Beginners Pull-up Guide

Pull-ups are one tough exercise but amazing strength and back developers. I personally have struggled to start with pull ups. So I am going to take you through the same techniques that I used to get me going. The same techniques can be used for developing Chin-ups and the neutral grip pullup.

Get it up!

1) Reach for the bar: Usually the first issue is reaching the bar with a comfortable grip. Get a block you can step on so that it elevates you to a comfortable height and take a firm and comfortable grip. Then kick the block away. You could also get a chair for assistance and have someone move it or kick it away.

2) Hang in there: Once you have a firm grip and you can ascertain your shoulder joints and girdle is stable and comfortable just hang from the bar. This will give you a feel and also an amazing body stretch. However,  your focus should be on getting the feel.

3) A little help from my friends: If you cant pull yourself up ask someone to push you up till your chin is over the bar and then have them let go of you. Hold yourself in that position.

Im up, now what?

These are options you could work with. All these worked for me.

1) Just stay there and hold yourself up for as long as you can. The isometric tension of this move starts to develop strength to actually graduate into the movement.

2) You could lower yourself REALLY slowly focusing on the Lats (back) muscle working. This is actually a kind of reverse action on the movement. You start from the top and end up 'pushing' yourself down.

Consistent Practice

This will have to be practiced consistently. When you can do 1 rep keep the progress building. After 2 or three days do 2 reps, then after another 2 or 3 days do 3 reps and so on.

Of course if you can do one perfect rep on your own go ahead and do it. Then you can get assistance on the following rep and practice.

Tips:

1) Lose body fat - If you are carrying excess body fat its definitely going to be more difficult to pull yourself up.

2) Grip - Your grip should be comfortable. It should not be too wide or too close. Find the distance that is right for you.

3) Rest periods are important- finish one rep and stop. Recover. Then do it again. The form is more important.

The focus should be on the lats. I would suggest before you pull yourself up mentally connect with your lats. If you have to get someone to tap your lats so you know where the muscle is activating from. Sometimes you might just pull with your hands. In the beginning stages this is ok but remember to come down working with your lats. The back is a muscle that cant be seen so it does require a lot of concentration.

Go ahead and give it a try. I would like to hear the results you made or even other suggestions to get a pull up going.

'I Don't have Time' excuse busted!!

'I don't have the time.'

'I'm too busy.'

Call it what you want. A reason, a lie, an excuse. What ever it is that is the line that is responsible for killing most dreams, most opportunities and sadly, stealing, robbing and destroying most peoples lives.

If you are too busy to live, then you are really busy dying. Did you know living or dying is a choice and it is a choice YOU make? 

There is a passage where God Jehovah is talking to the Israelites and He says:

I call Heaven and Earth to witness against you today: I place before you Life and Death, Blessing and Curse. Choose life so that you and your children will live.

In other words, God Himself gives us a choice and He also recommends- just in case the decision was really hard- that we choose to live. 

  

Everyone has 24 hours of the day and 7 days a week. Let's do some basic math.

24 x 7 = 168.

That is 168 hours. And you don't have 59 hours to take care of your health?

'Now Gideon, in a world of fast foods, instant mixes and 30 minute work outs why would I spend 59 hours in a week on health alone? 

Oh, I'm so sorry. Let me give you the breakup.

Assumptions:

I am assuming each meal takes 30 minutes and you eat 4 times a day, i.e. 2 hours/day. 

You sleep for 6 hours per day

You work out 3 hours a week even if that should mean 30 minute workouts for 6 days a week. 

Lets not forget that its 7 days a week. - not 8!

So per week:

Eating 7 x 2 = 14 hours

Sleep 7 x 6 = 42 hours

Exercise 6 x .5 = 3 hours

Total = 59 hours

 59 hours in a week to stay healthy - that isn't even half of 168

Have you ever noticed most people who don't have time have these in common?

1) Locked in a job that they don't like, with a boss who they don't like but want to please just so they get a handout (to which they might not live long enough to enjoy)
2) eat junk food and stuff themselves with sugar
3) gossip for hours on the phone
4) watch T.V
5) Stay on Facebook    

And then scream out that they don't have time. You have people who love you - a family, good friends, a wife, kids. but you are too busy - dying!

If you don't have time to stay healthy and live YOUR God-given  life and dream you might as well just die right now!

If you really love your family and enjoy your work those should be your primary motivators to staying alive, healthy and fit not your biggest excuses. You want to have time to spend quality time with your spouse and kids. You don't want to be tired, sick and dying while snapping at your spouse and kids. You also don't want to be a grumpy, snappy old boss or a pathetic under performing employee. You want to be at your best.

Studies and research have proved that exercise boosts daily productivity. You are healthier, alert, happier. The physical strength and mental health makes you a better spouse, parent, entrepreneur, employee, etc.  You are more productive when you exercise for the day. Take your regular meal breaks and eat the right foods. Get away from the computer, the phone and actually sit  somewhere else and leave the work at your desk.Staying healthy makes you more productive and a better human being - not human doing. When you go home, leave the work at the office.

I know this post is long but its something I am passionate about. For those of you who are married, remember who you are married to. In most cases its not your boss. Drop the Blackberry and enjoy the other berries - blueberry, raspberry, strawberry - they do  much more for you. Don't sit on your rear end the whole day in front of the laptop. Get off your butt and work it for 30 minutes then have your kids replace the laptop on your lap.

Get out and make time to stay healthy and enjoy life. After all if you are breathing you deserve it.    

Reclaiming your life

Hi All,

I was thinking about today's post and I thought I'd talk a bit on reclaiming your life. First lets answer a few questions?

• Are you living the life of freedom and true potential God created for you?
• Do you live life by design or life by default and chance?
• Are you heading to the destination you want or are you 'going where the wind blows'?
• Does someone else dictate or influence your decisions about your life or do you?
• Do you have plans for the future? If you do are they really your plans and your future or is it someone else's?

NEWSFLASH. If you don't design YOUR life someone else will do it for you. In short your life is being sold out and stolen by someone else for their dreams. You are going to be used and abused rather than being treated as a partner and team player. Lets take a common excuse as an example for keeping your body healthy. 'I dont have time.' If you don't MAKE time for you to stay healthy it is going to show up in your lifestyle. You will be overweight, you will be super skinny, you might not have the right energy levels or attitudes to deal with people ( especially your spouse and kids), your productivity at work will go down, sick leaves increase and there is endless horrible list that goes on and on. Why? Just because you couldn't make 10- 20 minutes a day to exercise, eat healthy during meals and get at least 6 hours of sleep at night. I have brought this up from a fitness aspect but we can apply this to anything.....family, career, finances, freedom..I am just going to leave you with a question....

If you spent all your time living under someone else's dictates, who's going to spend time being you? or is it better to wake up and reclaim your life? You decide.....

5 reasons why Fat Loss Workouts are Important

Usually when a person walks in to a gym or wants fitness tips, the first thing they want is tips or workouts to reduce the fat. Other than looking better there are other more important benefits to fat loss workouts - actually they are more important necessities if you consider living healthier, longer and happier.

1) Removes overload of the body - If you had to carry a 50 kg load on your back up 3 flights of stairs what do you think would happen to you? I don't think your back and knees would be in very good shape after 10 steps would it? Now think about your body having to take the strain of excess fat. The joints are strained, your knees and ankles are hurting, the spine and posture are off, the heart is on overload, there is no proper blood flow since there is too much fatty acid and its probably causing a thickening of your veins and arteries with plague which is setting you up for a massive heart attack. Start burning off the fat and you are well on your way to reversing those effects.

2) Stops Excess Estrogen and its viscious cycle- In a previous post I mentioned fat gets you into a viscious cycle. Excess estrogen starts to build up and that in turn starts to produce more fat cells. The more fat cells the more estrogen. A good fat loss program will start to produce testesterone and reduce estrogen. Now you can break that cycle and enter a new one - one that starts to build and maintain muscle.

3) Increased muscle and strength: A good fat burning workout has to include a good strength training program. You get stronger and your muscles start to develop. Strength is the most important aspect of the fitness game and for the body to make place for new strength gains it will increase muscle to accomodate for that.

4) Improves Cardio Vascular and Energy systems-  The heart is a muscle and a strong one at that. However that doesn't mean you can abuse it. Conditioning and energy system training - also known as cardio for the most part- Strengthens the heart and lungs to work stronger and more efficiently. To burn fat conditioning and energy system training is used frequently. You develop more energy, stamina, lose fat and reverse the bodies fat retaining condition to more of a muscle maintenance and muscle building condition which in turn keeps the fat off and helps you stay lean. (Don't overdo the cardio to burn fat. There has to be a big place for strength training.)

5) Looking better, stronger, healthier- Do I really need to explain this? However your appearance in itself have a lot of things to say about you especially if you are in business. The first impression is usually the most important in any situation. Need to meet that new client? Get that important deal? Looking for a life partner. Many times before a person finds out what you have to say, they have already made their opinion of you on your appearance. Looking good helps your confidence and appearance. 

So there you have 5 reasons why you need to prioritize fat loss workouts. Get busy with your fat loss workouts.

   

Supplements

If there is one thing I have noticed over my years in the fitness industry and Iron game, supplements seem to be a rage. It seems that nearly everyone wants the latest pills or powders or drinks to make them lose weight, build muscle or gain strength quickly. In a majority of situations it looks like drug pushers made legal!

So let's start clarifying certain things.

Firstly, Supplements are exactly that- supplements. It is not meant to replace your daily foods.  It is meant to act as an insurance to it. Which means, if something is missing in your diet, then the supplements come to your aid. Also, everyone requires different levels of supplements. A protein requirement for an athlete is going to be very different to a everyday health conscious individual. Even in athletes that ratio will vary depending on their sport, meal plans and diet. 

You do not need all of the supplements all of the time! There are some supplements you do need daily and we will take a look at those reasons later, but there is simply no need to keep slugging down powders and pills. 

Did you know that the basic forms of supplements are most commonly found in nature? Most - if not all supplements come from herbs, seeds or dairy byproducts. Lets take for example - Caffeine. Most people enjoy a nice cup of tea or coffee. So you sip it down and you just supplemented at a very basic level. 

Supplements are meant to be natural concentrates. Not chemically synthesized and poisoned waste products. Your body is an ingenious piece of creation not a trash can or dumping ground. With most supplements you might as well get on to full blown drugs or jump into a toxic pool! At least that way its not a slow death. My point is do a lot of research and know what you are taking before picking up a supplement.  Read your labels and ingredients carefully. If you don't know ask a professional trainer or a nutritionist to help you.

Real supplements are not medicines. However they can assist medicines and in some cases also do better than the medicines prescribed. Sometimes all that is needed by the body is a boost of a natural ingredient in its natural form for it to start the immune system back on. The body will respond quickly to what is natural - the way it was meant to be taken.

Why do you need supplements?

Supplements are basically concentrated substances of what is required. These are my reasons for need of supplementation:

1) Lack of nutrients in soil and food sources- Today's food quality is not what it was a few decades ago. Pollution in various forms, soil erosions, pesticides, GMO's (Genetically modified organisms), food processing etc have contributed to large damages in the food we eat today and draining it of precious vital nutrients.

2) Daily Requirements: The RDA or Recommended Dietary Allowance is the minimum amount of nutrients a person needs to live healthy. In most cases just to get that much of food to meet the RDA would be ridiculous. For eg. We need 30 mg of Iron in the body. That is equivalent to 15 cups of oatmeal! 

2) Jump start the body's recovery from deficiency levels: Sometimes the damage of all the years in our diet and exposure to pollution whether knowingly or unknowingly has left our bodies severely lagging behind with a specific nutrient or ability to recover quickly from an ailment. At this point supplements are needed to jump start the body's recovery process. 

3) Insurance policy - Just in case there is a lack of some vitamin, mineral or fiber from a naturally healthy diet, supplements will give you an insurance. Example- If you don't get vegetables in your diet on a particular day, you can definitely substitute with a multivitamin-multimineral and fiber.

4) Lifestyle - There are plenty of topics under this. Smoking, drinking, unhealthy eating habits, fast food, junk food,  8 hour desk jobs. Antioxidants, vitamins, energy boosters etc are needed. 

My personal belief is that the needs of increased supplementation has come about as a result of the gap in our foods. This is caused because of food adulteration by excessive, processing, contamination, GMO's etc. We do need supplements but we also have to know WHAT and WHY we are taking in to our bodies. Real supplements are definitely friends in our environments of today. However, if not taken correctly it can definitely be a terrible enemy or a killer.

Body weight Exercises

Body weight Exercises or calisthenics are a true and sure fire way of getting stronger, healthier and leaner. In most cases the true test of strength does not lie in the bench press. It lies in exercises such as the push-up and chin-up. These two exercises alone can challenge posture, strength, stamina. If you think body-weight exercises cant get you to your goals you are wrong. Look at traditional Kushti and Muay thai fighters or even gymnasts. Lean, muscular development, agile, well balanced and they are strong and powerful! Gymnasts also have quite some serious size on them.



















The human body is the most ingenious creation. It is the true honest measure of strength. The iron bars come after that. This is why attempting 20 push-ups correctly can challenge the person who bench-presses 100 kg.

Another benefit of learning body-weight exercises is when you can't make it to the gym, you can work out anywhere. Just yesterday, I met a friend of mine who told me 'I signed up with a gym and I can't make it because my schedule does not allow me.' With ego thrown out the window and knowledge of body weight exercises you can definitely get yourself a good work out at home. Try for a workout at a park. This will definitely break the usual rhythm of training.

There are a lot of body-weight exercises you can do but the tried, true and tested basic ones are what I'm going to list below.

1) Squats



2) Pull ups



3) Push ups




4) Rotating Crunches



If you are looking for a way to start training for strength, I would first advise give priority and master the body weight exercises. In this way your foundations are being set to pick up heavier weight. When I say foundations I mean establishing starting strength, joint strength and function, cardio-vascular strength. Set these first and then move along. Even if you do want to incorporate free weights or machines in your training its fine but start with prioritizing a mastery of body-weight exercises.

Progressive Resistance - The Key to Building Strength

The story of Milo of Croton is one that should be read by anyone interested in improving strength. He was a Greek Wrestler who years before the Olympics, started carrying a new born calf on his back and walked a distance - everyday. Long story short - As the calf grew, so did Milo's strength and muscle. He would carry this animal on his back till it was a full grown bull! I don't need to tell you he was really strong at the end of it   and really muscular - Not bulky and fat! This story goes around a lot of times but here is the key we learn - If you want to get stronger - start small and steadily challenge your muscular system.

I would like to pull lessons for strength development out of this little story.

1) Without progressive resistance there is going to be no new demand for your body to adapt to. If ever there was a golden rule in the fitness and strength world this was it. Which is why the same old walking on a treadmill for an hour for 3 months just does not cut out. In training for any form of strength, there has to be progress regularly. 

So how exactly do you build up progression? Increase intensity - Lift heavier weight, increase reps and sets, shorten down rest times. 

2) Start small - This is really important when starting out. Milo was an Olympic wrestler but he started with a new born calf. Start with a manageable weight and then progress- do not stay in that comfort zone. Sometimes starting or going back to ridiculously light weights can give the biggest strength gains. However, the main reason for doing this is to build your confidence. Your mind and nervous system will know what you can handle and from there you can work on increasing the load, intensity or volume. 

3) Increase slowly -  Add just one or two more push ups per week or every third training session. Add 0.5 kgs to the bar. Do not just slap on 5 extra reps on a set or 5 extra kgs on the bar. Look for the least increase you can make. That calf in Milo's story might not have put on 5 kgs in a day. But its a safe assumption to say at least 0.5 kgs per day as it grew. Milo's body could incorporate and adapt to that easily. As that calf grew in strength and size so did Milo - daily!

4) Slow and steady - Strength takes time to develop. It's a slow process. I agree today we have advances in science and scientific training and new discoveries to how to efficiently train- but still the strength factor does take the longest to develop out of all other fitness factors. However, its the only one which actually stays the longest. It works into something called muscle memory. It also has the maximum benefits when you take time to develop it. 

5) Consistent - The increases have to be consistent. Milo carried that calf daily from the time it was a newborn till the time it was a full grown bull.  

Results: 

Milo went on to win 6 Olympic crowns in wrestling. It is said his career spanned 25 years (and we are talking about Olympics of nearly 3000 years ago). Back then the Olympics were still every 4 years.

You set your goals for strength and work towards it. Remember.......locate yourself and then move towards your goal.