You Want Innovation? Here's A Start

In grade school we all learned the basic push-up. Athletes are always punished for shortcomings in practice with the dreaded push-up. The problem is that this is actually a great exercise that's been ruined by over-use. You want to love push-ups again? Watch this! Push-ups on chains. And chest press with bands. It's all here, watch and learn. This is just the beginning, I have so much more to share in the days to come.

Aaaahhh, The Good Ol' Bench Press

If I had a penny for all the times that I have had to spot guys, get spit on by guys, and nearly puke from their horrible breath.....I'd be rich. Then the two questions that have given me a few extra grey hairs, "Whadya bench?" and "How do I get my bench up?".

Lock-out position with standard 7-foot bar. Always make sure the weight is clamped on the bar. And always make sure you have either a spotter or are in a power cage with safety catches.

Bottom position: bring bar down to mid-chest (just above the nipple). Slowly descend for about three seconds so you don't crush yourself, and then pause a quarter-second, then in a smooth movement without acceleration, push the weight up for a two second count. Lifting tempos can vary, I've just found there's nothing safer than a 3 second down/2 second up tempo.

I would always kid my gym members, especially the football players, that one day they were going to find a pile of steel filings where their beloved apparatus used to be. Yes, the hack saw was coming out. Don't get me wrong, this standard exercise does work and I use it .... maybe three times a year. Once, of course, to check my 1RM to see my progress. I assure you that by using some inventive alternatives and having an open mind, you will get stronger and save your shoulders at the same time.

This is a different variation, using the bosu and dumbbells. Dumbbells require more muscle recruitment to steady and allign the dumbbells. You'll also be using more core strength to keep yourself in line and not sagging. If you've never tried this variation, you'll be amazed at how many core and lower body muscles are involved. Bury your ego, you won't be able to use a lot of weight if this is done properly. Try the same tempo as mentioned above.


 If enough of you ask I will tell you a great short story about my 48-year-old gym member (drug free; never used) who went from a pb of 360 lbs. to 408 lbs. in 10 weeks....and never did a bench press once. (Here's a hint: look at the background photo on my blog).

As for any bench press, you can see the start and finish positions in these photos. I kept my butt down on purpose in the 2nd photo, can you see the difference between the 1st and 2nd photo? Keep your body in a straight line from knees to chest. Don't let your butt sag, because it's going to want to cave in with the difficulty of this exercise.

I Can't Take It Anymore!!!!

Why am I doing this? For decades, I've worked out myself and helped train many, many others. I've worked in "sports-specific facilities" that want to get athletes strong, except those same trainers shiver at the mere thought of doing a deadlift themselves, because it's difficult and it's not perceived as an "athletic" movement. So therefore, they have professional athletes sitting on the floor doing oblique twists with a 10 lb. medicine ball because it's "sports-specific". What's my problem with that? Nothing, except some 5-year-olds can do the same movement. So what is that pro athlete really getting out of that exercise? Virtually nothing, but an emptier wallet.

On the other hand, 70-year-olds who are in great physical shape are supposed to use just machines to be safe.

Oh, and body builders, like athletes, are unique and have different muscle groups than the rest of us. Do you believe that? Of course not, we all have the same muscles. A pro athlete, a body builder and a 70-year-old all use the same muscles to climb a set of stairs.

The industry has put up walls to segment people by gender, athletic ability and age. There's no need for this. My innovative approach uses weights, bands, chains, slider boards, bosus, medicine balls and equipment. I'm going to show you how it can all come together in the comfort of your own home - if that's where you choose to work out. So let's get started.......