12 Days of Fitness Christmas

Didn't get what you wanted from Santa this morning? That's okay I have just want you want, a butt kicking workout! Don't worry if you didn't get me anything, this one is on the house.

Day 1: Sled Push 20 yards (90lbs.)
Day 2: Bear Crawl/Crab Walk Shuttle (10 yard bear crawl there 10 yard crab walk back=1)
Day 3: Flying Burpees
Day 4: V-Sit Ups with SB (ball starts in hands, goes to feet, back to hands=1 rep)
Day 5: BB Back Squats (135 lbs.)
Day 6: Clap Push Ups
Day 7: Supine Ring Rows
Day 8: Box Jumps (30 inch box)
Day 9: Thrusters (90 lbs.)
Day 10: Walking Lunges (25 lbs. db's, reps are per/leg)
Day 11: DB Swings (40 lbs.)
Day 12: Burpee Tuck Jumps

Starting at Day 1 work your way through the exercises in order. The number of the day corresponds to the number of reps you perform for each exercise. Example: Day 8 you perform 8 box jumps. Now here's the catch the workout follows the same format as the Christmas song so every time you get to a new day you have to count back down to 1 again before going to the next day. Example: you perform 1 sled push for Day 1, go to Day 2 and perform 2 bear crawl/crab walk shuttles, now before going to Day 3 you must perform the sled push again then go to Day 3 and do your flying burpees, bear crawl/crab walk shuttle, sled push, then on to Day 4. If you get lost just remember how the song goes and you will be fine. Anything under 45 min. is a pretty good time to complete the workout. Give it a try and post your results to comments. Good luck and from everyone at Focus Fitness, Merry Christmas!

Workout of the Day 12/24/09

Here's a workout for all you farm boys or anyone who has access to a tire and a sledge hammer that's all you need. So get yourself pumped up put your favourite song list on and give this a go. Good luck!

TIRE WORKOUT CHALLENGE

1) Tire Flips

2) Burpee w Tire Jumps

3) Tire Jump Throughs

4) Tire Sledge Swings (per/arm)

5) Push-ups (option for advanced add in clap)

6) Lateral 2 foot tire hops

7) Hip Lifts feet on tire (under control)

8) Tire Step-ups

9) Ab Bridge w alt. arm raise (feet on tire)

10) Split Squats

- Reps 10 for Starter

- Reps 15 For Advanced

- Start with 3 Rounds as your fitness level improves work your way up to 4 or 5

rounds

- Time each round (Take a short 2-min rest b/t rounds to recover)

- Try and complete list of exercises in order as fast as possible with proper form

- I did three rounds my times were 8:01, 8:12, 8:18

No Guilt Holiday Dessert Recipe - Chocolate Hazelnut Bites

Hi Everyone,

Here is a great, healthy dessert to try over the holidays from our friend Dr. John Berardi at Precision Nutrition. This is a great Anytime snack. Test it out and let us know what you think of it.

Chocolate Hazelnut Bites
Prep time 80 minutes

Ingredients
2/3 cup hazelnuts, roasted
4 omega-3 eggs
3/4 cup Splenda
1 tsp espesso coffee powder
5 scoops chocolate protein powder
2/3 cup pecan meal
2/3 cup crushed walnuts
2/3 cup unsalted peanuts, crushed

Cooking Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. On a baking sheet, spread hazelnuts and roast them in the oven for 6 to 8 minutes. When finished, pull hazelnuts out of the oven and place onto a towel. Put 8 of the hazelnuts aside for later. Next, use the towel to rub the skin off all but the 8 hazelnuts you put aside.

With an electric mixer, mix together the omega-3 eggs, Splenda, and espresso coffee powder. Next, add protein powder, one scoop at a time, mixing thoroughly. Finally, add the de-skinned hazelnuts (leaving the 8 full hazelnuts aside), pecan meal, crushed walnuts and peanuts. Mix well. The mixture should become thick and dough like.

With wet hands, separate the mixture into 8 equal portions. For each portion, place one of the 8 hazelnuts set aside earlier into the centre of the portion, rolling the portion into a small round shape until it completely covers the hazelnut in the centre. Place each bite-sized shape onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Place the sheet into the oven for 10 minutes. When complete, pull from the oven and allow to cool. These can be eaten warm, or stored in an air-tight container in the fridge and served cool later.

Makes 8 servings.

Nutrition Information (per serving)
Calories 394 kcal
Protein 22g
Carbohydrate 9g
Fat 30g
Saturated 3.1g
Monounsat 15.8g
Polyunsat 11.2g

For more information on the Precision Nutrition program feel free to contact us @ info@focusfitness.ca or by phone (204)488-6611 or go directly to www.precisionnutrition.com.

Hope you enjoy the dessert. Train smart, train hard and fuel your body with quality nutrition.

From all of us here at Focus Fitness we wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas.

Jeff

Exercise Of the Day- Burpee Chin Up

The Burpee Chin Up is an exercise that combines a push up, explosive jump, and a chin up. This whole body movement is an excellent exercise that can be placed in a program in various stages depending on what you want your athlete to develop in that particular stage of his or her program. In the early stages of a program one can perform a higher number of repetitions and thus a conditioning effect is the outcome of enduring numerous repetitions of this wonderful exercise. If an over abundance of repetitions is not your thing and you are looking to build some explosiveness into your work out regimen, then lower repetitions with more power and quickness can be performed. This exercise is great for working the larger muscles in the chest, back, and the legs. Also with any exercise the synergy of applying a tight abdomen will help the athlete perform a proper push up and chin up! I hope that if you have not performed this exercise before you will give it a try, if you feel it is too advanced for you try using a bosu ball to jump off of. As I finish my blog I would like to say the burpee chin up is like walking along your favorite beach, while the warm wind is blowing through your hair and the sun is shining in your face!

A Closer Look at Circuit Training Part 2

Last week I provided an introduction to circuit training and discussed why it was effective and some of the benefits one can gain from this style of training. To dig a little deeper into how circuit training works lets take a look at a standard circuit workout that you would find here at Focus Fitness and discuss how it is put together and why it works.

Focus Fitness Sample Circuit:

1. Clap Push Ups

2. Supine Ring Rows

3. Box Jumps

4. Push Press

5. V-Sit Ups

6. Burpees

7. Tire Flips

8. DB Row, Rotate, Press

9. Seated MedBall Russian Twist

Work 30 sec./Rest 30 sec. Complete 3 total rounds of circuit with 1 min. rest between rounds.

The first factor that makes this circuit effective is that it is comprised of almost all compound movements. As mentioned in last weeks article the term compound movement means that there are multiple muscle groups working together to perform the movement which, also includes multiple joints being involved through either rotation, flexsion or extension. Compound movements are great because they elevate the heart rate to a higher degree than an isolation movement because the heart has to work harder to pump out oxygenated blood to multiple muscle groups to make them contract as opposed to just one. Now even though these exercises are compound movements they still have a primary mover. For example the primary mover for clap push ups is the pectoralis major (chest). The secondary movers are the anterior deltoid (front of shoulder) and the triceps (back of arm). So if you notice in the circuit above there are never two exercises back to back with the same primary mover. This is done on purpose to maximize the effectiveness of the circuit. Remember the main benefit of circuit training is that we can achieve both strength and cardiovascular gains in the same workout. We want to keep moving to keep our heart rate elevated, but we still also want to be able to apply a great amount of force while lifting. We achieve these two goals by performing compound exercises separated by very short rest intervals (only 30 sec.) and by alternating the primary mover every exercise. The total time it takes to complete all three rounds of the circuit is 30 min. including rest periods. This keeps the total time that your muscle is under load to a very acceptable amount so your body will be releasing testosterone throughout the workout aiding in the process of building muscle tissue. The intensity of the movements performed over the 30 min. workout will turn your body into a calorie burning furnace. In fact come back next Monday to see exactly how many calories are burned performing this circuit as opposed to 30 min. of traditional cardio. Come try one of our circuit training classes, your first session is on us. For women click here. For men/co-ed click here.

Workout of the Day 12/16/09

Upper Body Srength and Arms (for Glenn)

A1 BB Bench Press 4x5

A2 Wide Grip Pull Ups 4x5

B1 Incline DB Press 4x5

B2 Bent Over BB Row 4x5

C1 Push Press 4x5

C2 V-Sit Ups 4x15

D1 21's 3x21 (7,7,7)

D2 Tricep Rope Pressdowns 3x20

D3 DB Isometric Curls 3x20 (5,5,5,5)

D4 Narrow Push Ups 3x20

A Closer Look at Circuit Training Part 1

With Christmas holidays around the corner and the New Year fast approaching many people will be pouring into gyms as part of a resolution or as a guilty reflex to eating all that holiday food. As a trainer I am often asked the question,"What is the best thing for me to do to lose weight?" Now this is a pretty general question that could have a variety of different answers depending on the person in question. But first thing is first, lets get you moving, and while I have you moving lets make this movement functional so it will carry over to either your sport or to your everyday activites. Now I know your schedule is full with work, school, practice, kids and many other things so lets get you in and out of the gym in under an hour with more physical and mental benefits than you have been getting from your monotenous marathon workout sessions. Sound interesting? Than circuit training might be right for you.
Is It A Fad?
Circuit training has gained much popularity lately in the form of bootcamps and exercise videos and while there are many gimmicky presentations put together with cheesy infomercials and ads with people in army fatigues the basis of circuit training is a very effective way to meet your fitness goals. So lets strip away all the fancy packaging and get down to the bare bones of circuit training and why it is effective.
Benefits of Circuit Training
The main benefit of circuit training is that you receive the benefits of both strength and cardiovascular training all in one workout. Lots of people are obssessed with strictly performing cardio for the purpose of losing weight. The truth is strength training is just as important for weight loss as cardio is. Your body's metabolism is directly linked to the amount of lean tissue (muscle) that your body has. The more muscle tissue the faster your metabolism, meaning that you are burning more calories around the clock, even when you are sleeping. However, this is not to discredit cardio. It is equally important in the quest for weight loss and there is plenty of it found in circuit training. Circuits are designed with many compound or multi-joint movements, meaning that multiple muscle groups are working together. Combine these exercises with either short, timed rest periods or no rest at all and this constant movement keeps the heart rate elevated, often times to a much higher level than traditional cardio because the intensity of the movements are far greater. That intensity level leads to the next benefit of circuit training which is duration or time. A great thing about circuits is you can get in more work in half the amount of time due to the fact that the intensity of the work is very high. While this is very accommodating to many peoples schedules, there is also a bigger reason why the shorter duration of the circuit is important. As you exercise your body will release testosterone which aids in the ability to build muscle tissue. If the duration of your workout lasts too long your body will start to release cortisol which will acutally break down muscle tissue and inhibit your goal of adding lean tissue to your body which as mentioned before increases your metabolism. The constant variety of the exercises found in a circuit format has also been found to stimulate the mind during exercise so your workouts do not drag, making them more enjoyable. Stay tuned for next Monday when I discuss more benefits of circuit training, go over some sample workouts and directly compare the amount of calories burned during a circuit to some more traditional forms of cardio. Think you might be interested in circuit training? For women click here, for men/co-ed click here.

The Dirty 30's

Ok... Here's what I was up to today.. Ran a skills day for 40 kids from across B.C at gm place early this morning, then had a couple of the Nuck players on the ice for a quick pre practice skills session. After all the players leave I played a little hockey for about an hour and a half with all the other trainers, couple of the owners, the Gm's and staff.

So now for the good stuff, the workout of the day that I call the Dirty 30

This one was a bit of a grinder...

1.) Full Clean to front squat, (butt to heels) 70% body weight (115 lbs for me)

2.) Burpee to pull ups

3.) Bench press (95% body weight) (160 lbs for me)

4.) Db snatch @ 40 lbs (15 per side)

5.) Split squats (15 side) 70% body weight (me 115)

6.) 1/2 curl to shoulder press @ 20 lbs

7.) Mb Get ups @ 10 lbs

8.) Trx supine pull ups feet on ball

9.) V sit ups

10.) Jump squats

Ok so complete 30 reps of each exercise before moving on.

Complete as fast as possible.

my time was 38.12 Don't think that is a great time, did right after hour and half of skating so not an excuse just the way it is..

Anyways found this one really tough..

Good luck and train hard

Glenn

Workout of the Day 12/11/09

Lower Body Strength

Cleans (full) 4x4

Pistol Squats 4x8/leg

Deadlifts 4x5

Heavy Sled Push 4x15m (go really heavy!)

MB Get Ups 3x10

MB Torso Rotation Wall Throws 3x10/side

Workout of the Day Vancouver Style

Hello Everyone, just tackled another tough workout...... If your looking for a good sweat give it a try......

The goal is to complete all reps of each exercise before moving on.. Do as fast as possible as you are trying to finish as fast as you can and don't skip any reps. If you want to get fit push it to the limits...

1.) Deadlifts x 20 reps @ 185 lbs (use an appropriate load, should be heavy for you)

2.) Treadmill run .40 / mile as fast as can 0 incline

3.) Db swings x 20 @ 55 lbs

4.) Treadmill run .40 / mile

5.) Over Head Squats x 20 @ 65 lbs (these were killers, tough on the flexibility)

6.) run .40 / mile

7.) Burpees x 20 (complete with full jumps)

8.) run .40 / mile

9.) Pull Ups x 20

10.) run . 40 / mile

11.) Db full squat to cleans to front squat x 20 @ 35 lbs (db in each hand)

12.) run .40 / mile

Volume completed:

120 reps

2.4 miles ran

my time completed was 36:50

go get it.

Workout of the Day 12/08/09

A1 Squats x8

A2 Depth Jumps x5 (step off 18 inch box)

A3 Treadmill Sprints x30 sec. @ 8% incline

B1 Alternating DB Lunges x6/leg

B2 Alternating Jumping Lunges x8/leg

B3 Treadmill Sprints x30 sec. @ 10% incline

C1 Cable Torso Rotation x10/side

C2 Front Plank with Arm Raise x10/arm

C3 Sit Ups x15

Starting with circuit "A" work through the circuits a total of 4 times before moving to the next circuit. The weight for the squats and alternating DB lunges should be heavy and the speed on the treadmill sprints should be as fast as possible.

Workout of the Day 12/07/09

The Motley Crue

*Throw in your favourite Crue c.d. and turn it up as loud as it goes.(we suggest Greatest Hits)

1. Box Jumps (30 inch box)

2. Explosive Push Ups

3. Supine Ring Rows

4. Kettle Bell Swings (55 lbs. KB)

5. Sit Ups

6. Push Press (95 lbs.)

7. Dumbell Walking Lunges (35 lbs. DB's)

8. Wall Ball (20 lbs. MB)

9. Supermans

10. Burpees

Complete 35 reps at each exercise before moving to the next one. On the walking lunges perform 16 reps per leg. See how fast you can get it done and post times to comments. Anything under 25 min. is good and under 20 min. is a great time. Good Luck!

Welcome

Welcome to the Focus Fitness blog. The idea is to create an interactive environment for people to learn more about our facility, programs, events and most importantly our trainers. Daily workouts, healthy recipes, interviews with leading fitness professionals, instructional videos, and articles on anything fitness related are just some of the many features you will find. Comments, opinions, and ideas for topics that you would like to learn more about are always welcome. Enjoy!