The ab wheel is a great addition to anyone’s training toolbox. Good for beginners, good for experts. Can do amazing things for your abdominal muscles…
simple effective abs workout
The “hollow body hold” is a really easy exercise for anyone to do. Easy as in simplicity, but it will work your abs like crazy. I would start with 30 second sets. Please beware to *NOT* arch your back, keep it flat against the floor at all times.
What also makes this a great exercise is it doesn’t take up much space, you can do it while watching tv, in a hotel room, or pretty much anywhere…
Happy Shoulder Stretching New Year!
I know how everybody likes to avoid, or just slack on their stretching. I do it too. But you know, stretching is important! Flexibility promotes circulation, and nutrients at the joint, and discourages injury. My personal feeling is it helps muscle to recover and grow quicker too, though I’m not sure if this is scientifically proven. Anyway, on to the good stuff.
First stretch is to work each shoulder in opposite directions. This picture is the basic version. Even you big guys out there who lift a lot (or should I say especially you guys) should be doing this.
Once you work your fingers together doing this, you’ll eventually be able to touch your fingers together like this:
An advanced version takes it further, so you grab the whole hand as far as possible:
I’ve seen it done where people actually can grab the opposite wrist. I’m not there yet, but hey, it’s worth trying!
Next is your basic backbend. When you do this push the weight up into the shoulders as much as possible to reduce strain on the lower back:
We’re not done yet. There are still two more ways that I know of to stretch the shoulders. This next one is a great opposing stretch if you work the pecks a lot. This really stretches straight across the front of your chest. It also stretches the elbow joint. I should know the name. It will feel like the hamstring of your arm if you will, which really doesn’t get stretched very often:
Obviously you can use as long a piece of rope as you need to. I’ve seen younger people touch the hands together. So there is really no limit to how flexible you *COULD* be here.
Last but not least, let’s work the shoulders for the illusive manna move. This stretch will feel uncomfortable at first, because you may have never stretched your shoulders this way before.
And that’s it. Over and out, and Happy New Year. Good luck with all your training in 2008!
All About the Elbow Planche
Sometimes known as the elbow lever, this move is actually quite a bit easier than it looks. Here’s a quick shot of the basic position.
Ok, how do you get there. Well here is the modification. It may look intimidating, but you’ll see when you try it that your chin provides quite a bit of stability. Make sure your hands are DIRECTLY under your elbows, that is the angle where they are strongest. Also, Yoga folks will note that they tend to do this position with the chin more forward and neck back. This would mean I would look up as much as possible. The chin give more solid and better support. Also bending the legs would bring the weight more towards your center of gravity.
Also note the rounded or flat-back position. This is very key. Don’t arch your back.
Ok, now you may also want to do a harder elbow planche. For starters just hold the position for a longer period of time. Trust me that will build strength. You can ALSO start to straighten your arms. Here’s a shot of me doing just that. The first example above my arm was at about 90 degrees, but in this one below the angle is about 115 degrees. The straighter your arms are the further the hands will be below the waist. Every inch lower makes this an order of magnitude more difficult. 
And no the legs are not supported. You’ll just have to believe me on this one!
Variations… Once you find these straightfoward, you’re ready to think about one-arm elbow levers. Here’s a first try for me. My feet are stabilized slightly by a medicine ball, and my left hand is providing a fingertip support. I have a ways to go on this one.
More next time, and good luck with your elbow balancing!!
Space Crunch: Hotel Workouts
We have all encountered a few times where we are traveling, and somehow we get out of the habit and routine of our workout. It’s not so much that a little break couldn’t hurt, and who wants to workout on a business trip, but sometimes we don’t get back to our rhythm when we return.
Also doing a small 20-30 minute routine helps give us the energy we need everyday when we’re off to conferences, and on our feet all day. So what to do? Well if you’re in a hotel with a gym, head to the gym. That’ll give you the space and motivation to keep to your usual workout. But what about if your hotel doesn’t have a gym, and maybe it’s too cold outside to go for a job?
I recommend doing exercises which require very little movement. That way you can do them in small and confined spaces. Basic yoga stretching would be ideal. Here’s the opportunity to really put your heart into those stretches you’ve been meaning to improve. Do some hamstring stretches, shoulder stretches with a towel, or clasped hands, do foot-to knee stretch which is great for the hips, and some spinal twists.
As far as muscle training goes, you can certainly do pushups and situps if you desire. One exercise which I think is really ideal for small cramped locations is the elbow stand. You don’t move at all. Just hold the position. Think it looks easy? Try 30 second hold for starters. If that is too easy, move on to 60 seconds.
Posture is really crucial with this exercise. Don’t arch your back which is very very common and typical. Why? This takes the abdominals out of the exercise, and puts pressure on your lower back instead. We want to avoid that.
Another common mistake is to keep the hipstoo low. As you get tired, this is the usual progression. So try to start out by doing only 15 seconds, but do it perfect!!
Here’s the right way. Notice my back is very flat. That means my abdominals are doing *ALL* the work. That’s what you want.
Again I like this exercise because it’s easy for almost everyone to do, is fairly injury free because there isn’t any movement, works your shoulders, deltoids, triceps, hipflexors, and gluts. It has a lot of the same benefits of pushups.
Eight Tools For Training
If you’re interested in buying any of the items I talk about in this piece, head over to my list at thisnext.com: Eight Training Essentials.
Ab Wheel
This is a simple, no nonsense piece of training equipment that everyone can afford, and find space for. What’s more with regular use, it *will* give you the abs of steel you’re looking for. I also find it a safe, and injury free way to work the abs.
Camelbak
Camelbak is a recent addition to my training regimen. Why do I like it? For one it keeps you hydrated, and that keeps your energy level up. For two you can load it with small weights to give you a makeshift weight vest. Three you can carry stuff like a jumprope, or whatever else you might want to train with. And four, it makes all the bodyweight exercises I do that much more challenging. 10x 5sets of pullups? Add 10 pounds and you’ll see the difference. Clapping, fingertip, and one-arm pushups with a 10lb pack are very challenging.
Jump Rope
Weighted jump ropes are a great full body workout. Work the ankles and legs without a lot of pounding on the heels, get a sprint workout without needing much space. Jump roping can be worked forward or backward, for 30 seconds, or 5 minutes. Throw in crossed arms, or swing the rope around twice in one jump for extra challenge.
I like to train with used climbing rope. Most climbing gyms rotate their ropes every 3-6 months. The old rope is no longer good for climbing, but it makes excellent weighted jump rope. Not heavy enough you say? Soak your rope in water, and you’ll feel the burn!Door Gym
Want to integrate pullups into your everyday routine. Here’s an easy way to do it. You’re not always at the gym, or the park where you can do pullups, and this doorgym can install in most any doorway. You can also use it for pushups, and as makeshift parallettes if you don’t have those.
Doorgym
Want to integrate pullups into your everyday routine. Here’s an easy way to do it. You’re not always at the gym, or the park where you can do pullups, and this doorgym can install in most any doorway. You can also use it for pushups, and as makeshift parallettes if you don’t have those.
Parallettes
Parallettes are a portable, practical way to do gymnastics type training in your home or apartment. You can do pushups, v-sit, l-sit, planche work, handstands, and all sorts of other core strength training using parallettes.
Yoga Blocks
Yoga blocks are not just for Yoga fiends anymore. These are indispensible training tools. Extend deeper into a pushup, work a v-sit or planche with a less stable base, or do your daily stretching, yoga blocks can help with all of these.
Forerunner 305
It’s the best runners watch I’ve found yet. Tracks your distance precisely with GPS, and also knows your speed constantly during your run. The heart monitor is better than most because it has a small watch battery as power source. Less interference with other radio devices etc. If all that isn’t enough, the watch plugs into your computer via USB, to sync a ton of data about each workout. Looking at all of this later reveals a lot, and the Garmin Training Center software is very good.
Fitness Ball
Nevermind the cheesy shows using the fitness ball on FitTV. This is serious exercise equipment. Ever try to do pushups with your legs elevated, and your hands on the ball and you’ll see what I mean. Or work the gymnastics planche with the ball providing minimal support. There are lots of very challenging exercises you can do with these.
Exercise *Gives* You Time + Energy… Really!
As a personal trainer, I find people at parties asking for advice from time to time. What gyms are good, how to I improve at this or that, how do I lose the tummy?! That’s the classic question. I do find a lot of people get to a certain point and reduce things to “I don’t have the time”, or “I’m too stressed to find more time in my day” or some such. It’s almost a litany, and living in Manhattan, it’s very understandable.
Many people find themselves still at work when it’s 7pm or 8pm at night.
That’s why this article Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time really struck a chord. It’s by Steve Wanner a partner at Ernst & Young. With four kids and a wife at home, he found himself working long hours, not having enough time for family, feeling guilty and generally unsatisfied. It’s a familiar feeling to many of us. But he managed to turn it around by changing his routine, cutting out the drinking, waking up and exercising, and taking ample breaks during the day.
He turned things around quite dramatically, a very interesting read.
The 21 Pushup Challenge
Short on time, but want a fairly simple, full-body workout? Here’s one I used to do at the end of a day at the rock climbing gym to provide exercise to complementary muscle groups. Since rock climbing is mostly pulling, pushups work great.
First, I want you to focus on good pushup posture. Keep your low back rounded, never arched. If you’re not ready to do pushups from your toes, use your knees instead. Once you can complete the 21 sets from your knees, you’re ready to start from your toes. Ok, what’s the challenge?
Start by doing one pushup, walk the length of the room, and back to that same position. Now do two pushups. Walk the length of the room and back again, now three pushups. Keep doing these sets, increasing by one pushup each time. Since you’re only giving your muscles 15-20 seconds rest each time, this gets progressively harder. My old gymnastics coach used to say if you can do all 21 sets, you’re hardcore! Haha well once I reached that, I started doing the 21 sets with 5-10lbs in a backpack. Now that is tough.
What I like about this exercise is that it provides it’s own built-in warmup. The first few sets are very easy. It also builds confidence, allows your muscles to warm up, and gets you into the spirit of it before the tougher sets. It works the triceps, the deltoids (shoulders), abdominals, and hip flexors.
When you’re finished you’ll have completed 231 pushups in about 10 minutes. For extra challenge, as I noted above, add weight, or work your way up to 25 pushups. If that’s not enough, try doing them all as clap pushups, or even better, one-arm pushups!!
Now of course being the good personal trainer I’m gonna ask that you please stretch your shoulders before doing this exercise. I know how you all love to stretch right? I’ll be posting a discussion just about shoulder stretching soon enough.