Josh Hewett | Top Form Fitness

New Year Fitness: Get in Top Form for 2012

Happy New Year… Another year has passed and we now have the opportunity for another fresh start! Just a few days ago I was interviewed by the Toronto SUN for a piece on New Year’s Fitness Goals. During this interview I shared what I consider to be some of the key elements for setting and achieving your health and fitness related goals for 2012. Here is the Toronto SUN article and a brief video on the SUN website with some footage from our interview: Some other New Year’s fitness suggestions I offered included: 1. You can’t out-train a bad diet. You need to realize that exercise alone, although very important, is not enough. Your nutrition plan has to be your priority, especially if your goal is to lose some body fat and keep it off. […]

Josh Hewett2012-01-01T20:00:43-05:00

Reboot Your Body Toronto Fitness Seminar

I just recently did my first formal seminar presentation called Reboot Your Body. It was a success, with a great turnout and some lots of positive feedback. I also learned a lot and I look forward to raising the bar for my next seminar! At Reboot Your Body I shared my strategies for losing fat, reshaping the body, slowing the aging process, and feeling younger. We cut through the fluff and fads, and focused on the most efficient and effective methods of achieving your fitness goals based on my 20+ years of personal experience, and based on what gets my clients results. Here are a couple of short video excerpts from the seminar: […]

Josh Hewett2011-12-08T01:59:37-05:00

Handstand Push Up Progressions

How many of you would be interested in developing tremendous upper body strength, injury-proof shoulder stability, superior balance and coordination, and sculpted shoulder muscles… all without any exercise equipment? Count me in! That’s why I decided to train myself to be able to perform handstand push ups. When I first started training for this movement a few weeks ago I could barely even hold myself in a handstand position against the wall, so I’m going to need to start with the basics… which is good for you, my readers, because I’ll be videotaping my progress and sharing it as a series of training tutorials! The handstand push up is similar to performing an overhead shoulder press using your own body-weight, while upside down. I currently have no ambitions to perform this exercise in a “free standing” balance position, so I’ll be resting my feet against the wall for added balance. [...]

Josh Hewett2011-09-05T20:39:56-04:00

High Intensity Interval Training for 6 Pack Abs

In my previous post in my Pursuit of 6 Pack Abs (which was the first one of this series) I described several key nutritional strategies for blasting belly fat and revealing those abs. This time we are going to look at a key training strategy for getting leaner while keeping your hard earned muscle… it’s called High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). HIIT involves alternating between phases of higher and lower intensity cardio-type exercise. This type of training has several distinct benefits over traditional LISS (low intensity steady state) cardio, as discussed in my previous blog post “Is Cardio Really That Effective for Weight Loss”. A few of these benefits include: […]

Josh Hewett2011-09-04T20:34:32-04:00

Build a Stronger Deadlift for Full Body Strength

The deadlift is the Grandaddy of all strength training movements. It’s a very basic, compound (multi-joint), ground-based exercise that builds full body strength. Performed correctly, this exercise can help you develop a crushing grip, solid core, strong back, thick traps, powerful legs, and protect your lower back from injury. However, if performed incorrectly it can lead to back injury, so learning the proper technique is a necessity! […]

Josh Hewett2011-08-30T17:11:12-04:00

What is a Muscle-Up and How Can I Do It?

Do you remember those old TV commercials for that home safety product called “LifeCall”, where an older lady is lying on the floor beside her walker shouting “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!”? I know that line has been spoofed uncountable times, but the thought of not being able to move or lift your own body weight is kinda scary. That’s sort of how I feel about body weight strength training… it’s great to be strong in the gym, but if you can’t lift, push, or pull your own body weight, then that strength may have less functional carry-over to your daily life. I’ve known for years that exercises that involve moving your own body have a high degree of nervous system and muscular activation, and I’ve always included exercises such as dips, pushups, and chin ups in my strength training routine. However, lately I’ve decided to take this [...]

Josh Hewett2011-08-21T22:34:16-04:00

Learning to Perform the Single Leg Squat

As I discussed previously, one of my big performance related goals this year is to be able to perform a single leg Pistol Squat. I have never been able to perform this exercise with full range unassisted, and it would represent a big strength accomplishment for me. Part of my motivation to be able to perform exercises such as this has developed out of a shift in my approach to my own physical training routine, from primarily focusing on maximum strength toward concentrating more on full body conditioning, stability, and mobility. […]

Josh Hewett2011-08-06T23:42:55-04:00

Nutrition Tips For 6 Pack Abs

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I’m now in hot pursuit of obtaining the coveted six pack abs! Since the birth of my beautiful daughter (a little less than 3 years ago), followed by my quest to get back into competing in strongman competitions, I ended up getting a little soft around the middle. Over the last several months I’ve started to tighten up my nutrition again, and introduce a slightly different style of training, and I’m certainly getting leaner… but I still have a ways to go. But this time I am determined to get ripped! Chiseled! Shredded! I WILL get a 6 pack! Heck, I’m a fitness expert for crying out loud… I damn well should be in excellent shape! So I hope you will join me on my journey to uncover the much sought-after “washboard abs” … starting with today’s post! […]

Josh Hewett2011-07-28T21:17:16-04:00

Core Strength Exercises

Because all movement originates from the core, it’s important to develop a strong midsection before pushing yourself with other compound exercises and athletic movements. First of all it’s important to recognize that your “core” is more than just your abs. It includes all of the muscles in your torso that support the spine and midsection, including: Rectus Abdominis. – The abdominal muscle group referred to as your “six-pack”. Internal and External Obliques. – These run in opposite directions to each other and are on the abdomen and sides. Transverse Abdominis (TVA). – This is the deepest layer of abdominal muscles that wrap around the waist, located underneath the obliques. Multifidus & Erector Spinae. – The lower back muscles that support and rotate the spine. Gluteus Medius, Minimus, & Maximus. – These are the butt muscles or “glutes”. […]

Josh Hewett2011-07-16T13:55:09-04:00

My New Training Video Tutorial Series

I’ve just started a series of training tutorials that I’m calling “In Pursuit Of Excellence”. Basically I have a series of challenging fitness and performance goals that I’ve set for myself, and I decided it would not only hold me accountable if I shared them with my readers, but I would also give me the opportunity to show you my progress and produce exercise video tutorials along the way so that others can benefit from my experience. As explained in the video below, my primary goals include: Getting 6 Pack Abs Increasing my Deadlift to 600 lbs Performing a Single Leg Pistol Squat Performing a Muscle Up I am also considering trying to do some full range handstand pushups (feet on the wall), as well as attempting Ab Wheel rollouts from a standing position (feet and wheel only touching the ground). We’ll see .. for me these will be tough [...]

Josh Hewett2011-07-15T12:30:13-04:00

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