I recently was inspired by James and Ben’s hardcore, no gym, workouts. (Check out James’ post below about how he managed to stay fit while on vacation in Japan.) After hitting a plateau in my own routine I enlisted the help of Offshoot family friend Ben Dussault. Ben is one of those amazing guys who’s motivating, encouraging and just a general all around rad dude. His personal training techniques are completely unique and tailored to you. I mentioned to Ben the issues I was having with my current workout so Ben presented me with a no fail get your butt in shape routine. And boy, has it ever got my butt in shape. I’m just over the 3 week mark of using Ben’s routine and so far I’ve dropped 4 pounds, lost some inches off of my body and have made a very noticeable difference in the toning of my arms and legs (I think I may even be tough enough now to beat my dude in an arm wrestle…ok…maybe not that tough but you get the idea) I’m pretty impressed with Mr. Dussault’s recent work. He even managed to get me out of my 2 month plateau of losing nothing.

What I find so amazing about these workouts is that you don’t always have to go to a gym. I’ll admit it, I’m one of those people that loves working out at a gym. The only time I can’t stand it is when it’s packed. Normally I go to the gym super early in the morning or late at night before closing to avoid it being packed but one day my gym had already closed for the day. I didn’t know what to do because I live for schedules and that day was suppose to be ‘day 3′ of my program. I remembered Ben telling me that just because I use the gym on a regular basis doesn’t mean I have to use it all the time. Instead of weights I can use water bottles or towels. So keeping that in mind I did ‘day 3′ of my program at home. I used water bottles for my weights and went for a run as my cardio. It was awesome and a nice refreshing change.

One of Ben‘s strongest points is keeping you motivated and inspired. He’s currently on tour with his kickass band, Madball, and I still get messages from him asking how I’m doing and to keep it up. I even have visions of Ben shaking his head no every time I look at the vending machine. Yup..he’s that good. (I should admit that I had a poutine the other day. Sorry Ben. My punishment was how gross I felt after.) By no means am I perfect but I am definitely trying to eat a lot healthier. As Ben says eating healthy is half the battle of being physically and mentally happy.

Ben has some wicked tips and tricks about working out and staying positive on his blog. Check it out by clicking here.

Below are a few of my favourite bits of the workouts Ben tailored for me. Oh and by favourite, I mean killlllllllllllllllller.

Deadlift and shoulder press aka. My new best friend

Squat and hold a barbell (or a weighted bar) down below your knees

Slowly let the weight fall towards your ankles (you are squatting lower at the same time)

Then lift the weight to your waist and push above your head. (still hold the squat!!!)

*this works your legs, arms and keeping your core tight allows you to work your abs

Downward Dog and Upward

I got to admit when I first tried this one I had trouble grasping the concept but once you do it a couple of times your muscles remember it and you’re golden

Start in your down ward dog position (Yoga) then bend through like you would if you were going into cobra. Now reverse the motions and go back to your starting position.

*start by doing the baby yoga downward dog version (on your knees…. trust me)

Plie countdown with overhead weight

Legs are wide apart and feet are pointed out like you were doing a plie in ballet

Squat and count down from 10, 9, 8, 7… then start from 9, 8, 7, 6… and keep going till you get to 1

As Jo’Anne McLeod and Hal Johnson would say “keep fit and have fun”

So I’m on vacation. I’m hitting up Tokyo and Seoul for a couple of weeks with the wife. Good times. I’m supposed to be offline but I’d thought I’d post some updates on working out and keeping in shape while I travel.

I owe this mindset and ability to my good friend Ben Dussault, the multitalented life coach, trainer, all round amazing person and now dummer for Madball. He is the master of impromptu “ghetto workouts” whenever and where ever as we’ve named them.

Touring is hard. Getting up in a new city practically every day, late nights, and bad food are all a part of game while on the road. Ben has, with a little dedication and ingenuity on his part, figured out a holistic system to keep in shape both mentally and physically while he bounces from town to town. He’s passed some of that knowledge onto me. And it’s with that knowledge that Ben has acquired from years on the road that I’m able to find a park with some benches, a soccer net and flat area and turn it into my gym.

Here’s the back story: Ben and I have been working out 2 to 3 time a week for the last 3 months back in Toronto. Generally, we’ve been working out at Woodbine Beach in Toronto’s East End. We’ve also hit up various parks in the downtown Toronto area and some of the West End beach fronts to mix things up a bit.

With Ben, I’ve learned that you don’t really need much to work out and that you can build muscle simply by using your body’s weight and publicly accessible structures (playgrounds, sitting areas, water fountains, man made beaches and so on).

Here’s a quick list of what tools we use on a regular basis:

1. The beach – It’s great for helping build overall muscle and upping your core strength. On the sand we’ll run/sprint, do sets of lunges, squats, jumps and even cool down.

2. A bag of sand – It’s amazing what strapping a bag of sand to your back while doing suicides or holding it in front of you while doing lunges will do to help wear you down. 10 scoops and we’re well on our way to being exhausted.

3. A Playground – Monkey bars are great for chin ups, pull ups, wide grip pull ups and rows. Elevated platforms are great for push ups, drips, squats, crunches and planks.

Other than the sand, a bag and a gym or public sitting area, it all it takes is some dedication to stick to the routine. Since I have a somewhat flexible schedule, I’m able to meet Ben in the afternoons for our sessions. However, we’ve had quite a few 6:30 am work outs since the weather got nice and I’ve found those to be a great way to start the day.

I’ve also noticed that I’m constantly scanning parks, beaches, and public sitting areas for tools that I can use to help me with a workout. Working out with nothing really teaches you that your local stomping grounds give you everything to stay in shape.

So, that brings me to Japan. I’m here with the wife but no Ben. He’s touring for the next 2 months and frankly it would be weird to have him here just to work out with. We’ve made a pact with each other to keep up our routine while he’s on tour and I’m at home. I’ve made an additional deal with myself to keep up with my routine while I’m on vacation. With that being said, I started things right, bright and early at 5:00 AM today (my inner clock is messed and I woke up crazy early).

I’m staying in the Shinjuku District of Tokyo so there’s plenty of park access close since there’s a fair number of people living in the area. With the help of rad front desk person at my hotel (He didn’t know English and I didn’t know Japanese but we still worked out directions to the closest park based on some of my hand gestures) I ended up finding a big park near the hotel with some baseball diamonds, paths, playgrounds and public grounds. I settled on working out by the biggest baseball diamond in the park as there were some excellent brick benches I could use for jump squats, dips, side planks, elevated push ups, close grip push ups and jump lunges and there were a few guys playing a game of pick up baseball (yeah, at 6:00 in the morning!). I warmed up, did some super sets that I modelled after the routines Ben and I have been working on for the past few months and then took a beather.

After I got done with that area I moved over to the other side of the baseball diamond. There were some soccer nets and a large open area where I could get some cardio in. I walked over and proceeded to do do a three super sets of chin ups, pull ups, suicides and vertical swings moving up and down a couple of bars to work my shoulders and back. After that exhausting routine I was cooked. Total time of the work out with cool down was about 1 hour 10 minutes. To top it off I was back in my hotel room by 7:50 AM.

This is day 2 of my trip and I plan to keep working out every other day while I’m away. Ben, let’s hope you do the same!

Oh, and here are some side notes from this morning:

- The sun rises extremely early in Japan since there’s no Daylight Savings Time here. By the time I got to the park there were already youth baseball teams warming up for practise, adults practising baseball together, tai chi groups deep into meditiation and people walking throughout the park.

- I can’t get over how many bikes there are in the city that don’t get locked up. I guess it’s a sign that things are right with a society when a bike can be left in a public space without the need to lock it up.

- Baseball is very popular in Japan.