WHY DO YOU WORK OUT SO HARD????

CORE EXERCISES TO PREVENT BACK PAIN

Back pain is a problem for many people, and whether it is a chronic condition or an intense flare-up of an occasional problem, finding a remedy that relieves it and prevents it can sometimes be a challenge. Instead of treating yourself with pain medications that will only wear off, requiring you to medicate again, take advantage of some exercises that might help you with your back pain. In addition to making you feel better, physical activity and basic exercises can even prevent pain from returning. If the pain is intense or does not go away, make sure you consult your doctor or a chiropractor.

 

While the common suggestion is often to “rest” when you are experiencing back pain, a little activity might actually do more for your back than bed rest. You want to train your back to function properly again, and the best way to do something simple, like walking. You will want to avoid any strenuous activities or exercises that might have triggered the pain in the first place.

 

Be cognizant of your breathing and breathe air into the lowest point of your belly. You may not think how you breathe has an impact on your core, but it makes a big difference. Most people "shoulder breathe" by elevating their shoulders and lifting their rib cages to let air in. This is erroneous because the diaphragm can't do its job effectively. It also limits the function of the inner core—the muscles affected most powerfully by breath.Breathe this way when lifting, walking, sitting, reading, and talking.

 

Think about your posture too. The nerves around your spinal column can easily get pinched or compressed if you do not have good posture, creating additional pain on top of what you are already experiencing.  Walk with your back straight, your shoulders back and your head up. This will keep your back aligned and not hunched. This will protect your back and stomach muscles from deteriorating.

 

The core is a collection of muscles which stabilize and move the spine. Purposeful core action requires understanding its function. The core stabilizes and protects the spine by creating stiffness that limits excessive movement in any direction—most notably extension, flexion, lateral flexion, and rotation. In lifting terms, the core's responsibility is to limit movement. Core training should be in the moderate rep range for best growth. No more endless reps of crunches and sit-ups like you've done in the past. Focus on sets in the 8-15 rep range. Here are some exercises to help you build the muscles that comprise your core.

 

Dumbbell Side Bend: 1 set of 30 seconds + 15 seconds rest

Exercise Ball Crunch: 1 set of 30 seconds + 15 seconds rest

 

 

Flat Bench Leg Pull-In: 1 set of 30 seconds + 15 seconds rest

 

 

 

 



CROSSFIT: MEET YOUR LIMITS

CrossFit began with Greg Glassman, a trainer and gymnast who started training clients in his garage in the 1970s. Over the past decade, CrossFit has swelled to a subculture of gyms with more than 1,500 locations worldwide. they usually contain some combination of bodyweight exercises, plyometrics, Olympic lifts, sprinting and use of implements like kettlebells. The training is intense and done for a time - workouts rarely last more than 20 to 30 minutes. Thus, while CrossFit followers typically join to improve performance, they inevitably build muscle and get leaner, too.

I scrounged around and dug up some CrossFit exercises which will spice up your workout repetoire and swiftly improve your strength and muscle definition. Perform the exercise as a circuit, completing one set of each without rest. Between circuits, rest as little as possible. Do seven reps of each move and repeat for seven total circuits. Time yourself; try to beat your time each session.

 

 Renegade Rows:

 

Hold a dumbbell or kettlebell and get into push-up position while balancing on the weights. Keeping your shoulders squared, press one dumbbell into the floor while rowing the other bell to your ribs. Lower the weight and repeat on the other side.  Aim for 100 reps on each side.

 

 

Burpee
 

Stand with feet at hip width and arms at your sides. Dip your hips and knees and swing your arms back to gather momentum. Jump as high as you can and then land with control. Immediately lower your body into a squat. Then touch the floor in front of you and shoot your legs back so you end up in push-up position. Perform a push-up. Then jump your legs back under your chest and stand up.

 

 

Overhead Medicine Ball Slam
 

Hold a medicine ball (use one that bounces) with both hands. Push your hips back and bend forward, lowering the ball almost to the floor between your legs with arms extended. Then explosively, swing the ball overhead, extending your legs and back so you come up onto the balls of your feet. Push your weight back into your hips and throw the ball down towards the floor as hard as you can and catch the ball as it bounces back up. This workout builds your rear delts, traps and shoulder muscles while increasing your heart rate.

 

Try out these few exercises and tell me how it feels in the morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5 SECRETS TO BUILDING A BIGGER BENCH

The barbell bench press remains the king of exercises, and the bigger your bench, the greater your bragging rights within the gym. Bodybuilders and people with physique-oriented goals know that a bigger bench equates to a larger, rounder, fuller chest as well as bigger shoulder and triceps muscles. Improving your bench press has the added benefit of building your mental muscle, as it requires a significant amount of fortitude to lift a wright capable of crushing you into the ground.

 

 

 

1. Accelerate

 

Compensatory acceleration training, or CAT, is lifting sub-maximal weight with maximal force, which teaches the nervous system how to recruit more muscle every time you lift. The speed creates the illusion that the weight is lighter than it really is, thus enabling your body to handle greater amounts of weight.

 

2. Add Dead Benches to your routine

 

A dead bench is done in a power rack with the weight resting on the pins set just above your chest. The weight starts at chest level—not in the arms-extended position—and is pressed up as explosively as possible. Because of this, you'll develop tremendous starting strength at the bottom of each rep. 

 

3. Do more sets with Fewer reps

 

Since you're training for a one-rep max, the first rep of every set is extremely important. Even when training with loads as light as 50 percent of max, most powerlifters keep the repetitions low, opting to do more sets to achieve volume when it's needed.

 

4. Build your Arms

You can't press huge weights with spindly arms. in order to avoid injury, you have to build your triceps and deltoids. However, don't forget the biceps because they help stabilize the joints (as an antagonist muscle to the triceps), and strong forearms help you squeeze the bar tightly. This will make the weight feel lighter in your hands.

 

5 Meditate

 

Few people realise that bodybuilders actually need to meditate. Your central nervous system isn't adept in differentiating between a real experience and an imagined one. Set some time aside every day to visualize blasting through maximal weights.

 

.

 

 

 

 

GYM BELLE: ABBYE 'PUDGY' STOCKTON

 

Abbye “Pudgy” Stockton was a pioneer of women’s body-building, and she did much to increase interest in weight training among women.

 

Pudgy was anything but pudgy. She had a strong looking, well-proportioned and athletic build, and she radiated good health and vitality. She was one of the first body-builders to show that weight training can help women look and feel better. She first lifted weights to help tone her body and improve her self image after a period of weight gain lowered her self esteem and reduced her natural beauty. After taking up weight training, Pudgy won the nationwide “Miss Venus” contest.

 

 

Following her victory, she helped women across the world improve their figures through her “Barbelles” column in Strength and Health, a monthly column which debuted in the July, 1944 issue of the magazine. Pudgy also opened and operated a health studio in Santa Monica, California with her husband Les, a former lifting star.

 

On June 26, 2006 Pudgy passed away. How many of the hundreds of thousands of women today who engage in weight lifting, power lifting, bodybuilding or other form of exercise for health and vitality realize the debt of gratitude owed to Pudgy Stockton? She was a true trailblazer and a woman of strength

 

 

 

Ronnie Coleman - This Is Where We Fight HD

Whenever I feel demotivated before training, I watch clips like this to motivate myself into going to thr gym and hauling that iron.

 

If you desire the muscles of Ronnie Coleman, you've got to pay the price he pays. 

MOTIVATION

REAL LIFE BADASS: THE MIGHTY ATOM

Breathe deeply. Refuse to be weak. Refuse to be sick. Refuse to die. Think strong and you will be. -Joseph Greenstein, The Mighty Atom

 

 

Joseph Greenstein was born in 1893, he came out six weeks premature and was so sickly and weak that doctors didn’t expect him to survive his infancy. “Joe” did, but throughout his youth he suffered from chronic asthma and lung problems, and at the age of 14 he came down with tuberculosis and was given six weeks to live.

 

It was in this sad condition that Joe met the circus strongman, a guy named Champion Volanko. Volanko, a hardcore master of Feats of Strength took Greenstein under his wing and Greenstein traveled with Volanko and the Issakoff Brothers' Circus for eighteen months, learning the strongman's training regimen and hardcore Yoga breathing techniques from an Indian strongman named The Great Gama. By the time he returned home, he was a different man; Joseph was unbelievably strong, and his diminutive 5ft 4inch body looked like it was chiselled from stone.

 

He started his career as a wrestler in which he gained minor success in Poland. But, he finally gained his prominence when he emigrated to the United States after he got married, and there he finally became a legend a few years later.

 

In Texas, he started wrestling professionally while holding down jobs in the oil fields and as a dockworker. He wrestled under the stage name of ''Kid Greenstein'' and started to gain success. However his fame did not really take off till 1914.

 

While he was in Galveston a co-worker became obsessed with Greenstein's wife, and decided that the only reason she wasn’t responding to this idiot’s unwanted advances was because she was married. So this guy came to work one day with a .38 revolver and shot Joe Greenstein at point-blank range.

 

 Some sources say his skull was so hard the bullet ricocheted off it, causing minimal damage. Others say the bullet literally flattened on impact with Greenstein’s skull, but this seems much harder to believe. Either way, by the time Greenstein walked out of the hospital under his own power that afternoon, the legend was growing. He quickly made a name for himself as one of the strongest men on earth. Performing strongman feats for cash on Coney Island, the Mighty Atom drew massive crowds as hundreds and even thousands of people packed in to witness his FEATS OF STRENGTH. He could drive nails through sheet metal with his bare hands. He could change a car tire without tools. He could bend bars with his teeth, bite through steel chains and quarters, and un-bend horseshoes by pushing them against his forehead.

 

In the 30s he laid on a bed of nails, put a plank across his body, and then sat there while a full-size Dixieland band performed show tunes on his chest. In 1928 a Buffalo newspaper mentioned that he secured a Fairchild FC-2 fucking AIRPLANE to his hair with a chain, then held the aircraft in place while the pilot revved the engine up to 30 miles an hour. Another strongman tried this same feat of strength a few years later and died when he scalped himself. 

 

Joe Greenstein was also known for his intolerance of anti-Semitism which gave him an even bigger legend. In 1938, after he tore a ''No Jews or dogs allowed'' sign from a public building. He then beat and hospitalized 18 men who decided to take umbrage with his view. He was arrested for the assault, but he was eventually released when court refused to believe that he done it all by himself.

 

The Might Atom continued performing strongman feats well into his 80s, and was featured in things like the Guinness Book and Ripley’s Believe It or Not. He sold out Madison Square Garden, taught fighting techniques to the IDF, inspired DC Comics’ character “The Atom”, sold his own line of health care products out of the back of his van, wrote some poetry, and had 10 kids with his still-smoking-hot wife. He passed away in 1977 at the age of 84.

 

 

Just before his death, he could still be found wandering the streets of New York City alone at night, just hoping some punk would have the guts to try and mug him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MYTHICAL BADASS: DIOMEDES

 

"He fights with fury and fills men's souls with panic. I hold him mightiest of them all; we did not fear even their great champion Achilles, son of an immortal though he be, as we do this man: his rage is beyond all bounds, and there is none can vie with him in prowess." "While my Strength yet exists, not a single foe will escape me with life. The brave man makes an end of every foe."

 

FACTS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE AVOCADO

 

 

1) A whole, medium-size avocado (about fiveounces) has 226 caloriesand contains about three grams of protein and nine grams of fiber.

 

2) More than 80% of an avocado’s calories comes from fat, most of which are healthy, monounsaturated fats. One of those fats—oleic acid—has been shown to reduce cholesterol levels.

 

3) While the banana is most famous for potassium content, a typical avocado contains 35% more potassium (684 milligrams vs. 505) than that of its long, yellow cousin. Avocados are also a decent source of calcium and magnesium, crucial electrolytes for athletes because of their role in muscle function and fluid balance.

 

4) Every avocado contains nearly 20 vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients—nutrients derived from plant material that provide a defense against cancers, heart disease, and signs of premature aging.

 

5) Regular consumption of healthy fats like the ones found in avocados has been shown to promote a boost in testosterone and growth hormone production.

5 REASONS WHY YOU ARE NOT BUILDING MUSCLE

Here’s a question I see time and time again in online bodybuilding & fitness forums:

 

“Hi, I have been working out for X months and I have only gained Y pounds. I train hard and have been taking XYZ supplements. I can’t gain weight or get stronger! Please help!”

 

In most cases, after trying to gain weight for several months the person will quit. That’s a pity, because the only thing stopping the person from progressing is knowledge. Here are some reasons why many people do not build muscle:

 

 

 

1. You’re not getting enough calories

 

Most people are surprised at how many calories they need just for maintenance! Calorie consumption is the solution to about 90% of the complaints lifters have about not being about to get bigger and/or stronger.  Your body requires a certain number of calories to maintain your current weight. This figure is known as basal metabolic rate (BMR), and varies from person to person depending on your weight, muscle mass, activity level, age etc. If your calorie intake is lower than BMR, you will lose weight. This is known as a calorie deficit. If your daily calorie intake is higher than your BMR, you will gain weight.   You need to remain in a state of calorie surplus to retain and maintain muscle growth.

 

2. You’re not eating the right foods

 

Generally speaking, if you’re eating excess calories every day and training with a decent workout you’ll grow. But, if you’re not eating the right foods, the chances are that you’ll be limiting your potential, putting on excess body fat, and not growing enough lean muscle.

 

The best way to plan your muscle building diet is to split it up into protein/carbohydrate/fat (P/C/F) ratios. Arguably the best ratio of muscle growth is 30/50/20. This mean you’re getting 30% of your total calories from protein, 50% from carbohydrates and 20% from fats.

 

Now all you need to do is spread those amounts over 6-7 meals per day.

 

3. You’re not eating enough meals

 

When you eat is just as important as what you eat. The days of eating “3 square meals” are long gone. Research has shown that eating more smaller meals is not only great for promoting a fast metabolism, but helps maintain, lose, and gain weight. Think of your body like a log fire. If you put too much wood on at once, the fire burns slow and sluggish. But if you gradually add more wood as the fire gets bigger, it burns more efficiently and gets bigger.

 

You should be aiming for a minimum for 6 meals spread at even intervals throughout the day. You want to make these meals as even as possible, but it’s OK to eat a bit more at breakfast/lunch/dinner if you don’t have time during the other breaks.

 

So you’re probably thinking, “I don’t have time to eat all those meals”. If I had a dollar for every time I heard that I could retire. The truth is you can, it just requires a bit for forward planning. There are endless ways you can cook and store food for meals throughout the day. Spend a few hours on a Sunday afternoon cooking up your lunches and snacks for the week. Use your imagination and devise tasty and healthy meals to build up that muscle mass.

 

The other option is weight gain shakes. There’s nothing easier than banging some water into a shaker with some powder, having a shake, and drinking. Good meal replacement shakes usually contain around 600 calories with good amounts of protein, BCAAs, glutamine and carbohydrates. It’s literally a meal in a cup. All you need is a few shaker bottles, add the powder before work, then just add water and drink on the job. However, care must be taken not to overdose on shakes as extended overdoses may have negative effects on your kidneys and liver.

 

4. You’re not getting enough water

 

Water is nature’s wonder supplement, it’s essential for a whole host of bodily functions. Many lifters underestimate the importance of being hydrated well before they step into the gym. If you feel dehydrated just before you’re about to train, it’s too late, you won’t be able to rehydrate yourself time. Keeping yourself hydrated should be a priority from the moment you get out of bed. Dehydration is a serious problem, and in extreme cases can lead to death. Here are some signs of dehydration you should look out for:

• Feeling thirsty (obviously)
• Fatigue. Feeling tired for no apparent reason.
• Dry mouth and possible sore throat
• Headache
• Loss of appetite
• Dark urine with strong odor

Drinking an adequate amount of water is easy, and there’s no excuse why you cannot do it. Just take a bottle wherever you go and keep sipping out of it throughout the day. however take care not to drink excessive amounts of water as it may lead to iodine deficiencies, as well as other less desirable and potentially fatal conditions.

 

Some supplements, like creatine, may lead to dehydration. If you’re using creatine monohydrate you should increase the amount of water your consuming.

5. Your workout routine sucks

Choosing the right routine to suit your body type, training experience and goal is vital. Many new lifters get their workout routines from magazines and articles written by professional bodybuilders. These workouts are not designed for beginners, and will only lead to a lot of wasted time, energy and frustration.

 

A good workout routine needs the following:

 

• Training days arranged to allow for adequate rest
 
• Muscle groups arranged so overtraining does not occur.
 
• Muscle groups arranged so that each muscle can be worked to maximum effect
 
• A good selection of compound and isolation exercises
 
• Good warm up and cool down
 
(To be continued)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

15 WEEKS BODY TRANSFORMATION - FREELETICS

When a man takes his destiny into his hands and proceeds to shape himself into whom he wants to be, he ceases to be a mere man, and approaches apotheosis. #LegallyMuscled bites

"A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts."

"As the physically weak man can make himself strong by careful and patient training, so the man of weak thoughts, can make them strong by exercising himself in right thinking."

The Aphrodite workout is the beginners phase of the freeletics workout program. It is helpful if you perform it in a group with other trainees; this keeps you motivated when you start to hurt.

APHRODITE

Your first workout is called Aphrodite. It does not require equipment. There are no mandatory breaks. That means you are supposed to complete the workout without taking breaks - if possible. It is important to complete it in the exact same order as stated below and to work through it as fast as possible. Quitting is not an option.

WORKOUT STRUCTURE

5 Rounds Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5
Burpees     50           40            30          20          10
Squats       50            40            30         20           10
Situps        50            40            30         20           10

BURPEES

Start: Start from a standing position. Knees, hips and shoulders are in a vertical line. Make sure to keep your core tight.

Movement: Make your chest touch the ground. Get back up (however you want to, not necessarily a strict push-up) and perform a jump – both feet have to leave the ground, knees, hips and shoulders have to be in a vertical line and the hands have to touch behind the head.

End: When your feet touch the ground again, one repetition is completed.

Modified version: If burpees are too difficult or become too difficult during the workout, do the modified version:

Move into the push-up position without touching the ground with your chest.

SQUATS

Start: Start from a standing position. Knees, hips and shoulders are in a vertical line.

Movement: Lower your hips below your knees.

End: Return to starting position to complete one repetition.

Additional remarks: Make sure to keep your weight on your heels, your chest up and your back flat. Push your knees out and keep your torso as vertical as possible.

Modified version: If squats are too difficult or become too difficult during the workout, do the modified version:

Lower your hips as far as you can instead of lowering them below your knees.

SITUPS

Start: Start from a sitting position. Both of your hands touch the ground in front of your feet.

Movement: Move your torso downwards and touch the ground behind your head with both hands.

End: Return to starting position to complete one repetition.

Additional remarks: Your butt may never leave the ground. Make sure too keep your core tight.

Modified version: If situps are too difficult or become too difficult during the workout, do the modified version: Touch your knees instead of the ground in front of your feet.

WORKLOAD
In general, we recommend you to train Freeletics at least four times per week. Since this is your first week, three times is fine as well.
Freeletics is really tough, especially at the beginning. Workout times exceeding an hour are totally normal. Also, don’t be discouraged if you can’t make the workload from day one. It is all part of the process. You will improve much faster than you think.

Your fastest time is called personal best (PB). If you complete a workout without a single modified repetition, the workout time receives a star (*). Star times are always ranked before workout times without a star, even if they are slower.

We recommend you to warm-up before every training session and to stretch afterwards. Jogging, jumping jacks, arm circles, light stretching and the like are suitable to warm-up.

Please take a picture of your body before you train Freeletics the first time. Take a new one every ten days. Pictures are important to evaluate physical changes. Since you only change a little every day, you will not be able to track your progress properly without pictures.

Have fun in your first week as Free Athletes!

Freeletics Instructor Team

 

BUST STOMACH FAT WITH THE PLANK!!!

Culled from fitness bloggers

 

For a long time this has been one of my favorite exercises. It’s one of those that you see someone doing in the gym and you think to yourself, “Yeah that looks pretty easy!” Of course in reality its a lot harder than it looks, but what does it do? Put simply it’s a core exercise designed to improve strength and tone in the stomach and lower back. It’s particularly favored by both serious athletes and newbies alike. Even post-natal moms are often advised to do the plank as static stomach exercises place less aggressive stress on your stomach muscles following child-birth.

 

Performing the Plank

First bend your elbows at 90 degress, forearms on the floor, elbows beneath your shoulders. Your body should be straight like a plank of wood from your head to your feet. This is important. Many newbies will lift their bum up in the air so they look more like a hump-back bridge! This is not a plank. For those who are struggling with the plank then a modified plank with your knees on the floor will make it a lot easier.

 

Whats a Good Time For The Plank?

I’ve always been able to hold the plank for a reasonable while. I remember in my early 30′s being able to hold for 3 minutes. Nowadays I can do about 2 minutes. The plank is an exercise that with practise you can greatly improve your own time. In fact the best way to develop your strength is to do the plank in steps, 30 seconds and then a pause for 10 (or however long you need) and so on.

 

Plank Variations

The great think about the plank is that there are plenty of variations and tweaks you can make to vary things up a little, from one foot off the floor to even one arm off the floor (what I call hitch-hiker planks).

 

The World Record for the Abdominal Plank is 1 hour and 5 minutes…ouch! I wince just thinking about that!

 

If you’ve tried it, how long can you hold the plank for?

Women's Squat Day with CT Fletcher: ITS STILL HER MUTHA FUCKIN SET!!!

Check out the lady soing squats with 160kg!! now that's work

Women's Squat Day with CT Fletcher: ITS STILL HER MUTHA FUCKIN SET!!!

Check out the lady soing squats with 160kg!! now that's work

BUILD MASSIVE LEGS WITH THE WALL SIT

"Construction" was a widely despised punishment during my secondary school days, along with squats, isometric arm holds, and a gauntlet of as many sadistic exercises and positions as could be imagined by the human mind. 

 

Looking back, as much as we hated the punishments, we were very strong, we would be woken from bed to run about 10 Km (with the threat of being whipped if you didn't keep pace), and our injuries healed faster. Apparently, what couldn't kill us made us stronger!

 

 

This exercise basically involves sitting with your back against a wall in a squat position, or for the more adept, performing the position in mid air and simply holding the position for as long as you can. It is important that the legs are at a 90 degree angle. Apparently you are not supposed to rest your hands on your thighs, but instead to hold them above your head or even in front of you to work your shoulders. The exercise builds isometric strength as well as endurance in the quads and glutes – a favorite exercise to perform for the running season, or if you're interested in the martial arts.

 

This is one exercise you can perform just about anywhere, with no need for gym equipment. With practice, you should be able to increase your muscular endurance and hold on for longer times. My longest time was above 5 hours ( I had a sadistic prefect standing over me with a belt!!). I wasn't smiling at the end, I assure you.

 

 

 

 

CAN TOO MUCH CARDIO MAKE YOU FAT?

Culled from fitness bloggers

 

So, everyone who reads my blog knows that I love to exercise. I suppose you could say I am a little addicted. I can’t live without it. But that isn’t such a bad thing right? What’s wrong with keeping yourself active and healthy? However, I was surprised to find that too much exercise can actually be a bad thing for those of us who exercise for weight loss. That’s because too much exercise can actually cause our bodies to store fat rather than burn it.

 

 

A recent study showed that too much cardiovascular exercise at too high an intensity can cause the body to become depleted and worn down and this can actually slow the body’s metabolism as we go into survival mode. This means that our bodies will try to hold on to our fat stores rather than burn them. In such situations its not uncommon to actually lose muscle and preserve fat. Not what we want!

 

So how can we ensure that we are exercsiing in a way that will ensure we burn fat not muscle?

 

1. Firstlly make sure that you enjoy exercise. Keep the workouts at a level that ensures you still enjoy what you’re doing. If you work so hard that you begin to totally dread every new workout and feel drained, chances are you are doing too much. It doesn’t have to be pure agony for you to derive benefit.

 

2. Make sure that you add resistance training to your workout regime at least twice a week. Too much cardio and not enough resistance can cause your body to stop burning fat effectively. This can be in the form or weights or just by using body weight exercises. Using our muscles and building them ensures that we don’t lose muscle.

 

3. Try to reduce cardio if you are pushing yourself too much. 2-3 cardio workouts a week of 30-45 minutes at moderate to high intensity is sufficient for most people.

 

4. Try using intervals as a way of breaking up your workouts. You can speed up your metabolism and burn fat whilst spending less time exercising. Replace long runs on the treadmill with short 15 minute interval circuits to help boost your metabolism.

 

5. Ensure that you get plenty of sleep. This helps your body to repair and recover from the day’s stresses and strains. Look at ways to reduce your stress if you have trouble sleeping.

 

6. Eat a healthy balanced diet and don’t cut out food groups or starve yourself. Sensible eating and portion control ensure that you eat a balanced diet that will give you all the energy your body needs.

FROM VAMPIRE TO DEMIGOD: KELLAN LUTZ'S HERCULEAN TRANSFORMATION

 

"I [have] always loved Hercules, He-Man, Tarzan—all those epic, classic heroes. Now that I get to bring Hercules to life, my spirit is on fire".

Demigod!!

 

He may be best known for his role as Emmett Cullen in the "Twilight Saga" film series, but Kellan Lutz has moved past the vampire gig and stepped into the shoes of a demigod. Given his love for heroes, Lutz seems like a natural choice to play the son of Zeus.

 

Lutz only had two weeks to prepare for filming and precious little equipment, "I didn't have a lot of time, so I had to multitask and work multiple muscles at once."  He focused less on mass and more on athletics and aesthetics, using cardio, resistance training, and creativity to build a body worthy of his character.

 

 

 

"When I'm working out, I try to make it competitive," he says. "I make up challenges. I need it to be a game."The treadmill circuit below is an example of how Lutz used limited equipment to great effect.

 

Treadmill Circuit: 3 Rounds, raising incline and speed every two minutes

Running, Treadmill 2 minutes    

Dips (Using Treadmill) 20 reps

 

Upper-Body Circuit: 3 Rounds

 

  Side Lateral Raise (Shown w/ Dumbbells) 20 reps

Decline Push-Up 20 reps

Machine Incline Chest Press (20 reps)

Decline Push-Up (20 reps)

Machine Bench Press (20 reps)

Decline Push-Up (20 reps)

 

Not only is the circuit challenging, but it's fun and fast-paced, which helps Lutz enjoy the workload. "At the end of the day, I don't want my time in the gym to be a workout," Lutz says. "I want to have a good time. I don't want to be watching the clock the whole time; I want to look up and think, "Oh my God, I've been here for two hours."