Blog Archives
Beginner’s HIIT Workout
Whether you’ve never done a HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) workout before, or you are a pro, here is a workout I put together for DualFit that is designed for beginners – but can be adjusted in intensity by simply adjusting the intervals.
OTHER INTERVALS TO TRY:
- 30/30: 30 Seconds of Exercise & 30 Seconds of Rest
- 30/30/30: 30 Seconds of the 1st Exercise ( no rest), 30 Seconds of the 2nd Exercise and 30 Seconds rest
- 45/15: 45 Seconds of Exercise & 15 Seconds of Rest
- 50/10: 50 Seconds of Exercise & 10 Seconds of Rest
CLICK HERE to get the written workout, and get more great info at DualFit.com!
Ball Pass Ab Workout
Have a ball with your ab workout! Instead of doing boring crunches, use a medicine ball to increase the intensity and fun. Here are a few exercises you can try with a small med ball.
Ball Pass Ab Workout
12 Single Under Leg Pass
12 Single Scissor Leg Pass
12 Double Under Leg Pass
12 Double Scissor (Figure 8) Leg Pass
12 Triple Under Leg Pass
For more fun workouts, check out www.DualFit.com
Formula for Success
“If you take your eyes off the goal, for even a second, doubt will rush your mind like a band of brutal thieves.”
Doubt intends to kill your dreams, destroy your desire, and beat you down with fear. Evidence of this is obvious in the most trying times. When we are hungry, when we are tired, when we are angry, when we are in despair…
Be Hungry
When you are hungry, let that hunger be your purpose. It is a burning reminder in your gut of what you want to accomplish. When you are tired and your eyes grow heavy, don’t be the martyr the world excuses you to be, no one owes you anything. If there is something you want, you stay up one more hour and you go out and get it!
Be Productive
Anger?, rage? Make it productive, and focus the intensity of this moment into success instead of resentment. No one can control your emotions but you. And when you are in complete despair — Stop. Shhhhh. Be still, and listen. You are more than “just being”. You have the potential to be even more than your desires. You have the ability to accomplish things you havent even dreamed of …yet.
One of my favorite quotes of all time comes by way of the late Henry Ford. He reminds us that we can decide what happens next… he said “he who thinks he can, and he who thinks he can’t, are usually both right“.
Go Beyond
“Attaining the goal isn’t success. Success is found in the pursuit, attaining your goals is the icing on this cake we call life.”
Lastly, it isn’t enough to just dream. I love visualization. Wondering what if, thinking just maybe… Hoping, even praying, for that desire of your heart. Instead of praying for “the goal”, pray for the opportunity to make a way for your goal. The satisfaction of accomplishment comes in the effort – the blood, the sweat, the tears, the years, in pursuit of the “goal”. Attaining the goal isn’t success. Success is found in the pursuit, attaining your goals is the icing on this cake we call life.
“Vision without execution is just hallucination” Henry Ford
FitFluential LLC compensated me for this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own. #LiveWithFire
So You Want to Compete? Encouragement for the Future Competitor
Have you ever been interested in body building or physique contests? Have you ever wondered what its like on stage, back stage, or even in the crowd on the night of the event?
Preparing the Body
I know how I felt when I first thought of getting on stage and seeing what this whole competition things was all about. I was terrified. I didnt know anything about diet, tanning, posing, how to pump up, what suit to buy, what to eat the night before, and on and on and on. I realized I probably wasn’t alone, and that this “abyss”of the unknown may be keeping many from trying one of the toughest sports in the world when it comes to training and nutrition.
Competitors don’t risk falling off of a balance beam after years of preparation, or getting knocked out by one rogue lucky punch but, instead, the competition is soley in the preparation. The day of the show is merely an unvailing of a sculpture (or science project) that took months, and even years, to perfect – or at least improve.
Preparing the body for a show takes a lot of planning (and, as you can see in these pictures below shot at the hotel competition day, a lot of packing, cooking, supplementing and planning ahead).
Preparing the Mind
This type of discipline is grueling – and takes a lot of mental fortitude and drive to keep going till the day of competition. This is when, as a coach, a little encouragement can go a long way. I have close to 20 people that are going to compete with me in an upcomming physique event, and the following is a letter I wrote them to encourage them to persever till the end. I wrote this letter to encourage them to say the course no matter what their brain or body is telling them. I wrote this letter to push them to keep faith that in 5 weeks their bodies will be the most amazing aesthtically that they have been in years, if not ever.
Dear Competitor,
Letter to my clients and future competitors out there where ever you are:
First, I want to applaud you all for your commitment, drive, discipline and self-denial – and your courage and your desire to step out into this scary world of physique competitions.
Secretly I am hoping you find it very fulfilling, beyond the seemingly narcissistic focus it may have at first glance. I promise you, this level of commitment, self denial and discipline has perfect carry over into our daily lives. It teaches us to be better parents, boss’s, moms, dads, husbands and on and on…
Here we are guys… 5 weeks to go. Some of you are still on the fence, and that is ok. But next week we are either crossing the line of committing to April 6th, or we are going to gracefully bow out for another show. I am asking you to humbly allow me to help you with that decision. Lets decide together if your physique will be show ready or not.
Please don’t let fear into your heart, or head, when it comes to this decision of competing. It is only a question of being ready or not physically. Emotionally and mentally you will be wondering “what if” all the way up to and even the day of the show. So get that out of your head.
You guys have already overcome so much. We have only been training as a team for 5 weeks so far, and every single one of you has amazed me with your level of commitment. We still have 5 weeks to go. I’ve never had a team with so many firsts, so personally I am overwhelmed with excitement.
What If’s…
Guys (and girls), I know the inbody is messing with your head, I know the scale is your best friend in the morning and then your nemesis by noon. You feel so weak trying to finish the most menial tasks around the house, never mind making it into Max to train. When you finally do have time to train you may feel like you’re letting something else go, or putting other priorities on the back burner. You are paying the price, you are paying your dues. You will all have different levels of sacrifice depending on your support structure at home. Some friends and family are supporting your every move, keeping you accountable, reminding you of how amazing your commitment is – and others… not so much.
Your spouse may feel left out. You may have guilt about picking your kids up at school only to drop them off again so you can train. Your best friend may miss her drinking buddy, or even be jealous that she doesn’t have the guts to commit to this epic training. Get all of this out of your head, because when your friends and family see you on the stage, all will be forgiven.
I have seen my clients go to a show with a skeptic husband, and I watch his face as his bride walks out on stage and his jaw drops. He stands to his feet and screams, number 17, number 17… Or the look on the faces of your kids shouting from the crowd, mom… mom… As a coach, this all plays a part of why I drive you guys, and beg for more when you have nothing left to give. If you are struggling with this, stay true to training, stay true to yourself. The one thing they can’t argue the day of the show is that you deserve the applause they are hearing for you right now.
I would like to encourage you, however, to arrange your schedule to train early or later or in the middle of the day as to not affect your friends and family as much. The less impact our training and diet has on disrupting our social lives, the more supportive our loved ones will be. It is a sacrifice to get up early, to get that extra cardio before your spouse or kids wake. It is a sacrifice to make PB&J sandwiches for the rest of the family when you’re dying to lick the spoon. It is a sacrifice to go out for drinks with friends and sip on un-sweet ice tea in a martini glass – but you didn’t think that all this sacrifice was just in the gym, did ya?
So here we are… 5 weeks out. We feel too fat, too flabby, too skinny, too hungry. By now, I think I have had a chance to talk to each of you about dialing it in for the show. If not, lets talk Saturday so we can straighten out these questions. But in the mean time, stick to the program. Regardless if the scale doesn’t move, stick to the program. If you feel skinny, it doesn’t necessarily mean eat more, and if you’re having a fat day it doesn’t mean you need to starve yourself.
You must “stay the course”. I know you are hungry, tired, emotional, scared, insecure… because I feel these things too – but guys, I can tell you what its like the day after… the accomplishment, the pride, the feeling as though you worked so hard and you deserve the compliments that people give you. It is worth it in the end.
Lets all commit to taking our training and diet up another notch. Don’t put your family and friends second, don’t let fatigue and hunger slow you down, don’t let your eyes tell you your not going to be ready, and never, never, never give up.
StevO’
Think It’s Too Late?
Dr. Josefina Monasterio STARTED competing for the first time when she was 60. She is one of our Team Max members who will compete in the upcoming Southeast Classic in Hollywood April 6th, even after hip surgery. So, NO it’s not too late. Read Dr. Josefina’s story…
FitFluential LLC compensated me for this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own. #respectyourself
Sculpting Better Legs: Simple Leg Workout to Improve Your “Sweep”
If you have been following this mess I call a blog at all for the last 5 months you may have heard me whine and whine about my knee. If not, you’re in luck because here I go again. 5 months ago I was getting ready for my first ever MMA tournament. I know,… shut it! But anywho, I was gonna try. Here’s a shocker: my 42-year-old butt got tore up by a 19-year-old monster. I tore my medial meniscus and sustained a 90% tear to my MCL. I was devastated, but now I’m back and I want to not only return to competing, I want my quads bigger and stronger than ever. The area I want to focus on for this workout is the Vastus Lateralis, the largest and most outer portion of the thigh.
How to Improve Your Sweep
How do we isolate out the vastus lateralis muscle, or as we call it in the physique world, “the sweep”? Vastus externus or vastus lateralis, depending on your A&P professor, is the largest of all the quadricep muscles. The action of this muscle is to extend the tibia or shin bone at the knee, but I’m here to help you learn how to perform knee extension to isolate out the other muscles that synergistically aid in this action. In sculpting, it is very important that we learn isolation. Whether we are a bodybuilder, a bikini competitor or a stay-at-home mom that wants to scult their body, we can all use these principles to learn to sculpt nicer legs.
Target Training
Fat burn or spot reducing fat can not be limited to specific areas of the body, no matter what ”bogus science” and pills tell you. However, sculpting most assuredly can be reduced to a single area, action, and in some cases, specific fibers of a specific muscle – all based on how we execute the exercise. You don’t need a degree in kinesiology to learn these principals, just a little common sense is all.
So, how do we excite and fatigue the fibers of our outer quad to hypertrophy our SWEEP?
Narrow-minded
Ok, so here is one exercise you should be narrow-minded about. Narrow is better when we talk about our stance to accentuate or facilitate the contractile tissue of the outer quad. So lets think narrow when doing squats and leg extensions. Whatever exercises you do, stand with a more narrow stance (feet together). You may stop and ask, does that mean if I stand wide, I will work my inner thigh and medial quads? Yeppers! Now you are getting it. (another blog perhaps) Moving on…
Self-Centered
With leg extensions, it’s all about being self-centered – literally. If you point your toes outward, you are working the vastus medialis, the tear drop shaped muscle on the medial side (inside) of the legs close to the knee. Since we want to work the opposite side of the legs, then (yes, you guessed it) we want to point our toes in the opposite direction, pointing toes together. Note: this doesn’t work by just pointing the feet from the ankle down, the whole leg must internally rotate to the center to excite the appropriate muscles.
Here is an example of my own leg workout where I use these same principles to improve my sweep.
Yesterday’s Leg Workout
Warm up: 4 sets / 20 reps
Deep weighted walking lunges (35-50 pound dumbbells) 45 seconds rest btw sets
Couplet: Leg Press & Leg Extension Super Set
(zero rest between super set, 1 minute between sets)
#1 Heavy leg press
5-8 plates each side, narrow stance (4″ apart) and push only on your heels
10 sets / 15 reps
#2 Moderately heavy leg extension
Moderately heavy leg extension (130lbs-160lbs) internally rotate your femur’s in (toes are pigeon-toed), and squeeze your outer quad in terminal extension.
10 sets / 12-15 reps
Repeat Super Set 10 Times
Puke and repeat for 10 rounds(sets) with 1 minute rest between (rounds) sets
Here are some pics from my last show, the Daytona Classic, just 10 days after getting hurt.
I WILL FAIL!
Next time you gain ground and next time you find yourself making any headway, no matter how insignificant, FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT to keep it!
BUT, I WILL NOT FAIL MYSELF!!!
#RESPECTYOURSELF
Synergy in Your Routine: My Workout Schedule
Two of the best questions I get asked at the gym is” how many days a week do you workout?” and, how many times do you hit each muscle group.
Before I answer, you should first know my goals. I work mostly for aesthetics but I put a definite emphasis on performance as well. I want to be as strong and conditioned as possible, without sacrificing size or leanness.
Barring any schedule conflicts or injuries, the following is my typical training regimen… I hope this is helpful.
7 Days a Week
Mondays:
6:30 am 40 minutes Cardio (usually elliptical)
10:30 am 45 minutes of chest (5 exercises)
2:00 pm 45 minutes of Back (5 exercises)
2:45 pm 45 minutes bag work or shadow boxing
Tuesdays:
10:30 am 45 minutes of shoulders (6 exercises)
11:15 am 45 minutes cardio/abs (supersets 10/5)
2:00 pm I hour of arms (3 exercises triceps/3-biceps)
5-7 pm 2 hours Jujitsu (1 hour drills/1 hour rolling)
Wednesday:
6:30 am 45 minutes cardio (tread15/stairs15/elliptical15)
10:30 am 30 minutes of hamstrings(3 exercises) 20 minutes of heavy abdominals(3 exercises)
2:00 pm 45 minutes of quads (3-4 exercises)
2:45 pm 45 minutes bag work or shadow boxing
Thursday:
6:30 am 40 minutes cardio (usually elliptical)
10:30 am 45 minutes of chest (5 exercises)
2:00 pm 45 minutes of Back (5 exercises)
5-7 pm 2 hours Jujitsu (1 hour drills/1 hour rolling)
Friday:
9am 45 minutes of Kickboxing on LiveExercise
10am 45 minutes of full body conditioning and Plyometrics (Chiseled Cardio Show on LiveExercise)
12:00 pm 45 minutes Treadmill Conditioning on LiveExercise
5:30 pm 45 minutes of shoulders
Saturday:
8am 35 minutes of Cardio (elliptical)
10 am 45 minutes of arms (3 exercises triceps/3 exercises biceps)
Sunday:
7am 45 minutes of cardio/abs
11:00 1 hour Boxing and sparring
6 pm 1 hour of quads/hams (3 exercises quads/3 exercises hams)
Note: I like to break up my workouts, but you can also do it all at once.
Before You Quit…
What if you were on the brink of something great? Winston Churchill, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, and Henry Ford all shaped our world, yet failed over and over and over before they became the amazing men as we know them. But they were all just as amazing even before they overcame. The fact that they had every reason to quit, yet did not, is why we know how amazing they are even to this day.
What if the next number called was your million dollar bingo but you walked out just one number to soon? You must keep the faith and hope that your hard work is on the brink of a huge pay off. Keep your eyes on the prize, don’t let doubt, or the temptation to quit, lie to you. Maybe the struggle you are enduring is preparing you for the success you are on the brink of achieving!
4 Lefts Turns to Success
So it occurs to me that the shape we are in, or not in… is not from just one big decision or choice. We didn’t just decide to, all the sudden, get lazy and fat. It was multiple small choices we were faced, over a certain period of time, that led us to being sedentary and out of shape.
In the same way, waking up this morning and making the huge comitment to being in shape, in and of itself, will not inherrently “make you in shape”. It is going to depend on how you react to the small choices you will face in the coming days, after making the decision to being in better shape. Assuming you have already thought about your goals, and you have the desire to get healthy…
Here are “4 left turns” to get you back on track
1. Do not put off your workout. Workout the first chance you get. As your day goes, the likelihood of “circumstances” preventing you from training becomes exponential with every additional minute.
2. Preplan a menu. Try to prepare to eat properly all week by preparing food over the weekend – and bring a few snacks and meals with you to leave at work or in your purse. Making good food choices is always about being prepared for the unexpected meeting or appointment.
3. Preplan your workouts. Have a plan of attack and purpose for the entire week. Set goals for your workout, and keep a journal. Find a web site that can help you plan a great workout to achieve your goals. i.e. DoBCx.com or LiveExercise.com
4. Plan for setbacks. If you miss a workout, legitimately, get started again immediately. You are not going to lose momentum by missing one workout. It’s when this becomes a pattern that we begin to “backslide”. If it becomes a pattern, figure out what needs to change. Is it too late in the day, scheduling conflict, to tired on that day? What ever it is, figure it out, and make the changes required to stick to your schedule and plan!
