Author: kylegarner3

Simple Tests to Measure Your Fitness/Performance

Bodyweight Workouts, Human Performance Discussion

I have never liked the word fitness.  It just reminds me of people like Tony Little and Richard Simmons bouncing around like circus clowns.

I think I might go as Tony Little this year for Halloween now that I think about it.  Interesting.

A net worth of $200 million. Unreal.

Anyways…

What I want to talk about today is how to measure your training to make sure that you are moving forward.  Just like improving your eating is going to help your body composition and weight issues, measuring improvements in your training goals is also going correlate with the amount of fat you lose.  I suppose this is assuming that you don’t ruin your workout by eating an ice cream sundae.

If I were you, these are some simple measures of physical fitness that I would measure…

  • 1 mile run
  • 400 meter run for time
  • Distance ride for time (amount of time it takes to ride 5 miles on a stationary bike)
  • Maximum # of push-ups (full reps)
  • Maximum # of bilateral squats (bodyweight and 2-legs)
  • Maximum # of single leg squats (are both sides equal?)
  • Maximum # of pull-ups and chin-ups
  • Maximum # of inverted rows (aka:  body rows)
  • Time to complete:  24 squats, 12 fw lunges r/l, 12 split squat jumps r/l, 24 squat jumps (beginners= 1 set, intermediate/advanced=2-3 set repeats)

Take note of the last bullet where I recommend that an intermediate or advanced trainee complete the circuit 2-3 times.  Record the time it takes to complete one full circuit.  Your rest period before starting the next circuit will be twice the time it took for you to complete the prior circuit.

Example: Intermediate trainee required 96 seconds to complete circuit…  2 x 96 seconds=  3:20/rest

This is a lower body work capacity circuit for an intermediate or an advanced trainee, and probably a combination of strength and work capacity for a beginner.  If you are beginner, GREAT!  You may have to modify it a bit to complete the circuit, but that is no problem.

Kudos to you for taking action.  

Most people don’t.

Just remember that what is easy for one person, may be difficult for another.  It is quite common for a beginner to get one hell of a training stimulus from simple bodyweight moves.  Heck, I still use bodyweight moves in my own training just because they are so effective and require zero equipment.

Very simple to implement.

Let me be clear that there are far more extensive tests that I could recommend, there are.  But, when it comes to training at home, not everyone has the equipment necessary to properly measure your performance. That’s fine.  You’re not training for the olympics, I wouldn’t worry about it.  Use what you have.  That will work.

If you are making solid improvements in most of the performance based tests I listed above, I guarantee something great is happening to your body.  The correlation between increasing performance is closely tied with leaning out and getting fit in my opinion.

Especially when you begin to make significant improvements in load lifting, work capacity efforts and

Improved performance comes with this great little by-product called leanness.

With the olympics still rolling in London, now is as good of time as ever to make that point.  Performance and leanness seem to go hand in hand.  Take a look at 99% of the athletes in the olympics.  Of course I would exclude the olympic lifting, archery and table tennis, but hey, most of those athletes are pretty lean also.  I should probably add in the ridiculously skinny/atrophied long distance guys/gals too.

Maybe we should all train like athletes?  (Hint, hint)

Don’t be afraid of sweat and effort. 🙂

Let me know how it goes…

 

KG

(P.S.  This is performance based testing.  Keep in mind that movement quality should be evaluated also, I will show you how to measure that in a future post).

Trickery & Timeless One Liners to Help Guide Your Lean Eating

Food/Eating

Anyone who has gotten into a discussion on eating with me knows that I don’t dive into the complicated micronutrients, label reading or hormonal changes that come about with eating different packaged foods.

Quite honestly, after you read so much material about fat loss and eating, you begin to see that everything is connected.  You start to read the same material worded a different way over and over again.  It get’s old, fast.

So, I have found that the best thing we can do for ourselves is STOP COMPLICATING what should be simple.  Eating nutrient dense food shouldn’t be hard.  The problem is that many of us were raised to believe that some of the food that was served at the dinner table was healthy.  There is nothing healthy about Hamburger Helper (Yes I ate it a lot too) or Macaroni and Cheese.

Our view of health food is skewed.  The food industry has done a masterful job at tricking us.

Words and phrases such as:

–  “Natural”

–  “Fat Free”

–  “Sugar Free”

–  “Low Calorie”

–  “Zero Calorie”

–  “Metabolism Boosting”

–  “Farm Fresh”
… are red flags in my world.

As much protein as an egg, and as much sugar as a candy bar.

I rarely walk down the center isles of the grocery store, but if I do, the first thing I notice is how clever the food companies are at tricking us.  It’s a scam all the way around.

So as I mentioned early on in this post, I often throw out a one liner to people who I talk to about nutrition and what they should be eating to see their abdominals once again.  Or, screw seeing your abdominals, some of us should be eating to prolong life and fight disease and a lifetime of hospital bills.  Because that is a reality also.

Here are just a few:

  • If your great grandparents wouldn’t recognize what you’re eating, you shouldn’t eat it.
  • If it has a mother or came from the earth, eat it.
  • Meat:  The less legs the better.
  • “If it’s a plant, eat it. If it was made in a plant, don’t.”  -Michael Pollan
  • “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”  -Michael Pollan

 

*  For the last bullet point, I always recommend adding protein to that recommendation.

I have seen at least 50 or more one liners like this floating around the internet regarding nutritious eating practices.  At first I thought they were gimmicky.  That was until I started throwing them out to people who were asking me if the new 100 calorie bags of popcorn were ok to eat for fat loss, or if Rockstar energy drinks could provide the daily recommended vitamin intake.

Personally I love the look that people give me when I toss out a good quote.  It’s almost as if they expected me to give them a magic bullet or a secret tip.  There are no secrets, remember?

Here is a reminder of that… 

“Well is that how you eat?”, they ask me.

“Yes”, I reply.

Don’t complicate eating.  You have enough stress in your life.  The food you’re jamming down your pie hole doesn’t need to be one of those stresses. Buy some good quality extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, pepper, and get cooking.  Enjoy the experience.

 

-KG-

Training Tunes Episode #1

Brain Training, Music Motivation, Quick Tips

Music motivates.

Quite frankly, training without music sucks in my opinion.  The research is clear that music can make our brains tell our bodies to keep going.  It’s not really that simple, but essentially music is a major part of our physical culture…

So what are you listening to?

Here is what I am listening to…

 

 

Post up!  I want to know what you are listening to!!!

My Real Issue With Devoting Less Time to a Workout

Angry Rants, Quick Tips

The real issue that I have with cutting a workout short is this…

I see a direct correlation between the length of a workout and the intensity level needed to accelerate fat loss and lay down lean muscle tissue, positive hormone changes, etc.

What’s the problem?

Well, as a professional, my right mind has issues with telling a beginner to go blast themselves through a high work capacity style training session in 20 minutes.  You have to earn the right to train like that.  You have to prove to me that you are technically proficient in your exercise technique.  You have to prove to me that you can lift heavy things (db’s, kb’s, bb’s, etc) while under fatigue.

 

I have other criteria but I think you get the idea.

To be honest, this is my current beef with Cross-Fit.  It’s cookie cutter for everyone.  Very little assessing of movement quality before being thrown into a 15 minute high intensity work capacity training session (this is just my experience around these “extreme training” style trainers and gyms).  From beginner to advanced, you are going to perform the workout of the day despite your training age, abilities, technical proficiency in high risk lifts, etc…

Some of these people are not even close to being ready for the kind of intensity and work needed to create change in that short of a time span.  Sure, I could write-up a workout for anyone that could bury them in less than 5 minutes.  That’s no joke.  But anyone can do that.  That’s just making someone else tired.  That isn’t training them for the long-term or educating them on the process of what it takes to lose fat and keep it off.

I can’t advocate that.

It’s mindless and it isn’t safe.

So at some point I have to draw the line.  A person needs to be realistic with themselves, especially someone new to resistance training and some of the modalities that we coaches are finding the biggest return on. You have to be willing to find the time or adjust your schedule to make the time to train.  You have to be willing to learn and groove things like the squat, hip hinge, core stability, etc.

Are your weekends open?  Saturdays and Sundays?  Don’t forget the weekend doesn’t discriminate 🙂

I design short training sessions as a solution, not an easy out.

There are people out there who are legitimately pressed for time for themselves.

Example:  A lot of the surgeons who I work alongside are seriously hard pressed for time.  They get up crazy early, make rounds on patients, operate, go to clinic, then get out of the office around 6-7pm (commonly later) and have a family to come home and spend time with.  This is a common issue for a lot of people who are entrepreneurs, businessmen and women, etc.

They need solutions.

Time effective workouts are their effective solution.

Just remember, there is a trade off for a short workout.  

That’s all…

Have an AWESOME WEEKEND.

 

-KG

How Long Should a Workout Last?

How-To

I get this question a lot.

I am never entirely sure how to answer it because I am not ever entirely sure that the person asking the question even knows what they are asking.

That was a mouthful.

Do you know what I mean though?

A training session doesn’t have to carry a time limit.  However long it takes to get the work done is how long it will take for you to train for that particular day.

I had a question from a friend who read my most recent blog post where I stated, “eat clean and you won’t have to workout 6-8hrs per week”.  I meant that statement.  I will never deny that eating is the foundation of a body recomposition program.  What you put in your mouth determines what you look like, and too some extent, how much of what you put into your mouth.

If you eat like shit, you are going to look like shit.  Sorry, but that is the truth.  The truth hurts sometimes.

Now that I am off of my nutrition tangent, let’s get back to how long a workout should last.  I advocated a shorter workout duration daily because most people will either:

a)  Lose interest if the workouts take to much of their day.

b)  Don’t have the time (so they think) to commit 6-8 hours per week to physical activity.

c)  Waste less time spacing out in the gym.

The interesting thing about “b” is that somehow people can find 12-18hrs (or more) per week to plant their ass in front of the TV and watch ridiculous reality TV shows while eating toxic processed food.  It truly is the evolution of man (and women).

But, I can ask these people what is consuming so much of their time and they will fight to the bitter end to justify every second of that reality TV watching.  That is a tough battle for a trainer to be in my friends.  That is another situation where the truth needs to be told, and the truth often hurts.

So, I have managed to evade the title of this post until now…

How long should a workout last?

Well, in my opinion, it is dependent on the person, their goals and timeline, but I really think that 30-45min is the sweet spot.  My general training template calls for 60min exactly, but I still feel like that it too much for most people.  And by too much I mean that they will view that 60min as “too much” of a time commitment to get themselves fit and feeling better.

So, when I tell someone they can train hard for 30-45min 3-4 days per week, it is a lot more appetizing to them.

But, I always tell folks that if you are going to shoot for the 30min mark, you are going to be sacrificing some valuable components of a complete training program.  You see, training is about a lot more than just looking good.  It is completely possible to walk around at 5% body fat with ripped six-pack abs yet be completed unbalanced with chronic pain and a ticking time bomb for a massive training injury (I will touch on this in my book).  A lot of injuries are preventable with a proactive approach to life and more specifically training.

I believe this down to my core.

I know what I am up against.  People aren’t going to change, so sometimes it is necessary to meet in the middle.  I am willing to do that assuming a person is willing to put forth one hell of an effort in their training and in their eating.

It’s crazy.  Most of us walk the fine line between having a body we can be proud of and one that we are ashamed of, yet most choose to go the unhealthy route until it is too late.  The statistics don’t lie, we have never been as unhealthy as we are now.

Time for a change I suppose.

—->  Here is my real issue with devoting less time to the daily workout…

My Effort to Improve Your Cardio Workout

30 Minute Workouts

I hate cardio.

Actually I take that statement back.  What I hate is being stuck in one spot for a long duration of time.  Some of it could be the fact that I know that I can get a superior training effect from a shorter training session ramped up to a higher intensity, ahemmm, anaerobic intervals anyone?  Heard of them?

Anyways, in the winter, it is almost impossible to escape the treadmills, ellipticals and stationary bikes.  When you live in the Midwest, Mother Nature doesn’t care that you want to run outside.  Once snow hits the ground and the temperature falls below freezing, things become depressing with regard to exercise options.

We can change that.

Simple tweaks right?

So if you are chasing the cardiovascular effect and the calorie burn with your run or bike session, which most of you are, then lets take another look at how we can tweak a workout to elicit that same aerobic effect without the monotony of pounding the pavement and dreaming about everything else but your run.

I use adaptive workouts like the example below all of the time in between my “go hard” days.  They bring a refreshing variety of movement and serve as a simple sweat session that will get my heart rate around the 150bpm-160bpm mark.  This is my personal mark for aerobic conditioning improvement/maintenance.  (I highly encourage all of you to purchase a heart rate monitor so that you can track your progress).

I also love these sessions for recovery coming off of a resistance training session where rest periods are short and the intensity is relatively high.  I like to think of it as a recovery or flush workout, even though I am still receiving tremendous aerobic benefit.  This is great for all of you calorie counters out there.  You can burn a few without getting bored with your current routine… because you know you are!

Here is the structure of the workout:

  • Foam roll, mobility, activation, corrective exercise + dynamic movement preparation

then…

1)  10 minutes –  Jump Rope

2)  10 minutes – Stationary Bike (Schwinn Airdyne)

3)  10 minutes-  Squat + Push Up + Jumping Jacks + Reverse Lunge (continuous)

Done.

In 30 minutes I just trained a whole bag of movements/skills.  If you have never jumped rope before, or just haven’t since you were a kid, I encourage you to purchase a jump rope.  As a warm-up tool, it is priceless.  As a conditioning tool, you have to work a little bit harder but it can be made to fit that purpose also.  Turn the rope harder with each workout, go for a longer duration and eventually work yourself into doubles…

Someday.

I have a whole notebook full of variations of a workout like this.  The next time you think about going for that long… slow… boring… run…  think again.  Change things up a bit and try this out.  Use your heart rate monitor to gauge your effort and keep it aerobic. Besides, effective cross training will help prevent overuse injuries and you’ll still get the training effect you are looking for.

Sound good?

Take it and run with it.  Your body won’t change without putting forth the work.

KG

The Dumbest Things Ever Done in Gyms: Part I

Comedy Clips

This is going to be a compilation effort of idiotic things that people do in gyms.

I would venture to guess that for every clip that can be found on YouTube, there are probably 100 more that happen without being captured on video.

Enjoy…

Plyo-humping

“Faithfully”

Check out 2:24min into this lovely compilation

Look, I have personally seen guys squatting in a pair of jeans, or even a guy who was running intervals in a full soccer kit (jersey and shorts) with CLEATS on the treadmill.

Your objective?…

DON’T MAKE THE YOUTUBE HALL OF FAME DUMB GYM LIST.

Cheers,

KG

The Secret to Fat Loss…

Pure Fat Loss

I love all of the programs out there on the internet that claim to have the secret to rapid fat loss.

Guess what?

I am here to fully disappoint you…

There is no secret.

Yup, there is NO SECRET TO FAT LOSS.

In fact, fat loss is so incredibly simple that it would blow your mind.

Well, ok, there may be one little trick to fat loss…

Ready for it?

MASSIVE ACTION.

 

All you have to do is take massive action.  You don’t need to read 100 books about working out and how to eat.  Most of us know how to eat.  It’s not a secret.  Maybe you don’t know how to train smart, but hey, that is what blogs like this are for.

All you need is the courage to take MASSIVE ACTION.

I am talking about doing something out of your comfort zone and completely crazy.

Go home and throw away all of the shitty processed foods you have in your cupboard.  Then go through your refrigerator and do the same thing.  Don’t forget to dig through your freezer too.

After you have done that, go to the grocery store and shop the hell out of the perimeter.  The perimeter is where you will find most of the earth grown foods and meat.  That’s right… food comes from the earth (fruits/veggies).  If it has a mother… eat that too (meat).

Clean eating is the one constant throughout nearly every legitimate fat loss program in the world.  Eat clean and you have just put yourself in the top 75%.

Eat clean and you won’t have to workout for 6-8 hrs per week.  How is that for being time effective?  The thought of training 6-8 hrs per week stresses me out!  And I love training.

I would even argue that the more time you have to train, the more time you are going to find to waste.  Less time means you have to focus your efforts.  Do what works.  Get in and get out.  Get on with your life.

Exercising isn’t life, it simply a vehicle to help improve our life and create healthy bodies that are less likely to fall victim to preventable diseases, build strength and endurance for physical activities that we enjoy and partake in daily, and even psychologically to give us confidence in our daily lives when we interact amongst other people.

Everyone always assumes that I train for 2 hours per day.  WRONG.

30-40 minutes for 4-5 days per week.  That includes a complete warm-up.

I eat clean and drink the heaviest craft beer in the world.  I love it.

9.0% pure bliss

 

I am on a schedule.  My schedule keeps me honest.  Some days I train, and some days I rest.

My massive action is now a daily habit.  I have repeated my massive action so much that it is now a natural lifestyle.  It is what I am committed to.

Less is more people.

Stop complicating a problem that has a simple solution.  

You have to get your mind in the game.  You have time to workout.  You have time to cook.  You have time to drink more water.

Take massive action. 

But it has to be a priority.  If it isn’t important enough to you to become a priority, or you don’t create you “why” for creating healthy habits… nothing with ever stick.  Ever.

You will end up on another 60-day crash-course liquid cleansing diet before beach season.

Take massive action.

“If it’s important, do it everyday”.

-Dan John

MASSIVE ACTION…

This is the secret to fat loss… (Don’t tell anyone)

KG

 

 

 

 

Want to Train Your Core?

Core Training

The Summer months provide an incredible time to get outside and move around.

Whether you are going for an after dinner walk, a 30 mile bike ride, or throwing your suspension trainer around branch and working through a bodyweight circuit, the weather is perfect for exercise and building a lean body.

Core training will always be a popular topic.  I have come to grips with that.

When people think of individuals that are fit, they often picture a lean muscular body and …

… abdominals.

Right?!

It’s true though.  I have to say that I don’t think that core training is bad, I just think that we need to bring some clarity to what constitutes safe and effective core training and also how to unveil your hidden six-pack.

What is safe?

Well, safe core training today is heavily based on the landmark research coming from Stuart McGill and others.  Their recommendations is this… spare your spine!  By spine sparing, we need to train the  torso musculature to stabilize the spine, protect it, and serve as the transfer zone between the upper and lower body.

The abdominals are mainly built to STOP motion, not create motion.

Safe core training IS NOT CRUNCHES.

Safe core training IS NOT partner leg throws.

Safe core training is not cable crunches, or whatever this guy is doing below…

Enter:  The Slosh Pipe

The picture above is a 9ft PVC slosh pipe will 2/3 full with water.  The PVC is 3″ in circumference and the pipe weighs around 30-32lbs.

You might be saying, “That’s not a lot of weight”.

That is what I thought.  Until I picked it up and nearly face planted from the instability of the water thrashes left/right inside of the pipe.

For around $20 and 5 minutes of assembly, anyone can build a slosh pipe.  Yes, it is 9ft tall so it may not be realistic for everyone if you don’t have somewhere to store it.  Consider that before purchasing.

I first met the slosh pipe 5 years ago.  It was one of the toughest workouts I had ever engaged in.  The worst part was how simple the workout was…

  • Pick up the slosh pipe and walk as far as possible.
  • Put the slosh pipe down and recover.

It kicked my ass.  My body was on fire from reacting and correcting instability of the pipe.  I walked Zercher style, across my shoulders and finally with arms extending overhead.  I loved it.  Reactive core training at it’s best.

Just another simple example of a piece of home equipment that can be made in a matter of minutes for a minimal monetary investment.

***  If you are worried about what people think when they see you walking around with it… don’t worry… most people don’t think much anyways.  At least you took the initiative to get off your ass 🙂

5-10-15-20-15-10-5 = Fat Loss Work Capacity Lottery Jackpot

30 Minute Workouts

I will waste no time here.  Tear through this one folks…

Chin-Up x5

Push Up x10

KB Swing x15

BW Squat Jumps x20

KB Swing x15

Push Up x10

Chin Up x5

Beginners:  2-3 complete cycles with 90-120sec rest.

Intermediate:  3-4 complete cycles with 75-90 sec rest

Advanced:  5 rounds cycles with 60sec or less rest.

Equipment:  Some kind of pull up bar, kettlebell (optional but recommended)

Including a full warm up which takes 10 minutes and the actual workout itself which takes 16 minutes, this entire training session will cost you 26 minutes of your life.

Throw the time excuse out the window I guess, right?

Watch out for the swings on this one.  If you do not have kettlebells to play with or you are not comfortable with your kettlebell swing technique while fatigued, I would suggest substituting some kind of lunge.  Lunges are still a hip-dominant movement.  The only loss will be the explosive aspect that the kettlebell swing brings to the table.

I will talk about why I am a fan of kettlebell swings for loaded cardiovascular type work in a future posts.

If you were in a pinch, a properly prescribed dosage of kettlebell swings a couple of times per week might be all you need to strip fat.

This is of course assuming that your eating HABITS are in check.