The Mind Over Body Matter Letter

Here’s a cool article by Mike Geary, author of “The Truth About Six Pack Abs“… also you should check out my hardcore review of the Truth About Abs as well.

I hate ab workouts by the way and always try to get my ab work in by doing other things

Instead of the typical ab exercise routines that we see so often with crunches, situps, leg lifts, etc… I like to give my readers better options for metabolism-boosting high intensity workouts that work their entire body while also working their abs.

Amen

I’m going to show you an example today of one of my favorite ab workouts that doesn’t include any direct ab exercises at all. It’s in a tri-set format (similar to a super-set but alternating between 3 exercises).

Here goes:

1a. Renegade Dumbbell Rows

1b. Front Squats with Barbell

1c. Mountain Climbers on Floor

A good rep scheme to use with this could be 3-4 sets of 8 reps for each exercise, or more sets for less reps, such as 5 sets of 5 reps of each exercise. Mountain climbers can be done for a time interval (such as 30 seconds) instead of “reps”.

Renegade dumbbell rows are done starting in a pushup position with the hands on 2 dumbbells. You then row one dumbbell up while stabilizing your body with the other arm. Bring the dumbbell back to the ground and alternate the rowing arm while stabilizing with the opposite arm. This stabilizing effect during the rows creates incredible work for your entire midsection core area. Trust me… you’ll feel it in the abs!

Front squats are done similar to back squats, however with the barbell in front of your body on the front of your shoulders instead of resting on the upper back as in back squats. You stabilize the barbell on your shoulders by crossing your arms and pushing your fists into the bar against your shoulders while keeping your elbows out in front of the body. This takes a little practice at first, so you will want to seek a professional trainer at your gym to help you with the form. Front squats require extreme stabilization strength from the abs due to the barbell weight being shifted to the front of the body instead of the back. Even though this is mostly a leg exercise, you’ll feel this one in the abs big time!

Mountain climbers are done by starting in a pushup position and then shuffling your feet in and out so that your knees are moving in under your chest and then back out to starting position. It sort of resembles climbing a mountain but flat on the floor. If you want an advanced version, you can also shuffle your hands 8-10 inches forward and backward in addition to the leg movements. This really makes it a full body exercise and MUCH more difficult than standard mountain climbers.

After finishing each exercise, rest about 30 seconds before starting the next exercise. Rest about 1-2 minutes after completing each “tri-set” before repeating.

This will give you one of the best ab workouts you’ve ever had without even doing any direct ab exercises. You’ll see what I mean after you try it!

If you are tired of failing to get visible six pack abs, consider losing the traditional ab exercises and bogus ab gadget machines, and find out the real fat loss for abs truth at Best Ab Exercises & Workouts for Abdominals

I definitely like this approach, you’ll see some great results with these exercises so put them into your routine.

Comments, questions, let me know. (brad…at…mindoverbodymatter.com)

Here’s a pretty cool article by Craig Ballantyne, author of Turbulence Training…

Read on for another version of a workout to test your boundaries.

The Men’s Health 300 workout did an incredible job of creating actors with ripped abs for the 300 movie.

But for most people, this workout was difficult to do because it includes a lot of equipment typically not found in home gyms or commercial gyms. So you couldn’t do the kettle bell clean and press or box jumps.

That’s why I came up with the Turbulence Training Bodyweight 500 workout. This is a 500 repetition workout performed using only bodyweight exercises. No weights are needed. It’s still challenging, it will still burn fat, and it will still help you achieve the body of a Greek Warrior. The great thing is that you can do it in any gym.

Now earlier this year I tried the 300 movie workout. It is a challenging 300 repetition workout put together by a trainer for the lead actor in the 300 movie. This isn’t how they did their workouts…it was just a test of his strength-endurance.

Here’s the workout…Do not rest between exercises. Just go, go, go.

Pullups - 25 reps

Pullups - 25 reps

That was one tough workout. But like I said, I think I’ve put together something that is just as tough, and more available for people to do. Obviously both are advanced workouts…and you shouldn’t do either unless you are as fit as a college athlete.

So here is my TT Bodyweight 500 Workout:

50 Prisoner Squats

25 Chin-ups (NO substitutions)

Whew! Where you are really going to slow down is with the pulling exercises. That is a lot of chinups and pullups and rows to do in one workout. But you will have such an arm and shoulder pump after the workout it will blow you away.

You can watch the workouts on the Internet. Just search Youtube for Bodyweight 500 or Turbulence Training.

WARNING! WARNING. This is a very advanced workout. So don’t do it unless you are already fit.

If you aren’t super-fit, but want to work up in a challenge, I have an alternative for you. Start with the following workout, called the Bodyweight 100. Please note: This is still not a beginner workout.

Here is the bodyweight 100. Do the 100 workout on a Saturday. After 7 days, try it again, doing it two times. One week after that, try doing it 3 times. Then you could be ready for the Bodyweight 500 in the fourth week.

20 Prisoner Squats

5 Chin-ups or Inverted Rows

Those are the 300 and Bodyweight 500 workouts. These will put turbulence on your muscles and help you burn fat and boost your metabolism without slow boring cardio.

Here’s the YouTube video…

Men’s Health expert Craig Ballantyne has designed the trademarked Turbulence Training home fat burning workouts to help thousands of men and women with weight loss and fat burning in less than 45 minutes three times per week. Craig’s workouts help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment. Craig’s beginner bodyweight workouts for fat loss help you lose fat without any equipment at all.

No big deal.

I got the workout in… which what what I was really looking to do today but the diet aspect sucked pretty bad.

I’ve got to hit the grocery store… period.

So the workout was pretty short - a little over 30 minutes but I walked out sweaty and tired.

Here’s how it went:

Set one: Warm up set of overhand bent over rows with just the bar.

Compound set one: 8 reps at 135 bent over row followed with 8 reps lat pull at 140.

Compound set two: 8 reps at 155 bent over row followed with 8 reps lat pull at 160

Compound set three: 6 reps at 185 bent over row followed with 6 reps lat pull at 180

Two sets of 8 reps of pull ups (or you can just go to burn out either way)

Compound set four: machine row 8 reps at 120 followed with 8 reps standing curls (bar only)

Compound set five: machine row 8 reps at 140 followed with 6 reps standing bar curls (95)

Two sets of 10 leg raises.

10 minutes of interval training on the bike: 1 minute warm up (low level), 30 second “sprint” at a mid level, 30 second cool period at a low level, 15 sec “sprint” at a high level, 45 sec recovery at low level, repeat.

Went home and drank a Cyto gainer shake to get some calories in me.

For this workout, low level means low resistance and low effort. High level means high resistance and almost max effort.

Also, I probably could have went a little heavier in the workout but I’ve been so sporatic lately that I didn’t want to over tax my joints and connective tissue… yet

I haven’t done the measurements yet… although I’ll try to get a bodyfat one tonight.

More tomorrow, until then, grab the book so you’ll know why I’m doing what I’m doing and then check out this video and see if you can do this…

You know, I’ve got to thinking recently… I know… scary thought right?

I haven’t seen any product or service do a real, true to life documentary on fat loss progress. I mean, you’ve got testimonials, but what about legitimate proof?

Proof with pics and videos as we walk THROUGH the journey.

So that’s what I’m gonna do.

It’s no surprise that I’ve slacked off during the last couple of months… and my physique has suffered a bit.

No matter… because I was planning on doing something like this anyway.

Here’s the deal.

I’m the guinea pig.

60 DAYS of torture…

… and I’m going to document it every step of the way.

No more articles per say… just “journal” entries that show you EXACTLY what I’m going every single day.

What I eat.

How I exercise.

Do you think that would be helpful for you?

I thought so.

I’m gonna use every single tip and trick in the Fat Loss Black Book PLUS a NEW technique that I’m gonna try out once per week.

I’ll explain it when we get to it.

Tomorrow: Measurements and weight. Today’s exercise, today’s food intake.

Let me leave you with this cool video with more INSANE ab workouts:

Okay, so I’ve been pretty slack on the blog as of lately.

No worries, I’ll start blogging regularly tomorrow.

Until then, check out this nasty horizontal ab video…