Dan John’s Genius

Challenges, fancy trying some?

 

Training for the most part is about going in, hitting your reps, miles or specified needs.

 

Sadly this is the element people won’t talk about because it’s boring, it’s also what a lot of people avoid which is why they don’t ever get anywhere.

 

Since we’re not getting out of this period of illation anytime soon here are 5 challenges for you to do at home (1 for each month we will still be in UK Lockdown).

 

Now these are all about volume and based off of the challenge that will take the number one spot because to be honest it’s a great challenge.

 

1 – 10,000 Swings (Dan John)

 

A brilliant challenge that is a stand alone program of 20 total sessions across a month.

 

It breaks down to 500 swings a day (how you choose to hit that is up to you).

 

Dan also recommends adding in a strength movement in either ladder format (e.g – 1,2,3,1,2,3 etc) or something I’ve done that works is a simple 2-5 reps of a strength movement rotating Push/Pull/Squat.

 

Here is a clip from the man himself:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBuH6W_kQ9o

 

Keeping this in mind, I’ve been playing with the idea of running it for different movements.

 

Of course a lot of thought has gone into what would work and how, this is what structure I’d suggest:

 

A1 – Challenge

A2 – Supplementary Movement – Optional

 

This means you can do two movements tops, or alternatively jus the challenge movement itself.

 

Here are the other 4 for your consideration, the start off easy and finish hard, also they’re not for everyone and there’s not qualms in saying that.

 

2 – 10,000 Squats* – Can S/S (Goblet if strong)

3 – 10,000 Push Ups – Can S/S

4 – 10,000 Snatches (KB or DB – 5000 each arm) – Solo recommended

5 – 10,000 Meters of a Loaded Carry – Solo recommended

 

*If squats are not comfortable for you then 10,000 Lunges are the alternative.

 

When I did the swings I opted for these rep ranges:

 

A1 – Swings: 50-30-20

A2 – Supplementary Lift x2-5

Repeat 5 times

 

You might look at the above and recoil because of how dull it will be, and while that is true it works very well so I will ask you this question:

 

Do you want to be better than you currently are now?

 

A simple yes or no will suffice to answer this ^^.

 

In our modern life we are spoilt by choice, as such it has made many of us complacent, petulant and caused much stagnation in regard to physical progress.

 

Now some people surely want to enjoy their training and have fun, it’s a good option yet over the years no training starts off being enjoyable, and if it does it rarely stays that way unless you’re getting results, and even then it can become very trying of ones resolve.

 

As Bruce Lee said – “Don’t pray for an easy life. Pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.”

 

Give the above a go if you’re lost for something to do, or don’t, yet come September when things start to ease don’t look back at your time and see you wasted it.

 

Enjoy,

Ross

The 5 Stages of Negative Fitness.

Signs you’re healthy fitness kick isn’t quite so healthy.

 

Believe it or not you’ll find that what started out with many good intentions slowly slides towards quite a dark series of places.

 

Sadly many get caught in the nefarious web of obsession & addiction without realising it.

 

Then again that’s how those two things work.

 

No one ever feels them taking a grip and by the time you notice you’ll be so far gone that you will do everything within your power to deny the truth.

 

These are some things to watch out for in yourself –

 

1 – You react emotionally when you can’t train

 

This is the first sage, and in the beginning you’re a little annoy yet you give that feeling away, however over time it evolves into anxiety, or anger and sometimes even full on mental breakdowns because you can’t get your fitness fix.

 

2 – The passing glance becomes a lingering stare

 

As you get further in to the negative stages you will forget a time where you couldn’t walk past a mirror or reflective surface without hitting a specific pose to show off your best angle.

 

From here you’ll be checking your body at every given chance, flexing, twisting and contorting with a paranoid air of “Wait, is that fat? Have I lost muscle here? What’s going on?”

 

3 – Pinching more than an inch

 

Shortly after you start to have the same traits as Narcissus you will be touching yourself more and more.

 

Pinching at fat, pulling at loose skin, poking and prodding yourself when you sit down or as you flex to feel if you’ve lost any ‘tone’.

 

The third stage is the easiest to see despite how subtlest people do it because at this point it’s no longer a conscious choice, it’s an automatic reaction/response.

 

4 – Denial, Anger, Depression & Bargaining with yourself

 

Creeping into the fourth stage you soon tart to speak to yourself differently.

 

You berate yourself, bully yourself, abuse yourself and make deals of more training and you’ll then have a glass of whatever or slice of something, only to have them, enjoy them and then become overwhelmed by depression & guilty.

 

Then you get angry that you gave in, storm back to the gym and train some more, all the while convincing yourself i’s for you health, for the greater good….

 

Further cementing the denial of this one truth:

 

You’ve become addicted & obsessed with fitness & control.

 

5 – Your Cure is also your Poison

 

There’s not accepting what you’ve become.

 

All in an effort to convince yourself you’re worthless, fat, out of shape and need to train more, thus fuelling a never ending negative fitness cycle because if you look like this with all the training you do, you’d daren’t stop because what would you be without fitness, what would happen to your body, well, it just does’t bare thinking about.

 

You’ve not only welcomed a monster into your life, it now causes you pain and also provides the relief from it you so see.

 

The Monsters arms wrap around you, feeding you all the doubt, sadness and pain with it’s left hand only to take a hold of you with it’s right and lead you back to the gym for reprieve.

 

🖤🖤🖤🖤

 

This is the side of fitness people don’t talk about.

 

It’s the place people get lost and where few seldom return.

 

Even those who do make their way out are not the same, at least not in a good way, there is now lasting damage and something that they brought back that they won’t ever truly be free of.

 

Fitness is meant to be a tool to enhance your life, not consume it.

 

Reread the above, then read it again once more.

 

Be honest with yourself and see where you are in relation to the above and you might just be able to avoid treading any further down a road you don’t wish to go down.

 

You should investigate this thoroughly,

Ross

Nutritional Nightmare

“What sort of things should I be eating?” 

 

This has to be one of the most commonly asked nutrition questions.

 

Provided you’re over the age of 12 there is a high probability you understand that eating more natural foods, or what many call whole foods is the way to go.

 

What he question above is really asking is this:

 

“What can I do to still eat the way I currently do and make the progress/recomposition I require?”

 

Sadly in my old grumpiness I tend to have a blank expression on my face when this is asked.

 

Often followed by myself asking the persons if they ant the truth or what they want to hear.

 

Many get offended, as you can imagine.

 

There are literally hundreds of thousands of books on how you can make thousands of meals with minimal ingredients that you could literally grow/raise at home.

 

Our issue is that as a people we’ve gotten lazy and too used to convenience, which is also why many are now obese.

 

^ You waist wants to be ideally no bigger than half your height in inches as an absolute max, ideally it’s not near that.

 

So if you’re 70″ tall, then a 35″ waist is the largest yours would ver want to be, and ideally it could do with being a couple of inches shy of that.

 

Excess visceral fat is the worst kind for peoples health.

 

If you’ve got enough belly for multiple people then instead of asking what you should eat, you’d do well to ask yourself this – what do I currently eat?

 

^^ Make a list of all the things you consume, don’t lie to yourself either about it.

 

Once you’ve got the list, seek out any comfort/convenience foods and aim for their opposites.

 

Oh, this doesn’t mean making brownies at home, while that is a nice thing to do occasionally it’ll do little to save you from what was chasing those people in the old Nike adverts.

 

While I understand it’s tough for some.

 

The change won’t happen from being told what to eat, it has to come from within you because unless you really want to change or improve you life, well, you won’t.

 

A harsh truth people don’t want to hear, however that is my answer to the very first question.

 

You should investigate this thoroughly.

 

Enjoy,

Ross

3 training tools you really want to try.

Indian Clubs

Macebells

Gymnastic Rings

 

Why?

 

Because they’re awesome.

 

Chances are you’ve heard of the rings before, they got popular in about 2010, and in all honesty are one of the best upper body training tools you’ll ever find.

 

Going beyond merely doing press ups, drips, chins and even muscle ups on them you’ll find you can progress to low skill level ring routines that will hit almost every muscle in your torso.

 

The only down side for people is such things don’t provide instant gratification, as such they lose favour.

 

People are fickle after all and lack patience.

 

Anyway, the other two items are a little more niche.

 

Indian Clubs, while not new, are great for shoulder health, core stability, building movement flows and will send your cardio vascular health through the roof without you even realising it.

 

Then you’ve got the macebells, their benefit can be found in the fact that they’re incredibly difficult to use.

 

Swinging one around in a basic figure of 8 around your head in a controlled fashion will hit essentially every muscle you have, that is if you don’t fall over first – which is exactly what happened to me first time round, lol.

 

Here is a video that utilises the uncommon pair above:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpNRmjo4Osg

 

One for the rings:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6PVQULwvSA

 

Hopefully you’ll be inspired to do something a little different.

 

While I still love barbells and the classic lifts, there’s more to life, so go and explore.

 

Enjoy,

Ross

Humans are meant to be both

Mobility is underrated, until it’s gone that is.

 

Having a good amount of flexibility is one thing, however being mobile is something a little different.

 

In short, holding an extended or stretched ROM will come down to these two things primarily:

 

1 – How much residual muscle tension (tone) you have

2 – Your neurological ability to contract/relax as needed

 

The first part is the easiest to address, this is why you often find commonly that the people who are the most flexibly don’t really have too much in the way of ‘muscle tone’ to speak of.

 

While they will indeed have some, as muscles will hold some level of residual tension due to their ability to produce force it won’t be that much.

 

This links in with the second part, some people have amazing control over their bodies and are able to inhibit/disinhibit muscles at will to either deepen a stretch or perform some kind to interesting contrition feat despite being heavily muscled.

 

You see once you begin building strength and a large amount of LBM the stronger you get the more tension/force you’ll produce, meaning your muscles to some may appear ‘stiff’, which is kinda true, yet it’s also what give your that muscular look.

 

This is all a learned neurological state, one of constant or semi-constant tension I mean.

 

It’s where the term ‘relax into stretching’ comes from and why a focus on breath when you stretch is crucial as it will allow your bodies PNS/CNS to communicate and realise there is no danger of snapping, thus allowing flexibility to improve, which in tern helps improve mobility in the long run.

 

How?

 

Because the body doesn’t feel unstable due to the muscles working in synergy with each other, this links back to the inhibition/disinhibition side of things.

 

Say you’ve got muscles acting as prime movers when they shouldn’t be, that will cause unnecessary tension elsewhere to support your body, usually causing excessive stiffness, lack of mobility/flexibility, not due to you not naturally possessing either, it’s more a case of you’ve learned how to move badly and compensate for it.

 

This is why having an adequate mobility & stretching supplement to your training is crucial.

 

Well, for most average people.

 

You’ll find the higher you progress up the ladder of a specific sport or endeavour there will invariably be some sacrifices you need to make.

 

For example; powerlifting.

 

If you truly with to have the heaviest SQ/BP/DL possible then you won’t be flexible due to the massive about of force you’ll be able to produce and tension needed to stabilise (plus the residual stuff too), however you will be flexible/mobile enough for your sport.

 

Now this have bene long winded yet it gives you some more context and thread to pull on.

 

Flexibility is holding extended positions/rom and to me shows a good command of being able to contract/relax muscles as needed to allow the stretch to occur to your own natural end ROM’s.

 

Mobility is being able to be fully stable and produce the desired force output required while moving through an entire ROM.

 

Two side of the same coin

 

The first is passive (for recovery), the second is active for performance).

 

You may not put much stock in the above, however I implore you to give it some investigation, you never know, you might just end up understanding why you ache in certain places or can’t heal a certain injury.

 

Enjoy,

Ross

Put aside procrastination, let the dice decide.

Good Morning Y’all,

While tidying up yesterday I knocked over a domino set and a pair of dice fell out, once again igniting the fire for training ideas for people.

Given how so many always want to be doing different things, or something that is fun, whatever that is these days, I felt rolling this into your mind for consideration would be useful.

All you need is a pair of dice, well, one will do yo’d just roll it more.

There will be a few options of how the can work.

🎲🎲🎲🎲🎲🎲🎲🎲🎲🎲🎲🎲🎲🎲🎲🎲🎲🎲🎲🎲🎲

Option 1 – 🎲 – Time

You roll the pair to see how long your training session is.

It might be 2min or 12min, enjoy the randomness.

Choose two movements/lifts/exercises, this will make your total training time 4-24min (with 3min either side for WU/CD).

Option 2 – 🎲 – Time & Sets

Roll once for the time of your session, roll again for how many sets of that time you will be doing.

2-12min for either 2 or 12 sets of work/effort (4-72min of work potential).

As above choose 2 movements, etc. The WU/CD will be taken from the sets you’ve rolled.

Option 3 – 🎲 – Reps & Sets

Similar to option two, first role is your reps (2-12) and the second if your sets for the day (2-12).

Like the previous suggestions, 2 movements works well.

🎲🎲🎲🎲🎲🎲🎲🎲🎲🎲🎲🎲🎲🎲🎲🎲🎲🎲🎲🎲

This style of training is quite varied, and that is one of the main reasons a lot of people will be too scared of doing it.

The fatigue chasers will love the idea of 72min of work, yet balk at 2min because it’d be pointless to them, yet if that is how the dice decide to fall then accept it and stop being an entitled child screaming for more.

Being someone who likes training and often has trained for the sake of it, I can understand wanting to do more, to do too much and it just does’t serve a purpose, not really.

If you’re someone that doesn’t like to follow a play/structure/routine (although you unknowingly & probably do based on your biases), then the dice will be very refreshing.

You can roll them everyday.

Two seconds…. I will do it now.

Here is option 2 just done off the cuff:

W/U = Mobility Flow x 3-5min
C/D = Targeted Stretches (needs based) x3-5min

Day 1 – 8min x 6sets – A1 Carry to Squat, B1 Fast & Loose
Day 2 – 11min x 10sets – A1 Single Arm Kettlebell Swings
Day 3 – 10min x5sets – A1 Movement Flow, B1 Sprints
Day 4 – 7min x 7sets – A1 Loaded Carry (3 different weights)
Day 5 – 8min x 2sets – A1 Long Cycle, B1 Mobility Flow
Day 6 – 3min x 7sets – A1 Sprint Interval, B1 Fast & Loose
Day 7 – 9min x 5sets – A1 Stretch

As you can see all decent lengths of session.

(Please be aware to achieve progressive overload you’ll need to apply waviness of loading)

So don’t panic, you can still chase fatigue if that’s what makes you happy.

Do try to think of training in this light though:

More isn’t better, better is better.

^ Focus on quality first and the quantity will take care of itself.

Enjoy,
Ross

Questions, will you answer them?

Since there is nothing new under the sun in regards to fitness, what is there to write about anymore?

Usually you’ll find the same topics rehashed again and again and again.

Endless set & reps systems, multiple variations of the classics such as 5×5, and various other things that are the same yet different. It is truly a tough industry to keep interesting once you’ve been in it a while because of one crucial element that people ignore.

Nothing will work unless you do. 

Too many people are quick to find something to entertain them, and with the modern attitude we’re supposed to sit by and let them fuck about and make no real progress because, feelings.

Such a tiresome play to watch unfold repeatedly.

Given this I have some questions I’d like people to answer truthfully.

• Why don’t you want to make any more progress?
• From training are you looking to become better or simply become entertained?
• What feeling is most important for you to achieve in this life?

As the years have gone by the urge to gain a deeper understanding of what goes on in the average persons dome has always interested me deeply.

From watching so many achieve some pretty impressive feats, right the way down to those that stagnate and make any and all excuse for doing so, I truly desire to know why their minds are so different.

What is that element that causes such a dichotomy?

Take a couple of minutes and please humour me by answering the above.

Enjoy,
Ross

 

Too General?

Mastery over ones own body.

 

Why wouldn’t you want that?

 

Genuine question.

 

Since working in the realms of fitness for as long as I have I know and understand plenty of superficial reasons why people either want to just look good in a t-shirt, or run marathons and various other things.

 

The longer I spend simply watching how people move it’s quite alarming how many just can’t move well.

 

Often there will be excuses as to why this is.

 

The majority of those excuses are bullshit, the only time they are not if for a crippling injury, medical condition or unfortunate contraction of a disease that effects the CNS.

 

A simple case for those of us that don’t have any of the true reasons we wouldn’t move well is a simple fact that comes in the form of not seeing value in moving well.

 

We’re lazy, idle, always wanting the easier path to walk.

 

All fine to choose, however none are worthy of more than surface level respect and courtesy.

 

Moving well goes beyond lifting weights, playing sports and specialising in one specific thing, which are acceptable to do, it’s just worth remembering to do that it will cost you something.

 

To move well you will be a generalist, someone who can do a lot of things with a reasonable level of skill/competence, yet you’ll not master any of them specifically.

 

That said, in such generalism you’d find mastery of your own body.

 

Knowing it’s limitation, how far it can go, what it can & can’t do, able to acquire new skills with ease and turn your hand to anything with no real fuss.

 

Again, you won’t master anything except control of your own body.

 

You’d be a very good human, a good mover.

 

Great for longevity and health, plus it gives yo a lot of room to learn skills, tricks and various other things, and while you’d not reach the peak of any one thing, you’d be able to have fun and hold your own in a lot of others.

 

How well do you think you move?

 

Me, I move like shit in a general sense.

 

Yet like a lot of people I’m still scared to purely focus on movement and fully go down that rabbit hole because my ego still won’t willing give away certain threads its cloning on to in the realms of lifting weights and all the metal strife that comes with it.

 

Yep, that’s me, scared of progress through fear of loss.

 

The knowing mind, truly a cursed gift.

 

Enjoy,

Ross

Hypertrophy Hamstrings at Home.

This often neglected area of the legs is one that separates the dedicated from the rest.

 

A short isa of how they like to work or be stimulated is as follows:

 

– High Loading (max force production)

– High Speed (max power production)

 

Essentially a hefty chunk of intensity is needed, given their slightly bias towards type 2 muscles fibres (fast twitch).

 

Keeping this in mind while training at home it means we’re going to need to become quite creative.

 

These three options are great for hitting the high speed element at home with no kit:

 

– Sprinting

– Jumping (bound, broad, etc)

 

https://youtu.be/XqpN9AbLMe4

 

If you’re lucky enough to have some kit, say a dumbbell or kettlebell then you can add in these:

 

– Swings

– Snatches

 

https://youtu.be/OqBd9oqXL9k

 

All the above are simple and great for speed/power.

 

The tricky part comes from trying to create a lot of mechanical tension to load them in the desired way that will produce a lot of force.

 

A select few people song enough can do Nordic Hamstring Curls, just get something soft under your knees and wedge your feet under your car, boom, self made station for nordic hamstring curls, or the negative element of them.

 

https://youtu.be/2pADOPfH7z0

 

Sadly the majority of people are not that strong.

 

Thus other methods are required.

 

Without weights and kit such as suspension trainers (although you can make your own TRX via an old bed sheet) then you’ve got the option of brides (glute bridge), a classic an time honoured movement popular in LBT classes the world over.

 

https://youtu.be/mmveFKdpknI

 

https://youtu.be/iO9qZF0rzuE

 

Single leg variations, constant tension variations, unstable surface variations, they’re all great for getting in some more MUR (motor unit recruitment), yet how are we going to get the high-threshold ones we need involved?

 

https://youtu.be/AVAXhy6pl7o

 

We know the speed examples above hit the high-threshold motor units nicely, however there is only so much peed work one can do before performance declines and the risk of injury starts to increase.

 

In comes lament flooring and a nylon t-shirt, or fluffy socks.

 

^^ You may own Sliders, or use cardboard on carpet as that works quite well.

 

With these two thing you can create bodyweight hamstring curls, doing these double leg is hard enough, try them single leg and boy oh boy, you get a good amount of tension.

 

Thinking about it I really should do videos for these things…..

 

Ugh, such a pain 🤣

 

Aha, no need, we’ve got YouTube:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE5d39sErBU

 

Admittedly I was one outhouse people who had no choice other than to work out a lot of the above via test books, trial & error because of not growing up with access to the internet.

 

Hence why I write a lot, learning from text seems to have had more of an impact on me than i realised, although not everyone can learn that way.

 

As such you can YouTube al the above and find people that have done demo videos for you 🙂

 

^^ I’ve gone back and linked videos in.

 

Now go, train your hamstring hard.

 

Enjoy,

Ross

Overthinking 101

How often do you get stuck in your own head?

 

It’s fairly common to overthink, procrastinate and end up in that state of ‘paralysis by analysis’.

 

Trying to account for all the minor details, just to ensure noting goes off without a hitch because you just can’t operate any other way.

 

Highly neurotic people are great in the sense they will consider every angle.

 

The down side is that but he time they’ve considered every angle the situation has changed and their plan is now redundant, meaning the entire process has to start again 🙇‍♂️

 

I understand you know, the feeling of needed to ‘know everything’ so that you won’t be blindsided.

 

Truth is though that you can’t account for everything.

 

Shit happens, and there is little you can do to prevent it.

 

When this does happen the hyper-neurotic person will rush around in a flurry of panic to find the solution, to breakdown every detail and potentially drive themselves mad in the process.

 

How do I know this?

 

I will give you a clue – I’m one of the aforementioned.

 

A lust for knowledge and knowing has served me very well over my life and yet it’s also caused a lot of struggle too.

 

Typically because of inaction, waiting a fraction too long.

 

You see we can’t predict everything, and as I’ve grown older and slightly less idiotic, although I still make a fair few balls ups training wise, the need to take action has become a priority.

 

To stop the lighting like thoughts crawling, forking and spreading across the realm that is my inner world this is what gets bellowed from the depths:

 

MOVE!

 

Inaction is exactly that, inaction and it yields little.

 

Being in a constant state of mindful reflection there are plenty of times where simply letting instinct take over is the best option because if I think I become slow, when I become slow I struggle and use too much strength (any form), when I use too much I begin to tire, and once there is nothing left… well, the result of that isn’t a good one ☠️

 

The above are not my words though, they’re an old mantra from the martial art known as JiuJitsu.

 

I heard them many years ago, then came across them many times over though various martial arts I’d done, yet it’s only in the last few years they’re really sunk in.

 

Essentially letting them share their lessons.

 

Insta of trying to dissect them and make them fit what I already thought I knew, I found it best to let them teach me something new.

 

The biggest lesson was to embrace ‘the way’.

 

Referred to as ‘Mushin no shin’, or no-mind, empty-mind.

 

While something always known, there was a desire to control it through thought, through sheer force of will and that’s the exact opposite of what it is, hence why there was always struggle with it.

 

Coming from the overly analytical side of the coin, it was my direct opposite and that is why it was essential to yield to its way instead of trying to control/fight it.

 

This may not make much sense to you right now.

 

It will though, you have to merely allow it.

 

Embrace it, welcome in the chaos and through that you’ll find void and ultimately ‘the way’.

 

To all those who think a little too much I have this suggestion for you – learn meditation.

 

Notice I said learn meditation, not learn to meditate because they’re two different things.

 

First you learn to be

Then to feel

Next to listen

Finally, you’ll yield to the way

 

It will take time, yet there is no rush.

 

As such I’m not going to dictate a specified regime you must follow because you must willingly take the initial steps.

 

My only suggestion would be to take a walk, get lost, truly lost and when that happens you might just be read to find something.

 

Enjoy,

Ross