All Hail Public School

Shut up, sit down, and conform: the epitome of public education!

     

Hail the great and powerful public school system! No other molds millions of robots, doing without thinking. Think no more, for the "drop outs" will do that for us! Hundreds of years of education at its greatest. This is the way of the public school system: a grading system,with its political and psychological dilemmas , conforming all who attend.

    

 Of course, education was transformed into this hideous creature. The hideous creature which haunts our classroom dates all the way back to 1918, the beginning of modern day education. Before this time, education was something sought by all families, a holy grail of sorts. None, however, were required to acquire an education. Unfortunately, with the coming of 1918 came new laws which forbade the absence of school. No longer could children pursue dreams of athleticism or engineering, for all students were now taught the same information, spitting up the facts spat at them. 

     

 Regurgitation, however, is not the only dilemma. Perhaps even worse, is the audacious grading system. The grading system assumes all children learn at the same rate; therefore, all children may be paired against one-another. A law graduate from Yale, the greatest law school in the country, says it best on the Yale website "One reason for evaluating students is to be able to label them on the basis of their performance and thus to sort them like so many potatoes." This is what you want for your child? Is this all children are good for, "sorting" like "potatoes"? Do 

children have no feelings? Are children simply robots which can be manipulated in whichever way desired? I would say not. 

    

 Not only do these grades disturb the child's psychological well-being, but also teaches students the "value" of "sucking up". A 2013 study released on Ebscohost by Marc A.

Brackett, one of the leading psychological scientists in the country, states "emotions may bias the grades teachers assign to their students, such that positive and negative emotions influence grade assignment in emotion-congruent ways." In lays terms, a teacher's opinion greatly affects the students grade. How objective! Of course, students have long been aware of this corrupt system. No matter how hard a student works in and outside the classroom, grades are always the opinion of the teachers. 

 

Even with this corrupt system, teachers still argue grades are essential, insisting grades are the motivating factor in school. Hundreds of schools, however, have survived without this wretched grading system. Widely known as "Free Schools", these schools have paved the way for public education. Manhattan Free School, one of the top free schools in the country, argues grades only hurt the student. In an article called "The Agile Learning System", the school argues that students who attend Free Schools "...will naturally be more prepared for the real world, because they will have ample experience engaging in the world as it is. The top-down model of traditional schools simply cannot generate curriculum updates fast enough to meet the evolving demands of society, or remain relevant to the interests of their students." Teachers, of course, ignore this fact. 

     

So now you see the true form of our hideous system. No, it is not the fault of the teachers, nor is it the fault of the students. The sad truth is, its all our faults. Yet even when the facts are slapped into the faces of all, few do anything about it. That is the true problem of society.

Complacency is the name of the game, and we're all winning. So thank-you for playing the game, for thats all life is, a game. Now go home and do the same thing you do every day. Sit in your average home and speak to you average spouse while you eat your average dinner. Do not strive for more, because thats not what you were taught. Just sit, relax, and watch as the world crumbles in the palm of your hand.

    

Building muscle doesn't build muscle

If you've spent any amount of time on the internet, your bound to see the "muscle building" rep range. You know, that magic 8-12 range that will magically turn you into Dwayn "The Rock" Johnson. Wait, that doesn't work?! Are you saying that working at a medium intensity for an obnoxiously long amount of time doesn't do anything?! How is that possible? Are you saying every bodybuilding forum out there is wrong?!

Yupp

You see, the problem with this "magic" rep range, is it doen't work, like at all. The reason: intensity is too low. Not only is the intensity (weight) absurdly low, but the 8-12 rep range is also sarcoplasm specific. Theres no problem with sarcoplasm, but it is completly useless without a myofibular foundation. Maybe I'm getting a little ahead of my self. Lets go over exactly what sarcoplasamic and myofibular muscle building is.

Sarcoplasmic

Everyone knows that one guy in their gym that looks really big, but looks oddly puffy. While the guy is probably on twenty different steriods, he's also the victim of puffy muscle syndrom.  Puffy muscle syndrom is caused by a severe lack of heavy lifting. You see, within each muscle are muscle cells. When one works in the high rep range, a fluid, called sarcoplasm, fills the muscle cell, giving one that "puffy" look. Sarcoplasm doesn't have a lot of use, so as soon as one stops lifting, most of the sarcoplasm leaves. So you may look a little bigger than you did a few months ago, but not much. Also, sarcoplasm is mostly water, so if you ever try to cut weight, all that "muscle" will dissappear. 

Myofibular

If you've ever watched MMA, you know what I'm talking about. These guys are ripped to the bone and strong as f$@k! To get this dense look, one has to work in a much lower rep range. We're talking 1-5 reps. This will build a crazy amount of strenght and muscle. Not just sarcoplasm, but actual muscle! You see, myofibular muslce building is the actual building of new muscle fibers. Every time you lift heavy weights, the muscle fibers are being torn. When you recover and eat properly, the body overcompensates by building new muscle fibers along with the torn muscle fibers. The only downside, the muscle will not look as large. Think of it like a balloon. The air in the ballooon is the sarcoplasm, and the thickness of the balloon is the muscle strands. If the ballon is too thin, the balloon will pop before it gets any size. No, I'm not saying you're going to explode, but you are limited by your muscle fibers. If you do not have adequate muscle fibers, you'll never grow in size. 

So what?

Now that you have all this info, you're probably wondering how to apply it all. Well, its actualky quite simple. If you have the time, I'd suggest two different sessions every training day. In the morning, I would do a sarcoplasmic muscle building circuit. This circuit can consist of any two or three movements, but I'd suggest gymnastics movements. Why? Well, have you ever seen a male gymnast? For some reason, the upper body responds much better to stabalization than the bottom half. So, basically you'd do 8 reps of one gymnastic movement and 8 reps of another for 10-15 mintues. This gives the body substantial time to adapt to the stimulus. If you can get more than 8 rounds in the time allotted, raise the diffulculty of the movements. 

In the afternoon, the focus should be on strength. When you focus on pure strength, the muscle will follow. This session can be much longer: anyweher from 45-90 minutes. There should be much longer rest periods between each movement, upwards of 3 minutes. If you have more than 3 movements, you're not doing enough sets of each exercise. I strongly suggest multi-joint movements such as squats, deadlifts, snatches, cleans, jerks, push presses, etc. 

For those who don't have the luxury of time, I would suggest a 60 minute training session every training day. In each session, the first 45 minutes should be focused on strength, with the last 15 minutes on sarcoplasmic training. This will be much like the two a days, just all at one time. 

So there you have it, the quentessintial guide to muscle building.

"Overtrainig"

We've all heard the dreaded term before. The phrase which strikes fear into the fearless and sends pro athletes running. A word so hideous, even the navy seals hide in terror.

Overtraining

I hate that word. The fitness industry has abused "overtraining" to high heavans, and no longer has any  meaning. Yes, you may be suffering from all the symptons, but you're not overtraining.

What?!?!

Thats right, I said it, overtraining is simply a figment of your imagination! Okay, maybe I'm being fecices, but to be honest, your nowhere close to overtraining. This is not to say overtaining is not a very real threat! It most certainly is! The problem, however, is the word has been bastardized to the point that everyone whose trained for more than 5 minutes thinks they're overtrained!

In actuality, most people are simply under recovered. Do not fear under-recovery, embrace it. Under recovery is simply another word for catabolisim. If there is no catabolisim, then there will be no anabolisim. In other words, if you do not tear the muscle down, the body will have no reason to build it back up. The body wants homeostasis and nothing else! If the body doesnt have to gain or lose weight, it won't. All change must come from you! 

So stop freaking out when you can't fall asleep within the first five minutes! Unless you're a navy seal whose under gone years of stress with extremly low recovery, you're not overtrained! Learn to recover properly and don't conform to society. Just because Mens Health tells you your overtraining, doesn't mean you are. If you do feel extra tired, take an extra day off, it won't hurt. But don't succumb to the snowball effect. Be very aware of your training and plan accordingly. Succumb to the body, not society.

The good, the bad, the gluten

Over the past year, my diet has changed dramatically. At the beggining of 2013, I weighed 110lbs and ate a "healthy" diet. This diet consisted of 50% carbs, 20% fat, and 30% protein. I ate a "massive" 1600 calories a day, and for some, reason, just couldn't gain weight. On top of my pathetic skinny fatness, I had terrible acne, which is extremly deterating on a highschool teenage boy. I was at a lost! I was doing everything "right", yet still wasn't gaining weight! What was I doing wrong?!?!

Everything

Perhaps the most deteriating to my health, was my lack of knowledge. Public education had done me wrong. The truth is, many of the foods the FDA insists we gorge ourself with is gosh-darn terrible for us. The worst of all, gluten. Yes, I know many of you carb lovers will give me all this "evidence" that gluten is great for you and how it will change the world. But frankly, you're wrong,

Scientific Research

A 20 year study followed 1000's of scottish children, keeping an extremly detailed record of the food the children ate and their performance through their 20s. The findings: 5% of the population had a gluten intoloerence so severe, that almost none of the 5% went to college. While this number may be small, imagine how many people will never get the oppurtunity to reach their potential, all because they ate bread.

The problem is, the protein gluten looks just like a brain cell. When gluten gets into the bloodstream, the body sees this protein as an enemy, and builds antibodies to attack the protein. Now that gluten is identified as a bad guy, the brain cells are also attacked. This leads to the body litterally killing itself, with the brain at the forefront of the war.

But how does gluten get into the bloodstream?

Another research study done by a great swedish scientist looked at how the stomach digests food. The scientist created a stomach like enviorment and tested different foods. All foods tested completely dissappeared within a few days, except for one, gluten. The protein gluten was completely intact, no matter how long the protein sat in the acid. When gluten goes into the intestines, still fully intact, the protein scratches at the intestinal tract. Over time, the scratches from gluten create "holes" in the digestive intestines, allowing foreign objects, gluten and casein to name a few, into the bloodstream.

The body sees the foreign objects as enemies, and builds antibodies to attack the foreign substances. So now, hundreds of allergies begin to form, because the holes become larger, and more and more foods get into the bloodstream. Before you know it, you have to become a vegan! Now you don't want to become a vegan, do you?

Anthropology View

The human body is extremly mallable. Even so, a human genome takes 10,000 years to change. This means anything the body has not seen for the last 10,000 years is foreign to the body. Milk has been around for about 20,000, meat 100,000. Gluten, on the other hand, has only been around a few 1,000 years. Not only is gluten relatively new to the body, but the type of gluten we have today is not even the same strand we had just 50 years ago. If it takes 10,000 years to change a genome, how is our body supposed to adapt in 50 years? The truth is, it won't! The American government has lied to you! Whole wheat isn't good for you! In fact, its one of the worst things on earth. At least our bodies know what sugar is!

Insulin View

I hand you a candy bar, a piece of white bread, and a piece of whole wheat bread. You look at all three, and hand me the one that has the highest insulin spike. You'll hand me the candy bar, right? Sadly, the candy bar spikes insluin the least. That "healthy" whole wheat piece of bread, spikes insulin as much as the candy bar and white bread combined. When a large amount of insulin is released into the body, the body quickly becomes desensitized to insulin. If the body is desensisitized to insulin, carbs will no longer go into the muscle. Now, all those carbs are turning straight into fat! 

So now you're fat andallergic to everything. How the heck are you going to get out of such a predicament? The only solution, give up gluten. I'm not going to lie, the road won't be easy. There will be hundreds of temptations to give up this "crazy" quest. But in a months time, you'll feel better than ever, and never want to eat gluten again. Since you most likely have a lot of food allergies, I would strongly suggest a very strict paleo diet, slowly entering foods like nuts and raw milk back into the diet one at a time. If you see a reaction with these foods, give it more time. This proccess may very well take upwards of a year, but by the end, you'll look better than ever. 

Forever Training: Instinctive Training and Deloads

The dreaded deload. From the very first work out, we all fear the week of rest. The dreaded time where we lower the weight, or even stop lifting entirely. A fitness addicts worst nightmare. Is it really neccessary?

It depends. 

Powerlifter

The goal of powerlifting is to lift as much weight as possible, period. The problem is, heavy deadlifts cannot be practiced frequently, for they are extremly draining on the central nervous system. Every time a deadlift PR is hit, multiple days of rest are needed before the central nervous system can work at full capacity again. To counter such fatigue, powerlifters periodize their training, working up to a one rep max over several weeks or even months. After the one rep max is hit, a week of rest, or deload, is taken to counter the culmulative fatigue. 

Olympic weightlifter

 Much like the powerlifter, an olympic weightlifter's goal is to lift as much weight as possible. The difference, however comes in the movements. Unlike the deadlift, the snatch and clean and jerk have an eccentric and concentric portion. While many weightlifter may beg to differ, I ask them to simply look at the movement. The weight is pulled up and the muscle is lengthened, eccentric, and then the muscle is shortened, concentric, when it is caught in the bottom of a squat. When the muscle is shortened, the central nervous system builds up like a spring, and then shoots off as the muscle is relengthened. Because of this reaction, the movement is much less draining on the central nervous system. More so, the snatch and clean-jerk are very technique driven; therefore, failure will be due to technique failure, not fatigue. With this in mind, it would make no sense to deload. Yes, training intensity will vary day to day, but an entire deload is preposterous. 

Crossfitter

Unlike wightlifters and powerlifters, pure strength is not the goal. The "fittest" on earth need to be able to lift "heavy" weights for multiple reps. A typical crossfit workout is very high volume, often much higher than that of a bodybuilder. While crossfitters may denie it, deloads are perhaps the most neccesarry for these individuals. Crossfitters may not be lifting shattering numbers, but the sheer volume enough destroys the central nervous system. 

Bodybuilder

Weight is simply relative for a bodybuilder. Numbers have very little value, for bodybuilding is much more of an art than other strength sports. The only thing that matters in bodybuilding, is the size and shape of the muscle. To achieve the sheer size of a bodybuilder, many go on a high volume five day split: arms, back, legs, chest, and maybe arms again. The volume may be very high, but bodybuilders tend to do single joint movements. Single joint movements, like bicep curls, put very little stress on the central nervous system, allowing bodybuilders to do very high volume. The volume, however, is not enough to drain the central nervous system, allowing bodybuilders to lift "heavy" every week. 

 

But what if there was a way to allow all athletes to train hard every week. I'd hate to break it to you, but there is. You can train hard 4, 5, or even 6 days all week every week. This is what I like to call "imstinctive training"

Instinctive training is nothing new. In fact, the bulgarians have been using it since the 60s! But for some reason, everyone seemed to froget about it. Now, many look at training as some sort of mathmatical equation which can be solved for the perfect program. Sadly, this can not be farther from the truth. The truth is, programming is very individual. You wouldn't give the same program to a newbie as you would an NFL player, would you? I certainly hope not. The philosophies, however, can be very similar.

 

Train very heavy, very often. That is the secret to all great athletes. This is not to say we are hitting PRs every day. Instinctive training is all about finding a daily max. Maybe today, you can only lift 80% of your max. Does that mean you should go for a new PR? I would say not. You could, however, treat that 80% as your PR. So that day, your numbers are based off of 80% your one rep max. By doing this, you can take advantage of the good days and the bad days. We all know their going to happen, so why try to ignore them? Instead, use this variance to your advantage by basing all numbers on your daily PR, not your all time PR. 

Make a program ahead of time, but allow the numbers to change with your body. If you try to force your body into a modality it does not want, the body will resist. It is better to listen to the body and succumb to its every need. By doing this, you will grow much stronger much faster, no matter the athlete. If you want to start hitting PRs all the time, you need to start finding your daily PR.

Wave loading: why it works and how to use it

To be honest, I'm still a little new on this subject. While I'm still a little new to waveloading, I love it with all my heart! In my opinion, few other training modalities compare to wave loading. In fact, I personally use wave loading in almost all my training sessions! Why? Because it works.

First, lets go over what exactly wave loading is. Wave loading, as I briefly went over in a previous article, is a steady change in weight through out a training session. These changes come in "waves", working up to a max, dropping weight by about 50%, and then working up to a new max. Lets look at an example with a previous 100lb santch PR.

Wave 1

Set 1: 50lbsx1rep  Set 2: 75lbsx1rep  Set 3: 100lbsx1rep

Wave 2

Set 4: 55lbsx1rep  Set 5: 85lbsx1rep  Set 6: 110lbsx1rep 

Before we go on to other types of wave loading, lets look at why this works. 

Wave loading is based off the principle of post activation potentiation, or PAP for short. PAP is a nervous system over reaction. When the nervous system lifts a relatively heavy weight, the neurons over fire, giving us the oppurtunity to trick the nervous system. When you go to lift a lighter weight, the nervous system will over-compensate and the weight will feel lighter, allowing for heavier weight to be used. Of course, this only works if the weight load is waved. If one were to strictly move up in weight, the nervous system would have no need to over compensate, for the nervous system is never surprised.

Wave loading is also great for finding a daily max. If you've been in this weightlifting game for any amount of time, you know there are good days and there are bad days. Wave loading takes advantage of this, by giving multiple sets well under your PR. If you miss your PR, you simply lower the weight, and go for a lower weight. This helps give a high volume of work with lots of successes. However, I strongly suggest you stay away from failure. Do not fear failure, but simply stop the exercise once failure is reached. 

Now that you have a basic understanding of wave loading and how it works, lets look at a few ways to use wave loading. 

Contrast sets

These sets take the greatest advantage of PAP, tricking the nervous system into lifting a higher volume than previously possible. I would suggest this movement for those who want to quickly build muscle, for this type of wave loading is based on volume, not neccesarily weight. The goal of each set is to get more reps than the last set. In this example I will use the 6:1 contrast set. I would like to preface that a previous warm up should take place, since you will be starting at a relatively heavy wieght.

Set 1: 200x6reps  

Set 2: 300x1rep

Set 3: 200x7reps

Set 4: 300x1rep

Set 5: 200x8reps

Set 6: 300x2reps

Multiple straight sets:

Much like the example in the begginig of this post, the goal will not be to add reps, but to add weight in a given rep scheme. In this example, I will give a two rep scheme, but this can be used with 1,2, and 3 rep scheme. Anything higher than three reps would be strongly discouraged, for the nervous system does not fire as efficiently in higher rep schemes.

Wave 1

Set 1: 150x2reps  Set 2: 225x2reps  Set 3: 300x2reps

Wave 2

Set 1: 160x2reps  Set 2: 235x2reps  Set 3: 310x2reps

Wave 3

Set 1: 170x2reps  Set 2: 245x2reps (Failed)

When looking at these patterns, you will notice I never go past three waves. This is not to say you cannot go past three waves, but understand the law of diminishing returns. PAP will work to a point, but eventually the body will tire and the weight will simply be too much to handle. Do not be ashamed of when you fail. Simply accept the failure and leave the weight room feeling strong. 

Remember that this is more of a philosophy than a training technique. This modality can be used in any scenario and is very advantageous to those who use it. So go out and try it, and see if its for you. 

Winners win and Champions fail

Failure. Since the day we were born, we've been warned of the evils of Failure. In school, our parents frowned upon our Fs, and even more in college. "You will never succeed!" they say. They yell and scream and tear at our very soul. 

But now, I'm telling you its okay to fail. No, not just okay to fail, your suppose to fail! All greatness is the result of failures! If you do not fail, you will never succeed. 

"Why?", you may ask, well the answer is quite simple. Life is simply a game, full of thousands of expereiences. These experiences are the foundation of our character. I argue our charecter is not somthing that we can control, but simply a portrait of all our experiences. This is not to say our lives are predestined. We do make choices, we just don't make all the choices.  If you follow your heart, you will survive. Nay, following your heart ia the only road to happiness.

You must follow your heart. When you follow your heart, you will fail. But understand failure is just part of the journey, and it will lead to success. So go out and fail, for its the only road to success.

Easy as 1,2,3: The not so revolutionary strength program

There are a lot of great programs out there. You've got smlov, bulgarian, cuban, 5/3/1, and probably a million others. While all these programs are great for their specific sport, few can be integrated into multiple sports. That is the main goal of this program. It is not neccessarily set rules, but a philisophy which can be used for the rest of your lifting career.

First, lets go over important terms:

Wave loading: A simple progressive addition and subtraction of weights in a particular workout. The goal of wave loading is to find the days 1RM. This is done by starting with 45lbs and working up to a conservative single, double, or triple. Then you would drop the weight by 40% and work up to a new single. Continue, dropping the weight by 20% and climbing back up the laddar. If at any point you miss a lift, you stop. 

Reps: The number of times the wieght is lifted without letting go of the bar.

Sets: The amount of times you pick up, squat, or do whatever yoir little heart desires with the bar.

Assistance Work: Any movement which has direct carry over to the main lift.

Intensity: The amount of weight lifted

Volume: The intensity multiplied by reps

Linear Periodization: A continual addition of intensity by day, or week.

Non-Linear Periodization: A progression of intensity, volume, or time over weeks, months, and even years. 

Now then, lets talk about the program. This program can be applied to a 3 day, 4 day, 5 day, or even 6 day protocol. However, I would storngly suggest a 5 day protocol. Three days on, one day off, two days on, one day off. 

Going by a five day schedule, lets look at how each day would play out. On the first day, you would focus on two multijoint movements. The first movement will be waveloaded by one repetition and the secound movement will be waveloaded by three repetitions. Thats it.

The secound day would be assistance work, with three specific assistance movements. The order and rep scheme of the movements will be ciclucal, with the first movement, 6x1, the secound movement 4x3, and the final movement 2x5. These movements will not follow wave loading, for they tend to folow a more linear periodization.

The third day will again focus on your two multijoint movements. This time, you will wave load both movents by two reps. However, on this day, you can start with either movement.

The fourth day will be much like the first, but with opposite rep shcemes. The first move will be waveloaded by one rep. This should be the movement which you did by three reps on the first day. The secound move will be waveloaded by three reps.

On the final fifth day, you will have another assistance day. You can do the same assistance work as the secound day, or switch it up with new exercises, but same rep structure.

While that will work great for a begginner and intermediate weight lifter, a more advanced athlete cannot follow the same program. The pattern, however, can be followed. 

Notice how the pattern moves from one rep to two reps to three reps, and then back to one rep. When looking at this pattern over a matter of weeks or months, you get this upward wave like effect. By using this method, one can constantly improve, without needing to add weigth to the bar every session.

With this concept in mind, a more advance athlete could follow this rep scheme over a matter of weeks. The first week would be one rep, the secound week, two reps, and the third, three reps. After those three weeks, you would simply start over. 

What's great about this plan, is you can focus on just one movement a day. For example, lets say you're a power lifter. So you squat monday, bench wensday, and deadlift friday. The squat would be by one rep, the bench by two, and the deadlift by three reps. The following week you'd squat by two, bench by three, and deadlift by one rep. Thus, you'd continue on your endless journey for a greater 1RM.

One last thing before I get into the actual programs, lets talk about rest intervals. Looking at the research, any point after three minutes seems to have little use.If the goal is strength, which it always should be, then take as much time as needed between sets, but understand there is very little benifits after three minutes. 

On the other hand, I would strongly suggest taking upwards of ten minutes between exercises. This will gove the body extra time to recover, allowing you to start the next movement as a whole new session. Since the program is waveloaded, the warmup is built right in.

With these basic concepts in mind, lets go over a few different programs:

Weightlifting:

   Sunday: Snatch by 1 rep, Clean and   Jerk by 3 reps

   Monday (Assistance): Overhead Squat, Weighted Pullup, Strict Overhead press

   Tuesday: Snatch by two reps, Clean and Jerk by two reps

   Thursday: Snatch by three reps, Clean and Jerk by one rep

   Friday (Assistance): Front Squat, Bent over Rows, Push Press

Notes: 

1) Remember that the assistance work is ciclucal and the reps should be changed on a weekly basis. The movement with one rep should always be first.

2) Yes, I know I contradicted an earlier statement, but the snatch is a more technique driven movement. To do it in an even somewhat fatigued state could be dangerous. 

Powerlifting:

   Monday: Squat by one rep, speed squat at 50%/ Partial rep (Half Squat, ATG, etc.)/ Squat pause

   Wendsday: Bench by two reps, partial rep bench (board press, floor press, etc.)/Pause bench press/Speed at 50% 

   Friday: Deadlift by three reps, deadlift with pause at the knee/Speed deadlift at 50%/Partial rep (Deficeit deads, rack pulls, etc.)

Notes

1) Make sure to change the rep scheme each week. What is now one rep will be two reps, what is two reps will be three reps, and what is three reps will be one rep.

2) The Assistance work should change with each week. This way, you'll have an explosive, partial, and pause move each week.

3) When I say partial, that does not mean bad form. If anything, the form should be better. Furthermore, partials should be a different rang of motion than used in competition, more or less.

4) The rep scheme for assistance work varies on the movement. The explosive move should be 6x1. A pause is best at three by three. The partial can be a higher rep at 5x5, since it tends to be more of a sticking point movement.

Muscle Building

Follow either the weightlifting or power lifting program. The only difference is a bodyweight only AMRAP for 15mins each morning. These can consist of any two bodyweight movements from 3-12 reps. 

A few favorites of my own: pullups and dips, handstand pushups and burpees, and box jumps with toes to bar.

Many will argue there is not enough tension with the body weight movements, but I beg to differ. If you really push yourself for those 15mins, youll swell up like a baloon. Not only that, but the stength sessions in the afternoon will add some serious myofibular muscle.

So there ya have it. The quentessintial plan for the strongest man in the world. I realize there is a lot I didn't cover, and in the future will continue to tweak and mess with the plan. But until then, be strong.

A calorie is not a calorie

First, lets go over exactly what a calorie is. According to Webster dictionary, a calorie is "the amount of heat required at a pressure of one atmosphere to raise the temperature of one gram of water one degree Celsius that is about 4.19 joules". Helpful, right?

Okay, lets look at it in laymens terms. A calorie is the amount of "energy" a certain food has. Why does this matter? Well, it really doesnt.

In 2013, a group of scientist decided to ponder this question. The scientists gathered a bunch of rats and split them into three groups. One group was over fed, one group was under fed, and the final group was fed just enough to maintain weight (control group). Over the course of 30 days, the mice would be over, or under, fed for 10 days, and then a day at maintinence. In other words, every tenth day all mice were fed the same amount. After the 30 days, the scientists measured the fat tissue of all three groups.

Not suprisingly, the control group didnt change in fat or weight. The underfed group, however, actually gained fat. Not only that, but this group gained more fat than the over fed group! How does this happen? 

Well, its actually not thqt complicated. Think of it this way: your body's only goal is to stay in homeostasis, no matter the conditions. When the body is under fed, the body must find nutrients in the body. Yes, fat does store nutrients, but so does muscle. When the body has to choose, it will choose muscle. The reason, muscle is more metabolic than fat. So if the body takes muscle, the body wont need as much to survive. Make sense?

If the research wont convince, perhaps a mote personal example will. A few years ago, when I first began to notice girls, I took a huge interest in my body. I wasnt really chubby, but I wasnt skinny either. So, in an effort to get those sexy abs, I cut calories, a lot of calories. We're talkin about 1000 calories a day. Even more, most of these were gluten-laden, glycimecic disasters. At a height of 5'7, I weighed 110 lbs, but had no abs to show. In fact, I had quite an impressive belly for someone so small.

After months of exauhstive research, I came to a conclusion. I needed more food! So, I put on my big boy pants and raised my calories to 3000. Within a years time, I gained 40 lbs of muscle and now walk around with abs. 

I'm not suggesting you go to McDonalds and gorge yourself, but maybe eat that secound steak sitting on the table. It is not the calories that matter, but the nutrients from the calories. If you have enough nutrients, the body will take care of it self. Eat real food, simple as that. 

Who are you?

Many will say their name. Others will say what they do. But is that truely who you are? Are you nothing but a frivilous word? I submit you are not.

I say that you, much like me, want to do somthing great. Any one can be average, but greatness, thats where its at. If greatness is what you strive for, than you've come to the right place. Here, over the next few years , I will share with you what strength really is, and how we all can achieve it.

I'm not gonna lie, this trek which we now embark will not be easy. But in the end, strength will be ours. 

"But what is strangth", you may ask. Well, much more than you think. Strenght is much more than how much you bench press or how much you deadlift. Strength is a way of life. Strength is the ability to care for and forgive. Strength is the ability to stretch and endure. Strength is the distance you run. Strength is your ability to live.

So choose now or forever hold your piece. Come on this journey and become great, or stand behind and wallow in a life of mediocrity.