W.O.W. July 28th, 2010

For this workout I suggest a set of 10-15lb dumbbells. You may want to bring two sets over to your workout area. The arm sequence is pretty fatiguing and you definitely do not want to sacrifice form in order to get every singe repetition completed. Choose wisely.

Hop on a treadmill. Run or walk at a comfortable pace for three minutes. Crank the incline to the highest setting and continue to walk or run for one minute. Drop the incline to 0% and continue your walk/run for one more minute.

Get into push up position. Execute a push up and then pick up your dumbbell and perform a row, that counts as one rep. Alt push up and row until you have complete 10 total repetitions.
Stay on the floor and return to push up position with your dumbbell out of the way. Hop in and back with both feet for 20 repetitions. It looks like your hopping into a pike position and then back into a plank, back and forth until you reach 20 reps.
Repeat both drills back to back two more times through without stopping.

Return to treadmill and repeat above.

Pick up one dumbbell. Start with feet together and weight in your left hand. Step out to your right (laterally) and place the dumbbell down by your right foot making sure to keep your left leg straight. Step back in leaving the dumbbell on the floor. Now step out and pick up the dumbbell again returning to the start position. Continue until you have completed 10 reps on each leg, each time you step out counts as one repetition. You execute all 10 reps on one side before switching.
Set the dumbbell down on the floor and stand next to it. Keeping your feet together hop over the dumbbell and back (like your slaloming). Over and back is one rep. Complete a total of 20 reps.
Repeat both drills back to back two more times through without stopping.

Return to treadmill and repeat above.

Pick up dumbbells. Hold dumbbells by your sides, palms forward. Keeping your elbows by your sides, lift both weights until your forearms are parallel to the floor. Then, extend your arms straight out in front of you (as though your were serving a platter). Return your arms to the bent position, then extend them overhead while rotating your wrists so your palms end up facing forward. Slowly return to the starting position. Complete 10 reps.
Perform 10 squat thrusts with dumbbells in your hands. A squat thrust with weights: start in a standing position. Place both dumbbells on the floor. Kick your legs back into a plank. Hop your feet back in. Stand up (still holding the dumbbells) and hop. Repeat.
Repeat both drills back to back two more times through without stopping.

Return to treadmill and repeat above.

Perform 20 slow bicycles followed by 20 scissors, continue back and forth between the two for a total of three sets. Scissors: Lying on your back bring one leg straight up and the other leg parallel to the floor. Switch legs (scissoring) touching your hands together behind the knee. Count every single switch as one. Repeat the sequence two more times.

Stretch.

W.O.W. June 27th, 2010

This workout requires one set of dumbbells and is pretty intense if you select the right amount of weight. The dumbbells should be heavy enough that you have a hard time completing 8 repetitions of tricep kickbacks.

Once you pick up the dumbbells you do not put them down until you complete the entire workout. The workout should take you about 20 minutes. You don't need any other equipment.



Warm up for 5 minutes without dumbbells. Whatever warm up you like is fine (treadmill, bike, etc).

Pick up your dumbbells.

Perform one set of walking lunges, walking at least 10 steps in each direction.

Step forward with one foot (for lower back support) and perform 10 reps of wide dumbbell rows (elbows out, not in).

Perform 15 reps of squat thrust with weights.

On the last one stay down in push up position and perform push and row sequence for 10 reps (push up and then pick up one dumbbell and perform a row, repeat on the other side. Every row counts as one).

Hop feet in and stand up. Perform 20 close stance squat hops.

Bring elbows slightly in front, resting against belly. Perform 8 bicep curls.

Perform 20 split jumps, every time you jump counts as one.

Perform 8 tricep kickbacks, stepping forward with one foot for back support.

Perform 10 shoulder jerks. Shoulder jerk: Start with dumbbells at your shoulders. Squat deeply and as you thrust up, through your glutes and legs, forcefully push the dumbbells up into a shoulder press.

Perform glute/quad series (this will be hard to explain but bare with me). Start in a split stance position (stable lunge, one foot forward the other foot back). Perform 10 lunges, knee touching the floor. On the last rep lean forward and place dumbbells on the floor in a low lunge position, back leg straight. Bring back leg in, tapping by front foot and then extend all the way back, try to keep your hips down throughout the movement. Finally, bring back leg in so that back knee is directly under your hip (as if you are a sprinter about ready to take off out of the blocks), pulse up and down for 10 trying not to straighten back leg. All three exercises are performed on one leg. Repeat other side.

Place dumbbells on your hips. Squat hop out and in for 10 (out and in counts as one). Stay deep in the legs.

Put the weights down. You are done. If you aren't done-done next time choose heavier weights.

Gain Weight to Lose a Size

There is a great article in the June issue of Health magazine.

The headline states: Lose a dress size by gaining 3-4 pounds!

Do you know how hard it is to convince women that the weight they initially gain by strength training is a good thing. When my clients complain that they haven't lost much weight after working out hard for a few weeks and watching their diet I ask '...but how do your clothes fit?' They almost always say 'Looser'. Okay, then what difference does it make how much your weigh?! You don't walk around all day with your weight attached to your forehead but you do walk around in your better-fighting clothes and leaner physique.

The weight that you have gained is muscle, not fat, and that's why you lose inches. Everybody knows that muscle weighs more then fat but do you really know it. You have got to embrace it in order to truly understand the concept. Muscle is denser so it takes up less space thereby creating the loss of inches. You will also burn more calories on a minute to minute basis because muscle is active tissue. It doesn't just sit there, doing nothing, like fat.

So lift weights or do some sort of challenging resistance training at least twice a week. Oh, and ignore the scale. Don't forget, you can drop a dress size by gaining 3-4 pounds.

W.O.W. June 2nd, 2010

Once again, the following work out can be done in your home or at a gym using minimal equipment.


Warm up with light jogging or calisthenics.

Perform 50 jacks
Pick up two 25-35lb dumbbells and perform 20 close stance squats lowering until thighs are parallel to floor.
Repeat both two more times.

Perform 50 crouch squat hops - crouch down touching elbows to your thighs and then jump up forcefully reaching for the ceiling.
Pick up 10-15lb dumbbells and alternate lunge while performing a shoulder press with both arms. Keep palms facing each other during the shoulder press. Repeat for 20.
Repeat both two more times.

Perform ten 8-count bodybuilders - this is an embellished squat thrust: hands down on the floor, kick your legs back, push up, hold a plank and do two jacks with the legs, hop in and hop up reaching for the ceiling.
Lying on floor or bench pick up your heavier dumbbells again. With knees and hips at a 90 degree angle perform 20 dumbbell bench presses. Make sure your knees and hips are in the correct position. You should feel your abdominals fully firing throughout the drill. If you don't, push your feet further away from your body.
Repeat both two more times.

Perform 20 tuck jumps, trying to hug your knees to your chest on every tuck.
Grab one of your heavier dumbbells. Hold a plank position (top of a push up) and perform a one arm dumbbell row, 15 per side.
Repeat both two more times.

For abs perform 3 sets of 20 military sit ups. Hook your feet under a couch or bar, place your hands across your chest (making an 'X') and bring your elbows all the way up to your knees.

Stretch. I know your won't but please, at least stretch your hamstrings. For me.

More Evidence on the Benefits of Interval Training

Interval training rocks. If you haven't been totally convinced yet read the following information as written in a Men's Health publication.

No matter what exercise you choose, there's only so much fat you can burn during, say, a 30-minute workout. And research shows that the better trained you become, the more your body's 'exercise efficiency' improves, meaning the same amount of activity burns fewer calories as time goes by. For instance, University of California, Berkeley, scientists have determined that to avoid age-related weight gain, avid runners need to boost their weekly mileage by 1.7 miles a year.

Sure, aerobic exercise burns calories. However, if you're already dieting studies show that distance running does little to further enhance fat loss. Most likely, this is because aerobic exercise doesn't boost your metabolism after your workout. But that doesn't mean cardio can't help: high intensity intervals-such as short sprints of 30 seconds or more, interspersed with a slow jog-are great for accelerating fat loss. Why? Because they're similar to weight training. After all, a 200-meter sprint challenges your lower-body muscles hard for 30 seconds or more, just like a set of 8 reps of squats. So by doing a few intervals on the days you don't lift weights, you can spike your metabolism even higher.

In other words, if fat loss is your goal, do intervals. If your just doing steady-state aerobic activity re-read the information study above. If your a runner you would have to run an extra 1.7 miles A WEEK, every single year just to stave off age related weight gain. So there's no fat loss involved. Think about how many more minutes you'd have to add to your elliptical workout every week. The elliptical is really a waste of your time to begin with, but pretty soon you would have to be on that thing for hours.

When I design workouts for clients, and the workouts of the week I post here, they include both weight training and cardio interval training mixed together in the same workout. If's efficient and very effective.

You have to get uncomfortable in order to move forward in your fat loss goals.

Know it. Embrace it. Now go out and do it.

W.O.W. May 10th, 2010

The following work out is designed to accommodate people without equipment.

Perform 30 body-weight squats lowering thighs parallel to the floor and making sure to push your butt back.
Perform 30 body-weight lunges, alternating legs - back knee should touch the ground on every repetition.
Perform 30 switch lunge jumps hopping as high as you can to switch legs front to back.
Perform 30 crouch squat hops - feet are wider then shoulders, crouch down and touch both hands to the floor between feet then hop up as high as you can reaching hands toward the ceiling.
Hold a plank for 2 minutes.

Run 5 sets of 60 second on/15 second off sprints - run as hard as you can for 60 seconds and recover for 20 seconds. Don't forget, you don't have to use a treadmill for your sprints. You could do this entire workout at a track.

Repeat sequence a total of 3 times.

Good luck.

Salmon Fillets With Sauteed Cucumber

I'm not a big fish eater but I do like firm fish so salmon is right up my alley. I never knew how to cook it except the boring salt-pepper-and-broil method. This recipe has a great twist - sauteed cucumbers! Cucumbers become very sweet when sauteed with a little butter and they compliment salmon very nicely.



4 salmon fillets (6-8 ounces each)
2 medium cucumbers
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill or 1 teaspoon dried
Salt and pepper to taste


Season the salmon fillets with salt and pepper. Place them on a broiler pan. Preheat the broiler.

Peel the cucumbers. Quarter them lengthwise. With the tip of a spoon, scrape out the seeds. Cut crosswise into 3/4 inch dice.

Place salmon under the broiler about 4 inches from the heat. Broil until just opaque in the center, 5-7 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the cucumbers and dill and cook, stirring, until the cucumbers are heated through, 1-2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Serve the cucumbers with the salmon.