There was so much to say about fitness boot camps I had to put it into two parts, who would have thought?
The truth is that boot camps have blown up, which means that whatever we do in our programs, systems and training sessions is going to affect a large number of people!
“With great power comes great responsibility”, can’t remember who said that, I think it may have been Spidey….
With great power comes great responsibility
While we’re taking quotes from Mr. Spidey, we can also ask him about his training program and nutrition, dude is lean! Read the rest of this entry »
This is not going to be a “OMG, I love boot camps” or “they suck!” answer, but more of my own explanation on when you should take them seriously or not. So read on….
Considering this blog is pretty oriented towards performance training, muscle building, athletes and feeling/looking better……
…why the hell would I talk about boot camps?
Well, let’s see:
1. If you have a body you’re an athlete. And who says we can’t implement athletic exercises in boot camps?
2. Most people will improve performance, build muscle and lose fat in a boot camp setting
3. If you are compliant with a good boot camp system then you’re going to look better naked
4. The improved mobility, flexibility and strength will help you feel better and get rid of pain
5. Hocevar Perfomance runs the Renton Results Boot Camp so I’m talking about it mofo’s (you must be thinking I’m biased right away)!
Just like anything else, the question whether boot camps are a good choice comes down to the quality of the training system, nutrition and the people running it. My list from 1-4 above only holds true when all things are in place. Read the rest of this entry »
We all like strength, power and endurance. If you don’t, you should mofo!
Most of you also like to get as much done in a short amount of time. At least I would hope so!
So if I said you can tweak your training just a little bit and get more strength, power and/or endurance in shorter training session, you’d listen.
Let me introduce contrast training.
The short and simple explanation of contrast training is…. Choose an exercise (usually a compound exercise) that you will load heavy in the 3-8 rep range (for strength and power endurance we may go even higher) and follow it up with a an exercise that has the same movement pattern and similar rep ranges.
A very simple example would be a box squat followed by a box jump or a squat jump.
I swear this is the only picture of a box squat I could find…
Maybe I should just call this post: “When you have no other choice but to get shit done!” But that would have meant I have to curse in the headline……so I just left it for the first sentence and feel like I’m a better human being for doing it.
Even though I know how important deadlines are and how effective they can be when we use them, I don’t do it enough and it becomes easy to procrastinate if they are not strictly set. Read the rest of this entry »
In all honesty, right now I’m on Lake Chelan, Washington for a 4 day weekend….
Getting some inspiration from the view
So don’t feel to bad for me
But I feel like I need to let everyone know what has been going on since the New Year as I have negelected the blog and haven’t been on top of providing great information as I promised. For that I deserve a backhand slap and if you see me feel free to give me one (just mention what it’s for so there won’t be any “misunderstandings” and I don’t go Hulk on your ass!) Read the rest of this entry »
Just finished my first training session wearing the Vibram Five Fingers and I feel great! After around 20 minutes into the session the “weird” feeling went away and I honestly felt like I was barefoot.
I shouldn’t get too sore since I wear Nike Free’s 5.0 most of the day, as well as doing a bunch of barefoot dynamic warm ups.
Since a bunch of people have been asking what the hell I’m wearing on my feet and why, I’ll touch on why you should start switching up your shoes and start working towards doing a lot training barefoot. Read the rest of this entry »
If you hang around training forums on any reputable training site, you’ll notice that the highest percentage of questions is directed towards fixing aches and pains (for example, go to the EliteFTS site and you will see the Q & A section filled with questions about fixing injuries, aches and pains).
The truth is that a large number of the aches and pains people experience whether before, during or after training (especially if you’re not doing any training) are a direct result of bad posture, overcompensation, repetitive movement, tightness, weakness, muscles that don’t activate, a crappy training program, etc.
Many of the issues you may be experiencing can be fixed without having to go under the knife or visit a sacred shaman in the mountains of Tibet. What you do need is a training program that is catered towards your goals and addresses any issues you are experiencing. Read the rest of this entry »
I’m in my defensive stance driving the shooting guard to the left as it’s his weak side. My eye is on his waist so that I don’t lose focus of where his body is really going. I take a step back in anticipation of his drive but none the less the guard hesitates and blows by me.
One of the most frustrating feelings you can have as a basketball player.
Or how about the one where you get shut down by a defender because you’re always getting beat to the spot?
When I had those things happen to me, my frustrations would drive me to train harder and stay after practice to play defense on the best scorers on the pro team (I was on the junior team at the time). It made me better on defense because I got better at reading the offensive players. But I didn’t get quicker and still couldn’t beat some of the players to the spot.
Still frustrated, it led me to reading and studying speed, agility and quickness training (and anything else that would improve it) from every resource I could get including going to Olympic track and field coaches and training with them. I believe that’s when my passion for training really begun (I had a purpose!), the first step to becoming a strength coach, even though it would still be a long time before my basketball career ended. Read the rest of this entry »
Complexes. Created by Istavn Javorek in the 70′s, a former Romanian weight lifting coach who later brought the concepts to the U.S.
Love and hate.
I relate the former to the latter. I love the results that the complexes get me and my athletes/clients, but I hate thinking about doing them and waiting to pick up the barbell before my set is about to begin. They are probably one of the toughest things you can do when it comes to training/conditioning. If you don’t agree with me then please try a set of this barbell complex with 115 lbs on the bar (you should also focus on speed of movement as well as form and get through it under 1:30 minutes). Go for 3 sets with a 90 second break: Read the rest of this entry »
Since I’m quoting Dave Tate, it would be wrong not to write the original: “passion fucking trumps everything!”
Honestly, the sentence should have held true in 2009, the year before that, and the year before that…..you know where I’m going with this…..it should hold true for every day of your life!
Even better I think the combination of passion and purpose trump everything.
I would like to believe that I follow that everyday, doing what I do because of passion and purpose. At the same time I cannot lie that sometimes life can take you of track and get your priorities mixed up. It has happened to me before and it still happens when there is a lot of things going on at once and the stress builds up. When it does, it helps when you get inspired and reminded what you are doing.
