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Holiday pentathlon challenge sun. Dec 11

11/21/2022

Join us on December 11 at the Westshore Warehouse in Victoria for our annual Holiday Pentathlon Challenge!

5 disciplines will be performed in a set order as follows:

One Arm Clean
One-Arm Clean and Press
One-Arm Jerk
Half Snatch
Push Press

Guidelines:

Each exercise will be performed for 6 minutes
Multiple hand changes are allowed
6-7 minutes rest between sets
There is a maximum repetition (rep) count for each discipline. These are only maximums and a sub-maximum number will not be penalized.

Max rep counts are as follows:

Cleans 120 reps
Long cycle press 60 reps
Jerks 120 reps
Half snatch 108 reps
Push press 120 reps

No additional points are scored for reps over the preset maximum.

More details including points and scoring can be found at the IKMF website linked here: https://www.ikmf-world.com/disciplines/ikmf-pentathlon/

See you there!

Check out these video's for a further breakdown on the pentathlon movements and guidelines:

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Motivation is a self-fulfilling prophecy; Don't wait for it to show up.

7/2/2022

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An interesting concept of sport psychology (this applies to weight training as well), is "State of Flow". Flow occurs when we are totally immersed in the activity: we lose sense of time, and are neither bored nor anxious. Concentration becomes automatic, and this feeling of flow is so pleasing that it is intrinsically rewarding. In many cases, we may engage in activity for no other reason than to experience flow.

We talk alot about the objective and quantitative aspects of optimizing training:

the most effective number of sets and reps;
the most effective amount of volume;
the most effective exercises;
the most effective frequency or intensity.....

However, it is equally important to optimize flow:

balance the challenge of the task and the level of your ability, to
reinforce your intrinsic reward system.

It is not unreasonable to assume that lack of motivation to engage in an activity could be directly or indirectly influenced by your perception or expectation of flow. If you tend to think that every session is, or needs to be, so difficult as to cause anxiety, that anxiety or frustration is a good indicator that the challenge is too high.
Similarly, if you are avoiding activity because you think that your session will be boring, then you want to find a way to introduce more or diverse challenge.

Ways to increase challenge:

try a new exercise
introduce more balance or agility aspects (e.g. single-leg stance variations, bosu or ball variations, etc.)
change your training format (e.g. set a time cap, try some countdowns, do some strength ladders instead of repeating sets with the same weight, etc.)

At the end of the day, people are motivated to fulfill their needs.
The two most important needs of athletes are to:

have fun, and
feel worthy.

Having fun includes the right amount of stimulation and excitement. Feeling worthy includes the need to feel confident and successful.

To the first point, this is why I stress the importance of choosing your own path by making your own decisions as to your goals and preferred exercises or activities.
Some people feel pressured to do the things they think they are supposed to do, rather than what they want to do. Do the things you want to do, and just make sure they coincide with your goals. If going to the gym isn't something you want to do, how can you make it so?

Examples might include:

recruit a workout buddy
join some classes
participate in sport

Feeling worthy, confident, and successful is all part of the training (and learning) process.

You receive input, make a decision, execute that decision, and your outcome feeds back as new input to inform your next decision. In training, your input may be that you are influenced to be stronger, fitter, or try a new activity. You make a decision on how you want to achieve that (e.g. get a plan/program, join a gym, join a running group, set a training schedule, etc.). You go and follow through on those decisions, and then here is where I think many people (particularly beginners) tend to make mistakes.

Beginners often suffer from "paralysis by analysis". In an effort to optimize training, beginners hold off on enacting change behaviour until they've found the best way to train, or the best diet to start. They mentally survey all the possible diets they could do, and all the possible known methods of training, that they get sucked into the fallacy of the one-size-fits-all approach - Spoiler Alert! - there is no one best diet or training approach! IRONY: The time wasted trying to find the Fast Track to results is time not spent on actually achieving results with ANY METHOD available.
People tend to set unrealistic short term expectations from what should be long term developments. People want to burn all their calories, lose all their weight, gain all their strength or muscle in the span of a single workout, week of workouts, or month of workouts. Unfortunately, because you can't see immediate results, the feedback loop almost needs to be taken on faith within the context of a workout. This may result in a perception of failure and frustration associated with the activity, and the learning model short circuits. You start feeling like what you do doesn't make a positive difference and you start to lose your sense of control and autonomy.

However, when you value and achieve flow - you feel in complete control, and this feeling is enough to keep you coming back, which corresponds with a greater likelihood of reaching your goals.

Did you achieve flow this week?
Having trouble pulling the trigger on a program or diet?

Maybe I can help. DM me for coaching!

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My First Guided Training Program: Things I learned

6/25/2022

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This was one of the first planned out, daily programs I did for the specific goal of leaning out.

Things I learned while doing it:

consistency made me feel in control
food and training support each other
I got more out of buckling down with hard work and careful planning and preparation than all the bullshit I ever bought into previously: such as "super foods", raw food diet, 3 hour workouts, fat-loss supplements (EGCG, L-Carnitine, ECA Stacks)
Seeing myself eat less food (reducing portions) meant I was ACTUALLY eating less calories and burning more fat
Others who have never done what I was doing seemed never understand what it meant to hold oneself accountable to a goal. Setting a goal is like making a promise to yourself, and you never break promises, especially ones with deep emotional roots.
When others push food on you, the easy part is saying "No" if you went through the process of setting your goal, making that promise, and going through hours of preparation and contemplation -- The hard part is not telling them to fuck off when they keep pushing, and they show zero regard for why you told them you're saying "No".
- e.g. "I made a goal to lose X pounds, so all my food is planned out. It's important to me (and my health)" "Oh, c'mon just have a little..."
- When you stop and think, this person is knowingly circumventing your personal goals, which to me is a sign of disrespect, and with a topic so emotional for most people, even more egregious a transgression than that. But then you just remind yourself that they are willfully ignorant to your feelings and what it means to be motivated to achieve or improve yourself.
I was capable of achieving what many implied was impossible. I asked myself what created the gap between goals and results:
- planning, and
- consistency - the 2 skills people still have the hardest time with. Without planning and consistency, the reasons to justify failure are just weak excuses
strict dieting gets results, but I couldn't maintain it
I can still train even while brutally sore
Going from 60-minute sessions to 90-minute sessions out of necessity to fit all the extra work in (rather than because of wasting time) didn't kill me but I'm also not sure it made me stronger
cardio takes many forms (I would jog down to the overpass and go up and down stairs for 15-45 minutes depending on where I was in the program. Even through the winter, but I'd have to wear antisplip boots and hold the railing when it was snowy and icy)
I learned to love 30-60-minute steady state cardio sessions because I could either:
- prepare mentally for the workout ahead by watching these and other training videos
- educate myself and reinforce positive psychological traits by listening to Tom Venuto's Body Fat Solution Book
- relax, meditate, and reflect while watching Netflix or other drivel

Things I learned AFTER:

I've been leaner since then WITHOUT strict dieting and MORE planning & consistency: i.e. I didn't have to cut out milk, sugar, or the occasional treat to keep losing fat
Even pros have outdated ideas about how to achieve fat loss - thus, people tend to get results often in spite of the things they do or their knowledge of how things work
I could build muscle and lose fat at the same time (as my BodPod assessment from the start of the program compared to my final assessment indicated)
Abdominal "twists" are stupid, they don't shrink your waist, and the balance of evidence suggests you'll deteriorate your spine over time if you do them
Anyone interested in re-compositioning their body should do at least one 8-12 week program and follow it to the letter to really, truly understand what it means to get return on investment, and to know the minimum lengths to which one must go to see the level of result they say they want versus what they are willing to work for

Are you looking for a program to follow? I offer personalized coaching, catered to your goals and needs.

Get Coaching!

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LAMAR GANT: It's not your burden that defines you, but how you carry it

6/18/2022

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Lamar Gant is an example of an athlete with severe scoliosis - not mild scoliosis - severe scoliosis, who overcame his limitations to become one of the most revered lifters in the annals of powerlifting. We can safely say that neither his form or technique was "textbook" (due to his morphology), and thus not what you might presume to be "safe lifting", but even so he was driven, set goals for himself, applied himself in his training, and was brave enough to stand on stage with "normal" athletes and show them what stuff he was made of.
He is not alone though, as you will find throughout the lifter forums that focus on scoliosis that many people have found that exercise - but more specifically heavy weight training - has played a complimentary role to the regression or elimination of many people's conditions.

Some common themes that have turned up in this T-Nation thread are:
- There seems to be no clear research done on athletes who repeatedly lift heavy weights with scoliosis and whether or not this can cause or worsen the condition.
- Lift. You’ll see what happens when it happens.
- Do what works for you. If it hurts(like spine damaging hurt), stop.
- If you were born with it, you can prehab/rehab to keep it from getting worse, and continue lifting. If you have developed scoliosis, you can correct and reverse it with some thought and a little work.
- you may develop scoliosis through bad posture, exercise selection, imbalances
- unilateral work is key for addressing imbalances
- lifting is good for you! Just use a little thought and consideration when you pick your lifts
- An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!
- It wasn’t the weights that messed me up, it was the way I used the weights that caused me problems

One last note: It has been said by many that "there is no correlation with bad form and injury risk in weightlifting". This is not a surprising observation as we do indeed see many examples of horrendous form performed without subsequent acute injury. Moreover, we also see (and may have experienced) instances of "perfect" form during squats, deadlifts, bench presses, etc. that incur back strains, bicep tears, or pec tears.
Indeed, seldom do we see obvious positive, linear correlations of bad form and acute injury in the experimental resistance training literature. Common and well-established injury risks are actually poor sleep, high training frequency, higher training loads, exercise selection (joint specific injuries), higher rep ranges, and age is actually inversely related to injury in powerlifters, because "Despite the logical assumption that coordination and conditioning decrease with higher age, the higher experience in training and competition of older athletes led to a lower rate of injuries" (Reichel et al. 2019)

So on that last note, what I'd like to leave you with is, if you are experiencing challenges with your activity - pain, discomfort, restriction, unreasonable difficulty) - give it time. There is learning in the doing, and your motor development (how your brain learns a skill and instructs your muscles) is time dependent. Be patient, trust in the process, and you will get stronger and more confident!

Learn more about Lamar HERE.
Research Article: Incidence and characteristics of acute and overuse injuries in elite powerlifterswww.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/2331205X.2019.1588192

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Are the effects of your popular diet physiologically unique, or behaviourly unique?

6/11/2022

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Your diet may get you results, but does it give you the power to control them?
Any diet that hyper-focuses on a singular concept such as ketosis, plant based, or paleo ultimately ends up facing the same challenges: What do people do when they stop losing weight? - Do they Keto/vegan/paleo harder? (to borrow from L. Norton) This is where energy content and calories become a necessary metric for understanding and taking control of bodyweight.
Many people don't realize that any structure that limits dietary choice results in weight loss, and most people overeat on easily accessible, shelf-stable, carb dominant, convenience type foods that wouldn't normally fit into a keto type diet plan. So we eliminated the foods you overeat on, and you lost weight.....go figure!
Of course, if the goal is just being healthy, then that is cool, but we can't then make the leap and say that it is mechanistically unique - that is to say, it is not biologically or chemically more effective than any other diet, this just happens to be one of the ones that limits their trigger foods.

What does your weight-loss represent?
Someone who has never actually formally followed a diet plan, but who's always been insecure about their weight, will get excited about losing 1-2lb, while others need to lose 5-10lb to get excited. In reality, your weight could fluctuate by that much in a day just due to changes in hydration. This is why I, and other experienced diet coaches, do not fuss about daily weight changes. We much prefer to get a weekly average, and then compare weekly averages to see the bigger trend.

Take that to the next level, someone who is 350lbs who loses 40-50lbs may be ecstatic, but really it's just a drop in the pond relative to their total body fat mass. Don't get me wrong, the evidence is pretty clear that you only need to lose 5-10% of your bodyweight to see immediate health improvements (e.g. glucose tolerance, insulin sensitivity, blood lipids, etc.).
Just for example I lost 60 total lifetime pounds from 228 to 168, and I look completely different - total body re-composition, not just fat loss. As I've said before, losing fat isn't hard in an absolute sense, because of it's simplicity. Eat less than you were before and you will start losing fat right away. But gaining muscle is a process that takes years of hard labour - voluntarily mind you.

People fail to grasp this on the whole, and they conflate a successful diet with one that

doesn't make them feel completely awful,
eats up their muscle mass,
leaves them only with the energy to train like a kitten, and
really only removes the obvious junk from their diet, that if they would have just done in the first place they would've gotten the same result as the fad diet

Just as a workout should give you more than it takes from you, I truly believe people would be happier, more motivated, and more fulfilled if they treated their diet the same way. Taking an overly or unnecessarily restrictive approach is unlikely to check those boxes, and as I've said before, diets are not effective due to what makes them different, but by what makes them similar - a caloric deficit.

By the way, have you downloaded my FREE COOKBOOK yet!????

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The latest in kettlebell sport, health, fitness, strength, aerobics, nutrition, lifestyle

Holiday pentathlon challenge sun. Dec 11

Motivation is a self-fulfilling prophecy; Don't wait for it to show up.

My First Guided Training Program: Things I learned

LAMAR GANT: It's not your burden that defines you, but how you carry it

Are the effects of your popular diet physiologically unique, or behaviourly unique?

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﻿The latest in kettlebell sport, health, fitness, strength, aerobics, nutrition, lifestyle

Holiday pentathlon challenge sun. Dec 11

Motivation is a self-fulfilling prophecy; Don't wait for it to show up.

My First Guided Training Program: Things I learned

LAMAR GANT: It's not your burden that defines you, but how you carry it

Are the effects of your popular diet physiologically unique, or behaviourly unique?

CategOries

Archives

Get Social!

Closer Than You Think!

Let's chat!

The latest in kettlebell sport, health, fitness, strength, aerobics, nutrition, lifestyle