• The 4 Minute-Workout: From Running Gag to Ego Buster

    edited by Alexander Becker

    The X-minute workout, a running gag among fitness professionals, can still be employed effectively, especially as an addition to a well balanced schedule involving resistance training, intervals, and aerobic work.

    The Tabata Method is a variation of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) and Dan John has build a short, yet effective Fat Loss in Four Minutes out of it --

    Tabata is the name of a Japanese researcher who discovered an interesting way to increase both anaerobic and aerobic pathways at the same time. It's one of those strange training programs that seems to fit across disciplines: it's excellent for bicyclists, speed skaters, Olympic lifters, or the person looking to lose fat quickly.

    This training method is so simple, yet so incredibly difficult, that athletes tend to try it once, acknowledge its greatness, and then vow to never speak its name again. What is it? It's simple: take one exercise and perform it in the following manner:

    1. For twenty seconds, do as many repetitions as possible.
    2. Rest for ten seconds
    3. Repeat seven more times!

    The Time Is Now

    Ok. So much for the method. I really like sprint intervals but in Northern Europe, rain is sometimes used as an excuse not to go out and run. Enter the remedy; Tabata thrusters --

    The thruster is one of the greatest lifts no one has ever heard of in the gym. Take two dumbbells and hold them at shoulder height. Squat down, keeping the dumbbells on the shoulders. As you rise up, press the bells to the overhead lockout position. You can either press as you rise or use the momentum to help "kick" the bells overhead. I find that I do a little bit of both in the four minutes.

    Thrusters do things to your heart rate and breathing that I honestly can't describe. Go light! A 35 pound dumbbell in each hand is a very difficult thruster workout! Check your ego at the door for the first two minutes.

    It did rain and I did try it... The soreness lasted for three days.

    Berlin on the Rocks

    For those of you who'd ask, here is the dialogue that founded all the fun, from Something About Mary in 1998 --

    Hitchhiker
    You heard of this thing, the 8-Minute Abs?
    Ted
    Yeah, sure, 8-Minute Abs. Yeah, the excercise video.
    Hitchhiker
    Yeah, this is going to blow that right out of the water. Listen to this: 7... Minute... Abs.
    Ted
    Right. Yes. OK, all right. I see where you're going.
    Hitchhiker
    Think about it. You walk into a video store, you see 8-Minute Abs sittin' there, there's 7-Minute Abs right beside it. Which one are you gonna pick, man?
    Ted
    I would go for the 7.
    Hitchhiker
    Bingo, man, bingo. 7-Minute Abs. And we guarantee just as good a workout as the 8-minute folk.
    Ted
    You guarantee it? That's - how do you do that?
    Hitchhiker
    If you're not happy with the first 7 minutes, we're gonna send you the extra minute free. You see? That's it. That's our motto. That's where we're comin' from. That's from "A" to "B".
    Ted
    That's right. That's - that's good. That's good. Unless, of course, somebody comes up with 6-Minute Abs. Then you're in trouble, huh?
    [Hitchhiker convulses]
    Hitchhiker
    No! No, no, not 6! I said 7. Nobody's comin' up with 6. Who works out in 6 minutes? You won't even get your heart goin, not even a mouse on a wheel.
    Ted
    That - good point.
    Hitchhiker
    7's the key number here. Think about it. 7-Elevens. 7 doors. 7, man, that's the number. 7 chipmunks twirlin' on a branch, eatin' lots of sunflowers on my uncle's ranch. You know that old children's tale from the sea. It's like you're dreamin' about Gorgonzola cheese when it's clearly Brie time, baby. Step into my office.
    Ted
    Why?
    Hitchhiker
    'Cause you're f--kin' fired!

    The above described four minutes will indeed train your aerobic and your anaerobic pathways, at the same time, the mind will be working just as hard to stay with you and harden together with your body. Try it. It's only four short minutes. Plus three days, that is.

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  • Understand Pain to Train More Efficiently

    edited by Alexander Becker

    It doesn't have to hurt in order to work, especially not on an everyday basis, but an always and infinitely comfortable workout is no guarantee for success either. There is no reason to run away from the slightest air of pain, as much as you don't need to run away from hunger. Enjoy your pain as long as it lasts.

    Have you ever trained to accomplish full splits? This hurts and it has to.

    You can choose from three different kinds of pain.

    First, there is the pain of muscles that are brought to their maximum in a controlled training situation. Your workout is breaking up the muscle fibers which subsequently heal and grow bigger and stronger as a result. You want that pain.

    Then there is the pain of injury: it hurts and at the same moment you know that you should stop your workout immediately. You certainly don't want it but you need that pain in order to prevent further serious damage to muscles, joints, or ligaments.

    Another form of pain, the most stressful and the most desirable one, while at the same time the hardest, is the pain of endurance, where the mind offers to shut down the muscles long before they are technically due. Your body would thankfully give in. It is an art in itself to signal the mind that you understand that there is still a long way to go -- sometimes literally, think marathon -- and that the body is physically capable of working the load. You convince the mind that its efforts in telling you to stop will be ignored.

    The pain stays the same, whether you run the double or the quadruple distance, the trick is to surrender to the continuous pain and to proceed anyway. The reward is a solemn state, which is achieved when this royal pain is conquered with marathons for example, with wall chairs, with willpower plus discipline. Nothing more.

    It is this pain that you don't really want nor need, in fact it is -- to a certain extent -- a game that your mind is playing with you. The more you resist and endure, the more your mind will respect you and finally cooperate with you in your effort to excel.

    You need willpower to successfully finish heavy, painful workouts, you are even able to overcome the pain of injury with sheer willpower -- take care though -- but in order to conquer the pain of endurance you have to combine willpower and discipline. This is where real training with massive results begins.

    Pain is weakness leaving the body. Mental weakness, that is.

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  • The Wall Chair: Mental Toughness vs. Physical Endurance

    edited by Alexander Becker

    A simple, yet effective exercise: The wall chair.

    Stand with your back against a wall and feet shoulder-width apart. Slide down into a crouch with knees bent to about 90 degrees. Hold as long as you can.

    On the first day, try to hold the position as long as you think you can endure. On the second day, increase the time by five seconds, on the third day, increase by another five seconds. Do this for about a week.

    Leon

    Now, what do you think do you work on during that week? You surely train your quadriceps, but most of the exercising is improving mental toughness. Would you expect to double your physical endurance in such a short time?

    It’s the double benefit of training body and mind through continuously pushing beyond the limits that makes endurance exercises so valuable.

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