Scorpiogrrl’s Blog

This article appeared in todays Sydney Morning Herald

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/fitness-first-sick-win/2008/08/07/1217702208957.html

Unfortunately this is the gym chain I belong to, as there’s pretty much no other choice around the area. They are very commonly not-so-affectionately named “Finance First” and this article proves the point. Disputing $200, even going to court to do it, you must be kidding. This publicity will turn off some potential new members and they only have themselves to blame. I know they don’t want a precedent set but surely customer service and good word of mouth rep come ahead of losing the $200 if someone cancels ?

Edit, later: Yes, the saga continues …

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/byour-storiesb/2008/08/07/1217702222654.html

Later edit: After the case, FF did pay back the $200. As I thought, going through with the court case was to avoid a precedent being set.

Great email sent to his list today by Alwyn Cosgrove to promote his DVD “Metabolic Acceleration Training” (available here ) I am reproducing it here as I love this sort of training. Fun, challenging, bang for the buck.

Metabolic Acceleration Training
A better way
I’m a huge believer in using the “alternating set” system when training. For time management reasons, I tend to do exercise one for a set, rest 60 seconds or so, do exercise two for a set, rest 60 seconds or so, and continue. This allows me to increase work density while still getting “true” rest.

In other words, I perform a set of squats, rest 60 seconds, perform a set of push-ups, rest 60 seconds, and repeat. So in effect, I’ve almost tripled the rest period between squat sets (60 seconds plus the time taken for push-ups plus 60 seconds) as opposed to using a straight set system. And for fat loss training, it’s unparalleled.

However, the biggest problem or complaint I get from clients who use commercial facilities is that it’s really hard for them to tie up two pieces of gym equipment at peak hours. I have my own facility, but I realize this can be a real problem elsewhere. So I started experimenting with a few things–doing dumbbell lunges and push-ups for example or step-ups and dumbbell bench presses where I could use one set of dumbbells and one piece of equipment.

It was an okay compromise, but it started to somewhat limit my exercise selection. And to be honest, it still had the issue of people working in and possibly disrupting your rest periods.

So I went a step further. What if I created a fat loss or conditioning program based around one piece of equipment where you stayed in the same spot, using the same load for the entire duration. So I tried it. At first it was awkward, but after reading Istvan Javorek’s work and talking with über strength coach, Robert Dos Remedios, I started to implement different variations of combination lifting.

I just hoped that it would work as well as alternating sets for fat loss and conditioning or at least close enough that it wasn’t too much of a tradeoff. As it turns out, it worked better! In fact, it worked so well that it became a cornerstone of my conditioning programs with several athletes.

Part two
Part two of the evolution of our fat loss programs came shortly after. I have always recommended interval training as a superior form of fat loss over steady state cardio. Interval training is essentially periods of hard work alternated with easier periods of work using a cardio exercise.

The problem–running a mile doing intervals involves about 1500 repetitions. For someone looking to cut body fat, and hit total body weight training two to three times a week, that is a lot of extra volume and potential joint stress. So I started thinking. Interval training is similar to weight training in that it involves sets (and reps) followed by a rest period (albeit active). What if I used a lighter version of traditional strength training and created metabolic circuits?

Timed sets

This is the simplest variation of metabolic work. Pick a load that is about 80% of your 10RM. Perform as many reps as possible at a constant tempo for a period of time (e.g. 60 seconds) and try to perform as many repetitions with as good form as possible. Rest for 15-30 seconds and perform another exercise.

Example #1

Barbell reverse lunge, left leg, 60 seconds
Rest 15-30 seconds
Barbell reverse lunge, right leg, 60 seconds
Rest 15-30 seconds
Barbell push press, 60 seconds
Rest 15-30 seconds

Repeat three times for a 12-minute routine.

Example #2

Kettlebell swings, 30 seconds
Rest 15 seconds
Push-ups/burpees, 30 seconds
Rest 15 seconds
Prowler push, 30 seconds
Rest 15 seconds

Repeat for five rounds for a 12-minute finisher.

Metabolic density training

This is a modified version of EDT as popularized by Charles Staley. However, Charles recommends two exercises performed as a superset for 15 minutes. In this case, we are going to use three exercises and work for ten minutes.

Example #1

Dumbbell bench press
Alternating lunges
Swiss ball crunch

In this method, select a load that will allow 10-12 reps and perform sets of 6-8. There is no rest between exercises. Work continuously for ten minutes moving from one exercise to the next. The alternate version is to perform five rounds of 6-8 reps of each as fast as possible.

Complexes

Be warned, these are pretty grueling. Perform the complexes at the beginning of your workout when you’re fresh. They’ll elevate your metabolism beyond anything you’ve ever experienced before. The most frequently asked question about complexes is how much load to use. Remember, it’s a metabolic stimulus, not a strength or hypertrophy stimulus so be conservative. Now, don’t go too light either. A good “Cosgrove rule of thumb” is that if you’re not questioning why in the hell you’re doing these exercises or convincing yourself that twice around is enough, you’re not going heavy enough.

Let’s get into it. Perform each complex once per week for four training sessions per week. Use the following progression:

Week one: 4 sets of 5 reps of each, 90 seconds rest

Week two: 5 sets of 5 reps of each, 75 seconds rest

Week three: 5 sets of 6 reps of each, 60 seconds rest

Week four: 6 sets of 6 reps of each, 45 seconds rest.

Then puke.

Complex A

Bent over barbell row

Hang clean

Front squat and push press hybrid

Jump squat (bar on back)

Good morning

Complex B

Romanian deadlift

Hang clean and front squat and push press (combination lift, perform one rep of each in series)

Reverse lunge (alternate legs)

Complex C

Deadlift

High pull (onto toes)

Squat clean (clean the bar from the hang and then drop into a full squat on the catch)

Military press (strict)

Jump lunges (switch legs)

Insert my evil laugh here!

Complex D

Jump squat

Squat

Squat and hold for 10 seconds

Military press

Push press

Squat and press (combination lift, perform one rep of each in series)

Note: Try to work all exercises at a speed of 1-2 reps per second.

Tabatas

A Tabata protocol is a very high intensity anaerobic interval program that involved eight rounds of 20 second work periods at 170% of your VO2 max with a negative recovery period of 10 seconds. The best way to use these with strength training exercises is to alternate one upper body with one lower body exercise. The second progression we used is to vary the work to rest ratio.

Beginner: 10 seconds work, 20 seconds recovery
Intermediate: 15 seconds work, 15 seconds recover
Advanced: 20 seconds work, 10 seconds recovery

A great pairing is squat jumps and running push-ups (a single push-up and two reps of mountain climbers in alternating fashion) in pairs.

Medley conditioning
This is similar to the other methods in that we are working for time, but we will use 15 seconds on and 15 seconds off and perform multiple rounds with different pieces of equipment. For example, an MMA fighter competing in five-minute rounds may use four exercises in a circuit and perform multiple rounds until the five-minute period is up.

Example #1
15 seconds, Prowler push
15 seconds, rest
15 seconds, squat jump
15 seconds, rest
15 seconds, sledgehammer or medicine ball chops
15 seconds, rest
15 seconds, kettlebell swing
15 seconds, rest

Keep working through the medley until the five-minute period is up.

Finishers

Finishers are just short body weight or single piece of equipment only, 3-5 minute routines at the end of each workout.

Screamers:

3 push-ups, 1 tuck jump
6 push-ups, 2 tuck jump
9 push-ups, 3 tuck jumps
12 push-ups, 4 tuck jumps
15 push-ups, 5 tuck jumps

Continue to add three push-ups and one tuck jump to each set until you miss a rep. Then climb back down the ladder.

Leg Matrix:

24 squats
12 lunges each leg (alternating)
12 lunge jumps each leg (alternating)
24 squat jumps

(If you can complete this in under 90 seconds, do two rounds with no rest.)

Squat series:

20-second squat jump
20-second squat
20-second isometric squat

Repeat for three rounds with no rest.

Countdowns

Select two exercises (e.g. kettlebell swing and burpees or squat jumps and plyometric push-ups).

Perform 10 reps of each, nine reps of each, eight reps of each and so on. Each week start with one set of one more rep than your top set (e.g. 11 reps, 10 reps, 9 reps, etc.).

A final warning

This isn’t for the faint hearted or de-conditioned. They are not beginners’ routines. If you’re coming back from injury or illness, don’t try this program yet. It’s brutal. However, if you follow this routine for four weeks, you’ll see a very significant improvement in your conditioning and a massive drop in your body fat!

This article originally appeared at EliteFTS.com

—-

Q: In the Hierarchy of Fat Loss article - you talk about “metabolic resistance training”. Can you explain exactly what that is?

A: Basically it’s using resistance training exercises, and instead of adjusting load, sets or reps to focus on strength vs hypertrophy - we adjust load, time under tension and rep speed to focus on more metabolic demands.

In my experience this is the fastest, and most time-efficient way to drop body fat and outperforms any other method.

I have just released a DVD that covers several methods of using this type of training - including

* Timed sets,
* Density training,
* Complexes,
* Tabata training and
* Metabolic “finishers”.

After presenting this topic as a practical session around the country on the Perform Better tour in 2007 - we have released the information and workouts on this DVD. Theis will help you identify how to use strength training exercises and implements to create a strength, cardiovascular and metabolic training effect simultaneously.

We launched it at the Perform Better event in January and sold out. We just got more copies back in stock.

You can pick up your copy of the DVD here

–
AC
www.alwyncosgrove.com

AlwynCosgrove.com

24420 Walnut street
Newhall, CA
91321
US

I went to a seminar mid week which featured my favourite (and oft mentioned here) instructor from the gym Shannon Cleary and an exercise physiologist Sam Mower. Ulterior motive for the seminar of course - selling the Juice Plus product which Sam (and I guess Shannon too) are distributors of. Regardless it was very worthwhile and educational. I did know a lot of it already but still learned a few new things.

A summary of what was said.

Shannon

• Started off with some background about herself, very open in doing so. Mention of a fair few past health issues.
• Distinction between looking fit and healthy and actually being healthy. Showed us pics of herself at the time of suffering some of above mentioned health issues - although bit too skinny looking, did look reasonably healthy.
• Now still looks healthy (much more so, not too skinny looking any more) but more to the point really is healthy.
• Free radicals - caused by breathing (!), lifestyle stress, training
• To combat, we need antioxidants - come from plants
• Eat lots of fruit and veges. If training, you need more !
• Eating sufficient calories. This one really got me - apparently someone being kept alive in a coma needs 1100 cals. If that is true it means those of us active and training need a lot more. (I am going to do some research into the source of that info)
• Distinguished between macro and micro calories. Macro = big picture - whole number of calories i.e. fat/carb/protein/alcohol. Micro = small picture - amount of nutrients you’re actually getting from the food. Idea is you look at your micro intake, not macro.
• Macro calories come from the beige page - processed carbs - breads, flours etc etc and junk food. All this food worthless. Clarified afterwards that the beige page doesn’t include natural unprocessed grains e.g. quinoa and that ezekiel (sprouted grain) bread is good - it is alive unlike other breads (yay, I love that stuff)
• Micro - fruit and veges, meat, eggs, seafood etc (in moderation), legumes etc.
• Omega 3 from ground flaxseeds
• Microwaves bad. Remove goodness from food.
• Has her clients achieve 80% compliance with the above but is insistent people need to have a life too so actually wants to see some crosses in the daily food log.
• 1 coffee per day (yes, I fail that one)
• Computer off by 8pm (fail that one too)
• Asleep by 10:30pm, 10:30-2:30am is when your body regenerates/rebuilds

Sam

• Omega 3s - fish oil capsules (sigh of relief here as Shannon didn’t mention them)
• Fats - showed pictures of molecules distinguishing between different types - saturated, unsaturated - latter mono vs poly, and how trans fats are created. Mono-unsaturated - a bent molecule, Poly-unsaturated a kinky molecule (multiple bends). Kinky is best !
• Had a blender on hand mixed up a smoothie he has for breakfast every morning. Juice Plus Complete (the MRP product), green tea (great source of antioxidants as I knew already), mixed berries, banana, other stuff I can’t remember - and the new one for me, Brewers Yeast - a great source of vitamin B which helps combat depression. We all got a little taste of the shake. Could have been worse but I’m sticking to my omelettes for brekkie.

Take home points for me

• The 80% compliance thing as opposed to 90% stated everywhere else I’ve seen (i.e Precision Nutrition, Turbulence Training etc). Sigh of relief, so much more achievable. No doubt you get better body comp results with 90% but it’s a question of balancing out these goals vs enjoying life.
• The good grains - quinoa, ezekiel bread etc. And starchy veges - potatoes etc. I’m going to eat them as and when I like without stressing about it. Have been too caught up in the starchy carbs “post workout” only thing that feel guilty about eating them (and then post workout eat other stuff which is not nearly as good e.g rice cakes).
• The brewers yeast. That was a new one for me. Have bought some and added it to rolled oats and pancakes this weekend. Have just made a batch of muesli and will put some in there too.
• The macro vs micro calories approach - really like that - simple and effective.

We’ve just had this event in Sydney - actually a week long. I had a draft post which I’d started writing before the event slagging off the idea - mainly because of a law that was hastily introduced beforehand declaring that anyone wearing a t-shirt deemed to cause offense would be fined $5500 !!. Surprise, surprise, this spurned a whole lot of new t-shirt designs, in protest. I was wondering whether my fab t-shirt from the Sydney 2002 Gay Games with the slogan “Those we don’t recruit we eat”would fit the bill.

However didn’t get to making that post public and it was just as well. For a start that law was overturned in the courts, judges seeing common sense and striking it down as against basic freedoms.

As well as that though, it has been a really happy week in Sydney. There has been all these pilgrims around the place with brightly coloured backpacks and hats, mostly young (but not all) and all really happy. Smiles on the faces, they say hello when you walk past (and mean it), singing, dancing … I’m not religious in any way but if that’s what it can do for people, not all bad.

Hell’s kitchen that is i.e. Gordon Ramsay.

I got this recipe indirectly through the Precision Nutrition forum. It is amazingly good for so few ingredients. Resist the temptation to add extra spices etc for more flavour.

Ingredients

to taste Water
to taste Salt
to taste Black pepper
2 heads Broccoli very fresh
to taste Olive oil optional, for garnish

Instructions
Cut the florets off the heads of broccoli. Cut the stems into similarly sized pieces. Add all of the broccoli — florets and stems — into a pot of rapidly-boiling, salted water (ratio = 2 tablespoons salt in 5 quarts (= 4.73lt), you’re not actually using this much water or salt). Cover. Cook 3.5 to 4 minutes.

Using a slotted spoon, put the cooked broccoli pieces into a blender. Fill blender about halfway with cooking liquid. Blend carefully since it’s hot. Add more cooking liquid as necessary to achieve the desired consistency. Check seasonings.

If desired, add cheese (goat cheese or cheddar cheese) to the bottom of the bowl before pouring the soup in. Serve, drizzled with olive oil if desired.

Few things to write about today.

1. how’s this for customer service ? Remember the hydracoach waterbottle I mentioned purchasing a couple of months ago here Have found the rubber mouthpieces come off fairly easily and last weekend when I had the bottle in an outside compartment of my bag, lost it.

So early in the week, called the Australian support number and asked whether there were spares available, The woman there said yes, she could send one out, took my address. I then asked for 3 - was envisaging I’d be paying for these - might as well get a couple extra while I’m at it. But there was no mention of cost. So I brought it up - offered a credit card number to cover payment. No - no charge. And later in the week indeed got 3 mouthpieces in the mail.

So thanks go out there, superb service. Hydracoach Aussie site .

2. Good idea for quick and easy dinner. Shopping Thursday evening picking up a few more veges, hungry at the time spotted some readymade soups. The one which caught my eye in particular an Indian vegetable and split pea soup. Looked at the ingredients list, all natural stuff. So picked it up. Took it home and added spinach (a defrosted 250g frozen pack), tofu cubes and more spices (as pretty mildly flavoured). Ended up as a very satisfying dish which did 3 meals for me in the end (next day combined with some of my favourite rice cakes from Altitude in North Sydney and some leftover Greek burgers).

3. Scanning the precision nutrition forums - one recent post from Ryan Andrews is a list of supershake ideas. One suggested combo - beetroot and chocolate. Now it might mean I’m a little (or a lot) weird but I actually think that might be pretty good. Of late I use spinach in most of my shakes but never thought of beetroot. As it happens bought beetroot the other day and need to cook it up today so am going to give it a go.

Later - indeed I did. The combo

1 frozen banana
1/2c cottage cheese
roast beetroot
water
1 scoop choc protein powder
couple of tsp cocoa

Verdict - yes, good. I normally have spinach in this combo and the banana really helps to sweeten it up. As the beetroot so much sweeter than spinach, banana not so essential.

Guess the next thing to try is spinach and beetroot. Colour will be pretty hideous, but should be a winner anyway.

I did a Body Balance class yesterday. Nice class. But have an issue with one of the exercises in the core conditioning track the classic “Pilates 100″. You’re holding the up position of an abdominal curl with legs extended keeping your abdominals braced, arms are straight out in front doing sort of a quick fluttering movement up and down.

Just having been reading up on shoulder impingements for my course and thinking about joint actions, muscles being worked etc, wondered what on earth the arm movement actually did to aid the movement. The basic ab hold is fantastic, no question, really challenges the core stabilising muscles. But the arm movement doesn’t seem to me to serve any extra purpose and can’t be too good for anyone with shoulder issues

So asked the instructor (young woman Alex) about it at the end of the class. Really, she didn’t know. The answer I got - maybe a timing thing or for toning your arms. Timing - maybe a little merit in that argument but not a lot. But tone your arms ?? Analysing the movement - joint action is a very small range of shoulder flexion muscles involveddeltoids and pec major assisted by coracobrachialis and biceps brachii. So a bit of “arm” there but not much. More importantly though, no resistance, not going to do anything really. If someone came to me wanting to “tone” their arms (whatever tone actually is !) - they’d be doing chin ups, push ups, rows and variations thereof.

As for the 100 exercise, I’ve decided next time I encounter that exercise in a Balance class will leave out the arm movement and concentrate on the real point of the exercise, the ab contraction. But if any pilates afficionadoes happen to read this and do know a good reason for the arm movements let me know - always open to more learning.

I felt like a workout today but as supposed to be a recovery day, nothing too hard. So did an old favourite - a circuit adapted slightly (to make it easier ! recovery day after all) from this email sent out to his list by Craig Ballantyne last year

So what do you do on the weekend when you know you need a workout, but its cold outside, and the gyms a 10-15 minute drive away?

You become a weekend bodyweight warrior, that’s what.

Here’s a recent fast and effective bodyweight workout that I did at home…all with no equipment. No need to go out in the cold and drive to the gym (heck, it would have taken me almost 15 minutes just to get there!).

So here’s what I did…3 separate circuits…6 exercises per circuit…no rest between exercises or between circuits.

In all, I did 379 repetitions over 17-minutes, doing each exercise at a 1-0-1 tempo (in most cases).

This was moderate intensity, although you’ll see the last circuit was the hardest…and the first circuit served as a bit of a warm-up, although it was no joke either.

If you want to add an extra bit of “oooomph” to the workout, you can add in the Advanced Burpees at the end of each circuit.

Allright, on to the workout…

Circuit #1 (120 reps)
- Y-squat (15 reps)
- Pushup (15)
- Diagonal Lunge (15 per side)
- Spiderman Climb (15 per side)
- Waiter’s Bow (15)
- Stick-up (15)

Circuit #2 (115 reps)
- V-Squat (15)
- Decline Pushup (15)
- Reverse Lunge (15 per side)
- X-body Mountain Climber (10 per side)
- 1-Leg RDL (10 per side)
- Pushup Plus (15)

Circuit #3 (144 reps)
- Pistol (5 per side)
- T-Pushup (10 per side)
- Bulgarian Split Squat (12 per side)
- Mountain Climber with Feet Elevated (15 per side)
- 1-leg Hip Extension (15 per side)
- Close-grip Pushups (30)

Great workout.

Let’s aim for 500 reps in 3 circuits next time,

CB

(CB being Craig Ballantyne, of TT members)

These are great workouts. Work the whole body fantastic for strength and mobility. And if you go fast quite the cardio session too.

It’s a public holiday today in Sydney town, nearby gyms are open but limited hours. But the beauty of this bodyweight workout I’m doing at the moment - can do it at home ! Only equipment I needed my chinup bar for the pullups and inverted rows and a chair for box squats and pike pushups. So I didn’t bother going to the gym.

Means I got to choose the music too ! Put on some ultra tacky music while training- the playlist

Summer Rain (Slinkee Minx)
Feels So Good (Sonique)
Reason (Ian Van Dahl)
Set You Free (N-Trance)
Heaven (DJ Sammy)
Africa (E-Type)

“Reason” there was a reason for. Last Monday missed Shannon’s RPM class. However did my training outside while it was on. Quite entertaining doing that listening to her. She played that track and the motivational snippet I overheard her saying to the class “you need a reason ? naked !!” Made me laugh at the time and I got to have it in my head today as I was training.

“Africa” still reminds me of classes at Les Mills in Auckland - hardcore circuit instructor George used to use that one a lot.

So, good workout.

The new monthly Turbulence Training workout for June came out the other day. Quite a while since I’ve been so excited looking at a workout programme so decided I had to give it a go.  It is an all bodyweight routine - if you didn’t think it was possible to be too challenged by all bodyweight exercises, think again !.  My first workout yesterday and am feeling rather sore in a few places today.   Kicker comes on Friday, the 3rd workout of the week - it is a 30 minute challenge - there’s a circuit of exercises you work through as many times as poss in the 30 mins and keep track of how many reps you end up doing.  Aim is to try and improve this each week.  Check out this video, Craig Ballantyne, creator of Turbulence Training showing you the 30 minute challenge.