A Brief Synopsis About Why “Fat Loss” is Preferred Over “Weight Loss”

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Look familiar?

“Weight loss” is a common set of terms that has been the measurement of health and wellness for decades. Once the mainstream grabbed ahold of the weight loss, it was all over. As for who first used the phrase “weight loss” to describe a positive shift in a person’s health and appearance?…

I have no clue.

What I do know is that I have never really understood why we say “weight loss”.

While I know that on some level, “weight loss” does do a decent job of describing the events taking place when a person decides to improve their nutrition or physical activity, I also feel that “weight loss” is so short-sighted.

Especially when the weight that is being lost is being measured by a bathroom scale or the equivalent. We judge our progress by comparing our previous weigh in to the current weigh in. If the needle moves left (weight loss) we celebrate and feel good, if the needle moves right (weight gained) we become frustrated, depressed, pissed off and in some extreme reactions, give up on our health endeavors all together.

I’ve witnessed people give up on physical activity and nutritionally smart eating habits solely based on the needle bouncing to the right instead of the left. They may not give up the first time that they see it happen, but most certainly on the second, third, or fourth time that significant loss does not occur.

The problem with letting the weight scale be the dictator of your progress is that weight scales measure weight! Ha! Yes, weight scales suck because all they do is measure weight. Weight scales don’t factor in whether that weight is useful muscle or useless fat (not all fat is useless), water weight, fecal matter (grow but true), etc. There is zero indication about where the weight displayed on the scale is coming from, which is why I feel that body composition (or the composition of your total weight) is such important information to know.

Here are a couple of pictures that help make my point. If you are someone that finds motivation to get fit for body appearance reasons, consider this picture:

The picture depicts the same female at different weights, yet different shapes. Although the difference between the right and left pictures may be subtle, there is a noticeable difference. When asked, most people would probably want to look like the picture on the right, especially not knowing that the picture on the right represents the same girl at a HEAVIER weight.

The girl looks more “toned” (not sure I like using this word but it works for now) and fit in the picture on the right, but she weighs more. Why? She built lean muscle and removed layers of fat.

Fat on the body, visually, projects much different than muscle on the same body.

Here is a picture that helps support my last statement, anyone who has ever been in a health class or kinesiology classroom has no doubt seen images like this:

While the old “muscle weighs more than fat” adage doesn’t make much sense, body composition and visual observations at what muscle increase and fat decrease looks like certainly do.

What we could potentially say, is that “a pound of fat takes up nearly four times the space of the same amount of muscle tissue”.

In other words, your height and weight can remain exactly the same, but you can feel and even visually look, well… fatter.

If you add more lean muscle to your body while simultaneously losing fat, you’re going to see a decrease in size, despite what the scale tells you. Your body begins to “tighten up”, “tone” or whichever descriptive word you choose to use.

Increasing muscle while decreasing fat is a positive shift in body composition, and generally, overall health.

The most direct and efficient way to accomplish this is with resistance training, and decent nutritional regimen.

Here is an old article from the University of New Mexico describing all of the benefits of resistance training…

Too simplify, here is a snapshot:

Because of this, I have to recommend that we shift our thinking and judgements away from the weight scale, and on to body composition tests like bodpods, skin calipers or hydro-static weighing to analyze what the ratio of muscle to fat really is. The problem is, these are all laboratory tools. They are unrealistic for the average person to use for monitoring progress.

Waist circumference is also a decent indicator of how your body is reacting to exercise and nutritional interventions.

Go find a pair of jeans that fit tight at the current moment. Try them on. Set them aside for now.

Get aggressive with your movement and eating, forgetting about any measurements or weighing.

A week or two down the road, try on that same pair of jeans.

Rinse and repeat for months, because months is how long it is going to take. Dedicated and repeated effort for months, not overnight or in a week. Bodies built naturally and properly, take months to establish. But once they are built, basic upkeep is all that needed to maintain their integrity.

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Better yet, strip down into a swimsuit for females, and a pair of short with no shirt if you are a male. Make a conscious effort to show some skin. Now, take a full body picture. Have the courage to do this in the beginning and frequently along the way. It’s unscientific but it is brutally effective. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

You don’t have to show anyone the pictures but yourself. It’s your reminder of where you started and how you a progressing. In the future, it may serve as a fuel to continue on the right path when times get rough. We can all use a little motivation every now and then.

It takes time and effort to make change. Transformation is a big process. You’re tearing down and building up. A complete remodel of your body. Don’t get discouraged. If you’re doing right things to initiate lean muscle gain and fat loss, you’ll make progress. There is no doubt. If you falter or give up, your progress will slow or halt.

Always remember that if it were easy, everyone would do it.

In most cases, body composition change is incredibly predictable. Keep moving often, purposefully and aggressively and leverage that effort with nutrient dense food. The combination of the two will peel fat off of your body like an onion, and restore something that most of us could use more of… muscle.

Cheers to trading weight loss for fat loss…

Shakira’s Hips Don’t Lie and Adding Burpees to My Kettlebell Complex Workout Kicked Ass

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Burpees and I have a love/hate relationship, and I’m sure that most of you probably have similar feelings.

On one hand, full burpees are as close as it gets to being a complete bodyweight exercise.

Burpees are ridiculously effective for elevating heart rate and recruiting a large amount of muscles. Large muscular recruitment is a beautiful thing. Burpees require little to no space, zero equipment and you can perform them anywhere. Indoors or outdoors it does not matter. Burpee workouts are a perfect alternative to traditional running or biking.

On the other hand- the hand that despises every aspect of the burpee- burpees are the red headed step child of my workouts. When I see them on the docket for the day, I cringe. I cringe because they test me every single time. I cannot think of a single workout where burpees felt easy. If there was a workout where burpees were enjoyable like a walk on a white sand beach on a hot Summer day, that would be a major red flag that I didn’t design my workout properly, or I was leaving something in the tank (aka: Half-assing it). Burpees are the vegetables of the workout world. They require very little thought and are quite monotonous when performed for high reps.

But, when weighing the likes and dislikes toward burpees, I know full well that slipping burpees into a workout can crank up the overall impact of the workout. The training effect if you will. In other words, I’ve never felt worse (physically or mentally) after performing burpees at the end of a circuit or as a workout by themselves.

Burpees deliver every single time.

Shakira’s hips don’t lie and neither does my heart rate monitor.

So while I started thinking about different sub-maximal activities that I could integrate into my complex workouts- to keep my heart rate elevated in between rounds- burpees were one of the first exercises that came to mind. It seemed like slipping them in between rounds could deliver what I was looking for. Preferably, the filler exercise needed to be ground based and something that kept me in a vertical standing position.

So, here is what the workout evolved into:

Again, the goal here was to add another 5 minutes of elevated heart rate and exertion to my training session. I know from extensive experience that the kettlebell complex displayed in the snapshot typically takes 12-15 minutes to complete in full, so my goal was to extend the workout to 20 minutes or longer. The addition of the burpees between complex rounds successfully did just that.

Overall, I enjoyed the addition. I’ve added timed jump rope intervals to my complexes before, and they worked quite well. But since I can’t seem to find a jump rope that can live longer than 2-3 months before breaking, I was forced to use burpees. The key to adding filler exercises to tough workouts is to choose exercises that require low technical know-how. When you’re sucking wind, trying to gather yourself before the next bout of exertion, this is not the time to be messing around with movements that have high technical difficulty.

In fact I will just come out and say it… it’s stupid. The risk doesn’t even come close to matching the reward. Avoid it and you’ll put yourself in a better position to avoid injury while reaping all of the good that can come from a workout like this.

Closing thoughts…

The majority of my workouts are by design. I rarely walk into a workout without knowing what’s about to happen, which is why I think I have adhered to this physical lifestyle for so long, and why I will remain committed to moving aggressively and intelligently for years to come. It’s habit now, fully engrained into my life.

Each workout (or entire program) follows a general training template that I’ve got embedded in my mind. Early in my strength and conditioning education, I consumed book after book and realized that everyone was using the same general approach to designing effective workouts and long-term programs, so I began adapting and experimenting with slight variations to these time tested principles.

My personal preference is a system wide, total body approach to exercising, so I know that I like to see all of the major movement patterns represented in each training session (ex: squat, pressing, pulling, hip hinge, etc). Body part splits are not for me. I get bored. Working a squat pattern four different ways on the same day is un-interesting to me. But that doesn’t mean that it isn’t a great option for your fitness endeavors.

I also have a crystal clear distinction between what I classify as a purpose driven workout, and what I classify as a recreational activity. Playing ice hockey on Wednesday nights is recreational. Kettlebell complexes are a workout. My approach doesn’t downplay the positives of recreational activities (because they do matter overall), but I feel that there is a major difference between “the workout” and pick up basketball.

At the end of the day, movement in any shape or form adds up, and there is no denying this. Any way that you can engage in it, it’s a bonus. We can debate the details all day long, but the bottom line is make an effort to sit less and move more. That’s a recipe worth following.

Here is a great video that diagrams how dramatic even the smallest shift in movement can have on health.

Cheers to adding burpees to the workout…

Jumping Rope: The Undeniable Negatives (Part 1)

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Summary:

Jumping rope can be hard on the joints if done excessively.
The learning curve can be a turn off.
Don’t let me talk you out of jumping rope.

Jumping rope is a low cost, medium to high-skill activity people have been leveraging to build impressive cardio fitness for a long, long time. Particularly athletes in the combat sports, boxing and mixed martial arts.

As a cardio enhancer, jumping rope is making a resurgence.

Here I am working the Ali Shuffle, and other patterns of jumping rope.

Modern day metabolic conditioning is giving the jump rope a reason to play a large part of many high-intensity workouts.

When you’re a kid, you jump rope…

As a kid, I can vividly remember jumping rope in elementary school. We had a yearly fundraiser called “Jump Rope for Heart”. All the kids brought their jump ropes down to the gym, they pumped some 90’s dance music, and we jumped for hours.

I was never the best rope skipper in the gym, but I could hold my own by showcasing classy moves like crossovers, single and alternate leg hops, and even surviving in the infamous Double Dutch vortex.

As a kid, you don’t over-analyze the value of jumping rope. You jump because it’s fun, not because you want to know how to burn more calories or lose weight. Jumping rope provides an outlet for kids to burn off extra energy while

Jumping rope provides an outlet for kids to burn off extra energy while

But then adulthood stumbles in. Jumping rope is no longer cool, it’s taboo.

When you’re a kid, you move for the fun of it, when you’re an adult, any movement beyond what’s necessary becomes a chore.

As we age, many ask less and less from our bodies.

The “fun” part of hopping over the turning jumping rope seems like the furthest thing in adulthood.

“You want me to what? Uh, no thanks”.

Exerting on purpose as an adult becomes a depressive thought.

But when mainstream media picks up on the trends, it often reignites our interest in old training methods.

Naturally, we head to the sporting good store and buy a badass jump rope.

But before you start jumping, let’s work through a couple of hang-ups I have with jump rope training. Particularly if you haven’t exercised in a while.

1) Repetitive ground impact and overuse injuries.

Any activity overdone is going to put you at risk for overuse injuries.

Too much of a good thing is generally a bad thing. Drink too much water, bad thing. Eat too much broccoli, bad thing. Exercise too much, bad thing.

Overuse injuries certainly aren’t a jumping rope problem per say. Overuse injuries often occur because of excess volume or intensity (or both combined) relative to what the tissue tolerance is capable of managing.

If you’ve ever run barefoot or with minimalist shoes without some kind of pre-workout up, the extreme soreness you felt in the days after is a perfect example of impact forces overwhelming the tissues without any shock absorption.

In other words, physical stress beyond what the body is acclimated to can create some painful issues.

As for jumping rope, it’s the ground impact forces doing the damage. Every single jump places strain on the legs, particularly the calves and ankles.

How much strain? Roughly 300lbs of impact is directed toward the foot and ankle while jumping rope, as measured by lab tests.

But this isn’t 300lbs just one time… it’s 300lbs multiplied by thousands of jumps per workout. Thi can be a recipe for injury if your body is not acclimated progressively.

If a person is spinning a jump rope at an average of 100-120 revolutions per minute, a 10-minute workout can add up to about 1,000-1,200 jumps.

Jumping rope for 10 minutes is nothing like running for 10 minutes. These are two completely different stresses. Time seems to stand still when you jump rope. 10 minutes can feel like 30 minutes.

Many websites recommend “20-minute jump rope workouts for toning”, but I am extremely hesitant to encourage anyone to jump for 20 minutes as a starting point.

Start with 1 minute unbroken, then 2 minutes… 5 minutes… 10 minute, etc.

10 full minutes of jumping rope without stopping for breaks is a commendable feat. Once you hit 10 minutes, it’s time to go harder or increase the difficulty of the jumps (1-foot, side-to-side, running).

Now, the impact forces of jumping rope are far less than running.

If you haven’t jumped 1,000+ times in a while, or you’re a de-conditioned individual who hasn’t engaged in moderate to high physical activity in some time, you stand a high likelihood of sidelining yourself after a short duration of jumping rope.

Jumping rope is a sub-maximal variation of plyometrics (jump training), which can be very high-impact. Plyometric training is best kept to reasonable volumes during a workout. Most high-level athletes are jumping anywhere from 25-40 foot contacts per workout in the off-season.

Lesson: Work into your jump rope training, progressively adding minutes to each session. If you’re a beginner, consider jumping from less than 5 minutes cumulatively per workout. You can always build up.

2) Learning curve versus training stimulus.

Here’s a realistic scenario…

You go out and buy a jump rope to whip yourself into shape. You get that baby home, rip it out of the packaging and head to the garage. After you put on your workout playlist, get ready to turn the rope over like Muhammad Ali.

Wham! You catch your feet and stomp the rope on the very first turn. Hey, no problem, it’s the first time in a long time you tell yourself. Here we go again…

Wham! Shins this time. Wham! Ceiling got in the way. Wham! Back of your head, not enough tension on the twirl. Wham! Toes again, but somehow this time the rope tied a knot that you have to unravel. Damn, a tight knot too.

Next thing you know, the rope is 10 inches shorter and you’ve wasted 45 minutes jumping 25 times. Ouch.

Don’t laugh now. This is a real scenario, I’ve seen it happen to coordinated athletes, so I know it is happening to the average Joe and Jane all over the world.

The real benefits of jumping rope comes from continuous jumping. In other words, getting hung up on your toes every fifth turn isn’t going to allow for any real training effect. You won’t be exerting long enough to accomplish much.

I applaud your spirit and motivation, but we have to consider one thing…

Jumping rope is a skill. And like any skill, we all have a unique starting point and learning curves of various lengths to become better at that skill. Some will acclimate to the rhythm faster than others. Here’s another important thing to consider: some of us have a higher resilience for knowing that we suck at activities, yet continue to practice until the day we move passed the “suck” stage.

If you’re terrible at jumping rope AND you have a tendency to shut down at first encounter of resistance, consider saving jump rope practice for after normal gym work, when you have peace of mind that some quality work was put in.

But don’t let me turn you off from jumping. Get after it. But beware, you may not have the workout of your life on the first go around.

If your goal is to get into shape ASAP, and for many people it is. Riding the struggle bus for 15-20 minutes a day just to turn a rope 10 consecutive times without stepping on it won’t sound like fun to most people.

Therefore, it may be worth considering that the jump rope can take a backseat to bread and butter activities like running, cycling, rowing or lifting weights. Even a potent bodyweight workout should be considered before re-engaging with the rope of death. Talk about defeating.

Again, jumping rope is a skill. Expect it to involve failure, slow progress, and patience.

If you’re lucky, you’ll hop right into it. If you’re not, I warned you.

Lesson: Treat jumping rope like a skill. Dedicate a small amount of time before or after your main workout to improving your jump proficiency. Don’t make the mistake of putting all of your eggs in the jump rope basket, only to find out you can only manage 10 seconds of continuous movement before you smash your toes.

This tip will save you a lot of frustration.

3) Cardio benefits over-hyped.

Yes, jumping rope burns calories, but so does doing the laundry or making the bed.

Yes, jumping rope can improve cardiovascular function, but so does push mowing the yard. help reinforce posture during exertion.

Yes, jumping rope can be a decent reinforcer of upright posture, but so is waiting in line for public transit.

Compared to running, rowing, cycling, kettlebell swings/snatches, burpees, or smart bodyweight circuits, jumping rope delivers less bang for you cardio conditioning buck.

Some of this circles back to the learning curve and the barrier it has to a reasonable training effect.

I’ve seen videos of Ross Enaimat spinning a jump rope so fast I wasn’t even sure it was still in his hands, but not everyone is Ross Enaimat.

He’s got over a million views on some of his YouTube videos from people eating popcorn watching him sweat, aspiring to have his conditioning without putting any effort in.

Returning to my previous point about training effect, head out to your local hill for some incline sprints or pick up your heaviest kettlebell and swing away.

You’ll probably find time is better spent elsewhere to get that conditioning stimulus.

Adaptation sadness…

At some point, you’re going to experience diminishing returns on your efforts. This is called adaptation. It’s a good thing and a bad thing. It’s good because you’ve established an efficiency at a certain skill, intensity, and duration. It’s a bad thing because now, you have to push yourself harder to keep progressing.

Adaptation is bound to happen with any activity you commit to doing on a regular basis. It’s only a matter of time.

When you reach this adaptation point, it is important to remember that jumping rope is no different from any other form of exercise. You have to re-adjust the variables in order to continue progressing and break out of your adaptation, moving forward to the next level of adaptation.

The problem, once again, circles back to the issue of learning curve. Once you’re a pro with single hops and the duration of jumping is hovering around 15-20 minutes, personally, I feel it’s time to figure out how to leverage the next progression in order to save your precious time. Unless you love jumping rope that much.

So how do we progress? Well, you could…

Buy a weighted jump rope
Increase the tempo of the jumps (turn the rope faster)
Decrease base of support (single leg hopping)
Mix and match various jumps (front to back, side to side, boxer jump, high knees, etc)
Move on to Double-Unders

Adjusting any one of these variables will progress the training stimulus and keep you away from stagnation.

Wrap Up…

You’ll notice that this post is more of a cautionary tale than anything.

Personally, I jump rope before almost every single workout. I love it. It get’s me in a standing position and it serves as a great warm-up prior the tough part of my training sessions.

Jumping rope is not a bad activity. But, it’s important to know how it could be bad, and where the disadvantages are. Probably the most important part of this article is the warning about overdoing it. The impact can leave you limping for days afterward.

Some of you will be able to pick up a jump rope and get after it aggressively from the start. Others won’t make it 3 consecutive turns without tying a noose around your ankles or blooding up your toes.

Get to know yourself, your current physical conditioning level, and make a decision if jumping rope is right for you. If it is, schedule some practice time before or after a workout to hone your jumping skills and acclimate your body to the stress.

This article would be a real let down if I didn’t recommend at least one great resource to related to jump rope training:

Buddy Lee’s “Jump Rope Training“

If you found this article while searching for alternatives to high-impact activity, I highly recommend you to check out these posts:

Cheers,

Kyle

Over-training for Performance and a Brief Word on Exercise Addiction

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Good morning kids…

It’s a beautiful Friday morning here in Wisconsin, and for once, the sun is out and it looks like it could break 70 degrees. Thank the big man above for that, because we have just about had all of the rain, snow and flooding that we can handle up here. I was starting to think that movies like “End of Days” or “The Day After Tomorrow” was movie from the big screen to reality. Yikes.

Summer in Wisconsin 2013

Anyways, I wanted to touch a few things this morning, most of which have to do with over-training, working out excessively and body image.

Over-training. I cannot be certain, but I think I walked a fine line this week between taking my training to the edge of over-training (but not crossing) and doing a cannonball into the over-training swimming pool. Yesterday was a struggle for me fatigue wise, and my mood was up and down all day. Without any real noticeable stress to attribute to this, it is plausible to think that I may have pushed it too hard in the days prior.

What caused it?

Well, the workout that sent me over is one that I have leveraged for quite some time. Let’s just say that it involved a couple of 10 minute sets, a lot of squats, chin ups, lunges and kettlebell swings. I don’t blame the workout itself because I have been using this particular workout for 4-5 years. It’s a staple in my training regimen.

What I do blame, is my lack of judgement leading into the workout. The days leading up to this workout were filled with tough training sessions. Over-training is a cumulative scenario. I always picture it like a traffic jam of volume, intensity and a lack of sufficient recovery. What starts as a traffic jam ends up being a 50 car pile up.

The over-training 50 car pile up.

I’ve over-trained only a handful of times in my life. All of those times, I felt ridiculously lethargic, tired and real drifty mind-wise. Physical movement of any kind seemed like a real chore. I’m talking about simple physical tasks like walking out to get the mail. It seemed like climbing a mountain to climb stairs or lift basic household objects.

I recently read a neat little article about over-training on Runner’s World website.

To be honest, I don’t know what I was doing on Runner’s World, but I enjoy getting information from a wide variety of sources, not just kettlebells, fat loss and strength training. Running is a major part of the body transformation equation. My past comments about running on this blog were not taking shots at running itself. There were intended to state that running delivers poor results to people who are seeking fat loss. It’s a classic example of using the wrong tool for job.

—> Check out this article from Rachel Cosgrove to help make my point: The Final Nail in the Cardio Coffin

Alex Hutchinson is the writer over at Runner’s World, and I would encourage you to read through some of his older posts. There are quite good. He’s one of those writers that can break down research into terms that everyone can understand. He also adds a bit of his own knowledge to his articles which makes his writing that much more applicable.

In the article, Alex describes a study where researchers took two groups:

1) a normal training group

2) an over-training group

… and measured their heart rates in the morning along with their performance measures based on scheduled training of different intensities and duration.

The “functionally over-trained” group had a big drop off in performance throughout the 3 week training phase, but after a taper in training, they produced far better performance in the run-to-exhaustion test than the normal training group did.

A study like this shows that purposely over-training or over-reaching might have some performance benefit if you can get a handle on when and how to apply it to your own training.

Personally, I say that something like “functionally over-training” is a slippery slope.

The last two sentences are the most important pieces of information to be passed on to the general public. Go ahead and read or re-read them… I’ll wait.

My fear after an article like this is that Johnny Dad or Susie Mom (both are new or relatively new to running) is going to read an article like this and try pushing it to the limit unsuccessfully. I like that Alex makes mention that functional over-training like this may be best reserved for elite athletes. The interesting thing is that the amount of physical effort that it takes to over-train- at least in my opinion- will vary from person to person. The amount of effort that takes me to enter an over-trained state is different from my next door neighbor, which is different that the neighbor on the other side of them. We all react to the effects of training in different ways.

I’d like to think that one quality that I have is an ability to get a handle on what’s going on with my body. Pre-workout, peri-workout and post-workout I am good at staying in touch with the effects of my physical efforts. I’ve rolled out of bed on some days and known instantly that it was not going to be a day to train hard (or at all for that matter) but rather spend the day focusing on sufficient hydration, good nutrition, rest and recovery.

My fear is that I don’t think that everyone has a gauge to determine when it is right to push, and when it is not. Some people come off of the assembly line with only gas pedals installed, no brakes and no speedometer. Some people only have brakes and no gas pedal. The latter probably doesn’t need to read much further. 🙂

Over-training for the sake of body image. Just like we have addicts with food and drugs, we have addicts with exercise. The difference is that exercise addicts often get the benefit of the doubt because a lot of people perceive excessive physical effort as a positive thing.

“Oh, Johnny Dad, you exercise so often. You’re just so healthy and fit! I admire your effort! Amazing!”

Little to most people know that Johnny Dad is flat-out addicted to exercise because he has a deep fear if he doesn’t burn off every single calorie that he consumes, that he will get fat. Body image.

There are a lot of people who feel that they need to push their exercising to the limit in order to look good in a swimsuit, look good with their shirt off or fulfill some magazine model fantasy look. Some feel that excessive exercising will help fight age.

If you’re one of these people, guy or girl I do not care… take a moment and read this article:

—> It’s Hard Out Here for a Fit Chick

If you’re a person that just cares about increasing their 5K, 10K or “Fran” time, my simple advice to you is this:

Spend some time getting to know your body inside and out and BE CAREFUL.

Over-training is really not well understood compared to other studied sectors of fitness, but it is real. I believe this based on experience, so I am not sure that anyone could convince me otherwise. There definitely is a point in time where excessive physical exertion creates a long-lasting fatigue, series of mood swings, shift in appetite and decrease in performance.

The effects of over-training are not fun. If you’re planning on pushing your daily workouts to the limit, make sure that at the very least you are consuming adequate amounts of water and post-workout nutrition. If you’re over-training and not eating, you’re heading for a dark place. A very dark place.

That is all. I’m off to fish the Great Lakes…

Cheers to managing your workouts and feeling comfortable in your skin!

The Scientific 7 Minute Workout and Shortcuts

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I don’t mind shortcuts.

If there is a more efficient way of completing a task or achieving a goal, I am all for it.

But shortcuts aren’t meant for everyone. Some of us are always looking for shortcuts, the path of least resistance. We abuse the shortcuts, and when the shortcuts become too challenging, they look for a shortcut to the shortcut. Some people are always looking for shortcuts, a way out from doing the work.

When building fitness, I think that shortcuts are not appropriate for everyone. People avoid physical exertion like the plague as it is, and now science is telling us that we can comfortably fulfill our daily activity needs in a matter of… wait for it…

I respect science, but I cringe at how information like this is received by the public. Now every personal trainer in America is going to be put on trial by their clients for holding 60 minute training sessions when The New York Times says that an effective workout can be achieved in 7 minutes flat.

With fitness, you get what you put in. If you put forth an exceptional effort, you’ll get an exceptional reward.

If you put forth a crap effort, you’ll get a crap reward. No secrets here.

In my experience, it’s tough to get a complete warm-up in 7 minutes time, especially when you are working to fix mobility and stability issues, let alone make a 7 minute workout change your body.

Is 7 minutes better than 0 minutes? Of course it is. If reading that New York Times article is the spark that you need to get you off the couch and moving, then god bless it. Run with that motivation. I can support that.

I have to assume that the article is only referring to building fitness, which is different than body transformation or fat loss. Fitness does go hand in hand with accelerating body transformation, but 7 minutes won’t hold up against even an average nutritional effort. If nutrition was perfect, you could make some decent gains (or should I say losses) with body transformation.

The main takeaway from the article (and the original research) was that short burst high intensity interval training can produce comparable health benefits to prolonged endurance training, if not better.

I know I have said this on this blog before, but I will continue to say it… what’s happening in innovative gyms across the country (and the world) at this very moment won’t be researched for 2-3 years at least. We have been executing -with great success- strength based workouts like the one below for years, and now the research comes.

In case you were wondering what the 7 minute workout entails, here is a snapshot from the New York Times site:

With the exception of the abdominal crunches, I actually like all of the exercises listed in the workout. It represents a minimalist total body (bodyweight) workout. Not a bad little program. The movements are require bodyweight strength based movements organized with minimal rest between movements. Cardio strength. I know you’ve heard that before.

Taxing your muscles to a high degree with minimal rest is an extremely effective way to accomplish performance improvement, body fat reduction and lean muscle gain in one shot.

Now that I think about it, this fitness news reminds me a lot of the Tabata intervals over-reaction that the fitness industry went through some years ago, but most of us have poured water on that fire. Be careful not to mis-interpret the information and transform it into something that it was never intended to be.

And for someone who lacks the workout know-how, the diagram that was provided is perfect for that person. My beef with still frame exercise tutorials has always been that it leaves A LOT unexplained. You see the start of the movement, a mid-point and an end, but what does the entire movement look like? What’s going on with the body in between those still shots?

In my early days of learning functional training, I used the still shot pictures of movements out of Mark Verstegen’s book (Core Performance), yet I never felt completely confident with what I was doing. It was hard to know if what I was doing was an exact replication of what Mark wanted us to be doing.

Watching a video is better than still frame, and working with a knowledgeable professional is better than a video. Hands on coaching from a good personal trainer is priceless, assuming they know what they are talking about. If you are going to spend any money on a personal training, use it to learn the movements and get your technique down if nothing else. Knowing how to execute basics movements like: squats, lunges, chin ups, planks, push ups, cable movements, etc is well worth the money. Learn how to execute big movements like deadlifts, front squats, split squats, bench press, rows, etc.

That’s an investment in your body for years to come.

Wrapping it up, give the 7 minute workout a shot, but don’t be afraid of physical exertion and increasing your body’s ability to handle that exertion. Don’t shy away from training longer than 7 minutes, because that is just a recommendation. Take your training to another level and see how it goes, learn something about yourself.

There is great long-term reward in pursuing physical endeavors throughout life.

Cheers to doing more than 7 minutes of exercise…

It’s Just a Kettlebell Swing Workout

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The kettlebell is a gym in itself.

I have not found any other tool that produces such dramatic results with body composition.

Sure, nutrition is a MAJOR part of ridding the body of fat and getting lean, but outside of a focused nutritional regimen, kettlebell training and more specifically kettlebell swings are a godsend to those who seek fat loss.

I have seen a lot of talk about the kettlebell swing’s ability to increase conditioning, but the truth is that I am not entirely sold on the idea of using the kettlebell swing for boosting conditioning. I think that a fit individual who attempts to use kettlebell swings as a conditioning tool is going to quickly find that the volume of swings needed to elicit the kind of training effect needed to take one’s conditioning to the next level far exceeds the risks of overuse and mindless reps.

And quite frankly, extremely high rep sets is going to cause your grip to give out before your hips will. I guess I would rather use other tools for increasing my conditioning (ex: Airdyne, hill sprints, sled pushes/pulls, etc)

On the other hand, if you are a person who isn’t in game shape just yet, the training effect of kettlebell swings might be just what you need to mix into your workout regimen.

Either way, kettlebell swings are a great drill when performed with decent form, using a decent weight. When selecting a weight to use for swings, go heavier rather than lighter.

Your hips are the most powerful region of your body and using a heavier bell will eliminate that chances of cheating the bell up with the arms. Actually, “lifting” the kettlebell during the finishing movement of the swing is one of the biggest mistakes that I see in people. The arms should definitely remain “taut”, but there should be no involvement from the shoulders when exploding out of the “hiked” position into the vertical standing position.

I like to picture my arms as two pieces of rope attached to the kettlebell when swinging. My hand grip is not a death-gripped around the bell, but rather tight enough to keep control of the bell throughout the arcing motion.

The kettlebell, as I mentioned above, provides a fantastic opportunity to engage in a dynamic workout no matter what the occasion. I personally love to engage in “swing-only” workouts the day after a tough cardio-strength training session. If my body feels like it can handle the load of the kettlebell, I will go for a nice session of swings only. Nothing else. If I feel completely drained from the previous days workout, I will reach for the Schwinn Airdyne (aerobic based session) or simply roll and stretch and skip exertion altogether.

Long-term fitness is maximized when following a plan, but fine tuned and customized when you learn to listen to your body. If you can train, train. If you feel like you’re forcing everything that day, take a rest day and focus on hydration, nutrition and rest. There is no shame in that. I repeat, learn how to listen to your body and learn how to back off your training when it’s needed.

So, as the title of this post states, here is a simple swing only kettlebell workout that I have used in the past. I view these as practice. Swinging is an art, and I am not a master, although I do make a conscious effort to improve the efficiency of my swings, increase weight and continue to make forward progress.

Alternating for 24 rounds (Set #1):

—-> 15 seconds of 2-handed swings

—-> 15 seconds of rest

Total Time: 12 minutes

Depending on your fitness level, you can stop here, or you can rest for 2 minutes and move into:

Alternating for 24 rounds (Set #2):

—> 15 sec Right Hand 1-Arm Swing

—> 15 sec rest

—> 15 sec Left Hand 1-Arm Swing

—> 15 sec rest

… and so on.

Total Time: 12 minutes

24 rounds seems like a lot, but consider that each work set is 15 seconds long and it is not maximal effort. Why isn’t it maximal effort? Because while kettlebell swings are definitely physically demanding, they are not a movement that you can max out on. The bell swings as it will. It is very tough to increase the swing count per work set to a point where you are will reach heart rates or perceived exertion that will tap you out.

The glory in kettlebell swings is the muscular engagement combined with the cardiovascular training stimulus. This combination is pure gold for fat loss.

For a 15 second round, I am typically hitting 8-10 reps of kettlebell swings with a 28kg-32kg kettlebell. This is my swing count for both two-handed and the single handed swings. Single hand kettlebell swings call for a lighter weight bell and possibly a slightly slower rep count for the given work period.

*** Set a timer for alerting you when to swing and when to rest. I suggest a GymBoss Interval Timer, but you can use whatever is easiest. Ideally use something that doesn’t require you to work through mathematical equations in your head while trying to take in oxygen. Not fun.

Please take care and attention to your form. If it breaks down during the workout, put the bell down. There is no blue ribbon at the end of the workout for struggling through with shitty swing form. Only bad habits and increased likelihood of injury. After the first 24 rounds of 2-handed swings, rest (yes, rest), and re-group for the single arm swings.

If you don’t know how to swing a kettlebell, a workout like this is not the place to learn. If you can swing 2-handed comfortably but have never swung using the single arm version, again, this is not the place to learn. Practice your technique before you engage in a workout like this.

If you clear the prerequisites listed above for entry to a workout like this, my only comments left are: don’t be afraid of work and opening up those lungs babies.

Set a timer and go for it…

Cheers to swinging fat off your body in record time!

P.S. As I mentioned above, fueling your body appropriately will enhance your workouts and your results from those workouts. Precision Nutrition is the best nutritional program in the world right now.

The Shark Tank, Results and How Both Can Impact You

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Photo Credit: stressfreekids.com

I love the television show “Shark Tank”.

I love everything about it.

Here is how it works:

1) The entrepreneur enters the “shark tank” (a room to present to five different successful millionaires) seeking to gain valuable business partners and investment capital for their business.

2) The entrepreneur makes their product/idea pitch.

3) Post-pitch, the sharks give feedback and ask questions about the business/idea.

The feedback is either sharp and harsh, or encouraging and curious.
The questions heavily pertain to past revenue, experience, growth potential, evaluation of the business, etc.

4) The Sharks decide whether the idea is valuable enough to earn them profit on their investment.

I am absolute fascinated by people who find their calling and begin creating and designing gadgets, apps or services that can solve everyday problems, improve old products or pave the way for a new way of doing things. I have such a respect for an entrepreneur that can sacrifice everything for their passion, refusing to give up through thick and thin. It takes amazing courage to build a dream from scratch and see it through to the end.

Many of these people have given everything to pursue the American dream.

That’s passion.

Another aspect of Shark Tank that I love is the negotiations. Sure, the pitches that introduce the entrepreneur’s idea to the Sharks (who are millionaire/billionaire investors themselves) are great, but the negotiations after all of the glitz and glamour is what I get sucked into.

The questions from the Sharks are direct and typically no non-sense. The Sharks want to know if the investment opportunity has gotten results in the past and what the plan is to grow on those results (the forecast). The entrepreneurs that do the best on the show tend to answer the questions with sharp, crisp and clear answers. They have a plan and they have results to show positive growth and execution of that plan.

Those who respond with wishy washy answers get crucified on national television.

You’re probably wondering why I am talking about the Shark Tank on a active/fitness related blog…

… and to that I say: settle down and let me get there. It might be choppy.

Here is an un-organized collection of my thoughts that I had earlier today…

As I briefly touched on above, shortly after the entrepreneur shares their product or idea, the Sharks take their gloves off and begin poking and prodding into exactly what they- the entrepreneurs- need (money and connections to influential networks), why they need it, what they will do with it when they get it, and most importantly, their past efforts and the results of those efforts.

I have seen countless entrepreneurs lose out on investments by the Sharks just because they didn’t have results (sales/income/revenue) from their product or idea. Maybe the product is being treated too much like a hobby, or maybe the entrepreneur has got some serious flaws and gaps in their business and how they have been going about growing it and scaling it.

Either way, the Sharks always crack me up because they can sniff out flaws in a matter of minutes, and a few simple questions. The numbers add up. The numbers make the flaws glaringly obvious.

What have I learned from Shark Tank is the difference between an entrepreneur who is rejected out of the board room and an entrepreneur who makes a deal, and acquires one of the Sharks as a business partner…

Results matter.

If the entrepreneur hasn’t sold jack-squat in years, the reception of their product/idea pitch is typically lauded at.

In the fitness world, I hear and read a lot of people talking about how “results based” fitness is a scam.

Really? How?

How is getting the results that you seek a scam?

How is stripping fat, running your first 5k, followed by your first 10k, followed by your first half-marathon, restoring function and posture, etc… a scam?

We measure success in anything based on results.

I can see how getting the results that you seek at the expensive of bodily harm might be a scam, but I would call that recklessness, absent minded or possibly neglect.

There is plenty of that going around for sure.

If you set out on a journey to build a body (and I don’t mean stage show bodybuilding) and you are getting great results… Why would you change anything that you are doing until you observe that change is necessary? Don’t stay in your comfort bubble forever, but stick to the plan if it is working for heavens sake.

Again, you have to be getting results to maintain your same course of action.

If you’re a person that is interpreting this as pass to continue the same ineffective workout habits that incorporate the same weight for the same amount of time for the same days per week…

… you are mis-understanding what I am trying to say, and maybe it’s an error in my ability to communicate effectively.

I wrote an article a while back where I described a 90 day kettlebell complex training program where I basically leveraged the same kettlebells (24kg Lifeline KB’s) for a full three months, making gains the entire time. If you read back into some of my older posts, you’ll find that I love acting as the guinea pig.

I will always try something on myself before I ever recommend anyone else to do it. Not everyone can say that. I am willing to put myself through the gauntlet prior to suggesting someone else try it. I take pride in that. That’s how I formulate my opinions on certain things, one of those being some aspects of Cross-Fit.

That being said, I always caution everyone that what I do while training is not always a good fit for what they should be doing, and what their colleagues are doing in the gym might also not be what they should be doing. Do what you can do, not your what your network can do or the random fit guy at the gym can do. You’re not him, you’re you.

Sidenote: I actually know a cosmetic surgeon in town locally who tries all of her techniques on herself first, prior to offering it out to her paying customers. How bad ass is that? She puts herself through the gauntlet before bragging about it to her customers just to make a buck.

I have a deep respect for that. This surgeon’s face is constantly puffy and inflamed from all of the new treatments, but hey, at least she can say that it works or it doesn’t, which makes her far more credible to the patients who come to her for solutions. Again, I love that.

Back to it…

During the 90 days of kettlebell complex glory, I leveraged the same general movements while I continued to tweak the reps, time under tension, sets, recovery time, etc.

My results graph was steadily climbing in a positive direction , so why would I alter anything.

I know that staying in the vortex of the same workout for 90 days might sound crazy, and I definitely could have bumped up weights during that time, but I couldn’t resist giving it a go.

What is the worst that would happen? Maybe I would simply flat line and maintain my current fitness and body composition levels? So what? I was lean going in and the experiment wasn’t going to make me less lean or less strong.

Tweaking the variables can really take a program a great distance, and I think manipulating the variables of exercise is far less scientific than most people think. Often, the point of improving your body, both performance and aesthetically, is to simply add or subtract. Add weight, add time under tension, add reps… or… subtract rest period time, subtract volume, subtract paralysis by analysis.

The last subtraction point is a huge hold up for most people’s results. What are you waiting for? The next big study? We lean on studies and research like crutches. It drives me nuts. It’s like we can’t take action until we can justify it with a massive study. That my friends, is an excuse in disguise. You can call it being educated and precise, but in my world, someone who doesn’t take action and bases it on lack of research is an excuse maker.

Trust me, you don’t need a landmark study to justify swapping an hour of TV time for a decent sweat. And if you’re a person that wishes that you could shrink down, swap fat for muscle and become more athletic, then your results are sitting on the couch right next to you.

Exercise + eating properly + H20 hydration = Authentic Health.

It’s that simple. Screw complexity. Follow the above formula for four weeks without falling off the wagon and see what happens. You won’t be disappointed that is for sure.

Results require action, and the right kind of action. On Shark Tank, the interesting part about some of the products/ideas (and the people that are behind them) is that they aren’t bad products/ideas and the business owners are putting in massive amounts of effort and time. The business plan/strategy is just plain wrong.

In these situations the Sharks have the jam to call these people out when they have sold less than $10,000 in 4 consecutive years of being in business. That’s a red flag that something isn’t right.

Then you’ll get people that have sold $10,000 in their first month after launch, and they just don’t have the capital to take things to the next level. Very interesting to see those situations.

Sidenote: In the case of building fitness, you don’t need capital. That’s the beauty of it. You can honestly get amazing results by buckling down and doing the work with your own bodyweight. Heck, if you’re on a tight budget, I will even recommend going for a run.

Running isn’t all that bad really, we sort of blow that out of proportion, just don’t expect to build much muscle by running. Many times, running along with other long duration represents the entrepreneur who is willing to put forth the effort and time for their results, yet always ends up disappointed because they are operating off of the wrong business plan.

Is that you? I bet that statement connects with some of you out there… no doubt about that.

If you’re just starting to get serious about being purposefully active and building your fitness… and you’ve got decent mobility and stability where you need it while being proficient with the lifts, you are probably good to go. In fact, you’re more than good to go. Start with a simple strategy and build out from there. Once you lay a solid foundation, the rest of the house can be built over time without crumbling.

For example, building strength is simple, it really is. It isn’t always the most comfortable process and it takes effort to continue added weight over time, but it is simple. Building cardiovascular endurance is simple. It isn’t always enjoyable to shave time off of your efforts, but it is simple.

Sidenote: Exercise professionals often overreact and preach about the details a little too much for my liking (I am guilty of this). Sometimes I feel like it might be because they are dry on content or looking to stir up the pot somehow. I love attention to detail as much as anyone, but it gets old after a while.

Segue…

So as the Sharks on Shark Tank seek investment opportunities that have seen results in acceptable periods of time, so should the person who seeks fitness. Results are damn important. If you aren’t seeing results, something is not right with your plan. Your strategy isn’t working for you.

People who are fit despite busy careers and family, while working in a much needed social life also, have effective plans.

Go back to the drawing board, analyze your strategies and get back to it.

But remember, results matter.

Cheers to results and The Shark Tank!

(Sorry for being away for so long)

How to Eat To Stay Lean for Life

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In talking with a friend today about nutrition and how my eating habits have evolved over the last 7-8 years, I realized how simple eating should be, yet how complicated we make it.

I firmly believe that how you eat as a kid has a lot to do with how you end up eating as an adult, although I have seen plenty of people who make the shift to eating wholesome food as adults once they become fed up with nagging health, weight or poor self image. We all have our breaking points, it’s just a matter of when. I have to say that I cannot applaud these people who have made the positive shift from eating chips and soda to veggies and lean meat.

It always amazes me what the smallest of changes can do for a person’s body transformation.

I generally eat the same rotation of foods weekly. I never count calories and I generally eat until I feel satisfied.

Every single day, breakfast makes or breaks you…

My breakfast rarely ever changes from the usual 3 egg omelette with veggies, Ezekiel Bread toast with peanut butter and banana slices (dusted with cinnamon). I wash it down with 2-3 glasses of ice cold water and a few cups of coffee.

This breakfast is a meal that I look forward to every single day. I typically eat at 5:30am, taking my time to consume the meal while I write or read articles. This breakfast fuels me until about 11am/12pm, when I feel the need to refuel with some lunch. Lunch is usually a salad with meat (salad+meat makes it a MEAL) or a homemade protein bar.

I have written about my homemade protein bar recipe, which I originally got from Precision Nutrition’s awesome cookbook Gourmet Nutrition. I can’t say enough about the protein bars or any of the other meals that can be found in that book. The pesto pizzas are one of my favorite meals of all time. Incredible replacement for eating the highly processed stuff from a local pizza place.

Eating is an acquired taste (no pun intended)…

As I started to learn more about food and the power that food has on general health, performance and body composition, I began to realize that most of the recommendations were exactly the same, just reorganized.

I started to use simple guidelines to help direct my grocery shopping and food choices…

I still use these tips personally to remind myself and also to help others dial in their eating habits.

I get asked all of the time what foods I eat. I usually throw out the, “If it wasn’t grown from the earth or have a mother, I don’t eat it” line, or lately just to keep it short and sweet, I will say “plants and meat”. Why say any more than that? It’s not rocket science, so why complicate for a person that is already being bullied by a food industry that pumps out garbage advertising.

The response is sometimes, “But Kyle, you eat red meat?!”

My response, “Hell yes. Plenty of it”.

Using these reminders can take the anxiety and confusion out of grocery shopping (where you decide whether to make a monetary commitment to the food) and actual preparation and consumption of meals (which is determined what you have purchased).

I began to take notice that I would eat whatever was stocked in the house, as most of your probably do the same. I know for a fact that many of you also do this. Whatever is convenient and quick is going to be consumed. Right?

Learn how to cook, it’s probably the answer to most of your problems…

In my pre-cooking days, I began to notice that whatever was being prepared by someone else dictated what I was going to be eating. If it was chocolate chip pancakes wrapped around sausage links, cake, donuts, Hamburger Helper, Ramen and on and on… it didn’t matter, it was going to be eaten. It sounds like a dumb observation, but if you aren’t preparing your own food, you are eating whatever is being prepared by the person that is. Sometimes that means eating junk.

Once I took the responsibility and the initiative to cook my own food for each meal, I started eating clean. I saw tremendous positive changes in my body appearance and performance. Clean eating to me is eating food that is free of any processed crap (ingredients). Clean eating involves eating food that rots it if isn’t consumed fast enough. Clean eating can be a complete pain in the ass. You’ll have to grocery shop 2-3 times at the grocery store because you are eating food that has a shelf life of just a couple of days, or, you’re eating so much of these quality foods that you literally run out. It’s all worth it.

I learned through experience that if I ate quality food, I could eat just about as much as I wanted. My plates for dinner and breakfast are still piled high with quality food that does nothing more than nourish my body and refuel it for the next training session.

Here is another bold statement for all of you to chew on: Eating clean makes you shit.

And while you may giggle and blush when I say that, it really isn’t a laughing matter. Eating quality food will make you eliminate regularly, which is so incredibly vital to your digestive system and overall health. So many of us walk around with toxic food pooled up in our bodies. Open the lid to a restaurants dumpster on a hot and humid Summer day, take a big whiff. Now imagine what your stomach looks like after Doritos, Bagels and French Fries.

Our bodies can develop inflammation and sometimes aches and pains from the food that we eat! Who knew.

Ever heard of leaky gut syndrome? A lot of people have it and don’t know it. Years of processed food and sugar finally taking it’s toll on their intestinal lining.

I know people who have been damn close to going under the knife because they thought they were suffering from a rotator cuff injury, when in fact it was an awful inflammatory effect from their diet. They changed some things in their diet prior to surgery and boom shakalaka, pain free.

This isn’t hocus-pocus. I have talked about how some health professionals are proactive and some are reactive. I would suggest that you seek out good information from those professionals who are proactive. Holistic healthcare used to be a taboo topic, but more and more folks are finding that holistic practitioners may in fact not be crazy voodoo witch doctors after all.

We can complain about our healthcare system all we want, but we need to take look in the mirror at the individual level first. We, as humans in these modern times, should be able to take care of ourselves. We have to pull up our pants, comb our hair, brush our teeth and start being big boys and big girls when it comes to our discipline to be conscious of food and consistent with movement.

Start small and simple, build on the momentum gained.

Un-educated, computer-less cavemen could figure it out…

For thousands of years, people have been eating plants that were grown from the earth and adding in a little animal meat, eggs and nuts for protein. Our ancestors weren’t entirely sure when the next meal was going to come. True hunters and gatherers.

Plants and pastured meat is medicine (and fuel) and it can be leveraged (very simply) to bring your body composition and overall health back to center, despite your movement habits. Although adding in a simple movement regimen is like pouring gasoline on the fire. Mix both and you’re set up for success.

The wrap up…

So at the end of the day, I do suppose that the best nutritional intervention is the one that you are willing to stick to. Whatever and wherever your starting point is, your ground zero, just do something to shift your nutritional intake in a positive manner.

These days, I view nutrition as I do the purposeful workout. It is an acquired taste that you’ll become better and better at as you continue move deeper into the realm of nutrient dense foods and seasonings while slowly eliminating the sugary/processed foods of the past.

A pure trade out. In the good, out with the bad.

You’ll become better at identifying good food from bad food every single time you make a conscious effort to shop smarter at the grocery store.

Cooking becomes less chaotic and more systematic over time. Just like working out regularly to build physical fitness, cooking and eating wholesome food becomes more and more fun every time you do it. It’s just a matter of sticking it out long enough to make the habits stick for the long-term.

I am in no way talking about eating for six-pack abs and veiny arms, I am talking about fitting into your college jeans and feeling comfortable (and proud) about taking your shirt off at the lake. For some of us, maybe it’s eating to save our lives (literally). For most of us, body restoration means regaining our self-confidence and our pride in a body that we worked hard to develop. Improving how you feel about yourself and how you perceive others feeling about your bodily image with do wonders for your happiness.

It’s a feel good story for everyone. When was the last time someone regretted taking back control of their body?

Cheers to common sense eating for life!

(This article in no way implies that I am supporting Paleo or any other diet trend).

Redemption: The Matthew McConaughey Ninja Bodyweight Workout

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I have to start by offering an apology for misleading many of you on my previous article about Matthew McConaughey’s training philosophy.

All I did in that post was mention that “he sweats”, which I suppose made complete sense to me as the main point of the article, but left many of you readers wanting to know some specifics. After reading it, I feel that the message was received, but it was lacking in “how-to” knowledge. That is my error. I hope to redeem myself by sharing a decent little bodyweight workout with you today.

In honor of Spring of course.

Hopefully I can redeem myself here. I’m nervous.

The Mecca of the Midwest

As the weather warms up here in “God’s Country”, Eau Claire, WI, the doors begin to open to all sorts of opportunity for engaging in physical activity outside.

Training outside is the greatest. It’s freeing. The air is fresh (depending on where you live), the sun is beaming, and quite honestly, when you train outside the workout seems less monotonous than training indoors. Training inside year round can make you feel like a rat in a laboratory.

[Segue…]

Alright, let’s talk about Matthew McConaughey’s workout, because that is why we are gathered here today.

Super awkward that I had to post this pic, but needed the visual.

Let’s face it, guy has the kind of body aesthetics that women drool over and men want, yet his theory on physical activity and what it takes to maintain his physique is so incredibly simple. I love that. Why complicate matters?

Performance-wise, I’m not entirely sure how strong the guy is, if he has aches and pains or any sort of endurance. But aesthetically he is doing alright.

Just sweat everyday… doing something.

I received a lot of interest in the previous article, so I should probably man up and post a workout of his… ahemmmm… or at least a workout that I believe he may enjoy participating in.

Well, ok… maybe it’s just a workout that I designed with the thought that if he and I were hanging out, he would enjoy working through it with me. Based on some of his older interviews in Men’s Health, he tends to avoid the gym whenever possible in favor of training outside in a more natural environment.

Equipment: None (although a heart rate monitor is highly encouraged)

Time commitment: 30 minutes-ish

Difficulty: 3/5

*** Warm up***

Start with a 5 minute run at 70-75% of your HRM (heart rate max)

Run #1) 2 minutes at 80-85% of your HRM (heart rate max)

—> Recover to 130 bpm

a) 20 Push Ups (no rest leading into the run)

Run #2) 2 minutes at 80-85% of your HRM (heart rate max)

—> Recover to 130 bpm

b) 20 Reverse Lunges (no rest leading into the run)

Run#3) 2 minutes at 80-85% of your HRM (heart rate max)

Recover to 130 bpm

c) 20 Bodyweight Squats (no rest leading into the run)

Run#4) 2 minutes at 80-85% of your HRM (heart rate max)

–> Recover to 130 bpm

d) 20 Burpees (no rest leading into the run)

Finish with a 5 minute run at 70-75% of your HRM (heart rate max)

Buy a heart rate monitor.

If you are going to take your cardio training seriously, you need to be monitoring your work bouts and your recovery time with a heart rate monitor. Buy the cheapest version Polar sells if you are concerned with cost. It will work just fine and help guide your training. The heart rate monitor will give you insight into your progress.

On the 2 minute run, which is the “work” portion of the session, you’ll notice that I suggest running at a pace that is 80-85% of your heart rate max. The easiest way to figure out your heart rate max is to get on a treadmill, crank it up to a ridiculously high speed and incline, and sprint until your vision becomes blurry. The test ends when the treadmill spits you off.

JUST KIDDING!

Seriously, don’t do that. However, there are some equations that you can use. Most heart rate related formulas have some flaws in them. They are just formulas, estimations, so this makes sense. The Karvonen formula is “the best of the worst” when it comes to finding max heart rate. No matter which formula you choose, remember that your heart rate “training zones” are going to be ESTIMATED. I’d rather you use these formulas than the really old school method of finding heart rate, which is nothing more than 220-(Your Age). 220-your age is quick, but there is a lot of room for error.

Recover to 130 bpm after each run prior to working through each bodyweight exercise. Recovering to 130bpm will keep your training efforts aerobically challenging and also provide an beats per minute (BPM) mark to green light the next work bout. Recovering based on time is ok in a pinch, but recovering based on when you heart is ready to go again is preferred. Your body will let you know when it’s time to go back to work.

The bodyweight strength movements that follow the rest periods are integrated to break up the monotony of running and provide a low load resistance based training stimulus. Don’t expect to build great amounts of strength from just 20 reps of any of those movements. If fact, let me re-phrase that last sentence… You will not build strength from those exercises. Not at that rep count, with bodyweight load, etc. Unless you are relatively reconditioned (which isn’t a bad thing) or new to purposeful exercise. You may experience some strength gains, but I would rather see you work through a dedicated strength program at that point.

Scale the workout. Run for less time if you need to. Decrease the reps on the bodyweight moves if you need to.

Or, if you are battle hardened, increase the running time, add a few more rounds of bodyweight moves, etc.

Take your training outside and get some fresh air. It will change the training experience.

Cheers to breaking up the monotony of running!

The Matthew McConaughey Workout Plan

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I will never forget the day that I picked up a Men’s Health magazine in college and read an article about Matthew McConaughey’s workouts.

Like many young males, I was fascinated by what Men’s Health was writing about health. I spent a decent chunk of cash (which I had very little of) to keep my subscription, buying training manuals and such

I don’t remember what the guy does to stay in shape, but it is pretty obvious:

He eats clean.
He moves frequently.

You might be disappointed by my repetitive preaching of eating clean and moving smart, but it’s the only real formula that you need to reverse years of body pollution.

It’s a bullet proof technique for restoring your body.

In the Men’s Health article, I remember Matthew McConaughey commenting on his training regimen by saying…

The print is tiny, so in case you can’t quite make out what the quote is, I will help you. It says:

What a great training plan!

After I read that quote, I distinctly remember being pissed.

I thought for sure- as many guys probably did- that he was going to disclose some sweet top secret workout regimen.

I was convinced that he was doing something special that the rest of us were aware of. There had to be something else going on there.

You probably have had that feeling before, right? The feeling where you are convinced that someone- who has achieved something that you also want to achieve-knows some kind of voodoo magic that you flat out don’t know anything about. And because of the fact that they have harnessed the power of this voodoo magic, they’ve got an edge over everyone else on the planet. You, in turn, want to know what this voodoo magic is so that you yourself can experience the kinds of results that they have.

Then you you realize that none of this is true. A lean person’s (famous or not) recipe for success is the same as nearly every other successful person on the planet… they created good habits, worked relentlessly, learned along the way and rinsed and repeated that process. They figured out that they have to do un-aveerage things to achieve un-average results.

I have to admit that I was brutally disappointed with the Matthew McConaughey “sweat theory”. Again, pissed, might be a much better description.

Genetically, he is blessed to stay as lean as he does, but he also makes a dedicated effort to give his body decent food and he sweats! So his body aesthetics are by chance. He worked for it and now he performs a simple maintenance whenever he gets the opportunity.

Everyday, he sweats.

This has actually stuck with me ever since I read that article, and I am glad that it did.

I get a sweat every single day. Even after a night of socializing with friends (and a boatload of craft beers) it is mandatory to sweat the next day. It’s a simple theory that I took action on long enough to make it a lifelong habit.

It’s so easy to fall into the “there has to be something out there that I am not doing that would make all of the difference in the world” trap. So easy. We trick ourselves into thinking this sort of thing. We then begin to search and search and search for the “secrets”. We try different diets, different personal trainers, different gyms, shoes, training equipment, workout plans, etc. When it’s all said and done, a lot of people have blown mountains of money on “secrets”. It’s enough to drive a person crazy, and I have met a lot of people that are slowly driving themselves insane looking for these secrets.

But the recipe is simple: eat clean and move enough to sweat.

Take that and do it EVERY SINGLE DAY.

It will blow your mind what a recipe like that will do for you over the long-term.

Cheers to Matthew McConaughey and the daily sweat!

M(eaux)tion Fitness

Fuel Your Fitness Journey

fat loss

A Brief Synopsis About Why “Fat Loss” is Preferred Over “Weight Loss”

Shakira’s Hips Don’t Lie and Adding Burpees to My Kettlebell Complex Workout Kicked Ass

Jumping Rope: The Undeniable Negatives (Part 1)

Summary:

When you’re a kid, you jump rope…

1) Repetitive ground impact and overuse injuries.

2) Learning curve versus training stimulus.

Here’s a realistic scenario…

3) Cardio benefits over-hyped.

Adaptation sadness…

Wrap Up…

Over-training for Performance and a Brief Word on Exercise Addiction

The Scientific 7 Minute Workout and Shortcuts

It’s Just a Kettlebell Swing Workout

The Shark Tank, Results and How Both Can Impact You

How to Eat To Stay Lean for Life

Redemption: The Matthew McConaughey Ninja Bodyweight Workout

The Matthew McConaughey Workout Plan

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Summary:

When you’re a kid, you jump rope…

1) Repetitive ground impact and overuse injuries.

2) Learning curve versus training stimulus.

Here’s a realistic scenario…

3) Cardio benefits over-hyped.

Adaptation sadness…

Wrap Up…

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