Archive for workout
p90x Plyometrics X … Are you kidding me?
Posted by: | CommentsOoh this one is probably going to ruffle some feathers. How do I know this? Because anyone who has anything negative to say about anything p90x gets attacked. Not even uber strength coach Charles Staley is safe from the “p90 xplorers” cult. For some reason, I don’t know maybe it’s just clever marketing or something, people on the p90x program walk around acting like they are a Navy Seal going through Buds. Some of them act like they are on an elite program used on cage fighters and NFL draft picks.
Now here let me just get this out in the open before I start. Yes p90x helps you burn fat. Yes p90x is hard. Yes I know it can get you down right exhausted. Yes I know that they get in better shape…usually. Yes I know that p90x has a lot of tremendous before and after pictures (real too…congrats to them) Yes I know that pro athletes use plyometrics to increase their power.
Here is where p90x succeeds. It is a diet and exercise program that gets people off their asses and exercising. Any exercise program that is followed is going to get some results…especially beginners.
BeachBody has million dollar investors putting out megabucks to push this thing out to the market. p90x has 2 million searches per month on google alone…think about that a second 2 million A MONTH!. Do you think you might get a couple decent before and after pics with that many people trying it out? Exactly.
Now that I have gotten that out of the way, on to the topic at hand. Plyometrics X
Plyometrics are used by many pro athletes to improve their explosive power for sports performance applications. The problem is that all too often coaches take a great concept and mutate it to get it away from it’s original purpose. They aren’t seeing the forest for the trees. “Plyos” have been especially victimized in this regard.
This is how BeachBody.com explained plyometrics
Explosive jumping cardio routine proven to dramatically improve athletic performance.
Here is the thing. Plyometrics are intended to take advantage of the myotatic reflex which in non geek speak refers to the automatic contraction of muscles done as a reaction to a quick stretch. It is like an automatic muscular reflex and it has to be very “touch and go”. Oh yeah and it has to be done for low reps. Let me illustrate the reflex analogy. You know that thing they do when you go to the doctor’s office and they whack you on the knee with a tiny rubber hammer and your knee kicks up? If they did that a bunch of times your knee would stop kicking up as high and eventually not do it at all. Plyometrics kind of work the same way and you need it to be fresh as a daisy.
You can also think of it like a ball bouncing on the floor. The force of the ground pushes the side of the ball in and the balls natural reaction is to push back out propelling it up. If it stays there it doesn’t bounce.
If you watch MMA superstar Georges St.Pierre in this video at around 2 minutes and 42 seconds you can see that he instigates the drill by first jumping over a hurdle and IMMEDIATELY bouncing up over the next one and the next one. Like I said “touch and go” and the keyword is “immediately”.
The key is “bouncing”. If you don’t bounce immediately up you lose that effect. Any time on the ground and it’s wasted. THAT is how it is used on professional athletes and as you can see it is A LOT more involved than simply jumping around your living room like a fool.
Plyometrics X is glorified aerobics made to sound scientific and cool. It doesn’t take advantage of that myotatic reflex which makes it lose sight of how plyometrics works. It’s like picking up a couple light dumbbells, doing a bunch of different curls with them and telling people you train like Arnold.
I watched the p90x plyometrics x dvd all the way through because I was curious about what they were doing. I actually laughed harder at some of the moves then I did at some of the comedies that came out this year (there really aren’t a whole lot of funny movies anymore). I can’t fathom how some people can do some of these exercises and think that’s the same thing that they are doing in NFL, NHL, NBA and UFC.
Surely they must be kidding me.
Is it in you?
Posted by: | CommentsDo you have the willingness to stay the course?
Every day I hear about people making excuses about their training. I hear people making other things a priority constantly. They’ll say anything to justify it to themselves. It’s very easy to come up with something.
Here is a short list.
_____tv show is on.
There isn’t enough variety.
It’s raining
It’s too early
It’s too late.
I’m too old.
I’m too young.
I am hungry.
My food is getting cold.
But I don’t have a kettlebell.
I’m going out to dinner with friends.
blah blah blah
Now I am all for balancing your training along with the rest of your life. Sometimes you do need time off where you don’t even look at a weight for a week.
And sometimes you just need to shut the f’ up and do the work.
It isn’t always fun. It isn’t always convenient but if it was everyone would be doing it.
To get your goals you have to have a laser focus. I like to call it the “terminator mentality”. A terminator doesn’t allow anything to get in it’s way. The only thing that matter’s to a terminator is it’s mission. Try taking a terminator off it’s task and you might get a response like
“That is not one of my mission parameters.” That is if it doesn’t just ignore you completely.
Or you might get this as a response.
The point is the terminator doesn’t make excuses, doesn’t try to justify ways out in it’s head. The mission is the mission and that is the only thing that matters.
My mission is to get stronger. It sometimes means that my dinner will get cold while it waits for me to get my necessary repetitions in. It sometimes means I won’t go out for lunch. It sometimes means that I can’t play video games or go do something that doesn’t take priority. Very few things take priority over my strength practice.
Like I said it might not always be fun but I love achieving new feats and it allows me to do this.
Can you do that? The fun is in continuing to get better. The fun is knowing you are accomplishing something. The end justifies the means.
Get a laser focus. Have a die hard terminator mentality and achieve what you previously thought impossible. It isn’t in everybody which is why people rarely achieve their results. The question is….
Is it in you?
Bootcamp vs. Kettlebell
Posted by: | CommentsSo earlier today I was checking my email and found that a close friend of mine was browsing the internet or something and stumbled upon an article condemning military style bootcamps made to get regular people back into shape and sent it to me. The problem was when irresponsible trainers didn’t understand the fine line between too much and not enough. When it’s a person who hasn’t trained for about longer then I’ve been alive too much is a very quick thing to reach.
Now a lot of this could and should be avoided with common sense and logic. For one thing look at the people that go to a real military bootcamp. Then look at the type of people that buy memberships to fitness bootcamps. The former is made up of 18 year old kids who could recover from just about anything thrown at them in an effort to prepare for war. The other can be anywhere from 20 all the way up to 70 years old looking for a way to get in shape without paying $50 per session. Do you think the same approach should be taken with both of them?
Now as you know I condemn sissiness but there is more to exercise science then hard work and all the hard work in the world won’t matter if it leaves you a debilitated mess. In my kettlebell bootcamp classes safety is a priority. Injuries don’t allow progress and that is the goal of my classes. Right now I have a bride preparing for her wedding in my kettlebell boot camp class. I wouldn’t consider myself good at my job if she went limping down the aisle or if she had to skip a bunch of sessions because my irresponsible @$$ injured her.
If it doesn’t get you results and it doesn’t get you there safely…it’s a crappy program. Those are the big differences between the right and wrong ways of doing it.
Now safety isn’t the only issue facing many of these camps. I like efficacy of training. You know I take pride in bringing people results faster then the other fitness bootcamps and that is yet another reason I chose kettlebell training. A study in Russia said this.
(Voropayev)
We studied (at the Voronezhsky Farming Institute) the influence of kettlebell
lifting on the development of fundamental physical qualities over several
years. Based on the results of the first control tests: 1,000 metre
cross-country, 100 metre run, pull-ups, standing long-jump; three study
groups were formed from the students who took part two experimental (19 men)
and one control (21 men), of equivalent capabilities. We obtained the
following data. The initial mean results in the 1000 metre cross-country, was
3 min 48 sec for the experimental groups and 3 min 45 sec for the control
group. At the end of the first year of training the results were:
experimental groups 3 min 11 sec; the control group 3 min 13 sec. After two
years of training the results were: experimental groups 3 min 2 sec; the
control group 3 min 9 sec.The pull-up results changed in the following way. The initial mean result
over a year (in the experimental groups — 6.3 times and 6.8 times in the
control group) increased to 8.8 in the experimental groups and to 8.38 in the
control group. By the end of the second year of study the experimental
group’s results increased to 9.8 times and the control group to 9.25 times.
The standing long jump dynamics were as follows. The initial mean in the
experimental groups was 204 cm and 203.7 cm in the control group. This
increased to 211.2 cm after one year of sessions in the experimental groups
and to 207.2 cm in the control group. At the end of the second year of
training these figures increased to 213.3 cm and 210.3 cm respectively.The results of the 100 metre tests were as follows. In the experimental
groups the initial mean result was 14.4 sec; after the first year of training
it improved to 13.62 sec and after the second to 13.44 sec. Improvement in
the control group was somewhat slower. The initial result was 14.37 sec.
After the first year of training the mean result was 13.69 sec and after the
second year 13.48 sec.The results of the experimental groups were higher than those of the control
group in all of the tests. The absolute improvements in the tests were: 100
metre run– Kettlebell lifters, 0.96 sec; control group, 0.86 sec; in the
cross-country –experimental groups, 0.46 sec and 0.36 sec in the control
group; in the standing long jump 9.3 cm and 6.6 cm respectively; in pull-ups
3.59 times for the kettlebell lifters and 2.45 times for the control group.
If you didn’t catch all of that…it’s ok. Basically the kettlebell group whooped the control group (the ones who did standard bootcamp stuff) in every single one of the tests. Now why would I waste time with other stuff if the almighty kettlebell gives faster results?
The answer is what influenced my career….The answer is “I wouldn’t”
I am a fitness professional residing in Hopatcong, NJ, who is dedicated to making myself and my clients as strong as (or stronger than) they look and to look beyond sexy. I help my clients drop body fat quickly, gain strength quickly and I use kettlebells as my main tool and the RKC system as my main methodology. I am a personal trainer with small group personal training and fitness bootcamps in Morris and Sussex County NJ. This fitness blog is where I have become known as a straight shooter with a unique writing style and I have been known to force companies to take videos down where they teach unsafe and ineffective technique with just a couple written words. It has become an inside joke started by a guy that bends steel bars into bonsai tree shaped decorations with his hands, that I don’t wear shirts but that is mainly because I have built up my physique along the lines of a Greek statue and exhibit it proudly.
Should you train while on vacation?
Posted by: | CommentsI don’t know how long you have been keeping up with my blog but a little while back I took my girlfriend on a cruise where I proposed to her (and she said yes). Well the time has come for us to book our honeymoon because our wedding is coming up in November. Well for me being the stingy bastard that I am I wanted to get a high bang for my buck place (kind of like my exercise programs) and checked a lot of places and what they have to offer. One thing I noticed under the amenities was that just about all of them have a “fitness facility” listed under a place that could have very easily been titled “Here are a bunch of reasons you should stay here.”
Now I have a hard time understanding a lot of people’s mindsets. For one thing is pushing yourself through a workout while you could be on a beautiful beach or an excursion really the way you want to spend your vacation? Contrary to popular belief you aren’t going to lose your results after a single week of indulgence and relaxation. Actually you could come back refreshed since back off weeks are a part of just about every strength and conditioning programs out there. Some of my clients even ask me right before they leave what they should do while on vacation. I answer “Whatever you want. Relax and we can undue whatever damage was done when you get back.” Most of the facilities don’t give me the eye of the tiger anyways.
Would you rather be here or in the gym.
One thing I have also noticed is that some people will avoid training just about every other week of the year and suddenly while they are on vacation they get the inspiration to train. Hey I guess late is better then never but the major problem here is that they spend their entire vacation limping around from delayed onset muscle soreness. Not a pleasant way to spend the vacation and you aren’t going to have any visible results from the single workout that pretty nearly ruined your trip.
So to wrap it up what I recommend is to pay your dues BEFORE your trip. Spend the vacation enjoying the fruits of your labor.
The fruits of my labor
Strength Training for Fitness and Aesthetics
Posted by: | CommentsAlright I was sitting here at my laptop with no clue what I wanted to write about so I’ll just give you a free workout to try at home. Hell I’ll write down the guidelines for you to complete it free of charge since I am not an asshole after all. I just came back from running a class and this is what I had them do. All you need is a kettlebell. The purpose of this training session is to train over head stability and movement quality, build strength and boost your metabolism to burn some fat (if that is your goal get on a proper nutrition program).
4 turkish get ups alternating sides. Make sure to pay attention to proper form.
“Countdowns” (I stole “countdowns” from uber Strength Coach Alwyn Cosgrove…he told me to…)
Complete this as fast as you can with good form.
10 swings
10 goblet squats
9 swings
9 goblet squats
8 swings
8 goblet squats
till you get down to 1
Wait for your respiration to return to normal then do kettlebell arm bars to open up the chest. That one doesn’t have a specific rep count since I want you to just kind of explore your way through the exercise. Remember to keep your lats tight and keep your shoulder away from your ear.
Then do a couple halos and round the body pass just to loosen up your shoulders a bit more.
Prone cobra stretch at the end.
Enjoy.
Eric Moss RKC
I want you to notice that even though there is a lot going on in that workout I stress the basics. It’s turkish getups, swings and squats. Do more of the stuff that provides a high bang for your buck and you will get better results. Exercise selection is the last thing your body adapts to so don’t buy into that muscle confusion crap. Try that training session out and let me know how you do with it. I mean it, speak up.
