I’m riding in the MS150 next weekend, it’s a 180 mile bike ride from Houston to Austin. The goal is to raise $14 million to help people with multiple sclerosis, a disease that causes muscle weakness and leads to difficulty moving, as well as numerous other symptoms like loss of vision and chronic pain. If you’d like to help in the fight against this disease, please visit the link below and donate. Any amount is appreciated:
http://ms150.org/ms150/donate/donate.cfm?id=184247
Thanks!
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Awesome exercise, try it! I love how he says, “How many repetitions should you do? Probably 5-6. I do 30.” What a badass. Here’s another angle so you can see his entire body in the view:
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Don’t gulp down a huge meal right before a workout.
So it’s about 9 pm, and the gym closes at 10:30. I still haven’t eaten and my mom has cooked some sausages and she wants to know if I’d rather eat before or after my workout. They smelled so good that I decided to eat them before.
Let’s just say pausing multiple times in the middle of sets to burp isn’t exactly beneficial to your lifts.
So I’m at the gym today and what do I see but three girls “working out” in the shortest shorts ever, talking and laughing like it’s the most fun they’ve had in their lives. Now, why did I just put “working out” in quotes? Because there’s a difference between actually working out and just hanging out in the gym and thinking you’re working out, and apparently a lot of people don’t realize this.
If you’re in the middle of a set and talking to the person next to you, you’re not working out. If you’re looking across the room and checking out some girl stretching, you’re not working out. And if you feel exactly the same at the end of a set as you did at the beginning, you damn sure aren’t working out.
A lot of people are under the impression that doing crunches will get them a six-pack. In reality, this is not true. We recently received a question from Greg 
of Akron, OH regarding this topic. Greg writes, “I am trying to find the fastest way to get back my 6 pack before summer comes and swim team arrives! Do you know anything that would help?”
Well, sculpting a six-pack pack is all about body fat, regardless of how much cardio or how many crunches you do. Cardio just aids in getting there because it burns calories, and weight loss is when calories burned is greater than calories eaten (we covered this in more detail in a previous post). However, diet is by far the most important aspect of getting your abs to show. Crunches will help to define them and make them stronger, but if you have a bunch of flab over them they’ll never show anyway.
If you need some diet suggestions, we talked about various ideas in this post. Another important thing to point out is the “spot reduction myth.” It is impossible to actively target a specific area, such as the stomach, for fat loss. You cannot simply choose what area you want to lose fat in and work out that area.
Hope this helps, and if you have any further questions don’t hesitate to ask.
Here are some really impressive exercises that will probably take some practice, but are really fun to try. Leave us some comments and let us know how you do!
Ultra wide doorframe pullups:
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But only if you eat right at the same time. A lot of people are under the impression that doing hundreds of situps and crunches will make them lose fat. This is not the case. The ONLY time you will ever lose weight is when take in less calories than you use. For example, if I burn 2000 calories a day, I’d have to eat less than 2000 calories in order to lose weight, regardless of how many sit ups I do, how long I spend in the gym, and how many miles I run. So now that you know the basic principles behind losing weight, let’s talk about how to go about doing it.
Cutting fat is a no no. Cutting carbs is a no no. The only people who need to use extreme diets are competition bodybuilders and celebrities after they have babies, and there’s a 99% chance you don’t fit into either of these categories. Cutting fat is not the way to go because the body actually needs fat to function. It’s when it gets TOO MUCH fat and the wrong kinds that it starts showing it. In a nutshell: trans fat = bad, saturated fat = pretty bad, polyunsaturated fat = pretty good, monounsaturated fat = good. This doesn’t mean you want to drop your saturated fat intake down to 0, it just means you want to watch it and try to get more of the good fats (the best example of monounsaturated fat is peanut butter, so yeah PB&J’s are actually healthy).
Have you ever seen people attempting to do pull ups by swinging their legs and throwing themselves up? What about people who perform bicep curls by squatting down and then throwing their arm up as hard as they can? And let’s not forget those who struggle to do such heavy weights that they squirm and twist their body around until they finally realize they’ve picked up about a hundred pounds more than they could ever do. This isn’t the circus, leave the acrobatics at home. When you perform a lift, it is ESSENTIAL to have correct form. Good form = good lifts and good lifts will produce good benefits. Bad form = a bad lift and increased risk of possible injury, as well as looking like a total amateur. If you can’t perform a lift with good form, drop down to a weight you are more comfortable with. You’ll feel a better burn and see much greater gains in the long run. If the problem is you just do not know how to do a certain exercise properly, do not feel embarrassed about asking someone in the gym. We will begin building a video database of exercises categorized by targeted muscle showing step by step how to complete repetitions with proper form. Stay tuned.
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^ example of what NOT to do :/
A lot of people have been under the very ridiculous impression that eating as much protein as humanly possible will make them stronger. This is not how it works. You don’t have to gulp down 5 servings of whey at a time. You don’t have to eat protein bars before, during, and after your workout. In fact, EXCESSIVE protein will HURT you more than it HELPS you. The human body can only absorb a certain amount of protein before it starts going to waste (the cutoff is usually about 2 grams per pound of bodyweight, for serious bodybuilders - and in actuality is probably less, depending on your level of intensity). “But the more protein I eat, the bigger I’ll get!” This is true, but only up to a point, and after that point it just goes to waste. Apples are healthy but you wouldn’t sit around and eat an entire orchard in one sitting. Gulping down protein bars every hour is like staying up all night studying a subject you aren’t even taking.
Now that you know HOW MUCH you need, let’s talk about what KIND you need. There are different types of proteins as well as different qualities, and you want most of your protein intake to be high quality proteins. The BEST sources of protein are real foods, not manufactured products with sugar and fat thrown in to make them taste better. Peanut butter, chicken, turkey, salmon, nuts, eggs, milk: these are all great sources of protein. Rather than buying your groceries at GNC, grill up some chicken breast or boil some eggs.
Here is a routine I drew up that can be done in your bedroom without the need for any weights, dumbbells, or accessories. It is a full body workout and is not as easy as you may think. You should do the exercises in a circuit (no rest between exercises) in the order given, and once you have completed all of them, rest for 2 minutes and repeat the circuit twice.
- Wide grip push ups: These are performed like regular push ups but rather than placing your hands at shoulder width, take them out about 6 inches further. This will help to work your chest a lot more, rather than straining your triceps and shoulders. Perform 18-30 reps.
- Calf raises: Stand with your feet about shoulder width apart, facing forward, and raise yourself onto your toes. Keep your legs straight and do not bend your knees as you come up. Perform 18 reps. If these are too easy, stand on 1 leg at a time and do them, and then switch.
- Door frame pull ups: Open your door to about a 45 degree angle and have your roommate hold it steady. Grip the top of the door and pull yourself up, keeping your back flexed. Try to concentrate on using your back and DO NOT use momentum to throw yourself up. Perform 8 reps. If this is too easy, close the door and grip the top of the door frame. This will help work on finger strength and forearms because it is a lot harder to hold yourself up.
© AITank: Fitness Explained
