YOGA FOR STRENGTH ??

  It does have its place. You know I am not a fan of yoga. It just isn't for me. That doesn't mean I don't appreciate or follow some of the principles. I just don't practice yoga. What I do love to see is some one I respect that is into yoga, do something else I respect. Check out this YouTube video of Fawn Fridays dead lift session. This gal rocks.  (click here)

STEP INTO THE ZONE

  Pavel directed a thread on the forum blog  and it had to do with basics. Basic power lifting  training. The trainers focused on four things: Dead lift, squat, bench press and competition. Thats it. There is no room out side these three lifts. There is another myth that all power lifters look like refrigerators. It's just not true. The 'open weight' class may look like that but the regular weight classes (especially the ones under 200 lbs) are lean and proportioned. KB training has 6-7 basic lifts. Each has a purpose and many variations. Add the tension techniques of 'hard-style' and you get a deadly combination of strength and cardio training. The key is to reach outside your comfort zone. Step-up. Grab a bigger bell by the horns and load yourself...proper. If the KB training is boring...the weight is too light. Simple.

Train the way you live.

  One of the problems with machines (one of the gazillion problems) is they don't train you the way you live. The machines are designed for limited movement. This will be the product from using machines...limited movement. Some argue that it is 'better' for some populations due to the frail nature of their conditioning. This 'at risk' group is never short on their own expertise advice. "I can't because =insert excuse here=".  The very motion they claim to hurt them can be performed if you teach them how the joint is designed to move. Not how they want it to move. Now, just add a load and the strength comes without the use of machines and the movement is mechanically correct because your the machine. You are never using a joint outside its range of designed motion. Mass marketed fitness centers service the masses and generally do the public good. The majority will not get great results. They are just doing. They are not understanding what they are doing. Perceptions need to change and evolve for life long results.  It is a hard reality for anyone that has spent a lot of time in the gym. It's like finding out there isn't a  Santa (what?). Keep you mind open and follow the rules of training. Sport specific training is a myth. Skill specific? Yes. Sport specific? It's just marketing and people feeding a need to belong to a group and be extremed sported (if thats a word...lets make it one). Keep this is mind as we train tonight and Saturday morning. Train the way you live and keep balance.

   I love this time of season. I really do. I love the lines. I love the crazies. I love watching people kill themselves to have Christmas. It's a great time of year. We, on the other hand, kill ourselves year round. 

  Monday (regular hours) will be light....on the hands. Heavy on the tension. Static positions, crush grips, holds and other forms of love. I love this time of year. 

  If your becoming one of the crazies and I don't get a chance to see you until after the Holiday, have a very Merry Christmas!!! It's going to be a great new year. 

  Warm bells.

  In keeping with the new tradition, Fridays and Saturday mornings will be fast and furious. We will go for heavy conditioning and cardio today and Saturday. The Max VO2 was built around the snatch.  We will use the snatch for starters. Posts (two-handed bottoms up snatch) will be the next step down. Swings will be the final fall back postion. Hand care and wear...think about it. This will a test of going the distance. You can do it. No problem. Think happy thoughts or just listen to the music. See you at 5:00 pm.

HINT, HINT......

  Now that our legs have been trashed with leg work and the pistols on Monday, it's time to get into some high tension/low volume work. Easy on the limbs but work just the same. Grinds are especially good for such a thing. We will be able to stretch out the hammies, get some rotational work in as well as shoulders and back. We will do it all with one movement, executed properly. If you have long sleeved shirts for training, today would be a good day to wear them. 

THEY CAN'T HEAR YOUR CRIES......

...but I can! So I answered the cries this past weekend. First , with Marks Blazer we picked up the shelves. So, feel free to bring a shoe box or something similar so you can leave behind shoes or gloves. Second, I rigged up the whipping post for our future enjoyment...and the future is here. We will work on some very simple and safe movement patterns that are sure to please. Remember, the more simple it is ... the more sinister. The parking lot was very much like little swimming pools on Sunday. Expect crappy control now that it has frozen solid. Come in the back way and avoid the ice slide off Central until we know for sure it has been salted well. Be careful.

PULL UPS.....HANGING....WHAT ?

 Why? Why ? Why?  Simple. Really, if you think about it. There will always be something. Something that we can't do. If the old standard is applied we will continue to change things as soon as we get comfortable or capable of doing whatever it is we were doing. Change it and make it harder. If you can't do a pull-up train until you can. Then do two. Three. Add weight. More weight...and so on. We won't do this all the time but I think most reasonable people will agree. You should be able to pull your body up, men and women, at least once. Now what about this  'skin the cat' move? Well, it wasn't the full skin the cat. Just bring your knees to the bar. You have done it in the past. Your body is capable of doing it. We just need to ask it a few more times. And we will. Franco Columbo once boasted he was the strongest man in the world per pound based on every movement in the gym. Quite a boast. He probably was the most all around in strength based on his body weight. Strong like and ant. Wednesday We will review snatches and introduce a "corkscrew" technique. We had seen it in the pass but never drilled it. It will help save your hands. It won't save them, but it will help.

GOTTA' SAY IT !!

 I just don't know what to do with myself. I am so psyched that I am not in a cold garage, pressing cold bells that would freeze to my gloves, that I could spit. And, just in the nick of time. It is cold out there.

 Yesterdays training is what I call a "sleeper".  Take a simple movement and apply the hard-style principles. The result is the simple but sinister training that makes KBs. There is a thread on the DD forum I read today. The author is trying to figure out why he is getting stronger but isn't getting the larger muscle size. So, he is applying the principles without understand them or the results. He likes the results...he just thought maybe he would get bigger. What part of lean strength and muscle recruitment is he not understanding? It's part of the Westerners failed mentality that a bigger muscle must be stronger. Stop me before I get dizzy.........  

FINALLY.........CARPETS IN.

 Okay. So it wasn't Monday. Tuesday is a close second. The carpet is in AND I was glad to see the artsy fartsy types relaxing on the loading dock. As a matter of fact, they were relaxing so much they managed to leave behind some of the pot they were smoking. Oh,... poor artsy fartsy types. What will they do without their ganja for creative power. I really was waiting for one of them to come and knock on the door and say, "hay mon, got my doobage?" Ya', I got your doobage. No, you can't have it back. Your too stupid to be smoking pot. Have a nice day. Anyway, doobage aside, training went well the first official day even though we were hopping over seams. Now the stuff is in. By 'stuff ' I mean carpet. If I am not too stoned on Wednesday we will do some strength floor work that is long over due and then hit the bells (no, that isn't more stoner talk...I really mean to train with the kettlebells). Get some rest. Drink lots of fluids (I have a horrible cotton mouth). See you Wednesday!!

BTW- special thanks to Roxanne for pointing out my error in how I hung Ol' Glory. The union needs to be on the flags right (our left when looking at it straight on) or on the north side. Forgive me.......I can't blame this on the pot.