Tuesday, October 23, 2012

K.I.S.S!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Location update: Friday 10/26 5:15pm and 6:15pm sessions will meet OUTSIDE of DRAKE STADIUM. Spread the word. Thanks!



K.I.S.S. -

Keep It Simple, Stupid! This is the most useful, yet under-utilized acronym ever taught to the military. Simple.... Simple... I can't think of a better way to do ANYTHING! Yet, here I sit, trying to figure out a way to explain the idea of "simple".. I'm drawing a blank... Maybe I'll try to do it by illustrating the opposite.

Here you go..

I really don't care how fast you can run or how resilient to fatigue you may be; IF you think that THIS is a good idea, you are a moron and should probably abstain from procreating. Simple.

Every week I am cornered with various questions regarding some unique, super secret, convoluted squirrel strength training program that only works for a special person, done during a special time, after drinking a special drink, with 48 other restrictions and caveats. I don't care enough to explain why this is pointless because usually, my time is worth more to me than the person asking the questions. If they don't have the time to do even 10 minutes of research, then neither do I.

Even better, someone who can't do a single pull-up or dip will come up to me asking what the easiest way to do a muscle-up is; or something of that nature.

Here you go... Simple.. 4 easy steps.Muscle-upexercise

Maybe a write-up will help if the pictures don't quite make sense.. http://www.fitstream.com/exercises/ring-muscle-up-a21

I don't bother asking "why" anymore. I already know "why". It's nifty, It's different. It's innovative. It's bada$$. It's hardcore. It's special.

For some reason that's where this industry is going. It's about who can bring some innovative new "move" or gadget to the table. Something that pack a secret training methodology that hasn't been explored yet (since all of the others have failed). This is how money is made here.

No training method has ever failed anyone. People fail, not methods.

The reality is that a person who CAN DO a muscle-up is either already pretty impressively skilled (talented) or has been training for a long time using basic and foundational skill and strength development techniques specific to the demands of the task that he or she intends to accomplish. As a result, they probably developed a physique that accommodates the task as a consequence rather than a goal.

There is nothing innovative about the expression of the training. But if you fall into the hype of many of the training gurus out there and start doing muscle-ups as an exercise routine.. Well, I just hope you have a good orthopedist on hand and some free time for rehab. I hope you all see the picture that I'm painting.

Enter "SIMPLE". Simple works. Simple is ellegant. Simple is universal. Simple is.... simple.

For the purposes of training and exercise in broad general domians, I've distilled everything to like 15 different exercises. The rest, life takes care of. We'll never do neck-suspended ring push ups.

We'll never do front-flip juggernauts




We'll never do GHD bench presses.

Why? Because it is NOT simple. If you want to go out on your own and tear it up with these, go right ahead. I'm still trying to figure out a point in hand-stands.

I'll stick to the basics: the more you squat, the better you are at life.

Just in case you missed the point:


"Look everyone, I'm an idiot lemming and I'll do anything anyone tells me to do as long as that person thinks they know something different."

Please enjoy your week while I punch myself in the brain...

http://physicalstrategies.blogspot.com/2012/10/minimalism.html

Monday, October 15, 2012

Brain is cooked

Location update: This FRIDAY, 10/19, 5:15pm and 6:15pm will meet at WILSON PLAZA. Spread the word. and if that's inconvenient, then just come to an earlier session.


I think the heat and the sun have cooked my brain over the summer. I'm out of topics to write about for a while. Frankly, I feel like I've just been rewording the same rhetoric for the last year or two.

- eat right
- build strength and speed
- enjoy muscles
- train smart
- rest
- work on mobility

That probably sums up all of the posts I've ever written.

So I'm just going to link stuff for a while until something new comes up..


If it ever cools down, I'll turn on the old crock pot and start making all sorts of meats that take days to cook. Here are a few articles that will help you justify eating large quantities of meat, IF you choose to do so.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20339363
http://www.journals.elsevierhealth.com/periodicals/yeclnm/article/PIIS1751499110000545/abstract  "Increasing the protein content of frequent meals attenuated both the glucose and insulin response."
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_129889.html
- I like to imagine that in a good million years, something will dig up our remains and will simply deduce that our generation (the last couple thousand years) was full of a bunch of idiots.

Add some sweet potato if you're good with starches http://producenews.com/index.php/news-dep-menu/test-featured/8957-research-on-orange-flesh-sweet-potatoes-continues-to-amaze

instead of ... http://www.greenmedinfo.com/page/dark-side-wheat-new-perspectives-celiac-disease-wheat-intolerance-sayer-ji

Skip the fructose add some fish oil.. http://www.bulletproofexec.com/how-fructose-makes-you-stupid-and-fish-makes-you-smart/
http://jp.physoc.org/content/early/2012/03/31/jphysiol.2012.230078.abstract
- eerily sounds like Alzheimer's, doesn't it?


I heard about this research back in 2008 and looks like the magical cooling glove is about to go commercial. It's still early, but data shows that the performance improvements are better than those of steroids. That's a tall order but who knows. It's interesting nonetheless and don't tell me you don't want one.. before it's banned that is.
http://gizmodo.com/5939295/stanford-is-building-a-body+cooling-glove-that-might-work-better-than-steroids-for-athletes
I need this to stay cool while on the track.


Want to open your shoulders? http://gymnasticbodies.com/tutorials/lat-flys/

Paying 120 bucks to jump around in your living room always seemed odd to me as well.
http://gawker.com/5934375/p90x-is-a-fascist-workout?tag=i-of-the-tiger


Mat is a funny guy. He's also incredibly smart and a scientist's nighmare.


"An Organic Chemist's Perspective on Paleo" by Mathieu Lalonde, PhD from Ancestry on Vimeo.

Enjoy!!

Stay cool this week.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Consitent persistance

 
If any of you have a rain dance or some ritual that you know of that that will make it cool, now is a good time to sing those prayers. I've been praying to every god of weather there is.. Including Storm and Thor.


No, I don't know how to combine images..
 
After the last couple posts about doing pull ups and dips, many of you have responded about how good it is to be reminded about what you NEED to do and what they NEED to work on.
 
Here's my advice:
 
WORK ON THE SKILLS YOU SUCK AT.
 
It's basically that simple. If your pull ups are non existent and you want to do them, avoiding that is not going to magically hatch into a pull up one fine morning. You have to hammer away at it for long periods of time. You have to turn your weaknesses into less of a weakness. They may never become strengths, especially if you look at it from Tom Rath's point of view, but at least you'll make progress if not mastery.
 
The key is consistency and persistence.
 
- Persistence is simple. It is the metaphysical force you apply to an effort. As long is it's there, you'll "go for it" repeatedly. Failure might frustrate and demoralize you here and there but hopefully it's not enough to kick the bucket. So the easiest advice is: keep trying. Push on. Try again. Eventually, something will come of the effort.
 
 
- Consistency is a bit trickier. This part takes character. It takes discipline. It involves relentlessly doing the things that you don't really want to do because you know you SHOULD. But here's the kicker. You have to repeat. Again and again and again. Just when you think you're over it, remind yourself that you've only just begun and then move on to the next repetition. Day in day out. Week in, week out. Month after year after decade. You'll get it. Stay consistent and "it" becomes you. "It" becomes your character. You are what you do consistently.
 
 
 
 
So find something that you are struggling with and get after it. Make it the reason for exercising today. It doesn't even have to be a big thing. It might just be a component of something else. Like spreading the ground in squatting or punching through during a snatch. I always tell people that MAYBE by the 1,000th clean, it will start to make sense and then it will all simultaneously fall apart again. Continue in this fashion. How long is up to you, but progress can take years or longer. So be patient and dedicated.
 
 
Dennis, this article is for you, buddy. But everyone will benefit from reading it.
 
Eat your yogurt! Unless you don't want "luxuriantly silky fur" or that "certain mouse swagger".
 
 
It's on the topic of the on-going gastro-intestinal bacterial biome discussion.
 
Enjoy!