Pushups

A heavily underestimated exercise that you can do inside a gym or outside without the need of fancy equipment. Although it mostly focus on your chest it also works your shoulders, forearms, triceps and your core if you do it properly. It is important though to get the form right. The most common mistake is to stick the bum up in the air. No matter how impressive your bum is, keep it down and aligned with the rest of your body so that your shoulders, back, bum, and knees are in a straight line.

There are many variations to the vanilla version above. So when you've mastered the basic pushup then throw in some variations. Here are some for you to try:

If you have access to a bosu ball here are 3 variations. The imbalance of the bosu balls activates your core.

Plyometric pushups (explosive)

On one leg (works your core more)

Kettlebell pushups (allows you to go deeper)

Arms

Today was legs day for me, but a tweak in my knee from sport on the weekend made me change plans and at the spur of the moment I decided to do an arms workout. The last time I did an arms routine was almost a year ago. I rarely do them because the workouts that I normally do, recruit my arms plenty and my aim is not to look like Popeye :)

Anyway I really enjoyed the workout and my arms feel like a rock, I love it !! :) here is what I did if you want to try it out - enjoy!!

Olympic bar barbell curls 3 sets.
- 30kg x 12 reps
- 40kg x 10 reps
- 50kg x 8 reps
1min rest in between sets. Make sure you keep your body straight and elbows tucked in to your sides. Do not swing the weight up, control it. If you cant do it slowly and controlled drop the weight, it's not about how much you lift but the correct form.

Superset (that is do one straight after the other) single arm cable curl and underhand pullups. 3 sets.
- 12kg x 12 + pullups to failure
- 14kg x 10 + ....
- 16kg x 8 + ...
Again curl slow especially on the way down. Here is a tip - I use a foam roller under my armpit as I do the curls to ensure I do not swing the weights and give it a more concentration feel. It's awesome try it (I'll post a video if I get chance). Do both arms before the pulls ups. With pullups do at least 3-5. If you can do more then you know you can increase the weight on the curls.

At the end of the above your biceps should feel like a rock, time to hit the triceps.

Superset two-arm tricep cable push downs and close grip medicine ball pushup. If the latter is too hard then simply do close grip pushups without the ball. Again 3 sets with increasing weight as above.

Superset single arm tricep cable extensions and dips on a bench. For the cable extension, I did 2 sets with palm facing up and the final set palm facing down. When doing dips I use two benches facing each other with my legs up on one. This allows a deeper motion and also takes my full weight. If this is too hard stick with feet on the floor. 3 super sets again.

I finished off with 30 floor sweepers for the abs.

The above done properly will make you remember it for a few days :)

Pull ups

I admit I was one of those that avoided pullups/chinups for ages... It was just too difficult to do any more than a couple so I resorted to lat pull downs. That all changed a few years ago having got plenty of advice on the brilliance of the plain old pullup. I've kept working on them and if you keep at it your strength will build up and it gets better, but it takes time. From struggling to do 5 I managed to do the 25 needed for the original 300 workout you may have seen in an earlier post.

The best way to get you started is to have a spotter - someone to help you out. Have the spotter lift you up when you can't do any more and you come down by yourself. Gradually lessen your reliance on the spotter.

When you can go past 15-20 pullups you may want to do some variations. One of those variations I do these days is the pull up on suspension rings as you see me doing below.

So throw in some pullups at least twice a week into your workouts and reap the rewards.

Kettle Bells

Kettlebells are awesome - if you know what you are doing with them :) Here is a kettlebell circuit I did today and I will stick to it for a few more weeks. If you don't have access to kettlebells you can use dumbells but they don't work as well. Here is the workout:

20 Kettlebell Swings (two hands) 24Kg 

20 Single arm kettle bell clean and press (10 for each arm) 24Kg

20 Kettlebell single arm bent over rows (10 for each arm) 24kg

20 Kettlebell upright rows 24kg

20 kettlebell pushups

Do the above with no rest, then take a break and start again for a total of 3 rounds making it 300 reps. Do the first circuit with a lower weight so as to warm up and then go hard the next 2 cycles.

I attach video clips to illustrate each of the above exercises: Enjoy !!

Kettlebell Swings

Single arm clean and press

Bentover rows

Upright rows

Pushups

Point your toes up!

When you workout your legs you will find often people say "drive through your heels" for correct form, this is also true for deadlifts, lunges, and so on. What it means is that you push through through your heels rather than say your toes when you do your squats, keeping your heels firmly planted on the ground. This also prevents you from leaning too far forward and stressing out your knees.

Now, if you've learnt how to do this and have been doing this for years, its not only easy but also natural. However, if you are just starting out or haven't been doing this, then its awkward until you get used to it.

Here is a very simple tip (that I used when I started) to overcome this - point (bend) your toes upwards as you do the exercise. Try it and you will see that it helps a lot. Enjoy !

Hygiene - body odor

For your own benefit and the benefit of those around you here are some tips for not stinking out during and after a workout.

- have a shower after you workout, whether it be at the gym or the first thing when you get home.

- if you sweat a lot and stay in sweaty clothes for long periods consider using an anti-bacterial soap when you shower.

- put your workout clothes in the wash after every workout. Do not recycle them even if you think you didn't really sweat in them. I think this is the primary reason for bad odor. I know people that wear the same workout clothes for 3-4 workouts before they wash them. Bad!!!

Also If you really don't sweat in them consider following some of my suggested workouts to make sure you sweat :)

- there are some dri-fit t-shirts that retain bad odor even after a wash. These need to be washed using anti-bacterial washing powder/liquid or chuck em out (I would choose the latter option :)

- if you shower at the gym make sure you put on a fresh pair of socks after you've showered. Don't put those stinky ones back on.

Let's do our best to be less stinky at the gyms to make it better place to workout for all of us :) enjoy!!

Rest Days

I often get friends (mostly female) that ask me, how come when they workout everyday doing 2 gym classes a day, although they aren't overweight (this I agree with), they don't seem to be able to tone (shape) their bodies, in particular their arms and shoulders. My answer is, stop working out every now and then and take rest. In order to shape up, your muscles must rebuild after you keep breaking them down. This is a classic case of overtraining for those super-keen individuals. By overtraining you aren't doing yourself many favours.

If you are a beginner I suggest you workout only 3 times a week with 4 days rest in between. If you have been training for a while, I suggest a rest day following 2 consecutive workout days.

If you know me, you might call me a hypocrite as I'm at the gym almost everyday of the week when I'm not playing some other sport -- but I'm not always working out. On my rest days I still go to the gym to do some stretches, work on my ITBs and have a rest in the steam room or sauna :)

Running/Jogging

This is a common mistake I see a lot of people do. They get on the treadmill, jog for 30 minutes and think they've had a darn good workout. Of course this is better than sitting on the couch eating chips for 30 minutes but it's not effective. If this is all you are motivated to do at the gym here is a way to make it an awesome workout.

The problem with jogging at a constant (slowish pace) for 30 minutes is that although it will help you build endurance for that activity, after a few times your body conditions to it and it becomes less effective. To overcome this try interval training as follows

- First, set the machine on an incline to at least gradient 3.0, this alone will make you work harder

- start the first 5 minutes jogging slowly say at about 8-9 km/h

- then run at 11-12 km/h for one minute

- walk the next minute 5-6 km/h

- run the next 2 minutes at 10 km/h

- walk the next 2 minutes 5-6 km/h

- Do the above 4 steps 4 times (thats 4 x 6 minutes)

Let me know how you go....

Compound Exercises - The skinny ones

People find this hard to believe (unless you've seen me as a teenager), but I used to be terribly skinny and little. I was 17 when I decided that I wanted to break out of my skinny frame and I was fortunate to have a brutal trainer when I did :) looking back although I did blast out in just 6 months to a reasonable shape, today I would have followed a slightly different workout. If you are new to weight training and your main objective is to bulk up then I strongly recommend the following workout 2-3 times a week and that you take complete rest on non-training days. You must let your body recover and grow so rest is essential. 

Do 3 sets of each of the following exercise with each set having no more than 8-10 reps. But you have to do them with a weight that will take you to failure. That is, a weight which by the 6th rep you feel like you can't do anymore and then push yourself to do a few more. So it is best if you have a training partner or someone to push you, else unless you are a freak like me, you just won't push. Keep this up for 4-6 weeks and you will see results.

Squats -  (http://www.youtube.com/user/HyperStrike28#p/search/7/Q3-lJK4MXlc)

             Make sure you sit back and that your knees don't go past your toes. Else its bad for your knees

Deadlifts - (http://www.youtube.com/user/HyperStrike28#p/search/4/hjWZuARDQqs)

             Make sure your back is straight and never round it

Benchpress - (http://www.youtube.com/user/HyperStrike28#p/search/2/1sGwGaS36pA)

             Make sure you push your shoulders backwards and pinch your shoulder blades.

Barbell Bent over rows -  (http://www.youtube.com/user/HyperStrike28#p/search/0/ZvuWqSshc_U)

             Keep your back straight and draw your elbows back keeping them close to your body.

With all of the above exercises it is also incredibly important to get the form correct, that is, do them the right way so you don't hurt yourself. So make sure you ask a (good) trainer at the gym on how to do them if you aren't sure. 

The above is not just for those skinny ones trying to break out, they are the basic compound exercises that is helpful to anyone.

Have Fun and don't forget to let me know how you go if you do try this.

Cardio workout

Alright through requests here is a cardio workout. This is one I did this week. It's lighter than normal but certainly challenging. Try it out and let me know how you go.. I've done the hard work and found reasonable demonstrations from the net and provided the links in case you didn't know how to do these exercises and too lazy to look them up :)

1. For 2 minutes (get the body moving)
- 30 sec butt kicks (jog in one place but get your heels to your bum)
  (see http://vimeo.com/13789869)
- 30 sec high knees (jog in one place but get your knees up as high as you can)
 (see http://vimeo.com/13580673)
- 30 sec jumping jacks
 (see http://vimeo.com/13580703)
- 30 sec butt kicks

2. 25 burpees http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxrFducMgYQ

3. 25 power jacks  - see http://vimeo.com/13393247  though her form is not that great in the video. Make sure you keep you legs wider, your back straight and you get your butt down to at the your knee level.

4. 25 ski jumps  -  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS7TzD5tHiU

5. 25 alternating side Tplanks- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2a6fhPZv9I

Do the above circuit with no breaks. Then rest for one minute and repeat for a total of 3 circuits.