Summertime has arrived. And you know what that means:
Beach weather.
You’ve been putting in all that hard work in the gym to get beach fit so it’s time to show off your progress. But what if you’re not there yet? Do you need more cardio? Do you need to cut out all carbs? What about a different workout? With so many questions, it’s easy to get confused and stuck. In times like these, I recommend consulting the experts.
Well, you’re in luck. I chatted with Rob Sulaver – owner and operator of Bandana Training, Advisory Board Member for Arnold Schwarzenegger, and fitness rockstar – about his newest endeavor: BeachFit.
What exactly is BeachFit?
BeachFit is a Training Guide. It’s simultaneously an intense & amusing approach getting ridiculously shredded for summer. It’s 90 days of asskick.
It’s divided up into 4 different meso-phases? First of all, remind us what the heck a meso-phase is.
Sure. In trainer geek terms we talk about the micro-phase, meso-phase, and macro-phase. The macro-phrase is your plan for the entire year. The meso-phase is usually 2-6 weeks blocks that focus on a few specific adaptations, and your micro phase is what a single training week looks like. Holly and I love this geeky sports periodization stuff, but we try to camouflage our analytical approach into something that’s a little more fun and sexy.
Fun and sexy is good.
Yes. Fun and sexy is ALWAYS good.
So tell us about these 4 different meso-phases.
BeachFit progresses from a relatively high rep, slow tempo 3 week phase (Phase 1 — Viva La Resistance) to a tough-as-nails, conjugate phase where we cover low, medium, and high repetition exercise (Phase 4 — Off the Richter.) Lots of surf specific exercises and as always — thoughtful progressions. We’ve outlined each Phase in more detail at www.BeachFitTraining.com.
BeachFit also seems to have a strong video component, yes?
Yep yep. Tons of short, concise video instruction. It was important for us to capture the little details of training – for example, why should we supinate when we DB bench press, and where should your shoulder blades be when you’re pulling. It’s easier to SEE this stuff than read about it.
You co-authored BeachFit with Holly Rilinger of Holly Rilinger Fitness. Tell us about that.
Heck yea. Holly is such a rockstar. She’s literally the best FlyWheel instructor on the planet, she’s an ex-pro Bball player and is a Nike Master Trainer. I approached Holly about six month ago and said, “If Holly Rilinger Fitness had a baby with Bandana Training, what would that baby look like?” BeachFit is the answer.
There seems to be a surfer mentality to BeachFit. Can you tell me more about that?
Absolutely. We love surfing and we love the surfer’s perspective – generally laid back but still able to rip a wave… easy, cool but uber athletic. It’s hard to talk about getting a beach body without embracing the ways of the water people.
Any specific equipment needed?
A lot of effort was put into making the program interesting without making it too complex. So all of the equipment is standard issue gym shwag – DB’s, BB’s, KB’s, cable stacks, physioballs, etc. Like any program, if you don’t have the available equipment, the game becomes replacing the exercise with something that mimics the movement pattern… in other words, is kinda-sorta like it. But if you have the basics, you won’t have to substitute much.
Sounds rather awesome. For more information, check out www.BeachFitTraining.com.
So, what’s next for Bandana Training?
Oh lots of fun stuff in the works. I’m working on an at-home all bodyweight, all badass fitness series that I’m pretty excited about.
Sweet. Well keep us posted.
Of course.