As a reminder the four categories of movement in the circuit are:

1. Level Changes – lower body dominant movements, dropping and raising the center of mass
2. Push/Pull – upper body dominant movements
3. Rotary Stability/Rotation – focusing on core strength
4. Locomotion and Standing- athletic movements that increase coordinative skill

This third circuit is for total body conditioning and increasing the demands of the energy systems.  The details, so you can do your own circuit at home or in your facility are as follows:

• Always begin with a proper dynamic warm-up
• For conditioning, perform 45 to 60 seconds of work followed by 15 seconds of rest in between each station
• Four-exercise circuit
• Three to four rounds or circuits with 60-90 seconds of rest in between rounds for the entire workout

And finally, what you’ve been waiting for…the exercise list:

1. Clean
   • Explosive variation based on Olympic lift.
   • First Progression: One SteelBell/SandBell
   • Second Progression: 2 SteelBells/SandBells to create dynamic challenge.
   • Strong,neutral wrist position.
   • Grip into SteelBell
   • Movement generated from the strength of the hips
2. SteelBell Flips with Push Ups
   • Great for Shoulder stability.
   • Shift weight back and forth on single arm.
   • Dynamic movementfor upper body and great challenge for core strength
   • First Progression: SteelBell Flips
   • Second Progression: SteelBell Flips and Push Ups
3. Star Pattern
   • Athletic position with braced core
   • Covering many movements in one pattern with star pattern
   • Involves great shoulder to opposite hip rotational patterns
4. Lateral Shuffle with Lateral Lunge
   • Frontal plane movement.
   • Lateral shuffle over SandBell, immediately to lateral lunge
   • Lateral lunge emphasizes strength needed for changes of direction.
   • Push off outside foot.
   • Higher in metabolic demand than a balance movement for increasing overall work load of circuit
   • First Progression: Only body weight, no SandBell
   • Second Progression: Perform with resistance of SandBell

As always, we’d love to hear your feedback, so let us know how this circuit was for you!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6DfqMPMKck[/youtube]

But, don’t let all those heavy statistics weigh you down just yet.

An online article from WeAreAustin.com, “To fight obesity, even babies should exercise,” the British government reveals that children under five should exercise everyday in order to form habits conducive to a healthy adult lifestyle. This doesn’t mean that we’re promoting baby boot camps, but forming healthy habits at a young age can only bring about good things!

The article goes on to say that walking children under five should be active for at least three hours a day, and infants not able to walk should be encouraged to play on their stomachs or swim with their parents. The British government hopes that by motivating children to be active, their chances of becoming obese in adulthood will be reduced.

How can Hyper Wear aid this obesity epidemic you may ask? Well in case you didn’t know, the Hyper Vest PRO is available in small, extra small and extra, extra small, just so children can use them too! The Vest, as well as the SandBells and SteelBells, are completely safe, totally fun and 100 percent kid-approved! Instilling healthy habits in your children is one of the best things you can do for them. Encourage play time, exercise and getting off the couch, your kids will not only be healthy, but also fit and happy with you!

To see what parents and teachers have to say about kids using Hyper Wear products click the link, and be sure to watch the videos at the bottom of the page. You can also view the Facebook album from our presentation at Great Oaks Elementary Wellness Day to get a first-hand look at just how excited playing (err, working out) with the SandBells can be!

Don’t get me wrong, I will see it, but the trouble is three-fold:

1.  I don’t want to sit amongst the throngs of die-hards that will attend this weekend.

2.  I didn’t see the last one (part one to this part two).  I know – horror of horrors!  But I hate the suspense!  I couldn’t bear seeing the first half and then having to wait for the second.  So, first I have to watch that one.  In fact, while I’m at it, I think I need to watch all of them again in a row so I remember the flow of the story…

3.  I don’t want to slip into the deep depression feared for many Muggles according to this article:

Grief counseling for Muggles mourning final ‘Harry Potter’ film

But have no fear!!  Hyper Wear has a solution!

Do you know what’s great for dealing with depression and grief?

Exercise!  That’s right!  It gets the endorphins flowing that give you happy feelings and it helps you look great so that when you look in the mirror you love what you see and when you get the one-eyebrow-raised-half-smile-with-the-head-nod at the gym, you know it was well-deserved.

We have a whole channel on You Tube with tons of videos with ideas for exercises to do!

So, for all you sad Muggles out there mourning the end of an era, chin up!  We’ve got just the thing!

An article on Livestrong.com, “Benefits of a Weight Vest,” by Andy Chasse discusses how and why weight vests are so effective, and provides some research to back it up. For example, a study conducted at Texas Tech University consisting of two groups of athletes, one training with and one training without a weight vest, revealed that after six weeks both groups improved in various tactical areas, but the one training with the vest improved substantially more.

Weight vests are a great tool to amp up workouts and challenge muscles so they don’t get used to repetitive movements. When you’re pressed for time and can’t come up with new exercises to keep the body guessing, just throw on a vest.

“This unconventional exercise method allows us to throw our systems off whenever necessary,” says Chasse.

Still not convinced? Well then consider the findings of another study in Chasse’s article—a study published in the “European Journal of Applied Physiology” found that of 12 distance athletes, the group running with a weight vest “emerged victorious with improvements in both their VO2 max (a measure of the body’s ability to consume oxygen) and lactate threshold (the exercise intensity at which lactate begins to accumulate in the blood), two crucial factors affecting endurance exercise.”

US Olympic Decathlete, Trey Hardee trained with the Hyper Vest PRO prior to his 2009 season. In a testimonial to Hyper Wear, Hardee had the following to say about the Hyper Vest PRO.

“I have never seen or used a weight vest like the Hyper Vest PRO. It stays tight, comfortable and cool on my body enabling me to increase my bodyweight while training. It makes adding resistance to my workouts effortless…”

So believe the hype! The Hyper Vest PRO is the real deal when it comes to seeing results and improvement. Visit hyperwear.com to purchase your own vest and see why so many people are boasting the great benefits weight vest training has to offer!

The most popular bending exercise on the planet is probably the Deadlift and its multiple variations. In this week’s video I show you a spin on the traditional exercise by playing a vertical version of “Move the Mountain,” a traditionally horizontal activity.

No matter the age of the student/athlete, Hyper Wear can provide you with the right size of SandBell or SteelBell to make this activity fun, safe, and effective!

Enjoy!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAv3vPM5L8k[/youtube]

Never Stand Still!

Bill Meyer, SCE, USAW
Head Hyper Wear Coach

“A strong body improves your biomechanics, which enables you to train harder and more effectively without increased injury or risk,” says Matt Dixon, M. Sc., a San Francisco running coach. It makes sense that, if you want to train harder, your muscles are going to have to be strong enough to support the extra miles you’ll be pounding on the pavement. Another perk of strength training is the injuries you’ll avoid as your miles add up. Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, a Men’s Health Fitness Advisor and author of Turbulence Training for Fat Loss, conducted his own informal experiment of strength-training’s impact and concluded, “the more strength and muscle you have, the less likely you are to get chronic overuse injury.” He went on to say that being thinner may allow runners to attack hills faster, but will also leave them prone to more injuries.

What’s the safest, most effective and definitely most fun way to incorporate strength training workouts? By using our SandBell sandbags, SteelBell weights and Hyper Vest PRO weight vest, OF COURSE! The Hyper Wear blog archive contains hundreds of tips, videos and workout plans, and is a great resource to come up with your own muscle-building routines. Check out the video below for some SandBell exercises, take a look at previous blogs, or search Hyper Wear on YouTube for even more videos and demonstrations!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94KncdoUm3k[/youtube]

Regardless of the exercises you choose to do, strength training is an essential workout component that should not be overlooked, especially for runners. So pick up a SandBell and let those muscles feel the burn!

Pull-ups are a fantastic strength exercise throughout the upper body.  Unfortunately, not all athletes or students can achieve a great amount of them, or even one for that matter!  So set them up for success by practicing the drill from this video!

As a child, I can’t remember anything else on the playground more challenging but more fun than swinging from the monkey bars.  Zip up your Hyper Vest PRO for an added challenge and give the pull-ups and chin-ups a rest for a while!

For additional support, add in an appropriate level of superband to aid in the movement, and climb til you can’t climb no more!

Enjoy!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhZ7f3glAp8&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Never Stand Still!

Bill Meyer, SCE, USAW
Head Hyper Wear Coach

This week I’m taking a different approach to the traditional push-up. I can’t think of another exercise that our young children despise more than the push-up, and why wouldn’t they? They’re in such a new developmental stage where their bodies are growing, their head is usually bigger proportionately than the rest of their body, and there we are, the teacher making them get on the ground and crank out push-ups over and over again with each passing day.

Why not create a game out of it? Try the Plank Position Dot Toss game in this video, and bonus points go out to everyone out there that has SandBells to use instead of dots! This game doesn’t have to be the end-all-be-all…create ways to integrate the students or athletes to work together, encourage each other, and work out their minds all at the same time!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zq0aqMDqv9A[/youtube]

Never Stand Still!

Bill Meyer, SCE, USAW
Head Hyper Wear Coach

Here at Hyper Wear, we like them.

They included our SandBell and SteelBells in some of the training they did last weekend.  The circuits looked really fun, but really intense.  Check it out for yourself (be sure to watch out for our own Denver sporting the Hyper Vest PRO around minute 2:05…way to represent, Denver!):

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRYTeUdHuvY&feature=share[/youtube]

Check these guys out and if you get to train with them, tell ‘em howdy from Hyper Wear!

Our athletes / trainers for the shoot included Diane Vives, Hyper Wear’s Director of Training; Daryell Harmon, Avery Moore, and Joe Lopez of Police Training Group out of Dallas, TX; and Sayif Saud of Octagon Fitness, also out of Dallas, TX.  It was truly humbling to be in a room with so many amazing athletes from such varied backgrounds, but all with the desire to present SandBells and SteelBells to the combat athlete world.

Behind the cameras were Dennis Weaver and Timothy Chew.  Sound was run by John McDaniel (who had a lot of ambient noise to deal with from the ice machine in the warehouse behind us to the birds pecking on the roof to the police sirens at various points to large trucks rumbling by).  And Nikita Lance graced us with her wonderful slate abilities!

Cosmo, Diane, and Dennis put the whole shoot together and between the three of them did an amazing job of setting up shots, coaching the trainers for what would look best on camera, and handling wrenches that got thrown in at the last minute.

And there was of course the wonderful folks at H.E.A.T. Bootcamp who were so kind and accommodating to let us use their space!  Founder and creator, Cody Butler, met with some of our crew to show them around the space and help figure out logistics.  On Wednesday, he was around all day, always checking on us to make sure we had what we needed.  They even moved their sessions outside so we could have full use of the facility.  And Marshall Ryan Priest let us in to set up Tuesday evening and showed us the ropes.

Our fabulous interns, Jordan Pratt and Carol Martins, helped me do any odd jobs that needed doing.  Dirk Buikema stopped by with Video Release Forms and Joe Atocha and Ben Buikema held down the fort back here at the office.  And I shouldn’t leave out Denver Fredenburg who gave a big thumbs up to the whole deal!!  I even want to thank the kind and helpful folks at Rudy’s and Subway who took our food orders and carried the big boxes to the car for me (even when I was parked a block away!).

It was a lot of work, but we all agreed that it was well worth it!  We can’t wait to get the DVD done and out there – it’s gonna rock the Combat Athlete’s world!

Whether you’re a strength coach, personal trainer, bootcamp instructor, physical education instructor, or just a fitness enthusiast, this video series is for you. No matter the athlete or student, there is always room for play (or there should be).  You would be surprised at the reaction of your athletes when you allow for an activity or a game instead of the traditional lifts, presses, and throws. I would be willing to bet that the relationship between athlete and coach/instructor would greatly improve if there was an involvement of play in the workout program from time to time.

Hyper Wear’s products allow for safe, effective, play-based fitness and can be used for serious training, as well as serious fun.  The SandBells and SteelBells allow for resistance training, while the Hyper Vest PRO takes any activity, exercise, or game to a higher level with added resistance in a safe manner.

Bottom line: Never forget to have FUN with your training!!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yrdv-ydD1nA[/youtube]

Never Stand Still!

Bill Meyer, SCE, USAW
Head Hyper Wear Coach

Anyway, Melinda called bright and early Monday morning.  Just before the weekend, she was told she had Osteopenia and was given some options.  Her doctor said she could take the recommended drugs or try an alternative.  Melinda did not like the sound of the side effects of the drugs, so she went the alternative route.  She needed to do weight bearing exercise and walking her little 115-pound, 5′3″ self around was not enough weight to bear!  Her doctor then recommended that she load up a backpack with soup cans and carry it around as much as possible throughout the day.

Melinda’s response: “Soup cans?  Really?  I think we can do a little better than that!”

So she did some research online and found our Hyper Vest PRO.  I don’t want to put words in her mouth, but I think Melinda felt it was perfect for what she needed.  She could wear it pretty much all day, hidden under her clothes if she so desired.  A backpack full of soup cans is a little harder to wear discreetly!  She also liked that it wouldn’t hinder her normal activities.  In addition, we both felt like something that fits snugly on your entire core is of far greater benefit than something that, by its very design, pulls on your back and shoulders.

The applications for the Hyper Vest PRO are so vast, it sometimes makes me try to think of things it would not be good for simply because that list is so much shorter!

So, if you have Osteopenia or Osteoporosis, talk to your doctor about the benefits of wearing a weighted vest and then give us a call…I’d love to chat with you about it!!

The final week of the Pick 3 Series is upon us. It’s time to work some conditioning with my favorite tools in the toolbox: the SteelBell from Hyper Wear and the Loadable Sledgehammer from Stronger Grip. Equal movement patterns, equal results, two times the fun!!

With proper instruction, the sledgehammer can be utilized for fantastic conditioning and power development. Make sure the focus is on the technique and the speed of the movement. Be sure to never overload your athlete with something they can’t handle.

The SteelBell is safe to slam on all surfaces; however, be careful to avoid any sharp surfaces with rocks or debris. Both movements compliment each other with the SteelBell being more appropriate for younger and inexperienced athletes before using the sledgehammer.

Check it out!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xz_QxmuEdo&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Never Stand Still!

Bill Meyer, SCE, USAW
Head Hyper Wear Coach

Need a quick workout mid-week that incorporates Hyper Wear’s versatile products?  Try the following mini-workout wearing your Hyper Vest PRO and use whatever size SandBells you prefer.

5 min. warm up (jumping jacks or walking in place work well)

1 min. each of the following (count reps)

> SandBell Kettlebell Single Arm Swings – Stand with feet wider than hip-distance apart.  Get a good grip on the SandBell (grip into the sand, not just the rim).  Bending at the hips, swing the SandBell between legs and then forward until level with the ground.  Get a good momentum / motion going.  Then at the top of the swing, release the SandBell and catch it with the other hand, continuing the motion.

> Butt Burners – Balance on one foot, holding a SandBell in the opposite hand.  Bend at the hips and lower the SandBell down to to the foot on the ground.  Keep your back flat and extend the back leg straight out behind you.  Return to standing and repeat.  Stay on the same leg for the entire minute.

> X chops (think Core) – Gripping a SandBell with both hands, hold it at your left hip.  “Rip” the SandBell across the body to the right shoulder then slowly lower to the right hip and “rip” it to the left shoulder.  Continue making this X motion and keep the core tight.

> Toe Taps – Place the SandBell on the ground.  Tap your right toes then your left toes on it, quickly switching between feet with a hopping movement.

> Mountain Climbers – You’ll need a slick floor for this move.  Get two SandBells of equal size and place them on the slick floor.  Turn over into push up position and plant your toes into the center of each of the SandBells.  Perform a Mountain Climber, moving your left foot, then your right foot forward and back.

Repeat whole series and try to beat your number of reps from the first round

5 min. cool down

I have a couple of problems with this situation as well as corresponding solutions:

1.  How often does an 85-year-old woman need to sit in a chair and lift her foot straight up until it is even with her knee with added weight?  How practical / functional is that really?

Solution: Why not have her doing real-life movements – those things she does in her day-to-day life?  Things like walking around, squatting down to pick something up, etc.  And if you want to increase the weight on her so she is building muscle, add a Hyper Vest PRO so weight can be added in very small increments.  This also eliminates the use of weights on the joints and instead holds it on the torso.

2.  Doesn’t a whole pound seem like a large increase?  Especially at her age and strength level?

Solution: The Hyper Vest PRO weights are only one seventh of a pound each.  The original purpose for this was so the weights would be small enough to conform to and move with the body (think chainmail).  The added benefit is that the wearer can add very small increments of weight without doing too much too fast.

What are some ways you can see an adjustable weight vest being of great benefit to you?

Round Two of Hyper Wear vs. Stronger Grip involves shoulder mobility. I’m using a 20 lb Loadable Swinging Mace from Stronger Grip and a 20 lb SteelBell from Hyper Wear.  And it goes without saying that I’ve got on the form-fitting, award-winning Hyper Vest PRO from Hyper Wear!

The Swinging Mace is a fantastic piece of training equipment; however, I would recommend building up to the exercise if you are a beginner to fitness. The SteelBell offers a similar training demand with a shorter lever and is a safer option, but I would say places an even more challenging demand on your grip. Enjoy the exercise and check in next week for the final round of SG vs HW!!!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=perS7SGZHu0&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Never Stand Still!

Bill Meyer, SCE, USAW
Head Hyper Wear Coach

Need a quick workout mid-week that incorporates Hyper Wear’s versatile products?  Try the following mini-workout wearing your Hyper Vest PRO and use whatever size SandBells you prefer.

5 min. warm up (jumping jacks or walking in place work well)

1 min. each of the following (count reps)

> Chest Pass a SandBell(to a partner or as far as you can, then run get it and pass it back)

> Back Lunges (holding a SandBell, step back to a proper lunge instead of forward)

> Dolly Tucks (need a slick floor for this one – push up position with toes on a SandBell on a slick surface.  Tuck knees to chest, pulling SandBell along floor, then push back out to extended position.)

> Hurdles (stand SandBells on their sides and jump laterally over them like mini speed hurdles)

> Rainbow Slam (Hold SandBell overhead and then twist to the right and slam it to the floor, really hard,  so it lands to the outside of your right foot.  Pivot your feet and squat down to get it, keeping your back flat.  Pick up and make a rainbow over head as you repeat on the left side.)

Repeat whole series and try to beat your number of reps from the first round

5 min. cool down