Yes, you've heard me say it a hundred times… Interval training is the way to go (for most) because it dramatically increases the calories burned and your metabolism, and it dramatically cuts your time doing aerobic exercise.
MSNBC published another story and more evidence on this fact yesterday. Read the article here:
The "exercise expert" that they quote says it's "like finding a new pill that works twice as well" and "we should immediately throw out the old way of exercising."
C'mon… really? Why does the media always have to ONLY print the extreme points?? Sure interval training is great, but should you only do interval training?? "Throw-out everything else???" Like the "Baby with the Bathwater??" (to use an old expression)
No, of course not.
Since you've all been paying attention to Athlon Elite's Newsletter you already know that it's even more optimal for fitness results (based on George Beckham's research review last year) to do one to two longer, slower aerobic training days mixed in with your three to four interval training days each week.
We've proven that over and over at Athlon Elite in our BURN and EDGE systems.
But to use another old expression to describe these kinds of "mass news publications"…
"to the hammer, everything's a nail."
And, unfortunately, to the reporters it's simpler to just quote the extremist than to really look into and report the FULL TRUTH.
Oh well, go get some long, slow cardio in this weekend and then get back into Athlon Elite next week for some good interval training!
Have a great weekend,
Ryan
P.S. Lost of people digging their new found flexibility and pain-free movement from their "corrective exercise prescription." If you haven't gotten a Functional Movement ScreenTM done yet at Athlon Elite and are interested in how to move better, more efficiently and pain-free, call or email Alicia and get on my schedule for one now.
Posted by: John Cortese, YFS, Certified Athlon Elite Trainer
FYI, John's article was published in this month's online journal from:
Great job John! Here's the article:
Speed training is a very hot topic. Hell, it always has been. In sports such as football, baseball, and soccer, the faster players almost always have the upper hand on their opponents. Speed literally does take the life out of another team. No matter how well you prepare yourself for a given team, if they have a couple more speedsters than you do, they automatically have the upper hand.
Ernie Cooper of Cal Poly Football working on his "go-deep" speed at Athlon Elite!
How often have you been on the other side of being beat deep for a touchdown by a player who just was flat out faster and more explosive than you? How frustrating is it to race for the ball in the middle of an open field during a soccer game and get beat every single time by a player who had a better set of “wheels” than you? These are just some examples, but do you get the point?
I wanted to address this topic because of a comment I heard last night from one of the announcers during a high school football game. It was along the lines of “you can’t teach speed.” I’m sure we’ve all heard this before. I used to believe in this. No matter what I did in high school, it seemed that nothing worked to get me faster and more explosive. I was told I’d probably never break 4.6 seconds in the 40-yard dash. My freshman year of college I ran a 4.66 40-yard dash weighing 176 lbs. A little over a year later (after some hard and smart training), I ran a 4.47 40-yard dash weighing 189 lbs while being significantly stronger.
What is the point of all this? Speed is a skill that can be taught to any athlete. Anyone can get faster than they previously were with some smart planning and hard work as well as just enough work to create an adaptation. Quick tip: Do enough to stimulate, not annihilate.
Alex Turbow, Caitlin Walter and Julie English all have learned to run faster at Athlon Elite!
Click here to read the rest of the blog and find out six reasons you may not be getting faster:
What do you like better… exercising in the morning or evening?
Did you know there's often a difference in your heart rate (and potentially performance) between exercising in the morning versus the evening even though the workload is the same and your perceived exertion is the same?
There's also some other interesting differences that maybe you've experienced before but never really payed attention.
Congratulations to Jesse Gillespie of the USC Water Polo Team, previous stand-out athlete at Arroyo Grande High School and Athlon Elite! They just beat UCLA for their second straight national championship!!
Athlon Elite will be closed Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. However, the health club, Athlon Health & Fitness, will be open from 7 AM to 7 PM and below you’ll all have a workout to go in and do to make up for that "holiday glutony!"
Athlon Elite will re-open Saturday for our normal schedule. Be sure and log-on and sign up for your session on Saturday. George doesn’t like surprise visitors!!
Have an amazing, festive holiday with your friends, family and loved-ones.
Day After Thanksgiving Workout
1. Start with 1 min. of front, side & reverse plane holds (planks)
2. Then do 3 rounds as fast as possible of:
• 10 walking lunges
• 10 push-ups
• 10 jumping pull-ups (or 60 lb. lat pulldown)
• 10 sit-ups 3. Rest 3 minutes, then finish with 30 minutes of Cardio
1. 10 min Bike
2. 10 min Stair Climber
3. 10 min Run/Jog
**Bonus**
**10 EXTRA minutes of Cardio for every extra serving
**25 EXTRA sit-ups for every alcoholic beverage
Mike Mentzer was a big advocate of High Intensity Training
Back in the 1970’s Arthur Jones, founder of Nautilus, popularized a training method for building muscle called High Intensity Training (or HIT). The basic premise was to do high quality weight lifting exercises at very slow speeds to momentary muscular failure. This increased "time under tension" would create greater muscle building adaptations and lead to that chisled greek god or goddess body faster than "normal" exercise.
Well, whether you’re an advocate of this type of training or not, it definitely worked for some people in the past (see picture above) and we’ve decided to bring it out of the closet at Athlon Elite and implement it in our famous group training program for a week to shake things up a bit. And guess what…
It’s working!
Pete Freitas doing HIT Bulgarian Split Squats in Athlon Elite (three reps before the tears start flowing!)
I’ve gotten a few comments already from guys (and gals too) that they feel a little more "pump" in their muscles through the day and a "feeling of fitness." And people are liking the break from the high metabolic training that we usually do.
So how would you like to take a week off of your usual training method and actually increase the amount of muscle tone and strength in your body. Simply implement HIT. Here’s how you do it:
Either use the same exercises that you usually do or find some new ones using the machines in Athlon or any health club for that matter.
Perform one regular warm-up set of 8 repetitions,
Then perform a single set of around 10 repetitions at the very slow pace of 2 seconds on the way up (the positive or "concentric" phase) and 3 seconds on the way down (the negative or "eccentric" phase) to complete muscular exhaustion (till you absolutely cannot do another rep because of lactic acid pain or muscular failure).
Then move to the next exercise.
And that’s it. You usually want to perform about 5 or 6 exercises total in any given training session and then finish the rest of the one hour workout with some moderate cardio.
Here’s 13 year old Brandon Kim of the Puma Swim Club doing Sumo Deadlifts HIT style… No wonder he smokes the competition in the water!
Make sure you get plenty of sleep while performing this routine. And if you’re trying to lose fat be sure to watch your food intake, this type of training will make you really hungry!
If you want to learn some other ways of mixing up your training routine and get some serious results fast call us today at Athlon Elite and schedule a free private consultation with one of our lead trainers to discuss it: (805) 440-0215 or Click Here.
Posted by Travis Harwood, CSCS, Lead Personal Trainer at Athlon Elite
Many of you have performed kettlebell or dumbbell swings here at Athlon Elite…
Well the "Kettlebell snatch" is the swing’s very ugly, painful, amazing, cousin!
The kettlebell snatch is similar to the barbell, or Olympic lifting snatch in hip movement but is very different in action. While Olyimpic weightlifters intend to lift the highest amount of weight by maximizing efficiency, kettlebellers use a concept called “Hard Style.” Hard Style training will make the exercise as physically demanding as possible (sounds fun huh! As you know, the more challenging your "practice" is the better prepared you will be for game time.)
If you remember from your high school physics class Work= Force x Distance, and in physical activity the more work you perform, the more you have to use your big muscles as well as your small stabilizer muscles to control the "Work." This leads to a huge training stimulus that will prepare your body for battle. (Plus, for you athletes needing to trim a little body fat this leads to more calorie consumption to fuel the activity.)
Now where the kettlebell exaggerates "Work" is with torque (torque = force multiplied by the distance of the weight away from the body’s center of mass). So to make a long story short, not only are you moving the weight through a large area of space, but it is getting heavier as you do it; in other words say hello to your new VERY strong core musculature as well as large "mover" muscles… and goodbye to those calories!!!
So, now you’ve heard the calorie burning potential of the kettlebell snatch, but that’s only the tip of the iceberg…
Exercise Scientists have written entire books explaining the benefits of performing explosive, total body activities for the musculoskeletal system and kettlebell training programs.
To hear more about all the benefits of Kettlebell Training and to learn the Swing, Clean, Snatch, Front Squat, Getup, Sit-up, Windmill, Press, Pistol, Pull-up, Single Leg Deadlift, and Single Leg RDL (the movements that almost all professional athletes are starting to use in their training programs) contact Athlon Elite at (805) 440-0215 or CLICK HERE and schedule a
FREE private consultation with Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo County’s ONLY professionally certified Kettlebell Instructor
No, of course not.
