Recovery Training (Yoga, Swimming, Massage etc)

If you're looking for results its no secret, you have to train hard. This means lifting heavy, performing HIIT workouts, full body functional exercises based around movements etc. You need to put a demand on your body that it's not always quite comfortable with in order to progress and improve. However, all this demand can take its tole on the body. If you're going to train hard, you have to recover and you need days/workouts that are dedicated to that specifically. Recovery days are important to help repair damage done to the body during your workouts, stretch muscles and prevent imbalances, increase mobility aiding in injury prevention etc.

There are plenty of options available for recovery after hard training days. Depending on your financial situation, location, or availability of services you may choose one over the other. Massage should be first on everyones list of recovery options. When you're training hard, muscles become tight, injuries can occur, and poor posture may result and lead to further problems in the future. Regular massage will help prevent and treat all these issues. If you can't afford regular massage sessions than foam rolling or using a PVC pipe may be a better option as a form of self massage.

Yoga is also an excellent option for your lighter or recovery days. It's a chance to stretch out the entire body, work some muscles you may be neglecting in your regular training, and still feel like you've had a small workout. I would highly suggest taking a restorative or lighter yoga class if you're already training hard. This means no power yoga or ones specifically designed to be a workout. I would suggest trying Yin Yoga or a light Hatha class.

Another great form of recovery is swimming, or rather floating. Simply floating in water takes a lot of pressure off the joints of your body, and it's also very soothing. If you have access to a pool try using some "pool noodles" to just float for a while and relax. Bring a friend for conversation or just close your eyes and enjoy the time alone to reflect.

Regardless of what you choose try to incorporate some form of recovery (or a couple forms) during a few days of the week. Trust me, your body will thank you for it!

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Jiu Jitsu/Grappling Workout!

Here's a nice workout for any of you looking to boost your conditioning and strength endurance for grappling such as Brazilian Jiu Jitsu! Grappling matches can be long and gruelling, battling back and forth, resisting your opponents force, and attempting to impose yours! These matches are not only tough on your cardiovascular conditioning and strength endurance, but your mobility as well. This is why I have a number of body weight complexes that are specifically designed too meet the needs and demands of grappling athletes, but also work well for the average joe. Watch the video above, try this one out and let me know what you think!

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Jungle Fit On The News!

Here's a little interview I did with the local Kingston Ontario News about free fitness! Check it out =) !

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How To Increase Your Pull Up Numbers Today!!

If you're one of the many people frustrated because you've hit a sticking point with your pull ups/chin ups, if can't seem to increase the amount of reps you perform, then I've got some suggestions for you! There are a number of ways to go about improving your chin up / pull up reps but today we'll look at four different ways that just might help you in your quest!

Switch Up Your Grip: Try palms facing towards your body (chin ups) and palms facing away from your body (pull ups). Try narrow grips (hands close together) , regular grips (shoulder width for chin ups, just outside the shoulder for pull ups), and wide grips (neutral grip for chin ups, way outside shoulder width for pull ups. By mixing your grips you'll put a greater emphasis on different muscle groups that my be neglected during your regular pull up or chin up workouts. It will also help you break out of the "same old, same old" of your basic workout routine.

Try Drop Sets: Drop sets are a great way to perform a high number of repetitions that you wouldn't normally be able to perform in a straight set. And example of a drop set would be to do 10 chin ups on your first set, rest 30 seconds, then perform 9 chin ups on your second set, rest 30 seconds, then 8 on the third set. Continue in this fashion until you hit 1 or 2 reps. If you were to perform this drop set as described you would have pumped out 55 chin ups in total!

Embedded Pauses: Adding embedded pauses to your chin ups and pull ups is an excellent way to eliminate any weakness you may have in a certain area of the pulling or lowering phase of the exercise. If you're weak in any area of the pull up or chin up than it could result in a lower number of reps than you're truly capable of performing. Try performing your pull ups/chin ups with a 3-5 second pause at the top, eye level, 3/4 of the way down, and full hang of positions of the exercise. Think of your pull up as an elevator stopping at 4 floors on the way down.

Practice, Practice: Remember, that sometimes all you need is to treat your training as practice to increase your reps. Try performing the "greasing the groove" method. This would involve performing a few pull ups/chin ups multiple times throughout the day, not during your actual workout, and not any where near your maximum amount of reps. If you were to do 6 chins in the morning, at lunch, in the evening, and before bet that would add up to 24 chins during the day and some quality practice without maxing yourself out at all!

Just remember that with practice and dedication you can reach your goals regardless of what they might happen to be.

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The Easiest Way To Achieve The Muscle Up!

 A little while ago I made a post on here about getting your first muscle up on rings. It was pretty detailed and included a great video as well. However, I did forget to mention one very important method of helping you achieve the muscle up on rings. Using a resistance band to help assist you through your muscle up is excellent way to work towards performing your first muscle up!

 I've found this method to be one of the best ways to progress towards performing a "no kip" muscle up. The use of the band helps reduce the percentage of your own body weight that you're actually lifting. I used simple yoga/pilates bands that you can pick up from a local Wal-Mart, they come in three different levels of tension strength. Simple use the band with the heaviest tension at first, and then move to the medium and light tension bands as you become stronger.

 Check out the video above for a detailed instructions on how to use resistance bands to aid you on your quest to performing your first muscle up!

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How To Gain 30lbs Of Muscle With Body Weight Workouts!

"How do I gain muscle fast and without gaining too much body fat?" , that's easily on of the most common questions asked by young men (and some women) to any fitness expert in the world. Regardless of where you live, if you're a fitness expert you've been asked that question in one form or another. This subject has been covered countless times in magazines, online articles, videos, books, and just about any other form of media know to man. Yet, people keep asking the same question time and time again. Opinions vary from person to person , from expert to expert, but some things remain constant.

- You need to eat, A LOT!

- You need to lift heavy

- You need to rest

- You need to avoid too much cardio

There's also a strange stigma attached to both body weight training and primal/paleo diets being unable to build any significant muscle mass. So, with this in mind I decided to take it upon myself to experiment and see just how much muscle mass I could put on following these rules and without deviating from my "primal diet" too much (other than allowing for dairy) and using a body weight based workout program. I needed to see just how much mass you can build using the foundation that I have built Jungle Fit upon. So starting early June 2011 and running through to the end of Sept 2011 I followed my program and the results were surprising to say the least.

By following an intense body weight based program, upping my calorie intake of my primal diet a lot, adding around 1L of milk a day, extra protein powder, and some sweet potato, my body weight shot up from 145lbs to 180lbs!

That's a 35lb weight gain in around 3-4 months! I out grew all my clothes, I had to buy all new shirts because my back, arms, and shoulders were too large, and my pants went up only one size from a 30 to 32. Not too bad for a 35 lb weight gain!

In the video above I've talked about it in a little more detail and displayed pictures as for the change. In the future if you guys want me to go into greater detail on the subject then please leave comments on youtube or this blog and I'll provide workouts, meal plans, or even create an ebook detailing everything involved.

So long story short, anyone who says you can't gain muscle mass or impressive strength from body weight training is completely misinformed.

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The "Immortals Workout"

The internet is buzzing with talk about what kind of workouts the actors in the upcoming "Immortals" movie did to achieve their lean physiques. It's not rocket science, they eat clean and worked out like dogs for hours each day. When they weren't in the gym they were on set training fight sequences, so all in all it ended up being around 6-8 hours of physical work per day! Now granted only around 2-3 of that may have been from actual planned gym time with a trainer, but still it's a insane amount of work!

Now, it's completely possible to achieve a lean and athletic body without killing yourself for hours on end in the gym. Remember these guys had a dead line to meet and had to look a specific way. Not to mention lighting, shading, and after effects help you look your best when on film. For most people a clean, paleo/primal diet, coupled with heavy lifting, and high intensity total body workouts will do the trick. Best of all these workouts don't have to be hours on end ... heck, they don't even have to be 30 mins!

I've put together a small sample of a workout that will help you build lean muscle and promote athletic development and you can perform it in about 30 mins or less. Remember that if you can't perform a specific technique to use a progression that is slightly less difficult. I've outlined a ton in the ebook "The Body Weight Solution" as well as on the Jungle Fit YouTube channel. Hope you guys enjoy the workout, let me know what you think!

- Tim

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