Walt Alexander
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Walt Alexander

Walt Alexander is the editor-in-chief of Men of Value. Learn more about his vision for the online magazine for American men with the American values—faith, family & freedom—in his Welcome from the Editor.

FitnessLooking Good

In recent years major technological advances have been made to the point that personal training services can be delivered effectively and successfully online. Whilst traditional ‘1 to 1’ training still has it’s place, online will soon be the ‘go to’ solution for most busy people.

Below are some of the many reasons why online personal training is fast becoming the top choice for so many gym goers and none gym goers:-

It’s extremely Cost Effective:

If you compare the cost of traditional ‘1 to 1’ training to online training the difference is undeniable. Often a Gym based personal trainer will charge more for a one hour session than they would for a full month’s training online. How is it possible for the online trainer to make a living you may ask? The answer is two fold. Firstly the online trainer has no fixed overheads such as travel costs, and gym fees (gym’s take a large percentage of all gym based PT’s income, thus they have to charge the client more). Secondly, a well organised and efficient online PT can significantly reduce wasted ‘downtime’ via high level semi automated systems, meaning their time can be spent only on what matters – the client. In turn, the cost saving can be passed onto the client giving a ‘win / win’ situation.

If you do the maths the cost difference between the two methods of training is huge. Based on an average cost of £50 for a one hour ‘1 to 1’ session, a yearly outgoing could be:-

* 2 x 50= £100 Per week (based on the two sessions per week most personal trainers recommend as a minimum).

* £100 x 52 = £5,200 per year!

That is a big amount of money, and almost 10 times as much as most online personal training will cost. Also, if you miss a session you’re still going to have to pay with the conventional method of ‘1 to 1’ training.

Wider choice of trainer:

When choosing a PT you are usually limited to the trainer at your gym who is available. With online personal training you get to pick the best trainer for your needs, whether they live next door or across the ocean. Online personal training is a competitive market, thus as a customer you stand to benefit from the competition that will drive online trainers to constantly improve the service they offer. Every year online fitness courses get better, offering the client new and inventive ways to enjoyable improve their health and fitness.

Time and location are not relevant:

When using an online fitness trainer you have complete control and freedom over your routine. You can workout at any time, night or day, as long as the work gets done. You can also workout anywhere, whether that be in a gym, at home, in a park or in your office. Your PT is there to work for you and with you, thus will develop a plan that works for you. Online training allows you to have your workout schedule, diet plan and motivation right in the palm of you hand on your mobile phone app.

Comprehensive email support:

This is often not taken advantage of when training with a trainer face-to-face. Continuous assessment and accountability have a large role to play in any training plan and good online training can provide this. You would also receive access to thorough exercise tutorials and videos on the correct way to be performing exercises – which can be performed and perfected without pressure and unwanted attention.

Motivation and Accountability:

While online training may s

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Business Headlines

Each of us, have several options, and alternatives, when it comes to our decisions, regarding, choosing how we invest our monies, and, why we choose, one vehicle, over another! Although, there are quite a number of possibilities, the most – often, used, are: the bank; US Treasury obligations; Municipal Bonds; Corporate Bonds; and, Mutual funds/ Individual stocks. The purpose of this article is not to provide investment advice, but, rather, to attempt to clarify, the differences, possibilities, etc. It’s your hard – earned money, so the more you know, and understand, the better, you might be capable of, making the wisest, personal decisions. With that in mind, this article will attempt to, briefly, consider, examine, review, and discuss, these 5 choices, and the most, significant impacts.

1. Bank: Some feel most comfortable, putting their funds, in the bank, for a number of reasons. One of the most significant is, their personal comfort zone, as well as convenience, etc! Although, the protections and insurance, banks offer, make it safe, it also, usually, translates to a relatively, low, rate of return, etc. Although,we currently, exist, in a very low – interest, financial environment, and relatively – low, inflation, historically, bank returns, are, nearly, always, lower, than the cost of living, etc!

2. US Treasury obligations: The United States Treasury depends on a variety of debt obligations, with various limitations, due dates, terms, etc. They are usually distinguished, between, bills, and bonds, and, are considered the safest – possible investment vehicles. Obviously, because of this, they generally pay lower interest/ dividend rates, than corresponding, corporate, and municipal, bonds, etc.

3. Municipal Bonds: When municipalities, such as cities, states, and various municipal agencies, etc, need to borrow funds, they generally rely on using, Municipal Bonds. When, one invests in a Municipal Bond, which is from the state, you reside and pay taxes, in, the interest received, is tax – free. Depending on one’s tax level/ rate, and how, he handles risks, etc, as well as the corresponding rate, paid, by both corporate, versus, municipal obligations, these may make sense, for some!

4. Corporate Bonds: When corporations borrow funds, they, often, offer Corporate Bonds, as their financing vehicle. These are, often, rated, based on the overall, financial picture, of the company! Some of these, are backed – up, by the full faith, and earnings/ assets, of the corporation, while some, are only covered by, a specific project, etc. Depending on rating, terms, type, length, quality, etc, the coupon – rate, is determined! These payments are taxable, and, may make sense, or not, dependent on one’s circumstances, needs, etc.

5. Mutual Funds/ individual stocks: One may, also, decide to invest in a variety of individual stocks, or, discover, investing in a Mutual Fund, makes more sense, for him. Remember, there are never, guarantees, when investing in stocks, etc, but, they, sometimes, offer, more potential, etc. A mutual fund, is a managed group of stocks, bonds, etc, with a specific purpose, etc. There are several reliable organizations, who evaluate and consider, a variety of factors, and, then, rate them!

The more, one knows, and understands, about, the options, and alternatives, the better, he becomes, capable, of proceeding, in a wise, prudent, well – informed manner, which makes sense, to him! These 5 approaches, are simply, the tip – of – the – iceberg, and the more you know, the better prepared, you might be!

Richard has owned businesses, been a COO, CEO, Director of Development, consultant, professionally run events, consulted to thousands, and conducted personal development seminars, for 4 decades. Rich has written three books and thousands of articles. His company, PLAN2LEAD, LLC has an informative website http://plan2lead.net and Plan2lead can also be followed on Facebook http://facebook.com/Plan2lead

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Richard_Brody/492539

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/10408697

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FitnessLooking Good

2 Days a Week Strength Training

Training twice a week is something I’ve tried several times and always had success with it. Lots of people have an all or nothing attitude to training. Many people either stop training because they are busy and believe they have to spend loads of time in the gym to achieve any results. They would be better off doing two days consistently as everyone can get to the gym for two sessions a week if it’s a priority for them.

In my first year, I started strength training I only trained twice a week for and had good results. After that year, I could deadlift 180kg easily and gained 12kg in body weight. I have since had several short, but successful spells with twice a week training. I also have a few clients who only train twice a week, and they have all been making good progress

Who could this be a good option for?

Someone with a busy schedule and struggles to make it to the gym more often. #

Someone who simply don’t want to go to the gym more often, but wants to be in shape.

For people who play sports and have other training commitments that are their priority, and only strength train to help improve their performance in their sport, and so can’t spend an excessive amount of time lifting weights.

Someone who recovery issues.

People who have not been able to stick to a routine.

For a short time when life is crazy. The key to making progress is doing this consistently over a long period of time. No matter how busy life is I can always train two days a week and make progress. I can then train

I’m not writing this article expecting people to change their routine if they’re able to do four times a week and are making progress. This is a good option for

How did I set up my training?

There were two ways my assistance work.

Option 1

A – Squat – Bench press – Lower assistance exercises

B – Deadlift – Bench press – Upper body assistance exercises

Option 2

A – Squat – Bench press – 3/4 Assistance exercises

B – Deadlift – Overhead press – 3/4 Assistance exercises

You can use different main exercises. I sometimes used the trap bar deadlift, overhead press, and dips.

Main work progression

I would pick a rep range for each exercise such as 10-5 reps. Work up to a top set of 10. Every session you’ll add weight until you can only do 5 good reps. You’ll then start the cycle again with a weight you can do 8 reps with. This should be more weight than you used at the start of the last cycle.

I do use other rep ranges as well such as 14-8 reps, 12-8 reps, 10-6,12-3 reps etc

An example of what it might look like

Week 1 100kg x 10

Week 2 102.5kg x 10

Week 3 105kg x 10

Week 4 107.5g x 9

Week 5 110kg x 8

Week 6 112.5kg x 8

Week 7 115kg x 8

Week 8 117.5 x 7

Week 9 120kg x 6

Week 10 122.5kg x 6

Week 11 125kg x 5

Week 12 110kg x 10 ( The start of a new cycle)

With the squat and deadlift you’ll do 2-4 back off sets after the top set with 80% of the weight you used for the top set and for the same amount of reps. These sets shouldn’t be to the limit, and the bar speed should be fast for every rep.

So it could look like this

200kg x 9

160kg 3 x 9

Personally, I progress well without doing any back off sets, but some people need more volume.

With the bench press, overhead press, and dips (if used as one of the main movements) you’ll take 90% of the top sets and do 2-4 back off sets for the same amount of reps as the top set.

So it would look like this

100kg x 12

90kg 3 x 12

Assistance exercises would be done for 2-5 sets of 8-15 reps. I would do 3 or 4 assistance exercises a workout. Rest periods would be kept fairly short and often done as supersets so the workout didn’t take too long.

Another way I like to do assistance exercises is the 350 method I got from Paul Carter. With this method, you do 3 sets of as many reps as you can with 2 minutes rest in between. The aim is to get 50 reps over the 3 sets. Once you manage to get 50 reps you can add weight the next time.

100kg x 17

Rest 2 minutes

100kg x 13

Rest 2 minutes

100kg x 8

That gives me 38 reps, so I would keep the same weight until I got it to 50 reps in total.

Upper body assistance exercises

Upper back work (chin-ups, pull up, machine row seal row, t-bar row, dumbbell row, lat pull down etc)

Dips

Close grip bench press

-Dumbbell bench press

Curls
Lower body assistance exercises

Squat variation

Glute ham raise

Romanian deadlift

Leg press

Core work (rollouts, side bends, hyperextensions etc)

Option 2 assistance exercises

Normally the assistance exercises would be

2 upper body pulling exercises

1 upper body pushing exercise

1 lower body exercise

What could a training week strength training week look like?

For option 1, it would like this,

Workout A (squat, bench press and lower body work)

Squats

20kg x 10, 60kg x 8, 80kgx 5, 100kg x 5, 120kg x 5, 140kg x 5

170kg x 8

135kg x 3 x 9

Bench press

20kg x 10, 40kg x 5, 60kg x 5, 80kg x 5,

100kg x 8

90kg 3 x 8

85kg x 10

RDL – 350 method

Glute ham raise – 3 x 12

Wheel rollouts – 3 sets

Face pulls x 200 Done between sets of other exercises

Workout B (trap bar deadlift and press and upper body workout)

Trap bar deadlift (our trap bar weighs 32kg)

72kg x 10, 92kg x 5, 112kg x 5, 142kg x 5, 162kg x 3, 182kg x 3, 202kg x 1

212kg x 8

172kg x 2 x 8

Press

20kg x 10, 30kg x 5, 40kg x 5, 50kg x 5,

65 x 8

60kg x 9

55kg x 4 x 9

Close grip bench press- 3 x 12

Seal row 6 x 15

Lat pull down 3 x 12

Curls – Rest pause set 3 sets with 15 seconds rest between sets

Face pulls x 200 done between sets of other exercises

For option 2 it would look like this.

Workout A (squat, bench press and assistance)

Squats

20kg x 10, 60kg x 8, 80kgx 5, 100kg x 5, 120kg x 5, 140kg x 5

170kg x 8

135kg x 3 x 9

Bench press

20kg x 10, 40kg x 5, 60kg x 5, 80kg x 5,

100 x 8

90kg 4 x 8

Dips 4 x 12

Chin ups 4 x 10

Seal rows 4 x 10

Glute ham raise 4 sets

Workout B (trap bar deadlift and press)

Trap bar deadlift (our trap bar weighs 32kg)

72kg x 10, 92kg x 5, 112kg x 5, 142kg x 5, 162kg x 3, 182kg x 3, 202kg x 1

212kg x 8

172kg x 2 x 8

Press

20kg x 10, 30kg x 5, 40kg x 5, 50kg x 5,

65kg x 8

60kg x 9

55kg x 4 x 9

Romanian deadlift 4 x 10

Close grip bench press 4 x 10

Dumbbell row 4 x 12

Lat pull down 4 x 15

What were the benefits of twice a week training?

The main one was that fitting in the workouts into my life while I had a lot going on was very easy. I tried to keep the same training days that were spread out evenly (Sunday and Wednesday), but with only having two workouts to fit in I could be flexible without it causing any problems. It does take away the excuse of not having time to train as everyone can find the time for two sessions a week.

I found my motivation went up. I was looking forward to each workout and excited about training and that I would try and get a PR. I was itching to get into the gym and made training fun again. I haven’t had a bad workout since I started training twice a week as I always feel recovered, fresh and excited about training when I start the workout.

If you’re going through a stressful time, or not getting much sleep you are likely to find this easier to recover from than if you were training 4+times a week. My joints felt great doing this after doing this.

if strength and building muscle isn’t your main priority it can give you more time to do cardio and mobility work. I did more much-needed mobility work at home while watching TV as I had a little more spare time. Jim Wendler has a template in his books called 2x2x2. With this, you do two strength workouts, two mobility workouts and two conditioning/cardio workouts. This can be a well-balanced way for you to train.

What are the main negatives of just training twice a week?

There is only so much you can do in just two workouts. You can’t spend as much time working on weak points and it can be hard to get a lot of volume in

The workouts have to be really hard, and I had to push close to failure a lot, and I had to cram so much into the sessions. Mentally this was tough.

One of the most frustrating things about being a personal trainer is seeing people throw all their hard work away by stopping training completely, or by taking large breaks so they end up just working to regain what they had done before. I would rather they trained twice a week consistently for a long time, than four times a week and stop once life gets busy. Or just keep two days a week as a short term option for when life gets crazy.

You might surprise yourself with what you can achieve while doing so little. It’ certainly much better than giving up and then having to start from scratch.

https://chrisadams-personaltraining.com/

Chris Adams

Personal trainer at Real World Fitness in Nottingham

Article source: http://articlebiz.com

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