Monday, July 27, 2009

Monday Morning post after a long layoff.

I haven't written a blog post in a long time. After getting chirped by a number of friends following the blog, I have decided to make an effort to get in at least on per week. The summer is the busiest time at STS Weymouth, and with 40 athletes, a dozen or so combat conditioning members, and Mass Satellite Hockey coaching, I have lost track of the blog. So here we go...

If Something is Important, Do it everyday

I stole this gem from Strength Coach Dan John, author of Never Let Go. Not only is this great advice for your training, but it can be applied to every area of your life.

You can't do a single pullup? Start doing 3 sets of whatever you can at the start of every workout. Do 3 sets of 8 jumping pullups, or assisted pullups. In 3 weeks you will be able to muster a couple of reps.

You need to lose 25 pounds of belly fat. Remove the starch from your diet every day. Watch the pounds fly off.

You have $2.67 in your saving account? Have 10% of your paycheck auto debited into your savings. I should follow this one myself. I often find myself without a pot to piss in.

With my summer athletes, I find that beginners who are 13-16 years old, have never trained before, and are built like Olive Oil from Popeye, can't perform any pullups, their pushups suck, and their squat technique is horrific. We have implemented pull ups everyday, pushups everyday, and 3x8 overhead broomstick squat at the start of every workout. The progress has been amazing.

For the everyday fitness enthusiast looking to slash bodyfat, let's apply this. What type of exercise is most effective for fat loss? I would argue that interval style cardio sessions and high intensity circuit training are.

Every day this week go to the gym and perform the following:

5 Overhead broomstick or hockey stick squats
5 pushups
3 pullups

repeat 10 rounds with as little rest as possible. rest 3 minutes and then go outside and sprint 100 yards, and light jog back to starting position. repeat 5 times.

Seriously, do this everyday this week. It might take 25 minutes total. You might lose 6 pounds this week...