Titanium Fitness

West Vancouver Track Workout

2008-10-10T23:46:00.000-07:00

Just got back from training a client at the track in West Vancouver. It was pretty cold out so I trained with him. Here's what we did:
- 2-hand kettlebell swings for 30 seconds
immediately on to
- double kettlebell clean and press for 30 seconds
immediately on to
-Lebert bar pushup to dip combo for 30 seconds
immediately on to
-rope smash for 30 seconds
immediately on to
-1 lap of the track (400 meters)

We did this circuit 3 times then went non to

- Alternating kettlebell swings for 30 seconds
immediately on to
-alternating kettlebell press for 30 seconds
immediately on to
-Lebert bar horizontal rows for 30 seconds
immediately on to
- alternating rope smash for 30 seconds
immediately on to
- 1 lap of the track

We did 3 rounds of this circuit as well.

That was the workout. Believe me I was not cold after a few rounds.

For those of you unfamiliar with Lebert bars, here is a short video with the creator, Mark Lebert, demonstrating the rows.

Well, that's all for today,

Dan Webster
Titanium Fitness Personal Training
North Vancouver

Saturday Femsport Bootcamp Returns To North Vancouver

2008-10-09T00:06:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody,

Just to let you all know that my Femsport Bootcamp will be starting again this Saturday.

The camp will be held at KO Fitness 1350 Pemberton Ave, North Vancouver, BC.

Plan to show up for noon to register and we will get started at 12:15.

It goes for about an hour and consists of high intensity interval circuit training.

We will be dragging tires, swinging kettlebells and sledgehammers, smashing ropes and doing lots of hard bodyweight exercises.

You can go at your own pace but plan to sweat!

Below is a sample video from last seasons camp.

Hope to see you Saturday.

That's all for today,

Dan Webster
Titanium Fitness Personal Training
North Vancouver

Simple...Not Easy

2008-10-05T12:55:00.000-07:00

Ropes are some of my favorite pieces of exercise equipment.

At my gym in North Vancouver, I have a 40 foot piece of 1.5 inch and a 50 foot piece of 2 inch manilla rope.

As a personal trainer, I am always looking for new, unique and, most of all, effective tools for training my clients (not just the latest balance toy!).

The ropes can be used for a full body workout and are especially effective for interval training and circuit training. They can also be used for an intense cardio exercise without using the legs. How many times have you or someone you know had a lower body injury and had a hard time getting a good high intensity cardio workout in. With ropes you can. I personally have a client with rhumetoid arthritis, and therefore very sore knees, who loves using the ropes.

Here is a short video

If you're in North Vancouver or the surrounding area and you'd like to try this unique type of exercise, email me at titaniumfitness@telus.net to set up a free session.

That's all for today,

Dan Webster
Titanium Fitness Personal Training
North Vancouver

OMG...

2008-10-02T23:01:00.000-07:00

Here is a video of Steve Cotter. This dude is probably the strongest, fittest guy pound for pound on the planet. Check it out.

That's all for today,

Dan Webster
Titanium Fitness
North Vancouver

Why Cardio Doesn't Work for Fat Loss

2008-10-01T13:08:00.000-07:00

Here is an article by Craig Ballantyne. I am a bit under the weather and figured this would be a way to give you some good info without having to think too much.

Dan Webster
Titanium Fitness
North Vancouver, BC

Why Cardio Doesn't Work for Fat Loss

By: Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
www.TurbulenceTraining.com

Cardio exercise is such a strange thing. In theory, it should work
so perfectly well for all men and women, but as anyone who has
tried it knows, the practicality of it just doesn't add up.

After all, some men and women do cardio 6 hours, 9 hours, or more per week, and still have belly fat to burn. On the other hand, it works just fine for others.

British researchers wanted to get more insight into this paradox, and studied 35 overweight men and women, who weren't previously exercising.

(Reference: International Journal of Obesity 32: 177-184, 2008).

Subjects exercised 5 times per week for 12 weeks. That's a lot of
exercise, but it helped the subjects lose an average of 8.2 pounds, which is great - I was positively surprised by the results.

So cardio will work for some people, however, in my experience, it works best in young men, who need the help the least!

Back to the study, the variance in fat loss between individuals was huge. Check this out...

The best subject lost a staggering 32.3 pounds in 12 weeks, while the worst subject actually GAINED 3.74 pounds.

The scientists think they know where things went sour. They
classified the subjects into 2 groups, called the "Compensators"
and the "Non-compensators".

The Compensators were hungrier, and as a result consumed an extra 268 calories per day, all but wiping out their cardio efforts.

Therefore, the Compensators lost the least amount of weight, and scientists believe that was due to the huge "compensatory" increase in appetite experienced by this group.

Does your appetite increase when you do slow cardio? If it does,
research shows it will ruin your cardio efforts.

So if your cardio program is not working for you, check your
appetite and calorie intake to see if you are "compensating" for
your efforts. If you are, you might be better off using a program
of high-intensity resistance and interval training (i.e. Turbulence Training) for your weight loss efforts.

As Australian Professor Steve Boucher has shown in research,
interval training increases hormones called catecholamines. And
increased catecholamines can reduce appetite, among other fat-
burning benefits.

In the real world, few people lose 33 pounds after 12 weeks of
cardio. Heck, few even achieve an average weight loss of 8 pounds with aerobic exercise.

So again, check your appetite, and consider giving high-intensity
exercise a go for your next workout program.

Beat the curse of cardio with high-intensity Turbulence Training.

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training

About the Author

Learn about the "Dark Side of Cardio" in the free report from Craig Ballantyne at www.TurbulenceTraining.com. Craig is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men's Health, Men's Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit www.TurbulenceTraining.com

Wii School of Personal Training...

2008-09-30T20:51:00.000-07:00

This video makes me laugh. The first time I saw it was at the Ryan Lee Bootcamp.

Now, this video is funny but even funnier is the fact that some trainers do these same exercises. Don't get me wrong...I think balance training is important and incorporating it into your program is great. The thing is, if you can do the same thing at home on a toy, why would you pay $60+ to do this for an hour at the gym?

Maybe spending time on things that make a bigger difference, like calisthenics and weight training, would be a better use of your time...and money.

That's all for today,

Dan Webster
Titanium Fitness
North Vancouver, BC

And The Winner Is…

2008-09-29T22:16:00.000-07:00

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 aren't too sore and your repetitions don't go 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
North Vancouver, BC

Get a Grip

2008-09-28T18:11:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-20T22:33:00.000-07:00

Hey Everybody,

Things just wrapped up at the 3rd Ryan Lee Bootcamp.

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

North Vancouver Bootcamp

2008-09-09T22:46:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody,

Just to let you know, my bootcamp will be starting up again this fall on Saturdays at KO Fitness, 1350 Pemberton Ave., North Vancouver.

We had a great turnout for the camp this past spring and summer in preparation for Femsport and so I have decided to run it again if there is enough interest. Anyone interested in participating can email me, Dan, at titaniumfitness@telus.net.

Here is a sample of the training.

Camp will be held at 1pm Saturdays. Price is $25 for drop-ins or $200 for a book of 10 camps.

Hope to hear from you and we'll see you at bootcamp.

Dan Webster
Titanium Fitness
North/West Vancouver, BC.

Supplements: Focus On The Basics Part 1

2007-06-22T01:50:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the latest Titanium Fitness blog post.

These days it seems like there is a supplement or vitamin for everything. It's no wonder people get confused and sometimes say "forget it" all together.

Well it doesn't have to be so confusing. If you focus on the scientifically backed basics, you'll get 99% of the benefits.

There are 3 main supplements everyone should take.

The first is a whole food supplement and here's why.

Are you eating your fruits and vegetables every day?

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, the World Health Organization, the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society, and the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion agree – you should eat more fruits and vegetables.
Up to 10 total servings a day!

That’s a lot of food.

And besides having to eat all that food, maybe you don’t love the taste of fruits, vegetables or greens. Or you don’t have time to shop 2-3 times a week to buy fresh fruits, vegetables and greens? And don’t get me started about preparing the food (washing, chopping, peeling, dicing, mincing, steaming, grilling, microwaving, broiling, and baking can be a real pain in the rear!)

If You Can’t Beat Mother Nature, Join Her!

You shouldn’t mess with Mother Nature. Why try and fool the body with synthetic vitamin pills when you can easily provide your body with convenient concentrated nutrients from actual whole foods grown out of the earth? Not nutrients engineered in a lab.

That’s why Prograde created VGF 25+.

The 25 Vegetables, Greens and Fruits nutrient rich concentrates found in VGF 25 +, which are derived from Nature’s own whole foods, are more easily absorbed and used by your body than a synthetic blend.

PLUS, it contains all seven essential nutrient classes! But more on that later…

First, just take a look at the 25 Whole Food concentrates from some of Nature’s most powerful Vegetables, Fruits and Greens found in ultra-convenient VGF 25+ caplets.

01- Broccoli - Folate, vitamin C, and several carotenoids including beta-carotene, lutein, and zeaxanthin and glucosinolates
02- Cabbage - Vitamin C, folate and glucosinolates
03- Carrot - Several carotenoids including beta-carotene, along with vitamin E
04- Kale - Vitamin C, folate, magnesium, and several carotenoids including beta carotene, lutein and zeaxanthin
05- Parsley - Vitamin C, folate, several carotenoids and flavonols
06- Spinach - Folate, vitamin C, vitamin E, several carotenoids, Iron and Calcium
07- Papaya - Vitamin C, potassium, and several carotenoids including beta-carotene and beta-cryptoxanthin
08- Tomato - Vitamin C, polyphenols, and several carotenoids including lycopene
09- Barley Grass - Vitamin B1, B12, calcium, Vitamin C
10- Wheat Grass - Vitamin A, Vitamin E, magnesium, calcium, fiber
11- Hydrilla Verticillata - Calcium, Magnesium, Manganese, Potassium, Zinc, Copper, Vitamins B1, B2, B5, B6, B12, Vitamin C and Vitamin E
12- Alfalfa - Calcium, Carotene, Chlorophyll, and Vitamin K
13- Artichoke - Magnesium, Chromium, Manganese, Potassium, Phosphorus, Iron and Calcium
14- Brussel Sprouts - Vitamin K, Vitamin C, Folate, Manganese, fiber, Potassium, Omega 3 fatty acids, Vitamin E, Calcium
15- Cauliflower - Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Folate, fiber
16- Chlorella - Vitamin E, Vitamin C, Calcium, Beta-Carotene, Omega-3 fatty acids, Zinc, Vitamin B12
17- Onion - Chromium, Vitamin C, and numerous flavonoids, fiber
18- Collard Greens - Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Managanese, Calcium
19- Apricot - Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Fiber
20- Avocado - Vitamin K, Folate, Potassium, Vitamin B6, Vitamin C
21- Green Bell Pepper - Vitamin C, Vitamin A, Vitamin B6
22- Grapefruit - Vitamin C, fiber, Vitamin A, potassium, folate
23- Kiwi - Vitamin C, fiber, Copper, Potassium, Magnesium
24- Prune - Fiber, Copper, Vitamin A, Potassium
25- Strawberry - Vitamin C, Manganese, Fiber, Potassium, Folate

VGF 25+ is your complete daily nutritional foundation. It contains all seven essential nutrients.

1) Phytonutrients

* Occur naturally in fruits and vegetables
* Promote the function of the immune system
* Help to fight off viruses as well as reduce inflammation
* Associated with the treatment and/or prevention of cancer and cardiovascular disease

2) Enzymes

* Responsible for metabolic processes that occur within a cell and are necessary for sustaining life
* Assist and play a large role in digestion, energy production, blood coagulation, and contraction of muscles.

3) Amino Acids

* The basic building blocks of protein
* Absorption of amino acids is essential for your metabolism

4) Essential Fatty Acids

* Reduce the risk of heart disease and some forms of cancer
* Improve mood
* Decrease inflammation

5) Vitamins

* Essential for the normal growth and development of all human beings
* Healthy maintenance of cell tissues and organs
* Help process proteins, carbohydrates, and fats required for utilization

6 & 7) Macro and Trace Minerals

* Involved in electrolyte balance of body fluids
* Essential for normal cellular activity
* Provide hardness to bones and teeth

I highly recommend Prograde for your supplement needs.

Build Muscle, Build Your Metabolism

2007-05-29T14:05:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Titanium Fitness Blog.

Today I want to talk about building muscle.
Increasing the amount of muscle your body carries can greatly increase your metabolism (i.e. help you burn fat). This is not new information. Unfortunately how to increase muscle seems to be a bit of a mystery even to many of the trainers I see. Many people try to make it more complicated than it needs to be.

Here are 3 simple rules for increasing muscle.

Rule 1. Lift heavy weight.

In general this means lifting a weight that you can only get about 8-10 good repetitions with.

Rule 2. Use compound exercises.

Use exercises like squats, dead-lifts, chin-ups, push-ups and rows. Avoid or limit isolation exercises like bicep curls, chest flyes and most machines.

Rule 3. Avoid instability toys.

Instability toys like BOSUs, wobble boards and Swiss Balls may have their place in balance training, however they greatly limit the weight you can lift and therefore reduce the amount of muscle you can build.

I know stability toys are very popular now and, like I said, they may have some use in balance training, but using them for reasons like keeping a person interested in their routine is ridiculous. Would you rather be lean, strong and slightly bored or soft, weak and have a really interesting routine?

Dan