In a way, you are all winners, but alas, I could only pick three people to receive the book. For the rest of you, make sure you check out the preview if you haven’t already. Without any further ado…

Congratulations to shemdog, Jess, and VelocityRD!

To claim your free copy , simply e-mail me the address where you would like to have it sent.

I’ll have some new content up on the blog later this week. In the meantime, check out a vintage video never before been seen on AlKavadlo.com. It’s the first video I ever uploaded to my Youtube channel (I’ve come a long way!). If you haven’t already, make sure to subscribe. My Youtube page contains all my videos from this blog as well as other bonus videos!

Three lucky readers of this blog are going to win an autographed copy of my book, We’re Working Out! A Zen Approach to Everyday Fitness.

To enter the drawing, simply retweet or facebook share one of these recent blog posts (You may enter up to three times!):
Make Your Own Sports Drink
All Kinds of Push-ups
All Kinds of Pull-ups

Once you’ve shared the post(s), leave the link to your twitter or facebook page in the comment section below – that’s it! You have through Labor Day to enter. The winners will be announced on Tuesday.

We’re Working Out!
Al

Unfortunately, if you aren’t buying your honey from a trustworthy source, you might be getting (pardon the pun) a raw deal. There are many manufacturers who will add sugar and other sweeteners into their honey in order to cut costs, so BEE-ware!

Sports Drinks are for Athletes!
I recently had the misfortune of watching a guy eating a Subway sandwich while washing it down with a Gatorade. My issues with Subway aside, the flagrant misuse of sport beverages is an atrocity.

The whole purpose of a beverage like Gatorade is to replenish the salts and sugars that you expend while participating in endurance sports (Brawndo’s got electrolytes!). Last time I checked, sitting in the park eating a sandwich doesn’t count.

Regardless, you don’t really need Gatorade at all. If you have the inclination, just make your own sports drink. All you need is some water, raw honey, lemon and sea salt. It’s better for you (no suspicious sweeteners) and it’s a lot cheaper.

Watch the video below for more:

Stability Ball Push-ups
Stability balls can be used to facilitate additional engagement of the core muscles during the push-up as well. While the basic idea is the same as the medicine ball push-up, the stability ball has a different feel to it and can provide its own unique challenge. Furthermore, putting your feet on a large stability ball will change the angle of your push-up, requiring additional upper-body strength as well as added core stability.

Suspension Straps
Another way to add a stability component is to use suspension straps or gymnastics rings. Performing a push-up with your hands or feet in straps requires balance, strength and total body control.

Remember, these suggestions are just the tip of the iceberg. There are endless ways to mix up your routine. Don’t be afraid to experiment for yourself and discover new challenges.

Watch the video below to see me demonstrating these variations at Nimble Fitness in NYC.

If you can’t do a push-up yet, start by practicing on your knees or up on an angle until you build the necessary strength and coordination. Planks and side planks are also great exercises to help with working towards push-ups.

Push-up Grips
The traditional push-up involves putting your palms flat on the ground, but you can also try doing push-ups on your fists, which is more difficult. For an added challenge, you can tent up your hands and perform push-ups on your fingertips. If that’s still not enough, you can start taking some of those fingers off the ground!

Hand Placement
The standard hand placement for a push-up is slightly wider than shoulder width. If you want to add more emphasis to your triceps, try a narrower hand placement. To place more emphasis on your chest, position your hands wider.

Foot Placement
When performing this exercise, you’ll find that keeping your feet farther apart will make the push-up slightly less difficult. When learning advanced variations, start with a wider stance and work your way towards keeping your feet shoulder width or narrower.

Danny gets airborn with a plyo push-up.

Hindu and Dive Bomber Push-ups
The Hindu push-up is a challenging variation that involves starting with your hips way up in the air (similar to the yoga pose downward facing dog). From there, lower your face towards the ground, then scoop your chest up while dropping your hips down (ending in a position similar to the yoga pose upward facing dog). Shift your hips back to the start position and repeat. A dive bomber push-up is pretty much the same, except you get back to the starting position by doing the move in reverse.

The One Arm Push-up
The one arm push-up takes lots of practice as well as total body strength. Check out this post on performing one arm push-ups for more info.

Plyo One Arm Push-up?
There is a famous Zen koan which asks, “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” I couldn’t help wondering, “What is the sound of a one hand clapping push-up?”

Watch the video below to find out:

Make sure to check out part two of this series to see medicine ball push-ups and other variations using equipment.

Once you’ve gotten comfortable and confident with regular lunges, give yourself a new challenge. Turn them into a plyometric exercise by adding a jump. Here are 3 ways to do this:

Stationary Jump Lunge
Lower yourself into the bottom position of a lunge with your feet about a leg’s length apart. Jump up out of the lunge, gently landing back where you started. You can swing your arms for momentum or keep them at your sides. It might take a little practice to land comfortably without losing your balance. You can also try to jump laterally, so that you’ll land a few inches to the side of where you began.

Cycle Lunge
The cycle lunge is a harder variation of the jumping lunge. It starts out the same as the stationary jump lunge, but once you are in the air, quickly switch legs before you land. Continue to alternate legs, going from one rep right into the next.

Lateral Leapin’ Lunge onto Bench
Jumping up onto a bench can be hard enough without making it a lunge too, so don’t try this one until you’ve gotten good at the other types of jumping lunges. You’ll need to find a relatively long surface to leap up onto; a bench works great but feel free to explore other options. Once you’re ready to go, lunge down next to the surface you plan to jump (remember to position yourself parallel to the object) and go for it!

Have a Safe Landing
Always stay light on your feet during the landing phase of a jump. Remember that lowering down into the lunge as you hit the ground will help you to absorb the impact. These types of exercises will help you to build strength and flexibility, as well as balance and total body control.

Watch the video below for more:

As I mention in my book, We’re Working Out! A Zen Approach to Everyday Fitness, my favorite place to train is Tompkins Square Park in NYC’s East Village. It has everything I need and it helps me keep my workouts creative.

TSP has built a cult following and become legendary in some circles. Thanks to word of mouth, a great community has taken shape over the years. In addition to doing my bootcamp class there every Saturday morning, I’m lucky enough to train with people who can teach me new things and push me to work harder. Rick Seedman of the Bar-barians and Alex Borisov are two of my favorite training partners lately. We were recently photographed by Felipe Passolas while we did our thing at TSP. I hope you find some inspiration in these pictures.

This takes a lot of practice.

Ready, set...

Muscle-up!

Can't get enough human flag!

Who doesn't love monkey bars?

Getting some air!

This tore up my hands!

See!

We had a hell of a workout!

While things like running and cross training are great ways to burn calories, the fact of the matter is that your diet has more to do with your body fat percentage than any other factor.

It doesn’t matter if you run every morning, lift weights in the afternoon and go to yoga at night. If you can’t keep your diet in check, you’ll likely have a tough time staying lean for the long haul.

Sure, exercise plays a part in weight loss – after all, exercise builds muscle, and having more lean muscle mass will increase your resting metabolism. Plus exercise burns plenty of calories. In spite of these factors, I maintain that the best way to get lean is simply to eat foods that are as close to their original state as possible. Go to your local farmers’ market and load up on fresh fruits and veggies (or grow your own). Check out my list of Al approved foods for more details.

Of course big corporations don’t want you to do that – it means less money for them. They want you as fat as possible and they will do anything they can to fool you into buying their lies. Speaking of which,Vitamin Water is being sued for the outrageous claims that they make on their packaging about increased energy and brain power. Seeing them get called out on their bullshit is (pardon my pun) quite refreshing.

So what should you eat? How about trying one of my delicious smoothie recipes!

Today I bring you “Al’s Old School PB&J.” I discovered this recipe by accident a few years ago and it became a cult sensation at my old gym. Here it is:

Al’s Old School PB&J

4 oz. Milk
1 heaping cup of berries (a mix of your choosing)
3 tablespoons of natural peanut butter
1 teaspoon of honey
1/2 banana (optional)
3-5 ice cubes

Watch the video below for more:

Dorsi Flexion, Baby!

Dorsi Flexion
The term “dorsi flexion” refers to the movement that occurs at the ankle joint during a squat. People with more ankle mobility can keep their heels flat and put their knees in front of their toes at the same time because of dorsi flexion. As long as you initiate your squat from the hips, keep your heels down and retract your shoulder blades, you’re good to go.

How Low Can You Go?
Another common cue for squatters (no, not the punks living in the abandoned warehouse) is to lower down until you’ve reached 90 degrees of flexion at the knees. This is another generalized cue that is great for most, but not ideal for all.

First off, newcomers and people with limited mobility might not be able to get that deep without sacrificing proper squatting form. Second, many able-bodied fitness nuts will be able to squat much deeper than thighs parallel to the ground. One way to test your range of motion is to place your hands behind your head and squat as low as you can without coming off your heels (this is sometimes called a “prisoner squat”). If you can maintain a straight back (having your hands behind your head should help facilitate that), then feel free to go ass to the grass.

Advanced Squat Techniques

Front Squats
You might be surprised how much harder it can be to hold a weight in front of you when squatting as opposed to resting it on your back. Aside from the added challenge of supporting the weight on your shoulders, the balance changes when you have a weight in front, increasing the emphasis on your quads.

There are two basic ways to hold a barbell for front squats. One method is to bend your wrists back under the bar, the other involves crossing your arms in front as the bar rests on your shoulders. You can also perform a front squat with a kettlebell(s). For more information check out Stronglifts’ article on front squats.

Box Squats
At first glance, a box squat doesn’t look much different from any other squat except that you have a box underneath you. Once you attempt this exercise, you’ll see the challenge of the box squat is to initiate the movement from a seated position without any downward momentum to assist you. Beginning a weighted squat from a seated position is surprisingly difficult. This concept is similar to what I call phase one of pistol squats.

Overhead Squats
An overhead squat is another variation that adds a great degree of difficulty to an already challenging exercise. Overhead squats require tons of core strength and lots of shoulder mobility. I have difficulty performing this exercise properly with any significant weight due to my tight upper back and shoulders. This is going to be the case for most men when starting out with overhead squats. If that is the case for you then go light and focus on proper form. Check out Dave Draper’s article on overhead squats for more information.

First, I took advantage of Summer Streets by running a few miles during the morning hours. Then after leading my bootcamp workout at Tompkins Square Park, I headed into Crown Heights, Brooklyn to participate in the 12th annual 5B’s Pull-up Jam.

There were six events: muscle-ups, pull-ups, push-ups, dips, squats, and sit-ups. I only participated in the first two events as it had been a long day and with so many participants, the contest was going to go into the night.

The muscle-up contest was first, and it was the only event that wasn’t divided into weight classes. I got to compete with the big boys (literally!). For this event, competitors were given 2 minutes to do as many reps as possible without coming off the bar. I managed to get 18 reps, which was enough to finish it the upper 50% of the competition but not enough to take home a trophy.

The pull-up contest had a lot more competitors and, as a lightweight (I’m barely 160 lbs. these days), my division went last. For this event, we were again given 2 minutes, but we were allowed to come down from the bar in order to rest. The judges were being lenient with form, allowing kipping and not enforcing a dead hang. They were, however, very strict about the chin clearing the bar for a rep to count. I managed 43 official reps in the two minute time allowance, as a few of my reps were not credited.

All in all it was a great day and I hope to participate next year. Watch the video below for more: