Make this the summer that the shirt comes off!

All you need is some focus, guts and determination.  Oh...and some wisdom.  Here are a few pearls of wisdom to help you get ready for summer:

Eat Healthy

Eat only fresh fruits and vegetables, lean meats and a little dairy.  No junk food.  No soft drinks.  No booze.  Eat a healthy satisfying breakfast every day. 

Bust Some Iron

Get to the gym and blast out a workout at least 4 times per week.  Be dedicated and tough on yourself.  Go to the gym when you're tired.  Get to the gym when your elbow hurts.  You want it? Pay for it.  Rep by rep.

Plan and Track

If you fail to plan: plan to fail.  Set some butch goals for yourself and establish realistic intermediate goals.  So...if you want to lose 20 pounds by July...break it down into 5 pound increments by set dates.  Weigh and measure yourself.  Reward yourself with a small (non-edible) treat if you think that will help.

See you at the beach!


Hate Me Now - Thank Me Later

Tom

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Benefits of Massage

Brookstone Massage Therapy

 

Who doesn't love getting a good massage?  The fact that there are many tangible benefits to massage makes you feel even better about investing in this treatment.

 

 

Increased Lymphatic Return

 

Lymphatic system is sort of like the body's sewage system.  Lymph is extra-cellular fluid that would build up in your limbs and elsewhere if it didn't get re-cycled and processed.  Massage is one means of encouraging the healthy flow of lymph.



 

Combat Stress

Massage will help you to relax.  Relaxation means that you're combating stress.  Stress attacks your immune system and leaves you susceptible to illness.  Get a massage.  Relax.  Stay well.

Loosen Tight Muscles

Tight, restrictive muscles will cause painful imbalances and interfere will your everyday activities.  Those aches and pains that creep up on you may be easily remedied on a Massage Therapist's table.  One treatment can loosen a tight muscle which may be causing you a lot of pain.

Book a massage soon for all that it can do for you.

Tom

Hate Me Now - Thank Me Later

www.brookstonemassagetherapy.com

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A repost from a couple of years ago.

The Elusive Six Pack

Ever seen someone with a wicked six pack who did not look like they were superfit and super-checked-out?  I didn't think so.  Fat guys with huge arms - big deal.  Slim guy with a six pack - different story.

What is the Six Pack?

Six pack is the outline of Rectus Abdominis, otherwise known as your abs.  Technically, everyone has a six pack.  The problem is that you just can't see most people's six pack because its hidden under a layer of body fat.


Nice Six Pack Jack



What's Hiding Your Six Pack?

Six Pack Success

There are three things you need to know about bringing out the washboard.

Nutrition
Eat a clean nutritious diet.  Cut the crap out right away.  Totally.  No excuses.


Six Pack Concealer

 

 

 

Fill-up on good clean food.  Eat a healthy blend of slow burning complex carbs like oatmeal and wholesome protein like salmon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ab Exercises

You need to actually do some ab work.  Not 500 reps but maybe 50-75 reps in total...3 days per week.  Here are a few good ones:

 

Dumbbell Crunch

The Dumbbell crunch is a wicked ab exercise.  Hold a dumbbell at each shoulder.  Crunch upwards and press the dumbells at the same time.  Just try for 20 reps.

 

Low Plank

 

The Low Plank is another really good ab exercise.  See how long you can hold it.

 

 

Kettlebell Swing

 

 

The full-blast barbarian kettlebell swing is a great ab exercise and rocks-out some great cardio too.  Get that puppy swinging straight overhead.  Go as hard as you can for 20-30 reps.

 

Cardio

A lot of people think that you need to really crank the cardio to get the six pack.  Its not as bad as you think but its not as easy as you hope either.  Don't go for lame cardio.  If you're not really straining you're maybe wasting your time.

 

 

 

Drink Your Face Off

Water, that is

 

Not beer

 

Beer will absolutely destroy your six pack.  So will any other form of alcohol.



Tom

Hate Me Now - Thank Me Later

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Hockey Season - Get Ready Now

This is a repost from a couple of years ago.  A timely re-read.

 

 

 

Ahhh...Summertime.  The hockey gear is all stuffed into the bag and fermenting in the garage.  The legs are getting mushy.  Abs are getting slack.  Cardio is dropping.  Summer is either and excuse to get soft and flabby or an opportunity to build-up your sharp end-of-season conditioning to a new zenith.  Here are a few exercises to get you started on your off-season.  I'll follow-up with more in August when its time to really amp-up for go-time!

Box Jumps

Box Jumps are an excellent exercise for glutes and quads.  These are prime skating muscles that you need to develop over the summer.  Stand in front of a knee-high box or platform, bend at the knees and waist, swing your arms and leap up onto the box.  Jump back down and do it again.  Aim for 20.  Each workout - add two more.

Running

Yeah, I know.  You hate running.  Too bad.  Its a great cardio-vascular exercise.  It keeps heart, lungs and legs in top order.  If you're lucky enough to live near a beach - run on the sand.  The soft sand creates a wicked workout for your calves too.  Run at least twice per week.  Aim for 5km each time.

Core Strength

Get ready for the Windshield Wiper.  This gut wrenching core workout will make you a monster on ice next fall.  Hang from a chin-up bar.  Hoist both feet up to the level of the bar.  Let them drop down to one side.  Crank them back to the other.  As fast as you can.  Try for about 20.

Upper Body

The Pull-Up is a great upper-body exercise.  You can do this at home or in the playground or at the gym.  I know - its tough.  Some guys can't even do one pull-up.  Keep trying.  Jump up into the up position and hold it as long as you can.  This will strengthen those muscles. Pull-ups work lats, biceps and strengthen grip (which is super important in hockey).

Stay focussed in the off-season and get ready to dominate the ice during try-outs.

Tom

Hate Me Now - Thank Me Later

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www.brookstonemassagetherapy.com

Archery Training

Weight training can really help your archery skills.  Whether you use traditional target bows or hunt with compound bows everyone can shoot better with the right weight training.

Archery Exercises
Focus on the muscles of the rear shoulder and the upper back.  These will help you stabilise and draw the bow.

Rear Delt Flyes with dumbbells are an awesome exercise to strengthen your posterior delts and mid-traps.  Start with a lighter weight (8-12lbs) and go for 3 sets of 10-15 reps for this exercise.  It will help you draw the bow and hold steady while you concentrate on your aim.

FEAT training in Oromocto

Close Grip Cable Rows are a great workout for your lats.  You'll need powerful lats to make a clean draw.  Go heavier with this one.  3 sets of 8-10 reps.

Get a great massage - just because that's what I'm into now!

Farmer Walk is a nice way to improve your grip strength.  Grab a wickedly heavy pair of dumbbells or kettlebells and go for a little stroll.  Your forearm muscles will burn.  Start with 30 steps and work your way up.

Good shooting.

Tom

Hate Me Now - Thank Me Later

Get Ready for Summer

Gain a Few Pounds Over the Winter?

The time to get that blubber off is...a couple of months ago.  But since you can't time-travel you had better start today.  Not only will this extra body fat make you feel self-conscious, it is slowly killing you. 

Cardio?
You are only kidding yourself if you think that just blasting out a ridiculous amount of cardio will get rid of your fat.  The only good thing about doing cardio is that its too difficult to eat crap while you're on a machine.  The bad thing about cardio is that you work-up a big appetite and then use the cardio as an excuse to gorge later. Cardio should only compliment good nutrition.

Magic Food?

I hear this all the time at the gym in Oromocto...eat this...eat that.  "Chia seeds are great".  "Eat organic hemp hearts" etc.  There are a lot of foods that have a great nutritional profile and they will benefit you in moderation...or...they will make you fatter.  Nuts are a great example.  I love Brazil Nuts and they do contain healthy oils but they also pack a lot of calories.  Eat a couple...but that's it!

Portion Control
The key to healthy nutritional fat loss is portion control of what you're eating.  Yeah, eat skinless chicken breast of course.  But just eat one.  For dessert have an ounce of Greek Yogurt.  Eat some fibrous foods or take a fibre supplement like Psyllium seed husk. Yeah, you will still feel a little peckish when you're done.  Deal with it.  Chug some water.  Your stomach is stretched out of shape from years of pizza binges.  You need to give it time to contract back to normal size.  If you blast out tons of cardio and then go home and pig-out; you will stay fat.  Worse - the heavy pounding on your joints from the cardio may lead to arthritis.

Lift Weights
This alone is not the answer either but it is part of the solution.  High intensity weight training will cause you to burn fat.  Lean muscle raises your metabolic rate and contribute to a good fat loss strategy.  Get the big leg and hip muscles working for you.

FEAT training in Oromocto

Don't stick with sissy little weights that you can do 40 reps with.  Do a decent warm-up and then move up to some respectable iron.  Stay safe - but challenge yourself.  3 or 4 sets of a weight that you can barely get 10 reps with.  Afraid of "getting all muscular"?  You wish!  People strive with 100% dedication for years to get muscular.  Many fail.  Nobody ever accidentally got muscular.

Weigh and Measure Yourself
Track your progress.  The scales will only tell part of the story though; so don't get obsessed about weight.  Pick one or two spots to measure and pull out the tape every couple of weeks.

Be consistent with where you measure.

Record your weigh-ins and measurements and review them over the long term.

Determination
Why do most people quit a perfectly good weight-loss plan?  Impatience!  They don't see immediate results; so they quit.  If you like reading crap magazines that promise massive weight-loss in a matter of days you should throw them out and spend your money on something else. 

Tom

Hate Me Now - Thank Me Later

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Brachioradialis Training

Hammertime!

Base Gym Oromocto NB

Brachioradialis is a great little muscle that really fills out the arm.  This muscle flexes your elbow.  Especially when your forearm is in a neutral position.  Some call this the beer-drinking muscle because of the fact that it would be used to hoist a stein full of stout to your lips.

 

Hammer Curls

The best way to isolate Brachioradialis is to perform Dumbbell Hammer Curls.

Grab a pair of medium weight dumbbells and hold them in a neutral grip at your hips (like a hammer).  Curl the dumbbells up one at a time to your shoulder.  Go for 3 sets of 10.  This works well as part of a bicep routine.

Tom

Hate Me Now - Thank Me Later

 

 

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