First some important info…

Quit Crunching

For starters doing a 100 crunches every morning won’t do you any good. All you’re training is the stamina of your abdominal muscles. That won’t do diddly squat for your love handles.

Sprinting or Other High Intensity

Get intense. If you’re not a fan of long distance running then start doing hill sprints. They don’t last as long so laziness should be less of an issue. You really don’t need to spend hours running. High intensity short bursts work just as well – even better!

Diet Matters

People have probably told you this and you’ve ignored it, but trust me – diet matters. You can do all the training in the world but if you’re eating shit you won’t shift love handles.

Ashtanga Yoga

There’s a movement in Ashtanga yoga called a ‘vintasa’. In all the time I’d done abs workouts I’d had little to no benefit. Then I tried some ashtanga and within 2 weeks I was seeing results. I’d recommend yoga as a good addition ot your workout.

Another resource I found incredibly helpful and actually put me on the right path to sorting out my belly was Mike Geary. He’s a doctor and a trainer with a hell of a lot of experience and practical science behind him.

If you want more detailed info on routines, methods and nutrition I can’t recommend highly enough a free report by Mike Geary on nutrition. The creator of Truth About Abs.

If you want more on the science and anatomy see another post.

Here I detail the top 3 best forearm exercises.

3. Wrist Twist

This is a beast and can be done in a few different ways. Either a one-sided dumb bell with weights taken off one end or another fave is the sledge hammer. Sledges work great for grip strength too due to the wider handle.
To do this exericse you simply grab one end with the weight at the opposite end and twist your wrist from side-to-side (comment if you want me to do a video of this).

3 sets x 5 reps for building strength.

2. Dumb Bell Wrist Curls

An old favourite this is just like a bicep curl but you’re using your wrist. Doh! Rest your forearm on a bench with hand dangling off the edge. Holding a dumb bell in your hand curl it up and down.

3 sets x 6 reps.

1. Wrist Roller

This comes under several names but its basically the same forearm murdering machine. This is the absolute no.1 best forearm exercise of them all. It will seriously pump up the strength in your arms. You need a weight on the end of a rope attached to a bar. You roll the bar so the rope wraps up and pulls the weight up. Then you roll back down letting the weight go down again.

See this video for an example…

3 sets x 2 reps.

Southpaw

• Front kick (mai geri)
• Round house kick (mai washi geri)
• Side kick (yoko geri)
• Punching combos

Orthodox

• Front kick (mai geri)

• Round house kick (mai washi geri)
• Side kick (yoko geri)
• Punching combos

Break Falls (ukemi)

• Back & over shoulder
• Back & low defence

Throw Movements

• Morote Gari Left Side
• Morote Gari Right Side

This was a great workout. My heart rate was higher doing these drills than it is during a Bas Rutten fighting rounds audio or a standard EIT/ICT workout. I averaged 168bpm with a max of 180bpm. I did this for just over 18 minutes without a break with my heart rate staying in the 70-90% region for a lot of it.

So it passes the test. In future workouts I’ll incorporate more throwing movements and breakfalls.

Whats Involved

Most people balance using their vision as a guide but the body is rammed full of sensory receptors for balance that just don’t get exploited to the max. The biggest of all is your inner ear. This gets a lot of work just keeping you standing but you can make it much more fine tuned by doing any of the below exercises with your eyes closed. That way you’re training just your inner ear and other senses.
The other major one is touch and I don’t mean your hands and body as yur collapse to the floor in a heap. I mean the soles of your feet! They offer constant feedback on the exact placement, distribution and state of your upper body position. Listen to your feet – after all its them that normally have to do the jigging when you’re about to fall over. Its for this reason strong feet are vital.

Different Types

Balance isn’t all one big chunk of skill. It’s multifaceted. You can be very effective at not being thrown in judo but utterly useless at holding the warrior posture in yoga. So what gives? Well here’s a few of the different types of balance…

Static vs. Dynamic – Keeping a static position requires your brain to keep a single point and correct based on that. In a dynamic balancing act your brain has the opportunity to reset at each point and so it can almost keep itself corrected. An example is how much easier it is for you to walk compared to standing still on one leg. When you’re walking you’re in motion all the time whereas in one standing spot you’ve less room for error.

Predictable vs. Unpredictable – Just because you can hold a a great pose in yoga doesn’t count for squat if someone tries to throw you. You need to train yourself seperately for both predictable and unpredictable changes in your body positioning. This has a lot to do with reflex speed, experience of the potential changes, etc. Fighting in judo, ju jutsu, karate, etc will do great things for your unpredictable balance training as it trains your reflexes.

Point, Multi-Point and Lines – Standing on one leg is very different to standing toe-heel in a straight line. In a line your brain has two main directions to fall but on a single point you’ve got all directions. Its complicate again if you’ve multipe points (e.g. one leg and one arm). Each can support the other and in the case of your two legs – they work well together. But try balancing on one leg and one arm and it gets harder. Train in this.

Use Your Second Set of Hands

Those things at the end of your legs used to be used like hands by your ancestors. A great way of improving your balance and leg control at the same time is to start using them as hands again. Opening doors with your feet (right AND left). I do this when my hands are filled with drinks – adds to the challenge a bit but its great for improving your steadiness.

Dress Standing

This is a classic and one of the first recommendations for improving your balance. Put your shoes and socks on while standing. there’s no need to sit to do these and the more you challenge your body to balance the better you’ll get at it.

Calf Raises

People don’t seem to realise just how effective a set of calf raises can be. They fail to notice the jiggery pokery their ankles are doing as they up & down on their toes. Calf raises shift your centre of gravity and cause your body to compensate. This is good – practice it.

Tightrope Walking

Not literal tightrope walking but walking toe-heel in a straight line will help test your dynamic line balance.

Slow Kicks

Perform slow, controlled kicks and aim to keep as steady as possible. You’ll also find this works the legs and abs too.

Yoga

I know I keep banging on about this but yoga will help your balance loads. Even the basic stances require some balance and its also got a lot of variety. Because as with any other form of exercise you can run the risk of becoming good at the exercise and not much better at your overall goal. Yoga challenges your balance in lines, points, moving and static. No other exercise programme can boast that level of all-round challenge except maybe classical wushu.

Pull ups help a huge range of muscles but especially target your latissimus dorsi (see pic), biceps, deltoids (shoulder) and pectorialis (chest).  They hit it all and it builds stability as well as strength.  Since doing pull ups/chin ups I’ve noticed a general improvement in my upper body strength and performance.  I could JUST do 1 pull up when I started.  Now I can do 4 (on a good day ).

Types of Equipment

• Screw Type – These are rubbish!!  I can’t believe they’re still so popular when you look at the other options available.  You drill holes into your door frame and shove a bar in there permanently.  Great – creates a mess and ruins a good door frame.  Go for one of the ones below…
• Frame/Station – This is great as it enables captains chairs, dips, etc.  They tend to take up a lot of room though and are very cumbersome so if you’ve got a garage or BIG spare room then its all good.  Otherwise I’d go for the cantalever one below.
• Cantilever Type (aka: Door Gym) – If you live in a rented flat (aka: apartment) screwing and nailing pull up bars into doorways isn’t an option.  Nor is having a large 8ft frame in the living room.  The solution comes in the form of a cantilever pull up bar.  It fits into your doorway without any screws or damage to the frame at all.  I was unsure how secure it really could be but since getting it I’ve been doing pull ups every day, greasing the groove and its solid as a rock.

Variations

• Pull Ups - Where the equipment gets its name from this is done by holding the bar with an overhand grip with your palms facing away from you.  You’ll normally find this a harder exercise than the chin up as your bicep muscle is off centre and so can’t be recruited as efficiently.  As a result your forearm muscles tend to get worked on this exercise as they try to take up some of the pressure.  Why they’re good: Its got more functional use than a chin up.  How many things need you to underhand lift your body?  But I can think of several times I’d need to overhand lift – such as: holding onto cliff edges and such!
• Chin Ups – Easier than pull ups as your bicep is at its best angle and you can power it 100%.  Your hand grips underneath and your palms face you.
• Narrow Grip – this concentrates more of the work on your biceps, forearms and shoulders.  As a result of you getting maximum usage from your bicep you’ll often find this easier.
• Wide Grip – This is using more of your back, shoulders and chest in a full and coordinated movement.  To get good at this pull up variation it about muscular coordination more than maximal strength.
• Band Assisted – If you can’t do a single rep of pull ups or chin ups then you can use a resistance band (aka: yoga/physio band).  Simply tie it up on the bar and hang it down.  Put your knees on it and it’ll help boost you up.  Reduce the slack for a bigger boost.  There’s no shame in this – I used it to start with!!  You’ll only need it a few weeks before you get used to the movement and you can pull up unassisted.
• Weighted – This is the opposite end of the spectrum.  If you’re finding it too easy then you can weigh yourself down witha  vest or holding a med ball with your feet.
• One Arm - A real killer and pretty self explanatory.

If you’re anything like me then you’re probably horrendous in the morning.  Doesn’t matter how much sleep I get, I HATE the mornings like hell.

But here’s my new routine and I guarantee you’ll love it for 4 key reasons:

• Greasing the groove.
• Wake you up.
• Warm you up (I live in the UK and its damn cold in winter!).
• Its just a good way to start the day – active, alive and moving!!

So here’s the routine which I’m gonna stick up around my place and I’ve put a PDF at the bottom so you can print it out and have it up on your wall.

Stretches

• Neck Rotations
• Arm Wheels
• Tricep stretch
• Shoulder stretch
• Wrist stretches
• Quads (grab with both hands!)
• Good Morning
• Front Kicks x 5 (getting progressively higher)
• Round House Kicks x 5 (getting progressively higher)
• Hip Flexors stretch
• Splits – Knee Touches – Head to Floor

Strength/Conditioning

• Pull Ups x 1
• Chin Ups x 2
• Push Ups x 5
• Sit Ups x 10
• Jumping Squats x 5
• Ankle Hops x 5

Those numbers are low on purpose.  Like I say – I hate mornings but also they’re meant to be ‘greasing the groove’, not ‘tearing me a new arse hole’.

The stretches I got from two sources.  One was Pavel Tsatsouline Relax into Stretch book and the other was Bas Rutten’s Big Book of Combat.  Both excellent books and well worth reading.

Morning Routine PDF

I’m always on the look out for new methods of working out to keep myself fresh.  Nothing worse than getting bored of workouts – motivation killer!!  While I was out I decided to stop by the DIY shop and buy a bag of sand to do hand training (grabbing, punching, etc).  I saw the buckets next and grabbed one of those too.

Well my bucket + sand has now turned into a new set of exercises.

Sand Bucket Exercises

• Side Bends – With the bucket at my side its great for bending and lifting to get the abs working.
• Front Lift – This is similar to the band-through-the-legs-lift that Ross uses in his books.  Basically have the bucket in front of you and lift it carefully – using your back not your legs.
• Lift Round – I got this idea from Ross’ books but he uses a dumb bell for this.  To help with core rotational strength and speed you can lift the bucket from one side of your body to the other.  Sounds simple but trust me – this really works the whole of your abs.
• Calf Raises – The dumb bell wasn’t enough.  I was able to knock out 20 reps of calf raises with no probs.  So now I have the bucket in one hand and the dumb bell in the other.  Now I can do 10 and after two sets I fail.
• Punching and Grabbing Drills – I’m old school when it comes to hand training for punches – I just need some dit da jow.  Also good for grabbing and twisting – if you haven’t got sand use rice.

Today’s Strength Workout

Well it was a big one that I’d been working up to all day.  I only did 20 push ups in the morning as part of my new greasing the groove routine.  After the hard Saturday I spent most of the day recovering.  After a hearty meal of chicken and potatoes I set to the following:

• Pull Up Bar: 1 + 1 + 1 pull ups; then 1 chin up.
• Elevated (my feet up high) Push Ups: 10 x 2 sets
• Partial Single Leg Squats (to table): 5 x 2 sets
• Calf Raises: 10 x 2 sets
• Dumb Bell Wrist Curls: 10 x 2 sets

Core Workout

• Sit Ups: 10 x 2 sets (slow – 3 count midway up)
• Sit Ups: 20 (fast)
• Sand Bucket Lift: 10 x 2 sets
• Sand Bucket Side Bends: 10 x 2 sets

Another problem I’m having is the clashing with ju jutsu and ken jutsu.  If I’m doing a 5 or 6 day split then its inevitable I’ll end up doing something completely incompatible.  E.g. Maximal strength + ken jutsu = not being able to hold a sword.

So I’m switching to a 7 day programme which follows the days of the week, my training schedule and the rest of the world!

I’m going to put this in the calendar on the left as well as publishing a Google Calendar feed at a later date.  Theres notes explaning this below.

But in summary:

• Stretching – Every morning or lunch time (time dependent) I’ll go through a stretching routine.
• Push Ups – My push up endurance isn’t developing as much as I’d like so I’m upping this and creating a seperate programme for it.
• Core Work – I’m doing core work almost every day.  I’ve found my core recovers and develops a lot quicker than anything else so I’m not too worried about hammering it.
• Tricking – Part of the reason for doing all this is I’d like to do some of the funky stunts or even just hand stand push ups would be nice!  So I’m going to do the following on alternate days:
  • Assisted (against a wall) hand stands x 3
  • Spin kicks x 3 (both legs)
  • …etc…(to be completed)

Training Hard

I dunno why but I love hammering the forearms with everything I can.  It really makes you feel like you’ve worked out when you can’t type or write after wards.

So as you’d expect I’ve collected quite an array of different forearm exercises:

• Wrist Roller (AKA: Forearm Killer): I won’t bother explaining this all over again as you can see mine here.
• Wrist Twists: Can be done with a sledge hammer or a dumb bell with weight only on one side.  You grip the shaft and twist.  Great for rotational strength in the wrists.
• Grippers: These are just your normal grip workers you can get form just about anywhere.  Its worth doing reps and holding for time.
• Knuckle and Finger Push Ups: As well as working the usual chest, shoulders and triceps these variations are great for your forearms and grip strength.
• Wrist Dumb Bell Curls: You need to support your arm on a bench and have you hand hanging off the edge.  Then using a dumb bell or plate curl it up and down working your wrist and forearm.
• Punching: Preferably a bag and not people.  This trains you for high impact and makes your entire arm solid and well supported.

Good forearm strength is also good for staving off RSI – which is good news for office workers at computers all day.

Forearms

• Forearm Killer: 1 + 3 + 2 reps
• Wrist Twist: 10reps x 3 sets

Core (3 circuits)

• Crunches: 10 slow and controlled
• Flag (kinda): This was hard and not entirely well executed but it certainly worked my abs.
• Plank: 60 secs

Other than that I reckon my arms and legs DO need to take it easy.  After the 30mins two days ago I’m still pretty sore.