« October 2005 | Main | December 2005 »
November 28, 2005
The Best and the Worst Abs Exercises
Worst Abs Exercise: the Crunch
I have no clue how such a pathetic exercise has come to dominate the scene. I guess some simple mind came up with a bright idea that not coming up all the way would isolate the abs from the psoas. It does not. But if you have not read my book Bullet-Proof Abs you will never know why.
Best Abs Exercise: the Janda Situp
The crunch brigade is stuck in the industrial age. They treat the body as a simplistic mechanism of pulleys and levers and fail to recognize the vital role of the nervous system in protecting the back – and in making rock hard abs happen.. The Janda situp, a state of the art exercise developed by a top Eastern European back rehab specialist, drags abs fitness into the information age. It ‘hacks’ into your ‘muscle software’ to dramatically amplify the intensity of the abdominal contraction while shutting off the potentially back damaging hip flexor muscles.
For more information on this and related strength topics order Pavel’s Beyond Bodybuilding today
Posted by james at 6:00 AM | Comments (1)
November 21, 2005
What lost bodybuilding secrets can we use today?
There are many - but one stands out: do not train to failure and have patience.
Famous Russian strongman Pyotr 'the Kettlebell King' Kryloff said, "The training of amateurs I have been meeting… is driven by records. It is a wrong system and an unhealthy one to top it off… Thanks to my extremely careful and restrained system of training I have kept my strength and muscles, even though, being an old school circus athlete, I had to perform very difficult stunts and sometimes perform shows with very heavy weights a few times a day."
As the ancient wisdom goes, “He who understands life does not rush.”
For more information on this and related strength topics order Pavel’s Beyond Bodybuilding today
Posted by james at 6:30 AM | Comments (0)
November 14, 2005
Old timer secrets for cardio and a super-lean look
Dig into your family album or go to the library and look up photos of people who lived in the first half of the twentieth century or earlier. I dare you to find an obese person. The lost secret of leanness is simple: hard physical labor every day. Here is some grandfatherly advice: get off your stern and go to work.
Real man or woman work, not fifteen minutes on an elliptical trainer every other day. Get a part time job as a mover. Sell your John Deere and get an old-fashioned push mower. Volunteer to clean up a highway. Andrey Dolgov, a Latvian boxing and kickboxing coach extraordinaire, raised a school of fearsome champions whose S&C is old-fashioned labor. These hard and ripped to the bone fighters volunteer to cut and stack firewood for old ladies.
Even an occasional day or two of hard physical work or exercise will do wonders for your body comp. My students always leave a weekend kettlebell course leaner and more muscular. Martial arts seminars are great; recently I took an excellent two and a half day course from Tim Larkin of tftgroup.com and walked away noticeably leaner.
My wife once observed, if you work out for an hour a day and spend twenty-three hours sitting or lying down, do you think your looks will reflect the one hour or the twenty three hours?
For more information on this and related strength topics order Pavel’s Beyond Bodybuilding today
Posted by james at 6:42 AM | Comments (114)
November 7, 2005
Combine both flexibility and strength training with the Bent Press
This drill is not really a press but a unique flexibility and support feat. Get a weight to your shoulder: a barbell, dumbell, or kettlebell. Set up so your elbow is resting on your pelvic bone, on the side and even slightly behind you. This calls for some serious shoulder flexibility; chances are it will take you months of partial reps to work into a full bent press.
Slowly lean to the side away from the weight and slightly forward – never back! Keep your eye on the bell at all times and be ready to drop it. Your elbow must rest against your side at all times and your forearm must remain vertical, absolute necessities with heavy weights. The all time record is Arthur Saxon’s 370 pounds!
Eventually you will end up in a semi-squat, your arm finally locked out. Slowly stand up with your arm straight overhead.
For more information on this and related strength topics order Pavel’s Beyond Bodybuilding today
Posted by james at 6:31 AM | Comments (1)