Challenge Workouts

It was ugly. In fact, it was even uglier than this 50 burpee pull up challenge. Seriously, I don’t know what gets into my head some days. I saw the 50 burpee pull up challenge and thought, ‘how can I make that one more fun?’

My current challenge is to do an unassisted one arm pull up. I’m a long way off. I can only do assisted with a band or by holding the other hand (pictured here).

On the day of this challenge, my plan was to train back and I needed to do some one arm pull ups anyways.  I figured I could throw in a burpee and do 25 one arm pull ups per side, why not? Sounded like a good idea at the time.

Now when you look at the video, you may think:

‘hmmm, her pull up bar isn’t very high so she doesn’t have to jump too much….’

‘hmm, she’s assisting herself with the other arm so ‘technically it’s NOT a one arm pull up….’

Both true.

I don’t care what you think.

For me, this was a challenge that got me sick to my stomach at the thought of it. It pushed me out of my comfort zone. It’s going to get me closer to my goal of an unassisted one arm pull up eventually. Anyone can sit at their computer and criticize. I’m all about getting out there and trying stuff.

My challenge to you is to do SOMETHING to challenge yourself.

Maybe it’s going to be this 50 burpee one arm challenges, maybe it’s going to be another of my challenge burpee workouts or one of Mikey’s finishers or my friend Dan Long’s crazy TRX challenges.  The point is, if you want to keep your body progressing and your training motivation up, you need to always do something cool and exciting. Something that’s a little scary, a little crazy. However, notice that I did this challenge slow and steady? I didn’t risk injury, my form, while it wasn’t perfect, didn’t open me up to getting hurt. That’s the key with challenges, being on ‘this side’ of crazy.

What are YOU going to do to challenge yourself? Leave a comment. Seriously folks. I busted my butt to video tape this for you, the least you can do is tell me what YOUR challenge will be 😉

Oh ya, don’t plan an intervention for me, I’m just fine. Just a few one arm pull up battle scars ==>

PS. Get more fun burpee ideas with my Challenge Burpee program and improve your pull ups here.

I often hear this from clients: I have a lot of back pain. I’m nervous to exercise and if I do, I’m not making much progress. What should I do?

I have a ‘go to’ answer and even a ‘go to’ expert, Exercises for Injury Guru, Rick Kaselj.

Here we are in Kelowna a few weeks ago. I was out there to visit my sister and he just moved there.

We call the Okanagan Valley (where Kelowna BC is located), the ‘California of Canada’. We went out for sushi and pretty much closed the place down (okay, so it was only 10 pm).

The waiter ever so subtly turned off the lights and when we inquired why, he politely said, ‘We close at 9 pm’.

Ha! Rick and I go to all the happening places 😉

Anyways, back to your back pain issue…

If you’re experiencing back pain, as long as other issues have been ruled out, it’s likely that the core could use some strengthening. Take a look at what I feel to be the best and safest ab strengthening exercise from Exercises for Injury guru, Rick .

What About Crunches?

Are you doing crunches like this one pictured on the left? Does it bother your back? Did you know that this is one of the least effective ways to train your core? It puts lots of load on the spine and often leads to back soreness and even injury.

Rick Kaselj  helps tweak the crunch or sit up to make it safe with these tips:

The goal is to work the abdominal area. In the sit up pictured above, the hip flexors are worked more than anything. As well, the spinal erectors are also engaged when you keep the back flat in the sit up.

To ease the engagement of the hip flexors, bent one leg. Place one hand underneath the low back to ensure that you maintain a proper pelvic tilt and curve of the spine. Maintain contact with the hand at all times. This ensures that you’ll keep a curve in the spine to ease the engagement of the spinal erectors. In other words, actively press the spine into the hand that’s on the floor. Think about pressing your belly button into the floor.

The other hand is placed at the base of her neck to support her head. This helps to keep the head in alignment with the spine. Try not to jam the chin into the chest. Keep the gaze upwards.

Start off by lifting just the head off the mat and then returning it to the floor under control.  This works the rectus abdominal area, the ‘six pack’ that most want to work.

You can make it more difficult by lifting up a little bit higher so that the shoulder blades come off a the ground. You can increase intensity by holding for a second or two at the top of the movement and then return to the floor slowly.

Rick gives some crunch tips here:

Rick suggests ‘planking’ to strengthen the core and back.

If you can’t do the advanced moves in the video, just start with a static plank. From there, once you can do a static plank for about one minute, move to:

• get ups (high plank to low plank)
• mountain climbers
• T planks

Ensure that your hips do NOT rock and that they stay stable. Widen the stance of the feet if necessary.

Rick is the master of pain Well, of ‘fixing’ your pain that is.

Check out Fix My Back Pain here.

Everyone wants a six pack right?

Probably the most coveted body part for men is the abdomen, and the same goes for women. Everyone would like to be beach ready – like these fellas in the picture here 😉

My Canadian friend, Rick Kaselj gives all the Challenge Workouts readers the best ab exercises to prevent back pain.

This is a great core routine to strengthen the core and the back and prevent back pain:

-do a ‘get up’ or a high plank to low plank position (5 per side)
-do a slow mountain climber (5 per side)
-T plank (10 per side)

Repeat this circuit 3-4 times

These exercises are safe for the back and targets the abs.

Find out more about keeping your back strong and healthy here.

Which is better to strengthen your abs and keep your back safe?

A crunch? A plank?

Find out here.

Happy ab training!

Want to learn how to do a one arm pull up? It’s actually a similar progression to what you’ll do if you’re just learning how to do an unassisted pull up.

First up, make sure you’re AT THE PULL UP BAR. I know this sounds silly, but don’t go to the assisted pull up machine, go to the pull up bar and grab yourself a band or bench to help you.

Try to do as many assisted one arm pull ups (or two arm pull ups) as you can to start.

Then work on the negative of the one arm pull up (or two arm pull up if that’s what your goal is). The negative phase of the movement is actually the strength building phase.

Once you’ve exhausted these movements, go ahead and just work on scapular retractions.

It’s important to work the weak side first, then follow up with work on your stronger side.

I’m working to master the one arm pull up from a free hang. What’s YOUR challenge? Use the comment section below and tell us what you’re working on and any tips to help you get there.

For more a full pull up plan of challenging workouts, you’ll find a great plan here.

My pal and fellow Canadian, Rick Kaselj has some suggestions on how to keep the back limber and pain free when doing lots of back work. Check out what he has to say here:

Rick suggests doing a vertical hang to stretch out the shoulders. Hold this pose for 15 seconds.

The next stretch is for the back. The difference  between this stretch and the one previous is that with this stretch, you want to drop the hips to decompress the back. Hold the stretch for 15 seconds.

Build on good, that is, if it feels good, continue.

If the stretch feels good, only do it 3-5 at a time, or 10 total through the day. This will increase mobility and flexibility through out the back and shoulders.

For more information on keeping YOUR back healthy, go HERE.

Keep me posted on your progress!