Archived
Journal Entries
November 2008
It's Time to Take Stock
It seems you need to take a different path
than the one everyone else takes now-a-days to be successful in anything;
making money, raising children, having a relationship with a significant
other, getting ahead in your career (academics, sports), and of course to
get stronger and bigger. I say this because the success rate in the
categories I've listed above isn't good.
(go)
August 2008
Stay Focused
I need to keep pushing this
hard – real hard, because more and more ‘secret’, ‘cutting edge’ etc,
training crap keeps pouring out from all kinds of media sources,
especially the Internet. And all this stuff does is get trainees
distracted from what really produces great results - the powerful basics.
I guess most trainees still want to be entertained while training. If you
want to be entertained then go to a movie instead of the gym. The gym is a
place of work – hard progressive work. It is a Dungeon, not a Theatre. And
the phonies pushing this new wave training junk are simply part of the act
going on in the Theatre.
(go)
July 2008 Entry
Real Rotator Cuff Work
Typical story:
Your
shoulder’s been hurting for a while every time you bench press or military
press. “No big deal” you think because it goes away before the next
workout. Well, lately it isn’t going away completely and it is starting to
hurt when you squat and even curl. So, you read somewhere ...
(go)
June 2008
Intention
in-ten-tion (ĭn-tĕn΄-shən)
n. 1. A plan of action; design. 2. An aim that guides action;
object 3. The import; meaning.
I want you to focus on the
second definition. When you are getting ready
to ‘grab iron’ what is your specific intention for the upcoming set? Is it to focus on great
technique? Is it to go to failure? Is it to feel the ‘target’ muscles
working? Is it to work so hard that you throw-up? What is it?
You
better take some time to figure this out because ...
(go)
May 2008
Are You Really Trying Hard?
You're focused on arching
your back, feeling the movement, creating tension in your working muscles,
keeping your eyes fixed straight ahead, keeping your joints aligned
properly, breathing properly, etc, - but are you trying as hard as you
can? I mean are you pushing or pulling that bar with as much effort as you
can muster? All that other stuff is very important, but it doesn't mean
diddly if you aren't ...
(go)
January 2008
Every
Year Counts
At this time next year what do you want the bottom line to say? What does
it say right now about 2007? Was it a productive training year? Are you
stronger? Bigger? Faster? Leaner? Do you have a resting heart rate below
60 beats per minute? It is my hope that your story isn’t like this one ...
(go)
August 2004
Why You May Not Be Gaining - A Real-life Scenario
I just recently dealt with a trainee of mine who has been having
problems for the past six months or so making progress at a rate that is pretty
routine for a trainee of mine who has his same goals.
...for the past six months he has examined everything; program design,
exercise frequency, rep selection, rep cycling, lifting technique, and his
mental approach. (He has gotten so desperate about his bench press that he
was considering studying the effects of the planets’ alignment and their
effect on this particular lift.) And you know what, adjustments to all of
the above didn’t help at all. Even though I had been mentioning (harping
on) the solution to his problem for some time it just ...(go) |
