Exercise of the day: Kettlebell Swing

The spread use of kettlebells started in 2010 with different exercises. Now almost every personal trainer tries to engage kettlebell in their workouts.

Kettlebell swing is on of the exercises that widely spread in the past couple of years, beacuase of its benefits and challenging movement form.


So, what does kettlebell swing work?

1- The important posterior chain muscles of the body such as the hamstrings, glutes, core and back.
2- All parts of the back from the lower back all the way to traps.
3- The abs and strengthen the core muscles.

Tell you what, do one of the challenges in the end of the post and you tell me what does kettlebell swing work.


How to do kettlebell swings?

1) Start with the kettlebell on the ground in front of you, knees bent, your weight centered towards your heels and your back flat and hike the kettlebell behind you.
2) Drive your hips forward to propel the kettlebell through its arc. Your arms are just hooks and the power comes from the movement of the hips and the muscles of the posterior chain ie, hamstrings, glutes, lower back.                                                                                 

3) Swing the kettlebell to chest height, contract your quads, glutes and your abs by tilting your pelvis up and extending your hips
4) Let the kettlebell free fall back between your legs and through your legs as high as possible bending your knees. Aim for your groin and then get your groin out of the way by taking you hips back.

You should notice that the power comes from your hips, that you are hinging not squating, to complete your hip extension at the top and to feel the movement in your hams and glutes not your quads. If you feel that it works your quads then you are doing it wrong.

Watch this video

What are the other benefits of kettlebell swing?

1- It's a weight exercise that involves fitness in the same time.
2- It's a great conditioning and fat burning exercise.
3- It increases endurance specially for the back muscles which can prevent injuries during performance of traditional weight lifting exercises.

Kettlebell swings workouts and challenges

Tabata Kettlebell swings (that burns hell of calories)
4-minute-tabata of kettlebell swings (20 seconds swings, 10 seconds rest for 4 minutes) with a proper weight and a proper. Count and record your reps.

Time Challenge swings
Do as many reps as possible of kettlebell swings in a certain time (5 minutes). Record your reps and try to beat your record the next time.

For time swings
Do 100 kettlebell swings as fast as possible. Record your time and try to beat it the next time.

Finally, you can engage kettlebell swings in any if your workouts for strength, endurance and fat burning.

Thank you
IR

10 Reasons why you are not growing

Guys, this article is great, read it to know what mistakes you do.

By Mr. Andrew Carruthers

P.S: I added the pictures :D

10 REASONS

WHY YOU'RE NOT GROWING

Are you battling to pack on the weight?
Try these tips to boost your training

By Andrew Carruthers, Editor-In-Chief – Muscle Evolution magazine

When you take into consideration all the factors that bodybuilders need to apply to their daily lifestyles in order to stay anabolic and promote muscle growth, there are often many simple elements that get overlooked. So stop hindering your gains in the gym by eliminating these mistakes through better awareness and a few simple insights.

1 Your form sucks
Form is a strange topic. Why? Because it’s usually attached to ego. I see it daily and it’s hilarious to watch. Take a simple exercise like seated lateral raises for shoulders, for instance. When performed properly it’s really difficult to use heavy dumbbells. In fact, it’s not a power movement, so using heavy dumbbells is usually ineffective in achieving results. Ego usually takes over at this point simply because bodybuilders realise that in order to perform this exercise properly they need to use small dumbbells – this is not gonna happen for those whose egos exceed their intelligence. The result is heavy dumbbells that are thrown around with everything but the shoulders. This type of training is ineffective and the results generally speak for themselves – there aren’t any.

  

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2 You’re showing classic signs of “Ronnie Coleman” syndrome
I love this one. I always have a good laugh with my training partner when he sees a rookie enter our gym and promptly names him “Ronnie Coleman”. You know you have developed this syndrome when you walk through the turnstile at gym with the traditional watermelons under your arms and proceed to make your presence known throughout the iron den by hurling large amounts of weight through the air, bellowing out huge cries of so-called intensity-induced effort. This condition is known at our local gym as Ronnie Coleman syndrome, not because Mr. Coleman himself actually acts like this, but more because the individuals that display this kind of behaviour actually believe they have attained Ronnie’s size and stature within their very short weight training career. This problem is very closely linked to the first point I mentioned and is absolutely detrimental to progress, especially for novices. Once again, ditch the ego and train smarter. You also don’t need to voice your intensity to everyone else in the gym while you train. No one cares, so get over it.

 

 

 

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3 You’re not eating enough

It’s quite simple really - the bigger you get and the more you demand from your body at each training session, the more good, solid nutrition you will require. A big body requires a lot of fuel. A big body that is trying to grow even bigger will require even more fuel, and so on, and so forth. Going through all the macronutrient profiles here right now is not what this article is about. What is important to mention is that, from time to time, we become complacent. We skip meals and shakes and convince ourselves that it’s ok to do so. Calories in versus calories out is what inevitably dictates weight gain or weight loss. Also, fuelling your body with poor nutrition and empty calories, such as those found in fast food, is also a surefire way of ensuring that you’re not getting enough protein. With the demands bodybuilders place on their bodies we must ensure that we eat enough good, solid whole food throughout the day so that our bodies are being properly fuelled with the right amount and the best quality nutrition to repair and grow. Another point to remember here is that shakes supplement your meals, they do not replace them. Nothing can or will ever replace good food. Supplements are brilliant because they allow you to get even more good nutrition in without having to eat solids all day long.

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4 You’re not training often enough
Depending on your body type and how easily or resistant your body is to gaining muscle, training three days a week just isn’t going to cut it if you’re trying to pack on maximum size. First of all, as a novice you can get away with training each body part twice a week, simply because it takes time to learn how to train with maximum intensity and reach deep into the muscle fibres. When you’re new to training you don’t actually work your muscle groups to complete failure. Your recovery time is therefore shorter and you can get back in the gym sooner to retrain those muscle groups – hence the reason why, as a beginner, you can train your entire body twice a week.

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5 You’re not resting enough
I’ve probably confused you now. Initially I told you that you’re not training enough and now I’m saying you’re not resting enough.

However, there is a balance! It takes a while to push yourself into an “overtrained” state. In fact, you’ve got to be hammering your body daily in order to reach a point of complete fatigue. But that’s not what this point is about. If you’re training really hard but aren’t giving yourself sufficient time to rest, especially at night, then the chances are you’re not growing. Muscles don’t grow in the gym, they’re repaired and rebuilt, bigger and better at night when you go to sleep. Only through consistent and deep sleep on a daily basis can you promote maximum growth. This alone is not enough though. Combined with point number three, this is, without a doubt, your best chance of ensuring that you’re giving your body every opportunity to grow. Shoot for at least eight hours of sleep each night if you want to ensure that you’re on the right track to muscle growth.

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6 You’re not training heavy enough
This is a tricky point to master as it often makes people go

back to the gym and start throwing massive amounts of weight around. We then end up making the mistakes mentioned in points one and two. A proper set requires good form - the sooner everyone realises this, the better. Always shoot for a weight you can perform a good 8-12 reps with, but still allows you to maintain good form throughout. Form is what directs the load and the effort directly into the muscle you want to train. Bad form means you recruit more of the secondary or accessory muscle groups that are being used during training, such as triceps when training chest and biceps when training back. You might think you’re moving bigger weights, but you are also forgetting that the primary reason you are there is to train the muscle group you intended to target, not train the secondary muscles you have probably already trained that week. If you want a muscle to grow then you need to place the maximum amount of effort and intensity into that exact muscle group, not spread it around various muscle groups while trying to be a hero, simply because it looks cool. As a rule of thumb always remember this – if you think what you’re doing looks cool, then you need to seriously reconsider what it is you’re trying to achieve. You might be better suited trying to impress people doing catwalk modelling or some other attention-gratifying sport.

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7 You’re not performing enough compound movements
Next time you go to gym have a look around and observe the amount of people doing bicep curls versus the amount of people doing deadlifts, squats and other hardcore compound moves. No disrespect to bicep curls, in fact they’re brilliant for bicep  development, but people tend to shy away from adding compound moves to their routines. Compound movements are incredibly beneficial for overall muscle growth, simply because they require the maximum amount of effort and they also require the maximum amount of interaction from multiple muscle groups. Being able to move big weight with great form is also a surefire way of getting stronger, which means you’re developing more muscle. So, in a nutshell, if you’re not doing compound movements but you’re complaining that you’re not growing, you have no case. That’s like saying you’re hungry, but aren’t willing to go make yourself some food. It’s exactly the same thing.

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8 You don’t vary your training
Changing the order in which you perform your exercises each week is probably one of the easiest, yet most effective ways of making sure that you are on the right track with your training. Remember that your body is constantly trying to ‘catch up’ with the training onslaught you inflict on it by adapting to the movements you use during training. By simply changing the order in which you perform your chosen movements every week you will keep your body progressing (growing) and you’ll also prevent boredom and stagnation within your programme.

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9 You’re not training intensely enough The above point is merely a polite way of sayingyou’re a lazy bastard and you’re not doing enough work in the gym. This is another thing I see almost on a daily basis. People only perform high reps thinking that their training is going to come on in leaps and bounds. To put it plainly, weight training is gruelling and demanding when done properly. A combination of high volume and intense weight training using heavy weights and low reps or high reps to failure is what will inevitably stimulate muscle growth. Training with high reps alone will only increase your stamina and give you a serious pump, which, in itself, makes you think you’re gonna grow from it. In actual fact, a muscle needs to be exposed to an intense stimulus in order to grow. Training it with medium weight over a long duration increases your body’s ability to handle weight over long periods of time but doesn’t stimulate an increase in muscle size.

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10 You’re training too heavy
This one is sure to get a fair bit of criticism from the peanut gallery. The fact of the matter is, if you’re not working a muscle through a full range of motion, with a full concentric and eccentric movement, then you’re not stimulating the muscle in its entirety. Do you ever wonder why some of the world’s strongest men don’t have the physiques of bodybuilders? If they’re so strong, why don’t they look like bodybuilders? Right? Wrong. Most guys that train for power-lifting or strongman competitions focus a lot on heavy weight, lifted with explosive movement. They do not move isolated muscle groups through a full range of motion. Shape in a muscle comes from bodybuilding training – where weight is moved through a full range of motion to engage all the muscle fibres in the muscle group being worked. Guys that tend to go too heavy in the gym end up limiting their movement and hence their range of motion. The end results is a muscle that has engaged in some really heavy activity, but not all the fibres in the muscle have been recruited or stimulated, broken down and therefore trained properly. There is no excuse for bad form and the secret to developing a great physique through weight training is finding a balance between the right weight and performing it with good form.

 

Source:

Muscle Evolution magazine – South Africa

http://www.muscleevolution.co.za/index.php/articles/special-features?layout=edit&id=536

"Finish it" WOD

Set your barbell with at least 25% of your maximum bech press, this depends on when you are performing this WOD.

If you are going to perform only this workout for a session, then warm up and stretch really good and go for heavier weight.

If you are going to add it to a crossfit training session, i.e. a strength work and one or two wods ,then adjust your weight to your level.

I did it after a heavy shoulders routine, as a high intensity resistance training (HIRT), so I went with the minimum weight (25% of maximum bench press).

Perform the following AMRAP in 10 minutes

4x   Hang Cleans
6x   Shoulder to overhead
8x   Squats
10x Pull ups

Record your time.

Thank you
IR

Thoughts Thursday

It's only one quote today:

"The goal is to look like you don't even work out with clothes on, then when the shirt comes off, everyone's like BOOM ! WTF is going on "

This was said by the fitness model, personal trainer and former US Army Ranger Greg Plitt.

This may not be your goal, but if it is then you have to check out Frank Medrano, a real live example of this quote.

He already mentioned it as a description on one of his pictures on Instagram and Facebook.

Frank Medrano

Frank Medrano is a clisthenics expert and a real fitness motivation, check him out on:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/frankmedrano99
Instagram: @frank-medrano
His website: http://www.thefrankmedrano.com/

Weight training for women

This article is just a begining for women who don't know if they should do weight training or not.

Ladeis, don't be afraid of weights, you are not turning into a female version of Ronnie Coleman by lifting. I mean come on, bulking up is not that easy.

Weight lifting will tone your body and make you get in shape along with ragular steady state cardio and HIIT.

Ladies, you have to know this, high reps means creating the pump in the muscle, which means muscle fatigue which means muscle growth while low reps means less pump, less fatigue and less muscle growth. Go for a moderate weight with lower reps for strength and toning.
I suggest to go for 4 sets of 8-10 reps for strength, toning and some definition that won't harm anyone ;).
This is for split training, which means one or two muscle groups per day. With 2-3 exercises for each muscle group with 4 sets of 8-10 reps.
Some suggest to go for only 5 reps, to prevent muscle growth but I think muscle growth won't be that easy. Any way you will feel what works good for you with practice.
Plus, adding cardio and  HIIT to your training won't let you bulk up.

Example:
Day 1: Chest and Biceps + Cardio
Day 2: Back and Triceps + HIIT
Day 3: Rest
Day 4: Legs and Abs + Cardio
Day 5: Shoulders + Cardio
Day 6: Rest
Day 7: HIIT


Or you can do full body weight training two times a week, with cardio and HIIT in other days.
In this case, you will perform only one or two exercises for each muscle group with 3 sets of 8-10 reps.

Circuit training is another form of wight training in which you can add body wight exercises. Circuit training increases strength, toning and while you perform it, your heart rate increases, burning more calories and fat, so you won't need further cardio or HIIT session the same day.
Circuit workouts is a series of exercises that you perform with a certain number of reps for each exercise either for a certain number of sets as fast as possible (for time), a certain number of sets with a given rest time or as many rounds as possible for a certain given time (AMRAP).

Ladies, work on your body weight exercises along with wight training and cardio. Pull ups, push ups ,dips, air squats and lunges. When you master these moves you can go for advanced exercises, hand-stand push ups, pull ups variations, push ups variations and muscle ups.
Go for mixed body wight movements, burpees, spider push ups ..etc,.

Mixing all these exercises with weight training, cardio and HIIT will give you your dream body and won't make you bulk up.

Do your glutes and legs a favour and do squats, dead lifts and lunges WITH WEIGHT. Don't be afraid of the weights, the resulats will amaze you.


Other exercises you should do are: pull ups, push ups, dumbbell bench press, dumbbell shoulder press, one hand rows.

Jennifer Nicole Lee

Take Jennifer Nicole lee for example, and her famous MOM to WOW transformation, weight training and staying feminine

Another model who lifts is Jamie Eason

Jamie Eason

Camille LeBlanc-Bazinet

A crossfitter example that you can weight train and stay feminine is Camille LeBlanc-Bazinet

Take the first step and hit the gym.
Search weight training workouts for women.
Do any new weight exercise with a trainer for a proper form.
Stay motivated with fitness models and atheltes and read about their workouts and diet.
Find a motivating training partner.



GO KILL IT LADIES.



Thank you
IR.

Exercise of the day: Burpees

Burpee is a great bodyweight exercise that enagages both your upper and lower body muscles along with your core muscles.

Burpee consists originally of the following steps:

1. Begin in a standing position.
2. Drop into a squat position with your hands on the ground.
3. Extend your feet back in one quick motion to assume the front plank position.
4. Return to the squat position in one quick motion.
5. Return to standing position.

Then it had been modified to other variations, the most common version is the jump push up burpee (usually just called Burpee) in which a push up is added after step 3 and a jump in the end of the exercise.

Here's how to do Burpees:

Here's Zuzka Light performing Burpees:

Other variations involves a change in the jump and/or the push up.

Jump variations: squat jump, forward jump, tuck jump, box jump, jump over an obstacle, jump and pull up, jump and muscle up ... etc,.

Push up variations: regular push up, diamond push up, hindu push up, one arm push up ... etc,.
You can also hold a pair of dumbbells during performing burpees or you can perform side burpees in which you extend your feet to the side.

The exercise was named in the 1930s for American physiologist Royal H. Burpee, who developed the Burpee test. He earned a PhD in Applied Physiology from Columbia University in 1940 and created the "Burpee" exercise as part of his PhD thesis as a quick and simple way to assess fitness

Why Burpees?

Because:
1- Burpees test your strength and aerobic capacities in one movement.
2- They work and add strength to the whole body. Doing burpees will work your chest, arms, front deltoids, quads, hams, thighs and abs.
3- They burn lots of calories. Adding them to a HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) session burns even more fat and speed up your metabolism throughout the day.
4- They are great for developing conditioning and endurance.
5- You can do them any where any time without any equipment.

Burpees workouts and challenges:

100 Burpees
Perform 100 Burpees as fast as you can. Record your time and try to beat it the next time.

1 Mile Jump Forward Burpees
Perform jump forward burpees untill you reach 1 mile. Start with less distance, and increase it time by time.

Burpees Ladder with other exercise
Perform 10 reps of burpees and 1 rep of other exercise (for example: Toes to Bar or Hang Leg Raise), then 9 reps of burpess and 2 reps of the other exercise and so on untill the last set that you perform 1 rep of burpee and 10 reps of the other exercise. Record your time and try to beat it the next time.

10 minutes drill
Set your timer to 10 minutes and perform as many reps as you can of burpees. Record your score and try to beat it the next time.

Burpees every where
Perform 10 burpees every where you go. Share with friends. (This was started by Zuzka light)

And finally
You can add burpees to any of your workout, specially bodyweight and HIIT workouts.

So, get up and do BURPEES

Thank You
IR.

Monday Motivation: Kane Sumabat

Kane Sumabat A.K.A Timberwolf or Timbahwulf is a real living motivation.

From his posts on instagram and twitter, he's about 45 years old having a physique and health better than an 18 years old teanager.

About when he first started training, Kane said "I first started training when I was about 12 or 13, but I took it to another level just after I turned 30"


He says that he doesn't have to look for motivation to keep training as long as he enjoys what he does.

"All I care about for my diet is hitting the numbers in terms of calories and macros and let the chips literally fall where they may. For 8-10 months of the year, to stay my leanest, I take in 2500 calories/ 225-275g protein/ 125-150g carbs/ 100-110g fat", Kane said, "The three exercises that have contributed the most to building my physique are the basics, flat bench press, neutral grip pull ups and front squats, and the exercises to which my abs respond the most are overhead squats and stiff legged hanging raise but most important is the diet"



Check out his YouTube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/timbahwolf/videos?flow=grid&view=0     

Check him out on:
twitter: @timbahwolf
instagram: @timbahwulf

Source http://www.maniacfitness.com/