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Enter the equipment bunnies

“You’re still doing the kettlebell?!? That’s so last week! We’re doing the TRX blast straps 9000 now. This thing will really kill your core.”

You see it all the time in the fitness industry — a new product comes out and people jump all over it like THIS TIME it will really get them results. You know, just like the other 99 products they have in the closet that were supposed to do the same thing.

The principle of “a mile wide and an inch deep” really applies here.

People do this stuff because they are weak. The products were designed by weak people, are marketed by weak people, and are sold by weak people. If you buy them, guess what? You will remain weak yourself.

Don’t let the ad fool you — they didn’t get to look like that by doing that gadget.

Keeping you weak is a HUGE part of the fitness industry. Why? Because if you stay weak, you won’t get results, and if you don’t get results you will buy the latest crap that promises results! Clever, isn’t it?

So it’s BOSU ball this week, VIPR next week, tiny kettlebells the week after, etc. If all these tools are so great then why aren’t the people who preach about them using them a year later? A. because they were worthless to begin with, B. there was no depth to the product or the programming behind it.

If you fall pray to these products then ask yourself this question — why do you do this and when are you going to change?

Push your limits and discover something new

I’ve wanted to do weighted dips for the longest time but based on my dips with bodyweight, I figured I wasn’t ready. Dips are a great way to build upper body pushing strength and I normally do 5 sets of 10-12 reps and i’ve been doing that for a while. I wasn’t really improving but maybe i wasn’t paying attention?

Yesterday I said what the heck and just tried weighted dips after I did one body weight set. I used 12kg and got 10 solid reps. What?! I thought I wasn’t ready for these? Let’s try that again.

I grabbed a 16kg kettlebell, strapped it on, and did how may reps? 10 solid. What the heck?

At this point, I’m wondering where this is going so I continued with the 20kg. How many? 10.

I grabbed the 24kg. At this point I had done 4 sets already with more than I’d ever dipped before. So how many did I get on the 5th set with 24kg? 10!

I could have tried 28kg but I stuck with 24kg and got 8, 7, 6, 4 on my last sets so I was a happy camper. That’s dipping 108kg (my body weight plus 24kg) for five whole sets!

The point of this is that I was likely limiting myself in my head to 10 reps. If you tell yourself you will do 10, then that’s all you will do. Your mind will tell your body to start shutting down around 8. It’s like when you have to go to the bathroom and the pressure increases the closer you get to the bathroom.

You might be self-limiting like this and not even know it. If you don’t push yourself in different ways and experiment, then you’ll never know. One thing is for sure, I’ll never limit myself to bodyweight dips again. I just multiplied the effect of that exercise immensely by pushing that boundary.

Try it out and something you’ve been doing as a routine and see how it works!

Your success is someone else’s failure

On a forum recently, people were saying how a certain trainer that manages to keep under 10% body fat year round has a mental problem. The mental problem is body dismorphia or some other garbage made up to describe people we are jealous of. The initial response was “oh yeah, but he isn’t strong” but then video of him pulling a lot of weight was shown. So then some other excuse had to be found and it was. Ahhhhhh, we can feel safe and sound in our fatness now because even though that guy has constant leanness and is strong, he’s crazy. And we’re not, I guess. Love that security blanket.

The fact of the matter is no matter what you’re successful at, it will be considered a complete failure by some folks. The lean trainer succeeded at being lean but according to others he’s simply mentally unhinged so he failed in that category.  If you ever succeed in any way then you will be very surprised at this. This will completely blindside you. You will expect your success to be obvious but not only will it not be, it will become a point of derision to others. Trust me, this won’t be comfortable if you choose to pay attention to it.

In the fitness realm, you might choose to become muscular so then you’ll be labeled a musclehead. If you become lean, then you’re “too lean” and obsessed with how you look. One smartass once said to a bodybuilder, “What’s it like being all brawn and no brains?” The bodybuilder looked at the guy and said, “I don’t know. What’s it like being neither?”

That should be your response.

 

You WILL get injured

This is something that too few people understand. You WILL get injured during your fitness quest. It might happen when you least expect it, it might have been easily avoided, it might have been something stupid you did, or it might have been almost unavoidable. But one thing is for sure — if you exercise long enough and/or hard enough, you will eventually get injured in some way and have to deal with it.

This seems to be a major shock to people new to fitness. They expect exercise to be powerful enough to change their bodies but somehow not powerful enough to hurt them. Anything that is powerful is potentially dangerous. One comes with the other.

The main thing is this — how do you react?

You’d be surprised at the number of people that react to even the slightest pain by outright quitting. It’s crazy. “My knee hurts a little today so I better take six months off.” They seem to be looking for any excuse to give it all up and a little pain here or there provides that excuse.

Obviously injuries need to be dealt with and you should take them seriously but don’t let a little ache or pain prevent you from exercising.

Instead, see it as a test of your resolve. A test of your will. Are you a quitter just looking for an excuse to give up or will you persevere and find a way to train?

How you deal with a potential injury says a lot about you.

Build muscle and cardio with the tire sled

Welcome to my favorite new workout.

I’m always looking for new ways to get a full body workout in a short amount of time. Building muscle and losing fat at the same time would be nice, too. Having a routine that would allow lower body strengthening by folks who can’t squat or deadlift properly adds the final touch. The tire sled provides all these benefits and more!

Pulling sleds and pushing Prowlers are popular activities in the more progressive gyms in the States but we don’t have those tools here in Taiwan. I struggled for some time to figure out how to bring the benefits of those tools to Taiwan or other people that can’t afford to get a Prowler of their own. Tire sleds are a cheap alternative to those more expensive tools.

Getting a used tire is easy as they are readily available at any automotive repair shop that sells tires. The shop has to pay a fee to get tires recycled so they’ll be very happy to let you have one or more. It’s a bit hard to get any better than free, isn’t it?

I drilled a small hole in the steel belted radial and inserted a simple eye bolt through it. On the other side, I used a large washer to keep the bolt from pulling through. A regular nut would not likely be enough. Make sure it’s good and tight before you pull it but be aware that you will have to retighten it up after using the sled for a while.

For handles, I use a suspension trainer with a lengthening strap between the handles and the eye bolt. This extra length is necessary on moves like the chest press or triceps press because without it, the tire sled might bump into your heels. Also a longer strap allows for a more acute angle for the straps, preventing the tire from coming off the ground and dumping the weight.

For weight, you can put kettlebells or dumbbells in the middle of the tire by wedging a piece of wood inside the tire. Even easier is to simply stack weight plates on top of the tire, rubber bumpers being best because they don’t slide off the tire too easily.

The uses of the tire sled are many and you’ll notice that almost any standing exercise that can be done with a suspension trainer can be also be done with a tire sled. In fact, some of those exercises are even better on the tire sled.

Your basic exercise will naturally be pulling the sled. Face away from the tire, let your arms trail behind you and pull the sled with your legs.

You can also bring the handles into your chest and pull it that way.

An alternate way to pull the sled is to turn around and pull the tire backwards. This works the legs much more if you keep the knees and the hips bent.

All moves with the tire sled work the legs and core because you’re always pulling the sled. The core is constantly worked since you have to stabilize it. So doing upper body exercises with the tire sled allows you to focus on the upper body while still using the rest of your body. Pretty cool, huh?

Start the upper body work with a row. Face the tire and bend your knees. Allow the arms to be fully straightened so you can get all the range of motion possible. Push up with your legs and row the handles to rib cage. Step back and repeat.

Balance that pull with a push via the chest press. Turn away from the sled and get into a lunge stance. Hold the handles vertically on the sides of your ribcage, chest stretched, then push forward. Step forward and repeat.

Bicep curls are up next and if you try these out, you’re in for a real treat. Going any distance will really give you a crazy pump! Face the sled with your arms fully extended and pull the sled only with your biceps. I squeeze my whole upper body and make sure that my elbows don’t move.

Flip around and do triceps next. Start with the handles behind the head and the elbows bent. Make sure you’re in a lunge stance. Feel free to switch sides liberally during all the moves that use this stance. Move the sled forward using only your triceps, step forward and repeat.

One of the great things my clients are discovering about the sled is how it fills in the gaps in our training. These next few moves will show you how that happens. Let’s start with a pull facing away from the tire. Stand again in a lunge stance and allow your arms to trail behind your body, keeping the elbows bent a bit. Maintain the bend in the elbows and pull the sled forward. You’ll really feel your lats and chest firing on this one. Walk forward and repeat.

Now turn around and face the tire sled. Squat down with your arms out in front of you – keep a slight bend in the elbows at all times with this one. Now pull the tire sled backwards with your bent arms. Feel your triceps struggling? You’re doing it right!

Back extensions are pretty tough on the tire sled. Face the sled and bend forward at the hips. The arms should be fully straight. Keeping them straight the whole time, bring the hips forward and pull your arms overhead. You might need to lower the weight on this one! It will really hit your stabilizers hard.

Rotation is a movement that’s even better on the tire sled than on the suspension trainer. Stand sideways to the tire sled and rotate your torso to face the sled. Grab the foot strap part of the handles in both hands and put your hands directly in front of your belly button. Struggle to keep them in front of your belly button the whole time! Both elbows must stay bent throughout this exercise. Using only your core, rotate your body away from the tire, pulling it forward. Walk forward and repeat the process. Be sure to train both sides. And don’t expect to cover much ground quickly with this one.

An even better rotation exercise is the cross body rotation. Stand sideways to the tire but this time get into a side lunge position. Grasp the foot strap portion of the handles again. Your body should be twisted to the side from the hips. Allow the hips to turn, don’t plant the hips and turn from the lumbar spine! Push off with the legs and then pull with your arm all the way across your body. Make sure the shoulder stays down!

There are a lot more exercises you can do with the tire sled so have fun exploring other options.

It’s important to remember that sets and reps don’t matter much with the sled. Instead, pick out a distance like 30 yards, 50 meters, or whatever works for you. Do one exercise down and back or do one down and another one up. Mix it up and do more of the exercises that you feel weaker on. You can throw sprints into the mix if the weight isn’t too heavy. I also like to end a tire sled session with several non-stop rounds of pulling with my legs as a finisher.

So there you have it. Get a tire and a suspension trainer and get started!

Need an STX suspension resistance trainer? Get them here.