Author Archives: Man Bicep
Why We Need To Consider Our Desk Job When Working Out
With the increased popularity of Olympic lifting and the fact that Crossfit has brought it to the masses, now more than ever, we need to consider how our day job affects our bodies and may actually be at odds with the exercises and workouts we may want to do.
We may want to do Olympic lifts. We may want to do gnarly, cool exercises.
Heck we may even technically be strong enough to do them.
But before we can, we have to make sure our body is mobile and ready to truly move through the range of motion.
Because if our body can’t truly do the motion, we are going to compensate and end up getting injured.
Designing Your Workout Program
This past Sunday, I went to a great Bodyweight workshop led by Max Shank (Which was amazing! Check out his stuff!)
I went with one of our interns at the gym.
I’d forgotten what it was like to attend your first workshop.
There is an overload of new information and you feel like almost everything you’ve been doing just isn’t right.
You feel like you have to switch up everything you’ve been doing and now follow this new program.
I saw it in his eyes when we were there.
I saw the “Oh crap. I need to do things this exact way to get results and rewrite my entire program.”
I remember that feeling the first couple of workshops. You would learn a new way of doing something and you would instantly jump into the new program, putting aside anything you’d been doing up to that point.
However, after a couple of great workshops, you realize that everyone has their own way of doing something.
There are a billion workout routines out there (many of them even are good) that people have found work for them…
The Push Up Destroyer Workout
A little bit ago I mentioned that you can improve your push ups by doing different variations of push ups.
Below is a quick workout that will help be able to do more push ups; HOWEVER, you need to focus on form and not just busting out as many reps as you can.
That may mean you have to really regress your push ups to continue moving with good form, especially as you get further into the workout.
You want QUALITY reps.
This workout will also help you balance out all of the pushing with some exercises to improve posture and activate your back muscles (which in turn, will actually help you with your pull ups as well!).
And in case you need a review of the basic push up and some regressions and progressions, check out this Push Up Form Post.
Make sure to record all of your numbers from the workout. While testing can be a great way to see progress, so can recording your numbers from your workouts.
If you do more push ups or a harder variation of push ups next time, you know your workouts are working!
“An Unconventional Sign Of Strength And Power”
The other day on Twitter I saw the following statement – “An unconventional sign of strength and power: Not being easily offended.”
Then today, I found this picture on Pinterest:
This one made me laugh…maybe cause it’s true!?! 😛
Everyone Needs To Do Isometric Workouts
I know I’ve written a lot about Isometric workouts over the last few months, but they truly are one of the most under utilized tools out there.
They are great to improve balance, stability, coordination and the mind-body connection. They can help prevent and even rehab injuries. They can reduce pain throughout your body. They can help get muscles activated so you can lift more.
Heck they can even make you mentally stronger.
They are great for recover and great to help you improve your strength.
Basically no matter who you are, you need to include them.
Maybe you make them into their own workout or maybe you simply include them in a workout or even a warm up.
Isometric moves help your body activate the correct muscles and even help improve your mobility. Plus they help create stability in your body so you can LIFT MORE without injury.
Below is a Quick Isometric Workout to reduce your pain and injury and help you get more out of your workouts!
Glute Training – Why I’m obsessed with butt workouts
For those of you on my email list, you’ve probably already realized that I love glute training since EVERY email this month has been about butt exercises and butt workouts!
So why am I so obsessed with glute training?
Age is an Attitude
Stop telling me you can’t do something because you are “x” amount of years old.
We’ve all heard the saying that “Age is just a number.”
But age is more than that….It is an attitude.
Our bodies and minds can be “old” or “young” at any age. It just depends on our attitude toward life and our desire and drive to stay young and active.
Just think about all of the Olympic athletes competing, and even WINNING, when they are supposedly old for the sport.
While yes, as we age our body does go through changes, we never have to FEEL old. We never have to have pain and injury sideline us so that we can’t enjoy life as we once did.
Bodyweight Exercises To Challenge Your Entire Body
I used to think that my strength was measured by the amount I could lift on the barbell.
But the weight you can lift on a barbell isn’t the only measure of strength…nor is it necessarily the best measure of strength.
I mean…What strength is great than the strength to be able to control your own body and be able to perform ANY move you want to!?!
There are so many bodyweight exercises out there that are challenging enough for even the advanced exercisers without adding weight.
Yet often the only ones I see people using are the pull up, push up and single leg squat.
Here are some great, more untraditional, bodyweight exercises everyone should be doing – 10 Untraditional Bodyweight Exercises You Need To Do.
And below are a variety of other articles about bodyweight exercises. Some are great for beginners while others will challenge even the most advanced exercisers.
Does food really fall into the categories of “Medicine” or “Toxins?”
I had a client tell me the other day that they went to a healthy eating presentation that said food is either a medicine or a toxin.
I care to disagree.
Food is not medicine in the way we think of medicine.
Eating well doesn’t “cure” anything, at least not in the traditional way we think of medicine curing something.
It will help our body heal and prevent disease but it doesn’t just simply counter-act the crap we put into our bodies.
Crazy how backward we have gone in some things….
Are You A True Champion? How Shaun White Impressed Me With His Loss
I think champions are defined not by how often they win, but by how they go out and compete and how they handle failure.
Do they play to win no matter the situation? Do they blame everything but themselves when they lose? And do they bounce back after failure?
Last night, I saw the champion in Shaun White and thought to myself, “No wonder this guy has been at the top and so dominant for so long.”
Man Bicep 