Fitness Blog

Quick Holiday Workouts To Burn It Forward

ATTENTION: We are now entering the Danger Zone! This is the time of year that the waist lines start to expand and people tend to throw in the towel early and seek refuge within a food coma until January. We want to give you some quick holiday workouts that you can do the morning before you have your holiday feast so you can burn it forward!

Quick Holiday Workout #1: 15 minute Interval Hill Climb

Minute One: 30 seconds Mountain Climbers/30 seconds Rest
Minute Two: 40 seconds Mountain Climbers/20 seconds Rest
Minute Three: 50 seconds Mountain Climbers/10 seconds Rest
Minute Four: 30 seconds Jack Knife Crunch/30 seconds Rest
Minute Five: 40 seconds Jack Knife Crunch/20 seconds Rest
Minute Six: 50 seconds Jack Knife Crunch/10 seconds Rest
Minute Seven: 30 seconds Push Ups/30 seconds Rest
Minute Eight: 40 seconds Push Ups/20 seconds Rest
Minute Nine: 50 seconds Push Ups/10 seconds Rest
Minute Ten: 30 seconds Jump Squats/30 seconds Rest
Minute Eleven: 40 seconds Jump Squats/20 seconds Rest
Minute Twelve: 50 seconds Jump Squats/10 seconds Rest
Minute Thirteen: 30 seconds Plank Rotation/30 seconds Rest
Minute Fourteen: 40 seconds Plank Rotation/20 seconds Rest
Minute Fifteen: 50 seconds Plank Rotation/10 seconds Rest
Then GO EAT……you will be the sweaty person at the table!

Quick Holiday Workout #2: Treadmill Ab Blast

Plank and Hold one minute
Run on treadmill one minute
Legs Up Crunch one minute
Run on treadmill one minute (increase speed)
Plank and Hold one minute
Run on treadmill one minute (increase speed)
Flipper kicks one minute
Run on treadmill one minute (increase speed)
Plank and Hold one minute
Full Sprint one minute
Plank and Hold for max time
Do a 2-5 minute walk on treadmill to cool down

Quick Holiday Workout #3: All Abs All The Time

Legs Up Crunch 10 reps
Seated Ab Twist 20 reps
Bicycle Crunch 30 reps
Knee In Crunch 40 reps
Flipper Kicks 50 reps
Arch Crunch 40 reps
Reach Across Crunch 30 reps
Plank Rotation 20 reps
Negative Crunch 10 reps

Check out this video to be sure you are doing all of these exercises correctly:

Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to choose one or more of these quick workouts to do before each holiday feast so that you can get a jump on that calorie balance. As always, I like to remind people to keep their food in check as much as possible during this time of year. Remember that this is a holiDAY…..it isn’t a holiWEEK….so enjoy your day and then get right back to those healthy habits!

Five Exercises That Will Target Your Glutes

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The glutes are one of the most common target areas with our clients, especially the females. Some want to tone and lift, some want to down size, and others want to “build a booty” so that they can fill out their skinny jeans. The glutes can be a tough muscle to target if you don’t know what you are doing. Many people will just try to do a lot of squats and end up with nothing but sore knees and over developed quad muscles. We always preach good squat technique for proper glute activation, but we wanted to give you five more exercises that you can add to your butt blasting arsenal. We are also going to give you a program to follow so that you can see some results for yourself!

First check out this video for our five exercises that target the glutes:

Now add this quick and “easy” program to your workout regimen 2-3 times per week.

Round One: 30 seconds work/30 seconds rest
- Hamstring Curls on the Swiss Ball
- Fire Hydrants right leg only
- Fire Hydrants left leg only
- Step Ups alternating legs
- Reverse lunges alternating legs
- Glute Press
- Rest 30-60 seconds
Round Two: 40 seconds work/20 seconds rest
- Repeat exercises from round one
- Rest 30-60 seconds
Round Three: 50 seconds work/10 seconds rest
- Repeat exercises from rounds one and two
- Be sure to do some stretching and foam rolling….you are going to be SORE!

When we post our client transformation pics online we always get comments on how much better everyone’s butts look. One client’s husband even recommend that we start doing “butt-fore” and “after” pics…..haha…..Maybe you will be our next glute success story!

Foam Rolling and Stretching Tips for Knee and Low Back Pain

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When people are busy transforming their bodies the last thing we want to deal with is knee and low back pain. If you are someone that has lived several years of your life being overweight and/or been very sedentary you will most likely have some issues with knee and low back pain when you start into your new fitness regimen. The issues have been built up over those sedentary years and now that you are trying to get moving they will rear their ugly head! We want to provide you with a few simple foam rolling tips and stretches that you can do to help loosen up those tight areas in your low back, hips, and thighs. We want you to be able to perform some simple daily body repair and maintenance so that you can attack your fitness regimen with full force and feel great!

The video below shows some of our “go-to” low back and knee pain relievers. These are simple tips that you can do in just a few minutes every day. The foam rolling will hurt a little at first, but you will notice that if you are dedicated to your body maintenance time every day you will see quick results. If you foam roll every day for 10-15 minutes you should have a significant pain decrease within seven days. We see this happen all the time at our studio!

Again the key to seeing results with any body maintenance routine is consistency. Just a few minutes a day can make a huge difference! We hope that these tips will help you get rid of that knee and low back pain so you can get back to the gym and maximize your efforts. If you don’t have your own foam roller you can purchase one at our studio for just $25.

NEW Gym Record Challenges

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We have some great gym record challenges for you all for the last three months of the year. These are great to try periodically over the last quarter of the year and monitor your improvement. You can set an official gym record at NGPT if you are in a PT session with a trainer or in a class with an instructor to verify your results!

Gym Record Challenge #1: The Tire Flip. You will have two and a half minutes to do as many tire flips as possible. You need to flip the tire once in one direction and then run to the opposite side and flip it in the other direction. We will set gym records for both our small and large tires.

Gym Record Challenge #2: The Bear Crawl. You will have two and a half minutes to do as many links as possible. You will crawl both forward and backwards. Each “link” is one rep. So down is ONE and back is TWO.

Gym Record Challenge #3: The Box Jump. You will use our box jump platform to test your vertical leaping ability. This will require both leg strength and athleticism. We will have a tape measure in the studio that you can use to measure your box jump height.

Gym Record Challenge #4: The Pull Up Club. This one is going to be FUN! If you can do a bodyweight pull up we will put your name on the board. If you can do more than one rep in a row we will add your rep count beside your name. Be sure to start from a long arm hanging position and get your chin up to that bar to complete the rep. You can use a hand over or hands under grip for this challenge.

Check out our Gym Record Challenge video for all of the important details:

Three Tips for a Stronger Deadlift

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The deadlift is by far my favorite of all the strength training movements. You get so much bang for your buck! If you want to strengthen and sculpt your legs…do deadlifts. If you want to develop awesome core and low back strength….do deadlifts. If you want to add lean muscle to your upper back and arms…..do deadlifts! If you want to scorch fat off your body…..do high rep deadlifts!

Many people don’t know this, but deadlifts are actually the reason I met my wife! I was competing in a powerlifting competition and I did a successful deadlift at 688lbs, but I strained my groin in the process. There was this cute Athletic Trainer that worked out at the Iron Pit Gym and I asked her if she could help me get healed up……… and then we eventually got married! So if you need to make a love connection…….do deadlifts……haha!

I’m excited to see that many of our clients are really fired up about deadlifts too. So with this article I wanted to give you three tips to strengthen your deadlifts if you are new to doing them.

Check out this video and then read through the tips below:

Tip #1 for a stronger deadlift: Do hamstring and glute work with the TRX, Valslide, and/or Swiss Ball. These three things are all great for posterior chain work. The glutes, hammys, and lower back region are all usually pretty weak when people first start their fitness journey and these movements are a great place to start. Your form will be important. You really want to drive your hips HIGH like I do in the video. It should feel like something jumped up and bit you in the butt at the peak contraction! I like doing high reps with these ones. Start off doing sets of 10-20 reps for 4-5 rounds.

Tip #2 for a stronger deadlift: Do extended range deadlifts. You extend the range of motion by standing on a plate. In the video I am standing on a 45lb bumper plate so I’ve added a good 3 or 4 inches to the movement. This puts you at a mechanical disadvantage and your posterior chain muscles have to work extra hard. Form is critical on this one! If you tend to round your low back with regular deadlifts you will have to be very careful with this variation. Keep that low back tight, abs engaged, and shoulders back throughout the movement. If you attend one of our classes and deadlifts are an option just grab a plate and try out this variation. Once you get your form down on these you can start going heavy with some low reps. The first time you try them do 4-5 sets of 8-10 reps. See how that goes and then try dropping the reps to around 5 and go heavy!

Tip #3 for a stronger deadlift: Do Good Mornings. Again, form is critical with this movement. You should think about making a #7 shape with your body on this one. You need to start off light and build up. You should feel a really nice stretch in your hamstrings when you do these correctly. Start off with higher reps around 10-12 for this one and once you get the hang of it drop the reps and increase weight.

You are going to be SORE from these movements and you will need some body work. Check out our lower body foam rolling and stretching videos below for some helpful ideas.

I hope you enjoy these new ideas to strengthen your deadlift! Keep us posted on your progress!

Three New Exercises to Improve Your Abs

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When we do consultations with new clients the most common target area that they want to work on is their abs. They want to get rid of those love handles and trim up that gut! To improve your abs you have to be willing to put in a lot of hard work, but you also have to constantly throw in new challenges to stimulate further progress. Your abs will adapt to your exercise regimen quickly so we recommend that you try a few new tricks each week. We are going to teach you three new exercises that you can use to shock your abs and stimulate progress.

Watch this video first and then see the helpful tips below:

The Electric Chair: Using the rings is a great way to shock your abs and nothing is more shocking than the electric chair! As you can see in the video you want to have your elbows, hips, and knees bent to 90 degrees and then you hold tight. There are a couple of ways to work this into your routine. A nice way to start would be to do 5 sets of max hold time. Rest about 30-60 seconds in between each set. Once your elbows or hips fall out of that 90 degree position then the timer stops. Measure progress by how much time you can accumulate in the 5 sets. Another great way to use this movement is to set a total hold time and do as many sets as it takes to get there. So if you want to hold for a total of 5 minutes you would just stop the clock every time you come out of that 90 degree position. As an added bonus this movement will also rock your arms and upper back and improve your pull up power!

The Power Plank: This is a serious upgrade to the traditional plank. The key here is to try and rip up the floor by applying pressure as you crunch your elbows toward your toes. You will start to shake almost immediately and you will last about half as long as a traditional plank and hold. Try this one out for one set of max time at the end of your workout.

Booher Abs: Do NOT attempt this one if you have any neck issues! This is an exercise that I picked up from a local gymnastics coach named Michael Booher of Rising Star Gymnastics (check out their website HERE). I have been working on building up my hand stand hold power (another great exercise for your abs!) and Michael gave me this drill to do. The first time I did this my abs started to cramp up and I fell in love! This one is a lot tougher than you think. The key is to keep your legs as straight as possible and control the entire movement. You have to avoid the urge to kick your legs up with momentum with that top position. It is all controlled through your abs and core muscles. Start out slow with this one and build up. Do sets of 5-8 reps with 30-60 seconds of rest in between sets. Once your form breaks down it is time to call it a day on this one.

Try adding these exercises into your core training regimen over the next few weeks and be ready to see some progress with those abs!

NEW Gym Record Challenges

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At NGPT we work with people that go through massive transformations and we know that it is important to continue to come up with gym challenges that will allow people to measure their progress as they transform. We strongly believe that everyone must find multiple ways to measure their success so that they don’t get ultra obsessed with what happens on the scale at each weigh in checkpoint. Eventually you run out of weight to lose and you will need another measuring stick to keep you motivated! Each quarter of the year we come up with a handful of new gym record challenges for our clients to take on. Here are the gym record challenges for the 3rd quarter of 2013:

Gym Record Challenge #1: The Burpee Run. This one will test your upper and lower body endurance as well as your overall toughness. You must do 50 burpees and then run 1 mile. A good starting goal is to complete this in under 15 minutes. If you can get it done in under 12 minutes you are doing really well. If you can get it done in sub-10 minute time……you are a beast! To qualify for this gym record you must perform your burpees in the blue room at NGPT and then run the square mile around our building following the sidewalk the entire time. Get with an NGPT instructor to go over the exact route and then give it a try!

Gym Record Challenge #2: Five Minutes With Jacob. This is an awesome endurance test! If you have never been on a Jacobs Ladder machine you are missing out! This test must be timed on a stopwatch and not using the machine’s timer (just in case you decide to stop and rest a bit!). The hands must be on the ladder rungs as you climb also! Your total feet will be recorded at the end of your five minute climb. A solid starting goal is 400ft. If you can cross 500ft you are in good shape. If you can get to 600 ft you are at an elite level of conditioning. To check out more details on the Jacobs Ladder machine just check out their website HERE.

Gym Record Challenge #3: Three Rep Max Deadlift. We have done some deadlift challenges in the past but this one is a little different because it is for max weight and we are NOT factoring bodyweight % for this one. You just have to complete three good reps going from the floor to a completely locked out standing position. For some deadlift tips and benchmarks check out this video I filmed last year:

Gym Record Challenge #4: Floor to Overhead for One Rep (% bodyweight). This one is simple…so to speak. Just load a barbell and take it from the floor to an arms locked out overhead position. We will rank these based on the percentage of your bodyweight that you are able to complete one rep with. So, for example, if you weighed 200 lbs and were able to lift 100 lbs from the floor to the overhead position you would be scored as lifting 50% of your bodyweight.

Bottom position of the floor to overhead challenge

starting position

ending position of floor to overhead gym challenge

finishing position

So those are our four new gym record challenges for you to tackle during the months of July, August, and September. To set an official record at NGPT you must have an instructor or personal trainer there to verify it. We will be offering some opportunities to set these marks during classes and personal training sessions as well!

Burn Fat Faster with the Progressive E.M.O.M.

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I am always looking around to add to my bag of tricks, especially when it comes to learning new techniques that will help us burn fat faster and improve our stamina. I enjoy learning about different exercise methodologies and seeing how I can apply them to improve my own fitness or improve the fitness of our NGPT clients.

Last year we brought in Brooke Langley as our newest superstar personal trainer. Brooke has a very strong background in a variety of styles of fitness and she introduced me to the EMOM and my brain went right to work!

The basic rule of the EMOM (Every Minute On the Minute) is that you have a prescribed amount of reps for an exercise that you perform each minute. Once you hit your number of reps you get to rest and recover until the next minute rolls around. For example you would do 10 burpees every minute on the minute for ten minutes. Here is a good article to check out for more info on the basics of the EMOM: More on the EMOM

I started to tinker around with this EMOM protocol and I noticed that I would get a few rounds into it and then I would fatigue and the quality of my reps went down hill fast. I wanted to stay in that “conditioning sweet spot” a little longer so I developed something that I call the Progressive EMOM which has a few basic rules:

1. You start at a set amount of reps.

2. You add one rep to your count every minute that you make it through successfully.

3. Once you fail to hit your goal number of reps you rest the next minute.

4. Then you start over and build back up following rules 1-3 until your time is up.

For example:

Progressive EMOM Burpees for 10 minutes

Minute 1: 5 reps

Minute 2: 6 reps

Minute 3: 7 reps

Minute 4: 8 reps

Minute 5: 9 reps

Minute 6: You only get 7 reps when your goal was 10 reps (see Rule #3)

Minute 7: REST

Minute 8: Start back at 5 reps

Minute 9: 6 reps

Minute 10: 7 reps

I love using this protocol to pair up TWO exercises. For example this morning in my Ring The Bell class I paired up Kettlebell Swings and Push ups. They started at 5/5 and built up for 10 minutes. This is an awesome tool that will help you burn fat faster and improve your stamina by staying in your conditioning sweet spot a little longer. You can manipulate several variables to fit your needs including the exercises, reps per minute (how many you start at), and how many total minutes you go for.

The first time you try this I recommend starting out with a ten minute set and then build up. If you want a big time challenge you can go for 20-30 minutes. This is a great example of something you can do while on vacation also. Just take one or two tough bodyweight exercises and run through a 20 minute Progressive EMOM and you will be set for the day!

Fitness Blog

Quick Holiday Workouts To Burn It Forward

Five Exercises That Will Target Your Glutes

Foam Rolling and Stretching Tips for Knee and Low Back Pain

NEW Gym Record Challenges

Three Tips for a Stronger Deadlift

Three New Exercises to Improve Your Abs

NEW Gym Record Challenges

Burn Fat Faster with the Progressive E.M.O.M.

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