I am a Tough Mudder

Yesterday, I participated in the Tough Mudder. If was a 12.5 mile adventure race that included 23 total obstacles that tested every kind of strength you have. From 50lb log carrying, to monkey bars, freezing cold water, 12 foot wall climbs and electric shocks this race offered the full spectrum of tests. I can honestly say that my brother and I were well prepared for each obstacle and completed the course in an impressive 2 hours and 47 minutes. Not to toot my own horn, but these workouts I have been posting positioned me beautifully for success. So it seems there is a method to this madness. With all that in mind, we will continue on with the training for the next event.... The GORUCK Challenge!!

This workout is to bring some mass back since we have done a lot of cardio routines lately. Enjoy!

1A.  Flat Bench Press: 5 sets (20, 16, 12, 8, 4)
1B. Wide Grip Cable Pull-Downs: 5 sets (20, 16, 12, 8, 4)

*** rest 3 - 5 minutes ***

2A. Incline Dumbbell Press: 5 sets (4, 8, 12, 16, 20)
2B. Wide Grip Cable Rows: 5 sets (4, 8, 12, 16, 20)

*** rest 3 - 5 minutes ***

3A. Chest Fly's: 5 sets (20, 16, 12, 8, 4)
3B. Underhand Grip Pull-downs: 5 sets (20, 16, 12, 8, 4)

*** rest 3 - 5 minutes ***

4A. Dips: 5 sets (4, 8, 12, 16, 20)
4B. Facing Grip Cable Rows: 5 sets (4, 8, 12, 16, 20)

Ole Back and Tris

Today and tomorrow we are going to focus on 2 classics. These workouts are not as crazy as most of the ones we have been doing but they are certainly staples in growing lean mean muscle. So today will be the classic back and tricep day, while tomorrow is the classic chest and bicep day. Pump, pump, pump, pump it up!

** you know the drill for this one **

1. Pullups: 4 sets (each till failure) don't if you have to hang there... TRY and you WILL get better!!!

2. Cable Wide Row: 4 sets (12, 12, 10, 8)

3. Lat Pull Down: 4 sets (12, 10, 8, 6) - as a side note, if you place your thumb over the bar, or next to your pointer finger, you will work more of your back. If you lace it under the bar, you incorporate some of your arm muscles, easing your back a little. All depends what you want.

4. Dumbbell Bench Row: 3 sets (8, 8, 8 - for each hand)

5. Facing Grip Pull Downs: 3 sets (12, 12, 12)

6. Machine Rows: 3 sets (12, 16, 20) - always do machine last, since your stabilizer muscles will be tired, you can hit the back harder with the machine.

7. Head Bangers: 4 sets (15, 12, 10, 8)

8. Cable Pull Down: 4 sets (8, 8, 6, 6)

9. Kick Backs: 3 sets (15, 15, 15)

Today and tomorrow are relatively easy days compared to what we have been doing. This is because I have the Tough Mudder Sunday and want to take it somewhat easy. Enjoy the lite days!

Whats the Best Kind of Strength?

CORE STRENGTH!!!!

That's right, the best strength out there is core strength.  Not only does the core provide all the stability and power both your upper and lower body needs, but it protects one of the most vulnerable parts of your body, the Spinal Cord. While most people build up their cores through traditional situps and deadlifts, there are other more effective ways to do this. There have been recent studies that balancing can have major benefits for your core. It does so by engaging a lot more muscle fibers in your obliques, lower back and abs. So here is the workout, to engage your entire core (and other muscles of course). Lets make your core, the strongest it has ever been!

** All exercises will be preformed one side at a time. To be even switch starting with each side every exercise **

1. Single Arm Deadlift: 3 sets (10, 10, 10) - hold a dumbbell in on hand and perform a deadlift. The dumbbell will be to your side, not in front

2. Single Arm Shoulder Press: 4 sets (8, 10, 12, 15)

3. Single Arm Bench Press: 4 sets (8, 10, 12, 15)

4. Single Arm Dumbbell Shoulder Swing: 4 sets (10, 10, 10, 10) - this is just like the kettle ball shoulder swing, just with a dumbbell

5. Single Arm Bent Over Row: 4 sets (8, 10, 12, 15) - use a barbell for this and engage the core even more

6. Switch Grip Pull Ups: 3 sets (each until failure) - have one hand facing you and the other hand facing away (switch grip like you would do on a dead lift)

7. Box Jump With Dumbbell: 4 sets (10, 10, 10, 10) - hold the dumbbell in each hand for 2 sets

8. Single Arm Shoulder Raise: 4 Sets (10, 10, 10, 10) - raise the left, then the right, not at the same time

9. Crunches: 3 sets (each till failure)

10. Hanging leg lifts: 3 sets (each till failure)

This is a great core / total body workout. Enjoy it!

My 3 best Friends

So quick crash course. Your body works on 3 systems while exercising.  The Phosphagen System, The Glycogen-Lactic Acid System and the Aerobic System. the first 2 are Anerobic Systems which mean the work without oxygen.  The Aerobic one uses Oxygen. You can look into the science of each one but for our purposes we need to know that the Phosphagen system works for short sprints (like a 100 meter sprint or 8 - 10 reps of lifteing.  The Glycogen-Lactic Acid system works for about 90 seconds (high rep exercises, 250 meter row) and the Aerobic system is unlimited (long runs like marathons). So today, we will be using each system back to back, giving it just enough time to recover. I hope you enjoy this workout, and using each system in your body!

** Perform the following as sets of 3. No need for rest in between as the energy system you are going to has already recovered **

Phosphagen: Suicide Sprints
Lactic Acid: 90 seconds Clean and Press
Aerobic: 5 minute jog


Phosphagen: Suicide Sprints
Lactic Acid: 90 seconds Burpee
Aerobic: 5 minute bike ride


Phosphagen: Suicide Sprints
Lactic Acid: 90 seconds Pushup to Pullup
Aerobic: 5 minute walk uphill


Phosphagen: 200 meter row
Lactic Acid: 90 seconds Deadlift to Row
Aerobic: 5 minute jog


Phosphagen: 200 meter row
Lactic Acid: 90 seconds 12 inch Box Jumps
Aerobic: 5 minute bike ride


Phosphagen: 200 meter row
Lactic Acid: 90 seconds Dip to leg left (bend at the knees)
Aerobic: 5 minute walk uphill


You will be tired...very tired

2 For Me Please

Today we are doing nothing but Bench Press and Pull-ups. Why? Because they are the 2 greatest workouts ever, and in reality are all you need to completely jack up your back and chest. With these 2 simple exercises you will be hitting your arms, shoulders and core.... Because they are each compound movements. It will be like a full body workout! Incredible! So here is the workout, get ready to be ultra pumped in the upper body. Oh, I forgot to mention.... 6mile run after the lift. Enjoy.

** Switch from Bench Press to Pull-ups in a super set type fashion. You will do a total of 10 switch **

Switches 1 - 3 (3 sets each) - do 80% your max: 5 reps

Switches 4 - 6 (3 sets each) - do 60% your max: 8 - 12 reps

Switches 7 - 9 (3 sets each) - do 40% your max: 15 - 20 reps

Switch 10 - go from 3 push-ups to 1 Pull-up until you quit

Now hit the treadmill for that 6 mile run!

Big Daddy Circuit

WOOO yesterday was a killer! I loved it, hope you all did as well. Today we are shifting gears from the lower body and from the cardio. We will be beefing up the chest and back.  This workout has been completely made up based on circuits, heavy reps and super setting. I am pretty sure it will go over well and leave us all pumped up by the end. So bring the muscle shirt and prepare to rip it to shreds with today's killer, beef up buff daddy workout!

** Preform the following groups in circuits, keep preforming each exercise for the amount of reps listed for 10 minutes. Do as many as you can. **

1A. Barbell Bench Press: 80% max (5 reps)
1B. Wide Stance Pushup: 10 reps
1C. Wide Grip Rows: 80% max (5 reps)
1D. Inverted Pushups: 5 reps

Rest for 3 minutes

2A. Incline Barbell Press: 80% max (5 reps)
2B. Incline Pushups: 10 reps
2C. Wide Grip Lat Pull Downs: 80% max (5 reps)
2D. Close Grip Lat Pull Downs: 50% max (10 reps)

Rest for 3 minutes

3A. Decline Bench Press: 80% max (5 reps)
3B. Wall Pushups: 10 reps
3C. Close Grip Rows: 80% max (5 reps)
3D. Inverted Underhand Pushups: 5 reps

Rest for 3 minutes

4A. Close Grip Bench Press: 80% max (5 reps)
4B. Body Weight Dips: 10 reps
4C. Chin Ups: 80% max (5 reps)
4D. Pushup Position Row: 5 each hand

Rest for 3 minutes

5A. Chest Cable Fly: 80% max (5 reps)
5B. Chest Dumbbell Fly: 50% max (10 reps)
5C. Back Dumbbell Fly: 80% max (5 reps)
5D. Machine Back Fly: 50% max (5 reps)

You have finished! Enjoy the pump and satisfaction! 

I Love 6:30 am!!!

Hey everyone. So I woke up extremely motivated today. It was needed after what I considered a laxed workout yesterday at the rock climbing gym. Don't get me wrong, it was a great time and my forearms are killing me, but it wasn't the hardcore workout that I crave. The workout I did this morning challenged me physically and mentally. I wanted to quite more than a handful of times, but I didn't. I watched 2 Weeks in Hell yesterday and that basically gave me all the motivation I ever needed to not quite. So here is the serious workout. It is 1 hour of pain, you can do it. Don't ever quit.

1. Jog 1 mile - flat

2A. Incline Dumbbell Bench Press: 4 sets (15, 12, 10, 8)
2B. Lat-Pull Downs: 4 sets (15, 12, 10, 8)

3. Jog 1 mile - inlcine 2.0


4A. Bent Over Rows: 4 sets (15, 12, 10, 8)
4B. Military Shoulder Press: 4 sets (15, 12, 10, 8)

5. Jog 1 mile - inlcine 4.0


6A. Chin Ups: 3 sets (15, 12, 10)
6B. Bench Press: 3 sets (15, 12, 10)

7. Jog 1 mile - inlcine 6.0


8A. Wide Grip Cable Rows: 3 sets (15, 12, 10)
8B. Shoulder Swings: 3 sets (8 each hand, each time)

9. Jog 1 mile - flat

10A. Cable Pull Down for Abs: 3 sets (10, 10, 10)
10B. Crunches on workout ball: 3 sets (10, 10, 10)

haha

Rock Climbing

Hope everyone had a great weekend and a few nice rest days. Today I am taking a break from the usual workouts we have been doing and engaging myself in rock climbing. I am pretty excited to participate and it should be a solid workout. It is good to switch up routines and do things you are not used to doing. This forces you to train different muscles in different ways, which is the main catalyst for growth!  I recommend everyone try something today that they have not done in a while. It could be rollerblading, hiking, sports or a class. These activities will each offer your body something different and challenging because it is no what you are used to. So go out there and have some fun doing or playing a different activity. We will get back to the typical fun workout tomorrow.  

Bro Boot Camp

Hey everyone. Hope you all enjoyed the day off yesterday because it is back to a heavy anaerobic workout today. We will be doing high reps of compound movements to work our entire body. Pushing ourselves even harder because of the nice rest yesterday.  So, its Friday, enjoy and work hard so you look, and more importantly, feel great for the weekend!

** perform the following in sets of 7 minutes continuously, getting 10 reps each, then run for a half mile before starting the next set **

1A. Jump Squats
1B. Forward Lunges
1C. Backward Lunges
1D. Side Lunges
1E. Side Jumps

2A. Dead Lifts
2B. Pushup Rows
2C. Shoulder Press
2D. Jumping Jacks

3A. Get Ups
3B. Planks
3C. Leg Lifts
3D. Ab Rolls

4A. Bicep Curls
4B. Dips
4C. Pullups
4D. Diamond Pushups
5E. Mountain Climbers

Keep going round and round until the 7 minutes are up.  Have fun!!!!

Rest Day

Congrats. It has been a punishing 4 days. It is important now to take a day off and rest. We have been working  multiple muscles each day and need the rest. The day off will allow our muscles to recuperate making them stronger and less injury prone. Also, we can work out all the soreness through our high powered protein and complex carb diet today which will get us ready to hit the ground running tomorrow. Focus on eating healthy and stretching today. Rest is just as important as lifting, any expert will tell you the same thing. So take the day, trust me, you need it. 

Run Day Fun Day

So after that intense upper body workout yesterday, we really should attack the legs.  But also turn up the heat on our cardio because that has been neglected for 2 whole days now! Only this time we will be focusing on distance running and not the high intensity stuff we did on Monday. This will train our endurance.  So a good goal to shoot for today would be at least 6 miles. I know that may sound like a lot, especially if you do not run often, but try it! You do not need to maintain an 8 minute mile pace or anything like that, just get the 6 miles under your belt. Oh and after these lovely, relaxing 6 miles we are going to crush our legs into the ground so badly none of us will want to get out of bed tomorrow morning. See the second half of your Run Day Fun Day below:

1. Star Jumps: 3 sets (20, 20, 20)

2. Walking Backwards Lunges: 3 sets (20, 20, 20)

3. Mountain Climbers: 3 sets (20, 20, 20)

4. Side Jumps: 3 sets each side (10, 10, 10) ** For this, keep your legs together, squat down then jump sideways to the right. Land with your feet together. Squat down again and jump back to the left. Keep your hands in front  of you.

5. Wall Sits (Devils Chair): 3 sets (hold for 20 seconds each)

and if you are really cocky -

6. Preform exercises 1-4 listed above 2 reps at time in a row until you are about to pass out!

Enjoy the soreness! 

Presses Galore

I hope everyone had a blast yesterday! I must say that was one of the harder workouts I have engaged in. I mean, the 3rd 1000 meter row was pure torture on my legs and heart rate. Today, we are going to take a brief step back from cardio and focus on building some upper body muscles. Completely ignoring the legs today because tomorrow is a run day! So the routine today will be creative and probably different that anything you have tried but it will work quite well. So give it a try, and if you like pyramids, then you will love this.

** To do this routine you will grab a bench that can go from decline, to flat to incline. These benches are usually near the dumbbells and have about 8 different notches on them.  You will grab a weight that you can do 6 times.  You will start with the bench on the bottom most notch and preform your presses. After each set of 6, you will rest 10 seconds, then raise the bench 1 notch (drop the amount of weight you are lifting, not the amount of reps, if you need to).  You will continue this until your work your way from decline chest presses, to shoulder presses! (sounds pretty cool right)  This is called the notch pyramid a reverse notch pyramid means you start with shoulder press **

1. Notch Pyramid: 1 set (6 reps)

2. Walking Pushups: 3 sets (8 reps each way)

3. Reverse Notch Pyramid: 1 set (6 reps)

4. Weighted Dips: 3 sets (8, 8, 8)

5. Notch Pyramid: 1 set (6 reps)

6. Front to Side Shoulder Raises: 3 sets (10, 10, 10)

7. Reverse Notch Pyramid: 1 set (6 reps)

8. Chest Flys: 3 sets (12, 12, 12)

9. Notch Pyramid: 1 set (6 reps)

10. Shoulder Shrugs: 3 sets (8, 8, 8)

Enjoy being jacked!

Cool Cardio Crusher

Stupid name I know, but not stupid workout. In fact, far from it. This is one of the crueler workouts I have dreamed up (it even kept me up last night). Today we will be spiking our heart rate, then bringing it only slightly down, then spiking it again and again and again. It will be like the hiccups, just when you think its over, BAM it comes back. I figure this will all bring us back to reality after the long leisurely holiday weekend. So without blabbering useless nonsense anymore, here is your workout.

1. Run 1 mile
2. Row 1000 meters

3. 100 Pushups

4. Run 1 mile
5. Row 1000 meters

6A. 50 Pullups / Lat Pull Downs
6B. 50 Shoulder Press with Barbell

7. Run 1 mile
8. Row 1000 meters

9. 50 Jump Squats

10. 100 Reps of abs up to you (switch between leg lifts, crunches, captain chair, plank to push up and scissor kicks)

This workout is truly demented. I'm scared.

Distance Run... With Surprises!

Thursday mornings are the best time to go for a nice long relaxing distance run. With the sun just coming up and the light air, it is the perfect weather and mood to jog for a long distance. That is exactly what I did this morning. Only, as I'm sure you are all aware by now, I had to add more challenging aspects to it. No sense just pushing yourself when you can really dig deep and shove yourself!  So I picked my loop, it was just over 5 miles. Then I thought, I should be able to do 50 pushups per mile! So over the course of jogging 5 miles I completed 250 pushups. That is exactly what you are going to be doing.  So pick your mileage, and make sure to do 50 pushups each mile! I spread mine out and did sets of 20, try to find what works best for you. Don't worry about time, as it is a nice relaxing Thursday morning. Enjoy the air, the sweat, the burn and ultimately, the accomplishment!

Go get em'

Heavy Hitters

I feel like going heavy today. Mainly because I am meeting this mega meathead at the gym and he told me we are going heavy. So yesterday we discussed the workout to be. It is similar to ones we have done in the sense it uses 5x5 (5 sets with 5 reps each). However, we are also going to max out which we have not done yet! I think this will be great for us since we can all document what weights we get, then in a few months, we can try it again to see how far we have all come. We have been working pretty hard lately so I am expecting some good numbers. So here is the heavy hitter workout that will be crushing me in appx 4 hours.


1. Squats: Warm up with 20 Body Squats then, Max Out then, 5 x 5

2. Bench Press: Warm up with 20 Pushups then, Max Out then, 5 x 5

3. Dead Lift: Warm up with 20 Sunshines then, Max Out then, 5 x 5

4. Weighted Pullups: Warm up with 20 Lat Pull Downs then, Max Out then, 5 x 5

5. Seated Military Shoulder Press: Warm up with 20 Shoulder Raises then, Max Out then, 5 x 5

** Now go binge on protein and carbs to rebuild those beautiful muscles **

Boot Camp

Today is a boot camp day! This is an intense workout that is going to fluctuate your heart rate to multiple degrees and multiple times. The idea behind it is right on par with high intensity training. When you don't think you can last any longer, that is the time you need to push the hardest and break that barrier because its all mental. If you really couldn't last, you would simply pass out and not be able to think you couldn't.  It makes sense so... Lets crush this!

1. Run 1 mile

2A. 30 Lunges
2B. 30 Jump Squats (pause for 2 seconds in the down position)
2C. 30 Crunches on Exercise Ball

3. Run 1 mile

4A. 50 Dead Lift to Curl to Shoulder Press (rest when you need to, us dumbbells that are 50% your max)

5. Run 1 mile

6A. 30 Fall Backs to Get Ups
6B. 30 walking Pushup Rows

7. Run 1 mile

8. Pullups till you quit because you are so tired you can barely walk out of the gym.


Woooo I'm excited for this one.

Circuit Please!

Welcome to another awesome week of workouts! This weekend was a lazy one. I binged on bad food and about as much exercise as Peter Griffin does. That is because I am officially 4 weeks away from the Tough Mudder and 5 weeks away from the 10 mile Broad Street Run.  I wanted to get one last weekend end to get all those cravings out of my system, and it worked. Because now, this body will be pristine for the next 4 weeks with a near perfect diet, no alcohol and crazy lifting. So lets start crunch time off right! 

Preform each station for 60 seconds. Rest 15 seconds in between. Rest 2 minutes after completion of circuit and repeat.

1. Goblet Squat w/ dumbell

2. Mountain Climber

3. Single-Arm Dumbell Swing (each arm 30 seconds)

4. T-pushup

5. Split Jump

6. Dumbbell Row

7. Dumbbell Side Lunge and Touch (30 seconds each side)

8. Pushup Position Row

9. Dumbbell Lung & Rotation (hold dumbell by its ends just under chin)

10. Dumbbell Push Press

Peform 2-3 times.

** On a side note, I think it would be important and extremely beneficial for every person to pick goals to push yourselves towards, it really helps to keep you motivated and dedicated to your healthy lifestyle!  So sign up for that race in the future and start your journey towards kicking its ass!