Performing, programming and teaching exercise
Today someone shared a video with me of a woman leading a group “cardio” class in what looked like a horribly choreographed parody of Japanese swordsmanship. A group of mostly women with wooden practice swords tried to follow along as the instructor sloppily hopped around punching, kicking, and striking with the bokken. As both an exercise […]
If you want to build a better body don’t waste your time looking for an easy or quick way to do it, because there isn’t one. Your results from exercise will always be proportional to the effort you put into it. If your workouts are easy – if they require very little effort – they will necessarily produce very little results. This is […]
Question: I am what you’d probably call “skinny-fat”; I have small arms, legs, shoulders, and chest and want to make them bigger, but at the same time I’m carrying a bit of fat around my middle and want a flat stomach. Can I build muscle and lose fat at the same time or should I work on one at […]
About five years ago I started a project to develop a comprehensive bodyweight high intensity training system as a more effective, more efficient, and safer alternative to the popular but severely flawed mainstream bodyweight programs: Project Kratos. The first phase was my own experimentation and refinement, which ran parallel to work on designing the UXS […]
In Chapter Four of Nautilus Training Principles: Bulletin Number One titled, Indirect Effect, Nautilus inventor Arthur Jones wrote, “Throw a stone into a pool of water, and it will make a splash—and a wave will run to the far end of the pool; the larger the stone, the larger the splash—and the larger the wave. […]
I am often asked questions that take the form of, “Can I lose X pounds in Y time doing Z?” The person asking usually wants to lose a large amount of weight very quickly without actually having to work very hard for it or change their diet. In fact, changing their diet is almost never part of Z and when it is it usually involves […]
Question: What are the most important pieces of exercise equipment someone should have in their gym? Answer: A clipboard and pencil; every other piece of equipment is interchangeable with something else or expendable. There is no single piece of exercise equipment that is more important or more effective than any other in the long run for getting […]
Question: Due to busyness I’ve really cut down my volume of exercise. No “cardio” and my weight lifting workouts consist of a home workout of trap bar deadlifts which I feel in my quads, glutes, hamstrings, lower back, traps, forearms and abs. Supinated grip chin ups which I feel work my biceps, lats, forearms, and abs. […]
Question: I want to gain some muscle and lose fat but not enough to look like a bodybuilder, just to get in decent shape so I’m not embarrassed to take my shirt off. I know from reading your articles I should focus on high intensity strength training and cutting calories, but I have a few questions. […]
Question: Some HIT trainers recommend doing full body workouts and hitting each muscle group two or three times a week, but others recommend splitting the body up and only hitting each muscle group once a week or even less frequently. Which one should I do if my main goal is increasing muscle size? If I should do a split […]