Annihilate – To defeat completely; vanquish.

That’s right people, we’re going beyond domination to destruction territory. Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling! Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes, human sacrifices, dogs and cats living together…you get the point.

In my last post, I welcomed you to the wild and wonderful world of pushups. The variations in that post were all different ways of using your own bodyweight as resistance, but now that you’ve gotten your hands dirty and have a solid lay of the land, it’s time to take it to the next level.

Pushups have gotten a bad rep as far as strength and muscle building goes. When you’re starting out and can barely do one with good form they’re an appropriate exercise, but what happens when you can knock out 30 without even breaking a sweat? That’s what the nay sayers will use to dissuade you from this awesome exercise, but just like any other exercise, when it gets to easy then it’s time to progress to something more difficult.

Explosive Pushups

I think that this is the next step after a basic pushup is achieved. Instead of simply pushing into the ground & providing enough force to push yourself back up, you’re now pushing through the ground with enough force to launch into the air. This increase in force production increases the difficulty of the exercises and will definitely reduce the number of reps that you’re able to do compared to conventional pushups.

Unstable Surfaces

Now you’re getting both a strength benefit as well as a core and stabilization effect as well. Think about what’s harder, doing a pushup from the ground with 45lbs on your back, or doing that same pushup while trying to keep your arms from snapping off from the instability of the surface that you’re using? These variations can be achieved by using a suspension system such as the TRX, gymnastic rings or even a simple stability ball.

External Resistance

This is the big daddy right here. Simply put, if you’re not getting stronger over time then you’re seriously hindering your progress, and the easiest way to overcome this is to increase the load via external resistance. It doesn’t matter if you use weights, chains, resistance bands or have little people sit on your back while you do them, the key is to get stronger. If you start off only being able to do one push up with a band wrapped around your back, but after a couple of months you’re able to do 20, you have gotten stronger. Now it’s time to make it harder.

Single Arm Variations

Taking an exercise that you normally do with two limbs and demanding that your body perform it with only one is the epitome of hard. Aside from a one arm chin up, this is the hardest upper body exercise that there is, and it requires a perfect blend of strength and stability from the entire body, otherwise a weak link will expose itself and the exercise will look sloppier than a 1st grade art fair. Just like the regular push up, some of you will have to work your way up to doing a nice, crisp single arm push up from the floor, but there are enough variations to use along the way that’ll get you there with enough dedication and persistence.

Do you have any questions about the use of push ups? Want to know which variation is best for you and your goals? Lemme know in the comment section and I’ll be more than happy to help.

Ingredients:

60 grams or 1/4 cup low calorie BBQ sauce (1 calorie per gram)
42 grams or 2 tablespoons of honey
pinch of red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
454 grams or 1 pound chicken tenderloins
3 second spray non-stick cooking spray
3 grams or 1 teaspoon of sesame seeds

Directions:

1. Combine BBQ sauce, honey, and red pepper flakes together in a small bowl.

2. Sprinkle garlic powder and salt (or seasoning of choice) on tenderloins.

3. Heat a large non-stick skillet over high heat and spray with non-stick cooking spray.

4. Add in strips, and cook until lightly brown, 3 minutes per side.

5. Turn heat down to low. Pour BBQ sauce over chicken and toss until coated and sauce is heated. Serve warm.

Yields 4 servings.

1 serving: 172 calories
26 grams protein
2 grams fat
12.5 grams carbohydrate

Entire recipe:

689 calories
105 grams protein
8 grams fat
50 grams carbohydrate

Impressions:

Awww hell yeah – now we’re talking! When I first saw this recipe, it pretty much grabbed my by the throat and forced me to cook it. Much like my friend Eric Cressey, I too was hooked on chicken fingers during my formative years (along with double orders of curly fries and an awesome hybrid called “chicken fries”, but I digress), so I had to check this one out based on principle alone. Up until recently, a dry chicken breast was the bane of my existence and I would do anything, even make sweet, passionate love to Janet Reno, to avoid having one as part of my menu, but this recipe changed my perspective entirely. To say that my plate was full of win would be an understatement.

The key to keeping any kind of  chicken breast juicy is to pan cook it for about 3-5 minutes per side on medium heat, making sure not to pierce the meat with a fork when flipping it unless you want all of the juice to drain out, leaving you with a dry, mummified piece of meat that would make King Tut look like Stacey Dash.

Now that the meat is primed and ready to go, the trifecta of BBQ sauce, honey and red pepper flakes really takes a rather dull piece of meat and snaps it to attention through a combination of sweetness & spice. Most BBQ sauces have at least 20 grams of carbohydrate per serving, and NOBODY just uses one serving of sauce, so it’s easy to see how it could quickly add up, but the sauce that I used only contained 6 grams of carbohydrate per serving without sacrificing taste.

This chicken is so good that it’ll make you wanna slap your momma! Taking less than 10 minutes total to cook, I give this recipe 4 thumbs up and then I will proceed to lick the rest of the sauce off said thumbs. If you’re in the market for more healthy & scrumdiddlyumptious foods, click this link here to check out the rest of Leigh’s cookbooks – you won’t regret it one bit.

Affiliate note: If you purchase any of her cookbooks by clicking the links on this page, I’ll get a small portion of the sale, but this in no way biases my review. I’ll never promote something on this site that I haven’t used personally or that I don’t think will be a great benefit to you all. That is my promise to you, and if you ever see me slipping on it PLEASE be sure to drag me out into the middle of the street and call me mean and hurtful names while force feeding me dragon boogers.

When it comes to the upper body, the push up is the last kid picked for a game of dodge ball of the exercise world, far behind the reigning king since the beginning of time, the bench press. I don’t want this to turn into a “the bench press sucks” post, because it doesn’t – if  done correctly, which many people don’t – but more of a celebration of the awesomeness that is the push up.

1.  It’s shoulder friendly

Shoulder pain is a frequent complaint of those who often sacrifice themselves upon the bench press alter. Now this could be due to a breakdown in form,  lifting with their ego instead of their head, or a host of other reasons, but suffice to say there is a lot going on in the bench press, and thus there are more things that can possibly go wrong during the lift.

With the push up, the opposite is true for most. With the reduced load, there is a lot less stress on the shoulder joint than during the bench press. Also, because you’re able to move your shoulder blades freely through space instead of having them pinned down against the bench, you get a lot better stabilization of the shoulder which translates to a much safer exercise.

2. It’s a full body exercise

If you’re looking for a full body exercise , then look no further. Have you ever noticed that as someone starts to fatigue (or if their strength levels aren’t up to par), their push up starts to resemble more of a candy cane?  They push their upper body up, but their lower back and legs hardly move at all. That’s because the push up, on top of being a fantastic strength exercise, is actually one of the best core exercises out there because it gives you immediate feedback – if your core is weak, you won’t be able to keep your spine stable while you’re pushing through the ground and your form will suffer because of it.

3. Anywhere, anytime

Pushing yourself up from the ground is one of the simplest movements that there is and there are so many different variations to choose from that there is no reason (aside from having lost both of your arms in an epic ninja battle) to not do them. You don’t need any fancy equipment to have a great workout, and there are enough challenging variations out there to keep you busy for a very long time.

• Squeeze your butt cheeks and keep your entire body tight.
• Don’t let your elbows flaring out at 90 degrees; Turn your hands out & keep your elbows tucked in fairly close so that your upper body resembles a “W”.
• Only go down as far as you can without letting your hips & lower back sag.

Here are few variations that I recorded that require almost no equipment to get you started. Keep in mind that this is just the beginning, and once you master the basic push up a whole wide world of pushing opens up to you.

What say you, faithful readers? Do you have a love/hate relationship with push ups? How do they fit into your program? Once I get at least 10 comments below,  I’ll post some more advanced push up variations that you can use to build some serious strength & muscle.

Photo Credit: 100 Pushups

It’s that time again.

Did you shove several pieces of something regrettable down your gullet that had no business being there?

Have you found yourself falling victim to The Itis one too many times lately?

I’ve done it, you’ve done it, and your friendly neighborhood postman has done it. Don’t let your food overindulgence fester and transform from one moment of weakness into a week, month or year long descent into decadent debauchery.

Don’t let the unnecessary stress rule your soul.Come forth, oh gluttonous one, and confess thy dietary sins – the truth shall set you free!

We are our own harshest critics.

Think about it: when was the last time you gave yourself credit for doing something that has been evading you like a Pokemon for the longest time? Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Have you been out of the gym for months or years but have finally gotten into a semi-regular habit of exercise? Celebrate that.

Did you recently get off your bootycheeks and find a new hobby or activity to break up the routine that you’ve found yourself in? Bust out the party hats because you know what time it is.

What about your diet? 9/10 times when given the choice between triple fried pig souls and an apple, you chose the former. More importantly though, what about the 1 time yesterday that you went the apple route? Yeah, baby, yeah!

Whatever it is that you’re trying to change, don’t delay celebrating yourself  and the small victories that you have along the way until you fully reach your goal. That day could be a long ways off, which isn’t too helpful from a motivational standpoint. Think of these as mini checkpoints. While they don’t signify the total achievement of your goal, they do mark milestones that must be reached along the way. To eat well for the rest of your life, you first must start with one day, then two, then three.

What small victory have you won that you haven’t celebrated yet? The subject matter is irrelevant – leave your victory in the comment section below so that I can throw you what will undoubtedly go down in history as THE BEST PARTY EVER!

Photo Credit: Aknacer

I love food. Going to the grocery store is almost a religious experience for me. When standing in the meat section, I can often be found with my arms outstretched, spinning around in a circle like a kid hopped up on Captain Crunch in amazement at all the delectable treats that surround me.

But I’ll be honest – my foods choices are boring as hell. I pretty much eat the same thing, or a slight variation of it, every day of the week. Adding honey or brown sugar to my oatmeal is like venturing into a brave new world for me, so I set out to change this with the help of my friend Leigh Peele.

She’s put together a great series of cookbooks that offer a wide variety of great tasting, healthy recipes, ranging from 10 minute quick and easy meals, unique protein powder recipes, vegan/vegetarian and a whole lot more. I know that I’m not the only one whose dietary intake could use a kick in the butt cheeks from a variety standpoint, so I wanted to bring you along with me on this fantastic voyage.

Every other Wednesday, I’ll be posting a new recipe from one of Leigh’s cookbooks to give you a sampling of the goodies from all of the different flavors that she’s offering. My feedback will be honest and true, as my pallet is quick to let me know if a food isn’t all that and a bag of potatoe chips.

Enough of the jibba jabba – time to move on to our first recipe: Porky Pineapple

Ingredients:

1 8-oz can of pineapple circles, drained (save juice)
454 g or 1 pound of pork chops, boneless, fat trimmed
1 teaspoon ginger powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions:

1. Add pineapple, 1 tablespoon of pineapple juice, and ginger together in a bowl

2. Sprinkle salt and paper (or seasoning of your choice) on both sides of chops.

3. Coat a large skillet with cooking spray. Set at medium-heat and add chops once hot. Cook each side for 4 minutes.

4. Add pineapple juice that is remaning and cook for 2 minutes. Turn and cook for 1 more minute.

5. Top with pineapple (optional: grill it for 3 minutes per side on medium-heat beforehand).

Yields 4 servings:

1 serving = 189.5 calories
24.75 grams Protein
6 grams Fat
7.25 grams Carbs
0.5 grams Fiber

Entire Recipe:

758 calories
99 grams Protein
24 grams Fat
30 grams Carbs
2 grams Fiber

Magnific!

This recipe was the bomb! I normally just eat my pork pan-grilled and seasoned to keep it simple as possible, but I choose this specific one for several reasons:

1. I wanted to make something quick before I went to work.

2. I already bought some pork chops the night before.

3. I’ve never pineapple before (insert shock and awe here).

The mixture of sweet, juicy pineapple and warm meat, for lack of a more refined food critic description, will explode in your mouth like a bomb filled love, respect, and everything that is delicious in the universe. The pork is already tender because of the pan cooking, but by cooking it in the pineapple juice it becomes even more so. Due to my manly appetite, I could’ve eaten at least 2 full servings of this…and will do so next time.

I give this recipe 2 thumbs up, and that’s only because I haven’t figured out how to grow more hands yet.

That’s it for today. If you too have found yourself stuck in a cooking rut, you owe it to yourself to diversify your stomach’s ecosystem and check out at least one of these excellent book. The food is delicious, the layout is top notch, and for less than $10 you’ll be providing yourself with a months worth of yum yum for your tum tum. Check out the books that she has to offer by clicking this link.

Affiliate note: If you purchase any of her cookbooks by clicking the links on this page, I’ll get a small portion of the sale, but this in no way biases my review. I’ll never promote something on this site that I haven’t used personally or that I don’t think will be a great benefit to you all. That is my promise to you, and if you ever see me slipping on it PLEASE be sure to shamefully call me out on it.

I’ve traveled far and wide to acquire this information. I’ve eaten fish with a Kodiak bear, drank tea with a Tibetan monk and even exchanged iced-out watches with aliens on Pluto, all so that I could return to give you a powerful tool to add to your fat loss arsenal. Are you ready?!

Descent Into Madness

If I had a dollar for every time I read or heard someone say that you need to utilize high reps in order to loss fat or “cut up”, I’d be riding around town in a rocketship because that’s just how pervasive this myth has become. Take a look around your gym, or perhaps even your own routine, and I’m sure you’ll find several examples. A sample workout of someone subscribing to this kind of dogma probably consists of 5 different bicep curls, plus every bench press variation known to man, repeated forever and ever and ever until the end of time.

While the above is (mostly) in jest, there is a serious point to be made: the way most people train for the goal of fat loss is counterproductive, but you know what? I don’t blame them, as I too was a victim of it and did my fair share of spreading misinformation back in the day. With the rise of this new, hip thing called the internet, great information is easy to find, but so is the nonsense. When you look at weight training from a simplistic point of view, it almost sounds like it would make sense.

Strength training = calories burned
Strength training + a never ending amount of sets = even more calories burned
Even more calories burned = FAT ANNIHILATION!!!

Right?

Nope.

When your goal is to lose enough fat to look good naked, or at the very least in some form fitting clothes, the last thing that you want to do is engage in a constantly in light weight, high rep training, and here is why.

1. It provides no inventive

If you’re cutting calories like you’re supposed to be doing, then proper strength training is one of your greatest allies in the battle against the chub, emphasis on the word proper. Unfortunately, doing nothing but the type of training described above doesn’t cut the cake as far as proper goes and may very well leave you looking like a smaller, weaker version of your current self.

In a caloric deficit, your body is like The Blob – it doesn’t care if the weight that you’re losing is composed of muscle or fat and it will gobble up whatever it needs to in order to provide itself with what you aren’t giving it. Sounds pretty lame, right? Luckily there is an easy solution. By training with heavy weights and compound movements, coupled with sufficient protein intake, you’re waving a fiery torch of doom at your body, keeping it away from your treasure trove (muscle) and steering it towards a less important resource (body fat).

Unlike lifting a light weight dozens of times and not stressing your system, training with heavy weights provides your body with a physiological incentive to hold on to the muscle that you have because you’re demonstrating that you actually need to keep it around. In the end this is what you want, because muscle + reduced bodyfat is responsible for giving your body the definition and “tone” that most men and women are looking for.

Yes, it is true that if you don’t use it, you lose it.

2. It compromises recovery

Imagine that your muscles are like a sandcastle, and every time you train and allow time to recover, your sandcastle comes back bigger and better than before. This is how things normally go, but things aren’t normal when you’re trying to lose fat.

Your recovery is already hampered because you’re eating less than you’d need to maintain your current state, plus you’re demanding more of it by adding more for it to recovery from in the form of higher reps. This would be the equivalent of me drop kicking your sandcastle right of the middle of you rebuilding it – one step forward, two steps back.

Now what kind of person would I be if all I did was tell you about a problem and just stand there in my b-boy stance without providing you with any kind of a solution? A person composed entirely of dubious and questionable morals, and that just won’t do!

Enter The Pyramid

The most effective training method that I’ve ever used to pack on size or maintain my strength and muscle mass while dieting is called Reverse Pyramid Training, which is a simple training philosophy that I first discovered through Martin Berkhan which side steps the pitfalls of the constant high rep/low weight training.

General Rules:

• Use this for only one or two (compound) lifts per session in order to avoid burnout.
• Choose a predefined rep range (anywhere from 1-10 reps depending on the exercise), only increasing weight when you get to the upper end of that range.
• After a proper warm up, your first work set will be your heaviest set. This is what you want to focus the majority of your efforts towards progressing on.
• Drop the weight by 10% or so each subsequent set in order to get +1-2 reps compared to your last set

Here is a page from my training log as an example plus a video of me training in a goofy looking hat.

Chin Ups: 2 x 3-4, 1 x as many as possible

Set #1: Bodyweight + 100lbs x 3 reps

Rest at least 3min. Drop that weight about 10% and terminate the set after you get +1-2 reps from your last set.

Set #2: Bodyweight+ 75lbs x 4 reps

Set #3: Bodyweight x 11 reps

Done. Rest 3-5min before beginning the next compound movement (if you have another one).

Front Squat: 2 x 3-5 reps

Set #1: 305 x 4 reps

Rest at least 3min. Drop that weight by about 10% and terminate the set after you get +1-2 reps from your last set.

Set #2: 275 x 5 reps

Rest at least 3min. Drop that weight by 10% and terminate the set after you get +1 rep from your last set.

Set #3: 225 x 5

On some days this may be my entire workout – brief, intense and effective. This is how most my sessions usually turn out, and I’ve managed to maintain my strength and muscle mass despite being in a severe caloric deficit at the time. You can add in a few assistance exercises as well, but I’d keep it limited to 2, 3 at the absolute most, and stay within the 6-10 rep range. Cut out the fufu exercises and keep your training centered around the big movements.

As a side note, if can’t perform movements such as chin ups, deadlifts, squats and the bench press for some reason, all is not lost. You still have the option of using the lat pulldown  weight-assisted chin up machine, leg press and push up variations, just to name a few. The key is to simply use a heavy enough weight to maintain intensity, regardless of the actual exercise selection.

Photo Credit: MayWong

Tales From The Hip:

Since my camera is MIA, leaving me without wonderful impression footage until I find it, I thought I’d share with you all a wonderful splattering of what gets me through my workouts these days.

What’s flowing through your ears these days? Be sure to leave some suggestions in the comment section!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5j9ipQ0HEA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xhd-zImzoiI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0gWHgKpLAE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CURKfkl0ROM

Did you shove several pieces of something regrettable down your gullet that had no business being there?

Have you found yourself falling victim to The Itis one too many times lately?

I’ve done it, you’ve done it, and your friendly neighborhood postman has done it. Don’t let your food overindulgence fester and transform from one moment of weakness into a week, month or year long descent into decadent debauchery.

Come forth, oh gluttonous one, and confess thy dietary sins – the truth shall set you free!

Whenever I see someone using a barbell for anything other than bench pressing, it shocks and compels me into action. I talk to them, and sometimes, just sometimes, they speak words back in my general direction. This is one of those moments.

——

Rog Law: What’s up, Korey! Could you tell my readers a little bit about yourself and how you first got into lifting weights?

Korey Marciniak: I am a thirty year old man working in the computer industry; when people ask me what I do with computers, I just tell them “I fix the internet.” So, as you might imagine, I am a bit of a nerd. I am 6’3″ and I currently weigh 193lbs. I first got into weightlifting a few years ago, I knew nothing about it, I just knew that I was not happy with how I looked or felt. I was miserable all the time and I felt weak. I started off simple by just working out with dumbbells and a jumprope in my living room. I was picking compound exercises based off of exrx.net and doing the exercises to fatigue. It was a mess. I had no idea what I was doing, but I was losing weight, so I was pleased with the results when I went from 218lbs to 170lbs.

I started doing P90X after that, and although a lot of people may balk at it, it helped me understand how and what I should be eating. I did that for about 4 months, never really getting stronger, but losing weight, and when I hit 161lbs I decided it was time to try something more in line with my goals. I liked the variety, but I wanted to be stronger and more useful as an adult man. I tried CrossFit, and that is honestly what I feel marks the first time I got into lifting weights, because before then the most weight I had lifted was 55lbs. I enjoyed CrossFit, but I realized two things about it: I loved the Olympic lifting, and at month four I was only slightly stronger than when I walked in the door. I don’t regret my choice, because I learned a LOT about weightlifting very quickly, I realized it was time to do this right so I stopped exercising, and started training.

RL: It’s awesome that you aligned your action steps with your goals – that’s one thing that I see most people NOT doing in the gym and in life. Did you have a lot of hands on coaching when you were at the CrossFit facility? Your lifting technique is pretty damn dope.

KM: When I initially signed up for CrossFit, I was required to take an introductory class on how to lift before I could participate in the workout of the day. I stupidly scheduled it for 6am on a weekday when I was on vacation. I remember basically nothing from the class other than that I was very tired and wanted to go back to bed. I don’t fault my instructor for that, and I am giving myself a mulligan, since no one can be expected to learn how to perform dozens of exercises with great form in an hour.

I had assumed that the classes would be group-led and very hands on with an instructor correcting my form, however I was sadly mistaken. I think a lot of it had to do with the CrossFit facility being new, and not a well-oiled machine yet, but that was a big motivator in my move away from CrossFit. I watched a lot of videos and read a lot about lifting after I realized that I was not going to get much coaching. Don’t get me wrong, everyone there was very nice, and I did receive some tips and hints that helped, but the majority of my time there I found myself left to my own devices slogging through a workout without any idea of what I was doing.

The videos online were really what helped me learn how to lift, and I believe strongly in the phrase “Perfect is the enemy of good.”

RL: What was your next step after CrossFit?

KM: I was doing CrossFit for about four months before I wanted to get stronger. I was tired of struggling with a 115lb push press when a random off the street would show up on day one and be able to push press 155lbs, all because he weighed more than me. I realized that having abs was not as important as the ability to lift furniture and push a broken-down car. So with the consent of the owner’s at the CrossFit facility I began Starting Strength. I reset every single one of my lifts a huge amount, and I began doing the most methodical simplest workout ever conceived.

It was all very systematic. I showed up, wrote some numbers down, moved a lot of weights around and left. I was worried at first about my weight, I didn’t want to become fat, but I ate clean and I focused on getting enough of the foods I needed. I didn’t do the oft-recommended ‘gallon of milk a day’ but that was because I was eating so much I was gaining a pound a week without it.

I started to hit PRs very very quickly, and even though I was much weaker than a lot of the people at the gym I had added a lot of weight to the bar in a short amount of time. I had picked up a shoulder injury at the tail end of doing CrossFit and still had it as I began Starting Strength, but my doctor told me what equated to “sometimes these things take time to heal, man up and keep lifting weights,” and after about three weeks into the program all my pain had gone away.

I ended up switching gyms after about six months, when I started to see the shortcomings. I was squatting and benching heavy without a cage or spotter, and although no one ever said anything to me, I felt bad that I was taking up a bar and squat stands for up to an hour and a half at a time, when most workouts were under 20 minutes there. I learned very quickly how hard it is to find a good gym.

RL: Strength training is addictive, isn’t it? The good thing about it is that even if your goals are purely physique related, the stronger you get the more likely you are to look like you actually life weights.

RL: And now that we have all these silly questions out of the way, what’s your favorite video game and favorite food?

KM: Ahh! A change of topic, okay, let’s see. My favorite game of all time is a tough one, I’d have to say right now it’s Half-Life 2. I know there’s a lot of talk lately about how video games may or may not be art, but once I played Half-Life 2 I knew it was. I had felt pangs of guilt and sadness playing games like Final Fantasy VII, but Half-Life 2 put everything in my hands. The character interaction was so subtle due to the silent protagonist that it made me feel like I was truly filling the role of Gordon Freeman.

Favorite food for me is simple. When my diet changed to something more than random garbage I re-heated in the microwave, I had to start eating breakfast. I began to eat oatmeal then, and it’s stuck with me since then. I sometimes can’t stomach another egg, and I’ve been sick of chicken as of late, but oatmeal always works. I eat the instant oatmeal that I am sure the oatmeal purists think is heretical, but I love the hell out of it.

Photo Credit: Incase