I just realised it’s the 1st june tomorrow.
The day I said my honeymoon sale will end.That gives you till the end of tomorrow if you wish to recieve a 50% discount on the eBook, No Equiment, No Excuses or on my Online Personal Training Service
Till tomorrow then….
Dave Hedges
Author: No Equipment, No Excuses – Bodyweight training for the Home, Office or on the Road
info@wildgeesema.com
+353 87 672 6090
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Home gym to reduce your carbon footprint
I want to introduce you to a way of keeping fit, strong, lean and healthy AND carbon neutral. That’s right, no more driving to an air-conditioned, fluorescently lit, noisy gym loaded with electronic equipment and plasma screens. Instead we are going to go back to nature and discover the finest home gym ever invented; your own body and homemade equipment. I’m talking about bodyweight training or calisthenics. If you want superior results in strength, stamina, muscle endurance and a lean physique, quit the gym and ignore all those fitness gimmicks and gadgets. Learn to train anywhere, anytime with no equipment and no excuses!
The advantages of bodyweight only training:
-Lean, defined muscles without the bulk. Our bodies are built to run, walk, lift, throw, carry, climb, crawl and fight. Bodyweight training will strip away unwanted weight, while maintaining and building muscle, you’re body simply won’t want the extra weight.
-Mobile and efficient movements. In all bodyweight drills you have to stabilise and balance yourself. Not only will you involve more muscle groups by doing this, but you will also train the body to move as a unit. Being strapped into a machine doesn’t allow this.
-Unbelievable endurance. Forget the step or spinning classes if you want stamina and staying power. Instead try knocking out timed sets and multiple drill circuits with bodyweight.
-Reduce pain and stiffness in the body. Taking a joint through its natural and compete range of movement it will smooth itself out, stimulate the release of nutrient rich lubricants and keep itself healthy well into old age.
The ultimate advantage of using our own body is the convenience. You can perform Pushups and Squats anywhere, pull ups only require something to hang from, be it a swing set, doorframe or tree branch.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Bodyweight has its limitations, but with imagination we can create external resistance to further skyrocket our progress. Homemade and improvised gym equipment can be made up of various items, most of which would end up in some rubbish dump if you weren’t breathing a lease of life into them.
Take that old holdall you’re about to chuck out. Save it, fill it with sand or gravel (you may want to put a liner inside), you have just built a sandbag (more on that here). Anything you can do with a barbell you can do with a sandbag with the addition of throwing and carrying. How about using an old car tyre, now you can flip it, drag it, push it and hit it with a sledgehammer, all these drills will take your conditioning to a new level, stripping away fat and building a rock solid core.
It doesn’t stop there, you can improvise equipment out of almost anything and in doing so will bring your strength, condition, mobility and physique to whole new level. I dare say you’ll enjoy doing it a whole lot more than by going into some fossil fuel using, VOC emitting, soul destroying, expensive commercial gym. Keep the sessions short (45 mins or less), vary them, eat well, get good sleep and become the envy of your friends. Now get out there.
About the author
Dave Hedges
Personal Trainer, Fitness Coach, Self Defence & Martial Arts Instructor
Dave is just putting the finishing toches to the bodyweight manual “No Equipment, No Excuses”
This will soon be available through www.wildgeesema.com
This post originally appeared here
Wild Geese
www.wildgeesema.com / wildgeesema.blogspot.com
info@wildgeesema.com
+353 87 672 6090
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Here’s a simple method of improving a skill set that I got from Pavels “The Naked Warrior”, he calls it Grease the Groove.
What it is, in a nutshell, is a method of High Frequency Training. It calls for a single set of an exercise at intervals throughout the day.
Each set should stop short of failure, in other words if you can’t perform another perfect rep, don’t even try. You will aim to get as many sets done during the day as comfortable, starting maybe with 2, building to maybe 5 or more.
While Pavel talks about One Arm Push ups and Pistols (1 leg squats), you can apply the protocol to any situation. If you are struggling with a particular technique, say a roundhouse kick for example, do a few on each leg, stop before fatigue. A couple of hours later, repeat. Continue all day.
Continue greasing the groove, gradually increasing the number of sets and then the number of reps per set, but never to failure. Do this untill you reach your desired result.
For the busy exec or stressed Mother, this is a training method that fits into the busiest of schedules. Who couldn’t do a single set of an exercise while waiting for the kettle to boil, or during the ad break after Desperate Housewives?
Try it with other things, learning Spanish, Speed Work, Technical work, Strength work, writing your memoirs, or even grease the groove of calling your Mum.
Give it a go, see what happens.
Wild Geese Martial Arts
any cause but our own
PS Don’t forget to come along to the Fighters For Life Event
So we all agree, strength training in martial arts has always been around in some form or another, and we also take for granted that any boxer or UFC fighter will be doing some form of strength work.
So how do you apply it to your training schedule?
You can train with or without equipment, in a gym, your dojo or your home, on your own or with a partner/group.
So you’ve opted for no equipment
Great choice, as you can do this anywhere anytime. But how do you put together an effective bodyweight only programme?
Same as any other programme!
You will want to work your pushing, pulling and leg muscles.
Push: Press ups, 1 arm press ups, hindu’s, divebombers, handstands
Pull: Pull ups, towel rows, bridge
Legs: squat, 1 leg squat, lunge, split lunge, hindu squat
If you want pure strength stick to low rep 1 arm push ups and 1 leg squats a la Pavel Tsatsouline’s The Naked Warrior, if you want massive muscular endurance and conditioning go for high rep hindu pushups and squats with holding the bridge for time.
For some great bodyweight workouts for muscular endurance and conditioning check out Craig Ballantine’s bodyweight 100, 200, 350 and 500 workouts, I believe he’ll soon be launching a BW 1000 (yes thats 1000 total repetitions).
I love to do a quick set of hindu’s most mornings when I first get up, I find they loosen me up and prepare me for the day ahead. I’d leave the strength work for later in the day.
Just remember, try to train regularly and don’t be afriad to change things around from time to time.
Wild Geese Martial Arts are are the Irish Reps for Rapid Arnis, Guba Doce Pares and Doce Pares “Original” Eskrima. Although we love all FMA, and martial arts of every style. We’re not into politics and ego’s just training, teaching and promoting martial arts, fitness and health.
The Wild Geese are Paul Cox, 3rd dan Ed Parker’s Kenpo, 2nd Dan Shaloin Kempo, 1st Dan Doce Pares. And myself, Dave Hedges, 2nd Dan Ed Parker’s Kenpo, 1st Dan Wado Ryu Karate-Jutsu.
Our official site is http://www.wildgeesema.com/.
In the near future (as when we get time) we will be putting together an Irish Council of Kali, Eskrima, Arnis Instructors. This will be based on the British council (http://www.bckeai.co.uk/), which in turn is based on the Philippine Council of Kali Eskrima Arnis Masters.
The idea of the council is to be a non profit, non political council, made up of genuine FMA instructors, with the goal of promoting FMA in all it’s forms and ensuring that the public is aware as to who are the real instructors.
If you have comments/suggestions/questions put em down here.
Wild Geese Martial Arts
any cause but our own
