Here's Looking at You Kid

Inspiration hits at weird times. Weeks have passed and an unfinished draft has gone from my shitty first draft, to now its still shitty eleventh draft. It's just stuck, you know. Where your brain knows exactly what it wants to say, but the mouth (or fingers in my case) just are not working. I've become the "Studdering Stanley" of the keyboard.

Then, out of the blue today, while making some small talk with some athletes, I ask the question, " What's your favorite movie of all time?"  Big, wide open, ambiguous question. It's hard, no doubt. But one movie, that's all you get. To my surprise, not one movie named was more than 10 years older than the person answering the question.

Firmly rooted in the classics with many aspects of life, yet appreciating contemporary work, this lack of knowledge from a younger generation is something I've witnessed universally with the athletes I work with. It is safe to say, if they are not well versed with their entertainment, they are unaware of some of the classics in other areas of life.

Which is a shame for regardless of genre.  Those brave souls who stand on the edge pushing creativity and madness are like anyone who makes anything worthwhile. Each one of them shares a deep ferocious love in their heart for the work of their predecessors. Without that respect, you forget where you came from and ultimately lose touch with your own humanity.

If the lesson in movies holds true to other aspects, then this is not a definitive list of what movies to watch, but a different way to spend some time. With a book. I am not talking about a work of fiction (although thirty minutes before bed will help shut your brain off and get some restful sleep), but a book that provides an education. Personally, I break my books down into ones that will be a direct benefit (physiology, training theory, and the like) to the profession and the indirect ones (management, people skills).

These are in no particular order and I am limiting it to 3 in each category. Whether or not you agree with these that's fine. Just do me a favor and read it (all can be picked up for free at most libraries)  before you knock it.

Work Books:

• Starting Strength. Mark Rippetoe's manual that teaches the how to move weight for the big lifts. If you are going to lift and want results, this is the best place to start at. 
• Supertraining.  Lets put it this way. You know the guy in the gym that tells you about the training "secret" from Russia, Bulgaria, or East Germany?  Dr. Yuri Verkhonshansky and Dr. Mel Siff are the two guys that figured out that secret and then wrote this book. They have been cited in more strength research than anyone in history and their information is the leading cause of wet dreams among strength coaches. 
• The Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding. The expansive collection by the Oak (if you don't know, that is Arnold Schwarzenegger) is more than just pictures and the fluff lifting workouts in the bodybuilding magazines. Everything is covered from nutrition, workouts, sports psychology, recovery, and weightlifting/body building history. It was my first training book, and is still a go to once a year to look at all the new ideas that Arnold talked about back in the 80's.

Personal Development Books:

• How to Win Friends and Influence People. OK, OK. Dale Carnegie (not as in the steel ultra billionaire family) published this in 1936 which makes some of the the wording and subject matter a little outdated, I'll give you that. But if you ever plan on working with people, or try an impress a girl, read this. Not only will you get more out of your interactions with other people, but you'll generally become a person people want to be around. 
• The Game: Penetrating the secret society of pick up artists. When my wife (then girlfriend) found me reading this book, she went out back cut a switch of pine and beat me with it. Well, not quite, but it makes for a great story.  Neil Strauss doesn't directly provide a "how to" script so you can pick up women, bit connect the dots. For all of you who are in a happy and monogamous relationship, like I am, this book still finds way for you to practice talking to strangers and be more charismatic. If you are ever going to have to make a cold sale or recruit athletes, memorize this book.
• The Four Hour Work Week. Tim Ferris is like TC Fletcher. They are guys you never heard of, but should have. Originally picked this one up because I was pissed about my job, then realized this was basically a book about hacking your life and managing time, work expectations, and to live by doing what you enjoy. My approach to work has been different ever since. 

Here is a bonus cross-over book. Happy Halloween!

• Make the Big Time Where You Are At. This one is written by a legendary football coach for a small D3 school, Frosty Westering. 

So there it is. Some classics, some more contemporary. All will improve your skills. Read, eat, lift, sleep, and try something new. 

The Three R's of the Weightroom

Spending over 60 hours a week surrounded by college athletes has given me a unique perspective on life. Every freshmen who crosses the threshold into the weight room looks the same every year: wide eyed, and  ready to pee a little if I look at them the wrong way. As the years go by, workout clothes are still the standard shorts, t-shirt and sweats. Sure, the fabric has changed from cotton to Dri-fit, and the length of the shorts sway from "so short my Grandma will blush" to the "4 sizes to big" extremes as the fashion demigods declare, but I don't notice the youthful appearances nor experience the shock of "they look like babies" as much as friends and family who work outside of the educational systems experience. Freshmen just look like they always do.

Every once in a while I become Icarus and realize only too late and much to my dismay, the protective wax of has melted from my wings and I am headed into the abyss. Except this is not a Greek myth and my physical well being is not at risk, just my mental health. I drown in the realization that I am old (sort of) and that time has marched on.

This happened the other day when I was talking to some people about the 3 R's of education, or at least what they were when I was going to middle and high school. Reading. Writing. Arithmetic (otherwise known as math). The silence that followed made me feel that I could have been talking about hitching up old Betty to the carriage, going to my one room school. They had no frame of reference to what I was talking about. Those three things that were drilled into my head as the attributes that every successful high school graduate needed to master. And if those three academic standards were unknown, what can I expect them to know about workouts?

Now I get to have my Morphius moment. I offer them a choice: the truth, nothing more. Chose the red or blue pill. Do you want to choose between embracing the sometimes painful truth of reality or the blissful ignorance of illusion. The truth, nothing more.

The red pill: My lessons of the 3 R's of workouts: Read. Record. Results. The blue pill: belief that just because you are tired or you really feel "it" then you just had a great workout.

 I recently experimented with intermittent fasting (IF). I read as much information I could get my hands on, talked with people that tried it themselves, and understood the science behind most of the IF protocol. I gave it four long weeks of calorie restriction and extreme exercise bouts lasting 45 minutes with my heart rate between 180 and 210 beats per minute for 4 days a week. The science predicted that I should have averaged about 1 pound of weight loss a day ( I was hoping for mostly body fat, not just total body weight). Application of the IF concept seems to have a sense of humor. Not only did I gain weight (5 pounds), but my skin fold body fat analysis went up 10 millimeters. Bad news. I ate less, worked out harder and got fatter.

Now, I am a man of science. Fourth generation engineer, to-boot. Of the many metrics I observed, sadly the only one that showed any improvement was my resting heart rate came down to 48 beats per minute from its starting point of 51. Everything I measured was worse. I was sleeping more and felt worse after waking up. Mental stress levels increased, productivity at work decreased, constantly irritated (family and friends stayed away), all jumps were lower, strength levels were down, perceived difficulty for everything was significantly higher, soreness was through the roof, and for the first time in 20+ years of working out I did not look forward to my lift.

Granted we all have bad days from time to time. This was different. Going back into my earliest records from the mid 1990's, there was never a period of time like this before. I am not saying that IF is good or bad, just that it was not right for me. And that is what is called making an evidence based decision. It comes down to the fact that you are part of an experiment of one, and if things are not working for you, then figure out what will.

That is were the 3 R's come together. Read good information and see what is working for other people and how they are doing it. By the way, good information is more then doing a search on Google or asking the biggest guy in the gym. Find someone who has been lifting longer than you and have read more than the lastest issue of Muscle and Fitness. Usually people with these acronyms after their name are a good place to start: C.S.C.S., M.S., M.E.d., R.D., or A.C.S.M.-H.F.S. All of those means that they have had some formal education and have passed a nationally recognized certification. Anyone with those credentials can point you in a good direction for more information.

Once you have an idea of what you want to try, you have to find ways to measure changes. Record things that are important like body weight, body fat percentage, strength levels, stress levels, quality of sleep, duration of sleep, social enjoyment, and perceived difficulty are my go-to measures. Find out what is important to you and measure it. And don't think that you need to look like a lab tech either. For most of my information I just write down in my workout book with a scale of 1-5. Where 1 is kick ass and 5 is like I got beat like I stole something. This way you can quickly draw a connection between what you are trying and how that is effecting your workout.

Last thing. Results are what we are all after. Self-experimentation is something that I encourage people to try, but never at the cost of sacrificing your goal. Using results to make decisions is a sane way to improve during the insanity of working out. You have witnessed the insanity yourself. Think of the same guy/girl that comes to the gym, does the same workout time and time again and is complaining at the drinking fountain that they never seem to progress. Insanity at its finest. Use results to guide your decisions, just understand that you need a solid two weeks of data before you should make any changes. The body can be slow to respond, so give it time to adjust.

There is the door, but you have to make the choice to walk through it. Understand that if you do, be ready for some heartache. The realization that after an experiment you got worse, hurts. Bad. It's not ever easy, but neither is life. And yes, there are times when you wonder why didn't I take the BLUE pill. Then there are the other times that you understand how everything fits together, which makes it well worth the pain.

Weightloss as part of the yearly plan?

After seeing some pictures after the WMG, I am seeing too much of me, if you know what I mean. Not that I'll cut down to the next weight class, but the old singlet was a little too round in the middle. It is time to lose some of the extra weight, but how to do it and not compromise any strength and power gains that have  been made over the last year? Once the training year starts back up, the first four weeks are going to be spent developing some work capacity and it should be just as good of time as any to experiment with some fat loss ideas.

For the fast version. Work capacity or general preparatory phase (GPP) training is just flat out hard ass work. The typical time range for improving GPP is two to three weeks, but for some longer periods of inactivity, the GPP can be extended. The blessing and the curse about this time of training is the weight of the bar does not look all that impressive: only 40%-65% of your max weight, but while you are lighter in resistance, you make up for it in reps and sets. The way I set up GPP workouts are 12 minute long circuit style blocks where you have prime movement lift with resistance, followed by a active recovery static abdominal bracing activity, a body weight movement lift, then end with a grip exercise. So Monday, my first block will look like: back squats x10 at 50%1RM, 25 seconds of a forward bridge (or plank), 25 seconds of up/downs, and then 25 seconds of bar hangs. Sure, it doesn't look all that bad, but let me put it in this context: During my 12 minutes the goal is 6-8 cycles, which would put me at roughly 22,000 pounds moved just on the back squat. If you include moving my body weight on the squats and up/downs then we are talking about an additional 1,440,000 pounds or around 730 tons moved in 12 minutes. To compare, during the hardest day of a "peaking" workout, most people will not even see 4,000 pounds moved. Don't forget, 730 tons is just from the first of three training blocks.

These GPP style workouts provide very little training stimulus to improve muscular strength of power development as you are just not moving enough weight or moving with enough speed so have truly significant changes. GPP workouts do provide a very significant stimulus for increasing aerobic capacity, and with some college athletes I have wired with heart rate monitors, they were ranging between 165-200 beats per minute for 45 minutes, and that is something you just cannot duplicate with any treadmill. In addition to the aerobic benefit, the increased strength to the tendons and ligaments of the body cannot be overlooked. Due to the natural way those connective tissues respond, it takes a massive amount of work to illicit any change in their elastic and plastic natures.

So that is the style of workouts I am starting off the training year with. If you think that reminds you of  a typical CrossFit workout, well it should. For the most part their Workout Of the Day (WOD) are usually just a GPP style workout. And for the portion of the population who do not have any specific training goals other than to look better naked, this is just fine for them with some improvements in strength and overall fitness added in for good measure. For the other part of the population that want to compete in any team or individual sports, where very specific needs of strength, power, and conditioning need to be covered, all I'll say is they will not reach their fullest potential if all they use are GPP workouts.

But exercise is just one part of the cycle of fat loss, we have to cover the nutrition as well. Dr. Zatsiorsky discusses the Energetic Theory of Hypertrophy and talks about how the body uses its calories for one of two activities: either mechanical work or tissue repair, which means that once enough work has been done to stimulate the body, then we need extra energy to have the body repair itself. If you reverse this principle and keep in mind the body's first goal is to repair itself, and if we can provide enough energy through food for the repair process any extra mechanical work that needs to be performed has to be  taken from the body's fat stores. But which is the best way of going about this?

Looking at the work of Dr. Beradri and his experiments with intermittent fasting (precisionnutrition.com) and the success Martin Rooney and his crew have had with this at Training For Warriors (trainingforwarriors.com), it looks like this is right up my alley. With any new idea, the first reaction is that of rejection and disgust, and the intermittent fasting concept has had plenty of that. The main idea that people take offense to is that the window for eating is reduced from the normal 14-16 waking hours, to 8-12 hours. Basically once you wake and have some sort of tea or coffee, then start your standard hydration schedule, but you do not get any calories until after a noon workout, which is followed by regular eating over the course of the day with selections of vegetables, legumes, and protein very comparable to Adkins, South Beach, or Paleo-style food choices. While these results have had some anecdotal evidence to support the success claims, there has not been any formal research that I know of yet. Also keep in mind the over all goal for this: off season weight loss. No competitive athlete should even think about this until after their season has ended and is in good health as determined from their primary care physician.

With two of these plans in place, success is going to be judged by a few measurable goals. First, there is going to be a pre and post event screening. This includes pictures from the frontal and sagittal plane, height, weight, body composition from skin folds, girth measurements at various points across the body, resting heart rate, blood pressure, and blood work done from my doc. In addition, there will be daily measurements of body weight, stress levels, neurological readiness, sleep patterns, and rate of perceived exertion from the workouts. Yes, it is a lot of information and data, but remember that you cannot make educated decisions without it!

Not enough with out the medal...

Looking back on my time at the World Master Games it has been unlike anything I have experienced before and by far it has made me a better person because of it. From all of the travel, new faces, different customs and struggle to communicate at times, the opportunity to not only travel but to compete for my homeland on a world stage can leave you humbly voiceless when confronted with the immense responsibility of being an ambassador for your country.

Make no mistake about it, this trip was founded under the idea that at the medal ceremony the Star Spangled Banner would be played. And it was. The best lifter that day was an American, just not me. Strangely, that is something that I am at peace with, Dominic had a nice day lifting and I knew to beat him I would have to be nearly flawless which I was not, but am proud of my performance none the less. The big Swede Eric, had a great battle with me for second place when when he finished his last lift to edge me out of the silver by 1 kilogram. I truly am happy for the both of those two and thankful for the chance to have competed against such fine people.

I know my wife had concerns about my mood after the meet. Not performing well and being edged out from second would have but me in a dark place for a day or two a few years back. Something is different now, and has been for a while. Being an athlete is something that was a large part on my self-identity since I started playing organized sports decades ago, and that is something that will continue to be a way that I identify myself for a long time.  But the liberating part of this is that I am no longer bound to what my total lift was, or what place I took, or even how much I can bench. For as many hours I spend in the gym training and the amount of literature I review to learn (or rediscover) some training information, that is not solely who I am.

Years back when the goal of working out was to get better at football and to help out with the ladies, it was all about my ego. Yes t-shirts were bought just a little too small, sleeves were either rolled tight or removed to show off the time I spent working on developing my chest and arms. Slowly that changed. Clothes will always not quite fit right as anyone who has spent the majority of their life lifting heaving things will tell you, but I cannot ever remember the last time I put on a sleeveless shirt or actively showed off for anyone but to impress my wife. Lifting and competing is something that I do, not who I am.

One of the great parts of my profession is that I get to be constantly surrounded by people like me. People with the burning desire to be at their absolute best. People, who understand the time and sacrifice it takes to bend reality to their goals. People, whom I try to reach and help them mature mentally faster than what it took me. People, that sometimes don't understand the lesson until later down the road. But ultimately that is why I do this. Trying to pass on the information that has cost me time, frustrations, success, and failures so that others can learn from those lessons.

It's been a long path, but finally here I am. With the amount of time and energy that is invested, expect some anger and disappointment when it goes poorly. And trying to reassure that "It is just a game"  or "just a lift" will never work for people like me. We understand that to the novice spectator they will become critics about why we become emotional about the loss. Just give us some time to process what happened and more importantly why it occurred. It was a specific choice to accept my lackluster performance, and yes I could have just shut down and let the rest of my trip be ruined, but there was so much out there that I would have missed.

That night at the banquet I ate with a former Iranian Olympian who has immigrated to Great Brittan. We saw liter after liter of vodka magically appear and disappear from a table of Russians. I talked training schedules with a contingency of Swedes. The owner of the restaurant introduced me to his son, since the 8 year old has only ever seen an American on TV or a movie. But the highlight of the night was the singing. In this outdoor patio in the foothills of the Alps were competitors and their families representing 15 counties from all over the world, and slowly the Europeans started singing their country's anthems. While each one was performed with unwavering pride, the one old Italian man took the night. The video is only a reflection of what experiencing this in person was like, but needed to be shared.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IayOfq4GpEU&feature=youtube_gdata_player

All of those experience could have been missed if not for one thing. Waiting for winning a medal as means to justify and give meaning to ones life, there are going to be countless empty and lonely moments. Even though it is comforting to be recognized for your work: If you are not enough without the medal, you'll never be enough with it.

A tale of two flights

What a day of extremes . Having been up for 31 hours with about 90 more minutes to some well anticipated sleep. It's been amazing what this day  has brought.

For the record there are three things in life that I am an absolute baby about. In no particular order: flying, being upside down, and anything to do with being on the water. Today all three almost happened at once. When we departed Minneapolis heading for Iceland for the first of two layovers enroute to the World Masters Games in Turin, Italy, the flight was delayed from a severe thunderstorm warning. No problems with me on that. Sitting in the plane on the jet way being buffeted around by blasts of wind that are shaking the entire Boeing 757, I was perfectly fine not being in the air with that or the sheets of rain that made it impossible to see the far tip of the wing. To the flight crews' credit we were grounded until 7:45PM when the warning expired, then the engines whined, gasping to pull in air and seconds later we are screaming down the run way pushing to get airborne. Words are simply not enough to explain the feeling of climbing through a storm, being pushed left and right, pulling up and down, as you wonder why it was a smart idea to ever leave the comfort of the Earth to take to the not so friendly skies. But after a hard 10 minutes and a sweat line which reached to mid chest, the bright and welcoming blue has replaced the ominous and angry grey expanse.  At least until we had to pass over the next wave of storms, which hit over Lake Superior. Trying desperately to keep my eyes closed and focus on some rhythmic breathing to self sooth, I peaked at the flight data streaming live in the head rest of the seat in front of me. 1,800 feet. No B.S. that is what the difference was from one drop until the screen refreshed. 1,800 feet of time for your mind to go crazy. As we bounce out of the drop, I make eye contact with the flight attendant,  her eyes betray the smile on her face. It's good to see that I was not the only one nervous about our rollercoaster ride.  Just then the wind gust, and it seems that I am not going to catch a break. First just a little bump going to the right, then whoosh back to the left, then right, just enough to break us from level. Just as fast as my neurons can fire, any and every possible outcome are happening in my mind, and none of them are going to end well. All three things I hate most in life almost happening at once, or at least  in my mind they did. The  yelp that escaped from my wife, offers a escape my the mental  prison. She looks over at me and says "If we crash and die, who else would you want with you?" No, you are not helping me with that one. Not helping at all.

That was the worst flight experience I have ever had the misfortune to have, and the low point of the trip. But at the same time during this endless travel day, I witnessed the Midnight Sun banishing the darkness from the Artic pre-dawn and the sun setting over the Italian Alps and reflecting off of the River Po making it look as if the river was a red-orange ribbon of fire snaking it's way though the Piedmont region as the setting sun shown at just the perfect angle. Those two views were nearly awesome enough to off-set the heart stopping horror of the earlier leg of this trip.

On purpose, I do not have any pictures to share of these views. It was a deliberate decision not to live this vacation staring through the screen of this tablet or my camera phone, but to see the sights so I can remember them. Of course we car going capture the moments so show friends and family, but as of recently, I have felt that there has been something missing from my daily adventures. And that was my own curious mind. For too long I have been taking pictures and video of events so I could relive the moments, without really living them the first time around. Seeing the sites of the Old World framed by the carrying case of my phone, is not the way this trip will live in my memory. Of course there will be pictures to share on Facebook, but not at the expense of the experience. And now, finally, it is time for a good nights' sleep.

Let me tell you something you already know...

If you have not watched the latest version of Rocky, get it on Netflix for no other reason then the mini life lesson that Rock gives to his kid. Below is the YouTube version of it but it lacks the build up the rest of the movie provides.

As I write this, it is the eve of my departure to Europe and I am looking for motivation. It's not nerves anymore, but the self doubt that creeps into most of our minds from time and again. Last week I had a slip while doing a vertical jump to test my readiness for the World Masters Games. Talk about a soul crushing moment. Something that I have done thousands of times in life and just over 9 days out of competition and BOOM! Fireworks in my quad as I jumped. Doubt and the self pity came in spades. The more I fought it the more the doubts came back.

At 2pm August 10th regardless of any injury, jet lag, hang nail, or any of the other euphemisms you want to throw in there, it comes down to one thing: It's time to put up or shut up. Me versus me. And that's just the way I like it, too. There is nothing that a team mate can do or what the ref's can do that will effect the way I compete with myself. No matter what the outcome is, I will shake the hand of every competitor, wish them well, and fight like hell to represent myself to the best of my ability.

It's taken a long time to learn how to get myself mentally right. This skill is still a work in progress and as my wife will tell you there are still moments when Mt St Carmen erupts and spews language that would make a sailor turn tail and run. It's not been an easy trip to control your own mind, and there are defiantly some people who have helped along the way. My wife is number one on the list without a doubt, but I have a secret too. Here it is and don't tell anyone: go find a sports psychologist and talk with them.

Yes, a sports psychologist. It's not like you are going to lay on a couch and talk about your feelings, or any that soft hippe crap. I have never once been locked in a straight jacket and make a trip to the Ha-Ha Hilton. But I needed to learn how to get my head right. Why? Because your muscles control how you move, and your nervous system controls your muscles, and your mind controls your nervous system. Without the mind working right, you simply don't work right. Contrary to popular belief: running miles, working out in the early morning light, the extreme heat and cold, or without food or water does not build mental toughness, it makes your workout suck. During those activities the self-talk that you perform is a one of many strategies for mental toughness though. But in all my talks with "Doc W,"  it was about learning how to keep athletes in that sweet spot during peak performance. Self talk, mental imagery, breathing control, and measuring physical and emotional preparedness are all tricks of the trade. Sometimes one of those tools is needed more than others, some times it is a blended mix. After much self experimentation the combination that works best for me is the duality of rage and serenity. Too much of either one of those powerful emotions and I under-perform being too wound up or not excited enough.

By the way, there are other sources you can use other than a shrink. Friends and family can be powerful and provide some help, but keep in mind that they sometimes can subvert your goals. Find some people that want success as much as you do. It has been great working with athletes and seeing what they bring to the table and help push you through your sticking points. I'll wrap this up with a video clip from one of the guys I train with, showed me.

Packing Light and Living Large

Here is my issue. I have three weeks in Europe, and I need to pack everything I might need (except for my competition equipment) in one travel bag. It is exactly 2807 cubic inches. That's a bag 22"x 14"x 9". Known throughout the world as the maximum size for a carry-on piece of luggage.

For scale those are my size 13 Nike's in there.

What to bring? I have to be dressed appropriately for all the activities we are going to do. So how do I pack my entire wardrobe in a carry-on?

Time to introduce the 80/20 rule. Pareto's Principle. As an Italian economist, he observed 80% of all the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the total families in the 1906. Later, people confirmed this by reviewing business records.  Leading to other similar confirmations:

• 80% of profits come from 20% of customers
• 80% of complaints come from 20% of customers
• 80% of profits come from 20% of the time you spend
• 80% of sales come from 20% of products

In my case, 80% of everything I wear will be represented by 20% of everything I could bring. Attempting to be smart about this, I figure we will be spending the majority of time in cities walking, eating, sightseeing, eating, shopping and eating. The notable exceptions will be the occasional workout and the nice romantic dinners where you don't look at any prices on the menu, you just order.

The plan is simply to bring:

• 2 pairs of shoes. One for workouts and travel, the other for walking and more formal dress.
• 4 polo collared shirts. Nice enough to wear for fancy dinners and casual exploring of cities.
• 3 pairs of Khaki shorts. Good for everything but working out and fancy dinners.
• 2 workout shirts. 
• 2 workout shorts.
• 1 pair of linen pants. Light enough for city activities and dressy enough for formal attire.
• 3 pairs of socks and underwear.

Anything else can be bought or borrowed. It's a weird thought for me. For years I had to plan for any and all contingencies while working out in the weightroom or on the field while working out athletes. Now I have to only pick 16 things. It's making me sweat and my blood pressure is up.

Actually, its not all that bad. I learned an idea from Tim Ferris' book, The Four Hour Work Week a few years back and have been working it in where and when I can. During my workouts and programming for athletes, this really is evident.  Looking at a typical workout, I realized there are three main exercises with some active recovery or mobility work added in. It has been a process, and mistakes have been made along the way, but I have a good idea what the minimum effective dose is for not only exercise selection, but what actual sets and reps are for the different training cycles. Of course, some people think they need to do more, but with over fifteen years of data backing me up, the return on the investment of their time and energy does not justify the change of their performance.

In working with competitive athletes, weightlifters, and strongmen, it comes back to a few basics things. In the weightroom: get the hips right (both strong and stable), pull vertically and horizontally, press weight overhead, hammer the hamstrings, and because you are only as strong as your hands--work the grip. Nutrition is easy: eat more protein and vegetables, and drink more water. Get the basics done and you are 80% there to being strong and fast!

For Those About to Rock

I love loud music. And by loud I am talking about the type that will shake your fillings outs. In an effort to replicate this at home, in my truck, or in the weightroom, there is just not anyway to duplicate the sound and volume you can get at a concert.

So I find myself in a concert hall last week getting ready for one of my favorite bands, Godsmack, a rock band out of Boston, to take the stage. Fighting all questions in my head about being too old, out of place, and being too tired to be up late on a school night, it happened. Light go out. The guitar rift kicks in from AC/DC's classic: For Those About to Rock, and the music shakes off all those doubts and then I am lost in the excitement of live music.

Time floats by unmeasured, during the 15 songs and as the set is winding down the lead singer has his moment to thank the audience and explain how much better we are compared to every other city they toured at. I know the set up and line, but it doesn't matter, a roar of approval emerges from deep inside and I have fully become part of the group identity. The next part of the soliloquy was the inspiration for this post.

"I don't care what type of music you listen to, just get out and experience it live. Unplug. Feel the energy that happens. An iPod can never duplicate this feeling. Take your family and share that gift with them."

Looks like I am not the only one who has been growing up. The message of getting away from the computer and experiencing things live, resonated with me. People my age have been fortunate to remember life without the Internet, smart phones, GPS, and the rest of the convinces we take for granted. Don't get me wrong, all of those things are great tools that I take full advantage of every day, but every once in a while there has to be time to get away from those crutches and stumble around life because you can.

The easiest way to try this is to venture out to the local farmers market. For years and years I solely did all my grocery shopping in the standard grocery stores and the giant Sam's Club. In that cut off world, void of any connection to how or where your food is produced, has given way to countless answers of "Just build more grocery stores." as the solution to combat food shortages. Now each week, my wife and I head out, sometimes with other friends, and see what is in from the fields. When we check out our town's farmer's market, we make sure to stop by our farmer's table and talk about what's new, get our 5 dozen eggs, pick up the weekly farm share, and talk with other people about what they are cooking with what they've been getting in the farm share.

It took some time before I was comfortable in that crowd. I just keep telling my self that Arnold, Franco Columbu, Sergio Oliva, and Dave Draper were some of the first advocates for organic foods which helped sooth the nerves of being seen out it a group where people are picking banjos, playing spoons, and selling their homemade wears. Now, I am happy to say I have come around to the idea of knowing the farmer by name and am OK with a few spots on my vegetables because I want to know who is helping me prepare for competitions with the food I eat.

So next time you have the time, grab a few bucks and come find me at the farmers market. Who knows, you might just end up in the next blog post!

Train Slow Be Slow

So I've been around long enough to see things come full circle in many aspects of life, and life in the weightroom is no exception to this. As I get questions from the athletes that I work with, I am seeing a trend of one of my old nemesis beginning to make a return to the weightroom: super-slow training.

This thought became mainstream in the 1940's in the bodybuilding culture, reappeared in the 80's with Nautilus, sporadic review in scientific literature and vernacular books. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Guide to Modern Bodybuilding was the first time I was exposed to this idea and if it worked for Oak, it should help me out. Right?

Quick summary, take 10 seconds to lower the weight and another 10 seconds to bring it back up. The longer the muscle is under tension the more it will grow. The concept makes sense at first. Using every one's favorite exercise, the bench press, doing a regular rep from the start of the decent of the bar to touching the chest, to lock out it might take 2-3 seconds each rep. Say you do 8 reps then your muscles are under tension for 16-24 seconds compared to the 160 seconds in the super slow method. Do this for a few weeks and you will be hulking out of your clothes!

Hold on there turbo. Think this one through. Compared to your 1 Rep Max (1RM), how heavy is this? For most people 8 reps is realistically between 75-80% 1RM, but that is for that lower time under tension. So how much do you need to take off the bar for almost 8 times the duration? The first time I tried a bench the super slow method I thought I had a good strength base, benching 300 pounds (which would have gotten 3 reps in any competition). OK, lets try 225 for 8 reps. Crushed, only got 3 reps. Rest and dropped to 185. Little better, 4 reps. Ego in hand, and many failures later I ended up with 95 pounds on the bar and small children laughing at me.

At the time I didn't get it. Then came along Dr. Siff and Dr. Zatsiorsky and their books. Out of the darkness came light and it was good. Their two ideas saved my pride and brought me back on track with my training. 

from Science and Practice of Strength Training Second Edition

Here is the big one. The Size principle of Motor Unit Recruitment, and the nickle version of it. Our bodies are lazy. We don't want to do any more work then is needed so at first the muscle fibers that contract are the low hanging fruit of body, the Type I motor unit. In comparison, these fibers are small, don't contract very fast or hard, very limited in growth potential but can keep working for a long time. Soviet block countries called this oxidative work, but in the New World the term of aerobic exercise entered the vernacular. These Type I fibers, are targeted by the super slow method compared to the big, fast, quickly fatigued fibers that need to be recruited with super heavy weights.

The muscle recruitment issue is one concern, but not as important as the changes the nervous system goes through. The human body is amazing in its ability to adapt to nearly any stress it is put under, the catch is just to make sure the stress is what you want to be come adapted to. When our nervous system tells a muscle to contract it is called Rate of Force Production. The faster the muscle contracts the more force it creates, and the faster you can move a weight, the faster you can move without extra weight. So as we consciously move the bar slow in the super slow training method, your nervous system is learning how to move your body slowly and that leads to your muscles unable to have an explosive change of speed that is needed to run, jump, or lift something heavy. 

So to sum up. If a body part is a little smaller than you want and running or jumping is not as important to you, the super slow method might be something for you. For those who compete in anything that you have to move fast, run away from this idea just as fast as you can!

Time: The free currency. Are you spending it right?

As it turns out, the best time for me to think is between sets in the weightroom. There is something special that happens when you are just finished being focus on your lift and sit down with nothing else to fill your mind. Then something happens, as best quoted from Dr. Ray Stantz in Ghostbusters, " I couldn't help it. It just popped in there." And that it was a bountiful stream of clarity happens from where ideas start flowing. The most vivid today was from a conversation I had with a few athletes from this past Monday.

Understand that for the majority of the day I am surrounded by 18-23 year old college students, and for better or worse I enjoy their trust and the need for them to relay every turgid piece of information that happens outside the time we spend training. Coming off the Fourth of July rest week, the majority of stories we based around people visiting with friends or family, cookouts, fireworks, and typical knuckle-head events. But then there were a few tales from the gym and the workouts people put themselves through. As I enjoy hearing about their creativity, I always follow up with my one-two punch. What's your goal? And did this get you closer to accomplishing it?

With as many times I have asked those questions, it's amazing that people still don't know how to respond. The typical answer is a shrug of the shoulders and " I don't know." Which is surprising since the groups that I work with are committed athletes working on improving their performance in their sport. What I try to impart to them is how time is the most valuable resource they have. It's something you cannot ever get back and once you spend your time, it's gone. The result of your time investment determines if that was a good decision or not.

Don't misunderstand that statement. Playing video games (which my parents have always claimed as a waste of time) is still my number one me time event and has been since getting my Nintendo in 1988. When you are truly enjoying your activity (or lack there of) it's never a waste of time. If you are not hurting yourself or others and you have completed your jobs for the day, it's your life do what you want. We all have our own way to recharge and blow off the day.

What I am getting after, are how your choices impact your goals. I've had it in one shape or another from everyone who has been important in my life, and it sums up to: Do it right the first time!

One of the habits I've picked up in my adult life is to observe and study how things happen, in a very non-stalker sort of way. I see it time and again, people who are successful do things right the first time, while people who aren't successful often have to redo what they are working on. This means that they have to take time they could be using on other efforts to fix something that you could have done once. This thought extends to everything that you do in life. How do you think you are going to be successful at sports or manage a Fortune 500 company if you cannot do something simple as washing the dishes right?

So remember, get it done the right way the first time. If you are trying to get stronger or faster train that way, and not waste your time getting ready for a marathon. Need to add some muscle or drop some pounds, prepare your food when you have time on a slow night or weekend so you don't stress out after work and fall into temptation.

Until next time. Keep doing it right and be amazed at the free time that you will have on your hands!

This is crazy, this is crazy, this is crazy!

Well I've done it. After all the emails, phone calls, text messages, and random conversations it was time to start putting some thoughts out in cyberspace to add to the human and workout experience.

So this is the first. Number one with a bullet. The watershed moment where life is divided into everything that happened before and and after this momentous event. And yet I am staring at my computer screen nervous as can be and looking for any and every distraction that I can find. But that is enough of that, time to focus.

During my workouts yesterday and today I keep thinking about the one piece of information that I wanted to share for this first post. Of everything that came flooding into my mind it came down to one thing. Goals. Just over a year and a half now I have been focused on taking the steps to travel to Italy this August and compete at the World Masters Games in Weightlifting and representing the USA. It was a big goal considering that I had not ever formally competed until October 2011. With the help of my amazing wife, we laid out a plan and set a budget, and then it was up to me to develop a training plan to put me in a position to be competitive.

Like anyone who has every had a lofty goal, there were set backs and people who tried to minimize what you want. What kept me going was knowing that even if I failed, got injured, or was laughed at none of that mattered because I was doing what made me happy and it was the right thing for me. We had a plan, set markers to measure progress, and was in a constant state of using evidence to make decisions. Each day the grind began, and each day the excuses or distractions tried to pull me away. But it all came back to the goal and the plan. Each step was defined and just needed to focus on what was right in front of me. Complete the workout goal so you can complete the competition goal. It's like driving at night. You may not be able to see past your headlights, but you'll make it 500 miles by doing so.

Decide on what your goal is and attack it. Find people that share your passion and feed off of each others' passion. Guard it and protect if from the doubters since most of them live in the grey twilight that knows neither victory or defeat. Take your chance. Revel in the excitement or the heartbreak and share it with the people that are important to you. Then get to bed. Tomorrow examine everything that effected the outcome, make changes, and lace up your boots. It's time to go to work!