Today we did a modified Category 6 Hurricane.

If you want to know what a Hurricane is click HERE.

Today’s Hurricane Was :

3 Stations / Each Station Done 3 times

Treadmill 20 secs
Prowler push
Standing push press 12 Reps

Airdyne 20 Seconds
Farmers carry
12 Spiderman push ups

Treadmill sprint 20 Seconds
Seated prowler rope pull
Bar clean and press 12 Reps

Here is a quick video clip out of our workout below.

Talk about an intense fun workout and a great way to kick off the New Year!

Here is a guest blog post by my Canadian Buddy Craig Ballantyne, I couldn’t agree with him more!

By: Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
www.TurbulenceTraining.com

Recently, I was in Tampa, Florida, at a seminar. Between sessions, a physician from Georgia stopped me in the hall and said, “Hey Craig, you were right about those crosstrainer machines. I’ve had your program for a few months now and I’m getting better results with the bodyweight circuits.”

It’s always great to meet clients, and I was curious to find out how he heard of me. Turns out, he found me through Google, landing on an article I wrote about “how elliptical machines (crosstrainers) suck for fat loss”.

That’s right, I think those machines are almost a complete waste of time.

“I was using one of those machines for a long time and was wondering why I wasn’t getting any results,” the physician continued, “I’m so glad I found your program and now I’m using the bodyweight circuits from the Dumbell-Bodyweight Fusion Workout”, he added.

I told him how I wasn’t surprised. In fact, I’ve never personally known anyone to get great results with one of those crosstrainer machines. Now I’ve watched really lean people use them, but they didn’t get lean with those machines.

I know some people will be angry with what I have to say because they like exercising on the crosstrainer, but the truth is that they just don’t work as well as harder forms of interval training.

And hey, any time you are traveling or want a break from regular interval training workouts, you can use one of the 4 bodyweight circuits from the TT DB-BW Fusion Fat Loss program that you get as a bonus when you order the Turbulence Training fat burning workout routine.

Click here to get Turbulence Training
==> http://www.turbulencetraining.com

Let me know how it goes for you,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training

About the Author

Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit www.TurbulenceTraining.com

Here is a guest post by my good friend and fellow Canadian Craig Ballantyne about why Cardio SUCKS for fat loss!

By: Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
www.TurbulenceTraining.com

Cardio exercise is such a strange thing. In theory, it should work so perfectly well for all men and women, but as anyone who has
tried it knows, the practicality of it just doesn’t add up.

After all, some men and women do cardio 6 hours, 9 hours, or more per week, and still have belly fat to burn. On the other hand, it works just fine for others.

British researchers wanted to get more insight into this paradox, and studied 35 overweight men and women, who weren’t previously exercising.

(Reference: International Journal of Obesity 32: 177-184, 2008).

Subjects exercised 5 times per week for 12 weeks. That’s a lot of  exercise, but it helped the subjects lose an average of 8.2 pounds, which is great – I was positively surprised by the results.

So cardio will work for some people, however, in my experience, it works best in young men, who need the help the least!

Back to the study, the variance in fat loss between individuals was huge. Check this out…

The best subject lost a staggering 32.3 pounds in 12 weeks, while the worst subject actually GAINED 3.74 pounds.

The scientists think they know where things went sour. They classified the subjects into 2 groups, called the “Compensators”
and the “Non-compensators”.

The Compensators were hungrier, and as a result consumed an extra 268 calories per day, all but wiping out their cardio efforts.

Therefore, the Compensators lost the least amount of weight, and scientists believe that was due to the huge “compensatory” increase in appetite experienced by this group.

Does your appetite increase when you do slow cardio? If it does, research shows it will ruin your cardio efforts.

So if your cardio program is not working for you, check your appetite and calorie intake to see if you are “compensating” for
your efforts. If you are, you might be better off using a program of high-intensity resistance and interval training (i.e. Turbulence Training) for your weight loss efforts.

As Australian Professor Steve Boucher has shown in research,  interval training increases hormones called catecholamines. And
increased catecholamines can reduce appetite, among other fat-burning benefits.

In the real world, few people lose 33 pounds after 12 weeks of  cardio. Heck, few even achieve an average weight loss of 8 pounds with aerobic exercise.

So again, check your appetite, and consider giving high-intensity exercise a go for your next workout program.

Beat the curse of cardio with high-intensity Turbulence Training.

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training
About the Author

Learn about the “Dark Side of Cardio” in the free report from Craig Ballantyne at www.TurbulenceTraining.com. Craig is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit www.TurbulenceTraining.com

Whats the best Cardio?

It’s really good question I get asked a lot!

First thing first I have for you is a question.

What’s your goal?

Before I ever give advice to anyone I always ask this question.  Because IF you don’t know your immediate goal then you don’t know which direction you should be heading!

When it comes to cardio what type SHOULD YOU DO?

HIT Vs. Slow Steady State?

I’d recommend both and here is why!

(Quick Summary of Cardio Types)

Steady State Cardio -The longer cardio sessions, IE Stair Master, Bike, Elliptical etc, IE 20 min – 60 min

HIT Cardio – Short intense interval training.  Sprinting, Circuits, Intervals etc.

I know there are tons of debates out there now with Steady State vs HIT that seems never ending but I think both cardio has benefits and negatives!

IE Goods and Bads

Steady State Cardio
The Good :
Low Intensity
Easy on the joints
Easy when your sore or tired
Feel Great Afterwards!

The Bad :
Takes A Lot of time (20 min to 60 min)
Pretty Boring
Low Calorie Expenditure Demand

HIT (High Intensity Cardio)
The Good :
High Calorie Expenditure
Very Little Time ( 5 min to 20 min)
Fun (But Demanding)

The Bad :
Intense (Hard Workout If Sore or Achy)
Demanding (takes more toll on recovery system)
Hard after a intense weight workout (especially LEGS!!)

I would recommend alternating BOTH cardio methods depending on your TIME and your WEIGHT PROGRAM.

If your short on time hit the HIT, if your focused on HeavyLifting hit the slow steady state (in the AM if you can not after weights).

Another cardio method I am digging is “Cardio Strength Training” from Coach Dos. I just read it last weekend when I was in Halifax and its a great blend of Weights & Cardio. Using Circuits & Complexes for Fat Loss. I am doing a FULL blog post and video review on my blog soon so keep an eye out for it.

So there is no right or wrong. Use all the methods depending on your time, weights and factors in your life.

Either way hit SOME cardio just mix it up!

The BEST Cardio is the ONE YOU ARE NOT DOING!!!

I would love you to post your feedback here on cardio types that you like (or hate lol).  Thanks!

www.trainingforwarriors.com/what-is-a-hurricane/

So you want to look like an MMA warrior but don’t want to get punched in the face?  No problem. When you said look like one, I’m sure you meant the chiseled physique of today’s superfighter, not the broken teeth, scars and cauliflower ears!

The days of long slow distance to lose fat have been body slammed by recent science.  If you are beating yourself up with mindless low intensity aerobic work, it is time to choke out your old habits and get some real results.

Here’s the great news. There is a method of training called the Hurricane that will not only get you ripped with a muscular physique, but is also easy to perform, an exciting change from your regular routine and can take less time to produce more results!

If you want to lose body fat, build muscle, get mentally tougher and improve your cardiovascular capacity, then dare to enter the Eye of the Hurricane.

WHAT IS THE HURRICANE?

Hurricane Training is one form of metabolic conditioning used in the Training for Warriors system. Although it was originally used only for fighters, athletes of all sports have used this style of training.

A hurricane is a powerful, yet brief storm that leaves destruction in its wake that then calls for renewal and rebuilding.  Hurricane Training relies on the same destruction and renewal of a fighter’s body and has been used to produce both the physical results and world titles my warriors have achieved.  Martin Rooney first used this method ten years ago with his fighters to mimic the demands of a mixed martial arts match. This has been proven to now be the perfect form of training for everyone, regardless of his battle aspirations.

In nature, the more powerful a hurricane, the more damage is left in its path. As a result of storm intensity, there is more time, energy and resources that have to be spent to rebuild the region bigger and better than before.  When you apply this same principle of intensity and destruction in the gym, you can take advantage of numerous metabolic and hormonal responses that will produce unprecedented results.

How Does the TFW Hurricane Training System Work?

Hurricanes are categorized using a scale from 1-5.  Category 1 is the easiest and Category 5 will be the most demanding and potentially productive.  Every Hurricane utilizes nine sets of cardiovascular training (we prefer treadmill or ground-based sprints).

For Hurricanes 2-5, two different body weight and/or weighted exercises are performed after the first 3 sprints (Hurricane Round 1).  Then two new exercises are selected to coincide with the next 3 sprints (Round 2) and again for the last 3 sets (Round 3). So a Hurricane Workout equals 9 total sprints and 18 sets of weight training to be completed in 20-30 minutes.  Talk about intense!

Hurricane workouts are done 1-2x’s a week. The other workout day’s will consists of an Upper Body day and a Lower Body day. Check the Warrior Community to see more details about the other training days.

Sample Hurricane:

Category 2

Indications: As your recovery time improves, body weight and abdominal med ball exercises are introduced during the recovery portion between the sprints.   The sprints are lengthened to 20 seconds.

Methods: All of the sets are performed as quickly as possible.  HR can still be monitored, but 120 bpm is not required to start the next set.

Sample Circuit: 9.0mph X 10% grade for 20sec for 3 sets with med ball toe touches X 10 and diamond push ups X 15 10mph X 10% grade for 20 sec for 3 sets with med ball Russian twists X 50 and burpees X 10 11mph X 10% grade for 20 sec for 3 sets with pike ups X 10 and regular pushups X 10

Whether you are a fighter or just want to look and train like one, Hurricane Training is for you!  
Using this workout, your old routine will have no choice but to tap out. Try the Hurricane of the Week, to elevate your fitness to a new level!