So I was out of town last week at a conference (non-fitness related) and talked some people into having me put them through a quick morning workout one day.
So we all met in the lobby at 7:30 am and headed out. I did the workout the day before as a trial run and the difference was that I did it at 5:00 pm when it was sweltering out and they were doing it when it was less than sweltering out (although it wasn't cool out to say the least).
Here's what we did:
1. Started out with a walk for a hundred yards or so and then we started up a nice jog for another 100 yards or so.
2. Then I had them run in a single file line and then we did Indian Runs. Indian runs are where I'll call out the name of the person last in line and they have to sprint to the head of the line. They run for a little longer and then I call the name of the new person at the end of the line and they sprint to the front.
3. Then when we got to this grassy area, I had them do these exercises for 30 seconds each in a row with no rest between exercises:
A) Bear Crawls
B) Bodyweight Squats
C) X-Body Mountain Climbers
Then they rested for 30 seconds and I then had them do this one more time.
4. I had them rest for 1 minute and then we did these three exercises for 30 seconds each in a row with no rest between exercises:
A) Walking Lunges
B) Pushups
C) Tripod hold (15 seconds with each arm)
They rested another 30 second after the last exercise then we repeated that sequence one more time.
5. Then I had them a Tabata protocol using Burpees. What this means is that they would do 20 seconds of Burpees, and then take 10 seconds of rest. They would continue doing this for 4 minutes.
Then we walked back to the hotel that we were staying in. That's it. A quick 20 minute workout. Seem simple?
You'd think, but, between number 4 and number 5 above, one person had to step aside,,,,to vomit. I felt so proud I almost shed a tear....
And the next day one person came up to me and said "I'm not liking you very much right now..."
I know I keep saying this over and over again but, it's just another example of the importance of making a workout INTENSE and not LONG to get results and an effective workout in.
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Showing posts with label pushups. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pushups. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Increasing Your Pushups
I had a client of mine ask me last week what she can do to increase the amount of pushups she can do. She's at a plateau right now that she can't get past.
First, in order to get better at pushups you have to do....pushups...
Second, progression is the key. The closer that your body gets to the ground, the more difficult the pushup becomes.
So start out conservatively. Do wall pushups to begin. If you can do 50 of them, then you know you're past that level.
Then move on to an incline pushup. Find something like the back of a chair and see if you can do 50 pushups in that position. If you can, then find another incline that makes you go a little closer to the ground, like the seat of a chair and try to pump out 50 (I'm not suggesting that you try to do 50 wall, 50 incline on the back of a chair, and 50 incline on the seat of the chair all within the same session, you might want to space all of those out with some time to give your muscles time to recover).
Continue decreasing the incline until you're on the floor. When you reach the floor, start by doing pushups on your knees. When you're able to do 50 of those, then move on to regular pushups.
To mix it up, try doing pushups where you do holds at intermittent points of the lowering portion of the movement. You can do these at the incline levels, on your knees and in the normal pushup position.
To do this, start at the top of the pushup position and come down one third of the way down and hold it there for a count of 3. Then lower yourself another third of the way down and count to 3 again, then lower yourself to the lowest position (meaning, if you're doing this as a regular pushup, you're at a full range of motion with your nose is only a couple of inches from the ground), and count to three again.
Continue doing this until you have done 10-15 intermittent hold pushups.
As time goes on using both of these styles, you should see an increase in the number of pushups that you are able to do.
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First, in order to get better at pushups you have to do....pushups...
Second, progression is the key. The closer that your body gets to the ground, the more difficult the pushup becomes.
So start out conservatively. Do wall pushups to begin. If you can do 50 of them, then you know you're past that level.
Then move on to an incline pushup. Find something like the back of a chair and see if you can do 50 pushups in that position. If you can, then find another incline that makes you go a little closer to the ground, like the seat of a chair and try to pump out 50 (I'm not suggesting that you try to do 50 wall, 50 incline on the back of a chair, and 50 incline on the seat of the chair all within the same session, you might want to space all of those out with some time to give your muscles time to recover).
Continue decreasing the incline until you're on the floor. When you reach the floor, start by doing pushups on your knees. When you're able to do 50 of those, then move on to regular pushups.
To mix it up, try doing pushups where you do holds at intermittent points of the lowering portion of the movement. You can do these at the incline levels, on your knees and in the normal pushup position.
To do this, start at the top of the pushup position and come down one third of the way down and hold it there for a count of 3. Then lower yourself another third of the way down and count to 3 again, then lower yourself to the lowest position (meaning, if you're doing this as a regular pushup, you're at a full range of motion with your nose is only a couple of inches from the ground), and count to three again.
Continue doing this until you have done 10-15 intermittent hold pushups.
As time goes on using both of these styles, you should see an increase in the number of pushups that you are able to do.
www.leanbodyfitness.com
Friday, May 15, 2009
Friday Workout
I took my dog to the vet the other day for her "day at the spa" and while I was waiting, I went to a park to get a workout in. Here's what I did.
I jogged around this field one time just as a little warm up. Then I did some sprints. First I would sprint just maybe 5 yards. Then walk back. Then sprint again adding another five yards onto what I sprinted before. Walked back again. Kept doing this until I was sprinting about 30 yards or so.
Then it was time to start the workout.
I got down and did a bear crawl for about 20 feet. Then I stood up and did one Pushup-Burpee Combination (meaning, I dropped down to the lower part of the burpee move, completed one pushup, then pulled my legs into my chest and jump straight into the air). Immediately after completing the jump part of the burpee, I sprinted the rest of the way to where I had finished on my last sprint in my warm up.
I then walked back to the starting point, waiting 30 seconds, and did the bear crawl again for 20 feet, and then did the Pushup-Burpee Combination twice (meaning, i dropped down, did one pushup, pulled the legs in and did a vertical jump, dropped back down into a pushup position and did another pushup, pulled the legs in and did a vertical jump), and finished with the sprint again. Walked back to the starting point, and rested 30 seconds.
I kept doing this over and over again and adding another Pushup-Burpee combination each time. My goal was to do 10 of them but, after the 8th one, I was pretty spent and decided to call it a day. Workout took about 25 minutes and it was great.
Remember efficiency in exercise. You don't need to spend hours and hours working out. A quick intense 20-30 minute workout is just as good for overall health, and even better for fat loss.
Have a good weekend.
www.leanbodyfitness.com
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I jogged around this field one time just as a little warm up. Then I did some sprints. First I would sprint just maybe 5 yards. Then walk back. Then sprint again adding another five yards onto what I sprinted before. Walked back again. Kept doing this until I was sprinting about 30 yards or so.
Then it was time to start the workout.
I got down and did a bear crawl for about 20 feet. Then I stood up and did one Pushup-Burpee Combination (meaning, I dropped down to the lower part of the burpee move, completed one pushup, then pulled my legs into my chest and jump straight into the air). Immediately after completing the jump part of the burpee, I sprinted the rest of the way to where I had finished on my last sprint in my warm up.
I then walked back to the starting point, waiting 30 seconds, and did the bear crawl again for 20 feet, and then did the Pushup-Burpee Combination twice (meaning, i dropped down, did one pushup, pulled the legs in and did a vertical jump, dropped back down into a pushup position and did another pushup, pulled the legs in and did a vertical jump), and finished with the sprint again. Walked back to the starting point, and rested 30 seconds.
I kept doing this over and over again and adding another Pushup-Burpee combination each time. My goal was to do 10 of them but, after the 8th one, I was pretty spent and decided to call it a day. Workout took about 25 minutes and it was great.
Remember efficiency in exercise. You don't need to spend hours and hours working out. A quick intense 20-30 minute workout is just as good for overall health, and even better for fat loss.
Have a good weekend.
www.leanbodyfitness.com
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
The Original 300 Workout
Back awhile ago, I posted this workout by Craig Ballantyne on a great 300 workout.
I was at a seminar a few weeks ago where I found out the Original 300 Workout was actually only 3 exericses: Pullup, Pushup, and Squat. You did 100 Pullups, 100 Pushups, and 100 Squats and tried to get that done in 30 minutes.
Now i don't know if this workout was created by someone recently who is calling it by that name or whether this is actually a workout that was done 2000 years ago in ancient Rome.
I tried it out last week and it was pretty good. I made one slight adjustment in that I did inverted rows instead of pullups (I might be able to squeak out 50 pullups, but I'll be honest, there's no way I could have pulled out 100 of them).
How I did it though was I did everything in sets of 5 in circuit fashion. I did 5 inverted rows, 5 bodyweight squats, and then 5 pushups and then repeated that over and over again until I had done a total of 20 sets.
My time wasn't too bad. 14:30 the first day I did it, 13:45 the second time I did it.
I'll tell you what though, for a workout that lasts less than 15 minutes, I was drenched in sweat when I was done and boy did my upper body feel it the next day.
Another good example of how designing workouts effectively using the biggest muscles you've got can cut down on the amount of time that you have to workout but give you the same (if not better) results than if you worked out longer.
Give it a try and e-mail me at mike@leanbodyfitness.com to let me know how you did.
www.leanbodyfitness.com
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I was at a seminar a few weeks ago where I found out the Original 300 Workout was actually only 3 exericses: Pullup, Pushup, and Squat. You did 100 Pullups, 100 Pushups, and 100 Squats and tried to get that done in 30 minutes.
Now i don't know if this workout was created by someone recently who is calling it by that name or whether this is actually a workout that was done 2000 years ago in ancient Rome.
I tried it out last week and it was pretty good. I made one slight adjustment in that I did inverted rows instead of pullups (I might be able to squeak out 50 pullups, but I'll be honest, there's no way I could have pulled out 100 of them).
How I did it though was I did everything in sets of 5 in circuit fashion. I did 5 inverted rows, 5 bodyweight squats, and then 5 pushups and then repeated that over and over again until I had done a total of 20 sets.
My time wasn't too bad. 14:30 the first day I did it, 13:45 the second time I did it.
I'll tell you what though, for a workout that lasts less than 15 minutes, I was drenched in sweat when I was done and boy did my upper body feel it the next day.
Another good example of how designing workouts effectively using the biggest muscles you've got can cut down on the amount of time that you have to workout but give you the same (if not better) results than if you worked out longer.
Give it a try and e-mail me at mike@leanbodyfitness.com to let me know how you did.
www.leanbodyfitness.com
Monday, February 23, 2009
The "I Hate Mike" Interval Workout
Back a couple of weeks ago in this post, I talked about how hard you should be going in your intervals. Basically, at your own subjective pace, you should be going hard enough to hate doing them.
Well over the last two weeks I've been trying out a new twist with a workout and I absolutely HATE them. I get nervous before doing them. The shoulders tense up. But, when I'm done with them, it's almost an immediate feel that I had one of the best workouts of my life.
This interval workout should take about 25 minutes to do and you'll need either a bike or a treadmill (treadmill is preferred).
What you're going to do is sprint (or pedal) at 90% of your max for 30 seconds, and then get off the bike or treadmill and do countdown pushups.
Let me explain what I call countdown pushups. You start by doing 10 pushups. Then you do 9 pushups, then you do 8 pushups, and so on until you do one pushup and then you're done.
You can do the pushups either the "normal" way with resting your body on your hands and the tips of your feet or, you can do them kneeling where you rest your body on your hands and knees. Regular pushups to easy for you? Then place your feet on some steps or a chair and do decline pushups.
After you're done with the pushups, you'll get back on the treadmill (or bike) and go at a slow pace for 90 seconds (well sort of, I'll explain).
So this is how the workout is going to go when on a treadmill:
0:00 - 2:15 - slow walk
2:15 - 2:35 - faster walk
2:35 - 2:50 - jog
2:50 - push the speed to your sprint level
3:00 - all out sprint
3:30 - press stop button and get off and do 10 pushups
After the 10 pushups, get back on the treadmill:
3:30 - 4:15 - slow walk
4:15 - 4:35 - faster walk
4:35 - 4:50 - jog
4:50 - push the speed level to your sprint level
5:00 - all out sprint
5:30 - press stop button and get off and do 9 pushups
Continue doing this countdown until you've done 1 pushup and then you're done.
Try this out a couple days a week to start.
Now, if you want to change it up and include something other than pushups, go ahead and try it with an inverted row (if you have a squat rack or something you can horizontally pull yourself towards).
Here's how you should look before and after the lift. This would be the beginner variation:
Notice that my hands are in an underhand grip (palms facing towards me).
Here's what you should look like during the lift:
Notice how the center of my body stays in a straight line. In other words, no slouching.....
If that's too easy, try it while resting on the heels of your feet:
Before and After:
During:
And finally, if you want to get more difficult, prop your feet up on a chair or another bench.
Before and After:
During:
Wanna really be a stud? Use pull-ups...
If you've got any questions or if you try it out and want to let me know how it went, drop me an e-mail at mike@leanbodyfitness.com
www.leanbodyfitness.com
Well over the last two weeks I've been trying out a new twist with a workout and I absolutely HATE them. I get nervous before doing them. The shoulders tense up. But, when I'm done with them, it's almost an immediate feel that I had one of the best workouts of my life.
This interval workout should take about 25 minutes to do and you'll need either a bike or a treadmill (treadmill is preferred).
What you're going to do is sprint (or pedal) at 90% of your max for 30 seconds, and then get off the bike or treadmill and do countdown pushups.
Let me explain what I call countdown pushups. You start by doing 10 pushups. Then you do 9 pushups, then you do 8 pushups, and so on until you do one pushup and then you're done.
You can do the pushups either the "normal" way with resting your body on your hands and the tips of your feet or, you can do them kneeling where you rest your body on your hands and knees. Regular pushups to easy for you? Then place your feet on some steps or a chair and do decline pushups.
After you're done with the pushups, you'll get back on the treadmill (or bike) and go at a slow pace for 90 seconds (well sort of, I'll explain).
So this is how the workout is going to go when on a treadmill:
0:00 - 2:15 - slow walk
2:15 - 2:35 - faster walk
2:35 - 2:50 - jog
2:50 - push the speed to your sprint level
3:00 - all out sprint
3:30 - press stop button and get off and do 10 pushups
After the 10 pushups, get back on the treadmill:
3:30 - 4:15 - slow walk
4:15 - 4:35 - faster walk
4:35 - 4:50 - jog
4:50 - push the speed level to your sprint level
5:00 - all out sprint
5:30 - press stop button and get off and do 9 pushups
Continue doing this countdown until you've done 1 pushup and then you're done.
Try this out a couple days a week to start.
Now, if you want to change it up and include something other than pushups, go ahead and try it with an inverted row (if you have a squat rack or something you can horizontally pull yourself towards).
Here's how you should look before and after the lift. This would be the beginner variation:
Notice that my hands are in an underhand grip (palms facing towards me).
Here's what you should look like during the lift:
Notice how the center of my body stays in a straight line. In other words, no slouching.....
If that's too easy, try it while resting on the heels of your feet:
Before and After:
During:
And finally, if you want to get more difficult, prop your feet up on a chair or another bench.
Before and After:
During:
Wanna really be a stud? Use pull-ups...
If you've got any questions or if you try it out and want to let me know how it went, drop me an e-mail at mike@leanbodyfitness.com
www.leanbodyfitness.com
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