Results matching “log”

Outdoor training began this week at Straight to the Bar. The following appeared during brief periods indoors :

• Articles : The ever-inventive Jason Kirby had some more fun with barbells, John Kaiser looked at his growing passion for multi-joint exercises and Max Misch explained his own training style.
• Videos : Scott Sonnon masters the saddle, the Diesel Crew demonstrated their excellent Shoulder Rehab Protocol and this 'Flying Squirrel' demonstration just has to be seen to be believed. Incredible.
• Blog Action Day : Several pieces appeared for Blog Action Day, including - 7 Steps to Getting Rid of Your Household Waste, Does mainstream media have a positive outlook on climate change? and Blaine's The Environmental Impact of Running. A good read.
• Ideas : Grab a hip flask body bottle and go for a run, have a go at Josh Sodja's hip flexor training (much harder than it looks) and try the 'bodyweight walkout' - sort of a low-energy burpee. Great idea.
• Bonus : Via Michael Eades - 'Chicken Charlie', the man who fries everything [streaming video]. Mmmm.

If you've just joined us from the old site, welcome. Here's some more of Iron Goddess Robin Coleman.

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After some pondering, and questioning what else we could do with a barbell, the authors of All Around Strength decided to try and become flying squirrels using 2 Olympic bars, and 2 45 lb. plates. The set up is very simple, put a plate on each end of both bars, and all of a sudden you've got a nice set of parallettes.

But unlike solid parallettes these ones move sideways and offer a new plane of unstable training. Obviously if we had all day we could come up with all sorts of interesting exercises, but here's a few ideas. The main concept we were able to train well was abduction, and adduction.

So here are some of the exercises we came up with, and hopefully these can help spark some interest or give a new idea or two. I will say that if you do these, it's at your own risk, they're not very stable and it is very easy to fall or get injured.

Barbell Fly and Flying Squirrel

Here's the Barbell Fly and Flying Squirrel combined. Basically you get on the barbells however you can and fly your arms out, and straddle your legs so that you're spread out like a flying squirrel, and then bring them back together.

Double Barbell Jackknife

The Double Barbell Jackknife; essentially getting on two barbells and allowing your arms and legs to drift apart, and then closing them back up, as you would in a jackknife.

The Angry Cat

The Angry Cat, or semi dive bomber abduction and adduction; not sure how to describe it, just watch and see.

Double Barbell Split Pike

The Double Barbell Split Pike; this one is essentially having one foot forward and one foot back, and then spreading your legs and closing them together.

Double Barbell Bridge and Curl

The Double Barbell Bridge and Curl; doing just a simple bridge on the barbells, and then allowing the legs to drift out, and curling them back.

The Amazing Flying Squirrel

The Amazing Flying Squirrel; essentially doing a fly and leg abduction simultaneously and then closing them back together. For some added variety you can go one leg at a time, or only go on one side a at a time.

Double Barbell Squats

Double Barbell Squats, with some minor adduction; just balancing on the bars and squatting, and allowing the legs to drift apart for added instability.

Nothing beats finishing with an L-Sit.

Do you want to lose weight? Is your desire to lose weight complicated by an extreme dislike for almost all forms of cardiovascular training? Do you hate running; do you refuse to shell out half a grand for a decent bike; or are you too insecure about your sexuality to do the Denise Austin workout- you know the one, it comes on the Lifetime channel at 7 a.m., err, or so I hear from others? What are you to do?

Well there is good news, you can lose weight in both an efficient and manly way, without the hassle of putting on reflective clothing to run at night, buying an expensive bike, or worrying your friends might catch you engaged in an aerobics workout at the local gym. Don't worry, you can thank me later. For now let's just talk about my not-so-revolutionary weight loss technique.

First of all, you should know that my suggestions are based in personal experience. I have lost 40lbs over the last eight months. How? Well certainly not due to running- which I've done on and off, but mostly off. My weight loss could be partially due to an improved diet, although I've had some quite noticeable errors in nutritional judgment. In my defense, who can resist the allure of three-cheese pizza? The one thing I did consistently was my weight training regimen; it was my key to steady and sustained weight loss. It could be yours too!

You ask, but isn't weight lifting for building muscle? Well yes, but there is much more to the world of weights than big muscles. Done properly your resistance training routine can both build muscle and burn substantial calories during and after your workout. There is one big psychological hurdle you'll have to overcome. Especially those of us who lifted weights back in high school. This might be tough news to take, so maybe you should sit down. Okay, I'm sorry to tell you this, but, no more bicep curls.

Before you get in a huff let me explain. The key to weight loss through weight lifting is multi-joint exercises. There are two reasons that multi-joint exercises are preferable to single-joint exercises. First, they build muscle efficiently and they do it in a balanced fashion. Second, by bringing together so many muscle groups you burn more calories in the same amount of time. Sure bicep curls look really cool in the mirror and no doubt you think they give the ladies in the gym the chance to check out your guns- you know who you are sleeveless shirt guys. Yet, you are wasting valuable time. So stop it already! Well okay, you can do them, but limit them to no more than one of out your three weekly workouts.

Do you want to lose weight? Is your desire to lose weight complicated by an extreme dislike for almost all forms of cardiovascular training? Do you hate running; do you refuse to shell out half a grand for a decent bike; or are you too insecure about your sexuality to do the Denise Austin workout- you know the one, it comes on the Lifetime channel at 7 a.m., err, or so I hear from others? What are you to do?

Well there is good news, you can lose weight in both an efficient and manly way, without the hassle of putting on reflective clothing to run at night, buying an expensive bike, or worrying your friends might catch you engaged in an aerobics workout at the local gym. Don’t worry, you can thank me later. For now let’s just talk about my not-so-revolutionary weight loss technique.

First of all, you should know that my suggestions are based in personal experience. I have lost 40lbs over the last eight months. How? Well certainly not due to running- which I’ve done on and off, but mostly off. My weight loss could be partially due to an improved diet, although I’ve had some quite noticeable errors in nutritional judgment. In my defense, who can resist the allure of three-cheese pizza? The one thing I did consistently was my weight training regimen; it was my key to steady and sustained weight loss. It could be yours too!

You ask, but isn’t weight lifting for building muscle? Well yes, but there is much more to the world of weights than big muscles. Done properly your resistance training routine can both build muscle and burn substantial calories during and after your workout. There is one big psychological hurdle you’ll have to overcome. Especially those of us who lifted weights back in high school. This might be tough news to take, so maybe you should sit down. Okay, I’m sorry to tell you this, but, no more bicep curls.

Before you get in a huff let me explain. The key to weight loss through weight lifting is multi-joint exercises. There are two reasons that multi-joint exercises are preferable to single-joint exercises. First, they build muscle efficiently and they do it in a balanced fashion. Second, by bringing together so many muscle groups you burn more calories in the same amount of time. Sure bicep curls look really cool in the mirror and no doubt you think they give the ladies in the gym the chance to check out your guns- you know who you are sleeveless shirt guys. Yet, you are wasting valuable time. So stop it already! Well okay, you can do them, but limit them to no more than one of out your three weekly workouts.

So if multi-joint is the way to go, what kind of exercises should you be doing? Well, good news is you are probably already familiar with most of them. Ever heard of squats, deadlifts, chin-ups, shoulder press, bench press, clean and press, leg press, push-ups, or even pull-downs? But there’s more.

It’s not just the exercises you do, but it’s also how you do them. Do you stand around and talk with the cute girl on the hip abductor machine instead of moving on to your next exercise? Well if you do and you get her number good for you! Otherwise, you are wasting your time again. Keep your time between exercises down to 30 seconds or less, and if you can try using a couple supersets in your workout. Supersets, for the uninitiated, are two exercises back to back, NO rest. From experience I’ve found the following workout both challenging and efficient.

• Squats and Chin-ups (superset)
• Clean & Press and Pull-downs (superset)
• Bench Press and Push-ups (superset)
• Lunges and deadlifts (superset)

If you’ve got the time and you are a glutton for punishment, don’t be afraid to add another cycle to your routine. But truth be told, once will probably be enough- assuming you are lifting enough weight for the appropriate number of reps. How much weight? How many reps? Ah, ha! You’ll have to come back here next week to find out. Till then, happy lifting!

For further reading check out…

Askmen.com: Multi-joint Exercises - More Muscle in Less Time

Note: This article is meant as a corrective on the tendency of many men to do countless sets of bicep curls, tricep pushdowns, wrist curls, et al. By no means am I encouraging you to completely purge single-joint exercises from your routine. Indeed, it would be wise to save one every third or fourth workout to incorporate and rotate in single joint exercises. Also, be keen to your own weak spots, and incorporate single joint exercises to fortify any weaknesses.

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Via All Around Strength : a very brief look at Josh Sodja's Hip Flexor Training. Harder than it looks (and a great stretch).

Via Abandoned by Wolves : Scott Sonnon looks at how to get started with kettlebell lifting. Not bad at all.

Via Abandoned by Wolves : Scott Sonnon looks at how to get started with kettlebell lifting. Not bad at all.

Looking for ideas? Take a look at Denmark's Jacob Søndergaard in action. For lots more, check out his blog - great stuff.

Looking for ideas? Take a look at Denmark's Jacob Søndergaard in action. For lots more, check out his blog - great stuff.