Luke Barry

I’m always surprised and moved by the raw soul of Ben Harper’s music. Thanks to Josh Case I am again amazed at his musical genius. Listen and enjoy!

Catie Ferrel was officially the first person to join the new facebook group Southeastern bloggers and a fine fine blogaturista she is. Just wanted to say thank you Catie and promote your work. Check Catie out at Microfitgroup.

After exploring Catie’s blog a bit, I was really impressed with what their business had to offer. Quoted from their site, Microfitgroup is a “consulting group to help “micro” businesses present themselves and operate in their best possible state.” They really seem to car about the client and have a genuinely valuable service to offer. One of the other bloggers for microfitgroup - John Garret - joined southeastern bloggers as well and is a partner and strategic consultant for the company. If you own anything from a start-up to a thriving business these guys have something to offer. I will definitely be giving Catie and John a call for future ventures.

If you could only do 10 exercises these should be them.  These exercises should be the core of any training program because they execute functionality and recruit the most muscles in one movement.  Be advised, these exercises require some training to execute properly and should be approached with a base of knowledge before attempting.

Squats

The Squat is the one of the most hated and loved exercises of all time.  It recruits the glutes, quads, Hamstrings, and requires stabilization of the spine by the entire posterior chain of back muscles and transverse abdominus. There are a couple of variations that people on both sides swear by.  The front squat requires the bar to be held on the anterior delts and the back squat requires the bar to be held on the traps.  If lower back pain is a problem then front squats are a safer choice.  Either variation is an amazing exercise.

Dead lifts

Dead lifts recruit most of the same muscles that squats do with a more emphasis on the ham strings and lower back. It also recruits the muscles of the shoulder to stabilize the joint and the muscles of the forearm to hold the weight. The romanian dead lift is a great variation for ham development. Again, technique is major issue with this exercise.

Cleans

Cleans can be done from the floor to emphasize the glutes, hamstrings and lower back or from a dead hang to emphasize the traps, rhomboids, delts, and glutes. I like the dead hang more because it is a great developer for the said muscles. This is a exercise that takes years to perfect the technique, but is a great functional movement.

Jerks or Military Press

This is a great exercise for deltoid development. The jerk is basically a military press with a hip thrust. It also secondarily recruits the triceps. When done from the standing position it recruits the core to stabilize the spine.

Bench Press

“Hey bro, how much ya’ bench?” Who hasn’t been asked or asked that? The bench press seems to be the measuring stick of strength. I would put the squat, deads, or cleans in that position, but the bench press is a great exercise for chest and tricep development and should be included in one way or another in every training protocol.

Pull Ups / Chin ups

Pull ups are great for upper back development and highly recruit the lats and biceps. I love this exercise because it can be done pretty much anywhere - a gym, park, doorway, or anything you can hang from.

Rows

Rows are good way to develop the lower traps and rhomboids. It can be done on machines specifically for them. They can be done bent over with a barbell or dumbells. And my favorite is body weight rows done hanging from something like a bar on a smith machine. They also recruit the biceps.

Dips

Dips really help a lagging bench. They mainly recruit the triceps and help push through the sticking point on the bench press. Again, these can be done pretty much any where you can hang your body between.

Planks

This is just a great core exercise. It recruits the transverse abdominus to stabilize the spine. Also can be done any where you want.

GHD Sit Ups

One of the best core exercises ever. Unfortunately, you need a Glute / Ham Developer, but if you have one then do sit-ups on it. The GHD gives you a much larger range of motion than traditional floor sit-ups. Sit-ups also recruit the hip flexors making it a much more functional movement than the crunch which isolates the abs in a singular movement. Russian twists can also be done on the GHD to target the obliques as well as the rectus abdominus.

I’v laid out 10 of the best exercise out there. On top of muscle development qualities, they are some of the most functional exercises available and translate to real life movements very well. What do you think should be included in this list. Comment below on 5 exercises that should be included in a training protocol.

     John Hamburg’s new flick I love you, man starring Paul Rudd and Jason Segel was rumored to be the best capture of the modern American male condition since Fight Club.  Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd) is a real estate agent about to get married, but finds that he has no friends for a groomsmen or best man.  He then sets out on a number of “man dates” to find one and finds that male bonding is a difficult process that requires as much work as romantic relationships.  Enter Sydney Fife (Jason Segel), successful investor and a charismatic dichotomy of Klaven. The two instantly bond and as the bro-mance elevates, struggles with Klaven’s fiancé (Rashida Jones) rise as well. 

     There are a number of relationships that seem to be dichotomies, but turn out to work in a synergistic fashion to edify each other.  Klaven and Fife themselves are polar opposite personalities, a characteristic that appears to be a catalyst in forming their relationship.  Klaven’s relationship to Fife and his fiancé – male plutonic/female romantic dichotomy – begin to cause friction as Fife moves into Klaven’s life.  As a result he has to choose between his romantic relationship and his friendship.  As the story progresses he finds, with the help of his fiancé, that he needs male friendship to be a better man and husband. 

     The modern American male is filled with frustration, anger, and fear and as the demands of family and work take precedence he becomes more and more alienated from male friendships. Most women wonder where their men went.  The shell of the man that they fell in love with has been beaten down and molded into a nice little suburbanized employee.  They haven’t been pursuing the male friendships that alleviate that frustration, anger, and fear.  They haven’t tapped into the source of energy that male bonds provide.  Our society brings us an ultimatum at the alter of marriage – wife or friends.  It’s a sad conclusion that most men accept dogmatically and most women stand behind.  While the reality is that marriage takes a lot of work, the more subtle reality is that it takes work and a lot of help.  Friendships are that help.  They rejuvenate a man and facilitate a healthy marriage.  It was encouraging that this movie came to the same conclusion.  Oh, and it’s a pretty funny movie.

Hopefully, this will help the starving college students out there save some much needed mula. What you need to make durable gymnastics rings is PVC pipe (1-2 inch diameter), A large pickle jar (the kind you buy at Sam’s that could feed a small orphanage for 6 months), 1/4 inch rope, duct tape, sand, an oven, and some thing to string the rings from a rafter - I use adjustable cargo ties.
Directions:
Measure the circumference of the pickle jar and cut the PVC pipe 2 inches short of that measurement.
String the 1/4 inch rope through the PVC pipe.
Stuff sand into the pipe with the rope still in it very tightly and duct tape the ends shut.
Preheat the oven to 300*
Put the PVC in the oven for 8 minutes.
Take the PVC pipe out and wrap it around the pickle jar. Tie the end of the ropes to hold it tight.
Let it sit for 15 minutes or until cooled off.
Empty the sand and tie ends of the rope well and you have some great gym rings.