Archive for Ed’s Workouts

Fast Cardio Workout Using Bodyweight

Tuesday, November 16th, 2010

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Hey!

Running isn’t fun.  Maybe it is to you, but I really, immensely, greatly, hugely dislike it.

I think it’s boring and if I need to get from point A to point B, I’ll drive.

I know many people enjoy running and that’s cool.  I also know many people who should not be running because their form is out of whack and it puts too much pressure on their knee and hip joints, not to mention their back.

So if you like running, cool.  If you’re training for a half-marathon or full marathon because it’s a huge goal for you, that’s cool too.

If you just want to lose weight and get in better shape, running is overrated.

I much prefer bodyweight workouts for my cardio and they work fine and dandy.

Actually, they work better than fine and dandy, they work fantastically!

I made a little video for you showing you just that type of cardio workout and if you’d like to give it a gander, click below:

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Okay, that is all!

Talk to you soon and have an awesome day!

Ed, aka “The Fit Dad”

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Fast Workouts In 4-Minutes!

Sunday, October 17th, 2010

fast workouts from homeHey!  What’s goin’ down?  I trust your day is off to an awesomely and unbelievable start!  I know mine is.

Ya know, I love fast workouts…to be more specific, I love 4-minute workouts.

I love them in a hotel.

I love 4-minute workouts in a bedroom.

I love them in my training studio.

I love fast workouts in a hallway.

I love them on a plane (which makes for some funny looks).

I even love 4-minute workouts in my backyard.

To show you just how much I love these extra special workouts, I have made a bunch of videos detailing some killer 4-minute fat blasting workouts just for you!

Fast Workouts In 4-Minutes

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Or even click here for another super-duper fast workout:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQRS6reJcDg

Maybe click here for a 4-Minute Abs Workout to crank your stomach and core:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W4xTHu26TE

And certainly click here for yet another fantastically quick home workout:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBbS5WtpplE

You can do these as a stand-alone workout for 4-minutes (plus a quick warm-up) if you’re pressed for time.  You can combine 2 of them, or even 3 and create one nasty fat blasting workout.

There’s really no end to the creativity you can have when doing 4-minute workouts.

You could even combine one with one of my 10-minute workouts and create…a 14-minute workout!  Yes, I do math sometimes too.

Actually one of my favorite ways to combine workouts is to do a 10-minute workout, rest for a minute, and then grab either an arms workout or 4-minute abs workout, or both, as an “add-on.”  It almost creates a puzzle effect where it lets you pick and choose different combinations of workouts, put them together into a wicked full-body workout and be on with your merry ways.

So if your day only allows for 4-12 minutes, you can get something done and if your day allows for 20 minutes, you can create fast workouts in that way as well.

See what I’m saying?

That should be enough to get you started for today!

Have an awesome day!

And Remember…

Be A Superhero Today!

Ed

P.S. – One of the bonuses with the new and improved version of Fat Loss To Go is a couple workout programs devoted to 4-minute workouts.  One is called 4-Minute Fat Loss Workouts and the other is called 4-Minute Abs Workouts.  Both of those programs are jam-packed with fast workouts you can do from anywhere…which means no gym membership, and no expensive equipment to buy.

fast workouts to do from home

Home Workout Video And Throwin’ Parents In A Lake

Monday, October 11th, 2010

What’s goin’ on?

Did you have an awesome weekend?  I know I did.  I got to watch a little football, hang out with the family, chill out and just be awesome (that’s taken from my buddy Brad Pilon).

As I sat down to write to you I thought of something that happened a couple weeks ago while on a mini-vacation/business thingy out in Colorado (we’ll get to the home workout video in a minute).  There was a playground about a block from the condo we were staying (which also happened to be on a gorgeous lake) and Maren wanted to play there on a regular basis.

not a home workout video

lovely parenting :)

On our last day she made a friend and played with her for a while, but then something happened.

I’m sure it’s happened to you as well…

They got into a little fight.  It started out innocently enough – kids being selfish – but progressed and the other little girl got a little nasty and her parents weren’t going to do anything about it (I don’t even know if they paid attention to her at all while we were there), so we decided to just leave.

I smiled and aided Andrea in consoling our heart-broken little girl – this REALLY upset her and she was NOT happy with the other little girl (and she let us know how really, really pissed she was) – but what I really wanted to do was toss the girl’s parents into the lake.

A little over-aggressive thought process?  A little.  Justifiable?  I think so!

Why did I get off onto this little tangent?

I have no idea.

My real reason for emailing you was to share another awesome 10-minute workout video with you!

Watch the video below to check it out and give it a go!

Super-Awesome Home Workout Video

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If you didn’t get last week’s 10-minute workout video, click here to give it a try.

I also wanted to share an article I found with you.  It’s about a process many processed food manufacturers use to strip every last bit of meat off the bone.  It’s pretty stinkin’ disgusting, but I think you need to know this information to illustrate that processed food manufacturers are not out for your benefit and shouldn’t always be trusted.

To check that little doozy out, click here.

And for clarification, McDonald’s does not use this process on their Chicken McNuggets.  Does that mean you should eat them?  Hells to the no, but it’s a common misconception that McD’s uses this process.  If memory serves they used to use it until people got so outraged that they quit.  Foods must be marked as using this process so they can’t really pull the wool over your eyes.

My main reason for giving you the link to that article is to give you one more reason to quit eating processed foods, stop eating fast food and start eating more real food, and of course doing workouts from home (like the home workout video I showed you earlier :) ).

One more thing about doing your workouts from home and we’ll be outtie.

A common question I receive has to do with workout timing.  Folks want to know if there’s an ideal time to train from home and the answer is no.  Whatever time works best for you, and that you’ll stick to on a consistent basis, is cool.  If evening fits your schedule, do it then.  If the lunchhour works better, do it then.

I’m a bit partial to the early morning workouts because it removes any excuses later on, but that doesn’t mean it’s a magical time of day.  You doing the workout is all that matters.

Coolio?

Oh hell, I have to give you just one more home workout video :)  Click here for that vid.

Okey dokey, that’s all I have for you today!

Talk to you soon!

The Fit Dad

home workout video

Hey!

What’s happenin’?  I trust your weekend was amazing.  Mine was pretty sweet and actually my last couple weeks have been pretty awesome.  We took a little vacation to the mountains and pretty much did nothing.  I read a couple books, napped, went for long walks and enjoyed the scenery, good company and good food!

I also mixed in a little business when I headed up to Vail and did a presentation on nutrition and the power of the mind in front of a group of awesome ladies.  They actually made me do some push-ups and in that thin mountain air I was dead!  Not to mention I was in my “pretty clothes” – it’s kinda nice to get out of my shorts and t-shirt and dress like a normal person every once in a while!

Anyway, the REAL reason I’m chattin’ you up today is to share another killer 10-minute workout with you.

It’s a 4-exercise fat blasting circuit that’s a mean little devil.  I put a client through it the end of last week and he was doggin’, but it’s adaptable to nearly any fitness level which is pretty cool.

To give it a watch and blast some fat, check it out below…

10-Minute Fat Loss Workout Video

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What do you think?  Actually I’d love to get your thoughts AFTER you give this sweet (and nasty) 10-minute fat loss workout a try!

Remember that all I ask when you do these quick workouts is that you work HARD for the entire 10-minutes.  Work to your fitness level, and a couple notches beyond, and keep progressing every workout and every week.

If all you have time for is 10 minutes, that’s cool!

If you have another 5-minutes, then do the workout a bit longer or grab an add-on Abs Workout (click here).

If you don’t have more time right now, but will later in the day, then do this 10-minute fat loss workout AGAIN later in the day.  That’s actually one of my favorite ways to train.  I love doing a quick workout in the morning either before my first client or between clients, and then later on before I head home.  It’s like the old two-a-days we used to do in high school, only there’s less yelling, puking and all that other nonsense :)

One of the benefits of doing them twice a day is that you can change it up a bit and work a little differently in the second workout.  For instance, if the first workout focused primarily on the upper body, maybe the second one can be a bodyweight workout that’s more in the style of “cardio,” or focus more on the legs or abs.

Catch my drift?

Actually to be totally honest my extra special favorite way to do these 10-minute fat loss workouts is to capitalize on the metabolic furnace being cranked with the first 10-minutes and then expand on it with a really up-tempo bodyweight cardio workout immediately after.

That second one typically includes lots of jump rope, burpees, swings or just Turkish Get-ups for 10-minutes.

That’s what I love about these things!  They can expand and contract depending upon your fitness level and amount of free time you have available.

Give that 10-minute fat loss workout a try, and then expand as you progress!

Talk to ya later!

Ed

10-minute fat loss workout

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Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer here in the US and it’s approaching quickly…very, very quickly!

Will you be ready to step onto the beach or hit the pool?  Will you be comfortable in your swimsuit?

I know I will!

Right now I’m comfortable…but not satisfied.

Are you ready for the beach?

To become satisfied I have decided to change up my workouts a wee bit to make them more intense and focus solely on fat loss – not strength gains or muscle mass gains…just losing fat and getting rid of those last few pounds.

If you’ve tried it before you know how incredibly freaking difficult those last few pounds can be to lose.  It’s the most stubborn fat known to man and I will lose it by the end of May – I may even take a couple pictures to show you just how far I will have come.

Enough of the babble, it’s time I share with you my workout plan for the remainder of May.

Like I said earlier, this month’s workout program focuses solely on fat loss and it’s meant to be intense, but it still focuses entirely on my 10-minute workout philosophy.

My plan is 3 days of resistance training workouts, 4 days of bodyweight cardio workouts and 2 days of interval training on the stationary bike – obviously I’m not doing them on separate days otherwise my math would be horrible!

Mondays I do Resistance Training and Bodyweight Cardio.

Tuesdays I do Bodyweight Cardio and Interval Training.

Wednesdays I only do Resistance Training.

Thursdays are only Bodyweight Cardio.

Fridays are Resistance Training and Bodyweight Cardio.

Saturdays are Interval Training only.

Sundays I take off but I still do some light activity and stretching/mobility work.

All of my Resistance workouts are 3 exercise 10-minute circuits.  I do 1 10-minute circuit, rest a minute then do another one.

Like I said – these puppies are not meant to increase my strength or give me extra muscle (so don’t tell me some of the exercises I paired up don’t go well together…I don’t care and I know what I’m doing)…just to kick my ass and leave me gasping for air.  I pick a weight that’s difficult and I adjust it as necessary through the 10-minutes.

The Bodyweight Cardio workouts are highly metabolic and will have you panting and screaming “I hate you Ed!!” and that’s okay because the point of these bodyweight cardio workouts is to kick your ass and burn all kinds of fat.

Okay, enough of the explanations and blabber here are the workouts and the schedule… Read More→

Plateau-Busting Fat Loss Workout

Sunday, January 24th, 2010
This is NOT how you bust through your plateau

This is NOT how you bust through your plateau

Ruts, plateaus, stagnation.

We all experience that with our workouts and with our weight loss programs.  It’s inevitable whether you’ve been working for a few months, a few years or a few decades, but the inevitability isn’t the important part.

How you react to the plateaus, ruts and feelings of stagnation is the most important thing.

As I said here, you need to do something drastic both with your workouts and with your diet.

To see what I do with my diet, click here and to see my own plateau-busting workout check ‘em out below…

These plateau-busting workouts are all going to be bodyweight workouts only and they’re going to mix in high reps, very low rest periods and some tough variations of push-ups.  If you can’t do the push-up variations I suggest, that’s cool.  Just pick out the toughest push-up variations for you and do them instead.

But…

…The exercises you choose to do in place of the ones I suggest MUST be difficult.  The point of this plateau-busting fat loss workout is to shake things up and shake you out of your comfort zone to get your body to continue making progress and to re-invigorate yourself and get you back on track.

Day 1:

Bodyweight Circuit – Complete this workout in a circuit, completing as many circuits as you can in 10 minutes.

1A) Pike Push-up – 15 reps
1B) Bodyweight Squat – 40 reps
1C) Jump Squat – 8 reps
1D) Decline Spider-Man Push-up – 15 reps
1E) 1-Leg Burpee – 10 reps per leg

2) Jump Rope – 5 minutes

3) Repeat the previous circuit for 10 minutes.

Day 2:

Do these workouts to get your superhero body!

Do these workouts to get your superhero body!

Bodyweight Workout Circuit – Complete this workout in a circuit, completing as many circuits as you can in 10 minutes.

1A) Burpee – 20 reps
1B) Reverse Lunge – 15 reps per leg
1C) Forward Lunge – 15 reps per leg
1D) Mountain Climber – 40 reps per leg
1E) Jumping Jack – 60 reps

2) Jump Rope – 10 minutes

Day 3:

Bodyweight Workout Circuit – Complete this workout in a circuit, completing as many circuits as you can in 10 minutes.

1A) Inverted Row – AMAP
1B) 1-Leg Feet Elevated Hip Extension – 15 reps per leg
1C) 1-Leg Decline Push-up – 20 reps
1D) Burpee w/Push-up – 12 reps
1E) 1 ½ Squat – 20 reps

2) Jump Rope – 5 minutes

3) Repeat the above 10-minute circuit.

Day 4:

4-Minute Metabolic Bodyweight Tabata Workouts – We’re going to change things up a bit today and break everything up into 4-minute “Tabata” style bodyweight workouts.  To do them, you’ll do the first exercise for 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds, then do the second exercise for 20 seconds, rest 10 seconds and go back to the first exercise.  You should be able to get through the pair of exercises 4 times in the 4 minutes.

Rest for a minute, then go on to the next 4-minute Tabata.

Make sense?

1A) 1-Leg Burpee – 20 seconds,
10-second rest,
1B) Jumping Jacks – 20 seconds,

2A) 1 ½ Bodyweight Squat – 20 seconds,
10-second rest,
2B) Jump Squat – 20 seconds,

3A) Mountain Climber – 20 seconds,
10-second rest,
3B) Squat Thrust – 20 seconds,

4) Jump Rope – 5 minutes

Day 5:

I’m going to do something I don’t normally do and tell you to do 15 minutes of cardio today.

But it has to be high intensity cardio.  When I say high intensity, I mean HIGH INTENSITY!  I want you to work your butt off for 15 minutes doing your preferred type of cardio.

For me, that’s a stationary bike.  I’ll throw a movie in the DVD player, warm up for a few minutes, then crank up the resistance and go as hard as I can for 15 minutes.  After those 15 minutes, I’ll cool down, hop off the bike and do some light stretching.

Day 6 &7:  Take these 2 days off!

Still do something…don’t be a total lazy turd.  Play with the kids, go for a walk or leisurely bike ride – just don’t do an intense workout or sit on your butt all day.

Let me know if you have any questions about this week’s workouts!

And remember…

Be A Superhero Today!

Talk to you soon,

The Fit Dad

P.S. – If you have any workout or nutrition questions, leave a comment.  I love hearing from you and it helps me to design better workouts.

P.P.S. – If you’re ready to take your fat loss to the next level, then you NEED my Fat Loss To Go program.  It’s a fat loss program designed specifically for busy moms and dads and all the workouts can be done in 10 minutes!  Check it out by heading to www.FatLossToGo.com

boom

2010 Has Me Exploding With Excitement!

Wow!  2009 is gone and now we’re on to 2010.  I don’t know what your 2009 was like, but I couldn’t be happier that it’s gone.

Don’t get me wrong, it was a good year, but I’m so dad-gum excited about 2010 I can hardly stand it.  I’ve got so many things in store for you it makes my eyeballs want to pop out of my head due to excitement!

A quick personal note – to be totally honest I didn’t stick with my personal workouts very well over the past couple months.

I did the workouts, but I wasn’t that “into” them.  I thought they were boring, stale and dry and if you feel that way there’s no way you’re going to stick with them – even if you’re someone who gets paid to exercise!

But the past few weeks I’ve been experimenting on myself and I’m going to start experimenting on some of my personal clients and when I get the results I’m after I’ll be giving you the same stuff.  I’m pretty stoked about these new workouts I’ve been writing.

So stay tuned for those!

But now on to this week’s 10-minute workouts

Day 1:

Dumbbell/Bodyweight Circuit
– Complete this workout in a circuit, completing as many circuits as you can in 10 minutes. Read More→

Butt Kickin’ 10-Minute Workouts For This Week

Monday, December 7th, 2009
This is what my dog will look like this afternoon!

This is what my dog will look like this afternoon!

We got our first measurable amount of snow yesterday.

Ya know, snow always sounds cool…until it arrives and you have to drive in it.  Scratch that – you have to be on the road when OTHER people are driving.

Although I will say this – I’m actually one of the weird ones in that I actually enjoy scooping snow.  Yes, I know that’s weird and some may say idiotic, but it’s kinda fun to get out there and throw some snow around!  Plus I like to have competitions with my neighbors to see who can get done quicker – although they don’t know they’re competing with me…but I’d still kick their butts!

But I digress, here are your 10-Minute Home Fat Loss Workouts for the week…

Day 1:

Dumbbell/Bodyweight Circuit – Complete this workout in a circuit, completing as many circuits as you can in 10 minutes. Read More→