CategoriesMotivational

My Not So Earth Shattering Tips on Staying “Healthy” While Traveling

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, unlike Boston, 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.

CategoriesMotivational

Stay Excited! About Anything!

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 Guide ends at midnight TONIGHT (Friday, October 18th).  It’s currently priced at $29 and jumps up to, well, more than that tomorrow.

Just sayin…..

Go HERE and check it out.

Stay Excited. About Anything.

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).

CategoriesMotivational Strength Training

2 Minute Squat, and the Truth About Challenges

Today’s guest post is brought to you by Toronto based strength coach, Lee Boyce. I’ve always been a fan of Lee’s work and have often linked to his stuff on his own website as well as T-Nation.

I had the opportunity of hanging out with Lee last year when I visited Toronto and he’s every bit as personable, humble, and friendly as he comes across in his articles.  Plus, for what it’s worth, he does a killer post-lift robot.

Lee’s actually going to be making a cameo appearance during mine and Dean Somerset’s Edmonton Workshop in a few weeks, so the likelihood that they’ll be some kind of robot-off is 100%.

In any case, enjoy!

I’ve always had a competitive edge when I was in school. Especially as a middle and high-school student, I wanted to be number one at anything that was remotely related to athletics and strength. Being the fastest runner, highest jumper, and lifting the heaviest weights were among the top things on my priority list.

Unfortunately, since much of the duration of my school-age career was spent as the equivalent of a 98 pound weakling, I was less than successful.

Regardless, the mentality remained present, and pieces of it still pepper themselves into my life as a lifter and trainer. It’s hard to resist a good lifting challenge, and the latest poison was too hard to resist. After a summer chalk full of Olympic lifting, I got notably stronger, but performing any exercise for more than three reps turned into the most arduous conditioning task I’d ever experienced.

Enter the 2 minute Squat

Not long ago Dan Trink used a 2 minute leg press as a challenge for reps performed in an article for TNATION. Definitely a burner of a finishing move to destroy the quads and give you a pump that lasts days.

I took that to the next level and tried my luck with a 2-minute-long squat challenge. The kicker is this – the loaded barbell must match (or surpass) your current bodyweight in pounds.

Note from TG:  shhhhhhhheeeeeeeeiiitttttttt. That’s going to suck.

Also, you can’t rack the weight during the 2 minutes – the bar must remain on your back for the entire duration.

Prepare for your heart rate to go berserk.

And (this goes without saying), you have to be sure to use a full range of motion for every rep. I don’t care about high bar vs. low bar, or stance width, as long as it’s not sumo-wide. Just get to full depth, ATG.  Watch me get absolutely crushed by this challenge in the video below:

Breathing Squats vs. the 2 Minute Squat

We’ve all heard of breathing squats. Take your 10 rep max, and without putting the bar down, perform 20 reps. Take as many breaths between reps as needed.  The concept sounds good, and on several exercises it can turn into a real burner – especially, once again, in the case of the leg press.

When it comes to squatting however, from personal experience I’ve found that it’s just too difficult.  I’m not pulling out the pansy card, just hear me out.

To have a loaded barbell with your 10 rep max on your back (for me, that’s around 335lbs), it’s just flat out too heavy for me to lift it 20 times, regardless of how long I take between reps. Most trained individuals have a 10RM that’s heavier than their own bodyweight when it comes to squatting, which is why the 2 minute exercise is a better bet for conditioning and even hypertrophy purposes.

Plus there’s not a “target” number of reps to attain within the time, so you can focus on quality of each rep, and not have your form and technique break down as you progress through the set. That’s huge.

Here’s The Truth about Challenges

We can let our performance at fixed tests dictate the way we view our strength, progress in the gym, or manhood.

Note from TG:  cinnamon test, anyone?  Anyone?

These kinds of challenges are interesting, and the truth is, some of us will never be good at them, and I’m pretty sure I’m a guy who fits that category. As competitive in nature as I was and still am, it goes back to my article on The Truth for Tall Lifters. Someone’s body type will create huge caveats as to how well they will fare in any given challenge, including the one above.

Check out the video again. In each of the 19 reps I performed with the barbell, the tempo of the squat didn’t really change much. It took me FOREVER to get from start to finish position in any given rep, thanks to my height and the length of my limbs.

Having said that, if I’m given 2 minutes to squat a bar for full range as many times as possible, a 5’9” guy of similar body weight with equal amounts of strength and conditioning will beat me every single time, no matter what.

The interesting part is that it’s not quite reflective of his levels of strength as compared to mine. The task itself is just friendlier to him than it is to a 6’4” guy. For every rep, the 6’4” guy would have done more work (force x distance) than the 5’9” guy – given the amount of reps performed was in the same ballpark.

Plus the tall guy would spend more time under tension in any regular set of his own basic training. Wouldn’t the “Fran” workout for CrossFit enthusiasts be more unforgiving to a 6’9” guy who has to cover a further distance during thrusters, or during pull ups, which cumulatively eats precious seconds off the clock?

The Fallacy Behind Weight – Strength Ratio

I’ll start this section by saying that I don’t have formal research that I’ve conducted, so I’m not about to recite a litany of references to back up my statements, but with that in mind, I definitely don’t believe that there is anything near a linear relationship between having a heavier body mass and the amount that “should” be lifted.

That’s why there are very few people who weigh 265 who can match the strength-to-weight ratio of most 135 pound Olympic gymnasts. Again, it comes down to a game of levers, anthropometrics, and general ergonomics of the movement in question.

On this topic, I was talking to a magazine editor who stands 6’3”, who was recently challenged to a 10,000 dollar pull-up contest against an athlete of the opposing coach’s choice. Simple logic would have that coach choose his lightest and most conditioned athlete, probably with a pair of short arms to boot, and the editor would have gone to the crypt, and lost 10 grand in the process.

If A 6’5”, 265 pound squatter went up against a 6’0”, 215 pound squatter of equal conditioning in the challenge above, I’m sure the 215 pound squatter would still win, based on the fact that he has a lower center of gravity, and simply because the implement is lighter, period.

According to ESPN.com, In the past 5 years in the NFL combine, the average difference in bodyweight between running backs and wide receivers has been only 10 pounds, however, in the 225 pound bench press test, the running backs performed 5 more reps on average than the receivers.

One could argue that part of this may be due to training modifications to condition for contact situations, but a closer look at the anthropometric differences gives the true answer.

On average, those running backs were 3 inches shorter, with one inch less wingspan. All of a sudden, the longer armed, lankier wideouts had more of a disadvantage than meets the eye in the bench press test – even if they can produce just as much force on the field as their counterparts.

In Conclusion

Luckily, we’re not in the NFL, so there are no hard and fast privileges pending on our ability to “score well” in such tests.

Use the challenge above to do just what it did to me – kick some serious tail in conditioning, and present a cool gauge to test against yourself in future attempts.

I find it really cool to repeat similar conditioning tests at the end of each of your training phases to see where you stand as compared to the last phase. I’m sure you’ll get a very different result after a strength program with 3 rep maxes, compared to a dynamic conditioning program with multiple rep schemes.

Fitness training is very body-specific, and as such, it’s extremely unregulated. Don’t be a sucker for what’s on the bar, and the reps you’ve performed, and focus on the training effect. You’re going after your own results, so “challenges” are only valid if they’re made against yourself, and not someone else.

About the Author

Lee Boyce is an internationally known fitness writer and strength coach and owner of Boyce Training Systems, based in Toronto Ontario. His work is published regularly in many major fitness magazines including Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, TNATION, Muscle and Fitness, Bodybuilding.com and Inside Fitness.  In 2013, he was named to the Team Jamaica training and treatment staff for the Penn Relays international track meet. Currently Boyce works with clients and athletes for strength, conditioning, and sport performance. Visit his website  www.leeboycetraining.com for more content, and follow him on twitter @coachleeboyce and facebook www.facebook.com/lee.boyce.52.

 

CategoriesMotivational personal training

Beyond the Clipboard: 4 Keys to Surviving as a Trainer

A short while ago I was asked by the higher ups at BodyBuilding.com if I’d be interested in writing a piece geared towards personal trainers.  In their words:

“We really want to see a piece targeted toward personal trainers that teaches coaches to coach. It can be based on tips to run a successful personal training business and what it takes to build a name for yourself. The personal training world is full of hacks and posers, but guys like you, who know what the hell you’re doing, can formulate a playbook to dominate the business.

It would be very interesting, to say the least.”

I wrote the article and submitted it to “my guy” with a side note which said, “I kinda went off.  I hope you can still use it.” It was one of those rare instances where, once I sat down to write, the words just spilled out and my keyboard took a beating. And, well, I don’t really remember much after that – I think I blacked out.

In any case, they did end up using it and below is the intro with a link to the rest of the article.

As always, I’d greatly appreciate any social media love you can offer.  Share it, Like it, Tweet it, Twerk it….do whatever.

Thanks!

I recently heard an ad on sports talk radio in Boston, that proclaimed the need for qualified personal trainers is at an all-time high (Thanks type II diabetes and trans fat!). The spot ended with this bombshell: “Certified personal trainers who get X certification, on average, earn a six-figure salary within …” I can’t remember how it ended because I was trying to avoid wrapping my car around a telephone pole from laughing so hard.

I don’t doubt that personal training is one of the fastest-growing professions. It’s simple enough to see why: People go to college, get an expensive degree, and then discover there are no jobs in their field. Many then opt to become a personal trainer because they like to lift and there are few roadblocks to halt their newfound passion.

Continue Reading….

CategoriesMotivational

9 Things Fitness Professionals Should Do

Before I get to the meat of today’s post I wanted to remind everyone that this weekend (September 22nd) is the 2nd Annual Cressey Performance Fall Seminar and that spots are still available.  With talks from myself, Eric Cressey, Brian St. Pierre, Greg Robins, Mike Reinold, and Chris Howard it’s sure to be a full plate of top-notch information for personal trainers, strength coaches, chiros, physical therapists, fitness enthusiasts, and Star Wars geeks alike.

There’s no point in sugar coating anything:  my presentation will definitely include a few Star Wars references. It’s part of my charm.

In any case, for a full itinerary as well as sign-up information you can click THIS link.

I hope you see you there!

Last week on my Twitter feed I linked to an article written by CP coach Greg Robins titled 22 Things Fitness Professionals SHOULD Do,  and I liked it so much I decided to “steal” his idea and write my treatise on the subject.

Some things will mirror what Greg already stated, but I’m going to add a few of my own grains of wisdom into the mix too. To that end here are nine of them, because eight is lame and ten is what everyone else does.

1. Practice What You Preach:  Nothing grinds my gears more than someone who’s a hypocrite.  Well, anything related to Justin Bieber tops the list, but hypocrites are a close second.

I can honestly say that I’ve never programmed an exercise or protocol that I haven’t tried myself.  Likewise, as a strength coach I think it’s important that I actually, you know, lift weights.

Sadly I know of some fitness professionals – some of which have written national bestsellers – who don’t even follow the same advice they regurgitate.

And this relates to everything:  yoga, pilates, cleanse diets, Shake Weights, you name it.

Integrity is kind of a big deal in my book.  Success will come and go, but integrity is something that shouldn’t have a price tag.

2. Don’t Train Clients How YOU Want to Train:  Powerlifters like to lift heavy things.  Olympic lifters like to lift heavy things quickly. Bodybuilders like to have freakishly orange skin. Yogis like yoga.  And Prancercisers like to, well, I don’t know what the hell it is they like to do, I’m speechless:

The point is – and this is something I had to battle early on in my career – people like what they like, and it’s human nature to want to gravitate towards our own personal preferences and biases when helping out others.

Try really hard not to do this.

You should cater someone’s program to THEIR goals and and THEIR needs; not yours.  As weird as it may be, not everyone wants to deadlift a mack truck.

3. Be Professional:  Stealing right from Greg’s original post: Basically, show up on time, be prepared, act like an adult, make ethical decisions, and treat what you do like a career, not a hobby. If it is a hobby, go find a real job.

Also, on an aside, don’t be that guy who posts blatant shirtless pics of yourself all over the internet (especially your personal website). We get it: you have a six pack.  It’s still kind of douchey.

4. Educate: My degree is actually in Health Education, and I was thiiiis close to becoming a high-school health teacher.  I decided I’d rather spend my days in a gym rather than talking about cell-mediated immunity in a classroom (and have to wear a tie everyday).

Although when you think about it, in many ways, as trainers and coaches, we’re still doing a fair bit of teaching.  I’m constantly answering questions, sending articles to clients, and coaching them on how not to shit a spleen when they perform heavy back squats.

Stop being solely a rep counter and be more proactive with your clients!  Teach them!

5.  Know Your Limits:  I’m still dumbfounded whenever I hear stories of personal trainers diagnosing things like shoulder impingement, low back dysfunction, and everything in between.

The internet has made information readily available, but just because you read Wikipedia doesn’t mean you know what you’re talking about.  Trainers and coaches DO NOT diagnose ANYTHING.  And you sure as shit better not be treating anyone, which in this context pertains to manual therapy.

Corrective exercise is one thing, and I think it’s important for fitness professionals to be “comfortable” in that regard. But even then, it’s important to know (and understand) your limitations as well as scope of practice.

Which parlays into the next point……

6.  Establish Networks: I’m very lucky in that Cressey Performance has an extensive list of PTs, chiros, physicians, other trainers, and the like whom we can refer clients to if or when needed.

If someone is in pain, refer out.

For a better idea of how to go about doing that, read THIS post by Dean Somerset.

7. Have an Open Mind: It’s important to have the ability to adapt, and it’s also important to understand that there’s more than one way to do anything.

Sure, I have my own biases…….but I also like to think that I have an open mind and that I’m capable of trying new things. While it’s a right fit for some, I can’t say that I’m a huge fan of people who pigeonhole themselves into only using kettlebells or only using the TRX or only doing yoga.

They all have their benefits (and drawbacks), and I believe as fitness professionals we’d be remiss not to take advantage of everything at our fingertips.

I think it’s important to have a general philosophy which will serve as the main umbrella of your core beliefs, but just as important is having an open mind to other trains of thought.

8.  Be Comfortable With Saying “I Don’t Know:” You can’t know everything, and if you’d did you’d be Gandalf.

It’s okay not to know the answer to everything, and it’s okay to say “I don’t know” if a client asks you something.  At best you tell them you’ll look into it and hopefully have an answer soon (Hint hint: this is where having a network comes in handy), and at worst you end up causing harm to someone because your ego got in the way.

9. Don’t Treat Your Clients Like a Patient: I call this the “Delicate Flower” syndrome, and it’s something that pervades the industry, especially when working with clients coming off an injury (or who are de-conditioned)

Of course this isn’t to say that you should go all CrossFit and throw them under the bus; at the end of the day it’s your job to implement appropriate progressions.

But at the same time, even if you are dealing with someone with a unique injury history or who is a complete newbie, give them a training effect!

No one thinks working on glute activation for 30 minutes is fun.

Okay, I could easily keep going, but it’s time to train.  Do any of you have any insights on the matter or some sage advice to share?  I’d love to hear them in the comments section.

CategoriesMotivational

Who Says You Can’t Get After It at 80?

Back in April one of our long standing clients approached me and asked if I’d be willing to work with his dad who, the year prior, had some health issues go down and was looking to give this whole weight-training thing a try.

Greg (the son) had been trying to convince his dad for a while to come to the facility and check it out because he knew in the grand scheme of things it would be beneficial for him.

Finally, after enough convincing Bill relented and finally made a promise to stop by.

To his credit, Bill, was a whipper snapper from the start.  It’s not as if he was one of those guys who sat at home and watched re-runs of John Wayne movies and peered out the window to make sure no medling kids were walking on his lawn

A bit of a cliche stereotype and makes Bill sound like he’s from an old Scooby-Doo cartoon, but I couldn’t resist.

Nope. When I first sat down to chat with him and discuss his goals and concerns he came across as someone who’s very active considering his health background.  There was just a slight intimidation factor, and maybe a smidgeon of doubt that this whole “picking stuff up and putting it back down” rigamarole was a good fit for an 80 year old with absolutely no experience and background.

I’m not going sing about rainbows or gloss over the details.  Upon starting Bill couldn’t perform much, and as I alluded to above he had a slight “say what now?  You want me to do what?” attitude.

When I told him that soon he’d be crushing deadlifts and push-ups like no ones business he looked at me as if I just asked him to climb Mt. Everest.  Blindfolded.  In flip-flops.

I think his exact response was “MUhhaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Yeah, right.  And next I’m going to break Joe DiMaggio’s hitting streak record!”

It took us five months of hard work, progressions, and more importantly……consistency, but dammit, Bill’s come a long ways.

Here he is hitting up some kettlebell deadlifts with some elevated push-ups (from the 3rd pin) – With a bonus double-bicep pose at the end!

Mind you, when we first started he had issues simply hip hinging to a wall and performing push-ups from the 15th pin.

Now, I’m pretty sure he can arm wrestle a grizzly bear if I asked him to.

But in all seriousness, here are some points to consider:

1.  At the start it was all about showing Bill success.  I didn’t want him to feel overwhelmed or that I was throwing everything but the kitchen sink at him. To that end it was all about using the proper progressions with him.  Take hip hinging for example:

We started with a simple glute bridge to get him to learn what it feels like to fire those bad boys, and to groove a proper hip hinge pattern.

From there we went as follows:

Bodyweight hip thrust (upper back on a bench, feet on the floor), wall taps (pushing hips back into the wall, increasing the distance between him and the wall as he progressed), Pull-Throughs, elevated KB Sumo deadlifts, and then working our way closer to the floor (which is what the video showed.  And now, next week, he’ll be playing around with some trap bar deadlifts.

Progressions, Progressions, Progressions

And maybe to a broader point, by doing everything in that context, he didn’t feel like I was babying him.  Each week (or month) I challenged him, but not to the point where he felt like he couldn’t do it.

2.  To help ease the collective egos of the cardio crowd, yes, we did incorporate traditional cardio.  But that was also because that was a goal of his.

Even still, I did convince him, when the time was right, that doing more circuit based or finisher type exercises would help too.  In that sense it wasn’t long before he was doing circuits like this:

A1.  1-Arm DB Farmer Carry 30 yds/arm
A2.  Prowler Push – on turf 30 yds
A3.  Side Plank x15s/side

2-4 rounds, with 90-120s rest in between.

Heart rate was elevated and we were able to work on other “stuff” that he needed to work on; ie core stability, grip strength, single leg strength, conditioning, etc.

And wouldn’t you know it:  he actually asks for the Prowler now!  I’ve created a monster!

Basically we didn’t use his age as an excuse.  He’s 80. No big deal…..;o)

I don’t know:  I guess the only reason(s) I posted this today was because I felt it was pretty cool and that I hoped it serves as a little motivation for someone out there.

Don’t make excuses.  Get it done.

CategoriesMotivational

Why Do People Change?

Today’s guest post comes from a familiar face on TG.com, Justin Kompf, who previously contributed a very well received piece – HERE (on how to (Wo)Man Up).

Justin’s someone who I feel is going to do great things in this industry and it’s hard to believe that he’s only in his early 20s!

He has a lot of insight for someone his age, and this post definitely showcases that gift. Makes me question why I spent so much time watching Melrose Place and Party of Five when I was his age!

I hope you give it a read as it has a really compelling and worthwhile message.

Enjoy!

One of the most rewarding and frustrating aspects of personal training is getting your clients to change their habits. Until they’re ready to change what they do outside the gym, what you tell them won’t lead to action. This can be truly disheartening; plenty of times I’ve cared more about my clients’ health than they’ve cared about their own.

I’ve had clients attempt to make changes only to relapse and become discouraged. For whatever reason, they simply aren’t “ready” to change. In my initial assessment, I ask three simple questions:

1)     Are you ready to change?

2)     Are you willing to change?

3)     Are you confident that you can change?

For people that aren’t positive about one of these answers, I can see their hesitation. After four years of working with people, I’ve developed a good sense of if they really are ready to change.

Interacting and working with different types people daily has fueled my curiosity about human nature. Why out of one thousand overweight/obese people does only one person change? What is so different about that individual? Similarly, plenty of people go to the gym but why out of hundreds of people do only a few truly dedicate their lives to training correctly? Why do they care so much to get their training programs, sleep schedule, nutrition and hydration status down to a science?

There has been a lot of research on why people gain weight, but I think we miss the message.

If you want to learn how people got rich, you wouldn’t necessarily study the habits of a poor person.

Similarly if you want to study how and why people get and stay healthy, focusing solely on people who are heavy might not be the answer. We need to examine people who made life changes, people who went from poor health to spectacular health, and we need to ask why.

In talking to friends and family who have made changes, I’ve come to a several conclusions about why people decide to become healthy:

1)     They do it to empower themselves

2)     They have hit rock bottom

3)     Life altering events/wake up calls

4)     Heroes are present – particularly for youths.

EMPOWERMENT

These people felt that they were not in control of their lives and they desperately needed to make a change to gain the control back.

“I was broken down emotionally by the verbal abuse from my father. One day he pushed me around and I vowed to never let a man treat me like that again. That was until I got in to a really poor relationship in my beginning years of college. The guy I was with did the same – not just once either. I was fed up, and I knew not only did I need to get stronger emotionally but physically as well.”

This was part of the story that I received from a great friend in college. I didn’t know this individual before she started going to the gym, but her back story is extremely motivational. She’s someone who will go out of her way to say hi to you, ask you how you’re doing or give you advice on your girl problems (thanks!).

She also has a diesel squat and deadlift.

She told me she was embarrassed and had described her mindset to me as fragile. I never knew that side of her. Her training helped her become one of the most confident and strong female friends that I have known.

ROCK BOTTOM

Recently, I got caught up in watching a documentary on a 700 pound woman. One scene really stuck out to me; this woman was riding through the grocery store on one of those automatic wheel chairs when someone made a comment about her weight.

“If you get any bigger we’ll just get you a bigger wagon,” he said.

After the man passed by her she began to break down and cry. Her life had hit rock bottom and she knew that if she didn’t change she would die.

This woman ended up losing about 500 pounds.

So I ask myself, why? What drove the change? Why did she change when so few do? What is so different about her?

She had talked about weighing only 350 pounds the last time she stepped on the scale, thinking that wasn’t so bad. The next time she stepped on the scale she was about 650 pounds, reality smacked her right in the face. She was at rock bottom and I think that’s why she changed. Her choices were simple; continue down the path she was on or, literally, death.

I have a relative, Kelly, who lost and has kept off an incredible 130 pounds. She had steadily been gaining weight due to her Crohn’s disease and had eventually reached 300 pounds after having her second child. I had to ask her why she decided to change. Here is part of her story:

“Years went by and I was always the “nice one” or the “funny one” and seemed to always have a smile on my face. I was truly sad and hurting on the inside. I couldn’t wear cool, trendy clothes like everyone else; it was hard to find things in my sizes. In the Adirondacks I was too heavy to ride the horses. I could not fit into most roller coasters, so pretended to be fine holding everyone’s stuff. I was ashamed and embarrassed throughout my 30s.”

“So if you are wondering what made me decide it was time….it was the sadness that filled my heart. Sad that I couldn’t keep up with the kids, that I embarrassed them and myself; sad that I was watching life pass me by and pretending to be satisfied and even happy all of the time.”

She has a truly inspiring story. Kelly has since run many 5K races. Through listening to stories like this I’ve come to realize that rock bottom and the desire to change often go hand in hand with the loss of the ability to do things the individual used to be able to do. I believe this helps to fuel the change process.

 

LIFE ALTERING EVENTS/WAKE UP CALLS

I spoke to another friend who was heavy in his youth and this is how he described himself:

“I was very inactive as a kid and gained a lot of weight in middle school; I only really had friends that were girls, no guy friends and was pretty much bullied by the other kids at school.”

This story isn’t inherently unique, lots of young kids share this background but so few of them end up like this individual who currently competes as a powerlifter and has competed in body building shows as well.  Most of these young overweight kids stay overweight throughout adulthood. So why did he change?

“Every male in my family, from my two grandfathers, to my uncles to my dad, has either suffered from or died from a stroke or heart attack. After my dad had his first stroke he had a wakeup call and a chance to change but he ignored it didn’t address his problems then had a second more serious stroke that left him extremely cognitively challenged. So I hate that. I hate that obesity took such a great man and reduced him to so little. I have literally all the cards stacked against me when it comes to health and staying lean. If I eat starch or bread in any large quantity I put on massive amounts of weight.”

This individual could essentially see into his future; if he didn’t change he knew exactly what would happen to him. After his father’s stroke he began to change his habits, playing sports and eating better, which led to him losing 30 pounds.

HEROES

I’d like to leave on a light (perhaps cheesy) note so I’m about to alienate some readers and get others to nod their head and smile. When I put up a post asking people why they got healthy I had some great responses. An overwhelming number of people attribute their weight training and healthy habits to Dragon Ball Z.

I had to laugh because that cartoon was one of the reasons I started exercising at a young age. My story wasn’t as interesting or inspiring as some of the ones above. I was chubby in middle school and felt embarrassed. I’d blush when talking to girls; I didn’t feel noticeable or happy with the way I looked.

Like so many other friends I’d watch Dragon Ball Z on cartoon network then run into my garage later to attempt to do a Kamehameha wave (I was 22….just kidding).

The majority of my social group consists of very fit people. I don’t think I can chalk it all up to random chance that they all watched DBZ as kids.

If you’re not familiar with the show, it’s essentially good guys beating up bad guys, long fight scenes, lots of screaming and awesomeness. I think what a lot of us got out of it as kids was the desire to train like the characters in the show who were constantly getting stronger and better.

I believe it is the hero aspect of the show that motivated people to work on getting their bodies stronger and fitter. Since it is the hero aspect that motivated us, I don’t think that I can just say DBZ is the reason most of my friends are fit.

I think it’s because we had real heroes (fictional or nonfictional) who motivated us to be like them. It could have been superman, it could have been a strong relative we looked up to or maybe it could have been some celebrity we idolized and wanted to look like. I know a lot of people were inspired to body build because of Arnold’s physique.  It’s our heroes who inspired us to be better than average as young kids.

TIME TO CHANGE

Working with people and watching them either accept or resist change has left me very curious about the nature of change. Why do people resist it when they know change will be good for them and what is that definitive moment when they do decide to start changing. Finally, what is so different about the people that do change and why are they such a minority?

Through the stories I’ve gathered, I’ve begun to form a better understanding of the change process and come to the conclusion that people change because they want to be in control of the quality of their lives. Unfortunately, a lot of times it doesn’t hit us that the quality of our lives are poor until events occur like the ones in the stories above that act as the to gasoline to fuel us to the other side we dream of.

I’d love to hear more stories on why people change so us fitness professionals can better understand and help others to change just like you!

About the Author

Justin Kompf is a certified strength and conditioning specialist and certified personal trainer through the NSCA. He graduated from SUNY Cortland in 2012 with a bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology. He currently teaches and trains clients at the University. Justin like burritos, deadlifting, peanut butter, and The Fast and the Furious movie saga (minus 2 and 3). He is an author for bloodandiron315.com . He can be reached at [email protected].

CategoriesMotivational Strength Training

Spark Notes For “Hard” Gainers

I’d say that on any given day I receive close to 50+ emails from people around the world asking various things ranging from programming advice to book recommendations to sharing —-[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[= (<——oops, my cat just pounced on the keyboard and says hi) their shared affinity for Jason Bourne.

Probably one of the more common “themes” that gets sent my way are emails from guys looking for advice on how to add muscle to their frame or how they can go about adding on any weight in general.

Much of the process entails asking a few key questions like, “what does your current training split look like?” or “how long have you actually been training?”

If someone retorts with something like, “well, on Mondays it’s chest and back, on Tuesdays it’s bis and tris, Wednesdays I hit up some posterior delts and tibialis anterior, and then I’ll maybe toss in some legs for good measure,” I know that it would be in their best interests to point them in the direction of the squat rack or deadlift platform and tell them not to leave until they’ve put on 25 lbs.

And then there are those who’ve only been training for two months and are worried that they don’t look like Mr. Olympia yet.

In this scenario I’ll roll out a generous dose of “expectation management” and inform them that it’s going to take a lot of time, hard work, and CONSISTENCY (for years on end) in order to see the results they’re after.

Much of the time I’ll point them in the direction of sites like T-Nation and tell them to absorb as much as they can – especially stuff written by Chad Waterbury, Joe DeFranco, and Jim Wendler.

And it isn’t just about reading either.  One of my biggest pet peeves is when some internet hero brags about how many times he’s read SuperTraining and that he has like 20,000 posts on some forum, yet, can barely crack a 1.5x bodyweight deadlift.

Reading and educating yourself is cool and all, but you also need to practice what you preach. It amazes me how people can quote Zatsiorsky, yet seemingly can’t manage to weigh more than 150 lbs soaking wet. Despite having been “training” for five years

Just shut-up and lift!

And now I’m just getting fired up and angry for no reason.  Deep breaths, Tony. Deep breaths

One such email I received a couple days ago went something like this:

I  have been working with 2 different online trainers which provided me with my diet and workout plan but unfortunately I did not get visible changes compare to the GREAT amount of work and dedication. I am a really HARDGAINER and I have a small frame with really small legs (chicken legs 🙂 ) Is there something different that you can provide me in your services that could make a difference in my body composition (muscle growth)?

Do you provide any nutritional advice? What supplements would you recommend I take?

My response:  CALORIES!

My facetious tone aside, I did write back a more thorough response, I didn’t hold back in letting the guy know that it’s not rocket science. No pill or powder is going to trump lack of calories.  You can’t just magically make muscle appear out of thin air.  The body needs calories to grow.

But all of this got me thinking: What are some other tidbits of advice I could throw down to other “hardgainers” out there?

Well, here you go:

1.  Calories

Seriously, eat!  I know, I know, you eat like, all…….the……time.  Actually, no, you don’t.  My litmus test for most self-described hardgainers is this one simple question:

What did you eat for breakfast this morning?

More often than not I get s bunch of “ums” and “uhs,” with a really long pause mixed in and it just gets awkward.  The word “supplement” shouldn’t even be a part of your vocabulary if you’re not even making an effort to eat breakfast.

And I’m not just referring to an apple and a glass of OJ either.  You’re a human being not a hummingbird.  Be a man, and don’t make the lame excuse that you don’t have time. Get up earlier, and make some eggs.  And don’t you dare toss away the yolk!!!!!  I can’t back this up with science, but an angel dies every time an egg yolk is throw into the sink.

If eggs aren’t your bag, it takes all of two minutes to make a bowl of oatmeal.  I don’t care, just eat breakfast for the love of god.

One of the best weight gaining pieces of advice I give guys is one I stole from Dr. John Berardi. Buy a bag of cinnamon-raisin bagels, slather each one with a boat load of peanut butter, and eat one of those in between each meal.

And if you don’t like cinnamon-raisin bagels, who the hell are you???  It’s like I don’t even know you anymore.  Who doesn’t like cinnamon-raisin bagels?!?!

The point is, you need to eat, and you need to eat a lot.

Eat.

2.  Less Volume?

Yes, you read that correctly.  Less volume.  It sounds counterintuitive but I’d make an argument that most hardgainers perform way too much volume and that’s what’s preventing them from packing on any weight.

While admirable, many will spend 2-3 hours in the gym per day, and on the off chance they do take a day off, that “off day” turns into 400 m tempo runs at the local track.  Or they do a Tough Mudder just for the fun of it.

Stop it already!

How can you expect to put on any weight if you’re constantly burning off calories?

When I start working with a hardgainer I typically limit his training days to THREE, full-body workouts per week.  Depending on the individual I may add in a day (maybe two) of GPP or movement, but for the most part I’m going to significantly reduce their training volume.

It’s a mindf*** at the start, especially for those who are used to heading to the gym everyday to blast their biceps, but it’s uncanny how often they start to see the scale ooch in their favor when they cut out all the extraneous fluff in their workouts.

3.  Focus on the Big Rocks

For those who are familiar with the Pareto Principle this next point will hit the nail on the head. For those who are scratching their heads here’s a brief explanation:

It was named after an Italian economist, Vilfredo Pareto, who demonstrated that 80% of the wealth in Italy was owned by only 20% of the population.

Taking it a step further, many have described it as a Law of Unequal Return, whereupon certain activities tend to give more return on investment than others. Incidentally, it should come as no surprise that many (if not all) aspects of fitness, can be applied here.

I know this comes across as preaching to the choir, but it bears repeating:  focus on the bang-for-your-training-buck exercises like deadlifts, squats, bench press, chin-ups, rows, push-ups, and single leg work and you’ll see good things happen.

If all these so-called hardgainers spent 80% of their time focusing on the big rocks (and understood that progressive overload is kind of an important thing), they probably wouldn’t call themselves hardgainers anymore.

I’d go so far as to say that if more guys started their workouts with a squat or deadlift variation and just alternated between the two week in and week out for a straight year, they’d see marked improvements in their physique.

Trust me, ditch the arm day and go lift something heavy…..;o)

4. Train Like an Athlete!

I like to play a game with people.  When I start with a someone who refers to themselves as a hardgainer I like to ask them to bring in a picture of a physique they admire.  Much of the time they’ll bring in a picture of guys like former NFL wide received Terrell Owens.

Now, I can’t speak to Terrell’s training, but can almost guarantee that he didn’t build that physique by crushing tricep kickbacks and worrying about carb cycling.

A lot of guys want to look like athletes, but they don’t come remotely close to training like one.  Of course there’s a lot that comes into the picture.  We have to take into consideration one’s injury history, experience, and if someone has the movement quality of a Sasquatch I don’t feel sprinting is a wise choice.  It ALWAYS comes down to progressions.

That said, I do feel a lot of people train themselves as if they’re covered in bubble wrap and fail to elicit any form of training effect

If you want to look like an athlete, you need to train like one!

Which is why Mike Robertson’s Bulletproof Athlete is an excellent choice for hardgainers as well as those looking to take their training to the next level.

It includes four months of customized programming, and there’s even several options to choose from depending on your schedule.  What’s more it comes with an extensive exercise database, as well as weekly conditioning and nutritional challenges.

Sometimes it’s just a matter of getting out of your own way and allowing someone else to do the thinking for you.

The manual is currently on sale NOW for a bargain price of $97.  But that ends THIS Saturday (August, 3rd), so if you’re going to take advantage of the savings you need to act quickly.  Ya heard.

—> Bulletproof Athlete <—

And that’s that.  I know I could keep going and speak to sleep, recovery protocols, 10×3 instead of 3×10, and did I mention deadlifts?  But hopefully a few of the points I did hit up resonated with a few people out there.

CategoriesMotivational

Success = Strength

I woke up this morning with every intention of writing a post on something mind-blowing, like femoral acetabular impingement, and discussing some guidelines on how to assess and write effective programming around it, but then realized that it was waaaaaay too early to do that much thinking before I had the opportunity to inject any caffeine into my left ventricle.

Besides my good friend, Kevin Neeld, beat me to the punch and had some fantastic things to say on the topic HERE and HERE, so I figured there was no point in reinventing the wheel.  Also, there’s no way I could have possibly topped what Kevin had to say, sooooo, enjoy!

Understandably FAI isn’t everyone’s wheelhouse. Which is why today’s idea for a post took a dramatic turn when I opened up my email this morning.

As you might expect I receive my fair share of emails on a day to day basis.

Everything from “wet under the ears” trainers asking me for career advice to people asking how to program around certain injuries to random Saudi Princes gratuitously willing to fork over their millions.

Some people reach out to recommend books or movies, while others reach out just say “thanks for doing what you do.”  I like those kind of emails……..ahh-lawt.

 

As it happens I received a cool email this morning from someone I’ve never met in person nor ever heard from before today.

Quite simply all he did was shoot me a quick email to say how much he enjoyed reading my stuff and to share a quote from a book he’s reading which he felt I’d enjoy.

In his own words, “I found an amazing passage on why someone would want to be strong in my current reading, “Kafka on the Shore” by Haruki Murakami.

I’m not sure if you’re familiar with his work, or with the Magical Realism genre, but this post struck me and I felt like it’s something that should be shared:

“The strength I’m looking for isn’t the kind where you win or lose. I’m not after a wall that’ll repel power coming from outside. What I want is the kind of strength to be able to ABSORB that outside power, to stand up to it. The strength to quietly endure things- unfairness, misfortune, sadness, mistakes, misunderstandings.”

I felt that was a pretty profound passage.

Anyone who reads my stuff on a consistent basis knows I’m all about strength. I want, nay, I love….to make people strong

Hell, my tax returns every year say “strength coach,” so it’s obvious I’m a little biased.

But here’s the rub:  strength isn’t always about how much weight someone can pull off the floor or hoist off their chest or place on their shoulders. Nor is strength necessarily about training people till they blow a sphincter or splay out across the gym floor in a pool of sweat

Sure those can enter the conversation. But strength has a much broader umbrella than that and can mean something entirely different from one person to the next.

Take Bill for example. Bill is an 80-year old father of one our other clients who started training with us a few months ago. Bill suffered some health issues last year, and after more than a few nudges from his son, finally decided to give this whole “lifting weights doo-hickey nonsense” a try.

Understandably everything was Greek to him from the start.

Everything from a foam roller to a dumbbell was completely foreign to Bill, not to mention intimidating.

I remember one day I pointed towards the Prowler and told Bill that he was going to be pushing that bad boy down the turf – 40 yards.  He looked at me flabbergasted as if I just asked him to sprint up Mt. Everest.  He had similar reactions when I asked him to perform (elevated) push-ups, bodyweight box squats, and farmer carries.

He didn’t think he could do any of those things.  But I knew better.

It was my job to show Bill SUCCESS!

Having the ability to demonstrate success to clients is a trait I wish more trainers would grasp onto.  And I don’t mean quantifiable success like “x” number on a bench press or “x” inches off the waistline (although those certainly are warranted and respectable goals, and important to some).

Rather, I’m referring to having the ability to make a client feel successful regardless of their background or experience level.  Demonstrate to them QUALITATIVE markers that prove they CAN do something.

This can be strength too!

Yesterday Bill was handed a new program. Each program he’s started has included 1-2 “new” exercises that (progressively) challenge him in different ways.

Yesterday happened to include a 1-legged hip hinge on the docket. It wasn’t easy for Bill. And I’d garner a guess that he was thiiiis close to scissor kicking Keifer (who was coaching Bill) in the face out of frustration.

But what helped Bill tremendously – and something he brought up himself – was the fact that the (new) exercise was paired with something he knew he could dominate (push-ups).

Again, my objective is to challenge my clients, but not at the expense of making them feel defeated 24/7.  That, to Bill, more often than not, is strength.

Knowing that he can do “stuff” and that he can persevere, regardless of what’s thrown his way.

To that end, I’ll end with another quote from the same person who sent the original email that spurned this conversation:

“You guys at CP discuss the quiet confidence that come from training for strength instead of size, but I think that Murakami’s Kafka really expounds on that idea, bringing the purpose of strength from a physical (aggressive?) attribute to one that leads to a great deal of self-assurance in the ability to cope with whatever may arise. Instead of walling one’s self off from any and all comers, a strong person knows they’re able to accept whatever may come and make adjustments without losing themselves.”

Think about that for a few moments and let it sink in.

CategoriesMotivational

Two Things To Improve Your Health Instantly

I’m going to rock your world this morning and give you the gift of not one, but TWO things you can add to your daily routine that will not only provide a bevy of health benefits, but make you feel like a million bucks to boot.  Which is basically a health benefit in of itself so that makes completely no sense.

Whatever, just roll with it.

Help me, help you.

Now full disclosure:  what I’m about to share with you isn’t anything Earth shattering or something you’ve never heard before.  I’m not going to sit here and disclose some super secret Russian quasi-isometric drop-set protocol that’s going to add 50 lbs to your deadlift in two weeks, nor am I going to blow sunshine up your ass and tell you that drinking acai berry juice mixed with unicorn tears and the back hair of an angel is going to somehow add ten years to your life.

Nope, I’ll save all that nonsense for the gurus and quacks out there on the interwebzzzz who think a ham sandwich is smarter than you.

All I want to share are two things that I feel will help improve your health and well-being almost instantly.  Both are absolutely FREE, and both are something that EVERYONE can implement within five minutes.  Ready?

Drink more water and go for a walk.

Seriously, that’s it. No target heart rate talk.  No breaking down macronutrient percentages.  Paleo this, intermittent fasting that.  Just drink more water and go for a walk.

“But that’s lame Tony.”

Au contraire my friend.

I don’t have the stats in front of me at the moment, but chances are you live in a state of mild dehydration on a daily basis. Do pee less than 3-5 times a day?  Does your pee look like battery acid?  Yep, your  (probably)dehydrated.

I’m not going to make this into some campaign on the benefits of drinking more water, but just to highlight a few things:

Staying hydrated:

– Helps you look younger.

– Helps with weight loss – it’s a great appetite suppressant , and it also prevents fluid retention.  When you’re dehydrated the body will retain water.

– Combats skin conditions like eczema and dermatitis.

– Helps reduce the incidence of headaches.

– Improves joint health.  I know when I stay hydrated my knees feel infinitely better.

– Drinking water also helps your body burn stored fat. If you’re not drinking enough water, your liver will be forced to help your kidneys detoxify your body. When you drink plenty of water, your kidneys don’t need any extra help, so your liver will be able to metabolize stored fat more efficiently. Drinking water flushes toxins from your body and prevents constipation.

** And yes, this assumes a caloric deficit.

My rule of thumb for many of the athletes who ask me how much water should they be drinking is to take half your bodyweight and drink that much in ounces.  So, if you weigh 200 lbs, you’d shoot for 100 ounces per day.  And that’s just the minimum.

That number will go up the more active you are.

Here’s on simple actionable item you can start implementing tomorrow.  The very first thing you do when you wake up is to walk to the kitchen sink or grab your Brita, pour yourself a ginormous glass of water, and guzzle that sumbitch down.

And then….

Go For a Walk

This is something I used to do quite often a few years ago, but for some reason stopped.  As of this week I’m back on the walking train.

I live in a very walkable city and it’s actually really nice to walk around early in the AM without all the hustle and bustle of city chaos surrounding me.  If anything I find it rather relaxing and a perfect way to start my day.

There’s two ways I can approach it:

1.  Just walk and enjoy  my surroundings.

2.  Grab my iPod and listen to a podcast.  Lately I’ve been crushing Dr. Jonathan Fass and Bret Contreras’ Strength of Evidence Podcast, which you can check out HERE.

The way I see it, if I’m going to spend a good 20-30 minutes walking I might as well get smarter while I do it.

And the cool thing is that you don’t even need two guys chirping in your year in order to get smarter in the first place.  There’s a mountain of research out there demonstrating that daily strolls help make people smarter.  More specifically, walking has been shown to decrease the risk for dementia and Alzheimer’s.

What’s more, other benefits include: reduced risk of type II diabetes, improved sex life (oh yeah!), improved immune function, and a whole host of other stuff.

In many ways, walking is fairly underrated if you ask me.  I’m not going to deem it the best form of EXERCISE – it’s walking – but I do feel that if more people turned off Dancing With the Stars and did more of it, they’d feel infinitely better about themselves.  And, probably be more productive too.

I mean come on!  I went for one this morning and ended up writing close to a 1000 word blog post on drinking water and walking. And I included a unicorn tears reference.  If that doesn’t tell you something, I don’t know what to say.

Like I Said

Nothing revolutionary.  And nothing remotely sexy or new. Maybe even a bit lame.  But what have you got to lose by at least trying?