TRX, Get Stronger & Balanced

The more you use the TRX the more you wonder why did it take so long to get to this point. Every workout you can see something new in yourself, your balance improves, muscles get stronger, then you try another position, BAM, right back to the basics. This is what its all about, finding weak points and making them stronger. 

Benefits

Versatile for All Athletes and Sports

The versatility of the TRX Suspension Trainer^™ allows for hundreds of functional exercises to be combined to create unique and challenging training programs that meet the performance enhancement goals of all athletes and competitive events.

Improved Conditioning

The TRX Suspension Trainer^™ is adjustable for any fitness level and because the mechanics of Suspension Training are based upon three planes of motion, muscles work together in groups to safely build strength, balance, flexibility and core stability in a more efficient manner.

Portable and Effective Workouts

The TRX Suspension Trainer™ is lightweight, portable and easy to set up, so athletes can get a total body workout in the gym, on the field or at home.

Muscle Up, Improve Your Upper Body!

CrossFit Gymnastics coach Jeff Tucker shared his expertise at the 2011 Summer Affiliate Gathering in Big Sky, Mont. In this video, he takes athlete Hayley Parlen through a muscle-up progression.

After watching an attempt, he starts Parlen in a progression using low rings. She kneels underneath the rings to use her legs for as much support as is necessary to scale the movement.

Instead of jumping through the muscle-up, Tucker says he wants “a nice, slow movement” to work on positions in a strict muscle-up.

“Think about placement,” he says. “I’m pulling the rings and placing them under the armpit. I’ve got a hollow body and I press.”

Next, he has Parlen work the negative. It brings up a strength issue with the dip for her. More practice in the progression will develop the necessary strength for the movement, he says.

After these progressions with Tucker, Parlen performs her first kipping muscle-up.

She says what helped her was Tucker’s cue to get above the rings as opposed to pushing through the rings at the transition. She also found success through his cue to “keep pulling.”

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Full Body Workout

Boys to Men, TRX Incline Press

Might as well get on the band wagon and pick up a TRX Suspension Training system and get a workout anywhere anytime. The movements are from simple to whatever you can dream up. You might think that this is easy stuff, give it a week and you will never go back to the traditional gym workout ever.

It's To Cold Outside to Swim!

For the East Coast winter is here with a vengeance. So what do you do when it to cold, frozen, snow covered to get into your car, well try this workout from Rock Star Triathlete Academy.

Time: ~45-60 minutes
Warm-Up - get the heart rate churning and pre-activate the core:
100 Jumping Jacks
50 Crunches
25 Side Crunches per side
Main Set - 5x through the following exercises:
25 Flutter Kicks per Side
25 Alternating Band Chest Press per Side (kneeling or standing)
25 Alternating Band Rows per Side (kneeling or standing)
15 Superman
15 High Elbow Band Pulls (standing, bent over)
Core Set - 5x through the following exercises:
50 Jumping Jacks or 25 High Knee Skips (standing in one place) per side
10 Stability Ball Pikes
10 Push-Up Position Corkscrew Twists per side
Metabolic Set: 5x through the following exercises
20 Speed Squats
10 Squat Thrust Jumps
25 Mountain Climbers
25 High Knee Skips (standing in one place)

Work Out or Sleep In

Do you feel like a slacker on the mornings you snoozed through your workout and
missed it altogether? You’ve heard sayings like, “while you’re sleeping, someone
else is training and getting better” touting those that drag out of bed at
ridiculous hours to train and deprive themselves of sleep. They may be getting
more training time in, but are they really improving their fitness and health?

via http://www.everymantri.com/everyman_triathlon/2010/11/the-ultimate-triathlete-training-dilemma-work-out-or-sleep-in.html

Planche Push Up, Work The Core

1
Work up to it. Create a plan for yourself that will get you doing one planche pushup over a few weeks or months of training. Start by working up to doing sets of 50 pushups without problem. Then gradually begin to move your hands towards your abdomen so that you start to focus your muscles for the planche pushup.
2
Do a tucked, negative planche. In the full version of the planche pushup, your legs will be fully extended and in the air as you do the exercise. To get started, though, plant your hands on the ground and raise your legs in a tucked position. Balance yourself by resting your knees on your elbows. Once you have your balance lower yourself as far as possible. Then resume the initial position. Continue with these negative until you feel confident with them.
3
Do a partial planche. Once you have built your strength adequately you can extend your legs. You will probably find that you will need to angle your legs upwards so that they form a 20- or 30-degree angle to your body. Do the partial planche like this, making sure that when you do the pushup you're moving straight up and down.
4
Move to the full planche. Start from a position where your hands are planted by your abdomen and you're suspending yourself midway between the up and down positions. Extend your legs all the way and raise them off the ground, balancing yourself on your hands. Keep tension throughout your whole body. Raise yourself up and down in a straight line, keeping your body as straight as an arrow as you go.

TRX Simple the Best!

A lot can be said for core training, you have Indo Board Balance Board, which can't be beat. now when you use it with a system like TXR, from fitness anywhere, you are golden. TRX has full certification classes, since this is the next movement in gyms. Save yourself money dump your membership and spend the money on a TRX, you will never reach your full potential unless you do. Born in the U.S. Navy SEALS and developed by Fitness Anywhere®, Suspension Training® is a revolutionary method of leveraged bodyweight exercise. Easily set up the portable TRX® Suspension Trainer™ and you’re in control. Safely perform hundreds of exercises that build power, strength, flexibility, balance, mobility, and prevent injuries, all at the intensity you choose.

Don't be strapped to a location and hit your potential. TXR

Workout for the off season

Want to get stronger in a real way, not the muscles that make you look funny and are completely useless unless you want to pose. This workout is based on 3 minutes routine with a 2 minutes off. It will be tough but will build explosive power.
Welcome to The Freak

The Freak Workout 25 seconds per station total 3 minutes 2 minutes rest. (7 stations without a wall or partner)
* If you have a partner do all 8
** if you have a wall do 8
1. Spiderman pushups
2. Plyometrics pushups
3. Hand Switch (on a ball push ups)
4. Recline pull ups
5. Rope Body weight pull ups
6. Jumping Pull ups
7. ** Medicine ball through into a pushups **
8. Medicine ball Jump ups
9. * (Partner) Medicine ball through between partner *

Functional Strength and Muscle Elasticity for Better Running

The best thing about the web is the resources that are available at a click of a button. Many years ago finding out information on how to be a better runner would be to take courses or go to the library and read the text books donated by the local college.
Well TriFuel is one of the better resource places on the web, Improve Your Functional Strength and Muscle Elasticity for Better Running This Season and Beyond really gets to the heart of the matter with how to stay strong and injury free. Now some of us do work core muscle groups, others abandon this once the season starts and just get to the miles. How wrong you can be, you might not feel it today but the wear and tear will catchup and injuries will creep in, read, digest and practice, this will make you stronger.

Russian Kettlebell, Train Your Core.

Want to train your core, get strong for the upcoming triathlon season, start using Kettlebell's. If you think that you are in shape and have a great center, prepared to be humbled. Andrey Patenko from Russian Kettlebell House will run you through a great workout. First lets say if you are going to take a class, well make sure they are from the source, former Soviet Union should do it. Like Jiu-Jitsu you would take it from the source that has been perfecting it for generations, the Gracie's. KettleBell's are a total body workout and if you mix it with CrossFit you will see results almost instantly. Flexibility, power, strength and core are all addressed and the effects are felt for days.

Here is Russian Kettlebell House's Level One - For Beginners class
This four hour seminar and workshop is the ideal course for non-professionals and athletes alike, interested in safely and properly implementing kettlebell training in their workout. This step-by-step kettlebell experience includes:

Basic and fundamental kettlebell drills
The foundations and history of Russian kettlebell training
Basic kinesiology as it relates to kettlebell training
Acceleration/deceleration and ballistic movements, and its superiority in muscle, joint, ligament and skeletal healing, training and conditioning.
Systema for weight loss, longevity and reversing aging
Systema for breathing, energy, flexibility and healing
Kettlebell training safety and spotting techniques
For professionals we will teach you how to work with your clients, and how to integrate kettlebell training into your clients' health, rehabilitation and strength goals.
And much more ...

Gyms are great for pools, but a specialized Kettlebell workout with achieve more in a month than you could hope to get in a year at a gym. So go out and get a couple Kettlebell's and feel the effects that help you train better and feel better.

Slackline great core strength

Gibbon-Slackline
You might ask yourself what is Slacklining, well:
Slacklining is a balance sport which utilizes nylon webbing stretched tight between two anchor points. Slacklining is distinct from tightrope walking in that the line is not held rigidly taut; it is instead dynamic, stretching and bouncing like a long and narrow trampoline. The line's tension can be adjusted to suit the user and different types of dynamic webbing can be used to achieve a variety of feats. The line itself is flat, due to the nature of webbing, thus keeping the slacker's footing from rolling as would be the case with an ordinary rope. The dynamic nature of the line allows for impressive tricks and stunts.

What better way to get in shape and find your center, yes Yoga could help but nothing beats being outside. Gibbon-Slackline is a great way to find that center.

Slacklining is a new and exciting way of life! This sport gets everyone moving! Whether in the garden, in the park, or at the lake - within a few minutes every place can be transformed into one big adventure playground.

We at the Gibbon Slacklines Team have taken on the challenge of promoting this sport worldwide - and we want you to be part of this movement too!

This innovative product range has been engineered to the highest levels of safety and user-friendliness. These pages will tell you everything you need to know about Slacklining, and how to discover this new and exciting way of life!

Strength For Triathletes

You want to get faster not bigger, you want your body to hold out for the triathlon season, not for the beach. Many things have changed in training ones body and the sport at which you compete. Should I do high reps, low weight, high weight, low reps. Confusing as it sounds it gets tougher when you get older and start to bring in multiple sports into the fold. Strength training different from weight training can mean different things but remember you want to keep it real. Pushing a barbell up 10 times with 135 pounds is nice, a better workout would be 100 push-ups in 6 weeks, building your back, arms and stomach. Trifuel.com has this great article for triathletes, here is what research says:

1. Running economy (RE) is how efficient one is at using oxygen while running. Several studies have suggested that rate RE can be improved through weight training. One study did weight training specifically with triathletes and found that RE as well as leg strength and power was increased.
2. Plyometrics and explosive weight training may be useful for improvements in endurance athletes. Examples of plyometrics would be one foot hops, bounding and skipping to name a few. Explosive weight training would include hang cleans and push press type lifts.
3. Weight training appears to be most effective in using periodization. The weight training should match the periodization phase of the other training leading into the peak race.

100 push ups in 6 weeks

At the end of a rough season you start to think of ways to make yourself stronger for the upcoming year. You have neglected to be in the gym to put more miles in on the bike or run, well the off season is the best time to start. Push up one of the best exercises out can strengthen most of your upper body, hey maybe your gym teacher was not so crazy.

What counts as a pushup?
The palms must be at shoulder-width. The body must remain straight throughout, i.e., no bending at knees or waist. The body must be lowered until at least 90 degree-angle is attained at the elbow and the body is parralel to the ground. The body must then be raised until the arms are straight. This equals one push-up. All pushups should be made on a hard surface. This basic principle applies to all our push-up entries with minor modifications.

So doing 1 push up might be a challenge now but imagine 100, how great would that be! As with all exercises it takes time and finding time is also a challenge, well this little workout takes about 6 minutes three days a week, stick with it and in 6 weeks 100 push ups or close. For a little more incentive you could hire a Trainer, he or she will coach you through and make sure proper form is followed.
Now get going, 6 weeks will be here in no time and 100 push ups with it. Here is the complete program as a PDF link to this with your iPhone so you have it at all times for reference.

Strength Exercise - Push-ups forgotten art

The art of push-ups have been forgotten, whether it is from that sadistic gym coach or that you joined a gym and feel as though the machines are great. Well nothing beats the push-up, you can take it with you do it anywhere and if you have kids instant weight, just have them climb aboard. The military still uses it to examine train recruits. A Navy Seal even invented a push-up device to take the strain away from your joints. What can be said, to help develop the back, chest, tri's and overall core, the push up is it.
Get pushing to help develop yourself, the natural way!

Neglected and Over Used!

image from eothopod
One of the most overused muscle and seldom worked out is the rotator cuff. We spend countless time in front of our computers, in our cars, swimming and biking and this causes our shoulders to be internally rotated and protracted for long periods of time. Which leads to weakness!

This is the off season lets get to work on making the core and muscle that are overused and neglected stronger.

Scapular Push-up: This strengthens your scapular muscles, rhomboids, and middle trapezius.

1. Put your hands directly under your shoulders on a Swiss ball.
2. With arms slightly bent, pinch your shoulder blades together for 2 seconds, then push them apart and pause. Do 12 to 15 reps

Behind the Neck Band Pull: Lower traps for adequate scapular upward rotation and shoulder health.

1. Arms shoulder width apart, grasp the resistance band with your at shoulder width apart and palms facing forward.
   
2. Pull the bands apart, by pulling the shoulder blades back and down and flexing the elbows.
   

To learn more goto Triathlete magazine, or subscribe.

300 workout, improve your strength

The 300 workout seems to be one of the best overall body workouts. Keeping your core fit is important and better than just doing a boring gym routine. Developing real strength that can be used outside of the gym and to tackle "real" world task is important. From chopping wood to doing a Triathlon, ones body must be prepared to fit off injury. This is not for the weak, so most triathletes should not have a problem, and since this is the off season it is the best time to redefine your core body.

The 300 Workout
The workout gets its name from the total number of repetitions.

25 pull-ups
50 deadlifts at 135 pounds
50 push-ups
50 box jumps with a 24-inch box
50 "floor wipers" (a core and shoulders exercise at 135 pounds)
50 "clean and press" at 36 pounds (a weight-lifting exercise)
25 more pull-ups -- for a total of 300 reps
There's no rest between movements

Beginners, start slow and work up to the 300.
Fortunately, this can all easily be adapted. Appropriate exercises can be subbed in: Drop down to 150 total reps, or 4-6 exercises of 15-25 reps each. For example, you might try this workout, great for a guy with moderate fitness:

15 bodyweight rows
25 bodyweight squats
15 pushups
50 jumping jacks
20 mountain climbers
10 close grip pushups
15 bodyweight rows

Now build the strength to carry you through next season.

Strength for Triathlon

As we all start to get into the summer and biking and running outside is a lot more fun then being in the gym we seem to let the little things go, strength training. From the swimming and biking you tend to use more chest, shoulder and parts of the back (lats), but the traps and rhomboids (center of the back) get forgotten. So when you start to feel your shoulders getting tired start working the traps and rhomboids. Doing exercises while on a balance board (Indoboard) not only improves the muscles that you are working but "core" muscles as well. The muscles of the torso stabilize the spine and provide a solid foundation for movement in the extremities. These core muscles lie deep within the torso. They generally attach to the spine, pelvis and muscles that support the scapula. When these muscles contract, we stabilize the the spine, pelvis and shoulders and create a solid base of support. We are then able to generate powerful movements of the extremities.
Remember you are doing hundreds of miles a week, between swimming, biking and running, so through out the high reps and light weight (after you have mastered the movements, don't jump into anything until you consult your doctor or NASM Trainer) and lets get down to business!

"The most effective type of strength training program for a triathlete incorporates a single, very high intensity set for each muscle group. This stimulates the desired strength increase without building huge muscles or using up too much time or energy that we need for swimming, cycling, and running. Strength training is an important supplement, but it is a supplement. Spending hours in the weight room won’t improve triathlon performance." read more...