Marine workout on the beach

I'm in Thailand for 10 days.

For most people this means boozy night at the beach bar, lie-ins and too much rice.

Well, after a low carb lobster meal last night, the organiser of this 'fitness mastermind' event in Phuket, Dax Moy, revealed a nasty surprise.

At 6.30 am this morning we were all up and before we could dive into the usual lucious fresh fruit breakfast, we hit the beach.

What followed was neither nice nor pretty but highly effective!

Dax used to serve in the marines so had something special up his sleeve for us.

Today dawned the Magic Hundred beach workout, which went as follows.

(Before starting, mark out a 100m strip of soft, sandy beach)

100m sprint
100m swim back
100m push ups (push ups for distance so you have to push up and forward every rep)
100m walking lunge back
100m jump squat
100m seal crawl back
100m roll
100m swim
100m sprint in water back

Descriptions:

For the seal crawl, lie on the sand and drag yourself 100m using your legs as little as possible. Imagine you have no use of your legs and you'll get it!

For the roll, perform forward rolls for the distance.

We had intended to add a 100m rock throw but couldn't find any suitable rocks or logs!

The swims were an absolute killer because it was virtually impossible to get any momentum due to constantly breaking 4-5ft waves!

So if you ever tell me you couldn't train on holiday because you couldn't get to a gym, you will get some stick!

This was fun in a sick kind of way and as you can see there was absolutely no equipment needed, yet ruined us!

Full body exercises, power endurance, strength, core strength in the waves, upper body, lower body, mental toughness, grind, but most importantly out in the wonders of nature.

Think outside the box guys, there's so much out there to inspire your fitness goals.

I'll have the video soon!

Jon

Intense Conditioning workouts - more sneak previews

Sometimes I get bored of talking and hearing about fat loss!

I know that sounds stupid but fat loss really is pretty simple if you just decide you want to do it!

Admit it, we're all getting a little tired of hearing about transformation contests, 'awesome abs' and magic fat loss programs!

What's not so simple, but a lot more exciting, is designing and following programs which lead to increases in strength, power, aerobic and anaerobic conditioning all at once!

So I set to work....

In just a few weeks I'll finally get to unleash Intense Conditioning.

The 12 week program takes you through a 4 week 'pain tolerance' phase whilst practicing certain strength techniques and exercises you probably haven't used or have neglected for too long!

(Oh and you'll no doubt see your body fat drop too!)

It's time to get serious about training! If you like drilling yourself into the ground - you'll love this!!!

In Week 5 we move into combined strength and conditioning training to optimise all areas of your fitness without having to focus solely on one.

If you want to be a powerlifter or pack on muscle for the sake of it, this isn't for you.

If you want to be lean and athletic it most definitely is!

You need to be ready to commit to your training though - this doesn't work with half-arsed attitudes and 'train when I have time' mentalities.

Stay tuned folks - you'll want to get hold of this........





Check out some of the previews!

Counting calories

I just had an email from Petra in the US who got awesome results following the Fat Loss Action Blueprint.

We were talking about calories and how many calories were in a particular recipe in 'Cooking For The Fitness Lifestyle'.

I used to think calorie counting was the key to fat loss.

However, whilst it is useful as a guide especially for those who have no idea what to eat or how much for fat loss, consider the following....

Recipes

When you look at a recipe and it says it contains 350 calories how can you accurately replicate that when all eggs are different sizes?

I include calorie amounts in the cookbook as a guide but clearly it's not going to be 100% as your eggs may be bigger than mine!

Burning calories

If you have found out you should eat 300 calories 5/6 times per day to burn body fat, what happens if you walk up an extra 10 flights of stairs a few times that day because you're at a conference and the lift is broken?

What if it's 10 degrees colder and you are shivering more - should you adjust for summer and winter?



What if you have some labouring to do at home because you're doing up your porch?

What if your wife helps you with the labouring on Saturday but has to take the kids to a party the next day?

What if you play a better football team this week than last week so you have to run around more and work harder?



What if you have a physical job like a fireman? Some days you'll be sat down a lot because fortunately no-one needs you help. Other days you could be in action for 5-6 hours in a row. What do you do then? Are you going to whip out your scales and have an extra half an egg whilst you heroically hoist Mrs Jones out of her top floor window to make up for it?

What if Mrs Jones has packed on some pounds at Christmas, tripped over the fairy lights and sparked that fire. She weighs more than she did in November so it's going to require greater exertion to get her out - are you going to have to carbo load when you get back to the station?

I think you get the point!


It is physically impossible to accurately calculate how many calories you need each and every day so I really suggest you don't bother once you have gained insight into how big a meal size should be using estimates from reliable sources.

This is a perfect example of how many people spend so much time trying to create the perfect nutrition or training plan when they would be better off just getting the kettlebells out and beasting themselves.

The calories then take care of themselves!

This is the basis of the forthcoming Intense Conditioning program - worry about what matters!

Train hard.

Use high, low, no carb days in a cycle to trick your body into dropping body fat.

Eat clean, natural food.

You can't fail to get results.

Intense Conditioning is coming!

Intense Conditioning will soon be released! I and a few of my trainer friends around the world have been following it for the last few weeks as well as a couple of my clients.

The program brings together everything you need to know to rapidly increase your strength, power and conditioning without needing any specialist equipment!



Too many people these days get fixated with 'kettlebells are better than dumbbells', 'bodyweight is for beginners', 'I need to be a member of gym to get results'.

Stop the bickering, stop the excuses and get on with it - you'll see awesome results!!

The truth is...

...you don't need to be doing the same exercises week in and week out
...you can increase strength without big, rusty squat racks
...you don't need to spend more time in your gym than the staff
...intense is fun!!!

I watched a program about gastric banding the other day and got really wound up at how pathetic and foolish these people are.



If you want me to feel sorry for you because you have rammed yourself full of crap foods when you knew what damage it was doing, then think again!

Too many of us make the effort to turn down the filth you have been drip feeding into your arteries and whilst you were marvelling at the stars of Eastenders we were out throwing kettlebells around and trying to figure out just what it would take to get the damn things over our head just a few more times!

I love new challenges and I love not knowing what the next workout will bring! It keeps me motivated, mentally stable and most importantly lean and athletic!

Then I realised, why worry about people like that?

There are always going to be lazy, fat people around so I need to get used to it!

I am delighted to help those who are willing to take responsibility and stop using words like 'too hard', 'like it too much', 'have to entertain a lot so can't' and 'haven't got time'.

That's what the Fat Loss Action Blueprint is for.

Instead I should be focussing on those who really love fitness for what it is, who don't have a cardiac arrest at the thought of breaking a sweat and who understand that a love of fitness and the euphoric feelings it gives you everyday!

So I will soon be unleashing Intense Conditioning, with all the workouts you need to shed body fat, increase strength and improve staying power and mental toughness!

And that's just for starters!

As you can see it's not for girls though....