Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Kick Up Your Workout Routine

One of the best ways to lose weight and tone up is Kickboxing. As a certified personal trainer and 4th degree black belt I can tell you if you are looking for the best all in one workout then kickboxing is it. There are generally 2 types of kickboxing classes and then of course variations of those.

First and most familiar is Aerobic Kickboxing. Depending on where you go this can be a combination of kickboxing and dance done to music or straight kickboxing done to the bet of music. I personally put a little twiat to kick things up and make people do the movements to my count instead of the music. This makes the workout much more intense and makes it harder to pace yourself and go easy. It amazes me how many people will put in half an effort and then wonder why they do not see results. If you want to see changes fast the key is hard work. The more you put in the more you get out.

The second type of class is one doen with heavy bags or kicking and punching shields. This is my personal preference if you really want to see a change fast because you are combining the aerobic work with some resistense when you actually hit something. You can also fell your progress as well as see it by hitting harder and getting stronger. I also personally like the fact that it ads a little bit of function, you learn to actually kick and punch properly this way. You may not leave a kickboxing class a black belt but you will know how to hit something or someone ( if needed for self defense) with less risk of injuring yourself. You also get to take out a lot of stress on a pad instead of maybe someone else.

Bottom line is if you want to jumpstart your workout kickboxing or any type of kickboxing/martial arts workout will get you going faster then anything else.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Saving Time And Getting Fit

One of the biggest issue's people seem to have when it comes to training is time. Everyone is looking for the fastest way to meet their individual goals. The key, as has been said many times is, working smarter not harder. This is especially true with getting maximum benefits in minimum time.

I am going to give an example of a quick workout routine I used when I only had 1/2 hour to workout. This workout has a lot of flexibility so you can use it to gain size and strength or change it to burn more fat while maintaining muscle.

The Key to this workout is super sets. A super set is combining 2 or more exercises before taking your rest or break.


My best results came from combining opposing muscles groups, 1 push and 1 pull.

Day 1

Chest and Biceps
5 Sets of Flat Bench press combined with standing Curls.
Then 5 sets of chest flys with concentration curls

Day 2

Back and Triceps

5 Sets of wide grip pulldowns combined with 5 sets French Press( also know as skull crushers)
Then 5 sets of seated rows combined rope pulldowns

Day 3 Rest

Day 4

LEGS

5 sets of squats combined with calf raises
Then 5 leg extensions combined with 5 leg curls

Day 5

Shoulders and pick a body part day
Note- with shoulder I add one of the previous body parts or 2 parts that I may want to get more out of, This is why it is the last day and all other upper body work has been done at least 2 days ago so you have some rest and do not over train.

5 sets of shoulder press combined with( examples chest fly, triceps kick back, single arm curl etc.)

Then 5 sets shoulder fly with ( I would pick a different body part to break things up so if you did triceps in the first 5 do biceps in this set of 5

Change this how you like it's really just a guide. Something else I liked to do to add some extra cardio was add a 3rd cardio exercise with each set. I train in Martial arts so I would practice a couple of Kata full speed and power. You could add a minute of Jab Cross combos or just jumping jacks.

Keep all resting between sets at a max. 90 seconds and you should be able to bang this routine out in 20-30 minutes. All exercises should be done to failure for the rep range you are working in to make this routine effective.


I used my Bowflex to do all the weight training in this routine and it is the best home gym I have ever used or seen. If you want to learn a little more or just get the latest discount codes check out my Squidoo lense on the Bowflex.

http://www.squidoo.com/Bowflexrocks