“DO WORK! With Coach Dos” brings you the most recent Q&A interaction between athletes and ATLX Expert Coach Robert Dos Remedios. Here, you’ll find Dos’s expert opinion on questions that you’ve probably asked yourself as an athlete, but didn’t quite know the answer to.
What’s a good strategy for burning pounds of fat, without burning pounds of muscle?
Dos: Dial in the diet… Lift weights… Keep your cardio in the high intensity interval training schemes.
What is your advice for rapidly improving muscular endurance of the pushup?
Dos: Rapidly? DO pushups. Change the loads (elevate feet, raise hands etc.) and change hand placement.
What are your top tips for someone who is 5’9 and wants to increase vertical jump in order to dunk?
Dos: Get stronger, lose excess weight, and perform loaded jumps (weighted vest, etc.).
What’s the best way to run through shortness of breath. We had it checked out, there’s no issues with asthma.
Dos: Could be allergies or just not acclimating to your workload. Be sure to gradually build your workouts. Also, manipulate your work:rest times for optimal benefits.
I use cardio strength training’s protocols. Many times after training 6 days a week I feel really beat up and run down. I’m a big believer in intensity over duration. Should I continue with a 6 day program and ignore, or pull back and rest?
Dos: If you are beatdown then REST. Are you repeating movements both in exact pattern and load/rep range on back to back days (i.e. pushups, etc.)? If so, be sure to change your loading patterns, rep ranges, and intensities from session to session. 30 minutes of a high intensity session is plenty.
How about a quick density circuit for me to hit this afternoon?
Dos: Dumbbell sumo burpee jumps, plyo pushups, chins, band presses, and USB rotational lunges.
Does minimizing rest periods during HIIT increase excess post-exercise oxygen consumption?
Dos: No it actually decreases it since your work ability (anaerobic) will drop and you will essentially end up doing aerobic intervals.
Is it beneficial to incorporate isometric work into a training regimen or is it a waste of time?
Dos: Stuff like planks and adding isometric holds at the end range of movements to make sets/loads more difficult are great.