A Healthy Mind

Good morning everyone! Not only is keeping your body healthy important, but keeping your mind healthy is just as important.

They gym has always been my escape. A place where I can go to relieve stress and clear my head. We all need something to do or somewhere to go to clear life's clutter. Yesterday I started my day in the gym, had a full busy day at the office and then back at the gym to personal train. So, with being in the gym twice I needed something a little different to clear my head and with the weather being as nice as it's been, I decided to go for a run...and please excuse my whiter than white legs! LOL

Now let me just be clear on this, I'm no runner by any means. At all! But, being able to just put the headphones on, crank the tunes and just go...well there's something satisfying about it. Maybe it's that runners high that you avid runners talk about, but I like to see it as it's my time to just think. I do that when I exercise...I think. Might not be the best thing to do, but I do it. I ponder, I solve problems, I make sense of why things are the way they are, I think about where I am, where I was, what positive direction I am heading, I work out quadratic equations (just kidding on that last one ;) )...the point is whatever form of exercise I'm doing that's "my" time to also make my mind healthier.

Make sure you give yourself your "you time" as with how busy our lives can get, it's very important to squeeze in time to focus on you. Have a great day and take some time out today for yourself. :)

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.