Fitness Friday: NEW Body Weight workout

By: Jeff

It's Friday, which means it is time for another Fitness Friday article. Today's article is simple, but certainly not easy. Below is a body weight workout which can test the meddle of even the most experienced fitness gurus you know.

Start the weekend off right with this total body workout which requires nothing but your own body weight.

Push Ups - To Failure
Walking Lunges - 20
Burpees - 10
Squat Jumps - 25
Planks - To Failure

Complete all 5 exercises without rest. Once you've done that you have completed 1 round of exercises. See if you can do 3 rounds to start, and as you get more experienced you can try and achieve 5 rounds. This workout is quick, efficient and will provide results.

I do workouts like these on the days I don't go to the gym for a training session and they are great for getting your heart rate up, putting your body into calorie burning mode and a great change of pace to see even more results!

Happy Friday!

5 ways to break out of your Fitness Funk

By Jeff:

There are occasions when even the seasoned veteran, in terms of exercise, goes into a funk. Your weight training gains might come to a halt, your mile time might stall or get worse and your overall energy level might just be lower than normal.

When this happens, what can you do to kick the funk you are in and get back on track? Here are 5 easy steps you can take to ensure you get back on the horse and back into your workout groove.

1. Rest - The majority of people who experience some type of exercise fatigue are the people who often times need to simply take a break. The human body is an amazing machine, but even the most sophisticated machine needs to be shut down from time to time. Try and get at least 8 hours of sleep a night and avoid over-training by giving yourself a day off in between intense training sessions.

2. Mix It Up - Often times when weight lifters see their bench press progress plateau, they get flustered and angry. The solution is typically very simple...stop doing the same thing over and over again. If you are obsessed with the bench press, try changing your grip. Close grip can stimulate different muscles throughout the upper body and could spark new growth and gains. Abandon the bench and try chest flies and push ups rather than the same routine repeatedly. Don't be afraid to take pride out of the equation and research some new training styles and workouts. It could be just the thing to ignite some new progress in your training.

3. Nutritional Back-Up - When a lack of energy is the cause of your struggles in the gym, you can point to your nutrition as the reason why. Be sure you give your body the proper fuel for your metabolic engine before hitting the gym, or the trail. About an hour before exercise you should digest some carbohydrates as well as protein to give your body something tangible to utilize to get you through your workout. Something like a banana and string cheese, or an apple and a hard boiled egg will be just the ticket to giving you the energy you need get through your next training session.

4. Grab a Partner - Working out with someone will always intensify your workouts. Whether it is the competition of who can run faster and lift more, or the reliability of someone being there helping you along the way. Be sure you choose a workout partner wisely. You want someone with similar workout goals in mind, but also someone who is focused on training and not talking. Nothing can be worse for fitness gains than someone who would rather talk than train.

5. Change of Scenery - The human body can be habitual and lazy. It gets accustomed to the same exercises, workouts and even the time of day you train. Throwing your body off is always a good thing to do. If you train every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 4:00 p.m., try changing it up a bit. Maybe train Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday but train in the morning for a few weeks. Take it another step further and go out of the gym for some outdoor workouts. Find some steps, do some springs, pull ups in a tree and push ups anywhere can make for a great total body workout that won't cost you a dime, but could kick start your gains.

Happy Training!

Fitness Friday: How to improve your workouts with mental focus

By: Jeff

[Editor's Note: We are starting a new series of articles called Fitness Friday. Every Friday we provide you with some advice to help you reach the level of fitness you desire. Enjoy!]

We've all been there. In the gym, going through the motions, thinking about something else and essentially not wanting to be there. You leave feeling as if you've wasted more time than made yourself better. The question remains, how do you prevent this from happening in the future?

The answer might seem corny and simple, but it is all about mental focus. Having the ability to put those external factors on the back burner for the next 45 minutes, and simply focus on the task at hand.

Here are some tips which I have found work for me, and could help you when it comes to becoming more focused on your workouts, and seeing the benefits of your hard work:

- Be prepared - Just like a coach has to have a plan in place for a practice or game, you need to have a plan before your workout. Forget just walking in not knowing what you are going to do that particular day, sit down the day before and chart out your workout, diagram your cardio session and mentally walk through the workout so you are ready for your scheduled training session.

- Music - Some like to listen to gangster rap, some prefer classic rock. Whatever floats your boat, in my opinion. Whatever you choose to listen to while you train, make sure it is music which motivates you. I don't know too many people who would choose to listen to Abba or the Carpenters when trying to rep out a set of biceps curls, but whatever works for you is what will keep you focused and motivated to do more.

- Block out distractions - This could be combined with the music piece, but if you workout by yourself, your best bet is to put the headphones on to tell others in the gym you are there to focus, not socialize. Many use the gym as a place to meet people and make connections. You can do all that after you are done training. Keep conversations to a minimum and remember you have a job to do.

- Have a backup plan - Everyone has walked into the gym looking forward to their workout and they suddenly see the equipment they had planned on using is taken. Don't fret, this is an easy fix. If you were prepared for the workout and wrote down your plan, simply move things around to make it work. If you were going to start with bench press, but all the benches are taken, move on to the squats you had planned next and go to the bench press when it becomes available. One small hiccup cannot derail an entire workout.

- Forget the TVs - Gyms across America are now putting televisions everywhere within their facilities. TVs on your cardio equipment, in the weight room, the ab room and some gyms even have movie theaters to watch movies while you workout. The absurdity of this has gone over the edge, in my opinion. When you step on a treadmill or a stair climber, it should be to workout, not to watch TV. The television can not only cause you to lose your balance and fall (yes, I've seen this happen several times), but takes your attention away from the workout.

Ultimately, when you approach your workout, you need to have the mental focus to get into the gym and improve. Whether your goal is a faster mile time, to lose weight, to see gains in the weight room or to just feel better. Your goals are just that...your goals, but you need to have the mental focus to achieve those goals you set for yourself. Hopefully these tips will help you do just that in 2015.

Happy Fitness Friday!

Reach your fitness goals with this total body workout

By: Jeff

Use this total body workout to shed the pounds!

Whether you want to shed a few pounds, or to get leaner to show off your six-pack abs, it takes hard work and dedication to get the results you desire. If you read this blog with regularity, you've learned a great deal about your nutrition and how vital it is to reaching your fitness goals and a healthier lifestyle, but sometimes how you train your body can have a big impact on the results you see in the mirror.

There was a time when I followed the typical meat-head gym rat philosophy of training one body part per workout. It left me wondering where all the hard work was going, as well as unbelievably sore on a daily basis. So, I made some changes.

First change I made was to go from lifting 6, or 7, days a week to only lifting 3 days. This allowed my body to recover before training those muscles again. All that jargon of 'muscle confusion' and 'attacking the muscles' is pretty silly when you look at the anatomy of the human body.

When doing resistance training, the muscles experience small tears which then need the proper nutrients and rest to heal and grow larger. If you don't allow your muscles to rest, you are jeopardizing them of possible growth and gains with over training.

With that said, the second factor I changed was going from training one muscle group a session to training my entire body every time I go into the gym. No, my workouts aren't 4 hours long either. I simply focus on multi-joint movements first then isolation lifts next. I do several types of set training. Super-sets, tri-sets and the occasional drop set training. All of that isn't important if you are just starting off.

Try the workout below (I did this workout the other day) and remember it will take time for you to get accustomed to this type of training regimen. Stick with it, and you will see the results sooner than you think.

Back/Triceps
Pull Ups (or weighted pull ups for the advanced) - 3 x 12
Single Arm DB row - 3 x 12, 10, 8
Triceps Press Downs - 3 x 15

Chest/Biceps
Incline Dumbbell bench press - 3 x 12, 10, 8
Medicine Ball Push ups - 3 x 15
Barbell Bicep Curls - 3 x 15

Legs/Calves
Dumbbell walking lunges - 3 x 20, 15, 12
Single-Leg dumbbell squats - 3 x 15, 12, 10
Seated calf raises - 3 x 15

That's it! You should be in and out of the gym in no longer than an hour, and if you do this workout quickly you will surely be exhausted by it's ending. Give it a shot and post how it goes in the comment section below!

Happy lifting!