Motivation to get started after Christmas can be easy to come by. New gym membership, new sneakers, new outlook. But if you are already in a fitness program when Christmas rolls around, it can be a difficult time. Social and family commitments mount up in the festive period, and rightly take priority over training.

Your diet & nutritional program may also stroll off the straight and narrow on a regular basis during Christmas. This all might mean that your progress stalls, or you may even take a step back, and that can have a heavy impact upon your motivation to continue.

Many will see a little extra body weight, while aerobic performance or performance in the gym may suffer. I have seen many trainers programs grind to a halt during such a period, and never really get going again. Here’s some advice on how to push through to the other side.

Plan For Christmas As Part Of Your Fitness Program

Plan For Christmas As Part Of Your Fitness Program

Keep Your Eyes on the Prize

Remember that Christmas will be over in a couple of weeks, but that you have longer term goals for better fitness and health. In other words, take the long view. Ok, you may have put on some weight, and your training may have been put on hold, but the rest will do your body no harm, and you can get back into your training with renewed vigor.

Remember the things that motivated you in the first place, and focus on them. Look back at the free Seven Secrets to Getting Fit and Losing Weight Fast! Report you received from GetFitFast.com for a reminder of how to set and follow your fitness goals, and reset your own aims.

The reality is that life has a tendency to throw a spanner into the works of any routine from time to time. For your program to be a lasting relationship, and not a 6 month on, 6 month off cycle, be flexible and pick up your program when you can. Yes, your progress may stall a little, but if you take a short break, you will keep a lot of fitness and conditioning gains, and your body will benefit from the rest.

Just Do It

Getting back into the gym after a break can be hard. You can get a sinking feeling that it is going to hurt more both before and after a workout. You might also feel that you will not be as fit, or that you might not be able to lift as much weight. The important thing is that you get back into the gym for that first post break workout and that you have a positive experience that will leave you wanting to get back in there for more.

That means managing your expectations a little. Don’t expect to go in there and pick up where you left off. Ease yourself back into it and set yourself goals in the first few workouts you know you can achieve. In my Resistance Training series of blogs, I talked about adaption training, and this is a mini form of that – getting the body used to the rigors of training again.

If you are lifting weights, lift lighter and for more repetitions. This allows your muscles to re-adapt to the movements, and will minimize delayed on set muscle soreness (DOMS) after the workout. For aerobic exercise, run, row, or cycle at an easy pace. Steer clear of high intensity until you are back into the swing of your program.

Drink In Those Endorphins

If you can get into the gym and set yourself achievable goals, the endorphins will do the rest. I know the feeling of missing workouts very well, and it can leave you feeling low, and that working out just isn’t worth it. But once you get back in the gym, and work out, these feelings can very quickly turn to positive ones, helped along by the feel-good hormones that are released during exercise.

Everyone takes a break from their training program now and again – even elite athletes. Enjoy your break and try not to worry too much about your program – you have earned a rest. But when the time comes to get back into it, get back on the train!

A couple of weeks off is not reason to derail your plans for better health and fitness, and as soon as you get back to training, you will feel more positive. You can readjust your goals to keep you rolling forward to your health and fitness destination.

We tend to think that fitness and health is primarily a physical matter.  Guidance on a healthier lifestyle, or on how to lose weight is too often over simplified into advice about what to do in the gym, or what to eat and what not to eat.  This is all important of course (and sometimes a bit boring!), but to have any real chance of success, your head needs to be in the game as much, if not more than your body.

I’m really talking about motivation.  Most people are motivated enough to recognize that they want to change the way they are living.  A lot of people will do something about it.  Of course it’s important to get your trainers on and get out there, or “just do it” in the words of the advert.  But if you want a healthier lifestyle to last, spend some time thinking about what motivates and moves you.  Why do you want to be healthier? Why do you want to lose weight?

Healthy Competition could be just that - Healthy!

Healthy Competition could be just that - Healthy!

Long Term Motivation

It might be because you feel you owe it to yourself.  You might want to look better, feel better.  You might want to be healthier for the sake of your family.  The benefits of a healthier lifestyle are so numerous that everyone should be able to find a number of reasons to motivate themselves into positive action – better sleep patterns, better heart health, leaner physique, the list goes on.  These are fundamental reasons why you would want to improve your fitness and nutrition, and by focusing on them they will help you stay motivated.  It may even be a good idea to write down your underlying reasons so that you can come back to them when you feel like you need a boost.

Short and Medium Term Goals

Competition can also be a powerful ally in the battle to stay motivated.  That doesn’t mean to say that you have to be winning or even entering competitions, but if you have some short and medium term goals, they can help you stay focused, and just give you that extra edge and desire to get out there and train, and to stay on track with good diet.  The important thing is that any competitive edge you seek is based on you.  What I mean by that is your short term and medium term goals should be based on you testing yourself to meet goals that are achievable by you.  Whether that is running a certain distance, or cycling your regular route in a specific time, a goal like this can push you to higher levels.

You may even want to enter into a local event such as a running race.  But remember, do the race for you and push yourself to do your best, don’t worry too much about your placing or how anyone else does.  Everyone likes to win and do well, but ultimately your cause is greater than that, and it depends on you and your continued motivation.  If you base your motivation on competition with others, it can be vulnerable for reasons over which you have no control.  Having been a competitive athlete for many years, I know how much of a knock your confidence can take if you lose a game or a race you expected to win.  Assess your performance on factors you have control over, and you will see a steady improvement.  Compete with yourself, and the results will speak for themselves.

You’ve made the decision that good nutrition and fitness will become a part of your life, and it should be an important part. Better sleep patterns, better overall health, a longer life and more are all benefits you can expect from a more active, healthy lifestyle. But like all good things in life, you need a balance, and in our free report “7-Secrets to Getting Fit and Losing Weight – Fast!“  and subsequent set of lessons, you get some good and detailed guidance on how to achieve that balance.

Balanced diet.

A training program that is a good balance between cardiovascular training and resistance training. Cardiovascular training that utilizes steady state training for fat burning efficiency and high intensity interval training (HIIT) for the profound effect it can have on your metabolism and in stimulating your system to burn fat post exercise. Then there is, of course, the importance of rest, without which all the above will lose a great deal of its effectiveness. And even in rest there is a balance to be struck between active recovery, and complete down time.

Make Sure Your Fitness Plan Has a Good Balance of Cardio, Resistance Training, Active recovery and Rest.

Make Sure Your Fitness Plan Has a Good Balance of Cardio, Resistance Training, Active recovery and Rest.

You may already have found that this kind of detail becomes second nature once your program gets underway. Nonetheless, maintaining a good balance is important if you are to maximize the effectiveness of your diet and training. This is where planning becomes important. Plan your week for a good balance of cardio, resistance training, active recovery and rest.

Active Recovery

Especially during easy days when you are taking part in active recovery, there is a danger that you enter a “no man’s land” where you are not really achieving any of your objectives. For example, if you are going on the exercise bike for an easy ride, make sure that is what you do. If you push yourself too hard, you are not giving yourself the opportunity to recover for a more intense session of HIIT or resistance training the next day. If you are not pushing yourself during HIIT, you will not achieve the intensity required to stimulate your metabolism, and the training effect will be akin to a rather short session of cardio. No man’s land.

The Key is Sticking to Your Fitness Plan

Putting in place a balanced plan is important, but the key is sticking to it. Of course, there will be days when you feel like doing more, or doing less, and you should be able to adjust your plan to accommodate how you feel, but make sure you maintain the balance. If you carry on regardless, no man’s land looms, and you will not get the best from your time. Your time is valuable, so each time you go into the gym, out for a run, or out on the bike, have a clear idea of what you are trying to achieve, and carry out your plan. Stick to the principles you have learned, and you will see the results you want, and fast.

This might go against the instincts of people who are determined to get fit, lose weight, or both.  I admire the determination of the people I train to make that change and they are full of the “no pain, no gain” spirit.  And that’s great, if it can be channeled in the right direction, but “no pain, no gain” will only take you so far.  Yes, most of us want fast results, and those are achievable.  But more than that, we want results that will last, and keep coming.  We want a lifestyle that is fun and healthy, that will leave us feeling invigorated and full of energy for whatever life throws at us.  The key elements in a program that will achieve those things are rest and fun (sometimes at the same time!).

Let me explain.  The pattern with new trainers can sometimes be quite similar.  You know the routine: get a gym membership to tackle that New Year’s resolution, and by March the membership card is gathering dust on the hall table; or you create your ideal home gym and by April your exercise bike is covered in drying washing, al of which serves as a reminder of your lack of will power.  But that’s not the case!  The will power was there to begin with, you just have to make sure that you nurture it so that stays with you.  When you make the decision to get fit, lose weight, or whatever it might be, avoid the temwill poweptation to go out and get a gym membership, or join on the latest cardio funk boxercise spinning class down the road.  Those things might come later, but before you commit your time and money, and valuable will power to these activities, first, simply ask yourself what exercise you enjoy, or what you think you might enjoy.  That might be football, or skipping or swimming, or even just walking or running.  You might want to try dancing, or maybe you have always fancied yourself as a tennis player.

Put Some Fun Into Your Exercise!

Put Some Fun Into Your Exercise!

Whatever it is, incorporate it into your program, because the truth is, a program which contains activities you enjoy, is far more likely to last.  For the best results, most of us need to supplement these kinds of activities with other types of exercise such as resistance training, but if you have a sport or activity you enjoy to look forward to, it can serve as a powerful incentive to do well in the rest of your training and diet.

And, rest.  The principle is similar.  You can get a rush of determination at the beginning of a program, and that is great, but be careful you don’t burn out.  Rest is critical if your muscles are to recover and grow in between exercise.  If you are doing high intensity interval workouts, you will also be burning fat while you rest.

Make sure you get enough sleep.  If you feel you must exercise, take part in a little active recovery: try some yoga, have a gentle swim, or an easy spin on your bike, but remember, this is active recovery.  The idea is to help your muscles recover by giving them additional oxygen and circulation to help flush out the toxins produced by muscular effort.  Keep the exercise light and take the opportunity to have some fun, and you will be refreshed and ready when your next workout comes around.

Resistance training, diet, nutrition, cardio.  They are all very important to an effective fitness and weight loss program.  But the cement that binds them is made of fun and recovery.  Pay attention to these details and your program will last.  Ignore them, and you will soon be dusting that gym membership card.

Meanwhile, the leg press machine, and even the hack squat machine get more attention.  There is no justice for the poor squat rack.  Why is this? I think the answer to this question lies in the fact that squats are hard.  If you haven’t done squats before, or you are not used to doing them, they can be difficult and uncomfortable.  The bar across your shoulders can be awkward, and squatting down to where your thighs are parallel to the ground is actually quite difficult, and presents most people with problems that have as much to do with balance, as with strength.

Put Some Effort Into Your Squats For Explosive Results!

Put Some Effort Into Your Squats For Explosive Results!

But like many of the compound exercises, that is the beauty of squatting.  It takes so many muscles to balance the bar and keep you body on a level plane as you descend to the bottom of the squat, that squats in themselves are a full body workout.  Your shoulder, traps and arms need to steady the bar.  Make sure you allow the bar to roll down slightly to rest on your trap muscles rather than pressing against the bony part of your spine that sticks out at the base of your neck.  Your lower back and glutes are instrumental in moving your body into position to help lower the weight through your knee bend.  All the time during the exercise, your abs and core muscles are flexing and adjusting to maintain your balance and stability.  And squats of course, are great for your quads and hamstrings, but they are so much more than a leg exercise.

Compound exercises, and squats in particular have a greater effect on your metabolic rate than isolation exercises like leg curls.  You only have to perform the exercise to notice the difference.  The overall bodily strain is greater and forces the body to adapt to greater demands.  As a result, squats have a greater effect on building lean muscle mass and overall strength. Exercises like the leg press have their place, but the principle difference is the leg press moves where the machine allows it to move, which almost always is straight up and down in a line.  With a free weight exercise like squats, the weight moves with your body and your muscular contraction which means that it is up to you, not a machine, to stabilize the weight to stop it from tipping over, and to keep it on the plane of motion that you want, and that is what brings in all the ancillary muscles into play.

I think sometimes gym users don’t do squats because of pride.  They are not used to doing them and are reluctant to start with lighter weights.  Far easier to load up the leg press, or wear big baggy sweats, and ignore legs altogether.  Some load up the bar and do a leg bend routine that is some way removed from squats – all weight and no depth. My advice is check your pride at the door.  Use the bar with no weight.  Find a comfortable position with the bar across your back resting on your traps.  Choose a spot on the wall just above your eye line that you can watch as you perform the exercise – it will help you to maintain a straight back.  Let your hips initiate the movement and squat down to parallel, and then back up.  Don’t bounce.  Get used to the movement, and once you are, you can start to add weight, but do not lose depth to add weight.  The depth of the squat affects the load that your quads have to deal with and also, the shallower you squat, the less your ancillary muscles will become involved in stabilizing the weight.

The squat is a great exercise for all round fitness, strength and fat burning – get it into your workout routine!

Image credit: Dehwang

Given that your core twists, turns, bends and stretches its way through your day, why restrict your training to sit ups and leg raises? Go for a more comprehensive approach to abdominal training, and indeed to whole body training, and you will find that your strength and lean muscle develops in a more even way, rather than centering around one or two muscles and movements. Here’s one or two ideas to think about to keep your abs workout fun and effective:

Yoga

I would advise almost anyone, competitive athlete to weekend gym warrior to undertake a regular program of stretching. Flexibility and suppleness are great ways to keep your body young, and the poses in yoga can do a great deal to improve core stability and strength.

The Plank is a Superb Core Muscles Exercise For Your Abs

The Plank is a Superb Core Muscles Exercise For Your Abs

Yoga is also an excellent way to recover from a hard gym session. Stretching will bring extra oxygen to muscle fibers without putting a heavy strain on them, aiding the recovery and development processes.

You can also incorporate yoga-style poses into your abs routine. “The plank” is an excellent example. It is similar to the press up position, but with your arms bent, and your weight supported on your elbows. Keep your back straight and your head and neck in line with your spine, and hold the position for 30-60 seconds. You will fell your abdominals slowly tense during the exercise, while you support your weight with the ancillary muscles.

Pilates

Pilates is similar to yoga in that it concentrates on breathing, although it is more dynamic and exercise based, although stretching also plays and important part. It uses various apparatus and concentrates heavily on core strength.

Classes like these can be a great addition to your fitness program. They are more social than training on your own, and can be excellent as a method of motivating you to get in to the gym. They also tend to ensure that you warm up and warm down properly – if you are training on your own, if you are anything like me, warming up and down, and stretching may only be given passing attention. They can also be an excellent source of new exercises and healthy training habits for your own program.

Circuit Training

For those of us who prefer a boot camp approach, circuits can be an excellent addition. Circuit sessions can vary widely in content, but they tend to concentrate on short bursts of effort on a circuit of different exercises. They usually include sit ups and leg raises, but they tend to be for the development of cardiovascular fitness and strength endurance, rather than specifically for building strength and lean muscle. Nonetheless, you will get the group motivation factor, and the added fitness benefits will make your overall fitness program more rounded and comprehensive.

Train With A Partner

Ab workouts with a partner can add an extra dimension. Get your partner to push your legs back down during leg raises to add extra resistance. He can push then in any direction to improve your reaction time, and put added emphasis on your ancillary muscles, particularly your obliques. Or try passing a medicine ball back and forth at the top of sit ups. Another good exercises is performing twists back to back with your partner while passing the medicine ball in a continuous circle. Excellent for the obliques and serratus. Just get “Eye of the Tiger” on the sound system and crack on!

Wrapping It All Up

In the last few blogs, I’ve tried to summarize the basics of the crunch movement and the leg raise movement, and talked about some of the ways you can incorporate them into your program. Start with the basics, and make sure you can do them properly before you move on to anything more complex. That way you will know your abs are getting the best workout, and that you are minimizing the risk of injury. After all, a lower back injury can have a big impact on your life, even if it is not severe.

And just like any element of your fitness program, don’t get stuck in a rut. Think of fun new ways to train and methods that will keep you interested and wanting to come back for more – that is the true secret to fitness success. And if you run out of ideas, why not ask me and fellow members by posting a question as a comment?

Leg Raise Basics

As with sit ups, leg raises seem like a simple exercise, but there is plenty that can go wrong which could result in lower back injury. So, to get it right, go back to basics to start with and start with the movement on the floor.

Leg Raise Basics - Hands At Your Side, Point Your Toes, Legs Straight And Raise Slowly To Hit Those Abs!,

Leg Raise Basics - Hands At Your Side, Point Your Toes, Legs Straight And Raise Slowly To Hit Those Abs!,

Lay down on your back with your hands by your side. I like to put the side of my hands, i.e. my thumbs and index fingers just under my backside as it keeps your upper body still, and also raises your backside a little, putting your lower back in a slightly more neutral, supported position.

Point your toes to encourage your legs to remain straight and together. From that position, use your abdominal muscles to raise your feet, keeping your legs straight, toes pointed all the through the movement. As you feet come up through a circular arc, once your legs are making a 45 degree angle with the floor, you will feel the level of resistance start to reduce, until you reach 90 degrees when you will feel almost no strain on your abdominals, similar to the top of a sit up. The optimal range of movement is from the floor up to around 45 degrees to 60 degrees so that you have constant resistance on your abdominal muscles. Feel for the point where the movement moves from resistance to rest, and use it as a reference point to return your feet back down to the bottom of the movement.

There’s not too much that can go wrong with a leg raise on the floor, compared to sit ups. Be careful to keep your legs straight throughout the exercise. There are leg raise exercises you can do with bent legs, but for the moment we will concentrate on straight legs, as that offers the greatest resistance.

Add More Resistance

There are a number of varieties of this exercise. Once you have mastered the basic movement, try it on an exercise bench. Lie lengthways along the bench with your backside near the edge. Grasp the bench near your head, and then perform the movement. The elevation of the bench allows you a greater range of movement, which lets your abdominals extend further. Bear in mind that your legs represent quite a long lever, and moving them in this way can put a strain on your lower back, and working from a bench can increase that risk. Concentrate on contracting your abs and if you have any doubts about your lower back, don’t risk it, and instead, work with bent leg exercises, which will cause less strain.

For added resistance, put a light dumbbell, or medicine ball between your feet. Also try hanging leg raises for the ultimate in resistance for your lower abdominals. If your grip is giving out before your abs, either work on grip and forearm strength, or buy some wrist straps to help you hold on.

Bent Leg Raises

Bent legged leg raises are similar in execution. Same starting position as straight leg raises. Instead of lifting your feet up in an arc, start with your feet slightly off the ground and bend your legs until your thighs are perpendicular to the ground. Most of the resistance in this movement comes when you straighten your legs back to the starting position. This exercise is probably best performed in the hanging position, where you should lift your knees as far as you can get them the fullest range of motion and contraction possible.

Leg raises are an excellent exercise to train your lower abs, and your hip flexors. If you are new to the exercise, consider starting on bent leg variations before moving onto straight leg. As I said at the beginning of the series, ab exercises on their own will not give you a 6 pack, but done properly, they can add a great deal to your core strength and stability. Concentrate on correct form before complicating any exercise and you will know you are working toward your goals without unnecessarily risking injury.

In the last article in this series, I’ll wrap things up with a look at some alternative and fun ways to work out your abdominal muscles.

The program I have chosen is a variation of a program that I used a couple of years ago. It is based on a program used by athletes such as American Footballers in the off-season with the aim of building lean mass quickly before the playing season comes around again. It concentrates on three basic compound movements that will train power and that will train your full body to such an extent that it should have a positive effect in training your metabolism. They are squats, standing military press (sometimes known as shoulder press) and power cleans.

Now, if you can’t get down to your local gym on a regular basis, these exercises could all be performed in a home gym.

The basis of the program is that you build up to a new maximum set at the end of each week. Now, that doesn’t mean to say that you should be lifting personal bests every week for the rest of your life, but you should be lifting personal bests at the end of the program. When your progress stalls, reset the program and start again to build up to new personal bests. In this way, you are constantly building the foundations of your strength without putting the massive strain on your body and central nervous system that constantly lifting your personal best can cause. In other words, this program works not by lifting as heavy as you can infrequently but by lifting frequently and systematically increasing the weight week on week. You start within your limits and then slowly increase.

The Program

Monday

Squats - One Of The Three Basic Compound Exercises At The Core Of This Program

Squats - One Of The Three Basic Compound Exercises At The Core Of This Program

Squat: 4 sets of 6 repetitions

Increasing the weight each set up to that last set which should be the same weight as the previous Friday’s heavy 4.

Standing Military Press: 4 sets of 6 repetitions

Increasing the weight each set up to that last set which should be the same weight as the previous Friday’s heavy 4.

Power Cleans: 4 sets of 6 repetitions

Increasing the weight each set up to that last set which should be the same weight as the previous Friday’s heavy 4.

Core exercises

Wednesday – Strength Endurance Day

Quad movement: choose from one legged press, jump squat, front squat, lunges, step ups or clean cardio

Hamstring movement: choose from straight leg dead lift, leg curls

Leg extensions

Calf raises

Pull ups: weighted, both wide grip and close grip

Dips: weighted

Repetition range for the leg exercises should be 15-20 for 3 sets. Repetitions for Pull ups and Dips should be 3 sets of 10 repetitions.

Core exercises

Friday

Squats: 3 sets of 6 repetitions, 1 set of 4, 1 set of 8

The weights for the first 3 sets are the same as Monday’s first 3 sets. For the set of 4, set the weight approx. 2.5% above the Monday top set of 6. For the final set, reduce the weight for a warm down set of 8.

Standing Military Press: 3 sets of 6 repetitions, 1 set of 4, 1 set of 8

The weights for the first 3 sets are the same as Monday’s first 3 sets. For the set of 4, set the weight approx. 2.5% above the Monday top set of 6. For the final set, reduce the weight for a warm down set of 8.

Power Cleans: 3 sets of 6 repetitions, 1set of 4, 1 set of 8

The weights for the first 3 sets are the same as Monday’s first 3 sets. For the set of 4, set the weight approx. 2.5% above the Monday top set of 6. For the final set, reduce the weight for a warm down set of 8.

Core exercises

Further Explanation To Come!

I appreciate that that is quite a lot of information! I will go into more detail in future blogs about the reasoning behind my choice of exercises and the specifics of how to do them. Overall, the Monday and Friday workouts are all about the steady build up of strength. The Wednesday workout is there to add an element of strength endurance. Some would argue that there is no place for such a workout in a program like this and that you should stick to the core exercises in order to maximize strength and power gains, and there is some truth in that. However, I am not only training for strength and power, and I think it is healthy to include an endurance element in the training. Having said that, the weights on the Wednesday should be a sensible level of resistance and intensity so that it does not adversely effect Friday’s lifts.

As for the core exercises, I’ll talk about exercise selection and sets and repetitions in a subsequent blog.

That’s it for now. In my next blog ‘Resistance Training For Lean Mass and Strength – Part 3: Adaption’, I’ll start to talk about the individual exercises, why I have chosen them, how to do them, and what they will do for you. I’ll also talk about how to set the weight goals for your program

As I said in previous blogs, trainers tend to want to use gym apparatus to train their abs, rather than doing plain old floor exercises. That’s fine in principle, but the more moving parts and variables you have in an exercise, the more chance there is that something will go wrong.

The first thing to remember when you are doing crunch or ab curl exercises is the basics of the movement and what you are trying to achieve (covered in Training Your Abdominals – Part 2) and keep them in mind, regardless of whether you are on the floor, the stability ball, or the ab board, or whether or not you are using added resistance.

The Decline Board Or Ab Bench Looks Like A Weight Bench

The Decline Board Or Ab Bench Looks Like A Weight Bench

Decline Board

The decline board looks like a weight bench, but is sloped and has a cushion at the top for you to slip your feet under. Sometimes they include a triangle to put your knees over, which can help flatten your back and protect against hyper extension at the bottom/beginning of the movement. Put simply, it is designed to allow you to do sit ups uphill, holding you in position by your feet. It is meant to make the sit up harder, using gravity as resistance. Other than that, it is the same exercise.

Setup

When you are using the decline board, set it to a sensible angle. I often see trainers setting it to near vertical. What tends to happen, is that they do not go fully back to the board (or anywhere near it), meaning that their range of movement is very restricted. Make sure when you set the board up that you can get to the bottom of the movement for the full range of movement. Better to set it to a shallow angle and perform the exercise properly with good form, than set it to a wide angle and perform the exercise poorly.

Performing The Exercise

Perform the exercise under control. Explosive movement is fine, but your abdominals should be under strain, and in control of the movement at all times. No bouncing off the bottom, or holding on to your legs at the top for a breather and a cup of tea.

In my opinion, your hands should either go on your legs or arms crossed, with finger tips touching your shoulders, but there is no hard and fast rule. If they are there, you don’t have the temptation of grabbing your head and wrenching it forward to create the momentum to sit up – definitely a bad thing. It is you abs you are training, not your biceps and neck, and if you put your neck under strain like this, injury is the likely result. Also you are more likely to hyper extend your back if your hands are on or around your head. Wherever your hands go, keep them there. Any attempt to throw them forward to create momentum will result in poor form and greater risk of injury. If you find yourself having to do this to sit up, either you are attempting to do too many sit ups, or the angle of the board is too steep.

Adding Weight

Similarly, if you are using a weight or a medicine ball, keep it in one place. I recommend 1 of 3 positions: either under your chin, on the tip of your nose, or on your forehead. Holding the weight on your chin is the safest place, as the further toward the top of your head you go, the greater the resistance, but there is also greater strain on your lower back. It is important to keep the weight still so that the resistance is constant. I often see trainers move the weight toward their waist on the way up, and then return it toward their chin on the way down. All this does is make the sit up easier on the way up – the momentum of the weight going forward pulling you up rather than your abdominals, and then puts progressively more strain on your lower back on the way back down.

How Many Sets & Reps?

The amount of sets and repetitions of crunches you do depends largely on your goals, but remember, crunches, especially on a decline board is a resistance exercise. They can form part of a cardio circuit also, but we are really talk about an element of a resistance workout routine here. If you are looking to build strength in your core and develop lean mass, I would recommend a repetition range of 8-15, for 3 or 4 sets as general guidance, but I would seek specific guidance, for example on the forum, on the right blend to meet your needs.

In my next blog in this series, I’ll talk about the stability ball.

Exercises like squats are also very good for your flexibility and cardiovascular fitness. This might seem like a strange thing to say, as it is popularly believed that resistance training makes you “muscle bound” and that it does not promote aerobic fitness.

But you only need to try squats to see that these assertions are not true. First of all you need good flexibility in order to perform a squat to full depth. If you can’t achieve that right now, don’t worry – keep working at it and it will come along with improved balance and strength.

Work on your flexibility by doing yoga or regular stretching. Also, when you carry out an exercise such as squats or power cleans, the type of strain your entire body is under means that your heart has to work hard in order to supply all the muscles you are using with oxygen.

When you finish a set of squats or power cleans, you are likely to feel the type of fatigue you might feel after a short but full on sprint.

Explosive Power

Power Cleans Are One of the Best Exercises for Developing Explosive Muscle Power

Power Cleans Are One of the Best Exercises for Developing Explosive Muscle Power

If squats are the Daddy when it comes to building lean muscle, for me, power cleans are the best exercise for developing explosive power. The movement is based on the first movement in an Olympic lift known as the clean and jerk. If you watch the clean and jerk, you might remember that the weight is lifted from the floor before the athlete drops beneath the bar, knees fully bent and back side almost on the deck before squatting up into the standing position with the bar rested on the palms across the top of the chest. This movement requires extraordinary flexibility and joint strength, and is not recommended for the novice, or even for the intermediate lifter. While the power clean is similar, it is a more straightforward movement that can be learned relatively quickly. It is no less important to do the exercise correctly in order to minimize the risk of injury and in order to gain the maximum training benefit.

The Technique

Place a barbell on the floor. The bar should be the same height off the floor that it would be if it had 45 lb discs on it. That doesn’t mean to say that is what you have to lift, but it should be that height off the ground so that there is a reduced risk of rounding your back when you bend make the lift. Use some mats or steps to raise the bar if necessary.

As you walk up to the bar, place your feet a fraction wider than shoulder width, with your shins about zero to 6 inches back from the bar. Bend down to grasp the bar with an over hand grip that will be wider than shoulder width. Before you lift the bar, remember the principles you learned in the squatting blog. Push through your heels and keep your back straight. Look up.

Push through your legs

Push through your legs into the dead lift phase of the movement. As the bar passes your thighs and your back becomes fully erect, continue the movement of the bar by explosively raising yourself up onto you calves while pulling the bar with your arms in an upright rowing motion.

As the bar reaches nose height, drop your body below the bar with a slight knee bend, and drop your elbows under the bar so that it rests across the top of your chest on the palms of your hands. You are now ready to release the bar and begin the descent back to the floor.

Use Good Form

In a controlled way, let the bar drop to your waist and then use good form, and straight back to squat back down to the deck. Once the bar is on the floor, pause a second before doing the next rep – no bouncing off the carpet. Take a breath, push your backside out, look up and feel for a straight back.

Heels firm on the ground, and push. I have to admit I “waggle” my back side before the lift much like a golfer waggles his driver before teeing off – it just makes you pause, sets your back in the right position and drives your heels into the ground.

Learn the Pwer Clean Movement Using Just the Bar

The power clean is a complex movement, so take it easy to start with, and learn the movement using just the bar, no weight. Watch some videos of Olympic lifters, and watch how they set themselves before the lift. I don’t mean the part where they send clouds of chalk dust billowing into the air – don’t try that at your local leisure center, you will not be popular.

Watch how they approach the bar, set their feet and straighten their back before the lift. Watch the explosive movement of the bar upward, and in particular, watch how they use their calves to get extra height and power before dropping beneath the bar.

The power clean is all about power. You are using almost every muscle in your body to shift the weight off the floor and into a standing position. It is an excellent way to develop strength and lean muscle, and is used by many athletes ranging from sprinters to rugby players and cyclists. The benefits of this exercise are great, but take care and make sure you have mastered the basics before you start to add weight.

And remember, this is a great exercise for those of you with a home gym. I’d suggest performing this in fron of a mirror so it encourages you to look ahead and use good form.

In the next blog in this series (Resistance Training For Lean Mass and Strength – Part 6: Military Press or Shoulder Press), I’ll talk about military press (or shoulder press), the last of the central compound movements in our program.