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I am on vacation from work for a couple weeks so I thought it would be a great time to get some household projects completed.
…What I didn’t expect was to run into more problems!
Read on to find out what happened at our house and how I lost 8lbs without trying..(and no I didn’t saw off my arm if that’s what your thinking)
After repairing some boards in our patio deck and installing a new heater in our hallway, my dad and I tore down an old greenhouse in the backyard (that was falling down on it’s own anyway) so we can have more room in the yard for Matea to run around and play.
…7 trips to the town dump later, we had things cleaned up, raked and seeded.
Then the ice maker in our freezer gives out, and a couple days after that… our dryer stops working!
Both appliances are only a couple years old, so I guess the saying is true, “They REALLY Don’t Make Things Like They Used To”
We are still trying to get hold of a repairman…
The current project we are working on is installing a new shower kit downstairs in place of the old one which was all cracked up. Luckily we have another shower and tub upstairs so we don’t become the Smelly Barker’s during these renovations.
Anyway, lets hope the roof don’t fall down on me while I write this, even though it was redone 2 years ago.
…But maintaining a home is a lot like maintaining your health and fitness.
If you don’t take care of yourself and maintain a strong and fit body, you will eventually break down and need some major repairs; arthritis, obesity, heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and cancer, ring a bell?
So make sure you know your numbers and get at least a complete medical checkup once a year. I had mine last week and everything was “perfect” as the nurse said, EXCEPT
…I am 8lbs lighter than last year. (175lbs) Maybe my workouts for dads is working too good!
Eating REAL naturals foods 90% of the time, and doing SHORT high intensity workouts 3 times a week is all it takes for me to stay in great shape all year long.
I even had a dental cleaning and checkup the same day and at 31 years old kept my streak alive, still NO cavities or fillings!
So make sure YOU keep your body finely tuned by getting a regular checkup, eating right and exercising, or you just might end up with some major repairs that the doctor won’t be able to fix…
Your family is depending on you.
Get Started TODAY at ==>http://www.DadFitness.com
How are YOUR numbers? Is there something you would like to improve? Blood pressure, Cholesterol, Weight, Waist Size?
Let me know by leaving a comment below so I can help you get the numbers you want.
Even with today’s technology, everything is still not completely understood on what causes muscle growth.
There are actually a whole series of biological processes that are triggered after hard, heavy weight training.
Despite all the advances in medical science and human kinetics, the most effective and the most practical advice to building rock solid muscle can be found in the lifters of the past.
Here are the 3 simple steps to building maximum muscle that have survived for generations to build better bodies.
1. Reload
Heavy is not good when you are looking down at the bathroom scale, but lifting heavy weights on the other hand is good. You can come up with many reasons to train using different rep ranges in your workouts but most experts would agree that using reps in the 4-6 rep range recruits the fast twitch muscle fibers which have the most potential for growth.
Train hard and heavy…
2. Refuel
Your body is most efficient at processing nutrients directly after your workout. Carbohydrates get soaked up to replenish energy. Protein gets used to repair and rebuild muscle tissue. Healthy fats get broken down to fight inflammation and support hormone production. Vitamins and minerals need to be replaced for hydration and to aid in basic metabolic functions. Don’t worry if you don’t drink a micro cross-filtered whey hydrolysate nitro oxide shake within 4 milliseconds after your workout.
Eat a healthy meal after your workout…
3. Recharge 
There is a reason we can’t see in the dark. It’s because we should be sleeping! Try getting at least 8 hours of sleep a night. Your body releases most of it’s brain boosting melatonin and growth hormone during sleep which helps regulate your circadian rhythm and recharge your metabolism to burn fat and build muscle during the day and night. Don’t forget the early morning hours are also prime time for Testosterone production which is your bodies main thermostat for sleeve splitting muscle growth.
Go to bed…
That’s it? Yeah, that’s right. It’s that simple.
Make sure you are consistently following these 3 simple steps each day before you move on to more advanced methods.
Leave the science to the guys in the lab coats and the heavy lifting to you…
September seems to be a busy month for everyone. Back to school, back to work and back to some serious workouts!
After talking with my buddy Craig Ballantyne of Men’s Health magazine I asked him to share his 5 best tips to help you guys get more energy to get through the busy fall season and here is what he had to say.
1) Go to bed and get up at the same time everyday.
2) Get 30-minutes of activity everyday.
3) Eliminate all added sugar from your diet.
4) Eat more fruits and vegetables and drink more water.
5) Drop the mega-caffeine coffee and switch to Green Tea.
Sounds simple eh? But it works!
So use those tips and have more energy….
PS.Craig Ballantyne and my buddy Chris Lopez just released a new Kettlebell Fat Loss home workout program called Kettlebell Revolution. I can’t recommend Kettlebell workouts enough if you want to get bodysculpting results in 10-20 minutes per day.
So don’t miss your chance on these powerful new home workouts – heck, you can even do them at the park.
Get your Kettlebell workouts here:
=> Kettlebell Fat Loss Workouts
Time to fight the fat this fall!
Do you have any other tips you would like to share to get more energy?
Post them by leaving a comment below.
When it comes to teaching our kids new things, we as parents are pretty confident that we have a handle on teaching them good habits.
As the saying goes “with age comes wisdom” so as we get more years under our parenting belt we all become our own parenting experts, right?
But when it comes to exercise maybe it’s time we look to our little leaguers for some expert workout advice…and the younger they are the more we can learn.
That’s because as we grow and develop from young infants to hard headed adults we begin to lose our mobility for natural movements due to inactivity and bad habits.
You Don’t Know Squat
The squat is a perfect example. It is probably the most natural human movement that was learned long before barbells were invented.
Squatting was a required natural movement for our fellow cavemen to do “#2″ long before toilets came to be, as humans are meant to assume a squatting position for elimination and did so for thousands of years.
It was not until the middle of the 19th century that we started the practice of sitting instead of squatting.
(Here you see my 15 month old daughter naturally doing a perfect full range squat with back flat, feet in line with her knees, heels on the ground and thighs touching all the way down to her calves.)
Even today, people in developing countries seem to squat all the time instead of sitting on a chair…and it’s not because there isn’t an IKEA nearby.
They can sit like this for hours while most of us are lucky to stay in this position for a few minutes before drooling over our Lazy Boy.
Just think about it the next time you bend over to grab a book from a low book shelf or you squat down to put in a DVD.
When you lean over in a squat position you will probably bend over on your toes opposed to keeping your heels flat to the floor and your knees behind your toes.
(I am getting lots of practice lately, thanks to my daughter, as of this morning I am currently on my 23rd viewing of Elmo’s Pottie Time DVD.)
This poor mobility is what makes us vulnerable to common back injury. Wither it’s in the gym or at the office, when we squat we should be initiating the movement starting with our hips and glutes not our quads; the muscle above our knee.
By following this natural chain of movement you take the stress off your lower back and knees allowing for a strong and comfortable range of motion.
Time To Play
Besides being the best squatters, our kids know how to get exercise without knowing they are “exercising”. When we were young, we called running, jumping and climbing “play”…when we grew up we called it a workout.
Well, maybe it’s time we put some fun back in fitness and make the world OUR playground.
Get out of the stinky gym while the weather is still nice and stop worrying about how many milliseconds your treadmill cardio interval is supposed to be and pick a point in the park and sprint to it as fast as you can.
Don’t worry, you don’t have to be named Mariusz Pudzianowski or been born in Iceland to enjoy the benefits of these strongman exercises.
Then take a few breaths, jump down and do as many pushups as you can, take a few more breaths and crawl on all fours back the distance you just ran. Rinse youself off and repeat…
Or round up a large tractor tire from your local tire shop and put in your backyard for one of the most intense total body workouts you will ever experience…as I recently discovered after competing in my first strongman contest.
This lift simulates a deadlift as you bend down to lift the tire off the ground. Then when you get the tire up on it’s end you simulate a standing chest press to push the tire over before the tire gets mad and pushes you over.
But these movements are fun and challenging because they train your body the way it was meant to move in real life by pushing and pulling heavy awkward objects.
That’s why big professional athletes to lean ripped celebrities train this way because it carries over to real life movements AND it get’s you lean and muscular faster than any other type of workout.
So instead of inviting your buddies over for poker night that only seems to increase your waistline and decrease your wallet, have your own little strongman contest in your backyard. Try flipping the tire as many times as you can in 1 minute, then while your lungs are on fire, hang on to the grass as you collapse in a pool of sweat. Trust me, a cold beer tastes a lot better after you’ve earned it.
You can also use the tire for doing complete bodyweight circuits or sledgehammer work. Yeah, that’s where you get a great workout by pounding the tire with a sledgehammer. Anyone who has used a sledgehammer for manual labor knows how physically demanding this movement can be. I can see my father now shaking his head while he yells “Your grandfather did that for 12 hours a day laying railroad tracks but he actually drove something into the ground for God’s sake!”
So with the kids heading back to school and the changing of the seasons, maybe it’s time you changed up your workout routine.
Your kids might have been off all summer, but maybe YOU learned a few things so you can be a fitter dad this fall…
| *THIS IS A GUEST POST FROM NICK NILSSON Performing your very first bodyweight chin-up is a GREAT goal to have. But it’s a goal that not many know exactly how to achieve. Learn how to build the strength to do your first chin-up here! By Nick Nilsson www.FitStep.com |
 If you’ve never done a full bodyweight chin-up before, don’t worry! With the right training, just about anybody can work themselves up to performing one or more full range chin-ups. In this article, you’ll learn all the steps and progressions you need in order get from zero to one!
And it’s NOT going to require pull-downs OR self-spotting machines like the Gravitron (I’m not going to take ANY resistance away from you!).
The first consideration to look at when it comes to chinning is your overall bodyweight. If you’re carrying a lot of extra weight, it’s going to make it that much harder to perform a chin-up because obviously, you’re going to have to lift that extra bodyweight up, too! Dropping extra weight is definitely going to help you achieve your goal of that first chin-up, though it’s not 100% necessary…it just means you’ll have to build up that much more strength in order to perform the exercise. When it comes to building up strength for that first chin-up, I prefer to do it over the long-term rather than trying to get there all at once. The only thing I ask is that you NOT try and perform a full chin-up until I tell you to. That’s it. I don’t want you trying and failing and getting discouraged. So take it step-by-step, build the foundations…I’ll let you know when you’re ready. PHASE 1
So at the beginning of every single workout and at the end of every single workout you do (NOT just back workouts but EVERY workout), you’ll stand under the chin-up bar, reach up and grab it with a close, underhand grip, then just hang at arms-length for as long as you can until your grip gives out. This is going to help you get used to supporting your entire bodyweight on the chin-up bar and it’s going to build up that very specific grip strength we’re looking for. Repeat this drill until you’re able to hang from the chin-up bar for at least 30 seconds before your grip gives out. Once you can do that, you’re ready for Phase 2. ** One tip I find very useful is to cross your feet when doing any chin or pull-up related exercise. For some reason, this locks your body into the position more and gives you more pulling strength. PHASE 2 The second phase of training is going to be partial reps in the bottom range of motion of the chin-up. Now that your grip strength is built up enough that you can support yourself on the bar for a good length of time, we’re going to start adding in movement. Assume your hanging position. Now pull yourself up 2 or 3 inches and hold for several seconds. Lower yourself back to the hanging position then immediately pull back up a few inches again and hold for several seconds. Repeat this until either your grip gives out or you can no longer pull yourself up those few inches. Remember, it’s a VERY short range of motion but we want to hold that position for at least a few seconds to get target stress on the muscles. You’ll do one set at the beginning of every workout and one set at the end of every workout you do. I’ve found this high-frequency approach to work extremely well because it allows your body to gradually adapt over time. You don’t set giant goals that you get spooked about and don’t think you’ll ever achieve – you set small, achievable, repeatable goals that build on each other to get you to the end result. Once you can do at least 10 reps of this partial-range and pause training, then it’s on to Phase 3… PHASE 3 Now we move on to Negative Training. You may have heard of this before…now you’re going to put it to use! We’ve built up a foundation of grip strength (which is HUGE) and a foundation of pulling power in the strongest range of motion of the exercise (the bottom few inches). It’s time to test yourself against gravity. Set a chair, bench or box in front of the chin-up bar. Ideally, it should be a height where you can stand on it and put yourself into the top position of the chin-up (chin just above the bar) while still standing on it. Because what you’ll be doing next is gripping the bar, getting into position then lowering yourself down slowly. This is called a “negative rep.” But here’s the key that a lot of people miss when it comes to Negative Training… The idea is to not just passively lower yourself down…the idea is to ACTIVELY FIGHT GRAVITY all the way down! So when you take your grip on the bar and take your feet off the bench, I want you to try your darndest to pull yourself UP, even though gravity is pulling you DOWN. This generally will result in a slow downward rep, with you fighting it all the way. When you get to the bottom, let go of the bar, climb back onto the bench and repeat. In your negative set, perform reps in this fashion until one of two things happens… 1. You grab the bar, take your feet off the bench and can’t slow your descent at all, dropping right into the position within a second or two. 2. You get to 6 reps of this negative training in your set. What do those guidelines mean? In the first one, it means your muscles aren’t actually doing any more work and there’s no reason to continue. In the second, when we hit 6 reps, that’s plenty when it comes to negative training. If, on that sixth rep, you can still control your descent, you’re doing well! So here’s the deal…in your workouts (again one set at the beginning and one set at the end of every single workout you do), do this negative training. This will probably amount to 3 to 5 times per week, depending how frequently you’re in the gym. Keep going in this fashion until you are able to do 6 negative reps and on the SIXTH rep, you can still pretty well control your descent and don’t just crash down. Now, for one calendar week, NO chin-up training. You’re going to give your muscles a break from the specific training and allow them to recover. PHASE 4
Now FIGHT that all the way down until you’re hanging at arms-length on the bar. That’s it! Just one set and one rep, done ONLY at the beginning of each workout (when you’re strongest), not at the end. Repeat this procedure (one set of hanging at the start of each workout) until you can hang for at least 30 seconds before you start to lower down. Once you can do that, it’s SHOW TIME! YOUR FIRST CHIN-UP Give yourself a few days off from the Flexed Arm Hang phase before doing your first chin. You want to be fully recovered and feeling strong! Grab the bar (at this point, you will be so used to grabbing the chin-up bar that there will be NO fear associated with it, as there may have been before). You’ll KNOW you can do this. Tighten your grip, tighten your muscles, then PULL! Because of all the background work you’ve done, I have a feeling you’re going FLY right up! Heck, when you get the first one, if you feel good, try a second one! Nick Nilsson is Vice-President of the online personal training company BetterU, Inc. He has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been inventing new training techniques for more than 18 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding eBooks including “Metabolic Surge – Rapid Fat Loss,” “Muscle Explosion – 28 Days to Maximum Mass”, “The Best Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of,” “Gluteus to the Maximus – Build a Bigger Butt NOW!” and “The Best Abdominal Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of” all available at (www.FitStep.com). He can be contacted at betteru@fitstep.com. |
