the "chicken walk" exercise for fat loss
I've noticed that one thing that holds certain people back from doing new exercises that they've never tried before is worrying about "looking funny" while they do the exercises, either at the gym or during outdoor workouts.
Right now, I'm on a trip back on the east coast for several weeks visiting some friends and family and getting away from the Colorado mountains during the "mud season" when all of the snow is melting in the spring.
So just the other day, it was a beautiful warm sunny day here on the east coast and I decided to get outside and go to the park for a workout instead of going to the indoor gym. There's a great hill at the park nearby here so I like to do some hill sprints, and go over to the monkey bars and mix in some pullups in between sprint sessions.
I actually had a great workout of mixing up hill sprints with lunges up the hill, pushups, pullups, and even some sandbag exercises in between.
The funny thing I notice whenever I do outdoor workouts at the park is that there always seems to be people that walk by and give me the craziest looks (because they've never seen somebody do crazy outdoor workouts like this with sandbags, bodyweight exercises, kettlebells, hill sprints, and so on).
If I actually cared about the opinions of these people that give me funny looks, I might let what others think deprive me from getting these great workouts in and getting the results that I want.
And I've noticed this with other people that are trying to use more interesting workout methods to get in shape... they worry about what other people think, and let it cause them to avoid certain exercises, instead of just enjoying their workout and getting great results.
One interesting thing I've always noticed about these onlookers that will give you the funny looks while you workout at the park is that they are almost always severely overweight and out of shape. Obviously, they can't seem to wrap their mind around why somebody would ever willingly choose to work-out like this.
I've even had certain people come up to me at the park and ask me "what athletic event am I training for?"... As if the only reason any sane person would exercise like this is if they were some sort of competitive athlete or professional athlete.
They are always shocked to hear that I'm training so intensely just to keep myself in good shape and good health, and that I think it's fun... they just can't fathom that someone would actually exercise solely because they actually enjoy working out.
This leads me to the "chicken walk" exercise story...
I had a personal training client years ago that always refused to do a certain exercise -- walking lunges...
He would say, "I'm not going to do that stupid chicken-walk. I feel silly doing the chicken walk. I feel like people are watching me".
I thought it was hilarious that he called walking lunges "the chicken walk"... but the sad part is that he was allowing the fact that he thought he looked silly doing walking lunges keep him from doing one of the most effective fat burning exercises available.
My point of this email is to do whatever you want to do and not let what other people think discourage you from doing ANY types of workouts...
If you want to do kettlebell workouts or sandbag workouts or some other "unorthodox" style of training, don't worry that most people don't know what kettlebell workouts are or what sandbag workouts are, and might think you look funny... just do them because you know you're doing something great for yourself.
Plus, you'll keep your training more interesting than most people that do nothing but cardio and the same old weights routine they've used for 10 years now.
Keep it fun, keep it interesting, and keep it intense, and you'll be the one getting the last laugh with your rock hard body!
I just posted a great new article showing some cool sandbag exercises, as well as where to get sandbags if you want to try this style of training:
http://www.truthaboutabs.com/5-sandbag-exercises-odd-object-training.html
Also, if you want more ideas for mixing up your workouts and getting insane variety, these 15 workouts will surely give you some ideas:
http://www.truthaboutabs.com/15-top-workouts.html
If you liked these articles, feel free to fwd this email to your friends, family or coworkers that might enjoy them. Also, feel free to post these links to the articles above on your blogs or social networking sites.
Til next newsletter,
Don't be lazy... be lean.
Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Certified Personal TrainerFounder - TruthAboutAbs.com & http://BusyManFitness.com
For those suffering back pain, 3 exercises that can help
Right now, I'm on a trip back on the east coast for several weeks visiting some friends and family and getting away from the Colorado mountains during the "mud season" when all of the snow is melting in the spring.
So just the other day, it was a beautiful warm sunny day here on the east coast and I decided to get outside and go to the park for a workout instead of going to the indoor gym. There's a great hill at the park nearby here so I like to do some hill sprints, and go over to the monkey bars and mix in some pullups in between sprint sessions.
I actually had a great workout of mixing up hill sprints with lunges up the hill, pushups, pullups, and even some sandbag exercises in between.
The funny thing I notice whenever I do outdoor workouts at the park is that there always seems to be people that walk by and give me the craziest looks (because they've never seen somebody do crazy outdoor workouts like this with sandbags, bodyweight exercises, kettlebells, hill sprints, and so on).
If I actually cared about the opinions of these people that give me funny looks, I might let what others think deprive me from getting these great workouts in and getting the results that I want.
And I've noticed this with other people that are trying to use more interesting workout methods to get in shape... they worry about what other people think, and let it cause them to avoid certain exercises, instead of just enjoying their workout and getting great results.
One interesting thing I've always noticed about these onlookers that will give you the funny looks while you workout at the park is that they are almost always severely overweight and out of shape. Obviously, they can't seem to wrap their mind around why somebody would ever willingly choose to work-out like this.
I've even had certain people come up to me at the park and ask me "what athletic event am I training for?"... As if the only reason any sane person would exercise like this is if they were some sort of competitive athlete or professional athlete.
They are always shocked to hear that I'm training so intensely just to keep myself in good shape and good health, and that I think it's fun... they just can't fathom that someone would actually exercise solely because they actually enjoy working out.
This leads me to the "chicken walk" exercise story...
I had a personal training client years ago that always refused to do a certain exercise -- walking lunges...
He would say, "I'm not going to do that stupid chicken-walk. I feel silly doing the chicken walk. I feel like people are watching me".
I thought it was hilarious that he called walking lunges "the chicken walk"... but the sad part is that he was allowing the fact that he thought he looked silly doing walking lunges keep him from doing one of the most effective fat burning exercises available.
My point of this email is to do whatever you want to do and not let what other people think discourage you from doing ANY types of workouts...
If you want to do kettlebell workouts or sandbag workouts or some other "unorthodox" style of training, don't worry that most people don't know what kettlebell workouts are or what sandbag workouts are, and might think you look funny... just do them because you know you're doing something great for yourself.
Plus, you'll keep your training more interesting than most people that do nothing but cardio and the same old weights routine they've used for 10 years now.
Keep it fun, keep it interesting, and keep it intense, and you'll be the one getting the last laugh with your rock hard body!
I just posted a great new article showing some cool sandbag exercises, as well as where to get sandbags if you want to try this style of training:
http://www.truthaboutabs.com/5-sandbag-exercises-odd-object-training.html
Also, if you want more ideas for mixing up your workouts and getting insane variety, these 15 workouts will surely give you some ideas:
http://www.truthaboutabs.com/15-top-workouts.html
If you liked these articles, feel free to fwd this email to your friends, family or coworkers that might enjoy them. Also, feel free to post these links to the articles above on your blogs or social networking sites.
Til next newsletter,
Don't be lazy... be lean.
Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Certified Personal TrainerFounder - TruthAboutAbs.com & http://BusyManFitness.com
For those suffering back pain, 3 exercises that can help
posted by Mike Geary at
6:08 PM
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