In a few days, the Real Time Physique (RTP) Body Tranformation Challenge will officially begin (May 1st, 2009). This is a completely new body transformation contest that the world has never seen before, and there are two powerful reasons why. First, it’s because no internet-based body transformation challenge has ever given away such an amazing prize package to the winners. Picture in your mind… flying to New York and staying in a 5 star hotel -  awakening to lower Manhattan as the eastern sun rises over the Atlantic ocean.  You’ll be escorted to a “VIP” high class gym to train with 2 world-famous fitness celebrities. After you’ve had your share of fun, you will finish the day with a Broadway show after a private dinner. Did I mention the $500 cash prize money?

The second reason this body transformation challenge is unique is because there has never been one that is based on accountability. Social support is a major secret to compliance in a fitness program, and that’s exactly what this event capitalizes on. If you have ever tried to transform your body in the past with less-than-satisfying results, then the social support factor that comes from accountability will be the motivational push that makes all the difference this time – helping you to “get out of your own way” and claim the summer body of your dreams.

Here’s the skinny…

Adam Waters, a Fitness Professional from Australia has researched, practiced, and developed this concept of implementing “real-time accountability” into a body transformation system. Adams reputation precedes him as one of the worlds greatest accountability and success coaches, and is one of the worlds most widespread fitness blogger’s on the internet. Adam’s work has been published in Men’s Fitness, USA and Men’s Fitness Australian editions.

An interesting twist is that my friend, Tom Venuto is co-sponsoring the RTP challenge. In the world of changing physiques through diet, nutrition, and body transformations, Tom Venuto is among one of the top experts in the world. He’s not only my go-to expert for everything nutrition, bodybuilding, and killer physique-based training, he’s also someone that I’ve enjoyed personally working with for the last couple of years. Tom is known for his ability to translate research journal jargon into real world practical advice for those of us who don’t have PhD’s. He’s also the author of the Internets best selling diet/nutrition program in history called Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle (where I work as the manager) and the founder of the Internets largest fat loss support community, the Burn the Fat: Inner Circle (where I work as a contributor and forum moderator).

I can’t think of anyone more qualified than these two to be heading up a Real Time Physique Body Tranformation Challenge.

After announcing the fitness challenge last week, Tom and Adam have released the transformation challenge trailer (movie)…

Watch the trailer below and find out how this accountability-based body transformation challenge could transform your body in the next 84 days…

The deadline to register for the RTP transformation challenge is this Thursday at 11:59pm EST (less than 3 days!). Nobody will be allowed in after that date since the contest starts May 1. To learn more about the RTP transformation challenge, visit:

http://www.rtp-transformation-system.com

To learn more about how an accountability-based body transformation competition can help you get more motivated to transform your body than ever before in your life, be sure to check out Adam’s personal body transformation and the many testimonials on this page:

Earlier in the day, I picked up the 45 lb clubbell for some two-handed swipes – it was more practice, not training.

Today, I went for a 2 mile walk with my dog Ronin. We ran about a half mile of that, and sporadically sprinted about 50 meters a couple of times. I don’t like just walking or just running, I’d rather mix it up a bit and challenge myself in new ways. Ronin did much better on the leash today than yesterday. He didn’t pull except when a couple of dogs charged him from a neighbor’s yard.

After my walk, I spent about 45 minutes on a very thorough, and much needed full body joint mobility session using the Intu-Flow Longevity System. I spent extra time on my arms and legs, but each joint got a thorough wash. I feel great by the way!

Then I did some 15 lb clubbell practice – swipes, mills, circles, casts, and cleans mostly. I kept my exertion low, around 3 or less. I need to focus more on recovery today, than trying to stimulate an adaptation. It was purely technique practice.

Notes: my legs are still pretty sore from some bodyweight training yesterday (squats, lunges, jumps, pistols, etc.), so I’m going light on my legs with the clubbell practice. Tonight, I’ll practice Spider Monkey flow from the Prasara Yoga DVD which I just learned this past week. I think Spider Monkey is the hardest of the 5 flows for me. I’m having trouble transitioning from starfish to the single-leg downward facing dog (can’t remember the name). It’s a very strength-challenging yoga flow.

Until next time!

To your health and success,

Fitness Professional and CST athlete

I spent some time today practicing with my 15 lb clubbells, doing swipes and mills mostly – not pushing into exertion. My milling is virtually effortless, which I attribute to regular practice and good execution of the 7 Key Components of Structure.

This afternoon, I also did a hammer swing test to see how fast I could perform 100 repetitions – 50 clockwise, and 50 counter-clockwise. Here’s the footage I filmed:

100 Hammer Swings with 15 lb Clubbell


After a dinner of some honey dijon pork chops from the farm down the road, I did a slow joint mobility session for my spine, shoulders, and hips – getting really deep into the range of motion.

I finished the day with some basic BodyFlow to release some tension in my legs.

To your health and success,

Fitness Professional and Clubbell Athlete

P.S. If you’d like to learn more about clubbells, then visit the official site here: http://clubbell.tv

Ageless Mobility is split up between standing mobility exercises, and floor-based yoga exercises, and I’ll be the first to admit that yoga is not my strongpoint. Sure, I can lift and swing weights all day long, but put me in a seemingly simple yoga routine and I can crumble if I don’t focus. Yoga is something that definitely does NOT come naturally to me, and I have to work extra hard to make minor improvements. My first AM yoga session pretty rough, challenging, and very frustrating – but with each subsequent session it gets better.

But with that said, I have made outstanding progress in the last 2-3 years of a semi-regular Prasara Yoga practice. The results DO come, even if slowly, with discipline and effort, and I’m better because of it. If you’ve never tried yoga before, then the Ageless Mobility program would be an excellent way to start that. I see AM as a way of dipping your toe in the water to see how cold it is before you jump in. It’s not completely yoga, and it’s not completely mobility – but it will make you feel better and move better. Practice for a few days and you’ll notice immediate improvements in your posture and movement. Practice for a few months and many aches and pains may just disappear, and other people will begin to notice a change in you. You’ll be much stronger, and able to access your strength more fully. I strongly recommend the Ageless Mobility program to anyone that wants better health and natural athleticism.

To your health and success,

Fitness Professional and Yoga Neophyte

P.S. If you’re already working through a joint mobility program, then Ageless Mobility will be an excellent tool to teach you how to go much deeper into a range of motion.

One exercise that I’ve been trying to improve is the reverse mill, which I find much more challenging than the regular clubbell mill. So, I created a little combination routine that allowed me to practice both, along with a hand switch, which I need to master for high rep clubbell swinging. Here’s a demo of the routine:

Opposite Clubbell Mills

There’s a good chance that I’ll be pursuing the CST Instructor certification this August, which means I need to be in tip top shape for the physical exam, which includes a Trial By Fire test with the 15 lb clubbells (100 double swipes, 100 single-arm mills per arm, and 100 hammer swings – completion in less than 30 minutes = pass). I have already passed the TBF requirements in my own training, but I intend to ace it at the seminar!

To your health and success,

Fitness Professional and Clubbell Athlete

For more information about clubbells, visit the official site here: http://clubbell.tv

Yesterday, technically a low intensity day, I picked up one of my 15 lb clubbells for some mills practice.  Against my better judgment, I thought I would see how many times I could swing it without stopping – even without performing a proper warmup.  So, I did 10 mills with my right arm, then 10 with my left.  I repeated that 10X for a total of 100 mills for right arm, and 100 mills for left arm.  Hand switches were every 10 reps, and there was no rest – it was a continuous set that took 7 minutes and 30 seconds to complete.

I attribute this oddly timed success with my attention to the 7 key components of structure:

grip confirmation, arm lock, shoulder pack, crown to coccyx alignment, core activation, hip recruitment, and leg drive.

Rating Perceived Technique 8+/10
Rating Perceived Effort 5/10
Rating Perceived Discomfort 1/10

Old video of me practicing Clubbell Mills

Notes: RMAX Head Coach Adam Steer described Clubbell®® mills to me as if they are almost dancelike, and I think I understand what he means now. Compared to past attempts at high rep swinging, my effort today was markedly less (and only my grip felt fatigue). I probably could have nailed 160-180 before my technique began to deteriorate. Perfect Practice DOES make perfect.

That was yesterday. Today, I attempted 100 repetitions of the double 15 lb clubbell swipe. I finished in 8 minutes, 25 seconds – which is a new PR.

sets were: 50, 12, 10, 10, 8, 10 – with 10-60 seconds rest in between each set.

RPTED 8+, 8, 1

Notes: My main weakness here was excessive grip fatigue. Will get this to a straight set of 100 in no time!

Old video of me performing Double Clubbell Swipes

One of my goals is to be able to do 100 continuous mills, swipes, and hammer swings with the 15 lb clubbells in under 20 minutes by August.

For more information about clubbell training, visit the official site here: http://clubbell.tv

To your health and success,

Fitness Professional and Clubbell Athlete

15 lb clubbell combination routine:
swipe –> mill –> hammer swing –> change direction with hammer swing –> swipe –> mill –>> hammer swing (repeat for 15 minutes)

Rating Perceived Technique 8
Rating Perceived Exertion 6
Rating Perceived Discomfort 1

Post-clubbell BodyFlow Practice – most of the basic moves for 10 minutes.

Evening Prasara Yoga practice after some brief, impromptu wrestling sessions.

Saturday – high intensity day

It was a beautiful day, and I spent the first 90 minutes outside with my akita, Ronin. He dug holes in the snow, while I did a thorough full body joint mobility session in the sunshine for 45 minutes using the Intu-Flow program at mixed levels – mostly circles and infinities.

Following the mobility training, I performed 45 minutes of 15 lb clubbell training: focused on swipes, mills, hammer swings, arm circles, presses, casts, and others – also included yesterday’s combination routine throughout.

Brief afternoon two-handed clubbell training session with 45 lb clubbell – 15 minutes:
rock-its, swings, cleans to order, clockwork squats, swipes, and arm casts.

I did vibrations throughout, as per the RESET DVD program.

Late afternoon shooting practice – went to a local sandpit with some friends, shot a couple of Ruger .22 long rifles, a .308 remington bolt action rifle, a 9mm Smith and Wesson semi-auto, and a .357 revolver. Two hours of fun times!

Evening high intensity wrestling session with family – 30 minutes. At one point, it was 5 people against me!!! I got some rugburn, almost puked once, and successfully kept my socks on. This is how my family celebrates my brother’s homecoming from college…

We also played some other physical games that would be hard to describe – tests of skill and strength mostly. All in all, it was about 2 hours of physical activity in the evening with the fam.

Sunday – No Intensity Day, or so I thought

Various joint mobility exercises were performed throughout the day, but no scheduled session. Evening came, again with my family, and again everyone decided to gang up on “big brother” John. It was about an hour of on-off wrestling, me against everyone. I got my butt whooped, but it still takes 4 of them to bring me down!!!

I’m the oldest of 5 boys, in case you didn’t know. They are in this order:

1) John

2) The “sneak attacker,” who waits for the best opportunity and then strikes.

3) The guy who “plays it safe, but occasionally goes PSYCHO!” – this is the one who is home from college.

4) The “langler” monkey-boy who attacks from behind and doesn’t let go no matter what position of submission you have him in – the “other” athlete in the family.

5) The “tank” who takes great satisfaction in sitting on the loser while he’s pinned, randomly spanking people while they are helpless and laughing, and often throws dirty socks in their face.

We have a very close-knit family

After the wrestling bouts, we played some more physical games ranging from arm-wrestling, to handstand contests, to balance games, to “mercy” (after 15-20 minutes with fingers interlocked, I lost to the “sneak attacker” for the first time in history – great job, I’ll bring you some more weights to lift soon, lol – and we’ll have to do a rematch sometime sooner than later).

When I finally got home, I did some joint mobility exercises just to decompress the joints and help me sleep better – I knew it would pay off the next day.

Today, the day after all the mayhem, was supposed to be a low intensity day, but I’m taking another no-intensity day as yesterday was not as restful as I had expected. Tomorrow, I will resume with my scheduled low intensity day. Today involves a thorough, full-body joint mobility session and playing with the dog in the snow. Ronin needs some exercise before tonight’s training class.

What did you do over the weekend?

To your health and success,

Fitness Professional, CST Athlete, and Oldest of 5 boys

2-handed clubbell training circuit using the 45 lb clubbell
Perform each exercise without stopping until the end of the circuit; no rest between exercises, 60 seconds of rest at the end.

Repeat 5X total:
2 front swipes
2 arm casts
2 clockwork squats
2 cleans to shoulder park into deck squat
2 cleans to order
2 swings
2 rock-its
Rest 60 seconds, then repeat with opposite grip.

Vibrations and basic joint mobility was performed during rest times, one full body vibration at the end.

Rating Perceived Technique 8/10
Rating Perceived Effort 7-8/10
Rating Perceived Discomfort 0/10

1 Slow Run-Through of Forest Flow from Prasara Instructional DVD. (reviewed the instructions the night before = about 20 minutes on one leg, in-between poses)

Notes: frustrating session today, palms were very sweaty and oily. Three near-miss accidents with the clubbell, one of which it completely slipped out of my hands and fell on the floor. High effort could not be sustained due to the risk of dropping the clubbell. Grip muscles were not excessively fatigued, just had no ability to hold onto it with all the slippage. Forest Flow was good, helped me calm down and really focus on something important. Went for a short walk with the dog later.

To your health and success,

Fitness Professional and CST Athlete

Performed 1 warmup round…

Repeat 8X, no rest between exercises, 1 minute rest at the end of each circuit. Exertion was kept between 50-80%:
15 lb clubbell mills, each arm
Alternating pistol spinal rocks
Mixed Grip Pullups
Quad hop burpees
15 lb clubbell two-handed side swipes
Lateral rock bottom lunges
Pushups with Perfect Pushup Handles (my review is here)
Rest 1 minute, doing vibrations throughout

Rating Perceived Technique was 8/10
Rating Perceived Effort was 6-7/10
Rating Perceived Discomfort was 0-1/10

Full Body Vibration and 2 minutes rest

BodyFlow practice: squat creep, shin twist, knee switch, descending shin roll, shinbox switch, hip snap shinbox switch, long leg creep, leg swoop, elevated scorpion, dragon twisting into seated spinal twist, and springing tripod.

Non-stop Spinal rocks from the Be Breathed program for a final core strength challenge:
10 Straight-leg
10 Split-stance
10 butterfly
10 single-leg left side
10 single-leg right side
10 dropping feet spinal rocks

Notes: Great session today. Exertion was noticeably lower than the last time I did this one, and I upped the repetitions on several exercises. I will end the day with Forest Flow and Flock of Pigeons from the Prasara Instructional DVD later tonight before bed. I’m looking forward to tomorrows two-handed clubbell training day. Going to make a whole-foods banana berry smoothie and then it’s Hawaiian Pork with pineapple that has been teasing me from the crock pot all day.

To your health and success,

Fitness Professional and CST Athlete

Full Body Joint Mobility Session using the Intu-Flow Program.

Neck infinities
Neck rotational infinities
Shoulder shrug circles
Alternating shoulder circles
Arm screw
Teacup exercise
Various arm circles and infinities
Elbow circles, and clovers
Wrist basic ranges and circles
Finger waves, and “ice cream cone to ok”
Arm waves
Thoracic spine expansion/compression
Thoracic lateral sways
Thoracic circles, slow
Pelvic Circles
Hip circles, and basic ranges
Spine infinities
Leg basic ranges
Knee basic ranges, and circles (open and closed chain)
Ankle circles (open and closed chain)
Leg infinities

Prasara BodyFlow Yoga Practice, very slow and controlled:
Flat foot squat –> Descending shin rolls –> shinbox switches –> Forest Flow (1 run-through Forest, 5 minutes from start to finish)

Rating Perceived Technique 8/10
Rating Perceived Exertion 2/10
Rating Perceived Discomfort 1/10

Notes: felt great to spend some quality time on my mobility today. Shoulders needed the most work. Hips and ankles/feet had a lot of tension, but not anymore

Taking the dog to the park later today.

To your health and success,

Fitness Professional and CST Athlete