Here's your latest hardcore workout.
WARNING: DO NOT ATTEMPT IF YOU ARE NEW TO TRAINING OR HAVE HAD BACK OR KNEE PAIN IN THE LAST YEAR
Kettlebell training is awesome if you want to get a body of iron whilst burning fat at the same time. This complex of kettlebell exercises is a real killer workout.
Final thing - just a quick reminder that we are holding a free webinar on Monday evening (23rd March) to run through the free 4 week programme we have been giving away. Click here to sign up. If you haven't downloaded your 4 week program yet then don't worry we'll be sending you a link to download it again.
Are you fit enough for "The Hardcore Workout"?
Andrew & Alex
Sunday, 22 March 2009
Wednesday, 18 March 2009
HARDCORE WORKOUT - BODYWEIGHT E.D.T.
Just realised we haven't put any new workouts on for a while, so here's one.
WARNING: DO NOT ATTEMPT IF YOU ARE NEW TO TRAINING OR HAVE HAD BACK OR KNEE PAIN IN THE LAST YEAR
In this session we're using the Escalating Density Training model (timed workout for as many reps as possible), but have used power exercises to really make you suffer. This workout will leave you struggling for air, with legs like jelly and utterly exhausted afterward.
If you are mega fit and want to make it even harder, try with a higher box or even weigh yourself down for the power lunge (light kettlebells in the rack position should do it). Don't blame me if you can't walk the next day though.
The afterburn effect of a workout like this will set your metabolism to burn fat all day.
We are also holding a free webinar on Monday evening (23rd March) to run through the free 4 week programme we have been giving away. Click here to sign up. If you haven't downloaded your 4 week program yet then don't worry we'll be sending you a link to download it again.
Are you fit enough for "The Hardcore Workout"?
Andrew & Alex
WARNING: DO NOT ATTEMPT IF YOU ARE NEW TO TRAINING OR HAVE HAD BACK OR KNEE PAIN IN THE LAST YEAR
In this session we're using the Escalating Density Training model (timed workout for as many reps as possible), but have used power exercises to really make you suffer. This workout will leave you struggling for air, with legs like jelly and utterly exhausted afterward.
If you are mega fit and want to make it even harder, try with a higher box or even weigh yourself down for the power lunge (light kettlebells in the rack position should do it). Don't blame me if you can't walk the next day though.
The afterburn effect of a workout like this will set your metabolism to burn fat all day.
We are also holding a free webinar on Monday evening (23rd March) to run through the free 4 week programme we have been giving away. Click here to sign up. If you haven't downloaded your 4 week program yet then don't worry we'll be sending you a link to download it again.
Are you fit enough for "The Hardcore Workout"?
Andrew & Alex
Monday, 9 March 2009
Hardcore Girls
I was just checking out the Crossfit website yesterday, having attended one of their classes the night before. If you haven't heard of CrossFit, then I would get across to Cross Fit and have a read of their philosophy and hardcore workouts they're doing. Anyway, going through their website, I stumbled across this little video and was so impressed that I thought I'd share it with you:
Click here and check it out,
Now those are some Hardcore Girls !!! I'm not sure how I'd cope with those Muscle Ups and then Hang Cleans, come the 3rd set. If you bothered to watch it til the end you would have seen the final girl to finish, practically break down with the emotion of pushing herself like that. Massive respect to her.
The workout that my local Crossfit instructor put me through was the following:
Kettlebell Swing (50lb) x 5, 10, 15
Gym Horse Vault x 5, 10, 15
Kettlebell Snatch (35lb) x 5LR, 10LR, 15LR
Gym Horse Vault x 5, 10, 15
We worked in teams of 2 either side of the Gym Horse and had to do the number of vaults each time to cross over to the other side to do the other Kettlebell exercise. This was done for the quickest time possible (we raced the other teams).
I felt messed up afterward (enough said).
Let us know what you think of the ladies efforts in this video.
Are you tough enough for the hardcore challenge?
Andrew and Alex
Click here and check it out,
Now those are some Hardcore Girls !!! I'm not sure how I'd cope with those Muscle Ups and then Hang Cleans, come the 3rd set. If you bothered to watch it til the end you would have seen the final girl to finish, practically break down with the emotion of pushing herself like that. Massive respect to her.
The workout that my local Crossfit instructor put me through was the following:
Kettlebell Swing (50lb) x 5, 10, 15
Gym Horse Vault x 5, 10, 15
Kettlebell Snatch (35lb) x 5LR, 10LR, 15LR
Gym Horse Vault x 5, 10, 15
We worked in teams of 2 either side of the Gym Horse and had to do the number of vaults each time to cross over to the other side to do the other Kettlebell exercise. This was done for the quickest time possible (we raced the other teams).
I felt messed up afterward (enough said).
Let us know what you think of the ladies efforts in this video.
Are you tough enough for the hardcore challenge?
Andrew and Alex
Friday, 6 March 2009
Balancing Chest to Back - Part2
Continuing on from last time, today we’re going to look at how to address the problem of imbalanced upper body programmes.
Just in case you weren’t convinced of the importance of this last time, I’ll give you some more reasons for addressing this area. Plateaus in training can often be a result of imbalance. Your chest won’t be able to get stronger and bigger if the opposing muscles in the back aren’t strong enough to support that extra strength. If you’re been frustrated for a while with not being able to press anymore weight or gain any increase in muscle bulk in your chest, then this could be the reason. Also, if your shoulders are rounded forward, then your chest just isn’t going to look as pronounced. Whereas if you improve your posture, your chest will stand out, so there’s another reason for correcting the balance.
If you’re suffering from symptoms of upper cross syndrome, then I would suggest dropping chest exercises almost completely for a time, instead doing loads of stretching for the tight muscles and focusing on horizontal pulling exercises (Seated Row or Bent Row for example), plus exercises that focus on the rear Deltoids (Reverse Fly for example). Then, when you make some progress, I would still keep the ratio at double the amount of back for chest exercises until you have corrected your posture and really strengthened up your mid back muscles.
If you feel more balanced and decide to do the same amount of chest to back exercises, then you also need to consider the total volume lifted for each. If you’ve been doing more chest exercise than back for a while, the chances are your chest is going to be loads stronger than your back. If I did 3 sets of 10 Chest Presses with 80lb dumbbells and did 3 sets of 10 Bent Over Row with 60lb dumbbells, then the total volume of horizontal push would be 2400lb, whereas the horizontal pull would only be 1800lb. This would require extra horizontal pull work to create balance.
If you’re doing bodyweight workouts, find somewhere to do inverted rows. This is a great horizontal pulling exercise. All you need is a bar at between waist and chest height you can hang from. If you workout outdoors, keep an eye out for suitable railings, bike stands etc. (you’ll be amazed how many are around when you start looking) or if you’re in the gym, you can use a smith machine put down to the right height, or a barbell in squat rack. At home, you could purchase a chin up bar and fit it at the desired height in your doorway.
Chin Ups, Pull Ups and Lat Pulldown AREN’T horizontal pulling exercises, they are a vertical pulling exercise and focus on the Lats a lot more than the mid and lower Traps which we want to be hitting. The Lats attach to the front of the shoulder and contribute to the forward rounding symptom of Upper Cross Syndrome.
I hope that’s been really useful for you. Once you’ve got this balance right your strength, posture and effectiveness of your training will all improve and you’ll be able to train even harder.
If you’re feeling balanced already and feel like a real challenge, then why not try our 4 week Hardcore Workout Programme, ABSOLUTELY FREE !! Just ** Click Here** for your FREE 4 week Hardcore Workout and download your copy.
So, who is tough enough for the hardcore challenge?
Andrew and Alex
Just in case you weren’t convinced of the importance of this last time, I’ll give you some more reasons for addressing this area. Plateaus in training can often be a result of imbalance. Your chest won’t be able to get stronger and bigger if the opposing muscles in the back aren’t strong enough to support that extra strength. If you’re been frustrated for a while with not being able to press anymore weight or gain any increase in muscle bulk in your chest, then this could be the reason. Also, if your shoulders are rounded forward, then your chest just isn’t going to look as pronounced. Whereas if you improve your posture, your chest will stand out, so there’s another reason for correcting the balance.
If you’re suffering from symptoms of upper cross syndrome, then I would suggest dropping chest exercises almost completely for a time, instead doing loads of stretching for the tight muscles and focusing on horizontal pulling exercises (Seated Row or Bent Row for example), plus exercises that focus on the rear Deltoids (Reverse Fly for example). Then, when you make some progress, I would still keep the ratio at double the amount of back for chest exercises until you have corrected your posture and really strengthened up your mid back muscles.
If you feel more balanced and decide to do the same amount of chest to back exercises, then you also need to consider the total volume lifted for each. If you’ve been doing more chest exercise than back for a while, the chances are your chest is going to be loads stronger than your back. If I did 3 sets of 10 Chest Presses with 80lb dumbbells and did 3 sets of 10 Bent Over Row with 60lb dumbbells, then the total volume of horizontal push would be 2400lb, whereas the horizontal pull would only be 1800lb. This would require extra horizontal pull work to create balance.
If you’re doing bodyweight workouts, find somewhere to do inverted rows. This is a great horizontal pulling exercise. All you need is a bar at between waist and chest height you can hang from. If you workout outdoors, keep an eye out for suitable railings, bike stands etc. (you’ll be amazed how many are around when you start looking) or if you’re in the gym, you can use a smith machine put down to the right height, or a barbell in squat rack. At home, you could purchase a chin up bar and fit it at the desired height in your doorway.
Chin Ups, Pull Ups and Lat Pulldown AREN’T horizontal pulling exercises, they are a vertical pulling exercise and focus on the Lats a lot more than the mid and lower Traps which we want to be hitting. The Lats attach to the front of the shoulder and contribute to the forward rounding symptom of Upper Cross Syndrome.
I hope that’s been really useful for you. Once you’ve got this balance right your strength, posture and effectiveness of your training will all improve and you’ll be able to train even harder.
If you’re feeling balanced already and feel like a real challenge, then why not try our 4 week Hardcore Workout Programme, ABSOLUTELY FREE !! Just ** Click Here** for your FREE 4 week Hardcore Workout and download your copy.
So, who is tough enough for the hardcore challenge?
Andrew and Alex
Wednesday, 4 March 2009
Balancing Chest to Back - Part1
I thought I'd spend a little time addressing one of the areas that people need to be aware of, which is the ratio of chest to back exercises (or horizontal push to horizontal pull to be more precise). Whilst here at The Hardcore Workout, we're about motivating you to push yourself to your limits, we want to ensure you do it in a way that will create a healthy, injury free and functional body. Your body needs to be able to do whatever tasks are required of it and be pain free, as well as be aesthetically pleasing, but too often people find the aesthetics govern the fitness training. I think this is particularly the case when it comes to upper body exercises.
I think guys might be even more susceptible to this problem, because one of their main aims in weight training is to get a bigger chest (large Pecs) and so they do extra work on the chest exercises at the expense of the opposing exercises for the back. Basically, they can't see their backs in the mirror so easily, and probably don't care as much about what they look like anyway, so don't consider it as important.
Another factor in this imbalance is the ease of doing press ups and chin ups as an equipment free, easy to grasp exercise. Many people are doing bodyweight exercises with no equipment. It's a great way to workout and can produce good effects (check out some of the bodyweight workouts Craig Ballantyne does in Turbulence Training) but I see a lot of press ups in these workouts and not enough back work to balance it.
I've trained in kickboxing since I was a teenager and our instructor has us do a lot of press ups. It's an easy exercise for instructors to throw at you. I then joined the Royal Marines at 19, and we would do hundreds of press ups a day. It was the standard punishment for anything they could think of, and sometimes it even seemed like it was just a way for instructors to pass the time, watching you bang out 50-100 press ups.
I think maybe another factor is that chest pressing just feels more fun to do? I don't know about you, but I find benching is just more enjoyable than doing rows.
However, in my mid twenties I started to get neck pain and really tight shoulders and eventually started to pull muscles underneath my shoulder blades because I was so imbalanced. It wasn't until I got into the fitness industry that I became aware of this concept of balance and recruiting mid back muscles to stabilise the shoulder that I realised just how unbalanced I'd been in my training over the years. I learned that I was suffering from what is termed upper cross syndrome, and needed to address the way I was training.
Upper cross syndrome is a common result of doing weight training in an imbalanced way. It can also come from having poor posture due to desk jobs, working on a computer, driving a lot, or similar activities. If you do both weight training and work at a desk, your chances are even greater. The symptoms are rounded forward shoulders, a forward head position and usually a feeling of tightness and pain in the neck and shoulders. These symptoms are a result of the muscles in the front of the shoulder being too tight and the muscles at the back of the shoulder being weaker and over-stretched.
If you are experiencing these symptoms, then you definitely need to address the balance within your training regime. Even if you're not suffering at the moment, then I would suggest thinking about the future and making this change too.
In the next post I will be talking about how to address the problem in some more detail.
Until next time,
Andrew and Alex
I think guys might be even more susceptible to this problem, because one of their main aims in weight training is to get a bigger chest (large Pecs) and so they do extra work on the chest exercises at the expense of the opposing exercises for the back. Basically, they can't see their backs in the mirror so easily, and probably don't care as much about what they look like anyway, so don't consider it as important.
Another factor in this imbalance is the ease of doing press ups and chin ups as an equipment free, easy to grasp exercise. Many people are doing bodyweight exercises with no equipment. It's a great way to workout and can produce good effects (check out some of the bodyweight workouts Craig Ballantyne does in Turbulence Training) but I see a lot of press ups in these workouts and not enough back work to balance it.
I've trained in kickboxing since I was a teenager and our instructor has us do a lot of press ups. It's an easy exercise for instructors to throw at you. I then joined the Royal Marines at 19, and we would do hundreds of press ups a day. It was the standard punishment for anything they could think of, and sometimes it even seemed like it was just a way for instructors to pass the time, watching you bang out 50-100 press ups.
I think maybe another factor is that chest pressing just feels more fun to do? I don't know about you, but I find benching is just more enjoyable than doing rows.
However, in my mid twenties I started to get neck pain and really tight shoulders and eventually started to pull muscles underneath my shoulder blades because I was so imbalanced. It wasn't until I got into the fitness industry that I became aware of this concept of balance and recruiting mid back muscles to stabilise the shoulder that I realised just how unbalanced I'd been in my training over the years. I learned that I was suffering from what is termed upper cross syndrome, and needed to address the way I was training.
Upper cross syndrome is a common result of doing weight training in an imbalanced way. It can also come from having poor posture due to desk jobs, working on a computer, driving a lot, or similar activities. If you do both weight training and work at a desk, your chances are even greater. The symptoms are rounded forward shoulders, a forward head position and usually a feeling of tightness and pain in the neck and shoulders. These symptoms are a result of the muscles in the front of the shoulder being too tight and the muscles at the back of the shoulder being weaker and over-stretched.
If you are experiencing these symptoms, then you definitely need to address the balance within your training regime. Even if you're not suffering at the moment, then I would suggest thinking about the future and making this change too.
In the next post I will be talking about how to address the problem in some more detail.
Until next time,
Andrew and Alex
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