It is likely that you already know about the benefits of what I term body-weight exercises, which you do not need equipment to do and thus, they are perfectly suited for keying your muscles and body before an event, while traveling, and burning calories to name a few. Overall, the exercises below will build muscle, burn fat, and improve athletic performance, speed, and power. Because I work with speed-strength athletes, these exercises are what we term both plyometric and ballistic. Plyometric exercises are lower-body explosive exercises, such as jumping with resistance and or your body-weight. Ballistics are the same but involve upper body explosive exercises – both are included below. By adding either or both, you quickly elevate your training regimen to an entirely new level.

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You must also note that you should not do the following if you are recovering from an injury and ensure that you use good technique. Generally, these movements are done prior to your main workout because they do cause fatigue of the muscles. And, you will notice that these are often included in our warm-up routines for our workout programs.

I will naturally assume that you may be new to plyometrics and ballistic exercises and so, once you have warmed up sufficiently, you will only be required to do 2-3 sets of 4-6 repetitions each. It is best to take a day’s rest before doing the exercises a second and third time, etc., i.e., take about 48 hours between these types of exercises before doing them again with your routine. If you are more advanced, you can do them repetitively if the exercises are different each successive workout day.

There are 20 or more of these types of exercises I could list for you, but I’ve have chosen the more common ones to initially build technique. I will cover the others at a future date. Additionally, I will not include pictures of them here as they are many of them on the Internet and everyone loves to search so, enjoy. Since summer is still upon us and you may likely be on vacation, these are great calorie burners that require no equipment.

Beginner
1. Ballistic Push-Up
The ballistic push-up is erroneously also termed a Plyo push-up, but that is wrong because it is an upper-body explosive exercise, not a lower body plyometric exercise, which generally involves jumping. Perform a standard push-up, but as you push, do it with enough force that both hands leave the ground and you are able to quickly clap them together before landing. Then, land stiff armed to help strengthen the shoulders. Therefore, you do not want to do any of these exercises if you are recovering from an injury – they place a great amount of strain on the muscles and joints. For much greater intensity, there is another version called the ballistic depth-jump Push-Up. It is extreme in nature and should be done only by advanced athletes. Yours truly is performing it below – it is done from atop 18-inch tall boxes.

2. Squat Thrust
The squat thrust, sometimes referred to as squat thrusters are simple to perform, but effective. Start in a high plank position (like you have already done a pushup with your arms extended and almost locked), jump both feet forward into a wide squat and bring hands off the ground in front of your chest. This is almost like doing a Burpee, but without the jump or full push up. Keep your back straight, shoulders down, and chest out while in the low squat. Pause for a 2-3 seconds then, place your hands on the ground and jump your feet back into a high plank position to ready yourself for the next repetition. Repeat each rep as quickly as you can.

3. Reverse Lunge Knee-Kick
This exercise is sometimes erroneously called a reverse lunge with knee-up. However, you are elevating the knee as if you were kicking with it. It is popular with speed-strength athletes and marital artists both of whom I teach, especially since I hold a 9th degree black belt. Begin by standing with your feet hip-width apart and step back with your left or right foot into a full reverse lunge – let’s assume you step back with your right foot initially. Shift all your weight to your right/rear foot to engage your glutes. Brace your core and then, bring the right foot forward knee kicking an imaginary opponent in the chin as you simultaneously jump off your left foot. Imagine an opponent your own height. If you cannot get the knee to chin level, get it up at least to your chest level. Try to land as softly as you can on your left foot as you plant your right foot back into a rear lunge to begin the next repetition. Perform all the reps on one side before moving to the next, i.e., in this case, the left leg will be back. Once you have finished on both sides, you have completed one set. Try 6 reps per leg per set. You can lower then intensity by bringing the knee kick only to waist level.

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Intermediate

4. Tuck-Jump Burpees
This exercise is almost like doing a full Burpee, but you do not jump into an extended position as you move upward. Instead, perform a burpee and as you stand/jump up, keep your arms horizontal, palm down and continue the jump so that your knees are brought up as you can, tucking them to your chest. Land softly on the balls of your feet and go right into your next burpee.

5. Lateral Triple Jump
This move teaches you to change directions quickly and powerfully. Stand on your right foot, bend your knee slightly, brace your core, and hop to the right as far as possible, landing on your right foot. Immediately leap forward to land on your left foot. Focus on stretching out both legs as long as you can in the air (like a ballet dancer leaping). Finish by extending your right leg and leaping forward with your right foot, and then quickly bringing your feet together mid-jump to lightly on both feet. Repeat on the other side, by hopping to the left with the left foot, and leaping forward with the right foot, then leaping with the left foot and landing on both feet.

6. Split-Squat Jumps
Split-Squat jumps are always bastardized in terms of the name by those who do not know how to properly train a professional athlete, calling them alternating-lunge jumps. Step back or forward into a lunge-type position with your hands on your hips. Immediately propel yourself upward as high as you can, while changing your lunge position in midair so that you come down into the opposite lunge position. Once you have done both the left and right leg, you have completed one repetition. The goal of this exercise is height so, you do not need to do it super fast, but steady. This is a true plyometric exercise. If you want to add more intensity, you can use a dumbbell weight in each hand. It is not uncommon for athletes to use 40-70-pound dumbbells in each hand. However, unless you are conditioned for this, do not even think about those kind of weight loads unless you want a quick trip to the doctor!

7. Tuck Jumps
Tuck jumps have been around a long time; they are like an elevated version of a body-weight squat jump. To begin, stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent, and hips back – just as if you were beginning a regular squat, but with no weight – your thighs should be roughly parallel to the floor. Next, spring upward into the highest jump you can manage (like your jump in a Burpee), as you bring your knees to your chest. Try to land as softly as you can on the balls of your feet and return to the squatting position. Land softly on your toes in your start position. Immediately jump back up—rest as little as possible between jumps.

Advanced

8. Jump Squat from Kneel
This is a difficult and interesting exercise. It is not for the beginner! And, if you have never done this before, try it on some Yoga or gymnastics mats first, not on the bare floor. Only my most advanced students are allowed to perform this exercise. Begin, by kneeling on the ground with your legs spread a littler wider than the hips – both knees are in contact with the floor as your feet are behind you, balls on the floor and heels up. Draw your arms back and then forcefully swing them forward and upward to generate enough momentum to jump into a squatting position as you land on both feet. This exercise demands good core strength because it will help you generate enough power to complete the exercise. Step one foot back, coming down onto a knee then, step the other foot back so both knees are back to starting position for the next repletion. To add resistance, wear a weight vest.

9. Single-Leg Deadlift Jump
I love this exercise because it is a true test of balance and core strength. Begin by standing on your left leg – left knee slightly bent. Bend forward at the hips, allowing your right leg to naturally drop behind you until your right leg and chest are parallel to the floor. You are precariously balanced, and most will need to let the right leg slightly touch the floor to maintain balance. Next, in one fluid, dynamic movement, swing your arms forward, raise your chest, and use your left foot to push off the floor, bringing your right knee up toward your chest. Softly land on your left foot again and slowly lower back into the bent-over position, attempting to keep your right foot off the ground throughout. You will not need to increase the intensity of this workout with a weighted vest! Tapping the rear foot to the floor will lessen the intensity somewhat and will likely be needed to maintain balance.

10. Ballistic Push-Up to Squat
This exercise will combine upper and lower body explosives into one movement. Begin from a traditional push-up position then, quickly push through the hands as hard as possible to generate as much momentum as you can. As the body rises, tuck the knees to the chest and simultaneously bring the feet to land under the body. You should land in a deep squat. Hold it for 2-3 seconds to maintain balance and then, jump back into a push-up position to repeat. You will note that this is a shortened version of the Burpee.

So, let’s do these in a workout

Do 2 to 3 sets of 4 to 6 reps for each move below in order – choose your fitness category, i.e., beginner, intermediate or advanced. You can add this workout to your regular routine. If you’re traveling or on vacation, do it on its own 2 to 4 times per week – you no longer have an excuse not to exercise because you won’t need the gym for these.

Beginner
Ballistic Push-Up
Squat Thrust
Reverse Lunge Knee Kick

Intermediate
Tuck-Jump Burpees
Lateral Triple Jump
Split-squat Jumps
Tuck Jumps

Advanced
Jump Squat from Kneel
Single-Leg Deadlift Jump
Ballistic Push-Up to Squat
Have a happy and healthy day.

Ensure that you choose the proper fitness level above because these exercises are demanding and unforgiving. Have a happy and healthy day.

Maybe, but any amount of activity beyond what you’re currently doing will likely benefit your health.

The origins of the 10,000-steps recommendation aren’t likely that scientific. As an example, pedometers sold in Japan in the 1960s were marketed under the name “manpo-kei,” which translates to 10,000 steps meter. As a result, the idea gained popularity with Japanese walking groups. But, this spurred scientific research and studies since that time suggest that people who increased their walking to 10,000 steps daily experience health benefits.
One study found that women who increased their step count to nearly 10,000 steps a day reduced their blood pressure after 24 weeks. Another study of overweight women found that walking 10,000 steps a day improved their glucose levels.

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Walking 10,000 steps a day is not an official recommendation from groups such as the CDC who recommends adults engage in 150 minutes of moderate activity a week, such as brisk walking. It is ironic however that to meet the CDC’s recommendation, you need to walk about 7,000 to 8,000 steps a day.

How do you Measure Up?
The average person walks about 3,000 to 5,000 steps each day thus, getting in an extra 30-minute, brisk walk into your day would take you to about 8,000 steps. There is no scientific reason to stop at this amount because in this case, more is likely better for you. As an example, the Mayo Clinic recommends that people using pedometers first set short-term goals, such as taking an extra 1,000 steps daily for one week, and then build up to a long-term goal such as 10,000 steps.

The idea is to just get started. Why? Because it’s much better to be active health wise than not. And, as you age, those who have been and remain active have a much better chance of better health. Also, studies show that healthy adults get anywhere from 4,000 – 18,000 steps per day.

Below is our 10-week plan – a general guide only – to help you gradually increase from the average 3,000 steps a day to 10,000 steps a day.

As always, progress at a pace that is realistic for you – too much too soon is why many do not continue exercise programs:

Start with your current activity level, for example, if you currently get 4,000 steps a day, start with Week 2 instead of Week 1.

Week 1
Goal – increase your steps from 3,000 a day to 3,500 a day.
You can do this by adding an extra 500 steps per day, which is equivalent to walking an extra ¼ mile. The average time to achieve this is about 4-8 additional minutes, which depends on your walking pace.

Week 2
Goal – increase your steps to 4,200 a day – this is 29,400 steps per week. Note you are now adding 1,200 steps per day or about 12 minutes more time per day. Since you normally get about 3,000 steps per day doing basic tasks, think of this as a pure 12-minute walking day.
As with dieting, extra calories on one day, make up for less calories on another. Likewise, steps from a very active day can help make up for missing steps on a less active day.

Week 3
Goal – increase your steps to 5,000 per day. This ups your rate 2,000 steps per day or approximately 20-minutes of walking after the day’s work.

Week 4
Goal – increase your steps from 5,000 to 5,800 per day – you now have added another 7 minutes on top of last week’s 20-minutes per day.

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Week 5
Goal – increase to 6,500 steps a day.
This is an increase of 700 steps per day from week 4, which is about 1/3 mile or 5-10 minutes of walking depending on your pace – now, you’re up to 25-30 minutes of walking per day. The additional steps can be accumulated at one time or broken up throughout the day, whether at work, home, or play.

Week 6
Goal – increase from 6,500 steps per day to 7,200 steps per day. Note this is another 700 steps and will be about the same increase as Week 5 and ups your time to about 30-35 minutes of walking per day. At an average pace of 2,300 steps per mile, you will have walked about 3 miles.

Week 7
Goal – increase to 8,000 steps per day. This is an increase of 800 steps per day over week 6 – about 0.35 miles or, another 7 minutes per day, bringing you up to about 40-42 minutes of walking time.

Week 8
Goal – increase to 8,600 steps per day or 600 steps per day more than week 7.

Week 9
Goal – increase to 9,400 steps per day – 800 more steps per day than week 8.

Week 10
Goal – increase to 10,000 steps per day or 70,000 steps per week. This is approximately 4 1/3 miles per day or about 60-70 minutes of walking at a brisk pace.

You can always continue to increase your steps per day if you wish; time is a factor and many people will state that is an inordinate amount of time. However, your health is priceless and because walking is essentially mindless, you can listen to music talk business or to friends on your phone, think about goals, strategize how to run your next management session and so on – the things you can do while you walk, in today’s age of technology are many. Thus, there is no justification to use time as an excuse.

The big question is, “Do you want to be as healthy as you can be when you turn 65 or older or, do you want to be able to look down and not see your feet because your belly is too big, and you are perhaps plagued by diabetes or other maladies? The choice is entirely yours.

As you are quite familiar, restaurant portions seem to be getting larger and larger. The only way to stop gaining weight is to eat less, not more. On average, restaurant portions are 2-3 times more than what you need in terms of required calories. Below are some tips to help reduce the gain:

Request a takeout box/doggie bag right away
Ask for a takeout box as soon as your food arrives. Once you have it, split the meal in half and put one portion in the box and eat the remaining.

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Have your plate removed as soon as you are done eating
If you do not want to take food out of the restaurant, as soon as you’ve finished eating a satisfactory portion of food, i.e., you begin to feel full then, have the server remove your plate from the table. Because face it, if it stays, you’ll just keep picking at it while other finish eating. You won’t’ be hungry, it’s just a natural thing to do. So, have the plate removed.

Pay attention to fullness
As you eat, how do you feel? Develop a self-scale to check, say from 1-5. If 5 is stuffed then, let your body tell you when you should stop. A word of caution, this only works if you eat at a normal/slower pace. If you eat quickly, you’ll feel full quickly and will have likely overeaten before you can prevent too much calorie intake. It’s simply a way to limit eating too much at one time.

Dessert Time
When dessert time comes, like all else, these menu items are getting larger too and they are real calorie bombs. Split the dessert with a friend or take half of it home. You’ll satisfy your sweet tooth without eating another 1,000 calories over your daily calorie budget.

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Half portions
In many restaurants you can get a half or what is sometimes called a lunch portion. It has less calories because it’s smaller and it’s generally less costly. So, a half portion works great if you don’t want to take food home and reduce calories at the same time.

Following are additional tips:
• Don’t go to the restaurant starving – like shopping you’ll get/eat more;
• Eat a healthy plate – half a plate of veggies, ¼ protein, ¼ grains;
• Fill up on veggies and water – this will leave less room for calorie bombs;
• Finish eating last – doing so will help you eat slower and thus, feel full at the appropriate time;
• Eat healthy and stay healthy;
• Keep tempting food off your plate – cheese cake, French fries, and other goodies;
• Limit alcohol – sugar alcohols have 7-calories per gram and serve as an immediate food source storing other calories as fat;
• Order an appetizer or kid’s meal as your entrée – it’s smaller than adult menus;
• Remove the basket of bread or chips – these have too many calories;
• Skip the all-you-can-eat buffet – this is a guarantee to overeat – stay away;
• Stay away from ‘bottomless’ drinks – particularly sugary soda; and
• Stop justifying overeating – vacation, wasted food, etc. are all excuses – order small, eat small.

Watching the little things, without over splurging will help you reduce weight gain from eating out, which has become more popular multiple times per week. Don’t be a victim of oversized portions – you are in control!

This article will give you some basic tips and belly fat and why it’s harmful to your health. If you have belly fat, it means you have more fat around your organs, which you cannot see. This mean, that you likely have more fat stored deep in your abdomen surrounding the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, and other vital organs. Of course, it would be better if you did not have this, at least from a health and longevity perspective.

Belly fat can affect your health negatively
Research has shown that deep abdominal fat (termed visceral fat) negatively affects your health and metabolism.

It can often:
• Affect the normal functioning of your organs.
• Disrupt your body’s normal hormone balance, this can be a problem for women who are going through or been through menopause, but men are also affected.
• Release harmful substances into your bloodstream.

As an example, visceral fat can interfere with the liver’s ability to properly regulate cholesterol and blood sugar. These are not issues to be slighted.

Belly fat has been linked to disease
Increased amounts of belly fat have been linked to heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high triglycerides and type 2 diabetes. All of these become more serious with age.

So, if you have excess weight around your midsection, you are what we term someone with abdominal obesity. You should measure your abdominal area to see if you may be at risk. Better yet, use the old, “If you can pinch and inch,” adage. If you can pinch an inch or more, you need to begin shedding belly fat.

How can you lose belly fat? There are a few proven strategies that have been shown to target the fat in the belly area more than other areas of the body. Below are six basic methods that are backed by science that will help you lose that belly fat.

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1. Don’t eat sugar and avoid sugar-sweetened drinks
Added sugar is very unhealthy thus, consume it sparingly. Studies show that it has uniquely harmful effects on metabolic health. Sugar is half glucose and half fructose. The latter can only be metabolized by the liver in significant amounts. There are literally too many sugar issues to discuss currently. Thus, consume it in moderation. But remember this; sugar is the enemy of weight loss. Decide to minimize the amount of sugar in your diet and consider eliminating sugary drinks except as a treat on occasion. Elimination of sugar should include: sugar-sweetened beverages, sugary sodas, fruit juices and high-sugar sports drinks. This does not apply to whole fruit, which are very healthy and generally have plenty of fiber that helps to mitigate the negative effects of fructose. The amount of fructose you get from fruit is negligible compared to what you get from a diet high in refined sugar.

2. Eat more protein as a great long-term strategy to reduce belly fat
Protein is the most important macronutrient when it comes to losing weight. Most everyone who has read any of the lay magazine regarding health and fitness issues is aware of this. Protein reduces hunger and related cravings by at least 60 percent and will boost the metabolism to burn about 100 more calories per day. Because it reduces cravings, protein helps you to eat less.

Many of the studies showing protein to be effective had protein at 25-30% of calories. That’s what you should aim for. To increase protein, increase your intake of high-protein foods such as whole eggs, fish, seafood, legumes, nuts, meat and dairy products. These are the best protein sources in the diet. If you use whey protein powder supplements, opt for those that have a high protein compared to carbohydrate ratio by about 5:1 protein:carbs. Stay away from the weight-gainer proteins which have opposing proportions, i.e., carbs:proteins of 5:1. For vegans, beans, legumes, and other grains have a good amount of protein, not as much as the above foods, but adequate in most cases.

3. Reduce carbs in your diet
Carb restriction is a very effective way to lose fat. But, carbs are not a bad word since “fat burns in a carbohydrate flame.” Most people simply eat too many simple carbs, which when cut from the diet, causes them to lose their appetite and weight. Low-carb diets lead to 2-3 times more weight loss than low-fat diets. Less carbs also mean less water weight in your system. However, this does not mean you should eliminate carbs from your diet. Primarily, avoid refined carbs (sugar, candy, white bread, etc.) and focus on complex carbs – grains, cereals, etc. For quick weight loss, you can drastically reduce carb intake to about 30-50 grams per day and lose weight rapidly – don’t do this for more than 7-10 days at one time.

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4. Eat foods rich in fiber
Dietary fiber is mostly indigestible plant matter. It is often claimed that eating plenty of fiber can help with weight loss. While there is truth to this, all fibers are not the same. Viscous fibers are those that bind water and form a thick gel, which sits in the stomach. This gel can dramatically slow the movement of food through your digestive system, and slow down the digestion and absorption of nutrients, which results is a prolonged feeling of fullness – termed satiety. Research has shown that an additional 14 grams of fiber per day were linked to a 10 percent decrease in calorie intake and weight loss of 4.5 lbs (2 kg) over 4 months this implies, is that soluble fiber may be particularly effective at reducing the harmful belly fat. This implies that increased fiber can help lose belly fat. Of course, the best way to get more fiber is to eat a lot of plant foods like vegetables and fruit, as well as legumes and whole oat cereal.

5. Exercise vs belly fat
As you may have guessed, one of the best ways to get rid of belly fat is to exercise. Aerobics and resistance training can greatly reduce body fat, which includes belly fat. You can’t spot reduce or do sit ups and lose the belly fat; you need a good overall exercise program that is robust and varied. The workouts we customize for you do exactly that. The exercise program must be balanced so that you retain lean muscle, while burning fat and calories. All aerobics will generally just result in a skinny, fat person. Besides that, exercise leads to reduced inflammation, lower blood-sugar levels and improvements in all the other metabolic abnormalities that are associated with excess abdominal fat.

6. Keep Track of your Calories
Face it, no one wants to count calories, but you should have a basic idea of how many you consume on an average day. We all know this. But, do you know how many you are actually eating? The average American consumes about 4,500 calories per day, when they should be consuming about 2,000 calories per day. How many calories do you need anyway?

If you consider calorie needs without exercise, the rule of thumb is to take the body weight you wish to weigh, multiply it by 10 and add 200. For example, Dave wants to weigh 180 pounds at his height of 5’11”. Thus, 180 x 10 = 1,800 then, add 200 to get 2,000 calories. This is the number of calories he should eat each day without exercise. Depending on the type of exercise(s) he does, he would generally add another 200-400 calories to that amount for each exercise day.

So, use the rule of thumb to determine your basic calorie needs and then, know what you’re eating. For example, ‘low sugar’ generally means high fat. A perfect diet for those who regularly exercise is 50:25:25 percent of carbohydrates – fats – proteins. What you eat is important. Pretty much everyone knows this. Thus, eat as healthy and balanced diet as you can. You can splurge occasionally, just not every day. Also, weigh yourself once a week or so, but don’t be a scale watcher and weigh every day. If you get an idea of how many calories are in the foods you eat, within a week or so, you’ll have a good handle on what you’re consuming without becoming a worrier about the calories.