How uplifting right? Look I just want you to try harder. I just finished "The 10X Rule" which in essence says that in order to be successful you have to set goals that are 10x more than you want and take steps to put in 10x more work than needed. It was very motivating and I'm on board. Just because you are doing an exercise on an unstable surface does not mean you are training stability and likewise just because you are running 25m sprints doesn't mean you are training explosive power and speed. You need to know your mission and know your role. If your training speed then go fast. If you are training stability find that stability in your joints. In all situations cultivate tightness and whole body connectedness. As Mark Bell says, you gotta know the "intent" what is the reason you are doing that exercise? Do you even know? Why are you doing that many reps? Why that many sets? Why that weight? What percent RM is that for you? Put some thought and effort into your workouts or pay me to do it for you. I'll gladly take the work. There are plenty of brilliant people out there but once they step foot in the gym all critical thinking goes out the window. They resort to the latest fad or an exercise that is flashy. You want flashy or you want results? Stop lying to yourself like you are actually giving 100%. Did you give it your all? And I must tell you, giving your all does not always mean laying on the floor in a puddle of sweat and vomit. Giving your all might mean perfect technique, it might mean a new PR it might mean taking time and fcusing on your breath....it depends....on the intent. Push pull squat lunge twist bend every week and you'll be ok. Add a little progressive overload with some smart periodization and you're golden. It's not that hard but it's a little bit hard. You can't be a fucking zombie in the gym. Put some work into it and you'll see some results. NO ONE SAID IT WOULD BE EASY BUT IT WILL BE WORTH IT.
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What gets you fired up? This song gets me jacked up and makes me feel invincible. Lyrics like "I shed my skin and put my bones into it" inspire me to let it all out there. "they can't tell me nothing, give it to the people, spread it across the country" What inspires a passion in you. You gotta figure that out and harness it. What makes you awesome? You got to figure that out and do that. EVERYDAY. Live today like it's your last. There is no guaranteed tomorrow and yesterday is gone. Make this moment better by being the best you. Challenge yourself, create obstacles and surprise yourself when you overcome them! Rise up in the morning with a plan to crush the day and you will. Nothing can stop you. Your thoughts are your reality so start thinking big and start thinking positivity people. Your excuses are just that so throw them away and take responsibility for your life and your decisions. You are where you are because you want to be there. I am writing this blog because I want to. Find power in the decision to take control of your life. Your essence is divine. You sense your purpose effortlessly. You go beyond the fears and limitations of other people. You control your life. Say it. Mean it. Live it. PEACE!
Can you be lean and strong? Yes. Seeing as I am sitting at 10% body fat and just hit a 3RM PR in the back squat I say yes. Here's what I have been doing.
1. Gymnastics focusing on increasing complexity of movement 2. The basics. Squat, Dead, Weighted Lunges, Bench. Pull ups, Rows. 2 week waves going for records each week. 3. Deloading every 4th week(roughly) that means cutting your volume in half every 4th week. 4. Sprinting. 2-3 of my workouts each week end with sprints ranging in the 200-800 meter range. 5. Taking 14-16 hours between dinner and breakfast and making the first half of the day low carb. I'm talking <30g carbs in that period. Carbs are put in the evening meal but only if I feel I need them ie have done sprints that day. 6. BCAA Branched Chain Amino Acids. Take 10g before my morning fasted workout. That's it. Abs are popping. Holler.
The past 3 months I have been doing a combination of gymnastics fundamentals and weightlifting. The gymnastics has consisted of push ups progressions, single leg squats regressions, ring rows and a variety of pike-esque ab work not to leave out crazy ass flexibility/strength exercises. The weightlifting has been the Brute Force program put out by Zach Even-Esh. I feel great and am getting very lean as I have also locked in my diet....more on that later. Gotta go fix my clutch in my sweet ass 97 prizm. That's right, it's as pimp as it sounds ;) I just watched a great video wherein Paul Chek talked about primal patterns and infant development and it sparked something in me. As babies we first learn we have a front and back then a top and bottom then left and right sides. We crawl then push and pull then we squat then we bend then lunge then twist and finally we walk. I find it fascinating so many people come to me wanting to train for whatever reason. They can walk relatively well yet have trouble completing a body weight squat, have no idea how to keep a neutral spine in a bend patterns and also have no spatial awareness in lunge patterns. These patterns have gone quiet, the neuromuscular pathways have atrophied due to a sedentary world we live in. These are usually the same folks doing a bunch of cardio and machine weight routines eating low fat diets and making no progress. I don't know it was just interesting how we start at A and end at Z yet many are walking around doing Z without the ability to do the prior steps.
Of your excuses! Get in the gym and do work. Eat meat and veggies. Sleep more. Just to those things and stop looking for the shortcut. Stop being a lazy asshole and stop thinking it has to be complicated. Do what I tell you and you will see results. Period
Weight is 188 and slowly creeping to 190. Over the course of the last year I have been focusing on hypertrophy and strength and have made some great gains. Problem is no I feel a little slow . I am going to start following the programming from Zach Even Esh's www.undergroundstrengthcoach.com. Actually I already have and I is destroying me, and I like it. More jumping, more push ups and trying to move the weights fast is going to be fun and challenging and I am looking forward to it. I have been programming my workouts myself over the last 2 months and have seen gains but this new route will take me out of my comfort zone and I am pumped about it! I'll be taking some before and after pics and we'll see
Weight is sitting around 182-184. Holding strong. I have cleaned up my diet a bit and have been able to maintain the gains. I just have to make sure I am getting enough carbs from clean sources.
I tested a couple maxes a bout a month ago. DL-300# Bench- 155# It's interesting how close in weight my 1rm and 3rm are in things. I guess it goes to show I am pretty much slow twitch. Who would have thought a former ultra endurance athlete would be slow twitch right? I think that is also why I saw such gains with 5/3/1. The rep records really motivated me and I think the high rep sets have a greater effect on my body than the lower rep sets do re: hypertrohy. Here is a cool chart I picked up at EliteFTS. Don't get stuck on rep ranges. Think about the Time under tension in a set and what metabolic pathway you are trying to hit. There's morr to lifting than 3-5 sets of 8-12 reps kids. Morning weight 177#
Current PRs following 5/3/1: Squat:25x150 DL: 15x215 Bench:15x115 Press:9x90 I think I'll test my maxes in the next few weeks. I'm pretty confident I can pull 315 squat 225 bench 175 and press 115 I've touched on it briefly before, just as achieving a high level of endurance does not equate to a high level of general fitness (marathon runner vs crossfit athlete), a high level of general fitness does not necessarily equate to health. I was inspired to write this post when reading Movement by Gray Cook. A line read "it's a matter of health versus fitness."
I've participated in many endurance events. After spending so much time running long and slow I realized I was pretty shitty at short and fast/heavy and I questioned my fitness. I used to think being fit meant you could run far, I really did. Then, while researching minimalist shoes I happened upon CrossFit and was absolutely destroyed by their basic workouts consisting of weightlifting, gymnastics and metabolic conditioning. I had a new definition of fitness. I wanted to be able to run long and slow and short and fast, jump high, play sports, balance, lift heavy shit from the ground to overhead , stand on my head and eat hella grassfed beef. That's what I have been doing for the last couple of years and I have been diggin it. I've gained muscle and feel healthier. Weird right? A few weeks ago I came across a video put up by Josh Rubin of East West Healing and Performance regarding body temperature. We all know normal human body temp is 98.6. He mentioned that in a stressed state, the temp lowers and that by taking our temperature more frequently we can keep an eye on our health/metabolic rate/stress. Rats with higher metabolic rates live longer than rats with lower metabolic rates. Running cold and having a heart rate under 50 bpm perhaps was a bad thing... The viewing came about whilst I was experiencing on occasion, cold nose, cold hands and feet and a lot of fatigue. I had run a marathon a week before and had been working long hours. I took my temp and I was an icy 97.5. Metabolically stressed much? Those who know me know I am a pretty relaxed fellow but it appears not so according to Mr. Thermometer, and Mr. Thermometer don't lie. I asked a client of mine who is a nurse if she sees low temps frequently and she said almost all patients she sees have a temp under 98. NOT OK. Josh Rubin is all about Ray Peat and I have been looking into his stuff and find some if it very compelling. It has also lead me to check out some of Matt Stone's stuff. I'm becoming less aggro about Paleo and trying to be a little less stressed, eat more carbs and get my temp up. I just took it and I am up to 98.3. That is the highest reading I have had in the 2 weeks I have been taking it. Know what I did last week? Nothing. It was my deload week as I am currently doing 5/3/1 and the rest is built into the program. I started drinking more milk and more carbs and eating more frequently. It has raised my temperature and also, interestingly, now I remember my dreams when I wake up. Say what? Ya heard! So what is the point of this post? Well, I guess just to say that my thoughts on fitness are progressing once again. Just as my perception of fitness was broadened from endurance to all energy systems it appears that it is again getting broader, from general fitness to general health and how the former may disrupt the ladder. It's almost common knowledge now that endurance athletics are bad for you. Constantly taxing the oxidative pathway, a bunch of aerobic exercise creates free radicals and cancer. No Bueno. Get off the elliptical and lift some weights. Now everyone wants intensity. But we will find that you can't go hard all the time or you will get burnt out. Too much Lactic acid, training the glycolitic pathway (read:CrossFit) is bound to have negative results as well, we are just not sure what they are yet. We need global fitness. We need to sprint, go for a long hike every now and then, do Tai Chi/meditate 3-7 days a week, lift heavy weights with 2-5 minutes between sets every week, eat organic whole foods consisting of 80-100 grams of protein PER DAY and we need to smash ourselves with HIIT every now and again too. So that's that. Keep it real, keep it fit, keep it 2 legit 2 quit y'all. |
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