Why I Don't Drink Milk

Dear BBQ, 

I stopped drinking milk a while ago based on the idea that the ratio of sugar to protein did not justify drinking the stuff. Famous fitness expert Shaun T speaks out against all dairy pretty much every day based on the fact that pretty much everyone is lactose intolerant to a degree. This article pretty much sums up my position on the drink that has been overrated for centuries. We are not baby cows... there is no reason to drink milk. I've also found that almond milk tastes way better with cereal than cow milk. 

Got milk? Nope! 

Ryan

The Squat

I heard squatting is bad for your knees? Is this reason enough to stop squatting?


Dear BBQ,

     You are correct, if done with improper form, squatting can wreck your knees. However to say that this should diswade you from squatting is a total myth. There is nothing you can do for your body that is better than some heavy sets of squats; assuming you don't have injuries that will be activated by said squats. This article here talks about some of the dangers of squatting and how to prevent them.

     Keep in mind that although when we talk about squatting we usually are referring to the back squat, there are many other options available as are talked about in this article. I should mention that I do disagree with the form they recommend on the back squat though. It is popular to only squat to parallel, but that is only half a squat. If you are going to say that you squat you should be doing at least 3/4 squats (down past parallel), if not full squats (down till you are sitting on your ankles). Don't full squat too much weight though as it can put some nasty leverage on your knees.

     In short, whether you want to build size, get toned, or just be a normal person who can do much more practically awesome stuff than your average Joe, you must squat. Another good article on squatting took a poll of bodybuilders across the nation and just over 50% dedicate an entire day to just doing squats. For me I'm doing a three day rotation and day to is entirely devoted to squatting and support exercises such as kettlebell swings (video) and cable pull-through.

Basically... Squat.


Ryan

The Deadlift

Should I deadlift, or is it better to do iso exercises? 

     If the squat is the king of the exercises, the deadlift is the Holy Roman Emperor... It makes grown men cry just thinking about it, and has been equated to surgery without anesthesia.  I've never found a more painful but effective exercise than the deadlift. Its perfect. Pick up a heavy bar off the floor. Gotta love it! 

     Let me put it this way... If isometric exercises are a 3 on a scale of usefulness, deadlifts would be a 29.9. It therefore reduces your time spent training because instead of 10 exercises you only do 1. Plus I'm of the opinion that there is nothing better for you than lifting heavy things off the floor. 

     Naturally you must do it right or you will have more problems than just hernias... Here are some useful tips for how to not injure yourself. 

1. Don't bend your back. (Unless you are fond of crippling pain and suffering)

2. Don't use straps. Seriously... If you can't grab the weight you have no business picking it up. Plus this greatly reduces the chance of hernias because it takes more time to work up to super heavy weights. 

3. Don't wear a belt! (Usually.) Unless you are gonna be lifting a seriously large amount of mass you shouldn't use a belt. I know 17 years ago EVERYONE wore them, but its actually been shown that a belt lessens the strain on the abdominal muscles (duh) which causes greater need for a belt later, and its a spiral of death. 

4. Get ready to cry. 

Ryan

Shoulder training

Dear BBQ,

Everyone wants bigger shoulders, right? 

In the quest for shoulder size many people hit just about every type of inclined and vertical press that you could imagine. The only problem with that approach is you end up looking like a neanderthal with huge front delts and pathetic rear delts. Plus that approach doesn't train the traps which are currently my favorite muscle. 

Don't get me wrong, pressing is good, in fact I did 15 sets of presses this morning, but its important to stay balanced. *cue in awesome music* Say "hey" to the snatch grip high pull! 

In set up and motion range the SGHP is similar to the inclined row, but instead of slowly going up and down you jerk the weight up and catch it on the way down. Technically this is an Olympic lift so its not meant to be high rep, the most would be around 5 reps, but it will destroy your traps and deltoids like none other. Drop-set it and prepare to cry in agony, or superset it with a medium weight inclined row (shoot for 8-10 reps) and you can practically see your shoulders growing. 

This would be incomplete without mention of the face pull as well. This exercise targets rear delts exclusively. Start by facing a high cable with a set of ropes attached, grab the ropes and squat back as if sitting in a chair, but DON'T ACTUALLY SIT IN A CHAIR THAT WOULD RUIN THE WHOLE POINT. ;) 

Slowly pull toward your face, keeping the elbows up, till your hands are near your ears. 

Release back slowly.

This can also be done just pulling to your chest, but in my experience its usually necessary to anchor yourself to prevent sliding across the floor because so much weight would be used. 

Its hard to envision an exercise based on words alone so just google it and watch a video about the face-pull if you are confused. Or ask me to demonstrate.  

Ryan

To X or not to X

Should I do P90X or just stick to lifting weights?

Dear BBQ,

Technically P90X includes some weight lifting, it just also has many other aspects. But is it the best option for fitness? 

The answer to that question really depends on your definition of fitness and what your goals are. If you want to be "cut" and trim but not necessarily very big it can be the perfect program, provided you switch things up occasionally, however if you want any serious size then you have to spend some bonding time with heavy bar bells and a bench/squatting rack. 

I did my time as a P90Xer and in those 3 months I saw great improvements, but then I took the principles from working out P90X style (no rest, fast sets) and used that with compound lifts to great effect. P90X does have some weak spots, such as the enormous amount of light ab work and no heavy work, plus it forget about the traps, and your chest will never get big using only push-ups.

My advice is this: 

1. Find a good regular routine that you can do consistently and hits the whole body.

2. Do said routine until plateau out.

3. Do P90X.

4. Go back to the real heavy weights and repeat.

Rest

How much time in the gym should be spent resting between sets? How much time should be spent sleeping outside the gym?

Dear BBQ,

Good questions, as you know rest is one of the four key components in an effective lifting regime (the other three being fuel intake, consistency, and intensity) and it is the most easy, but excepting consistency its the most often done wrong. 

How much rest should you get in the gym? 

As little time as possible. 

Seriously, its hard to find time and often you spend only an hour in the gym each day leaving 23 hours to rest up. You don't need to rest in the gym. 

My philosophy is that the time it takes to change weight or machines is more than enough rest time. I basically workout with one big drop set (a drop set is where you immediately drop the weight and start the "drop set" or next set with no rest. This allows you to work every layer of your muscles). Super sets (to "superset" exercises A and B you do sets in the following order: A,B,A,B, etc with no rest) also work well. Currently I superset my lifting with sixty seconds of cardio which keeps the heart rate up and makes you wish you were never born. Sometimes for a break I switch the cardio for another weighted exercise. Once I actually did six sets of three types of pull-ups and six sets of straight arm pull downs (total of 24 sets) in under 10 minutes. I recommend that for emotional therapy... 

How many sets should you do each day? Well, obviously it varies but I do at least 24 and often up to 48. I usually hit 2-3 body parts per day so thats about 8-10 sets per muscle group. It takes me about an hour and 15 minutes using cardio supersets and maybe 50 minutes with just double weight sets. 

Ok so what about rest outside of the gym? 

Sleep is key. Sleep at LEAST 7 hours a night (unless you are a teenager, then you should be sleeping 8-9 hours minimum). Your muscles grow when you sleep, not when you actually are lifting. Make sure to get slow digesting protein (like casein) before bed too. 

Power naps are golden too. Technically they should be between 15-25 minutes (or more than 3 hours) to prevent that awful feeling of death and tiredness that comes from napping sometimes. 

Ryan

Comparisons

Dear BBQ,

Its not a good idea to compare yourself to other people. Whether in the gym or in life, or the Christian walk. 

There will always be someone better, faster, stronger, harder, more dedicated, or more perfect than you, so constantly comparing yourself to them will cause depression. 

The fact is its not a bad idea to watch people who are older and better training to see what they do and how they lift, but don't worry if the other guy had bigger guns. Contentment is one of the keys to happiness, and its impossible to be content while judging how good you are  based on other's achievements, even if you are the best and biggest in your gym you will always be worried about losing that status. Just don't go there. 

Determine your fitness based on your past self, compare yourself to you a week ago, or a year ago, or ten years ago. Strive to improve always, but measure success by your personal achievements, whether or not everyone else has achieved bigger and better things. Be excited when you run that mile for the first time since 8th grade, when you deadlift or squat your weight for the first time ever, or when you make it up that mountain (literal or figurative). 

Ryan 

Jack LaLanne

Article from a British Mag

Jack LaLanne was a pioneer in the world of fitness.

The gyms that you see all over town? He opened one of the nation's first fitness gyms in 1936.

The machines that fill those gyms? He invented dozens of them.

All of those home workout videos and television weight loss shows? He was the man who first brought fitness into your living room. The Jack LaLanne Show was the longest-running television exercise program of all time. It was on television for 34 years.

And that's just his business career.

If you really want to be impressed, take a look at a handful of his personal fitness achievements.

Here are a few of the fitness feats that LaLanne accomplished:

• He swam from Alcatraz to Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco while wearing handcuffs.

At age 42, he set the world record for pushups by doing over 1,000 in 23 minutes.

At age 45, he did 1,000 jumping jacks and 1,000 pullups in one hour and 22 minutes.

At age 60, he swam from Alcatraz to Fisherman's Wharf for the second time. This time he not only wore handcuffs, but also towed a 1,000 pound boat.

LaLanne was in such remarkable shape that he could do one-armed fingertip pushups while in a completely stretched-out position. Here's a video of him doing them on his television show. (You'll notice his dog, Happy, in the background. Happy was a longtime partner on the show with LaLanne.)

Click here to watch the video.

Ready for something really incredible?

To celebrate his 70th birthday, LaLanne swam 1.5 miles along the California coast from the Queen's Way Bridge to Long Beach Harbor. And he did it while wearing handcuffs and shackles on his arms and legs and towing 70 row boats holding 70 people.

What Made Jack LaLanne Different?

In some ways, LaLanne's accomplishments are so out of the ordinary that it's hard to translate them into our own lives. (I mean, I love doing fitness challenges, but I'm not planning to tow 70 boats anytime soon.)

Thankfully, there is a lesson you can learn from Jack LaLanne that applies to nearly everything in your life. You won't discover it by looking at his accomplishments, but rather by examining his daily habits.

The Daily Routine of Jack LaLanne

"The only way you can hurt the body is not use it." -- Jack LaLanne

LaLanne was a big believer in rituals and routines. He realized the power that consistent daily actions could have on his life.

Here are a few of the habits that Jack LaLanne reportedly did every day for decades:

• Lift weights and do strength training for 90 minutes.

Swim or run for 30 minutes (in addition to his strength training).

Eat 10 raw vegetables.

Eat two meals: a late breakfast and an early dinner (hmm... that sounds familiar).

Wake up at 4:00 a.m (in his later years, LaLanne "slept in" until 5:00 a.m)

Look at that list. It's not overly long, but imagine doing those things not just for one day or one week, but for 60 years like Jack LaLanne did.

Even at age 94, LaLanne was still exercising for two hours every day. Ninety minutes of strength training. Thirty minutes of swimming or walking. Ten raw vegetables. Every. Single. Day. For 60 years.

When we see someone who accomplishes something incredible, the easy way out is to discount it, chalk it up to natural talent or genetics, and claim that they were born with something you could never have. It takes the responsibility off of you. But the truth is that most incredible people -- even the ones who accomplish superhuman feats -- are simply more consistent than everyone else.

It was his incredible consistency that made Jack LaLanne superhuman.

When you look at Jack LaLanne's life, it's easy to focus on the big accomplishments and overlook the daily habits. Similarly, in your own life it's easy to spend all of your time focused on transformations, big goals, and rapid changes, and forget that it's the daily habits that lead to long-term success.

Success is any field is about lifestyle choices, not life-changing transformations. It's your daily routine that will carry you to wherever it is you want to go.

If Something Is Important to You, Schedule It

How did Jack LaLanne stick to his daily habits with such consistency?

Do you think he just waited until he felt motivated to workout each day? No way. His consistency has very little to do with willpower or motivation. Nobody is motivated every day for 60 years.

LaLanne knew what was important to him and so he scheduled it into his life. He started every day with strength training. Then he did his swimming and walking. Then he has his breakfast. Same order. Same time. Every time.

If you look at LaLanne's daily habits, everything had a time and place when it was going to happen. Can you say the same about your goals?

So often we tell ourselves things like "I'm going to eat healthier," or "I'm going to work out more," or "I'm going to start writing more" -- but we never say when and where these things are actually going to happen.

Carve out some time. Pick a date. Choose a place. Give your actions a time and a space to live.

LaLanne didn't rely on his willpower or motivation. He just stuck to his daily schedule. That's how all professionals approach their work.

Lessons from LaLanne: Keeping Life in Perspective

In his later years, Jack LaLanne was fond of saying, "I can't afford to die. It would ruin my image."

Eventually, he passed away at 96 years old. And in all of those years, I think one of his greatest accomplishments was holding onto his happiness as much as his health. Even with all of his fitness achievements, LaLanne didn't ruin the rest of his life in pursuit of a particular goal.

The balance between achievement and happiness is something that I think about often -- not just in my own life, but also in what I write on this site. I'm still working on it, but I believe that you don't have to be dissatisfied to be driven. There's no reason you can't love the life you have and want to make it better at the same time.

But it's not easy. Happiness and gratefulness require constant tending, much like diet and exercise.

Check out this three-minute clip from The Jack LaLanne Show where Jack LaLanne explains the importance of happiness and health, and the connection between the two.

Do you see how old that clip is? And do you notice how applicable the advice is even today?

Your happiness and your health form the basic foundation of your life. There's nothing new or complex about this -- despite what the newest commercials for health products, new drugs, and fitness programs want you to believe.

This balance between happiness and achievement is something that I'm working on getting better at, myself. WhatJack LaLanne showed us -- not just in his words, but also through how he lived -- is that you can do incredible things and have a wonderful time while doing it.

Basic Nutrition

Dear BBQ,

Here is the quick but NOT exhaustive list of basic nutrition that you asked for last week:

1. Eat naturally.

It doesn't matter as much what you eat as where it came from and whether or not the ingredients list is smaller than your thumb and does NOT contain the words: "enriched" "bleached" "white" or "corn syrup". 

2. Drink water and lots of it.

Get your calcium from plain greek yogurt instead of milk. Most of the sugar is drained out of the yogurt. Watch out foe flavored yogurt though. 

Its called a beer belly for a reason and its more than the calories in beer. Stay away from alcoholic beverages for the sake of your abs! 

Pop (or soda for you crazy confused people) is basically the devil himself. 

3. Eat a lot but not all at once.

Total consumption is not as important as timing. Eat frequently (every 2-3 hours) and eat till full each time, but no need to go hog-wild. 

Make sure to get around 20 grams of protein every few hours no matter what your goals are. 20 grams is about as much as the body and break down at one time (unless its fast digesting like whey). 

4. Don't avoid fats. 

Eat good ones though such as olive oil and cocoanut oil. Eggs also have good fats. 

5. Take a multivitamin.

No one gets all the nutrients they need. 

Ryan

Proper Form

Dear BBQ,

I know what you mean, we all get bugged by having to see those teenaged wanna-be's workout every day in the gym using awful form and half-hazard sets cycles. 

Proper form is absolutely essential. Period. 

I will go over some common mistakes people make:

1. Bad bicep curls.

Obviously the most common. People will swing their hips to get momentum to pull the weight up. Other times they don't straighten their arms all the way, and often they make a horrible combination of the two. The goal of curls is not to lift the most about of weight, that is for bench press and deadlift, the goal is to get a ripped set of guns. To correct this follow these steps:

A. Extend to joint lock. 

B. Go slowly and isolate each arm.

C. If necessary use a pulpit to do preacher curls. 

Now remember, it is perfectly ok to pull a cheat rep or two at the end of a brutal set to get some extra pump, just do most yours reps right. 

2. Not squatting all the way.

Ok so everyone thinks that they squat deep enough, but if your knees are parallel that only counts as half a squat. To squat full you should be practically sitting on the floor. These types of deep squats are called ATG squats. Don't ask what it means... 

I tried out ultra deep squats for the first time today and it was actually really cool. Just make sure to stop if your knees start to come apart. 

Remember to keep your back straight too. 

3. Bent back Deadlifts.

Keep your back ramrod straight or you will regret it when you turn 32... 

Workout near a mirror to check your form.

4. Partial Rep Bench Press.

Touch your solar-plexus (not sure if thats how its spelled) with the bar each rep and go slowly so you feel your muscles squeeze. Remember, you get stronger when your muscles work, not when you move a heavy weight. Knock down the weight and do it right. 

If you notice all but the deadlift, done wrong, allow you to move more weight. This causes problems because young weightlifters like to brag. Trust me, you gain muscle much faster when you do the exercises with proper form, and you also don't break your body to pieces. 

Ryan

Balance Your Physique

Dear BBQ,

You mentioned in your last letter how many people you see with chicken legs and massive upper bodies. 

You are correct, that is not how bodybuilders should look. 60-70% of your muscle mass is in your legs and no one should be called a bodybuilder if they only work on their "guns". 

No one has ever missed a chest and triceps workout, but every day thousands of traps, calves, forearm, and even back and leg workouts are pushed under the rug. 

Having a balanced physique not only makes you look much more "ripped" than someone who is unnaturally upper-body focused, but it makes your whole life easier because all your muscles are strong. 

 Go ahead and workout your arms and chest, but don't forget to do your squats, shrugs, forearm curls, deadlifts, pull-ups, and rows. 

You will notice on that list at least 3 of the 5 exercises that I have mentioned that everyone should do, but the deadlift rack is almost never occupied, squatting cages are usually taken by teenagers doing curls with ten lbs on each end of the bar, and the poor pull-up bar us often neglected. 

If you think about it it makes sense. People train the muscles that they can see. Arms and chest are obvious, but the back is harder to notice. 

Another majorly neglected muscle is the rear deltoid. People train the front deltoid excessively with presses, but the face-pull is rarely used. Training like this makes you look like a neanderthal-like C. 

Take time to make sure you are working your whole body equally and look like a beast! 

Ryan

Motivation

It happens every year... People set New Years resolutions only to break them eight days later. Often people try to commit to going to the gym, but why are so few successful in consistency? 

Good question BBQ:

It starts with the wrong definition of "going to the gym". People assume that unless you are lying on the ground in a moaning pile of sweat and blood then your trip was not successful. 

I'm here to say that unless you are training for a long distance racing event or want to be in the Superbowl its entirely unnecessary to kill yourself. 

That being said, it is important to try hard, just don't kill yourself, you won't be able to keep coming back if its THAT painful. 

The second problem is what exercises people always think of as "gym exercises". You know them: jogging, biking, elliptical-ing, etc. Let me tell you... If thats what I could expect to be doing for a few hours each time I went to the gym I would stop right now. So what do I do? 

You know I'm a firm believer in everyone lifting weights, and this just drives my point home more. Lifting weights is fun in a way that dull endless cardio is not. Cardio is monotonous and boring, weight training is explosive, quick, constantly changing, and really fun. What is the big difference? Well for one when you lift weights you can see obvious and satisfying improving when you pick up that heavier barbell, or get those extra few reps. When running all you have is a time and a distance. Perfectly good if you want to compete or if you just want to run able to run forever and ever, or if you enjoy that sort of thing, but its not very motivating to end up feeling dead.

As I mentioned before you do need both cardio and weights, but do HIIT cardio or something explosive and changing that also happens to burn a ton of calories. Have you ever noticed how good sprinters look? They train weights and sprints (the cardio equivalent of weight training). 

So to sum this all up BBQ, lift weights, lift hard, do new exercises every month, keep it exciting and fun, and you will both get into great shape and stay motivated much longer. 

Ryan

Running?

Dear BBQ,

You recently sent me a question:

"Is running good for you?"

My first reaction is yes, of course! I mean its so painful its gotta do something good!

But is that right?

The act of long distance or endurance running actually does have some benefits such as calorie burn and bragging rights (not to mention incredible endurance and ability to do something really boring for hours on end), but do the negative side effects make it worth while to skip the marathons?

The first problem with running is obviously the damage it does to your joints, and your knees especially. People who run long distances consistently are much more likely to have knee problems, ankle problems, foot problems, or even back problems if not running with correct form.

The second bone I have to pick with LDR actually applies to all forms of slow cardio such as biking, elliptical, jogging, running, etc. Loosing weight with low intensity, long duration cardio is actually neither very effective (average calorie burn of 100 per mile when running) or very good for you. It results often in being "skinny-fat" or losing lots of weight, but not getting really lean or toned and having "loose" skin, especially if you have lost a significant amount of weight.

This is a result of the body needing lots of calories and burning both fat and muscle in its search for fuel. True you lose weight, but its not just fat that you are losing, and I'm pretty sure we all want more muscle as well as less fat, if only so we can move easier.

"So running isn't the best option, but what can I do instead?"

Good question blog-beast-of-questions... (or BBQ for short)

First of all I should say that everyone in the united states should start lifting weights. Now before you start to rip my head off, hear me out...

Lifting weights is not only a great way to burn calories, but it also provides stress to the muscles making the body not want to catabolise  them for fuel. In addition it can also build some muscle making your life easier in every respect and making you look much better overall. The secret that lifting weights has is the long term benefits. When you run on a treadmill you get a pretty decent calorie burn while you are on it, but when you get off it stops. You get a slightly higher metabolism rate for perhaps 15 minutes, however when you lift weights your metabolism is boosted for up to 48 hours! This means that not only do you have to spend less time working out, but you actually burn more calories than strait cardio.

Now I know what you are saying... (If you are a woman)
"Lifting weights will make me bulky and I don't want all that extra muscle!"

Look... If lifting weights made you gain a ton of muscle magically then every single guy on the planet would be a ripped machine! In reality its extremely hard for a man to build muscle, much less a woman. It takes extreme dedication and an enormous amount of calories to gain a large amount of muscle.

Notice how must gym rats are really not very cut or large? It takes more than weightlifting to become big.

The second thing that all people should at least dabble in is HIIT or High Intensity Interval Training. In normal interval training you do a short section of intense exercise followed by several minutes of low intensity cardio. In HIIT you flip it on its head by doing several minutes of intense exercise followed by thirty seconds of total rest.

The calorie burn generated is staggering. Your heart rate skyrockets and stays high for a LONG time (up to 24 hours) after the workout.

"Well thats all well and good, but what about you? What do you do?"

Well I'm actually trying out something new right now, its called cardio acceleration. Its a program designed by Jim Stoppani, who holds a PhD in Sports Psychology or something like that and designs programs like this one. Normally I don't trust anyone who has a PhD in anything relating to exercise, but this guy actually tests his products out on himself, and the results are obvious.

Basically cardio acceleration is a weightlifting program designed to burn a heck of a lot of calories in a very short time while still hitting the weights HARD. What you do is start with a set of some weight exercise, such as the bench press, and then do a minute of cardio. Then you do another set of weights, and another round of cardio, and repeat that for however many sets you are planning on doing that day. Usually its about 24. This method keeps the heart rate high and provides a lot of cardio in addition to a lot of weight lifting in a very short time.

For more information or a workout calendar of his plan visit this link: Click me!

To recap I believe that low intensity cardio is not very useful, but if you enjoy it it still provides good exercise and at the very least it keeps you moving which is 100,000% better than nothing.
Start lifting some weights! Even if its not very much, but don't do it randomly. Look up on Bodybuilding.com some good exercises, follow a good plan (pick a good rep range) and get some crazy results!


Get results, or get out,

Ryan

Bodybuilding.com

Found this great article on Bodybuilding.com today... This dude knows where its at...

by Mark Bell Apr 18, 2013
QI've been doing strength work and I fear my CNS is fried. How would I know, and if it is, what should I do
about it?
Fry your central nervous system (CNS) in coconut oil, you little ******, and go back to collecting stamps! Training your body beyond its limits is not a disease, it's good for you. What do you think happens to your body when it gets acclimated to intense workouts? Growth!

The ability to push harder, further, and to simply be better than you were the day before is crucial for continued progress. Do not worry about your "CNS." The very reason for training is to get jacked, strong, or conditioned in a way that makes you feel accomplished. Strength is never a weakness. There's nothing wrong with intensity.

I get [ticked] off when I hear dudes talking about overworking themselves. My suspicions heighten when I hear these same guys talk about what chick they tried to get with or how drunk or high they got Friday night. Where are the actual hard brothers at? The wussification of wife-beater wearing, cell-phone carrying Nancys at the gym leads me to believe that overtraining is somewhat of a myth made up by people who are straight-up scurred of hard work.

Training Over ///
Starting today, let's look into the "flashy thingy" (your standard neuralyzer) from Men in Black and forget that lame term "overtraining." Rather, let's call it "training over."



Now, you're no longer a victim—overtraining didn't just happen because of your dumb ***. Instead, you engaged in training over your body's normal capacity to create a new stimulus on purpose.

In my not so humble opinion, people use "CNS fatigue" and "overtraining" as excuses. Training over our normal work capacity is done purposefully to toughen up. There's no such thing as overtraining—only being underprepared for the task you're about to perform.

How to Avoid Being a Wimp ///
If you don't want to feel like a wet blanket, licked stamp, hump, wuss, wimp, pansy, or bag of ****, then you need to take care of your body. You're about to get your heavy on; that means you need to take into account this new stimulus of [beastliness]. Here's how to do it:


Only lift weights 4-5 times per week. This isn't rocket-science—be intelligent about your training.
Get in shape. Work toward being better conditioned. Push your rep work, push challenging super sets, or push and pull a weighted sled 2-3 times per week. Do some form of cardio work to increase that heart rate.
Stay limber. Do at least some type of mobility work 2-3 times per week. A little goes a long way. For some, just 30-40 minutes per week can be plenty.
Sleep 7-8 hours each night. If you have trouble getting in a full night's dose of sleep, you may need to hit up a power nap 2-3 times per week.
Eat. Follow some type of diet plan that allows you to perform well in the gym while minimizing or losing body fat. Use the simple principle of getting in one gram of protein per pound of body weight.
You may need to use a form of a whey protein to achieve this level. I personally like hydrolyzed forms of whey—they mix easily and seem to digest well. You should also eat about half that amount in slow-digesting carbs and healthy fats. Eat most carbs post workout. Consume healthy fats from fish, grass-fed beef, grass-fed milk, cheese, and butter. Supplement with fish oil and coconut oil. Post-workout nutrition is huge for your recovery, so choose a meal that has fast-acting carbs and whey protein.

Pick a training system that allows you to get acclimated. The Cube, 5-3-1, and Westside programs are all excellent choices because once you get the hang of them, they can help you gain strength quickly without getting hurt. Each of these systems supports hypertrophy/muscle-building training, and they're flexible protocols.


Make sure you stay hydrated for your training sessions. Drink water and electrolytes.
Break the rules. Arnold said it best: "What is the point of being on this Earth if you are going to be like everyone else?" Don't drink booze or stay out late—that **** ain't cool. Know what is cool? Working toward some big goals and then reaching them. How awesome would it be to have jacked 20-inch arms hanging off your body and a 500-pound raw bench? Now that is a lot cooler then getting drunk every Friday night!
Do not worry about the negative. Just put in the work and be positive. Don't allow others to put you down or tell you that you're doing too much. Don't allow coaches or so-called "experts" to put out your fire and limit your intensity. Believe in yourself and believe in your cause. You can always backtrack and make adjustments if you find yourself "training over."

The Core

What is the most widely recognized muscle besides the biceps? The six pac abs. Or the eight pac for the really ambitious and genetically fortunate. This is the most widely trained muscle, especially by women, but there are also really few people with great abs. Why? Because conventional ab work does not work. Here are some ways to train your abdominal muscles and actually make a difference.

Start with a warm up.

Next pick three or four ab exercises that you are feeling for that day.

Start by performing a set amount of reps (around 10-15) with each exercise with no rest in between exercises, but don't rush either. Walk from one to the next and you should be taking the right amount of time for your abs to recover.

Do two to three rotations of 10-15 reps and then finish off with a rotation where you max out each exercise.

Stretch it out and get ready to have some sore abs tomorrow.

Its important that you struggle to finish the 10-15 reps each set, if you don't then you need to pick a harder exercise.

Good ab exercises to choose from:

1. Hanging leg raise.

Start in a pull up position but instead of pulling your body up just raise your strait legs to connect your knees to your hands.

2. Not-hanging leg raise.

Same as above but use one of those fancy machines that support you by your elbows instead of hanging.

3. Weighted decline sit up.

Seems obvious.

4.  Weighted decline oblique twist.

Hold the weight at your chest and keep your body parallel to the ground as you twist the weight from side to side slowly and painfully.  (good pain)

5. Ab roll-out.

Sit on your knees and grab a roller. Keep your back flat, only bend at the waist and shoulders as you roll out till your face is almost on the ground. Roll back up.

6. Plank shoulder touch.

Start in plank position and slowly raise your hand to the opposite shoulder while keeping your body steady.

5 Exercises NOT to do.

What exercise is simultaneously the most useless, the worst for your back, and the most popular (especially among women)?

Problem exercise 1: The sit up. 

Simple science, you must put a lot of strain on a muscle for it to adapt and grow. Most people are told to do countless sits ups in hopes of spot reducing their stomach fat and getting those "ripped abs, but in reality they are not training for ripped abs, they are training for endurance muscles which does NOT make your muscles grow. If you are doing anything more than 15 reps your muscles will not grow much at all. 

Solution: Skip those sit ups, spot reducing is a myth and while it may be cool to be able to do 100 sit ups in a minute, it is useless in real life. Instead try doing low rep, high resistance exercises shooting for 10-15 reps such as suspended leg raises and weighted decline crunches (hold just your shoulders off the bench for a few seconds and slowly release). 

Problem exercise 2: Behind the head shoulder press. 

Bad for your shoulders. Don't do it!

Solution: Military style in front of the head press. Much better on the shoulders. 

Problem exercise 3: Dumbbell upright row.

This exercise can cause nerves in your shoulders to pinch. Shoulders are the most easily injured part of the body when weight lifting so you should stay away from anything that might hurt it. 

Solution: Do other shoulder movements instead. Good shoulder movements include most types of pressing (both dumbbell and barbell) and bent over flies for the back of the deltoid. 

Problem Exercise 4: Strait arm flies. 

These are hard on the rotator cuff. 

Solution: Skip them! Do other shoulder exercises, these are useless anyway. 

Problem exercise 5: Squats.

Yes, I said squats, the best workout you can do. The problem arises when you use improper form. Improper form on the squat can be bad on knees, back, shoulders, and ever stunt your growth. 

Solution: Do bodyweight squats until you have the from nailed, and never use more weight than you can handle. 

5 exercises everyone should do.

In order of importance:
(Squat and bench press are equally important.)
1.5 Squat.
This is the king of all the exercises. It works your entire lower half which makes up 60 precent of your muscle mass (on average) along with your abdominal muscles and core.  Definite must.
1.5 Bench Press.
This is the king of the upper body exercises. It works your chest and arms and is the best way to add size to your chest.
3. Dead Lift.
This is the most effective bulking exercise you can do. It works more muscles than any other movement, compound or iso. Its especially targets the hamstrings, gluteus, and lower back. It also will give you a grip strong enough to squeeze water out of rocks.
4. Pull Up/Chin Up.
This is the best calorie burning upper body exercise you can perform. Because you are using your body weight it makes all the little muscles in your back work, instead of just the main big ones. Rotate wide fly pull ups and narrower chin ups to work both your back and your biceps effectively.
5. Dip.
Another body weight exercise, but this time you are pushing instead of pulling. Combined with the pull up it is great practice for the muscle up, which is a killer. It works lower pectorals, triceps, and deltoids from a different angle than bench press.

These exercises effectively work your entire body. I love them all (except the squat, I hate the squat) and even if these are the only exercises you do, you will be strong. 

Nutrition

Nutrition, one of the big four: nutrition, effort, sleep, and consistency, is the most misunderstood aspect of health. There are so many crazy theories running around that its hard to know what to believe and what to reject. The debate on whether eggs are good for you or not has been going on for 1000 years with no real advancement by either side. I'm gonna try to simplify and clarify some of that now.

Fat doesn't make you fat. Neither do carbs. Food makes you fat. Its pretty simple, if you don't get enough calories your body will burn calories from your stored body fat, and if you get to many calories your body will store the extra in the form of fat.
The only reason that fat seems to make people fatter is the fact that it has 9 calories per gram compared to 4 for carbs and proteins. As long as you are reading the amount of calories in your food it doesn't really matter how much fat is inside. That being said, the quality of the food does matter immensely. Eat the right fats, whole grain carbs, and lots of proteins and you will be set.

Carbs are like the nuclear weapon of food. Used right they can be enormously powerful and beneficial; used wrong carbs can make you fat very quickly. So how do you use them right? Well first you have to eat the right ones. White bread and any other source of processed carbs are NOT good at all. They are worth nothing. Secondly you have to eat them at the right time. DON'T have a carb load right before working out, unless you want cramps and no progress... Right after exercise the body is primed and ready to absorb nutrients. That is the perfect time to load up on carbohydrates. Mixed with some fast absorbing protein like whey, and slow absorbing protein like casein your body will be nutritionally jacked.

To determine how you should eat you must establish a goal. My goal is to gain lean muscle mass. Everyone either wants to lose weight or gain weight, its practically impossible to make significant gains in muscle while simultaneously losing fat. If you want to get muscular then you should bulk up first. Eat a lot and workout a ton. You should see the scale going up, and this is good. Don't get fat though, throw some HIIT (high intensity interval training) workouts in to burn off the extra calories and just build muscle. After you are big you can worry about getting lean. Cut the calories and do a lot of cardio or HIIT. Its really that simple. For those who just want to lose weight your road is much easier. Calculate how many calories you need each day to maintain weight with a BMI calculator, then exercise every day with weights, cardio, and HIIT and eat 300-500 less calories than you need. If you are not eating a TON you will not get big and muscular when lifting weights so you girls do not need to worry about getting huge from lifting weights. When choosing a weight loss workout I recommend you do HIIT the most, weight lifting a fair amount, and hardly any cardio. Interval training continues to affect your body for a while after you finish the workout, around 8 hours I believe, and weight lifting's benefits last for 24+ hours, but cardio's benefits end shortly after you finish the workout. Cardio is also really boring and not really that great for you.

So what should your carb/fat/protein ratio be? To gain muscle it should be (in order) around 4/2/4 though eating that much protein is hard and it often ends up more like 6/2/2. Most people have no concept of what a lot of protein is, they will eat 40 grams a day and boast about how much protein they are eating... FYI peanut butter is a (good) fat source NOT protein. If you want to bulk up you will need around 1-1.3 gram of protein per pound of body weight. That also means you will need to eat around 4-6 meals a day to give your body time to digest all of that.  If you want to lose weight I recommend a high fat and high protein diet. Something like 2/4/4. Carbs are not useful if you don't want to gain weight, but if you don't eat any you will feel tired and cranky all the time. 

100%

Go hard or go home. Get fit or get out. Bring it.
All are popular catch phrases, but I don't think people really get what they mean. Lots of people like to do lots of things, sometimes they try hard, sometimes they don't, but with bodybuilding you have to bring 100% effort every time. There is no such thing as 110%, but it represents a good principle, you always can do more than you think and that little bit extra of pushing harder, going faster, running longer, and basically seeing how close you can come to death without actually dying is what will separate you from the average human. At basketball this year I decided that I was gonna try as hard as absolutely possible every single practice, and every game. Its not fun usually, but it gets noticed and its all worth it when the coach praises you for effort. But the real hard part about going hard is when you are at home or at the gym where no one is there to notice and say something. Personally deciding to bring everything you have each day is what will define success. Dedication to fitness is a big commitment, because you MUST eat, sleep, and live constantly aware of it. If you eat right, and workout right, but you don't get enough sleep at night you will have little progress. The same is true for any one of the three elements. I once heard bodybuilding defined as "Eat, sleep, crush, repeat." Which basically sums it up. Eating is key, sleeping is essential, working hard is absolutely necessary, and consistency is fundamental. As an example, I've been lifting weights for 5 1/2 years consistently, and I usually tried hard, but I didn't get enough sleep, and I didn't eat right until this last year. My progress in the last year has been unbelievable. I jumped the bench press from 145 lbs to 210, I stopped curling with 25 lb dumbbells finally, and do some of my curls with 50s now. Until you make working out your lifestyle you won't get anywhere fast. That is why the average adult male american can only bench 135 pounds, it is hard to succeed when you only give 50% of your effort to it. Don't get into fitness unless you are serious. The same principles apply to basically any other aspect of life, you can't be half Christian, and if you only do half of your job at work you will be fired. People won't like it if you make it your lifestyle though, they feel lazy or something, and while everyone reacts differently some do all in their power to discourage you and get you to quit, but life isn't about how hard you can hit, its about how hard you can get hit and keep going, how much you can take and keep moving forward. (Rocky Balboa) 

Intro

So, what is this?

As you know I love to work out. This is my way of talking about it without everyone having to get a notification that I updated my status on Facebook. I do a lot of reading about fitness in general, and I try to always check my sources, so whatever I say on here should be legitimate.

The thing about weight lifting is its pretty subjective, everyone has an opinion, and no one is absolutely right, but I've done my best to find what works and apply it in my life and hopefully accurately convey it when posting. The simple test that anyone can do when trying to find out the legitimacy of any claim is to try it out. If you get results, it may work. If you don't then its best to forget about it.


Enjoy =)