<p>Commander Cody used to sing, “Never Had Too Much Fun”. However, he must not have ever tried Phase 3 of New Rules of Lifting for Abs.</p>
<p>I tried a run-through of the first workout this evening and it was so much fun that it really should be illegal. What a great collection of zany exercises. I plodded my way thru them like a dancin’ hippo, but this is going to be a blast getting up to speed. Of course, it starts with the same dozen warmup exercises I’ve come to know and love. Then goes into:</p>
<p>Core</p>
<p>This Phase ups the ante, starting with Turkish Get Up, you start lying on your back with a weight overhead and proceed through a side bridge and split squat to get to your feet with the weight still overhead and then back down. I did five rough ones on each side and was gassed. The second core is really fun. Dumbbell in one hand, deadlift (by hinging the hips), while stepping sideways onto a 10 inch step – all in one fluid motion. I fell off the step on the first one, but quickly got the gist of the motion. What a blast. And, the capper is a reverse lunge while pulling a resitance band (or cable weight) diagonally down across the body. Pull it down while lunging back and let it return while stepping forward. What a fantastic exercise!</p>
<p>Power</p>
<p>Two exercises to develop power. A jump shrug: start with a barbell or two DBs down around your shin, knees bent in a squat. Jump up explosively (off the ground) while pull the bar up by shrugging your shoulders. I haven’t got this one at all, but it’s going to be fun. this alternates with slamming a medicine ball from overhead down to the ground as hard as you can. Three sets of each.</p>
<p>1st Strength Superset</p>
<p>Alternate between a split squat with the rear foot elevated up on a step or bench (six reps on each leg) and a very cool plank one arm row. Get in a one handed plank pushup position with the hand on a bench. Hold the plank and row a dumbell with the free hand. It’s like a renegade row (pushup position on the floor), but you can use much bigger weights. Loved it. The deal is to alternate back and forth, doing as many sets as you can in ten minutes. I just set my interval timer and started an exercise every minute on the minute. So I got 30 split squats on each side and 30 rows on each side in ten minutes and was seriously gassed.</p>
<p>2nd Strength Superset</p>
<p>Same deal, but alternating between a single-leg single arm dead lift and bench pressing two dumbbells with just your head and shoulders on a bench or stability ball. This is actually easier than the alternative version in Phase 2. Same deal – I started an exercise every minute on the minute for 10 minutes. Basically, I was doing 30 seconds of exercise and 30 seconds of rest.</p>
<p>The whole thing was a bit long at 75 minutes, but it’s always slow the first time through a new workout with exercises I’ve never done – especially some toughies like this Turkish Get Up. I went really conservative on weights the first time through – to learn the exercises and get a handle on what I can manage. I don’t even know what Workout B has in store, but Workout A is a blast. I’m gonna be sore in some new places tomorrow.</p>
I use a similar formula to weigh our cats prior to their vet’s visits, and the numbers agree very well with the vet’s scale readings. All the extra bells and whistles offered in higher priced scales, such as body fat measurements, IMO are gimmicks.</p>