It's Your Choice.

So it's been a few (several) days since my last post, which is ok since I was in the middle of final exams at school. Everything went well, and now I'm on to my summer schedule which means a lot of working. Huzzah!!

Today's post comes as a result of basically everybody I see around me, all the time. We face hundreds of choices every day; some are super important, and some are basically inconsequential. Regardless, we still face these choices. The thing is, all of these choices compound together to decide how your day, week, month or year goes. What is an apparently minuscule choice can snowball and create big changes.

Think about how each choice affects you and the people around you. If you can spend a day making more good choices than poor choices, you will have had a great day. Some people, too, spend so much time making big choices, that they let the small ones get away from them. "I'm so busy and stressed out because of work that I'll just get pizza for dinner"...7 nights a week.

Guess what? Everyone's work stresses them out; that's why it's called work and not enjoyment. Start early in the morning. As soon as your alarm goes off, you have a choice to make. Should you stay in bed for an extra 15 minutes, or should you get up to make your coffee and breakfast? One choice allows you an extra 20 minutes of "sleep" and the other makes sure that you are caffeinated, well fed and ready to start your day. If you choose the former over the latter, what might happen? You may end up rushing to get ready, standing in line at Dunkin Donuts to get a shitty breakfast that costs more than it's worth, missing your train and getting to work late. Great way to start your day, huh? Not only are you late for work, but you wasted a bunch of calories on garbage food that serves no purpose in your body. There's nothing nutritionally sound about a Dunk's breakfast sandwich. After you ate that shit for breakfast, what's the chances you're going to have a good clean eating day? Pretty slim.

Think about how your choices will affect the people you have to deal with every day. As a trainer, I have sessions that start at 6 a.m. four days per week, which means that I get to the gym by about 5:40. I have to get up around 4:45-5 so that I have time to walk my dog and shower and stuff. If I choose to go out and have some drinks the night before, and don't get to bed until 1:30, then what happens? I'm grumpy in the morning and my co-workers won't want to be around me. I'll be sluggish and tired and my clients will get a sub-par training session. I'll be too tired later in the day to have my own workout, and I'll probably be looking to put crap food in my body all day. So, I make the choice to not go out, and to try and be in bed by 10:30 or 11 every night. Why? Because I care about my professional life as much as (if not more than) my personal life. If my co-workes and clients think I'm a lazy dick, I wouldn't be able to afford a personal life anyway.

Make your small choices into big ones. Try and understand the consequences of your choices. Finishing off your kids meal? Not something you need to do. Throw it away, or pack it up and bring it home for them to eat the next day. Go to happy hour with your co-workers three times a week, or go to the gym and do your squats and deadlifts? I'm not saying to not enjoy yourself, but do you really need to go out on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday nights, plus your normal Friday, Saturday nights? I think not.

Take just a second to think about each of your choices today. Think about the outcome of each choice and decide if that is really want you need to do to achieve your daily goals. If it's not going to help, then don't do it. Make a better choice. Remember, the better choice isn't always the easy choice (it's usually not). Making that hard choice is what will set you apart, though.

Be awesome. Go lift something heavy!

The Duality of Me

It's pretty easy to read this blog and think "Oh, this guy is just some really handsome, charming, witty meathead who only talks about bacon and deadlifts." That is certainly an image that gets portrayed on this blog, but you may be surprised to know that there is a very different side of me.

This is only one part of Me

I'm a huge music guy; lately I've been listening to a lot of indie/alternative rock stuff. I love classic hip hop as well as classic rock. The recent popularity of EDM (electronic dance music) is interesting to me, and I listen to it, but it's not my bread and butter. If I were to choose a single artist to listen to for the rest of my life, chances are good that it would be Bruce Springsteen. I grew up listening to Bruce, Billy Joel and the Beatles because of my folks, and I think it was a good musical up-bringing.

Here are some songs and artists that I've really been into lately.

Fun is a group that became really popular recently because of their song "We Are Young", but after listening to that album, I quickly decided that this was actually their best song.

Young The Giant is a band that I've been listening to for close to a year now, I think. Their song "My Body" blew up, and they became extremely popular. This song, "Strings", is one of my favorites simply because of the opening chords that get played. They have a bunch of videos on YouTube where they play their album songs acoustically outside, and they are amazing. Go watch.

The Naked and Famous is a band from New Zealand who's album I love; it currently lives in my car. They have several really good songs on this release, but this one is my personal favorite.

Something that people who know the current version of me would never guess is that I'm an avid gardener. I spent four years working at a greenhouse selling plants, assembling and designing ornamental pots and doing landscape and garden design work. I was actually extremely close to going to school for landscape design...until I realized that I'd be spending 4 months gardening, 2 months raking leaves and 6 months shoveling snow.

I still really enjoy it, but have much less time to partake in that hobby. The last time I really got to get my hands dirty was when my sister wanted to install a garden in the corner of her yard. I was tapped to do the design, and I think it came out beautifully. I was initially bitten by the gardening bug as a little kid because my grandmother was an avid gardener; the peonies and tulips in her back garden were gorgeous year after year. I still suggest her trick of burying eggshells near the roots of one of her favorite plants, the Clematis.

Just because it's adorable.

I have the tendency to be a "hopeless romantic", but that is something that is currently taking a backseat to this thing I like to call "reality". It's working out pretty well for me so far.

I'm a big fan of art, of all types. Music, poetry, paintings, sculptures, you name it. The only problem is that I have no discernible artistic talent. I'm extremely jealous of people who are able to adequately express themselves through an artistic medium. When I was younger I played the drums with visions of Alex Van Halen and Lars Ulrich dancing in my head; and I was completely and totally mediocre. The only thing I can draw is a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, and even those are pretty shitty. It turns out that my medium for artistic expression is the human body; I'm learning how to use exercise and nutrition to manipulate the body into whatever form I want. Want a bigger chest? I can do it. Stronger arms? Done. A bigger bum? Consider it done. Want to be leaner, faster and more explosive? Let's do it.

I'll admit it, it's tough to balance out my Alpha Male Testosterone-y bacon eating side with my gentler side. I get so wrapped up in training and lifting that it's easy for me to forget about the other side, the side that helps to make me Me. I know that it is extremely important for me to keep in touch with both sides, and that without both sides of me I'll become boring and un-interesting. Keep that in mind for yourself; your life can't be all about one thing, you have to achieve some balance. I'm going to go lift something heavy (snatches today!), I hope you do too. Before you do, take a second to listen to my favorite poem. Have a good one!

 

The 11 Day Diet

Last Monday, April 23rd, some friends/co-workers and I decided to undergo a very extreme, rigorous and difficult body re-composition phase. Basically, we did a crash diet.

Man, that shit SUCKED. What a stupid fucking idea that was. (Pardon my language). It was truly a poor decision. "Why the hell did YOU do a diet?" many of you are saying as you read this. Why not? Did I need to do a diet in the traditional sense? Nope. I wasn't overweight or anything, it's just something that needed to be done. Honestly, I learned a lot from the past 11 days. About myself, about the way food affects me, and it reaffirmed stuff that I tell clients all the time.

What did I hope to get for results? Well, I hoped to drop a few percent bodyfat. The number on the scale at the beginning and end was arbitrary (Sound familiar, clients?), but the actual change in body composition is what I was looking for. I was/am also looking for an increased insulin sensitivity post-diet. This will allow me to really reap the anabolic effects of the hormone Insulin.

 The diet itself was pretty simple. We got to eat 1.5-2 times our calculated lean body mass in lean protein per day. We got to eat as many non-starchy veggies as we wanted (had to stay away from carrots, potatoes, beets, peas, etc) so I was eating my weight in broccoli, cauliflower, peppers and cucumbers. Protein source was chicken breast, turkey breast, tuna fish, and chicken/turkey deli meats. We used a LOT of hot sauce and mustard too. Any spices and marinades that were zero calorie were fair game. No fats, no carbs of any kind other than a bunch of fish oil, which was a necessity. Diet (zero calorie) soda was allowed sometimes, as were tea and black coffee.

My results? A total loss of 12 pounds (207 to 195) and about 4% body fat. According to our pinches, I went from 13% to 9%. The results were almost identical for the other two guys who did this diet along with me. Are the numbers exact? Nope; calipers are a great way to measure but are by no means perfect. Is it a consistent measurement that can track progress? Without a doubt.

Before

After

I learned a lot about food from the past 11 days. Actually, it's not even stuff I learned;  but stuff that was reaffirmed and reinforced. Such as the importance of having good fats in your diet on a regular basis in order to keep you full and satisfied. I had meals where I would eat a pound of ground turkey and 12 ounces of broccoli, and be hungry immediately upon finishing. I mean, famished. The one "cheat" meal we had was when we went to UFood (a local healthy fast food place) and got some grass-fed steak tips and broccoli. Afterwards we were completely famished. So hungry, in fact, that we went to Chipotle and got a burrito bowl that consisted of: double chicken, onions, peppers and salsa(s). Afterwards? Still hungry. It was unbelievable how much food I could put into my stomach without being full. We are talking hungry-all-the-time kind of miserable. Food was no longer enjoyable; I knew that I wasn't going to be satisfied by any of it, and that it wasn't going to give me energy. Eating was a chore. My energy was low, my cognitive function was low and my mood was miserable.

My biggest craving was for fats. I was dying for whole eggs, milk, bacon and guacamole. That craving set in very early. Carbs weren't that big a deal for me; pasta, rice and potatoes never really crossed my mind. I did, however, really miss bananas, apples, blueberries and donuts. Yup, donuts have been on my mind constantly.

I also learned that my will-power can be as good as I need it to be. I felt stupid, honestly. I knew that I could sit down and have an apple with some peanut butter and a glass of milk and feel better in 20 minutes. It was very mentally taxing to avoid foods that I know are good for me, like eggs, salmon and berries; it was very counter-intuitive. I knew my body wanted them and that I should listen to my body, but I didn't do it. I couldn't, I wouldn't allow myself. The group that I did this with was extremely supportive; I don't believe that any of us could have done it on our own. There's something to be said knowing that you're not the only one doing something stupid.

One of the other difficult things to deal with was peoples reaction to the diet itself. "Oh my God, that's so bad for you!" Or "You of all people should know better!" Yes, I am very well aware that what I'm doing, yet I'm doing it anyway. There's a lot of reasons behind it. Thankfully, I'm the one who has to eat this way, not you.

So, how did I break this diet? On the 11th day (Thursday, yesterday) we re-introduced fats into our diets. It was like frigging Christmas Day to an 8 year old. I started off the day with 6 hard boiled eggs, 3 chicken sausages about about one-third of a kielbasa. Lunch with 4 eggs and 4 strips of bacon, and dinner was a pound of tri-tip steaks wrapped in bacon with 4 over-easy eggs. What a day. I also hit a personal record on my Clean at 242 pounds. It was certainly not a pretty lift, but please feel free to ask me how I feel about that.

Closing thoughts? Don't you even fucking think about doing this diet. It's dumb. It's not worth the results. The VAST majority of people really need to just clean up their diet and eat better on a consistent basis. The easiest thing to do with a diet like this is underfeed and starve yourself. If you're not using fish oil and BCAA's, you'll have a totally different experience. Crash dieting is NOT really an effective way to lose weight, and I can assure you that I won't be doing it again. What's good for me isn't always good for you. Please heed my advice! Crash diets SUCK.

Now, please go eat some bacon and then go lift something heavy!

Live, Learn, Pass it on

There's a few things about this industry that I really like, and very few that I don't like. For example, I love that an emphasis is being placed on movement quality, heavy compound lifts and bacon. I have had great experiences with almost all of the coaches I've met, and I love the camaraderie that this industry provides.

Personally, though, there is one thing that I really enjoy in this industry and that is teaching. For many years, I told my family that I wanted to be a teacher. It seemed like something that just fit me. My mom, however, is a teacher and talked me out of it many years. She has had a lot of problems with the school system that she works in and didn't want me to have to go through the stress that she goes through. I did manage to go ahead and find my own version of teaching, though.

I get to teach clients every day (except Sunday) how to be just a little bit better. Whether it's how to be a little stronger, a little faster or how to eat a little better. Hell, sometimes it's just teaching someone that they can try something and fail at it, and the world doesn't end. I've written before about how many lessons someone can learn from weight training, and I get to teach them. I like that.

Something that I found out that I really liked was teaching other trainers the right way to do things. In my gym I've had the opportunity to take several young new trainers "under my wing" (so-to-speak) and help them learn the ropes. These trainers have come from all walks of life: physical therapy, athletic training, music and political science just to name a few. Some come with more advanced knowledge than others, but they all come with an interest and wiling-ness to learn.

I'm in no way suggesting that I know everything - I'm the first to admit that my education and my ability is still in it's adolescence. I've still in the process of learning, and I relish each opportunity I get to do so. However, I'm very confident in the knowledge that I do possess. I feel comfortable and confident  telling new trainers the proper form for lifts, explaining why EPOC is elevated after interval training or explaining why yoga and Pilates will, in fact, NOT lengthen or tone your muscles.

I've found this to be a truth in the entire industry. Every more-experienced coach that I've met had no problem sitting down and talking shop, answering any questions and sharing information. Tony Gentilcore, Mike Ranfone, Smitty, Todd Bumgardner and John Gaglione were all really cool guys that really exemplify this trait. With the exception of the Disciples of Charles Poliquin, who tend to keep to themselves, this trait really is industry wide. Why? I think it's because theres no real secrets. No one is dying to give up their programming, per se, but the sharing of ideas and info? That's what this industry is built on. We all know that the basic compound moves are your bread and butter; that's been known for years. Everyone knows that the Prowler is an amazing conditioning tool, and that grass-fed beef and eggs are actually really good for you.

This is a great industry. I'm constantly finding something new to love about it. Now, go lift something heavy! (And if someone in your gym doesn't know how to do a deadlift, teach them!)

Things I Like

Every once in a while, I like to write a post about things that I've been doing/using that I think are pretty cool and useful. I don't guarantee that you'll think the same way, but it's worth a shot. Right?

Front Squats: I've always liked front squats, but I didn't love them until recently. As of late, it has become my favorite squat variation. I personally go with heels elevated (or weightlifting shoes) and get as low as I can. This is extremely friendly to my knees, and I feel like it has a great carry-over to jumping. I have also recently gotten into Olympic lifting, and the front squat is of the utmost importance for that. A high volume of front squats in the last few months is also the stimulus for some good growth in my upper legs.

MobilityWOD: Kelly Starret is a genius, plain and simple. He is a DPT and the owner of San Francisco CrossFit, one of the first 50 or so CrossFit affiliates. His website, MobilityWOD has changed the way I view warming up and mobility work. I've been very conscious of the fact that (as Eric Cressey says) you can't underestimate the importance of soft tissue quality for a long time now, but KStar has added elements that I have never seen before. It is some of the most innovative, effective and painful things that I have come across. This is one of those situations when I tell clients "the more it sucks, the better it is for you". Well, the majority of this mobility exercises suck to do. He uses a variety of methods to restore mobility, including banded joint distractions, self ART with lax balls, and tissue "mashing" with foam rollers, wine bottles and barbells. Check it out; seriously.

The Prowler: Yup, I know I've written about my love of the prowler before and I'm going to do it again right now. Why again? Because I just got one! I bought an Econo Prowler from my good buddy Dan, and it was a fantastic purchase. We used it in the street in front of my house already, and it's a helluva way to get in some good easy-on-the-body conditioning. Sprints and hill sprints are amazing, so is the rower and jump rope, but they all usually leave your body a little banged up. Not the Prowler, though. It's basically a bunch of single-leg eccentric-less density work. Great way to get your heart-rate going and a great way to get some extra volume for your legs. Can't go wrong with it.

My dog and my sled.

Yellow Mustard: There will be an update about this tomorrow, but I am currently finishing up a pretty awful diet. One of the saving graces (Can I say that? Saving graces? Is that a thing?) was French's yellow mustard. A man can only eat so much chicken breast, turkey breast or tuna fish before he wants to start taking peoples lives. Some yellow mustard slathered on poultry really goes a long way. Plus, its zero calorie! (If you know me at all, you know how much I hate espousing the benefits of something that has no calories.)




Mad Men: Yup, the TV show. I don't watch a lot of TV (I don't have cable) so I watch things on Netflix. This is a show my sister has been raving about for a few years, and a few friends recently got into it and convinced me to start watching. I must say, I'm sad I didn't start sooner. Great characters, great dialogue and a really good story line. The only downside is that after watching an episode, all I want to do is go smoke cigarettes, drink whiskey and demean women.**

All Things Gym:  This is a fairly new website that takes all the iron sport stuff out there and condenses it into one amazing little package. Power lifting videos? It's there. CrossFit stuff? It's there. Weightlifting news? It's there in spades. Whatever it is that you enjoy in this wild world of weight training, you can find news and videos on this site. It is certainly skewed more to Olympic lifting stuff, but that's alright. Where else can you go to find the great new MobilityWOD video and also see Mikhail Koklyaev do a 100 kg (220 pound) barbell sit-up? No where!! All Things Gym is the website responsible for first introducing me to the Klokov Complex!

That's it for today. I hope you enjoyed the post and I hope you find at least something that I wrote about today to be enjoyable or useful to you somehow. If not....I dunno what to tell you, I wrote about some pretty cool shit, there's probably something wrong with you.

Go be awesome! Lift something heavy today!

**I do not demean women, ever. My Momma would slap the taste out of my mouth.

Time Takes Time

There is something that I try to impress upon all of my clients, and anyone else that I talk to about training and nutrition.

Time takes time. This holds true for absolutely everything in life, not just fitness related goals. You want that promotion? Put in the time and effort. You want that girl? Put in the time and effort (Although, I guarantee nothing in this department. Nobody should be taking their advice on women from me. They are Unstable Creatures.) You want to drop 15 pounds or put 50 on your deadlift? Well, you guessed it, put in the time and effort. 

Nothing about training and fitness is linear. The people who will see the MOST linear progression are newbies; strength gains and weight loss can be seen easily and quickly. This is a beautiful thing because people see their results and get satisfied and invested. However, this effect wears off over time. Even the most linear progressions involve an inherent peak and valley system known as the supercompensation effect. 

Supercompensation effect of one workout

Ideal supercompensation curve during a program cycle

So, like I said, time takes time. Under ideal conditions, strength improvements can be much more linear than fat/weight loss. I hate to do this, but think about The Biggest Loser. Even those people (under ideal conditions) will have weeks where they lose massive amounts of weight, and weeks were they lose very minimal (relatively speaking) amounts of weight. 

Given that knowledge, think about what kind of results we can hope for while living the chaotic lives that we all live. You're trying to lose weight while balancing work, school, relationship, kids, dog, friends and money. These facts of life serve to disrupt your training, eating, sleeping and recovery; which all have a direct correlation to fat loss. Hormone levels play a huge role in fat loss, and cortisol (a stress hormone) is the biggest role player. If your stress levels are high, your cortisol is up. If you're eating and sleeping like crap, cortisol levels are high. If you're training too hard and not recovering enough, your cortisol levels are high. High cortisol has proven to have a high correlation with increased adiposity.

Setbacks and plateaus happen, it's part of the lives we lead. Goals will be met, you just need to remember to let time happen. No matter what you do, you can't rush your body. Train the right way, eat the right way, and recover the right way and the things you want to happen will happen. The nice thing is that days only come one at a time, so you can work to make each day perfect before you have to worry about the next one. Strive to have more "great" and "perfect" days than "shitty" days, and you'll do well. Remember that one single shitty day doesn't make or break you, just like one perfect day won't make or break you. One day of eating junk food and having some beers isn't what made you fat in the first place, it was having several months or years of that. It took some time to get you into the shape you're in, it'll take some time to undo it.

You're already in good shape? Well, be prepared to wait even longer. I forget who said this (Cressey? Tate?), but think about how easy it was to get to your first 225 deadlift. Now, think about how much longer it took to get to 315, and then how it took forever to get to 405. That's how it is with every aspect of fitness and training. The first goals are always the easiest, and it gets exponentially harder after that. Each goal takes more and more time to achieve. In the strength sport world (weightlifting and powerlifting) it's well known that the longer you've been lifting, the fewer PR's you'll be hitting. Some athletes can go a full year without hitting a new PR, or only adding 2.5 pounds to a lift. And you know what? That's okay! They are still thrilled when it happens! Why? Because they know that time takes time!

Regardless of who you are (myself included) you need to remember that good things come with hard work and effort, and everybody has peaks, valleys and plateaus (it's part of life). Any method that promises results in a week isn't worth your time. Anything that is worth having is worth fighting for. Remember that, relax and go lift something heavy!

The 4 B's

Basic Barbell movements Build Beasts.

Yup, it's another post about simplicity. Why? Because it has recently became very obvious and very important to me. It has affected my training, and the way that I train my clients. It does't have to be so difficult. People took something that was super easy, and went and fucked it all to hell. Do you know what old-timey gyms looked like? You walked in, and there was a bunch of dumbbells and barbells on the ground. There may have been some climbing ropes and some gymnastics equipment. Possibly even a tumbling mat. That's about it.

See? Did you think I was lying? You never believe me!

Yup, as the saying goes "there's no school like the old school". The "classic" mantra holds true for the things that are most awesome: hip hop, cars and training. Give me some A Tribe Called Quest, Public Enemy, Dre and Cube. While you're at it, I'll take a 1968 Hurst Oldsmobile 442 (red with black racing stripes) and a 1969 Lincoln Continental, with the suicide doors (black).

Bodybuilders? We're talking classic all the way, too. Seriously, who actually wants to look like Jay Cutler or Ronnie Coleman? Nobody! That shit is gross, son! Now who wants to look like Arnold or Steve Reeves? Just about any guy in the gym.

Those guys are classics. They look absolutely nothing like the freak-show guys that step on stage at professional bodybuilding shows nowadays. Complete opposites. 

What the hell is my point? It's that the best training principles, methods and tools were all developed at the advent of the iron game. The oldest movements? Cleans, snatches, deadlifts, squats, presses, rows and the gymnastics related bodyweight movements. The exercises that, today, get the best results? Yup, it's the same ones. Cable machines, selectorized equipment and dumbbells are all useful tools, but they all came after the best pieces of equipment we have: barbells and kettlebells. 

I've believed this for a long time, but my recent personal experience has really solidified my thoughts. For several reasons, my training partner and I have pared our training down to a few basic compound movements. Front squats, RDL's, Push Presses, chin-ups and pull-ups have been really making up the meat and potatoes of our programming for about two months. The results? With some good eating, I gained several pounds of (mostly) muscle mass with almost no change in my body fat percentage.

(Note: while barbell lifts should make up the foundation of your training, you can't neglect the efficacy of cables and dumbbells to help address your weak points and structural deficits.)

Want more proof? Take a look at one of the greatest athletes competing in the strength sports today; Dmitry Klokov. The guy is a Savage of the highest order.

As an Olympic weightlifter from Russia, Klokov spends his time working with a barbell, and that's about it. His training consists of the stuff named above: cleans, jerks, snatches, deadlifts, squats and presses. That's about it. Not too shabby for a dude who doesn't have a bi's and tri's day, huh?

The take home message is this: don't major in the minors. Do your barbell lifts, and do them heavy and often. Eat lots of whole real foods. Be a savage, and reap the benefits. Lift something heavy. I'll leave you with some Klokov inspiration.

Something Fun.

Well, it's Spring time here in Boston, which means Summer is right around the corner. In just a few short weeks, you'll be encountering situations that involve less clothing than you've been used to for the last several months.

You've been lifting weights and eating well all Winter, right? Hopefully, that is true. But if you're like me, you hate doing conditioning work inside of the gym. Treadmills, bikes and rowing ergs just don't appeal to me. I like being outside running hills, doing sprints and pushing sleds; that is the stuff that is fun for me. If you can get yourself outside to do some of that good conditioning work (assuming you're still eating well) you can start to peel away that last bit of Winter fat and get your ab-game right for the Summer.

What it is: The Medicine Ball Throw and Chase. In this video, I'm using an 8 pound MB. The weight can vary, but be aware that a heavier ball just won't get thrown as far as a lighter one. This is a conditioning exercise, not a power exercise, so use a lighter ball than you think you should be. I'm doing a reverse overhead throw, but you can use whatever variation you'd like. Chest pass, rotational throw, shot-put, etc etc. Do them all, if you want!

How to do it: Get a medicine ball. Throw it. Chase it and catch it. Throw it again. Rest and repeat. Not too hard, right?

This is, really, a pretty easy way to get in some conditioning. It's not super hard, so you could do it several times a week. Since it's not super hard, you can do it post-workout and you won't be doing yourself any damage in terms of recovery. Conversely, doing hill sprints is pretty tough and will often times make me want to puke (in a good way). I don't currently have access to a Prowler, so this is a great lighter type of conditioning work. It also has the added power component to it; as I'm launching that ball, I'm in a triple-extension position throwing a sub-max weight as far as I can. Boom - power development.

Go give it a shot, and let me know how it goes!

Keepin' it Simple.

In the last several months I've gone through a lot of changes in my life. I eat differently, I interact differently and I take a different approach to almost every aspect of my life. I've simplified a lot of the things that I do, and as a result I've decreased the amount of stress that I have. One of the most recent changes I made was to my training life; I simplified things and I've been seeing some great results.

The big training change that was made was to start doing Charles Poliquin's Advanced German Volume Training Program (Advanced GVT). This is a template aimed at increasing functional hypertrophy and overall strength. The program is designed to take out all the bells and whistles of training. We have rotating workouts, and each training day is comprised of 2 exercises. For example, incline press/barbell row; front squat/RDL; chin-ups/dips. These are not our only workouts, but I don't need to delve into our whole program. Over several weeks we progress from 10x5, to 10x4, 10x3 and then back to 10x5 and repeat the cycle. Each new rep scheme comes with an increase of weight as well. That's it. Add to this some hill sprints for conditioning, and we are doing a program that would make even Jim Wendler and Dan John (the King's of simplicity) happy. 

So, what is this doing? The high volume of heavy compound movements is certainly getting me stronger, and certainly adding muscle. As of yesterday I weighed in at 207 pounds and 13% body fat. This is a gain of about 7 pounds over the last month or month and a half. Pretty good results, I'd say.

My diet is pretty simple nowadays, too. I'm still doing Intermittent Fasting and I'm really enjoying it. I find it has actually reduced a lot of my stress regarding food, especially in the morning. I'm not concerned about prepping, packing or taking food with me everywhere I go. I make sure I have my first meal for when I break my fast, but that's it. My results thus far? A gain of several pounds, with no increase in body fat. Again, something that I consider a success.

So, what are my meals like? Amazing. At noon, when I break fast, I eat protein and fat. Usually something like 6-8 eggs and some bacon or chicken sausage. Today will be 6 hardboiled eggs and some cheese. Right after my workout I have protein, carbs and fat; often it is chicken, rice and guacamole. I repeat the same macronutrient profile of that meal for my next 2 meals. Nothing too special about that, right? Oh; the thing I forgot to mention. The half gallon of whole milk that I drink every day. That's right. It accounts for an extra 1200 calories, 60 grams of protein and 60 grams of fat. I am finding this extremely beneficial because there are some days where I just find it impossible to get in the required number of calories to sustain growth.

Yup, that's right. I eat bacon and eggs several times per week. I eat beef and guacamole with rice and whole fat cheese almost every day. I drink half a gallon of whole milk every single day. The result? Lean muscle gain with barely any additional adipose tissue. (Note: If you're one of my clients reading this, and you think I'm talking to you, you're probably right.) I'd love to really get the point across that eating real whole foods, and not processed "diet" stuff is really the key to obtaining the body composition goals that you desire. I know it's a strange concept to get behind, but it's the truth. 

Well, that's all for today. Go lift something heavy, and eat something that used to have a face.


Be good, peoples!

A letter to my younger self.

The other day Jim Wendler had an article posted by the same name. What'd I think of it? It was pure genius. I've read things similar to this before, but Wendler's really hit home with me. So much so that I decided to straight out take the idea! Ask me how I feel about that.

Dear Young Me,

You've got a helluva journey ahead of you, Bro. Be prepared. I wish I could tell you differently, but your life isn't without its twists, turns, ups and downs. You'll have good times and bad times, and you'll be stronger for it. I can't give you all the secrets, but hopefully I can streamline a few things.

Try just a bit harder in High School, please. Just a bit. You're much smarter than you give yourself credit for, but you're being Goddamn lazy and you know it. You get by pretty well with your awful study habits, but you could definitely do better. Oh, and don't take AP Physics. Trust me. It's a clusterfuck for you.

All those people that rag on you for being the Chinese kid? Let it roll off your back. Most of them end up being pretty fat.

I won't give away too much information, but Dad is going to have a talk with you on your way to move in to UMass Amherst. You think he is ridiculous, but it's the best advice anyone could give you. You should think much harder about what he has to say. Think long and hard about what you want from your education. You'll travel a twisty path to figure out what you love and it will take you some time, but when you figure it out you'll be happier than ever, I promise.

You'll first discover lifting when you're about 14-15. Keep knocking out the bench and curls on the back porch, because why not? But when you come across your first squat rack in Mike Delgado's garage, take the time to learn how to use it. It's a really good thing, and you'll be happy you did it. You like sprinting, you're also not too awful at it. Keep it up, sprint all you want. If you stick to the script of: bench, squat, deadlifts, sprints you'll be in pretty good shape for anything that comes your way. Find an opportunity to learn how to do the Olympic lifts, clean and press and the snatch. It's a lot of fun, and your athleticism will benefit greatly from it. Oh, and eat more! Life is too short to be small and weak.

Girls will come and girls will go in your life. They are all beautiful and they are all necessary for the evolution of You. Learn to take them less seriously, though, and you'll feel a lot better. Love is a beautiful thing, but don't get so wrapped up in it. You'll save yourself a lot of pain that way. I can't give you all the info regarding this stuff, because a lot of what you go through will help make you into who you are. Just keep calm and try not to give a damn.

Here's a shitty fact of life: people are gonna hate. They will hate for a lot of reasons, which may be out of your control. In high school, you're going to get shit from people just because you are different. These people are small-minded and ignorant, so fuck 'em. Later in life you'll come across people that are going to press negative energy on you for various reasons. Some people will be uncomfortable by your dedication to your passion; they don't understand why you would want to eat the way you eat, or train the way you train. It's not you they don't understand, it's your passion for something. Most people, you'll find, go through life without being passionate about anything. They just exist, going through the motions day after day. Please remember that these are people that you can't necessarily change; a lot of them just are who they are.

Negative energy will come at you from all angles, so be aware of it and don't get caught up in it. Girls, friends, co-workers, it's all over the place. People won't get you and will want you to change; don't. Keep being you, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.

It'll take you a while, but you'll find out what you were meant to do in life. You have a particular gift for teaching people, that's why you wanted to be a teacher for so long. Thankfully, Mom talked you out of that. You'll merge the things you love, teaching and exercise. Know what? You're going to be pretty friggin' good at it, too. Your knack for being able to sympathize and empathize with people will pay off, and you'll be able to get your message across to a wide variety of people. You're going to love this industry, having clients stop you and say "Thanks, I can't put into words how much you've helped me, but thanks" will be some of the most rewarding experiences of your life. Truly.

You're going to be just fine, man. Things won't always turn out the way you want them to turn out, but that doesn't mean it turns out poorly. Just differently. Always remember that the less you care, the happier you'll be.

Take care, and don't forget to lift something heavy.

Guess what? Nobody cares.

One of the main reasons that I hear as to why someone doesn't want to go into a weight room or start an exercise program is because they are embarrassed. They think that people are going to crack jokes or make fun of them because they aren't fit or strong.

Well, this guy will get made fun of.

You know what, though? If you're in the weight room working hard and trying to get better, then no one gives a damn what you're doing. Seriously. No one that matters, at least. If someone is in the weight room trying to get better themselves, then they have no time to worry about what you're doing. You can do whatever you want; what you eat doesn't make me shit. The people in the gym who do have time to make fun of you? That just means they aren't working hard enough themselves. They are also probably weak (mind and body).

A strong lifter knows that everybody starts someplace. We were all once beginners, we all once squatted like shit, and we all once thought that the preacher curl was the most important piece of equipment in the gym. There is a learning curve to strength and conditioning; you can't be expected to walk into the gym and know everything on day 1. You can be expected to work hard and ask questions, though. 

The people who will get made fun of? Those who think their shit don't stink. The people who have asked the right questions, and had access to the right information and still do stupid things. If you've read 30 articles that espouse the benefits of the deadlift and squat, and all the trainers at your gym are big strong guys who squat and pull, then why would you still insist on doing a bastardized version of a half-kneeling kettlebell clean? If you ask for advice from 6 different people that you trust, and they all answer you the same way, maybe that is advice you should consider. 

The other person who will get made fun of? The guy who think he's a monster. The guy who thinks shrugging 225 makes him a beast. The guy who thinks dumping 50 pound dumbbells off his chest makes him a badass. The guy who grunts and groans his way through a set of triceps kickbacks so that everybody in the gym will see how savage he is. Those guys are clowns, there's no need for them in the weight room. You know what you can say to those guys?

If you're in the gym and you are genuinely working hard and trying to get better, no one cares how strong or fit you are. You'll always be respected for your effort, and more often than not someone will eventually approach you to ask if you need help with anything.

On a lighter note, I just went and enjoyed a fantastic brunch at a great local restaurant (Zaftigs) with some friends visiting from NY. Me being me, I ordered some corned beef hash and 6 over-easy eggs for my meal. Pretty standard meal for me; I've been known to go as high as 8 eggs in a sitting. Really not particularly impressive egg numbers, in actuality. Yet, she had to double check with me that it was the correct number of eggs. I ate, and really enjoyed my meal (the food there is amazing). When the (cute) waitress came back to clear our plates she said "Wow, you really ate them all. The kitchen had to double check with me to make sure you wanted 6 eggs." She was either extremely impressed (and interested in me) or completely and totally disgusted. I'll just assume she thought I was hot. Really, though; is it that strange to see someone order 6 eggs??

Well, thanks for reading this week. Go to the gym and work hard. Leave some sweat on the floor and some blood on the barbell. Ask questions, learn. You'll continue to get better and see the results you want to see.  Have a great Easter weekend! Go lift something heavy!

What's the point?

This is something I hear all the time, relating to exercise and specifically weight training. What's the point in being able to deadlift 500 pounds? What's the point in being able to bench 315? I'm not a powerlifter!

Why bother being strong? Why bother being able to run 5 miles? Why bother having extra money in your bank account? Why bother filling the gas tank in your car all the way?

Strength is an important part of being a human. It allows you to do your normal activities with more ease and less strain. Is being able to squat 225 good? Sure is. Why, then, does it not make sense that being able to squat 315 is better, and 405 is even better than that? It's not functional, you say. Ok, I'll grant that maybe the actual movement of squatting with a bar on your back isn't something you do during your activities of daily living, but I'd argue to to the death that you use those muscle and that pattern dozens of times a day in some fashion. Strength is something that is good to have some reserves of. Reserves are always a good thing. Why else do we slave away at work to make extra money that some of us will never even use? Why don't billionaires stop when they have the money they need? Welp, I guess 20 million is enough, I guess I'll just go ahead and stop  now.

Regardless of your physical activity of choice, being stronger will help make you better at it. Maybe running is your thing. Do you mean to tell me that your times won't get better when your legs get stronger? My brother-in-law enjoys doing CrossFit, and is considering purchasing a home gym set-up for his garage. I mentioned that the one he was looking at only came with about 300 lbs worth of weights, and suggested he may need more. He asked why, and when I mentioned getting stronger his response was "to what end?"

Not his gym, I wish it was.

Well, if you want to be achieve better times/scores during the WOD's, getting stronger will certainly help. Let's say the WOD calls for 225 pound deadlifts. It'll be much easier to get through if your max deadlift is 450 rather than if it's 275. If you can get through more rounds of the workout, you'll have had a better workout. Right? Right.

Need another reason to get strong? It's a challenge. It's something to strive for, to fight and plan for. You don't gain any strength by just showing up at the gym, you need to put the work in. Getting strong provides you with a daily challenge that you just don't get from other aspects of your life. You can show up to work and coast and still make your yearly salary. You can go home to your girlfriend and just exist, and she will still love you. You can even go hang out with the same guys every week and watch football all day without ever scratching the surface of each other.

It's not true in the gym. People go to the gym with the expectation of "getting better" (whatever "better" means to you). Better happens in stages. Every time you get better, it's time to try and achieve that next stage. It's not easy, but nothing worth having ever is.

Be awesome today. Go lift something heavy!

My to-do list.

Every once in a while I like to write a post about things that I need to do a better job of. Some things are mundane, and some things are really important. Either way, they all add up to stuff that will help me be better.

1) Drink more water!! I know, I'm an ass. One of my New Years resolutions was to drink more water, and I failed miserably at it. I go through bouts where I do a great job of drinking water, and then other times where I realize that I haven't had water in, like, 2 days. Whoops. I know that I'm robbing myself of physical and mental potential by being constantly under-hydrated, so it's time to stop being a dick and just drink the right amount of water. It's go time.

2) Drink more green tea. The health benefits of green tea have been researched and validated numerous times. I spend so much of my time drinking coffee that I leave little/no time to drink tea. I'm going to make an effort to drink at least one cup of green tea per day. This is an example of a small change that can pay big dividends down the road somewhere.

3) Read more research. I do a great job of reading blogs everyday. I'm constantly exposed to new information through the eyes of other strength coaches. As a result, I'm presented with their bias on the information at hand. I need to do a better job of reading information on my own and developing my own opinion. With that being said, I need to read more stuff (in general) that is outside of my "comfort" zone. I should spend more time reading stuff about nutrition and business management, and less about exercise prescription and program design.

4) Figure out what the hell is wrong with my elbow! It's been well over a month now that my elbow has been bugging me. I thought I had it all figured out, but it's been a chronic pain. At end range of motion (both flexion and extension) it's pretty uncomfortable. It's not an unbearable pain, just annoying. If one of my clients came to me and told me that their elbow felt like this, I would tell them to go see somebody and they would probably have to take some time off from the gym. Knowing that this will probably be the answer, I have instead chosen to completely ignore that advice and try to fix it myself with some massage and mobility work. Thus far, it hasn't been amazing. I know I need to get it checked out, but I really don't want to take any time off from lifting. I'm not stupid, but I never said I wasn't an idiot.

5) Relax!! I find myself getting wound up pretty tight about things happening in my life. This is one of my downfalls, sometimes I just care too much. I need to remind myself more often that there is a short list of things in this life that really matter; especially right now. Family, school and my career are my priorities right now (yes, I'm including my own training in the "career" category). Everything else can take a backseat until the other shit is all straightened out. I'm going to keep reminding myself that everything happens for a reason.

This is my homework for the next few weeks/months. How about you? What do you need to do better? Figure it out, and do it. Go lift something heavy!

The Supreme Strength Seminar

This past weekend I had the pleasure of heading to Long Island to Gaglione Strength and Conditioning for a seminar with some of my buddies. Road trip!!

The seminar was hosted by John Gaglione and Todd Bumgardner, to help promote their upcoming program going by the same name (Supreme Strength). I was really looking forward to meeting these two guys and getting tips and tricks from them, and then we arrived and found out there were more special guests. Mike Ranfone made the trip from Connecticut and, one of the most well-known names in strength and conditioning, Jim "Smitty" Smith was there too. Having those four coaches available to talk to was worth its weight in gold. They are the kinds of "celebrities" that we have in this crazy little world of Strength and Conditioning. The seminar started off with some really great tips on warm-ups, utilizing some techniques that I've never tried. We broke apart into groups and went over the 4 big lifts: squat, deadlift, bench and press. This was great, because I got to get some tips from the coaches at all 4 stations. Smitty managed to find me at each station and give me some really good information. I was most excited to have those guys watch me deadlift, I find their tips really useful. We ended the day with a Q&A session where they did a great job of answering every question asked of them.

When I read an article or attend a seminar, my goal is to take away one really good tip or trick. The tip I took this weekend was about bracing. I thought that I knew how to get tight for a lift, but I was wrong. Breathe in through the nose, fill up your low belly, push out through your obliques, squeeze your lats, "melt the bar with your hands". These all combined to help me feel tighter than ever before when performing a lift. These are cues that I am certainly going to bring back to my clients.

One of the things that made me feel really good after this seminar was the amount of information that they provided that I was already familiar with. They provided some tips and tricks that I use with clients already. They talked about some programming considerations that I already employ. There wasn't even any glaring deficiencies in my lifts that needed correcting. I left this seminar feeling pretty confident in the amount of knowledge that I already have (obviously I know that there is still SO much more to learn).

Post-seminar we went to eat at a pizza place around the corner (Italian food in Long Island? Who knew?) Getting to sit, eat and shoot the shit with these guys was awesome. It was really worthwhile to hang out with them and talk shop a little bit. The best part of the whole weekend, though, was Friday night. We arrived at Gags place just before 6 p.m. and walked into the end of a wrestling practice (his gym is part of a wrestling school). We walked in and Gags and Smitty were just hanging out. My buddy Dan has been to Gaglione's place for a seminar before, which allowed us to get invited in for a quick training session. Twenty minutes after getting out of the car, I was in a group training with Gags, Smitty and Brad Martin (another DieselCrew member). I got to roll out my upper back a little and do some t-spine extensions and then I was under the bar warming up with 135 for speed benches. No big deal, right? We got a few sets in, worked up to 155 or so, and then Smitty threw some bands on the bar. I'm not sure how many sets we did, but we worked around the group doing triples until Smitty said we were done.

We then moved on to some pullup ladders. We were lifting in the EliteFTS collegiate racks (love them) so we got to use the neutral grips (great for my elbow). There was 5 of us lifting together, so we went through one at a time. Single, double, triple...up to 5. Then we switched the stimulus. First up were regular pullups, then some L-sits, then some band resisted. Finishing up with a max-effort iso-hold against the bands. Smitty went and got the TRX out, and we did some rows and face pulls. Next up? Fat grip TRX face pulls. Then? Feet elevated Band resisted Fat Gripz TRX rows. No big deal.

The other group of guys that were training at the same time as us finished up almost simultaneously. Someone pulled out a KB and started a little pissing contest. Bottoms-up press with the heaviest KB was the Man Challenge of the night, and people started throwing their hats in the ring. Smitty, of course, won the challenge by doing a bottoms-up clean and press with the approximately 90 pound bell. Really really cool to see. We finished up and people started leaving and doing other stuff. Before I realized it, we were getting a private lesson from Smitty on the RKC swing. Ho. Lee. Shit. No big deal, right? Just some private coaching being handed to us by one of the most well-known and highly respected guys in the industry. That 90 minute training session was worth the entire trip by itself. Getting to share a barbell with guys like that is really an honor.

All in all, it was a great trip to Long Island. I learned some stuff and made some great connections in the industry. Attending seminars is something that I know that I need to do more of, but it's an expensive proposition for me. I'm going to continue taking the opportunity to get to every seminar that I can afford, in an effort to meet the right people and learn the right things.

Thanks for reading! Go lift some heavy shit!