17.08.2011 01:04:12

Carlos Dobson

Now I know what your thinking, Why would I want my butt any bigger?

but the key to these 5 great exercises is they don't just lift and tone your butt, because of the number of muscles that are used in these exercises there is the added benefit of all round fat loss not just from your legs and butt, also your abs back and arms believe it or not due the elevated metabolism and increased heart rate from your legs doing so much work.

I even know for a fact that you guys out there don't want to be carrying any extra junk in your trunk (I have it on good authority from my wife, that even on a guy a butt can look good in denim) and you ladies definately want some lifting and firming advice because we all want a nice booty, agreed?

Just incorporate the following best backside exercises in your regular strength routine and you'll burn fat, shape and firm your booty, sculpt surrounding muscle groups, and rev up your metabolism.

Lets kick it off!

1. Kettlebell Swings

Kettlebell swings combine strength and cardio training to redefine your backside. In addition to toning your glutes and hip flexors, you'll work your core, and cardiovascular system (an all-in-one exercise). Stand with your legs shoulder width apart.  Place the kettlebell about one foot in front of you.  Push your hips backward, with a slight bend in the knee (shins almost vertical) and reach forward, placing both hands on the kettlebell.  From your "hike position" (hips pushed backward, back flat, and chest out) hike the kettlebell behind you, with a purpose (don't let go).Drive your hips forward, while contracting your glutes and tucking your tailbone under, to swing the kettlebell (always above the knees) until you are standing at "attention" with your hands about chest height.

Important Tips: Always make sure to keep your abs tight (this will keep your lower back protected.)  Keep your neck in line with the rest of your spine.  Always drive the swing with your hips and NOT your arms.  If the bell ever gets too far out in front of you, never reach for it- just let it drop!

2. Lunges

Lunges are a workout staple that will firm your butt and tone your legs. Start with your feet hip width apart then step forward with one leg. Keeping your abs tight, chest high, and spine straight, sink down into the move until your front thigh is parallel to the floor and your back knee is almost touching the ground. Concentrate on squeezing your glutes as you push through your front heel back to the starting position. Important tip: don't let your moving knee extend past your toes.

3. Step Ups

This is a great exercise for your butt as well as your quads and calves. Step ups also increase your heart rate so you'll get the extra benefit of fat-blasting cardio. Stand with your right foot firmly planted on a step or a bench, your left foot on the floor. Push down through your right heel to straighten and stand on your right leg, squeezing your glutes at the top of the movement. At the same time, pull your left leg forward and up, knee bent 90 degrees and raised waist-high. Lower your left leg back to the ground, then step your right foot down. Alternate legs to make one rep.

4. Hip Extensions

Like lunges, hip extensions can be performed anywhere and without equipment. The key to this movement is positioning your weight so that your butt does the brunt of the work, not your legs. On your hands and knees, you'll focus the main effort in your glutes and lower back without involving your hamstrings. Tighten your core and squeeze your butt to lift one leg toward the ceiling, keeping the 90 degree bend and flexing your foot so you're reaching with your heel as you raise your thigh in line with your spine. Keep the movement slow and controlled to the top and then back down again.

5. One-Legged Deadlifts

One-legged deadlifts do triple duty, activating your muscles for a highly effective toning session that works your butt, hamstrings, and lower back. Holding a kettlebell/dumbbell in each hand, stand with your feet hip width apart, knees soft. Keeping your weight firmly on your left leg, lean forward from your hips, reaching the dumbbells toward your left foot and raising your right leg out behind you. Remember to keep your core tight and not round your back. Now stand straight, squeezing your glutes as you come back to start. Do a full series of reps before switching to your right leg for the second half of the set.

In case you're not a current member of our program, we cover all of these great exercises and much more. Call today for more information....

Heres to getting that hine in to shape!

Carlos Dobson

Metabolic Raising Workouts | post pregnancy fitness | Question and Answer

10.08.2011 04:53:07

Carlos Dobson

Traditional Circuit Training has long been thought of as a bunch of women in leotards prancing around a room lifting tiny wee dumbbells and performing over choreographed aerobic moves but nothing could be further from the truth

These days Circuits are the go to system for not just fat loss but fitness and also muscle and strength gains meaning they are often used by elite athletes as part of their conditioning program. They key is learning how to utilize this principle of training to suit your goals.

Old school circuits usually involved as many as 10-12 different stations, usually machine based, and a timer which went off every minute or so. This meant during that minute you performed as many reps of a weight as possible (usually 50+) before moving to the next exercise at the buzzer. Often we alternated between a strength based exercise i.e. chest or shoulder press; and an aerobic exercise such as the bike or skipping.

This style of circuit is fine and will work well to help increase endurance and also promote fat loss through the buildup of lactic acid (High levels of blood lactate promotes the release of growth hormone which aids in both fat loss and muscle growth – a double edged sword) but you should not limit yourself to this type and you do not always have a gym full of fancy machines at your disposal to crank out a quick circuit session.

The modern circuit is a lot simpler, instead of so many exercises often we often concentrate on smaller circuits with more repeats. Rest is taken after each circuit and can be varied depending on fitness levels or desired outcomes.

To put together a circuit we work on 4 main areas

• Upper body
• Lower body
• Core and abs
• Full Body/Combination

We select an exercise for each of these areas then perform each exercise for 30-120 seconds with little to rest between exercise and 1-2 minutes rest after the circuit, and then we repeat again for the set number of circuits.

Sample Fat Loss Circuit for Beginners

The following are 2 very simple fat loss circuits you can perform at home with NO equipment. All you need is a clock, a towel and a couple of square metres to move around in:

Circuit A

• Push ups
• Lunges
• Core hold
• High Knee Running

Circuit B

• Inverted/Towel Row
• Sumo Squat
• Basic Crunch
• Burpies

Start with Circuit A and perform each exercise for 30 seconds with no rest between exercises, rest 30 seconds then repeat circuit, repeat 3-4 times before moving on to Circuit B.

Once completed perform static stretches for 12-15 mins. You can download a PDF copy of The 5 Secrets System Static Stretching Guide from my website here:

FREE STRETCH GUIDE DOWNLOAD

8 Awesome Advantages of Circuit Training

• Perfect for ladies not wanting to ‘bulk up’
• Can be easily structured to provide a whole body workout.
• Do not require expensive gym equipment.
• Participants normally work in small groups, allowing beginners to be guided by more experienced individuals, as well as benefiting from the supervision of the instructor.
• Can be adapted for any size workout area.
• Can be customized for specificity; easy to adapt to your sport.
• Dramatically increase fitness in a short period of time
• Allows you to work the full body easily if you are short on time

Disadvantages of Circuit Training

The one and only disadvantage of traditional circuit training is that you may struggle to build a lot of muscle and strength but by modifying rest and reps this can easily be fixed. We can reduce the rep range to between 5-12 and increase rest after each circuit to 60-300seconds and problem solved.

Remember if you are using circuits for fat loss like I do you, still need to keep a check on your nutrition or you could be missing out on all the benefits of your training.

If you are in need of some fresh workout ideas, I have put together a small collection of my favourite Bodyweight Circuits and they will be available to you guys soon so keep and eye on your inbox over the next couple of weeks.

Carlos Dobson

5 Secrets System | Metabolic Raising Workouts | GOALS | post pregnancy fitness

25.02.2011 06:33:35

Carlos Dobson

Today is about how you can pretty much exercise anywhere you want, anytime you want WITHOUT any equipment. These very exercises I use with my Fast Burner Fitness Group Training on a regular basis. These are also included in The 5 Secrets System - my book on Total Body Transformation in 12 weeks which will be avaliable in the next few weeks.

As I said, fortunately, it's easy to do a bodyweight workout when you have these exercise substitutions you can use instead of weights.

1) For Squats -> You can do:

- 1-leg squats

- 1-leg bench squats

- Bulgarian split squats

- Split squats

- Forward lunges

- Reverse lunges

- Step-ups

- Reaching lunges

- 1-leg deadlifts

- 1-leg hip extensions

- Jump squats

- Power lunges

- Cossack Squats

NOTE: For many exercises, including pushing and pulling too, you can play around with the 1&1/2 rep style - lowering to the bottom position, coming halfway back up, and then lowering again, and then coming all the way back up. I also really love slow tempo reps or even slow up, fast down (These help to promote fat loss by creating lactic acid which in turn boosts growth hormone levels, a great fat burning, muscle building hormone)

2) For DB Chest Presses (of any kind) -> You can do one of these:

- Wall Push ups

- pushups

- close-grip pushups

- decline pushup

- elevated pushups

- off-set pushups

- pushups with your feet on the ball

- pushups with your hands on the ball

- spiderman pushups

- pike pushups

- One foot push ups

- Clap Push Ups

- Drop Push ups (a plyometric move for advanced trainers)

- or possibly the hardest two-hand pushup of them all, decline close-grip spiderman pushups

3) To replace lunges if you have knee soreness:

First, see a doctor and have them diagnose the problem. Second, see a therapist and have them treat the issue. Third, see a trainer and have them assess where you need to work on flexibility and how you can include some "knee-friendly" exercises in your workout program.

These exercises include:

- Lying Hip Extensions (also known as Lying Hip Bridges)

- Single-leg Hip Extensions

- Lying Hip Extensions with your feet on the ball or a step

- Lying Stability Ball Leg Curls

4) To replace DB Rows -> Using the smith machine or as I like to do a chest, belly button or waist height bar, you can do...

- inverted rows

- Wide grip inverted rows

- Alternate grip inverted rows

- underhand inverted rows

- inverted rows with your feet on the ball

- inverted rows holding the ends of a towel hung over the bar

5) For DB Rows -> Using the pullup bar, you can do...

- eccentric pull-ups

- regular pull-ups

- sternum pull-ups

- chinups

- side to side pull-ups

Whoa. I think that was 40 replacements in total. Tons of ideas to keep you going. Try cracking out a few when you are in the park with your kids next time or even when no one is looking if your a bit shy.

Pretty soon you will see how I combine all of these exercises to help you create a Lean, Fit Body the Fast Burner Fitness way in the 5 Secret System.

Stay tuned, stay focused and stay in touch

Carlos

5 Secrets System | GOALS | Metabolic Raising Workouts | post pregnancy fitness

14.02.2011 00:06:52

Carlos Dobson

So you want to get strong, lose weight and improve your core strength?

Then there is just one exercise that can do all that and I have made a quick video of it for you and have posted it below. This is an exercise I have doing for over 7 years and I just keep coming back to it when I need to get my self in to prime condition. It really gives me a feeling of awesome overall strength and total power and I'm sure it will for you too.

The Dead lift is often called 'The King' of lifts because of the awesome amount of  strength and power involved. If you only have time for a short workout then the Dead lift is a must to include in your workout.

Check it out, this is me at the Future Health Private Studio performing a Dead lift of 130kgs. (As this was a warm up set I had no straps on which can help you lift up to 20-30kgs more.)

Watch this video and observe my technique (The Grunting is Optional, Sorry)...

So many muscles at work here people!

So lets run through the muscles involved in the Deadlift...

1. Legs - Glutes, Quad, Calves and Hamstrings
2. Back - Erector Spinae, Rhomboids and Trapezius
3. Abs - Transverse, Quadratus Lomborum and Obliques
4. Arms - Forearms, Shoulders

As you can see the Deadlift recruits the most amount of muscle groups and therfore the highest number of muscle fibres. What this means is that if you have limited time to work out then you simply must include this exercise into your workout. Becasue the weight is a 'dead weight' everysingle muscle fibre is having to work to its fullest potential and can leave your body in a state of repair for a number of days so be sure you have ample protein to aid in this.

Why should I Dead Lift?

The practical applications of this exercise are plentyful. In day to day life it helps to improve leg and core strength with out placing strain on the neck like a barbell Squat would. This makes things like climbing stairs, getting up and down from a chair much easier if you have stronger legs. For a sporting application you can improve your explosive leg power making it possible to run faster, jump higher and improve hip stability.

With most of my One on One clients they have noticed a reduction in low back pain due to increased motor unit recruitment in the core, stronger legs and improved running ablilty, better grip strength and an all over feeling of srength and power

Getting Started...

For a beginner here are a few pointers

• Start with a very light weight while you learn technique
• Stand with feet under your hips
• Grip the bar just outside your thighs with an over hand grip
• Roll your shoulders up and back, locking them into a safe, strong position
• As you go down the bar should move down keeping contact with the legs until just below the knee level (as you get stronger you can start to go deeper)
• Push your hips back; it is more important to bend at the hip than the knee
• On the way up push your heels into the ground, keeping your shoulders back and your chest up, this will help to keep your back straight
• As you reach the top, squeeze your glutes and shoulders back to reset your body position for the next rep
• Repeat for number of reps

How many Reps should I do?

The following is a guideline only, if you have a specific goal in mind you should really work with your trainer to create a tailored program for best results.

• Beginner - 3 x 12-15 reps; rest 60s
• Fat Loss - 3-4 x 10-12 reps; rest 30s
• Intermediate - 3-4 x 8-12 reps; rest 90s
• Power development 5-6 sets x 3-5 reps; rest 120-180s
• Strength Development 6-7 sets x 1-2 reps; rest 3-4 mins

So next time you head out for a workout give the Dead Lift a go, after only a few weeks of lifting you will notice a massive difference in your leg and back strength almost immediately. Start light and build from there and you'll never look back (or have a weak back again)

Happy and Safe Lifting

Carlos Dobson

Metabolic Raising Workouts | 5 Secrets System