No it’s not a Kit-Kat bar…

But the message behind their advertising slogan is one great way.

Gimme a Break!

1. Breakway from the Barbells

For us Gung-ho guys sometimes the hardest part of working out is NOT working out at all.  As hard as it may be when you feel you’re making progress with your workouts and the WEIGHTS are going up while your WAIST is going down, it’s always a good idea to have rest weeks designed into your training the same way you have sets and reps.

So that’s why after 12 weeks of hard and intense workouts, it’s time I take a break from the gym…and maybe you should too! Usually I try and take an entire week off from the gym every 8-10 weeks to give my body as well as my mind a rest so I can recharge my body’s batteries and be ready to start a new workout routine for another couple months.

2. Deload the Dumbbells.

Wether you are focusing on fat loss or getting stronger, when doing a longer training routine of 12-16 weeks it’s probably best to have a deload week every 4 weeks in your workouts. This is usually where you reduce the normal working weights and reps in your workout by 50%.  If you don’t have the mental muscle to stay away from the gym entirely, deload weeks are a great way to prevent burnout, get strong over time and avoid injury in the process while still remaining active.

3. Alternate don’t Adapt

Your body is made to adapt, otherwise you wouldn’t be here to read this… Research shows your body adapts to your workouts after 4-6 weeks. It adapts to your rep ranges first, then it catches on to your movement patterns. This is why it’s important to do different exercises from many different angles to stay one step ahead of that dreaded training plateau where your gains come to a screeching halt.

An example for chest would be to do barbell bench press for 4 sets of 6 reps on Monday, 2 sets of 12 of incline dumbbell presses on Wednesday and 3 sets of 8 of decline pushups on Friday…

I also like to cut myself some slack with my nutrition during my recovery week and not follow such a set eating schedule of eating 5-6 meals a day, every 3-4 hours.

Although I follow this structure 90% of the time as I believe in the benefits it gives me of higher energy and better health it’s good to go Primal every once and awhile and just eat when you’re hungry and even try intermittent fasting for 24 hours once a week.

I think the future of of food and healthy nutrition is in the past and that we should eat like our primal ancestors did most of the time sticking to wild meat, plants, nut and berries.

Eating this way and avoiding all the manufactured grains prevents our body’s fat storing hormone insulin from going on a constant roller coaster ride with our blood sugar. This way our body is burning fat for fuel, giving protein to our hungry muscles and we don’t have to worry if we go longer than 3 hours without stuffing our face.

So if you want to prevent workout burnout and be healthy and happy for the long term, sometimes it’s best to take 2 steps forward and one step back…

FACT:

A lot of gym rats might be able to load up the bar with hundreds of pounds for endless sets of the bench press but can’t even do 10 correct push ups…

I don’t think you have any business bench pressing if you can’t properly perform 20 perfect pushups.

If you can’t handle your own bodyweight, how functional is it to lie down on a bench and press additional weight?

Don’t get me wrong, the basic barbell bench press is a great upper body exercise for building muscle, but it’s depended on WAY too much to build a strong chest and shoulders.

Most people consider Pushups and Bench Presses both chest dominant exercises. But there is a big difference between the two…

The bench press is an open chain exercise and the pushup is a closed chain exercise.

The “chain” just refers to the kinetic chain of your body, which simply means that all of your body’s muscles are inter-connected in a “chain” and therefore the movements you make are also part of a that kinetic chain.

Open chain exercises allow your feet or hands to move freely like in a bench press, dumbbell curl or leg curl.

Closed chain exercises keep your feet or hands in a fixed position like on the ground during pushups or squats and even chinups.

Closed chain exercises are safer and more effective for real world functional strength because they allow your bodyweight to move through space in a full range of motion while distributing muscular stress through many muscles instead of isolating and stressing single muscles.

A big reason why so many bench press addicts develop shoulder problems is because of not the shoulders directly but due to the lack of movement in your upper back when pinned to a bench during bench presses.

The muscles in your upper back surrounding your shoulders blades and scapula play a crucial role in stabilizing and allowing movement of your shoulder girdle during pressing movements.

Pushups eliminates this problem by allowing your upper back to contract in a full range of motion when you lower yourself to the ground.

Plus for busy dads bodyweight exercises are great because they can be done anywhere without any equipment!

(here is my favorite pressing exercise)

So if you want to incorporate a simple but intense pushup workout into your workout routine give the 100 rep pushup workout a try.

Once or twice a week at the end of your regular workout aim for performing 100 pushups and time yourself to see how long it takes you.

Do as many reps as you can and do however many sets it takes you to reach 100.

For example if you can do 20 pushups at one time before failure start with 20 but as you fatigue you will probably drop down to sets of 10. You will obviously need more rest between sets as you get closer to 100.

Take as much rest as you need to get at least 10 reps for each set until you reach the 100 rep mark.

Most guys in pretty good shape will be able to complete 100 reps anywhere between 5-10 minutes.

Don’t worry how long it takes you. Just record your time and push hard to beat it the next time around.

Before you know it you will join the pushup century club and have the perfect pecs to prove it!

Perfect Pushups Tips

*Keep your abs braced tight and your hips in line with your body.

*Tuck your chin in like a “double chin” and look straight down at the floor to form a straight line from your head to your toes.

*Push your elbows and upper arms back in a 45 degree direction opposed to straight out to your sides.

PS. Be sure to check out my training article in the April/May issue of Inside Fitness magazine!

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!). So first off, we need to distinguish between a chin-up and a pull-up. A pull-up is generally done with a wider grip and an overhand grip on the bar. This is actually a HARDER exercise to perform than the chin-up. The chin-up is done with a close grip on the bar (hands only a few inches apart) with an underhand grip. If she can do it, you can do it! The reasons the wide-grip pull-up is harder is that first, the biceps are not able to contribute as much to the movement because your arms are directly out to the sides. Second, the lats (the muscles of the back) don’t have as good of leverage with the arms out in this position. The chin-up places the lats in a better position to contract and allows the biceps to contribute more to the movement. And this is what we want, because to do that first chin-up, you’re going to need ALL the muscle power you can get! 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 the first step you’re going to take is one that is very simple and straightforward…you’re going to grab the bar and just HANG from it for as long as you can. That’s itThe reason? I find that a lot of people simply don’t have the necessary GRIP strength to perform a full chin-up and building it up with a very specific drill like this helps tremendously. 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 The last step before hitting chins on your own is the Flexed Arm Hang. Now that your muscles have recovered from the Negative Training, we’re going to set that bench back up and get you into the top position of the chin. Take your feet off the bench and HOLD that top chin position for as long as you can. Hold it until your arms start to straighten and your lats start to give. 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! And finally, if you do go through this chin-up program and WHEN you do your first chin-up, send me an email and tell me your story! I want to hear from you! 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.

But I will be doing my Dad Fitness Workouts on Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Sunday of this week due to my work schedule.

So I thought I would share with you an interesting new study reported in the The Telegraph Newspaper in the UK that shows the continued benefits of weight training workouts.

Men with big muscles cut cancer risk by 40 per cent

Dirty Dancing release

“The findings, by an international team of researchers, suggest muscular strength is as important as staying slim and eating healthily when it comes to protecting the body against deadly tumours.

The scientists who came up with the findings are recommending men weight train at least twice a week, exercising muscle groups in both the upper and lower body.

In recent years, experts have recommended a healthy diet and lifestyle – including regular aerobic exercise such as jogging or cycling to reduce the risks of the disease.

But the latest study, published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, suggests it may be just as important to build up muscle strength.

A team of experts, led by scientists from Sweden’s Karolinska Institute, tracked the lifestyles of 8,677 men aged between 20 and 82 for more than two decades.

Each volunteer had regular medical check ups that included tests of their muscular strength.

Between 1980 and 2003, researchers monitored how many developed cancer and subsequently died from it.

The results showed men who regularly worked out with weights and had the highest muscle strength were between 30 and 40 per cent less likely to lose their life to a deadly tumour.

Even among volunteers who had excess tummy fat or a high body mass index, regular weight training seemed to have a protective effect.

In a report on their findings the researchers stressed keeping a healthy weight was still crucial for avoiding premature death.

But they added: “In the light of these results, it is equally important t to maintain healthy muscular strength levels.

“It’s possible to reduce cancer mortality rates in men by promoting resistance training involving the major muscle groups at least two days a week.”

A spokesman for Cancer Research UK said resistance exercise might have some benefit but it was more important to regularly do some cardiac exercise.

Health information officer Jessica Harris said: “There’s no need to become a body builder. Just 30 minutes of moderate exercise five times a week that leaves you warm and slightly out of breath can have a positive effect.”

Those recommendations sound a lot like The Dad Fitness System where I recommend 3 intense weight training workouts a week combined with interval fat burning cardio then staying active and doing fun stuff with your family on your non-workout days.

Coincidence?…I think not.

Just another reason for you to get started TODAY to become the strong and fit dad you need to be.

Our baby daughter Matea turned the big #1 on Saturday and celebrated her 1st Birthday!

Days later…I am still cleaning up cake

Used Cars move I can’t believe a whole year has gone by since I became a dad.

Serving Sara trailer

I have to say it’s been the most challenging AND the most rewarding year of my life.

Looking back I don’t know how I survived on such little sleep!

But when you are suddenly responsible for another little life, you find a way to do what you have to do to be the best damn dad you can be.

Which also involves not forgetting to take care of myself…. I don’t want to be huffing and puffing and out of breath when I am running around the backyard playing with my daughter because I neglected to take time for myself and stay fit with just 3 short workouts a week.

Despite being a busy dad working full-time up to 60 hours a week and running a business on the side , with my Dad Fitness workouts the only weight I gained during the past year has been my 25lb beautiful baby daughter.

I am actually down a few pounds to about 175lbs and a little leaner, compared to this time last year. But I am feeling healthier and stronger than I have ever been thanks to paying extra attention to my warm ups, mobility and my flexibility during my workouts.

I keep things pretty simple with short intense workouts and eating REAL food most of the time.

I work hard in the gym but more importantly work hard at home being a dad, a husband and a man.

That weight on my shoulders is something that I never want to lose…

Happy Birthday Matea.

Enjoy the ride…I will be there every step of the way;-)

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

Not too sure if that applies to us here in Labrador, Canada though with the rain and wet snow falling outside…

So I decided I would give you time crunched dads a little kick start workout that I pulled from my training tickle trunk.

The One and Only release

For complete exercise descriptions and to get over 16 weeks of fitness workouts for men download the Dad Fitness System HERE<==

The Buff and Busy Workout is more of an advanced muscle building workout, but can be done at home with minimal equipment and will get you on your way to building strong lean muscle and goodbye to that gut before the shirts come off this summer.

If you are just starting out, do a couple sets of each exercise until you improve your conditioning.

Bodyweight Warm-up (to be performed before each workout)

• Prisoner-Squat – 10 reps
• Pushups – 10 reps
• Wall Slides – 10 reps

*Complete 2 circuits of this entire warm-up without rest

Bodyweight Workout

1A Jump Squat, 5 sets of 5 reps, no rest

1B Spiderman Pushup, 5 sets of 5 reps, 60 secs rest

2A Chin Ups or Bent Over DB Rows, 5 sets of 5 reps, no rest

2B Standing DB Shoulder Press, 5 sets of 5 reps, 60 secs rest

3A Standing Zottman DB Curl, 5 sets of 5 reps, no rest

3B Lying Floor DB Tricep Ext. 5 sets of 5 reps, 60 secs rest

4. Stability Ball Jackknife 3 sets of 8-10 reps, 60 secs rest

Cooldown Stretching (to be performed after each workout)

*Hold each stretch for 10-15 seconds
• Lat Stretch
• Chest Stretch
• Quad Stretch
• Hamstring Stretch
• Shoulder/Tricep Stretch

Alright guys, give this workout a try this weekend and let me know how it went!

Enjoy your weekend and your workouts…

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 wife comes home for lunch on Tuesdays and Thursday so I can get out of the house for a break and head to my local gym for an hour. I also get a workout in on the weekends.

I must admit I absolutely love working out! I always have and especially now I found it to be a great stress reliever and a nice break in the middle of my long days as a stay at home dad.

I had a really great workout today as it was my Upper Body High Rep day in my current workout routine.

The Blast Straps are an awesome way to challenge your entire body no matter what exercises you are doing. You can use them for pushups, inverted rows, triceps, biceps, abs or pretty much any bodyweight exercise can be replicated with the blast straps.

I gotta tell you after using these for the first time awhile back doing pushups my abs were sore for 3 days afterward!

Blast Strap Pushups, 3 sets of 12 reps, 60 sec rest
Lying Dumbbell Tricep Extensions, 4 sets of 5-10 reps
Pull-Ups, 4 sets of 8-12 reps
Preacher Curls, 3 sets of 8-10 reps
Ab Circuit, Cross body mountain climbers and Planks, 2 rounds

You can get the Blast Straps here

Then it was back home for a post workout meal of my wife’s tasty homemade chicken soup. Go here for the recipe ==>Mmmm Soup

Armed and Dangerous movie

For dinner today I took a recipe out of my favorite cookbook. Gourmet Nutrition

Sirloin Burgers

I took a couple pics to give you the recipe and a glimpse into this awesome healthy cookbook.

My version with a spinach salad

If you want to build the body you never thought you could have, start eating the meals you never thought you could eat! Get over 120 recipes and a no-nonsense nutrition plan that will show you how to make it all work.

Get Gourmet Nutrition today.

Sean Barker, CPT

PS -You can get the NEW “yet-to-be-released” Dad Fitness Maximum Muscle Home workouts for FREE when you download the Dad Fitness Lifestyle System

==>Click here to get your short home workouts

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

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.

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

Seeing as I won’t be able to workout all weekend as I will be working 3 12 hours shifts Fri, Sat and Sun, I did a total body workout.

This allowed me to hit every major muscle in my body in one simple workout with the best and most basic exercises.

Each exercise I did 3 sets of 4-6 reps.

A Squats
B1 Chin-Ups
B2 Flat DB Bench Presses
C Deadlifts
D Rope Cable Crunches

Monday I will be starting a new workout routine for the next 4 weeks.

Check back to see how a busy dad stays fit in only 3 hours a week!

Sean Barker, CPT

Learn the “The Truth On Fat Loss, How To Finally Lose That Beer Belly” in this FREE report from Sean Barker at www.dadfitness.com