How to Strip Fat with Bear Crawls

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Editors Note: The following is correspondence between Jim Seyes, an Inner Circle member, and me.

Pat, 

I hope I see you well and prosperous. Greetings from Cefalu, Sicily. Hanging out here until 16/6.

I’ve been following your excellent correspondence. The Big Three: Deadlifts, Squats. Benches. I’m good with the first two. Benches knock hell out of my shoulders. Not good for me. Can you suggest a substitute? And, can you suggest a good fat stripper for an old timer. I’m looking to get into better shape when we get home, for the NYC trip in September.

 

A good fat stripper? Sure, I have plenty. What equipment do you have access to in the old country? If you can get a single kettlebell, I will recommend my nine minute workout, and less pasta.

–       Pat

PS- How is Italy this time of year?

PPS- Instead of bench press, do push ups (or dips), ok?

 

Pat,

Italy is very fine late May and into June: warm in the seventies, cool at night. We’re in an 18C building, narrow streets, clouds of washing hanging from balconies. Reach over and shake hands with your neighbor. Grub good, wine too. Spent two weeks on the Egadi Islands. Beautiful, but Marrettimo which is lovely, resembling the Lakeland Mountains in the North of England, had dire food: disgusting, expensive spindly fish. A sure ticket to the chamber pot. But otherwise the trip goes well.

I’m thinking ahead, for when we get back and I get into shape for the New York trip in September. No kit here in Sicily. The main exercise is long walks. More knackers me. Delighted to hear your suggestions.

 –Jim

 

My first suggestion, then, Jim, is sprints. If you can’t do sprints, reduce it to crawls. Or combine them. Sorry, I mean sprint for 50 meters, crawl back. Do seven to ten rounds, resting as little as you need but as much as you have to between sets, eat protein with a shovel, and pasta with a toothpick. Red nectar is OK; might even be salubrious for the heart muscle, in sufficient doses.

For crawls, I suggest you try to resemble either the leopard or the bear. The former involves a narrow stance, hands under shoulders, knees under hips, and a short, rapid gait. The latter, that is, the bear, is more of a plod and with a longer, more lumbering gait. Turn your feet and hands slightly out, too, with the bear crawl. Butt can be high or low, doesn’t matter. Videos below.

– Pat