Friday Fitness Challenge

Good morning everyone and happy Friday! :)  Time again for another Friday Fitness Challenge and sorry to say, but I worked legs this morning, so I'm going to let you all in on the fun with today's workout. You're welcome. ;)  As always, feel free to share with your friends and family and check out my Twitter or Instagram accounts to see my leg routine from this morning if you're looking for a tough leg routine. Have a great Friday and an even better workout! :)

- Mike

- 15 jump squats
- 15 push ups
- 20 mountain climbers
- 15 chair dips
- 1 min. plank
- 10 lateral lunges (each side)
- 15 leg bridge-ups (same as glute bridge, but raise one leg off the ground)
- side planks (30 sec. each side)
- 20 spiderman plank (on elbows)
Rest. Repeat 2-3 more times.

Supersets - Cut down on time in the gym

Good morning everyone! Summer weather is coming and some of you may be asking what's the easiest way to burn fat, get super lean and have that six-pack? Obviously a clean diet and cardio definitely help, but when it comes to lifting weights, supersets are your friend.

Supersets not only boost your metabolic rate and burn fat faster without spending a lot of time in the gym, but using supersets while weight training stimulates the growth of lean muscle tissue...which again is your friend when it comes to increasing your metabolism.

Supersets can be done with varying degrees of volume and intensity. They can also be done differently by grouping them as a push/pull superset or by supersetting two exercises to work one body part. An example of this is something I'm currently doing. In the picture I am doing bent-over barbell rows and then I superset it with bent-over dumbbell rows. So, when I finish one set with the barbell I immediately do a set with dumbbells.

So if you're looking to get a great workout in at the gym, not spend hours there and increase both lean muscle and your metabolism, supersets are certainly a way to go! Have a great day everyone!

- Mike

Tuesday Training Tip - Shoulders

Today will be a simple tip about the shoulders (or deltoids).  The deltoid is a large three-headed muscle group consisting of the anterior (front), medial (side) and posterior (rear) deltoid.  The function of the deltoid muscle is to lift and rotate the arm.  It is important to develop and train all three groups when training shoulders...especially for those looking to achieve that "V-Taper" physique.  When training shoulders there are two types of exercise; presses and raises.  I'll list a few simple and basic exercises to hit all three deltoid groups.  One last thing I'd like to mention is not to forget about the trapezius muscle, since they extend down from the neck, to down between the shoulder blades. As promised, here are just a few simple exercises that you can do to hit all deltoid groups. Have a great day everyone! :)

- Mike

- Seated Dumbbell Presses

- Side Dumbbell Lateral Raises

- Seated Dumbbell Lateral Raises (Bent over at the waist)

- Upright Rows (Barbell or Dumbbells)

- Shrugs (Barbell or Dumbbells)

- Rear Delt Flyes (if your gym is equipped with a chest flye machine, it usually adjusts for you to hit the rear deltoid)

  

Friday Fitness Challenge

Happy Friday everyone! I've got another Friday Fitness Challenge for you all and it's a good one. Feel free to share with your friends and family. Grab your water and towel and let the fun begin!

- Mike

- 15 burpees
- 15 squat push presses (use a stack of books to press overhead if you don't have weights)
- 20 chair step-ups w/knee raise (alternate legs every time you step up)
- 15 chair dips
- 1 min. plank
- 15 pushups
- 15 glute bridges
- 1 min. plank
- 20 Russian twists
- 15 burpees
Rest. Repeat 2-3 more times.

Tuesday Training Tip - Lat Pulldown

Today's tip is about the Lat Pulldown.  The lat pulldown is a staple in most back workouts.  One big thing to avoid while doing these is leaning back and using momentum to pull the weight.  I see it a lot.  People leaning back, using their weight, as their first motion to pull the weight.  You're not doing anything with your lats by doing this and you can actually move the weight significantly by just leaning back...not what you want to be doing.

Instead, what you should focus on is keeping your body upright with a slight lean back and you should stay in this position throughout the movement.  Focus on your elbows, not your hands, because if you focus on your hands pulling the bar you'll have a tendency to use more of your biceps, again, not what we're focusing on.  Work on that mind muscle connection and concentrate on pulling the bar by the means of your elbows as low as you can trying to touch the top of your chest.  It's ok the last few reps if you can't quite touch your chest with the bar, but if you find yourself not being able to touch your chest in the begin few reps, then you're going too heavy, lighten the weight.

Hope you find this tip useful the next time you do lat pulldowns.  Make sure to check back next Tuesday for another Tuesday Training Tip and you can find more training tips and fitness related topics by connecting with me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (and for some reason the Instagram icon keeps disappearing, but if you hover over the blank space next to the Facebook icon, it's there).  Just click the icons on my site and you'll be directed to these accounts.  Have a great Tuesday! :)

- Mike

Friday Fitness Challenge

Happy Friday everyone! It's time again for another Friday Fitness Challenge, who's up for it? You guys have been doing great with this, so keep up the good work! As always, feel free to share this with your friends and family. Also, if anyone is looking for any new workout ideas or exercises to do at the gym, follow me on Instagram ( @mike_rush_fitness ) where I post some pretty great workouts that I do. Have a great rest of your Friday everyone and an even better workout! :)

- Mike

- 15 burpees
- 10 lateral lunges
- 1 min. plank
- 15 pushups
- 15 leg gluten bridge-ups (same as a glute bridge, but raise one leg off the floor)
- 15 chair dips
- 15 burpees
- 45 sec. side plank (each side)
- 20 crunches
- 1 min. wall sit
Rest. Repeat 2-3 more times.

Tuesday Training Tip - Battling Ropes

Hello everyone!  With it being Tuesday I've got another Tuesday Training Tip and today is about the versatile Battling Ropes.  I took this pic last week at the end of my shoulder routine, which I throw battling ropes in at the end to get that final burn.  In this picture I'm doing the standard battling ropes wave, but there are numerous exercises you can do with them.  Such as power slams, snakes, claps, figure eight circles, outside circles...like I said, numerous exercises.

The thing I like about battle rope training is it's great for functional fitness.  Training with battle ropes involves the entire body, training the neuromuscular system to apply force that begins at the core and extends through the arms and legs.  Another great benefit is the high intensity, rapid nature of battle rope training, which means that you will develop an increased amount of muscular and cardiovascular endurance...not to mention burning a lot of fat in the process, and who doesn't love that?! :)

So if your gym is equipped with the battling ropes, give them a shot!  Have a great rest of your Tuesday everyone, hope you enjoyed today's training tip, and for more fitness related material, be sure to check out my Facebook page.  Just click on the Facebook icon and you'll be brought right to my page.

- Mike

Monday Motivation

Happy Monday everyone and it's already March! :)  There are times we may limit ourselves because of the barriers we put up.  I've been guilty of this myself at times.  If we can just learn to take down those walls and see what's possible, what's out there, what's been holding us back...can you imagine what awaits us?!  It just gets me excited thinking about it and I hope you all are excited as well! :)  Have a great Monday everyone and those walls that have been getting in way, let's knock them down and head in a positive direction. :)

- Mike