Ben's Power And Might Writings: Battling Ropes

Friday, June 27, 2014

Burning Fat With Sprints

    Trying to lose weight, burn fat, build muscle and all that stuff yet most would tell you to do an hour of cardio and weights. Hate to break it to you but it always happen that way, however; you can get things done in a far shorter amount of time and that's through High Intensity Training (HIT). We've all heard this before but does it really work? Hell yes it does but a lot believe you need to do it everyday. There's no way in hell you can go that hard everyday without either blacking out, burning out or just plain die from exhaustion. At best 2-3x a week should be the maximum, for beginners once a week is enough.

    Sprint Training is the focal point to HIT because it's a far shorter workout, you're resting more than training. Your body is filled with powerful cells and has a very strong sense of recovery. Although different people recover differently the principle still applies. Now when some mention sprints they think running either or up a hill or flight of stairs; it's not always running something it could be other things like skipping rope, battling ropes, moving like a wild animal; it's moving as fast as you possibly can for a short burst. Thirty seconds should be the peak. At first only a few seconds is all you can do which is fine it's a start. In my personal training when I do sprints, most of the time 30 seconds is the whole workout not one set at a time. When you go hard at a fast pace, you're opening the fast twitch muscle fibers that unlocks every muscle in your body that's firing.

    There's just no way your body can move fast without every muscle firing because if you did it in isolation and only working a specific set of muscles those muscles would be far drained and you'll be looking like a goofball. Whether it's running, swimming, battling ropes or whatever, most likely your whole body comes into play because it needs to work in unison. Hitting the body that hard produces natural growth hormone which creates a level of burning fat, building muscle and releasing more cells to the bloodstream. Think about all those dumb lethal injections people do to stimulate growth hormone when in reality you can produce it naturally and have it be 10x more than the latest pill or needle in your arm or wherever. Unless your hormones are so low that exercise wise it won't come no matter what you do than see a doctor about it but generally your body is meant to naturally grow from within, it's a beautiful piece of work.

    Think of it like this, who in the hell has a lot of time these days to get in awesome shape? You work like a madman, got a family to feed and you think an hour and a half everyday is going to get you somewhere? So why not have shorter workouts that produce far more than standard cardio. It's building your body without the hassle. Even if you spent a few short minutes a day doing a crazy style of Yoga can help you and progress even by the smallest fraction. On your "days off"; stretch, breathe deeply and recover. There are days where you hit hard one day and go a 180 the next or you go hard and the next day you do about half or a third of the previous day. Listen to your body and get a feel of how you recover, your level of energy and the intensity you bring yourself. Don't always listen to some shmuck that ghost writes, do what's best for you. Shorter bursts produce better results in my opinion but it's also just as important to recover and let your body repair itself. Practice it and you'll start to see changes you never knew was possible.

Have a great weekend everyone. Be Awesome.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Test Your Mettle With This Workout

I’m always looking to try new things, keep things fresh, fun and interesting. A lot of people do workouts that they end up hating, ones that feel more like a chore than an adventure and even ones where they jump right into so advanced they end up hurting themselves and quitting after that. Progression is a key but also there’s testing to see how you push yourself productively and safely without injuring or severely hurting themselves.

This workout that I have picked out was on a whim and it requires only a couple pieces of equipment which is: A long rope (25-100ft) and it can be as thick as you can handle and a Lifeline Power Push-up Plus. It is cardio at it’s finest in my opinion and the objective is to move from one exercise to the other taking as little rest as possible. The two biggest factors is form and breathing. Speed is important to but nothing like form and the breathing. This workout should be done preferably outdoors where there’s fresh air and getting Vitamin D to help boost the hormone levels. The exercises for the Power Push-up Plus are at 10/8/6 reps. Here’s how it’s broken down: