I remember the morning clearly.  I called my little sister on the way home from the gym and said, “You know that sweet southern girl I was telling you about?  She said the F-WORD during her workout this morning!”

The sweet, slow-talking girl I was talking about is Deirdre Reid, one of my first clients in Carson City:

And the exercise that made her swear?  Negative Chin Ups:

Why do I bring this up?

Well, two reasons:

1. To tell an embarrassing story about Deirdre
2. I needed a way to introduce a study on swearing and exercise

If you exercise hard at all, you’ve probably at least felt like swearing (even if you didn’t out loud )

And here’s something cool: A study from last August showed that swearing helps you tolerate pain!

Stephens R, Atkins J, Kingston A. (2009). Swearing as a response to pain. Neuroreport. 2009 Aug 5;20(12):1056-60.

The pain from exercise comes from a build-up of lactic acid.  All this means is that you’re exercising and producing lactate faster than your body can remove it, and that’s a GOOD THING.

That lactic acid does make your muscles burn and prompt a few swear words, but it has some cool benefits for your body transformation, such as:

• Increased testosterone production (good for men and women)
• Increased Human Growth Hormone (burns fat and keeps you young!)
• Helps you use carbohydrates more efficiently
• Fuels your brain during exercise

The abstract from the swearing and pain study is, well…. abstract:

Although a common pain response, whether swearing alters individuals’ experience of pain has not been investigated. This study investigated whether swearing affects cold-pressor pain tolerance (the ability to withstand immersing the hand in icy water), pain perception and heart rate. In a repeated measures design, pain outcomes were assessed in participants asked to repeat a swear word versus a neutral word. In addition, sex differences and the roles of pain catastrophising, fear of pain and trait anxiety were explored. Swearing increased pain tolerance, increased heart rate and decreased perceived pain compared with not swearing. However, swearing did not increase pain tolerance in males with a tendency to catastrophise. The observed pain-lessening (hypoalgesic) effect may occur because swearing induces a fight-or-flight response and nullifies the link between fear of pain and pain perception.

Luke’s Take Home Message:

You should be working out so freaking hard that you feel like swearing to relieve the burn!

I call my metabolism based training system “Firestorm Fat Loss” since it rapidly accelerates the rate at which you burn fat both during and AFTER your workout.

You hit the road, and your metabolism hits overdrive.

This six week workout is what you need if you want to lose more fat in less time – 30 minute bootcamp style workouts – than ever before.

Secrets Of This 6 Week Workout

Why Your Metabolism Will Burn Extra Hot

Firestorm Fat Loss programs are designed to maximize fat loss through resistance training. Here are the 3 main principles this workout is based on:

1. You burn more calories by moving your body through a 3D world. Most programs have you exercising in only one plane of movement – this workout has you going forward and backward, side to side, and up and down.
2. You burn more calories both during and after your workout by performing exercises bootcamp-circuit style. Studies have shown that a circuit-based workout will raise your metabolism for 38 hours AFTER your workout. That means if you exercise on Monday before breakfast, you’ll still be burning calories after lunch on Tuesday!
3. You burn more calories both during and after your workouts by training athletically. This means lifting weights, using explosive movements, and performing exercises on unstable surfaces like sliders, swiss balls, and balance boards.

How To Ignite Your Metabolic Furnace

Do each of these total body burning workouts once a week, with your “cardio” workouts either immediately following or on your in-between days.  (Here is a complete fat loss cardio plan I wrote: Interval Training)

Example:

• Monday: Workout A
• Tuesday: Interval Training
• Wednesday: Workout B
• Thursday: Interval Training
• Friday: Workout C

The workouts in this 6 week bootcamp are planned as a circuit, so you go from one movement to the next without resting. Once you’ve completed one circuit, rest for 90 seconds and go again. 3 circuits for beginners, 6 if you’re more advanced (or determined to lose the most fat in the least time!)

6 Week Progression

This workout will be effective for about 6 weeks.  After that your body will adapt and stop raising your metabolism so high.

Try to lift a bit more weight weight each week you cycle back through the workouts.

The Right Resistance

In this workout, use the heaviest weight you can to complete all of the reps in perfect form.

Warming Up:

Here is the best warmup you can do (pictures and all!): Wold Fitness Functional Warmup

Workout A:

Exercise One: Front Squat and Push Press
Reps: 4-6

Exercise Two: Swiss Ball Reverse Crunch
Reps: 12-15

Exercise 3: Chin Up
Reps: 4-6

Exercise 4: Kettlebell Windmill
Reps: 4-6 (each Side)

Exercise 5: ValSlide Pike OR Swiss Ball Pike
Reps: 12-15

Rest 90 seconds, and repeat circuit 3-6 times.

BONUS EXERCISE: Prone Cobra
2 sets of 2 minutes

Workout B

Exercise 1: Power Snatch/Overhead Squat
Reps: 4-6

Exercise 2: Swiss Ball Roll Out OR ValSlide Reach Out
Reps: 12-15

Exercise 3: Kettlebell Tactical Lunge
Reps: 24

Exercise 4: Two Point Dumbbell Row
Reps: 8-10 (each arm)

Exercise 5: Swiss Ball Dumbbell Woodchopper
Reps: 16-20

BONUS EXERCISE: Wall Planks
2 sets of 1 minute

Workout C

Exercise 1: Romanian Deadlift/ Bent Row Combo
Reps: 6-8

Exercise 2: Med Ball Kneeling Shoulder Press
Reps: 8-10

Exercise 3: Mogul Squats
Reps: As Many As Possible in 30 seconds

Exercise 4: Swiss Ball Atomic Pushup OR ValSlide Atomic Pushup
Reps: 10-12

Exercise 5: Medicine Ball Russian Twist
Reps: 20 (10 each side)

BONUS EXERCISE: Extended Hamstring Bridges
2 sets of 90 seconds

Conclusion

If you really want to lose body fat quickly, this program WILL work.  Head to the gym, get your favorite music rocking, and get after it!

(This is a quick post to show you how to improve your physical performance with proper planning.  First you should read: Warrior Sit Up Challenge: What’s Your Score?)

Lots of people make running a 5k one of their first fitness goals. That’s totally cool.

What’s UNcool is how they go out training for it.  (Even if you hate running, keep reading: There’s a big fitness lesson here)

There are 2 things people do: They go and run as far as they can every time or else they pick a route and try to run it a little faster every time.

The big problem with this is that your body will perform the way you train it to perform.  This is the SAID principle, which stands for “Specific Adaptation To Imposed Demand”

Let’s say you timed yourself on your first day of training, to get a benchmark on your 5k time, and finished the 3.1 miles in 35 minutes.  This is just over 11 minutes per mile.

If you go and run as far as you can every time you run, you keep about the same pace (maybe a little faster) and increase your distance.  The mistaken idea here is that if you can run 7 miles at your normal pace, you’ll be able to REALLY smoke running only 3 miles on race day.

Wrong.  You focused on the wrong thing.  You trained your body to run at 11 minutes per mile and guess what happens on race day?  You run at 11 minutes per mile.  Maybe a bit faster, but not much.

Scenario 2: You picked a 3 mile course around your neighborhood and tried to run it faster and faster.  This is a bit better since it is a little more specific to your goal.  But still, what kind of plan is “trying to run faster”?

I was talking to a woman who did exactly this.  She ran as fast as she could around a 3 mile course on the west side of Carson City.  In 4 months of training she cut 7 minutes off of 5k time: from 36 minutes to 29 minutes.  (She also gained 9 pounds on a whole wheat, low fat diet.  That’s another story though )

Now, cutting seven minutes off her time is nothing to sneeze at.  Her big problem is that she was hoping to run it in 18 flat.  Whoops.

Let me show you the basic outline of what she could have done to get down to that 18.  Did you read my simple plan for improving your Warrior Sit Up Score?  (Here’s the link: Warrior Challenge)

It consisted of a plan that used diminishing rest periods to up your warrior ranking.  The same idea works for any athletic endeavor that has a time or distance limit.  Biking, rowing, running, swimming, anything.

An 18 minute 5k is about 6 minutes per mile.  A basic diminishing rest plan would look something like this:

Week 1: 6 minute mile, walk 6 minutes.  Repeat 3x.

Week 2: 6 minute mile, walk 5 minutes.  Repeat 3x.

Week 3: 6 minute mile, walk 4 minutes.  Repeat 3x.

Week 4: 6 minute mile, walk 3 minutes.  Repeat 3x.

See, she is training her body to bust out 6 minute miles.  And every one of those miles is QUALITY.  No dragging, slogging, heaving, painful jogging.

Where is speed going to come from if you don’t train for it?

So to take our example of a 5k to the next level, lets look a little deeper.

To do your best at the 5k we need to increase your running speed.  For this the best method is sprint repeats.

The woman in our example above should find a flat area (like the track at Carson Middle School).  Then she should warm up and mark off an area about 50 yards.

Her sprint repeat workout would look like this:

Sprint 50 yards, jog back.  Repeat 4x.  Rest 1 minute.  This is one set.

Do 3 sets and rest for an extra minute (2 min total)

Repeat.

Total time: ~ 20 minutes

A workout like this improves your ability to totally rock a distance race by increasing your ability to go hard.

How does this work?  Well, if you can run a 5 minute mile, running a 6 minute mile is pretty darn easy.

By combining the two training methods above, anyone will be able to kick butt in any type of race.

Here’s a sample effective training week:

Monday: Sprint repeats, bodyweight circuits for metabolic training

Tuesday: Diminishing rest repeats, Sledgehammer and Sandbag for conditioning

Wednesday: 45 minute walk (active rest)

Thursday: Sprint repeats on hill, lots of foam roller work

Friday: Diminishing rest repeats, bodyweight circuits

Saturday: Hiking with friends

Compare the above fun and super-effective plan above with the plan most beginning runners follow:

Monday: Run as far as possible

Tuesday: Run as far as possible

Wednesday: Run as far as possible

Thursday: Run as far as possible

Friday: Run as far as possible

Saturday: Drag through a ten mile run.

Which is more effective?  Which will keep you healthy?  Which will have you making a great showing on race day?

The important take home message for today is that you NEED a training plan if you want to succeed at anything physical.

Want to lose weight?  You need a weight loss plan.

Want to get healthier?  You need a health plan.

Want to look better?  You need a plan.

How do you get a plan?  There are 2 choices:

a) Read stack of books and research abstracts, interview people who have done it, and test on yourself.

b) Find someone who has done all of that and will tailor a plan for you.

Your choice

If you really want to burn your stomach, try the Warrior Sit Up Challenge.

You’ll improve both core strength and endurance at a record pace.

Here’s how to do a Warrior Sit Up:

1. Lie on your back with your arms overhead and your legs out straight
2. Sit up, bring your knees to your chest, and hug around your shins
3. Stretch back out to the start position
4. Repeat

(Note: Don’t count any reps where you don’t return all of the way back to start position!)

The Warrior Sit Up Challenge is a test to see how many reps you can do in 3 minutes.

Here’s a scoring chart to rate your performance (from the MOST EXCELLENT book Ultimate Warrior Workouts: Fitness Secrets of the Martial Arts by my main man Martin Rooney)

Reps in 3 Minutes

Level 1: 50

Level 2: 65

Level 3: 80

Level 4: 95

Level 5: 110

Level 6: 120

Level 7: 130

Level 8: 140

Level 9: 150

Level 10: 160

How To Improve Your Score

If you’re unhappy with your rank, here’s a foolproof method for improving your score (and flattening your stomach!)

Do each workout twice a week, a great time for it it after an interval training session.

Week 1: Warrior Sit Ups for 1 min, rest 1 min.  Repeat 3x

Week 2: Warrior Sit Ups for 1 min, rest 45 sec. Repeat 3x

Week 3: Warrior Sit Ups for 1 min, rest 30 sec. Repeat 3x

Week 4: Warrior Sit Ups for 1 min, rest 15 sec.  Repeat 3x

Week 5: Retest and rest.

People ask me about my workout all the time.  I figured I’d share tonight’s session so that you can see what I do to keep my fitness cylinders firing on full.

Warmup:

• Hip Flexor Stretch – 30 sec
• Piriformis Stretch – 30 sec
• Single Leg Glute Bridge – 25 each leg
• Outward Hip Circles – 15 each leg
• Cat/Camel – 5 reps

Workout:

A1. Parallel Box Squats 45×5, 135×5, 245×5, 315×5, 405×3, 455×2

A2. Chinup – Bodyweight, 6×6

B1. Chain Handle, Feet on Swiss Ball Body Row – Bodyweight, 3×8

B2. Kettlebell Renegade Row – 53pounds, 3×8

C1. Cable Lunge/Row – 100×10, 110×10, 120×10 (each side)

C2. Kettlebell Snatch – 35pounds, 3×10 (each side)

D1. Hanging Leg Raise – 2×10

D2. Quadruped Pushup – 2×20

E. Handstand Hold against wall – 40 sec, 31 sec

D. One Arm Kettlebell Swings – 53 pounds, 100 reps nonstop, switching hands every 5 reps

Cooldown:

Random Stretches

The whole thing took under 45 minutes and totally kicked my butt.  Alternating sets (going back and forth between exercises) lets you do twice as much work in the same amount of time.  Pairing those exercises with an upper/lower or upper/lower/abs scheme keeps you heart pumping HARD for the whole workout.

The net sum is that your metabolism is seriously ramped up after this type of workout, with no wasted time

Imagine my surprise when I found out getting a degree in exercise science required a lot of MATH!

I thought it was all going to be gym shorts and sweat.

Instead it was cadavers, metabolic calculations, and weird tools like an “open circuit spirometer.”

Oh well, at least I got to wear the shorts

Someone asked on my facebook wall: “How many more calories will I burn walking hills?”

Awesome question.  Short answer: Lots.  Long answer: See below.

The formulas below come from the American College Of Sports Medicine’s Resource Manual for Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription.  Don’t get a copy unless you’re a super-geek like me.

Here’s the formula for figuring out how many calories you burn while you’re walking:

VO2 (ml/kgxmin) = (0.1xS) + (1.8xSxG) + 3.5ml/kgxmin

VO2 is oxygen uptake.

S is speed in meters per minute. (Conversion 1mph=26.8m/min)

G is fractional grade in decimal form.  (9%grade is 0.09)

Ok, so let’s figure out the difference in oxygen uptake for a 150 pound person walking at 2.5mph on a flat versus the same person walking up a 10% grade.

2.5miles/hour x26.8m/min = 67m/min

Flat VO2=(.1×67) + (1.8×67x0) + 3.5 = 10.2mL/kgxmin

Hill VO2=(.1×67) + (1.8×67x.1) +3.5 = 22.26mL/kgxmin

Ok, even without converting into calories burned we can see that walking up a 10%grade makes us use more than TWICE as much oxygen.  Something is going on.

Our 150 pound person weighs 68.18 kilograms.

Flat: ((10.2×68.18)/1000)x5 = 3.47 Calories per minute

Hill: ((22.26×68.18)/1000)x5 = 7.59 Calories per minute

So over a 30 minute walk choosing an incline will burn about 125 MORE Calories than walking on a flat.

If you have a treadmill, bump up the incline.  If you’re outside, get up to where there’s a view.

A lot of people are curious what we do during Wold Fitness Bootcamp workouts.

I thought it would be cool to share what we did last Friday.  Now, I know it sounds tough-and-a-half, but remember that there are variations on every exercise to make them either easier or harder – whatever you need.

And a session like this will blast your metabolism through the freakin’ roof.  You’ll keep burning calories for about 36 hours afterwards.  So if you did this on Friday morning you’d still be burning extra calories on Saturday afternoon!

So, without further ado….

Warm Up:

Wold Fitness Functional Movement Warm Up (go here to download a follow-along manual: Bootcamp Warmup)

Metabolic/Toning Sequence One:

• Feet Wide Burpees – 60 sec
• Reach Under Side Planks – 30 sec each side

Repeat 3x

Metabolic/Building/Toning Sequence Two:

(Everything 50 seconds on, 10 seconds off)

• Spin Bike, heavy resistance
• Spin Bike, super speed
• Heavy Dumbbell Squats
• Wall Sits, Feet Together
• Jumping Pullups
• Middle Pushup Position Hip-outs

Repeat Sequence 3x

Metabolic Sequence 3:

(Each was 45 seconds on, 15 seconds off)

• Step-Up/Pushup Combo
• Medicine Ball Tornado Slams
• ValSlide Bucket Push
• Side-To-Side Hop Over Cone

Repeat 2x

Toning Sequence 4:

(2 minutes each)

• Warrior Sit Ups
• Outward Hip Circles, Right Leg
• Outward Hip Circles, Left Leg

Cooldown:

• Stretching
• Massage Parade

That’s it!  Workouts change every day, but build on each other to help you keep making progress.

Do you like seeing what kind of workouts we do at the Wold Fitness Bootcamp? Leave me a comment below and tell me what you think!

This morning one of my bootcampers said, “I LOVE all of these cool exercises!”

Here’s the main pairs of exercises we did today:

• 1 arm kettlebell swings paired with stability ball mountain climbers
• Front dumbbell step-ups with Hindu push ups
• Jumping pull ups, negative pull ups, and weighted glute bridges
• Reverse cable woodchoppers and bulgarian split squat hops

Whew!  Hard work!

By super-setting exercises (going back and forth between 2 exercises) with very little rest you get a phenomenal metabolic burn that can last for A DAY AND A HALF!

This totally smokes boring old cardio machine hamster wheels at big box chain gyms.

To keep things interesting and give your body the great shape and tone you want, exercise selection is very important.

Here are nine exercises we use at Wold Fitness Personal Training and Boot Camps:

(keep in mind that some of these are advanced, we have exercises for whatever level you’re at now. 

Hardcore Exercise 1: HOVER PUSHUPS:

Hover pushups are a great way to add core work to your pushups.  If you want toned arms and a tight stomach, these are for you!

Hardcore Exercise 2: BODY ROW

Body rows are one of my very favorite exercises.  I have NEVER had someone come in to see me who was balanced front and back.  Sitting at a desk, driving, and slouching all cause you to have poor posture.

Body rows will help you to stand tall.  Improving your posture takes inches off your waist and makes you look much, much better.

Plus, working your back and arms fires up your body so you keep burning calories long after your workout!

Hardcore Exercise 3: HINDU PUSHUP

Hindu pushups are a full body strength and flexibility exercise.

They are actually a wrestling exercise that eventually evolved into what we call yoga.  Cool!

Hardcore Exercise 4: KETTLEBELL CLEANS

This is a phenomenal movement for working your butt and hamstrings.

Kettlebells are also the hottest fitness tool in Hollywood, according to Rolling Stone Magazine.

Hardcore Exercise 5: Spiderman Push Ups

Try and find a cooler full-body exercise that uses simpler equipment than this!

This is another arm, chest, and core combo that gives you that long and lean look that you don’t get with machines and cardio.

Hardcore Exercise 6: RACK PULLS

Some coaches say that deadlifts are dangerous.

I say that if you can’t teach someone to pick something up off the ground, you’re not much of a coach :p

These are one of my favorite butt, thigh, and shoulder exercises.

Hardcore Exercise 7:  SLIDER REACH OUTS

Perhaps the BEST stomach exercise there is!  And so many variations!

You can do them kneeling (shown), in pushup position, one arm at a time, with your feet on a BOSU ball, and on and on!

—-

Add some of these exercises to your boring gym routine to spice it up.  Or, even better, come and try a week of Wold Fitness Bootcamp, on me!

~ Luke Wold

PS – Sliders can be hard to control.  Sometimes they’re a little more slippery than you think they are…

Nine people emailed me yesterday asking if Wold Fitness has a plan for increasing pull ups.

“Of course,” I said, “but why all the interest?”

Turns out some morning show had reported that pull ups are the number one exercise for burning calories in your upper body.

Now, I think there are exercises that burn more calories, but the pull up IS one of my very favorite movements.

It tones and strengthens your back and arms (backless dresses, ladies?)

How To Build Your Pull Up

First, work on losing fat.  The heavier you are the harder it is going to be to pull yourself up.

Second, if you can’t do any pullups yet, start training with negatives.

A negative chin up is simple: Grab on to the bar, jump up, and lower yourself as slowly as possible.  Try to take 8 seconds on the way down.  Then jump back up and do it again.

Work up to 3 sets of 8 reps twice a week.

Once you are able to rock out 3 sets of negatives, you should be able to bust out at least one pull up.

Here is the plan that will take you from one pull up to five in only 8 weeks:

Do This Program Twice A Week

Week 1: 4×1

Week 2: 1×2, 3×1

Week 3: 2×2, 2×1

Week 4: 3×2, 1×1

Week 5: 4×2

Week 6: 1×3, 3×2

Week 7: 2×3, 2×2

Week 8: 3×3, 1×2

BAM, now you can do five pull ups.  Congratulations!

After this the keys to improving your pull ups are CONSISTENCY and VARIETY.

One of the reasons I love pullups and chinups so much is that there are endless variations to play with.

Rope Pullups

Clapping Pullups

Reaching Pullups

Ballistic Grip Pull Ups

Once you’ve worked on your pullups and chinups for a while, test yourself for your max number in a set.  NO CHEATING by not straightening your arms at the bottom or kipping yourself up!

Here are the standards I use with my athletes (from the legendary strength coach Mike Boyle):

MEN (pullups):

• World Class: 25 and up
• National Class: 20-25
• College Level: 15-20
• High School: 10-15

WOMEN (chin ups)

• World Class: 15 and up
• National Class: 10-15
• College Level: 5-10
• High School: 3-5

There you go!  A complete, proven plan for taking you from zero pullups to five.

Get after it!

~ Luke Wold

PS – After a few hours of filming these exercise videos for you, I was too tired to even grab the pullup bar…

Every morning I leave my Carson City Bootcamp and I see women making this mistake on the roads and paths around my gym…..

One Mistake All Women Make

By Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training

Following the cardio mentality and depending on the cardio
confessional is the biggest mistake that all women make when it
comes to fat loss. Let me explain…

On Saturday morning I was walking home from the gym when I passed
by a young women – about 28 years old – who was talking on her
iPhone.

And I heard her say, “I’m going for a walk now to get some exercise
because I’m going out for a bad dinner tonight.”

And I just wanted to yell, “No – no – no – no – no! That doesn’t
work. It never has, it never will!”

You can’t out-cardio a bad diet.

Every woman I’ve ever met has made this mistake and had that
“cardio confessional mindset” at one time or another – and it goes
for most of the guys I know, too.

Unfortunately, at best, this poor girl will probably burn an extra
300-500 calories during her walk – if it’s a really, really long
walk. But at dinner, she’s likely to eat 400-700 calories during
the appetizer or consume that in liquid calories alone!

(NOTE: By “bad dinner”, I’m guessing she meant a high-calorie meal,
and not a pity date with a deadbeat ex-boyfriend.)

The bottom line is that a single cardio session will not beat a bad
diet.

Now you might be thinking, “At least it’s better than nothing.”

But is it?

Remember, as I’ve mentioned in the past, one British study found
that some people OVEREAT in response to cardio exercise.

So when dinner comes around, this poor girl might think, “Oh, I did
that long walk today, so I can treat myself to a bigger dinner or
dessert.”

The only thing that comes close to beating a bad diet is interval
training and resistance training.

Back in 2007, an Australian research study on interval training was
getting a LOT of press for the surprising results. In the study,
women who did interval training were able to lose belly fat without
changing their diet.

In fact, one subject, named Louise, said this:

“My diet was pretty bad back then, with lots of sweets, lots of
junk food…doughnuts and sugar — it was awful.”

And yet by the end of this study, interval training helped Louise
burn 8kg of fat in just 15 weeks – WITHOUT changing her diet.

Perhaps it IS POSSIBLE for you to out-train a bad diet – but only
if you use interval training.

And that’s just another reason the best short, burst fat burning
workouts are based on this specific type of fat burning exercise.

So here’s what you need to do:

1) Give up the “Cardio Confessional Mentality” and understand that
you can’t “out-cardio a bad diet”.

2) Stick to your simple lifestyle nutrition plan 90% of the time
and then enjoy your 10% reward meals GUILT-FREE.

3) Use interval training to burn the fat and resistance training to
sculpt your body.

It’s that simple – a 3-step system for fat loss success that is
guaranteed to work every time.

Here’s the program that shows you EXACTLY what to do:

=> Check Out Turbulence Training

Enjoy guilt-free eating and fat loss with this mindset.