Challenge Workouts

Children can be cruel. Especially to their mother. Let me explain…

At one point, I thought it would be a good idea to take Fitness Kickboxing to incorporate into my boot camps.

I took the Level 1 Kickboxing Certification and I really enjoyed it. I love learning and I love to do new things, especially when it involves training. I honestly couldn’t see myself pursuing kickboxing for my own personal fitness, but I could definitely see merit in it.

Before unleashing my kick boxing prowess on my boot campers, I figured I’d better practice up. Spending a day in the presence of an instructor, following his lead is one thing, but leading a group is something entirely different.

I took to practicing after my workouts. At that point, I had a gym in my garage, so there I’d be kicking and punching in the mirror and practicing my instructions.

In the middle of a particularly devastating combination, I heard something….

I turned to see my son, then about 10 sitting on the steps stifling laughter. Once I saw him, he burst out and nearly rolled down the stairs.

From then on, I’ve always threatened him with my vicious kickboxing skills. I promised to protect him in any case of danger with my lethal kicks and punches. Any would-be-villain would be incapacitated with fits of laughter 😉

As it turned out, I incorporated kickboxing in my boot camp. I had little experience with it so wasn’t super confident. Some of my clients took to it, but I think most rolled their eyes at my efforts.

Seriously, this sort of thing should be left to the experts.

I’d like to introduce you to a real expert, Egan Inoue.

He’s a cool dude that I’ve known for a while. He runs a Fit Body Boot Camp in Hawaii, (I know, that’s a tough place to live). He has literally hundreds of clients on the island that can’t wait to train with him because of his unique and inspiring workouts.

Egan was a five, yes FIVE time world champion in MMA.  (This was after two world championship titles in racquet ball and two world titles in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu.) The cool thing is that Egan’s managed to drill down his MMA training into routines that average (I’ll admit to aspiring to average in this arena…) people like me.

When we were in Miami recently, Egan showed me some cool moves:

As you can see, Egan has some pretty cool moves that will add variety to your workouts. Fun stuff that you can do that not only make you look super tough (admit it now, you were a little intimidated by me right? ;)) but will help you gain balance, strength, confidence and coordination.

If you’re going to learn MMA style moves, why not learn from the very best?

Don’t come to people like me, (unless of course you want to be reduced to fits of laughter and not get any workout at all). Sadly, I was even one of the better people in that course I took. Don’t waste your time with trainers that don’t know what they’re doing in this area.

What I like about Egan’s training, is that he incorporates things I already know, like the lunge, the push up etc, and then spins it with his moves. It’s not like I have to learn EVERYTHING. The problem with other programs is that there’s skill elements required so that until you have these mastered, you don’t get much of a workout.

You get a workout right away with the MMA Bodyweight System.

If you’re looking for something new, the MMA Bodyweight System is a great change.

Also, I was impressed with the strength gains some of his clients boosted:

You know I’m all over anything that will help with strength, particularly pull ups and push ups.

We’re just scratching the surface. The part I was most amazed at was an ENTIRE group of women used these same combination of workouts 3-4 days a week and ran the Honolulu marathon in under 5 hours.… without ANY long distance training.

Egan’s workouts are quick and effective. So much so that he’s in demand from everyone around him. He even trains Scott Caan and Alex O’Lachlan from Hawaii Five-O. They know that Egan will get them lean and chiseled and will help them stay in amazing shape for their demanding roles.

Check it out HERE and see if his program is right for you. He’s made ALL his workouts into a follow along format so you’ll get coaching from a 7 time world champion. I don’t think you can do better than that!

Me? A navy seal? Not likely, but it’s fun to take a look at the physical requirements necessary to ‘make the cut’ for consideration into this elite group. Women won’t likely be navy seals anytime soon, after all, it appears that the military has just recently included pull ups as a requirement for women. You can read my rant on that HERE.

I recently finished reading the book ‘Lone Survivor’ by Marcus Luttrell. It was a compelling read that I couldn’t put down. In the middle of the book, in the heat of the battles, I had to stop reading before bed time because I had crazy scary dreams of being hunted by the Taliban (one more reason I couldn’t be a Navy Seal – scary dreams. I’d say that’s pretty legit)

The author, Marcus, goes into great detail about the preparation to become a SEAL and as the book progresses, it’s clear why they need to undergo such rigorous training. It’s more than physical toughness that these men need to possess, they need to be mentally prepared for pretty much anything.

Okay, I’ll say it, I think that any man that’s a Navy SEAL is a real life hero. There are so few heroes in our world these days, it’s inspiring to read about these real life warriors.

I’m surprised at how much I enjoyed this book and I’ll continue on with his next book, ‘Service’.

I highly recommend the read. Since I’m a person that appreciates a physical challenge, it’s amazing to read about the physical challenges that these men face in training and in battle.

I have to share one of the many lessons I learned that has direct application to every thing I do every day. When Marcus was going through the brutal physical training, he listened to one commander, MacQuire, that told the candidates to ‘just do today’, ‘just do these five minutes’ and ‘don’t think too far into the future of the training to come’.

I find this sage advice for any situation. I know I do much better when I handle a problem at hand and not worry too much about all the other potential challenges coming my way. Marcus says he called on this advice daily as he got through each physical challenge. He knew that there would be more of the same grueling physically and mentally demanding challenges ahead, but if he thought too much about those he’d be likely to quit, as most of the candidates did. So whether it’s in my training or in life in general, I have to give a shout out to MacQuire for his wise words.

I looked up some of the standards for BUD/S (Basic Underwater Demolition/SEALs):

500 Yard Swim – Between 8-12:30 minutes using the combat swimmer stroke, side stroke or breast stroke

Pushups – Minimum 42 in 2 minutes (100 to be competitive)

Sit-ups – Minimum 52 in 2 minutes (100 to be competitive)

Pull-ups – Minimum 8 pull-ups with no time limit (you cannot touch the ground or let go of the bar) (15 to 20 to be competitive)

1.5 Mile Timed Run – Wearing boots and pants, maximum time allowed 11:30 (9 to 10 minutes to be competitive)

NOTE: To qualify for a contract, a prospective candidate must meet the minimum requirements. It is recommended that the candidate strive for the optimum fitness standards and beyond for better chances at qualifying for BUD/S.

I’m pretty sure I’d have little trouble reaching the competitive levels for each of these tests. I was a competitive swimmer so even though I haven’t been in the pool in years, I know that I could manage 500 yards in that time. The push ups, pull ups and sit ups (even though I don’t train with or recommend doing the traditional ‘sit up’) would be no problem. The run may be a challenge. I don’t have army boots and I hate running, but I think I could manage it (especially if the Taliban were giving chase 🙂

Having said this, I know I’m NOT in the least bit qualified to be a Navy SEAL.

As a kid I couldn’t handle the ‘stress’ of playing ‘Kick the Can’ in the dark. Something about being chased or caught made my knees weak. I’m pretty sure it was just the dark that got me. I was all fine with ‘Hide and Seek’ in the daylight.

So maybe I’m just scared of the dark.

Ya, that’s it.

I could totally be a Navy SEAL as long as my missions were in the day. I’m pretty sure the Taliban, or who ever the enemy would be, would gladly give me a ‘time out’ in the dark and resume the battle when the sun came up (those enemies are fair like that, just ask Marcus Luttrell).

Here’s a cool workout that I found on the Navy SEAL website:

– 100 pull-ups in as few sets as possible Run 1/4 mile in 90 seconds in between sets of pull-ups
– 200 pushups in as few sets as possible Run 1/4 mile in 90 seconds in between sets of push-ups
– 300 sit-ups in as few sets as possible Run 1/4 mile in 90 seconds in between sets of sit-ups

Your goal is to complete this workout in as little time as possible. (I think I’ll wait till the snow melts before trying this one outside in the park).
Here’s another cool workout that you can use with pretty much any exercise. It’s called the PYRAMID. It’s a staple to SEAL training for PT (physical training).

(See how I’m picking up the lingo? I’m practically a SEAL already 😉

The basic pyramid goes from one to five steps, (but it can go all the way to 15 in the most rigorous of training sessions). You start with one rep of exercise one, two reps of exercise two, three reps of exercise three. For each step of the pyramid, you double the reps until you get to step five. After step five, you start to descend the pyramid. If you were to do pull ups, push ups and sit ups (the basics in SEAL PT), it would look like this:

Go Up the Pyramid:
(or half pyramid workout)

-Set/Step 1: 1 pullups/2 pushups/3 situps
– Set/Step 2: 2 pullups/4 pushups/6 situps
– Set/Step 3: 3 pullups/6 pushups/9 situps (Your first few set are basically a warmup)
– Set/Step 4: 4 pullups/8 pushups/12 situps
– Set/Step 5: 5 pullups/10 pushups/15 situps
– Set/Step 6: 6 pullups/12 pushups/18 situps (Here is where you may fail/max out)

Go Down the Pyramid:
(or reverse order pyramid)

– Set/Step 5: 5 pullups/10 pushups/15 situps
– Set/Step 4: 4 pullups/8 pushups/12 situps
– Set/Step 3: 3 pullups/6 pushups/9 situps (Finish cool down)
– Set/Step 2: 2 pullups/4 pushups/6 situps
– Set/Step 1: 1 pullups/2 pushups/3 situps

You could easily swap out any of these exercises for squats, dips, hanging leg raises, what ever you want. Obviously, you’ll choose the hardest exercise as the first one and the easiest one as exercise three. You can do bodyweight exercises, or loaded exercises.

I love this plan and will get a workout up for you using this method soon.

Do you have what it takes to be a Navy SEAL?

I know I do! As long as the enemy doesn’t want to play ‘Kick the Can’ in the dark, I’m perfectly suited for this elite team. I’m expecting a call at any minute now for a request for me to join up 😉

Oh ya, get my pull up program to help you with the pull up portion of the Navy SEAL test 😉

I know that several of my clients take a day out of the week to have a ‘cheat’ meal. I highly recommend this. It helps you stay focused on clean eating the whole week long knowing that  you have a cheat meal coming up.

I figured you’d enjoy this report from my friend and top nutritionist Joel Marion. I was just with Joel in Miami last weekend and he said I could go ahead and share this with you.

Wouldn’t it be cool to have a ‘cheat’ on your nutrition plan and not even really be cheating?

At the link below, Joel has a brand new 31-page fat-burning report revealing SEVENTEEN “cheat” foods that manipulate hormones to trim away your belly bulge… and fast.

Get it here:

==> These 17 CHEAT foods Burn Belly Fat FAST

He also shows you how these 17 foods tie into the one solitary hormone
that controls literally EVERY piece of the weightloss puzzle.

In fact, if you don’t learn how to “partner up” with this hormone, you
can pretty much forget about losing fat altogether…it really is that BIG
of a deal.

==> These 17 CHEAT foods Burn Belly Fat FAST

Click this link to read:  2013-Health_Report

(You can open and save to your computer, you don’t have to supply an email.)

Fitness trends come and go.

I remember teaching ‘aerobics’ in the 80’s with my leg warmers and leotard. (Wow, maybe that’s still a trend, but I’m not part of it.)

2012 was an amazing year for fat loss and fitness. Millions of men and women shed body fat thanks to breakthroughs in metabolic training with programs like Metabolic Mayhem, Metabolic Finishers, and the Turbulence Training MRT programs.

If I had to identify THE trend of 2012, it would be the rise of short, intense workouts.

Nutrition trends also continued in the direction of focusing less on weight loss and more of fat loss. By focusing on hormones (leptin and insulin in particular) with calorie and carbohydrate cycling and intermittent fasting, the fitness industry is finally admitting that it’s more than the “deficit”.

So that was 2012.

What does 2013 hold?

My friend, Ben Teal put together a report for you. You’re about to discover my top 3 predictions for 2013, as well as over 33 groundbreaking predictions and insights from top fat loss, fitness, nutrition and sports experts. You’ll be shocked to hear what they have to say about:

* The Rise of Bodyweight Routines
* The Return of Cardio
* How Online Is Changing the Industry (for Better and Worse)
* Quality versus Quantity in Your Workouts
* The Evolution of Function Training
* The Dirt on Adventure Races (Are They Buried?)
* The Fastest Growing Training Trend on the Planet

… and much, MUCH more!

Here’s a report for you, just click and ‘save as’ if you want to save the copy, which I know you will…

Take a look at 2013 Fitness Predictions from me and some of the leading fitness experts that I hang with…

What are YOUR fitness predictions for 2013? What are YOUR fitness goals? I’d love to hear them…the most thoughtful response will get my soon to be released Challenge Workouts: Travel Edition.