This is for anyone who’s decided to turn their live around in 2017 by improving health and fitness. This scenario will play through in gyms around the world for the next 4-6 weeks.
I want to help you to be clear on your goals and to understand what is possible and what’s not. (more…)
The fitness world is full of elitists who claim that their training system, program or philosophy is the best there is. And although I wouldn’t call myself “an elitist”, I am no exception. I’ve made the same assumptions in the past.
So how should you train? Honestly? However you damn well please. If it’s the Ultimate Arm Shredder 2500 and it keeps you coming back to the gym, have at it. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
Sure, some programs are better than others for getting yoked and others are better for building a huge number on the bench. But if your goal is not specifically lined up to get better at a certain sport (even then, the strength program itself is quite general), bodybuilding or strength sport such as powerlifting or Olympic lifting, things change.
“I personally can think about a million other things I’d rather do, including seeing the dentist.”
You don’t need to deadlift a kubelwagen, you don’t need to bench a medium sized farm animal and you don’t need to squat the sins of your forefathers. Unless that is what you want to do! And if you do, don’t let anyone tell you that you’re wrong.
Same goes with long distance running for fun. I personally can think about a million other things I’d rather do, including seeing the dentist. But don’t let me tell you that what you’re doing is wrong. Because I would’ve told you so in the past. Yes, it’s wrong if you don’t enjoy it but otherwise, whatevs.
But what if heavy sin squatting or running like Forest is not your jam and you just want to train to get better at the sport of life? Well, you can jump from program to program every 12 to 16 weeks. You can focus on goals that are irrelevant to the previous. It doesn’t matter. You can follow what excites you and keeps training interesting for you.
As an example, I’ve been known to bash training that focuses a lot on the aesthetics only. But here’s the thing. As I wrote recently, I was lacking the training motivation after hitting the 36kg Get Up (heaviest ‘bell in the gym, mind you. #highfive).
Nothing inspired me to train, I had no goal. Yes, I still showed up and got things done but I had no focus. I didn’t enjoy my sessions and I was never looking forward to the training time. Quite unlike me.
So what can I man do? I signed up for Jason Feruggia’s Renegade Strength Club do to something different and to give the reigns of my program design to someone else. And his philosophy of training is more of a “modern meathead” type. Basically, train to get yoked while feeling good.
And since starting it I’ve been looking forward to every single session because it’s “new” and different and his programs make me do stuff that I wouldn’t normally do. Like arms. I am doing bicep curls and actually loving it because it’s different. I haven’t done a curl in years.
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Instead of doing the endless cycles of high intensity fat loss and what not programs pick something to work on for the next 12 to 16 weeks.
“As long as you stay healthy, have a specific goal to work towards and balance things out over the year, you can focus on whatever you want.”
Improve your handstand or muscle up skills and ignore the CrossFit haters. Build to heavy get up and ignore the kettlebell haters. Do bicep curls as if you’d be the next cover model for Men’s Health and ignore the functional training purists.
The thing is, as long as you stay healthy, have a specific goal to work towards and balance things out over the year, you can focus on whatever you want. Even do those exercises on Instagram if it tickles your fancy.
As long as you stay safe and don’t try stupid ideas that are doomed to cause issues down the track (muscle ups while trying to shoot a shotgun while covered in coconut oil).
If you are training for the sport of life, it’s all fair game. No matter what the purists say.
“And that’s all I’ve got to say about that thing.” – Forrest Gump
Most of my clients are Chads and Selmas who want to move, feel and look better. Folks who have jobs and run businesses that keeps them busy and limits how much time they have for exercise and movement each week. To say that most of them are training for the sport of life wouldn’t be too far out of line. (more…)
Oh, routines. Tell me more about how boring your life is. But wait! It doesn’t have to be so. When you complain that you don’t have time to exercise or eat healthy it just tells me that you suck at time management. And (a good) routine is the king of time management. (more…)
There’s times when the workload either at home or in the office hits a tipping point and something’s gotta give. In the perfect world you could always priorities training over everything else but this is not a perfect world It’s a world filled with distractions, some which are urgent and justify tapering your training to an absolute minimum. (more…)
Too often we focus on too many tasks when on the road to improve our health and fitness. We track the macro-nutrients ratios and nutrient timing, the tempo of each lift, the rest periods between the lifts and whether we should eat an omelette before or after the sun sets in the east. We like to focus on the cool stuff because it’s exciting. Sure, all these can play a part in a successful fitness program but none of them make any noticeable difference until you’ve taken care of the big rocks of your plan. (more…)
Here we go. I am about to spill the beans and pull the curtain covering the top-secret training principles and mind-bending tricks on how I stay fit. Will it blow your mind? You’ll be the judge. Because, and here’s the kicker: what I do is nothing revolutionary. I do basic stuff but I do them with consistency. And, for me, that seems to work wonders. We can tweak our diets and major in minors. But when we have the basics in place, we’ll do 99% better than the majority of people.
Here’s the best part: everything I do is within the reach of everyone else too. Yes, I do spend most of my days in a gym because of my work. But it doesn’t mean I can train myself all the time. I have client contact hours as well as running the admin side of my sole-trading business. (more…)
There’s some habits that are crucial for your quest to getting lean (and staying there) while maintaining sanity and balance in life. I can guarantee that if you work towards owning these habits (one at a time, course), you are well on your way to become a healthier version of yourself. (more…)
If you are training for overall aka general fitness, meaning you want to get stronger, drop a bit of fat, stay lean and release stress, there is no strict rules on how to structure your training routine. If you have no desire to compete in powerlifting why work up to a massive deadlift, squat or bench press. If you are not looking to take part in any body composition competition, you don’t have to go on mad diets.
Not every life situation is ideally suited for an all-out attack on your health and fitness goals. There are times when improving your training and eating habits has to take a back seat. Then there are times when you can focus almost exclusively on training, habit changes and generally winning with health goals. Adjusting habits to whatever else is happening is an important skill to have. Here’s how to do it all.