Friday, April 27, 2007

Get your mind right!

HAYS, Kan. - Sitting on the front row in her college classes carefully taking notes, Nola Ochs is just as likely to answer questions as to ask them. That's not the only thing distinguishing her from fellow students at Fort Hays State University. She's 95, and when she graduates May 12, she'll be what is believed to be the world's oldest person to be awarded a college degree.

It is amazing to see someone have so much determination that they are willing to pursue a college degree at the age of 95. This example of perseverance shows us none of us have any excuses as to why we cannot achieve our dreams in life. If your goal is fat loss than you need to put away anything that is not helping you achieve that goal. It might be poor eating habits, unsupportive people, lack of strength training. If your goal is becoming stronger than you need to get to weight room and start eating properly. I believe anything worth having is worth fighting for.

Life is full of trials and tribulations, but it is how you react to them and how you use them that will determine your success. I will never forget what Loren Johnson who played football at Virginia Tech told me one summer. We went to the same high school and he was in town for the summer and he showed me his strength and conditioning manual which stated if you have trouble finding a place to lift weights find a way to get strong. That statement stayed with me for the remainder of life because it taught me when you want something bad enough you will not let anything stand in the way of your success. In my years of coaching people for fat loss, as well as athletes to increase speed and strength the one reason some were successful and others were not was perseverance. They both had the same information, but the ones that stopped making excuses and attacked their missions were the ones that made incredible gains.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Fat Loss Success

I wanted to give some props to two of my clients that I designed a program for. They both had the same goal of fat loss, but that does not mean that I designed the same workout for both. A long time ago I used to work for a commercial gym and one of the perks of signing up for a membership was a generic program that everyone followed. Needless to say that most of the people did not get any significant results. Does the doctor prescribe the same medicine for a cold as he does bronchitis? Of course not! Training must follow the same formula. Everyone has their own weaknesses, dietary needs, and different responses to strength training. There is no magic pill like the fat loss industry would like us to believe or one size fits all program. It takes hardwork and discipline to lose weight, gain strength and muscle. It includes learning what exercise program works for you and gets you the results you are looking for. Let me give you several reasons why both of my clients lost 3 pounds a week.

1) They cleaned up their diet. They stayed away from fried and high fat foods. Ate veggies and fruits, got healthy fats from nuts, and fish, decreased their carb intake. Drank plenty of water and ate lean protein.

2) Peformed strength routines with weights as resistance along with body weight exercises.

3) Focused on improving reps, sets, time each week.

4) Accountability to me

5) Got focused and made up their mind that they would complete their mission

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

What is dying in your life?

I attended easter service this past weekend and the topic was about Christians living a resurrected life. Pastor explained how Christians should not have anything that dies in their lives when they are living a resurrected life. Even death cannot be seen as death because if you believe in heaven and have met the requirements you are simply just transferring to another location and not completley gone. This message made me ponder how many people have fitness goals but for whatever reason have allowed them to die. Below I have listed several reasons why our fitness goals die.

1) Faith - Whatever the object of your faith is will determine what you receive from what you believe. Whenver you sit on a chair you believe that the chair will hold you up, but since your faith is in a chair you can only get what the chair produces. What are you putting your trust in? Is it something or someone that has the ability to help you or is limited?

A)We do not believe the program that we are using will produce the results that we seek
B) We believe the lie that we are getting old and our metabolism has slowed down
C) We believe that we cannot lift the weight because we are not very strong
D) We believe what negative people have spoken over our lives

2) Hope - What do you expect to happen when you step out on the sports field or gym?Do you expect to have a great workout and dominate your sport? If you do not expect greatness chances are greatness will not come near you.

A) Hope that you run that great 40
B) Hope that you look like you are 20 again

3) Vision- If you cannot see yourself as being successful at the goal you are seeking then you have nothing to look forward to. Don't ever stop dreaming about what you see yourself accomplishing because it keeps you focused on the destination.

Thursday, April 5, 2007

Ouch My Hammy

I am a big fan of Football and I can't believe how many hamstring injuries occur on a daily basis. I see anything from a hamstring strain all the way to a pull. Why is this happening so often? Especially at events like the NFL combine and pro day workouts. These guys are given the best experts money can buy according to their agents. If you look at the way some of these athletes warm-up and probably the way they had been using their hamstring prior to these events you might see why there are so many hamstring injuries. It drives me crazy to see athletes who have not put any effort into training for 4 years of college and then want to train like there is no tomorrow once they find out they have a chance to make some money at the NFL combine. I compiled a list of why athletes might experience these hamstring problems and I hope it helps athletes realize it takes more than a quick stretch to be injury free.

Why the hamstring injuries occur?

1) Tight hip flexors that may be caused by prolonged sitting or poor trianing

2) Poor Glute Activation

3) Poor Pelvic Position due to overuse of hamstring

4) Imbalance in Hip Dominant v.s. Quad Dominant exercises

5) Lengthened or weak abdominals especially the rectus abdominis and external obliques

How can you fix the hamstring problems?

1) Glute activation exercises ( Glute bridge, Bird dog, & fire hydrant)
2) Stretch your hip flexors
3) Planks, Reverse crunches
4) Stop sitting so much
5) Do a thorough dynamic warm up

This writing was heavily influenced by Mike Robertson,Brijesh Patel, and Eric Cressey

Wednesday, April 4, 2007

The Open Rack

Next time you go to your gym take a look at who is at the squat rack squatting. Most of the time in many public gyms you will notice that not too many people are squatting. Why you might ask? It could be because it takes a lot more effort than a leg extension, but it would do a lot more for the average trainee. The squat done properly works the big leg muscles like the hamstrings, quadriceps, upper back muscles, and lower back muscles. The fact that the squat work so many muscles would make it one of the most effecient exercises in the gym for the average trainee which has time constraints.

It makes sense to me to work as many muscles with one exercise as opposed to doing five different exercises and risk being overtrained. The problem is most gym goers have been tricked into thinking they can just follow the same long routines that are done in the muscle magazines. You know, the routines that say do 5 different exercises for chest and 5 different exercises for your shoulders. These routines end up disappointing many because they are not built for the average person trying to put on some muscle, they are built for genetically gifted and chemically enhanced body builders.

The fact is the people that spend the most time in the squat rack squatting are the people with the most muscle on the average in the gym. If you don't believe me next time you go to your gym make sure that you look at those that sit there and ride the bike all day compared to those that are the squat rack. I guarantee you the squat guy will win hands down. Now that you are seeing the benefits of the squat don't just go in there and do 4x20. I would start with 3x6 and work on perfecting the form, increasing weight by 5% if the form is perfect, and vary your reps when you have done them for about 3-4 weeks. Also, if you are a beginner I would do the squats more than 2 a week.