BENNEFIT BLOG

When you are traveling it is difficult to keep up with staying active. The good news is that to get a good workout in you only need a bath towel length of space and your own body. Here is a quick workout that you can use anywhere, indoors, outdoors, in a bathroom, on the floor space in front of your hotel bed, literally anywhere! Whats the name of the game? Squat, Push-up, Sit-up. How do we play it? Complete the below sequence as quickly as you can. Take short breaks as you need but keep them minimal. Try to complete this in 7-10minutes or less! 20 reps - Squat 20 reps - Push-up 20 reps - Sit-up *rest* (make it short!) 15 reps - Squat 15 reps - Push-up 15 reps - Sit-up *rest* (make it short!) 10 reps - Squat 10 reps - Push-up 10 reps - Sit-up *END* Safe Travels!

If you have not read PART 1 and PART 2 of this article you should go read through them first to get the full picture of what Maximum Effort and Dynamic Effort strength training is. In part one and two of this article I explained the two primary components of the Conjugate Method Training protocol: Maximum Effort Sessions and Dynamic Effort Sessions, how they are designed and how they work together. In this article I will lay out how I would lay out a conjugate training program for myself or any client who wants to improve their strength. When I have used the conjugate method in the past I have toyed around with different approaches and the below outline is what I found to be the most consistent in improving performance. Monday - Maximum Effort Lower Body Tuesday - Dynamic Effort Upper Body Wednesday - Off Day  Thursday - Dynamic Effort Lower Body Friday - Maximum Effort Upper Body  Saturday - Active Rest (Work on weak accessory exercises) Sunday - Off Day Some...

If you are someone who wants to improve your overall strength, especially though using barbells, then I have a compelling idea for you. That idea is the conjugate method of strength development. Conjugate training was popularized by infamous powerlifter and strength coach Louie Simmons of Westside Barbell in Columbus Ohio. The concept of conjugate strength training is relatively simple to implement but difficult to understand how it works. Traditional resistance training implies that you train for one specific goal like strength, endurance, hypertrophy or power, and strive to make improvements in that single area over the course of a training program (lets use the standard 12-week program, or 3 months). The conjugate method strives to accommodate all of the primary goals of resistance training simultaneously in one workout. For example you may see a workout that looks something like the following for a Maximum Effort Lower Body session: Box Jump (Max Height) - 5x3 = [POWER] B...

If you are reading this you will likely want to read Improve Your Strength: [PART 1] Maximum Effort Conjugate Training first to get the full picture of the Conjugate Training Method. In part 1 of this article I provided an example of a Maximum Effort Lower Body session that looks like the following: Box Jump (Max Height) - 5x3 = [POWER] Barbell Back Squat - 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, 1, 1,... up to 1 rep max = [STRENGTH] Heavy Dumbbell Split Squat - 4x8 = [HYPERTROPHY] Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift - 3x15 = [ENDURANCE] Plank Hold - 3x1-2min hold [ENDURANCE] As you can see, power, strength, hypertrophy and endurance are all accounted for in this single workout. This kind of workout is extremely fatiguing on the body and would be unrealistic to perform multiple days in a row so the conjugate system includes another style of workout design called Dynamic Effort. Dynamic Effort Training is a similar format to maximum effort however, the prescribed repetitions and sets change to prevent exc...

St. Patricks day circa 2009 I was invited to my friends family celebration of the Irish holiday to enjoy some good company and good food. My friends mother was producing food left and right in the kitchen the entire morning until the early afternoon until it was time to eat. The dish of the hour come dinnertime: Glazed Corned Beef. I remember the meal like it was yesterday, sweet and savory with a crispy finish that you couldn't get enough of. That was ten years ago and I finally got the bright idea to reach out to my friends mother to get that recipe so I can attempt to recreate the joy of eating that meal a decade later. SHOPPING LIST : (This shopping list is for one roast, you can do multiple depending on how many you are serving) 3.5lb-4lb Flat Cut Corned Beef Brisket w/ spice packet (Mine came pre-seasoned) Medium-Large banking tin (you want there to be at lease 2-3 inches of space between the meat and the side of the tin) 1-1.5 tbsp Spicy Mustard (for glaze) 1/2 C...

Circa October 2015 Now I'm sure that this is just me getting inside my own head or over-analyzing myself, but I would like to believe that what I'll be talking about in this post is not just unique only to me and that there are also people my age or in similar situations as myself who can relate. For some time now I have been consistently overwhelmed. Overwhelmed with work, overwhelmed with school, overwhelmed with my social life, overwhelmed my personal life, Just. Overwhelmed. And after thinking about it for a while now I have come to a realization that although this state of overwhelmingness has begun to take over my life, I have been battling it quite efficiently. Also, I think that it all boils down to this: The reason I am feeling this is because of my overly ambitious lifestyle and I may tend to bite of more than I can chew. The reason I titles this being scatterbrained is that it s exactly how I feel: My thoughts are all over the place my priorities are all un...

My guess is that your reading this because you hurt your back from deadlifting, picking up something heavy, or maybe you have in the past, know someone who has, or are looking for some information on how to recover and even prevent this type of injury from happening. If you answered YES to any of those you may find this article pretty helpful. I write this for you as a previous victim of several lower back injuries, tweaks, and flare-ups throughout my life that occurred during my own fitness training, sporting events and regular activities of daily life. With the proper research and education as well as first hand experience of being able to use certain techniques I have compiled this list of things you may want to consider if you are experiencing back pain that is the result of lifting. 1.) Is my pain Acute or Chronic ? The first thing you are going to need to figure our is whether or not this back pain is acute  or chronic .  If it is C hronic , this means ...