Showing posts with label core training. Show all posts
Showing posts with label core training. Show all posts

Sunday, April 17, 2011

TRAVELING THE ENERGY HIGHWAYS WITH THE SPARTACUS WORKOUT

One of the huge benefits of our version of The Spartacus Workout has been utilizing all three of our energy systems: Power, Strength, and Endurance.

Each is a vastly different enegy pathway, and each with great benefits to us physically, neurogically, and of course...metabolically!

Let’s look at the differences between these.


First, Endurance falls under the category of an Aerobic exercise, where Power & Strength are categorized as Anaerobic. What’s the difference?

Aerobic exercise in simple terms means “with oxygen”, and Anerobic is “without oxygen”. It doesn’t mean that when you do Anaerobic exercises you don’t breathe! It just means that the tissues in your body do not need oxygen to produce energy.




Another way to look at this is to say that during an Aerobic exercise you are working long enough that you need large amounts of oxygen to burn fat for fuel.

With an Anaerobic exercise, the activity is short enough that your muscles don’t need oxygen for fuel, but instead used stored glycogen for their power


So, which way is better right? The answer is.....ALL! We need to have a constantly-varied, functional workout each time we train. Keep things mixed up, confuse the body, and the greatest results will be seen.





With the Spartacus Workout that we’ve developed we attack all 3 energy systems thereby not allowing the body to adapt.

Speaking of adapting....


THE ADAPTATION CONUNDRUM


Our body adapts to literally anything we do. Don’t drink water? Your body will begin to retain water. This becomes problematic in aerobic training because the more fit we become the less work is required, and thus, the less fat that is burned. If a 45 minute run was torturous for you at one time, but over time you became conditioned to to do it relatively easy, then this hinders your fat-burning potential. You must either run farther or run faster to which the body will then adapt to also. The problem is eventually your taking an hour to do burn the fat you once were doing in 30 minutes.



As we become fitter, less work is required, and thus less fat is burned.


With strength or power training it’s much more difficult for the body to adapt to because we’re constantly changing the weight as well as the movement and time interval.

Does this mean we should only do Anaerobic exercise. No! Endurance training helps our capacity to actually perform strength and power exercises. It’s when we stay too long in the aerobic/ endurance phase that we begin to break down muscle, which results in a loss of strength, power, and speed.

THE AFTER-BURN EFFECT

This is my simple way of referring to the process known as Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC). See why I like ‘After-Burn effect’ much better?
This process is ultimately what we’re trying to attain from our workout.

Fat loss is all about calorie expenditure, or the burn more than you take in philosophy. In the case of our energy system pathways Endurance training will burn more DURING the workout, and Strength & Power exercises, though, will burn considerably more calories following your workout.

By adding extra lean muscle we literally create a situation where we are shredding calories in our sleep!







Another way of looking at this would be to say that steady-state endurance training burns more fat during the workout, but strength and power exercises burn more total calories and in the end can burn as much as 9x the amount of body fat as long, low-intensity cardio! In general, we want variety.

The best Interval program for you is the one you haven’t done in awhile! And this is where The Spartacus Workout and our multiple energy systems pays off for us!



Jeff McDaniel
http://bootcampbulletproof.com





Saturday, April 16, 2011

BULLETPROOF NUTRITION: THE INTERNAL SEE-SAW

When it comes to food we typically see it as a fuel supply or something of an immense pleasure. But as we look closer at nutrition as pathway to greater health and fitness, it becomes important to see food, and in particular, the macronutrients that make up those foods, as more than just fuel, but as a drug.

How so? Well, in the same way that drugs have an impact upon the hormones in our body, so does the food we eat. With that fact in mind, we now have to look at food as a very powerful drug that influences our hormones, which regulate and control how our body stores and releases energy.






By balancing our macronutrients, we balance our hormones and keep ourselves out of metabolic derangement such as obesity, diabetes, and related illnesses.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

FASTFIT RECIPE OF THE WEEK: SWEET POTATO FRIES


INGREDIENTS
Yams / Sweet Potatoes
Chili powder
Canola oil

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
2. Cut 3 yams/sweet potatoes into fresh fry like pieces (cutting them into thin ‘rounds also works really well).
3. Toss in bowl with canola oil, salt, pepper, and chili powder.
4. Arrange on a baking sheet in a single layer and bake for 20-25 minutes, flipping the fries halfway through.

Enjoy!

Jeff McDaniel
http://bootcampbulletproof.com

Friday, April 1, 2011

BOOTCAMP-TO-GO SPARTACUS WORKOUT

We're about to launch The Spartacus Workout 2.0 for all of our bootcamps this month and so as a tribute I'm giving out a FREE Bootcamp-To-Go workout package for home or travel.

Just follow the 3 simple steps below to see what the entire fitness world is talking about today:

1.) First click the link below to view the Spartacus 2.0 Workout routine from Men’s Health and to learn how to perform the exercises within:

http://my.menshealth.com/workout/The-Spartacus-Workout-2.0


2.) Then click the link below to download the custom Spartacus 2.0 Soundtrack powered by Workout Muse. The track comes complete with music and audio instructions that tell you exactly what to do so you don’t have to look at the clock:

http://bit.ly/Spartacus2


3.) Press PLAY and crank out one of the most challenging (and rewarding) workouts of your life!


So take advantage of this incredible done-for-you fitness program for your home and travel workouts.

It’s the perfect fit for those days when you can’t get your workout in with us ;)


Committed To Your Success,

Jeff McDaniel, C.P.T.
FastFit Training & Fitness
http://bootcampbulletproof.com