For those living underneath a rock: the Boston Red Sox won the World Series last night. I’ve been staying up late for the past week watching every pitch of the series, and it all ended last night with Sox closer Koji Uehara striking out the Cardinals’ Shane Robinson and then me seemingly high-fiving everything within a two block radius of living room.
Lisa sleeping in bed? You better believe it (and, sorry babe).
A few random strangers outside of my apartment. A little awkward, but yep!
My toaster oven? Hell, why not?
Our place is actually about 1.5 miles away from Fenway Park and Kenmore Square and I was half tempted to make the trek down and partake in the shenanigans, but then realized I’d have a better shot at riding a magical unicorn to work than having any chance of sniffing the ballpark last night. The city had that place on lockdown after the fact, and I can’t say that I blame them.
Thankfully, though, I haven’t heard any stories this morning of rioting, vandalism or debauchery…..only a peppering of arrests.
So now the city is set to celebrate another Red Sox championship……and it’s going to be the balls.
I thought this was an absurdly accurate report on cholesterol, saturated fat and the batshit craziness that STILL surrounds their demonization.
It’s no secret that I feel we (as in the public) have long been misled when it comes to the real players behind heart disease. If you have 25-30 minutes to spare I can’t encourage you enough to watch this video.
Sometimes things need to suck, I mean really suck, in order see the light at the end of the tunnel. I think the last line of the article spells the message out:
Every reward, every achievement lies on the other side of the suck. You face the suck. You accept it. Then you start throwing elbows.
I know what some of you may be thinking: “Really, Tony, a post on deadbugs? What’s next….telling us how much you love Twilight or that you’re adopting another cat? You haven’t gone soft on us now have you?”
<—– LOL, get it?? I actually put a picture of a “dead bug” here, when I’m actually just referring to the exercise. High five!
Full confession time. Okay, I admit it: back in 2008 I read the first Twilight book. But only because I wanted to see what all the hoopla was about and see for myself why so many people were going bat shit crazy over it.
Well that, and it was a dark period in my life. I was single at the time and was going through some existential phase where I was trying to figure out what everything means. Vampires wasn’t the answer.
I read it, didn’t care for it, and moved on with my life.
As far as the cat thing. I plead the 5th…..;o)
With regards to deadbugs, however, in many ways I feel they get a bad rap and that they’re one of the more UNDERrated core exercises out there. Perhaps a more apropos way to explain things would be that deadbugs are almost universally seen as a “sissy” exercise and a waste of time by many trainees, meatheads, and athletes alike.
I couldn’t disagree more.
I was recently asked by MensHealth.com to provide a “hot list” of some of my favorite go to core exercise that I either use with my athletes and clients, or that I pepper into my own training as well.
1. I didn’t want the incessant eye rolling pointed in my direction.
2. Despite their perceived “easiness,” deadbugs are actually an exercise that are absolutely butchered by, well, everybody.
3. As such, I took the greedy way out, held back, and decided to keep deadbugs to myself and dedicate an entire post on them in an effort to persuade everyone reading that they’re the bees knees (and that they should take the time to pay a little more attention to detail).
Getting the obvious out of the way: deadbugs are an exercise that, for all intents and purposes, help with motor control and can be seen as a “baseline” exercise to ascertain whether or not someone has any glowing imbalances that need to be addressed.
Let me explain.
While it’s fairly common in the athletic realm, more and more we’re seeing people in the meathead/weekend warrior or what I like to call the “I like to lift heavy things category” present with an overextended posture or anterior pelvic tilt.
While this isn’t necessary anything to write home about – there IS a “range” of acceptable anterior pelvic tilt – it does become problematic when it’s excessive and otherwise leads to other imbalances up and down the kinetic chain.
For starters, those in excessive anterior pelvic tilt will almost always have extension based back pain – where the facet joints, posterior discs, etc are placed in an ungodly amount of stress which can manifest into more profound issues like spondylosis (end plate fracture) down the road.
Mike Robertson has a cool term for this called Flawed Active Stability – whereupon you’re cueing the body to engage the paraspinals and spinal erectors, effectively crushing the spine, in an effort to gain stability.
What’s more, in general, because of the misalignment associated with APT, it’s not uncommon for people to experience chronic pulled hamstrings, anterior knee pain, hip pain, and a myriad of other issues.
All of this to say: it just plain sucks donkey balls and can really mess with one’s training in the long run if not addressed or at least kept under wraps.
But again, I’m just stating the obvious.
Do Your Deadbugs, Yo!
Deadbugs are a fantastic way to teach the body to “encourage” more posterior pelvic tilt while simultaneously enhancing motor control and to engage the lumbo-pelvic-hip stabilizers to do their job.
As note above, most people flat out do a piss poor job when it comes to performing deadbugs correctly. Here’s a great example.
Upon first glance those don’t look too shabby, right? Offhand those look pretty good. But with a closer look we can definitely comb through some common technique flaws that many should be able to appreciate.
1. Before anyone makes fun of me for tucking my t-shirt into my sweatpants, just know that I did it for a reason. Which was to show how most people perform their deadbugs: with an excessive arch in their lower back and with their rib cage flared out.
Well that and we had people visiting the facility from Australia yesterday and I didn’t want to make things awkward by walking around with my shirt off.
Admittedly, it’s still hard to see in the video above, but if you were in the video with me (oh, hey, hello!) you would easily be able to fit your hand in between the floor and my lumbar spine. This shouldn’t happen and essentially defeats the purpose of the entire exercise.
And this is why I tend to lean more towards deadbugs from the get go – rather than birddogs – because the floor provides more stability and kinesthetic feedback to the body.
2. Another mistake is that people tend to rush this exercise. Many will just haphazardly flail their arms and legs around hightailing it through the set. While we could make a case that extending the arms and legs may be too much of a progression and we need to REGRESS the exercise – read THISfor more ideas – much of the time it just comes down to slowing people down.
All that said, lets take a look at what PROPER deadbug should look like.
I know it doesn’t look much different than the first video, but I assure you there’s a lot to consider.
1. My shirt’s still tucked in.
2. My lower back is flush against the floor – and I’m encouraging more posterior pelvic tilt.
3. Moreover I’m also taking a massive breath and inhaling THROUGH MY NOSE to focus more on a 360 degree expansion into my torso. In other words: I’m not just breathing into my stomach, but also trying to expand sideways and INTO the floor as well as my ribcage (but without allowing it to flare out too much).
4. From there I lower contralateral limbs – controlled, in an effort to resist extension – while FORCEFULLY exhaling my air through my mouth. I do this until ALL my air is out.
By doing this a few things happen (and I apologize in advance for all the enumerations in this post):
1. I slow myself down.
2. The diaphragm is better engaged.
3. Many don’t think of this part, but with all my air exhaled out, I now have nothing to help stabilize my spine except the muscles themselves.
It’s not uncommon for people to literally start shaking as they proceed with their set. This is okay – so long as you maintain proper spinal position – as it just demonstrates that the muscles in the surrounding area are now doing their job more efficiently.
I’ll typically shoot for 2-3 sets of 5-8 repetitions PER SIDE.
And there you have it. It’s nothing flashy or Earth shattering, but I guarantee that if you go a head and try to perform your deadbugs in this fashion you’ll notice how much MORE challenging they can be, and they’re anything but a sissy exercise.
“One more! Get it! Yeah! All you, all you, all you. Just the pinkies. JUST…….THE……PINKIES!!!”
We’ve all been there. Rolling our eyes at the two meatheads who are screaming at one another and drawing attention to themselves as they eek out one more rep on the bench press, or squeeze out another rep in the squat rack, or, I don’t know, engage in an epic thumb war battle. Who knows?
The point is, we’ve all seen it happen. Or, more to the point, have been there ourselves (don’t worry, I won’t judge).
While 95% of the time the guttural screams we hear at the gym are nothing more than some lame song and dance to garner attention or some alpha-male power play akin to a peacock spreading its feathers, sometimes, on rare occasions, it just comes down to someone working their tail off.
And that should be commended. To an extent.
Let me expound a bit.
You see, deep down inside I’m a meathead at heart. I’ve been lifting weights since I was 13, and can remember vividly the Christmas morning when I got my first weight training set from my parents (I mean Santa). It was one of the best mornings of my life, and I can remember like it was yesterday how I instantly plopped down on the bench to bang out a few reps of bench presses. All in the comfort of my He-Man pjs. It was awesome.
The next 10-15 years were filled with your prerequisite training career. I can recall doing my fair share of bicep curls in front of the mirror just outside my bedroom door while my stereo cranked out the likes of Wu-Tang Clan and Stone Temple Pilots.
I can only imagine what was going through mama Gentilcore’s head as I was upstairs cranking out curls and push-ups as Wu-Tang Clan’s Ain’t Nuthin to F*** Wit was shaking the windows.
Ma! The meatloaf!
It was business as usual all through high-school and college. As my baseball career developed I spent more and more time in the weight room as a means to an end. My goal was to play professional baseball (and to make out with Mariah Carey. It was the mid-90s, sue me!) and I’d spend much of my free time working out and doing what I needed to do to make myself better.
I won’t sugar-coat anything: While I had a few professional looks and tryouts, it didn’t pan out.
After I was done playing, my goals then turned to what else: getting jacked. While I was able to make some progress in the gym – it wasn’t until I started my first job in corporate fitness and started reading sites like T-Nation that I started to place a premium on STRENGTH!
It’s hard to believe, but I didn’t perform my first deadlift until 2003, when I was 25.
A funny (and looking back, a not so coincidental) thing happened once I started training for strength. I got results! I went from 180 to 21o lbs in less than a year, and while all of that was cool……..I was no where near closer to making out with Mariah Carey.
For the record: I’m still referring to mid-late 90s Mariah, not the hooched out diva, uppity bitch of today. And yes, I realize that at this point in the story I’m past the 90s, and unless I have a flux capacitator in my back pocket the chronological order doesn’t jive. Whatever Einstein. It’s my story, just roll with it.
Getting back on task – I’m a strength guy. I wouldn’t call myself a strength coach if I wasn’t. I feel strength and getting stronger should be the backbone of anyone’s program. You can’t have things like power, agility, endurance, charm, and unwittingly good looks without first having a solid foundation of strength.
Likewise, there aren’t many guys (or girls) out there who have built impressive or admirable physiques who aren’t strong.
One of the best analogies I’ve ever come across about why strength is important is to think of it as a glass.
What kind of glass are we talking about here? A standard 8 oz glass? A wine glass? An Optimus Prime collectors mug I got in a Happy Meal circa 1985? This post is just chock full of nostalgia today!
Well, any glass really. The idea, though, is to make the glass bigger!
This is an analogy I first heard from Eric Cressey, and again later on from Master RKC instructor, Brett Jones.
Think of strength as a glass, and the water inside the glass as all the “qualities” we train for: endurance, strength-endurance, power, agility, speed strength, strength speed, having the ability to somehow take F.O.R.E.V.E.R in the bathroom getting ready (ladies?), you know, those types of things.
The smaller your glass, the less “qualities” you’re able to express, let alone at a high level. That said…..
Strength is the basis for everything.
You can’t be “fast” without having some semblance of strength (or horsepower) in reserve. You can’t improve your timed mile, or taking a bit further, your marathon time if you can’t generate more force into the ground to propel yourself forward.
The larger you make your glass, the more liquid you’re able to place inside said glass, and the likelihood your performance improves. Whatever your endeavors may be.
That said, and going back to the example of the two meatheads above, as much as I LOVE strength and getting people stronger, and as much as I respect people who work hard and get “after it,” it does come at a price.
In other words: you can’t ALWAYS grind out reps and beat your joints to a pulp, and a well-rounded program isn’t SOLEY about lifting as much weight as possible until your knees or shoulder or spine feels like tossing you the middle finger.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before………
Eric Cressey released a book this week!
You’ve no doubt been inundated with countless posts, tweets, and Facebook statuses from other fitness professionals about The High Performance Handbook this week. And getting the obvious out of the way, this was a post “disguised,” in large part, to support Eric’s new book, to sell a few copies, and yes, to help fund my insatiable ice-cream habit…..;o)
Speaking truthfully, however, the main impetus was to help get a quality product into the hands of people who need it.
There are a boatload of people out there haphazardly going to the gym each and every day not making progress, and more often than not, causing more harm than good.
Sure many are lifting weights, but many are lifting weights poorly. On top of that many don’t understand that a well-rounded program entails much more than just hoisting weights off the ground, and that if more people learned to tweak a program to fit their body-type, needs, and capabilities on top of addressing movement quality, that they would see profound differences in not only how they feel but how they look too.
Make no mistake: you’re going to lift heavy things and hate life at certain points.
But it’s not just about lifting weights.
It’s also about moving well, and also understanding how to lift weights correctly.
I think most people reading this site knows my affiliation with Eric, and by extension Cressey Performance. This resource is about as close as you’re going to get to training at CP without actually being at CP, and it goes without saying that I feel the “system” works.
To that end, you only have until TONIGHT (SATURDAY, October 26th) at MIDNIGHTto take advantage of the introductory sale price. After that the price goes up significantly.*
UPDATE: it’s been brought to my attention that Eric’s extended the offer to come train at Cressey Performance. Anyone who purchases the book before the deadline, will be entered to win an all expenses paid trip to come train at Cressey Performance. We can totally like, hang out and stuff!
Sooooo, I heard through the grapevine that Eric Cressey released some sort of product this week?
I jest.
I know everyone and their Little League coach has been promoting it this week on their blogs and various social media outlets, and you know what? Good!
[For those who may have missed it earlier this week, HERE’s my review of The High Performance Handbook.]
There’s a lot of garbage that gets released all over the internet on a daily basis promising abs in six minutes or the body of your dreams in 20 minutes, three days per week, or, for the more gullible, a program which guarantees immediate results using some kind of magical formula like showering underneath a rainbow every 3rd Friday. But only if you’re holding hands with a Leprechaun.
Again, I jest. But suffice it to say I’ve seen some doozies out there, and it never ceases to amaze me what people will buy (or believe) in order to be told that they don’t need to work hard (and smart!) to attain the results they want.
For what mounts to $20 per month (it’s a four month program), you can have one of the best strength coaches in the world in your corner coaching you every step of the way. Unlike many online programs, The High Performance Handbook can easily be CUSTOMIZED to fit your body-type (there’s actually a thorough video assessment to help you ascertain what your body-type is), training schedule, and equipment availability.
All of it is under the guise to help you kick-ass in the gym, attain results (strength and aesthetic) that you never thought possible, and without sugar coating anything. You’ll need to work. Probably harder than you’ve ever worked before. But the if you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to train at Cressey Performance, this is your chance.
I read this post by Jen last week and felt it needed to be read by more people, if for nothing else to help nudge people into a little dose of reality.
Sorry, you can’t crush Pop-Tarts on a daily basis and get shredded. Even if it “fits your macros.”
Concurrently, because of the recent trend of people writing about long-stemming affects of metabolic damage from long-term dieting (and it DOES exist), many people are now fearful of approaching a caloric deficit.
Hate to break it to you: but if you want to shed fat, you have to elicit a caloric deficit.
Dieting ain’t easy. Sometimes you’re going to be hungry, and sometimes you’re going to feel mildly irritated because you haven’t had carbs in two days and want to punch a hole through a wall.
Tad’s a former intern/coach at Cressey Performance who now runs his own facility just outside Boston that caters to more of the swimming crowd.
Coincidentally enough, even though Tad writes with swimmers in mind, A LOT of what he talks as it relates to shoulders/elbows, shoulder/elbow care, and yes, CrossFit, parlays very well to other overhead athletes such as baseball, volleyball, as well as the general fitness population.
In addition, Tad’s thoughts on how to properly progress “plyos” and how CrossFit often (not always) misses the mark hits the nail on the head.
It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these so I figured today would be as good of a day as any to give you something new to try at the gym today.
Well there’s that, and today’s my first day back at CP in like six days and I have approximately somewhere between a crap-load and metric shit-ton of programs to catch up on and write.
So, needless to say I have my hands full this morning.
DB Goblet Lateral Lunge – from Deficit
Who Did I Steal It From: I didn’t have to look too far for this one, as I witnessed fellow CP-coach, Greg Robins, implementing this one with one of our pro-baseball guys the other day.
And when I saw it I couldn’t help but think to myself, “huh, I’m a complete moron for never thinking of that myself.”
What Does It Do: It’s no secret that we incorporate our fair share of single leg work at the facility in all shapes and sizes……..and directions.
The lateral lunge is definitely nothing revolutionary, but it’s a variation that many people neglect to utilize, which is unfortunate since it’s a great option to train more in the frontal plane.
Adding the deficit – in the form of a stepper or mats piled up on one another, or a person (kidding) – just serves as a way to make it more challenging and to help increase the ROM for those who may need it.
Key Coaching Cues: It’s pretty self-explanatory, so I won’t belabor any minute talking points here. However, I will say that it’s important to make certain that when you do lunge laterally that you SIT BACK into the landing hip. Ideally I like to see the heel stay on the ground, and while the knee will translate forward slightly, you should try to keep as much of a vertical shin angle as possible.
Something else to consider: yes, you can hold DBs in each hand, but for those who present with a more depressed shoulder girdle (and live in extension), it may be more advantageous to perform this exercise as shown (holding the DB as a Goblet) so as not to feed into the dysfunction.
Just something to think about.
I like to shoot for 6-8 reps per side. Give them a try and let me know what you think!
As many of you know I’ve spent the last three days up here in Canada (Edmonton, to be precise) hanging with my boy Dean Somerset as he and I joined forces to perform round two of what we’re jokingly (but not really) calling Dean and Tony’s Excellent High-Five Workshop.
<—— If that’s not the most baller workshop pamphlet ever printed I don’t know what is.
We did round one a few months ago in Boston as sort of a practice round, and since no one died or walked away with 3rd degree burns or anything, we figured we take the show up north to Canada.
Much like Boston we kept it fairly “intimate,” limiting our seats to 20-25 people, and much like Boston we couldn’t have asked for more switched on and enthusiastic group of people to attend.
We spent the entire weekend talking assessment, breathing patterns, squat and deadlift technique/troubleshooting, corrective exercise (and how most of it makes my corneas perpetually bleed), and Dean even shared some of his voodoo anatomy wizardry with a few of the workshop participants.
As an example he demonstrated how taking just 15 seconds and hammering lateral core stability (what he refers to as reflexive stabilization) can drastically increase someone’s hip internal rotation by leaps and bounds.
No stretching involved.
In any case, unlikeBoston, this time around we filmed the entire shebang – 12 hours worth of content – which we’ll be releasing in the near future. So be sure to keep your eyes peeled for that.
Don’t worry, though: I’m sure Dean and I will be the first to let you know when it’s available…..;o)
As an aside: we’ve been discussing the possibility of us taking our “tour” to the west coast (California) or the mid-west (Denver?), or maybe even Middle-Earth (Rivendell?). Just to throw it out there, if there’s anyone reading interested in setting up something with the two of us, we’d love to explore the opportunity.
And with that, because I want to leave you with at least something beneficial to read, here are some random thoughts on tips to keep “healthy” while traveling.
TG’s Not So Earth Shattering Tips on Staying Healthy While Traveling.
Funnily enough I once had a client who lugged a 32kg kettlebell with him all the way to Italy for his two-week family vacation in Tuscany. Granted, he was a different breed and would rather cut off a limb than miss a workout, so I won’t hold any of you to that same standard.
Regardless, I do feel that many people use travel as an excuse to be a bit more lackluster with their training and eating habits. And that’s fine…..when you’re traveling for work or for pleasure, a few days away from the iron isn’t going to be the end of the world. In fact I’ve often touted that traveling is a fail proof way to informally introduce “deload” days or week(s) into the mix.
But lets be forthright: most of you reading this blog probably take his or her’s health a bit more seriously, and “just taking a few days off” isn’t really an option. So, what to do when you’re traveling?
1. It’s only been within the last 1.5-2 years that I’ve found myself traveling more for work. Whenever I’m invited to speak somewhere one of the first things I look into is whether or not certain hotels or resorts have some sort of fitness center or nearby health club.
Recognizing that more and more travelers are a bit more health conscious and see having access to a fitness center as a nice perk to their stay, more and more hotels are going out of their way to provide this amenity to their service.
Of course, if you’re used to training in s state-of-the-art facility where you have access to platforms, power racks, sleds, and music that doesn’t make you hate life, most (if not all) hotel “gyms” aren’t going to come close.
Nevertheless, even if you have to MacGyver a workout out of a treadmill, a pair of rusty dumbbells up to 25 lbs, a rubber band, and a spiral notebook, it stands to reason you can do something while away.
2. Even better: bring your gym with you! Nowadays it’s not uncommon for people to pack a TRX suspension trainer or a pair of ValSlides in their suitcase alongside their business suit, toothbrush, and copy of 50 Shades of Grey (don’t worry, I won’t judge).
Both take of minimal space, and both can EASILY be utilized in a hotel room. In fact, while I did have access to Dean’s gym while here in Edmonton (which I used twice), I also knew that my schedule was going to be hectic on the days that we were actually presenting. As such, I brought along my ValSlides so that I could do a quick 10-15 minute circuit in the AM before heading down to speak.
A1. Prisoner Squat x10
A2. 1-Arm Bodysaw Push-Up (in the video I use a slideboard, but you can get the idea on how to incorporate ValSlides) x5/arm
A3. Valslide Reverse Lunge x10/leg
A4. Prone Plank Arm March x10/arm
A5. ValSlide Leg Curl x10
Repeat for 4-6 rounds, with 60s rest in between, pound a protein shake, and call it day.
Easy peasy.
Bonus points for doing the entire workout in only your underwear. BOM CHICKA BOM BOM.
It doesn’t have to be a ball-breaking, lying in a pool of your own sweat type of workout all the time. The objective here was just to get my blood pumping, elicit a bit of a neural boost, and prime me for the rest of the day.
3. And finally, while nutrition is a whole nother bag I don’t want to get into to any high degree, it stands to reason that it’s REALLY easy to eat like an asshole while traveling (as apparent by the DOUBLE ice-cream sundae I ate on Saturday night).
Either way, when traveling, I like to load up on things like beef jerky, nuts, fresh fruit, and Larabars on my actual travel days because all of the above are cheap and easy to toss into my backpack.
I’m not going to sit here and say something lame like “avoid the bread bowl,” or “order extra veggies in place of starches,” although both are viable options. Instead all I’ll say in this context is to eat like an adult.
Traveling doesn’t mean you have to resort to a six-pack of donuts from Dunkin Donuts for breakfast; nor doesn’t mean you have to crush the all-you-can-eat chicken wing buffet. If that’s what you want to do, cool. Do whatever rocks your boat. But don’t use the excuse of “oh, I’m traveling and don’t have time to plan a head” as an excuse.
Okay, that’s it my end. Like I said, nothing earth shattering. I’m sorry if you were expecting something more profound. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Wish me luck on my flight back to Boston! God, I hate flying.
UPDATE: Just arrived at the airport and I’m looking out the window at the plane I’ll be flying into Minneapolis in (it’s my layover to Boston). It’s tiny. Like, I think I can deadlift it tiny. Shit.
It was an early morning for me as I had to get up at the crack to haul myself to Logan Airport for my trip up to Edmonton this weekend. Funnily enough the trip in was a breeze, but I guess that’s to be expected when you’re on the “T” at 5:30 in the morning. No one’s up yet!
Once at the airport, after checking in and approaching the security line, everyone waiting was caught off guard when the TSA peeps said that we didn’t have to take all of our things out of our bags and that we could keep our shoes on.
Like, whoa! Where did this come from?
But of course, SOMEONE had to play Debbie Downer and go out of her way whine about having already taken all of her things out of her bag.
“Well, now you tell me,” someone blurted out behind me in annoyance for all to hear. “You could have told me earlier.” Blah blah blah.
It never ceases to amaze me how much people like to bitch and whine about trivial things. I guess the moral of the story is that, no matter what, despite a pivotal Red Sox Game 5 win last night, the airport just makes some people miserable.
In any case, I’m here, and ready to enjoy the weekend with my boy Dean Somerset. Because I kind of have my plate full for the next few days, I asked my lovely girlfriend, DOCTOR Lisa Lewis, if she would be so kind as to fill in for me and write a guest post for my site today.
Some of you may recall a piece that Lisa wrote a while back titled A Girlfriend Responds, where she came to my defense after I received a barrage of “hate mail” for having the audacity to tell women that lifting heavy things is probably more productive than yoga or Zumba class.
My boo’s got my back!
Anyhoo, it was a very well received post and I’d highly encourage you to check it out because Lisa’s the smartest, funniest, most beautiful and most intelligent woman ever. Besides my Mom.
In today’s post she dives into a motivation, which, given she’s a psychologist and borderline Jedi, is something she’s knows a lot about.
Enjoy!
PS: Just a quick reminder that the sale on Nia Shanks’ Train to Be Awesome Guideends at midnight TONIGHT (Friday, October 18th). It’s currently priced at $29 and jumps up to, well, more than that tomorrow.
Every morning. 5:50am. 5:30 on Fridays. It’s dark. It’s chilly. It is not exciting. Training before work is something I do because, 1. The gym is relatively free of curling-in-the-squat rack Tom Foolery, 2. I feel like a million bucks before 7:00am, and 3. It’s nice to relax in the afternoons after work.
But, as I’m sure many of you know all too well, training in the morning has its drawbacks. And although the early morning may sometimes appear to be the monotonous malefactor muting your motivation, training and training and trying to better yourself month after month with punishing pulls and precocious pushes can sometimes get a little lackluster.
Please don’t misunderstand – I happen to have the best, most innovative, darling-est strength coach in the free world, who writes me a shiny new program every month.
I’m excited anew with every fresh program, but even still, picking up heavy stuff can sometimes feel un-fabulous.
Over the years, I’ve learned that being excited about something, anything, can help me to keep pushing myself and to stay intentional about my training. Being intentional, or mindful, about training helps me to engage with the process, and to declutter my mind from other thoughts and issues that weaken my workout.
For example, I’m currently excited about the recent windfall of products Tony and I received from one of my favorite companies – Vega Sport.
I have been a Vega fan for sometime, because like me, they are free from gluten, dairy, and soy. Actually Vega is much more “free” from these products than I, but I do my best, and as some of you may know, bars, protein powder, and other training-friendly foods are often filled with one or more of said inflammation-causing ingredients.
So Vega is fabulous, and thanks to a recent gift from a Vega representative Jaclyn, I have been tinkering with protein, pre-workout, post-workout, and hydration supplementation.
The tinkering is fun, but more importantly it gets me excited about my training.
I wonder what will happen when I use a pre-workout supplement before I train. I pay close attention to my strength, which results in trying harder with heavier weight or a few more reps, because I’m curious about the benefits of the “hydrator” powder in my workout-water.
I’m more mindful about my appetite and how I feel after I train because I’ve enjoyed a post-workout protein bar (which is freaking delicious by the way). This helps me to notice how my body and mind respond to training, and to stay connected to my appetite and my energy level throughout the day.
The new products in my regimen encourage me to be mindful about how I feel, more aggressive with how I train, and more intentional at the gym, because they offer a fresh focal point. Having an intention and being mindful of that intention during a workout can enhance effort and improve performance.
A phenomenon first studied and described by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1990), “flow” is the experience of being fully engaged in a goal directed activity.
If you are an athlete, or even just athletically minded, you are familiar with the flow state. In this zone, performance is optimal, focus is strong, and effort is at its apex.
Flow can be elusive, but if you can find one aspect of performance to focus on, if you can create a goal-directed intention, if you can get excited (!), then you can find your flow more consistently, and get the most out of your training.
Find your focal point. Identify an intention. Get excited to test out the effects of your newest playlist, or check out how you feel after pounding a super-big glass of water before starting to train.
Get excited to see how much stronger you might be after a big fat 9 hour stint of sleep, and sometimes just enjoy the regular-old, I-love-to-lift-heavy-things vibe that provides all the excitement needed.
Don’t take that for granted. Be mindful of it.
Think consciously about your movement and your exertion. If you have a hard time staying mindful of just these two things, bring in a new variable that you’re excited about, and use that to facilitate finding flow. No matter where you’re at with your training, there will always be some variable available for you to focus your intention, intensify your effort, and augment the “data” you collect after your workout.
So, big or small, what gets you excited? What variables get you more intentional about your intervals? More mindful about your max? More pumped about your… pump?
About the Author
Dr. Lisa Lewis is my girlfriend. She loves dead animal flesh, Sex in the City, our cat, and me! She’s also my best friend and obviously the coolest girlfriend ever (as apparent by the picture of her above chilling with a Jawa).
Before we get into this week’s stuff to read, if you would be so kind as to allow me to take a few moment to tell you how much I hate Dan Trink that would be lovely.
Now, to clarify: I don’t mean “hate” hate Dan Trink. Hate’s a strong word and I generally reserve it for things like Tracy Anderson, seafood, people who don’t turn right on red, or whenever my girlfriend wants to talk about our feelings.
Dan’s actually a good friend and someone whom I’ve collaborated with on several articles on T-Nation as well as the Greatist Workout of the Day – GWODs – back in the day.
In fact Dan and I trained together a few weeks ago when I was down in New York City visiting and I made a cameo appearance at Peak Performance (where he’s the fitness director). After taking a group of their trainers through a staff in-service on shoulder shenanigans/assessment, Dan pretty much bullied me into putting on a pair of shorts so that he and I could lift some heavy stuff. Not that he had to pull my arm or anything, but after speaking for close to two hours I wasn’t exactly in the mood to work up to a few sets of heavy triples on front squats.
Then again, are you going to say no to this guy?
Excuse me while I go clean the back of my pants.
It was during our session, however, that I confided in Dan that I was in a bit of a training funk. A few weeks prior, while training through a fairly aggressive deadlift cycle (in my seemingly never ending quest for a 600 lb pull), I tweaked my back (more on this below), and as a result I admitted I was just going through the motions with my training. No real goal or purpose, which sucks donkey balls.
As such I asked Dan if he’d be willing to take over my programming for the next few months, to maybe place a little more focus on a hypertrophy/bodybuilding split and to give my joints a bit of a break – something, admittedly, I haven’t done in years – and he graciously said yes.
He said yes!!!
And it just so happened that this past weekend Dan sent me my first month of programming – and I hate is effin guts!
Yesterday, for example, included 3×12 on deadlifts with timed rest. 3×12.
Like, what the hell!?!?!?
I honestly can’t remember the last time I’ve ever done a set of twelve on deadlifts. Let alone time my rest. I championed through, though, and on my last set, while still playing the “conservative card,” I performed 365lbs x 12. And then I counted the black spots and purple unicorns I was seeing before I passed out.
Needless to say, it’s going to be an interesting month.
Breathing is a topic that is catching the fitness industry by storm in recent years. And while I realize that for some it’s a topic that’s about as exciting as watching an episode of Downton Abbey, I can tell you from firsthand experience that it’s something that can (and has) had a profound effect on people’s movement quality AND performance in the gym.
With his new resource, The High Performance Handbook, coming out next week, Eric Cressey shares another FREEvideo on the importance of learning how to breath properly (0r more to the point: learning to use our diaphragm more efficiently) and some drills we incorporate at Cressey Performance on a regular basis.
I don’t want to spoil anything, but the guy in the video demonstrating the drills is one sexy bastard……;o)
Outside of bringing back some fond memories of internet legend Diesel Weasel, this article really hit home for me (and not because Bret used me as one of his examples).
As I alluded to above, my on-going quest to hit a 600 lb deadlift has been, well, on-going. How’s that for wordplay?!
Thing is, I also like to stay lean – year round. Much like Bret explains, every time I start ramping up my DL training, I’ll hit a certain “threshold” (the 550 lb mark) and inevitably my back then tosses me the middle finger.
Of course if I were to just throw my hands in the air, crush some PopTarts and donuts for months on end, and just tack on 20-40 lbs to my frame I’d probably hit that number in no time flat.
But that’s just not an option.
Kudos to Bret for writing such an honest article, as well as helping me see some light at the end of the tunnel. I’m by no means giving up, but it’s definitely helped to put things into perspective.
Anyone who’s read my blog for any length time knows that I’m fairly passionate about a number of things. In no particular order (except for the first one) they consist of:
1. BACON!
2. Tiesto.
3. Zombies.
4. Watching zombies get pwned.
5. LIfting heavy things (and more germane to today’s conversation – advocating that women lift heavy things).
I’ve been everything but bashful when it comes to my thoughts and feelings towards the mainstream media and how it placates a negative, seemingly cancer-like stronghold on women and their attitudes towards body image and what’s considered an “ideal” body-type.
In case you missed them (or are new to the site), you can check out a few glowing examples:
And I’m not that only who champions this same sentiment. There are a plethora of other people who have gone out of their way to debunk (female) training myths, chastise those who feel women don’t belong in a squat rack, and otherwise have rolled their eyes at an industry (society?) who feel women are these delicate rainbows who should resort to “Skinny Bitch” diets and consider a yoga mat heavy lifting.
My good friend, and ambassador to quote-on-quote female training, Nia Shanks, is another “item” I’d add to my list above. There are many reasons why I respect Nia as a friend and as a fitness professional. She’s without question one of the most passionate, non-judgmental, and “real” people I know.
I say “real” not in the context of “wow, she’s a human-being. I can interact with her, and share protein bar recipes and stuff. Awesome!”
No, when I say “real” I mean she’s someone who doesn’t BS people. She knows what works, talks the talk, but more importantly, walks it.
I’m in awe of her for what’s she’s accomplished in helping to empower women that lifting weights is not only okay, but something they should (and can) do.
And it’s not even that. Nia understands that being healthy (and happy) is much more than how much weight someone can lift. While that’s cool and all, Nia will be the first person to tell you that becoming the best version of yourself entails many components, from nutrition to the mind-body connection to Matt Damon movies.
Okay, I added that last one in. But needless to say Nia’s the shit.
Which is why I’m always more than willing to do my part in helping promote her products. Her latest “project,” The Train to Be Awesome Guide, is no different.
In a world where most books encourage dieting, deprivation, gradually eating less, restriction, working out to total exhaustion, fixing “flaws”, and meeting someone else’s opinion of “ideal”, in her words Nia “wanted to share something that empowers women to eat delicious food, to focus on building themselves up (through physical AND mental strength training) and to realize that they are uniquely awesome.”
Maybe even more heartfelt is the notion that Nia’s ultimate goal was to “create a guide and program that a mother would be proud to share with her daughter.”
I asked Nia if she’d be willing to jot down a few more
Who’s it for? The Train to Be Awesome Guide is for the woman who wants to become the strongest, most awesome version of herself with simple, no nonsense, strength training and nutrition that enhances her overall life, and doesn’t dominate it.
Basically, it’s for any woman who wants to reach her full potential in the gym and build a great body in a unique way.
What makes it unique? Many things, actually. The Train to Be Awesome Guide is all about building a great body, but without focusing on that goal. I know it’s confusing, but allow me to explain.
For example, the main focus of the accompanying strength training program is to get stronger and improve your performance. Each workout you’ll strive to do a little better than last time. It’s not about getting tired or achieving as much fatigue as possible –
It’s about getting stronger, building yourself up, and becoming even more awesome.
It’s also unique in the fact that you won’t track the typical markers as with most fitness regimens.
It may seem daunting, but you won’t step on a scale or even take measurements. Instead you’ll focus on POSITIVE, performance orienting markers that you’ll track throughout the program.
Specifically, you’ll track your squat (either barbell or goblet), number of push-ups and chin-ups (or inverted rows), and the number of swings you can perform in a set period of time. You’ll also track some subjective markers such as energy levels and how your favorite pair of jeans (or dress) fits.
When THOSE things improve, THEN you’ll also reap the body transforming results you want. But this way, they’re just a wonderful side effect from becoming stronger and more awesome.
There are also some simple, flexible, DIET-FREE, nutrition guidelines.
Finally, the Train to Be Awesome Guide includes a detailed, step-by-step success guide so you know exactly what you need to do to be successful.
What makes it awesome? It’s awesome because it will show you exactly how to become even MORE awesome.
You’ll do this with the “Train to Be Awesome Philosophy” and the accompanying 16 Week Program that includes demonstration videos for every exercise that you can watch on your smart phone, tablet, or computer.
And, finally, because it’s super simple and practical. You’ll only have to work out 3-4 days per week. The information is simple to implement so you’ll not only achieve results, but you’ll maintain them long-term.
The Train to Be Awesome Guide is on sale NOW through this Friday, October 18th for only $29. For what it costs to go see an IMAX movie for two on a Friday night, you can get 16-weeks of programming and nutrition guidance that will undoubtedly set you up for LONG-TERM success.
I don’t mean to rub it in, but I had an awesome weekend this past weekend. While I know a lot of people don’t consider Columbus Day anything to celebrate, Lisa and I took full advantage of the national holiday, left Boston for what’s become our annual Autumnal Adventure, and headed up to Vermont to spend time in the Burlington area.
We were able to spend some time with Lisa’s cousin, but the main impetus behind the trip to Burlington was to head to the town next door – Shelburne – to visit Shelburne Farms and crush some cheese.
OMG the cheese is sooooooo good.
We spent half the day on the farm immersed in the cheese making culture, and it was worth every…..single….. minute. We observed the happy animals, watched as the cheese was being made, and of course we were able to eat tons of free samples.
^^^^^^^ I even took some time out to play the poop guessing game. I was 3 for 8.
Burlington is also Ben&Jerry’s territory, and as someone who LOVES ice-cream, it’s fair to say that I spent a good portion of our getaway in insulin coma.
Nonetheless, now that we’re back in Boston, it’s back to business as usual (no more cheese for a while), and to kickstart the new week I wanted to share a few things with everyone that I thought you’d find useful.
In anticipation of his new product – The High Performance Handbook – being released NEXT week, my good friend and business partner, Eric Cressey, is taking all of this week to release a bunch of FREE videos to help build the anticipation.
Many are familiar with his flagship resource, Show and Go, and this promises to up the ante in every way possible. I know Eric has spent close to a year fine-tuning his latest endeavour and I’ve seen first hand the results that it’s elicited (many of the CP staff, a year’s worth of interns, as well as clients have already done the program in its entirety).
In any case, in today’s video (starring yours truly!!!) Eric discusses different ways of looking at upper body training and why bench pressing isn’t the end-all-be-all-holy-grail of everything.
A few weeks ago I linked to a video (see below) that was sent my way by the guys over at Bos Creek who, unlike a lot of companies who are downright shady and just say the right things in order to move product, actually go out of their way to supply high-quality, humanly raised, GMO-free meats.
Based in Montana, the guys at Bos Creek just get really excited about meat – and who can blame them!? Whether it’s beef, bacon, roast chicken, or pork, they’re dedicated to providing top-notch meat that not only tastes fantastic, but is raised the right way.
They’ve recently started a Kickstarter Campaign to help spread the word and garner a larger audience for their grass-fed beef jerky, salmon candy, and smoked pork loin.
Did you hear what I just said?
GRASS-FED JERKY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Giving full-disclosure: I receive absolutely nothing for saying anything about this. It’s not like I’m getting any kick-backs, or say, a year’s supply of bacon (cough cough: hint, hint).
On the contrary, I just feel it’s a solid company going out of their way to provide a high-quality service. And considering many of you reading are carnivores (glorious, glorious carnivores), I figured any chance I could take to point you in the right direction regarding where to buy some meat would win me a few gold stickers for the day.
