Come At Me Bro

OK, so this might be a bit of a rant, but believe me this does apply to the world of weightlifting and life in general. So here goes...My dad once said something to me so prolific that it rings in my ears still to this day. He said "Son, in life there's always going to be some asshole who's bigger than you or ahead of you on the food chain. First, accept it. Second, just because their bigger or more important doesn't mean you have to back down to some asshole. Just make sure your in the right before you fight back." 

So true dad, so true. My whole life I have come across wave after wave of assholes and too be honest, they typically don't phase me at all anymore unless they are messing with friends or family. But sometimes and asshole will get under my skin and bug me to the core. This, by the way is the hardest part of the "asshole game" which is, you want to shut them down quickly & effectively but you don't want to become a bigger asshole than they are because then you lose. So, in my life I have adopted a method that has served me well, it is simple and effective. 

I walk around like a lion. I understand this sounds a bit weird, but hear me out. How does a lion walk around? Does the lion care about what the gazelles and giraffes and other animals are thinking about them? No, Lions eat those animals so why would they care about what they think? They don't. They walk around proud and confident. They only get mean when they have to, but when they do...watch out because shit is about to hit the fan. 

We all need to do this more in life, walk around confident in your ability and beliefs. Don't seek out confrontation, but don't run from it either...as my dad said "it doesn't mean you have to back down to an asshole". All of this sounds good and we can all agree that this is how it should be, but it's way easier said than done when it comes to putting this into practice right? My advice is to start small and remove your emotion completely from the confrontation before you act. 

Here's a recent example that might help explain what I'm trying to say. I brought an issue to the attention of a teacher of a liberal arts course (Religions of the world) recently about a quiz online that was not clear in its directions. Specifically it said to pick THE answer that best answers each question. So, I selected the one answer for each of the questions that best answered each of the questions (I went as far as to double check each answer before I submitted my results). The test showed one question was wrong, so I went back and double checked and found my answer still to be correct. 

At any rate, I clearly hit a nerve with him as he quickly fired off a nasty email back to me. Specifically he blamed me for not knowing to give multiple answers to some of the questions (even though this was not clear in the directions, so excuse me for following directions) and he went as far as to insult my intelligence as well as that I should take responsibility for my mistake.

BAM, he just pulled the Lions tail and now he was about to die. I instinctivley wanted to grab this "online tough guy" through the computer and smash him like I smashed the weight of my last snatch PR to the ground with extreme violent force,  but instead I paused. The Lion in me stopped for a brief moment and assessed the best way to take it's prey down first; then I attacked. I wont go into detail, but rest assure I left him with no doubt that I will beat him at his own game on every level at anytime. I did this very professionally and without emotion of course, but the point is a kill is a kill is a kill. 

So my friends, my advice is to walk like the Lion that lives inside you. Do not shrink from conflict with anyone or anything (just make sure you are in complete control when you initiate the kill). Accept the fact that there will be "assholes" around every corner, just like there are jackals in the Sahara Dessert. But jackals don't screw with the Lions for good reason, there lives depend on it. I think if we all spend a little more time "pushing back" when we need to and less time worrying about what everybody else might think, we'd all be better off for it. 

Your Smart phone is Killing You

So by show of hands, how many people use their phones to text? Thats what I thought...all of you. Now how many of you “walk and text” with your head down? Again, all of you. Well that tells me two glaring facts about our population...first, your phone IS smarter than you and second, it’s also destroying your body and killing you. 

I know it sounds harsh, but it’s true. The more we text and look down at our phones the more we are changing our bodies for the worse. First a brief anatomy lesson. Every aspect of our bodies are controlled by our brain, which sends out commands through our spinal cord. That cord is protected by our spinal vertebrae, which has a certain shape to act as a shock absorber and protector of our spinal cord. 

Now our vertebral column’s shape has developed through evolution in order to provide us with the best mechanical advantage and protection from the outside world. We naturally have certain “curves” to it, again to provide us with better advantages like weight distribution and mobility. There are two types of curves that we have in our vertebral column. In our cervical region (necks) and our lumbar region (low back) we have a “Lordotic Curve” and in our thoracic spine (mid back), we have a “Kyphotic Curve”. 

First lets talk about the “Lordotic Curve” found in our necks and low back. The Lordotic curve or “Lordosis” of the spine looks like a backwards wide “C” and is extremely important to how our bodies function. This curve in our necks acts as a stabilizer or shock absorber as well as it supports the weight of our head and balances the load. Our neck has a multitude of nerves, arteries and blood vessels that run through it, unfortunately the spaces between the cervical vertebra are the smallest. So any mis-alignment will have a more serious and immediate impact on the the limbs and functions in the upper body &  head region. 

In the Lumbar Region or low back, this curve helps to stabilize the weight of our bodies above the hips. Again acting as a shock absorber and perfect “hinge” point for the mechanics of the lower extremities. As athletes I’m sure you have heard about keeping a “natural arch” in your low back while squatting or dead-lifting, ETC... The Lordotic curve is what they are referring to, too much curve(or arch in the back) produces a sheering force on your lower spine that can cause serious injury in any weightlifting exercise. Also, a “rounded back” will load your spine incorrectly and you will not be able to carry the load sufficiently as well as you wont be able to protect the spinal cord during the lift. 

The Thoracic spine or “mid back” has a different type of curve, which is called a “Kyphotic Curve”, this means “rounded back”. The normal curve looks like a wide “C” that meets both the cervical and lumbar curves fluidly or without a sharp change in direction. In athletics coaches will refer to this as keeping a “straight back”, but truly that is not the case. The cue in general is to keep you from exaggerating the curve which will throw off your natural body mechanics and disrupt how we carry load safely and efficiently.

So, how are our phones killing us you ask? Well, now that you know what the curve in your neck SHOULD look like, what do you think it looks like after you spend all day hunched over your computer and then looking down at your phone every chance you get? Thats right, it straightens out or even worse, reverses the natural curve of your neck. Do you remember earlier when I talked about the Cervical Vertebrae openings being the smallest in you spine? Well if you straighten out the natural curve in your neck (or God forbid) reverse he curve, you are making those spaces even smaller. 

To add insult to injury, you are also putting a lot of strain and sheering force on the discs between your cervical vertebrae causing them to herniate and break down faster. The discs that sit between your vertebrae are a gel like fluid filled disc and once herniated, can put a lot of pressure on anything near it like a nerve (hence “pinched nerve). If a disc continues to be worn down it can die...thats right die. There is no coming back from this without a painful and extensive surgery to replace it with a prosthetic disc that will never act like your own natural disc. 

Typical symptoms of this reversal of curve are tingling or loss of feeling in your fingers, migraines and head aches all the way to sickness and hearing loss. There is a whole lot more going on in your neck than you give it credit for, and as an athlete we need to know our bodies if we are to use it for performance (just like a Nascar driver knows his/her car). Take the time to look at what is controlled in our bodies through the different regions of the spine and you will be surprised at how absolutely everything is controlled through this, just like the wires on a main frame computer. Cut one and it will wreak havoc on the entire system in ways you didn’t think possible. Check out this interactive chart to see where your “wires” go to and what they do: www.echiropractic.net/nervechart.htm

So, look up people, pick your head up and be consciously aware of this all important curve. Besides contributing to good body mechanics, walking around with your head up will keep you from walking in front of traffic or into a fountain (hilarious to us, not so funny to you). We are quickly turning into a zombie nation all walking around with our heads down shuffling our feet through life glazed over and locked into our phones. First things first, look up and walk, then get to a chiropractor and have them x-ray you to see the extent of the loss of this curve. There are plenty of exercises that you can do to help get back to a normal healthy curve but I would also strongly recommend getting regular chiropractic adjustments to complete your action plan of spinal maintenance. You should always go to the expert for any situation,  just like you take your car to a trusted mechanic for preventative maintenance to ensure your second largest purchase lasts as long as possible and runs as well as possible right? The same should go for your spine,  after all it does effect every aspect of our lives, so do the right thing and get to your chiropractor regularly. 

The Key to Success in Athletics

Mark 6:31 -

And He said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a lonely place and rest a while." 

The importance of rest is often over looked when it comes to the athlete. As athletes we are hard wired to drive towards our goals both micro and macro at all costs, but often we are derailed by our own passion and determination. In the world of athletics it is easy to only focus on the “task at hand” goals in order to reach success of our chosen sport(s) and turn a blind eye to what is equally important to our progress.  At first progress comes easy but after a period of time and countless hours spent honing our skills in and out of the gym we begin to experience a “regression”, sliding backwards in-spite of our efforts. 

I am a Masters division Weightlifter who primarily exists inside my garage daily toiling away towards my goals. This is my second chance at being an athlete in my life, my first experience in athletics was as a semi-professional LaCrosse player in New York. I was in my early twenties and to say I wasn’t as focused on the almighty “recovery” aspect of athletics is a gross understatement. The good news is when you are young, your body is a lot more forgiving and adaptable to daily stresses of life that its placed under. My career as a LaCrosse player unfortunately came to an abrupt end with a severe injury, fortunately however it taught me a decade long lesson of the importance of rest and recovery. 

My second chance of having an athletic life is solely due to years of strength & conditioning rehab, regular chiropractic care and other supporting therapies. I am fortunate to have found a sport that I am very passionate about as well as one that promotes my health and recovery. The harder it gets the stronger I get therefore the better off my over all health is. One thing I have come to realize as THE most important factor in having any successful athletic career is the need for rest. Simply put, “rest” is the secret sauce that can make or break you and unfortunately it’s often over looked in our quest for sport dominance. 

When I finally got serious about the sport of weightlifting I was lifting in my garage five to six times a week for and hour or more at a time. I was also doing supplemental exercises either that same day or on what should’ve been my rest days. Even though I was following a decent beginners lifting program and eating fairly clean, I was not seeing progress. As a matter of fact I was actually regressing and I felt my body breaking down to the point I couldn’t walk across a parking lot without stopping multiple times and stretching trying in vain to alleviate my back and leg pain. 

I did not understand that what I was doing was actually grinding my body, mind and spirit into the ground in the name of athletic performance. I mixed and matched different modalities to try and fix my issues, but the more I added the worse I got. Finally I did the smartest thing possible for my training, I found an experienced coach. In our very first conversation he immediately identified that I was way over training my body, which from my background was completely foreign to me. Luckily I learned years before in LaCrosse the golden rule that you ALWAYS and I mean ALWAYS listen to your coach. 

I have to admit, when my coach put me on his program and I only had four days per week with a lot of stretching and recovery work, I was more than skeptical. How will this work I wondered, I had found weightlifting through CrossFit and even though the WOD’s were relatively short in duration, we trained all the time. The more I talked to my coach the more he explained the scientific reasons for a shorter work cycle and more rest which will produce better stronger and longer lasting results.

So to all of those who are new to this sport or have been “self-coaching” for any length of time and are not seeing progress like you had hoped to, I strongly suggest you take a long hard look at your “rest and recovery” practices. I’m going to outline some general practices that I personally do. I have found great benefit from these in both my athletic life as well as my personal life, and I believe if you put these to practice you will also see the benefits.  

These practices are easily broken up into three categories and I will discuss them in the order of importance. Now, understand that as you read them you may consider them fairly “common sense”, and they are. It’s just that we for some reason as humans, we feel the need to make things more difficult or we don’t believe something that seems easy will actually work. So first I want to talk about the hands down most important thing you can do to help yourself be a better athlete and person...SLEEP. 

Sleep is when everything good happens to you, and I’m talking about much more than a warm bed and sweet dreams. We need to make it a priority to get a minimum 7-10 hours of sleep per day to get all the benefits that sleep has to offer. While you sleep your body is hard at work handling your “recovery” so you are prepared for the next day. From your cells on up to your bones and muscle tissue, you are repairing and rebuilding yourself bigger and stronger. Did you know that while you sleep you are losing body fat, well you are! Your body is using your stored energy and glycogen reserves to fuel the recovery process, therefore you are burning fat to make these things happen. Also a benefit of sleep is that it is a form of intermittent fasting. Let me  briefly explain what this is and why its beneficial. 

Intermittent fasting is simply a period of time where you are not eating (unless you sleep walk to the fridge and pig out, you fast while you sleep). When we wake up our hormone cortisol is pretty high (it naturally elevates throughout the night) and it peaks in the morning when you wake up. Cortisol is a catabolic hormone, which means it breaks things down in the body for a different use. So, it breaks down your glycogen to get glucose (responsible for your bodies energy) and it breaks down your fat from fat cells. All this happens in-order to repair your body from the damage of daily life, and the harder you work out the more repair your body needs to do. So in short, you wake up every day as a fat burning furnace, stronger than you were the day before. The simplest equation I can give you is this: the more sleep you get, the healthier and stronger you will be. 

The next best method of recovery second only to the almighty sleep is Stretching. Any time you stretch your muscles before, during or after a work out you are repairing damaged tissue. Take the time to warm up and stretch out before a work out and you prevent issues like pulled or torn muscles or extreme tightness during certain exercises. There are all different types of stretching you can do yourself;  from yoga to myo-fascial release and  foam rolling to different types of massages and therapies. I’m not going to spend a lot of time describing each one, but just know that something is better than nothing. You need to stretch and lengthen your muscle tissue for you to be at peak performance, period. I will list a few of the best methods I have found that works great and leave it to you to investigate to see if it’s a good fit for you. 

I personally use myo-fascial release techniques that I got from Kelly Starrett (google or search youtube for: MWOD), as well as I perform certain yoga moves to help supplement my daily mobility. I also get a sports massage(a type of deep tissue massage) by a certified and licensed massage therapist...this is a big difference than having a friend or loved one give you a quick half-assed back rub. And lastly, I also get a therapy called the “Graston Technique” done whenever I have an issue that the other methods just wont release or fix, such as pain and tighness in my IT band(Iliotibial Tract). The iliotibial tract or iliotibial band (a.k.a. IT Band) is a longitudinal fibrous reinforcement of the fascia lata. The action of the ITB and its associated muscles is to flex, abduct, and medially rotate the hip. In addition, the ITB contributes to lateral knee stabilization.

The “Graston Technique”. This is a therapy usually performed by a chiropractor, but can be administered by  a certified therapist, that focuses on the removal and repair of scar tissue and adhesions on your muscle surface. This technique was developed by trainers and athletes for the recovery of high level athletes, and you will immediately see the benefits from your very first session. not only does this get rid of scar tissue and adhesions but it also restores muscle mobility. Anytime you work out, you are generating tons of “micro-tears” on your muscle tissue. Our bodies send collagen to repair these tears, but collagen is a lot like adhesive tape...it repairs but you lose mobility as well. This therapy is a great way to stay in top condition while training hard and is one of THE most used therapies (second to Chiropractic's) with professional athletes helping them maintain at a high level for the longest duration possible. 

               And lastly, to complete my rest and recovery regimen I utilize a few at home therapies such as: hot/cold showers; Epsom Salt baths and ice packs. The hot/cold shower is a good “at home” therapy you can do to reduce inflammation and muscle soreness. Simply take a shower as hot as you can stand it focusing the water on the affected area, then slowly turn the water to the coldest you can stand it and repeat for a few “hot/cold” revolutions. You will find that this greatly increases your circulation and helps to flush out toxins as well. Epsom Salt baths are great for recovery and relaxation and the replace much needed minerals back into your body after you have used them up in your high intensity work out. The trick with this is simple, dont use too hot of water, you want it warm but not to the point of you sweating. Think about it, you want to ABSORB the minerals not sweat the ones you have out. The gerneral rule of using ice packs is fairly simple. Use it after a work out or at night before bed for ten to fifteen minutes at a ime(you can use ice up to 4-5 times per day depending on the condition or inflammation). A cheap way to make a reusable ice pack is pour 1/3 rubbing alchol into a freezer bag and 2/3 water. this makes for a cold gel-like ice pack that wont completely freeze. 

Thats it folks, I hope you found this helpful and beneficial. I apologize that this article is so long, but in reality it only skimmes the surface of the importance of “rest and recovery” to the athlete/person. So go forth and be strong, but don’t forget to get sufficient rest in order to be the best athlete you can be. 

Some might call this Basic but...Basic = A Good Foundation for Success

If Your Going Through Hell,  Just Keep Going

Words to live by, especially for the garage weightlifter. We all have a life outside of our sport and with that life comes varying levels of responsibilities, so it’s critical that we make the most of our time training. There are many many things that can derail our progress, things like our jobs, family/kids, a social life (or so I'm told, I haven’t had one of those in years), school and even injury. All of these things and more can stop you dead in your tracks and take all of that hard work and flush it down the toilet if your not careful. I was my own worst enemy for a long time because I would pick a program and half ass follow it for a week or so and then switch gears all because I wasn’t seeing “progress” instantly. Does this sound familiar? I bet some of you reading this right now are just as guilty of this as I was. I seemed to be afflicted with this “Programing ADHD” and after a few weeks of jumping from one program to the next, all I got was little to no strength gains and I was exhausted all the time and at a very high risk for injury.

 Lets face it, it’s hard to be a garage weightlifter on your own, you have to be everything...the coach, the nutritionist and the athlete all rolled into one. If you don’t have a strong background in all of these roles, your probably feeling like your in the middle of the ocean treading water during and episode of Discovery Channels “shark week” waiting to become human chum. So what keeps us going? What drives us on when we are tired or sick or stressed out? What motivates us to go “grab that bar and pull like your trying to rip the head off of a god damned lion”?(Shout out to the great Donny Shankle)  I’ll tell you what motivates me and I’m willing to bet it motivates you too...it’s your shear desire to win at all costs. We want to win so badly in the game of “us Vs. them” (them being that ever elusive PR). It is an absolutely magical feeling to finally hit a number that has escaped you for so long...All of the sudden the impossible is possible. Your neighbors think you might need to be committed as you slam that bar down with a purpose and jump up shouting your victory to the heavens!! 

Reaching and hitting PR’s is like the best drug times 10...hit it once and your hooked for life. The problem is, the way in which we train, especially if your afflicted with “programing ADHD” is that your highs are so far and few between each other and the depression that fills the gaps can be as deep and as dark as they come. So for the sake of your mental health I want to tell you how you can control your own destiny and better manage your training so that you see progression on a regular basis and you don’t have to cut all ties with the outside world and basically live inside your garage gym to do so. 

First, pick a plan and commit to it. Sounds easy but a few days in is where the rubber meets the road. Like a chronic smoker or alcoholic in rehab, a few days in and you’ll start to feel the pains of withdrawal setting in. You’ll want to switch programing and you’ll tell yourself its for the best, but the truth is your lying to yourself. Committing to programing is hard work. You are a lot more conniving than you may give yourself credit for, you will lie and cheat yourself into believing that the easy way is the right way and I'm here to tell you my friends, that is not the case. I keep myself accountable three different ways. First, I keep a detailed work out log and I force myself to be honest. For years I have heard that if you keep a log for any goal your trying to reach you will be more likely to succeed, and for years I called bullshit on it. Ironically I also never, I repeat never, fully reached any of my goals in that time either. It’s sad but true people, if you don’t write it down your brain doesn't deem it important enough to hold you to it, it’s that simple. 

Second, I also invested in a white board and hung it up in front of my platform so that while I’m working out I cant help but to see it. The white board serves two purposes for me,first I put my daily work out on it so I'm less likely to skip any part or cheat myself on any reps. Secondly I put a different encouraging quote on it to motivate me when my body and/or brain wants to quit. Some times I’ll even write the name and info of a service member that has paid the ultimate price for my freedom on it. It’s pretty hard to wimp out during a hard work out when your staring at somebodies name that gave their life for your freedom. 

Lastly, I found a really good coach to work with. This goes back to what I said about us garage gym warrior’s feeling like they have to wear all the hats necessary for progress. You don’t have to be Don McCauley, Robb Wolf and Donny Shankle all rolled into one person(however if you are, I am automatically on your team for anything we are playing ever!). Take your time to research and get in touch with a good coach, these days you can skype or email or whatever so many great coach’s from literally all over the world! 

Almost all coach’s will work with you to make your training work and to fit your schedule. A few coach’s of note are: Glenn Pendlay; Don McCauley; Stephen Powell; Gregg Everett and Kirksman.There are hundred’s more too...just take some time and find the coach that fit’s your goals the best. A side note to those of you who have never had a professional and/or capable coach before. If you completely trust the coach you have found, do yourself a favor and don’t piss them off by second guessing them. They have so much more information and time into this sport than you do no matter what your background is, trust me. It would be like trying to tell Enzo Ferrari how to improve upon the Ferrari...you just don’t do it. 

Now that your in a committed relationship, look in your fridge. I'm not here to preach one diet or another (although I feel like I have tried them all at one point or another). I'm just saying that if you have come this far by committing to a program and put things in place to stay on track with your training, don’ t make it harder on yourself because your feeding yourself garbage. Nutrition is as big or bigger a deal as proper training is in order to see PR’s, plain and simple. This is where every body is different so your going to have to find your own level. There are basic principles of good nutrition that we all need to follow in order to be the best athlete we can be. 

Take a hard look at your eating habits and how you feel, look at what times you eat and what you eat. For instance, do you not eat until lunch and then again in the evening when you get home finally so you tend to gorge yourself the few times you do eat and then pay for it later by feeling like crap and therefore you cannot get your work out in? This is just one example, if you take a real look at what you eat and when as well as how it makes you feel you can take control and find out what works best with you body. For me, I was a bartender for a very long time and even though I no longer live the life of a vampire and haven’t for many years, I still do not like to eat until mid-afternoon. What I found was I wouldn’t eat until I was so hungry I was nauseous and then I would pig out on anything and every thing. I would also binge eat till late at night and then feel like shit the next day devoid of all energy (and I wondered why my numbers where so bad). 

Then one day I heard of a book called “Carb Back-Loading” while listening to a Robb Wolf podcast and liked what he had to say about nutrition and the times to eat for peak performance. So I gave it a shot and it turns out it fits me pretty well. In a nutshell, I don’t eat until early afternoon and so I don't slip into the "starvation" feeling I use coffee and a little bit of protein powder (about 5 grams) to stave off any cravings and to keep my body catabolic.This way my body is burning the crap from the day before without burning my protein up as well.  Then I eat pretty “lean and clean” throughout the day followed by a good sized dinner. Now for the best part, on my training days I get to “Carb Back-Load”, that means from after my work out until I go to bed, I get to eat processed foods like cookies, cake and ice cream, oh my without gaining fat and actually losing weight at the same time!! 

There is actual science behind this and if you want to know more I encourage you to look up this book, it's a life changer! All I can say is this fits into my lifestyle very well and I have seen a dramatic decrease in my body fat while maintaining and building a lot of muscle as well as I have a ton more energy to boot! So, taking the time to figure out what you need to eat and when you need to eat it is just as important as a good weightlifting program in order to hit any PR. 

Finally the magic bullet. The secret to tying these two parts in together and making them work for you is this(drum roll please)...sleep. Yes, you read that right, I said it’s “sleep”. Don’t get mad and throw your hands up and say something like “no shit sherlock”, because I guarantee you are not getting near enough sleep as you should. I know I wasn’t even close to getting enough sleep even though I thought I was. It’s a scientific fact that while you sleep your body rebuilds itself from a cellular level on up. You build muscle, repair damage and produce new growth hormone and testosterone while you sleep, so you need enough of it or your just short changing yourself big time. 

On average we need eight to ten hours of sleep per day, and before you roll your eyes at me like I just asked you to dead-lift the sears tower just think about it. What time do you go to bed last night? How many of us zone out to television and find ourselves up till the wee hours of the morning because we got stuck in a marathon of NCIS till two am? Now I'm not saying not to watch T.V., or trying to tell you when to go to bed, I am simply saying once I started going to bed with the goal of getting sufficient amount of sleep, I saw a drastic change in the amount of weight I was able to lift. 

Sleep = Strong plain and simple, so I now make sure my bedroom is conducive to sleep. I make sure it’s dark and cool, I also automatically set my television to turn off at 10PM and I turn my phone off (or at least put it on the dresser so I’m not tempted to check social media or my email every 32 seconds). I don’t bring my laptop to bed with me and I try to meditate for a few minutes when the T.V. shuts off. I lay there and I try to visualize myself relaxing starting with my toes and working my way up through my body until I reach my head. This is a relaxation method I got from yoga years ago and I have to say it works on me every time. You would be amazed at how tight your body is even when your laying down! 

So there you have my secret method for making all of your hard work count and to keep the progress coming on a regular basis. No it’s not easy, and you have to work hard at it every day, but the reward for doing so is totally worth it. Instead of walking around always feeling like I was wasting my time and spinning my wheels, getting more and more frustrated by the minute. I now feel proud of my accomplishments and dedication to becoming the best athlete that I can possibly be. I walk around with my head up and chest out and with that confidence pours out from me and I have to tell you it’s contagious. I find my friends and family, hell, even strangers I meet seem to be “energized” when I talk to them about how I am accomplishing my goals and how they can accomplish their goals too. So I leave you with this encouraging quote by a great man who helped to change the world...“He who fails to plan is planning to fail" …Winston Churchill. 

Greatness lies in the Garage

In every garage there is a special type of magic that exists and if you look hard enough you can find it. It’s not next to the lawn mower or under the old oil pan in the corner, it is in the air. The garage is were true Champions are made. Countless hours are spent inside the garage honing skills and forging an unwavering determination to succeed. It is were we spill our blood,sweat and tears in order to achieve our goals at all costs. 

There are hundreds of thousands of people all over the world that have made the difficult decision to be the best version of themselves that they can be. They have gone into their garage and taken the first steps in this long journey with hope and determination, but what actually happens inside there is something no one expects. We are changed on every single level of our beings, mentally, physically and spiritually. I am talking about the garage athlete, the lone wolf that fights him/herself every day to get one inch closer to their goals and accomplishing their dreams. 

Young or old, prior athlete or completely new to fitness in general, we are all the same person. The warrior spirit that lies within us is somehow awakened with a thirst for personal greatness and accomplishment that cannot be quenched. Make no mistake, we are different, we are the “black sheep” of our community. Because we shed light on peoples short comings and lack of self motivation by pushing ourselves as hard and far as we are humanly possible of doing we are scowled at and often scorned. Regardless of these nay-sayers we simply don’t quit ever because our lives depend on it. As our local community is waking up with their aches and their pains dreading the life they have chosen, they see us as they drive by blinded for a moment by the shining light of our spirit. There we are in the garage with the door open and the music loud, covered in sweat as we seemingly throw weights over our head with ease as we put in more work in one hour than they are capable of ever producing. 

Our lifestyle is completely foreign to them and our passion for our life is something few can wrap their heads around. Every weightlifter and/or athlete who toils away in their garage is a modern day samurai. We all have a fierce dedication and commitment to our goals knowing that we can only help others be their best when we ourselves are at our best. Every person who battles the barbell in their garage walks taller and has more confidence than any one else. There is a difference in our spirit and you can tell by the look in our eyes that we have accomplished something remarkable. Now you can make significant gains by going to a gym or working with a trainer either individually or in a group setting and that is not to be discounted in the slightest, but what I’m saying is this...the garage weightlifter is a rare breed. We have made the decision to move the “gym” into our personal lives only a few steps away from our beds and to become one with the pain and suffering it takes to make our goals a reality. 

The garage weightlifter puts in the time without being told, we push ourselves on those last few reps knowing its the harder path to take. We go the distance and use full range of motion even though no one is watching. We are constantly “talking” to ourselves and motivating ourselves to keep going even if its just one more rep. That's what makes us rare and that's what makes us great. We may never be a Division 1 athlete or a world champion, but I would stack us up against any opponent knowing we will do our best or die trying because we fight the worst adversary of all on a daily basis, we battle ourselves. We all belong to a great fraternity or secret society that few ever get to see. Make no mistake, once in you will never leave. Your warrior spirit will push you through any obstacle you will face for the rest of your life. 

I have been called many things and have been looked at as a zealot and that's OK, in our journey we will face those who do not believe its possible or even worth it to pay the price we gladly. Just like when our own minds turn against us and try to make us quit, we must ignore them. Learn to push past negativity like you push past pain. What ever your passion is, be it Olympic Weightlifting or CrossFit or P90X or Insanity or anything else, don’t stop...keep going no matter what. We all have one life to live and it is up to us to live it the best way we can. Keep in mind that every day we have a choice of wasting it or making the most out of it, whatever your decision is you cannot get it back. It’s forever gone into the history of your life and its up to you how your history will play out. Are you a Champion or are you a failure, the choice is yours. But before you decide, go into your garage and smell the greatness in the air and change your life forever. 

 

Silly CrossFit, Tricks are for kids

Ok, so here is the deal...CrossFit HAS done a ton for the sport of weightlifting that cannot be disputed, it HAS given this sport a “shot in the arm” so to speak.  For the first time in a very long time people in the USA have a particular interest in Olympic Weightlifting in large numbers, possibly more than ever before. I am one of those people, CrossFit opened the door to the wonderful world of weightlifting for me and I haven't looked back since. To me finding Weightlifting was like finding that final piece of the puzzle, but it wasn't all sunshine and puppies to get to this point. First CrossFit tried to kill me and on top of that (as if that wasn't enough), it gave me horrible movement patterns and really bad technique that I still struggle with. 

I suppose I’m a bit of an “old school” snob or possibly I am just and old cranky man standing on the porch yelling at the kids to stay off my grass or else! I first came to CrossFit towards the end of the O.M.P. era, that is the “Original Master Plan” era. Believe it or not, there was a time before the Rich Froning’s and Dan Bailey’s did literally every WOD in under two minutes without breaking a sweat. We were a bunch of outcasts lifting weights in our garages and in parks or old service station bays. We had used equipment, stuff handed down or donated, mismatched or better yet homemade. There was no shiny new pull up rig with a fancy name, there was only plumbing pipe and wood put together like a ghetto erector set barely holding together as we flailed away trying to nail down five consecutive kipping pull ups. 

Nothing about us was fancy, we were the dirty, sweaty and often bloody fringe society that had a penchant for being as athletically fit as humanly possible (without giving up our beer that is). I was very fortunate to be a part of the first crossfit gym in my home city of Buffalo, NY. We began our journey in a corner of a sportsplex that had ice rinks on both sides. We relished the look of horror and fear in the eyes of the so-called “athletes” being trained next to us with their tension bands and hi-step hurdle drills. Our coach was fearless and innovative with a touch of sadistic task master all rolled into one. He held us together but punished us every second and we ate it up begging for more. Ah, those were the days. But as proud of those days as I am, like a warrior is proud of his battle regardless of outcome as long as he lives to fight another day, there was an unseen downside to all of it, one I’m still recovering from it. 

To make matters worse, the commercialization of CrossFit has compounded its overall negative impact on the typical weekend warrior and the majority of athletes today. The “kool-aide drinkers” now number in the hundreds of thousands and like any devout follower of anything radical, all negative comments are strongly disagreed with and usually ignored with prejudice. Like I stated earlier, CrossFit HAS brought the sport of weightlifting to a very large number of people interested in getting stronger, but at what point does the sport of weightlifting draw the line in the sand and say we insist on proper mechanics of the lifts be strictly adhered to. 

What I mean is our technique sucks. How can it be good when the founding tenants of CrossFit is almost everything for time? The time race does make the work fun and it does take your mind briefly off the suck, but it does so at the cost of form. Ah, form...always the fun sucker!! Why even bring it up if so many people like doing CrossFit? Well, I believe if you have a fast car but you always hear a clunking noise from the right front tire at speeds of over 50 mph and then at 75 mph it begins to shake violently, you should probably get that shit checked out before you watch your wheel fly past you as you begin your final death spin and subsequent roll. Same goes for complex Olympic Weightlifting Moves, the Snatch and Clean & Jerk. If you don’t have good mechanics of these lifts down before you introduce any substantial load, you are asking for trouble. Everything from muscle strains to torn ligaments and structural damage to broken bones can and will happen and this will sideline you for a long time if not indefinitely. 

I have been all over this country and while I travel I train. So my fall back is CrossFit gyms due to my equipment and facilities needs. Typically I pay a “drop in” fee and get to use a corner with a squat rack and a bar & bumpers to lift while this shiny  CrossFit/Reebok ecosystem goes on around me, it’s like underwater welding next to a vibrant coral reef...it’s hard to concentrate on the work at hand when there are so many shiny colorful fish to look at. They dance around usually in some type of dance-like sequence that substitutes for a proper athletic warm up. Almost playing games as if they were children in gym class with liberal teachers trying to keep it “fun” for little Bobby and Suzy. Then they all huddle up, it’s time to lay out the “WOD” and discuss standards. Their “coach du jour” puts their best Vince Lombardi mask on and send their troops to the field. The countdown begins and 3,2,1...their off! 

This for me is the best part, I mean the absolute best part! You see not only am I a competitive masters weightlifter who has been fortunate enough to have a knowledgeable coach that has taught me the correct and safe way to become an athlete in the most powerful and explosive sport know to man, but I am also a chiropractic student. So watching the movement faults/patterns of the shiny flashy new CrossFitter’s is like christmas morning to me! I see so many faults and bad mechanics that I cant look away, but what is even crazier than a soccer mom flailing away wrecking her back improperly swinging a kettle-bell that is 55 pounds too heavy for her is the “coach’s”. Yes, the “coach’s” (a term I use loosely when talking CrossFit), I know...it’s shocking to think that after their weekend two day seminar they are not the best coaches in the world, but it’s true. They stink, I mean they really stink. Now, let me stop right here and clarify for a moment, not every CrossFit coach is horrible, in fact there is a large amount that are truly amazing and I have been fortunate enough to know some of them, that is how I know these other schmoes stink! I was extremley blessed to have hands down one of THE best coaches when I started CrossFit, if you want to see how its done look up Dave at CrossFit Buffalo, he’s no joke. 

But having said that I haven't seen too many “Daves” out there, as a matter of fact I have seen “coach’s” get into fights with their athletes and belittle them in front of people for petty drama filled reasons, I have seen “coach’s” with their backs to the athletes as the WOD was in progress discussing their adventures at local bars the night before and worse, much worse. I typically see “coach’s” give terribly wrong information on form and function to their athletes at the athletes expense. I feel both bad for them as well as excited for the new wave of chiropractic patients that are surely right around the corner. 

Being shoved into a corner, I almost become an invisible witness to this strange ecosystem as they go about their business seeing who can get the fastest time on the white board regardless of form or dangerous movement patterns. The only time the “coach’s” see me is when they realize that their athletes are watching me or worse yet, talking to me. It’s as if I have pulled up in my windowless van offering the kiddies puppies and candy if only they’ll get in. I understand why the “coach’s” don’t want someone like me to talk to and/or interact with their “community”, because if I had a career built on bullshitting people, I wouldn’t want someone who knew what they were actually talking about poison my well either. 

So back to my question, when is enough enough? Well I say it has to be now, right now. Thanks for the renewed interest CrossFit, but if your going to perform in our sport here are the rules of the game, period. I’ll bet that this scares a lot of Weightlifting higher ups out there because they think it is be bad to “bite the hand that feeds them”, and maybe they're right. But do we just let the sport that we love and fight for get watered down to the point it becomes some shitty light beer? 

As a CrossFit born & Weightlifter raised athlete, I refuse to candy coat our sport to anyone for anything. I am a gritty hard nosed garage weightlifter that dances with a bar that hates me almost every day and I have worked too damn hard in my life to let this or anything else happen to the sport that I love. Play by the rules or get out. You know why so many CrossFitters and other athletes of all calibers gravitate towards guys like Donny Shankle and Glenn Pendlay or Don McCauley, Jon North and Travis Mash? They tell it like it is and their love for this sport shines through. They refuse to let you slide for the sake of time and a bullshit number on a white board. Your form wasn't perfect on that lift? Do it again, and again, again until it IS perfect. How do you think a guy like Greg Everett and Mike Burgener got to where they are? Did they seek out CrossFit to become great? No, CrossFit sought THEM out to become what it is today. 

So to all of the weightlifters out there who love this sport, hold yourself and everyone around you accountable. And for any CrossFitter out there who is still listening, please don’t take all of this as an attack on you or your lifestyle or anything else. I was you, and these are lessons that I have learned, my steps in this journey have led me here and my passion that I got from CrossFit has propelled me into the sport of Weightlifting and my love for it. You can do better, demand that of yourself. When I was at CrossFit Buffalo we always talked about “honest standards” and keeping them at all cost, it is those standards that made me question why we should give up form and function for some made up number on a white board, that can only lead to diminished strength and injury. Seek out good coaches and become a watcher of form and a teller of truths & you to will see your world change for the better.