The Intelligent Workout

If the post title wasn’t a dead giveaway, I recently had the pleasure of attending a Crossfit level one certification. It was phenomenal. After hearing about it for about a few years, sneaking in an occasional Crossfit workout, and then dabbling in it for the first half of this year I was ready to take [...]

There are plenty of weeks left until the official end of summer but Labor Day is slowly creeping closer. Even Thanksgiving Dinner will be here before you know it. It’s hard to find a great piece of advice that doesn’t contradict itself. Nevertheless, here are 42 fitness tips that will give you a headstart on your health goals this season.

#1 – 15% of your one rep max is the best weight to use when performing power movements such as squat jumps. Keep it light and explosive.

#2 – The German candy maker Haribo makes their Gummy Bears with dextrose creating an excellent recovery treat for replenishing your glycogen tank.

#3 – Have some salad the meal before you workout. The phytonutrients will boost your workout and promote blood flow.

#4 – Don’t do something that is considered essential if it throws off your workout mojo. If an exercise, supplement, or food timing doesn’t agree with you then forget it. Don’t skip things just because they are tough though.

#5 – Use peppermint to add an all natural boost to your workout. Ideally dab a little peppermint oil under your nostrils or chew some peppermint gum. A quick brushing with peppermint toothpaste would even do the trick.

#6 – Avoid Soy and Tea Tree Oil. Both these can have negative effects on testosterone levels. Soy Protein is supposed to be fine in amounts up to 25 grams per day but why mess with it?

#7 -If you’re going to eat fast food stick with Subway and make it either a 6-inch club or sweet onion chicken teriyaki on wheat. Roughly 350 calories, 25 grams of protein, with healthy amounts of fat and fiber.

Your body needs to continually bump up the intensity in order to avoid adapting to the same stimuli. Increasing the intensity of your workout is as simple as upping the weight, lowering the rest period, increasing the volume, or lifting explosively. Sticking solely with those techniques would be supremely boring

and eventually cause you to plateau. By occasionally interchanging these techniques into your workout you’ll definitely blast through any plateaus and keep your body growing strong.

#1 – Giving In By Adema

This video is perfect. I know I would not want to look like former Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman but I can definitely feed off his dedication, intensity, and relentlessness in the weight room. Giving In is the all around perfect workout song. I have done entire workouts with this guy by just hitting the back button on my shuffle eleven times. Best Used For Any Type of Intense Lifting.

Update: Those Corporate Fat Cats made Youtube take down the Ron Coleman Video. Here is the music video instead – Still Excellent.

How fitting is it that the best lift for busting us out of the recession is called ‘The Bear’? If everyone did ‘The Bear’ the world would be a better place. Healthcare costs would plummet, nutritional supplement sales would stimulate the economy, and people would look sexier – spend more money on dates and eventually raise healthy, economically fit children of their own. But I Digress…

Two Things Are Infinite: The Universe And Human Stupidity; And I’m Not Sure About The Universe. – Einstein

Albert was on to something. My first seven fitness blunders were pretty good but here’s six more ways I was able to flub things up in the gym…

No Goals – I always wanted to ‘Get Big’ in high school but my senior year rolled by and I wasn’t where I wanted to be with my muscle size. I loved lifting weights but I never had any specific strength targets or size measurements. The funny thing is when I finally listed my goals I realized I never actually cared to have huge muscles I just wanted to be lean and strong. Once I saw the exact things I was aiming for I was able to tailor my program and watch my progress finally take off.

Here are seven silly fitness mistakes I’ve made and most likely repeated over the last ten years. Hopefully you can nip a few of these in the bud and boost that intelligent fitness curve of yours. No Warm-up – I used to just waltz into the weight room with a big smile and start lifting. While my enthusiasm was laudable my muscles and joints were probably not enthused at all. Raising your core temperature with a few

minutes of light cardio will make your muscles more pliable. A couple of lighter sets before your working sets will help prepare your central nervous system for the workout ahead. Much smarter than hoisting the heavy stuff right off the bat.

Supplements, just like technology, are a wonderful servant but a terrible master. Muscle building, fat burning, and recovery can all be aided with nutritional supplements but they should never be a foundational aspect of a fitness program. Replacing metabolic activity with a fat burning pill is just the same as checking your e-mail, twitter, or facebook five dozen times a day. Both can be fun in the short run but eventually your office chair will start to feel snug around the buttocks. Just as Google can simplify your web surfing, supplements can expedite your efforts toward sound nutrition and invigorating exercise. Here are three supplements that are so

good they shouldn’t even be considered supplements.