Miscellaneous Miscellany Monday 5-10-10
1. Someone needs to give this man a contract, pronto!
Two things:
– We could easily add 8 MPH on his fastball in one off-season at CP.
– I can’t say for sure what this whole stunt was about, but If Will Ferrell is thinking about making this “character” into a movie, it better not suck like Semi-Pro did.
2. Recently, both Eric Cressey and myself have been writing about our staff lifts at CP. Each month either myself, Eric, or Brian will take turns writing a program, whereupon the rest of the staff (along with various other clients that train with us on occasion) will follow it. For a few days anyways. Usually it ends up looking something like this:
*Looks at program that Brian just wrote today*
C1. Turkish Get-ups 3×4/side Pffffft, whatever
C2. 1-Arm TRX Row w/ Reach 3×8/arm Blast the biceps
Okay, in all seriousness, while this definitely flies in the face of our business model – where we write individualized programs for every client – we’re all pretty much on par with one another as far as goals/needs, etc. Except, you know, I’m more gunny than everyone else. That said, what’s great about having another staff member write the programs is that it allows some variety and forces us to step out of our comfort zones and try new things every now and then.
That said, however, you’d be surprised at how simple our programs actually are. This is something that both Eric and myself have discussed on several occasions. If you were to look at a year’s worth of our programs, you wouldn’t see THAT much difference from month to month. We’re always squatting, always deadlifting, always including a ton of single leg work, horizontal rowing, chin-ups, push-ups, and core stability work.
Moreover, we’re always making a concerted effort to include some med ball work, dedicated movement training (light sprint work), and tons of specific low-grade activation/mobility work.
Sure, we may switch up what type of squat/deadlift/bench we’re performing from month-to-month; as well as fluctuate the sets and reps, and various accessory work we do. But all in all, it’s nothing that special. Which is why I’m always amazed at how many people think they need some advanced program to get results.
Sorry but if you can’t perform at least five, perfect body weight pull-ups, it’s probably not that imperative you start incorporating dynamic effort bench work. Similarly, if you can’t perform a walking lunge without looking like a drunk one-legged pirate (just go with it, alright), then why in the hell are you asking me about whether or not you should add chains to your squats?
Needless to say, when it doubt – keep it simple. As I’ve stated in the past, 80% of your results, comes from 20% of the work. If more people used that principle alone, they’d see infinitely better results.
3. I’d like to congratulate myself on reaching the 1,000 friend mark on Facebook last week. I guess that means I’m kind of a big deal now. Granted, I only personally know like 50 of them, but whatever. And, for the record, my policy of not accepting any friend requests from dudes who have a shirtless picture as their profile picture is still in affect.
4. Speaking of congratulations – I wanted to give my sister an internet high five for kicking ass this past month. I found a really cool gym for her to join in the Albany area – Matt Phelps Training – and she’s already down roughly 15 lbs. More importantly, though, she’s EXCITED to train. She travels roughly 20 minutes (both ways) to train there twice per week, and she’s never been this motivated to train since, well, never.
Again, this is just another case as to why it’s so important to find a conducive training ENVIRONMENT. It’s makes all the difference in the world.
5. I had a client come in last week telling me that a nutritionist told him that 80 grams of protein is “borderline excessive,” and that if he eats too much, it will turn to fat. Apparently this nutritionist has either never opened up a book in the last twenty years or is borderline retarded. My guess is the latter.
To her credit, at least she didn’t bust out the ol’ “too much protein will cause your kidneys to explode” line. Even still……
5. Annnnnnnnd, exactly two weeks from today I’ll be leaving for Puerto Rico tomorrow. Can’t freakin wait! Note to self: need to get a tan ASAP.
