And The Winner Is…

People always ask me what the best form of exercise is. Normally I tell them that the exercise that they will do the most consistently is the best. However if I had to choose just one type I would have to pick bodyweight exercise (calisthenics). Here are my reasons:

-Your body is always available to you unlike a gym that may have fixed hours.

-The carry over to real life is greater than any other type of exercise (truly functional, not dancing on a BOSU “functional”)

-It is free

-It takes very little training to learn correct form

-It is immensely scalable. You can make it as easy or as hard as you want

-It can be used to improve all areas of fitness: strength, flexibility, cardio, mobility, and agility

-Easily done alone or in groups

-Very safe

Try this workout.

Do Squats for 30 seconds
Do Pushups for as many repetitions as comfortably possible.
Rest 2 minutes and repeat 2 more times.
Do the squats as fast as you can with good form.
Do the pushups from your knees if you can’t do at least 10 repetitions.
You can do this workout as often as you like as long as you are not too sore and your repetitions are not going down. Try for at least 3 times per week.

This workout is very simple yet you can make it as hard as you want to by pushing yourself a little more each time.

That’s all for today,

Dan Webster
Titanium Fitness

Get a Grip

As a personal trainer and someone who enjoys physical labour, it never ceases to amaze me, how little effort (if any) people put into grip training.

Today I was building an allan block retaining wall, at my home in West Vancouver, with my father-in-law and boy did my forearms get pumped!

Pinch gripping the blocks and shoveling all day made me grateful for the grip work I do when I train. Now make no mistake. I don't screw around doing body part workouts where I do 3 sets of wrist curls on my biceps, calves and forearms day. Yes, I used to train like that as a kid, when I had no responsibilities, and didn't know any better. These days it's all about full body, compound movements. I get heaps of grip and forearm work from training with kettlebells, sledgehammers, ropes, chin-ups and sandbags.

I love this kind of physical labour almost as much as I love the training. If you want to check out a workout that will get you real life strong, check out Zach Even-Esh's Underground Strength Coach! program. Zach is a beast and is very passionate about training hard. I had the honour of listening to him in Connecticut last week.

So remember...don't forget to train your grip. Don't use lifting straps. Avoid machines. Lift odd shaped items. Swing kettlebells. Get stronger in ways that will make a difference in how you live, not just how you look.

That's all for today,

Dan Webster
Titanium Fitness

P.S. My "core" was really pumped after all the real work today and I didn't even have to go lie down at a "Pie Lattes" class.

Ryan Lee Bootcamp III

Hey Everybody,

I spent last weekend at the 3rd Ryan Lee Bootcamp. For those of you who don't know, this is THE conference for personal trainers that really want to make a difference in people's lives while also making a great living!

What can I say? It was incredible. There was so much usable content that it will take my poor little brain days to organize it. The presenters were amazing. The attendees were the most energetic, fun and open minded group of people I've met.

I am confident that I will be a better (and more prosperous) trainer when I return next year after I implement the info I've learned. Part of that info is doing what I'm doing right now...blogging. This is so you can get to know me and hopefully I'll get to know you.

Let me know if there is anything you'd like me to blog about relating to health and fitness or even family stuff. I've got 2 little sweeties that I'd love to talk about.

Please check back here (or sign up for the RSS feed, when I figure it out) often. Sorry guys...no video yet :)

(Insert whitty or inspirational quote/signature line here)
Dan