The Finish

I don't like New Years resolutions.

They're usually meaningless and made while in the presence of a group of friends after consuming a few adult beverages and goes something like this, "This year I'm going to start..."

Achieving anything worthwhile isn't about the start.

It's about the finish.

Later

5 Steps to Success

Regardless of your chosen goals, here's a 5 step program to achieve your ultimate success.

1. Read
2. Listen
3. Associate
4. Teach
5. Repeat

Now let me clarify.

1. Read

Devote a minimum of 15 minutes per day to reading something positive (BTW, the newspaper is not positive). About 75% of what you see and hear during a day is negative. Feed your brain the good stuff. In addition, devote an hour a day to reading something related to your primary goals. It could be business-related, fitness-related, or something from the self-improvement category.

2. Listen

I love my music, but I rarely listen to it in my car. Instead, my car is now a mobile university. Consider how much time you spend in your car on a daily basis. You consume a tremendous amount of information on your daily commute. Where you drive time was once wasted time, make it productive time. Listen to motivational speakers, sales training, business training, or fitness-related info.

3. Associate

Associate with people at your level or above. Now don't get me wrong here, I'm not putting people into classes or being a snob. It's a matter of making yourself better at what you do. Truth is that you'll become like the people you associate with. To progress in your personal development, you need to spend more time with those people who are where you would like to be. Like it or not, you may have friends and family that drag you down or hold you back. How do you find the people to help you move forward? Go to every seminar or conference you can afford. Introduce yourself and ask questions.

4. Teach

Once you have been recognized as achieving a level of competency within a specific arena, teach what you know to someone else. Not only will you be "paying it forward," you will find that you will learn more about what you know and yourself in the process.

5. Repeat

Repeat this entire process until your reach your goals and beyond.

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Train like an athlete...Anywhere, Anytime

I recently got a chance to speak with Zach Even-esh (AKA The Underground Strength Coach)

We email back and forth, but it had been a long time since we had a chance to actually talk on the phone. Zach also happens to be one of the most enthusiastic guys you’ll ever meet. He’s probably never had a down day in his life.

If you don’t know Zach, he’s pretty well-known for training combat athletes, from wrestlers (including a prep national champion) to law enforcement officers to mixed martial artists, with what many would say are “Old School” methods.

Zach can put you through a killer workout using anything from just your body weight to heavy rocks, sandbags, or tires. All Zach needs is a playground or a picnic table (yes, a picnic table) and he can give anyone a productive and challenging training session.

If you’re someone who doesn’t think that old school works check out this photo of one of Zach’s clients.



After talking a bit with Zach, he asked me to contribute to one of his upcoming projects. (Note: this project is going to be huge. I mean huge. I’ve never seen someone literally give away so much information at one time) We ended up recording almost an hour of our conversation covering everything from energy systems training to injury prevention for combat athletes.

I mentioned my blog and felt that it was only fair that I turn the tables on Zach and have him provide me with “old school,” No B.S. methods that anyone can use to apply to their own training.

Bill: You're really well known for training combat athletes (wrestler's, MMA,etc.). How can the typical gym goer use the same conditioning methods toachieve their fitness goals?

Zach: Bill, this is a great question because the majority of people are not into the outdoor training regardless of their goals.

Here and there though, I go with my wife to her Health Club. As torturous as it is for me (read: Sarcasm!) I still find a way to get in an awesome workout, and it is primarily because I take my methods for combat athletes and utilize them in the traditional gym setting.

I utilize circuits and/or complexes with various tools: barbells, dumbbells, bodyweight, med ball and stability balls. I love the circuits because the pace is so high and intense which forces me to stay focused on the training and not get distracted by the other "stuff" going on around me.

If I have space I also incorporate jumping rope into my training which is awesome for the lower body and your aerobic or anaerobic system depending on how fast and explosive you jump.

For someone who wants to utilize a complex let's say with a barbell, not only have I experienced excellent benefits in conditioning but I have found that complexes add muscle as well. The constant reps add hypertrophy if utilized with a moderate weighted barbell.

Here is a simple complex someone can perform using a barbell, for 6 reps per movement:

1) bent leg deadlift
2) bent over row
3) hang clean and press (the clean is to be used for a more advanced individual)
4) back squat
5) shrugs

The beginner may only perform 1 set, the intermediate 2 sets and the advanced individual 3 sets of the barbell complex.

Not only is this great for conditioning and muscle growth, but it is also great for when someone is short on time. Nowadays, who isn't short on time?

A bodyweight circuit is equally challenging and can be performed almost anywhere. Try this one for a great workout:

** reps will vary on the pull-up/chin-up but we are aiming for 8 - 12 reps per movement on average when utilizing bodyweight exercises

1) recline body row or pull up / chin up
2) push up variation
3) squat jumps
4) reverse lunges
5) v ups

Again, 1 - 3 rounds can be performed. For our combat athletes we like to keep the general pace of the workout fairly high with incomplete recoveries. The more advanced someone is the more they can push the envelope with less rest time.

If someone is concerned that they will lose strength utilizing a lot of circuits and complexes then I must emphasize that training must vary, and using one method or tool too often leads to less of a physical response. But, this is certainly an excellent addition/variation to one's training programs.

If you want to incorporate strength into the same workout, begin the workout with a heavy lift, preferably a full body lift or a compound movement for the upper body. From there you can move on to a circuit or complex and get as creative as you want with these methods!

Thanks Zach. You can find Zach’s training programs here. I’d recommend you specifically checkout the Ultimate Combat Kit.

Later

P.S. My friend Alwyn Cosgrove frequently states that many would prefer to posses the physiques of any of the top athletes but don’t understand that their physiques are the result of their specific type of training. Rather than training like an athlete they attempt to achieve the same physique with inferior methods in an attempt to train for aesthetics. Why not train just like an athlete instead?

TV

According to the Source Book for Teaching Science website (http://www.csun.edu/~vceed002/health/docs/tv&health.html) the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV a day. If you live to be 65 years old, that’s 9 years of your life that were spent watching TV.

9 years!!

What if instead of watching TV you spent that time reading all the resources from a specific topic? Why you’d be an expert in no time.

In nine years you could have received 2 college degrees or an undergraduate degree and graduated from med school.

What if you “sacrificed” one hour of TV for vigorous exercise every day? Do you think you may be able to rid your life of a few health concerns? Maybe fit in to those smaller clothes or actually develop those washboard abs?

How about just feeling better about yourself?

The possibilities are truly endless when you see how much of your LIFE is wasted by watching too much TV.

Kick the habit.

Later

P.S. While I’m on the subject, I think the local news should be removed from the airwaves. I caught a few minutes of it the other night (I don’t usually watch the news or read the newspaper anymore. If something important happens, don’t worry, someone will tell you about it) and they were reporting on stories that weren’t even local issues. WHY?!

Why does the local weather report have to take 10 minutes of my life just to find out whether I need to wear a coat tomorrow? Who gives a rat’s ass what the barometric pressure is. Does anyone ever sit around and say, “Whew, the barometric pressure sure is up today.” NO THEY DON’T! Here’s how easy it could be...

Weatherman: It’s going to be cold tomorrow, so wear a coat. Back to you Tony!

See how easy it is.

Thanks I feel better now.

Beginner's Mind

About 10 years ago, I studied TaeKwonDo under Grandmaster Choi. At the beginning of each class we were reminded of Kyum Son.

It means beginner’s mind.

All too often we enter into a situation with preconceived notions or limited thinking. Our brain tends to store information into our predetermined filing system. Judgement is passed too quickly and potential opportunity to expand our knowledge or physical potential is lost.

The only way to be better today than you were yesterday is to be open to different and perhaps better ideas or methods or application of those methods. Certainly, you don’t want to ignore that which you have already learned and experienced and blindly accept what the next great “guru” has to offer. Simply be willing to consider each bit of information or new experience as a possibility.

Kyum Son.

Later

12 Days of Fitness

Hey, if you've been waiting to by a book, DVD, or other product from your favorite fitness expert, I don't think I'd be waiting much longer.

If fact, you can get some of the best deals around with some pretty significant discounts by going here:

12 Days of Fitness

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The 15 Minute Rule

“If you keep making that face it’ll stay that way.”

Maybe Mom was more correct than she knew.

From a health standpoint, I think posture may be the most ignored component of them all (okay, maybe diet ranks up there too).

Poor posture limits your ability to breathe (not like that's important, right?), promotes overuse injuries, creates muscle imbalances, and results in back pain just to name a few.

Without an ongoing awareness of your posture on a daily basis, you can expect it progressively adapt to whatever shape you spend most of your time in. For instance, if you sit all day at a computer, you can expect to be shaped like the chair you sit in with a rounded back, rounded shoulders, and a forward head position.

Pretty, huh?

The processes that cause this progressive and undesirable adaptation in our posture are called stress-relaxation and creep.

Stress-relaxation is a progressive decline in the natural tension that tissues produce when placed under tension. When the tissues are held under constant tension for a long enough time, they begin to deform and elongate. This called creep. This becomes a relatively permanent elongation unless the tension is removed from the tissues before creep occurs.

You see gravity works.

It pulls down on you all day and as you relax your muscles and the tissues are exposed to that pull of gravity, stress-relaxation and creep will occur within about 10-20 minutes if you don’t change position.

Your strategy to overcome this is the 15 Minute Rule.

Every 15 minutes to need to make an active postural correction and even better, change positions entirely. For instance, if you’ve been sitting, stand. If you’ve been slouching, sit as tall as possible. You may also want to perform some corrective stretching for about 15 seconds on key muscle groups that are prone to shortening.

Most common are the muscles that internally rotate the shoulders (pecs, lats, subscapularis), downwardly rotate your shoulder blades (levator scapulae, rhomboids), and flex the knee and the hip (TFL, psoas, iliacus, rectus femoris, and hamstrings).

The 15 Minute Rule is so important that when we designed our upper body performance training video Inside-Out we felt it imperative to include daily postural correction strategies that lead to upper extremity injuries and declines in performance.

So I guess Mom WAS right in a sense…and, uh, eat your vegetables.

Later

P.S. My good buddy Mike Robertson gave me the following little tidbit of information. In Microsoft Outlook you can set an alarm to go off every 15 minutes to remind you to correct your posture. If you don’t use Outlook, go to Wal-Mart and buy a $20 watch with a count down timer on it and set it for 15 minutes.

Become a great fighter or just look like one

I had a great weekend.

I got to watch a bunch of guys knock the piss out of each other in front of a rabid, cheering crowd from ringside (actually it was octagon side).

It was Mixed Martial Arts at its best…well almost.

Don’t get me wrong. There were some good fights and some good fighters (anyone that gets in that octagon has balls), but I’d have to say that my pre-fight winner predictions were at least 90% correct all night long.

I realize that a more skillful fighter will most likely defeat a less skillful fighter on most occasions, and there was certainly no way I could have identified the more skillful fighter simply on the walk up to the octagon and besides most of the fighters were matched well on win-loss records.

So how could I be so accurate?

Form follows function.

In other words, the best conditioned fighter won on almost all occasions.

I can understand how many of the fighters probably neglected their conditioning needs in favor of skill training for fear, based on their lack of experience, that they wouldn’t be prepared in that department.

In most cases, these guys are working a regular, physical job (one fighter I talked to does back-breaking concrete work, yikes!) and then hit the gym 5-6 days per week for training.

Now sure they’re doing a lot of specific conditioning as part of their training and most likely performing timed rounds, but in a lot of cases, the activities are too low in intensity or they are self-limited in effort which is totally unlike a real MMA battle. There’s no let down or you’ll go down.

What they don’t realize is that in about 20 minutes, twice a week, they can raise their energy system conditioning to a much higher level without seriously impacting their skill work.

Here’s the great thing for the guys and gals who just want to look good.

You can use the same concepts to burn fat faster than traditional “go one speed on the treadmill for 30 minutes” type of aerobic training.

For instance, in the top selling female transformation book ShapeShift, I used 2 basic methods of energy system training for my example client who made an amazing transformation: body weight circuits and barbell complexes.

All you need to do is select a series of exercises, or complex, and perform them back to back for either time or repetitions; rest based on the desired outcome, and then repeat the complex for a specified number of sets.

For example, here’s a body weight complex:

Perform each exercise for 30 seconds:

Jumping Jacks
Burpies (AKA squat thrust)
Alternating Lunges
Push-ups
Body weight squats

Rest 2.5 minutes and repeat 3-4 times

Here’s a barbell complex (this is a great one because barbell placement for each exercise ends where the next begins:

Deadlift x 6-8
Hang Clean x 6- 8
Front squat x 6-8
Push Press x 6-8
Back squat x 6-8
Good Morning x 6-8

Rest the same amount of time it took to complete the complex and repeat 3-4 times

Not only did you just train every muscle in your body, but you cranked up your fat burning furnace to the maximum.

If you’re a fighter or grappler of any kind or if you just want to look like the best conditioned combat athlete around, you need to approach your training with science and experience on your side.

Two products that I’d consider for your essentials list are Alwyn Cosgrove’s Martial Arts Package and Jason Furruggia’s Tap Out: Strength and Conditioning for Combat Sports. Both these guys have a reputation for transforming bodies and building great combat athletes.

Later

Cellular Disruption

If you’re looking for faster fat loss, it is essential that you create a situation where your body burns more fat at rest.

While at first this seems impossible, it’s actually VERY possible.

From a scientific standpoint, it’s called cellular disruption.

Basically how it works is that your training session creates such a disturbance in the normal homeostatic environment that your body loves (it hates change…go figure) that it takes hours (even days with the right protocol) for your metabolic processes to return to normal.

During this time of metabolic disturbance your body shifts toward an increased utilization of fats for energy.

If you think this type of training program requires endless aerobic activity, you’d be dead wrong.

If you think it’s about endless sets of high reps, you’re wrong again.

Both of these approaches fail to create an elevated metabolism AFTER you train, and worse yet, you’ll most likely loose precious, metabolically active muscle.

What you need is intensity.

Now I told you that to tell you this.

I spoke at the Midwest Strength, Conditioning, and Rehabilitation Symposium this past year. I was really glad that I did because I got to hang out with some of the top names in the strength and conditioning field like Brian Grasso, Tony Reynolds, Evan Osar, Juan Carlos Santana, Scott Hudson, Lee Taft, and Craig Ballantyne.

Craig was a guy that I was really looking forward to listening to and meeting because we had been communicating for a couple of years, worked on some stuff together, but just never got a chance to meet face to face.

Craig didn’t let me down. Not only does he look like a guy who practices what he preaches (he’s JACKED folks), Craig laid out his entire approach to creating cellular disruption to a large gathering of personal trainers who were feverishly taking notes. I’m sure there was a large number of fitness clients that benefited from their trainer’s new level of training knowledge after that weekend.

Craig doesn’t call his program cellular disruption or metabolic disturbance.

He calls it Turbulence Training (this may be one of my favorite names in all of fitness).

I’ve been lucky to have had access to his program for some time and from day one I was impressed with Craig’s ability to blend the best of science with solid training theory to create one powerful program.

Actually it’s several programs…and I’ve found them to all be effective.

Craig has adapted his training concepts to address trainees of all levels and both sexes. He even eliminates your excuses for missing a training session when there’s no equipment available by providing a full program of body weight exercises.

You don’t have to take my word for it. You can see the countless fitness pros that recommend it as well.

Check out TurbulenceTraining.com here.

Later

Adam vs. the ADA

My good friend Adam Campbell has touched a few nerves with the ADA.

He recently published an outstanding, well-researched, and well-informed article in regard to low-carb diets and diabetes. Read it here.

Well the ADA responded.

Adam's response once again shows why he is THE MAN!

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The Training Mentality

If you’re having trouble finding the motivation to hit the gym or feeling like you’re just not making the progress that you should be, perhaps you’re not training.

Training implies purposeful activity in pursuit of a specific, desired result.

Nothing kills motivation faster than having nothing particular to work for. Once your desired result (a goal perhaps) is determined, and the decision is made that your desired result is worthy of your efforts, your actions become meaningful rather than just “going” through the motions or just “getting it done.” Motivation is instantaneous.

Training implies creating an organized plan to move you closer to your desired result.

Once you know where you’re going, it simply becomes a matter of determining how you get there. If you don’t know how to get there yourself, find the necessary information or find someone who knows the information that can help you. If necessary, pay them for the information.

Training implies executing an organized plan.

Nothing is more motivating than taking action toward a worthwhile goal. Stick to the plan without compromise and with total commitment. Otherwise, you’ll never know if it will work for you.

Training implies regularly reviewing your progress toward a specific, desired result.

You must track your progress to determine if you are making progress toward your desired result. Give yourself time to make progress rather than comparing your status from a day to day basis. A watched pot never boils. About every two weeks works for most programs.

Training implies making necessary changes in your plan to produce results.

Continue on your current path until progress slows significantly or stagnates then take immediate corrective action to move closer your desired result.

Train.

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Booklist #1

I get asked which books are most important in the rehab and strength and conditioning fields quite often. To be honest, over the years I’ve read so many books from a broad spectrum of authors that it’s difficult to really narrow things down.

The following are what I consider to be foundational books that I would recommend to someone who’s just beginning to get their feet wet in the fitness/strength & conditioning field. You need to have a basic understanding of anatomy, the energy systems, training theory and testing, and orthopedic testing

Atlas of Human Anatomy by Netter

Physiology of Exercise and Sport by Wilmore and Costill

Essentials of Strength and Conditioning edited by Baechle and Earle

Othorpedic Physical Assessment by Magee

Muscles Testing and Function with Posture and Pain by Kendall

Winning and Losing: Lessons from 15 years of Physically Preparing the Elite Athlete by Ian King

Get Reading!

Later

Afterburn: The REAL Key to Fat Loss

If you've had or are currently having trouble losing fat, it's not your fault.

Now I'm a big believer in taking personal responsibility for where you are in life, and when it comes to fat loss, personal responsibility is a big part of the process.

No one forces you at gun point to eat calorie dense, nonnutritious foods that promote fat storage, right?

No one forces you to spend endless hours of inactivity on your butt in front of the idiot box. If you know the nightly TV schedules by heart, you know who you are.

But again, if you're out there making an effort to really impact your health and physical fitness with a goal of losing fat, I say it's not your fault.

You've been mislead.
You've been misinformed.
You've been lied to.

You've been told to use the wrong technology!

It's not your fault.

Here's what "They" told you to do if you want to lose fat.

1. Eating fat makes you fat and leads to countless health problems.
2. You need to severely restrict your calories.
3. Strength training can't help you lose fat. It only maintains muscle.
4. Aerobic exercise is the key to fat loss.

ALL OF THESE RECOMMENDATIONS ARE WRONG!

Let's attack these one by one.

1. Eaing fat makes you fat and leads to countless health problems.

I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this one. Rather I'll just refer you to some articles by my buddy Adam Campbell Here and Regina Wilshire Here

Trust me...wrong technology.

2. You need to severely restrict your calories

Any time I talk to someone about fat loss they always bring up the concept of metabolism.

"I really have a slow metabolism"

"I need to speed up my metabolism"

Well, what is metabolism?

To make it simple. It's the rate at which you burn food to support all the processes that take place in your body.

It's that rate at which you burn food?

Well, if you severely restrict your calories that means you have less food to burn. In response to this concept, do you know what your body does?

It slows do the rate at which you burn the food that you do eat.

In other words, it SLOWS DOWN your metabolism.

Oops! Wrong technology.

3. Strength Training can't help you lose fat. It only helps you maintain muscle

Pardon me while I chuckle. :)

In less than 2 minutes I can pull a large handful of scientific studies that show how specific weight training protocols increase fat loss from 20 to 38 hours AFTER you finish weight training.

That means that with a proper weight training protocol, not only can you increase strength, gain muscle, but you'll also burn more fat throughout the next day and then some by doing nothing further.

4. Aerobic exercise is the key to fat loss.

This is one of those points that was grossly misunderstood and then got perpetuated throughout the media and the general fitness community.

Because the primary energy source for most steady-state aerobic energy system training protocols (think long distance running) came from fat stores, the belief became that exercising at a specific level of effort or heart rate level in the "fat burning zone" for an extended period of time was the best way to increase fat loss.

Sorry, wrong technology again. In a head to head comparison, steady state aerobic exercise protocols came up short in the fat loss department compared to a form of training called interval training. Interval training is based on alternating short periods of higher intensity effort (more effort that your typical long distance run) with periods of reduced effort activity or even rest.

Are you catching on yet?

Do you see why so many people have trouble losing fat?

We've been told to use the wrong technology.

Imagine if you combined the best technologies of proper fat loss nutrition, strength training, and interval training.

The result is what my friend Alwyn Cosgrove calls the AFTERBURN.

Later

Thank You

It's interesting that we need a holiday to remind us to be thankful for who were are and what we have.

Perhaps we should make efforts to simply be more courteous on a daily basis and be mindful to let the people that are most important to us know that they are important.

However, since this is Thanksgiving and all, I'd like to throw out a general thank you to my friends, colleagues, and family.

There are many who I thank personally, but I won't attempt to list them here for fear of accidentally leaving someone out. I can assure you that I will let you know how much I appreciate you throughout our communications in the near future.

The exception to this rule is my wife, the lovely and talented Mrs. Hartman. I am who I am because of you. Any success that I have and will have is because of you. You give me purpose and strength that you can't imagine. I love you, baby.

Later

We All Need A Coach

“No matter how successful we are, we all need a coach to encourage us, to challenge us, to remind us to live up to our potential.”

Dr. Ken Blanchard, Author of the “One Minute Manager”

Tiger Woods has a coach. Michael Jordan had several coaches throughout his career. In fact, you’ll find that just about ever great athlete performed under the watchful eye of a great coach at some point in his or her career.

My personal level of expertise in the rehab and fitness industries is due in no small part to a series of mentors and coaches that I’ve met and worked with along the way.

Growing and developing a business is no different. The more successful my business becomes, the more I recognize the value of having a business coach. I’d go as far as to say that having a business coach is essential.

As business owners, we tend to become emotionally attached to methods, concepts, or ideas that instead of moving us forward holds us back from achieving our business goals. A coach provides objectivity that allows us to see the reality of our situation.

Questions are answered without personal bias. Details become clearer. Goals become more refined. Progress is reestablished.

On my recent trip to Los Angeles, I had a business consultation with Alwyn Cosgrove. Certainly, he is a friend, but he also happens to have created one of the most successful fitness businesses on every level including fitness training, publishing, public speaking, and information marketing.

Our consult allowed me to make effective decisions where I was once “on the fence” as to how to proceed. Where I was once working hard but less directed, I now have focus to the point where my level of production will match my level of effort.

Consultations like this will now be a regular component of my business development. They are essential.

Later

P.S. Learn how to take your business to the next level from the best in the industry for a fraction of the cost of what you’d pay for an individual consult in Fitness Riches.

I Love LA, Wrap-up

My brain remains on California time. I got home Sunday afternoon and literally crashed. I now sit here tapping away at the keyboard because my brain is functioning like it’s only 8:30 pm LA time.

Here’s a wrap up of my visit to the Mecca.

Got in Wednesday and as I mentioned briefly before, I had dinner with the Cosgroves. Beer of choice: Bass Pale Ale.

Thursday night: Craig Rasmussen, Super-model from Inside-Out fame, drove down from Ventura. It’s like 3 miles away but it took him 3 hours to get to my hotel in downtown LA. Seems there was a wee bit of traffic (did I just way wee bit? That’s what you get for hanging with Alwyn for a few days).

Craig is just restarting up his fitness career in California after a stint in Indianapolis. Craig recently stopped off at Mark Rippetoe’s gym to hang out a bit and ask Mark some questions. Mark has his Oly lifters back squat with a low bar position. His reasoning is that it’s a general lift for the Oly guys because it doesn’t address the specific positioning of the clean like a front squat does. He may have something there. I will say that I disagree with his reasoning on the reason trainees knees will drop in when they squat however. See my blog later this week for why.

Friday: Wrapped up my recert for ART (Active Release Techniques). While I find this process tedious at times, I did get an opportunity to work on Dr. Leahy a few times which is always great feedback on technique…he did develop it afterall.

Got a message from Alwyn and Dos (Robert Dos Remedios, NSCA Strength Coach of the Year) that we’re meeting in Santa Monica. I’m really looking forward to this because I get to hang with the pound-for-pound world’s strongest vegan but also get to have some McEwan’s Export at Ye Olde Kingshead.

I have to take a cab about 3.65 miles (or something like that)…45 minutes later, I get to Santa Monica. I call Alywn who gives me what are apparently directions in Scottish because I walk up and down Santa Monica Boulevard based on his directions and can’t find the bar where he and Dos are waiting. Ah, if I can find Puzzle Zoo (not the bar but apparently a zoo where they keep all the puzzles in California. Must be where all the blondes go to see the puzzles in their natural habitat [my apologies to all three of you intelligent blondes] ).

I go into Puzzle Zoo and Alwyn says "turn around…do you see us." If you haven’t been to the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica, there’s about 10,000 people there. How the hell will I be able to “see” a Scot and a giant Vegan? I finally get directed to a bar called Yankee Doodles where they await my arrival. BTW, there’s a big red neon sign that says Yankee Doodles…couldn’t just say we’re at Yankee Doodles…Then again I'd have missed out on the Puzzle Zoo(that was of course after I almost got hit by a car on Santa Monica Blvd).

Waitress: Destiny (her real name? )
Beer: more Bass (I think?)
Food: Chicken nachos (I must have said “but hold the chicken” at one point ‘cause I couldn’t say that I actually saw any)

Off to Ye Olde Kingshead to meet up with Chris (AKA Kuri from JP Fitness.com)

I get there and immediately ask for a McEwan’s Export. Get this…a Scottish bar that doesn’t have my favorite Scottish Beer. I’m crushed . I suffer with some English beer.

I then Catch up with Chis a wee bit (there it is again!). I can’t seem to get over the fascination of the fact that Chris’ scalp stubble and facial stubble are exactly the same length. That is a skill ladies and gentlemen. I could just be feeling the effects of the atmosphere [beer].

Hot topic...text messaging...I’ve been trying to learn to text message because Dos’ can’t seem to just call me (Since when is “Z” on the damn keyboard).

We did talk a bit of fitness in regard to lower extremity progressions and exercise complexity, but we were rudely interrupted by Tiffany (age 22) and Jessica (age 27) who were pimping the finer points of Heineken Light (I have photos, but because I use my phone for a phone and not a camera, I don’t know how to post them – and please don’t try to email me instructions because I really don’t care…however I do have a rather incriminating screen saver of some well known fitness professionals). They actually had $1.00 coupons so we tried it. It sucked.

Rule number one for branding...never dilute your brand. Ask why Miller Beer went from number one to number 5 (just a guess)? Too many Miller Beers (Miller High Life, Miller Genuine Draft, Miller Ice, Lite Beer from Miller, etc...Remember New Coke).

It’s funny how really important things in the industry come up during conversation, but get mixed in with a bunch of BS, so my blur of a memory doesn’t seem to recall much. However, I can remember the Heineken girls’ names and ages. Hmmm?

Met Dos’ bulldog who apparently also has super powers as it recently recovered from some lethal illness. Bulldogs are cool.

I’m leaving the part out where we went back to my hotel to get my stuff and to head off to Alwyn’s house a day early…it was a wee distance, but took most of the night to get there.

A gracious thank you to the understanding Mrs. Cosgrove.

Saturday: Rachel Cosgrove gets up at 5 AM to run 13 miles in Santa Monica with 300 other endurance addicts, er, I mean athletes. (most would call this a race or a benefit for some worthy charity and get a free t-shirt or something…she seems to actually do it just because she enjoys it).

Everyone: Hey Bill how long does it take YOU go 13 miles?
Bill: about 13 minutes.
Everyone: How can you run 13 miles in 13 minutes?
Bill: I don’t run, I take a car like every other normal human being.

Had a shake and some pills that Alwyn gave me…said they were good for me.

I’m personally very excited about this morning. I get to train at Big John McCarthy’s new 20,000 square foot MMA training facility.

It’s quite an impressive place. A palace for thick-necked, sweaty guys (or gals) who dream of stepping into the octagon and bleeding profusely to the drunken cheers of rabid fans.

Get this. We did a …wait for it… a kettlebell class.

The instructor was a tiny, attractive female named Felicia Oh (http://www.feliciaoh.com/feliciaoh.com/main.html) She seems like a really cool chick. I find out later that she’s ranked number one in the world in BJJ in her class (must be the 56 pound class ‘cause she was tiny – but very muscular…great calves). I made friends to avoid having my ass handed to me by a girl. I could tell she dug me.

Best part of class…I tell Felicia that I’ve never done a kettlebell class. She doesn’t know me from mud and assumes I’m a total newbie not knowing that I'm actually a plant sent by the Anti-kettlebell Commission to infiltrate their Commie HQ. At one point I bent inappropriately to test the weight of a big metal ball with a handle on it (I found out later this was the kettlebell) and she rushes over to give me pointers on the appropriate method to lift a weight from the floor.
I had to chuckle inside.

I must say that I had fun in the class. My whole opinion of kettlebell training has changed. In fact, I’m changing my entire training strategy to training with only kettlebells. They truly are the most effective training tools and methods available.

NOT…they’re still weights with handles, but it was interesting to be trained instead of the trainer for a change.

Question: Why would a Russian Kettlebell Instructor do a Turkish Get-up? BTW, Alwyn did Scottish Get-ups. They seemed much harder.

I did make sure to get the T-shirt as they say and got one for the lovely Mrs. Hartman. She promises to wear it when we play MMA at home.

Later we spent some time with Rachel’s uncle who’s a Hollywood stunt man. For those who’ve seen Vision Quest about high school wrestling, he was the big guy that cheered Matthew Modine when he climbed the wall. He’s 48 now and looks 35. He does mostly stunt work and told me he’s riding a Weber Grill at 50 miles an hour in an upcoming movie. A Weber Grill?

Free ART treatments for everyone!

Just a side note…most endurance athletes have really lousy tissue quality throughout their legs. Rachel Cosgrove? Nope. Just a little ITB band tightness that some foam rolling will take care of. She’s must be a distant relative to Wonder Woman. She’s prepping for her first Ironman distance triathalon in Lake Placid…Kona is not too far away I’m sure.

She came back from her 13 mile run acting like it was nothing. After running 13 miles, I’d need chest compressions and mouth to mouth (visions of Pam Anderson running in slow motion to come rescue me).

Throughout the rest of the day, we talked business and actually did a wee bit of consulting for yours truly to set me up for the coming year. More on this later this week.

We then joined Alwyn’s number one trainer Cameron McGarr (you can now read his stuff in the magazines) for appetizers and more Bass Ale (What is wrong with a soft pretzel and spicy mustard?!!)

We then watch George St. Pierre knock Matt Hughes’ out...twice!! Matt Hughes after the fight, “I just watched the video replay and thought I got knocked out by a punch but it was a kick” Oops!

Beers (Kronnenberg?) with Dos, Omar (who strangely enough I met at the exact same time last year. He’s now a master marksman with the Marines and instructs on the shooting range), The Cosgoves, Cameron and Melissa, and all those fine folks in their black concert T-shirts from 1985.

My thanks to Alwyn and Rachel Cosgrove for allowing me to interrupt their life for a short while, Dos you are THE MAN.

Later

P.S. Be sure to check back this week. Some good stuff coming up.

LA Story 2

Dinner last night with Alwyn and Rachel Cosgrove of Results Fitness in Santa Clarita, CA (you can also find them on the web...everywhere!)
4 or 5 beers and a hamburger on a bun (I'm a cheap date)...it's been a while. Felt it a bit this morning.
I never fail to learn something when I get together with the Cosgrove's. Their business systems are something that every trainer should be doing.
It was also great to see Alwyn healthy and back in training.
More on tap for this evening and then tomorrow night, the pound-for-pound World's Strongest Vegan will join us for more beers [seems to be a theme, eh?]
Bill

Bodybuilder's Shoulder...are you at risk?

Let's see...there's tennis elbow, golfer's elbow, gamekeeper's thumb, house-maid's knee, turf toe, boxer's fracture...well you get the point.

I'm campaigning to add a new diagnosis...Bodybuilder's shoulder.

Here's why.

Given enough time, a large portion of bodybuilders, powerlifters, and general strength training enthusiasts experience shoulder pain.

A study from the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research (J Strength Cond Res. 2002 Aug;16(3):367-72) outlines the findings that the bodybuilders tested showed significant deficits in shoulder internal rotation and relative weakness in the lower trapezius muscles.

The lack of shoulder internal rotation is much like the similar findings in throwing athlete's who experience shoulder impingement.

A quick test to see if you're at risk for Bodybuilder's Shoulder is to assess your full shoulder rotation. A normal test would be considered to have 180 degrees of combined external and internal rotation.

Here's the test...

Put your arm in a "high five" position with the upper arm parallel to the floor and 90 degrees at the elbow,, and the hand facing forward. This is external rotation. Keeping the upper arm in the same position, rotate the hand downward so it now faces backward. This is internal rotation.

The total arc (without moving your shoulder blade!!) should be 180 degrees.

Now if you can rotate further into external rotation than the normal 90 degrees (thrower's tend to have increased external rotation), the increase in external rotation should equal the loss of internal rotation. In other words, as long as the total range of motion is 180 degrees you pass the test.

If you lack 180 degrees of full rotation with a loss of internal rotation, you're more at risk for shoulder injury...Even if you don't have pain right now.

The fix is to start stretching your posterior shoulder muscles and the posterior shoulder capsule until you regain the lost internal rotation.

Try this stretch...







Gently push your hand toward the floor until a comfortable stretch is felt in the back of the shoulder. Hold the stretch for about 30 seconds and repeat 2-3 times. Be sure to avoid shrugging the shoulder. Repeat this stretch frequently throughout the day. Think frequency over intensity to start as it's easy to strain the shoulder in this position.

Later

P.S. If you're serious about your training and want to raise your upper body training performance while preventing injuries check out Inside-Out.

LA Times

A quick note for today

I'm heading out to LA-LA Land [Paris Hilton], Hollyweird [Tom Cruise], The City of Angels [Diane Lane...she's on my wife approved list]...Los Angeles, California, or in the words of the Governator...Kah-LEE-Fo-NEE-Uh. It seems that this trip is becoming a tradition of sorts as this is the second consecutive year I'll be in LA just before Thanksgiving.

I'll be consulting [drinking beers] with some of the top minds in the fitness/sports training/rehabilitation field throughout the weekend as I update my Active Release Techniques skills as well as discuss the finer points of strength and conditioning [drink beers] with the likes of Alwyn Cosgrove and hopefully the NSCA Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year Robert Dos Remedios [The World's Largest Vegan].

Whenever I get a chance to spend time with these guys and discuss the finer points of training [drink beers], I always come away with something new and interesting to think about [hangover] or to integrate into my business or training philosophy [Tylenol].

If I can, I'll update throughout the week.

Later

Loaded Thoughts

*You hear plenty of trainers talk about deloading for CNS recovery (by the way, I question whether it’s CNS but more likely peripheral issues that need the recovery) to dissipate fatigue and allow increased performance to be demonstrated. Rarely have I ever heard anyone mention the importance of deloading or performing cycles of lowered intensity with higher volumes to allow connective tissues to adapt. Connective tissues adapt more slowly than the muscular system does, so prior to periods of intense loading consider a cycle of hypertrophy-based training to produce a protective effect in the connective tissues. Do the same after a heavy strength-based cycle. It could mean the difference between a PR and an injury.

*Set a PR, stabilize your abilities at that new level of performance, repeat.

*Once you set an intensity-based PR (you lifted more weight), you need to follow it with a period of reduced intensity and increased volume regardless of your intended training program. For every increase in your ability to produce intensity there is a reduction in work capacity and adaptation reserves. Training at a slightly lower intensity and increased volume increases work capacity at a higher level of intensity than that prior to the PR and will allow greater intensity to eventually be produced. Trying to set another PR without sufficient adaptability will quickly lead to a plateau or regression.

*The longer your periods of intense loading, the longer your period of deloading and the lower the intensity during the deloading phase. Two steps forward, one step back. Four steps forward, two steps back.

Later