Want to really work your abs? Do THIS!

Bret Contreras is a pretty smart guy. He's one of those strength coaches that practices what he preaches. He's got the real world experience to go along with the Master's degree from Arizona State. 

Although Bret is mostly known for being the go-to guy for women looking to add some size to their glutes, he's done a TON of EMG research. 

A while ago, Bret did some work and found which exercises utilize the lower abs, obliques and lower back to the greatest extent. Here's what he found:

Just another reason to do chin-ups ladies.

For lower abs he found that chin-ups beat out every other exercise in muscle activity! Can you believe that?! But you have to do them with correct technique. Basically keep a straight line from your shoulders to your knees, keeping your lower back from hyper-extending.

He found that Turkish Get-Ups (TGU) also had the overall highest levels of combined activation for lower abs, obliques and low back extensors. 

In summary here is the best Ab-blasting circuit to really give your abs a good workout. You'll see it works other muscle groups as well, showing that isolation may not be the best formula for abs.

1. TGU x 5 each side
2. Chinup x max -2 reps
3. Body saw (think slideboard ab slides, or stability ball roll-out) x 12
4. Kneeling cable lift x 8 each side

In the Hi-5 FitCamp we've done all of these exercises. But we've never done them back to back to back in a circuit. I smell a challenge!

NEVER do this!

Here I am, chasing Lucy all over the playground.

So yesterday morning I took my daughter Lucy to the park to go play. She's an adventurous little girl, loves climbing, slides, being chased by her dad acting as an angry pirate, all that fun stuff.

However, while I was there I noticed what appeared to be a personal trainer working with a client at the park. Being in the same field of course I paid attention to what he was doing and what his client was doing. And it made me think of the things I SEVERELY dislike about old school fitness techniques. I'm going to give you a quick run down of this awful event.

1. Super slow exercises using a very light resistance band. Want to burn fat? Build muscle. Not a ton of it. But you need to add some muscle. Why? It burns more calories at rest. And 80% of calories burned at rest come from fat. Want to build muscle? Use some heavy weights.
2. 2:00 rest periods between sets of crunches. Honestly when you're training for fat-loss, you need to chew through (pardon the pun) as many calories as possible in your workout. Why? To burn more calories you need to work harder, move faster and with shorter rest periods. And who's to say you need a dedicated "do-nothing" rest period? Use super-sets to get more from your rest periods. You only need to rest the muscle group you just worked. You don't need to rest your lungs! So do push-ups, then do squats THEN rest for :30. At that point its probably been a minute or so since you finished your push-ups.
3. Skip curls (and other isolation exercises). Doing slow curls while standing on a
   band is another waste of valuable time. Perhaps this lady I was watching has all the time in the world (it was about 9:30am, so maybe she does?) but most people I know don't. So they've got to make their workout count. Instead of isolating muscle groups choose exercises that use multiple muscle groups together. Pull-ups, for example, use biceps, upper back, glutes and abs - talk about bang for your buck!



Betcha she's not talking!


4. If you can converse during the workout (aside from rest) your not working hard enough. Plus, how difficult can the exercise be if you don't even have to focus on your form or mentally focus to push through those last few repetitions? Seriously, if you can chit-chat during an exercise, it's time to up the weight or choose another exercise.

On a side note, I read the other day that you have to be state licensed to be a barber. However, anybody can be a "personal trainer." I'm so embarrassed. 

Have a great Wednesday make sure you're doing everything you can to add some extra movement into your day!

Pullups, Misery and Nutrition

This round was a pretty tough. And the group has told me that this class is much tougher now than it was 2 years ago. Which to a certain extent is good!!

The Hi-5 FitCamp is supposed to push the group! However, it does have the potential to run off some newbies. Which is kind of a bummer. But what we can do is encourage new people to come in so that they get started!! Most exercises, if not all, can be modified for a given person's ability level.

So although we have Kelly, Brad, Dave, Chris and "the Runners" doing full pullups, there are plenty of ways that others can do modified pullups, horizontal pull ups or even band rows to replicate that motion. And I KNOW it is everybody's least favorite exercise, but guess what?

Those exercises you HATE to do? Those are the ones you NEED to do. Everybody should be able to do at least 1 pull up. And that is our goal. Ruth can now do one full, military-spec chin-up and Sarah is almost there!!

Just keep working at them as you get better at the things you work at!

The workout for this off-week is simple - Take 15 minutes and do the following circuit as quickly as you can. Advanced reps are in first, moderate levels are after. I call it the Magic 300 workout!!

1. Squat Jacks x 30/20 -do a jumping jack and when your feet move apart, squat and touch the ground
2. Snow angels  x 30/20 - lie on your stomach and make a snow-angel
3. Single Leg Hip Bridging x 30/20 each - lie on your back with your feet flat on the floor, lift one foot up and then push up and down with the foot still on the ground.
4. Side plank dips x 30/20 - (side plank with hip drop and lift)
5. Split Squats x 30/20@ - Put one foot in front of the other (see picture) >>>
6. Pushup + Mtn. Climber x 20/12 - do a pushup then bring your right knee to your right elbow, push it back and do the same on the left, then do another pushup  See picture>>>
7. Smurf Jacks x 40/25 - perform jumping jacks from a squatted position

Oh yeah!! That will make you sore!! Do me a favor and leave your time as a comment below. This is open to anybody even those not currently attending the Hi-5 FitCamp!!
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Nutrition Tip for the Week:

If you are chronically tired and exhausted, it could be from an iron deficiency. Try the following website to see foods that are high in iron. Minerals, such as iron, are poorly absorbed. Therefore you cannot rely on one serving of a high iron food, but instead must eat foods higher in iron at each main meal. You will be surprised at how well your body does with this necessary mineral!.

Iron is necessary for hemoglobin, an oxygen carrying protein, to be manufactured. Caffeine reduces iron absorption but vitamin C improves iron absorption! Try to get iron from real food rather than a supplement as supplements are absorbed even more less efficiently than natural iron.

Have a great week!!

Body weight vs. External weight??

All too often people looking to lose weight feel that they need a whole gym at their disposal. This couldn't be further from the truth. And we see that when the Morning Hi-5 spends time outside. The exercises they do are entirely body weight. The primary method of increasing intensity is to either add repetitions, slow down or speed up each repetition. Either way the goal is to increase the amount of time the muscle is being used.

However the debate remains, which is tougher: Body weight exercises or external weight? My take is that both have benefits, but one is obviously much cheaper and to a certain extent better for the everyday person.

Body weight exercises will require at least one of the following components, and often more than one;

• Core
• Awareness
• Balance
• Rhythm
• Integration
• Stability
• Energy

To demonstrate this, lets break down a split squat and a pull-up.

Split Squat

• Core - used to maintain proper posture and avoid bending forward at the waist during the descent
• Awareness - knowing how far into the lunge you are and knowing when to come back up
• Balance - the lead leg is doing most of the pushing and requires good side to side balance as well as front to back balance
• Integration - This movement requires coordinative use of the glutes, hamstrings, quads, calves and spinal stabilizers

Pull Ups

• Core - abdominal bracing used to prevent forward and back ward swinging during the movement
• Rhythm/coordination - knowing when to contract muscles to ensure the highest force output for each muscle
• Stability - the shoulder joint is the most unstable in the body, the pull up helps to improve shoulder stability under intense situations
  
• Energy - this exercise requires so many muscles groups that it uses much more energy than a simply pull down

Overall both methods of exercise will be beneficial. Yet it is important to remember that just because you don't have a gym at home does not mean you cannot exercise. Below is a list of my favorite body weight exercises for home use. Do as many reps as needed to feel burning in the muscle then move onto the next one.

1. Pushups
2. Overhead Squats
3. Pullups
4. Lunges
5. Hip Bridging
6. Sno-angels
7. Mtn. Climbers
8. Plank-side plank
9. Single Leg Squats
10. Modified PullUps