If you were to personally train with me 3x a week for 1 hour, 1.8% is the percentage of your week that I am actually with you.
Assume you sleep 7.5hrs every night... I would still only be with you 2.6% of your waking hours.
Lets subtract the typical 40 hour workweek from your available hours... I would still only be with you about 4.0% of your waking/non-working hours.
My point here is that I take personal responsibility for my client's success even though they are outside of my control 98.2% of their week. When it comes to fitness goals, most people cannot afford to pay their way out of making a majority of the critical choices that affect their results. I'll do my best to leverage the 1.8% of your time I get with you, but your success/failure is ultimately your own damn fault!
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
50 push-ups
I believe every adult male should be able to complete 50 chest-to-deck (your chest touches the ground) push-ups from their toes without rest! The ability to complete this test will demonstrate upper body strength, enduarnce and mobility as well as adequate core strength and endurance. The reality is that you will be hard pressed to find many adult males who could complete 20 unbroken chest-to-deck push-ups!
One reason for this is that a lot of people just want to finish a task rather than do it correctly. One of my less attractive qualities is my willingness to call out someone's BS! A guy will tell me he squats 400lbs. Rather than being impressed, I will ask "but did you squat to full depth?" What a jerk I am! However, 99% of the time I'm right! That's the exact reason why I cannot squat 400lbs, why would I let you claim the glory of completing a task that you didn't do correctly? Same often holds true with push-ups. For no good reason, people like to go a third to half way to the floor and claim a huge number of repititions. Might as well give yourself credit for imagining doing the movement.
When I start working with a client who has previous experience in the gym, I like to set the expectation that they will be "humbled by form". Almost every movement you perform should have a standard so you can measure and compare with yourself and others. There are only a few reasons why you should limit your range of movement on any particular exercise during training (injury, specific adapative goals, practice). When measuring the actual movement you should always use the full standard. I couldn't claim to run a 6 minute mile becuase I can run a 90 second 400m! They're not the same.
So next time you hit the gym. Try to do 50 push-ups, chest-to-deck, unbroken and see how good you really are! If you can't, it's alright. You'll get there quicker by practicing the full movement. If I catch you going 1/3 the way down, be prepared to get a swift kick to your gut!
One reason for this is that a lot of people just want to finish a task rather than do it correctly. One of my less attractive qualities is my willingness to call out someone's BS! A guy will tell me he squats 400lbs. Rather than being impressed, I will ask "but did you squat to full depth?" What a jerk I am! However, 99% of the time I'm right! That's the exact reason why I cannot squat 400lbs, why would I let you claim the glory of completing a task that you didn't do correctly? Same often holds true with push-ups. For no good reason, people like to go a third to half way to the floor and claim a huge number of repititions. Might as well give yourself credit for imagining doing the movement.
When I start working with a client who has previous experience in the gym, I like to set the expectation that they will be "humbled by form". Almost every movement you perform should have a standard so you can measure and compare with yourself and others. There are only a few reasons why you should limit your range of movement on any particular exercise during training (injury, specific adapative goals, practice). When measuring the actual movement you should always use the full standard. I couldn't claim to run a 6 minute mile becuase I can run a 90 second 400m! They're not the same.
So next time you hit the gym. Try to do 50 push-ups, chest-to-deck, unbroken and see how good you really are! If you can't, it's alright. You'll get there quicker by practicing the full movement. If I catch you going 1/3 the way down, be prepared to get a swift kick to your gut!
Thursday, May 27, 2010
A phillisophical question...
Where does responsibility lie? Is it the media to tell the truth or is it the audience to question what has been presented? Is it ignorant to seek knowledge or is it the offended to teach the ignorant? Is it the weak who have to get stronger or the strong who need to help the weak? Is it the wrong who need to apologize or the right who need to forgive? There are many other dichotomies like this that exist in our world.
Now imagine a world where the media strives to be just and truthful and the audience objectively filters his/her own information. Where the ignorant is actively trying to understand and the offended shows compassion and tolerance. Where the weak try to help themselves with out envy of the strong and the strong give all they can to elevate their fellow human. A world where apology and forgiveness are concurrently given and received.
Now here is the actual question... Why does anger and anymosity exist? Do you think if we focused on being better in our own side of each dichotomy the world would be a happier more productive place to live for everyone?
Now imagine a world where the media strives to be just and truthful and the audience objectively filters his/her own information. Where the ignorant is actively trying to understand and the offended shows compassion and tolerance. Where the weak try to help themselves with out envy of the strong and the strong give all they can to elevate their fellow human. A world where apology and forgiveness are concurrently given and received.
Now here is the actual question... Why does anger and anymosity exist? Do you think if we focused on being better in our own side of each dichotomy the world would be a happier more productive place to live for everyone?
Monday, February 22, 2010
How Bikram Yoga kicked my A$$!
- I'm not very flexible yet still maintain decent symmetry.
- I'm improving with every practice.
- I've never slept better in my life.
- I'm losing weight and can see more definition in my muscles.
- My skin is definitely clearer than when I started.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Why exercise is not a good response to a bad meal...
Point #1: We can consume energy at a much faster pace than we can expend.
Point #2: Stored body fat is energy we haven't used yet.
Ask yourself how fast you could eat a cheeseburger, fry and pop (about 1000-1500 calories)? With a bit of focus probably less than 5 minutes. Do the math and that's about 200-300 calories per minute. Now lets look at some popular activities we use for exercise... At best you could run at a nearly impossible pace (over 10mph) and only produce 20 calories minute expenditure. So considering the worst case scenario for eating and your best case solution for exercise and you have a huge discrepancy (nearly 280 calories per minute which is nearly 1lb of fat every 12.5 minutes)!
Okay... so the math is a little fuzzy and there are a lot of other points to consider, but I think this is another example of why diet and exercise behaviors need to work together as a part of a healhty lifestyle rather than being two behaviors that battle each other.
Point #2: Stored body fat is energy we haven't used yet.
Ask yourself how fast you could eat a cheeseburger, fry and pop (about 1000-1500 calories)? With a bit of focus probably less than 5 minutes. Do the math and that's about 200-300 calories per minute. Now lets look at some popular activities we use for exercise... At best you could run at a nearly impossible pace (over 10mph) and only produce 20 calories minute expenditure. So considering the worst case scenario for eating and your best case solution for exercise and you have a huge discrepancy (nearly 280 calories per minute which is nearly 1lb of fat every 12.5 minutes)!
Okay... so the math is a little fuzzy and there are a lot of other points to consider, but I think this is another example of why diet and exercise behaviors need to work together as a part of a healhty lifestyle rather than being two behaviors that battle each other.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Just try...
No matter how little sleep you got....
No matter how much work you have piled ahead of yourself...
No matter how sick you feel...
No matter how many bills you have to pay...
No matter where you need to be...
No matter who you have to deal with...
No matter what life deals at you... Just remember one thing...
While you can't always control the incoming stress, you are always in complete control of the outgoing response. Start every day as positive as you can, suck it up and just try to have a good day!
No matter how much work you have piled ahead of yourself...
No matter how sick you feel...
No matter how many bills you have to pay...
No matter where you need to be...
No matter who you have to deal with...
No matter what life deals at you... Just remember one thing...
While you can't always control the incoming stress, you are always in complete control of the outgoing response. Start every day as positive as you can, suck it up and just try to have a good day!
Monday, July 6, 2009
Pick 3
Pick 3 exercises:
Good luck and remember to hit your 100%. The higher the intensity the more belly fat you'll burn!
- Upper Body Push or Pull (eg. Push Ups, Dips, Pull Ups, Reclined Pull)
- Full Body (Kettle Bell Swing, Dead Lift, Squat Curl Press, Burpee)
- Hi Intensity Cardio (Sprints, Incline Walk, Bike, Rower, Swim)
- (20-30) for the Upper Body Push or Pull
- (20-30) for the Full Body
- (60-100 seconds of work) For the Hi Intensity Cardio
Good luck and remember to hit your 100%. The higher the intensity the more belly fat you'll burn!
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