Girls: Ok, lots of women are scared to death that if they lift heavy they’ll bulk up like a guy.
On the flipside, hot girls are not afraid of lifting heavy. Lifting heavy is usually how they got hot.
Guys: Ok dudes, if you can’t bench press your bodyweight, then it’s time to re-think your workout program. Maybe you should take a look at your workouts and try to figure out why LeAnn Rimes is pound for pound stronger than you are.
LeAnn Rimes in the lastest Shape Magazine mentions she loves how strong she is now, and that she can bench press her own bodyweight. And surprise, surprise – she looks wicked hot.
If you haven’t noticed already, I’m a big fan of Shape Magazine. Why? Because typically they focus on celebrities had who had to work for the bodies they have. They do smart workouts, and work hard.
I think I read once that all Catherine Zeta Jones does is tango, and that she doesn’t work out at all. Ok, mental note: Catherine Zeta Jones is genetically gifted. Nothing against that. I’m stoked for her. But I have a feeling that if all you had to do to look like that was tango, you probably wouldn’t be reading my articles. You’d be tangoing.
No shock about the rest of LeAnn’s workout details – big movements, circuit training, and intervals on the treadmill. Some things ALWAYS work. Why not put them all together at the same time? Works for LeAnn. Works for my clients.
To recap:
1.) If you want to get lean, you’ve got to focus on getting stronger.
That means you should be lifting progressively heavier weights. You might not go load up the barbell equal to your bodyweight and try to bench press it tomorrow… but why not work on benching your bodyweight in 2008? Why not have an eye on doing your first unassisted pullup? Or your tenth pullup? Or your first butt to the ground one legged squat?
2.) Circuit Training Works.
It does work – Do it. Circuits of full body movements (like squats, bench press, seated row) work better than circuits of small isolated movements (curls, tricep pushdowns, leg curls, leg extensions). Bodyweight circuits are awesome also (lunges, pushups, box jumps, inverted body rows).
By Josh Hillis
Author of How To Lose The Stubborn Seven Pounds: Take Your Body from Good to Rockstar.
Josh Hillis is a specialist in getting my clients lean, fast. Josh usually works with the hardest clients to lean out – women who are already in good shape. He likes the challenge of burning off the stubborn fat. Josh’s book is about how anyone can get that that lean rockstar body they’ve always wanted.
© Joshua Hillis 2007
You seem to have incorporated a lot of training concepts from CrossFit.com. Why do you give them more acknowledgement? I see that you are level 2 CrossFit certified. Do you have affiliate status?
I’ve had a ton of influences –
The Russian Kettlebell Challenge
Dan John
CrossFit
Gym Jones
Art of Strength/Punch! Gym
Steve Maxwell
Underground Strength Coach
The Monkeybar Gym
Alwyn Cosgrove
Craig Ballantyne
Charles Staley
I started kettlebell lifting back in 2000, and I was shocked at how amazing “full body lifts” were. I did my first workout “for time” out of the back of the RKC book – 100 snatches for time. Then later the Maxwercise Metabolic Meltdown. Both were Steve Maxwell specials.
I started CrossFitting I think in 2005. I was pretty gung ho about CrossFit and promoted it to everyone I knew for that whole year. I was mixing it in with what I had learned at The Russian Kettlebell Challenge Certification and was pretty stoked.
I’m not a CrossFit affiliate, and I’m not welcome in CrossFit anymore. CrossFit treated me pretty badly. You’d be shocked at how badly I was treated.
It was actually the best thing that ever happened to me because when I stopped drinking the Kool Aid it opened my eyes to learning from other sources.
I do still do kettlebell training.
My training is much more periodized and structured now than back in 2005. My periodization for a long time was NASM mixed with Pavel’s Beyond Bodybuilding.
I learned a lot from Alwyn Cosgrove’s Program Design Manual and Practical Guide to Fat Loss for Fitness Professionals. It had a profound impact on the way I periodize training now. Lots of slapping my head and shouting “ah ha”.
My influences in terms of movement selection are very Cosgrove/Ballantyne/Tsatsouline. As is my program design.
I also do a lot of workouts “for time” with my clients, but it actually looks more like Steve Maxwell’s grappler’s workouts or like Charles Staley’s EDT than it does CrossFit.
I’ve learned from many sources. I added in a lot of Alwyn Cosgrove stuff because it works. Anything else I can find that will increase my client’s results I will add in. But what I do is my unique style. I’m always testing. I’m always learning from the results of my clients.
I’ve had lots of influences and I am grateful for them all.
I am an empty cup, I am still learning, and I’m stoked my clients allow me to expiriment on them. I’m a better trainer than I was last year, and I’ll be a better trainer next year. I owe it to my teachers, and to my clients.
Note that I did give CrossFit credit on my kipping pullup article:
https://joshhillis.com/articles/2006/04/what_is_a_kippi.html
why dismiss the “tango workout” without trying it? it doesn’t seem inherently implausible that it constitutes a “real” workout. for darn sure dancing expends a lot of energy, which is the critical element.
Without having tried the “tango workout”… look, it may expend energy, but that’s just not enough.
The reason that most people who only do cardio don’t have the body they want is because simply expending energy isn’t enough.
There has to be some resistance training in there.
Are there alternative forms of weight training? Sure. I had a friend in Seattle who was ripped and muscular, and all he did was yoga.
But the yoga he did was pretty hardcore, and he could do all kinds of basic gymnastics – like pressing up into a freestanding handstand, with ease.
That takes real strength. And without real strength, you usually don’t get a body that’s very impressive.
Excellent article and commentary!
Hi Josh,
I love your articles. However i do have one question. I use the bodyweight circuit workout twice a week, do ashtanga yoga twice a week, sprints one day, and lift another day. Is straight lifting really effective or should i try some sort of circuit for building more muscle tone? i focus alot on squats, lunges, and crunches. How much time should i dedicate to upper body workouts to look like either jessica?
Thanks for your time
Really appreciate your sharing your training methods. I myself mix and match a lot of the circuit stuff with crossfit and traditional weights, and I absolutely buy your philosophy of compound movements. Really like your blog.
Just a caveat, though: even though I doubt CZJ actually does just tango, there are people who *just* dance who are, both visually and in terms of strength, much more fit than some people who do all sorts of strength training. I really admire the workouts of serious dancers, and maybe in the future some of that stuff will be incorporated into “mainstream” workouts after tweaking for feasability. I mean, many do push the body to its limits in their demands on the body’s strength and coordination. Thoughts?