New Exercise! Overhand Tomahawk Loafer Throw

Happy Monday everybody. I want to take this opportunity to start with a link to a video I am sure most of you have seen by now. Here is the link:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7782422.stm

I would like to extend my thanks to the Iraqi gentlemen for his demonstration on this new exercise. Tonight over at STS in Braintree, I will be having my 4pm group and 6pm group experiment with this athletic movement. I will have the athletes partner up, remove their sneakers and stand at opposite ends of the room. One athlete throws and one dodges the incoming shoes. This is a great bang for your buck activity. You get the overhand explosive throwing movement that will transfer directly to your sport, along with the agility involved in dodging flying Nikes. Everybody wins.

Boot Camp Starts tomorrow...

With tomorrow's women's bootcamp kicking off tomorrow, I have developed the plan for what will happen in the 50 minute sessions. Have a look, should be a lot of fun and a lot of sweat.

Dynamic Warmup
high knee walk, high knee skip, high knee run, butt kicks, lateral high knee run, hip walkovers, shuffle, carioca, inchworm

Core work
4 point stability 20 seconds each position x 3 sets
Medicine Ball russian twists 3x10each way

Metabolic Work Stations
Ball Slams
Ring Rows
Pushups
Reverse Lunges
Stairs
Burpees

Static Stretch

There it is sports fans. See you tomorrow morning.

Online Coaching

In an effort to help as many people as possible realize their health and fitness goals, I have decided to do a limited amount of Online Coaching. What is Online Coaching?

I provide you with a plan for exactly what to do when you walk through the doors of your gym for four weeks. No guess work. Simple, but effective. I will also provide you with all of the nutritional guidance you need to reach your goals.

How much does it cost?

$49 dollars per month with a three month commitment. You can't make REAL progress in anything less than 12 weeks. If you are not willing to commit to 3 months, I am not willing to commit to helping you.

If you are interested, let me know ASAP because this stuff is pretty time consuming and I am going to limit the amount of online coaching that I do.

Serious Inquiries Only

tssullivanjr@gmail.com

6 Days to Sign Up for Women's Bootcamp

Sullivan Training Systems will be holding a women's boot camp starting next Saturday December 13th and running through the end of the Winter. Each session will be 50-60 minutes in length and cost $20 per session. Each session will feature:

Dynamic Warmup
Joint Mobility Complex

30 minutes of fast paced work designed to help attack body fat.

Sessions will be run at 10am, and 11:30am.

Spaces are filling fast, serious inquiries only.

tssullivanjr@gmail.com

To All of My Buddies Who Work Real Jobs

Tonight I thought I would take a break from posting about young athletes and fire a message out there to any of my friends who work real jobs in real offices with real responsibilities. When I worked at EMC I was able to maintain a decent body and decent fitness levels (not great, decent). I thought I would put a list out on things that I would have done differently to have a better body and better fitness levels.

1. First and foremost, you have to get the diet extra dialed in. Right now I can afford a little bit of crap in my diet because I am on my feet actively training people and demonstrating exercises. When you sit at a desk for 10 hour per day, you can't afford to eat a whole lot of crap. What does this actually mean? Well here is a sample days worth of eating for people who work in offices.

7am: Protein shake and a piece of fruit (if you don't think you need a protein supplement, you are wrong). Metabolic Drive Low Carb Vanilla is delicious and a great product.

9:00am: Breakfast in the cafeteria. Omelet with WHOLE EGGS (better for you), with either wheat toast or small oatmeal accompanied by a gallon of iced coffee. Get rid of the sweeteners and cream. Drink it black, you will learn to love it.

12:00pm: I would get your workout in now, it will charge you up to get on the phone for the rest of the day. You and I both know that after work you are going to put your sweatpants on and get on the couch. Do something with high intensity. If you don't know what to do, or think that bench and curls twice per week is good, email me at tssullivanjr@gmail.com, and I will write a 4 week plan for $49. Even getting on the bike or elliptical for 30 minutes sucks. After your workout have a grilled chicken wrap on wheat and a piece of fruit. A small bag of chips 5 days per week is stupid and I used to do this everyday. 5 small bags equals a massive bag. NOTE: YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO EAT CARBS FROM NOW TILL YOU GO TO BED. This feed is your last that includes carbs.

3:00pm: Protein shake, keeps the energy levels high so you don't bonk.

7pm: Dinner and the last time you eat until morning. Dinner has to be lean protein and side of veggies. The only acceptable takeout would be steak tips and veggies, most places in Southie will do this for those of you who live there. Other good options will be fish, chicken, or lean steak with veggies. RESIST THE URGE TO EAT LIKE A HORSE NOW, IT WILL PAY OFF HUGE.

Stop pretending you don't know how to eat at work, I just friggin told you.

2. Make sure you crush a workout 4 days per week minimum. Again if you don't know exactly what to do, ask.

3. Allow yourself three cheat meals per week. 3 meals, not days, tubby. And guess what, 11 bud lights and a small appetizers at Cole's Tavern is a cheat meal.

Let me know if I can help you in any way,

Sull

The Holidays and Your Health

This entry was sparked when I listened to Ryan Seacrest on the radio talk about how he had to put his diet and fitness goals on hold because of the holidays.

I also have had a few conversations over the past 10 days or so with people about how holiday eating/drinking effects the health of Americans. It is my belief that our Obesity Epidemic is largely due to the behavior of Americans during the Holidays. People take a period of time from November 27th until January 2nd of the next year and gorge themselves on dinner, drink, dessert, and more drinks like there is no tomorrow. The problem doesn't lie with the small percentage of Americans who train at the gym by themselves, with trainers, or who play sports. The problem lies with the HUGE percentage of us who sit at desk jobs and lack the motivation to get to the gym more than once per month. Think about putting 8 pounds of lard on during the holiday season, not working out and keeping the weight hanging around your midsection. Now 8 pounds may not be noticeable at first but repeat this practice for 7 years. How do you think your current body would look carrying an extra 56 pounds of fat? Decent?

Solution

I am never the type of person to tell you you can't indulge once and a while, I think you would go insane. And if you are around me at all during the holidays you know I put on the feedbag as much as anyone. The difference is what people don't see, and the fact is that even during the holidays I train with high intensity 5 days a week so that the 8 pounds average Joe American stuffs on, may only be a pound or two for me, which as soon as the new year hits and my diet gets back on track will be torched off with a few workouts.

So the choice is yours. Continue to make excuses and put 8 pounds on, or get after it in the gym and put zero to one pound on.

Training for Speed in Hockey

I received an email yesterday from a hockey player that trained with us over the summer and is now playing in the EJHL. I hope he doesn't mind me using this for the blog.

"...I was just wondering if you had any exercises that could improve my foot speed or just speed in general out on the ice. For about two weeks now i have been running stairs and riding the bike at the gym after every workout. I would just like some feedback as to what you think on the subject. Thanks."

If you are reading this, don't take this the wrong way. The fact alone that you are asking for help sets you apart from the rest of your opponents who just assume they will get faster. Here was my response:

"When you think about speed on the ice, you should be thinking acceleration. The guys who are fast like Phil Kessel, or Ovechkin or any of the elite guys go from 0-60 in a split second. This is the kind of speed that creates separation on the ice. This is the kind of speed you and any hockey player should be after.

Just logically thinking, how would running stairs or biking have anything to do with this type of speed? Not a whole lot. In fact, it may be the opposite type of training that you want to perform. In order to obtain this type of speed you have to train that way. So a few ideas:

1. After practice, take a guy on your team who is faster than you. Race him for 6-8 reps from the goal line to the top of the circle if he is willing. If he is not willing he is a shitty teammate.

2. Lift weights with speed. When you olympic lift or squat move the bar as fast as you can. This goes for any type of plyos you might be doing. Train explosively if you want to move explosively.

3. Get your legs stronger. Specifically single leg strength. Any type of single leg squat will get this done. Split squat, bulgarian split squat, unsupported single leg squats, any of these work well.

4. Depending on how lean you are, lose 8 pounds by altering your diet. If you can't afford to lose any weight, then don't.

5. Consciously focus on performing drills in practice as fast as possible. You are looking for overspeed, finding that 5th gear."

Hope this helps. Here's to all of you torching the competition,

Sull