5 of My Favorite Exercises.

Below is a list of my favorite exercises that I use for myself, my athletes, and my regular clients. I will be adding to this list during the week.

1. Bulgarian Split Squat (even though I don't know where Bulgaria is or if it even exists): I like these because they require some serious effort in terms of strength and balance, are easy to load, and some trainees who exhibit knee pain in traditional squatting can usually perform these.

2. Sumo Deadlifts: I find that these are tougher to mess up than the traditional deadlift set up. My athletes are able to keep almost a perfectly upright torso/neutral spine when performing these making them a safer exercise. I rarely see rounded backs during the sumo style. Perform these barefoot or with low profile sneakers on.

3. Pullups: These may be my favorite of all time. When people start to get strong at pullups they begin to get some serious back and arm development. Someone once said pullups were the equivalent to upper body squats and I have to agree. All variations are great in my book (pullups, chinups, parallel grip, mixed grip). Once you can do 10 perfect pullups, start adding weight. Get yourself away from lat pulldown machines.

4. Pushups: too many people rush over to the bench press station when it would be far safer and more productive to opt for pushups. Pushups are a total body exercise that engage your hands, arms, shoulders, and torso. If you can't do 20 perfect, you have no business on the bench.

5. 3 point Planks: maybe I should have started with a regular forearm plank, but I just like this progression better. When you can do a 30 second plank with ease, you need to start making the move more difficult as opposed to adding more time. By removing one of the four ground contact points you add a degree of instability that must be countered by engaging your entire torso.

Enjoy.

Training Partners.

When it comes to training, there are few things that lead to a more productive session than having like-minded people to train with. When you can get in the gym with a group of people versus training solo, you will definitely fast track your results. Working with a group will guarantee that you don't skip reps, sets, or miss a session altogether because there is built in accountability.

So if you are currently training 4 times per week, try to grab one or two people to train with once or twice per week minimum. Chances are that there is a guy or gal that works out at your gym that is on the same schedule as you and would love to have a training partner.

Another bonus to having a training partner is the innate sense of competition that is brought out of you. For me personally I usually am able to get 1-2 sessions in per week with a couple of other guys. These sessions are 3x more productive than my solo sessions. This week in particular is college spring break week so I have had the pleasure of training with Steve Byrne, Kevin Plant, My brother Jeff, cousin Brian, Brett, Hog, Matt Bren. When you can get 6-8 guys together to train, people will push themselves beyond where they thought their strength and mental toughness barriers were.

So this week, take a workout from the blog, grab a coworker, friend, sibling, or homeless guy off the street (you may have to pay his guest fee, and be a good shit and grab him a post workout drink) and hit the gym. I promise you will love the team atmosphere.


(If you don't think "rack 'em Willie wants to train with you, you are dead wrong. video not safe for work due to language.)



Go get it,

TSull

How was the weekend?

Happy St Patrick's Day from your friends in Alabama.

This past weekend is typically a monster party weekend in Boston. We were graced with two beautiful, sunny days and chances are you spent the majority of your weekend belly up to the bar or drinking green beers. Hopefully you had a blast, because that's what its all about anyway. Well now its Monday morning and time to get back in the saddle. Put the brakes on your eating and drinking from the weekend and get back on track towards your goals of being lean and mean for Figawi.

Mondays are great for getting in a serious metabolic workout. For me, I use the weekend behavior as motivation for a mean-ass session on Monday. Give this simple circuit a rip today. Simple does not mean easy.

5 Bodyweight Squats
4 T-Pushups (2 each way)
3 Pullups (assisted machine if need be)
2 Burpees

rest for 30 seconds after each round. Try to complete 10 rounds. If you are smoked at 8 rounds or even 6 rounds, shut it down there.


Let's get after it,

TSull
tssullivanjr@gmail.com

Transparency: A look in the mirror

In writing this blog, which has gained a surprising number of visitors, I try to remain completely transparent. What I mean by transparent is simple. Take a look at any of the other fitness guys and gals' blogs and you will see a huge difference from the tone and content of my information.



I believe I know my audience well enough that I can write about relevant topics. For example, I know there is no chance most of you are willing to give up alcohol (neither am I), so I give you advice in order to optimize your health and fitness while allowing for some booze consumption. I also know that there is no chance that everyone is going to eat perfect, so I advise you to eat like a saint during the week, and then allow yourself to get a little more aggressive on the weekend. Same with training. None of you have the time or want to spend the time in the gym that other fitness professionals advise. If I can give you something that will be 30 minutes and done, I think the chances of you actually following it increase tenfold. Well anyways, here is a peak into what I have been up to:



Training:



Looking at the notebook I keep as a training log, there is a pattern over the past 5 weeks...

• 3 times per week I lift heavy weights. exercises include squat variations, deadlift variations, tons of pullups, rows, and presses.


• 2 times per week I do a conditioning circuit like the 15 minute circuits I have written about in the past.


• At least once per week I play hockey for RX and I usually go pretty hard

Nutrition:

Monday through Friday afternoon, I eat the same exact thing.

1. 4 eggs, wheat toast, tons of water

2. Protein Shake

3. Post workout protein shake

4. Dinner of chicken, fish, or steak with veggies (NO STARCH)

Come Friday night, I usually have a bunch of drinks and an appetizer or two, and then maintain mediocre nutrition for the remainder of the weekend, with the occasional Chinese food feed with my family Sunday nights. Come Monday, right back on the wagon.

Is this a GREAT diet? Absolutely not. Has it been working? You bet. I have gotten bigger, stronger, leaner, and faster.

Take some of the pieces that will work for you and put them to work today.

Where the Figawi?

Today is Thursday, March 5th, 2009. In order to help everyone with a little motivation with all of this snow and cold hanging around the northeast, I issue you a challenge.

A large number of people I associate with and that follow this blog will be descending on the island of Nantucket like a pack of crazed maniacs for Figawi Weekend (May 21st-May24th). Here is an excerpt from the official website:

"The 38th Annual Figawi Race Weekend is recognized as a top sailing event not only on the east coast but is known nationally as well as internationally. Figawi Race Weekend kicks off the the Cape Cod and Nantucket summer season. Entries include sailors from several states 240+ boats (including 30 power boats) and over 3,000 sailors and visitors, as well as locals, attend this event.For more information please reference the links at the left.More information about Figawi 2009 will be posted here when available in Winter 2009."

If you are wondering how much time you have before this glorious weekend of life on earth, you have exactly 11 weeks. Why am I telling you all of this? What if you aren't even going or located in the Northeast?

The first answer is easy. We are going to take this date for our deadline. I always talk about picking measurable goals, with specific timelines, so here it is. Even if you aren't going to Figawi, use this date with us. The goal is simple. For this weekend, you need to be the leanest specimen you can posibly be. And get aggressive with your goal. As an example, my new revised goal for 11 weeks from now is to be 195 pounds, with single digit bodyfat by the time I get on the ferry. For you, this may be too aggressive. If you are overweight your goal is to lose 25 pounds of bodyfat in 11 weeks. That means you have to lose 2+ pounds every week until Figawi. So pick a goal that is applicable to your situation. Girls, if you already weigh 120 pounds and are pretty lean, 25 pounds of fat loss is stupid. Try to maintain your weight and get "harder". This means changing the way you workout. You need to lift weights. Same for you 145 pound guys. Beef it up for the next 11 weeks. If you don't know how ask. Why would you want to make your life difficult for the next 77 days?

Here is how a typical Nantucket weekend is going to go. We are all going to meet up for the evening SLOW ferry over to Nantucket. This allows for extra time to build excitement and anticipation (and they serve drinks on the ferry). Next, we get off and head to a local watering hole. After "shenanies" all night, we wake up on Friday morning and head to the beach. We have everything we need, beach chairs, grills, horseshoe stakes, bean bag toss, coolers and great company. With any luck it will be great weather. Now is the moment of truth. Guys, you peel off those shirts to get a bronze on and people will definitely notice you. They will either talk about your sloppy physique complete with muffin top, or they will say Holy Shit! Jake really has been crushing the gym. Girls, you will shimmy out of your beach dresses and people will think "Jesus, she really should be in a one piece" or "wow, serious hard body". The choice is yours and ONLY yours.

Over the next few blog updates I will be giving you new workouts to try, diet strategies to employ, and other tidbits to aid you in your journey.

So what do you say?

Spring Strength Session

Today I wanted to spread the word about the Spring Strength Session over at STS. Below are some details. If you know any athletes in the Massachusetts area, help me get the word out.


When: March 9, 2009 – May 29, 2009 (12 weeks)

Time Slots: 3:00pm, 4:00pm, 5:00pm, 6:00pm, 7:00pm


Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Training Schedule
Where: March: 86 Hancock Street, Braintree, Ma

April-May: Brand new state of the art facility located at:
65 Mathewson Drive, Weymouth, Ma. New Facility located 5 miles from current facility


What: 90 minute Strength and Conditioning Sessions, performed in groups of up to 8 athletes

Who: Sessions will be led by Tom Sullivan, Owner/Operator of STS. He can be reached at tssullivanjr@gmail.com and 781.831.3901


Cost: 3 payments of $219 due on 1st session of each month