Rebuild Your Mind; Rebuild Your Body

Today I have a guest post from Jason Ferruggia. I think that most people will do pull ups or chins at some time, and perhaps like me you will learn better technique from this post.

To quote Julie Morgenstern, the New York Times best selling time management guru, “confident people embrace the learning opportunity a mistake or failure presents”, and I will admit to learning that I was not following the best form despite all I know about pull ups.

So, here is Jason:

1) Don’t go to failure- This is the biggest problem I see with pull
ups. Everyone goes to failure on every set. That’s because it’s so
easy to do. As soon as a single rep does not look exactly like the
previous one and you can’t get as high, the set is over. If your
speed slows down noticeably the set is over. You
would never continue a set of squats if you could no longer lock
out the weight. If you got all the way up on rep five but were only
able to get up half of the way on rep six you wouldn’t proceed to do
four more reps of partials until the set ended with the weight
crashing down on you and crippling you. But that’s exactly how
people finish their sets of pull ups. The form gets worse and worse
and worse, and they keep going and going and going, climbing up the
invisible ladder, swinging and kipping. When you do this you get no
stronger. And most of the time you get weaker. The negative effect
of training to failure is seen more on chin ups than any other
exercise. No one knows why this is, but trust me, that’s how it is.

2) Lose excess body fat- If you are carrying excess body fat your
ability to do pull ups will be greatly reduced. Extra body fat is
good for lifting more weight in certain exercises that require
greater leverage like the squat and deadlift. But that’s all it’s
good for. Other than that it’s unhealthy and unsightly.

3) Start in the proper position- All too often people start in the
dead hang position with their scapula elevated and their shoulders
touching their ears. This is dangerous and incorrect. When you do
“this all of the tension is placed on your tendons and ligaments
instead of your muscles. When you get on the bar you want to pull
your shoulder blades down and lock your shoulders into their
sockets. This is a far safer position and ensures that the stress
will be placed directly on the muscles and not the tendons and
ligaments.

4) Maintain a slight elbow bend throughout the set- This goes hand
in hand with the above tip. Before starting your set you want to
bend your elbows ever so slightly. This bend should barely be
noticeable, but it will have a huge impact on your elbow health. Do
not start with your elbows completely locked. This, again, places
all of the stress on the tendons and ligaments instead of on the
muscles. On each successive rep you should lower yourself until your
arms are nearly straight, stopping just shy of lockout. But don’t
use this as an excuse to cheat. Just shy of lockout means that your
elbows are “99% locked out;” you just don’t want that complete
extension.

5) Initiate with the lats- When you start to pull, be sure that you
fire your lats first; not your biceps. If you have trouble feeling
your lats, as many newbies do, have someone poke or slap your lats a
few times before you start pulling. Even having a partner keep his
hands in contact with your lats throughout the set may help. It may
also look a little strange to other members of your gym.

6) Drive your elbows down- To get the most out of your lats when you
chin you should think about driving your elbows down and back. Don’t
simply pull with your biceps.

7) Pull your chin to the bar- I used to be a stickler for having
people pull their chest to the bar. I still instruct beginners to do
that, knowing full well that they won’t be able to, but that it will
at least instill the importance of getting high. You only need your
chin to clear the bar. That last few inches does very little for you
lats and instead focuses the stress on the smaller, weaker muscles
of your upper/middle back. The pull up should be used to target the
lats, first and foremost. Don’t waste energy struggling with that
last few inches at the top. Get your chin over while keeping your
back arched and then lower yourself. Use other rowing exercises to
target those smaller upper back muscles and use the pul up to smoke
your lats completely.

8 ) Use a variety of grips- There are countless ways to pull your
body up. You can do chin ups with your palms facing you at a number
of different grip widths. You can also do chin ups with your palms
facing each other, or pull ups with your palms facing away at
multiple grip widths. You can pull up on bars, rings, fat bars,
ropes, towels, suspension straps, beams, Eagle Loops, and even
baseballs or softballs hanging from a chain. The variations are
endless. Use as many different chin ups as possible to avoid burnout
or overuse injuries.

9) Use a variety of rep ranges- To do a lot of pull ups you need
strength and you need endurance. Strength is built with low reps.
You can do low reps with a weighted vest or dip belt or you can
simply perform more difficult variations of pull ups. Endurance is
built with high reps. This is where the use of bands comes in handy.
Having a few different levels of band tension will allow you to vary
your rep range greatly. This will help you boost your chin up
numbers a lot faster. Some days you train in the range of 1-5 reps
for maximal strength. Some day you train in the range of 6-12, and
others you train in the range of 15-30, with a band, to improve your
endurance.

10) Strengthen your grip- The stronger your grip is the easier pull
ups will feel. I suggest getting a Captains of Crush Gripper and
using it a few times per week. You can also add in some more
specific grip work at the gym like fat bar holds, hexagon dumbbell
holds, as well as various pinching and crushing exercises.

For more great training tips and workouts pick up your copy of
Muscle Gaining Secrets today at:
http://www.TheHardGainer.com/

Train hard,
Jason Ferruggia
Strength & Conditioning Specialist
Chief Training Adviser to Men’s Fitness Magazine

Renegade Strength & Conditioning, LLC, 453 Watchung Ave, Watchung , NJ 07960, USA

If you don’t act today you will not be able to attend.

Event: How to Find Time for Your Workouts
Date: Thursday 18th February 2010
Cost: Free!

Remember that cut off for registration is today and only those people who confirm their email addresses will be sent the link to the webcast.

Over the last few days I’ve been finalising the details of what I will cover and I’ve been honing it down to the essentials. This is the content that you asked for, and I think it is something that everybody has issues with – it certainly was the strongest theme in the requests that I received.

The link to register is here:

http://www.mirius.co.uk/Events/register.htm

All you need to do is to go there and enter your email address, then wait for the confirmation which you must respond to. Places are limited because of my server bandwidth and I won’t leave empty seats because someone entered their email address incorrectly.

If you need to get your workouts back on track, to find the time to make the changes in your life that need to be made, then make sure you don’t miss this free event. Just click the link below and make 2010 a year of success.

http://www.mirius.co.uk/Events/register.htm

It’s been a while since I’ve had a guest post on the blog, but today I have a timely post from Craig Ballantyne, the author of the best selling Turbulence Training system. Back at the start of the year I wrote about goal setting and yet I know that most of the people who set goals back at the start of the year have now either forgotten about them or given up. And for those who have given up, there will be a degree of guilt, though some will hide that with bluster about a change of mind.

Craig is here focussing on those who started the year with an aim to lose a few pounds or to tone up, and yet you can read this with a broader view. Here is Craig with some strong advice about a simple way to implement a 7 step detox diet which you can use every day to eat cleaner and achieve better results.

~~~

I just got back from the SuperBowl and got a chance to sit in the front row right in the endzone. It was really cool, and I also got a chance to see “The Who” live in concert at half-time.

But, while I was there, I had a few extra “non-compliance” meals than normal, so it got me thinking about detox diets.

I have a pretty strong opinion about detoxing, and I put together a simple 7-step detox diet plan that you can easily follow so that you never have to do a 16-day detox ever.

You see, my biggest “beef” with the entire theory of “detoxing” is this…

It is simply NOT possible to EVER detox your body.

Why?

Because it’s such a vague statement.

What does “detox” mean?

How do you measure “detoxification”?

What do you even define as toxins?

And when do you officially become “detoxed”?

The answer is, “You don’t.”

It’s impossible.

After all, every single second of every day your body produces carbon dioxide, which is a toxin.

And if you have deep belly fat, research shows that this “visceral fat” is constantly releasing inflammatory toxins into your blood.

Every second. The more fat you have, the more toxic you are.

Plus, every breath you take includes pollutants.

And even the water that you drink may contain “toxins”.

So….what’s the real deal on detoxing?

Listen, while every “expert” is out there arguing about tiny little details and “gurus” are trying to sell you on detoxing so they can sell supplements, the TRUTH is that you really just need to know a few steps to avoid getting toxic in the first place.

In my opinion, the #1 factor in living a “low toxin life” is simply to keep as much garbage out of your body in the first place, rather than depending on a 3-day, 7-day or even 16-day detox to be healthy.

So what do I do to prevent “toxin build-up” in the first place?

Well, I live the Turbulence Training Lifestyle of course, including my “7 Step Detox Nutrition Plan”:

1) Start each day with a blender drink of berries, spinach or other greens, raw nuts (such as walnuts – rich in healthy fats), and other ingredients packed with antioxidants and healthy fats.

2) For lunch, have a large green salad with spinach, beans, broccoli, peppers, avocado, onions, etc.

3) Eat an organic apple a day. Certain fruits (i.e. apples, peaches, cherries, and strawberries) and vegetables have a higher exposure to pesticides, and you should choose organic when possible.

4) Eat RAW snacks only – of fruits, vegetables, and nuts. Try using this one simple rule and limit all of your between meal snacks to raw fruit, raw vegetables, and/or raw nuts and I promise you’ll drop the pounds because you’ll be full on a smaller number of calories.

5) Drink Green Tea (2-3 cups) and filtered water (3 liters) instead of beverages that contain calories or chemicals.

6) Limit animal protein intake to only 2 servings per day. On most days, I’ll one of the following: an “after workout” chocolate milk, organic eggs in the morning, or occasionally I’ll have high quality meat at dinner.

You don’t need to be a full vegetarian to live a longer life, but you should probably avoid eating meat 5 times per day, like people in Chicago.

(Hey Chicago, don’t get mad at me for that…it was a born-and-raised Chicago native who told me 5 servings of meat per day was the average Chicago meat consumption.)

7) Minimize or completely eliminate alcohol intake.

While research does show that for men, up to 2 drinks per day may help cardiovascular health (and for women, up to one drink per day), I’m not about to recommend you start drinking.

After all, if you go above those limits, you start to destroy your health…and you risk addiction. Alcohol killed my father, and I don’t want to see the same thing happen to you. Tread cautiously with the booze.

So that’s it. A simple 7-Step Detox Diet Plan.

By the way, it goes without saying that you should avoid:

- cigarettes
- trans-fats
- excessive amounts of sugar
- refined grains
- and 7-11 nacho cheese

Right?

Of course.

And you should be exercising to lose the belly fat…using proven methods, such as interval training – which is proven to beat long, slow cardio when it comes to burning dangerous belly fat.

Plus, you should be using Turbulence Training resistance supersets to burn more calories and sculpt your body.

If you’ve never used Turbulence Training, you can try it out today for less than the cost of a Superbowl hot dog.

Click here to get Turbulence Training for less than 5 bucks:

=> http://dbu488150.turbulence.hop.clickbank.net/?page=trialoffer

Simply follow those 7 nutrition guidelines and use the short TT workouts to cut out as many toxins from your body – without detoxing.

Stay strong,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training

PS – I also believe you should avoid toxic relationships…

…so you need to take a hard look at the people you surround yourself with in life.

Do you have the right work friends?
Are you in the right relationships?
Do you spend enough time with the right family members?

Or are they toxic too?

Remember – you need social support for success in life and in fat loss…so surround yourself with positive people, like the good folks on the TT Member’s forum.

If you need to dump the toxic folks and get positive social support, we’d love to see you on the forum and help you out.

You will get a free 3-month TT membership access to the forum when you try out Turbulence Training for only $4.95 today:

=> http://dbu488150.turbulence.hop.clickbank.net/?page=trialoffer

Please click that link to get started losing fat & getting rid of the toxic baggage in your life.

~~~

I should point out that the above is an affiliate link, so if you decide to buy something I will get paid an affiliate commission, but since the offer is just for $4.95 I don’t think I’ll get rich any time soon from that. But money aside, I have a lot of respect for Craig and I know his system has been tested and proven by enough people that I have no qualms about recommending it to you.

You guys have asked me some questions and I’ve chosen one particular theme which I think runs through the majority of the questions to answer. That theme is how you can create the time to fit your workouts into your already overcrowded schedule.

I’m going to be putting up a short webcast where I’m going to talk you through the action points you need to take to smash through the barriers. I’ll warn you in advance that I’m not going to hold back on this one, and some of you may not like what I have to say. But there are only two outcomes for your future – success or excuses and if you want to turn the excuses into success then you may need to hear some things you don’t like.

I’m going to be putting the free webcast up for you on Thursday the 18th of February.

If you’ve had trouble finding time for your workout or found that other things keep coming up and taking the time slot you put aside for it, then you need to watch this.

Some of the things that I’ll be covering include:

Why one thing you are doing now guarantees failure
How to find hidden time
How to put it all together into one
Why taking things slowly creates long term success

Remember that you can watch the video for free, but because my server doesn’t have unlimited bandwidth I will have to restrict the number of people who get an invite to it.

To get an invite, all you need to do is to click on the link below and give me your email. You will need to confirm your email, so be prepared for that. I need to make sure that the few slots I have go to people who will actually receive the email, so if you don’t confirm your email, then I’ll send your link to the next guy on the list.

To register click here or paste the following link into your browser

http://www.mirius.co.uk/Events/register.htm

Having worked out for many years, I have a fair idea of the things which work and the things which don’t. But more importantly I have some understanding of why the things which don’t work, well, don’t.

The question I’d like to pose you, is if you have something you need to know, something which is frustrating your progress.

If so then drop a comment below and I’ll do my best to run you up an answer.