The Superiority of Bodyweight Training - it's not what you think

Pop quiz, hot shot.

1. Who is the strongest of these weight lifters?

a) bodybuilders
b) olympic weightlifters
c) powerlifters
d) weekend warriors
e) it depends

2. Who is the strongest of these bodyweight athletes?

a) gymnasts
b) acrobats/dancers
c) Parkour traceurs
d) Richard Simmons
e) it depends

3) Who is the strongest?

a) bodyweight trainees
b) free weight trainees
c) Chuck Norris
d) the answer is C
e) all of the above

TIMES UP!!!

Grading will commence immediately. Switch papers and pull out your red pens!

The answer to number 1 is E, it depends.
The answer to number 2 is E, it depends.
And the answer to number 3 is also E, all of the above.

First of all, I thought you should know that Chuck Norris roundhouse kicked me in the face until I included him in the last question. Second of all, you’re probably noticing a theme in the quiz answers. Let me explain…
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The Bodyweight Glide Workout Series for a Functionally Fit Body and Shredded Core Muscles

Note: This is a guest post from Ryan Murdock and Adam Steer, the BodyweightCoach.com experts.

While a six-pack stomach may be the most conventional benchmark of athletic beauty, functional abdominal strength goes deeper and is far more important than vanity. A strong core improves your posture and reduces the likelihood of lower back pain. It plays a stabilizing role in virtually every movement you do—from carrying the groceries or bending down to tie your shoes to throwing a ball or pulling a heavy lift. It is also the source of power generation in most athletic activities.

We’re going to build a killer core with bodyweight exercise, in as little as 12-minutes per session.

How?

By training in 6 degrees of freedom.

Training in 6-Degrees of Freedom

What the heck does that mean?

It’s a term we took from aviation, because it most accurately describes how your body moves through space.

We don’t move robotically through one plane at a time. Human movement is a complex weave through different planes and on different axes. If we take the three axes of conventional movement descriptions, we can think about moving both along and around those axes in order to take advantage of our true movement potential.

CST 6 Degrees of FreedomCST 6 Degrees of Freedom

Heaving: moving up and down

Swaying: moving right and left

Surging: moving forward and backward

Pitching: bending forward and backward

Yawing: twisting right and left

Rolling: bending or tilting right and left

The bottom line?

Training in 6-Degrees of Freedom will kick your butt faster than any other method.

Why does that matter? It means you’ll be finished training sooner. Training in 6-Degrees will also ensure that your body remains balanced. You won’t waste time dealing with overuse injuries, or overcompensations created by doing the same repetitive movements in the same planes day after day.

That’s a brief primer on the theory. Let’s get to the program.
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Best Physical Living Bloggers to Watch in 2010

I want to take this opportunity to recognize some fellow physical living experts and aficionados whom I respect as a way of saying thanks for putting in the effort to publish valuable information on the Internet.

Best Physical Living Bloggers to Watch in 2010:

I take endorsements very seriously. These are people whom I trust to bring excellent information again and again. They have a good standing among their peers and are trusted sources of reliable and useful knowledge. Most importantly, I like them!
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Too Much Sitting = Too Bad For Your Health

when are we NOT sitting?

I’d like to say that I’m bringing you a nice, refreshing article about how we as a physically-cultured society are moving forward to greater heights in health and fitness. I wish that I could say we’ve made excellent progress to raise awareness, provide assistance, and solve common problems that are facing those who have trouble adopting a physically-focused lifestyle. I wish that I could tell you things are getting better. Unfortunately, I would be lying through my teeth. Even if my molars, canines, and incisors were sealed shut with quick-drying, rubber cement, the lies would burst out of my nostrils (How’s that for graphic imagery? Don’t answer that.).

I’m sorry to report to you that we are making a TON of progress – rapid progress – towards a doomsday end of physical exuberance and youthful vitality. Even with the onslaught of information that is available about living a life of abundant health and vitality, we are still managing to deteriorate faster than the pothole-laden, frostheave-strewn New England roads in the dead of our snowy and occasionally frigid winter. Where do all those property taxes go anyways?

It’s the sad truth. Even though we know that we know that we KNOW that we shouldn’t remain sedentary for the better part of the day, we still are. At least that’s what I’ve been reading lately. Statistics are statistics, and they can lie, but we’re certainly moving in that direction – the sedentary direction, that is. Come to think of it, I can’t remember the last time I heard something refreshing in the news about health and fitness.
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Leave a Comment, Win a Book: Free Gift for Physical Living Readers Interested in Fat Loss

A good friend of mine, Tom Venuto, has offered to give away a free copy of his best-selling book The Body Fat Solution: Five Principles for Burning Fat, Building Lean Muscle, Ending Emotional Eating, and Maintaining Your Perfect Weight. This book swept Amazon.com’s best sellers list when it was released last year in hard [...]

Stop Right There And Don't Take Another Step - How Technology is Killing Us One Invention at a Time

Disclaimer: While I wouldn’t call this a rant post (nobody likes a rant), I will stand very adamantly against a prevailing idea. It may seem like I utterly hate what’s happening, which is mostly accurate. However, I do feel that context is important when discussing matters such as these. So, in no way am I against the technological miracles that are being invented these days. I think most technology can be used for good things. But as is often the case, technology is misapplied into making life a little easier and killing us a little faster. And I would bet big money (if I had it) that this new technology will be marketed with the purpose of making profits, rather than helping serve true needs.

Watch this… you don’t need to see the whole video to get the idea.

Honda’s Walking Assistance Device Prototype

So, Honda has seen it fit to invent a walking assistance device (WAD). Splendid! After all, walking is such a strenuous activity. And we wouldn’t want to fatigue our leg muscles or injure our joints, would we?

This is just one more step towards my lifelong dream – to invent a HOVER-PAD for personal transportation. I’m already at work with the Honda research and development department, drafting first-run schematics and big-money marketing plans. After all, we wouldn’t want to overstress our hearts by walking – even with walking assistance devices, which can be so demanding on the delicate human frame. One day, billions of people will be grateful that I invented this Hover-Pad that now allows people only to move from laying down in their bed to standing up on the pad. They’ll never experience fatigue again!

But now that I’m thinking about it… all that standing has got to make people feel awfully tired. I know my legs get a little shaky after a few hours. Ah, I know what I’ll do. The HOVER-SEAT will be born! And if it reclines, it could double as a bed! Time to get a patent for that… (anybody seen Wall-E ???)

All kidding aside, Honda has all but declared war on human physicality. To think that the human body is defective and needing mechanical support is ludicrous. Whether you believe your body was created by a divine being or evolved over countless generations, you must admit that it is perfectly suited for this beautiful environment we call Earth.
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