REST!

If you're like me, taking a rest day is easier said than done. There is no stopping, one does not simple stop doing things for an entire day! Good thing you don't have to, well, not exactly.

It's absolutely vital to take appropriate rest days. I'm not saying you shouldn't do anything on your days off. What I'm saying is, that no matter what you are training, you MUST take 1-3 days off that specific activity per week. There's a long list of reasons why rest days are so important. The obvious is that resting muscle groups that were worked the day before gives your body the necessary time it needs to recover and build. What happens when you exercise is you are actually tearing your muscle fibers. Giving the recently worked muscle groups 48hrs to recover ensures that your muscles have rebuilt and are ready for use, optimizing the amount you gain per workout.

Secondly, resting prevents injuries. Depending on your workouts more or less rest will be required. Certain activities like rock climbing are often over worked, because while a climbers muscles feel fine, the underlying danger comes in the tendons, which we typically don't think of needing rest.

In addition to the physical benefits of taking a rest day, comes the psychological benefits of it. Not only can you overwork your body, but you can overwork your mind. Taking a rest day every once in a while will help keep things fresh, and help keep you motivated. Remember, if you're not a pro athlete, working out isn't your job. So have fun with it. Never forget that.

Lastly, I need to emphasize that taking a "rest" day doesn't mean doing nothing. I personally find that near impossible. People should always be doing something. If your a rock climber or lifter, your off days should be spent doing other activities like running or hiking. And vice versa, if you're a runner or road biker, your off days should be spent strength training.

The moral of the story is, take a break! Non pro athletes workout to improve their quality of life and getting hurt doesn't fit in that at all.

Explosive, Muscle Burning, Lung Busting, Workout

The workout I'm posting today is the type of workout that should be incorporated into your regiment at least once a week. The primary focus is explosive power and fast paced repetition to increase lung capacity, power, and recovery time. Basically this is the difference between being in shape and being an athlete. These types of movements translate to all sports making you quicker, stronger, and able to outlast your opponents.

Example Workout:
Like all workouts start with a slow run for about 3-4min and a dynamic stretch. This is more important for this style of workout than any other due to the nature of the movements.

Start this workout doing the following exercises in order:
Rest time is a casual walk from one station to the next. This is more of an extension of the warm-up to prepare your body for what's to come

10 pushups - 10 bodyweight squats - 10 pull-ups - 10 frog jumps - 10 dips - 20 bodyweight lunges

Rest and stretch out

Now increase the difficulty minutely to by adding a small pop to the following exercises:
10 popping pushups (hands 1 inch off ground) - 10 slow squat jumps - 5 hoping pull-ups (hands elevate off bar)

Take a breather and stretch out anything still feeling tight.

Full Intensity: I must emphasize that while each part of the workout is without breaks, this is no reason to sacrifice form! This is NOT about doing the exercises as fast as you can, but rather doing them as explosively as you can.

Part 1: No Breaks
10 dips with explosive hop
12 tuck jumps (this is not a full squat, as soon as your toes touch the ground explode back up, bringing your knees to your chest)
10 dips with explosive hop
12 tuck jumps

2 min rest

Part 2: No Breaks
10 clapping pull-ups
10 squat jumps (High as you can!)
10 clapping pull-ups
10 squat jumps

2 min rest

Part 3: No Breaks
10 two handed kettlebell swings (explode out from the hips; arms like cables)
10 slow paces, but explosive medicine ball slams
10 two handed kettlebell swings
10 slow paces, but explosive medicine ball slams

2 min rest

Part 4: No Breaks
10 clapping pushups
20 scissor lunges
10 clapping pushups
20 scissor lunges
10 clapping pushups
20 scissor lunges

2 min rest

Part 5: No Breaks
10 burpees with full pushups
20 Russian twist slamming the medicine ball on each side
10 brupees
20 Russian twist

2 min rest

Finish the workout with a muscle burnout
Holding the medicine ball: 40 pulse squats
20 diamond pushups
Holding the medicine ball: 40 pulse squats
20 diamond pushups

DONE! If you did the workout right, taking no break, pushing as hard as you could, exploding as high off the ground in each rep as you could, then you're lungs and your muscles should be screaming.

That Terrible Thing Called Running: Workout

I just got back from a distance run, which I typically don't do a lot of. But, this particular exercise really broke up the most grueling part of running, the mental part. I'm very much the kind of person that is my own worst enemy when it comes to distance running. I don't bring music and I spend the whole time thinking about what I'm doing, how every step feels, how every breath hurts, how easy it is to stop, but yet I keep going. How? Why? That's really what this workout is about.

What I did:
Today was my rest day. I've been working hard and realized my body desperately needed a break. In my typical fashion I was unable to not workout for one day so when went for a light run. I headed down the Morgantown rail-trail and decided to run four miles, two miles out, two miles back. I started very slow (9min mile) then took a quick breather and stretched out. The next mile was still slow but much faster (8min mile). Again I stopped and stretched. Not long, but enough to get my lungs back to normal. The next mile I ran in 7min and then again I took a short break, barely long enough to get my lungs and heart rate back down. The last mile I picked it up again and finished just over 6min. Then I was done.

What Made this Work:
Seeing as how the mental aspect of running is the most difficult challenge for me, this style of workout was significantly easier because, by shortening the distance I now had an end in sight. I always knew, at around my current pace, I would have say 2min left. "I can run for 2 more minutes." And by starting out slow it, not only warmed me up, but it also gave me a time to beat. I had a comparison to base my currently mile off of. I ran the last mile like this and ran a 7 minute mile, if I run this next mile the same but just a little faster at the end I'll be sure to beat that time. The workout gave me a slow progression, goals, and perspective. Those three things are what make the workout so mentally effective.

What you can do:
I would recommend a similar workout to anyone suffering from the same unbearable dislike for distance running as me. Start with a slow mile, like REALLY slow. Then every mile take just a little bit of time off your run. Take small breaks in between miles to relax and clear your head. Then think about the mile you just ran and move just a little bit faster. You'll be surprised at how much easier this makes running.

Suicides: Parking Lot

The following is a suicides workout. Don't jump ahead and kill yourself, though you might want to after this workout. Suicides are essentially a continuous sprint: sprint to a line, touch the line, and explode out of your turn. Sprint back to the start, plant your foot, explode out of the turn sprint to a different line, and so on.

Anyways, most people either know what a suicide is, or have heard of it. If your going out of your way to read a fitness blog, I'll bet you get the point. But here's a few things to remember: When doing suicides always turn in alternating directions to balance out your body. This means that, for the sake of the example, you are always sprinting East to West and West to East. Every time you turn you should be turning towards the North. So one way you are planting with you right foot and the other with your left. This is not only important for keeping you legs in equilibrium, but also your core because you are touching your hands down the line and will surprisingly get one hell of a core workout out of it. Which brings me to my second reminder. Touch the line!! Like anything else you are doing, you need to make the most out of your workout. Don't cheat yourself, there is no reason to display laziness when working out, it defeats the purpose. Lastly, make sure you are exploding out of the turns, lazy, half effort turns, will completely defeat the purpose of doing suicides. You mine as well go jog for a 30min because it will be the same thing. No! You need to touch the line and explode out of the turn as fast as you can. This is the single most important part of the workout. The part that separates it from anything else. Build that explosive power through your whole body, drive with your legs, push with you core, and pull with your arms!!

This workout will build the real world, game time, strength, speed, and stamina, needed in any sport. No other workout will replicate the movements and the pace that you'll need on any athletic field like this. The turns, the quick bursts or power, the brief moments of rest, and the quick recovery needed to go full speed all game.

Parking Lot Workout:
Parking lots....the perfectly convenient, already set-up place for suicides. Be as creative as you want with this, go out to any empty parking lot and make up a suicides workout using the lines. Use a few, use them all, up to you. Bellow is one I've made up for you if you don't feel like being creative....it's a killer.

First, you'll need a watch. Set a time that is appropriate for your recovery (I chose 1 min). Next, bring a cone, or a bottle, or whatever to mark specific lines with. It can be hard to focus on your target line during these sprints.

Start:
Phase 1
Sprint to the first line, then back (don't stop)
Turn! Second line, then back
Turn! Third line, then back
Turn! Last line, then back (if your in a really big parking lot, just use line 10) Turn and back. This is a long sprint and it's OK to stride out a bit, but make sure you still explode out of the turn.

1 min rest. 

Phase 2
Sprint to line 3, then back
Turn! line 4, then back
Turn! line 3, then back
Turn! line 2, then back (sprint through the finish!!)

1 min rest.

20 Spiderman push-ups

1 min rest.

Phase 1 (Repeat phase 1 above)

1 min rest.

Phase 2 (Repeat phase 2 above)

1 min rest.

20 Spiderman push-ups

1 min rest.

Phase 3!!!
Line 2
Line 2
Last line
Last line

DONE!!!
That is approximately 20min of working out and if you can crank that out, you're a BEAST!! Remember to do a dynamic stretch before and a static stretch after. Foam roll when you get home.