Active Rest
So I finished my latest workout progression last Wednesday with 20 minutes on the battling ropes.
I then took four days off while I traveled to visit the Man Bicep Mom and my sister (which by the way was SO much fun!).
Since coming back, I’ve been working out with no clear direction. I figured my body could use the break from intense training and it is nice every once in a while to take a week to just play!
I’m just experimenting, trying new things and working on strengthening areas for my next progression. I’ll probably just “goof around” until Monday when I start a two-week powerlifting progression before getting back to training for the OKC Kettlebell competition we will be holding in February.
The other day I tried this glute bridge exercise that I’ve seen one of the owners, Corey, doing on a regular basis. It was killer and a great way to improve my deadlift. I’ve also tested out a few core exercises I’d found online and worked on my kettlebell swing.
Then today I jumped in on one of Aaron’s workouts and got my first chance to work with the atlas stones.
While I wasn’t lifting them like this guy, I did get to do a core exercise with the “little” 125lbs one. Aside from smashing my elbow underneath it so that I now have a second elbow off of my first elbow, I really really liked using those stones.
Unfortunately I don’t have a picture of the exercise we were doing today, but it did make you look like a turtle stuck on your back. It was a great core exercise because it not only worked all of the muscles of your trunk, but it also worked your triple extension, meaning it also worked all the way down your legs.
Anyway, the point of this short rambling post is that while I’ve been harping on progression and setting a goal and tailoring your program to move you closer to that goal, it is also very important to remember to take ACTIVE REST weeks. Every month or two months, you should take a week where you just PLAY.
You don’t necessarily have any clear-cut goals. You are allowing yourself to just relax while not being completely inactive.
You are just experimenting and readying your mind and body for another round of intense, hard work.
So while setting out a clear progression toward your goals is important, remember it is also important to every once in a while give your mind and body and chance to play with no stress or pressure to accomplish a goal.
Back to Basics
We’ve been discussing core values at our gym, Innovative Results, in Costa Mesa and one of the core values that has really stood out for me these last few weeks is “Back to Basics.”
There are so many FADS out there, telling you they have the “quick and easy” solution.
Of course when I see “quick and easy” associated with a diet and/or exercise program, I laugh and ignore it (unless of course I want something to rant about…).
Because there really is no quick and easy solution. Hard work is involved!
BUT if you stick to the basics, I will guarantee you will actually get the results you seek.
But what does sticking to the basics really mean?
Does it mean only traditional moves like the deadlift, squat and bench press? Or does it mean battling ropes, foam rolling and corrective exercise? Does it mean only doing 3 simple exercises for the rest of your life or is variety key?
Or is everything I listed above correct?
For me sticking to the basics means these four key things:
- Compound exercises that use muscles in an integrated fashion and work the major muscle groups.
- Moves that are functional aka training that helps us move better in day-to-day life.
- Preventing injuries by correcting imbalances and developing STRENGTH.
- Creating a PROGRESSION with well-considered variables.
So for me sticking to the basics doesn’t mean SIMPLE, it means well thought out and EFFICIENT.
It means not doing the freaking leg extension machine at the gym unless you have a really really really good reason to do it (aka don’t do single muscle group movements).
It means picking out a few KEY COMPOUND EXERCISES for the month that work YOUR BIG MUSCLE GROUPS.
It means STICKING to a ROUTINE and not just throwing in random exercises that you’ve seen in a magazine.
It means correcting problem areas THAT YOU HAVE and not just doing corrective exercises and SMR (foam rolling) on areas that you’ve been told COULD BE problem areas.
Going “Back to Basics” doesn’t have to mean being boring or only doing the same few things day after day.
Honestly, it means creating something measurable. When you just put together random exercises with random weights, repetitions and sets, you aren’t setting yourself up to measure your progress.
If you stick to the basics, you will create a program that will not only allow you to measure you progress but will also probably help you reach your goal faster!
So take a second right now to think about your current exercise program. Can you measure your progress? Are you doing compound movements and working your major muscle groups? Do you stick to a progression for at least a month? Are you correcting YOUR imbalances?
If you answered no to some of the questions above, maybe it’s time you got BACK TO THE BASICS!
P.S. Getting back to the basics most definitely also applies to diet. Just think, “WHOLE NATURAL FOODS!” This will definitely be a focus of mine after four days traveling and eating all of the goodies that St. Louis and Bloomington have to offer! 🙂
I’m not usually a wimp
So on Sunday morning, I grated off a chunk of my knuckle.
The grater went in nice and deep and the cut oozed blood all day and my knuckle swelled up.
It hurt, but what hurt more than the cut was the fact that I knew I had my battling ropes challenges starting the very next day.
How the heck was I going to grip the rope for 10 minutes and then even 20 minutes with a freaking finger that wouldn’t bend?
And on top of the fact that I now had this annoying little injury, I DIDN’T WANT TO DO THE BATTLING ROPES FOR FIVE MINUTES LET ALONE 20!
Have I mentioned before that I really really dislike any form of long cardio?
Well, I DO!
So between the fact that my finger hurt and I had to do cardio for a while, I developed a very bad attitude.
Usually, I’d consider myself fairly tough. I suck it up and do it.
But usually I also semi-enjoy the torture I’m putting myself through.
Speed work on the power ropes?
Sure no problem.
Endurance work doing battling ropes?
No thank you.
But I didn’t have a choice.
So I grumpily made my way into the gym and started pouting to Jeff and Aaron about my stupid finger.
I had the whole lip out and head down pout really going when Aaron said, “Ready?”
I wanted to say, “NOOOOOOOO!”
But instead I just nodded and picked up the ropes.
Five minutes in, I was whining to myself in my head. I was counting the seconds. It seemed like forever until I hit 1o minutes. My forearms were on fire and I couldn’t seem to get out of my mental funk.
At 10 minutes, I was done. It wasn’t AWFUl, but I was still dreading the 20 minute challenge yet to come.
It wasn’t even mental fatigue. Honestly, other than my forearms nothing even felt worked. It was all in my head.
When I went home, I kept telling myself that it wasn’t THAT bad. That 20 minutes wouldn’t be much worse.
But that didn’t change my attitude for today.
I walked into that gym as grumpy as could be.
But I started the ropes.
About a minute in, I wanted to drop the ropes. I felt tired. I didn’t want to do long cardio!
When Aaron told me I’d hit 5 minutes, I wanted to scream. AHHHHHHHH!
15 more minutes!?!
My forearms were already tired and my legs were even feeling it today.
I had such a bad attitude that I even told Aaron that I basically just wanted to stop.
He kept repeating positive thinks and I mentally told myself to SHUT UP! with the negative thoughts.
And something finally clicked.
I started cruising.
The last 10 minutes felt 100 times easier than the first 5.
And all because my attitude had changed.
I’d been such a wimp and once I finally got over the negative attitude, things got easier.
So all I can say from this experience is that working out and pushing yourself to reach new goals is about 80% mental.
Yes, your body has to be strong enough, but if your mind isn’t strong….you’ll never achieve your goals.
So tell those negative thoughts to SHUT UP and see just how much more you can accomplish.
I mean it….Don’t even let yourself say you’re tired and you may just surprise yourself with how strong you ACTUALLY are!
BBQ Tacos
So I decided to cook up a slab of ribs we had and chop them up to make BBQ tacos. I ended up using about half a slab for our Sunday night dinner.
Ryan then decided to make his own version of BBQ tacos for us on Monday night.
I will admit….His were better….
BBQ ribs, homemade corn tortillas and a spicy slaw with cheese. DELICIOUS!
Ryan’s DELICIOUS BBQ Tacos with Spicy Slaw
Ingredients:
1/2 slab ribs
6 corn tortillas
1/2 cup Purple cabbage
10 Jalapeno slices
1 tbsp Heavy whipping cream
4 oz Cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 can Tomato sauce
2 tbsp Dijon
1 tbsp Orange juice
1 tbsp Ketchup
2 tsp Paprika
Chili powder to taste
6 tbsp mashed pinto beans
So the ribs I pre-cooked in the oven and the corn tortillas were homemade. Check out the Recipe Box for both recipes.
Heat a skillet with shredded rib meat, tomato sauce, Dijon mustard, orange juice, ketchup, paprika and chili powder.
Heat tortillas in a skillet.
While meat is cooking in the sauce, mix together chopped cabbage and chopped jalapenos. Add in cream, cheese and salt and pepper.
Place warm tortillas on a baking sheet and heat oven to 350. Place 1 tbsp of beans on each tortilla. Divide meat mixture between tortillas and top with cabbage mixture.
Put in the oven till the cheese is melted and the tortillas has a little golden brown on the edge.
Enjoy!
Ice Ice Baby
Ok maybe I’m the only one that laughed at the title, but it was worth it!
Anyway, recently while going in and out of overtraining to quickly achieve my goals, I’ve found that ICE is my best friend.
Ice packs, ice baths, contrast showers….all of them are just PHENOMENAL!
They help my muscles recover and they help me prevent any old injuries from flaring up and cause issues.
Ice reduces inflammation and can help reduce swelling. This can help keep injuries from flaring up and cause you to have altered movement patterns. I know that recently with all of the activities I’m doing, my ankle scar tissue has been irritated. So I’ve been taking extra time to do rehab exercises and ICE every single night. Most of the time more than once a day.
And guess what!?! My ankle is actually bothering me less than it has in a while even though I’m doing a ton more things to irritate it!
Icing can also help reduced muscle soreness so that you can take less time off between intense workouts! Icing helps injuries heal…exercising intensely basically causes minor muscle trauma, which when the muscles heal they become stronger – ice speeds this process. YAY!
Icing also helps flush out waste products such as lactic acid from the muscles, which again HELPS YOU RECOVER FASTER!
So if you want to recover faster, you may want to experiment with contrast showers (alternating hot and COLD water) and icing.
I mean who wouldn’t want to recover faster!?!
Anyone else using icing or contrast showers as part of their recovery routine?
1 minute workout
So today I had a nice group of family and friends come in for a post-Thanksgiving day workout.
They did some power ropes and blanket shakes. Some medball throws, sled pushes and even a little VersaClimber.
The workout ran about an hour and consisted of some nice interval training to get the blood pumping.
I then did my workout right after…besides the 15 minute warm up and foam rolling, my workout lasted all of 1 minute.
That’s right…1 minute.
And I’ve never wanted to throw up/pass out/fall on the ground and never get up so badly in my life.
What did I do?
300 feet on the VersaClimber in 1 minute.
Sitting now on my couch almost three hours later, my body still doesn’t feel right. But I must say that I’m as pretty darn pleased.
While I was so nervous I wanted to puke because not only was EVERYONE watching, but I knew how bad I was going to feel when I was done, I went for it.
At the beginning I was hauling….and then about 30 seconds in, I hit THE WALL.
I ran smack-dab face first into a solid brick wall.
I could hear it in everyones’ voices…I was slowing down. They didn’t think I was going to make it.
And then one of the other trainers at IR, Eddie, said something to me, which I can’t now remember, but it fired me up.
I was not going to fail.
A primal scream tore through my mind and I kicked into that next gear.
I made it.
303.
Yea I know it says 1 minute and some seconds but the time doesn’t stop right when you get off even though the distance does. SOOOOO HA!
(Apparently everyone truly thought I wasn’t going to make it. Ryan’s dad even looked at Ryan and shook his head. I seemed down and out. But my newly learned mental toughness wouldn’t let me give up even when it seemed the odds were against me.)
They were all cheering as I fell off the machine and collapsed to the ground.
I’m pretty sure I started crying. And I have no real idea of what anyone said to me the next 20 minutes. I just know Corey (yes there is another trainer at the gym named Cori…the proper spelling…haha) came over and dragged me over to the bike to help my legs loosen up.
And I’m pretty sure I look like I’m about to throw up in all of the bootcamp photos we took (I can’t wait to see them).
But I did it.
I don’t think I’ve ever been so proud of myself.
And I also don’t think I’ve ever felt so crappy.
P.S. I have to give a HUGE shout out to my mentor Aaron Guyett. I’ve become a better trainer and person because of all you have taught me over the last two months of training. Now on to the Kettlebell competition and 20 minutes on the Battling Ropes!
Oh No! Thanksgiving makes you fat!
There are many different schools of thought when it comes to holiday eating.
And I’ve written about these different schools just about every holiday.
Let’s face it…You can either diet or binge eat on Thanksgiving.
And in my opinion, neither will make you fat.
What makes you fat is the fact that you decide to eat unhealthy foods from Halloween until New Years.
That is what makes you fat.
A single day of indulgement (I can’t figure out if I made this word up or not) during the holidays isn’t the problem. It is the fact that you don’t just get right back on track once the day is over.
Yes there are leftovers. But you can make healthy dishes out of them. Or you can give them away to other people.
You don’t have to CHOOSE to continue to eat crap all the way until the New Year.
So stop freaking out about Thanksgiving! It is ONE DAY.
Worry about the fact that you’ve been stuffing your face since Halloween. Or the fact that if you don’t get back on track after Thanksgiving that you will start packing on the pounds!
So enjoy tomorrow! I know I will be!
Baby Got Back
So the other night I was talking to one of my male clients who I was making do some clams (the exercise where you have a band around your knees and lay on your side and externally rotate at your hips and knees).
So all some great glute activation moves!
It was a stabilization workout and he really needs work on activating his glutes. And although clams may be a Jane Fonda move, they are a great way to get those butt cheeks firing!
Of course he was slightly embarrassed by doing them even though it was just his wife, me and his 19 month old daughter there.
He says to me, “You know this is one of those moves that guys AVOID doing at the gym.”
I said, “Yea I know….Ever notice how many guys have SMALL INACTIVE butts?”
He laughed and repeated what I said and continued to do the clams.
Out of the corner of my eye though I saw his wife shaking her head in agreement.
What I said is completely and utterly true. Most people, especially men, don’t focus on getting glutes that activate.
They are much more interested in working on their beach muscles. Although they do pride themselves on being able to lift heavy weights.
But if they took the time to do some of those “embarrassing” glute activation exercises like band walks, glute bridges, clams and straight leg deadlifts they would be able to LIFT MORE.
AND they would look better. (Sorry but pants that sag because you have no butt is not attractive).
Plus they would also probably suffer few injuries. Active glutes me proper movement patterns!
So to anyone out there who skips those “embarrassing” butt exercises, but wants to lift heavy…Don’t.
That includes you ladies. While lifting heavy is essential that doesn’t mean totally leaving out the Jane Fonda moves…It just means not ONLY doing them!
For more on glute activation, check out this article on T Nation! LOVE IT!
Purists
So I’ve found it interesting to both watch the evolution of Paleo, but also people’s resistance to any sort of change.
We now have Paleo breads and people who consider themselves Paleo but occasionally have dairy, potatoes or rice.
But then we have other people who RAIL against anything not TRADITIONALLY Paleo.
Can I just point out right now that NOTHING is actually traditionally Paleo!!!
Anyway, I find this “purist” mentality – or this resistance to change INCREDIBLY ANNOYING!
NOTHING STAYS THE SAME!
This is slightly extreme…but “adapt or die.”
If you get stuck in your ways and aren’t willing to change with the times, you will probably, at some point, fail.
Change is essential. Nothing ever stays the same.
So why would you ever believe that the diet you have currently couldn’t in some way become better?
I mean why not test out how a little rice or potatoes affects you? Why not eat a little bit of cheese if you love it?
If you never change, if you never experiment, you won’t ever know if there isn’t something better out there.
While sticking perfectly to a diet can help you see if it will work for you, being a purist in the long run probably will prevent you from finding something that works even better and is even more enjoyable.
So start thinking for yourself. Experiment!
Don’t just get stuck being a purist for a diet that you didn’t create FOR YOURSELF!
One last Twinkie?
Everyone seems to be talking about the shutdown of Hostess.
Some people worry they will never get another Twinkie while others talk about how this may help the obesity epidemic.
Honestly, I have no desire for a Twinkie AND I don’t believe the shutdown of Hostess will have any effect on our nation’s obesity rate.
It’s the same thing as McDonald’s and other fast food places offering “healthy” foods – If people really want unhealthy food, they will still find a way to get it.
I firmly believe that eating healthy is a CHOICE we can make, no matter our backgrounds or economic status.
If we CHOOSE to eat well, we will buy healthy foods no matter how much money we have or what we ate when we were little.
People claim that if there are more healthy options available then people won’t choose the crap.
I completely disagree. There are healthy options out there. They are pretty easily available – even markets like Walmart now have local, organic produce.
PEOPLE STILL DECIDE TO EAT CRAP!
It is PEOPLE that aren’t making the healthy decision.
I mean shoot even people I know who haven’t eaten Twinkies in years are getting one because it may be the last!
We are in control. We decide whether or not we are going to eat well.
What do you think?
Man Bicep 