Tim Hull is a physical therapy, massage therapy and fitness professional. I have worked in the health fields for over 15 years.
It is my passion and life goal to help as many people as I can build Healthy and Fit bodies through nutrition and exercise.
Join me to create a fit world, one body at a time!
When it comes to conditioning in the gym, people usually fit into one of two schools of thought. There are the “big lifters” who think they don’t need to do “cardio” and then you have the skinny minis that spend hours on the treadmill to burn a few hundred calories. Neither approach is best; there is definitely a better way.
Enter Joe Hashey and his new book Bull Strength Conditioning. He correctly believes that conditioning is a must for all athletes (and I would add, for anyone looking to get fit). Conditioning is so much more then cardio on a machine. Joe educates you in what the top trainers and elite athletes have known that high intensity circuits and metabolic conditioning work is by far better than traditional endurance work.
In Bull Strength Conditioning, Joe takes the coach’s approach to teaching you about conditioning. There is no”fluff” or unnecessary junk to distract you from the most useful information. Instead of throwing throwing thousands of exercises at you and leaving you clueless as to how to proceed. He gives you 21 unique condition workouts that I will guarantee, will kick your butt.
I have already tried several of the conditioning circuits and I was dead afterwards! This stuff works!
The exercises and circuits make your conditioning work more effective and in my opinion more fun, then spending hours on those machines. Joe offers a lot of variety as well, including circuits for upper body, lower body, and the whole body. He also instructs you on how to incorporate not only bodyweight, but sandbags, barbells, sleds, and medicine balls just to name a few.
The thing I like the best about this manual is the fact that Joe takes you through the progressions of the exercises. He gives you several options in how you perform the circuits, allowing you to gear it towards your needs. You can take the information presented in this manual and literally create hundreds more circuits as you progress.
I also like that he addresses the need to have a plan. You should not enter into any training without knowing what you want to accomplish and how you’re going to get there. To help you with this, Bull Strength Conditioning gives you 4 questions to always ask when you’re developing a killer conditioning program. It also gives a list of guidelines to help you along the way.
Conditioning work does not replace strength workouts, but it does go hand in hand with them. If you want to create the best and fittest body that you can, then you need conditioning work and this is this manual for you.
Well another Arnold Fitness Weekend has come and gone. I must say that I enjoyed it more this year then I did last year. I think it had a lot to do with me regaining my passion for fitness over the last year. But I think it also is due to being able to meet some of my Twitter friends there as well.
One of those friends is Mandy Stafford. It was a pleasure to meet Mandy she is a beautiful girl and very nice. I only wish that I could have talked with her more, but she was busy helping her friend, fitness mega star Monica Brant at one of the booths. So far everyone of my online friends that I have met in person are just as great as they are online.
OK, back to the Arnold!
I just love going to this event!! Besides meeting top people in the industry, I am able to see the newest trends in the fitness world on display. But the biggest benefit is that it stirs up my excitement and passion for lifting and fitness. I am not sure if it was because I was “buzzing” from all the free supplement samples that I tried or because I was so pumped from attending the expo, but I could not wait to workout when I got home.
I am so energized with my passion for fitness right now, it’s helping me to refocus and develop/start a new workout cycle. I am developing something new and if it works as well as I hope, I will turn the program into the next book for my Thera-Strength series.
Below I have included a flip book of some of the images at the Arnold. I hope you enjoy.
Sorry I have not posted much over the last week, I’ve had some computer problems. But that is all fixed now, ended up getting a new awesome laptop. You probably don’t know this, but I’m a closet electronics freak! I love gadgets and new technology, so I am in heaven right now playing with my new toy and going to the Arnold Fitness Expo all in the same weekend!
Speaking of the Arnold, here is a great survival guide that my friends over at the Diesel Crew posted: Arnold Classic Survival Guide
Remember if your going this weekend, shoot me an email at: Tim@thestrengthdoctor.com I would love to meet you in person!
Also would love to hear about your experience and maybe see some of your pics of the event.
OK, going to sign off for now. Look for some more train articles and videos coming soon!
As I sit here thinking, my mind is filled with a 101 different thoughts this morning. So I thought I would share a couple of them.
First on a tragic note: Earlier this week I got news of a lifting accident in a gym across town. Apparently a 20 yr old was benching using 250# and his hand slipped causing the weight to come down and crush his face. Now you might be thinking that he was just lifting too heavy a weight, but either that day or earlier in the week he had just reached is personal best bench of at least 450#. I am sharing this with you to remind you that weightlifting can be dangerous and must be approached in a safer and smart manner. Make sure that you have a spotter helping you in your heavier lifts and make sure to pay attention to your body as it begins to fatigue.
Weightlifting can be a great and healthy activity, as long as you do it correctly and safely!
OK! On to some more upbeat talk!
It’s that time of year again, yes that’s right it’s time for the Arnold Fitness Weekend!
This is one of my favorite events of the year, I always come away with a bag full of samples, a body full of adrenaline, and a head full of inspiration. If there is anyway possible for you to attend, I encourage you to do it. You will be glad you did.
I am especially looking forward to this year since I will be meeting up with some friends that I have made online. As you know from my last post, I had a great meeting with one of them last week. So I am excited to get to more great people. I hope to have lots of great photos to share with you and maybe even a little video as well.
All this talk about the Arnold has got me all pumped up, guess that means it’s time to go workout!
Remember to “Live Fit”
-Tim-
P.S. if your coming to the Arnold let me know, I would love to meet ya!
I have met so many great people online over the last few years. It just amazes me the kind of connections I have made. There are people from all over the country and not to mention the ones from different countries, such as Canada, Australia, and the UK. All of these people I would never have met if it where not for the internet. Crazy!
Well this past week I had the honor of meeting one of these great people. His name is Nathan Teodoro, he is a martial arts expert and also currently works for a company that sells equipment to law enforcement. In fact, his job is what brought him through my town. When he realized that he was going to be close, he contacted me to have dinner and actually get to meet in person.
I am so glad that Nathan contacted me, we had a great discussion over dinner and I was impressed at his knowledge of the martial arts and self defense. He is proficient and holds black belts in a number of martial art styles. If MMA or martial arts interest you, then you must checkout his blog. In fact he is so knowledgeable that I tried to talk him into writing some books to share all his great knowledge with the rest of us. I guarantee I will be first inline if he does! And I will make sure to let you now as well.
Besides his blog, you can check him out on Twitter under the name of tdatraining.
I will be bringing you stories of other great people that I meet form the internet, real soon. In fact as a lot of you know I go to the Arnold Fitness Expo every year. Well this year I have several “internet” friends that are going and I will be meeting up with them, should be fun!
As you can see I have been making some changes, especially if you came looking for the forum. I decided to take the forum down, since I was not happy with the design. I want to make sure that everything I bring to you is quality stuff. Thats why you will continue to see small changes from time to time, in an effort to brings you the best experience and information .
I have some huge projects that I working on this year!
You all know I just released my new book Functional Correction (thanks for all the great responses). Well since that book has been well received, I decided to make the next book in the series. It will cover a unique training and nutrition system, that I am developing. Believe me it will be unlike anything you have seen offered! Tip: if you have not bought the Functional Correction manual, you might want too. I will be picking several people who have bought the book to receive free additions of the new book when it comes out. I will most likely give everyone who bought the first book a big discount on the second one.
I will keep you updated on the new manual’s progress. I am looking at sometime this spring, depending how much time goes into my other projects.
There are several other projects (that are much bigger) on the horizon, one of which will be launched in the next month or two! Unfortunately, I can tell you what they are just yet due to confidentiality agreements. But, I believe you will be very interested in them. I will keep you updated on everything, as much as i can.
One last thing, I almost forgot to mention the new “free” Newsletter! I will be sending out a bi-weekly newsletter on all the happenings and latest fitness/lifting information. Make sure to sign up today!
OK, I have lots of things on my to do list today, so I will talk to ya later.
A friend of mine Mandy Stafford, sent me this great recipe for healthy chicken strips. I love them, and the sauce is wonderful. Insteady of rolling the strips in the sauce, we just use it to dip in as we eat.
Give it a try and let me know what you think.
-Tim-
Chicken Fingers with Chipotle-Honey
“Cook This, Not That!”
Makes 4 servings / Cost per serving:
Eat restaurant chicken fingers with one of their special sauces and you could be downing nearly a full day’s worth of calories. Make the switch to this homemade, oven-fried version once a week instead, and you could shed 25 pounds (and cut out 210,080 mg of sodium) in a year.
250 calories/1.5 g fat (0 g saturated)/ 350 mg sodium
Preheat the oven to 450°F. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Place the egg whites in a shallow bowl. Place the crumbs on a plate and season those, too. Dip the chicken tenders into the egg, then toss them in the crumbs, being sure to coat fully.
Place the breaded chicken pieces on a baking sheet coated with nonstick cooking spray and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the crumbs have browned and the chicken is firm.
Combine the mustard, chipotle, and honey in a large bowl. Toss the cooked chicken tenders in the mixture so they are all evenly coated with the spicy-sweet sauce
This Super Bowl why not have fun in a healthy way. Every year we sit in front of the TV and eat tons of great tasting (but fattening) food and wash it down with some alcohol. This is definitely a recipe for disaster when it come to your diet and your waistline.
This year, I challenge you to try something different. I want you to have fun and enjoy yourself, but in a healthy way. So I have included a few tips to help you out:
Make a healthy version of your favorite foods. With a little research you can find recipes that are healthy and taste great. To get your ideas flowing, go to the StrengthDr forum and check out the recipes. You can also checkout the book “Eat This, Not That” , definitely recommended.
Perform the 7 Daily Essentials from my book and take a walk at halftime to stimulate your metabolism and improve your digestion.
Limit alcohol, find some great tasting low calorie drinks to have instead.
Create a fitness game, incorporating whats going on in the game. Most of us know of the drinking games, where you have to do a shot if someone says a certain word on a movie or show. Lets take that and make it healthy. Here are a few ideas, but make it your own and be creative with it.
For every touchdown do 1 bodyweight squat for each point the team has
For every punt do 10 push-ups
Every time they show some crazy painted fan do 5 jumping jacks
Every time they mention Bret Farve do 10 lunges
So these are just a few things you can do, just make sure to make it fun and enjoy yourself. Let me know what you come up with. Also email me a picture of your Super Bowl fitness game in action.
“Live Fit”
-Tim-
P.S. I am going to rout for the Saints this year, who do you think will win?
P.P.S checkout the link below, it’s a list of the worst Super Bowl foods.
A while ago I shared a video on making your own Bulgarian Sandbag. I have made a few of them as well and love to include them in my workouts. It offers a great opportunity to build both strength and conditioning. The bags also offer a nice break from normal lifting, giving me that variety that I crave.
While visiting a friend of mine Joe Hashey’s site, I found this great video he made demonstrating 40 exercises you can do with the sandbags. Give them a try, some great stuff!
I am excited to announce that I am know an affiliate for Egg Whites International. This may not seem really exciting to you, but I love their product and I am happy to share it with you. They offer pure liquid egg whites that you can use to make shakes, cook with, etc… You are only limited by your imagination.
If you follow me on Twitter, I post different shakes that I have come up with from time to time. Recently the protein source has been liquid egg whites. Here is one of my latest drinks:
6-8oz of Apple Juice
Hand full of spinach
1 bannana
1 orange
1/3 cup of liquid egg whites
Mix everything in a blender until smooth, and drink. This is a great nutrient drink. You get your fruits, veggies, and protein all in one. I try to drink one for breakfast most mornings. It’s amazing, I noticed that on the days I drink one of these drinks that I don’t need any coffee that day and I am less tired. Here are some more Recipes.
