat the circuit five times
One arm dumbbell snatch – 15 repetitions per side
Stability ball hamstring curl – 15 repetitions
Swimmer – 30 count
Single arm cable row – 15 per side
Cable pullthrough – 15 repetitions
Reverse hyperextension – 15 repetitions
Have fun! Comment here on this blog and let me know how you like the complex.
If you’re looking for some more variety for your core workout, here’s a great exercise. Be prepared though. It requires a good amount of core stability and perfoming this one correctly requires control.
I try to keep this blog limited to content that you can use. Occasionally, when I come across a product that I use myself and believe in, I’ll let you know about it. I consider a product that can save your life one of those things you should know about.
For a couple of years now, I’ve ridden my bike wearing a Road ID. The concept behind this thing is really simple and the cost is very low. Basically, it’s an ID tag that can be used to identify you and provide emergency responders with contact information as well as allergy and other important info.
The Road ID is a lightweight neoprene band with an engraved tag that you wear either on your ankle or wrist. It’s lightweight, flexible, and I don’t even realize it’s there.
It’s not limited to bike riders either. Runners, walkers, and anyone who spends any time outdoors should have one.
I’d like to let you in on a little known secret to make a huge impact on your flexibility and range of motion. It’s one of my favorites and it’s incredibly effective.
This technique is called self-myofascial release and it uses a foam roller. You can find these rollers at almost any place that sells fitness equipment.
The principle activated through this technique is called autogenic inhibition and in it’s simplest terms, it involves applying pressure to a tight muscle to signal to that muscle that it’s OK to relax.
Watch this video and then run out to get your own foam roller.
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