If your idea of going to the gym is social hour mixed in with a couple sets of bicep curls and elliptical sessions between chatting it up with your bros and hitting on the girls, then your a total fuck up.
Total Fuck Up
When you go the the gym you should have one thing on your mind "DO WORK!" You should be attacking the weights with the intensity of a Killer Whale on a seal pup. Whatever your goals, fat loss, muscle gain, strength, GPP, or training methodology Bodybuilding, Powerlifting, CrossFit, Weightlifing you should be attaking the weights and going hard every set.
"DO WORK"
When you see people chatting it up in the gym they are just there for social hour. You can spot the people that are serious because they are looking at the clock prepping for their next set.
Matt Kroczaleski is known for doing work, total badass. He is probably known most for his Kroc rows which are just a max set of single arm dumbbell rows, which he has done for 13 reps with 300lbs! DO WORK!! The video below is more impressive to me, the mental strength to get through this set is incredible.
The squats break down like this 500x8, 405x8, 315x8, 225x8 and 135x8 all done as one continuous drop set. Bad ass!
Sorry for the lack of post lately, I will try harder.
So I just wanted to make a quick point on hand maintenance, and I guess on all tissue maintenance for that matter, and its importance to your consistency in training. There are 2 ways you can go about this and one is obviously the better path to take, unless you like beating your body into a horrible mess and then digging your way out of the pit and resuming your training thereafter.
The first way and the stupid way is to train hard everyday, ride that horse like a sun'a bitch and put 'er away wet as fuck. STUPID. Your body and its tissues will only put up with the abuse for so long before it breaks or becomes so pissed off you cant move without it putting up a fight. Don't be this guy/gal.
The smart way to train is to do a little pre-hab, stretch, foam roll, hydrotherapy (ice bath, warm Epsom salts bath) and rest when needed are the best way to allow your self to beat the hell out of your body and get some serious training in for a long period of time. A little effort outside the gym will pay off huge inside. Remember you don't get stronger in the gym, you get stronger when your body has had a chance to recover and adapt from the damage you did in the gym.
That being said it doesn't take a lot of time to do, although more is better, but don't go crazy sitting in an ice bath until your lips are blue and you no longer have a penis that can be seen with the naked eye is probably too much. If your training hard 5-6 times a week I would say 15-30 min of stretching a night and a ice bath or warm Epsom salt bath (I alternate these) every 2-3 days is probably a good place to start and adjust to your needs and how your body is feeling.
So because some one has already done the work for me I'll just be lazy and post the video. Your hands are your money makers in the gym, if you cant hold on to the weight how are you going to lift it? Take care of your mitts boys and girls. Here is Donny with a few words of wisdom.
A site that I highly recommend is Kelly Starrett's Mobility WOD do them every day, it only takes about 10 min. I do the daily WOD then another 10-15 min or more on whatever else feels like shit. Its paid off big time!
Girl+Poor Nutrition+Poor Exercise = A skinny fat bag of bones I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole.
Like Paris would say "That's hot!"
Girl+Proper Nutrition+Proper Exercise = A wicked hot, strong beautiful confident powerful women
Biel and a paddle. Just think of the possibilities
Now there is a HUGE misconception that if a lady lifts heavy weights she will become big and bulky. So what do women do? They avoid heavy weights and rely on light weight training and cardio to "tone" and "shape" their body. This option along with horrible choices in what food they put into their body leaves them with a body like the first picture of the horribly disgusting Nicole Ritchie. While eating lots of protein, veggies and good fats along with lifting heavy weights and busting their ass in the gym will give them a body much more like the lovely Jessica Biel.
I wont even get into what Nicole is doing because frankly just thinking about her makes my penis want to crawl back into my abdomen and die. And frankly it is exactly what you don't want to do.
Biel trains 6 days a week. She eats a "healthy" low carb diet, with meat and veggies. She isn't afraid to train hard, and does things like squats, dead lifts, sprints and interval work. She is happy to train 6 days a week, diet hard and bust her ass, but uses the mirror to gauge her progress not the scale.
The point here is that unless a women is taking some heavy pharmaceuticals she will not become huge and bulky by lifting weights. In fact the point is that by lifting heavy weights a women will get that sexy "toned" body that she wants. Don't rely on the scale either, it can be useful, but try putting more emphasis on the mirror. If you look better that is all that matters not your weight.
I wont bore everyone with the details but basically it has happened over and over and over, the same old thing my whole life. I have been "nice". Nice to everyone, always polite and always trying to please everyone. What has it got me? Broke, walked all over and ditched. I have become a door mat.
This is unacceptable and I will not stand for it anymore. This is a wake up call, a declaration of war. I will not be Mr. Nice Guy, I will be a MAN.
I will not let my conscience get the better of me. I am looking out for #1.
That does not mean I'm going to be an asshole. If you think I'm being an asshole, well fuck you I probably am because your trying to fuck me. And I don't like to be fucked.
Well this week got the news that the gym I have been training in and coaching out of is closing its doors for ever.
I want to recap my time at CrossFit Kelowna and do my best to remember the best of the place that has been like my home and the people who have become my family over the last 3.5 years.
The Beginning
In 2008 I joined the Canadian Forces and though shooting the shit with the boys on my basic military qualification I met Chris. He told me he was doing this thing called "CrossFit" and said I should come by and give it a shot. So after the course had finished I went by and did an intro with him. This is what is consisted of.
Short talk about what CF is
400m ball run with 20lbs - time was 1:18
Max pull ups - I think got 12
Max push ups - Something like 45
Max sit ups in 2 min - no idea probably was pathetic
Then we did Tatabta squats - I think I got 15
I left thinking to myself something like "Fuck that was retarded, Ill just stick to the body building workouts". I woke up the next day my legs were sooo god damn sore I could hardly walk. Since then I was hooked.
Me fat and in the army
The Garage:
The original CF Kelowna was the garage. It was small really cold in the winter and really fucking hot in the summer. It was dirty, it was kinda sketchy and it was probably the best fucking times I ever had and ever will have working out.
We were a small crew mainly made up of Colton, Cronk, Chris, Cathrine, Beth and myself. We did team work out and made the best of what small amount of equipment was available. The bars were shitty, there was only two box jumps and the wall balls were basket balls filled with sand. It was very mickey mouse but it worked and we all got our asses kicked.
The New Place:
When winter came along Chris made the move into a new permanent facility, the gym as most of you knew it. Here I met and became friends with many people and was happy to sweat, grunt and lift beside all of them. During this time I also went and received my CF certification and started running classes, and coaching. When Chris left I tried to purchase the gym from him but with out getting into details it turned out that financially it would not be a good idea for myself. So I assumed the position of Head Trainer.
Through my time coaching at CF Kelowna I have seen all of you progress so much and do things that I know you never thought were possible. You guys are amazing group of peoople who I will never forget.
The Future:
I don't know what lays ahead for us and I don't know where we will all end up. All I want to say is that I wish you all the best and that if there is anything I can do to help you on your journey to fitness do not hesitate to ask.
Thanks again for all your support and kind words in the last few days. I am sorry it all ended so soon.
1. Low fat high carb diets
2. The popularization of running
3. The over use of machines
4. Fast easy processed foods
5. TV and video games
6. Modern life style
7. Fad diets
8. Fad exercises
9. Media portraying skinny and weak as fuck to be healthy
10. Overall lack of activity
This is by no means a complete list, there are possibly hundreds of reasons why people are getting fatter. These ten are in my opinion the ones that the average person can relate to. Rather than go though all of these at once I will break it down into smaller chunks. Over the next parts in this series I will explain why these points are destroying your heath.
Don't be sad they just would have made your ass look fat.
