Staying In Tune With Your Body

Okay, another season has changed and so has the motivation you find yourself struggling with. You may be finding with the cold season quickly approaching, it sounds better for you to get in your comfy wear and snuggle up on the couch and watch a good movie.

WRONG!

Hello, what have most of you been saying to me during summer, you know Sher, once summer is over I am going to get really serious with training hard and eating right. Ya, did we not throw that out the window or what?! I am talking about staying strong with your words.

Your making it sound more like your doing me the favour then yourself. How did you feel this past summer in a bikini? Yup, enough said! Well it's time to use this season to your full advantage because the next excuse I will hear will be, "It was Christmas Sher everyone made it hard for me to stay strong, I promise by Spring I will train hard and eat right." Blah blah blah.

I know, I have been there and have used those excuses myself. That's what it is, excuses! But, then again, when we feel down and miserable we take shots at ourselves feeling sorry for ourselves and wanting sympathy because wanting a healthy lifestyle is too hard to achieve.

Are you kidding? Its not hard, we make it hard!

Why?

Sugar is our weakness and exercising in our minds is tough until we actually get it done and the feeling after our workout is amazing...

If you stick to a good meal plan and train hard for one solid week by lifting weights 3x a week and cardio 4 to 5x, lets see how you feel after that? Does that sound good to you? It certainly does to me. Hey, I have to live a healthy lifestyle not because of my career choice but because I was diagnosed with a condition in which fitness saves me! Now let it save you. Live well and live long - let fitness be your friend not your enemy.

Enjoy.
Sheri Ciaramella

Got My Ass Kicked!

I went to Toronto this past weekend to my buddy's studio http://www.laylor.com/

to share training and business insights. I believe... scratch that, I know that partnering with like minded people who inspire you to do more than you are used to or comfortable with is one of the keys to success.
And that little piece of advise doesn't just come to you as some regurgitated babble that I read somewhere but truly put into practice and have noticed the results.
So there I am with getting ready for what I know is going to be one of the toughest leg workouts I have had in a long while.

He had me do the following...

Squats 6 reps with a 4 second negative - 250 lbs
Step forward Lunges off of a Stepper - 12 steps 40 lb Dumbbells
Leg press with a 4 second negative for 25 reps! - 350 lbs

I was completely failing at 5 reps but he made me do all of them... I was screaming so loud my throat hurt.

That was set one.

We did that again and then he made me drag a 400 lb sled about 100 m. By the end the sled was barley moving.

We then did some hamstrings and calves but I honestly don't remember by this point I was a little foggy.

Sounds like fun eh? To me it is because it challenges me and lets me know what I am capable of.

Next week he comes here and I get to repay the favour.

To all my clients, this is why you come here. This is why you get training. To push your limits beyond what you would give of yourself and let you know what you are capable of.
So all I can say now is that "you're next."

The Green Beret Workout

From time to time I come across a program that intrigues me. Just a while ago the "300" program was all the rage made popular by the hit movie.

If you haven't tried it yet make sure you are ready for it. This one is really tough especially if you use the actual weights and forms that makes up the original.

Anyways, I came across this "Green Beret workout". Apparently this workout is sort of a screening test for new recruits. I do love a challenge and decided to try it and if they can do it, hell so can I. See, I don't always use my clients as guinea pigs... I put myself through the grinder once in a while too. I believe trainers need to challenge themselves and try to stay one step ahead of their clients; if not, what good is our word then really? Might as well hire them to train us, right?

This program was tough granted but more of a mental game than anything. It took over 2 hours to complete (mind you my partner and I were chatting some) and was exhausting. Not overly tough I thought just exhausting. I felt just plain tired at the end and empty like I needed to eat half a cow. The volume is there but with swapping set for set with a partner there was too much rest.

If you did it by yourself with maybe a 30 second rest between sets it is another story but I feel as though that many situps just takes to damn long and doesn't hit your abs very well. The only thing a little sore today are my hip flexors. Didn't stop me from hitting a 40 today! What? shut up that is great for me.

So, Without further adu here is what the program entails...

Set 1
Pullups 1
Pushups 2
Dips 2
Situps 5

Set 2
Pullups 2
Pushups 4
Dips 4
Situps 10

This pattern continues on for 10 sets and THEN you come back down to 1... so yeah that is 19 sets total.

I personally don't give this program my seal of approval as a super tough workout. When I do you can guarantee it is nasty.

If you know of any other really tough workouts that you'd like me to critique please send them my way and I'll give it a go.