Lockdown, The Sequel

Gyms will be safe

Won’t they…….

Given the science behind how they’re not a hot spot for infection, you’d think that’d be the case.

Sadly the powers that be have less braincells combined than I do fucks left to give.

While it may be dire for some businesses, livelihoods, the mental health of the masses, all I can do is sit here from behind a screen and share in the outrage.

The world is filled with people that will do anything to stay in control. It truly disgusts me at the depths they will sink to.

In these times all the other nobodies like me can offer very little, it shows how truly powerless we really are in the grand scheme of things.

That being said now might be a good time to being planning a new training program if gyms do close.

These three options will be of use for setting up something to follow:

Option 1 – Time Blocks (Density)

10-20min of 2 alternating movements performed at 40-60% of your maximum rep effort (so 4-6 reps of what you can normally do 10 with).

Option 2 – Ladders (Volume)

This works well with 2-3 movements, or if you have someone at home your training with you can work in a pair performing one move whereby you use a ‘You go-I go’ system.

Ladders to repeat as many times as possible until you miss a rep

– 1,2,3,4,5
– 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10
– 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20

You get the idea, you can use any ladder sequence you like (they don’t have to be sequential like mine).

These are my personal favourites, 1,2,3,4,5 is good for strength, 1-10 for hypertrophy and 1-20 for a good old fashion gut check.

Option 3 – Singles, Doubles & Triples (Intensity)

This would be again a superset of movements, you wold perform singles on each in the hardest variation of the movement you’re capable.

The doubles are great for movements that are one step below the hardest variations and the triples you take one level further down in movement difficult and use these to get out volume.

So this might be how you plan movement difficulty (for you).

Singles: Single Arm Push Up (15-25 total reps)
Doubles: Explosive Press Up (25-35 total reps)
Triples: Weighted Push Up (35-50 total reps)

It’s often good idea to rotate which one you’re doing to allow for recovery and adaptation to occur.

Give the above some thought and if it’s useful please use it or ask any further questions down below.

Enjoy,
Ross

Old Lesson, New Meaning

What you did to get to where you are won’t take you to where you want to be.

👆 a great many forget this.

You’d be amazed how relevant it is not only in fitness but also all aspect of life too.

We’re quick to get hung up one what was, and how well we did because of a certain set of circumstances that for that particular time just so happened to be ‘just right’.

Too many then mistakenly try to use whatever once was to create what will be.

Sadly that’s not how life works.

Despite how logical the above might be, people are not creatures of logic, they’re creatures of emotion.

It’s what holds us back.

We get emotionally invested in something, then we base all success off of it and will try to rinse and repeat the same thing in the hope it will produce the same outcomes or perhaps better ones.

Sometimes that actually happens, oftentimes it doesn’t though.

How long have you clung on to something that was outdated?

Tried to use and old tool for a new job?

Take a look back and see what worked, why it worked in that specific set of circumstances and time, then from there ask yourself these three questions:

1 – Is this current situation EXACTLY the same as the old one?

2 – This old tool/method, is it really the best one for the job of merely the one I’m most familiar & comfortable with?

3 – Why (emotionally) don’t I want to do something new/different?

Please investigate this thoroughly.

Enjoy,
Ross

How often do you really put yourself in an uncomfortable place?

Of course by this I mean in a training related sense.

Given the average progress and average person makes I can surmise the answer is along these lines; not very often.

Now as we’ve discussed before, that’s totally cool.

There is no need to really make yourself suffer or feel any discomfort in your training, especially if you are purely doing it for social, mental of spiritual reasons.

With that being said though, you might just be missing out on something that may change your life.

Stay with me for a second, I will get to the point eventually. Since starting Jiujitsu I’ve learned many things.

One of the biggest is this; you must put yourself in to deeply uncomfortable positions/situations/circumstances to truly grow.

In the game we have what you may call ‘safe places’, this is where you can sit, stall and not really be in any danger or getting submitted.

While this is all well and good, it will stunt your growth in the long run.

One of the main reasons for this stagnation is ego.

This is true in all elements of life, and especially fitness because it’s far easier to stay where we are, hunker down and survive than it is to take a risk and either writhe of thrive.

The above has come up serval times in my writing and overall thoughts in the past few years.

You see from deeply reflecting I was able to see just how stuck I was.

Even though by most standards many wouldn’t grumble and be almost exact with what I achieved, it wasn’t really enough because it was a soulless, lifeless husk that was merely imitating what it once was.

Basically my training was hollow. I see this time and again in many other people, it’s been something I’ve actively aimed to guide them away from, it just took me a long time to see it in myself as well.

Keeping this in mind, how often does your training really make you uncomfortable?

How often does it challenge you enough to make you grow beyond your current shell, like a lobster.

If your answer is a hesitant one then that’s the first hint you know there is so much more potential in you that can be tapped into.

So dear reader, how often are you willing to make yourself uncomfortable in the short term so that you can progress in the long?

Please do leave your thoughts below.

Enjoy,
Ross

What is it to be in this day and age?

By that I mean either to be a Man or Woman.

There’s been a lot of change in regards to what people consider to be the inherent traits and expectations on each.

While all done under the banner of fairness, equality and free choice, it seems to be anything but that.

Say you choose to follow what is now known as archaic or stereotypical life choices.

You’ll be shamed, told you’re brainwashed and that it’s some evil plan concocted from beyond the shadows to keep society as it is.

This seems like the exact opposite of what the SJW’s of the modern age are trying to tell people, that being along these lines – You’re free to think and choose as you like, so long as we’re okay with it.

Essentially they want to replace one restrictive and supposed patriarchal evil with another one, just under a different name.

It truly makes no sense.

If we relate this to fitness, this has long been the typical standard for men & women:

Men = A strong look, one that can handle themselves in life.
Women = A look of radiance & beauty, confident in who they are.

As empales aesthetically you may have the likes of Superman & Wonder Woman, if you’re that way inclined.

For those not in the superhero realms think along the lines of perhaps Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt.

Yet to aspire to have what might be an old school consideration of what a man or women ought to be is seen as heresy these days.

Same goes for training, there’s a lot of talk of what people should be doing, regardless of if that is what they actually want to do, based not he opinions of people that they’ll never meet and don’t really matter.

If you wish to be lean & muscular as a woman, great, its a good goal, yet know that someone will say “You’re too muscular”.

Same for and guys that would rather a slimmer physique that isn’t stacked with muscle or strength, you’d come under fire for not being “Big enough”.

You’ll find regardless of your goal, or what you wish to achieve in life someone will not agree or approve and instead have a better option/thought for what is best for you.

As such when it comes to planning out your goals, it’s always best to choose those that will matter to you personally and mean something.

In fact based on the above, what do you think (personally) is the idea look for a man or woman and why?

Please do leave your thoughts below.

Enjoy,
Ross

3 ways to do more with less, literally

You want to feel like your training session had you doing something worth while, right?

Most people do, and it’s understandable.

While you might benefit more over the long run not feeling beat up, destroyed and fatigued at the end of every session, the mob wants what it wants.Remember though that this is often more of an emotional need than a physical one.

After all, hitting 300 sessions of training per year where you hit all your numbers, slow add intensity/volume and manage your fatigue can’t be as good as hitting 100 sessions a year where at the end of each you need 4-5 days off because you’ve broken yourself.

Such common sense just doesn’t make sense….

Here’s the 3 ways you can do more with less.

1 – Time Block Density Set

Load up your 10 rep technical max on a lift.

Perform as many sets of 3-6 reps as possible with good technical form for 20min.

2 – Staggered Super Set

Using the same principle from above, 3-6 reps from your technical 10RM.Select two movements, they can be upper/lower, upper(agg)/upper(ant), lower(agg)/lower(ant), or whatever pairing you choose.

Perform up to 30 sets of each as follows:

A1 – 3-6 reps
Rest 60 seconds
A2 – 3-6 reps
Rest 60 seconds

3 – Rep Goal Density Set

Once again utilising the technical 10RM for 3-6 reps, you’ll now set a total amount of reps you want to hit on a movement in the session.

Say that’s 240 reps, you do sets of 3-6 until you hit the target and rest as needed.

It’s all quite simple, and you’ll being doing a lot more total work with far less cost (fatigue physically/mentally).

Enjoy,
Ross

7 Valuable Lessons Learned via CrossFit

Love or hate it, you can’t deny it’s done the world of fitness a true service that has benefited far more people than it’s injured.

Only just though

Here are some lessons from this glorious cult….ure that I feel you’ll benefit from knowing

1 – Creating a wide base of general fitness is important.

2 – Stamina, Flexibility, Coordination, Agility, Balance & Accuracy are the commonly forgotten elements of fitness.

3 – Mobility is crucial for longevity & injury prevention.

4 – Individually training is fun, however training in a group is exponentially more enjoyable.

5 – Community tis key for consistency, support, sustainability and long term success.

6 – Regardless of who you are, you’ll find a place to belong and those at the top will happily rub elbows with the rest.

7 – You can change your life if you really desire it.

What, if any, lessons have you learned from not only crossfit but also fitness/sport in general too?

Please leave them below.

Enjoy,
Ross

The Worlds Gym

People are starting to struggle more than ever before.

Mentally, physically, finically and it’s not likely to get any better for quite some time, or at least that’s what we’re being told.

Devastating as it is, this is also a prime time to try and take a hold of the elements of our life we can still control.

Sadly the rights/freedoms people have willingly given up are not going to return in the same capacity.

That’s not sunk in for many yet, it will though, however by then it’ll be too late.

As such taking stock of your fitness and what is missing can help keep your mind from going around in circles at the current shit show that is global politics.

There’s one thing almost everyone has, their own body.

Using it and the outside environment as your training facility doesn’t cost anything, well, not yet at least.

So why not start to make a conscious effort to build a decent level of base fitness with nothing other than yourself and the great outdoors.

You’ll find endless bodyweight training videos and routines on YouTube, same goes for training your aerobic/anaerobic systems, so I won’t bore you with more of that.

What we’re going to give the spotlight to is the places you can train.

Local Parks/Playgrounds
The Woods
Random Buildings (or your own home)
The Beach (if near one)
Off Road Trails

You’ve got so much choice and when you’re out and about you may even find objects to lift, carry or use as you would standard gym kit.

Learning to move graciously through your environment is a skill that could very well save your life in the ever approaching dystopian future.

Being able to run, jump, climb, crawl, bend, flex and manoeuvre through the world is a skill an alarming amount of people have lost.

Some will say they an still do it, yet one look at their physical shape and how the get winded 5min in to any activity tells a different story.

Don’t let yourself become one of them.

Alternatively, if you’ve already become one of them, now is the time to choose, give up and accept your sorrow or fight on and change your story.

You’ll also find training in this way, being surrounded by nature and exploring will help immensely with your mental heath too.

Give this some deep thought.

Enjoy,
Ross

Injured?

How to avoid injury in one swift step

When something feels off (stiff, locking ROM, unstable, slow, etc), stop and hang up your lifting shoes for the day.

Seriously this simply piece of advice can save you a lot of hassle. Other elements you can look for could be your form or how close you are to technical failure, you’ve also got loss of speed on the concentric and eccentric instability too (or the inability to control the eccentric as normal). Our body gives us plenty of warning, we just ignore it.

I personally had this yesterday while doing a KB long cycle. It was nothing astronomical, just 3 its of 3min at a pace of 7-8reps per min.

An ominous ‘click’ happened to occur in my right shoulder, and at the time it didn’t hurt or sep anything, yet in the back of my mind I knew something wasn’t right. Today there is a distinct pain in my rotator cuff.

Now this might have been due to having a strength session with some bench earlier in the day meaning too much load on the front delts and more energy expended than was thought.

Thus leading to a little instability and overcompensation.No technical failure my end, however reflecting on the jerk portion of the long cycle it was clear the speed wasn’t there.

At least not on the usual level.

It can be hard to hold ourselves back, yet it can be the most necessary element of training sometimes. Learning to listen to your body will help you.

Is there stiffness, rigidity, instability or just something that feels off?

There is no shame in changing the session you’ve got planned, that’s the entire point of being able to auto-regulate or use cybernetic training (if you call it that). While it may feel too easy, and that’s the kicker, it’s usually best.

The reason I say things feeling easy is the kicker, at least for people that are truly invested in their training/sport, is because they will finish the session and feel they ought to have done more.

Usually because they have linked their identity to being the one who ‘out works’ everyone else. Well you can’t do that when you’re injured.

True enough I’m a fan of having a plan, however that doesn’t mean it won’t change if required.Heed to words of warning above.

Enjoy,
Ross

Technical Importance

When does your form fail?

Technical failure is a useful too to help keep people on the straight and narrow. So long as their ego can handle it.

As an example, my technical limit on my current Strict Press OH is around 60kg for some reps, however 75kg is the absolute max I can handle before the body gives out.

The main difference being the form.

60kg still has recognisable pressing form.

75kg would make the exorcist proud.

This is a great way of keeping yourself in check because working to technical failure will have you start to focus on not wasting time or ramping up loads too quickly or past your level of ability.

Of course it will feel too light, however to progress you need to nail down your form.

In addition to that it’ll keep you safe as there will be less chance of injury.A great way to progress once you’ve found your technical form is with fractional plates (0.25kg, so 0.5kg in total), as this will allow additional load while your body is still able to retain solid lifting prowess.

Give it some thought.

Enjoy,
Ross

Becoming a Master of All

The idea of training for multiple goals at the same time is alluring. 

Encapsulating all that throw even a cautionary thought towards it.

Donning the title of Freelancer or Master Mimic can capture the attention of many, you can take this one step further and perhaps even call yourself an Expert Generalist. 

There is much to be said for being a jack of all & master to none.

You’d certainly have many tools that you can use proficiently, meaning there won’t be too many situations whereby you’d not have something close to hand that could help you.

Your limitation with this would mean that while you can do a lot of things, none of them would be to a high level or cause for notoriety. 

That’s your trade off. 

Mastery of a specific skill set, its close derivatives for rapid growth in one field.

Competency of many skills that interlace with versatility in many fields and slower overall growth.

When we translate this to fitness it’s not quite as black & white as Master vs Jack.

The broader base you have across all the elements in fitness, the higher you potential peak could be, provided you’re able to put in the required effort, training and dedication which might be a good 10-20years of nothing the than peaking for the sake of peaking. 

This specific style of training is known as Concurrent Training/Periodisation.

Wildly popular with the Soviets before they went down the Block route, it certainly works.

Provided that is you’re a professional athlete and do nothing except train. 

In regards to mere mortals we’d need to split up our time more effectively as what we could dedicate might be limited to perhaps 3-4 days per week, or 6-10hours depending how you see training.

A rotation would be good: Strength, Conditioning (aerobic, anaerobic, a-lactic) & Restoration.

Next would be establishing which seasons would be ‘hard’ and which would be easy, 1 in every 5 being hard is my recommendation, meaning you really go hell for leather.

You could set targets or use a more auto-regulated approach, both work however they don’t work equally well if your desired outcome is performance – target specific is required.

Understanding that your goal is GPP, meaning you want to create a good base of general fitness.

Does this sound appealing to you?

We’ll explore it a more in future posts. 

Enjoy, 

Ross