It's an eclectic approach, no doubt, but the rhymer has reason behind his training philosophy. He shares his 10 best fitness tips.

 

1) Monitor your body. Overtraining is a constant threat for LL Cool J. Rather than guessing at his client's physical state, Honig measures his resting heart rate to quantify it. "His heart normally rests at 48 to 52 beats per minute," Honig says." That's like an astronaut's level, so if he's waking up at 70, he's not getting his rest."

Do this now: Take your resting heart rate each morning and monitor changes, understanding that you can be overtrained without registering any leaps in your RHR. This yardstick is better for strength trainers than endurance monsters, for whom a depressed RHR can signal overtraining.

 

2) Do some boxing. To go 15 rounds, boxers treat aerobic and anaerobic as two sides of the same coin. LL is a fighter at heart--one of his greatest hits was "Mama Said Knock You Out"--and he trains like one, too.

Do this now: Include a boxing circuit in your regimen each week. Sequence, for example, two minutes of punches with rubber tubing tied from supports to your hands; two minutes of punching with boxing mitts; a minute of push-ups; a minute of sit-ups, wherein you're catching a medicine ball at the top; and then two minutes of jumps and bounds wearing a weighted vest. LL does five or six such circuits in one session. Build up your strength and endurance to the point where you're repeating the cycle.

 

3) Cycle your training. "I go from strength work one week to power work the next week to endurance work the next week," says LL. "The body is completely out of whack, so it says, 'I gotta adapt this.'" Indeed. Exercise scientists now repeat periodized training like a mantra.

Do this now: If you've been doing 10 to 12 reps per set since In the House went off the air, spend two weeks using a lighter weight for 20 to 24 reps per set. Then spend two more weeks using a heavier weight for five to seven reps. Take a few days off to recuperate before going back to your old system. See if you're not 10% stronger.

 

4) Do interval training. If you don't know it by now, you can stoke the fat-burning furnace with intervals, which simply involves varying your aerobic-workout intensity systematically (not ad hoc). During the 2002 tour, LL jumped off the bus and ran five miles on the floor of the Mojave Desert. To add resistance, he wore a weighted vest!

Do this now: Instead of doing your cardio steady-state this week, do it for two minutes with your heart rate above 150 beats per minute, followed by one minute at 135 to 140, and so on until you run out of steam. If you're not doing so already, start measuring your heart rate during cardio.

 

5) Do giant sets for big muscles. Muscle groups like back, chest and quads can handle a lot, and they adapt quickly to ho-hum training (set, rest, set, ad nauseam). Switch things up through variations such as giant sets, where you do four different exercises consecutively for the same body part with no rest in between. That will prompt growth.

Do this now: "For chest," LL says, "I do dumbbell bench presses, and then plyometric push-ups, and then dips, and then I'll box using the mitts."

 

6) Be creative. LL is an artist, and true artists don't just keep doing the same thing over and over again. So when he and Scooter exhaust the standard repertoire of resistance exercises, they invent new ones. "For push-ups, he'll do a plyometric version where he ends up 'walking' across the floor on his hands," explains Honig. The variations can be endless.

 

Do this now: Take a free-weight exercise and add resistance to it with rubber tubing that's been tied off to a bench or other support. Notice how the tubing keeps the tension continuous, for example, through the "dead spots" on flyes and other movements. At the top of each rep, to dig for deeper muscle fibers, contract the working muscle real hard.

 

7) Be efficient. Too busy to train? LL finds the time even when he's touring like a madman, filming a movie or two--you name it. One way he keeps it up is by maximizing his workouts, which often means doing multijoint hybrid exercises when time is tight.

Do this now: Holding a plate across your chest, rise up to do a sit-up or crunch, with someone holding your feet for support. But instead of stopping at the top, stand up completely and contract your entire body before returning to the starting position. You've just done a deadlift, too, which hit legs--front and back--glutes and abdominals.

 

8) Do heavy dumbbell presses. "With barbells, you can favor one shoulder over the other, while machines help balance the load for you, so I'm partial to dumbbells," says LL, who can handle 100-pounders for five reps. Dumbbells hit target muscles plus assistors and ancillaries for all-around growth. Do this now: Insert dumbbell overhead presses into your shoulder training wherever presses are called for. Prepare to be V-tapered.

 

9) Supplement as needed. "I take a little glutamine. And I take glucosamine for my joints," LL says. "When you're onstage wangin' and bangin', it softens you up. You know what I mean? Definitely."

Do this now: The efficacy of both of these supplements is supported by extensive research--glucosamine for promoting joint health, glutamine for bolstering the immune system. As always, read and follow product labels.

 

10) Keep doin' it and doin' it--even when you don't feel like doin' it. LL says this is the most important piece of advice he can offer. "The key to getting in shape is eating right when you don't feel like it, and working out when you don't feel like it," he says. "Everyone associates going to the gym with pain, but you can learn to associate the results of working out with pleasure, and the results you're going to get from drinking beer with pain."

Do this now: If you're waffling as you read this, what are you waiting for?