background preloader

The Spartacus Workout

The Spartacus Workout
Three years ago, producers at Starz asked Men’s Health to create a workout worthy of the name Spartacus, the network’s hit original series. With the help of Rachel Cosgrove, C.S.C.S., an Ironman triathlete and 2012 personal trainer of the year, we did just that—and it became the most popular workout in Men’s Health history! Now we’ve made it even better. Cosgrove’s newest version of the Spartacus Workout is called the Triple Set Scorcher. DIRECTIONS Perform the following workout 3 days a week with a day of rest between each session. PLUS: Spartacus—The Greatest Workout Ever— is now available on DVD! Photograph by Ture Lillegraven Next » 1a: Plank with Leg Lift Assume a pushup position but with your weight on your forearms instead of your hands. 1b: Dumbbell Chop Hold a dumbbell with a hand-over-hand grip above your right shoulder, as shown. 1c: Dumbbell Lunge Hold a pair of dumbbells next to your sides and stand tall with your feet hip-width apart. 2b: Dumbbell Push Press 2c: Goblet Squat

50 Life Hacks to Simplify your World Life hacks are little ways to make our lives easier. These low-budget tips and trick can help you organize and de-clutter space; prolong and preserve your products; or teach you something (e.g., tie a full Windsor) that you simply did not know before. Most of these came from a great post on tumblr. There is also a great subreddit ‘r/lifehacks‘ with some fantastic tips as well. 20. 40. Sources – muxedo task: 99 Life Hacks to make your life easier! If you enjoyed this post, the Sifter highly recommends:

The 29 Hardest Abs Exercises Slideshow Travis McCoy/travismccoy.com Overview Think you’re hardcore -- or that you have a hard core? Prove it! These 41 midsection-mangling moves are some of the most advanced on the planet. They’ll help strengthen your torso from a variety of angles and in a variety of ways so you’ll be ready for all the movements initiated by your core -- which is just about every move you make! 1. Don’t let this one fool you: It may look and sound a little silly, but it’s hard work. The Science of Amazing Abs 2. While this exercise doesn't target your abs, per se, it does target other core muscles like the glutes and hips. 20 Best Muscle-Building Foods 3. No list of advanced core moves would be complete without an example from the “300” workout. The 15 Toughest Do-Anywhere Workout Moves 4. Holding a plank -- especially on your forearms -- is probably a piece of cake by now. Sign Up to Receive the FREE Livestrong.com Weekly Newsletter! 5. The Cardio Abs Workout 6. How to Stay Motivated to Get Six-Pack Abs 7. 8. 9.

Architect Bypasses Mortgage Payments, Builds a Tiny Home Idaho-based architect Macy Miller longed for a place of her own, but didn't want the burdensome cost of mortgage payments and decided to construct her own compact home. After having a dream back in 2011, Miller mustered up the initiative to design her small yet efficient home known as Tiny House. Interested in the ever-expanding DIY movement as both a way to save on costs and gain some experience with construction, Miller worked on the 196-square-foot home for two years in the hopes of making her dream come true. The house, which was built on top of a flatbed trailer with the use of sustainable materials, just recently finished construction. With so much accomplished on a tight budget, Miller's project is not quite complete as she is currently searching for a place to park her quaint dwelling. Macy Miller's blog via [Inhabitat]

20 Super Foods You Need to Build Muscle & Lose Fat To build muscle & lose fat, you need a variety of proteins, veggies, fruits, carbs, and healthy fats. Eating protein helps building & maintaining muscle. But it also helps fat loss: protein has a higher thermic effect than carbs/fats. Eating fats also helps fat loss: your body holds fat if you don’t eat fats. Lots of you struggle to get these foods. 1. Don’t worry about cholesterol in eggs. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Anything works: almonds, walnuts, cashews, hazelnuts, … Peanut butter also works as long as you buy natural peanut butter without added salts/sugars. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. Putting it All Together.

Programming Your Brain: The Art of Learning in Three Steps | BitNative From time to time, I run into people who are interested in breaking into programming. Last night at the company holiday party a guy (we’ll call him Sam) walked up and introduced himself, asking for advice on how to move from his current role over to development. Sam’s attitude impressed me – those with a genuine desire to learn go places quickly. And on many occasions I’ve hired someone very green simply because I could sense a genuine interest in the craft and a hunger for knowledge. Obviously, the road to becoming a better developer begins with learning. Watch someone Thus, I personally watch videos or read books and blogs. Now, be forewarned that according to National Training Laboratories, the percentages on this diagram have no known source behind them, so take my references to the absolute percentages with a grain of salt. Watch someoneTry it yourself and experiment But that’s not the end of the road. Watch someoneTry it yourself and experimentTeach someone else Presto.

Abdominal Muscle Exercises & Obliques 6 packs and toned tummy muscles is all achieveable if you're doing the right abdominal exercises. So why not check out all the abs exercises we have and start training like you mean it! The Netfit Team have created their first abdominals ebook, totally dedicated to helping you achieve a 6 pack and get the abdominal muscles that you want. The programs below are just a sample of what this great ebook can offer you, to find out more please follow this link if your serious about getting the 6 pack / flatter stomach that you deserve. Stronger firmer abdominal's and a true six pack, can be achieved by performing the following abdominal circuit. The Abdominal workouts will strengthen your lower, upper and oblique abdominal muscles so whether you like kickboxing, swimming or freestyle skiing you're core can cope with it! Try and increase the amount of reps that you perform each week by 2, until you can comfortably perform 20 reps of each abdominal exercise.

How to Change Your Life: A User’s Guide ‘You will never change your life until you change something you do daily.’ ~Mike Murdock By Leo Babauta Start with a simple statement: what do you want to be? Are you hoping to someday be a writer, a musician, a designer, a programmer, a polyglot, a carpenter, a manga artist, an entrepreneur, an expert at something? How do you get there? Do you set yourself a big goal to complete by the end of the year, or in three months? I’m going to lay down the law here, based on many many experiments I’ve done in the last 7 years: nothing will change unless you make a daily change. I’ve tried weekly action steps, things that I do every other day, big bold monthly goals, lots of other permutations. If you’re not willing to make it a daily change, you don’t really want to change your life in this way. So make a daily change. How to Turn an Aspiration Into a Daily Change Let’s name a few aspirations: How do you turn those lofty ideas into daily changes? You get the idea. How to Implement Daily Changes

Amazing Photo Manipulation by Photographer Erik Johansson Swedish photographer and retouch artist Erik Johansson has one of the craziest photography portfolios we’ve ever seen. Erik is completely self-taught in retouching his own photographs to make impossible and extraordinary images. He says his inspiration came from both growing up with a grandmother who painted and having a penchant for escaping into the other worlds of video games, so he naturally blended the two into a technique using computers to generate images that couldn’t be captured by a camera. Check out some of his mind blowing creations below: Cut & Fold – Cut along the dotted line. Drifting Away – A safe place, drifting away. Electric guitar. Expecting winter – Where seasons meet. Snow cover. Big laundry day. Work at sea. Breaking up – Breaking up, drifting apart. Groundbreaking – Let’s go on a field trip. Lazy dog. Set them free – Do the right thing, set them free! Arms break, vases don’t. Roadworker’s coffee break. Penrose LEGO. Fishy island. Revolving theory. Common sense crossing. Face vs.

Ethereal Macro Photos of Snowflakes in the Moments Before They Disappear Russian photographer Andrew Osokin is a master of winter macro photography. His photo collection is chock full of gorgeous super-close-up photographs of insects, flowers, snow, and frost. Among his most impressive shots are photographs of individual snowflakes that have fallen upon the ground and are in the process of melting away. The shots are so detailed and so perfectly framed that you might suspect them of being computer-generated fabrications. They’re not though. You can enjoy many more of Osokin’s impressive photographs (16 pages worth, at the moment) over on his LensArt.ru website. Andrew Osokin Photography [LensArt via The Curious Brain via Colossal] Image credits: Photographs by Andrew Osokin and used with permission

What we learned about human origins in 2013 The 1.8-million-year-old skull unearthed in Dmanisi, Georgia, suggests the earliest members of the Homo genus belonged to the same species, say scientists in a paper published Oct. 18, 2013 in the journal Science.Photo courtesy of Georgian National Museum The existence of a mysterious ancient human lineage and the possibility that the earliest humans were actually all one species were among the human-evolution-related discoveries of 2013. Other breakthroughs include the sequencing of the oldest human DNA yet. Here's a look at what scientists learned about humanity and human origins this year: Mystery lineageRecent analyses of fossil DNA have revealed that modern humans occasionally had sex and produced offspring not only with Neanderthals but also with Denisovans, a relatively newfound lineage whose genetic signature apparently extended from Siberia to the Pacific islands of Oceania. This year, hints began emerging that another mystery human lineage was part of this genetic mix as well.

Related: