One Month Later

After four weeks of curls, pressdowns, chins, dips, and awful, awful finishers that may actually violate some clause in the Geneva Convention, my four-week expedition in pursuit of bigger arms in finally over.

The result? An extra 1/4 inch on both arms.

That may sound disappointing, but I've been lifting weights for six years now; any small gain in mass or strength takes some serious scratching and clawing. It doesn't make for very dramatic after photos, but when  you unashamedly check out your arms as much as I do, you notice the difference; there is a muscle bulging from the side that wasn't there before, my forearms feel thicker, and my left bicep doesn't look quite as puny (except it kind of does).

Darren's in a similar boat, even though when you look at him in person the difference seems like night and day. He's doubled his reps with the same weight on the bench press, he can knock out 20 perfect pushups now (he could do maybe 10 shaky ones at the start), and he can do two more pullups than when he started, bringing him up to a grand total of two.

Four weeks is a very, very short amount of time, and a 1/4 inch doesn't look a whole lot bigger. But a contest is a contest, so here are our before and after pics for all to see:


Before on Left/top, After on Right/bottom

Pretty impressive for two drug-free guys who had real lives outside the gym.

Leave a comment telling us who you think made the most progress (we're obviously not factoring in time at the tanning bed). 

I S.A.I.D. K.I.S.S.

Exercise physiology has experienced a boom in popularity in the past decade or so, and with the nation's omnipresent obesity epidemic, we're finally getting the respect we deserve as a profession. As I've mentioned before, personal trainers are good for more than just counting reps, and most of us have a well of knowledge that rivals any other profession.

Sometimes, that screws things up.

When you're in possession of that much knowledge, you want to apply all of it, all the time, to show off that you do actually know what you're talking about. Pick up the latest issue of Men's Health and you're bound to see some fitness guru demonstrating barefoot one-legged Yugoslavian kettlebell chops on a balance node to work on improving neuromuscular adaptation, endocrine response, core strength, and sex drive all at the same time.

This is called the hyperextension with  dumbbell scarecrow twist.
I'm not kidding.

I don't think the smart guys over at Men's Health or magazines like it are trying to mess with us by throwing in ridiculous exercise variations like this. They just know if they printed "squat heavy twice a week" every month, people would get bored in a hurry, because the newest stuff must me be the most effective, right? And hey, they're not wrong. To quote Dan John, "Everything works...for about two to six weeks."

Whenever I get off track following the latest fad in fitness, before I take it to heart, I think of two acronyms that never fail to keep me on the right path.

The first is S.A.I.D.

 Specific Adaptations to Imposed Demand.

 In plain English: your body does what you tell it to. If you run for a long time often enough, your body will get better at that. If you lift heavy things off the ground, your body will get better at that too. If you eat Cheetos and look at dirty pictures on the internet all day, your body will adjust to do that as efficiently as possible. 

Here's the thing: each of these goals points in a different direction. Trying to do everything at once is just pulling your body in different directions, so in the end you really end up going nowhere. If you want to get stronger, focus on that. Lift heavy things, eat, recover, and realize that you can practice balancing a barbell on your knee with your eyes closed later. 

The other one is my favorite: K.I.S.S.

Keep It Simple, Stupid.

To get stronger, pick up heavy things.

To get bigger, pick up moderately heavy things a lot.

To get leaner, eat better and keep picking up heavy things. Maybe move around a little more.

To get better at your sport, play your sport a lot.

To eat more Cheetos, buy more Cheetos.

Fundamental movements are fundamental; that one's quoting Mike Boyle. Push, pull, squat, hinge, run, throw, jump, and keep a strong core the whole time. You can reach 90% of your potential just getting better and better at the basics, and that's not just limited to weight training. 

Simplify, and adapt accordingly. 

As always, go forth and lift heavy things.

Justin is a trainer at Lift Fitness and Wellness in Lexington, Kentucky. He lifts stuff. Then, sometimes, he writes blogs, like this one and the one for Lift over at liftfitnessandwellness.blogspot.com

The Perfect Meal

Eating healthy is tough. And while we're at it, the sun is hot, Hitler was bad, and Game of Thrones is convoluted. As much as I love lifting heavy stuff, even I have to admit that diet is the biggest factor is living a healthy life in general, and is absolutely key in making progress whether you're trying to lose fat or gain muscle.

But man, is it hard.

I just graduated college six months ago, and I was not above the typical ramen noodle and Little Ceasar's takeout that keeps most of my brethren alive. But I still tried my best to eat healthy most of the time. The problems I faced were/are the same problems most of you probably face: healthy food is expensive, time-consuming to prepare, expensive, and often bland or outright awful, in addition to being expensive.

Which makes my favorite meal even more perfect.

It won't impress Gordon Ramsey, but it definitely gets the job done:

I'll pretend this how civilized I eat all the time.

The solution is as follows:

-Rolled oats (from the can, not the packets)

-Vanilla protein powder (you can do chocolate or strawberry...but don't)

-Chopped fruit (bananas, apples, or blueberries are my favorite)

-Cinnamon to taste
-Splenda to taste

Make the oatmeal as normal, stir in a scoop of protein powder, add the cinnamon and sweetener and fruit, and eat. It takes about 2 minutes (if you're as awesomely efficient as me), it's tasty, and very healthy.

The rolled oats are a great source of fiber and whole grains, the protein powder is as fat-free as protein gets, the fruit is fruit and fruit is good, the cinnamon is delicious and also may improve insulin sensitivity and delay the onset of type II diabetes, and the splenda...might cause cancer, but probably not and it's better than sugar.

Just be warned that microwaving protein powder makes it form a sponge, which is gross, so add it after you make the oats.

Just a quick tip for anyone who doesn't feel like spending thirty minutes making a meal they won't feel guilty about.

Now go forth and eat healthy things.

Knowing Where to Tap It

I heard a great anecdote over at the thePTDC.com the other day:

A guy calls in a plumber to fix a problem he's having in his house. When the plumber shows up and listens to a brief description of the problem, he heads down to the basement and kneels down at one section of a pipe near the water heater. The plumber takes out is hammer, aims it at a particular bend in the pipe, and with one clink of the hammer, the problem is fixed. The plumber smiles, tips his hat to the guy, and is on his way within five minutes. The guy is understandably impressed.

Two days later the guy gets a bill from the plumber for $500. The guy is outraged, and calls the plumber to dispute the bill. "All you did was tap the pipe with a hammer!" he says. "How in the world does that cost you $500 to accomplish?"

After another two days, the guy receives a bill that outlined the charges in his bill. It read:
-$1: tapping pipe with hammer
-$499: knowing where to tap it

To be fair, most of life's problems can be solved in some way with a hammer.

When I was just starting out training a year ago, I felt like I need to use the most expensive pieces of equipment in the gym to make sure my clients were getting their money's worth. I honestly felt guilty when I had them do planks and push-ups because I still thought of myself as a demonstrator of equipment, not a designer of programs.

"Trainers do more than demonstrate exercises."

When you hire a personal trainer, you're not hiring someone to show you how to do a squat. At least, not just how. You also need to know why you're doing this squat, with this much weight, this many times, before these lunges but after those mobility drills, for this many sets, resting this much afterwards, on this day of the week.

There is, believe it or not, a reason I went to school for this.

I'm glad I bought this program for my arms, because it reminded me of my own value as a trainer. I'm writing this an hour after I finished a tricep-focused workout that had me doing 100 rope pressdowns to end the day. For the record, it felt like my arms were about to pop, and I'm having trouble keeping them in place atop my laptop as I type. 

Could I have thought of that on my own?

Yeah, but I didn't.

Do I know how to do every exercise presented in the program?

I have a literal degree in knowing every exercise in the program.

Do I understand the concepts of eccentric muscle contractions, time under tension, and volume principles that are the basis for the design of this program?

Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, homey. 

But when someone else puts it all together, they provide a service that is absolutely worth the money.

I wouldn't have stuck with an arm program for this long if I had written it myself. I would have found reasons to switch to something else, or would have convinced myself I had to change something, or wouldn't have pushed myself as hard and let the weights just fall instead of being controlled and stopped at 8 reps instead of 12, and blah blah blah. But I have a sheet of paper telling me to do these things, and that's all it took for me to stick to a program and make some already noticeable gains in my physique. 

Now imagine if that piece of paper could talk, instantly clear up any questions you had, and look damn good in a 1/4 zip pullover, and you'd have yourself a personal trainer.

It also makes me think maybe I shouldn't complain about my doctor's bill from when I cut off part of my pinky. (But I'm still gonna.)

Justin is personal trainer in Lexington, Kentucky. He also writes the blog for his gym over at liftfitnessandwellness.blogspot.com.

Functional Training for the Core

"Functional" training is a relatively new concept in the fitness world, and one that is gaining more and more recognition in the general public. Unfortunately, it's meaning is about as clear as the meaning of the word "ironic", which is to say that everyone thinks they know the real definition despite agreeing with absolutely no one else. Seriously, people will throw punches over this concept at strength and conditioning conventions.

I want to have the most spectacular injury anyone has ever seen.
This is my dream. This is my destiny. 

The short answer, in the best way I can think of to describe it, is this: functional training refers to training in the gym the qualities you want to have outside of the gym. Yes, that is very, very vague, because we all want different outcomes from working out; some of us want to lose weight, others want to jump higher, and still others want to keep their shoulders healthy this baseball season. A "functional" workout is one that best helps you achieve your specific goals.

I'm going to keep things simple, and give my thoughts on training one of the most misunderstood muscle groups: the core. In my opinion, the best core exercises are the ones that prevent motion of the trunk, as opposed to flexing the trunk like you do in sit-ups and crunches.

Why is that? Well, let's look at the trunk musculature, compared to a muscle designed solely to flex and bring two points together: the bicep.

The muscles of the abdominal wall in particular run every which way. The muscles are segmented to allow different sections to contract at different rates, the deep muscles are running at different angles laterally, and it looks like there is a muscle designed to pull in every direction imaginable.

Now lets see the bicep:

One muscle, going one direction.

If the core's main job was to flex the trunk, it would look like the bicep.

Going back to the idea of functional training, we usually don't think of the core muscles as prime movers; that is to say, we generally want the trunk to stay stable while the appendages pick up stuff, run, and carry things. The core -and believe me, I'm sick of hearing that word too, but it's the best I got right now- consists not only of the "six-pack" abdominal wall, but also the muscles running up the sides and back of your midsection. The main job of these muscles is to keep everything in place, and to do so they must resist forces that want to move your trunk all over the place.

Here are three basic exercises to train your core in a way that will keep you safe and stable outside the gym:

1. The front plank 

Couldn't be simpler: put your elbows directly under your shoulders, make a straight line from your head to your ankles and hold. Start at 20 seconds, and eventually progress up to a minute. Keep your belly button pulled in, don't let your back sag down, and don't stick your butt up in the air.

2. Stability ball rollouts

No one rolls balls like me.

Start in a front plank with your elbows and forearms on a stability ball. Push your elbows as far forward as they'll go without letting your back sag, and bring them back for one rep. Pushing your elbows away from your body increases the weight your core has to counter-balance to stay still, because physics and stuff. These are, by the way, much harder than they look, Keep your sets at around 8-15 reps, and take your time; every rep should take about a second to get to full extension and a second to bring it back. All you have do to make it tougher is hold for a beat at full extension.

3. Pallof Press

I'm using this demonstration as my glamour shot. 

At a pulley station, set up a handle at chest level. Turn 90 degrees from the station so that the cable runs parallel with your shoulders, bring the handle to the middle of your chest, and stand up straight. Your feet should be shoulder-width apart. Press the handle away from you until your arms are fully extended, and don't let the force from the cable turn your body; resist that motion! Your stomach should feel tight when the handle is out away from you. Hold for a beat, then slowly return the handle to the middle of your chest. This "anti-rotation" a great way to build a strong core. 

Training your core musculature like this definitely takes some getting used to, especially if you're used to crunches to work your abs. You might not "feel" like you're "working" your "six-pack" as much, but you'll have a more solid trunk to hold everything together. And that's not to say you won't build a sexy set of abs from these exercises! 

I'm not saying there isn't value to be had in crunches and sit-ups, but there just isn't enough carryover to other aspects of lifting and living for me to recommend them as your sole source of ab training. Speaking from personal experience, I can tell you that my overhead press and squat not only went up, but just felt safer after I switched from crunches to rollouts, because my core was getting better at keeping still. 

This is just a toe in the water if you're interested in "functional" training, and if you're not afraid of entering perhaps the biggest quagmire to be had in the field of strength and conditioning, I highly suggest you go check out some of Mike Boyle's stuff. He's written two books on the subject, and it's where I've gotten the bulk of my information on functional training.

Now go forth and show those weights that you won't be pushed around.

Justin is a trainer at Lift Fitness and Wellness in Lexington, Kentucky. He also runs their blog over at liftfitnessandwellness.blogspot.com

Halfway There

Two weeks down in my "Gun Show" program, and two weeks to go! Darren is making some quite frankly unfair progress, and I'm adhering to my program and eating big to make my gains. It has been pretty refreshing to have a program laid out for me, and I'm doing a decent job about not making adjustments. Although, I did substitute TRX bicep curls for Trink curls, and did the bi blaster instead of...

NO. BAD JUSTIN.

But come on. Look at this thing:

It is impossible not to look badass while using the bicep blaster. Better than the preacher curls I was supposed to be doing in my opinion, and maybe I'll substit-

STOP IT JUSTIN, STOP.

Ugh. Fine.

As far as the contest goes, here's how we're doing:

Maybe...maybe a little something extra? Maybe? Please?

And Darren:

That's dumb. He's dumb.

I'm beginning to re-think this whole "progress-based" rule. Just remember, he's doing the program I wrote for him.

He would have nothing without me.

Nothing. 

Strength Training Reduces "Office" Injuries

Despite living in a society that is increasingly sedentary (I have already typed that sentence too many times for my liking) we are plagued with chronic back and neck pain. Which is weird, because most of us associate any musculoskeletal pain with some sort of strenuous physical activity. Or we say we "slept on it wrong", because apparently that's a thing that you can do. So how can someone hurt themselves when they never pick up anything heavier than their purse?

"It's a satchel!" -  Men with purses.

The answer: You're not lifting enough heavy things. Granted, I use that advice to solve problems ranging from back pain to vegetarian lifestyle modifications, but in this case I have SCIENCE to back me up.

According to a study conducted at the University of Copenhagen and published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, women who participated in strength training on a regular basis for 16 weeks significantly decreased their self-reported pain index from the baseline of the study, compared with a control group who presumably ate tacos and watched Netflix for  four months. 

That is pretty impressive by itself, but some of the specifics of the study were surprising even to me. For example, the study not only looked at the effects of strength training, but also the effects of general physical activities like biking to work and parking farther from the store. The second group still significantly decreased their pain over the course of the study, but the group who went to the gym and lifted weights -which puts significantly more stress on the muscles and joints than taking the stairs every once in a while- still reported a greater decrease in pain. Even better, within the strength training group, those who had the greatest training volume (measured by load x total reps over the course of the study) reported a greater decrease in pain than the participants who had the lowest. 

So why does a frequently agonizing trip to the weight room actually help chronic sufferers of back and neck pain? The theory (not my theory, but the theory of those smart enough to have theories) is that strength training may help break down and subsequently reconstruct painful and abnormal muscle tissue, as well as decrease the relative workload of everyday activities by making the muscles stronger. Being hunched over in a chair all day often means that your back and neck muscles are turned off and neglected, and this leads to them withering away and failing to keep the structures they support in line. Strength training not only builds sexy lumps we can show off at the beach, but also teaches us to activate muscles that may not see much action the rest of the day. 

Many, many bad things can still happen in the gym. I myself have been hurt...we'll say three times. However, all three times were the result of me doing something stupid. Strength training, even with heavy weights, is completely safe as long someone follows proper form and has a decent program, perhaps one designed by an extremely handsome and knowledgeable trainer at one of finest facilities in Lexington. I promise the pain you think you feel under a heavy barbell is worth the pain you won't feel in the long run.

Go forth and lift heavy things!

Reference: Pederson, Mogens, Lars Anderson, Marie Jorgensen, Karen Sogaard, and Gisela Sjogaard. "Effect of Specific Resistance Training on Musculoskeletal Pain Symptoms: Dose Response Relationships."Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 27.1 (2013): 229-235. Print.

Justin currently only experiences emotional pain and also writes the blog for LIFT Fitness and Wellness

Giving Up

My boss at LIFT Fitness decided, for no particular reason, that February should be prohibition month for us and our clients. Until March 1st, we are not to consume a single alcoholic beverage. He's done this so that people can see just how much one chink in the armor of a sound diet and exercise program can hamstring your progress. Since many of our clients are very busy adults who deal with large amounts of stress on a daily basis, he suspected (and knew from personal observation) that alcohol could be a prime culprit for the lack of results some people are seeing.

I decided to participate, just as a show of good faith. Most weeks I only have one beer in the evening and maybe a few drinks Saturday night, and I don't think it's nearly enough to affect my own progress. However, I wanted to wait until after the Superbowl, because drinking beer during the Superbowl is as American as turkey at Thanksgiving.

You know who didn't drink beer during the Superbowl? Hitler. 

After giving that decision some more thought, I think I have a better understanding of why some people feel the need to put off their diet for a few more weeks.

I hesitated to do the challenge because I knew that, being a 22-year-old male in Kentucky, I am expected to drink at social occasions held by people my age, which makes me sound like an alien sent to study you Earthlings and your habits. If I didn't drink during our Superbowl party, or really any get-together on the weekends, my friends would make fun of me and give me that look. You know that look. They act like they're joking, but they aren't. That look betrays their real feelings. It says: What, you think you're better than me? You think I'm weak because I want to have a good time? Screw you, this is America, and if you're not a Nazi sympathizer you will pass me that funnel and shut up about it. 

If you can't give something up for a month, you're addicted to it. It might be alcohol, or video games, or sugary snacks, or cat memes, but if you can't drop it cold turkey for a month then you have some sort of dependency. It's a cliche at this point, but just about every addict will give some variation of "I can quit any time I want, I just don't want to." Well why not?

Alcoholism runs in my family. I know for a fact I have an addictive personality, and I do better when I cut out something completely rather than limit my consumption via sheer willpower. I used to buy cereal for when I was in a hurry and didn't have time for oatmeal in the mornings, but I found myself staying in bed longer knowing that I had that fallback option. So I cut it out, and now I always have time to fix a bowl of oatmeal. I also know that alcohol is empty calories, decreases protein synthesis in the muscle, and reduces testosterone in the body, all of which are detrimental to building muscle, which is what I'm trying to do now. And yet, I still felt the need to drink quite a few beers yesterday, simply because that was the thing to do.

I'm starting my Prohibition February a few days late, but hopefully the effect will be the same. The timing also coincides well with finishing my "2 Tickets to the Gun Show" program/contest, so I believe I will have willpower in ample supply to finish out the month. I might even make a habit out of it; every month, I'll cut out something that may be bad for me and see if I feel different.

...Or maybe we'll just stick with this for now. Daddy needs his cat memes.

Justin is a trainer at LIFT Fitness and Wellness in Lexington, Ky. He also writes the blog for liftfitnessandwellness.blogspot.com