I set a new personal best this morning in the platform tuck jump with 55.5 inches. My previous best was 50 inches set 5 months ago. We get high as a mutha f***a!
If you truly want to build big shoulders then you will have to add handstand push-ups to your arsenal. There is a reason why Olympic gymnasts have killer delts.
Handstand push ups are an advanced level exercise but can be modified to accommodate novice or intermediate lifters. The easiest way to do handstand push ups is to prop yourself up against the wall [as a spot] eventually you'll want to increase your range of motion by placing your hands on boxes and lower your head between them. This is the ultimate pressing exercise and should be included for some massive shoulder development and full body strength and athleticism. Patience is a must.
Not a fan of the eliptical unless Rihanna's on it!
Want a body like RiRi? Her workout regime is actually quite simple. When's she's on the road she'll workout at least 3 times a week for 25 minutes. But when she's settled in one place she kicks it up to 5 workouts a week and 30 minutes of cardio which is up from the usual 10 minutes when she's on the road.
Rihanna's cardio includes biking or cycling, jumping rope without a rope, stationary jogging and jumping jacks, exercises she can do in a hotel room or backstage before a show.
As for her most noticeable assets, her glutes try these 4 moves: Aim for 3 sets of 20-25
1. Curtsey Lunge (a.k.a. Skater Lunge): Stand with your feet together, then take a large lunge backward with your left leg, moving your leg diagonally behind you as you lunge. Repeat with your right leg, and continue to rapidly alternate between legs until you finish your set. If you'd like to modify this exercise, try a stationary reverse lunge, continuing to alternate your legs. 2. Step-Ups: Using a chair or a bench, step up with your left leg, simply bringing your right leg along with you, and then lead with your left leg on the way back down. Do all your reps on the left side, then switch to the right and start again. 3. Step-Across: Stand to the side of your bench or chair. Step on using your right foot from the right side. Bring your left leg up, and then step down with your right foot on the left side of the bench. Continue alternating sides for 20 to 25 repetitions. 4. Stiff Leg Deadlift: Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and a weight on the floor in front of you: either dumbbells, a barbell...Lean over, pick up the weight and slowly come up to standing, sliding your hips back and keeping your hamstrings tight. Return the weight to the ground slowly, then repeat.
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On Saturday March 24th and Sunday March 25th Blast Athletic Toronto held their annual Combine, testing maximal strength and power, muscular endurance, speed, agility, quickness and cardiovascular endurance.
Brash Fitness had two representatives in the event Ela [women's Elite division] and Josh [men's Elite division]. As a Hybrid Instructor for Blast Athletic [The Hybrid program is Blast's signature program. Visit the Blast Athletic facebook pagefor more details] I know how fit all the participants in this years Combine are. As determined and fierce Ela is during training going into the event she was feeling nervous, could be because she also knew how tough each and every women in the Blast Athletic program is. After only 5 months of training with Brash Fitness and setting and breaking almost every record possible it was time to see just how effective our training system and methods were.
Knowing Ela was nervous I decided to put even more pressure on her by boldly predicting she would place in the top 5 -I wanted to say top 3 but I played it a little conservative!
I train a group of teachers 2 times per week right after school in their school gym. I am able to bring in many of my favourite tools; dumbbells, medicine balls, battling ropes, the Lebert Buddy System to name a few but unfortunately 350lbs tires ain't happening.
So, because March Break was approaching I proposed we move our class to the indoor facility I run my other group training classes out of, Blast Athletic. Only half the class took me up on my offer, the others got a well deserved week off.
At the end of today's workout I paired the ladies off and they took turns flipping the 350lbs tire for 60 seconds [with a little assistance from Moi].
Once again Ela set a new Personal Best and Brash Women's Record in the barbell deadlift with a 188 pound lift. But she wasn't done there, she also regained the plank record with a time of 3:24.
Here's a video I shot during a vertical jump training session. In the video I'm jumping a 40" hurdle, then a 40" hurdle with a 20lb vest on, and finally with the 20lb vest and holding an 11lb medicine ball.
Two of my goals this year involve vertical jumping ability, so I'll be posting more videos of the training.
All fitness centers and coaches have their own unique brand or style of training. Call it their training philosophy. Within that philosophy you have your own tricks and techniques, beliefs and principles that you follow and implement into your programming.
Over the last few years the hottest fitness trends have been group training classes. At home fitness programs like P90x and Insanity, the phenom known as crossfit and everyone's favourite the bootcamp.
During a kettlebell workshop I attended last year the instructor reinforced this trend by stating "group fitness was the future." I undoubtedly agreed with him. It's more affordable than private training, it's social, it has a built-in support system, it's motivating and best of all you've got an instructor telling you exactly what to do. Of course there are cons as well. If it's large group training [more than 12 participants] you're not going to get a lot if any attention during the class. What is the point of doing the exercises if you're not learning to do them properly? Scalability is a huge issue, everyone ends up doing the exact same workout with the exact same weights- which can lead to a feeling of failure, poor results and ultimately quitting.
I am a lot of things; grumpy if I do not eat first thing in the morning, extremely dedicated to helping people achieve their fitness related goals, the greatest uncle in the world, undefeated air hockey champion, the list goes on and on. But flexible I am not. My hips, hamstrings and calves have always been tight and the mobility in my shoulders is limited from doing so many pushing exercises. There is no one to blame, I take full responsibility for all my mobility issues, but now I'm forced to attempt to undo years of improper warm-ups and no stretching.
Luckily being in the fitness industry I have met and worked with some great experts in the field of stretch therapy and joint mobility. One of those is a good friend of mine and member of the Brash NetworkKatarzyna [Kash] Brygida owner of Kairos Athletics & Wellness. Kash is a Fascial Stretch Therapy Certified Therapist with the Stretch To Win Institute.
I've tried many ways to improve my flexibility but nothing- nothing has worked for me the way FST has.
The alternate title I flirted with for this article was How to Get a Body Like [insert famous celebrity name here]. Being a Fitness Professional has it's perks one of those is not being bombarded with questions about how they can lose 'this' or 'tighten up that'.
The first thing you have to understand is there are only a few ways to get that slim, fit, athletic look like your fav celebs. Forget the words 'tone' or 'sculpt' in relation to your muscles. You cannot shape or elongate or tone a muscle or anything like that. You can only make a muscle bigger or make it smaller. The same can be said for fat cells; you can make them bigger or you can make them smaller. That’s it.So basically what every women should be aiming to do is build muscle and lose fat. When you build muscle you will end up burning more calories at rest, meaning it will help you burn fat and get leaner.
There is a trend among trainers and coaches to give orders, to ask of clients what they have never felt, nor understand. Why should a client listen to a fat and out of shape trainer who can barely do a chin up himself or get through a metabolic circuit without vomiting. I know trainers who love to 'kill' clients, make them suffer to the point of near collapse just because they can. That doesn't make you a good trainer, that makes you an ass. When it comes time for them to train do they push themselves that hard? Yeah right.
We are suppose to be the example, if we can't do it, who in their right mind would listen to us?!
I'm not a fan of traditional cardio. The idea of spending 30 minutes on a treadmill bores me and it frustrates me to think that some people rather use a treadmill, eliptical or stationary bike instead of...let's say a real bike. If all you intend to do at the gym is sit your behind on a bike and pay $50 per month you're better off splurging on a bike and taking it outdoors. I understand that when you're new to exercise it is the least intimidating thing to do, but when we're talking about goals and getting the most bang for your buck [time] it's not the best choice. And the real problem with these machines is the fact that they're positioned in front of television sets or you read magazines while sitting on them thus never truly exerting yourself. Some people come to the gym with the sole purpose of walking on the treadmill, why? You could have just gone for a walk in your neighborhood. See? Frustrating.
I will say that steady state cardio like jogging or running on a treadmill is good for helping you build a strong base of cardiovascular endurance and it will help you burn some fat [but will eat away at muscle too], but if you really want to torch fat, retain muscle and have some fun you'll use Finishers!
A Finisher is an old school term for an exercise or group of exercises designed to end your regular workout or 'finish' you off so to speak. In fact, laying face down or on my back looking like a crime scene is a regular occurrence at the end of a finisher. Incorporating finishers is great for people [guys especially, but girls should use them also] who hate doing traditional cardio [like myself]. If you're doing traditional strength training workouts adding finishers will get your heart rate up, will help you burn fat all while leaving your muscle intact.
Here are a few reasons why you should incorporate Finishers. *from T-Nation.com*
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results -Albert Einstein
Once you have a handle on the basic movements i.e. push ups, squats, lunges, pullups and the plank it's time to take those moves to the next level. My job as a Fitness Professional and coach is to push my clients to that next level. When you start training, you come in with a set of goals that you wish to achieve, it is my focus to help you hit those goals while helping you set new goals, more challenging goals. [Read about setting goals here]
If your goal is to run a marathon, get that elusive six pack, bench press 300 lbs or keep up with those 20 year old's at the pick up basketball game you need to progress your training. Never stay stagnant!
Using the five basic movements I listed above I will show you just how you can use practical progressions to seriously amp up your workouts.
PUSH UP
The basic push up is done on the toes and I always encourage my clients even if they can only do 1 or 2 in that position to start on the toes before regressing to the bent knee position.
Yesterday I dropped a bombshell on you when I proclaimed in two words, the exact same words in the graphic above, EXERCISE WORKS. [Brash Essentials: Training Principles] I know it might seem far fetched, and you may think I'm stretching the truth a little bit [or a lot] but really [like my nephew says] it works.
It might be easy for me to say because I've been doing it for a long time and I truly enjoy it but consider this: Study's show that an increase in physical activ....blah, blah, blah. You've heard all this before. You know exercise is great for you. We can count the hundreds of reasons why we all should be exercising on a regular basis. So I won't do it [today].
I wanted to share with you actual results from a client of mine to prove to you that this wild proclamation indeed has some weight behind it.
Quickly as a side note 'Exercise Works' is an actual quote I have adopted from my client.
Excuse me while I blow your freakin' mind....exercise works and it doesn't have to be complicated. Mind blown!
Over the next few weeks I will break down my training principles for you step by step. Starting with a breakdown of movements to exercise progressions, conditioning, favourite tools + exercises and of course how to put it all together.
So, to start it all off let's talk about movements. My training style is very simple folks, I perform movements that are pushing and pulling, hip and knee dominant, plus anti- rotational and rotational core work.
Now, to break it down further the pushing and pulling movements are broken down into two more categories: vertical pushes and pulls and horizontal pushes and pulls.
