Five and a half years ago I had a bone marrow and stem cell transplant. A lot of people supported me through that time and have since.
For me – EVERY day is Thanksgiving.

Thanks to all of you.

The following is a version of the acknowledgments page in New Rules of Lifting for Abs. I thought today would be a good day to share it:

A special thanks has to go to Lou Schuler. About 12 years ago he met a young Scottish immigrant in New York, working as a personal trainer and he saw something that maybe no one else saw. Thank you for believing in me and all the opportunities that have since come my way because of you.

To Adam Campbell, I’ll be forever be grateful for the opportunities you gave me to communicate my ideas to more people than I ever could have reached on my own.

All the lecturers, coaches, authors and seminar hosts I’ve learned from over the years. My growth has come in part, due to your willingness to teach. I’ll continue to pay it forward.

To the Perform Better team who gave me an opportunity to share what we do at Results Fitness with a wider audience. Thank you.

To Derek Campbell – my original mentor. You changed the direction of my life and I want to be just like you when I grow up!

To my family at Results Fitness. None of this is possible without you guys. I am by far the worst trainer at my own facility and I’m very proud of that!

To my Mum – I hope you’re watching. To my Dad and Derek my brother – thanks for being the base from which I launched.

To God, and in no small part the elite team of doctors and nurses at UCLA who saved my life and gave me these extra days here. I don’t know why I deserve these days, but I’ll never waste them and will always treat them as a gift. If it weren’t for you – we know for sure, this story would be over.

And as always to my soul mate Rachel – You’re the most amazing thing that’s ever happened to me – thanks for everything.

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AC

I’m a big fan of “finishers” at the end of a workout. It’s become tradition that at the end of my hands-on presentations at the Perform Better Summits that we finish with a “big finish” – often the leg matrix (24 squats, 24 alternate lunges, 24 alternate lunge jumps and 24 jump squats), or the squat series (30s jump squats, 30s speed squats, 30s squat and hold – 3 rounds).

It’s a great way to max out the benefits of your workout and end any kind of group training or semi-private session on a high!

It’s actually a question that I get a lot from trainers – when to use a metabolic finisher, what to select, and what different finishers are there.

With that in mind, here’s a great guest article from certified Turbulence Trainer Mike Whitfield:

How to Choose the Right Workout Finisher

I am now back on a total body workout with a metabolic finisher after doing an upper lower-split program for 3 weeks. I will explain to you how I chose the right metabolic finisher in just a little bit, but first I’m going to put together a nice hot cup of Apple Cider. You didn’t even realize I stepped away did you? The internet is ah-mazing!

Anyway, since I’m on a total body program 3 times a week, I chose a metabolic finisher that uses all the major muscle groups. I guess you can call it a total body metabolic finisher, but that is a lot of words. Finishers are getting a lot of buzz in the industry lately, and they should because they work.

As you know, a metabolic finisher is a replacement for interval training and it uses incomplete recovery using short rest periods and most of the time, it uses all the major muscle groups. However, there are some finishers, at least when I write them, that focus a little more on the upper body or lower body. This brings up 2 questions:

1. How do I choose the right metabolic finisher based on the program I’m on for fat loss?
2. Seriously, how many licks of a tootsie roll pop does it take to get to the tootsie roll of tootsie roll pop?

Keep in mind that the second question isn’t really that important, but was inspired by a t-shirt I saw at Target a few nights ago. That same shirt also inspired me to type this sentence as well as the last question. So, let’s forget about that and focus on number one:

How do you choose the right metabolic finisher?

Since I’m a TT trainer and I train myself as well as my clients of one of two ways of working out (total body or upper/lower split), that is how I will explain how to choose the right finisher. Let’s look at one a time:

Choosing a Finisher on a Total Body Program

If you’re on a total body workout 3 days a week, I would recommend a finisher that focuses on all major muscle groups. For instance, after your workout on Monday, you could do the “It’s Complexicated” finisher, which is a barbell circuit of Front Squats, Rows, Romanian Deadlifts and Military Presses. This hits all major muscle groups without over-stressing what you accomplished in your workout (just don’t add weight to the bar).

Another good fit after a total body workout, especially if you are tight on time, is the Burpee/Chin-up combo. This is how that works:

Do the following as shown:

Burpee/Chin-up Combo (8), rest 40 secs
Burpee/Chin-up Combo (7), rest 40 secs
Burpee Chin-up Combo (6), rest 30 secs
Burpee Chin-up Combo (5), rest 30 secs
Burpee Chin-up Combo (4), rest 20 secs
Burpee Chin-up Combo (3), rest 20 secs
Burpee Chin-up Combo (2), rest 10 secs
Burpee Chin-up Combo (1), smile and have a protein shake

This finisher takes just a few minutes, but you’ll see why it is so effective. You’ll be spent, and it’s a great metabolic finisher to choose when you don’t have much time. It also hits a lot of muscle. Boom goes the efficiency dynamite yet again.

This is why it is so important to plan your workouts just like your nutrition. If you know you will be tight on time after a total body workout, then you need to have a finisher in place that you know takes just a few minutes.

So to wrap it up – if you’re using 3 total body workouts per week, then choose a finisher based on time allowed and that hits your upper and lower body to compliment what you accomplished in the main workout, which was a good workout and getting shot down by the hottie on the treadmill. Yep, I saw that… and I typed it. And there’s nothing you can do about it – it’s my article and I can do what I want.

What about metabolic total body workouts?

If you’re performing a true metabolic workout, then you honestly don’t need a metabolic finisher. The intensity needed to perform that type of workout cannot be sustained long enough to perform a finisher on top of that. It’s kind of like when people say they did intervals for an hour… no you didn’t. Your intensity wasn’t high enough if you did intervals for an hour. That’s a whole new article, and thank you for the idea! (not you, I’m talking to my own head).

Choosing a Finisher on an Upper/Lower Split Program

You can still use a metabolic finisher, even when you are on an upper/lower split program. This where you will need to choose wisely. Let’s say you are on a program like this:

Mon: Upper body
Tue: Lower body
Wed: Off
Thu: Upper body
Fri: Lower body

This is where it comes to your fitness level really. If you find yourself being able to recover really well between workouts, then you could actually choose a metabolic finisher that focuses more on the lower body after an upper body workout. This will target all muscle groups between the main workout and the finisher. For example, after your upper body workout, you could do the following finisher:

The “Crossing Over to Stir the Pot” Finisher

Do the following superset 4 times, resting for 30 seconds between supersets
1A) Bodyweight Cross-Over Step-up (10 ea)
1B) Stir the Pot Exercise (5 in ea. direction)

As you can see, you will only be using bodyweight, so it’s not too much volume. This will allow you the intensity needed for your lower body workout the next day.

Another option, if you’re concerned for your recovery of your lower body, is to use a finisher that focuses on the upper body. This will add more volume to your upper body workout, but keep in mind that you will have 2 days of rest in between. Everyone is different. An upper body focused finisher could be a superset with little rest of push-ups and inverted rows.

Mike, you need to wrap this up. You’re getting long-winded. I love it when my head takes over and types stuff like that. It’s freaky, but cool.

Needless to say, you can apply the same principles to choosing a finisher after a lower body workout. Just always take your fitness level and recovery ability into account. Remember the 3 rules on choosing the finisher:

1. Time
2. Fitness level
3. Recovery ability

So, I hope this helps you out when you need to choose the right metabolic finisher after your workout. If not, well, that’s over 1,000 words I will never get back… kinda’ like watching Transformers 2.
That’s 90 minutes of my life I won’t get back. Looky there, I’m rambling again.

Finish Strong,
Mike Whitfield
Certified Turbulence Trainer

–
AC
PS – click HERE for 40 workout “finishers”

About a month ago Craig Ballantyne emailed me and told me about 24/7 fat loss and the fact that this new plan included “the best workouts he’d ever written”. That piqued my interest so I immediately grilled him for more info.
The new product has just been released, so I decided to share some of the info that I got from Craig with you guys…

Answer:
It’s about time that a complete blueprint was put together showing our clients exactly what to do every hour of every day to burn fat.

Joel Marion and I are taking the guesswork out of fat loss. Joel’s providing the step-by-step nutrition and I’ve created a complete workout plan using MRT, MCT, and MFF – the three best components of fast fat burning workouts – according to both my research and experience.

Answer:
You bet.

The MCT is something that was inspired by you, actually, during one of our telephone calls. You mentioned you had clients performing metabolic workouts on back to back days, with one day being heavy MRT workouts and the next day being a higher-rep, conditioning style group workout (similar to a bootcamp).

I started designing programs like this for my clients and the response was incredible. In fact, the first workout I designed using the MCT has been my most popular this year.

My clients want to train hard, work up a sweat and burn calories and fat, and the combo of MRT and MCT workouts is almost the perfect plan.

I say “almost”, because recently I’ve stumbled across one more piece to the fat loss puzzle, and that was adding metabolic fat loss finishers in place of interval training.

The biggest benefit is simply that my clients can now get maximum results without traditional interval-cardio equipment like treadmills or bikes. You can use dumbbells, kettlebells, or just your bodyweight for metabolic finishers as you’ll see in a moment.

Answer:
I’m convinced that metabolic finishers are far superior to regular cardio.
Then again, regular cardio often doesn’t accomplish too much.

The key with both finishers and interval training – and even cardio – is to cause depletion of muscle energy stores (i.e. glycogen depletion). This causes ‘turbulence’ on the muscles and in turn, turbulence causes the post-workout afterburn.

Your muscles don’t care if it is traditional sprint interval training on a bike (like the original interval training fat loss studies used) or goblet squats and burpees in a finisher.

All that matters is the depletion – and you can get that without traditional cardio equipment thanks to the MFF setup.

Phase 1 – Day 1 – Workout A

1A) DB Reverse Lunge – 8 reps per side (2-0-1)
1B) DB Chest Press – 8 reps (3-0-1)
1C) DB Row – 8 reps per side (2-0-1)
1D) Stability Ball Rollout – 12 reps (3-0-1)
• Perform the above circuit with no rest between exercises.  Rest 1 minute after completing the circuit.  Repeat the circuit twice more for a total of 3 rounds, resting 1 minute between each.  After completing all rounds rest 1 minute and move on to below circuit.

2A) DB Squat – 30 seconds
2B) Close-Grip Push-up – 30 seconds
2C) DB RDL – 30 seconds
2D) 1-Arm DB Squat & Press – 30 seconds per side
• Perform the above circuit with no rest between exercises.  Rest 1 minute after completing the circuit.  Repeat the circuit twice more for a total of 3 rounds, resting 1 minute between each.  After completing all rounds rest 1 minute and move on to below circuit.

3A) Burpees – 30 seconds
3B) Total Body Extension – 30 seconds
3C) Jumping Jacks – 30 seconds
• Perform the above circuit with no rest between exercises.  Rest 30 seconds after completing the circuit.  Repeat the circuit twice more for a total of 3 rounds, resting 30 seconds between each.

End workout.

–
AC
PS – for more workouts and more science of fat loss – check out 24/7 Fat Loss

Here’s a quick interview that I just did with the creator of Bodyweight Bodybuilding - Zach Even-Esh

1) Why did you start doing bodyweight training ?

5) Your gym is for athletes only. Can these methods be applied to athletes & have you tested them on your athletes?

Years ago, when I first began train Football players a light bulb went off. The majority of these guys were big AND strong. But they sucked at our warm up: squats, lunges, push ups, etc.

They could bench 315, squat 405 and trap DL 495….. easily. But their ability to maneuver their own body was horrible at best. They skipped the necessary commitment to bodyweight training and were injured on a regular basis.

I decided to FORCE these guys to spend their first 4 weeks without touching a barbell. It was all bodyweight with sleds, sledge hammers and medicine ball training mixed in.

It forced them to tighten up their nutrition and get rid of the fat that was doing NOTHING for them.

For our wrestlers and leaner athletes, we were able to take bodyweight training to a whole new level.

We used bodyweight training for speed and power, added resistance for strength and muscle building and perform density work with push + pull or upper + lower body exercises for strength & power endurance.

We know have athletes who weight over 200 lbs climbing ropes, performing handstand hold & push ups, able to jump, sprint and move like animals. I got rid of the excuses of “I’m too heavy” or “I’m too Big” and began focusing on the fact that we ALL need to be athletic and that means being committed and getting rid of excuses.

Once the mindset is taken care of the results are powerful. Most importantly, our athletes are MUCH healthier and better prepared to compete at a higher level rather than feeling beat up from an overabundance of heavy lifting.

========

–
AC

PS – You can check out an entire bodyweight program Zach has written – HERE

I wrote this back in 2007….

Do you have Training Schizophrenia?

Are you focused more on cardio, and just trying to improve your overall health – taking fish oil, resveratrol and greens drinks etc..

Then you go to a seminar with Pavel Tsatsouline and watch him do a single leg squat for a bunch of reps and throw the kettlebell around as if it was nothing so you start doing that…

Then you talk to Mike Boyle or Gray Cook and you’re all about movement patterns and functional training.

Then you read something John Berardi, Mike Roussell or Tom Venuto wrote and you decide that you need to get super-lean.

Then you watch boxing or the UFC and remember how much you loved fighting and maybe you should make a comeback and train for just one more fight….

But then you go hang out with Matt Rhodes, Vinnie Dizenza, Jim Wendler and Dave Tate and decide that you’re too small and too weak and should eat your way up to 275 and work solely on max strength.

Then your wife reminds you that you have another cancer scan check-up next Monday and should always focus just on improving your health….

Or is that just me ? :)
—-

All kidding aside – the above describes so many people that I meet. They want to get lean so they start on a fat loss program but the second they start to lean out and see their abs – they think they look too small so they start trying to gain muscle. Or the person who starts a solid low carb eating plan but by noon have decided that low fat is the way-to-go so they order pasta at lunch….

New Rule.
From now on you have to follow a single goal or plan for at least 8 weeks. Preferably 16 weeks. You can lean out, you can bulk up, you can train for a 5K – whatever you want. But you have to pursue one goal relentlessly for 8 weeks before you can change paths.

Now watch your results increase.

–
AC

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AC