Micro Workouts For More Efficient Training And Time Friendly Options

Time isn't always our friend and because of certain obligations we have in our lives, we have to get things done and feel like it's never enough. It can be stressful doing many things like making sure the bills are paid, are the kids happy and fed, is the house clean, need to pick up the groceries, got this and that appointment, am I going to make it to that meeting on time, I need to get my kid to practice, need to get dinner ready. At some point, either someone has done all of these or at least 3 of them. 

Even when we try to focus on ourselves, it can be stressful too; do I look ok, is my ass too big for this dress, need to get to Yoga class (or wherever you choose to train at), I have to be restrictive about my eating or I won't lose weight, am I eating enough to put on muscle, I need to workout longer but will that take away my time from everyone else? It's that rush, rush, rush and taking on so many priorities, we often forget that there are 24 hours and yes there are things to prioritize, but also it's not good to try to sprint during a whole marathon either. 

Getting some form of exercise in doesn't have to be stressful or complicated like we make so many other things. Sometimes, just a few minutes is all we get but we can also make them count. Micro Workouts have been around a long time but what really is the term Micro Workouts? In a nutshell, it's the idea of doing exercise for a short period of time that can range from a few seconds to like an open window of 15 minutes. It's the concept of using the time you can use to get something going and with the intent of being efficient and utilizing intensity. There's the Tabata concept where you do 20 seconds of hard exercise with 10 seconds rest for 8 rounds (4 minutes all together). Another great one is a favorite where you take two exercises and go back and forth with them as a superset for say like 10 minutes with little to no rest. That might be your workout for the entire day which is great, so don't feel bad because you can't exercise for an hour straight or longer like the magazines and general fitness ideals tell you.

 One workout I did the other day was part of what I'm learning about Suspension Calisthenics and molding the superset concept and making it intense but not impossible to do. If you're into Suspension Training, this is a quick one that doesn't take up a lot of time and targets your core muscles like crazy...

Do 6 Knee Pull-Ins Followed by 16 Mountain Climbers (8 each side) for 3 sets resting as needed in between sets. You can add another set of exercises if you wish like I did or just do that. It shouldn't take more than 10 minutes depending on your rest periods. My add on to it was another superset of Suspension Curls & Rows doing 10 each for 3 sets. That workout alone was an ass kicker. For that first superset of the knee pull ins and climbers can be better explained here...I just did the Knee Tuck version without the seesaw move as you'll see. 

Another great Micro Workout is a great Tabata Style of Isometrics focused on the Abs. It involves 4 exercises (In reality only three cause one of them involves side planks for each side) that you do 2 rounds of for 20 on and 10 off for 4 total minutes. You will feel it and not one exercise involves crunches or a sit-up. The workout can be seen here...

You can just use your bodyweight for things like push-ups, squats, lunges, step ups, carrying a heavy bag, animal style movements, you can use light dumbbells if you want, it can even be a sprint session. Don't be afraid to use the time you need to get the job done. You won't always have an hour to get some training in. If you have little ones, use their nap time to get some exercise in. Take the time during commercials of your favorite show to get some blood pumping (this was a favorite for athletes such as Herschel Walker & Rickey Henderson) or doing a few squats or lunges while the gas is being pumped into your car, there are so many ways to do Micro Workouts it's ridiculous. 

Find the strategies that work for you. To learn about this training concept check out the book Micro Workouts by Matt Schifferle of Red Delta Project. Be strong, use your time wisely and be amazingly awesome. 

Stronger Bones & Sexual Health Using Powerful Herbs

Getting older can suck but it doesn't have to be. We can still manage if not produce awesome levels of testosterone and power up our bones with the right things. We wouldn't think these two ideals could co-exist with each other or even have a relation to one another even though some of the same hormones affect them. From a Chinese perspective, the two are not just interlinked intimately because of the relationship with Jing but also when you consider that Jing covers both bone and reproductive health. 

Tongkat Ali has been a hell of a pick when it comes to these two and studies have shown what TA's affects on testosterone but also the relation to Bone Health. The positive results were astounding. Another bad ass herb is the Horny Goat Weed.

More studies shown around specifically for Bone Loss, one could take a look at the "active" constituent icariin (it's a mouthful when you read it LOL). There's also been studies done for Post-Menopausal Women where it's common to develop Osteoporosis. It gave the fact that Horny Goat Weed has phytoestrogens and a high potential to help with Bone Growth.

Should us guys run from something like that? Hell no. Both testosterone and estrogen are part of the hormone balancing in both men and women. For women it's finding the balance of utilizing more estrogen yet it's the other way around for us men who need a balance of testosterone that consists of a higher percentage than estrogen. Both sexes need both in some format, hate to break it to you. We need that balance to maintain or develop greater Bone Health & Sexual Health. 

There's also the mighty Cistanche; the herb known as the "stalk enlarger" that shows evidence of Bone Strengthening. Oddly enough, although you can take these herbs one at a time, they're also 3 of the 5 incredible ingredients in the combined herbal product Thor's Hammer. Sure it's used more to help with sex but it could be a great thing for Bone Health as well. You could also look into Pearl Powder and check out the benefits of this. 

That's the one side of the coin for building Bone Health, another side would be doing exercises in Partials such as weight training. Partial Lifting is a hell of an idea on developing stronger bones, not to mention the level of testosterone you can build up. Guys like Bud Jeffries, Paul Anderson and other incredibly powerful strongmen used Partial Training to not only increase their actual lifts but also strengthen the tissue to make those lifts go with limited chances of injury. Check out Bud Jeffries' book on Partial Training and you'll see what I mean. The hormonal effects on this method are astounding. 

Last thing that builds incredible Bone Health & Sexual Health is the simple use of Vitamin D that also consists of hormonal signals as well. Go out and get some sun, get in the habit of spending quality time outside in nature and let the rays hit you (not too much though). Doing all these things should give you an amazingly awesome foundation.    

Suspension Training And Other Fun Stuff

Reflecting on this past week has been a great one. We were going to go up camping a second time around but nature told us otherwise (Fires, Thunder Storms) and better be safe than sorry. Made the time though with just being together, enjoying the sun, sitting in the pool and listening to some great tunes. Wife got some vacation time so we made it as fun as we can make it. Went floating up near the mountains with friends and family, went Huckleberry picking this past Saturday and went down to the lake. Just got to soak up that last bit of summer man.

Throughout the little festivities, I was training on not just Isometrics but also getting into Suspension Training. Got myself a new door anchor (The EverStretch) that could hold up pretty good, attached the Iso Belt and was testing out various exercises doing rows, curls, pushups, slow assisted pullups, one legged squats, knee pull ins and others. It's been a while since I've done Suspension type training, the most recent was testing out pullups with the belt at a park and before that was maybe a couple years. I figured getting into it being inspired by Red Delta Project's Suspension Calisthenics book which is pretty damn awesome BTW. Figured I'd snatch up the rest of the series which you can find on the right side bar on the blog. 

Although I don't have a ton of experience in Suspension Training, it is enjoyable and right now, my main focus is working on technique and balance. Don't need to rep out a ton yet and even then just get into the habit of controlling the body and utilizing tension while doing technique reps. If there was ever any consistent suspension workouts in my time was doing the rings in gymnastics in my mid 20's. Didn't do the Iron Cross or anything, just keeping form and tension while doing pull-ups and worked on improving little by little. With the Iso Belt and door anchor, the basics are where it's at and taking the belt to a park and wrap it around the monkey bars to work on other exercises. When it comes to Isometrics, I want to test my strength in the Hybrid Pull-Up and see what I can do with that. The Hybrid Pull-Up is taking a strap and tightening the cross between the two poles on the pull-up bar and then you pull-up or chin-up until you reach that stopping point on the strap hitting both that Overcoming & Yielding Iso combo.

Training is an adventure and should be something you're excited about. Even taking the most basic exercises and turning them into something fun and interesting is where the ultimate goal should end up. That's what I love about Red Delta Project; it's runner Matt Schifferle, has this amazing attitude and enthusiasm for training that's awe inspiring. No question he's one of the best trainers around today and part of the new generation of Physical Culturists but his positivity is where many are drawn to. He doesn't shame anybody and doesn't go for that "my way or the highway" type of attitude, he's relatable, fun to listen to and utilizes his knowledge in a sense where whether you're a complete beginner or a veteran athlete he gives you a rundown that makes you want to do something no matter how small. His ideas may not be completely brand new but he takes old school exercises and tackles the classic formats of muscle control and balance to develop workouts that although low in skill, create the best versions of muscle building and conditioning training. 

Check him out and his YouTube channel. Be safe, be strong and be amazingly awesome. 

Little By Little The Weight Is Coming Down

For some, weight loss can be very difficult and for others, it can be very easy but regardless of how you lose the weight, if it starts to go little by little it's still progress. The most I've ever weighed in my life was 275 which was back in 2017, I didn't like weighing that much so I made a few changes and kept it off ever since. Throughout my life since I was about 13 or so my weight has always fluctuated and now my weight is roughly the same as when I was 20 years old. 

My eating habits weren't always the best and when I was a teenager or even a little younger, it was even worse but sometimes you put in a little more effort and focus and make the best of it. It can be hard and no weight loss program is permanent but I've also worked on fat loss more than the weight and oddly enough, the weight was coming down quicker than programming specific weight loss. I really only eat probably no more than 2 big meals a day and keep it more to a meat eating plan (hate the word diet) where I don't eat a ton of bread or sweets (very little compared to what I actually eat) but grade A to grass-fed meat is a big part of my eating habits. I rarely ever drink alcohol, think the last drink I had was maybe one bottle of a Hard Mike's or something but that is basically alcoholic soda than anything and the last thing of hard liquor I had was a shot of scotch in a toast to Bud Jeffries when he died. If anybody knows me, knows that drinking isn't my thing.

Right now I'm sitting at 255 which has been a couple pounds lost since my birthday. My program as of late has been a big help with the weight loss. As of May, I've lost close to 13 pounds which isn't a ton but it's still weight down and that's a big thanks to Isometrics. Ever since I got Overcoming Isometrics, I've been obsessed with the exercises and put more focus into the method more than over. At first, I was doing Sprint Style Training for 6 weeks but ended up switching to Isometrics ever since then and with the addition to the Iso Bow and working on Suspension Training, it has been incredible.

I'm not a huge fan of doing specific weight loss programs but fat loss is another story. You can have two people who are the same exact weight but can look incredibly different. What I care about at the moment is not so much how much weight I lose but taking off body fat and maintaining muscle, strength, conditioning, flexibility and stamina. The eating is an awesome component but it has been the Isometrics that really made the biggest difference. Most workouts I do the 7-12 seconds of 65-80% of a contraction and keep going with very little rest, other times I do longer holds but that's using the Hybrid Isos from O.I. Overall, the program has kept me strong in other areas of training. 

Throughout my life, I've been skinny, fat, husky and muscular but now at 38, I'm in great shape and I'm making improvements little by little. That's really all you can do and do what's possible. Find programs you can design that suits your goals and ambitions. If they become stale or aren't working anymore, make changes. If you desire to lose weight, find a way to do it but also do it with intent and without sacrificing your health or your well-being because you can lose as much weight as you can but if you're miserable, was it really worth it to damage yourself mentally and physically? There are plenty of fat loss programs that are out there that work and help get rid of that unwanted fat, just be careful and work towards programs that keep you on your toes but don't drain you mentally or physically. 

Little by little, improvements will come and before you know it, you can look totally different and have great energy and full of vigor & life. Be strong and be amazingly awesome in your journey. 

Putting Exercises Up On A Pedestal And Approaching Fitness In A Dogmatic Fashion

Training can be done in a variety of ways and there are millions of exercises that we can all choose from, but from a "no shit sherlock" point of view, we can't do them all. There are even certain exercises that have a high risk of harm or an extremely fatal entity that some should never attempt because of either previous injuries, doesn't match from a structural stand point or it's too early during a progression period. No question many programs and exercises work very well but they're not equal to every individual. 

The trouble is, many trainers and "gurus" have a dogmatic approach to fitness or physical culture in general where the exercises they show or demonstrate in order to appeal to a certain audience or group of people are the only ones they aught to do and anything else is wrong and should never question it. In other words, they put certain exercises or programs up on a pedestal and treat them in a cult-like fashion. I've said it before, not every exercise is created equal. If they were, everyone on the planet would be able to do them just like that, life doesn't work that way.

I've seen and read about guys who treat certain exercises like they're gods on Mount Olympus and force feed people into them like it's a hardcore religion. Don't get me wrong, I love the simple approach and progression with a keen eye for the basics which would take someone further into their journey than push so many advanced movements that has a very high potential of putting them in the hospital; however, I don't believe in shoving an exercise down someone's throat as if it's the fountain of youth and if you question it you might as well go to hell. I love animal movements and have a passion for them but not everyone has to believe in them like me and if they want to do something else, that's awesome because everybody should have an opportunity to be passionate in what they do for training.

These days, very few people in fitness and physical culture have a non-agenda approach and actually care about a person's well being and wants them to succeed whether with them or someone else. Trust me, I've been trained by various people and merely a handful ever gave me a reason to be passionate about this stuff. I wouldn't put them on a pedestal, but I do listen and observe how they do things...The body language, the confidence, the energy they create and making you a priority. 

No program or exercise is the end-all-be all. There are people who try their damndest to tell you differently cause they're style is the only one that works and force feeds your brain into believing their way is god especially with many of those ad copies and putting their program into this cult-like formality. That doesn't mean they're not good, some are very well written and a number of them are successful, but it's all about reading between the lines because if you look at certain styles of an ad copy, many have specific words or words within them that some people stole from somebody else by writing something and practically verbatim writes the same thing but in a different context if that makes sense.  

Hey man, I believe in certain people and take what I can absorb to develop my own style. I don't however follow them to a "T" in the sense where they're way is the only way. I hate that in every bone in my body. I guess that might be hereditary if that kind of thing exists because my grandfather (mom's father) just did things his own way, he would pick up on something, follow to a certain extent and took it to another level. The man was a genius (literally) and whatever he absorbed or learned, he took the best of those things to form his own style and developed abilities that would make people's jaw drop. Many don't know this but my gramps was a high school graduate at 16, went to Northwestern & did Graduate Studies at MIT as a Navy Man. 

So formatting what you absorb and utilizing the best meant for you is the true sign of freedom in your fitness journey. You can take so many things but only a few will give you the greatest benefit and no one can truly tell you otherwise. Learn and absorb, do the things that suit you best. It is really about freedom and simplifying the ideals of what truly benefits the exercises and programs you use. Be strong and amazingly awesome.