Let us know what you think?

Since the pair’s formation in 2010, the Bruce SISTAZ have added a host of significant performances to their ever expanding CV. Having enjoyed a series of high profile performances including a nation wide tour with the popular dance troop Diversity and the U.K. London premier of the Blockbuster movie ‘Karate Kid’, the pair have recently confirmed their involvement in this year’s BodyPower Expo. Bodypower will welcome the extreme Martial Arts duo along side many other dance and display based collectives across their three day weekend in May.

BodyPower‘s Marketing Director Ollie Upon commented on the announcement, ‘BodyPower prides itself on providing visitors with an unforgeable experience. We have added acts like the Bruce Sistaz and 3Run to the line-up as their displays of athleticism and ability are incredible. Our show would not be complete without acts like this. If you haven’t seen either act before, make sure you see them at the show, it will be unmissable.’

The Bruce SISTAZ will be appearing across the weekend with other high profile dance and martial arts performers including 11x Karate Champion Jason Baird, 13 x Multi style martial arts Champion Zara Phythian and world leading professional performance team 3RUN. Guinness World record holding,  3Run specialise in Free Running, Martial Arts & Urban Acrobatic displays and promise to amaze BodyPower visitors with their unique parkour based routines that has earned them recognition as one of the leading performance crews in the world!

Ensure you stop by the free running and combat zones to see the Bruce SISTAZ and 3Run.

For more information on all athletes and acts appearing at the show, as well as information on the MasterClass programme visit www.bodypowerexpo.co.uk or call 01926 485423 for more details.

Over recent months the show has announced a multitude of big name athletes and does not look set to stop there. The Expo’s latest addition comes in the form of veteran UFC competitor Michael ‘The Count’ Bisping. The U.K. based middleweight shot to fame in 2006 with his successful participation in the third instalment of the Ultimate Fighter series. Since then ‘The Count’ has had over fifteen top flight fights in the global franchise and has helped establish the Wolfslair MMA Academy in Widnes as one of the countries most formidable fighter breading grounds.

In addition to Michael Bisping, the Expo will be teeming with popular fighters including UFC competitor Vaughan Lee, Bamma Welterweight Judo Jimmy Wallhead, Polish Goliath Mariusz Pudzianowski and MMA Legend Ian ‘Machine’ Freeman.

Expanding this already impressive combative line-up, Bodypower will see enormous competitions including the BJJ British Open, World Martial Kombat Federation British Open and the ZT MMA Tournament hosted by former European Champion Sol Gilbert. The expo will also see huge combat spectacles, sports specific nutritional seminars and exclusive interactive feature areas such ‘Jason Baird’s Ultimate Martial Arts Zone’, functional fitness area ‘The Training Lab’ and the ‘Healthy Eating Kitchen’ where leading practical sports nutrition experts will provide advice on maximising sporting performance.

If you are serious about sport, fitness and nutrition  – you need to be at BodyPower.

Tickets on sale now: Call 0844 5810817 or visit www.bodypowerexpo.co.uk.

Discounts available on advance bookings.

Brian Shaw has become a truly seasoned strongman professional in recent years accumulating countless accolades along the way including titles in the World’s Strongest Man, Arnold Strongman and the Strongman Super Series competitions! Coming from humble beginnings, Brian has established himself as one of the world’s greatest strongman athletes, no mean feat given the ever expanding popularity of the sport. A true modern day legend, his size and displays of raw strength are enough the whet the appetite of any power based sport enthusiast.

Marketing Director Ollie Upton added, “We have promised to continue delivering the best athletes the world has to offer and that is exactly what we’re doing. We are over the moon to have Brian Shaw back with us at BodyPower. Anyone that has ever seen him in action will know why we are so excited. He is the World’s Strongest Man for very good reason.”

Catch Brian Shaw at BodyPower’s superb three day weekend. Brian’s highlights include an exclusive strength MasterClass on Friday 18^th May as well as an appearance in the Super Theatre where he will offer visitors an insight in to what it takes to be the ‘World’s Strongest Man’!  A sight to behold, ensure you see Brian Shaw only at the BodyPower Expo!

Additional strongman athletes include former 5-Time World’s Strongest Man Mariusz Pudzianowski, the 3^rd World’s Strongest Man Terry Holland and Strongman legend Mark Felix. Stop by the Strongman area to witness these Colossus men in action!

Visit the BodyPower Expo to see the worlds greatest strength athletes,  enormous athletic showcases and Europe’s largest fitness exhibition.

If you are serious about strength, fitness and nutrition  – you need to visit BodyPower.

Tickets on sale now: Call 0844 5810817 or visit www.bodypowerexpo.co.uk.

Discounts available on advance bookings

Mariusz Pudzianowski

Five-time worlds strongest man Mariusz Pudzianowski returns to the BodyPower Expo after a two year sabbatical. ‘Mario’ is the only person ever to hold five world strongman champion titles and now competes in various MMA franchises worldwide – a true strongman legend.

Arvydas Mickus

Runner up in the 2010 Arnold Classic Amateur event, Arvydas Mickus works to develop bodybuilding in his native Lithuania. ‘Ifasia’ has amassed countless IFBB Grand Prix and domestic bodybuilding titles establishing himself as one of the most popular athletes in Europe.

Alexander Kodzoev

Regarded as one of the best amateur bodybuilding athletes around, Alexander Kodzoev reciently took the title of Arnold Classic Amateur 2011 Champion. He has previously won a host of championships since his career began in 1999 including the Cup of St. Petersburg, the Russia Championships and the Europeain Championships.

Be sure to see Mariusz Pudzianowski, Arvydas Mickus and Alexander Kodzoev at the BodyPower Expo on May 18^th, 19^th and 20^th at the Birmingham NEC. All three athletes will be at the Olimp Sport Nutrition stand over this spectaular three day weekend.

Additional strongman athletes include the ‘World’s Strongest Man’ Brian Shaw, Former ‘British Strongman Champion’ Terry Holland and strongman legend Mark Felix. Stop by the Man of Oak and Strongman areas to witness these Colossus men in action!

Further athletes appearing at BodyPower include Bodybuilding greats such as Mr Olympia Phil Health, Arnold Classic Winner Branch Warren, Ronnie Coleman, Kai Greene, Shawn Ray, Big Ben Pakulski and Dorrian Yates to name just a few.

Be sure to visit the BodyPower Expo to see the worlds greatest strength athletes,  enormous athletic showcases (including the ‘UKBFF Super Qualifier’ and conditioning zone ‘Physique Elite’) and Europe’s largest fitness exhibition.

Do not miss out on this superb muscle filled weekend.

If you are serious about strength, fitness and nutrition  – you need to visit BodyPower.

Tickets on sale now: Call 0844 5810817 or visit www.bodypowerexpo.co.uk.

Discounts available on advance bookings

How to get involved?

Come along and visit Fitnorama on stand C56 at B-FIT EXPO this January and simply strike a pose for the camera.

What happens next?

The best of the entrants will be selected and uploaded to Fitnorama’s Facebook fan page, and will be open to the public to vote for the overall winner.

Over to the public to get involved

Get behind your favourite finalists and place your votes.

Ingredients

• 2 large sweet potatoes
• 1 onion
• 1 birds eye chilli or to taste!
• 1 pint of vegetable stock or enough to cover chopped sweet potatoes.

How to

• slice onion
• peel and chop sweet potato into even chunks
• finely chop chilli
• cover with stock and season
• bring to the boil and simmer until sweet potato is soft
• cool slightly then blitz

A delicious and nutritious soup. Let me know what you think!

TABATA – You have been warned!

 This method of conditioning was developed by Dr. Izumi Tabata and his team at the National Institute of Fitness and Sport in Tokyo.

The basis of Tabata Training is 4 minutes of intense interval training. 

20 seconds max effort exercise and 10 seconds rest. Repeated 8 times.  It will seem like the longest four minutes of your life. TRUST ME!

 Make sure you use large muscle groups to get the most out of your session.

The beauty of Tabata Intervals are that they can be done with body weight exercises and performed anywhere.

So my first Tabata workout for you:-

Alternate between the following.  So four rounds of each.

• ·         Squat twist jumps.
• ·         Suspended (TRX) press ups.

Remember as many as you can in 20 seconds with a 10 second rest. I would recommend the Gymboss Interval Timer when tackling this workout.

 WARNING. This type of training is not for beginners. Those performing it must warm up, cool down and stretch thoroughly before and after.

This is one of my favourite workouts when I am short on time.  There are six exercises and you will perform six reps and six sets in total. You get a balanced workout, using pretty much all major muscles groups and it will leave you knowing that you have trained! And if you train hard enough maybe even a little nauseous!

You can substitute any of the 6 exercises but they must flow. For example bar from floor and working upwards.

 Each exercise should be performed back to back with 30 seconds rest between each set.

 All you need is a Barbell and some plates. You will need to ensure the weight on the bar is correct for your weakest exercise.

 This is the routine I prefer.

 Ensure you have warmed up thoroughly and performed some dynamic stretches before starting and cool down and stretch thoroughly after.

•  6 Dead Lifts
• 6 Bent over Rows
• 6 Hang Cleans
• 6 Presses
• 6 Good Mornings
• 6 Step ups

If you are not sure of any of the exercises then always ask the advice of your PT or Fitness Instructor.

 ENJOY!

The TGU is a highly functional movement requiring all the muscles of the body to work together as one unit in order to complete the task. It will give you:

Greater strength, mobility and stability throughout your body, especially in your shoulders

Full body strength, working your legs, glutes, shoulders, core, back, triceps, and forearms

Improved flexibility Cardiovascular endurance Increased coordination and proprioceptive skills.

The TGU should be learnt alongside the swing in the early stages of your kettlebell training. In fact, as outlined above, it will give you the required shoulder stability you need before you ever do any kettlebell pressing movements. So, how do you start with this terrific exercise?
Initially with no weight. For point of visual reference, you could use one of the discarded shoes you have already taken off in order to perform kettlebell work. Bare feet, flat soled or one of the many minimalist shoes recently coming on to the market only please.

Simply hold the shoe up above you just as if it were a kettlebell. This will help you to maintain a straight arm position and allow you to fix your gaze onto something. Perform the exercise equally on both sides and try to resist the temptation to prioritise your predominant side.

Once you are confident with your form and it feels assured and smooth, progress to some weight. This could be a kettlebell or a light dumbbell. This exercise does translate better to dumbbells than the majority of kettlebell exercises.

How to do it: (For the purpose of description, I am describing a right handed TGU)

1. Lie on your back with a kettlebell positioned to the right of you and roll round to your right to face the kettlebell. Grasp with two hands and then roll back bringing the kettlebell to a position above your head. Once it’s steady remove the left hand. From this point on, keep the arm locked, do not take your eyes of the kettlebell and keep a strong straight wrist

2. Bend your right leg to a right angle and pull it in as close to your back side as possible. Keep the left leg straight and try to lengthen it as much as possible. Now actively pull your shoulder back into its socket by retracting your shoulder blade.

3. Now Imagine you have a pole projecting out of your opposing hip, in this case the left. Sway the arm towards this pole to produce some momentum. As you do so attempt to get up on to your left elbow using abdominal strength. Get it right and it should be fairly effortless. Remember to not allow your right leg to collapse inwards as you do this, keep it strong.

4. Once up on your elbow, push up onto your left hand. This should be at an angle of 45 degrees to the ground

5. Now push your hips upwards as high as possible. You should have a straight line from the kettlebell right down to the opposing hand that is in contact with the floor. From this point, sweep your left leg round and back underneath you, finishing up on your knee. The knee should end up in a position whereas you are able to so perform a lunge. Then simply straighten up your body. You should now be in the lunge position. Your eyes should still be focused on the kettlebell.

6. From here, squeeze the handle of the kettlebell hard. As you rise, grunt hard and maintain high intra-abdominal pressure. Stand up with the kettlebell, bringing both feet together. Lean back into the kettlebell as you stand. At this point which is the completion of the upward part of the movement, your eyes should be looking straight ahead. Pause and prepare to reverse the movement.

7. To reverse, drop back down to your left knee. Then place your left hand down.

8. Raise up the hips and then move your left leg back to the starting position. Drop, carefully back down to a sitting position, then your elbow and finally back down to a lying position.

9. From here adopt a two arm grip on the kettlebell and roll back round on your side to release the kettlebell. Remember the lift is not completed until the kettlebell is properly rested on the ground.

As with all single kettlebell exercises, remember to maintain the work load equally between the two sides. It’s OK to get the technique down on one side first but be sure that once you’ve done this that you switch to working both sides equally. You should never get to the position whereby you are lifting a 24KG with one side and only a 16KG on the other. Progress slowly with this exercise.

You should be able to perform multiple reps before attempting a new weight. There is no benefit in increasing the weight at the expense of correct form. This will inevitably lead to injury and a loss of training time. Incorporating the TGU into a workout.

I will often incorporate this exercise into a mixed kettlebell session. For example: Perform a single TGU on either side and then, with no rest, 1 minute of swings. Then 2 TGU’s followed by 2 sets of swings with 30 seconds rest between each swing set. Then continue in this fashion until you are up to 5 sets. Then, if you are feeling up to it, come back down the ladder until you hit 1 repetition again.
This is a great little combination, working the two of the best kettlebell exercises in a mini circuit.

Helpful tips
• Always start with minimal weight. Take off your shoes (you shouldn’t be wearing them anyway) and use one of them as an object to focus on.

• Constantly keep your eye on the kettlebell except for at the very top position. This will help prevent the kettlebell going wayward.

• Have a good sized workout space and be prepared to let the kettlebell go if you feel as though you are about to lose control of it so if you are worried about your parquet flooring then perhaps you could try it outside.

• Remember to keep your shoulder pulled down into its socket at all times.

• Keep a straight wrist and do not allow it to be pulled into extension.

• Start with a maximum of 5 reps per side and increase as and when your strength allows.

• As you move into each position, ask yourself, Could I sit here for a minute? If not, shift your position until you can.