Thursday Workout

I only did 5 exercises today and looped them 5 times each. Thus, 59 minutes later…I drank a ton of water!

59 minutes later…H20!

Workout: Kickboxing etc...

1) kicks/punches combinations--3 minute round
2) Bear Crawl 80ft.
3) Skipping--3 minutes
4) Pull-ups/ chin ups--10 reps.
5) 25--Situps-full range with 3lbs. dumbbells (2 quick jabs at the top)

Circuit 5x

Time: 59 minutes

Music: Kings X's Dogman 1994

Suspended
Chin-up bar

The first round was all kicks: roundhouse, crescent, front kick, side kick, spinning side kick, flying knees. Round 2 added the hands: boxing, elbows, superman punch, back fist, spinning back fist. You may have noticed that the pull-ups/chin ups number is ah, low. Well, I'm getting old and I'm heavy so…whatareyagonnado? Pullups have never been my thang but I love them because they are great for the lats. Also, in my defense my chin-up bar is suspended by two chains thus, it swings…much tougher than a stationary bar…

The Tools

honest. ha ha!

80lbs. bag

King's X: Dogman
This album is great for workouts! One of my fave songs on this album is Black The Sky.
It's great for kicking the heavy bag!

Today's Workout!

Today's workout was short and sweet. Nineteen minutes to be exact. Hey, nineteen minutes are better than no minutes!

Workout: Put on weight vest. Carry heavy bag on shoulder (alternating shoulders each block). Not unlike a fireman's carry. Walk 2 city blocks to the hill (1 block long). Walk the hill 3x. Return (2 blocks) home.

Time: 19 minutes.

Gear: 40lbs weight vest/ 30 lbs. heavy bag

Music: Van Halen's A Different Kind of Truth
2012.

The beginning of the workout really works the traps and shoulders. By hill walk number 3, the legs start letting you know that they are there. See y'all tomorrow.

Tools of the day!

Skip To My Loo My Darlin'

The other day I was dragging. Energy was low. Earlier in the day I decided I'd 'skip' my workout. I had a great kicking workout the day before and I could always do a heavy workout the next day. (How many times have we said that to ourselves?). But there I was feeling 50 lbs. heavier than usual and shuffling along. I could have grabbed an afternoon coffee or red bull. Except I quit the red bull in 2001 and coffee only holds you up for so long. I thought back to what I'd eaten that day and as it turned out the diet up to that point was balanced. Ah ha! maybe I needed water. I'd read a study years ago that said sometimes fatigue is the body's way of telling us that we're down a quart. But, no I was hydrated. And then it hit me: the workout I was planning to blow off called me out. "Its time to move buddy," the workout shouted.

What to do? Skipping, that's it. I elected to skip for a quick 20 minutes. (No breaks) A quick cardio workout gets the heart rate up and then a guy could move on. Skipping is awesome, plain and simple. I grabbed the 9 ft. rope and took it outside. By the third minute I was wide-awake. I must admit by minute 5 a little sweat gathered at the temples and by minute 10 we (the rope and I) were officially working out. The beauty of skipping is that by minute 15 you're knee deep in the middle of it. The legs, particularly calves get worked and the heart rate is up. Skipping also gets the shoulders to some degree plus the core must be held tight. Add to this skipping requires an aspect of coordination as well.

Boxers do a huge amount of skipping and not just to warm up. Footwork is a huge component of what a boxer needs in his/her toolbox and skipping is a great way to get it. It helps with rhythm and timing. We all know that Mohammed Ali could sting like a bee but how do you think he was able to float like a butterfly?

After my quick 20 I hit the showers and was energized for the rest of the day. Fatigue had been cancelled--mission accomplished. I encourage all of you to work skipping into your workouts but not necessarily all workouts. It's far less ballistic than jogging making it easier on the knee and ankle joints. If you're just starting out you'll probably jump too high and tire quickly. That's ok just keep working at it and before long that rope will barely slide under those sneaks of yours. If you find it monotonous pop in your fave playlist and skip to my loo my darlin'.

For more info stop by: jbthefitnessguy.com

Oil Of Oregano...Nature's Miracle Herb

Last year when I felt a cold coming on I visited my local Whole Foods and searched for a staff member who from their outward appearance had the look of someone that truly believed in the powers of the natural products he or she sold. I didn't want to speak with some Cat in his early twenties with his pants half off who looked like his only desire would be to get back home to his 'call of duty' video game.

A lovely woman with a British accent by the name or (Gwen we'll call her). Was the perfect mark. When I told her I wanted something natural and hard-hitting to knock the cold into oblivion, Gwen didin't hesitate a lick in recommending oil of oregano. She told me that oil of O' kills unwanted bacteria, fungus, yeast, parasites and viruses. I was all in, besides its an herb I enjoy cooking with anyway.

I responded, "Well, I'm not sure that I've got all of that going on but let's give 'er a try." I went home, followed the instructions and two days later I was where I needed to be. The cold never took hold, Ha! As a result I swear by it. I decided to troll around websites hither and yon and found that there is an even bigger endorser than me. Dr. Cass Ingram wrote a book entitled 'The Cure Is In The Cupboard'

And this good doctor claims that oil of O has more than 170 amazing uses to it. Some of those being: aid in the curing of athletes foot, psoriasis, eczema, worms, sinusitis, dandruff, diaper rash, venomous bites, bee stings. It can reduce fever, relieve cramps, and slow down mumps and measles. Holy dinah what a miracle drug of nature! This blogger has not tested the over 170 uses the good doctor claims but heck if half of them are true...

Ancient Greeks used the natural elixir to relieve infection related illnesses and diseases. See what's happening here? This is an example of when society needs to go back-to move forward. Oil of oregano is gaining popularity with holistic types as well as the everyday joe as we are tiring of antibiotics and their side effects, cost and not-entirely-reliable factor.

Please note that I am not a doctor nor can I claim the 170 plus uses Dr. Ingram claims but this jazz knocked the cold out of me like Mohammed Ali used to knock his opponents down back in the day.

Feeding Tube Diet...Seriously?

 The latest weight loss craze is as follows: ‘brides sign up now to lose ten pounds in two weeks!’ That’s not too crazy on its own but it is the method that is insane. Here comes that magic bullet again. These brides are going on the feeding tube diet. Yes, you read that correctly. Women are having tubes filled with some sort of protein-type cocktail fed into their bodies via a tube. One would think that this takes place in a hospital or doctor’s office. Au contraire; it may begin that way but this contraption is portable, baby.

 If you’re not embarrassed by the appearance of a thin white tube crawling around the back of your ear, snaking across your face and then having it dive into your nostril well, I must give you props for that. But that’s where the ‘props’ end. Because if you are the type to wait until the last minute prior to-the best day of your life-to partake of the magic pill then I guarantee that the minute the wedding photos are done you’ll be running not walking to that wedding cake. Furthermore, this new over-hearty appetite will no doubt carry on into the honeymoon stage until within one week you will have put back the original ten pounds that you lost. Not only that I bet you’ll put on more than the original ten, as is often the case.

And what about you so-called doctors? You cats will truly do anything for a buck won't you. You need to take a good long look at your diploma and ask yourselves, "Doc, dude, what am I doing?' You should be encouraging these people to live healthily not, "Hold still sweetheart while I jam this tube up your nose, that-a-girl." Has the pursuit of the almighty dollar clouded the part of your memory where the Hippocratic oath resides?

Come on America stop these silly gimmicks. Put an end to these fly by night schemes. Just because some doctors say its safe doesn't meant its wise. There ain’t nothing like the real thing people and the real thing is proper diet and exercise. Come train with me and we’ll bury this feeding tube nonsense forever. jbthefitnessguy.com

Baby's Got Back...chin ups and pull ups

Occasionally I'm asked what the difference between a pull up and a chin up is. I'm also asked which exercise is better. Let me start by saying that in my opinion both versions of lifting that body of yours off the ground is one of the best exercises ever invented. As far as the origin no doubt it goes back to the days when some vagabond attempted thievery from some rich lord only to have the hounds released on him. In fleeing the scene he probably needed some way to get over that wall. But I digress. And as far as which is better; they're both great.

Here's how the difference breaks down. It comes down to grip and muscles used. If you grab the bar with your palms facing you, you're doing a chin up. If your palms face away from you then it's pull up time. Most people find that the chin up is easier, meaning you can do more reps. This is because even though both exercises primarily hit the back, the chin up uses more bicep.

If you don't have access to a chin up bar you can use the lat pull down machine at your local gym. It's not the same as literally lifting your body weight but it is darn close. Plus, many out there may not be able to do even one chin up or pull up. Don't feel bad if this is you especially if you're a grown up and you haven't done this since childhood. These are hard, plain and simple. Not only that, there are a lot of big dudes out there that struggle with these. You'll often see people built like rock climbers (strong and lean) or actual rock climbers ripping these things off like butter. (That is if you can imagine a lot of pull ups being like butter...hmm I need to work on that one).
Allow me to offer one caveat. If you do a pull up to the point of ducking your head and putting the bar behind you to the back of your neck; don't. Many people can do this and they have no problems. But many others, develop shoulder pain because it puts the rotator cuff at an odd angle and/or they experience neck pain. So stick to the regular pull/chin ups and live happily ever after with a gorgeous back. You do want 'back'...don't ya baby!?!

Come check me out at www.jbthefitnessguy.com

I'm All Natural Baby

Do you race through a grocery store, snatch up everything labelled 'natural' and go home feeling good about yourself? Well, hold your natural horses. You may have been hoodwinked. Actually, there's no 'may' about it, you've been taken. The FDA is having a difficult time defining exactly what 'natural' means so ah, they don't. They stay out of it. Meaning they have guidelines where the word organic can be used but natural, not so much. There are natural cookies, natural fake juices and even natural cheetos. I'm not suggesting that you shouldn't feel good about yourself in general, go ahead. Just not about buying foods labeled 'natural'.
It's truly sad in that where companies have no right to claim that their product is organic, they attempt the next best 'title', natural. As if we're not going to know the difference. Well, sadly many of us are falling for it. In fact when the FDA claimed that they didn't consider High Fructose Corn Syrup to be natural some heavyweight food manufactures blasted the FDA, claiming that 'hey, it comes from corn!' Natural or not High Fructose Corn Syrup is no friend to any of us. (See archive of this blog "That Friggin' Fructose").
So what do we do? What we've always been able to do; read the label! It's as simple as that. Now get up and take your natural butts to the gym or wherever else you get your fitness on!