Whole-Body Workouts
January 5, 2012 | 
Author What’s the best training method for fat loss? Without a doubt, it’s complex and circuit training. In the following video you can watch myself, Max and Daryn perform a dumbbell complex for 2 repetitions or so.
A complex is a workout composed of many exercises that flow together performed one right after another. In the complex shown below, we are using the following exercises with 50lb dumbbells in each hand:
- Shrug
- Romanian Deadlift (RDL)
- Bent Over Row
- Arc Pull
- Hang Clean
- Front Squat
- Push Press
- Push Up
- Renegade Row
On this workout one cycle was comprised of 5 reps of the above, top to bottom. So, we go from 1-9 and repeat until 5 repetitions is complete, then we break. Our rest interval was 2:00 and we completed 5 cycles before all running to the little boys’ room. It was hard, and not nearly as fun as eating Oreos on the couch.
Go out and try this. You’ll probably find that grip strength is as much a factor as anything toward the end, but that’s part of the fun (misery). Chalk is a must.
If you’re a New Years’ Resolutioner, this is a great workout to try once and then give up on completely; I highly recommend it for quitters.
Oh – and if you’re a baseball player and are thinking “But Dan, don’t you contraindicate overhead pressing for throwing athletes?” Great question, Skippy. Yes – this is true – we almost never perform overhead pressing because of the impingement and deltoid recruitment it causes in the shoulder. But, if you perform 25 reps of a push press, effectively making a 50lb dumbbell half its weight, with a neutral grip every once in a while, no one is going to get injured and no one’s arm is going to be negatively affected. Just like eating an entire pumpkin pie is OK once every November, a little contraindicated exercise every now and again isn’t really a big deal. If I was pressing up 100s with an externally rotated grip, then that would be much less OK. Good question, though, Skippy.
Lastly, if you’re interested in more of these complexes, check out the “Strength Training For Fat Loss” DVD.
At my gym we are the proud owners of not one, but TWO landmine devices. These snazzy little CV joints bolt to our Rogue Fitness Westside racks, and they provide us with smooth motions for our angled barbell training.
What is Angled Barbell training, you ask? Well, you can do it two ways: jam a barbell into the corner of a wall, or place it into a landmine attachment. Then, the barbell pivots on the axis and allows you to perform movements with less than the full gravity of the barbell and an arced range of motion.
We use these a lot, and they simply provide us with an extra stimulus in the gym. Angled barbell movements are unique. The following is a video featuring one of my young badasses, Ethan Newby.
One of my favorite mostly-lateral-sort-of-rotary core exercises is the landmine twist. We do ton of these and as my buddy Daryn says, “you just feel powerful doing them.” It’s really true – you get your hips and core into it and sling that weight like you own it.
If you’re interested in performing angled barbell training in your own gym or training facility, a good place to turn is my friend and trainer Nick Tumminello. He is releasing his new instructional DVD on October 8th. The DVD will be offered at a special reduced price with Free shipping, and include bonus videos for the first week of its release. I interned with Nick for almost two years; if you turn to me for training advice, you’re going to really like his exercises – his knack for thinking up creative training solutions is part of what makes him a special guy in the industry. Click the above link or the picture below to go to his site.
Competition is good both on the field and in the weight room. Every once in a while I like to mix things up, stray from the program and give myself and my athletes something new, something that can test their mental and physical limits. One of these workouts that is off the beaten path is called “The Spanish Blizzard.” It’s also hard as shit. Read the rest of this entry »
Cutting fat is a common goal no matter what time of year it is, but as a new years resolution, it probably can’t be topped. Many people would just assume hit the treadmill a little harder, but that isn’t the best way to go about it.
Sure, burning more calories will help, especially if you’re inactive, but modern training techniques are way beyond that, and I wouldn’t waste your time with sustained cardio and a recommendation of more salads (though salads have their place).
What You Really Should Be Doing
Metabolic circuit/complex training. Ever heard of it? Unless you’re a pretty advanced and knowledgeable trainee, then probably not. Yet, it’s far and away the best method to burn fat, add muscle definition, and increase conditioning all at once. Sounds great, right? Well, there’s a catch…
It can and will bring you to your knees. Sorry, but all good things in this world take sacrifice. If you’re willing to really work hard and actually want to meet your goals, training this way will be the best decision you’ve ever made. Stay tuned because I’ll be posting more about this type of training complete with sample videos.
What You Really Should Be Eating
More veggies, more protein, less processed foods, and fish oil! If that sounds simple, it’s because it kinda is. When you eat lean protein and veggies at each meal, your body will start reshaping itself almost immediately. There are lots of complex reasons to eat veggies, omega-3s, and lean protein in each meal, all the while omitting the processed crap, but don’t worry about it – just do it.
It’s that time of year when you take all of the size and strength you’ve built in the weight room and start making it move…..FAST!
Plyometrics and ballistic movements are the name of the game, emphasizing the movement patterns that baseball players use most. For my pitchers, this means exploding toward the plate and teaching their bodies to throw medicine balls at the speed of light.
Featured today are depth jumps and pitching push-offs. Both work to build explosiveness in the lower half by developing greater Rate of Force Development (RFD) and muscle reactivity.
Depth jumps are simple and don’t require any added load, but are very neurologically demanding nonetheless. Your reaction to the ground has to be lightning quick – as soon as you touch down your body needs to get back up as high as possible. On our first day of our ballistic program we started with 3 sets of 6 reps, and we will be building on that in the coming 8-10 weeks. People add inches to their verticals and improve their speed with this type of training, provided they already have the requisite strength.
Above we have Joe Lloyd, a pro pitcher who trains with me, performing push-offs. The goal here is simple: get out as far as you can as fast as you can. Our goal is to build up the leg abductors and help launch the body toward the plate. Pitchers who want to throw as hard as possible need to tap every possible avenue, including their push off down the mound.
Another angle…
Now these push-offs aren’t actually plyometrics, but rather just explosive movements. The drill starts with the stride foot crossed over and in contact with the wall and the balance foot about 6-12 inches from the wall. This allows us to load the back leg as the hips start to move forward, and the back leg powers the body forward right before balance would be lost . This drill can help you lengthen your stride, if necessary, as well as get going forward with more power.
There are a ton of ways to vary and progress this exercise as well, which we will likely come back to in the near future…
You probably already know that I am a huge fan of chin ups, and pike chin ups are my new favorite variation. Aside from being quite demanding on the abdominals and hip flexors, they change your center of gravity, thus changing the muscle recruitment in your back and arms. Pretty neat and pretty tough.
Pictured in the video is Ben, a friend of mine and strongman in the “Scrawny” division. Ben is on a quest to throw 90 miles per hour, and he leaves it all in the weight room every time he trains.
Note that in this video, Ben is using a pull up grip, which is perfectly OK, but this video isn’t actually depicting pike chin ups, rather pike pull ups. I failed even notice this until my college strength coach, Fred Cantor, called me out on it. Sorry for any confusion!