training effect

The Best Thanksgiving 2013 Workout… (That I could come up with…)

Quick Tips

Image

I designed this workout to be a gut check burn out training session in honor of Thanksgiving 2013.

I’ll be honest, this workout is a beast.  

Normally, I abide by the “any fool can make another fool tired” motto, but hey, there is nothing wrong with crushing yourself every now and then.  Physically and mentally it feels good to attack a workout like you’re ascending to the peak Everest, just don’t make it an all of the time habit.  

Sustainable training habits, remember? 🙂

The workout is minimalist by design, using primarily bodyweight exercise to induce a massive training effect.  Notice that I offered an alternative to kettlebell swings if you don’t have any kettlebells.  The best part about this workout is that you should be able to execute it in a telephone booth.  In others, no matter where you’re at for this Thanksgiving 2013, this workout is a fully portable, anytime, anywhere workout.  You don’t need much space to kill it with this one.

The workout leverages a brutal ascending rep scheme.  What does that mean exactly?  It means that you’ll start the workout by executing each exercise in order (1-5 from top to bottom) completing 1 rep of each, then 2 reps, then 3 reps, then 4 reps, 5, 6, 7, 8 , 9, 10.  When you finish the last set of 10 burpees, you’re done.  Grab a drink, towel off and mop up the pool of sweat on the floor because its time for your recovery nutrition before you (and me too) gorge yourself on all of the Thanksgiving fixings.

As the volume increases by 1 rep for each round, take rest as it is needed.  Ideally, you would work through without rest as much as possible, but since exercise technique is vital, you may need to stop and breathe.  In this case, take a few seconds to gather yourself and push up.  Stay on your feet during this rest, don’t sit down.  Breathe deep and center yourself.  It’s just physical work, you can manage it, right?

If you cannot perform pistol squats or chin ups, remember the exercise regression for each.  Regress to traditional bodyweight squats or rear foot elevated split squats (aka: “Bulgarian Split Squat”).  For chin ups, loop a band around your knees for assistance or use small jumps to help initiate the pull vertically.  If you need more of a challenge, strap on a weight or add weight.  I can’t imagine would need it considering how high the volume is.  

By high volume, I am talking about 145 reps… for each exercise.  145 reps x 5 exercises = 725 reps.  That’s a lot.  That’s the kind of volume that can cause ridiculous muscular soreness in the coming days, and probably reduce you to scheduling rest days to heal your body.  You’ll bounce back.  🙂

Grab a stopwatch and time how long it takes to complete the workout.  If you’re up to it, bookmark this blog and leave your time in the comments section.

I’m sure there are a lot of workouts circulating the internet today, but give this one a shot.  If you can’t make it happen today, give it a shot tomorrow.  Lord knows we will all have plenty of calories banked from all of the feasting that awaits us.

If you’re a loyal reader of this blog, I’d like to offer a sincere thank you.  I appreciate you taking time out of your day to improve yourself physically, leveraging my workouts and other tips to give yourself a physical advantage.  It’s a great journey working to improve yourself physically.  

I’ll be releasing ebooks in 2013-2014 and also transitioning to a custom blog/website design.  Time to turn pro 🙂

 

 

Cheers to Thanksgiving and offsetting the damage with a kick ass workout!

KG

 

Basic Movements Can Be Leveraged to Produce a Massive Training Effect

Quick Tips

Sometimes the best choice of exercise is the basic one.

Basic movements that are executed with proper resistance and shortened rest periods can produce a massive training effect that can re-shape a person’s body.

Most of my training sessions are as uncomplicated I can possibly make them.

I have talked about perfecting the kettlebell complex for fat loss in the past, but the “complex” is nothing more than a series of simple exercises crammed together without rest.

The reward is an extremely large metabolic training effect.

You cannot deny that complexes will strip fat and build a resistance to fatigue.  If you do have an argument that simple movements don’t produce effective results, I’ll have you know that my performance outside of the gym with activities like trail running, cycling, obstacle course races and hockey has not slipped a bit since I began my self-experimentation with kettlebell complexes.

And I have been working the complex for about a year now.

Moving on…

One of my favorite training methods are tri-sets using basic exercises and incomplete rest periods.  

A tri-set means that you’ll group three different exercises together, moving from one to the next until you complete the number of sets of each exercise for that day.

It would look something like this:

A1)  Dumbbell Bench Press 3×8

A2)  Deadlift 3×8

A3)  Anti-Extension Roll Outs 3×10

All of the movements within this cluster are basic exercises.  It’s the resistance used and the shortened rest periods that is going to produce such a large training effect.

As you can see, once you finish a set of bench press (A1), you rest for a set amount of time, usually somewhere between 30-60 seconds (depending on your fitness level) before moving on to the deadlift (A2).

When I use a workout that is structured like this, I always incorporate at least two different tri-sets.  I prefer my training efforts to be total body versus a split type approach.

The second would look something similar to the following…

B1)  Chin Up 3×8

B2)  Front Squat 3×8

B3)  Anti-Rotation Press 3×8

Organizing a workout with tri-sets using basic movements is a fantastic method for getting in and out of the gym.  The rest periods will keep the workout moving along.  No time will be wasted.

Also, because of the shorter rest periods, your fatigue level won’t overpower your ability to give effort.  By the time you hit the 3rd round of the tri-set, you’ll experience manageable fatigue.

Managing fatigue during a workout is important.  If you drain yourself too early in the session, you won’t have anything left to give later in the workout, leaving a lot of benefit from exercises scheduled in the second tri-set on the table.

This style of training is really popular with athletes.  Strength coaches use tri-sets to make sure that a program is time efficient and balanced for the athlete’s body and development.  You’ll notice that most athletes tend to be quite lean (notice I said most, not all).  Transitioning your training to reflect that of an athlete’s can do wonders for fat loss, strength and power increases and overall performance.

The movements, as you can see from my example tri-sets above, work best if they are non-competing movements.  This means that you’ll be exhausting different muscles for the exercises grouped within a tri-set.  A perfect example of this is pairing a squat (lower body pushing) with a chin up (upper body pulling)

This is an important feature of this particular workout structure.

Tri-sets also represent a total body training session.  I would recommend using a workout like this 3-4 times a week max.  You’ve got to give your body a chance to recover and regenerate in between training days.

The decrease in training frequency during the week is great for a person that is pressed for time, whether with family or career.

Lastly, notice that all of the movements listed a basic exercises.  There is no real reason to complicate your training with complex exercises in my opinion.  Adding complexity to a training session can actually take away from effort aspect and add an element of risk that just isn’t necessary.  The reward is rarely worth the risk.

Pick movements that take very little set up and thought during the set.  Place your focus on exercise technique, breathing and moving more weight than the workout before rather than squatting on a physio-ball while attempting to juggle three tennis balls.

The video makes my point…

Cheers to basic movements organized to produce large training effects…

KG

Move More, Sit Less

Pure Fat Loss, Quick Tips

The original title of this blog was going to be “Move More, Sit Less”.

For some odd reason, I had a lot of trouble trying to come up with a “clever” name for my little space on the internet, even though I have an OK understanding of how SEO (search engine optimization) works, and the title isn’t going to automatically get my information out to the masses.

So what is the purpose of this blog?  

I had to ask myself that before I started up another blog.  It is so easy to for me to sit in front of my computer and bang out post after post about movement, food, and everything else that has to do with maintaining or regaining control of your mind and body.

I don’t know why, but I am just fascinated by how simple fat loss really can be, yet how complicated we make it.

One interesting thought came up in conversation one weekend while I was up in “God’s Country” (aka:  Hayward, WI).  I was sitting on the deck at my girlfriend’s parents house when the conversation swung to health (for some weird reason everyone wants to talk about health when I am around).  Tom, my girlfriends Dad, mentioned that he felt that people who write about self-help are just in it to make a buck ($$$).

Isn’t she adorable? I think so.

I felt a little weird once her Dad mentioned this (even though I know he didn’t mean anything harm by saying it) as I am currently working on a book that incorporates time tested solutions for fat loss, along with a manual for hockey players (strength and conditioning).  I am not writing the books because I feel that my target audience needs to hear more about health and nutrition, I am writing it because, well, god dammit I want to write it.

For me, it is an accomplishment sort of deal.  I feel like I have a lot to say and I need some sort of avenue to get all of my thoughts out.  What better vehicle than writing a book?  If a business develops because of it… great!  I am an entrepreneur at heart.

 

What qualifies me to write a book?  

I will be blunt here.

I am well read and I have a shit ton of experience working with athletes of all levels, Mom’s, Dad’s, high-profile business owners, low profile average Joes and everyone in between.  I worked with young kids in Detroit during my tenure at a training facility.  That was a true experience in patience and learning to communicate on a whole other level.  I have even trained the trainer on a number of occasions.

If you are someone who really cares about credentials, I have those too (CSCS- Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist).  This certification is through the NSCA (National Strength and Conditioning Association) which is corrupted and supposedly the best in the industry right now, but honestly, I think credentials are bogus.  You either have experience and continue to grow your knowledge and passion for your field or you don’t.  Don’t let someone fool you with their long list of credentials.  It might not mean shit.

More than anything, I am a walking/talking example of everything that I write about.  That is why I feel comfortable teeing off on methods that I may disagree with or supporting methods that I agree with.  I always used to tell my athletes that I would never ask them to do something in the gym or on the ice that I wouldn’t do or haven’t done as a player myself.

The same goes for fat loss.

 

Why would I recommend someone do something that I haven’t done or would be willing to do myself?

Yea, I have done the 10 minute ice-cold shower to test its effect on fat loss.  Held on for dear life during a legitimate Tabata Protocol.   I have worked through grueling escalating density training sessions… and on and on.

I have tested out intermittent fasting and its effect on my own bodily appearance.

There is more and more buzz about the impact of intermittent fasting on fat loss and improving body composition, potentially even extending life (not entirely sure about this claim just yet).

While I don’t doubt that intermittent fasting is probably effective as hell, I found that it simply isn’t for me.  I cannot function without food.  Mentally, I go to hell.  I gave it an honest chance, and am willing to do so again, but my mental performance suffered greatly.  I’m not implying that I am a food addict, I am saying that I treat food as fuel for energy, which helps me stay focused mentality and prepared physically.

Put simply, intermittent fasting is just not for me.  I eat awesomely nutritious meals and I love it…

Image

Eat. Real. Food.

But that is not to say that it cannot be for you.

This is just an example of many of the interesting topics that you are going to find on this SIMPLE blog.

I am all about simple and effective.

You’ll find that to be true if you continue to stop in and read what I have to say.

If you like what I have to say, by all means continue to come back and visit me.

Add me to your RSS feed so that you can get updates on new blog posts.  Sometimes they will be relevant to your personal situation and sometimes they won’t be.  Regardless, I will always do my best to pump out good information supported by plenty of pictures, videos and links to other resources that I have found helpful over the years.

 

Cheers to squeezing more out of life…

Kyle Garner