Training Archives - Page 17 of 20

Train Like a Boxer: 10 Exercises to Get You in Fighting Shape

I’ve always loved the sport of boxing.

When I was younger, I punched a few holes in the wall (sorry, mom and dad), and pretty soon afterwards my parents bought me a punching bag (which is all I always wanted anyway, guess I should have brought that up sooner).

I had no idea what I was doing then when I tried to punch the damn thing—all I knew was that boxers were always in incredible shape and really badass, and I wanted to be just like them.

Fast forward a few years later, I got my personal training certification and got a job at a gym in New York City solely based on the fact that it had a boxing ring and an awesome, incredibly badass trainer. I started taking lessons right away, and quickly learned all my hooks, jabs, and undercuts. I fell even deeper in love with the sport.

There’s something so satisfying, so primal in a way, of punching something (or someone) as hard as humanly possible.

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How to Get Out of a Workout Rut

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been in a bit of a workout rut lately.

My actual workouts are still going great. I’m making steady improvements, and never miss a day (unless it’s my rest day, but that’s intentional of course).

I still end up sweaty, breathless and starving at the end of each workout, and typically lay on the floor in an exhausted heap after the last timer beeps. And I almost always beat my previous times and reps.

But still… I feel like I need a challenge. Something new, something that I don’t immediately do really well, something that’s… hard for me. Something to shake things up.

I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.

Being in a rut (or at least, feeling like it), whether it’s with your workouts or something else in your life, sucks. If you’re anything like me, it makes you feel less empowered, less awesome, and definitely less badass.

But unsurprisingly, this isn’t the first time I’ve experienced this rut feeling… and luckily, I’ve figured out ways to get out of it in the past.

The King of Exercises: Kettlebell Swings

If you were looking for the single perfect exercise—one that would not only burn a ton of calories, scorch fat, build muscle, boost your endurance, as well as improve your posture and keep you from getting low back pain—you’d need to look no further than the kettlebell swing.

With all the benefits it has to offer, kettlebell swings are truly the ‘king of exercises’—and all they require is one heavy, medieval looking piece of equipment that lasts a lifetime.

They’re one of my favorite exercises to include in the 12 Minute Athlete workouts—you can see them here, and here, and even here.

So…what exactly is a kettlebell swing?

How to Assess Your Fitness Level

Most of the time, comparing yourself to others isn’t a good thing.

Looking through too many magazines with photoshopped, perfect bodies, measuring your own athletic abilities against those of super-trained, superhuman athletes—these types of comparisons can motivate you to push stronger, harder, faster—or they may cause you to lose all hope and give up all together.

But if you’re anything like me, you need some type of comparison to give you a sense of how fit you really are.

Back when you were in high school or junior high and played on a sports team or two (if you did play high school sports, of course), it was easy to figure out how fit you were. You knew whether you were good by how often you started on the basketball team, how often other players passed to you on the soccer field, how fast your 400 meter sprint was compared to the rest of the track team.

Six Awesome 4-Minute Tabata Workouts You Can Do At Home

Tabatas are one of my favorite types of workouts of all time.

They’re short, incredibly effective, and mindblowingly hard if you do them right—everything that comprises a good workout.

I wrote an entire post on why Tabata workouts are so awesome, so I won’t go too into detail about them here. But basically, Tabata workouts are a method of exercise that lasts only four minutes, and requires you to go all out for 20 seconds, then rest for 10 seconds. You’ll repeat this cycle eight times to complete the workout.

You’ll need a timer to effectively do a Tabata, since no one can accurately count to 20 seconds when they’re working that hard. You can get any kind you like, but I always use this one because of its portability.

And trust me on this one—if you think that you can do four minutes of exercise in your sleep, you’re underestimating how hard Tabata workouts really are (if you do them right, that is).

Because Tabata workouts will kick your ass—but they’re worth every second of the pain.

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10 Reasons to Love High Intensity Interval Training

Let’s face it: most people aren’t really fans of long, monotonous exercise. I know I’m not.

Still, it’s impossible to go to a gym that’s not packed with people spending hours at a time on the various treadmills and elliptical machines. Yet most of them aren’t there because they enjoy it. They’re there because they think it’s the most efficient way to burn fat and lose weight.

But here’s the thing: they’re wrong.

Because while the cardio machines may tell you you’re staying in the ‘fat burning zone’ when you’re running at 5.5 mph for 60 minutes, the truth is you’re burning less calories overall than if you worked harder for a shorter amount of time.

Yes, it’s true—you can actually burn more fat and calories when you work out for less time instead of more.

Because with high intensity interval training, you’ll actually burn calories more efficiently than you would running for hours, and it takes way less time to complete.

Announcing Fitter Faster Stronger: Get in the Best Shape of Your Life!

Get ready to get excited.

After months of planning, tons of time and effort creating really awesome workouts, countless calls with my mastermind group, weeks of editing, endless hours tweaking the design, and what feels like forever making sure I’ve created something I’m incredibly proud of and excited about…

I’m FINALLY officially releasing Fitter Faster Stronger!

So… what the heck is Fitter Faster Stronger?

Fitter Faster Stronger is a high intensity interval training (HIIT) program focusing on incredibly effective workouts that you can do with minimal equipment in around just 12 minutes a day.

This is the program I would have wanted when I was first starting out trying to get into shape. For less than the cost of one personal training session (or less than half the cost of one month’s gym membership), you can get the accountability, planning and motivation you need to get in the best shape of your life.

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7 Phenomenal Push Up Variations You Should Do

Push ups are one of the most underrated exercises of all time.

Most females assume they can’t even do them, and most guys assume they’re too good for them.

So what happens? People just don’t do them.

But here’s the thing: push ups are one of the best exercises you can do. Not only do they target every single muscle group of your upper body, they get you stronger, leaner and fitter overall in no time at all.

Push ups are also awesome because:

They’re a compound exercise, meaning you’ll save time on having to target all the individual muscles in your upper body.
They promote muscular balance in your body.
They are a total bodyweight exercise, so you never have to go to a gym or pull out any equipment to do them.

In fact… drop down and give me 10 push ups, right now!

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Bodyweight Training: How to Get in Incredible Shape With Zero Equipment

Most people think that the only way to get the fit, strong body they want is to work out with machines or heavy weights.

But most people are wrong.

Because here’s the thing: the popularity of training equipment mostly comes down to marketing. Fitness companies need to have something to sell you, so they sell you on machines, fancy gadgets, and complicated systems.

Sure, weights and a few pieces of uncomplicated equipment like plyometric boxes, kettlebells and medicine balls can be useful tools to propel you to the fitness level you want. But the truth is that you don’t need any of these to get into incredible shape.

Because the simplest and most effective way to develop strength, gain endurance and lose fat is to train using nothing more than your own body.

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How to Work Out Like an Athlete

I really, truly believe that deep down, everybody is an athlete.

It doesn’t matter if you sucked at sports in high school. Or how uncoordinated you are. Or if you can’t do a pull up (yet).

If you believe it, you are an athlete.

“If you have a body, you are an athlete.” – Bill Bowerman, Nike Founder

But you can’t truly harness your power as an athlete if you don’t act like one when you’re working out. If you really want to be an athlete, you have to train like one.

So here’s how to get started: