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) + (1.8x67x0) + 3.5 = 10.2mL/kgxmin

Hill VO2=(.1×67) + (1.8x67x.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!

Last week I teamed up with Dr. Brian Russell to do a presentation on keeping young athletes healthy and performing at the top of their game. We did four seminars for the parents at Capital City Volleyball Club (Where I’m the strength and conditioning coach)

One of the questions we received was “What do you think of crossfit for my volleyball player?”

Well, as I’ve said before, I don’t like Crossfit for ANYTHING.  (But if you’re a consenting adult, you’re welcome to make your own bad decisions

But it’s time to point out a few of the problems with Crossfit that are SPECIFIC to volleyball players.

1) Volleyball isn’t an endurance sport.

Any volleyball player who trains by running anything more than 50 or 60 meter sprints is not only wasting their time, they’re ruining their volleyball performance.

I don’t know who said it first, but it’s well known by top strength and conditioning coaches that distance running “turns jumpers into joggers.”

Volleyball is a strength and power sport, NOT an aerobic sport.  Honestly, if your daughter is in shape enough to text her friends, she’s in good enough AEROBIC condition to play volleyball.

Here’s an example of a crossfit workout that would sap a volleyball player’s strength and power:

“Jerry”
For time:
Run 1 mile
Row 2K
Run 1 mile

Not only would this be a waste of time for anyone serious about volleyball, it would destroy hard-won fast twitch muscle fibers, promote fat storage, increase carbohydrate cravings, beat up joints, take inches off your vertical jump, promote illness, mess up hormones, shorten joint range of motion, and reduce explosiveness.

2) Crossfit is more random than a Pauly Shore movie.

No matter what you think about “muscle confusion” and “being ready for anything,” volleyball is a SPECIFIC sport and needs a specific workout.

Volleyball players get sport-specific injuries and asymmetries that can only be fixed with a SPECIFIC training program.

When a player comes in to see Dr. Russell because she has a glenohumeral internal rotation deficit, scapular dysfunctions, lack of stability, kyphosis, and a severe knee valgus, the last thing she should even think about doing is something like this:

Five rounds for time of:

• 5 Muscle-ups
• 135 pound Power clean, 10 reps
• Run 220 meters

Or:

• 35 Double-unders
• 95 pound Thrusters, 25 reps
• 15 Pull-ups

One of the core principles of success in anything is the idea of SPECIFICITY.

Crossfit is a mishmash of a bunch of systems.  To quote the legendary Charles Poliquin (on Crossfit): “Looked like a bunch of cachexic fitness-model wannabes searching for their souls in the weight room.”

Or, to paraphrase my Grandpa, you can’t ride two motorcycles when you only have one butt.

To get better at volleyball, you need a volleyball training program – not an epileptic writing fit of someone who has never actually trained anyone.

3) “Fatigue makes cowards of us all”

I have a rule about doing things RIGHT before you try to do them a lot.

If a volleyball player has a crappy serve, practicing that serve will just ingrain bad habits even more leading to injury and ineffective performance.

Lots of crossfit workouts have athletes doing complicated weighted exercises for a certain number of reps and trying for their lowest time.  Two bad things with this: 1) It encourages poor form and shortcuts 2) as they get tired, injury risk goes WAYYY up.

Poor exercise technique is bad for anyone, but volleyball players are even more injury prone than other athletes.  One in five competitive female athletes will suffer an ACL-based knee injury this season, 68% of female volleyball players will have some sort of shoulder injury this season.  The injury rate goes up when you factor in everything else that will go wrong too!  Thumbs, wrists, etc.

The goal with a volleyball strength and conditioning program is to 1) keep the girls on the court 2) improve performance.  In that order.

Racing to see who can get the most power cleans done is a sure recipe for injury.  Even more when you remember that we’re dealing with tired athletes who just want their workout over so they can get back to checking their facebook pages.

4) Leaving out the important stuff.

For the moment let’s forget that crossfit is totally inappropriate in exercise selection, loading, and volume – just focus on the fact that crossfit workouts leave out important injury prevention movements for volleyball players.

Volleyball players need a lot of hip mobility, thoracic spine mobility, scapular stability, anti-rotational core stability, anti-extension core strength, and lumbar stability.

If you waste all your time screwing around with nonsensical crossfit workouts, you won’t have any time, energy, or motivation left to pay attention to this stuff.

5) Volleyball shoulders aren’t normal shoulders.

Ok, when I was in college I actually dissected shoulders and spent a lot of time learning how everything works.  So believe me when I say that I’m VERY concerned when I hear about volleyball players doing crossfit.

It’s almost a cliche that after an experienced volleyball player serves, she grabs her shoulder.  Dr. Russell realigns shoulders daily at his practice.

Heck, I know a school bus full of 16 year-old volleyball players who have already gotten cortisol shots just to be able to finish playing the season.  It shouldn’t be like that way.

Here are some of the notes we made while talking about volleyball players and shoulders:  “Most have significant shoulder and full body laxity (aquired, congenital, and monthly hormonal), diminished rotator cuff strength in serving shoulder (especially with no rest all year), abnormal labral features, supraspinatus tears, inactive serratus anterior, jacked up scapular upward rotation, retroversion, and impingements.”

Basically, it goes back to the title of this section: Volleyball shoulders are nothing like regular shoulders.

Add in an imbalanced training program, poor posture, and improper form and I’m surprised that the number of shoulder injuries isn’t higher than 68%.

When scholarships are on the line, any coach who recommended crossfit for shoulders with all of these problems should be beaten to death with a folded-up ballcart.

With all 5 of these problems with crossfit in mind, I recommend that anyone looking to improve their volleyball performance find a REAL strength and conditioning coach, not just someone who paid $1000 bucks for a weekend seminar in destroying athletes.

A really cool thing about eating right is that almost all illnesses go away.

The more I learn about nutrition, the more I find out that almost all modern diseases come from our diet.

Obesity, cancer, diabetes, depression – all four come from a jacked up eating plan.

But today’s post isn’t about diseases.  Sometimes you get a little banged up and your body needs a little extra of this or that to speed up the healing process.

When I broke my ankle, the doc had me drinking extra milk so the calcium boost would plaster up the cracks and get me whole again quickly.

So if you want to get better and get back to your workouts as soon as possible – check out this list of healing foods:

To Fix: Shin Splints

You Need: Anthocyanins, omega-3 fats, and bromelain.

Foods To Eat: Tuna, Salmon, Cherries, and Pineapple

To Fix: A Wound

You Need: Protein (for skin cells), Vitamin C, Zinc, Iron, Omega-3 fats

Foods to Eat: Buffalo burgers, Kiwi fruit, Chia Seeds, Mackerel

To Fix: A Pulled Muscle

You Need: Protein, Potassium, Anthocyanins, Omega-3 fats

Foods To Eat: Wild Salmon, Cooked Broccoli, Greek Yogurt, Blueberries

To Fix: Muscle Cramps

You Need: Fluids, Sodium, Potassium, Chloride

Foods To Eat/Drink: Water, Watermelon, Bananas, Cantaloupe

To Fix: A Broken Bone

You Need: Calcium, Vitamin D, Magnesium, Phosphorous

Foods To Eat: Yogurt (full fat!), Almonds, Calcium and Vitamin D fortified orange juice

To Fix: A Bruise

You Need: Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Oleocanthal

Foods To Eat: Spinach, Strawberries, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Sunflower Seeds, Pine Nuts

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…

Even very thin people can have a pooched-out belly.

Here’s the anorexic Lindsay Lohan with a bloated stomach:

Want to get rid of the belly bloat?  (And stop the gut cramps and digestive problems?)

Here’s your Two Week Wold Fitness Challenge:  Cut out all grains and alcohol for 14 days.

Simple, yeah?

See, bloated lower bellys are usually caused by GLUTEN.  Gluten is a very sticky, starchy substance found in grains.  In fact, gluten is Latin for “glue.”  That should tell you how sticky it is.

Well, gluten binds up everything in your belly, causing gas, cramps, and bloating.  (I wrote about reasons why grains suck in this article: Problems With Grains)

Cut out the gluten and you’ll get rid of the swelling in your lower belly.

And alcohol is also closely related to bloating.  Drink 3 beers and you’ll notice a definite bloat going on. 

So, for two weeks, here’s the deal:

• No wheat (not even “whole wheat”!)
• No crackers, cereal, tortillas, cookies, or any other garbage
• No booze, beer, or wine

Last time I issued this challenge one of my readers lost THIRTEEN POUNDS in fourteen days, mostly from releasing all the FUNK that alcohol and grains had stored in her body.

Your results might not be as dramatic, but I guarantee that in just two weeks your stomach will be flatter and your jeans will be looser.

Now get after it!

Some sweet stuff is happening this summer with Wold Fitness Personal Training and Bootcamp.

I’m putting together a special report with fitness secrets from celebrity trainers.

Here are just a few of the clients these trainers I’m interviewing have worked with: Mary J Blige, Nicole Richie, Bruce Willis, Sylvester Stallone, Chuck Liddell, Matthew Perry, Debra Messing, Rick Fox, Nicole Sherzinger (from the Pussycat Dolls), Richard Gere, Cindy Crawford, Jim Carrey, Lauren Holly, Jennifer Lopez, Elizabeth Shue, Jon Favreau, Kate Beckinsale, Rachel Nichols, Jennifer Garner, and a whole lot more!

A special summer bootcamp featuring KETTLEBELLS is going to happen.  We had a little trouble finding a location, but now all systems are GO!

Kettlebells are the hottest, most effective training tool out there.  When you pair a kettlebell with my Firestorm Fat Loss system, you have the hands-down best method for losing weight and getting a toned and fit body there is.

Check out this girl using kettlebells in her workout:

Lots of people have asked if there’s a “next level” they can go to with their training.  More exclusive, more elite.  Well, Wold Fitness PLATINUM is launching in the next few weeks.

I don’t want to spoil the surprise, but Platinum members will be getting all sorts of special privileges like members-ONLY seminars and special events, copies of ALL of my training, nutrition, and other programs, unlimited personal training, home visits, and much more…

And finally… I’m teaming up with Dr. Brian Russell to put on a seminar for parents of young athletes.  Here’s the email:

We are pleased to announce a FREE clinic/seminar to educate parents on helping their children (athletes) better prevent sports injuries and heal faster.

Dr Brian Russell (Chiropractic Physician) & Luke Wold (Certified Health/Fitness Instructor) will be presenting (FREE of Charge) a Seminar focused on Preventing Sports Injuries.

To accommodate the multitudes of schedules and groups they have kindly agreed to do 4 separate (but repeat) presentations.

Wednesday (5/12) @ 6:00-7:00pm
Wednesday (5/12) @ 7:00-8:00pm
Thursday (5/13) @ 7:30-8:30pm
Tuesday (5/18) @ 6:00-7:00pm

ALL seminars will be offered in Carson City at Capital City’s practice facility (The Silver State Athletic Center; 5680 Morgan Mill Rd). There are no plans (currently) to offer a similar seminar in Reno.

You may attend any of the times offered. The clinics/seminar coincide with normal Carson practice times so as to hopefully minimize commuting.

The following is the general synopsis of talking points (provided by Dr Russell & Luke Wold):

“During this 60 minute class we will be addressing issues like:

1) Proper nutrition for the athletes.
2) The importance of warming up. Why the athletes do strength and conditioning to prevent injury.
3) Info on athletic taping to help prevent injuries.
4) When to ice, heat, play, or stay out of the game after a player gets injured.
5) What signs should I look for in my athlete to know if she is struggling with an injury.

The goal of this workshop is to empower parents/guardians with knowledge and to support them in taking an active role in preventing sports injuries.”

We hope you are able to attend and will benefit from this offer.

That’s the big news for Summer 2010 (so far….)

Coming tomorrow: A 2 week weight loss challenge!

~ Luke

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…

I like my celebrities to be in good shape.  I mean, if I wanted to see schlumpy people, I could just head to Walmart.

But when I’m watching a movie, I want everyone to look great.

Now, not everyone here is in the movies, but it’s fun to see what celebs are doing to keep in shape.

Taylor Lautner

Taylor hit the gym five times a week and ate every two hours.  (Eating often is one of the Wold Fitness Nutrition Guidelines)

Here’s what he said: “The actual getting into the gym and working out process was easier, but the eating was harder. Because I had to eat every two hours.”

It’s true.  Eating is the biggest piece of the body transformation puzzle.  Even if you work out five hours a week, that leaves you 163 hours a week to mess it up.

Angelina Jolie

Angelina works out with the awesome Gunnar Peterson.

He says that the exercise he uses to tone her butt is the…. lunge!

There are sooo many ways to lunge, and they all work your butt in different ways, so mix it up!

Lance Armstrong

Lance never goes after anything halfway.  That’s cool.

He uses kettlebells as a cross-training tool to keep his body changing and getting stronger without adding any unnecessary pounds that would detract from his cycling.

The take-home from Lance: Work harder than anyone else.

Heidi Klum

After Heidi had her baby, she made sure to get plenty of protein and worked out for 90 minutes a day.

She tones her stomach with variations of the V-up, which works both the upper and lower abs.

Her trainer says she tones her glutes with deep sumo squats.  One of my favorites!

Lindsay Price

Lindsay uses two really cool moves as staples in her workouts.

The first is a step-up with shoulder press.  One foot on a box (or bench), dumbbells at your shoulders.  Stand up until your leg is straight and press the ‘bells overhead.  This works your thighs, core, butt, shoulders, and arms.

The second is what I call a Pike Plank (her trainer calls it a “caterpillar”).  Get in regular plank position.  From there, push your hips up as high in the air as you can and flex your stomach.  Then flatten out into a regular plank.

Matthew Mcconaughey

Matt does tons and tons of bodyweight exercises.

And I read an interview with him where he described all of his athletic activities: climbing, swimming, surfing, frisbee, etc.

Along with good nutrition, the wide variety of exercises Matt does are what gives him such a great body.

Jennifer Garner

After Jennifer had her baby, she dedicated herself to eating small frequent meals (sound familiar?) and working out five times a week.

The super-awesome Valerie Waters trained Jennifer and had her doing lots of lunges and shoulder presses to get that slammin’ bod.

Ryan Reynolds

Ryan trained with an old school body-part approach: one day arms, one day legs, one day back, etc.

A MUCH more effective and efficient approach would have been an upper/lower split, but he looks so good I can’t really fault him.

For the scene shown above, I’m betting that he did some sort of carb cycling plan to achieve that “extra lean” look.  I use a plan like this to get models ready for a shoot, powerlifters cut down for weigh-ins, and to get someone ready for a big event like a wedding or reuinion.

Jessica Biel

Jessica keeps in shape with four big things:

• full range bodyweight movements
• medicine ball work
• light dumbbell exercises
• agility drills

It sounds like a description of my bootcamp!  Jessica and her trainer have the formula down pat.

————————————————————–