Health Habits

In short, this program is going to make the Irishman bigger, stronger, faster, more flexible and hopefully reverse some of his dysfunction in his left shoulder.

THE WARM-UP

Unlike most programs, the warm-up doesn’t just get the Irishman ready for the workout, it is part of the workout.

I have designed two separate warm-ups that he will perform on alternate days.

Each warm-up is designed to dynamically stretch his joints, increase muscle temperature & elasticity, prime his anaerobic energy system as well as get his mind laser focused on the remainder of the workout

WARM-UP #1

Barbell Snatch x 8 reps
Barbell Overhead or Front Squat x 8 reps
Back Squat x 8 reps
Barbell Good Morning x 8 reps
Barbell Bent-Over Row x 8 reps
Barbell Deadlift x 8 reps
Hip Flexor Stretch x 8 reps

Repeat as many times as possible in 10 minutes (no rest between exercises – 30 sec. rest between supersets)

Note – You NEED to get through this at least 3 times in 10 min.

WARM-UP #2

Goblet Squat (DB) x 8 reps
Push-Up x 8 reps
Body Weight Row x 8 reps
Shuffle Lunge x 30 reps
Ab Wheel Roll-Outs x 8 reps
DB Swings x 20 reps
Hip Flexor Stretch x 8 reps

Repeat as many times as possible in 10 minutes (no rest between exercises – 30 sec. rest between supersets)

Note – You NEED to get through this at least 3 times in 10 min.

By the end of the 10 min. warm-up, the Irishman should be sweating hard and gasping for breath.

Take 5 min to get ready for the “real” workout

THE WORKOUT

The key to the success of these workouts is intensity.

I don’t care about the amount of weight lifted or how many reps. What I care about is effort. If you push harder than you thought you could ever push yourself, this workout will reward you with truly impressive results

For example, I tried this workout on a personal training client with amazing results

He is/was a tall (6′5″) guys with little muscle

In 9 weeks, he added 13 lbs of muscle and if his impedance scale is accurate, his BF has dropped from 23% to 14%

WORKOUT BASICS

Each workout will consist of 3 supersets
Each superset will consist of 2 exercises
Each superset will last 10 minutes

The reps performed per exercise will be modified by yours truly to maximize results.
The weight selected per exercise will also be modified by yours truly.

Intensity level HAS to be 100%

Simple…but not easy

SAMPLE WORKOUT

Superset #1

Alternate between exercise #1 and #2 for 10 minutes
No rest between sets

Exercise # 1

Goblet Squat

Choose a weight that would allow you to perform 20 quality reps (doesn’t have to be exact, weight selection will improve with experience)
Perform a maximum of 10 reps per set (at first, this will seem very easy..don’t worry, after 10 minutes you legs will be dying)

Exercise # 2

DB Lateral Raise / DB Bent-Over Lateral Raise

Choose a weight that would allow you to perform 20 quality reps (doesn’t have to be exact, weight selection will improve with experience)
Perform a maximum of 10 reps per set (by the end of 10 min, you may only be getting 1 or 2 reps per set, but remember 100% intensity)
Alternate between shoulder exercises - ie Goblet/Laterals/Goblet/Bent-Over Lateral/Goblet/Lateral/Goblet/ Bent-Over Lateral…

5 Minutes rest between supersets #1 and #2 – Use that time to set up for superset #2

Superset #2

Alternate between exercise #1 and #2 for 10 minutes
No rest between sets

Exercise # 1

Swing Snatch

Choose a weight that would allow you to perform 40 quality reps
Perform a maximum of 20 reps per set

Exercise # 2

Cable Straight Arm Pushdown (aka the Vertical Woodchop or Hi-Lo Slam)

Choose a weight that would allow you to perform 20 quality reps
Perform a maximum of 10 reps per set
Be explosive with these

Superset #3

Alternate between exercise #1 and #2 for 10 minutes
No rest between sets

Exercise # 1

1 Arm Kneeling Pulldown (or 1 Arm Alternating Standing Pulldown if 1 arm is n/a)

Choose a weight that would allow you to perform 20 quality reps
Perform a maximum of 10 reps per set

Exercise # 2

Shuffle Lunge

Bodyweight
30 reps per set
Focus on speed…shuffle those feet

Okay, that’s it for this intro post.

Tomorrow, I will be posting the Healthy Irishman’s first workout (just in case anyone wants to join in)
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Enjoy fellas.

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another Health Habits transformation: The Healthy Irishman

November 5th, 2009

A few weeks ago, the Healthy Irishman asked me to help transform himself from being merely healthy into something super-human.

And, considering how many posts he has written for Health Habits, I figured I owed him.

So, I put together a particularly nasty workout, beta tested it on one of my guinea pigs, and voila…starting Monday, the Irishman and his visiting younger brother will be putting on a freak show at the Venice Beach Gold’s Gym.

I will be posting the workouts here as well as on this Posterous website.

(FYI – with Posterous, The Irishman will be able to view his workouts (with video) off of his smartphone at the gym – just like an iPhone app, except the workout won’t suck)

For those of you who might be interested in following the Irishman’s progress (or joining in), feel free to sign up for email updates. Also, you should probably sign up for the Health Habits feed as well.

Here’s a brief outline of Gavan’s (the Irishman) current fitness routine

he trains 5 x per week
Mon to Fri
at 4:15 am (not a typo)
he workouts at Golds Gym – Venice (so he has access to every workout toy imaginable)

His current workout is based on a 2 exercise/10 set per bodypart workout based on a 5 day split

M- Back/Chest
T- Hamstrings. Calves
W- Shoulders/Abs
T- Bi’s/ Tri”s
F- Deadlifts/Glutes

Sat is off or 30 min cardio
Sun is off

Resistance workouts last 50 min with an additional 10-20 mins cardio after lifting. 1 hr 20 total approx.

His Goals:

He would like to build up maybe add 10 lbs of lean muscle.
Get some definition.
Improve fitness
Doesn’t want to look like a bodybuilder
Wants to look defined & strong…kinda like

LL Cool J

llcoolj

or Jason Statham

jason statham

His Stats:

Gavan weighs 176 lbs @ 5′11″
He has a chronically injured right shoulder (vertical presses are out)

Here’s his before pics

healthy irishman before pic 1

P9240005

His Diet:

He eats 5-6 meals a day and gets good quality carbs and protein in each meal.

Carbs: Brown rice, quinoa pasta or gluten free pasta, cous-cous, yams, polenta, oatmeal
Protein: Egg whites, fish, shrimp, tofu, seitan, chicken, turkey

Also, for the next 5 weeks, Gavan’s brother Ross is visiting. This means that the Irishman will have a workout buddy for the first 5 weeks.

Ross’ Pics

healthy irishman brother ross front

healthy irishman brother ross side rear

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In tomorrow’s post, I will outline the workout along with my recommendations for supplementation and diet.

And, on Sunday, I will post the first workout

Enjoy fellas.

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The Deadpool Mega Muscle Mass Workout

September 17th, 2009

Since building the Squidoo Lens about Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool Workout, I have become a big Deadpool fan and am really looking forward to the movie. I think the studio made a great choice casting Ryan “Smart Ass” Reynolds in the role of Wade Wilson.

But, as I mentioned in the lens, Ryan is naturally a pretty skinny guy.

As a result, adding a whole lot of muscle mass was job #1 as he got ready to take on the role of Deadpool.

And he did a pretty good job.

But we can do better.

In Part 1 of this series, I outlined the concepts behind my Official “Make Ryan Reynolds your Beeyotch” Workout

In this post, I give you a mass building workout that will put Deadpool to shame.

And I have named it…

The Deadpool Mega Muscle Mass Workout

Like I mentioned in the previous article, the key to the success of this mass building phase is the focus on your nervous system and fast-twitch muscle fibers.

The theory is that since most hardgainers are slow-twitch fiber dominant, and slow-twitch fibers aren’t built for hypertrophy, we need to do something special to wake up those dormant fast-twitch fibers and force them to grow.

And here’s how we’re going to do it:

Each workout will consist of a series of 2-exercise supersets
The first exercise in each superset is designed to wake up the fast-twitch muscle fibers
The second exercise in each superset is designed to take advantage of the newly awakened fast-twitch fibers

How to Wake Up your Fast-Twitch Fibers

I was exposed to this concept about 15 years ago. At that time, I was training for powerlifting and strongman events. But my bench press was stuck. So, here’s what I did.

I would perform a partial bench press in a power rack with as much weight as I could handle. After a few sets of single reps, I would crawl over to standard bench press and attempt a maximum lift.

This technique allowed my to put over 30 lbs on my maximum bench press…after just 2 workouts.

The Theory

My strength was improved due to some combination of fast-twitch muscle recruitment and improved neuro-muscular co-ordination.

Since then, I have researched this topic…without much success. At least in the English speaking world. Those Russians were way ahead of us back in the day.

Anyway, most of you probably don’t care very much about the theory, so let’s move on.

The Wake-Up Exercises

I use 3 different methods to wake up the fast twitch fibers

Very Intense Concentric Muscular Contractions – that’s what I did with the partial rack bench press
Very Intense Eccentric Muscular Contractions – Plyometric movements
Very Fast Concentric & Eccentric Muscular Contractions - think sprints or throwing movements

Okay, your fast-twitch fibers are awake…now what?

Now we take advantage of those FTs, by exposing them:

Slightly Less Intense Concentric Muscular Contractions…through a full range of motion and performed as fast as possible. Think explosive bench presses.
Slightly Less Intense Eccentric Muscular Contractions….but we drastically increase the time under tension. Sloooowwww negatives on those bench presses.
With no pause at the top or bottom of the lift. The muscle is always under tension.

Reps, Sets & Bodyparts

Here’s where individual goals play a part.

Are you interested in athletic performance or just getting big and buff like Arnie?

My GPs were athletes, so I had them doing total body workouts. If they had been interested in appearance only, I would have had them do split body workouts (ie Back & Bis on Monday, Chest & Tris on Wed)

When it comes to rep selection, I had the GPs perform 3-8 reps on the Wake Up sets and 3-8 reps on the Work sets

For sets, I was much more fluid and looked at performance and time.

Max time for a workout was 45 min
But more important than time was speed. If I noticed a drop in the speed of movement, we shut everything down and hit the showers….not together. You get my point.

So, there you go. That’s the nuts and bolts of the Deadpool Mega Muscle Mass Workout

In the next installment, I will give you some examples of Wake-Up Exercises and show you how to pair them with the traditional lifts to get the best results.

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I, Bodybuilder….Fitness Marketing 101

July 20th, 2009

Nobody does a better job marketing to amateur bodybuilders than the guys at T-Muscle.

And they may have outdone themselves with this program.

Just released this morning, people are already going nuts.

They are lining up to buy a supplement that costs 80USD and may only last for two weeks.

Prorate that over a year and we’re talking just over 2000USD.

And they’re begging to buy it.

Begging.

OH MY GOD THIS IS SO EXCITING I WAS LITERALLY SCREAMING AT THE TOP OF MY LUNGS EVERY 10 SECONDS WHILE READING THE ARTICLE.

So, my question is…

What do we need to do to get the general public this interested in their own health & fitness?

What buttons need to be pushed?

Imagine how quickly America’s obesity epidemic would be turned around if everyone got this excited about a new exercise nutrition program.

300 million fitness junkies.

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Occlusion / Kaatsu Training: The easiest and fastest way to build muscle mass OR health club kink?

July 6th, 2009

You gotta love the Japanese.

They start with a little of this:

Add in a little of this:

image credit: Roger Hargreaves

And end up with this:

Occlusion or Kaatsu training.

What is Occlusion or Kaatsu Training?

In a nutshell, Occlusion Training involves applying a tourniquet of some sort (Researchers use a pneumatic tourniquets similar to a blood pressure cuff) to the proximal portion of one of your limbs to restrict blood flow (partially or fully) while you perform low intensity exercise.

And why would you do that?

According to this recent study:

Low intensity occlusion (50-100 mm Hg) training provides a unique beneficial training mode for promoting muscle hypertrophy.

Training at intensities as low as 20% of 1 rep maximum with moderate vascular occlusion results in muscle hypertrophy in as little as 3 weeks.

A typical exercise prescription calls for 3 to 5 sets to volitional fatigue with short rest periods.

The metabolic buildup causes positive phsiologic reactions, specifically a rise in growth hormone that is higher than levels found with higher intensities.

Occlusion training is applicable for those who are unable to sustain high loads due to joint pain, postoperative patients, cardiac rehabilitation, athletes who are unloading, and astronauts.

In fact, during the study, test subjects saw some pretty startling results:

Lactate increased
Growth Hormone increased
Norepinephrine increased
IGF-1 increased
Noradrenaline increased
Myostatin decreased
One rep maximum strength increased
Isometric strength & torque increased
Isokinetic strength & torque increased
Muscular endurance increased
Cross-sectional area of the muscle increased
Slow twitch fibers changed into Fast twitch fibers

And all you need to turn yourself into a muscle-building Kaatsu warrior is some bondage gear and the ability to ignore the stares and giggles of your fellow health club members.

So, what do you think of that?

I may come back and expand this post with more data in the next few days. I just received a full copy of this latest study and I am poring over the details. But, I couldn’t wait to share this with you.

Looking forward to the comments.

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Mechano Growth Factor

July 3rd, 2009

Scientists in the UK and Denmark have shown that elderly men are capable of dramatically increasing their muscle mass.

All it takes is some growth hormone and some deep knee bends (elderly man speak for squats).

Growth hormone???

Isn’t that the same stuff Barry Bonds was (allegedly) self-medicating with?

Well, yeah, but it’s okay because….because the doctor says so.

In fact, study researcher Dr. Geoff Goldspink says that this reseach “raises the question: Can age-related loss of muscle strength and increased fragility be ameliorated by the therapeutic application of mechano growth factor (MGF)?”

Question 1:

Is it morally acceptable to demonize athletes for taking GH or MGF or all manner of anabolic steroids and then turn around and put Grandpa on the juice?

Answer:

Next Question

Question 2:

What the heck is MGF?

Answer:

According to the Dr. Goldspink, MGF is a local muscle growth/repair factor (MGF).

This means that MGF is produced locally in response to mechanical stress and acts on those muscle fibers that produce it. And once released, that local MGF pulse lasts for a few days.

It is derived from the insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) gene by alternative splicing, but, owing to a reading frame shift, MGF has a unique C-terminal peptide. After resistance exercise, the IGF-I gene is spliced towards MGF which ‘‘kick starts’’ hypertrophy and repair of local muscle damage by activating the muscle stem cells as well as anabolic processes.

When you stretch your muscles during exercise, they start pumping out your own supply of MGF. That activates the stem cells that are already present in your muscles. And once “activated, these progenitor cells begin to divide, creating additional muscle fibres and increasing the size and strength of the muscle”.

Interestingly, loss of muscle mass in old age and in certain diseases is associated with an impaired ability to express MGF. In these conditions it seems that the muscle stem (satellite) cell pool is not adequately replenished.

Question 3: I’m young and loaded with growth hormone. Where do I get some of this MGF to kick start my anabolic process?

Answer:

Option 1 – You can buy a synthetic version of MGF on the internet. (link is strictly for illustration purposes. I am not advocating buying MGF on the web) Currently it’s expensive, but the price is expected to drop in the coming months.

And yes, this stuff is already popular amongst bodybuilders, strength athletes, professional ball players, old men aching to strut their stuff on the beach… In fact, the combination of IGF and MGF is preferred by many performance enhancement gurus over the use of straight GH as an anabolic agent.

Option 2 – Research has shown that MGF is a stretch sensitive growth factor. And not just any old 30 second static stretch. Both MGF and IGF respond much more strongly to clclic/dynamic stretching than to static stretching. This research jibes well with the research that shows eccentric resistance exercises to have a very powerful effect on MGF production. This makes sense as it combines muscle lengthening with increased mechanical stress (load).

So, what does this mean to you?

If you want to naturally increase your production of MGF and IGF and get bigger and stronger and more powerful, you need to stretch your muscles under load.

I would like to suggest 2 different methods to achieving this goal.

Eccentric weight training.
Resistence Stretching ala Dara Torres

But remember, this is bleeding edge science kind of stuff. Listen to your body and don’t do anything stupid. Also, go see your doctor for a check-up…turn and cough

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Do You Wanna Get Big and Strong?…Phase 1

June 10th, 2009

It’s a common theme in gyms all around the world.

Guys want to get bigger and stronger.

So, that’s what we’re going to talk about today.

A kick ass training program designed to get you bigger and stronger.

big strong muscles

The Program – Phase 1

big strong muscles

10 x 10 Training

In phase 1, we are going to use one of the all-time best size building programs.

It goes by many names.

Call it 10×10 training, call it German Volume Training, call it that mother-blanking workout that causes so much pain that you can barely walk after a workout, call it whatever you want.

Here’s what you’re going to do.

Lift 3x per week on non-sequential days (M,W,F)
Rest between lifting sessions (Tu,Th,Sa)
Sunday is devoted to either HIIT training or Cardio training or something else athletic.

Day 1 focuses on Chest & Back training
Day 2 focuses on Legs & Abs/Core
Day 3 focuses on Arms & Shoulders

Each bodypart will be hit with one main compound exercise for 10 sets of 10 reps.
You are going to stick with that same exercise for the next 6 weeks

I have also included a couple of supplemental exercises in each workout. If you find that your muscle mass isn’t noticeably increasing, remove the supplemental exercises and just stick with the basic 10×10 sets.

When it comes to weight selection, choose a weight that you perform for 20 reps. This means that the first few sets of the 10×10 will seem way too easy. But don’t worry, around set number 6, you WILL feel the pain.

If you are able to complete all 10 sets of 10 reps, you need to increase the weight. Don’t make a huge jump in weight. A 5% jump should be about right.

After 6 weeks, you should be ready to move onto Phase 2. However, if you find that you’re still growing like a weed after 6 weeks (and you aren’t too bored of doing the same exercises over and over) feel free to stay on Phase 1 for another 2 weeks.

Suggested Exercises

For the 10×10 exercises, we are going to choose big, long range of motion, compound exercises. We want to involve as many muscle groups as possible while still maintaining simplicity of movement.

In the past, some people have tried to incorporate olympic style lifts into 10×10 training. It doesn’t work real well. Too much volume. Too much fatigue. Too high a chance of injury. Stick to the basics

Suggested 10×10 Chest Exercises – Presses – BB or DB, Incline, Decline, Flat…it’s your choice. You can even do push-ups with additional resistance (chains, bands)

Suggested 10×10 Back Exercises – Chins or Rows - Try to resist doing pulldowns – do a band assisted chin-up if you need help. For rows, standing cable, bent-over barbell, even bodyweight rows with additional weight (weight vest, chains)

Suggested 10×10 Legs Exercises – Squats or Deadlift - Front squat, back squat, safety bar squat, trap bar squat – For deadlift, if technique is an issue, partial deadlifts out of the rack may be an option – set the pins just below knee height

Suggested 10×10 Arms & Shoulders Exercises – Dips, Curls & Presses – no machines

Why the 10×10 Program works

It’s simple. You are exposing your biggest muscle groups to a huge volume of work.

You will grow. I have seen this program work time and time again.

And if you don’t that even the skinniest guy can get big and strong, check out Christian Bale…

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Health Habits

Do You Wanna Get Big and Strong?

Phase 1 Workout Log – PDF

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