The plug has been pulled.

Hello everyone,

Sorry for the huge delay to those who are still keeping an eye on the blog. Unfortunately, due to some fundamental issues which cannot be helped, the new Push Training gym will not be going ahead. Such is the nature of business, especially those in their infancy (or womb state!). Basically, the figures were stacked heavily against us, with a magnificently successful venture verging on the miraculous required right from day one to make the gym anything more than a very time-consuming hobby. School-boy maths smashes the grand ideas every time and this is no exception.

If anyone wants to train circuits or anything else, or even just to stay in touch or meet up, I would love to hear from you.
Email: mokdesigns(@)hotmail.com

Good luck to those with their eye on the building!

Peace out.

Push.

Bodyweight Blitz

Try the bodyweight "metabolic work" session below for a cheap, simple way to improve your overall fitness levels and body composition.



STRENGTH TRAINING:
One arm assisted pullups: 4 x 3 (each arm)
Back levers: 4 sets max effort
Inverted rows: 4 x 8

METABOLIC WORK:
Burpees
Crunches
30-20-10
60 seconds rest, then:
Tuck jumps
Pressups
10-20-30
60 seconds rest, then:
Lunge jumps
Sit ups
30-20-10
No rest, then:
Burpees: 10
Crunches: 10
Tuck jumps: 10
Pushups: 10
Lunge jumps: 10
Sit ups: 10

Use your backside.

Pertaining to the three principles laid out in the previous post, today's training was simple, aimed toward my own goals, done in just around 20 minutes, and all could be done without moving much outside of 1 square metre.

4 sets of overhead kettlebell press to failure
4 sets of pseudo planche pushups to failure
followed by the conditioning session in the video below.



The two objects in the video, a kettlebell and sandbag, are both to be found in the gym in a variety of different weights suitable for any ability. One aspect they both share in common is the 'unconventional' weight distribution. Unlike an equally balanced dumbbell, barbell, or resistance machine, the mass of the kettlebell is outside of the handle, while the weight distribution of the sandbag is constantly shifting with every movement. The sandbag in particular makes training more taxing on the entire musculature as the whole body is fighting to counter against the shifting centre of gravity of the bag. The awkwardness means that front squatting it also creates considerable torque around the torso and hip, creating even greater demands on keeping the centre of gravity where it needs to be.
Both exercises place emphasis on different fundamental movement patterns; in the video the sandbag is used for squatting, whilst the kettlebell is used for bending, both exercises constituting fundamental aspects of human movement. Firstly, the squat is a skill that is increasingly being lost in our sedentary society. In other less-developed countries, from baby to elderly, sitting in a full squat whilst eating, playing cards, going to the toilet etc is a daily habit which is just taken as standard.

Long periods of sitting forming part our society's daily living has had a massive impact on many of us. As Craig Weller states:

"The hips and ankles are immobilized and because the force is being relegated mainly to the quads, the effect of the posterior chain is minimized. The musculature of the lower back will be overactive in order to support the weight of the upper body without much assistance from the glutes. The thoracic spine will generally be flexed forward into a kyphotic posture."

Basically, this means that sitting disrupts and alters the natural mechanics of our bodies, and over extended periods of time, that effect can become further exaggerated.
In a sitting position (on a chair), our hips are closed to 90 degrees, becoming ever-tighter, whereas the muscles we are sitting on, our glutes, are constantly being massaged by sitting, and are in a stretched, weakened state. The posterior chain (basically the glutes, lower back, and hamstring muscles) tends to be the least developed area of the body of the society that we live in. A strong posterior chain will help decrease the risk of lower back pain, promote good posture, as well as stabilise the whole body in all movement (OLF, EKI course manual), from sprinting to picking up your baby.
In order to strengthen this area of the body, bending movements as well as stabilizing exercises are generally adopted. Stand up and tighten your glutes as hard as you can, then try and bend forward at the hip. Opening the hip, to go from bent over to standing up straight, is the job of the posterior chain. Kettlebell swings and snatches are therefore great exercises in this regard, learning how to stabilise the torse and spine whilst bending from the hip, knee, and ankle under load. Getting the kettlebell overhead has zero to do with upper body strength and everything to do with generating maximum power from the posterior chain to spring the hips forward and torso upright, sending the kettlebell upward like a ball on a chain.

Loading up the posterior chain ready to fling that kettlebell...

.....BAM, full extension from full posterior contraction.

As for the gym, still looking at a 1st/2nd of March date for signing, then its moving in and getting everything done to welcome you all in!

Keep PUSHing,

3 Quick Points

The vastness and variation within the "health and fitness industry" means that many people are doing many things in many different ways, good and bad and all in between. The act of training is not particularly difficult. Sport-specific exercises that require technique may be challenging such as Olympic lifting, or the feeling that accompanies annihilating oneself in the gym may be unpleasant at the time, but overall its a fairly simple process. The difficult part is training intelligently, planning what you are doing, keeping a track of the progress, adjusting things in response to performance, finding the time to do it, getting the nutrition right, etc. Therefore, each session should be as useful and effective as possible, based on optimum levels of all the other things that affect each session as just mentioned. Below are just three basic fundamentals to ensure effective training.

1) Have some direction.
Have a clear idea of what you want to get out of the hours you are putting in rather than just randomly performing different things each time you train. Having no direction or goals dilutes any substantial gains that you may otherwise get from the efforts. You get better at what you choose to do, so think about what it is you want and then do a little research on what you need to do to achieve it. For example, Circuit training is great for "general fitness". Bodybuilding-type split training is great for putting on more muscle mass. Slow, steady cardio is good for your heart and lungs but may negatively affect your power and maximal strength. Lifting maximal weights for lower repetitions will improve your maximal strength but have little to no effect on improving cardiovascular fitness. Have an idea of what you want and then train in that way.

2) Keep it simple.
Don't over complicate things, sticking to the basics are always a safe bet. The hard, brutal, simple things are also usually the best. Many gyms have made it easy to get confabulated with the plethora of resistance and cardio machines available. One barbell and some weight plates will get you very strong. Pullups and dips will give you immense upper-body development. Sprinting in parks and running up hills will give you iron lungs and a strong heart. These things are simple but hard, and the laws of progression means it never gets easier.

3) Time is not an excuse.
An effective session can be done in even under 10 minutes. Time is never an excuse not to train. Everyone has the same 24 hours but different people have different priorities and tolerances for making the time for certain things, exercise often down on the list if things become busy. For example, a Tabata is a very effective method for improving anaerobic and aerobic fitness. This will sort you out in under 5 minutes:
Burpees
20 seconds as many as possible then 10 seconds rest, repeat for 8 rounds total.

Keep it focused, simple, and consistent!

Apologies

Massive apologies to everyone for the embarrassing delays in updates, things will pick up from here on in. The reason for such delays was the blocked access to this blogging host from the Chinese government.

I just wanted to throw something up to kill the awkward silence here, something small which will be followed by more content, so please stay tuned.

a long way from dawn at Coleridge Rec!

Although consumerism and globalisation are the increasingly dominating themes in China, a physical culture still pervades most of the country's towns and cities. Rising income levels give more purchasing power to younger people, with money being increasingly spent on items above and beyond what is necessary to just exist, a major difference from the Maoist era when even one's pots and pans would be up for grabs for smelting down to contribute to the greater good.
Exercise parks, a new and still immature presence in the UK, are hubs of social and physical activity which can be found in virtually every neighbourhood in China. The government funding and continued support of these parks means that regardless of financial means, a space for physical activity is still available to all. Big chain gyms, mostly just with good looks and sub-par facilities, are rapidly spreading through China in response to increasing levels of disposable income. Despite this, the humble exercise park still caters to all ages and backgrounds, throughout the year.
These places also are a regular haunting ground of the most unassuming characters, who only on closer inspection are quite remarkable in their own way.
Landing in Shanghai, I went to a park in the heart of the city to try and shake off some heavy jet-lag with some training. Another young Chinese man came from a restaurant across the road in his kitchen clothes, promptly changing into more sporting attire before training Gong Fu drills and techniques for a good hour. After striking his arms against trees, kicking leaves above his head, and shadow-boxing, he changed back into his work clothes and jogged back to his next shift.
In Nanjing I saw an elderly man who was balancing upside down on his head with his legs wrapped around a pole and his arms folded across his chest. I felt obliged to speak to him and approached him to engage in conversation. He uncurled himself and stood up with a beaming face and relentless enthusiasm about whatever it was he was doing. He said he often practiced balancing techniques, able to stand on his head for 20 or 30 minutes at a time, and stand on one leg for literally hours. When I asked how old he was, he replied he was 84. This was after he said that the year before he had cycled all the way down China to Hong Kong to visit his daughter, taking a month in total to get there, just because he felt like it.
Another elderly man in Shanghai was practicing muscle ups on the bar, something pretty remarkable in itself. After talking to his friends, who referred to him as Shifu (master/teacher), I was told that he had recently recovered from a major operation to remove a cancer. He used to practice acrobatics, and since the operation he had lost almost all his strength. Undeterred by his age, he had recently returned to his training, slowly getting his strength back and encouraging all the older residents in the area in their own physical pursuits.
Talking to countless people, the major reason cited for exercise was to be healthy. To maintain health as long as one was capable to, and to enjoy that process with other people. Elderly people who exercise here have a very simple view of it, that it is neseccary and to be enjoyed. They are not overthinking it. Each morning at 5-8am are the same regulars who attend day in day out, hellos exchanged by old friends, and the young man setting down his briefcase and coat to perform a set of dips and pullups before heading to the office. A muscle up, a set of 20 dips or a backflip is not particularly exceptional in this environment. Despite the growing levels of inactivity due to shifts in occupation types, transport, and a number of other reasons, physical culture is part of many people's lives here and is just a part of the daily process.
This particular aspect of China is something that the UK can definitely learn from.
I am back from China on the 15th of February, at which point I will have more regular access to the internet, and youtube and the blog will be accessible, so apologies in advance for any delays in postings between now and then.
The wheels, however, are still very much spinning as the legal aspects of the gym lease are firmed up...

rings and ricebags

Such a belated update as this is most unsatisfactory and I will cast at least a fair portion of the blame to China completely blocking any access to this blog and almost any other western blog available.

Moving on, although this time of the year is around the coldest and most sofa-enducing season, the spirit of a new year provides a decent off-set from lethargy, at least for the first portion. After this, a goal-focused, motivated mindset is needed to persevere and see the fruits of any labours, a consderable amount of time and focus needed to achieve much that is of real change or value.
With this in mind, my own training goals and motiations remain largely unchanged or affected despite different circumstances. At the moment I am living in a village in the east part of China in close to a city called Yangzhou. Unfortunately there is a distinct lack of any gyms or much 'equipment' for training, but the job can always get done in different ways. The body will adapt to any new or progressive stimulus, regardless of whether it is a barbell or a stone, a treadmill or a dirt track. The body doesn't register the differences in aesthetics of an object or surroundings. All thats needed is to be challenged, the nervous system and the muscles and bones and tissues all need the appropriate stimulus to achieve the desired goal, something that can be achieved in any surroundings.
Fortunately for me I had the foresight to take a pair of gymnastic rings with me which are a really effective and versatile tool to have if travelling. I would highly recommend them to anyone who travels much, all thats needed is something to hang them off like a goal post or a tree branch.
So now the small courtyard of the house I am staying in has become my training area, my equipment being a pair of gymnastic rings and a 45 kilo bag of rice, borrowed from the family stock-pile which weighs around 1 tonne in total. With these I have been able to get full body sessions working on upper body pulling and pushing movemens, as well as squatting and bending with the lower body and mid-section. A sample workout from few days ago:

Over head rice bag presses: 5 sets
Ring Dips: 5 sets
Bulgarian split squats with rice bag: 5 sets
Ring Pushups: 5 sets
Hanging Leg raises: 5 sets

Post-training nutrition: 10 spring onion and toufu dumplings. Happy days.
At the moment I am keeping it simple, training once every two days alternating between upper body pushing/squatting, and upper body pulling/lower body bending, such as good mornings or romanian deadlifts. Due to an inability to vary the weight of the rice bag without making a lot of mess and hassle, I am using a simple template of 5 sets for every exercise, going to or near failure for every set. So although I know I won't improve in some areas with such training and equipment, I can at least progress if not certainly maintain other aspects. With the rice bag so far I have been training bear-hug squats, over head press, split squats, lunges, good mornings, romanian deadlifts and bent-over rows.


The other major aspect is a change in diet, a typical Chinese household diet involving frying 95% of the time, with rice or noodles eaten with every meal. While the use of cooking oils and salt may er on the heavy side, at least this type of energy-dense diet which has grown dramatically in the last 10 years provides enough calories and nutrition to cover almost any training one does. Each meal usually consists of a bowl of rice each, and about 4 dishes in the centre of the table all picked at and shared by the family. Although fried fairly heavily, the varity of vegetables consumed each day would exceed the UK average many many times over. This being said, meat is still central to meals and seen by most as the most desirable and nutritious food group, the more the better. Being a vegetarian of the stubborn kind has lead to some puzzled and concerned responses, and a doubling of the portion of eggs, toufu and vegetables, which is never a bad thing. The abbundance, variety, home-grown origin, and low price of foods like vegetables and toufu seems to account for the difference in consumption levels between the UK and China, most people in more rural areas such as my host family growing their own rice and vegetables which are eaten on a meal-to-meal basis.

As for the gym, predictably the formalities and legal proceedings are taking a good while, but as some of you may have noticed, the 'To Let' sign outside the building has re-assuredly been replaced by a 'Let' sign. Any news will get posted swiftly on here now that means for posting from China have been established.

Keep enjoying the process!