I’ll be the first person to admit that leg workouts are not my favorite pastime…not by a long-shot!

But, leg training is vital not just to add lean, defined muscle and burn fat but our legs are needed to perform many of our everyday activities.

And, most of these activities are dominated by a single leg environment.

That’s right, we spend more of the time on our feet not on 2 legs but on 1.

Activities like walking, running, getting in and out of the car, kneeling down to tie your shoe or pick something up off the floor, going up and down stairs and many different sports activities are all spent in a single leg environment.

Unfortunately, most people spend most of their lower body workouts doing double leg dominant movements and on fixed machines (those silly inner and outer thigh ones, the leg extensions, hamstring curls and calf raises).

The problem with all the machine work and failure to work single leg movements is that your body is one that is designed to use multiple muscles from different muscle groups as an integrated unit.

For example, running not only uses the lower body muscles such as the glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps and calves but it also requires rotation of the upper body and hips which is performed by your obliques (the muscles around those love handle areas).

It also requires your abdominal muscles to work to stabilize your upper body and hips.

Finally, your mid-back and shoulders must work to pump your arms back and forth. And, yet these muscles all work together as a unit.

The point I’m trying to make is that performing too many machine-based exercises de-conditions those muscle patterns simply because machines just isolate a particular muscle group without allowing that group to work with others during movements that mimic our every day lives. Read the rest of this entry »

Share on Facebook

In the previous bodyweight training videos I’ve shared various exercises that work the body as a whole rather than just individual parts.

This is one of the keys to getting your body to burn fat faster than traditional body part based exercise routines.

For example, the Pike Press works your shoulders, triceps and abdominals.

The Squat Lift works your entire lower body…

…The Standing Side Crunch works your internal and external obliques (the ‘love handle’ areas) as well as your upper back.

And, today is no different.

I’m going to show you an exercise for sculpting your shoulders and back but it does a LOT MORE than just that.

If you really focus on this one you’ll also feel your abs, glutes and hamstrings as well.  It might look easy when you watch the video but trust me if you do it right it’s anything but easy.

Give it a shot and leave me a comment below:

Share on Facebook

I once read a fitness article titled ‘1000 Crunches and Still No Abs!”

It was probably the 6 most descriptive words describing the frustration most people are experiencing all the time in the quest for 6 pack abs.

One of the BIGGEST mistakes made when trying to lose fat from your midsection is simply doing a bazillion-and-a-half abdominal exercises.

Truth be told it takes much more than crunches, sit-ups, leg raises or torso twists to get those abs to come out of hiding.  The problem is that most people are misled into thinking the opposite mostly due to those awful television infomercials of ‘Joey Six Pack Abs’ telling you how you’ll sculpt a sexy stomach in minutes a day using his newest ‘scientific‘ breakthrough ab-bomber X.

Here’s 3 tips you MUST understand if you ever want to see your abs: Read the rest of this entry »

Share on Facebook

In the last video I shared one of my best exercises for your shoulders, arms and core but today we’re gonna shift gears and address the lower body.

My toughest (and my least favorite) workouts are leg days.

I wasn’t blessed with the genetics to build the best set of legs which means I have to do more than sitting on a leg extension or hamstring curl machine to get my legs to respond to anything.

Nope.

Truth is that most machine-based exercises for the lower body won’t help you much either.

Let’s face it…

…If you want to blast stubborn fat from your hips and thighs or if you’re trying to add firm, lean muscle to your lower body you need exercises that make an IMPACT!

One of those is the squat-lift I’m going to show you.

Now, you already know how to do a squat I’m sure but in this version I’ve added a couple of unique twists that make it much more effective than your traditional squat.

For example, I’ll show you a secret tip for getting your calves to work as hard as your legs in this exercise.

I’ll also show you the exact pace you need to perform the squat-lift (this is ignored by almost everyone)

Watch it below and leave me a comment:

Share on Facebook

As a personal trainer in Lathrop and San Joaquin Valley I get A LOT of questions asking:

‘What’s the easiest way to lose weight?’

The easiest? That’s easy…Stop eating.

I didn’t say it’s the smartest or healthiest but you’ll lose weight. You just won’t keep it off very long.

Weight loss is a real challenge for so many people but I’ve recently come across an even BIGGER foe… Read the rest of this entry »

Share on Facebook