Webfire Themes Weebly Templates

start your path to live. awesome.

What You're Doing Isn't Strengh

1/28/2020

When you lift or press a weight for 10 seconds, you deplete your first line of energy, called ATP: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioenergetic_systems. The same thing happens when jumping or sprinting, or frankly even lower intensity exercise. It takes 30 seconds to recover 50% of the ATP. In 60 seconds, you may be 85% recovered. But it will take until 3-5 minutes to be fully restored.

If you are working at an intensity that will build strength, it is an immutable physical law that recovery is going to take beyond 60 seconds. Any effort which can be continued for minutes at a time and recovered from in less than 60 seconds is not strength. By definition, you aren’t training strength unless it takes 1-5 minutes to be prepared to replicate the performance. This is a biological fact, not a fitness opinion. And it cannot be overcome through will or “pushing it.” It’s a set chemical law of nature.

Walking is not strength. Raking leaves and shoveling isn’t strength. Tabata isn’t strength. HIIT isn’t strength. Circuits aren’t strength. Picking up 1lb or 2lb dumbbells isn't strength. Most popular fitness isn’t strength. It can’t be, by biological definition. If you persist beyond 10-15 seconds in an exercise, there is an immediate drop in power as you begin to call upon the glycolytic system (which will also begin creating lactic acid). This can sustain you until around 45 seconds, at which point you’ll suffer another drop in power (by 90 seconds you are firmly in aerobic territory). Thus, if you want to train to INCREASE power (ie - strength), you must remain pretty tightly in the 10-15 or at least sub-45 second efforts. AND to repeatedly do this will require REST, a MINIMUM of 60 seconds up to several minutes of rest in between. Over time, you increase the intensity, resistance, load AND rest times.

Real strength training DEMANDS rest. If you aren’t resting in between efforts, you aren’t strengthening. If you don't HAVE TO rest for minutes at a time, you aren't strengthening.

Everything requires strength. Sitting in a chair requires strength. Holding a pencil requires strength. But they are not training increases in the capacity that is strength. Most activities are not TRAINING improvements or even maintenance in strength, because they are an intensity which can be done for longer than 45 seconds and require very little or no rest in between. If the intensity of something is low enough that you can continue it well in excess of 45 seconds, it isn't strength. If you can replicate that effort after only a few seconds of rest, it isn't strength. If you aren't consistently getting stronger, reducing pain, and improving life, what you're doing isn't strength.

The Best Is Never Filmed

1/25/2020

My coworkers, employees, peers, and clients had been performing incredible records and feats from 2004 to 2012 and we never thought to video any of it. That was back in the days when people just worked really hard or simply enjoyed the gym, and didn’t post every brain fart that popped up.

The other things I really like about these rare shots is that you can see how much fun we’re having (videos here: https://www.instagram.com/p/B4R3PheDzUS/). There was zero thought about angles, takes, production value, lighting (or even if the lens is clean!). The fact that I was negative 2% bodyfat was cool too. But guess what. At the time, I didn't have anywhere to upload this. I didn't have a LinkedIn account. I didn't have Facebook. Brace yourselves. This isn't hyperbole. I spent less than 10 minutes PER DAY on all mobile devices combined!

I miss those days. Nowadays, just look around the gym and you'll see people totally immersed in their phones, aligning their cameras to capture every single little effort. It's cute. Uncertified and uncredentialed nobodies with next-to-no experience can become celebrities with the right marketing efforts and an itchy camera finger.

To this day, when I meet with buddies to do workouts, my phone is still away. I’m intent on being in the moment. Often they’ll say, “shouldn’t we catch some content to post?” No. We shouldn't. I don't think random viewers are entitled to know the deep intricacies of fitness experience from seasoned veterans. I don't think they can be trusted with the nuance, nor can they synthesize the breadth of information.

The best should never be filmed. Actually, it can't. If you aren't physically present, you don't deserve to see the greatest. And make no mistake, folks. We don't. Every performance which is documented, no matter how incredible, is a tiny sample populace of the trillions of hours of physical feats performed in the universe. We're deluding ourselves to think the greatest athletic moments have been captured on film. By definition, they can't. Even Olympics. Even combines. Even championships. I guarantee that the best moments happened in scrimmages, in unfilmed training, in private quiet dedication to ones craft, that the layperson and general audience will never know about.

Oversharing has ruined people's ability to even keep this in perspective. A lot of young adults and kids genuinely believe the greatest athletes of all time are contemporary bros with YouTube channels. Early 20th century strongmen and basically the entirety of written history might as well be all fairytales, as far as they're concerned. In their minds, if something didn't get a social media upload today, it's as if it doesn't/didn't and can't/couldn't exist in reality. News cycles are less than 12 hours. Near-naked girls in a non-stop "look at me" narcissism have become "fitness professionals." If they dare to spend the time it takes to get real experience and miss a single check-out-my-new-bikini update, they risk losing relevance and disappear into the nether as if they never existed in the first place. It's insane.

I’ve been a part of or run multiple 6 to 9 figure fitness businesses for over 16 years without much sharing at all (technically, we used NONE until about four years ago). Thus, my perspective is very contrarian. In my mind, the only realities in fitness are those with little to no web presence, which can't be found in a google search, which have no sponsored ads on feeds, etc. I know bankrupt people who've floundered in the fitness industry with over a hundred thousand followers. And I also know people who've made about half a million per year without a single social media account. To me, success, validity and respectability is inversely related to internet popularity.

In fact, I even resent that I've had to pay attention to the societal obsession with oversharing. People are actively giving up the purity of an act for itself. I am not interested in giving up that purity. The nirvana we can experience from being totally present in our greatest moments of life are GONE once we commit to oversharing. I'm not willing to reduce my life to that level. And many artists (musicians, in particular) have figured this out. They tire of making stories or art or music while always thinking about how the marketplace will react. They want to just lose themselves in their art, not thinking about critical acclaim, not thinking about publishers, not thinking about anything but the beauty of the moment. People like Prince wrote enough music for hundreds of albums, but he never intended to share any of it. Comedians like Dave Chappelle banned cameras at his shows so that he could experiment with material, play to the highest level of his craft, specifically WITHOUT the Twittersphere all aflutter with reactions and condemnations. Are you paying attention yet? The best is never filmed. Meanwhile, average people actually look for ways to trade out the experience of their best moments in order to document the now-lesser moment in a photo or video. People think that photos and videos are better than palpable physical touch. It's incredibly sad.

When I was 16, I took such wonderful joy in doing certain soccer tricks. I searched for opportunities in a practice or game to pull them off. To nail a full front split while leaping through the air in order to stall an overhead soccer ball was magic. I never thought to videotape it. That would've corrupted it. It would've sapped the magic from the moment. It would've deprived me the instinctive wonder and self-satisfaction of that just-right millisecond. When, at 17 and 18, I slogged out 12 mile runs, I would've considered it gratuitous, shameful even, to stream that experience for onlookers. It was my internal experience alone to be had. Capturing the view would've been impure. Distance running with a camera is depraved. What's happening inside is all that matters. What's happening inside is the truth. What's happening on the outside is simply pornography. And that's perhaps the word to remember, because this incredibly anxious and depressed populace is the porn generation. For them, activities are no longer to be experienced and kept sacred. Activities are to be overshared in visual representation, perhaps never to be felt internally. Stimulating visual excitement has replaced reality. The marketplace doesn't want influencers to be educators. The marketplace just wants pornographers.

It's no surprise that the average person has ZERO internal drive. Individuals are training the drive right out of themselves. It's common for people to just seek a pornographic dopamine high, not an experiential reality. Experiential reality requires discipline, integrity, and deep change. The dopamine high requires... a camera and a screen.

I mean, I get it. It’s fun to capture some moments; and part of marketing is staying present in the minds of the public. But maybe, sometimes, just be present in your program. Maybe, just get real world experience. Maybe, just connect with REAL reality. Because the best experience is actually experiential. Go figure. And that can't be filmed.

Is There A Point to Your View?

1/25/2020

We get hurt - "why me?"
We get healed - "why not sooner?"
We catch a break - "is that all?"
We get a gift - "is there more?"
We get opportunity - "how could this possibly fit into my schedule?"
We have potable water - "can't I drink something tastier?"
We have access to food - "why can't I indulge?"
We have housing - "why can't my house be like X?"
We have transportation - "am I going to have to clear my car off?"

It's too easy to want. It's too easy to forget how good we have it, and how bad others have it.

My father-in-law and I exchange quotes we like. He sent me this screenshot with the Norman Vincent Peale quote bracketed.

The circumstance of the moment can't be changed this moment. But the attitude about that circumstance is in our hands.

There Is No Limit

1/24/2020

People: I want to gain a little strength.
Me: I aim to get late-in-life starters to 2x-3x bodyweight on structural lifts.
People: and what about life-long athletes?
Me: there is no ceiling.

I have to give a lot of credit to this guy. I have people breaking personal bests left and right every single week; but he did ONE refeed and he came in today exploding with power, knocking out this 520lb hatfield squat.

Two things:
1.) if you haven’t explored Hatfield variants yet, check out my prior posts on them
2.) in either direction, leaning out OR bulking, consider a targeted refeed to move the needle - you'll be glad you did

The Best Balance Training on Earth

1/24/2020

Heavy structural lifts deliver more balance than “stability” and balance exercises: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3885846/ .

That's right. Lifting weights gives you better balance than showy balance exercises.

Every time that a heavy deadlift program is stacked up against bosu-yoga-side-band-single-cross-body complex press-pull skibbity scoot nonsense, the structural lifts prevail.

BUT, fitness popularizers will showcase exercises like these to excite an audience. It’s a put on. The craziest balance exercises I’ve ever been capable of performing was when I didn't even practice balance per se. I just got incredible balance by getting deep layers of muscle very strong. High level strength athletes who perform NO silly balance drills put my balance to shame. Elite powerlifters have far better balance than a tv celebrity trainer simply because they are so powerful (the same muscle fibers which govern reaction/balance). You'll notice that weak people have terrible balance no matter how much they practice balancing; and strong people have good to great balance even if they practice no balancing.

Nonetheless, if you want to try something different, here are some balance variants (videos here: https://www.instagram.com/p/B4MxQ8cjJvK/) whose primary value is to keep the program from feeling stale. In the end, however, just get strong and your balance will improve.

Red Palm Oil. You Didn't know?

1/24/2020

Now you know.

Tocotrienols and carotenoids are just a few of the many reasons you will become a superhuman with this added to the program. Like any of the beneficial oils, there are legitimate concerns about sustainability. However, with regard to fundamental individual health impact, there’s more bioavailable superfood in here than a top shelf multi.

One aspect of high saturated fat strict ketogenic dieting (per the medical definition by Wilder and Peterman) which I’ve not dwelt long on before is the anti-oxidative benefit which undoubtedly optimizes hepatic cholesterol production. In every experiment I’ve ever conducted along these lines, HDL reaches insane heights while VLDL vanishes. But DO science and see for yourself.

What World in The Universe Would Be Better?

1/24/2020

So far, cosmology has shown us that this is the only place in all of space which is assuredly hospitable to life. Even the hoped-for Goldilocks planets are extrapolations from measurements - we can't observe them; we can't reach them. There's no guarantee life can survive with the gravitational forces and other variables they enjoy. When we colonize Mars, people will live out their days inside a tiny cage. They won't look out upon oceans, forests, fields, mountains, tangible grandeur which they can fish, hike, reap, climb.

I'm not saying that life is fair. It isn't. But also... in comparison to what precisely? The storms, weather, climate and atmospheres of other planets aren't exactly humane, equitable, or forgiving. The mass of most things we can point to with telescopes would crush us or tear us apart before our spaceship entered its atmosphere.

Despite the ravages of this world, this little pocket of the universe is just about the only place we can manage to exist for more than a few seconds. There are unfair institutions and systems of oppression on Earth. I agree. But try Mercury out for a few breaths and compare to some of the worst situations on Earth that you imagine.

We can more than exist here. We can create beauty, art, society. Check your spirit of ungratefulness for a moment. Don’t take what you do have for granted.

Simply Strong

1/21/2020

A regular practice of strength training isn’t difficult.

A life of weakness where one has allowed fitness and strength to deteriorate is difficult.

It could be a simple 5-20 minutes without equipment. It could be weight lifting for frail 96-year-olds: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/2342214/. These frail 90-somethings had 50% speed improvements in walking. They had strength and balance improvements, with just a simple 8 week lifting program.

We overcomplicate things, thinking we need 2 hours of strenuous depletion to get anywhere. We buy into the aging mythologies, the victim narratives, the “can’t” word choice. We obsess over scales. We hand over this prudent activity to “fanatics” alone. And as a consequence we opt to do little or nothing at all.

Strengthening keeps you capable. Lack of strengthening ensures you become incapable.

Lifting doesn’t have to be overwhelming. It just has to be. Without it, we find that organs, the brain, and the skeleton will deteriorate.
Improving strength is for all. It doesn’t belong to bodybuilders and athletes alone. It’s not flagrant exhibitionism. It’s conservative life insurance.

Fitness, strictly defined, is capacity. It’s not looks. Don’t let capacity get handed over to superficiality. Capacity isn’t superficial. Training capacity isn’t superfluous. It’s as or more important than saving for retirement, choosing the right health insurance coverage, and putting in the effort for your career. All of those actions we take with the well-founded belief there will be a future return on investment, which, in turn, gives us the capacity to do other things.

Somehow, basic maintenance of our temple has become de-prioritized such that it’s bookended as excessive leisure, despite the fact that “busy” people spend 10-20 times more time on entertainment. If we were to take just 2% of the time we spend on watching shows, games, etc., and allocate it toward a practice of strengthening, we could make a substantial impact on the health crisis in the developed world.

But we have to start with disabusing everyone of the false belief that strengthening is difficult or impossible or “for those types of people”. Strength is a skill. Practice however you can. That’s it. Really.

Take one minute for some bridges and squats. If the motivation strikes you, learn deadlift. Practice. That’s it. Keep it simple. Be consistent. Don’t get weak. Get less weak. That’s it. Really.

How to Go from Terrible to Fantastic with Pull-ups

1/20/2020

97lbs weighted pullup warmup, followed by 187lbs static chin (video here: https://www.instagram.com/p/B4KRBmzD5pv/).

Years ago, when I was reliably doing single arm chin-ups and unreliably hitting messy single arm pull-ups, some math occurred to me. Namely, if you can work at 70-75% of body weight additional load for weighted pull-ups, you can begin trying single arm efforts. AND one rep maxes of weighted pull-ups respond best likewise to 3 rep ranges at over 80%.

Where people get tripped up is in calculating the actual effective load (portion of body weight actually lifted [subtract forearm weight] plus additional plates AND chain). Therefore, they’re training all over the place instead of understanding at what intensity (versus true maximal capacity) they should.

For those who’ve not yet even hit the body weight pull-up mark, another pitfall is using bands or machines to assist. Influencers and your local Crossfit boxes love these; but they also tend to be really bad at pull-ups. I guarantee you will NEVER achieve high level proficiency in vertical pulling by using assists and bands. Your trajectory and open axilla tensions are murky with bands or assisted pull up machines. They do not mimic in the slightest what you encounter when holding body weight or descending with body weight while suspended from a bar. First work toward static holds, then eccentrics (both of which let the body encounter actual load and angle).

Train for More Than

1/19/2020

just to “get by.” People do nutrition and exercise for vanity. That’s fine if it continues to reinforce intelligent improvements in health and fitness. But where ya gonna be in 5, 10, 25 years? Just “getting by”? Training for looks? Give me a break. You’re going to want to be mobile and strong.

On a replaced knee, we’ve gotten this client back to full deadlifts and now 120lb Hatfield box squats (video here: https://www.instagram.com/p/B3-Lax5n4mv/). While the average American is patting himself on the back for being an impotent shadow of his 10-year-prior self, my clients in their 70s are better than they were in their 30s or 40s. While the average knee-replacement patient is patting herself on the back for kinda walking “almost normal” (and her “normal” is not good), my guy here is squatting more than he did 10 years ago.

Train for more than looks, or even this year's goals. Train not just to avoid becoming an invalid. Train for a life worth living.

start your virtual coaching session today

schedule free initial consult

Back to top