7 Exercises Every Guy Should Be Doing

Sometimes it’s not what exercises you’re doing but how you’re doing them.

You can have the greatest, toughest, most difficult program their is, but if you’re training half-assed then you’re going to get some half-assed results. On the flip side of the coin, if you have a crappy program but you bust your arse (click the link for a definition of this fine word) every time you train, you’re probably going to see some pretty bad-ass progress.

That being said, I don’t know of a guy who doesn’t want to become more athletic, have a better physique, become stronger or just get in overall better shape. Every one of us wants to improve some aspect of our physical fitness and there are a few exercises that help more than others. Some help our bodies release testosterone and HGH, others make cardio fun and more intense, while others help improve specific aspects of our training or athletic abilities.

Here are 7 exercises that every guy could benefit from doing, myself included.

1. Sprints

Sprints are the truest form of high intensity interval training (HIIT) there is. Start with a 1:1 sprint to walk (or jog) ratio, then progressively shorten your rest periods (the walking or jogging). Sprints help boost our bodies release HGH and testosterone which in turn helps us build more muscle and burn more fat.

I say truest form of HIIT because it’s one of the few exercises where you can actually go at a maximum speed and a maximum intensity. There is no down phase or rest phase in a sprint, it’s straight up balls to the wall as fast as you can go. It’s the ultimate intensity exercise. Read the rest of this entry »

fat loss vs weight loss – Cardio for fat loss

Cardio for fat loss

Is your goal fat loss or weight loss?

A lot of the time we say our goal is weight loss, but the weight we want to lose is fat. So why not have our goal be fat loss? Rather than concentrating on eliminating the fat in our body by eating healthy and working out hard, we end up on the scale everyday checking if we’ve lost anything. We eat less, provide our bodies with less nutrients which ends up having negative effects on our health and on our fat loss.

Weight loss can be a discouraging thing, and unless you’re cutting weight for a fight or some sporting event, you should be focused on losing ‘bad weight’, and not just weight in general. You can be losing inches around your waste but seeing minimal losses on the scale which can be a pretty discouraging thing. If this is you, have a look at the “fat loss vs weight loss“  articles I put up this week, each will give you tips about how to attack the fat weight that you’re carrying. Read the rest of this entry »

Lift more weight, build more muscle

I’ve been at the same gym for about 3 years now, and a lot of the same people are there from when I first started going. And a lot of the guys are lifting pretty much the same weight as they were 3 years ago. They’re a little chubbier, and a lot less muscular.

People talk about progressive overload and like to sound like they’ve got a great training routine going, but they aren’t progressing at all. Their workouts are stagnant, their body’s have become used to what they’re doing in the gym and they haven’t gained a pound of muscle or lost a pound of fat in a decade! Read the rest of this entry »

5 exercises to help you burn fat and save time

Take your fat loss to the next level, and save time while you’re at it with high intensity interval training (HIIT).

The idea, like the free workout I’ve given you guys on the top right corner, is to be as intense as possible in as short of time as possible, in doing so, you burn more fat in less time, and the effects on your metabolism can last up to 24 hours after you’ve finished training.

I’ll do a circuit of 4-5 exercises for a minute each, rest, then repeat 3x which takes a maximum of 15 minutes. But I also switch things up quite a bit to get some variety in there, also to push myself as I get in better shape or begin to plateau.

Try doing each exercise for 30 seconds, with a 10 second rest in between, and repeat for 10-15 minutes or 1 minute of intense exercise and 30 seconds rest and so on…

Studies have shown that 2.5 hours of HIIT produced similar biochemical muscle changes to 10.5 hours of endurance training and similar endurance performance benefits as well. HIIT also boosts your metabolism for the following 24 hours due to excess post-exercise oxygen consumption.

I’ve told you what the benefits are but try them out for yourself.

Circuit:

High knees

Burpees

Mountain Climbers

Jump-rope

Frog Jumps