Author: D C

We need to stop thinking of doing cardio and instead think of moving and conditioning. Cardio tends to mean doing cardio machines at the gym and that’s a terribly boring way to work out. There are so many more options available to you today so why should you get stuck on a stupid machine?
But if you have to do some form of machine “cardio” and find it boring, here’s a way to make it go easier. Everyone needs a warmup, right? So choose a piece of cardio equipment that works the whole body, like the rower. The rower is the best piece of cardio equipment in a mainstream gym, by far. Look for a future article on that. So use the rower for your warmup by going for 20:00. Start out easy for 3-4:00 and then pick up the pace until you’re going pretty good at around the 10:00 mark. For the next 10:00, get a good pace and keep it up. At around 20:00, you’re done for now so get off the machine and go do your workout.
After you finish, go back to the rower for 10:00. This time, you will do intervals as a finisher. You’re really warm at the point so go hard right from the beginning. I suggest :30 as hard as possible and :30 of rest for 10:00. So you will row hard for the interval and then row slowly to recover. When you’re done with that, you should be done, period. Time to hit the showers.
What you’ve done here is 30:00 total time of “cardio” but you’ve used the time wisely, making it much less boring. The intervals at the end are a finisher that allows you to burn a lot of calories and this will get you much better results than just doing boring long, slow, distance (LSD) cardio, which is not very good for fat loss.

If you want bigger muscles, then endless bicep curls aren’t the way to go. See the guy in your gym that does nothing but curls? How big is he? Not very big, right? I see this all the time and wonder why people don’t change something that clearly hasn’t worked for years.

Think about how big your biceps are compared to the rest of your muscles. They’re kind of small aren’t they? Look at the muscles of your back on an anatomy chart. Huge, aren’t they? Look at the size of the quads and the hamstrings. Look at the gluteus. All those muscles groups are some of the biggest on your body and no one works them. No look at the pectorals, front delts, and biceps — the muscles everyone overworks. They’re so small it’s no wonder people have to get naked to tell they work out.

A properly done barbell squat works the whole back, gluteus, hamstrings, and quad muscles all at the same time. Working these large muscle groups grows all those muscles you don’t see in the mirror and this causes you to gain tons more muscle than you would by avoiding them. Working the large muscle groups through compound movements like the barbell squat and barbell deadlift will do much more for you than twelve different varieties of curls. Try is out and you’ll see what I mean.

This is a great story from one of our favorite clients. She has done well and shows what hard work and correct attitude can get you! Thanks to her and our other folks that work so hard!
We arrived to Taiwan the first week of August. I was trying to get back in shape, especially now that I’m in my earlier 40’s. I was never too fat, however after eating more than I should and most importantly not exercising enough, yoga was I did when I did something and a bit of cardio,during 2012 my weight went from 60Kg to 80Kg faster than I noticed. My height is 5feet 7inches. I really began to try to do something in 2013, when I was in VA, USA. I was able to come down in weight by going once or twice a week to a Kettlebell classes. I learned there about that type of workout. I really enjoyed it but I knew it wasn’t enough for my body. When I arrived to Taiwan in August 2013, my weight was 64Kg, but to my surprise the belly fat was still there.

I knew I needed to challenge my body more and include more protein in my diet. The first month was hard because we were getting used to our new home. In September I began my quest for the prefect gym to really help me achieve my goal of getting stronger and perhaps, I thought I may get rid of my belly fat. I was lucky enough to know about Formosa Fitness, I enrolled first in the Strength Training Class. I felt challenged and felt in love with the free weights. But I knew I needed something more, so I decided to take one-on-one sessions, so I could have plan developed to reach my goals faster.

In October, I started my private sessions twice a week with Lou. I decided to forget about the scale and just measure my progress with pictures. I’m so glad I did it.When my strength began to increase, my body shape was changing as well before my eyes,but more important I began to felt empower, healthier and with more energy. We kept the Kettlebells, but incorporated the big lifts deadlift, benchpress, squat and other exercises.

I even had an accident, at the end of November, that put me out of the gym for 6 weeks. When I came back Lou, helped my hand recover sooner by using weights.

In July I decided to take a picture and compare what happened to my body before and after Formosa Fitness, I think it’s very obvious that my belly fat is going away, my strength has increased a lot, my blood test came perfect, my body shape is improving a lot and I even though I’m lifting decent amount of weights,I don’t look like Hulk. You will also be surprised to learn that my weight now is 67Kg now, however I look slimmer. Scales can lie!My recommendation to all women is to not be afraid of weighlifting, embrace it,become stronger and then your body shape will become better. One of the best parts,is that I didn’t do a diet just increase my protein and follow Lou custom made program. If you’re serious about improving your health an body shape, do yourself a favor and join Formosa Fitness,you will not be dissapointed. It has everything you need and a very supportive environment. I’m convinced Formosa Fitness is the best gym in Taiwan.

When we put this picture up earlier, we forgot to highlight the most important part — she is heavier after she slimmed down! Most people just do not understand this — fat takes up more volume than muscle. When you exercise properly and emphasize lean tissue gain, your fat percentage goes down and the amount of muscle you have goes up. You look better but you are also stronger than before.
This means that your scale may be lying to you! Just because your weight is going up doesn’t mean you’re getting fat! And for all of you that just want to be thin, just having the scale go down can be a very bad thing! Losing muscle can make your weight go down and that can cause a lot of hard to solve problems like having your metabolism crash.

US Olympic lifting champion Donny Shankle is coming to Formosa Fitness for a full-day seminar on Sept. 28.

Here’s a look at some of his lifting:

And here are the complete seminar contents:
The seminar will cover the elements of becoming the best weightlifter you can be from the physical to the mental. At the end of the seminar, you will learn (among other things) the Twelve Musts to apply to your lifting technique, proper progressions for the Snatch and Clean & Jerk and how to teach them yourself, principles to achieve optimum performance, subordinate exercises for variation and its importance, how to train and design your own program for your personal record results, how to prepare for a competition, and the psychology of a weightlifter. The psychology is commonly forgotten in seminars but it is important to learn how to get out of your head, lift with authority, and learn how to win. The seminar will be a combination of lecture and story telling, demonstrations, hands on practice for technique and PR attempts, individual coaching, and video analysis of the best in action (subject to equipment availability).

All attendees must bring a pair of weightlifting shoes and be able to do an over head squat to full depth (hips below knees).

1) Style and Musts

Your own style is important when you lift but why?
Learn all twelve musts to apply to your technique
The importance of the Back Squat and its three fundamentals
Understanding the importance of Line of Balance and Center of Gravity

2) The Snatch Progression

Demonstration (SN)
Learn and be able to teach the progression
Hands on practice and individual coaching

3) Speed, Time, Comfort Zones, and S.A.I.D.

Short lecture on the importance of all concepts and how they apply to your training

4) The Jerk Progression

Learn the split reference points
Learn and be able to teach the progression
Hands on practice and individual coaching

5) What is weightlifting?

How to become a professional
Various stories
The beginning of understanding principle

6) The Clean Progression

Demonstration (C&J)
Learn and be able to teach the progression
Put the C&J together
Hands on practice and individual coaching

7) Training session

Learn the training principles to achieve optimum performance
Learn how to choose attempts
Attempt new SN and C&J personal records w/ individual coaching

8) Subordinate Exercises (sub ex’s)

Learn fifteen additional exercises to help you understand the importance of variation
Types of sub ex’s and classes

9) How to Train

Learn the only program
Lecture on Focus and Principle and why they are important
Template Design
How to devise your own program to achieve results long term
How to prepare for competition
See examples

10) Psychology

How to get out of your head
How to lift with authority
Learn all commands and corresponding virtues behind the pull
Learn how to achieve gold

11) Video Analysis (subject to equipment availability)

See the best in action and what they do right

12) Q&A

The price is only NT9000 and all of the proceeds go to support Donny’s quest to be in the 2016 Olympics!
If this sounds like something you’d like to attend, we are accepting payment for spots now until Aug. 31st. you can sign up at the link below (in Chinese) or pay at the front desk at Formosa Fitness. Thanks!
https://www.facebook.com/events/675943342489379/