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The Holy Grail of exercise…but not the way you think

So HIIT cardio got a good rep there for a while. But then the “cool kids” decided they were too cool for school and started putting it down. The fact that it’s excellent training for most people got left in the dust.

So here’s a pic above from today’s workout. Now that right there is what 99% of the public want — they want to sweat a lot, they want to feel exhausted, and most of all they want to burn crazy amounts of calories because that’s how they judge a good workout. So we’re hearing all the time about how great Fitness Blender Youtube videos is because “OMG! I burn crazy calories!” Yawn.

Fitness Blender (if we’re gonna use a blender, I’d prefer a pina coloda) makes you better at nothing. It just makes you tired. They “blend” a bunch of random stuff together for no purpose. It’s nonsense exercise.

The picture above comes as a consequence of dedicated lifting like barbell squatting, barbell deadlifting, pressing, etc. and doing heavy kettlebells. I do NOT routinely do “cardio” especially on machines because I find it more boring than watching paint dry. I have no idea how people tolerate that kind of exercise and I totally understand why people quit doing it. I would, too. But I also get angry and frustrated at people that do that stuff and then quit because they won’t listen and understand that there is another way to exercise — it’s called training.

So what got me able to burn 730 calories in 20:00?

First, I train instead of doing random exercise. I’m always working the same basic lifts or variations of them in order to get stronger or to increase my work capacity. I don’t do anything at random since that would give me random results.

Second, I focus on leg training. Everyone loves to work their biceps but if i have to skip a day, it will be one of my upper body days. Leg training is a dying art. No one gives it enough priority but i feel it’s the bedrock of a solid program.

Third, when I rarely do machines (like today) I incorporate it into the workout so it doesn’t interfere with strength gains or whatever else I’m emphasizing. HIIT is where it’s at.

Fourth, training heavy increases your strength, meaning you can use more resistance in your conditioning/fat loss workouts. This leads to getting calories burned. How long would it take you to burn the above 730 calories by jogging? Do the math. I’ll give you a hint — it ain’t 20:00.

Realize this — every downstroke on the pedal is a percentage of your 1RM squat, just like Rippetoe says. So if your 1RM squat goes up, the amount of force you can apply to the pedals goes up, meaning you can a higher level on the cardio machines. Throw in some high rep work after squatting heavy and you get increased work capacity, lung capacity and added muscle mass. HIIT fits in nicely right after doing stuff like higher rep work.

The high calories burned is a CONSEQUENCE of doing all the above. It’s never the goal, but it is a result. Thing is, I also got stronger in total, my muscle % went up, my lifts went up, my core strength went up, etc. plus my ability to burn more calories went up. So you get the desired Fitness Blender effect as a side benefit. There is no side benefit from Fitness Blender other than boredom and exhaustion.

So how did I do today’s workout to get the above?

I warmed up and worked exclusively on deadlift. I warmed up to my work sets and then did 4×4 with the heaviest weight i could use. I then backed off by 40kg and did several sets of 6-8. That handled my hamstrings and glutes.

Then I got on my bike and set it so my leg was not fully extended on the downstroke. It stopped extending at around 160 degrees. Just think of keeping the knee bent at the bottom of the stroke and you’ll be fine.

Then I set it for the highest level I could go while keeping the RPM 55-60. It was level 21 today and I pedaled for 5:00. At the 5:00 mark and on every minute and every half minute after that, I sprinted for :10 and rested for :20. So I sprinted at the top of the minute for :10, pedaled at 55-60 RPM for :20, then at :30 I sprinted again for :10, then pedaled at 55-60 RPM again. I kept that up for 15:00 to get 20:00 total and the resistance level stayed high the whole time (I backed off to level 19 for the intervals).

At the end of 20:00 I had burned 730 calories. Not bad for an old man.

Doing the HIIT like this builds muscle and you will feel that when you’re done. I’ll be building muscle for the next day or two from that and calories used to build muscle don’t get added to your fat stores. Plus I get all the “cardio” benefit I need. As long as I keep up my running form via the rare run, I can use this HIIT method to sprint when I need to, run for mild distance if I need to, etc. And because I’m lifting barbells and kettlebells, I don’t have to do these cardio machine sessions a lot. 1-2 a week for 20:00 is enough (if i want to do them at all) and that beats the hell out of doing this stuff for 2-3 hours a day slowly like some people suggest.

So keep this HIIT stuff in addition to lifting regularly and doing HIIT-ish heavy kettlebell workouts and you’ll be burning crazy calories in no time.

Quality whey is here to stay!

Guys and gals,
I’m proud to announce that we’re helping to expand the whey protein options available in Taiwan. We’re now the sole distributor for Eat Me supplements from New Zealand. Starting today, we’re selling Premium Protein (whey concentrate) and their Lean Shake (whey isolate). Both are non-GMO and the whey comes from grass-fed sources. The whey is produced, mixed and packaged right in New Zealand and then shipped to us. So it hasn’t been sitting on a shelf somewhere for months and this was as direct from the source as we could get.
I want to emphasize that this isn’t the cheapest whey you can possibly get. We are going for the highest quality at the best price and I think we’ve succeeded. For example, the actual whey content of the concentrate for most flavors is 98%. The bare minimum of flavoring and sweetener is used and there are only 5-6 ingredients rather than 15-20. But you’re paying for protein anyway, right? So the sweetness is much less than typical American brands. If a stronger flavor is desired, the whey can be consumed with milk.

And these are not blends, which some companies use to maximize profit. 100% of the protein in the bag is from concentrate in the Premium or from isolate in the Lean Shake. Some companies are using cheaper glutamine and other aminos to spike the protein levels artificially but we aren’t doing anything like that.

We have samples available at a low cost at the gym so come on down and try it out if this sounds interesting to you. We also ship around Taiwan for minimal cost. Thanks!

The 7:00 “scientific” workout is garbage and you’ve been lied to

Why don’t people think about anything these days?
Here’s your challenge: show me ONE PERSON that has transformed their body doing the 7:00 workout. Just ONE. You can’t, right? Why not? I thought it was fantastic? It’s “scientific” isn’t it? Everyone today likes that word “scientific.” As soon as they see it, they immediately turn their brains off and get stupid.

Oh, so you did a Google search and say I’m wrong. You mean this guy? (Please notice the overhead lighting in the “after” picture) The guy who did the workout daily for 50 days…..and apparently got zero results? Or how about this top search result. Hey, she’s hot, right? 30 days of the 7:00 workout…….and no change. Umm…..er…..yeah, there you go. Deal with reality.

First of all, all these articles and “workouts” were written with the general public in mind and the public hates exercise so the “7:00” thing is the hook. The author knows most people won’t even read the whole article, they’ll just think “I can get the sexy abz in 7:00 a day” and pass the article on social media. Did anyone bother to read that you should do the workout 2-3 times a day? Of course not. So it’s not just 7:00, then is it? Details, details.

Second, it’s “scientific”? Really? It’s supposedly based on studies but those studies don’t suggest exercise like this. Many of those studies were based on WEIGHT TRAINING. Whoops. See, the general public doesn’t want to hear that you need equipment or that it can help you in any way. They want to think that fitness is free, just like they want to hear you can get fit in only 7:00 a day. Imagine lifting weights for 7:00 versus lifting your bodyweight only for 7:00. Which is likely to be more effective? And BTW, no study ever looked at this workout. They didn’t tell you that either, did they?

Third, this workout is completely devoid of posterior chain work — you know, all those muscles you don’t see in the mirror. Again, this is done to pander to the public. They WANT what they can see in the mirror, not what they NEED which is to pull their rounded shoulders back after doing 8 hours of computer work and to strengthen their weak glutes and hamstrings after using them as cushions all day long. But to do those things requires people to learn how to do pullups and deadlift motions and that’s hard and requires you actually learn how to do something — which the public doesn’t want to hear. Tough. Posterior chain work is the best type of exercise for normal people to learn.

The 7:00 workout is a crock of lies. It leads no where. There are no progressions to the exercises, it doesn’t make you better at anything, and be honest — no one sticks with it long term. These workouts pander to the public by telling you all the things you want to hear, while not telling you that this stuff doesn’t work. If you want a second opinion, look here.

So put down the viral garbage, learn some real exercises, and get on a REAL workout plan that will actually take you somewhere! Don’t just exercise, train!

Problems with “advanced” workouts

We got a question about what makes a workout advanced. I’ll tell you, it’s very hard to write workouts plans for the public because most people just don’t understand them. You have to write workout plans to give people something to aim at, not something they can do immediately. i wrote a workout plan for a website and they complained that men couldn’t do 50 pullups total. What they meant was their lazy readers couldn’t do 50 pullups. Any man who actually trains rather than simply reads articles is capable of working up to 50 pullups. And that’s the goal, to work UP to something, not pander to people by giving them something pathetic that will get them no progress.
Many “advanced workouts” are just longer than beginner or advanced workouts because that’s easier for the author to write. For advanced, you simply do twice as much as the beginner level, and you get twice as bored. In Kettlebell Quest, I avoided that by having the exercises progress from easier to harder so that the workout time doesn’t just get longer. To me, that’s a sign of an advanced workout. You should be able to do harder exercises as you get better. But i have to tell you, a lot of people don’t like that and think it’s arrogant or too elite. A lot of people want to be pandered to and told they are elite when they clearly are not. And advanced level has to be earned.

Our new members fee is not BS

I get it — you went to the globogym and they told you that if you sign up in the next 33.5 seconds, then they would waive the new members fee but if you waited till 34 seconds from now, the offer would expire. You’re used to hearing that BS so now you figure that all new member’s fees are bogus.

Sorry, but you’re wrong. Just because the globogym’s fees are bogus doesn’t mean that all gym’s fees are. Yeah, I know. The worst example I’ve heard of was the local fancy-pants gym had a “typhoon special” where, if you signed up the day after the typhoon, you could waive the new member’s fee. How crazy is that?

Here’s what our new member’s fees are for:
1. most people don’t realize this but the overwhelming majority of issues presented by gym members comes from new members. This just makes sense if you think about it. All new members have to get used to the gym. They ask more questions, need more assistance, take more time and resources, and in general take more of an effort to help them adjust to the gym. Of course we’re happy to do it, but we have to be compensated for the effort, as well.

2. Contracts, member’s cards, computer software to check you in at the front desk, computer systems, etc. all cost quite a bit of money. The gym has to make that back.

3. And the final huge one — marketing. Every new member the gym gets comes from our marketing, which takes up a chunk of time so huge that it’s hard to describe. For example, I once traded 25 emails with a potential client before he came in. How much is your time worth? We have to make up for that somehow and the new member’s fee is how we do it.

Facebook, Youtube, and other social media are platforms that allow immediate access to us but they also take up tremendous amounts of time that has to be compensated. Want an example? One of our Youtube videos got a question, so we answered it. The guy then asked about our classes. So we answered and told him he should visit the gym if he had any more questions. He then asked what was the gym’s phone number? Yes, seriously. He couldn’t even bother to look at the website or our Youtube homepage. We gave it to him in another comment answer. Know what he asked then? He asked if it was okay for him to call now? All of this happened in a Youtube comment thread. How much time do you think that took? And that was one guy.

Outside of actual training people in the gym, most of our time is spent marketing and with social media, we never stop working. You might go home at 5pm but we answer questions, emails and posts long into the night.

All of that activity is NOT compensated for by the gym fees.

We try not to tell people this stuff because it shouldn’t be your concern. Let us handle the behind the scenes stuff and you worry about getting a good workout. But realize that new member’s fees, at least at our gym, are NOT bogus and actually pay for real things that we do everyday to make the gym better.

Thanks for your understanding.