Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Q&A w/ Abe





Q:  What do you do to stay in shape?
A: To stay in shape I try to challenge myself with new things.  Whether I’m doing traditional strength training, gymnastics, martial arts, parkour, or functional training.  I try to keep myself as interested in my workouts as possible.  I have what I like to call “exercise ADHD.”  I lose interest in workouts very quick.  So I make sure I stay goal oriented in all my workouts.  Even though I don’t enjoy it sometimes, I try to focus on weaknesses as well.  I train 5-6 days per week, taking at least 1 full rest day.  Workouts are great, but they usually only take up anywhere from 20 minutes to 60 minutes of my day.  I try to stay as active as possible throughout the day as well.  I never find myself sitting for too long; my goal is to keep moving!  If I ever find myself sitting for too long I get up do a couple of exercises and find something to do that is active.  I believe that is the key.  KEEP MOVING!

Q: What’s your diet like?
A:  My diet focuses more on eating natural foods and trying my hardest to stay away from processed foods.  I view what I eat as fuel.  If I view it as a pleasure then I’m sure to overindulge.  I’m human too!  I love pizza, burgers, and junk food, but I know that none of those foods are going to help me reach my goal.  So I stay away from it. What you eat plays a huge role in how you perform physically, mentally, and emotionally.  Put good food in, you get a good product.  Treat your body like a Ferrari.  You wouldn't put regular unleaded fuel in a Ferrari would you?


Q: What’s the secret to achieving your fitness goals?
A: I have 3 secrets.  The 1st secret is…HARD WORK!  You can’t be afraid of hard work and sweat.  Building strength, losing weight, “toning up”, building muscle, building speed, all these things are adaptations of the body.  Your body is a great machine, it adapts to what you want it to do.  If you don’t force your body to adapt, it won’t!  Progressively working outside your comfort zone is when you’ll see the most results.  The 2nd well-kept secret is CONSISTENCY!  “Repetition is the mother of skill.”  Reaching your goal is a process.  You can never expect to reach your goals overnight, if you do, then you didn't aim high enough.  3rd and last secret is…MOVE!  Workouts are usually only 45 minutes to 1 hour of your day.  There are 168 hours in a week.  So even if you workout every day for an hour, it only accounts for 7 hours!  What about the other 161 hours?!  What you do outside of the gym is just as important as what you do in it.  Keeping the same discipline in the gym and outside is what’s going to help you reach your goals and help you live a healthier life.  To clarify, I don’t mean that you need to be working out in and out of the gym, kicking your own butt every chance you get.  What I simply mean is that you need to make sure you’re trying to stay active and be mindful of your diet.  Try to keep the “sitting around watching tv time” to a minimum.  Get up and do stuff!  Walk your dog, do clean your house, play with your kids, etc.  Find excuses to move around!   

Follow these secrets, get a little more educated on what foods to eat or type of training program to follow (Find someone to teach you if need be.  Don’t be afraid to ask for help!) and I promise that you’ll reach whatever goals you set for yourself.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Quick Workout - Plank Ladder Circuit


This is a short, quick workout that gets the heart rate up and works a lot of core.  You can do this pretty much anywhere and all you need is a jump rope.  If you have a little more time in your schedule, add another 100 reps to your jump rope and do the plank ladder circuit another round.  By the end of the workout, your shoulders should burn and your core should feel nice and tight!  (No jump rope?  Substitute high knees.) 



*Warm up with 200 reps of jump rope.

  1. Elbow plank X 30 secs
  2. T-rotation push ups X 30 secs
  3. Elbow plank X 45 secs
  4. Burpees X 45 secs
  5. Elbow plank X 60 secs
  6. Mountain climbers X 60 secs
  7. Elbow plank X 45 secs
  8. Burpees X 45 secs
  9. Elbow plank X 30 secs
  10. T-rotation push ups X 30 secs

*Finish with another 200 reps of jump rope and stretching.


Tuesday, January 7, 2014

New Year's Workout: Back to Basics



Part 1:

  • Squats x 15 reps
  • TRX Rows x 10 reps
  • Push-ups x 5 reps

x12 Rounds


Part 2:

  • Front Plank x Max time
  • Sit-Ups x 25 reps

x2-4 Rounds


Instructions:

Perform part 1 as quickly as possible.

For advanced modification change the squats to deep squats (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xHQ7t-u89s) and change push-ups to clapping push-ups.

TRX Rows may be substituted with Bodyweight Rows (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zu3h6Ai9O0Q)



Enjoy!

Happy New Year!




Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Body Weight Blast

Do the following exercises one time through for time.  Post your time when you have completed the workout.  Good luck!   

**For exercise form, watch Abraham do the first three exercises in the video below.

10 Squat thrusts
20 TRX rows
30 Lunge jumps (each leg)

10 Lunge jumps (each leg)
20 Squat thrusts
30 TRX rows

10 TRX rows
20 Lunge jumps (each leg)
30 Squat thrusts











Wednesday, June 12, 2013

General Zod

You can't have a Super Hero without a Super Villain!














KNEEL BEFORE ZOD!

Warm-up:
Run at a moderate pace for 5-10 minutes or 100 jumping jacks

Workout:
-Broad Jumps (Squat and jump out as far as you can) x25

-Pull-ups x10 (Modification: TRX Rows x15)

-DB Overhead Forward Lunge Walk x20

-DB Renegade Row x12 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niSwWnn_D8c

-DB Squat + Shoulder press x15

x3 rounds

Core:
-Attempt to perform each round without putting hips on the ground.  Take 60-90 second break after each round.

  • Front plank 45 sec (modify by going to knees or lifting hips slightly higher)

  • Side 45 sec (each side) (modify by going to knees or lifting hips slightly higher)

  • Mountain Climbers 45 sec

x3 Rounds




Good Luck!






Man of Steel

This workout is in honor of the new Superman movie coming out!














Bricks:
 1A. Burpee Ladder
 Start at 10 burpees, then 9, then 8, then 7,.....then 1
Mortar:
1B.
-Lunge jumps x20 (10 on each leg)
-Dive Bombers x8
-V-ups x10


Directions:
Begin with the Burpee ladder.  After each set of Burpees do the short circuit of 1B.  Continue to do so until you reach your last Burpee.

Example:
-1A 10 burpees
 1B
-1A 9 Burpees
1B
-1A 8 Burpees
1B
.....
You'll feel like the Man (or Woman) of Steel after this workout!

Good Luck!

Post your time in the comments!

Monday, June 3, 2013

10 reps down to 1 rep - 05/31/13


Start with 10 reps of each exercise below and then work your way down to 1!

1.   DB Squat jacks
2.   Pull ups
3.   DB burpee deadlift
4.   Sideline sprints

Finish your workout with the following core set.  You only need to do the set once.
  1. 50 crunches
  2. 40 sit upsRe
  3. 30 v-ups
  4. 20 reverse crunches
  5. 10 hip dips to thread the needle in side elbow plank