Chest development is not a topic we spend a lot of time on here at Turbulence Training, but we’ll cover that plus workouts that save you time, and show you how to do supersets in a busy gym.

Question: “Hey Craig, love the workouts but I’m having a real hard time doing some of the supersets in a busy gym. Help?” – Yann

Answer: Hey Yann, good to hear from you again.

The best solution for a pure metabolic, fat burning workout would be to substitute a bodyweight exercise in place of one of the dumbbell exercises.

So let’s say your workout called for:

1A) DB Chest Press
1B) DB Row

But you didn’t want to “hog” two sets of dumbbells.

Simply change the superset to:

1A) Decline Pushups (or other challenging, lower rep pushup)
1B) DB Row

Alternatively, you could use the same db weight and increase the number of reps you do on the easier exercise.

For example, you’d probably be able to do 12 reps of DB rows with the same weight you can DB chest press for 8 reps.

That way you don’t hog two sets of dumbbells…although you will be taking over a bench completely for a few minutes.

Question: “I want to use the 24-7 workouts but at the same time add muscle to my chest. What should I do?” – Todd

Answer: When using the 24-7 workouts…

The first thing to do is replace pushups with dumbbells press (flat, incline, or decline).

NOTE: But do not add chest exercises UNLESS you also add a rowing/upper back exercise. We aim for one row/pulling exercise for each pressing exercise.

The second thing to do is increase the length of time spent in the lowering phase of the motion to 3-4 seconds.

The third thing to do is make sure you squeeze your pecs together at the top of the movement.

This will help chest development, and frankly you can use the same principles for ALL body parts.

Question: “How often do I need to switch programs and will I need to use weights to build my chest?” – Todd

Answer: Yes, I recommend switching your program every 4 weeks. Not sure how often you currently switch…but 24-7 is designed to change every 4 weeks.

You could either get a set of adjustable power-block dumbbells for home or use the gym.

Question: “And should I get a workout partner?” – Todd

Answer: Well, I was my biggest and strongest back when I had a workout partner in 2006 – Anthony Belza, currently the strength coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

We trained hard 3 – and often 4 – days per week.

Sometimes 5 days if we drove to Sport-Specific Training in Burlington on Sunday morning for Strongman Training with good ol’ Larry Jusdanis. (We had some funny stories from those lifting sessions…politically incorrect, though.)

However, these days I’m really particular about my schedule – and Anthony’s too busy – so I train alone.

I don’t have time to waste waiting around for a training partner to show up…so I train alone now.

You can get great results either way…it depends on your personality if a partner is good for you.

Question: “I am looking at adding some variety to my interval training and I am guessing a kettle bell would be ideal for this I am just wondering what size to get.

The one I am looking at is 16kg or 35lb does this sound about right? Also any pointers on exercises would be appreciated.” – Sean

Answer: That’s a good one to get. However, once you get it, be conservative. Make sure to read the articles over at www.kettlebellworkouts.com on getting started.

Question: “Alwyn referenced your workouts when suggesting how to do a quick workout in just 10 minutes. Can you explain how to do that?”

Answer: What I meant was, if you only had 10 minutes, just do the first superset with regular rest breaks.

Add in a warm-up before that and your 10 minutes would be up.

Using our DB chest press and DB row superset from above, if all you did was 3-4 sets of this superset, you’d still have an excellent upper body workout.

Alternatively, you could just do one set per exercise of 5-6 exercises in a circuit.

For example, yesterday morning I trained down here in Miami at the Fontainebleau Hotel (great gym for a hotel) and I did several sets each of the following:

• Pushups
• Pullups
• DB Presses
• DB Row
• Face Pulls (a cable exercise for the upper back) TRX Bodyweight Triceps Extensions

But if I was pressed for time, I could do one set of each exercise and that would give me 60-80% of the results as doing multiple sets.

Cool?

Cool!

Okay, don’t forget, last call for this special is at noon today:

Have an amazing weekend and post your questions on the forum so I can answer them for next weekends QnA.

Get stronger,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS

“Sacrifice today for a better tomorrow.” – Frank McKinney

Discover a bodyweight exercise circuit workout from Certified Turbulence Trainer, Scott Rawcliffe.

A lot of people think that bodyweight exercise is only for beginners or for the ladies.

While neither is the case I know there are a bunch of guys out there that think “I wouldn’t be caught dead doing only bodyweight exercises.”  While I challenge you to step up and try this only bodyweight exercises routine.

All you are going to need for this program is a towel, a squat rack, and a bench.  Oh yeah, did I mention you are also going to have to be ready to do some serious work?

If you start this bodyweight workout thinking that it’s going to be one of those fluffy routines you see in the Sunday morning newspaper then don’t bother because you will never finish it.

We will have two circuits of four bodyweight exercises.  Always remember that it takes just as long to do a rep with good form as it does to do a rep with bad form, so never sacrifice your form for another repetition.  You will get 2 minutes between each round to catch your breath and grab a drink (or to sit down and talk yourself into completing the next two rounds).

Circuit #1

A1) Towel Body Rows X 8-10
A2) Bench Step Up with High Knee X 10-12 each leg A3) Decline Spiderman Push Ups X 15-20
A4) Bulgarian Split Jump X 20 each leg

Towel Body Row – set up a bar on a squat rack at about hip level or slightly higher.  Take your towel and wrap it around the bar once to secure it (make sure you have a shower towel as a hand towel is too small).

Lying on the ground with your chest directly underneath the bar you have two options for your feet; knees bent or legs straight (harder option).  Reach up and grab onto the towel and lift your hips up towards the ceiling.

Now without letting your hips drop row your body up towards the bar, and then lower your body back down keeping your hips up in a controlled tempo.  That’s one repetition.  Too easy  keep one leg elevated for the first 4-5 reps then switch.

Bench Step Up with High Knee – Start with the right leg up on the bench and perform a simple step up while bringing the left knee up to hip level.  Then lower your left leg back down towards the ground.  Too easy     I can fix this.  While lowering your left leg keep your toes up and only allow the heel to touch the floor.  This will have you saying “C’mon Man” faster than Chris Berman after NFL
Sunday

Decline Spiderman Push Up – Simply set up in a push up position with your feet elevated onto a bench.

In a fluid motion lower yourself into a push up while bringing your right knee out to the side of your body towards your right elbow.  As you are pushing back up you will bring your foot back up to the bench and then repeat with the other leg on your next push up.  Too easy?  Hold the bottom position for a 2 count.

Bulgarian Split Jump - Put your left foot up on the bench with top of your foot pressed down into the bench.  Get used to this feeling because you need to keep this foot in contact with the bench for all 20 reps.

Now drop down into a split squat and then explosively drive up and get some air with that right foot.  Make sure that you come down and cushion your landing or you won’t get past about 2 of these before your knee says “I’ve had about enough of this!”

Mind you by the time you get to rep 20 this is exactly what your quad will be saying.

How ya’ like them apples??

So that’s circuit #1. You’ve only got two more rounds to go. Not too bad for a couple of only bodyweight exercises, if I do say so myself.

Circuit #2

• B1) Burpee to Chin Up X 8 reps
• B2) Feet Elevated Pike Push Up X -2 reps from failure
• B3) Single Leg Bench Squat X 12 reps per leg
• B4) Straight Leg Glute Marching X 30 total reps (15/leg)

Burpee to Chin Up - this one is just how it sounds.  Position yourself under a chin up bar or in a power rack.  Drop down into a burpee (yes you have to do a push up) and when you jump up you will grab onto the bar with an underhand grip and perform a chin up.  Now you’ve only got 7 more to go!

Feet Elevated Pike Push Up – This exercise has a high face plant factor, so to make sure that you don’t get up from this exercise with a bloody nose stop 2 repetitions short of failure.  Start in a push up position with your feet up on a bench.

Next you want to position yourself so that your hips are bent as close to 90° as you are capable of (remember the high face plant factor) with your hips stacked over your shoulders.  No with your upper body fairly vertical, bend your elbows and lower your head towards the floor and then push back up again.

Bodyweight Exercises

Single Leg Bench Squat - this one’s simple, well at least the explanation is.  Stand on a bench with your right leg in the middle and your left leg to the side of the bench.  Squat down and try to the lower the left leg as far down towards the ground as possible.  Then drive back up through the right foot until you are standing tall again.  Do 11 more reps and then switch legs.

Straight Leg Glute Marching – now this one sounds pretty easy, but be warned if you have sleepy glutes your hamstrings are going scream during this exercise.  Lay flat on your back on the floor with  your hands out to your sides.

Pushing through your heels lift your hips up off the ground.  Now, while keeping your hips up alternate lifting your heels 2-3 inches off the ground.  If you feel like you are about to get the mother of all hamstring cramps bend your knees to 45° to make this exercise a
little bit easier.

So there you have it, a quick workout using only bodyweight exercises.

Have fun with this one and don’t be shy to let me know what you think  I love feedback.

Always looking for ways to improve, always working to get better.

Burning fat always,

Scott Rawcliffe
Certified Turbulence Trainer

Oh baby…just filmed two 40-minute follow-along MRT workouts for a program coming out in November. Finished with timed bodyweight squats…could barely move my legs when I finished – felt like concrete.

You’re going to get a good laugh watching me do this…payback for every tough workout I’ve put you through. Before we get to today’s QnA, I want to address an important topic.

Our 12th Contest kicks off on Sunday, Sept 4th. The last day to enter is Saturday, Sept. 17th.

No purchase is necessary. You can use the Turbulence Training workouts you can find on my blog at www.TTFatLoss.com or on my Youtube channel at www.Youtube.com/cbathletics

But here’s the problem…

I failed in our goal of 500 lbs of fat loss…we only hit 228lbs.

There are three problems that hold us back.

a) Not enough people entering

b) Not enough people finishing

c) And not enough people who finish are going through and submitting their entries

So anything you can do to help me out here is greatly appreciated.

I’m on a mission to help 1,000,000 people transform their bodies and lives by 2020 and the only way we can do it is with your help.

Here are the details about the contest (where you could win up to $1000)

=> http://www.TransformationContest.com (click on the rules in top right)

Thank you so much.

Now to this week’s Fitness QnA

The first question needs a bit of background. After my recent trip to Europe, I mentioned I had lost 5 pounds, and I knew not all of it was fat.

In fact, I KNEW that I lost some muscle – and it had to be lower body muscle.

That raised this question…

Question: How do you know you lost lower body muscle? – Andrea

Answer: Andrea, the only resistance training I did was for my upper body. All lower body exercise was biking, walking, hiking and running…those do not promote muscle growth or maintenance in ol’ Craiggy. And I came back weaker in my squat. Should be back to normal soon and then I’ll start making progress again.

The next question was about the TT Summit bootcamp workout I posted here:

=> http://www.WorkoutManuals.com

Question: Great looking bootcamp workout. My question is: do you do any of the supersets or trisets more than once? Or are then one time only? I know the bodyweight squats with 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest are good on multiple rounds. Thanks – Jim

Answer: Yes, we did a few of these for multiple sets, but we were limited by time.

It really depends on the fitness level of the attendee as well. The people I was training were all fit trainers, so we pushed hard. But even then, just two rounds of the BW squats (20/10) was enough by the time we got to them.

It was good times, and the workout got a big round of applause.

Question: Craig, what do you suggest for abdominal work? I have a TRX station at my gym, do you think that I should do TRX planks instead?

Answer: I recommend 5-10 minutes twice per week of the best total body abdominal exercises, such as stability ball rollouts, cable abs, hanging knee or leg raises, stability ball planks, stability ball jackknives, TRX fallouts, and barbell rollouts.

If you aren’t using a TT workout program (which will have the ab exercises in the program design), then simply set aside 5-10 minutes after 2 of your weekly workouts. No need for 30 minute ab sessions or any crazy infomercial products (ab wheel excluded, of course).

Question: I’m 6\’3 and weigh about 106 kg at 30 years and interested in your bodyweight programs but I need help deciding which ones fit my goals the best. I want to lose 16kg and add a little muscle. Have a nice day and thank you for taking the time to read this email.

Answer: Happy to help. Thank you for your email and interest in the bodyweight workouts. I recommend taking advantage of this great deal here:

=> http://www.turbulencetraining.com/101BodyweightExercises/

It will keep you going for months and months with bodyweight workouts.

Specifically, follow this plan to reach your goals: Start with Phase 1 of the 6-month manual. You will lose fat through phase 3. Then you will be ready to build muscle in phase 4, 5, and 6.

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Finally, it’s been a tremendous week here in the Turbulence Training world, from the TT Summit to the 11th Contest Winners announcement, and the anticipation of the upcoming 12th contest starting this Sunday.

But I also received this great feedback earlier in August from a TT Facebook reader. I really dig this stuff. Great to hear how people take our info and go off and quietly apply the info to get results.

In fact, this story earned Jewels the TT Success Story of the Month and a 1-year Platinum TT Membership. If you have a success story, please reply to this email and let us know about how TT has helped you.

Looking forward to it, and hopefully our contest winners and Jewels’ story below will inspire you to reach your goals.

The Success Story of the Month

“Just over 12 weeks ago, you had a Q&A on Facebook and I asked you a couple of questions in relation to the bosu ball and a nutrition question – I had asked about whether having a small treat like a little chocolate Freddo Frog would make that much of a difference to someone’s physique.

Your response was “there’s only one way to find out” and I decided that I would ditch the nightly treat and switch to the cheat meal/chocolate on a Saturday (I figured if it didn’t really matter you would have said so!).

I have kept it up for just over 12 weeks now and I also made a couple of other slight changes to my daily diet (eg. switching my morning tea of corn puffs/sunflower seeds to sweet potato, egg and celery).

I honestly didn’t think it would make that much of a difference, but I have actually had results from making the change.  It’s been a positive mindset change for me rather than a negative to feel that I have to “deprive” myself of chocolate.

I wanted to say a BIG THANK YOU to you – for something so small to a person who you’ve never met from Down Under in Sydney Australia, I am very grateful to you for responding to my question and giving me something to hold onto that has made this journey a very different one to the negative mindset I’ve held for such a long time.

I have enjoyed resistance training for years now as a way to stay healthy and have a great interest in learning about nutrition (your response has also increased my interest in understanding the nutrient timing, glucose and the insulin response). In any case – Thank you so much!”  - Jewels L.

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That’s the feedback that makes my job – and life – so great.

Thank you everyone. I really appreciate you.

Till next week,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Certified Turbulence Trainer

PS – You’d make my day…

…by entering the 12th TT Transformation Contest and helping Turbulence Training on the 500 pound fat loss mission.

Drop by the contest page to find out the 3 simple steps you need to take in order to be a part of this transformation contest:

=> http://www.TransformationContest.com

PPS – The 3 steps are:

1) Take a before photo
2) Use Turbulence Training for 12 weeks
3) Take an after photo and submit a 300-word letter on the changes you achieved.

That’s it.

In Part 1 of the Metabolic Finishers series, Certified Turbulence Trainer Mike Whitfield gave us 3 fat burning methods that could be used as complete workouts. Today, Mike carries on with more metabolic finishers featuring bodyweight exercises and kettlebell workouts.

Finisher #4 The 20/30 Total Body Conditioning Circuit - After a total body workout if done only twice; otherwise, it can be done up to 4 times as a stand-alone body-weight workout.

Do the following circuit (with 60 secs of rest between circuits) twice if doing this as “intervals” after a workout, and up to 4 times if used as a stand-alone body-weight workout:

1A) Body-weight Bulgarian Squat Jumps (20 secs ea. leg)

1B) Inchworm (30 secs)

1C) Overhand Grip Inverted Row (20 secs)

1D) Stability Ball Leg Curl (30 secs)

1E) Decline Push-up (20 secs)

1F) Mountain Climbers (30 secs)

Finisher #5 Explosive Push-up / KB/DB Swing Intervals – After a total body workout or upper body workout because the legs will be ready for swings.

Do the following superset 4 times

1B) Explosive Push-ups (10) (hands leaving the ground between reps)

1B) KB/DB Swings (25), rest 30 secs

Finisher #6 KB/DB Swing / Plank Superset -After a total body workout or upper body workout because the legs will be ready for swings.

Do the following superset 8 times, resting for 30 secs between super-sets. Be sure to switch hands for the KB/DB Swing on each superset (for example, do the 1-Arm Swing with the left hand in super-set 1, and then the right in super-set 2, etc., etc.)

1A) 1-Arm KB/DB Swings (15)

1B) Stability Ball Plank (20 secs)

Finisher #7 Total Body Circuit – after any workout-

Do the following circuit 3 times, resting for 45 secs between circuits

1A) Close-Grip Push-ups (12)

1B) Goblet Squat (15) (use a weight that you can do 20 reps with)

1C) On/Off Alternating 1-Legged Plank (an Alternating 1-Legged Plank is a plank where you leave one foot off the ground while in the plank position… switch feet with each rep) Hold the 1-Legged plank for 10 secs, then rest for 5 secs – Do this 6 times, alternating which foot is off the ground with each rep)

1D) Jumping Jacks (30)

Mike Whitfield, Certified Turbulence Trainer

http://www.CrankTraining.com

• Web-based Fitness/Nutrition Coaching
• 1-on-1 and Group Training
• Boot Camps

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Mike will be back with his 3rd round of metabolic finishers soon. If you have your own metabolic finishers you’d like to suggest, let us know in the comments section below.

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Certified Turbulence Trainer