Serious About Strength

Nothing Productive

2009-06-18T16:27:00.000-07:00

Sweet Jeezus! I've had this blog post editor in front of me for about 20mins now and I've still got nothing. I did have a few scraps of ideas but by the time I got logged on, all I could think about was how many bowls of pasta and chicken I've eaten in the past 3 weeks.

I've written many times about gainning weight. I even have an article on my website. HERE

But what I'm dropping on you right now is fresh. Fresh as in, been discovered by me in the last 6 months.

1) Eating to gain weight is WAY EASIER than eating to lose fat. When eating to lose, I've never had to force feed myself bowls of rice to the point of gagging. I've never become so sick of eating that even junk food doesn't get my appetite going., Fuck... a phone call threw me off! Anyways, eating to gain weight is tough.

2) Going through "food cycles" seems to help me get through. For a while I was just raw doggin' the rice and chicken with soya sauce and hot sauce. Things started to grind to a halt. I could barely even look at a bowl of rice. Then I discovered Korean BBQ sauce. It worked wonders, I hit 5th gear again and was pounding meals like a champ. I "cycled" the Korean BBQ for about 8 weeks and then hit the wall. Can't stand it, hate the smell, the taste, the goddamn picture on the bottle.
So now I'm on a hard cycle of pasta and red sauce. It's been going down pretty good. I can even trick myself by swithcing up the shapes of the noodles. This week is bowties. Who knows until I gag at the thought of pasta.

3) Work and other isssues will try and stop you from eating. Fuck that! I take a cooler everywhere and this morning I was shoveling oatmeal into my face while training a client. You do what needs to be done. But just be aware of the pitfalls that try and take you back to skinny land.

4) I'm pretty much out of mojo now.

As always, I will attempt to spruce up my sub-par posts with entertaining videos.
I know Greg enjoys them, as I usually am greeted with a funny quote from the most recent clips.

I want to set this next one up a bit, as I've posted it on other forums and it drew some confusion. It is a parody of a Blink 182 song from a while back. It's performed by band called taintstick. Yes, I said TAINT. The members of taintstick are also the cast of the "Ellismate Show" that I enjoy listening to on Satellite radio. If you've ever followed the "Jason Ellis Show" you will thoroughly enjoy this.

Ultimate Fitness Push/Pull Meet 2009

2009-06-15T05:31:00.001-07:00

So the 2009 version of the Ultimate Fitness Bench Press and Deadlift competition was a great success. 17 Lifters participated in the event, that was held at the Ultimate Fitness Arnprior Location.

The thing that has made the biggest impact on me is that we had 11 Ultimate Fitness members lifting in the competition. And to top it off, 8 of the 11 UF lifters were women. That's right, the ladies were out in full force. All of them for the first time in competition. Before I move onto the guys and the stats, I again just want to point out that these girls came out and didn't care whether or not they were "strong enough" for our meet or going to get beat. (which is exactly why we only had 3 guys)
Huge props to our UF ladies.

Jayne Major (Ladies Winner) 95lb bench, 225 D/L
Angie Burgess (2nd) 105 bench, 280 D/L
Tracy Alf (Tie 3rd) 120 bench, 280 D/L
Hilda Siegel (tie 3rd) 105 bench, 225 D/L
Melanie Liard 105 bench, 260 D/L
Kerri Dunsmore 85 bench, 185 D/L
Ellynne Dickson 140 bench, 175 D/L
Kirstin Martel 95 bench, 205 D/L

We had 3 UF men swing the axe on Sunday. David Droeske, Dane Blimkie and Keith Kapow. Dave and Kapowski are seasoned vets but for Dane "Vomit" Blimkie, it was the first time in a meet. The guys represented well putting up some great numbers and getting some PR's in the process. We also had 6 men visiting from outside the walls of Ultimate Fitness.
Here's how the men's side unfolded.

Raw Men

Darren Mallette (Winner) Bench 340, D/L 585
Nick Morneau (2nd) Bench 350, D/L 600
Keith Kapow (3rd) Bench 315, D/L 545
Dan MacDonald Bench 330, D/L 495
Dane Blimkie Bench 215, D/L 455
Jeremy Siegel Bench 140, D/L 235
Dave Droeske Bench 365, D/L 135

Equipped Men
Peter Wagner (winner) Bench 425, D/L 560
Scott MacDiarmid (2nd) Bench 445, D/L 455

All of the winners/placings were determined using the Wilks calculator.

Congrats to ALL the Lifters!

A Huge THANK YOU to Curd Hos, The Bench Freak at NEO-GENIXX, for sponsoring the event and providing the T-shirts and prizes. Curd also threw down a Raw double with 500lbs on the bench press. WITHOUT A WARM-UP! Rediculous.

I had a great time, thanks to all the volunteers that helped out. Shane, Brian and Sarah. (and the nameless kid we called "Florida"

I Couldn't Resist

2009-06-08T17:52:00.001-07:00

This vid gave me a serious ab work-out, while I laughed hysterically.

Classic Chris Rock.

Dirty Word Of the Day

2009-06-08T05:26:00.000-07:00

GRIZZLED: (griz-uhld) A bodily/muscular state of discomfort, that often requires soft tissue massage.

Usually caused by intense training or heavy lifting.

Tom trained his biceps with 14 different exercises today, his guns are grizzled.

Frank got so much action this weekend that his package is grizzled.

Watch out for that grizzled, old sea-donkey.

If you don't get grizzled up once in a while, or even once a week, you're probably not working to your full capacity. Hopefully this new dictionary type format will help you better understand the common lingo used in different training circles.

I can't help posting a another music vid. Most often, if the last song playing on the radio before I get out of the car is a good one, I pull up a youtube vid to listen to the end.
This was todays last chance qualifier.

Locked and Loaded

2009-06-06T09:24:00.000-07:00

No, not loaded on the liquor. Loaded on adrenaline. Only a couple weeks out from OSM (Ontario's Strongest Man) The provincial qualifier for open Pro strongman.

All the training I've put in all winter has pretty much been focused on improving on my 2nd place finish at last years OSM. We now have the final details and the hotel rooms are booked. It's go time.

Training is peaking this week and will taper the week after. Timing is pretty important.

Yes, I'm rambling, because I'm FUCKING PUMPED right now.

This event is the climax point of the long hard winter of sore backs and stiff legs. Forcing downs meals that didn't taste good and giving meals that taste great.

Time to get fired up for back to back events training this Saturday and Sunday.

Bob's yer Uncle!

Hard As F++K!

2009-06-03T05:37:00.000-07:00

This is Mark. He is not a gangbanger from South Renfrew. He's an Ultimate Fitness Bootcamper. Although you can hardly tell from this photo, he's got a badly mangled left ankle and he shows up to train with an air cast on his leg. (he trades the air cast for a sneaker to do the work-out).

This is the meaning of "getting it". He didn't let a mangled up leg take him out of the game. He simply found a way to work around it. The results he's reaping from busting ass in Bootcamp 2-3 times a week were an easy trade off for some pain and discomfort for this badass.

This is Patti. She tore her calf muscle off the bone and has some yet to be determined knee damage. (we are hoping its not torn ligaments) She, like Mark, is powering through the shit and keeping the bootcamp work-outs going. We obviously have to modify the hell out of the work-outs for her, but she still shows up, and is willing to do whatever she can. She is keeping the focus on the "Can" and not worrying about the "can't".

Where most people look to find excuses why not to train, these people have looked for ways to train around the obstacles. And I feel these efforts need to not only be applauded, but we need to learn and apply this type of commitment to our own training and lifestyle.

I also want to note, that both of these Bootcampers mangled themselves playing basketball. WTF? So the final take home message here is; Don't play basketball, and don't be a pussy when its time to train around obstacles.

Nuff Said.

4 World Records

2009-06-02T05:32:00.000-07:00

The UF Crew was down in Toronto this past weekend so Sarah and Shane could compete in the CPO nationls (powerlifting).

This was the first time Sarah has competed in the CPO. Its a different federation than she normally lifts under, but the rules are basically the same. Especially since she was lifting RAW.

She weighed in at 66.8kg (147lbs), and was lifting in the 67.5kilo open womens class.
Here's the lifts she lifted.

Squats: 245lbs, 265lbs, 271lbs (missed the last one)
Bench: 165lbs, 175lbs, 187lbs (187 is a PR)
Deadlift: 321lbs, 335lbs, 341lbs (missed the last attempt)
Total: 787Lbs

All 3 lifts and her total are both Canadian and World Records.

Good Job Sarah! And as usual, she's not satisfied with the squat and dead, due to hitting better numbers in the gym. Now it's time to put a plan into action to get ready for the Ottawa Open in July.

Shane was competing in the 242lbs Men's open Pro class.
He Squatted: 804lbs, 860lbs, 900lbs. (The 900 was a Huge PR and also would've been a Cdn record)
His bench press didn't pan out and he missed all three attempts.

Time to re-fuckulate the carbonator Ricky. He will no doubt get the bench sorted out and be ready to go very soon.

I also want to mention a Douchenstein we call Beartrap. He's part of our strongman training group but also powerlifts with the Capital Barbell club from Ottawa.
He was also lifting in the Mens open Pro @ 242lbs. He had trouble with his squatting, which I thought he got robbed on the judgeing, but I'm not a judge. He's always whining about never getting props on the blog. I wouldn't call this props, since he bombed, but at least you got mentioned, cock-knuckles.

It was a really long meet, but was a good time. I really wish I would've entered and lifted Raw also. Lifting raw looks like a lot of fun.

If you want to lift, come out and lift at our Ultimate Fitness Push/Pull on Sunday June 14th, in Arnprior Ont. Shoot me an email for more details and to register.
paul@ultimatefitnessgyms.com

Last Song I heard before bed last night

Is it fucking good, or what! The guitar gets rediculous around the 5:40 mark.
And Yes, Ozzy is wearing eye liner, you can too, when you start biting the heads off of live birds. (send me the vid and I'll post it up)

Breakfast Slayer

2009-05-27T05:25:00.001-07:00

I am still not giving into the whole twitter fad. I've been advised from a business standpoint, that it's a great way to build relationships and contacts. This I can respect, but I know for sure it would just turn into another shit show of constantly trying to keep up.

This morning while I was making my breakfast, I was pondering what I would post up if I was a part of the twitter community. This was a "come and go" thought that really didn't mean jack shit, but it did inspire me to share with my readers here what I have for breakfast.

On Mon, Wed, and Friday mornings I drink a breakfast shake. The exact recipe has been a work in progress for many months now, but I think I finally have it nailed down.

Here's the recipe;

In a blender,
4 ice cubes
1 cup of liquid egg whites
1 cup of dry oats
some splenda (how much depends on how afraid of artificial sweeteners you are)
2 scoops of Chocolate Whey Fusion
a double shot of espresso (or coffee)
(very important that it is brewed, I used to just put the ground coffee in and that sucked)
1/2 cup of cold water

Blend until smooth

It's a big shake. It is very filling and the espresso gets you going eary in the morning.
(Disclaimer: if you are on a diet to lose fat, this shake may not conform to your programing. If you are creative you can adjust the measures to better reflect the macro nutrient needs of your diet. I will not be held responsible for your retarded behaviour at work due to being jacked up on espresso)

On the drive to work today I also came up with a name for this chocolatey brown bastard of a meal.

"The Breakfast Slayer"

This is the last song I heard on my drive to the office today.
Crank up the speakers and listen to the opening drum track just as it picks up.

This video is a good depiction of what's going on in your belly after you guzz-zizzle a breakfast slayer

Deload Week

2009-05-25T05:23:00.000-07:00

This week is a deload week. But not for me.
Its a deload for my wife Sarah and one of my training partners (Shane). They are both lifting at the CPO nationals this weekend in Toronto.

Sarah will be lifting Raw. (meaning without supportive equipment) Just a belt. She's not the only one pumped about a raw meet. Her lifting raw means a pretty easy day for me. Her numbers should be pretty good. I believe her planned openers are:
Squat 245lbs
Bench 165lbs
Dead 315lbs

Shane is not lifting raw. He'll be wrapped up tight in polyester pajamas that are thick enough to support an elephant heard. This is going to be a huge meet for him. He needs to get a good pro total so he can hopefully move onto bigger and further away places in the powerlifting world.
I'm not sure on his openers but I think they are in the neighborhood of:
Squat 800ish
Bench 600ish
Dead 600ish

Either way, its gonna be a pretty good meet. Its a different federation than we are used to. The rules are different. The rules are more conducive to lifting big numbers. I'm looking forward to seeing both our lifters smash some big weights.

Repair and Replace

2009-05-21T05:55:00.000-07:00

Apparently my goddamn copy and paste funtion needed to be re-fuckulated.

Here's the video that supposed to be posted yesterday.

Lazy Man's Post

2009-05-20T16:07:00.000-07:00

This is definately a lazy post on my part, but this video contains some pretty solid info.

Check it out.

Back to the DIRTY JERZ!

2009-05-19T08:44:00.000-07:00

Well, I just noticed its been over a week since I posted here. No use crying over it. I'm back.

Back from the Dirty Jerz. On thursday morning, last week, I made a dumb-dumb move and drove to Toronto. (More on why it was dumb later) From Toronto, I jumped aboard what would later be dubbed the "canadianwrestlingbus.com" with a couple of other strength coaches and we made a b-line for New Jersey.

The itinerary for the next three days looked like this:
-Arrive at our hotel in Park Ridge NJ aprox 2am friday morning
-Wake up @ 5am in order to watch a Football team work-out at Bergen Catholic High School
-Visit Defranco's gym to watch an NFL conditioning session at noon, and hit up some strongman training afterwards.
-Leave Defranco's and drive south to Edison to visit Zach Even-Esh's undergroundstrengthgym.com

-Saturday 8am, attend the "All Pro" training seminar. Presenters included: Jerry Palmeiri (NY Giants), Jeff Mangold (NY Yankees), Reg Grant (NY Rangers), Buddy Morris (Pittsburgh University), James Smith (Pittsburgh University), Lon Record (Villanova Basketball)

All I'm going to say about the seminar is that Buddy Morris and James Smith are without a doubt 2 of the best minds in the business. These guys melted our faces off with super solid info and could've went on much longer. And Lon Record was pretty decent too.
And that was it.

-Sunday, wake up and make the extremely long drive back.

We crammed a lot of great stuff into a very short time. It felt like I was gone for a week.

I will be posting up details about each event of the weekend over the next few days.

Stay tuned

What were they thinking?

2009-05-11T14:06:00.000-07:00

I've gotta start this one out with a topic unrelated to training, but more related to the lack common sense.

I got to the gym this morning and started my monday opening routine. Set up the debit machine, check for leaks, check to see if we have any clean towels to put out (usually never), and then head to mens locker room to dump the massive heap of dirt towels that builds up saturday night and sunday. Today was a bit different, before I even went to the change room I noticed that the laundry hamper was out in the hallway. So I expected a pile of dirty towels on the floor.
But thats not what I found. Nope. I found the garbage can to be loaded with dirty towels and garbage. WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING? DON'T BE SO GODDAMN LAZY. If you are too tired from your training just throw it on the floor. But the garbage can was loaded.
Very nice.

And moving right along, I want to give a shout out to my training partner Beartrap. He travelled 6 hours to compete in 4 events at the Woodstock Strongman. Every time you compete, you learn many valuable lessons about your skills, your strengths and weaknesses, and how well you prepared for the comp.
I just want to point out to you Trap, that you will shit your pants a few times, but hopefully you've got things figured out now. Saying and doing are 2 entirely different things.
Learn and move forward.

I've got a few good vids that I'm almost done editing and should have up on our website soon. Yes of course I will post them here too.
Especially once I get a hold of the video Shane made this weekend at Montreal Barbell, where he benched 600lbs. Congrats on the 600 club douchenstein. (among other great feats achieved this weekend)

And now it's time to blow my own horn. I bench pressed a PR of 385lbs RAW, on sunday.

That's pretty much it. I'm looking for someone to give me a great performance on the prowler and show us how well they deal with the prowler flu. To sweeten the deal. The first guy to push it till he pukes, will get a free T-shirt from me when we get a new batch.

The Long Haul

2009-05-08T05:21:00.001-07:00

How long have you been hitting the iron pile? How long has it been since you seriously began training, with direction and a plan? A plan that has either been well thought out, or built by a fitness professional.

The reason I'm asking, is because lately I've noticed a lot of people in my gyms that are frustrated and dissatisfied with there results after only a month or three.
And these are people that we are working with directly and I know for sure there training is well planned and they are working hard.

Everyone wants to get to there Ultimate goal as fast as possible. I know I do. But the reality is, it often takes much longer than we ever expected. (If they reach the ultimate goal quicky, they've probably set there sights too low and/or have settled for less than desired result)
I've been at this game for over 10 years and I still haven't reached my ultimate goal.
The key is to set that ultimate goal, know exactly what it is, and then work backwards and set many smaller goals that will move you towards the ulitmate goal.

The timeline is different for everyone. How fast things happen depends on YOU. (and don't you ever fucking forget that!)
It depends on how much YOU are willing to sacrifce, how much YOU are willing to listen, who YOU surround yourself with, how strict YOU keep your eating habbits, how often YOU show up for your training sessions.
The speed of your success rests square on YOUR shoulders.

Set a small reachable goal, set a deadline and then do whatever it takes to get that goal completed. Start piling these little goals one on top of the other and over a period of YEARS, you can reach that ultimate goal.

Now that we've got that clear.

Have a great weekend.

Prolwer Season

2009-05-06T05:40:00.000-07:00

You may remember the end of prowler season last fall. It was a sad affair.

Things are warm and for the most part dry and the prowler has been out a few times already.

I'm going to go on record and say that May will be the official start to the prowler season at Ultimate Fitness.

On a side note, I've been shipping prowlers all over the country, so I'm hoping we will see and hear of the prowler flu from all corners of Canada.

Last night was my 5th prowler session of 09. The first 2 sessions came in march, when the warm and rain cleared up the snow for a couple of days. I was getting pretty bored with the rower and we jumped on the chance to push. I can't remember what the protocol was but it didn't feel too bad.

Sessions # 3&4 came last week. They sucked. I felt like a true beginner. My legs were't co-operating and my lungs burned from start to finish.

I did single plate suicides for both sessions. We push in the one way street beside the gym and I use the parking spaces as markers for the suicides. Roughly 10yds per parking space.

(Suicides means you push to the end of the first parking space and back to the start, then without stopping, to the end of the second space and back, then all the way down (aprox 40yds)

and back.

Last night was the first night I dared to put my hands on the low handles. I did 2 singles (low/high) and 3 double ups (low/high) all with one plate per post.

Here's Sarah hitting a double-up last May at the EFTS compound

Things are coming around.

I noticed that Elitefts has put the call out for the most cases of prowler flu caught on tape. I'm going make sure the camera is out from now on to document our suffering and improvements.

You can buy a Canadian Made prowler HERE

Shouldering a load

2009-05-05T13:19:00.000-07:00

For a lot of you out there, what I'm going to cover here is common knowlegde and pretty much goes without saying.

But for some, this is your wake up call!

Quite often, I have people (mostly men) tell me about how their shoulders are really sore and explain how the pain is near the front of the shoulder, right near the armpit.
My first response is usually a question. "How often do you perform rows, chins and face pulls?"

They answer, "what the hell are face pulls? I just bench 4 times a week and pump my biceps for 1 hour every day."

This is why your shoulders hurt kids. If you bench, a lot, and pump the gun show, you most likely have strong pecs and biceps. These muscles over power the smaller and neglected muscles of the upper back. The shoulders are also going to get a shit kicking from your horrible bench press form. This leads to what the doctors and science people refer to as "shoulder impingement". (They think they're so cool using their big book words)

How do you know if this is your problem?
1, You have a hunch back
2, Your shoulders almost touch together in the front
3, You walk around with imaginary lat syndrome
4, You bench press more than 2 days per week
5, Your upper arms are bigger than your upper legs
6, You always wear long pants to hide your peg like lower legs
7, Okay, I'm getting a little carried away, but I think you get the point.
8, shitty posture throughout the day

What can you do to avoid or reverse this problem?

-Make sure you do a lot of rows, and chins.

-Chins can be done almost everyday, even if it's just a set or 2.

-Make sure you get as much rowing volume in your upper body day as you can handle.

-Superset all your bench pressing with face pulls.

-Stretch the hell out of your pecs and biceps. Stretching your imaginary lats is probably a good idea too.

-Stop benching so goddamn much and let those sore shoulders heal up.

Playoff Beards

2009-05-04T07:21:00.000-07:00

Fuck it, I'm growing a playoff beard. It's a great way to support the most exciting time of year when it comes to hockey. And a great excuse to look like a samsquench for a couple weeks.

As usual it's a mayhem monday. I got the bright idea to do some outdoor barbell lunges on Saturday in lieu of heavy event training at the Garage. I used a 135lb barbell and lunged down and back on the 100' long driveway at Pete's Garage.
Not extremely heavy, so I did 4 trips.

Needless to say I'm walking a little slow today.

The point that I want to convey here is that even though I wasn't able to beat myself to a pulp with the usual flurry of heavy event training, like stone lifting, farmers walks, yoke carry's and tire flipping, I was still able to get some forward progress.

Here's what a typical Saturday would look like:
Warm-up
Log jerks
Farmers walk, working up to a heavy weight (300+lbs per hand) or distance.
Atlas stones, either runs, reps or heavy singles
Tire fliping

This is what I did this Saturday to change gears a bit (mostly because I'm still nursing a fucked up back)
Warm-up
Light log press (no jerk pressing)
Kicked a soccer ball around for about 10mins
Barbell lunges
Arm over arm sled drag
running sled drag for cardio

I know how easy it would've been to just stay at home. But I wanted to show up and help out loading plates and coaching the other guys that train at Pete's Garage.
I ended up having a pretty intense leg session via the lunges and I feel that the movement that I did do has helped me improve my mobility in the tight hips and low back.

Lets review.

Don't be a pussy and stay home, get out and do whatever you can and then go and pat yourself on the back on the internet like any internet tough guy would.

Powerlifting Criticisms

2009-04-30T12:04:00.000-07:00

Okay, most people, by now have heard about my wife and her powerlifting endeavors. She's getting pretty good. She's strong, and just starting to get better with the powerlifting equipment. (most specifically bench shirts)

We traveled to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan way back at the start of April so she could compete at the Canadian Nationals.

If I've discussed the results of this meet with you in person, you already know I was a fair bit dissappointed in her performance. I'm not really going to get into what went wrong (mostly because we are still not 100% sure exactly what the fuck up was on her squats)

What I am going to say is that while everyone thinks that second place is "oh that's great", it's not to Sarah or me. Even if she had won the gold on the lifts that she lifted, she would be pissed off. Powerlifting isn't about beating the other lifters in your weight class (actually it is, but there's more to it) It's about lifting the best lifts you have ever lifted. You can't control what the next person can lift, you can't play defence. All you can do is prepare yourself and lift your ass off on the platform.

Here's a clip of some of her lifts. I'm sorry that it has no sound. The sweet soundtrack that I laid down on this vid was apparently not suitable for Gheytube. Youtube is really outgrowing it's coolness. It's starting to get too scrambled with rules.

Still Kickin'

2009-04-29T05:29:00.000-07:00

So..... I missed just over 1 month of posting here. That kinda sucks ass.

Not that I feel I need to justify myself to anyone but the shit-slide started out due to me not having any creative or productive thoughts to put down on the blog. Then it kind of spiraled further down the pipes as I fell out of the habit of hammering out daily ideas.

This is a good example of how developing good/productive habits is extremely important to becoming and staying succesful.

I broke the morining habit of hammering down my thoughts and the blog went to sleep.

Well this is the post that is proof to say I'm going to bring it back from the dead.

A lot has happened in the past month. It's been a whirlwind of chaos. And I've developed some new views and ideas that I will share here.

I also have a few vids and stories from competitions that occured recently.

So there it is. This is going to mark the beggining of the end of my shitnami of shitacular proportions.

Big Balls`

2009-03-25T11:24:00.001-07:00

Well the feedback from the previous post has been just as I intended it. I've heard back from a few good men and women that took the call to action and kicked ass last friday after seeing the video.

One guy got it all the way from India.

Here's a link to his blog post over on Kettlebellplantet.

I really love hearing about it when you get it right. I hope we always have something beneficial to offer.

In the meantime, lets talk about gaining some muscle mass.

My buddy Curd Hos of Neo-Genixx.com and current Ontario Bench press champion stopped by the gym today. He was delivering an order of supplements to me and while we were standing at the counter shootin' the shit, he called out a couple young bucks that were on the bench press.

He told them about a rep scheme that helps add muscle mass, strength endurance and helps you bench more weight for more reps.
Take a weight you can just get 10 good reps with, now try and hit 30 reps in as few sets as possible. If it takes you 7-8 sets and you're down to singles at the end, so be it. But whatever it takes this weekl, is the goal to beat for next week. Example, it takes you 7 sets to hit 30 reps with 225, then next week do whatever it takes to do it in 6 sets.

The young guy on the bench didn't take Curd seriously at first and continued with his usual bullshit routine. Curd then asked him if he would be willing to do the protocol if Curd jumped on the bench and pressed 4 plates (405) without a warm-up. Of course the young lads wanted to see this, and I think they were doubting. Curd took off his watch and smacked 2 reps with 405 without even swinging his arms around for a stretch. Needless to say the young guys did the 30 reps protocol.

Bob's your uncle!

Horn Blowin'

2009-03-20T05:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, while eating one of my 7 meals, I was reading the elitefts Q&A. I came across a post by Joe Defranco that was titled, "Need a reason to train today?"

Of course it was a pump up video compiled of highlights of the training that goes on at his facility. Some of the noteables; Mike Guadango's 54" box jump, The Spoon running a 4.16 40yd dash, Deon Anderson, being Deon Anderson and most recently Brian Cushing's doing a really high seated box jump(with a weighted vest on).

It was a pretty damn good compilation. It definately gets the job done. I was pumped after watching it.

Check it out. Watch closely right around the 19 second mark. (This part is my personal favourite)

So obviously I was feeling pretty good about myself, having made the cut on a montage as good as this one. I immediately emailed Joe, and thanked him for including me in the Dirty Jerzy Highlight reel. I also told him that I would promptly be kicking ass in the gym, as the video is intended.

Here's a portion of his Reply;

You don't have to thank me...you definitely DESERVE to be in that reel
amongst the best athletes/performances in the gym!! All the athletes
here were like, "who the fuck is that dude doing the trap bar
deadlift?!" HAHA!!

It sure made my day. And hopefully the vid will inspire you to kick some ass, today and all weekend.

More 150 Action

2009-03-19T08:40:00.000-07:00

Hopefully I'm not burning your interest in this blog to the ground with my recent batch of video posts.

I honestly don't know what the fuck is wrong with me, but I have not an ounce, of creative or even productive thought lately.

I've got 2 things on my mind all the time. (of course besides doing a good job of running my business)

1) Getting Sarah ready to win the nationals at the end of the month
2) Getting myself ready for the soon to start strongman season. AND SMASHING EVERYTHING IN MY PATH LIKE A RABID SASQUATCH! (I'm notorious for getting my mind so into a competition that all other aspects of my life suffer. Luckily it's only been my creative thought process so far.)

So here's a couple more vids. (Like logs on the fire)

150 DB rows for 20 reps

Sarah Squatting 345

And if you really are getting bored of these vids, quit being such a nancy and send my a vid of you doing something cool. Of course you'll be the only one interested in watching it.

Fern Boucher, Richard St.Cyr and Brent Cecchini

2009-03-17T04:44:00.001-07:00

Here's some more action from the trenches.

I think Brent told me Fern is like 4000 years old. Brent came across him one day while fossil hunting.

Nice Work Fern!

Richard

Brent

Mayhem Mondays

2009-03-16T05:26:00.001-07:00

I don't know about you but I thought this weekend was pretty awesome for outdoor training. We got outdoors for a couple of events on Saturday and then on Sunday I thought about pushing the prowler. It never happened because I ended up sleeping off some kind of stomach flu for most of the day.

I'm still getting a few vids from strong MF's that want to get famous here on SAS, but not nearly as many as I expected. Doesn't anyone have a camera? Or are you all just a bunch of weak little girls?

I'm going to get you started with a recent vid of my own. Nothing too exciting in the performance dept. but I was demonstrating that even with smashed and mangled fingers, one can still move some iron.

And here's Kapowski giving the brand new 150's a ride.

What did you do on the weekend?

So True, and Funny as F**k

2009-03-12T07:28:00.000-07:00

I was laughing so hard I was crying. It makes perfect sense.

Tony Tomra

2009-03-11T07:03:00.000-07:00

Darren Mallette

2009-03-09T17:56:00.000-07:00

Darren was the first to answer the call

I'll Make You Famous

2009-03-06T17:06:00.000-08:00

Okay kids, here's the deal.

I want to see your best lifting vids. Gym lifts, competition lifts, garage lifts, just bring it.

Talk is cheap.

Post your vids on Youtube and send me the links (paul@ultimatefitnessgyms.com)

If I think your lifts cut the mustard, I'll feature your video in a future blog post.

Get off your ass and grab the camera, it's LIFTIN' TIME!

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. My 150lb DB's have finally made it up all the stairs to the Renfrew Location. Come see if you can lift em!

Respect Yourself

2009-03-04T10:09:00.000-08:00

Think about this for a second and see if it sounds like you.

Somebody says something really ignorant about you, but you let it slide because the confrontation isn't worth it.

You get screwed over by the phone company but you let it slide, because the few bucks you lose every month aren't worth the hassle.

I'm guilty.

I've been that guy. I rollover because it's not worth the hassle.

Why? I don't know. I would never do this in the gym. I would never skip a squat day because its not worth the hassle. I would never quit on set of rows because I didn't want to deal with the discomfort.

I've recently decided that if I have what it takes to step over any obstacle in the gym, why the hell should I not step over any obstacle otherwise.

I'm calling the phone company back and telling them the can stick it up their ass.
I'm placing a formal complaint about the poor service I get from the postal courier.
And if you talk smack on me, get ready to hear about, immediately.

Oh yeah and I'm gonna smash some fucking weights in the gym on Thursday night too.

Oh Poor Me!

2009-02-27T16:19:00.000-08:00

I just want to share with you a story about a guy that trains in my gyms. A story about a guy who is mentally tough and makes no excuses. He just gets shit done.

He walked into my gym about 4-5 months ago, like many men in their late 30's and early 40's and inquired about getting some training to help lose some fat.
Almost everyday I hear a story about how some dude, used to be strong, used to play football in high school, used to be in great shape. But now being a lazy fat ass has caught up to them and their health and appearance has gone in the shitter.

So what set my guy apart from the rest? On that particular day, not a damn thing. He inquired, I showed him what we offer, he bought a small personal training package.
He was about 60lbs overweight and his knees were so bad he could barely walk up the stairs in his home.
We scheduled some appointments and got to work. Still nothing out of the ordinary.

Fast forward a couple of months and now we've got something to talk about.
This guy has lost a pile of weight (not sure on the exact amount but it's somewhere around 30lbs), he's now running upwards of 13 miles on the treadmill in a single session, and is looking like a totally different man. It's very inspiring. He really found the way to making himself better.
The coolest part is, he never makes excuses. He knows sometimes scheduling can be tough, especially when he works 12 hour days, goes to Karate 4 times per week with his daughter (they both do the Karate) and still manages to get to the gym to train with weights and run.
He told me today that it sometimes means hitting the gym at 4am. No big deal.

I love it.

What's stopping you?

The Max Effort Method

2009-02-24T13:02:00.000-08:00

I just got a copy of Jim Wendler's Max Effort Book. So I guess this will be literature review.

This book, much like his III book, is pretty simple and to the point. It has a lot of the stuff that you think you know inside and out, until you read it again. If you are a fan of Wendler humour, you will enjoy this book as it is full of it. It reads as if he was sitting in the room and telling you how it is.

It covers all the basics in regards to a "Westside" template. (and he even explains why not everyone should be running around claiming to train "westside" or just throwing the name out there for improved street cred.

One of the things that I like most about the way he explains the exercises is that he straight up tells you the ones he likes and why he likes them (or why most people like them), but doesn't take a shit on the ones he doesn't like. It's biased, but somewhat not biased. (if that makes any sense at all)

Bottom line is, it's a good read, loaded with good info, and simple enough for the rest of us. I'll be honest, Super Training is WAY over my head. I've got a copy, and it's really good for a one board press. (although I've recently put it in the bathroom at home to try and read a few more sections)

I'm gonna get off topic now and touch on a subject that needs mention. If you come up to me and start blabbering on about neuromuscular this and rigormortis fasciata that, I tune you the fuck out. I'm not University educated. Is it important to know all the fancy words and flow charts and graphs and skeleton diagrams? Not so far. Everything I've learned has been from books (that I could understand), seminars, and trying shit out in the gym myself over the last 15 years. Knowing all the big, book learnin' words may impress some people, but it just confuses the hell out of 99% of the people you will ever work with in the training business. Lucky for me, I have a good buddy who knows all the book learnin' words and flow charts and diagrams, but he also knows how to lift a barbell and work hard in the gym. So when I get stuck, guess who I call on?

Anyways, if you want a good book to help pass the time you spend in the crapper, as well as further your skills and knowledge in the game of getting stronger, buy the book.

Road Trip

2009-02-23T05:40:00.001-08:00

I took a road trip to Montreal on Saturday. It was a last minute plan that came together after I got a message from a buddy who was heading down to work in his bench shirt at the Montreal Chapter of the Metal Militia Powerlifting Club. I also had heard from another friend on Friday morning that he had moved all his strongman equipment to the Metal Militia gym.

Sweet. I could go do some benching and throw in a few events.

The Montreal Barbell is owned by Ross Saldan. Saturday was my first time meeting Ross but we were treated like old family members the second we walked in the gym. They just moved into a new building and are set up with some rediculously good powerlifting equipment.
They have 2 monolifts, 3 competition benches, DB's up to 180lbs, a reverse Hyper, lots of good bars, and 74-45lbs plates. (Thats 3330lbs of 45's) Sweet!

The MM is affiliated with the CPO. The CPO is a powerlifting federation with ties to the now extinct WPO. This is the fed where you can use open back bench shirts, squat in a mono lift. The rules on the powerlifting gear are not totally clear to me, but it's basically like the stuff you see on elite.

I benched using my old Titan Fury but was introduced to a new style of benching with my feet tucked way underneath and a huge arch in my back. I hit a shirted PR of 455lbs and just missed a 475 attempt. (I will be hunting down the videos of both very soon)

All in all it was a fun day. I made some new friends and good contacts. It was well worth the drive.

Grow a Pair (Of legs)

2009-02-20T09:51:00.000-08:00

Hey Chicken legs, check out this little paragraph I found on a training log today.

Coach Foley posted it and says he found it on a facebook profile.

I like it.

Your leg development is a direct reflection of your character. Weak legs mean a weak will. Show me a man whose upper body is larger than than his lower body and I'll show you a man who will settle for mediocre success in all walks of life. Never will he win a championship. Deficient legs are a sign that he cannot take the strain of a leg workout that would be of maximum benefit, because a good leg workout bears no resemblance to a good workout for any other body part. The only pure substance for your training, and the only faculty that produces mass and separation, is irrepressible lust to find masochistic ecstasy in a level of pain unendurable by any other human being. When you're pumped to a rage that melys your skull, blisters your eyes, and burns your thighs with a madness that makes you want to chew them off at the hips just to ease the agony, then you can go home. You've worked your legs!!

Stone Loading

2009-02-17T04:38:00.001-08:00

On Saturdays I train strongman events in a garage. And I always get some of the best training sessions ever in that garage. It's dirty, the music is loud, the place is full of primitive strength tools. It's a place where great strength is built and tested.

One of the mainstays of saturday garage training is Stone Loading. My training group is lucky enough to have atlas stones. Atlas stones are the concrete spheres you may have seen on TV while watching Worlds Strongest Man.
We have a set of atlas stones that ranges from 188lbs to 385lbs. We load them to platforms ranging in height from 51" to 72".

Loading 265lbs stone to 72" at Canada's Strongest Man 2008

Stone loading is very taxing on many different parts of the body. It tests your arm and grip, upper back, lower back, legs, hips, abs and most importantly your mental toughness. I have never loaded stones and not been sore all over. (and I'm not talking about the scrapes on my chest and arms) This past Saturday was no exception. I had a really hard time getting out of bed on sunday.

Here's what I did: (After log press and farmers walk)
320lb stone to 54" X2
320lb stone to 54"X3
320lb stone to 54"X3
320lb stone to 54"X3
320lb stone shouldered to 56" + 350lb stone to 51"
320lb stone shouldered to 56" + 350lb stone to 54"
350lb stone to 54"

I did try to shoulder the 320 one last time but I was out of steam. I got a bit frustrated with myself for missing lifts near the end of the sets, but it wasn't until I wrote out my training log that I noticed the large volume of heavy stones I did.

This is one of my training partners, Peter Wagner, he is the owner of the garage I train at. He is also one hell of a stone loader. Peter is almost 50 years old. What's your excuse?

Head Games

2009-02-12T05:56:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting to touch on how important I feel the "mental aspect" to success in strength gains.
It's a pretty broad topic so to keep this from becoming 7 volumes long, lets focus on desire and mental toughness.

Developing a successful attitude in the gym is paramount to improving your strength, fitness level, appearance, just about everything. If you're walking into a gym, at least you had enough motivation to get off the couch. But is there enough drive there to do more than take up space at the gym? You must believe that your efforts will lead to achieving your goals.

I cannot explain exactly what drives me. It's somewhere between pride and greed. I always demand more from myself and I always want to be better than the next guy. This attitude or desire to constantly be better is the driving force behind many succesful training sessions.

I see many different levels of drive or desire everyday. I work with people who have so much drive that they wear themselves out. I also work with people that seem like they are one notch above suicide. Obviously the ones with massive desire for change in their appearanc or strength levels get the best results and they get them as quickly as possible.

Once you've developed the desire to work hard, you need the mental toughness to ride through the storm of hard training. My favourite example of mental toughness is from an unlikely source. 30-50 year old women that want to get their 20 year old body back. I've got clients that bust ass through some very challenging training sessions week in and week out and never complain, and never give up. Have you ever seen a guy at the gym load up a bar and do a set of squats to 20 reps or above? There are thousands of great examples of mental toughness, the key is to be one of those examples.

No summary here kids. Just get your brain in gear and don't be a wanker at the gym today. Train till the sweat is dripping and your muscles are burning.

More Bang For Your Buck

2009-02-09T05:22:00.001-08:00

With all the doom and gloom news about the economy I think a few tips on value and savings is in order.
But I am not talking about financial value and savings....I'm talking about training economy.

What exactly is training economy? I could be off a bit by what a textbook would tell us, but my version of training economy is getting the best bang for your buck when training.

I want to get bigger and stronger, Sally wants to lose fat and get leaner, and we both want to do it as fast as possible. We want results yesterday. So naturally Sally and I are going to choose the training plan, and exercises that yield the biggest results in the shortest possible time.

First I will tell you what is NOT a good "bang for your buck" exercise; (there are a lot of them)
Calf press
Wrist Curls
Crunches on a fitness ball
Triceps Kickbacks
Anything involving a bosu ball
Pedalling a recumbant bike
The list could go on for a while, but I think you get the point.

Here is my qualified opinion on what the most common and most effective "bang for your buck" exercises ARE:
Squats
Clean and Press
Deadlift
Bench Press (any variation of)
Chin-ups
push-ups
Sit-ups
Sprinting
Prowler Pushing or Sled drags
Rower Sprints

If I was heading to the gym and only had 30 minutes to train, I would choose 1 of the first 4 on the list and get to work. If you or me or Sally applied ourselves to working our asses off at any of these, or any combination of 2-3 of the listed exercises, there would be results on the way, without a doubt.

When you're in a hurry and/or just want to get results faster, pick a couple of the "bang for your buck" exercises and look the hell out. These are garaunteed to make the sweat drip from your face and have you crawling for the exit in no time.

More Goods from the Mentorship

2009-02-05T04:49:00.000-08:00

It was a good trip okay. I've still got lots to share.

The training and business end was most important, but I also went down there with a goal for myself in mind. I wanted to break the "washed up meatheads" (Not highschool or college athlete) Trap Bar Deadlift record.

I figured it would be pretty cool to get my name on the Defranco's Record Board. Hell, it's the board that inspired us to start record boards at our gyms.

So did I get on it? You're goddamn right I did! I beat the old record by 150lbs!

"Right there, above Zach Even Esh" and yes I pull a stupid face when I'm excited

Not be outdone by her ol'man, Sarah took a stab at the ladies Trap Bar Deadlift record too.
And hell yeah, she beat the old record by 90lbs.

"Look mom, I made it on the big board" (and with room to spare)

Alright, enough horn blowing and back patting. You already knew we were pretty awesome to begin with. (HAHA) We believe in walking the walk.

I'm really happy for Sarah this weekend and not because of the deadlift record, but because of the confidence she has developed as a strength coach. She knows her shit when it comes to training. It would be impossible for her to not know a lot. It's all we talk about, it's all we read, it's what we do. The mentorship and hanging out with Joe and 4 other great coaches from around the world has brought it out in her mind that she doesn't need to take shit from regular schmoes that walk into our gyms and look down there nose at her as trainer because she is a female.
The way I look at is that we should never blow off the opportunity to learn from everyone we come across. And Sarah is no exception. She has a lot to offer when it comes to training. And in addition to knowing it, she's also stronger pound for pound than about 90% of the men that train in our gyms. SO THERE!

I'm really getting geared up for the summer program again. I can't wait until hockey season is over and our guys get back. I love working with them and seeing them progress and get better.
I can't wait to dust off the prowlers and sleds. And I've also got a few new tools to get everyone stronger and faster this summer.

I actually got a call yesterday for an appointment to start working with a teenage girl that plays competitive hockey and fastball. We're ready and fully loaded to bring any athlete closer to their goals. You don't have to wait until the snow melts to get started. In season, pre-season, off-season, we're ready for it.

What does your wife do in her spare time?

A Few New Moves

2009-02-03T12:02:00.000-08:00

Sarah pumpin' the gun show

So, I'm back to the grind and still high on the fact that I was at Defranco's for the weekend.

Everyone keeps asking me what the main points that I learned were and yada yada.

Here's my summary of the Defranco's Mentorship:

-Attittude and Atmosphere are probably the most important factors to having a good training session.

-Keep things simple, there is no need to follow your clients around with a stop watch and a clip board. Teach them how to squat, bench etc and let them get busy.

Joe tells the group how it's gonna be

-Small group training is the best way to get the best attitude and atmosphere mentioned above. Of course you have to weed out people that are not looking for the same success and not willing to give 100% all the time.

-Rest periods during max effort lifts should not be regulated. Take as much time as needed.

-Super setting the accessories and utilizing bands and DB's will alow the groups to keep working hard without much equipment.

Mike "the asshole" Guadango about to set a 10yd PR

-One day a week should be dedicated to recovery work. (wednesdays works best if possible)

-I learned how to perform assisted PNF stretching the way Joe performs it on his athletes. This little routine will make a huge difference in anyones day to day operations and mobility.

-Kids that train at Defranco's scare the shit out of their competitors on game day. The DTS t-shirt is a badge of honour that must be earned throught hard work and dedication.

-The "Asshole" is really a great guy. Don't let the title fool you.

-I was doing a good job of warming up my athletes last summer. Joe's warm-up at the sprint session was almost identical. (although I picked up a couple new things too)

-There is nothing fancy about WSSB, just simple and hard work, the way I like it.

There are probably 1000 other little tid-bits that will help me do my job better and help me help kids get ready for their sports but those are the things that I learned by "just being there" and seeing things unfold.

If you are like me and seriously want to be known as the trainer that creates scary athletes then you should definately try to get in on a mentorship with Joe in the future.

Thanks Joe.

Okay Kids, who wants to slay the competition like never before?

Back From the Dirtee Jerzee

2009-02-02T05:41:00.000-08:00

I'm just droppin' in to say we made it back alive and loaded with ideas and info.

Great weekend. (How could a weekend at Defranco's not be great, Seriously?)

I'll post some words and vids soon.

Have a great day

Layin' the Smack Down

2009-01-28T11:25:00.000-08:00

I was reading a Q&A Question on Elite yesterday, and the answer was way over my head, but something caught my attention and had me worried I was missing the boat when conditioning our hockey players in the summer.

So, since the answer was way over my head I sent it off the Coach Foley to translate it for me.

After he translated and explained a few things, everything made good sense and I was relieved to know I was using proper programing with our hockey players. (Not that I needed any other proof than the fact that our guys kick ass in training camp)

I'm sure glad to have the kind of resources that I do. Thanks Jordan.

Tomorow morining I'll be packing up and heading south to not so sunny Wykoff New Jersey.

My wife and I will be 2 of the first 6 people to take part in the Defranco's Mentorship Program. We will be spending the weekend shadowing Joe and his staff while they run work-outs for their NFL combine athletes, some college guys and also some high school athletes. We are going to learn all the ins and outs of how Defranco's Training systems is run as a business.

I hope to bring back as much info and experience as possible to help our summer athlete program flourish. We had great success with all the guys we worked with this summer (using the WSSB template) and I am anticipating even more top level athletes in 2009.

Put Your Head Down and WORK!

2009-01-26T05:48:00.000-08:00

Today's title is inspired by my excuse for not posting more frequently lately.

January is always a busy month in the fitness business and I've been putting my head down and getting the work done. Plain and simple.

This mantra can also be applied in your training.

Instead worrying about picking the best special exercises or compiling perfect rest periods and tempo's, just pick a couple of the big 3 (Squat, Bench, Deadlift, Military Press) and get to work.

Last week on our squat night, we used what's called the boring but big template from Jim Wendler's III manual.

The boring but big calls for the main exercise (in our case squats) to also be the accessory work. So after our Max Effort squats, we deloaded the bar and did 3 sets of 10 squats. Crazy, I know but by the beard of Zeus it blasts the legs and just about everything else. And in the last month I've noticed some size increase in my legs.

It's not exciting but it works. Hence the name "Boring but Big".

Less talk, more Rock.

The Strong Ones (Part 2)

2009-01-20T04:04:00.000-08:00

So in part 1 we've identified the why's and the what-nots (yes, I think I just made that up now) of finding and surrounding yourself with strong/good training partners.

So how does on go about getting on board with the people they aspire to be like?

I don't think there is one single answer to a question like this. There could be many different ways to aproach it and I'll share with you how I've gone about it myself.

The first thing you have to ask yourself is what do you have to offer these people. You can't always expect to get, get, get, and never contribute back. (See the "Piss Pucks in Party Town Post" Nov. 18th 2008)

The fastest and often the easiest way to get help from people is with money. Plain and simple. I've spent almost $4000.00 on attending training seminars alone (before travel and lodging) in the last 3 years. This gaurantees you are going to get your questions answered. I know of one top strength coach that even hired another top strength coach for a 1 hour session at the going rate just so he could ask questions and pick the brain about coaching athletes. (I just got an idea for a future rant here.)

Another method is to become the "plate monkey" of the guys you want to train with. This is the most entry level aproach. You have nothing to offer but your sweat and effort. Start by showing up at the same time they train. Chat it up with them when its appropriate and offer to load plates and spot. This sounds kinda shitty but you can learn a tonne just by being a spotter. You get to observe from mere inches away. You get to here all the cues and learn the lingo. You are also doing the lifters a big favour because you can never have enough plate monkeys and spotters.

Once you've developed some status as a guy in know, you can also trade info with people. You may be a really good warm-up or stretching guy but need to get better at benching. Find the best benchers through association and offer to help them with their mobility in exchange for some bench coaching.

The list could go on and on, but the bottom line is, you have to have something to offer. Even if it's just a good attitude and the fact that you show up on time all the time, ready to kick ass in the weight room. You don't have to be bull ass strong to get into the club, but you have to be dedicated and ready to give. Many times I would pick a weaker athlete with a good attitude over the guy who is naturally strong but has a poor work ethic. The good attitude will take you much farther.

Okay kids, talk amongst yourselves.

A Huge Congratu-Fucking-Lations To UF Team Member SHANE CHURCH for his WIN at the Montreal CPO powerlifting meet. I'll have to confirm his numbers but he did Squat 7 bills (700lbs) and won the 242lbs open division. This is not an unusual thing for an Ultimate Fitness athlete to WIN, as we always train with the attitude that winning is everything and second place is only defeat. Nice work buddy! I won't tell how much prep he did for this meet though. (NONE, greasy greasy bastard. Just signed up and won.)

The Strong Ones (Part 1)

2009-01-15T08:37:00.000-08:00

Matt Kroc does chins with Wendler and Rob Pilger looking on. In the background is AJ Roberts, Currently of WestSide Barbell, and if you look closely you can see Alwyn cosgrove in the far corner (blue t-shirt). That's a group that gets my full attention.

I wrote an article that published on EliteFTS a while back about surrounding yourself with like-minded people, successful people and going out and finding them if they are not in your current circle.

This is such an important thing to do, not just for the strength gains you seek but for success in all aspects of life. Think about it this way, if you hang around with a group of friends that spend every single weekend getting shit-faced at the local bar, I'll bet there's a good chance you get your drink on every weekend too. If you always dreamed of being the local alcoholic and waste case, then by all means, seek out the town drunks and start smashing that liver.

On the other hand, you may want to be a succesful business owner (yeah, I'm refferring to myself here) so you seek the advice and company of other succesful business people.

And most importantly you want to be BULL ASS STRONG! Don't be the hater that talks shit under his breath about the crew of bulls that are squatting bar bending loads. Start chatting with them (not when they are about to get under the bar though), ask questions, show up when they train, watch, listen, let them know you are not only interested but also dedicated to improving. Find the strongest guys and learn from them. Ideally you will want to train with them. Don't expect to get the invite instantly.

In part 2 I will outline where to find these people and how to go about getting in the clique.

Later masterbaters

Empty Jugs = Success

2009-01-14T05:24:00.001-08:00

I've been saving all my empty protein jugs since I started dieting in September.

I've got a shit load of them. I am actually suprised by the amount of Whey Fusion that I have gone through.

A long time ago, when I was just getting started and interested in taking care of my nutrition in order to improve my fitness results, I bought my first ever jug of protein.

It was a 2lber of Pro-Lab Whey. Strawberry flavour. I bought it at the nutrition store in the mall near my apartment.

Now keep in mind, at this time I was in college, on my own dime, no loans. Just my hard working future wife and my 3 part time jobs to pay the bills. So when I went out on a limb and bought some protein, I wanted it to last a while, because it probably took a big chunk of my monthly budget to buy that 2lbs of whey. I used to make sure the scoops were perfectly level and took every action to not spill or waste a single grain. I also remember rinsing the cup out and drinking the diluted "left overs". I only drank a shake after training, no matter what.

I was conservative. I don' t remember exactly how long that 2lbs lasted but I know it was way longer than it should've.

Empty Jugs = Success.

Somewhere along the line (probably when I started to have a few extra bucks), I realized that the protein powder wasn't doing me any good sitting in the jug on top of the fridge. It only helps build muscle and lose fat when you eat it. (or drink it)

Before I was so proud to have that full jug of protein on top of my fridge. Now I'm proud to have a massive stack of empties on top of the fridge. (And I stopped buying 2lbers long ago)

Not only do I have the empties, I also am starting to develope the physical attributes that I so badly wanted when I was younger.

So to summarize, buy a jug of Whey Fusion, eat it, drink it, whatever. Lift weights, sleep, repeat. Success doesn't happen over night. It's a long journey, and I'm loving every step of this journey.

These guys have some empty, but they ain't Whey Fusion

Baptized By Fire

2009-01-13T04:48:00.000-08:00

I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy

Fire is really starting to piss me off.

I've already talked about our ordeal. It sucks.

I don't know all the details, but a house down the street in my neighborhood burned last Sunday night. I saw the fire department finishing up on my way to work last monday morning.

It put things in perspective for me as I thought about how much more it would suck if it was my home that burned and not my business.

I really feel for these people as they lost there home and I hope that nobody lost their life.

Dave Tate's log post sums it up real well. http://asp.elitefts.com/qa/training-logs.asp?qid=87551&tid=

Lesson learned.

To lighten things up a bit. I did 100reps of chins on Sunday and by the beard of Zeus is my back feeling it. It took 10 sets.

I'm gonna piss the group off tonight when I announce we are gonna do 100reps of GHR.

Check us out on Wednesday walking around like a bunch of penguins.

All in the name of Strength.

No I don't smoke weed.......anymore, just love this song.

Rant Time!

2009-01-09T05:43:00.000-08:00

Okay kids, put your seatbelts on, it's Rant Time.

As you may or may not know, my wife and I make our living by teaching people how to train. We own a pair of gyms, we work in them full time and we are 2 of the 3 trainers that work in our clubs. Basically what I'm trying to say here is that my paycheck or lack thereof comes from me knowing about strength and fitness training (especially fat loss) and being able to help others achieve there physical goals.

I don't really have a good term or title to describe exactly what I do, but to the average Joe, I'm a personal trainer. BUT, I am not certified (like thats some glorious, godly thing) by any personal training company or organization. And let me tell you why.

When I first got into the business I had already been training myself for about 10 years. I had already competed in bodybuilding and powerlifting and was a pretty good student to the ways of the iron. I even had a client that I was training privately in his home 3 days per week for 6 months. Needless to say I knew a bit about training and nutrition and how to achieve success.

I looked into a few of the different companies that offered personal training certs and was horrified by what they had to offer. I did find one company that seemed to have it's shit together but they seemed to be out of business or not interested in new members because I never got a reply to any calls or emails.

One point that I want to make here before moving on is that personal training companies that offer certifications are just that, independant companies that offer certification courses on what they feel are the important skills and knowledge to be a personal trainer.

Just because you have a nice website and charge $400.oo for a weekend long certification course doesn't neccesarily mean you offer the best product.

I'll get the point here. I've come across a few individuals, that feel it neccesary to stop by my gyms or meet me in the street and want to look down there nose at our business because we are not certified. These people are often certified by one company in particular (rhymes with fan-bit) and are usually mortified that we answer their questions about certification with "I'm not certified by anyone".

This rant was fueled by one person in particular that recently came into our gym and inquired about some of our rates and training programs. The person then proceeded to tell us they were a 15 year veteran of personal training and were certified by a company that rhymes with fan-bit. The person then (as usual) inquired about our certs and had little to say about our answer.

Here's the question I have all you fuck tards with a fancy piece of paper with gold foil and your name on it from fan-bit. How many people have you trained? How many of them achieved their goals? If you are such an awesome personal trainer then why in hell aren't you making a living teaching others how to get fit?
If you want to feel high and mighty about your paper certification from the 2 day course you took about personal training, don't try me. From now on, I will be asking the hard questions.

My wife and I have been training clients for over 4 years. We started with nothing and built our business into something I'm very proud of. We did it without paying some companies bullshit fees to have a piece of paper on the wall. We did it with a lot of trial and error, a lot of reading, a lot of travelling to seminars, a lot of phone calls and emails to people who already had great success in the business. I've spent thousands of hours reading and studying training methods. I've logged thousands of hours in the gym trying shit out on myself. I've logged hundreds of hours in the gyms training others to reach there goals. And guess what? I've never bragged about how awesome I am (or used to be) to another trainer. I've never looked down my nose at another trainer with less experience. I'm willing to pay it forward and share what I've learned, and most important of all....I never stop learning, studying, trying hard to stay on top of what works.

That's all.

Have a great day.

Slackin ?

2009-01-09T05:20:00.000-08:00

Well I hope this post will mark the end of my blog slackin'. I've now got a computer in both offices so there is no excuse.

Do you have any definative goals for 2009?

I'm not talking about some bullshit new years resolution. How about something measureable?

I'm assuming that if you are reading this blog you are at least slightly interested in strength. Why not figure out what your biggest weakness is and test it somehow?

Lets use grip strength as an example. You have a really shitty grip. You are the king/queen of the deadfish handshake and you have trouble holding 35lb DB's when doing lunges.

Lets test it out. How long can you hang from a chin-up bar? What's the heaviest gripper you can close?

So now we have a baseline. Get to work with a plan. Start with the end goal and work backwards to where you are now. Set out mini goals along the way and deadlines to achieve them by.

The same system can be applied to any weakness. Bench, deadlift, whatever.

X-Mass, Come and Gone

2009-01-02T05:19:00.000-08:00

Well I'm back in the office for the first time in a while. It's almost great to be back. We live our lives so dependant on our daily/weekly routine that after a while the holidays make me nervous. Things just don't seem right and I get worried that I may fall of the horse for good.

Despite being on vacation I am definately NOT one to skip training. I did pass on some cardio sessions but they didn't make or break me. I did have some really great training sessions and some not so great. I missed my goal of a 700lb deadlift. On Dec 30th 2008 we trained lower body and deads were the main course. I was having a poor work up, pitching forward over the bar off the floor. My lifts went as follows;
315X5
405X5
495X2 (only wanted to do a single here but the first rep was so pitched forward I decided to take a second)
585X1 (also pretty pitched)
675Xmiss (I dumped forward off the floor but it still came up well but near the top my legs and hips were locked before I got my shoulders back so the lock-out was not there. I keep asking myself if I should've hitched it up, but it doesn't matter now. )

So the goal was missed.

Is there anything gained from the whole ordeal?

You're damn right there is. I aimed high, worked hard, and had great confidence going in. I got a little hasty and didn't give the proper respect to the work-up weights and fucked things up. I've learned another lesson that can only be learned by missing weight and that was to treat the work-up like a meet lift, everytime. My sloppy work-up may or may not have been the deciding factor but it won't be in question ever again.

How did your year end go?

Did you meet the call to action?

Lets hear about it.

Happy 2009.

The Big Four-OH

2008-12-19T07:05:00.000-08:00

Hey it's my 40th post on this blog. Lets celebrate!

I want to let you know that over the holidays I will be posting a little less frequently but don't worry, I'll get you something to read for sure.

Here's a little ditty that I pumped out for some lat growth last night.
Chin-ups X 100 reps in as few sets as possible
It took me nine sets. I actually was hoping to do it in about 7 or 8 but I went too hard out of the gate.
x15, x12, x10, x10, x10, x10, x10, x11, x12

My back was blasted.

Give this a try. If you are not super duper at chins, start with a lower number. Try 40 reps, 50 reps whatever. Just make sure you work your ass off.

I can still remember when I could only do 1 chin-up. It was back in 2000. I was in college and me and my training partner got on a mission to get better at chins. So we used to do 1 set of as many as we could before every work-out. We even used to give each other a spot so we could do at least a couple of assisted reps.
It worked.
In what seemed like no time at all I was able to do 3, 5, 6 all alone with no assistance. Now whenever I walk by anything that I could do chins off of, I grab on and bang out at least 10 reps.
This same protocol (doing chins before each work-out) has also worked for another training partner that I had several years later. When he started trainig with me, he could barely do one rep. I got him doing them after the warm-up on each session and now I see him pound out 10 great reps no problem. We don't train together anymore but he still trains at one of my gyms.

I actually want to give him a shout out for also doing some great front squats and BB clean and presses. The tall slender bastard learned and listened and contiues to apply good training habbits. Nice work Cracker. (I don't think he reads this but whatever)

In the works of Cyrus; "Fuck off, I got work to do".

Staying on track

2008-12-18T06:11:00.001-08:00

Do you remember the call to action post I put up a while back?

Okay big shot, are you staying on track?

Are you working your ass off to make it happen?

I just wanted to remind you that its only about 12 days until the end of 2008.

The time has come to put your money where your mouth was/is.

Here's a glimpse of what I've been up to. I'm pulling out all the stops to meet my call to action.

600X3 reps

Keep me posted on your progress.

I want to know that you are kicking ass and taking names.

We are just setting ourselves up for success in 2009

GOOD MORNING!

2008-12-17T05:59:00.001-08:00

Holy Shit my back hurts this morning. And yeah it's mostly because we did Good Mornings (GM's) last night.

Now don't panic, it hurts in a good way. It really is funny how when most people get the slightest bit of discomfort in their backs they panic and start preparing for back surgery. For God's sake people, the back has many muscles just like the rest of our bodies and when you work them, they get stiff. Plain and simple. Getting my boots on this morning was tricky but I'm starting to loosen up.

We did our GM's with my Buffalo Bar. I don't have it up for sale on my website yet but I do sell them too. It's really nice to not have that bar sliding off the neck and tearing up your hard earned traps. No that's not a bar code tattoo on my neck (they are ghey anyways), it's the pattern left by the centre knurl of a straight bar.
With the buffalo bar you can hit horrendous depth (pretty much kissing your own pecker) and the bar doesn't move. The blast you get in the hams and calves is much more noticeable than when using a standard bar.

And for the proper technique.... Well I used to be a real form nazi and my girlish weights reflected that. But Shit-Show pointed out one night that the only rules with GM's is to put a bar on your back, bend over and stand back up again. So we loosened up and slammed a little more weight on the bar.

I still like to get down deep and check my hygiene below the belt, but I push that bar up anyway I can get it to move.

Long live Good Mornings.

Note: This is a Giant Rackable Camber Bar, not a Buffalo Bar
But I like how deep the Jersey Jackal takes this rep. Nice!

Cardboard as my kindling

2008-12-16T08:36:00.000-08:00

So yeah the blogging took a shitslide for a few days. I'm sure you can relate to this.
I'm not going to make an excuse, nor am I going to apoligize.

The more important question is, are you satisfied with what you achieved in 2008?

Did you move forward?

Did you break PR's?

Did you gain the mass you wanted?

Did you lose the fat you wanted to lose?

If you answered yes to most of the questions, good for you. I'd love to have you comment on the success.

If you answered no, do you know why you missed the mark?
Did you honestly cover all the bases and try your hardest?

I want this to be your wake up call for 2009. (Yeah it's early, but if you fail to plan, you plan to fail)

Write a list of goals for the year. Then break them down into smaller monthly goals.

Don't just sit there and say, oh yeah that's a great idea, and then keep surfing for some porn. Get off your ass and grab a paper and pencil and start writing it down. Post it on the fridge and get to work.

I want to light a fire under your ass for 2009 and I'm not going to use cardboard as my kindling.

If you need help, my door is always open.

Ultimate Boot Camps

2008-12-11T10:36:00.000-08:00

I can't remeber if I've posted about this yet but here it is anyways.

We run a bootcamp group fitness program at both of our gyms.

It's attended by mostly women that are trying to lose weight and look better. We do have a few guys that attend, but the don't make it out on a regular basis.

If I had a dime for every time guys walk into my gyms and make comments to me about how they "don't want to be too big" I would be blogging for free full time.

So my answer to those guys is BOOTCAMP.

To all the guys that just want to look good with their shirt off, want to be in great shape for hockey, want to lose a few pounds off the old gutzito, my answer is BOOTCAMP.

If you think you are too rugged for BOOTCAMP, just ask Kapow about the pace and the type of training. (Kapow is a 6'2" 220lb youngblood that trains with me and he's pretty goddamn strong for a 16 year old) He started shadowing me while intstucting bootcamps so he can become an instructor himself. So on his first night, I made him participate in about 50% of the drills. He was soaked in sweat and the rest of the group left him in the dust on a more than a few exercises.

Even if you are training purely to be strong or to get huge, bootcamp can still keep your work capacity up, help you stay lean, and improve your mobility.

What I'm trying to get out there, is that bootcamp can and will kick your ass, no matter how awesome you think you are. And most importantly, it will make you better and leaner.

Check out the details HERE or the UltimateFatlossbootcamp blog

I also wanted to let everyone know about my recent interview on http://www.criticalbench.com/

here's a direct link to the interview http://www.criticalbench.com/Paul_Vaillancourt.htm

Let me know what you think!

The Same ol' S**T

2008-12-11T09:59:00.000-08:00

Unrelated to training today, I want to know if it's just me, or does everyone notice how lately we've all become totally numb in the brain when it comes to conversation?

I see and talk to a lot of people everyday. Both in person, on the phone and by email.

And lately I've noticed (and I'm guilty of it myself) that when we talk to others in person it's alway just "filler". We seem to feel the need to fill silence with bullshit. Of course if there is purpose in the conversation, things are often different.

I really don't have an answer to the problem.

I'm going to try and not use "filler". If I've got absolutely nothing of purpose to say, I will say nothing.

So if you run into me in the future and I just stare at you blankly instead of making some annoying comment about how cold it is, how much the snow sucks, or whatever, just remember this post and try not to hate me.

When I was back in high school I read a book about Ninja. Not some gay teenage story but a real document about the ideals and methods that are practiced by Ninjas. It was interesting and not very applicable in today's society but one part that clearly stands out in my mind was a paragraph about how to communicate orally. It was something along the lines of; if you have nothing of importance to say, don't say anything, if you are not asked a question, don't take it upon yourself to share info with others as they are most likely not be interested, and be very mindful of what you share with others when asked.

I feel these are some very good points and very applicable in today's society. Now of course you may be thinking "why in hell is blabbering on this blog about his opinions that I'm not interested in?" And my answer is that I doubt anyone is holding a gun to your head and forcing you to read my blog.

I hope this post has got you thinking. I'd love to hear what you think about this subject. (this is me asking, so it's okay to comment or email me) and I think that given the type of blog this is, you can speak pretty freely. I would.

Here's another great video

From Parts Unknown.

2008-12-10T05:29:00.000-08:00

Today I’ve got a very solid interview from a coach who is going to be a regular contributor on the Serious About Strength Blog.

I don’t think this interview needs much introduction as it pretty much starts at the basic level, peaks with some great training insight and then finishes on a basic note.
All I need to tell you, is that if I have a question about my training cycle or feel stumped by any particular problem, I usually enlist the help of this guy.

Here it is:

PV-For the record, please state your name:

JF-Jordan Foley

PV-Tell us a bit about your athletic background and what sports you played growing up:

JF-Growing up I played just about every sport. Once I got into Junior High and High School I focused on hockey, rugby, track and field and soccer. I continued to play Varsity Rugby in University and in some Men's leagues.

PV-So a pretty typical sports career. How did you get involved in lifting weights and strength sports?

JF-I began messing around with weights in grade 8 and used to do a high rep circuit of every exercise in the small weight room at my school. My brother and I went there occasionally in the evenings when my dad would go back to do work (he was the principal). This was very sporadic but I enjoyed it. In grade 10, I got a little more serious but not a lot smarter. I used to lift about 5 times per week at lunchtime and the 'plan' was something like this.

Monday - Bench - pyramid style, lat pulldown - pyramid style. Did about 8 sets of each.

Tuesday - Squats - pyramid style, hamstring curls and sit-ups

Wednesday - Same as Monday, sometimes did close grip

Thursday - Same as Tuesday

Friday - Biceps, we did a giant circuit or 4-5 exercises for 3 sets. We did about 10-15 reps per set.

We based this on the advice or our phed teacher who was a beast and used to lift with us, different routine though. It wasn't great but it could have been worse. In grades 11-13 I started lifting more seriously but it was way too high volume and was based on body part splits. I got most of this crap from magazines. Looking back, again, it was bad but could have been worse. I still hit the big exercises and built a good base for later in life.

When I got to university I started to really read up on training and talked to anyone who I thought knew something about lifting. I started really designing my own plans and things really took off. I did this to help my performance in rugby. I attribute a huge part of my rugby success to becoming bigger, stronger and faster.

In the summer before my last university rugby season, I competed in 2 beginner strongman shows and I had a lot of fun. When I was done my rugby career I knew I needed to compete in something to keep me sane and goal oriented so I decided to choose strongman as my new sport of choice.

PV- That’s really impressive that you had a plan in grade 8. Most guys in there 20’s still don’t have a plan. Is it obvious that this is my first time taking an interview?

JF-Not really because you have obviously plagiarized most of these questions.

PV-Plagiarized is such a hard term, I prefer, “Recycled”. We’re hopefully going to have you as a regular contributor on this blog and no doubt you’ll bring some much needed book learning expertise about training.

Why don’t you tell us about your education background in physical and performance training?

JF-My formal background is a Bachelor of Arts in Health Studies, a Bachelor of Physical and Health Education (minus one non-credit component, long story), a Bachelor of Education in the Junior/Intermediate Division with Health and Physical Education as my major and I am also a CSCS (NSCA). That being said, all of that didn't teach me a whole lot about training. It taught me some basics about the human body and helped me sort through the bullshit that I often read. It taught me to be sceptical and to think critically. If you cannot do that then I think you are useless in pretty much any field or industry. You will never come up with something unique or useful.

Aside from my formal education, I read about 5 books per month. Usually 2 are training related and 3 are success or motivation oriented. I like to read about success and successful people so that I can find out what the common links are and then duplicate them. In addition to reading books, I read everything on elitefts.com, marunde-muscle.com, t-nation.com, ericcressey.com and defrancostraining.com. I read anything I can find from anyone I consider worthwhile and this is where the internet is great. Some of my favourite authors are Mike Boyle, Date Tate, Louie Simmons, Jim Wendler, James Smith, Buddy Morris, Joe Defranco, Mark McLaughlin, Landon Evans, Bill Hartman, Mike Robertson, Alwyn Cosgrove and many more. I'm sure I forgot a ton of guys but if you read everything on the net from those guys then you will be in a decent situation.

PV- Now that we have the formal stuff out of the way, tell us what your personal training philosophies are:

JF-For team sport athletes: Get strong head to toe. Leave no stone unturned as far as strength. I think that trying to be super specific will not help you for a variety of reasons, which go beyond the scope of this question but I do believe in training the same muscles and similar movements. If I get my athletes strong on a variety of squatting, deadlifting, single leg, pressing, pulling and twisting movements then there is a high likelihood that when they find themselves in an awkward position that they will be strong enough to perform in this position as well as protect themselves from injury. It is also very important for athletes to be mobile and fast. The key with this is to only do what you have time for and what your athletes will realistically do. You can gather all this info from the Parisi Warm-up video and sprint info from Charlie Francis. I will leave you on your own to study that and if you have any questions that I may be able to help with, let me know. It is all actually a lot simpler than some coaches make it seem.
For individual athletes: The proper integration of your strength work, your technique work, your energy systems work and your sport practices are crucial. Attention can be paid to volumes and intensities of all of these since your training is mainly dictated on what YOU need. If you coach individual sport athletes and you do not account for this then you are doing your athletes a huge disservice.

For strength athletes: Work the main movements hard. Squats, Deads, Presses and Pulls. I think about 80% of your results will come from the proper use of these exercises on a regular basis. Also do not forget to train specifically for your sport. You MUST train the lifts that you compete in. I know this can sometimes be difficult for strongmen and I can understand that. If this is the case for you, do what you can, GET STRONGER. If you get stronger, every event gets easier, period. I will use an analogy to relay this: Let’s say you are helping a buddy move and you’re carrying a massive box that weighs like 40lbs. Some people would have trouble carrying this and say “it’s not heavy, it’s just awkward.” That’s bullshit, it is heavy for them given the shape and size of the box. It is a weird shape or not optimal for lifting or carrying, much the same as many of our events. But if I were carrying that box I don’t give a fuck how big or weird it is, it’s 40lbs and it will not be hard to carry because I am strong enough to handle it no matter the size or shape. I’m not saying my event proficiency is amazing, because it’s not. But there have been several times in my training cycles where I have done no event training but simply got stronger on everything and I went and smashed events the first session that I couldn’t do in the past while I was regularly practising those events. One last thing for strength athletes, don’t be a fucking slob. Do some conditioning and it will help your health, recovery and performance.

PV-What is your competitive background in strength sports, and what are your most valued achievements?

JF-I’ve competed in strongman since 2005, but 2006 was my first real ‘competitive’ year.
My most valued achievement was getting 10th place at my first OSM in 2006. It was my first really heavy show and I was shitbait going into it. I only weighed 220lbs and was just looking to make the finals. That show had guys like Travis Lyndon, Joe Montgomery, Jose Plante, Peter Galer, Dallas Hogan, etc in it and I thought I was going to die. I was so happy to pull out a 10th place. A close second to that was getting 3rd at the 105kg Nationals that year.

To be honest, I really haven’t done much since then that has satisfied me but I did get 6th at OSM 2007, won Kingston’s Strongest Man 2006, 2nd at New Liskeard this year, 2nd at the Bavarian Strongman Competition this year as well.

PV- I always say that being unsatisfied is the only way to improve. What type of training methods are you currently using?

JF-I currently use a modified WSBB split. I have been using a form of this for about 2.5 years now for strongman and for about 2-3 years prior to that I was using the principles when I was training for rugby.

I do keep it pretty basic though. I focus on slow and sustained progress. Never miss lifts and listen to your body and mind. On that note, I am currently using Wendler’s 5-3-1 to bring up my incline press and it’s working great. Easy progressions that allow you to have off days are the key when you have a job and a life, you never know when you are going to peak from week to week. That is unless you intentionally do it and your life is moulded around it but realistically not many of us can do that for every training cycle.

PV-What are your opinions on recovery, rehab and prehab?

JF-This is like brushing your teeth….we all know that we should do it but people tend to blow it off. Then they only notice the neglect when the shit hits the fan and they either have cavities or can hardly reach depth in the squat.

PV- Great Shit analogy Rick!

JF-I think that recovery is paramount in training. You can only train as well as you recover and one is useless without the other. You need to be sure to address all aspects of it, which I feel are: nutrition, rest (time between workouts), sleep and stress. For those of us who work for a living, we need to also use a deload week every 3-6 weeks. I say this because I notice that when I am busy with my job or school, I have to pay particular attention to recovery and require a deload week but when I am on holidays and sleeping and eating plenty I can go full out for weeks and weeks.

Rehab and prehab serve and important role as well but you need to be sure to not get carried away. The purpose of rehab and prehab is to either help you return to training/competing in your desired activities or to help you continue to train/compete in your desired activities. What I mean by this is that if you have an injury you may have to alter your training in a big way but once that injury is healed you may only require a little bit of prehab to prevent the injury from returning and killing your training.

For strength athletes and most athletes in general you would be wise to focus on shoulder stability, thoracic mobility, lumbar stability, hip mobility and soft tissue quality. If you address these things a few times per week you will instantly feel better and your training will be able to continue without setbacks. Some great resources for this information are Eric Cressey, Bill Hartman and Mike Robertson.

PV-Tell us a bit about the school you are working for and the position you hold there?

JF-Currently I work at an all boys independent high school. I work in residence with the boys, I teach a few sections of learning strategies and supply teach. In addition to this I coach football, hockey and rugby. We are currently renovating our weight room and once that is complete I will be designing and implementing strength and conditioning programs for our students and staff. It is our hope that in the future that this can be a fulltime position where the coach would also help teach physical and health education units in performance enhancement and physical fitness.

PV-So when you are working with these young (and presumeably weak as shit) athletes, where do you start and what are your staples in terms of exercise selection?

JF-Wow, this is complicated question but I’ll try and give you some of my ideas.
I usually lay out a simple program that focuses on squats, single leg exercises, press, rows, chin-ups and lots of lowback and ab work. The key to being able to do this is being there to coach them through it. If I see something that is not working out I will either modify it on the spot or take it out and come back to it later. I like to hit the focus lifts with lower reps but not necessarily a high load. This gives them an opportunity to lift “heavier” weights while still maintaining good form. It is also possible to accumulate a high(er) volume by simply using more sets than using high reps sets that inevitably end up being of poorer quality.

I consider that to be the ‘art’ of strength coaching, recognizing when something is not working and fixing it. It’s easy to make a program on paper but when you see a flaw in form or execution what do you do and why do you do it? That’s the key right there. For instance if a kid’s form is off on the squats, what is it? Is it lack of strength, mobility, practice, focus….???? Once you figure that out, what are you going to do to fix it?

PV- I couldn’t agree with you more about how training programs on paper are not the same in the weight room. It takes a few hundred hours in the gym to be able to identify these things both as a coach and as a lifter.I know you are a “go to” guy in the strongman and strength training community (as I’ve used your knowledge and resources myself), what would you say is the biggest mistake most guys are making when trying to get cock strong?

JF-I think most guys are using tunnel vision and only focusing on what they are good at. If something is not making you better at what you do (strongman, powerlifting, a particular sport) or helping you get closer to your goals then STOP IT. Don’t waste your time on things that have no purpose. Of course there are some exceptions to this rule but it is the most common thing that I see that is holding guys back.

PV-What are some of the most common questions you get asked by your peers and training partners?

JF-I would say the most common question is “why do you do such and such?” it’s always about the why and sometimes about the how. I have a specific reason for everything that I do personally and for everything that I recommend to others. A lot of people have difficulty seeing why I do some of the things that I do but it always serves a specific purpose. This is a great question for people to ask because it means that they are concerned with what they are doing which is crucial for continued progress.

Another very common question revolves around exercise intensity. I usually don’t use percentages to progress my weights and also rarely prescribe them. I often spend a lot of time explaining to people what a ‘heavy triple’ or a ‘near max’ is. While I often get this question, the usual answer is that this is something that needs to be figured out on your own with the guidance of someone who has already figured it out. You need to know what ‘feeling’ produces the desired result and similarly, what ‘feeling’ produces the undesired result.

PV-If you could assemble a panel of experts who you feel are the best of the best in terms of knowledge and experience in the strength and performance world, who would be on that panel? (lets say top 6 brains in the world)

JF-Charlie Francis, Buddy Morris, Mark McLaughlin, Mike Boyle, Eric Cressey and James Smith.
There are plenty of others as well but at this moment, this is my list for both my personal and coaching needs.

PV-Now that we have them all assembled, what would be your 3 most important questions for the group?

JF-Some of these questions are actually groupings but it’s my answer so I’ll do whatever I want!

1) How can we build and maintain maximum strength by using sub-maximal weights?

2) How can we monitor/modify volume and intensities without the use of an OmegaWave system? What sort of auto regulation schemes do you use?

3) How do you monitor/modify many athletes in a team setting? Who is responsible for the recording of workouts? What systems do you use to chart individual and team progress?

PV-Who are your favourite training partners and why?

JF-When I first started training Strongman with Joe Montgomery and Thom Lamb I really took off so those guys would have to be my favourites. From there I have trained with a bunch of really good ones: Dain Wallis, Dave van den Heuvel, Cody Kennedy, Sean O’Donnell, Brandon Watt, Dave Shorrock, Adam Ross and Dave Brown. Coincidentally, all of those guys are really good friends of mine as well. I think this has really helped me because we communicate well with each other to figure out what each of us needs to progress.

The bottom line is this, training partners don’t need to be experts or anything like that, they need to be committed to progress and be reliable to show up and help the whole group get better. They also need to be honest with each other about what is needed and what should be discarded.

PV- So true, just reliable and committed to getting better. But Dain Wayliss???? C’mon how hard up for a partner does a guy have to be?

What does the future hold for Jordan Foley? What do you hope to achieve and contribute in the next year?

JF-I wish I knew. Right now my career is my focus and I am trying desperately to land a fulltime physical education teaching position or a job as a strength coach. This is very tough to do in Ontario and anywhere in Canada for that matter. This means that I might even end up overseas teaching next year or anywhere at all. It is very important for me to love what I do all day every day and for me this means I MUST be either teaching physical education or strength coaching. I will also be looking for strength coach jobs and in the next few years this might mean that I go back to school for a masters degree and to gain some more intercollegiate experience as well.
As far as my lifting goes, I plan to continue to bring up my strength and also focus on my event proficiency by hitting events at least every 2 weekends. If all goes to plan and my job/job search doesn’t screw my training too much I hope to go top 5 this year at OSM.

PV-Final Question, If you were a character on the Trailer Park Boys, who would you be?

JF-Toughest one for the end eh……but I have thought about this carefully and one really sticks out above all else….GREEN BASTARD.

PV-Thanks Coach Foley for the great interview and I look forward to your goal oriented training methods and highly analytical input here on the Serious about Strength Blog.(and of course your “angry coach” style attitude that I’m sure the readers of this blog will enjoy)

(I was very suprised Coach Foley never listed "Chuck Berry" as one of the experts he'd pick for the ultimate round table discussion. Who knew?)

Cheatin'

2008-12-09T05:13:00.000-08:00

After 11 weeks of dieting (which I didn't find too tough to start with) I was instructed by Shelby to add a cheat meal once per week.

This is not a bad thing at all. It did however take mere seconds to decide what my first cheat meal would be. Sarah and I have spent countless conversations discussing our cheat meal options since about the second or third week.

So this past Saturday was the chosen day. The plan was to finish the Turtle cheesecake that Sarah had started on her cheat meal, pound back a small pizza lover's pizza from Zio's (A great pizzaria in Renfrew), demolish some tacos and burritos from Taco Smell, clean up a chocolate cake from the local bakery and wash it all down with some milk.

The only catch with the cheat meal is that is has to be the last meal of the day.

Here's how it all went down.

On my way back from Ottawa with the taco bell, I was a little behind on my regular meals. I shoveled in the last bowl of cold rice and chicken breast as we stopped for gas in Kanata.
When I arrived at home and laid out all my goodies, it had only been about an hour since I finished the last bowl of cold sawdust (it's actually not bad at all but pales in comparison to tacos and cake)
I tried to stall but Sarah was on my case about eating my cheats in front of her. (When I checked I didn't have her tied to the kitchen table. WTF?)

So I put on some fat pants and got ready for action.

Now, I've been around the block a few times when it comes to eating, I've even held a few buffet titles and impressed many a waitress with my eating prowess. So I knew that to get it all in I would need the proper aproach.

The pizza was still piping hot, so I microwaved the tacos and got the cakes laid out on the table. The trick to pushing back large amounts on an already half full tank is to get it all swallowed in 20 mins or less.

The stage was set. I started with a beef supreme taco. I flew through 2 slices of pizza and then hit a chicken supreme burrito. Trouble reared it head early. I could feel the wall coming faster than I had expected. So I did what any respectable eater would do. I put the third burrito on ice and sucked back another slice of pizza. I couldn't miss out on those delicious cakes.
The turtle cheesecake went down well. 11 weeks had caused me to forget the sharp power of super dense cake and caramel sauce. I was hoping to wipe the earth of the second cake but it was not as delicious as I expected and the class 4 sweat started to pool on my brow. I made a pretty good dent in the bakery cake but stopped near the half way mark to suck back some milk and hopefully complete the pizza.
It wasn't to be. I had made a rookie mistake. I had left the milk on the counter. This required me to get up from my eating station and thus lose my flow. I got most of the milk down but the train wreck occured on my way back to the pizza and cake.
My stomach was topped out. I had only put in a solid 15 minutes but that was all I could take.

I shamefully threw in the towel while Sarah made fun of my weak attempt. I headed for the couch with a great deal of bloated pain in my abdomen. Soon the sugar induced insulin coma took me and I was snorring away on the couch.

I have another shot coming up this friday.

I promise to not let anyone or anything stop me next time.
(The victim this Friday will be bacon and tomato sandwhiches. I will attempt to eat 1 pound of bacon with as many tomatos and toast slices as it takes. And yes I will be laying the mayo on thick.)

Getting a little Crazy on Sunday

2008-12-08T05:17:00.001-08:00

So what could possibly be crazy on a Sunday? Maybe this -21 degree weather. (Not really it's December, what the hell did you expect?)

I'll tell you.

It was a kettle bell crazy press.

We just bought a couple of sets of little kettle bells to try out in our boot camps, and I got the great idea to try out some crazy presses with them.

This is simple to set up. Quad up a mini band and loop it through the handle of the kettle bell, and then hook the other end of the band around the end of the barbell. Make sure they are even on both ends of the bar and get to work.

If I could offer one bit of caution though. If you've never done a crazy press before, start out with a VERY LIGHT weight. We started with an empty bar and a pair of 12kg kettle bells and it felt like I was trying to bench press a water bed. It was all over the place.

We noticed 2 big benefits while (and after) doing this exercise. The first was that it really challenged you to stay tight....everywhere. I was more alert to squeezing the bench with my shoulders, pinching my ass cheeks and driving my feet into the floor with 95lbs of bar weight and 90lbs Kettle Bells than I've ever felt with 300 in my hands. The second was the crazy blasting our chest and shoulders got.

These were my sets:
bar +24kg of KB X 15 reps
bar +40kg of KB X 15 reps
95lbs + 40kg of KB X 18 reps
95lbs + 40kg of KB X 17 reps

I look forward to trying this out with my swiss bar, for an added element of instability and shoulder work.

Here's Shotgun pumping out one of his last sets, looking less like his arms were still drunk from Saturday night. (And Shane, I know you're watching this, so check out your feet move after rep 2. Fix that shit!)
Yes he wears his oly shoes for everything. I was able to talk him out of using them to push the prowler.

Who Gives A F***K Friday

2008-12-05T09:56:00.000-08:00

Now that we're all on the same page as to what day of the week it is, here's a couple of good videos.

(Sorry for being short and sweet. I'm not being lazy, I'm just being busy)

A Call To Action

2008-12-04T04:01:00.001-08:00

Just the other day, a buddy of mine posted up a deadlift challenge on the Ontario Strongman forum. He challenged any taker's to race him to a 750lbs deadlift. (And you're damn right I took the challenge. I plan on beating his ass.)

His call to action is moving me and a few other dedicated individuals to aim high and keep shooting.

So I'm calling to action every single reader here on my blog.

I want you to do something you've never done before.

It doesn't have to be a 750lbs deadlift. But it has to be something that is just beyond your reach right now.
Something that is going to take a balls to the wall effort to achieve.

And the challenge is to get it done before the end of 2008.

Post your goal in the comments area of this blog entry, along with your real name and where you currently stand on the challenge.
example: I Paulv currently have a best Deadlift of 655lbs and did 620 for 2 last month. I am taking the call to action and plan on lifting 700lbs before the end of 2008. (I hope to lift this by X-mass)

I, Johnny X currently have a best 500m row time of 1:35. I am takin the call to action and plan on breaking the 1:30 mark by the end of 2008.

Grow a pair and take the challenge. We will all motivate each other to improve.

Post it in the comments section and then feel free to update your progress in the comments of the daily blog post.

I may have a prize for the most impressive challenge breaker.

Here's a motivational vid to get you in the mood for action.

NOW GET TO WORK!

The Breaking Point

2008-12-03T05:09:00.000-08:00

How close do you come to the breaking point before you realize what's happening and take a step back? Take a deep breath and let shit slide a little?

I'm proud of being my own boss. I live to be busy on projects that I'm interested and excited about. But sometimes I overload the platter. (I've always liked the quote, "bite off more than you can chew, and chew it.)

Today I'm taking that step back. I'm throwing my hands up and not giving a fuck. (Even though it only "World's Greatest Wednesday" and not "Who Gives a Fuck Friday")

So if I told you I was going to do something for you, or get something for you, or whatever, it's going to be a little late. Deal with it.

Oh and by the way, my training for World's is going well. (Trying to be positive here)
I still don't know exact details of the comp, but I'm looking forward to it.

Please don't ask me when we are moving into the new Renfrew location because I have no idea.

Have great Day!

I'm in on Defranco's First Mentorship program in January
Look out for us to be kicking even more ass with the athletes this summer.

NC Double WOW!

2008-12-02T04:59:00.000-08:00

I took a drive (A long damn drive) to Schenectady NY this past Saturday. My wife and I went to watch one of the athletes from our summer elite program, Jason Walters, play hockey. He plays for Union College. They have a Division I hockey team in the ECAC division. The game was impressive. Very fast, not chippy at all and squeezed into an intimate 2200 seat facility. It was great to finally see Jason play as we have worked with him for the past 2 summers and we know he's going to take his hockey career to next level. Oh yeah, they beat providence 4-2.

On Sunday morning, after breakfast we got a tour of the rink and the campus. The campus was nice, packed with history and great buildings, but the rink is the defiantely the centre piece.(In my opinion)

Messa Rink @ Union College

The dressing room had an NHL feel to it. Each player had a stall with all the equipment hung up on hardwood shelves. The floor was wide open with a huge "U" inlayed in the rubber matting. Across from the equipment stalls was a tiled bathroom shower area that looked like something from the newest YMCA or maybe even biggger. Around the corner on the way out to the players bench and ice was a wall of hockey sticks. And if you continued down the hall instead of heading out to the ice area the room opened up again (this is the impressive part) to host 2 power racks with platforms, 10 spinning bikes, a GHR and a Reverse hyper. Sweet set up
Jason was proud to add that his prowler was also kept in the dressing room gym area, thus making it the complete set up for any athlete or powerlifter. (not that any powerlifter will ever touch those bars and bumpers)

So, they have a crazy good set up right in the dressing room. But that's only in the dressing room. Downstairs underneath the ice surface, was a 2000sq foot room that looked kinda like a physio facility. It had 4 or 5 massage tables, ice baths, hot tubs, rehab equipment, electro stim machines, you name it, they had it. Just a sick set-up.

Across the hall from the physio room was the full weight room that is only used by the men's and women's hockey teams.

(pause for a deep breath)

It was about 4000sq feet. It had another row of spinning bikes, a bunch of jump boxes, a good stash of kettlebells, 5 double racks, 2 deadlift platforms, a full set of color coded bumpers for each rack and platform, another GHR, a crazy looking reverse hyper machine (that I took a shit on because it wasn't the west-side style) that was a cable and stack set up that somewhat resembled a lying leg curl (I was very un-impressed that they had this contraption, but at least they had a real one in the dressing room), a couple of pulldown cable stations and bunch of benches and DB's.

They've got 5 of these bad boys

This post has gotten way out of hand. Bottom line is the Div I NCAA schools have all the good shit, when it comes to training and sports facilities. It was very mind blowing.

I also carried 370 per hand farmer's walk handles on Saturday morning before heading out.

Who in the hell is Shelby Starnes?

2008-12-01T05:22:00.001-08:00

For those of you that have never surfed around on eliteFTS.com, first of all shame on you for missing out on the best resource for training and performance info, and secondly you are probably asking yourself, "who in the hell is Shelby Starnes".

Well I'm gonna bring everyone up to speed on who Shelby is, and what exactly it is that he does. I feel pretty lucky to be able to snag a big time guest like this for an interview on the SERIOUS ABOUT STRENGTH BLOG.

Sarah and I both hired Shelby about 10 weeks ago to get us ready for the provincial powerlifting championships and the world light weight strongman championships respectively. The results have been nothing less than extraordinary. I've had a pretty good grip on nutrition for a long time but working with Shelby is on another level all together.

Before Starting with Shelby (240lbs)

Week 9 of working with Shelby (236lbs)

Without any further delays lets get to the questions.

PV-First of all Shelby, Welcome to the Serious About Strength Blog

Where are you from and where do you live currently?

SS-I was born and raised just north of Detroit, Michigan. I still reside there.

PV-How tall are you and how much do you weigh?

SS-I'm just under 5'7 and my offseason weight is usually around 220 lbs. (110kg.). My competition weight has been right around 176 lbs. (80kg) the last couple years, but I'm trying to bump that up to 185-190 this year or next.

Shelby Starnes (Offseason)

PV-What came first, the nutrition knowledge or bodybuilding and powerlifting,and when did you get involved in all this stuff?

SS-I've been interested in the nutrition aspect since I started lifting weights in 1997, when I was 20 years old. I realized right from the start that nutrition was a crucial element of bodybuilding and weightlifting, so I studied it extensively.
Growing up, I was never a very athletic person and I smoked, drank on occasion, etc. When I was 20 I realized that my dad was in much better shape than me (he exercised daily on his treadmill) so I decided to get into better shape.
I started by using his treadmill, and gradually developed more of an interest in a healthy lifestyle, some light weightlifting, etc... eventually it morphed into full-fledged hardcore bodybuilding.
I got out of bodybuilding in 2003 for a variety of reasons, and decided to just lift weights recreationally. That didn't last long, and I developed an interest in strength (rather than size) so I ended up heading down that path, eventually getting involved in competitive powerlifting. That lasted from mid-2003 to early 2005.
Now I'm back to bodybuilding but still follow powerlifting, train with powerlifters, and occasionally dream of growing a goatee and getting fat again.

PV-What are some of your best lifts as a powerlifter and your best comps as a bodybuilder?

SS-I always competed as a 198 in powerlifting, and my best lifts were a 600 squat, 435 bench, and a 600 deadlift.
In terms of bodybuilding, at my first show I won the overall in the novice division and took second place in the open middleweight class. Since then I've competed twice at the NPC Jr. Nationals, placing fifth in 2006 and sixth in 2007.

PV-When do you plan on hitting the stage in a banana hammock again?(It's cool, I've pranced on stage in the past too.)

SS-I'm tentatively planning on competing at the NPC Michigan State Bodybuilding Championships in May, 2009.

PV-Do you have any plans to do another powerlifting meet in the future?

SS-Probably not. I was going to do a meet last year - just as a diversion from my bodybuilding offseason- but I ended up rupturing my pec about a month out from the meet.

PV-How long have you been putting together diets for other people?

SS-After my first competition in 2005 I started helping some friends with diet plans, and it quickly grew from there.Nowadays I have clients all over the country as well as the world (Canada, Australia, UK, Belgium, Greece, etc.).

PV-What is the name of the company that you currently are involved with, doing diet and training plans?

SS-Troponin Nutrition. We also carry our own line of supplements, as well as books, videos, and strength training equipment (we just came out with our "Motor City Squat Yoke", which is a combination front squat and Zercher harness). Check us out at http://www.troponinnutrition.com/

PV-How did you get hooked up with Troponin and Justin Harris?

SS-I hired Justin to prep me for my first bodybuilding show back in 2005, and I've been working with him ever since.

PV-I know you do a lot of work with men and women that compete in bodybuilding, figure and now strength sports, do you have any clients thatare just looking to lose fat for health reasons or to just look good naked?

SS-Yes, a lot of my clients aren't competitive in any particular sport - they just want to shed some fat, get healthy, and, as you said "look good naked". I will work with anyone that is committed to making a change.

PV-What are some of the things that you are able to do with your clients besides just getting lean?

SS-I do a lot of offseason plans to help clients gain maximal muscle while staying lean, and also do plans for clients looking to drop water weight for a competition weigh-ins, setting up an optimal eating schedule for meet day, etc.
I also offer customized training consultations for those interested in having me do their training as well as nutrition.

PV-I know you are a CARB CYCLING guy, can you give us a summary of what that means?

SS-Carbohydrate cycling is a method of eating that can be modified for weight gain, weight loss, and also weight maintenance. Put in simple terms, carbohydrate cycling involves consuming a high carbohydrate diet on some days of the week, and a low to moderate carbohydrate diet on other days.

The high carbohydrate days raise the body's insulin levels, fill glycogen stores, keep the metabolism burning efficiently, and stave off muscle catabolism. The low carbohydrate days are the "fat burning days." They keep insulin levels low enough to allow for maximum fat burning while retaining muscle.

PV-Is there ever an age that people reach that would make it difficult for them to benefit from your diet plans?

SS-As we age our metabolism slows, but the same physiological principles still apply. As such, carb cycling is still my method of choice for older athletes.
I should mention though, that while I predominantly use a carb cycling approach, I will use other approaches if the situation warrants it.

PV-I found out about you when you went on board at EliteFTS.com, how did it come to be that you got onto the Q&A staff?

SS-Dave made me promise not to talk about that (the initiation rituals are illegal in most states).
Seriously though, Justin had been on the team for a while and I think they just wanted to diversify their reach, so they asked if I would be willing to lend a hand. What's it like to be a part of the elitefts team?
The exposure has been great. I'm very thankful to be on a team of such great athletes and individuals, and hope to be able to contribute and be part of the team for some time to come.

PV-I've met Justin Harris at a Seminar and he was way the hell over everyones head with his science and book words. What's it like working with that guy?

SS-He's definitely a nerd trapped in a super heavyweight's body.
Seriously though, besides being a great nutritionist, bodybuilder, and powerlifter, he's also a great business partner and friend. Like with Elite, I look forward to a long prosperous future together.

PV-I'd like to thank you for doing this interview, is there any shout-outs or thanks you'd like to send out?

SS-I definitely want to thank all my clients for kicking ass on a regular basis, and supporting me in what I do.
I also want to thank Justin Harris, Dave Tate, and the EliteFTS team for all they've done for me. I'm very fortunate to work with such a great group of people.

PV-If people want to get in touch with you and have you help them look and perform better, how can they reach you?

SS-I can be reached via email at shelbystarnes@troponinnutrition.com and my webpage is here:
www.troponinnutrition.com/shelby.htm

I am also on the Q&A staff atwww.elitefts.com/

If anyone has any questions or comments, feel free to drop me a line!

PV-Thanks again Shelby, I can't say enough great things about your services,and I don't really have to because I walking around looking and feeling like an animal and people notice everywhere I go.

SS-Thanks for the opportunity, Paul.

Bangin' the iron pile

2008-11-28T10:24:00.000-08:00

Last night we had a great session. Of course, ironically it was on the bench press. Everyone loves to bench eh?

Things started out a little loose but as we got through the warm-ups we pulled it together. It must've been a combination of the "shut up and lift" mentality we all seemed to have and the fact that the gym was busy as hell and all eyes were upon me. The pressure was on for me to put up, as I can never seem to shut up.

I want to welcome "Kapow" to the 300 club. He put up a pretty solid stroke on 3 bills at the tender age of 16. Nice work buddy.
And he did it after all his work sets on the 5/3/1 method. Leave it to the young bucks to want to go big all the time. (It was supposed to be a down set)

I've got a very special guest coming to the blog very soon. (hopefully later today) So stay tuned for a great interview.

Prowler Playoffs

2008-11-27T05:11:00.001-08:00

So now that we have a good 4 inches of snow all over the place, (I think it sucks and I don't care how much you spent on that new Snow mobile) our prowler season has come to an end. It's very unfourtunate that we dragged the regular season out too long and didn't get a chance to have a true playoff season.

I'm sure some of the crew was temporarily relieved by the coming of the snow and the end to our prowler sessions. Especially Dirty Frank, who's broken schedule had him coming back to more plates on the prowler after every layoff he took. We eventually worked up to 3 plates per horn on the prowler and were getting pretty good at double ups with that weight.

We will now be focusing our attention to the rower. The anxiety is still there when I look at that long, slender bastard. 500 meters has been our standard. I look forward to working back up to 3 500's at the end of each training session, as one has been kicking me in the guts lately.

It's going to be a long winter.

To make sure we can crown a true prowler cup champion at the end of next season, I've already laid out the playoff schedule for 2009.

I already miss that scraping sound, but not the nausea, pounding head, dizzyness, stupids and massive prowler hang-overs.

Jello Legs Johnny

2008-11-26T05:28:00.001-08:00

If you like to squat and you feel that low back and hamstrings are beach muscles then you have probably met Jello Legs Johnny. For most people it's a love/hate relationship with Jello Legs Johhny. We love the fact that he signifies a great amount of effort in our training, but we hate the way he makes going to the can a true pain in the ass (no pun intended) for a day or two later.

Most people know ol'Jello Legs. He always shows up around the middle of a squat session and sometimes overstays his welcome. Sometimes he just comes running into your life like a screaming freight train as you grind out anything over 10-12 reps while squatting. This is the case when you know he's coming as you have set it in your mind that you are going for 20 reps with a weight on the bar that you have only ever gotten 12 with. Oh yes, he'll be here shortly my friend, just step under that bar and get to work.

Other times the dirty bastard is a little more sneaky in his aproach. While doing lunges for example, he's nowhere to be found during the training and sometimes you won't see him when you're leaving the gym. But when you wake up a 1am to let the dog out for a leak, you are less than impressed to find Jello having a pants party as you nearly fall on your face when you take that first step off the bed.

Any way you slice it, if you want to be fit or strong or both, Jello legs Johnny is going to become a close companion. He's there to remind you that you've worked hard.

I'm sure you can guess why I'm writing about Jello Legs today.

Here's what I did last night.

Safety Squat Bar Box Squats- 225X5, 315X5, 365X5, 385X3, 430X1

Hack Squats- 15 reps, 20 reps, 20 reps, 20 reps (all sets with 3 plates per side, this is where I met up with Jello)

Super Man back Extensions-4 sets of 15 reps with a 25lb plate

Hanging leg raises-4 sets of 25

Rower-500m X 1:27.2

Good times, hamstrings and low back are feeling very real today.

Let's get one thing straight..........

2008-11-25T03:58:00.000-08:00

I'm gonna start by saying that what I'm about to say may offend you.

It's blows my mind how many people, both male and female walk into our gyms or talk to me on the street and make a comment along the lines of "Oh, but I don't want to get big bulky muscles" 0r "I'm already big enough, I just want to tone".

What the fuck makes you think you are just going to walk into the gym, pick up a barbell and instantly explode into a rippling mass monster?

This guy just started last month

I've been at this game for over 10 years. I've had a strong desire to be a "rippling mass monster" from day one and let me tell you from experience that it's not easy to get "big bulky muscles". It takes huge commitment to training, eating and the "get huge" lifestyle. By NO means do I feel like I am there yet, but I work hard week in and week out, stuffing myself with food and training like a madman even when I'd rather be at home in bed. (wait a minute, there's no place I'd rather be than training my ass off at the gym or at Pete's Garage.) So it's a little bit of a piss off when people assume that they will end up looking freaky after they've spent a month in the gym.

99% of the people I deal with in the gym and personal training business, just want to lose fat, be healthy and look good naked. I have no beef with that at all. It's actually something that I admire in all of our clients. They've taken the step forward to making themselves look and feel better by hiring us to help them. But just to reassure everyone, even if you trained as hard and as heavy as possible for a full 12 months, chances are you won't have to have the door frames widened in your home due to growing a pair of shoulders that block out the sun. And that's assuming that you're nutrition, rest and recovery are all spot on.

Next time you come across a massive freak of nature, ask him or her how long they have been working at becoming what and who they are.

The Way of the Rack

2008-11-24T05:18:00.000-08:00

Just about every (half decent) gym in the world has a power rack. Although it is becoming more common place for the powder puff, big box store gyms to not have a rack, it pretty much is a staple all around the world to have a power rack.

A good or great weight room is built around a good or great power rack.

I always think of the rack as the place where great strength is built. Without the rack, where would one squat, perform Good Mornings and Rack pulls?

Yes I am aware that one can always improvise to get the job done without a rack. I have improvised many times. I even built a pair of olympic style squat stands so I could get more done in my small gym if the rack was occupied.

When the rack is occupied...........

It better not be for barbell curls. Lets just leave it at that. This rant has been beat to death so I will leave it alone today.

Honor thy Rack, Love Thy Rack.

When I walk into any gym, when I see a beat up rack with the paint worn clean off, I know I'm in the right place. These are the places where strength is built.

Tastes Like Kevin Bacon

2008-11-21T05:04:00.000-08:00

The title comes from the last song I heard on the radio on my way to work this morning.

How important is having a good sound track to fuel your training?

I didn't think it was too important. As long as it wasn't the talking of lame ass DJ's on regular radio when I was about to attempt a heavy set or a sweet slow song about love or sadness, I was usually okay.

I make it a habbit to keep my training playlist stocked with the likes of Sabbath and Slayer. Hatebreed is also good back ground noise when trying to train your ass into a pulp.
But I never really rely on having "the" perfect song playing at any given time. I try to keep focused on the lifts and the music is just background noise.

It is common to hear guys whining about having to train with really shitty music playing and how it ruins their session. I guess everyone is different but c'mon, how dependant can one be on the music?
I definately agree that a good playlist helps, but the lack of good riffs should not be reason to throw the session down the toilet and act like a spoiled Trust Fund Boy.

Now when performing cardio music is becomes a very integral part of my ability to work hard.
I hate doing cardio on any of the typical gym machines. (treadmill, bike, stair climber) My "Hard as Fuck" playlist is a staple of my cardio sessions. And the other night I found out just how important it is. My ipod ran out of battery power.
WOW!
My speed dropped instantly and even my best efforts to speed back up seemed helpless.

I guess to conclude here I will just have to say don't be a baby if the radio is sucking when you are lifting iron, and make sure your ipod is charged up with good muzzak and battery power before you climb onto that bike for some intervals.

Yeah, What Dave said.

2008-11-20T04:04:00.000-08:00

If you've known me for any amount of time since I've really gone over the deep end for strength and performance, (shortly after I caught myself covered in oil, wearing a banana hammock on stage in front of large crowd) you've probably heard me talk about a guy named Dave Tate. (And if you haven't heard of Dave then you better set up an appointment with me immediately so we can cover the basics......)

Anyways, Dave keeps his training and life in general log on his website http://www.elitefts.com/ and recently he's been spending time supervising his son in kindergarten class. He's started a series of articles about observations made in kindergarten and how he applies those lessons to our everyday adult life. I have found it very entertaining and insightful.
32 things I learned in kindergarten

This week he talked about "that person" that always seems to get in our face and blabber on about something we really don't give two shits about, putting you into an awkward situation of, "do I tell them to piss off, or just stand here in agony and listen?". It prompted me to quickly evaluate my own behaviour and habits. (thanks Dave)

Something that is on my plate daily that this lesson can be applied to is our impending location change in Renfrew. I get asked daily about when we are moving. Hell I've been asked twice this morining and it's ten after 7 am.
I often have to apply Dave's lesson #14. I just give my best guess and it usually makes me feel okay. But after so many set backs I now don't give a strait answer at all. Because I just don't know when we will move. I know we will, but I don't know when.

So after all the rambling here's a training montage to help get your blood boiling to train your ass off.

RED DRAGONS!

How about that 590 raw bench. (black t-shirt, huge goatee, watch it again, it's the last frame of the clip)

Never felt Better

2008-11-19T05:16:00.000-08:00

I've always tried to follow my instincts in terms of how I feel when training. If I'm feeling really good, I go all out. Try to hit a PR whether it be in reps or weight.

If I'm feeling a little off, I usually just soldier through as best I can and get the job done. This usually means going all out anyways and often ending in disappointment due to missed lifts.

I've always understood that a deload is neccessary every so often to allow the body and nervous system some time to recover from the pounding they have received in the past 3-4 weeks.

I've planned many deloads into my training but the mistake I've always made is that I don't plan the work-outs during the deload. I usually just leave my training log in the office and say something along the lines of, "I'm gonna take it easy tonight and train bodybuilding style". This is what I feel has lead to missing the boat many times on the deload.

I've recently been following the 5/3/1 method for the raw lifter from Jim Wendler's III manual .

Without spending an entire post on the method, lets just say it's a "Keep it simple, stupid" type method with minimal workload for maixmum strength gains.
(I want to mention that this manual is the shit for trainees of any skill level and is super easy to follow. If you are serious about getting stronger then you must own this book.)

The part that I feel has made a big difference in my success is that I trust Jim's knowledge and have just shut off my brain and followed the method exactly the way it's laid out.

So last night was the first real deload day for deadlifts. The deads were easy but got me sweatting, I killed my accessory work and even the prowler felt easy.

Best of all I woke up this morning and was able to get out of bed pretty easily. (Usually the morning after deads I struggle to sit up in bed or even move for that matter)

I have to say the deload was great and I'm glad I was able to let go of my ego and just do what was written on the page.

Piss Pucks in Party Town

2008-11-18T08:04:00.001-08:00

I used to be pretty good a snowboarding. Good enough to make my paycheck by teaching kids how to ride a half pipe and giving mountain tours at Lake Louise.

How does this tie into piss pucks? What in the hell does any of it have to do with training?

I once read an interview article in a snowboarding magazine about a Canadian guy who had run the ranks of pro snowboarding and had become an action film maker. He was widely known for being a total loose cannon and his party stunts such as breaking beer bottles over his own head.

Something that stood out in that article and has always stayed with me was his piss puck analogy.

"There are two types of people, givers and takers. Givers always contribute something beneficial to others around them throughout their lives and when they die, givers go to party town to spend the rest of eternity. Takers on the other hand, never contribute and are only out to satisfy their own selfish needs. When takers die, the also go to party town. But they go as a piss puck. All the givers get to spend eternity drinking their face off and pissing on the takers"

So now, how does this tie into your training?

Well have you ever trained in a group or with a training partner?

If you have it doesn't take long to identify the givers and the takers. Givers are contributing to the improvement of the group by helping in whatever way is best suited to their individual abilities. The new guy loads plates and helps spot, the veterans are always coaching and teaching the new guys. The givers work for the best interest of the group which in the end helps them achieve success too.

Takers usually don't contribute much to a training group. They bring a poor or negative attitude, they always seem busy or in a hurry to leave when someone else needs help or it's time to clean up. And they usually don't have much good advice or coaching cues to offer the other lifters in the group. Ultimately they may benefit short term from the coaching and labour of the givers but in the end they hold back the progress of the group and themselves.

What are you contributing to the people around you?

Wild Weekend

2008-11-17T05:18:00.000-08:00

Yeah, what makes for a crazy weekend for me may have most people snorring due to boring. This weekend we left the house early and headed for Toronto in a rented box truck.

I was on a mission to deliver a shiny new pair of Prowlers to the brand new athletic facility at Upper Canada College. Now you are probably scratching your head and thinking, "never heard of that college before", and that's because it's a private boarding school for high schoolers. I'm not sure how long it's been around for but I saw team pictures on the wall dating back to the 40's.

Anyways, the important thing is that the athletic department now has 2 prowlers that will be helping them get their athletes in peak condition like never before.

When we arrived a couple of the coaches from the school wanted to have a prowler session to try them out and asked us to join them. Of course it was pouring rain. No problem they have a bubble that covers half of their turf football field. unfourtunately for us the weekend security gaurd couldn't access the light switches so the bubble was out. We sucked it up and did a bunch of pushing pulling and suicides in the rain.

It was a great prowler session despite the cold soaker we were experiencing.

Here's what I did on the prowler:

Thick rope hand over hand pulls (100') into a low handle sprint (100') X3

15yd suicides (high/low handles)

1 suicide race against one guys training with us. (Yes I won, and my prowler had an extra 50lbs on it)

Tonnes of fun and a long late drive home.

The Aftermath (Recovering from the Safety Squat Bar)

2008-11-13T04:38:00.001-08:00

Well, just as I expected the Safety Squat Bar blasted the crap out of my back, hips and quads.

Sometime around 3pm yesterday things really started to tighten up. The penguin walk was starting to develop from some seriously tight legs and man was my upper back tight.

Obviously if you want to get the most out of the next training session, not to mention be able to function at work the next day, you need to take some action on the recovery front.

Drum Roll Please!

If you haven't heard or used a foam roll, check it out here.

Now that we are on the same page, let me tell you why I feel the foam roll is so damn important to a quick recovery.

Because I've used it many times and it works!......DONE DEAL

I rolled out my quads (or I.T. Bands for those of you that like to get technical), my groin, my upper and lower back, I even rolled way up onto the traps. Standing up after the 10 minutes of restorative work, I can immediately feel the difference. My legs are still tender but I can move very freely and even drop into a deep oly squat position with ease.

So why are you still limping around for 2 days after your crazy squat session?

Grab a foam roll, recover faster and keep moving forward in the quest to be BIGGER AND STRONGER. (or in the case of most ladies just stronger and sexy looking)

The Safety Squat Bar

2008-11-12T05:39:00.001-08:00

If you've never seen one in the gym than you probably don't know what your missing. And yes I am talking about the safety squat Bar.

This bar is fresh on my mind this morning because it was loaded on my back last night. I can already feel the stiffness coming. It will soon take over my posterior chain (from the back of my knees and in this case to the bottom of my neck).

Simply put the safety squat bar blast you pretty much from head to toe.

So for eveyone that has squatted with this bar, I know you are feeling a slight bit of sympathy for me and maybe a bit of jealousy if you don't have regular access to one yourself.

Why is this bar so different?

Whay makes it blast the back differently that a regular bar?

It's so simple that you may almost miss it. It's the offset position of where the plates are loaded in relation to the bar that sits on your back. The offset causes the bar to almost always try and twist itself true. And that my friends is why it you feel it in the back.

There is no substitute for this bar. It should be in the toolbox of every serious lifter or athlete looking to perform better.

I build 'em and sell 'em here.

I gaurantee it will drive up your squat, deadlift and overall performace.

The Ultimate SupersetTraining Workout For Fat Loss

2008-11-11T05:11:00.000-08:00

Until recently, the cornerstone of most resistance training workouts has been performing exercises in a straight set format. Essentially, this means you perform a certain number of reps for a chosen exercise and then you rest anywhere from 30 seconds to five minutes based on your training goals before repeating this set a certain number of times based on your goals (Generally 3 sets of 10 is common). For more of a fat loss and lean muscle gain emphasis shorter rest periods are ideal. For more of a strength or power emphasis, longer rest periods are prescribed.

So, what’s the problem with this format? Well, though straight sets are extremely easy to digest for people new to fitness, they are also an extremely inefficient way to organize your training. In most commercial gyms you’ll typically see someone perform three sets of 10 reps for let’s say the bench press. They pump out 10 reps, go to the water fountain, talk with some buddies, watch a couple of highlights on TSN, and then make their way back to the bench to hit up their second set. In general, most people, guys in particular, tend to take about 3-5 minutes between sets. In the case of three sets of 10 on the bench that means it would take up to 15 minutes to complete only one exercise. That means you’d need at least in hour to perform four different exercises! This is pure bullshit. If you need more than 1-2 minutes rest, we better have a talk about conditioning.

A much more effective and time saving method to ordering your exercises is using the alternating set format. Here you’ll perform one exercise, rest for a short period of time, then perform another non-competing exercise, rest for a short period of time, and so forth. Alternating sets allow you to work different areas of your body when you would otherwise be resting with the straight set format. Plus, by working another area of your body with a non-competing exercise you allow your body to recover from the previous exercise(s). The result is more work accomplished in less time, the cornerstone of any sound fat loss program. There are several ways to perform alternating sets outlined below:

1.) Supersets: Alternate between two different non-competing exercises (e.g. upper body and lower body such as push-ups and lunges)

2.) Trisets: Alternate between three different exercises (e.g. push, pull, and lower body such as push-ups, rows, and lunges)

3.) Circuits: Alternate between four or more different exercises

Though circuits and trisets are excellent alternating set options, I believe superset training is by the far the best option time and time again.

Here is an example of some superset training we use in our

Ultimate Fat Loss Boot Camp:

Exercise#1a- Squats

Exercise#1b- Dips

Bridge: 100 jump Ropes

Exercise#2a- Pull-ups

Exercise#2b- Leg Raises

Bridge: Jogging Burpees

Perform each superset up to four times for total body fat burning workout.

Basically, in the same 15 minutes that it took to get in three sets on the bench you could have gotten in three sets of two different exercise for a staggering total of 15 work sets! Plus, the intensity on each exercise will be just as high as in the straight set format because in this five exercise circuit you will have full recovery with over four minutes before you return to any given exercise (just as you did with the straight set format described earlier).

To recap, the key to creating the optimal hormonal environment for fat loss is to perform each exercise with maximal intensity while separated by brief rest periods in order to accumulate a high volume of total body work in the shortest amount of time possible. Circuit training provides for the best of both worlds and is thus simply unmatched for simultaneously maximizing fat loss and lean muscle gain. Use the following template I use with my many boot camp clients for some killer, yet simple fat loss circuits:

Exercise#1- Double-Leg

Exercise#2- Push

Exercise#3- Single-Leg

Exercise#4- Pull

Exercise#5- Core

I’ll be sharing some more great circuit training workouts from my boot camps in the weeks to come.

Stay Strong

Paulv

www.ultimatefitnessgyms.com

Shut up and Train

2008-11-10T05:36:00.000-08:00

Sometimes we don't need to think about it, talk about it, worry about it, or whatever.

We just need to shut up and lift.

How do you make this happen?

Plan your work-out the day before, write it down in your training journal and be ready for battle when you get to the gym.

Plain and Simple.

Here's my plan for tomorow night.

Safety Squat Bar Box Squats-(using the 5/3/1 method, this is the "3" week)

GHR-4 sets of 15-20

DB lunges-3 sets of 100' (turn @ 50')

GHR sit-ups with a mini band-3-4 sets of 20

Prowler-3 dubs with +180lbs (minimum)

My Supplement Staples

2008-11-07T05:24:00.001-08:00

Supplements have been around for a long time. They work great but you've got to remember that they are a SUPPLEMENT to your nutrition plan and not a magic pill or potion.

It suprises me that there is still so much confusion surrounding supplement use and what supps are required for an individuals needs.

Here's and example of my current supplement use:

Protein Powder- I go through a 5 pounder of Whey Fusion in about 2 weeks. I use it in breakfast shakes when I'm running late. I drink it pre and post training, and I also drink a big 3 scooper in the middle of the night when I wake up to take a leak.

Waxy Maise-This supplement has been around for a while and used to go by the name Vextrago. It is a high molecular weight carbohydrate. So what the hell does that mean?
It passes the stomach very quickly and it pulls water and other nutrients with it. It is unmatched as post training carb source. It's also an easy way to get a lot of carbs in if you are trying to gain mass.
I take 1 scoop pre training, 1 scoop during training, and 3 scoops post training.

Beta-Alanine- This amino acid is cheap and easy to add to your supplement regime. This amino helps you build new muscle proteins. Which means a leaner more muscular body. It also helps your muscular endurance. I've broken more rep records in my training than ever before using beta.
I take 1 tsp pre-training, and 1 tsp post-training.

Creatine- If you haven't heard about the strength and endurance gains that creatine help you get, then you better stop living in your cave. It's been around for a long long long time. It is NOT steroids. It will NOT make your balls shrink, it will NOT cause water retention. Wake the hell up.
I use CX-3. I take 3 caps pre-training, 3 caps post-training and 3 caps with breakfast on non-training days.

Z-test- This is THEE ulitmate MAN supplement. It is a Zinc, Magnesium, vitamin B6 complex and tribulus. Tribulus is a herb that tells your body to produce more of it's own natural testosterone. I always feel well rested, have crazy vivid dreams and fell frisky as hell with my Z-test. It's very popular for older guys too. It helps you feel the "love" again. If you know what I'm sayin'
I take 6 caps before bed. I live on this stuff.

Neo-Lean Fat Burner- As I'm ramping up my nutrition and trying to be a lean 240lbs for the LW worlds, I've been adding in some extra morning cardio and Neo-lean is my fatburner. Its strong enough to keep me feeling alert and energized on the stair climber at 5:30am and I can also notice that I stay warm and sweat a little bit all morning.
I take 2 caps before my morining cardio with a double espresso, and I take 2 caps in the afternoon when I start to feel lazy.

And last but definately not least.....

L-Leucine- This is the most important of the BCAA's (Branched Chain amino acids) It helps keep your body in an anabolic state. This is important if you are trying to gain muscle, deal with a lot of stress and/or do a lot of endurance training.
I take 5g pre-training, 5g during training (with my waxy) and 5g post training.

It seems like alot, but let me tell you I'm progressing forward like never before, I'm lean and I feel unstopable under stress.

Not Just For Girls

2008-11-06T05:00:00.000-08:00

I run a fitness BOOTCAMP. We have based it loosely on crossfit style training.
It's a crazy work-out. I often use the WOD's (work out of the day) for my cardio intervals. It's no joke. I'm often beaten to a sweatty pulp and feeling my muscles screaming from head to toe.

If these work-outs can kick my ass and make my muscles burn why is it that the average male gym rat turns up his nose at our bootcamps?

Lately there has been more and more guys trying it and loving it. They get leaner and build muscle at the same time. Let's face it, the average guy primarily wants to look better with his shirt off, and that's exactly what getting leaner and building muscle does.

These BootCamps are not just for the ladies!

They will kick your ass guys, I gaurantee it.

I think a men's night is in order. An introduction to the best goddamn 45 minutes of training you will ever find.

I can't wait to see the look of dispair and the change of attitudes after the first men's night.

Does this work-out look like it's "too easy for a man" or "only for women" ???

So....are you ready to try my BOOTCAMP now?

Indestructable Ankles

2008-11-05T08:46:00.001-08:00

I was talking with a client about how trashed her ankles are from years of playing basketball and it reminded me about this great video that was recently posted on Defranco's Training systems.

Enjoy!

A New President

2008-11-05T05:06:00.000-08:00

So, all the hoopla and hype will finally come to an end and the americans will find out over the next 4 years if they chose the right man for the job. Unless you've been living in a basement gym you're probably aware that the U.S. presidential election was yesterday. And even here in Canada it seems as if the campaigning has been going on for at least the last 2 years.

Well, I'm glad its over.

Here's a great work-out plan if you are in a hurry and have nothing but yourself and a few feet of floor space.

Burpees X 10
Push-ups X 20
Sit-ups X 30
Body Squats X 40
Jumping Jacks X 50

Here's a sample of good Burpees

Try and do 3 sets without any rest between exercises.
If you really want to test your mettle do 3 sets with no rest at all.

To make this interesting lets see who can do 3 sets the fastest. Video your work-out and email it to me. paul@ultimatefitnessgyms.com

The winner will get a free UF serious about strength T-shirt.

Show me some speed kids.

How to "Make time"

2008-11-04T03:43:00.000-08:00

I've always felt pretty strongly that if you don't have time to do something, then it simply isn't as important to you as you may think.

I got asked again yesterday, how I ever find time to train.

My answer is always the same. "I make time, because training is most important to me."

So here's my big tip on making more time to train. (or do anything productive for that matter)

I've said it before and I'm sticking to my guns here. Turn off the fucking TV.

How many hours of TV do you watch per night? Per week? Be honest with yourself. Lying about your bad habits doesn't affect me any.

What's more important? Watching your favourite show or losing that spare tire around your waist?

My living room is probably pretty dusty, and the $20 yard sale TV I bought in 2001 is still not hooked up to any cable or satellite.

Take a little pride in your training and just say no to that show. After a month you won't even miss it.

Reaching greatness (or just not fatness), requires great sacrifice. Just think about how you could benefit from getting rid of your entertainment equipment.

Pawn your $10,000 worth of TV and Surround bullshit. That could be spent on a lifetime gym membership, personal training and nutritionist. For that kind of coin you could have me move into your house and cook your meals.

The $50-$70 per month you spend with your digital cable provider can be spent on good food, supplements and some regular massage therapy appointments.

2008-11-03T05:18:00.000-08:00

Another weekend another great event training session for me. As I write this monday morning, I'm already thinking forward to next saturday's events session.

Just to give you an idea of what I do at these events sessions and how I eat on my most intense training day of the week, I'm going to give you a snapshot of my training log from Saturday including my food journal.

Saturday Nov 1st 2008;

8am- 8 egg whites, 1 whole egg, 1-3/4 cups of oats, multi-vitamin

10am-4oz round steak (cubed), 1-2/3 cups of brown rice

Noon- (Pre-training shake) 1 scoop waxy-maise, 1 scoop vanilla Whey fusion, 1 tsp beta-alanine, 1 scoop L-Leucine

12:30pm- Atlas stones- 205lbs stone front squats and 255lbs stone loads (as warm-up),
300lbs stone load to 54" platform for 3 sets of 2 reps,
320lbs stone load to 54" platform X 1 rep,
350lbs stone load to 54" platform X 1 rep,
385lb stone load to 54" platform X no lift
385lbs stone load to 51" platform X 1 rep

650lbs timber frame carry- 4 carries of 60-75 feet.

650lbs tire flip/205lb atlas stone carry- alternating flips of the tire with a partner for 150' and then carrying the stone back on the shoulder as fast as possible.

During the training I sipped a waxy-maise/L-leucine combo

3:30pm-(post training shake)- 3 scoops waxy-maise, 1 scoop whey fusion, 1 tsp beta alanine, 1 tsp glutamine.

4pm-1 scoop whey fusion, 8 plain rice cakes

5pm-4 oz round steak, 1-2/3 cups of brown rice

7pm- 4 oz round steak, 1-2/3 cups brown rice

9pm-4 oz round steak, 1-1/2 cups of brown rice

11pm-1-1/2 scoops whey fusion.

1:30am (wake up from sleeping)-3 scoops whey fusion, 4 tsp olive oil.

That was my day in a nutshell, in terms of training and nutrition.

I always look forward to saturday events for the simple fact that events are a ton of fun and leave you blasted afterwards.

Happy Halloween

2008-10-31T05:52:00.000-07:00

Have you heard the song thriller enough times yet today?
The radio jockeys love to beat that to death.

I'm gonna use this occasion to talk about the "costumes" we see on a regular basis in the gym.
I have compiled enough data from watching the gyms for the last 4 years as well as being in gyms for many more, that I have categorized some training habits and personality traits that go along with the type of "costumes" people wear to the gym.

Cardio princess: This girl is usually decked out in a new or near new lulu lemon or equivalent outfit, that probably cost more than her gym membership. Her hair is perfect, as is the makeup and she may even leave the treadmill to check on the status of the hair and makeup during the work-out. The princess doesn't sweat much, if at all. She is generally blessed with the ability to not work hard but still maintain a decent physique. Often times the Cardio Princess is more concerned with looking good and checking out the men than the work-out.
The Adonis: This guys is usually sporting a wife beater or sleeveless shirt. Adonis usually has decent arms and shoulders and is fairly lean. He loves to look at himself in the mirror. It is typical for Adonis to wear accessories such as an armband MP3 player and training gloves.
(ED note: Training gloves are fucking Ghey) The training regime of an adonis is usually focused on arms, chest and shoulders. He can also be seen doing forearm work and calf presses. Adonis only uses the squat rack for doing barbell curls. His focus is usually split between watching his triceps while he does pushdowns, and checking out the Cardio Princesses.
Mr./Mrs. Sweaty: They are usually wearing regular shorts or jogging pants and a loose T-Shirt. This person is usually a little on the heavy side. They come to the gym with the sole purpose of losing some weight. The work their but off on the treadmill and usually keep to themselves.
Mr/Mrs sweaty are usually doing a decent job on their training but are often turning a blind eye to the weights as they feel that cardio is the only thing that can help them lose weight. They've also been sighted doing some ab work at a furious pace in a corner by themself.

Social Stanley: The social stanley dresses much like mr/mrs sweaty. Jogging pants and a t-shirt. They can also be found at the gym in regular street clothes, becuase they are not going to get much of a sweat going. Their prime directive is to chat it up with anyone that will listen. It is best to avoid eye contact with social Stanley as he/she sees this as an invitation to give you a detailed description of their day. Social Stanley has been known accesorize with a newspaper or magazine. (This is in case no-one will listen to them)

Alan All Business: This guy comes to the gym in shorts or jogging pants, a t-shirt or sweatshirt and brings such accesories as a training journal, lifting belt and chalk. He's got his training planned out and written down. He gets in, works his balls off and gets the hell out. Alan All Business is the guy that usually has the physique he wants as he works hard and trains smart.
The strongest guy in the gym is often also an Allan All Business. Of course there are many combinations of the above stereotypes and most people are not purely of one type.

What "costume" do you wear to the gym?

Train Like a Badass, look like a Badass

2008-10-30T04:13:00.000-07:00

Okay, enough is enough.

I heard it again yesterday.

"I don't need to train my legs, they are already big enough, I just want to work my chest, arms and shoulders. Oh and I want a six pack too."

It's my job to not take a shit on these guys and throw it up in their face that they are skinny, weak and running around on a pair of chicken legs.

So I'll lay it down right here.

If you want a jacked up upper body, you need a jacked up lower body to put it on.
You also need to work harder than all the guys that look the way you don't want to look.
You need to to do the training sessions that everyones hates to do because it's "too hard". Cry me a river, captain upper body.

Have you ever seen a house get built from the roof down? Not me.

I even used to work construction and I always saw the heavy and solid foundation get poured first.
And the work involved in building that foundation sucks. But guess what? If badass training was easy, everyone would look good.

Now I'm not saying you should ignore the "chest, arms and shoulers", but for lucifers sake, train your lower body too and train like someone has a gun to your head.

Lets take a look at some of the more well know badasses out there today and compare their training to yours.

Marius Pudzianowski, 5 time worlds strongest man. This guy not only kicks everyones ass in strongman competitions, he also puts to rest the idea that strongmen are fat slumbering slobs. He's about as jacked as they come.

Unfourtunately I couldn't get an interview with him about his trainning, but it is widely know that he performs many squats and deadlifts, as well as standing barbell pressing and olympic lifts as part of his non-specific strongman training.

He also performs excruciating conditioning work as part of his strongman specific training.

Marius did not get to where he is by doing Dumbbell flys and triceps kickbacks.

Brock Lesnar, former WWE superstar and current UFC competitor. If you didn't think this guys was the craziest form of a human you have ever seen from the first time you saw him....just log off here right now.

Not only is Brock a giant alien from another planet, he can also back up the tough guy image in the octagon.

I'm gonna let you watch some of his training for yourself.

Brock's training program is a little bit different that what we're used to seeing in the average gym, but the key is that it's hard goddamn work, and he aproaches it like a man on mission.

So, get off the seated triceps isolator machine and pick up a barbell, pick up a sledgehammer, hammer the heavy bag and train like a baddass.

Healthy Eating Article By Nutritionist Jayson Hunter

2008-10-29T11:59:00.000-07:00

Eating Healthy During the Economic Crisis
Registered Dietitian Offers Nutritional "Bailout" Plan

Eating healthy is often determined to be too expensive for the average person. Fast food and foods loaded with fat and sugar tend to be inexpensive and always at hand.

Registered Dietitian Jayson Hunter has created some tips for healthy and affordable eating. He is calling it his Nutritional Bailout Plan.
"Too many people think they can't afford to eat healthy, especially during this Economic Crisis", according to Hunter. "That's why Iwant as many people as possible to know about these tips for eating healthy."
The following healthy eating tips will help anybody lose weight fast during this Economic Crisis:

1 - Choose seasonal fruits to save on grocery bill costs with your grocery bill. Out of season fruits can add a good chunk to any food bill.

2 - Buy in bulk and freeze what isn't needed. This is easy to do with meats. When buying ten chicken breasts it lowers the cost per pound of chicken. Freeze the rest of the chicken that isn't going to be eaten in the next few days and then thaw what is needed for the next meal when necessary. Same idea works for beef and hamburger.

3 - Pay attention to sales. Many times, eating healthy can be easily accomplished just by focusing on special offers and coupons.

For more information on how to eat healthy during the Economic Crisis can download a FREE copy of Hunter's Rapid Fat Loss Starter Kit. It will help any person who wants to lose weight fast.

It is available free of charge at: Carb Rotation Diets

Jayson Hunter, RD, CSCS is a registered dietitian and personal trainer with over ten years of experience. He specializes in helping men and women overcome the damage done by dangerous fad diets, so they can lose weight fast in a safe and healthy fashion.

Boot Camp WOD

2008-10-29T05:49:00.001-07:00

Tabata Something Else
(20 seconds of work/10 seconds of rest-8 rds)

Pushups
Situps
Squats

Burpees
Score Total Reps

Oh No, Here Comes The Snow

2008-10-29T05:15:00.000-07:00

Well, the snow has started to fly in Renfrew County (Canada) and I'm already worried I'm gonna miss pushing the prowler.

For most of us in Canada and the northern U.S. prowler season is pretty much over. So here's my alternatives to pushing the lambo (our gym prowler is Lambo Orange so I call it the lambo):

-Rower sprints, we usually run 500m and 250m sprints with 2-4 minutes rests in between sets and work up to 3 sets of 500m when we are really pushing the conditioning and fatburn.

-Barbell, Dumbbell or Kettlebell complexes, the variety that's possible here is vast. You can blast your conditioning and work any weak points at the same time. I like to pick about 5-6 movements and blast out 5-10 reps per exercise as one giant set, usually completeing 3-5 rounds of the complex.

-The Ulitmate BootCamp WOD, when I'm in a hurry or looking for a change I'll throw down the WOD. Why not? I've usually pushed our campers through it twice during the day so it's fresh in my mind. It also gives me more arguing power in bootcamp if I do the work-outs too.

UF BootCamp WOD

2008-10-28T10:26:00.000-07:00

"NEWBIE"

Turkish-Get-ups X 45sec/arm

Squats (20/30)

Push-ups (10/20)

Jumping Jax X 45 sec

Shuffle splits X 45 sec

Med-ball twist X 50

Med-ball slams X 20

JJ X 45 sec

SS X 45 sec

DB clean and press X 15

Sit-ups (20/30)

100 ropes

T-Get-ups X 45 sec/arm

No Non-sense, Just the way it is!

2008-10-28T08:33:00.000-07:00

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