Training for Warriors 4 Minute Push Up Challenge

Sup, today I share a challenge! Check this vid out from Martin Rooney at TFW:

So the challenge is to do 10 sets of 10 in under 4 minutes, here's the order:

• Regular pushups
• Diamond grip
• Triangle
• Alternating grip on one leg
•  Twisting pushups
• Knee to the side
• Knee to the middle
• Pike pushups
• Judo pushups
• One arm push ups

It's an awesome challenge and something you can do each month or week and try and beat your score.

You can also try to do it in 3 minutes. I tried today and only just managed to make it. Although my last 10 reps were a bit dodgy. So now my next challenge will to be the 100 reps in less than 3 minutes [without swearing].

If you're all about pushups you should check out Martin's Warrior Pushup App, it's really cool and has over 100 different pushup variations as well as challenges and workouts. The best thing I think is that for every 1000 pushups you move up a belt. So at the minute I'm over 4500 pushups for the year and have a purple belt. It's slightly silly how satisfying it is getting the new belt but it is very motivating. I'm gunning for 10,000 push ups this year so that black belt will be mine!!!!
Pow!

Metabolic Training - TFW Hurricane Training

Today I'm going to share a form of metabolic training used in the Training for Warriors System developed by Martin Rooney [legend] called Hurricane Training. I've been using it for about 2 years now and I can safely say that it's not called a Hurricane for nothing. This will knock your socks off and leave you wondering how your shoes managed to stay on in the process.

Here's an example of a Category 1:
       Treadmill at 9-10mph at 10% incline for 8 sets of 15 seconds.
       After each set allow your heart rate to get back down to around 120-130 bpm

Here's a Category 2:

• Treadmill at 10 mph and 10% incline for 3 sets of 20 seconds. After each set do the exercises below with little or no rest [5 seconds]:
• Mountain Climbers - 20 reps
• Pushups - 15

Rest for 1 minute

• Treadmill at 11 mph and 10% incline for 3 sets of 20 seconds
• Wide mountain climbers [w/ hands on medicine ball] - 20 reps
• Pushups - Knee to elbow - 10 reps

 Rest for 1 minute

• Treadmill at 11.5 mph and 10% incline for 3 sets of 20 seconds
• Burpee - 10 reps
• Pushups with lateral kick [leg to the side] - 10 reps

A Hurricane will usually take about 20 minutes but the EPOC [post exercise oxygen consumption] will last for 38-48 hours.

Category 3, 4 and 5 increase in intensity in a few ways:

• Treadmill speed
• Time on treadmill [25-30 seconds]
• Difficulty of exercises after each sprint. From bodyweight to barbell, kettlebell and dumbbell movements
• Increasing quantities of sweat

It's important to mention that the Hurricane is part of the larger Training For Warriors system [here's a link to the daily workout page]. So before even doing a Hurricane there is a specific warmup and mobility session as well a cardiovascular circuit, skipping rope for example. But I can guarantee you that a Hurricane is pretty intense in it's own right and can deliver rather dashing results.

Here's a few videos from Zac Even-Esh taking part in a Hurricane:
MMA Workouts: Hurricane Training with Martin Rooney Part 3
MMA Workouts: Hurricane Training with Martin Rooney Part 2 

What I love most about Hurricane Training is that it's more efficient than traditional cardio [slogging it out for ages on a treadmill or bike at the same pace...boring] and build muscle and lose fat at the same time [mega swishhh].
So give Hurricane Training a try 'cos in my experience it's all kinds of awesome. As Martin Rooney would say SPREAD THE RESISTANCE! Pow.

Basic Bodyweight Circuit

Today I'm going to share a basic bodyweight circuit that I like to use if I'm tight on time, traveling or just feel like busting out some moves without having to think too much about it.
This circuit consists of 2 upper body moves and 2 lower body moves. They are split up so that your upper body has time to recover while working your lower body and vice versa.
It consists of 4 basic movement patterns. Do each for 10-15 reps and move onto the next exercise with no rest. At the end of the 4 exercise circuit rest for 45-60 seconds and repeat 3 more times.

1. Push up        x 10-15
2. Squat            x 10-15
3. Shoulder Y's x 10-15
4. Lunges         x 10 each leg

Rest for 45-60 seconds, depending on your fitness level, use this time to steady your breathing and heart rate. Feel free to vary the rest period but wait no longer than 2 minutes.
You can add any variation to the circuit and add more exercises as well. Below are a few variations of this circuit.

     Uni-lateral

1. One handed push up [or one legged]
2. Pistol Squat
3. One arm row
4. Single leg romanian deadlift

    Plyometric circuit

1. Clap Push Up
2. Jump Squat
3. Chin Up/Pull up
4. Split jumps

 Here's a few other ways you can increase the intensity of the circuit:

• Add weight such as a barbell or kettlebell
• Use resistance bands or a TRX
• Increase reps
• Increase sets
• Decrease rest period
• Instead of doing reps and sets complete as many circuits as possible in 20 minutes
• Do each exercise for 45-60 seconds before moving onto the next one
• Do the eccentric [lowering stage] phase very slowly and then quickly push back. Try 4 seconds down and 1 up.
• Do the exercises with a stability ball or stability board

 

The character you develop is more important than the body

The character traits you develop through exercise and training are more important than the physical gains. To achieve your goals you have to become a stronger person, you have to become more. if you do what you have always done, you will get what you have always gotten. You have to develop discipline, determination, commitment, patience, self-motivation and will power. So not only do you grow stronger physically but as a person too. 

Martin Rooney's TFW blog is a fantastic place for exactly what I'm talking about, as is Elliott Hulse's Grow Stronger blog. I invite you to to check them out [particularly Martin's blog, Elliott's youtube channels are awesome too. Check out his Four Layers of Strength].

These character traits carry on into every facet of your life. When you become a stronger character you have the tools overcome greater challenges and achieve greater goals as well as inspire the people around you. It is your character that inspires others and remains when your gains/muscles have gone.
Just like a muscle you need to train your character consistently and feed your motivation daily. Just the same as poor nutrition creates a poor body, poor/negative thoughts create a sick mind. Feed your mind positive, affirming thoughts. Your words create your future. Believe in good things and good things will happen.

Start by developing your discipline. Do 10 push ups every morning right after you wake up [pants optional]. Do this every day without fail. Make it habit. By starting small you are building your discipline and creating good habits. Start small and build it up.

Develop your tools, your character and the courage to trust your intuition and to take action towards your dreams. You are responsible for your life. Dream big, work hard, make it happen. Boom.

Tabatas

Tabata training is a method of developed in the mid-1990's by Izumi Tabata whereby he discovered that working at all-out intensity [originally using resistance cycling] for 20 seconds followed by 10 seconds rest for a total of 8 sets produced rather smashing results in terms of fat loss and cardiac benefit. So you can get a super intense workout in 4 minutes. You could do that in the time it takes a kettle to boil [given that the kettle takes at least 4 minutes to boil...maths]. 

So do each exercise for 20 seconds followed by 10 seconds rest [or you could vary that to 15 seconds on, 5 off]. Complete 8 total sets. The real challenge is to use the your 10 seconds rest efficiently to lower your heart rate and steady your breathing as well as sticking to only 10 seconds rest [especially for the last one or two sets!].

Here are some examples:

1. Burpees [some variations below]
1. Burpees with push up
2. 3 point burpees [one legged]
3. 2 point burpees [advanced, one arm and one leg]
2. Bastards [burpees with a push up and squat jump, aptly named]
3. Squats [variations below]
1. Prisoner squats [hands on behind head]
2. Y squat [hands in a Y above head]
3. Pistol squat [one legged squat]
4. Jump squat
4. Push ups [Plenty of variations!!!]
5. Roll-ups [begin standing, squat down and roll onto your back, roll back up to standing without using your hands]
6.  Mountain climbers
7. Jumping jacks
8. Shadow boxing
9. Kettlebells [many variations, here's a few to try]
1. Double handed swing
2. Single handed swing
3. Front squat
4. Clean and press
10. Lunge Complex [2 sets each for a total of 8 sets]
1. Front lunge
2. 45 degree lunge
3. Side lunge
4.  Back lunge 

As you can see by the examples above, you can get a serious workout by using your own bodyweight and being creative. You can increase the intensity by altering factors such as: exercises selected, speed of movement, intensity [weight/resistance used], number of reps, number of total circuits and total time of circuit.

Give Tabatas a try and get creative. Pow.

My Mentors

I have been involved in developing myself for roughly 10 years now. I started taking fitness training seriously about 6 years ago and the people that have made the biggest impact on my knowledge and body have been Martin Rooney from Training for Warriors, Elliott Hulse from Strength Camp and Naudi Aguilar from Functional Patterns.

Martin Rooney was really my first mentor and had, and continues to have, an incredible influence on my physical and mental training. His Training for Warriors system is awesome and I invite you to check out his YouTube channel too. Here's the man himself explaining TFW. I have been using the TFW system for roughly 3 years and I have really enjoyed the system as well as the results in terms of aesthetics as well as strength and athleticism. The Hurricane training is something else though!! Martin has several books out, two that I that I have benefited a lot from are Warrior Cardio and Ultimate Warrior Workouts. Both are awesome and you won't believe the amount of information in them.

Naudi Aguilar at Functional Patterns has been another massive influence on my training and how I approach becoming a fitter, stronger, more athletic version of myself. Naudi is a holistic movement practitioner and incorporates techniques such as myofascial release and corrective exercises to get a human body back to balance and to improve biomechanics. I think what has really opened my eyes is how Naudi talks and teaches about how to really train the human body as it was designed to work and move. We are bipedal beings and our training should cater towards our biology. We move in multi-planes of motion and incorporate rotation into nearly every movement we do [walking, running, throwing etc]. Functional Patterns is all about training the body to work as it should. I can say that by watching nearly all of his videos as well as reading his book, Power of Posture, and by following his exercises and routines that I definitely feel more athletic, balanced and have much better posture and breathing dynamics. Personally I feel that this form of training to cater to our biology just makes sense and it is something I will be exploring through my journey and sharing my experiences on this blog.

Elliott Hulse. Sweet Mother of Dragons this man is awesome. And I don't mean Game of Thrones the TV series awesome, I mean Game of Thrones the books awesome! 
Elliott has had the biggest impact on me in terms of ideas and perspectives that I just hadn't thought about. Elliott not only has immense knowledge in strength training but also inner strength. I really can't say enough about Elliott, if there's anything you take away from this blog check out Elliott at Strength Camp and elliotsaidwhat. His Strength Camp channel focuses on strength and fitness training but he, more often than not, incorporates all manner of ideas from deep breathing [breath into your balls], bio-energetics, the 4 layers of strength and many, many more. His other channel is more about life questions and is really interesting to hear his perspectives and ideas. What I love most about Elliott is that he doesn't force his ideas onto you, he invites you to try them out for yourself. He also isn't precious about his ideas and doesn't let himself get boxed in. A true inspiration and a real hero of mine! Again I can't say enough about Elliott...well I could but I'd be writing for days.

I am also checking out Ido Portal and Raw Brahs at the moment. So will possibly update this blog when I have tried out their stuff. 

Anyways those are my main inspirations and hopefully there's something here that you've found resourceful.

Greetings

Day's salutations reader,

My name is Rob, I am 23 years old and this blog is about my journey and experiences in becoming a holistic fitness trainer. STOP! Story time: I finished college last year and graduated with Second Class Honours [swish!] in Product Design from DIT. During college I really enjoyed product design but once I graduated I got an internship [after many moons of character-building job hunting]. I was working as a UX/Web designer in a start-up...and I hated it. I absolutely hated working in an office and loathed sitting at a desk staring at a computer screen for 8-9 hours every day. Now many people would argue that that’s just how it is, get a job, even though you realize it’s not for you, and just stick it out. Well, that’s not how I play the game. So I followed my heart, brought my brain along for the ride, and here I am. On my journey through health and fitness land, barefoot and in shorts of course.

My goal is to educate and train people about how their body and minds all work together in a holistic way. Everything is connected. You can’t be a strong person if you have a weak character or an inability to be present in your body [more on that later]. Just the same that you can’t be a strong person mentally if you are overweight, weak and have poor posture. Everything is connected, your body is the physical representation of who and what you are and do. The same way our moods can affect our posture, we can improve our moods by improving our posture.
Through this blog I will explain my experiences and ideas, I will also be talking about anything new I am experimenting with. Hopefully there will be an idea or topic that resonates with you and you will be able to take something away from what I’m presenting.
It is important to note that these are all just my opinions and ideas and the best thing I can offer you are my experiences, knowledge, new perspectives and to point you in that direction. Try it yourself, see if it works for you. Take that experience and evolve, always strive to challenge yourself and develop not only your body but your character. And most importantly learn to follow your intuition, it's the bees knees.

 Also I love 90's music and avocados. 

My blog posts from now will probably mention avocados less [can't say that about 90's music] but I will be sharing my knowledge and experiences with topics such as my mentors, posture, metabolic training, deep breathing, bodyweight circuits, myofascial release, dynamic warmups etc. etc. Anything that I feel is worth sharing and may be resourceful to someone interested in developing and improving themselves.