Challenge Workouts

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There’s been a lot of talk about the latest episode ‘Gym Rescue’ where I got to be the ‘fitness expert’ that helped a failing ‘sorority’ gym turn itself around and become a viable business.

Many have asked if this reality show is actual ‘reality’.

Strange as it may sound (especially if you saw the episode), the scenes weren’t staged, there was no script, the things in the show really happened as they unfolded on the show.

Watching the show, lots of the action was new and exciting to me because I may have been off the set doing an ‘on the fly’ interview or hanging out in the production area.

A reality show set is an interesting place to be. I have to hand it to anyone that works in the industry. They work LONG hours and there’s lots of ‘hurry up and wait’ times.

Randy Couture is an absolute soft spoken gentleman. Honestly it’s hard to believe that he’s an MMA champion because it would seem he couldn’t hurt a fly. He’d come into the production area every day, greet me by name and ask me how I was. He’s really a sweetheart.

Frank Shamrock, on the other hand, is full of energy and is definitely the life of the party. He’s a real character with personality plus.

As for the actual gym owners, well they had personality plus too 😉

The owner, Toni, was a firecracker, the manager, Erinn did her best to be the voice of reason, Delisa was a great trainer who just wanted to train and Nikki, the receptionist was a sweet girl that was totally untrained for any of her tasks (like being thrown on the floor to train clients) but she did her best. Then there was ‘Pin Girl’ Marsha who’s job was to ‘pull the pin’ on machines for clients in this antiquated circuit and you’ll meet Kit who just walked out and quit on the spot (I never even met her).

There were A LOT of tears. At one point I had to just tell the women to stop crying so we could help them. Randy and Frank were really frustrated since they were really prepared for all the tears.

To begin, the gym was really an eyesore. We joked that it looked like Barney just barfed up all those pinks and purples. In the end, the place looked SPECTACULAR!

The out dated ‘circuit training’ system that was being used (with the use of a pre-recorded voice to tell members when to stop and go) was replaced with a full on boot camp style workout system.

And it wasn’t just any boot camp. The gym was given all the systems of Fit Body Boot Camp (of course I’m a huge fan since I run my own FBBC).

In the end, after Coach Bedros Keuilian helped with marketing, I helped with training and Frank and Randy did their thing, the tears dried up, the smiles grew a mile wide and there were hugs all around – oops, did I spoil it for you?

Trust me, if you haven’t tuned in, it’s more than worth it to learn about Toni’s signature move called ‘I dunno’ and to see the tempers flair, the yelling, the crying and the drama.

It was a fun week that I got to spend on the set. I’d love the opportunity to do it all over,
even though I wouldn’t enjoy the TV celebrity lifestyle long term.

As a way to celebrate my TV debut, I thought I’d do a BIG sale for you, my loyal readers.
After all, it’s YOU that allows me to live my passion every day.

I LOVE to help people get fit, whether it’s in their living room at home, in a gym, or in my
beloved Fit Body Boot Camp. I consider myself blessed to be able to do what I do.
I want to share my love of fitness and healthy living with you.

Grab any or ALL my programs HERE.
Let me help you rescue your body and save a little cash too 😉

I needed a kick butt workout…

The stage was set (quite literally) and the failing sorority gym staff had to prove that they had what it takes to be a future success.

Trainer Delissa needed to learn how to train a large group of clients in a small space and short amount of time. I had the afternoon to teach her how to do it. And then she’d be on national TV delivering the workout that evening.

No pressure 😉

Actually, the training style I taught her was a no brainer, although too few know the secrets and magic behind this results-getting style.

It’s what all my Challenge Workouts are about.

No boring cardio.

No machines.

The workout was a magical concoction of a lot of sweat, full body exercises and incomplete recovery.

Here’s a workout that’s similar to the we did on the big reveal for the episode ‘Battle of the Sexes’ on Gym Rescue, Spike TV. I say that it’s ‘similar’ because filming was over a year ago and I can only remember the basics, a few exercises may have been slightly different, but it’s the same general style. You can easily do this in your living room since I’ve offered equipment alternatives:

Set your timer for 40 seconds of work with 10 seconds rest for 8 sets. Do each pair of exercises in each set for 4 rounds then go directly to the next round.

Set #1

glider hamstring curls (or glute bridge) 
burpees

Set #2

reverse lunge bicep curl (or prisoner position arms)
squat jump

Set #3

suspension row (DB row, wall sit stick up)
skater lunge

Set #4

glider atomic push up (regular push up)
short shuttle run (stationary sprint)

Finish with a tabata-like finisher (20 seconds work/10 seconds rest) for 3 rounds:

• burpee
  wall sit
  double jump burpee
  plank

This will give you around 30 minutes of heart pounding, muscle toning sweaty work.

Your welcome….Time to recover…

This was NOT covered in the Gym Rescue episode, but it’s a really important element of your training regime. It’s must follow your workout with healthy food to promote recovery.

But nowadays, even the word ‘healthy’ is confusing.

You’d be surprised at what manufacturers label ‘healthy’ in an effort to sell you their products.

Are you a label reader?

Even if you are, do you know what the labels mean? How ingredient lists are made, what ingredients are good and what ones are better and what foods you should totally avoid?

If you’re a little confused, don’t let all your hard sweaty workouts be wasted with poor nutrition. Go to this article and learn the 4 step label decoder solution and more…

 Facts found on this page, when applied consistently could mean the difference between getting the body of your dreams and your physique staying the same.

Take a few minutes to read and learn here, it could save your health.

Stay tuned for the third episode of Gym Rescue next Sunday on Spike TV. I don’t know the experts on the show this episode, but I get a kick out of how Randy Couture and Frank Shamrock deal with the fireworks and tears.

Sev and I needed to get the ants out of our pants.

It’s a long weekend here in Canada and the traffic into the big box gym here in Kelowna was too much to bear, so we headed to the playground.

While playground workouts are fantastic, there are a few things you shouldn’t do:

1) Don’t go to the park at 11 am when it’s 40C (duh….)
2) Don’t do the monkey bars repeatedly at 40C (double duh…). My long standing and beloved callouses: ripped off 🙁

3) Don’t your push ups by the garbage can (How dumb am I?). It was the only shade that Sev and I found. He was laying in the bushes behind it and I was on the pavement in front. I just sort of held my breath…

4) Don’t ask a stranger to take pictures of you. A kind ‘dad’ took a picture while his 4 year old nearly fell off the monkey bars. Oops.

5) Don’t forget water. Such an elementary mistake.

Here’s what I did, altho my hands fell apart around set 16 so I took Sev and my bloody hands home after that:

1 min/10 sec rest 20 sets

• jump rope
• pull ups/monkey bars
• spider crawl
• pull ups/monkey bars
• push ups

*If you’re on your way to your first pull up, you can do hanging leg raises as a great option. Or you can go to the end of the monkey bars where you can touch something, jump up to the bar, then try to slowly lower yourself down. Another option would be to loop your (super strong) jump rope over a high bar and use it to row with (suspension trainer style 😉 ).

**Lifting gloves are recommended unless you want to make my mistake…

Jump rope workouts are doable anytime anywhere. If you want more, then head here.

Looks like I’ll be looking to do something now that doesn’t require hanging onto anything for a few days until these hands heal :/

Thankfully jumping rope is still an option 🙂