The Mantathlon

Train Like A Man 9

by Martin Rooney – 2/26/2013
I'm always on the hunt for ways to take the body and mind to a higher level. While researching the London Olympics, I discovered the ancient Pentathlon and couldn't figure out why it was no longer contested.
In this ultimate test of physical power and mental fortitude, athletes competed in five different events.
First, they'd sprint down a runway and leap into the sky to see who had the best long jump. Then in a footrace, they'd sprint across a stadium amid the roar of the power-appreciative crowd. Next up were tests of full body explosiveness with the javelin and discus throw.
If these four events weren't enough to drive the collective Testosterone level of the crowd into orbit, the competitors finished with wrestling to demonstrate dominance and supremacy.
Sprinting, throwing, jumping, and competing mono a mono with muscle and bone. A high measure of explosiveness, strength, technique, and guts.
Awesome.
So last summer, as I sat watching synchronized swimming, the badminton scandal, and a 70 year-old man competing in Olympic Horse Dressage, I wondered why the original Pentathlon was no longer on the docket.
The individual events were all popular in the current Olympic games and surely spectator-friendly. Hell, the only way it could get closer to Gladiators in the arena would be having the wrestling end with a fight to the death.
As I looked deeper into the history of the Pentathlon, I discovered that the original version was replaced with a more "modern" one, without the power events.
Modern Pentathlon? Can you even name the events? How about naming a famous competitor in the event since its inception in 1912?
Don't feel bad, I couldn't either.
Perhaps that should be the first lesson. Just to let you know, the current events are swimming, air pistol shooting, horse jumping, epee fencing, and a 3-kilometer run.
Modern? With fencing, pellet guns, and horse jumping? Not exactly. Looks like the Greek Warrior standing among his adoring fans on top of his battered foes has been replaced with a decidedly more foppish competitor.
But who would do such a thing? What kind of man would replace the aggressive white fibers of the sprinter with the calculating red fibers of a swimmer and distance runner?
If you've read Train Like a Man: Part 4, then you won't be surprised to find that once again the libido of the sprint has been castrated by Baron de Coubertin – yes, the same man that arbitrarily read a poem and brought the world the marathon (and chapped nipples and shin splints) also sacked the ancient pentathlon, replacing it with its more mild and "modern" cousin.
Notice how these two events seem designed to drive Testosterone into the toilet? (Hugh Hefner has made a career trying to offset the repercussions of these events. )
I know the Baron brought us back the Games and I thank him for that, but we must also question some events. If we research deep enough, we may also find he had the first prototype for Uggs boots for men, along with skinny jeans for men.
Pistols and horses, hrummphh! Sounds like there needs to be an update! How often does "modern man" spend Monday evening at the horse stables sharpening his epee while worrying about his 3K time? Forget that! He's benching and doing dips.
On Tuesdays, he isn't making sure his pistol and swim stroke are clean – he's hitting back and biceps. Horse jumping and fencing? What percentage of the world participates in that? It sounds so elitist.
Instead of running cross country, most men would love to see beasts bench head to head and then settle it all with who has the best biceps.
Let me offer something even more modern. Let me remove the steel epee and add some iron.
So here's my solution: at the next IOC meeting, before they add mixed synchronized swimming and new rules concerning cheating in ping pong, let's look at this event to fire up the world – the Mantathlon.

Rules of the Mantathlon

The Events

There are five events performed:

• Bodyweight Bench Press for Reps
• Bodyweight Chin-ups for Reps
• Half-Bodyweight Overhead Press for Reps
• 1.25 Bodyweight Dips for Reps
• Half-Bodyweight Barbell Curl for Reps

You get one attempt for maximal reps during the competition.

Stop Watch

Once you start your bench press test the clock begins. You have 20 minutes to complete all the tests. Any repetitions completed after 20 minutes have elapsed won't count toward your point total.
You must perform the tests in order, but the rest you take between tests is up to you. I suggest 3-4 minutes between each test, but keep an eye on the clock so you don't run out of time for curls.

Weigh In

Start by weighing yourself on a scale. Guessing won't cut it, as most people seem to magically lose 10 pounds before the Mantathlon begins. Since the entire event is based on bodyweight, you'll be reminded that the spare tire you promised to lose on January 1 still needs a change.

Warm Up

Get a good warm-up before testing the bench press. Since each event is different, I'd also suggest doing a few light reps of each exercise during your rest period to alert your body to the next movement. For instance, do 2 single chin-ups and a 4-rep set of overhead presses and dips before going for the real total.

Form

Each test has form requirements for the test to count.
Bench Press: You must touch the bar to the chest and lock out each rep. You can pause at the top, but failing to get a rep or racking the weight ends the exercise.

Chin-up: Use a shoulder width grip or less. You must get the chin over the bar and lower to a complete hang for one second. You can hang longer if you want, but failure to get over the bar or letting go ends the exercise.

Overhead Press: You must lock out the elbows at the top and come to a quick pause at the bottom. Racking the bar or missing a rep ends the exercise.

Dips: You must begin in the top extended position and lower until the elbow has a 90 degree angle or greater. You can pause at the top but touching the feet, releasing the grip, or failure to execute a rep ends the exercise.

Curl: You must raise the barbell to the height of the chin and lower to full extension for 1 second. No swaying or leaning back is allowed at the upper body. Releasing the bar or failure to execute a rep ends the exercise.

Scoring

A very important point: if you reach 20 repetitions on any exercise, that's the maximum score. Even if you can do more, 20 signifies the end.
Once you've performed all five events or run out of time, add up your total number of reps. A total score of 100 is the ultimate goal for this test.
Below is a rating scale:
0-10 – Low Man on totem pole10-20 – Skinny Man or Man Boobs20-30 – Average Man30-40 – Wing Man40-50 – Door Man50-60 – Athletic Man60-70 – He Man70-80 – Super Man80-90 – Mega Man90-100 – Man of War

So What Does It Mean?

Is this the be-all, end-all of fitness? Hardly. Is it a measure of fitness that's rarely tested during some of the classic strength and or power tests? You bet.
Before you knock it, try it – after performing the Manathlon, I guarantee you'll not only be enlightened, but also inspired to improve your score.
You can argue success in this event requires strength endurance, but to rep out with your bodyweight on the bench press, you first have to be really strong.
Speaking of strong, by adding the element of time, my Mantathlon also tests another area of manliness not often challenged during a classic one-rep max test: mental toughness.
You'll find the ticking clock will create a point during the event where you might mentally give in. There will be reps you don't get the first time, not because they're impossible, but because you're not yet able to access the mental stamina to dig them out.
As your scores improve due to familiarity with the test, so will your mental toughness, which is an added benefit to the strength gains you'll see as you train to increase your score.

The New Olympics?

Maybe the Baron was misinterpreted? Perhaps he wanted people to carry the horse and the swordfight to the death? We'll never know. But know this: when you perform the Mantathlon, it will leave you hungry for more!

Cleanse the liver to improve health

by Derrell Jones 

(NaturalNews) Cleansing is important. It is so important that there are several organs that are responsible for keeping the body cleansed. Chief among these organs is the liver. Responsible for the regulation of our metabolism and purifying our blood, the liver plays a key role in our overall health. It is for this reason that we must strive to keep our livers in proper working order. Some of the ways to accomplish this is through drinking plenty of fresh, clean water, abstaining or moderating alcohol consumption, abstain from consuming products that slow liver function (e.g. artificial sweeteners) and cleansing the liver at least twice a year.

How to cleanse

Master herbalist and acupuncturist Dr. Christopher Hobbs provides additional insight into the liver cleansing process. Dr. Hobbs states that flushing the liver allows for the elimination of waste while stimulating the production of bile. Cleansing also has a cooling effect on the liver which increases high functioning and necessary repairs. Follow these instructions from Dr. Hobbs for a homemade cleanse:

Ingredients

• Lemons or limes
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Olive oil

Directions

Squeeze one cup of fresh citrus juice (lemon and/or lime; grapefruit juice can be blended to help with taste). Mix the juice of one or two cloves of garlic and raw ginger juice into the citrus juice. Add one tablespoon of high quality, organic olive oil. A small amount of spring water can be added but the more sour the mix, the more helpful it will be for your liver. Do this for 10 days followed by three days off and then another 10 days for two cycles (will total 20 days of cleansing total). This cleanse should be completed twice a year once in the spring and once in the fall.

Consuming three to eight ounces of the juice for each serving should prove very beneficial. In addition, drink a cup of a cleansing tea such as Polari tea or any other high quality organic liver detoxification tea one hour after consuming the juice. No food should be consumed in the hour between consuming the juice and drinking the tea.

Whether you make your own liver detoxifying juices or follow a different preparation, make sure it is of the highest quality possible to assist in proper assimilation of the nutrients so you can achieve the desired results. If you have any questions about quality preparations or if you are currently experiencing chronic liver dysfunction please consult with a trusted professional healthcare provider with knowledge of holistic practices and be sure to ask all the questions you desire.

Reduce your cancer risk - especially colorectal - by eating more ginger

by PF Louis 

(NaturalNews) Ginger is one of Ayurveda's favorite medicinal and tonic herbs, and it has emerged also as a culinary favorite lately. There has been considerable clinical testing by modern Western medicine that shows ginger's anti-inflammatory effects.

Now, there's been a small trial that points to ginger's capacity for inhibiting and preventing cancer. The trial was performed on 20 subjects who were considered high risk for colorectal cancer.

Colorectal cancer is cancer of the colon or rectum. It is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer, and it is the second most lethal. The cancer industry asserts that early detection leads to possibly thwarting the death sentence.

They insist on screening often from age 50. Screening may include removed polyp biopsies or colonoscopies and CT Scans. Then comes the cut (surgery) and poison (chemotherapy). Chris Wark of Memphis, Tennessee was diagnosed with stage three colon cancer at the young age of 26.

He underwent surgery, but refused chemotherapy. A book literally laid on his doorstep led him into a strict raw vegan and juicing diet with supplements and herbs, which was modified a few months later by a local naturopath.

He's in his mid-30s now, married with two kids, and still cancer free. He loves to post alternative cancer cure stories on his website - Chris beat cancer. (http://www.chrisbeatcancer.com/)

That ginger cancer prevention trial

The pilot trial was conducted at Atlanta, Georgia's Emory University. It was published in the National Institute of Health's (NIH)PubMed as "Effects of Ginger Supplementation on Cell Cycle Biomarkers in the Normal-Appearing Colonic Mucosa: Results from a Pilot, Randomized, Controlled Trial."

The usual division of placebo and test subjects divided the group of 20 individuals considered high risk for colorectal cancer into two groups of 10 each. This double blind study approach is a rather cruel hoax for the placebo subjects while using non-toxic medicines.

But they insist on this protocol and others that torture animals so they can accept it as evidence based research.

The 10 lucky subjects were given two grams of ginger a day for 28 days. State of the art diagnostic testing was utilized to observe various markers on all 20 subjects detrimental to cancer forming. They examined biopsies of rectal mucosa and epithelium (thin tissue layer) crypts (tiny pockets) from both groups.

After the 28 days, biopsy markers for those who were taking two grams of ginger daily were markedly better than the placebo group.

The researchers concluded: "... ginger may reduce proliferation in the normal-appearing colorectal epithelium and increase apoptosis [cancer cell death] and differentiation relative to proliferation ... [to] support a larger study to further investigate these results."

In other words, you can use ginger to help keep cancer away, especially colorectal cancer.

Suggestions for consuming ginger

You can purchase ginger capsules, or use ginger powder to make your own and/or sprinkle onto foods. Two grams doesn't amount to much, especially if you use it for teas, beverages, or with food.

You can purchase ginger root from most health food stores. Ginger root is not among the top "dirty dozen" of most pesticide sprayed foods. So don't worry if organic ginger root is not within your budget.

Peel the skin off ginger roots just before using them. If you juice with a masticating juicer, you can drop a couple inches of the root into your juicer along with other veggies and apples. It spices things up and supplies a large dose of cancer preventing ginger.

For ginger tea, it's best to use the traditional method of covering the bottom of a pan with thin slices of peeled ginger root, bringing it to a boil then letting it simmer for a half-hour. Whatever you don't drink can be stored in the fridge for a few days.

How to get fit in just 90 minutes per week

by David Gutierrez, staff writer 

(NaturalNews) A workout technique known as interval training can help you get in shape in a fraction of the weekly time investment required by more conventional workout techniques, according to a study conducted by researchers from Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), the University of Birmingham and published in the Journal of Physiology.

According to World Health Organization recommendations, all people should engage in between three and five hours of endurance training every single week in order to be fit and healthy and to reduce their risk of chronic diseases and early death. Yet, it can be a major challenge for many city dwellers to make that much time for exercise. Indeed, the majority of U.S. adults do not meet exercise recommendations, and lack of time is considered the main cause.

The study compared two separate forms of workout known as High-Intensity Interval Training (HIT). HIT consists of alternating between a vigorous activity (such as running or cycling) and a less vigorous activity (such as walking) - which activities are used and for how long varies depending upon the needs of the individual. HIT programs are popular because they provide comprehensive fitness workouts in a short period of time. For example, a typical HIT workout might consist of 90 seconds cycling on an exercise bike as fast as possible, followed by 60 seconds of slow cycling, repeated five times for a total of a 15-minute workout.

Fitness in just 90 minutes per week

In the current study, researchers evaluated several health markers of people who had taken part in HIT or Sprint Interval Training (SIT) workouts.

"SIT involves four to six repeated 30-second 'all out' sprints on special laboratory bikes interspersed with 4.5 minutes of very low intensity cycling," researcher Sam Shepherd said.

"Due to the very high workload of the sprints, this method is more suitable for young and healthy individuals. However, anyone of any age or level of fitness can follow one of the alternative HIT programs."

The researchers found that just three half-hour SIT sessions per week improved insulin sensitivity (a marker of health and fitness) as effectively as five one-hour traditional endurance sessions. SIT was also effective at improving delivery of glucose and insulin to skeletal muscle and burning of fat stored in skeletal muscle.

"Additionally, we found a reduced stiffness of large arteries which is important in reducing the risk of vascular disease." researcher Matthew Cocks said.

The findings suggest that HIT and SIT should be effective at reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity and many other conditions associated with aging.

Shepherd further noted that according to the preliminary results of an ongoing pilot study at the University of Birmingham, people between the ages of 25 and 60 rank HIT (performed on exercise bikes) as more enjoyable than traditional endurance training. The study participants also appear to experience greater improvements in mood from HIT than from endurance training.

"This could imply that HIT is more suitable to achieve sustainable changes in exercise behavior," Shepherd said.

Sources:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130201090405.htm
http://www.emaxhealth.com

A Power Clean Primer For Beginners

by Charles Staley – 1/29/2013

This article is an encapsulation of a teaching progression that I developed over the course of 3 years while teaching the "Olympic lifts" to over 65 Crossfit facilities in the US and Canada.
It's designed for people who are new to the Olympic lifts, and/or for those who do have some experience but still find themselves struggling.
Note: Before we go further, let me state that this is designed to be a "learn by doing" article – it won't have much real value unless you watch the videos and actually try the drills I've provided in them.
With that out of the way, the goal of the following sequence of drills is rapid competence. Not mastery, not perfection, but competence.
How rapid? One session. Honestly, I'm not very patient, and I assume you aren't either. So my goal here is to get you up and running, doing decent power cleans in the very first session, so that you have a chance to taste the fun and unique satisfaction of this lift.
And trust me, it really is fun. Once you get that initial taste, my bet is that you'll then do the hard work it takes to go from competence to mastery, which, admittedly, takes a lot longer.
Since my approach is all about expedience, please excuse my choice to omit specific recommendations about breathing, grip, stance, and the "double knee bend" (whatever that is). You can worry about those details later, and/or we can hash them out in the LiveSpill.
Remember, we're after rapid competence here – like speed-reading, my job here is to help you get the gist of the story very quickly. After that, should you so choose, you can go back with an eye for more detail.

Let's Get Started

The following series of 8 drills is designed to be learned in the order presented. But before we get to the first drill, a quick word about the weights you should be using for each drill.
I obviously can't recommend specific weights, since all of you will have different strength levels. The key for each drill is that you want to select a weight heavy enough to get the proprioceptive feedback you need to facilitate learning, but not so heavy that you're forced to do "whatever it takes" to complete the drill. If you're not sure, err on the side of going too light, at least at the beginning.
Most people can successfully work their way through all 8 drills in a single session, while others may require a few sessions to digest the skills. Further, the earlier drills can usually be ditched very quickly – within a few weeks in most cases.
Wherever you happen to fall on the skill continuum, what's most important is that you learn these drills in the order they appear below, and don't be afraid to drop back a level or two if necessary.

The 8 Progressions

Drill #1: Learning The Shelf Position

The "shelf" refers to the position the bar ends up in on your shoulders at the completion of a power clean. If you're not familiar and comfortable with this position, your pull will be inhibited. So in this series of progressions, we start at "Point A" and only later will we tackle "Point B." I want you to be very comfortable with the destination before you go any further.

As you watch this video of me, you might notice some asymmetry – I have restricted flexion in my left elbow, which puts my elbows in different positions on the catch. That's okay. The main thing is that you have a pain-free, comfortable, stable position for the bar on your deltoids – not your collarbones.
Typically, most lifters will need to catch the bar with high elbows to achieve this position. Go ahead and test it for yourself: first shelve the bar with high elbows, noticing where the bar sits. Then, slowly lower your elbows – at some point, you'll feel the bar contact your collarbones, and at the same time, you'll notice (especially if you're using significant weight) the bar starting to slip off of its perch. When this happens, obviously your elbows are too low.
Be forewarned that many people will experience a significant stretch on their wrists as they practice the shelf position. Usually this fades over time, but sometimes it never does. Only time will tell.
In the meantime, taping your wrists and/or modifying the width of your grip can help a lot. Another very helpful trick is to protract your shoulders (push your elbows forward) as you receive the bar. Doing so creates a "shelf" for the bar to rest on.
Finally, keep in mind, during an actual clean, the bar only needs to be there for a moment. After that, you can drop it.
One last point on this drill: at this stage anyway, don't be concerned about having a full handgrip around the bar as it lands on your shoulders, In truth, you're better off allowing your hands to open up at this point (like mine are in the video). In the power clean, the hands become dormant once the pull has been completed (more on this later).
Okay, on to the next drill...

Drill #2: Clean Pull From Above The Knees

(By the way, even if you had trouble with the shelf, you can still move on to this next drill, since learning it doesn't depend on your ability to properly rack the bar on your shoulders.)
This drill is perhaps the most pivotal of the bunch. If you can shelve the bar properly, and if you can do this drill, you're capable of doing a great clean. It's as simple as that. Watch this video first – I'll meet you on the backside:

As you just saw, this drill very much resembles what some people call a "Romanian Deadlift," or a stiff-leg deadlift. Keeping the bar against your thighs at all times, simply sit back, allowing the bar to slide down your legs, and then, once the bar approaches your kneecaps, reverse the motion, acceleratively "jump-shrugging" the bar.
There are three main points I need to make about this drill.
First, as you sit back, get your shoulders out in front of the bar as it approaches your knees, not directly over top of it. In other words, the main body action as you lower the bar to your knees is hip flexion, not knee flexion (although it's natural and appropriate for the knees to "unlock.")
Second, it's not really a shrug. Yes, the shoulders elevate, but it's a passive elevation, not active – they elevate because your straight arms are being pushed up by the bar's upward momentum, which causes the shoulders to rise.
Third, the bar must become weightless for a split second at the top of your pull. This is one of the most significant differences between cleans and any other lift you've probably done before.
In fact, you'll notice that in the video, I have metal 5-pound plates on the bar. The only reason they're there is to provide me with auditory feedback – if you've done the pull properly, you'll hear that distinctive "ka-chink" sound on each rep. If you don't hear it, keep practicing until you do.
Before we go on to the next drill, watch this quick demonstration that I learned from coach Mike Burgener. It's something that all beginners to the clean should be shown before they start practicing the lift. The first "rep" simulates the energetics of a deadlift, and the second "rep" simulates what happens during a clean (i.e., the bar becomes weightless).

Drill #3: Clean Pull / Power Clean Complex From Above The Knees

Once you've got a consistent, relaxed clean pull going for you, the next step is to integrate it with an actual power clean. Do two clean pulls from above the knee, and on each rep, notice how the bar "wants" to travel up to your shoulders, but for now at least, you're not letting it.
On the third rep, do exactly the same thing, but this time simply allow the bar to coast up to your shoulders, and then shelve the bar once it's arrived.

The idea here is that you use the two clean pulls as a rehearsal to "groove" your power clean technique. You should understand that the pull is the active phase of the clean, and everything after the pull is the passive phase.
Here's me performing a clean with no arm contribution after the pull just to get the point across:

Drill #4: Clean Lift-Off From Floor

At this point it's time to graduate to starting your drills from the floor, which is more difficult than the above the knees position because you've got to navigate around your knees with the bar.
The first step is to learn how to start the pull in a hip-dominant manner, which is demonstrated in the video below. While this movement will look similar to a partial deadlift, the thing to notice is that the angle of my back (relative to the floor) stays constant as the bar moves from the starting position to knee height.

Most novices, however, do something different: they raise the shoulders faster than the hips, which leaves the knees flexed, which in turn reduces the power you'd otherwise have in your posterior chain.
Here's a drill to help you understand and master the idea of a hip dominant pull. Using an easy weight, do 6 reps, where the odd-numbered reps are "incorrect" (knee dominant) and the even-numbered reps are "correct" (hip dominant). Here's what that looks like:

There are three main ways to tell if you're doing this drill correctly. First, on the "correct" reps, you'll feel a lot of tension accumulate in your hamstrings. Second, you'll arrive at a position where your shoulders are in front of, not over top of the barbell as it reaches the bottom of your kneecaps. And finally, as the barbell reaches knee level, it'll want to drift forward, away from your legs, requiring you to pull it back to yourself.
On the "incorrect" reps, you won't feel much hamstring tension, and as the bar reaches your knees, your shoulders will be directly on top of the bar, not in front of it. Once this drill feels comfortable, move on to Drill #5.

Drill #5: Clean Lift-Off/Clean Pull Complex From Floor

Just like we did earlier, we're now going to use the clean pull to groove your technique for the clean. The only difference is that now we're starting from the floor as opposed to above the knees.
The only "new" technical element to absorb here is tempo – most novices will tend to quickly rip the bar right from the floor, which hurts your efficiency in a number of ways. The better approach is to pull the bar slowly until it reaches your kneecaps, and then increase the speed.

Think of it like a golf swing – club speed is important, but only at the point where it contacts the ball. Good golfers use the entire swing path to accumulate speed, and good lifters do the same thing with the bar.
Think of the tempo of a simple baseball throw: it starts slow, almost lazily slow, but then accelerates and finally snaps at the end. That's a good representation of proper bar speed on the power clean.
If this drill is coming along well, it's time to move on to the next step. If not, go back a step and brush up your technique before moving on.

Drill #6: Clean Lift-Off/Clean Pull / Power Clean Complex From Floor

This is a 3-rep drill, where each rep is a rehearsal for the next. Everything else should be self-explanatory at this point, but stay on top of the tempo issue – all 3 reps are slow from the floor to the knee. You're not strong down there anyway, so wait until you reach the "power position" before you pull the trigger!

Everything feeling good? If so, time for the next step. If not, well I guess you know the story by now.

Drill #7: Clean Pull / Power Clean Complex From Floor

All we're doing here is removing the first set of training wheels – the lift-off. If doing so doesn't seem to hurt anything, move on to the eighth and final step. If not, back down a level for now.

Drill #8: Power Clean From Floor

Congratulations! You've arrived at the final step – a power clean from the floor. I have no new technical concerns to alert you to here, since we're not really doing anything new at this point. The real trick at this stage is to spend the majority of your practice time on the level or levels that are appropriate for your current level of skill.

For most people this means clean pulls, either from above the knee (if you think you're really struggling) or from the floor (if you feel pretty good but just want to clean things up a bit).

Problem Solving

Now that we've gone through all 8 steps, let's address a handful of common issues/problems and how to solve them.

The Scoop: Complete vs. Incomplete Hip Extension

You might've noticed in the last video that my thighs make significant contact with the bar. In fact, all competent weightlifters demonstrate this maneuver. Less skilled lifters, by comparison, do not.
Most coaches think it best to not teach this maneuver, as it should simply be the byproduct of good technique (i.e., complete hip extension). I'm on the fence on that issue, but I want you to do a little test to help convince yourself of how important complete hip extension is, and then I'll share a few tips to help you fully extend your hips on the power clean.
Here's the test: Perform a vertical jump (it doesn't have to be maximum effort) without fully extending your hips. (Don't do this while anyone is watching because you're going to look completely incompetent.)
Feels like shit doesn't it? I'm betting you found it difficult to pull off at all – that's how important full hip extension is on a vertical jump.
It's just as important on the power clean – not fully extending your hips hurts your clean just as much as it hurt your jump.
Now, a few tips if you're struggling with this.
First, go sloooow until the bar passes your knees. If you go too fast here, it'll be difficult to time the proper extension because by the time you push your hips forward, the bar will already be too high.
Second, get those shoulders out in front of the bar as it reaches your knees – you can't extend your hips unless you first flex them right?
Finally, it's okay if the bar isn't touching your shins (although it should still be very close to them), but by the time the bar passes your kneecaps, keep it pinned to your thighs as you pull. This helps you feel where the bar is, which in turns helps you figure out your timing for the scoop.
Here's a video I did on this maneuver a few years ago:

The Finish: The Clean Pull From Supports

Many novice lifters have trouble understanding how to "finish the pull." The drill below works absolute miracles right from the first rep. I'm really not sure why, but I think it helps the lifter feel safe enough to fully commit, since he won't be racking the bar on the shoulders, nor does he need to worry about getting it back down to the floor.
You'd think you could just do clean pulls from above the knees, but it doesn't work nearly as well.
Incidentally, in no time at all you can go really heavy with this – I routinely used to do 405 for triples when I was competing in Master's weightlifting.

The Catch: Learning How To Avoid Grinding And Crashing

Lots of new lifters struggle when it comes to racking the bar on their shoulders during power cleans. Often, they don't trust their precision and fear slamming the bar into their throat, chin, or face. The result is that they use excessive hand contribution to "guide" the bar to its proper finish position. Only problem is, you can't do this with real weight, and it also punishes your wrists and elbows.
Other lifters simply fail to properly estimate the amount of pull they need to get the bar to their shoulders – they'll get the bar almost high enough, and then painfully grind it the rest of the way. Ouch. Don't do this either.
Here's me grinding 225 – you'll notice that I didn't pull the bar high enough to catch it with high elbows (I rotated the elbows up afterward, but by then, its too late):

The remaining issue is when lifters overestimate the amount of pull they need. The bar sails up past the face, and then crashes down onto the shoulders. That's an owie, too – power cleans should never hurt, no matter how heavy they are.
It's just a matter of putting your time in to correct these problems, should you experience them. Keep practicing.

Practice vs. Training: Appropriate Load Selection

One frustrating reality for power clean novices is the necessity to keep loads manageable until technique becomes stable. During this time of course, cleans can't be used to develop strength or power because the loads will be, by necessity, too light.
When this is the case, simply use clean pulls (from above the knees or the floor, or even better, from the rack, depending on your skill level) for power development – they're 95% as good as cleans for this purpose.
Another strategy is to use the various drills as part of your dynamic warm-up routine. Why use non-skill movements for this purpose when using these drills kills two birds with one stone?

I Want Your Feedback!

I hope you found this article useful, and I'd love to hear from you in the LiveSpill area below.

8 Blast Strap Exercises for Serious Upper Body Muscle

by Ben Bruno – 2/5/2013


Every year, shortly after Thanksgiving, my Mom starts asking me what I want for Christmas. When I was younger I'd rattle off a list a mile long, but as I've grown older, I've gotten progressively quieter because I'm not much of a "stuff" guy.
So that leaves her to guess, which means I usually get a new pair of winter boots that I end up returning, or 12 pairs of socks. Sound familiar?
One Christmas, though, about six years ago, she asked me what I wanted just as I was perusing the Elitefts Christmas sale. As I scanned the various goodies, a pair of blast straps caught my eye. Mind you, this was before suspension training was all the rage and well before you could sign up for full-body "TRX classes" in commercial gyms.
At the time I didn't know much about suspension training and thought it looked pretty lame, but I figured it'd at least be a good way to supercharge push-ups, so I asked for them.
Had it been my own money I definitely would've passed but hey, kick-ass push-ups beats getting another ugly sweater.
It proved to be a good investment because I still have those blast straps today and have since expanded my suspension training arsenal well beyond just push-ups. I don't see them as a "be all end all" by any means, but I definitely like them a lot for certain exercises, particularly for the upper body.
Just to be clear, when I say blast straps, I'm referring to all suspension training systems: blast straps, rings, TRX, jungle gym, etc.
With that in mind, here are my favorite blast strap exercises to build the upper body.

1. Chest

Push-ups

I'll start with push-ups because it's the first exercise I ever used the blast straps for and they've been a staple exercise in my program ever since.
It was really a love-at-first-try type of thing. I always love a good challenge, and the blast straps definitely provide that. The first few times I tried them I was shaking and could only muster a few reps, but after a little bit of practice, my stability improved rapidly to where I could start to crank them out more easily. Once I got better at them, it quickly became one of my favorite upper body exercises, and still is today.
The one problem I've continually had, though, with both push-ups and dips on the blast straps is that when the blast straps are set up at just outside shoulder width (i.e., the way most people do them), they tend to chafe my triceps. Wearing long sleeves helps, but who wants to wear long sleeves when it's hot in the gym?
As I got stronger and started to load the exercises more, the chafing got worse, to the point that after every time I did the exercise I'd have people asking me, "What happened to your arms?" because there were massive red marks, similar to a rug burn.
A little chafing certainly isn't enough to stop doing a good exercise though, just like you wouldn't stop deadlifting because it can bruise your shins or stop front squatting because it can hurt to hold the bar – at least I hope you wouldn't.
I guess when you're in love, you're willing to put up with a little pain and bullshit.
The chafing started to bug me though, so as a way to eliminate it, I started hanging the blast straps wider. I do all my blast strap work in a power rack, so rather than hang them straight down from the pull-up bar on the front just outside the shoulders, I hung them from the sides of the rack.
What a difference that small tweak makes! Not only did that eliminate the chafing, it also enhanced the exercise significantly from a chest-building perspective because it forces you to actively squeeze your pecs like crazy throughout the set to keep your hands in tight to your body.
The key is not to allow the wider ring position to alter your arm position, so you still want to keep your elbows tucked in close to your body.
Keep in mind though that the wider the blast straps are, the harder the exercise becomes, so start at shoulder width and move out gradually over time as you feel more comfortable.
You may want to elevate your feet slightly as well to account for the straps being raised off the floor. Other than that, perform them just as you would a normal push-up.
I alternate between doing them weighted in the beginning of a workout and unweighted at the end for a massive pump that also doubles as a good core exercise, killing two birds with one stone.

Wide Flyes

If you've got push-ups down and are one of the masochistic types looking for a way to punish your pecs even more, flyes might be something to consider. They're not for everyone – especially people with shoulder issues – but if your shoulders can handle them, you'd be hard pressed to find an exercise that fries the pecs like ring flyes do.
Just like with push-ups, you can make them harder by setting the blast straps wider.
Be warned though, regular ring flyes with the blast straps at shoulder-width are tough enough as it is, but setting the blast straps wider makes them downright brutal. As a point of reference, several months ago I could do regular flyes with my feet elevated and a 50-pound weighted vest for sets of 8-10, but couldn't even do one full rep with the blast straps wider unless I did them from my knees – and even that was a struggle.
With practice I can now do 6-8 unweighted wide flyes with my feet on the floor when I'm fresh, but if it's at the end of the workout, I can't even do one. So if I do them at the end, I'll do them on my knees, which is still an awesome finisher.

Wide Dips

Like blast strap flyes, dips are one of those "off-limits" exercises for people with shoulder issues, but if you can handle regular dips okay, using the blast straps makes them that much better. And in fact, a lot people that have problems with parallel bar dips find they can do them on the blast straps pain-free.
However, prepare to be humbled the first time you try them because it's a whole different ballgame than regular dips. When I first tried them I could do regular dips with four plates for reps so I'd figured it'd be a breeze.
Wrong.
I made a complete fool of myself and couldn't even do one rep. After about an hour of practice I could knock out a whooping 3 reps while shaking so badly it probably looked like I was being electrocuted. And that's with no weight. Talk about embarrassing.
Looking back, though, I don't feel too badly because every one of my buddies that tries to work in when I'm doing them now goes through the same humiliating experience, so I think it's just part of the process.
Swallow your pride and stick with it because after a few times of getting acclimated to the blast straps, it gets much easier and your performance will shoot right back up. At this point, my weighted blast strap dips are almost as strong as my bar dips, and when I rep out I'm within 4-5 reps. Not only that, but they just feel much better on the blast straps, meaning they feel safer and seem to work the chest more.
Just as with blast strap push-ups, start with the blast straps set just outside shoulder-width so your triceps can press against them for support. As you improve, try moving the blast straps wider to increase the difficulty (and chest stimulation) and eliminate chafing of the upper arms.
To keep constant tension on the chest, stop an inch or two short of locking your arms out at the top. This may seem like it's cheating, but with the blast straps set wide it actually makes it quite a bit harder.

2. Back

Wide Grip Chins

I've allows loved the way wide grip chin-ups (or pull-ups) feel in my lats, but when I do them on the bar they usually really piss off my shoulders and wrists. I know many people have had a similar experience, and I've also heard complaints that using a wide grip really bugs some peoples' elbows.
So usually I just avoid them and use a shoulder-width grip – that is, until I started using the blast straps.
Using the blast straps allows for a more natural rotation of the arms, so it feels much cleaner. I just wish I'd started doing these sooner.
Here's what they look like:
Beyond being more joint-friendly, setting the blast straps up wider than your wingspan makes it a lot harder – the blast straps will want to go out so you have to squeeze hard to counteract that force and keep them on the right path, which makes for a huge contraction in the lats.
The set-up is really easy. If you have blast straps, just set them up on either side of a power rack. If you have a TRX, just throw it over the top of the rack.
You'll probably need to bend your legs, but that's no big deal.
Keep in mind that they're a lot harder than regular chins – especially if you're strict on the form – so don't expect to hit your usual numbers, but expect your lats to be fried more than normal.
You've been warned.

Inverted Rows

I may've bought the blast straps primarily for push-ups, but I've gotten the most use out of them for inverted rows, which has become my favorite rowing exercise – meaning I like them more than barbell rows, dumbbell rows, t-bar rows, cable rows, etc.
I like them so much because it's an awesome way to overload the upper back without stressing the lower back. This is obviously appealing for people like me with lower back issues, but it's also valuable even for healthy folks because it allows you to keep your lower back fresh for your heavy lower body exercises like deadlifts and squats.
Even a healthy lower back can only handle so much abuse, so why not save it for the exercises that are inherently lower back intensive rather than use it up on upper body exercises? Especially since you can overload the upper back just as much in an inverted row as you can in a free weight row.
If you think that last sentence is malarkey, you probably haven't done inverted rows the way I do them. I've done more than my fair of heavy-ass free weight rows (and still do) and I'll say unequivocally that inverted rows can be made every bit as hard as anything else I've ever tried.
My favorite variations include:
Weighted: either with weighted vests or putting plates on your abs
1.5 reps: row up, come halfway down, row back up again, and come all the way down
Wide inverted rows: set the blast straps wider, as I've described for the chest exercises
Decline rows: elevate the feet higher than the head
Row/reverse fly combo: one arm performs a row while the other arm extends straight out the side
One-arm inverted rows: using one ring only
I have video demonstrations of all these variations on my You Tube page.
So as you can see, there are tons of effective ways to do this exercise. I usually do some variation of inverted rows twice a week, which alone has made buying the blast straps worth it.

3. Shoulders

3-Way Shoulder Finisher

All the chest and back exercises I've shared also work the shoulders quite a bit so you really don't needanything else – but if you want something to work them more directly, here's a quick three exercise finisher that I like to use at the end of upper body workouts when I'm looking to fry my shoulders, particularly the posterior delts.
The three exercises are reverse flyes, external rotations, and face pulls, done in that order. They're ordered from hardest to easiest and are done in succession as a mechanical drop-set, so don't rest in between exercises.
Here's what it looks like in action. I usually do 6-10 reps of each exercise, but I'll just show three reps of each for the sake of brevity:
While this is a high rep finisher, it's still important to keep good form and do each rep deliberately as opposed to just pumping them out. Trust me, you'll still get a huge pump.
1-2 sets (meaning 1-2 drop-sets) is all you'll need.

4. Arms

Bodyweight Curls

I don't do curls often (as evidenced by my puny arms), but when I do, these are on my short list of go-to's.
Set-up just as you would for an inverted row with a pronated or neutral grip and your feet on the floor, but rather than row to your sides, curl your hands to your forehead while supinating your wrists. Be sure to keep your body straight by squeezing your glutes and bracing your abs.
I could pull something out of my you-know-what and say I like them because they also double as a good core exercise to give you more bang for your buck and make them more "functional," whatever that means.
But that's not why I like them. I don't do curls to be "functional" in the athletic sense – I do curls to get bigger biceps. And if bigger biceps is the goal, it doesn't get more functional than curls.
Barbell curls tend to piss off my wrists and forearms, but using the blast straps allows for a more natural range of motion, much like dumbbells, which is not only more joint-friendly but also lends itself to a hell of a contraction.
Most importantly though, it's an excuse to do curls in the squat rack.

Bodyweight Triceps Extensions

Bodyweight triceps extensions are a great exercise no matter how you do them, however, doing them on the blast straps is better than using a bar in a power rack or Smith machine because it increases the range of motion. It does so by allowing you to extend your arms further out in front of your body (since you don't have to worry about your head hitting the bar), thereby increasing the stretch on the long head of the triceps.
The blast straps also allow you to rotate your hands naturally through the rep, taking stress off the elbows and makes for a stronger contraction in the triceps.
The lower you are to the floor, the harder it is. Start as low as you can go for 6-8 reps and then walk your feet up gradually and keep knocking the reps out for a brutal extended set, similar to the idea of a drop-set but not exactly (you're actually going upwards).
Keep your body as straight as possible and it doubles as a core exercise, or you can pike your butt up a bit towards the end of the set to get a few more reps in to really smoke the triceps.

Closing Thoughts

This is by no means an exhaustive list of everything you can use the blast straps for, but it's certainly enough to get you started and give you a great upper body workout.
I wouldn't recommend using blast straps-only for upper body, but I think you could probably build a great physique doing so if you were so inclined and got really good at using them, as evidenced by gymnasts with their rings.
To me though, they're just a tool in the toolbox that I sprinkle in here and there with my other strength training.
But when you consider they cost my mom around 50-60 bucks six years ago, I'd say they've been well worth the small investment. Thanks Mom!

Simple healing recipes for cleansing your liver and blood

by PF Louis 

(NaturalNews) After the heart and lungs, the liver is perhaps your most vital organ. When it shuts down, you die. Extreme liver conditions may result in the eventual need for dangerous liver transplants.

A sluggish liver can manifest a malaise of symptoms that lead to misdiagnoses for other chronic autoimmune diseases. This sluggishness can be prevented and also corrected through rejuvenating and cleansing your liver frequently.

The liver is responsible for purifying your blood and is involved with producing glutathione to recycle spent antioxidants. It helps convert sunlight to vitamin D3, and it's involved with the manufacture of bile needed for removing nutrients from food particles in the small intestine.

Successful cancer treatments such as the Gerson Therapy and Dr. Donald Kelley's pancreatic enzyme protocol, perfected and continued today by Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez, utilize coffee enemas to eliminate toxins from the liver.

This procedure was specifically inserted into those cancer treatments to eliminate dead cancer cells and toxic die off, but it's also useful for eliminating accrued toxins from years of living in our toxic environment and/or consuming toxic foods and beverages.

Methods and recipes for purifying your liver and blood

Liver cleanse coffee enema: Unflavored organic high caffeine (lightly roasted) coffee is recommended. After the coffee cools to approximate body temperature, the enema is administered and held for up to 20 minutes while lying on your right side, then relieved with a bowel movement. Procedure explained here (http://www.naturalnews.com/022905_coffee_body_water.html).

Burdock tea: Burdock tea is easy to make and inexpensive. It's the go-to blood purifier in Ayurvedic medicine (http://www.naturalnews.com/027521_burdock_root_blood.html).

Chlorella and other green super-foods: Chlorella is a favorite, but some also swear by spirulina, wheat grass, and other green super foods. Chlorella purifies the liver and the blood, serves as a prebiotic to nurture probiotic bacteria, and promotes bile production (http://www.naturalnews.com/024617_chlorella_body_blood.html).

Cilantro (organic): Cilantro (coriander) can be chopped and added to foods, used with other ingredients for making soups, mixed with green smoothies, or used with carrots and other items for juicing (http://www.naturalnews.com/027434_cilantro_natural_detox.html).

It has been clinically proven to remove toxic mercury and other heavy metals from our blood. The combination of chlorella and cilantro creates a super detox recipe.

Lemon/lime water: Adopting a ritual of drinking purified or spring warm water with a substantial squeeze of lemon or lime first thing in the morning is a time honored method of stimulating and cleansing the liver. Hold the sugar or any other sweetener though.

Zeolite: This usually has to be ordered online. Beware of network marketing traps, unless you want to be involved in that sort of scheme. Usually those MLM products are higher priced.

Zeolite liquids contain suspended volcanic materials that adsorb (not absorb) heavy metals. Adsorption is a form of chelation, which means toxic particles are electronically bonded or grabbed, neutralized, and escorted out of your body.

Betonite clays: There are internal and external versions that act very similarly to zeolite. Some prefer soaking in a tub of betonite water. But there are betonite clays that can be consumed in solutions with water also.

Western Herbs: Dandelion and milk thistle are two herbs common in the Western world for purifying and strengthening the liver. Dandelion is usually considered more of a cleanser, while milk thistle is commonly recognized as a tonic strengthener.

Some herbal products can be blended together to get maximum benefits. The tinctures are pricey, but you can make your own tinctures to save money and have constant refills indefinitely (http://www.naturalnews.com/032298_herbs_tinctures.html).

Traditional Eastern Herbs: There are many. If you are receiving acupuncture, you may have some prescribed to you. Ayurvedic liver formulas are available online and in good health food stores.

Homeopathic remedies: They are plentiful. But you should consult an experienced homeopathic practitioner for those.

Not Your Average B.S. Core Training

by Ben Bruno – 1/14/2013

A few months back I wrote an article called My Favorite Exercises: Muscle by Muscle where I shared, you guessed it, my favorite exercises for each major muscle group... except I left out the abs, or the core, or whatever else we're calling the midsection these days.
I left it out because honestly, I don't like core training all that much. I find most traditional core exercises to be painstakingly boring, and as such, I look for any excuse I can to skip it. And I often do.
However, as much as I might not enjoy core training, it does have tremendous value in terms of aesthetics, performance, and injury prevention, and I've noticed much better results when I've been consistent with including it as opposed to when I've left it out – my abs stand out more, my lifts are stronger, and my back feels better.
So I think some core work is a good idea for the aforementioned reasons, but I also think that once you've developed a good base of strength, most basic core exercises are simply too easy and become a waste of time.
A good rule of thumb is if it doesn't feel like you're doing anything, you probably aren't. With that in mind, here are some exercises to crank your core training up a notch.

Bodysaw

In the past year or so, bodysaws have supplanted ab wheel rollouts as my favorite core exercise.
They're very similar to rollouts in that the goal of both exercises is to resist extension of the lumbar spine (i.e., avoid arching your back too much), but I like bodysaws more for a few reasons:

• I feel them more in my abs.
• They don't fatigue the shoulders like rollouts can, so they're easier to pair with upper body exercises.
• They're more user-friendly for people with preexisting shoulder injuries and/or poor shoulder mobility.
• Some people I work with complain of back pain from rollouts, but I've found that most people can keep much better form with bodysaws and thus tolerate them better.

To do them, start by getting in plank position with your feet on something slippery such as Valslides, a slideboard, furniture sliders, a paper plate, a TRX, etc. From there, maintain that body position and push back and forth on your arms, like this:

Go back only as far as you can handle while still maintaining your original spine position. If you start to arch excessively and/or feel them in your lower back, you've gone too far. They're a lot tougher than they look, so it probably won't take much range of motion to feel them working.
Once you've got that down and it feels easy, you can progress to doing them on one leg at a time, or if you want to get really frisky, doing them with straight arms starting from the bottom of a push-up position, which extends the lever arm and makes them pretty brutal.

Don't jump into this version too fast, though, because you don't want to hurt yourself.
Like rollouts, these also work the shoulders a lot, so keep that in mind when putting them into your program. For example, I wouldn't pair them with a pressing exercise.
Similarly, if you have a pre-existing shoulder injury or lack good shoulder mobility, I'd probably just stick to the regular version on your elbows.

Plank Walks / Plank Sled Drags

This is a great "bang for your buck" exercise that kills a bunch of birds with one stone.
Think of it as a moving plank, literally. Start in plank position with your forearms on the ground and your feet on a pair of sliders, and crawl forward while trying to keep your torso and hips as still as possible. To do this successfully, you really have to brace your core and squeeze your glutes the entire time.
When that's no longer difficult, start in push-up position and propel yourself forward with your arms straight, again keeping the rest of your body still. You'll find out quickly that this really works the shoulders, triceps, and even the chest to some degree.
If you still need to make it harder, add load. I've found that wearing a weighted vest can lead to wrist and elbow pain, so it's better to drag the weight behind you, either by putting your feet on a weight plate, or if you're really masochistic, dragging a weighted sled.
Here's what it looks like in action:

These will also jack your heart rate up, making them a great finishing exercise for the end of an upper body workout.
The obvious drawback to this one is that it requires both space and specialized equipment, which not everyone has. If you do though, definitely give these a try.

Push-up Fallouts

I mentioned before that I like ab wheel rollouts. Fallouts are essentially the same as rollouts, only using suspension straps instead of an ab wheel.
The nice thing about fallouts is they can be easily regressed and progressed depending on your current level.
Start by doing them standing on your feet. The shorter you set the straps, the easier it'll be; conversely, the longer the straps, the harder it'll be. Start with the straps at about waist height and lengthen them as you improve.
Where you stand in relation to the anchor point will also affect the difficulty significantly. Standing in front of the anchor point will make it easier, while walking back underneath the anchor point will make it harder.
The next step is to try them starting from push-up position. These suck, in an awesome way.

You can also elevate your feet, but that's more than I can really handle.

Sliding Push-up Reach

With this exercise, one arm performs a push-up while the other slides out straight ahead like a rollout (or I guess slideout would be a more fitting).

You can also do these using rings, but I tend to prefer sliders.
Rollouts and push-ups both typically focus more on anterior core stability, but the unilateral element of this exercise challenges rotary core stability as well.
I go back and forth about whether I think this is more of a push-up progression or a rollout progression, but it can really be either depending on your goals and how you implement it in your program.
You could use it in place of a pressing exercise (i.e., dumbbell presses, push-ups, etc.) for some additional core work, or you could substitute for another core exercise for extra pressing work. I tend to do the latter, but either way is fine. It's a sweet exercise no matter how you classify it.
Don't worry if you can't extend out all the way – just go as far as you can while maintaining control of your core.

Push-up/Fly Combo

This is similar to the exercise above, only here the arm not performing the push-up goes straight out to the side as opposed to straight ahead (similar to a fly motion), which increases the chest involvement and places even more of an emphasis on rotary core stability.

Not only is this a terrific exercise on its own, it also serves as a great progression when you're building towards being able to do full sliding flyes, which I think is one of the best chest exercises going (and is also a great core exercise in its own right).

Deep Squat Landmine

I'm terribly uncreative when it comes to naming exercises, so this one is just what it says, a landmine done in the bottom of a deep squat.

I like this one because it addresses two things I (and most people) need to work on but dread doing: core stability and hip mobility. To combine them both into one exercise is a huge win in my book.
The normal standing landmine is already a great exercise to work the rotary and lateral core, but doing it in the bottom of the squat increases the stability demands even further while also building stability in the pelvis and serving as one hell of a hip and groin stretch to boot.
I'm a big fan of the basic squat stretch where you just chill in the bottom of the squat and push your knees out, and I also like doing it with a light weight in the goblet hold to enhance the stretch even more. In this exercise, the bar functions similarly to promote a deeper stretch, but once you start moving your arms you must reflexively stabilize your hips and core to keep from shifting or swaying.
While these may look easy enough, they're actually very difficult, so be sure you've mastered regular landmines before trying them, and when you do, only move your arms as far as you can before you start to lose stability.
Trust me, you'll know exactly when you reach that point. It's very hard to cheat on this one, so when you're done, you're done, which keeps you honest and keeps you from hurting yourself.
If you don't have a specific device to anchor the barbell, simply put the barbell in a corner. Just be sure the walls aren't sheetrock; I've learned that lesson the hard way, and it ends with a hole in the wall.

Bodyweight Overhead Pallof Press

While the exercises thus far have focused more on the anterior and rotary core, this one focuses more on the lateral core with the goal being to resist lateral flexion.
Set a suspension strap at above waist height and face sideways. Lean out so your body is somewhere between a 60-75 degree angle to the floor, and press your arms straight overhead.

You might think at first that with such little body lean the exercise can't possibly be challenging enough, but a little lean goes a long way.
Once you feel comfortable, you can make it harder by leaning out farther and/or walking your feet further underneath the anchor point.
To progress it even further and add an anti-rotational component, start by pressing straight ahead first until your arms are fully extended and then going right to the overhead position. I call this the "Anti Press" because it forces you to resist motion in all three planes, training anti-rotation, anti-lateral flexion, and ant-extension simultaneously.

Hand Walkouts

I picked these up from Chad Waterbury, and I really like them as a replacement to standing ab wheel rollouts.
Standing ab wheel rollouts just aren't optimum for most people, so I don't recommend them as a general rule. It's not that I don't think they're a good exercise, it's more that I think it actually might be too good of an ab exercise for some.
I love kneeling ab wheel rollouts, but the transition to standing is just too hard for most, and I've seen several people tweak their abs trying to do so.
If you're someone that can do them well, then I'm certainly not going to tell you to stop, but for those that can't, I suggest that once you're comfortable with kneeling ab wheel rollouts you progress to a different exercise, such as those that I've mentioned already or even standing hand walkouts, which are safer.

The eccentric portion of hand walkouts is much slower and more controlled than using an ab wheel, so you'll be less inclined to tweak something. It's also self-limiting in the sense that you can only really walk out as far as your core can control, so you aren't going to find yourself out beyond your level of capability.
Since these don't require any equipment, it's a great option for when you can't make it to the gym. You can also do them from the knees if the standing version is too difficult.

Concluding Thoughts

Look, core training will never be as sexy and fun as deadlifts, squats, presses, and basically anything else you can do in the gym, but it's still worth doing. If you've been skipping your core work out of sheer boredom or just need to spice things up, hopefully I've given you a few ideas to pique your interest and take your ab training to the next level.

Top 25 healthy muscle building foods

by John McKiernan 

(NaturalNews) So many of us are concerned with staying trim and fit by eating right and doing cardiovascular workouts that we overlook the importance of building and maintaining muscle mass through diet and exercise. Having a lean and muscular physique provides many benefits. One of the most important is that muscle tissue burns through calories, even while at rest. This in turn increases the metabolism and boosts energy levels all day long, while keeping the body trim. Muscles also help burn the fat stores in the areas around them. This is why simple muscle building exercises like squats and pushups are just as important for fat loss as cardiovascular exercises.

With that said, diet is of even greater importance when it comes to building and maintaining muscle mass. Most bodybuilders and fitness models will tell you that their training program, in terms of importance, comes down to about seventy percent diet and thirty percent exercise. These professionals know there are certain foods that are rich in protein and have high concentrations of essential amino acids, healthy fats, vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, enzymes and other nutrients, all of which are crucial in supporting protein synthesis and and maintaining a muscular build. The foods listed below are known to be among the most essential for muscle development.

Top 25 healthy muscle building foods

1. Water - although this one isn't actually a food it certainly is the most important item on this list, as muscle tissue is comprised of over 75 percent water
2. Whey protein concentrate - the most complete amino acid profile among any food
3. Pea protein powder - a very complete protein source; great for vegans
4. Free range organic eggs - next to whey protein, contains the highest concentration of essential amino acids
5. Raw milk - a protein and vitamin rich food known for its muscle building properties
6. Bison - higher in protein than beef and are not confined to feedlots
7. Free range organic chicken breast - rich in glutamine and other essential amino acids
8. Grass fed organic beef - grass fed beef is much higher in CLA, which aids in body composition
9. Fish - wild salmon and tilapia are among the best; avoid tuna due to high mercury levels
10. Turkey - a very lean protein source
11. Nuts - walnuts, Brazil nuts and almonds are among the best
12. Oysters - great for naturally boosting testosterone levels
13. Beans - a very slow digesting carbohydrate high in zinc and fiber
14. Oats - steel cut are best but old fashioned work too; avoid quick oats
15. Peanut butter - high in healthy fats and protein and low in carbohydrates
16. Cottage cheese - very low in sugar and high in protein
17. Yogurt - Greek yogurt is best
18. Bananas - a potassium and vitamin rich food
19. Avocados - very rich in unsaturated fatty acids
20. Healthy oils - olive oil, coconut oil, walnut oil, hemp oil, flax seed oil as well as others
21. Spinach- other green leafy vegetables offer similar benefits
22. Broccoli - a superfood vegetable; others include tomatoes, kale, cauliflower and bok choy
23. Berries - high in antioxidants and many other vitamins necessary for muscle growth
24. Quinoa and brown rice - both are rich in B vitamins and slow digesting
25. Apples and other fruit - high in fiber which cleanses the system and allows for better nutrient absorption

As always, purchase organic or local items when possible to avoid toxins and get more nutrients out of your foods. It's also important to limit alcohol consumption as it retards muscle growth. By consuming these foods regularly along with weekly muscle building exercises you will see a substantial increase in muscle tone and overall health.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.examiner.com

http://www.menshealth.co.uk

http://www.naturalnews.com/035591_spinach_nutrients_steroids.html