Training Specifics

This week I had a physical fitness test at work (Fire Department). It doesn't mean the department actually cares about my fitness, they do it so they can get federal funding. In other words, they have to have a "Wellness Program" instated in order to get that cash from the guv'ment.

The PT test consisted of nothing spectacular (which I am happy about):
- 1 mile run on a treadmill. (b/c we all know a treadmill mimics running on the ground...)
- Push-ups performed to the cadence of a metronome (total bullshit).
- Sit & reach test. (Still haven't figured out why this test is done across the nation.)
- Body fat done using neck/waist/weight ratio (You could imagine how accurate this is.)

You probably have concluded from my sarcasm the amount of merit I put into this test. I think a lot of it comes from my personal training of myself, so the fact that the department is testing me is almost insulting-- but I understand why they are doing it. Especially when you have a lot of overweight, out-of-shape fireman walking around. Not to mention, it is nice to have the grant money to buy equipment and so on... even though after two years I still have not received my second set of turnout gear... despite national standards, oh well. Another rant for another time.

In any case, while I was mind numbingly running on the treadmill like a hamster on a wheel I was thinking about how training specifically for a task is how you become good at things. Sure there is some carry over from some training, but to be efficient at a task you have to train for that specific task. Running being one of them. One of the "instructors" walked up to me and asked me if I was going to beat so-and-so's 6:17 mile run. My reply was, "Nope, I'm just here because I have to be." Sounds like a horrible disgruntled employee answer, but let me explain.

I never run, not do I care to run or to be good at running. I hate it, I think it is a waste of time, it is horrible on my joints, and it interfers with my training. If someone loves to run, that is fan-freakin-tastic. You don't see me asking the instructors if they want to find a squat rack and measure dicks that way. 

The last time I had ran any further than 80 yards was about 1.5 years ago. So I was quite happy with my 1-mile run of 8:28 seconds. The last time I had ran, I ran a 6:37 mile. Why? Because I was forced to run 3 times a week. So, my body was trained to run. Not now, I do nothing but train for strength and walk with my girlfriend and dog at the park for about 2 miles per day. I do that, because I enjoy it. It gives time for my girl and I to talk, get some low intensity cardio in, and play with our dog. That is it. If I hated it, you wouldn't see me walking. I don't do anything I don't want to do, that isn't how I want to live my life.

I do perform sprints, prowler pushes, and hill sprints when I feel I need the extra conditioning, but this has not been a year round training regimen for me, because I don't feel like I need it. I'm fairly lean, I get through my training sessions fine, and I can perform my job functions well. Basically, I can wear turnout gear, an air pack, and a set of irons and do some work in a hot house. Good enough for me. My goals are specific to me, as they should be for everyone. 

Another test, the push-ups to a metronome, were no different. The interesting thing about this was I scored the exact same as I did about 18 months ago. Why that is interesting is becasue my bench press has improved by 70 pounds during this time. You would think my push-ups would increase because my bench press had increase so much, but it did not. So, again, my body is adapting to specifics. I find this pretty cool.

The reason for this rant, is just to show that if you take a physical fitness test or see someone do something that you don't do regularly-- take it with a grain of salt. Perhaps a tablespoon of salt. I am one of those people that likes to be great at everything, but I have to take a step back and think about what is important to me. Rather than be defensive, I should understand that I am in fact very strong in what I do and I train significantly different than what I am being tested on.

I respect everyone's great achievements, one of the fireman ran a 5:20 mile! Pretty badass, but it should be noted that he runs marathons. He trains to run extremely long distances, so 1-mile for him was probably like a walk to the kitchen to grab a snack.

Bottom-line, do what you do and be as awesome as you can at it.

Maximal Lifting: Controlling Fear & Anxiety

Man the fuck up.

Could you imagine what went through the minds of these young 18, 19 year old kids when they stepped off on to the beaches of Normandy, Omaha, Iwo Jima, Tarawa? This is something I think about day to day, when I am feeling like a bitch in my cozy little life.

Fear and anxiety are a part of our every day life. However, in order to move forward, in order to achieve, in order to succeed, in order to be stronger today than you were yesterday-- you have to remember something... your mind and body lie to you. You still have a choice. Regardless of what you think and feel.

You need to remember that you subconsciously want to be lazy. Your body does not want to do anymore than it has to. It wants to be comfortable. It does not want to have to burn energy and work anymore harder than it has to. Have you ever found yourself feeling sluggish, tired, and lethargic? Therefore the thought of just getting up to take a piss sounds like an all out effort that would be similar to running a marathon while carrying a hippo on your back? Yeah? Me too. Then, you force yourself to do something, say like vacuuming the floor or going to workout, and once you get going you realize you had more energy than you thought? Hell, I've been running off of 2 hours a sleep after a busy 24 hour shift at the Fire Department then I go and have an epic squat session. Even though before my vision was blurred, I was dizzy and the world seemed like a thick fog.

I don't know the science behind all of the brain chemicals and hormones in the body, but I can certainly liken these effects to adrenaline, dopamine, and the like. Before I go on, I am certainly not advocating not sleeping and training when you should certainly rest. Sleep is extremely important for the body. However, one needs to weigh their situation with reality and the way it has got to be. I choose my battles and push myself beyond the pseudo "normal limit" one could say. This is because I understand my mind and body. I know when to ignore it and when to listen to it.

A a very similar thing happens with anxiety towards lifting heavy weights. It is natural and happens to everyone that genuinely pushes their physical and mental barriers.

Controlling Fear & Anxiety

First, a lifter needs to understand why they are feeling anxiety when lifting at maximal, sub-maximal weights, or even just during a challenging training program. Anxiety with lifting generally comes from either one or a combination of these reasons:

• Fear of failure.
• Fear of putting out; hard work. i.e. it is really gonna suck.
• Fear of injury or death.
• Fear of quality performance; performance anxiety.

That is really it and I have experienced every single one of those fears in my time of lifting. I have been lifting weights on and off for about 16 years now, 6 years of how I do now (powerlifting, Russian systems, etc.), and can confidently say I am very familiar with them. The amazing thing is, I no longer experience them any longer, and it is a pleasant freedom to have. I feel I have gotten this way through the experience of never succumbing to them, much like never giving in to being "tired." That is not to say I have never had to do internal battle with them. It is important to note that these fears/anxieties are just as  important to becoming a stronger lifter as the actual physical lifting.

Learning to deal with these is just like learning to deal with dying loved ones, betrayal, social anxiety, discipline in school studies, and so on. You will find the harder you push your mind in the weight room the stronger your mind will become in your everyday life. It is what I always say about why I lift, and why I lift the way I do, because it tempers my mind and soul into something more than just Phil York. Part of the process is learning to deal with these fear and anxieties just like you would outside in your normal life.

To start, look at each one, and realistically analyze them.

Fear of  Failure
Remember, the only person that cares is you, and you alone. You manifest these qualifications of yourself. No one else. You must also remember that failure is what drives all of us. Without failure there would not be greatness and success. There would be no reason for anyone to push themselves beyond the standard. It is why we have personal records, right? I have never met a true success whom has not failed, and failed multiple times. I can not tell you how many times I failed getting to where I could squat 405 lbs before I ever got it, but I eventually got there through persistent failures. In short, the failures were what ultimately made me succeed and find out what worked.

Fear of Hard Work
This is my favorite one and I still feel these viral feelings creep into my head every once in awhile. The best reason I have come to believe for the cause of such anxieties is your body simply telling you, "Hey! You do not have to do this!" The best way to deal with this is to just remind yourself why you are doing what you are doing. If the reason/goal is great enough, you will do anything to achieve it. This is where personality plays a huge role. Some people want things bad enough, some people don't. Bottom line, there is no sense in fearing hard work. It is only your mind trying to talk you out of the uncomfortable experience. Over time, you will feel these less and less because you adapt to harder and harder training. 20 rep squat programs, Smolov, and the like are great programs to deliver lessons in overcoming fear of hard work. It is just hard work. Not a big deal.

Fear of Injury/Death
Certainly a legitimate concern. You just have to rationalize it. I can remember when I first started training my working sets in the high 300's for squats. I remember my mind telling me to rack the weight, rack the weight, rack the weight all of the time! I hate to admit it, but I have listened to those words a few times and every time I regret it as soon as the weight is off me. I realize I was in no real danger, it was just a natural reaction. Your mind realizes that weight could kill you or seriously harm you. In a twisted way, it is why heavy compound lifts are so awesome and why they work. You must keep yourself alive by doing them. Pretty awesome right? In reality there is nothing to fear. If you are using good solid form and are lifting with a spotter or in a rack, you really have nothing to worry about. Keep it in perspective. Lift smart and safe.

Performance Anxiety
Fear of your own personal performance. Whenever you get anxious about how you will perform in your training, break everything down to it's most simplistic form. Which is again, just hard work. If it is a thought of, "How am I going to do this?" Again, break everything down to it's simplicity. If you are using smart programming, especially off of percentages, then that ability to succeed lies within you and you alone. That means, you are capable of doing it. The anxiety comes from self doubt and lack of confidence. Consider the moment when you feel this way an opportunity to prove to yourself that you can do it. If you do in fact fail at the given task, then you are rewarded with a defining point to improve from. Keep your weaknesses closer to you than your strengths, as they are your point men, they will define where you go from here.

Conclusion
Failure is a step to success. Think about that.

Hard work is the corner stone to the development of anything. It is what tempers and molds humbleness, character, and ability.

Rationalize your fears. Never abandon fear, but control it and keep it in perspective.

No one can judge you but yourself. Recognize your weaknesses and keep them in front. It is the only way you will grow stronger in any form.

I simply believe that everyone must find their "reason." A passionate reason at that. It comes in different forms and different areas of our lives. For me, training has been like medication. I can zone away under the bar. Nothing matters outside of my little space. I forget about hardships, pain, and all of the negativity that comes with living. I love squats for this reason. It is the only exercise where I feel like I have to fight with everything I have to win. Every time. The anxiety, the fear, vanishes when you realize none of it matters. It is that natural power of absolute mental struggle that you cause on yourself. It is pure. You must find that special place if it is in you. It may not be, but that is why I do it. I don't know how it is for others-- but for the short moments when I am grunting through an agonizing set of squats again, and again, and again... I am in a world far beyond the physical one I walk.

Find your reason and you will never fail in the weight room again.

Protyazhka. Warming Up For The Squat

Is it bad when I see a baby squat I get jealous? Everyone's goal should be to squat like a baby! Their form is pristine. Properly warming up and good flexibility should be priority before you squat. Below I will share some of my methods for doing so.
For a functional warm-up for your lower body training, give this old school method a try. It is known as a Protyazhka, a Russian Olympic lifter's protocol developed by yours truly, Sergey Smolov.

If you are not familiar with Sergey Smolov and his infamous squat routine check out these two articles: Druge Free Steroid-Like Gains for the Squat and Smolov for Front Squats.

A Protyazhka consists of a snatch grip long pull without any knee dip. It is combined into a combination of a press behind the neck and an overhead squat. Keep in mind, this will be essentially a barbell complex without rest. It will look like this:

Snatch Grip Long Pull 3-5 reps
+
Wide Grip Overhead Press 3-5 reps
+
Overhead Squat 3-5 reps

Do this for a total of four to five rounds.

To perform the snatch grip long pull, without knee dip, imagine the stiff legged deadlift (SDL). Start in the beginning portion of the SDL using a snatch grip. Using your hips only, drive the bar up. Remember, you are not performing an actual snatch overhead, you are just using your hips to drive the bar up.

The wide grip overhead press is to be performed behind the neck.

The overhead squat forces good technique. An overhead squat cannot be performed correctly with any major flexibility or form issues and I am in favor of utilizing this moving before every squat session. It forces one to use good technique, and it is a great motor pattern warm-up for this reason as well.

This circuit is a great way to promote good blow flow, raise core temperature, and stretch out tight areas. I personally use just the barbell, you can also use a broomstick as well. You could add a small amount of weight if you need it to push you into the hole if you are that tight, but remember it is a warm-up.

To take this a step further I like to incorporate the following before every squat session.

Leg Swings 2 x 12-15 swings
Garland Pose 2 x 45 second holds (use the elbows to apply pressure to the inner knee)
Stretch the Piriformis 2 x 20 second holds
Overhead Squats w/ a broom stick 2 x 10 reps
Foam Rolling (focus on, IT Band, Piriformis, quads, & hamstrings)

Slowly work-up to your working sets. If my first working set is say 275 lbs, my work-up will look like this:
45 lbs (bar) x 5-10 reps
95 lbs x 5 reps
135 lbs x 3 reps
185 lbs x 2 reps
225 lbs x 1 rep
Start...

The goal for me everytime is to make sure every weight feels "good." I shouldn't have any tightness, hot spots, or areas that are problematic. If I do 95 lbs for 5 and it feels shitty, I do it again. So, in other words, I don't move up till that weight feels nice and my body is warm with it.

If you do this, it will ensure a pretty awesome squat session every time. You will move bigger weights with better form and feeling better about it. Take the time to warm-up every time you squat!

The Fear of Mortality: A Fireman's Experience.

As a fireman, I see death on a regular basis. I don't experience this any more than say a nurse or emergency room doctor, but in some cases it is so very raw from my vantage point. I am sensitive to this. Without a doubt I keenly observe someone's actions when they are about to embark on this ethereal, yet frightening, experience that we must all face at some point in our time. It makes me weep. I feel for some of these people. The most notable images that stand out in my mind are the elderly, as they generally have this long drawn out ordeal that they unfortunately are well aware of.

When we ran nursing homes as a fire department on a more regular basis (the majority of these calls were cut out of our response directives due to budget savings being that there are qualified medical professionals in these facilities) I ran into this all too often, and honestly I do not know how nurses work in that environment. The look in someone's eyes when they are suffocating from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease day in and day out is a look that it is very horrible when they gaze upon you, clenching your arm for help. I once walked in to a room where some nurses were suctioning out a guys lungs. Just from old age, his lungs were not functioning properly, he was probably in his 80's. God, I still remember his cries and his attempts to pull the suction tube out of his throat, but myself and another nurse held his arms down. He squirmed uncomfortably as the tears rolled down his cheeks. I tried not to look at him directly, but I kept feeling him stare at me with those glassy eyes of sadness... I eventually looked at him. We met eyes.. I stared back into his soul and he saw the anguish in my eyes as I turned the corner of my mouth up to let him know I understood his pain. Fuck, how could I? For a moment, he stopped moving, relaxing momentarily as he starred back at me. The sounds of the fluid being sucked out of his lungs and the nurse talking some gibberish to my Captain faded away and I felt like I connected with this guy for that brief time. I would like to think so. He smelled horrible, blended with the smell of a nursing home-- the piss, shit and bleach... fuck, he probably couldn't smell any of that anymore. I would dry heave every fuckin time I would go in to these places. I hope he is dead now, in a better place... wherever that is. He didn't deserve that bullshit. Nobody does. Every day of his life was a "Hey you son of a bitch, here is some pain before you die."

There was this lady who would always roll her wheelchair through the halls or into a room of another resident/patient when we were there to do whatever. Amongst the screams and yelling in the halls, she was always clutching a Minnie Mouse stuffed animal toy. Here she was, in her late 60's probably, in bad health, left to die in a nursing home. I would always talk to her when I visited. Her children rarely visited her. She was all alone. All she had was that Minnie Mouse toy and her television. She would tear up when I would tell her hello, I never knew what to do. I guess I could have gone to see her on my days off from work, but I simply could not bear to be around that environment any more than those brief moments when we would get called over there. Selfish? Yeah, absolutely.

Her friend on one particular day was one of our patients. I can't remember what was wrong with her, but she was in a lot of pain and we were helping the paramedics get her on the stretcher to transport her to the hospital. She had a stuffed animal toy dog in her bed. I placed it on her chest when she was on the stretcher and she clutched it in her arms like a child. The paramedic looked at me like I was stupid, but I looked back at him ready for him to say anything to me. He didn't, but I can't understand how some people forget that these people are living a pretty shitty life. A stuffed animal might be the only comfort they have, and fuck it, they deserve a young 29 year old fireman to take the 3 seconds to give them that...

I mention both of those ladies, because I find it peculiar on how people will revert to childlike ways when everything is stripped away from them. When I say everything, I don't mean houses, money and cars. I am talking about life. When your life is slipping through your fingers like water, no matter how tightly you clinch your fist-- people will become like children. It is as if that loss of all control to natures inevitable forces, causes them to surrender all that they believed who they were. I have seen it in every person that I have seen die, or about die. That fear, that reaction to death, is honestly something that I think a lot of people do not ever realize until it happens to them. Perhaps, very few are prepared for it... if you can even prepare for it at all. It has certainly changed how I look at people. Even those whom believe they are tough and ready for the worse. They are not.

I was with a younger lady when she took her last breaths from a motor vehicle accident. She was only conscious very briefly before her body shut her brain down to try and stay alive. Her eyes darted frantically for some type of clarity on the situation, as she looked to me and another fireman as we raced to put oxygen on her. She held her hands up as if she had no idea what to do. Her eyes said it all, "I have no idea how to make this different." I didn't say a word to her, we just tried to get to work to hopefully make the situation better. Sometimes, we can't do enough.

If you could imagine the very worst mistake you have ever made-- and that feeling you have when you have made that mistake-- and you know that there is nothing that you can do to reverse the mistake that you have made. Do you understand that sensation I am talking about? I interpret that is what the young lady was feeling on the asphalt. Except, it was her life, and she knew it.

I once had an older fella tell me to throw him in the river and get it over with. Life was bad for him. He was done with trying to beat his disease. If you would had let him, he would have taken his life, I am sure of it.

I... I could go on... There is no point I guess to mention any more examples, but believe me they are there. I think about them from time to time. Usually when I am tired, frustrated with life, and ready to give up doing what society expects of me. I think about all of these people and their deaths. What did any of it matter? What does any of it matter presently?

One of the most peculiar things about getting off of work from the fire station, is the drive home. Watching everyone frantically get to their jobs, get their kids to school, or whatever. I always feel in a state of slow motion. As if death and suffering were these ghostly ethereal beings floating around everyone but everybody is too preoccupied to notice. Sometimes that transition from work to your "day off" is impossible to create. I would talk about bad calls in the beginning with family members or my girlfriend, because you're "supposed to talk about it." That isn't real life. You start to bring people down with you if you shared with them what goes on at work and how you feel about it. It doesn't work. That is just what they tell you, because simply, people will not get it. They are just stories. They weren't there and they'll never, ever understand.

That is unfortunately how it is. We all die. However, some of it is certainly worse for others. I am not sure how I view the fact that I was with someone in their last moments. That is something very personal, something very special in a way. Some of these people made bad choices, sure, some didn't-- it was the cards they were given in this life. Either way, it was personal. That is not to be taken lightly. I hope in some way, I can learn from these people. I hate being a fireman because it is a goddamn reminder of the fragile nature of life. However, I sincerely hope I made that "life to death" transition easier for some. Whether it was by holding their hand through the process or giving them hope that I was going to save them when I could not... I hope they are all in a much, much better place.

Smolov for Front Squats

..and it goes like this.

Recently, I wrote a post regarding my love for the Smolov squat program, called Drug Free Steroid-like Gains for the Squat. A few weeks ago I concluded my run doing the base mesocycle using front squats. I have looked around the internet and have not found too much information about using front squats with Smolov. So here is a basic run down of what I learned, and can share with you, if you are deciding on whether or not you want to do it.

First off, I had all intentions of doing the Intense cycle with the front squats, but knee pain for some reason became an issue. I had no pain what-so-ever during the base cycle, so I was a bit perplexed when it happened during the first week of the Intense phase. What can I say? I had to listen to my body.

Here is my 1-rep max (1RM) test before starting the base mesocycle, this was after doing a few months of an intermediate version of 5x5 I have adopted.

 

That was 275 pounds for a pretty smooth rep. I set my 275 pound max for my 1RM input into Smolov. So my training cycle looked like this:

Week #	Monday	Wednesday	Friday	Saturday
1	195x4x9	205x5x7	220x7x5	235x10x3
2	215x4x9	225x5x7	240x7x5	255x10x3
3	225x4x9	235x5x7	250x7x5	265x10x3
4	Rest	Rest	Rest	Test 1 Rep Max

Here is my 1RM test at the end of the four weeks:

So, that was 325 pounds for one rep. Not too shabby, 50 pound gain for just three weeks of hard work.

I have read a lot about coaches not recommending front squats for over 5-6 reps... Coaches like Charles Poliquin, who know way more than I, advise against front squats for high reps and to treat them like Olympic movements (low reps). Their reasoning is that the upper back can not sustain the load for high reps and you risk kyphosis (upper back rounding) as the muscles fatigue possibly leading to injury or dropping the bar on yourself.

I personally never had a big issue with it. In the beginning I did have a little bit of forward lean (more than needed) from muscle fatigue but this quickly disappeared after the first week and I was pretty upright on all of my sets. I kind of want to take the road of saying your body will adapt to anything. I certainly feel like this was the case here. As with any time I have ever done Smolov, my form becomes exponentially better with squats. My front squats were no exception, even my training partner commented on how well my sets looked more controlled and grounded.

So on the days of 4x9 and 5x7, don't fear them, you will adapt and get stronger. I really feel like my upper back got thicker and stronger in the process. I did add in band pull-aparts to aid in upper back/scapular strength. I did 3 sets of 50 reps with a micro mini band.

As far as additional work, I trained my upper body three days per week. I usually did them on the Monday, Wednesday, and Friday training days. This is what I did:

Monday:
Bench Press 5x5
DB Row 4x5
Band Pull Apart 3x50

Wednesday
Overhead Standing Press 4x5
Pull-Ups 1 x Failure
Face Pull 3x12
Ab Wheel 2x15-20

Friday
Bench Press 4x5, 1x3, 1x8
Chest Supported DB Row 4x8
Band Pull Apart 3x50

Saturday
Ab Wheel 2x15-20

That is pretty much it.

I stretched a lot, as I always do. I feel better physically when I do. About three to four days a week I would walk about 2 miles with my girlfriend and our dog. I never once felt "overtrained" through the process. My diet was pretty casual, probably around 3,000 calories on most days, I didn't track it. I just ate normally, which for me is in the 3,000 ball park, sometimes a little less. My weight did not budge at all, I hovered around 175 to 180 pounds. I do feel I lost some fat, as I visually looked leaner in my mid-section. Again, I did not take measurements as I didn't really care.

Smolov for front squats works just fine, and I would recommend any intermediate or advanced lifter trying to bring up their quad strength to give it a go. As I mentioned before, I did not do the Intense phase, so the might possibly be another animal. It is much harder, if not impossible, to cheat on front squats. So that would certainly play a factor in the Intense phase as a lot of the reps are simply grinded out with nothing but sheer will power and heart. It is more difficult to do that with front squats. Using the base cycle is a quick three work burst to your performance, give it a shot!

Supplements That Are Worth a Damn

One of the things that aggravates me is the supplement industry. Not only are 90% of the supplements out there pretty much bogus, for the price you pay, but the claims are even more so. If you have ever taken a second to really examine a supplement ad, you'll see a teacher's dream for examples of marketing genius. The only thing is, these tactics are old, outdated, and are easy to pick up on.

The claims on the bottles are always full of asterisks and other indicated symbols because they run out of symbols for the many disclaimers. What is even more mind blowing is how easy it would be to make your own supplements. You can buy any ingredient in bulk for a fraction of the cost you would buy it from a dedicated supplement company. Where do you think they buy theirs from? They are not making this stuff in a factory, no, they are combining previously made ingredients from another company, putting it in a bottle or capsules, and slapping a label on it. What drives a supplement companies success is strategic marketing, fancy labels, and sponsoring a "pro" athlete. This is all to drive a name, not a product. Every single sponsored athlete got to their physique/goals/level not by that company, but by many other factors.Then by some magical force that athlete gets sponsored and is all of a sudden saying, "I trust BSN Syntha-6 to help me recover everyday!" or "I wouldn't be at the level I am at now without N.O. Explode!"

I like to hear people talk about how one pre-workout concoction is better than another. It is all the same shit. Different label, different name, different flavor. Then listening to that same person talk about how they can't workout without it. Take apart the ingredients and you will find it is bogus. Take BSN's N.O. Explode for example. People think this shit is amazing because of the energy drink effect and the vasodilation (widening of the blood vessels) that occurs from the nitric oxide, thus making your muscles feel bigger temporarily because of the increased blood flow. In a healthy adult, it doesn't make you stronger and it doesn't make you perform better. It is a psychological effect. If you had some type of cardiovascular disease or diabetes, N.O. could help you perform better-- but in a normal adult it isn't doing anything other than giving you a physical feeling. I will say, studies have shown very high doses of arginine (an ingredient in N.O. Explode) can have a positive effect, but this supplement can be bought as a stand alone far, far more cheaper than the $60 you'll spend on a pre-workout supplement. So I don't write a lengthy blog on case studies, I will leave it at. Do your research and you'll find your answers. I can tell you, many, many studies have been done and people are honestly just drinking really expensive Red Bulls with a lot of added vitamins.

To keep this as short as possible I will list what I feel are the only supplements people need to use. Remember, supplements are exactly what they are called, supplements. That means they supplement your normal daily diet. If your diet sucks, supplements will do nothing for you. Hell, steroids will doing nothing for you if your diet sucks. Neither are the golden ticket. Only proper diet and training will get you your results. Always keep that in mind. Also, it is wise to speak with a physician before starting to use any supplement. Ok, here we go, in no particular order...

1) Protein
Protein is great. I try to get at least 200g of protein per day, sometimes more depending on my diet. I weigh 175 lbs now, so I would recommend what I've found to work, no less than 1g per pound of body weight. I try to get 3/4 of my protein from actual whole food sources, the rest I supplement, usually immediately after my workout. There are different proteins out there such as whey isolate, whey concentrate, whey hydrolysate, casein, vegetable proteins, egg proteins, and the list honestly goes on and on. At some point I might write an article on all of the different types and their benefits. For right now I really believe you can't go wrong with either a blend (most are blends of whey concentrate and isolate) or just simple whey isolate.

Some people will get all freaked out because they read too many internet forums and supplement labels and will tell you that you need a different protein for every part of the day. For the love of the penguins, don't buy into this. Eat a balanced diet, supplement a little protein here and there, and you'll be fine. If you think for a second that protein powder is going to be the defining piece of your ability to achieve your goals-- you need to come out of the fog and start thinking realistically. Don't feel bad if you do think the supplements are what create a physique or strength, I bought into this too at one point! Just find a protein you like the taste of and roll with it.

Currently I have been using Optimum Nutrition's 100% Whey Gold Standard Natural.

I stick with the chocolates and vanillas in just about any protein, I've learned my lesson for ever venturing out of those flavors... I am also a fan of Met-Rx's products.

2) Multivitamin
Unless you are one of the few who do a lot of juicing with vegetables and all sorts of exotic fruits, I would suggest a multivitamin. A lot of people complain about stomach pains when taking vitamins and I have had that experience too. Only when I have taken cheap vitamins like Centrum, Sams Club brand, or One-A-Day do I get stomach pains. Over the last 7 or so years I have experimented with different vitamins, these are the ones I have found work great for me.

• Nature's Way Alive! Whole Food Vitamin, no iron added
• GNC Branded Vitamin's for Men, Mega-Man etc.
• Optimum Nutrition Opti-Men

Now, just like any supplement, vitamins are not necessary-- but if you're like me, I am deficient in some areas of my diet, especially vegetables. I do try to stick to the whole food vitamins the best I can and I always take them with a meal.

3) Fish Oil
Fish oil is pretty awesome.  I have been taking fish oil for 6 years now on a consistent basis. I take around 6g per day. If you eat a lot of fish common sense should tell you that you don't need to take that much. About 1g of oil is in about 3.5 ounces of actual fish. The important components of fish oil are eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). When you shop for this supplement you will find varying prices which generally depends on the concentration of EPA and DHA per 1g of fish oil. The higher the the content of these acids, the better the oil is and the more expensive it will be. The health benefits are pretty outstanding, well studied, and even used in medical therapy. Anything from helping control inflammation, heart health, lower bad cholesterol, lower blood pressure, lower triglycerides, and the list continues. Probably the best quality out there that I have tried is Biotest's Flameout.

The old FlameOut label, they no longer have the shark on there. Super bummed when that happened.

4) Creatine Monohydrate
Till this day people still view creatine as an evil supplement! That should tell you how awesome creatine is. People have tried to blame creatine for even deaths! "High-school baseball player dies at practice, had high levels of creatinine in blood, parents found creatine in his gym bag. Creatine killed him!!!" I just summed up an article I read a couple years ago, crazy right?

Some people, usually parents, believe creatine is a steroid too. These are generally the same people who believe muscle turns into fat as well. They'll look you in the eyes with all truth and logic and tell you, that creatine is steroids! This couldn't be further from the truth. Steroids are synthetic hormones, creatine is a naturally occuring amino acid. Creatine works by increasing the bodies ability to create energy. When creatine monohydrate enters the body, it is turned into creatine phosphate, creatine phosphate helps create adenosine triphosphate (ATP), ATP provides the energy for muscle contractions. Unfortuantely, there is only enough ATP in muscle fibers for a few twitches then it has to draw ATP from the ATP "pool." Creatine helps keep this pool full. With more ATP, the muscles can work longer and harder, and thus become stronger in less time. The awesome thing about this is when you stop using creatine the muscles are still just as strong as when you were using creatine, there is no loss of strength.

Creatine is the most researched supplement in the world and there has yet to be any evidence pointing towards the unsafe use of it. Creatine is found naturally in red meat and fish, and is even created by the body.

With creatine, less is more, because once your ATP levels are full creatine is simply secreted out of the body. I don't believe in the loading protocols you see on the bottles either. I just start taking any where from 2g-5g per day with my protein powder and that is it. I see benefits after about a week of taking it. A lot of people gain weight when taking it because of the increased water retention in the muscles. If I do, its not much. Just remember to drink plenty of water with creatine.

Don't worry about the creatine ethyl esters and other variants. Classic monohydrate works, is safe, and it is cheap. $6.00 for 30 servings at 5g per serving... That is stupid cheap for what it does.

That is it. I've tried all sorts of other stuff out there, but these have stood the test of time. Most importantly these all work and I feel are worth the money. If I could, I would like to get to where I can eat everything I can and ditch the multivitamin. Nothing beats good quality fresh whole foods. Nothing. The most important things you can do for your training are a good diet in accordance to your goals and quality sleep. Supplements should be the last thing you think about, or spend your money on. If I only had enough cash to choose between food and supplements, I would be buying packs of meat, pasta, and vegetables.

Honestly, don't waste your time with all of the other stuff. Save your money or use it for something beneficial like a steak burrito, a tank of gas to drive somewhere cool, or some new music. Hope this helps.

Is Overtraining Misunderstood?

I have always battled with accepting the idea of overtraining, also called overreaching, and applying the concepts to my training. In case you are not familiar with this concept, overtraining is essentially a physical, behavioral, and emotional reaction when physical activity exceeds the bodies ability to properly recover from physical exertion. It can cause loss of strength and muscle mass, inability to sleep, irritability, and negative changes in the brain-- among many other effects. In otherwords, it is believed that it is possible for someone to exercise harder than their body will allow which in return causes a bunch of bad shit to result physiologically.

Now, I am not debating the fact that overtraining causes a physiological effect, it does, it is why we get stronger. I am questioning the idea that it is bad, and more importantly, what percentage of the training population should be concerned with overtraining. I am also not an expert in neuroscience, nor neurobiology, but I come from a physics background and one thing that taught me was to find out why things happen. What causes them to work or behave like they do... I don't like taking much for face value, rather I try to find holes in the logic of something, like a statistic for example. If all you ever did was believe everything at face value, you will live your life being severely misinformed. Take this wonderful statistic for example:

100% of people who drink water will die.

That is not a lie, at all. It is 100% true! Seriously, everyone who drinks water will die, right? Of course. This happens all the time, we're only looking at a very small slice of the puzzle. If you read this statistic at face value you will not want to drink water, because apparently everyone who does, parishes. The same can be said for overtraining, why does the body have certain responses to overly intense physical exertion? Instead of simply accepting that the body having this response is automatically bad for you, let's explore it...

If Overtraining Is Such A Prevalent Concern...

 ...then why are the so many people who push well beyond this so called physical limit to become more awesome? My first example is undoubtedly the most badass military unit on the planet, the United States Navy SEALs. I've had a fascination with this group of guys since I was a kid, I've always admired them. Let's take a look at the training one must undergo to just be considered for a spot on the SEAL Teams-- BUD/S (Basic Underwater Demolition / School). On a small slice of land in Coronado, California, you will find a school called BUD/S. This is a 24 week school one must endure to move on to further specialized training. The attrition rate is generally around 80%. Sure, I will acknowledge that some of these are due to stress and overuse injuries. However, this is where I will address the issue that one most build up and train their body for a given task. You can't take raw metal and expect it to perform like steel, it most be tempered.  Plus, shit happens.

Drown proofing. Its like swimming but with your hands and feet tied.

If you're curious or don't know a lot about this training, I encourage you to read about it. There are tons of books on it. For the sake of this article, let's just look at Hell Week. This particular week falls into the first phase of training and is five and a half days where the trainees only get 4 hours of sleep for the entire week, they run about 200 miles during these days, are still expected to perform evolutions, all the while doing everything else like swimming, carrying boats on their heads, etcetera. How's that for overtraining? There is a reason the President gives these guys the high end jobs like killing Osama Bin-Laden, because they put out and get results.

Let us also take a look at elite level olympic lifters, or even amateur level olympic weightlifting. It is not uncommon for these men and women to squat twice a day, 7 days per week, also while performing the competition lifts like the snatch and/or the clean & jerk. Some gyms even advocate working up to a max every day for their athletes, which defies all conventional wisdom you see in 99% of the gyms across the globe. That basically gives an uppercut and roundhouse kick to the notion that you must only train a body part when it is not sore and never train a muscle group two days in a row. If they took this soft and pansy-like mentality you would not see the impressive numbers being put up today in olympic lifting meets all around the globe.

Chest and back splits? Nope.

Benoît Lecomte swam 3,716 miles in 73 days across the Atlantic ocean... you read that right. In 1998, this badass was followed by a boat that emitted a 25 foot electromagnetic field to ward off sharks. I great white shark followed him for 5 days. To prepare for this great feat, he swam for 5 hours a day, 6 days per week.

Shaolin Monks balance on their heads for hours to strengthen their necks for fighting... 

Just chillin' and taking a load off.

The Princeton Crew Quintathalon rows twelve miles, bikes seventeen miles, then runs a 10k, then rows another 15k on a rowing machine followed by about 50 stair sprints... 

Those are all just a few examples. A fantastic analogy said by owner of Average Broz Gymnasium, John Broz:

  

"If you got a job as a garbage man and had to pick up heavy cans all day long, the first day would probably be very difficult, possibly almost impossible for some to complete. So what do you do, take three days off and possibly lose your job?

No, you'd take your sore, beaten self to work the next day. You'd mope around and be fatigued, much less energetic than the previous day, but you'd make yourself get through it. Then you'd get home, soak in the tub, take aspirin, etc. The next day would be even worse.

But eventually you'd be running down the street tossing cans around and joking with your coworkers. How did this happen? You forced your body to adapt to the job at hand! If you can't' squat and lift heavy every day you're not overtrained, you're undertrained! Could a random person off the street come to the gym with you and do your exact workout? Probably not, because they're undertrained. Same goes with most lifters when compared to elite athletes."

– John Broz 2002

 Well said. 

What about injuries. Well, injuries happen, it is part of the game. I've never met anyone that has accomplished something great that did not have some unfortunate event happen to them. You name the situation, you'll probably find something that stood in their way-- its the way it works. World record holder in powerlifting Matt Kroczaleski is a great individual for this discussion. He believes people can come back from pretty much anything... He has this to say,

"None of us ever want to experience a serious lifting injury, but many will. The longer you stay in the sport and the stronger you become, the greater the odds that at some point you'll be faced with a serious injury. Due to my strength level and approach to training, I've suffered more muscle and tendon tears than just about any active competitor I know.
I've torn my left calf, right quad, left pec, left lat, my groin on both sides, my lower back numerous times, both biceps, right triceps once, and my left triceps three times including the most recent tear which required surgical repair of the tendon.
Three of the injuries resulted in me being wheeled into an operating room for surgical repair and many others required an extensive rehab. I've also separated my right acromio-clavicular joint, dislocated my right shoulder, and even pushed myself to the point where I caused intracranial bleeding – on two separate occasions."
 -Matt Kroczaleski
 

Matt Kroc

Look up videos of Matt "Kroc" training, you'll be impressed with his intensity. 

I come from a climbing background, so one more fantastic story to mention is Joe Simpson's and Simon Yate's first ascent of Siula Grande in the Andes Mountains. A 20,813 ft alpine route they did in 1985. There is a book and a movie published on this incident, called Touching The Void. After their successful ascent, on their descent from the summit Simpson slipped and broke his right leg by crushing the tibia into the knee. Bad weather was closing in on them and they had ran out of fuel for their stove so they could not melt snow for drinking water-- thus they could not could stick around. In an effort to descend down on a very steep portion of the descent, Yates had to lower Simpson over this area because of his injured leg. During this process, Simpson and Yates could not see or hear each other because of the howling weather and terrain. Yates had unknowingly lowered Simpson into mid-air over a cliff. Simpson had tried ascending the rope to free himself of hanging in mid-air, but his hands were too frost-bitten to properly tie the knots to do so and inadvertently dropped the Prusik cord. So, here Simpson floated. Unable to be lowered any further, unable to go up, and unable to communicate. They remained in this position fora few hours and the snow around Yates' belay seat began to give way, cold weather began to take its toll, and Yates' had no idea what had happened to Simpson. Yates had to make a decision, because both just sitting there exposed each of them to death. 

Siula Grande, Peruvian Andes Range. Not too many hospitals close by.

Simon Yates decided to cut the rope which sent Joe Simpson falling into a deep crevasse. Yates dug a snow cave and waited the night out and descended the next day. Upon his descent, he realized what happened to Simpson and called out his name, but heard no reply. Assuming that he had died in the fall he ventured back to base camp. Simpson however was very much alive. Despite having a broken leg, falling onto a ledge in a crevasse, and going unconscious for a period of time-- he was still alive and regained consciousness. Simpson managed to lower himself deeper into the crevasse and eventually found his way out through a steep snow slope. He then spent three days without food and very little water crawling 5 miles back through a glacier navigating more crevasses to base camp returning only moments before Yates' depart for civilization. 

With that story in mind, I think it is safe to say most "experts" would have deemed this situation as a certain death for Joe Simpson. He literally pushed his body to his absolute limits, for the sake of staying alive. His body had two options, stop and die, or keep pushing. I couldn't imagine the amount of will power this feat required. I relate this to anything else when it comes to pushing the body, the majority of people do not have a clue as to what they are capable of as a human. If a doctor told me I was going to die unless I added 100 pounds to my squat in a month, I can guarantee you I would be squatting every day, multiple times a day, to make this happen. Apply some extreme unconventional logic to everyday things and it can certainly change how they appear.

So What Is Going On In The Body?

 Now that we have seen some defiance in the logic of what constitutes the "norm," should we really be worried about taxing the central nervous system and the body? A great article I read a while back broke it down like this. I don't remember where I read it, but it has stuck with me.

When we train our bodies with weights, or whatever, there is more than just your muscles, tendons, and ligaments that are being trained. Our brains are being adapted as well. When you warm up in your routine to lift heavier weights, you are not only warming the muscles, stretching soft tissue, introducing more synovial fluid into the joints, or raising the body temperature- but you are priming the nervous system for the tasks at hand. Your brain directly responds to training by the chemicals it uses to make your body work, in short, it changes its structure chemically from physical stress. The central nervous system  (CNS) does not operate like the electrical impulses in a power cable you would plug into your wall to charge your computer. It operates by chemicals to the nerve impulses, or neurotransmitters to synapses. Synapses allow a nerve cell to pass a signal (chemical) to another cell. Neurotransmitters are the chemicals in which pass the signal across the synapses. These chemicals are what make everything work in the body. The electrochemical reaction is the reason electrical impulses are detected, because they are a byproduct of this process. A big reason why we get stronger when we train is because the nerves develop more receptor sites and a greater amount of neurotransmitters are made to result in a stronger impulse. 

When a greater than usual stress is placed on the nervous system it gives it a reason to adapt. So if you start a routine of squatting heavy every day, and you previously did not do this, the body will then realize it isn't prepared to handle the work load. Thus it will began to make changes in order to survive from the demands placed upon it. So, the brain will shut down certain functions in order to go through this period of adaptation. This is the reason for some of the side effects of overtraining. Serotonin is a major component in muscle contraction and how hard it contracts. Serotonin is also the main hormone that effects our happiness, mental outlook, willingness to go train and do things. A lot of this is used when lifting maximal weights and thus why this effects our mood. 

So when this sudden demand gets placed on the body serotonin receptors get shut down in order to be upgraded. This period of adaptation can take days or weeks, and a person will feel the effects of it. Serotonin also regulates appetite, sleep and your cardiovascular system. Which is why these are also effected during this time of change. Naturally, your brain is giving you signals to stop whatever it is your doing so it doesn't have to make these changes. The human body and brain are always  looking for the easiest method for survival, it is why we get pleasure from things like sleeping, eating, and being lazy. This is exactly what you don't want! You want to push through this process in order to put the greatest demands on the body to receive the greatest adaptation. 

This is why high volume, high intensity, high frequency programs are so difficult; such as Smolov or Bulgarian lifting methods. Because they do not make you feel good! However, it is also why they work like no other program. A lot of people lift weights and exercise because it makes them feel good, they are essentially addicts like a drug user is. When you lift lighter weights serotonin is raised but their is no adaptive response from the brain. So all you get is the feel good affect much like someone who is snorting a line of coke.

Conclusion

This is hopefully something you can consider in your training. I firmly believe in understanding why we feel and react the way we do to certain aspects of our lives. The body is very complex and I am not in any shape or form saying there are not more pieces to the puzzle. Though, in my personal experience in training I've managed to send my training volume through the roof by forcing myself to train through some very bleak moments. Moments when I was tired, sore, and felt like my body couldn't take anymore-- I was back in there doing it again, and again. Surviving these moments has adapted my body to be able to handle greater training loads. I firmly believe if you don't have swollen hot joints, you can probably train, regardless of how you "feel."

Easy Delicious Homemade Pizza

One of my favorite foods during training cycles and really any other time of the year is pizza. I love pizza. However, I am not a huge fan of the run of the mill chain pizza joints such as Papa Johns, Pizza Hut, or Dominos. For me, they are entirely too salty, have sub par ingredients and usually leave me feeling like crap. Here is a simple recipe I use for making my own homemade pizzas. Everyone I make them for enjoy them more than the above restaurants and I still feel awesome after eating a whole one by myself.

You can use whatever toppings you want obviously, but for a pepperoni pizza here is the macro nutrient break down for one whole pizza:
Calories: 2333
Fat: 80g
Carbs: 273g
Protein: 127g

Take off the pepperonis and you'll drastically reduce your fat and sodium. Some of my favoritre topping combos are:
Pepperoncini and Ham
Bacon and Red Onion
Green Peppers, Onion, and Pepperoni
Ham and Pineapple

A huge part of the taste of the pizza are the ingredients! If you buy cheaper ingredients, expect a cheaper tasting pizza. Even still, one pizza probably cost me about $5 to make. I will list exactly what I use.

Ingredients You Will Need
-1 pack of Martha White Pizza Crust Mix
-Extra Virgin Olive Oil
-2 Cups of Sargento Mozzarella Cheese
-8 oz. of Dei Fratelli Pizza Sauce
-Might need a little bit of flour. See steps below.
-Hot Pepper Flakes (optional)
-Toppings of your choice (again buy quality ingredients)

Tools You Will Need
-12 inch pizza pan (or there abouts, whatever)
-2 Medium sized bowls, preferably at least one metal one.
-1 Fork
-An oven.
-A good attitude and a little patience.
-Some Amos Lee playing in the kitchen.

Steps To Making 2000 Calories of Delicious Pizza

• This step can be the hardest, but gets easier the more you do it. Find a medium sized bowl and a fork to mix your crust in. Open crust mix and pour into the bowl. Pour a 1/2 cup of hot water into the bowl along with ~1 teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil. Mix vigorously (ha! love that word) until it appears to be all stuck together. There are two possible problems at this point you will run into, don't fret both are easy to fix...
• Problem one, you didn't pour enough water. So, your dough is a big dry blob resembling a wet ball of chalk or there are a bunch of pieces in your bowl and it isn't all stuck together. Simply add a little water, little, as in like a teaspoon. Work the water into the dough with your hands. 
• Problem two, your dough is too sticky. If your dough is sticking to your hands and everything else you'll need to add a little flour. You can be generous with it, it really isn't going to hurt anything. I do it over the sink to save clean up time. What you will be doing is using the flour while you knead the dough. 
• So once you have your dough mixed and you will need to knead it for a minute or so to get it pliable and such. The consistency you're looking for is a smooth even texture. Doesn't have to be perfect, its just fuckin pizza.
• In your metal bowl, pour a little more olive oil to cover the bottom of the bowl. Put your dough in it and cover the dough with the olive oil, cover the bowl with a lid.
• You will need to let your dough rise. There are many ways of accomplishing this, all you're wanting to do is let a little heat to the dough. What I do to speed up this process is I use my kitchen sink. Put a drain plug in the sink drain and fill enough hot water in your sink to place your metal bowl (with the dough in it and covered with a plate or something) in the water. Be careful not to let the bowl tip over and the water ruin your dough. Use as hot of water as possible. Which is why we use the metal bowl, conduction... Science is awesome. Let your dough rise for about 20 minutes or so. It'll be noticeably larger and slightly spongy. While your dough is rising, preheat your oven to 475 degrees fahrenheit.
• Next, place your dough in the center of your pizza pan and spread it out. This takes practice to develop your own technique. Basically start by pushing out from the center and evenly spread out from the center to the edges of the pan. Another technique is by putting a bunch of dimbles in the dough with your fingers and then pressing the dough and repeating this process over and over. If you need clarification, leave a comment or email me.
• Once you get your dough pressed on the pan, I personally preheat the dough. This helps get your crust slightly more done than if you put everything on raw dough, it basically avoids having overly soft crust that has no integrity to it. Place the pan in the oven for about 6 minutes on the center rack. The dough should be slightly more yellow when you pull it out and no longer be spongy, it will be easier to spread your sauce.
• Spread your sauce. I will use about 8 ounces to a pizza. Spread it out evenly with a spoon. Not enough sauce will drastically reduce the flavor of the pizza, too much will leave your pizza crust wet. Try using 8 ounces and see how it works for you. 
• Shake some hot pepper flakes if you like a little heat and spicy flavor to your food.
• Cheese! Fuck yes, cheese is awesome. I use about 2 cups per pizza. Again, not too much, not too little. When the cheese is cold, it is okay to see some sauce underneath, when it melts, you will have an even layer of cheese that covers the sauce. Spread it evenly, okay we got that...
• Next, put your toppings on... whatever toppings you like. Be creative, be simple, do what you want because you know what? Its your fucking pizza!
• Now place your oven in the pizza... or uhhh... place your pizza in the oven. You'll bake it for about 8 minutes. Times will vary of course so keep an eye on it. You're wanting some browning around the edges and all of the cheese melted across the pizza. If it looks like it is ready to eat, holy shit, it is probably ready to eat.
• Pull your pizza out and let it cool for about a minute or two, this way your slices won't fall apart from the cheese still cooking. Slice it into whatever sized slices you want and enjoy. 

This whole process takes me about 45-60 minutes to do, because most of it is waiting on the dough to rise and everything to cook. So you have a lot of down time to clean up your shit, that way when you're done eating you can sit your ass down and relax. It might take a couple times to dial the whole dough handling thing, but it really isn't a big deal. You'll eat pizza more often if you learn to make these and they're a whole helluva more healthier for you too. If you like beer! Some great beers that go well with the pizza, I think, are...

 Highland Brewing Companies Oatmeal Porter is a robust beer that is dark with malty and hoppy balance, with a hint of chocolate roasted flavor. Nom nom nom!

 

Red Oak is an old style amber lager that is very smooth and is very unique to any lager I've had. Nom Nom Nom!

New Belgium's 1554 is another brew darker in color. This is probably one of my favorite beers. It is consider a black ale and the original recipe for this beverage was lost during a flood in Fort Collins Colorado in 1997. The brew masters traveled to Belgium to find the recipe again through antiquated scripts... Which is an amazing thing about beer, it is like experiencing history when you can sample some of the old recipes from many, many, many generations ago. Pretty cool. Cheers. Oh, yeah enjoy the pizza!

Strength Standards: Are You Strong?

Self Made.

 These are what I believe constitutes a strong male. See where you rank!

Squat
2.0 x body weight - Great
2.5 x body weight - Excellent

Deadlift
2.5 x body weight - Great
3 x body weight- Excellent

Barbell Bench Press
1.5 x body weight - Great
2 x body weight - Excellent

Bent-Over Barbell Row
Equal to Bench Press

Strict Overhead Press (standing)
.75 x body weight - Great
1 x body weight - Excellent

Power Clean
1.3 x body weight - Great
1.7 x body weight - Excellent

Pull-Ups
20 reps at body weight- Great
25+ reps at body weight - Excellent


Dips
60+ reps at body weight - Great
80 reps at body weight - Excellent


Single Leg Squat
If you can do them- Great
20 reps at body weight - Excellent

 Prowler Pushes
10 x 40yd x 90lbs sprints - Great
Anything above that! - Excellent

400m Sprint
<60 seconds - Great
<51 seconds - Excellent

500m Swim (any stroke)
<9:00 minutes - Great
<8:00 minutes - Excellent

This is not by any means derived from a national strength and conditioning source or competitive list directly.  We all have different contributing factors that may make us weaker or stronger in a given area. However, I believe these are very true judgements of someones athletic ability. Here is my reasoning:

The Squat. The only other exercise that might beat this is the front squat, where your numbers will be slightly lower. Both exercises are a true test of someones total body strength, stability, flexibility, and mobility. In order for someone to reach proper depth they must encompass all of these traits. It is outstanding the number of gym goers who lack the ability to perform the squat with a heavy load. Remember, it is not a squat if you do not reach parallel or lower, meaning hip crease below the knee joint.

The Deadlift. Seriously, how strong are you if you can not pick up something heavy off the ground? The deadlift is another excellent test for someones total body strength. It requires tremendous leg, back, grip, and core strength to perform this exercise using heavy weights.

The Bench Press. This is the famed exercise you see 90% of the population perform. Some coaches argue that the bench serves no purpose in the athletic arena... I agree and disagree with this. I believe it is an important exercise for overall shoulder stability and health, plus building upper body mass. There literally is not another exercise you can perform with the same poundage in the horizontal pushing plane. For that reason, I believe it is a great measure of upper body strength-- however, it is one of the lesser important ones. I personally do not focus on my bench, I treat it more as a supplemental movement. A lot of folks get into trouble with this exercise for not performing equal back work in proportion to there bench. Which brings me to the next one...

The Bent-Over Barbell Row. I feel this exercise should be performed with the torso at almost 90 degrees to the floor. Too often I see guys performing "rows" with an almost complete upright posture... this is a shrug at best not a row. Most trainees can not perform this exercise because they lack sufficient hamstring, glute, and lower back strength when the weights get challenging. What I always try to remember is that your row should be a mirror of your bench. Your back muscles are unbelievably strong and can take a lot of volume, if you lack this in your training regimen, injuries will eventually occur.

Strict Standing Overhead Press. This exercise is extremely difficult for me, and most others. It is slow to progress if performed correctly and is very taxing on the body. For shoulder strength this is an admirable exercise. No leg drive!

Power Clean. Another difficult exercise that tests total body power. Albeit there is a huge learning curve with the technique of it, once learned it can be a game changer for an athlete's or gym rat's strength development. It also builds a ridiculous back.

Pull-Ups. This is one of those "man exercises" that every guy should be able to do. Most guys, like other super challenging exercises, use excuses on why they can not do them. There is not an excuse. I've seen 250 lbs big boned guys perform 20 pull-ups and not even break a sweat. Like the squat, this is an exercise that simply a lot of guys can not do. If you cannot pull your own body up multiple times, this should be a huge indication of your relative strength to weight ratio.

Dips. Simple, it is another test if you suck at the bench! Dips are another excellent exercise that evaluates true upper body strength and endurance.

Single Leg Squat. I can still remember the first time I tried a single leg squat, it was humbling to say the least. I perform them periodically to make sure I can still do them. I use a box when I do them so when I squat down my free leg does not touch the ground. This way I can never cheat and all of my body weight stays on the working leg. These, in my opinion, are a better option than box step-ups for that reason.

Prowler Pushes. If you have done them, you know why... These always make me feel extremely out of shape!

400m Sprint. I am a huge fan of the 400m sprint. It tests both anaerobic and aerobic functions of an athlete. If performed as an all out effort one most utilize both components. I believe long duration runs are not meant for humans to do. It breaks down joints and causes atrophy in the muscles. I could write an entire article on this subject, for later perhaps.

500m Swim. Swimming is widely influenced by technique. I throw this one in here because swimming is a fundamental skill for humans. If you can not swim, you can not independently function on 71% of the planet. For this test, any stroke will do. Just like sprinting, squatting, doing pull-ups-- swimming falls in line with these skills, because they are all just that, skills. However, swimming is also a great test of how a person performs in a semi hypoxic environment and can control their breathing under physical stress.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, we all have our personal limiting and contributing factors. Keep in mind too, when I write "great" or "excellent," it can be relative. You know? If you come close to "great," that is pretty friggin awesome. Keep shooting for higher goals. We all have other things going on in our lives. I personally just keep striving for more in my life. Whenever I find I fall short on something, I try to take a hard honest look at myself and ask if I am making an honest effort or if I am just accepting my weaknesses. Sometimes we must accept a weaker quality of ourselves, but I truly believe that 95% of the time, we can transform those in to strengths.

Drug Free Steroid-like Gains for The Squat

The squat is commonly regarded as the king of all exercises-- for good reason. If I were locked up in a cell and was told I could only perform one exercise, it would be the squat. There is nothing else that will train the entire body and test the fortitude of a person more. It is simply the only exercise that has taught me a lot about myself and has continued to help pave my way through personal excellence. The squat is like a beacon when stranded out at sea-- it keeps me on course. It never fails to remind me where I am as a human

A lot of people hate squats. I did too at one point in my life, pretty much my first couple years of seriously getting into lifting. I never did them, I hated the way they made me feel, and how it seemed like it would take 2 weeks for me to recover from doing them. It was always such a humbling exercise; it crushed my ego. I can still remember when I could barely squat 205 lbs with marginal depth and form... how embarrassing...

Fast forward years later and I got a reputation at my old gym as the "Squat Master." I certainly felt like I did not deserve such a name, and still don't. There are plenty of people who are much stronger squatters than me. One quick search on YouTube will send you into "Inadequacy Ville."Although, having been given such a name raises the issue of why I was given that name-- because no one else took squatting as seriously as I did. It is as simple as that. When I was at Appalachian State University studying physics, in my free time I did only a few things. One of those things was squatting, and it was there I discovered a very powerful squat routine in Russian origin...

Squat! Again!

Meet Sergey Smolov 

S.Y. Smolov, Russian Master of Sports, designed a 13 week squat routine that is commonly referred to as simply, Smolov or the Smolov Squat Routine. It was originally made popular in published works by Pavel Tsatsouline and has since become more popular over the years. I did my first Smolov cycle in 2008 and started with a 275 lbs 1RM (1 Rep Max) and ended with a 350 lbs 1RM. I was ecstatic to say the least because that is a 75 lbs increase in 13 weeks! I can still remember how amazed I was and how the hard work really paid off. However, I got more than just a 75 pound increase in my squat-- oh yes. My squat form got ridiculously better. My entire body was more muscular and I dropped fat, even while eating a ton of calories. My deadlift increased despite not deadifting any. Most importantly, I learned what true hard work was and I learned I could push my body far beyond what normal people do in the gym. After finishing Smolov, it really makes everyone's workout routines look like a child's game-- seriously. Smolov is fuckin intense. The best way I can describe it is a religious experience.

If you read around the interwebz, you'll find all sorts of conflicting information about the routine. Some people say it was designed for lifters on steroids and it is too much for a natural lifter to handle. I'm here to tell you that is bullshit. I've never touched a steroid in my life and I have successfully completed Smolov twice, with great results and no injuries. Did my body hurt? Yes. Did I feel like squatting on really any of the days? Nope! Perhaps, I'm like a sadomasochist and I enjoy the punishment... I'll tell you this though, there is no where else in my life that challenges my mind and body like this program does, which is probably why I love it-- not to mention, you are rewarded with outstanding muscular and strength gains. 

The Mad Commie Cycle
Smolov is broken up into 5 mini cycles to comprise one 13 week macrocycle.
1. Introductory Microcycle (2 weeks)
2. Base Mesocycle (4 weeks)
3. Switching (2 weeks)
4. Intense Mesocycle (4 weeks)
5.Taper (1 week)

**Set/rep schemes are read as (1RM% x SET x REP). So 85%x5x2 is read as 85% at 5 sets of 2 reps.
Percentages are based on your tested one rep max (1RM).**

The Introductory Microcycle is essentially a preparatory phase for all of the pain and anguish that lies ahead. It is designed to bring you up to at least 90% of your 1RM in the first week. 
In week 1, the first three days are consecutive days of squatting followed by 3 days of lunges. Do not worry about the weight you use on your lunges, rather focus on stretching the thighs.

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

65%x8x3, 70%x5, 75%x2x2, 80%x1 65%x8x3, 70%x5, 75%x2x2, 80%x1 70%x5x4, 75%x3, 80%x2x2, 90%x1 3x8 (lunges) 3x8 (lunges) 3x8 (lunges)

In week 2 you will squat every other day working up to 1 set of 5 at these given percentages:

Monday Wednesday Friday

80%x1x5 82.5%x1x5 85%x1x5

The Base Mesocycle is the next 3 weeks of hell on Earth followed by a week to test your new 1RM so you can remind yourself why you are doing this. You will squat four times per week and will often find yourself wishing you had just stuck to your usual routine. It will take a lot of intestinal fortitude to get through this cycle. Upon testing your new max, you should expect a gain of 20-50 lbs. The Base Mesocycle looks like this:

Week #	Monday	Wednesday	Friday	Saturday
1	70%x4x9	75%x5x7	80%x7x5	85%x10x3
2	(70%+20lbs)x4x9	(75%+20lbs)x5x7	(80%+20lbs)x7x5	(85%+20lbs)x10x3
3	(70%+30lbs)x4x9	(75%+30lbs)x5x7	(80%+30lbs)x7x5	(85%+30lbs)x10x3
4	Rest	Rest	Rest	Test 1 Rep Max

*In weeks 2 and 3, you will add weight (20-30lbs) to whatever weight you did in week 1. So, say if you did 315 lbs on Saturday of week 1-- you will do 335 on week 2, and 345 on week 3 for the Saturday sessions.

The Switching Phase is basically a well deserved vacation. To quote Sergey Smolov, the motto of the switching phase is "Speed, and speed again!" There is not a published regimen for these 2 weeks that I can find, but the idea is to focus on dynamic effort while giving your mind and body a break. You can substitute in things like cleans, squat jumps, and even leg presses. Whatever exercises you do choose, focus on explosive power and speed. As far as percentages are concerned-- 50-60% would be a good ballpark for everything.  What I have done in the past is this and find it works well...

Monday Wednesday Friday

Box Squat 10x2 Power Clean 8x3 Box Jumps 8x3

 Do that for both weeks 1 and 2 of the switching phase.

If you're concerned about keeping the nervous system adapted, you can perform a squat negative. I would personally put it in place of the box jumps, and simply perform just 1 rep adding 10-20lbs to your 1RM from the Base Mesocycle. Place the safety pins in a power rack to the exact height where the bar would be in the bottom of the squat (you could also use jerk blocks). Execute the exercise slow and controlled, and make sure to have someone spot you. 

The Intense Mesocycle follows the switching phase, and this is the next episode of a Saw movie but in real life and without the cheesy Billy Jigsaw puppet.

Even Jigsaw wouldn't wish Smolov on his poor victims.

 This 4-week block was designed by Moscow's powerlifting and weightlifting coach I. M. Feduleyev and is good for yet another 25-45 lbs added to your 1RM. Yet like the rest of the program, you pay dearly for these type of results. As you will see below, you are only squatting 3 days per week in this cycle, but don't get too excited. You will be lifting at almost superhuman levels of volume, frequency and intensity. Your legs will transform into hydraulic pistons of anger and steel. You will use your new one rep max from the end of the Base Mesocycle!

Week #	Monday	Wednesday	Saturday
1	65%x3 75%x4 85%x3x4 85%x5	60%x3 70%x3 80%x4 90%x3 85%x2x5	65%x5 70%x4 80%x5x4
2	60%x4 70%x4 80%x4 90%x3 90%x2x4	65%x3 75%x3 85%x3 90%x3x3 95%x3	65%x3 75%x3 85%x4 90%x4x5
3	60%x3 70%x3 80%x3 90%x5x5	60%x3 70%x3 80%x3 95%x2x3	65%x3 75%x3 85%x3 95%x4x3
4	70%x3 80%x4 90%x5x5	70%x3 80%x3 95%x4x3	75%x3 90%x4 80%x3x4

After the Intense cycle, you will begin the 1 week Taper which is primarily geared towards someone peaking for a competition. You will squat one day this week and test/compete for a new 1RM. Your week will look like this...

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

Rest 75%x4, 85%x4x4 Rest Rest Rest Test New 1RM

That will conclude probably one of the hardest things you have ever done in your life-- revel in your glory and your acceptance into a new realm of training.

Concerns & Considerations 
-You should be aware that this program is all about the squat. You can successfully add in upper body training while doing Smolov, but be smart and sparing. You should at no point add in anything that will tax your legs or low back. There is no point, you will be squatting so much this will all be worked in abundance and you will only hamper your progress. A lot of people perform Smolov without doing anything other than just the squats. My first time doing it I only did the squats and it was plenty. I did not have any atrophy in the rest of my body, just a couple weeks of remapping motor skills in particular lifts like the bench when I finished and went to a "normal" routine. Remember, the squat works your entire body and is a highly anabolic and stressful movement. If you do choose to add in upper body work, keep it simple and basic. I add in only bench, DB rows, military press, dips and pull-ups. Divide it up through the week and keep the volume low, done. Some days I get done with the squats and I go home. Trust me, when you near the end of a couple cycles it might take you an hour just to do your squats.

A sample template of my added work would look like this:
Day1
Bench 5x5
DB Row 4x8


Day 2
Standing Press 4x5
Pull-Up 1xFailure

Day 3
Bench 4x5, 1x3, 1x8
Chest Support Row 4x8

-You can perform Smolov with front squats, it is what I am doing now.

-Diet and rest. Literally eat as much as you can, whenever you can. If you don't have proper nutrition and a surplus of calories your body simply won't be able to recover from such an intense load of work. Don't worry about gaining fat, this is more work than most top level American squatters perform in a year. Sleep as much as you can, you will get awesome rest, take advantage of it.

-Supplements I use are pizza and giant burritos. They're the best things on the market for recovery, muscle building, hormone production, and energy.   

- Rest periods. Take the rest you need but don't go crazy. Get in there to get the work done. When it gets insanely hard, you might find yourself taking up to 5 minutes between sets... maybe longer. The goal is to get the reps done and move the weight in a full range of motion. That is your priority. I remember on some of the days, I felt like a squat rack hog, because I was literally squatting for around an hour.

-Stretching and mobility should have just as much priority as the lifting. I would even suggest investing in a couple deep tissue massages as well.

Do this program and you will gain a tremendous amount from it. You must have a couple years of lifting hard under your belt before doing it. You should be accustomed to squatting multiple days per week, be squatting at least twice your body weight for a single as well (for men)-- it is not a beginners program. Otherwise, you run the risk of injury and the worst overtraining the world has ever witnessed. It certainly is not for everyone, it is not for the weak and the timid-- it is a true test of ones self. Best of luck.