Showing posts with label Personal training. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Personal training. Show all posts

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Workout for Thursday, 2/12/09

Ok,now that I posted yesterday's workout, I realized that I didn't post Tuesday's workout either. I will get to that next... maybe not tonight because I have a few more things on my list before reading time and then bed.

Today's workout is all about the shoulders. Only one exercise focuses on something other than the shoulders and another focus on the abs but brings in shoulder stability. Still used complexes to keep rest to a minimum, but also incorporated a rest period in one of the complexes... you will see why.

It is good to focus on the shoulder joint and strengthen all angles because there are so many different muscles involved in the stabilization of the shoulder joint.

So here is the workout I did today...

First complex:

3 rounds, do not put bar down between exercises, but rest 1 min between rounds.

Hang Cleans - 8 reps
Push-press - 8 reps
Shoulder press - 8 reps


Second complex:

Three rounds of:

Upright Rows - 12 reps
Face Pulls - 10 reps
Hanging leg raise - 10 reps


Third complex:

DB Shoulder Matrix - 8 reps of front delt raise, side raise, bent over rear delt raise, upright rows, and finish with 10 reps alternating shoulder press (using same DB's without putting them down)
Cable Wood Chops - 15 reps both sides

Finishing exercise:
Shrugs - 3 sets of 8 reps.
If you don't want big traps, then skip this exercise.


Your shoulders will feel this one when you are done. But you will feel like you are standing more upright as you will focus on keeping your shoulders pulled back.

Enjoy and hope that you don't have to give anyone a high five when you are done.

Make it a great day!

Rob Crenshaw
The Fitness Buff

Workout for Wednesday, 2/11/09

How is everyone doing today? I am writing this a day late, I have been doing so many different things that sometimes I put some other things off for a day. Its normal, I know so today there will be two posts, yesterday's workout and then the following today will be today's workout. Both were great workouts. As always feel free to comment about your experience with the workouts, or any questions.

During these workouts I try to rest as little as needed. Hopefully as I go along, I will be able to rest less and less, cutting my workout time down even more and increasing my metabolic boost.

So here is my workout for yesterday, Wednesday...

This workout is focused on the chest and tri-ceps.

First complex:

3 rounds of:
DB bench press - 10 reps
Bulgarian Split squats - 12 each leg
Dragonflies - 4 reps (will explain this at the end)

Second complex:

3 rounds of:
Incline plate loaded machine press - 8 reps
Squat rows - 15 reps (Use a weight you could do 20-25 reps)
DB Swings - 15 reps
Hanging leg raise - 10 reps (do knee raises if you can't do straight legs)

Third complex:

3 rounds of:
Machine Flies - 12 reps
Machine rear delt - 12 reps
Prisioner style good mornings - 12 reps (explained later)
Rubber band shoulder-to-shoulder - 25 reps each side

Fourth complex: (yup.. a bonus complex today)

3 rounds of:
Weighted dips - 12 reps (can use body weight or dip assist)
Planks - 30 seconds
Face pulls - 12 reps (use a weight you can do 18-20 reps)

Finisher exercises:

3 rounds of:
Decline skull crushers - 8 reps
burnout narrow decline bench press - 15 reps (using same bar as skull crushers)
rest 30 seconds.
(finsher exercises aren't for caloric burn or to increase metabolism. Mostly for building smaller muscles for looks.)

As I said before I will explain a few of the exercises. I did Dragonflies (and as you saw only 4 of them) and these are hard exercises to do. DO NOT DO THESE unless you have been shown proper form and you have the core strength to do them. You could seriously hurt yourself if you attempt them without proper instruction in person. As a substitute, you can do leg raises while lying on a bench and increase the number to 10+.

Prisoner style refers to a stance where you stand with your hands clasped behind your head and elbows pulled back like you are "up against a wall" as a prisoner. This brings in the upper back as you have to squeeze your shoulder blades together to keep your elbows back.

Good mornings are where you stand with straight and stiff legs and keep your torso straight (with a slight arched... not rounded... back). Keeping your legs straight and your torso stiff, bend at the hips (not the waste) keeping your head up so you can see the wall in front of you until you feel that you need to round your back to go any further. Stop and return to upright position. You should feel a stretch in your hamstrings during this exercise.

Have fun with this one. It took me just over an hour to complete it. If you are just going for weigh loss, just do the complexes and skip the finishing exerises. Drink plenty of water an get your rest!

Make it a great day!

Rob Crenshaw,
The Fitness Buff

Monday, October 27, 2008

My good friend's No Excuse Weight Loss program

My good friend that I have known for almost 2 decades is living in his fitness studio, sleeping only 7 hours, using only 4 items to cook food, and only working out a limited time each day to show that anyone can reduce their body fat with any schedule or circumstance. Check it out and follow his blog and witness his transformation, his workouts, and his nutrition on his live web cam, his daily pictures or videos.

I know this is helping me continue to strive for my goals each day.

No Excuses... www.noexcusesfatloss.com

Check it out now!

Make it a great day!!!

The Fitness Buff!

Monday, September 22, 2008

What's so functional about that?

Everyone has seen someone standing on a BOSU ball doing dumb bell curls in the name of functional training. But is this true functional training? The answer, that is so often the answer for many things in personal training is, it depends. (Don't you feel satisfied now?)

Although this does increase your awareness of how your body moves and where it is in space, or what we like to call proprioception, it doesn't necessarily mean that it is functional. In order for an exercise to be functional, it must train the body to move in the most efficient manner to accomplish a normal task. For instance; a new mom bending over the railing of a crib to pick up a new born baby or a construction worker lifting a large sack of concrete mix from the ground to the mixer.
The body is made to do one or a combination of 4 different types of movement: Locomotion, elevation, pushing or pulling, and twisting. Every movement that you do during your day is made up of one or more of these movements. If you break each movement down to its basics and then training that specific movement in a similar manner, you will improve the efficiency of your body helping you do more with less effort and avoiding more injuries.

Remember, just because an exercise looks harder does not make it more functional. So in the case of someone doing dumb bell curls on a BOSU ball, unless they are standing on an unstable surface pulling things up in a curling manner, this exercise is not the best "functional" exercise.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Be Careful Who You Believe

"Bottom line - if you don’t want to eat breakfast - don't do it. Have some water, coffee and off you go."

That was from an trainer on an online trainer forum, a trainer who is supposed to help his clients live a healthy life. Now, everyone has their ideas on what exercises are the best for any given goal and usually everyone is right based on different reasons and usually with an “it depends” clarification. But when it comes to nutrition and diet, the science and chemistry behind it is fairly simple and straight forward. I know this because I read and research about it most of my free time and I have clients who have improved their lives based on what I know. Now, if this trainer had said "If you don't care about your health or losing body fat..." somewhere around the above statement, I would totally be in 100% agreement. But he didn't. Instead, he based it on the assumption that "cavemen" had to go out and fish or hunt for their breakfast, therefore, forgoing breakfast. I am not a historian, but I would guess the cavemen were hungry when they woke up so they started keeping food near by to eat when they woke up. Then this trainer even went as far as saying that this whole motivating factor behind pushing us to eat breakfast "is a concoction of all cereal and food companies forcing us to eat more and more." Two reasons that aren't based on any science at all.

Believe what you want to believe, but when it comes to finding information out; be sure that the information is credible. I have had many clients who were not eating breakfast when they started with me only to find that their energy increased throughout the day and started losing fat faster only after they started eating breakfast on a daily basis. If you want a bottom line, then here you go; eat early, eat often, and lose the fat!

You want to make sure you eat as soon as you can when you wake up. Then eat every 3 to 4 hours throughout the day with small portions. All of your meals ideally should include equal amounts of protein and carbs with a little bit of fat. Just make sure that you are getting the good carbs and the good fats. As always, there are exceptions and you should consult a registered dietitian if you have any questions.

If you have any questions about this, please feel free to contact me.

Rob Crenshaw, The Fitness Buff

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Intro to The Fitness Buff

Confused about all the fitness trends and new gizmo's that are out there? Submit a question to The Fitness Buff and he will smooth out any rough edges and clear things up for you. The Fitness Buff takes people from an image they can't stand to see in the mirror to one that they can't wait to capture on film!

There are many tools The Fitness Buff uses to smooth your rough edges into the smooth look that you are dreaming to achieve. If you have been on yo-yo diets, tried all the fitness fads, or you're just plain new to this whole "workout" thing, then Rob has what it takes to get you where you want to go through fun and innovative workouts and resources.