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Moving over to www.blog.wiredma.com
New fitness posts/articles will be available there!

Will training with more clothes on help me lose weight?

First of all, losing weight is NOT the same as losing fat.

Wearing more clothes (clingfilm or a bin liner etc) during training (usually cardiovascular) will make you sweat more, but will not help you lose fat.  You will sweat more, therefore decreasing the amount of water in your body (weight drops temporarily), but when you rehydrate after training your weight will rise again.  Think about a sauna, people don't miraculously lost fat and get fit just by sitting in a sauna.

I would not recommend this approach for weight loss, unless you're specifically looking to drop weight for a short period of time for example a weigh in before a boxing bout.

Coaching and Competitions

I’ve been coaching the GTI Squad which has been a great experience, although I did underestimate the amount of work required sorting out the logistics for competitions.

Keen GTI sparrers travel up to three hours on a Sunday morning to train, which is greatly appreciated.  However, this is now becoming a barrier for some people, which is a shame and I’m not sure what the solution is…. I could rotate the squad sessions in different venues, but then if I go north, it makes it difficult for the people in the south and vice versa.  If anyone has any suggestions, it would be much appreciated!

We have our first “away” non-GTI squad tournament coming up, in Scotland.  I’m hoping this will be a good chance for people to bond and improve the team dynamics.  Things are looking good, although a long drive, it’ll be a nice little road trip and we can also enjoy the sites of Glasgow.

The following week is the PUMA World Championships, which I’m hoping a formal GTI Squad will be debuting.  I’ve made the next squad session compulsory for those who want to be considered to be in the team, we’ll see how that goes…

Two other points before I sign off: I’ve bought the squad a bunch of skipping ropes, which is turning out to be a great little investment – it provides an effective and “fun” warm up.  I do 3 minutes skipping, 3 minutes jogging and repeat this two times (will probably need to cut it down to two minutes and do three rounds – people were hanging last time)!  Final point, I used a round timer in the last squad session – big LED screen and loud beeps indicate rest period, round times and 10 seconds to go etc, and its programmable which means I can join in too :-)

Worthwhile kit investment

Punch bag training

I have a punch bag and would like some new training routines/workouts for it.

If you have any suggestions please let me know!

Thanks :)

M100

Another exercise for you, which is a lot shorter but more intense.  This should take between 2 - 5 minutes and works on a fairly new training principal I've been reading about called the "after burn effect".  


It's called the M100 (or Mandatory 100):
1. 10x Burpees
2. 30x Hill climbers (alternating leg squat thrust)
3. 10x Semi-squat jump
4. 10x Burpees
5. 30x Hill climbers
6. 10x Semi-squat jump
7. 10x Burpees
8. 30x Hill climbers
9. 10x Semi-squat jump
10. 10x BURPEES!


Important: there is no resting until you complete all ten sets!


Basically repeating three exercises for three sets and finishing on one final set of burpies!  


For example (skip to 1:45):

The Dirty Dozen

I spent a year working in Taunton, Somerset, where there's a Royal Marines base.  I trained there a few times and picked up an exercise routine called the Dirty Dozen!


It consists of 12 reps of each exercise. Each Round is cumulative (must include the previous set of rounds):


Round 1 = 12 Should Width Push ups
Round 2 = 12 Crunches
Round 3 = 12 Lunges
Round 4 = 12 Star Jumps
Round 5 = 12 Tricep Dips
Round 6 = 12 Shuttle Runs
Round 7 = 12 Leg Raises
Round 8 = 12 Diamond Push Ups
Round 9 = 12 Burpees
Round 10 = 12 V-Ups
Round 11 = 12 Squats
Round 12 = 50 quick sprint starts (25 on each leg)


I tried this out on my University Kickboxing club, who took ~40minutes to complete.  I showed people it when I was working in an American summer camp and I started a little competition to see which pair could get the fastest time.  From what I remember ~24minutes was the best.


I suggest people give it a go, record your time and try and beat it next time.


Enjoy :)