Self Confidence, do you have it?

This is a great article I just saw posted on facebook by my friend and coach out in Kelowna, John Gillis.

Full article can be read here.

"First, you need to eliminate all negative statements aimed at yourself. No matter how bad you fail at something, never, ever refer to yourself in a negative way.
Understand this: Actions fail, individuals do not. In other words, you failed at something because of what you did or didn't do, not because of who you are.
Actions can be changed. Failure is a temporary state that can be turned into success by taking the right action. Believing this is the key to developing a winner's mindset.
Second, learn to disregard negative statements from others. Negativity surrounds us all. There will always be someone telling you that you can't achieve your goals.
They might say they're "only looking out for your best interests" and provide you with several "logical" reasons why you might fail. But no matter how right they appear to be, you must reject this or it will impede your ability to achieve your goals.
Negativity often comes from those closest to you. Sadly, those who've failed to achieve their own success often try to prevent others from achieving it as well. You must be able to completely disregard that negativity or it'll hold you back from your true potential."

I recommend you read the full article, it's good stuff.

Linear progression and instant gratification

One of the things I like best about linear progression strength training is the instant gratification. It's exciting! Every workout you get to do better than your last workout... Instant progress! (not to mention getting strong is great. Strong people are more useful in general and harder to kill)

For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about I will give you the run down. Linear progression means you are a beginner or novice trainee. This has nothing to do with your experience, but has everything to do with your level of adaptation. If you can adapt workout to workout you are a novice. The best training program for a novice who can adapt that quickly is a linear progression.

Here is a basic program taken from Coach Rip;'s "Starting Strength". 2 workouts, A and B. You perform 3 a week on Mon, Wed, Fri. So week 1 is ABA, week 2 is BAB, etc... Workout A is Squat, Press, Power Clean. B is Squat, Bench Press and Deadlift. Work sets are 3 sets of 5, except deadlift which is 1 set of 5, and power cleans are 5 sets of 3.

Every workout session you add weight to the bar from last time. To find your starting weight, on your first workout you do sets of 5, gradually increasing weight until the bar slows down a bit, finish your 3 sets of 5 there and that's it. Next workout add 5lbs to that weight for your work sets. (work sets as described above do not include warmup sets).

That's where the "linear" comes in. If you make a graph of your progress, it will be a steady slope up. So every workout you beat your last effort. Every workout you see progress. It's exciting! And we have a few people now who meet on Mondays and Wednesdays to work on this.

3.24.11

Warm-up: 5 TGU and 5 Windmills
Tech: Deadlift and SDHP
WOD: "KB Sasquatch"
21-18-15-12-9-6-3 reps for time of:
SDHP
Push Press

Training vs Exercising

How many of you are going to the gym for exercise? How many of you are training to improve your strength, conditioning, etc?

What is the difference you might be wondering? Well it's quite simple actually... Exercise hurts and is done for penance. You go to the gym, do 3x15 on 15 different single joint movements. This hurts, it burns, it's uncomfortable. But you're able to flagellate away all the guilt you have for watching too much TV, eating too much junk food, not eating enough veggies, not being active in your daily life, etc... Exercise is something you do because you'd feel bad if you didn't.

Training on the other hand isn't conducted in the same fashion. If you're training for strength you come in, do 3 sets of 5 on 2 or 3 lifts, stretch out and call it a day. You aren't going to be a wiped out sweaty mess on the floor, you're not going to be hobbling around for days, and you probably won't feel much "burn" from it. In fact, in the beginning you might not feel very "worked out" at all afterward. But guess what, that's ok! Because training has a plan, it has progress in mind. You get stronger, you put more weight on the bar and you start knocking goals off your list. Training is what you do because you feel great when you do! You get excited about it because you can measure your progress! Progress that goes beyond the number on the scale and focuses on performance markers instead.

Exercising or training also affects your nutrition. When you exercise you go on a diet. Right there that makes both of them unsustainable... It's something you're doing short term, to drop so many pounds/inches for a specific event, and then you're done. When you're training you're eating to support it. You eat in such a way that fuels performance and progress. It is sustainable because it's a shift in lifestyle towards being able to do things better.

I hope I'm getting my point across here, but think about it. Are you currently exercising or training? If you'd like to get off the hamster wheel and talk about training, drop me an email and we'll set up an intro. Serious training isn't for everyone, but if you've been exercising for a while and aren't happy with your results, perhaps it's time to start training.

Nutrition page coming soon

Alright folks, you've told me you're interested in my nutritional advice (which I can't take credit for, really it's Robb Wolf's advice bastardized by me...) but it is coming.

I will make a page with some general guidelines and provide a link to Robb Wolf's getting started guide.

I will also have a series of posts going into some of the finer details of the science behind the guidelines.

There will also be some changed to the site, more regular updates, and most likely some drastic design changes as well.

We're just getting started folks, and you're in at the ground floor! Isn't it exciting?

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Edit:
It begins! Check out the page "Go/No-Go" for lunch!

Day 8, also music suggestions

Don't forget your squats!

I'm also looking for suggestions for what you'd like to have as music during class. Give me some suggestions, otherwise you'll be stuck with what I like.

Day 6 Squat Challenge!

All right everyone, today is day 6, we call got caught up last night in class so you just need 6 today. Use this challenge as a means to perfect the air squat. Really work on getting the right depth and posture. If you struggle with the depth this is the perfect opportunity to work on it.

Break it up into sets small enough to allow proper form. (might not be as necessary early on as it will be later). This isn't a race, it is volume and practice.

Remember the basics, feet flat and drive through the heels, if it helps hold your toes up inside your shoes.  Keep your chest up and back arched (not rounded), keep your hands up high to help with this. Knees are out over the toes, not rolling to the inside, your femur should be in line with your foot. Sit back and down, get that butt back, and try to keep your knees from tracking too far out past the toes.

Take your time and do it right.

Look like this

Not like this