Thursday, February 06, 2014

Training - "...if you can do it while checking your iPhone, watching TV, or carrying on a conversation then it isn't conditioning."

2/6 - overhead press, P90X3M D25 Agility X


"Like other very large men, Shaw has a surprisingly sweet nature. His voice is higher and smaller than you’d expect, and he tends to inflect it with question marks. His face has the bulbous charm of a potato carving. “He’s almost overly friendly,” Terry Todd, a former champion weight lifter and an instructor at the University of Texas, told me. “It’s like he thinks that if he’s not you’ll be frightened of him and run away.” At six feet eight and four hundred and thirty pounds, Shaw has such a massive build that most men don’t bother trying to measure up. His torso is three feet wide at the shoulders; his biceps are nearly two feet around. His neck is thicker than other men’s thighs. “I know I’m big,” he told me. “I’ve been big my whole life. I’ve never had to prove how tough I am.”" 

"I’m pleased to say that I have gone from roughly 250 lbs (113 kg) to 163 lbs (74 kg)!!! I’ve maintained this weight off for 6 years now, and the amount of activity I do is drastically less, due to sports injuries. I am no more special than anyone else –  if I can do it, so can you!" 




"We could start here by listing all the studies about the drawbacks of long duration cardio and running. Then we could list all the studies that show the benefits of shorter, high intensity conditioning sessions. There would be lots of fancy acronyms and PubMed links. You'd feel smart reading it, but most likely you wouldn't apply any of it. Plus, that would be boring. So let's make the distinction between cardio and conditioning like this: 
 •Conditioning prepares you for battle. Cardio makes you really good at running slowly away.
 •Conditioning fires up the metabolism. Cardio extinguishing it over time.
 •Conditioning makes a man look good naked. Cardio makes a man look good in lavender skinny jeans and not much else. 
•Conditioning makes you lean and hard. Cardio makes you small and soft. 
•Conditioning makes you better at any physical activity. Cardio makes you good at cardio. •Conditioning is Westside Barbell. Cardio is Planet Fitness. 
•Conditioning relieves anxiety, boosts all-day energy and fires up brain function. Cardio increases anxiety and cortisol. (Runners are only happy when they run. The rest of the time they're assholes. True story.) 
•Conditioning is fun. Cardio is fun when it's over. 
•In short, conditioning is for predators. Cardio is for prey.

Conditioning is about short, hard intervals. Kick ass, rest a little, kick some additional ass, repeat. Like this: 1.Choose a conditioning exercise. Go hard for 15 to 30 seconds, roughly. 2.Catch your breath. Don't "rest", just wait for the black spots to fade from your vision. 3.Repeat. 4.Stop after 10 to 20 minutes. As a general rule, 10-minute sessions are perfect for post-weight training. Longer sessions, up to about 20 minutes, are best for separate conditioning sessions in the post-absorptive state.

Exercise Selection and Rotation Remember, don't get too "good" at one form. Avoid adaptation. The more you suck at one form of conditioning the higher the impact it will have. Conditioning isn't a competition (CrossFit aside), it's a tool for getting a job done. Focus on the goal you're after, not the tool used to get there. Conditioning is all about variety, so it's fun and never boring. The list of exercises is endless, but here are some good ones:  Sprints: Flats, hills, glaciers, with Jim Wendler on your back, etc. Heavy Bag Work: Beat it like it's wearing an Affliction T-shirt.

Loaded carries (farmer's walk, sandbag carry, overhead barbell walk etc.) Fast Jump Rope Medicine Ball Work: One of the best exercises here is to take a 100 to 150 pound med ball or Atlas stone, pick it up and toss it over one shoulder. Then turn around and repeat. Sadly, 100+ pound med balls are hard to find in most gyms, but they're out there. Prowler or Sled Work: Push it, drag it, or throw it. The rule here is that if you can do it while checking your iPhone, watching TV, or carrying on a conversation then it isn't predator conditioning. If it would get you kicked out of Planet Fitness, it's predator conditioning. The goal is not to throw up, but you're on the right track if you get close to it. Train to the limit of your capacity. When you think you can't go a second longer, add five seconds (because you can, sissy), then take a quick breather. Then do it again."












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