Recently he was asked what his favorite exercise was, and he revealed that bodyweight dips were his preferred exercise.

Dips are one of the best bodyweight compound exercises. They work the chest (major pectorals), rear delts and triceps. These muscles are essential for boxers and as dips is a pushing exercise the correct muscles are being strengthened. Curls and rows are less important for boxers.

Barry McGuigan is now 50 years old but still performs dips. Being of a smaller frame is a great help though, as your muscles do not need to lift such a large mass, but really anyone should be able to perform dips throughout their lives if they stay in shape.

Performing dips is also a great way to help tone he upper body and to help with weight loss. The rear delts and chest are large groups of muscles, do if you combine dips with squats, you will start working the whole body and burn a lot of fat, as well as build solid, functional muscle tissue.

In November 2009 McGuigan launched the inaugural Barry McGuigan Boxing Academy in Leicestershire, UK.The academy aims to help youngsters improve their sporting and academic skills by offering boxing tuition as an incentive for staying on in school or college.

Read on for complete boxing workouts ….

However, some people are starting to give the old high volume training another look. German volume training involves super-setting two exercises together to work the muscles to exhaustion in both directions.

Typical volume training would involve combining dumbbell curls with triceps extensions. These are very popular exercises for men as they help to quickly build upper arm muscle which are the ones that are most easily displayed – remember that the triceps are the larger muscle group in the arms, so for bigger arms you need to work the triceps more than the biceps! Although squats and bench press do build much bigger muscles, they are rarely on display to be showed off. Big biceps are often the first sign that a guy works out.

The theory behind volume training is that performing more reps increases lactic acid build up and hormones in the muscles which aids muscular hypertrophy. So how is it done?

All you do is combine 2 different exercises into one “super-set”. This means that you do not rest in between each type of exercise. So for example. you perform 10 standing bicep curls, and then immediately follow it with 10 triceps extensions. Then rest after the super-set is complete, and then repeat it.

Really the best exercises for this type of training are bicep curls and triceps extensions. You can also super-set bench press and flyes, or presses with rows, but these muscles do not always respond to well to the volume training approach.

You cannot really take this approach to all of your weight training, because you will quickly start over training. With volume training you need more rest and more nutrition to repair the muscles. It is generally recommended that you do not train each body part more than once every 4 days with volume training.

One way to make volume training easier is to use the same weight for each exercise. For example, if you have a combi-bar then you can perform 20kg curls and 20kg tricep extension on the same bar. This makes working out much easier as you can quickly transition between exercises.

If you want to bulk up your biceps and triceps quickly, then this form of training is excellent. It will not make you the most athletic person, but it will make your muscles bigger and more defined.

He declared for the 2010 NFL Draft on January 11 2010, and is considered a 1st round prospect. He have dropped out of college to play professional football, and has an excellent career ahead of him.

What makes a good linebacker like Rolando McClain?

A linebacker needs to be conditioned well to hit hard, often people bigger than he is. For this some of the best training involves compound weight training with emphasis on explosive moves like the power clean as well as the essential squats, deadlifts and bench press.

Also a linebacker needs to be fast and powerful. Sprint interval training is a key element to training. Also plyometric training workouts with weigh vests on work really well to increase explosive power.

Typically weight training and cardio/plyometrics will be split so each is trained 3 times per week, with one day rest. But really the coach determines what will work for the individual.

Linbacker Drills and Training

“His physical training focuses on the enhancement of the body’s natural classic lines, shape and form. He attempts to help men and women move toward physiques that fit into the context of their lifestyles. His techniques are derived from years of experimentation, study and practice. He continues to perfect and define his methods by working with many people with different skill levels: from beginners to advanced, from world class athletes to the developmentally disabled, from the aged to the youth of America.” From his website, www.vicsnatural.com

If you have no exercise equipment at home and are not a member of a gym or fitness club, then one option is exercising outdoors. This is not limited to just running and cycling.

Outdoor workouts this time of year should be fast and effective. Ideally start to warm up before leaving the house and then jog to the location for the workout so that your muscles and joints are all warmed up and ready to go. When it is cold you need to keep active the whole time.

For this you need to find a park with some children’s play equipment, such as climbing frames, monkey bars etc. This workout needs to be done early in the morning before the kids go out to play really!

The workout is really a classic circuit training routine which works the whole body. This is what you should do:

• Short shuttle sprints – 50 yards – run flat out, stop, turn, and go back.
• If your park is on a hill, run up it as fast as you can then walk/jog down
• Throw in push ups after each sprint, vary – palms wide apart, close together
• Do walking lunges – these are a fantastic and yet simple way to work the legs
• Squats and squat jumps, or burpees.
• Mountain climbers – the classic alternate legged squat thrusts

How you order these exercises is really up to you. You could perform a sprint then a bodyweight exercise, sprint again, then do another. Or you could cycle through the exercises and then do the sprints as a final part of each circuit.

Keep the rests between exercises short, just 10 to 20 seconds. The idea is to work you whole body hard – it is a short but highly intensive cardio session. This is a great way to boost your metabolism and burn more fa, and if done in the morning, it really sets you up for the day.

One tip is to wake up, have a strong black coffee, and then go out and do this workout. The caffeine will give you a little extra energy and help with the exercise. The harder you push yourself, the quicker you burn fat and the fitter you get.

You do not have to be in the best of shape to start doing this. If you have not exercised for a while, just start slow. Moderate sprints, a few press ups and burpees at a time. This will soon get you fitter, and in each session you will be able to do more. The more you do, the better you get.

If you join a boot camp exercise class, then this is the wort of workout you will be doing. Throw in some tire flipping, sandbag carrying and obstacle course style crawling, and climbing, and you have your very own boot camp workout.

By Mike Geary

Do you happen to be a cardio junkie? It seems everyone believes “cardio” is the optimum exercise for losing body fat and getting back in shape. Well, I’m going to explain to you in this article why I am in total disagreement with that opinion.

Most of us have been told by our doctors, fitness coaches, and many other health pros that doing low to moderate cardio, or intensity aerobic training, is for anyone who is looking to lose some weight and prevent heart disease. Most of the time those recommendations sound like this:

“You need to be doing 30-60 minutes of cardio at a steady pace, 3-5 times per week while keeping your heart rate at a conservative level.”

Now before you embrace this currently popular belief system, and turn into the “hamster on the wheel” who’s doing countless hours of cardio exercise, please consider some of the more recent scientific research information indicating that doing literal endurance cardio work at a sustained pace may not be all they say it is.

First of all, our bodies weren’t designed for long term steady motion, but more for a burst of physical activity (stop-and-go rather than steadily moving) followed by a time out for recouping our energy. What is being suggested by recent research is that using a variety of physical motion in your training regimen is one of more important aspects to consider.

You will notice this example most often in nature, as the majority of animals naturally us a stop-and-go movement instead of sustained, continuous motion.  The truth is humans are actually the only one in nature that even attempts any sort of physical activities that test their endurance. If you look at the majority of competitive sports, other than endurance cycling or running, they’re all based on stop-and-go motion or short bursts of action followed by rest period.

Another example is to compare the physiques of marathon runners versus sprinters when you consider the varying effects of endurance, or steady state training, versus the results of stop and go training. A sprinter’s body will be muscular, powerful, and lean, while a committed marathoner’s body is quite often emaciated and looking like death warmed over. Okay, which of these looks would you prefer to have?

Another thing to remember when you start looking at what benefits are derived by physical variability is the effect on the inside of our bodies from different types of exercise. Scientists have been aware for some time of the effects of doing excessive, steady state endurance exercises (the basic definition here is more than 60 minutes sessions almost every day of the week) are: increases the production of free radicals in your body, can cause joint degeneration, will reduce immunity functions, cause muscle wasting, and causes inflammatory responses that might lead to continuous diseases in your body.

A Look at the Difference with Highly Variable Cyclic Training

In comparison, variable cyclic training has been associated with an increase in anti-oxidant production and an anti-inflammatory response in the body, a much more efficient nitric oxide reaction (which supports a healthy cardiovascular system), and a large increase in the metabolic rate response (which is what helps you to lose weight!). In addition, the steady state endurance training ends up training the heart in just one heart rate range, which doesn’t help you when you’re responding to the various   stresses you face each day.

That’s one of the high points in variable cyclic training as the heart is taught to respond and then recover from a myriad of demands during the day, which means less chance of it failing you when you really need it. Trying thinking about this way… This is an exercise that literally trains the heart to rapidly increase, and then decrease, meaning your heart is much more prepared to handle the stress of every day life. Needless to say, stress of any kind creates a rapid increase to both blood pressure and heart rate. You will not be able to train your heart to deal with any rapid heart rate changes or blood pressure by doing steady jogging or the other types of endurance training.

It is those recovery times between the exertions that are most important with variable cyclic training, and makes is so much better than steady state cardio exercise. For your body to respond well to exercise that is stimulating, it’s very important that is has a recovery period as well. One of the other benefits of variable cyclic training is how much more fun it is to do, which explains why it has a much lower rate of drop-outs than the boring steady state cardio training.

In summation, the benefits available from variable cyclic training, when compared to steady state endurance training, would be: an improvement of cardiovascular health, an increase anti-oxidant protection, better immune function, reduces the risk of joint damage reduced, increase in muscularity (vs decrease with endurance training), and increase in residual metabolic rates after exercise, and better heart capacity for handling life’s day to day stress situations.

Learn About Sports Workouts and Sprinting

When it comes to variable intensity physical training, there are lots of ways you will achieve the benefits. You may notice that most of the competitive sports like basketball, football, racquetball, volleyball, hockey, and tennis are built on highly variable stop-and-go motions that are pushing the heart through a much more intense range than steady jogging or walking does.

Applying this variable intensity style to swimming workouts can prove to be of more benefit than just doing laps over and over at the same speed. The same principle applies to bicycling – and that’s the reason mountain biking, with the extreme ups and downs involved at a variety of intensity levels, might be more beneficial than a flat, steadily paced bike ride.

One of the most effective and powerful choices of variable intensity training for greatly reducing body fat while getting muscular definition, is doing wind sprints. Wind sprints are running close to your maximum speed for 10-30 seconds, and then walking out for 60 seconds recovery before you run the next sprint. Most people find that 6-12 total sprint intervals is a tremendously challenging workout.

Another example of that is weight training, which naturally exerts short bursts of energy followed immediately by a recovery period. You can also achieve high intensity interval training by varying the high-low intervals on various pieces of cardio equipment, and is an additional training method where you’re able to make use of exertion and recovery periods. For instance, imagine creating an interval training working on a treadmill that might look like:

• Starting with a fast walk or light jog, you warm-up for 3-4 minutes.
• Interval 1 – running at 8.0 mi/hr for just one minute.
• Interval 2 – walking at 4.0 mi/hr for about a minute and a half.
• Interval 3 – running at 10.0 mi/hr for another minute.
• Interval 4 – once more walking at 4.0 i/hr for a minute and a half.

If you were to repeat these four intervals four times, you would have one incredibly intense 20-minute workout! Don’t discount the other excellent options available for variable intensity cardio training such as jumping rope, working out on a rowing machine, or running up hills outdoors.

The main message of this article is to have you set a goal of using variable rates for most of your workouts to train your body and achieve the most benefits in your goal of losing fat, having a healthy heart, and maintaining your muscle tone. When you combine a healthy diet with both a full-body, well-designed resistance training program with a high intensity cardiovascular training program, you are guaranteed to lose that body fat – and all this plus more is included in my book, “The Truth About Six Pack Abs.” This is a book you have to read if you’re truly serious and ready to get lean and healthy for good.

This is a guest article written by Mike Geary, Certified Nutrition Specialist as well as Certified Personal Trainer and author of the best selling weight loss ebook, The Truth About Six Pack Abs

The perform a concentration curl, take a dumbbell and lean forwards with your free arm resting across the front of your thigh above the knee. The working arm should be completely clear from the body/leg.

Then simply curl the dumbbell until the weight touches the deltoid muscles in the shoulder. The upper arm and elbow must remain static. At all times you need to be concentrating on the movement, ensuring correct form, and speed, is maintained.

When you left you should turn your hand slightly so that to outside of the hand turns inwards (i.e. the little finger twists inwards). Pause at the top if the curl and tense the bicep muscles. Then lower the weight slowly, perform a slow eccentric movement.

This is a classic bodybuilding exercise for the biceps. If you are look to bulk up a little and want to look good in a T-shirt, then concentration curls are idea.

Free Weights Home Gym, on a Budget

If you are planning on weight training at home with free weights, this is really the bare minimum you should obtain:

• A set of free weights:
  • A full length barbell (7 foot)
  • A Combo Bar (tricep and bicep bar combined)
  • Wide selection of discs
• A good quality, solid bench, with incline positions up to vertical (read the Bowflex SelectTech Adjustable Bench review)
• A pair of saw horses, ideally adjustable - buy here.

Saw horses are a builders / woodworkers tool. They are lightweight (used to be made from wood, but now plastic/metals) and can support a huge weight. For example, the Stanley 60622 Folding Adjustable Sawhorse can support up to 1000 pounds (450kg) so is plenty for any weight lifter to train with. You can position them for bench press and squats (the two most popular big compound exercises) so that you do not find yourself pinned to a bench or the floor! Saw horses are limited as they are not always height adjustable, and when they are the range is small. But for safety when squatting they are very useful. We recommend a 7 foot bar because these provide much greater stability. You can have the supports (saw horse) set further apart, and there is much less chance of the bar tipping when changing weights over. Also, if you decide to upgrade your home gym and buy a power cage, you will need to the longer bar. But the main reason is safety.

Hello readers! Hopefully you have read and enjoyed my previous article on kickboxing fight preparation. In it I discussed the sort of schedule I use in training for my Full Contact Kickboxing. It should be noted that you will not always have the time to use such a precise scale for your training.

For example, I was recently invited to the WAKO (World Association of Kickboxing Organisations) Full Contact British Squad trials. I had a month to prepare and thus was forced to mix an element of all the stages of fitness into my training for that month. Unfortunately I was forced to decline the offer as I have been caught up with an ugly chest infection! But it goes to show, training always needs flexibility.

So, that brings you all up to date with my training exploits over the Christmas season. I have my own New Year’s resolutions, and I’m sure you do too. For some of you, that means new fitness goals, new challenges, and new adventures. For many of you, 2010 may be the first year that you step into the ring. That in itself is one of the greatest things you will achieve all year. It takes a great deal of bravery and dedication. There are several factors you will need to overcome, and I will attempt to discuss these in this article.

Mentality

We have all been there at some point in our lives before. Whether it was on stage in a school play, some form of aggressive encounter in a club, a job interview – the list goes on, but 9 times out of 10 these nerve-wracking encounters bring out the same reactions in people. Excess sweating, shortness of breath, feeling slow, heavy, sluggish or weak, tunnel vision, increased heart rate, adrenaline rushes – the list goes on,

Now, as ever I must state that I am NOT an expert. Going from experience, from books I have read, and even a seminar or two, I have one crucial thing to tell you – YOU CAN CONTROL YOUR BODY’S REACTION TO STRESS.

The reactions listed above are all symptoms of our body preparing us for a stressful encounter. Your body floods itself with adrenaline in order to prepare you for fight or flight. Problem is, when preparing for a fight, we encounter stress long before we need the adrenaline.

On an evening show you might fight at about 7pm. That is when you need the adrenaline. And yet, some of you will be getting that burst of adrenaline as you think about the fight the night before, leading to a lack of sleep…next morning at breakfast, leading to a loss of appetite…during the weigh in, when you expect to see your opponent for the first time…the list goes on.

Do NOT be discouraged. Now that you know what to expect (if you didn’t already), you can start to prepare for it.

Can’t sleep the night before? Use something like warm milk or a long stretching session to relax yourself (remember, your coach might not want you having any nookie the night before, so restrain yourselves if only for one night!). Make a relaxing play list on your mp3 player. Do not do/take anything you have not done before, for example sleeping remedies or a massage, as you do not know how these will affect you on your big day.

Losing your appetite? Trust me, there will come a time when you will wish you had eaten, so do it. Without going into too much detail (for fear of turning this into a nutrition article) you need to keep your blood sugar levels steady to ensure a solid performance. Once again, now is not the time to be experimenting with new things. Hydration is also important.

The shortness of breath, the butterflies, the sweating and shaking – for me, these can be the biggest obstacles. But so far as I know, these are all by-products of adrenaline release. The release of adrenaline is partly affected by your heart rate, which in turn is partly affected by your breathing rate. You may see where I’m going with this…. deep, slow breaths! In my experience, nothing calms me down more than trying to go to sleep – eyes closed, breathing deep, slow breaths. This may help delay the release of energy (shaking and adrenaline) and vital fluids (sweating), which will give you more in the tank when you get into round 3!

You may now be wondering why I have not touched on confidence at all. And that is because I believe you build your own confidence. You can have all the positive results of training, practice, and the like, but if part of you is feeling useless and inferior, and you believe that part of your mind…. well, no one else can do anything for you.

Approach your negative mind set logically – our coaches do not build their reputations by giving us fights they think we will lose. You have not lost all the skills and abilities that you have been developing over the years and months. If your training has gone smoothly then you are fit, capable, and injury-free. You want victory enough that you have come this far, through the miles, rounds, and reps – and you still want that victory, or you would not have turned up. Speaking of which…

Physically

I will not hesitate for a second to tell you that my first fight was the hardest physical challenge I have ever faced – and it will probably be the same for you too. Unless at some point in your life you have fought, whether in martial arts, war, or your local bar, the stress put on your body will be second to none.

This is partly due to the stress I have mentioned previously, but not all of it. Sticking with the context of this being your first fight, then it is safe to say you have never really been in a situation where you are hitting such an unpredictable object (someone else!) as hard as you physically can, whilst moving as quick as you can in order to avoid getting hit yourself.

My shortest fight was 3 minutes worth of action (2 minutes for the first round, and a stoppage halfway through the second) and my longest was 10 minutes (my 5 round title fight last September). This makes my point clearly – all those hours of training, for less than fifteen minutes work? It just goes to show, combat sports present a bigger challenge than anything we face in training.

Beyond Well-structured Training

And how, you ask, do you deal with this? How do you train for an event if you have just accepted that you cannot prepare for it, strictly speaking? Of course, I would recommend following a training structure the likes of which I mentioned in my previous article, but you need to go further than just well-structured training.

You need to go to the level you would normally stop at, and then go beyond it. Only by working and working and working will you emerge on top. In my opinion, this is why so many fighters go on long, monotonous runs, why we get made to do press ups and sit ups numbering in the hundreds. This is not the most scientific, beneficial training we could do, but it breaks us down and makes us push. And trust me; being broken down, and being made to push, is exactly what fighting is about.

The best way to access this level of training is through Personal Trainers, your coaches (who probably have more experience in the industry than the average Personal Trainer) and, importantly, good friends and training partners. If you are motivated enough, you can take yourself to that level, but I would still recommend getting outside help.

I hope this article has helped in discussing any of your doubts, concerns, or questions. Feedback and further questions are always appreciated. I will cover one last question, and like any good writer I have tried to save the best until last.

What if I lose?

That is the big worry for a lot of people. But why? Win or lose, your first fight is about breaking the important boundaries mentally, physically, and spiritually. It is an indisputable fact that 50% of fighters lose their first fight. Do all those fighters amount to nothing? Only if they give up.

To all of you, unless I see you in my opposite corner one day, I wish you the best luck, health and experience.

About the Author

Michael Brooks is a 20 year old Personal Trainer and Amateur Kickboxer from Basildon, currently working in Southend and living in Basildon. He has been in the fitness industry since September 2008, and has a fight record of 6 wins (including a British Title at the age of 18), 1 loss and 1 draw. He is qualified in Personal Training, Kettlebell training and Strike Fit.

Mike conducts personal training to members at Fitness First Southend and is available for private lessons through Tony Willis at 5 Elements Martial Arts. Alternatively, if you are interested in working out a session outside either of these venues, simply contact Mike at mikebfg@hotmail.com to discuss locations and prices. He is listed on the Register of Exercise Professionals (REPS no. R0056543).

Some Facts About Cheerleaders

• Cheerleading was developed in Minnesota by the local university football team.
• The first cheerleaders were men! It was only from the 1950’s that women started to take over.
• Now that women have taken over cheerleading, routines are geared to flaunting the female figure so unsuitable for men to do.

Key Fitness for Cheerleades

• Flexibility Training
• Muscular Endurance
• Isometric Training
• Agility and Acrobatics
• Cardiovascular Fitness
• Functional Strength
• Cheers and Chants
• Yoga and Dance Workouts

What makes Cheerleading different from any other aerobics or dance class is the cheers and chants. These are an integral part of the workout and routines. Cheerleaders work their cardiovascular systems harder than in aerobics workouts simply due to the additional energy required to do the cheers and chants during the routines.

Cheerleader Warm Ups and Routines

• Warm ups usually involves squats, lunges, shoulder rolls, knee raises and a lot of stretching.
• Routines are varied and include lots of dance combos that will be familiar to previous dancers and step aerobics students, such as left and right double-steps, skip steps, hip shaking. arm waves and jumping, kicks, squatting and forward bends
• Simple Routine:
  • Leading with one leg: Forward Lunge, side lunge, rear lunge, squat. Repeat. Alternate legs.
  • Static Squats to create functional strength for lifts.

Cheerleading is a great way to get fit and lose weight while having a lot of fun. Forget Salsa, Zumba and Belly Dancing, Cheerleading is the new in thing!

Watch the Denver Broncos Cheerleaders Workout