Yup that Time Again, RANT TIME

Yup today is the day where I lose it about something that happened when I was training a client or when I was trying to get a lift in myself. This one happens to be the ladder, on a day where I felt really good and decided you know the last time I heavy squatted was way too long ago, I actually couldn't remember the last time I did a back squat for less than 8 reps and not using a particular tempo. Way too long I'm sure most will agree.

My problem I ran into is that there is only a single power rack that I could possibly use here and if I'm doing sets of 3 or 4 I'd like to have that safety catch in a spot where I'm not going to get broken if I can't finish through that damn sticking point. The only power rack was in use by another member of that fraternal knuckleheaded group. Not sure who this guy was trying to impress by doing 95 and then doing a set of lunges and then a set of Bulgarian's. What I did like about his work out was ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Sorry, back to the point, ok yes I get it that he needs the rack because it might be heavy for him and that's great that he wanted to hammer his legs, better than doing 500 curls and 200 cable flys. The thing that drove me mad was he was taking his sweet time, I'm not talking the standard 2-3 minutes or so, we're talking at least 6 for probably 5 to 6 sets. When it's clear someone is waiting for a piece of equipment, trust me I was in the most polite ways possible, and there's no way of someone working in. Working between 95 to 300+ isn't really practical, it's time to start being considerate and maybe think of the other person hanging around the lone power rack.

Sorry I am being overly critical about someone actually doing a leg workout, but I would be far less upset and less likely to go on a rant if he didn't plant his ass on a bench between sets and get on his phone! Yes this little failure was hopping on the magic text machine talking about being a bro to whatever bro he happened to want to impress that day. To top it off he dicked around for about 10 minutes until he decided to strip his bar. Everyone that's read my pet peeves understands why I am fired up. That's all I got today folks. Go out and get after it and move mo-mos like this guy out of your way.

Legs and Yes They Are Important

Well I'd say this is the pay back for the all the nice weather we are experiencing here. Had to use my car starter for the first time this morning because leather seats after sitting in below freezing temps really has a way of rudely waking you up. I'm writing this today as a wake up to some of those of a certain breed of guy that I constantly want to kick squarely in the backside. Changing your workout up is very important, but in this example, we are talking big issues and missing the boat entirely or just simply being ignorant. What I'm getting at is get legs into your workout meatheads!

Personally I would rather see someone do legs and core until they fall down than the workouts some of these chicken legged, top heavy, WWF wannabes. Reason being, I want to be able to carry around my weight easily, run faster and be more athletic as opposed to being so muscle bound that I can't even turn to wipe. Mirror muscles look great and help attract the ladies yes, but when these guys are just working upper body I see primarily presses and curls, hello neck, back and shoulder problems.

As amusing as the photo is above a trained eye will notice that our friends shoulders are rotated forward and probably developing a forward head position. I know he's looking down, probably not observing how pencil thin his legs, but even still it's more forward than ideal. No one is perfect but this guy has got issues and there are many like him out there. Even looking in the background you can see we have another poor soul headed in the wrong direction with my favorite, CURLS, sarcasm should be noted.

What's the big deal with legs? First of all you have more testosterone in your legs than you do in your upper body, males and females. In short this will lead to building up muscle a ton faster with the legs than arms and chest. Secondly if you want a huge ego boost, think about how much you can lift with your legs as opposed to your arms, ie Bench to Squat. When your bench numbers are equal to your squat, or even close, consider backing off the pressing movements and focus on getting some leg strength, your body will thank you. Thirdly, fellas ladies love checking out a guys posterior, you think I'm kidding? Ask a girl if they check it on their guy's or guys they are interested in. For a fact I know my Brother's lady did and I know mine did too shortly after we met, no legs=extended back. Finally unless you are seriously into body building I would reconsider doing splits of just upper and lower body. Make your workouts days of total body training including LEGS and core, pushing and pulling. An ideal program for you is one that is designed for your needs so if ever you have questions ask a person who's a professional, I am willing to bet you know someone. I'm also quite sure that person would be more than willing to help if they truly like their job and will do so to the best of their ability, if they don't want to then they probably are just someone you don't want to deal with anyway so looks elsewhere.

That's it for today folks, go out and get after it on this gorgeous day in New England!

I Did It!...Now What?

You've reached that finish line you were striving for, proverbial or literal, now you are stuck at said finish line and have absolutely no idea what to do next. Kick back and relax, all those results you just saw from your training will stick around forever because that's all it takes is just a few months of hard work. Right and I'm going to break Usain Bolt's Olympic record and marry Alex Morgan. Hoping that you can cut through all the sarcasm I laid down, the answer here is an odds on NO, but I will drop some knowledge on you to hopefully give you a hand on taking that next step on maintaining the results you just worked your ass off for and to eventually see more results.

I can tell you first hand I know exactly what this feels like, even experienced recently this past spring, and will again in a couple weeks, with the end of another grueling season of rugby. Yes I still get after it on the pitch so I know what it's like in the trenches on both sides of the coin here. Most of us probably remember this feeling too from high school playing days, but you can also experience this mood if you've ran a marathon, done a race like the Spartan race or competed in a lifting competition. Getting to that end is great, you sit back and think; awesome bit of a monkey off the back, might have a little dissapointment mixed in their depending on how things went.

Building on that last thing about how things went is one thing that can sometimes determine what you do after this season end as I will call it. A season ending on a sour note, see Boston Red Sox, or if you had pretty much a lemon of a season, see Detroit Lions or Charlotte Bobcats, then hopefully you have got a big old bond fire lit under your ass to make yourself better. On the other end of the spectrum if it was a huge success and plenty to gloat about, see most recent San Francisco Giants, then the last thing on your mind is probably getting back in the saddle to work towards the next obstacle.

The former is easy to motivate here, you had a crap season or the like, you've got a bad taste in your mouth from that and you are ready to make sure it's not a repeat the next time around. The toughest ones to motivate, at least in my opinion, would be the ones that had a successful season or the like. Have a peak at the Bruins from this past year, god I miss the NHL by the by (and no I'm not Bruins fan, just using them and you can deal with it). Now then, look at the Bruins the last hockey season, won Lord Stanley and spent all off-season on cloud 9, rightfully so, with less than normal attention paid to their training with all the hoopla that goes with the post-season of winning THE cup. They had a pretty good season the following year, but the first round exit that many defending champions make was something they were not immune to. Do you honestly think they paid as much attention to their training as they did in the previous off-season? I really believe everyone is smart enough to say SHIT NO!

First solution I have that probably sounds a little simple minded, but do we really need to make things that complicated? After a successful season, remember that feeling and how much you feel like you are on top of the world, yeah you like that feeling, now think about every time you didn't have a successful year. Compare the two and decide how big the difference in your emotions are and whether or not you want to feel that down again. Yes we need downs to make the ups feel good, but you do not have to accept the downs, don't be a lamb. Another bit of food for thought, after a win or successful run, do you sit back and say "ok 1 was enough" or "2 was enough, I can relax now", hopefully not. The off chance that is the case it's time you find some help from friends and family to motivate you and get that flame akindling under your backside.

An easy step to also keep yourself from getting off track at the beginning of the off-season is to be sure you have a program ready to crush after. Taking a week off to reset your brain and let yourself recover from everything isn't such a big deal, but if you have a program ready to go, hopefully created by someone not yourself, big waste of fail there, then you will probably have it mulling in the back of your brain as you are recovering in that week off. On the same front hopefully that person that gave you the program is kicking you in the ass to get after it.

That's all for today ladies and germs, go crush something today.