World Fitness Blog : Leading Global Bloggers

March 27, 2021

Effective Fitness Requires an Intuitive Mindset

The key to effective fitness and training is to know yourself. Introspection’s power will allow you to develop a deep sense of understanding for everything you will learn on your journey.

Danny Kavadlo, with his brother Al Kavadlo, is an authority in calisthenics and fitness.

As he puts it, “It’s important to understand that even with a definitive program, you should always be prepared to improvise. No one who ever met you can make an exact program. There will always be a need for intuition in training.”

In other words, it’s up to you to step up and find out what works.

The Enthusiast and the Casual Exerciser

The world of fitness is an automatic filtering machine that separates enthusiasts from casual exercisers. This separation doesn’t mean to discriminate, but it’s just how it is.

The enthusiast and the casual exerciser don’t think the same, they don’t live the same, and most importantly, they don’t have the same beliefs.

Here’s an example, a casual exerciser will always look to their environment for motivation, but in Al and Danny’s case:

They say, “F**K motivation. ANYONE can workout when they’re motivated! It’s working out when you’re NOT motivated that leads to success. It’s the same thing career-wise.”

The game rules are pretty simple; you have to show up and put in your time. Another level of discipline and strength that perfectionists are in pursuit of is called true strength. Danny and Al describe true strength beyond the physical.

This statement doesn’t intend to discredit the people whose goal is to look good or do the bare minimum to be healthy.

However, in 2021, the real meaning behind the words strength and health has evolved into a raw and philosophical form.

If you don’t already feel inspired by reading this, here’s why you should be. As Danny describes physical strength, “To me, true physical strength is the ability to navigate freely in this world. It’s both pound-for-pound strength and absolute strength. A combination of power, balance, and mobility.”

While many of us may not include either balance or mobility in our training, these aspects are most certainly part of the equation when it comes to long-term fitness.

Challenge Your Strength

To us, building strength isn’t just about lifting heavy weights, running ultra-marathons, or scoring the most points. It’s about self-development and the desire to push yourself beyond your limits to see how far you can go.

It’s about embracing the challenge ahead and taking it in as a lesson. Hence, no one program can change your life. You have to tweak it to fit your own needs and situation.

Regular exercise or training is essential. It regulates your blood flow, gets rid of toxins in your body, and helps you clear your head. But if you’re willing to go deeper and immerse yourself in the mindset, you will learn so much more about yourself and develop more than just physical strength.

According to Danny, “I would also include mental fortitude, emotional wellness, compassion, and willingness to help others, in addition to being physically unyielding.”

Unfortunately, the future of the fitness industry may be uncertain at this point. Many people see it as a luxury when, in fact, it should be an essential business.

Danny Kavadlo says, “While I’m saddened at the devastation to the industry, I’m more saddened by the devastation to overall health that these mandates bring: kids not in school, depression, domestic violence, suicide, alcoholism, and drug abuse. People need to work out now more than ever, and ironically, it’s being discouraged in the name of health.”

If you’re reading this, I hope your next moves include signing up for the gym, spending an extra hour each day learning about your health, or getting creative with your regular programs to test yourself. You may not need a gym to do this.

Al Kavadlo adds, “We don’t discourage it! In fact, Danny and I have been talking about the virtues of working out gym-free for years! So anyone who thinks they can’t work out without a gym is crazy! You don’t need much—or any—gear to get in shape!”

Danny and Al Kavadlo’s book, Get Strong, focuses on explosive calisthenics. It’s an amazing guide to help you develop strength, agility, and combat-ready reflexes, using only your body weight.

If you’re already pretty fit and have no problem doing pull-ups, Danny suggests, “At least ten strict pull-ups before embarking on the muscle-up, but every case is different.”

Training my body to do the muscle-up has completely changed my perception of body mechanics and training regime. It has been gratifying, and I hope that you will get the same value or even more than I have gained.

Most importantly, remember to breathe.

Al says, “It is recommended to exhale when exerting and inhale on the negative phase of an exercise.”

Breathing exercises not only help you activate your core but also assist with recovery.

Source

March 17, 2021

Longevity in Fitness

John Du Cane is the author of Qigong Recharge, publisher, fitness guru, and accomplished businessman. I was lucky enough to talk to him recently. At first, I thought we would be steering the conversation towards all things kettlebell, and John’s pioneering work on seeding the fitness industry with quality kettlebell trainers, but something else caught my attention. And so, we talked about resilience and longevity.

John’s journey started in South Africa, where he spent his youth. At a young age, he sensed a connection between life and energy. I understood this as his awareness of the human body’s life force and the energy connection between humans.

John says, “I was constantly surrounded by nature, and it made me think about the world.”

John began his Qigong and Tai Chi practice in 1975 and has owned and run Dragon Door Publications since 1990 where he has embraced everything from martial arts to isometrics, beyond the popularization of hard style kettlebell training under the RKC banner.

Qigong and Resilience

As a qigong student, John Du Cane understands how our breath is a tool that we can use to develop physical and mental resilience.

Qigong is an art that originated in China and is taught to warriors to develop full self-awareness of their bodies and movements. I asked him if a specific qigong segment would help modern-day martial artists create this type of resiliency.

He suggested the iron shirt qigong.

If the breath is energy and energy is life, it will make sense why we would breathe in a way that flexes our core muscles as we engage in exercises like running, pull-ups, or lifting heavy weights in general.

Longevity in Fitness - Fitness, weightlifting, strongman, diaphragmatic breathing, kettlebells, martial arts, self awareness, core strength, at home training, pushing boundaries, energy, energy systems, posture, resilience, qigong

Master Your Breathing

There have been many books and courses published on breathing techniques.

If you ever get intrigued enough to pick up a copy of John Du Cane’s qigong series on Amazon, I would also suggest picking up a copy of Breathing for Warriors by Belisa Vranich and Brian Sabin.

These books contain lots of information, tips, and tricks to get you started on your journey to mastering your breathing.

According to John, learning to master your energy through qigong can take many years. It takes a long time to develop because it goes beyond the physical aspects of our being. It helps us develop mental fortitude that will go on to sharpening our intuitive mind.

Train Your Inner Self

This ability can help us navigate through life by making decisions that make sense. I have made some choices in life that were logically sound but didn’t exactly feel right. Ultimately, those decisions led me to square one because I chose to ignore this sense of inner knowing.

That sense of inner knowing is your intuition, and if you choose to cultivate it through qigong, everything that happens to you starts happening for you.

It’s a shift in perspective—a deeper understanding of your purpose on this planet.

Teamwork makes the dream work. John began his friendship and working relationship with Pavel Tsatsouline when he enrolled in Pavel’s classes. Pavel’s technique, charm, and articulation skills made John approach Pavel to publish his programs.

In an interview with John, I asked him, “Was it because of all those decades of cultivating and training your intuition that you had an inner knowing that this partnership was going to be a success?”

John Du Cane replied that it might be challenging to comprehend what was going on in his universe, but it makes sense that he derives his strong self-knowing from training his inner self.

Kettlebell Movement

At that time, kettlebells were neither a trend nor incorporated in mainstream training programs. Even Pavel stated that it was probably a very niche market where he could reach out to elite strongman lifters and other interested professional athletes.

Little did they know, the kettlebell movement would become a worldwide phenomenon.

The kettlebell challenge provided a platform for people to develop their strength, breathing, and resilience all-in-one. At this point, it’s probably safe to say that as long as we are alive and enthusiastic about life, we will always want to push the limits.

We push boundaries to find the answer to the question that we’ve all been asking—Is there more to life than just our daily routines and duties?

A training program emerged called the Russian Kettlebell Challenge (RKC) and led to millions of people worldwide having the initials RKC tattooed on their bodies. It’s safe to say that there is more to life for anyone who decides to challenge themselves by enrolling in this rigorous program.

Like Pavel says, “I’m going to show you how to be a better man. If you don’t know, I’ll show you. If you don’t want to, I’ll make you.”

Kettlebell Mechanics

I am a reflective learner who takes knowledge from the external world to make it my own internally. My experience with kettlebell workouts has been amazing.

But to do it well, it will take even more years of training because the pursuit of perfection is the journey of a lifetime.

My initial encounter with the kettlebell helped me expose my bad habits with posture, breathing, and timing. I was a strong young man in my late teens and always found ways to add to my training program.

The first thing I noticed was that you could easily hurt yourself with bad form.

More specifically, it’s not advisable to curve your back when you are on the down-swing. It also means that I was using my arm strength and hip strength without utilizing my core strength’s full potential.

Having abs is cool but having the ability to flex and relax your core at the exact timing you want is the next level.

The repetitive movement of tension and release that we use to perform the kettlebell swings can apply to other fitness forms such as martial arts and rugby.

It’s a lot to take in, but the good news is, if you have a kettlebell sitting in your room or office like I do, you can get more training time to perfect your form and breathing. It only takes about 10-20 mins for a real workout which means it’s less invasive on your time.

As UFC multiple weight-class champion Connor Mcgregor once said, “Accuracy beats strength, and timing beats speed.”

I hope you have embarked on your journey to finding your form of perfection. If that journey is in fitness, I would highly recommend you pick up a copy of John Du Cane’s Qigong Recharge and Pavel’s Fast and Loose- Secrets of Russian Champions.

Source

March 8, 2021

How to Boost Your Pull Ups in 2 Weeks

How to Boost Your Pull Ups in 2 Weeks - Fitness, bodybuilding, goal setting, cardio, bodyweight exercise, HIIT, at home training, pull ups, fatigue, isometrics, consistency, training method, grease the groove, chin-ups, lockdown

There isn’t a secret or magic trick to increasing your pull ups, but it isn’t as difficult as many people believe. You may think that I’m another coach who can’t relate to your situation, but I can. I still remember when I was struggling to do 2-3 pull ups.

I struggled because I didn’t train for them, and when I did train for pull ups, I didn’t train properly.

I fear many people are making the same mistakes I made. I want to share how you can skip the frustration and master the pull up.

Your Training Should Match Your Goals

The majority of the fitness industry is all about HIIT, cardio, bodybuilding, or training until you puke.

I’m not a fan of this, not because there’s anything wrong with these training styles but because these methods get the most exposure. There are so many different ways to train, but your training should always match your goals.

The goal here is to increase the number of pull ups you can complete consecutively, and those methods I mentioned don’t work.

When I was learning to do pull ups:

  • I did it the common way of 3 sets of 5-10 reps.
  • The aim is to do 3 sets of 5 reps.
  • Then every week or two, you increase the reps 3×6, 3×7 until you reach your goal.
  • What generally happens is that in the first set, you can probably do five reps, but after that, you will struggle even to do 2-3 reps.
  • That’s what was happening to me, and I would also keep hitting plateaus—stuck at the same reps for a while.

If I could do it all over again, I would use a technique called Grease The Groove (GTG). This is how I teach my clients to get their first pull up and to increase the amount they can do in a row.

Grease the Groove for Better Pull Ups

How to Boost Your Pull Ups in 2 Weeks - Fitness, bodybuilding, goal setting, cardio, bodyweight exercise, HIIT, at home training, pull ups, fatigue, isometrics, consistency, training method, grease the groove, chin-ups, lockdown

For example:

  • Let’s say you can manage just about four reps in a row.
  • Throughout the day, you’ll do multiple sets (4-7 sets) at 50% of your max, which is two reps.
  • If one rep is your max, then do multiple sets of one rep.
  • Rest for a minimum of one hour between sets.
  • Perform this 4-6 days a week.

After two weeks, test your pull ups to see how many you can do in a row.

Learning a new movement pattern is just like learning a new skill.

The more you do something correctly, the better you get at it. By doing the reps at 50% intensity, you limit fatigue, and you’ll focus more on the correct technique.

It won’t feel like you’re doing much, but your body is learning the movement. Frequency and consistency are kings when it comes to learning.

In a week, you’ll accumulate a lot of reps.

You can do this in addition to your regular training but if you’re not recovering between sessions, then reduce the workload.

Pull Up technique:

Get Your First Pull Up

If you can’t do a pull up yet, you can still use this technique. In addition to your regular pull up training of 2-3 times a week, do GTG with these exercises. Focus on one for two weeks, rest for a week, and then do GTG with the other exercise.

Jump Negative Pull Ups:

  • Jump up as much as you need to pull yourself up.
  • Try and go slow when coming back down.
  • At first, you might drop straight down, but as you get stronger, you will be able to go slower.
  • If the jump is too much, jump from a box to assist you.

Isometric chin-ups:

Jump up and hold yourself at the top of the pull-up. Try to keep your chin over the bar.

You Can Handle Your Bodyweight

Some of you might think that you were never meant to do or will never be strong enough to do pull ups, but you are. Put the negative thoughts and feelings aside and do the work.

Pull ups are a natural movement that your body is well capable of doing.

Train your pull ups frequently throughout the week, and focus on the proper technique. Otherwise, you will only be cheating yourself. Be patient, and you will master your pull ups. You can use GTG to improve other exercises as well.

Source

February 22, 2021

Train Hard, Recover Harder

Based on my email inbox and Instagram DMs, recovery from training is a hot topic. I get asked all kinds of questions about recovery techniques.

  • “Can you assess my supplement stacks?”
  • “Should I do active recovery workouts?”
  • “When do I foam roll?”
  • “How would you change my nutrition on rest days?”
  • “What stretching routine should I do post-workout?”
  • “Will ice baths or cold showers help my gains?”
  • “What about cupping, compression garments, and percussion massagers!” 

I’m delighted people are giving their recovery some attention. Sadly, I think they are focusing their attention on the wrong parts of the recovery puzzle. In this series of articles, I will help you maximize your recovery and results by focusing on what matters.

I’ll explain:

  1. Why stress is a double-edged sword and how to manage it.
  2. Why recovery starts with great programming
  3. The two most powerful recovery tools and how to optimize them
  4. Six other recovery methods that work

This trend for increased attention to recovery is admirable.

In part, it isn’t surprising given I’m fond of reminding people they don’t get bigger and stronger lifting weights, but by recovering from lifting weights.

I have often tried to illustrate the importance of recovery by displaying progress as a simple equation:

Stimulus + Recovery = Adaptation

Stress Can Be Good

Stress can be both good and bad. Good stress, or what psychologists refer to as eustress, is the type of stress we feel when excited. Training is a stress to the body. If adequately dosed, it is undoubtedly useful. 

Bad stress comes in two forms:

  1. Acute stress triggers the body’s stress response, but these triggers and emotions are not happy or exciting. In general, acute stress doesn’t take a heavy toll. The stress response is fleeting, and the body returns to homeostasis, or its pre-stress state, quickly.
  2. Chronic stress is bad. It occurs when we repeatedly face stressors that do take a heavy toll. We often feel crushed, overwhelmed, and trapped by this stress. For example, a stressful job with a jackass for a boss or an unhappy home relationship can cause chronic stress. 

Your tolerance for stress and the ability to manage it is different from mine.

Our tolerance also fluctuates over time. There is only so much stress you can handle. When you have too much pressure, you get overwhelmed. Your recovery from training will suffer at times of high stress.

Managing your stress levels will improve the quality of your life.

It will improve your digestion, recovery, mood, and productivity. It will also enhance your muscle gain and fat loss efforts.

Stress Management; Not Avoidance 

Notice I refer to it as stress management—Not stress avoidance or reduction.

The fact is that you cannot avoid stress altogether.

You can, however, improve how you manage it. If you manage stress better, you will be happier, fitter, leaner, and more muscular. In short, life will be better.

What Is Stress?

The body’s control center is the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS). The ANS regulates the involuntary functions of the human body. The stuff that happens without you consciously thinking about it, such as breathing or digestion.

The ANS has two branches

  1. The parasympathetic is also known as your rest and digest mode. 
  2. The sympathetic is the fight or flight mode.

These two work in a see-saw-like fashion. Whenever one of the modes is activated, the other isn’t. When one is up, the other is down.

Unfortunately, your body cannot differentiate between different types of stress.

When the sympathetic nervous system is upregulated, it cannot tell the difference between the stress of a life-threatening event, a challenging workout, or the asshole who just cut you off in traffic.

To manage stress, we want to spend most of our time in a parasympathetic state. The reality is, however, that we spend too much time in a sympathetic state. The non-stop barrage of stresses adds up as we face daily challenges.

This sympathetic state has many negative health implications and inhibits our ability to build lean muscle and drop body fat

In my experience, so many hard-gainers struggle to see progress because they are chronically stressed and work to manage stress, which increases their anxiety and causes a downward spiral.

Rather than being hard-gainers, I refer to these people as easy-losers

Their stress levels result in them losing gains alarmingly quickly with the slightest change in a routine or life circumstance because they manage stress poorly.

With that background out of the way, it’s time to identify strategies that help to control stress as much as possible.

Monitoring Heart Rate to Manage Stress

A good proxy for your stress levels and parasympathetic versus sympathetic dominance is your waking heart rate.

Monitoring your heart rate will give you useful data to assess your general stress status and identify when stress levels spike upward.

Significant increases or decreases in your waking heart rate indicate when you are experiencing higher periods of stress. I suggest you get a decent heart rate monitor to assess this. You could also explore heart rate variability apps to add another level of assessment.

Be More Productive With Less Stress

Cal Newport talks about how being on autopilot can help you be more productive and less stressed. He says that there are two types of work in his world:

  1. Regularly occurring tasks

  2. Non-regularly occurring tasks

Being on autopilot is true of almost everyone’s life.

The problem with regularly occurring tasks is that they are so numerous that if we try to manage them on the fly, we get behind and become overwhelmed.

I believe this sense of being overwhelmed is one of the critical drivers of stress in people’s lives. It certainly is a significant cause of mine.

To deal with this, Newport assigns every regularly occurring task a specific time slot. He calls this his auto-pilot schedule. He found that he doesn’t waste time or energy struggling to prioritize and schedule tasks day-to-day. They run on autopilot.

Once you have this stuff allocated to specific times and make that a routine, you can assign all other available time to other things that interest you. This method takes some up-front planning but, it pays dividends.

The final point is to understand that it will take time to refine and adjust this process.

Fortunately, you’ll be so much more efficient you’ll have the time available to make adjustments when needed.

The Miracle Morning Routine for Positivity

Having a morning routine to start your day gets you off on the right foot and sets the scene for the rest of the day.

It allows you to run the day rather than the day running you.

I am a proponent of the Miracle Morning Routine. I do the express version, which takes less than 15 minutes and has six steps.

 The six steps are:

  1. Silence

  2. Affirmations

  3. Visualizations

  4. Exercise

  5. Reading

  6. Scribing

There are various apps available that guide you through the process

When I stick to the Miracle Morning routine, I am more productive and feel in control. 

Meditation Combats Stress

Meditation is a great way to combat stress. I have not gone full granola-yogi yet. Perhaps when I’m a bit older, I’ll embrace Zen fully.

I am aware that the word meditation conjures negative connotations with some people (my granola-yogi reference is a case in point). So, if you’re not quite prepared to consider meditation, call it sitting in silence, chillaxing, mindfulness, or whatever makes you comfortable.

Rather than full-on meditation, I sit quietly and focus on my breath for a couple of minutes.

Belly breathing deep breaths through the nose and slow exhalations out through the mouth do the trick.

If you want some guidance, then the app Headspace is excellent. I have done some of the 5-10 minute guided meditations, and it certainly chills you out. These few minutes every day will have a remarkable effect on managing your stress levels.

Mindfulness

Being mindful or present is all the rage these days.

There is a good reason for that. We live in an ever-connected yet hyper-distracted world. The sheer volume of inputs competing for our attention is mind-boggling.

Living in this always distracted state is stressful and similar to Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).

Try to fix this:

  • By focusing entirely on one task at a time 
  • Then, aim to be present within that task.
  • Fully immerse yourself in the sounds, smells, sensations, visuals, and taste of whatever you are doing.

Whether that be journaling in your leather-bound notepad while drinking a coffee, hanging out with friends at a BBQ, or drafting that killer sales pitch sitting in front of your laptop in the office.

Being fully in the moment will make you more productive, efficient, and effective at whatever you are doing. It will help to improve your mood and filter out external, potential stressors.

Cheesy quote alert:

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift––that is why it is called the present.

Eleanor Roosevelt

Emotional Reactions Last 90 Seconds

In his book, The Chimp Paradox, Dr. Steve Peters talks about our chimp brain and how it can control us. When the chimp takes over, logic evaporates, and emotion takes over. All too often, when we are under stress, we take the emotional approach. The chimp inside us gets irritable and can wreak havoc before we know what has happened.

When we get an emotional reaction to something, it usually subsides after about 90 seconds if we don’t act on it.

Pema Chodron speaks about this in the book, Living Beautifully: With Uncertainty and Change.

Emotions will ebb and flow. Under stressful situations, they might rise like a Tsunami inside you. That’s only natural. It seems the best way to deal with and keep stress under control is to accept the emotions. To feel them. But do not act on them. If you act on them, you add fuel to their fire. They will rage higher and for longer. Instead, let them burn themselves out. Then, once you are calm and logic has returned, consider ways to avoid repeating the situation, which placed you in a stress position and caused negative emotions like fear, worry, hate, or anxiety to surface.

Pema Chodron

Take a Deep Breath

While feeling the emotions, it might be a good idea to take a deep breath in through your nose, hold it for a few seconds and then exhale through your mouth.

This deep breathing has an incredibly calming effect on your body. In my experience, it can help to speed the reduction in negative emotions when they arise.

A side effect of stress is shallow breathing.

Shallow breathing impairs the proper oxygenation of cells and reduces your body’s ability to recover.

Given I am so fond of saying, “You don’t get big lifting weights, you get big recovering from lifting weights.”

I’ve said it twice in this article, so it should be obvious why I believe being stuck in a stressed, shallow breathing state limits your gains.

Post Workout Recovery Pro Tip: Using some simple breathing exercises, post-workout switches you from the fight or flight mode to the restorative rest and digest mode.

This breathing instantly reduces stress levels, increases the oxygenation of cells, and accelerates the recovery processes. If you train in the evening, it will also help you to relax and get to sleep.

Sleep is the most powerful recovery tool you have available, so this is crucial!

Breathing exercises can also be beneficial as a proactive stress management tool when done daily. As I mentioned earlier, I try to do it each morning for a couple of minutes. It creates a wonderfully calm sensation. I would never claim to appear serene, but this is probably the closest I feel.

Gain Perspective 

Is what is stressing you out that bad? Most of the stuff we worry about is not that significant. It’s rarely life or death or leading us to financial ruin.

Sit back, take stock, and ask yourself, “What’s the worst that could happen?”

Often this allows you to gain some perspective, view the stressor objectively, and place its significance appropriately in the hierarchy of events, needs, wants, or stresses in your life.

Nine times out of ten, you’ll then chill the f**k out and realize you’ve got your knickers in a twist unnecessarily.

Bonus Tip:

Step away from your phone–no, not this very second–keep reading this fascinating article:) then, step away from your phone.

Phone Dependency

While waiting for a train or in a line, what do you instinctively do? Most of us reach for our phones. This dependency for our phone wasn’t the case as recently as 10 to 12 years ago. We would have to wait—occupied only by our thoughts or perhaps the conversation struck up with a stranger waiting alongside us (conversations with real people, in-person–now that is weird).

We’ve lost the art of patience, waiting, and thinking.

Boredom is a thing of the past. There is always a notification, something on social media, YouTube, or Netflix to entertain us. We still plug into the matrix and appear unable to extract ourselves.

There are many positives to smartphones (don’t get me wrong, smartphones are incredible). The downside is we have become slaves to them.

Our phones increase our stress and anxiety and help to push us towards a sympathetic state.

Try to take some time away from them—a digital detox of sorts. Switching off/into flight mode can relieve stress and anxiety. It can also allow you to achieve the mindfulness and presence that I discussed earlier.

Taking time away from our phones isn’t easy. Smartphones are addictive! I struggle with it but, I am aware that when I have work to do, or I’m out with the family, I am less stressed, more productive, and happier when the phone is out of sight. This struggle applies to those that I am with also. Start small and build up the time. 

Some ideas to begin to control your phone usage are:

  • Don’t check it for the first 30 mins of your day.

  • When doing important work, please switch it on airplane mode and set a timer for how long the work task should take. Don’t look at your phone until the time is up.

  • No smartphones at mealtimes

  • Put your phone down in another room when at home so you’re not distracted by it.

  • Are you watching TV with your wife, girlfriend, husband, boyfriend, friends, family, cat, or dog? Have the phone out of sight. Enjoy doing what you are doing and the fact you are not distracted by the phone.

  • Establish no-go zones. Whether it be physical (e.g., not in the bedroom) or time zones (e.g., no phone use for the first hour after I get home from work), this rule will improve the quality of your relationships with significant others.

  • Lead by example on this. If you would like to be less distracted when spending time with your partner, begin by deliberately being less distracted yourself. Then, when you suggest they do the same, they are more likely to respect and value your opinion. Trying to force it on them before you have achieved it will meet with resistance.

I hope the above tips on managing stress are useful to you.

If you can use some of these to manage your stress, you will be a happier, more productive, and focused person. You will also thrive on rigorous training programs and translate your workouts into noticeable gains in strength, size, and body composition.

Stay tuned…

In the second installment of this series, I will be explaining why significant recovery begins with excellent program design.

In it, I’ll outline four key concepts you need to understand how to optimize your training and maximize your recoverability. 

Source

January 29, 2021

A Successful Coach or Trainer Needs Emotional Intelligence

Entry-level personal trainers initially rely on a training certificate and a high school diploma to successfully land a job.

However, coaching as a career path requires something more- Emotional Intelligence (EI). According to Melinda Abbott of Columbia University,1 49% or more of successful coaching is derived from a coach’s ability to monopolize emotional intelligence. Moreover, the ability to connect on a social level has been proven to drive motivation and teaching efficacy.

The bottom line is a coach should focus a substantial portion of their time on sports psychology

The Benefits of Conscious Coaching

A well-known coach, Brett Bartholomew, brings up in his book, Conscious Coaching 2 the importance of understanding the types of people you coach. As of late, there is a growing body of evidence surrounding understanding personality types for career success within the workplace and academic performance training.2

However, within the realm of sports, this too is becoming important. As Mark Rippetoe points out in his book Practical Programming for Strength Training,3 a strength coach will spend more time with an athlete during their career individually than any other coach. Therefore, knowing your athlete or client is of utmost importance.3

Focus less on counting reps and focus more on the client’s needs and know when to refer out

Coaches are not licensed to be psychiatrists or medical doctors (unless one holds that title); nevertheless, understanding how EI applies to a client’s lifespan warrants some explanation. EI is a type of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ emotions, discriminate among them, and use the information to guide one’s thinking and actions, according to Salovey & Mayer, 1990. In the context of coaching, this requires first an understanding of how a person approaches being instructed, how one manages failure, success, plateaus, and their interaction with nutrition and overall personal wellness.3,4,5,6 

Emotional Intelligence in Coaching Builds Trust

One of my sessions consisted of six minutes of a client discussing their issues for the day before mobility work and isometric drills. EI allows that client to feel comfortable and builds trust.

Without trust, a client is not likely to follow instructions, and the client does come first.

You can have a Ph.D. in biophysics, but the client could care less; their foci are:

  1. Achieving their intended results
  2. Feeling appreciated

Those six minutes to my client made the remainder of her day far more enjoyable, and she will look forward to her next session. 

As a coach, having a graduate degree makes reading bloodwork easier and discussions with a client’s physician more illuminating. The client learns that you care beyond the aspect of the job; this creates buy-in.2

This client is more likely to refer others to you and participate in higher engagement training

Another client learned quickly that their well being is most important in and out of the competition. During a time such as COVID-19, clients are far more reluctant to engage with their coach, let alone purchase high-fidelity coaching programs.

As clients resurface, it is far more important to cater to mental health needs with the same vigor as a premium program or nutritional plan.

In particular, athletes who face suspension of events or entire seasons may feel displaced without a coach guiding them.

Contrary to popular belief, athletes often suffer more mental illness than average gym patrons.

Furthermore, they are less likely to seek to consult for mental health issues. 

As a coach, it requires that red-flags in normal function be caught sooner rather than later and ensure that your gym or office is a safe space. It is through a proper institution of emotional intelligence practice that client outcomes improve.7

References:

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January 10, 2021

10 At-Home Exercises For Women That Actually Work

Since the idea of work-from-home is getting extremely popular during the pandemic, make sure you do not leave your health regimen high and dry. Everyone is suffering from Schrödinger’s disease.

The self-isolation focuses on the idea of assuming that either you are containing the virus from the outspread or preventing yourself from being infected by avoiding any contact with the external environment.

As necessary as it is to stay indoors and work from home, it is also a good idea to focus on a Workout Program to Burn Fat.

Utilize this time to achieve your fitness goals.

If you are self-conscious about excess body fat and weight issues, the following is a list of exercises curated workout program to burn fat for women that work.

1. The Bridge

This exercise serves as an activator for your glutes, hamstrings, and core muscles.

  • Lie down on a mat with your knees bent and your back and feet touching the floor.
  • Raise your bottom off the ground and slowly bring it back to the resting position.
  • Make sure you are using your core strength.
  • Do two sets of 10 reps if you are a beginner.

2. Knee Push

It is an exercise that will serve as a prerequisite for pushups.

  • Lie face-front on the floor with your knees touching the floor.
  • Go down slowly and raise your body just before reaching the floor.
  • Make sure that your elbows are at a 45-degree angle.

3. Lunges

Lunges focus primarily on your core and abdominal muscles.

They help shred extra body fat and are included in the Tone Program For Females. If you are looking to build stability, this exercise is excellent for you.

4. Squats

The squat is a prominent lower body workout regimen.

The most important aspect of a squat workout is ensuring that your form is correct. Otherwise, there will be no visible results.

5. Crunches

Crunches are the go-to workout plan when it comes to scorching your excess belly fat. It requires immense core strength to perform crunches.

If you feel that crunches are on the more accessible side of the spectrum and you want to intensify them, you can add resistance bands or weights.

6. The Plank

It is one of the most conventional exercises in tone programs for females.

The reason being that the plank helps in shredding fat evenly from your body without causing any stretch marks.

With time, you will be able to do a plank for a longer duration of time.

7. Bird Dog

  • Lie with your face forward and knees touching the ground.
  • Lift alternate leg and hand simultaneously.
  • You will feel a tingling in your arms and legs.
  • This exercise requires balance and stability.

8. Hip Abduction

This exercise is meant for you if you are not a beginner.

  • Lie on either side
  • Say left hand, lift your right leg slowly while resting the other on the ground.
  • Reverse

The exercise helps in toning your hips.

9. Side Planks

  • If you want to maintain a proper posture and reduce stress on the spine, it’s time to take up side planks.
  • It strengthens the abdominal and back muscles, and the best thing is you can practice at any time.
  • But, to achieve the best results, you have to remain constant.
  • To perform side planks, extend your legs and lie on your right side and keep your feet and hips at rest on the floor.

10. Go for the Russian Twist

Yes, you heard it right; like its name, it’s an effective exercise you can perform at home to reduce weight.

  • You have to sit on a floor mat and lean back in a Russian twist until you feel that the abdomen area muscles are well stretched.
  • Create a V shape, and slowly twist from one side to the other.
  • Make sure you have the right posture to get the best results.

Even though you are confined to the four walls of your home, do not let this confinement stop you from following and achieving your fitness goals.

Make sure that you are eating right and following a workout routine to stay fit and healthy.

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December 1, 2020

Hydrow Review – Total Body Home Happiness

Hydrow Review - Total Body Home Happiness - Reviews, rowing, endurance, indoor rowing, power, technique, at home training, total body, at home workouts, stay fit at home, hydrow

Full disclosure: this isn’t going to compare the Hydrow home rowing system to a Concept 2 rower, which is probably what most readers of Breaking Muscle are most familiar with.

They are two completely different systems and we will include them both in a comparison roundup before Christmas. This is a review of a standalone home training system and not an adjunct to anything else.

What that means is that I assessed how the Hydrow shapes up as a total package assuming that it would be the center of an at-home training regimen.

I went into this with an open mind although I have a couple of confessions to make: I don’t like bikes or treadmills because as a cyclist, and a sometime runner, I prefer to do those things in the real world and am not limited by the land or weather around me.

Rowing uses 84% of your body’s musculature, far more than most other aerobic exercise modalities.

Eric Stevens, Breaking Muscle

And, I think the best bang for your buck is always going to get as close to possible to a total body solution; rowing fits the bill on all counts.

Frankly, most of us are never going to have a boat or scull or access to a suitable waterway, not to mention the necessary skill or ability to maneuver one on our own. While you don’t need much skill or instruction to ride a bike or run, rowing is an acquired skill which also adds to its appeal.

At a Glance
Product Hydrow Rowing Machine
Pros Sleek design, a strong user experience, and an impressive group of instructors make it fun, challenging, and engaging. Quiet electromagnetic resistance mechanism provides consistent tension for a unique indoor rowing experience.
Cons It doesn’t appeal to every budget and requires a membership pass.

Great Fitness Technology Comes at a Price

The Hydrow is rowing’s answer to Peloton bikes in so far as the way it is designed and where it might fit in the industry. Yet, I have seen a lot of commentary about the pricing of a Hydrow rower (priced at $1,995 with discounts right now) when compared to a Concept 2 (the Model D costs $900 before shipping and taxes) or a NordicTrack RW900 ($1,599 before shipping and taxes).

It is true that you can get cheaper indoor rowers but Hydrow is one of the emerging hybrid technology creations that are taking the fitness world by storm, making it part of a new category of devices.

It’s not surprise that the Hydrow comes with a 22-inch screen, an electromagnetic resistance mechanism and, most importantly, networked software and an infrastructure to support perfectly timed row-along workouts with top-notch instructors on the water. It’s slick design and high production values on the hardware, software, and content.

It’s goes without saying, the software that supports Hydrow is an engineering lift in itself and shouldn’t be discounted as if you’re logging into a YouTube channel. It’s a fully-functioning SaaS (software as a service) application built to scale for a large audience. If the weight of the software wasn’t enough, the hardware itself is about 145 lbs and measures 86x25x47 inches.

Hydrow Review - Total Body Home Happiness - Reviews, rowing, endurance, indoor rowing, power, technique, at home training, total body, at home workouts, stay fit at home, hydrow

The Hydrow may be glossy but it is also surprisingly solid; the aluminum and steel frame can hold a 375 lb person whereas NordicTrack maxes out at 250 lbs and a Peloton bike maxes out at 297 lbs.

Would it be nice if the Hydrow hit the 500 lb limit of a Model D? Sure but kudos to the Hydrow engineers for going that extra mile over their direct competition.

Getting Better at Rowing Tips:

  1. Don’t grip too hard
  2. Drive with your legs
  3. Drive straight back
  4. Don’t let your butt go solo
  5. Don’t pull with your arms
  6. Keep your elbows relaxed
  7. Don’t shrug your shoulders up
  8. Sit up tall at all times
  9. Don’t re-bend your knees too soon
  10. Focus on steady movement

The Hydrow’s 22-inch screen is clear and sharp, even with direct light on it. It swivels so that if you decided to switch to floor exercises, you can still see the screen, and it comes with a great software interface.

Again, some users have remarked about the similarity to the Peloton interface but frankly that’s nitpicking because most fitness apps these days are pretty close in terms of how you move through screens, find workouts, pick instructors and search. And a good thing, too, because it works.

If you know how to lift weights properly, you know how to row.

Ellen Tomek, Olympic Rower

It’s also worth pointing out that Hydrow, the company, has raised $52 million in investment and the money is all up there on the screen and in the design of the product. The user experience is peerless and everything, from the seat design to the feel of the resistance, feels like a premium product.

Your instructors are on the water, your pacing and their pacing has to synchronize, your experience of rowing is enhanced by the visuals, and the controls never get in the way or seem superfluous. This is a well-thought out product and has few weaknesses.

Hydrow Review - Total Body Home Happiness - Reviews, rowing, endurance, indoor rowing, power, technique, at home training, total body, at home workouts, stay fit at home, hydrow

If there was one fear that I had about committing to the Hydrow it was the potential liabilities of long-term maintenance. This is not a product that you can take apart and oil and fix yourself. Time will tell how that pans out for users but it’s not unusual to feel that pang of fear when you have invested heavinly in something like this.

Home Workouts Go Better with Help

If you are one of those people who is disciplined or advanced enough to do things on your own then the Hydrow may be frustrating to you in so far as it is best consumed as a guided experience.

You can’t ignore the screen or the software and go it alone. Participation in the community isn’t a must but you get absorbed into what other people are doing as you see their activity in rows with you or in a nice little feed that shows who has finished a row and how they performed.

It’s optional to share but it does work on an visceral level, engaging you and making you feel like you’re part of a group of fellow enthusiasts. You can filter the results by age and gender and it can be quite a motivational factor.

Hydrow Review - Total Body Home Happiness - Reviews, rowing, endurance, indoor rowing, power, technique, at home training, total body, at home workouts, stay fit at home, hydrow

However, the best part of it all is the instructors. You have real rowers, you have one or two person sculls, and proficient rowing on a body of water with bridges and boats and real world scenery.

In one workout, I saw the instructor have to adjust after getting too close to the walls of a tunnel under a bridge. You do feel like you are part of an experience on the water, even when you are as cynical as I am.

However, what really struck me was the fact that you are forced into maintaining good technique because of the intimacy of the instruction. Your instructor is right there in front of you, a skilled rower, and you can’t flail around or mess up your own form unless you turn off the sound and close your eyes.

Every row is different and can be a zen experience, as much as they are a challenge. The emphasis on form and consistency are a constant challenge, even to the best rowers.

If you have experienced rowing in a typical box gym without that follow along instruction, the experience on Hydrow is a revelation, feeling as close to being on the water as possible.

I am sure for actual rowers, that may seem an exagerration but I can only talk about how it made me feel as someone who hasn’t rowed on water but is now itching to try it out at some point.

I don’t know if indoor bikes and treadmills offer that same level of immersion. I was handed the Hydrow experience as a reviewer on these pages and I have become a believer.

Hydrow Indoor Rowing System
Weight 145 lbs
Dimensions 86x25x47 inches
Screen 22 inch display with 25 degree pivot in each direction
Connectivity Bluetooth connection, WiFi (10mbps recommended), Ethernet (optional) Wifi: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac; Ethernet: 100mbps/RJ45
Electrical

120-volt standard outlet; 60Hz; Power (Max): 210W, 2A; Power (Avg): 35W (.54A); Power (Idle): 5W (50mA)

Drag Mechanism Electromagnetic resistance that adjusts 240 times per second attached to a polyester webbing handle strap
Size Limit 36″ inseam; 375 lbs weight
Price $2,495 but expect holiday deals a plenty by signing up at Hydrow’s Shop. Expect to pay over $30 per month for membership

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