Posts Tagged ‘Long Time’
Warm Up the Bus!
Have you ever gone out to your car on a cold winter morning and started driving without letting the engine get warm? You’ve probably noticed it doesn’t perform very well.
The transmission takes a long time to change gears. The heat takes a while to get going, and the car probably sounds a little funny, making noises you’ve never heard before.
What happens when you do the opposite and let it idle in the driveway for a few minutes before you mash the gas? Probably the opposite of everything I mentioned above right?
The same goes for your training sessions. If you just walk into the gym put down your bag and start loading the bar, you’ve already failed for the day. Never skip your warmup.
I don’t care if you’re in a hurry, or just don’t feel like you need to. You’re wrong! You performance will undoubtedly suffer.
A thorough warm up is critical. It’s gives your body a chance to get its juices flowing. Your joints get lubed and your muscles are primed to set some PRs! I always take at least 10 minutes to warm up before I train. Sometimes I take a little longer depending on how I feel.
When I say warm up, I don’t mean hopping on the recumbent bike and pedaling to nowhere for a few minutes. I’m talking about a movement based, dynamic warm up. You have to put in some work before you can DO WORK!
If you’re not taking time to thoroughly warm up before you train, starting doing so now and your results will certainly improve.
What do you like to do for a warm up?
Drop me a comment and let me know.
It’s all about the climb
Whether in training or in business you strive to achieve your goals.
Is reaching your goal an important thing? From a sense of accomplishment and achievement, I say yes.
However, I believe the most important thing is learning from all your experiences en route to your goals. In other words is, it’s all about the climb. No matter what your goals, the climb to the top is where you learn those valuable lessons that stick with you forever.
There will be good times and bad times, no doubt. But, it’s the climb that sticks with you, where you fortify your character. On your climb to the top you have to decide whether you’re going to give up or push forward.
My climb in both training and business has been tough. I’m not anywhere close to achieving my ultimate goal. But, I’m pushing forward. I’m about to put an offer in on my own warehouse gym space. I’ve been working toward this for a long time and I’m hell bent on making it a success.
There have been bumps along the way that have really kicked my a** and there will probably continue to be. This time, however, I’m not going to let them. I’ve learned that putting your head down and pushing forward is the only way to go.
You also need a hell of a support system on your climb. My support is my beautiful wife. She’s put up with a lot and helped me with a lot and I can never thank her enough.
So, keep pushing forward and in the worlds on Jim Valvano, “don’t give up, don’t ever give up!”
In honor the “the climb” I went out and did 30 minutes of hill and stair sprints. My legs were on fire and my lungs were toast.
Full Body Training: Wk 7 – Day 1
Alright, last heavy week in this 8 week cycle. It was time to get after it this morning with some heavy deadlifting. I must say I’ve enjoyed this training cycle more than I originally thought I would. I hadn’t hit full body sessions in such a long time I didn’t know what to expect. However, it’s been awesome. My strength on all my lifts have gone up, some more than others, and I’ve added some lean muscle while getting leaner at the same time. It’s hard to argue with those results but I still want more!!!
Take a look at what I rocked this a.m.
1 – Deadlift 5×3,3,1,1,1
2a – Zercher Squat 3×5
2b – DB Snatch 3x7ea.
3a – DB Incline Press 3×10,8,6
3b – Neutral Grip Pullups 3xsubmax
3c – DBL KB Swings 3×30
Quick and dirty! That’s how I like it. Pushing the pace keeps me focused and hungry!
What Gym? More Backyard Training!
I haven’t had access to a traditional weight room for about a month now. While I miss pushing and pulling heavy barbells and dumbbells and can’t wait to get back to it, I’ve had some of my best training sessions in a long time in my backyard with my growing cache of homemade equipment!
I’m lucky to have a big backyard, quiet street, and a nice storage shed (which I now call The Strength Shed) to keep all of my toys. If you don’t have a nice size backyard or live in an apartment, take your training out to the parking lot or the street in front of your house. Don’t worry about traffic they’ll go around you! Who cares what your neighbors think! Most of my neighbors probably think I’m nuts but I couldn’t care less. One of my neighbors sits out on his front porch with his morning coffee and watches me train. I still haven’t been able to get him to join me…yet!
Don’t make excuses about not having a gym or enough room at home to train. If you want it bad enough you’ll find a way!
STOP SABOTAGING YOUR TRAINING.
STOP MAKING EXCUSES AND GET SH*T DONE!
Real World Strength vs. Muscle Mag Bodybuilding
I admit, for a long time I was in to the pretty boy bodybuilding thing. I used to hit one body part per day, doing at least 20 sets, and keeping my reps between 8-12. After that I would spend another 45 minutes on the treadmill or ellipticall. I did this all with the hope of getting huge and lean.
You know what? All those workouts I followed religiously from Flex and Muscle and Fitness never got me anywhere! Growing up I trained like beast. My training was heavy pushing, pulling, and pressing and that was about it. It wasn’t until I got back to that type of training that I started making real gains again. That is why I think real world strength training beats the hell out of pretty boy bodybuilding any day of the week.
Don’t get me wrong bodybuilding has it’s place and still influences some of my training today. But, when you spend more time on isolation exercises and bicep curls than you do squatting, deadlifting, or overhead pressing, that’s a problem. Unfortunately I just described about 95% of the people in gyms today.
So, if you’re looking to bust through a training rut and get some serious results, start training for real world strength. Make sure you train heavy and hard with compounds movements like the squat and deadlift. Use different tools like sandbags and kettlebell. Under any circumstance don’t forget bodyweight training.
If you’re looking to find out more about real world strength go here now.
Zach Even Esh has a special sale going on for his Underground Strength Manual. Take action now as the sale only lasts for another 48 hours.
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