This Past Week (9/19-9/25)

This past week was my final heavy week for SMS 11. Per usual, Sunday was my squat and yoga day. I hit my weights during my lift nicely. In fact, I felt really strong this day. Afterwards I attended the yoga basics class for the first time in about three weeks. Man, that was exactly what I needed too. The intensity of this class is pretty low and this allows me to relax and actually enjoy the class a lot more. I made a trip to the steam room after the class ended and that only furthered my calm and relaxed state. I spent a lot of time in the afternoon studying for the CSCS this day as well.

Monday I hit the flat bench and although I had to work at a slightly lower weight than I would have liked to, the weights on my accessory lifts went up again from week two. After I finished my scheduled lift I shot videos for a workout program that I put together for a former teammate of mine. I'm not going to lie, the program is pretty intense and I am really excited to see how he responds to it. In the afternoon I uploaded all of the videos from SMS 11 to YouTube and my exercise index. There is still one more video I have to shoot for the warm-up on day 2, but let's be serious, none of you are that far along in the program anyways so I don't feel particularly bad that it isn't up right this second. Monday evening I played pickup basketball at the gym. There were a bunch of former college players there so the runs were pretty good.

Tuesday I wasn't feeling that well so I didn't work out at all. I had to go to an orientation meeting for work, which I wasn't very fond of, and I had sessions throughout the day.

Wednesday I had my deadlift and back day. I hit my weight for my deadlifts and all of my weights increased for the accessory lifts, so it was a good day with the iron. In the afternoon I had my plyo session that I missed from Tuesday. The rest of this day was spent reading and training others.

Thursday I had one of the most spread out days at the gym that I have had. My day started with a 6:30 AM session, then I had one at 11:00 AM, then 4:00 PM, and finally 7:00 PM. Before my 4:00 session I did my first cycle of Cratos Training Circuit 3. Wow, that was a serious workout. It took me 40 minutes to complete and I burned almost 800 calories doing it. I was gassed by the end. After my 4:00 I decided to stick around the gym instead of going to dinner before my 7:00. This allowed me to attend another yoga class Thursday evening, restorative yoga. This yoga session was an hour of complete relaxation, and I am desperately hoping that I will be able to continue to attend these classes.

Friday was my military press day as well as my second plyo workout of the week. The plyo session went fine, but my lift was not good. I have been feeling really strong with my military press the past six weeks or so, but Friday was definitely an exception. I had to drop 30 pounds on my working sets, which was frustrating, but I guess some days are better than others. My weights on my accessory lifts stayed the same as well.

Saturday morning I played basketball at the club again and then spent a lot of the day watching college football and reading for the CSCS. Saturday night I did write a new article though, "Build Your Pyramid", which can be found in the articles section of my website.

That's all for this past week. Time to go live this one.

Get big or die tryin'.

Having Trouble Sleeping? Check Your Diet...

Here is an interesting blog article posted on Zen to Fitness.com. In it you will find some foods that you normally think of as sleep disrupters and a few that may have never crossed your mind. If you are having trouble sleeping, one or more of these foods may be to blame.

Foods to Avoid for a Good Night's Sleep as posted on Zen to Fitness.

Get big or die tryin'.

This Past Week (9/12-9/18)

This past week was my second week of SMS 11, i.e., my filming week for SMS 11. Sunday is normally my squat day, but because my girlfriend was in town I didn't go to the gym at all that day. So, I ended up doing 4 lifts in 5 days instead of my normal 4 lifts in 6 days, but it was all good.

Monday ended up being my squat day then. I have lightened my working max for my box squats for this phase. Before I was at a 460 working max for back squats, but I have dropped it down to 405 for this month. This was done for two reasons: One, my max for box squats is definitely lower than my max for back squats. Secondly, I wanted to be able to focus on really exploding off of the box instead of having long, slow reps each set. This lift went really well and I definitely can feel myself getting stronger.

Tuesday was my bench day. I lifted in the morning and then did my regular Tuesday plyos in the afternoon. Tuesday was a long day at the gym work wise, so taking a few hours for myself there was huge.

Wednesday I didn't work out at all. I had been at the gym a total of 24 of the previous 48 hours so I really didn't feel like working out that day. I only had two sessions that day as well, so I did those and took the rest of the day to get things done around my apartment.

Thursday was my deadlift and back day. I don't know what has been going on lately, but I feel like the bar is definitely slipping out of my hands a lot more than it was before. I think I am going to start using chalk again, so hopefully I don't get yelled at for "making a mess". I'm hitting my weights fine though.

Friday I was back on schedule with my workouts. After a couple sessions in the morning I came back to the gym for a plyo session followed by my military press day. My military press has definitely improved the most for me as of recent. I feel really strong with this and have been seeing my weights go up nicely.

Saturday morning I played pickup for a couple hours before having one session and then spending a lovely, rainy Chicago day on the sofa watching college football.

That's all for this past week, now it's time to go live this one.

Get big or die tryin'.

How Are You Warming Up?

For the most part, people know that you should warm up before exercise. However, most people have absolutely no clue how to warm-up properly to prepare their body for exercise. Check out this article by Brock Daniels, strength and conditioning coach at Vintage High School, for some great information on how to warm up properly. Also, be sure to check out the Warm-Up page for the Ground-Based Warm-Up and Dynamic Warm-Up used at Self Made!

Add Some Spice to Your Warm Up by Brock Daniels

Get big or die tryin'.

Improvements for ALL Athletes, Young and Old

Here is a great article that gets right to the point for training high school athletes. However, I strongly believe that these tips should be applied to ALL athletes, young and old, as well as the weekend warriors. See the article below by Adam Plagens, strength and conditioning coach for Saline High School, for these very important tips.

Improvements for High School Athletes by Adam Plagens

Get big or die tryin'.

This Past Week (9/5-9/11)

This past week was the start of SMS 11. Because I was up late the previous night I decided to sleep in on Sunday and not attend yoga. This was completely fine with me, especially after the previous week's episode with hatha yoga. So I started SMS 11, bringing everything back to the basics and shortening my lift. After I finished at the gym I went back to my apartment and read.

Monday was bench day, and I must admit, even though my lift on Sunday was significantly shorter my legs were REALLY tight on Monday. I had a session in the morning and then went in to my world. Just like on Sunday, the shorter, simpler lift of SMS 11 kicked my butt and by the end I was gassed. That, plus the tightness of my legs, led to the simple decision of no post-lift sprints.

Tuesday was my plyo day, and although my legs were still a little sore from Sunday the session went really well. I would with a bunch of clients throughout the day and was able to sign some new clients to packages. Tuesday was also the day I sent out the September issue of The Source. If you are interested in signing up for my FREE monthly newsletter, you can do so by clicking here and entering your e-mail address.

Wednesday was my deadlift and back day. I did an exercise that I hadn't done for a while and by that afternoon my back was feeling it haha. My day was, once again, filled with sessions, and when I wasn't at the gym I was back in my apartment reading.

Thursday was my off day. My body was needing time to rebuild, so I gave it that time. The day started early with some clients, but I got a lot of reading done as well.

Friday was a really long day for me at the gym. The day started with a 6:00 session, followed by two more sessions right after. Then I had my fourth day of SMS 11 as well as a plyo session. I had one more session after that, then it was back to my place for lunch before heading back to the gym for a few more sessions in the afternoon.

Saturday morning I played pickup again, get my weekly aerobic conditioning in. I played for a couple hours and felt great after.

That's all for this past week. Now it's time to go live this one.

Get big or die tryin'.

This Past Week (8/29-9/4)

This past week was my deload week for SMS 10. Sunday was my squat deload, and everything went as planned. I thought I was going to be able to get a nice, relaxing yoga practice in after, but instead of doing the beginner's class for an hour, I decided to do the regular class for an hour and a half. Big mistake. What I was hoping would be a great Shivasina ended up being 90 minutes of shoulder isometrics. Sweet.

Monday was my bench deload and, per usual, the deload lift went well. Afterwards I ran sprints on the basketball court. I ran a sweet sixteen (sideline to sideline 16 times in under a minute), then did a 12, 8, and 4, resting 60 seconds between the sets. I was gassed by the end and actually threw up twice after I finished, but I ran them a lot better than I thought I was going to. I had a few sessions on Monday, and all and all it was a really good day.

Tuesday I had an early-morning session and then did plyos after. Even though my body weight has been going up the past five weeks or so, I feel really good when it comes to jumping and moving, and I know that doing the Self Made plyo program is a huge contributor to that feeling.

Wednesday was my deadlift deload. It was also my 23rd birthday. I had a couple sessions early in the morning, then hit up the weight room to move some poundage. The lift was solid, nothing spectacular, and the rest of the day I spent reading and studying until my sessions in the evening.

Thursday I had an earlier start than on Wednesday, and that earlier start turned in to a long day at the gym. I didn't train at all on Thursday because of the hours I was working and also so I could just give my body a day off.

Friday was my last day of SMS 10. It was my military deload and I had a plyo session too. There were a few training sessions throughout the day, intermingled with reading back at my apartment. Even though I really liked SMS 10, I have to say that I'm very happy to be done with the isometric portions of it. I am hoping those holds will allow me to break out of the little plateaus I was in and allow me to start bumping up my working maxes again.

Saturday morning I played pickup basketball at the gym for a couple hours. Like I said earlier, even though I have been putting on weight I feel like I am moving a lot better than I was this summer. I spent the rest of the day relaxing and studying for the CSCS.

Well, that's all for this past week. Now it's time to go live this one.

Get big or die tryin'.

Increasing Your Squat

Let's be serious, most guys' squats are complete embarrassments. Check out this article by Marc Bartley, owner of Total Gym in South Carolina, for some quick tips to help you start squatting more now!

5 Squat Tips For Immediate Improvement by Marc Bartley

Get big or die tryin'.

MMA Circuit Training

Here is a video from Doug Balzarini highlighting an MMA-style training circuit.

Get big or die tryin'.

Evaluating Your Training Program

Regardless of our individual health and fitness goals, the commonality between all of our goals is the bottom line: results. Plain and simple, we want results, regardless of what program or training regimen we are partaking in. Nobody travels and pays to go to a gym and wants to stay exactly the same or get worse. You can do that at home for free. So, with this in mind, it is time to evaluate your current training program. Check out this article by Michael Tuchscherer on the seven training principles of any good program.

"The Seven Principles And You" by Michael Tuchscherer

Get big or die tryin'.