Exercises: The Overhead Squat

Exercises: The Overhead Squat

The overhead squat is another total bodyfat incinerator that will improve balance, speed, flexibility, and power.

Simply perform a squat with the bar held at arm's length over your head or dumbells.
Take a wide grip on the bar (hands outside the rings) and with your back arched and chest out, squat down slowly by pushing your hips back.
Go rock bottom on this one if you can!

Start light and add weight as you get accustomed to the movement.

Exercise: Speeding up your metabolism

Exercise: Speeding up your metabolism

In order to shed the pounds you must do more than just exercise, you must exercise effectively! This is done by you speeding up your metabolism.

The only way to speed up your metabolism is to have a well structured nutrition and exercise plan!

Here are 2 drills that you can implement in order to achieve the fitness level and body you desire

Squat and Jump:

This basically consist of a combined couple of movements that are designed to wake your body up! In other words, if you want to lose the weight the best way to do it through your exercise is to perform movements that consist of short burst of intense movements. With this particular drill you are going to properly perform a squat and a jump in combination.

Start by standing with your feet shoulder width apart. Perform a proper squat and allow your arms to swing back as your butt and hips sit back. Go to a squat depth to where your thighs are parallel to the ground.

From here immediately come out of your squat and immediately squat again making sure that again your arms swing back with your hips.

This time when you come out of the squat execute a vertical jump by triple extending at your ankles, knees, and hips!

Basically you are squatting first and then immediately performing a squat jump. Repeat this process over and over in rapid succession until you complete your set.

Squat and Push-Up Combination:

From here you will simply perform proper body-weight squats as explained in the first drill. Attempt to execute the squats in rapid succession and with good form.

Perform 50 of these in a row. As soon as you are finished immediately drop down into an upright push-up position and once again attempt to reel off 50 form perfect push-ups!

This is a sure way to help you get in shape fast.

Exercise: Dumbell Squats - 2 Versions For Women to Get a Tight Butt

Exercise: Dumbell Squats - 2 Versions For Women to Get a Tight Butt

For you ladies that are serious about fitness and want to achieve a superior level of fitness then tune in to learn and apply the 2 versions of dumbell squats I have included below.

For the following 2 drills all you will need is a moderately heavy dumbell and the willingness to work.

1. Dumbell Clean And Squat:

For this drill you will start by placing the dumbell right in the middle of your feet.

Your feet should be about shoulder width distance apart.

From here simply squat down to pick up the bell and perform a clean bringing the dumbell to your chest level. From here simply execute a series of front-loaded squats. When you descend in the squat make sure that you go as deep as you can.

As a matter of fact you should try to go deep enough to allow the elbow of the arm that is holding the bell to touch the inside of your knee. Try to execute 15 reps on each side.

2. Dumbell Squat And Lunge Complex:

For this drill simply start just as you did with the clean and squat. Clean the dumbell to your chest. From here execute a squat just as you did before. As soon as you finish the squat then transition into lunging forward with the opposite leg that the dumbell is loaded on.

For instance, if you clean and perform the dumbell squat with the bell in your right hand then after you squat perform a lunge with your left leg.

Count each combination as a single repetition. Attempt to perform 5 repetitions on each side. If you want a tight butt then keep including both of these combinations into your arsenal of dumbell lifts.

Fat-loss and weight-loss will not be too far away after executing these squats into your program.

Exercise: Women's Fitness - 2 Drills to Get You to a Greek Goddess Level of Fitness!

Exercise: Women's Fitness - 2 Drills to Get You to a Greek Goddess Level of Fitness!


Women's fitness has always been a misguided field in my opinion.
Women have traditionally thought that intense strength training was for "men" only.

The fear of "bulky" muscles has always been a false fear that has held a lot of women back from gaining their fullest potential in a lot of cases. I am here to help you by allowing you to make progress and not set you back.

A Greek Goddess level of fitness can only be achieved by training with aggression and intensity. However, the more you do so the quicker you will see your results.
Here are 2 dumbell drills that will help you to achieve lean muscle and a fit body you have always wanted.

1. Dumbell Front Squats:

For this particular drill you will need a pair of moderately heavy dumbells of equal weight.

Set the bells on the ground between your feet. Next, squat down an grab the bells to clean to your chest. Once the bells are properly racked in the clean position then you will perform the squat.
The key is to keep the bells loaded in front of your body as you descend. Make sure that you don't lean forward as you lower yourself.
To ensure a full range squat try to lower yourself enough so that your elbows touch the insides of your knees. These are great for building lean muscle and helping you to speed up your metabolism.

2. Dumbell Front Squats To A Press:

For this particular drill you will need the availability of the same pair of kettlebells as mentioned in the first drill.
Perform the usual front squats, but this time at the top of the squat movement simply perform an overhead shoulder press. Make sure that you lock out both your shoulders and elbows.

Perform 8 to 10 of these in continuous succession to start.

It won't be long before your body reaches Greek Goddess level!

Exercise: A powerful 2-Part Workout

Exercise: A powerful 2-Part Workout

If you want to achieve astounding cardiovascular fitness then you have to train intense!

Thats right, I mean you have to have an attitude that you'll either succeed in gaining big results or die trying. There is no gray area!

The following 2-part workout that I have included below certainly "fits the mold, and oozes with that attitude!"

Part 1: The Overhead Dumbell Swing:

For this drill you will have to have a moderately heavy dumbell to kickstart your cardiovascular training. To start the drill simply squat to pick up the bell. Perform a normal dumbell swing by flexing and extending your hips and knees in a continuous snapping motion.

This will allow you to swing the dumbell from between your legs all the way up to above your head in a wide arc.

This drill is much more intense than the traditional chest level swing. To build great cardiovascular endurance execute 50 repetitions of these in the first part of your intense 2-part workout! When finished immediately transition to part 2.

Part 2: Dumbell Squat Jumps:

For this part of your intense training you will need 2 relatively light dumbells of equal weight. Stand on flat ground and pick the bells up holding one in each hand.

Next, you will want to perform squat jumps while holding the bells in each hand on each side of your body. Make sure that you perform a perfect form squat every time and explosively elevate your body off of the ground.

Every repetition should be performed in rapid succession. Start out by executing 15 to 20 repetitions immediately following part-1 of your intense cardio workout.

When finished give yourself about 3 minutes rest and repeat the process 2 more times! Train hard and enjoy.

Front Squat: Gain Muscle Mass, Lose Body Fat

Front Squat: Gain Muscle Mass, Lose Body Fat

As you may have already discovered, the squat is at the top of the heap (along with deadlifts) as one of the most effective overall exercises for stimulating body composition changes (muscle gain and fat loss).

This is because exercises like squats and deadlifts use more muscle groups under a heavy load than almost any other weight bearing exercises known to man.

Hence, these exercises stimulate the greatest hormonal responses (growth hormone, testosterone, etc.) of all exercises.

In fact, university research studies have even proven that inclusion of squats into a training program increases upper body development, in addition to lower body development, even though upper body specific joint movements are not performed during the squat.

Whether your goal is gaining muscle mass, losing body fat, building a strong and functional body, or improving athletic performance, the basic squat and deadlift (and their variations) are the ultimate solution.

Squats can be done with any free weighted objects such as barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, sandbags, or even just body weight.

Squats should only be done with free weights – NEVER with a Smith machine or any other squat machines! Machines do not allow your body to follow natural, biomechanically-correct movement paths.

You also perform less work because the machine stabilizes the weight for you. Therefore, you get weaker results.

The type of squat that people are most familiar with is the barbell back squat where the bar is resting on the trapezius muscles of the upper back. Many professional strength coaches believe that front squats (where the bar rests on the shoulders in front of the head) and overhead squats (where the bar is locked out in a snatch grip overhead throughout the squat) are more functional to athletic performance than back squats with less risk of lower back injury.

I feel that a combination of all three (not necessarily during the same phase of your workouts) will yield the best results for overall muscular development, body fat loss, and athletic performance.

Front squats are moderately more difficult than back squats, while overhead squats are considerably more difficult than either back squats or front squats.

If you are only accustomed to performing back squats, it will take you a few sessions to become comfortable with front squats, so start out light.

After a couple sessions of practice, you will start to feel the groove and be able to increase the poundage.

To perform front squats:

The front squat recruits the abdominals to a much higher degree for stability due to the more upright position compared with back squats.

It is mostly a lower body exercise, but is great for functionally incorporating core strength and stability into the squatting movement.

It can also be slightly difficult to learn how to properly rest the bar on your shoulders. There are two ways to rest the bar on the front of the shoulders.

In the first method, you step under the bar and cross your forearms into an “X” position while resting the bar on the dimple that is created by the shoulder muscle near the bone, keeping your elbows up high so that your upper arms are parallel to the ground. You then hold the bar in place by pressing the thumb side of your fists against the bar for support.

Alternatively, you can hold the bar by placing your palms face up and the bar resting on your fingers against your shoulders.

For both methods, your elbows must stay up high to prevent the weight from falling.

Your upper arms should stay parallel to the ground throughout the squat.

Find out which bar support method is more comfortable for you.

Then, initiate the squat from your hips by sitting back and down, keeping the weight on your heels as opposed to the balls of your feet.

Squat down to a position where your thighs are approximately parallel to the ground, then press back up to the starting position.

Keeping your weight more towards your heels is the key factor in squatting to protect your knees from injury and develop strong injury-resistant knee joints.

Keep in mind – squats done correctly actually strengthen the knees; squats done incorrectly can damage the knees.

Practice first with an un-weighted bar or a relatively light weight to learn the movement. Most people are surprised how hard this exercise works your abs once you learn the correct form. This is due to the more upright posture compared with back squats.