Wow.

A big thank you to Ben Bruno for sharing this one.

Get out there and get moving. Period.

PR

If this doesn’t get your blood pumping just a lil.. then you may wanna check your pulse. I’m about as far from power lifting as one can get, but the beasts over at EFS know there sh*t. Pretty much all the training tips, trick and principles can be applied to any and everything you do to improve yourself physically.

Of course I’m not going to be deadlifting or squatting numerous plates, but I sure will use the energy, education and down right genius nature of what they are speaking. If you aren’t then you’re missing the boat.

I can’t remember where I read it, but I believe Henry Rollins is quoted in saying that, “The iron never lies” – in fact as I type that I believe it’s a verse from a song from his band. What it means to me : no matter how much ‘fluff’ and no matter how much synthetic or transparent means you may use to boost your ego, when it’s you versus the steel (meaning the weights) the truth always comes out in the end.

You can’t fake your way out from underneath or behind the steel. If you try, you will get hurt.

I always enjoy the parable of animate versus inanimate. At the most basic level that’s what we are talking about here. Moving something that doesn’t move on it’s own. How much to you have in your tank? How much desire? How much strength? How much cojones!?

What’s even better about this wonderful battle is the way in which you can measure your effort and your progress just by adding or subtracting a piece of the steel.

I guess that whole K.I.S.S. principle just won’t sleep huh?

Oh, and the minute you think it’s about physiology and muscle fibers and energy muscle storage.. is the minute you lose.

GETfizzYcaL: Chirpees (Back, Legs, Chest, Triceps, Biceps & Abs)

If you don’t use it, you lose it.

I haven’t done Chirpees in almost 6 weeks, and boy did it show. I got winded quickly, the muscle burn fatigue set in and my lungs were also iced.

Whew.. need to build back my tolerance with those.

Image source: ornl.org

It’s obvious, but I just had to mention it. For the uninformed, uneducated and incompetent exercise-health-fitness goer’ the internet is darn confusing.

Before I go any further – please don’t misconstrue my use of descriptive words (uneducated & incompetent). I am simply referring to the ‘laymen’ who is interested in learning more about health/exercise/fitness for themselves. As you know, most of society is still ‘in the dark’ when it comes to anything health & fitness related – as evidenced by the obesity epidemic.

Here is why it’s so confusing. The internet seems to be "speaking out of both sides of their mouth" (sorry had to used that). The conflicting advice out there on anything and everything can drive a person mad. I won’t even try to list them all.

I’ll just take one simple example.

The pull-up. Yes the run-of-the-mill basic bodyweight exercise. You grab a bar at an elevated height, grasp the bar with an over-hand grip and you ‘pull’ yourself up until your chin reaches and goes above the bar. Some can call this the ‘chin-up’.

Unfortunately there is debate on just the naming of the exercise let alone the proper technique for completing the exercise. Pull-up or chin-up? Pull-up usually implies an exercise focusing on the muscles of your back, and chin-up usually focuses on the muscles of your anterior upper arm (biceps). But far be it from me to tell you what is right or wrong. I myself use pull up for the back/shoulder description and chin-up for the bicep description – but there are variations and overlapping areas that are ‘worked’ in both exercises.

So the point I’m trying to make: quite some time ago I read a couple blog articles and discussion forum posts on not ‘cheating’ during this exercise. Do not swing, do not kip (I’ll let you Google that word). The basic principle is to not deprive yourself and your body the full effect of the workout. Don’t worry about how many you can do, worry about the quality of each one.

I agreed whole heartedly with this concept. Eliminate the cheat and you will benefit the most from the work you put into the exercise. Gravity, swinging and body motion are great if you want to show off how ‘many’ you can do, but it does diddly for increasing the strength of your body and the muscles involved. The gains you make with good form outweigh and out-perform anything else on the market.

Just recently I read ‘other’ sources that are now promoting you use the kip? They want you to swing? Granted they emphasize only a subtle kip, but they still want you to ‘cheat’. They are promoting the idea of getting more ‘reps’ as opposed to the quality of those reps.

Hmm..

Now, I’m speaking for the ‘laymen’ out there. How do they know what is right or wrong? How do they know when someone is feeding them a line of ‘bull’ (or trying to sell them something)? How do they know what is accurate?

I only hope that the ‘laymen’ out there do their homework. Exercise your right of ‘trial and error’. Find out what is working, and what is not. The hardest part is making the time, putting in the time, and allowing the time to evaluate your progress. Patience is a key ingredient for any successful journey to improved health.

Frustrating, I know. Hang in there.

I’m not even sure I can perform one rep!

Anyone else?

I included these in my workout today. I must say these are wicked and brutal when you incorporate them as an interval workout.

I’m going to be hurting tomorrow.

Gewd times. Gewd stuff.

“If I eat this cheeseburger, that just means an extra 40 minutes on the treadmill”

“I’m going to have just this one… just this one donut. I’ll just squeeze in a couple more miles on the bike”

“Ooooh OK. I’ll have another piece of pie. I’ll just have to visit the gym an extra day this week”

Does any of this sound vaguely familiar? Bartering, bargaining, and rationalizing your bad eating habits, those empty promises to your body, and being comfortable with your overall eating lifestyle without the guilt. It’s that guilt factor that keeps us from becoming a down right glutton, but this habit of bargaining a food item for some extra exercise is a disastrously imbalanced deal that ultimately leads to failure.

Weight loss and ‘dieting’ (yes, I still hate that word) come down to a game of numbers. You have to get rid of more than you take in. There’s no way to trick, bend, warp or fudge those numbers. You consume a certain number of calories, and your body ‘uses up’ or ‘burns’ a certain amount of calories. We all make the deal with the devil by trying to satisfy this equation. If my actions will add ‘X’ number of calories to my body, then I have ‘work off /burn/melt” ‘X’ number of calories. That way I have net gained zero. At least that’s what we tell ourselves…

Please read on over at Scrubs Magazine There’s No Bargaining In Weight Loss

Maybe you’re seeing small changes? Just not the changes you were hoping for? Just not seeing results fast enough?

Maybe you’re doing too much of this while you’re ‘at the gym’:

Image source: ABCNews

A little less talk and socializing and little more sweating and exercising go a LONG way.

It’s the difference between ‘going to the gym’ and ‘training’.

Stay focused and have a plan. There is nothing wrong with being social and courteous, but don’t make that your workout.

I’m just sayin’.