Back Training Tips: Landmines & Pullups

Hey Guys.
I wanted to share some new back training tips with you.

I have included the pullup, landmines and cable rows.

The Keys to Getting Lean!

You find many people today thinking that if they go to the gym 4-6 days a week and spend multiple hours in there that they are going to see these amazing results.

What people don't understand is that, in my opinion, what you eat brings you at least 80% of your progress.
So if you go in the gym and bust your butt for an hour or 2 and then you don't eat something healthy or you go out and eat garbage, then you have just wasted that time in the gym.

Many people also think it is wise to drop body fat by not eating more than 2 times a day , and this is a terrible decision that is made.
One must eat within 20 minutes of waking and then eat every 2.5-3 hours. By doing this, you keep your body anabolic, which means it is in a constant muscle building state, the opposite of this would be a term called catabolic and this is what you do not want. When you go catabolic, your body starts to fuel itself off of muscle rather than fat.
If you do as stated above and eat within 20 minutes of waking and then every 2.5-3 hours, you are going to cause a great spike in metabolism over the next few weeks. Eating multiple times is what causes this spike because your body knows exactly when you are going to be feeding it, when it knows this, it will not hesitate to start burning off body fat.

 

The greatest way to eat when looking to strip body fat is by taking in high protein foods, lower carbed foods and then moderate healthy fats.

Staying away from starches is a really important thing because , to me, this is like taking in straight sugar.
Some things to stay away from are things like white potatoes, white rice, beer, and corn is a really bad thing to consume when looking to strip body fat.

A person should consume these high protein foods, males trying to take in 40 grams of protein each meal and females aiming for 20-25 per meal. Good options are as follows: White fish, chicken breast, lean ground turkey,egg whites , almonds and of course protein powder.
Taking in healthy fats in moderation will actually help your body cut more fat. Some healthy things to take in would be the following: Almonds, cooking with olive or coconut oil, using olive oil on salad.
Fish oil tablets, flax seed tabs are also great sources of healthy fats.

Those are a few tips to help you get started on your journey to a leaner, happier you.
Always remember, eating is the key to all progression.

Thank you,

Steve Poynter
Fitnesspoynters.com

Delt Training Tips: Part 1

Hey Guys,
I hope everyone has had a great weekend.
I also hope everyone has a great upcoming week.

Here is a training tip vid I created that is in regards to delt training.

Please spread the word, post on your fb walls and bodyspace favorite vids.

Thank you,
Steve Poynter

Back Training Tips : Part II

Hey guys,
Many of you know I have been doing some "How To" Training Tips.
Here is Part II of Back training. I thought this may be more important than getting to shoulders right now.

Ladies, I did not mention where to grip the bar on pulldowns. Simply move your hands a little bit past shoulder width, that will be fine. Do not go any closer than that.

Thank you guys for watching.
Steve Poynter
Fitnesspoynters.com

Motivation!

If you don't like bodybuilding, just take a moment and listen to the audio.

Bi & Tri Training Tips

I hope everyone is doing great and everyone is killing it in the gym each day you train.

I have put together training tips for bis and tris. These vids have 3 moves each in them, within the next couple weeks, I will be adding more bi and tri training tips.

Please be aware there are 2 videos in this blog.

Thank you guys.
Steve Poynter
www.fitnesspoynters.com

Tips for Back Training

Here is a video to help you with your back training.

Tips for Training Chest

Please see the video below for tips on how to train the pecs.

Monday Morning Blues

Well Monday morning is upon us again.
I hope that you all had a very good weekend and you got some good rest on Sunday so you can walk into the gym today an unleash hell up in that place..
Am I correct in assuming this will be the case?

I wanted to basically wish you all a good morning and let you know that it's really great to be helping each of you out that is on a plan of mine from fitnesspoynters.com.
I wanted to give a huge shout out to Nikia Dyson for what she has put together to help you guys stay focused and on track. I thought that was an amazing idea.

So , get into the gym if you haven't already, find that zone that nobody can break and stay there until you finish your workout. Find it in yourself to get in an extra rep or 2 this week. If it start burning , oh well, I guarantee you that you won't die from it. Keep pushing out reps.
When you squat, go parallel, nothing less. Parallel should be the same level you are at when you sit on a toilet.
When you bench: Touch your chest at the bottom, don't bounce the weight off.
When you do curls, let it stretch your bi out at the bottom.
When you do overhead pressed, don't stop short of taking the weight to at least nose level.

Basically what I am saying there is go with full range of motions on everything, if you are taking the time to push the weight, do it right so you actually benefit from it.

So, here is my little spill for this morning..

GET SOME!

Steve Poynter
www.fitnesspoynters.com

Video Blog : Leg Day!

I thought I would test out the blog post with a video rather than type things out.
Let me know your thoughts please.

Thanks guys.
Steve Poynter
http://www.fitnesspoynters.com

Tuesdays Grueling Chest Workout

Tuesday we put in 110% intensity into killing the pectorals.
I'll tell you what we did below.

Floor presses with 120 in chains.
We hit 5 rounds of floor presses after warm ups, I went up to 175 plus the chains for a final of 2 reps.
Westburgh hit that weight for 1 rep.
Char did 120 plus the bar and 10 lbs for 2 reps.
We focused on pausing and leaving our elbows on the floor for a count of 1 before pressing back up.

Move 2 was incline dbell presses for 4 sets:
We did no less than 8-10reps here, I went up to 100 lb dbells as did Westburgh, Char did her final set with 50's.

Move 3 was 3 sets of hammer strength chest press for reps in which we hit failure and then pushed out an additional 2-5 partial reps. 

The day was finished by stretching out the pecs with 15-20 rep sets of incline fly.

Get in the gym, Get some. Leave nothing behind but a pile of sweat, blood or yack.

Steve Poynter
fitnesspoynters.com

Monday: Legs on the Platter

What's up guys, how did everyone's day go? If you haven't battled the iron yet, get in the gym and destroy some things, be sure you walk out of there knowing that you gave it all you possibly had.


Here we go :
Started the day off with 7 sets of squats, we hit a rep range of 1-6 , 1 of those was around 10 reps as we considered this a warm up.
We all tried for big numbers, Char even went for a 205 squat with purple bands which has a tension of 100 lbs at the top of the move. She didn't get that one but before that, she did get 185 for 2 with the purples.

We then hit up some weighted step ups going for 5-8 reps each leg and holding dbells.

After that we hit up some leg presses with orange bands attached. We started off with 2 sets of high reps, hitting 10-12 then we moved on and done a couple negative sets, taking the negative down by the count of 1,2,3. 3 was at the bottom of the move then you pressed it back up the best you could but with a spot, cause all you focus on was the hard negative.

Back to squats, we hit really wide stance squats, putting 185 lbs of chains on the bar and letting that be it.

We cooked the hams with high rep stiff leg dbell deadlifts, then finished up with 15-20 rep sets of seated leg curls.

Get in , get some...
Don't let the iron beat you down, you beat down the iron because it respects you for it.

Steve Poynter
www.fitnesspoynters.com

Thursdays Behemoth Back Day

As many of you know, I am behind on our training days. So here goes our training for back day which was this past Thursday.
Note: We did a low weight, high rep workout this week to give our body a break from heavy lifts.

We started off with sets of wide grip pullups, we kept our reps from 8-12 here.

Next we moved on to deadlifts off a 2" platform and used purple resistance bands which come to 100 lbs at the top of the move. Our rep range here was 8-12

Move 3 was a one arm t-bar row, we started doing these about 4 weeks back. I'll get a vid to show you what we do here, this is a great back move. Reps 8-10


Close grip pulldowns were next and we hit 10-15 reps here.




The back day was finished off with straight arm pulldowns, one of the best moves I have found for shaping up the entire back.

Stay tuned to continue to see how we do things with training.

Steve Poynter:
www.fitnesspoynters.com

Served up Legs on Tuesday

I am a little behind here, I have been busy with lots of things to do with http://www.fitnesspoynters.com.
I'll tell you now how and what we did on Leg Day this week.

We started out with a little pre-exhaust type workout .
Move 1 was multiple sets of Leg Extensions*20 reps followed up by seated leg curls for high reps.

Move 2 was Squats:
Today we did box squats using 220 lbs of chains.
We did most of our sets with high reps, such as 10-12, there was one set we hit only 5 reps , this was after piling on plates without really knowing what the bands weighed.

Move 3 was sets of 22" step ups while holding the arch bar.
We hit reps of 5-8

We hit a few sets of vertical leg press with 10-12 reps and very little rest time between.

Next were dbell stiff leg deadlifts * 15 reps each.

We finished off hams with good mornings with the cambered bar.

3 days later and the hams are still fried from this.

I'll let you know about Thursdays workout on Saturday.

Thanks ,
Steve Poynter
Poynter's Iron Pit Gym
Fitnesspoynters.com "Your Transformation Destination".

Monday's Chest Day

Today we blasted out some chest. We had 4 of us going in a rotation.
Myself, Charlotte Quillen, Jesse Westburgh and Jim Davis.

As I stated yesterday, I did some higher rep moves rather than focus on heavy moves like I normally do.
I did this to give the body a rest, you all should do this from time to time, by doing so it will allow the body to recover a little more and you should be able to push heavier weight the next week.

Move 1:
Flat Bench press with Red Mini Bands and eventually we added monster minis to bring the total of band tension at the top to 220 lbs. (Note: Quillen did the mini bands plus 10's for her sets.

Move 2:
Incline dumbbell Press: Went for 10-15 reps here and for the last set, turned the dbells where palms were facing in , got this off powerlifter Corey Hayes. I will say I felt it really good in the upper pec area.

Move 3:
Hammer Strength Chest Press: We used the mini bands here and added 1 plate. Doing reps of 12-15 here, focusing on the contraction on each.

Move 4:
Incline dbell Fly: Really going deep at the bottom and contracting hard at the top. Sets of 15-20 reps

I finished off my day with some monster mini band crunches and oblique crunches.

Overall it was a sick day of training, I am still completely spent from it.

I hope everyone has had or you are about to have a sick day vs the Iron.

Thanks for checking this blog out.

Steve
www.fitnesspoynters.com

New Methods of Training

Greetings Everyone. 

I hope everyone is doing great. I just wanted to share some plans on a different training method I am about to embark on.
So lets get to it.

Basically what I am going to do is incorporate some powerlifting type moves into my bodybuilding style of workout and see where this can take me. I really want to add more mass, stay kind of lean right now and get stronger as I roll along.

We have added several things inside Poynter's Iron Pit gym that should take our training to a higher level.
We have things such as resistance bands, from 25 lbs to 150 lb bands, we have up to 220 lbs in chains.
We have swiss bars, cambered bars and soon we should have a safety squat bar.
I think by incorporating these different things into our workouts, we can shock our bodies in many ways and bring those lean and strength gains I am looking for.

So, tomorrow I will talk about our 1st workout and tell you about how things went with the new workout.
If anyone wants to know how to use chains and resistance bands in their training, feel free to hit me up and I will help you out.
I can even make some vids showing you how to set up your bands for squats and bench.

Everyone have a sick week of workouts.

Steve Poynter
www.fitnesspoynters.com

The Squat!

This week is all about every one's favorite and most hated exercise, the squat! There is no single movement that has more benefits than the squat and its arguably the most difficult to perform, but if you can muster up enough courage to put the weight of the world on your shoulders, squat down till your ass hits your heels and stand up again you will find that there's no better feeling in the world. 

 

  Squatting is painful there's no ifs, ands, or buts about it, that said it is the highest testosterone producing exercise, can build bone density, and if done correctly is much more than just a leg workout. Squatting builds mass PERIOD but it also builds something else, something more.. Character. 

 

Squatting like everything else in this world only works when its done correctly. Anyone can half-ass something at work, or put off cleaning the house just like anyone can put a couple plates on a bar and squat down two inches and stand up again. No progress will come from any of this. However if you can push yourself to your limits and find that full range of motion while performing the squat you will find success and you will see results. There's something about fighting the force of gravity and standing up with that bar across your shoulders that translates to everyday life, like some awesome iron bending metaphor. So on your next leg day if you don't already squat correctly I want you to swallow a little pride, take some weight off, and get that ass low. Do your squats correctly. Build that muscle. Build that character. 

 

Written by Jesse Archer Westtburgh: Facebook & Bodybuilding.com
Bodyspace: http://bodyspace.bodybuilding.com/Jessebuckeye125/

The Wall!

 The following blog was written by a great friend. 

 Right now I am allowing my team members to write up some info they think would be beneficial and motivating  

 for you guys.

 

 

I put a lot of thought into what to make my first blog entry about and after spending all day trying to decide what to talk about I finally decided to write about bodybuildings biggest enemy, "the wall". Every day someone tells me that I'm lucky to have great genetics or they tell me that I'm obsessed, but when I tell them how I didn't always look like  I do now and that they can look the same or better all I get is excuses. I don't have time, I hurt my knee in high school, my frames too small, my joints hurt, blah, blah, blah.

 

See what people want is some magical solution to hard work, well it doesn't exist. You have to be strict to your diet, you have to train with intensity, you have to sweat. The only way to get results is to push past your comfort zones. Everyone who has successfully undergone a significant transformation knows this. The easiest thing to do is to hit the gym and diet until it gets difficult and then just become content with the minor changes that you've made. Too many people come to "the wall" and stop, they start making excuses and then just flat out give up. Well if you're reading this I want to dare you to keep going. I want you to approach that wall and smash right through it! When things get hard, go harder! At that point you are so close to the biggest changes of your life and if you can just find the will to get past those mental barriers I promise you your entire outlook on life will change. 

 

Written by : Jesse Archer Westburgh
Bodyspace:     http://bodyspace.bodybuilding.com/Jessebuckeye125/

 

 

 

 

Gear Up & Get Some!!

Take a minute tonight before you go to bed. Get in your mind what you would like to accomplish this week.
You should wake up in the morning, no matter how hard it is to get it, get your ass up, get in gear, prep your 1st meal. Prep your other meals if you work.
If you train early in the mornings, gear up for that workout, get on youtube, search for "motivational bodybuilding" watch that while you are getting ready, hell if you can't see it, put in some motivational, blood pumping music.

So right now, you are thinking you have this right?
Since you have it now, hold this shit, do not let it go, keep it in your mind.
If you think of cheating on a meal, imagine me in your ear, every time you get this though, I am there saying what a loser you are, how you have no discipline and how you have no right of even saying you deserve this or that.
If you are in the gym and considering taking it easy, I'll be there saying how weak you are, how you are worse than a little kid. And in order to get the results you desire, you have to manthafuck up and take charge, push out one more rep, go a little heavier, whatever the case may be, just do tha damn thang.

For those of you who have this strong drive and discipline level, sit here and think of the new level you want to reach this coming week, these that are thinking this are in terms, freaks of nature, we are the ones that will not let anything stand in our way. We get in the gym and tear shit up, no matter what we have to go through to get it done. It doesn't matter if you are overseas, if you work 14 hours a day, who cares? There is a gym open somewhere, so hit it, get yours in and feel like a king while doing it.

So , read this, get motivated, get some good sleep tonight, and destroy everything that gets in your way this week..

Yep Yep. This is how we roll!!

ASK QUESTIONS : Food & Training!

I want to show my appreciation to all those striving to change their lives with fitness, rather you are trying to drop a lot of body-fat or you are a male or female looking to do a show of any kind.
I want to let you guys know you can ask many any question you like this week. I don't care what it is, I will do my best to answer.

Thank you all and thanks for your continued support!!!!!!

Week 3: Psychotic Fat Destruction!

As stated previously, I am running the Psychotic Fat Destruction from http://www.fitnesspoynters.com .
I have just started week 3 , this is my 3rd day, which is an off day, so I wanted to share some info on how things are going .

Eating hasn't been on point like this for the past 1.5 years. I am on a mission to do some major f'n damage and get insane results, just like the rest of my team does.
I have a focus that no person or nothing is going to break.
Bring that pizza, bring those fries, bring all that junk, lay it down here and see if I give in.. Probably not.

Now here is my 2nd set of progress pics.
These will show you where I stand today.

Get in the gym, Get you some, Destroy some Iron!!!

Week 2: Psychotic Fat Destruction!

I am approaching the end of Phase 1 of the PFD.
I set out to run this 12 week program to see how ripped up I can get on it.

I started off at a weight of 190 lbs. My goal is to hit 4% bodyfat and it doesn't matter where my weight ends up.

Here are my starting pics :

 

What's your upcoming goals within 12 weeks?
How's your progress going?

Get in the gym, "Train Insane or Remain the Same"
Don't let anyone or anything hold you back.
You can get in and out in 30 mins or less and do some real damage.
Remember to eat clean and eat often to speed up that metabolism and cause fat burning.
Never go over 3 hours with no food, simply pop about 10-15 almonds to hold you over until you can get a nice meal in.

Thanks guys:
Steve Poynter
www.fitnesspoynters.com

2011 - Got Resolutions? Make them Happen-Here is why you should!

2011 is now here, and how many of you have decided this is going to be the year to drop that unwanted fat and get that lean body you desire.
Some of you may want that and some of you may just want to get healthier so you can live longer and more prosperous lives.

Sit back and think about things for a minute. Each year we all have, see or hear of our loved ones, friends loves ones etc who lose a loved one due to heart attack, diabetes , stroke and cancer.
There are a lot of cases that being obese or overweight contributed to this heart attack, stroke or case of diabetes.

Why can't we all just take a moment and sit back and think about how precious life is and how easy you are throwing away good years by constantly indulging in fast foods, ice cream, pizzas, sodas, sugars, candy, all that junk that can lead you straight to the area where those loved ones have already been.
Do you remember all that heart-ache you felt when your loved one passed or when that great friends loved on passed away?
More than likely, if you are this type of eater and overweight , the same thing happened to those loved ones is going to happen to you, then your family and friends are going to be in sorrow and feeling the same way you did when your loved one passed.

Why can't you take a couple hours out of your week to prep you up some healthy foods rather than hitting up a drive thru 2-3 times a day and getting that grease loaded, salt loaded food?

Anyone can go to a local store, buy what are called Ziplock Zip n Steam bags. Take any meat source, eggs etc, place in these bags, pop it in the microwave for 5-7 mins and watch it steam up some delicious , healthy foods.
You can buy steamfresh vegetables where you can simply pop those in a microwave for 3 mins.
Now add that up.  You have spent no more than 8 mins in prepping up a days worth of HEALTHY  foods.

Now that that issue is solved, you still have the sweet tooth issue, right?
How about trying out some protein powder, the stuff today tastes just like any milk shake you could get from a restaurant.
Many people think this stuff is all thick and nasty but that's not the case today. Today it is truly amazing how it tastes.
You can also go out, buy you some sugar free jello puddings rather than buying the full sugar version. The taste is no different.
For sodas, how hard would it be to switch to diet? Do you realize how much sugar you put in your body in 1 can or 1 bottle of soda?  It ranges from 50-100 grams of sugar. Imagine drinking 5 per day, that can lead up to 500 grams of sugar.. It's disgusting once you think about it.
You get the urge for a candy bar? Eat a protein bar instead, those are high in protein and normally low in carbs and have incredibly low amounts of sugars and fats.

How many of you eat 2-3 times per day and think by doing that, that you will actually lose fat?
This is a proven fact that you don't lose fat by eating like that, you lose muscle mass.
When you eat 2-3 times a day, your body takes those foods and stores them to fat cells, it does this because it thinks you are literally starving it and it knows that your body must have fat to be able to keep you alive.
So what it does is, it stores those foods as fats, slowing your metabolism and then starts to fuel your body with muscle, which is called catabolism. Catabolism is the burning of muscle tissue due to you starving it by eating only a few times per day.
If you start to eat 5-6 times per day, this is the real and safest way to burn fat. You would eat high protein, lower carbs and moderate healthy fats every 2.5-3 hours, starting within 20 mins of waking up.
If you get your body  used to that, it will no longer store foods as fats, it will simply speed your metabolism up and given enough time, melt inches of fat off your body.

Water consumption is extremely important. Everyone should at least drink 1/2 gallon per day, this will not only push toxins out of your body but it will also push excess water out of your body, giving you a leaner look.
If you are someone who works out , you should take in 1 gallon per day and 1/2 of that while you workout.

Do you think you have to be in a gym 7 days a week to see changes?
If you do, you are wrong. Sleep and working out only really makes up about 20-25 percent of your progress, eating is where the true progress comes from.
You can hit the gym 2-3 days a week, 25-30 mins, and within 2 weeks, I guarantee your energy levels are up , you feel better inside and out and you will also see a new mental focus.
If you don't want to go to a gym, do something at home, you can simply do crunches, pushups, get you some cheap resistance bands from a local store or order them online.
You can also get you 2 1/2 or 1 gallon water jugs and use those as your training tools, you can do curls, presses and almost anything you can do in a gym, all with just 2 water jugs.

There might have been a time I would listen to excuses and think they were legit but since I have been working from http://www.fitnesspoynters.com , I have saw some amazing things take place, some of the most amazing are seeing soldiers who are deployed to Iraq and the awful Afghanistan. These people have found ways to eat clean from chow halls that offer very little healthy foods, they have found ways to train and do it right with very little equipment, often times making up equipment to train with.
If these soldiers can make these insane changes and do it under those conditions then there is no reason that someone living a free life in the United States or other Country around the world couldn't make the same changes. Most of us have the luxury of going to a store, buying what we want, cooking it when and how we want, going to a gym working out when you desire and with whatever equipment you find.
This is all easy compared to what those soldiers are going through over there in those dangerous places.

So tell me, what's holding you back? Do you have the determination to make change happen? Do you have the discipline to overcome the temptations? And do you have the drive to make this a daily habit of yours and not let anyone or anything stand in your way or hold you down from making these life changes?

Lets do this people, get in your zone and make some insane changes happen in 2011.

Hit me up if you need any advise, if you need assistance with a meal plan or a workout or all 3.
You can find me at
steve@fitnesspoynters.com
or
www.fitnesspoynters.com : You can go here and find you some major motivation, there are pages upon pages of testimonials of real people who have made life altering changes. You'll also find some of those soldiers I was talking about.

Happy New Year.

Steve Poynter