Push-Ups - 2 Evil Styles to Create Great Upper-Body and Core Strength!

Push-ups are an age-old exercise that we have probably practiced since we were kids. Its amazing to me how many of us lose the ability to execute this same movement later into adulthood. The good news is that as an adult when we practice our bodies generally respond very well.

1. Elevate The Feet: Once you master the traditional style push-ups a great way to intensify the drill for harder hitting results is to simply elevate your feet. This will distribute more of your body-weight to your arms making the exercise significantly more difficult. You can gain a great deal more upper-body power and core strength by doing this. Its important to feel out how hard you want to make it by adjusting your feet to the desired height.

2. Stability Ball Push-Ups: This one is certainly going to get your attention and will hit you hard in the stomach! That's right, I said in the stomach. Get a stability ball and put your hands on the ball. You want to grip the ball sort of to the sides almost like squeezing it, but not too much that you lose your hold. Next, make sure you maintain the integrity of your body alignment. Even though your body is elevated by the ball you must make sure that you still keep it straight from your shoulders to your heels. Lower yourself in a controlled manner and touch the middle of your chest to the ball before coming back up. You will experience great tension in your abs and will develop tremendous upper-body strength and stability with this drill.

To learn more about Kettlebells, Fitness, and achieving Total Mind-Blowing Strength come and visit me at http://www.efandps.com To be one of my members and to receive more tips on INSANE BODY CONSTRUCTION please visit me at:http://www.efandps.com/www.efandps.com/Brandons_Members_Newsletter.html I'm Brandon Richey the Strength and Conditioning Pro!

Leg Strength and Endurance - A Killer Squat Workout Using Plastic Water Bottle Caps!

If you have read any of my previous articles you know that I am a big proponent of utilizing your own body-weight to achieve mind-blowing fitness and conditioning. The key to doing this without the use of equipment is being innovative with how you distribute, move, and manipulate your own body-weight.

I want to describe one way, like above, to optimize your leg-strength and endurance in the convenience of your living room. All you need to do is collect 10 different plastic bottle caps. If you can't do bottle caps then coins, game piece checkers, or just about anything you can easily fit into the palm of your hand will work. Next, all you have to do is make sure that you have a straight uninterrupted stretch of floor space. From here just line up all 10 caps in a straight line with about 8 inches of space between them. From here you will execute a series of squats. Walk up to the first cap and straddle it with your feet shoulder-width distance apart. Now squat and pick up the first cap. Next, walk up to the 2nd cap and squat to put down the 1st cap. Immediately squat again to pick up the first cap followed by another squat to get the 2nd one. Then walk to the 3rd cap and once again put down each of the 2 caps one at a time to turn around and pick all 3 back up one at a time. Continue this pattern all the way to the end of the caps.

You will develop astounding leg-strength and endurance from doing these squats. As you get better don't be afraid to jump to doing 20 or 30 caps!

To learn more about Kettlebells, Fitness, and achieving Total Mind-Blowing Strength come and visit me at http://www.efandps.com To be one of my members and to receive more tips on INSANE BODY CONSTRUCTION please visit me at:http://www.efandps.com/www.efandps.com/Brandons_Members_Newsletter.html I'm Brandon Richey the Strength and Conditioning Pro!

The Push-Up - 2 Steps For a Beginner to Execute a Single Push-Up!

So you want to learn how to execute a perfect push-up. There are many ways to skin a cat. However, the following instructions are my way to skin the cat! There is no need to attempt a push-up unless you can do it correctly. The following series of instructions will assume that you are incapable of executing a push-up at all, or that you are incapable of executing one correctly.

Step 1: Your strength has to be built up enough for you to hold your body in a proper upright push-up position before you can attempt anything. This requires a sufficient amount of core strength and body alignment before progressing any further. So here you need to get into position. Get your body in the upright position with your arms fully extended and your hands at shoulder width distance. Your hands should be placed to where they align to lay directly under your armpits directly upon descent. Your body should always be straight and rigid from the shoulders to the heels. Now all you do is practice holding yourself in the upright position. Try for a minute and then progress to 2 minutes and so on.

Step 2: Once you are able to firmly hold your body for a sufficient 2-3 minutes then we'll attempt a modified push-up. Start this by staggering your body weight by placing your hands up on a bench. This distributes more weight on your feet and less on your upper-body. Even though your body is slanted still maintain your rigidity as you descend and touch your chest to the bench before coming up. As you get better at this then move to a height that is lower until you eventually go full range push-ups off of the floor! You should practice often and not worry about moving on to a harder push-up until you have confidently executed each step.

Remember, old habits die hard! So kill them! Practice these flawlessly, often, and hard then we'll move on to one-arm drills.

To learn more about Kettlebells, Fitness, and achieving Total Mind-Blowing Strength come and visit me at http://www.efandps.com To be one of my members and to receive more tips on INSANE BODY CONSTRUCTION please visit me at:http://www.efandps.com/www.efandps.com/Brandons_Members_Newsletter.html I'm Brandon Richey the Strength and Conditioning Pro!

Pull-Ups - 3 Steps to Take in Order to Execute a Single Pull-up!

The infamous pull-up is a great measure of upper body strength that most people are incapable of doing. Most people think that it is unrealistic for them to achieve this impressive measure of strength. The fact is that with consistent and repetitive practice this exercise can be achieved by virtually anyone.

Step 1: I first want to start out by assuming that you are totally incapable of doing a pull-up, but have at least enough upper body strength to hang from the bar. Assuming this you are at the start of being able to execute a pull-up. To begin all you have to do is somehow hoist yourself up and hold your body up with your chin above the bar for as long as possible. You can use a spotter for each of these steps if necessary. As you get better at this increase the amount of time you hold yourself above the bar.

Step 2: After consistently practicing by holding yourself above the bar you then will move on to the controlled descent. This is where you control the downward movement of your body until your arms are fully extended. Descend as slowly as you can. Repeat this 2 or 3 times in a row with a spotter if needed. Eventually move up to practicing for one set 2 to 3 times a day everyday.

Step 3: As you get good at the controlled descent then utilize your spotter for an assist in you pulling yourself up from the hanging position. Hang from the bar and with assistance from the spotter pull-up and control your descent. Repeat this process and practice frequently as before.

In time your strength will explode with this exercise. Remember that you must practice. This is the tip of the iceberg when talking about accomplishing super feats of strength!

To learn more about Kettlebells, Fitness, and achieving Total Mind-Blowing Strength come and visit me at http://www.efandps.com To be one of my members and to receive more tips on INSANE BODY CONSTRUCTION please visit me at:http://www.efandps.com/www.efandps.com/Brandons_Members_Newsletter.html I'm Brandon Richey the Strength and Conditioning Pro!

Intense Cardio - 2 Exercises to Drastically Improve Your Cardiovascular Conditioning Without Running

The first thing that we are going to look at is achieving tremendous cardiovascular conditioning with only a limited amount of space and time. To do this we are going to look at a couple of different movements. Again we will use the resistance of body weight in order to accomplish our goal. Remember that these steps are not the only answer, but they sure are effective.

I would like to let you know that this little program will cause you to sweat, stay out of breath, and feel overall miserable! Don't worry though because "Pain is temporary and pride is forever!" I would like to introduce the 3 count squat thrust. This is the first step of the two that I want to explain. It is a toned down version of a military conditioning exercise known as a blurpee, which I'll get into in the second step of this dominating little workout. To begin, a squat thrust involves 3 simple movements. The first movement starts with you standing with your feet about shoulder width apart and bending down to place your hands on the ground in front of you. The second step is to then kick your feet back until your body is fully extended so you are positioned in an upright push-up. Finally, you simply kick your feet back up in one single movement to return to the first position and simply stand up. All 3 of these movements count for one repetition. From here if you want tremendous cardio this will be the first half of your workout because you want to try to complete 50 of these in a row! This will be absolutely miserable and you are only halfway there.

The second exercise I want to look at is called a blurpee. It has a funny name, but you won't be laughing when you start doing it. This exercise basically involves the same steps as the squat thrust but it will have a push-up and a jump added into the mix. The first step, like the squat thrust, is to begin standing with your feet shoulder width apart and crouch down placing your hands on the ground in front of you. Next you want to kick your feet back extending your body into the upright push-up position. Third you want to execute a single push-up. Next you want to bring your feet back up until you are in the crouched position. The final movement here is to stand up and jump. This is all one repetition. Go ahead and get mentally geared up because you've got 50 of these in a row too.

This program has a total count of 100 miserable, sweaty, nauseating reps that will get you into optimal shape. This is only a simple ingredient in the whole program. Make the change to gain sick cardiovascular conditioning!

To learn more about Kettlebells, Fitness, and achieving Total Mind-Blowing Strength come and visit me at http://www.efandps.com To be one of my members and to receive more tips on INSANE BODY CONSTRUCTION please visit me at:http://www.efandps.com/www.efandps.com/Brandons_Members_Newsletter.html I'm Brandon Richey the Strength and Conditioning Pro!

Body Weight Exercise - Utilizing Your Body to Obtain Tremendous Strength and Fitness Gains!

You are probably wondering how in the world you can create a knock-out fitness and strength program without using any weights, machines, or by having to buy a gym membership. Remember that no matter your goals you absolutely have to increase your level of physical exertion in order to achieve optimal strength and muscular development. In order to do this you have to incorporate certain body movements that involve the overall tension and action of multi-joint exercise. Remember that if I want to work my chest muscles then why do a fly movement when I can do a push-up. This way I not only work my chest muscles, but target my shoulders, abdomen, triceps, and hips all from this single movement.

Lets start out by you asking yourself a question. How many exercises can you think of right now that involve using nothing but you and your living room floor or front yard? How ever many you came up with that number is a good start for this body-weight strength program. Also, thinking in this way will cause your program to be better because you have to get more creative in order to challenge yourself and to get to greek-god status! Now I'm going to start by helping you think in a creative way like a "strength and conditioning specialist" would think.

I have always thought of ways to challenge the athletes and clients I work with because a true strength and conditioning program has to be ever-changing and highly innovative. Lets look at the age old exercise that we know as the Push-up. Now you might not be capable of doing a single push-up, you might be able to do 10 or 20, or you may even be able to do a 100 push-ups! Nonetheless all levels can be improved. For instance, the individual that is not capable of a push-up should be. He or she can practice lower intensity drills like doing them on their knees or with their hands elevated on a bench putting more force on the feet instead of the upper body. As they get better at these they can eventually progress to the floor to execute ordinary push-ups. If we look at the person that can do 10 or 20 then he or she can start into practicing more intense one arm drills like the one-arm push-up. They can start their practice in ways like the no push-up group mentioned above by starting with one-arm on a bench with having more weight distributed to their feet until they are ready to go to the floor. Looking at the third group that is capable of doing a 100 push-ups we can still challenge their abilities by including even more intense drills like the very dynamic dive-bomber push-up or the one-arm one-leg push-up! These are both intense and impressive my friend.

Next, lets think of a way that you can challenge more of your legs and cardiovascular system. Here you can perform a normal standing squat. Just like the push-up you are familiar with the squat. You may not be capable of executing a proper squat, you may be able to do 10 or 20, or you may be capable of doing a 100 standing squats. Just like the push-up drills we can learn the basic squat and once mastered we can learn and execute other more intense variations of squats. For the person that isn't capable of a proper squat we can learn this technique with the use of a wall. We'll use the wall to incorporate a drill I like to call a "form drill." First, you need to walk up and face a wall with your feet slightly wider than shoulder width. You should only be about 3 to 4 inches from the wall. From here execute the form drill by squatting and lowering your body in a controlled manner down the wall. The key here is to not "frog" the knees or "bow" them out. You must descend in a controlled manner or you will bump the wall with either your face or your knees. You should feel the muscles in your spine tension. This is a proper "form squat." You want to progress by going as low as possible. Just like the push-up drills the people that are capable of doing 10 or 20 squats at a time can move on to practicing single leg squat drills with the aid of a chair or bench. You can do this by lifting a leg in front of you and then on one leg lower your rear to touch the bench or chair before standing up. From here you can lower the bench until you progress to eventually going all the way to the floor. For the people that can do a 100 squats we can incorporate similar drills and continue to challenge them with the inclusion of more dynamic movements like squat jumps and single leg squat jumps!

I think you get the picture. Hopefully you understand that the basic exercises of the push-up and squat can be utilized to create more results for you than any other method of training you have ever done. You now should understand that a basic push-up or squat can be manipulated into many variations to continually challenge you for explosive results! Think like a "strength and conditioning specialist!"

To learn more about Kettlebells, Fitness, and achieving Total Mind-Blowing Strength come and visit me at http://www.efandps.com To be one of my members and to receive more tips on INSANE BODY CONSTRUCTION please visit me at:http://www.efandps.com/www.efandps.com/Brandons_Members_Newsletter.htmlI'm Brandon Richey the Strength and Conditioning Pro!

Kettlebells - The Frankenstein of Fitness, Bringing Your Dead Workouts to Life!

I like to refer to the kettlebell as the "Frankenstein of Fitness" because it will bring your dead workouts to life! You are probably wondering what is a kettlebell? Well, a kettlebell is a strength training device that resembles a cannonball with a handle attached to it. It originated in Russia and has been around for centuries. This is my fitness tool of choice when it comes to down right hard-body results. The good news is that now they are becoming more popular here in the U.S. and I am here to say that it is a tool that will transform your workouts and your body forever.

To begin, the kettlebell is a very dynamic and different way to train your body. There are many different types of lifts that can be executed with the kettlebell to strengthen the body as a whole. When working out with this tool you can pretty much throw the isolated or single-joint movements out the window. For me this is why this gruesome fat destroying weapon is so effective in building total-body strength and fitness. It can be utilized to integrate push and pull type movements which are the basis of human function.

For the sake of time I want to discuss two basic lifts that cover the push and pull dynamic. I'll start with the big pull movement. The first of these is the double-arm swing. This is a movement that basically involves picking the bell up from the floor from between your legs. After you pick up the bell your feet should be about slightly wider than shoulder width with complete extension of your knees and hips. The bell should be hanging in front of you slightly below your hips and in front of your groin area. From this point you want to sit your hips back with about a quarter-squat and have a slight bend of the knees. At this stage you should have a slight bend of both the knees and hips. In a continuous back and forth movement you want to extend the knees and hips allowing the kettlebell to build momentum as it swings back and forth between your legs. Make sure you are continuing to flex and extend the knees and hips to build the swinging momentum of the bell. When finished you want to utilize a proper squat to lower the kettlebell back to the ground between your feet from where you started.

The second lift I want to discuss involves a push exercise of the kettlebell. The lift to which I am going refer is the overhead static press and walk. To begin this exercise you must first execute a proper clean lift to get the bell from the floor to chest level. The "Clean" is a term that weightlifters use that means to lift the weight from the floor to chest level in one single "Clean" movement. This is done by starting with the bell on the floor in the same manner as the swing lift. You must then execute a proper squat and grab the bell using one arm. From the floor then lift the kettlebell simultaneously pulling it up and corkscrewing your arm to allow the bell to come to a rest on the outside of your forearm. From this standing position with your arm and kettlebell resting in front and against your body then press the bell overhead. Once you lock your shoulder and elbow into place with the bell straight overhead then simply walk on a flat surface at a desired distance. When you are done then follow the steps in reverse from lifting the bell to putting it safely back on the floor. From here just switch arms and repeat the lift.

To put it mildly your workouts have been dead until now! Learn how to utilize the power of this tool of muscle construction to kickstart your workouts. Remember that the kettlebell is a different way to train and you shouldn't try anything unless you are confident in your technique. From here watch your results explode from the intense kettlebell!

To learn more about Kettlebells, Fitness, and achieving Total Mind-Blowing Strength come and visit me at http://www.efandps.com To be one of my members and to receive more tips on insane body construction please visit me at:http://www.efandps.com/www.efandps.com/Brandons_Members_Newsletter.html I'm Brandon Richey the Strength and Conditioning Pro!