Gravity Fx Fitness

This article was written by fat loss expert Alwyn Cosgrove of Results Fitness,

I was first introduced to the term self-limiting exercise a few years ago while speaking with Gray Cook (we were teaching together at a Perform Better one-day event).

Gray was talking about the book “Born to Run” By Christopher MacDougall and the barefoot running idea.

Running barefoot is what can be classified as a self-limiting exercise – the body cannot over-stride or heel strike because the immediate feedback – pain – auto-corrects the form of the runner. In fact, it is completely self-limiting as there is no way of creating overuse injuries either – the foot and the joint impacts of running will prevent that as you’ll stop running. You can’t do it incorrectly.

It’s a perfect exercise. However – when we introduced the running shoe with padding – we put a problem in there (And thought we were creating a solution).

The body is now no longer given immediate feedback to adjust or correct running form, and the very nature of the thick sole of the shoe can allow runners to perform far more volume than their muscles and joints can handle. The results – inevitable injuries, as exhibited by many strapped up/knee supported runners you see.

It’s an interesting concept and Gray and I discussed it at length as applied to other forms of exercise.

A self-limiting exercise as defined by Gray “requires mindfulness and an awareness of movement, alignment, balance and control. Self-limiting exercise requires engagement”

My further definition is that a self-limiting exercise provides an automatic yet natural obstacle that prevents you from doing it wrong, or doing an excessive volume. I suppose my first exposure to self-limiting exercise was via martial arts training and in particular sparring – if you don’t protect yourself, you get hit – immediate feedback in the form of a punch on the nose!

With speed and agility training – the CHAOS system as devised by Robert Dos Remedios of open-response is self-limiting – athletes are left behind or fall if their technique or direction change isn’t perfect – very different from closed-response (when you know when you’re going to change direction).

But it also applies to traditional exercise. For example – The Turkish Get-up, inverted rows, bottoms-up kettlebell pressing are all self-limiting. It’s hard to do too many bottoms-up presses, you won’t be able to keep the kettlebell in position. With inverted rows – either the core, or the grip strength limits you. And with Turkish get-ups – you’ll either remain stuck to the floor or have a weight drop on your head!

There are more – jump rope can’t be performed incorrectly or to excess, the battling ropes system, the TRX and the stability ball all have built-in corrections or “abort” mechanisms in their very nature.

As I studied the concept of self-limiting exercise more I started to think of it in terms of fat loss training. In fact, self-limiting exercise may be one of the reasons why our fat loss programs at Results Fitness are so successful.

Self-limiting exercise performed in a circuit is essentially training to technical failure, but without the risk of overuse injury or sloppy form – it’s just impossible to do poor, sloppy reps. Yet the energy demands are through the roof. To train with that absolute level of engagement demands so much metabolically, that it can be exhausting and immediate in terms of fat loss results, yet at the same time, being of a low volume due to the auto-correction mechanisms in place.

Anecdotally, I did a recent workout of Turkish Get-ups. I performed a countdown style workout with 60s rest between sets. 5 reps each side, 4 reps, then 3, 2 and finally a single rep.  The last rep took almost as long as the first set of five. The entire workout, including rest periods, took less than 20 minutes and consisted only of 30 total repetitions. It was mentally and physically tough however -almost exhausting. Despite being low in volume, and short – the metabolic demands were off the charts.

Can self-limiting exercise be the future of fat-limiting exercise? Naturally imposed loads seem to train the weakest links, with a high metabolic cost – naturally!

Alwyn and Rachel Cosgrove own Results Fitness in Southern California, which was recently named on of the top 10 gyms in the country by Men’s Health.  Alwyn regularly speaks on the strength and conditioning/fitness seminar circuit and Rachel is the author of The Female Body Breakthrough.

———————————-

When using ropes with my clients, the self-limiting nature of the exercise is very clear.  When the member gets fatigued, the rope patterns get smaller and weaker and will eventually stop all together.  Same with the Xiser mini-stepper.

These tools let you keep the intensity high but keep the stress on the joints very low, which is obviously a good thing.  Moderately high to high intensity workouts like these burn lots of calories and can keep your metabolism elevated for several hours after you have stopped exercising.

This is part of the time-efficient workouts that also increase your coordination and ability to move well, by placing you in standing positions instead of sitting or lying on your back.

Get moving!

Brian Morgan

Tweet This Post

The short and simple reason is that it can help you lose fat while spending less time exercising!

When you do various movements with the ropes for 20-30 seconds you elevate your heart rate significantly.  It is a very simple way to do interval training, which is great for fat loss.  Many of my clients are breathing heavy at the end of their set, often letting out a big “Whoo” because of the hard effort involved.

When you realize that intense effort and increased oxygen intake are vital to your results, there are many different ways to accomplish this.  I like to do cardio strength training because it is a time efficient method for increasing fitness and fat loss.

I have my clients do various resistance exercises to build lean muscle tissue and rope training accompanies these exercises quite nicely.  This way you can increase your metabolism and burn calories after you have stopped training.

Typically in an aerobics class or during a treadmill session you are working at 60-75% of your max HR, which is low to moderate intensity.  After you are done your metabolism returns to where it was previously, in as little as 10 or 15 minutes.

An elite endurance athlete who works at a higher intensity will have a greater “afterburn effect,” but the average healthclub member usually doesn’t work as intensely.  So when you understand that burning more calories is about intensity, you seek exercises that will really get your heart racing.

Obviously, this is assuming you are healthy, injury free and accustomed to exercise.  There are numerous patterns that can be done with the ropes and variety is important for keeping your body from getting stale, but also your MIND from getting stale.

Let’s face it.  There’s a reason that health clubs have all those TV’s in front of the treadmills and ellipticals – to keep your mind off of all the endless repetition going on.  Ropes on the other hand require you to focus on what you are doing and that is elevating your heart rate.

If you’re a busy person like most of us, than training with ropes and doing resistance training in the same session will allow you to lose weight without spending two hours at the gym.  Sounds like a winner for both me and my clients!

Ropes also allow you to get a cardiovascular effect without the pounding on your joints.

Many people seem to forget that you can get cardio training from doing interval work, where you exercise for 20-30 seconds, rest and then repeat, keeping your HR up in the process.

For example, last Saturday I did my workout after the clients had left.  I decided to get my HR monitor out to see how many calories I would burn.  I used the sandbags, TRX suspension trainer and a barbell, going from an upper body exercise to a lower body movement or opposing upper body movement, keeping my rest periods very short.

I used the ropes a few times to finish off the workout and stopped the monitor at 40 minutes.  In forty minutes I burned 552 calories and had an average HR of 77%, which qualifies as cardio activity, with a peak heart rate of 95%, which is pretty intense!

Now, I obviously am used to this type of training and wouldn’t start someone with that much intensity, but I think you get the point – I definitely got my cardio and strength training done in a single session, leaving my metabolism elevated for several hours afterwards.

I spent the next 20 minutes stretching, cleaning and getting the studio ready for Monday’s clients, while re-starting the HR monitor to see what was going on.  I burned an additional 216 calories, with my heart rate at an average of 68%, still qualifying as cardio.

I think you get the point that intense training can create an “afterburn effect” that is due partly to the increased oxygen consumption.  Heavy breathing is definitely acceptable in your workouts.

Training with ropes is also a great stress reliever – after beating the floor intensely for 20 seconds or more, you tend to forget what you were stressed about.  The alternating upper-cut pattern is also a healthy way to “punch” your particular individual stressor, if you wish.

Besides, with about two thirds of adults being overweight, can it really hurt to take some different approaches?

Get moving!

Brian Morgan

Tweet This Post

Tornadoes, snakes and beatdowns are descriptions of some of the rope training we do.  Ropes are a part of the cardio strength training I do with my clients.  Besides getting your heart rate up in a hurry, its a “fun” way to do your workout.

Monday is cardio day at the studio and I have them move from one exercise to the next with little rest in between.  This form of interval workout trains your cardio and muscular systems at the same time for maximum efficiency.

Total body workouts are a great way to build a lean, athletic physique in sessions lasting 40 minutes.  What’s that old Army commercial about getting more done before 7a.m.?  Same type of principle – we get more work done in less time.

Studies show that this type of training can elevate your metabolism for 24 hours or more after the workout.  Work harder and work smarter if you’re not getting the results you want.

These joint friendly workouts are also done by my clients in their 50’s – all but the agility ladder, though some can do this as well.

Get moving!

Brian Morgan

Tweet This Post

My fat loss workout burned 457 calories in 30 minutes. What did I do?  Glad you asked.

I only had 30 minutes for my training today so I combined some sandbag exercises with rope training and the X-iser.  I wore my HR monitor to see how many calories I torched.

After Monday’s all sandbag workout I mixed in some other moves for a little variety.  I did burpees combined with sandbag high pulls, alternating between the 30 second (approximately) sprints on the X-iser.

Resting for 30 seconds, I did some of my favorite rope throws – one and two arm grappler’s throws and alternating uppercuts, which is somewhat similar to cross country skiing, only more intense.

I tried to alternate between upper and lower body exercises, in order to keep my intensity high.

I did some various lunges and split squats as part of my warmup.  I also threw in a set of one arm rows on the suspension trainer and a set of ab wheel rollouts to the front and sides (diagonal).

The 30 minutes went by pretty quickly and I stopped my HR monitor to check the damage…..457 calories burned in 30 minutes even.  Of course, your heart rate stays elevated for a while after this type of workout, since you went into oxygen debt with all the short bursts of exercise.

I’ll take those numbers any day of the week.  In a magazine advertisement for the Bowflex Treadclimber they mention 321 calories burned in 30 minutes versus 150 for a treadmill at the same speed but no elevation.

Not bad numbers but not as good as my workout – and with my intense interval training, my metabolism would stay elevated longer after the workout. Plus, I worked my upper body and midsection, too.

More bang for your buck if you ask me.

Get moving!

Brian Morgan

Tweet This Post

To burn fat you need to turn up the heat – dial up the intensity of your workouts!  One of my clients has lost 14 pounds in a month, while spending less time exercising.

Previously, she was walking on a treadmill 5 days a week and 4 months later had lost only 6 pounds.  She’s made more progress by making dietary changes and doing burst-type training.

She is still walking, but now she alternates her pace, going back and forth with periods of higher intensity walking – kinda similar to how your car burns more gas during stop and go driving in the city.

She is doing similar exercise in the studio with dumbbells.  Multi-joint movements that involve multiple muscles to burn more calories, alternating between two exercises with little rest in between.

This causes you to release more of your body’s fat burning hormones naturally.  This gets your metabolism elevated without spending hours exercising.  She can feel the warmth in her muscles as she sweats more, helping the body get rid of toxins that can build up.

I showed her a routine that she can do at home with dumbbells and bodyweight when she isn’t working with me in person.  Its great to get results while exercising less.

Research studies have shown that walking on a treadmill without doing any resistance training doesn’t always lead to much weight loss.  If you’re like most people and short on time, interval strength training and interval cardio are the way to go.

Yeah, triathletes and marathoners are usually pretty lean, but they often spend 10 hours or more per week on their training.  Unless you are training for competition, there are more efficient ways to stay in shape.

Yesterday, I did some interval cardio using the Ropes Gone Wild training ropes.  I did 15 minutes of various diagonal, circular and vertical patterns (beatdowns) with the ropes, elevating my heart rate in a short amount of time, going into oxygen debt.

I had my HR monitor on to see what my body was doing and also to see how many calories I burned.  In the 15 minutes I burned 230 calories according to the monitor, which isn’t all that much…..until you read the rest of the story.

I turned the monitor back on as I did some kettlebell presses, before packing it in for the night, leaving the HR monitor running.  An hour and a half later I stopped it and looked at how many calories I burned.

It said 490 calories in that hour and a half after the interval rope training, for a total of 720 overall!  Got your attention now?!  Let’s say, just for the sake of argument, that the number is a little high.  Knock off 100 calories and that’s still a LOT of calories burned in less than half an hour of exercise.

The point should be clear – intense exercise keeps your metabolism elevated after you have stopped exercising.  So if short on time, turn up the flame to burn more total fat.  Its fine to mix in longer walks, bike rides or runs with your interval resistance training.  By the way, the monitor is a Polar F6.

If you’re looking for a simple program you can do at home, you might check out Turbulence Training.

Get moving!

Brian Morgan

Tweet This Post

If you’ve tried the Ropes Gone Wild before, you know they are a great training tool!  The intense workouts are great for us ADD types.  In particular I love doing the grappler’s throws.

They hit the obliques(abs) in a unique way.  They also jack your heart rate up pretty quickly, which is much of the point.  Recently, Anthony of Art of Strength unveiled a new grip training attachment for the ropes.

Since I don’t have it yet, I thought I’d show you the 1 arm version without the grip tool.

Besides working the grip very well, this exercise is good for the shoulder too, in my opinion.  It might be something that could be used in shoulder rehab, in the later stages, with a lighter rope.

If not, it might help prevent some shoulder problems – at least, provide plenty of blood flow.  Give it a try.

Get moving!

Brian Morgan

Tweet This Post

Hollywood trainer Gunnar Peterson is using rope training with his celebrity clients to increase the intensity and variety of their workouts.

Ropes Gone Wild are a new tool for high intensity cardio training developed by innovative trainer Anthony DiLuglio.  The ropes are 1 1/2 or 2 inch diameter and typically are 50 foot in length.

Two recent articles in Muscle and Fitness and Muscle and Fitness Hers feature Peterson putting a couple of his clients through some grueling workouts.

He calls this type of training “beatdowns”, as he tells clients to beat the floor with the ropes.  The ropes create undulating patterns (waves) as you go through many different movements – vertical, diagonal, and circular.

Besides adding much needed variety to your typical cardio routine, it jacks your heart rate up in a short amount of time.  So if you’re like me and find treadmills and stationary bikes boring, this is a “fun” alternative.

Of course, by fun I mean an incredibly intense workout that doesn’t have to take much time to elevate your HR and metabolism, burning plenty of calories in the process.

One of the reasons Peterson’s clients seek him out is because of the innovative training methods he uses.  He has a gym full of equipment that allows an endless variety of combinations.

His one hour workouts combine strength, cardio, and flexibility in one session.  You know me, I like time efficient workouts that don’t last too long, except for an occassional bike ride that goes an hour and a half or longer.

Besides being time efficient, rope training works your core and lower body without any pounding on the joints.  If you can’t run because of past or current injuries, you can still get your cardio with the ropes.

Most people can use them at home in their basement or garage, or even take them outdoors, if you wish.  I like to use them with sandbags, kettlebells, and suspension training.  For more info, go to Art of Strength.

Get Moving!

Brian Morgan

Tweet This Post

Today’s fat loss workout combined rope training with 1 arm kettlebell swings, alternating from one exercise to the other with limited rest intervals.

I recently started using a heart rate monitor to keep my intensity higher, making sure to keep my HR elevated as much as possible.  This allows me to get more work done in a shorter time and burn more fat.

Last Saturday was my first workout with it and it had me burning about 422 calories in just 23 minutes!  Not too bad.  Of course, I hadn’t fully recovered from the previous week’s workouts and it didn’t take too much to get my heart rate up and burning lots of oxygen.

In the video you will see one of the rope exercises that I really enjoy.  Besides being a total body exercise, it really challenges my core.  Anything that trains your abs and burns plenty of calories at the same time has to be good!

I alternated the rope with doing the kettlebell swings – just a few exercises that hit lots of muscles.  Are you seeing a theme develop in my personal fat loss journey?  Using multi-joint exercises with little rest and high intensity, as measured by HR percentage.

This workout lasted 30 minutes and burned 464 calories according to the monitor, with an average HR of 82%.  So I got my cardio training along with a bit of strength work with the kettlebell, all at the same time.  Wore my Vibram five fingers to train my feet.

I didn’t spend 2 hours in the gym doing a workout that many people find incredibly boring – probably why so many people just give up, because they don’t have enough time.

These type of workouts can be done with sandbags ,kettlebells, ropes or even dumbbells and your own bodyweight.  The trick is to get a lot of work done in a short amount of time, gradually increasing the intensity as you get in better shape.

Oh yeah, because I’m using some resistance my muscles have more shape than if I just walked on a treadmill.  Definitely going to be a little leaner this Summer.  Check out Art of Strength for more rope training.

Get moving!

Brian

Tweet This Post

Yesterday was the “official” start of my own personal fat loss journey.  It was also the first workout with my new HR monitor.

After being in decent shape for a 40-something, I’ve decided to reduce my bodyfat level to the lowest its been in over twenty years.  I’m going to do it without going to the gym and I’ll be using tools like sandbags, ropes, resistance bands, and a few kettlebells.

Another interesting note, almost all the workouts will be 30-60 minutes, with an “occasional” bike ride that goes longer than an hour.  I want to make a couple points through my progress – A, it doesn’t take long workouts to lose fat and B, intensity is key to getting the best results.

After some frustrating business and financial situations, I’m not currently working with anyone in person and want to use this transformation to help inspire others to get in shape, as well as get me back in the position of helping people.

So I used my new HR monitor to keep my intensity levels high yesterday.  The workout was short and fairly simple.  The actual training lasted 23 minutes, with a total of about 30 minutes including  warmup and cooldown.

If that seems short, you should know that at one point my heart rate was at 99% of my maximum!  and the average HR for the 23 minutes was about 93%.  The monitor (Polar F6) said that I burned 442 calories in that brief, but intense session.

Now, you definitely don’t want to start out that intense, but I have been exercising regularly and am used to these kinds of sessions.  I switched back and forth between sandbag exercises and rope training, obviously, keeping my rest periods very short.

I did some military presses, walking lunges, and explosive lifts with a medium sandbag and did some grappler’s throws and front waves with the rope.  Several times my heart rate got to 97 or 98% of its max (theoretical).

So in 30 minutes I got my cardio and strength endurance work done at the same time, getting a lot of core work in, too.  Doing full body workouts are the way to go if you have limited time to exercise.  The previous two days I did some walking to enjoy the weather and burn a few calories, though definitely not 442!

So if interested, stay with me as I blog about getting my abs back as Summer fast approaches.

Get moving!

Brian

Tweet This Post

Can rope training be a part of rehab for shoulder injuries?  I think so.  Having worked with many shoulder injuries and having my own rotator cuff problems in the past, gives me a little insight on this issue.

If you’ve never heard of rope training before, you probably will see plenty of it soon.  It was just voted Best Cardio Equipment 2009 by Men’s Health magazine.

I recently added it to my own workouts for some upper body cardio and love it.  They are a fun and creative way to train…… and pretty effective, too.  The movements are very rhythmical in nature and involve up and down, side to side, diagonal, and circular movements.

Something that doesn’t irritate my shoulders in any way, gets plenty of blood flowing to the upper body (great pump), as well as helping with coordination and quality of movement – something very important for healthy shoulders.

Several years back, I worked in a physical therapy clinic.  There were plenty of shoulder injuries being treated and they would often use an overhead rope pulley system to increase shoulder range of motion.  Another tool used was the Bodyblade.

It has a handle in the middle with weighted ends.  You grip it with one or both hands and shake it back and forth.  The blade is flexible and the weighted ends cause it to oscillate as it moves.  It requires coordination and rhythm to keep it moving properly…..

which is one of the goals – to increase coordination and stability in the muscles surrounding the joints.  Its frequently used to help rehab shoulder injuries and help restore movement awareness (proprioception), with the many oscillations (vibration) sending lots of feedback to the nervous system.

Many of the “average” (non-athlete) patients had a difficult time with these movements and they may have lacked coordination before their injury.  The rhythmic nature of rope training might be an additional component to increase coordination in these patients.

In trying to restore movement awareness (proprioception), movement quality is extremely valuable and should be considered when evaluating progress.  I think that the ropes could definitely play a part in this, though the size of the ropes may need to be adjusted.

The movement also greatly increases blood flow to the injured area, which can help with the healing process.  Not to be forgotten is the grip work that ropes provide.  Your grip is important for helping with shoulder stability.  Something that is discussed in the Secrets of the Shoulder DVD’s.

The Power Plate is another tool that can help with awareness as the multiple vibrations help stimulate your postural muscles – the ones that are important for proper joint alignment and stability.

Soon I will discuss Indian clubs which are one more awesome tool for mobility and coordination.

Get moving!

Brian

Tweet This Post