Christmas training advent calender: 13th Dec 2011, Day 12
Today, all i want to do is open up a challenge to you…and that is to Defy Gravity and Do a Handstand Pushup!!
What you say that’s crazy…well maybe not, with a little hard work and patience you can get there.
First though we have to admit it: Kicking up to a handstand, lowering the top of your head to the floor and pressing your body-weight back up — even once — requires no small amount of physical power.
The inverted position alone presents a challenge to the stability and mobility in your core and upper back. And once you bend your arms, look out: Your shoulders, triceps and chest have to work for all they’re worth to keep you from whacking your head on the gym floor.
But that’s what makes it a perfect end-of-year fitness challenge. Nail this one and you’ll have bragging rights to arguably the toughest basic body-weight exercise there is. Adam Steer, NSCA-certified personal trainer and body-weight training specialist, shares the step-by-step method he uses to turn clients from inversion-averse scaredy-cats to hand-standing heroes in the space of a few short weeks.
Remember: Even superfit types find this exercise challenging. Strength wise, it’s nearly the equivalent of doing a barbell press with your full body weight. Take your time with this program and realize that getting even a little better at the handstand pushup will translate into greater athleticism in everything you do.
Work the following exercises into your regular routine two to three times a week, advancing to the next phase when you reach the “Ready to Advance” benchmarks described in each section.
The Program
Phase One: The Pike Pushup
• From a pushup position, walk your feet toward your hands a couple of steps, raising your hips high in the air so that your body forms a straight line from your tailbone to your hands.
• Keeping your hips high, slowly bend your arms, lowering yourself until the top of your head lightly touches the floor.
• Reverse the movement, pressing yourself back up to the starting position with as much explosive force as possible.
Sets and Reps: Start off with five sets of five, and work up to three sets of eight to 12.
Ready to Advance: When you can perform three sets of eight to 12 reps.
Phase Two: Pike Hold, Feet on a Box
• Use a box approximately 12 to 24 inches high.
• Locking your arms and bracing through your core, step your feet up onto the box, forming an inverted “L” with your body: hands on the floor, feet atop the box, torso and arms vertical, legs straight and roughly parallel to the floor.
• Use an incrementally higher box, counter top or other stable surface each time you perform the move.
Version One: Hold this position isometrically.
Version Two: Do partial pushups in which you lower your head just a few inches.
Version Three: Perform the full pushup, lightly touching the top of your head to the floor each rep.
Sets and Reps: Version One: Work up to three holds of 60 seconds each.
Versions Two and Three: Five sets of five, working up to three sets of eight to 12.
Ready to Advance: Version One: When you can do three sets of 60-second holds.
Versions Two and Three: When you can do three sets of eight to 12.
Phase Three: Isometric Handstand Hold
• Find a wall space at least 3 feet wide, with plenty of space around.
• Bend at the waist and place your hands flat on the floor, shoulder-width apart, about 12 inches from the wall.
• Keeping your arms locked and both legs straight, kick your dominant leg over your head, as if trying to touch the wall with your heel. When you do this correctly, your hips and non dominant leg will follow, and you will be in a handstand position with both heels against the wall.
• Once inverted, squeeze your legs together, tighten your glutes and core, and push away from the floor with your hands.
• Breathe as normally as possible and hold for as long as you comfortably can, coming down one leg at a time.
Sets and Reps: Two to three holds, each up to 60 seconds long.
Ready to Advance: When you can hold the position for three sets of 60 seconds each.
Phase Four: The Wall-Support Handstand Pushup
• Kick into a handstand against the wall as described at left.
Version One: Perform partial repetitions, lowering your head a few inches to the floor.
Version Two: Perform a full repetition, lowering your head all the way to the floor and pressing yourself back up.
Sets and Reps: Version One: Work up to three sets of eight to 12.
Version Two: Begin with multiple sets of one or two repetitions and go up from there.
Congratulations! You did it. Next year? The freestanding version!
Well that’s it, make sure you guys stick with this and please comment, or send through any photos of your progress to info@rebornpt.co.uk and i’ll post on our wall.
Boring disclaimer part.
Here at RE:Born we advise everyone before entering a new exercise programme to get a full health assessment and sign off by the GP, reborn also accept no responsibility of anyone suffering from injury, illness or shear stupidity to hurt themselves with these basic exercises)
Christmas training advent calender: 4th Dec 2011, Day 3
Unleash the animal within.
No not the roast dinner you’ve just munched through, your primal animal….primal movements is where its at.
So lets combine a couple for a great all body workout.
This routine assumes some serious base strength, so here are a couple of easier options to the below circuit. Substitute a plyo pressups (any pop of the hands off the ground is awesome) for the Aztec. You can do handstand push ups instead of the handstand walking (or wall holds). If you can’t do one arm push ups than you can use a standard press up.
Most important aspect though, is to let go of all inhibitions…be an animal, go on ROAR!, i know you want to.
Warm up: 5 – 10 minutes, taking it easy (run, skip, stair climb, get in the sauna, move move move!!!)
Main Session:
Rest as little as possible between exercises and rest 30-60 seconds between sets.
A1: Sprint – 3 x 50ft
A2: Aztec Push Up – 3 x 10
A3: Handstand Walk – 3 x 20ft
A4: Burpee – 3 x 10
A5: Headstand – 3 x 30-60sec
A6: Alternating 1-Arm Push Up – 3 x 5-10 each side.
Please post your time below in comments.
Boring disclaimer part.
Here at RE:Born we advise everyone before entering a new exercise programme to get a full health assessment and sign off by the GP, reborn also accept no responsibility of anyone suffering from injury, illness or shear stupidity to hurt themselves with these basic exercises)
Christmas training advent calender: 3rd Dec 2011, Day 2
Brrr…..its cold but its great to run in, so….
Get outside and enjoy!!
OK everyone its day two (of many).
Today its simple running, yes RUNNING, don’t be jogging on me now….jogging is so 1980’s.
All you need is some running shoes (barefoot style please Vibram fivefingers would be best), shorts, a hoody, a bottle of water, an iPod and a true belief that you can run and you can run fast.
Today’s workout:
Warm up: 5 – 10 minutes, taking it easy (run, skip, stair climb come on you know what to do to get warm!!)
Pre-stretch: give your quads, hamstring and calves a good old going over.
Main session :
4 x 400m (as fast as you possibly can……)
Rest for 1 minute between each 400m.
RUN Forest RUN!!!
Post workout deep stretch: Hold the following stretches for 90 seconds each.
Hamstrings, Glutes, Quads, Hip flexors, and calves.
……and now breath deeply and head home,
giving yourself a massive pat on the back for training hard today. oh yeah, good time now to grab a recovery drink.
Please post your time below in comments.
Boring disclaimer part.
Here at RE:Born we advise everyone before entering a new exercise programme to get a full health assessment and sign off by the GP, reborn also accept no responsibility of anyone suffering from injury, illness or shear stupidity to hurt themselves with these basic exercises)
Christmas training advent calender: 2nd Dec 2011, Day 1
Ho, ho ho…..Merry Xmas,
Its the season to be merry, good will to all men and for some of us, a damn good reason to eat like we’ve never eaten before!!
Some of us, will be putting on anything from 1/2 stone to 1 stone, or even more!! Ouch, then we’ll spend the first few months of the year, like every other new resolution sucker, blasting away like that headless turkey from xmas day on some treadmill in a battery farm, some people call health clubs!!
Well hopefully help is at hand, I’ll be posting a new exercise routine for your guys to do everyday up until xmas. so hopefully we can keep that xmas bulge at bay, and start the new year not so far away from our target weights next year..
Please leave feedback, and your results after every session.
Ok, so here goes, first session. nice and easy 3 exercises. make sure you
Warm up:
5 – 10 Minutes of cardio. (go for a run, skipping, fast walk, climb some stairs)
Main session:
3 rounds for time of:
50 Pushups
50 Situps
50 Squats 
please post your time below in comments.
Boring disclaimer part.
Here at RE:Born we advise everyone before entering a new exercise programme to get a full health assessment and sign off by the GP, reborn also accept no responsibility of anyone suffering from injury, illness or shear stupidity to hurt themselves with these basic exercises)
The essential 6 steps to a better looking, feeling and performing body.
If you want to change the way you look, feel and perform then health is your first priority.
Following these detailed but simple steps will change you for the rest of your life. Don’t leave it to late!
“This is not just living better…This is a “Power Living” regime that will both transform your health, looks AND make your life so much more exciting and energizing.”
Andy: RE:Born client, Bournemouth
6 steps to success!!
1) Detoxify and Alkalize
2) Get your nutrition right
3) Supplement to combat the toxic environment
4) Get a training plan from a Personal trainer, who you trust and has the knowledge to help you achieve, then start to FEEL results.
5) Change the program constantly with your trainer and KEEP training so that you start to SEE results.
6) MAINTAIN all that hard work and live a much healthy, energized and exciting life!!!
Step 1
Detoxify and alkalize:
First please let us understand that the ENERGY which is creating by the body is dependent upon the complex system of cellular respiration that is dependent on oxygen availability. If we understand this then doesn’t it make perfect sense to increase the body’s cellular oxygenation?
Therefore in turn we will be able to automatically increase our energy levels, and as a by-product of this your body will become more energized and burn more Kcals!!
If you can detoxify and alkalize effectively, your body will be able to absorb more oxygen!!
“An alkaline body can absorb up to 20 times more oxygen than an acidic body.” says Dr Otto Warburg, Nobel Prize Winner. He also found that diseased bodies are acidic bodies, which repel oxygen and attract the overgrowth of microorganisms.
As your body becomes acidic, your body’s oxygen levels begin to drop, leaving you tired and fatigued. This is what allows fungus, mould, parasites, bad bacteria and viral infections to flourish and gain a hold throughout the body.
The biggest causes of acidity in the human organism are as follows:
•
Negative thinking
• Relationship and financial stress
• Tap water, tea, coffee and alcohol
• High animal protein diet
• Dairy foods (including those rubbish whey and casein drinks!)
• Processed sugar (especially carbonated drinks)
• Processed foods
• Cooked food
• Pharmaceutical drugs
• anaerobic exercise
This pretty much covers 99 % of people’s diets. To increase alkalinity in the body, you need the following:
• Positive thinking
• Happy relationship
• Drink alkalized water
• Adopt a 80% raw food diet
• Adopt a 80% alkaline diet e.g. vegetables, fruits
• Get the right dose of sunshine
• Aerobic exercise
At a pH slightly above 7.4 cancer cells become dormant and at pH 8.5 cancer cells will die while healthy cells will live.
Oxygen cannot stick to blood cells if the pH of the blood is too acidic. You can breathe pure oxygen, but if the blood pH is acidic, the oxygen will not be able to be picked up by the blood cells. It is chemically impossible.
Therefore in summary if we understand this then doesn’t it make perfect sense to detoxify and become more alkaline??
Step 2
Balance your Nutritional intake: start building better blood and cells.
“It all starts with what goes in your mouth!
Nutrition is the foundation in changing the way your body moves, feels, performs and looks. With bad nutrition you will create poor biological cells and poor performing hormones therefore giving you little chance of achieving your goals. Keep your intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat.” James Rufus
Eat like our ancestors taught us to, not as the supermarkets direct us to. Try to eat a variety of foods, keeping as close to nature as possible. Stay away from anything packaged, canned, starchy (potatoes, pasta, rice etc unless you want your blood sugar levels going through the roof, making you produce more insulin and store fat) or freezed dried…etc
Making the change is a conscious effort, and only you can make for yourself.
Follow a diet that is balanced and based around a 40% carbohydrate, 30% protein and 30% fat. (but make sure you get your carbohydrates from vegetables and fruit).
or make it simple to the eye, 1/3 of your plate protein, 2/3 of your plate carbs and a dash of good fats (see below). this will allow you to control your insulin (storage hormone) from your carbs and the Glucagon (release hormone) from your proteins which stimulates the liver to release stored carbohydrates from its glycogen stores.
Barbara Cox, CEO and Nutritionalist for NUTRICHEF gives us these amazing top 10 tips!
1: Variety is the Spice of Life
Eating a wide variety of healthy food is essential for good health, so it’s no coincidence that the Japanese (who have the longest life expectancy) eat as many as 100 different foods per week compared to only around 30 for people in the UK. Why is variety so important? The answer is simple: we are complex creatures that have count-less processes going on inside us each and every day, and each of these processes requires a variety of different raw materials, which has to come from our food. Hence the saying, ‘You are what you eat’.
2: Love Your Fruit & Veg.
Fruit and vegetables are not only a great weight loss food and provider of fibre, they are easily the most important kind of food because they provide us with the greatest variety of nutrients.
3: Fish for Nutrients
They’re a great low-fat alternative to red meat and they’re a great source of essential fatty acids (EFA’s), especially omega-3, which are necessary for good brain health, for your cardiovascular system and for fighting illness. Oily fish such as mackerel, salmon, tuna and sardines are particularly good for providing EFA’s and also as a source of vitamin D, a very important disease-fighting antioxidant. Fish is also a good source of calcium.
4: Lose the Wheat and Starch
The problem with wheat is that its constituent protein – gluten – is difficult to digest, which can cause people considerable digestive problems and is also linked to depression.
5: Lose the Dairy
Did you grow up with the marketing slogan ‘Drink a pint of milk a day’? It really worked because millions of us took it as gospel that we couldn’t live a healthy life without dairy. What about calcium? Where do we get it if we don’t consume dairy products? By eating green vegetables such as spinach, broccoli, asparagus and peas. Also by eating fish, nuts and seeds. Try dairy-free ‘milk’ made with oats, quinoa or rice.
6: Take Pride in Your Protein
Good quality protein is essential for growth and repair of cells. So we steer clear of fatty protein, choosing to use fish, lean cuts of lamb and chicken, nuts, seeds and beans.
7: Avoid Artificial Additives & Preservatives!
We believe strongly that 
manufacturers who use artificial colours or sweeteners such as aspartame are risking the health of their customers by expecting their bodies to process chemicals that are not naturally found in food. By and large if you don’t recognize it by name then don’t eat it!
8: Not All Fats are Bad
Good fats like omega-3 and omega-6. These are known as essential fatty acids (EFA’s) because we need them in our diet due to the fact that our bodies can’t actually make them. Omega-3 fatty acids in the oils from cold water fish such as mackerel, tuna, salmon, herring and sardines. Omega-6 fatty acids are found in cooking oils such as olive oil, sunflower oil and rapeseed oil.
9: Mind Your Salt & Sugar
The problem with salt is that it raises blood pressure, increasing the likelihood of stroke and heart disease. Sugar acts differently because it is loaded with calories, which, if they aren’t burned off during the day, have to be stored away into fat cells, resulting in weight gain.
10: Seasonal, Local, Organic
Although not always possible in practice, strive to use locally produced, organic ingredients that are in season. Seasonal ingredients are considered best because they are bound to be fresher and, therefore, their nutrient content will be at their maximum levels.
Step 3
Supplement your life to combat the toxic environment we live in.
We live in a toxic world, where our food, water and environment are all polluted by toxic chemicals such as: PCBs, Parabens, Fertilisers, heavy metals (such as lead and arsenic), Pesticides, Nitrates/Nitrites, Fluoride, Oestrogen / Hormones, Cryptosporidium, Chlorine,, Sulphates, Aspartame / Neotame in most diet drinks, Other Artificial Sweeteners Olestra / Olean, Monosodium Glutamate (MSG, hydrolyzed proteins) found in take away chinese etc, Preservatives / Additives, Genetically-Engineered Foods (Many Non-Organic Foods), Non-Organic Foods (Pesticides, Contaminated Sewage Sludge, Hormones), Dairy Foods / rBGH, Alcoholic Beverages (beer, wine), Allergy-Producing Foods, Microwave Oven Cooking, mercury, palladium, Cigarette Smoking / Second-Hand Smoke, household cleaners, personal care products etc, the list goes on and we can’t get away from it all.
Ideally we need to move anyway from the products in the list above, go organic and drink water from a reverse osmosis, mineralising water filter. However for some of us this is not going to happen.
Therefore we must consider supplementing our diets to make sure we combat these toxins. There are a few essential supplements we suggest you look at very seriously:
(Before starting on a supplement plan, we suggest that you book in for a full health appraisal prior to ascertain what areas your body is lacking)
(More detailed blogs will come soon regarding the profound positive effects of the list below)
Alkalizing Salts: Disease thrives in acidity. Health thrives in alkalinity. Neutralise the toxic acidity in your body and re-oxygenate the body up to 20% more.
Vitamin C: Gives your heart and arteries the essential nutrients they need to support repair and regeneration and to fight degenerative disease.
Omega 3s and especially: Heart / Brain Oil: (see omega 3, blog)
Iodine and selenium and Tyrosine; these are powerful thyroid boosters that help maintain a healthy thyroid, boost the metabolism and raising energy levels.
A Probiotic: helping to support healthy digestive and immune systems particularly those affected by their hectic lifestyle.
A Green drink: Get one now!! Choose wisely, you want a powerhouse of natural greens: watercress, spinach, broccoli and kale. This is a phenomenal blend of health-promoting green vegetables for long-term health, energy and vitality.
An Antioxidant drink: A super fruit blend of juicy acai berries, blueberries and blackberries, would be great so its bursting with essential antioxidants to give your body a great defence against damaging free radicals.
A Mix of L – Arginine, L – Glutamine, L – Glycine, Potassium Ascorbate, B6, B12 & Folic acid and Niacin.
Why you ask? Well the good news is that your body must always product some minimal level of HGH or you would not be able to function. The bad news is that as you get past about 20 years old, your body produces less and less HGH each year. By age 60 you will probably have lost 75% of the HGH that your body produced.
If you are a numbers person, here are some average HGH secretion levels:
- At 20 years old we average 500 micrograms/day
- At 40 years old we average 200 micrograms/day
- At 80 years old we average 25 micrograms/day
Human growth hormone and IGF-1 have been shown to play a significant role in:
- Conversion of body fat to muscle mass
- Growth of all tissues
- Energy level
- Tissue repair
- Whole body healing
- Cell replacement
- Bone strength
- Brain function
- Sexual function
- Organ health and integrity
- Enzyme production
- Integrity of hair, nails, skin and vital organs
Basically, anything that goes on in your body is in some way tied to HGH. This is why HGH is often called the “fountain of youth”. Elevated HGH levels are what make you feel young again.
You may see this list as overkill, and state that you can get these essential nutrient from your diet, which I would agree with, IF and it’s a big IF you were eating organic, fresh and varied nutrients everyday, without using household cleaners, personal care products and drinking tap water etc. Unfortunately very few of us can actually achieve this!!
So supplementing should be seriously considered.
Steps 4,5 and 6:
Exercising and de-stressing:
Although the next 3 stages are all similar I hope you’ll read through and understand why I have broken them down into 3 separate stages.
A quick note beforehand we start to talk about the stages is that we must try to rid ourselves of stresses before we take on any exercise.
When you are mentally stressed and you keep trying to push your body physically during workouts (which is therefore applying more stress to your body), the straw that can break the camel’s back will eventually happen (please read drop a dress size re. Cortisol levels).
“Don’t train unless you can gain.”
This means that unless you can give 100% to your training session, you are wasting your time.
Remember this: you either get better or worse, you never stay the same. If this session is not going to make you better, then you need more rest and you should go for a massage, swim or walk along the beach, get fresh air and sunlight. I do anything to de-stress. Then when you arrive at your next session, you can then truly give it 100% and stimulate a result.
If you are going to be able to give 100% to the training session and get the results you deserve for your efforts, you must make sure you work at reducing stress in your life and improve your health.
In regards to the exercising, your plan should consist of the following elements:
(please make sure you book in with a qualified trainer and get signed off by your GP before entering any exercise regime)
Cardiovascular: Bike, run, swim, row, etc,
Make sure it’s done at a high intensity and do it for short periods of time, but do that multiple times. This will cause your body to adapt and change, making you fitter and leaner. NO more running for hours on that treadmill. Hooray I hear you say.
Resistance work: yes weights!!
Adding weights to your session will increase your metabolism, burn more calories, tone or build your muscles and make you look great. Make sure your weights work includes big lifts, such as squats, deadlifts, clean & jerks and bench presses to name just a few. Make sure you have a trainer to help you here.
Gymnastics: no not running round in a leotard,
But using your bodyweight as resistance, like press-ups, pulls ups, sit ups and maybe even a handstand. Making sure your body can move, lift and hold its own weight will make your daily life much easier.
To sum it up, get a personalized exercise programme from a personal trainer, it should be done 3 – 4 days per week, it needs to be constantly varied, and done at a high intensity including some functional exercises (exercises that mimic what you do in your daily life), cardiovascular work and gymnastic elements in as many combinations and patterns as creativity will allow.
This variety of exercise will not only sculpt the body that you desire, but make you ready for anything that life throws at you.
Remember routine is the enemy. Keep workouts short and intense.
Step 4
Getting through the first few days of pain, with little change in body shape.
The first 1-30 Days, starting to FEEL different!
During the first 30 days you will notice your cardiovascular endurance, muscular endurance & strength rapidly increase as your body adapts from an untrained state. This is especially the case if you haven’t exercised regularly in a while.
If improving flexibility was one of your primary goals and you have been working on it, expect it to slowly improve. While you will feel like you have more energy and are getting in shape, your body composition is likely not to significantly change in the first month of training because your body adapts neurologically first.
Step 5
Staying focused and motivated, with the help of others and a great plan.
The next 30-60 Days, starting to SEE change!
During the second month of training you will continue to make improvements in your cardiovascular endurance as well as muscular strength and endurance gains. Although the gains won’t be as rapid as the first month, your personal trainer should be adjusting your program to avoid plateau and keep making progress.
During the second month of training you can expect your body composition to slowly begin to improve provided you have been eating correctly and doing the prescribed exercise during the training sessions and on your own time. Your flexibility will slowly improve as long as you keep working on it by stretching the specific muscles you want to become more flexible.
Step 6
Maintaining the workload and achieving your desired result.
90+ Days onwards, change is here, now to MAINTAIN!
If you maintain your regular exercise with a personal trainer and exercise on your own time you can expect your body composition to continually improve.
From 90 days and beyond improving your fitness assessment results for muscular strength & endurance as well as cardiovascular endurance will gradually become more difficult as you are in a trained state.
If you have been working on flexibility you will start making noticeable progress. Your muscles will feel less tense and you will increase your range of motion about your joints.
The Most Important Thing to Consider: Persistence Pays Off
Achieving results in a fitness program will never be an overnight process. If you are exercising with a personal trainer, putting in exercise on your own time and attempting to eat right, results will come in time.
Basic Results Timeline
- In the first 30 days of training you will FEEL the difference.
- In the 2nd 30 Days of training you will be able to SEE the difference.
- For 60 days and beyond of training your colleagues, family & friends will see the difference. A good time to call up a friend who you haven’t seen in a while!! See what they say about you!
So there we are people, 6 steps to achieving the body, life and performance you desire.
1) Detoxify and Alkalize
2) Get your nutrition right
3) Supplement to combat the toxic environment
4) Get a training plan from a Personal trainer and start to FEEL results.
5) Change your program with your trainer and KEEP training and start to SEE results.
6) MAINTAIN all that hard work and live a much healthy, energized and exciting life!!!
Please feel free to contact RE:Born Wellness on info@rebornpt.co.uk or call 01202 671783 for more information or to book in for our full health appraisal and programming.
Rebornpt's Blog 
