Information Technology professionals tend to be treated a bit rough. This story is no different.

Recently, TCGR hired a new addition to their IT team named Mike L. Mike joined our training program shortly after joining the team. Since Mike had a powerlifting background I decided to throw him to the wolves and get him in the mix right away. He has been training for a few weeks now and I 8 noticed that he has all the making of IT Man’s disease. That means weak core and no glutes.

One day while walking by Mike’s desk, I noticed a laser printer that wasn’t being used. I decided to strong arm him into putting it in the weight room. He conceded and said he would install it in the weight room as long as I carried it down there. No wonder, this thing weighs a ton. So on the first day of being in the weight room I decided to add it to the days workout and created the printer pushups. I’m guessing this thing weighs 60lbs. So, the video of Mike doing pushups with this thing on his back is more impressive than it looks.

Just so everyone knows, this was all in good fun. Furthermore, IT Mike wasn’t the only one picked on. It was everyone in his workout group that got to enjoy the printer pushups.

If anyone has an old laser printer sitting around and you are wondering what to do with it, just use it for your workout.

Stay tuned for more to come with the IT workout. Hopefully, we don’t have to Office Space it out in the parking lot.

Weighted pushups have a few benefits. One is the fact that it is a Closed Kinetic Chain Exercise(CKC). CKC means that your hands are fixed to the ground as opposed to the Open Kinetic Chain(OKC) Bench Press. CKC’s are thought to be a bit safer and more functional than OKC’s. That can be debated, but here we will lean toward giving a point to the pushups as opposed to the bench press.

The next benefit I see is the weight is limited by how much you can support by your anterior outer core(AOC we will call it). If your AOC can’t support the weight then you wont be able to do as much weight on the exercise. This ensures that you are building well rounded strength overall. It’s a bit of a self limiting exercise.

Furthermore, it’s cool, it retains, if not builds on the whole macho factor of the bench. It’s much more impressive in my book to see someone do tons of weight on the weighted pushup than the bench. Think about it, if you walked in the gym and saw someone doing 500 on the bench and someone doing pushups with 5x45lbs plates on their back. Which one is cooler? I think the weighted pushups. Why not do something worth while that happens to look cool, then something that you think looks cool, but is just plain stupid(Bicep curls while standing on a Bosu Ball aren’t cool, they are stupid).

There are a few cons of the weighted pushup such as needing a partner to load and unload the weight on your back. Also, they can get dangerous to toes and fingers if the weight were to fall of your back. That’s why you will need an attentive partner and a good line of communication. An alternative to using plates could be sand or steel shot bags or heavy chains. Check out Tim Tebow in his FRS commercial for weighted pushups with chains.

So try out some weighted pushups as a viable alternative to the Bench Press and build some overall strength in a (somewhat) safe manner. Just remember if you are having low back pain during the pushup, you need to evaluate you AOC and progress from a weight your whole body can handle.

If anyone comes up with some variations of this flow type warm up or workout, please send me your creations and I can post them here and give you credit.  Your feedback is also appreciated for this warm up.

Strength coaches, trainer’s, fitness people like many people, are always looking for the best. The best way to eat, the best muscle building protocol, the best conditioning program. We are always looking for the best, because we are doing one thing and it is producing a certain result, but the results are not always what we hoped for. We find something we believe in (whether it actually works well or not) and defend it like our life depends on it. Think about the religious fighting we have now and have always had. It’s human nature to defend beliefs and ideals.

We have seen many different training programs and fitness/nutrition strategies work. Why do the same programs work with some and not with others. For example, the High Intensity training(HIT) system typically involves 1 work set taken to momentary muscular failure. Studies have been produced that show multiple submax sets are superior to 1 max set. Yet, HIT training was used to produce Former Mr. Olympia Dorian Yates. Body builders use many types of training routines that seem to produce very similar results. Some people use Crossfit type workouts to get ripped and others use a less intense approach that may produce the same results. Yes, you can get ripped doing HIT training but you probably won’t do a very good muscle up. Conversely, if you are doing Crossfit metcon’s 5x a week to prepare for a bodybuilding contest you most likely won’t do well.

So, what are you getting at?

Here’s my position

Don’t knock something till you try it.

Get on a program that you believe will help you achieve your desired goal, with the time and money you have of course and stay on it for awhile unless it is unsafe.

Don’t knock everything that is different than what you believe or do, or in my case preach to my clients.

Always be open to new (and old) things. Why is Pilates a viable fitness modality now and not in the 90s? Is it now better for you than 20 years ago. No just our belief in it has changed. Now you won’t do Pilates to build endurance for an Ironman Triathalon but you may add it in for some cross training to try to boost performance.

Be confident in what you are doing and give it a fair shake. You can make any number of protocols work for you. Don’t change your routine every other week. Believe it or not, trainers do this all the time (always gotta be fresh for the client). You should be achieving a goal not entertaining(unless that is the goal). Injury free basketball play at 60 years old may be your goal. I’ve Actually had this one, so no it’s not a stupid example.

Stay focused and follow your plan of action. This means be compliant. If you don’t follow the doctor’s orders how can you say it doesn’t work for you.

Track as much as is practical so you can see what needs to be tweaked. Just like a journal is a personal history that can be used to reflect on what you have experienced and where you might be going. Don’t make it complicated though unless you can manage it. (see Tim Ferriss). It will only hinder your results.

So do what is logical and scientific and fun. Leave the politics, religion, and rhetoric of fitness and nutrition to the “officials” in government and institutions.

Nonetheless, I have been hounding everyone about their basic pushups. Core stability is essential to a proper pushup. This means that you mid-section should not lag behind as you press off the floor. As you can see in John’s video, his does not maintain a tight lever like body position the whole time. His torso does a bit of the worm. This loss of position put a tremendous amount of pressure on the lumbar spine. If you do this repeatedly, you are unnecessarily stressing your lower intervertebral discs.

The pushup should be more like a moving plank. Your body must maintain a rigid plank position while you push up off the floor. As you can see in the second video, I do my best to maintain that tight core midline. The only difference in a plank and my pushups is that my arms are moving. That’s why we consider doing a basic pushup as much of a basic core exercise as it is an upper body press movement.

I am working with John to improve his core stability through various plank type movements, and weighted pushups . Thanks again to John, who is one of my more focused trainees at Target Racing. (he can easily to Stiff Leg Deadlifts with 90′s in each hand)

Since I finally fixed my Keg post from 2 days ago, I figured that it was appropriate to show what I feel are some effective Keg drills. Keep in mind that essentially the Keg is a big cylindrical weight. Many weight training and explosive lifting techniques could apply. This is only one of them.

By the way, I have to sneak in time to shoot these videos right now, so they aren’t professional quality. You get the idea of the drill though. Be nice in the comments

Keg Puts as I call them are essentially a clean and jerk with the keg that end in an explosive horizontal drive. As demonstrated on the video I’m keeping my back straight throughout the movement and ending with an explosive vertical/horizontal drive.

A good use of this exercise is simulating an explosive drive used in football. They can be used for conditioning with repeated attempts. They can also be used for maximal power attempts by using a heavier keg. I prefer these over a medicine ball throw because you can go heavier. Although, I think med ball throws are excellent. Also, kegs are damn near indestructible and cheaper then a med ball. Check out med balls from Perform Better in my post on First Place Elite Medicine Balls. Not picking on Perform Better because rubber balls are expensive to manufacture. I’ll let you decide what is more practical or useful.

So try throwing around some weighted kegs for power and conditioning work. I will post some sample routines with these fit in to them. Please post your comments, suggestions, etc.

Materials Needed for Project :
Beer Keg
Angle grinder with thin metal cut off wheel
4 Self Drilling Sheet metal screws
4×4″ square of sheet metal
Sand or Pea Gravel
Silicone
Optional- funnel cut off about midway

If you’ve been a college student, worked in a bar, or just thrown a raging party before, you know those Coors Light(or whatever you drink) kegs are crazy heavy. Just try shoving one into the back seat of your sweet 86 Ford Mustang and watch the weight of it lower your car a few inches. Or, drag on up 4 flights of stairs to your tiny apartment to throw a football party. I’m being hypothetical, not saying I’ve ever done something like that. They are both heavy and seemingly indestructible. They also have built in handles. And you can usually get outdated ones for free or no money.

So here enters the beer keg for a workout tool. That way when your done drinking the beer out of it you can work off the beer with a conditioning workout with Keg Clean and Jerks, Keg Throws, and other crazy nonsense I hope to be posting here.

After you get your hands on a keg ( legally of course), you will need to replace the lost weight from the drank beer with something. I prefer sand and/or pea gravel. Both of which are dirt cheap.

You will need to cut a hole in the top. I don’t like to have to struggle to get sand onto the keg, so I cut a 3×3 inch square and use pea gravel instead of sand.

Shovel your desired amount of gravel into the keg. Using the funnel will help, but is not necessary. Once you’ve filled with the desired amount of weight, clean and lay a bead of silicone around the hole. Trim a thin piece of sheet metal about an in larger than the hole. Use the self drilling screws to attach the sheet metal. Clean off the excess silicone and you are ready to rip.

I love trying out new equipment related to sports and fitness.  It’s what got me started on this blog in the first place.  This review was intended to be my 2nd review.  But, I thought it was an interesting start.

This review started after I spoke with my friends at Bob Block Fitness in Indianapolis.  I asked if they had any interesting equipment to get me started.  They turned me on to a True treadmill that was interesting.  I will be getting back to that one later.  As soon as I walked in the door I was drawn to the strange and different Elliptigo.  After a little pestering they let me take it out in the parking lot and test ride it.  Actually, they wanted me to try it out.  Being a bike lover I had to try this thing out.

I was curious as to how well it was made due to the fact that it has a long stretched out frame.  It looks much larger in person than in a picture.  I was certain that this thing was going to be gimmicky and flex a ton in the middle.  This was the first thing I noticed.  Hey, I weighed about 250lbs in the video.  This thing didn’t flex a bit.  It was super solid and smooth.

The elliptical action takes a few seconds to get to get used to, but it feels quite natural.  The foot pedals are tight and smooth with little to no slop.  They whole thing had a natural solid feel.  I was pleasantly surprised.  But, at over 2 grand you would expect it to be.

Don’t look at the Elliptigo as a bicycle replacement.  I felt like it was a whole different experience in itself.  It could be both super cool beach cruising machine or serious crosstraining machine.  I actually had a blast flying around the parking lot with it.  While not for the budget minded fitness enthusiast, it would make a great “Tool in the Toolbox” (please see my first post). You could implement this into a detraining/deloading phase of a periodized training program.  You could supplement heavy endurance running with the Elliptigo for some “Get Outside” cardio without the pounding on the street.

Furthermore, I would love to cruise around my hometown beach of Virginia Beach (I’m actually from Chesapeake, not VA Beach for anyone keeping tabs, but close enough) on the Elliptigo.  Check one out at your local dealer and get em to let you ride it.  They are great fun.