'Rocky IV' Leg raises

This move comes straight from the movie Rocky 4 and is one of the ultimate core moves, hitting all 6 major abdominal mucles as well as building up your overall core strength and perfecting your balance. Want abs like Silvesterstalone? then put this move in your workout to get the perfect abs. Check out the video below:

Tips:
1. Start off small, just on your back and lift your legs to a 90 degrees position and slowly lower them again.

2. Once youve mastered this move then add a pulse at the top of each leg raise. By this I mean pulse your ass off the floor keeping your legs straight so that you are balancing on your arms and upper back only.

3. Then move onto the hanging leg raises, hang from a pull up bar and again raise your legs to 90 degrees and slowly down, as you get better try to hold your legs out for a few seconds at the 90 degree position.

4. Finallly once you move onto the bench make sure that you keep your body straight, (so you dont tweak your back) and put at least 10 kilos more than your body weight on the bar so you dont fall off the bench when perfroming the leg raise.

Once youv'e mastered that then its good bye gut, hello abs!

Feel good food

Everyone has their comfort foods, but as you've probably guessed theyre usually not very good for us. For example laying into the tub of ice cream with the spoon, or the chocolate bars on a saturday night isn't the way to go when taking into accont your aims of a leaner, fitter you. So with this post I'll offer some wierd but nice foods that will make you feel happier, not just about you food, but about your waist as well.

1. Eggs:
Eggs provide tryptophan, an aminno acid that the body converts into the feelgood chemical serotonin. Eggs also contain a healthy dose of vitamin B, which boosts energy levels and make your feel more energises and ready for anything.

2. Sweet Potatoes:
These are packed with vitamin B6, which has been found to improve low moods and alleviate fatigue. they are also a great source of immunity boosting vitamin A. That should help keep you from feeling down and keep you healthy.

3. Porridge Oats:
Oats are high in alkaloids and flavanoids, which boost the feelgood effects of the many B vitamins in your diet. They also are good carbs with slow energy releases to keep you energised for longer. Therefore by starting your day with a bowl of porridge you are guaranteed a better day than most.

4. Beef:
Beef provides plenty of iron, a mineral that can help to reduce tiredness and fatigue due to its presence in red blood cells and so you get more oxygen to your cells, making you much more energetic. It also provides high levels of zinc.

5. Brazil Nuts:
These contain very high levels of selenium, a mineral that has been linked to improved mood. they're also packed with muscle building protein to help you achieve your gains faster and provide a health, feel good snack.

6. Lettuce:
I know what your thinkning, lettuce? But its true, lettuce contains lactucarium, a substance that can promote sensations of euphoria. It also contains bone-strengthening vitamin K.

Blitz Your Belly

This post contains a mixture of cardio and body weight circuits that take less than 15 min to do and each one is a great metabolism booster that will help you shread those pounds like there no tomorrow and replace it with lean muscle.

1. The unlucky run:
This has been touched upon before on this blog and is the longest session I will discuss but it is also one of the best for burning calories. Simply get on the tredmill and set it to a steady pace for 12 minutes, then on the final minute (13th) hold in the speed button till your going into an all out sprint and finish the last minute at this pace before stopping the tredmill. This prolonged burst of speed after the run will help burn extra clories by reving up your metabolism and also increase your overall fitness. Try to beat your distance covered next time you try.

2. Press, suatt, pull:
This three way circuit combined push ups, squat thrusts and wide grip pull ups to give you a quick, all over workout. Check out the video below to see how its done and only do this in 1 minute bursts but try to keep your rest times between sets low to keep your metabolism at a higher level for longer.

3. The 3 teir:
An all out, full blown bodyweight monster of a workout. And it only takes 3 minutes. This will surely seperate the men from the boys. In this session you have a maximum time limit of three minutes and you have to perform the following exercises, 10 press ups, 10 sit ups, 10 burpees (knees to chest), then 20 press ups, 20 sit ups, 20 burpees, then 30 press ups, 30 sit ups, 30 burpees . This is the equivilent of one rep a second for the 3 minute period. Sounds tough? thats because it is.

4. The fastest mile:
This is a quick cardio session again using a tredmill. Simply get on and cover the distance: 1 mile (1.6km) as fast as you can and then try to beat your time next time you do this. It acts a s a quick metabolism booster and will drive your calorie burning levels through the roof if yuo realy push yourself.

5. Press ups to failure:
This is an easy way to build up your endurance and build lean muasle at the same time. Simply do 3-4 sets of press ups to failure (until you can't do any more) and then take a 30 second break and go again. It sonds ok but if you are pushing yourself to do as many as possible, then this can be as good as 15 mins on the tredmill at a reasonable jog!

Rep Rules

Depending on how you structure your workout, you can use the same moves to pack on muscle, shead fat or boost strength without having to get a whole new programme. Its easy, just follow the simple guide lines below and your aims and goals should start to pile up in no time.

Hope this helps.

Bad Kit!

Every gym has these machines and yet they are the most useless peices of equipment, that don't build muscle, train the intended target area, and actually encourage injury.

1. Smith Machine

It may appear safer than the squatt rack or bench press to beginners, but it actually encourages bad movement patterns, especilly if the bar is angled on the rack! The bar should go straight up and down for squatts especially so never use this peice of kit for these moves. Also smith machine squatts actually put alot of needless strain on the knee joints as their natural movement when squatting is altered and this can lead to serious injury. It also takes the all important stabiliser muscles out of play in your lift, so when you move onto dumbells or barbell moves you will be far weaker as you cannot balance the weight. I suggest using lighter dumbells until you are ready to perform the actual exercises properly and also encourage others to avoid this injury ridden machine!

2. Abs - Roller

Using this machine won't help give you a six pack, only a fat burining diet and exercise plan can do that. Instead this machine does little other than teach you the basic movement required to perform a crunch. Because the machine is curved it recruits its natural rocking momentum after the first rep and so is really ineffective for abs training, also due to the arm positions on the roller it takes the pressure away from the abs and onto the arms. It wont even build a strong core. Instead try the plank, hanging leg raises and v-shaped situps to really get your abs into shape. Also to get better results try to stick to a good diet plan to see faster, leaner results around your abs.

3. Pec - Deck (resistance machine cest press)

 It was once a chest routine favourite, but this machine actually forces you to move your upper arm horizontally away from your body while rotating it backwards against a heavy weight. This puts huge starin on your rotator cuffs and ca lead to injury that can stop you training your entire upper body. Instead stick to bench press, dumbell flyes or old fashioned press ups.

Ultimate whole body workouts

Since its the new year I tought I'd give you all a hand towards those new year fitnes resolutions. This post containes the four circuits i tried out on new years day when my gym was closed and they are really effective at reving up yuor metabolism and getting the fat burning well underway.

You barely need any kit either just an exercie mat, or a thick towel and a set of dumbells but they dont have to be heavy in fact anything between 6-10 kg will work well.

Circuit 1: Abs (see earlier blog post for more details)

Sit ups - 60 seconds

The plank - 60 seconds

Russian Twists - 60 seconds
V-shaped sit ups - 60 seconds
6 inches leg raise - 60 seconds
Side plank twists - 60 seconds

This circuit targets the whole core mucle area and is particularly effective on the lower areas of the 6 pack. perofrm it 2-3 times with approximately 45 seconds to 1 minute rests in between each cicuit, no rest between exercises for best results.

Circuit 2: chest + shoulders
Press ups - to failure
Lateral raise - 8-10 reps
Incline press ups - to failure (feet on the bed)
vertical raise - 8- 10 reps
Exlosive press ups - to failure
Shoulder press - to failure

Great way to build up the upper torso and works best with a 1 minutes rest in between circuits with as little rest time as possible between exercises.

Circuit 3: Abs 2
Sit ups - 60 seconds
Russian Twists - 60 seconds
The Plank - 60 seconds
ab Twists with dumbells - 20 reps
V- shape sit ups - 60 seconds
6 inches leg raise - 60 seconds

Another good abs session this time only complete the circuit 2 times it works on the entire core area again and abs great tone to the general six pack shape. Again aim for only 45 seconds rest between each circuit and no rest between the exercises.

Circuit 4: Full body
Squatt thrusts - 60 seconds
Tricep kickbacks - 10 reps each side
Dumb bell press up rows - 20 reps each hand (see below for more detail)
V-shaped situps - 60 seconds
Press ups - to failure

21's - 1 set

Only do this circuit twice and make sure this is the last one you do as it is a great way to rev your metabolism through the roof before you finish. take 1.5 mins rest periods between each circuit and try not to stop between each exercise for optimal results.

(Dumb bell press up rows = get into a press up position with 1 dumbell between your hands and do a press up, then hold the press up with straight arms and row the dumbell in one hand, then do another press up and change hands repeat 20 times per hand)