39 days till Spring Beak 2012 - KEY WEST , FL

There is little over a month left till me and a bunch of friends head down to Key West, FL for a week of drinking and partying on the beach in the warm FL weather. So that leaves little time left to get it in at the gym.

For the last month, I am going to be lifting 6 days a week and upping my cardio and I as of now I plan on doing a detox probably the last week before we leave for Key West.

Here is a great upper body workout for you to use when trying to get your body ready with just a few weeks left for vacation.

Bent Over Barbell Row - 3 sets of 5

Pull Ups - 2 sets of 8

Chin Ups - 2 sets of 8

Dumbbell Bench Press - 3 sets of 5

Tricep Cable Extension - 3 sets of 10

Dumbbell Shoulder Press - 3 sets of 10

Barbell Curl - 3 sets of 10

Skullcrushers - 3 sets of 10

H.I.I.T Cardio - 20 minutes.

This workout should take you about 50 - 60 minutes, not including your H.I.I.T.

AP

Quick - 3 Exercise Circuit

Here is a circuit that I did this morning. It has 3 exercises you must perform. You will do a total of 5 sets for the entire workout. This workout will target your Chest, Back, and Legs. It shouldn't take you longer than 45-50 minutes to complete. I would suggest this type of workout just to mix things up from time to time, especially when your body is getting used to your current workout and you need something different.

Smith Machine Bench Press : 1 set of 10 reps

Smith Machine Squat

superset with
Smith Machine Squats : 1 set of 10 reps
superset with
Smith Machine Deadlift : 1 set of 10 reps.

You do not rest when completing the 3 exercises. You will do all 3 exercises then that equals 1 set. You will do a total of 5 complete sets. The goal is to try and do all sets with good form with little rest as possible.

Smith Machine Deadlift

Your heart rate should be pretty high through the entire workout which will help with fat loss if that is one of your goals.

Get out there and give it a try.

AP

Smith Machine Bench Press

NEVER STOP SMILING....NO MATTER WHAT

Amazing Shoulder Workout with Videos

Hey ladies and gents,

I decided since a lot of you have been asking me about how to do certain exercises at the gym, I would just film myself doing some of them to give you an idea of what they look like. I did a shoulder workout today and recorded two different exercises that you should start incorporating into your workout as soon as you can.

Fist start your workout with a good warm up..do some jumping jacks..get on the treadmill.. stretch. Just make sure your body temperature is up and blood is flowing through out.

Shoulder Workout:

Dumbbell Side Raises - 3 sets of 15
Superset with*
Front Dumbbell Raises - 3 sets of 15

Dumbbell Military Press - 3 sets to failure

Shoulder Stability Drill - 3 sets for 1 minute each

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPlDZFfDJ0s&feature=share

Machine Shoulder Press - 3 sets of 10 (10 for each shoulder)

Farmers Walk - 5 sets


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1zV4iI6s00&feature=share

I hope yal enjoyed the videos .

AP

love this song

The time to start is NOW

you got that right

Get off the stationary bike and go sprint up a hill

My 25 song playlist for working out

This is the playlist I listen to everyday when im working out. You should add some of these to your playlist..just sayinnnnn

1. 300 Violin Orchestra  
2. Requim for a Dream
3. Welcome Home - Coheed and Cambria
4. Victim - Nonpoint
5. When Worlds Collide - Powerman 5000
6. Saw Theme (Remix) - Bonecrusher
7. Power - Kanye West
8. In Your Face - Children of Bodom 
9. Death of Me - Red
10. New Noise - Refused
11. Click Click Boom - Saliva
12. Break Stuff - Limp Bizkit
13. The Air That I Breath - All That Remains
14. Mudshuvel - Stained
15. Let the bodies hit the floor - Drowning Pool
16. Behind Closed Doors - Rise Against
17. Untouched - The Veronicas
18. Follow Me - Breaking Benjamin
19. This Calling Master - All That Remains
20. Your Disease - Saliva
21. The Kill - 30 seconds to mars
22. So Sick - Flyleaf
23. This is War - 30 seconds to mars
24. Heart of a Champion - Nelly
25. Can't Be Touched - Roy Jones Jr.

Hill Sprints = Great Fat Burning Cardio

Hey guys,

Hope everyone is doing great today. Today is my off day for lifting in the gym, and since im visiting family and friends in the next city over I figure I would take advantage of a an awesome hill located next to Menchville High School and get a good cardio workout in.

These kids have the right idea!

Here is a tremendous article about doing hill sprints for burning fat - http://jasonferruggia.com/hill-sprints-for-fat-loss/

Doing hill sprints does not take that long and you will actually burn more fat and calories doing these short sprinting workouts compared to running on a treadmill for an hour and going insane in the process.

A sprinters body

What I did was very simple and nothing extreme and you should really give it a try as soon as you can.

This mornings "off day" cardio workout :

• 1/4 mile walk

• 1/4 mile medium paced jog

• STRETCH

• 10 hill sprints up the hill. Run as fast as you can and be explosive with every step you take then jog back down the hill and without resting turn around and sprint back up the hill. Do this 10 strait times.

• Rest for  5 minutes.

• 5 hill sprints. Just repeat what you did for the previous 10 hill sprints, only doing 5 this time.

• Then I "power walked" .. just walk at a fast pace for 2 miles and then your done. This workout only took about 15-20 minutes max. 

Here is a great video of my good buddy Gary Deagle at the same hill I was at this morning, demonstrating how to do hill sprints. Gary is the owner of Your Time 24-7 Fitness. They have two locations now, one is in Chesapeake  VA and they just recently opened up a brand new location in Yorktown, VA. Gary has many years of experience as a personal trainer and really knows his stuff about health and fitness. 

I cant stop listening to this song today.

LOVE > MONEY

How Bad Do You Want It??

Workout Song of the Day - Great Motivation Song for those early morning workouts

10 tips for working out and reaching your fitness goals

• Have a specific goal before starting a program. Do not just go to the gym everyday not knowing what you are working for. If you know what you want (lose a certain # of pounds, gain a certain # of pounds, drop BF %, gain strength in certain lifts, etc) then you will be more motivated and focused to reach that goal. 
• You do not grow muscle while working out. (what you see at the gym is called "the pump", that is just all the blood flowing to those muscles as you work them) You get stronger when you rest. So you need to always try and get 7-8 hours of good sleep every night. 
• Diet is the most important factor when trying to reach any fitness goal. You will not lose weight or body fat or get bigger and stronger if you are eating fast food everyday. You need to try and stick to a clean diet as much as you can. 
• Have some clue about the human anatomy and where certain muscles actually are. If you do not know where a muscle is just Google it. If you unsure on how to do a certain exercise then Google it, or use www.bodybuilding.com They have every single exercise with a video explaining how to do it. I use it whenever I am unsure of something. 

• Keep a detailed training log with you when working out. You can not know if you are progressing if you do not have everything you do written down. There is no way you can remember how many reps and what weight you did for a certain exercise one week later after you did it. This is critical to your success in reaching your goals. 
• Breakfast should ALWAYS be your largest meal of the day. When trying to lose body fat, eating fat is good for you. Do not be fooled by marketing scams that get you to believe that you shouldn't ever eat fat because then you will become fat. Good fats are essential do a healthy diet.
• DO HILL SPRINTS . . . this is maybe the best form of cardio you will find in my opinion. Do hill sprints for a good 10-20 minutes strait and you will easily start dropping the pounds. Do not get on a treadmill and jog for 60 minutes this does nothing for you but making you exhausted and damages your joints.

Best cardio to lose fat

• Do not train for more than 45-60 minutes at single time.

Sprinting on the beach is also a great way to do your cardio

• You should try and do an intermittent fast in some way. You can do a 24 hour fast 1-2 times a week. You can do a 16 hour fast. There are many different forms of intermittent fasting. This is a great way to cleanse your body of all the toxins and "reset" yourself when training and dieting. 
• HAVE FUN.. going to the gym or doing some form of exercise should never feel like a chore. You should want to do it. Mix up your training and cardio so you do not get bored and less motivated to go.  Find something that motivates you deep down inside and hold on to that and use that to fuel your workouts. Do not just go through the motions when at the gym, why are you there if you are not trying to get better and take a step at reaching your goals. 

These are just a few tips to help you get started on your path to reaching your fitness goals.

Always give it your all every time you workout , get better every single day, every single rep, every single sprint.

This should be your mindset every single day in life

Yours in health,

AP

some people should really learn this. lol

just do it

workout song of the day

Great song that gets your heart pumping. Don't hate on this song, this song is great for the middle of your cardio playlist to keep you running hard. Enjoy.

Chest and Tricep workout (Day 2 of 12 week program)

Hey guys good morning I hope yal are up and going about your day and living life to the fullest! It's all about attitude !! Even if you are having a bad day, if you change your attitude and the way you look at things; that will ultimately decide how well your day goes.

Today is day 2 of the new lifting program that we have started. This is what I did this morning bright and early.

Low intense cardio for 20 minutes.

**Make sure you are going up in weight every set**

Flat Dumbbell Press :  3 warm up sets of 6-10 reps.  Then do 2 sets to failure, try and get at least 6 - 10 reps on your working sets that go to failure..if you can do 15 or more reps then you need to up your weight a lot.

Incline Flyes : 2 sets to failure (8-10 reps)

Straight Arm Pullover : 2 sets to failure (10-12 reps)

Rope Extension : 3 sets to failure (10-12 reps)

Lying Cable Extension : 3 sets to failure (10-12 reps)

Overhead Dumbbell Extension : 3 sets to failure (10-12 reps)

Low-Medium intense cardio for 20 minutes.

Dont talk about it ..be about it

12 Week Program - Day 1 (10-18-11)

Hello friends, I know its been a very long time since I've posted anything on this blog. Today I started a brand new program and so I am going to be putting up what I do and tips regarding what to eat / when to eat, a long with the workouts themselves.

Now I am going to be completely honest I am a little hesitant with starting this program because it actually goes against what I have come to believe is the right way to lift. Everyone has there different opinions and different things work for different people. This program involves A LOT of different things including use of machines and isolation movements (never ever ever been a fan of "machines".. if you read past posts you will see me curse them to high heaven) .. There is also going to be super sets (which I have always found very effective). There are going to be "giant sets" or "tri sets", some people call them different names. There is also going to be "drop sets" involved. This is just a preview of what is to come over the next 12 weeks.

This program was developed by Kris Gethin. Just Google him or now a days people can just Facebook people to find out more information about anyone. I don't honestly feel like putting up his background information. But after doing research on this particular program and seeing the results that people have gotten from it; I've decided to try it out and go against what I have traditionally believed in what to do in the gym.

Ok here is what I did this morning to start day 1 of this program. I encourage you to give it a try and follow the workouts as they are listed. If you have any questions about the lifts or anything including timing (rest periods) ..what type of cardio..what time to workout, etc..just send me a message via facebook or email. Good Luck to you guys.. lets get to work :)

Day 1: Legs


Cardio: 20 minutes (get the metabolism going and blood pumping)


Leg Press : 3-5 warm up sets of 12 reps. 3 sets to failure (10 - 12 reps)


Hamstring Curl : 2 warm up sets of 15 reps. 3 sets to failure ( 10 - 12 reps)


Lying Hamstring Curl : 2 warm up sets of 10 - 12 reps. 3 sets to failure (10 - 12 reps)


Leg Extension : 2 warm up sets of 15-20 reps. 2 sets to failure (10 - 12 reps)


Hack Squats : 2 warm up sets of 15-20 reps. 3 sets to failure (15 - 30 reps)


Cardio : 20 minutes ( cool down your body with some form of low intense cardio..this could be walking at a medium pace or a light jog) 








During the workout I only rested 1-2 minutes max in between each set..sometimes I took that full 2 minutes because going to failure which I have not been a fan of in the past really makes you exhausted. Work hard and give it everything you got if you wanna see the results. Get in Get out and Get on with your life.

--Here is a new song I found that really gets you pumped up for a workout..listen to this a few times on the way to your local gym and get focused....enjoy.

-AP