My presentation was entitled “Mind-Muscle Connection – How Your Mindset & Thoughts Can Amplify Your Results”.  The focus of the presentation was how we can harness the power of our mind through use of Mental Imagery to amplify our results.  There are some amazing studies out there, including one that showed practicing dart throwing through your imagination can improve accuracy just as much as ACTUAL practice AND improvement in free throw shooting is almost identical when using mental imagery and never shooting a basket versus actual practice for 20 days straight!!!  The presentation can be found here: The Mind-Muscle Connection May 2012 vFINAL

I received really great feedback and one person even told me that my presentation was the only reason they came!!!  I touched on using mental imagery and harnessing the power of the mind in one of my previous posts: Believe and Achieve: The Unstoppable Power of Thought.

In my opinion, the best book ever written on mental imagery is The New Psycho-Cybernetics by Dr. Maxwell Maltz.  We truly cannot comprehend how powerful our mind is and we have only scratched the surface in terms of how our self-image, thoughts and subconscience influence our actions and our ability to achieve success.  For some reason, when we became adults, we stopped being told to “use our imagination”, but that is one of our most powerful tools for changing our lives.  The imagination feeds our subconscience which influences our self-imposed limitations (e.g. I am /am not ever going to be wealthy, I can / cannot lift that much weight, I am / am not able to win this game, etc.).

Try setting aside 5 or 10 minutes per day, sitting quietly with your eyes closed and create a mental movie for yourself.  It can involve a sport you compete in, an interaction with a boss at work or trying to speak to a member of the opposite sex when you are out with friends.  Go through the situation in your mind and think about what you need to do to be successful in that endeavor.  Replay this mental movie each day for 2-3 weeks and see how it plays out.  You will be amazed with the results and you have nothing to lose!!!  Just as Henry Ford once said, “If you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.”

Move more –bad food + good food = Dieting success

Let’s break down this equation into its component parts:

Move More – if you burn more calories than you currently do, you will lose weight, plain and simple.

If you don’t walk around the block, take a walk around the block

If you currently walk around the block then, add intervals of sprints

If you currently walk and do intervals then, weight train

If you currently walk, do intervals and weight train then, decrease the rest periods between sets

Do you see where this is going?  Take what you currently do and add more movement / decrease rest and you will burn more calories which will cause you to lose weight.

Get off the couch and move!!!

Subtract bad food – I am always fascinated when someone is given a diet and you see what is prescribed.  Eat these carbs but not these carbs, eat these fats but not these, avoid red meat and eat lean protein.  All of these may be sensible recommendations, but have you looked at what the person is currently doing?  If someone currently drinks a 4 cans of soda per day, why not move them down to 3 cans and then slowly reduce from there?  If someone eats a bowl of ice cream every night before bed, have them do it every other night and slowly reduce from there.  Dieting occurs in stages when it is successful and if you have someone who eats like crap and you try to get them to eat like a World Class Athlete, you will fail every time.  Let’s face it, we don’t like change.  Considering that fact, implementing MASSIVE change is not going to work.  Small changes do work and they add up to a big change over time.

He didn't get that way by eating spinach!!!

Add good food – if you ask any doctor worth their salt about diet, they will tell you to eat more fruits and vegetables, we have heard this forever and guess what?  IT IS CORRECT!  Increasing the consumption of fruits and vegetables will increase the amount of vitamins and minerals you get which will help your body function better and more efficiently.  Also, fruits and vegetables contain fiber which helps jettison fat out of the body.  Unlike most processed foods, fruits and vegetables are NOT calorically dense and they are vitamin RICH so, they will fill you up without adding to your waistline.  I always love when someone with a crummy diet hears the words fruits and vegetables as if it is some horrific thing.  If I have the choice of a lollipop or a ripe peach, I will take the peach all day long.  All goodness aside, it tastes BETTER!!!

Eat good food that is natural not processed, like a peach

Don’t overcomplicate things, keep it simple!!!

What would we do if doctors did not want to share information with one another?  Research would come to a halt, innovation would cease and diseases like mumps and polio would run rampant.  Sounds like a pretty cruel scenario, but thankfully this is not the reality for the medical community.  Unfortunately, it IS the reality in the fitness community.  The more I talk to trainers, the more I scratch my head.  There are many who think that there is some “secret formula” to achieve goals and obtain results.

Trainer 1: “I do back and shoulders with my clients.”
Trainer 2: “Oh, wow (Trainer 1 is an idiot)…I do back and biceps with my clients.”

Unless both of these morons are training people for the 2020 Mr. Olympia then, they are both WRONG!!!  How about I blow the roof off of the entire fitness industry!?!?!?!

Here is the SECRET way to get ANYONE in shape, no matter what their goal is:
1)      Move around
2)      Train in all planes of motion
3)      Push / pull, rotate and move sideways

Stop overcomplicating everything!!!  I don’t give a crap about bosu balls, agility ladders, dots, cones or any other gimmicks, they are IRRELEVANT!!!

Sorry, this is NOT going to get you into great shape, maybe a trip to the hospital.

Upper Body
Vertical (Above Shoulder): Push (overhead press), Pull (Chin up)
Vertical (Below Shoulder): Push (dips), Pull (Deadlift)
Horizontal: Push (Bench Press), Pull (Back Row)

Lower Body
Push (Back/Front/Hack Squat), Pull (Hip Press)

What about lateral movement?!?!?!  Do some side shuffles, run around, play sports.

This applies to 99.9% of the population.  Maybe if you are an Olympic athlete or you are a professional athlete, you need something more in depth, I agree 100%, but for everyone else, it is not more complicated than that.

"Why are we doing this? I don't know, just smile and keep pressing!"

One of my good buddies and fellow strength coaches, Kyle Newell of Newell Strength was talking to me a few weeks ago and we spoke about how he and his athletes / clients never perform direct arm work and instead perform lifts which have a systemic effect on the body, like the Barbell Back Squat.  Do you want big arms?  Do squats and Chin Ups!  Wait a sec, no concentration curls or barbell curls with an arm blaster?!?!?  Nope, the squat will have a greater anabolic effect on your entire body than any isolation movement!!!

The squat will grow your arms better than any arm isolation exercise

What is YOUR goal in the gym?  How can you achieve it as simply as possible?  I can’t tell you how many times I have seen people in the gym for HOURS when they can spend minutes instead.  Either they are slaves for pain, don’t know any better (most likely) or simply think that’s what they NEED to do.  Don’t just go to the gym, do stuff for an hour and pat yourself on the back because you sweat, set goals and achieve them.

Here is my advice:

1)      Put down the newsstand magazine which is written for the average guy and average girl

2)      Find someone with experience who has what you want or knows what you want to know, ask them how they achieved it

3)      If their advice is simple then, implement it, if it is not simple, then keep asking around until someone with experience has given you a simple and effective answer

One more thing, don’t confuse simple with EASY!!!  Becoming a millionaire may be simple in concept, but it is also difficult in implementation.  Losing body fat is simple in terms of what needs to be done, but it is very difficult to actually do it.  Go for it, set a goal, make a plan to achieve and go crush it!!!

Bruce Lee tried everything while he trained.  His goal in doing so was to distill everything he tried into a simple philosophy.  That was his hallmark, be as effective as possible while also being simple.  Have you ever asked someone a question and their answer takes 10 minutes, but you can probably summarize it in a few sentences?  Me too!  This is the exact opposite of the philosophy that Bruce Lee espoused.

I had a great conversation with a fellow strength coach this week.  One of my favorite topics, muscle hypertrophy (i.e. muscle growth), came up and I asked him his opinion after being in the game for 15 years.  He started with, “I am a big fan of simplicity.”  When I heard this, I smiled J  This is the answer of someone who has tried it all and distilled his experience into what was the most simple and most effective, much like Bruce Lee.

Hypertrophy is all about higher volume with a moderately heavy weight.

Mon/Thu = 2 big lifts (Deadlift + Squat) + 1 Assistance Exercise
Tues/Fri = 2 big lifts (Bench Press + Back Row) + 1 Assistance Exercise
Wed/Sat = 2 big lifts (Shoulder Press + Shrugs) + 1 Assistance Exercise

1^st 4 weeks: 5 sets x 5 reps (big lifts) – increase each set by 5+ LBS until reaching failure
2^nd 4 weeks: 8 sets x 8 reps (big lifts) – increase each set by 5+ LBS until reaching failure
3^rd 4 weeks: 10 sets x 10 reps (big lifts) – increase each set by 5+ LBS until reaching failure

After reaching failure on the big lifts (i.e. can’t reach 5, 8 or 10 reps for the set), cut the weight in half and do 50 reps.  It doesn’t matter how long it takes, just don’t rack the weight until you reach 50 reps.

For the assistance exercises, do 5 sets of 12-20 reps OR do 5 sets of bodyweight exercises (chin ups, push ups, dips, etc.) and go to failure each set.  It may take more than the prescribed number of sets to reach complete failure.

REPEAT after 12 weeks.

Do variations of each of the lifts to keep it interesting.  That’s it, hypertrophy made SIMPLE!!!

I have noticed a recurring theme with women who want to lose weight.  Women will come to me asking about losing weight, body fat in particular, and the first question I ask is, “What do you eat?”  The typical response is, “I don’t eat that much so, I don’t understand why I don’t lose weight!”  If someone is morbidly obese because they eat thousands of calories per day then, they need to REDUCE the number of calories they consume in order to lose weight.  On the flip side, if someone is moderately overweight and they have drastically reduced their calories for a prolonged period of time, they actually need to INCREASE the amount of food they eat in order to lose weight.

You have to eat in order to lose weight!!!

In a normal example, these equations hold true:
If calories consumed < calories burned = lose weight
If calories consumed > calories burned = gain weight

The only problem with those equations is that our body tries to maintain homeostasis as a protective mechanism so, each situation depends on where you are right now.  Your body screws up the equation by changing the calories burned based on the calories consumed.  So, if the calories your body burns changes, you also need to change your calorie consumption to have any effect.

Body temperature is a great example of homeostasis

A great example of homeostasis at work is with body temperature.  Our body temperature is 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit.  If you walk outside and it is very hot, you sweat which acts as a cooling mechanism so that your body temperature will remain at 98.6 degrees.  If you walk outside and it is very cold, you shiver which creates movement to make you warm which is also in an effort to keep your body temperature at 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit.

If you are a little overweight and eat “barely anything” and you want to lose weight, here’s what to do:

1)      Multiply your current weight by 10 and that is the number of calories you will eat (For example, let’s say you are 200LBS, you would eat 2000 calories)

2)      Increase your protein intake, eat more vegetables and drink more water

3)      Weigh yourself then, consume the amount of calories for one week from step 1 (2000 cals) and re-weigh yourself.  If you weigh more or the same then, reduce your calories by 300 per day (i.e. eat 1700 cals per day instead of 2,000).  If you weigh less then, stay at that level of calories until you stop losing weight and start all over again

There you have it, simple yet effective!!!

1) Set the goal

2) Determine the path to achieve the goal

3) Leave your ego at the door

That dog doesn't know who he's messing with!!!

I was training a prospect a few weeks ago.  He was a middle-aged male who was about 30 pounds overweight.  When I asked him what his goal was, he told me that he wanted to lose 30-35 pounds to prove to his kids and friends that he could do it.  Upon hearing the GOAL, I determined the best way to achieve it (metabolic training, maximum work with minimum rest), now it was up to him to listen to me and leave his ego at the door.

I told him that I knew what we needed to do and I put him through an assessment.  He assessed a little below average, but made sure to tell me how he used to Bench Press a lot of weight “back in the day”.  This was a HUGE red flag for me, because I knew this guy wanted to bench the pounds away and that he was going to insist on benching rather than listening to me.  Low and behold, I put him through a sample workout with a metabolic focus, 2 to 1 work to rest ratio (30s on, 15s off) since his goal was fat loss.  About 5 minutes into the workout, he was very pale, sucking wind and told me that he was light-headed.  As he was doubled over, hands on knees, barely able to breathe, he turned to me and said, “When are we going to lift some heavy weight?”  I reassured him that the way we were training was the proper protocol for his goal of fat loss, but he asked, yet again, when we were going to lift some heavy weight.

If this gentleman was able to accomplish his goal on his own then, he wouldn’t be fat and he wouldn’t need me.  If it was as simple as “lifting some heavy weight” then, he would be slim and trim, but he is overweight and will continue to be until he checks his ego at the door and follows my advice.  The Moral of the story here is to leave your ego at the door.  Once you set a goal and figure out how to achieve it, stay focused, follow the path and see where you end up.  You can always change course along the way, but if you don’t move forward, you will never get there.

The Single most important quality to possess to get the results you desire is intensity.   There is NOTHING that will amplify your results more or help you achieve them faster than having an insane amount of intensity.  Perhaps you are thinking, what about steroids?  I can pump you with all of the steroids you want, but if you don’t train, you won’t achieve results.  Intensity is directly connected to mindset and while both can be worked on, having them from the start will help you achieve any goal you desire.

Arnold trained with INTENSITY!!!

I have 2 clients which are the epitome of the word Intensity.  In their own words, client A was “at death’s door”.  They had bone cancer and had been declared cancer free a year ago.  When they train with me, I have never had to tell them to “push through” or “dig deep”.  I actually have to tell them to stop b/c they will keep going if I don’t.  When you have seen your life flash before your eyes, you will live with a level of intensity like no other.  Client B has achieved tremendous results and it is all do to their intensity.  They actually told me that going through childbirth was easier than training with me, now THAT is intensity.  The funny thing is that THEY determine the intensity, not me.  I can only do so much though, intensity comes from within.  I can tell the client to push through and dig deep, I can refer them to their goal which they want to achieve, but without the intensity, we are wasting each other’s time.

Do YOU live life with intensity?

Watch this video and see which excuses you have for not getting in shape:

So, what is your excuse NOW???

Anthony Robles raises his hands in victory after winning the National Championship

At the recent ESPY Awards, Anthony Robles won the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance.  Robles was born without a right leg, but that did not stop him from becoming a NCAA Division 1 Championship Wrestler.  Robles was a three-time NCAA All-American and he just completed his senior season with a perfect 36-0 record and won the 125-pound Championship at the 2011 NCAA Wrestling Tournament in March with a decisive 7-1 victory over defending champ Matt McDonough of the University of Iowa.  Below is the video of Robles’ acceptance speech with the transcript below.

“Thank You…Thank You…Thank You Very Much, it’s an honor to be here.  The reason most of us are here tonight isn’t because of what we’ve accomplished, it’s because of the sacrifices and encouragement that certain people have given us at critical times in our lives.  And you just saw who sacrificed for me, and encouraged me, and that was my Mom, Judy Robles.  When I was born, my birth Dad immediately bailed, I was born with one leg and my Mom could have walked away and just given me up for adoption, but she didn’t.   She taught me to never let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do and she didn’t protect me from pain and failure because she knew it would make me stronger.  Even when my Mom got sick at the beginning of my sophomore year in college, and my Stepdad walked out on the family and we lost our home and I wanted to quit wrestling and get a job to help pay the bills, my Mom refused to let any of us give up.  And here I am today, National Champion.

I must also thank Arizona State University Sun Devils for giving me one of the finest educations in the World and my friend Chris Freije and my High School Coach Bobby Williams who took me under their wrestling wings to push me every step of the way.  And now, as I go forward with so much more to do, this is my message:

Every soul who comes to Earth with a leg or two at birth must wrestle his opponents knowing it’s not what is, it’s what can be that measures worth.  Make it hard, just make it possible and through pain, I’ll not complain. My spirit is unconquerable.  Fearless I will face each foe, for I know I am capable.  I don’t care what’s probable, through blood, sweat and tears, I am UNSTOPPABLE.  Thank You.”

So, what do we notice here?  This is not a story of a one-legged wrestler who beat his two-legged opponents.  This is a case of a person who had multiple opportunities to quit, but he did not. 

His Mom got sick, he did NOT quit.

His Stepdad walked out, he did NOT quit.

His family lost their home, he did NOT quit.

If this was just about a guy with one leg who defied the odds and beat those with a physical advantage, it would have still been a great story.  What makes him UNSTOPPABLE is that he never quits.  What excuses are you making which are holding you back???  Let Anthony Robles be an example to us all, if we never quit and we never give up then, we are truly UNSTOPPABLE!!!

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