rainy day running

just an observation.

maybe a long winded observation.

the other day it was pouring rain from the sky and as i sat waiting for the lights too turn green, i looked across the road and there was a woman standing, in the rain, waiting to cross the road, so she could continue her run up the street.

A lot of things flickerd across the surface of the lecture theater at play in my mind.

1) how dedicated is this woman really. she's running in the rain, she's wearing all the 'right' gear;

but what's her diet like, does she run to a schedule or is she haphazard and just happened

to pick today and as luck would have it, the sky fell?

2) she seemed to have a relativly nice physique as she ran by, but it was hidden by adipose

tissue. Does she have a strength component to her training regime?

3) her running was terrible, she was tight and her leg mechanics were horrible. she really

needed a coach to teach her some basics for running.

4) running in the rain made her appear to be a dedicated runner, every thing else made her look

like she needed some help.

don't take me wrong. its great to have running in your program. its great to run in the rain. but its a good idea to run smart. if the basics just don't come natural to you, seek out a running partner or coach.

running should be a relaxed and natural movement for most people.

when i say running i'm using it as a catch all phrase for jogging. everyone will have a different speed and operation of movement.

odd object lifting

I've enherited an old (real old) computer console. i've got now idea what to do with it.

so i'm looking at this thing and well its, big, bulky, realatively heavy and has an unequal center of gravity.

odd object right?

i think this should be a feature in future strongman compitions. of course you'd be going for reps, but how long before someone decided to fill it up with concrete?

I'v already contemplated it.

only lecture here today is training should be fun no matter how serious it gets and sometimes maybe we need to make it rediculous.

now i'm off to play my version of computer games and i don't need a control panel.

20 reps

i like to lift up heavy stuff. one of the best ways to train is to lift up something heavy, put it down, lift up something heavy, put it down, etc. training should be simple (not necessarily simplistic) . lift heavy things up, run faster, jump and improve your performance.

some of my favorite set rep schemes are 3x3, 5x5, 3x6 and 6x6 (deepending on my goals), but its also good to break out the extend reps from time to time also.

nothing hits the hams harder than 2 sets of 20 rep deadlifts.

the trick is, to keep the weights heavy. what ever i normally would do for about 10 reps i'd gut through 20. thats tuff, you still have to maintain tight technique.

nothing gets you reved up like w 20 rep squats. hikes up your metabolism, your homonal output, that means makes you strong and burns fat.

throw 20 rep squats into your program for one cycle and see how you go. don''t go into the gym thinking your going to do your normal squat routine . if you have anything left after 2 sets of 20 rep squats then you really didn't push your self.

a few options
1) on squat days just do 2 sets of 20 reps
2) break your squat days up into double splits. do your 20 reps squats in the morning and a second accessory workout in the evening
3) do one accessory lift then do 2 sets of 20 rep squats then do some core work.
ex. sand bag cleans 3x6
squats 2x20
hanging leg raise 6x6

20 rep squats should be the hardest thing you've ever done inside the gym.
if you can do 3 sets then you really didn't work as hard as you thought on the first two. I'm saying 2 sets, but theres no reason you can't do just one all out balls to the wall set and call that good. that set should have you laying down on the ground in a pool of sweat and drool for 15 min.

its not easy

its not meant to be easy. if it was we wouldn't have the epidemic of couchpotatitis that we do. So many people show up wanting the 3 min. ab solution, perfect physique without effort miracle.

One of my first statements to potential clients is ' it's hard work!' A lot of people i never see again.

i've been in gyms where people do the same thing year after year, sweat a lot, wear all the right gear, join all the fad classes and never change.

my clients see results. they sweat, they hurt, they work hard, I push them and they push their limits. they make improvements. improvements with their fitness, health and strength. but they also improve in their emotional strength and character of person.

if you want an easy option invest in what ever product is being panded across the informercial airwaves currently. i know people who over time have invested thousands and thousands of dollars and still lament their lack of progress.

if you want to be stronger, faster, better, invest in yourself with effort. do the hard yards.

easy come easy go. if it takes hard work then the results last.

what we do at primordial athletics isn't easy, and it isn't for everyone but everyone who comes in quickly improves and become stronger mentally and physically and this shows.

monkey training

I like going to the zoo. I could spend my whole day there. I like the scenery, eating lunch at the overpriced cafe' and overspendingat the gift shop. I like shooting four rolls of film that I'll only ever loook at once or twice. I like sharing the excitement with my children and proving to them how smart I am as I come up with answers to each and everyone of their questions, like exactly how old is the tortice and how come all the alligatyor does is sleep and are you sure its not dead and 'why can't we go play with the cute tiger babies?

I like all of the animals in the zoo, but the ones that stand up and get most of the attention are the energetic monkeys. The mobile, athletic animals appear to be the monkeys ( and apes). They always seem to be moving. Running, jumping and literally swinging around.

The athletisism of the gibons, the legs of the chimps, the lat spread of the orangutng, the sheer brute power of the gorilla, the acrobatics of the spider monkey the crazy high testosterone of the baboon; hey-monkeys are cool.

So here i am at the zoo.... wondering....

how do we mimic these attributes in our own training?

how do we practice these primal movements in the gym?

WELL......after a thourogh warm up

do this

1) roll over pushups into sprint- change direction sprint - leap to pullup ( and if you can; do an up and over or muscle up)

2) crouching jumps

3) one arm-fat handle-woodchop pushdown.

4) monkey bars

5) foward roll squat jump (or deck squat jump)

now if this doesn't make you feel like a monkeys uncle....

you can do this circuit fashion or break it down into traditional sets and spend 10-15 min. on each series.

If you haven't done anything like this since you were a kid at the zoo playground it will be hard. As you get accustomed to it, just try to get more sets in during the 10-15 minute time blocks.

So there you have an idea of good solid monkey training you can do in a gym or playground. You'll be strong, athletic and fast. the more work done in the alotted time frame the more conditioned you'll become.

a lean, mean simian machine.

eat like a bear

There's a lot of diet advice circulating around in common jargon and one of the most cleche sound bites is "eat like a gorilla". Obviously because a gorilla is big and strong.

What does a 600lbs gorilla do? anything it wants to.

I've never ascribed to the eat like a gorilla spin.

For starters I'm not a gorilla.

Beyond that, gorillas have an almost exclusive vegetarian diet and all the gastric hardship that entails. they are essentially herbavours. If you want a hugely disended gut and excrutiationg gas then by all means, eat like a gorilla.

I generally tell people to , "eat like a bear".

I know I said I'm not a gorilla; and I realize I'm not a bear; science likes to argue that we are "almost " gorillas but Native American legend says that I'm, well, a bears nephew.

Regardless, bears and humans are both carnivours (omnivours really).

Protien is an essential componet of our diet, and neither bears nor humans can easily get adequate amounts of protien from grass and leaves. ( The gorilla diet)

We need meat, I'm not advocating eating ants, termites, grubs and worms (all great sources of protien) but hunting for deer would greatly improve your lean protien intake.

Bears are famous for fishing for salmon. Essential fatty acids and.... protien.

Bears also spend time foraging for berries and stealing honey. minimal carbs with ample antioxidants and phytochemicals.

Next time your making food choices, instead of thinking to yourself what would a gorilla eat? maybe you should thing what would a bear eat.

can't never could

One of the things 'me dear old da' must have engrained in me was the expression "can't never could do nothin' ...boy"

'there is not try. there is do or do not'

Sometimes clients come into the gym and they 'can't' do something; and thats okay-except when the effort's not applied to let you do something.

The kids often come in and look at something new and go ' i can't' . Well if you don't make the attempt how do you know? Our sand bag work is often like this. It looks hard (because it is) it looks heavy (well, thats relative) and the expression 'can't' often finds itself in the ether.

How do you know you can't? Squat down and do it! 'I can't its's too heavy!' - incorrect. You've nudged it and felt that it's heavy and it is; So what. Pick it up!

'Wow I picked it up'. Yes, now do it again, and again and one more time.

Invest in yourself with effort. Hard work. Success. Confidence. Improvement.

Can't never would have gotten that weight up or that pull up done. It may have been improbable, but not impossible. When the improbable is accomplished, often, the investment has paid its dividends physically and psychologically.

Don't let four letter words hold you back in the gym or in life.

more sprint training in the gym

So we've addressed shorter (but effective) training sessions with smart exercise selection so that we are still recieving a training effect and not just ' gassing' ourselves for the euphoria of persieved physical exertion.

So, here is an example of a 20 min. training session:

1 hindu squats

2 alternating kettlebell bent over rows

3 punching bag

4 russian twists

5 jumprope

Here we have 5 exercises, done for 1 min. in a circuit fasion, 4 times through.

keeping in mind that the body (wants) to work as an unit we have a lower body exercise (pushing us away from the planet [jumping]), a pulling movement, a pushing movement a core movement and active rest.

This circuit allows for high volume multi -joint exercises which in turn increase hormonal output; raise the metabolic response; increase fat burning, hypertrophy, cardio-vascular adaptation, strength endurance, mental toughness and intestinal fortitude all without decreasing current strength levels.

sprint sessions in the gym.

now by sprint sessions i don't mean sprinting from one end of the gym to the other,

what i mean is brief but intense training sessions. well orchestrated so that your time is used most efficiently . sometimes you don't have an hour to spend at the gym and often you don't need to spend an hour at the gym (deepending on your purposes).

a well chosen series of exercise set into a streamlined circuit can give a tremendous training session, accomplished in a brief time period.

the key to this?

choosing good exercises.

i like to fit this into a 20 min slot.

i'll pick around 5 exercises and run through a circuit 4 times.

KAPOW ; 20 min done.

don't count sets and reps, watch the clock or better yet have someone watch it for you. do each exercise for 1 min.

also, there should be as much flow from one exercise to the next as you can manage.

these sessions are great for cardio workouts, metabolic training, conditioning or recovery workouts.

why oh why

a bit more of a rant this time

i love sharing my training knowledge. i'm one of those guys who's mind is constantly on how to enhance current training or fix physiological problems. i walk down the road and see an interesting natural geographical configuration and my brain floods with ideas about how i can use that phenominon to break away from conventional training but still generate amazing results by going back to basics with the environment i find myself surrounded by.

it really gets under my skin if i ask a client to try something and they refuse because its awkward for them. if something is awkward, then its probably exactly what you need. easy stuff, things that you already excell at you can do on your own and won't give you as much of a training stimulous. thats why you hire me, to get the best out of you so why would a client shirk whats asked of him. your paying me for my knowledge and experience so when i give it to you don't ignore it. At PRIOMORDIAL ATHLETICS hard work is one of the biggest requirements. i'm generous to a fault and will go above and beyond to help you (because i love this stuff and get a huge kick out of seeing you succede) but you've got to bring in the effort.

if somethings are unusuall and embarassing because they are not what your used to seeing in the traditional chromeplated machine loaded gyms, well, i'm usually the first one down there with you doing the exercise; because it works. If you feel awkward because you're not already proficient in the movement, well, work at getting proficient at it, so we can move on to the next thing that your not so great at and watch your athleticism grow and improve.

if you truly desire to become great then it won't matter what onlookers think, how will you get better than the crowd if you do the same as the crowd. leaving your comfort zone builds character; mentally and physically.

sand bag front squats

Front squats with a sandbag.

The front squat is a dynamic addition/variation/substitution for normal squats. It targets all the same musculature but with different leverages, enhancing quad recruitment, hip flexibility, lower back stability, core activation and shoulder girdle strength.

To do the front squat the load should be chambered across the shoulders, the hands a bit wider than shoulder width and the elbows pointed up. From there the body drops strait down, ‘into the hole’.

One of the difficulties of this exercise is wrist flexibility, however there are ways to work around this. The weight should be supported by the shoulders, the hands (finger tips) wresting on the bar, most people grip the bar and the bar is held in an top curl or beginning military press position. I suggest continue working on the wrist flexibility.

Picture of proper front squat : note the angle of the legs, the kness go past the feet which is contrary to most teaching.

An often used variation is the crossover grip favored by bodybuilders, but I personally find that this forces too much forward lean. Too much stress across the lower back, and a tendency for the weight to roll down the shoulders as the exercise set progresses.

body builders front squat

Now, when we throw in a sandbag, well it’s a whole new world. Just the act of getting a sand bag into position from the ground can be a work out in itself.

The offset weight and odd size changes the center of gravity and feel of the load. In other words, requires more work and I find a lot more core involvement.

Sand bag front squat

You must continue to carry the weight across the shoulders, elbows high, or the exercise evolves into a zercher squat.

　

　

training journals

fitness training journals.
most people don't bother with a journal/diary. they just come into the gym and go through their routine. usually the latest routine from which ever periodical they follow.
A training journal has a very important purpose for the trainer though. It allows you to keep an accurate record of where you've been.
why is that important.
well, it eliminates the guess work. you don't have to try and figure out what kind of load you need from the previous training sessions or this session because its already written down. you know the load and intensity previously used and can begin this session with a clear idea of where you are and what you need. it keeps the guess work out.
you can also keep track of nagging injuries and sore bits. if somethings been bothering you and you can see its been an issue for 3 months (because you've looked back through your journal and tracked it ) then you know, maybe, you need to have it seen too.
with a journal you can plan, you can keep an eye on your goals and monitor your progress and know if your plan (towards your goals ) needs some work.
you can also make notes about what is affecting you and where your mental and physical states are at.
with a journal you can keep track of what training sessions (and protocals ) are awesome and need to be kept within your mix and which ones are lousy and need to be left by the wayside.
keeping a journal is one of the habits of a champion.

squats so bad

it just drives me crazy. i turned on the local morning the program (the other morning) and the shows 'fitness star' was giving a demonstration on squats. first it made me sick, then it made me mad. here is theis person of authority , demonstrating a great exercise , completely wrong and giving to all her viewers a useless variation and if they pick it up , the'll be waisting so much time trying to follow her advice.
squats so bad:
squats are a great exercise. if you worked them properly you could get great results just from doing them. they are a multi-jointed exercise that requires great physical adaptation to continue to improve in them (wether improvement means increasing load or increasing duration). please, squat before aerobics (tae bo, zumba, swissball balance protocal, etc. ad nosium) if you want some real metabolic changes.
so our lady of the moment tells her audience, dont let your butt go below your knees. in otherwords , quarter squats. why, thats not even a squat.
there a lots of squat variations but we will go over just a basic squat.
you want your feet to be shoulder wide or just a bit wider if that is more comfortable. feet just barely pointing out wards, then lower your body between your legs. as straight as possible. keeping your back straight. just like a baby. how many toddlers get rushed to the hospital because of bad knees from squating below parallel??????


bad squats, ouch. wow, perfect squats. no back pain no knee injury.


now heres some squats with weight, hard to argue with this one.

two lessons here, squat, squat low, squat well and beware your local tv fitness celebrity

so bad squats

the price of a smoke

its amazing to me how resistant people are to spend money on the things that matter most. i can't think of too many people that don't have sky tv or cable, but can't afford the rent. i can't count the kids i've seen dirty and ill fed outside the gambling dens waiting on their parents to come out with their new fortune which never comes. Not too many people go without their take away dinners, cigarettes or weekend drinking sessions.
When i drop my kids off at school, I literally can't count the number of fat, out of shape kids. I see kids that a wonder if they'll make it past their 20's due to the sickness and affects of obesity. how sad that fat has become the norm and socially acceptable. how ironic that for the price of a pack of cigerettes that child could be put into a program that could literally save his life. everyone loves their children, they just don't love them enough to save their lives.
I know that is a harsh statement, but really, i've heard so many times, "it cost's too much". Too much money to sign your child up into a fitness program, that will provide him with exercise and education towards a new healthy life style. literally the price of a pack of cigerettes. A lot less than the price of weekend drinks. no where near as much as the huge medical and sickness related bills looming ahead in his future.

fat vs media culture

fat has long been villafied by the popular media and diet/food industry. Because it has been condemned to a shamefull post in the fitness/diet profile of the culture we have a society terrified of the rammifications of fat food.

strange how we find fat (in food) scarier than cancer in cigarettes..

the sad, horrible truth is , fat is not evil. fat is necessary. fat is good for you.

we need fat for a mirade of bodily functions. fat is our information transport system and our in house chemistry set as well as an important energy system.

even the often maligned saturated fat we get from animal products has an important role in our health profile.

like everything in our lives, we need balance. an out of balance life is a chaotic life full of frustration and stress.

our diets need balance as well. for years now (thank you food lobby and popular media) we have had our diets being pushed further and further out of kilter, where we flood our system with carbohydrates and deny it protiens and fats. then a fad will come along and we will unbalance the other way reducing carbohydrates way too low in favour of fats or protiens.

we need balance. we need fats.

lucky for us, most of our diet will provide us with the fatty requirements we have. think, steak, fish, nuts, avacado, olives.

beware of fast foods-not fat foods

weiders curse

i recently came across the hardgainer, compound vs isolation exercise comment on facebook. who ever asked this question recieved a bit of ridicule. most people with knowledge in the industry these days are so tired of this and similar comments that their patience can understandable run short. on the flip side, those inundated and brainwashed by the pro quo of the "fitness" industry are usually unopen to hearing, understanding or accepting the truth.

Weider and his empire, stole, canived, lied and did what ever they had to and wanted to, to make sure they were the one undisputed source of information for any part of the physical culture that involved the lifting of weights. They single handedly controled and monopolized the field for decades.
for years they were the only source of ideas and information available and their influence still dominates the thought process towards weightlifting and training of the general public.

Now the flip side of the coin is that they opened the door (through their books and media) for everyone to become exposed to the idea of physical fitness in areas not related to tennis or marathon running. . so along with the bad they did some good. However there was only one door.

Now there is a lot more information available and a lot of good coaches out there who know a bit more about real physical culture, but weiders hold on the media and cultural mindset is still strong. Its time to escape from the weiders mind control paradigm. train hard, train basic.

there is not one machine in my gym. there are 2 power racks, weights and bars, ropes and sleds and tires and bags and rocks.

if your a hard gainer, god bless you for your fast metabolism. eat more peanut butter and lift some heavy $#j!+. forget about what you've read in muscle and fiction and start investing in milo.

weiders curse has enslaved the minds of young trainers for decades, break the curse and become a free thinker.

when i was a kid

when i was a kid i used to love running and picking up heavy $#!+. when i say running, i mean running fast and long distances. if i ran, it was a sprint from start to finish. if i rode my bike, it was a sprint. have to go fast to get any air time. if another kid picked up something heavy i found something heavier to pick up. as i grew up running became a structured activity. picking up heavy stuff and working hard became a character trait.

i spent years in the gym trying to develop an awesome character full of strength and power and was moderatly successfull.

i still like running fast(ish) (even though i breath a lot harder) and picking up heavy $#!+.

now when i pick up heavy stuff its still bars and bells, but its also rocks and bags and cars and trees. and when i run its racing with the dog and the son (and he's starting to win) and its fun.

its hard work , but its fun. i don't have to do what i do,

i could sit around and drink beer, watch tv, put the kids in their room and kick the dog and be sad, but i have a good time running fast and picking up heavy stuff.

my son runs fast and picks up heavy stuff and hangs off the power rack and climbs trees and sand dunes. his pushups are coming along and as they do, so does his character. he learns to push himself, he learns not to give up, he gets the satisfaction of success and hard work.

fit kids are happy kids.

i see a lot of kids around and they are not happy. they don't run and play and climb. they sit in front of the tv, they play video games. and when they do go out they can't keep up with an old man and his dog. instead of running over hill and over dale they're hanging at the mall buying clothes that force their muscles into poor movement paterns.

put your kids outside,

join a baseball league

a soccer league

a gymnastics team.

jog, run, climb, pick up heavy $#!+

dieting fallacy

is your diet scientific or is it more like science fiction, or is it so scientific that you need seven more years of advanced, applied, multi doctorated degrees to understand it let alone implement it?

For most of us diet is a four letter word and who can be blamed when we are constantly bombarded from every directrion by conflicting information from as many sources as you have late night tv channels available to you.

The truth is most of these diets will work. The sad fact is, most of these diets work along the same lines and principals as starvation.

If your starving you're depleating muscle (mass). if you depleting muscle you may get skinny, you will lose weight, but you will not be healthy and you will not have the appearnace of health or beauty. You just won't look good naked.

dieting for a six pack:

you gotta move! having said that-you have to think about what you eat. You need good sources of protien with each meal. eggs, red meat, fish, poultry. And each meal should be complimented with fruits and vegetables. And you shouldn't be drinking anything but water.

stay hungry: when you eat don't eat until your full. you should be able to leave the table and wrestle with your kid or at least throw the ball around. eating until your stuffed stretches out your stomach and intenstines even if your eating healthy.

rules to live by:

if it comes in a box-its garbage

try to eat seasonaly

eat plenty of protiens with each meal ( meat, fish, eggs, poultry)

eat a lot of fruits and vegetables

drink a lot of water

stay hungry

once you learn these rules and you habituate them, then you can begin "tweaking" your eating style and learning to "carb cycle" and what foods "burn" fat .

more eggs, less bread and lots of water.

fit kids

do i need to say more. fit kids are happy kids.

back pain

Back pain runs rampant in society today and many people are limited and even disabled by it.
Hard men just keep on going with it, relegating it to the back of their mind and gritting their teeth to get through the day, but why should they endure this?
the first thing you need to know about acute back injury is, after you catch your breath, move, work.
Walk, and when you can, as soon as you can, jog. jogging activates the spinal muscles and gets them moving in a coordinated fashion that puts them in proper sinc with your bio mechanics.

Work over head. Working overhead stretches the muscles and works all the small supporting structure. You get to stretch under tension, safely. Find a house painter and do the overhead sanding for him. This is the quickest way to a cure.
Driving with back pain:
I have found that placing a soda can or coke bottle in the lower back while driving can ease a lot of driving pain.
if you live near the ocean wading chest deep in water and going for walks also has a rehabilitative effect for the back (and hips/legs)
When sleeping, try sleeping with the knees elevated.
Training the lower back after injury:
My favorite tricks for training and retraining the lower back after injury are as soon as possible start doing reverse hypers. at first don't use any weight. As soon as you get accustomed to the movement start ding the normal three sets of ten. (nothing scientific about that) After a week or so of three sets of ten move on to heavier weights with less reps .
jogging is one of the Best ways to get those spinal muscles in synchronicity. forget about everything else and go for a 10-15 minute run. You can easily handle 10-20 minutes a day without fear of overtraining or overuse.
Drugs and sleep will not heal your back . sitting or stationary standing for prolonged periods will aggravate even a healthy back. you must move. you were built to move. your body must move to be healthy and whole.

forgotten training methods

Secrets of the past

What is new was old, what was old is new again.
It seems to me that one of the most effective exercises for training fighters has been either forgotten or neglected. Chopping wood.
Now I know there are a few variations of this, specifically the sledgehammer drills and these are great tools, but like all variations they are not replacements.
If you’re a fighter and want to add some real power to your strikes then find a forest and cut it down.
“I know, green peace and I are not on speaking terms”
Swinging an axe and striking timber has an enormous trade off in terms of strength and power.
It works speed –speed strength—impact resistance-follow through-through power-focus/targeting-point of impact power-specific starting strength-recovery-repetition-kinetic chains-core; well what doesn’t it do.
There’s not a better way to develop a devastating punch or strike and it can be used to set up conditioning drills and skill set drills.
If you’re a fighter , you need to be chopping wood.

Zach even-esh ( http://www.getwrestlingstrength.com/ ) recently queried whether anyone watched his videos and learned from them or just watched and said 'that's great, now I'll go do everything I've always done'.
In the past when I've trained fighters I've definitely noticed the habit of never straying from the comfort zone. i used to pull my hair out at these "tough" guys who wouldn't do anything they weren't familiar with or was too hard.
Guess what. if you don't leave your comfort zone ( train like a beast Zach would say) then your not going to last against your opponent who does.
how fit are you going to be if your always looking for the easier way.
fitness, health, athleticism, strength, only comes from hard work. effort.
how hard you work is up too you, but you must invest in yourself with effort.



invest in yourself with effort

Functional warm ups

I know functional is overused to death in todays fitness market. Its hyped and hyperboled.
However; I think your warm-ups are not only necessary, but they need to be functional.

A warm-up needs to be preformed to get your central nervous system , musculo-skeletal and cardiovascular system coordinated to function efficiently and smoothly. It protects the muscles and joints from injury and gets the blood flowing to deliver oxygen and stream line the energy systems and remove waste products as efficiently as possible.

Most warm ups take the form of stationary bike riding (where the trainee is usually engaged in reading ) or treadmill strolling (and the trainee conversing). I put it too you that this is mostly a waste of time. This is almost inactivity and doesn’t prepare you mentally or physically for the trial you are about to put your body through (hopefully).
The other style of warm-up commonly used is the light sets leading into heavy sets. Prelude sets into work sets. Specific warm up. This is a necessary step up to your working sets and you should do this, but if you haven’t done a general warm-up before your specific warm up then your body isn’t quite prepared to work as well as it can.

Here’s one example of a great functional warm up
Push ups
Jump rope
Bear crawls
Squat
Grasshoppers
Cassock/mantis

Each exercise done for one minute. No rest between exercises.
If your working out for an hour then that’s the first 6 min.
After this you’ll be thoroughly warmed up.
What makes it functional?
* The whole body is moving as an unit throughout the circuit.
the core is continually engaged
There’s upper body specific movements
Lower body specific movements
Synaptic facilitation is incorporated (training the groove)
All the body's systems are primed
There’s mobility drills incorporated
And flexibility

Doing this warm-up daily even with out a work out would produce real world benefits in health and spirit, but a warm-up along these lines is necessary to get the most out of your training sessions.

warmups too workouts

a chronologically older athlete just needs to warm up. this gets his system up and moving and prepared for what is to come. a younger athlete (kid) has a system always primed and good to go so he can get away without proper warm ups.
warming up before training heats the body up, gets the lungs ready to transport oxygen effeciently, and loosens up the muscles and joints so the can move fluidly.
here's a good warm up
pushups
jumpropes
bear crawls
squats
grasshoppers
cassok/mantis
each exercise is done for one minute
this beats the crap out of 15 minutes of pretend work on the exercycle where 97% of people are either reading a gossip rag or gossiping amoungst themselves. thats not much of a warm up really

BUT

this is such a good opening sequence why stop here.
this warmup can easily shift into a conditioning session
6 exercise done for one minute = 6 minutes.
do this balls out for 6 minutes and thats a great metabolic start to the day.
(balls out is an old engenering term)
pace yourself for a bit and do this for 2 rounds (circuits) and thats 12 minutes.
a short, effective session
1 more round and thats 18 minutes. your well into a training program.
just.one.more.round. and youve been going non stop for 24 minutes. if you can do this for 24 min. thats a good training/conditioning session. if you can manage this for another round then the first 4 rounds you didn't really push yourself.

do these 6 exercises,in circuit fashion, without a break between circuits and slowly begin to pick up your pace as you train the circuit (over time/sessions) and you will quickly begin getting into shape. you'll get stronger and your heart and lungs will get healthier and more efficient. you'll find that your flexability improves as well.

a great how to deadlift video from diesel crew http://www.dieselcrew.com/

it rained but i went to the beach anyway

there are a million excuses not to train, (i've used them all myself), but thats just what they are, excuses. problems. laziness. instead of excuses lets look for solutions. i love training outdoors. its good for the spirit and nature tends to provide all of the equipment you need. Its also a good way to get my kids involved and playing with kids is one of the best training paradigms i've come up with. today i took a drive to the beach and we just used what nature provide and spent 20 min just moving: non stop: no rest:
we jogged around (in the sand and up dunes) and climbed rocks (pulling) and did pushups (pushing) and lifted stones (from the ground up/squating-deadlifting)
did some bear crawls, curls, and lunges.
no equipment just us and the earth.
20 min. at the end of 20 min. i was used. but kids being kids, we spent another 2 hours running around - walking around and playing and doing beachy things. at the end I went for a swim. (contrast bathing)
no excuses. 20 min. brilliant workout. didn't have to be a beach. couldve been the park. or the living room.
no excuses. just discipline.
want to change more than you want to stay the same

catching the z's

you gotta sleep
perhaps one of the most overlooked aspect of health is the need for sleep. we all know that we need "some" sleep, but we seldom allow ourselves to gain the sleep we need, for a variety of reasons, mostly a mixture of life style concerns and bad habits.
When you're working hard, burning the midnight oil, playing hard-staying out with the owls then your body is being robbed of one of the essential ingrediants of health. SLEEP. Society asks us to work and work; We work long hours then return to our caves and sit down for food and watch tv, next thing you know its late in the night and you've invested hours in something that didn't really entertain you, just to satisfy a habit.
Often we get the call to go out on the town and spend many hours carousing only to spend the next day or two with the enevitable hangover, moody and unhappy.
These activities rob our minds and bodies of one of the most valuble aids in mental and physical recovery.Sleep.
You have to work hard to get ahead, and you need time to blow off steam and relax. Escape your day to day grind. But we should take these things into consideration and schedual some time to sleep. come home after work, eat, train for 20 min (or train for 20 min , eat) spend half an hour to an hour teaching your body a new habit; gearing up for down time. read a book, take a spa, whatever. change your active habit so your mind and body know its time to rest, go get some sleep. skip the tv. if its that riviting, get the dvd.
when you have a big weekend planned or unplanned, cat nap your way through it. 15 min, before you go. a few extra naps during the aftermath.
you have to sleep. there are books written on the bad effects and loss of health and sanity due to lack of sleep. Most of us even when we think we're getting enough sleep are still sorely lacking in what the human body needs to actually recover the riggors of normal day to day activity (let alone if your engaged in hard labor or training). get away from the tv. get away from the pc. stay home for a (early)night.
early to bed early to rise makes one healthy wealthy and rise. this is true. give it a try.

obesity and social science

there's a lot in the media about obesity and social ties. Its not your fault your fat. maybe. its something bad in your past. dad was mean, a boyfriend cheated on you. you saw your puppy get hit by a car. maybe.
yes a lot of people eat for comfort. are comfort eaters. and there's a lot of legitimate reasons for this, however; no matter how much counceling you undertake, if you don't exercise and eat (close to) right, your not going to loose weight.
no matter how you've developed your bad habits, your habits of a lifetime, to break them, you have to commit to change. you have to learn a new way, and this takes commitment and commitment takes disipline.
go get all of the support you need, friends, family, counciling.
you DO have to take care of the spirit, but to change the body, you need to exercise and you need to eat healthy. (http://www.precisionnutrition.com/)

training when its raining

if your like me and a big chunk of your training is done outdoors, and you don't have a gym membership, and you don't want your weights crashing through the floor while your trying to pull/deadlift 200k; but it's pouring rain outside, then what you gonna do?

what about some pushups and squats?

try this workout.

handstand pushups (back to the wall)
wall climbs
side lunge into cosaks
3x? as a circuit

then
handstand pushup (faceing wall, going down untill chest touches floor)
gymnastic bridge
compass lunge
grasshoppers
3x?
then
pushups
wrester bridges (be sure your up to it)
prisoner squats
v sits
3x?

lets take a walk

walking is not exercise unless you're really BIG. Big fellas can walk to the mail box and call it cardio. It takes a lot to lug around 300 plus pounds. your muscles are working hard to carry that much mass around and your heart is pumping ferociously (you hope) to push the blood in your system that far.

If your that big, then walking can be exercise but you need to have a good look at yourself and be sure of your life choices.

But...if you have even a mediocre level of general physical capability then walking is not going to do a lot for you.

The human body is designed for movement so it needs to maove to exercise, walking is the minimal movement pattern the human animal makes. Rolling over and stretching exercises more muscles than walking.

If your just starting out on a fitness or weight loss program then walking is where you start because its the simpilist motor recruitment pattern the manimal uses. As soon as you hit the 5 min continueous motion mark its time to up the ante. Steady state walking just doesn't stress the body enough to generate appropriate stress to forse physiological adaptation.

a new day

be patient as we start this blog and begin to add information .
this site will be dedicated to strenth and fitness .
no pc crap, just the facts ma'am.