CategoriesFemale Training Motivational Strength Training

An Open Letter to Everyone Who Has Told Women “Don’t Get Too Muscular”

NOTE: As some of you may or may not know, I’m getting married this weekend. As such, I’m going to be a little hit and miss as far as how often I update the blog for the next week or so. I’m going to be too busy eating my fair share of carrot cake and *ahem* partaking in extracurricular activities…;O)

Today is a RE-POST of an article I published last year on the site. It’s without question one of the more popular posts ever published on TG.com. For anyone who missed it the first time around (or is new to the site), enjoy!

Today’s guest post comes courtesy of Seattle based blogger and writer, Sophia Herbst. I first crossed paths with Sophia- via the interwebz – a few months ago when I read her outstanding article on the Huffington Post 1200 Calories.

I included it as part of my Stuff to Read While You’re Pretending to Work series and low and behold, Sophia reached out to thank me for sharing and to say that the feelings were mutual:  she was a big fan of my work as well.

We pretty much became internet BFFs at that point.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago and she reached out again to see if I’d be interested in contributing to an article she was writing on CrossFit.  We exchanged several emails – along with some inappropriate (to share) commentary – and I asked if she’d be down with writing a piece for my site.  She was more than happy to oblige.

She’s an amazing writer. I don’t use that compliment lightly. And while I’m not a woman, as a man, it was almost impossible for me not to nod my head in agreement with everything she had to say below. 

Enjoy!

Also, just a heads up: there is some not-so-PG-13 language involved.  Deal with it.

An Open Letter to Everyone Who Has Told Women “Don’t Get Too Muscular.”

I have been strength training for about two years now. Before that, I was a starvation-dieter.

I began dieting around the age of 13 or 14. My freshman year of high school I discovered I no longer fit into size zero jeans and bam! Diet time. By the time I hit 21, the years of self-imposed malnutrition had left me at 100lbs, able to easily wrap my thumb & middle finger around my upper arm (“bicep” doesn’t seem like the appropriate word) and unable to open jars, heavy doors, or windows by myself.

Why am I telling you this?

During my seven years of starvation-dieting, I was never once told, “don’t get too thin”.

In contrast, during my two years of strength training I have been told, “don’t get too muscular” countless times.

The first time it happened to me, I had excitedly been telling someone about my new squat PR. Weighing in at a (finally) healthy 125, I had just squatted 100lbs. I was in the middle of explaining  “my goal is a bodyweight back squat-” when I was interrupted with a “well, don’t get too muscular now”.

Being new to strength training, this crushed me.

For an awful few days it took my focus away from becoming stronger, and back to measuring myself by the gauge of “is my body pleasing for others to look at?”

After I got over it, my dismay turned into anger – no – absolute fury at this society in which 42% of girls 5-8 years old want to be thinner, and 10 million women are battling eating disorders (source), yet we hear the words “don’t get too muscular” far more often than “don’t get too thin.”

Now, while this unsolicited “advice” is generally never welcome nor appreciated, it brings up two issues: The encouragement of female weakness, and the lack of respect for female body autonomy.

One: Culturally-Encouraged Female Weakness

Let me tell you right now, women who strength train know how hard it is to build muscle.

If you tell a woman who strength trains “don’t get too muscular” then congratulations! You have just ousted yourself as a totally ignorant fool who doesn’t even lift.

The problem is that women who don’t strength train don’t know how hard it is to build muscle, and so this phrase, “don’t get too muscular” will seriously deter them from ever picking up heavy things in the first place.

This is a big problem. Naomi Wolf explains it better than I ever could:

“A culture fixated on female thinness is not an obsession about female beauty, but an obsession about female obedience. Dieting is the most potent political sedative in women’s history; a quietly mad population is a tractable one.”

― The Beauty Myth

When women strength train, it is an act of borderline social disobedience. “Don’t get too muscular” is the phrase of choice used by people who are threatened by strong women to put them “back in their place”.

And it’s working.

We have three generations & counting of women who have been brainwashed into voluntarily physically debilitating themselves. 

Three generations of women who have been more focused on losing weight than running for government. Three generations of women have would rather be thin than intelligent. Three generations of women that would rather let the men-folk open jars for them, rather than develop the strength to open jars for themselves.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMHXLUvNuJg

Now, I am not advocating that people start going around, accosting teenage girls with desperate pleas of “don’t get too thin! Put some meat on dem bones!” But to be completely honest, I probably would have benefited very much if I had received the message “don’t get too thin” at some point in my adolescence.

So. If you are going to say anything to a woman about her body (which you shouldn’t be doing in the first place, as I am about to explain), “don’t get too thin” is 1000% preferable  over the completely moronic “don’t get too muscular”.

Two: Lack of Respect for Female Body Autonomy

Why do people think it’s appropriate to tell women what they can & can’t do with their bodies in the first place? What makes someone think it’s perfectly acceptable to tell a woman “don’t get too muscular”?

This is an issue that’s been going on since the dawn of time, with female body autonomy being disrespected from reproductive rights, to personal space in public places, to -yes – appearance, weight, & fitness.

Most tellingly, no woman – no matter what kind of body she has – is immune from invasive suggestions on how she should be caring for her body. Women who strength train are warned against getting too “bulky”, “muscular”, or (my absolute favorite) “manly”.

Women who are on the larger side by far endure the most unwanted commentary. From people remarking on what’s in their shopping carts, to what they should order at a restaurant, to what type of exercise they should be doing, to what they should be wearing whilst exercising… it never stops. Even thin women can’t escape the self-appointed body police, who unhelpfully pester them to eat more because “men like women with curves”.

If you are a man, and the idea of a random passerby raising knowing eyebrows at your gut whilst commenting on your ice-cream cone sounds invasive and preposterous – that’s because it is invasive and preposterous. You are just lucky enough to not experience it every day.

Sometimes multiple times a day.

Men, for the most part, do not have to entertain this type of “well-intentioned” advice, because people actually respect male body autonomy. This is something that women would like to enjoy as well.

The people who tell women what they should do with their bodies are, frankly, so arrogant they believe their “benevolent suggestions” are actually doing the woman a favor.

Y’know, helping us be more attractive to potential mates.

This completely disregards the fact that women do not exist to be aesthetically pleasing for others, and we (this may surprise some) often do things for ourselves.

Which brings me full circle to my anecdote in the beginning, about the first time someone interrupted my squat-excitement to not-so-helpfully remind me to avoid bulky she-man status.

Women who strength train are doing it for themselves, not for you. Women who lift weights have already eschewed social norms by touching iron in the first place, and I guarantee they give negative fucks about your opinions on their bodies.

So next time you are tempted to “help” a woman by telling her not to deadlift things because you don’t like muscular women, remember that nobody cares about your stupid boner. Especially not the lady deadlifting 200lbs in the gym tank that says “GET SWOLE”.

But even more importantly than not telling this to women who already have the ability to overhead press your girlfriend, don’t say it to women who aren’t strength training yet (like your girlfriend).  Because chances are, with every “don’t get too muscular” a girl hears, weight gets added to the already-heavily weighted scales that tip women away from becoming strong, healthy, and powerful, and towards a life of cardio, carrot sticks, and misery.

And no woman deserves that. 

*** Be sure to check out Sophia’s bio below and to find out how to read more of her stuff!!!

Note from TG

At this point, if you’re a woman reading this who has little experience with strength training (or if you’re a friend, family member, or significant other of someone who’s expressed interest) you may be wondering to yourself, “well, where do I start? I don’t know my ass from my acetabulum, let alone how to perform a squat or deadlift correctly!  And, how often should I workout?  How much weight should I lift? Is it okay to train two days in a row?  OMG DID I LEAVE THE STOVE ON THIS MORNING!!?!?!?!?!”

Deep breaths!  Relax.

Lucky for you I have a lot of smart, genuine, and highly respected friends in the fitness industry (male and female) who have gone out of their way to provide some fantastic resources for women.

For those with limited access to a gym

Lean & Lovely – Neghar Fonooni

This is an excellent choice for those with limited equipment and who prefer workouts that utilize bodyweight and kettlebells.

Lift Weights Faster – Jen Sinkler

Another resource which places more emphasis on minimal equipment and no traditional “cardio.” It will still make you hate life, though…..;o)

For those with full access to a gym

Modern Women’s Guide to Strength Training – Girls Gone Strong

This is one of the most comprehensive “female-targeted” products out there. Not only do you get a “how to” guide to strength training, but a full-blown nutritional manual written by Dr. Cassandra Forsythe.  No 1200 kcal diets here!

The Lift Like a Girl Guide – Nia Shanks

This is a video series that guides you step-by-step on how to build your own fitness program catered to your goals and needs.

For those who just want solid information

The New Rules of Lifting for Women – Lou Schuler, Alwyn Cosgrove, and Dr. Cassandra Forsythe

No book does a better job at debunking a lot of common myths with regards to women’s fitness than this book.

Strong Curves – Bret Contreras and Kellie Davis

A bit more “sciency,” but still a fantastic resource for any woman looking to get stronger and building her ideal body.

About the Author

 

Sophia Herbst is a Seattle-based freelance writer, blogger, and proud feminist. When she’s not writing for Cody, a health & fitness startup, she’s changing the conversation about social & cultural issues through her blog.

CategoriesMotivational

Fitness Industry “Pros.” Are You One (Or an Amateur)?

Before I get into the meat and potatoes of today’s post (it’s going to be a quick one because I’m t-minus ONE day before I leave Boston and fly down to Florida to get married. Of course, I have yet to pack. And I have every intention of spending my last day in Boston as a single man living life dangerously: writing in a coffee shop), I wanted to fill everyone in on some speaking dates.

Dean Somerset and I have started penciling in dates for this year’s version of “Dean and Tony Talk About Stuff.”

We’ve already confirmed the following dates:

– Edmonton, Alberta (< – that’s in Canada) at SVPT Fitness & Athletics on August 22nd and 23rd.

– St. Louis, MO at Blue Ocean Fitness the weekend of September 26th-27th.

– Chicago, IL at Rebell Strength and Conditioning the weekend of October 17th-18th.

And we’re in the process of confirming dates and locations in both Austin, TX (Nov) and the LA/Anaheim area (Dec), respectively.

 

We’re pretty much giving every boy band a run for their money in terms our travel schedule this Fall. Except with no tour bus, 5-star accommodations, media hype, or groupies.

Nonetheless, we’re really excited and looking forward to unveiling our new Complete Hip & Shoulder Workshop to the masses.

For more information regarding itinerary and sign-ups go HERE.

Note: you’ll need to scroll down and click on each respective location to sign-up.

Turning Pro

When I was in NYC a few weekends ago a friend of mine recommended I pick up Steven Pressfield’s book, Turning Pro.

Having previously read The War of Art, and loving every freakin page of it (and recommending it to numerous friends and colleagues), it’s not as if I needed heavy convincing to give Turning Pro a go.

The book is all about what it takes to “turn pro,” what it means, and how to get out of your own way and create your life’s work.

Pressfield describes what he calls “shadow careers,” or careers which many people default towards either due to an overwhelming sense of fear of stepping outside their comfort zone or because they lack the courage (most often, work ethic) to pursue their true passion.

We all know someone (or have heard the stories) of Jack from accounting who, rather than take risks, spent his entire adult life in a cubicle hating life and playing solitaire rather than filling out his TPS reports.

He got really good at solitaire. And before he knew it, he was 55, with a passionless job (and often a passionless life).

This isn’t to say there aren’t accountants or desk jockeys out there who don’t thoroughly enjoy what they do and view that as their life calling. But, it’s a gleaming example of a far too common reality: People parlaying into a “shadow career” when they’d rather be a writer, dentist, entrepreneur, fashion designer, mechanic, or, I don’t know, someone who trains bomb-sniffing dolphins.

Pressfield himself relayed stories of being a truck driver and cab driver before he “turned pro.” He had written countless novels and screenplays – all of which admittedly sucked (his words, not mine) – before he “turned pro.”The book, in not so many words, is all about putting on your big boy (or girl) pants, growing up, and understanding that it’s going to take a lot of hard, arduous, work and effort (and innumerable failures) to create your life’s work.

It’s all about fighting the urge to stay an amateur, and the obstacles we have to overcome to curtail or better yet, conquer, that massive hump.

It’s resisting the urge to settle.

The book is rife with quotable quotes. I’d argue Pressfield rivals Dan John in that department. But I wanted to share one quote which struck a chord with me, because I feel it has a lot of overlap with what I see is a common practice in the fitness industry.

The Amateur is Easily Distracted

“The amateur has a long list of fears. Near the top are two:

Solitude and silence.

The amateur fears solitude and silence because she needs to avoid, at all costs, the voice inside her head that would point her toward her calling and her destiny. So she seeks distraction.

The amateur prizes shallowness and shuns depth. The culture of Twitter and Facebook is paradise for the amateur.”

I can’t even begin to tell you how many stars and asterisks I scribbled onto that page.

Lesson to be Learned (Listen Up)

If the health and fitness industry is truly your calling……..

……….You’re not (really) as important as you think you are.

Just because you wrote an article with a lot of “Likes” and you’ve accumulated a lot of “friends” on social media, doesn’t mean you’ve made it.

Likewise, just because you write about health and fitness and have a voice and audience (which IS an accomplishment, I’m not denying that), it doesn’t mean you’re a pro.

Bragging about Twitter followers and placing far too much precedence on “marketing” yourself on Facebook, most specifically when you’re new to the industry, is pointless.

All you’re doing is hiding and not really doing anything.

Likewise, and maybe this is my own biased, old-school opinion, unless you’re actually coaching people – like, in real life – don’t write an article titled “How to Get More Clients” or  “X Mistakes Someone Makes Doing X Exercise.”

How would you even know?

The difference between a “pro” and an “amateur” in this context – in the fitness world at least, – is that a pro actually get results.

They don’t just write about it.

CategoriesMotivational Product Review

Thoughts on “Dad Bod”

I think it was a year or two ago when the term “thigh gap” was all the rage.

It seemed I couldn’t log onto any of my social media accounts or peruse the internet without being bombarded by the phrase. The premise was pretty dumb.

Women (not all of them mind you) were transfixed by the notion that a “healthy” or ideal body was dictated by the “gap” between her thighs. If you didn’t have it, you weren’t one of the cool kids. And you were an evil person with no friends.

Countless articles were written and many mind-numbingly, soul-crushing stories were shared on various media outlets describing, in detail, how to achieve this (what I’d like to call) unattainable (pointless?) look.

It set back female fitness 15 years. If not more.

Basically, if Susan B. Anthony were still alive today she would have Sparta kicked CNN, Fox News, The Today Show, YouTube, Tracy Anderson, and every editor of every fitness magazine or website who took this trend seriously.

And now it’s the guys turn.

Introducing “Dad Bod.”

I don’t know how it started or who started it….but it’s equally as annoying as thigh gap.

In short: apparently it’s now “in” to be average; or maybe a better term is “just there.” I guess women prefer non (overly) muscular dudes now.

*shrugs*

If I had to guess, though, it’s not that women prefer non-muscular dudes…they just prefer a guy who’s entire life doesn’t revolve around his training schedule, posting selfie picks from the gym locker room, and/or shitting a gluten free Paleo brick if he eats a brownie on the weekend.

Lets be honest: at the end of the day, what does all of this even mean? Some women prefer bald heads. Some women prefer hairy chests. Some women prefer dudes with abs, others not so much. I’m willing to bet there’s even some women out there who go bat-shit crazy for dudes with a third nipple.

None of it really matters in the end. People like what they like.

But who wants to venture a guess that the “Dad Bod” trend was started by some random guy who’s not remotely muscular; or maybe just really frustrated that he’s spent the past five years in the gym with little to show for his efforts?

It’s like me saying “hey, ladies, don’t mind that guy driving the Porsche. It’s allllllll about the Hyundai Elantra.”

In all seriousness, it’s all good in my book. I don’t care what society tells me is ideal, and I certainly don’t care what people find attractive or what makes them feel like the best version of themselves possible.

If a guy doesn’t want abs or pecs that can cut diamonds, who am I to judge?

Interestingly, it’s kind of eff’ed up that at one end of the spectrum (women) we’re told that the ideal body-type is this more or less unattainable thing that’s highly dictated by genetics and one’s own unique anatomy and anthropometry (and that maybe 1-2% of the population could achieve anyways); and at the other end (men) we’re told “eh, that’s good enough. You’re already there dude.”

Gotta love double-standards.

Putting things into perspective: you’re on a site who’s theme is “because heavy things won’t lift themselves,” so it’s safe to assume you’re someone who’s interested in muscle, looking good neked, and not being average.

My good buddy, Bryan Krahn, wrote an excellent post not too long ago on how to help guys with “Dad-Bod.” You can check it out HERE.

To reiterate my mindset towards the trend (and to steal a line from Bryan):

“For those who don’t know, a “Dad Bod” describes a guy whose body isn’t fat or thin, but somewhere in-between. Physically he’s just like, you know, whatever.

You might assume that I would rail against this movement, say that it’s lame or weak or unmanly.

On the contrary. I think it’s fine. Provided it’s how you want to be.”

There’s really nothing revolutionary with regards to the best approach to fixing “Dad Bod” if that’s something you’re interested in. Dial in your nutrition, don’t eat like an a-hole, train for both strength and hypertrophy, train hard and with intent, and be consistent.

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

You’ll look like The Rock in no time flat. Or 15-20 years.

I find it’s the whole consistency factor that acts as the monkey-wrench for most trainees. We’re far too impatient and want results now, dammit!

If one’s consistent and puts in the work…almost always good things are bound to happen.

However, lets say you’re there.

You have abs, you have that vein running down the front of your bicep that many guys covet, and you have a posterior chain that would make any person weak in the knees.

But you’re still having a hard time taking things to the next level. You just can’t seem to shed those last 5-10 lbs of fat.

It’s here where things get a little more complicated. It’s at this point where paying attention to the more intricate, finer details – things like macronutrient breakdown, meal timing, hormones (leptin, ghrelin, growth hormone, testosterone, estrogen, cortisol), and varying training parameters enter the picture.

And here’s your answer, and something that will scissor kick “Dad Bod” in the face.

The OMEGA Body Blueprint

My good friend and ambassador to all things sexification and fat loss, John Romaniello, launched his latest project – The OMEGA Body Blueprint– last week. It’s the perfect answer to anyone looking to take their physique to the next echelon of “Dad Bod” pwnage.

Everything you need from both the training AND nutritional side of things is covered. And like I said: if there’s anyone I’d trust with body composition advice, it’s Roman.

The last day of the sale is TODAY,1 May 25th, so act quick before it ends.

Go HERE. You won’t be sorry.

CategoriesMotivational

How Toxic Hostility Is Killing Us: Yes, This is Relevant To You. So Read It

I had the pleasure of attending the Boston Sports Medicine Performance Group (BSMPG) annual conference this past weekend at Northeastern University.

First off: props to Art Horne for pulling off – yet again – another spectacular job organizing and hosting the event. You, sir, deserve this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAryFIuRxmQ

 

Second off: this is easily one of the more “high-level” events of the year on the fitness calendar, and I can’t speak highly enough to the caliber and quality of not only the speakers, but the attendees as well.

Ever have that feeling you’re the dumbest person in the room? Well that was me this past Friday with guys like Bill Hartman, Charlie Weingroff, Pat Davidson, Eric Oetter, Dr. James Anderson, and the pencil sharpener located at the front of the room all under one roof.

If you’ve never heard of the event, now you have…and I’d highly encourage you to try to make the trip to Boston next Spring.

If you have heard of the event, and you’ve never made the trip, to you I say……..

Get it done next year.

You won’t be disappointed.

Okay, so, lets talk about stress.

Why?

Well, for starters it’s something that affects all of us in some form or another. And secondly, one of the keynote speakers this past weekend was the one and only Dr. Robert Sapolsky, author of Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers.

He’s one of the world’s foremost experts on stress (he wrote a book about it, duh.), and someone who’s done more research on the topic than pretty much everyone, ever.

And he has an epic beard.

Which means we should listen to him.

The good doc spoke for around 90 minutes, but it felt like it was ten. It was all fascinating.

He discussed stress and how we as humans (more specifically those of us who have been around for the last 100 or so years) have changed how we react to (both physiologically and psychologically) and cope with stress.

You see, we don’t worry so much about infectious diseases in the “modern world” today. Diseases like dysentery, leprosy, and to a much smaller degree, influenza (flu)2 used to be much more of a problem back in the day.

Omitting the looney tune anti-vaxxers in the crowd, we’ve also made diseases such as polio, measles, and smallpox all but a passing memory.

 

Today, however, while they still exist and certainly shouldn’t be taken lightly, it’s not infectious diseases that are the leading cause(s) of death. Rather, as Dr. Sapolsky noted, it’s diseases which take their time to slowly deteriorate our bodies over the course of decades.

Heart disease, diabetes, marriage, etc…..

“Why is it when we feel someone doesn’t love us, or we feel sad or angry, we reach for the M&Ms?

If we could figure this out, we’d cure half the cases of diabetes.”

– Dr. Sapolsky

Lets begin by defining what stress is and what a stressor is.

Stress: adaptation your body mobilizes to re-establish homeostasis in the system. I’m paraphrasing here but, “hormones are released and [stuff] happens.”

Stressors: anything in the outside world that affects homeostatic balance.

For a zebra this can be being chased by a lion. For humans this can refer to tax season or your S.O. wanting to sit down and “talk about feelings.”

To expound a bit further Dr. Sapolsky states:

“For a cognitively complex species (like humans and other primates), stressor is also the ANTICIPATION that a a real physical challenge is about to happen. If there really is not the threat of a physical stressor coming, then you are setting yourself up for increased risk of stress-related disease.

Is stress always bad? No – if a stressor isn’t too extreme, is only transient, and occurs in what overall feels like a benevolent environment, it’s great, we love it – that’s what play and stimulation are.”

To simplify things into Dr. Sapolsky’s “umbrella theme”:

As humans we can turn on the same stress response as a zebra getting chased by a lion, but we tend to do so from a purely psychological standpoint, and we have a hard time shutting it off.

Increase your blood pressure for 30 seconds to avoid being eaten by a lion = save your life. (And, dude, you just outran a lion. That’s baller.)

Increase your blood pressure for an extended amount of time (for whatever reason) = heart disease.

In other words: we’re being chased by the stress of a 30-year mortgage or rush hour traffic or being forced to watch Downton Abbey. It’s all the same.

And it’s killing us. Literally.

Some Other Factoids on the Stress Response

1. We often see a suppression of digestion with elevated stress levels. Short term example = dry mouth before public speaking. Also, “fat loss” isn’t quite as much of a priority when a black bear is starring you down and licking its chops.

All non-vital systems are shut down.

Interesting to note, and something that’s often misinterpreted is that stress does NOT create ulcers.

Bacteria – specifically Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) – are the main culprit. But it’s our inability for our stomach to repair itself (due to stress) which is the key.

2. Chronic stress leads to myopathy (muscle loss), lethargy, and inefficient use of energy.

Interesting Fact: having a Type A Personality (characterized by impatience, hostility, low self-esteem, among others) places someone at a higher risk of developing heart disease than smoking.

Dr. Sapolsky referred to a concept he titled TOXIC HOSTILITY which I thought was spot on and a brilliant way of explaining things.

Here in Boston I see it every day. A gleaming example was yesterday while Lisa and I were walking across the parking lot from our car to the entrance of Whole Foods.

Out of nowhere this guy started blaring on his car horn because someone had the audacity to back out of their spot and hold him up for maybe five seconds.

I mean, really?

Apparently he was that important and in that much of a rush that he had to do something about it. Which was be an asshole.

I remember when I was in London last Fall I noticed virtually no one honked their horn.

Sure it happened, on occasion…but when I brought it up to some of the attendees at the workshop I was doing they noted honking the horn was kind of frowned upon over there.

Londoners just didn’t let trivial shit affect them.

This is in stark contrast to people I know or clients I’ve had who would straight up want to punch a baby seal in the face if they didn’t perform one rep correctly during their set of squats.

Long story short: is it any wonder we have some people who drop dead of a heart attack at 45?

3. We all know exercise is “good” stress, right?

But an insane amount of exercise doesn’t lead to an insane amount of benefits.

4. Long-term, chronic stress can lead to a decrease in libido as well as act as a precursor to erectile dysfunction.

How can we tell if it’s an “organic” issue or a psychological issue?

Easy. Attach this thingamajig/sensor to the penis which, once someone hits REM sleep, will send a signal via GPS to a satellite (<- may or may not be true) and let you know if you get an erection.

In all seriousness, this is true. Once he hits REM sleep the male will elicit an erection. BOM CHICKA BOM BOM.

If he’s able to do so we know it’s NOT an organic issue, but a psychological one.

5. Stress DOES NOT lead to an increase in cancer.

Dr. Sapolsky noted that there are any number of quacks (< – his words, not mine) making a fortune on their stress reducing (“cancer reducing”) treatments.

He gives everyone permission to scissor-kick anyone in the groin if they claim stress causes cancer.

Stress Management & Coping With Stress

So how can we manage stress?

It’s all about REFRAMING OUR STRESS EXPERIENCE.

Each individual is going to find (or at least should try to find) his or her’s most ideal way of coping with stress.

Dr. Sapolsky referenced a famous study done with rats where one rat was giving a shock every so often. Not surprisingly said rat developed an ulcer.

Another rat was given the same shock, but this time there was a second rat placed inside the cage. The rat given the shock could go and take out its frustration on the second rat. There was a MUCH reduced incidence of developing an ulcer.

A third rat was given the same shock, but was given a piece of wood to gnaw on (given a hobby).

A fourth rat was given the same shock, but was given a lever to press which would greatly reduce the frequency of said shock (given a sense of control).

A fifth rat was given the same shock, but had several other “rat friends” around to groom it and to act as a social support.

In all scenarios the rate of developing an ulcer was VASTLY reduced.

Why?

The rats were given an outlet of some sort, or social support. All of which led to less psychological stress.

Relaying this information to homo sapiens, stress management does work….but there are several caveats.

1. You can’t reserve it for the weekend only. You have to make a concerted effort to implement whatever strategies you pick on a daily timeline.

2. You have to choose something you actually enjoy doing.

Meditation, lifting weights, yoga, running, gardening, reading scripture to orphaned kittens, ALL work as a mode of stress management.

But if it’s an activity you don’t gain any pleasure from, it won’t work.

3. NEVER listen to anyone who states they have scientific research to back their claims or that their brand of stress management is scientifically proven to be better.

It’s BS, and makes Dr. Sapolsky very angry. Not Hulk angry, but close.

CategoriesMotivational

What I Learned From Avengers: Age of Ultron

Like most people on the planet I spent my $15 to go see Avengers: Age of Ultron recently.

Lisa and I had to hold off on seeing it right away because I was traveling last week, and there was NO way she was going to allow me to see it without her.

Even if I tried she’d be able to tell. Thor has Mjolnir, Quicksilver has super speed, Scarlet Witch has the ability to manipulate people’s thoughts, Tony Stark has a brilliant mind (and an Ironman suit), and Lisa has the ability to call BS if I’m lying to her.

It’s uncanny.

So alas, I had to give up a few “nerd points” and wait until the second weekend Avengers: Age of Ultron was out in theaters to go see it.

It….was…..awesome.

My good friend, John Romaniello, wrote a post earlier in the week about his lessons learned while watching The Avengers (you can check it out HERE).

On an aside: John is releasing his next product soon – the OMEGA Body Blue Print – and he has a killer video to share today titled How to Stay Fit (and Burn Fat) On the Road.

It’s the perfect answer for people who travel a lot and often allow their diet (and training) slide in between flights and hotel stops.

It’s FREE and definitely worth the watch. Check it out HERE.

Roman knows fat-loss (and sultry stares)

(NOTE: You will need to provide an email address, but I promise John won’t spam you or share your email. Because he’s not a dick.)

Back to The Avengers.

Did I mention it was awesome?

It was awesome.

I know it’s woefully unoriginal, but I’m stealing Roman’s idea and plan on sharing my own lessons learned from watching the movie.

Here you go.

1. A Team Trumps Any One Person

None of the (original) Avengers – Captain America, Ironman, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow, and Hawkeye – particularly like one another.

Put them in a room together where they’re not fighting a common enemy trying to destroy Earth and they’re bound to argue, squabble, fight, and otherwise act like whiny teenagers.

And while each one separately has their own set of unique skills and strengths which allow them to kick ass, it’s only when they combine and join forces – as a team – that they’re able to conquer immense circumstances and odds.

This parallels what we try to accomplish at Cressey Sports Performance.

Every coach on staff has their own set of strengths they bring to the table. And while I’d be lying if I sat her and said that Eric (Cressey) isn’t the ring leader and “the face of the franchise,” it’s equally false for me to sit here and state we haven’t worked – as a team – to make the brand successful with or without the namesake being around.

A few weekends ago Pete Dupuis, the Vice-President and business director of CSP, travelled with me to Kansas City to speak at The Fitness Summit.

The topic of his presentation? How Tony Took Over the Radio and Played NOTHING But Tiesto CSP Massachusetts Was Able to “Survive” and Flourish With Eric Gone.

Not the exact title, but close.

When Eric decided to open up another facility in Jupiter, FL, it was a very real concern that our numbers would drop up here in Massachusetts. Both from a foot-traffic standpoint and monetary standpoint.

As it happened: we had our most successful 6-month stretch ever……with Eric being gone.

Our foot-traffic stayed pretty much the same, and we not only saw continued double digit growth in business, but we were also able to hire TWO additional coaches (Miguel Aragoncillo and Tony Bonvechio, respectively).

I chalk it up to the entire staff working as a team to improve the athlete-client experience.

Each coach was able to “step-up” and come out of their shell (so-to-speak) and shine. What’s more, communication was placed at a premium, and we all made a concerted effort to bring up any issues or concerns we had. Everything from programming modifications and assessment protocols to scheduling and helping one another with evaluations.

It wasn’t about relying on ONE person to call the shots and be the leader. It was about all of us learning to become more of a team and playing to one another’s strength to make the customer experience better.

2.  Captain America Has Pecs That Could Cut Diamonds

As we were walking home from the movie yesterday, all I heard Lisa say was how Captain America’s (Chris Evans’) pecs were so juicy.

“They’re my new favorite pecs.”

[Cue evil stare from me]

“After yours, of course, honey.”

Okay, I’ll admit it: those are some pretty damn juicy. I mean, look at em!

While I can’t speak to the exact workout regimen Chris followed to get those pecs, I can speak to one of my new favorite ways to blast your pecs.

Something I’ve been hammering lately – thanks to my own coach, Greg Robins – is something called Oxidative Bench Pressing.

It goes like this:

1. Start with a weight in the 95-135 lb range (trust me, start LIGHT).

2. Using a 2-2-2 tempo (lowering bar in 2s, pausing at the chest for 2s, then pressing back up in 2s), press for 30 seconds.

3. Rest for 30s.

4. Repeat same process for a TOTAL of 3-4 rounds.

5. REST FIVE MINUTES

6. Repeat the whole shebang again.

Add 10s each for four weeks, so by the time you reach week #4 you’ll be pressing for 60 total seconds.

You’re welcome.

3.  People Will Find a Way to Complain About Anything

You’re never going to make everyone happy.

I read somewhere on the interwebz that some people were upset with Natasha Romanoff’/Black Widow’s backstory, and more specifically, were upset that the director, Joss Whedon, decided to add a bit of a romantic chemistry between Natasha (Scarlett Johansson) and Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo)……

…..and that this plot detail somehow spoke to a larger issue of how women are portrayed in movies.

Concerning the Back Story: was it lame? Maybe. Personally, I didn’t think so.

Concerning the Whole “How Women Are Portrayed in Movies Argument: I can see how this has some merit, but not here.

For a quick precursor, I offer you the Bechdel Test.

Introduced by comedian Alison Bechdel, it’s a quick test that calls attention to gender inequality in movies. Basically, a movie “passes” if it meets the following criteria:

  1. The movie has to have at least two women in it,
  2. who talk to each other,
  3. about something besides a man.

I guess, technically, Avengers: Age of Ultron “fails” the test.  But lets provide a bit of context.

You could make the argument that Joss Whedon has done MORE for female equality in movies than any other director in Hollywood. All we have to do is look at his past projects, ALL of which involve STRONG female character, often in a leading role.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (tv)

Dollhouse (tv)

Firefly (tv), which was then made into the movie Serenity.

As well as The Avengers and now Avengers: Age of Ultron.

So, shut-up internet.

I’ve also read that some people were turned off by Black Widow’s lack of badassery in this latest movie, and that this was another gleaming example of Hollywood placating into societal norms.

Bull to the shit.

First off, I challenge anyone to write, much less DIRECT a movie of this magnitude – which included upwards of FIFTEEN main (“superhero”) characters – and not be forced to tone down a few components of the story line.

That’s fifteen actors and actresses vying for significant screen time. Good luck with that.

Second, with regards to anyone commenting on Black Widow’s lack of badassery, did you not see Captain America: The Winter Soldier?

She was busting people’s faces all over the place. For two freakin straight hours.

Lastly, and I understand this is a bit of a stretch in terms of an argument, but Scarlett Johansson was pregnant during much of the filming of this movie.

The internet shit a kettlebell a few years ago when a mother had the audacity to continue to attend CrossFit classes and lift weights during her pregnancy.

The backlash she received from ignorant naysayers was sickening. All of it despite the fact she had years of experience, nothing she was doing was new (to her), and she reduced her frequency and loads as the pregnancy progressed.

For more of my thoughts on women training through pregnancy, check out THIS post.

Imagine the outcry if people found out Scarlett was performing scissor kicks to various people’s faces – while pregnant – during filming.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. I don’t even want to think about it.

Needless to say, I’m sure this played into why, to some degree, Black Widow’s storyline was watered down a bit.

Relax, people.

4. Be You. Own You

Much of what makes the Avengers so interesting to watch is that each character has his or her’s own flaws.

None of them are perfect.

Just like none of us are perfect.

In the movie, while it doesn’t jive with the source material from the comics, Ultron is “created” by Tony Stark as a way to protect Earth, to serve as a “shield” from non-Earthly danger.

Unfortunately, Ultron comes to the conclusion that humans themselves are Earth’s greatest enemy, and seeks to destroy them/us.

Oops.

Without giving away too much, there’s a point in the movie where Stark tries to “right his wrong,” and seemingly goes about making the same mistake(s) that started the whole mess in the first place.

“I’m a mad scientist,” he blurts out to Dr. Bruce Banner, who’s incredulously looking on in disbelief.

Stark owns who he is. He’s unabashedly being himself.

I encourage you to do the same.

BE YOU!

Just don’t pretend to be someone you’re not.

I’ve never been a big drinker. I can count on one-hand the total number of times I drank alcohol in college; and I’d be hard pressed to surpass two-hands to point to the number of times I’ve held a drink in my hand throughout my entire life.

It’s never been a vanity thing or a health thing.

I just can’t stand the taste of alcohol. Remember those bitter-beer face commercials from back in the day?

That was me, no matter what type of alcohol touched my lips.

Sure, I got my balls busted by my teammates, and it took a while for them to understand I wasn’t ever really going to “break.” It was hard always being the one guy at the party that wasn’t drinking.

But I stuck to my guns, stayed true to myself, and it wasn’t long before it was just a common theme that “Tony didn’t drink.”

It’s an dramatic example, but whatever the case may be as it relates to YOU….don’t shy away from it.

Be you.

Always.

5. It’s Possible to Have an Erection For an Extended Amount of Time Without Having to Call a Doctor.

We’ve all seen those silly male erectile dysfunction commercials on television.

At the end of each one, when they start to list all the side-effects, one of them always tends to stand out. Always call your doctor for erections that last for an extended period of time.

I think it’s something like 2-4 hours.

Well, I’m here to tell you I had a (nerd) erection for a long-ass time yesterday and I was just fine. From the moment the first preview started – Fantastic Four to Star Wars to Batman vs. Superman to Jurassic World –  until the end of the mid-credit “final scene” featuring Thanos, I had a massive boner.

Can you blame a nerd?

Did I mention this movie was awesome?

CategoriesMotivational

Fitness Professionals: Find Your Why

While I wouldn’t place myself in the echelon of “voracious reader,” I do read a lot. Fiction, non-fiction, autobiographies, Entertainment Weekly, it’s all fair game.

Like many of my colleagues, I make a special point to read books on personal development and business. For some of my favs check out my list HERE.

One book that’s rocking my world at the moment is Start With Why by Simon Sinek.

At the center of the book is what’s referred to as The Golden Circle. I know it sounds nefarious – or at the very least a long-lost Narnia sequel – but I assure you it’s harmless.

It goes like this (and for the more visual learners in the crowd you can peep the chart above):

Many people and/or businesses and organizations know what they do and they know how they do it.

Rarely, though, do they know WHY.

WHY do they do what they do?

One “go to” example often used in the book is Apple. There are any number of companies that make computers, laptops, Mp3 players, and what not. Some of which are technologically better than Apple.

So what makes Apple so special?

Why are they able to maintain such a stronghold, be the most profitable, and retain such a loyal following despite only penetrating 6-7% of the market?

What do they do differently and where are others missing the mark?

And since I’m on a roll right now and ending every sentence with an open-ended question, is this not the funniest video ever?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VuMdLm0ccU

 

To quote the book, here’s a marketing message from Apple, if they were like everyone else:

“We make great computers. They’re beautifully designed, simple to use and user-friendly. Wanna buy one?”

Here’s the same message written in a way that Apple actually communicates. This time emphasizing the WHY:

“Everything we do, we believe in challenging the status quo. We believe in thinking differently. The way we challenge the status quo is by making our products beautifully designed, simple to use and user-friendly.

And we happen to make great computers. Wanna buy one?”

What’s My Point?

I see this same phenomenon in the fitness industry (and frankly, you can insert any industry or occupation here), and the same message mirrors why many fitness professionals fail.

While I generally avoid using gross generalizations, I’d garner a guess that most personal trainers and coaches know what they do.

“I get people jacked, shredded, bigger, faster, stronger, or increase their level of sexification, yo!”

To that same point, many know how to do it.

[Lets assume we live in a perfect bubble and every trainer takes their clients through a thorough assessment and designs a well thought out, organized, efficient, and non-bat-shit-crazy program based off the findings of said assessment.

1. HAHAHAHHAAHHAHAHAHAA.

2. But seriously, lets assume it.]

But WHY do you do what you do?

“To help people achieve their goals,” most might say.

Okay, noble answer.

But that doesn’t really say anything, differentiate you from the masses, or speak to the fact 99.99% of fitness professionals aren’t in it to not help people achieve their goals.

In short: lame answer, and it’s what everyone else says.

Much like Apple, we don’t need to over-think things and come up with some Tolstoy’esq sized Mission Statement.

Lets run with the canned response “I want to help people achieve their goals.”

It it were me, I’d saying something along the lines of:

“There are any number of trainers and coaches out there you could hire. And like most of them, I too want to help you achieve your goals – whether it’s to get a little stronger, improve performance in your respective sport, shed some extra body fat, or help with a nagging injury.

I choose to do so with integrity and honesty, in addition to using equal parts evidence-based research and anecdotal “real-world” experience.”

I want to help you achieve your goals, but I also want to help you not have to rely on me long-term. I want to teach you, educate you, coach you. It’s my goal to make you your own best ally, asset, and advocate.”

I encourage you to find your WHY.

CategoriesMotivational personal training

Talent Matters

I was chatting with one of our high-school athletes yesterday when I asked how his (baseball) season had been going so far. We had a miserable winter here in Massachusetts and for a lot of our athletes they’re still practicing indoors.

This athlete, however, goes to a school that had the opportunity of traveling down to Florida recently so they were able to get their cleats dirty and see some green grass for a change.

“We played okay,” he said. “Our team, though, is having a hard time. We have a bunch of guys who just don’t “get it” and have hard time with the team concept.”

“How so?,” I asked.

He then went on to tell me how one teammate, during a game, in the dugout, took out his phone and started using Facetime.

My jaw dropped.

He then told another story where, with the team back up North, another teammate decided he was too cold to cheer and support the rest of the guys and took off for an inning to go hang out in his car to warm-up.

Again, I was flabbergasted.

If I or any of my teammates even thought about doing something like that back when I played in high school and college we would have at best been taken out of the game and suspended, or at worst been given a soap blanket party Full Metal Jacket style.

It just wouldn’t have happened.

Sadly, in both scenarios above, each athlete is headed to a respectable Division I program and I suspect each one feels they’re above the rules and/or have an overwhelming sense of entitlement.

It’s a case where both feel their talent is enough to be successful….despite the woeful lack of respect and social filter.

Here’s another example.

A good friend of mine opened a gym in downtown Boston a few months ago. It’s his dream, it’s kicking his ass, but he’s loving every second of it. I finally made it down there earlier this week to check it out and to get a quick lift in.

In between sets he told me how, a few weeks prior, he was contacted by a local organization asking if he’d be willing to allow a group of their personal training students to stop by and observe for a few hours.

Everything was set up so that the students would come by and watch as he and one of his other coaches were training clients. As my buddy noted, “something like 10-12 students came in, all in their early 20s, and they were pretty obnoxious and loud which pissed me off because it was distracting. All but one were talking to one another, texting, and not really paying attention.”

At the end, the group coordinator wrangled all of them together for the opportunity to ask my friend any questions they may have had.

“How do you make money?”

“How do I start my own gym?’

“Blah blah blah…How do I not do any of the work, but have what you have?

I told him that if I were in his shoes at that point I would have 1) probably Sparta kicked one of them in the chest and 2) picked someone randomly to show me and the entire group how to coach someone through a squat pattern.

My guess is that the result would have been worse than the infamous Miss South Carolina “Where is America on the Map” answer…..

Maybe I’m coming across as nothing more than an old, ornery strength coach who’s next order of business is to shake my fist and yell at people to get of my damn lawn.

I don’t know.

I’d like to think I’m just shelling out a dose of tough love and perspective.

A few weekends ago I was at my alma mater (SUNY Cortland, in central New York) as part of the Annual Strength & Conditioning Symposium. At the end of the day all the presenters were brought to the front of the room as part of a Q&A panel.

Giving credit where it’s due: I was impressed with the attendees, and praised everyone who attended for being more proactive in their learning and continuing education. The fact that they were there and chose to do so, on a Saturday, spoke volumes.

One theme kept popping up though, subtly, time and time again as students were asking their questions. Something to the effect of:

“How did you become so successful?”

“What do I need to do to get to where you’re at in your career?”

Opposite of the examples above – with the baseball players – I do feel the students in this case knew that “putting in the work” was part of the equation and that none of them had illusions of landing a gig which them training professional athletes on Day #1. All because they got an A- in Kinesiology or because they read SuperTraining once.

Many asked about blogs and websites and Social Media. All of which are pertinent, important questions to ask. We live in an ever growing digital age now, and all of those things matter and play a role – to a lesser or higher degree, depending on the person – in the development and growth of one’s fitness career.

But here’s the thing, and it’s something that Nick Tumminello stressed…..

Talent Still Matters

Or maybe a better way to put it: BUILDING talent matters.

It’s not the only thing that matters, of course. But it’s still pretty damn important. You just don’t want to be an uppity, entitled, brat with no work ethic like the examples above.

Far too often – at least nowadays – new trainers and coaches place too much weight on how many Twitter followers they have, YouTube views a certain video gets3, or how many “Likes” a certain article gets.

Some even brag about how many books they’ve read. Which is awesome.

But that doesn’t mean anything.

That’s like me bragging about how I read The Science of Hitting by Ted Williams 47 times cover to cover.

Unless I actually go out and do it, hit a baseball hundreds of times a day, day after day after day, for years on end, to the point where my hands start bleeding, I’ll never come close to sniffing Ted Williams’ ability……much less the Mendoza Line.

Ted Williams had talent, but he also worked his tail off.

You can read about the intricacies of breaking down the deadlift all you want, but unless you actually 1) deadlift yourself 2) deadlift appreciable weight 3) and coach other people through it, I don’t give a shit how many books you read.

It takes TALENT (and hard work) to become a good coach.

It takes TALENT (and hard work) to become a good writer.

It takes TALENT (and hard work) to hit a baseball.

It takes TALENT (and hard work) to get through an entire season of Downton Abbey. Trust me, I’ve tried.

Talent doesn’t happen without work ethic. The two go hand in hand.

CategoriesFemale Training Motivational

Female Fitness Marketing: Why Performance Matters

I like training women. I think it’s easier in many ways.

Women listen.4

Women tend to be more patient. In the gym that is. Lets not get carried away here….LOL.

They’re patient in that they’re less likely to add 50 lbs to the barbell when I’m not looking and performing a set with atrocious technique.

Women tend to take constructive criticism more lightly and won’t interpret it as me judging them.

And women tend to have less ego compared to their male counterparts.

And less BO.

These are all loose observations, of course, and by no means should be taken as concrete. Some of my best clients have been men; but I have found throughout the years, as a whole, women tend to be easier to coach.

I know many of my fellow Y-chromosome’d colleagues would agree – Bret Contreras, John Gaglione, Mike Robertson, to name a few.

I have to assume my female coaching friends will agree?

We’ve seen a shift in mindset with women within the last decade when it comes to lifting weights, and more to the point, strength training. I’d be remiss not to give a tip of the hat to CrossFit for leading the charge.

Nothing (so long as I can remember) can be attributed to the tsunami of interest and enthusiasm of people getting excited to lift weights than CrossFit – men and women both. But mostly women.

Tracy Anderson and the Thigh Master can suck it!

Before I get flak for going soft on CrossFit- there’s still much of it that drives me batshit crazy. Funnily enough, the quality of CrossFit is getting better. More and more boxes are recognizing the importance of assessments, ramping people properly (regressions and progressions), having some semblance of periodization/programming, and understanding that not everyone can walk in on Day #1 and perform 100 reps of wall balls, box jumps, and 400m sprints……on their hands.

What’s funny about it is I hear all these CrossFit coaches waxing poetic about how much better CrossFit is now, and how it’s “changing.”

Exactly!

Because most of the boxes who are quote on quote “doing it well” aren’t doing CrossFit anymore. They’re, you know, having their clients perform smart, progressive, sensible programming without all the high-rep/WOD bologna that makes a small part of my soul die.

But that’s neither here nor there, way off-topic, and something I don’t want to get into at this point. Besides, I’m hangry right now and feel like I may cut someone.

But even with the shift of more and more women turning their backs to the elliptical trainer and gravitating towards the iron, there’s still a massive gap to bridge between what the mainstream media is relaying to women and what people like myself are trying to do.

Not a week goes by where I don’t shake my head in disbelief or come close to punching a wall from something I read or watch from the mainstream media on the topic of women and fitness.

All I have to do is walk through my local CVS and be slapped in the face with magazine cover after magazine cover telling the reader how to “lose 10 lbs in 1 month,” or how to “tone this” get a “sleek that,” all while following a detox diet that has you drinking nothing but grapefruit juice and unicorn tears for 47 days.

Which is all BS because 1) everyone knows unicorn tears are only effective after 49 days and 2) each magazine cover is plastered with a celebrity who’s been photoshopped beyond recognition and to a point that’s unattainable or with a model or figure competitor who spent the last three months dieting and prepping to look that way for ONE day.

Check out THIS post by Kelsey Reed on more of the shadiness behind the scenes with fitness marketing towards women.

And none of this speaks to the eye wash that I constantly come across on shows like Dr. Oz, Ellen, and The Biggest Loser.

It’s frustrating at times, if not 100% nauseating.

Which is why I love working with women. I love “de-programming” them (for lack of a better term) and helping them to pull the blanket from over the eyes.

In a lot of ways it’s similar to that new show on Netflix, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.

Kimmy’s been trapped in a Dooms-Day bunker for 15 years and is finally released into the “real world.” She’s been programmed to think one thing (many things, actually), only to find out that everything she knew was wrong. Or, slightly off.

She’s still living in the 90s with an out dated mentality about the world and how it now operates.

NOTE: the show is hilarious. Co-created by Tina Fey, so if you like that type of humor this show will be right up your alley.

I find that many (not all) women fall in line with Kimmy.

They’ve been told that lifting weights will make them bulky, that if they’re going to indulge, light weight (high reps) is the best way to go, and that to get toned and lean (buzz words!) they should perform copious amounts of cardio. And eat 1200 kcals per day.

I’m not going to begrudge someone’s goals. If “toned” and “lean” is what they’re after….cool. Lets do it!

But Lets Focus On Performance

Whenever I start working with a new female client – particularly if she’s not a competitive athlete – I always try to refrain from buzz words like toned, lean, etc.

I’ll let them use those words, and I’ll play along, but I’m almost always going to entice them to go down a path they thought they’d never go down. Similar to Alice going down the rabbit hole. Except with less opium involved.

Rather than have them focus on more superfluous goals like losing 10 lbs (it’s always 10 lbs) or more aesthetic goals like how their arms look in a certain dress….I’ll try to get them to buy into more of the performance side of things.

Things like:

1. Finally being able to perform an un-assisted, full ROM, chin-up.

2. Performing 10 clean push-ups. Not girl push-ups. I hate that term. Push-ups.

3. Deadlifting their bodyweight for reps. Deadlifting 1.5 bodyweight for reps. Hell, why not go for 2x bodyweight?

At first there may be a little push back. “Tony, I don’t care about my deadlift.” It’s to be expected. But I always say, “give me 60 days.”

“Do what I tell you to do for 60 days, and we’ll re-assess things.”

It’s amazing what happens after only a handful of weeks.

More often than not they find they’re doing things they never thought they’d be able to do. What was a challenging weight two weeks ago is now easy. Okay Tony, deadlifts aren’t so bad after all.

“OMG, I can do a chin-up!”

 

Something clicks or switches on, and many become addicted to pushing themselves in the gym. There’s a fire that’s ignited.

What’s more, many find that those goals they’ve been working so hard to achieve – toned arms, losing that 10 lbs – just kinda, happen. On it’s own.

It’s magical. Sans the Unicorns.

Women can lift weights. They should lift weights. And while many people are under the assumption that Eric Cressey’s High Performance Handbook is geared toward athletes or only men…they couldn’t be more wrong.

I’ve seen many women follow this program at Cressey Sports Performance with amazing results. And for those who feel a bit skeptical about following a program completely off the internet, check out these results from Stacey R, 38 (she said I could use her age!) from New Jersey.

Stacey Before

Stacey After

Stacey came to SUNY Cortland last weekend to listen to me speak. A day later she sent me an email thanking me not only for the workshop, but for being someone who tries to empower and encourage women to lift weights.

She mentioned that she had always been into fitness but had never focused on a structured strength training program. She decided to give Eric’s HPH a try because she wanted to get stronger, and to help with her recreational volleyball.

It’s obvious Stacey was in good shape prior to starting the program. But you can clearly see she made some amazing progress. She noted that, despite putting on 8-10 lbs, she was still able to maintain the same level of body-fat.

She also added…

My overall game, vertical and responsiveness have improved, I’ve found an absolute passion that’s helped me through some difficult personal stuff in recent years, and I’m challenging myself to go completely out of my comfort zone by shooting for a figure competition in June…which is conceptually ridiculous for me on multiple levels, but is proving to be a great focal point.

Now, this certainly doesn’t mean everyone will get the same results as Stacey. But if someone with Stacey’s background and experience can make this much of an improvement….imagine what YOU could do.

All she did was follow the program, focused on strength and performance for a change, and stayed consistent with it.

And good things happened.

It’s magical. Sans the Unicorns.

High Performance Handbook is on sale this week at $50 OFF the regular price. It’s not just a program for men.

CategoriesMotivational Nutrition Supplements

The Forgotten Quality of the Fitness Industry

I’d like to start with a story. It involves a temple, a monk, a woman, and her small child.

(Sorry, this story doesn’t begin with your standard “a cowboy, rabbi, and turtle walk into a bar…..”)

It’s a story I originally heard from strength coach Martin Rooney and few years ago, and it’s a story that has resonated with every since.

It begins with a woman and her small child walking up the stairs of a temple that houses a monk. At wits end, the woman reluctantly approaches the wise monk and asks, “wise Monk I’ve tried everything I can to get my child to stop eating sugar and nothing has worked. Can you offer any sage advice? Anything?”

The monk looks at the woman and the child, and calmly says, “come back and ask me again in two weeks.”

With a quizzical look on her face, the mother reluctantly walked away. Two weeks later, she brings her son to see the monk.

“Stop eating sugar,” he says to the little boy.

“Why did we have to wait two weeks for that?”

“Because,” the monk said, “I myself had to stop eating sugar.”

That’s integrity.

in·teg·ri·ty
inˈteɡrədē/
noun
  1. the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.
    “he is known to be a man of integrity”

It’s something I feel that’s missing from the fitness industry.

But this isn’t to throw the entire fitness industry under the bus. Nor is it an attempt to single out the fitness industry as the sole proprietor of snake oil fishery.

By and large I feel the industry as a whole is rife with well-intentioned, good-hearted, truthful, and honest professionals who want nothing more than to help people and do so in a non-douchey manner.

Likewise, it would be naive of me to say that no other profession is immune to having its veins cut off from integrity with a tourniquet. All we have to do is take a hop, jump, and skip back to 2008 with the housing market and all the Wall Street and investment banking scumbags who purposely preyed on and sold subprime mortgages to unsuspecting home buyers knowing full well that what they were doing was unethical and likely going to bankrupt a lot of people.

Not to mention the economy.

Likewise, we don’t have to steer far off the beaten track to witness shady deals and actions by our politicians. And, have you not heard a good lawyer joke lately?

I don’t want to sound like a Jonny Raincloud, though; I truly am someone who gives most people the benefit of the doubt and feels most people are kind and good hearted.

While there’s a lot about the industry I love, there’s something about he fitness industry that rubs me the wrong way. Maybe it’s partly because I’ve been “in it” for so long and have seen anything and everything that can happen. All I have to do is turn on the television at 2AM and see any number of shams being sold to the public. Anything from Shake Weights to 7-Minute Abs (or are we down to 6 minutes now? I’ve lost count) to detox diets to a certain “celebrity doctor” announcing that Acai Berries are the greatest miracle food in the history of ever.

They make you shit rainbows!

It’s nauseating at times.

And it all makes me reminisce about that Wendy’s commercial from the 1980s where the three ladies exclaim: “where’s the beef?”

Except in this case I want to ask: “where’s the integrity?”

But then again who am I to judge? All these people are making bank and it’s a free country, right? And this isn’t to suggest that all the aforementioned people and examples are the Spawn of Satan. For all I know they’re all lovely individuals who donate blood a few times a year, pay their taxes, volunteer their time at a local homeless shelter, or read scripture to orphaned kittens. Or whateverthef***.

All that said, while it’s my own opinion, there’s an astonishingly emaciated level of integrity in the fitness industry.

At the expense of coming across as a little holier than thou, I can count numerous times where I turned away distance coaching clients in lieu of encouraging them to purchase The New Rules of Lifting or The New Rules of Lifting For Women instead.

They don’t need to drop a few hundred dollars over the course of a few months when a book that costs $10 can be just as useful. Many times I tell them to buy the book, read it (<— this is important: they need to understand the WHYs of doing what they’re being asked to do), follow the program, and after 3-6 months, if they’re ready for a more personalized approach, to shoot me another message.

Moreover, while I could easily step away from coaching and do nothing but tap away on my computer on a day to say basis writing articles and fitness programs for people all over the world, there’s just something that doesn’t jive with me to write about training people and not actually train people.

In a gym.

In person.

In real life.

But that’s just me. I have all the respect in the world for those colleagues of mine who have the luxury to work from home seven days a week and travel the world. Many of them still do coach people, though. And many of them accumulated years of experience beforehand.

It’s when the new trainer who’s fresh out of school and feels he knows everything because he read SuperTraining (dude, you didn’t understand a thing! I still don’t understand it) is quick to jump on the “I’m-going-to-be-rich-because-I-wrote-an-ebook” train, that my gears starting grinding.

How can someone with little or no actual coaching/training experience write a book on how to train people?

My good buddy, Bryan Krahn, wrote an amazing article on this phenomenon not too long ago. Essentially on how to go about spotting the Liars, Scammers, and Douchebags in the fitness industry. Part I and Part II.

It’s a great read, and not for nothing…Bryan is someone you should be following.

And then there’s the supplement industry.

Oh boy…….now that’s a cesspool of douchebags to the douchiest degree if there ever was one.

Did I break the record for using the word douchebag in a post yet?

If not, douchebag.

Yes, I believe there are companies out there who provide awesome products and I’d be lying if I said I don’t use supplements or recommend them to my athletes and clients.

However, the “good” ones are few and far between.

Which is why I find the guys (and girls!) over at Examine.com invaluable. When it comes to integrity – and lets be honest, the supplement industry, at times, is severely lacking in that department – Examine.com is the integrity police.

It’s the largest (over 1 million visitors per day) and most trusted UNBIASED resource on supplementation on the internet. They have an advisory board full of physicians, researchers, scientists, and probably wizards that scrutinize and dissect every piece of literature released on their site.

You can be assured that the information they provide is 100% correct, and not to be reiterated enough….UNBIASED.

As it happens, the site itself just turned 4 years old yesterday. Holla!

To celebrate they’re placing all their resources on sale for the next 60 or so hours. Starting TODAY (3/17) at 12 PM.

That means…

– Supplement-Goals Reference Guide on sale.
– The Stack Guides on sale
– Examine Research Digest (<— monthly research review) on sale.

Up to 40% off in fact. Which is a steal given the amount (and quality) of information you’re getting.

Integrity in the fitness industry is hard to find; but it still exists. You just have to know where to look.

CategoriesMotivational

Tomorrow

I’ve been really fortunate to have so many people willing to fill in to provide some awesome content while I’m away. Today is no different. Here’s a little sumthin, sumthin from my good friend Roger Lawson – 0r RogLaw as he’s more routinely called – calling people out on the most infamous word in fitness.

Tomorrow

If we’re looking to push doing something off into the non-existent future then there’s no more comforting word that has ever existed; a panacea for all of life’s ills.

When it came to fitness, I was the most tomorrow-est dude in the history of the world. I would be sitting in the parking lot of McDonald’s, double fisting McChickens like I was born to do it, half consumed with self-loathing because I had yet again fallen off my eating plan, yet at the same time filled with a sense of satisfaction.

Why?

Yeah I goofed up, but on some level, in that moment, I could sink in and enjoy every last crispity, crunchity, delectable morsel with the knowledge that even though I could stop right there and there I didn’t have to and could enjoy eating whatever the hell I wanted until…

Tomorrow: the mythical land where I’m a billionaire, have legendary levels of self-control and Jennifer Lopez finally comes to her senses and realizes that I’m the man of her dreams.

The same happened with my workouts at times. I had the perfect set up, and if I missed a day or couldn’t get to the gym at my predetermined time, I turned a blind-eye to the large number of options that I had at my disposal to salvage the situation and offered my plans as sacrifice to the tomorrow Gods, absolving myself of any and all responsibilities.

You know what happened next? That’s right – pants off, Game of Thrones marathon on.

Tomorrowitis is a real disease that can afflict anyone at anytime if we’re not careful.

Here’s the crazy part about it all: there is no tomorrow.

It feels warm and fuzzy to think that there will be one, but mathematically speaking (and boy do I hate me some math) there are a finite amount of tomorrows left, and eventually there will come a time when we’re not part of one – and we never know when that day will come.

For all I know, right as I send this off to Tony, the house I’m writing from could explode in a fiery blaze from a gas leak (not likely) or dragon attack (very likely).

One thing that I’ve found to be extremely beneficial for my clients and myself is a gradual mindset shift, treating tomorrow not like a guarantee but more as a bonus. With that perspective, we’re much less likely to treat tomorrow as a closet that we toss the things we chose to put off doing today into.

Instead, it becomes an opportunity, something we GET to do.

A large part of why tomorrow seems so appealing is because it acts as a release valve for all the pressure and anxiety we have built up around having to be perfect right now AND in the future.

“Once I start this plan there’s no turning back, so I’ll start on Monday and have a last hurrah this weekend. Delicious food GET INSIDE ME!”

Sound familiar?

We’ve all been there. Monday is the “best” day to start a diet for a reason. Overcoming that initial momentum of not doing anything can be rough.

Enter the tip.

Get your mind out of the gutter – I’m talking about icebergs here.

Note from TG: Hahahahahaha. I get it. It took me a second, but I got it. Nice one Rog.

When looking at an iceberg, you’re seeing less than 10% – the tip – of what’s actually there. If you could see the entire thing, it would probably blow your mind to smithereens.

The same applies to your diet and training.

Free yourself from the daunting task of imagining the whole road ahead of you before you even take the first step and zoom in, choosing the simplest action that will bring you closer towards your objective, then do it.

Are you on the verge of abandoning your workout and eating plan for the day and majestically swan-diving into a tub of ice cream?

QUICK! What’s the easiest thing you can do to turn the tide of battle in your favor?

  1. Put your actual workout clothes on.
  2. Grab your music and turn on your favorite song.
  3. Do one push up (or any exercise for that matter).
  4. Insert your own awesome option here.

By making the next step you take so simple and easy that it doesn’t sound the alarms in your mind that cause you to become paralyzed by focusing on everything that lies ahead, you can build on that one action that left you feeling accomplished and let the momentum carry you to the next task.

You’ll pretty much be the fitness-dominating version of James Woods.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90Ps2L46dUs