Training

Top 5 Tips To Bullet Proof Your Shoulders

1. Build Tension in Your Lats – The lats are the most ignored muscle when it comes to the shoulder. It is thought that it is only a back muscle but it provides stability and protection to the shoulder. When doing shoulder exercises activate your lats and keep your shoulders happy.

2. Prime Up Your Muscles – Most people do a warm up that just lubricates the joint. You need to activate and turn on all the muscles in the upper body so the smaller muscle groups in the shoulder can help protect the shoulder.

3. Technique, Technique, Technique – This is the number one reason why people injury their shoulders. You can’t go to the gym every day and work on your max lift. Your warm up sets are the perfect time to perfect your technique. Also get feedback from a training partner or a trainer.

4. Watch Out for Fatigue – Cooking your smaller muscles in your shoulder muscles can lead to a shoulder injury. If you do a lot or very heavy exercises that target the rotator cuff, what can happen is the rotator cuff is not able to do its job throughout the day, which increases the risk of shoulder injury and pain.

5. Work on Your Shoulder Blade Muscles – Many strength coaches will say you are wasting your time on this but if you want to have bulletproof shoulder, you need to work on them.

I just read about this little factoid, and I thought it was pretty interesting, so wanted to pass along to you…

According to a 2006 study in the International Journal of Obesity, temperature may greatly affect your fat loss, both in the winter and the summer.  Men’s Health magazine reported on this data recently with this:

“In 1923, the thermal standard for winter comfort in US homes was a brisk 64 degrees F.  By 1986, the average thermostat was set to a balmy 76 degrees. It’s natural for us to upregulate our metabolism in winter to keep warm while downshifting in summer, when heat slows our appetite“.

So the fact that modern society is always in a climate-controlled world now, and we are exposed to higher than normal temperatures than would be natural in the winter, and lower than normal temperatures in the summer is a possible variable that can mess with your natural metabolism.

The lesson… instead of keeping your thermostat in the mid 70’s F or higher in the winter, try to keep it between 64-66 degrees F.  This will not only save you LOADS on your heating bill, but could also boost your metabolism in the winter months to help you lose fat.

And in the summer, if possible, use a little less air conditioning if it’s not absolutely necessary. Get some fresh air and open the windows when it’s not too blistering hot in the summer.  Or, if you live in a really hot humid area, perhaps just try to use a more moderate temperature, such as setting the AC at 78 degrees F instead of the 70-72 degrees that most people set their AC to.

Again, you’ll not only save a TON on your energy bill, but could possibly help balance your natural metabolism a bit more.

A couple of days ago I gave a plan to help you lose that fat.

If you don’t challenge yourself with exercises in the 6-8
rep range then you’re leaving your metabolic burn boost
benefit on the table.

Don’t make that mistake.

To get maximum results, you need to use a fat loss workout
system like this:

Step #1 – Bodyweight Warm-up

Step #2 – Metabolic Resistance Supersets (sets of 6-8 reps)

Step #3 – Bodyweight Finishers (higher reps) or Intervals

Let’s say you only had 30 minutes to workout.

You could do this 30-minute metabolic boosting TT workout:

1) Two rounds of this bodyweight exercise warm-up circuit,
doing approximately 30 seconds per exercise:

– Prisoner Squats
– Mountain Climbers
– Stick-ups

2) Three rounds of the following superset with no rest
between exercises and one minute rest betweeen
supersets. Do 8 repetitions per exercise and use a
2-0-1 lifting tempo.

1A) Barbell Squat or Front-Loaded Bulgarian Split Squat
1B) Pull-Up (bodyweight, weighted, or assisted)

2A) DB Romanian Deadlift
2B) DB Press

(Bonus: You should be able to use the same dumbbell set for
exercises 2A and 2B.)

3) A 100 rep bodyweight finisher challenge

Sound good?

It sure does, but you still get something even better today.

————————————————————

I’ve got a cool new article today for you… and you’ll see a legitimate, science-based exercise method that can “target” lower abdomen fat (in a surprising way) to actually see a difference in the mirror in 7 days.

Here’s exactly how this protocol works so you can put it to work on your body today if you want…

I’m sure you’re no stranger to interval training. Over the last several years interval training has been proven to be one of the most efficient and effective ways to lose fat. (HINT HINT)

This method is proven to rapidly release powerful hormones that trigger the release of what’s been termed, “stubborn fat”…and that includes that ever so stubborn lower ab fat.

It all starts with hormones called Catecholamines… these are “fight-or-flight” hormones released by the adrenal glands in response to stress like high intensity exercise burst lasting anywhere from 10 to 30 seconds long.

So all you have to do is pick your favorite cardio or bodyweight exercise and follow the sequence below.

•    Warm up: 5 minutes (walk, calisthenics, etc.)
•    Metabolic Bursting Sequence: Hard as you can go (cardio machine, sprinting, or bodyweight/db movements like squat presses) for 20 to 30 seconds at a time, walk or rest for 20 to 30 seconds in between, repeat 4 to 8 times.
•    Cool down: 5 to 10 minutes.

That’s it!  But keep reading and you’ll see how to make it even more effective for lower ab fat…

When you perform this sequence Catecholamines are released, which convert to dopamine, then to norepinephrine, and eventually to epinephrine, which ultimately forces the release of free fatty acids (i.e. bodyfat) into the bloodstream.

In other words, these hormones break apart stubborn body fat.

This is just one of the many reasons why these strategic shorter intervals are so much more effective for fat burning than traditional intervals or old-school cardio.

But that’s really only the tip of the iceberg.

This approach has a ton of other hidden benefits such as:

1.    They lower insulin while simultaneously increasing Growth Hormone (aka- the youth hormone, GH), which means even MORE fat-loss.
2.    They provide the greatest “after burn”. Strategic high intensity metabolic bursts have the potential to increase your metabolic rate for 38 to 48 hours after doing just one 12 to 20 minute session. Pretty awesome.
3.    They can be completed in as little as 4 minutes, so they save you a ton of time.
4.    This type of exercise has also been shown to increase blood flow for faster fat loss in those hard-to-get-rid-of stubborn areas like lower abdomen fat and cellulite.

As you can see, the benefits of this approach go way beyond the scope of traditional cardio exercise.

You see, immediately after you finish these high intensity bursts or even strategic body weight circuits using this protocol, free fatty acids literally pour or “dump” into the bloodstream and you MUST know how to burn them off.

If you don’t, research shows these fatty acids float around and can literally move from your upper body to your lower body (or somewhere else) and just be re-stored as body fat again.

Weird and wacky – I know, but the human body is designed to be a survivor. So it will do whatever necessary to protect itself by holding on to more fat.

So avoiding this process called re-esterification is crucial.

Make no mistake about it. 99.9% of exercisers who don’t have access to this information will hit adaptation (i.e. a fat loss plateau).

Let me know how it turns out……….