Single leg strength and stability equals strong and functional booty

Dear Body Attacker,

Did you know that single leg strength and stability is key to having strong functional glutes!
( and a sexy butt too if all you care about is aesthetics ;p)

Fundamental movements like walking, running and sports activities are done
on one leg the most of the time.

Body Attack moves like skaters, single leg hops, agility steps, gallops and lunges
strengthen not just the legs but the core too as they challenge  your coordination and balance.

It will also reduce your chances of injury by teaching your hips, knees and ankles
to work together as one.

The key is to keep your knees out and your hips square so that you also recruit the
glutes (your butt) when doing  these moves.

yours truly, with knees out and butt engaged,

Erik

How to boost your cardiac power with Body Attack

Dear Body Attacker, Do you know what is Cardiac power?

It is how strong your heart can pump blood. When your heart gets stronger at pumping blood with each beat, you also get the benefits of increased anaerobic muscle buffering and local muscular endurance. Simply put, you will recover more quickly during intense bouts of sprints.

In track 4 and track 9 power training, we don’t just train the legs for explosive jumps and faster sprints, we also train the heart, similar to the Cardiac Power Method by Joel Jamieson, we improve the strength of your heart so that it can pump more blood with less beats.

Cardiac Power Training in Body Attack

We usually have 2 to 4 blocks of interval work in tracks 4 and 9 were we bring the heart rate up as high as possible and stay there for 1-2 minutes. Then we let your heart rate come down to 120 -130 bpm. And then we max out again on the next block of work.

Over time your heart rate comes down faster and you recover more quickly from a maximum effort as your heart gets stronger and stronger. When your heart can pump more blood with less beats, you don’t get tired quickly when your moving, lifting weights, or living your life with your daily activities like climbing a flight of stairs, carrying groceries or lifting your your children. My favorite exercise for this kind of training is the Body Attack burpee. It’s a full body movement that recruits a lot of muscles, requires a lot of energy and brings your heart rate up as quickly as seeing your crush across the room.

So this month of the hearts... let me see you max out and pump your heart out! Love, Erik

The Body Attack Group Effect

Dear Body Attacker,

Do you want to learn a simple trick you can do to boost your performance and push you to go the extra mile every time you workout?

Its not coffee. Not Alaxan. Non of those expensive pre-workout wheyprotein or energy gels. It’s something as simple as joining a group class!

Les Mills calls this the “Group Effect.”

It's a similar concept in psychology called "social facilitation" where in scientist observed in an experiment "a significant improvement in performance produced by the mere presence of others’.

On your own, it’s easier to stop when the going gets hard.
In a group, you'll gain strength from working out with others and you'll motivate each other to work harder, and push yourself just a little more.

This is one of the main essence of Body Attack. Shared energy and connection.
As I’ve mentioned in my previous post, the most effective way to get motivation, inspiration and results is by making exercise fun and not a chore.




Surround yourself with like minded people, bring your friends along to a Body Attack Class, have fun working out to chart-topping music and experience the Body Attack group effect!

Let's sweat together!

Erik

Body Attack Plyometric Lunges: The Bridge Between Strength And Power!

Dear Body Attacker,

Do you want to be strong or fast? Why not choose both?

Squats, deadlifts and snatches are a staple of any good training program if you want to build strength and explosiveness.

Although training squats and deadlifts with heavy weights will give you a base of strength you need and improve your efficiency in the way you move, in can only and increase your speed to a certain point.

here's what a bar bending deadlift looks like... complete with angry face and popping veins

If you want to work on explosiveness, the best exercise to help you with it are things like olympic lifts (clean and jerk, barbel snatches), ballistic kettlebell moves (swings and snatches) and plyometrics. However, these moves are fairly intense and can tax not just your muscles but also the nervous system.

That’s why one of my favorite Body Attack move is the Plyometric Lunge. The lunge is the key that will unlock your strength (for a heavier squat and deadlift) and develop your explosiveness (higher jumps and speed).

It is the bridge between strength and power.

You don’t just want to be strong. We want to be fast too. The ability to explode, sprint and change directions like a ninja.

The Body Attack plyo lunge is great for explosiveness but not as hard and taxing as a box jump or a full-on tuck jump. You'll gain more strength weight training with deadlifts or squats but when it comes to delivering the benefits of speed and power, plyo lunges will take you a step further.

Because you drop down and have to explode going up, your body has to learn to absorb force and redirect it which is GREAT for developing power in a way that is easy to learn and not to tough on the joints.

If all you want in life is to look and feel good, get the most out of life that you can and have no plans of competing in the Olympics anytime soon, then lunges are a great tool to increase your speed and power without costing a lot of time or energy.

However if you're training to beat Goku and could use a little more gains in speed and power, lunges provide a great transition into more intense tools like olympic lifts and plyometrics.

So the next time we do some lunges in track 4, keep your front knee out, back straight, chest up and feel the strength and power in your glutes and your legs!

Feel awesome knowing every lunge is a step further towards a functional, strong and fit body attack booty!

Happy lunges, Erik

How to start a Body Attack a habit and take your fitness to the next level effortlessly.

Dear Body Attacker,

How are your fitness resolutions? 

The first month of the year is almost over and most people have already fallen off their promises and new year resolutions. Don't let that happen to you!!!

How to make your new year resolutions stick

“Motivation is what gets you started, habit is what keeps you going…” This quote written on the walls of Fitness First Wynsum Ortigas many years ago stuck with me and it still rings true today.


In truth, there’s no substitute for hard work and discipline, in your fitness goals or any goals for that matter, you have to put in the work, sweat hard and you have to do it on a consistent basis.

The secret lies in making “work” fun for you and turning it into a habit so it doesn’t require discipline, or willpower for you to do it regularly. That’s why the Les Mills group exercises worked so well for me when I was starting on my fitness journey.

It was fun, and it turned into a habit. Instead of dreading at the thought of the workout, it was something that I would look forward to every time I would go to the gym

Become a Body Attack athlete by building a Body Attack habit. 

Now we know what Connor Mc Gregor has been up to... Body Attack secret training! 

In any training program, there’s the nitty gritty of planning the progression, recovery and varying levels of intensity and volume. But none of these stuff will work if you don’t actually show up and workout on a regular basis and not just on the first month of the year.  Have fun, enjoy the workout, feel the music and  don’t worry about dialing up the intensity. The first step is making it a habit.

SMART START - What’s the secret to building a habit? Start with small doses. “Too many people make the mistake of leaping into exercise when baby steps are what’s needed,” says Bryce Hastings, Les Mills Head of Research. If it’s your first time, keep these in mind:

Start slow – Don’t push your body too soon, stop your workout when things are feeling tough.

Build gradually – Aim towards staying for a full workout as your fitness builds

If you want to start a habit of flossing your teeth every night, Psychologist Bj Fogg recommends starting by flossing just one or two of your teeth.

With the BODY ATTACK SMART START format, you can just do half the class (tracks 1 to 5) and you will still get the benefits of agility and mixed impact training (track 2), high intensity interval training ( track 4),  and athletic strength training in (Track 5). You still get high and happy from the endorphin rush of a good workout and experience the fun and feel good music in every Body Attack release.

How to make the most out of your Body Attack workout when doing the low impact options

Body Attack is for everyone. Whatever your fitness level, Body Attack will unleash the inner athlete inside of you.

In Body Attack, there are many ways to tone down the intensity. You can:

Take away the complexity - Most of the Body Attack tracks will have your arms and feet moving  in a contralateral way. A contralateral movement pertains to exercising muscles on opposite sides of the body from one another and this is important for developing your core and stabilizer muscles and it improves functional fitness.

To make it easier, you can focus on the footwork and take away the arm movements and with time, the arm movements will come naturally.

Tone down the intensity and take away the impact- Plyometric moves like tuck jumps and burpees burn a lot of calories as it involves moving your whole body with a fair amount of intensity. Even the Body Attack Jump Jacks will have your legs, arms, lungs and heart pumping hard.

If you need to recover or if you find your form and technique starting to suffer, you can switch to the low impact options shown by your instructor in every track. It’s actually called “low impact” options and not “easy option” because it is not necessarily easier but it shifts the focus of the moves to a different aspect of the workout.

The options let you focus on the form, technique and alignment of the exercise  by toning down the intensity and taking away the jumps. This will help you ingrain the functional movement patterns in Body Attack deep down into your muscle memory and give you a foundation of strength and balance when you choose to do switch to including the plyometric moves.

Start small and keep doing it until it becomes automatic! Make Body Attack a habit!


KIA ORA!

Erik

WTH is Body Attack???

Dear Body Attacker,

Many years ago when I first heard the news in my gym that there was a new class called "BODY ATTACK" to be added aside from the usual Body Combat, it immediately brought visions of hard core training and work-til-you-drop kind of work out in my mind.  

For some people, it can be incredibly exciting but for some it can bring some apprehensions... after all, what kind of group exercise would make you attack your body?  

When I went into my first class, I've discovered that although it seems a little harder than Body Combat, it was way more fun and uplifting and not so much of a hardcore boot-camp style work out I thought it to be. The older members actually loved it too.

Since then the program has evolved and grown with a more sporty, athletic feel to it but the essence has stayed the same. It's all about having connection and fun with the music while still motivating you to train hard and break your limits no matter your fitness level.

What is BODY ATTACK ™ and who is it for?

BODY ATTACK ™ is a high-energy fitness class with moves that cater for total beginners to total addicts.  We combine athletic movements like running, lunging, and jumping with strength exercise that will make you fit, strong and ready for anything.

We attack the body with functional movement patterns and improve your aerobic and anaerobic capacity with plyometrics, strength, core and stabilization exercises

Body Attack is perfect for: 

Beginners looking to burn serious calories, for workout addicts looking to take their athleticism to the next level and even for people in the older population who needs to increase or maintain bone density and quality of movement as they age.

Are you looking for a feel-good, fun workout with uplifting music?

Are you looking for a challenge?

Are you looking to get that toned sculpted body?

Are you looking to improve your functional fitness and over all athleticism? 

Then look no further.

In a Body Attack class, you can take your fitness to the next level and improve performance in your specific sports. It's functional fitness for longevity and quality of life as you age.

Becoming a BODY ATTACK Athlete

Body Attack is an excellent cross- training and a stand alone program.

If you love BODY COMBAT and BODY PUMP, or if you love running, cross training with Body Attack can make you stronger, faster and last longer in the other workouts that you do.

Body Attack exercises based on fundamental movement patterns and sports based athletic moves gives you a solid foundation of pound for pound body weight strength, explosiveness, agility, speed and stamina.

Now what are you waiting for? Get out there! 
Run, jump, lunge, tuck, burpee and become a Body Attack Athlete...fit, strong and ready to crush it in the sports of LIFE!


Sincerely yours with a serving of burpees,

Erik

How to make your bones as hard as adamantium, maintain your strength and still be doing tuck jumps even when your 90 years old

Dear Body Attacker,

Did you know that contrary to what home TV shopping ads that sell “no impact" gliders/elliptical machines have led you to believe, high impact exercise like jumping is not only good for the knees... it is essential if you want to maintain your bone density as you age.

Who's got the hardest boner  bones? What the research on jump training and plyometrics reveal:

okay adamantium bones and claws are an overstatement on my part.

Research shows that the athletes with the highest bone density are those in high impact sports like gymnastics ( gymnasts eat tuck jumps for breakfast ). Runners have more bone density compared to cyclist and swimmers and other low impact sports. And in a similar research on male and female adolescents and high impact exercise revealed that:

    "the exposure to G forces­, a measure of impact, those who experienced impacts of 4.2 G’s or greater — though these were infrequent — had notably sturdier hipbones. Additional work done by the same researchers showed that running a 10-minute mile or jumping up onto and down from a box at least 15 inches high was needed to produce forces that great. The significance of these findings is that people should probably run pretty fast or jump high to generate forces great enough to help build bone."

Related articles here:
https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/07/why-high-impact-exercise-is-good-for-your-bones/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11283423

If you're not competing in the Olympics and your goal is just to enjoy a good workout and ensure that you maintain your strength and your fitness even as you go into your senior years, BODY ATTACK™ provides a convenient workout with carefully sequenced and selected moves and exercises with progressions applicable to any level of fitness in a way that’s fun, challenging and motivating.

BODY ATTACK™  makes your bones strong and can decrease risk of osteoporosis

The compressive loads of exercises such as skaters and lunge leaps are thought to stimulate production of new bone resulting in an increase in bone mass.


If you're a swimmer or a cyclist, it is essential to incorporate more plyometric moves in your cross training to improve performance and increase bone density.


Are you gonna be weak and fragile or strong and sexy as you age?

Maintaining bone density equals better quality of life when you go into your senior years. After the age of 25, you lose 1.3 % of your bone density every 4 months.
If you’re a woman, you can lose 20% or more 5 to seven years after menopause.

But there's hope.  You can maintain your bone density and fitness even as you age with plyometric training.

At age 51, Body Attack helped Program Head Lisa Osborne climb the the top ranks of the Crossfit Games! And she makes rope climbs and muscle up look easy! #fitnessgoals #roadtobodyattack100

You can JUMP, BOUNCE AND RUN just like these super grannys

From the book: What makes Olga Run? The Mystery of the 90-Something Track Star, and What She Can Teach Us About Living Longer, Happier Lives

At nearly 90 years old,  Johanna Quaas can vault, tuck jump, hand standand put your bench press record to shame. d caption

The good news is you can maintain and even increase your bone density even as you age.
The super grannies above were able to maintain there bone density and fitness thru some form of plyometric training.

Jumping 10 times twice daily is enough to stop you from losing bone mass and density.
If you are new to BODY ATTACK™  You don’t have to tuck jump from warm up to cool down.

Knee pains and injuries are usually caused by chronic repetitive movement exacerbated by poor form, technique and muscle imbalances.

With Body Attack, you train a variety of exercises, moving across all planes in different speed, direction and levels of impact.

Focus on proper form and execution. When the movement pattern has been ingrained to muscle memory then take it up a notch.

If you’re a veteran Body Attacker, tuck jump , burpee, airjacks and jump lunge to your heart’s content but it still pays off to work on technique and form.

No where you are in your fitness journey, it's never too late to start jumping to the beat and enjoy the rush that comes from a Body Attack workout!





Sincerely yours... with chest up and back straight,

Erik

How to improve your aerobic and anaerobic energy systems in a Body Attack workout to unleash your fat burning potential

Dear Body Attacker,

Have you heard of aerobic and anaerobic capacity?

Aerobic VS Anaerobic 

The aerobic system lets you work, run and move at an easy pace for a long time. Think of marathon and ultra runners who could go on for hours maintaining their running pace.


The Anaerobic system on the other hand lets you sprint, burst and go hard for short periods of time. Think of a 100 meter dash by Usain Bolt or sports like basketball and football where you need to sprint intermittently when driving to the basket or going hard for the goal.

What happens when your aerobic system becomes more efficient?

Your body learns to use fat as your main energy source during long bouts of activities or exercise.

You're able to do more work, run longer and you won't even need an energy gel or sugar drinks and to keep your energy stable because you rely on your body's  fat stores for fuel and not on carbs.

To build your aerobic system, you need to keep your heart rate below aerobic threshold. If you don't have a heart rate monitor, an easy way to know is use the talk test. If you can still talk and finish a sentence without losing breath while still working out, congratulations! you've passed the talk test.

If not, then you need to recover and focus on strength and technique by doing the no impact options or level 1 options.

What happens when we improve your anaerobic system?

You will be able to sprint harder and recover faster enabling you to burn large amount of calories in short burst while still enabling you to burn calories long after you stopped working out due to excess post oxygen consumption.

To improve your anaerobic system, you need to sprint as hard as you can without compromising technique and form. These sprints can take 10 to 30 seconds and these are the intervals that we usually do in tracks 4 and 9 of plyometric sports and power training.






In Body Attack,  we train both aerobic and anaerobic capacity 

We strengthen our lactate, phosphate anaerobic system and the aerobic system with careful selection and sequencing of exercises and tracks for a two-peak interval fitness class.

We warm up with a variety of controlled moves to raise core body temperature, increase mobility and mentally prepare for what's ahead with tracks 1-3 and then we use large plyometric type moves of high intensity interval training in track 4 for the first peak of the class.

In track 5, we let the heart rate down and recover with core, balance and stability exercises combined with upper and lower body weight strength training. We slowly build it up again following Run training with track 6, Speed and Agility with track 7, building up more intensity combined with feel good music in track 8 and maxing out again in track 9 power training.


To train both in your BODY ATTACK™ workout, it is important to take it easy in the warm up, (tracks 1 and 2) get your heart rate up just below aerobic threshold in tracks 3,5,6,7,8,10, 11 and  max out at the peak intervals of the class in track 4 and 9. (A quick way to compute your aerobic threshold is 180 - your age).

not actually rainbows but a rush of endorphins and happy hormones

To summarize:

Take it easy most of the time but max out at the right moments.

During the class, have fun and enjoy the workout, the feel of the music and then push hard and max out on the peak tracks (4) and (9) to train both your anaerobic and aerobic system.


Yours truly, with hips squared and knees out,

Erik

Can't Stop This Feeling

Dear Body Attacker,

Have you ever felt this awesome???

    "I got this feeling inside my bones

    It goes electric, wavy when I turn it on

    All through my city, all through my home

    We're flying up, no ceiling, when we're in our zone"


It's a sense of achievement. Mission accomplished. Burpees and plyometric lunges... done!
Feeling like a superhero. It's like I'm Tony Stark and I just annihilated the bad guys with my proton cannon.


It’s the same feeling when I've crossed the finish line of a marathon or  managed to crank out a new personal best. A knowing feeling that you've pushed your body just at the edge of your comfort zone, not too far outside to break it, but just enough.


Happy hormones rushing through your body blunting all the fatigue and soreness from the workout.


It's what keeps you coming back for more.

So if you're feeling blue...or maybe you just want to feel like a super hero... then it's time to
get high on Body Attack and spread the  #bodyattacklove and #bodyattackenergy!


KIA ORA!

Erik