Nonitage

If you have been bored by doing the same old weight training and
cardio routines, why not spice up your training by adding some
of these alternative training styles. They will not only make
things more interesting, but also be sure to spark some new
results in your body!

Here are some of my favorite non-traditional training techniques:

1. Staircase Workouts - You can go to a football field and do
stadium stairs, any building that has stairs like a hotel (most
people take the elevator, so you will not even have many people
looking at you while you’re working out), or even the stairs in
your own home. For an awesome full body workout, try mixing
stairs sprints with an upper body exercise like pushups or
pull-ups. If done with a high enough intensity, stairs workouts
help to create changes throughout your entire body due to the
muscle building and fat burning hormonal response and metabolism
increase that you get through working the biggest muscle groups
in your entire body. You can find out more info on stairs
exercises workouts and how to make them more effective at my
‘fitness products’ page at truthaboutabs.com with the link below.

2. Wind Sprints and Hill Sprints - Find any open field in a park
or athletic field and try 50, 75, and 100-yard all-out wind
sprints. After each sprint, rest long enough to catch your
breath before the next one (approx. 30-90 sec). Try workouts of
anywhere from 6 to 20 wind sprints for a great “cutting”
workout. Also, if you have a hill nearby, hill sprints are also
great workouts. Sprint up the hill as fast as you can and walk
down for your rest interval. Repeat until you’re whooped (a
20-30 minute hill workout is plenty). These sprint workouts are
so amazingly effective at changing your entire body for the same
reason as stairs exercises…by powerfully working the biggest
muscle groups in your entire body, you greatly stimulate your
metabolism while simultaneously increasing your fat burning and
muscle building hormones.

Just look at any world class 100-meter sprinters and notice how
ripped-to-shreds those guys are. Now compare that to the
emaciated weakling physiques of many marathoners, and you’ll see
that sprinting is where the action is at for a healthy, ripped,
powerful body! Now I don’t want to upset all of you distance
runners out there. Hey, if distance running is something you
enjoy, then go right ahead. But don’t say you’re doing it for
the health benefits, because I might just have to disagree. You
can read my full story on why I believe variable intensity
training is far superior to steady-state endurance training in
one of my other articles at
http://truthaboutabs.com/cardio-article.html

3. Kettlebell Training - Kettlebell training has been one of the
best training methods that I’ve ever had the good fortune of
getting into, and has taken my physical capabilities to a whole
new level. Kettlebells are an alternative type of free-weight
training instead of barbells and dumbbells. Their unique
construction and weight distribution (basically a cannonball
with a handle) allows for a whole different realm of exercises
that’s available compared to dumbbells and barbells. Kettlebells
have been typically used for training hard-core athletes,
military units, martial arts competitors, and other tough
individuals, but there is no reason that anybody looking to get
stronger, bigger, or more cut can’t learn the exercises and
benefit from them.

It’s been a little over a year now since I’ve incorporated
kettlebell training into my routines, and I’ll admit that I’m
hooked for life! Kettlebells are definitely not cheap, but they
are well worth the money. Just one or two kettlebells and you’ve
literally got yourself an entire home gym that you can use for
the rest of your life…worth every penny in my book! If you
want to give these body-hardening kettlebells a try, you can
find more info at my ‘fitness products’ page at
truthaboutabs.com at the link below.

4. Bodyweight Workouts - For a change of pace, try adding to
your routine one or two workouts a week at home with just
bodyweight based exercises. These can be great because you can
get a high intensity workout done in only 15-30 minutes without
having to go to the gym on days that you might not have time for
a trip to the gym. Try alternating bodyweight squats, pushups
variations, lunges, and floor abs exercises continuously for
15-30 minutes. Try to take very short rest periods or none at
all to really amp up the intensity since this will be a brief
workout. If you’re more advanced, you can even incorporate more
challenging exercises like handstand pushups, one-arm pushups,
and one-legged squats into your bodyweight training routines.

5. Ring Training - This type of training basically uses portable
gymnastic rings that you can take anywhere with you. You throw
the straps up over any high bar like a pullup bar, the top of a
power rack, or even over a football field goal crossbar. Then
you can quickly adjust the rings to do exercises like ring dips,
ring pushups, ring pull-ups, hanging leg raises, horizontal body
rows, L-sits, and more. Dips and pushups on the rings are my
favorites and the rings really make them a hell of a lot more
difficult, while also incorporating your stabilizer muscles to a
much greater degree. The rings allow your joints to move in a
more natural pattern and can help you prevent or even recover
from shoulder injuries. Personally, when I try dips on a normal
dip stand, it hurts my shoulders. However, dips on the training
rings feel perfect, and also give me a much better muscle pump.
The training rings are one of the best training devices I’ve
ever bought. Give them a try…I think you’ll like them if
you’re up for a challenge and really want to take your upper
body development to a new level. I found my training rings at
ringtraining.com.

6. Swimming - A great full body workout that stresses the
muscles and joints in a much different way than most resistance
training. Incorporating swimming workouts once or twice a week
into your normal training routings can really enhance your
physique. I recommend trying a “sprint” style swimming workout,
which will help more for building muscle compared with endurance
long distance swimming. For sprint style, swim as hard as you
can to the other side of a 25-meter or 50-meter pool (or sprint
swim similar distances in a lake or the ocean if you like to
swim outdoors). Rest enough to catch your breath between sprint
swims (about 20-40 seconds). Try to keep the rest intervals
fairly short with swim sprints. You can also mix different
strokes (crawl, breaststroke, sidestroke, backstroke, butterfly)
on each swim sprint. I’ve found that sprint swimming gives me a
great muscle pump (especially in the upper body), without any
soreness the next day as is typical with weight training. This
is because swimming has no eccentric movement (the negative
portion of a lift), which is what causes muscle soreness. Keep
in mind that even though swimming works your muscles well, and
is a nice alternative workout to mix in once or twice a week, it
does not strengthen your bones. You still need to do regular
weight training to do that.

7. Sandbag Training - This form of training is a nice variation
to mix in with your strength training. It works your body with
an unstable object, which makes muscles that might normally be
neglected get in on the action to perform the movements. I’ve
been mixing some sandbag training into my routines for over a
year now, and I’ve found it is a very intense method of training
that works your muscles in a different way and gets you huffing
and puffing like crazy. You can make your own sandbags to train
with by filling various sized duffle bags with sand, or you can
use those construction type sandbags that come in several
shapes. Sandbag exercises can be done as squats, cleans,
presses, lunges, shouldering, throws or heaves, carrying up
hills, etc. Make no mistake, training intensely with sandbags
will get you ripped in no time flat! If you’re interested in
this type of training, you can find more info at my ‘fitness
products’ page at truthaboutabs.com at the link below.

8. Mountain Biking - As you may have figured by now, I’m not a
proponent of steady pace endurance exercise, but rather, highly
variable intensity exercise that works with bursts of exertion
followed by recovery intervals. Well, mountain biking fits this
bill perfectly. You get the leg pumping exertion during the
uphill climbs, while also getting the adrenaline rush of the
downhill acting as your recovery intervals. Mix it all together
and you get a super-fun, high-intensity, leg burning workout
that will melt fat off of your entire body and build awesome
legs at the same time. The climbs can be tough and will
challenge you both physically and mentally as you pump away
trying to make it up steep hills without having to resort to
getting off of the bike. Then after you make it up the
challenging climbs, you get rewarded with the adrenaline rush of
flying down steep hills while jumping off of boulders and logs
and trying not to stumble or fall off the bike. It’s such an
addicting thrill…I love it!

9. Indoor (or outdoor) Rock Climbing - This is yet another fun
way to get in a great workout that will also challenge you both
physically and mentally. Indoor rock climbing gyms will be more
accessible than outdoor rock climbing to most people. Rock
climbing is a great workout for your legs, arms, shoulders, and
your entire back. It also really works your grip strength and
forearms like crazy. Whenever I go indoor rock climbing (which
is only on occasion), my forearms are sore for about 2-3 days
afterwards. Give it a try if you’ve never done it…it may be
just what you’re looking for to spice up your fitness routine.

10. Stick Wrestling - This is a killer full body workout and can
also be a great competition between you and your friends. There
are actually sticks designed specifically for stick wresting,
but you can even just use a strong broomstick cut down to about
30-36 inches long and taped up with some athletic tape to
prevent splinters. For your stick wrestling workout, stand on a
soft mat or carpeted area (or grass if outdoors), match up with
a friend or foe. You’ll both grab the same stick toward the ends
with your hands on the outsides of your partner’s hands, on the
inside, or staggered. Then you simply push, pull, jerk, and
thrash your opponent around trying to knock them off balance
until they either fall or lose their grip of the stick…and you
win that round! Be careful not to get the stick up high and
knock each other in the face. Use common sense. You can do this
in 1-2 minute rounds or just keep going until someone gives up.
Be creative and keep going until you’ve gotten a killer workout.
Your forearms and legs will be screaming!

11. Strongman Training - This type of training is a little more
hard-core, but it’s a blast for those who are into trying
something different. The premise is based on the types of
exercises competitors perform in the “world’s strongest man”
competitions. If you have a yard, you can even set up some of
these exercises in your yard and do some outdoor workouts to
have a little fun. You can get one of those giant tractor tires
and do tire flips (which is basically a deadlift followed by a
push-press). You can also try your hand at log lifts, boulder
lifts and carries, keg lifts and tosses, weighted sled
dragging…anything that involves pulling, pushing, lifting, or
heaving any types of odd objects. You don’t need to be a monster
to enjoy this type of training…just handle whatever size
objects are challenging for your individual strength. Strongman
training works your entire body in a very intense fashion and
could easily spark some new results. If you’re interested in
finding out more ideas for strongman training, check out my
‘fitness products’ page at truthaboutabs.com at the link below.

12. Rope Climbing - If you have access to a rope, either at a
gym or somewhere outdoors, rope climbing builds a powerful and
ripped upper body like no other exercise. A great way to
incorporate rope climbing into intense workouts is to alternate
climbs with lower body exercises like squats or lunges. Keep
alternating the upper body rope climbs with the lower body
exercises in between and you’ll get one hell of a full body
workout.

13. Bag Boxing - You can use a heavy bag, a speed bag, or even
one of those rebound bags to get a great workout. Among the
three, the heavy bag is the best all around full body workout,
while the speed bag will test your rhythm and timing and give
you a great upper body workout. If available at your gym or if
you have a bag at home, try mixing these in as a good warm-up or
as an intense finish to your strength routine.

14. Rope Skipping - You can’t beat rope jumping as a great full
body exercise. I like to use it as a warm-up for my weight
training workouts. I prefer to use the really cheap “speed”
ropes with a plastic rope instead of a fabric rope. Once you get
good, you can jump rope much faster with the plastic ropes than
the fabric ones, which will allow you to get a more intense
workout. And don’t mess with the weighted handle ropes…they’ll
just slow you down. Your goal is speed when rope skipping. Try
mixing together two legged jumps, one-legged jumps, arm
crossovers, double jumps (rope passes under feet twice for each
jump) to keep things interesting and increase the intensity.
Also, try alternating 15-20 second high intensity bursts where
you jump as fast as you possibly can, followed by 15-20 second
recovery intervals where you jump slowly to get ready for your
next burst.

15. Jumping exercises - squat jumps, box jumps, lunge jumps, and
broad jumps are some of the best ways to incorporate explosive
jumping exercises into your routines. The explosive and powerful
nature of jumping exercises works your leg muscles in an
entirely different way than most normal slow grinding strength
training moves. I’ve even seen a university study cited once
that found squat jumps to elicit the greatest testosterone
response of all exercises studied. That means more muscle and
less fat on your entire body, not just your legs.

I hope you’ve enjoyed all of these ideas for ways to really
shake up your workouts and make them fun again. I know some of
them may seem a little “out there”, but open your mind to the
possibilities and you’ll never be bored again…and your body
will respond with new found results!

So often people will make the decision to go out to the nearest fitness equipment store or local department store and buy some home exercise equipment. They want to start an exercise program, but don’t want to go to the gym for any number of reasons, making exercising at home the best choice.

They will, with the best of intentions, buy a piece or two of equipment based on the recommendation of a friend or family member who swears by their choice. In some cases, they have no idea what they want and just go off without a clue, only to end up buying something based on appearance or a salespersons pitch of the item.

The problem with this is, if the equipment you buy doesn’t suit your needs, in the long run, it will end up collecting dust in the closet or become an expensive coat hanger. Almost everyone knows someone who has some kind of exercise device or another that in terms of use is brand new, but they’ve had the thing for over two years. They probably bought their equipment with every intention to make full use of it, so why didn’t they make full use of it?

When setting out to purchase home exercise equipment, there are some things which must be considered very carefully before you go out and drag home something you will be disappointed with. Here are some tips that are paramount to know when considering home exercise equipment.

First of all, are you really committed to exercising on a regular basis? This is probably the single biggest factor. If you are not, you will not benefit from anything you buy.

The second thing is what type of exercise do you want to do? If you are looking to build muscle, buying a stationary bike will be of little value just as if you are looking to build your aerobic capacity, a weight bench and weights will not be the best choice.

Next is how much money do you have or are you willing to spend on exercise equipment? You do get better equipment when you spend more money, but for a smaller investment, you can still get equipment that will get the job done. The key here is to shop around and find the best equipment you can within your budget.

You must next consider how much space is available where the equipment will go? This is an often overlooked but very important point. There must be enough room for your equipment to fit, and there must be room for you to use it to the fullest once it is there. How can you get anything from your equipment if you don’t have the room to maneuver around to make use of it after it is set up?

Once you have your equipment in place, a good way to make sure you keep at it is to make yourself accountable by having a fiend ask you every day if you did your routine for that day and to monitor your progress. You can also make it more enjoyable by putting on some music while you exercise or even put a sporting event on your TV to check on while you go at it, whatever the case, just associate it with something you enjoy and it will be much easier to stick with.

If you are considering the purchase of home exercise equipment, these few tips should help you to make the right choice in selecting equipment that you will benefit from for years to come.

Jim O’Neill gives you tons of valuable information on the subjects of weight loss, fitness, and nutrition to make it easy for you to live a healthy lifestyle. Sign up now for his free 7 part mini e-course at: http://www.mrgymfitness.com