Finishers For Extra Boosting

Lately I've been getting into Finishers for my workouts or use the day after to help accelerate fat loss. Finishers are micro workouts you can do after your main one to boost extra fat loss or amp up your conditioning. During my sprint and Darebee days I would pick a little something that sounds exciting to me and do up to 10 min. or so to really hit the Spot. Granted some are crazy but if you want to get a little more juice this would be it.

You don't have to do these at the end of your workouts, they can be used for next day extras or when you only have a few minutes of your day. They can cook you and depending on what you do, can be a little out there. Now some of these are not for beginners because they're very intense. I'm not big on trends like you have read on but I do like training systems with certain themes attached to them; mainly superheroes. It just gives that added motivation and triggering of the brain that just boosts confidence and fun times. These bad boys are no more than a few minutes and you can either do it in a circuit or in a tabata style workout where you do something for 20 sec. and 10 sec. o rest time. Go for time or just see how many rounds you can do.

One of my favorites is one called Legs Like Ms. Marvel where you guessed it its all leg work (and don't be laughing just because its a chick workout, my legs were dying at the end of it). Here's how it goes.....

Its a 20/10 Protocol and you go for 8 minutes.

Lateral Side Jumps, Ice Skaters, Squat Hold & Split Squat (20 sec. each leg) its only 4 exercises but you're resting 10 seconds at a time and trust me it ain't easy.

There's a whole course devoured in Finishers that goes well for beginners and hardcore maniacs. It's by a guy named Mike Whitfield called Workout Finishers. Imagine getting that little jolt of testosterone after a great workout at the gym or getting in some good no BS training if you're strapped for time. Do workouts in as little as 3 minutes. My biggest one was no more than 10 1/2 minutes. Get a good session in and then hit those last 3 minutes like a beast. Ladies this sheds fat like a cheese-grader and if you want to tone up and need that boost after putting in some work at the gym or at a park wherever you may be at. What can 3 minutes really harm huh? This would be great to do if you're on vacation and want to get in a quick workout before taking in the sites or jumping into the lake or the pool. Make it fun and remember, its fast and intense but so worth it. Don't do these everyday, do them at the end of some workouts or the next day to make up for something. When I was doing my sprints I would do a finisher at the end and that was only 3x a week.

Hit it hard and make that fat scream bloody murder.  

Funtastic Conditioning

When you have an imagination, you want to make it useful and open things up to bring in opportunities to showcase your mind on a physical level. I feel bad for those poor souls who do very and utterly tedious & worst of all boring exercise programs. Some of the exercises are great but a lot want to treat it as the hardcore no pain no gain crap. To me; exercise is about emotion, bringing in your entire being into a series of movements or holds that turn you into a machine full of passion and the willingness to go for more. 

I've seen many dread going to the gym or seeing the latest trend and think its going to make them happy. They're only motivation is what everyone else is doing. Not me brother, trends are temporarily objectives that don't belong in many areas. I believe going outside the trends, creating ideals that are inspired by programs that I personally enjoy. My workouts are emotional, content and lust for awesomness. My training these days is doing High Intensity or a great level of intense cardio with a finisher that blasts my body big time. Although they're a bit nuts I find them fun and exciting. That's what training is suppose to really be. The pink dumbbells and isolated machinery most of the time when it comes to conditioning is completely useless. 

What you can get truly out of training with excitement and adventure is endless without boundaries or rules & certainly can do stuff only you decide to do. Granted I believe in coaching but it's the right kind of coaching; I teach others how to have fun in their workouts and share with them the value of kicking ass while having a good time. If you train for complete seriousness and no emotions you're either a freaking robot or your soul is corrupt. With the many ways you can adapt your training its crazy to think you'd get bored but yet people do and its a damn shame. I'm not saying be all ditzy and act like you don't care, train like your life depended on it but use your imagination. Build scenarios, create an environment and see in your mind what you're training and put it into action. When I do my hammer workouts, I pretend i'm taking out the toughest form of rubber and steel with this massive hammer and hitting the tire as if I was in the land of the frost giants with Thor going into battle. When I do certain bodyweight exercises like Burpees or step-ups, I pretend i'm in Indiana Jones, running up steps with whip and ducking and dodging boulders or those boobie traps in Last Crusade. 

When I play with the Sandbell, I imagine making the earth quake every time I slam it, create an imaginary circular shield around my body when I do the 360 exercise or whatever else. The greater you can put your imagination into your training the greater your results will be. My girl's favorite bodyweight workout is called The Harley Quinn. I can just imagine her kicking ass in that awesome outfit taking out baddies with the Suicide Squad or finally sticking against her former "puddin" (If you know who this is kudos to you). Our greatest ally is our imagination but not many people use it. A lot of trainers want to suppress this beautiful entity because they want you doing things their way and anything you do just beneath them. You are an amazing bad ass underneath; unleash that little by little. When I started out, I was more of a superhero's assistant's assistant, learning the ropes and not knowing a damn thing; climbing that ladder step by step. If you're willing to put in the effort you can go far, how far is up to you. 

Train hard, condition up and have a lot of fun guys.  

Extreme Cardio For Fat Burning

When it comes down to it, modern day version of cardio is most of the time is pure crap. When it comes to fat burning it rarely if ever really does anything that is worth its time. Cardio to most people is spending 30 minutes or more on a treadmill at a moderate pace that is either walking or jogging. Sure you burn a few calories but you also lose muscle mass and store more fat than you want to believe. To truly take off fat like you would take off a t-shirt, you have to be very intense and short.

When you're jogging at a moderate pace your heart rate goes up a little but stays there for as long as possible in the long time to keep it there. That's great for endurance training but you're getting one shred of realistic muscle from doing this. Having a good glimpse of lean muscle mass goes a long way to increase your metabolism, athletic stamina and filling your lungs with powerful oxygen. When I say muscle mass i'm not talking bulky and grotesque looking like a bodybuilder but more of a classic muscular man pre-1970's. Cardio is good for a few reasons but to truly build insane lung power you need to up the ante.

Extreme cardio is purely blowing up your heart rate to a level where you're huffing and puffing in a matter of seconds instead of minutes that's where fat burning comes into play because your oxygen levels need more blood to pump through the heart and other vessels of the central nervous system. When you do short bursts you're installing those hormones that burn calories like a flame to gasoline. That's why I love developing my style of the Superhero Sprints Program. It's purpose is to keep your workouts short and sweet to where you're basically resting more than working and the reason is because every fiber in your body is taken to optimum levels. Workouts at a great clip are no more than 20-25 minutes, when you add a finisher no more than 35 minutes total of high intensity interval training. When you train cardio for 60 minutes or more at a moderate pace your strength and muscle diminish but you still have your stamina yet build up a level of flab. When you train crazy hard on Superhero Style Training, you're decreasing fat, improving both strength & stamina and you pack on natural and lean muscle.

This style of training is no more than 3x a week because of the need of the muscles and tendons to recover from an insane session. It has been proven from experiments around the country and parts of Europe where HIT is the best way to improve muscle and burn off fat the fastest way possible. I have been studying and testing things out for over 18 years (everyday in the last 10+) and I have no other method to increase growth hormone and metabolic conditioning than HIT Style fitness. That's why I enjoy the workouts I do because I get to eat what I can to fuel up and i'm still burning calories hours after the workout barely doing anything. The basics of Superhero Fitness is doing 5 Sprints (8 if you're outdoors), a circuit & (if you're willing to go even further) a finisher that's roughly no more than 10 minutes. Take a look at the program and see what I mean, there's all kinds of exercises to choose from both weighted and bodyweight, a beginners program, indoor and outdoor training plus training on Supersets. This truly is one of the best courses I've ever come across.

This isn't some rinky-dink training where you go very slow and do little jogs, this is high levels of training that is meant to increase your fitness and building a realistic muscular/lean physique with the purpose of being able to eat enough to fuel up, drink plenty of water and taking a rest day and that could be a walk in the park, hike, swimming whatever you want to stay active but to a level of degree.