PHA circuit training works the entire body by switching from one extremity of the body to the next rather than focusing on a single muscle group. PHA training ignites your caloric burn during your workout because you heart is working double time to circulate blood to opposing muscle groups. Also, by hitting the different regions of the body, you will optimize figure trimming results because one set of muscle groups has time to recover while the other is working. You can hit that fully recovered group just as hard as the set before.

A great example of a PHA circuit workout is one that consists of two upper and two lower body exercises. You will perform 10 repetitions of each move, going right from one move to the next. Try doing this circuit 3-5 times with 60-90 seconds rest between each circuit depending on your fitness level.

• Front squats
• Push-ups
• Lunges with a diagonal reach
• Tricep dips

You will feel your heart working double time, in turn burning more calories and sizzling away those extra unwanted pounds.

Corny Joke of the Day: What did the ice cube say to the drinking glass?
I was water before it was cool.

The common push-up targets your pectoral muscles, anterior deltoids, and triceps. The standard push-up starts with your hands about shoulder width apart in a plank position on your toes. You can modify the basic push-up, lessening the load on your upper body by supporting yourself with your knees. Make sure to keep the same plank position.

Variation one

• Start in a basic pushup position and walk both your hands a little wider.
• Performing these works the chest more.

Variation two

• Start in a basic push-up position and walk your hands closer together.
• Keeping your elbows tight to your body, perform a push-up.
• This variation puts more emphasis on your triceps.

Variation three

• Start in a basic push-up position. Walk one hand forward and one hand closer to the body.
• This variation works on shoulder strength and stability.

Perfecting these can be difficult. Start by trying for one set of 10 repetitions for each variation. If you include your standard push-up, you will have 4 sets of 10 reps total. Perform these at a count of 2 down, 1 up. Do small, safe progressions by adding one rep to each set per week. In 10 short weeks, you’ll be twice as strong. In one year you should be able to get up to 50 push-ups per set!

Corny Joke of the Day: What kind of shorts to clouds wear?
Thunderwear!

Special thanks to this week’s host, personal trainer and boxing instructor, Kurtis Shultz for his fit tip and personal trainer, Tim Kohnle for being the guinea pig.

It’s all about ropes for improving shoulder strength and stamina. Instead of using a treadmill or dumbbells, I recommend using battling ropes.

There are many variations of movements you can do using the ropes. The most basic is alternating. Make sure to get into a good squatted base and then move your arms up and down creating waves in the rope. Your goal is to try and get the wave to reach the wall. You will start to feel a burn in your shoulders and your heart will be pumping.

The next motion you can do simulates that of a runner. Grab onto the rope with the ends facing the ceiling and palms facing each other. Stay in that squatted position and pump your arms like a runner or a sprinter would do.

Even if you’re not an athlete, you often have a lot of pressure on the body. You can do a chop which is similar to an Olympic type movement to increase your strength. You will take the rope and using your entire body, throw it up in the air and slam it to the ground.

You can also simulate a lateral raise using the ropes and creating giant circles. Start by rotating the ropes outward in big circles lifting your arms about shoulder height. After about 10 seconds, switch your circles and rotate your arms inward.

Take all these movements and combine them for an intense, shoulder and heart pumping workout. Try doing 20-30 seconds of each movement with a 1-2 minute break in between each of them. If you’re having trouble with the motions or unsure if you’re using the ropes correctly, ask a trainer to show you the proper technique for using the ropes. They are sure to get your heart pumping and shoulders stronger.

Corny Joke of the Day: What do you get when you cross a lawn mower and an Oriole?
Shredded Tweet!

Special guest host, personal trainer Nick Ehrlich.

Since Lynne and Victor are away at a fitness convention in Las Vegas, Victor asked me to do a fit tip on my favorite exercise. My favorite exercise works the abdominals in a transverse plane. Too often we work linearly; crunches, leg raises, sit ups, but we don’t work across. We do a lot more abdominal work moving across our body, more than straight forward.

My favorite move is the cable rotation. You can use any cable machine at the gym or you can use a resistance band and tie one end around a pole. You want to make sure the cable is just above hip level right next to your side.  Rotate to your side and grab the cable with both hands keeping your arms straight. Rotating through your core, twist 180 degrees, keeping your arms straight. Slowly rotate back to your starting position. You will want to do 3 sets of 15 reps with the lightest weight. It is imperative that you get used to the really using your core to rotate your body.

This move is will work your transverse abdominis as well as my internal and external obliques. Cable rotations will help create that tight, tapered waistline which is so important to overall aesthetic and strength.

Corny Joke of the Day: What does a nosy pepper do?
It gets “jalapeno” business.

Want to know how to develop great calves? The best way to develop great calves is by working both muscles of the calf which are the gastrocnemius and the soleus. The best way to work the soleus is the seated calf raise. The soleus is the deeper muscle of the two. Doing seated calf raises, helps focus on the soleus muscle.

After you do the seated calf raises, you can work the gastrocnemius. This is the muscle at the top of the calf. This is the muscle that creates the great shape in your calves. You can work the gastrocnemius by doing standing/straight leg calf raises. With both exercises you usually do 3 sets of 12-15 repetitions with 30 second rest intervals in between.

Corny Joke of the Day: What do you call a cow with no legs?
Ground beef.

Want know a way to dramatically improve your strength training results without really trying? Start timing your rest intervals between sets. For most people, unless you are using heavy weights, 30 seconds between sets is plenty. This is true whether you are using pin-loaded equipment, free weights or body exercises. Thirty second rest intervals between sets is best. This means you would perform a set of the exercise, rest for 30 seconds and perform the next set, whether it be of the same exercise or a different one.

Remember, during the rest interval, get up, shake out your arms and legs, do some light stretching or walk around. Do  anything that will keep your circulation going and your energy up so you are ready to perform the next set.

Using 30-second timed intervals will shorten your workouts, increase your workout intensity, and allow you to burn more calories. Anyone that has run track or swum competitively knows how effective it is to train this way. Try it, you will be amazed at the results you will get.

Joke for the Day: Did you hear about the new restaurant on the moon?
I heard the food is great but that it has no atmosphere.

Make sure the whipped cream you are eating is made from real cream. While there may be a little artificial flavor, the less chemicals, the better. Cool Whip is okay, but my favorite is Reddi Whip. Not only does it have less calories than Cool Whip, but the real reason I like it is because you can squirt it right in your mouth!

I eat Reddi Whip straight out of the can. If you do use it as a topping, go heavy on the whipped cream and light on the actual dessert. That way, you can have your cake and eat it too!

Corny Joke of the Day: What do elves learn in school? The elf-abet, of course!

]]> http://www.brickbodies.com/victors-road-to-100-fit-tips/appease-your-sweet-tooth-with-this-low-fat-low-carb-dessert/feed/ 1 http://www.brickbodies.com/victors-road-to-100-fit-tips/how-to-reduce-knee-pain-2/ http://www.brickbodies.com/victors-road-to-100-fit-tips/how-to-reduce-knee-pain-2/#comments Thu, 25 Oct 2012 15:05:40 +0000 Victor Brick http://www.brickbodies.com/?p=9512

Leg extensions can be very helpful in reducing knee pain caused by arthritis and micro trauma (overuse). Leg extensions help to strengthen the knee and also help increase circulation to the knee. Leg extensions are best performed on a pin-loaded weight stack machine such as one manufactured by Life Fitness, StarTrac or Cybex.

When performing leg extensions use the “super-slow” training principal. Begin by taking a full 30 seconds to perform the leg extension, or the straitening of the leg to raise the weight. Be careful not to lock the legs. This is also called the concentric contraction. Take another 30 seconds to lower the weight. This is called the eccentric contraction.

You should perform one set of three repetitions. You will need to use lighter weight than you do when performing this exercise at normal speed. Your leg should be quivering on the last repetition. When you perform this exercise super-slow, one set is enough because your quad (thigh) muscles are working for a full 3 minutes with no rest. The amount of time a muscle is actually working is called “time under tension”. The longer a muscle is under tension, the better.

Corny Joke of the Day: Why did the golfer wear two pairs of pants?
In case he got a hole in one. 

What’s the best protein bar to eat when you are trying to lose weight? Well, if you believe the best way to lose weight is to restrict your carbohydrate intake like we do, you should look for a bar that is low in carbohydrates and has adequate amounts of protein. We recommend only eating bars that have no more than 10 to 13 grams of carbohydrates and at least 10 grams of protein. The only way to make sure you are choosing the right bar is to read the label.

Let’s look at some of the carbohydrate content and protein content of popular bars.

Although it varies by individual, activity level and how you process carbohydrates, a general rule of thumb is that, if you are trying to lose weight, you should limit your carbohydrate daily intake to 50 to 60 grams a day. This will help you control your blood sugar levels, maintain a constant energy level and allow your body to access your body fat as fuel instead of using dietary carbohydrates. If you follow this program, you can see that some of these bars are almost your entire daily allowance of carbohydrates.

So, what bars do we recommend? The two best bars that we have found are:

1. The Medifast Crunch Bars. They have 12 to 13 grams of carbohydrates and 11 grams of protein.
2. The Power Crunch Bar. It has only 10 grams of carbs and 13 grams of protein.

We can’t stress enough the importance of reading the label. For instance, the Quest Bar bills itself as a low-carbohydrate bar that only has 4 to 6 grams of “non-fiber” carbohydrates, but actually has 24 total grams of carbs. As far as we are concerned, carbs are carbs no matter where they come from. While the Medifast Crunch Bars are low in carbs, the Medifast Maintenance Bars have 22 grams of carbohydrates.

So, there you have it. Look for a bar that has no more than 10 to 13 grams of carbs and has at least 10 grams of protein.

Corny joke for the day: What do you call a boomerang that doesn’t work?
A stick!

In keeping with the concept of eating foods that are low in carbs when trying to lose weight; what’s the best chocolate to eat when you’re trying to lose weight? Well, as my dad used to say, that depends. While it is true you always want to eat dark chocolate, you want to make sure to read the label and determine the carbs compared to the serving size. You may be surprised what you find. For instance, an organic, “all-natural” dark chocolate bar might seem healthier than other bars, but are often very high in carbohydrates, sometimes having more than 23 grams of carbs per 40 gram serving.

When you read labels be sure to read the amount of grams of carbs per serving and the amount of total grams per serving size. For instance, you would think the higher the dark chocolate percentage, the fewer the carbs. But, in Cocoa D’Arriba dark chocolate, the 77% dark chocolate bar is only 10 grams of carbohydrates per 44 gram serving while the 85% dark chocolate bar is 15 grams of carbs per 40 gram serving size. In other words, the 77% dark chocolate Cocoa D’Arriba bar is much better for you.

An excellent choice of chocolate is the Righteously Raw Rose bar. There are only 5g of carbohydrates per 22 gram serving, but keep track of the serving size as it is only a third of the bar.

You should try to limit your intake of chocolate to no more than 10g of carbohydrates every other day, but when you do feel the need to indulge, make sure to reach for a bar low in carbohydrates.

So there you have it; read the labels, make sure you understand how many grams of carbohydrates there are per serving and make sure you stick to the serving size.

Corny Joke of the Day: What do you call a ship at the bottom of the ocean with a twitch?
A nervous wreck