10 Minute at Home Beginner Workout

This is a 10 minute at home beginner workout from the December 2010 30-minute workout. Clear off some space on the floor in front of your computer and do it along with me.

4 exercises in a row, doing each exercise for 30 seconds (15 seconds on each side of the Bird Dog and Glute Raise). After doing all 4 exercises, rest 30 seconds, then do that circuit again. Rest another 30 seconds, and then do that circuit one more time.



Here's a direct link to the YouTube Video:

10 Minute at Home Beginner Workout

Bird Dog -- Knees - 15 seconds on each side

1. Kneel on the floor and place your hands on the floor under your shoulders. You should be on "all fours" (like a dog).
2. Brace your abs.
3. Raise your right hand and left leg simultaneously while keeping your abs braced.
4. Point your right arm straight out from your shoulder and your left leg straight out from your hip.
5. Hold for the recommended time and then slowly lower and then repeat on the other side.

Wall Hold - 30 seconds

1. Stand in front of a wall (about 2 feet in front of it) and lean against it.
2. Slide down until your knees are at about 90-degree angles and hold for the recommended time. Keep your back straight and do not lean forward or place your hands on your legs while holding the position.


Glute Raise - 15 seconds on each side

1. Lay flat face down on the ground with your arms raised over your head and spread your legs apart just past your hips.
2. Starting on your right side, focus on using your butt muscle to raise your right leg up as high as you can while keeping the leg straight. Your left leg should stay on the ground.
3. When you reach the top, pause for a moment and then return to the starting position.
4. Continue the movement on the right side until you have completed the recommended number of repetitions or time and then follow the same procedure with the left leg.


Three Point Wall Pushups - 30 seconds

1. Stand facing a Wall with your feet 2-3 feet away from it and place your hand in slightly closer than shoulder width apart.
2. Lower yourself towards the wall.
3. When you reach the wall, push yourself back up by pushing through your chest, shoulders and triceps.
4. Then move your arms out so that they are straight down from your shoulder. Lower yourself again using the same form that you used in steps 2 and 3.
5. Once you have come back up, move your hands out to a distance wider than shoulder width. Lower yourself again using the same form that was used in steps 2 and 3.
6. Once you have come back up again, move your hand back in slightly closer than shoulder width, and repeat steps 2 and 3 again.
7. Continue this movement and changing the hand positions between close, straight down from shoulder width, and wider than shoulder width between each repetitions for the recommended number of repetitions or time.

For more quick workouts you can do at home, visit The 30-Minute Workout and get access to a FREE full 30 Minute Workout Video.

30 Minute At Home Workout

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Quick Workout at Home

This is a quick workout you can do at home from the main workout of the December 2010 30-minute workout. Clear off some space on the floor in front of your computer and do it along with me.



Here's a direct link to the Youtube video:

Quick Workout At Home

4 exercises in a row, doing each exercise for 30 seconds (15 seconds on each leg of the One-Legged Wall Hold). After doing all 4 exercises, rest 30 seconds, then do that circuit again. Rest another 30 seconds, and then do that circuit one more time.

Kneeling Offset Pushups - 30 seconds

1. Get at the top of a pushup position by resting on your hands and the tips of your toes. Both hands should be shoulder width apart, but one arm is straight down from your shoulder and your other arm where the bottom of your hand would be in line with your nose. Make sure to keep your body in a straight line from your shoulders to your feet and to not sag or raise your hips.
2. Drop your knees straight down on the ground without moving them closer to your stomach.
3. Lower yourself down until your nose is only a few inches from the ground and make sure that your hips do not sag. Also as you are lowering, pull your shoulder blades together as far as they will go and make sure that your neck stays in line with your spine.
4. Pause for a second, then brace your abs and keep your body in a straight line from knees to shoulders as you push through your chest, shoulders, and triceps until you get to the top of the position.
5. After doing two repetitions, switch hand positions and do another two repetitions. Continue switching hand positions after two repetitions for the recommended number of total repetitions or time.

Step Out - 30 seconds

1. Stand with your feet just greater than shoulder-width apart and your hands clasped together in front of you. Raise yourself up on your toes as high as you can and keep them that high throughout the entire set.
2. With your abs braced and butt muscles squeezed, start the movement at the hip joint and push your hips backward and "sit back in a chair." Make your hips go back as far as possible and lower yourself as far as your range of motion will take you.
3. Starting on the right side and staying in the squat position, step out to the right side (your body with turn as well), so that you form an "L-shape" between your two inner thighs.
4. Bring your right leg back in towards your body, and do the same thing on your left.
5. Once you bring your left leg back into your body, stand up from the squat position.
6. Continue this movement of squatting down and alternating legs until you have completed the recommended number of repetitions or time.

One-Legged Wall Hold - 15 seconds on each leg

1. Stand in front of a wall (about 2 feet in front of it) and lean against it.
2. Slide down until your knees are at about 90-degree angles.
3. Lift your right leg off the ground and extend your knee so that it is completely straight while at the same time keeping your hip in the same position.
4. Keep your back straight and do not lean forward or place your hands on your legs while holding the position.
5. Hold for the recommended time and then complete the same hold on the left leg.

Cross Body Mountain Climbers - 30 seconds

1. Start at the top of a push up position.
2. Bring your right leg up and across your body as far as you can go so that your right knee is point towards your left elbow.
3. Return your right leg to the starting position and repeat the movement using your left leg.
4. Continue alternating legs until you have completed the recommended number of repetitions or time.

For more quick workouts you can do at home, visit The 30-Minute Workout and get access to a FREE full 30 Minute Workout Video.

30 Minute At Home Workout

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Playground Ab & Upper Back Workout - Monkey Bars

A couple of weeks ago, I posted a post on a Playground ab workout on a swing set that you could do when you hit the playground with your kids.

This time, I've got a new video of an ab and upper back workout you can do at the playground using the monkey bars.

You'll do 4 exercises in a row, 30 seconds for each exercise. Then you'll rest 30 seconds, do that circuit again, rest 30 seconds, then do that circuit 1 more time.

Take a look at the video and I've written out the exercises below it:



Here's a direct link to the video:

Playground Ab & Upper Back Workout - Monkey Bars

1. Neutral Pullup
2. Hanging Leg Raises
3. Inverted Row
4. Hanging Side Leg Raises

Should take you less than 10 minutes to get through it.

Another great way to get a workout in while also spending some quality time with your kids at the playground.

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Admit It. You Gained Weight

Halloween is over. But you still have that bowl of candy sitting there. I heard an interesting stat a while back stating that only about 33% of candy that people buy actually goes to trick or treaters. The other 67%? Well, I don’t think it takes a Ph.D to figure that out…Bottom line: save some of it for your kids, and throw the rest out.



Back around Labor Day I talked about how that time period was an essential time to get on a fat loss regiment (yes, I know there’s irony in me tell you that considering I was telling it to you at the time in a video while I was drinking a beer…). That from the time period between Labor day and the end of the year there were a lot of holidays, events, etc., that no matter what, involves eating lots of food, and more than likely, drinking alcohol. It’s a time period where you could, when January 1st hits, be 10-15 pounds heavier than you were at Labor day.

So how did that work out for you? Go ahead. Get on the scale. How does it look compared to Labor day? If you didn’t take my advice and start some sort of fat loss workout and diet, then you put on some weight.

The bad news is you gained that weight, only after one holiday involving parties, candy, alcohol, and more candy. You’ve still got 3 big ones to go: Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years, where you could easily put on another 10 pounds between those holidays.

The good news is that you’ve got some time to go between now and Thanksgiving. About three weeks.

How about you set a goal for yourself to lose a certain amount of weight between now and then? Let’s say, 5 pounds. That’s only about 1 ½ - 2 pounds a week.

The best way to do that? Well, I hate to make this simple but, eat less food.

But that’s probably not very helpful. So here’s a few guidelines.

Make a list of the foods that you can’t live without.

The problem with dieting is that people think that they need to deprive themselves of the foods that they love…forever. That’s just not true. You can still eat the foods that you enjoy, just try to eat less of it.

Need that bar of chocolate every day? Go ahead and eat it, BUT how about just eating half of it and eating the other half the next day?

You NEED pizza once a week. That’s fine. But instead of having 4 pieces, how about eating only 2?

And sugary drinks. You need a Mountain Dew in the morning to wake yourself up and another one in the afternoon to keep you awake. How about giving up one of those and having a hot cup of green tea in place of the other one (there’s caffeine in that so you’ll still get some kick from it..)?

Now make a list of the foods that you enjoy but, you could see yourself doing without. Take that list, and avoid that food until at least Thanksgiving. Now, don’t try and lie to yourself and say “Oh, alright…I’ll give up the veggies, fruits, whole grains, etc…..I can suffer through not eating those foods for a few weeks” when you very well know that you’re not eating those right now anyway! They have to be foods that you are actually eating on a regular basis.

Now, let’s get some exercise in here. You’ve got workouts that you can do, and you can do them for free if you go to my YouTube Channel at this link. There’s beginner, intermediate and advanced workouts in there so anyone can do these and most of those workouts that I’ve got in there won’t take you more than 30 minutes to get through (and most of them are much shorter than that) AND you can do them in your own home with barely any exercise equipment. How about you go through three of those a week? You’re talking a maximum of 90 minutes over the course of a week in exercise. You can do that, don’t you think?

If you want to take it a step further, go ahead and order the 30-minute workout for $4.95 today for either a bulk of eight months worth of workouts or get the most up–to-date workout this month along with a Fat Loss Nutritional Guide. It’s your choice and it’ll only cost you $4.95 to try it out.

Think about that. For less than the cost of a pizza, you could get a workout all written up for you that you can do over the next 3 weeks to drop 5 pounds before Thanksgiving. Then you can sit down, eat a big meal that day, have some wine, and not worry about putting on a ton of weight because, you’re ahead of the game.

Go ahead and order now and start that New Years resolution two months before the New Year.

30-Minute Workout for $4.95

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Free Beginner Workout Programs

Ready for some more Free Beginner Workout Programs?

A couple of weeks ago I posted a video of a 20 minute workout from the main workout of the November 2010 30-Minute Workout.

Now I've got the same type of circuit from the beginner version of the November 2010 workout. Give it a look and a try and see what you think.

And don't forget, you can try the rest of the November workouts (the main workout AND the beginner workout) for just $4.95 by going to the link below and ordering, right now:

November 2010 30-Minute Workout

Here's a video of the workout with a description below:



Here's a direct link to the YouTube video:

Free Beginner Workout Programs

These are what I call, Seven Ups and it's more of an advanced workout and it's a workout you can do at home, at work, anywhere you want:

You're going to do seven circuits of exercise with no rest between the exercises within the circuit. With each circuit, you are going to add an additional exercise from the prior circuit, until you are at the last circuit where you'll be doing 7 exercises in a row with no rest between exercises.

Circuit 1:
1. Lying Hip Extension on Chair -- 30 seconds
2. Rest 30 seconds

Circuit 2:
1. Lying Hip Extension on Chair -- 30 seconds
2. Jumping Jacks -- 30 seconds
3. Rest 30 seconds

Circuit 3:
1. Lying Hip Extension on Chair -- 30 seconds
2. Jumping Jacks -- 30 seconds
3. Wide Wall Pushups -- 30 seconds
4. Rest 30 seconds

Circuit 4:
1. Lying Hip Extension on Chair -- 30 seconds
2. Jumping Jacks -- 30 seconds
3. Wide Wall Pushups -- 30 seconds
4. Sky Dive -- W Pullback -- 30 seconds
5. Rest 30 seconds

Circuit 5:
1. Lying Hip Extension on Chair -- 30 seconds
2. Jumping Jacks -- 30 seconds
3. Wide Wall Pushups -- 30 seconds
4. Sky Dive -- W Pullback -- 30 seconds
5. Waiter's Bow -- 30 seconds
6. Rest 30 seconds

Circuit 6:
1. Lying Hip Extension on Chair -- 30 seconds
2. Jumping Jacks -- 30 seconds
3. Wide Wall Pushups -- 30 seconds
4. Sky Dive -- W Pullback -- 30 seconds
5. Waiter's Bow -- 30 seconds
6. Wall Hold -- 30 seconds
7. Rest 30 seconds

Circuit 7:
1. Lying Hip Extension on Chair -- 30 seconds
2. Jumping Jacks -- 30 seconds
3. Wide Wall Pushups -- 30 seconds
4. Sky Dive -- W Pullback -- 30 seconds
5. Waiter's Bow -- 30 seconds
6. Wall Hold -- 30 seconds
7. Army Side Bends -- Knees -- 30 seconds

Should take you about 20 minutes to get through.

For more information on Beginner November 2010 30 Minute Workout, go to:

http://www.30-minuteworkout.com

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Lose Weight Eating Junk Food

It's been awhile since I've actually written anything on this blog outside of posting various exercise videos (which by the way, I hope you have enjoyed). So today you'll actually read something with some more substance and what better kind of substance than everyone's favorite topic...Junk Food.

A nutrition professor from Kansas is experimenting with losing weight....while eating junk food.



Basically, for 30 days he's eating high calorie, high fat food, but, keeping it within 1,800 calories a day. His goal in this is to show that even though he's eating junk food, he can still maintain or lose weight.

After that 30 days, he's going to flip it around and eat healthy foods, but eat more calories than what his body needs to maintain his body weight in order to show that even if you eat healthy foods, if you eat too much of them, you can gain weight.

The results so far on the junk food diet: in 6 weeks he lost 19 pounds... No word yet on when he'll start the weight gain exercise with the healthy foods so I'm going to keep up on this and she what happens.

The overall point that I think he's trying to make is a good one: No matter what kind of food you eat, CALORIES COUNT. If you eat less than what your body needs, you're going to lose weight and if you eat more than what your body needs, you're going to gain weight, regardless of the type of food you are eating.

With that said though, I wouldn't recommend dropping the broccoli and salmon for a pint of Ben & Jerry’s. He is only demonstrating what the effects are on weight loss. He's been monitoring other health indicators while doing this junk food diet and blood pressure, triglycerides, and cholesterol have all INCREASED.

Which again bring up a great point: Just because you are losing weight, doesn't necessarily mean that you're getting healthier.

I know that I do a lot of stressing about keeping it simple by sticking with meat, vegetables, fruit, nuts, and oils. It works for me. It might work for you. But another form of eating might work for you if you’re just not into eating those kinds of foods. You just have to remember that if losing weight is your goal, to make sure you are keeping your calories lower than what your body needs.

Does that mean you have to measure out all your food, count calories, etc.? If you want to do it that way or if that’s how you stayed disciplined, then you can do that. But it’s not required. If you simply monitor what you eat, and watch your weight on the scale and take a measurement around your waist at your belly button on a weekly basis, that should be good enough. If you see the scale go down from week to week as well as the measurement around your waist, then you know you’re on the right track. See it stay the same or increase from week to week, then you know you’re eating too much and you need to eat less.

Which again, going back to the way that I think works well for eating (keeping it to various meats, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and oils), in various portions and timing of your meals that I lay out in the Fat Loss Nutritional Guide that comes along with the membership option of the 30 Minute Workout, makes it very simple to follow with a variety of food for even the pickiest of eaters, AND enhances that fat loss effect.

Give the 30-Minute at Home Workout a try, take a look at the nutritional guidelines that I set out for you, and see what you think. It only costs $4.95 to try out and if you’re not impressed, you can just go ahead and cancel it and all you lost was just one day worth of your favorite coffee drink at Starbucks.

This doesn’t have to be complicated. Want to lose weight: Eat less food. What to lose weight and see overall healthy results: Eat less healthy food, and exercise.

30 Minute Workout Order Form

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Playground Ab Workout - Swing Set

You're at the playground with your kids. Guess what? You can get a workout in too. And I've got a great ab workout you can do right there on the swing set.

Take a watch of this video as I explain it and the description is below:



Direct link to Video:

Playground Ab Workout - Swing Set

Four Exercises in a row doing each exercise for 30 seconds each. After completing those 4 exercises in a row, rest 30 seconds, and then do that circuit of exercises again, followed again by 30 seconds of rest and then do that circuit one more time. The exercises are:

1. Swing Jacknife
2. Side Plank on Forearm and side of feet on swing with a hip raise on left side
3. Plank on forearms and feet on swing with an ab lift.
4. Side Plank on Forearm and side of feet on swing with a hip raise on right side.

Should take you less than 10 minutes to get through it.

Just another way to get a workout in any place and anytime (and a great way to lead by example in front of your kids too).

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20-Minute Workout from November 2010 30 Minute Workout

The new November edition of the 30-Minute Workout is available and it's a killer. There's a circuit in there that'll take you 20 minutes to get through. I put the circuit together in a video for you to try out. Take a look, give it a try, and tell me what you think (that's of course, if you survived it....).

And don't forget, you can try the rest of the November workouts (the main workout AND the beginner workout) for just $4.95 by going to the link below and ordering, right now:

November 2010 30-Minute Workout

Here's a video of the workout with a description below:



Here's a direct link to the YouTube video:

20 Minute at home workout

These are what I call, Seven Ups and it's more of an advanced workout and it's a workout you can do at home, at work, anywhere you want:

You're going to do seven circuits of exercise with no rest between the exercises within the circuit. With each circuit, you are going to add an additional exercise from the prior circuit, until you are at the last circuit where you'll be doing 7 exercises in a row with no rest between exercises.

Circuit 1:
1. Crossover Reach Pushups -- 30 seconds
2. Rest 30 seconds

Circuit 2:
1. Crossover Reach Pushups -- 30 seconds
2. Y -- Forward Lunge -- 30 seconds
3. Rest 30 seconds

Circuit 3:
1. Crossover Reach Pushups -- 30 seconds
2. Y -- Forward Lunge -- 30 seconds
3. Twisting Jump Squats -- 30 seconds
4. Rest 30 seconds

Circuit 4:
1. Crossover Reach Pushups -- 30 seconds
2. Y -- Forward Lunge -- 30 seconds
3. Twisting Jump Squats -- 30 seconds
4. Decline Plank -- 30 seconds
5. Rest 30 seconds

Circuit 5:
1. Crossover Reach Pushups -- 30 seconds
2. Y -- Forward Lunge -- 30 seconds
3. Twisting Jump Squats -- 30 seconds
4. Decline Plank -- 30 seconds
5. Y-Sumo Squat on Toes -- 30 seconds
6. Rest 30 seconds

Circuit 6:
1. Crossover Reach Pushups -- 30 seconds
2. Y -- Forward Lunge -- 30 seconds
3. Twisting Jump Squats -- 30 seconds
4. Decline Plank -- 30 seconds
5. Y-Sumo Squat on Toes -- 30 seconds
6. Reverse Diagonal Lunge -- Toes -- 30 seconds
7. Rest 30 seconds

Circuit 7:
1. Crossover Reach Pushups -- 30 seconds
2. Y -- Forward Lunge -- 30 seconds
3. Twisting Jump Squats -- 30 seconds
4. Decline Plank -- 30 seconds
5. Y-Sumo Squat on Toes -- 30 seconds
6. Reverse Diagonal Lunge -- Toes -- 30 seconds
7. Bodybuilder Burpees -- 30 seconds

Should take you about 20 minutes to get through.

Let me know how it goes.

For more information on November 2010 30 Minute Workout, go to:

http://www.30-minuteworkout.com

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Beginner Workout Routine

I put together a short little Beginner Workout Routine for those that are at the "thinking stage" of starting to work out. Hopefully this will show you that no matter where you are in your physical health, you can start out with something as simple as this and work your way up as you get stronger and in better condition. In order to get to the top of the stairs, you simply have to lift your leg up to that first step.

Take a look and the workout should take you about 10 minutes to get through:



Direct Link to Video:

Beginner Workout Routine

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Pants Sizes Don't Add Up

I wrote back about a month ago about how I had an experience in the store when trying on some new pants and wrote about how your pants are lying to you.

Well, strange coincidence, there was a segment on ABC news on the EXACT same thing and in fact, some of the commentary that is used in the segment sound almost verbatim in how I put it in that blog post (okay, I'm done caressing my ego...). Anyway, take a look at the segment on this video clip from ABC News on it:



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Shocking! Eating Less Causes you to Lose Weight!!

Brad Pilon has been a guy that I've been following for a couple of years now and he's just so good at putting things into the simplest of terms and cutting through all the junk that's out there to help people lose weight and get into shape.

He had a great blog entry today that I just had to share with you. Take a read:

Eat Less

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Last Chance for the 30-Minute Workout Special Offer

This is it. After 11:59 pm tonight, the prices on the 30-Minute Workout go up from where they are at right now.

Think of it this way. With this workout, you don’t need a gym membership, you don’t need any gym equipment (except a stability ball), and you don’t need a personal trainer.

If you were to train with me for one month, 30 minutes, 3 times a week, it would cost you roughly $300.

That means that with either of these special offer prices, you are paying 34-60 times LESS than that!! And that doesn’t even include what you’re saving on a gym membership!

More chatter from satisfied customers:

"I followed the beginner, intermediate and advanced workouts of the Lean Body Training Home Bodyweight Fat Loss Workouts. I was intimidated that I wouldn't be able to complete even the beginner program. Also, because of my skepticism, I took baby steps and held off on starting the eating plan until I felt more confident, which wasn't until a few weeks into the intermediate workout. Initially, after completing the beginner workout, I lost a few pounds and after finishing the advanced workout and having been on the eating plan for approximately two and a half months I lost an additional 25 pounds. Definitely surprised by the results. When I decided to start the program I didn't even have an actual goal in mind as to how much weight I wanted to lose because I never thought it was possible. However, after I started seeing results, I set a goal and stuck to it. I was a carboholic before I started the nutritional plan and was worried that I wouldn't be able to stick with it. After approximately a week and a half the carb cravings were gone and I actually started looking forward to the meals. There are such a wide variety of food choices that even a picky eater like myself had no trouble finding foods I love to eat. Once I made up my mind to follow the eating plan I didn't find it to be very difficult to stick to it, even with a busy lifestyle. I would recommend this program to anyone who is serious about losing weight and who desires a healthy lifestyle."

- Cheri Holland, Plymouth, Michigan

"I was skeptical about this class at first because I thought it would be too difficult and hard on my wrists and knees. I was already in the kick boxing class once a week then I added one fat loss class. I lost 7 lbs in a month and a half. I have enjoyed it so much I am now going two times a week along with my kick boxing class one time a week. I am 44 years old and I am in better shape than when I was in my twenties. And no, I am not kidding. My abdominals, legs, and arms are very defined. I have more energy and self-confidence than I have had in a long time. Yes, it is hard work, but when you leave you will be amazed how wonderful you feel. Michael is a wonderful instructor and knows that not everyone is on the same level. So he shows his class a low, medium, and high impact example for each exercise. He also mixes up the exercises for each class so we are not working the same body parts every time (and he plays good music)."

- Dawn Miller, Taylor Michigan

Last chance. Don’t pass up this offer to get in shape BEFORE everyone else tries to after the New Year.

30-Minute Workout Order Form

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Don't Let the 30-Minute Workout Special Offer Pass Up!

For only $4.95 today, you can try out either the package option or the monthly membership option of the 30-Minute Workout.

This is an incredible deal on a system that works. Read what others have to say about the programs that I put together:

"I found out about these awesome classes from a friend of mine who had been taking the classes for quite some time. She kept telling me it was just what I needed when I made the decision to become a healthier person. I was very skeptical about the class! I have always been overweight and didn't think I could keep up with the exercises, especially because my friend who recommended it is in extremely good shape. I kept thinking, ha, yeah right, there's no way I could do this class if she does it and says it challenges her. Plus I didn't want to go to a class full of "skinny" people and be the only one who still had some weight to lose. However, I had nothing to worry about. The class is wonderful because it is geared for all fitness levels.

There are workouts that are done at beginner, intermediate and advanced levels and you only have to do what you are capable of doing. Nobody is forcing you to do anything, but rather, people are very encouraging. There are many people in many different stages of fitness and I immediately felt comfortable with everyone else and myself.

Additionally, Mike is there to make sure you are doing the exercises correctly and to push you somewhat but not to be overbearing and make you feel as if you are being bossed around. I lost ten pounds in the first 6 weeks.

I had just lost 50 pounds over 6 months and hit a plateau where the weight would no longer come off. I contacted Mike and he said he thought this class would help me push through it and he was right. I immediately saw the results.

Not only that, this class makes me feel so strong. My muscles are gaining some definition and feeling tight and it is an absolute wonderful feeling. I am also becoming stronger, when I started the class I couldn't do a pushup at all and six weeks later I am making great progress and doing pushups on my knees. I truly look forward to coming to the class because I work hard and can truly feel my body changing. I feel like I can accomplish anything.

I must admit I was shocked by the results. Not only the physical aspect, but the overall mental well being the class induces. I feel strong, proud of myself and am in a much better mood overall because I know I am working toward being healthy and doing what I need to do to live a longer, healthier life. I receive so many compliments on how much I've changed and I must contribute a lot of it to this class.

Mike is an excellent instructor, not only does he take the time during class to guide you through the workout, he answers all your questions to help you outside of class as well. I feel like he really is interested in helping me make the best decisions in regard to my workouts as well as my weight loss plan. He gives you the right tools so you can see your hard work pay off with great results. I am serious when I say, if I can do this and enjoy it this much, then I know everyone else can to!"
- Cindy Brooks, Allen Park Michigan

There you have it. No matter how skeptical you might be, no matter how much you think to yourself “No, I can’t do those exercises,” people HAVE done, and HAVE gotten INCREDIBLE results with my systems.

Don’t wait any longer. Go ahead and try the 30-Minute Workout for just $4.95.

30-Minute Workout Order Form

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30 Minute Workout Launch and INCREDIBLE Offer

Here it is, the launch of the new 30-Minute Workout system.

Let’s go over the Monthly option again:

You can purchase a membership where you receive TWO new 30-Minute Workouts a month (a beginner workout along with either an intermediate or advanced workout) that are each four weeks long AND also get the Lean Body Training Fat Loss Nutritional Guide.

The monthly price for this from now until Friday, September 24 at 11:59 pm is just $8.95 a month.

Now here’s the Package option:

You can buy FOUR MONTHS worth of the past workouts that I’ve put together in a package, for just a one-time charge. And remember, four months worth of these workouts actually equals EIGHT MONTHS since each monthly workout has two workout options.

So with this package option you’ll get EIGHT workouts that are each a month long, broken down into:

• 4 Beginner workouts
• 2 Intermediate workouts
• 2 Advanced workouts

Eight months of workouts, all for just $39.95 from now until Friday, September 24 at 11:59 pm.

But I’m going to make this offer even better for both options.

For the monthly option, it’s only going to cost you $4.95 for the first month.

AND

For the Package option, you can pay just $4.95 now, and then be billed the remaining $35 in 21 days.

Bottom line, whatever option you pick, you pay just $4.95 today in order to start working out with the 30-Minute Workout system, TODAY!

Don’t waste any time. Go to the link below to the order form to get this incredible offer on one of these options:

30-Minute Workout Order Form

Or, if you need to read up more on the 30-Minute Workout, how I came to develop it and why it works, go to the link below:

30-Minute Workout System

Remember, this special deal is only good until Friday, September 24, 11:59 pm so don’t miss out on this great opportunity to get started on burning fat NOW instead of waiting until after the New Year when you could be trying to work off an additional 10-15 pounds.

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Reminder, 30-Minute Workout Re-vamp Launch tomorrow

Remember to keep an eye out tomorrow around 9:00 for the information on the launch of the re-vamped 30-Minute Workout System.

There’s two options available for you:

You can purchase a membership where you receive TWO new 30-Minute Workouts a month (a beginner workout along with either an intermediate or advanced workout) that are each four weeks long AND also get the Lean Body Training Fat Loss Nutritional Guide.

OR

You can buy FOUR MONTHS worth of the past workouts that I’ve put together in a package, for just a one-time charge. And remember, four months worth of these workouts actually equals EIGHT MONTHS since each monthly workout has two workout options.

So with this option you’ll get EIGHT workouts that are each a month long, broken down into:

• 4 Beginner workouts
• 2 Intermediate workouts
• 2 Advanced workouts

From Tuesday, September 21 at 9:00 am through Friday, September 24th at 11:59 pm, Both of these options are going to be DISCOUNTED at a rate of 20-25% what the normal rate is going. After that, the prices go up.

BUT, I’m even making it a BETTER DEAL that I’ll announce tomorrow.

Stay tuned…

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Special Offer on The 30-Minute Workout

I talked to you last week over a pint of beer how we are about 16 weeks away from Christmas and how important these next few months are to get into an exercise routine as well as getting your eating in line in order to lose weight so that you don’t start off the new year in January, 10-15 pound heavier than you are right now.

This week I went over why a 30-minute workout works for me, how you can design your own 30-minute workout, and gave you a free video of a 30-minute workout that you can try out for yourself.

We’re almost at 14 weeks now until Christmas so times a wastin’.

But with all of that, you are still probably just saying “Thanks for that information Mike but, just give me the workouts and let me get started NOW.”

Fair enough.

And with that being said, I’ve got a special offer coming your way that I really think you’re going to like.

On Tuesday, September 21st, I’m going to be launching the re-vamped 30-Minute Workout system where you’re going to have a couple of options.

One option that you’ll have is just like I have it set up now: You can purchase a membership where you receive TWO new 30-Minute Workouts a month (a beginner workout along with either an intermediate or advanced workout) that are each four weeks long AND also get the Lean Body Training Fat Loss Nutritional Guide. This option is going to be at an INCREDIBLY reduced rate from what it goes for now.

A second option is new. In this option you can buy FOUR MONTHS worth of the past workouts that I’ve put together in a package, for just a one-time charge. And remember, four months worth of these workouts actually equals EIGHT MONTHS since each monthly workout has two workout options.

So with this option you’ll get EIGHT workouts that are each a month long, broken down into:

· 4 Beginner workouts
· 2 Intermediate workouts
· 2 Advanced workouts

This second, package option will be at a 20% DISCOUNTED rate than what the normal price will be.

These two promotional rates aren’t going to last forever.

I’ll be shutting down the 30-Minute Workout site on Sunday, September 19th and this special offer is going live on Tuesday, September 21st at around 9:00 am and will last until Friday, September 24 at 11:59 pm. After Friday night, the prices are going back up to their normal rates.

You’re not going to want to miss out on this and it’s giving you the PERFECT opportunity to lose weight NOW instead of waiting until after the New Year.

So check back on Tuesday, September 21st when it goes live to get your fat burning 30-Minute Workout at home without the need to waste your time wandering from exercise machine to exercise machine at the gym.

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A Full 30-Minute Workout Video

You read about how a 30-minute workout works for me, and you've read about how to design your own 30-minute workout. Now check out the video below to see a full 30-minute workout that you can try out. It's a combination of beginner, intermediate, and advanced movements so it'll be a challenge for everyone.



A direct link to the Youtube video is below:

30-Minute Workout

Make sure to check back tomorrow when I pull all this information together that I've been giving you all week. You aren't going to want to miss it.

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Designing a 30-Minute Workout

You like the idea of a 30-minute workout because you find yourself like me: You just really don’t have time for anything longer.

There are just a few of steps that you need to take in designing a 30-minute workout: determining what exercises to do, then doing those exercises in a particular order, next, doing each exercise as well as resting for a particular amount of time. Let’s start with the type of exercises that you need to include.

There are six basic movements that you want to include in your workouts that will work the biggest muscles in your body: Squat, Core, Jump, Pushing, Single Leg, and Pulling.

Along with these movements, you can then break them down into a beginner, an intermediate, or an advanced variation.

Let’s look at each movement individually and then look at examples of each variation:

Squat – A beginner variation would be a Lying Hip Extension, an intermediate would be a full range of motion bodyweight squat, and a more advanced version would be a Sumo Squat on your toes.

Core - A Plank is one of the best core exercises out there. A beginner version would be a Plank on your forearms and knees, an intermediate would be a Plank on your forearms and toes, and an advanced version would be a Plank on your forearms and toes but your toes resting on the edge of a chair so that your body is on a decline.

Jump – A beginner version of a jump would be Jumping Jacks, an intermediate variation would be a Leap Frog, and an advanced version would be Bodybuilder Burpees.

Pushing – A beginner variation of a pushing movement would be a Pushup on the wall, while an intermediate version would be a Pushup on your knees on the ground, and an advanced version would be a Pushup on your toes, while resting your toes on a chair so that your body is on a decline.

Single Leg – A beginner version would be a Donkey Kick, an intermediate version would be a Reverse Lunge, and an advanced version would be a Crossover Forward Lunge on your Toes.

Pulling – Pulling exercises can be a bit tough with just using your bodyweight. Ideally you’d like to have something like a pullup bar (even if you can’t do pullups). But there are some modifications that you can do such as a Stick Up, and a Sky Dive with a W Pullback.

These are just some basic examples of each type of movement but as you can see, they encompass the use of your biggest muscles (shoulders, chest, upper back, core, and legs) in order to work your full body.

Now it’s a matter of putting them in some sort of order.

The best way to do this is to put them into a circuit where you’ll perform a certain number of exercises in a row with no rest in between. Maybe you want to do two exercises in a row, then rest for a bit. Or maybe you want to do 4 or 5 exercises in a row before taking a rest.

Let’s start with just three exercises as an example. Let’s say you were a beginner and you put together a circuit that would include a jump, a squat, and a push.

You could design it so that you first did Jumping Jacks, then you did a Pushup on the wall, then you did a Lying Hip Extension. You did all three of those in a row with no rest. Then you would rest for a bit, and then complete that circuit one or two more times.

The last piece is determining how long you want to do each exercise.

You could do each exercise for a set number of repetitions but, that makes it difficult to determine how much time it would take to complete those set of repetitions in order to know that you can get the workout done in 30 minutes.

A better way is to do each of those exercises for a set amount of time before moving on to the next exercise.

Let’s say that you’re going to do each exercise for 30 seconds. You’ll do the Jumping Jacks for 30 seconds, then immediately move on to the Wall Pushups for 30 seconds, then again with no rest, move on to the Lying Hip Extensions for 30 seconds. Then you’ll rest 30 seconds, and complete that same circuit two more times. After that, rest 60 seconds, and then go on to another circuit that you put together.

So in the above example, each time you do the circuit it would take you 120 seconds to complete (30 seconds for each exercise, then 30 second of rest between circuits). When calculating how long it would take to do this circuit 3 times, your total time would be 390 seconds (120 seconds for each of the first two circuits, then 150 seconds on the last circuit since you’ll be resting 60 seconds at the end and not 30 seconds).

Also, in reality, it’s going to take you about 10 seconds to move from one exercise to the next so include 10 seconds between the actual exercises. That will add in another 60 seconds to this circuit example, which will take the total time to 450 seconds, or 7 ½ minutes.

After that, you simply build some other circuits together of these exercise movements, until you have a 30-minute workout in front of you.

There you have it. A 30-minute workout template that you can use to build a quick and effective workout right in your own home with no exercise equipment necessary that’ll give you a better workout than if you did slow steady state cardio on the treadmill for an hour.

Tomorrow I’m going to show you a video of a full 30-Minute Workout that you can try out. It’s going to be a combination of beginner, intermediate and advanced moves and I think you’re really going to like it so make sure to check out my blog and/or watch for the e-mail tomorrow that’ll I’ll be sending out to let you know it’s viewable.

PS. Again, make sure to go over to www.30-minuteworkout.com and fill out the two quick fields to download the 3 free workouts that are available. Give one of them a try based on your training level and see for yourself how great of a workout you can get in just 30 minutes without all that fancy equipment that they have at the gym and you'll see that I truly am on to something.

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Why A 30-Minute Workout Works for Me

Some of you may know me personally. But most of you probably don't. So I'm going talk a little bit about my life.

Being a personal trainer is not my only job. I also work a full time job during the day for 8 hours.

So my day starts out between 5:15 and 5:30 each morning. Get ready for work, head out, and work a full day until about 3:00 in the afternoon. I rush home, let the dog out, then get my workout in.

Then I spend a little quality time with the dog taking her for a walk or just throwing the ball around outside for awhile. Then I make a quick dinner and then head out to teach one of my fitness classes that I teach 5 days a week.

I teach the class, then come home and work on the business part of the fitness business until roughly 10:00 at night.

Television? Don't have time for it (okay fine, I'll admit, it's on in the background pretty much every night that my Tigers are on but other than that, it doesn't come on much).

It's go-go-go from the moment I wake up until the time I'm ready to get back into bed for the night.

But look at the third paragraph again where I say I get my workout in. Read it again: I GET MY WORKOUT IN. With everything in that busy schedule, I still get a workout in. I rarely (if ever) miss it.

The workout I do isn't long. It's only 30 minutes because that's all the time in my schedule that I have.

What does your schedule look like really? I hear a lot of people say that they don't have time for a workout because they're just too busy with their work, taking the kids to their daily/nightly activities, etc. That's completely understandable, to a point. But, how much time do you spend at night watching TV? Just sayin....

I think when people think of "working out" they think the only way they can get a workout in is going to a gym. When you look at it like that, you're right, you probably don't have time because you have to drive to the gym, find something to do for an hour, and then drive home. That one hour workout in reality probably takes you between 90 minutes to two hours to complete after the travel time and getting the actual workout in.

It doesn't have to be like that. You can get a great workout in 30 minutes.

It's not going to be a light walk on a treadmill. It won't be a slow steady state pedal on a bike.

To get the effect that you want from a workout that only lasts 30 minutes, it has to be at a higher intensity. But, it's well worth it because you'll get better fat loss results, you'll get stronger, and since you only need to do a workout like this 3 times a week, you'll be saving a ton of time compared to a traditional gym workout that you'd do.

Tomorrow, I'm going to explain to you how YOU can simply design a 30 minute workout that you can do in your own home, with no exercise equipment except maybe a stability ball, that'll get you moving closer towards the look you're striving for.

Mike Navin, CSCS
www.30-minuteworkout.com

PS. Go over to www.30-minuteworkout.com and fill out the two quick fields to download the 3 free workouts that are available. Give one of them a try based on your training level and see for yourself how great of a workout you can get in just 30 minutes without all that fancy equipment that they have at the gym and you'll see that I truly am on to something.

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Stability Ball Core Workout 09-06-10

Three exercises in a row using a stability ball. Do each exercise for 30 seconds. Rest 30 seconds after doing the circuit then complete it 2 more times.



Stability Ball Rollout

1. Kneel in front of a stability ball and bring your arms close together and your hands on the top of the stability ball.
2. Roll your body forward so that your arms "climb" up the stability ball. Make sure to not let your hips sag or raise. Continue rolling over the stability ball until your elbows are touching the ball.
3. Pause for a moment, and then contract your abs and pull yourself back up to the starting position. Again, make sure that you are raising your hips or lower back to pull yourself back up, concentrate on using your abs to complete the movement.
4. Continue the movement for the recommended number of repetitions or time.

Plank -- Forearms on Stability Ball

1. Rest your forearms on a stability ball.
2. Raise your body in a straight line and rest your bodyweight on your forearms (that are on the stability ball) and toes so that your body hovers over the floor.
3. Keep your back straight and your hips up but not so high that your butt is sticking in the air. Hold (brace) your abs tight. Breathe normally.
4. Hold this position for the recommended amount of time.

Mountain Climbers -- Hands on Stability Ball

1. Place your hands on the top of a stability ball and rest on your toes with your body creating a straight like from your shoulders to your feet.
2. Keep your abs braced, pick one foot off the floor and bring your knee up to your chest.
3. Do not let your hips sag or rotate.
4. Keep your abs braced and return your leg to the starting position.
5. Perform the same movement on the other leg and return to the starting position. Continue alternating legs until you have completed the recommended number of repetitions or time.

Direct link to video:

Stability Ball Core Workout

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30 Minute Workout Over a Beer - 09/07/10

We just finished up the Labor Day weekend, the unofficial end of summer.

But, from my perspective, it's the start of the most important part of the year when it comes to fitness for you.

Grab a beer, and sit down with me for a few minutes while I explain in the video below.



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3-Day Breast Cancer Walk Recap

I’ve written before about my experiences last year in the 2009 Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure and also talked about my recent involvement with the 60-Mile Men.

I walked in the Michigan 3-Day again this year and I think there’s one initial word that can summarize the whole thing: HOT. I don’t think I’ve ever felt heat like that, although, how often are you walking 20 miles a day continuously in it? If I had to bet, I was probably drinking about 3 gallons of water a day, and needed every ounce of it.

But, regardless of that little issue, it was another great experience.

Last year was the first year I walked in it and I’ll admit that I found the whole thing intimidating. Didn’t know what to expect. Was nervous about whether I’d actually be able to walk on average, 20 miles a day. I also had my cousin on my mind a lot. Thinking about what she was going through and overall just hoping everything else went okay as she was coming down the finish line of her treatments.

This year was a little different though. My cousin is free and clear, I had a better idea what to expect out of the walk, and overall was just more comfortable and relaxed.

I spent a lot of time on this walk talking to a lot of people while walking. It’s interesting but you tend to make “pit stop to pit stop” friends on this walk. You leave a pit stop (that’s a rest station where you can fill up your water, use the porta john, get medical treatment, etc), and you start walking again and you end up more than likely walking around some other people and just start talking. You do this for about an hour until the next pit stop and then pretty much find someone else to talk with after you leave the next pit stop.

When talking with people, you talk about why you’re walking and what it means to each person. Thinking back, I really don’t think there was one story that was the same between two people. Some were walking for a friend, or a relative, a mother, a sister, a daughter, and even a lot of people walking for no particular person, just walking because they wanted to do something for the cause.

But the one similarity that I found, and I saw this last year too, was just the positive energy that people had while on this walk. It’s not a walk where people are all frowns and sad.

Sure, there are sad moments. But for the most part, people are looking at this walk with determination to not let breast cancer take their spirit. Everyone seems to have the attitude of taking something bad and wanting to make a positive out of it.

The 3-Day is definitely designed around that: A true showing of what a small little group can do together when they focus on one goal and walk towards it.

I can’t say enough about this walk and how I think it really establishes a true sense of the concept of "community." When looking at what part each person is doing, and doing it because they have such passion for it, it gives you such a huge uplift in how strong the human spirit really is.

Everyone from the walkers doing the walking, to the crew that is doing their jobs at the medical stations, the food serving areas, to the safety crews out on the streets, to the personal and corporate donors who graciously gave to get people the money they needed to do the walk to the Susan G. Komen organizers who push through doing this weekend after weekend, city to city.

And then you have the support on the streets. The neighbors and people at the cheering stations leaving food out on tables and neighbors setting their sprinklers out for us to walk through. Maybe the most heartfelt are the little kids out there spraying you with water and handing you food and clapping with big smiles on their faces all while decked out in pink outfits.

All of these people, just doing their individual parts when put together makes for just an amazing community that I don’t think I’ve ever experienced in any other setting.

That sense of community got me to put together a short little video using of my video camera while on the walk.

I wanted to put something together to kind of try and give a sense of what this incredible community looks like through the eyes of a walker. To give a feel for what you see for three days out on the streets, in camp, and at the opening and closing ceremonies.

Hopefully those that have done the walk can relate and I hope for those that haven’t done the walk it’ll give you a little insight into what it’s all about and hopefully give you the motivation to be a part of the 3-Day community over the coming years. It’s a great adventure, and through all the fundraising, training preparation, doing the actual walk and everything else that’s involved, it’s worth it in the end.

Okay, enough talk. Take a look and make sure you have your sound turned on:



For a direct link to this YouTube video, you can go to the link below:

Breast Cancer 3 Day

Follow Up to 200 Pushups in 5 Minutes

I know, it's been awhile since I blogged but, August was a busy month and had a number of projects that I was working on and it's the last full month of summer and just wanted to soak it all in.

But, it's back to the grind since Labor Day is only a few days away.

I mentioned awhile back about how I was doing 200 pushups in 5 minutes where basically I was spreading the pushups out over the course of the day and not just doing them in one session.

I continued doing this for a few weeks and I thought it worked great.



I changed things up a bit. Three days a week I would do pushups, and 3 days a week I would do pullups.

With the pullups, I didn't quite do 200 of them in a day. With pushups, you can do them anywhere, but with a pullup, you obviously need to have a pullup bar and since I'm on the go most of the day, I'm limited to when I can do pullups when I'm home and have access to my Iron Gym.

So I started off with just doing 50 pullups throughout the day. I would do 10 sets of 5.

After a couple of weeks of doing 200 pushups, 3 days a week and 50 pullups, 3 days a week, I add more to each exercise: I increased the number of repetitions per set of pushups that I was doing from 10 to 15 and the number of repetitions per set of pullups from 5 to 7. So I ended up doing 300 pushups a day, 3 days a week, and 70 pullups a day, 3 days a week.

I was really impressed by how simple this routine was, how it doesn't take long, and quite frankly, how great the results are for your upper body by just following these two simple movements.

I'm really starting to think that if you just used these two movements, added in some interval training, got your diet in line, that you wouldn't need much else.

So just remember to try and not complicate things too much. Stick with the basics, eat better (and less food if fat loss is your goal), and you'll be pleasantly surprised with the results.

If you haven't already, give this routine of pushups and pullups (if you have a pullup bar) a try for a couple of weeks and let me know how it goes.

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Your Pants are Lying to You

I remember back in the day, I use to be able to go into a clothing store, find the waist and inseam size of a pair of pants I wanted, and just buy them without even having to try them on.

I was out shopping recently for some new shorts. For as long as I can remember, I can wear roughly a 32 or 33 waist pant size and feel comfortable in them.

But going through the racks, it was frustrating because all I could find were sizes 28, 30, 34, 36, etc. For the life of me, I couldn't find a 32 or a 33.

So I just decided to grab a couple of pairs of the size 30 and try them on and see what they felt like.



I Went into the changing room, tried them on and was shocked: They fit, and they were almost too loose.

For a split second, I was a bit excited, but, then I thought to myself "Wait a second, something's wrong here. There's no way I'm a 30." I checked the pants closely. There's no elastic anywhere to be found.

Just for testing purposes, I went back out and got a pair of size 34 to see how those fit. Put them on, buttoned them, and they fell right to the ground. And that's only one or two sizes larger than I normally wear.

I remember a few years ago when I was trying on some dress pants and noticed that there was this elastic pull on the sides. I thought that was pretty funny in that it allowed someone to wear a pair of pants smaller than what they could normally wear, say that they were wearing a size 32 but were actually stretching them to a size 34.

But in this most recent situation with the size 30, I think is taking it to a bit of an extreme. It also explains why there were no 32 or 33 sizes, because the guys that were actually wearing size 36 could fit in those instead.

Think about the ramifications of that though. If you're all of a sudden fitting into a size 33 or 34 where you are normally wearing a size 36 or 38, isn't that giving you the sense that you are in better shape from a waist measurement perspective?

Studies are showing that there's a strong correlation between waist size compared to your height and your risks of various health risks, rather than looking at the old standard of Body Mass Index (BMI).

If we are now making pant sizes bigger than what they actually are, just to make people feel better about their body shape, aren't we actually putting these people in the delusional mindset that they are at a healthy waist size, when in reality they may not be?

I guess looking back at my recent shopping endeavors, I've been seeing this for quite some time. I've always been a solid medium when it came to just your every day shirts, but looking through my closet now, I notice a lot more smalls sizes.

I even remember a couple of years ago not being able to find a bathing suit that fit that would actually stay on and having to go to the Juniors section to look for one (that didn't work out to well either but with the opposite problem).

I guess my point is that you need to be careful when buying clothes and to not get to excited when you're able to all of a sudden fit into a size that you normally haven't fit into and it isn't because you've been losing weight or body fat, because chances are, your pants are lying to you.

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Beginner 30 Minute Workout - (Video) - 08/01/10

This is a circuit from the August 2010 Beginner 30 minute workout.

You're going to do 5 exercises in a row, each for the time listed next to the description below. Once you're done with the circuit, you'll rest 30 seconds, and then complete that circuit again, rest another 30 second after completing the circuit a second time, and then go on and do the circuit one more time.

Here's a video of it and the written descriptions are below:



Knee Taps - 30 seconds

1. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart, and bend your arms at the elbow right in front you of with your upper arms tucked into your sides.
2. Bring your left leg up as quickly as you can, touching your left hand with the top of your left knee.
3. Lower your left leg while at the same time bringing your right leg up and touching your right hand with the top of your right knee.
4. Continue back and forth between legs as quickly as you can and remembering to bring your legs up as high as you can to touch your hands until you have completed the recommended number of repetitions or time.

Side Leg Raise with Extension - 15 seconds on each leg

1. Kneel on your knees and hands and keep your back flat and arms straight from the shoulders to your hands on the ground.
2. Starting with the right side, raise your right leg (while keeping the knee bent and your upper body stable) up towards your right side until the leg is parallel to the floor.
3. Then extend knee so that your entire leg is straight and pointing to the right, while keeping your leg lifted in the air.
4. Pause for a second, then bend your knee back into towards your body and then lower the leg back down.
5. Continue doing all the repetitions or time on one side before moving on and completing all the repetitions or time on the left leg.

Cross Crawl - 30 seconds

1. Stand with your hands behind your ears and pull your shoulder blades together. Keep your eyes looking straight ahead.
2. Move your right elbow across your body and slightly down while at the same time, bringing your left knee up as high as you can. In other words, aim your right elbow towards your left knee.
3. Return your upper body to the starting position and place your left leg on the floor.
4. Follow the same movement aiming your left elbow towards your lifted right knee.
5. Continue alternating between both sides until you have completed the recommended number of repetitions or time.

Prisoner Squat - 30 seconds

1. Stand with your feet just greater than shoulder-width apart.
2. Clasp your hands behind your head. Keep your elbows back and shoulder blades pulled together to work the upper back.
3. Start the movement at the hip. Push your hips backward and “sit back into a chair.” Make your hips go back as far as possible.
4. Squat as deep as possible, but keep your lower back tensed in a neutral position.
5. Don’t let your lower back become rounded.
6. Push with your butt muscles, hamstrings, and quadriceps to return to the starting position. Continue the movement for the recommended number of repetitions or time.

Spiderman Crawls - Knees - 30 seconds

1. Get at the top of a pushup position by resting on your hands and the tips of your toes. Your arms should be shoulder width apart. Make sure to keep your body in a straight line from your shoulders to your feet and to not sag or raise your hips.
2. Drop your knees straight down on the ground without moving them closer to your stomach.
3. Starting with your left leg, bring it forward towards your hand as far as you can and drop your foot flat down. Make sure to keep your body straight. Don’t raise your butt. Keep your arms straight/locked at the top of the position (don’t lower yourself).
4. Pause for a moment and then return your left leg to the starting position.
5. Do the next rep using the right leg and continue to alternate legs until you have completed all of the recommended repetitions or time.


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Great Ab Circuit (Video) 07-26-10

I was looking at some of my favorite exercises and noticed that all of them really work the abs so I decided to put them all together to make a nice little 2 minute circuit.

The exercises that you're going to do in this circuit are a Side Plank - Forearms, Plank - Forearms, and a Pushup.

You're going to start by doing a Side Plank on your forearm on your right side and you're going to hold that position for 30 seconds. Then without dropping your knees or using your left hand to help with the movement by setting it on the ground, you're going to roll over clockwise into a Plank on your forearms and toes. You're going to hold that Plank for 30 seconds.

Then again, making sure not to drop your knees to the ground or push off from your right hand, roll clockwise again into the Side Plank on your forearms on your left side and you're going to hold that position for another 30 seconds.

Once that 30 seconds is over, roll counter clockwise (without dropping to your knees) and get into the top of the pushup position. Then do 10 pushups.

Then you can rest. Rest 60 seconds, and do that circuit 3 more times.

The important point is to not use your free arm on the side plank or your knees in any of the positions to make the transition from one movement to the next. The transition should be made with your core.

Here's a video explanation of it:



Exercise Descriptions:

Side Plank – Forearms

1. Lie on the floor on your right side.
2. Support your bodyweight with the outside of your right foot (with your left foot lying on top of the right foot) and your right elbow with your lower arm pointed straight ahead and your palm on the floor.
3. Keep your body in a straight line so that your body hovers over the floor from your foot up to your right forearm.
4. Keep your back straight and your hips up and your head looking forward, making sure that your neck is in line with your spine. Hold your abs tight. Contract them as if someone was about to punch you in the stomach, but breathe normally.
5. Hold this position for the recommended amount of time and then switch to the left side.

Plank – Forearms

1. Lie on your stomach on the floor.
2. Raise your body in a straight line and rest your bodyweight on your forearms and toes so that your body hovers over the floor.
3. Keep your back straight and your hips up but not so high that your butt is sticking in the air. Hold (brace) your abs tight. Breathe normally.
4. Hold this position for the recommended amount of time.

Pushups

1. Get at the top of a pushup position by resting on your hands and the tips of your toes. Your arms should be shoulder width apart. Make sure to keep your body in a straight line from your shoulders to your feet and to not sag or raise your hips.
2. Lower yourself down until your nose is only a few inches from the ground and make sure that your hips do not sag. Also as you are lowering, pull your shoulder blades together as far as they will go and make sure that your neck stays in line with your spine.
3. Pause for a second, then brace your abs and keep your body in a straight line from feet to shoulders as you push through your chest, shoulders, and triceps until you get to the top of the position. Repeat for the recommended number of repetitions or time.

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So You Think You're Feeling Healthy

For the most part, if you ask most people whether they are subjectively “feeling healthy” most of the time, they’re going to say “Yes” regardless of whether they eat unhealthy or healthy, whether they exercise or not exercise, whether they smoke or not smoke.

That’s really kind of a strange way the body works. If you take on unhealthy habits, your body doesn’t immediately fight back and make you FEEL like there is anything wrong. Over time it slowly clogs the arteries, decays your lungs from smoking, increases your heart rate, blood pressure, cholesterol, fasting glucose levels, and not to mention, your waistline.

But through all of that, you continue to think that if all of those bad habits were so bad, then why aren’t I “feeling unhealthy?” So you just continue on with your bad habits and push aside all the warnings the “experts” have about the risks of those bad habits as nonsense in the real world.



I bring this up because I came across an story about an obese woman Marci Williams, who went to the doctor for a physical, with no known “health problems” (because I’m assuming she felt “fine”), and within two weeks she was taking medication for high-blood pressure, started taking insulin because she was diagnosed as diabetic, and her cholesterol levels were off the charts and had to start taking cholesterol lowering medication.

She states that:

"My resting pulse was in the 120-something range," she recalled. "That's a racing pulse for most people, and that was my resting pulse."

She ended up going to a cardiologist and this is rather long quote but I truly love the fact that the doctor didn’t mince any words with her:

"I just knew the minute he walked in this wasn't going to be a very good appointment," she said. "He said, 'You know, you are not going to live to see 50 if you don't lose this weight.' He made it very clear to me that all these things that were happening to me were symptoms of obesity, rather than stand-alone illnesses. His advice to me was [that] we can treat all of these symptoms, but the only way to cure this is to lose the weight." [my emphasis]

The first thing she did was to get an angioplasty to open up those arteries a bit.

Then she started watching what she ate, and had a goal of exercising 30 minutes a day, although in the beginning, that became too much for her and she had to break that up into 10 minute workouts a few times a day.

I think this is a great idea of breaking up the workout into very short little sessions all day and I mentioned that I’m in the process of testing this right now with pushups.

She lost some weight, and the doctor gave her the okay to do some more strenuous exercise, so she joined a gym.

As she continued to drop weight:

...she also shed symptoms. She stopped having to take insulin. Her blood pressure came under control. Her cholesterol improved.

When this all started, Marci weighed around 332 pounds (at 5’ 3”) and her weight now is between 135 and 140 pounds.

I talked about this in a post about a client that I have in my class that was always overweight but then had a heart attack and that really woke him up. He had always ate unhealthy foods, didn’t exercise, but didn’t “feel unhealthy” so he just thought he was mortal to any problems.

But as both him and Marci Williams found out, at some point, these habits will catch up to you and the consequences will hit you like a brick. Thankfully both of them were freaked out enough to make some changes.

I know with my client, and I’m assuming with Ms. Williams, is that now that they are actually following better eating habits, exercising, and watching their weight, that even though they “felt healthy” for most of their lives with their bad habits, they now realize how unhealthy they felt now that they TRULY know what “feeling healthy” feels like.

Which I think is my overall point: don’t assume that just because you don’t feel “unhealthy” (especially if you have bad eating habits, don’t work out, and are overweight) that everything is “okay.” Go to the doctor, get blood work done, ask your doctor for a blunt opinion, and make some changes and see what it feels like to really “feel healthy.”

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A Smiling Doberman (Video)

A slight break from fitness talk to talk about my dog, Scarlett the Doberman, and how she cracks me up on a daily basis. No matter what kind of mood I'm in, she can just do something so innocent to put a smile on my face.

And I think that's why pets are important. They can really help you stay healthy, both mentally and emotionally.

One of Scarlett the Doberman's craziest antics is that she actually smiles. That's right, she smiles. I have to act like a fool sometimes to get a good one out of her (as you'll see when watching the video) but it's well worth it to see that smile show up on her face.

One morning I walked back up to my room after doing some work downstairs for awhile and decided to grab my camera to see if I could get her to smile, and she didn't disappoint.

I'll keep the camera handy to try and catch other ones in the future as well.



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200 Pushups in 5 Minutes

The other day I talked about Starting a Fat Loss Program and I used pushups as an example of a great exercise that uses a lot of muscle that when done, will lead to your body need more calories for the recovery process, thus burning more fat after the workout is over.

That got me thinking about pushups some more and how I really like doing them. I still think the pullup is my favorite but, the pushup comes in at a close second.

So I decided when I woke up yesterday, that I wanted to get 200 pushups done in 5 minutes.



There's a catch though. I wasn't going to just get on the floor and muscle out 200 pushups in one session. I was going to do them a little bit at a time over the entire day.



By my calculations, it takes me about 15 seconds to do 10 pushups.

So if I were to do 20 sets of 10 pushups throughout the day, that would mean I was spending just a total of 5 minutes a day doing pushups.

If you assume that you are awake 16 hours in a day, that would mean you would have to do 12.5 pushups an hour to reach 200 pushups.

So I woke up in the morning, jumped out of bed, got down on the floor, and did 10 pushups.

Got ready for the day, and after my shower, did another 10 pushups.

Throughout the entire day, I just stayed cognizant that my goal was to do 200 pushups for the day, and when the desire hit me, no matter where I was, I would drop down and do 10 pushups (I was in a parking lot and dropped and did 10 right in front of my car....Got a few crazy looks for that...).

I drink a lot of water during the day and found a nice routine in that when I had to use the bathroom, I would drop on the floor and do 10 pushups first. Considering I probably have to use the bathroom every 45 minutes or so, that means over the course of 3 hours I would have done 40 pushups.

By the time I got to my last set of 10 pushups at the end of the night, my form and intensity were exactly the same as when I did my first set of 10 in the morning. I felt great. Didn't feel depleted at all.

Woke up this morning and have a tad bit of muscle soreness in my chest, but feel a really great pump in my arms, shoulders, and especially my lats.

I was doing pushups on my toes. But that doesn't mean this won't work with other variations of it. You could do them against the wall, or on an incline, and on your knees.

One suggestion though: If you've never done a pushup before, or you only do them from time to time, don't try and hit 200 over the course of one day at first. Work your way up to it. Try shooting for 50 first. Then if that feels okay, the next time you do it, try and shoot for 75 or even a hundred throughout the day.

The larger point of trying to do 200 pushups spread out throughout the day is to show that short workouts can do wonders for you. I talk a lot about doing a 30 minute workout and how I think that if designed correctly, can be even more effective than a 60 minute workout. But even doing short little burst of an exercise (such as 15 seconds), can still be beneficial. This shows that there truly is NO EXCUSE for saying you don't have time to do a workout. Spread the workout over the course of the day if finding a block of 30 minutes isn't going to work for you.

I'm going to continue doing 200 pushups, 3 days a week for the next couple of weeks and see how it goes (and if you're going to do this, I would recommend only doing it 3 days a week to start). I'll let you know how my progress is going in a few weeks.

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