Challenge Workouts

Are you recovering from an exciting weekend?

I hope so, but I hope the excitement was all about doing cool things (versus ‘drinking cool’ things).

Do you have sore knees? Some people MAY experience some INITIAL knee pain if you are new to exercise or if you have a history of sore knees. Guess what? Whether you exercise or not, at some point in your life you may experience sore knees. Quitting exercise should NOT be an option. You just have to learn to train around a little knee pain.

You also should understand what GOOD pain is and what BAD pain is. Generally, if you experience pain in your muscles, usually evenly on both sides of your body – this is acceptable pain and you can keep going. However, if you feel pain at any joint (knee, shoulder, wrist etc), and only on one side of your body – this is the time to STOP and assess what you’re doing.

Since you’re a rock star athlete that probably trains at home, you may feel like you’re stuck as to how to assess your form. Here’s a suggestion: get someone to take a 30 second video of you doing one of the below exercises and post it here: www.Facebook.com/ChallengeWorkout

I can assess your form and provide some pointers for you. This will benefit YOU and all our Challenge Workout Facebook readers.

Here are a few tips for you to help you with those sore knees:

Ensure you’re doing the correct lunge form or AVOID all together at first or until your knees are feeling better. Practice your lunge form at home in the mirror using this video:

You should also practice the squat in the mirror the same as the lunge:

*modify the depth of squat until the knees are 100% then gradually work into depth as long as it’s pain free

Here are the exercises you can swap out for lunges/squats if your knees are sore:

WALL SIT – strengthens the quads, easy on the knees:

GLUTE BRIDGE – Strengthens the hams strings/glutes, easy on the knees 🙂 :

RDL (Romanian deadlift) – Strengthens the hamstrings:

The KB swing is a great option for hitting your legs (butt/hamstrings) without aggravating the knees. You’ll raise your heart rate while you’re at it:

Finally, if your knees continue to bother you, I highly recommend my using my friend, Rick Kaselj’s Fix My Knee Pain solution. You can learn more about Rick and his at home techniques here. I’ve used his tips and have saved myself time, pain and money with simple exercises and stretches that have helped keep my knees healthy and pain free.

You can get more information about Rick’s program by visiting here.

Take off your clothes.

Stand in front of a full-length mirror and look at your body – your chest and arms, midsection, thighs, and lower back where the love handles and muffin top start building up…
Are satisfied with the results that you’ve gotten so far with your current fitness routine?

Wouldn’t you like a leaner, more muscular and have an athletic body?

Let me tell you why you may have failed with your fat loss efforts in the past, and why it’s NOT your fault. There’s a boatload of MISINFORMATION floating around regarding the BEST method of fat loss and most of the information out there is pure garbage.

It’s Time To Break The Myths…

Fat Loss Myth #1: You gotta train in the ‘fat burning’ zone. Truth is, there isn’t one. Like we talked about a moment ago cardio on a treadmill, bike, or elliptical machine is a total waste of time. Study after study has proven that steady state cardio at your “target heart rate zone” is a total waste of time.

Fat Loss Myth #2: Training LONGER means MORE calories are burned. Studies once tried to ‘prove’ that you use more energy from fat when in the ‘fat burning’ zone. Theoretically, it takes up to 15 minutes of steady state cardio to get into the ‘zone’. In this first 15 minutes you burn mostly carbohydrates for energy.

Then you need to stay in the ‘fat burning’ zone doing mind numbingly boring steady state cardio for an additional 25-30 minutes to begin to burn fat as an energy source and get maximum benefit.

Do you really have that kind of time spare?

Fat Loss Myth #3: You can burn calories strictly from fat stores. More recent studies have shown that although you burn LESS calories DIRECTLY from fat when you train at an increased intensity, you BURN MORE CALORIES OVERALL in a SHORTER amount of time. So, you’ll use a COMBINATION of carbohydrate and fat as energy sources, but your overall caloric out put will be greater when you do HIIT, or high intensity intervals.

Fat Loss Myth #4: You MUST ‘do cardio’ after your strength training. By now you know that’s the biggest myth of all. Sure traditional steady state ‘cardio’ burns calories, but it’s the most inefficient way to burn calories; once you stop your cardio session, the calorie burning stops too. The best and most lasting way to get lean is to build muscle tone – metabolically active tissue that burns calories around the clock and to blast your body into Afterburn, which will boost your metabolism and turn up your fat burning furnace for up to 36 hours.

Fat Loss Myth #5: Aerobic training is the ONLY way to get lean. In fact, some studies show that aerobic training has been shown to be counter-productive to your ability to get lean. Appetite is increased with aerobic training, but you won’t get the benefit of ‘Afterburn’ if you’re in the so-called ‘fat burning zone’. Often you’ll eat more, but not burn more calories, there by negating the benefit of your aerobic workout.

Fat Loss Myth #6: The Treadmill and other ‘cardio’ machines are the best for fat loss. Wrong. Even if you’re doing intervals on these cardio machines, they’re boring and it’s difficult to maintain any intensity or enthusiasm on them for any length of time. Usually you’ll drop down into steady state cardio on cardio machines. In addition, you’ll open yourself up to overuse.

Fat Loss Myth #7: Anaerobic training can’t be used for fat loss. The latest research is showing that fat loss is related to hormones. As we age we produce less growth hormone in our bodies. One of the best ways to fight aging and reduce belly fat is to increase GH (growth hormone).

How do we get more of this naturally occurring growth hormone? We can increase GH through anaerobic training.

You know that burning feeling you get in your muscles when you train with intensity? That’s your body switching into the anaerobic energy system and creating a by-product called ‘lactic acid’. What’s great about lactate, or lactic acid is that it’s a precursor to GH.

Believe it or not, this can be done in as little as 5 minutes. In other words, anaerobic training is by far the most time efficient method of training for fat loss in comparison to long slow steady state cardio.

Now, how does this relate to you?

Think back to your last workout. It was good, right?

Weight training, some cardio, or maybe even some interval training… fast pace, lots of sweat, you felt good. But was it your best workout?