Your Body - The Real Weight Room!

I would say that your own body is the best weight-room or gym around. It amazes me that most people don't get the concept of progression. Time and time again I see people that can bench-press a pretty good amount of weight but lack the ability to execute one correct form push-up. Their logic is backwards.

I would like to start by saying that if you are not capable of performing some basic body-weight exercises such as push-ups, squats, and planks then you have no business adding an additional load to the body like the act of lifting weights! You see these are all forms of resistance. Whether you are lifting your own body-weight or you are throwing weights around in the gym you are simply adding resistance to the muscle causing it to tense up. This tensing up or tension is what builds strength. You have to progress in order to gain optimal function and overall development of strength.

When you engage in such exercise that involve your own body-weight such as push-ups you will find that they can be pretty challenging. You can get a heck of a workout by participating in this age-old movement and others that are like it with just your own resistance. My opinion is that if you cannot execute these movements by using your own resistance effectively then you lack development in your stabilizing muscles and overall core strength.

Make sure that you understand how to progress in a fitness and exercise program before you start. Always have a plan before blindly throwing yourself into something hoping that it will all just automatically happen. Learn and practice these movements flawlessly and then move on to more difficult and challenging workouts.

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 Kettlebell - The Tool For Correcting Problematic Asymmetries

Have you ever been to the gym to see these guys that have a huge upper-body, but a pair of toothpicks for legs? Maybe you've seen guys who spend every workout doing primarily one particular lift like the bench press as seen with your typical gym rats! Well I want to take the time to explain the importance of symmetry, and how the kettlebell is a great tool for achieving this.

The Problem: To start, many people don't consider necessarily what they are doing when they go to workout. They don't properly address their individual weaknesses in their workouts. This is a common theme with most because they don't have a clear understanding of the human body and how it works. By now you know that I have broken down the push and pull as the two primary movements of the human body. I also like to execute both of these movements in either 2 separate lifts or a singular complex lift with the kettlbell that covers both. The problem with not executing both a push and pull dynamic is that if the body develops asymmetries then there will be a mismatch in the overall function of the muscles, and eventually this could result in an injury.

The Solution: To make sure that your strength and conditioning program is effective enough for you to pass the "eyeball contest" is one thing, but making sure that you can also feel strong and healthy is just as important. You must always vary your workouts to include a variety of exercises that serve completely different purposes. Variety can be as much as never repeating the same workout ever! Though this is somewhat very creative and challenging the benefits far outweigh the negative costs. Make sure that you alternate movements of push and pull with every exercise that you do. Also make sure you engage in very dynamic lifts (like the kettlebell one-arm turkish getup) that incorporate many muscles and move the body through every plain of motion.

This will definitely provide you with a much more functional and less injured body!

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!

Athletic Fitness - Why Athletes Are Fitter Than the Average Gym Rat

Athletes are the most well conditioned and fittest people around because they have to be. After all, it is there job to have their bodies perform at the highest level. The average gym rat usually aspires to have the build and functional capability of the athlete, yet very seldom achieves that goal.

Now, of course it is the full-time job of the athlete to be the best performing well-oiled machine to entertain a high paying fan base every week. However, the average gym rat that spends a boat load of money on gym memberships, supplements, and training gear never even comes close to resembling the athlete that develops the body of a Greek god. Now you can blame it on genetics, money, and time and all of these characteristics are important, but I've trained normal taxpaying citizens to look like Greek gods with no gym membership, supplements, or a ton of training gear. The difference boils down to two factors, discipline and training method.

You see most gym rats go to the gym and do a few arm curls with their neat little ipod strapped to their bicep. A few reps on the bench, some lat pulls, and if they really get active they may do some squats. You see the difference in the athlete and the gym rat is definitely the training method, but having the hard discipline to engage in it most everyday and with high intensity. The athletes don't have to spend two and half hours in the gym. As a matter of fact when I worked at UGA the maximum length of time in the weight-room never exceeded an hour. Now having said this they did put their time in for conditioning and practice. Most people don't want to train like athletes because that is how you should train if you are playing "football," or if you want to be a "wrestler." This is a lazy excuse and is where I say don't complain when your goals of achieving that level are not met.

Remember, if you want to learn how to fight you learn from a well-trained fighter, if you want to shoot you learn from a marksman, and if you want to be in the greatest shape of your life well I don't consider myself a bad resource.

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!

Functional Strength - Strength Building For the Blue Collar Worker!

If you have a job that requires a bunch of hard physical labor most of the time then you need to pay attention. Whether you know this or not when you are picking up truck tires, bells of hay, piping, moving posts and digging holes you are thinking about doing your job, but you are also engaging in a functional strength training program! So you are probably wondering why should I do any of this outside of work, right?

First of all, I want to say that I totally understand where you are coming from. My dad owns a service station and throughout my teenage and early adulthood years I worked like crazy 9-10 hours a day lifting truck tires, washing vehicles, and in a lot of cases pushing vehicles into to the shop to get fixed. It was relentless work and I would arrive home and crash from exhaustion. I had always been physically active and involved in athletics so that certainly helped me to cope with the long intense workdays.

Fortunately I continued to train my body by lifting weights and working-out either before or after work as much as I could. When I first began I felt exhausted, but quickly adapted when I polished my training. You see just being active enough to lift something that is relatively heavy, but not something that you lift to failure will help you to develop mind-blowing strength. Its all about using your entire body to lift the sandbag 3-4 times by squatting to pick it up or by moving heavy equipment in and out of the shop to clean the greasy floors! Don't be afraid to get creative by using stuff you already have on the farm, at the shop, or in your work truck. Just squat down use your legs and arms and lift! The more you practice and improve then make lifting whatever object you choose more difficult. Maybe try it with one arm, or lifting 2 objects, or by lifting and throwing the object, so long as that is feasible.

Strength training is just like anything else. The more you practice the better you get at it!

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!