Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Rally time for the Beach Mission

Alright, now that the sun is coming out on a consistent basis and the weather's warming up, you need to have a serious "Come to Jesus" talk with yourself - are you ready to take your shirt off in public, i.e., on the beach, by a pool, in a bedroom??! Whatever your mission for OPERATION SIERRA OSCAR (Shirt Off) – girls, you have the same conundrum that the fellas do, you just don't HAVE to take it all off...so, are you ready??

If your answer is like most folks - the answer is “not yet”...and that's Okay - you've got time to work your winter coat off and add some tone to the mono-ab or jelly collecting under the arm...trust me, we've all been there.

So here's the deal, get your Perfect Pushups and ramp up your workouts by adding an Eight Count Bodybuilder to your routines. It’s included on our Basic Perfect Pushup DVD - the beauty of the Navy SEAL tried and true exercise is that it hits all the main (and minor) muscles of your body while also working your heart. If you have only ONE exercise to do in your day - DO THIS EXERCISE - it's eight movements in one and is by far the biggest bang for your exercise buck. Check it out on the eHow website.

For starters, just try 5-10 reps on your pushup days (before you do your other Perfect Pushup sets) - to get your heart rate up and the juices flowing...as you become more conditioned ramp the sets to 20-30 reps - should take you about 4 mins or less. Be warned, pay attention to your breathing, anaerobic threshold will catch up with you if you don't!

Enjoy the Lactic Acid burn, because you'll be ready before you know it for Operation SIERRA OSCAR!

HOOYAH!

CHARLIE MIKE - ALDEN

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Activate Your Abs!

I've received several posts asking about a good Ab workout - the latest coming from Jorge...here's the deal on Abs - first you need to know how to activate your Abs before you even do any Ab exercises - I know this sounds simple, but most folks just drop down and start knocking out sit-ups or crunches which invariably ends up with them working their hip flexors and straining their neck muscles...So here's the deal:

1. Activate your Abs by standing tall and literally pull your navel to your spine - try it five times...then do it again, but now try to pull in your lower abs at the same time (Abs muscle between your bellybutton and pubic bone is the key abs muscle - it's called the Transversus Abdominis, and acts as an "abdominal belt" for your Core - it's THE most important Ab muscle - helps you get into a smaller pair pants, among other useful things).

2. Put Ab activation into everything you do - now that you know what it feels like to activate these abs (when you pull your navel to your spine you're activating all four sets of Abs) - apply it to doing your Perfect Pushups. I'm a BIG fan of multi-tasking your workout - that is working more muscle groups at the same - the benefits are awesome: multi-tasking workouts require more blood (improves cardiovascular system); requires more caloric uptake (burn more fat); and makes you think (stimulates central nervous system - i.e. release of hormones)...there’s absolutely NO REASON why you can't work your Abs while you do Perfect Pushups and for that matter Perfect Pullups!

3. Ab focused workouts - for those who enjoy working your Abs try the following workouts:

a. Mountain Climbers followed by Squat Thrusts - grab your Perfect Pushups, get in Pushup position with feet shoulder width apart, now use your lower abdominals to pull one knee up to your chest, then alternate as if you were in the starting blocks of a sprint race - but you're sprinting in place - up and back twice is one repetition - it's done to a four count cadence. Try for 10 reps - then go to 20 and grow from there...once you've hit 20 reps, to increase the intensity add Squat thrusts to the mix (same exercise as mountain climbers except now it's both legs at the same time) - do 10 reps of Squat thrusts adding by 10 reps of Mountain Climbers (everything is four count)!

b. If you have the Perfect Pullup - GET THE PERFECT PULLUP AB STRAP and follow the enclosed Ab Strap workouts - these are sure to help you build Rock Hard Abs!

Let me know how it goes - CHARLIE MIKE!!

ALDEN


Saturday, April 19, 2008

Deck of Cards: Playing your Perfect Pushup Hand

Great question from John about using a deck of shuffled cards to “Fire Up” a workout!

My name's John M. and I was inquiring about a good workout I could do using the Perfect Pushup. I've been doing them for a few weeks now, every other day and I've seen some results but I was wanting to target some problem areas in my chest to tone and shape it some and I was wondering if you could help? Any suggestions would be great. Currently I take a deck of playing cards and flip through them and do as many as I can. For example Ace = 11 King = 10 Queen = 10 Jack = 10 then 10, 9, 8 so on and so forth. I do that until I can't do anymore and I was wondering if it's possible I'm doing too much, not doing it right?
- John M.

John,

Using a deck of shuffled cards is a great way to break up the boredom of working out while getting a great workout - I used to do it all the time in SEAL Team - and from time to time when traveling or bored from my current routine.

Here's a couple of ideas to keep your deck of cards workout interesting while ripping up your chest for an even better workout with the Perfect Pushups:

Spades: Wide position (see your PPU workout chart)
Hearts: Close position
Clubs: Regular position
Diamonds: Wide position but reverse the rotation (i.e. rotate out on the way down to the ground)

When you draw an Ace - conduct your set with your feet on a chair.

If you're looking to ramp-up your metabolism while building more muscle checkout our uniquely formulated supplement - PERFECT POWER 3X - it rocks!

Turn on your Strength!

ALDEN

Sunday, April 6, 2008

It’s Spring! Play Ball with the Perfect Pushup!

Just attended the opening night game for the Oakland Athletics (home team) and the Boston Red Sox. The Sox won 2-1 but that's not the point - this was our first blitz into the professional sports world, challenging folks to come down to the field and conduct a Perfect Pushup competition. Though the actual on-field competition starts in three weeks, the sign-up sheets (Click Here to Sign-Up Online) are filled with folks of all ages - and that's the cool part! Inspiring people of all fitness levels and ages to TRY and SUCCEED on taking action with their bodies.

Baseball’s now in full swing and there's never a better time to work off your winter coat and turn on your strength. Even though we're using baseball as our most recent venue to encourage people to do Perfect Pushups, the fact is, pushups are an Outstanding form of exercise for any sport - think about it - you have to squat down to get into pushup position (this engages your legs/back and abs) - hold yourself in the upright or starting pushup position (this is a plank position in yoga or Pilates, and engage your arms/shoulders/abs/back and legs) - then you conduct the pushup (I call it the active plank - engages your triceps/chest/abs/shoulders - yes even your biceps - because of the rotation of the Perfect Pushup).

Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic and Travis Buck of the Oakland A's both use the Perfect Pushup. It's great to have professional all-stars use our product to strengthen their game, but it's a helluva lot more satisfying when I receive stories from the "rest of us" regular folks taking control of their bodies in ways they never thought they could. For example, I received a note recently from a young lion - all of 14 yrs of age, and he wrote:

Subject: Perfect Pushups are awesome!


I just wanted to say that the Perfect Pushups have done a lot for me. I am 14yrs old and started two months ago. My bench max then was 115 now it is 160lbs. For 40 dollars I got a huge strength gain and every time I use the pushups I feel and look so pumped. I don’t think there is any faster way to gain than
with these pushups. Thank you.

P.S. Read what John S. said when I asked if I could Shout Out his success story!

I would love it if you would post my comment on perfectpushup.com. I’m bench pressing 190 now =)

Now that FIRES ME UP!

Got a story like that? Send it in - I just might surprise you with something to keep your momentum Firing on all cylinders!

It's Spring folks - Get yourself FIRED UP - drop down and take control of your destiny!

CHARLIE MIKE - ALDEN