Building
Body Power!!! By Grandmaster Jim Brassard Ph.D. /Ma.D.Sc. Honorary Doctorates of Martial Arts Science, Honorary Doctorates of Martial Arts Philosophy, 10 th Degree Black Belt, International Author, TV Show Host & Producer & Multiple Martial Arts Hall of Fame Recipient.
All RIGHTS RESERVED 2008. COPYRIGHTS JIM BRASSARD
Jim Brassard 6-11 Enterprise Rd. Hyannis Ma. 02601 ShaolinAmericanKempo.com JamesBrassard.com
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DISCLAIMER
The material in this course is for informational purposes only. only. Consult your Physician before beginning this program. Some of the exercises may be too advanced or dangerous for some individuals. If at any time you experienced pain or discomfort, please stop immediately and c onsult a medical professional. The author and publisher of this course are not responsible in any manner f or any injury which may occur through reading and f ollowing the instructions of this book, or its videos.
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DISCLAIMER
The material in this course is for informational purposes only. only. Consult your Physician before beginning this program. Some of the exercises may be too advanced or dangerous for some individuals. If at any time you experienced pain or discomfort, please stop immediately and c onsult a medical professional. The author and publisher of this course are not responsible in any manner f or any injury which may occur through reading and f ollowing the instructions of this book, or its videos.
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INDRODUCTION After the success of my first course “Combat Fitness: Exercises of the Iron Man” I’ve been asked by many to follow up with more insights into health and strength training. Sooooo I put together another course chock-full of drills, workouts and tips………some unlike you’ve ever seen!!! Within these pages you’ll find some very valuable lessons drawn from some of the strongest people ever to walk the face of the earth, with some of my own teachings as well. And unlike my last course, there’ll be a few exercises with weights as well. I’m not against weights entirely, but I’ve discovered that the supermen of old used them as a supplement to bodyweight drills. And when the people I train incorporated these ideas and drills, they saw a BIG difference in their weight-lifting strength.
There are others who gained such strength with just their own body and sheerwillpower. And YES….we will be learning about them as well, and some chi-kung drills and combat fitness lessons too. Alright I think you get the point…..I hate long intros……so………..
Let’s get Jiggy with it!!!!
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Let’s do some Heavy Breathing…...Shall We??? You can go without food and water for sometime, BUT you can’t go more than a few minutes without AIR. Any health guru worth a dime will tell you this. DEEP BREATHING is the first thing we need to secure for health and strength. Its value can not be over-stated. You want to breathe pure air, so open the window or go outside. Pure air is composed of nitrogen and oxygen, and…..
OXYGEN IS LIFE!!!! The more oxygen we can get into your lungs the more health and strength you will achieve. Oxygen furnishes the power to pump the blood through the heart. It carries off the waste products from the cells in the body, and helps build new and stronger ones. As a result of deep breathing the lungs are developed and your chest will expand as well. Try to breathe fully at all times, especially outdoors. Night air is sometimes better because all the dust and smoke of the day has settled. Deep breathing also has a beneficial effect on the nervous irritability (will calm you down when upset) and also will strengthen the internal organs as well. To give you an idea as to what extent it is possible to develope one’s lung power the great “Zisha” of the 20’s then know as the strongest man alive, developed his lung power to the point where he could blow a twenty dollar GOLD coin clear out of a 6 inch tall glass. NOW THAT’S LUNG POWER. See if you can blow a penny out of a coffee cup and you’ll get the picture. Another benefit of breathing exercises is to get “Live Air” into the lungs. And replace the “residual” air stuck in the lungs. At any given moment in time your lower lungs contain 20 to 50% of stale air trapped in them. By Holding FRESH air in your lungs for few seconds or more, you replace the “residual air” or stale air with fresh “live” air. This will increase the quantity of oxygen in your blood which will feed your muscles the nutrients they need to become health and strong. Believe me, MUCH more can be said about the benefits of deep breathing, but let’s learn some exercises to get the ball rolling.
"Breathing
exercises alone, if done RIGHT, will make many a weak man strong and many a sick man well.”- Farmer Burns
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I can Hear your Heart Beat It was about 1980 when I attended a seminar at my karate school in Leominster Mass. It was taught by my instructor’s instructor, then one of the most knowledgably masters in the organization I belonged too. He had us lying down with small hand targets on our bellies. This was so we would concentrate on making the pad go up and down while we breathed. He first though had us tense up our toes and calves….and then relax. Then the thigh and butt, then the stomach, and all the way up to the forehead. TENSE AND THEN RELAX, TENSE AND RELAX. The point was to get every muscle VERY relaxed. If done right and as you get calm, you should start to feel your heart-beat. And it’s at this point we start to focus on the breathing. We breathe in the nose for 3 heart beats, HOLD for 3 heart beats, and then breath out the mouth for 4 heart beats. THEN in for 4 beats, hold for 4 and then out for 5 beats. In the nose, down deep into the belly to make the pad rise, then out the mouth. Continue on to 5, hold for 5, and then out for 6. Remember your heart rate controls the count. Now keep going up in the count. Make the pad go up and down. And try to simulate a “Pot Belly” as you make the pad go up. The master went on to say that if you can get to 30, THAT’S incredible. BUT if you hit 50……….your in “suspended animation”. WELL, I never hit 50 so who’s to say, BUT…….we were also taught by using this breathing technique that,
You can replace a whole night’s sleep. AND that I have done, if I didn’t get full nights sleep, or was just feeling groggy, doing this for 5 to 15 minutes made me feel like a ferret on caffeine. So not only is this a great way to get the hang of deep breathing, you can revive yourself by doing this when needed. Just try not to fall asleep.
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Breathing For a Fuller Chest
Nothing says health and strength like a fine pair of pecs. And the great Siegmund Breitbart “Zisha” taught in his fitness course of the 20’s a lost technique to help achieve this. Let me quote……. “When you breath in, EXPAND your chest upward and outward; get in the habit of doing this………I want you to develop the habit of taken in about 10 to 20 breaths a minute (normally). IF YOU DO THIS, it will not be very long before you will notice an increase in the SIZE OF YOUR CHEST and a general toning of your system.” So here we have breathing to help build up an area of the body. Talk about an added bonus to breathing. Practice this throughout the day.
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Suck It In!!!!!! This breathing exercise is to depress the abdominal wall; it’s the reverse of the first one. First, breathe out and while doing so try to draw your innards up as if trying to turn yourself inside-out. You might want to think of trying to touch your bellybutton to your spine. Hold for 15 seconds. This is also known as “The Vacuum” and will help flatten your stomach fast. Practice about 5 minutes a day and your pants will be falling off in no time. The vacuum drill was a secret exercise Arnold Schwarzenegger did to reduce the size of his waist for bodybuilding competitions
Try combining this drill alternately with the “Pot Belly” one on page 5, and try to keep up an undulating movement with your abdominal muscles.
Herman Weinsoff
“Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body; it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity.”- John F. Kennedy
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Reach for the Sky This is one of the first chi-kung breathing drills I learned back in 76 when I began my training in the martial arts. Stand straight with your hands down by your sides. Force all the air out of your lungs. Now stoop over slightly when the air is all out of your lungs. Pause for a second. This will cause a further contraction of the diaphragm. Start inhaling slowly and at the same time straighten the body slowly, raising your arms and head until you have filled your lungs to capacity. Keep the tongue on the roof of your mouth, and your hands should be over your head. Hold the air in your lungs, forcing it down into the abdomen, holding for 6 seconds or longer. Begin to exhale, bringing your arms down to your sides. Repeat this 5 to 10 times before and after you do your other exercises.
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Abdominal Tensing
This exercise combines the isolation of your abdominal muscles with deep breathing control. First, breathe in deeply, and then exhale slowly. When your lungs are a little more than half empty. CONTRACT your abdominal muscles and hold for 6 seconds. Relax and repeat for 10 reps. This drill will also build up your stomach muscles as well and speed your efforts to a 6-pack stomach.
Important: Visit our website at ShaolinAmericanKempo.com and give us your email address, and we will send you weekly fitness tips. They will inform you and help to keep you motivated.
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Rage!!!!!
This is a great hard chi-kung drill that will develop GREAT muscle tone while practicing breathing. During the drill we will employ lots of tension. We will be tensing up all the muscles in the upper body which will help build up muscle tone, and are a strength exercise in itself. We start with feet about shoulders width apart (horse stance), hands down by side. Then we raise our hands slowly while turning them palm up towards the ceiling. As we do this we are tensing every muscle in the body, as if we were sneezing. Breathe IN as you do this. Then press the hands out as if we were pushing a very heavy object away from us breathing OUT, while rotating your palms to face forward. Remember to be tensing up your muscles throughout the push. Breathe IN as you pull the arms back to your chest area while tensing as if you were pulling a heavy object towards you. Again, rotating your hands so they are facing you. Now circle your arms out to each side breathing OUT while tense, palms facing out. Then breathe IN and bring them back to your chest area, palms circle in to facing you. To end, press them down to the starting position turning palms towards the floor while breathing OUT. Remember to remain tense throughout the whole movement. Think of pulling and pushing heavy weights. If you can do more than 7 reps in a row, you’re just not tensing enough.
See next page for photos.
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Rage
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“It is Health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver”-Gandhi
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“Successful” Breathing
This will be our last breathing drill for now and we will be focusing on our thoughts as well as deep breathing. To get started, while you breathe in close your eyes and think of breathing in Health, Power and Success or whatever goal you chose. As you breathe out……think of poor health, poverty and failure coming out as a black mist from your body and soul. Breathe in anything you want to achieve in life……and breathe out everything you don’t want. Concentrate hard and be specific. Really “feel” the positive image coming into you and the bad blowing out. As you breathe in let it go down into the navel area, then from there let it expand to all reaches of your inner being. When breathing out concentrate even harder on expelling the things you don’t want. Cross your arms in front of your stomach area and then swing them in a circle up over your head and back, as you breathe in your goals. Feel a little stretch in your chest as they go upwards and back. Let them come down back to where you started and complete a full circle as you are breathing out your weaknesses. Be relaxed and calm. This exercise will help propel you towards that which you want out of life. You may even say it’s kinda like self-hypnosis and will keep focus on your goals. Use this technique daily and with in a few days you will see a difference in your life.
Do this drill slowly, to about a 4 count up and 5 count down.
“Great men breathe from their feet, average men breathe from their throatsChuang Tzu
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Fat-Burning Intervals
Nothing burns fat faster than interval training. It’s steady state-cardio on steroids. It creates more fat burning enzymes as well too. The idea is every minute or 2, you burst into a sprint to get the heart rate up high, and get your lungs puffing. Here’s one to give you the idea…. 1. Warm up with about 3 minutes with light jogging. 2. Then Sprint for 30 seconds 3. Then jog easy for 1 min and 30 seconds. 4. Repeat. 5. Do this for 20 minutes
Practice this and you’ll be burn off more fat in a much shorter period of time. Bruce Lee did this type of training. You can apply this method to any cardio workout. Let’s say you like the stairmaster, every 2 minutes start sprinting on it. Try and find the right pace so you can go the full 30 seconds. Then take it easy for the next 2 minutes, and repeat for at least 15-20 minutes. As an added benefit it builds more muscle tone, and will increase your endurance and lung power faster.
Warning: Don’t go so hard were your heart bursts out of your chest and flops on to the ground. Please use common sense and listen to your body, and you’ll discover a great technique to health, strength and endurance.
“He who conquers others is strong; he who conquers himself is mighty.”-Lao-tzu
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Hindu Push Ups
Many wrestlers use these to build incredible upper body strength. It also will increase flexibility in the shoulders and spine. I once had a student who could bench press 380 lbs, but couldn’t do 25 of these in a row. When you can crack off 100 of these, you’ll see a big difference in the mirror, not to mention how much lung power you will gain.
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Start with your hands on the floor about shoulder-with apart. Your feet are on the floor and your legs are wider than your shoulders. Your butt should be in the air and you should be looking back at your heels. Bend your elbows and lower your body to the ground, then flatten yourself out as if your were sliding underneath a bar. You don’t have to go so low at first, but eventually you want to almost hit the floor with your chest. 5. Finish by diving your head up towards the ceiling. Exhale. 6. Push back towards your heels and inhale, straightening your arms and stretching out your legs. 7. Do as many times as you can.
This is an important drill taken from my other course Combat Fitness: Exercises of the Iron Man. I included it so you know how to do it for the next lesson……
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“Vibro”-Hindu Push-Ups Now that you know the Hindu push-up (we use to called it the Chinese push-up in the mid 70”s) your ready for the Vibro variation. You will be performing the same motion…..BUT remember how we tensed up every muscle in the breathing drill “Rage”??? You will do the same as you execute this push-up. Start by trying to grip the ground with your fingers, squeeze hard. Now let that tension go all the way through the body. Make the upper body tense. Now begin the push-up. You will notice you will have to go slower because of the tension. The first motion should go to about a 3 to 4 count. Push back to starting position while keeping tense and then repeat. If you’re applying the right amount of tension you should be spent by about 10 reps. Practice 3 to 5 sets of 10 reps. Feel free to vary the tension as to do more or less. Tense hard enough and you will find just one rep a challenge. You can also apply this principle to almost ANY exercise with incredible results. Joe Bonomo and others were pioneers in this type of exercise in the 40’s. Here’s a brief bio of Joe Bonomo…..
Began learning the secrets of strength and fitness from a circus strongman, thus beginning a life dedicated to the ideals of physical culture As a teen won the highly coveted "Mr. Apollo" contest A world class sprinter Played pro football for the pure love of the game (there was little money in it then) Was a world renowned stunt man and daredevil : a newspaper did an article once on the "black cats" ( a group of 13 stuntmen famous for doing stunts that no one else would dare attempt ), a follow up article a year later found Bonomo the only one still alive and performing! BOXING: Good enough to be Jack Dempsey's sparing partner; once KOd an angry chimpanzee in a knock down fight. •
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The “Zisha” Squad
This is the lost squatting technique of one of the strongest men who ever lived. Siegmund Breitbart was known also know as the “Ironking” since he came from a family of blacksmiths. He traveled with the Circus Bush, which was the largest circus in the world at the time. He performed feats of strength unheard of today. My favorite is he would lift a baby elephant, and while holding it he would climb a ladder with a rope in his teeth, a locomotive wheel attached to the rope and THREE MEN suspended from the wheel. NOW THAT’S STRENGH!!!! So let’s look at the exercise he taught in the very early 20’s. Not only the legs get hit, but the back and arms too. 1. With your feet about 24 inches apart, go down to a squatting position with the palms of your hands resting on your knees. 2. Bend your body forward, bending your elbows. 3. Now push up with your arms and at the same time straighten your legs (stand up), keeping your body bent over a little. Exhale. 4. Go back down and repeat until tired. Shoot for 100 reps. When doing this movement try and keep your triceps and your lat muscles tense and ridged. Concentrate on these muscles and your abs as well. After doing this exercise for a short time you will feel and see the effect, as you might have used an entirely new set of muscles in a whole different way.
“Problems cannot be solved by the level of awareness that created them.”- Einstein
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Leg Lift to Sit up This is a powerful ab drill that Zisha taught and will work your mid section in a unique way. It also strengthens the lower back and hip flexors too. You’ll stretch the spine, shoulders and upper back as well. The internal organs will be affected and it will help in your body’s elimination process. 1. Lie on your back with feet together and hands alongside of you. 2. Lift you legs from the hips to a right angle, keep going overhead and try to touch the floor in back of you with your toes. 3. Go back slowly to the position where your legs are in the right angle position again, pointing upwards towards the ceiling. 4. Lower your legs slowly until they rest back on the floor, BUT at the same lifting your upper body to the sitting position. Move your head as far forward as you can toward your knees, use the aid of your hands if need be. 5. Put your hands behind your head when raising your body to make this harder. 6. Repeat until tired, and then gradually increase your reps.
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Jump Rope and Circuit Training
Jumping rope is one of the best cardiovascular developers known to all. I read that studies show that 10 minutes of jumping rope gives your heart and lungs the same benefits as 30 minutes of running. There are 3 main ways to jump rope. The easiest is feet together, then alternating jumping one foot to the other and last, one leg for as long as you can. We’ll be exploring all these in this routine and practicing the last few exercises taught as well in this next routine. One minute of jump roping with both feet. Then One minute of the Vibro Hindu push up, or regular Hindu if that’s too hard at first. One minute of jump rope, alternating feet One minute of the Zisha squat. One minute jump rope staying on one leg till tired, then switch. One minute Leg lift to sit up.
Repeat three times. This should take about 18 to 20 minutes and will give you one hell of a workout. As you get stronger try and increase reps and intensity. Feel free to replace any of the exercises with your favorites, or other ones in this course.
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Short cut to Great Abs!!! Forget just doing crunches and sit-ups and let’s start using workouts that will challenge your core muscles effectively. One such exercise is the plank. This is a simple exercise but deceptively effective in building a strong core - which you need for strong abs. For certain - the plank helps to develop strength in the core, shoulders, lower back, arms and glutes.
Here are 4 variations of the plank 1. To do this, get into a push-up position with your arms in a 'L' shape position. Your body should be in a straight line from your head to your feet.
Then attempt to hold for as long as possible. Your goal should be to hold it for 5 minutes. 2. Another variation to the plank is to lift 1 leg up - now this will add more challenge to your core.
Try holding it for 60 seconds and longer.
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3. Now if you want to step it up - why not try lifting 1 left leg up and 1 right arm up - and hold for as long as you can. Shoot for 2 minutes.
This will give your core a great workout!
4. Lastly, try the swiss ball variation - in a push up position but with your forearms on the ball, try to balance yourself without letting your body rolling out under you. Again hold for as long as possible!
Start now and get those abs you've always wanted - but remember – you have to reduce your body fat as well!!!
“Change your mind, and you’ll change your body” – Jim Brassard
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Pull-ups for Combat Fitness How many pull-ups can you do??? A better question is how many weighted pull-ups can you do??? You might think you’ve mastered this exercise when you can crack out 15-20 reps, well think again. Let’s look at some of the pull-up and chin-up performances of some of the strength games true greats.
John Grimek could chin himself up 7 times with either arm at a body weight of about 200 lbs.
Eugene Sandow could perform a one arm chin-up with any one of his ten fingers at a bodyweight of 190 lbs.
Marvin Eder could do 11 one-arm pull-ups at a body weight of 195 lbs. He could also do 80 consecutive 2-arm pull-ups.
Keep in mind that all these performances were done in the late 1800”s and early 1900’s before steroids reared their ugly heads. And the use of fancy machines.
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Sobering isn’t it!!! Any serious fan of strength training needs to put pull-ups into their routine on regular bases. So here’s a guide line to pull-up greatness… Bodyweight Pull-ups
Weighted Pull-ups for 5 reps
10 = Good
25 % Bodyweight = Good
25 = Very Good
50 % BW =Very Good
35 = Excellent
75% BW = Excellent
45 + = Physical Dynamo!!
100 % BW = Physical Dynamo!! One-Arm Pull-ups 1 = Good 5 = Very Good
10 = Physical Badass!!! So forget that lat machine and get up on that pull-up bar. You’ll see some great gains in no time. Here’s some advice to get you started. Instead of doing 3 sets of your max rep, 3 times a week. Try concerning yourself with volume of work. Let me explain, if you can do let’s say 15 reps max. Then do 5-10 reps throughout the day, and everyday if you can, or set a timer for 1 or 2 hour intervals and when it goes off hit the bar and do your reps. Do lots of sets with lower reps is the key. One of my young students has a pull-up bar installed in his bedroom door. Every time he enters or leaves his room he does his reps. He went from doing 1 or 2 to doing 10 in a very short time. Let me sum this up…… 1. 2. 3. 4.
Don’t train to failure. Do more sets but less reps. Train everyday, if possible. Some days train hard and other days light. Vary it!!!
Note: If you can’t do a pull up, use the lat machine until you can. Then never look “Back”.
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Did you ever wonder what type of exercises were the most effective for REAL WORLD STRENGTH and fitness??? Some solid facts can be found by research done by Bulgarian Sports Scientists!!! In searching for these answers, the Bulgarians wanted to know how the body’s response with fitness related hormonal release relating to different types of exercise. The theory is the greater the natural hormonal release, the more productive the exercise, and more strength gained. Here’s what they discovered. The exercises in descending order as to amount of fitness related hormones produced, thus producing faster results. 1. Exercises that move your body or the majority of you body thru space. Like Dips, Squats, Pull ups, Sprints and such. These types of exercises release the most hormones. 2. Barbell exercises where you don’t move your body thru space. Some examples are: bench presses, military press, curls, etc. They don’t produce the same response as the first group. 3. Machine exercise: where one is in a locked position, produces the least amount of hormonal response and is the least effective. 4. Isolation exercises: and these are the least of all. They can be done on machines or free weights. Some are; Curls, triceps extensions, etc. So what does all this mean???? Well…. when faced with a choice between dips or bench press, give the dips the nod or even pushups with some weight on your back. Between pull ups or bent over rows, pull ups hands down. Between machine press or handstand push ups, handstand push ups are far better. If you insist on doing types 2, 3, 4 exercises, kick things off with some type 1 exercise first. This is going to trigger top hormonal responses prior to the lesser exercises, thus having max hormonal responses activated on the lesser types. Mighty Paul Anderson started most of his pressing workouts with handstand push ups, kicking his fitness related hormones into high gear. As far as I read, Anderson’s pressing and jerking lifts have not been matched to this day. -From Jim Brassard’s E-mail tips – free at ShaolinAmericankempo.com
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How about a Nice Pair of Legs???? When building leg muscle I see people wasting a lot of their time and actually murdering their chance of getting great legs. The first mistake is long distance running. Stop doing it!!! OHH no doubt you will thin out your legs some…..BUT it will cost you. You lose muscle mass, and it’s very catabolic (breaks down and EATS muscle for fuel). Also if you’re trying to lose weight, this is a huge no-no. You see, every pound of muscle burns about 50-70 calories a day….even while at rest. In other words……………..
Muscle Speeds up your Metabolism!!! Losing it will slow down your metabolism for sure. SOOOO what should you do instead??? SPRINTS….. That’s right, sprinting is the answer. Have you ever looked at marathon runners, their legs are less muscular. They even look gaunt. NOW look at sprinters, their legs usually look fuller and larger. That’s because they have to generate intense energy in a smaller amount of time and that’s the secret!!!! The “Fat-Burning Intervals” at the beginning of this course is an excellent place to get started. And later I’ll show some more that also combine other muscles for a complete workout from head to toe.
What else can you do for a great pair of legs??????
Lotsa Lotsa Squats!!!!! And the Hindu-squat has been the favorite exercise of many strong people. Squatting brings out all the muscles and their shapes. You will achieve shapely legs as opposed to skinny shapeless legs. Using weights is fine for this, but an added bonus of doing Hindu-squats is that you will be doing cardio at the same time and increasing your lung power and endurance. Let’s look at it…………
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The Hindu-Squat
This is drill is king of all body exercise. It targets so many muscles that it’s not just a lower body exercise; it’s more of a total body exercise. No matter how conditioned you are, these will challenge you more than you think. It also builds great lung power. They increase muscle mass, bone mass and endurance while strengthening knee ligaments. Squatting requires not only leg strength, but also core and upper body strength as well. When you can do 400 straight you’ll get the picture.
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Stand straight with feet about shoulder width apart. Inhale Keep back straight as you lower to the ground, thighs parallel the floor. As you go low your hands are behind your back. As you get lower, let your heels rise of the ground. Push off your toes and swing your hands upward. Your hands will rise for balance till their level with your chest. When raised, pull your hands toward your chest as if rowing a boat. Squeeze fist tight. Exhale as you lower yourself. Shoot for 100 of these straight.
Note: The old strongmen would just put there hands on their hips while doing what they called “Deep Knee Bends”. The deeper you go, the more it targets your butt. This is one of the best drills for a shapely arse. More on butt exercises later!!!!
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Burning 20% More Fat While Walking If you want to burn up some extra calories and burn some extra fat off while you go for a walk then I’ve got a tip for you!!! When your losing fat, much of it is being converted into Carbon Dioxide and water vapors, so you can literally ……..Breathe Away fat!!!! Next time you go for a walk you should practice deep breathing every minute or less. I’ve already showed you several breathing exercises earlier so you should have an idea how to do this. But I’ll explain anywhoooooo. Inhale for 5-7 seconds through the nose and hold it down into your belly for 5 seconds. Then exhale for 7 or 8 seconds out the mouth. Make sure to exhale strongly and longer. Picture in your mind fat and toxins coming out with the exhale. Now if you did 2 deep breathes every minute of a 20 minute walk, that’s 40 times. You’ll be burning up to 20% more calories and fat with very virtually no effort on your part. You don’t have to go for a walk to use this trick….HELL; I do it while I’m sitting in my lazy-boy watching the tube. And there are many other benefits to deep breathing as I mentioned earlier. You’ll feel better and more clear within your body. You’ll have a surge of energy do to the increase in oxygen intake, AND the removal carbon dioxide (Stale Air) from your lungs.
“When it comes to eating right and exercising, there is no "I'll start tomorrow." Tomorrow is disease.” ~V.L. Allineare
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The Dip The push-up was known as the dip in those days. Place 2 chairs about 20 inches apart. Then get in a push-up position with palms on the chairs. “Dip” down as low as you can go to the floor, let your chest go as far past your hands as possible. He taught to breathe in when coming up, and exhaling when going down. Continue till slightly tired. Never perform this till exhausted or you will do more harm than good is what he taught. This way you can do them daily.
Putting your legs up on a chair will make this harder.
Do this 25 times or more then take a rest and continue. Or even better, do 100 in the morning and then at night.
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Chest Pressing This is another great exercise that I teach; it pits one group of muscles against the other. This is one of the best ways to get fast even results without injury. 1. 2. 3. 4.
Place your right fist in the palm of your left hand level with your hips. Have both hands over the left with the left elbow bent. Now push with your left hand while resisting with your right. Now cross over to the right hip with the right elbow bent, then push with the right hand and resist with the left. Do this as hard as you can for fastest results. 5. Breathe out as you move across the body, and go slowly. 6. Keep alternating till tired. If you can do more than 10, then you’re not pressing hard enough.
This will also work your shoulders and lats as well. You must concentrate on flexing these muscle groups while doing this. Closing your eyes might help.
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Circular leg lifts This is a great abdominal exercise. It will develop the upper and lower abs. Your hip flexors and lower back will get some work well.
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Lie on your back with hands by your sides Raise your legs while you inhale. Begin making a circle with your feet. Starting at the feet and hits a peak above your head and then ends at your feet. 5. Try 10 or more reps in each direction.
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Sitting Arm and Leg Scissors This one will hit the lower abs and hip flexors. And if you put some dumbbells in your hands you’ll work your upper body as well. In the 70’s they would make us do this as part of our testing to see how long we could last.
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Sit on floor, legs straight out. Lift legs about 6 or 7 inches off floor. Now just open and close your arms and legs in a scissor motion. Exhale when crossing you arm and legs, Inhale when you open Shoot for doing 100 of these
“Health is like money, we never have a true idea of its value until we lose it.” ~ Josh Billings
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Exercises That Develop a Tight Butt in Days Let’s look at a few exercises that will harden and develop a shapely be-hind.
Isometric Butt Squeezes You can do these anytime and anywhere. They can be done while standing or sitting, but lying down often gets the best results. Simply squeeze your butt together and hold it. You want to try holding this for a minute, then over time work up to a 3 minute squeeze. The more you do this throughout the day the better. And you should do these “butt clenches” for at least 5 minutes a day. Start by doing 2-30 second sets 5 times a day. You should results in less than a week. Not a big price to pay for a tighter butt, heck you won’t even break a sweat. You didn’t want me to include a picture on this one.....did ya?
Hit those Stairs Running up stairs really targets the gluteus maximus like you wouldn’t believe. Find a long flight of stairs and run up and down till tired. I like to go to the local football field and go around the whole stadium. You also get a great cardio work out and the legs will benefit greatly from this as well. Try going up 2 or 3 stairs at a time, and it won’t be long till you can bounce a quarter of your butt and have it ricochet all over the house.
If you can’t find suitable stairs, find a steep hill and run up and down it. Take long strides for fastest results.
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Floor Glute-Ham Raise This one is really going to give you a solid butt. It’s a difficult exercise and will humble you when you try it. You will knee on the floor and put some padding under your knees. A training partner can assist you be holding your feet in place, or you can anchor your feet under a bench or whatever. There’s a couple of ways you can perform this. First you can start from the upright position and perform several static holds on your way down. Stop and hold every few inches for 3 to 5 seconds. Continue till your hands touch the ground. You also could start from the ground, contract the hamstrings and butt tightly to pull yourself back up. Try to keep the back straight throughout the movement. Typically you will need the use of your arms to assist with this exercise, but as you get better rely less on the use of your arms. There’s a good chance you have never done this exercise and…………
Gains come very quickly when you introduce a new stimulus!!!!!!
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6,000 Year Old Secret -- How to Rub your Belly Fat Away Here’s a simple “Trick” to aid in eliminating belly fat. Don’t pooh-pooh this because it’s so simple. Just prove it to your self by doing it for a week; it only takes a few minutes a day. Take both your hands and rub them together fast for about 20 seconds, like Mr. Miyagi did in the Karate kid. You want to create a lot of kinetic energy in the form of heat. Now, take one of your hands and place it on your belly button. Start to rub in small circles firmly over your belly button. Small circles at a pace of 1 per second. After you’ve done this for 30 seconds, stop. Rest for 30 seconds, and then repeat again. Lick one of your hands before you rub then together, the wetness in the saliva will makes a good conductor of heat. The first reason this works is that the heat passes through your skin. Once through your skin the heat “attacks” lumps of fat sitting there. Fat doesn’t like heat!! Whenever you can elevate your core temperature you will trigger your body’s fat burning abilities. The heat and rubbing loosens up the fat and then it gets eliminated from your body through blood, sweat, urine and feces. The other reason this works is because you’re stimulating your stomach and small intestines when you rub your belly. The rubbing helps them with waste removal. Most people have sluggish digestive systems which carry at least 5 pounds of fecal matter. This method will help speed up weight loss by eliminating useless sludge from your system. I recommend you do this for a few minutes in the morning then at night before you go to bed. You should notice a difference inside of a week.
“A healthy body is the guest-chamber of the soul; a sick, its prison.”- Francis Bacon
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Bear Walking Bear Walking will develop animal like strength, and mobility throughout your limbs. While doing this you will also get out of breath shortly making a great exercise for your lungs and heart as well. You can burn fat and gain a lot of strength doing this one. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
You need a lot of room for this one, I recommend a field. Put all your weight on your hands and feet. Now start to walk like a bear. See if you can go the length of a football field. Try to RUN like this. Rest and repeat.
If you have stairs in your house, try walking up them the same way.
Dragon Descends from Heaven This an old kung-fu drill in which you do the same thing (Bear Walk), BUT….. Going DOWN a flight of stairs or a hill if your are outside. This will put some extra work on them their shoulders. Try to combine all three. Bear walk or run around your house then go inside and go up and down the stairs a couple of times. Then start over. Try not to stand, even when going into your house.
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Alligator Walking If you thought bear walking is tough, wait till you do this one. It’s a lot the same but you’re staying very close to the ground with your chest. This one will really put some meat on those arms and chest, and takes your breathe away. It won’t take you long to feel burning. Some of the most conditioned athletes I ever trained could barely go the length of a room, let alone the length of a football field. 1. Keep your chest as close as possible without touching the ground. 2. Keep your elbows high and walk forward. 3. Continue moving the same-side hand and leg movement.
Try alternating between the bear and alligator walk every few feet or so. When the alligator walk becomes too hard, then turn into a bear for a while then back again. This way you will be able to go longer. You may look a little silly to someone watching, but when you stand and display your new physique they will want to join in with you.
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Crab Walk Crab walking is another great exercise for overall body conditioning. Your lung and limbs will get some hard work. Being in this position will hit the spine, butt and hips too. This is another good on for your butt. 1. 2. 3. 4.
Find a lot of room and get into position. Start walking forward slow then faster. Keep your butt up high as possible. Keep breathing deeply.
After going forward some, try walking backwards. You’ll be using your muscles in a whole different way.
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Duck Walking Duck walking will really put your thighs and hips to work. Eric Heiden who won 5 gold medals in the 1980 winter Olympics had this in his workout regimen.
1. 2. 3. 4.
Get in a low squatting position. Put hands on hips or on top of head. Start walking as far as you can get. Rest, then repeat.
Important: Visit our website at ShaolinAmericanKempo.com and give us your email address, and we will send you weekly fitness tips. They will inform you and help to keep you motivated.
”Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it”- Henry David Thoreau
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Can you do this 10 second Weight Loss Exercise & Test without getting sick?? Tibetan Spinning This next drill is popular with the Tibetan monks for increasing one’s life span and it helps in weight loss. It almost immediately increases your energy levels, endurance and balance. The only drawback is it might make you throw up. The reason for this is that this drill targets your endocrine system, not the muscles. And if it’s unbalanced you might get sick. So here we go….. It’s nothing more than spinning around just like a little kid does all the time. You see…your endocrine system controls your hormones. When it’s unbalanced your hormones get out of whack. When this occurs bad things happen to your health and weight loss efforts.
Spinning stimulates the Endocrine system to balance itself out!!! After doing this if you feel energized and fine then your body is ready to lose weight FAST. You just need to exercise. BUT……if you feel like your going to throw up and dizzy, then your body is in bad shape to lose weight. Your Endocrine system is unbalanced and not in a good position for weight loss. The good news is that practicing this will help to normalize and balance your Endocrine system. You will get use to this and less sick each time, allowing for better weight loss, health and longevity.
1. 2. 3. 4.
Stand up with arms by your side like airplane wings. Look straight ahead, then start spinning Spin Clockwise not counter-clockwise for best results. Start by spinning 3 to 5 seconds, then work your way up to 10-15.
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The Zisha Dive-Over Push up This was an exercise that strongman Siegmund Breitbart taught in the 20’s. This movement strengthens the whole body. Do this drill slowly at first and concentrate on the movement. Zisha states that this will develop the hollow spaces in your shoulders which are difficult to develop.
1. With feet close together, bend forward and place hands flat on floor shoulders width apart. 2. Extend your hands out in front of you about 4 feet. 3. Now swing your body forward on your hands, keeping your elbows straight. Almost all your weight is now resting on your hands and shoulders. 4. In this position, raise your head and expand your chest by taken a deep breath. Tense the muscles of the chest if possible. 5. Now push back with your hands. 6. Repeat 10 times then gradually increase.
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Rising Leg Spreads Great exercise for your stomach and will stretch you out too. Strongman Joe Bonomo taught this one in all his courses.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Lie flat on your back. Press your toes away from you. Raise your legs slowly and spread them at the same time. When legs are raised as far as you can go, they should be wide as possible. Lower your legs brining them slowly back together. Repeat 25 times or more
“I am not discouraged because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward” – Thomas Edison 40
Rolling One Leg Squats The one legged squat is one of the most difficult exercises to achieve. In this variation it will make it easier for you and get you started. This will put muscle on your legs and butt!!! You’ll also be working on balance when you stand. 1. On one leg begin to squat down to the ground. 2. Sit on the ground then roll back onto your back. 3. Let your legs go back as far as you need to help build up momentum for standing. 4. Roll back up on the same leg and try to stand. 5. Put your hand on a wall or chair if you need to help you stand. 6. Switch legs and repeat. 7. See if you can do 10 reps per leg.
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Let’s Build a Bridge Together Bridging has been taught for ages and is one of the most important exercises to master for overall health. We will go through 3 different bridge exercises for this lesson. First is bridging in your hands and head, then bridging on head alone and finally back bridging on just your hands. Most people just work on one, but you should be working on the others as well. I want to point you in the direction of the hands alone back bridge. When you develop this, your flexibility as well as body strength will improve greatly. Just push your self of the ground completely and hold this position. Keep your feet flat and stretch as high as you can go. Breathe and push your body toward your hands. See if you can get your shoulders over you hands. Try to hold this for as long as possible. See if you can hold for 1 minute. Shoot for 3 as you get stronger.
Here you use your hands to aid your neck while bridging. Try to get your chest over your face or touch your nose to the ground. Roll back and forth till tired. When your spine, neck and body build up…..then use no hands.
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Push-ups Builds Total Body Condition. Don't miss out on the benefits of pushups, when done correctly they can be a very brutal form of exercise, pushups have been used for many, many years and they have stood the test of time. Why? Because they work, they have always worked and they will continue to work you will get great benefits doing pushups not to mention a total body workout. The great thing about the pushups is that they can be done anywhere, anytime and there are so many variations that you will always be in for a challenge. Pushups work the: hands forearms biceps triceps shoulders traps upper back lower back abs glutes hamstrings quads calf You can do them anyway you like slow, fast, explosive. You can make pushups as hard or as easy as you want them to be. Push up Test!!! If you don't think pushups are worth doing - try this simple test, get into a pushup position and hold the pushup position for five minutes, after one minute most people will know-that they are in for four more minutes of pain. Just imagine if you put your feet up on a chair!!! As a result... your body will start to shake, you will start to sweat, your body will want to collapse in a heap on the floor and then you will know that the pushup can be a very effective exercise.
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Alligator Push-Ups
With that last lesson in mind, let’s try the alligator push ups. You’ll be doing pushups while you move forward on this drill. It won’t take long for you to feel the burn on this one. Your whole body gets a workout and your endurance will sore. It will also help you get stronger at the alligator walk. 1. Find some room to move, and get down in pushup position. 2. Put one hand up high near your face and other low near waist. 3. Do a push up and walk forward with the low hand, now becoming the high hand. 4. Do another push up and repeat. 5. You should be moving forward and letting your feet drag. 6. See how far you can travel. The length of a football field is ideal.
“While we are postponing, life speeds by.” - Seneca
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Wall Hindu-Push-Ups
You will be surprised at how this challenges your body in ways you might not have thought of. Its one thing to put your feet on a chair and do them, but much different on a wall. The chair picks up some of your weight since your feet are lying on them, not so on the wall. 1. 2. 3. 4.
Put your feet on the wall. Get into position and do the Hindu-Push up. Try to do 25 reps’ Repeat till tired. See if you can do as many this way as the regular way.
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The Handstand Push up I always include this exercise in all my teachings. Nothing builds upper body strength and power than handstand push ups and variations of them. They may be difficult at first but mastering this drill will pay huge dividends in your strength. Just flip yourself up on the wall and try to hold for a minute. Then begin to work on push ups. Go half way down at first then all the way when you’re strong enough.
If you can do 10-20 that’s great, if you can do 50-100 you’re not human anymore. I recommend you try and do these everyday. Some days do as many reps as you can, and on others to just some light reps. Just trying to hold this for 1-2 minutes can build great strength as well.
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How to Burn off Calories at Double your normal rate and increase Fat-Burning by 30% RIGHT NOW!!!! Here are a couple of tricks to burn more calories and fat…..
Immediately.
The first is easy. When doing any kind of cardio on a treadmill or running, here’s a way to burn twice as many calories. Setting the treadmill on a 20 degree incline, or running uphill will drastically increase calorie burning……over twice as much. A 170 lbs person will burn about 5 calories per minute while just walking 2 miles an hour. That same person will burn around 10 calories going uphill. Just imagine if they were jogging!!! So run for the hills or stairs and speed up your efforts to losing weight and getting shape.
The other tip is simply drinking water. Ye-Sirey, it will increase fat burning up to 30%. Studies have proven that drinking water will increase your metabolic rate. German researchers used an indirect calorimeter (a very accurate way to measure the expenditure of energy) in their study. When the subjects of this study drank 16 ounces of water in one sitting, their metabolic rates increased by 30% almost immediately. So there you go!!! Put these 2 tricks together and you’ll burn more calories and fat with not much more effort.
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Tension Leg Spreads.
Here’s an oldie but goodie. It builds up thighs, pecs, shoulders and back. You will be challenging your balance as well. It employs self resistance which makes it a natural way to building body power and muscle. Joe Bonomo taught this in his courses.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Squat down low with knees together, heels raised. Pull you knees apart, RESISTING with your hands and arms. Push knees back together with arms, RESISTING with your knees. Do this exercise 15 times. Remember…the harder you resist the more this works. This works sitting in a chair as well.
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Chinnies
This one goes by many names. It will really develop a strong stomach. Another oldie but goodie……and it works!!!
1. 2. 3. 4.
Lie on ground. Bring up left knee to the right elbow. Go back down and then switch. To make this more intense, don’t let your body and legs fully rest back on the ground, keeping constant tension on the abs. 5. Try to do 25 reps. 1 rep is one knee to elbow touch. 6. A goal is to do 100 straight with good form.
“Be Master of mind rather than mastered by mind.” – Zen Saying
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Ankle Wiggles
Another great ab drill. What makes this work so well is that you constantly keep your abs tense while moving side to side.
1. 2. 3. 4.
Lie on back and bend your knees so feet are flat on floor. Raise your upper body a little. Begin to touch hands to the outsides of each ankle. Keep your abs contracted throughout.
In Combat Fitness: Exercises of the Iron Man, You can learn over more ab drills and routines that will have bullets bouncing of your stomach in not time. For more info go to ShaolinAmericanKempo.com
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One Legged Squat The one-legged squat is an amazing way to develop powerful legs. It will simultaneously develop strength, flexibility, balance and mental toughness. Rep for rep, the one legged squat is one of the most difficult drills to master. So don’t expect to perform this the first day. It’d harder than you think…..If it was easy, than it would not be worth performing. I recommend you begin working on this exercise when you can do at least 100 Hindu squats comfortably. Some instructors recommend 200. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Raise one leg and flex your grounded leg and knee. Lean a little forward as you go down. Tighten up your abs as you get close to the ground. Go as low as possible without touching your non working leg to the ground. Use your arms to balance yourself. Hold the bottom position for a second before thrusting your body upwards. Your goal is to do 15 in a row.
It’s more than ok to cheat on this one to get accustomed to it. Using a chair or the wall to help you push off will get you going.
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The Bulgarian Split Squat
This exercise will help with the one legged squat, not to mention it will build great leg strength.
1. Stand with a chair or bench about 2 feet behind you. 2. Place the instep of your right foot on the chair. 3. Keeping your torso upright, lower your body until your left thigh is parallel to the floor. 4. Pause, and then push yourself up as quickly as possible. 5. Try 20 reps, and then repeat with the other leg. 6. You can add a challenge to this by holding some dumbbells in your hands.
“You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing that we call 'failure' is not the falling down, but the staying down.” ~ Mary Pickford
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Shower Time Doing this will help you slim down and gives you a lot more youthful energy in the process. Within 7 days you’ll see the slimming effects of what I will teach you, and within a day you’ll notice a huge increase in your energy levels. So what is it????? To energize your body and help it burn fat you simply…..
Take a 15 second COLD shower at the end of your normal shower. That’s right, when you’re about to rap up your shower, turn the water to as cold as you can bear it and let it run over you for about 15 seconds. It will “shock” your body; in fact you’ll have a hard time breathing. That 15 seconds is going to feel like an hour. You see, cold water is considered “Alive’ water and hot water is thought to be “Dead” water. Cold water energizes, invigorates and fortifies your body. It also improves circulation and overcomes sluggishness that is formed from blocked up energy circuits in the body. The cold water will also provoke your body to raise its internal temperature to balance out the shock of the cold. This will create a very hostile environment for fatty deposits. And that extra heat will burn off fat. You’re “tricking” your body to raise its core temperature, and the higher your internal temperature the easier it is to burn fat. The cold water will also act as a stimulus for increase energy. You’ll feel this all day long. Now the best time for this is in the morning to start your day because the extra efficiency in fat burning and energy will last throughout the day. If you can get in another one around dinner time that will help speed up this process immensely. Spacing them out will give your body 2 chances to experience the fat burning and energizing effects of the cold water. Good Luck…….Brrrrrr!!
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Dumbbell Lunge & Overhead Press This is a fast fat burner and will tone the entire body from head to toe. When you’re short on time this is one you don’t wanna miss. It will work your legs, core and shoulders. It also improves your coordination for sports because it requires you to keep hips level and your core stable for balance as you attempt this complex movement. 1. Stand holding the dumbbells at your shoulders. The dumbbells should be about 10 to 30% of your bodyweight. 2. Take a big step forward with your right leg and bend at the knee until that leg is about parallel to the floor, the rear knee is just off the floor. 3. Now press the left hand weight overhead. 4. Lower it and push back to the starting position. 5. Repeat with other side. 6. That’s one rep, try to do 25 reps.
Don’t let the weights carry forward. Think about dropping your hips straight down as you step. Keep those abs tight, your chest up and squeeze those glutes.
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One-Arm Dead Start Push-up The one arm push up is one of the most powerful strength building exercise you can find. In my last course Combat Fitness: Exercises of the Iron Man, I recommended trying to do 20 reps each arm. Now it’s time to test you to see your progress. This is quite challenging, but if you give it the attention it deserves your body strength will sore. 1. Lay flat on your stomach. 2. Get one hand on the floor and get it centered. You might start in the up position then lower yourself to get into this position. 3. Now, from a “dead start” position on the floor try and push your self up. 4. Try not to contort your torso, and keep your body as tense as you can like the Vibro Hindu push up 5. If you can’t get of the ground, push as hard as you can for 10 seconds. Soon you’ll have lift off.
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Swiss-Ball Knee Tuck Get yourself a Swiss ball, there’s some great exercises you can do with it. And the best part as that their cheap, only about 10 dollars. In this drill you’ll be hitting those abs big time!!! Your upper body will get a little work as well. 1. Assume the pushup position with your shins on the ball. 2. Keep your abs tight; now draw your knees to your chest until your toes are on top of the ball. 3. Slowly straighten your legs so the ball rolls back to the starting position. 4. Lift your hips as you bring your knees toward you so your shins rise of the ball.
“To be as fully developed man, you must develop mind and body equally.”-Plato
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The Goblet Squat This one gets it name from the way you hold the weight, in front of your chest with your hands cupped. This may well be the only squat you need in your workout. Your upper body gets some work as well. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Start with a dumbbell about a third of your bodyweight. Hold it vertically by one end. Hug it tight to you chest. With your elbows pointing down, lower your body into a squat. Allow your elbows to brush past the insides of your knees as you descend. It’s alright to push you knees out. 6. Return to starting position. 7. Your upper body should hardly move if you’re using your legs, hips and lower back as a unit.
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Better Vision in 5 Minutes Here’s an exercise that should help to improve your vision. It’s simply rapid blinking of your eyes. Blink as fast as you can for 1 minute. Don’t stop until you’ve done a full minute, and it has to be fast as you can. Your eyes will get tired and slow down but just keep at it. The reason why this works is that it provides a surge of blood flow to the eyes. Most people have poor vision do to low blood flow and capillary leakage in their eyes. This rapid blinking helps cure these problems, because of the overwhelming surge of blood to the eyes which nourishes them with nutrients as well as strengthening your capillaries which allows for better use of that blood. So if you did this 3-5 times a day, you should see improvement in your vision. Hell, you should notice something the first time you do it. This improvement is temporary to begin with, but repeated rapid eye blinking it will become more permanent. Don’t expect to do this a few times and presto you have perfect vision forever. It will take time just like building your muscles. So therefore practice this for up to 5 minutes a day, in 1 minute increments. It’s best to spread them out during the day. If you do…..you’ll be rewarded with better vision.
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Burbees This one of the best conditioning exercises known to man. They will fatigue the upper and lower body while simultaneously developing stamina and explosive body power. If you want a complete cardio and muscle workout slip these into your training. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Start in a standing position. Squat down and put hands on floor in front of you. Kick your feet back into push up position. Immediately return your feet to the squat position. Then stand up as fast as possible. See if you can go 3 full minutes, fast without stopping
Now for a real hard variation, do the whole movement with one leg at a time. Use just your right leg to do the whole movement, and then switch to the left. ENJOY!!!
"The consciousness of self is the greatest hindrance to the proper execution of all physical action." -- Bruce Lee
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Tuck-Under Planche Push up You’re going to feel this one BIG time in your shoulders and chest. You also will be working on your balance. Many muscles have to come in to play to keep you stabilized during this exercise. It puts the whole weight of the body into the push up. Just doing a few at will be a challenge. You can to these on the ground. But using dip bars or 2 chairs will help you go down further targeting the chest more. I use the push up bars to demonstrate. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Tuck in your legs to your chest. Get balanced, and hold for a second. Then just go down as far as you can. Then press back up. Try to do 10 reps.
These may be very hard at first, but keep at it. You’ll be rewarded with new strength.
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Mountain Jumper Pushups Here we skip the standing movement in the “Burbees”. This one will still get the heart pumping, but will give the abs a lot of extra work. You could say this is an ab drill yet the chest, lower back and shoulders get hit with this as well. Making it a well rounded exercise. Mountain jumpers are just getting into push up and jumping forward and back with both feet (3 & 4 movements of the Burbees). And these alone are an excellent drill. We’re just adding a push up in between for a little variety, and WORK. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Squat down and put your hands on the floor in front of you. Jump back with both feet. Then do a push up. Jump back to squat position, and repeat. See how many you can do non-stop.
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Vacuum Squats This was an old exercise of the 30’s. In this one we get the benefits of breathing, leg work and abs all in one. 1. 2. 3. 4.
Stand with hands on hips and feet about 10-15 inches apart. Take in a good gulp of air and fill your lungs. Bend the knees until you’re in a squatting position. Now slowly let the air out the mouth until your stomach is pulled in as far as possible. 5. Hold for a few seconds and return to starting position. 6. Try to do 25 reps.
"A journey of 1,000 miles begins with the first step." -- Lao Tzu
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The Inchworm
The inchworm is another excellent drill. This exercise, also known as the hand walk stretches your hamstrings, calves, glutes, and lower back. This will develop a very strong core as well. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Begin by standing, legs about shoulder with apart. Put your hands on the ground in front of you. Walk the hands out as far as you can go. Don’t let your stomach touch the ground. Hold for 3-5 seconds. Walk back to starting position, and repeat.
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Animal Training
Animal routines are excellent for strength, endurance and coordination. You can start or end a workout with them if you like. Two ways to incorporate animal training is to measure your time or distance.
Animal Training for Time 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Bear walk x 2 minutes. Duck walk x 2 minutes. Crab walk x 2 minutes. Alligator Walk x 2 minutes. Rest 1 minute repeat 1 – 4 times
The best place to do this is outside in open space, a gym will do as well. Give this one a try as it targets different muscle groups. It won’t be long to YOU become an animal, or at least have its strength.
Now let’s look at training for distance….
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Animal on the Field
This drill will get you in condition on no time. You need to go to soccer or football filed for this. The object of this workout is to alternate between sprints and animal walks. You sprint the long side of the field and animal walk shorter sides. You want to shoot for 10 sprints and 10 animal walks to complete your workout. More if you got the energy. You can choose any animal walks you want, here’s a list to choose from: Bear walking, Crab walking, Duck walking and Alligator walking. Sprint………………………………………………………..100 yards would be ideal
Animal Walk
Animal walk
Sprint…………………………………………………………………………………
Do this 2 -4 times a week and your clothes will be falling off you in no time!!!
"A journey of 1,000 miles begins with the first step." -- Lao Tzu
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REAL Animal Training on the Field You wanna add some real animal power to this workout; let’s add some exercises at the corners of the field. So here’s an example………..
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Sprint down the long side of the field, then do 25 Hindu push ups. Then Bear walk the sort end. Next corner, due 25 Chinnies. Sprint the long side again. At this corner, try 25 Zisha dive-over presses. Now crab walk to the other corner. Then 25 V Sit-Ups (Jackknifes is another name for these).
There you have it, try to make up your own routine. Combine different animal walks and exercises to vary it. I recommend you do some sort of core exercise and upper body exercise at the corners. Your lower body is already getting a HELL of a workout sprinting and animal walking. Here’s another one………. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Sprint, and then do 25 Pull-ups. Alligator walk on the sort side. Then Sprint again. Try holding the plank for 1 minute or more. Duck walk next. Sprint. Then do 25 Mountain Jumper Pushups.
If you train like an animal, you’ll gain its health and strength.
Let’s look at some more strength building exercises…………
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Circular Pressing
This is one that I developed with applying martial arts principles. It’s similar in principle to the chest press, but you’re making a big circle with your arms. Like your stirring a huge pot of cement that’s almost hardened. You’ll be working the whole upper body on this one. The chest gets hit the most. 1. Stand upright and place your fist into the palm of the other hand. 2. Begin to press hard into each other. 3. Then start to make a big circle with the arms, as if you were stirring a big pot. 4. Concentrate on pressing the fist into the hand HARD throughout the circle. 5. Do 10 reps one way and then 10 repeat the other way. 6. Breathe out throughout the circle, then stop and inhale.
You can try to put palm against palm too, and if you can do more than 10 reps….your not pressing hard enough.
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Boulder Shoulders Push ups The side of your shoulder blade and upper ribs lay a small often neglected muscle called the serratus anterior. When it’s weak you are not as strong as you could be. And since your rotor cuff muscles must pick up the slack to stabilize your shoulder joint, pain and injury could result. Boost your upper body strength with the “Boulder Shoulder” push up on the Swiss ball. This drill will do wonders for your shoulders, not to mention the rest of the body as well. 1. Assume a push up position with your hands placed directly under your shoulders and on the sides of the Swiss ball. 2. Spread your fingers with your thumbs pointing forward. 3. Keeping your core tight, lower your self until your chest just grazes the ball, then push back up. 4. Try keeping a squeeze on the ball during the whole movement. 5. At the top of the move, push your self as far from the ball as you can so your shoulders bladders move away from each other. 6. Shoot for 25 reps. Inhale going down, exhale when pushing up. 7. Putting your feet up on a chair can of course make this harder.
"Success is to be measured not so much by the position that was reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed." -- Booker T. Washington
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Push up Freeze
Just like the push up test before, where you try and hold a push up position for up to 5 minutes. You do the same here, BUT in the down position. It’s a killer, but will build strength fast in those weak links of your body.
1. 2. 3. 4.
Get in push up position, and take a few deep breathes. Now go as low as you can and HOLD!!! Try to hold for 1 minute, and increase every week. Keep breathing as deeply as you can.
Tip: When you can’t hold any longer, drop and rest as little as possible and then try to do 25 pushups.
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Isometric Wall Chair
The wall chair is one of the best ways to strengthen the lower body and build mental toughness. Trying to hold it for 3-5 minutes will test your mental strength. In my first course Combat Fitness I showed you this exercise. I’m going to upgrade it a little with the way I teach my students. First off, just sitting against the wall with the legs parallel to the floor for a few minutes is grueling enough, and you should start that way. But if that’s getting too boring or easy for you, listen up…….
Get into wall chair position, and hold naturally for 30 seconds. Then begin to push against the wall as if you were pushing it back. Don’t go all out just apply a little pressure. After about 10-15 seconds, press harder, but still not full out yet. Then after another 10-15 seconds go all out. Try to push the wall back as HARD as you can for another 10-15 seconds. This should put you in the 1 minutes range, and if you do this properly, it will be the longest minute of you life. I do this with my students and it gets fast results. Most students wall chair holds improve within a few days. You can go longer or shorter time intervals according to your strength.
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Wall Squats Wall squats is an exercise that will again test your mental and physical strength. You may think it’s easy, but you’ll change your mind after your first minute. Stand with your back, shoulders and head flat against the wall. Position your feet about 12-18 inches away from the wall (like the wall chair). Lower yourself into squat position and hold for about 30 seconds. Each week try to increase that time as well. Try 25-50 reps. This drill is excellent for developing strength and stamina in the muscles of your legs, and is great for your butt.
A great variation to this is to hold a ball in between your legs while you squat, and squeeze it with your legs throughout the movement. A basketball works the best. You can use this Swiss ball between your back and wall to make this smoother if you like.
"To attain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, remove things every day." -- Lao Tzu
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Jumping Lunges Alternating jumping lunges will develop tremendous muscle tone throughout the legs and buttocks. It’s just like a regular lunge, but you have to jump to switch legs. Perform at brisk pace, and EXPLODE of your feet continuously. Your goal is to perform 100 straight (each jump is a rep). Hit 300 reps and your one of the most conditioned athletes in the world.
1. Step forward with your right foot. Plant the foot firmly as you lunge forward. 2. Keep body straight and your head in line with your spine. 3. Your right thigh will become parallel with the floor. 4. Try not to let your right knee go past your right foot. 5. EXPLOSIVELY push off the right foot as you jump up and switch legs. 6. You now land with the left foot out in front. 7. Repeat as fast as you can. Try for 50 reps at first.
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Pull-up Circuit to Build Great Strength Pull up and chin ups are “King” exercise to building upper body power. And you will get better results if you make the pull up harder, the harder the pull up the more strength you will gain……… PERIOD. If you want to keep making progress, you need to change things some how. If you keep doing the same things, you will stop making progress. Einstein says it the best…
“Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” So try doing pull ups on something different, like a tree branch or a towel thrown over the bar or branch. Tree branches and towels come in different widths which add another dimension to the exercise. You will find the thicker the branch or towel the harder it is to do pull ups. And when you go back to the regular pull up bar you will be amazed that you will be able to do more. Also another way to improve your pull up strength is what is called “Heavy Breathing” pull ups. This is when you do them after doing sprints or just work it into a circuit of some sort; the key here is to do them when you need oxygen. Here’s a simple circuit using squats and a towel thrown over a bar or branch. Do 25 squats, then with no rest try and do 10 towel pull ups. Repeat this 5 to 10 times and you will be challenging your condition, and also you’re gripping strength. Developing a powerful grip is also a key to becoming stronger, and by using the towel it will be harder for you to support your weight with your grip. 5 to 10 sets will add up to be 125 to 250 squats and 50 to 100 towel pull ups.
And that will build some great strength!!!!
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Alternating Toe Touch Crunch This is a great drill and will burn this abs in no time. 1. 2. 3. 4.
Lie on ground and put your legs straight up. Reach up with your left arm and touch the right toe. Switch and repeat. Try to do 25 to 50 reps
You can put your legs against the wall for an added variation. Also you can spread them a little too.
“Talent is useless without training, thank God.” – Mark Twain
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The Pendulum With this drill you will not just work your midsection, but also develop some flexibility as well. Be sure to include this in your exercise routine and you should see those “love handles” disappear. Works abs, hips and obliques. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Lie on back with your legs straight. Hands extended to your side. Maintain straight legs and swing them from left to right. Keep your lower back on the floor. See if you can do this 2-3 minutes non-stop.
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The Ab Wheel I personally believe this is one of the best drills to develop core strength. It works the stomach as well as the lower back. It takes a lot of power in the core area to keep your body in place throughout this exercise. If you can crack off 50-100 reps of this one, you’ll find most other ab drills to easy. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Knee down with the wheel on ground in front of you. Slowly roll forward as far as you can. Pause for 1-3 seconds. Then roll back and repeat. Try to do 20 reps.
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Apples for Fat-Loss Here's a simple tip for losing some fat. Eat 3 apples a day. That's it!!!!! Either eat an apple before each meal or eat an apple between meals as a snack. Boring….. BUT it works!! If you were to eat 3 apples everyday you should shed around 2 pounds of fat within a month. This will happen even if you don't change your diet or exercise. Also, the more overweight you are the better this works. Combine this simple tip with a solid exercise plan and the "cascading effect" of eating these apples would be even more pronounced with extra weight loss. The reasons why eating 3 apples a day works for weight loss is three-fold. 1. Each apple is high in fiber. They have about 5 grams of fiber each. This helps to fill you up before meals or in between meals. Eating 3 apples a day will get you to 15 grams of fiber, and high fiber intake is key to weight loss. 2. You are crowding out bad calories and foods from your meals and snacks. If you eat an apple before each meal, you're likely to not eat as much. The apple crowds out the bad calories with good calories... and less calories. 3. The fiber in the apples helps improve the efficiency in your digestive tract. Your body will clear out all the foods you eat quicker, while retaining more of their useful nutrients. So you get the left over bad stuff from these foods out of your body faster so they don't have a chance to rot and ferment in your intestines which can lead to many health problems. Give it a try, the only thing you got to lose is some fat and junk stuck in your intestines.
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Did you also know Apples can also help make you Stronger??? Before you go to eat your apple……
Try to crush it in your hand!!!!! Squeeze it by trying to flex and tighten ALL the muscles in your arm, shoulder, lats and chest. When you can do it….you’ll have a much more powerful arm. And after you crush it, then you can eat it. A Strong Grip is always on a Strong arm….They always go together!!! Legendary Strength Athlete George Jowett had 18 inch arms from primarily GRIP WORK.
Work your grip and you’ll get bigger arms!!!!! I was watching the tonight show last week and they had a guy on the show that could crush POTATO’S in his hands. One in each hand, and at the same time!!! Furthermore he did it 6 times in a row while Jay Leno held a bowel full of potatoes. You should have seen the size of this guy’s fingers and arms!!! So get some apples and see what I mean!!!!!
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Total-Body Muscle Dumbbell Pushup Row When most people perform rowing exercises, they pull more with their arms than with their middle and upper back. But in this drill your arms, abs and shoulders are forced to work together to keep you steady while your back draws the weight to your ribs. The benefit is that you simultaneously build your back and chest. It will also help prevent muscle imbalances in your upper body as well. 1. Get into pushup position, arms straight and your hands on dumbbells. 2. Try and squeeze your abs and glutes as you perform a pushup. 3. At the top, pull one dumbbell of the floor to your ribs. Your elbow should go above your back. 4. Slowly return the dumbbell to floor and repeat with the other arm. 5. The heavier the weight the harder this gets.
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Wide Wall Sit with Calf Raises
This puts a great spin on the wall chair. When doing this exercise you will be hitting the quads, glutes, inner thigh and calves. Making this an all-round exercise. 1. Stand with back against the wall, feet twice shoulder-width apart. Toes turned out. 2. Slide butt down wall until your thighs are parallel to the floor. 3. Stay in this wall chair while you perform this exercise. 4. Rise on toes for two counts. Exhale. 5. Lower for two counts. Inhale. 6. Try as many as you can.
Want to learn how to make your legs look like tree trunk? Then check out Combat Fitness: Exercises of the Iron Man at ShaolinAmericcanKempo.com
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Side Plank Like the regular plank, you’ll work your abs. But on this drill you’ll also work your obliques as well. This will be a big help in reducing your waistline. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Lie on one side, legs together and feet stacked. Prop up body on your elbow. Be sure elbow is directly below elbow. Press hips toward ceiling using your abs to stabilize torso. Try and hold for a minute, then switch sides. Breathe naturally.
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A great test to see if you have a strong core is the trunk-stability push up (superman pushup). Most people think it’s just a matter of doing sit ups or what not, but the core also includes the lower back as well. This drill requires the whole mid section to work together, thus being a better choice when you want to work out you abs. Lie face down on the floor and instead of putting your hands under your shoulders, slide them forward until your hands are in line with your forehead. Now try and push yourself up. If your back can stay perfectly straight, you have a very solid core. But if you had to contort you torso to push up your body, then try again but keep you hands in line with your chin. If you can do the push up perfect in this position your core is average.
- From Jim Brassard’s E-mail tips – free at ShaolinAmericanKempo.com There’s a video of me teaching this drill on youtube. Just type in “Combat Fitness Core Test – Jim Brassard” In fact go to my channel on youtube at Sakenpo (or type in Jim Brassard) and see videos of me teaching exercises, as well as Karate videos. Subscribe, it’s free!!! Many more will be added monthly.
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Hills or Stairs Circuit As I told you before, nothing burns more fat and shapes your legs & arse better than running up a hill or stairs. So here’s a routine were you can get a FULL body workout. Just find some stairs or a hill and we’re off……
Sprint up stairs/hill. Jog back down. Do 25 Hindu-pushups • Sprint up again and jog back down • Do 25 Hindu-squats • Sprint up hill again and jog back down • Do a 1-2 Minute plank. • Sprint up again and jog back down. • Do 25 dips. • Sprint up hill again and jog back down. • Do 25 Circular leg lifts. • Sprint up hill again and jog back down. • Do 20 Jumping lunges. • Sprint up hill again and jog back down. • Do 25 Alligator pushups. • Sprint up hill again and jog back down. • Do 25 Chinnies. • Sprint up hill again and jog back down. • Do 25 Zisha Squats. • •
You want to choose a hill or stairs that will take you 5-10 seconds to sprint up….and of course the steeper they are the harder this gets, thus the more fat burned and muscle built. Feel free to choose any other exercises between sprints that you like. Pull ups would be an excellent substitution for one or more of the leg exercises. After all, the legs are getting smoked with the sprints.
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Baseball Diamond Routine On the days you don’t want to do hill sprints, you can get a kick-ass workout at the local baseball field. The sprint workout in my other manual is gang-busters but we can modify this to a diamond as well. Here’s an example…… • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Jog around the bases for about 4 laps. Then do 25 Hindu pushups Light jog for 2 bases Then Sprint around the bases for 1 lap 30 Hindu squats Light Jog for 1 lap. Then sprint for 2 laps. 25 Alternating toe crunches. Light jog for 3 laps. 25 Chest Presses. Followed by 25 Burbees. Light Jog 2 laps Sprint 2 laps. Try to hold a 1 minute plank. Light jog for 2 laps. Sprint 1 lap. 25 Alligator Pushups
If you need too, cut down the numbers a bit. But make sure you go at least 20-30 minutes total.
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Dips Dipping is another upper body strength exercise that gets result fast, but I want to show you another way to make this harder. I’m using dip bars, but you can use 2 chairs to get started.
Here’s the regular way. Get in the up position and lower yourself slowly. The push up fast and hard.
Shoot for doing 25 in a row, and work your way up till you can hit 100.
NOW…try turning your palms outwards and give it a go. You’ll find this one a killer. Puts a lot on the chest & triceps so be careful when you start.
Like I said before, you can start this one by dipping between 2 chairs till you build the strength to do your whole bodyweight.
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Push up 300 Workout This is one I put my students through every now and then. We’ll be using a variety of pushups in this routine. Here we go……. • • • • •
• • • • •
100 Dips. Pg. 27 20 Zisha Dive-Over presses. 20 Alligator pushups. 30 Hindu pushups. 15 Reverse pushups. That’s just using your hands to push up into the bridge position and then come back down. 30 Mountain jumper pushups. 30 Dips. Pg.27 15 Handstand push ups. 20 Dips. Pg.27 20 Hindu pushups.
If these numbers are too high, feel free to chop them in half to get you started. In no time you will be able to get to the full numbers if you practice this at least 3 times a week. And when you can……..repeat it again!!!!!
So many people spend their health gaining wealth, and then have to spend their wealth to regain their health. ~A.J. Reb Materi, Our Family
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Minute by Minute This “time” instead of counting reps, we’re going to use 60 second intervals to gauge our workout. All you need is a countdown timer and will power. Every exercise you’re to do for 1 minute…….. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Burbees. The Plank. Burbees. Isometric wall chair. Burbees. Isometric pushup or handstand push up hold. Jumping Lunges. The Pendulum. Jumping Lunges. Hindu pushups. Jumping lunges. Sitting arm and leg scissors. Jump rope. Rolling one legged squats. Jump rope. Circular chest press. Jump rope. Leg lift to sit up.
Ideally this should take 18 minutes and that’s what you should strive for. If you’re pressed for time, make these 30 second intervals and within 10 minutes you’ll have a full body workout that will burn more fat and build muscle like you won’t believe.
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Squat 300 Workout This one will just employ 2 of the best exercises for the lower body, not to mention the cardio you will get from this. You will do 3 sets 70 Hindu squats followed by 30 jumping lunges (each jump counts as 1). Make sure you are breathing deeply to give you more strength and endurance. After the first 100 you can shake it off a little, rest, and then get back at it. Set your watch and see how long it takes you to complete this workout. Record this time, and try to beat it each week or every other week.
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Holding on for Life These are isometric holds and can build incredible strength. These exercises do not involve a certain number of reps. Instead you hold a position as long as you can, or if you want set a time like a minute or two for each drill. • • • • • • • • • •
Back Bridge on hands. Pull up hold with head over bar. Plank. Isometric wall chair. Isometric push up hold. Side plank (both sides). One legged wall chair. Just do wall chair, then lift one leg off the ground. Handstand push up hold. Plank with one leg and one arm. Chin-up hold (palms facing the opposite direction as in the pull up) with head over bar.
Repeat this 2-3 times. This may look easy, but it’s not. You will also be challenged mentally to hold these positions as long as you can. Perform this a minimum of twice a month. If you do you will develop both mental and physical strength. Make sure to improve your times on each workout. You’re welcome to replace any of these exercises with ones you want to develop.
Important: Visit our website at ShaolinAmericanKempo.com and give us your email address, and we will send you weekly fitness tips. They will inform you and help to keep you motivated, as well as keep you on the cutting edge.
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Jump Rope Workout As stated earlier jump roping is one of the most effective cardio workouts known. Combine this with strength training exercises and you’ll have the best workout ever!!!
• • • • • • • • • • • • • •
1 minute jump rope. 50 Hindu squats. 1 minute jump rope 25 Dips. 1 minute jump rope 25 Ab wheel. 1 minute jump rope. 15 Reverse push ups. 1 minute jump rope. 50 Goblet squats. 1 minute jump rope. 25 Hindu push ups. 1 minute jump rope. 25 Rising leg spreads.
Rest 1-2 minutes and repeat if you can.
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Vibro-Pull Up Workout As we learned with the Hindu push up, applying hard tension to our cals can make an exercise harder which will build strength faster. This routine will turn your body into steel. Remember to flex all muscles in your body from fingers to toes. You’ll even find that using tension should make you instantly stronger in most exercises. Hang from a bar and tense all your muscles, start by squeezing the bar tight and letting it flow all the way down to your toes. Hold for about 10 seconds. Next, pull your self up half way and repeat again, applying the tension. Hold for about 10 seconds. Then pull your self up so your chin is over the bar and tense again for about 10 seconds. Rest for a minute, and repeat 5-10 times. Remember to “squeeze” the bar as hard as you can. You’ll find that by doing this you will develop a vice-like grip which will add more power to your upper body. If 10 seconds is too long to hold these positions then cut it down to 5 seconds. If to easy, then increase to 15 or 20 seconds. If you can hit 20 seconds or more than strap on some weight to your body and try. About 20% of your body weight is a good place to start. And for those of you who might have trouble doing pull ups, doing this routine will cure that problem. You should notice a difference within in a few workouts.
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The Exercise to reduce your Waist….FAST!!! You’ve already learned it but I want to get into more details, because it’s one of the most effective drills known for waist reduction. What is it???? The Vacuum Pose!!!! This exercise will reduce your waist by up to 2 inches in less than a month, If you practice if for 5 minutes a day. In fact, if you were to just focus on this 1 exercise for 15-20 minutes a day, you’ll lose 3-4 inches of your gut in the same time period. So as learned before breathe out as much as you can and suck in your belly. It’s important to suck it in from the lower portion near the belly button. Suck it in as much as you can. Once there and can’t suck it in anymore, hold it for 15-60 seconds. The longer you can hold it in the faster the results. Rest and repeat. Do this for 5 minutes a day and you can expect to lose around 2 inches of waist line in a month. If you want better results then do this exercise for 15-20 minutes a day, then you should lose about 3-4 inches.
The only bad thing about this drill it will reduce your waist size for about the first month or so, after that the results don’t come as quickly.
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Core 200 Workout What can I say??? It’s time to have a little something for our stomach.
• • •
10 Leg lifts to Sit up 10 Circular Leg Lifts 1 Minute Plank.
Now take 2 deep breathes. Any one of the breathing exercises in this course will be fine. • • •
10 Sitting Arm & Leg Scissors. 10 Rising Leg Spreads. 1 Minute Plank.
Take 2 deep breathes. • • •
10 Chinnies. 10 Ankle Wiggles. 1 Minute Plank.
Take 2 deep breathes. • • •
10 Swiss-Ball Knee Tucks. 10 Inchworms. 1 Minute Plank.
Take 2 deep breathes. • • •
10 Alternating Toe Touches. 10 Ab Wheels. 1 Minute Plank.
Take a 1-2 minute break, and repeat. That will add up to 200 reps of various ab drills. Your goal is to do 20 reps of each drill so you only perform the routine once.
Without health, there is no point. To anything. ~Everett Mámor
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Combat Fitness Workout This one’s a gets-it-done!!! You’ll putting together some of the different training methods throughout this course. Give this one a whirl. Hindu Push-ups – 25 Hindu Squats – 100 Pull ups – 30 seconds as many as you can do. Bridging – 1 minute. Bear Walk – 100 yards Rest 1 – 3 Minutes. Pull ups – 30 seconds as many as you can do. Hindu Squats – 100 Crab Walk – 100 yards Hindu Push-ups – 25 Bridging – 1 minute. Rest 1 – 3 Minutes. Alligator Walk – 50 Yards. Bridging – 1 minute. Pull ups – 30 seconds as many as you can do. Hindu Squats – 100 Hindu Push-ups – 25
If you like circuit training, the Combat Fitness manual and DVD’s have over 30 routines to select from. For more info go to ShaolinAmericanKempo.co
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“Super” Set Workouts Supersets are a great way to work the whole body as well as get in the cardio you need. Try this one. • • • • •
Handstand pushups – 10 Pull-ups – 10 Ab wheel – 10 Dips – 10 One legged squats – 10 (each leg)
Rest 1-2 minutes, and repeat 3-5 times. Here is another one you….. • • •
Burbees – 100 Dips – 100 Hindu squats – 100
Try and get this all done under 15 minutes, that’s only 5 minutes per exercise. This will test you mentally as well as physically. One more for the road… • • • • •
Vibro Pull up workout – 2 Times Zisha Squats – 50 Dip – 50 Swiss ball knee tuck – 50 Wide wall sit with calf raises – 50
Rest 2 minutes and repeat.
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Bodyweight 100 Challenge Here we put your whole body through a routine and try to monitor our time. The challenge is to be able to do this under 10 minutes, and then repeat. • • • • • • •
20 Hindu Squats 20 Hindu pushups 10 Burbees 10 Pull ups 20 Lunges 15 Alligator pushups 5 Chin ups (palms facing away from body)
When you get good at the 100 challenge, it’s time to try the next one.
Bodyweight 250 challenge • • • • • • • • • • •
30 Burbees 20 Push ups 10 Rising leg spreads 10 Pull ups 40 Hindu squats 25 Hindu pushups 20 Jumping Lunges 15 Chin ups 30 Chinnies 25 Hindu Squats 25 Mountain jumper push ups
Time yourself and see how long it takes, and then try to beat that time every week.
“You can not have Health without Strength or have Strength without Health.” – Joe Bonomo
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Dive-Bomber Push Up This is the same as the Hindu Pushup, but you reverse the motion going back. It puts more work on the upper body because it’s almost like doing an extra push up. I usually make my students do this one when the Hindu pushup becomes too easy. In all the workouts where there is a Hindu pushup, you can replace with the divebomber for more intensity.
1. Start just like you did when doing a Hindu push-up. 2. Lower your head towards the ground and flatten yourself out as if you were sliding underneath a bar. 3. Finished the movement by driving your head upwards toward the ceiling. 4. Return to the staring position by reversing the EXACT SAME MOTION. 5. You can put your feet together for more resistance.
Try doing this the “Vibro” way and you’ll have a whole new experience.
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Minute to Seconds Workout This workout will only take you 10 minutes to do. And since it’s so quick you might want to do this 2-3 times a day. You begin with 60 second intervals, and then move to 45 second and finally 15 seconds. You can do any kind of push up and squat you want too. Round 1 Burbees – 60 seconds • Pull ups – 60 seconds • Squats – 60 seconds • Push ups – 60 seconds • Round 2 Burbees – 45 seconds • Pull ups – 45 seconds • Squats – 45 seconds • Push up – 45 seconds • Round 3 Burbees – 30 seconds • Pull ups – 30 seconds • Squats – 30 seconds • Push ups – 30 seconds • Round 4 Burbees – 15 seconds • Pull ups – 15 seconds • Squats – 15 seconds • Push ups 15 seconds • No resting in between rounds. If you get stuck on an exercise, rest briefly and do your best to continue.
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Bodyweight Training will Build Strength There are some who think you can’t get stronger be doing bodyweight exercises. Well…..Some molded a 47 inch chest and a 17 inch arm with nothing more than bodyweight and self resistance workouts. The Dip was one of the daily exercises that helped them acquire such a chest. They did over 200 to 300 a day. Siegmund Breitbart “Zisha” did mostly body cals. Here’s some of the feats of strength he acquired…..
•
• • •
He could bend iron bars around his arm in a floral pattern . He could tear a horseshoe in half Pulled chains apart Held back 2 horses that were whipped.
Not bad Huh? And remember this was before modern machines and steroids were around.
There are many others mentioned early like Joe Bonomo and Eugene Sandow. Some did use dumbbells and barbells, but it was a supplement to their bodyweight exercises.
Zisha
One way to gain this type of strength is to focus on 1 arm or 1 leg drills. The Handstand push up is also just as important. Here’s a sample workout…… 10 – 1 Arm Dive-bombers. 10 – 1 legged squats. 10 – Ab Wheels. Try them on your feet instead of your knees. 10 – Handstand Push ups. How about with just 1 arm???? Being able to do a Dead Start 1 Arm Push up will help build power too. Heck…. just doing 1 arm regular push ups should not be ignored as well.
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“Explosive” Bodyweight for Faster Gains The College of New Jersey did a 2-3 month study on explosive exercises; such as plyometric push ups prior to a heavy bench press workout 2 times as week. Do you know what the result was??? The men benched 5-10% more weight then those who did not do the ply-push ups. Explosive training helps you press through weak spots by teaching your muscles to contract faster. So here’s proof that just using your bodyweight you can get stronger in the gym faster. I know when I mastered the Handstand push up I saw a BIG difference in my upper body strength when I used weights. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Start in a regular push-up position. Lower yourself to the floor. Then spring yourself up and off the floor as high as you can. Clap one or more times before your face hits the ground. Land on your hands and repeat fast. Try to do 15 in a row. Set a goal to do 100.
This exercise is also known to develop a full chest as well. You can apply this to other drills as well. Like squatting, just explode up and jump as high as you can. Apply this idea to your workouts and you will soon find that you can get VERY strong with just the use of your body and gravity.
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Answers to some Questions I’ve Received How often should I train? Why not every day?? Just like you eat or bathe. All the strong men of the past did. The trick though is to work hard on some days and easier on others. Just look at the animal kingdom, they have to move around everyday to survive. Sometimes they sprint, climb, hang, walk, jump, rest and so on. Pound for pound the animals are much stronger than us humans. How hard can I train? Like I said before, hard some days and easy the others. Do high reps on some days and then do 1 arm intense drills on the others. You’ll murder your efforts if you try to train intense everyday. Balance is the key!!! How long should I workout? If you can’t find 15-30 minutes a day to workout then you better reevaluate your life. Just that small amount of time will bring forth incredible health and strength. You can also divide your workouts into 2-3 mini sessions daily of about 10 minutes each. That works well too. Should I lift weights??? Why not? I do. The days you don’t lift do some of the routines in my courses. You will find though if you use weights as a “supplement” to bodyweight exercises you should get stronger faster. Don’t forget men like Siegmund Breitbart who did no weight training at all, yet became one of the strongest men who ever lived. When should I exercise? If you can do it first thing in the morning you’ll get much more done during your day. It will reeve you up, so you can accomplish more. The air is fresher too. If you can’t workout in the morning, find a time that you can. NO EXCUSES!!! What should I eat? My rule is this: If Man Made It, Don’t Eat It!!! Although it’s ok to cheat once in awhile. It’s just a basic rule to judge what is good for you and what is not. How much should I eat? Depends on your goals. If you do a lot of exercises and eat a lot you will get bigger. On the other hand if you eat less, you will thin out some. You decide.
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In closing this course I wanted to leave you with some words of wisdom from Siegmund Breitbart “Zisha”……
“In the good old days when sailing vessels (I remember when I was a boy, my first ocean trip was on a full-rigged ship) every sailor knew that for the success of the voyage every spar and every stay had to be tight and ship-shape. A weakness of one yard-arm might cause the wreck of the ship. You know the old saying which is very true never the less that…………. “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link” In the same way, the weakness of one muscle or one vital organ may cause the wreck of a man’s entire life!!!
You must be 100% physically fit.”
Think of it, just the weakness of one organ or muscle can wreck your life!!!!! Thank you and stay strong!!! Jim Brassard
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