Category Archives: Exercise

Recommended Reading (8/5/12)

Posted by Tim on

Competition is the force which drives improvement. In some ways its very obvious – competition in the automobile market pushes manufacturers to provide better products at lower prices. In other ways its not so obvious. If the Russians hadn’t competed with the Americans in the Olympics during the Cold War, they never would have invented steroids, which today are used by countless American athletes – hitting home runs and scoring touchdowns – keeping us entertained all year round. Yes, competition is the key.

Speaking of Russians and those ultra-competitive Olympics of the Cold War era, much of what they pioneered in weight training we are still using today. The most common training templates used today by America’s top powerlifters were written about decades ago by Soviet trainers. In more recent times, Vladimir M Zatsiorsky has written Science and Practice of Strength Training.

Zatsiorsky worked with the Soviets for 26 years, training literally hundreds of top-level athletes. Currently he teaches kinesiology at Penn State (let’s just avoid the Sandusky conversation, shall we?), but he also holds honorary degrees from universities in Poland and Russia. He’s authored over a dozen books, and his works have been published in English, Russian, Chinese, Italian, Spanish, and other languages.

In Strength Training, Zatsiorsky delivers a complex analysis of the actual science of training. The book is full of charts and graphs, showing the effects of various training intensities, timings, and muscle recruitment. No matter the goal, whether it be strength, size, endurance, or speed, Zatsiorsky and, more importantly, science have the answers. Instead of just giving the reader a mindless training schedule, he gives you the knowledge needed to create your own – the right way. Along with the science, Zatsiorsky gives specific recommendations for certain populations – women, the elderly, and young athletes – and he also includes some tips for injury prevention.

If every trainee, or just every ignorant personal “trainer”, read this book there would be a lot less confusion about how to train for any desired effect. Too often young people go searching the internet forums for an answer to their troubles and all too often they get a bunch of hogwash, and end up just wasting time, if not money as well. Instead of that – buy this book, read it, and apply it. It’ll change the way you look at strength training forever.

On another note, I haven’t had a ton of time to sit down and watch this year’s Olympics, but I did manage to catch some women’s weight lifting last week. A 17 year old girl from Kazakistan weighing 116 lbs lifted 270 lbs over her head like it was nothing. I died a little inside. Really? She’s younger than me, smaller than me, a girl, and she’s way stronger than me. How’d that happen?

More Tips For Gaining

Posted by Tim on

We live in the age of instant gratification. We want it all and we want it now. Forget about saving up for a new TV or computer – just put it on the credit card and pay it off $50 a month for the next 2 years. Forget about learning how to cook, buying healthy tasteful ingredients – just go down the street to Burger King and stuff your face. I’m hungry NOW! And when it comes time to lose the weight you’ve gained by eating junk food and watching that expensive TV – lyposuction to the rescue!

The same mentality goes for the muscle gaining, weight lifting, meat-head community. Instead of studying the best way to train, learning about diet, and understanding rest and rehabilitation cycles, let’s just find the newest coolest supplement that the bodybuilding magazines are pushing this month. It has your favorite athlete endorsing it so it must be legit, right? Wrong! The supplements that have been proven to work have been around for decades, and unless you plan on switching to the “dark side” (steroids), there isn’t much else out there besides your basic whey protein and creatine.

There are other options available to help gain muscle, though. And you’re in luck. Since you’ve just spent all of your money on that new TV you couldn’t afford, you’ll be happy to know that these ways to increase muscle gains are free. That’s right! FREE! Here’s a couple tips that might not be on your radar, but could really help speed up gains.

1. Carb loading. There are plenty of new supplements out there that promise to give you the energy to get through your toughest workout. Most of the time these are just simple carbohydrates and/or caffeine, which gets you about halfway through a tough workout until you crash. Hard. And you don’t want to crash when you’re trying to go for a new PR. Instead you’ll need to load up your muscles with glycogen, giving your muscles enough energy to last a long workout. An hour or so before you plan on working out, eat some pasta, potatoes, or rice.

2. Spike your insulin. Insulin is what moves nutrients into your muscles. The way to spike your insulin is to eat simple sugars – fruit juice, for example. Your body’s blood sugar will go up, and to even out the ratio your pancreas will spit out a bunch of insulin. Along with the simple sugars you consume, drink your whey protein shake and follow it with a good meal about an hour later. Just consuming protein won’t do your body any good if it can’t use it. Spike your insulin after your workouts to get the most of your post-workout shake.

3. Rest. A lot. Too many young trainees think that they’re invincible. They don’t need to rest or sleep, and they can workout multiple times a day. This will work for a while, but your body’s central nervous system will begin to shut down after a few weeks of this. Your muscle gains will stall, and your strength gains will disappear. That’s right – you’ll start getting weaker. Time your workouts. A heavy deadlift workout can easily take a week to fully recover from, and you don’t want to deadlift again until after that point. Its for this reason that I only deadlift once a week, sometimes only once every 10 days or so.

4. Red meat. As much as we all love our chicken and fish, its important to eat plenty of red meat too. Beef has been show to increase testosterone levels in men, and its also a natural source of creatine. Because it takes your body so long to digest, you can actually go a while after eating it without worrying. Your body won’t shrink – it’ll have plenty of cow to live off of. A huge meal of steak, salad, potatoes, and cheesecake can be enough to boost your gains. Sometimes it just takes a huge meal to get off that plateau.

Rules of Grip Strength

Posted by Tim on

Anyone who has ever spent a lot of time in the gym and under the bar knows that after a certain point strength is almost useless in day to day life. Sure, being strong makes opening pickle jars easier, an will help you win and arm wrestling match or two, but by and large, being strong isn’t that necessary in today’s world. Oh, you can run a marathon? That’s great. I can drive a car and get where I’m going faster and without breaking a sweat. You see my point?

(That hasn’t stopped people from continuing to pursue their athletic dreams though. I’m not a competitive lifter, and I don’t even discuss my personal records with anyone, but I still keep track of my heaviest lifts and I train so that every couple months I can put up a bigger number. It may not be useful, but I do it for myself.)

One part of lifting that is often overlooked is grip strength. It also happens to be something that is actually useful in everyday life. Every once in a while someone at work will need something ripped apart and they call on me. It seems so easy to me, but no one else could do it. I’m not bragging – I’m just pointing out that my grip is stronger than most people’s. The thing is – I never focused on training my hands, on strengthening my grip. How did it get strong then?

Rule #1 – I am adamantly against wearing gloves, and using lifting straps or lifting hooks when working out. The reason is simple. These tools are aids. They aid you by allowing you to lift the weight more without the bar slipping out of your hands. The natural way to do this is to increase your grip strength, which will come naturally if you don’t use these aids. Want to increase grip strength? Throw away your gloves!

Anyone who says that lack of gloves or lifting straps is inhibiting their rows or deadlifts needs to be patient. Grip strength increases rapidly, and soon enough your grip strength will be able to handle the level of any weight you want to lift. Its foolish to let a weak grip hold you back. Just suck it up, grab the bar like a man, and lift it. Like Mark Rippetoe says – “If you insist on wearing gloves, make sure they match your purse.”

Rule #2 – Free weights are almost always better than machines. Machines limit your range of motion and steady the lift – aiding it. Not only does this mean that your grip doesn’t need to be as strong, but it means that many of the stabilizing muscles are not being used. A bench press (assuming proper form) of 150 lbs will deliver better muscular stimulation than a press machine of the same weight.

Rule #3 – Diversify. Its sad to see so many guys standing in front of mirrors at the gym constantly doing bicep curls. (One of the reasons I left commercial gyms.) As much as I argue that bicep curls are by and large a waste of time for any sport other than bodybuilding, if you insist on doing them try to switch things up. The standard curl is all fine and dandy, but try some reverse curls. Not only will this target the long head of the biceps, giving your arms a better overall shape, but it will really engage your forearms.

Not everything we do in the gym will transfer to real life, and after a certain point, very little of it will. Grip strength is one thing that is always useful, whether its tying a really good knot, opening a jar of pickles, or winning at tug of war. Avoid using aids that inhibit growth and strength gains, go for free weights instead of machines, and add in some reverse curls. Do this and you can throw out your lifting straps and never look back.

The Westside Method

Posted by Tim on

Sometimes without trying we can end up all agreeing on some things. During this heated political climate its nice to take a break from the various campaign news and get back to what I know, or at least what I thought I knew – weight lifting. I heard before that really we all end up coming to the same conclusions about weight training after a certain amount of time. For me, I came to these conclusions years ago – big weights, multi-joint movements, constant progression. It turns out I was also following a famous training guideline without even knowing it.

Louis Simmons, founder of Westside Barbell in Ohio, has been using this method for decades. What is now called the “Westside Method” actually dates back to the old Soviet Union – Russia and Bulgaria in particular. Simmons read all he could about these guys and how they were training and applied it to himself and his trainees. The results were off the charts, and led to lifters setting new records, staying injury free, and competing for more years.

The Westside method is divided into three parts – “Max Effort”, “Dynamic”, and “Repetition”. Max Effort is a day of training where you’ll work your way up to your 1 rep max, doing short sets of 1-2 reps with as much time as needed between sets. Dynamic days focus completely on speed. Heavy weights are not needed, but with sets of only 3 reps or so, rest periods should be short – about 1 minute. Repetition work is just about everything else. Repetition movements are to be done on both Max Effort days and Dynamic days.

A (very) simple template for a schedule would look like:
Monday – Max Effort Squat/Deadlift
Wednesday – Max Effort Bench Press
Friday – Dynamic Squat/Deadlift
Sunday – Dynamic Bench Press

Turns out that I’ve been doing this for some time already. Focusing on heavy lifts one day (max effort), then light but fast lifts (dynamic) another day. Each training day includes extra repetition work to improve whatever weak points I feel I may have. Using these three methods a trainee can maximize strength and speed, the keys to creating power – hence power lifting.

Now, I don’t claim to be an expert (or even knowledgable) about the Westside method. Louis Simmons has done the research and experimented with this method for a long time and he’s without a doubt one of the smartest men on the subject of power lifting. But its interesting that without knowing it we came to the same conclusions about the way to arrange a training schedule. For more info visit Westside Barbell’s website.

Limbaugh and Diet?

Posted by Tim on

Well, I imagine this will be my last written blog post before Tuesday’s Recall elections here in Wisconsin. As I stated in weeks past, my personal life has been busy, leaving little time for blogging. I still read the comments, Tweet a lot, and I keep up to date on whats going on in the world. Syria is getting pretty crazy, ey?

I couldn’t help myself today. It was that timeslot – noon to 3pm. In Milwaukee that means one thing – Rush Limbaugh. If I have a radio near me, there’s a good chance I’ll be listening. I remember a few years back when Chris Matthews (Hardball – (P)MSNBC) demanded that any Republican politician come out and disagree with Limbaugh on something. No one did – thereby “proving” that Limbaugh was the de-facto leader of the Republican party. I occasionally challenge myself to try to do the same – disagree with Limbaugh on something.

Before I get ahead of myself, its important to note that I’m not the most loyal Limbaugh listener. I prefer listening to the local talk hosts over him, and even as far as nationally syndicated hosts go, he’s not my favorite. There may be more issues than this one that I disagree with him on; I just haven’t heard it.

Today Rush made some kind of comment about exercise. Oh boy. Seriously? He stated that exercise is not nearly as beneficial as “the left” claims it is. In fact, a recent study showed that exercise can actually hurt some people – 10% the study claimed. Give me a break! Wow, if I had only known that exercise isn’t good for you, I wouldn’t have been doing it so much.

Limbaugh used himself as an example of someone who is perfectly healthy – normal blood pressure, cholesterol, etc – without having to exercise. The doctors are shocked by how healthy he is! They even try to give him medication he doesn’t need, because they are sure he’ll need it soon. But Limbaugh knows better. He’s healthy without exercise, and its only those crazy leftists that will make wild claims about exercise being good for everyone.

Now, I don’t want to sound like a Limbaugh basher; we have enough of them circling him constantly in the liberal media. This is just a topic that I know more about than he does, and where I’d rather he just stay out of. Encouraging people to not exercise? Based on 1 study? Sorry, bud. I love ya, but you’re flat out wrong.

While there are certain populations (particularly overweight populations) who could actually suffer serious heart problems from exercise, for normal people exercise is beyond beneficial. I’m curious what this study classified as “exercise”. Was it P90X or walking slowly on a treadmill? If you try to get a fat person to do hard core aerobic exercise, then yeah – it’s going to strain their already weakened heart. But the fact of the matter is that their heart is weak because of lack of exercise in the first place.

Looking only at one point in time and not looking before and after – that’s what leftists do with economics. Rush – don’t do that. And please, don’t equate diet and exercise with the left. Many proud conservatives take pride in their health – its the one thing that the government hasn’t figured out how to tax and steal from us. Michelle Obama is not the poster child for diet. Diet is a great thing – Michelle is a hypocritical bafoon who knows about as much of the subject as you do. Who thought politics and exercise would ever mix?

Jeans for Men with Athletic Legs

Posted by Tim on

I don’t believe that anyone I know would call me a high fashion person. While I don’t really lack a sense of style (I do clean up good), I’m rather apathetic about the whole thing. In today’s society there is too much emphasis put on fashion. Whether you’re the trendy prep or the goth, you’re subscribing to a fashion statement. No, the real nonconformist is the kid who wheres high waters and pocket protectors. I digress. What I’m trying to say is that I’m not into fashion.

That being said, I do enjoy clothes that fit me, that is to say I don’t like “skinny jeans” or the “homeboy hip-hop jeans falling off my ass” look. But being an athletic guy, or more specifically a guy who squats weights heavier than his bodyweight, can make it hard to find jeans that fit. The reason is simple. Unlike the average American, I (and many other bodybuilder/powerlifter/strongman types) have large quads, but not a large waist. Its the lower body equivalent of having broad shoulders but not a beer belly.

I can manage shirts that are a little on the tight side though. Worst case scenario I look like a meathead who wants to show off his pecs. But pants on the other hand – no. On the “tight side” means they hug my butt and crotch. Not exactly comfortable. Some guys may like the skinny jeans, but not me. And for me – most jeans are skinny jeans. I’ve had trouble find jeans that fit well, and don’t cost an arm and a leg.

When asking about jeans for athletic legs you’ll usually get one of two answers. Either a) buy jeans two sizes too big or b) buy jeans from Diesel or Lucky Brand. Now, both of these options work, but they each have their hangups. Buying jeans that are too big makes you look like a goof. The ends will be dragging on the ground, or you’ll need to actually depend on a belt to keep them up. Buying jeans from Lucky Brand or Diesel for me is a drive. Nearest stores seem to be about an hour and a half away in Chicago. Also – they cost way more than I’d like to pay.

Luckily, I found an answer in between. I’d tried on just about everything that most department stores have to offer. Lee, Levis, Wrangler. I even took a trip into Holister and American Eagle to see if they had anything. Nope. Nothing. Was I out of luck? I guess next time I was in Chicago I’d just have to go find a $100 pair a jeans. Tonight I stumbled onto a site that had a better answer though. The site is long gone, and I couldn’t find it again – sorry. But here’s what I got out of it – Levi’s 569.

There’s a Kohl’s a few blocks from my house, so hell – down the road I went. Picked out a couple, tried em on, and voila! They fit, and they left enough room so they didn’t feel like they were going to rip when I knelt down. Note to self – only buy Levi’s 569 from now on.

Back to Gaining Weight

Posted by Tim on

I have a confession to make. I’ve been cutting. No, I’m not some kind of mental midget who cuts himself with a razor blade. I’ve been cutting weight. I honestly don’t really know why. I suppose its just out of sheer boredom. Last year around the time I weighed right around 220 lbs. Most of it was muscle, although I admit I hadn’t been doing much cardio and my diet sucked – there was a little fat too. I then dropped to around 210. In the last week I’ve lost another 15 lbs or so – weighing 198. Not bad, ey?

When I tell people this they assume that it was hard to do, or that I had to go on some extreme diet to lose that much weight that quickly. Its really pretty simple. Work long days at work, don’t eat lunch, and don’t eat before bed. Eat a small breakfast, drink a lot of water, and have a poor sleep schedule. Its easy to lose weight if you just don’t eat, guys. Anorexic people do it all the time, and they’re skinny as hell!

But all that is behind me. I heard a story today about a friend who got in a near fight. I thought to myself, “If I was there…” but I had to rethink. I’m not quite as big as I used to be. At 220 I was a beast. Now I just look “in shape”. Not nearly as intimidating. What was I thinking, losing all this weight. It wasn’t just weight – it was muscle! Well, I guess its time to get back to where I used to be, maybe go a little further.

No timeline this time. I was an impatient teenager before, and I don’t want to do all that again. Disgusting weight gain protein shakes, 5-10 different supplements, huge triple Whoppers from Burger King. Nah. I’m going to take it a little slower this time. But watch out. Soon enough I’ll be back at 220 lbs. Stronger than before.

Stay tuned for a lot more posts pertaining to diet, and exercise…

Outdoor Weight Lifting

Posted by Tim on

Sometimes I don’t know what I’m going to write about until I write it. I’ll start a blog post without having any kind of idea for a thesis. I play it by ear, see where my thoughts take me, and “wing it”. Sometimes it works out and it turns into something. Other times I delete the whole post and walk away feeling like I’ve wasted a small amount of my ever-so valuable time. I think I’m doing this right now – the whole “wing it” thing.

There isn’t a whole lot that’s new right now. Politics are pretty much the same – high gas prices, the Republican primary continues, nothing super interesting happening. You know when people are talking about Obama’s daughter’s vacation that things are slow in politics. But hey – we can always fall back on the weather. That’s the cliche, right? “So, the weather has been interesting, ey?” Well, really it has. It’s March and I’m already using my air conditioner. It’s not great for my energy costs, but on the plus side, it means that its warm enough to work out outside.

I’ve talked about the pros of working out at home versus at a commercial gym. (You can read the post HERE.) You avoid a lot of the problems that public gyms have, but sometimes public gyms offer things that a home rarely can offer. For me, this means overhead presses. If I’m working out in my basement, it’s kind of hard to be doing power cleans, push presses, and the occasional snatch. I prefer to do these exercises outside, but in the winter these exercises pretty much lose their place in my training program.

But summer is back, at least it is for the next few days, and I’ve taken the bar outdoors again. I’m getting the hang of things. Its been a few months since I’ve done any olympic lifts, so I keep the weight relatively low, and concentrate on form. Nothing too fancy was done today – a few sets of power cleans, and a few sets of push presses. Gotta get myself back into the game, and I keep it simple at first.

These big lifts are great. They’re especially fun outside in the summer because they get your heart rate going real fast, and in the summer heat – they get you sweating real fast too. (Be sure to keep some chalk nearby so the bar won’t slip out of your hands.) The fresh air, the hot rays of the sun – everything is perfect for lifting. Its these lifts that are a lot of fun to do, and that have the best impact on your athletic ability. If you have a home gym, I strongly encourage you to take a bar and some plates outside and practice your olympic lifts.

The power clean is extremely useful for anyone involved in sports. It’s the exercise that forces your body to convert plain old strength into power. Explosiveness is key to the power clean, and explosiveness is key to most sports. Football, baseball, and wrestling all require an athlete to be fast AND strong. If being both fast and strong is your goal, better learn the power clean.

The other exercise I love to do outside is an oldie but a goodie – the press. As Mark Rippetoe says, “The Press is the oldest upper body exercise using a barbell. The day the barbell was invented, the guy who invented it figured out a way to pick it up and shove it over his head. After all, it is the logical thing to do with a weight.” He goes on to say, “…pressing the barbell overhead is still the most useful upper body exercise in the weight room.” There is nothing that will strengthen your shoulders more than the overhead press. The muscle control involved, especially when using heavy weight, is extreme, and extremely beneficial.

I’ll stick to those two for now. Really, guys. If you want to build muscle, skip the bicep curls and all the lame machines at the gym. Get outside, bring the barbell, and start moving some weights.

Home Gym vs Commercial Gym

Posted by Tim on

Whenever I’m with someone and we start talking about lifting weights or anything along those lines, the question is always asked – “So, what gym do you go to?” My response has been the same for a long time – “My basement.” There are a number of reasons why I bought my own equipment instead of going to a gym.

That’s not to say that I never went to a commercial gym. Of course I did. I went to the YMCA for a little while, I went to it’s competitor, the “Wisconsin Athletic Club”, for about a year, and I went to a hardcore bodybuilding gym a half hour away called “Animal House”. They all had different problems for me, and in the end I decided to invest in some good equipment and just deck out my basement. I had a few weights sitting around, a bench, but I didn’t have the main piece of equipment that kept me paying commercial gyms to use. The squat rack. Once I bought a rack I never looked back. (Hey, that rhymes!)

The reasons I finally pulled the plug on commercial gyms vary quite a bit. Some problems were minor nuisances, others annoyed the hell out of me. Here’s a short list of the reasons why commercial gyms suck.

1. Limited Hours. Most gyms are not open 24 hours. I don’t expect that to change. While there are a few gyms (Snap Fitness, Anytime Fitness, etc) that are open all day, these gyms usually lack the equipment I use. When I gym is open 24 hours the owners don’t always have someone working there. That means they have to limit the type of equipment they have. Anything that can be stolen isn’t there. That means there won’t be dumbbells, barbells, plates, or kettelbells. It’s most just machines.

So, we’re back to gyms that have the equipment I want, but aren’t open 24 hours. I work late some nights, and I occasionally get the urge to work out after midnight. I can’t do that at most gyms; but I can do it at home.

2. Driving Distance. Again, this isn’t always a problem, but for a picky lifter like myself, it is. The coolest gym I found was an old school bodybuilding style gym. This place looked like it hadn’t changed since the ’80s. It was (and still is) awesome. The problem? It was a half hour away. It’s hard enough to find a gym that’s made for people who actually want to exercise (instead of socialize), but finding a gym like that in a comfortable driving distance? Not likely.

Driving became a real pain. Get in the car, drive for 20 minutes, work out, then be sore and tired and have to drive another 20 minutes home. Forget it.

3. Equipment Availability. Ever have to wait to use the machine that you want to use? I’ve been there countless times. It’s especially frustrating when you’re timing everything out. I should only be resting for 30 seconds, but I’m forced to wait for some idiot that’s been hogging the pec-deck all night. Not only are the machines often not available, but when they are available they’re covered with sweat. Just great – I had to wait 5 minutes to use the machine, and now I have to sit in some strange guy’s ass-sweat.

Why wait for equipment? Just buy it, and that way it’s available whenever you need it. No waiting ever again!

4. No Annoying People. I don’t want to hear your cell phone ringtone. I don’t need to hear about your party this weekend. I don’t find your laugh the least bit tolerable. People annoy me. They especially annoy me when they wear white wife-beaters, smell like cheap AXE body spray, and talk loudly. I can’t handle it. Then there are the other people. The disgusting old people that walk around the locker rooms butt-naked. Their junk is just hanging out, and they come over and talk to you all nonchalant like. These are the same guys that choose to use the machines right behind the girls on the ellipticals, just so they can look at some young girl’s ass.

All these kind of people I can do without. I think we all can. Unless you’re on of them. Then you deserve to be around people just like you.

5. Music. I love music. It’s a huge part of my life. And like most people, I like listening to music while I work out. I don’t, however, like to listen to Top 40 while I work out. I don’t have anything against Ke$ha, or Katy, but it’s just not good workout music. Give me some DevilDriver, Pantera, or Rage Against the Machine, instead. I also hate earbuds. For one, it’s damaging to have music going directly into your ear (instead of using the entire earlobe, like it was designed), but it’s also a pain when I’m working out. I move when I work out. When I do power cleans those earbuds come right out. Music from external speakers is a must.

I don’t put up with music I don’t enjoy when I work out. Therefore, I work out at home and I can blast heavy metal or gangsta rap all I want.

In the end, I invested about $4000 in my home gym. I slowly bought little pieces of equipment, until I had everything I wanted. If you are seriously interested in lifting, I strongly encourage you to get out of the commercial gyms. For me it changed the way I work out, it changed my mood, and it saved me time and money in the long run. If you can invest a little money at a time, and slowly build a good gym, you’ll reap the benefits for a lifetime.

VIDEO: Greg Valentino

Posted by Tim on

Well, first off, I’d like to thank all the loyal blog readers out there. Yesterday set a record in views, and that’s pretty awesome. Writing is fun, but it’s a lot more rewarding when you know that people are actually reading what you put out there. Thanks guys!

For the time being, I’m just putting up this nice video. New posts coming later tonight. Be patient, my friends.