hardcorept1980’s BodyBlog

Happy Thursday!

Tuesday was a great day! Huge things are happening and Im so excited, I can hardly type lol. First, I got my lease paperwork so I can open up my own semi-private training studio in the next few months! Talk about living the dream! I’ve been wanting this for my whole life!

So I’ve been reading through these lease doc’s making sure its all on the level (enough to make my eyes cross), but I’ve still made time to workout harder than ever.

The workout Tuesday was the most intense "suspension training" workout I’ve ever had! My stabilizers were worked out for sure, but every major muscle on my body is still a lil sore today I love it!

Todays workout is the warrior workout involving lots of explosive movements like power-punches, weighted punches, kicks, box-jumps, power cleans, etc, etc! I’t gonna be even more intense than last time, Im sure

 I’ve ramped up my intensity the last 2-3 weeks and already I can see an increase in my vascularity! I’ll try and post some new pics this week so you can see my progress on the countdown to contest! Thanks for tuning in and please feel free to leave comments and try out the training examples I provide and let me know what you think.

Committed to fitness,

Chris Meredith

Owner/Creator of Hard Core Personal Training Systems Inc.

hardcorept@gmail.com

PS. If you’d like to take your agility, balance and stamina to the next level, click on the picture below:

Wow! Sorry it’s been so long since my last post. Looks like time ran away from me. Anyway, I think I’m catching back up now, so here’s the latest:

Thursday workout was missed due to working 13 hours  of training and being totally worn out. I did, however, manage to knock out 50 squat thrusts with a jump at the top and a push-up at the bottom. All non-stop. When I know I’m gonna miss a workout on a designated day I make sure to do some sort of HIGH-ENERGY/HIGH-INTENSITY short burst exercise in order to at least ramp up my metabolism so I can still manage to get a little more lean every day. Since I missed that workout, I pushed my "warrior diet" style workout back to Friday. You’ve gotta read what comes next…

The Warrior Diet Workout:

To start the workout I grabbed a pair of 5 pound dumbbells and headed upstairs to "pre-fatigue" my muscles on the recumbent bike. Basically, the pre-fatigue/warm-up is 5 minutes of the most intense set of intervals you’ll ever do in your lifetime. As Ori (the author of The Warrior Diet) puts it, by 5 minutes, if you’re able to look up, you’ll likely notice the sign that reads "welcome to hell". The intervals I did were as follows:

0-30 seconds: level 10 of 20 @ 65 rpm’s with alternating shoulder press at the same pace as the legs (maintenance)

31-60 seconds: level 20 @ 90-100 rpm’s (or as fast as you can)

61-90 seconds: level 10 of 20 @ 65 rpm’s with alternating shoulder press at the same pace as the legs (maintenance)

91-120 seconds: level 20 about 60 rpm’s while pulling on the front handles to lift my butt off the seat (super hard, try it)

121-150 seconds: level 10 of 20 @ 65 rpm’s with alternating shoulder press at the same pace as the legs (maintenance)

151-180 seconds: level 20 @ 90-100 rpm’s (or as fast as you can)

181-210 seconds: level 10 of 20 @ 65 rpm’s with alternating shoulder press at the same pace as the legs (maintenance)

211-240 seconds: level 20 about 60 rpm’s while pulling on the front handles to lift my butt off the seat (super hard, try it)

241-270 seconds: level 10 of 20 @ 65 rpm’s with alternating shoulder press at the same pace as the legs (maintenance)

271-300 seconds: level 20 @ 90-100 rpm’s (or as fast as you can)

And now that the warm-up was complete it was time to get the real workout going. Keep in mind that this is a full body circuit training workout with no zero or minimal rest. Here’s how the circuit goes:

1. Squats with a barbell pressed strait above your head (5 very slow, controlled reps)

2. Stationary Lunges (lifting your back leg in the air) with a barbell pressed strait above your head (5 very slow each leg, controlled reps)

3. Pull-ups (slowly for maximal reps)

4. Weighted Power Punches (1 minute with 5lbs dumbbells) in rapid form

Perform this circuit 3-4 times through and your lungs will be on fire as well as your arms, shoulders, legs and core!

Next:

Now the even more fun part (if you think you can handle it) is the shoulder maximizer!

Select 3 sets of dumbells (heavy, medium & light that you can initially perform 6 reps with) to perform shoulder press and all sorts of later raises. Be sure not to use momentum. Make your muscles do all the work!

1. Heavy shoulder press (5 reps)

    Medium shoulder press (5 reps)

2. Standing (Light) Laterals (5 reps)

    Leaning Laterls (5 reps)

    Standing Front Raises (5 reps)

3. Medium shoulder press (5 reps)

4. Standing (Light) Laterals (5 reps)

    Leaning Laterls (5 reps)

    Standing Front Raises (5 reps)

5. Heavy Shoulder Press (3 reps)

6. Standing (Light) Laterals (5 reps)

    Leaning Laterls (5 reps)

    Standing Front Raises (5 reps)

7. Medium Shoulder Press (3 reps)

8. Standing (Light) Laterals (5 reps)

    Leaning Laterls (5 reps)

    Standing Front Raises (5 reps)

Ouch! My Shoulders Are On FIRE! Whoo!

Time for Abs!

1. Hangin Leg Raises w/ Windshield Wipers (5-10 slow reps)

2. Hangin knee-ups (10 reps) slowly pull your knees to your chest and pause  for 3 seconds before lowering slowly

3. Plank (60 seconds)

4. Crunches (10 reps) with 5 pulses at the top of each rep

5. Plank (30 seconds)

6. Crunches (10 reps) with 5 pulses at the top of each rep

7. Hangin Knee-ups with 3 second pause at the top (10 reps)

Prone Cobra time!

3 reps of 10 seconds held at the top and strech!

Time for protein and Im out! Try this workout and tell me what ya think! Thanks for checkin it out!

Good Afternoon all fitness/bodybuilding enthusiasts! As the title dictates, today is Heavy Lifting Sunday! One of my personal Fav’s. Sundays are set up under HIT principles:

1. Pic the heaviest weight you can lift for 8-12 repetitions (5 seconds up, and 5 seconds down).

2. One set of MAXIMAL EFFORT, which means if you completed your last rep, it wasn’t your last rep..

3. Select multi-joint (compound) movements, such as squats, dead-lifts, bent row, etc., etc., for most of your exercises.

4. No rest between exercises!

So here’s the promised sample workout (This is exactly what I did today):

Exercises:

1) Squats (5 seconds up/5 seconds down). Using 225lbs (it feels real heavy when you go this slow!), I slowly sunk down til my thighs were beneath parallel, paused for 1 second squeezed tight through my core and slowly drove the bar back up just shy of full extension (that way the tension stays constant and maximal). I managed to squeeze out 11 reps before I started seeing stars! My lifting partner kindly made me grind out the last rep with a little help, but as slowly as possible so I could get the most out of it.

2) Leg extension (as my quads were already on fire!). 240lbs, slowly lifting in exactly the same manner as the squats just prior. The only difference was the lock-out at the top along with an agonizing pause at both the top and the bottom. Muscle burn is GOOD!! That’s your bodies signal to increase production of growth hormone and testosterone to their peak levels. And that means more lean mass and less fat! So make it burn as much as you can!

3) Romanian Dead-lifts (hamstrings, prepare yourselves!). Start a little light with these if you’re not used to the HIT format of training. It’s also very important to pay special attention to keep your lower back in a strait or even slightly arched position to avoid injury. 185lbs was all it took to annihilate my hamstrings (and I have some meaty/strong hamstrings!). The slow/smooth pace really makes that weight feel much heavier. The good news is, it doesn’t have to be heavy to make your muscles respond like it is heavy! They respond and grow when they think it is heavy, so pay close attention to make your lifts harder to do by using the most strict form you can.

4) Incline Bench Press. 155lbs, up and down slowly til i could not push the bar up on my own and my lifting partner had to help out on the last rep (which took over 10 seconds!).

5) Bent Row. Make sure that you start with your back strait or slightly arched and your core tight. I positioned myself where my back was parallel to the floor and kept it there for the entire set. No using momentum to cheat the weight up! When you cheat gravity, you cheat yourself! Don’t be tempted to do cheat just to look cool lifting more weight. Remember, weight doesn’t matter. Tension and effort matter! Using a reverse grip I pulled the bar slowly up to my upper abdomen, paused briefly with a HUGE squeeze between my shoulder blades before slowly returning the bar to the start position. Maximal reps were performed (9) before I had to briefly sit down and clear my vision. Once I was done seeing spots, I was ready for…

6) Dips. Same slow reps, same great burn! Just remember that we are working hard to maximize muscle stimulation here. That means that when you get to the top of what you perceive to be your last rep, don’t just fall off and call it good, make sure you perform a proper 5 second negative and then try for your next rep. You’ll be surprised by how many reps you try to talk yourself out of that you could really benefit from.

7) Pullover. Lying perpendicular to the bench positioned so my head could rest on the bench with my shoulder blades, the exercise begins with a dumbell over the top of my head, not over my face (this keep tension on the working muscles) slowly lowering as far as possible without allowing my shoulder blades to move. Pause slightly at the bottom to avoid momentum from the rubber band effect, and slowly lift the dumbell to the previously described start position. It’s a good idea to have a spotter stay close cuz you’ll think you’re gonna get another rep and suddenly hit a big wall. I managed to squeeze out 8 reps with a 70lbs dumbell.

8) Reverse Grip Curls. Leaning back against the wall (with both hips and shoulders), palms down and elbows locked into position I began my set. By rep number 6 I noticed that my legs were beginning to shake as aftermath from the previous exercises. None the less I managed to grind out 3 more reps before I my arms were tanked. Each rep it seemed like my veins were expandin to the point I was expecting them to burst! My arms looked like roadmaps!

9) 1-Legged Calf Raises on a step. Since my arms were no longer capable of holding a weight worthy of holding, I wanted to find a way to make each rep more difficult without adding weight. So I decided on 1&1/2 reps. That means that for every full repetition I performed, I added a slow/smooth 1/2 rep at the strech-point in between. If you’ve never tried this, it makes a HUGE difference and I encourage you to try it in your next workout. f you’re motivated to see some change in your physique, you’ll love this challenge because it works almost over night! 20 agonizing reps later my calves were rendered useless for walking upstairs to the final exercise….

10) Incline Leg Raises. First I set the bench up to about a 30 degree angle so my legs were on the lower end of the bench. Then grabbing on to the top end of the bench it was time to go to work. Try and keep your legs as strait as you can (unless you notice your hips/low back clicking. In this case keep your knees bent to lighten the load on your low back) and slowly power them up til your his slowly  raise a few inches off of the bench. Pause briefly before lowering your legs as far as you can without touching the floor. Repeat til you can’t anymore. I managed 8 reps today, as I was completely exhasted from the previous exercises.

That’s it! It was extremely intense, despite what you think, and I urge you to try it. You’ll not be disappointed! And the best part is that it only took 20 minutes to stimulate muscle growth! Follow that workout up with a high-quality protein shake with a good amount of carbs. I prefer Univera Essentials because there is a good balance of carbs, protein and essential fatty acids (wich is very important for proper hormone production) and its is highly bio-available so you get instant absorption and faster recovery from your workouts!

That’s all for today, but be sure and come back to check out my new blog postings as I will make them at least three times a week. They will be filled with meaty content and sample exercise routines that you can try out and get great results from. Also, I invite you to comment and speak on your experiences as well. Thanks again for stopping by

Committed to uncovering your hidden potential,

Chris Meredith

Hardcore Personal Training Systems Inc.

HardcorePT@Gmail.com

PS. If you have any questions or comments, please post them and I will respond at my earliest convenience.

PPS. If you would like to see what the Univera rave is all about, please feel free to email me at hardcorept@gmail.com

Thsi week has been pretty crazy… with going on the Genomics Lab Tour for Univera, working on getting my lease for my studio, training crazy hours with clients I had to miss my usual Thursday workout. That sucked. I woulda been training warrior diet style, with lotsa explosive movements. From jumping to punching with weights to sockin it to the heavy bag for all Im worth… I love Thursday workouts. Training like your life depends on it is the best way to initiate "fight or flight response" which I belive really racks up points for naturally maximizing our bodies potential with Groth Hormone and Testosterone which we all know helps us to build muscle and burn fat simultaneously. One part I like so much about it is the visualization: when you start thinking "my body can’t handle his. I can’t…" etc. etc., you just visualize the most important thing in the world to you and imagine it/him/her or whatever it is inside a burning house. If yoiu fail to complete the next rep or interval or whatever, you not only let yourself down, your most prize posession or loved ones are lost in the fire. This ensures that you grind out that last rep or interval. And it’s that last rep/interval that makes the most impact on our bodies. So go get started on thinking what’s most important in your life and apply this visualization tactic to take your workouts and your results to the next level.

Im off to the track to run my sprintz and put those visualizations to work. Thanks for tuning in!

All comments are welcome and encouraged. So please comment and lemme know what you think or even some tactics you yourself find effective to take your fitnes to the next level.

Todays workout rocked! It was yet another "best workout of my life" and Im lovin life! Today’s theme was suspension training. Thegoal was to annihilate my core while training everything else to the max! It was a full body butt kicker for sure and my core is achin right now I always train ful body (3 times a week) because research shows that when you workout any 1 muscle or group of muscles with proper high intensity, those muscles respond with an increased rate of protein synthesis for around 40-48 hours! That means th emuscles you work are in their prime anabolic state for that entire time! Why not keep them in their peak state of anabolism all week long?! That way you’re growing all the time!

Now that I’m done with my short muscle-geek interuption (lol), let’s get back to the workout! My workout lasted for approximately 30 minutes… Yes. You read that right. Only 30 minutes! But it was the toughest 30 minutes of my life and I sweat my a$$ off! From suspended body-weight rows to body-weight pec flys, to 1-arm body-weight bicep curls, and everything in-between. My favorite part was the verticle push-ups. For those of you who don’t know, thats where you are in a hand-stand position (in this case I had my hands on two 35lbs weight plates for greater ROM) and you bend your arms at shoulder and elbow to slowly lower yourself, headfirst, towards the floor. When your head is milimeters from the floor you slowly and steadily press with your shoulders to drive your body back into a hand-stand.

Since I don’t rest between exercises (and only complete 1 super-intense set of each) my workout moves very quickly! My heart was pounding out between 150-180 beats/minute the entire time, so ya know I got my cardio well taken care of at the same time. You know you love that idea!. And you’ll love the fact that your metabolism is shifted into high gear for mealting away that excess bodyfat for approximately 48 hours following a workout such as this! My energy couldn’t be higher or I might explode lol! I’ve never felt healthier and more accomplished in my life.

Tune in again soon (Thursday) as I will talk about my very non-mainstream diet and how you can learn to maximize your results with nutrition the way our DNA meant it to be.

Best wishes in your training,

Im signing off for the night,

Chris Meredith

Owner/Creator Of Hard Core Personal Training Systems

Bellevue, WA 98005

 PS. Please feel free to ask any fitness related questions you might have as Im happy to help.

PPS. Here’s What I Use For My Suspension Training. Get Yours With Free Shipping By Clicking The Image Below.

So I’ve got 24 weeks counring down til showtime, when I’ll be stepping onstage with some familiar faces from years past. We’ll all be gunning for the same title: Number 1…The guy who gets to walk away from the show as a new-found pro-bodybuilder!

The excitement is building! I can hardly wait!

Question: Have you ever had one of those workouts… you know, the one where ya say "that was the best workout of my life!"?

Well, lately, I’ve been having "the new best workout of my life" every time I step foot into the gym. This all started about mid January. It could be coincidence that I changed up my supplement regimen right around the same time, but I like to think it’s just me lol (I changed from Advocare brand, which I liked and found great results with, to Univera brand. So far the difference is extraordinary and Im loving it! Ask me about my new supps and regimen.

As for my workouts Im taking a very different approach this year. Last year I trained using The New HIT (High Intensity Training) Principles, written by Ellington Darden. The concept was very different to me, the guy who used to workout 5-7 days a week for around 2 hours. I used to do 3-5 day split routines breaking up my body into isolated body parts. More was better…right? WRONG! So the new concept of HIT Training was to train less often and for less time, and focusing on a much higher intensity, rather than 3 sets of 10 (generic/useless), and to make every workout a full body workout. It was a tough concept to wrap my head around (and Im sure you’re wondering how in the heck could that work?!). The truth is, I was finally able to ad lean muscle-mass to my physique rather quickly, all while shedding lbs of fat simultaneously. The results were great! Only I wasn’t quite lean enough to win the show (I took 2nd, place, beating out the guy who placed ahead of me last year).

This year I am incorporating HIT principles again, only I’m adding a few secret weapons to my training regimen this year. The fist addition to mt training is Warrior Diet-Style Training. The Revised Warrior Diet is another one of those "crazy ideas" that is pretty hard to wrap your head around at first, until you try it. You will be amazed by the results you get from the diet alone. The exercise program is insanely challenging for short durations, but SO WORTH WHILE! You can find out more at http://www.warriordiet.com/. My other secret weapon is called Suspension Training. Suspension training requires you to lift your own bodyweight in a manner that strengthens your core and all of your supportive muscles that help you balance while you are lifting. I’ve been doing suspension training for about 8 weeks now and the results are again, phenominal! I’m getting stronger in all of my regular weight lifting exercises like squats, deadlifts, all types of presses, etc. Talk about functional strength! And the greatest part is, I’m kiling 3 birds with 1 stone! I complete my strngth training, balance/agility, and cardio all in 1 workout, lasting 30 minutes or so! I’m so jacked up with excitement I might start to annoy myself lol!

If you’re interested in getting more out of your workouts Univera Supplements and/or Suspension Training, drop me a message now. I’ll gladly help you out to the best of my ability.

I’ll keep you all posted on my progress and pics as the weeks count down to showtime.

Until next time,

Chris Meredith

Fitness Expert and Owner Of:

Hard Core Personal Training Systems Inc.

RTC. Redmond WA, 98053

PS. You can get your very own TRX Suspension Trainer Here:

http://www.fitnessanywhere.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=SFNT&Store_Code=000-94127&AFFIL=KFp3z1p0