Let's throw away the Bowflex; throw away all machines. Machine weights are expensive, and are nothing more than hyped-up trash. Let's release our inner warrior, and let's get real. Let's take care of business with some tires and stones!
Let's stop making excuses about not having this, and not having that. Excuses are nothing but blocks in the road. So you don't have barbells, squat racks, or benches; let's make use of what's lying in the trenches.
Alright, enough with Dr. Seuss... I'm afraid that I wore out my welcome with that. Here's the point:
Sometimes the reality of not having the same equipment as a world-class gym can cause an individual to think that they are unable to truly become stronger. This thought is complete and utter shenanigans. You do not need to have access to a world-class gym to become a better athlete and get stronger.
I found an old tractor tire just hanging out in the woods the other day. The tractor tire was not the heaviest tire, maybe 150 to 200 pounds, but it gets the job done. Today I used it in a couple different ways including:
- deadlifting and explosively pressing the tire to the ground
- deadlifting the tire as explosively as possible so that the tire will flip without having to press it; almost as though you were trying to throw it straight up into the air
- carried the tire as if it was farmer bars
It was also garbage day out here in Mount Bethel, Pennsylvania. Someone has to bring the garbage cans up from the end of the driveway so I decided to mix it in between sets. I would do some kind of tire variation and then sprint to pick up one of the three garbage cans. I would walk it up to where it belongs while carrying it over my head. I would then sprint back to pick up the next garbage can. This time I did a variation of lifts while walking including the power snatch, overhead press, and tricep extensions. I did the same thing with the last garbage can, that I did with the first one.
The next thing I did in my workout involved finding two stones in my rock wall. One of the stones was too heavy to do anything with other than deadlift it. The other stone was light enough to do just about anything that I wanted, but still heavy enough to get results. I did three sets of five deadlifts with the really heavy stone. With the lighter stone, I power cleaned it from the ground to my chest and would explosively chest press/throw it for distance; I did this approximately 10 times. I also power cleaned this lighter stone from the ground to both of my shoulders, one at a time. I did 3 x 5 for each shoulder.
I ended the workout with six sprints that were approximately 40 yards each and I did as many pull ups that I could. Obviously, the workout truly ended with some static stretching, and started with my normal warm-up routine. The static stretching at the end, and the warm-up in the beginning of the workout, are both key in preventing injury. The workout lasted about one hour overall.
I'm going to go off topic a little, but I promise that what I am about to say correlates to this topic perfectly.
Okay so everyone has dreams, but very few actually chase them. Most people dream their lives, but very few actually live their dreams; let's live our dreams. You need to take action in order to live your dreams. Your dreams will not just happen, you have to go get them; attack them with everything that you have, and don't let anything stand in your way. Everybody runs into blocks in the road when chasing their dreams, but only a few actually hurdle these road blocks. A lot of times when one reaches a road block they put their head down and quit everything that they had been working for. Not having the same equipment as a world class gym is just one example of running into a road block. However, instead of quitting, find alternative ways of getting stronger and be creative all at the same time. You will be amazed at how much of a workout you will receive in return. I'm not saying to never pick up a barbell again, or that lifting stones and flipping tires is the jack of all lifting, but I truly believe that you can become an elite athlete with doing so.
The real message here is covered within that idea of not quitting when you run into a wall; get back up and find another way. As Zach Even-Esh always puts it... 'there is more to training than just getting stronger or more athletic, you are training for life as well.'
I started this summer with the notion that I will have my usual job where I spent my last two summers working. Unfortunately, with the federal school cuts that took place, my job was taken away from me.
I found another job where I loaded and unloaded trucks all day at a warehouse. Sadly, it only lasted one day. The only word to truly describe this job and it's surrounding atmosphere starts with an h and ends with an ell. I'll leave that one up to you! I know all of you who read my posts have such a broad range of intelligence, so I have not the slightest worry that you guys won't figure it out.
Alright, so I am left jobless for a short period of time.
I start looking through newspaper's, craigslist, and all of those job search engines you can find online.......................................... and all of a sudden, BAM! I run into a gold mine. Oh! I am so excited! I found a job! It is an unbelievable find. What I have to do... and what I will be getting paid... it was almost too good to be true!
Okay so this company advertises for Coca Cola, Pepsi and Red Bull. The type of people this company were looking for needed to be 18 years or older, have a drivers license, and drive a vehicle. Check, check and check! If accepted they would pay you $300 a week, plus a $600 signing bonus! What's not to love about that? Job description: Red Bull, Coca cola and Pepsi seeks people -- regular citizens, not professional drivers -- to go about their normal routine as they usually do, only with an advert of any of the companies we are advertising their product pasted on your car. This program will last for 3 months and the minimum period you can participate is 1 month. Like I said, what's not to love about that! It almost seem's too good to be true. The $300 per week and $600 signing bonus, will add up to $4200. All I can think about is that it will be enough to pay for my full year's rent and then some. I'm feeling on top of the world at this point.
So I spend a couple of days talking to this guy by the name of David Sandton. He seems like a pretty nice guy, just trying to hook me up with a temporary "job," at the same time of doing his own. He asks for a few personal tid-bits about myself such as my name and address, nothing major. He was always telling me to do everything with urgency, and as swiftly as possible, so that we could get started; which I can completely understand. I mean time is money when it comes to business. In his case, he had no time to waste.
Thankfully, I asked a lot of questions. He answered all of my questions in a sub-par educated manner. In other words, the answers almost had zero relevance to the actual question being asked, and his sentence structuring was not very professional. I'm not saying that I am a perfect angel when it comes to sentence structuring; but when I tell you his was not very good, I mean it was not very good.
Anyway...
The process involves him sending me a check, which I would then cash in. I was asked to deduct $600 for myself and then send the rest to some girl named Maria. Maria is supposedly the girl who is expected to be putting the decals on my car, and taking them off. Wonderful! Her address is in Illinois... What? I live in Pennsylvania, she lives in Illinois. I asked the question why would you send someone from Illinois to put a new decal on my car every week for the long run of three months. Once again this moronic fool did not answer my question. Instead he decided to give me some line about how his company cares about the clients and blah blah blah. I never said anything regarding what he cried to me about. I basically responded by saying that he needed to take a couple steps back and CHILL!
Today, I received the check in the mail. It was approximately $3,300! I was like woah! Now that's a lot of money. By the time I received the check it was too late to go to the bank and cash it in. I was so irritated, to say the least. Like I said, this guy was all about doing everything in a swift and urgent manner. I never thought I would say this, but I would like to send a huge thank you out to the banks for having such bogus service hours. The bogus hours of the banks saved me from getting scammed, and losing a hefty amount of money.
Here is how the whole scam thing works:
I would have went to the bank, cashed the check, and received $3,300 in cash. I would have kept $600 for myself, and sent approximately $2,700 to that Maria chick. When my bank would have asked for money from the banking account that gave the $3,300 check to me, my bank would realize that there is no such account. In other words, my bank would come attack me for the money, while Maria would have been jumping into the pool of money that I sent to her. And that is how people scam other people.
To David and Maria... if that even is your real names... I hate you!
Lesson of the Day:
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!
Let's take a trip through history class real quick. It seems as though every corner you turn in history you can find a war. War involves fighting a string of battles until one side is forced to surrender. Within these battles, one side has to win and the other side has to lose; it's just how it is. However, just because the one side wins the battle doesn't necessarily mean that they will consequently win the war, and vice versa.
Interestingly enough, this ideology can hold true when war is interchanged with life. Life also has its battles that must be faced. "You win some, you lose some" is the saying that I always hear. There are times in your life when you win, and there are also times in your life when you lose.
The key to this thought is not the idea of winning or losing. Rather, it is a matter of how you react to the win or loss.
Some people become so satisfied with a win that they become complacent. They figure that since they won, improvements are no longer necessary. Eventually, this thinking will come back to bite them where it hurts them the most and a losing pattern will start to set in.
Similarly, some people get knocked down, and they sit there and cry about it. They think of themselves as worthless, and in other negative ways. What happens after this is a never-ending trip down failure lane. That is until they stand up, and overcome. Which for some people, that time never comes. They sit there, and whither away their lives.
When you choose the paths of complacency or cry-baby lane, the war will be lost no matter which way you decide to look at it. This leaves me to believe that the only way to truly "win the war" is to have a mindset to continually get better. Strive to be the best that you can be. You can win the war of life by never accepting mediocrity, following your dreams, attacking your goals, and fulfilling your aspirations.
Man, my emotions are running high and I'm just going to let my emotions do all of the talking. As a warning, I speak from the heart and I do not hide who it is that I am. Either take it or leave it... the choice is up to you. Some may disapprove of my choices in words, which is fine. Understand though, that I'd rather you know the true me, than fake something that I am not.
As most of you know from either reading my posts or knowing me personally, I am always looking to push the limits of what I can do both physically and mentally. I also am an extremely hard worker. I don't like doing any kind of job that requires me to sit on my ass! Period. I want to be down in the trenches, working like a mad man. A mad man, I tell ya!
Okay well let me cut to the chase...
Today was my very first day at my new job as a loader/unloader at a warehouse. At first, I loved it! It was everything that I could ask for in a job. I was picking stuff up and putting 'em down, just like ole' Arnold. I was busting my ass and putting out every effort that I had, because that is the way that I do work. It ended up being a 10 hour day from 7 am to 5:30 pm, with only three breaks: two 15 minute breaks, and one 30 minute lunch break. Have you ever done something at full intensity over a two hour plus time span? No stops, no breaks, no water. Well let me tell you, it is definitely not fun, but it makes you feel like you can accomplish anything! However, add another four of those and it can sum up to be a walk through hell.
I came to the point today where I would rather die than spend another day working at that place again. Before today, I didn't think there was any hell-ish experience that an individual could go through, to rather choose death over reliving a certain experience. Nothing! Man, did this experience change that reality of mine.
Here's the deal though...
There were people who were so-called "supervisors" who did nothing all day. They sat there watching as my co-workers and I busted our asses. I felt like I was in hell. Literally. I felt that I was a slave to these people. Seriously, no exaggeration. These people made me feel powerless, almost as if they owned me. They made it seem like they controlled my every move. I felt like I was a helpless character in a video game, while they were the evil kid running me through a big ball of flaming, hot fire. It seemed that they had complete control of my life. I don't understand how people like this can sit back and watch human beings struggle, and not do anything about it. They almost seemed entertained by what they were watching. It felt like they were watching my every move waiting for me to slip just once, so that they could lash at me with a whip. Obviously, they would never physically abuse their workers with their own hands, but I still felt that it was a serious cause for concern.
This all made me start thinking of the slavery that took place in the United States not too long ago. It provided me with a greater appreciation of what these slaves had to go through. Not just physically, but mentally and emotionally as well. No human being should ever have to go through a hell-ish experience like that. In the end, no matter what color, race, or gender, a human is a human, and should be treated accordingly.
Seriously.
Sometimes all it takes is one experience to attain a better understanding of what others in history have dealt with. It was an experience for me that I would never give back in a million years. What I learned about myself, and what I learned about life in general was completely worth it.
I would like to conclude by saying that the experience that I went through today will only ever be one experience. In other words, you can keep your nine dollars per hour, and shove it up your ass. I am a human being, and no amount of money is worth being treated like anything less. I QUIT!
If there is one thing that I have learned in my life, it is that you have to be yourself. Be who you are and nobody else. I recommend that you learn and adapt from those who once held similar dreams to the dreams that you have now, those who are now living those dreams to the fullest, and those who have already created success for themselves. However, that doesn't mean that you should do everything that these people do. In case you haven't caught on yet, I am referring to your role model(s). Just because your role model does one thing, doesn't necessarily mean that you should always follow that same action. In the end, your success is significantly dependent on how well you stay on track of who you are.
Let me explain further...
There are basic principles that you follow on a daily basis, and that you have adapted to over time based on certain experiences. All of the experiences that you have been through as a person is the most prominent shaping factor that makes you different from everyone else in the world. Let's face it, nobody else in the world has been through the same exact experiences that you have, just like you haven't been through the same exact experiences that other people have. What happens with some people is that they cripple the reality of who they are by desiring to be somebody else so badly, that they lose sight of who they really are in the process. In prevention to this, I recommend having multiple role models to learn from. Take away a few things that you feel represent you, and dump anything that doesn't represent you. Never implement something into your life that you feel is not a good representation of who you are. It is my guess that this is where the whole idea of 'only implementing one thought that you read out of a book, and leaving the rest' comes from. It allows you to experience more than just one person's thoughts, and prevents you from becoming somebody that you're not.
When all is said and done, stay the path to who you are.
Those who stray away from the path will have nothing left.
Athlete's are always looking to make strength gains in the weight room, right? They are always looking to make these strength gains as quickly as possible, right? Well, then how come so many athlete's are never consistent when it comes to training in the weight room? Why do I continually hear stories about athletes spending over 2 hours in the weight room? It is my opinion that as an athlete, you should spend no more than one hour in the weight room. One hour? Yea! Let me say it again. One hour! Those who spend any longer than one hour in the weight room are either:
- Spending too much time BS-ing with their friends,
- Not being consistent with their rest periods,
- Or training at too low of an intensity.
As far as I know, there are three ways to increase the intensity of a workout:
- Increase the frequency/overall repetitions
- Add more weight
- Decrease the rest or recovery period
I am personally not a big believer in the first method of increasing the intensity of a workout, especially as a thrower. As a thrower, all you have is one time, one rep to get your furthest distance possible. This involves combining maximal forces into one single motion. You can almost think of a throw as a one repetition max; one shot, one opportunity, maximal domination! On the other hand, increasing the frequency/overall repetitions means that you are almost forced to decrease the weight lifted. Consequently, you are decreasing the amount of force required to move the weight. This being the sole reason why I do not believe in doing high repetitions of anything.
Some of you may be saying that by doing low reps, everything is going to be slow. As an athlete, you want to be explosive, right? It seems that I am contradicting myself, but I assure you that I am not. In order to get that explosive nature that you want as an athlete, I use a method that involves the action of doing plyometrics on the days that I do not lift. I will do any jump and any sprint that you can possibly imagine. I do explosive back squat jumps with 135 pounds. If I had a tire I would flip it and move it as fast as I possibly could. Also, anytime you do an olympic lift, you need to be explosive in order to complete the lift; and I don't care how much weight you have on the bar, you need to be explosive. My thought is that you should never do more than 5 repetitions per set. Unless of course you are a beginner. I would then take a different approach. I believe that high intensity, low repetition lifting is the optimal method to gaining optimal strength. High intensity, low repetition could also mean adding more weight. By increasing the weight, you increase the intensity of your workout.
The last and most important way to increase the intensity of your workout involves the rest or recovery period. Listen very carefully... keeping a consistent rest or recovery period is the key to getting stronger. I am a big believer in keeping record of my lifts, as well as the weight lifted and the reps/sets performed in a training journal. Have you ever heard of the saying, "you need to know where you've been, before you can know where you're going?" This saying is absolutely true. I implement this saying by increasing the weight that I lift every week. I look back in my journal to see what I lifted the previous week, and then I try to lift heavier the next week. Here's the deal though... Anyone can continually increase the weight lifted each week if the rest period is inconsistent. Think of it this way:
If I was to do back squat one week and I did a 5 rep by 5 set workout starting at 205 lbs. I would plan to go up by twenty pound increments so that it would look like this: 205, 225, 245, 265, & 285. Between each set I would have a two minute rest period. Next week, I would do the same 5 x 5 workout, but this time I would start at 210 lbs and increase by 20 lbs each set, so it would look like this: 210, 230, 250, 270, & 290. This week instead of having a two minute rest period between each set, I would have a two minute, three minute, four minute, and five minute rest periods. This inconsistency completely defeats the purpose of increasing the weight! You cannot possibly measure whether or not you were able to complete the workout based on strength gains or if it was the extra rest time. Do you see where I am going with this?
What consistent recovery period should I have between sets? Most sources as far as I know, usually recommend two to three minutes. I personally do one minute recovery periods. I'm not going to lie to you... it sucks real bad, and it is enough to beat the hell out of you. The reason why I do one minute instead of two or three, is because I like to mentally push the limits, and I also don't like spending any more time in the weight room than I need too. The amount of time that you choose, is really up to your discretion. But as long as it's consistent, it is golden in my eyes.
Having a consistent recovery period can be compared to the control group of an experiment. A control group protects your experiment from having any underlying variables, and gives you a more accurate measurement of what you're testing. Further, a consistent recovery period prevents you from having any underlying variables, and gives you a more accurate measurement of your workout. In other words, consistent recovery periods and control groups are interchangeable.
I never implemented the use of recovery periods until recently. Before the implementation of recovery periods, I would walk out of the weight room feeling as though I hardly did anything. Now, I walk out of the weight room wondering if I am going to be able to make it back to my house. I mean I am exhausted, both physically and mentally, dripping down puddles of sweat! I personally love this feeling. It makes me feel as though I did not waste my time in the weight room.
Back in the day when the big thing was "Call of Duty," my brother actually would get a set of lifting in, play a game of team death match or something like that, and then he would get another set in. Talk about inconsistent recovery times. No wonder why his strength gains were minimal at that.
I know of other people who go to the weight room, and then socialize for different periods of time in between sets. They end up spending two plus hours in the weight room. If that's not a waste of time, I don't know what is. The weight room is for moving heavy shit around, not for socializing. You want to socialize, go take a hike! End of story.
Last night I was involved in my first type of competition since maybe February. I was playing volleyball with my team at Bangor park for the first night of summer league volleyball. I was so AMPED to get back into it. It has been way too long since I had any competition-related experiences. My adrenaline started pumping, my heart started racing, and it was just awesome! My arm was not hurting, everything was right on point. WOW!
There was a few people who could no longer be on the team due to various reasons, so we had to find ourselves a replacement. I never exactly met this kid, but from what I knew he listened, he was a competitor, and he could jump. What more could you ask for really?
I took a sport psychology class last semester and it really opened up my eyes into the mental game of sports. If you go to any competition, make sure you take a look at how different people carry themselves. Those who win probably act on a more confident basis. Those who lose are probably lacking confidence.
We are kind of jumping around here, but let's get back to the team's replacement. The only volleyball he has ever played is gym class volleyball. In other words, his volleyball IQ was lacking. However, his athleticism makes up for some of his minimal volleyball IQ. We started playing our first couple of games, and he made a few key errors right in a row. All of a sudden you could see his confidence drop all the way to the ground. He then started to make even more errors. I was starting to get the vibe that this kid is hopeless, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt. We ended up losing our first four games to pretty good teams. During our last two games something changed. Good things started to happen, we started playing as a team, and everyone's confidence went through the roof; especially the replacements. He started being aggressive, he realized he had a team around him who would have his back if he made a mistake, and his play improved significantly.
You see this confidence phenomenon all of the time in Major League Baseball. Hitters get into really big slumps every once in a while, and I really think it is nothing more than a mental thing. They end up getting into tough outs, they start to think that they're doing something wrong, they start chasing bad pitches, and then they dig their own grave. Instead of doing what they do best, they change their approach and make matters worse. Their confidence gets run over by a mac truck, and then they find themselves strolling along a long and bumpy road.
The point is that in anything you do, do it with confidence. If you find yourself in a position where you feel yourself getting into a slump, maybe just go back to the basics. In other words, go back to what made you into the person or athlete that you are today. The way that you carry yourself mentally could possibly be the difference between you coming in first place and you coming in fifth place.
Be mentally strong,
Be confident,
Be you!
Have you ever had a day of throwing when nothing seemed to go right? You start trying harder, and consequently start tensing your muscles. When you think it couldn't get worse, it actually does. You then start thinking to yourself that you're terrible, and you should just quit all together. Mixed emotions start to build up, and outside pressures seem to be attacking from all angles. You start worrying yourself about not being ready for a meet, not being able to reach your goals, or even not attaining the collegiate scholarship that you have always dreamed of.
Regardless of how you're throwing, throwing is still throwing. Throwing is simply just a sport. It is something that you grew up doing because you loved to throw; you had a passion to constantly throw. Am I right?
Eventually, you get to a point where throwing becomes something more than just the sport that you love. It becomes the one thing that you have to rely on in order to get a college scholarship. The implement that you grew up loving reforms into a stabbing blade of pressure. All that it seems to do is create unwanted stress.
Sometimes you need to just take a step back; take a ride on the time machine that brings you back to the glory days of when throwing was fun. If a sport reaches a point where it turns into a personal emotion of hatred, you need to take a step back and just take the day to enjoy it.
Go back to the glory days. Relive it.
I just watched a webinar given by John Hopkins Medicine on the topic of overuse injuries.
The most important concepts that I took out of it, mostly involved the prevention of overuse injuries. Most overuse injuries can be prevented by taking the proper precautions. I have said this before, and I will say it again, listen to your body! Trust it! Believe it!
If you are starting to feel discomfort or pain coming on, you must stop doing what you are doing. You then need to consult either your athletic trainer or a trusted doctor of yours. Trust me when I say that you do not want to experience the wrath of overuse injuries at their worst. Overuse injuries can be the most frustrating experience that you ever have.
The medical doctor that was speaking mentioned the thought that you should take at least 3 months off from your given sport per year. I don't exactly know how this concept is supposed to work for a thrower, but I would assume that it is something to give serious consideration.
She also mentioned that you want to have at least 2 off days per week for your given sport. Rest is very important as an athlete. You may feel that taking 2 days off per week is going to limit your progress. However, if you decide to ignore the 2 days of rest per week and end up with an overuse injury that holds you out for month after month, does your progress really matter?
