Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Radical Reps Baseline Training

My second and newest grip training program is now released! Check it out here: Radical Reps Baseline Training (RRBT)

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Sled by Jim Bryan

This is also posted in the Cyberpump donators area.

Using a sled for training is a topic that appears on many discussion boards. Most usually want to know where to buy one. If you look you’ll find a number of places to buy some real nice looking sleds and harnesses. The problem is that they must be made of gold or some other precious metal. I’ve never found one for less than $100.00 plus shipping. What I did was get an old garden wheel barrow, take off all the hardware, so just the tub is left. I drilled two holes in the front, put a 2X6 inside the tub up against the front and screwed two large screw eyes from the front side into the wood. This is where I hooked a plastic covered wire strand dog tie out onto. (They have metal snap hooks on each end) The handle is made of a 2 inch piece of PVC (I don’t like harnesses) But you could use a harness or tie a rope from the tub to a lifting belt. I put several 12 ½ and a couple of 25 pound Sears plastic weights in the tub. (Admit it you have some) Then I picked up some Kwik Crete (2-80 pound bags) and mixed them onto the weights already in the tub. When finished the sled weighs in at 190 plus pounds. If I pulled it on the driveway or road it would probably move pretty well. But I do it in the back yard and its soft back there and sometimes very hard to do multiple pulls. This suits me fine because I don’t want to spend a bunch of time getting in a workout (remember High Intensity Training?) For added weight I put a pipe in the wet cement so I could put extra plates on and not worry about them sliding off. In the past I’ve used the sled and 2 45’s. And sometimes had my Grand Daughter ride on it. Lately it works good just as it is. Several people have pulled it and so far all like the big handle for hand comfort. I also built another one for those that can’t possibly pull the “stone cold sled.” For that one I went to Home Depot and picked up the mid size plastic cement mixing box. If you look for them they are black plastic boxes and will be near the cement bags. I also picked up a couple of large screw eyes and screwed them through the front of the box into a 2X4. This way when you pull you won’t pull out the front of the box. I hooked a rope through a metal pipe for a handle. With this sled I can just add the desired weight into the box. This sled slides real well in the back yard and usually is pulled by female clients.

As far as technique goes, I don’t run with the sled. I just pull or drag at a steady pace for as many 50 yard trips as I can make. Great conditioning tool and the “stone cold sled” is also a damn good strength tool. In the Florida heat it becomes a test of will. Helps flatten out the bumps in your back yard too. J I don’t have any certain times I pull it. I just fit it in whenever I feel like it. Some weeks I do it daily. Some weeks I don’t pull at all. And instead do rope climbing or another outdoor activity. I saved a bunch of money on this. I only had to buy two screw eyes, two bags of cement, and a plastic mixing box. The rest I had laying around.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

A Simple Workout Formula by Fred Fornicola

The following is a very simple and straight forward approach that I use to develop workout programs. Depending on the individual, I vary the sets from 1-3 per exercise and I generally keep the repetition range from 12-50 (or higher if I feel there’s a real need for a challenge). If 1 set is being performed for an exercise, an all-out/high level of effort should be given. This means that the trainee doesn’t stop at a prescribed number but works until form is compromised. If multiple sets (2 or 3) are utilized, the last set should be a hard effort – using the same guidelines prescribed as for one-set training. Whatever scheme is used, the trainee should go for those extra couple uncomfortable reps and make their training purposeful!

The rest of this article can be viewed in the Cyberpump donators area. Cyberpump Donator's Area

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Get it Going!

Get off your Duff!

This was just sent to me by Fred Fornicola after someone sent it to him.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Incline Interval Training – Just One Approach

by Fred Fornicola

Incline Interval Training – Just One Approach

Many people today are leaning more towards interval training to augment their conditioning programs – and for good reason. Interval training allows for many positive aspects when done safely, efficiently and with a high level of effort or intensity. When done properly, there’s a high output of energy which can enhance the cardiovascular system, help reduce body fat, improve athletic and recreational performance and improve anaerobic/muscular strength. Interval training is generally short in duration (lengthy sessions are impossible, actually) and does not need to be done more than one to two times per week. Interval training can be done in many ways using an assortment of modalities and as much as it is a solid means of training, it can have its pitfalls as well. Too often people abuse interval training – not realizing that such high levels of out put done for too many repetitions or too frequently can lead to overtraining or injury. Obviously, then, a person needs to approach interval training judiciously. For the sake of being somewhat concise, today I will only discuss one running approach that I have found to be beneficial in a number of ways.

The rest of this article can be viewed in the Cyberpump donators area:
Cyberpump Donators Area

Saturday, November 28, 2009

It's Saturday!

Are you back to your normal eating? Don't let the holidays cause you to change ANY of your good habits!

If you feel bad or feel bloated, don't worry. Just get back into that groove of exercise and good eating! The feeling will MELT away fast. If you feel you need to compensate, do some extra work in your workouts. That won't hurt and it will help offset the potential guilty feeling now that it's over.

Did you go shopping on Black Friday!? Oh my! Some craziness out there. I sure hope this holiday season shows a turnaround in spending. The news will feed people to spend more I am sure. ;)

I was recovering from my hard drive crash and found an old picture when I was in my best shape at over 40 years old. Right now, I am not in as good of shape as that, but I am confident I can get close if I chose to. That's a peak of doing everything totally strict for months. To see how many people are reading this log, please email me at editor@cyberpump.com if you are interested in seeing it. I'll then post it here if I get at least 6 inquiries. :) Yes, only 6.

Here's to the rest of the weekend off!

Bill

Thursday, November 26, 2009

It's That Time of Year

The holidays are among us starting today for a lot of people. People eat and then eat some more. Especially Thanksgiving. Does it matter if you pig out this one day? Heck no! Even if you are the strictest of staying the course on your eating, one day will not hurt if you splurge. Heck, even a couple days. The caveat is that you go right back to your normal eating and then stay the course as ususal. Your body can't get "fat" in two days. Don't look at the scale though and freak. You'll probably gain some water weight though depending on your normal diet. It will stream away. ;) Remember, the scale lies all the time so don't use it much.

Enjoy the time with family, eat and be merry!!

Bill

Sunday, November 22, 2009

A Program to Increase Your Pull-Ups PR

I could not remember if I had published this and where because I am getting old I guess. After I found it, I figured I would try it again soon. Here it is....

Purely by accident, I just set a new personal record with 22 pull-ups at a bodyweight of 193lbs. My previous best was 18 reps at I believe a slightly less bodyweight (my records for bodyweight are not very good from years ago). In both cases, the pull-ups were performed in a style where the chin just comes over the bar. I had not been training to set a personal record.

For the rest of this article, visit Cyberpump.com in the Donators area.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Push But Don't Break

I wrote a bit in the internal Cyberpump blog about pushing oneself. Push, but don't break!

Friday, November 13, 2009

Something Stupid

Something Stupid is about me and waiting too long to do something about my computer. And, it was almost disastrous. My hard drive was fragmented and many years old. I should have replaced it. There was only 10,000 files since 1995! I almost had a disaster. Good thing I backed up my files 5 days ago. Norton Ghost is a crappy program by the way for backups. Don't use it.

The good news is no data was lost. But, I waited too long to take care of it and my hard drive went belly up. Mostly due to those stupid automatic updates by Microsoft. I am typing this on my laptop and am waiting for a new computer. This laptop is limited in space and I hate the keyboard. In fact, I hit keys and deleted my whole blog post by accident and had to type it over again! Back up your PC!

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Baked Chicken Salad - Recipe Mentioned via My Tweet

chicken breast tenders - clean under water, etc. so they are wet.

Put italian bread crumbs in a bag. Put chicky in bag. Shake well until covered.

Put in backing dish (pam on bottom). Take your favorite cheese and sprinkle lightly on the top.

Bake at about 350 for an hour...monitor it really for doneness really don't take this exact for time.

Let cool.

Take pieces and cut them into cubes to be throwin into your favorite salid fixings.

Raw spinach (in the pre-washed bags) is the most nutritious. Make sure it's fresh or it's icky.

I like black olives and italian peppers (yellow). Cucumbers too in season. Sprouts, etc. if you like em.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

The “Nasty Nine” Full Body Workout

by Fred Fornicola

As a rule of thumb, I train my clients with full body workouts and recommend a training frequency of two to three times per week on alternate days. I mainly incorporate compound movements for the hips/legs and torso to stress the major muscle groups and address the arms, lower back, abdominals, hands/forearms, cardiovascular health, etc. on an individual basis. My workouts are structured around joint safety and muscle balance which is orthopedically safe for an individual to handle such movements and plains of motion.

The rest of this article can be read in the Cyberpump Donator's area. It's still just 12 bucks a year to support all the sites on the Cyberpump network! Join and Support Cyberpump!

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Radio Interview with Fred Fornicola

Comments

Thanks everyone for the comments. I also wanted to let readers know you can read the comments without clicking the little icon under each of my posts by scrolling to the bottom of the page. :)

Friday, November 6, 2009

The Closet Thing to Real Powerlifting Today

The IPF World's are taking place this week. They are really the original powerlifting federation when we had ONE. The depth of these squats are what they should be. Check out the video:



Now check out a great example of what I don't think powerlifting is. Just one example of these org's with slack rules and equipment (suits, etc.) that have gone WAY overboard. Judging that allow for 1/2 squats at best. Non-locked out benches, and more. I mean it's not atypical for people competing in these org's to out BENCH what they SQUAT or DEADLIFT! Ridiculous!!

Monday, November 2, 2009

What's Going On In High School Weight Rooms?

Jim Kielbaso MS, CSCS

At this time of year, I get to see what’s going on inside a lot of high school weight rooms, and I’ve got to tell you something – it’s downright scary. The four things I see most often are:

1. Lack of supervision

2. Poor technique

3. Poor effort

4. Incomplete routines

Lack of supervision – The problem here usually is not that there isn’t a coach around. The problem is that the coach simply isn’t doing anything. I’ve said it a million times, and I’ll repeat it again – God bless high school coaches for giving up so much of their time to the kids. It’s inspiring to me to see coaches give so much up to work with young kids. What’s uninspiring is watching a coach sit around, not paying attention to what’s going on, not correcting technique, not motivating kids to give better effort and basically not coaching.

For the rest of this article, donate to Cyberpump! and explore one of the biggest online libraries of common sense training information! http://www.cyberpump.com/preview.html

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Maxing Out

As a former competitive powerlifter, I used to "max out" a lot. Too much in fact. Going for a maximum single repetition is another way to put "maxing out" into words. Is it necessary for most people? No. Not even the competitive powerlifter -- until contest time. Most trainees shouldn't even think about going for a single maximum. Why would they? Most people want to build muscle, get harder, etc. Maxing out is about the most useless way to do this. You don't get stronger. You are just demonstrating your maximum strength (maybe) on that particular day and putting yourself in a potential bad situation especially if you just happen to pick the person next to you for a spot.

Here's a pretty good example of a "max out" gone ugly:



Save the maxing out for other activities. ;)

Monday, October 26, 2009

Bodyweight Exercises

A decade ago if you told me I would recommend bodyweight exercises, I would have said you were crazy at the time. Your bodyweight is convenient to use! Probably the most convenient. You don't have to go to a gym. The phrase "drop down and give me 10" applies. For you younger trainees you can think of bodyweight exercises as an alternative as well. You don't have to go pump iron all the time. If you are busy college student, don't think you have to spend hours in the gym either and therefore "just don't have time" to get a workout in.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Resting Heart Rate

An important aspect of health and fitness (and a good indicator of how the old ticker is doing) is to measure your resting heart rate. The best time to check your resting heart rate is when you first wake up and before you even get out of bed. Using your index and middle fingers, find your pulse via your wrist (radial pulse) or neck (carotid pulse). Have a clock or watch available that has a second hand so you can count your pulses and watch the clock. Take your pulse for 20 seconds and multiply that number it by 3 (3x20 seconds = 1 minute). For instance, if you have 22 beats in 20 seconds multiply that by 3 and your resting hear rate would be 66. Take this test for 2 or 3 consecutive days for an accurate reading.

A good pulse rate for Men ages 35-55 are as follows:

Average - 71-76

Above Average 67-71

Good 63-66

Excellent 57-63

Athlete 50-57

A good pulse rate for Women ages 35-55 are as follows:

Average - 73-78

Above Average 69-73

Good 65-69

Excellent 60-65

Athlete 54-60

Note: Keep in mind that beta blockers and other medications may alter your true reading.

Additional considerations are if your resting heart rate is really low,that could be an indication you may have issues with your adrenal system so if you have a low resting HR but feel fatigued, unrested or get lightheaded at times it may be a good idea to see a doctor or qualified nutritionist. For the most part, however, this little test will give a good indication of your current fitness.


Fred Fornicola - Fitness Professional

Friday, October 23, 2009

Today is Cheat Day!

I've been strict all week as ususal and eating clean. Today is my reward!  I can eat whatever I want today.  Pizza of course is on the menu!  The goal of eating clean the whole week is rewarded by this day today.  It's great incentive to eating clean knowing you are working towards a reward at the end. Knowing I have this cheat day gives me great discipline and incentive to stay the course during the week. I know if I fall off the wagon even a LITTLE BIT it will likely snow ball.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Safe, Efficient and Effective for YOU!

I have a very simple application when it comes to exercise: Make sure

it's Safe, Efficient and Effective for YOU. Do what you want, where you

want, when you want and how you want - concerning yourself with anything beyond that is a waste of time.

Fred Fornicola,
Premiere Personal Fitness
http://www.premierepersonalfitness.com/ 

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Bad Habits? How about GOOD HABITS!

We all hear about "bad habits".  Eating too much for example. Drinking. Smoking. Driving too fast. How about "Good Habits"?  Why not turn the concept around!  Create GOOD HABITS.  For example, I have now created a habit of drinking green tea while at work.  Green tea is supposed to be pretty good stuff for you.  How about the habit of not eating fatty foods?  How about the habit of exercising on set days per week?  How about the habit of getting enough sleep every night?  And,the list goes on.  Start creating those GOOD HABITS today!

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Welcome to the Cyberpump Blog and the Superman Syndrome

So I decided to do a blog for Cyberpump and it's associated sites.  Fred Fornicola actually encouraged me to do this so I credit Fred. He thought it would be a good idea to "reach out" into the net and possibly reach more people who may have not even heard of Cyberpump and all the associated sites.  Thanks Fred!

Everyone has at one time or another experienced a time in their training when it all goes right.  You keep hitting PR's, feel great, and feel...invincible.  There's nothing you can do wrong.  The weights feel light.  You feel like....SUPERMAN!  What I have learned and continue to get reminded of is that this is the most critical time to be conservative. Yes, conservative. Don't get greedy.  Greed kills your progress.  The killing of the progress is typically INJURY -- when you least expect it. Yup, when you are feeling like superman!  I will relay a recent story of my own training when I ignored my own advice YET AGAIN! Arrghhh. And, got injured.  Stay tuned!