Conditioning Circuits With Dopa Bands

Circuit Training has been one of my go to methods for developing a good level of conditioning and maintaining my strength that lasts. Due to the workouts I've done with Darebee's Style of training with Bodyweight, it inspired me to work on that style with the Dopamineo Band. 

In most cases with those workouts, I would pick 5-8 exercises with the Band and see what is possible to do within an amount of time. Now, I may not move as fast with the Band as opposed to bodyweight training because with bodyweight, you don't have to adjust as much and jump in from one exercise to the next just by footing or hand placement or positioning pretty quickly, with the Band however, it can be a bit tricky and the exercise change can be either quick or you have to adjust things a bit slower so the timing might vary. 

My goal however has always been to hit 10 Rounds with any circuit I do because that's just the number I want to accomplish, some will hit 5, others beyond 10 and whatever number they want to achieve but 10 for me is the cutoff point. I also try to keep it within 30 minutes or less. Depending on the adjustment and positioning of my body with the Band, sometimes the workout will go over 30 minutes but as long as my rest is minimal and I can keep going, I'm all good. Regardless, doing circuits with Dopa Bands in my opinion is one of the best fitness methods you can do. You don't need to do tons of reps per exercise, just a bare minimum but you keep going and with little rest, you're actually developing a great level of cardio that means something. 

Keeping to the basic exercises is ideal. If you're more advanced, you can do harder exercises if you wish but the rep count may be a bit less than the basics unless you're training for competition or training to enhance your status with your group. The main point is to not let your ego get the best of you, keep your objective to train at a level where you can come out of it with gas left in the tank than to crawl on your hands and knees just begging the universe to kill you. My main goal with my 10 rounds of work is to be efficient as much as possible, work at a speed that is comfortable to me where my form isn't compromised and to only rest by marking off the circuit and keep going with that until the 10 rounds are done because I never want to be tired or slow down so much that I have to reduce my speed by a big margin. You want to be able to go at a pace that keeps the heart rate going but you're not slowing down or getting sloppy by the end. 

Here's a workout I did yesterday that was not difficult but it wasn't easy either. The reps may not sound like much but when you're cruising through and the speed is pretty hefty, it becomes more than it seems....

Conditioning Circuit

10 Rows

10 Curls

10 Chest Presses

10 Uppercuts

10 Tricep Kickbacks

10 Squats

10 Side Shoulder Pulls

This took just over 25 minutes to complete 10 Rounds. It felt great, I had a hell of a heart rate going and the speed was just right. The first round was tricky because I was adjusting to the pace of the exercises but once I got the rhythm, it just went really smoothly. The great thing about circuits is that you can get a lot done in a short amount of time along with building your level of conditioning, agility, mobility and other attributes rather quickly. The other great thing is that you can do the same exercises but change the workout from a circuit to an HIIT type workout where you set a time for the work and then rest for each exercise. My style lately has been to do exercises at a clip of 30 seconds on, 15 seconds off for 4 rounds which roughly hits around 3 minutes per exercise. If you were to do a total of 5-6 exercises, you can do a full workout within under 15-20 minutes that will develop lasting strength, cardio and speed efficiency.

You don't have to go so hard that you can't do another circuit and there's no point in trying to match workouts with the wrestlers and fighters that do these. The crazy thing is, they do circuits like this after their practice when they're already fatigued and pushed themselves. That's a whole other level of mental and physical conditioning. Imagine doing 2 hours or more of drills, sparring for god knows how long and going over technique over and over until it's planted into your brain, not to mention warm ups that would be a full workout to the average and then doing a circuit after all that. You'd be a fool to try to keep up with that. That's world class level and that is to be respected.

Keep it to a level of fitness that keeps you healthy and at a level that works for you. Don't try to keep up with anybody else, follow your own path and train effectively along with reducing injuries. Stay amazingly awesome and keep at it. Don't forget to use my Discount Code POWERANDMIGHT to get 10% OFF your order and get some of the most durable, flexible and strongest bands on the market today. Train practically anywhere and you can customize your order to suit your programs of Youth Groups, MMA Training, College Wrestling, High School Programs, Olympic Training, World Championships, Upcoming Fights, Boxing Conditioning Programs and more.   

Blasting Your Bodyweight With Funk Roberts

 Let's get a glimpse of the bad ass course from the man Funk Roberts....

When it comes to bodyweight training, there's all kinds of things out there that promise the opportunity of getting in such awesome shape that heads will turn, jack up your HGH and burn stubborn fat like butter in a frying pan. You see it all the time especially on Social Media with these influencers that may have some skill but wouldn't know his ass from his elbow. 

There isn't always guarantees and what you put into it will be your results. It can be difficult to obtain a bad ass physique, hell for some, having a bit more muscle than the month before is better than nothing. Very few courses on this planet take you to a level that pits you against some crazy trainees. One of my favorite forms of conditioning is circuit training where you take a few exercises and blast them for a period of time and rest a bit or less and keep going until you've completed your task. That's what Metabolic Bodyweight Blasters 2.0 will do, it will make you work hard as hell but only for a small window of time in comparison to an hour or more of workouts. 

Be able to do this kind of training anywhere at anytime. Short, intense and fat blasting training that uses compound movements, timed rest periods and maximizes the entire session to get the most of your workouts. Send yourself into the stratosphere with workouts that utilizes muscular endurance, strength, Isometrics, Calisthenics and more. No body part will be left out. Warm-Ups are included along with demo videos, guide, nutrition plan, Live Monthly coaching on Facebook with Funk himself and a hell of a lot more.

Take this workout program to your hotel room, out at the park, in your backyard, at the beach in Barbados, touring Europe, next to the Andes Mountains or wherever, this will kick your ass anywhere. That's the beauty of a program like this, your body is the only weight you'll need and the training may be hard but it feels incredible afterwards. I've done workouts with this myself a time or two and if its too easy for you than you might as well join up with either the Justice League or the Avengers with the kind of conditioning you have. It's powerful and it will tell you what your weaknesses and strengths are pretty damn quick. 

Grab Metabolic Bodyweight Blasters 2.0 NOW and reap the benefits of some of the most intense Bodyweight Training on the planet. Get fit, be strong and keep being amazingly awesome. For questions about this program and other Funk Programs, email Mr. Roberts and I'm sure he can answer more about this than I ever could. 

Free Workouts For Everyone

There's the old lyric "The best things in life are free" which has a lot of meaning especially when it pertains to life but in this case, we're going the fitness route. Believe it or not, you can find some of the very best workouts on the planet without spending a single penny and it's from one of the best resources on the internet. Sure there are great courses out there you can snatch up (not one where an 86 page book costs you $150 to learn how to jump rope) and these courses are the pinnacle like the Grind Style Calisthenics Series, Movement 20XX and others. 

Saving money is always a good thing whenever you can do it but sometimes you don't always know where to look to find that area in fitness where you can find a shit ton of workouts and exercise programs to suit your goals. This is where Darebee comes in. I've written about this site before and it bares repeating, it truly is at the top of the list of the best free resources for training. It's a series of mainly Circuit workouts ranging from complete beginner to elite athlete level and it just keeps growing. Consists of about 95% bodyweight style training and the rest has you using equipment like light kettlebells, sandbags, jump ropes and a pull-up bar depending on where you find them. 

Most of the exercises are about as basic as you can get but each workout you find can either be the easiest one ever or the hardest you've ever been put through. They can be tough as hell but you have options to modify the workouts or make them the best ones for you. I've done workouts that lasted a few minutes to nearly an hour long without a break and I'm telling you, they'll kick your ass. The site however goes beyond the workouts which already has over 2000 to choose from; there are specific collections that target certain groups of people that are themed such as Superheroes, Military, MMA, Anime, Video Games, Street Workouts, Jumping Rope and many more. There are sections that are based on scientific analaysis on breathing, running, water intake, recovery, when to go hard and a bunch more. There's even stuff on diet you can use and research on.

Darebee is a great starting point for those who want to get into fitness or haven't done it in a while. You can spend the rest of your life doing these workouts but they can also be a great add on to courses you can afford to grab. I would at times use small circuits from this place with my Suspension Training or Isometric Training. I would do them on off days as part of recovery and other times I'll go hard and time myself to see how I do without resting (or use the rest period to mark off a set and jump into the next one). I'll even make up a circuit of my own as inspiration like this one below...

10 Rounds Of The Following

5 Hindu Squats

20 Punches (In A Horse Stance)

5 Hindu Squats

5 Push-ups

20 Step-Ups

5 Push-ups

50 Standing Punches

Finished this in 23:33 totaling 100 Hindu Squats, 200 Punches In Horse Stance, 100 Push-ups, 200 Step-Ups & 500 Standing Punches. Great for conditioning. 

I love doing 10 Round Circuits because that gives a real rounded total. Darebee workouts mostly have you going up to 7 rounds which is still a great level to achieve especially if you're doing some really hard ones, I just prefer 10. Some workouts are more HIIT based which has you doing an exercises for x amount of seconds each until a time limit is reached and you repeat it for as many rounds as the workout calls for. 

I believe although it's a free resource of training, it encourages you to branch out for more to help guide you into another realm of experiences in your fitness journey. Some folks there use these workouts as add ons for when they go to the gym or as off day workouts, they are used as supplement training for athletes in high school and college, they have been used in classes in P.E, Sports Conditioning, rehab and many other ways. The only real pay you make with this site is the option to donate so they can keep it running or buy their workouts in PDF or Book form such as the Darebee Volume Series which each has over 100 Workouts to choose from. You can print out and make a book for yourself or set up folders in your hard drive that consists of all the workouts you want. I use to do that and if your internet is out, they're right there in your laptop, phone or tablet. 

The only investment here is your time and energy, it is a great option if you truly want to save your money for other stuff in your life. Are they the end-all-be-all, of course not, there are other things you should use if you want to advance in your training but that's up to you. You can still have the best workouts of your life using nothing but your bodyweight. Hell during a 6 week sprint training phase a few years ago, I would use some of the workouts in addition to the sprints, in that time frame, I dropped over 15 pounds and lowered my blood pressure by 32 points in both top and bottom numbers. These workouts can be life-saving and can get you fit in record time. Some of the best training I've ever done was because of Darebee Circuits. I've done them in hotel rooms, the park, in my den, out in the garage and at the lake. You can do many of them anywhere at anytime. 

You have options out there that won't cost you anything and these are awesome for when you really need to save money for special trips, paying off bills, when food is more important than a course and needing new clothes or furniture. We all can use a little help from time to time and these are part of that to help out a fellow human being. 

Have fun and keep being amazingly awesome. Share, Comment & Sign Up with this Blog. 

Creating Your Own Darebee Workouts

Circuit Training is a great method for developing a level of conditioning or overall fitness that reaps a lot of benefits. Off and on for years, Darebees workouts have been awesome in testing my endurance and mental strength to push through workouts that may seem simple on paper but once you do it, it becomes a big wake up call. I've written about some of the Superhero Themed Workouts they've put out and have substituted some exercises that suit me and the way I want to get through those workouts.

I'm not a fan of air squats so most of the circuit workouts I do, I substitute them for Hindu Squats or Step Ups. I wrote in a previous post about what was better; 500 Hindu Squats or 500 Step Ups? The truth is, I don't necessarily put those exercises on a pedestal like others have but also doing one particular exercise for hundreds of reps at once does seem boring to me but for some reason, I enjoy them doing a certain amount of reps in sets such as in a circuit. My fastest 500 Hindu Squats was around 12 minutes, fastest 500 Step Ups was around 22 minutes and the funny thing is, I got more out of doing hundreds in a circuit more than doing them all at once. Variety is more my style.

Darebee has more than 1800 workouts to choose from. Some are easy to do, some are very difficult and others are just plain insane but they provide awesome assessments and help you reach a certain level of fitness. Some workouts go for 3 rounds, some 5 and many have you reach for a goal of 7 rounds. My goal in circuit workouts is to reach 10 rounds as fast as possible with little to no rest. That's the real test of one's conditioning and mental fortitude. Some workouts I finished within 15 minutes, others have taken as long as 45 min but when it comes to circuits, I want to test myself to see how far I can go and hit that finish mark with gas left in the tank. 

Yesterday, I made a Darebee Circuit that consisted of mainly leg work, Pushups and Punching. I don't believe it's right up there with elite pro athletes but it was pretty good and it kicked my ass since I'm feeling it today and it's built on testing your cardio and maintaining a pace where the the only rest period is marking off the set and immediately get back on it. Here's the workout....

20 Step Ups (10 each leg)

10 Lunges (5 per leg or alternating)

20 Punches (Alternating for 10 each arm)

10 Pushups

10 Turning Kicks

Finished 10 rounds in 20:58 which comes out to a total of 200 Step Ups, 100 Lunges, 200 Punches, 100 Pushups and 100 Turning Kicks (700 Reps all together)

Sweat like Niagara Falls and listening to some tunes, couldn't get much better than that. These workouts can give you plenty of ideas to come up with your own and not just follow the routine made for you. Doing a workout made for you is awesome but there's a greater opportunity to create your own style and do workouts you choose that challenge you but also making it work for you as well. 

Is it good to train circuits everyday? Maybe not the high level ones which for the most part doesn't need to be more than 2x a week but if you want to do circuits with less intensity and are relatively easy on certain days, moderate on others and push yourself a couple times, that can make a hell of a program. Some of my favorite workouts are the Combat ones where it's like training MMA but also get into the workouts that are more strength and conditioning based like Push-ups, Squats, Step Ups, Sit-Up Punches and others. Sometimes I'll come up with a combo of the two. 

I like doing superset workouts where I can go back and forth without thinking twice about it but circuits every now and then are a real doozer and put you into another state of mind when it comes to conditioning. You get more variety to work different muscles groups. My circuits are always bodyweight based and I can do these workouts anywhere I want. They're free and go beyond just a workout; there's programs, daily goals, diet plans, specific entities of workouts such as Combat, Amazon, Soldier, Playground, Anime Themed or Sports. These will get you in shape and provide you with resources many pay thousands of dollars for. 

Stay strong and be Amazingly Awesome.  

    

Why It's Important More So These Days To Be In Better Condition Than The Average Person

We live in a society where junk food runs rampant and not enough exercise is instilled. Sure there are many that go to the gym but the biggest purpose for the majority who do only want to look like a pretty boy in a magazine and to have many women show off their ass more than doing real training. It's good to have a goal to be in shape but at the same time you'd want to learn to strengthen more than just muscles but also have some level endurance and flexibility.

Don't get me wrong it's cool to want aesthetics but if you can't be strong, enduring & flexible/mobile what the hell can it really do for you. It doesn't matter how good you look, if you can't go long in the sack or able to move freely as possible, looking good isn't going to help your cause. However, with the right form of training and the ability to eat as healthy as possible, aesthetics can play a great role and will come the way it is meant to.

In this day and age, looking good is not enough anymore; being in real shape and handling life situations is more valuable than having rock hard abs and biceps bigger than the Black Pearl's Cannonballs. If you took maybe 100 people that look like greek gods and goddesses, how many of them are in real shape and can go along with decent levels of strength? Most likely maybe 20% or less. Even more so with the obesity epidemic, staying and maintaining shape is a must. Kids barely even exercise in most schools these days because you have too many written notes, there's no real structure or fun in how exercise is applied; many P.E classes only shoot for teaching specific sports which isn't bad by any stretch but it doesn't teach the fundamentals of kids learning to do Push-Ups, Squats, Sit-Ups, Animal Moves, some form of lifting; hell make them carry a bucket of water if it makes you have them working a little. You know where many kids find exercise; on Youtube. It's cool they found something but nothing compares to learning the real thing and having a coach show you how to apply the exercise with control and able to breathe properly.

Any exercise is better than nothing but it's important to teach the values of understanding your body before moving onto weights or what thereof. Some people go their whole lives not touching a weight and that's awesome yet to get an overall picture its good to have a knowledge and understanding a solid amount of exercises that purely basic and effective.

Circuit Training is very valuable because it's time efficient, doesn't need to be in a huge building and has you building more than just pleasing muscles; it builds strength, stamina, conditioning & flexibility. When you learn to control your breathing & form plus resting as long as needed not what is typically ideal, you can be in incredible shape. Now when it comes down to conditioning i'm not talking Crossfit because that has more flaws than I care to explain but conditioning is being able to withstand stress throughout a playout and it helps you stay in the game even when you might feel shot to hell. Just yesterday I put myself through a Circuit playout that had me doing a total of...

100 Hindu Push-ups
200 Hindu Squats
100 V-Ups
200 Mountain Climbers
100 Hindu Jumpers
200 Side Bends
100 Push-ups
100 Pushing (Jumping Jack Variation)
100 Lunges

Totaling all together 1200 Reps in an hour or less.

You can do lesser reps if you're short on time so it's important to intuitively make the best time for you and do so with intent and making it interesting and challenging. This is a high level playout so for a beginner, cutting it in half would be a hell of a start. You can create your own and not always rely on playouts pre-made. You can adjust the exercise, tempo and time however you wish.    

Circuit Training & The Benefits That Come With It

Circuit Playouts go beyond just moving from one exercise to the other and moving as quickly as possible. The ability to train the body through different tempos and form is a top quality to acquire but at the same time, it's critically important to be aware of breathing and the speed to push through with the best intentions. It challenges your conditioning but it also challenges how you breathe and move throughout a single circuit to multiple rounds.

I have mostly done circuits in the 6-9 range of exercises and do my best to get in 5-10 rounds depending on my mood, the shape i'm in at the time and the difficulty the exercises are. If you're an athlete training for a sport say like MMA, Wrestling, Football, Hockey; you want to be able to move as quickly as possible with limited rest periods between circuits and be able to withstand even great stress. What this teaches is that if you can push through a tough circuit multiple times with very little rest, you can handle extremely well in a competitive environment. However, not all of us can have that luxury because for the average person, pushing that hard can lead to many physical problems and your oxygen levels become more depleted than accustomed to over time.

I believe circuit training can be very beneficial but for the sake of health purposes and a goal to build up strength & endurance over time, its important to focus on the 3 main factors to take on high levels of conditioning; breath control, muscular control (solid form) & tempo. If you move too fast too quickly, your body will shut down in a negative way and you'll need more time to recover, if you move too slow or the playout isn't quite right or not enough you won't make the progress you want. It's like the Goldilocks & The Three Bears concept, there's too much, not enough and there's that one that fits you perfectly. This is where experimentation and focus on how your body operates and is leveled to a particular easy or advanced playout.

Everyone is different so build up to what works best for you and adjust according to your level. On some days it's good to back off and do lesser rounds but on your energetic days you can go for as many as 10-20 rounds if you wish. I also believe in how your energy plays out in this type of training. Pushing to the absolute limit can really deplete your energy levels and you won't be boosting hormones at a great rate; matter of fact your hormones and testosterone levels can drop if you do too much. When your energy levels are leveled to where you can be energized during and after a circuit playout can have a great deal of benefits when done correctly. Circuits can be a powerful way to surge growth hormone, testosterone, strength endurance & energetic properties that lead to greater recovery and accumulate amazing muscle definition & natural muscle mass. It wouldn't matter if its weight lifting, bodyweight, cables or whatever; if you can use the energy to your advantage and use the right form of leverage to where you can be as strong going in as you are coming out of it you're still having a great deal of power throughout your circuit training.

Bodyweight circuits are the best in my opinion because not only can you do them practically anywhere but you learn the sensitivity at a greater rate of your body moves freely than by moving weights because with weights eventually you're moving with the weight instead of moving freely on your own. Be simplistic using pushing, squatting, ab play and some grip to get the most out of your training. You can supplement other exercises but stay with the fundamentals and you'll never go wrong.