We are back from Iowa. We had a great time doing the show, American Storm while we were there, and we also had one heck of a workout while we were there too. I would like to share this story. We decided, my brother and I, that we could beat the rest of the crew of American Storm while we were in Iowa, at a game of basketball. 2 on 5. Yes, that’s right. 2 guys against 5 guys. Now, although this seems like a huge mismatch, it turns out, it was. But not the way you might think. The short story of it all, is that Terry(my brother), and I, literally SPANKED the rest of the cast. They also had our stage manager, and our sound and lights man at their disposal for substitutions. Playing to 25 by 1′s and 2′s, we beat them 25-5. The math doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. I know. But here’s the thing. The rest of the guys in the show, have great bodies, they look amazing, and go to the gym. They do their lifts and their cardio. Their workouts are good, but they lack one thing. Diversity. All these guys know is lifting weights. Now, I’m not trying to knock them, but this was no competition. No one on the other team had any basketball experience. Nor did they know how to move laterally, or transversely. They didn’t know how to change direction. The thing about this is, you need to be able to do that in life. It’s that simple. Now, you won’t necessarily have to guard a former college athlete in the sport that they played, but what about if you go on a snowboarding trip. You need to know how to move side to side, and twist and turn when necessary, or else it’s going to be a pretty unexciting trip. Or lets say you are playing with your brothers kid. Running and chasing them around. That kid is going to be all over the place. Wouldn’t you like to be able to keep up with them? The point I am trying to make here, is that weights and cardio and the traditional workout are great for “bodybuilding“, but for daily life “fitness“, they don’t account for much. So diversify your workouts. Learn to do something new. Take up a sport, or lessons of some sort, or just play like a kid. You’ll be more competitive when you challenge two former college basketball players to a game they love. If you are interested in watching the mayhem, I posted it on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubDXLFH6jLs
Archive for May, 2010
Fitness- Not Just About Lifting Weights
Friday, May 28th, 2010Motivate My Workouts! Las Vegas Fitness
Sunday, May 23rd, 2010Wow. Sitting at the airport today in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and I need to detox. I went home for an American Storm show, and let’s say my town treated me well. Anyway, today is going to be a short one, because I think my flight leaves in ten minutes. One of the guys in the show asked me about motivation for workouts. He says he always has problems at the gym staying motivated to do that last set, or to push a little bit more weight, or even to just work out. So what can be done about this? Personally, I fall victim to this from time to time, and I look in the mirror, and look at old pictures to stay on top of my game. if i don’t look like I did in the pictures, that’s motivation enough for me. Some people need music to motivate them. Sometimes it’s an atmosphere thing. If you don’t like where you are working out, try a different gym a couple days. That might be all it takes to jumpstart you back up. Or maybe it’s a new workout program that will excite you again. Go buy new workout clothes. Ask a friend to come work out with you. Maybe take a few days off, and see what happens. You might start itching to get a good workout in. Whatever it is for you, find it. The slightest changes you make, could make all the difference in your bodies. Good luck, and if you have any more options, let me know!
Fitness Isn’t Just a Body Thing
Sunday, May 16th, 2010I went on a bike ride today. I think it did me more good than just burning a few calories. I didn’t take an ipod. Ididn’t have a heart rate monitor on. I definitely didn’t have my cell phone on me. I just decided to ride through some of Las Vegas. Just me and my bike. Just me and my bike y’all. If you know that Biggie song, the previous sentence is funny. But here’s the deal. I was riding my bike, for the fitness aspect of it, yes. I do need to up my cardio a bit. But what I found, wasn’t that it was the fitness aspect of it I needed most. It was the mind clearing aspect of it. See, without my ipod, or cell phone or technology, I was able to actually think. I was able to enjoy my surroundings, and just ride. A few minutes into the bike ride, I didn’t care how many calories i was burning or how intense this workout was going to be. I just decided, that I wanted to ride my bike. So the lesson to be learned in this whole thing, is sometimes, you have to just do some things, that aren’t for fitness benefits. Just get out there and move. It reminded me that certain activities help you stay sane. Certain exercises free your mind. This is just as important as getting your six pack, or losing those last few pounds of body fat. So go back to your childhood, and do something fun. Not just for fitness or exercise, but because you want to. You’ll notice that you’ll get some great benefits physically, and you’ll be more apt to stick with it, if it’s some kind of release for you.
Infomercial Fitness- Are WE Next?
Friday, May 14th, 2010I have never done P90X. I have definitely watched the videos. I have also never done that Insanity one. But I have also watched those fitness dvd’s. I have opinions on both, but don’t care to go into those. They are definitely both hardcore, amazing workouts, but can everyone do them? I don’t think so. This got me thinking. I need to make a fitness dvd program, that is geared towards not only the people who are elite athletes and who want to get ripped, but also the guy next door, who wants to just live longer, and have a more enjoyable life. What do you guys think? I’d love to have some feedback on this, as I am going to go ahead and follow through with this project I think needs to be done. Any questions, tips, recommendations, or donations are greatly appreciated. You can email me at tony@tonycress.com. Thank you guys for your time. This is going to be one heck of an experience.
The Fitness Game- Don’t Cheat
Saturday, May 8th, 2010So, we have you finally workin’ on your fitness. You have decided to make a change. You start eating right, working out, and paying attention to your physical well being. Awesome! Congratulations! I promise you this is a decision you won’t regret. I want to talk to you specifically about the working out part today. I see a lot of things go on, while I am with my personal training clients, or with my fitness campers, or in the gym in general. These things are both good and bad. Yes, you are on the right track, getting in your workout, spending time in the gym or in group exercise classes. But the thing I see in adults, when they take on these things, is that they lose that drive from competition. I will take my fitness camp for an example. Now, the people in fitness camp work hard, there is NO doubt about that. But what I see, when we partner up, or we do team races, is that some people “cheat”, or slack off. Let’s say you are doing partner leg throws. Now, your partner doesn’t want to make you mad, so they only throw your legs at a moderate level. If this were me, I’d beg for a little more effort. Either they are afraid when it’s their turn, you are going to throw their legs with too much force, or they don’t want to hurt you. I think both are cop out excuses. You are there for a reason. To get a benefit out of this workout. By doing this, you are cheating both yourself, and your partner. Aren’t you there to put forth a maximum effort, and to get results from this whole fitness thing? If you just go through the motions, what reward will you get? A garbage one. If you try your hardest every workout, those gains are going to come that much quicker, and you will be even MORE thrilled that you decided to take this journey! The same can be said in the gym. If you push yourself, get a few more reps in with the weights, go another mile on that treadmill, you will REAP the rewards and benefits. Your body is an amazing machine, and you need to realize just what potential it holds. Don’t go for “good enough”. Go for “amazing”!
Your Fitness. What is it Worth?
Tuesday, May 4th, 2010There are plenty of fitness infomercials on tv right now. I can flip through the channels at any given time and see commercials for the newest craze. A weight you just “shake”. A program promising amazing results in 90 days. Another fitness program claiming you’d have to be “insane” to not do it. Obviously, a lot of these advertisements work, so it tells me one thing. People do care about their health. The fact that people are buying these products says they do want to put in some effort, even if these are the “quick fixes”. Once the product is purchased, who really knows how much use one will get out of it. But that brings up another question in my mind. How much is your fitness worth to you? I don’t know that you could put a monetary value on it, but let’s just look at it a couple different ways. Living in Las Vegas, the nightclub scene is tops. There are places that charge $22 for one drink! And guess what. People buy them. Now, normally, you don’t have just one drink, so let’s say you have three. With a tip, we can say that’s about $75 right? No big deal, you were out drinking. Now let’s turn this into fitness and exercise. One, you just spent some money on things that are taking you away from your fitness goals, and two, that money could have been spent on something taking you towards those very same goals. So now, is it not worth it to pay the extra few dollars to buy organic? Is three drinks really worth one personal training session? I’m going to end this here, but take a look at your goals, and figure out what is worth what to you.