Tag Archives: Fitness

A game of fitness

high-level1

I’ve been in a training rut lately. Going through the motions without a clear goal. This either changes now or I may just hang the towel and start something a bit more fun. Fitness, as many other hobbies, should be enjoyable. So, changes ought to be made.

Why make a game out of fitness

Why am I doing this? Mainly to make it fun again. Making fitness a game is a fun way to track, plan and do your workouts. Making a game out of fitness allows me to see where I stand, and where I want and need to go easier. So, I’m making this a game. I’m RPG-ing my workouts.

Why make it like an RPG

The structure of an RPG game makes perfect sense in fitness; you’ve got all the elements. But we’ll focus only on character progression. So we’ve got:

  • Character stats: This shows the present. How strong, conditioned, flexible, mobile, etc.
  • A leveling up pattern: This is when your stats change. You get stronger, more flexible, mobile, better conditioned, better balanced, etc. and you gain new skills and abilities.
  • Miscellaneous skills: These are side skills not directly related (or anywhere close) to fitness. As you did in Skyrm, you can become an alchemist, you get better at wielding weapons, you get better at magic. In real life you can get better at those, true, or we can get parallel: you become a better at other unrelated skills that make your character whole, you learn to cook, you learn to groom, you learn to write. These may not directly affect your fitness, but no good RPG is without its side quests.

So as I said before, it makes perfect sense from a tracking and planning standpoint. Your character starts at level 1/whatever level it is you are at, and you plan accordingly on what you want to improve and maintain. You plan your workouts with that in mind! If you need to be better at flexibility you may start doing yoga as the meat of your workouts while keeping the other skill on par.

How to play the game

Every game has a set of rules, and this is no different, especially since you won’t be getting magic anytime soon to help you out.

Only rule: be honest with yourself

You start where you start, and wherever that is, it’s important to start at your level. There’s no one game in which you can get to the end-boss after two levels, and if you did, you’d get destroyed before your first move. So no, you start killing rats, you start taking out the lowest of the lowest of enemies. Why? Because you can take them, it will be hard at first, but eventually you’ll level up. And as you get better, so should your “enemies”.

On leveling up

This is usually one of the best parts of any RPGish game. You level up, your stats increase and you get new skills. It’d be awesome if this would work that way in real life. You walk 3kms a day and you become overall stronger, more flexible and powerful. It doesn’t. Fitness is more complex. You get better at certain skills that relate to stats. Getting better at yoga will make you more flexible and balanced, but it probably won’t do jack for your strength and conditioning. So this is how it works:

You level up as you practice your skills and these affect your stats. You get better at a skill and you get stronger, better conditioning, more balanced, etc. Some even make you better all around. You go through the progressions of a certain skill and you get the benefits. Practicing pull-ups makes you stronger, once you get strong enough you can start practicing the next exercise in the progression towards the one arm chin or the muscle up, you practice yoga and you get closer to nirvana. That’s how leveling up works.

Skills

As I said before, you practice skills and your stats get better. It’s quite simple. You bench press and as your bench gets stronger you get stronger. Simple right? Well, get to it!

Of course, and as in many great RPGs, once you get up to a certain level in a skill, others will need to get to par in order to keep progressing, this is where accessory exercises come into play. To keep with the bench press example: you strengthen your back, shoulders and triceps to help your overall bench. In RPG terms: your equipment must be up to par (wooden swords are not good for stronger monsters).

Skill progression for a game of fitness

Skyrim is probably the ultimate example of mapping your skills

HP

When you start on any videogame, your HP is freakishly low. Low as hell. That’s why we start slow. You start killing sewer rats and weak monsters, and each hit you take takes a lot of your total HP, but as you level up, your HP increases and your resistance to hits. So, not only do they take a smaller percentage of your total HP but in numbers it is still smaller. You can do more before you have to stop and take a break (or dying).

In fitness it’s much of the same. You start with easier exercises that take enough of you as to elicit an adaptive response. You don’t jump to pistols directly, slowly progress to them.

Recovery

As Hp gets drained you need to recuperate in order to go back out again and train your skills to level up. You do this by feeding, resting and sleeping. So eat enough and sleep well. There’s nothing else you can do as effective as that to regain your HP!

Awards

There’s no RPG without prizes. You go through a dungeon and you expect, nay, you demand a treasure chest filled to the brim with new weapons, gold, and assorted items. In this game, there are no dungeons, and I don’t really know there’s a lot of old pharaonic tombs left to raid. So you’ll have to award yourself for every accomplishment you manage. Just keep a simple rule: Those awards should help you in achieving the next goals (those dungeons on the game were left with things that would help you in your quest). So, award your running victories with new shoes, your barbell gains with more weights, your fatloss goals with a new wardrobe (you get my meaning).

Potions

No role-playing game is complete without potions. But, in a game of fitness you should consider most potions as you would in a Fallout game. Some, the better ones, will help you recover HP with little to no drawbacks, others, will have some serious ones. It’s your game and your life, play it as you wish. Just be well informed.

By the way, potions won’t ever be able to replace food and sleep. They’ll work supplementing them.

Building your Character

Now we get to the stuff. This is the you of the game of fitness. You’ll want to be honest with yourself when you complete it:

  • HP: XX

    Character stats are key for a game of fitness

    Just change the names for the skills you want to set into your stats!

  • Strength: X/100
  • Conditioning: X/100
  • Balance: X/100
  • Flexibility: X/100
  • Mobility: X/100
  • Agility: X/100
  • Power: X/100
  • Recovery: XX
  • Weight: XX
  • BF%: XX%

This is where you start. Embrace it.

Now, imagine how you want to end up as. Have a clear picture of what that end person can do, how he looks and how he moves and his end stats (try not to make it 100/100, that’s like being a god in AD&D). Write those things down (if that’s too hard, imagine a videogame character you’d like to emulate). Now start mapping what skills you’ll need to improve on to get there, and what tools you’ll need to get there.

Once you have those skills, map them, and put all the skills between you and your end goal (example: If a strict muscle up is the end goal, you’ll need to get pretty good at dips and pull-ups and muscle-ups as well). Make a roadmap out of it. Every skill you achieve is a +1 for that stat. Only multi-joint skills counts (preacher curls don’t add to your stats, but will help you to build up on skills that do), and some skills will improve on more than one stat (Pistol squats, for example, will be awesome for balance and strength).

Some tips to win

  • Think of it as an actual RPG game. You’ll have to put in the hours.
  • Better to play smart than strong. Plan according to your goals and focus.
  • Use the tools at your disposal. Don’t leave them for “later” or you’ll end up with a full stock of elixirs that would’ve made the whole game easier.
  • Always face a boss with full hp, play it safe.

Now press start to play

Motus Virtute

7 reasons to keep a training log

I know, I make it sound as if it were optional. But truth is, you absolutely must keep an updated training log. Be it in your computer, online, on a notepad (whatever floats your boat), this is a must have for any trainee, whatever your goals are. Why should you keep one?

Checking where you’re at

This is basic. It lets you know, objectively, where you’re at: what exercises you’re doing, what weights you’re moving (if any), what volume you’re doing, intensity, etc. Everything should be written down. Why? Because tomorrow you may forget what you did today, and you may need to make adjustments.

Checking what you’re doing

This is very important. This will let you know what it is that you’re regularly doing, what you’re paying extra attention to (probably your strong points). This will allow you to adjust and make sure everything you’re doing is balanced (unless you’re doing it on purpose).

It will show you what you’re not doing

As important, or even more so, than the former point. It will let you know what you’re regularly skipping. Ever heard someone make a question about their training and how it’s not giving them results? Here’s where the answer lies most of the time. Check what you’re missing, it will probably be the key to success.

Let’s you see what’s working, and what’s not

Try keeping a log regularly for 3 months and check on your goals. How much closer are you? What’s gotten closer? Then check your log, you’ll see exactly why. Keep what’s working, change what’s not. This is the main benefit of having a training log: it helps you.

Making adjustments

As stated before: you’re going to see what’s working and what’s not. Having a clear status on this will let you know what to change and how to change it.

Tailoring your routine

Eventually your training log will be a huge fountain of information about your training. Showing exactly what works, what doesn’t and for how long. You’ll be able to broscience the whys. How’s this important: you’ll be able to tailor your routine and program to yourself. Nobody will know you better than yourself after this. This is very important when you’re experimenting new things, adding exercises or adding extra days to your routine.

Experimentation

Keeping a track of your training program day in and day out will allow you to experiment and track the results (if there are any). Say you started bridging: you’ll know every change in your range of motion, hip strength, back strength, hypertrophy, endurance, flexibility,… (as long as you keep a very detailed track that is). If things changed according to your goals you’ll keep it, if, on the other hand, they haven’t, then you’ll either drop it or make the necessary changes until it starts working towards your goals.

How to keep a training log

Any good training log needs to have a couple of things:

  1. Your goals: keep them simple and specific (here’s an older post in which I cover goal-setting). Don’t forget to give them a time frame.
  2. Your stats: this will be your before picture if you want. All the stats regarding your goals should be here (weight, 1RM, max pull-up number, etc.)
  3. A blank page: This will be to have a side by side of your before and after. You’ll later fill it with your “new and improved” (lets hope) stats.
  4. The training log proper. In here you’ll put a date and what you’ve done for the day. Exercises, sets, reps, weights, rest periods, notes for your next workout (as in “add reps”, “add weight”). You want to keep it as detailed as you can.

Keep this for a couple of months and you should be able to objectively see your improvement. What are the benefits of keeping a training log? Besides what I’ve written before, it’s a great source of self-feeding motivation. No one wants to quite while they are on a streak!!

Motus Virtute

(At least) 10 things I learned in 10 years of working out

Everything works

That’s right. Everything. Going for a jog, it works. Swinging a kettlebell, it works (damn right it does). Heavy deadlifting, light deadlifting, even an aerobics class. It all works. At least for a while. You’ll need to change things (going longer, faster, heavier,…) to keep it working. Of course, not everything you do will work for everything.

Dieting is central

I admit I didn’t pay real attention to it until the beginning of this year. Never seemed to need it. I’ve always been kind of lean-ish, and at other times I worked out so much I didn’t really need it, I simply burned everything I put in. Of course, I didn’t really build any muscle nor got the gains I should’ve (hindsight truly is 20-20). Now that I’m paing attention I’ve built more muscle and strength at a pace I didn’t before. I’ve also been recovering better.

There’s no need to get married with a style or tool

I used to be very… let’s call it religious (nothing against religion). At first, it was all about the bodybuilding, then it was all

Training zealot, enjoy your workout

There’s no need to be a training zealot. Enjoy yourself and learn from everything! – Photo by Joachim S. Muller

about sports, the it was all about heavy lifting, followed by kettlebells. In reality, this is a waste of time. You should do what’s best for you and your goals and needs. Right now I’m focusing on bodyweight skills and strength, with some light cardio put in the mix. In about 3 months I’m going to merge kettlebell endurance with bodyweight strength and skills. There will be compromise, but I’ll be better for it.

A little every day goes a long way

I’m a big fan of high frequency training. Actually, I believe it to be, if you can manage it, better. But I do mean a little. Going balls out every day takes a lot of recovery and it will probably be too much. I mean, a little every day. Don’t go anywhere near failure.

Your body has the ability to adapt to everything

The human body is, by far, the most sophisticated machine in existence. And it has the ability to adapt to most things. Just take it step by step, in small increments, and you’ll be fine.

Eat healthy

Eating healthy is the best way shake the extra calories. These are whole foods that will satisfy you a lot more than regular crap. This way, less food, fewer calories will go a longer way. You’ll also get most of your nutrients that way. Just hit your macros and you’ll be fine. Also, don’t be afraid of eating some crap now and then (but not often).

The best program is the one you enjoy doing

This one’s basic. Working out should be something you enjoy, even look forward to (you would be, after all, improving your health). As I said, everything works. Find something that’s a right fit with you!

There’s no such things as an overnight success

We’ve all seen amazing transformations online. We all like getting inspired. But this doesn’t happen over night. The one thing all of these cases have in common is that they worked day in and day out, powered by motivation or simply punching the clock. They ate right, they trained right, they had the right mindset. Even cases fueled by pharmaceutical substances had to work at it. There’s no such thing as a magic program that will put you 20 kg of muscles while lowering your bf to single digits and making you nimble as spider-man. It simply won’t happen.

What to get that success? Read the next item then!

Small milestones

You should have a long-term goal: getting healthier, looking better, etc. But the best way I found to stay motivated is through small milestones. Shorter term, definite goals to be achieved between a month and three. My magic number is 6 weeks. Take small steps to your long-term goal. How to do it? Define what your goal means (what’s getting healthier? Is it being leaner? Reducing your resting heart rate? Probably a combination of things) and think about the milestones you should hit for it. One or two things with every 6 week challenge will work well.

Check out Nerd Fitness’ 6 weeks challenges. It’s where I learned about this, and I’ve been better for it.

Motivation is not what’s cracked to be

Sure, motivation pics will send a surge of energy and get you off your ass once or twice. But truth be told, it’s not motivated people who get it done. It’s the people who are focused on their goals and know that they’ll have to work smart and hard to get them, even when they don’t want or feel like it. Sometimes you have to tough it out. Believe me, if they haven’t come yet, they will.

Fitness motivation

Here’s a jolt anyways!
Image from motivationalquotesideas.com

Of course, this is not all I’ve learnt (I hope) but I think these may be the most important I have. What about you? What have you learnt in your training years?

Motus Virtute

The same but different: variation with a purpose

Variation is a fickle lady. Woo her correctly and she will bless you with great progress and advancements in strength, technique, endurance, conditioning, etc. etc. etc. Get on her bad side and you’ll be stuck in the same spot, forever being a newbie, without enjoying the fabled newbie gains. So, let’s do it correctly.

The many ways to change things

There’s many changes you can do to your regular workouts, from subtle changes to more drastic measures. You can change

  • Exercises
  • Rest periods
  • Frequency
  • Volume
  • Intensity

Why you should vary your training

There are several reasons why you should change things up in your training. Basically, you’ve adapted to what you’re doing, you’ve plateaued or you’ve become bored.

You’ve adapted

You’re not getting the stimulus you need from what you’re doing. You should change it. Not drastically, but enough to provoke new growth.

You’ve plateaued

Time to change. If things are not moving forward then they’re moving backwards. Go for a variant of the exercise, or change one of the variables. Maybe even take a longer rest from this type of work. There are many ways to bust a plateau.

You’ve become bored

This one’s tough. This one calls for drastic changes. If you’re bored with your training you should revise your goals first. If you’re still aiming for the same things then maybe change the way you’re doing it drastically. Remember to have fun!

Goblet Squat, Squat, Beginner squat

Goblet squat, one of the best beginner squats in existence. Photo by US Army Central

Why you shouldn’t change your training

There’s also many reasons why not to change what you’re doing.

Too much variation will lead you no-where

Remember to change things up smartly: changing too much too often will lead you no-where. You won’t adapt to the stimulus enough to become (insert goal here).

Muscle confusion is not really a thing

I like to say that if you confuse your muscles too much then they won’t know what they should do! Of course I exaggerate, but I do believe that they won’t know what to adapt to, hence, they’ll give up and simply not adapt at all. All that you should be focused on is the goal at hand. (BTW, of course you’ll never plateu if you’re constantly confusing your muscles, basically because you’ll never get strong enough to plateau in the first place!).

Yep, go ahead shocking the muscles you shocker you!

Yep, go ahead shocking the muscles you shocker you!

How to vary the correct way

As the title conveys, doing the same but different has great results, you’ll keep getting better at what you’re doing for one. Always remember to keep your goals in mind when you’re doing this.

Changing intensity

Going heavier or lighter will change the type of adaptations your body will go through. Going lighter will get you better rested, and building back-up will get you stronger. Sometimes screwing volume to get some real heavy work done will get CNS jacked and yourself stronger in the short run.

Changing Volume

Adding reps, reducing reps, adding sets, reducing sets, or sometimes both. This may be the ticket to bridging between where you are and where you want to be.

Changing Frequency

As I said in another post, doing a little every day can get a long way. I like HFT. It helps me improve by greasing the groove. Getting better at the movement allows me to get stronger in the movement, and to get more efficient at lifting certain ways. (Also, the fabled farm-boy strength comes from daily manual labor, and usually not to the max).

Changing the exercises

This is what we do when we go through exercise progressions (and it’s not exclusive to bodyweight). Going for similar, harder exercises is a great way to keep improving strength. Likewise, going for easier variations helps you focus on the weaknesses of your forms, put more volume and get a good rest. You can look at variations for bodyweight exercises here, here and here. But, for an illustrative case, you could first master the goblet squat – Front squat – Box squat – Back squat (See, there are ways to make this variations with weights :D).

All of this will depend on your goals of course. I cannot stress this enough.

How I vary my workouts

My routine is mainly consistent. I have my goals and change things accordingly. Right now I’m quite focused on getting down the freestanding handstand, front lever, back lever and V-sit. I’m going through exercise progressions and regressions (changing the exercises accordingly).

So, for handbalancing I’m doing as Coach Sommers dictates in Handstand One, for all other exercises I’m following Steven Low’s Overcoming Gravity (Amazon affiliate link – It’s a great source of information if you’re into bodyweight training)

Motus Virtute

How to workout for busy people – Muscle mass focus

On this 4th part of the how to workout for busy people (part 1, part 2, part 3) I’ll focus on building muscle mass. It’s not easy, and don’t expect to Arnold-out in a couple of months.

What makes gaining mass hard

Barring pharmaceutical help, gaining mass is a complex science/art. There’s several types of hypertrophy which take in

Photo by Brian Auer

Photo by Brian Auer

account different volumes, rep ranges and intensities. More over, building lean muscle mass takes a lot more than just training. The simple formula would be

Eating at a surplus + plenty of rest + working out = more lean muscle mass

And that’s without factoring in hormonal profiles, etc. Of course, this is as simple as I can make it. Focusing on the working out part, the main variable here will be volume (meaning, how much you put up in total). Of course, given that we’re busy people, we’ll focus on density. Density will be taken in acount as volume/time. (BTW, I was introduced to density as a variable through Pavel’s Enter the Kettlebell, so I’m going to pretty much use that definition).

Building muscle for busy people

This whole idea was introduced by Charles Staley (although it’s probably much much older, as most things in the physical training department… Even bro culture), so, full props to him for being a genius.

For this type of workouts you’ll need, at least, a stopwatch, a piece of paper and something to write.

  1. You’ll pair two antagonist exercises (like Deadlifts and Bench Presses or Squats and Pull-ups).
  2. You’ll set the timer for 15-20 minutes for compound exercises.
  3. Set a weight with which you can do 7-10 solid, correct reps and start doing sets of 5.
  4. Go back and forth between both exercises resting as little as needed. As you fatigue start reducing the reps per set and resting more.
  5. Take note of how many reps in total you’ve done for each exercise. Strive for at least +1 rep every workout.
  6. Once you’ve done 30% more reps than the first session with a given weight, add more weight (2,5-5kg/5-10lbs. no more).
  7. If you still have time after your first 20 minutes (and energy), and insist on adding more exercises. For isolation moves do no more than 10 minutes (pairing curls with tricep extensions, calf raises with wrist exercises… take your pick).
  8. Curse at me. But curse at Charles Staley more, he made EDT (Escalating Density Training… as it’s called) famous. It really is his fault, not mine.

Unfortunately, this type of training works best with a barbell. There’s no way around it. You can use other implements, but truth be told, they won’t be as effective as.

Squat, a complete exercise busy people should never ignore

Any variety of this beautiful exercise should always be in your program. No matter what your goal is.
Photo by US Naval Force Central Command

Share this with busy people you know! With many changes in their lives, their fitness may go to the back burner!

Motus Virtute

 

Why use kettlebells and 2 workouts

Far from still being the underground turned culty fitness tool that it was half a decade ago, KBs have come into the mainstream. There’s a lot said about how and when to use this tool, and their apparant benefits. All this aside, what I’m happiest about is, I no longer have to describe a cannonball with a handle, most everyone knows what it is.

Why use Kettlebells

The kettlebell is, in my opinion, one of the best tools out there for overall fitness for the everyday Joe and Jane. Kettlebells can and will help you develop

  • Strength: this are the grinding movements

    Kettlebell clean, kettlebell military press, strength training with kettlebells

    Clean the kettlebell strongly, else you’ll bang up your forearm! – Photo by Ken Liu

  • Conditioning: through repetitive ballistics
  • Flexibility: if used wisely
  • Power: Through heavy ballistic excercises
  • Mobility: think windmills and TGUs.

Are they the best tools for each job. Hell no. But they’re good for the development of an all around athlete/enthusiast. And, they’re very easily integrated with other tools.

(I could get into more detail about the advantages of practicing the hip drive or how all these attributes can be trained. But that’s a subject for a book, and not a blog post)

Disadvantages of kettlebells (why not use kettlebells)

They’re not a specialist’s tool. If you want to be the strongest or the most powerful, you can’t beat a barbell. You want to be the most flexible, yoga is your tool. You want to be the best at anything, there are appropiate tools that will let you specialize in each: endurance, flexibility, mobility, strength, hyperthorphy… All can be improved with a KB, but no to the same level as.

So, Why use kettlebells then?

Kettlebells will give you a blend of strength, endurance and power that can’t really be described as “strength-endurance” or “power-endurance” but more as an: ease of being. Having practiced on and off with kettlebells (sometimes my goals are more specialized) I can attest to the fact that any regular task gets easier (like playing football(or soccer) for about two hours with legs that just won’t quit), that joint health increases, and that the grass gets even greener (ok, maybe not that much).

In other words, unless you’re focused on a particular sport, kettlebells are probably the right tool for you.

The Workouts

1) KB solo

This an beginner to intermidiate plan and should be done 3 or 4 times a week. Please keep your recovery in mind. It has an all around focus (if you want to go more frequent, change the number of sets to 3). Don’t ever go to failure!

A1) TGU 3×3

Rest 1-2 minutes between sets. Go heavy, but never to failure.

B1) Clean + Military Press 5×5

B2) KB one arm row 5×5

Rest one minute between each excercise

Kettlebell swing

Expect a healthy sweat! Photo by John Calnan

C1) Goblet Squat 5×5-10

C2) Heavy KB 1H Swings or Snatches 5×5

Rest one minute between each excercise.

D1) Kettlebell 2H swings 5x 15-20

Rest 30″ to 1 minute between sets. Jog in place or jump an imaginary rope.

After this have a cool down with stretches and some mobility work for recovery.

2) KB + Bodyweight

This is an all arounder that will hit each and every movement pattern in the most effective way I know of. Do this 4 times a week.

Day 1

A) TGU 3×3 (can’t beat this baby)

Go heavy. But never to failure. Rest one or two minutes between sets.

B1) KB Clean + Press 5×5

B2) Pullup progression 5×5 (pick one you can do up to 8 reps barely). If this is your pull-up, weight them!

Rest 1 minute between excercises

C1) Goblet Squat 5×5

C2) 1H heavy swings 5×5

Rest one minute between excercises.

D1) Burpees 5x as much as you can with perfect form (I don’t care about speed here, just go as fast as you can while remaining as controlled as you can).

Day 2

A) Handstand holds 3x 50% of your max holding time.

Keep your body straight (or better yet, face the wall and touch it with your chest). Rest one or two minutes between each set.

B1) Push-up progression (or dips) 5×5

B2) KB Row 5×5

Rest 1 minute between each set

C1) Pistol Squat progression 5×5 (use a progression you can do about 8 perfect reps, but not 9)

C2) KB Snatch or 1H heavy swing 5×5

Rest 1 minute between each set

D1) Kettlebell 2H swing 5x as many as you can with perfect form and a solid hip drive.

After you finish each workout, cool down with some stretches and mobility work for recovery.

Conclusion

If you can use them, Kettlebells are a great addition to any fitness program, just be mindful of what your goals are and what you’re looking for. If you want to be a specialist, then the KB is probably not your cuppa. If, on the other hand, you’re looking for all around development to above average, but not elite levels, then by all means, go buy the damned thing!

Shameless advertising bit – where I learned most of kettlebells from

Why use kettlebells

One of the best damn books to get you started, and then some

To finish this post off I’d like to share with you where I learned most kettlebell skills and probably the most important book to have in a kettlebell library. The Russian Kettlebell Challenge (affiliate link). by Pavel Tsatsouline is a golden oldie. Even though there have been several other great books by the same author (Enter the Kettlebell and Simple & Sinister to say the least) this one I believe is the most complete of the three, the only lacking part I found is: there’s no information on the TGU (which later became a staple in both his certifications, and an exercise that one must simply do).

*Note: all the above links are from affiliate programs and will lead you either to Dragondoor or Amazon product pages. Just FYI.

Motus Virtute

Frequency + Volume + Intensity: a love triangle

One of the main questions I see in forums, twitter, and facebook when talking about programming is always the same: how often can I workout? The answer to this is always the same: it depends. To effectively answer how frequently you may do it, we should first know how hard, and how much we’ll be doing it.

It all boils down to our love triangle

Intenisty, Volume, Frequency, Training, workout, fitness

Now pick two

Now pick two

Yes, pick two. Barring enhancers, there’s no human way and amateur will be able to sustain a high volume, high intensity, high frequency training regime without burning out sooner rather than later. So you get to pick only two.

Intensity + Volume = High Intensity Training

This is the most common choice we see in most routines. Go tough one time a week. Obliterate the muscles with as much as they can take (think lifting heavy) for as long as they can take it (mid-high sets with low-mid reps). This is what most bodybuilding splits come from: leg day is around 12 sets for the legs in every which way (squats, machines, etc.) till you need a wheelchair to get out of the gym. You’ll be doing this again in around 5-7 days. Next time you go to the gym you’ll obliterate your chest or your arms or your back. You can even go every day to the gym without really upping your frequency.

Think of things you can only do once or twice a week: bodybuilding split, sprints, HIIT, etc.

Intensity + frequency = High frequency Training

This is my absolute favorite. You get to go heavy and often. Think programs likeGTG,PTTP or among the lines. You do a

Deadlift, strength, intensity, volume, frequency, workout, fitness, training

Nothing builds strength and power as a good and heavy Deadlift. Nothing builds injuries as a good and heavy Deadlift done for reps too often. Photo by Tom Woodward

small amount of heavy work with a lot of rest every day (or 5 days a week). Your CNS gets fried, you get no pump but plates in the barbell just keep adding up like crazy. Remember, there’s no going to failure in this scheme.

Think along the lines of strength practice: GTG, PTTP, Pavel’s 40 day workout, most things written by Dan John

Volume + frequency = Endurance work

You won’t be going heavy (remember, heavy depends a lot on the persons capacities, some may think a 300 lb DL is an easy feat, others may feel it’s impossible), so you can take your reps to the higher numbers. Of course, being a high frequency type of training, there’s no way you can go to failure either without really compromising your performance for your next session. Think about someone who goes for a run every day, or someone who walks everywhere or uses his bike to go to work. You’re putting a heck of a workload every day, but it’s a light workload, so you should be able to recover well from practice to practice.

Thin along endurance training, or recovery. I don’t really know much here to give you many details.

How to pick

Think about your goals first.

Are you going for strength? size? endurance? power? Then you pick what best suits you and your way of life. There’s no reason to lie to yourself saying you’ll be doing this every day if your life will get in the way by day 3. You can get strong, big, lean and conditioned with any of the three picks.

 What works best for what:

  • Intensity + Volume: Conditioning + Hypertrophy + Strength
  • Intensity + Frequency: Strength + skill development
  • Volume + Frequency: Conditioning + endurance + flexibility (yep, yogis were right)
  • Diet: Fatloss (sorry, there’s no other way around it)

So take your pick!

Motus Virtute

PS: Studies show that the Nº1 way to be awesome is following this blog (just sayin’).

5 reasons your workout should match your lifestyle

Fitness writers, whether they are professionals or amateurs (such as me), enthusiasts or internet gurus, have been telling people how to train, and why they should workout the way they/we say in complete disregard to their lifestyle. To add more to the confusion, they’ll not only tell you how to train, but will offer a myriad of exercises that can (and should) take your brain into meltdown.

I’m calling bullshit.

I do, even though I tell people how they should train as well, giving them ample reasons as to why. Is this wrong? Not necessarily. Are you going to fail reaching your goals? Probably not. Why? Most things will and should work, as long as you know what and why you’re doing them and you keep all other things in context.

Why your workout should meet your lifestyle

1. You’ll have fun

I think this is self explained. You’re not a pro, and seriously, doing something that enriches your life should not be a chore (unless prescribed by a doctor. Health professionals trump everything). Your workout should be challenging, fun and motivating.

Bottom line: your life’s probably hard enough without adding crap. Do something that makes you happy!

2. It’s a personal thing

Skateboard, fun workout, personal workout, relax

Yep, definetly needs grip work!!
Photo by Raul Gomez

Your goals are your own. And you should train to achieve them, you shouldn’t train to achieve what someone else says your goals should be. We may help you design goals in a way that are clear (example: you should define what being fitter means. To you it may mean running 25k in record time, it may mean to jog for 1 hour straight), and help you build towards them.

Bottom line: If you want to look better, GO FOR IT, it’s a completely legit aspiration. Personally, I’ll be getting stronger instead.

3. It will make you consistent

You should be looking forward to your workout. If it feels you with dread or boredom, it won’t be long until you start making excuses not to show up. If there’s anything I learned from my father regarding training is this: THE BEST PROGRAM IS THE ONE YOU’LL ACTUALLY DO (to which I add: in the long run).

Bottom line: enjoying your training will make you look forward to it. Not enjoying it will make you quit

4. It will connect you with like-minded people

As you get better and more exposed to an activity, chances are bigger that you’ll meet like-minded individuals that will motivate you even further. If, for example, I start talking about bouldering to a swimmer, 10 to 1 says he’ll be looking at me with glazed eyes feeling somewhat bored. If I talk about bouldering to a climber, chances are we’ll exchange ideas, tips, and maybe even go bouldering or climbing together at one time or another.

Bottom line: there’s probably many people doing what you enjoy. Joining them will compound results!

5. You’ll have fun

I said this already but it bears repeating. If you’re not enjoying yourself, you won’t be doing it for long.

In a nutshell

There you go, 5 solid reasons why your workouts should match your lifestyle. Train what you enjoy, have fun, and be happy. Chances are there’s enough bull around for you to waste time doing more on purpose.

Now I’m going to go back to suggesting what you should do.

Motus Virtute

Bodyweight strength workout for beginners

I’ll keep this one simple and to the point, since that’s what you’re looking for. Mind you, this bodyweight strength workout and progressions are thought for beginners. Intermediate and advanced trainees may find a couple of ideas here, but this won’t really help you progress.

Defining a beginner

Here we will group everyone that isn’t used to bodyweight training. Why? Because there are subtle differences between weight traning and bodyweight training that include the coordination of several muscle groups and the movements in particluar. So, even though you’ll breeze through some sessions until you find your sweet spot, it’s highly recommended you start at the very beginning.

How we’ll test it

We’re going to test it through sheer number of reps. Before you start on this you’ll test yourselves in full bodyweight squats and pushups in one minute. Only good reps count, so take your time, don’t hurry up (think of going as fast as you can go in complete control). You’ll retest yourself at the end of the 6th week. Write down those numbers (both before and after).

What results can you expect?

Even though these will vary for individuals, and as far as body composition goes it will rely on your diet, you can expect some fatloss, muscle growth, conditioning and strength gains, as well as some mobility progress as well. This will depend on each individual, and the fact that you’re beginners will let you gain some of those noob gains. More experienced lifters won’t enjoy so many benefits because, well, your body is already stronger. Of course, your reps will go up, if anything, through sheer practice.

How to do it

This bodyweight strength workout is performed in a circuit. Meaning you’ll perform one exercise right after you finish the one before. After each circuit you’ll rest 2-3 minutes.

Reps: keep them low, 3 to 6, never over 8.

Sets: keep them mid to high, 3 to 5.

Frequency: as often as you like, at least 3x a week, but feel free to go up to 5 if you can take it!

Progression

You’ll be performing exercises until they stop working for you. Basically, once you hit the 10 rep mark in easier exercises it’s safe to start with 3 reps of the next in order of difficulty. Squats, at the beginning, you’ll be doing up until the 20 rep mark. Why? Because I said so. This will vary between individuals, sometimes you’ll have to work longer on a particular progression, so give it time. Remember, this will work for you only if you work on it!

Do this for at least 5 weeks and deload on the 6th!

The Excercises

A Push: Choose one STEP from this list. Start with something that’s challenging enough to let you do 5 quality reps for

The squat. A must in any bodyweight strength workout

The squat. A must in any bodyweight strength workout

one set.

A Pull: Choose one STEP from this list. Start with something that challenges you as the previous.

A Squat: Choose one STEP from this list. Here, start with something that challenges you to get 10 reps.

A Core: You’ll start at Bent Leg raises until you hit 15 reps for 3 sets. Then you’ll go to lying straight leg raises and then you’ll go to hanging knee raises. Change the exercise once you hit 3 sets of 15 reps. Once you manage that start working on Hanging leg raises.

After you finish those exercises you’ll do 5 sets of 1 minute work with 30 seconds rest of one animal form. Choose between bear crawls, ape (my favorite animal form, it’s just plain fun!) and crab walks. Take it easy on them; they are more challenging than they let on.

The Bodyweight Strength Workout in a Nutshell

You’ll do:

  1. A test of pushups and squats. Take down how many reps you can do correctly in a minute (on the first week).
  2. A push + A pull + A squat + a leg for 5 circuits, resting 2 minutes between circuits. Keep it challenging.
  3. You’ll finish with some animal form travelling for 1 minute work with 30 second rests.
  4. Cool down with static stretching.
  5. During the sixth week you’ll do half of the reps per set that you were doing.
  6. At the end of the 6th week you’ll retest yourself. Then you’ll put how many reps you managed in the comment section below!

Now get to work!

Motus Virtute

PS: share with us how you did with it!

An evil Easter workout challenge

Now that easter is here, and most of us are going to do one thing: Binge, and binge on chocolate (I’ll also suggest a good Stout beer to help it go down ;)). So, what can we do about our all out festivity?

Chocolate, Stout.... Together!?!?! Best easter egg EVER!

Chocolate, Stout…. Together!?!?! Best easter egg EVER!

If you haven’t watched lent and restricted you intake (you bad bad person you), you’ll have to earn your meal. So here we go

Evil easter workout challenge

You’ll be doing 6 ladders (one for every week of lent).

5 Burpees

Animal walk

1 Pull-up

5 hanging leg raises

Animal walk

How to do it

On the first ladder you’ll climb up your pull-ups. Up to 10.

On the second ladder you’ll climb your burpees, by two, up to 25.

On the third ladder, you’ll climb your HLRs, by two as well, up to 25.

Then you’ll repeat.

Test your fitness with a workout challenge anywhere and everywhere

Be an animal, be beast!. Photo by Andrew West

You’ll pick two spots, at least 5 meters (around 20 feet), one for your burpees and one with the bar. Pick whatever animal form you want (there’s hundreds to pick, so have fun!) to travel from one point to the other (this is your rest).

If you cannot get to the top rung in the ladder (10 for pull-ups for example), you’re done for the ladder and continue with the next!

Record your time and let us know how you do! This workout challenge will make you miserable for sure, so share the pain!

Motus Virtute