Friday "Cardio"

I know that I still have a lot of friends out there who are doing workouts from the 80s and 90s. I still have numerous people telling me, "Hey Sull, I did 90 minutes of cardio today! Aren't you proud?" To me, that is a shitty time to preach about, "well, you could have done x, y, or z." Getting in to the gym and moving around for 90 minutes is a nice accomplishment. I will however take this forum to tell you that I think you can be more productive. In stead of getting in 2 - 3 90 minute sessions during the week, I would much rather see you guys doing 25 minute sessions throughout 4-5 days. I think more frequency and being consistent will lead you to much better results. Your body will look better, feel better, and you will have more time left over for the stuff that really matters.

Here are 3 "cardio" workouts that won't take a lot of time or thought:

Set up your treadmill, do your regular warmup, and slowly start to increase your speed until you are going faster than your typical jog. Not a sprint, but something called a tempo pace (between jog and sprint). Leave the treadmill running, step off, grab a quick blast of water and gather your thoughts.

I want you to CAREFULLY get on the moving tread and do your thing for 15 seconds. CAREFULLY step off and do a set of pushups. If you can easily do 10 pushups do 10. For most girls 3-5 nose to the ground pushups will be very challenging and plenty. Do your pushups, stand up, and take a peak at the clock REST until the next even minute starts. Start your 15 second tempo on the minute, step off, do your pushups, and rest. Repeat for 6 sets. Finish with some type of basic plank variation for abs and hit the showers.

You could do this workout with any bodyweight exercise like pushups, inverted rows, chin ups, or squats. Be careful with exercise selection so you aren't crushed when you get back to your run.

Let this type of workout take the place of a 90 minute cardio session. Trust me, it is better for you and way less boring.

Things to fill your cupboard and fridge with

One of the biggest keys to getting and staying lean is to fill your house with the right stuff. If you have ice cream in the freezer and chips ahoy in the lazy susan, chances are, you will dust those until they are gone. If your house is filled with the stuff below, you will be fueling your body with good stuff.




chicken
sweet potato
extra virgin olive oil
onions
apples
turkey
brown rice
almonds
peppers
oranges
tuna
old-fashinoed oats
walnuts
broccoli
bananas
wild salmon
beans
pecans
spinach
blueberries
shrimp
natural peanut butter
cauliflower
strawberries
steak
whole wheat bread or flourless bread
pesto
carrots
raspberries
pork
whole wheat pasta
avocado
asparagus
pineapple
omega-3 eggs
whole wheat wraps
guacamole
cucumber
plums
Greek yogurt
quinoa
milled flax seeds
tomatoes
kiwi
whey protein
buckwheat
pastured butter
celery
peach

Approved Exercise List

Spend most of your time with the following list of exercises. It is by no means comprehensive, and there are 1000s of variations of each, but this should point you in the right direction. Plug these into your workout skeleton from Monday's post below.



Push:



pushup, bench press, dumbell bench press, standing dumbell overhead press



Pull:



dumbell row, inverted row, pull up, chin up, assisted pull or chin ups, weighted pull ups or chin ups, chest supported row machine, cable row, standing cable row, rope climb



Legs:



split squat, goblet squat, glute bridge, hip thrust, reverse lunge, front squat



Abs/Torso:



plank, side plank, back bridge, suitcase carry/hold, ab wheel or dolly, and any variations



Cardio:



Treadmill, elliptical, stairs, jump rope, burpees, running, biking, swimming, bodyweight exercises performed as a circuit.

January Workout Advice

Greetings in 2011! After spending some time with family and friends over the holidays, the recurring question that I seem to always get is, "what should I be doing in the gym to lose weight/build muscle/look better?" It comes in various forms but almost always boils down to the same issue. People just want to look better. Your average gym goer doesn't care about much else, and my friends are no different.

For most people, going to the gym shouldn't be a complicated thing. To me, each time you set foot in there you should follow the same skeleton or format with different components plugged in. Here is a simple, effective skeleton for your workouts:

1. Foam Roll (8 minutes): self massage technique that will help you feel much better, google it.

2. Do 5 stretches (30 seconds per stretch x 2 sides x 5 stretches, 5 minutes): a hamstring stretch, a quad/hip flexor stretch, a calf stretch, a chest stretch, and a lat stretch. Any will do, I can give you some ideas if you don't get it.

3. Train Abs first: when I say abs I mean your whole torso. Front, back, side, side. Think plank variation, not situps.

4. Use weights: Push something, Pull something, Do something for legs.

5. Finish with some moderate, quick cardio. Try 30 seconds of work with 60 seconds of rest for 5 sets as a starting point. You could use a cardio machine, do some calisthenics, or skip rope for this part. I will give you some more ideas in the future. Go moderate to hard for 30 seconds, rest for 1 minute and repeat for 5 rounds.

You should be able to finish everything in 60-70 minutes.

For folks who have demanding jobs and schedules, try getting to the gym on Saturday and Sunday with 1 or 2 weeknights in there. The weekend workouts help to battle against any damage you are doing in the bar room or the food court.


Email any questions:

tom@sullivantrainingsystems.com