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With the Sun hanging in the sky a little longer it naturally gives you more energy to do some spring cleaning inside and outside the house.
Just opening up all the windows in your house after the long winter months will awaken your senses with fresh new energy…
So it’s time to spring ahead with your workouts as well and clean up some of the bad habits that you may have picked up during the winter.
1. Watch Your Watch
With summer just around the corner you are probably more concerned with getting light and lean than big and bulky so sitting around for 3-4 minutes chatting with the guys about last nights game in between sets isn’t going to do anything to awaken those abs. Rest no more than 2 minutes in between heavy squats or deadlifts and only 30-60 seconds for other lifts. Supersetting opposite muscles like chest and back or bicep and triceps without any rest is also a great way to build muscle AND burn fat.
2. Movements Not Muscles
Spending 20 minutes working a muscle the size of a baseball isn’t the best use of your time unless you have Mr. Olympia trophies on your mantle. But that’s just what most guys do to get arms like Arnold. Think movements, not muscles when you workout. To work your body and your biceps try combining exercises into one motion like a lunge, curl and press or a chin-up with a leg raise.
3. Complex Cardio
Despite what the name might say burning fat isn’t so complex when you use this form of cardio. Complexes are forms of high intensity cardio that continues to put those magazine reading sessions on the treadmill to shame when it comes to blow torching bodyfat. It only takes 5 minutes to add a complex to the end of your weight workout to convince you that this is the answer to maximum results in minimum time. Use just the empty barbell to perform a series of exercise circuits without rest such as a squat, clean, press, lunge and row. Pick yourself up off the floor and repeat 3-4 times.
4. Muscle Massage
Imagine how hard it must be on your car’s engine starting it over and over during those cold winter mornings. Well that’s just how you have been treating your body all winter. Wether it’s being rushed and skipping your workout warmup or jumping out of bed to shovel out your driveway so you can get to work, your muscles need time to wake up. Dynamic bodyweight movements are great to get the blood flowing but a little muscle massage will go a long way to break up those tight spots that build up over time with improper lifting and bad posture. Use a foam roller and tennis ball to roll out those tight trigger points like your mother rolled out dough. Doing this loosens up the tissue in and around your muscles to keep you strong and pain-free.
5. Goodbye Gym
Save a month’s worth of membership and take advantage of the extra daylight while getting some free vitamin D by bringing your workouts outside. Even if you love the atmosphere of training in a dark and dingy gym, the opportunities are endless for outdoor workouts. Take a set of dumbbells to the park or do a playground workout while the kids have their fun. Sprints, sports and strongman lifts are also better outdoors. There is just something primal about lifting heavy stuff off the ground under the mid day sun.
It’s unfortunate that some guys will spend more time washing their car this spring than taking care of their body!
Use these 5 Ways To Spring Clean Your Workout so you can take care of your body and the people who depend on it…
It was a restless night in the Barker household last night…
But sleep takes a back seat when I got two ladies to take care of.
Not only was our 11 month old daughter Matea up a few times throughout the night as she is teething and has a little head cold,
BUT my wife woke up with a bad headache, high fever and ended up getting sick all night and this morning.
So while I tended to my wife resting in bed I thought the best thing for today would be to let her have some piece and quite while I packed up Matea and headed over to my parents house for the afternoon. My wife liked the idea so we left and let her rest…
I did have a workout scheduled for today so while Matea was happy playing and getting her workout at Grammie’s and Grampies I headed across the street to the gym for a quick and intense Dad Fitness Workout.
I loved the convenience of growing up with that little dungeon of a gym just across the street from where we lived. I have been working out there for about 14 years and it is like having my own little gym as there is hardly anyone ever there.
Here was today’s workout.
Pushups off a fixed barbell with feet elevated on bench,3 max sets, 60 sec rest
Lying Flat Barbell Tricep Extensions, 4 sets of 8 reps
Pullups from rope, 4 sets of 6 reps
Standing DB Shoulder Press, 3 sets of 8 reps
Standing One Arm Cable Curls, 3 sets of 8 reps
Ab circuit of hanging leg raises and cross body mountain climbers
I am gonna refuel after today’s workout with my mother’s homemade spaghetti
…I couldn’t turn down her offer!… then we will head back home to take care of mommy…and maybe I will get a chance to check out the hockey game.
GO PENS!
Sean Barker, CPT
Learn the “The Truth On Fat Loss, How To Finally Lose Your Beer Belly” in this FREE report from Sean Barker at www.dadfitness.com
Are you a busy dad who likes to go to the gym for a quick fat burning workout but hate encountering a crowd of regular gym goers who hog workout equipment while yapping on their cell phone?
If so, The Barbell Belly Blaster Workout is for you.
If you are lucky enough to have an Olympic Barbell in your home gym, you can also do this workout without ever leaving your house.
Lock Up dvdrip This is primarily a fat loss workout as it elevates your heart rate while supersetting exercises using your bodies major muscles.
But by using your major muscles you are building strength and endurance in those muscles which will also help to build lean muscle in beginners to intermediate lifters.
This is also a great alternative to long boring cardio and can be done at the end of your regular weight training workout to burn extra calories and lose bodyfat.
To increase the muscle building effects of this workout you can add additional weight to the bar but I wouldn’t recommend it unless you have a few years of training under your belt.
For absolute beginners who find that the 45lb bar is too much, you can use a lighter bar like the EZ curl bar which is around 25lbs or even a broomstick.
This workout only requires the empty 45lb Olympic Barbell for the entire workout so you can grab a barbell and head off to an empty corner in the gym so you can get a great fat burning workout and be free of any distractions.
You will be using the barbell to complete a Complex, which is just a series of barbell free weight exercises that you will do without rest while keeping the bar in your hands the entire time.
Perform 10-15 reps for each exercise. Complete all exercises without rest, then rest 60 seconds and repeat the circuit 2 more times.
*Warmup with 12 Burpees.
Jump down onto the floor in the bottom of the pushup position and jump back up with hands in the air reaching for the ceiling.
1A Barbell Pushup
Perform regular pushup with hands on the barbell. Brace your abs hard so that you do not roll the bar on the floor.
2A Barbell Squat
Pick barbell off the floor and press overhead and rest the bar across your shoulders. Pushing hips back squat down until your thighs are parallel to the ground.
3A Barbell Shoulder Press
After squats, press the bar back overhead and in front of your shoulders with shoulder width grip press the bar straight up overhead.
4A Barbell Bent-Over Row
After shoulder presses, bend over with bar hanging straight down. Using your elbows pull or row the bar up to your belly button.
5A Barbell Mountain Climber
Place bar back on the floor and get in top part of the pushups position. With abs tight hold that position while you bring one knee to towards your elbow and alternate each leg
Sean Barker, CPT
Learn the “The Truth On Fat Loss, How To Finally Lose Your Beer Belly” in this FREE report from Sean Barker at www.dadfitness.com
My patio deck is here somewhere?Man, didn’t we get dumped on this weekend here in Labrador. Close to 30 cm of snow fell on Friday and Saturday!
The guy living across the street wishing he lived down south!Despite another winter blast this weekend I had a great afternoon workout today after getting to sleep in, (which for me is 8am) and having a power breakfast casserole that my wife wiped up.
It was tasty and nutritious, 8 omega 3 eggs, a couple potatoes, mushrooms, onions, spinach and cheese layered and baked in the oven for 45 mins.
Matea was with the in-laws for the night last night so my wife and I enjoyed a relaxed evening as we dropped out for a bite to eat and then we picked up a movie on the way home.
Ended up getting the new fright flick called Quarantine. It was a little too much in your face gore for me as I don’t really have the stomach for these types of movies anymore.
I kept turning the volume down thinking Matea was upstairs asleep! Really strange to get used to her being out of the house.
My workout today was Day 2 of my new workout routine, mostly lower body and some grip work. Think I am going to be sore tomorrow as I might of overdid it a little!
Box Squats, 1 max set of 5 reps
Barbell Step Ups, 4 sets of 10 reps
Romanian Deadlifts, 4 sets of 8 reps
Plate Pinch Gripping for time, 3 sets
Band Pull Aparts, 1 set of 15
I managed to get through everything without much shoulder pain as it was lower body.
On the way home I dropped into the supermarket and picked up a rotisserie baked ham for dinner and a chocolate milk for my post workout drink.
The rotisserie chickens, roasts and hams are a great option for a quick meal for you and your family for those days when things get hectic or if you are just feeling a little to lazy to cook!
Sean Barker, CPT
Learn the “The Truth On Fat Loss, How To Finally Lose Your Beer Belly” in this FREE report from Sean Barker at www.dadfitness.com
5 Exercises You SHOULDN’T Be Doing
1. Leg extensions- Unfortunately this exercise seems to be the extent of most guys leg training. Probably because sitting down and pumping out reps of leg extensions are a lot easier than squatting down with hundreds of pounds on your back.
2. Behind the neck pulldowns- This is another exercise that I still see people doing in the gym. I cringe every time I see someone take a wide grip on the angled ends of the pulldown bar and start pulling it down behind their neck.
3. Behind the neck shoulder press- Similar to the behind the neck pulldown, the behind the neck barbell shoulder press places your shoulder in a delicate position. It is basically the same movement but by adding additional weight to the bar and pushing up in the vertical plane you are putting your rotator cuffs at an even greater risk of injury.
4. Concentration Curls- Probably the most popular bicep exercise for beginners wanting to “get the pump” and get Arnold-like biceps. It’s too bad a lot of experienced trainers still waste their time on this exercise.
5. Crunches- It would be nice if all you had to do to get that ripped six pack would be to lie on the floor and pump out hundreds of reps of back breaking crunches. Despite what the infomercials want you to believe, this is NOT true!
…OK quiz time. Do you see a trend with these 5 exercises?
They all involve sitting or lying down, (which we are all experts at already) and they work only a small section of muscle, allowing you to pump out endless reps without much effort.
For you busy guys who want to get the most out of your short fat loss workouts, stop wasting your valuable time on these old school exercises that break your body down instead of building it up…
Sean Barker, CPT
Learn the “The Truth On Fat Loss, How To Finally Lose Your Beer Belly” in this FREE report from Sean Barker at www.dadfitness.com