Category: Training

  • Enough of Pseudo-Hardcore Training

     “Hardcore” workouts are not the measurement for our toughness. In the end, despite how angry and serious we look or how much teeth grinding we do in the gym, it’s just training. (more…)

  • The Missing Link to a Safer and More Effective Training

    Would you like to do more chin ups? Would you like to have better results in less time? Maybe you would like to drive a convertible with your wind swept hair and waving your hand like you just don’t care? Me too.

    Let’s start with chin up and work our way through to the convertible. (more…)

  • Three Days of Non-Gym Fitness

    If you’ve been reading my blog for a while you probably know that I am a big proponent of two aspects of fitness:

    1. Doing fitness-stuff outside of the gym
    2. Doing fitness-stuff inside the gym to be better at the fitness-stuff outside of the gym

    (more…)

  • Train Less, Stay Fresh, See Progress (and other rhymes from the gym floor)

    A major part of how you react to weight training comes down to the genetics that you were handed down by your parents. You could have two people following the exactly same training plan and getting different results. Even when all the variables of diet, rest, stress management, and whatnot, would be the same. The results vary even between siblings. (more…)

  • Exercises Batman Would Do: The Get Up

    The one cup in Batcave that Robin is banned from using

     

    [Update 2020 – I still stand behind most of the stuff I wrote here back in 2017. But, I might have to re-do the exercise demos. They look somewhat average today.]

    This is a new, semi-frequent segment that I am starting where I do a rundown of some of my favorite exercises and movements. The question I ask myself before qualifying a certain movement or exercise for these segments is: would Batman perform this exercise to improve his movement, strength, longevity and stamina? If the answer is a resounding “yes” from Bruce Wayne, it’s worth writing about. (more…)

  • How to Be as Flexible as JCVD (in the 80’s)

    Strength. Control. Flexibility. Grace. And trees. Trees are good too.

    Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg.
    Jean-Claude Van Damme.
    JCVD.

    A man who moves smoother than Morgan Freeman’s voice and drops into splits faster than you can say “moules-frites”. If god forbid, you ever get into a situation where you are required to talk dirt and handle splits and scissor kicks, you need JCVD on your side. 

    And the next best thing if Jean-Claude is not on your speed dial? Make your body move like his. (more…)

  • Exercise Mistakes That Limit Your Results (Easy-to-Fix)

    Synchronized steps on the glass cage of emotions

     

    There are few major, but easy to fix, training mistakes that strike a tuneless chord in my cerebral cortex. If you feel like your training and progress feels like driving a rusty, Moses-era-Swedish-Saab, held together by duct tape and chewing gum, the handbrake permanently on, running on prayers and borrowed time, try doing (or, stop doing) these. (more…)

  • Know When To Stop

    Stop in the name of love
    Stop in the name of love

    The world is plagued with the mindset of more. Work longer hours and sacrifice sleep so you can make more money to buy a bigger house. Buy more stuff to fill up the empty space. Owning more shit doesn’t mean that you are doing better in life. It just means that you own more shit.

    We have the same more is better mindset with exercise too. But more is not better, better is better. If exercising hurts, or if you are sick and run down, it’s your body telling you to either stop or to slow down. It’s a safety mechanism to protect the body. It’s not a weakness leaving the body, or no pain no gain. It’s the warning light is on, slow the fuck down because your wheels are coming off. (more…)

  • Commonalities in People Who Ace It with Training

    I am fortunate to have had long-term personal training students, both current and in the past. And over time I’ve come to see some commonalities among those who get great, sustainable results with their training. And that’s what this post is all about. (more…)

  • Two Techniques for Training When You Don’t Feel Like Showing Up

    Unfortunately neither of my two techniques involve fire. Yet.
    Unfortunately neither of my two techniques involve fire. Yet.

    I’ve read about this technique before regarding productivity but didn’t honestly think much of it. I’ve been revisiting a lot of topics lately to see if I would have a different outlook on them on the second, or the third, or the fourth time around. Somehow this carries to training too. (more…)