Rested, Re-focused, and Ready ...

I know it's been a couple of week since my last post, but I needed to take a bit of a break. Nevertheless, after attending Steve Maxwell's Bodyweight and Joint Mobility Workshop in Las Vegas this past weekend, I feel rested, re-focused, and ready to kick some ass! But, before I get ahead of myself, I'd like to thank everyone for sending their condolences about my father's death. Also, I'm in the process of answering old emails. So, if you've emailed me and I haven't responded, keep an eye out for a response this week.

Steve Maxwell is the real deal!

Guys, I know that many of you, like me, buy DVDs from various strength and conditioning coaches online. We watch their videos and wonder how they are in person and if they really know what they're talking about. Well, after less than 10 minutes into the 6 hour workshop, I knew that Coach Maxwell, as I'll refer to him, must be related to Evander Holyfield because he is definitely the Real Deal!

Rarely do you find a person who not only has the book knowledge of his craft, but also has the practical, in the trenches, experience that Coach Maxwell possesses. He's a great teacher also. Ok, let me walk you through some parts of the workshop. Coach first took all the participants through his joint mobility exercises, which he expands upon in his Encyclopedia of Joint Mobility Exercises, that hit every joint in the body. And when I say every damn joint, I really mean it. There were times that I wasn't sure if I was in a workshop or playing a game of twister!

After a break, Coach then started with his Maxercise bodyweight exercises that are pretty brutal, but in a good way;) We alternated from working our upper body to the lower. No muscle group was missed, and, from the soreness I felt the next day, I have muscles in places I didn't even know about. Oh, and he practices what he preaches. Every exercise/movement in his system was shown to us at three different speeds before he had us follow him, usually for a certain amount of time. Watching Coach, a 55 year-old man, go through the exercises was a workout in and of itself. His endurance and flexibility are incredible for a man in his 20s, let alone his 50s.

I'm still digesting the great amount of information that he presented this weekend, but one thing Coach mentioned really stood out in my mind. He basically said that before the love affair American men had with having large pecs and bulging biceps, they used to workout because they wanted to be healthy. Health was the main reason why folks wanted to workout. How your body looked was secondary to the overall goal of being healthy. Now, this isn't to say that physical culturist of back in the day didn't care about how their bodies looked; it's just that they realized that if you worked out correctly, with the proper nutrition (of course), then your physique will follow suit. How many fat guys do you know who can do pistol/one-leg squats and one-arm pushups?

I'll be sharing more about the workshop and the folks I met in Vegas (i.e., Mike Mahler and Josh Henkin) in future posts. But, I will say that attending this workshop has opened my eyes even more to the benefits of building strength and losing weight using only your bodyweight. Fellas listen, unless you are interested in becoming a bodybuilder or powerlifter, there is no need for you to ever pick up a weight to develop a strong and chiseled physique. Don't fall for the hype that you see everyday on TV and in the muscle mags. Bodyweight exercises have been around since antiquity, and they have clearly stood the test of time for a reason: they are effective!

I thought that I'd leave you with a picture Coach has up on his blog that was taken from the workshop. Below he is showing us how to do the Dragon Walk; my face looks blurry because I was in the process of falling on my ass! LOL!

KISS Your Old Routines Good-bye (Addendum)

After yesterday's posting, I had one reader send me this question:

Could you suggest with your experience of how I can design my own KISS way of strength training?

Well, I'm glad that you asked because it allows me to spotlight another person whose training philosophy and methods are helping me on my journey to becoming very flexible. I encourage you to visit Paul Zaichik's Elastic Steel website for many free videos and articles. He has freakish flexibility, as you'll see from his site, but he is also a bodyweight culturists (i.e, folks who use their bodyweight as their main form of resistance in their training) who has many articles and videos on www.bodyweightculture.com.

As a matter of fact, to answer my reader's question, I've decided to post Paul's Home Workout video, which is in two parts. To do these workouts, you do not need to purchase any sort of weights or equipment. He explains, and performs, each one of the exercises. So, feel free to pause, stop, and back up the videos as needed!

Let me know what you think?

KISS Your Old Routines Good-bye

In all of my composition classes, I stress to my students to remember the KISS principle in their writings. Well, at least my take on this acronym because I tell them that KISS stands for Keep It Sweet & Simple since I really don't like calling people stupid.

It's funny because I've been teaching this for over 10 years and never really applied it to my own life until a couple of years ago. I started reading more about how it's better to learn fewer things well than many things half-assed, which I got from the strength and conditioning authors I've studied. I've tried complex split routines that you'll find in most bodybuilding magazines; however, they were so complex and had so many sets to perform that I would simply give up on them especially since my main goal was weight loss and not becoming part of the sport of bodybuilding.

I think back to the days of being the largest guy in the gym trying to look like the personal trainers who worked there. I would work my ass off just to continue looking like a walrus. What really discouraged me was that I always wanted to be able to do unassisted dips, but I couldn't press my own bodyweight. Man, my buddy would have to spot me, and I felt sorry for him because I was giving him a workout by just trying to help me. Our workouts would mainly consist of high reps of isolation exercises. Basically, we did the staples that you'll see most guys doing in the average 24 Hour Fitness or LA Fitness: bench press, preacher curls, seated military press, etc.

Well, I've now been training long enough to have worked out with machines, free weights, kettlebells, resistance bands, and bodyweight. What I've found is that using free weights causes you to fully understand how your body needs to operate as one unit. I've found that using machines, especially those that focus on isolation movements, tend to cause you to not focus on how our muscles are all connected and work together. To get the best workout, you need to focus on exercises that cause you to use more than one muscle group at a time. This will not only give you more of a calorie burn, but it will also put you well on your way to being able to control your own bodyweight, which should be one of your ultimate goals.

I use to be one of those guys that was easily impressed with how much some dude could bench press, but not anymore because I'm not into competitive bench pressing. Also, my ultimate goal is to be able to master some of the most challenging bodyweight exercises out there. For instance, I definitely respect guys that can bench upwards of 400lbs, but to see Steve Cotter do a pistol squat holding two 88lb kettlebells with perfect form is unreal. Don't believe me, check out this youtube video.




Look, if you still have a lot of body fat, why not use that extra weight to your advantage? You don't need to buy one piece of equipment because that's going to be your fat stores role for the next month and a half. Even if you have weights, I suggest that you periodically take a break and use bodyweight exercises to break up the routine or even be cycled in to your current routine. The mistake most people think is that bodyweight exercises are inferior to weighted exercises. Well, for the guys reading my blog, this does not apply to you. We'll let the athletes, martial artists, gymnasts, strength trainers, and bodybuilders continue to debate that one. For purposes of weight loss and getting lean, you can start with bodyweight exercises only!

Yes, when you do lat pull-downs, you are working your lats, but it's a totally different sensation when you are pulling/holding your own bodyweight on a chin-up bar or doing a bodyweight row. There is a difference and it is one that you need to experiment with to fully appreciate. The same goes for overhead pressing movements. If you are doing seated dumbbell military presses, try doing them standing up. You don't have to worry about hurting your lower back if you lock out your knees by pulling your knee caps up, squeezing your glutes, and tensing your abs as if you're bracing for a blow in the gut. These muscles will help you to be tight enough to form a natural corset protecting your lower back. Also, why sit on your ass when you can use it to help save your lower back?

For more about bodyweight routines or getting strong and ripped without using weights, you should check out the following author's sites:

• Power by Pavel (check for the Naked Warrior book)
• Ross Training (He just came out with a new DVD and training manual. This guy is incredible!)
• Mike Mahler (Mike is not only one of the strongest vegans you'll meet, he also has various articles on his site about bodyweight training.)
• Steve Cotter (This guys is just unreal. His Encylopedia of Kettlebell exercises 1&2 are hands down two of the top KB videos out on the market. Also, he has a series on bodyweight exercises that is just as good.)
• Steve Maxwell (Steve's new website is under construction, but you can pick up his new Pullup DVD here.)
• John Peterson (one of the major modern day promoters of isometrics and be sure to visit his transfometrics site too)
  
• Bodyweight Culture (I think the name speaks for itself. Great website!)
• Bodyweight Basics (Another great site for bodyweight exercises)