5 tips to KILL your workout

Arnold Schwarzenegger knows how to have a killer workout – scene from “Pumping Iron”.

I’ve had great workouts, and I’ve had workouts that were just so-so. Sometimes it’s the sleep I had the night before, the meal – or lack thereof – that I ate before, or the routine I was doing.

There are, however, some steps you can take to ensure you have a great workout.

1. Shorten your workout

Limit your workout to a 30-45 minute session. Intensity is king whether you’re after fat loss, building lean mass, improving your athleticism, or a bit of everything. The more intense and focused your workouts are, the more successful you’re going to be.

Know what you’re doing when you get in there and don’t waste time. If you lose steam during your rest periods, try shortening them by 15 seconds. Read the rest of this entry »

Emergencies: Why We Train

When I can’t find “the right” picture to put with an article, Rocky Balboa’s always a good choice.

(Take a look at the bottom at 4 awesome fitness tips from Bodybuilding.com)

There are so many reasons why living a healthier lifestyle is beneficial that it’s hard to count. It means more energy, better health, lowers the risk of diseases and an early death, but there’s a difference between living a healthy life and getting the most out of your body.

There are a few “groups” or “categories” of people within training who have different motivations for why they workout.

There are those of us who want to “keep in shape“, those of us who want to look better, and people who want to train their bodies to perform at their best. Each have their benefits, but for those of you who are really pushing your bodies to that next level each and every time you train, I think there’s another benefit worth mentioning.

If you’re building muscle or burning fat, you’re also building confidence, which is one of the greatest benefits of exercising there is.

“And in the end, It’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” Abraham Lincoln

Confidence let’s us be ourselves, try things we otherwise wouldn’t and enjoy the people around us without being completely worried about what they think of us. It opens the door for us to experience so much more, that we otherwise wouldn’t experience. It could mean approaching a beautiful girl who later becomes your wife – if you weren’t a confidence person, you may have never met her, or allowed her to see who you really are. Read the rest of this entry »

the Body Women Want: Chest + Back

Hugh Jackman in “Wolverine”.

As we discussed in the first article in the series, “Building the Body Women Want,” we talked about what type of physique a women finds most desirable. It’s not the massive, steroid injecting, freak that most women will be attracted to. It’s also not the guy who’s carrying too much fat or the guy who has the body of a school-girl.

I’m not saying that guys with these body-types aren’t going to get beautiful girlfriends or wives, because, obviously, a lot of them do. Things like personality, morals, character and sense of humor account for a hell of a lot more than looks do in the long run, but for the purpose of this series we’re only talking about the physical; what type of body will most women find most desirable, and will get you noticed in a positive way.

We touched on shoulders in the last article. Shoulders are a large part of building that “X” shaped physique, or “V” shaped upper body and torso, and so are your chest and back muscles. Even if your waste is on the thicker side, having a thick and lean chest and back will make your waste appear much thinner.

Keep in mind that you don’t just want to build a lean and muscular body, but also an athletic and powerful one as well, and it’s not always the exercise that’ll get you both, but how you do the exercise. On the movement that goes against gravity (pull on a chin-up, or push on a push-up), or concentric contraction, you should push or pull as powerful as possible. Push as though you’re launching the weight into the air on a bench press, and then slowly bring the weight back to it’s starting point. Read the rest of this entry »

How to Not Get Fat and Lazy

I could’ve put a picture of Rocky Marciano here as well. I’m not sure if either him or Jack Dempsey ever took a step back in the ring.

“If you’re not moving forward, you’re moving backwards.”

I’m going to take a break from the “Build the Body Women Want” series and give you guys this article. I’ll be back with the chest and back part to that series later this week.

I think a lot of us look at the low points in our lives as the moments that are going to build our character, and they definitely are, but sometimes it’s those moments when things are going better than ever will ultimately show us more about what kind of person we are.

I’ve mentioned it before but I think it’s a great piece of advice from my Dad who has said it on numerous occasions, “don’t get too low when things are bad or too high when things are going well.” I think a lot of that speaks to what kind of character a person has. They are who they are whether or not they literally can’t lose, or if the shit’s hitting the fan.

You hear it all the time, people changing when they ‘make it’. When they get to where they’ve always wanted to be they feel as though they have to act like someone who has it all, and completely forget about the outlook on life and the values that got them to this successful period in their lives.

This can apply to work, social life, family and yes, training and fitness…

When a lot of us get the body we’ve always wanted, or get in great shape, we figure we’re done, we’re here and now it’s time to enjoy the fruits of our labor. Or when we begin to see some visible gains, we figure we’re allowed to cheat a bit more because, well, we’ve earned it. Read the rest of this entry »