Crush Your Core With L-Sits!

The first function of your abdominals and “core” is to help stabilize your body/spine and ensure that you don’t break over back wards or spin all the way around during movement. There are numerous techniques and exercises that may be used to help strengthen your core/abs and today we’re going to be discussing one of my favorite ones, the L-Sit.

The L-Sit (or half lever) is a technique that is used predominantly in the sport of gymnastics, and I have borrowed to incorporate into my own (and clients) strength training and strength conditioning routines. The L-Sit helps strengthen the abdominal muscles, hip flexors, and absolutely crushes the “core”. On top of this, unlike many other “core” or abdominal exercises the L-sit places a tone of tension and demand on the triceps, shoulders, forearms, and quads, making this a truly total body and high tension technique. The L-Sit is an intermediate technique, so it’s important to be very comfortable with basic exercises such as push ups, planks, side planks, and dips (just to name a few) before attempting the L-Sit. The L-Sit is also a key exercise to master before moving on to more difficult techniques such as the front lever and human flag, two techniques that are covered in my upcoming e-book “Jungle Fit Advanced Body Weight Exercises”. As with any body weight exercise it takes time, practice, and the correct progressions to help you achieve your goal of performing your first real L-Sit. Let’s take a look at some progressions that I like to use in in my EBooks and  Jungle Fit Body Weight Training Method.

Tuck Knee Raises/Holds: To perform tuck knee raises simply set up your parallel bars or Lebert Equalizer about forearm length apart. Now grip the bars as you would to perform dips, press down into the bars and raise yourself off the ground, bend from your knees and raise your knees up towards your chest, then slowly lower them back down to the starting position. Go for a set number of repetitions or for a set period of time. Another great technique to help you progress towards L-Sits are tuck knee holds. To perform these simply raise your knees towards your chest as you would during the tuck knee raises except this time stop once your thighs are parallel to the floor. Hold that position for as long as possible. During both techniques try to keep your back straight and attempt to keep your hips/butt from poking backwards. Once you’ve become fairly confident with both of these techniques you can move onto performing single leg extended L-Sits.

Single Leg Extended L-Sits: An great technique to practice and become comfortable holding once tuck knee holds have become too easy is the single leg extended L-Sit. To perform this set yourself up the same way as you would for your tuck knee holds, only this time extend one leg as far as you can without compromising your form. It’s natural for most people to be unable to extend there leg fully at first, but over time you’ll be able to extend the leg a little further until you’re holding a single leg extended L-Sit with a fully extended leg. Hold for as long as you can, be sure to switch extended legs on each set. Once this has become far too easy, then it will be time to attempt the full L-Sit hold.

The L-Sit: The L-Sit is set up no different from the single leg extended or tuck knee hold, the only difference is that you’ll have both legs fully extended. The goal is to have your legs completely parallel to the ground and have your body actually look just like a floating letter “L”. Attempt to keep your back straight, toes pointed, and knees completely extended. This is an intermediate technique that can take some time to master and feel fully confident while holding, so take your time and treat your training as practice. Before you know it you’ll be holding your first full L-Sit and looking to bigger and badder techniques!

- Tim

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The Lebert Equalizer

One of the most portable and versatile pieces of fitness equipment ever made!

Great for a ton of body weight exercises such as dip, rows, push ups, hurdles and gymnastics movements!

Check it out by click this writing! 

Is Your Child Too Young To Workout?

A question I'm asked a lot and I'm sure is on a few of my readers minds, is my child too young to start working out. The answer is simple ... but complicated at the same time, no your child is not too young to start working out, however it's how they workout and how they perceive the activity. You also need to ask yourself, why is it that you feel your child needs an increase in physical activity.

Most children receive plenty of physical activity (or should) while at school and after school with friends and family. I don't know if you've noticed but most children even take every day activities such as getting on the bus or shopping as an excuse to run, jump, climb, and pretend to be ninjas! Just think about how much a small child runs around our big, big adult sized world all day long. Imagine having to walk or run double/triple the distance to work every single day, or having to actually climb up on to the couch and back down again multiple times per day! I'm sure if this were the case, most adults would be in much better "functional" shape out of sheer necessity. Furthermore, children have excellent flexibility and mobility due to their soft, young, developing joints ... so there's really almost no need to attempt to improve upon that area of your child's health. If you want to see an example on this, just watch a small child next time they want to pick something up that they see on the ground. I can almost guarantee that they will perform a perfect full range squat (ass to heels) and be able to not only balance there, but stand right back up without batting an eye lash. This is something most 20 year old's have trouble with!

So why would you want to introduce your child to a fitness program? Simple, they won't always be a child. That's right, we all (even you) once started out as that small child who ran around, climbed, jumped, rolled, and bent all day long. However, over time for one reason or another most people stop moving and lose all that mobility, flexibility, energy, and strength! But this doesn't have to be the case with your child. By introducing your child to a health and fitness program at a young age you can actually help them sustain this level of fitness forever. Here are my tips to help you and your child not only form a bond, but stay in excellent shape.

1. Make the workouts appear FUN ... make them play time!

If something is not fun, we wont want to do it ... period! So when you're working out with your child please don't think of it as a "workout". Make it fun by turning the workout into a game, contest, or sport. Not only will this appeal more to your child, but it will also instill a healthy sense of competition.

2. Keep the workouts short and sweet.

It can be tough to keep children occupied and interested for a long period of time, so keep the activity short and sweet. Kids love to run, so why not run short sets of sprints at the park with the dog or set up a makeshift obstacle course for them to run through 3 times with out rest against mom or dad?

3. Body Weight is best!

Body weight exercises are safe and can be done, anywhere, any time, by anyone ... even kids! Most martial arts experts and gymnasts begin their training at a very young age using body weight techniques only. I can't think of better examples than those to prove how body weight training is sustainable for your entire life, and will help you maintain the supple joints of childhood while building tremendous strength well into adulthood. It's all a matter of progressing the exercises safely, something I cover extensively in my Body Weight Training Specialist Certifications as well as my book "The Body Weight Solution".

4. Get outside

Most kids (and adults) spend too much time indoors with school, home work, video games, T.V., and the internet. Getting them outside and back into our natural environment will help set a feeling of freedom and prime them for some physical activity. Try heading to the park, take them to a local jungle gym and let them play or workout with you. You would be amazed at what you can do on a simple jungle gym!

5. Get them into some sort of physical activity or sport.

When I was young all I wanted to do was learn martial arts. I was lucky enough that my family found a great school and I was able to become a student. Some children might like gymnastics, dance, hockey, football, soccer, or just working out ... it doesn't matter as long as it's physical and gets them moving!

... So there you have it, those are just 5 tips to help you and your child bond together and improve their future health through fitness. Remember to keep it fun and exciting for them, they'll be getting an excellent workout whether they know it or not!

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* Just a reminder to all that the next Jungle Fit "Body Weight Specialist Certification" will be held in Kingston ON, Canada at the Jungle Fit studio October 22nd, 2011. I hope to see you all there, you can register at www.Jungle-Fit.com

The "Warrior Conditioning Workout" DVD!

This summer I shot my first fitness DVD, it will be released this fall (Fall 2011) and will be available for purchase through my website www.Jungle-Fit.com! It was one heck of an experience, and took a lot more time, effort, and planning than I originally thought. But, in the end I'm beyond happy with the product and I'm confident that the content is better than 99% of the other fitness DVDs on the market, and the over all look and feel is simply AMAZING!

The DVD is titled the "Warrior Conditioning Workout" , and I named it that for a good reason. After months of testing out dozens of workouts on myself and my very sore but excellent clients, it all came down to this one workout. I wanted a workout that would not only improve the trainee's flexibility, mobility, functional strength, and conditioning but also one that would do what everyone wants ... make you look damn good! I wanted people to feel like a warrior at the end of each workout, I wanted them to feel like when it was all over they just got out of a fight ... and better yet I wanted them to feel like a one person army! I can honestly say that this workout hit the nail on the head.

The "Warrior" is comprised of only body weight exercises, meaning you need very little to no equipment to actually perform the workout. It's also broken down into three stages of difficulty, there's a beginner, intermediate, and "Warrior" (advanced) workout. So regardless of your age, sex, fitness level, or access to equipment, you too can work towards building your own fitness level and body to a "Warrior" status! The DVD breaks down over 40 exercises into acute detail so that you can feel confident that you're performing each and every exercise correctly with razor sharp precision. It's almost like having me right there working on the techniques with you! Unlike a lot of other fitness DVD's that are shot from one solid angle, we shot the "Warrior Workout" from multiple angles so that you always see whats happening and have a clear idea how each technique should be performed. The exercises are hand picked by myself and include some of my absolute favourite techniques for improving body composition, shedding body fat, and improving in all aspects of movement. The finishing exercise at the end of the workout is a killer combination of techniques rolled into one excellent sequence that I personally, love to hate! The "Warrior Conditioning Workout" is the perfect DVD for anyone who's looking to deepen their understanding of body weight training and spice up their routine with some time tested and true exercises ... by time test and true I mean thousands of years old! The "Warrior Conditioning Workout" includes exercises that have been used by Indian wrestlers for thousands of years an pre date yoga! Many of the techniques have also be borrowed from various forms of martial arts such as Karate, Judo, Jujitsu, and Wrestling. Such forces as the Marines, Russian Spetsnaz, Spartans have also incorporated many of the techniques that have been included in the "Warrior Conditioning Workout"!

You don't have to be a warrior to look like one! If you're looking to challenge your fitness and take your body weight training to the next level then you need to grab yourself a copy of the Jungle Fit "Warrior Conditioning Workout"!

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Body Weight Specialist Certification!

Challenge your fitness and push your clients to new levels anywhere, anytime, with little to no equipment! The Jungle Fit Body Weight Specialist Certification will not only teach you how to effectively use your own body weight to achieve any fitness goal, but also how to demonstrate and teach your clients how to do the same! Come learn from Canada’s leading expert in the field of body weight strength and conditioning, Jungle Fit founder, and fitness author Timothy Bell.

Here’s Just A Few Of The Highlights Featured In The Jungle Fit Body Weight Specialist Certification:

- Learn how to efficiently progress yourself or clients through hundreds of body weight progressions for pulling, pressing, pushing, squatting and lunging techniques!

- Find out the simple split second changes that make an exercise easy enough for a grandmother to perform or challenging enough to make a gymnast sweat!

- How to use joint mobility as a superior form of warm up and means of preventing injuries

- Learn how to use your own body weight as a superior form of conditioning (Excellent for MMA, Rock Climbing, Parkour etc.)

- Experience how to correctly align your joints to reduce and eliminate common over use injuries

- Learn how to promote mobility/flexibility at the same time as improving strength conditioning

- Learn how to switch up your workouts and keep your clients interested by incorporating unique total body and animal inspired movements

- Gain a large array of body weight only techniques to use by themselves or combined with other forms of training (ex. Kettlebells)

- How to use selective tension to greatly increase strength and stability during various

- Learn how to build and progress programs for any fitness goal using only body weight!

- Everyone who attends the Jungle Fit Body Weight Specialist Certification receives a copy of the Jungle Fit Ebook “The Body Weight Solution”! A $20 value FREE!

Why Train Yourself Or Others With Body Weight Training? :

- All forms of sports and athletics at their very core involve mastering the ability to control your body’s every movement

- Body weight training is safe enough to train anyone of any fitness level. By making a few small changes you can make an exercise as hard or as easy as you like!

- When you gain excess body fat your instantly penalized by reducing the amount of repetitions you can perform

- When you lose excess body fat you’re rewarded by gaining the ability to perform more repetitions of an exercise

- Instantly lower your over head cost as a new trainer! Body weight training requires very little to no equipment and can be done safely and effectively in large groups.

- All body weight exercises demand core strength and tension, developing it more effectively than just about any other form of exercise

- Body weight training develops essential athletic attributes such as balance, mobility, agility, grace and stability

- Body weight training can be used to facilitate fat loss, increase strength, gain muscle, or increase athletic conditioning.

- Body weight exercises can be easily combined with free weights to develop a unique and well rounded fitness program.

Jungle Fit strives to be the leader in body weight strength and conditioning, providing only the most up to date and proven methods of body weight training. If you’re a trainer looking to improve the quality of your services or just a fitness enthusiast looking to take your own training to new levels, then you can’t afford to miss out on the Jungle Fit Body Weight Specialist Certification! If you’re ready to learn how to take your own training and your clients to a whole new level, then we look forward to seeing you at the Jungle Fit Body Weight Specialist Certification!

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Tom Hardy Inspired Bane Workout!

It's that time again! There's another super hero movie in the making, and this time it's a BIG one! Next summer "The Dark Knight Rises" will open up in theatres everywhere, and one of the featured stars went through quite the body transformation. Tom Hardy, the man who will portray the villain "Bane" had to put on roughly 20lbs of muscle in a rather short amount of time. So being the comic nerd that I happen to be I decided to create a body weight only workout inspired by Tom Hardy's transformation to play Bane. This workout is designed to build muscle and increase strength, when things get to easy just add some extra weight by using a dip belt, weight vest, or perhaps a book bag! Hope you all enjoy!

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How To Do A Muscle Up On Rings!! The Tutorial!!

The muscle up is one of my favourite exercises, maybe because it combines two of my other favourites the dip and the pull up! The muscle up is one of the best upper body exercises you can possibly do, it hits just about every single muscle in your upper body. It also combines both pulling and pushing movements, making it a balanced exercise. Today we'll be talking about how to perform a muscle up on a set of rings (Muscle ups can also be performed on a bar as I have written about in the past).

Getting Stronger: First things first, you need to get very comfortable performing both chin ups/pull ups and dips on the rings. You're dips should be deep and you should be capable of performing pull ups/chin ups high enough to touch your chest to the rings. Once you can perform multiple reps with control and tight form, you can move onto muscle up progressions.

False Grip: Before you attempt your progressions you need to be familiar with a false grip on rings. The false grip will allow you to transition from your pull up into your dip. To perform the false grip on the rings, curl your hands in towards in the inside of your fore arms, then grip the rings and allow your the side of your wrists and hands to rest on the rings. Then hang from this position, it may take time to get comfortable holding this grip. See the video above for visual.

Progressions: Once your performing multiple pull ups and dips it will be time to try some progressions to help you achieve the muscle up on rings! A few that I used for myself and also use for my clients are, jumping muscle ups, knees to feet muscle ups, and negatives. Jumping muscle ups are performed by setting the rings just above head height, gripping them in a false grip, and giving a light hop up to help perform the muscle up. Knees to feet muscle ups are performed by lowering the rings to shoulder height and gripping the rings in a false grip, then kneeling down and sitting on your feet. From that position you pull up, and transition into the dip phase by allowing your legs to support your slightly, then finally finishing with a full dip. Negatives are performed by jumping up into the fully extended dip position and then slowly lowering down to the dead hang pull up position. All of these are excellent progressions to help you become comfortable with the muscle up and help you on the path towards performing the full muscle up on rings. Try combining them together.

The Muscle Up On Rings: Now that all the progressions have become a little too easy, it's time to try the muscle up on rings! Remember, keep your elbows tight to the body and don't let them flair out, a kick is ok to help you transition, over time you'll need less of a kick to transition to the dip. Remember to pull to your chest, and get a slight lean back. Most importantly, give it some time ... the muscle up will come and you don't want to rush it and risk injury.

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How To Do The Splits Tutorial!!

Learning how to perform the splits can take a long time depending on your current fitness level, mobility, and state of flexibility. However, it's a great stretch to add your arsenal of techniques and it's just plain impressive!

Start Slow:

Start off by warming up with some basic joint mobility to get the blood flowing and your muscles warm. Then build a base level of flexibility by regularly performing basic stretches such as groin stretches, hip and quad stretches, sit and reach stretches etc. Hold each stretch multiple times in what ever order you choose for 30sec - 1min. Once you feel comfortable with these and no longer find them challenging or intense, you'll be ready to move onto the next stage!

Attempting the Splits Stretch:

Most people will not even be able to lower themselves far enough to place their hands on the ground at first. In order to work towards this I would suggest placing your hands on a bench or chair, lower yourself to the point of tension but not pain and hold for 30sec - 1min. Repeat as many times as you like. Slowly over time you'll be able to lower yourself to the point where you can place your hands on the ground and you'll be only a few inches away from performing the full splits.

Reaching The Full Splits:

Being able to perform the splits takes time, practice, and dedication. It's not the easiest accomplishment and may take months or even years in some cases. Ease into it slowly, take your time and never push through pain! Once you're able to perform the splits you can start to get creative and link it into other exercises such as hand stands and other gymnastic holds.

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