Mode Athletics does more than just run cutting-edge Vancouver boot camp programs.

We have a popular YouTube channel with over 150 videos about how to exercise at home or anywhere with minimal equipment.

Last week I started uploading some home exercise demonstration clips from a DVD (for Mode Workouts) I filmed with Victoria Plant. Here’s a sample:

Subscribe to my YouTube channel to get updated when new videos are posted.

Earlier today I had the privilege of attending a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) seminar with Kron Gracie. The seminar was put on by Universal MMA in downtown Vancouver, which is the MMA gym that I train at, and part of the Rickson Gracie International Jiu-Jitsu Association.

Kron Gracie is a decorated BJJ competitor, and is also the son of the legendary Rickson Gracie. Kron runs the Rickson Gracie International Jiu-Jitsu Center in Los Angeles, CA.

Going into the seminar, I was expecting to learn various BJJ moves and techniques from Kron, and I certainly wasn’t let down in that regard. Kron is an incredible instructor with a real knack for breaking down complicated movements and techniques and explaining them in a way that a beginner like myself can understand.

But Kron’s seminar also included so much more than I was expecting.

Much of what Kron was teaching at the seminar went much deeper than just BJJ moves. Throughout the seminar he often talked about the mental aspects of becoming proficient at BJJ, and how the mental toughness developed from training BJJ (and martial arts in general) transfers into your everyday life. To paraphrase Kron, if you can learn to be calm and relaxed while someone is trying to choke you, you can also be calm and relaxed when someone cuts you off while you’re driving in your car (or whatever other stresses you’re presented in your day to day life).

It was great to hear Kron talk about how BJJ training can benefit you in so many more ways than just being able to defend yourself on the street. I’ve personally experienced many of those benefits, so it was nice to hear Kron reconfirm the things that I felt I’ve been getting from my BJJ training. Since I started training BJJ at Universal last fall, I’ve been less stressed, had higher-energy levels, less aches and pains, I’ve slept better at night, increased confidence, and perhaps most importantly I’ve been having fun and enjoying my BJJ training. It’s been great to find a new hobby that I enjoy and look forward to, and that also provides me with all of the other great benefits.

The Kron Gracie seminar was one of the most enjoyable and rewarding things I’ve done in a long time, and I want to thank Kron for coming to Vancouver and putting on such a great seminar, and I want to thank Shane Rice at Universal MMA for putting on the seminar.

I can’t believe Jennifer Nicole Lee actually agreed to promote this piece of garbage and perpetuate the idea of spot reduction to millions of people who trust her and don’t know any better about these types of useless ab gadgets.

I was just doing some research on Google for some new fitness businesses that I’m planning on starting (pertaining to affiliate marketing), and I came across this incredibly ridiculous product.

Behold the Cardio Twister:

What an incredibly stupid product.

Please do yourself a favour and never buy the Cardio Twister. You’ll get better results and save a ton of money with a set of resistance bands, or a suspension gym, or even just by doing bodyweight workouts.

I received the following question today via my YouTube channel:

Hello since i live far from gym i am trying to exercise with bodyweight i saw few good videos on your channel. The problem is: I can’t find any forearm exercises. Maybe you know at least one?

My answer:

You shouldn’t need to do any forearm isolation exercises. Those are just completely pointless. Your forearms will get a way better workout from doing heavy compound exercises like chin-ups, rows, dips, etc.

Our next round of Vancouver boot camps start on Monday March 1st. Mode Boot Camp Vancouver is an outdoor fat-burning workout program that’s unlike any other boot camp or group exercise program in Vancouver. At our boot camp, you don’t have to bring any of your own equipment (we provide the equipment for you), you only need to workout 2 or 3 days per week (and you’ll see better results than at any 5-day per week boot camp in Vancouver), you’ll be among a small group of 15 people or less, you’ll never do any pointless and ineffective jogging or abdominal crunches, and our boot camp is 100% unconditionally guaranteed.

Visit our Vancouver boot camp website for more info about our outdoor boot camp program.

Earlier today I was reading a blog post about gym etiquette (the blog post was titled “What Not To Do in The Gym), and I was surprised by a comment left by a personal trainer:

Do not enter a gym without a pad and a pen. Ever. No matter what. If you are not recording your workout, you are wasting your time.

What a completely asinine comment. So according to that fool, if you’re doing a kick-butt workout, having fun, burning calories, getting fitter, and all of the other countless benefits that come from exercise, but you’re not taking notes about your workout (to track progression), then you’re wasting your time. That’s some seriously twisted logic.

I believe that exercise should be fun, and certainly doesn’t need to be treated like a boring research project where you have to have a pad and pen with you every time you exercise. You can get amazing results from your workouts without taking all of the fun out of it by tracking every excruciating detail of your exercise program. Actually, the more fun you have, the more consistent you’ll be with your workouts, the harder you’ll push yourself when you do exercise, and the better results you’ll get. So leave the pad and pen at home and just try to have fun with your workouts.

I received the following question today via email:

Do you think a male can build a significant amount of muscle just using resistance bands and suspension straps?

My answer:

Yes, males can build significant amounts of muscle using resistance bands and suspension straps. The reason is very simple. Building muscle requires that you overload your muscles with progressively more challenging amounts of resistance from workout to workout. As you increase the demand on your body by adding resistance to the exercises, your body adapts by building bigger and stronger muscles. The type of resistance you use it irrelevant. You could lift barbells and dumbbells at your local health club, or you could flip tires in a junk yard, or you could use elastic resistance in the form of resistance bands, or you could use your own bodyweight as resistance with suspension straps. Certain bodyweight exercises are difficult to add more resistance as you get stronger (pushups are a good example), but most suspension strap exercises have progressions that should be challenging enough for you to keep putting the demands on your body necessary to build muscle. And for things like pushups where you’re likely not going to be extremely challenged, you can either use pre-exhaustion (tire out the chest muscles before doing pushups), or use the resistance bands for your chest exercises.

Keep in mind that not all sets of resistance bands are equal. If building muscle is your goal, then you’ll need an adjustable set that let you clip multiple bands onto the same set of handles for a really challenging amount of resistance. It’s simply not possible to get that from resistance bands that have the handles permanently attached to the bands.