Great Compilation

All sorts of crazy moves - Do not try at home kids , save it for Saturday night when you have had a few jars down at the Dog and Whistle !

Fast Food Calories

Here's a pretty good link. You can check how many grams of fat is in a burger or how much salt is in your KFC !

Check it out -

http://www.fatcalories.com/

Another one for the collection !

Coming into the summer you see more and guys working on the chest and guns trying to get buff. What you also notice is that their workout partner(s) is helping them lift all the weight !

Why put 200kg on the bench press if you cant do it at all and your mate ends up doing deadlifts with the bar when its meant to be your set !

Id love to wear this t-shirt in the gym and just point at the slogan next time some numpty wants me to do upright rows with his bench press.



(click the 'shop' label to view previous t shirts, also view the Cafepress link on the right hand side)

Boob job, past expiry date ?

New Sport ! Stacking Cups

My good mate Gary sent me an email showing kids doing this but the quality wasn't great so I grabbed this better version from Youtube.

Home Gym - Good or Bad ?

If I had the room for it and plenty of kit I probably would like to try training at home although for me its just handy training in between clients.







Pro's

* No numpties hogging machines.
* You control the environment - music / temperature.
* You can train in the nip.
* No strange looks when you attempt something new.
* No travelling involved.
* No sales guys trying to torture you into bringing down 14 mates to join every time you workout.
* If you want some new kit - just buy it !

Con's

* Bench pressing heavy with no one else around could lead to high dentist costs / plastic surgery.
* A good home gym could cost big money. A bench is OK, but what about dead lifts / squats etc ?
* It takes motivation to train alone at home without others working out around you.
* Have you got space for the kit you need ?
* Its hard to learn new ideas when there is no mingling with like minded individuals or trained staff.


How many of you train at home ? If so - why ? Have I missed anything out of the lists above ? Can you recommend any suppliers of good home fitness kit for anyone interested ?

Hula Aerobics

As if the previous classes I've mentioned weren't bad enough, I've just gone and found - Hula Aerobics !
Words in Italic are nothing to do with me - my review would be slightly different. :-)







As featured in NOW magazine, Hula Hooping is the latest new fitness craze, with celebrities including Beyonce Knowles having given their seal of approval to the health benefits it offers.

Did you know that hulaing for 10 minutes burns 100 calories? Well, it's true, and it's great fun too.

The DVD provides the complete Hula workout, and is sure to help shift some of the extra pounds we all gain over the Christmas break! Christabel managed to lose four stones through hooping!


10 minutes Hula hooping burns 100 calories - wow - After an hour you could almost burn off half a biscuit. I'm hanging up my lifting straps !

Flying Armbar !

I joked about this in the comments section of the last post so I thought I should try and find a clip of it being performed.
In boxing, fighters go for the knockout but with mixed martial arts you can also apply various chokes and locks which for me makes it a lot more interesting. The Arm bar is when you have your opponents arm locked out straight and if he doesn't give up you just break it and beat him to death with the now severed limb.

UFC 72 IN IRELAND !

On Saturday the 16th of June it looks like the U.F.C. is coming to Belfast, Ireland.
One or two guys I used to have a grapple with could be on the card for this event. I may be helping with their diets and thus should be able to find out more information closer to the time.







What is the UFC ? - check this wikipedia link for a bit of background information on the worlds fastest growing and most painful sport !

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ufc

Exercises I dont do !

When I say don't do, I really mean I rarely do as I may take a notion and try something completely different. (Which is why I'm dressed as a woman in this picture, banging out some concentration curls on a Swiss ball. You cant get more varied than that ! )





Shrugs - I never train traps directly with the likes of shrugs. My traps are quite big already and large traps can often give the illusion of smaller delts which I don't want. Traps also grow quite easily and will already be worked with other compound shoulder moves and big lifts like the dead lift.

Rolling Shrugs - Rolling your shoulders puts more stress on the shoulder and causes more harm than good. Gravity acts up and down so when holding a weight you simply lift up and down. Rear delts will be hit with your back workouts. If you feel your traps need that extra boost simply work up and down - no rolling !

Upright Rows - I tried these a few years back and never liked them and in future literature I have read that they can lead to shoulder problems. Some people never feel the pinch like I did so Ill leave it up to the individual on this one. I would like to mention that a wide grip on the bar or a cable upright row with a rope is easier on the shoulder.

Front raises - Due to the amount of chest work people do it is rare to find someone with an overpowering rear delt and a poor front delt- and by rare, I mean Ive yet to see a guy who trains back more than chest ! Overworking front delts could lead to muscle imbalances down the line and I feel my front gets hit plenty with dips and pressing so I tend to leave this exercise out.

D.bell Tricep kickbacks - An isolation exercise for the tricep which is never performed right by anyone ever! You should not twist your body or swing your arm. There are better exercises available to work the tri's, although a cable version of this exercise is quite good if done correctly.

Concentration Curls - When I train I tend to pick the biggest and best exercises with very few isolation moves. I simply feel there are better exercises for biceps such as heavy curls and weighted chin ups. Skinny guys always do these along with wrist curls when really a few bent over rows or chins will be of more use.

Pec Deck - Like the upright row it can be personal preference on this one. Machines can force you into unsafe shapes due to their fixed pivots. A pec fly machine is better as the arms are hinged and have more 'give' which feels so much better than the pec deck. Dumbbell flyes - better again as your body dictates the angles, not the machine. Dips and pressing - even better !

Behind the neck exercises - The lat pull down and military press are probably the most common 'behind the neck' moves. Going behind the neck puts greater stress on the shoulder. Women tend to go lighter and due to greater flexibility can get away with it, but guys often wreck themselves with these moves. You should be able to see your hands in your peripheral vision. I go for lat pull downs in front, either wide or close grip and always military press to the front with a bar. D bells for overhead pressing are also a better choice.

I'm sure I'll think of others and as always please feel free to comment.

Thanks.

Arnolds Bedtime !

Cardio ?

I'm pretty well known now for going against the grain in many ways when it comes to conventional fitness ideas, yet my clients drop fat, build muscle and get in better shape by doing the opposite of what they have always been told to do ! Below are a few common questions with my answers. Enjoy :-)



But don't I need to do 'Cardio' to burn the fat ?

No you don't. You are fat because your diet is pants - not because you haven't yet purchased a treadmill from Argos. Check this article which shows why steady state cardio is a poor choice for fat loss -

http://www.mikementzer.com/bodyfat.html

What about High Intensity Interval Training ?

This refers to sprint work over standard steady state aerobics such as jogging and yes it is a better choice for fat loss, but as the above article shows, it is better to increase ones metabolism by adding muscle and then reduce overall calorie intake by improving your diet. True HIIT training needs to take place outside the gym on grass where you can sprint from a static start rather than try to hit buttons on a cardio machine. In my opinion, the best form of HIIT is taking up a sport such as mixed martial arts where you not only get fitter but you also get learn something new and don't see the time pass !

But what about my health ?

If training correctly with weights you will improve your heart and lung function without the common injuries associated with impact exercises such as road running. I know of many people who run to get fit yet they have back pain, knee injuries, shin splints, muscle imbalances etc ! What use is a healthy heart if you cant walk ? Its like having a fast car with square wheels.

To improve your health look at your lifestyle - bad diet, binge drinking, smoking, a stressful and sedentary job ?

But my friend is a boxer and he runs ?

Boxers are very old school when it comes to training although many modern methods are replacing old ideas such as running with a back pack at a steady pace. A Boxer doesn't need to run as their sport never demands them to travel in one direction at a steady pace over miles with a back pack on. If a boxer wants to remain explosive and develop sports specific stamina they need heavy weights and plenty of sparring. A boxer who runs to get better in the ring is like a snowboarder using a mountain bike to improve his snowboarding ?!?

If your primary goal is to drop fat and build muscle then why train like someone whose primary goal is to win a fight ? In the same way you shouldn't wear a sweatsuit to drop weight as a boxer is only doing it as a temporary dehydration method to make weight and not as a way of looking tight on the beach. Weight loss and fat loss are totally different !

Why do gyms have lots of fancy cardio machines ?

People believe they need to do cardio to drop fat. Gyms need to get members so they appeal to the wider audience. Its a lot easier to charge someone £30+ per month and show them how to press 'quick start' on a cardio machine than it is to teach them how to train with free weights while simultaneously improving their diets ! As a personal trainer I cant just stick someone on a machine and push buttons as my business is based on getting results, not direct debits !

So to summarise -

Heavy weights + good diet = better body.
Instead of jogging take up a sport you can enjoy and master such as golf or martial arts.
No amount of running can cancel out the fags and booze.

Protein !

Carbs and fat deal with energy and hormones in the body whereas protein likes to look after repair and growth of new tissue - this includes muscle tissue - woohoo !

Everything you need to know about protein on Wikipedia -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein

Common myths about protein incluing the age old classic ' your body can only assimilate 30grams in one sitting. '

http://www.hypertrophy-specific.com/hsn_artcls_proteinmyths.html

Examples of good protein foods ? Of course ! Just check this link to the Body For Life site.

http://www.bodyforlife.com/nutrition/foodlist.asp

Another Great T Shirt !

Gym newbies may not get the joke here, but many experienced lifters will remember the day they went to do squats and some numptie was using the rack for bicep curls.

Curls can be done anywhere - the same cannot be said for squats ! Respect other gym users and practise good etiquette at all times.

For T shirt source click Cafepress link in the links section.