Kettlebell Oblique Raise (Windmill) 3-5 reps on each side

Kettlebell 2 Hand Swing 10-12 reps

TRX Push-up 10-12 reps

TRX Mountain Climbers 30 reps

Gym Rings Lying Pull-up 10-12 reps

5 Complete Rounds with little rest

This form of training is called circuit training or going from one exercise to another with little to no rest between each exercise.  I have been doing much more of this type of training recently because I can get more done in a shorter period of time.  Hey, the life of a strength coach is crazy and I really do not have much “free” time for myself.  I love it when people tell me they just don’t have enough time to workout.  When I ask them how many hours a day they work and they say 8 hours a day; I just can’t help it when I laugh at them since I average 12 hours a day.  Managing their time wisely is usually the problem as they sit there and watch a rerun of their favorite TV show.  EVERYONE needs some type of physical activity so as the Nike ads say-”just do it”.

If you feel that filming and sharing some of my personal workouts with you is helping you to come up with some training ideas for exercises and developing yourself a program; then just let me know and I will continue these clips a few times a month.  This website was originally put together to get training information out to people who seek it and will apply it.  All YOU have to do is request what you want to learn and/or see and I will do my best to fulfill those requests.

To your health,

Jerry

Mondays:  Total Body Weight Room Workout

Tuesdays: Speed Work, Acceleration/Deceleration Work, Agilities

Wednesdays: Total Body Circuit Training

Thursdays:  High Intensity Conditioning (Stadiums, Hill Sprints, etc)

BS Fridays: Total Body Weight Room Workout

Saturdays: Timed Mileage Run

Sundays: Rest, Recovery, Flexibility

My summer athletes are very dedicated and work really hard to prepare their bodies for their upcoming sport season.  Workouts are held at 6am and the most impressive part is that they all show up voluntarily to train.  In the video you will see athletes from field hockey, volleyball, wrestling, men’s basketball, women’s soccer, women’s water polo, and the diving team all participating in a Wednesday circuit training workout.  This is the workout they did:

A-1: TRX or Ring Suspended Push-up

A-2: Band Speed Row w/Scapular Retraction

A-3: Dumbbell Farmers Walk

A-4: 45 degree Back Extension w/plate

A-5: Kettle Bell Swing w/Alternating Lateral Step

A-6: Sit-up w/Plate

A-7: Bucket High Box Hop

A-8: Rope Climb

A-9: Light Weight Barbell Hang Clean

A-10: Speed Obstacle Hop

A-11: Tire Flip

Athletes will work at each station for 30 seconds and then rotate to the next station.  They will have 10 seconds to rest and get ready to start the next drill.  After all the stations have been completed they will get approximately 2 minutes rest and then repeat.  We ran four complete circuits.  These type of circuits not only get you stronger, more powerful, and conditioned; but it pushes you out of your comfort zone.  This is a desirable outcome for an athlete to become not only physically fit but mentally strong.

Try it-you may find it harder than it looks!

To your health,

Jerry

Fat loss is actually easy; getting a person out of their comfort level to achieve fat loss is the hard part.  Getting someone out of bad habits is the hard part.  Having them change their dietary intake is the hard part.  OK so I said it was easy and then gave three reasons why it is hard.  If you “really” want to make a change and loose some weight then do not try and do all of these at first because chances are you will be unsuccessful.  I would recommend you start with just exercise for two weeks, then start making gradual changes in your diet.  As you are progressively cleaning up your nutritional needs, try to drop a bad habit.  This might just be as easy as not staying up so late and going to bed a little earlier to give your body the rest it needs.  If you do things a little at a time you will be more likely to stick to a plan and change your ways of life to a better and more fit you.

In the video, I am giving you a fat loss circuit that can be done anywhere, does not need equipment, and can easily be modified according to your level of fitness.  First it is important to understand each exercise; so let me break them down for you:

Burpee: Start in a standing position.  Drop down and place your hands on the floor in front of your feet.  Explosively kick your feet straight back while placing your body weight on your hands and maintaining a tight contraction in your abdominal area (squeeze your belly in tight).  Then with no pause bring the feet back up to your hands and jump straight up as fast and as hard as you can.  Repeat for time or reps.  If you are overweight and this exercise is to advanced, start with just going through the motions.  Get down into a push-up position and then stand up and keep repeating in that fashion until it gets easier.

“T” Push-ups: Start in a push-up position.  Complete a push-up and then transfer your weight onto one hand and foot and rotate the body keeping your mid section tight until you make your body look like the letter “T”.  This is done in a controlled tempo.  Once you have achieved the “T” position return to the push-up and repeat on the other side.  Repeat for time or reps.  If you are unable to do a push-up or rotate just focus on maintaining a solid push-up position with your core tight.  After you have mastered that for the time, work on lowering yourself down slowly into the down position of the push-up.  Keep progressing until you complete your first push-up.  Another option would be to complete push-ups from your knees.

Mountain Climber: Start in a push-up position and bring one foot up (knee towards the chest).  In that position, tighten your mid section and then start alternating your feet driving the knees up towards the chest.  Do this as fast as you can while still maintaining good form and technique.  Repeat for time or reps.  If you can not maintain that position; stand up and do a standing march.  March in place and swing your arms.

Speed Jacks: This is just an old school jumping jack but done aggressively.  Bring your arms up above your head in a circular motion until they touch.  At the same time split your feet out wide away from the mid line of your body.  Explosively, bring your arms back down to your sides as you bring your legs back together.  Repeat for time or reps.  If jumping is to hard on your joints; bring your arms up above your head and step out to the side.  Step back as you bring your arms back down.  Then repeat stepping out in the opposite direction.

For my athletes and my clients; I always say there are NO EXCUSES!  This circuit can be done for all levels of fitness.  Just like most fitness routines; you may just have to modify it to meet your abilities.  So if you are reading this and you know you are very over weight then try doing the modification that I suggested.  If you are very advanced, try doing some of these exercises with light weight dumbbells in your hands.

In the video I supplied this workout:

Burpee 20 seconds

rest 10 seconds

“T” Push-ups 20 seconds

rest 10 seconds

Mountain Climbers 20 seconds

rest 10 seconds

Speed Jacks 20 seconds

rest 10 seconds and repeat for more sets

You can easily see how this circuit could be modified by increasing or decreasing the times, or doing each exercise for a set number of reps.  Either of these approaches can produce great results but you MUST push yourself out of your comfort level to see any of them.  I am a big believer that this type of conditioning will produce much better and faster results by raising your metabolism than running on a treadmill or elliptical.

If you are working on getting in shape and really like this approach to conditioning than I would recommend you look into Joe Hashey’s Bull Strength Conditioning Manual.  He mixes in body weight circuits with weights to accomplish some awesome and very challenging short but effective workouts.

Here is the direct link for more information on his system: Click Here!

Remember, you need to take the first step in getting into shape.  Give this circuit an honest try.  It does not take long.  Try doing it two days a week for two weeks then add a third day and make a small change in your diet.  Little steps turn into big steps over time.  Now take that first step to a better you!

To your health,

Jerry

PS-Here is a review that I did at www.bestfitnessproductreview.com on the Bull Strength Conditioning Manual.

This is called 8 Count Body Builders because it is exactly eight distinct movements that are involved to execute this sequence of exercises.  In the video, I purposely paused at each position in the first two rounds and then went at speed in the third round.  Here are the eight movements:

1. Drop down and place hands on the floor
2. Put weight on your hands and kick your feet straight back
3. Maintain position and spread legs apart
4. Explosively bring legs back together
5. Lower body into down position of a push-up
6. Finish the push-up
7. Bring feet back up to the hands
8. Explode straight up into a jump

I learned this exercise from a strength coach who was once in the military and he told me they would do this exercise for conditioning when they could not go out and run.  I am not sure if the military still does this conditioning but it does work.  Learn the movements and then try to do them as fast as you can while still maintaining good form.  I will have my athletes and clients do 10 of them continuously as fast as they can with 1 minute rest periods.  I will run multiple sets depending on their level of conditioning.  If you are not in very good shape just try to complete 3-5 of them and rest for 1-2 minutes then repeat.

What I really love about these is that you can do them just about anywhere and you require no equipment.  This is a great sequence of body weight exercises to do if you are traveling.  You can do them right the privacy of your hotel room.  8 Count Body Builders are also great for accomplishing some of your challenging fat loss goals.  If done with a good demanding intensity, you will really boost up your metabolism and help burn off a large amount of calories post exercise and it won’t have to be a long drawn out workout.

Give it a try and let me know what you think.  You will thank me when you drop down a pants size!!

To your health,

Jerry

There are many ways to train the calf muscles. The exercises in this video post focus mainly on the gastrocnemius muscle in a standing position.  You can also train calves in a seated position.  This will also contract the gastronemius but in a secondary role as the soleus muscle, which is under the gastrocnemius, would be the primary firing muscle.  OK, I am sorry, I don’t want to sound like a textbook.

Training with high reps or low reps, toes in or out, wide, shoulder, or narrow stance, both feet or single leg is up to you.  Remember the calf muscle is no different than your triceps muscle so do not get pulled into the idea of needing to do isolated calf raises every workout.  There will be some level of calf stimulation with every standing exercise you do.  If you are doing isolation work; I would recommend trying to go the full range of motion each rep.  Hold it in the stretched position for a second or two and then in the contracted position for another second or two.  Your calf should almost feel like it is going to cramp up.  When you have reached this type of feeling you know you are getting great muscular recruitment.

In the video I show you how to use a simple chunk of 2″ x 4″ board; but really you will want it to be a little higher to get a truer full range of motion.  A step works great.   If you are just starting out; body weight calf raises in a controlled temp as explained would more than likely be all you need.  Progress by adding weight and experiment with different rep ranges.  I have some silly names that I use to represent these rep ranges.  I position the feet toes forward and in three different positions: shoulder width, wide stance, and narrow width and all reps done consecutively.  Here are some sample sets for you to try.

Satan Calves: 6-6-6 (Heaviest Calf Day)

Crazy Eight Calves: 8-8-8

Dirty Thirties: 10-10-10

Dirty Dozen: 12-12-12

I usually don’t go higher reps than that but I will do a 100 rep set and break it into sets of 25 reps and all reps are kept at shoulder width.

I hope that helps and I answered the questions that was asked.  If you have a training question or want some ideas on training just ask and I will try to keep up answering all your requests.

To your health,

Jerry

Injury prevention exercises are always a priority while writing up programs for my athletes.  I also hold these same ideals when it comes to training programs for my clients and yes even for myself.  I love going on backpacking trips and hiking those trails that take you away from civilization and back to nature.  There is a lot of good solid exercise involved in hiking a rocky trail with a 50 pound backpack loading you down the entire way.  So training for these trips is vital so I can truly enjoy the entire adventure and not get tired or injured along the way.

These ankle mobility techniques I believe have saved my ankles on more than one occasion.  Sometimes the trails are rocky and sometimes I have to cross a stream by going from rock to rock.  Let’s face it, rocks do not always stay in place and many times roll from under your foot.  Having mobility and being able to stabilize not only protects my ankles but also my knees and has helped to prevent falls.

I believe these simple type of joint mobility exercises are very important for everyone.  Give them a try and see if your ankles start feeling better in a few weeks; heck they will feel better right after you do them.

Hope these help!

Jerry

Training the muscles of the posterior chain is extremely important when it comes to injury prevention, strength, speed, and power.  This is a great exercise for the hamstrings, glutes, and core musculature.  These are important muscles responsible for running, sprinting, and jumping.  As shown in the video, you can perform the stability ball hamstring curl glute raise with one foot; but I recommend learning it with both feet on the ball first.

Stability Ball Hamstring Curl Glute Raise:

• Lay on the ground, extend your arms out to the sides, and place a stability ball under your calves and heels of your feet.
• Pull with your feet the stability ball back towards you until the bottom of your feet are on the ball.
• You will be trying to maintain a very tight mid-section as you do this.
• Squeeze your glutes and raise your hips until you are able to make a straight line from your knees through your hips and into your shoulder joints.
• Maintain the position and then extend the legs back out to your starting position but keep constant tension (contraction) in your core.  I would also like to point out that even though your core muscles are tight you should still be able to breath normally.
• Repeat for the deisred number of repititions or until you fatigue.

This exercise looks pretty easy but give it an honest go and you will be pleasantly surprised how effective this movement can be.

I recently got a request from Khyati asking if I could show a body weight exercise for the hamstrings that would require no equipment.  Well, I almost did.  The only equipment you would need for this exercise would be paper plates, a towel, or some soft socks.   I love how sliding the heel towards your back gets so much activation of not only the hamstring but the glute musculature as well.  This works best on smooth surfaces and I typically like doing higher reps.  My rep range is usually between 12-20 reps.  As seen in the video, there are ways to increase the difficulty and resistance which would result in different working rep ranges.

This can be done as a stand alone exercise, combined with another exercise, or used as a timed station during circuit training.  Try this at home for a quick lower body workout or on the road in a hotel room:

A-1:  Wall Sit 30sec-1min

A-2:  Paper Plate Hamstring Work 30sec-1min

Keep Supersetting (repeating back to back exercises with little to no rest) for 4-6 rounds.  Your legs will be burning and your heart rate will be racing!!  Try it if you think I am kidding.

Wall Sit Defined: Lean against a wall and squat down (keeping your back against the wall) until your knees are bent at a 90 degree angle.  Make sure your feet are flat on the floor and you are pushing the small of your back into the wall as you keep full contact up through the shoulder blades and the back of your head.  Hold that position for the prescribed time or until you fatigue.  To get more muscular involvement; place a pillow between your knees and squeeze the pillow as you maintain the wall sit.  Enjoy the burn!!

Hope that helps!  Keep the requests coming!  I love sharing and helping you out to reach your training goals!

To your health,

Jerry

A Variety Trainer subscriber (Sherry) asked a simple question; it was “what else can you do with a stability ball other than crunches, sit-ups, and rollouts?”.   First, Sherry thank you very much for subscribing to the newsletter.  It really means a lot to me that you find the information that I am sharing useful.  Now to answer your question, there are literally hundreds maybe even thousands of exercises that you can do with a stability ball.  In the video, I had the athletes play around with the balls and I just randomly recorded a few of them.  As you can see, a stability ball can be used in more ways than actually just getting on top of it to perform exercises, although that was what it was originally designed for.

A stability ball can also be combined with weights such as dumbbells, kettlebells, and even with cable machines.  Try experimenting with a ball and see what you can come up with and be creative.  Many exercises were developed on those exact principles, but be careful.  Remember you are using a unstable object.  Always know your limitations and abilities.  Basically be smart.  I have never and will never tell someone to stand on a ball.  That is just asking for it!  I hope this helps Sherry and we have given you some new exercises or ideas to try out.

If you need answers to a question or would like to see a topic or certain exercise covered just let me know.  Also, if you have not signed up for the newsletter-please do so.  You will receive a Core Stabilization E-Book that has descriptive explanations and laid out programs for you to work with.  There is absolutely NO cost to you and I promise I won’t clog up your email with a lot of newsletters.  I will just update you periodically of the new posts or share some useful information with you for free.

Thank you,

Jerry

If you like seeing these little tips and would like to learn more about how to train a certain body part or how to use a training implement-just let me know.  I am here to provide answers and share information.

To your health,

Jerry