Here is a recipe for y new favorite snack. What I love about it is how flexible it can be, you can really be creative and make it however you’d like. Here is how I do it:
Makes 2 servings
1 cup of Quaker instant oatmeal
1 1/4 cup of almond silk (any milk will work)
1 ts of vanilla extract
1/2 tbsp Hershey chocolate syrup
1/4 cup of chocolate chips
1 ts cinnamon
5 hazelnuts crushed
Preparation: mix everything together, refrigerate overnight and you have a quick and delicious snack.
Hey everyone April is a very big month for me and I have some awesome news to share in the next couple of weeks so stay tuned. In the meantime, I’m participating in my first Spartan Race next month and I’m really excited. As someone who has been athletic and involved in fitness all of my life, I see this as a new and fun challenge. I will be participating the the event at Citi Field on May 9th but there are a bunch of events coming up in the tri-state area. I have been talking a lot of trash to my friends who do compete so it’s time to put up or shut up and my goal is to finish with the best time possible. The goal is to complete the sprint as well as the “Super” (8 miles) and the “Beast” (12 miles) all within the year. If you are interested in joining me at Citi Field, or participating in any of the upcoming events, check here for more info. If you do sign up, use the code SPARTANBLOGGER for 10% off of any race.
Hey everyone, this weeks post is a video I worked on for eHow about stretches that can be done in the office or at your desk.
With my new book, Doorframe Pull-up Bar Workouts out this week, a new blog post seemed appropriate. My book is centered around exercises that can be done at home (or anywhere) with a pull-up bar. In today’s post, I’m going to list the top 5 bodyweight exercises. These are all fundamental movements in any exercise program and can be progressed or regressed as needed. All of these can be found in Doorframe Pull-up Bar Workouts
1. Pull-ups
Pull-ups are one of the absolute best exercises that you can do. They are a great strength building exercise because you are pulling your entire bodyweight. Additionally, pull-ups work a wide variety of upper body muscles, including the Lats, Rhomboids, Biceps, Deltoids and Forearms. Pull-ups can be progressed or regressed to meet the needs of any fitness level and can be performed almost anywhere.
2. Push-up
Push-ups should be a staple of any fitness program. Push-ups can be performed anywhere and require no equipment. Pushups work a wide variety of muscles in the upper body, including the Pectorals, Triceps and Deltoids. Additionally, push-ups are a great core exercise due to the trunk stability that is required to perform a proper push-up. While they are easier to perform than pull-ups, Push-ups are still a difficult exercise and can be progressed or regressed in order to meet the needs of any fitness level.
3. Lunges
Lunges are among the most dynamic lower body exercises. Lunges narrowly beat out squats to make this list. Lunges work on almost all of the muscles in the lower body with a focus on the Quads, Hamstrings and Glutes. Lunges are also a great exercise for balance, stability and control. They can also be performed in a wide variety of ranges and in all planes of motion. This means that you are never at a loss for ways to make the exercise different and more dynamic.
4. Burpees or Squat Thrusts
Burpees are both my most and least favorite exercise. They are my most favorite due to the conditioning benefits and least because of how difficult they can be. Burpees are second to none as far as their ability to increase the heart rate and develop your conditioning. They are the perfect exercise to use with a High Intensity Interval Training protocol and can be used to build both anaerobic and aerobic conditioning. Like the other exercises mentioned, burpees are dynamic and can be modified to include pull-ups and or push-ups among many other movements.
5. Walking plank
The best core exercises are the ones which require you to stabilize your trunk with dynamic movement. In that way, walking planks are a great core exercise. While traditional planks can be great for the core, walking planks have the added benefit of forcing you to stay stable while there is a shift in your center of gravity. Additionally, the arm extension is a great way to strengthen your core.
Strength Training out, Eccentric Exercise In
By Jim Rollince of Gym Source, a vendor of home fitness equipment, including bikes, arc trainers, treadmills, ellipticals and more!
For most gym dwellers, it is believed that strength training is the ultimate way to “get in shape.” However, recent studies have show that a decent amount of eccentric exercise may provide serious benefits.
If you aren’t already familiar with eccentric exercises, they consist of lengthening the muscles. Leg extensions are a fine example of this type of exercise. The more popular concentric exercises consist of things like curling, whereas your contracting muscles to lift something.
A study that will appear in the January issue of the journal of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, there will be significant evidence that supports the theory of eccentric exercise as more beneficial. In this study, twenty women were randomly doled out various exercise groups that performed either concentric or eccentric movements once a week, for eight weeks. Congruently, each exercise group was tasked to perform leg extensions (targeting the quadriceps). The results were quite shocking!
According to the researchers conducting the study, the eccentric group displayed the following:
Increased muscle strength and performance
Decrease insulin resistance
Improved blood lipid profiles
In fact, each category of improvement was significantly higher than that of the concentric group of exercisers. But it didn’t end there, they found that after two months the eccentric group’s resting energy expenditure (calories burned) increased 5 percent – Very similar to what’s normally seen during an immense bout of endurance training.
Not only does this provide beneficial for gym junkies and those looking to stay in shape, but it also gives athletes and intramural players a competitive advantage. Keeping up with seasonal sports like soccer and basketball can be extremely tough during the off-season, and this is a great way to smoothly kick it back into gear.
Accordingly, these doctors and examiners came to the conclusion that entertaining these ‘bouts’ of eccentric exercise each week may certainly gain better results than that of traditional concentric practices.
This is an awesome piece of equipment, the power sports trainer. Makes any movement significantly harder.
This is an advanced movement but one of the best core exercises.
Aesthetically speaking, the shoulders can be a very underrated muscle to work. People always talk about having a nice chest or big arms but in my opinion nice shoulders will make the upper body look much better.
The shoulder is a very complicated area consisting of a lot of muscles. Within that one joint you have the 4 rotator cuff muscles and the chest an lats also insert in that area. The large muscle that we generally refer to when discussing the shoulders consists of 3 heads, the frontal, medial and lateral heads. It is important to understand this when working out the shoulders.
The first thing to take into account is that she shoulder joint is a very complex joint which assists in just about every upper body movement. Because of this, it serves many different and sometimes conflicting purposes. For this reason, it’s always important to exercise safely when working on the shoulders.
As I mentioned before, the shoulder joint is the home to the rotator cuff muscles, which rotate the arm internally and externally as well as assist in stabilizing the joint. I like to begin a shoulder workout by working (lightly) on the rotator cuff muscles as a way of reinforcing my shoulders stability for the heavier lifting.
The deltoids consist of 3 heads, the frontal (located on the front of the shoulder), the medial (located on the middle of the shoulder) and the lateral (located on the back of the shoulder) heads. In order to fully develop the shoulder one would need to work all three. Front raises are great for the frontal head. Lateral raises and upright rows are great for the medial head. Rear delt flys and reverse pec dec flys are great for the lateral head. Exercises like shoulder presses are also very effective because they require all three muscles working together as well as assistance from the rotator cuff muscles.
When training the shoulders, it’s important to look at it as a complicated joint which needs it’s parts worked both individually as well as together to get the best results.
Question: Hi Ryan, I would like to know if it is better to stretch before or after I work out. People tell me different things and it can be very confusing. Thanks for your help.
Answer: The proper order of exercise, especially when it comes to stretching is one of those topics where you can ask 10 people and get 10 different answers. While I will answer your question, I will also try to answer the larger order of how to combine all of the different training modalities.
Warm up– When we work out, it is always important to warm up. The warm up can be a light jog or performing specific exercises or movments slowly or with little resistence. The idea is to get the body lose and the blood flowing in preparation for the intense exercise. Working out cold can sometimes lead to injury.
Resistence training– Resistence or strength training should be the first thing you do after the warmup if you are planning on it. The energy stores and muscle fiber types needed for resistence training will be the first to go so it’s important that if you are going to strength train that you do it first as you will likely not have as much energy later.
Cardiovascular training– Cardiovascular training relies primiraly on oxygen so it should always be done after your strength training. Some people prefer to do it first and while this is fine, it will take away from the energy needed for the workout.
Flexibility– Flexibility, or stretching should always be saved for the end of the work out unless there is a specific injury or severe tightnedd which needs work on prior to a workout. Stretching prior to a workout can interfere with the neuromuscular system and can cause the muscles to work in a less than efficient manner.
Cooldown– A cooldoen should always be done at the end of a workout. A stretch can be a way of cooling down but if you chose not to stretch, it is important to do something which will serve to cool the body down, rather than to stop
Ryan George Fitness 