“How can I possibly get a good workout in when I go on vacation?”

“Will I lose my strength if I’m gone for a week?!”

These are some of the more common questions I receive, especially from athletes and regular trainees who are on the road q uite often.

If you travel enough and stay in hotels, you’ll notice that the typical “gyms” inside the hotel are pretty lame…

More than often you can find 1 or 2 treadmills, a set of dumbbells going no higher than 40 pounds, a bunch of TV’s, a couple machines, and a few other pieces of useless equipment. Sorry, just not my style to sit on a treadmill or machine.. To each his own though; if that’s what you enjoy, by all means..

But if you’re really looking to keep your muscle, strength, speed, and fitness levels high while traveling, here are a couple simple tips to help starve off boredom of regular hotel gyms, keep your workouts intense, and still allow you to enjoy your travels.

1. Invest In a Set of Resistance Bands. Not the typical surgical tubing bands you get from your local sporting goods stores, I’m talking about the heavy duty bands that actually give you some decent resistance. You can pick them up at EliteFTS.com at a pretty good price. Get a pair of each. The exercises you can perform are pretty much endless if you get creative enough – anything you can do with a cable/pulley machine you can do with bands: face pulls, band pull aparts, band good mornings, band rows, etc..
   
2. Learn to Love Unilateral Movements. Unilateral = training one limb at a time. More than likely there will be no squat/power rack at your hotel gym, so the next best option is to train 1 arm/leg at a time using dumbbells. If they aren’t heavy enough to challenge you, either up the total volume, perform timed intervals i.e. 45/15, 30/30, etc., or (even better) invest in a ketllebell. If you are driving, you could easily store this in your car and bring into the hotel gym when you want to train, or even better, go outdoors and bring a couple bands with you.
   
3. Get REALLY Good at Bodyweight Training. Bodyweight training is not done enough; pretty sad really, when most people have a rough time performing a few chin ups, bodyweight squats, or push ups without caving over. You can get an awesome training session in with a few basic bodyweight movements. Again, get creative, have fun, and enjoy the benefits of bodyweight training for strength, speed, and power.
   

BONUS: Here’s a simple travel workout you can do with minimal to no equipment:

1A.) Sprints 6-10 x 30-50 yards

2A.) Push Ups 3-4 x Max Reps

2B.) Pull Ups 3-4 x Max Reps

3A.) Swings (Use DB, KB, or homemade t-handle) 75 total reps

4A.) Band Pull Apart 4 x 25

4B.) Planks 4 x 60 seconds

As you can see, you really don’t need a whole lot of equipment to get the job done. Just the right attitude and mindset to get better!

Simple, right? I’d like to hear your comments below.. What are your favorite ways to train when you are traveling?! Remember, just because you’re on the road doesn’t mean you still can’t get a solid workout in!

See ya,

John Cortese

PS- I know that most of you by now have heard the Elliott Hulse and Mike Westerdal are about to release Lean Hybrid Muscle: Reloaded. This is GREAT news for you. Why? I have a SWEET hook-up for my blog subscribers when LHM launches next week! If you want in on this, be sure to sign up for the newsletter to hear more! I’ll have more details in the next few days, but in the meantime, be sure to “Like” this post and leave me your comments below!

Gotta sweet video for you below from my friend and mentor, Elliott Hulse!

If you’ve ever wondered how you can build lean muscle and lose fat at the same time, check out the video below. Elliott goes over a week of Hybrid Muscle training and how you can set it up for yourself..

If you liked this video, please leave your comments below!! Thanks guys!

PS- Not sure if you’ve heard yet, but Elliott Hulse and Mike Westerdal are about to launch Lean Hybrid Muscle Reloaded (the new, updated version of the original Lean Hybrid Muscle product)!! I’ll keep you guys posted, but it’s going to be sick! I was even lucky enough to contribute to LHM Reloaded with something that I think EVERYONE could benefit from, so stay tuned!! I’ve got some cool sh*t for you guys coming up that I think you’ll enjoy.

Later!!

Check this video out. It’s a follow up to the last video I put up “What The Heck is a Type III Muscle Fiber, Anyways?” You’ll wanna see that first.

If you’ve already checked that out, look at the results its’ gotten for Elliott Hulse, co-creator of LHM, and his athletes/clientele.

Does Lean Hybrid Muscle Training Really Work?

More Before & After Pics Here

Talk soon! Let me know what you thought of these before/afters after you see that video!

Talk soon…

John Cortese

Hey,

I found this really cool video from Elliott Hulse, co-creator of Lean Hybrid Muscle Building. In it, he talks about a “Type 3″ muscle fiber, also known as a “super-muscle” fiber. Pretty interesting stuff if you ask me…

Check the video out below, lemme know what you think!

-John Cortese

Click Here To Discover How Developing the Type III Muscle Fiber Can Help You
Burn Fat Faster With Shorter Workouts!

Real quick. You GOTTA check this video out.

I just got off the phone with my buddy Elliott Hulse,
who is a personal trainer and gym owner.

Elliott just gave me permission to send you the following
video that contains some pretty WEIRD and embarrassing
moments.

CLICK HERE ——<<< Funny Video

Between you and me…

This is one of the funniest videos I have ever seen about
building muscle and burning fat

I think you’re gonna be shocked!

Not only does Elliott and his buddy Mike Westerdal swallow
their pride and expose themselves for you, me and the rest
of the world to laugh and sneer at…

They also expose their jealously guarded strength
training tactics that caused them to build lean (fat free)
muscle at a ridiculously rapid rate.

The truth is that Elliott and Mike are still a little hesitant
about showing us this video, but they promised me that
it will at least be available until tomorrow.

CLICK HERE —-<<< Watch it now

Sign off,

John Cortese

CortesePerformance.com

P.S. Are these guys chuckleheads? You be the judge.

-John Cortese, YFS

CortesePerformance.com

__________________________________________________________________________________________

No BS In Season Football Training

By Elliott Hulse, CSCS

www.Football StrengthProgram.com

The recent release of my Football Strength System has sparked some debate amongst football and strength coaches.

It seems that my bare bones, no BS – style of program design and communication has created 2 classes of people…

Those who think I’m full of it and those who KNOW I’m full of it! (*joke*)

Here are some great questions about My Football Strength Training System from Coach Billy Sexton, Strength & Conditioning Coach at Southern Nazarene University in Oklahoma.

One thing i disagreed with at the college level, athletes are smart enough to pick up Olympic lifting, pretty quick, i have realized if they cant they probably are not athletic enough to play, so we spend a year developing them anyways.

Billy, I make some bold statements about Olympic Lifting in The Football Strength System – but the truth is that I use them myself, especially in preparation for strongman events.

When training HS athletes I have simply found that it is more economical for me to use the the time allotted to get them lifting heavy and jumping. Performing exercises like Squats and Dead Lifts followed by Box Jumps or Hurdle Jumps elicits a similar response as a Power Snatch, but with 1/4 the teaching time.

Also, since it may take a few weeks to learn an Olympic Lift – the weights used will typically remain low until proper technique can be executed. (I hate wasting time with light weights) With in that same time, I can take a kid who has never squatted and have him using at lest his body weight for reps in a few days and double that in a 6-8 weeks.

#1. I have had some problems with AC joint injuries, I think from the Snatch exercise, what exercises would you recommend to correct these injuries?

AC joint injuries from the snatch exercise is typically due to a muscular imbalance in the shoulder joint. Namely the pec minors, sides and back of the neck (SCM and cervical extensors) and lats and traps are over developed or simply tight and the scapular abductors, deep cervical flexors (infra- and omo-hyoid sp?) are weak.

Some people might tell you that the upper traps are weak, but I disagree – I think that they may actually be too tight. Notice the over developed traps in the pic below, this causes the shoulders to round and the head to come forward during the shrug / snatch, the line of gravity moves forward, as indicated by the dotted arrow. Such faulty head and shoulder position predisposes the middle and lower cervical vertebra to excessive sheer forces because the fibers in this region (C3-C6) are optimally arranged to elevate the load from this position.

Try this: stretch the neck, lats and pec minor prior to snatches (ooh, did I say static stretch before lifting… damn right!) and add prone cobras, external rotations and bend over rows to the strength program.

Out of curiosity, ask the guys that are having shoulder issues with the snatch if they get headaches and/or their skull feels tight. Let me know.

(Since this email Coach Saxon has confirmed that many his athletes DO get headaches – this is due to the pressure created in C3-C6 region from cervical hyper extension created from an over developed upper back muscles in relation to the mid-back and scapular adductor muscles.)

#2. If you have time, i would like to see an example program for what you would do in the in-season. we lift twice a week Monday and Thursday. i would like to see your progressions on percentages as well with what exercises you would use. Your program is well designed with a lot of good things, I have implemented most of it in my program already. it really helped me out with the three stretches, best part of the program for me, really interesting.

As you know, the biggest benefit of an in-season strength training program is to maintain the size and strength that you developed through out the off-season. In-season is for football and you don’t want to over burden the nervous or muscular system with too many unnecessary exercises or sets.

Before I give you my opinion of a good 2-day per week in-season training program I’d like to offer you a point to consider.

1. Your guys need to EAT during the in-season. It is essential that their calories don’t drop too low or they may be at risk of severe weight loss. During my freshmen year at SJU I remember some of the 270+ lb linemen finishing the season at 190lbs. (I SWEAR). Our coach had us doing too much bullshit conditioning and the kids would just go home and fall asleep after practice. You don’t want weak skinny bastards at playoff time.

EAT SOMETHING PLEASE!

Here is a sample in-season program for 2 days per week following the principles stated in my Football Strength System. You’ll notice that I don’t follow percentages, sets 1-4 work up in weight until set 5 – maximal effort. I think percentages are BS! Train with max weights for 3 weeks and take the 4th week off. Many will disagree – I guess I am full of shit!

Day 1 Monday

1) Hang Cleans – 5 x 5
2) Squats – 5 x 5
3) Barbell Russian Twists 3 x 12

Day 2 Thursday

1) Bench Press – 5 x 5
2) Bend Over Rows – 3 x 10
3) Seated Front Plate Raise 3 x 10

GO CRIMSON STORM!!!

By: Elliott Hulse, CSCS
www.FootballStrengthProgram.com

Elliott Hulse, CSCS

Author, Football Strength Program

About the Author

Learn about the “Top 10 Gym Exercises For Explosive Speed” in the free report from Elliott Hulse at www.FootballStrengthProgram.com Elliott is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist who trains football players to get bigger, stronger and faster at his gym in St. Petersburg, Florida. His Football Strength System has helped hundreds of football players, coaches and parents prepare for game winning football seasons. For more information on the Football Strength Systems that will help you gain serious mass, strength and speed visit www.FootballStrengthProgram.com