AthLean-X

Stay Up To Date

• YouTube
• Facebook
• Twitter

• THE HOTEL GYM GUIDE TO A GREAT WORKOUT ANYPLACE

  Posted: November 20, 2010

  

  You’ve packed your suitcase, got your plane ticket, kissed the wife and kids goodbye, and gave the dogs a pat on the head.  You’re heading out on yet another long business trip and you know in the back of your mind that not only will you be missing all of them, you can probably say adios to any chance you’ll have of getting in a good workout for the next 5-10 days!  Just when you started to see those abs.  Just when the biceps started to pop out when you wore short sleeve shirts.  Just when your energy levels were soaring from being locked into your regular training routine….it’s time to hit the road again.

  The question is…what will you become? A Road Worrier who lets the fear of letting your fitness go, actually become a reality as you struggle to find a well equipped hotel gym (that is…if you decide to even enter the gym at all!).  Or…will you become a Road Warrior, who seeks out the gym as regularly as you did at home, schedules your time in the gym as you would any important business meeting, and even if you find the available space or equipment substandard…MAKES it everything you need to get a great workout in!

  Recently, on a quick trip to Chicago…I toured the hotel gym (most would agree that it’s even better than the typical hotel gym…and that’s not good!) and showed you quickly how to ignore some of the things they’re suggesting you use for the things you NEED to use, and also how to get the most out of those dumbbells that only go up to 35 or 50 pounds.  You can check it out here!

  The difference in what you become depends a lot on your level of dedication to looking your best.  Do you just think “it would be nice”, or do you make it a priority of yours and feel as if your day isn’t complete until you’ve hit the gym?  Lets face it.  If you’re the latter…you’d even find a way to get that workout in in your own room, using the bed for dips, the bathtub for step ups, and the floor for crunches, planks and pushups…so I’m not so concerned about you guys.  It’s the others that worry me.  Why?  Because it doesn’t have to be that way.

  Let me help you out.  The first thing you should do is visit the hotel gym once you get there.  I know, it may seem funny, but you’d be surprised at how many people will avoid the gym simply because they don’t know where in the hotel it is and they are either too lazy, embarrassed or looking for a reason NOT to ask someone!  For someone that spent over 3 years practically living in hotels during my time traveling with the New York Mets as the team’s physical therapist and assistant strength coach…it was practically a job requirement for me to know!  Whatever the case for you, just make sure you locate it.  After all, knowing where you’re going is always the crucial first step for getting there.

  Next you’ll want to take a look at the equipment that’s available there.  Sure they’ll probably be plenty of cardio options…but in my mind, those don’t count.  That’s a given, and frankly, not what’s going to give you the most bang for your buck when you’re trying to get efficient and effective workouts in when you’re squeezed for time.  What I mean is, take in the equipment.  If you see dumbbells and some space, you’re more than adequately prepared to get the job done.  Just machines?  Still not a problem as you can still do some creative variations on the different machine.  Just space?  No problem again.  There are hundreds of great bodyweight strengthening and conditioning exercises that you can be doing….and in just minutes…to get a great workout in.

  Finally, set up a schedule for the days you’re going to want to hit that gym while you’re staying there.  A good rule of thumb is for every 3 days you’ll be there…aim for 2 workouts.  So if you’re checked in for a 7 day stay (Monday through Sunday)….aim to workout Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.  This frees your mind of wondering WHEN you’ll be getting your workouts in, and allows you to concentrate on all the things that brought you out there in the first place.  Namely…your business.

  So you see, negotiating life on the road doesn’t mean that your fitness and muscles have to be left at home.  Nearly every hotel these days has a facility (even if it’s a bit underdeveloped) that you can visit to take your “guns show” on the road.  Don’t pass up the opportunity for fear of what is lacking there.  Instead maximize what IS there and in the process…maximize your muscle growth and speed up your path to an AthLEAN body!

  Stay Strong,

  Jeff

  Do you ever wish you had a program that you could follow that was laid out step by step and could be performed ANYWHERE and have yourself in the best shape of your life just 90 days from now?  Now you do.  It’s called the AthLEAN-X Training System and it’s available at http://athleanx.com/getripped.html.  Find out more about this breakthrough new workout system now.

  
  

• THREE REASONS WHY P90X IS NOT THE ANSWER FOR BUILDING MUSCLE

  Posted: March 12, 2012

  The P90X Program, while wildly popular (at least in the hope that it promises those that are lured in during one of it’s many showings on late night infomercials or now on QVC) is sadly leaving a large percentage of those that follow it in the proverbial pile of failed fitness products.  Why is that?  Well, I’m going to tell you three of my top reasons why most people are not finding the success that’s featured so brightly on the commercials….and here’s a shocker…it’s NOT YOUR FAULT!

  The Power 90 Xtreme Workout (P90X as you all know it) is definitely meant to be a more advanced workout program.  Hell, within the first day or two they’ve got you doing 20,30,4o pullups in a workout!  As a trainer who’s worked with some of the strongest and most elite athletes in the world I know that even some of those guys can’t manage to just jump right in and start cranking out pullups, at least not safely!  It’s one of the most difficult exercises to do and requires more than just good upper body strength.  It requires a good strength to bodyweight ratio and also good core muscle stabilization so that the body can be lifted without swaying and wasting energy.

  That said, right out of the gates the program has it has its own built-in funnel that weeds out the weak from the strong.  But isn’t that what you bought the system for in the first place?!?!  To get stronger!?!?  Sorry if I’m confused, but most of the people that are buying a program are doing it to better themselves and to progress from a certain level of fitness (often times a low one) to a higher level.  So why disqualify a large percentage of those that were actually interested in getting their fitness on track by asking them to immediately do things that they can’t do? But that’s just one of the reasons.  There are two others that are even harder to understand.

  The P90X program has you workout to some degree for 90 STRAIGHT DAYS(yes…even yoga and stretching is a workout as far as I’m concerned especially when you do it for a minimum of 57 minutes!) !  Are you kidding me?  First of all, one of the biggest prerequisites for the body to get stronger and bigger is recovery.  You tell me when you recover if you’re working out by my definition nonstop for 90 straight days.  That’s straight as in S-T-R-A-I-G-H-T!  If you expect to do anything but burnout during a strength training program you better be accounting for some time AWAY from the weights or gym to allow the muscle recovery process to happen.  Again, I know that they claim to allow this “active recovery” by having you optionally stretch for a day or do yoga for a day, but something…anything….is not nothing.  And sometimes NOTHING is exactly what the body needs.  This is definitely one of the biggest mistakes this program makes and the biggest reason why the dropout rate (amongst the many that migrate to ATHLEAN-X) is so high on it.  Burnout is good during an individual workout…but feeling burned out when you wake up every morning for 90 straight days (after you’ve just had a full night’s sleep) is not a good thing.

  Finally, how many guys actually work out in front of a DVD player?  The answer is….very few.  Most men prefer to work out in a gym following a program.  When you have to bring with you a portable DVD player just so you can follow a routine that you haven’t committed to memory at that point, it just starts to border on unpractical.  Oh yeah, and a point on trying to remember the workout.  Did you know that every one of them is nearly an hour long (with all but a single ab workout within minutes of hitting the unnecessary 60 minute mark and even one touching more than 90 minutes)?!? Besides the fact that training that long just isn’t needed to produce results (as I always say…you can workout long or hard but not both), I’m not sure I know too many guys that could remember an entire workout sequence that long, even if they had written it themselves!

  So I’m not necessarily picking on the P90X program, as I have seen some guys benefit from it.  That said, I can only imagine what their results would have been like had they not been chronically overtraining their body the past 90 days and had cut their workouts down to a more effective and efficient 3-5 a week for just 20-40 minutes.  I would bet my last dime that they would have seen 2-3 x better results.  And that’s just my two cents….or two dimes in this case!

  Ready to start getting your body in the best shape of your life but don’t want to commit to the insane demands of 6-7 day a week training for impractical amounts of time?  Then consider following the only workout program developed by Men’s Fitness Magazine writer, trainer to the stars and former head physical therapist and strength coach for the New York Mets…the AthLEAN-X Training System.  This 90 day system is designed to get you lean, ripped and athletic muscle with few workouts, shorter workouts, and frankly more fun workouts than any system on the market.  Try it yourself by visiting http://athleanx.com/getripped.html and let us know how you do.  We are looking forward to hearing about your SuXXess on the program!