Talent Alone is Never Enough

Been a busy week here yet somehow I've managed more than one post in a week, mostly just motivation and partially because I feel a little bad leaving everyone hanging for the time that I missed. Either way I hope everyone enjoys this. I've had this whole idea for this post in my head to just take a shot at this subject and decided now is a pretty good time just because. My little idea machine also poked and prodded me to explain my reasoning for this simply to too many people. So in an effort to be efficient and not get so winded that my face turns reder than a hot dog from Maine. That's right motherland reference.

The above picture has a saying that was written on our mirror in the training room for the last 3 weeks or so, I tried to edit it so it's a bit more readable, for those that still can't read it "Hard work beats talent when talent won't work hard!" is the quote on there. Since it's been written I've really been thinking about it. I've know this to be the truth for a long time, but I never really took the time to think of all the examples there are in this world especially in sports. Following here will be the best examples I can think of in sports, no particular order, you can form your own opinion. Before you get too judgmental, live in the sports and fitness world for a day and you may have different thoughts.

Just so Pats fans can get their sports stiffy out of the way, Tom Brady. Picked 199 in his draft class, and it is well documented that he has dominated another very good quarterback for the better part of his career. For those that are really having a hard time with this one, either you don't watch the NFL or don't live in New England, the other I am referring to be would be Peyton Manning, 2 years before Brady he was picked number one overall. Now of course they both have talent, but Peyton probably had more and is more talented than Brady. Brady has done one thing to be better than him and win more Super Bowls than him, work his ass off. Being a Michigan fan I know how well documented it was that Brady was a freak for studying game film on his opponents and himself. Again not saying that Manning doesn't work hard, I'm pretty sure every NFL player works their tail off or they're cut in a blink, but Brady went the extra mile first, and in the earlier years I'd say Manning had the better supporting cast (Faulk, Harrison, Clark, you get the picture).

How about any walk-on that goes to any major university and plays a major sport (Football, Basketball and so on). Most prime example I can think of at the moment is the Swatt Man. JJ Watt started out playing TE at a smaller school and had a scholarship there, but he really wanted to go to his favorite school in Madison Wisconsin so he walked-on for the Badgers, watched more film than a movie critic and thanks to the big media frenzy over him lately, I'm sure you know the rest. Just to give another example, as I said I am a Michigan fan, their current strong safety Jordan Kovacs is a captain and has been a starter for longer than most would have gambled on. Jordan walked-on as well and has been in the top 2 in tackles since his sophomore year. He may not get drafted high, but I bet he will be drafted because these teams know it takes that type of work ethic.

That horse is beaten, next example would be the NBA Champions from 2004, Detroit Pistons. Beating the LA Lakers quite handily 4-1. Those that are sitting there and saying that Detroit was more talented than the squad that LA (Kobe, Shaq, Payton and the like) put together, I'm sorry but you are way too much of a Pistons fan and need to get an outside opinion, so here's mine. NOT ON YOUR LIFE. The Lakers probably shouldn't have lost that final, let alone at 4 games to 1. Moving a little more recently in the same arena, 2011 Champions Dallas Mavericks, yes Dirk is a beast, but do you really think that if Wade and Lebron worked as hard as Dirk did in that series they would have lost? Looking at the evidence from the following year when Miami beat another very talented team in Oklahoma City I'd say the answer is no way. Point to this guy right here.

Ok final example, one a little more close to home for me. I play for Boston Rugby as some of you may know. Last spring we had a player with the nickname of Chainsaw so we'll go with that or Saw for now. Saw sure as hell doesn't really look the part of a top flight rugger, but he played like it. In his first season he was selected to our first team squad for the Super League (don't know it? look it up), needless to say he beat out many players that have far more skills and talent than him. The reason being, and I've said this before, all Chainsaw does on the field is work work work, I swear to god he's got a 9 volt implanted up his whos-a-whats-it that just keeps him ticking. He scored so many times simply based on hustle it was ridiculous.

Finally to toot my own horn a bit, but also to prove that I know what hard work is and where it can get you. I personally have got about 1 fiber of athletic ability in my body. I'm still playing rugby while others that are probably better than me and more talented than me sit at home. I was picked and played on more select sides (aka rugby speak for all-star) in college than many players on my team and others that were more athletic and skilled than me. I worked my ass off in the weight room, on the field and in my really good years, in the kitchen (doesn't make sense to you? Give it a think). I'm proud of the work I've done and I'm not done yet. Still got good years left in my legs so I'm using them. 

These are obviously not all there is, but hopefully this made you think a bit more about how wasted talent can go. That's it for today, hopefully everyone enjoyed this post and can apply it somewhere in their life. Have a good day everyone, for those that haven't yet, go out there and get it.

Improvement, Always Make Room for It

I've decided that in the last week 3 of the biggest goats in professional sports in this country are Gary Bettman, Donald Fehr and Roger Gooddell. I'm tired of not seeing NHL Hockey on my TV and I'm tired of seeing the NFL become more and more like flag football. Seriously getting rid of kick-offs? Didn't think UMaine intramurals had gone professional. Sad sad day it will be if that happens.

Enough of the down side, let's get some upside here. Needless to say there is nothing that is perfect in this world as a whole. This includes those that are trainers/coaches doing their own workouts. That being said working out with another person, and in my case, another trainer, will help you improve your workouts and get better results.

When working out with another person the one thing that most people would agree that is advantageous about this, even if the person has got almost no clue as to what to do with the workout, is motivation and accountability. Having your bro, coach, cousin, bookie or mail man work out with you helps keep you in check. Obviously the more experienced the person is with exercise and the exercises you are performing the better, but you really don't need too much for this purpose. Being versed in proper spotting technique would help as well, but any spot will help and I'm not getting into spotting techniques, just use your brain, or try to at least.

You say you are a coach or trainer yourself and know exactly what you are doing and how to do it well? I bet if I watched one set of one exercise that you did I could find something to fix to make the exercise better and more effective. I got humbled on this subject this past Saturday working out with another trainer I work with along with one of his buddies who also happens to be a coach. I consider myself huge on technique, learning it and then applying it to my clients and myself, but trust me I still got at least 5 ways to correct my technique in my workout that day. Needless to say everyone can get better, go look at some of the big guys in the industry they will tell you the same thing. Working out with someone else brings better results than working out alone. That's not to say don't workout if you don't have one, but if you have the chance to workout with a friend DO IT!

Will both you and your bro be able to stick with the program for years and years? One can only hope, but even if you don't, the time you are able to stick with it I will bet you will see some better results than you have experienced in the past, or at least rival some of your best results. In what has become a results based society, this is an easy way to see some of your results. Just find someone and you'll probably both learn something, directly or indirectly about fitness.

That's all I got today folks, glad to be back. Go out there and get after it!

Being Thankful (Yeah Little Late)

Apologize to everyone for being on an extended hyatis from writing. Holidays and a few other things have me going in a million different directions and it's getting tough to find writing time sometimes. Recently I've been reminded of things that I should be thankful for that I have in my life and others less fortunate don't. Yeah I know it's a little late and yes it's a little sappy but Holidays do that to me sometimes and better late than never.

-My family and friends, more specifically Mom, Dad, my Brother Steve and his kids, the idiots that I call my friends and Catherine

-Having a job that I look forward to going to every day

- William Web Ellis (If there's a question mark over your head, look it up)

-Dead Lifts, Cleans and Olympic Bars that spin like ya dream

-Living in a place where I can post this blog and not face much more punishment than a bit of ridicule from those that know me

Stay tuned in next week for some more good stuff. For now have a good one and get after it today!

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.

"Warming-Up" Isn't Just About Getting Warm

I've gotten this subject posed to me at least a few times, more recently by a person that loves to prod and poke my brain more and more, but I indulge her because I can't help myself. Someone wants to talk fitness I will happily have a conversation about it for longer than some people would really care to. Sorry got off topic here, anywho the subject is warm-ups or pre-workouts. Many (internet) trainers have different things that they would like you to do for this and I will dedicate this post to the "warm-ups" that are definitely wrong, a little on why and what I personally believe is a good legit warm-up before entering Beast Mode.

Method 1: (Light) Cardio-Absolute epic fail here in my opinion, if you plan on putting in an intense workout, 5, 10 even 15 to 20 minutes on a bike, treadmill or whatever will not quite do the job. The only thing here I might consider not so bad would be a rower. Tell you why I believe this pre-workout activity is not sufficient enough. Yes you warm up your muscles and get a bit of a sweat going, if you don't you're not doing enough or you are going too easy. The problem is you don't move your joints and muscles through a full range of motion. Yes even that freakin elliptical isn't enough movement, I don't care what YOUR crappy trainer tells you, it's not enough movement through your joints. Especially if you aren't being a ninny and doing squats or dead lifts that day. Think about it, would you use a machine that hadn't been put through all the motions and just had them start the engine and say we're good, no need to get the other parts moving. Ok kind of a crappy analogy but you get the idea hopefully.

Method 2: Stretching-Just stretching is for gym teachers and yoga instructors, not knocking either profession but that's pretty much what they do for warm-up (or their whole routine), if you wanna be a beast, which I see nothing wrong with, stretching only isn't going to do the job. Honestly here, for me, static stretching should be used in 2 places, after a work out or before bed. Unless of course you are doing yoga, in which case, have fun with that ladies. My reasoning here is you are not actively going through the motions, you are just simply holding them. Again we are looking at ACTIVELY moving through the full range of the motions you will probably go through during your workout. I'm not going to shoot for another crappy analogy, just trust me if you can't quite put it together yet. A good warm-up will stretch your muscles without it feeling like you just pulled an elastic out of the freezer and tried to stretch it, turning into a fail-bag.

Method 3: Foam Rolling-Just so no one walks through here and sees me doing all of these and calls me a hypocrit, all of these things done together wouldn't be a terrible pre-workout routine. Just done individually they would turn you into a huuuuge mess the second you picked up something heavier than a purse. Back to my point, foam rolling is great, I absolutely recommend it to anyone that has tightness and mobility issues. Take it as the affordable massage that you need, but still not that expensive deep tissue massage that we all want. Soft tissue work is huge in this world if you haven't picked up on it yet and have been oblivious to the fitness realm which happens. Just foam rolling does not give you nearly enough muscle activation for a pre-workout routine. Think about how little your muscles move when being compressed by a foam roller, the space between the roller and your bone or other harder body tissue. Final answer Regis is NOT MUCH. Yes you've got all that dense tissue broken up, assuming you did it correctly, now you need to get it actively stretched so you can turn into Superman (or Superwoman) in your lift.

What I Do: First off my pre-workout routine for myself and my clients is by no means perfect or the word of god, so let's get that straight. I start by rolling out the legs, upper back, lats, shoulders and anything else that happens to be particularly moody that day. Don't go back and forth as fast as you can, nearly useless, go fairly slow and you'll only have to go over it a few times most likely. Once done that work on to mobility work, top culprits for this are usually, hips, shoulders and thoracic spine. Knock those out and go through a dynamic warm-up, I like to keep the ones for me and my clients to about 6 or 8 movements, pretty much cover all the bases with those; Lunge Tuck (Spiderman to some), Warrior Lunge, Hip Flexor Lunge, Foot to Hip, Heel to Butt, Single Leg RDL Reach, Over the Gate Step and Groin Pivot. I will eventually get into posting videos of some of these when I find good down time for me and a helper. I have posted these movements in a little montage below. Pre-workout with all of this should take you about 15 minutes, maybe 20 when you first start out, but as you get use to it more and more it should shorten the time. Anything longer than that you can probably eliminate some of the stuff by prioritizing what needs to be done and what you want to do. These routines should also leave you a little bit sweaty, usually my gray shirts have got a nice line around the neck starting with sweat. Remember not all routines are the same and even this general format is not for everyone but it is just exactly that, a general guideline, if you want one tailored to you, ask your friendly neighborhood health professional.

I will preface the video with the fact that remember I am not the most graceful gazelle nor am I perfect. I am far from it, but working towards that perfection is always better than sitting on your tail and doing nothing. I also apologize for it not being the most advantageous angle, couldn't find a helper, but I had all kinds of time surprisingly so had to take advantage of it.

I hope this post has helped you in your quest to become a beast. In the event you have a comment, question or concern feel free to voice it. Take care out there and get after it.