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I honestly didn’t care too much about Bubba Watson winning the Masters this past weekend.  I am barely a casual golf fan.  I haven’t swung a club since high school, but keep up with it because I am an ESPN Sportcenter junkie.

Then I saw his post-tournament news conference.  One word came to mind…transparent.

When asked about how this win effected him as a new father, Bubba paused.  Tears were welling.  The pause was now audible to the crowd.  This was when I became a Bubba Watson fan.  He could have given a “pat answer” like it was amazing, or this has been a tremendous time for our family, and moved on.

Instead, after collecting himself,  he told a story.

He explained how when he was first dating his wife, she told him she couldn’t have kids.  They had been through a 4-year adoption process that came together in the last few weeks as he was competing in Bay Hill (he almost withdrew, but decided to stay and finished in the top 10).  He fought back more tears to say that he couldn’t wait to get home and be with his family.  More tears followed as he was asked about losing his dad to throat cancer a few years back.

Wow, in today’s world of political correctness, press release statements, and not letting people see you be vulnerable and “real”, what a refreshing interview!

Bubba became transparent to us and revealed part of the journey that has led him to one of the highlights of his life.

I think Jesus had to be transparent to those around him.  I am guilty of reading his words sometimes and thinking, “He was saying this, but he really meant that, and he didn’t tell them what he really meant because he knew that this had to happen first…”  It’s like we portray him as this elaborate storyteller who is stringing everyone along, only revealing snipets of who he really is.

Even parables and other things he said that people didn’t fully understand, had to still leave them feeling like they just heard the most compassionate, powerful words ever.

It is tough to read the words on the page that were spoken by the world’s greatest orator.  When he said, “Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth,” I bet you could feel every ounce of love he had for the meek.  Christ’s words and speeches had to be transparent in order for it to have the impact and lasting power that we see today.

Christian Strength Training Connection - One of our current bootcamps is an 8 station interval challenge with pullovers (upper), Med ball giant circles (lower and core), Heavy kettlebell carry (core and upper), Jump rope (cardio), Barbell challenge - presses and bent rows (upper), Wheel of lunges (lower), Med ball toe touches and dollies (core), and banded slides and runs (cardio).  8 stations of 2 upper, 2 lower, 2 core, 2 cardio.  For general conditioning, this makes a lot of sense, and is well planned when you look at what our athletes did for the previous 2 months.  My point…we know exactly why we have our athletes do certain things and can explain it to them…ah, transparency!

Too many training programs (loose term) or other trainers just have their clients do a bunch of exercises to make them tired without ever revealing WHY they are doing them.  If you ever ask your trainer why you are doing something and they say, “because I said to,” head for the door!  Every exercise should have a reason why it is in your program.  There are a lot of popular tools and exercises that you see everyday in gyms that have very little carry-over to real world strength, conditioning, or whatever you want to achieve.  Don’t fall for gimmicky, fake training programs that don’t make sense!

I long for more people like Bubba Watson in my life.  Friends who will tell me how their soul is, and ask the same of me.  Let’s be more transparent and see if it opens up those around us to reveal more for deeper and more meaningful relationships.

Live with Strength,

Jason

This is my 3rd Lent “messing around” with fasting.  Previously, I would fast for 18-20 hours on Wednesdays and Sundays.  This year, I decided to step up my game.  I went for 24 hour periods from 9pm Monday to 9pm Tuesday and again from 9pm Wednesday to 9pm Thursday.  Here are my results:

Weight loss - 7.0 lbs. (195.8 to 188.8)
Body Fat % change - 3% (15.7 to 12.7)

I didn’t fast for body composition purposes, but just wanted to track it to see what would happen.  I am really happy with the results because it shows this approach did not cut into lean muscle tissue for energy.  Also, I tried to sabotage it by eating whatever I wanted on days that I could eat.  I admit to a lot of subs, hamburgers, and tasty treats.  My birthday fell on the last Tuesday, so the next day I ate 3 slices of cake!  My training has been limited to 2 days a week (Monday and Saturday) and we had the Spartan Race on 3/24.

Overall, this was not that hard.  I picked Tuesday & Thursday because they are my busiest days so I was easily distracted with work.  The key was staying hydrated.  As long as I never allowed myself to get thirsty, the hunger pangs were minimal.  I love the clarity of thought and “high” (bad word, but hard to describe the fresh and peaceful feeling) you get around the 20th hour.

I am going to keep this going for 1 day a week after Lent and see how it progresses.

Previously, I used the e-book Fast 5 as a resource, but after this season, I am also reading Eat, Stop, Eat and a great blog is The IF Life (IF = Intermittent Fasting).

Spiritually, I love how the scripture from Matthew 6 reads about fasting -

Fasting

¹⁶ “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ¹⁷ But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, ¹⁸ so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

It’s when you fast…not if you fast, or should you choose to fast.  I like having that scriptural confirmation for something that has been done long before we started analyzing fat enzymes and making up other fat-loss “truths”.

That leads me to another reason this works for me…it is so anti-establishment to what most of my peers would say about diet, fitness, nutrition, etc.  There is a rebel in me that always wants to go against the norm and conventions of the day.  I love to see people’s reaction when I tell them that I am fasting.  I also love this comment, ” I could never do that.”  I also hear that when I talk about the Spartan Race, training at 5:30am, and other aspects to living a healthy life.  That makes me want to do it more.

Have a great Easter and Live with Strength!

Jason

The Grammy’s are about a week old and I have used this analogy with a couple of bootcamps, so it is time to share it here.

Adele was the big winner this year with six awards including the “Big 3″ of record, song, and album of the year.  Her performance was even more impressive.  She took the stage in a simple black dress and belted to the rafters.  There were no special effects or lighting tricks, and she barely moved.  But she received an amazing ovation and left everyone in awe of her voice and stage presence.  Her performance felt real and honest.

In contrast, there were a few performances that felt very gimmicky and unauthentic.  Katy Perry came out in what resembled a Power Rangers outfit with blue hair.  A verse into her song, the lights went out and she disappeared.  In the next moment, she reappeared up on a landing above the stage with lights, lasers, dancers…get the point?  It was a busy, frantic performance and felt very “processed”, like she was trying to be a side-show for Cirque de Soleil.

Both of these performances instantly make me think of the focus of this blog - Christian Strength Training.

I hope our training represents Adele…genuine, real, honest, and effective.  I don’t apologize for having most of our bootcamp exercises consist of push-ups, squats, lunges, deadlifts, pull-ups, dips, kettlebell swings, and a handful of other basic movements.  You can spend a lifetime mastering these basic movements and continually seeing results without having to introduce gimmicks and tricks with little return.  There are many variations on the basics that can keep them fresh forever.  Check out my list of 366 Exercise Ideas that we introduced around the new year.

The Christian angle to the Grammy’s is hard to describe but I will just say it.  There is something very real about Jesus.  I believe he really lived.  You might be thinking, “Ok…I do too…what’s your point?”  I think we can talk about him so much that it becomes this mythological incarnation we create when we think of him.  I believe he really lived, breathed, and came across as the most genuine and complete human ever.  The fact that makes him the most real is that he died.  All of the miracles are hard to wrap your brain around, but the fact that he had to endure the ultimate, most real part of life that we will all face, somehow makes him more credible and wonderful.  Vulnerable, sensitive, compassionate, and other real complex traits are hard to associate sometimes with our Savior, but we should be reminded of them.  The realness can draw us closer when we face real times of stress and sacrifice.  I pray that today (and everyday) I can exhibit the realness of Christ and the genuine character of strength for my clients, family, and friends.

Live with Strength!
Jason

One of my new year’s resolutions is to post the best of my devotions with our Christian Fitness Bootcamp group on Tuesday/Thursday nights.

Might as well start with one that should grab your attention and boost my search engine ratings

You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it! - John 14:13-14

Over the last few months, two names have become verbs that everyone can recognize.

Tebow (and the act of Tebowing) has become synonymous with praying.

On the other end of the spectrum is Sandusky.   I think you can gather what the verb version of this name refers to…let’s move on.

What if your name became a verb?  What would it be associated with?  I would love it if someone said, “Yesterday, I was Rhymering, and it was amazing!” and have them referencing anything like Tebow that was synonymous with Jesus, prayer, faith, hope, etc.

I am the last of this particular branch of Rhymers.  Both my brother and I have girls, so I feel responsible for leaving the Rhymer name in good standing and something that my daughter can be proud of.  What will be your legacy and if your name became an action would it represent all of the fruits of the spirit that Paul wrote about, or all of the compassion that was embodied in Christ?

Live with Strength!

Jason Rhymer

Happy New Year! I thought we would kick off 2012 with a huge post of basically every exercise I know or have used over the years. This post would have been unbearable if I had to describe each one, but you can send me any questions or comments you may have about how to do them. I also suggest searching online and there is a good chance you can find videos of everything here. I have provided some video links from our Power Devo archives.

Spoiler alert - I cheated a bit at the end, but there are actually way more than 365 exercises here. One other thought…it is not about how many you know, but how many can you master! A few of these can a long way to creating a lifetime of strength and physical success.

Here are 365 exercises to keep you busy this year. Oh wait, it’s a leap year…take two.

Here are 366 exercises to keep you busy this year.

1-”To change the world, starts with one step.” - Dave Matthews. Take that first step. Open your front door and run or walk. 5 minutes, 5 miles, whatever you can do. But take the first step and move!
2-Buy a $9 or $10 jump rope and *explore.
*You will see me use the term “explore” alot. Exercise and being healthy forever is a journey of discovery. Explore means do it, time it, try moving with it, have fun with it, make it hard, make it easy, do it and see what you discover about the exercise and yourself.
3-Squat - still the king of all exercises…over 250 muscles are used when you squat.
4-Overhead squat
5-Back squat
6-Front squat
7-Zercher squat
8-Goblet squat
9-Deck squat
10-Unevenly-loaded squat
11-Go to Plankville - Planks or pillars (you can Google either one) are the most basic core exercise that you need to master.
12-Side plank
13-3-point plank
14-2-point plank
15-Walk the plank (RRRgghh, Matey! - must be said with pirate voice)
16-Planks with limb abductions
17-Planks with limb abductions and internal/external rotations with those limbs
18-Push-ups - top 2 or 3 upper body exercises of all time.
19-Spider push-ups
20-Band or weight on the back push-ups
21-Scorpion push-ups
22-”Thread the needle” push-ups
23-Push-up holds (at top, mid-position, or bottom)
24-Wide-grip push-ups
25-Triangle (close-grip) push-ups
26-Plyo-pushups
27-Wheel of Push-ups (Classic Power Devo video here)
28-Bearcrawl push-ups
29-Pick up something heavy and carry it. This is the oldest exercise of all time.
30-Overhead carry
31-Suitcase style (arms by your side carry)
32-Shoulder carry
33-Odd/Unstable Implement carry - ask your company for one of the empty big water bottles from the break room and fill it with water, lead shot, sand, etc. Cap the end and explore with ways to carry it.
34-Stationary Lunges
35-Lateral lunges
36-Walking lunges
37-Jumping lunges (split jumps)
38-Reverse lunges
39-Wheel of Lunges (works same as the Push-up Wheel above)
40-Pull-ups - barely edging push-ups in my mind as the best upper body exercise of all time
41-Wide-grip pull-ups
42-Banded pull-ups
43-Close-grip, underhand pull-ups
44-Jumping pull-ups (Power Devo coming soon…what a tease!)
45-Deadlifts (I pick it up, I put it down - who has seen that commercial?)
46-Romanian Deadlifts - the best lower body/posterior chain exercise that nobody does.
47-Jefferson Deadlifts
48-Sumo Deadlifts
49-Deadlift with single-arm dumbbell/kettlebell at your side
50-Dips
51-Banded dips
52-Weighted dips
53-Moving dips - playgrounds have those low parallel bars. Stay in the top of dip and move across them.
54-Jumping jacks
55-Rotational jumping jacks
56-Horizontal arm jacks
57-Moving jacks - forward, lateral, backward
58-Weighted - hold light dumbbells
59-Defensive slides or side shuffle
60-Burpees (Classic Power Devo video here)
61-Push-up burpees
62-Single-arm burpees
63-Single-leg burpees
64-Moving burpees
65-Weighted burpees with light dumbbells
66-Push-up rows or Renegade rows
67-Duck walks
68-Rotational duck walks
69-Bear crawls
70-Rotational bearcrawls
71-Backwards bearcrawls - sneaky shoulder workout
72-Inchworms
73-Backward inchworms
74-Frog hops
75-Single-leg hops
76-Rotational single-leg hops
77-Broad jumps
78-Rotational broad jumps
79-Star jumps
80-Rotational star jumps
81-Hip turns
82-Gorilla hops
83-Giant skips
84-Crossovers (or grapevine or Karaoke)
85-Climb a tree
86-Jump a fence or wall (Classic Power Devo video here)
87-Go to a playground and explore - there are 4 great playgrounds within a 10 minute drive where I know I can explore with climbing, crawling, monkey bars, jumps, etc. If you have little ones, this is a no-brainer…they have a blast and you get in a sneaky workout.
88-Go through a fence. No, not like a battering ram. Find a fence that you have to weave your body through. This is great for hip mobility. Metal hand rails up ramps are great for this.
89-Hanging straight-leg raises (pikes)
90-Hanging hip flexions
91-Hanging oblique hip flexions
92-Hanging med ball or light dumbbell hip flexions
93-Hanging dollies - flex hips to 90 degrees and do leg splits
94-Hanging circumductions
95-Russian twists
96-Russian twists with implements
97-Russian twists with arms overhead holding a band or dowel rod
98-Military press
99-Push press
100-Seesaw press
101-Band press and pull aparts
102-Band press, pull apart, and rotate the trunk
103-Kettebell (KB) swings
104-KB high pulls
105-KB clean
106-KB clean and press
107-KB snatch
108-112- Double KB work on all that were mentioned above.
113-Med ball (MB) woodchops
114-MB woodchops with slam
115-MB giant circles
116-MB lunge and twist
117-MB push-up (one arm on and one off, alternate)
118-Windmill press
119-Barbell snatch
120-Single-arm barbell snatch
121-Barbell high pulls
122-Barbell power cleans
123-Barbell hang cleans
124-Barbell clean and push press
125-Barbell clean and jerk
126-Good mornings
127-Single-leg good mornings
128-Single-leg Romanian Deadlifts (darn, forgot this before when talking about RDLs)
127-Assisted pistols
128-Bodyweight pistols
129-Loaded pistols (ha, best name on the board)
130- I’ll have the combo platter…you could combo almost anything we mentioned, but here are a few of my favorites:
131-Reverse lunge & band row
132-Lunge/curl/press
133-Squat/curl/press
134-Lateral lunge/alternating press
135-Staircase sprints (Classic Power Devo video here)
136-Staircase bounds
137-Staircase hops
138-Staircase spider push-ups
139-Backward Staircase climbs
140-Backward spider push-ups
141-Turkish Get-ups - my personal favorite of all-time
142 -Banded Turkish Get-ups - you can change the pull on the shoulder depending on where the band is anchored. Tremendous for any throwing athlete.
143-One-arm rows
144-Band rows
145-Lat. pulldowns
146-Upright rows
147-Bent rows
148-Planks with feet raised in bands
149-Planks with feet raised in bands and performing different lower body movements:
150-Plank pikes
151-Plank hip rotations
152-Plank walk-ups
153-Plank knee tucks
154-Plank alternating hip flexions
155-Plank push-ups and alternating hip flexion combo
156-Massive suicide on local high school football field (just realized that might not be the best phrase for search engines)
157-Bleachers anyone?
158-Nature trails at local park. We have a several great parks around us that offer beautiful off-road experiences
159-Picnic table training
160-Park bench training (Classic Power Devo video here)
161-Low box/step training (Where did I put my Jane Fonda leg warmers?)
162-Lateral steps on the step
163-Running man drill on the step
164-Lateral running man drill on the step
165-Split jumps on the step
166-4 Corners on the step-place a band, kettlebell, barbell, and med ball off of each corner of a step. Perform 10 fast lateral steps, then go to a corner and use that implement. Repeat until you have hit all of the corners. This is a great two-person program.

Try something old again. We are always looking for the new fad or fitness trend, but do you remember this?
167-Pick-up basketball at a local park
168-Dust off your 1982 Jimmy Connors Special, find a friend, and go chase…uh, I mean hit some tennis balls
169-Swim!
170-Bike
Slap on an ankle weight and hit the following:
171-Hip abductions
172-Hip flexions and knee extensions
173-Hip flexions into hip extensions (donkey kicks)
174-Squat/hip abduction combo
175-182-Join a social league of your favorite sport or seek revenge from old PE nightmares. You can find organized competition at any age and level for almost any sport. Track & field events, ultimate frisbee, flag football, dodgeball, kickball, soccer, sand volleyball, bowling…start searching in your area and get after it!
More barbell goodies:
183-Steinborn squat
184-Wrestler’s Twists
185-Bench Press - Honestly, I have not done these in years and find them very overrated
186-Incline Press
187-Decline Press
188-Pullovers - These are very underrated
189-Bulgarian split squat
190-Overhead Bulg. split squat
191-Bulg. Split squat/curl/press
192-Bulg. split squat with med ball rotations
193-Barbell floor wipers
193-Reverse trunk twists
194-Prone barbell rollouts
195-Glute/ham raises

196-272- X-Vest - One of the easiest ways to load any of the challenges we have mentioned is to throw on a weighted vest. There are many versions of vests, but I recommend the X-Vest as the best.

272-365- Ultimate Sandbag - my buddy Josh Henkin is the sandbag guru. Honestly, sandbags could have their own list of 365 applications. I highly recommend checking out Josh’s site and you can find his videos all over the web. Almost every exercise can be modified for the sandbag, but there are many things you can do with a sandbag that you cannot easily do with traditional weight equipment. Here is one of my favorites for shoulder mobility and full body coordination:

366-Sandbag “bows” - start with the bag laying beside your foot (on the outside). Squat, rotate to grab the bag and lift it, taking the bag toward the opposite shoulder (across your body); take the bag around your head, and touch the ground on the outside of the opposite foot. From straight-on, the motion is in a “bow” pattern.

Ok, so maybe I am tired of thinking/typing and bailed on you at the end, but seriously adding kettlebells, med balls, X-vests or sandbags to all of these can make this list go on forever.

Let me know what you think; make this your best year yet; and live with strength!
Jason

No time to post today…busy, busy, busy.

Christmas is almost here! How could I possibly take time to workout, get in a devotion, and share it all with you! Yikes!

Ok, enough “Tom Foolery”. Integrate fitness and your spirituality into everything you do….Christmas, vacations, doing your taxes, watching TV, playing with your kids. You will have more fun with each of those activities and be more efficient with your time. A light workout while decorating your house is better than no workout at all!

Live with Strength,
Jason

Beautiful Fall day in Charlotte. Hope you are making the most of it. Here are some ideas for a creative workout with a picnic table in our “Everyday Fitness” series.

Here’s a new Power Devo exploring the mindset of the Good Samaritan and showing 3 interesting push-up variations: scorpions, thread the needle, and rolling push-ups.

We have a new part of Rhymer Fitness that I am proud to introduce. It actually developed this year through training for the Spartan Race, the Warrior Dash, and the USMC Mud Run. It is our obstacle course racing team called Team John 9. Our shirts say, “He put mud on my eyes…and I could see.” That is what this year has been about with this style of training for me. I was the guy who said, “Don’t run, just do intervals, or burpees, or swing a kettlebell until you can’t move.” I had no idea what was in store as I signed up for the Spartan Race back in March. It’s like my eyes have been opened to a completely new style of training and I love it. How often do we tell God, “I finally have it all figured out, I’ll put the calling you gave me on hold for now.” If we are really following Him, we have to be ready to go where he leads! Getting a little mud in my eye (and scraps on my legs) helped me find joy in a completely different kind of fitness program. What is out there for you?

Here are some before and after pics from this weekend…Live with strength!