Top Trainer Is “Shocked” By How Hard This Exercise Works Your Abs

Forgotten what a deep abdominal burn feels like? 

Try this and work your abs harder than you thought possible

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If a deep abdominal burn—from your workout, not a hot wings binge—is

 a distant memory, it’s time to exterminate your regular core routine.

 That lack of soreness means that your abs likely adapted to the

 exercises you always throw at them. In turn, you need to shake

 things up to continue to make gains. 

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“I was messing around with bands and I stumbled upon this variation of the

 dead bug exercise,” says Dean Somerset, C.S.C.S., an exercise physiologist 

from Alberta, Canada. “I did a few sets of it and it sort of shocked me how

 hard it worked my abs.”

As the band resisted dead bug’s name implies, it’s a variation of the dead bug—a bodyweight core exercise which Men’s Health Fitness Advisor Bill Hartman says is one of the best for strengthening your abs. Better abs function, Hartman says, may reduce back pain and translate to improvements in all sports and lifts in the gym. 

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“The dead bug works so well because it trains your abs to really lock down and stabilize your spine so your back doesn’t flex,” says Somerset. “But adding the band overloads the exercise, making your abs work harder than they ever could with bodyweight alone.”

Somerset, who is an injury rehabilitation and prevention expert, also likes the move because it hits your abs hard without compromising your back, a commonly injured area. “A lot of the most popular core exercises put load on the spine and discs in your back,” he says. 

Add it to your routine, and prepare to feel the burn.

Instructions
Loop the midpoint of a resistance band (one with a handle at each end) around a pole or squat rack, about 2-3 feet off the ground.

Lie on your back 2 or 3 feet from and facing away from the anchor point of the band, a handle of the band in each hand.

Raise your legs so that your hips and knees are both bent 90 degrees. Your back should be naturally curved, your hips and upper back touching the floor with a slight arch in your low back.

Keep your shoulders pressed into the ground and raise your arms so that they’re perfectly vertical and in line with your shoulders. The band should be taut, “pulling” your arms back toward the anchor point. This is the start.

Take in a big breath of air and then slowly straighten and lower your right leg down until it’s just above the ground. As you do, slowly blow out all the air in your lungs (that’s when you’ll really feel the burn!). Bring your right leg back to the start, and repeat on your left leg. Do 6-8 reps on each leg (the band should be stretched enough that you can only do that many reps). Do up to 5 sets.

The 6 Secrets to Transforming 

Your Legs—and Ultimately 

Your Whole Body

Use this as motivation to never skip leg day again!

I struggled with patellar tendonitis from the ages of 14 to 21, and had four knee surgeries by
 the time I was 22. The last surgery actually ended my college football career.
 So throughout my 20s, I just decided to work around my past injuries 
and wear pants to cover up. 

But not anymore.

Above are before-and-after photographs of my transformation. It’s no coincidence that I’m doing stepups in the images—they are staples in my leg-changing program. 

When I first looked back at my old photos, the difference in my legs was shocking. What’s even more surprising? The change throughout my entire body. 

Even though I purposefully trained my upper body less in order to allow my legs to catch up faster, I was leaner and more muscular up top.

And that’s a true testament to how much horsepower can be added to your metabolic engine by building more muscular hips and thighs. A bigger metabolic engine not only helps you lean out, but it also sets a daily calorie-burning foundation so you can maintain your results for the long haul.

Rather than share my actual program with you, I think you’ll benefit more by learning the 6 key training principles I followed. 

After all, the program I used was very specific to my needs. For instance, I really emphasized building my quads since that are needed the most work. But follow these guidelines, and I promise that your legs and body will change.

1. Squat every day
The squat serves as the foundation for all lower-body exercises. So if you want the best results, you need to spend time in a squat position daily. This doesn’t mean you need to squat heavy or even underload every day. 

But it does mean you need to 1) accumulate as many reps as possible of the squat, and 2) spend as much time as possible in a deep squat position. 

To start, I recommend squatting under load three times per week. As for the other days, you should do bodyweight squats and squat mobility work like spending 5-to-10 minutes in a deep squat.

It doesn’t have to be more complicated than that. I like to rotate between barbell front squats, barbell back squats, box squats, and goblet squats. 

Be sure to mix the load and rep scheme within the same week or every couple weeks to prevent plateaus. Do heavy strength work in the 3-to-5 rep range, hypertrophy work in the 6-to-12 rep range, and endurance work in the 15-to-20-plus rep range. 

Personally, I like to do heavy work, and then perform higher-rep back-off sets within the same session. And even though it requires the use of lighter loads, I also like to take 2-to-3 seconds on the lowering portion of the squat, and pause for a count at the bottom of each rep. It’s a better strategy for muscle growth and longevity, in my opinion.

2. Get great at goblet squats
I already established the importance of squatting above. But a big problem for a lot of people is that squatting bothers their knees and back, and they don’t have the mobility to achieve the needed depth for optimum growth. 

That’s why I’m in love with the goblet squat. You can use either adumbbell (easier) or kettlebell to do them, and it’s a lot more accessible and safer than the barbell variations. 

Plus, holding the weight in front of you provides a counterbalance that autocorrects your squat form, allowing you to naturally sit lower and more upright. This takes pressure off of your lower back and promotes greater growth in your glutes and quads. 

You can get great at goblet squats by committing to doing 100 sessions of 100 total reps over the next 6-to-12 months. You can break up the 100 reps into sets of 10 or 20 or whatever you’d like. Just hit that total. After 10,000 reps, your body and brain will never have to think about the best squatting pattern for your body again. 

You should also shoot for a goal of being able to do multiple sets of 10-plus reps with a weight that is about half of your bodyweight. (So a 200-pound person would use a 100-pound dumbbell).

3. Build up strength with Bulgarians
Single-leg exercises are the key to balance and symmetry between sides. They also unload your spine and improve your hip mobility and core stability. 

Recent studies have shown that the Bulgarian—or rear-foot-elevated split squat—may be just as effective as the regular squat for muscle and strength gains, while putting less stress on your back. 

Do the Bulgarian split squat at least once a week. If needed, you can also use it in place of squatting all together. Your goal should be to perform multiple sets of 10-plus reps while holding a combined weight that is at least half your body weight. 

I also recommend spending 2-to-5 minutes per side mobilizing your quads and hips in the bottom position every single day. Also, be sure to mix in other classic single-sided lower-body moves like lunges, stepups, hip thrusts, and hip hinges.

4. Finish with 10 minutes of lunges or stepups
When I first started this plan, I could barely lunge for a couple minutes without stopping. But I built up to an hour straight of walking lunges. And I was able to walk just fine the next day!

Initially, my commitment was just to finish every leg workout with 10 minutes of nonstop lunges or stepups. I would mix between the two for variety since lunges hit your quads more, and stepups hit your hamstrings and glutes to a greater degree. 

Use just your bodyweight in the beginning and alternate between faster and slower tempos. You can either lengthen the time (from 10 to 20 or 30 minutes), or gradually add weight with dumbbells or a weight vest. 

In the case of stepups, you can look to increase the box height. I credit my increased size and vascularity in my legs to all the lunges and stepups I did. They also dramatically improved my recovery ability between sets and workouts. 

The legs respond very well to high-volume endurance training. And when combined with the heavier-loaded work prescribed above, you get the best of both worlds. 

I should also mention that this protocol melts fat, bulletproofs your knees, boosts hip mobility, and improves your running mechanics and conditioning. 

Before this, I couldn’t run for a minute without feeling some pain in my knees. After doing it, I can now run with ease and without pain for a full hour. (And I actually kind of enjoy it.) 

5. Deadlift heavy at least once a week
Deadlifting isn’t for everyone. But if you can do it safely and without pain, I highly recommend you deadlift at least once per week. 

It’s a total-body strength and muscle builder and it adds slabs of meat to your back, hips, and hamstrings. This extra strength and muscle provides the balance your body needs to look and perform better. 

If you can’t make it work with conventional or sumo deadlifts, try trap bar deadlifts or rack pulls instead. You could also perform straight-leg deadlifts. 

Keep the reps between 1 and 5 for most of your sets, pull from a dead-start with a pause, and reset between each rep. Focus on progressively adding weight over time. Save the high-rep metabolic work for swings and squats. 

The goal here is raw strength and good form. If deadlifting just isn’t an option for you or it’s not worth the risk, then learn how to do swings properly and focus on that instead. 

You’ll still build your backside and you can get a whole lot of miles out of swings because of their low impact on your legs.

6. Pay attention to your glutes
Your glutes are truly the center of the fitness universe. They drive all key movement. 

And I learned from my friend and world-renowned expert Bret Contreras that “the thrust is a must!” I did barbell hip thrusts at least once a week, and actually built up to doing 5 reps with 625 pounds. 

Besides building up my butt like never before, this set the foundation for my gains in squats and deadlifts. Start with your body weight and do sets of 10-to-20 reps. 

Your next goal: Do multiple sets of 10 reps of the barbell version with a load equal to your bodyweight.

If you don’t want to do the loaded version because you think it looks ridiculous, then progress to the single-leg version. No matter how strong you get, 10 reps of those are always super challenging and will burn your butt in a serious way.

Avoid Muscle Cramps Forever

Turns out, cramps aren't caused by dehydration. Try this instead

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Conventional wisdom says that your muscles cramp because you don’t drink
enough water and electrolytes before your run or ride. That’s why most cardio
junkies chug mineral-spiked H2O like frat boys quaff discount lager.
But a new article in the Strength and Conditioning Journal explains that the 
cause of cramps is much more complex. “The idea that dehydration causes
 your muscles to seize up started about 100 years ago, when scientists 
noticed that miners would often cramp while sweating heavily underground,”
 says author Andrew Buskard, C.S.C.S. “But research has never
 backed that idea up.” In fact, a study in the Journal of Sports Science
 found no difference in electrolyte or hydration levels between marathoners
 who cramped or didn’t cramp during a race.

“We now think cramps occur when the Golgi tendon—a part of your muscle that reduces muscular
tension—stops
 functioning mid-exercise, which causes surrounding muscles to over fire and then seize up.”

The reason your tension-governing Golgi tendon shuts down? Because you overworked it, usually by running or riding significantly harder than your body is used to. So to avoid cramps when it counts, don’t run a race at a pace significantly faster than the top speed you trained at. “You often have to figure out your finishing time goal, then determine how fast you should run or ride in your race training plan,” says Buskard.

And if your muscles spasm mid-ride or run, hit the afflicted area with one of The Best Stretches for Every Body Part. “But instead of holding the stretch for time, think about holding it for breaths,” says Buskard. “Gently oscillate between pushing into the stretch for 3 to 5 seconds as you fully exhale, then lightly ease off during the inhale. That increases the range of motion of the stretch, and essentially ‘resets’ the Golgi tendon, restarting it so your other muscles don’t over fire,” says Buskard. 

Your calves and hamstrings are most susceptible to cramps, so keep the following two stretches in your arsenal.

Wall Calf Stretch

Stand facing a wall. Place your toes up into the wall as  high as you can, your heel on the floor. Now lean into the wall, feeling the stretch in your calf. Breathe out, leaning into the stretch. No wall? Perform this stretch with your toes on a curb.

Standing Hamstring Stretch 

Stand with your feet hip width, a slight bend in your knees. Push your hips back and keep your back straight as you bend over and try to touch your toes. You should feel the stretch in your hamstrings—breathe out leaning into it.  

The Extreme Speed Workout

The winner of 53 ultra marathons has the key to unleashing

incredible speed during your next race

In any race, there comes a point when you have to shift into fifth gear. You need to pass an 

opponent, push through a wall, or fly to the finishline.  

Your ability to unleash incredible speed at pivotal moments like these can transform your performance.

It can set you apart from the rest of the pack. It can mean the difference between an average finish and a personal record.

Now you can train for those moments with the Extreme Speed Running Workout, created by Ian Torrence, winner of 53 ultra trail marathons and lead ultrarunning coach for McMillian Running Company.

The workout uses downhill strides to build quad strength and improve turnover, while decreasing soreness.

“Downhill running is ‘free speed.’ Gravity is working with you, not against you like when you run uphill,” Torrence explains. “You can run faster because your heart and lungs aren’t working so hard.”

It’ll also make you comfortable with running at a faster clip during a race. “Running fast requires coordination,” he says. “If you don’t practice running at higher speeds, it’ll feel awkward and you’ll be inefficient.”

In addition to downhill work, Torrence includes resistance exercises to target big muscles like your glutes and hamstrings that run along the backside of your body.

“This is where the power in your running stride comes from,” says Torrence. The stronger and more explosive these muscles are, the faster and harder you’ll go.

In fact, a study in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Researchfound that runners who added strength workouts to their usual training regimen improved their mile time by 15 to 20 seconds.

Are you ready to break your speed limits? Supplement your running routine with the drills and exercises below so you can go full throttle when it matters most.

Part 1: Downhill Strides

Perform this workout every 10 to 14 days.

How to do it: Find a hill that has no more than a 5 percent slope. The hill should be grass, dirt, or gravel—not concrete or pavement—to protect your joints and muscles.

Warm up by jogging on flat surface for about 10 to 15 minutes, and then begin your downhill strides. You’ll do four downhill strides to start. Run the first two repeats at 85 to 95 percent of your maximum effort.

For the final two strides, go as fast as possible while still staying in control.

Recover between repeats by slowly jogging uphill to the starting point. Once your quads stop feeling sore after these workouts, it’s time to add another repeat. Your goal is to work your way up to 10 downhill strides in one session, says Torrence.

Cool down with easy running for 10 to 15 minutes.

Part 2: Strength Exercises

In addition to the downhill strides, perform these exercises three times a week, resting at least one day between each session.

How to do it: Do the exercises shown in the video below as a circuit, performing the movements back-to-back without rest. Once you’re finished all three exercises, rest for two minutes. That’s one round. Do 3 total.

You should focus on form and power, not speed, says Torrence. The goal is to feel the burn without going to muscle failure. Watch the video below to see how to perform the movements with perfect form.

Half Turkish Getup: Lie facup with your right leg bent and your left leg flat on the floor. Holding a dumbbell or kettlebell in your right hand, raise your right arm straight overhead until it is perpendicular with the floor.

Your arm will stay like this throughout the entire movement. Keep your eyes on the weight. Roll onto your left side and prop yourself up onto your left elbow. Bracing your core, straighten your left arm and raise up onto your left hand. Pause, and then reverse the movement to return to the starting position. That’s 1 rep. Complete 8 reps, switch sides, and repeat.

Single-Leg Hip Raise: Lie faceup, arms out to your sides at 45-degree angles, left foot flat on the floor with that knee bent.

Raise your right leg off the floor, your knee bent at a 90-degree angle. Then squeeze your glutes, drive your left heel into the floor, and push your hips up until your body forms a straight line from your shoulders to your left knee.

Your lower back should stay naturally arched the entire time. Pause, and return to the starting position. Do 8 reps, switch sides, and repeat.

Hip Hinge: Stand with your feet hip-width apart. Set your head in a neutral position with your ears aligned with your shoulders, hips, and ankles, and maintain this position as you hint back and bend forward.

Keep your knees soft with a slight bend, and push your hips and hamstrings back as far as you can until your torso is parallel to the floor. Picture yourself closing a door with your butt. Pause, and then push your hips forward and come to a full stand.

Squeeze your glutes at the top of the movement. Do 8.

Comment calculer mon poids idéal?

Le poids normal ou poids idéal est déterminé par rapport à la taille et en fonction de l'âge.

@Chez le nourrisson et l'enfant:

Il existe des courbes de poids établies en fonction de la taille et de l'âge.

Un nouveau né à terme pèse 3,5 kg et mesure 50 cm; approximativement il double son poids de naissance à 5 mois, après 1 an il le triple.

@Chez l'adulte:

le poids idéal peut être déterminé de plusieurs façon:

•  A partir de tables de poids idéal établies en fonction de la taille et de l'âge par des spécialistes ou par les compagnies d'assurance sur la vie. en réalité des études ont prouvé que le poids avait une influence sur la longévité, les sujets ayant un excès de poids ont une espérance de vie plus courte.

•  Calculé par la formule de Lorentz 

           Poids (kg) = (Taille "cm" - 100) - [ (Taille-150)/4]  Homme.

           Poids (kg) = (Taille "cm" - 100) - [ (Taille-150)/2]  Femme.

           Il faut toujours ajouter 1 ou 2 kg par décennie au-delà de 20 ans.

• Approximativement le poids normal correspond au   nombre de centimètres au-dessus du mètre.

Prochainement "Les poids Pathologiques",  j’espère que c'est bénéfique.                                                                                

                                                         Merci.

Why Wine Has More Alcohol Than Ever

It’s 10% boozier than wine from the ‘90s

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In the 1970s, actor-turned-Paul-Masson-wine-pitchman Orson Welles admonished, “We shall sell no wine before its time.”

These days, Welles might say, “We shall sell no wine before it’s practically a distilled spirit.”

’t blame the grape, though, for the rise in alcohol. Instead, says Seattle-based certified sommelier Yashar Shayan, the rise can at least in part be attributed to the consumer.

“People like it,” he says. “They may claim they don't, but they do.”

It’s not dissimilar from how people say they want to avoid sweet foods, “but then they consume plenty of cola, ketchup, and other processed foods which are loaded with sugar,” says Shayan. “The consumer likes the sweetness.” 

Mark Aselstine—the founder of Berkeley-based Uncorked Ventures, a wine of the month club—points to the dominance of wine reviews published by The Wine Advocate and its founder, lauded critic Robert Parker, for pushing the trend of higher-alcohol wines by often rewarding them with high scores.

“Parker, generally speaking, enjoys higher-alcohol content in his wines than the higher acidity and more austere versions of generations past,” says Aselstine. “As his reviews became more and more popular, and as retailers increasingly used scores to do their jobs for them, vintners started trying to hit that style with at least some of their offerings.”

Many wine professionals point to climate change as helping heat up the “hotter” wine trend. The warmer the weather, the more sugars in the grape that are converted to alcohol during fermentation. 

Shayan also believes that, in the United States at least, viticulturists are choosing to plant in hotter regions because vineyards in dry places are easier to manage than those in cool, rainy places. 

The economic climate is another contributor to alcohol percentages. 

The U.S. has a thirst for cheaper wines. Most Americans spend less than $10 a bottle, says Keith Wallace, president and founder of the Wine School of Philadelphia and author of Corked & Forked: Four Seasons of Eats and Drinks.

“To mass-produce wines that are inexpensive and tasty, a winery has to use cheap grapes. Unfortunately, those cheap grapes will make lousy wine—they are cheap for a reason,” says Wallace. “To make these wines taste good, the winery will add a grape concentrate called Mega Purple to the vat.”

Mega Purple and its close relative Ultra Red not only impart more color, they can also introduce additional sugar. 

When this occurs during fermentation, those sugars can convert into slightly more alcohol. Also, higher alcohol content can mitigate a wine’s acidity and adversely affect its flavor profile.

“You start to lose acidity, which you need to make a wine balanced—or not taste like alcoholic grape juice,” says Elizabeth Schneider, a certified sommelier and co-host of the podcast WineforNormalPeople.com. 

“High-alcohol wines will seem hot going down, like a shot,” she says. “Without the mitigating forces of acidity or tannin, which are sometimes diminished in the over-ripening process, you get a wine that is all fruit and alcohol.”

That said, some industry veterans predict a sea change in upcoming vintages, with a general trending-down of alcohol percentages.

A gradual shift in consumer taste, or at least in markets whose palates have developed toward more nuanced wine, is likely to drive the decrease in alcohol. A larger part of the market is becoming more discerning. 

Another reason for the downturn can be attributed to the winemakers and their own proclivities. “I think it’s because winemakers are making a concerted effort to become better farmers,” says Sonoma County-based sommelier Christopher Sawyer. “They're really trying to optimize the grapes and not over-accentuate the sugar, while paying more attention to acidity by taking more time per vineyard, per site, to maximize the fruit quality.”

Though the lower-alcohol wine trend is already in motion, Wallace says it “really won’t be obvious for another 5 years. Things progress really slow in my trade.”

Orson Welles might agree.

Watch This Guy Do Muscleups

 in a Wheelchair,

 then Get Your A** to the Gym

CrossFit trainer Zack Ruhl’s epic feats of strength are

 a reminder that there are no good excuses

January 5, 2016

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You know that thing that’s keeping you from getting to the gym today? Maybe you have a work deadline? Forgot your socks?

Whatever your excuse, Zack Ruhl has two better ones—and he still made it.

He’s worked out religiously since high school, when he lifted with his football teammates. Yes, he played defensive tackle on the varsity football team. (Not in a wheelchair—he crawled.)

“I just never viewed myself as that different,” Ruhl says. “If I ever thought I had a shot of doing something, I figured I might as well give it a shot.”

In the weight room, his coach ran a competition among the players to see who could score the biggest deadlift, squat, and bench press. 

Ruhl went after the bench press title: “Obviously I can’t squat for shit.”

He can bench, though. Fired up by the rivalry, he maxed out around 365 pounds and held the title for all four years of high school.

After graduation, Ruhl became a trainer and taught himself how to adapt workouts to his body. 

For example, he does box jumps with his arms. He does Olympic lifts while seated. He modifies pushups not by anchoring his lower body on the ground, but by supporting his entire bodyweight with his arms so he looks like he’s levitating. 

Oh, and he does jumping handstand pushups, because he can.

If Ruhl can work around amputated legs, you can work around your busy schedule or the January gym crowds, right?

Spoiler: The answer is yes. You can get a great workout in 30 minutes without even leaving your house. Try MetaShred for killer results in minimal time.

And if you ever need someone to put your issues in perspective, talk to Ruhl. (Or check out his Instagram.) 

He’ll never forget the time a client texted him to ask whether she should cancel her training session because she had injured her foot.

His response: “Are you seriously asking your no-  legged CrossFit trainer if you can do CrossFit with a sprained foot? I’ll see you Monday.”