Going On A Trip? Do These Exercises On The Go

There are in fact a lot of methods and techniques to simulate exercises on the go, especially when you do not want to disrupt your regular training workouts because you need to be elsewhere.

Functional training is what makes CrossFit popular nowadays, because aside from making use of bodyweight exercises and routines, it does pack a lot of punch when it comes to strength, endurance and mass-building capabilities.

But of course, you need to have consistency whether in or out of the gym, at home or out on a business trip or vacation, let fitness author Chris Logan give you some practical and helpful routines that you can bring along on your trips.

WODs to Go

Leaving home and the friendly confines of your local affiliate? Keep your training on track with these bodyweight-only programs.

Few things set back a training program like leaving home for a vacation or business trip. When travel is on the horizon, many people justify the workouts missed as a “much-needed break from the gym to help me recover.” Maybe that’s true. If you’ve been training hard at your local box five to six days a week, a long weekend off could be good for you. But when that “few days off” ends up being a week hiatus or occurs on a monthly basis, the result isn’t feeling rejuvenated or recharging your batteries but rather getting out of shape and deconditioned.

So when your next trip is approaching, don’t view it as a welcome rest period that you probably don’t need. Use it as a time to, at the very least, maintain your current fitness level until you return to your local box. In most cities and towns, you can find a CrossFit affiliate within driving distance, but if you’re without transportation or would rather not pay the box’s drop-in fee, you’re on your own with minimal (if any) equipment. If you’re motivated and resourceful, this shouldn’t be a problem.

“When it comes to traveling, CrossFit is probably the most friendly fitness system around,” says Josh Elmore, owner and director of Training at CrossFit Eternal in Charlotte, N.C. “Because the collection of go-to movements CrossFit draws from is so extensive, you can pretty much expect to never get bored training on the road, even with no equipment.”

Countless websites list WODs that are travel-friendly and require zero equipment. But here, we’ve taken such workouts and programmed them specifically to accommodate the two most typical travel scenarios — the partial-week trip and the full-week vacation — to ensure you’re not just doing a few random WODs with no consideration as to how they complement one another. All the workouts can be done in any bedroom-size space using bodyweight only. No need for a barbell, plyo box, kettlebells … or excuses as to why you can’t train on the road.” Read full article

It may be difficult, but as they say, “no pain, no gain”. Getting those superhero abs is not easy, but with once you get the hang of it, you won’t regret the results.

The fitness writers from The Greatist Team, shares a compilation of awesome bodyweight exercises that packs a lot of punch.

The 21 Best Bodyweight Exercises for a Strong Core

We’ve proven that achieving six-pack abs is possible (if not enjoyable), but getting a stronger core doesn’t have to involve shunning carbs and spending hours on end in the gym. Enter a simpler (and much more sane) way to tone and strengthen your stomach: bodyweight exercises.

After all, your abs exist for more reasons than looking good at the beach. The core (composed of the oft-mentioned upper and lower abdominals as well as the side, back, psoas, and glutei muscles) provides a muscular framework that protects internal organs, aids movement, and lends balance and stability to the whole body.

Try the 12-minute workout (at the bottom of the page) to train your upper and lower abs and obliques, and work on deep core strength, or mix and match any of the exercises in the gym or at home. And don’t forget that proper nutrition plays a huge role in seeing the results you want, so be sure to supplement your workouts with healthy meals and high-protein snacks. Read full article.

Jump-rope exercises are also great and effective ways to burn fat, so learning the basics and doing some advanced routines can help get you moving and allows you to have fun while losing weight.  Let distinguished athlete and expert fitness trainer Nora Tobin tell you what it means to burn fat and stay healthy.

Jump Rope Workout: Blast Fat in 20 Minutes

Can’t muster the motivation to make it to the gym? Skip it! Jumping rope burns more than 10 calories a minute while strengthening your legs, butt, shoulders, and arms. And it doesn’t take long to reap major rewards. You can burn more than 200 calories in two, 10-minute sessions each day (that’s 1,000 calories a week)! Read and Watch the video

A cool feature of bodyweight training is that it can be done anywhere, whether you are in your hotel room, up in the mountains, on a ship at sea – almost anywhere where you do not have access to a gym or workout gear like barbells and dumbbells, truly good exercises on the go.

Of course, staying fit and healthy on the go could also be optimized with a little help on the side by supplementing on a muscle-building and endurance-enhancing nutritional formula like MusclePharm Creatine which is helpful for high intensity workouts by providing added strength, stamina and lean muscle growth.

It also increases explosive energy and overall power to help you stay fit and firm.

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from Muscle Pharm Reviews http://medicalprogress.org/burn-fat/exercises-on-the-go/amp/

Box Jumps: More Than Meets The Eye

Endurance is often the primary focus by runners when programming exercises, since it is key to lasting longer on the road when running a marathon.

However, experts agree that strength conditioning is also key to complementing a full range of physical activities to maximize your running abilities that in fact could make cover even farther distances and make you endure running longer.

Let experienced runner and writer Duncan Larkin walk you through a tried and tested strength-enabling routine.

Article “Box jumps are an excellent plyometric exercise for building explosive muscular strength in the hamstrings, glutes and quads—strength that comes in handy during the final miles of a long run or at the end of a race, and also for helping you ward off injury.

Strength Training for Runners: Box Jumps

If you’ve never done a box jump before, start with a 6-inch platform (which can be done on a box, stairs or a park bench) and slowly progress to 12, 18 and eventually 24 inches—but no higher. “The injury risk increases with higher boxes,” cautions Jim Wharton, co-author of the Wharton Health Series. Attempt 6–8 reps per set, and 3 sets every time you progress in height. Read full article

How can someone benefit from jumping up and down a box? You might ask, as jumping up and down can be a no-brainer.

But wait a minute, in order to get the most benefits out of box jump exercises you really need to know the grainier details like the height of the box, the approach prior and post launch and more.

Doing it wrong will definitely get you nowhere, but doing it correctly will leave you in awe about the benefits that you can get out of it.

In his article, fitness author and coach Carl Valle details the dos and don’ts of box jumps.

Box Jumps: What are the Benefits?

The primary reason we do jumping exercises is to exploit the stretch-shortening cycle of the legs to improve the use of elastic energy. The rationale for using box jumps in directly improving this quality is questionable because the very nature of plyometric exercise is creating an overload that box jumps do not accomplish very effectively. Remember that box jumps are just vertical jumps with a landing on a box, something that reduces the impact of the body’s displacement. Vertical jumps with just body weight are low-level exercises in terms of strain on the body, so the return, like the forces they are redirecting, are low in return with power development. Read full article

So now you know the benefits of box jumps. Now, probably the next best thing is how in the world can you make box jumping more interesting?

Who can ever be bad at jumping, you might be surprised to find out that there are a lot. In fact, one of them used to be fitness expert and author Krista Stryker, the brains behind the 12 Minute Athlete as she shares why you should love doing it and how it can be fun.

Seven Reasons You Should Fall in Love With Box Jumps

As a basketball player in high school, I may have been pretty decent on the defensive side of things, but for some reason, jumping just was never my strong point. I was so pitiful, in fact, that my dad would ask me if my feet ever actually left the floor when I jumped (my husband has made the same joke years later).

Yep, I was that bad at jumping.

To be perfectly fair, I never actually practiced jumping as a teenager. Sure, I ran lines, and shot lay ups, and didn’t have a half bad three point shot, but jumping? I never even did a jumping jack, let alone a squat jump or a tuck jump. Read on and see the video

As the term implies, there’s no rocket science involved in understanding box jumps, but it surely does give you a good and total body workout.

Make the most out of box jumps and maximize the full potential of those workouts by supplementing on MusclePharm Amino 1, a full-spectrum nutritional performance recovery formula that helps rebuild muscle, increase endurance and promote faster muscle recovery.

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from Muscle Pharm Reviews http://medicalprogress.org/build-muscle/box-jumps/amp/

Targeted Spot Reduction: Possible Or Not?

Can you lose fat in your belly but not on your chest and thighs? This is a sample of an age-old question regarding fat loss in targeted areas of the body, which many believe could be their answer to lose unwanted fat in certain areas of the body.

Targeted Fat Mobilization

Spot reduction is impossible. You can’t lose fat predominantly in a specific area just by training that area. This is something every personal trainer or coach who’s worth a damn knows. Only one problem: it’s simply not true. You can increase fat loss in a specific area. It’s a fact – a fact that’s been observed by successful bodybuilders and that’s now backed by science Read more…

One primary example fat reduction is an intense cardiovascular activity that burn calories and work the muscles to develop mass and growth. These exercise routines need to be done consistently to make it work effectively and efficiently.

Everyone “Knows” Targeted Fat Loss is Impossible…But Is It?

If you’re looking to reduce the fat in a specific area of your body, you’re going for “targeted fat loss.” Some people say it’s possible, some say it’s not. Who’s right? Targeted fat loss, or “spot reduction,” has long been–and still is–a hot button pushed to sell fitness books, magazines, DVDs, supplements, and more. Read more…

Combining exercise routine that focus on specific muscle groups help provide support to fat reduction training, as well as ensure a healthy and fit body.

3 Superset Workouts That Will Melt Away the Fat Covering Your Abs

A superset is when you pair together two exercises, and do them back-to-back with little to no rest. They’re typically classified as competitive or non competitive. “ Fitness expert and trainer BJ Gaddour said. Read more… 

The more activity, the more calories get burned but always take caution to not overdo it. Aside from intense physical activity to burn fats away, diet and nutrition are both important aspects of the fat reduction process. Eating right and getting the correct nutrition are equally important as the workout itself.

Using the right supplements can also help in fat reduction like the MusclePharm BCAA 3:1:2 – a drink formula that promotes muscle development and maintenance , while it also aids in fat reduction.

It also reduces muscle breakdown and supports lean mass growth.

Getting on the right track to fat reduction and weight loss needs to be given careful attention and all factors considered, otherwise, you just might end up not getting the results that you desire.

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from Muscle Pharm Reviews http://medicalprogress.org/burn-fat/targeted-fat-mobilization/amp/

Boost Your Leg Power With MusclePharm Glutamine

Leg power is essential to strength and endurance. Not only do the legs carry your body weight, it also plays a key role in getting the body fit and healthy. The legs also provide balance for the body and the body part that gets the body doing most of its cardiovascular workouts. Let fitness expert and trainer Noah Bryant teach you how to boost your leg power in the article below.

4 Ways to Boost Your Vertical Leap

Whether you are a seasoned athlete, a kid trying to make the varsity basketball team, or just a weekend warrior looking to impress your buddies, you have probably wondered how to increase your vertical jump. How high you can jump is a result of two things — your force output (how much energy you can apply to the ground) and your rate of force production (how quickly you can apply that energy). Read more…

Aside from the arms, some of the biggest muscles in the body are found in the legs, which give it all the more reason to receive good exercise and nutrition to stay healthy and firm.Fitness and exercise professor Mike Zourdos teaches how to make the most out of your leg workouts.

12 Methods To Make Your Leg Workouts Harder

It may not be as easy as going to the gym to train your legs, and just going with the flow. If you know how to make your leg workout hard, you will make gains. In this article, you’ll learn how to make your leg workout harder, and take your leg development to the next level. – Read and Watch the Video

To the uninitiated, intense leg training workouts may be a bit too tough, but worry no more. Here are some easy and proven leg exercises for newbies and beginners from Body for Life.

Five Exercises for Strong Legs

When it comes down to it, good, old-fashioned hard work is the key ingredient in building yourself a fabulous, strong pair of legs. The following exercises are designed to help you reach that goal quickly and efficiently. They utilize a great deal of balance and stability, forcing your legs—and entire body—to work much harder than many typical exercises, thereby delivering superior results. Read More…

To help supplement your leg training routines, it is best to take a muscle-health formula to aid in muscle growth and recovery like MusclePharm Glutamine – a natural-based formula that helps in muscle rehydration and recovery.

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from Muscle Pharm Reviews http://medicalprogress.org/build-muscle/next-level-leg-training/amp/

Can Cardio Kill Your Gains?

There’s a lot of debate going on whether cardio exercises have impacts on your gains. Studies have shown some headway into the research, but it should not keep one from not doing any exercise while results are still pending.

Natural pro bodybuilder Layne Norton a holder of a PhD in Nutritional Sciences explains the recommended way to pattern your workouts.

Don’t Let Cardio Kill Your Gains

The practice of combining resistance training with cardio is scientifically termed as “concurrent training.” While concurrent training has been shown to be superior to endurance training alone for enhancing muscle mass and strength (duh), it has been shown to significantly hamper optimal strength and hypertrophy when compared with resistance training alone.

Several studies have demonstrated that optimal gains in muscle mass and strength are obtained by strength training alone, compared with combining strength training and endurance training.1 However, a review of the scientific literature on concurrent training – conducted by Dr. Jacob Wilson of the University of Tampa and several of his colleagues – identified some interesting variables that can affect the way cardio training affects your strength, hypertrophy and body composition responses to resistance training. Read full article

Leveraging on your muscle gains is an important factor in supporting your physical workouts and gives you better advantage as you conduct your total body workouts.

Fitness scientist and author Michael Rudolf, PhD shares scientific details on how you can optimize your results my maximizing your gains and taking advantage of it.

Maximize Your Gains By Doing Cardio First

The sequential implementation of strength training immediately followed by cardiovascular exercise has become standard practice to maximize muscle mass and reduce body fat. Despite the popular use of this approach, it has become evident that the body responds very differently to both modes of training, especially at the molecular and cellular levels. In fact, not only are the molecular and cellular reactions different in response to strength and cardiovascular training, they can also be antagonistic to each other— potently diminishing the positive influence that each can have on the body. Read full article

One of the most popular myth that hounds the fitness industry is whether doing cardio exercises makes one lose muscle gains that were invested throughout the years of hard work and determination.

Facts have been sometimes contested with ridiculous claims that some people believe, however, the need to know the truth must be pushed.

Health buffs and MedicalDaily.com writers Justin Caba and Samantha Olson shares the results of their experiments to disprove one of the most-debated issue in the fitness world.

Debunking The Greatest Gender Fitness Myths; Cardio Kills Men’s Gains, Weightlifting Makes Women Bulk

My coworker Justin and I had set out on a two-month experiment to disprove one of the greatest myths in the fitness world — where men and women belong in the gym. Justin lifted weights and I ran, making our workout routines the typical male and female counterparts of athleticism. While men tend to shy away from the treadmill in fear they’ll develop the lean build of a cross country runner, women, on the other hand, are reluctant to lift a weight to avoid building bulky muscles.

But in truth, these are one of the greatest misconceptions in fitness. Women have less testosterone than men, which is why their musculature doesn’t respond as quickly to weight training as men do. Testosterone is a male hormone found naturally in both men and women; however, men produce approximately 7 milligrams a day — 15 times more than women produce. Read full article

Of course if you want to protect your muscle gains, it would surely need some sort of protection, as well as enhance muscle growth and recovery pre and post workouts.

Glutamine from MusclePharm is a full-spectrum formula of highly effective glutamine blends that minimizes muscle breakdown, increases protein synthesis and boosts the body’s immune system.

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from Muscle Pharm Reviews http://medicalprogress.org/build-muscle/implement-cardio-without-it-killing-your-gains/amp/

Beat Treadmill Boredom With MusclePharm Amino1

Whether for training for sport or just for exercise, the treadmill is by far one of the most recognized equipment known to all, fitness buffs and critics alike.

But the long-standing reputation of the treadmill has become an over-used excuse for many to set it aside and let new ones get into the picture.

Unknown to many, there are a lot of benefits you can get out of the treadmill and with the right attitude and drive for adventure, you may start thinking of setting it back up and using it again.

Rick Morris, author of Treadmill Training for Runners, shows how to make the most of that ubiquitous exercise contraction and how to optimize your exercises to help you get on the road and have fun doing it.

4 Ways To Beat Treadmill Boredom

Treadmill training comes very close to being the perfect method for indoor exercise. It’s convenient, efficient, effective and versatile. It can be adapted to nearly any exercise goal and can meet the needs of almost every athlete. Despite all those benefits, there is one major disadvantage when exercising on the treadmill — boredom. The treadmill is a valuable training tool and can be a very enjoyable way to exercise, but how a person perceives exercise does have an effect on both the mental and physical aspects of his workouts.

A study conducted by researchers at the Duke University Medical Center tested runners during a treadmill run, a workout on an indoor track and a session on an outdoor route. The treadmill runners reported the highest rating of perceived exertion (a measure of how hard the workout felt) and also recorded the slowest performance times. While treadmill training failed this test, it is not something that cannot be overcome. With just a few adjustments to your environment and your training habits, you can stay motivated and beat the boredom. Read full article

Most of the time people get on their treadmill machines as a way to warm-up for their exercise routines or simply just limit their ideas of its uses as a mere indoor running contraption.

But few people realize the calorie-burning effects of a treadmill workout or training, as well as helps enhance strength and endurance.

Popsugar fitness editor and writer Jenny Sugar relates how the treadmill can help you lose fat and burn calories, aside from simply using it as a warm-up exerciser.

The Next Time You Hop On the Treadmill, Do This to Burn More Calories

Chillier Fall air, possible thunderstorms, and unpredictable weather as well as less sunlight this time of year may be one reason to take refuge in your trusty ol’ gym. Treadmills might feel safer and more controlled, but you might even find the workout feels a little easier. Don’t sell yourself short! Use these tips to upgrade your treadmill time and maximize the benefits of your run. Read full article

Just imagine how a simple treadmill machine can give your body a lot of health benefits. Of course, there are a lot of varieties to choose from like the basic run and timer models to the electronic incline- variable and speed adjustable models, the benefits are just waiting to be had.

From weight loss to strength and endurance routines, you might be surprised at the many health benefits you can get out of the treadmill. 

Experienced runner and training coach Amanda Brooks breaks down all the known health effects of using a treadmill.

Health Benefits of Treadmill Exercise

There are many health benefits to regular exercise, including an increase in the strength of the heart, weight loss, and decreased insulin resistance. Walking or running on a treadmill is great exercise and puts less stress on the body than walking or running on a flat outdoor surface. Treadmills also offer the option for careful monitoring of the heart rate and blood pressure for patients that are in poor health or have heart problems. This information helps the patient determine how much exercise they can do and when it’s time to stop. Here is some information about the health benefits of exercising on the treadmill.

Treadmills are very useful in the diagnosis of heart disease, coronary artery blockages, and other cardiac issues. The body may not show symptoms of heart disease or blockage until it is put under stress, and using a treadmill is an effective way to put the body under stress while having the ability to closely monitor the patient’s vital signs. Treadmill tests are often performed on patients that are not currently experiencing symptoms of heart problems, but they have risk factors such as high cholesterol. Read more…

The next time you pass by a sports shop or the gym and see that treadmill, give it a try and get ready to kickstart your quest to a fit and healthier body.

You also might want to consider hydrating when doing your treadmill exercises and what would be best recommended is to use a highly-nutritional hydrating drink like Amino 1 from MusclePharm –  packed with essential nutrients to not just keep your body hydrated, but also contains scientifically-advanced electrolyte hydration system with coconut water concentrate to help rebuild muscle, increase endurance and speed up recovery from a rigorous workout.

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from Muscle Pharm Reviews http://medicalprogress.org/burn-fat/beating-treadmill-boredom/amp/

Battling Ropes And Winning It Every Time

You can actually build explosive strength with battling ropes, which actually does more than just flinging or lashing at a both ends of a long oversized rope. It is can be a powerhouse of effective workouts for the body.

It may look easy, but wait till you experience it. But what can a length of thick rope do to your body? 

Whether you want to build more muscle or prolong your endurance to physical activity, battle rope workouts can easily help you with that, as Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and writer Eric Velasquez shares how the rope routines can help you get in shape and at the same time, provide you with good cardiovascular workouts to keep your body fit and also help you stay healthy.

Rope Into Greater Conditioning

You have no doubt seen the clips all over the internet of elite athletes thundering away on conditioning drills with heavy ropes – slamming them in a fury and drowning in a pool of sweat, only to walk away looking stronger and leaner as a result. Battling Ropes were developed by John Brookfield and have since spawned a legion of imitators who have tried to capitalize on the amazing versatility and efficacy of these increasingly ubiquitous body-carving tools.

I knew athletes had the potential to sustain high levels of power, strength and speed over longer durations of time,” says Brookfield. “I started to mimic the flow of water by creating a series of waves with long heavy ropes. I started out simply playing around with the ropes and quickly found out there was much more to this than meets the eye.”  Read full article

What exactly is battle ropes and what good can it do for the body? This is often the most asked question when it comes to rope exercises because little do people know the science behind the activity.

Rather than simply looking at the ropes, getting into the story will tell you what it is and how it came to be. Let fitness writer Jesse Seal of Warrior Sciences share some basic details and ideas worth knowing about battle ropes

Battle Ropes: A Powerful Tool for Total Body Strength Endurance

Battle ropes are a unique strength and conditioning training method designed by John Brookfield, a writer of several bestselling books and a famous world record holder.

John invested over a year creating this technique stringently for himself. He has been using this innovative training system to take his endurance to new levels, despite the fact that John is nearly 53 years old. Once the program met his standards, John released battling ropes conditioning to the world of athletic performance training.”  Read on and watch the video

When it comes to getting the ideal physical form, everyone would agree that a total body workout is essential.

But of course, knowing what kind of exercises to do to achieve it is essential. Looks can be deceiving but wait till you know more about battle ropes from fitness writer Josh Ownby of Muscle Ropes

Muscle Building Lower Body Battle Ropes Exercises

Many think battle ropes, and their results, are restricted to the upper body, but this is far from the truth. In fact, performing lower body movement in conjunction with a set of battle ropes accelerates muscle building and stimulates the heart. Take a look at these five muscle building lower body exercises to get started with rope exercises and see for yourself how battle ropes affect your workouts. Read full article

Battle ropes can help provide you with the overall workout to help you stay fit and healthy, which should also be coupled with good nutrition and a healthy diet.

In order to try and speed up the process of your workouts, why not try a specially formulated supplement that supports muscle growth, strength and stamina during workouts.

MusclePharm Combat can help you with the nutrition your muscles need. It is a powerhouse drink formula that contains a wide range of high quality proteins to help provide muscles with optimum growth, speedy recovery and it comes in a variety of flavours to address your discriminating tastes.

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from Muscle Pharm Reviews http://medicalprogress.org/build-muscle/build-explosive-strength-with-battling-ropes/amp/