Charles LaSalle and The City Gym Boys - Get a Bangin’ Body: The City Gym Boys’ Ultimate Body Weight Workout for Men & Women

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Copyright 2012 by Charles LaSalle

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Published simultaneously in Canada

Interior photographs courtesy John Labbe

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ISBN: 978-1-101-56144-7

Printed in the United States of America

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ALWAYS LEARNING

PEARSON

M AYBE IM STANDING IN THE MIDDLE OF A CIRCLE of kids from the Boys & Girls Club of Harlem, in an open, breezy spot in Jackie Robinson Park, as I do every Friday. Its one of the highlights of my week. The kids really look forward to the workoutespecially the overweight onesbecause with every hour of jumping jacks, squats and quick feet, they get a little more pride in themselves.

Or maybe Batista and I are in the exercise room at Creative Lifestyles, a residential-care facility in the Bronx, where the staff usually directs exercises for the patients. But on this day, were working with the staff themselves because the executives of this nonprofit want their employees to be fit. After all, its hard to help others when youre having trouble helping yourself. So were facing a room full of everyday AmericansLatino, black, white, male, female, young, oldand all with different fitness challenges. We work with them for two hours a week doing lunges, push-ups and jump squats for a few months, and we can see the difference in their bodies and their attitudes.

Or maybe a half dozen of us are in a high school working with Dr. Mehmet Ozs HealthCorps, getting teenagers to realize that obesity isnt nearly as cool as having a six-pack. We might be in the gym or the auditorium or the cafeteriawhich is the most fun of all because its a room where the kids are usually wasting time. But once we start challenging them to follow us and work out, that all changes.

Three different City Gym Boys workouts, and one thing in common: not a single weight or weight machine to be seen anywhere. Every one of these workouts involves nothing but body weight exercises.

Why body weight? Because as youll see when you read this book, simple is our philosophy, whether were talking about exercise, nutrition or lifestyle. From the time that I founded City Gym Boys fifteen years ago, we have stressed getting back to basics and using the tools that nature has given us to enhance our lives.

Thats why well never do drugs. Thats why, like our hunter-gatherer ancestors of 50,000 years ago, for every calorie we take in, we make sure to work it off. Thats called balancenatures balance. And what could be more natural than using your own bodys weight to help you get in shape? What form of resistance could be more in tune with your own bodys needs than your own body? Its the perfect counterweightchallenging, and designed just for you.

You wouldnt mind winning a few bodybuilding trophies like us? You want to play professional football? Well, sureyoull have to hit the weight room. But you wouldnt have picked up this book if you were aiming to be Mr. Olympia.

You picked up this book because you wanted to find a way to get your body in shape and finally realize the potential youve always had.

You picked up this book because you didnt want to resort to a weird diet or a dangerous supplement or a fitness book that required a gym.

You picked up this book because you remembered those school days on the football team or the field hockey team or the basketball team, and the training workouts that were nothing but push-ups and sit-ups and leg liftsand they worked.

Well, no matter how old you are, who you are, or where you are, body weight exercises are the answer. You can work out any time, any place. Whether in your office, your hotel room, your living room or your backyard, your workout equipment is always with you.

Im not promising that youll look exactly like a City Gym Boy after you read this book. Thats not the goal. But I can promise that youll be a better you. Its time for you to take control of your body and get the fitness results youve always desired. And notice that I said your bodynot mine or Markuss or Ciskos or Bettys or Steves or Klaes. As we start, you dont want to try to accomplish something beyond what you can do; that just sets you up for physical and emotional failure. Youre trying to get your best body within your own means. Be true to your own limits. Push them, within your realistic means. That will spell your success.

What could be more natural than using your own bodys weight to help you get in shape?

And thats why body weight exercises are perfect for everyone: Its resistance training at its best. Your body has its own natural limits and built-in, achievable goals. Resistance training is, simply, going against gravity. Whether youre using your body as the weight or free weights in a gym, the main benefit of resistance training is muscle building. Now, this isnt quite as obvious as it sounds. Muscle isnt simply something to be used to look good or impress your buddies with your bench presses. Muscle is an integral part of the working system of that body youre about to start working on. Muscle keeps you young. Muscles protect your joints. Muscle burns more calories. The fatter you are, the slower your bodys metabolism. But, the more muscle cells you have, the more fat youre going to burn. Muscle speeds up your metabolism and creates a furnace in your body.