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Weekly Sports performance Tip - Straight ahead Speed

It's impossible to be to fast in sports. You never hear a commentator say, "wow that guy was to fast".

So as a Sports Performance Coach, one of my main responsibilities is to get athletes faster.Not always the easiest thing to do.

If it was - all athletes wouldn't struggle with speed right?

The difficult part of increasing an athletes speed is determining what that individual athlete needs to do to get faster.What I do is figure out the problems or the weaknesses of the athletes. For example, it could be flexibility issues that prevent an athlete from being fast. Or it could be lack of strength, maybe specific muscle imbalances... you get the point.

However, of the years of training athletes I have come to a conclusion. 1 common thing most athletes don't possess.Yes, a good portion of it is technique. But, it's also the know how of where to position your body, posture, leg drive, and strike force...

Here's a nice clip of me getting into some of these facts -

Exercise Machines SUCK

By Jason Zaretzky
Discover The 5 Reasons Why Exercise Machines Are A Waste Of Time

In today’s day and age we live in a technology dependant society. Almost everything we do revolves around some kind of mechanical or electrical device. This includes what just about everyone looks for in a gym. If you’re like most, when you walk into a fitness center, you usually look for the amount of equipment or how many resistance training machines there are on the exercise floor. “Is there a machine for my chest, back legs, arms etc…” This has been the biggest indicator when clarifying a gym’s effectiveness. Well, being that our population’s obesity epidemic is spreading world wide, and fitness levels have dramatically declined in the past twenty five years or so, I think it’s time to re-evaluate and determine what went wrong.

It has been during the past twenty five to thirty years when our obesity problem really started to take off. And due to the fact that our society has always been in search for the ’quick fix’, exercise really started to take off as well. Since exercise was “in”, and we desire the “magic solution, resistance training machine companies are heavily marketing their equipment. I hate to break it to you, but when it comes to getting healthy and more physically fit, nothing will yield better results than hard work, dedication, and motivation; not gimmicks or machines. Machines actually are an inferior method of exercise.

It’s time to go back to our roots and look like we did hundreds of years ago. When you think about it, humans have always done some form of activity, and we have always been obsessed with strength and physique. So my question to you is did we have machines hundreds of years ago? My next question is as a whole, who looked better as a population, us now or mankind hundreds of years ago?

Now I’m not saying exercise machines are useless, everything has its place, but I can come up with a couple of dozen reasons why exercise machines are not optimally efficient. Instead of boring you anymore than I already have I’ll provide you with my top five.

Here we go:

1.) Exercise machines are NOT an optimal form of exercise for most. Exercise machines are great for isolating specific muscles (i.e. – the standard leg extension machine for the quads), but because exercise machines are anchored to the ground, your stabilizer muscles (muscle that surround your joints and protect them from injury), do NOT get developed. Exercise machines do not allow you to stabilize the weight you are lifting in three dimensions, and since daily activities such as work and athletics do require you to use these important muscles (the stabilizers), exercise machines are an inferior method of exercise

2.) Exercise machines are NOT ideal to improve posture. Over the years in the fitness industry, I have seen an incredible amount of people that have poor posture. This includes forward head, rounded shoulders, flat lower backs, and other misalignment in spinal curvature. This is due to the lack of strength in postural muscles, making it hard to fight gravity, and since gravity is almost impossible to escape, those who can’t fight gravity efficiently will almost always have poor posture. By performing exercise on machines your body does not have to fight gravity, and on most traditional gym equipment your body doesn’t have to stabilize itself. However, by performing exercise in a prone, upright, or supine position, you can engage and load postural muscles to help with fight gravity, resulting in better posture.

3.) Exercise machines are just flat out BORING! I can remember a couple of years ago when I worked at a large health club filled with fancy ground based machines, I would sit and watch people go through their work outs. One day I saw a gentleman working on the chest press machine. It was hilarious. He actually appeared to be falling asleep. I mean yawn after yawn during repetitions. I think if the guy was on a lying leg press he may have actually dozed off. Now let’s analyze that situation. If he were on a flat bench performing dumbbell chest presses, do you think he would have been in that state of mind? Only if he wanted a nose job by dropping the dumbbells on his face. I have in the past and still do observe exercisers on the free weight floor. What I see is always a look of determination, motivation, and enthusiasm. My point here is that by participating in a free weight, non-machine based program, it not only forces you to concentrate and work harder, but it’s more fun, and the feeling of accomplishment is far superior than just going through the motions on exercise machines.

4.) Exercise machines CANNOT improve balance or stability. As I stated earlier, ground based exercise machines DO NOT require the use of your stabilizer muscles. These muscles not only protect your joints, but they also are responsible for your ability to stabilize and balance. Instead, try to incorporate some non-traditional methods of exercise like the use of a stability ball, or balancing on one leg, or doing some low level plyometrics. These types of exercises are extremely beneficial to increasing balance, stability, and agility. No machine can give you any of these qualities by itself.

5.) You can mimic any exercise machine exercise without the machine and get the same benefits plus a lot more. Every exercise machine that is on the market today has been developed based on movements that the human body does naturally. With that being said, you can perform any exercise machine exercise without the use of an actual exercise machine. The chest press machine is essentially a bench press, the leg press machine is a squatting motion, the rowing machine (you know the one for your back muscles) can be done with free weights, and the list goes on and on. But the catch is that when you do these movements with body weight or free weights you get all the same benefits plus the development of balance, stability, and definitely more calories burned. Let’s not forget that when you perform body weight or free weight based movements, you will always engage you core muscles.

I don’t know about you, but if I have my choice I’m sure you can guess what it is. That’s right good old fashioned body weight, free weight, or other non – machine based movements. Now, it’s important to realize that I’m not saying that exercise machines are useless, but would you rather work out for hours at a time with boring exercise equipment, or would you like to get more bang for your buck by getting more out of one exercise like a squat, some form of a press, a rowing motion, a lunging motion, or even a twisting, or bending motion? Instead of using one to two dozen boring exercise machines all you have to do is have fun while incorporating the six movements I just mentioned and you’ll be well on your way to achieving your fitness goals more efficiently and faster than ever before.

JZ

Learn The Insider Secrets on How To Build The ‘Optimal’ Rapid Fat Loss workout

In the past, the cornerstone of most resistance training workouts has been performing exercises in a straight set format. Essentially, this means you perform a certain number of reps for a given exercise or you perform as many reps as possible for a given exercise and then you rest anywhere from 30 seconds to five minutes based on your training goals before repeating this set a certain number of times based on your goals. For more of a fat loss and lean muscle gain emphasis shorter rest periods are ideal. For more of a strength or power emphasis, longer rest periods are prescribed.

So, what’s the problem with this format?

To be completely blunt, straight sets are an extremely inefficient way to order your exercises. In most commercial gyms you’ll typically see someone perform three sets of 10 reps for let’s say the bench press, or better yet a chest press machine (boy do I hate exercise machines – more on that later). They pump out 10 reps, go to the water fountain, talk with some buddies, watch a couple of highlights on ESPN, and then gingerly walk back to the bench area (or machine area) to hit up their second set. In general, most people, guys in particular, tend to take about 3-5 minutes between sets. In the case of three sets of 10 on the bench that means it would take up to 15 minutes to complete only one movement pattern (a horizontal push). That means you’d need at a minimum of an hour to perform no more than four measly exercises! No wonder body builders spend hours in the gym.

A much more effective and time-efficient approach to ordering your exercises is utilizing the alternating set format. Here you’ll perform one exercise, rest for a short period of time, then perform another non-competing exercise, rest for a short period of time, and so forth. Alternating sets allow you to work different areas of your body when you would otherwise be resting with the straight set format. Plus, by working another area of your body with a non-competing exercise you allow your body to recover from the previous exercise(s). The result is improved training economy and density: more work accomplished in less time, the cornerstone of any sound fat loss program. In addition we can now factor in some important corrective exercises like stretching tight muscles, working on mobility, or even doing some cardio based exercises too.

Here’s a quick example of what I’m talking about

Exercise#1- Squats

Exercise#2- Push up

Exercise#3- Step up

Exercise#4- Inverted row

Exercise#5- Lo – Ab heel taps

Perform this circuit up to five times or as many sets as you can handle in a 30 minute total body fat burning workout.

Basically, instead of getting just three sets on the bench in 15 minutes, you could have gotten in three, four (maybe more) sets of five different exercises. Plus, the intensity on each exercise will be just as high as in the straight set format because in this five exercise circuit you will have full recovery before you return to any given exercise (just as you did with the straight set format described earlier).

To recap, the key to creating the optimal hormonal environment for fat loss is to perform each exercise with maximal intensity while separated by brief rest periods in order to accumulate a high volume of total body work in the shortest amount of time possible. Circuit training provides for the best of both worlds and is thus simply unmatched for simultaneously maximizing fat loss and lean muscle gain. Use the following template I use with my many boot camp clients for some killer, yet simple fat loss circuits:

Exercise#1- Double-Leg

Exercise#2- Push

Exercise#3- Single-Leg

Exercise#4- Pull

Exercise#5- Core

Here’s a workout video showing you a great circuit you can perform anywhere;



I’ll be sharing some more great circuit training workouts from my boot camps in the weeks to come ;)

Your Total Body Fat Loss Solution

JZ

Weekly Fit tip - Give your health a boost & avoid the plague of the cold and flu season

We are well into the fall and before you know it, we will be full swing into the winter. You know what that means right?

Cold and Flu season!!!

follow these 5 simple steps to avoid the plague of getting a cold or worse the dreaded flu.

1.) take you vitamins

if you haven't already, get in the habit of taking your Advocare vitamins. I strongly recommend The New MNS Max 3. But you should at least take the Coreplex and OmegaPlex.

And to give yourself a boost and to prevent yourself from getting sick do what I do.

When ever I feel a bit run down or like I may be coming up with something I immediately get on Seasonal Support & vitamin C. I feel this is the very reason I have been able to prevent myself from getting a cold for almost a year.

2.) Eat well - You are What you Eat!

Remember if you eat $h!t, you'll feel like $h!t too! And if you are not giving you body the nourishment it needs it won't be getting any of the critical nutrients it needs not only to keep you healthy, but to keep you looking good too.

3.) Break a sweat every day!

I don't care if what your excuse is - you can find the power within you to exercise and break a sweat everyday. By doing so will not only keep your waist line in check, it will do a world of wonders to reduce many things like heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and of course getting a cold or the flu

4.) Keep the germs away

this time of year germs are all over the place, and its these germs that cause a lot of people to get sick. So, wash your hands every time you use the bathroom and before every time you have a meal.

5.) Get sleep!!!

To ensure that your body is capable of fighting off diseases and illness this time of year, get plenty of quality sleep.

Try going to bed by 10:30 every night and getting a minimum of 7 to 8 hours a night. By getting in by 10:30 you will ensure your body goes through each of it's recovery cycles (more on this in another post)

there you have it. put it to action and keep the illness away this season

JZ

To Be or not to be...

It's now November!! Do you know what that means?

2 things -

1.) TO BE FITTER OR FATTER

HOLIDAY FATNESS SEASON is upon us!!!


That's right 'tis' the season to get fatter. The average American gains 8 -12 pounds of ugly unwanted FAT during the holiday season.

Did you know that it's roughly 8 weeks away until New Years. That means you are gonna gain about a pound a week until the ball drops leaving you feeling miserable and with the daunting typical New Years resolution to lose weight.

or

You can take action now and lose 16 - 24 pounds of fat (2 pounds a week x 8 weeks) leaving you looking like the main attraction of your New Years Party not worrying at all about what you look like.

2.) TO BE A FINE TUNED ATHLETIC MACHINE, OR NOT TO BE...

Spring Athletes Start to prepare for you season before it's too late!!!

It seems as though you spring season is far away right? Wrong! Your preseason will actually start some where in the next 12 - 16 weeks. That's just 4 months away.

You now have a choice to start getting ready now, so you are performing at game speed for the start of your preseason.

Don't be that guy that shows up on the first day of practice that can't do 5 push ups or has to run in the corner and vomit!

EITHER CASE THE CHOICE IS YOURS!!!

Q & A - IS this why I'm not losing so much fat

Q: My daily diet has been pretty much the same the last few weeks. Here is what I have been having;

some oatmeal & yogurt in the morning with maybe a protein shake

then I'll make a container full of either ground beef, chicken or something with some whole wheat pasta. and eat that for the rest of the day.

Is that enough food, or should I be eating more? Is that Why I'm still holding some fat?

A: To quickly answer your questions - NO! to the first & YES to the second.

Let me explain. You obviously know you should be eating more food throughout the day.
The biggest misconception to dieting and losing body fat is just what you have done. People tend to eat less to lose weight (which isn't wrong by the way). People Just take it to the extreme (and starve themselves).

Think about it this way - I believe Alwyn Cosgrove is who I heard it from. Your body does the opposite of what you want it to do.

When you don't drink water - you hold water
When you lifts weight and workout - you are actually breaking down muscle tissue, not building it.
When you don't eat - your body goes into survival mode and you will store fat.

What you have to do is eat foods that have a high thermic effect (protein), along with plenty of fibrous veggies, and moderate starches and fats.

To make sense of it -
eat a protein and a veggie at every meal
eat every 3 hours
drink at least half your body weight in ounces of water.
Keep your starches for after your workouts and maybe breakfast
have some fruit
and do some weight training and interval based cardio

and you will have no choice but to get leaner

JZ