FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions aboutWeightloss and Natural WorkoutsBrandon from Singapore writesi have sent your site's url to some of my close frens hoping they will change their training methods. One of my close fren is training only the royal court and has seen vast improvement to his stamina and strength. he was quite fit to start with but could only managed 30 squats before his legs started wobbling, now he is up to 100, and has more stamina during soccer. I am a strong advocate of body weight training and i force the students in my tkd class to go thru some of the routines every training.I got quite a few complaints from the other black belts but it is evidently beneficial when the students can outlast fighters from other clubs in the competition in terms of stamina. skill wise is another story altogether. haha. For some of the routines, do u do it for a specific period of time, like 30-60 seconds, or a certain number, like 30-50 repts,, or just until fatigue, which do u think is best. normally i do in reps,, and not time My Reply As far as what I do, if the exercise can be done in reps, I count reps. On the site updates/blog section of my website, you can see what I do. So, I'll do 150 hindu squats, for example. Other non-rep exercises, like the back bridge or holding a handstand, I'll try and hold for time. In both cases, however, I always try and do a little bit more than I did the previous day. So, if I do 70 hindu pushups on one day, I'll do 71 the next. With the back bridge, I would like to work my way up to holding it for 5 minutes with hand support, then I'll start working on it without hands. I can see the benefit of just doing an exercise until you're just fatigued. However, for me, that just wouldn't be very fun. I'm not an athlete that is training for any particular sport or competition. I do what I do just for general health. If I did things until fatigue, I bet I would make much faster progress. However, I could see myself coming to dread my workouts, and then I just might stop doing them! This is why I rarely train until fatigued. Hope this helps! - Dave Viknesh from Singapore writes I came across your website while searching for animal based movements workouts, the exercises here are innovative and interesting. BTW what is your opinion on stair sprints? My Reply Thanks for writing Viknesh. As far as stair sprints go, I think they are a fantastic exercise. They really work your legs, as well as help you build lung power. I know that pro football players do them, particularly running backs. My only caution with them is to make sure you WALK DOWN the stairs when you've finished SPRINTING UP them. Running down stairs can be really hard on the knees. It's not necessary and I don't recommend it. The exercise I would recommend instead of stair sprints, however, (although they are similar) are hill sprints. To do them, simply find a hill with a gently increasing slope (roughly 30 degrees). Start at the bottom of the hill, and then SPRINT AS FAST AS YOU CAN for 10 to 30 seconds. Stop, turn around, and walk down the hill. Breathe deeply and catch your breath. Then, do it again. If you do this 5 times 3 times a week, I'll guarantee that you'll cardio will be fantastic, and you'll burn fat like you wouldn't believe. Unlike traditional long distance running, you'll also build muscle. These are tough. The first time I did them, I could only do it twice. I nearly threw up in some poor persons rose garden! In my opinion, any kind of sprinting (either hill or stair) is much more animal like and a thousand times better for you that traditional long distance running or jogging. I'll have more to say on this on my website at a later date. Again, thanks for writing. To Your Success, - Dave |
