The reason most think that walking for weight loss isn’t really a good way to get in shpe is that it seems too easy to give results. The activity in itself doesn’t burn a lot of calories if you do it for 10 or 15 minutes 3 times per week.

Why Walking for Weight Loss Works

The reason this activity does work for getting in shape is that it is very easy to stick to. For me, the daily walks are a form of relaxation, a sort of meditating cool down. I would just tie my shoes, take my mp3 player, leash my dog and head out for an hour of listening to music, audio books or just quietly enjoying the nice weather and the occasional bird song.

Spring and early summer are perfect for this. So is autumn when the weather is nice walking in Winter in my experience has to be done before sun down, otherwise it’s not really enjoyable. In contrast, Spring and Summer nights are perfect for this.

Finally, walking for weight loss is low stress. As a form of exercise it’s easy on the joints and muscles. As a mental challenge it’s easy, because you don’t have to flinch at the thought of the tough workout planned for the day. As a bonus, walking acts anti-inflammatory on the whole body.

Walking for Weight Loss: An in-depth Look

Ina a couple of months I was able to lose 10-12 Holiday pounds I had gained after Christmas, New Years and a series of family holidays There are many online calculators claiming walking for an hour burns between 100 and 300 calories depending on the terrain, your speed and your weight.

I think that trying to calculate the exact calorie burn is a fools errand. The focus instead should be on watching what you eat and also getting in as many walking sessions as possible. Some days I managed to walk twice, but most often I’d walk once per day, 6-7 times per week.

The cool thing about walking as a tool to lose weight is that the more weight you need to lose, the more effective walking is. The reason for this is that all your extra pounds act as resistance and make the exercise harder. It’s like using a weighted vest.

How to Walk for Weight Loss

• Walk 6-7 days per week. A single session burns a small amount of calories, but is very easy to do. When you do it every day, the calories burnt start to compound after just 3 or 4 weeks and you start seeing rapid results.
• Once or twice a day. If possible, try to walk twice on the weekends.
• Walk for 30 to 60 minutes. Start small and gradually increase time.
• Walk on flat or incline surfaces. Incline walking increases calorie burn significantly but at the same time keeps the joint stress super low.
• Listen to music or audio books. Provided it is safe, walking and listening to an audio book (I went through a bunch of books while walking in the park. I also listened to some language tapes which was also lots of fun.
• Take your dog. I love my lab Lucky and he enjoys those walks with me too.
• Safety first. Be careful– don’t listen to loud music if walking in the evenings or in a questionable area.
• Walking in the rain. It’s actually fine to walk in the rain. Just get a nice waterproof hooded jacket and you are set.

Walking for Weight Loss Resources

• Diet is king. Walking for weight loss only works if your calories are in check. Personally I had great success in the past by skipping meals as described here ==> Easy Diet Plan
• Intense exercise before walking. Do a 15-25 minute intense workout, such as these body weight circuits. In this way walking serves to both cool you down from the workout and actually burn off the fat that has been released from the fat storage during the high intensity exercise.
• Walking for weight loss and your health. Here’s a great article on the anti inflammatory effect of walking ==> Why Walking is Necessary for Good Health – Even If You Are Extremely Fit and Lean
• The lovely photo courtesy of jenny downing

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And let me tell you, the guy was built! He told us stories of doing handstand walks around the block when he was our age. Even now, some 10-15 years later, the guy is still in kick ass shape.

It took me a while to get a hang of these but it was worth it. Various L-position holds, like the ones described in the new Convict Conditioning 2 give your abs a run for their money. In, fact, I think the l-pull up covers probably half of your body’s muscles. Talk about being efficient. Another reason I like these pullups is that you can’t cheat or kip with them. It’s a move that demands total control of your body.

What’s the L-Pull up

The l-pullup,a variation where you stick out your legs in front of you so that your body forms an L, is so efficient because there is constant tension on the abs. Because the primary function of the core and abdominal muscles is stabilization – i.e. prevention of movement, the best way to train them is with various holds.

The trick is to try to control the swinging of your body which is caused by the displaced center of gravity. The l-pull up taxes both the top and the bottom of your abdominal muscles. So both the six pack (rectus abdominis) and the internal and external obliques (v-cut or lower abs) get trained.

The reason for this is that your torso pulls down on the sternum (this works the sixpack – rectus abdominis) while the legs pull down on the external obliques and hip flexors (so you get a lower ab workout too.

How to Master the L-Pull-up

The basic technique is simple. You hang from a pullup bar, raise your legs to 90 degrees and then pull up with your lats.

I suggest not going all the way down initially until you build strength and learn to keep your balance because relaxing the shoulders will make the move infinitely harder. Here are a few increasingly harder l-pull-up variations

• Bend knee l-pull-up This is the easiest version as it pretty much eliminates ab strength
• One bent knee l pull up. Keep one leg straight and one leg bent. Make sure to work both legs
• Straight leg l –ull-up. The real deal.
• l-pull-up with a weighted vest/ If you’ve got access to a weighted vest, it will make a world of difference in your training.
• l pull up with ankle weights or a light dumbbell held between the feet. Now this is for people who are hungry for punishment. Because of the long lever of the legs, even a light ankle weight or dumbbell will seem like a lot.

L-pull-up Video

Here’s a video of the L-pull up we shot in 2010. These bad boys are still tough for me. As with all bodyweight exercise, the fastest and easiest way to get better at them is to… lose weight!

Yes, carrying excess weight and trying to master body weight exercises is a backwards approach

L-Pull-up Action Plan

Here are a few ideas for your l-pull up workout. At this point in my training I think it’s a good idea to switch pull up variations once every 3 to 6 weeks. So for example you can work up to 20 pullups in one variation and then switch to another, very dissimilar one. Say wide grip pullups then close grip chin ups. Same for l-pull-ups. Focus on them for a while and then drop them for something else.

I wanted to end the article with a pic of Bruce Lee (above), descending in a l-pull up position down a rope in the outstanding 1973 movie Enter the Dragon.

Pullup by Emilien

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“The name’s Bond… James Bond”

Daniel Craig bulked up significantly for his first role. For the second movie, he was a bit leaner, a bit less no-neck. The reason for this was that his Bond was now portraying a more refined version of the agent.

Daniel Craig’s Body Transformation Trainer

When Daniel Craig was told he was going to be Bond, he gave up smoking except for the odd cigar. He also got in touch with Simon Waterson, ex-marine and trainer to the stars, who had also worked with Hale Berry, Chris Evans, and Pierce Brosnan to name a few.

Daniel Craig had trained before (check him out for example in the Tomb Raider movie with Angelina Jolie as well as in the excellent Layer Cake), but never to this level. His diet regimen was based on avoiding certain foods after a certain time.

Simon Waterson and Craig exercised five times a week, with the weekends off. This included the freedom to drink alcohol, which was prohibited during the week.

Simon Waterson’s philosophy is to put his celebrity clients through lots of circuit training to keep their heart rate elevated and thus stimulating muscle growth and burning fat at the same time. The workout included circuits, pullups, push ups – nothing really new. Simple but definitely not easy.For fatloss Craig would hop on the bike after the weights.

Daniel Craig’s Body Transformation Workout

Here’s a circuit training workout created by Daniel’s trainer. A circuit raining workout simply means going from one exercise to another while trying to minimize the rest. So you build muscle and burn fat simultaneously.

Pictured above – Daniel Craig in Casino Royale (left) and Quantum of Solace (right). As you can see, he was much bigger in the first Bond. His shoulders and traps were huge.

VIDEO: Can Working out Actually Make You Look WORSE?

Here are the exercises for Daniel Craig’s body transformation routine:

• Clean and Jerk. Stand upright with heels on the ground. Grab a barbell like you are going to deadlift it. Lift to your mid thighs. Now shrug up your shoulders, extend your knees, ankles and hips and flip the bar your chest, pushing the elbows forward. Finally press it up.
• Squat. Simon recommends the squat to be done without locking out at the top.
• Bench Press. The traditional bench press is performed here with a 3 seconds lowering and 1 seconds up. Again, don’t lockout at the top.
• Pull ups. With an overhand grip pull yourself up so that at least your chin is above the bar. Better yet – touch the chest to the bar.
• Dips – basic parallel bar dips. Lower till your elbows reach 90 degrees.
• Barbell Curls. Using a straight bar and full range of motion, curl the weight without jerking it or using your shoulders. Squeeze the biceps.
• Dumbbell Lateral Raises. Simon recommends L-lateral raises where you bend you arms at 90 degrees and lift them to shoulde level. Make sure to pull the weights with your shoulders/upper arms in order to feel the side delts working.

Sets and Reps

Do 4 “giant sets” this means going from the first to the last exercise 4 times. Perform 15 reps on each exercise with as little rest as possible when moving to the next. Rest a minute after each circuit. Perform this routine for 6 weeks 3-4 times per week.

Simon Waterson on Daniel Craig’s Determination

Here are a few comments and observations from Danial Craig’s trainer regerading his work ethics and attitude. I believe these are the real secrets behind the guys with great physiques.

In fact, here’s an article that explains how effort is the most important thing when it comes to muscle growth ==> Does Rep Count Even Matter? Controversial Findings of a Recent Study!.

Here’s a photo from the latest Bond movie, Skyfall, coming this Fall. As you can see, Daniel Craig has a solid development of his back musculature. This is one of the core philosophies of his trainer – to prioritize the posterior chain muscles for better posture and muscular balance.

This is something you won’t see on many of the guys in the gyms who only train the front of the body (pecs and biceps). Huge mistake.

Simon Waterson reports that after a few months of training for his role, Daniel Craig was performing with a body of an athlete. He had 100% focus on what he wanted to achieve.

To spice things up, Simon decided to compete against Craig in the workouts. So instead of simply coaching him, they trained together and pushed each other. I can attest to the effectiveness of working out with a fit and even stronger partner. It will result in the best gains of your life.

Best Workout for a Daniel Craig Body

Here are is my favorite workout for a visually striking body like Daniel Craig.

• Visual Impact This workout is great for beginners and intermediates and will give you a strong, muscular and lean body. It is balanced between size and strength. Highly recommended.

If you don’t have experience in the gym, choose Visual Impact instead. The Hollywood Physique is for people who have already gained some muscle mass, but are not quite satisfied with their body and want the physiques of guys like Daniel Craig, Ryan Reynolds, Brad Pitt, etc.

Hope you enjoyed this article on Daniel Craig’s Body Transformation. I personally immensely enjoyed Casiono Royale and am looking forward to the 3rd Daniel Craig Bond movie this fall. Hope it’s not another Quantum of Solace…

The post Daniel Craig’s Body Transformation in Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace and Skyfall appeared first on relative strength advantage.

First things first, Jake Gyllenhaal didn’t not start out being out of shape when preparing for Prince of Persia. In fact, he was already in pretty good shape from the physical training for the movie Jarhead, which is pretty good by the way.

Jake admits that he cycles, runs long distance (10-12km) which is a pretty decent cardiovascular conditioning that also has the nice side effect of keeping him with a low body fat percentage to look good on camera.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s Body Transformation Schedule

The intense training did not go without some tendon injuries which are common when a lot of physical training is done in a short period of time. In fact, tendon and ligament recovery is one of the major roadblocks when it comes to getting results fast. Royal Marine turned personal trainer Simon Waterson’s methods do not just provide a nice looking physique. This is just a side effect from having a body that performs very efficiently.

I applaud his philosophy of putting function and health first, and looks second, as evidenced by Chris Evans, which was based on circuit training done first in the workout to train the body as a whole unit, followed by muscle pumping for aesthetics.

VIDEO: How to Get Lean and Muscular, Not Bulky

Jake and Simon would start the day super early with a strong black coffee and a snack of half a banana and some nuts. The coffee has a strong appetite suppressing effect. It also stimulates the central nervous system thus making the workout more effective. The half banana gives enough sugar to the body without causing an high insulin response which would decrease your energy.

The workout would start with a warm up and stretching session. After that Jake would run for 30-40 minutes with a 20lbs weighted vest. After that he would do circuit training and hill sprints followed by a cool down and stretches.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s Diet for Prince of Persia

Here’s the diet schedule for Jake Gyllenhaal’s body transformation for Prince of Persia:

• 7:30 am – Breakfast – egg white omelet, rye toast, half a protein shake with blueberries, raspberries and almonds.
• 10:00 am – Snack – half a protein shake with nuts or dark chocolate
• 12:00 am – Lunch – brown rice, chicken plus broccoli, asparagus or spinach OR baked potato with tuna and salad.
• 2:00 and 4:00 pm – Snacks carrots, broccoli or celery with hummus or ranch.
• 6:00 pm – Workout – 30 minutes of circuit training: kettlebell exercises, cables, compound exercises.
• 7:30 pm – Dinner – before dinner – deep tissue massage. For dinner – lean meat or some sushi OR light soup like chicken
• 9:00 pm –Bed time – Jake would have to be up early next day at 5:am so he needed to go to sleep early too.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s Body – Before and After

Bellow is a comparison between Jake’s regular slimmer look and the bulked up physique he got for Prince of Persia. As you can see, he is naturally lean andd all he really had to do for the movie was gain muscle size.

Here is a workouts that is specifically aimed at getting a body like Jake Gyllenhaal in Prince of Persia.

• Visual Impact – Here the emphasis is on achieving a balance between muscular development and muscular hardness and density. This is a great workout for a lean muscular body for both beginners and intermediate guys.

The post Jake Gyllenhaal’s Body Transformation: Workout Routine for Prince of Persia Dissected appeared first on relative strength advantage.

Among Bobby Strom’s clients are A-list celebrities like Britney Spears (in her fit and sexy period), Shakira, Beyonce, Scarlett Jonahsson (for her role in Iron Man 2), Jessica Biel, Jennifer Lopez, Leslie Mann, Elle Mcpherson… He also worked with Ryan Reynolds for Green Lantern.

Blake Lively’s Bikini Body Diet

Getting in shape is simple – you sweat a lot in the gym and then you go a low calorie diet to eliminate the extra body fat. Simple but not easy. For Green Lantern, Ryan Reynolds’ and Blake Lively’s trainer decided to take control of what his clients were consuming by doing all the cooking for them.

Click Here for a Slim and Sexy Body Workout

I think this is a great approach. That is – to have somebody cook for you. Losing body fat becomes a matter of just eating what is served.

The Menu

Here’s what the daily menu look like:

• Breakfast – steel cut oatmeal. This is a good energy source in the morning. A big plus is that it’s gluten free. Many many people have intolerance to the protein found in wheat. Bobby would add fresh fruit in it, such as berries, to sweeten the meal. The last ingredient was a bit of almond milk and some protein powder.
• Lunch – Chicken or fish with a salad with balsamic vinaigrette (I love this thing!). Perfect low calorie, high nutrient meal.
• Dinner – same as lunch. Optionally – add some brown rice.

Blake Lively’s Bikini Body Workout

Bobby Strom, like most experienced trainers, is a huge fan of cirvcuit training. Basically you take 10-12 different exercises and do them for 10-12 reps back to back. Then you rest 1 minute and repeat for 3-4 total rounds. What is unique about Strom’s approach is that his clients don’t repeat the circuits in the same order.

Bellow oyu can see a comparisson of how Blake looks when she gets in exceptional shape (left) and her regular self, a good 10 lbs heavier (right). Honestly, she looks great in both photos. No need to kill yourself in the gym.

The producers of Green Lantern told Lively to workout for the role so she would be stronger. She saw Bobby Strom training Ryan Reynolds. Soon after starting her training, Blake found out she was going to be wearing a swimsuit in a Vogue fashion spread. Talk about motivation to look lean and athletic.

VIDEO: How to Get a Slim, Sexy and Feminine Body

The training schedule was circuit training, four days per week, 90 minutes per workout. They would usually train at 9am – Bobby was busy training Ryan earlier in the morning. With the low calorie menu and the huff and puff workouts she dropped 3-4 % body fat which is quite a feat.

Blake Lively’s Body Measurements

Blake is naturally thin and tall. She measures at about 5’10’’ which is about 178 cm. The girl is supposed to be between 135 and 145 lbs – 61-66kgs. I don’t know how accurate these numbers are. In my opinion she is lighter than that – Blake Lively’s Bikini Body is really slim and she couldn’t be more than 135lbs.

The post Blake Lively’s Bikini Body Secrets: Her Workout and Diet for Green Lantern Revealed appeared first on relative strength advantage.

They are making a third Batman movie with Christian Bale. I’m stoked. As a side note – if you haven’t seen Batman Begins, please do so. It is even better on my second viewing.

Back to pushups. Why do I consider this routine the best one? It works fast, it is flexible – adapts to your schedule. It avoids overuse injuries. And, you can take it as far as you decide.

The Best Pushup Workout Routine

• Train every other day. This ensures a lot of progress and a lot of rest for your ligaments and tendons. These are the real roadblocks because they recover slowly.
• Rest on Sunday Please, at least once a week, just go for a walk in the sun (or rain). Your body and mind need to rest. Especially your mind.
• Every set is a new record.Every set you will ever perform should be better than the last one by 1-5 reps. Obviously at first the jumps will be higher – for example set 1 – 10 reps, set 2 – 15 reps.
• Do chest dominant pushups So the grip is slightly wider than shoulders. The chest is a huge muscle compared to the triceps which is the limiting factor in shoulder grip pushups.
• Rest 5 minutes – rest between sets should be 3-5 or more minutes. Basically you should rest completely.
• Do 2-3 sets. You will do mini workouts of 2-3 sets. I personally do only 2 sets. The first set will be a personal record. The second set will beat the first set.
• Many mini workouts – fit as many of these 2 or 3 set workouts in your day as possible. For example 2 workouts – morning and evening. Or more – if time permits.
• The repetition method you will get stronger using the repetition method. The effort in the last reps is what counts. Note that the rest between sets and between mini workouts should be as big as practically possible.
• Three weeks on, one off – I’ve talked about this before. Fatigue piles on in the body, so you can’t train with this intensity forever. So rest for a week and start over. You will start over usually lower than the last training week but it’s ok.
• Adapt – if you do other training, do pushups on push day or chest day, etc.
• Optimal hand position – as I wrote above, the pushups should be chest dominant. How to find you best stance? Lie on your stomach and then place your hands on the ground to push yourself off in the most comfortable position. This is your pushup position.
• Tempo – the tempo is fast but controlled. Slower descent and fast elevation.

Note: Coach Paul Wade just released the sequel to his body weight training masterpiece Convict Conditioning.

This one is called Convict Conditioning 2 and covers things like L-sit progressions (which I listed here), grip training with pullup bar holds, joint health, calf training and much much more. I’ve already got it and am very happy with this addition to my fitness library.

Here is a summary of the best pushup workout routine – do 2-3 sets with 3-5 minutes of rest in between with as many reps as possible, beating your record each time; train as many times as you can in a given day, train every other day and rest on Sunday and every 4th week.

The post The Best Pushup Workout Routine in the Universe appeared first on relative strength advantage.

On a side note, smart and cute girls hate it when guys get fat and bulky LOL. No seriously, they hate it. Back to Dr. Ellis: He details energy metabolism at a cellular level and offers a practical way to lose weight with a low carbohydrate diet (under 100g of carbohydrates per day), as well as some energy shortage from eating less and exercising a bit more.

The author had interwoven his personal fitness story in between the dry biochemical background. So anyway, what reminded me of this book was the author’s physical culture journey. There are two types of people who develop a keen interest in the workings of the human body.

The First Kind Are Folks Who Are Natural Athletes

They have been always active and have always enjoyed sports. Their interest in the workings of the human physique is just a natural development from their love of all things athletic. Now, there is also another kind of people who become obsessed and fascinated by the way the human machine operates.

VIDEO: The Secret to Washboard Abs

These are the ones that didn’t start out as naturals. For example, Bruce Lee used to have a big belly. The embarrassment for a young guy to look so bad pushed him to train hard and chisel probably the most famous six pack abs in history. Dr. Ellis was from the second group of fitness enthusiasts. I can say the asme holds true for me too.

Overweight as a Kid

Dr. Ellis put on a lot of weight after the situation at his home became extremely stressful. That led to his fascination with physical culture. He wanted to lose the weight that he had gained. Eating was probably for him a defense mechanism the way it is for so many vulnerable children or young women.

Above – Dr. Ellis as an overweight kid. Emotional eating wrecked his body. He lost the weight and started lifting regularly to become better built.

In his early 20s Gregory Ellis was following the popular method of eating like a pig in order to gain some muscle mass along with the tons of fat that come with massive increases in weight. He acknowledges this as a big mistake.

New Fat Cells Are Permanent

When you gain weight, your fat cells grow in size. When you lose weight – they shrink. Now, past a certain level, you cannot gain more weight without getting some new fat cells.

Here is the catch. When you lose the fat once again, your newly formed fat cells will remain in your body. The truth is, unless you get a liposuction, you can’t get rid of those suckers – the new fat cells.

But here is more. The more fat cells you’ve got. The easier it is to get fat and the harder it is to lose that fat. So once you spawn yourself some new fat cells, you’re going to have them for life.

Fat Is Ugly

When you are fatter, you will always look worse. I mean, who would willingly spend large chunks of his life looking worse in order to supposedly maybe look better in the future. Crazy, I know. But that is what the practice of bulking up for muscle gain is.

Bulky dudes look corny. To the left – Dr. Ellis in all his bulky “glory.” When guys add muscle by eating tons of food, they get bigger, no doubt. But mostly they get fatter. Layers of goo cover their upper body and they look big as a wardrobe when in clothes.

But at the beach or in bed with their girl, they have rolls of fat around their waist. It’s hypocrisy really, because other see them and consider them fit and strong when in reality they are fat and strong.

The Fatter And Heavier You Are…

…the more you suck at sports! Not that the huge fat guys care, really, but the bulked up build is a disaster when it comes to playing sports. It’s like trying to sprint with a backpack full of rocks. Except you can’t take the backpack off. Life’s too short not to cherish beautiful things like the joy of playing pickup basketball, beach volleyball or surfing, etc.

More Fat = More Estrogen

Because the female hormone estrogen feels excellent when there is lots of fat, the chubbier you get, the more estrogen for you. Bad news, because this means less muscle.

Recent findings show that fat comes back quickly after liposuction. The study was first published in the journal Obesity and concluded that weight is regained after a year with the patient accumulating fat in places where the procedure was not done. Sites that have undergone the plastic surgery procedure remained fat free.

Hopefully I’ve discouraged you from gaining muscle by eating like a pig or losing the fat you gain with such risky procedures.

Image: macinate

The post Gaining Muscle By Stuffing Yourself Like A Pig Is A Stupid Idea appeared first on relative strength advantage.

In fact after a good barbell lunge workout, done correctly, you will feel the exercise right in the areas sued for sprinting, jumping and climbing stairs.

The reason for the article however is that I see many people do barbell lunges with severe motion in the knee. This both hinders proper muscular balance of the complete leg musculature and places you at a greater risk of a knee injury.

What is the Barbell Lunge

The barbell lunge is a strength training exercise done best with a barbell on your back. You can of course do it with any other additional resistance such as a dumbbell, a kettlebell, sandbag, etc. but I find the basic barbell a great teaching tool for beginners and experienced people alike.

When done correctly, barbell lunges train your legs in a functional manner by mimicking one of the basic human movement patterns – descend and elevation one leg at a time while keeping the center of gravity of your body above the working front leg.

VIDEO: Can Working Out Make You Look WORSE?

Done in this manner, the barbell lunge, similarly to a proper barbell squat engages all the muscles of the leg – glutes (butt), quads (front of the upper leg) and hamstrings (back of the upper leg). Most people do lunges mainly as a quad exercise. This is a huge mistake.

How to Do Barbell Lunges

• Keep your chest up. This is a universal rule whenever you’ve got a weight on your back. Try to push the chest up and out. Your chest will be above your center of gravity.
• Place the bar on your muscles, not on the spine. In fact, squeeze the shoulder blades and place the bar on top.
• Brace the abs. This is the basic safety technique whenever we are doing resistance training. To protect the lower back, inhale some air in your stomach and keep the abdominal muscles semi contracted as if waiting for a punch. Note that bracing doesn’t equal sucking in. Sucking in the stomach is not safe.
• Keep the arch position in the lower back.. The arch position is the go-to pose for handling weights on your back. Simply contract the lower back muscles and keep them arched and tight.

• Walk on rails. This is a huge problem for people trying to learn the move. Don’t step with one foot in front of the other. It is simply too difficult to balance – like walking on a rope. Instead imagine each foot gliding on its own rail, as in photo B.
• Large steps. To properly engage the whole leg- both the anterior muscles (quads in the front of the leg) as well as posterior muscles (glutes, hamstrings, lower back) we need to take a large step. Small strides shift the focus to the quads only.
• Keep the weight above the front leg. Most people are taught to do lunges by sitting completely upright. But actually in the real world the center of gravity is kept close to the working leg – in sprinting, climbing, jumping. So the weight of the torso should be kept above the front leg while keeping the lower back arch of course.
• Directly down. Once you take the large step forward, stop. Don’t move forward anymore. Instead drop directly down like an elevator. If you move forward you shift the focus towards the quads (and knees- ouch!). Observe the arrows on photo A – this is the position where you stop moving forward and go directly down.
• Push through the heel. As in squats and deadlifts, to activate the posterior chain muscles, we are pushing through the heel and not through the toes. Pushing through the toes focuses the movement on the knees and quads only. It has its place when you know what you are doing but here the goal is activate the whole leg.

Note: Try to take a large step. Here I probably could have taken even larger steps. When in doubt, make the stride bigger.

Action Plan

• Low reps. When doing complex skill movements like this, stick to low reps – about 5 is just right. The reasoning for this is that the more reps you do, the less concentrated you can be and this can make learning the move difficult.
• Perfect form. Here are four quick points to check yourself – walk on rails, take a large step, keep the weight on the front leg and go directly up and down.
• Train often. Twice per week should do trick when trying to learn a new movement. Three times is better but not necessary.

The post Barbell Lunge 101: A Beginner’s Guide appeared first on relative strength advantage.

If you focus part of your workouts on this kind of training you will experience very fat muscle growth, especially if you haven’t been training in this way before. As strength coach Charles Poliquin likes to say, the best workout is the one you haven’t been doing.

What he means is that we adapt to a certain kind of training so changing something in the workout every few weeks or months ensures continued progress.

Fast Muscle Growth with Cumulative Fatigue?

I first heard the term cumulative fatigue from my friend Rusty Moore, author of the Visual Impact Muscle Building workout. What this technique means is to gradually exhaust the muscle more and more throughout the workout by using relatively short rest periods.

Both bodybuilders and athletes use this kind of training to grow muscle fast. In fact, cumulative fatigue training was one of Vince Gironda’s (pictured below to the right) favorite techniques. He practically implemented it in almost all of the workout routines he created, including 6 sets of 6 reps, 8 sets of 8 reps and 10 sets of 10 reps – all done with relatively small rest periods.

Charles Poliquin (in the picture to the left) introduced this kind of training with what he called German volume training. This was essentially a workout of 10 sets of 10 reps of a single exercise with less than a minute of rest.

How to Train for Fast Muscle Growth

• Mind muscle connection – focus your mind on the muscle. Imagine it contracting and relaxing while you are lifting.
• Short rest periods – rest between 15 and 60 seconds. You will eventually get fitter and be able to rest less, even if 15 seconds seem too little time at first. And when you are able to rest less while lifting the same amount of weight, you’ll be bigger.
• First sets set the tone – with this kind of training the first set or two might feel too easy, but it just sets the tone for the series of sets. Think of cumulative fatigue training as one giant set done by doing a few smaller sets with very small rest periods.

The Big Picture

I just want to make this point clear, when it comes to fast muscle growth or any muscle growth, in the long run you got to get stronger. So whatever workout you are doing, if you want to get more muscle, you have to work with increasingly more challenging workouts.

Probably the best workout that features a phase focused on fast muscle growth through cumulative fatigue is Visual Impact Muscle Building. Visual Impact is a balanced workout focused on both size and strength gains.  to dramatically changing their body.

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Not only that, the swing is one of the most effective exercises to train your posterior chain – the back of the legs. At the same time, when done with a moderately heavy weight it trains your grip. Of course if you don’t have access to a kettlebell right now you could try using a dumbbell just to feel how taxing this exercise is.

Above is a short video I filmed a few years back showing the kettlebell swing from a few different directions. Note how the lower back is nice and tight, how the hips go back and then forward. Also observe the position of the bell. The bottom is pointing away from me. At the top of the swing I exhale and brace my abs more like Bruce Lee was about to punch me.

What is the Kettlebell Swing

This is a unique exercise that teaches you how to use the hip drive. This is a whole body exercise that is taxing on your grip and abs, as well as the whole posterior chain – calves, hamstrings, glutes, lower and mid back.

The main thing to remember when doing kettlebell swings is to let the bell hang in your arm. Imagine it is a pendulum. All of the force that propels is comes from the hips, not from your arm or shoulders.

An easy way to spot when somebody is doing the swing incorrectly is to observe the top position of the movement, pictured above. See whether the bottom of the kettlebell is pointing away from the athlete or towards the floor. If it points down, the gal or guy is doing it wrong – using his arms and not his hips.

How to Do the Kettlebell Swing

• Brace the abs.Your abs should be nice and tight all throughout the movement. At the top of the swing brace them even more and exhale through your teeth.
• Grip hard. Whenever you are swinging weights around you gotta grip as hard as you can. This will keep you safe and make you stronger.
• Push hips back. Feel you hips and hamstrings stretch. If you are too tight this is actually a good thin. Feel the tightness in your legs and use it to recoil back like a rubber band.
• Keep the arch in the lower back. The arch position is one of the most important things when it comes to avoiding lower back injuries. Just keep the lumber region nice and tight.
• Your arm is a pendulum. Don’t try to raise the kettlebell you’re your arm and shoulders. Let your hip drive do the work.
• Drive the hips forward. Imagine you are trying to make the kettlebell go forward. The centripetal force will do the rest and swing it up.

What’s Next?

Honestly, the number of workouts with the kettlebell swing is only limited by your imagination. The main thing is to practice the correct form and gradually push yourself to do more. Here are a few ideas to take you to the next level.

• 3 sets of 30 reps – this is a basic and solid routine to get you started but only once you’ve mastered proper form.
• Sets of 10 reps in a circuit you can combine the swing with other bodyweight or machine/free weight exercise. Choose 8-10 exercises that cover the whole body and do them back to back for 3 circuits with 1 minute rest in between.
• 100 reps in as little time as possible. Try to beat your time each session.
• As many reps as possible – you could go for 1, 3,5, 10 minutes, etc. Choose a time frame and make a personal best each workout.
• Enter the Kettlebell! This book is the most comprehensive book I’ve read when it comes to kettlebell training and it was the one that introduced me to the move.

The post The Kettlebell Swing – Kick Ass Exercise for a Kick Ass Body appeared first on relative strength advantage.

Chris did it by eating skinless chicken, turkey and fish in huge quantities and lots and lots of salad and all sorts of green vegetables.

Chris Evans’ Workout for Captain America

• Chris Evans on his workout: the actor stated the 3 months of his workouts were grueling and brutal. Honestly, he’s right. Gaining muscle is simply impossible without hard work.
• Two muscle groups: Chris and his trainer would take two muscle groups such as chest and back or biceps and triceps and destroy them in the gym for about two hours. Afterwards they would cool down with some core and ab work. So much working out did not leave Chris without some injuries. But because of the movie deadline, they had to work around the sore or injured body parts and push on.
• Performance training The workout was mainly based on becoming more athletic – more upper body strength, faster sprinting, etc.
• A lean and muscular, but angular body The guys that get in this kind of shape like Chris Evans get in different kind of shape than say football players or bodybuilders. They don’t balloon to be as big as possible, but instead strategically build their bodies. Here is s great video that explains this – click here and watch the first video.

Captain America vs. James Bond

Chris’s trainer for Captain America, Simon Waterson, has become Hollywood’s go-to guy when it comes to getting actors in super hero shape. Previously he helped Daniel Craig get buff like a bull for his roles in Casino Royale, The Invasion, The Golden Compass, Defiance and Quantum of Solace and Jake Gyllenhaal for his role in Prince of Persia. Currently he is busy getting Sam Worthington in Spartan shape for Clash of the Titans 2.

In addition to that, he also trained Halle Berry for her James Bond movie role, Gerri Halliwell for her music video It’s raining men and Pierce Brosnan for The World is Not Enough and Die Another Day.

Simon’s basic philosophy is to combine weight training and cardio into one workout using circuit training around 10 basic multi joint exercises done for 10-15 reps with as little rest as possible.

Training Schedule

Chris and Simon would train six days per week with an optional workout on Sunday to hit muscles that are not trained enough or lagging. They would do 3 weight training sessions and two cardio and core sessions.

Each weight training session would begin with a plyometric bodyweight circuit to improve overall functional fitness. Then, they would focus on 2 muscle groups per day. This kind of combined training builds a very balanced physique with a combination of myofibrilar (the muscle fibers) and sarcoplasmic (the fluid in the muscles) hypertrophy.

The second video here <== just click here and scroll down to the second video. It explains these two types of muscle.

Here’s an example circuit – pull-ups, followed by squat trusts with a push up, then kettlebell swings, weighted step-ups, squat trusts again and finally suspension training.

• Monday – circuit followed by back and arms. Lots of deadlifts, shrugs, biceps curls. Chris and Simon worked up to doing weighted pull-ups for 3 sets of 10-12 reps with 15 kgs.
• Tuesday – cardio and abs. Chris and his trainer would incorporate rotational core exercise such as the high to low or low to high wood chopper.
• Wednesday – circuit plus heavy legs – lunges, squats.
• Thursday – cardio and abs.
• Friday – circuit plus chest, arms and shoulders. Simon likes to hit the chest from different angles – close grip incline presses, incline flies, incline pushups with feet elevated. Another exercise he uses is the kneeling shoulder press – this way you cannot cheat by using your legs. Chris also did weighted dips for 3 sets of 10-12 reps with 20-30kg as well as pushups with a 20kg plate on his back.
• Saturday – rest. This includes the strict nutrition rules. Simon’s clients are free to eat whatever they please from 6pm on Friday to 8am on Sunday.
• Sunday – either extra work for muscles that are not hi hard or extra posture work – rear delts, rhomboids.
• Supplementation – Simon Waterson had Chris take a simple but effective supplement combo to aid in his fast recovery. The Cap would take whey protein shakes, Omega 3,6, and 9’s as well as glutamine.

Chris Evans Before Captain America

Before getting in Nazi-butt-kicking shape as Captain America, Chris Evans was still in pretty great shape, as far as looks go. For his roles in Not Another Teen Movie and Fantastic Four, Chris worked with Hollywood trainer Steve Zim. His methods show quick results by only focusing on the visible muscles and using targeted movements with custom range of motion to target only these muscles.

Steve Zim has developed a method of specifically targeting only the intended muscles with his own custom devised exercises. With his method it is possible to have a noticeable difference in your muscular development in a matter of weeks. Here are 3 tips from Steve Zim, Chris Evans’s personal trainer on Fantastic 4 and Not Another Teen Movie:

• Stretch between sets – this way you will remain flexible and prevent injuries. Plus it’s a great way to use the idle time.
• Breathe during weight training. This may seem obvious to many ‘ but some people actually forget to breathe out on the exertion portion of the lift and breathe in when on the negative motion.
• Focus your mind on the muscle. This tip is especially important when trying to build muscles that are difficult to feel ‘ like the shoulders, the mid back and the lats.

Movies and the Hollywood Body

• Lighting – the body looks best when properly lit. One of the best sources of lighting is the sun – preferably at noon. The basic technique that photographers use is to have the light source in front of the subject, not behind him. So have in mind that every scene you see in a movie has been meticulously arranged and properly lit to look the best.
• Training on set. Actors would frequently work out all through the day and between takes when shooting the movie. Some would go for a quick pump before shooting a scene where they need to look their best.
• Peaking. You must realize that peak shape is usually not held for a long time. For example, the now famous scene of Chris exiting the apparatus in Captain America in his new buff body was a moment of physical peaking for him. Simon Waterson mentions in an interview that he planned his workout so the guy would look outstanding exactly on the day the scene was shot. I’ve read similar accounts from Gunnar Peterson, who helped Stallone with his training for the Expendables. He planned his training to peak for the shirt off scenes etc.
• The Shrink wrap effect Chris’ trainer explained that he had him look extra ripped and big for the particular day they shot the shirtless scene. Watch the third video <== here to find about thsi strategy that allows you to have your skin shrink and your muscles expand and almost stretch it out for a great effect. A really cool technique.

Getting a Chris Evans Body

For that kind of physique, characteristic of so many of the A-list celebrities, it is crucial to get lean with a low body fat percentage and also develop the arms, chest, shoulders and abs. For this kind of body I strongly recommend you get a workout partner or trainer who is already in fantastic shape (so he can show you what to do and more importantly PUSH you to train hard.

Another option is getting the Visual Impact Muscle Building workout for anybody looking to build a stunning muscular body. This workout plan will show you what you need to do in the gym. However, you still need to train hard!

The post Chris Evans’s Workout History – Fantastic Four, Captain America and Beyond appeared first on relative strength advantage.

However, if you do learn how to feel, contract and use the lats, you will kick ass in the gym when it comes to pull ups or chin ups. Not only that, you will also get a killer v shape back because the lats will grow nice and wide.

How to Start Using the Lats

• Practice contracting the lats. Throughout the day practice flaring out and flexing the lats (when nobody’s watching you of course). This will build a stronger connection to the muscles that you want to use in pull-ups.
• Try wide grip thumbless pull-ups. These pull-ups rely more on the lats so you’ll have no choice but to start engaging them. The thumbless grip – thumbs on top of the bar – disengage the biceps so again more lat activation.
• Lean back. When doing pull-ups or pull-downs, try leaning slightly back so you pull toward the rib cage. Focus on bringing the elbows towards the torso.
• Pull with elbows. Pull-ups, chin-ups, pull-downs and rows. These are all done with the back, bot the biceps. To feel the back working, imagining your arms as hooks and focusing on pulling just the elbows down.
• Activate the lats. This is a tip I got from the book Beyond Bodybuilding. Reach out with your arm. Have a buddy try to press your arm up while you use your lats (armpit muscles) to resist him.
• Try one arm dumbbell rows.

To properly train the back with one arm dumbbell rows, row using the lats. Begin by lifting the dumbbell with a straight arm. Imagine your arms as hooks, try to bring the elbow as close to your waist as possible.

The above video shows how to initiate pull ups or chin ups by first packing the shoulders down towards your torso and then flexing the lats. Many advocate doing pull ups with shoulders flexed the whole time.

I prefer doing the entire movement on every rep. This way the serratus and pec minor get a great workout from bringing the shoulder down.

Action Plan

From now on whenever you are doing a pulling motion (weight moves toward you or you pull yourself toward stationary object), you want to initiate the movement with the lats. Pull your shoulder towards your body with a straight arm and then start pulling with the lats by bringing the elbow towards your chest.

VIDEO: Are You Targetting the Right Kind of Muscle?

Ultimately your strength in your chin up and pull up workouts will double or triple when you wake up the and start using the lats – those dormant super muscles.

The post How to Unleash Your Pull-up Work Out Potential with Lat Activation appeared first on relative strength advantage.

Before going further, here’s what you will miss if you don’t read the article. You won’t find out how to activate your pecs, the chest muscle, when doing trying to build it up with chest muscle exercises. What’s worse, you might hurt your shoulders from doing one of the most famous chest builders incorrectly.

If you read on, you will discover how to build square muscular pecs like the ones of a gladiator. Your chest muscles will be muscular but not bulky as if you had man boobs. The lower and outer part of the pecs will be clearly outlined, standing out in bold relief.

What Are the Best Chest Muscle Exercises

Before we discuss the best chest muscle exercise choices, we need to examine the different muscles that make up your chest. The chest is made up of two muscles – the pectoralis major and the pectoralis minor.

The pectoralis major is a large fan shaped muscle that is attached to your chest bone (down the middle of your chest) and to your collar bone. Take a look at the diagram below and you will see its muscle fibers. The important thing to understand here is that in order to work a muscle, we need to make it contract along the length of its muscle fibers.

So because the pec major is attached to both the sternum (bone down the middle of the chest) and the collar bone (clavicle), we need two types of chest muscle exercise in order to fully develop it. I will list the best exercises for both functions of the chest later in the post.

The thing to remember is that you need an exercise that makes the muscle contract towards the center of the chest and another one that makes it contract upwards toward the collar bone.

Many people are under the false impression that the upper portion of the chest is a different muscle (the pectoralis minor). In fact, this is completely untrue. As you can see from the diagram above however, the pec minor is a thin muscle situated beneath the big pectoralis major. Its main function is to bring your shoulder and upper arm down.

Why should you bother building the pec minor? It very quickly pushes the outside of the chest out, giving you a nice angular outline.

The Best Lower Chest Muscle Exercises

• Dips. By far the best chest build for the lower fibers because it allows the greatest amount of weight to be used. Check this post for tips on adding weight to make dips harder.
• Dumbbell bench press. Build up your strength with the barbell bench press before giving these a try.
• Barbell bench press. Don’t flare out your elbows to the sides. Instead point them at a 45 degree angle towards your feet. Your shoulders will thanks you. Read this post on pushup form which also applies to the bench press.
• Cable cross over. Those are only for advanced trainees because initially you can’t really flex the pecs.
• Dumbbell Fly Same as cable cross overs – do flies after getting strong with bench presses and dips.

The Best Upper Chest Muscle Exercises

• Incline Barbell Bench Press. Just like a regular bench press, except done at an incline. Don’t lower the bar to your chest. Lower until upper arms are paralle to the ground. Don’t do less than 5-6 reps.
• Incline Dumbbell Bench Press Do these once you get stronger at incline barbell bench presses.
• Incline Dumbbell Flies Do these only after you get strong at incline dumbbell bench presses.

Action Plan

For pec minor, the best exercise is dips. It just so happens that dips also are one of the best choices for the lower fibers of the pec major. For the upper fibers your best bet is either a barbell or dumbbell incline bench press.

The Best Workout for Gladiator Pecs

The best workout I’ve found for building balanced chest muscles is Visual Impact. This is not a workout for somebody looking to get as big as a bouncer. Instead it teaches you how to get lean and muscular – like a Hollywood actor (Taylor Lautner, Daniel Craig, Hugh Jackman, etc), a surfer dude or a male model.

>>> Click Here for ‘Visual Impact Muscle Building’ <<<

>>> Click Here for ‘Visual Impact Muscle Building’ <<<

One thing that is often missed when it comes to recommending exercises is that everybody has a different bone and muscle/ligament structure. So the best exercise for me might not be best for you. The cool thing about this workout though is that it lets you pick out your own chest muscle exercises based on what your body responds best to.

The post How to Make Chest Muscle Exercises Effective appeared first on relative strength advantage.

No doubt many of you’ve already seen the smash hit Tron and Olivia Wilde’s body hugging outfit that forced her to keep a steady weight during filming so she could fit in the suit.

Questions is – how did Olivia Wilde prepare for the role of sexy warrior Quorra in Tron. The answer is that she worked her ass off. She would be in the gym five or six days each week. Her workout included a mixture of cardio training, lifting weights and also martial arts.

Olivia Wilde’s Weight Training and Cardio Workout

In her own words, she was pretty fit. The 26 year old hired a personal trainer with whom she spend 5-6 days per week doing cardio and three days per week lifting weights as well as kicking and punching.

Weights will give a toned, hard look to the muscles, while both martial arts and cardio training burn tons of calories and eliminate the little body fat that she had under her skin.

She would train for hours every day, getting super early in the morning for her workouts, before going to work. Her workout gave results. Olivia Wilde toned her muscles like never before.

A Workout for the Slim and Feminine Physique

Here’s workout I recommend for women who want to get that extra-hard body that you just can’t get from doing cardio alone. The program is called Visual Impact for Women and is designed to give you a slim, tight, feminine body that looks hot in clothes and rocking at the beach.

As many A-list Hollywood actors, Olivia Wilde likes to stay in great shape year round. This makes getting in incredible shape for a role like the one in Tron much easier.

Olivia usually does a lot of yoga, pilates and spinning and, being vegan, emphasizes fruits and veggies. Yoga and pilates are good for her posture and for toning the core muscles of the lower back, stomach and thighs.

Once Filming Wrapped, Olivia Eased Up on Her Workouts

Once or twice a year it’s OK to go all in and train and diet hard to get in amazing shape. But even Olympic athletes take longer periods of rest after competition. Scaling up and down on your workouts is a great way to stay fresh and motivated.

That goes for dieting super hard too. After Tron, Wilde could finally afford eating past and home cooked meals since she didn’t need to get into the Tron suit any more.

Note: Click on the banner below to find out more about Visual Impact for Women, a workout you can take with yourself to the gym to get a rockin’ hot body like Olivia Wilde in Tron.

The post How to Get a Body Like Olivia Wilde in Tron – Her Weight Training and Cardio Workouts appeared first on relative strength advantage.

Well, in this article I will reveal a technique I’ve been using for years to save my shoulders from excess stress when doing bench presses and dips. If you use this method, you will never hurt your shoulders with these movements and you will skyrocket your strength in the weighted dip, the bench press and other upper body pressing movements.

In the photo above Bruce Lee has been kind enough to demonstrate the lat contraction. I think the photo is from Enter the Dragon, possibly his best movie and (still) a very entertaining one at that.

What Is Lat Contraction?

So this is a method of flexing your lats – the large back muscles in your armpits, which increases your pushing strength and takes pressure of your shoulders at the same time. To do it you flare out the lats pushing them outwards and at the same time push your upper arms towards your body. Imagine having a heavy book and trying to hold it with your armpits.

This dual contraction – pushing outwards with the lats and pushing inwards with the upper arms, creates a very rigid and stale base of support. So on upper body pushing exercises such as dips, bench presses, one armed dumbbell presses (link to a great article by Rusty from Fitness Black Book) you will be able to lift much more weight.

Why does stable support give more strength? It’s like trying to shoot cannon from the ground vs. from a canoe. Force production pushes against the base of support. So the support has to withstand in order for great force to be possible.

Here’s our teaching assistant Bruce Lee helping out once more. Note his flared out lats (the wide cobra-like back muscles) and how his upper arms are pressing down. This is essentially the move.

I first learned about this technique from Pavel Tsatsouline’s book The Naked Warrior, where he was teaching using the lats to stabilize yourself when doing one armed pushups. Pavel describes this as pulling yourself towards the ground instead of trying to fight gravity on the way down in a one armed pushup.

How to Do It

• Flare the lats. Contract the armpit muscles and push them out against your rib cage.
• Push upper arms down. Press the arms hard against the contracted lats as if holding a book there and trying not to drop it.
• Keep the shoulders down. This is the easiest ad most effective tip for shoulder safety. Here’s a great post on the topic by Clint from Crude Fitness.
• Arms at 45 degrees. You simply cannot press the arms against your lats when they are out wide. Here’s a post I wrote about pushup technique explaining optimal upper arm position.

Action Plan

Here’s how to integrate this technique in your training.

• Think about proper form. Try to do pushing movements with optimal shoulder health in mind.
• Develop the lats. Obviously in order to flex the lats, you need to develop them. Work those chinups.
• Stronger and safer dips.With dips you will press your upper arms against your lats and torso and thus greatly increase safety (by limiting shoulder movement) and strength
• Safer bench pressing. This is a tricky one, but with practice you will be able to initiate the bench pressing move by contracting the lats and pressing forward with them.
• Easier one arm presses. So with one armed presses such as the military press (lifting a dumbbell overhead), the side press (lifting a dumbbell overhead and leaning sideways) and the bent press (dropping sideways and extending the arm up) lat contraction will give a stable support for more strength generation.

Note: There is a new DVD dedicated to using the lats: Lats, the Super Muscles Check it out if you are interested in increasing your strength on upper body lifts using the lats.

Below I wanted to share a simply brilliant video showing a stop motion fight between Bruce Lee and Iron Man. It has nothing to do with the post but I wanted you to see it because it’s pure genius – right up to the way Lee’s moves and mannerisms are re-created.

The post Lat Contraction – Can This Technique Be the Key to Shoulder Health and Freaky Pushing Power? appeared first on relative strength advantage.