The Baby Daddy Workout [Giveaway!]

Sometimes when a man and a woman love each other, they make a baby. (I know you were confused - you're welcome.) In this whole scheme, women get all the glory. After all, we're the incubators. But you know who gets lost in all of the gestating, birthing, bleeding and nursing? Men, with their pittance of bodily fluids, that's who. And until a man learns how to lactate on demand, it's probably going to stay that way.

But while a man can't birth his own little bean - a fact I don't think they are at all sorry about - that doesn't mean that sympathy pregnancy weight isn't real. Like a pregnant friend on Facebook recently wrote, "I woke up in the middle of the night to get a drink. My husband asked me where I was going. Then he asked me to bring him a cheese stick while I was up."

It just isn't fair that while there are a plethora of workouts to whip new moms back into prebaby shape, there isn't much for new dads. And frankly, if we have to suffer with this nonsense I don't see why the men should get a pass. Chris Illuminati, author of A**holeology and so hilarious he puts ab rollers out of business, is going to be a new dad soon and asked me to fix this problem. Of course I was willing to oblige.

Charlotte's Baby Daddy Workout*

1. The Pick-Up-The-Baby Squat. Being unable to hold himself up, your little bean will lay around just like, yes, a sack of beans. But a sack of beans that gets heavier every single day. To prepare for this, do goblet squats. First pick a weight resembling your baby (in weight, not looks - if you have a baby that looks like a dumbbell you have bigger problems than stomach flab.) Then double it. Triple it if you're not a wuss. You never know for sure if you might be having twins or triplets until the last bit of placenta comes out! Squat down, pick up weight gently off the floor and then clutching it to your chest as if it is your fragile new PlayStation, slooowwwly stand up. Squat back down, returning weight to floor. That's one rep. Repeat 12-15 times, for 3 sets. Be sure to keep your weight in your heels and BOTH hands on the baby/weight. To add difficulty (and up your wife's blood pressure) hold weight over your head for the duration of the squat. Hint: Most newborns are 5-8 pounds

2. The non-dominant arm curl. Are you right handed? Then prepare to have your left bicep bulk out like the Incredible Hulk in the episode where he candy stripes at the hospital nursery (they did that one, right?) because you will constantly be holding your mini-me in your left arm so that you can get stuff done - like surf the 'net, yo - with your right arm. To prevent looking as lopsided as an Iranian election, start doing bicep curls now. But ONLY on your non-dominant arm. Pick a weight as heavy as you can manage for 8-12 reps, 3 sets. To make it as realistic as possible, hold a carton of eggs in your other arm at the same time. If you end up with quiche, Epic Fail.

3. The colic lunge. New babies cry. Some of them cry a lot. Like, a lot a lot. Thankfully you can make lemonade out of your little lemon. Not only can you get quads of steel doing this move but you'll earn extra bonus points with the wifey (not redeemable until 6 weeks post partum) for letting her get some sleep. First, plant your feet just wider than hip width apart in a sumo squat. Then holding your swaddled (the swaddle is key!) dumbbell/baby very tightly, lunge vigorously from side to side. This is not the time to be namby-pamby. When I say vigorously, I mean there is no such thing as too much motion to your baby. (Not to be confused with shaking your baby. For the love of John Edwards, never ever shake a baby.) Repeat for hours, any time any where. Ignore the evil looks from people who think you shouldn't be taking your newborn to the movies, much less lunging like a maniac in the aisle. You may be a parent but you're still a person and are therefore allowed by law to leave your house.

4. The chest press to throw up. Babies are masters of physics. They come out of the womb knowing that what goes up must come down and therefore anytime you hoist your little petard above your head, vomit is going to come raining down. Into your open mouth if you're really lucky. To prepare yourself for this eventuality, lay on your back holding a dumbbell in each hand. Press straight up. At the top of the movement have someone jump on your stomach and then drop a couple spoonfuls of cottage cheese on your face. Surprise is the key to honing your reflexes along with toning your pectorals. Repeat 8-12 reps for 3 sets.

5. Running away from your responsibilities cardio. At some point after your wee one is born, it will hit you how much work, time, money and sleep you are losing in this deal. You will want to pull a John Edwards. Unfortunately the law does not look kindly upon refusing to care for your spermies that have made it out into the wild. Neither does your wife. So the next best thing to running away is to simply run. If you want to be a hero, put the baby in a jogging stroller and take him or her with you. Just make sure your music isn't turned up so loud you can't hear him or her cry. Start with 30 minutes a day 4 days a week, working up to daily sweat fests by the time the kid is old enough to make you have to stop and hold him over the biffy seat in the park for 20 minutes before he decides he's too cold to poop (hey it's a great move for your shoulders!).

Just remember new daddies - just because she calls you "baby" doesn't mean you need to act like one! For more general hilarity and info. on fitness for new dads check out my interview with Chris Illuminati over on his site today! Leave a comment here and tell him your best fitness advice for new parents to win a copy of his new book!

*No this is not February's Great Fitness Experiment. I needed a little more time to get that one all put together for you guys so you'll find out all about it tomorrow!

Forget Crunches If You Want Six Pack Abs

That can't be right can it?
Surely if you do nothing else but do ab crunches all day long you'll end up with a stomach like a washboard?

Er, well no, that's not strictly true...

In fact, not only is it possible to get flatten stomach fast without a single crunch, it's also possible that relying on relentless crunching is moving you away from your desired flat stomach!

Ok, before I get carted off by the men in white coats, let me explain. Come to think of it, even if you *did* call the men in white coats, it would be *me* they would agree with!

It's all to do with the physiology, the construction of the body around the abdomen. A six pack is a display of defined abdominal muscles. Crunching is a superb way of strengthening and building these muscles, but it's vital to bear in mind, that if you currently don't have that six pack, your ab muscles will most likely be covered with a layer of fat. It doesn't have to be a rippling spare tire, Homer Simpson style, but there will be a layer of fat covering those muscles.

If you simply concentrate on building the abs, but do nothing about the fat, then as your abs develop, not only will they not be visible, but they will actually be pushing the layer of fat outwards! This is the last thing you want!

The layer of fat is one of the hardest areas to get rid of, so you need to start an all-round fitness regime if you really want a six pack. Try to focus on a good cardio workout, some sort of aerobic type exercise that will get your blood pumping and keep it in your target heart rate zone for at least 30 minutes and do your cardio at least 5 days a week for best results. Brisk walking, jogging, swimming and TaeBo are all good examples of a cardio workout. Gradually, and this won't and cannot happen overnight, as the fat layer disappears, your ab muscles will become closer to the surface, and therefore more visible.

Take it from me, as someone who's done it, the ab muscles get plenty of workout in everyday life, so are often defined enough so that once the fat layer had gone, they give off that familiar six pack look.

So there you are, a simple explanation of biology has got rid of almost any need for those horrible crunches!
You may want to do them to buff up your abs once the can be seen, but blimey they are hard enough to do at any time let alone if the effort is just going to waste!

4 Simple Tweaks to Get Washboard Abs

Everybody wants to get flatten stomach fast. Some pay large sums of money hiring expensive trainers who share the same information that you can easily find for free on the internet. Although there are certain trainers who DO KNOW what it takes to get washboard abs, most of them are good for nothing.

There are several changes you can make to your daily routine in order to get rid of your belly fat, but I am going to show you 4 very basic and very simple tweaks that will accelerate your results by over 80%. Without further do, let's get in to the action take mode and get washboard abs in the fastest time possible:

Eat High Fiber Carbs

Abs are made in the kitchen. There is no doubt about this particular fact. No matter how many thousand crunches you do and how frequently you do it, everything fails if you eat wrong. In order to get washboard abs without screwing things up, you need to eat a lot of carbs that are loaded with high fiber like beans, legumes, peas, carrots, leaves etc...

Eat More Protein

Research proves it that your body burns a lot of calories just to digest the protein you intake. The more protein you eat, the more calories you burn. This is called increased thermic effect leading to increased metabolism. You really do not need to know what that means, but it is important that you eat 1g of protein per lean bodyweight every single day to keep your metabolism elevated at all times so that you can burn fat fast and get washboard abs in a very short period of time.

Eat Every 3 Hours.

As long as you are awake, you need to make sure you eat every 3 hours. Doing so will let your body know that you are not starving yourself. This will rid of your body of the fear of starvation mode (your body stores fat during starvation mode) and start using stores of fat for energy. Eating every 3 hours may sound difficult, but with the many protein shakes and meal replacement foods out there, life couldn't get full and simple.

Maintain or Build More Muscle.

Eating protein and high fiber carbs every 3 hours will help you maintain lean muscle but if you really want to get washboard abs, you need to get below 10% body fat. You cannot achieve this goal without exercise. In order to reach a very low level of body fat, you need to skip the single joint exercises and follow compound exercises that give the most BANG for your effort.

Performing muscle building compound exercises like Dead lifts, Squats, Bench Press, Chin ups, Pull ups etc... will turn your body in to a fat burning furnace for 24 to 48 hours, even while you sleep! By following the 4 simple tweaks mentioned above will give you an really powerful edge in your goal to get washboard quickly.

Ray Hunsinger: Motivation Pics

Bodybuilder Ray Hunsinger talks about competing: "My last competition was in 2007. So it is getting about time to compete again. I have the plan to participate in the Musclemania in Miami in June 2010, but I do not know yet if I am in a shape good enough to end up as one of the first 3. If I can't make it in 2010. I will try to be there in 2011." On these photos Ray demonstrates his progress, especially his huge arms:

Putting the Person Back in Online Personal Training [Experiment Results]

In an effort to keep their large geriatric clientele happy, my YMCA has recently added a floor show for their morning entertainment. A show so gripping that it even tops Ellen. (Note: not really. Nobody can top Ellen. I just wanted to work that in here somehow to tell you to check out MizFit's hilarious quest to get herself on The Ellen Show. If this doesn't do the trick, I don't know what will!) In a word: It's us.

There are some Experiments we do that draw a lot of comments from the gray-haired peanut gallery and this month's Personal Training (with actual person this time!) Experiment was one of those. Lindsey of Lean Bodies Fitness had the Gym Buddies and I doing all kinds of crazy things so on Monday I had to giggle when I overheard the following:

"Have you seen those girls? They just run everywhere! Can't even walk to get someplace."

"I know! They're crazy." (Charlotte's note: always the mark of a good Experiment!)

"It's gross. I've never seen a girl sweat so much." (This last one was said right as I ran by and, honestly, they're right. I sweat like the Amazon pre-Al Gore.)

The Experiment
This month was the first month of real, intense exercise I've been able to do since 6 weeks before my baby was, born marking a full 12 weeks off - barring my one Turbo class when she was a month old - of hardcore exercise. What a way to get back in! I asked Lindsey for a kick-butt workout and she sure gave us one. We sweated huge disgusting puddles inspiring Gym Buddy Krista to comment, "The worst thing about this Experiment is all the extra laundry." I would disagree - I think the all the lat work was the worst part (Anyone else have a body part they just abhor working? Mine are my lats. I'll never work them of my own accord!) - but the laundry was a close second. It only took me one load of washing the baby's stuff with mine to realize that "swotch" (a.k.a. sweaty crotch) is not a smell you want on your infant's onesie.

What I Liked
In contrast to the last time we used an online personal trainer, this time there was an actual person - Lindsey - involved. This made a huge difference. Our weekly check-ins with her helped keep me motivated and engaged. It also helped me cheat less knowing I was going to be reporting my reps and weights to her. I discovered that having a real live person to listen to you is kind of like a poor-man's therapy and since my therapist is now M.I.A. I let out all my weight woes to Lindsey. Girl was a darn good sport, refusing to get sucked into my drama. I gotta say it's hard to work up a good hysteria when the listening party insists on being rational. Lindsey calmed my anxiety by pointing me to her progress pics and telling me that she couldn't lose all the weight either while she was breastfeeding.

I think that the best part of working with an online trainer would be the adaptability. Seeing as this Experiment was only one month we didn't really get to test out this aspect but assuming you stick with things longer than I do (Me? Flighty? Wait, what's that shiny object over there!) then she would change the program to suit your changing needs.

What I Didn't Like
The workouts were tough to the point of brutal (barftastic was thrown around a lot) which was awesome and entirely what we asked for but I would have liked them to be a little more fun. Lunges ad nauseum may be difficult but they got a bit monotonous.

The other downside to an online personal trainer is that, well, they're online. While the Gym Buddies do a pretty good job of both motivating me and keeping me honest, it would have been better for all of us had we had her standing over us and fixing our form, kicking our butts and keeping us from watching the latest Inside Edition (trust me, you do not need to know that Heidi Montag wants to trade in her DDDs for "H's - for Heidi!" You want your initials on your body? Get a tattoo!).

Results
Not that this is the best measure of a workout but I lost a total of 3.8 pounds. For all my whining and moaning it was almost a pound a week which is pretty darn decent all things considered. The real success however was in my muscles - I lost a full inch off each thigh (joy!), 3/4 inch off my hips and 1/4 inch off my waist. I gained 1/4 inch on my biceps and my chest - well that fluctuates hourly so we won't talk about that one. While I'm still not back to my old dumbbell weights, I definitely improved this month and built some muscle. It felt good to be back hefting some serious iron again. Gym Buddy Allison, whose baby is just 6 weeks older than Jelly Bean, was back to her old ways of wowing us with her amazing strength. Girl uses a 65-lb curl bar for her upright rows! The mamas are back in business!

Gym Buddy Krista lost 2 pounds this month and 1/2 inch each off her butt and thighs. She had this to say: "It was very tough, got me out of my comfort zone, forced me to push myself, was quite boring...would have like to have seen 2 weeks worth of different workouts to be repeated once, was lunge heavy...would've like to have seen some creativity in those and the squats."

Gym Buddy Megan lost 4 pounds and is down 1/2 inch on her butt, 3/4 inch on her waist and 1/2 inch on her arm. She agreed with Krista's assessment of the workout.

Conclusions
Online personal training is a great option for people who can't or don't want to use a live in-person trainer but still want someone to kick their butt (vicariously). They are a convenient and affordable option for people who are good at self-motivating and really just need someone to tell them what to do next. Like any trainer there are good ones and bad ones so take the time to check out their credentials and make sure they are a good fit for what your goals are. I really enjoyed my time with Lindsey and was impressed with her service - I'd certainly recommend her!

On another note, I came to some very interesting conclusions about my diet over the course of this Experiment that I'll share with you next week. And, February's Great Fitness Experiment coming at you on Monday! (Hint: It's one you guys have been asking me to do ever since I started this blog and it's going to be a killer! I'm SOOO excited!)

What about you guys? 30 of you won a free month of Lindsey's training with us - what did you think?? What body part do you guys hate to work out?

Lukas Topinka: Great Abs, Strong Chest

Lukas Topinka is a 21-year-old Czech bodybuilder. Here are three training videos showing the student one week off the IFBB Juniors World Championships in November 2009.

Video 1: Abs



Video 2: Chest



Video 3: Chest



Video 4: Promo for Lukas Topinka's workout on Starbodybuilder.com



You find Lukas Topinka's complete workout session on Starbodybuilder.

Does Breast Feeding Help You Lose Weight?

Salma Hayek has an amazing rack - and I'm not talking about her ability to fill a sweater, er, movie role. They're amazing because of their ability to feed a baby. It's the real secret in Victoria's Secret - breasts are not just fun bags. They also squirt milk. Which I suppose could also be considered fun in some circles. Hey, I don't know what you do with your Friday nights.

But why am I talking about breastfeeding here on a health and fitness blog? (Besides the fact that it's midnight and that always makes me random?) Because of the old adage that breastfeeding will help you lose weight.

Answering Other People's Mail: Round Two
Dear Healthlink,
I had a baby 4 months ago. I 'm breastfeeding, but I really need to lose weight. I need to return to work in about two months and if I don't lose the weight I won't have anything to wear and I can't afford to but a new wardrobe. What can I do?

Healthlink gives a mostly appropriate answer despite being interspersed with little gems like "reduce your intake of all fats" (do they not know what breast milk is made out of??) and "Limit intake of breads" (how about starting with the ice cream or double fudge brownies?) but ends with "women who breastfeed will actually lose weight faster than those who don't."

Lactating = Lean?
Super-skinny celebs like Naomi Watts and Heidi Klum swear that breastfeeding was their key to losing their baby weight in like 0.3 seconds. Salma Hayek begs to differ:

“Yes, and I’m still working on it. I gained a lot of weight, I had gestational diabetes. The pregnancy was really difficult for me. I thought, as soon as this baby is out, I’m just going to lose the weight super fast, because I’m going to breast feed, and everybody tells you that if you breastfeed it’s going to come out like this, it’s a lie! It’s not true.”

“Except for a couple of exceptions, the only reason people lose weight like that when they’re breastfeeding, it’s because they’re not eating and they’re breastfeeding, and this is not good for the baby. You know how they tell you it takes nine months to get it, nine months to lose it? There are shortcuts, but it’s not good for the baby. So I’m taking my time. I’ve lost a lot, most of the weight, and I’m very proud of it because it’s been really hard work studying what kind of food to eat that’s healthy for me, healthy for the baby. But I’m still losing even if it’s slow, and I’ve been working out… and the rest is going to go when it’s time to go.”

Lactating = Ravenous
Mad props to Salma for telling it like it is. The only weight I ever lost breastfeeding was the 8 ounces of milk the little sucker ingested. And that always came back. In fact, my body seems to like to keep about 10 extra pounds of reserve stores while I'm nursing.* Have I mentioned that I give birth to 10-pound babies? That double their weight before 6 months? Apparently my body likes to play it safe with the little butterballs. Or maybe I drank too much hormone-laced (cow) milk while pregnant. Anyhow.

This particular little gem always made me so mad. It's hard enough that people expect you to lose the baby weight the way Paris Hilton loses chihuahuas but it really drives the stake in when people expect it to be easy for you. I know that some women lose weight while breast feeding. I also know that some women have eyelashes that touch their brows without mascara and cellulite-impervious butts.

How about you? Did breast feeding help you lose weight? Or did it just help you lose your breasts when you finished? (Now there's a fun post for another day!) For those of you who don't produce a whole food group out of thin air, what are your feelings about breastfeeding in public? Be honest - does it make you uncomfortable?

*A fact it would be good for me to remember these days in all my freaking out about my Last Ten Pounds.

This post sound familiar? Today is Greatest Hits day here at GFE. This originally ran in March 2008.

The Haitian Earthquake, Kourtney Kardashian's Baby Weight and Me

The little Haitian boy who greeted rescuers [after being trapped for 8 days] with a beaming grin as they freed him from a huge pile of rubble said yesterday, "I smiled because I was free -- I smiled because I was alive." Source.

There was an earthquake in Minnesota this morning. It was pretty small - I don't think it even registered on the Richter scale - in fact, I think it was localized just around our house. I was upstairs giving Jelly Bean her bath, despite her protestations that she is saving all that curdled milk in her neck folds for later, when two of her older brothers decided to start World War III over a solitary piece of K'nex (sadly, I suppose wars have been started over lesser things). There was a huge bang, the house shook and immediately I decided we were having an earthquake, never mind that Minnesota is the least earthquake prone place on the planet. What, don't you all immediately assume a natural disaster is occurring when anything is amiss? No??

For a brief second, my mind raced trying to decide which child I would save first and if I would be able to find my cellphone in the rubble. Of course it wasn't an earthquake, just my spawn. (In relating the incident later to my husband I said, "I think they're evil." To which he replied, "No dear, just malevolent.") And then I paused and wondered if there was a mother in Haiti bathing her newborn when their earthquake hit. Five minutes prior I had been blissfully admiring my baby's dimpled bum and writing today's post in my head. (Have you seen what OK magazine did to Kourtney Kardashian?! They stuck her on the cover holding her brand-new son with the title "My diet secrets: lose 10 pounds in 10 days!" On wee problem: They photoshopped her head onto someone else's skinny body and claimed she'd lost all her baby weight. For the love of new moms everywhere Kourtney set the record straight on Twitter both showing what she really looks like now - glowing and beautiful but not flat-tummied - and saying she has not lost all her weight yet. This is what we've come to: celeb rags now making up stories out of whole cloth! Who does this story make feel good? Not the readers who all immediately feel bad about not losing 10 pounds in 10 days regardless of the occupancy status of their womb. Certainly not Kourtney. Oh yes, it would be the people getting rich off of our insecurities. There, now you got the abbreviated version!)

And then suddenly I was hugging a soaking Jelly Bean to my chest and saying a prayer for every mother in Haiti.

That feeling was still fresh in my heart when I got an e-mail from a longtime reader turned dear friend, Dr. Jon. You may remember him as the doctor who personally vetted Dara Torres during the Olympic doping scandals. Or perhaps as the only person I've ever known to eat fugu, the fish that has a one in one thousand chance of killing you. When he's not writing eloquent letters that I then selfishly purloin for use in my posts, he's volunteering as a doctor doing humanitarian aid work. He has saved lives in almost every hotspot around the globe so even though he was supposed to be on vacation, when I first heard of the Haitian earthquake I had a feeling he'd find his way there. Sure enough, yesterday this arrived in my inbox:

[...] When you are amputating a leg, deep in the rubble of a collapsed building, having crawled and wormed your way in, dragging your medical kit with you, and an aftershock comes, you can't help but duck in case the pile collapses - pretty pointless, but a normal reaction, I'm told - and traps you along with the casualty . It gnaws at you and saps energy and strength in a very different way to working in war zones, but the patient comes first and that's just how it is . I'll admit I'm very, very tired, but the job HAS to be done and we have the skill set to do it .

Kourtney Kardashian's head on another woman's body takes on a whole new meaning in this light doesn't it? I have no words. God bless you in your mission Dr. Jon. Stay safe out there, ok? And write me when you get home.

For those of us who aren't doctors, MSNBC has compiled a list of ways to help the earthquake victims and those providing on-the-ground support. And surprisingly donating money probably isn't the best way to help at this time.

May all of you hold your loved ones a little tighter! Or at the very least, hold your celebrities a little farther away.

The future of fitness is now! H.I.G.T

Laws of leanness, Richard Seymour's/Fit School:



Unless you’re involved in this business full-time, you tend to adopt certain exercises and do them over and over again, to the exclusion of all others. We tend to adopt the same habits in other aspects of our lives. We tend to eat at the same restaurants, frequent the same stores, and call the same girls at 2:00 in the morning after we’ve had a few too many drinks.

We are creatures of habit. In training, though, it’s imperative that we break out of these ruts. We have to try new movements or try different ways of doing the same old movements. Variety is not only the spice of life; it’s the main ingredient in losing fat & building the lean muscular body you want.


My clients my fighters and myself have one thing in common. Our conditioning can never be questioned! To achieve this I employ my H.I.G.T (high intensity group training) and the principles that make it effective three times per week. Full body fitness, heavy & intense....think you can hang?

* 3 sets per group, exercises performed back> to back>. 30 sec max rest between sets. Increase in weight for each exercise each set. Our goal is to recruit type two fibers. Rep range 4-12 on Training days #1 & #3. Rep range 4-8 on training day #2 (heavy weight & only two exercises performed in a group)

Group one: Focus muscle-chest, secondary-shoulders...

flat bench dumbell presses legs elevated off floor> seated front dumbell shoulder raises. standing dumbell side lateral raises> standing dumbell upright row.
*Now rest 30 seconds, increase weight repeat*

Group two: Primary muscle-shoulder, secondary-chest...

seated military dumbell press> incline bench press> 45lb plate shoulder shrugs> shoulder tri set superset ( grab ten lb plates hold one in each hand, seated one arm at a time perform 6 fast yet controlled front raises then side raises. repeat with left arm. Now perform six bent over lateral shoulder raises)
*Now rest 30 seconds, increase weight repeat*

Group three: Primary muscle-Biceps, secondary-triceps..phaseing out chest and shoulders

Standing barbell curl> tri cep kick back> incline finger tip push ups. ( when performing push ups mix up your hand & feet positions to hit the chest and shoulder muscle's at different angles, have a partner place a weight plate on your back for added intensity)*Now rest 30 seconds, increase weight repeat*

Group four: Primary muscle-triceps, secondary-biceps.....

Tricep cable press down> pull up> push up> weighted speed punches ( grab two five pound weights, hold one in each hand. Now take a fighters stance and throw left right punches fast for 30 seconds )*Now rest 30 seconds, increase weight repeat*

Group five: Primary muscle-quads, secondary-back...

barbell deep squats> pull ups> 45lb plate ulternet lunge.*Now rest 30 seconds, increase weight repeat*

Group six: Primary muscle-hamstrings, secondary-back....

Bent over barbell row> stiff legged dead lift> dumbbell or kettle ball one arm squat & press.*Now rest 30 seconds, increase weight repeat*

On training days #1 & #3 following this workout we complete abdominal work. Remember your abs have been worked in every exercise you just performed so they are fatigued. So we hit them briefly, but with intensity and from angles.

Jan Caha: Young Size

Jan Caha is a 21-year-old Czech bodybuilder. The student has been doing bodybuilding for six years. Here are three workout and posing videos:

Video 1: Dumbbell curls



Video 2: Barbell curls with a buddy



Video 3: Posing

Get FIT! Get ABFITT!!

Get Shredded With These 7 Tips

1. You must consume six to seven meals per day.
2. Protein should be the foundation of your diet as the significance of protein to muscle during dieting cannot be overstated. A maximum of 1.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight is recommended.
3. Approximately one-sixth of your daily protein should be consumed during each meal.
4. Be consistent – meet your protein requirements every day!
5. Keep fat consumption relatively constant throughout your diet.
6. Try cycling your carbohydrate intake to keep your energy levels high and preserve muscle. Spend 2 to 3 days on each carbohydrate range before switching.

•Low-carbohydrate days = 0.5 – 1.0 grams per pound of bodyweight.
•Medium-carbohydrate days = 1.5 – 1.75 grams per pound of bodyweight.
•High-carbohydrate days = 2.5 – 3.5 grams per pound of bodyweight.
7. Carbohydrate consumption should taper off throughout the day. The last meal of the day should not contain any carbohydrates.

How many people blame their genetic pre-disposition on their slow metabolism?

Or, how many people say that their partner can take off weight easily when they work harder and still stay stagnant because of their metabolism? By having these foods in the right portions and at the right times of the day, you’ll be helping yourself in your own weight-loss, muscle-gain ventures.

1. Blueberries
2. Almonds
3. Whey Protein
4. Salmon
5. Psyllium Husk
6. Spinach
7. Turkey
8. Oatmeal
9. Water
10. Green Tea

Conclusion: Believe me; if you include any (preferably all) of these foods in your daily eating plan, your body will thank you with extra energy and longevity. There aren’t many foods out there that can help keep you fit AND healthy, but these 10 are a great start. Keep reading ABFITT, train using my H.I.G.T and most important, believe in yourself.

Total Ab Burnout in 6 Moves (or less!) [Mini-Experiment]

When FitJerk posted his "Jerkdominal Blast" on Twitter, I might have just smiled remembering that my abs are only 2 months post baby expelling and not exactly up to anything involving blasts - or jerks for that matter - except that he said the magic word. No, not "please." He said challenge. I cannot resist a challenge, a fault that has put me into more than one regrettable situation (cliff dancing anyone?). Thankfully many of you share the same flaw and quite a few of you jumped in too:

So this morning found two of my Gym Buddies - the long suffering Allison and Krista - and I ready to make our abs so sore we wouldn't dare find anything humorous for at least a week. After doing Lindsey's hour-long Killer Barf Circuits in just 45 minutes which is why we are so red-faced and smelly in the above pic (it's a scratch-n-sniff!), we got down to work.

Since FitJerk said these would make us weep, we snapped some pics to prove him wrong. And also, because who needs fitness models to properly demonstrate the moves when you have us to show you how to screw them up? Hence, The Gym Buddies present Total Ab Burnout in 6 (not) Easy Moves:

Krista demos the leg scissors. 20-30 reps, 2 second tempo. (Note: FitJerk said the real killer part about this ab workout is the tempo and he was right. Some of the moves, like this one, we managed to do just as he prescribed. Others though... well, you'll see what happened. )

Next up, Allison doing the decline crunches with weight plate. 15-20 reps, 211 tempo. (Up 1 second, hold 1 second, lower 2 seconds.) Notice Allison's perfect form holding the plate behind her head, instead of on her chest? Also notice her adorable grin? Yeah, both the form and the smile went out the window after the first rep. These suckers were the worst of the bunch - agony!

Krista's expression (and method of cheating by lifting up the plate during the crunch) is pretty indicative of what we really looked like. I believe her exact words were, "I feel like I'm having a baby!!!" (Bet you don't scream that one in your gym, FitJerk!)

The third move is the pulse up. 30 reps, 211 tempo. These weren't bad. P.S. Like all the crap in the background? We're messy worker outers, we are!


Move 4 is the power wheel roll out, 20 reps tempo 312. If there was ever a piece of gym equipment designed for hilarity, it is the power wheel. Somewhere there is a stat counter for how many times people fall on their faces using this thing.

Case in point. (Also, remember the time Gym Buddy Lisseth got this sucker stuck up her butt? Good times!)


Move 5 is the oblique V-snap, 15-20 reps 211 tempo. Ignore my bad form. I'm too busy posing for the camera. (What - don't you all do that when you work out?!)


Last move: V-ups! 15-25 reps, 211 tempo. If there was one thing I learned in gymnastics, it is how evil the V-up is. Thankfully, FitJerk's version is easier than the traditional V-up (you don't have to come up to a full balance on your tail bone!). Which isn't to say it was easy. It still sucked. (I would like to take a moment here to explain that we do not generally kit out in our weight gloves to do ab work. We just didn't have time to take them off between Lindsey's Killer Barf Circuits - now with less time and more puke! - and the abs because I only had an hour to workout this a.m. You may resume caring about other things now.)

The other great thing about FitJerk's ab workout is that it inspired him to make me his new muse (Okay so he may not have officially said that but I know he was thinking it.) as he was so impressed by what an awesome exercise community we all have here at The Great Fitness Experiment that he wrote a post about the importance of having workout buddies! Yeah, yeah he doesn't mention me by name but a good muse doesn't need to be directly invoked to inspire;) You're welcome FitJerk!

In the spirit of community (and also because kick boxing in hula gear is AWESOME and HILARIOUS), here are a few pics of Turbo Jennie's turbo crew after our Island Days workout:

Somewhere a ukulele is strumming!


We had 83 peeps kicking and punching in that little studio! Turbo Jennie said we set a Y record! (And yes, Becky there in the front did the whole class in a wet suit!)

And... one more from our Christmas photo shoot because we are adorable and I found it while I was cleaning off my camera's memory. That's Gym Buddies Lisseth, Megan, Allison, me, Turbo Jennie (kindly holding my leg up as I was too wiped to do it myself) and Krista.

So, how did the ab workout go for you guys? Will I be weeping tomorrow??

Benjamin Roden: Great Abs & Biceps

In the first video teen bodybuilder Benjamin Roden does leg raises and ab poses:



In the second video Benjamin Roden does biceps curls and hits some poses after a competition in Tulsa, Oklahoma:



In the third video Ben Roden poses his chiseled abs and peaked biceps after competing in the 2009 Musclemania Universe bodybuilding competition held June 19 in Miami, Florida. Roden placed second in the junior lightweight class.

Celebrity Calves collection 9

Teja Lapanja calves

Group Calves Collection 2

Yanina Wickmayer`s calves