warmups too workouts

a chronologically older athlete just needs to warm up. this gets his system up and moving and prepared for what is to come. a younger athlete (kid) has a system always primed and good to go so he can get away without proper warm ups.
warming up before training heats the body up, gets the lungs ready to transport oxygen effeciently, and loosens up the muscles and joints so the can move fluidly.
here's a good warm up
pushups
jumpropes
bear crawls
squats
grasshoppers
cassok/mantis
each exercise is done for one minute
this beats the crap out of 15 minutes of pretend work on the exercycle where 97% of people are either reading a gossip rag or gossiping amoungst themselves. thats not much of a warm up really

BUT

this is such a good opening sequence why stop here.
this warmup can easily shift into a conditioning session
6 exercise done for one minute = 6 minutes.
do this balls out for 6 minutes and thats a great metabolic start to the day.
(balls out is an old engenering term)
pace yourself for a bit and do this for 2 rounds (circuits) and thats 12 minutes.
a short, effective session
1 more round and thats 18 minutes. your well into a training program.
just.one.more.round. and youve been going non stop for 24 minutes. if you can do this for 24 min. thats a good training/conditioning session. if you can manage this for another round then the first 4 rounds you didn't really push yourself.

do these 6 exercises,in circuit fashion, without a break between circuits and slowly begin to pick up your pace as you train the circuit (over time/sessions) and you will quickly begin getting into shape. you'll get stronger and your heart and lungs will get healthier and more efficient. you'll find that your flexability improves as well.

a great how to deadlift video from diesel crew http://www.dieselcrew.com/

it rained but i went to the beach anyway

there are a million excuses not to train, (i've used them all myself), but thats just what they are, excuses. problems. laziness. instead of excuses lets look for solutions. i love training outdoors. its good for the spirit and nature tends to provide all of the equipment you need. Its also a good way to get my kids involved and playing with kids is one of the best training paradigms i've come up with. today i took a drive to the beach and we just used what nature provide and spent 20 min just moving: non stop: no rest:
we jogged around (in the sand and up dunes) and climbed rocks (pulling) and did pushups (pushing) and lifted stones (from the ground up/squating-deadlifting)
did some bear crawls, curls, and lunges.
no equipment just us and the earth.
20 min. at the end of 20 min. i was used. but kids being kids, we spent another 2 hours running around - walking around and playing and doing beachy things. at the end I went for a swim. (contrast bathing)
no excuses. 20 min. brilliant workout. didn't have to be a beach. couldve been the park. or the living room.
no excuses. just discipline.
want to change more than you want to stay the same

catching the z's

you gotta sleep
perhaps one of the most overlooked aspect of health is the need for sleep. we all know that we need "some" sleep, but we seldom allow ourselves to gain the sleep we need, for a variety of reasons, mostly a mixture of life style concerns and bad habits.
When you're working hard, burning the midnight oil, playing hard-staying out with the owls then your body is being robbed of one of the essential ingrediants of health. SLEEP. Society asks us to work and work; We work long hours then return to our caves and sit down for food and watch tv, next thing you know its late in the night and you've invested hours in something that didn't really entertain you, just to satisfy a habit.
Often we get the call to go out on the town and spend many hours carousing only to spend the next day or two with the enevitable hangover, moody and unhappy.
These activities rob our minds and bodies of one of the most valuble aids in mental and physical recovery.Sleep.
You have to work hard to get ahead, and you need time to blow off steam and relax. Escape your day to day grind. But we should take these things into consideration and schedual some time to sleep. come home after work, eat, train for 20 min (or train for 20 min , eat) spend half an hour to an hour teaching your body a new habit; gearing up for down time. read a book, take a spa, whatever. change your active habit so your mind and body know its time to rest, go get some sleep. skip the tv. if its that riviting, get the dvd.
when you have a big weekend planned or unplanned, cat nap your way through it. 15 min, before you go. a few extra naps during the aftermath.
you have to sleep. there are books written on the bad effects and loss of health and sanity due to lack of sleep. Most of us even when we think we're getting enough sleep are still sorely lacking in what the human body needs to actually recover the riggors of normal day to day activity (let alone if your engaged in hard labor or training). get away from the tv. get away from the pc. stay home for a (early)night.
early to bed early to rise makes one healthy wealthy and rise. this is true. give it a try.

obesity and social science

there's a lot in the media about obesity and social ties. Its not your fault your fat. maybe. its something bad in your past. dad was mean, a boyfriend cheated on you. you saw your puppy get hit by a car. maybe.
yes a lot of people eat for comfort. are comfort eaters. and there's a lot of legitimate reasons for this, however; no matter how much counceling you undertake, if you don't exercise and eat (close to) right, your not going to loose weight.
no matter how you've developed your bad habits, your habits of a lifetime, to break them, you have to commit to change. you have to learn a new way, and this takes commitment and commitment takes disipline.
go get all of the support you need, friends, family, counciling.
you DO have to take care of the spirit, but to change the body, you need to exercise and you need to eat healthy. (http://www.precisionnutrition.com/)

training when its raining

if your like me and a big chunk of your training is done outdoors, and you don't have a gym membership, and you don't want your weights crashing through the floor while your trying to pull/deadlift 200k; but it's pouring rain outside, then what you gonna do?

what about some pushups and squats?

try this workout.

handstand pushups (back to the wall)
wall climbs
side lunge into cosaks
3x? as a circuit

then
handstand pushup (faceing wall, going down untill chest touches floor)
gymnastic bridge
compass lunge
grasshoppers
3x?
then
pushups
wrester bridges (be sure your up to it)
prisoner squats
v sits
3x?

lets take a walk

walking is not exercise unless you're really BIG. Big fellas can walk to the mail box and call it cardio. It takes a lot to lug around 300 plus pounds. your muscles are working hard to carry that much mass around and your heart is pumping ferociously (you hope) to push the blood in your system that far.

If your that big, then walking can be exercise but you need to have a good look at yourself and be sure of your life choices.

But...if you have even a mediocre level of general physical capability then walking is not going to do a lot for you.

The human body is designed for movement so it needs to maove to exercise, walking is the minimal movement pattern the human animal makes. Rolling over and stretching exercises more muscles than walking.

If your just starting out on a fitness or weight loss program then walking is where you start because its the simpilist motor recruitment pattern the manimal uses. As soon as you hit the 5 min continueous motion mark its time to up the ante. Steady state walking just doesn't stress the body enough to generate appropriate stress to forse physiological adaptation.