Tracking Your Workout with Your IPhone

A lot of people like to use a journal to guide and record workouts. I have always liked the idea of this, but I just don't have it in me to carry a book and pen and write everything I do down. I do, however, have my iphone plugged into my head for music, not to mention it keeps most people from interupting your workout. If you want to look even more busy, you could use an app to record your workouts and much much more.

I have been using Gym Buddy, $2.99 last check, on my IPhone to record and track all kind of personal information about my gym efforts. There are several programs out there and once you get use to recording your sets and reps it comes natural. Some people find that it can help with motivation, "got to fill out my log", and if you miss a workout looking at that empty square on the calander can provide another form of motivation. One interesting bit of information that I like to look at is the total amount of weight lifted durning a session. I was shocked to see numbers over 27500 lbs for a chest tri workout and 55000 lbs for a leg routine. Check it out, it might be what you need to spark some new interest and get to see actual progress.

Add a Push-Up Day

Increase your chest development and strength with the PUSH-UP!

Even if your working your chest hard, pick a day and add 100 push-ups to the mix. Do them in as few sets as possible with as little rest as possible. Also changing the type of push-up by elevating the feet or hands (incline/decline) can help and shock the muscles into growth.

2 Rules to follow:

1. If its easy change it so it's not.



2. When you can do 60 in the first set without stopping, do 150 total.

Goal Setting

If your going to lift weights, then ask yourself, "What's my Goal?"

MUSCULAR ENDURANCE: The ability of a muscle or group of muscles to perform repeated contractions against light loads for an extended period of time.

• Use lighter weights, complete 3-4 sets of 12-15 repetitions, take a shortened rest period of 60 seconds or less between sets

MUSCULAR HYPERTROPHY (GROWTH): Increase in muscle size and mass.

• Use a moderate to heavy weight complete 2-4 sets of 6-10 reps; rest 30 to 90 seconds between sets

MUSCULAR STRENGTH: The maximal force a muscle or group of muscles can generate in one maximal effort.

• Use heavy weight; complete 3-8 sets of 1-6 reps, rest 2+ minutes between sets

Chances are, if your lifting weights already then your doing something along these lines. The best option is to rotate every 4 weeks or so, from one method to another.

The Uniform and Command Presence, A RANT!

First, I don't mean any disrespect to anyone.
With that said, I do think that public image in the uniform is important. I have had civilians come up to me on numerous occasions asking why there is obviously no "physical fitness requirements to stay in law enforcement"?


That is a hard question to answer, because most people know to get into LE, and make it through most academies, you need to be in some kind of shape. The common question is why doesn't this continue? If the public see this, then administrators must see it also. Right?

Yes and no. The problem with making department wide fitness requirements is no one can be exempt. That means, big boy sitting at the top as to comply. Not a big deal, but what if he doesn't? What if the patrol guy doesn't? Are you going to let someone use a medical exemption for a "fitness" requirement? If they can't maintain a basic amount of fitness, can they do the job? Sounds like someone might get sued.

The truth is, Americans are overweight, so cops are overweight. The choice has to be the officers, you have to do it yourself.

KNOW THIS; THE PUBLIC SEES IT, THEY RESPOND TO IT, IT EFFECTS YOUR ABILITY TO DO YOUR JOB! IT TAKES AWAY YOUR COMMAND PRESENCE IT PUTS YOUR SAFETY AT RISK!





While I'm on the soap box: If your a "big boy" and think that extra 150 lbs your carrying around makes you a badass and intimidates the bad guy, your wrong! If your out of breath after you walk up a flight of stairs or up to a violator's vehicle, then you have displayed how weak you are. You have left yourself open to resistance, whether it be verbal, mental or physical.

Get in shape!

Change Things UP!

SUPERSETS/CARDIO/TREADMILL/BIKE/JOG/GROUP CLASSES/HEAVY LIFTING/HIGH REPS/LOW REPS/NEGATIVES/SLOW REPS/SPORTS/SWIM/HIKE/YOGA/BOXING/ETC.

You have to mix up your program if you want to see results, avoid injury and keep your body burning calories at its max.

Change your program up every 4 weeks at least and any day that you need a change make it.

BURN MORE CALORIES/BUST PLATEAU/REACH FULL GROWTH POTENTIAL/INCREASE ENDURANCE/STAY MOTIVATED/HAVE FUN/GET CUT

BE YOUR BEST

Increase Strength on the Bench

Negatives

Having trouble breaching that plateau on the benchpress? If you have access to a Smith Machine give negatives a try.

Set up a smith machine with a bench and heavy weight that you can bench maybe twice in a regular fashion. Have your partner do most of the lifting phase and you resist the negative (downward) phase of the lift. Try for a count of 5 before the weight touches down. Use the machines safety stops to prevent the weight from touching your chest.

Pull-ups

Pull-ups take practice and determination, but can benefit your upper body strength like no other single routine. Often the bench press and bicep curl get all the attention when it comes to showing off at the gym. One reason you don't see the big tough guys showing off at the pull-up bar is they can't. To do an impressive set of pull-ups, it takes practice.

Try this 1 - 2 times a week:

4 sets of Pull-ups

4 sets of Lat pulls

4 sets of Cable Rows

(shoot for high reps, 10-15, to failure)

20 minute workout

Complete as many sets as possible in 20 minutes, rest only if you have to!!!!

8 pull-ups

15 push-ups

25 body weight squats

25 crunches

Basic Resistance Training -Where to Start

Give me a Routine

A very common request with a difficult answer. However, there is a basic idea that is easy to understand, Nike says it best, "Just Do It".

The SAID Principle

SAID stands for Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands. What does that mean? It refers to the principle of adaptation that your body uses to get stronger to meet physical demands that are placed on it. Specificity refers not only to exercise selection but also refers to how the exercise is done when lifting (fast/slow), and to the number of sets, repetitions, and amount of rest taken.

Basically this means that changing up your workout is necessary, it keeps you from plateauing and increases muscle gain.

Exercising outside: Know the OZONE LEVEL

Click here for Houston's level
When the summer starts winding down more people move outside to exercise. Air pollution is much higher during the summer months and we have had several "Ozone Warning" lately.

It has long been known that high levels of ozone exposure are dangerous to health, and levels of ozone are monitored in most metropolitan areas. In 1979, the Federal Health Standard for "good air quality" was set at .12 parts of ozone per 1 million parts of air for one hour (abbreviated as ppm/hour). The Canadian level is set at .08 ppm/hour, and experts in the U.S. have seriously questioned the margin of safety provided by the national clean air standard.

• Avoid exercising during rush hours (the CO level peaks during rush hours).
• Avoid high cigarette smoking areas prior to and during exercise.• Avoid combinations of high temperature, humidity and air pollution.
• Keep the amount of time spent in high pollution areas to a minimum (physiological effects of air pollution are both time and dose dependent).
• Be aware of seasonal variations in ozone levels. The ozone level is usually low in winter, increases during summer with a daily peak around 3 p.m., and reaches maximal values in early autumn.

Bust out of the routine!

Have you been doing the same routine for the past 6 months or longer? If so it is past time to switch things up. The most effective change you can make is in your number of reps and weight used.

Make a Change

If you have been lifting heavy and aiming for 5-10 reps then lifting lighter and aiming for 15-20 reps would be a big change. You will feel it.

• Adding a different machine or substituting one exercise for another is also a good option. That could mean something simple like changing the handles on the lat pulls or trying a machine that you have never used before.


• Adding a set can make a big difference. That is the first thing I recommend to more experienced lifters when they come to me. Most people get stuck on the 3 sets, I do 5 and sometime 6 on more compound movements. The only drawback is time, it will increase your workout time, just keep moving.


• Reorganize your workout. Try supersets or adjust your rest time between sets.


• Treadmill for eliptical or one of the other cardio machine that you have never tried.

Change is not easy and messing with your routine is a challenge, but it is very necessary. Your body and is an amazing machine and able to adapt, it has to be challenged to improve.

New "Research" on exercise

The Myth about Exercise

is a

Misleading headline

If you get a chance to read this article in Time Magazine please do. I have a real problem with how this information has been presented on the news.

Basically the article states that when people exercise they become hungry and eat more. Furthermore, some people seem more likely to engage in bad eating habits because they exercise. "Well I ran this morning so I can eat these chips", would be a good example. So, it is not that exercise is a myth, but will power can become more of an issue for those who workout. So again it comes down to what you eat more than anything else.

I do agree, as stated in the article, that will power is like a muscle and it becomes tired the more we use it. So it may be better to cheat once in a while just be sure to make it in moderation and make wise choices when you do.

Little Weight, A Lot of Effort

It doesn't take much to get a good workout. The most important thing is doing something and remember a little weight can go a long way.

1. The Jump squat using a medicine ball

Hold the MB at your chest. Begin by lowering yourself down to a fully squatted position as you did in the standard squat. When you have reached the depth of the squat, reverse motion and jump up into the air as high as you possibly can. When you land from your jump, go immediately into your next squat.

2. My favorite, the Close Grip pushup, check it out on previous post.

3. The Chop Squat

Combining the Squat with a bicep curling motion

Combine these 3 movements, 3 sets each with 30 seconds or less of rest between sets.

Medicine Ball Plank

The medicine ball plank is an advanced move for your core. As seen here, lock your core in place and find a comfortable position for your hands on a large medicine ball and hold until your form breaks or until total failure.

Challenge: During your plank perform slow tricep pushups until failure.

More Core

Starting position: 1 Sit on the floor, your back straight but leaning slightly toward the floor, as if in the "up" position of a situp. Your knees should be bent 90 degrees, your heels about 15 inches apart and resting on the floor.
The move: Hold the ball close to your chest, 2 rotate your torso to the left, and place the ball on the floor behind you. Rotate around to the right, pick up the ball, rotate left, and place it behind you. Repeat eight to 12 times, then do eight to 12 more starting with a rotation to your right; that's one set.
Hint: Keep your head in line with your torso throughout the movement. Perform this move as quickly as possible.

The "Murph"

Workouts come in all shapes and sizes. You don't have to go to the gym to get a good workout.

Here is a hardcore one I found on Crossfit:

"In memory of Navy Lieutenant Michael Murphy, 29, of Patchogue, N.Y., who was killed in Afghanistan June 28th, 2005".

For time:

1 mile Run

100 Pull-ups

200 Push-ups

300 Squats

1 mile Run

Partition the pull-ups, push-ups, and squats as needed. Start and finish with a mile run. If you've got a twenty pound vest or body armor, wear it. Of course not everyone is can do 100 pull ups or 200 pushups, but you might be surprised what you can do if you really push yourself.

Pull-up advice

A lot of officers ask me about how to improve their score on pull-up pfts. Although I have touched on it here before here are some actual exercises that can help.

The common denominators between men and women who can do pull-ups are that they practice them regularly and have lower bodyfat percentages. The best way to train to increase the number of pull-ups you can do is to do pull-ups until you are exhausted, every other day. Being able to do pull-ups effectively helps with lifts, negotiating obstacles, body drags, crawling and more.

NEGATIVE PULL-UPS

Negatives are great if you can only do a few actual pull-ups then burning yourself out with negatives can help get you to the next step. A negative is assisting yourself to the "up" position and allowing your body to slowly lower to the "down" position. The idea is to lower your body as slowly as possible fighting against gravity for at least a 5-8 count.

LAT PULLS

The next best thing to a pull-up is the lat pull machine. The problem I see with people doing lat pulls, pulling a ton of weight, is they are almost always doing it wrong. It is important to retract your shoulder blades, sticking out your chest continuously throughout the movement. For other words, before making that first movement retract your shoulder blades together, which causes your chest to stick out, a natural curve to the lower back is fine. Keeping these muscles retracted throughout the whole movement is key. It may feel like you are not getting a "full range of motion" keeping the rhomboids and traps contracted, but you are increasing the work required from your upper back. Chances are you will not be able to do the same heavy weight and you should not be pulling from your hips or lower back. Never pull the bar behind your head.

DURING THE WEEK

To start pick 2 days a week to hit the pull-ups hard. Work with negatives and lat pulls 4-5 sets of each. Each set should be until exhaustion or close to it. Rest about 2 minutes between sets. Don't forget to work your biceps once a week (much smaller muscle group), another important component of pull-ups. Pull-ups are rough, make sure to get enough rest between workouts.

More on Cardio

Cardio can turn back the clock

Research has shown that cardiovascular exercise not only can increase a person's longevity , but it can also reverse signs of aging. One study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine concluded that by maintaining aerobic fitness through middle age and beyond, a person can delay aging by up to 12 years. A person can also stay independent longer when they become older. The old saying "use it or lose it" is definitely true when it comes to cardiovascular exercise. By exercising, an older adult can maintain a better level of functioning and delay aging-related disabilities.

The Core

These 3 basic moves can make a big difference in your core strength.

The Bicycle exercise is the best move to target the rectus abdominis (i.e., the 'six pack') and the obliques (the waist), according to a study done by the American Council on Exercise. To do this exercise correctly:
1. Lie face up on the floor and lace your fingers behind your head.

2. Bring the knees in towards the chest and lift the shoulder blades off the ground without pulling on the neck.

3. Straighten the left leg out while simultaneously turning the upper body to the right, bringing the left elbow towards the right knee.

4. Switch sides, bringing the right elbow towards the left knee.

5. Continue alternating sides in a 'pedaling' motion for 15-25 reps.

The plank exercise is a great way to build endurance in both the abs and back, as well as stabilizer muscles. To do it right:
1. Lie face down on mat resting on the forearms, palms flat on the floor.

2. Push off the floor, raising up onto toes and resting on the elbows.

3. Keep your back flat, in a straight line from head to heels.

4. Tilt your pelvis and contract your abdominals to prevent your rear end from sticking up in the air.

5. Hold for 20 to 60 seconds, lower and repeat for 3-5 reps.

The exercise ball is an excellent tool to strengthen the abs. To do it right:
1. Lie face-up with the ball resting under your mid/lower back.

2. Cross your arms over the chest or place them behind your head.

3. Contract your abs to lift your torso off the ball, pulling the bottom of your ribcage down toward your hips.

4. As you curl up, keep the ball stable (i.e., you shouldn't roll).

5. Lower back down, getting a stretch in the abs, and repeat for 12-16 reps.