ROD

Saturday, 19Mar11

 

A.M.R.A.P Saturday

A.M.R.A.P I for 10 minutes

• 150m run
• 15 Ball Slams
• 15 Burps
• 15 KB Swings

A.M.R.A.P II for 10 minutes

This Round ‘Em Up A.M.R.A.P will begin with…

First round, 1 Burpee, 1 DB Thrusters ~ Second round, 2 Burpees, 2 DB Thrusters. Continue for 10 minutes to get as many rounds as possible for both exercises.

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Ten Laws of Fitness, Fat Loss and Strength

The fitness industry gives me a conflicting feeling; on one hand, I’m constantly amazed at how much knowledge we’ve accumulated as a species over the years when it comes to strength, weight loss, hypertrophy etc. But then at other times I see how much we have left to learn and all I can think is… “damn, we’ve barely scratched the surface yo!”

It’s exciting and depressing at the same time… kind of like a quick makeout session with an exciting candidate at the club. However, while new information may come and go in the future, there are a few “laws” which have been fairly established and will almost never be broken. These laws are tried, tested and true and will server you well; as long as your goal continues to revolve around transforming your body to look sexy as fuck. And if that’s not your goal, what the hell are you doing here? Scram!

Alright, on with the list… [Note: these are off the top of my head, if you have more, feel free to add it in the comment section]

1. The Mirror Is More Important Than The Scale

This is a point I harp on over and over to almost everyone I work with. It doesn’t matter what the scale says, it’s what the mirror reveals that is more important. Body fat callipers and a some measuring tape are far better tools to have in your arsenal. A pound of fat, or a pound of muscle… the scale doesn’t know the difference. Another way to look at it is this: when you’re walking down the beach with your shirt off (ladies if you rock the beach with your shirt off… call me) are people going to know what you weigh? Better question, are the going to give a rat’s ass what you weigh? Absolutely not.

All they are going to notice is whether or not you look ripped. That’s it. Period. People are too worried about their own body image to care whether you have 16 inch arms or if your waist is 32 rather than 33 inches. If your body is lean enough to make an initial positive impression, you win.

2. Eating An Excess Of One Macronutrient Doesn’t Make You Fat…

I can’t believe this type of stupidity still continues to surface around the web. Some say eating too much fat makes you fat, some say eating too many carbs makes you fat and some are vomiting the following, “eating too much protein will convert it into fat.” Horseshit!

It’s not whether you eat too many carbs or fats, it’s your overall caloric intake. If it’s higher than your maintenance requirement, then you my friend will be on your way to look like the Michellien Man. Or you’ll gain proper size if your workouts are solid. Whether you eat 20grams of protein or 8.8grams of fat, it still equals 80 calories.

This is how those people with ridiculous cookie, pizza and twinkie diets managed to lose weight and everyone in the news media lost their fucking minds. “OMFG HE LOST WEIGHT EATING TWINKIES! WE MUST KNOW HIS SECRET!” …Yeah, it’s called caloric restriction you dumbasses. Recognize. Having said that, do proper macronutrient ratios have an effect on body composition?

Of course they do, eating fat all day long while staying under your maintenance requirement wont nearly be as optimal as having a proper amount of protein, carbs and fats. But realize that when you talk about macro ratios, you’re talking about fine tuning your diet. Fine tuning comes after having a solid grasp in the basics. You wouldn’t detail your car before you paint a base color on it would you? Because if you would then congratulations, you’re a certified retard. And shouldn’t be allowed to drive such an eye sore.

3. Eat Whole Eggs; Ditch Egg Whites

Seriously, anyone who says that egg whites are better than eggs, needs to be egged. Also, please do yourself a favor and run from these obtuse individuals. The war on the egg yolk is blown completely out of proportion and it pisses me off for two reasons…

One, because I love eggs and two, because eggs have already been proven to be safe for consumption at up to 3 per day and have a great effect on satiety. Want proof of all this? Seek our research by Njike et al, Ratcliff et al and Katz et al. Bottom line? Stop your fear of cholesterol and eat whole eggs. Scrambled, sunny side, omelettes… whatever. Get cracking and stop yappin’.

4. The Deadlift Is King

While squats are a close second, the undisputed king of exercises is the deadlift. This includes all of it’s variations such as rack pulls, snatch grip deadlift, Romanian, stiff leg etc. While I can understand why some trainers can call squat the king, it just doesn’t work the arms enough in my opinion, so the Squat can remain as the queen. The bitch to the King. I honestly dare you to find me a man (or woman) that can deadlift 500+ lbs and has small, undefined arms, a weak core, small traps and noodle legs. Here’s a hint: you can’t!

One of the most successful strength coaches of all time (C.Poliquin) has himself said that if there was only one exercise he would do with a bar to pack on lean mass, gain strength and keep the fat off, it would be the snatch grip deadlift. And honestly, that’s quite the praise and one hell of a recommendation. You would be wise to follow such advice.

5. Everything Works At Least Once

It’s funny to see complete dorks argue over specifics of one routine over the other. This eventually leads to an all out nerd fitness battle where study references are being thrown around and trash talking happens and all this hoopla. I love reading that shit, it’s funny. But the fact of the matter is, if a workout provides a type of stimulus your body has never encountered before, it will cause some kind of a result.

Whether this result is small or highly dramatic will depend on the program design but it will cause something, and that’s because almost everything works once. This is why I encourage people try a bunch of different exercises they haven’t before such as muscle ups, powercleans, snatches, overhead squats etc. New stimulus keeps you on your toes and prevents boredom, especially if you have ADD like I do. Enough of this stimulus talk, on to the next point…

6. You Should Have Sex Regularly

Need I say more?

Actually, I think I will. Regular sex elevates mood and I believe helps people out of depression. For the amount of money therapists charge, they should just offer sexual services… this will solve half of the depression problem. I can’t speak for women, but in men I can pretty much guarantee the common denominator in those low lives that believe life sucks, people suck and want to kill themselves is that they are just not getting laid.

What? You think it’s a deep psychological issue? Well it sorta is; sex is one of the most basic human needs. Not getting it probably sets of a whole slew of mental bullshit into motion and eventually things spiral out of control. I would love to see a study conducted on this… just get a bunch of depressed, unmotivated guys laid and see what happens. I’m sure you’ve seen this phenomenon at some point in your life. A certain someone is depressed and as soon as they find a girlfriend or boyfriend… it’s all happy times again. Weird isn’t it? Sex also has a host of other benefits, but no need to get into details. Just bang already!

(And to prevent hordes of silly emails: Yes I know sex isn’t the answer to everyone’s depression problems, which is why i was specifically targeting men. They make for easy examples.)

7. The RDA Protein Requirement Is Stupid

Honestly, 0.8g per kg? Why don’t I just lick a cow? I’ll get more in my system that way. Who the fuck comes up with this nonsense? 0.8g/kg might be ok for your grandma but if you’re lifting the heavy stuff (you should be) and want a body of a god (or goddess) then a gram of protein per lbs of bodyweight (or 2.2g/kg) is the minimum golden standard. The proof is in the research and it’s as easy as going to PubMed to find it.

Protein has a wonderful satiating effect and taking in this minimum helps both those trying to lose weight and those trying to gain muscle. Nothing more needs to be said.

8. Compound Movements Trump Isolation Monkey Business

this means… Chinups over curls, close grip bench over kick backs, overhead press over shoulder flys, barbell squat over quad extension… and on and on. Whether you want to torch the fat or gain lean mass, make sure every time you lift, you involve as many muscle groups as possible. If you can do an exercises standing vs seated, take the standing option. If you can combine a few movements together, then do that.

Your body was meant to move as a unit so make sure it moves that way. Another benefit is loading – you can bench way more weight than you can with a dumbbell kick back, which means you will hit the tricpes with a far greater stimulus resulting in more calories burnt and faster muscle growth. That’s the basic jist of it… and honestly, what more needs to be said?

9. Supplements Are Never The Answer

Again, this is one of those things that I still need to harp on with everyone. They are called supplements because they are meant to “support” an already established plan that is helping you reach your goal. It’s like adding fuel to a fire. Add fuel to wood and it will just get wet… however, people wet themselves in a completely different way every time a new product hits the market. Such loonballs.

Is your goal to lose weight? Then unless you have a plan in place that is already helping you drop at least a pound or two a week, don’t bother with fat burners, the ECA stack etc.

Is  your goal to gain mass? Then unless you’re eating enough food and are lifting heavy enough to gain a pound a week, don’t bother with creatine, ZMA, N.O Xplode and all that jazz. Creatine obviously works, but add it to a lacklustre plan and you’ll barely see results. Add it to a plan that already works, and you’ll gain mass like you wouldn’t believe. The only exception to this rule is whey protein and meal replacement shakes which can be part of your original, “supplement-free” plan.

10. Always, ALWAYS Track Your Workouts

In five years from now, you should be able to go back into your logs and check exactly how much you squatted, for how many reps and sets and be able to compare that to the squat you have today. And you should also be able to check what you were doing 5 years ago. If you can’t, how the HELL are you going to measure your progress?

It’s like running a business. If you don’t manage your expenses, invoices, profits and all that highly exciting stuff, how the hell do you know what you’re netting in profits at the end of the year? Well, you won’t. So if you are going to bother working out, take the time to track everything. And if you’re doing silly workouts where you cannot track the progress, ditch that piece of moronic programming. All those hip hop moves and dance central workouts are not exactly track-able. You cannot chart your load and find out the trend in your strength.

I’m not saying you have to go number obsessed (though that’s a good thing!) but you should be able to compare numbers and see basic trends such as “am I getting stronger or weaker or stagnating?”

The End

That’s all I’ve got for now. This list might get updated in the future, as and when I come across more laws. If you think I’ve missed a few, throw them in the comments below and if they are really good, I’ll add em and give you some credit. Because I’m awesome like that.

Now go lift some heavy shit, eat a few eggs and have hot wild sex; Coach D’s orders!