From time to time I like to search the web and see what my competition is up to. I like to be aware of there training styles and philosophies so I can better identify the advantages of choosing us over anyone else. And I strive to keep my prices competitive so I also search for session rates and special offers.

Lately I haven’t been doing this as much, mostly because anytime I look someone up it seems like they’re of business. I have been fortunate to remain a strong and viable business during these tough economic times. And while technically my competition shutting their doors is a positive for my business I find no pleasure in others misfortune.

But recently a new client came to the studio to try out some of the strongman workouts we have been specializing in lately. We took him through a workout consisting of five sets of backwards sled drag alternate with one minute Atlas stone holds. The second circuit alternated the keg load with farmer’s walk. Kettlebell man makers were the finisher.

This is a brutally hard workout that improves nearly every aspect of fitness. It burns fat, builds muscle, increases strength, and improves both anaerobic and aerobic endurance. By any definition you want to use, it is a “functional workout.”

I bring this up because this gentleman has worked with one of my competitors in Raleigh who professes to specialize in “function fitness.” It sparked my interest, and I decided to do some research.

The primary claim on this website was that “functional” training builds a lean, flexible body that is resilient to injury while traditional weight training creates a muscle bound physique that is inflexible, unfunctional, and injury prone. In addition, this website claims that functional training workouts are shorter and less monotonous than traditional workouts.

I have many issues with this claim, including the use of the term “unfunctional.” Although I wasn’t an English major in college, I’m pretty sure this isn’t a word. But let’s just assume it was a typo and this person meant nonfunctional…

No one would describe Adrian Peterson, running back for the Minnesota Vikings as nonfunctional. He led the NFL in rushing last season and is following that up with another all-pro year.

Yet in an interview with Men’s Fitness magazine he speaks about how he built his incredible lower body power with barbell squats and lunges, very traditional strength training movements. And while he trains to be a better football player, a side effect of his workout is a very impressive, lean physique.

Adrian Peterson, All Pro NFL Running Back

And did his “unfunctional” barbell training make Adrian more injury prone? I doubt it. He is routinely tackled by men that outweigh him by over 100 pounds, yet he was able to play in all 16 games last year.

While I have never tested Adrian Peterson’s flexibility, this claim is just as ridicules as the others. One of my former clients is a scholarship football player at Penn State. He is 6’2”, 300 pounds and can bench press a Kia. Yet while I was training him he was also able to do a full split!

Jillian Michaels

Don’t think traditional weight training exercises are just for men. Jillian Michaels, celebrity trainer from “The Biggest Loser” also focuses her workouts on basic moves such as lunges and bench presses. Would you describe her as bulky?

Are traditional workouts monotonous? I think that depends more on the abilities of the trainer than anything else.

The bench press is one of the exercises that almost every functional training guru despises. But nothing adds muscle and strength to the chest, shoulders, and triceps as fast as this basic movement. And like it or not many men are looking to build their upper bodies. With many of them we may bench press twice a week. Yet almost every client raves about the variety. How do we do this?

Take a look at the following two workouts.

Workout one – Vince Gironda Volume Training

A)  Bench Press – 10 sets of 10 reps

Load a barbell with 50-60% of your one rep max. Set your Gym boss timer to beep every minute for ten minutes. Every time it beeps do a set of ten bench presses. If you don’t have a Gym boss timer go get one. They are an amazing help when performing any type of timed or interval workout.

Workout two – The Chain Drop Set

A1)  Bench Press with Three Chains – 5 reps

A2)  Bench Press with Two Chains – 5 reps

A3)  Bench Press with One Chain – 5 reps

A4)  Bench Press – 5 reps

Load a barbell with a combination of plates and three chains. Make sure that you can perform 6-8 reps with the total load. Perform 5 reps and take a chain off each side. Immediately get back down and do 5 more reps. Continue until all the chains are off the bar and perform a final set. Rest three minutes and repeat two more times.

Both workouts include only bench press. Yet both are completely different. No one would feel like they did the same workout two sessions in a row if they were alternated.

Most of our female clients do some type of lunge or split squat every single workout. Most will also tell you that the thing they love most about training with us is that the workouts are always different. Why is that? Because we do over fifty different lunge variations!

One thing I’m not really sure about is why the functional training workouts this trainer puts clients thru are shorter than traditional training. My best guess is that shorter workouts allow him to see more clients in the same amount of time, creating more revenue for his business.

One of my clients came to me last month and asked me if I could take her through Jillian Michaels workout plan from her book Making the Cut. For those of you who are not familiar with Jillian, she is a Team Trainer from the hit TV show “The Biggest Loser.”

Typically this would not be something I would do for a number of reasons. First of all, most of the celebrity trainers I have encountered in the past are more celebrity than trainer. Put bluntly their workouts usually suck.

Second, I’m a big believer in personalizing workouts to the individual. No generic book can give you a program designed specifically for your personal strengths, goals, and limitations.

But Joy is a great person and a great client so I told her I would look the book over and if I didn’t think it was total garbage I would help push her through the workouts.

After looking over the book I was actually pleasantly surprised. It was a program focused on compound weight training exercises done in circuit fashion with cardio intervals at the end of most of the circuits. For those of you who are familiar with my training style this is pretty similar to how I train most clients who have general fitness/body composition goals.

I typically utilize more kettlebell exercises, sled drags, waiter walks, and similar high calorie demand exercises and some of the moves Jillian utilized would be what I consider “entertainment” exercises (i.e. movements that more closely resemble a circus trick than exercise) but overall I was pleased with the contents of the book and agreed to take Joy through the 30 day program.

Here’s where the story gets interesting: Joy wears a heart rate monitor during her workouts that track calories burned. During the course of the 30 day program, the typical workout would take between 45 and 50 minutes and would burn 350 calories. The most she ever burned was 400 calories.

We finished up the program and after a few days off Joy came back ready for a new challenge. She wanted to repeat the program but in my experience repeating the same workout never produces the same results as the first time through so we compromised. Two days a week we would do the routines outlined in Jillian’s book and the other two days we would do kettlebell only training.

Today was our first kettlebell workout and we were both amazed by the results. In 42 minutes (shorter than any of the workouts in the book) Joy burned 444 calories! This is 11% more calories than the hardest workout in the book and 26% higher than the average workout!  Plus I am sure this number will go up significantly because almost 20 minutes of today’s session was teaching proper technique.

If you would like more information about kettlebell training there are many useful and free resources available on the internet. Some of the better sites include:

http://www.mikemahler.com/ – lots of great free articles

http://www.irontamer.com/ – a useful blog and a kettlebell e-book

http://www.dragondoor.com/ – the original kettlebell resource

Here at Kuzora  Personal Training – Raleigh we are offering a “Learn to Use Kettlebells” package that includes:

One 60 minute one on one orientation session ($70 value)

During these sessions you will learn two foundational movements: the swing and the Turkish get-up. With these two exercises alone you will build a strong core, tone and tighten your glutes, inner thighs, and hamstrings, burn calories and bodyfat, and develop strong, healthy shoulders.

Your own kettlebell ($40 value)

Want to try kettlebells but didn’t know what size and weight you should start with? We take the guess work out. During your orientation our trainers will assess your strength and fitness levels and send you home with an appropriately sized kettlebell of your own.

A personalized eight week training plan ($199 value)

After your orientation, we will email you a personalized workout plan you can do in the privacy of your own home.

Three bi-weekly follow-up sessions ($135 value)

These 30 minute follow-up “accountability” sessions will be used to keep your kettlebell fitness plan on track. We will correct and perfect technique on the basic movements as well as teach you more advanced exercises such as the snatch, windmill, and clean & press.

We are currently offering this package for $299. (There is an additional charge for kettlebells over 20 lbs.) This is a great way to learn how to integrate the fat burning power of kettlebells into your current routine.

Contact us today at (919)569-9929 to get started

I have received such a high number of inquiries since my first blog on complexes I have decided to post some of the most popular complexes we use here at Kuzora Personal Training in Raleigh , NC :

The Beach Barbell Complex (named for the everlasting pump you get in your arms and shoulders)

Wide Grip Barbell Upright Rows – 12

Medium Grip Barbell Curls – 12

Medium Grip Upright Rows – 12

Close Grip Barbell Curls – 12

Close Grip Barbell Upright Rows – 12

Barbell French Press – 12

Choose a light weight for this one, usually a weight you could curl for at least twenty repetitions. Forty-five to sixty-five pounds works well for most men and an eighteen to twenty-four pound body bar will work for most women.

The Bodybuilders DB Complex (preformed on a flat bench)

Nose-breakers – 15

Semi-supinated Bench Press – 30

Flyes – 15

DB Bench Press – 30

This is great for hyperplasmic hypertrophy in all your upper body pushing muscles or the day after a heavy bench workout as “active recovery.” If you can do two rounds of this complex with thirty pound dumbbells you have an exceptionally high pain tolerance.

The Javorek Inspired Kettlebell Complex

Single Arm Swing – 6

Snatch – 6

Squat with Shoulder Press – 6

Bent Over Row – 6

Snatch – 6

I like to use this complex to perfect kettlebell snatch technique. By the time you get to the second set of snatches your shoulders and upper back are significantly fatigued and you are forced to generate most of the power with your glutes and hamstrings.

The DB Shoulder Tri-set

One & a Quarter DB Military Press – 8

Arnold Press – 6

DB Military Press – 6

Technically more of a mechanical advantage drop set, this complex takes advantage of increasingly easier movements to allow you to keep pressing the weight once you have already reached muscular fatigue. You can perform it seated or standing.

Hopefully these should keep you busy for awhile…

One way we accomplish this is thru our “Fitness Boot Camp.” In these classes we use various exercise modalities and equipment to create a constantly changing and appropriately challenging workout in a supportive, fun environment.

One of our favorite Boot Camp workouts here at Kuzora Personal Training, in Raleigh NC  is the “Blackjack.” Ask any of the people who participate in our boot camp and they will be sure to tell you just how “fun” this workout is!

The basic layout for the workout is as follows:

Perform One Jump Squat (regular squats are fine too!)

Jog 40 yards

Perform Twenty Push-ups (on your toes or your knees)

Jog Back

Repeat nineteen more times increasing the number of jump squats by one and decreasing the number of push-ups by one each time. Try to rest as little as possible.

Pretty simple, right? So let’s turn off the computer and start moving!

Oh, yeah, by the way email me if you can figure out why we call this one the “Blackjack.”

John Kuzora – Kuzora Personal Training Raleigh