We did our boot camp workout at the Famous Miller Ave. Hill in Bushwick Brooklyn today.

It’s a great way to change things up and get people out of their comfort zone.

No body weight, no resistance bands, no fitness center and no laps around Cooper Park Circle

Just us and the steepest hill you will find in the area.

It’s so steep that just walking will make you work.

I’ve actually seen people stop in the middle of the block just walking up the block.

That’s why I go there.

Because if walking is hard, imagine running up 10 times!

In fact we only did 8 rounds because my buddy Eddie got sick after he decided to race me up the hill at round 8

I only beat him by about 6 inches but it made my day because he’s hard to beat!

Sorry to blow you up Eddie but you’ve beat me enough times already. LOL!

Now onto something more important:

I get more excuses for missing Hill & Stair workouts than anything.

Well maybe not.

Barbell squats also top the list of exercises people will make excuses not to do.

“My knee hurts”

“My back hurts”

“Stairs are bad for your knees”

“I can’t make the Hill Workout today because I have to FILL IN THE BLANK”

I’ve heard em all

Why so you might ask.

Come on you know the answer

Because it hurts

Because it’s brutally hard work

Because you can’t dog it running up stairs or a hill

Because you can’t dog it with a barbell on your back

But you know what?

It just so happens that these exercises will get you the results that your are looking for.

So now the question becomes: Are you willing to do what it takes?

If you are then stop making excuses for yourself!

Now some people have reasons for missing workouts

And there is a big difference a reason and an excuse.

A reason is usually legitimate like my child is sick or I broke my leg.

An excuse is just a lie to yourself of why you can’t go that extra mile or get out of your comfort zone to achieve your goals.

So what’s it gonna be?

Excuse or Legitimate Reason?

If it’s an excuse then you’ll hear from me and you should

If it’s a reason then I’ll be waiting you when you are ready to rock!

As Always

Best In Strength & Health

Virgil Aponte

www.GivStrength.com

As many people watch the Celtics & Lakers playing for the NBA Title I’m sure you can what amazing shape these athletes are in.

Of course lots or running and jumping will do this for people.

And while most people are quick to add running to a fitness program most don’t add jumping.

Here’s a great exercise that will take care of that:

Give it a try and let me know what you think

Biggest Loser Celebrity Trainer came out with 8 excuses for not being fit.

You can read it here:

http://health.yahoo.com/experts/healthieryou/14638/jillian-michaels-debunks-your-top-8-excuses-for-not-being-fit/

Here’s one that can be tackled very easily in my opinion:

1. Excuse: “I have zero time to exercise!”
Michaels says: “I feel your pain—my life is crazy, too. But good-for-you habits are the last thing that should go. If you don’t take care of yourself, you’ll have less energy to be that supportive person in your loved ones’ lives. I tell working moms to ask for help. It used to take a village to raise kids; you can’t do it on your own.

” My comments:

I agree with Jillian here. First understand that if you don’t take care of yourself now with exercise, stress reduction and optimal nutrition you will pay for it later with medical bills and poor health.

Another big point is to get help.

Buddy up with a friend.

Find a babysitter and make time man.

You owe it to yourself.

Some of my stair workouts are done in less than 15 minutes:
http://ultimatestairexercises.com/

Another point is that exercise does not have to take hours or even 20 minutes.

You can get a tons done in even less time.

Don’t believe me check this out:

You can learn more here about Arnell’s Workouts here: Instant Workouts

Bottom line is you need to make time or else your body will pay for your neglect

It’s on you

Let me what your comments or questions by posting to the blog

Virgil

http://virgilaponte.com/7-Minute-Muscle.html

In keeping with the theme of useless exercises from the last blog post here’s what Jon Benson says about the most well known ab exercise of all:

The Sit-Up

I’m shocked that people still think sit-ups done the old-fashioned way actually work the abs.

Even worse, most people have been fooled into believing this actually helps get rid of bellyfat.

Nonsense. Bellyfat is burned off when you have a good nutrition plan and through general exercise, not using exercises for the abs.

Ab exercises are fine, but guess what?

I never train my abs more than 3-5 minutes.

Today my ab workout took 3 minutes and 12 seconds to complete.

And my abs are sore!

But without the nutrition plan, forget it… I’d never SEE my abs at all.

I’d just have a nice wall of muscle with a bunch of flab covering it up.

The best nutrition plan for abs is The Every Other Day Diet plan

The best exercises to do for the actual ab muscles are hanging leg raises, done slowly, crunches (if you do them right)… and that’s really all you need.

My Comments

Now I’m in agreement with Jon here as I think crunches and sit-ups are pretty useless.

I also can’t believe the mentality of thinking belly fat is lost when you train your abs.

I still get questions like this and realize that many people simply don’t understand fat loss.

As Jon says: Eat right using a sound approach like The Every Other Day Diet.

I happen to use a hybrid of his program these days where I eat lean meats and veggies for 2 days, raw food for 1 day and then a cheat day on day 4 (Anything Goes as its Party Time !)

I’m also big into finding quality sources of food through farm programs where I can get raw milk, cheese, grass fed meats etc…. at reasonable prices.

Currently I’m using the Traditional Nutrition Guild which has been a blessing for me here in New York City. They even deliver to Brooklyn!

And then of course you must have an overall fitness program aimed at building muscle, staying active ( I love walking) and maintaining a high level of fitness with interval type cardio training. My favorites are of course hills, stairs and playing 3 on 3 basketball.

Jon loves the hanging leg raise for training abs and while it is a great exercise I see way to many people perform it improperly.

I prefer the good ole ab wheel.

For 10-20 bucs you can’t beat this exercise and it is also very easy to modify.

Here’s a good demo from You Tube:

Post your comments below and let me know your favorite ab exercises even if you love sit-ups

Remember: All that matters is what works for you

Programs I’m Partnered with & Highly Recommend

Fat Burning Furnace

7 Minute Muscle

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Order any of these products and you get the entire NGN Program for FREE!

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Simply email your receipt to support@virgilaponte.com

Virgil

In early September 2005 I received an email from a woman named Gina who had questions on stair training. It turns out that she was the leader of a group fitness
class that loved to use the bleachers at a local park to do stair exercises.

She wrote to me to ask for training tips on stair exercises and of course I was excited to help out.

I immediately emailed her my numerous workouts she and her group could do on Bleachers or Giant Steps which I like to call them. The reason I call them giant steps is because bleachers or stadium steps are about the size of 2 standard steps and sometimes a bit bigger.

Here are some ideas to get you started if you’d like to try stair work on bleachers or giant steps as I like to call them:

1. Running up Giants Steps: The fact that giant steps are twice the size of standard steps makes this very tough from the start. It’s a big reason why athletes love to run stadium steps. Doing this you will help you improve your strength, power and conditioning all in one!

2. Hops: Another idea straight from elite athletes is to simply hop up stadium steps. Doing this is excellent for improving your power and if you throw in multiple hops you will also dramatically improve your power endurance. Also expect your legs to look amazing after 3-6 weeks of using hops. I suggest you start 1 giant step at a time and then progress to using 2 giants steps at a time (equal to 4 standard steps).

3. Use 1 or 2 legs at a time: Most people inherently will use 2 legs but by switching to 1 leg you will make your legs much stronger and you can work on any weakness you have.

4. Use a weighted vest: Just 5-10 pounds will make a huge difference here. Once I started using a weighted vest I’ve never looked back. It makes your workouts that much more efficient and effective that you too will never turn back. I used to breeze up 20 flights of stairs with no vest. Once I got up to using 20 pounds on my weighted vest 20 flights was not so easy anymore. And I’m just talking about walking. For running or hopping just 5 pounds and you’ll work harder then you’ve worked in a long time.

5. Throw in body weight exercises, jumping rope, resistance band work or other exercises you’ll love in between your climbs.

My favorites are push-ups and handstand push-ups in between my climbs. I also throw in pull-ups at the local park after my my time in the stair wells.

These women also used hills and track to workout but the message is clear. Find what you love, get some support from a group, continue to learn from other resources and simply get out there and do it.

Virgil Aponte

1. Doing stairs first thing in the morning will easily have you burning extra body fat the entire day.

2. For even Elite Professional Athletes stairs can be brutal. Even they want to get it over with as soon as possible. When I had the New York Liberty players do stair work they either hated it or loved it. They hated it because it was too hard or they loved it because it gave them the best bang for their buc.

3. A-Rod just understands how effective stairs are and does them first.

Ever since I wrote The Ultimate Stair Exercises for Fitness & Weight Loss I’ve been keeping my eyes and ears open to find out who is actually using them. For many stairs are actually a big secret and I just don’t understand why because it’s not a secret among elite pro athletes and celebrities.

Even more amazing is that stairs are a free training tool and most people I know (especially in big cites) have access to stairs at home or at work.

Don’t underestimate the effeciency and effectiveness of this extraordinary training tool.

Strength, power, flexiblity, supreme conditioning, weight loss, fat loss are all attainable with stairs.

What are waiting for?

Virgil Aponte

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