Josh Hewett | Top Form Fitness

A “Refreshing” Way to Start the New Year!

Happy New Year Everyone! Did you make any new resolutions? I don’t really make New Year’s resolutions per se… I just commit to continue pursuing my ongoing goals. To generalize, these include “personal development, physical development, and business development.” I guess if I were to make a new resolution for this year it would be “don’t sweat the small stuff.” To celebrate the start of 2013 I decided to jump into the icy cold waters of Lake Ontario with about 700 hundred other crazy people! It was the annual Courage Polar Bear Dip in Oakville. Now that might sound a bit nuts, but it was for a good cause (proceeds went to World Vision), and I enjoy the many health benefits of exposure to cold. Plus after doing it last year in Toronto I found it an exhilarating way to start start the New Year! […]

Josh Hewett2013-01-04T14:03:58-05:00

How to Induce Hypertrophy

So you want to gain some lean muscle? You’re looking to get “swole” but you’re getting confused by all the different training recommendations? Well, you’re in luck. My friend and colleague Jay Horn has shared this guest post detailing the key causes of hypertrophy. If you follow his suggestions and make sure your nutrition is on point (you are consuming adequate calories and macro-nutrients), you will grow. Let’s take a closer look: How to Induce Hypertrophy By Jay Horn Hypertrophy is a multifactorial process – this includes: Inroad (weakening of muscle) Increased progressive tension Accumulated fatigue (hormonal response) Microtrauma (tearing of muscle fibers where repair and growth can occur) No matter what the muscles MUST undergo a progressive tension stimulus. There are different training protocols out there that produce results, but nonetheless this is the most important factor: Progressive tension. This means one must load the muscle efficiently and have [...]

Josh Hewett2012-12-28T00:00:42-05:00

I Want Fitness 4 Christmas

Santa’s job isn’t easy. He spends an entire year preparing to deliver BILLIONS of presents all over the planet… all in one night. This requires him to run a full time toy factory, manage a staff of dozens of elves, and keep up a reindeer farm. Plus he has to answer millions of personal letters from his fans, do thousands of “mall gigs”, collect money for charities, and appear on hundreds of commercials, TV shows, and movies every year. Sometimes it seems like he has to be in two or more places at the same time. Can you imagine the stress he must be under? Talk about cortisol production! And he manages this on a diet of almost exclusively cookies, milk, and candy. […]

Josh Hewett2012-12-21T00:43:42-05:00

Quick Fat-Blasting Exercise “Complex” Workouts

An exercise “complex” routine is basically a series of exercises performed in sequence using a single barbell or set of dumbbells. You will perform the entire series of exercises back to back with minimal (if any) rest using the same bar or dumbbells. But don’t mistake complex training as being the same thing as circuit training… with a complex routine you are using several compound exercises that flow together smoothly transitioning from one to the next without rest; this delivers a cardiovascular conditioning effect as well as metabolic conditioning (blasting your fat stores!). […]

Josh Hewett2012-11-19T02:56:20-05:00

How Physical Exercise Also Benefits Your Brain

Because I recognize that our thoughts and emotions play a huge role in the results we get in our lives, I’ve made a point of “training my brain” as well as my body. After talking to a good friend of mine about this, he recommended I check out an online brain-boosting program called Lumosity.com. I did sign up and as much as I enjoy the website and the program, I find it hard to make time to do those exercises with my busy schedule. Well was I ever pleased to learn about this new study! As it turns out, new research has demonstrated that physical exercise actually improves your brain health and performance BETTER than specific mental exercises (such as puzzles, brain games, and social interaction). That’s right, working out actually boosts your brain power (ie: memory, problem solving, reaction time, etc) and slows down the aging process of the [...]

Josh Hewett2012-11-16T21:47:50-05:00

Krill Oil May be up to 48 Times Better than Fish Oil

If you’ve been following my posts and articles you already know that I usually recommend taking a high quality Fish Oil every day for its slew of health benefits as well as aiding in fat loss. However, I’ve been reading a lot lately about a superior source of essentially fatty acids and other important nutrients… I’m talking about krill oil. Krill oil is made from krill, a small, shrimp-like crustacean that lives in the cold ocean parts of the world. Krill are very small yet make up the largest animal biomass on the planet. There are about 500 million tons of krill roaming around in the northern seas. Similar to fish oil, krill oil has omega-3 fats (EPA and DHA) but the structure of the EPA and DHA in krill oil makes them much more absorbable than fish oil. Krill oil also contains vitamin D and powerful anti-oxidants. Therefore krill accomplishes two important [...]

Josh Hewett2012-11-12T21:36:23-05:00

Fit Women CAN do Pull Ups with Correct Training

A recent study suggested that even fit women can’t do pull ups (or chin ups), and it went on to explain why. Although it’s obviously more challenging for women to perform pull ups than it is for men (due to differences in muscle mass and leverage), I do have some concerns with how this poorly designed study was conducted. First of all, according to the New York Times, here is the basic outline of the study: “The Dayton researchers recruited 17 women of normal weight who were unable to perform a single pull-up. They then trained them for three months, prescribing exercises to strengthen their upper bodies, improve their aerobic fitness and lower their body fat. All that training produced results: the women’s upper-body strength increased by 36 per cent and their body fat was reduced by 2 per cent. But they failed to produce the main result researchers were [...]

Josh Hewett2012-11-06T17:52:48-05:00

Natural Pre-Workout Supplement- ADAPT Energy

A friend of mine, Chris Owens, recently sent me a sample of a natural energy supplement called ADAPT Energy. He wanted me to put it to the test before a tough workout and compare it to my regular pre-workout drinks. Here is my video review of this supplement, as well as some footage of my core workout with Kane following his SHIT protocol (Super Hero Interval Training). Here is the product information I pulled from Chris’s website at JDPremium.com: Adaptogens–the legal supercharger of Olympians. What if you knew the secret to how Olympic athletes train their muscles to perform at maximum endurance and energy? Look no further, now you have it. […]

Josh Hewett2012-10-31T06:52:46-04:00

Gold Medal Bodies Parallettes One Program

If you’ve been following my blog for the last few months, you know that I’ve been pursuing bodyweight training / calisthenics for a while now. I’m very pleased that I’m able to perform several exercises that I could never do in the past, such as muscle ups, handstand pushups (on the wall), pistol squats, and standing ab wheel rollouts. I’m also close to mastering the front lever and human flag. The set of exercises that I’ve been having the greatest difficulty with have been the parallette skills. Planche and press progressions on the parallettes KILL me! Thankfully I was referred by a friend of mine who is really into this stuff to check out Gold Medal Bodies. The GMB crew are experts at coaching this type of gymnastics / bodyweight type training, and offer a broad selection of awesome programs (for rings, parallettes, handstands, flexibility, floor work, and more). I [...]

Josh Hewett2012-09-16T20:35:04-04:00

Managing Your Cheat Meals

The nutrition plan for my Get Lean Program, although being well-balanced for long term results, may still be considered a bit restrictive for some people. A reduction in caloric intake, starchy carbohydrates and processed foods can seem extreme to those who have developed non-supportive eating habits. For this reason, among others, a Cheat Day (also referred to as a “Refeed Day”) is recommended in my program. Psychologically, it’s much easier to make changes to your nutrition when you know you will have an opportunity to indulge yourself on occasion. Re-feed Days also have a very real benefit to your long term fat loss physiologically. Here is an example of one of my more recent cheat meals… this is after a powerlifting competition and a few of us decided to go all out: Despite being somewhat controversial, the idea of a cheat day, or at least a cheat meal, is a [...]

Josh Hewett2012-09-03T18:46:51-04:00

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