The Benefits Of Taking The Stairs...

These 215 steps of the 'Escadaria Selarón' were an essential part of our leg day this time two years ago.

Here are the benefits of stair walking/sprinting:

Muscle Tone & Strength - The calves, the quads, the hamstrings and the glutes, that's all the muscles of the leg get a bloody good workout.

Full Body Workout - Although the bulk of the effort is shared by the legs, the pumping of the arms and shoulders help propel you upwards and forwards.

Fat Dynamite - Need we explain? Try climbing at least 100 steps a day and see what happens.

Cardiovascular Fitness - It's a great way to strengthen the heart and lungs. You'll find that after doing a few flights of stairs your chest will be beating like a drum (don't overdo it though).

Abbreviated Workout - Some brainy scientists have established that it provides fat burning and cardiovascular benefits three times faster than walking or running on flat ground.

Safer For Knees - Compared to running or walking on a flat surface, stairs are low impact. And as long as good technique is maintained, and there are no pre-existing issues it can be a much better alternative.

Bang For Your Buck - It's cheap as chips! Works your lower and upper body. Torches fat. Provides cardiovascular benefits. Saves time. Better for the knees. That's six for the price of one, or your unhealthy life back.

Challenge Yourself: lunge, hop, take two steps at a time, walk side ways, if your brave enough walk backwards or use weights (try piggybacking someone).

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Sample Leg Workout...

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We Heart Squats, Again...

We recently had our squat looked over by Sally Moss the lady behind Gubernatrix, Ladies Who Lift and Strength Ambassadors, and we are happy to say that a rediscovery of our love of squatting has occurred.

In fact we don't look too dissimilar to the happy, heavy breathing, tail wagging, deep-squatting dog in the video. His owner on the other hand...pshhh!

via: BoxRox

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Sample Leg Workout...

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Snatching In Slow-Mo! Epic!

Source: Heather Chapman

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The Track's A Calling...

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Take The Stairs...

Earlier this year we took to hot stepping Rio de Janeiro's, 'Escadaria Selarón'.

Its creator, Jorge Selarón, the Chilean-born artist, covered the set of stairs in fragments of mainly blue, green and yellow tile matching the colours of the Brazilian flag.

It's doubtful that back in 1990 when he started the project he envisaged his tribute to his adopted country would become so iconic. It's probably more likely that he envisaged the holidaying writers of a blog, called GETfizzYcaL, making it's 215 steps an essential part of their leg day.

Because you are fighting more gravity than you would from running or walking on flat, stair walking and sprinting provide the following benefits:

Muscle Tone & Strength - The calves, the quads, the hamstrings and the glutes, that's all the muscles of the leg get a bloody good workout.

Full Body Workout - Although the bulk of the effort is shared by the legs, the pumping of the arms and shoulders help propel you upwards and forwards.

Fat Dynamite - Need we explain? Try climbing at least 100 steps a day and see what happens.

Cardiovascular Fitness - It's a great way to strengthen the heart and lungs. You'll find that after doing a few flights of stairs your chest will be beating like a drum (don't overdo it though).

Abbreviated Workout - Some brainy scientists have established that it provides fat burning and cardiovascular benefits three times faster than walking or running on flat ground.

Safer For Knees - Compared to running or walking on a flat surface, stairs are low impact. And as long as good technique is maintained, and there are no pre-existing issues it can be a much better alternative.

Bang For Your Buck - It's cheap as chips! Works your lower and upper body. Torches fat. Provides cardiovascular benefits. Saves time. Better for the knees. That's six for the price of one, or your unhealthy life back.

Challenge Yourself: lunge, hop, take two steps at a time, walk side ways, if your brave walk backwards or use weights (try piggybacking someone).

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Still On An Olympic High...

Popped into Nike Town the other day and bought some "shoes to die for, darlings!" These Nike Zoom Rival S6s are gonna bring back those sub-11 second 100m days!

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You Thought You Knew How To Run?

Here's a more in-depth tutorial.

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Reverse Lunges...

Reverse lunges are a great exercise for your legs. All the major muscle groups of the lower body are called into play. Primary muscles such as the buttocks, thighs and calves get a great workout as well as the hamstrings, lower back and abs which act as stabilisers.

They can be done with or without weight.

Doing them in reverse as opposed to the conventional forward version places less stress on the knees as weight stays constant on the forward leg.

Execution:

1. Stand straight with feet shoulder width apart.

2. Step one foot back so that the front leg forms a rough 90 degree angle. The knee of your trailing leg should not touch the ground.

3. As you descend lean a little forward so that your stomach rests a touch on your thigh.

4. Return back to the starting position using only a little push with your trailing leg. The forward leg should do most of the work.

Put Your Best Foot Forward...

Vivobarefooot are at the forefront of a barefoot running rival which promises to reduce running injuries and to get us back in tune to the way we once ran.

Cushioned heels fall notches short of being the devil's work. Encouraging us to land on our heels as opposed to our mid foot, the cushioned heel according to vivobarefoot promotes inefficient movement which places excessive stress on joints and can lead to knee and back problems.

Fans of the vivobarefoot brand and the ideology behind it include Bear Grylls, celebrity personal trainer Josh Holland, MovNat's Erwan Le Corre and Hollywood Actor Kevin Spacey.

The Neo crosstrainer pictured above is one of many shoes offered by the company. Checkout the others at vivobarefoot.com.

And take a quick lesson in how to run by world renowned running expert and coaching program director for Vivobarefoot, Lee Saxby.

The Farmer's Walk...

Squat down, grab two heavy objects, stand-up and walk. That's it, lesson over!

Ahh actually...make sure to push your heels into the ground when you stand-up and when near lockout, explosively squeeze your glutes rather than using your lower back.

And...take short choppy controlled steps. If you are able to take long strides the weight you're using is probably to light.

The staple of strongmen competitions the farmer's walk will work your grip, forearms, shoulders, upper back, glutes and your legs. Your abdominals, hips and lower back will also come into play to stabilize you.

Here's a nicely edited vid from our pal Val from Rawfit.co.uk showing how it's done:

The Nicest Thing About Hill Sprints...

The view from the top of the 'Primrose Hell Hill' at Primrose Hill, London, England!

Crazy!

Duck Waddles...

This is a great exercise for the thighs and a sure fire way to get a few stares.

Simply squat down into a tip toed crouch with both hands on your hips and step forward with one foot, then the other, then the other, then the other, et cetera, et cetera!

If you have weak knees you may want to avoid this exercise.

Captured Crickets AKA Hands Behind The Head Knee Jumps

You are a Cricket! No ordinary Cricket. In fact you're the leader of a highly skilled platoon of Crickets who have just parachuted into animals-that-eat-crickets territory.

Unfortunately your arrival was not kept so top secret and you and your team are unexpectedly ambushed. You become prisoners of war...you become Captured Crickets (cue 'Platoon' theme music)...

1. Kneel on a soft surface and sit back on your heels.

2. Place your hands behind your head and interlock fingers.

3. Explosively thrust your hips out and up.

4. As you land plant your feet with a stomp.

5. Pause briefly at the bottom of the squat and rise slowly.

6. Tense your glutes, quads and hamstrings hard when in the standing position.

7. Reverse lunge backwards and lower yourself slowly onto your right knee then your left.

8. Repeat the exercise making sure to lower yourself onto your left knee first (alternate knees for each rep).

Captured Crickets work the hips, quads, hamstrings and glutes and are great for developing explosive power. They are also good for learning proper hip thrust technique which is a vital ingredient for squatting and deadlifting.

For a simpler version and other variations of Crickets head here.

Rambling & Walking...

Read Gubernatrix article on the benefits of a good ole walk here.

Kossacks...

Kossacks build flexibilty and strength in the inner thighs, hamstrings and hips.

They are usually performed with kettlebells but they can be done with a dumbell (held goblet fashion), a kettlebag, without any weight at all or as the genius fellow below is doing with a very heavy chain:

And You Thought You Knew How To Run?

Zercher Squat Attempt...Whoops!