Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Volkswagen Shows Off Four New Beetles at New York Auto Show
The Right Moisturizer For Every Skin Type
Watch Beach Skydivers Fall From a Helicopter in Boat Shoes and Sandals
The best legs exercises you’re not doing
1 Clock lunge matrix
Why? Improve mobility and lateral lunge strength
Imagine you’re standing on a clock face with your left foot on the floor. Facing forwards, pivot your right foot around it to step to 12 and 6 o’clock, then repeat for 3 and 9 o’clock. Start with a step in each direction and with every rep increase the range until you reach a lunge. Then switch legs. Beginners do this with your bodyweight. As you get stronger hold dumbbells by your side and for the advanced, holding kettlebells overhead.
2 Internal-external hip hold
Why? Improve hip flexibility for a deeper, stronger squat
Start in a straight-arm plank position. Bring one foot underneath your body and place it on your opposite side. Gently lower your hips towards the floor. The target is to achieve a 90° angle with your legs so your hips are close to the floor. Brace your core and relax your shoulders.
3 Romanian deadlift to goblet squat
Why? Warm up your lower body and improve mobility
Hold a kettlebell with both hands between your legs. With feet shoulder-width apart and back straight, hinge forwards at your hips, keeping your legs straight so you feel a slight stretch in your hamstrings. Lower with your arms straight until the weight is just off the floor, then bend your knees and lower your glutes towards the floor while also bending your arms to bring the kettlebell towards your chest. You’re now in the bottom position of a goblet squat. From here drive down through your heels to stand. Return the kettlebell to between your legs and continue into the next rep.
4 Single-leg gym ball glute bridge
Why? Get powerful and injury-proof hamstrings
Lie on your back with your heels on a gym ball and arms out to your sides for balance. Raise your hips and squeeze your glutes to keep your body in a straight line. Bring one heel off the ball, then, making sure your hips don't drop and knees stay level throughout, flex your hamstrings to bend the leg that's in contact with the ball until it’s at 90°. Reverse the move so both legs are straight and repeat. Do all your reps on one leg, then swap sides.
Test your leg strength with this bodyweight squat challenge - part of our Workout of the Week series
5 Single-leg box squat
Why? Build quad and glute strength for running speed
Standing close to the edge of a box or bench, lower on one leg, keeping your heel down rather than going up on your toes, and extend the other leg out straight. Slowly lower until your glute touches your calf on the bent leg, ensuring your other leg doesn’t touch the floor, then drive back up. This is similar to the pistol squat but easier to do without breaking form.
6 Hindu squat
Why? Builds healthy knee joints
With feet shoulder-width apart, inhale deeply and draw your hands towards your chest. Then point them down and slightly behind you as you slowly squat down, keeping your back upright. Exhale as you lower as far as you can, aiming to be up on your toes at the bottom of the squat. Stand, pressing your heels to the floor and bringing your arms back in front of you so they’re parallel to the floor. Continue into the next rep without pausing.
Cutting the Cable: Sling TV
Monday, March 30, 2015
How to Get Out of a Sexual Rut
What It's Like to Run 100 Marathons in 100 Days
Friday, March 27, 2015
Chest and back giant set workout
If you want to add muscular size and strength to build a bigger and stronger physique then giant sets are a great way to achieve your goal. A giant set comprises four or more moves performed back to back, with rest coming only after you have completed the final rep of the fourth move. It’s a great set strategy that enables you to hit the target muscles from multiple angles and to work your muscle fibres to failure, which is when they can no longer complete another rep with good form. This is an ideal way to push your muscles harder than ever before so they grow back bigger and stronger.
How to do the workout
Do this once a week. After a warm-up, do exercises 1A, 1B, 1C and 1D in succession, sticking to the reps and tempo prescribed. After exercise 1D rest for the time specified, then repeat for a total of four sets. After the final rep of the fourth set of 1D, rest, then repeat the pattern with exercises 2A through to 2D. Slightly increase the weight you lift each week. The four-digit tempo figures refer to the time in seconds you take to lower the weight, pause, lift the weight, then pause in each rep.
Giant set 1
Warm up with some empty-bar bench presses, gradually increasing the weight and decreasing the number of reps until you reach your work-set target weight.
1A Bench press Reps 8 / Tempo 3010 / Rest 0sec
Lie on the bench with your feet on the floor directly under your knees. Hold the bar with an overhand grip, hands shoulder-width apart. Slowly lower the bar to your chest until your elbows are bent at 90° and the bar is almost touching the middle of your chest or just over your nipples. Drive your feet hard into the floor and push the bar back strongly to the start position.
1B Incline dumbbell bench press Reps 8 / Tempo 3010 / Rest 0sec
Lie on a bench set at a 60° angle holding a dumbbell in each hand at shoulder height. Keep your feet flat on the floor and your back against the bench. Press the weight directly above your head but don’t lock out your elbows at the top. Slowly lower the weight back down to your chest, flaring your elbows out to the side.
1C Cable flye Reps 10 / Tempo 2010 / Rest 0sec
Stand in the middle of a cable machine with a split stance holding a D-handle attached to the high pulley in each hand with palms facing. Keeping a natural arch in your back and bracing your core, bring your hands across in an arc so they meet in front of you. Squeeze your chest muscles before returning slowly to the start, keeping the weight under full control.
1D Press-up Reps 12 / Tempo 2010 / Rest 3min
Start with your hands shoulder-width apart and your body straight from head to heels. Lower yourself until your elbows reach 90˚, then press back up.
Giant set 2
2A Pull-up Reps 6 / Tempo 3010 / Rest 0sec
Grab the bar or handles with an overhand grip, hands shoulder-width apart. Start from a dead hang with your arms fully extended. Squeezing your lats together, pull yourself up. Once your chin is higher than your hands pause briefly, then slowly lower yourself back to the start.
2B Dumbbell bent-over row Reps 10 / Tempo 3010 / Rest 0sec
Start with your core braced, your back straight and your shoulder blades retracted, holding a dumbbell in each hand with an overhand grip. Bend your knees slightly and lean forward from the hips. Row the weights up until your upper arms are horizontal by retracting your shoulder blades, then return slowly to the start.
2C Cable standing reverse flye Reps 10 / Tempo 2010 / Rest 0sec
Stand in the middle of a cable machine with arms crossed holding a D-handle attached to the low pulley in each hand. Keeping your core braced and a slight bend in your elbows, raise both arms to shoulder height and then extend them to the sides. Return to the start, maintaining control of the weight throughout.
2D Cable face pull Reps 15 / Tempo 2010 / Rest 3min
Hold a double-rope attachment fixed to the high pulley on a cable machine. Start with arms fully extended, palms facing the floor. Pull the handles towards you – keeping your upper arms parallel to the floor – so that the handles go either side of your face. Return to the start.
What to expect at the Optimum Fitness Challenge
Are you taking the Optimum Fitness Challenge? Then you need to watch this video in which event coordinator Nick Hutchings talks us through all the moves that have been set for next month's challenge.
It's everything you need to know ahead of the event being held on 18th April so you can be fully prepared. Good luck!
The Optimum Fitness Challenge
500m row, level 10
20 burpee pull-ups
250m row, level 10
20 trusters, 40kg
125m row, level 10
20 med ball sit-ups, 9kg
Our tester completed it in 9min 47sec. The cut-off time for the challenge is 12min.
How to age gracefully
1 Pump iron
Arnie’s reprising his role as the Terminator in the upcoming Terminator Genisys – but he shouldn’t be the only mature gentlemen dusting off his dumbbells. Weight training strengthens both your muscles and your bones, helping reduce the risk of osteoporosis as you age, and you can enjoy almost exactly the same benefits of increased muscle size, strength and power training in your 40s as you can aged 18, according to a new study published in the Journal Of Strength And Conditioning Research. If it feels like a millennium since you lifted a barbell, start off with bodyweight exercises. At home or in the gym do three sets of ten reps of press-ups, dips, planks, squats and lunges, plus five reps of pull-ups (you can hang a bar over your door frame).
2 Ride a bike
Older people who cycle show fewer signs of ageing than non-cyclists. Research published in the Journal Of Physiology on the impact of exercise on the body found cycling can ‘optimise’ the ageing process, helping maintain health and wellbeing throughout life. Scientists from King’s College London analysed the physiological functions of regular cyclists aged between 55 and 79, including cardiovascular, respiratory and cognitive functions, and found few typical signs of ageing. To qualify as a ‘regular cyclist’ male volunteers had to be able to cycle 100km in under 6.5 hours – a pretty manageable pace at any age. Make a start with two 30-minute sessions a week. It’s low-impact, so it won’t risk damaging your joints like road running can, and the potential indignity of slipping into Lycra is – despite what Tour de France fanatics might say – not a prerequisite of the sport.
For more advice on staying in shape as you age read this blog from Premier Bathrooms.
3 Do mental acrobatics
Weight training and cardio will help your body stay in shape but you can also sharpen your mind by exercising your brain, according to The Franklin Institute. Using puzzles such as Sudoku, reading frequently and learning new skills can reduce the chance or delay the onset of memory loss, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. The science is contentious on the subject of brain training: a 2008 study by Swiss psychologist Susanne Jaeggi found memory training increased intelligence and IQ, but in contrast, a 2012 study published in the journal Neuron found no advantage for intelligence for those who regularly brain-trained – although those who played video games did better in short-term memory capacity and reasoning. But while the jury is still out, no research has suggested that keeping your brain active can have detrimental effects on your memory and intelligence. The Lumosity app is a good place to start – its co-founder Michael Scanlon abandoned his neuroscience PhD at Stanford University to set up the popular brain training business. He must have been confident of its benefits.
4 Go fishing
Not literally, unless you’re an avid angler. Instead, get more sardines and oily fish in your diet for the calcium and vitamin D, which will reduce the risk of osteoporosis. Men between 51 and 70 should consume 1,000mg of calcium a day (women should aim for 1,200mg/day) while vitamin D helps you absorb the bone-strengthening mineral. Sardines tick both boxes – 100g provides around 35% of your RDA for calcium and 44% for vitamin D. If you’re not a fish fan, boost your calcium levels with Greek yogurt and sesame seeds and vitamin D reserves with cow’s milk and eggs.
5 Stay vigilant
Regular dental check-ups, eye appointments, bone mineral density tests and blood pressure screenings are all simple measures you can take to catch early signs of age taking its toll on your body. Eye tests can pick up signs of diseases such as glaucoma and cataracts, as well as health problems such as diabetes and high blood pressure. Any issues that arise can be easily remedied with changes to diet or lifestyle. An immediate fix as you get older is to brighten up: your eyes need three times as much light when you’re 60 as they do when you’re 20, according to NHS Choices, so make sure you use a good lamp for work and bedside reading. When working at a computer make sure the screen is 50-75cm away from you and the screen brightness matches the brightness of your surroundings. If it acts as a light source it’s too bright; if it looks dull and grey, it’s too dark.
Created by Men’s Fitness for Premier Bathrooms
Thursday, March 26, 2015
How to Get Your Garden's Soil in Order
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Anthony Bourdain Will Dish Up A New Violence and Sushi-Filled Graphic Novel
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Squat Every Day: The History Of The Squat
The Anarchist's Garden
Is It Legal to Go Overseas and Fight ISIS?
Friday, March 20, 2015
The Ultimate Sriracha Taste Test
Expert Panel: Everything You Need To Know About Nutrition!
Thursday, March 19, 2015
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Ommegang’s Three-Eyed Raven: The Best Game of Thrones Beer Yet
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
How to Win Your NCAA Tournament Office Pool
Build the body of Sean Penn in The Gunman
He might be 54, but double Oscar winner Sean Penn is turning his hand – and his newly muscular torso – to an action role for the first time in his illustrious career in The Gunman. Penn plays sniper Jim Terrier, a mercenary assassin forced into hiding when the target sights are honed on him by a Congo hit squad. To convincingly portray a trained killer, Penn used a combination of compound, functional weight training moves to pack on lean muscle without compromising agility, and armed himself with the lethal hand-to-hand combat skills of krav maga.
Below, fitness expert Niko Algieri has devised the workout that would get you into Jim Terrier’s enviable shape. And in the above video, watch exclusive behind-the-scenes action of Penn putting his krav maga training into practice on the set of The Gunman.
The Gunman workout
‘The first thing that’s evident in the film is Penn’s perfectly proportioned and balanced physique,’ says Algieri. ‘But it isn’t all for show. He’s mobile as well as powerful. For that Penn would have used military-style, full-body functional training, starting workouts with compound moves and focusing on building muscle with body part splits later in the session. This Gunman workout will help you move heavy loads quickly, stimulating your nervous system, forcing the release of testosterone and meaning you’ll develop power and grow muscle fast.’
1 Thruster Sets 5 Reps 5 Rest 90sec
Take the bar from the squat rack when standing. Rest the bar across your upper chest with your hands holding it in place and your elbows as high as you can get them. Keeping your chest up, back straight and core tight, squat down until your thighs go past parallel to the floor, pushing your knees wide to maintain stability. Then explode up, keeping your weight on your heels. As you approach the top of your squat, transfer the momentum to your shoulders and press the bar overhead. Lower the bar to catch it on the top of your chest and shoulders and repeat.
Algieri says ‘Squat all the way down until your hip crease breaks 90°. From there, explode up using your quads and glutes to accelerate into the overhead press.’
2 Sumo deadlift high pull
Sets 5 Reps 5 Rest 90sec
With your feet twice shoulder-width apart, grab the bar with an overhand grip and your hands just closer than hip-width apart. Keeping your chest up and arms straight, lift the bar to waist height, driving your hips forwards. As the bar rises, draw your elbows high to bring the bar to chest height, keeping it close to your body throughout, and shrug your shoulders. Reverse the move to return the bar to the floor.
Algieri says ‘Make sure your knees track over your toes by pointing your feet outwards slightly and make sure you control the bar when lowering it, so it doesn’t jerk you forwards as you finish the lift.’
3 Power clean
Sets 5 Reps 5 Rest 90sec
With the bar on the floor, grasp it with an overhand grip, hands shoulder-width apart, and your shins close to the bar. Keeping your chest up, hips back and back flat, raise the weight to chest height by powerfully pushing through your heels and driving your hips forwards, keeping the bar close to your body. Quickly drop into a half squat, bring your arms under the bar to catch it on the top of your chest and stand up. Carefully return the bar to the floor.
Algieri says ‘Think explosive and focus on two pulls. Rapidly extend your ankles and knees at the same rate while keeping your arms straight for the first pull. As the bar passes your knees, drive your hips forwards and pull up on the bar as if you are shrugging to bring it high enough for you to drop under it.’
Jim Terrier’s upper-body exercises
On completing all three powerful lifts, focus on a body part with these isolation exercises for four sets of ten reps each for a muscular upper body like Sean Penn’s in The Gunman.
CHEST
Incline dumbbell flye
‘These help develop your upper pecs and gives your chest a fuller, muscular look,’ says Algieri.
Dip
‘Work your chest through a deep weighted stretch while also hitting the triceps and front deltoids.’
Press-up
‘The classic press-up is amazing for chest and triceps development. Add more weight by wearing a weight vest or have a partner load 10kg plates on your lower back (safely).’
SHOULDERS
Military press
‘This standing shoulder press move builds strong front and rear deltoids and works your core throughout.’
Reverse flye
‘This exercise will help balance and strengthen the often overlooked and under-stimulated rear deltoids.’
Lateral raise
‘The final killer. Your arms will feel like they’re going to drop off.’
BICEPS
Standing cable curl
‘This mimics the classic standing biceps curl for fuller arms.’
Preacher curl
‘This seated biceps isolation move takes other muscles out of the equation so you’ll hammer your biceps to the limit.’
Standing hammer curl
‘Switching up the angle with these targets any overlooked muscles in your biceps and protects your wrists.’
TRICEPS
Cable pull-down
‘Aim for full flexion and extension without moving your upper arm.’
Half dip
‘Like the dip, but keep your body upright and only bend your arms to 90° so you target your triceps.’
CORE
TRX complex (pike into knee tuck into mountain climbers)
‘Jim Terrier has a solid core in the movie, and the fastest way to achieve this is by hitting this TRX tri-set. Perform ten reps of each move without rest. Rest for 60 seconds and repeat for four sets in total.’
The Gunman is out in cinemas on 20th March
Steak: Paddy's Day style
Lots of people will be downing pints of the black stuff to celebrate St Patrick’s Day – but there’s a healthier way to enjoy Guinness and pack in lots of protein and antioxidants at the same time. This recipe from Hawksmoor’s Richard Turner will give you a richly flavoured muscle-building meal – and, according to tests by the University of Porto, crush cancer-causing free radicals at the same time.
INGREDIENTS
(Serves 1)
400g boneless rib-eye steak, 4cm thick / 250ml Guinness / 100g finely chopped onion / 100ml soy sauce / 20ml maple syrup / 1 sprig rosemary, leaves chopped / 1 sprig thyme, leaves chopped / 1tbsp garlic, finely chopped / 1tsp Worcestershire sauce / Maldon sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
TO MAKE
Combine the beer, onion, soy sauce, syrup, rosemary, thyme, garlic and Worcestershire sauce in a large sealable plastic bag. Add the steak. Seal the bag, shake and turn it, and refrigerate for at least two hours.
Take the meat out of the fridge and bag 20 minutes before cooking to bring it up to room temperature. Fire up the grill.
Just before cooking, lightly season the meat with salt and black pepper. Don’t use any oil on the meat or in the pan – if the grill is hot enough the meat won’t stick.
Put the steak under the grill. Leave it for a minute and then turn. Carry on turning every minute until it’s the way you like it. If it’s really thick turn more regularly to avoid burning – the marinade will make this more likely so keep an eye on it. If you’re cooking more than one steak, make sure there’s plenty of space between them.
It’s impossible to give exact cooking times – it all depends on the thickness of the steak, how long it’s been aged for and, of course, the temperature of the grill. As a rough guide, though, cook it for three minutes on each side then rest it for ten minutes. The key thing is to take it off just before you think it’s ready and leave it to rest.
Cook the marinade to reduce it to a glaze. Drizzle over the steak and serve.
Per serving 1,379 calories, 89g protein, 38g carbs, 88g fat
Gym Jones: taking on the world
Rob MacDonald is…bigger. The first time Gym Jones came to the UK, back in 2011, the organisation’s general manager was battling an infection, fit but hyper-lean, thinner even than when he used to weigh in during his time in the UFC’s light heavyweight division. Four years on, things have changed – dramatically. Experimenting with mass-gain plans for the team’s redesigned website means that he weighs in at a still-pretty-lean 250 pounds, fuelled by steaks and waffles and shaped by 200-rep squat sessions.
Being training buddies with Tommy Hackenbruck, who’s led the winning team in two seasons of the CrossFit Games, has helped him become stronger than ever. And leading the ever-expanding Gym Jones team – by example as much as via training plans and Instagram posts – has made him fitter, more outgoing, simply a bigger presence. He’s a man worth listening to. And he doesn’t believe in sugar-coating anything (except maybe pancakes).
‘As a coach, you should be good at every single thing,’ he says, addressing a roomful of coaches and trainers who are aiming to become fully qualified Gym Jones instructors. ‘I’m sick of “coach” meaning “fat guy with a visor and a clipboard”. If you’re talking about general physical preparedness for coaching, that means looking good, feeling good, being capable of everything… and being able to lead.’
MacDonald needs to talk this way because, well, Gym Jones is bigger too. In 2011 most people knew them for the workout that got the Spartans ripped for 300 – if they knew them at all – and the instructors were a tight-knit bunch mainly operating out of one gym in Utah. Now there are more than 30 fully-certified Gym Jones instructors operating around the world, from California to Cape Town via Cairo. After getting Cavill physically and mentally in shape to play Superman, the team are taking on training duties for several of DC’s upcoming raft of super-movies, with people who were getting their first look inside Gym Jones back in 2011 – including UK-based coach Pieter Vodden – front and centre. The official Gym Jones website, Salvation, has grown from a collection of essays and a diary of workouts to a huge training resource for converts around the world, packed with videos, routines and entire training programmes designed for everyone from soldiers to pro cyclists. FYF (‘Fuck You Friday’), typically the toughest day in the Utah gym, is now must-see viewing for disciples everywhere.
The problem, of course, is that even when you expand, you still have to keep the standards high.
Case in point: doing a 2km row. It’s only 11am on a Saturday, and everyone in the room has just done an all-out 2,000m on a Concept 2, aiming for the seven-minute mark that’s considered the GJ minimum. Just over half the room made it. I came in at 7min 16sec, thankfully not the slowest man in the room. MacDonald does not seem impressed. ‘We did this at the advanced seminar recently,’ he says. ‘And even then, some people didn’t make it. To say that I was absolutely disgusted would be putting it mildly.’
‘Should we call that… failure to inspire?’ asks Mark Twight, giving MacDonald a grin from the sidelines. Twight, renowned alpine climber, founder of Gym Jones and writer of the website’s regular Sunday Sermon articles, is taking a back seat to MacDonald for this seminar, but obviously enjoying it. MacDonald smiles back, and carries on preaching.
‘People make the standards into some big thing,’ he says, ‘But they shouldn’t be. Seven minutes is a prerequisite, it’s not a gold star. Honestly, until you hit seven minutes, what you need is an attitude adjustment and a work ethic.’
This is a recurring theme: the insistence that ‘The Mind Is Primary’ is repeated, Fight Club style, in the main set of Jones commandments. Much of GJ’s training is about teaching yourself to push harder, to stop the inner negotiation that lets you slack off on hard efforts, to remind you that it’s OK to go all-out. But this isn’t to say that Team Jones neglect smart programming. MacDonald, for instance, planned two years of workouts for Hackenbruck’s field-dominating team Ute CrossFit, which means packing endless skill training and Olympic lifting practice into a programme that also needs to tackle every other element of fitness.
The ‘secret’? Conjugate periodisation – or, more simply, keeping your work capacity high and making sure you’re hitting every area you need to work on, regularly. A typical Gym Jones training session, for instance, might include a strength segment followed by some structural work on weak areas – core strength, say, or shoulder stability – but there’s usually what they call a ‘breathing’ segment thrown in, even if it’s short. Just done a big bench session? A short, nasty row might be just what you need to keep your power endurance online. Oh, and don’t make the mistake of thinking that 500m on the Concept 2 is an easy workout. ‘People row 500m and they go, “Oh, I didn’t do anything today”,’ says MacDonald. ‘Wrong – you didn’t do anything to improve. A hard 500 is one of the worst workouts you can do.’
Oh, and that structural stuff? That’s not going to be easy either. Take, for instance, the Z-press, popularised by World’s Strongest Man competitor Zydrunas ‘Big Z’ Savickas. Done Jones-style, seated on the floor with an empty barbell pressed overhead for reps, it looks like fun. Done for ten minutes, for as many reps as possible, it definitely isn’t. ‘I’d go for ten reps every 30 seconds,’ says MacDonald, seated right in front of me, cranking them out. I match him for about three rounds before the drop-off starts, and quickly find myself scrambling to do eight, then seven, then five… By the end of the ten minutes I’m reduced to grinding out singles, each one a miniature challenge in its own right.
‘Joel, you look...awful,’ says Twight as I stagger back to the sidelines. He’s smiling. In what I *think* is a good way.
‘I never imagined how bad that could be,’ is all I can manage to say. Ten minutes later, this goes up on the whiteboard as Quote Of The Day.
This is the pattern for the rest of the weekend. Lessons are learned, then reinforced with serious physical effort. We do explosive broad jumps and dead-stop leaps onto boxes, a reminder that power workouts should be as effortful as cardio ones. We do a nasty little test made up of Bulgarian split squats and isometric holds, which brings single-leg weaknesses to light among a few of the strongest guys in the room. Near the end of the day, we do a Gym Jones signature, the IWT, which pairs explosive and grinding workout moves (in this case, the front squat and kettlebell swing) with fast-paced cardio intervals. It almost leaves me on the floor, but there’s one final challenge to contend with: a 5,000m row, done in teams of four, against everyone else in the room. My team decides to split the whole thing into 250m chunks, done at breakneck, all-out pace that gives each man a couple of minutes to recover before his next onslaught. As ruined as we all feel, everyone hits it at a faster pace than we’d have thought possible ten minutes previously. It’s another learning experience and, like all the others, it’s deliberate.
‘I’m building an army,’ says Twight when we gather for the final talk of the day. ‘My job is not to make people more dependent – it’s to make them independent. I want people to realise that education is the lever that expands our opportunities no matter what. Of course it happens in the gym, but really, it happens everywhere.’
And this, really, is why Gym Jones is expanding. Man Of Steel, the 300 workout, the new-look Salvation website – they’re all just better ways of spreading the word. There’s only so much Twight and MacDonald can do together, going to seminars like this one, but online, on screens, going viral, maybe they can change things that go far beyond the gym. ‘The whole point of this isn’t just getting fitter – it’s about making society more capable,’ says Twight. Gym Jones is getting bigger, but it’s also getting better. Time to join up.
Find the new-look Salvation site at gymjones.com – and find five training plans available for free.
Monday, March 16, 2015
Workout of the Week #10
Take on our Men's Fitness workout of the week, a new 52-part series to keep you inspired and challenged for 2015. We'll post a new workout every Monday and for an added incentive, we'll take on the workout too so you can see how your best time compares with a member of the MF team.
Workout of the Week #10
Combined total reps of pull-ups and dips.
How to do the workout
Perform as many pull-ups as you can in a minute, then rest a minute, then perform as many dips as you can in a minute and rest for another minute. Repeat this process three times for a total workout time of 12 minutes. Keep track of how many reps you managed, add them together, and that's your score.
Watch the video, take on the challenge and post your best score in the comments section below.
MF par score: 100 reps
This workout was shot at The Athlete Centre in Oxford. Check out our Workout of the Week YouTube playlist for more gym challenges. Subscribe to the Men's Fitness YouTube channel for our weekly Workouts of the Week, posted every Friday throughout 2015.
Land Rover Discovery Sport Test Drive: A More Capable Crossover
2015 Arnold Classic Australia
Laird Hamilton's Four-Week Plan for Crushing an Obstacle Race
Friday, March 13, 2015
Behind the Wheel with Nicholas Hoult
See Stunning Drone Footage of the World's Largest Cave
Thursday, March 12, 2015
A Craft Beer Tour of Ireland
It's Been One Hell of a Week for the NFL's Free Agency
The 20 Best Workouts in America
5 Things We Learned From the Pacquiao-Mayweather Press Conference
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Report Finds That Pro Cyclists Are Still Doping
Following an Unbridled, 3,000-Mile Wild Mustang Drive: Photo Essay
The Best Places to Be an Expat
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
14 Ways to Eat an Avocado
Andy Turner: from GB hurdler to bodybuilder
Don’t recognise former Great Britain 110m hurdler Andy Turner? You’re not the only one. One minute he’s got the physique of a light, nimble sprinter – the next, one fit to grace the big screens of a superhero blockbuster.
Turner won European and Commonwealth gold medals and a bronze model in the 2011 world championships as well as competing in the Olympics three times. After retiring from athletics at the end of 2014, Turner needed some form of training routine to fill the void and, drawing inspiration from his brother who competes as a fitness model in Australia, he decided to see if he could get into similar shape. With a revamped diet and overhauled gym routine, the 34-year-old has put on 10kg of muscle with roughly the same body fat in just under six months, and says it’s taught him more about exercise, nutrition and his body than he ever expected. MF spoke to Turner to find out what he’s learned and how it can help you get similarly impressive body transformation results.
What inspired the body transformation?
When you’re an athlete you’ve got to target your whole year around competing for the Olympics or the world championships, but since I retired from the sport I’ve had a big void in my life and I didn’t really know what to do. I had nothing – no training, no goals. I’ve always been lean and slim because of running but I’ve never been able to hold on to muscle and be lean at the same time. My brother Garry’s a fitness model and he’s about to compete in the Arnold Classic [Schwarzenegger’s annual fitness event, now known as the Arnold Sports Festival, held in Columbus, Ohio]. I decided to see if I could do it too. I want to see if I can take my body to a level it’s never been at before.
How different is your approach to fitness now compared with when you were competing in hurdling?
It’s completely different. Cardiovascular training has become a thing of the past, which is nice to be honest. I’m enjoying not doing it. My gym routine as an athlete was about 75% legs and the rest just bits and pieces for my upper body and abs, whereas now I’m hitting a particular muscle group and trying to improve it aesthetically. It’s really interesting to me. I’ve always been trying to get explosive power in my legs but not get any size, whereas now I’m trying to get size and strength at the same time.
What have you found to be the most rewarding thing about your new sport?
Seeing the developments that I didn’t know I was capable of achieving. I never believed I could get into the shape that guys on the stage are in, but to know I’m on my way there – that’s quite thrilling. When you can look in the mirror and see your body shape radically changing after just a few months, you’re like, ‘Hang on, things are really changing’. As soon as you get that, you get hooked.
Is there anything you’ve learned from this type of training that could have helped you when competing at hurdling?
The nutrition side of it. I always thought I knew it all. But this has shown me I don’t know my body as well as I thought I did. I think my nutrition is something I should have paid more attention to as an athlete. I simply didn’t feed my body right, didn’t give it what it needed when it needed it.
How much has your diet changed?
A lot. I wouldn’t eat many carbs as an athlete. My diet was quite protein-based, because the coaches would want you to be as lean as possible even though you’re training a lot. Now it makes me think their approach isn’t necessarily correct. I’m still eating ridiculous amounts of protein, but now I am eating much more in the way of carbs – the key is eating them at the right time. As an athlete I was just eating when I could. It was especially hard when I was travelling during competitions when I had to eat at the times set by the hotels. Now I prepare my own food and make sure I have my nutrition on point because that’s the main thing.
What is your weekly diet like now?
Typically I have six egg whites and two egg yolks, scrambled, for breakfast. I’ve also been having brown toast but I’m about to cut that out and replace it with something healthier. I generally train in the morning so first I have a PhD Nutrition VMX² pre-training shake, then during training I have a PhD Nutrition Intra BCAA+ drink. As soon as I’m finished a session I have PhD Nutrition’s Pharma Gain, which is protein and carbs combined. When I get home half an hour later I have 70g of oats and a scoop of protein with water. Three hours later I have a tuna wrap with loads of veg, then another three hours later I have about 250g of chicken or steak with plenty of veg and a small portion of rice or pasta. Finally, just before bed I have Greek yogurt with a scoop of protein powder. For snacks I occasionally eat rice cakes. With this diet, I’m gradually decreasing my body fat but maintaining my size.
How important are supplements for your new training?
I really have to rely on them because they make everything much more convenient. But if I could only have one it would be a pre-training drink. I take PhD Nutrition’s VMX, which is like three or four coffees in one go. It includes beta-alanine, which can make my face start tingling but it really livens me up and gets me ready to attack a session.
What have you found is the most effective method for muscle growth?
Without doubt compound exercises – squats, bench press and overhead press – that involve more than one joint. Working these movements until I’m fully fatigued before moving on to another body part is what I’ve found most effective.
What was your hardest training session like for sprinting?
As an athlete my hardest training session would have been when I had to do lactic endurance training. I would sprint 500m then have ten minutes’ rest, sprint 400m have ten minutes’ rest, sprint 300m, have 12 minutes’ rest, then sprint 200m and turn right round and sprint for 100m. When you’re running at a 50-second pace for 400m the lactic endurance side of it is absolute murder – your legs are on fire, your chest is on fire. Now when I’m training, I’m training a particular body part, say shoulders, and I’ll feel just them alone burning. I handle that much better because when you’re training for aesthetics and you can see the results, it’s a completely different feeling and that’s what’s motivating me.
Have you ditched the sprint training now?
I go back to the track once, maybe twice a week and do a few sprints but right now I’m still trying to gain a little bit more ‘beef’ so I’m staying away from it. I’m hoping to get on the stage this year so when I get close to that need to burn off any extra weight I’ll go back to it.
What’s your hardest training session?
Legs, without doubt. My legs are used to explosive power. I used to focus on doing five sets of three heavy reps. Now I’m trying to go as heavy as possible for deep squats, usually for five sets. Once my legs are fried I’ll do four sets of ten or 12 reps on the leg press and the same on leg extensions followed by hamstring exercises. One session will involve nearly 20 sets and include every muscle in my legs. A typical week is legs on Monday, shoulders on Tuesday, chest and either biceps or triceps on Wednesday, back on Thursday, and Friday is either shoulders and biceps or chest and triceps.
Do you draw inspiration from the success of your brother and his fitness modelling or do you see that as competition?
As kids we were both hurdlers and yes, it was competitive. But right now in terms of bodybuilding, Garry’s in the Premier League and I’m in the Conference, so I know my place! He’s in ridiculously good shape. He’s in the process of planning everything out for me, I’ve told him I want to compete in four months’ time and I want to do his training and follow his diet. I want to keep my competitive nature no doubt, but right now my brother and me are working more as a team than against each other like competitors.
When did you realise you would be up to competition standard?
It’s not even something that crossed my mind at first. When I started, I just wanted to see what I could do with my body. After speaking with people in the sport and seeing how I’ve progressed, I’ve started to think I can and now that’s all I can think about. I just need to do it because once I’ve got that target I’ve got something to aim for. I feel like if I went there I wouldn’t even be looking to win it – I would see it as a marker of where I am and how far I need to go. For me it’s more about seeing if I can do it.
Andy Turner is an official PhD Nutrition athlete. PhD Nutrition is a specialist in performance supplements and sports nutrition. Click here for more information.
Check out the Men’s Fitness writers’ own transformation stories here.
Monday, March 9, 2015
Which Is Worse: Being Unfit or Being Fat?
Workout of the Week #9
Take on our Men's Fitness workout of the week, a new 52-part series to keep you inspired and challenged for 2015. We'll post a new workout every Monday and for an added incentive, we'll take on the workout too so you can see how your best time compares with a member of the MF team.
Workout of the Week #9
Row 100m tabata intervals as many times as you can.
Warm up with five minutes of gentle rowing, being sure to first push with your legs, then your arms, keeping your back straight and careful not to round your shoulders when you move forwards. Once warm, use the dashboard on the Concept2 rowing machine to navigate to custom workouts and then intervals by time. Set each interval to 20 seconds and the rest to 10 seconds (tabatas are 20 seconds of work, 10 seconds of rest, repeated eight times in total for a four minute workout). When you're ready, start rowing. You need to reach 100m in each 20 second interval. If you miss the 100m mark it doesn't count. Note down how many rounds of 100m you achieve.
If you can't reach 100m at first, set yourself a lower distance to aim for and work up to 100m. However, as with any tabata workout, you have to go all out during the 20 second intervals for it to be effective in helping you burn fat and improve your endurance so don't go easy.
Watch the video, take on the challenge and post your best score in the comments section below.
MF par score: 6 rounds of 100m
This workout was shot at The Athlete Centre in Oxford. Check out our Workout of the Week YouTube playlist for more gym challenges. Subscribe to the Men's Fitness YouTube channel for our weekly Workouts of the Week, posted every Friday throughout 2015.
Sunday, March 8, 2015
Arnold Sports Weekend: Bikini International Report
Arnold Sports Weekend: Fitness International Report
2015 Arnold Webcast Replays
Saturday, March 7, 2015
Arnold Sports Festival: Arnold Classic 212 Report
The Right Tools For All Types Of Weight Training!
Friday, March 6, 2015
A Cheat Sheet for Saturday's Big Fights
2015 Arnold Sports Festival Galleries
Thursday, March 5, 2015
Filson and Shinola Collaborate on the Perfect Field Watch
How to Get the Best Deal on a Road Bike
The World's Best Freeze-Dried Camping Food
Crossfit vs NPFL
Each year, more than 120 aspiring professional athletes make their way to the Fairplex Event Centre in Pomona, California, in the hope of being offered a paying contract. After three days of physical testing – including deadlifts, pull-ups and shuttle runs – a select few were a step closer to signing with teams including the LA Reign, DC Brawlers and San Francisco Fire. Over the following week, similar events happened in Las Vegas, Dallas, Atlanta and Boston, attracting hundreds more competitors and thousands of spectators.
The sport? A series of team-based head-to-head races to finish different workouts. Tony Budding, creator of the National Pro Fitness League, calls it ‘human performance racing’. And he thinks it’s going to be big. CrossFit big.
‘We’re borrowing practices from the best sports out there,’ says Budding. ‘We’re doing races between established teams, a league format, play-offs, strategy, teamwork… it’s unique.’
Games without frontiers
Not everyone agrees with the ‘unique’ part. The CrossFit Games, held annually in California since 2007, has evolved from a get-together in a field to a stadium-filling televised event with individual, masters and team categories and a $350,000 (around £207,000) grand prize. Most of athletes at the NPFL tests, or ‘combines’ as they’re known, were competitive CrossFitters, and the moves they competed in – everything from skipping-rope double-unders to overhead squats and Olympic lifts – were all CrossFit staples. But it’s not that surprising: Budding spent six years as the CrossFit Games’ co-director and producer.
‘I use a lot of the same moves because they are high-skill, high-power moves,’ says Budding, who left CrossFit in 2013. ‘But really, I’m trying to create a sport that’s easy to follow and fun to watch. It’ll always be the same format – every match will include 11 “races” across a specially designed grid, and every match will take place in two hours, so it’s easy for spectators to follow.’
He doesn’t say it, but this is a stark contrast to CrossFit, where events aren’t always what you’d call viewer-friendly. The Games take place over several days, and events are often announced at the last moment. In 2012, in line with CrossFit’s claim to test the ‘unknown and unknowable’, the Games started two days before the athletes (and spectators) expected, with an off-road triathlon and military obstacle course at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, where onlookers couldn’t get in for security reasons. In 2013, the contestants did a half-marathon. On rowing machines.
‘The Games athletes and the National Fitness Pro League athletes won’t be the same,’ says Budding. ‘In our sport the longest single race is a relay, which takes six minutes. If you specialise in the one- to five-minute domain, you won’t be able to compete at the CrossFit Games. If you’re a CrossFit Games athlete and you can be that good for that long, there’s no way you’re a specialist in the one- to five-minute domain. If there’s enough money at stake, I think you’ll eventually see people who train every day throughout the year to become top athletes in that one- to five-minute domain.’
Cross roads
It’s hard to know whether CrossFit’s powers-that-be regard this as a problem. CrossFit is a well-established brand, with thousands of affiliated gyms around the world. But currently, only podium finishers at the Games and winners of individual events are guaranteed any financial reward for competing – although many athletes make money through sponsorship. The NPFL, by contrast, guarantees athletes at least $2,500 (£1,480) in sponsor-sourced ‘dressing fees’. It’s obviously not enough to be a full-time athlete, but Budding is hopeful that ‘we’ll be big enough to get there in a couple of years’.
‘It was only a matter of time before the introduction of paid fitness athletes, but I was never sure if CrossFit would incorporate it,’ says James St Leger, who has never competed in the Games but is a regular competitor in events not endorsed by CrossFit, such as the Battle Of London, which attracted 3,000 spectators in 2014. ‘It’ll be interesting to see what the primary focus of individuals taking part in either sport will be – earning a guaranteed wage in the NPFL, or chasing a larger prize in the CF Games.’
For many top athletes, the answer seems to be ‘both’. Two-times Games winner Annie Thorisdottir has joined the New York Rhinos, while LA Reign has a squad featuring several popular CrossFit names, including Elisabeth Akinwale, Lindsey Valenzuela, two-time CF team event winner Tommy Hackenbruck and Mancunian Sam Briggs, the 2013 Games winner.
Three-time Games winner Rich Froning – whose claim to be the Fittest Man In The World is hard to dispute – has reportedly ruled himself out of joining the NPFL, but he also mentioned that the 2014 season may be his last as an individual. In 2013, he captained an all-star US team against a squad of Europeans in a special one-off event – Froning did brilliantly, but couldn’t quite drag the Americans to victory.
Friendly competition
Here things get even more intriguing. CrossFit has yet to comment officially on the NPFL – and HQ declined to be interviewed for this feature – but the organisation has responded, in a way. On 27th May, the official CrossFit Games page announced an ‘online team fitness competition’ for teams of two men and two women, set to run across three events at the end of 2014. The format, similar to the ‘Open’ that kicks off the Games season, relies on video submissions of workout scores, and there are prizes for winning teams. It’s a low-cost, low-risk venture, but it gives CrossFitters something else to train for.
Meanwhile, CrossFit’s semi-official spokesman Russ Greene has been sniping on social media. He dismissed the NPFL on Twitter, saying ‘They’re not testing fitness’, while on Facebook he accused the league of using misleading stats and publishing CrossFit-owned material without consent.
Others are less aggressive. Founder Greg Glassman, who describes himself as a ‘rabid libertarian’, once said (though not in reference to the NPFL) that ‘markets, to the extent that they are free and unfettered, will move capital in the direction of excellence’. Let the best competition win, in effect.
Whether this extends to letting athletes compete wherever they want remains to be seen. One of CrossFit’s biggest problems has been solved for now: that of Briggs, winner of the 2014 Open and Games favourite, jumping ship. Although she came first in three events during the Regional section of the competition, a 26th-place finish in the ‘handstand walk’ event left her fourth overall and out of this year’s Games. Speculation ran rampant that, as defending champ and Open winner, she might be invited through a ‘wildcard’ system hinted at in January 2014, but games director Dave Castro quashed it. ‘No-one’s getting a wildcard slot, and the right people are going to the Games this year,’ he said in an interview at the South California regional.
Budding, meanwhile, seems to think both brands can coexist. ‘This league will send millions of people to CrossFit gyms,’ he says. ‘I’ve looked at what the UFC is doing, opening gyms, and in my opinion it’s a bad business decision. This is a different model. We’re a spectator sport and we want to go around the world with European, Australian and Asian Pro Fitness Leagues.’
Gym dandy
The question is: what will this do for fitness? Whatever you think of CrossFit, its effects have been hugely positive. Ten years ago, for instance, there were probably fewer than half a dozen gyms with Olympic lifting platforms in London. Now there are 30 official CrossFit affiliates in Greater London alone, all offering areas for practising Olympic lifts, and all the major UK gym chains have embraced functional, machine-free training, and it’s rare to see a large gym without a set of gymnastic rings or a plyometric box. A generation of gym-goers have been exposed to moves such as the deadlift, front squat and muscle-up and encouraged to train hard, get stronger and eat sensibly.
It’s probably fair to say that CrossFit has exposed more people to effective training techniques than any other fitness movement in recent decades. Budding thinks the NPFL will bring the message to an even wider audience – helped by the team requirements. Each eight-person squad must be 50:50 female and male, and include at least two athletes over the age of 40.
‘From a storytelling standpoint the athletes will mirror the audience better than in any other sport,’ says Budding. ‘If you look at day one at the end of the CrossFit regionals, masters [over 40s] are often in podium positions. After day three they can’t keep up because their recovery isn’t quite there. But we’ve got a two-hour match so our 40-year-olds will be able to hang with the younger guys. People might initially watch a woman do 35 pull-ups in an event and think, ‘Of course she can do that, she’s a professional athlete’, but we’ll play up the fact that she’s 42 with three teenage sons.’
Some CrossFit exercises have come in for criticism. ‘Butterfly’ pull-ups, which involve using leg kicks and momentum to get over the bar, are a CrossFit staple but they’re not popular among trainers, who think they put too much stress on the rotator cuffs. There’s also an argument that CrossFit focuses on a narrow range of skill moves – skipping double-unders and handstand walking, say – while neglecting others.
Move the goalposts
Budding’s a fan of the CrossFit moves, but there are early indications that the NPFL might change things, as St Leger points out: ‘There were farmer’s carries and yoke walks at the combine. I’d like to see more of that strongman, powerlifting-style stuff.’ It would shake things up: with more Atlas stones and less Olympic lifting, the typical CrossFit leaderboard could change dramatically.
Is there really enough interest in watching people do deadlifts to sustain two major sporting competitions? Will CrossFit take more action to undermine the NPFL? And will gym training become a professional sport? One thing’s for sure: sponsorship and media coverage will raise its profile, and that means new moves, techniques and kit reaching more people everywhere. Most of us will never be the world’s fittest man – but it’s never been easier to get strong and fit.
Watch a Kayaker Master the Everest of Whitewater
2015 Arnold Fitness International Preview
6 Perfect, Performance-Based Breakfasts
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
Common Talks About His Biggest Year Yet
The 5 best press-up variations
Rocky was right. When it comes to Soviet super-science against good old-fashioned American grit, there can only be one winner. And that winner, of course, is the man who can do the most one-arm press-ups. They’re the best upper-body strength-builder that you can do without weights and a brutal test of core strength and co-ordination too. Ten in a row is the goal. Get to 20 and you’ll be ready to see off Ivan Drago.
Directions
Tackle each of the mini-workouts twice a week, tacking them on to your normal gym sessions – or doing them at home. Once you can do the sets and reps for mini-workout 1, move on to 2 and so on until you’re ready for the real thing.
1. One-arm press-up
Sets: 4 Reps: 10 each side
Stallone does the easy version – you should be more ambitious. The purest one-arm press-up looks a lot like the regular version: feet shoulder-width apart, torso parallel to the ground, chest to the deck. Wider feet and a twist in the hip makes it easier, but either way, touching your shoulder to your hand is the standard.
2. Perfect press-up
Sets: 10 Reps: 10
Forget the usual gym-bro version. Your new standard is hands shoulder-width apart, elbows glued to your sides, body straight and chest touching the floor at the bottom. Set a timer and do ten every minute, starting on the minute, until you’ve done 100.
3. Diamond press-up
Sets: 5 Reps: 10
These will build the strength and balance you need in your triceps for the full thing. Start with a close grip and arrange your thumbs and forefingers into a diamond. Lower until your chest touches your fingers. Yes, that deep.
4. Kettlebell press-up
Sets: 3 Reps: 10 each arm
This variation allows you to practise the one-arm version with just a hint of support (using a sofa is also acceptable). Grasp the kettlebell handle and use it to support yourself as little as possible for the required reps.
5. Incline one-arm press-up
Sets: 3 Reps:10 each arm
Nearly there: all that’s left is to ease into the full version by starting at an angle and working your way down. Start on a table, chair or bench and do your press-ups. Once they’re too easy, reduce your support height and go again.
The glute-bridge floor press
Chances are you do most of your shoulder training using a bench or rack, but if you want to maximise growth and minimise injury, lie down and get stuck in to the glute bridge floor press.
This little-known move created by strength coach Ben Bruno should be performed super slow to maintain balance, which optimises muscle growth and reduces the range of motion, keeping your rotator cuffs protected. The bonus? By holding a bridge throughout, you’ll switch on your glutes, which will probably have gone to sleep if you spend your days as a desk-jockey. Lying down on the job? For once we approve.
How to do it
Sets 4 Reps 6 each side Rest 30sec
Lie on your back with one foot on the floor, pushing your hips up into the air – the ‘bridge’ position. Hold the dumbbell on the same side as your raised foot and press it straight up, then lower it under control. Complete all your reps on one side, switch feet and repeat the reps with the dumbbell in your other hand.