Training

How to Get a Really Strong Core With L-Sits

 

L-sits are one of those exercises that if you’ve never actually tried them before, look pretty, well, doable.

All you have to do is hold yourself up with your arms, straighten your legs and BAM—you’re in an L-sit. But in reality, they’re much more difficult than they sound.

I can clearly remember my first time trying an L-sit—I was at a bar in New York City with a few other trainer friends of mine, and the guys were demonstrating their L-sit skills off of a pool table (yeah, showoffs). I hadn’t been a trainer for very long at that point and hadn’t really ever seen one done, but I gave it a shot and completely failed.

I remember making up some excuse that my arms were too long or something like that—but looking back, there’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that I simply wasn’t strong enough to do them.

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5 Reasons You’re Not Getting Stronger

Ever feel like you’ve reached a plateau and that no matter what you do, you just don’t seem to be getting stronger?

Yeah, we’ve all been there.

In fact, that’s one of the biggest downsides about bodyweight training—it can be harder to measure your progress, since so many of the movements are all or nothing. This means that unlike weight training, where you can up the weight five pounds every week or so, with bodyweight training you’ll be doing the same thing… over and over.

So it can definitely be kind of discouraging when you feel like you’ve been working at something forever and you still can’t do it.

Here are 5 reasons why you might not be getting stronger:

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Why You Should Add Rings to Your Workouts (And How to Get Started Using Them)

 

One of the simplest, yet most effective training tools of all time is something that nearly every playground has (yet exists in very few commercial gyms)—rings. 

And unless you’re a former gymnast or regularly train at a CrossFit gym, you probably haven’t used rings since you were a kid. Yet a sturdy pair of rings will only set you back about $30, and will add a whole new level to your training.

So why are rings such an amazing workout tool? Training with rings will:

  • Add an element of instability to any exercise, automatically making it harder and more effective 
  • Seriously help to push through workout plateaus
  • Increase the difficulty level and challenge of pretty much any bodyweight exercise
  • Make you feel like a kid again!

Plus, once you master the basics, you can start doing even cooler looking (and extra fun) things like iron crosses, skin the cats, front/back levers and even handstand push ups using rings.

Yet if you think that adding rings to your workouts is going to be easy, you’re in for a big surprise. Training with rings is tough—even for the really fit.  And while it’s an awesome goal to work up to crazy hard exercises on the rings, most of us aren’t quite there yet.

Here are four ways to ease into adding rings to your training:

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5 Stretches You Should Be Doing on a Regular Basis

 

Although I rarely miss a workout, I’ve never been very good about ensuring I give my body the proper recovery it needs to bounce back after all my hard work.

Because even though I talk a lot about taking rest days, foam rolling, and not overtraining, mobility and recovery have been some of the hardest habits for me to build (and I know I’m not alone here). After all, recovery is boring. Sitting around with a foam roller for 30 minutes? I’d rather do a workout in half that time any day.

And when it comes to stretching, I’ve been even worse. I’ll tell myself I’ll stretch while watching TV at night, but when attempting to do this the other night I realized the main reason I rarely do it: stretching hurts!

I’m not talking about half-ass, wimpy stretching. I mean real stretching. Getting deep into those muscles so that you feel like you want to scream or cry or throw up or something similar.

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New Year’s Resolution Check-In (Three Months)

Back in the beginning of the year, I wrote about how to set New Year’s resolutions that you’ll actually keep, and asked you guys to tell me about your own personal resolutions for the year.

Your responses gave me hope, made me smile, and really made me appreciate how awesome and determined you guys are. Your answers ranged from everything from holding a 10 second freestanding handstand to getting 100 burpees in under 10 minutes to accomplishing your very first pull up. I’ll admit too that it made me proud that you guys were focused not just on looks—because getting fit and healthy is so much more than just looking good.

In that post, I also outlined my own resolutions for the year, and mentioned that I would check in quarterly with you guys to see how your resolutions were coming along and give you some accountability to help you stick with them.

So here we are at the beginning of April (I know, what? Where has the year gone?)… and it’s time to see how those resolutions are coming along!

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7 Awesome Workouts to Get You in Shape Before Summer

 

There’s no question that we tend to focus here on getting you feeling stronger and fitter, rather than focusing just on how you look.

Because I really, truly believe if you follow the 80/20 rule and work out like an athlete, the body you want will just follow.

Yet even if you’re still surrounded by snow, summer will be here before you know it—and if you want to feel more confident while half-naked at the beach (and really, who doesn’t?), the time to start hitting it hard is NOW.

Here are 7 workouts to get you in shape before summer rolls around:

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How Often Do You Really Need to Work Out?

 

One of the questions I get asked a lot from you guys is, “how often do I really need to work out to meet my goals?”

The first answer that always comes to my mind is that depends on your body—and your own personal goals. Someone trying to lose 20 pounds is probably going to need to work out more than someone trying to just maintain, just as an athlete looking to boost their strength and conditioning will want to work out more often than someone just looking to look better in a bathing suit.

But, since that answer doesn’t really satisfy anyone (I wonder why…), I’m going to do my best to give you some guidelines on how often to work out based on your goals:

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The Best Bodyweight Exercises for Strong, Powerful Legs

 

Unless you’re that guy at the gym—the one with giant back, arms and chest muscles but stick legs—you no doubt already know the importance of working your legs. Because not only will working your legs result in a nice, well balanced physique, they’ll also make you more functionally fit and a better athlete overall.

But although a lot of people think the only way to work your legs is to work the machines or squat rack at the gym, what the average gym-goer doesn’t realize is that many of the best leg exercises can be done with nothing but your own bodyweight—making them the ultimate excuse-free exercises.

Here are 7 of the best bodyweight exercises for strong, powerful legs:

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How to Do a Perfect Push Up

  Let’s face it: there are a lot of misconceptions about what a push up really is. But it’s time to clear that up. Because while it’s absolutely fine to be less than perfect when you’re first starting out, you should know what to aim for in the future and focus on building up the strength …

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7 Tips For a Better Handstand

 

Unless you were a gymnast most of your life and have always been comfortable being upside down, the first time you try a handstand as an adult can be a bit scary, to say the least.

Heck, it’s a miracle if you even get into a handstand in the first place, let alone discover you have the necessary shoulder strength to hold yourself in that foreign position for more than just a few seconds.

And if you did a handstand for the first time ever recently, you are awesome. Seriously. You should be really, really proud of yourself.

But just like as with anything else, as you get better, you’re going to want to up your game. There’s a reason you flop around and fall whenever you try a freestanding handstand (speaking from experience here)—because your form is probably lacking. Get the form right, and you’ll be amazed at how quickly your handstands begin to improve.

Here are 7 tips you can apply to your handstand training starting today for a better, more solid handstand:

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