Health and fitness tips, articles, and opinions by Larry Wasserman, Owner of Body Basics Boot Camps located in Warren and Mountainside, New Jersey
Showing posts with label bodyweight circuits. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bodyweight circuits. Show all posts

Monday, January 25, 2010

Where Are You?

It's a simple question, but let me be more specific.

Where are you...
  • in your fitness,
  • in your diet,
  • in your personal commitment,
  • in your self discipline
  • in your LIFE?
Where ever you are, are you where you want to be?

Here's an interesting view of human nature.

There is one's "intention" and then there is one's "action". Everyone has good intentions. For example, nearly everyone I know has started a diet or a fitness
program at one time or another. That part is easy.

You might say to yourself, "I'm going to go to boot camp and finally get fit". That's the having good intentions part. But having good intentions won't get you in great shape. That part takes action.

ACTIONS are very different. Let's say you intend to take a Free Trial Boot Camp class, or come to a Saturday morning boot camp, or join us on a Sunday morning hike, but week after week, you never make it to an event.

So what happened?

On Saturday morning you couldn't get up, or just decided to sleep in. Perhaps you wanted to do something else altogether. Perhaps you live farther away than you realized. What ever your reasons, there is a "disconnect" between what you intended to do and what you actually ended up doing.

There are many of you who have attended boot camp and some of you have traveled from a great distance to do so. I am so very appreciative of your energy and drive and I wish you much success in all of your fitness endeavors. In short, you rock!

Many of our Saturday boot campers have been dedicated and solid athletes too. Always a pleasure to have you join us when ever you can. And many of our daily boot campers are long term dedicated members that are also my friends and "family" at this point.

For those of you who have been intending to come to boot camp, but have not yet taken action I have a small favor to ask of you. Write to me. Yes, please write to me and tell me any or all of the following.

1. Why you have never attended a boot camp.
2. What you expect or need from a fitness program.
3. What can I do to help you?

I have two main objectives. First is to get people into awesome physical shape. Second is to have them become raving fans about our program and tell the world!

But I can't do that unless you show up. So let me hear from you! To our newest members Jessica, Ricardo, Denise, Amy Arup, and Domenick, I want to hear from
you too!

I want to share with you something from my own life's experience. You see at one time I was a mess.

I was 35 pounds "over fat" with bad knees, a bad back, and a bad disposition. In short, I was miserable. You see, life had not turned out as I expected and I blamed
people and circumstances for everything. I was also a complainer. BTW, have you ever complained or blamed someone else for something? Right, silly question.

One day it dawned on me that no one was going to show
up, take me by the hand and lead me to a solution. I eventually developed enough pain in my mind and body
that I absolutely had to change. I could no longer go on living this way. I was terrified when I realized that it was up to me and only me if I was going to change my life.

Common sense told me to get some exercise, so the first thing I did was join a gym and begin to work out. It was a slow and painful start, but within a few months
I began to feel better. Boy was it hard. My shoulders felt like they were 90 and my knees were on fire. I injured myself multiple times too. But the one thing that kept
me going was that in spite of the pain, I felt good inside. I had a renewed vitality. There was something chemical going on in my body and my brain and I wanted more of it.

Here it is 12 years later. I am a full time fitness professional with my own business and connecting with people. I'm far away from where I started and life gets better all the time.

You have a story too. Maybe you are where I was, or worse. Maybe you think no one cares. Some one does care and that someone is the most important person in your life. IT"S YOU SILLY! And BTW, the person who looks me in the eye and says, "NO Larry, I really don't care" is either lying to me, themselves, or both.

The next thing you need to do is make a decision, a decision to change once and for all. No more BS. It's time to stop making excuses and start getting BUSY getting
results. Making a decision is HUGE! Don't underestimate the power of it. It's also an "action" :-)

Once you make that decision, send me and email and tell me that you have once and for all decided to stop and get off the merry-go-round. I'll read your email and I'll personally write back to you. I really do care that much.

Then, plan on coming to a Free Trial Boot Camp or a Saturday morning boot camp. Plan on it being challenging. Plan on being sore and feeling uncomfortable at first.
But also, plan on transforming your health and your life.

Think you've got it tough?

Our new trainer Andrea was once 310 pounds. I kid you not. Now she is a force to be reckoned with. She is also training to be a body building competitor! How awesome is that? Talk about doing a 180!

Andrea's journey is one of triumph. She is a strong willed and determined woman who has faced her fears and found the courage and tenacity within herself to
change her life. Her story is nothing short of amazing.

I'm not trying to impress you, I'm trying to impress upon you that Andrea is just like you. I am just like you. If we can overcome our adversities, so can you. And now you will have the benefit of our experience to help you along the way.

A good place to begin.

- Believe in yourself.
- Believe you can do this. (because you can.)
- Believe that we have a system that works, (because we've proven it over
and over again)
- Begin and follow through.

If you want our help, we're here for you. As we move into 2010 our members will be comprised of individuals who want health, a dynamic life, and an awesome body.

So now where are you?

Press on!
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Sunday, March 15, 2009

The "Dirty Dozen" Workout



Here's a great workout for you. What I like about this workout is once you understand the rules you can make infinite substitutions and scale it for time and group fitness level. I use this workout for boot camps classes, small group training, and one-on one training too.

The foundation is 12 exercises for a 12 minute workout. Some of the exercises require dumbbells and some require just body weight. The protocol is :45 seconds work with :15 seconds rest / transition. Scaling it back will shorten these durations.


Note: In editing this clip I cut off some of the video at the back end of some of the exercises to keep the entire movie under You Tube's 10 min limit.

Scaling For Time and Fitness Level

Depending on the group size and overall level of ability, I will scale this workout accordingly. For example, I may ask the group to perform this workout in 6 minutes instead of 12. This way each exercise is performed for :20 seconds with a :10 rest. Another option is :30 /:10 which will make this an 8 minute cycle. In a typical boot camp class we will perform this routine up to three times. First round 6 minutes, second round 12 minutes, third round 8 minutes.

You might notice in this video that some people appear to have less than perfect form. They are working to improve their form and/or they are working around an injury. BTW, don't forget to give people options for making the exercises easier or more difficult so that everyone gets a "10" experience.

Good luck and please send me your comments and suggestions!