The Money Set

by Neil Anderson

There is a set of exercise that is more valuable than all others.  It is the set that counts.  It is the one where unless you do it exactly right, you will have wasted the greatest portion of your workout.

We call it the Money Set.

It is the set that comes last.  The one that is called for when you are most tired, least focused and in the most pain.  It is the one where you think to yourself, “hell, I’ve done a ton already.  I can skip the last two reps, right?” 

Bad idea, friend.

Squandering your Money Set will cost you the most in terms of stagnation, lack of progress and frustration.  If however, you pay the price by doing the hard stuff, it'll pay double your efforts in return.  But, that's not why we call it the Money Set. 

It is called the Money Set because - its the one that makes the most change.

It Doesn't Matter When You Workout

By Neil Anderson

Training is equally effective no matter what time of day you do it.  This is according to a study by Milan Sedliak and his colleagues out of the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland.

According to the study, subjects trained for 10 weeks to get accustomed to the workout and then trained for an additional 10 weeks, either in the morning or the late afternoon.  Researchers measured muscle mass gains accurately using MRI imaging.  The positive results were indistinguishable from one group to the other.  This has lead researchers to conclude that it doesn’t matter what time of day you workout as long as you are working out.   This research backs up what I have been saying all along.

In the past there have been three schools of thought about what time of the day is the best time of the day to workout…

Clarifying the Burpee

by Neil Anderson

Clarifying the Burpee:

Recently I began to consider the clap we make at the top of our burpees to be silly, wasteful and unnecessary.  I hate it.  Always have.  This is despite having probably taught it with the clap a thousand times.  Now, I reject it.  

As I have begun telling people (classes ... whoever else will listen) that I have eschewed the clapping burpee, it has had the effect of messing up the burpee mojo at GPP.  Now there are all kinds of interpretations of the burpee at our humble little fitness factory.  It is probably time to re-clarify. 

To do a proper burpee while getting the most benefit from it, you must complete the following steps:

1.  Somehow find your way to the floor (jump, snake, don't care) and put your chestital region (I feel sure this is a scientific term) in full contact with said floor. 

2.  As if on fire and in one motion, jump back to your feet, throw your hands above your head, extend your hips, knees and spine fully, then loft your body into the air.  We don't care how high, just get there.  

3.  Repeat ONLY as many times as is mandatory for improved health and fitness. 

4.  Embrace the suck. 

Burpees are terrible things and although the woman (I feel sure it was a woman.  An ugly woman.  Probably scorned ... Might have been a man though.  Hideously disfigured with severe mental problems) who invented them probably belongs behind bars - for the misery she has inflicted upon the world - there is incredible, full-body, multi-system benefit in doing them.  So we do.  And as long as we are doing them anyway (might be the king of all exercises) we just as well do them right.  Right?  

Please feel free to take the clap out of your burpee, as I will.  Also feel free to leave it in (although I'll be silently judging you).  Whatever you decide to do, please follow all the steps above and you'll get the most benefit.  Which is the point.