Squats

                 IT'S TRUE! SQUATS DO MAKE YOU SEXY!

NO EXCUSES!!!!!!!

Pimp That Push Up

The push up,
a solid staple in bodyweight training and always a test of strength and endurance when joining the Military forces, or fire fighting services.
so why do so many people look on it as inferior? always preferring to bench press!
the versatility of it alone makes it stand out, you can perform it anywhere, there are many ways to modify it and progress it and keep it fresh interesting and downright challenging.

Here are some ways to keep this foundation movement at the top of your go to list, try some of these progressions and rediscover one of the greatest most versatile exercise's of all time.

Feet elevated 

Hand to hand med ball

Tiger Press

Step out's

Extended

Crucifix

 Feet Elevated Pike (Shoulder Emphasis)

These are just a few of the variations I use myself and have used with clients over the years with great results, concentrate on your technique and play around with tempo,rep ranges, pyramids, sets, and I'm positive you too will fall back in love with this classic and versatile drill.

put it all together

Feet Elevated 10KG Vest Close Grip Med Ball

And of course there is always the holy grail of push up's the handstand push up! which I am still working towards.

In To The Lair Of The THING!

So todays post is video footage of the THING taking some of the guys through a simple circuit geared towards strength and fight conditioning,
some of you regular viewers of this blog will recognize Neo from the Sunday madness workouts we
also have Mustafa and I am happy to say Neo's dad! who has decided he is going to show these young
whipper snappers how its done!

On with the show,

Nice simple hand walkouts as a warm up

Incidently Yes that is the macarena playing in the background 

just another facet of the THINGS evil nature is his choice in workout music! There is something truly sadistic and unnerving about being expected to perform 3 rounds of sparring at the end of a workout with a large muscular heavily tattooed man to the sound of Boy george's Karma chameleon!

To this day on particularly bad nights I find myself wrenched from my sleep sitting bolt up right in bed drenched in sweat heart racing  screaming "RED GOLD AND GREEEEEEN" 

Some scars never heal!

Next a light circuit

Still on the light stuff

Still warming up!

The Fun Begins

And we are off! Vests and all

Some shadow Boxing To Get Those Arms And Shoulders Working

And of course it just wouldn't be a THING workout without someone being punched in the face! so some light sparring to keep that heart rate up, Neo is nursing an injured jaw from being knocked down by the THING the previous day so you have to admire his tenacity

Mustafa Gloves Up

Big Daddy Says "Let Me At Him"

The last time I saw foot work like this was in a Fred Astair movie!


More torture as we move on to grappling, This as a finisher will really sap whatever energy you have left in the tank! anyone who has never tried grappling cannot appreciate just how draining it is, plus nothing says "I love you mate" quite like a knee to the ribs! only true friends dare to show this type of affection in public.

Mustafa shows he is formidable in the arena

So there we have it a nice weight plate and bodyweight circuit geared towards conditioning this is typical of the THINGS approach to training these days with lots of burpee style drills plyometrics and weighted carry's 

What Are You Training For?

What are you training for?

I have read lots of articles on this subject, there are fitness professionals who seem to think that if you are not training for a specific goal then your training is pointless! 
But what if you are training for life?

What if the point of your training is just to feel fitter stronger happier or just good about yourself!

I know plenty of people who once competed in sports but no longer do, who now train just because it's part of who they are, likewise people who have never competed in anything
Like myself I can remember only twice in my entire life ever playing a full 90 minutes of football, people who are training so they will be around to see their kids grow up.

I did not get in to working out until my early twenties, and that was mainly focused on the bodybuilding body part split style training and the main goal was to just get bigger, I was never sporty in fact as my dear old mum used to say "you were born tired" my training interests had nothing to do with performance or strength or agility or flexibility, just plain old improved self esteem! So I could look healthier feel healthier & stronger feel more confident and relaxed in social situations, and not be the runt of the litter.

Is this not a worthy goal worth training for? A lot of the clients I train are in the 40 to 50 year old category myself included, they don't give a shit about six pack abs or getting shredded! Or benching 300lbs or deadlifting 600+

Most people just want to enjoy their lives stay strong fit healthy and active! and eat a pork knuckle once in a while when they feel like it have a few beers or wines at the weekend.

If this makes you a happy more confident person then more power to you, try and keep a balance enjoy the things in life that give you pleasure just do some work to balance it out,
If you have specific goals that's great, if you don't that's also great, work your movement patterns push, pull, squat, lunge, throw, rotate, hip hinge, carry, all these movements will come in to play at some point throughout your daily life mix up your modalities try sandbags, kettle bells, clubs, slosh pipes, body weight, calisthenics, Olympic lifts, suspension training, do anything that feels good and makes you work.
Take a GPP approach general physical preparedness.

And the next time someone asks "what are you training for" ? Tell them "LIFE"

Thankyou

 Thankyou
To all the people around the world who have stopped by this blog, whether by accident or you were looking for it specifically it has now passed 100.000 page views!
I hope you all found something informative or entertaining when arriving here.

DEAD HANGS

The Dead Hang

A sure fire way to get your arms growing, tighten your abs, strengthen your back, and seriously improve your grip strength.

Get yourself to a pull up bar take a supinated grip (or chin up grip) pull your self up get your chin over the bar lock your self in position And stay there, It's as simple as that!

Set your self a time goal if this is new to you start of conservatively with anything from 10 to 20 second holds. 

Be sure to concentrate on your breathing as with any isometric type contraction, if you hold your breath your blood pressure will rise! 

Don't snatch at the bar on the initial pull, take a firm grip think about the muscles you will be using and pull yourself up in to position recruit the maximum amount of motor units.

Once in position concentrate on breathing and repeat over and over 

'MY WINGS ARE LIKE A SHIELD OF STEEL!"

anyone who grew up watching Batfink will recognize this cartoon reference, but it will take your mind off the lactic acid burning in pretty much the whole of your upper body.

You can do these with your arms straight and solely work on grip strength but why miss out on recruiting all that upper body musculature? more bang for your buck and the more muscle recruitment the better.

Most people are quite surprised at the amount of core activation they get from a few sets of dead hangs, also glute activation. 

Of course you can do this with all manner of grips supinated, pronated, mixed, and if your a badass try hanging from a couple of towels if you want a set of forearms that will send Popeye green with envy! and once you are proficient 1 min or more, you can add load ie weight vest or simply hang a dumbbell / kettle bell between your feet.

If you are feeling adventurous try the inverted dead hang.

This is a basic precursor to preparing for the front lever.

And if your grip fails here it's a fractured skull as 1st prize! always fun to up the stakes.

Add in some hangs with your normal sets of chin/pull ups after every 3 reps hang for 3 seconds this will probably reduce your total amount of reps but will add a new challenge to your pull up workout and ramp up that time under tension.