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.

100 reps to rock hard abs

Today I did one of my favorite Abdominal workouts. I love it cause it leaves my abs in a knot :) I call the 100 abs and I do it at least once a week on my non intense day. 100 because I do 5 sets of 20 reps each with no rest at all. Each rep I do it as slow as I can as the idea is not to have a cardio session but rather make the entire group of abdominal muscles to work real hard .
we target the rectus abdominis (the top half) the transverse abdominis (bottom half) and obliques (the sides).

It is really important to grind it out all the way and not give up.. If you really really must break.. then max 3 seconds. Count to 3 and off you go again. You can do it. I've mentioned how you can make some of these easier if you are a beginner.

1. V ups. (image from freeworkoutsguide)  Do it much slower than this animation :)

2. dumbbell russian twist  (you can also do it with a kettlebell or weight plate). Keep your feet off the ground. If you can't then thats ok rest them on the ground but try to do as many as you can with feet in the air, keep knees slightly bent.

3.full sit up, again unlike in the animation below keep your feet in the air. It engages your core and its very important that you do so unless you absolutely cannot, but you must work your way to doing so.

4. dumbbell side throws.. (I'm not sure what to call these really :) like the russian twist above, keep your feet off the ground (if you can) and twist side to side but unlike above where you place the ball on the ground pretend to throw the dumbbell (kettle bell/medicine ball whatever) in the air and reach for the sky so you get a nice long stretch on the obliques.


5. floor wipers.. do these slow.. Don't just swing away, control the movement all the way up and down. Make sure when you put your feet down, the are straight and resting, don't bounce off the floor. Control the movements.

Heart Rate Monitor

The concept of using a heart rate monitor during my workouts did not even occur to me until mid this year when I felt like I was dying during my workouts and hence I didn't really push myself much further. Similarly there were occasions where I would just push myself a bit too far :) so to control this I got myself a heart rate monitor. I bought the Pyle Sports PHRM38 from Amazon, which has pretty decent reviews.

I had no idea how this device would change my workouts and enable me to go to another level. Basically you wear the strap with the transmitter on your chest and the watch on your hand and you can observe your heart rate on the watch. You can set maximum and minimum heart rates for which you can get it to beep if your heart rate goes over or under. The watch also has many other functionalities which I won't go into.

The wonderful thing now is I know when sometimes I feel like I'm dying I'm really not and push myself that much more but still stay within the safe zone and the second I go above a set maximum I stop, let my heart rate settle and off I go again with just the right amount of rest. The resulting workouts are amazing. I love it and I can't believe I never used one before. This is also great for jogging and cycling to maintain an aerobic heart rate throughout the workout. I highly recommend anyone that wants to make most of their workouts to get one.

300 Spartan Workout

Last week I finally took on the original 300 workout and managed to complete it. It was tough going but I made it. It took me about 25 minutes to complete but I had to really power through it. The workout is as follows:

25 pull-ups
50 deadlifts at 135 pounds
50 push-ups
50 box jumps with a 24-inch box
50 "floor wipers" (a core and shoulders exercise at 135 pounds)
50 "clean and press" at 36 pounds (a weight-lifting exercise)
25 more pull-ups -- for a total of 300 reps  

If you aren't able to do the total reps (for example the 25 pullups) in one go, thats ok, do as many as you can take a quick breather (max 3 secs) and go again even if it means you only do 2 or 3 reps each time, until you complete them all. 

I wouldn't recommend this for beginners though, as there really wouldn't be much point. If you are interested in similar but more basic routines let me know.. I'll post some up soon..

Nutrition

I am constantly surprised by the number of people that think they can eat fast food junk in ridiculous quantities and think 30 minutes of exercise would make it all good !! IT WILL NOT !! :) Similarly I see (mainly blokes) training at the gym and working hard but can't seem to get rid of the big gut. People will tell you its 80/20 (or 70/30) where it 80% food and 20% exercise and this is so true and we all tend to forget this. Some general tips in particular for those 30+ folks..

- Avoid fast food like the plague. Maccas, hungry jacks, kfc, red rooster etc. NO MORE not even occasionally. Its not worth it.

- Avoid white carbs like the plague too, that includes white rice, pasta, white bread etc.

- Anything deep fried is a definite no.

- Minimize sweets.

- For those specially trying to lose weight, please don't just eat one meal a day, you are making things a lot worse for you. Its counter productive to starve yourself.

- Try to eat 4-5 meals a day (small meals :) I realize this is hard to do especially when we are at work during the day, but try to sneak in a handful of nuts or some fruit in-between and reduce the otherwise massive meal you might have.

- Do not miss breakfast, at least have a cereal bar. Ideally have a big breakfast full of protein and good fats.

- Have your carbs during the day and avoid them after 6pm. So no rice, pasta, pizza, bread etc at night. This is hard if you aren't used to it, so if you absolutely can't avoid it just have a handful of wholemeal and unprocessed carbs if you must.

- Make sure you have a good intake of healthy fats, Salmon, Avocado, Nuts, etc. These are good for you despite being fatty.

- I need not say this but I'll state the obvious - don't smoke and limit your alcohol intake to 3-4 standard drinks a week.

All of the above sounds hard to follow but trust me (I'm a dr. :) once you get into the habit of things and be conscious about what you eat, it will come naturally and you will feel better all around.  Good luck !

TRX Training

The TRX is one of my favorite training apparatus. Admittedly its probably not found in all gyms but I think its getting more and more popular.

There are quite a few videos on youtube if you want to learn the basics of using TRX. For example, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7u_XiArN5YY. Doing a circuit of the basics shown in the above video is a good way of breaking into TRX training. Once you get comfortable with the TRX however, you can do some awesome exercises that will take your training to another level. 

For starters try doing pushups with your feet suspended on the TRX. This will test your core out as you workout your chest. Once you are able to do this then try doing pushup on medicine balls with your feet suspended. When you come up on the push pull your knees into your chest, as you see me doing below.

Once you can do at least 20 reps and want to try something more challenging, then try the suspended  pushups as I'm doing below

The above looks real tough but once you get past the pushups on the balls, do try this.  After the initial funny feeling of being suspended it will get easier. 

The other TRX move I really like pull ups for the back. You can try keeping your elbows close to your sides as well as 90 degrees that focus more on the upper back. To make it harder put your feet up on a bench and get parallel to the floor. If that's too easy then get a double TRX and try the below

Have Fun !!

Welcome to my blog

Thanks for visiting. I’m starting up this blog to share my experience in fitness training.  I’m an academic by trade so comprehensive studies on what works and what does not, and more importantly why so, is extremely important on most of what I do in life, in particular in this passion of mine – Fitness Training. I hope to share with you workouts, tips and tricks from what I have tried out myself and not just read somewhere. Hope you find these posts informative, useful and possibly even entertaining. Happy reading and feel free to comment and discuss any of them. I’d love to hear from you.