Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Workout Of the Week August 22, 2012 + More

First I am going to post the WOW and then I am going to write a little bit about nutrition.  More and more information is coming out about lower carbohydrate eating.  Again, not severely restricted but moderately restricted.  You can read the facts below written by Laura Dolson who has ten years experience teaching and living low carb.


This is a gym-based workout for biceps, triceps and legs.

Warm Up


Biceps


These two exercises are performed back to back for 3 sets, rest between sets:








Negative Chins X10
If your strong enough
do dead weight chins



Incline bicep curls X10
Hammer curls 3X15





Wall ball or medicine ball slams 3X20 with 1 minute recovering between sets



Triceps


These two exercises are performed back to back for 3 sets, rest between sets:










Bar tricep push ups X10.  On this one make sure your elbows point straight back, staying close to your body.




 French press X8       





Kick backs 3X15



 Full burpee 3X20 with 1 minute recovering between sets





Legs


These two exercises are performed back to back for 3 sets,
rest between sets: 







Walking lunges X10 steps in each direction


     Back squats X8



 Overhead lunges 3X15/side

 Split jump (scissor jump) 3X20 (R/L counts as 1) with 1 minute recovery between sets





 Perform full jackknife with a 2 count pause at the top 3X20



The following is from Laura Dolson's low carb diet guide.  It outlines some of the main concerns that people have for living low carb.

Low Carb = No Carb

This misconception is the idea that a “low”-carb diet must be really really low in carbohydrates.  You will read that low carb diets attempt to 'eliminate carbohydrates'. For example;

Fact: Not one low-carb diet author advocates this. Even Atkins Induction, which is very low in carbohydrates, is not “no carb,” is only meant to last two weeks, and actually can be skipped altogether, according to the Atkins Web site.

Fact: Diet authors who recommend reducing carbs have all sorts of different ideas about carb levels.

Fact: The carbohydrate level should be adjusted to the individual.

Fact: Over the years, the “nutritional establishment” has been gradually lowering the range of recommended carbohydrate in the diet, at the same time condemning reduced-carb diets, some of which may be recommending the lower end of the new “accepted range,” or close to it. Example: Dr. Dean Edell, a prominent media physician, once stated that the Zone Diet, a 40% carbohydrate, low saturated fat diet, “could be dangerous” because it is too low in carbohydrates. The National Academy of Sciences recommends that 45% to 65% of the diet be carbohydrate, depending upon the individual. 


Low-Carb Diets Will Damage the Kidneys

The reasoning here is that because people with kidney disease are usually encouraged to eat LOW protein diets, a diet that is higher in protein will CAUSE kidney disease.

Fact: This has never been shown to be the case, and, in fact, a low-carb diet is often not higher in protein than the latest recommended levels. 
 

People Eating Low Carb Are Courting Heart Disease 

Fact: In study after study, blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides, and other markers for heart disease risk decline on low-carb diets. Also, in one large long term study, even low-carb diets with a lot of animal fat and protein did not raise the risk of heart disease.

Low-Carb Diets Have Inadequate Fiber

The reasoning goes that since fiber IS carbohydrate, a low-carb diet MUST be low in fiber.

Fact: Since fiber remains undigested (in fact, it lessens the impact of other carbohydrates on blood sugar), it is encouraged on low-carb diets. Lots of low-carb foods are high in fiber, and on diets that encourage carb counting, fiber does not enter into the calculation. 

Because vegetables and fruits are mainly carbohydrate, people believe that they are not allowed on low-carb diets.

Fact: The opposite is true –- non-starchy vegetables are usually at the bottom of the low carb pyramids meaning they are the “staff of life” of the diet (replacing grains in that role) and people who follow a low-carb way of eating almost always eat more vegetables than the general population. For the most part, vegetables and fruits ARE the carbs eaten when following a low-carb way of eating.





Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Workout Of The Week August 8, 2012

The WOW this week is a shoulder workout.  I love working shoulders because the pay off is huge.  Beautifull shoulders look great and slim the waist because they balance out your hips.

You will a couple of sets of dumbbell and a barbell.

Warm Up

Clean and Press - 5 sets of 10.  This weight needs to be heavy enough that you are struggling on reps 9 and 10. Take adequate rest between sets so that you can complete each one as best as possible.




Rear lateral raise - 4 sets of 8




Arnold Presses - 3 sets of 8



Wide plank row - alt for a total of 20, or 10 on each side for 3 sets



Finish with a 3-4 mile run on treadmill or outside.  After a jogging warm up surge forward (run faster) for 4 minutes and then jog for 1 minute.  Try to adjust the  intensity of your surge so that you  don't have to stop completely.  It may take a couple rounds to figure that out.  Repeat the  surge/jog combination for 4 or 5 rounds, if you are runnning outside the amount  of rounds will depend on how far you are running.

After you are done with your run cool down and then perform 3 sets of 20 sit ups.

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Workout Of The Week August 1, 2012

W.O.W. 8/01/2012

This is a workout designed to be done outside in almost any location.  You can use benches, walls or stairs for many of the exercises otherwise it consists of all body weight drills.

Warm up by jogging or doing basic calisthenics for 5ish minutes.

Perform the following drills, in order, for 20 repetitions each (stay near a bench/wall/stairs):
Squat Thrusts
Push Ups
Mountain Climbers
Rapid Squats (just squats performed, you guessed it, rapidly)
Tuck Jumps
Walking Lunges
Split Jump
Step Ups
Squat Jumps (butt to bench)
Dips
One Arm Push Up
Seated Ab Tucks






Squat Thrusts







Push Ups



 Mountain Climbers












Rapid Squats







Tuck Jumps


Walking Lunges










Split Jump













On bench/wall/stairs:
Step Ups

 Narrow Squat Hop, butt touches bench before jumping up
 Dips











One Arm Push Up









Seated Ab Tucks



Rest 3-4 minutes and repeat everything again.











Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Workout Of The Week June 20, 2012

This weeks workout will focus on upper body.  As usual I will mix in cardio intervals. You will need one heavy-ish dumbbell and you might need a lighter one for the shoulder exercises, especially the rear lateral raise.

After Warm Up

Perform all the exercises below on one side before switching.
Single arm shoulder press X8
Suitcase Lift X8
*photo shows a regular upright row but I want you to point your elbow behind you and pretend you are picking up a suitcase.
Rear lateral raise X8
Repeat all of the above for three sets without rest.  One side will be resting while the other side is working so try to push through from one arm to the other.









25 squat thrusts
20 squat hold then jump up
*Hover at the bottom for a count of 2 and then explode up landing back in the deep squat
15 bodybuilders













Perform all exercises below on one side before switching
Hold one dumbbell over your head and perform a staggered stance, stable lunge (don't move your feet) for 15 repetitions
*photo shows dumbbell at shoulder but I want you to hold the dumbbell overhead with a straight arm.  Remember you don't move your feet.
Hold dumbbell by your side and perform suitcase squats for 15 reps
Hold dumbbell at shoulder and perform reverse lunges for 15 reps
Repeat the above for three sets with a brief rest between sets.


















Repeat squat thrusts, squat hold hop and bodybuilders

Place dumbbell on floor between your hands and perform 15 push ups, chest should touch the dumbbell on every repitition.
*photo shows no dumbbell but I want you to put one on the floor and touch your chest to it every time.
Flip over and perform 15 Turkish get ups
Flip back over and perform 15 plank row, on one side only.
Rest briefly and then repeat for two more rounds.

 

















Repeat squat thrusts, squat hold hop and bodybuilders

Perform 20 sit ups and 10 walking planks on each side.  Repeat for two more rounds.





Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Workout Of The Week June 5, 2012


W.O.W. 6/5/2012

This workout is short and efficient.  As per usual you can do it at home or in the gym because you just need a set of dumbbells and a relatively small space.  By request this work out does not include running as one of the drills:)


Warm up with some basic calisthenics like jacks, squat pulse and push ups.

Perform the following exercises back to back for a total of five complete rounds.
#1 Bicep curl shoulder press X15
#2 DB squat thrust with a push up then row R and row L before you hop up
(image does not show the push up so don't forget to insert it as soon as you
#3 kick your feet back, hands stay on the dumbbells) X15
#4 French press X15
#5 Slalom over both dumbbells (or hurdle)  X30
#6 Stable stance split lunge R X15
#7 Stable stance split lunge L X15
#8 Single leg squat thrust R X15
#9 Single leg squat thrust L X15
#10 Bicycle X30
#11 Jackknife X15
#12 Mountain climber X30
Back to the top


Bicep curl shoulder press X15



DB squat thrust with a push up then row R and row L before you hop up
(image does not show the push up so don't forget to insert it as soon as you
kick your feet back, hands stay on the dumbbells) X15













 French press X15


 Slalom over both dumbbells (or hurdle)  X30










Stable stance split lunge R X15
Stable stance split lunge L X15



Single leg squat thrust R X15
Single leg squat thrust L X15








Bicycle X30
           
                                                                                                           







 Jackknife X15





 Mountain climbers X30



Go immediately back to the top without a rest and continue 
until you have completed the five rounds.