The Two Man March
Impromptu Absolute Strength Seminar

    I've always appreciated the phrasing and musings of jazz critic Stanley Crouch; to wit, "Charlie 'Bird' Parker's appetites dragged him all up and down the street until eventually those appetites killed him." Crouch once wrote a book titled, "The One Man March." That particular phrase was (for me) the very essence of iconoclastic sparseness and for some odd reason passed through my mind as RKC instructor Sandy Sommer and I worked on pistols and presses in my hay-strewn garage gym, littered with stored tools and assorted junk: two men working together to improve specific aspects of sport performance in sparse surroundings on a perfect spring afternoon. Ours was a two man march.

    Sandy was seeking my council on the acquisition of additional absolute strength: he already possessed sustained strength in ample abundance; his locomotive-like endurance was a direct result of his complete immersion in all things kettlebell related. Sandy had sculpted a long, lean, lithe physique; one that was (self-admittedly) better now than when he was a college athlete. Thirty years down the road and he can say with complete confidence that he is in better physical shape and condition (at age 47) than he was at age 17.  Further, when this guy was 17 he was not some out-of-shape kid, rather he was an elite high school athlete that went on to play football at the college level.

Kettlebell protocols adhered to religiously apparently allow hardcore adherents to hold back the hands of time. If you want to grasp K-Bell fountain-of-youth inducing qualities, simply use your eyes and take a hard look at the top national-level RKC coaches and teachers: they all look as if the had been stored in some mysterious, hyperbolic age-retarding time capsule.
Sommer stands 6 foot 2 and weighs a rock-hard whippet-like 180 pounds. He is tight and taut and lean with a sculpted face and a decidedly Eastern European look. Eventually it emerged that Sandy was indeed Sandor and of Hungarian stock. Genetically gifted, his father had played professional football in the NFL as a running back for several teams. Sandy was a walking, talking testament to the benefits of applied kettlebell training; particularly for men and women on the wrong side of 40.
The sustained strength K-bell protocol has calorie oxidizing, fat-burning benefits that are just now being bought to the forefront - I feel partly responsible for highlighting the lard-melting attributes of sustained strength kettlebell training. By hooking RKC adherents up to heart rate monitors we are discovering just how dramatically and just how quickly body fat is oxidized when adherents subject themselves to prolonged periods of intense iron ball slinging. 700-1000 + caloric burn rates are being routinely posted by hardcore kettlebell slingers in routine, nothing-out-of-the ordinary training sessions. My trainees are routinely registering 15 + calorie per minute burn rates for extended periods of time.  

    While Sandy had abundant amounts of sustained strength he felt he lacked absolute strength: absolute strength is defined as the ability to push or pull lots of resistance for very low reps. He was open to suggestions and "wanted to get away from continually playing to my strengths."  He journeyed up to my home in rural Pennsylvania and we went over ways in which he might improve his brute power. Sandy and I headed to my garage gym and began working on presses and squats. I observed him as he ran through some one-armed presses: I mentioned that he was using the same velocity (speed) whether he was pressing thirty pounds or sixty pounds. I asked this Zen rhetorical question: "Why aren't you pressing 30 pounds twice as fast as you push 60 pounds?"

"Well I don't really know - I never really thought about it."

I told him a tale about how once I worked with a female powerlifter that subconsciously used one speed to squat. She squatted her 135 pounds warm-ups not one iota faster than she squatted her maximum 200 pounds. She had allowed her body to dictate the velocity at which she moved a barbell. When I asked her to "move 135 pounds significantly faster than she moved 200 pounds." she was unable - she literally couldn't no matter how hard she tried. Why was this? Why was she unable to push a 67.5% payload the slightest bit faster than a 100% payload? Her body was dictating to her rather than her dictating to her body.

She needed to seize back conscious control of something she had unconsciously allowed her subconscious to control.

Basically her nervous system was saying to her, "Look - when it comes to lifting poundage, any poundage, be it light or heavy, we have a single speed." Her body would push or pull at one specific speed and that was that. It took us six weeks to 'unlearn and de-condition' her 'one-speed-fits-all" push and pull speed. Once she recaptured control of her central nervous system, she able to increase her velocity on the lighter weights and this translated to her being able to increase her velocity on the heavier weights. Eight weeks after she seized back control of her central nervous system she squatted 250 pounds in competition; no squat suit, no knee wraps and no lifting belt: a staggering 25% increase in eight weeks time, a golden payoff.

Sandy had a similar problem. His condition was not nearly as ingrained and within an hour we had him accelerating light weights fast and heavier weights faster. Basically, as soon as I brought it to his attention, he was able to correct the situation. In between press sets (single reps only as pushing or pulling once is a learned skill that needs practice) we would squat. His squat goal was to perform a one-legged squat while holding the 106 pound 'Beast' kettlebell. In my opinion he needed a lot more pure leg strength. We hatched a plan that would have him do ultra-deep, pause-rep front squats with a barbell. The barbell front squat is a great adjunct to regular pistol training. The brutish barbell front squat can infuse raw leg power for use in that most subtle of all leg exercises: the pistol.

I showed him the front squat basics and we paid particular attention to not allowing the tailbone to rise up first at the 'turn-around' - when descent became ascent; when it was time to arise from the bottommost squat position.

He had a terrific, upright, uber-relaxed bottom position in the squat. My idea was to dramatically increase his two-legged front squat poundage. The strategy was to double his current front squat poundage handling ability. If he could push his front squat poundage from low 100's upward into the low 200-pound range, he would double his leg power. This would "convert" into more single leg power. He was able to perform a technically perfect double rep front squat with 115 pounds.

Theoretically if Sandy increased his front squat leg strength by 100% (115 x 2 to say 230 x 2) would that provide him with sufficient muscular horsepower to squat the Beast? Add 100% to 62 pounds and you create the hypothetical horsepower to squats 124 pounds. Since Sandy Sommer was a long range thinker, ("I want to squat the Beast by age 50") he had plenty of time to build that critical front squat.

    Back and forth we went, alternating explosive one-arm presses ("Instill tremendous tension in the entire body at the launch; think 'speed,' keep tension in the 'off hand,' Press faster!") with paused front squats. ("The tailbone is rising! Keep the shoulders back as you push upward; explode the poundage upward, no bouncing - pause - now push FAST!")   

He was a quick study and absorbed it all and absorbed it fast. After the workout I fed him beef ribs and raw milk on the deck and answered his questions that were both direct and pointed. He quizzed me about how best to set up an absolute strength program within the larger context of Kenneth Jay's VO2 max program: he was walking a kettlebell tightrope; weaving three distinct approaches into his base "Pavel template." We decided to lump all the absolute strength exercises and the absolute strength assistance exercises together on a single day: train them sequentially, i.e., start with legs, shift to presses before finishing with back - which roughly conformed to the classical power strategy of sequence: squat, bench press then deadlift. I gave him some Parrillo supplements to assist him in adding some pure muscle.

Afterwards we had a glass of wine and talked music: he was intimately familiar with a music club scene I had experienced up close and personal for many, many years. All in all it was a good meeting of the minds and I felt as if he might have gleaned a few ideas and strategies that would enable him to move a step or two closer to his kettlebell goals.

Sandy Sommer writes....

I've always had better than average sustained strength and durability. As crazy as it may sound, I was usually at my best in sweltering August heat, in full football pads. My ability to focus in that sort of environment, while others wilted, was and remains a source of pride. To this day, I prefer sweating my butt off in a workout, in as much heat as I can stand, to the alternative.

I wasn't sure if I'd be able to stand Marty Gallagher's heat. I've read his Dragon Door blog every few weeks and have read and then read again "The Purposeful Primitive." To say he is knowledgeable about strength and conditioning, nutrition, human psyche and the puzzle that each of those pieces fits into would be an understatement. So when I emailed him with a few questions I wasn't even sure if I'd hear back from him. But I did and his response was quick and valuable. I wrote back and we ended up talking on the phone a time or two before he invited me to come train in the hills of Pennsylvania. Before the invitation was even fully offered, I'd accepted and couldn't wait.

Uh oh, I thought. This guy is a plethora of strength information and while I'm in good condition, I'm not the world's strongest man. Far from it. What if he feels like he's wasting his time etc? Why would he accept me as a client? All these questions were going around in my brain.

My fears it turned out were unfounded.  I had very specific goals that I shared with Marty early in our conversations. I explained the specific outcome I will achieve and the time frame within which I will get it. When I showed up he didn't laugh or chuckle replaying our chats in his head so I felt a bit better. Marty was extremely hospitable and we sat down to talk and make sure we were on the same page. After that we went to work.

Marty evaluated my performance in two movements. First, he examined my front squat and then he looked at my Press. Marty doesn't mince words. He tells you what he thinks and is very clear. Liked the squat although my tailbone was a bit jumpy and thought there was a lot of room for improvement in the press. It seems that my press was pretty much the same velocity at one weight then that weight time two.

We worked these two movements over and over with adequate rest. Marty is a great coach. He urged and cajoled me to focus on what he was teaching. I'm a fairly quick study and a decent athlete so what he shared I was able to digest and utilize. I learned a ton that I applied to my first MG Absolute Strength Session today. I felt power and I felt resolve.

After that session, I have no doubt I will get the results I am looking for. It's a fairly simple plan (not easy) but we figured out how to get me to my goals... We determined where I am currently and then mapped it all out. I am fully determined and will give no quarter in my quest.  I thank you Marty.

In need of a little 'absolute strength?' contact Gallagher about becoming a 'phone train' client at...
www.mgso@embarqmail.com


Sandy Sommer, RKC can be contacted at...
http://charmcitykettlebells.blogspot.com


     
 

    My old friend Pavel Tsatsouline once famously said, (and I paraphrase) "At all cost avoid the disgrace of aerobics." Knowing the man for over a decade I understand his ill feelings towards all seemingly mindless forms of exercise. His vision of "aerobic disgrace" is the Sisyphus-like stationary bike ride to nowhere - or sitting on some glitzy machine that cost more than a small car, mindlessly moving along at a "nice" sub-maximal pace, while watching a built-in TV or perhaps talking with your aerobic neighbor about how great "working out" is or how the local football team is doing. The epitome of "disgraceful" would be a Jane Fonda-type workout where a pack of syncopated sissies would gyrate and contort in a group aerobics dance class to the swinging sounds of Britney Spears or some sugary-sweet pop music. Everyone would wear an outfit and no one would sweat. Pavel's disgrace list would likely include any group event that involved music, hand clapping and decidedly feminine dance routines. Aerobic activity needs to be more than "feeling good" about ourselves and our fitness efforts, aerobic activity needs to be maximally intense, sweaty and preferably done outdoors.

As I've said before, in fitness effort is no substitute for fitness success.  Sub-maximal effort is, in this man's opinion, a complete waste of training time. My idea of aerobic exercise is lung-searing, grunt and pant cardio that forces the individual to equal or exceed some sort of limit, keeping in mind that limits can take many forms. I like running or power-walking while toting a heavy weighted pack; also high on the approved aerobic list would be swimming for miles or hoisting heavy objects for protracted periods. My idealized version of cardio exercise is done outside, sans machines and always resulting in sweat being excreted by the bucketful. Beneficial cardio needs to involve extreme exertion. Man is primordially programmed to run and swim: from the beginning of time until the domestication of the horse, men caught and killed wild game on foot in order to survive? How do you think primal man avoided man-eating predators? If primal man was not physically fit, if he were not a capable runner or swimmer, his life expectancy was significantly diminished. Modern man is the inheritor of primal programming and is a natural runner or swimmer; genetically we are preprogrammed for these activities. There is nothing in our exercise DNA that makes us good stationary bike riders or dancers; there is nothing in our genetic makeup that allows us to reap maximum physical results from minimal physical effort.

I cannot tell you how many times over the past decade decidedly fat men have thrown Pavel's quote in my face when I have suggested that a little cardio activity might do them a world of good...

    Me: "Look here my good fellow; you are fifty pounds overweight and you huff and puff like you've just run a marathon after walking up three flights of stairs. You should consider adding a bit of cardio activity to your kettlebell regimen to improve your deficient circulatory efficiency."

    Them: "Pavel says aerobics are disgraceful! (Belch!) Besides I hate cardio!"

    Why I would never have guessed. Basically Pavel's words are being twisted by the decidedly unfit to provide themselves a 'get-out-of-jail-free without doing cardio trump card.' How can you argue with this kind of logic? As someone once said, "a man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still." For this reason I don't spend a lot of time trying to convince the unrepentant unfit that they need some applied cardio exercise - this reluctance to embrace cardio is doubly ironic: unbeknownst to the aggressively unfit, they already possess one of the greatest cardio devices ever invented: the kettlebell.

Used intelligently, i.e., for high reps and for an extended exercise periods of time, the uber-simplistic kettlebell becomes the AK-47 of cardio devices.  Factually and mathematically, a properly used kettlebell trumps the aerobic benefit derived from uber-expensive aerobic machines or the pump-and-groove-step-aerobic class.

In recent years I have worked with obese individuals in an attempt to introduce them to a humane approach towards fitness. One of the goals of any comprehensive fitness regimen is cardiovascular health. When the circulatory system is systematically "exercised," organ functionality and overall health improves. The heart and lungs are muscles and like any other and when routinely exercised they are strengthened and their pumping power is improved. Intense cardio sends torrents of blood rushing down arterial highways, cleansing and cleaning as the blood-flood blasts through the miles and miles of internal plumbing.  

➢    How do we exercise the circulatory system?
➢    Systematically elevate the heart rate for a protracted period
➢    How do we lose body fat?
➢    Synchronize cardio exercise with cleaned up food selections and gradually reduce caloric intake

Invoke and pay homage to the four bullet points and do so for a decent period of time and excess body fat begins melting faster than ice cubes strewn on a hot concrete sidewalk in mid August.

Recently I have been working with kettlebell trainees to improve various aspects of their performance. To satisfy my own curiosity, I suggested one of my hardcore kettlebell athletes "strap up" with a Polar F4 heart rate monitor during his intense sessions. My idea was to see what sort of cardio impact kettlebell lifting generated. I thought kettlebell lifting would prove to be a dynamic calorie oxidizer. My hunches and suspicions were confirmed when Jim Ski began reporting his results: hoisting heavy kettlebells in a variety of methods, using various exercises, generated a dramatically elevated heart rate. Ski's results pointed out with mathematical certainty that intense and protracted kettlebell training is an aerobic activity without peer. While running and swimming are fabulous cardio activities, and as natural for an athlete as natural can be, lifting heavy weights for high reps burns more calories than either activity.   

One critical cardio benchmark, perhaps the critical benchmark is: how many calories per minute are oxidized during a particular exercise? As it turns out, protracted kettlebell hoisting is pretty much in a calorie-per-minute class of its own. The 'burn rates' generated during an extended kettlebell session are nothing short of fantastic. I have reprinted a few sample workouts undertaken by Jim Ski to illustrate the awesome calorie-burning attributes of kettlebell lifting...

Sat., 4/11/09 workout I

Cardio Extended Strength - low weight slung for long durations
Warm-up: 75 Bodyweight squats

Two Hand Swings: 20 swings with 24kg K-Bell: 35 seconds of work alternated with 35 seconds of rest for 40 work/rest cycles
Total Swings: 800, Total Volume: 42,400 lbs.

Duration: 52:45 - including squat warm-ups
Intensity: (High)
Blended session heart rate average: 150 beats per minute for 53 minutes equating to 88.7% of his 169 max HR
Max HR hit during the session: 171 beats per minute
Calories Oxidized per Minute: 15.1 calories per minute were burned for 53 consecutive minutes
Total Calories Oxidized: 805 calories in 52 minutes and 45 seconds (1 calorie for every swing)

Here is another representational kettlebell swing workout: this one was shorter and slightly less intense as expressed in cal/per/minute burn...over 33 minutes Jim averaged a 14.1 calorie-per-minute burn rate.

Fri., 4/24/2009

8am
Warm Up: 51 Bodyweight Squats
2 hand swings 20 swings with a 24kg K-bell - 35 seconds of work / 35 second rest for a total of 25 work/rest cycles
Total Swings: 500, Total Volume: 26,500 lbs.

Duration:  33:01 minutes
Intensity: (Light)
%ARHR: 85.2%
Blended session Heart Rate average: 144 beats per minute for 33 consecutive minutes
Max HR achieved during the session: 165 beats per minute
Calories Oxidized per Minute: 14.2 calories per minute for 33 straight minutes
Total number of Calories Oxidized during the session: 469

=============================================

Below are the results from a short, 13 minute and 30 second, one hand snatch workout...
Protocol: a single 44 pound kettlebell is snatched singlehandedly -
10 reps left hand, then ten reps right hand, followed by 40 seconds of rest for ten cycles

Snatches @ 20kg 10 left hand reps then 10 right hand reps then rest (40 sec. work / 40 sec. rest) for 10 complete cycles
Total Snatches: 200, Total Volume: 8,800 lbs.

Duration: 13:27 minutes
Intensity: (High)
Session average % of age-related heart rate maximum: 91.1%
Blended session average hear rate: 154 beats per minute
Max HR during session: 165 beat per minute
Calories Oxidized per Minute: 14.9 calories per minute for 13 and one half minutes
Total Calories Oxidized: 194

Note that almost 200 calories were burnt in less than 14 minutes...that is a fabulous burn rate - but it gets even better - keep in mind that on both the dual hand swing exercise and the single-hand snatch exercise half the exercise time was spent resting!

The swing protocol was 35 seconds of work followed by 35 seconds of rest for 49 consecutive minutes; the snatch protocol was 40 seconds of work followed by 40 seconds of rest for 13.5 consecutive minutes. This is astounding - in terms of work and work alone, the 800 calories were burnt in 24 minutes of actual work! Ditto the 44 pound one arm snatches - 200 calories were oxidized during 7 minutes of actual work!

    The kettlebell seems to be the perfect tool for generating caloric oxidation: the swing is particularly effective and my theory is that the swing strikes a perfect balance between strength and momentum. There is a rhythm and momentum to properly performed swing technique that is conducive for extended performance. The goal of an effective cardio session is to establish an elevated heart rate and keep the heart rate elevated for an extended period of time. The goal of a sensible cardio session strikes the elusive balance between duration and intensity. The kettlebell swing seems to be the ideal heart-rate spiking exercise in that it is a perfect combination of muscle activation and sustainable momentum. Users are able to ignite dramatically accelerated heart rates yet keep the exercise going for a long period of time.

I would challenge anyone to find any other mode of exercise that can generate a higher, sustainable calories-per-minute burn rate. While you might be able to generate a higher caloric burn rate for a few minutes, try keeping it up for 30 + minutes. Keep in mind that the sustained caloric burn rates I have highlighted were generated by a 50 + year old man weighing 205 pounds - there is zero doubt in my mind that even higher burn rates can be achieved by younger, fitter individuals.

On the other hand without a Polar F4 heart rate monitor you would be unable to determine any of this....I would amend Pavel's famous statement and say - "there is no disgrace in aerobics - provided they are performed in proper sweaty fashion using the AK-47 of exercise tools."

Interested in becoming a 'phone train' client of Marty's?
Contact him a www.mgso@embarqmail.com

Building Absolute Strength to complement Sustained Strength

Generally speaking, adept kettlebell adherents have incredible amounts of sustained strength. My own weird area of expertise lies in the creation of absolute strength. As it turns out, my experience at building absolute strength has value for kettlebell adepts. The ability to build absolute strength is one of four unique disciplines I bring to the kettlebell party. My other areas of expertise relate to muscle-building/fat-shedding nutrition, the use of monitoring tools during K-bell sessions and the application of periodization tactics to kettlebell training. The first step in acquiring absolute strength is grasping that the tactics used to increase absolute strength differ substantially from the tactics used for building sustained strength.

Jim Ski's sustained strength is off the charts, particularly for a guy on the wrong side of 50.  As a testament to his substantial sustained strength, a few weeks back the 52 year old performed no less than 800 'swings' using a 54 pound bell - this Herculean demonstration of stamina and grit took 49 minutes. The man is a human locomotive. The chink in his proverbial athletic armor lies in a lack of pure power, the kind of power needed to muscle-up a big bell for a single rep. Ski needed an infusion of absolute strength for a very specific purpose: he is heading for Minnesota in June for his Level II Certification and needs to be able to press the 80 pound kettlebell overhead one time - something he has never been able to do. Jim agreed he needed my help - but was naturally cautious: he wanted a strategy that complimented his Turkish Get-Up and Clean and Press ladder training strategy, as described in Pavel's Enter the Kettlebell! He used my approach on what would have been his heavy C&P Ladder Day.

My idea was to devise a power-infusing method AND lean-out his blurred physique. He was a few biscuits shy of weighing 230 pounds when we started working together in February.  I devised a dietary approach that whittled his bodyweight down from 226 to 206, while simultaneously adding muscle mass needed to power up poundage. He is on his way to a 194 pound bodyweight in June. My dietary approach for K-bell trainers will be covered in a future article: suffice to say that the dietary dilemma is not how to lose body weight - anyone can do that by slashing calories - the nutritional Rubik's Cube is how to lose body fat while actually adding muscle. The solution lies in riding the razor's edge between anabolism and catabolism; a subtle, demanding, disciplined undertaking.  

World class marathon runners have a maximum vertical leap (a primal test of explosive power) of 12 to 18 inches - they cannot leap high however they can leap their maximal height a thousand consecutive times. A 350 pound, world class Olympic weightlifter can leap upward 40 inches - yet they "gas out" after three or four consecutive reps exerting maximum power. The contrast between these two athletic archetypes is the very definition of aerobic ability versus anaerobic power.  

I hatched a strange strategy for building Ski's absolute strength. I ripped a page from the training log of ancient strength superstar Ken Fantano. At his power peak, Kenny stood 5-11 and weighed a rock solid 360 pounds. (Check out his photo in my chapter on him in my book, The Purposeful Primitive.) Ken could bench press 625 for a dead-stop double; he could incline press a pair of 200 pound dumbbells for 6 paused reps. No bench shirts, thank you very much. Kenny was no one-note Johnny, having squatted 953 for an ass-on-heels double. Anyway, I was one of his training partners and he related to me his barbell pressing strategy that I expropriated and modified for kettlebell use. To quote the ever insightful Fantano...

"If the goal is to increase your incline dumbbell pressing power, I use a 'four work set' strategy. Warm up and then perform four work sets. I purposefully pause between all my reps - no bouncing or rebounding at the bottom turn-around to create momentum - I want to push every rep from a complete dead-stop. If my current best was say, 115 for 6 reps in the paused incline dumbbell press  and my immediate  goal was to press a pair of 120 pound dumbbells for six reps, then I would use the following strategy: after warming up thoroughly I would perform the following four work sets...

set # 1, 100 x 6
set # 2, 105 x 6
set # 3, 110 x 6
set # 4, 115 x 6

Let's assume I make these workout poundage and rep goals - that is I complete six paused reps in each of the four sets, ending with 115 x 6. Now most trainees would think, 'Great! I made 115 x 6 so in the next training session I can move up to a pair of 120s on my top set.' WRONG! You'll never make it! Instead, the following training session you do this...
Set # 1, 105 x 6
set # 2, 110 x 6
set # 3, 115 x 6
set # 4, 115 x 6

If you make everything in this session, the following workout you go...

set # 1, 110 x 6
set # 2, 115 x 6
set # 3, 115 x 6
set # 4, 115 x 6

NOW you are ready! The following week you are allowed to attack the 120s for six paused reps. In order to do that; you need first to make three sets of six paused reps; then and only then are you "allowed" to move the next higher poundage increment.

I expropriated Ken's strength wisdom and applied it to kettlebells. Our first goal was for Ski to make three sets of three reps with the 70 pound kettlebell. The training template was as follows: warm-up with a 44 pound kettlebell for 6-8 reps in the one-arm press, jump to 60 for a single rep (don't waste strength pressing this preliminary poundage a bunch of times) - now it's time to get down to business of building absolute strength...

Set # 1, 70x3
set # 2, 70x3
Set # 3, 70x3

Here we pick up his e-mail correspondence...    

 Marty,

This morning I performed heavy presses.  Felt pretty strong; got the following...

set # 1, 70x3
set # 2, 70x2
set # 3, 70x2

Made 3 reps @ 70 lbs. (32kg) with the right hand on the first set.  Only got 1 with the left arm - but then got 2 reps with the right arm using the 70 in two subsequent sets. It was a bit strange - the 70 lb. bell seemed to feel lighter with each subsequent set.  

My follow-up e-mail reply...

On Apr 8, 2009, at 7:45 AM, Marty Gallagher wrote:

I think alternating between hands is a mistake. Doing ANY left hand sets with 70 during the strong arm work is DETRIMENTAL. You are zapping your available right arm strength - if you must work the weak arm, wait until the strong arm work is completely done. Then and only then do whatever "weak arm" work you feel necessary - by alternating hands,  you undoubtedly lost a rep or two off sets 2&3 handling the 70.  Think of it this way: your body has a finite amount of strength going into a workout.  At the June RK certification, they're not going to be testing your left arm strength - the test is a single rep with the right arm. Let's sculpt our training to reflect that reality...Approach these sessions as if it was 80-pound certification day - warm-up as you intend to warm-up and lift as if you were competing.  Will you do alternate presses with the 70 the day of the certification? No, of course not; so let's not do this now.  

Jim wrote back....

Yes, I was alternating hands.  I will ensure the strong side is worked completely before working the left arm.

The following Monday after ditching the alternating strategy Jim hit his mark...

Marty,

Made three sets of three with the 70.

Our new goal was three sets of FOUR reps in the right hand press. He took another press session three days later and made another quantum leap forward...

Marty,

I performed 3 sets of 4 reps with my right hand using the 70lb kettlebell. Per our conversation I did the strong arm completely before switching to my left arm presses.   

Needless to say, I was ecstatic. Seven days and two sessions later he wrote to me with the following amazing result...

Marty,

You provided the inspiration. I pressed the 80 pound kettlebell this morning for 1 solid rep with the right arm; and this was towards the end of the resistance workout after I did ladders with the 62 pound bell almost failure. In other words I was fatigued and still pressed the 80. Ten weeks until the RKC II certification.
 
Since Ski keeps moving his absolute strength upward at this rocket-ride rate using the "expropriated Fantano" approach, we will now raise our sights: I want him to hunt bigger game in June, I want him to press THE BEAST, all 106 pounds of dead lead, this at age 52 and while weighing 194 pounds...now that would be one hell of a goal! His head is spinning; we'll keep you apprised of his progress. 
 
Interested in becoming a phone-train client of Marty's?
Contact him directly at www.mgso@embarqmail.com

 
 

Burn 2,000 calories per week exercising!

Ralph S. Paffenbarger, MD, was an internationally known exercise authority and professor emeritus of health research and policy at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He died recently at age 84. Using Harvard alumni data, Paffenbarger published an oft-cited study in 1986 showing that men who burned at least 2,000 calories a week through exercise had death rates one-quarter to one-third lower than those the same age that were sedentary. This was no jive study designed to reach a predetermined conclusion in order to sell supplements or fitness related products (as is nearly always the case in this day and age), this was real research carried on over decades involving 16,000 + participants. Paffenbarger, who published hundreds of papers on the relationship between exercise and longevity, is perhaps best known for this particular study. It showed that higher levels of physical fitness resulted in lowered risk of heart disease and a marked decrease in death rates.
   
Paffenbarger examined the physical activity (and other life-style characteristics) of 16,936 Harvard alumni, aged 35 to 74, for rates of mortality from all causes. Rates were one third lower among alumni expending 2000 or more kcal during exercise per week compared to less active men. Burning 2,000 calories a week during exercise is no small feat as people vastly overestimate the number of calories expended during exercise. The number of calories expended by a 'normal person' during a normal workout is usually in the 100 to 250 calorie range. In order to burn off 2,000 in a week an individual needs to really work hard during training and train often. Easy training, sub-maximal training, low intensity training, makes it nearly impossible to hit the magic 2,000 calorie weekly number. Exercise reality is a hard slap across the face: if you are not breathing hard, if you are not breaking a sweat during an exercise session (regardless the exercise mode), it is highly unlikely that you are oxidizing calories at greater than 10 calories per minute. It takes 200 cumulative minutes, three hours and twenty minutes, working at 10 calories per minute burn rate to hit 2,000 cumulative calories.

To burn calories at a significant rate, exercise needs to be taxing, extended and intense. It would be terrific to sit on a comfortable stationary bike, tool along at a comfortable pace while talking comfortably to our neighbor and burn calories at a 20 calorie per minute rate; why, if such a thing were possible you could oxidize 600 calories in 30 short minutes and not even have to shower afterwards. In reality, a moderate 30 minute cardio session burns calories at a paltry 5-8 calorie per minute rate - and that's the burn rate for a big guy; smaller individuals have to work even harder to achieve a similar caloric burn rate. Mild exercise burns calories at a slow and relatively insignificant rate. In order to burn off 2,000 calories per week, via exercise alone, you really need to put out in your training sessions and frankly, if you aren't sweating, consistently and profusely, you'll never attain a really significant calorie-per-minute burn rate. A moderately paced aerobic session done below the 'sweat level,' a gentle Pilates class, a light resistance session, might burn calories at the rate of 5 to 7 calories per minute.  

Assuming you burn 7 calories per minute, a 30 minute session would result in a mere 200 calorie expenditure. To attain the life-extending 2,000 calories per week, you would need to perform TEN 30 minute exercise sessions every seven days. The burn rate for popular exercise modes such as the aforementioned sub-sweat cardio, yoga, tai chi, body shaping, or nice-and-easy weight training are all calorically inconsequential. The bad news gets worse for lighter and smaller people. Caloric expenditure is directly tied to bodyweight: it takes a lot more fuel (calories) to propel a massive SUV for thirty minutes down a flat stretch of highway than it takes to propel a smaller vehicle getting better gas mileage for the same time and distance over identical terrain. A 125 pound man has to work roughly twice as hard as a 250 pound man to burn off an equal number of calories doing the same work in the same amount of time. This is simple thermodynamics. A challenging thirty minute exercise session for a 200 pound man in reasonable shape will typically burn 300 to 400 calories. This represents a 10 to 13 calorie per minute sustained burn rate and requires real effort. The 125 pound person seeking to oxidize 300 to 400 calories would have to exercise longer using the same pace - or dramatically increase the exercise intensity to match the big man's rate of caloric burn.

A fit 200 pound man can break 500 calorie barrier by working for 30 minutes at a blistering 16.67 calorie-per-minute rate. Standard weight training, even intense weight training is not a great calorie oxidizer. This is on account of the rest periods needed to recover between sets. While the athlete's heart rate might spike up to 170 + beats per minute after a limit set of squats or deadlifts, the start/stop nature of intense weight training makes it a good, but hardly a great, caloric oxidizer. There is, however, one type of weight training that is actually a superior calories oxidizer: kettlebell lifting done using the Pavel Protocol. Sustained and intense kettlebell lifting turns out to be a terrific caloric oxidizer, generating tremendous calorie-per-minute burn rates. One of my many "phone train" students is a hardcore K-Bell trainee named Jim Skislak. Jim is hard at work preparing for his certification coming up this June.  I decided to strap Jim up to a Polar F4 heart rate monitor in order to see how many calories he was burning during his numerous weekly sessions. Jim is 51 years old, stands well over 6 foot and weighs 210 pounds; he wears his heart rate monitor from start to finish of each session. Here are snapshots of two recent Ski workouts ...

7am: Cardio (Medium / High Intensity session)
 
50 Bodyweight Squats for warm-up then...
Two hand swings using a 24 kilo bell 
35 seconds of work then 35 seconds of rest for 35 cumulative sets

I used a lighter bell, 53-pouns, as Pavel advised, and upped the volume. In this session I did 700 swings to extend the length of this cardio session.

Total swings: 700
Total Volume: 37,100 lbs.
Session duration: 49min.
Intensity: Medium to High
My average heart rate was 146 beats per minute which equates to 86.3% of my age-related heart rate maximum.
I oxidized 14.3 calories per minute for 49 consecutive minutes
Total Calories Oxidized: 704
   
Now this was no special workout - just another day at the kettlebell office for this hardcore K-Bell lifter. Here is a 'short workout' Ski performed later that same week: in a mere 25 minutes he burned just shy of 400 calories, blasting along at a blistering 15.4 calorie per minute burn rate.

7am: High Intensity session

Two hand swing: 24 k bell; 35 seconds of work; 35 seconds of rest for seven sets
Two hand swing: 28 k bell; 35 seconds of work; 35 seconds of rest for seven sets
Two hand swing: 32 k bell; 35 seconds of work; 35 seconds of rest for seven sets

Total swings: 420
Total Volume: 22,200 lbs.
Duration:  25 min.
Intensity: High

My average heart rate: 152 beats per minute which equates to 90% of my age-related heart rate maximum
I oxidized15.4 calories oxidized per minute for 25 consecutive minutes
Total Calories Oxidized: 390
   
In two workouts totaling 74 minutes (one hour and fourteen minutes) Ski oxidized 1,100 calories. This is profound and revealing: if you are going to the local commercial gym, engaging in mild cardio and moderate progressive resistance training, perhaps it is time to 'up your game' and switch to some high-intensity weight training and high intensity kettlebell lifting. There is irrefutable science to suggest that oxidizing 2,000 per week can extend a man's life by 10-15 years. The fastest way, the most effective way and the most expeditious way to burn those 2,000 calories is to exercise intensely. No better calorie burning mode exists than serious kettlebell slinging. I am quite sure that were he alive Dr. Ralph S. Paffenbarger would agree.

Interested in taking your body and your capacities to the next level?
Contact Marty Gallagher about becoming a 'phone train' client. MGSO@EMBARQMAIL.COM
 

Mimicry of Primordial Man: I lead Dr. Jim Wright on a dawn high-intensity walk deep in the Pennsylvania Mountains. Surrounded by endless ice-glazed woods (the surreal remnants of an ice storm the night before) our footing was treacherous, the visual experience unforgettable and the cardio exercise both effective and invigorating. Primitive Man was lean, strong, fit and capable; a product of what he ate and how he lived.

Primordial Man was lean, muscular, fat-free and tough as nails. His very life depended on his degree of functional fitness. He had to be able to fight or flee in an instant and every single day he had to stalk and kill animals with spears, knives, snares, rocks and arrows. The ancient combination of all-natural diet and vigorous, intense daily activity created a phenomenally functional physique. Modern Man would be well advised to take some diet and exercise tips from Primordial Man. We should all aspire to achieve a primordial level of vibrant, capable fitness. With some clever and innovative substitutions we can create a remarkable facsimile of super-fit Primal Man.

From the dawn of humanity until its evolutionary apex, men worldwide consumed the same foods: lean protein and wild fruits and vegetables. The protein was uniformly lean and the carbohydrates overwhelmingly fibrous. Game produces exceedingly lean, nearly fat-free meat. Primal shore dwellers obtained their protein from the sea or lakes (fish and shellfish are nearly fat free) and saturated fat accounted for very little of primal man's daily caloric intake. Before the advent of agriculture, Primal Man ate fibrous carbohydrates to near exclusion. Potatoes, beans, corn and starch vegetables were exceedingly rare.

As a species Man has been in existence for roughly 250,000 years. Modern Man has been around for the last 40,000 years. From "year zero" until that unknown point in time when as a species we ceased evolving, everyone everywhere on earth ate the same foods. From first appearance of Homo Erectus 750,000 years ago, down through the appearance of Homo Sapiens 250,000 years ago, until that further point in time when we ceased moving down the evolutionary highway, men worldwide ate lean protein (obtained from game and seafood) along with wild fruits and vegetables - and little else - because there was little else.

As a species we became accustomed and acclimatized to consuming certain food for fuel. These foods were the ones we ate until our evolutionary apex was achieved. Once our evolution as a species ended, nutritionally, we were locked in. The optimal food/fuels were those foods eaten by man before the onset of our evolutionary apex.

Modern Man intent of achieving maximum fitness would be well advised to attempt to replicate Primordial Man's dietary and exercise template. To eat like an ancient nowadays requires a herculean degree of dietary restraint. Primordial Man had no problem staying true to his diet as he literally had no other food choices.

A primordial "replication diet" would consist of eating lots of lean protein and lots of fibrous fruits and vegetables and not much else...perhaps some nuts and seeds, a bit of starchy carbs, a limited amount of natural sugars and saturated animal fat. To stay true to primal man's diet in this day and age would require we consume organically-raised, seasonally appropriate foods selected from a very limited menu.

The bad news is a primal diet confines you to a narrow food selection.

The good news is you can eat lots of these foods, eat often, and still lose body fat.

In an interesting side note competitive bodybuilders tangentially confirmed the primal food/fuel thesis: the goal of the bodybuilder is to create maximum muscle mass while simultaneously reducing body fat down to single digit percentiles. Top bodybuilders will routinely reduce down to 5% (or less) body fat percentiles while maintaining tremendous muscle mass. Interestingly a procedural dietary consensus has emerged on how best to accomplish this: since the 1970s bodybuilders universally agree that eating lean protein and fiber carbs to the virtual exclusion of all other foods is the single most effective way to maintain maxim muscularity while becoming as lean as humanly possible. The most effective bodybuilding dietary template ever invented replicates almost exactly the dietary template of primordial man.

So how does modern man become healthy and lean?

• Modern manmade foods have proven toxic to the human machinery and need to be eliminated. We are a poisoned species in need of detoxification. If it is a manufactured food, avoid it.

• Intense exercise needs to be undertaken by modern man on a regularly reoccurring basis. Diet alone is not enough to transform from fat to fit; exercise alone is not enough; there are plenty of fit people that are also fat.

In order to replicate the primal exercise template, an exercise regimen needs to include a resistance training element and a cardiovascular training element. By combining heavy resistance training with intense cardio exercise and by underpinning the intense training with the consumption of ample amounts of lean protein and fibrous carbohydrates we are able to recreate a remarkable facsimile of Primordial Man.

Scientists point out that as mankind evolved people worldwide ate the same foods, over and over, ad infinitum. For 200,000 + years, men ate the same foods. Obviously the foods that the ancients consumed agreed with them: as a species they were lean, they were healthy, they were extremely muscular and they possessed low body fat percentiles. They had great strength and terrific aerobic capacities, obesity was unheard of; cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease were tens of thousands of years into the future.

So what happened?

Things began to unravel for the health of the species with introduction of agriculture. Approximately 10,000 years ago man started farming, specifically grains and starch vegetables such as corn. Now, for the first time in man's existence, foods came into existence that caused insulin to elevate. Neither fiber carbohydrates nor protein causes insulin to secrete. The widespread introduction of insulin-spiking foods proved problematic.

8,000 years before the birth of Christ men figured out how to grow wheat, barley, oats and corn. Men figured out how to create baked goods from grain and in about this same time sugar, salt and alcoholic beverages became widely available. Soon every culture began producing "artificial foods" on a widespread basis. The cultural elite became obese; initially obesity was embraced as a sign of affluence - obesity differentiated the elite from the underfed masses. Gout became the "Disease of Kings" as red meat high in fat, wine, starch and sugar became dominate in the diets of the wealthy.

Imagine a species that eats a limited and healthy diet for hundreds of thousands of years and suddenly the species begins eating foods that they had never been exposed to - much less adapted to. Adaptation requires tens of thousands of years. The consumption of these new foodstuffs resulted in a physiological disaster. Insulin spikes came into existence for the first time in the history of civilization. It is not coincidental that it is a virtually impossibility to exist on a diet of lean protein and fiber carbs and become obese. Why is that? You hear much talk from dietary experts that "a calorie is a calorie" yet primal evidence and evidence from elite bodybuilders points out a dramatic physiological fact: some calories are preferentially used to construct muscle and power activity (or be secreted) while other calories are preferentially stored as body fat.

Obviously Modern Man needs to exercise like a demon and eat primal foods preferentially used to build muscle while avoiding those foods preferentially shuttled into bodily fat storage compartments.

Body fat was precious to primal man. Stored body fat was the last line of defense against starvation and famine: for the first 240,000 years of man's existence excess body fat was unheard of. That changed for the worse with the widespread introduction and consumption of baked goods, sugar, saturated fat, high glycemic food and alcohol.

Take a clue from primal man and replicate a dietary strategy that emphasizes to near exclusion the consumption of those nutrients eaten by the ancients before the onset of the evolutionary apex.

Anyone interested in becoming a personal phone training client of Marty can contact him at www.mgso@embarqmail.com

Periodization and the Phenomenon of Physical Stagnation
The real secret to fitness success is reigniting gains after that gorgeous initial burst of progress inevitably and invariably subsides.



Manly Aerobics: World Climbing Champion Jurgen Reis and Marty Gallagher deep in the mountains of Pennsylvania. Dr. Jim Wright took the picture. The three had trudged for a solid hour and were at the turnaround point when this photo was taken. Gallagher related "It was five below zero. Despite the intense cold I still burned a respectable 1,200 calories on this extended outdoor aerobic session. We had been hit with an ice storm and every branch and blade of grass, every tree and bush was glazed in glassy, crystalline diamond-ice. The sky had a pinkish glow and the whole exercise session took on episodic strangeness; like a scene out of science fiction movie; phantasmagoric, psychedelic."  Cardio can be effective and exhilarating if undertaken outside in the elements. "If you have the gear, cold weather cardio is beautiful, effective and invigorating." Dr. Wright said. He theorized that clean outdoor air, forced through the circulatory system at an accelerated rate, bestows a "multitude of benefits, amongst them 'atmospheric ionic density' that essentially supercharges the circulatory system, promoting cleansing and blood enrichment."     

The only certainty in fitness is inevitable onset of physical stagnation.

    Factually, any lame, ineffectual fitness routine (or diet) can spark gains in an untrained body - for a little while. This assumes the lame-o strategy is executed with the requisite gusto. The mistake the untrained make is in assigning credit to the protocol when in fact the credit should be assigned to the acute sensitivity of an untrained body.

Instituting any exercise and/or diet regimen, and executing intensely, faithfully and consistently will have an incredible impact on any untrained, out-of-shape body. The more untrained the greater the impact. 

When the completely untrained suddenly begin training and eating in a regimented, disciplined fashion, their virginal bodies respond rapidly and dramatically. In the already weird world of fitness, a strange and predictable psychological phenomenon occurs and is what I call the "misplaced allegiance syndrome."

Fitness acolytes will often assign near-magical powers to whatever lame system they happened across and used initially. These rabid acolytes invariably experienced an initial exhilarating burst of rapid and radical physical progress. Unfortunately acolytes usually draw the wrong conclusions and develop a misplaced allegiance to protocols that, more often than not, are lame, ineffectual and deserve no allegiance from anyone.

When lame modes and methods are used in normal circumstance they deliver zero results. However a strange and mysterious physiologic anomaly exists that allows the ineffectual to become effectual for a slim sliver of time. Real Fitness Pros are painfully aware of this space oddity. Lame personal trainers pushing lame systems are completely oblivious to this irrefutable biologic fact. As Oscar Wilde once quipped, "They speak with the easy assurance of the blissfully ignorant."  

 Take any person brand new to fitness, take someone completely out-of-shape and sedentary, then suddenly subject them, immerse them, in any form of disciplined fitness and for a short period of time watch as they miraculously reap radical and rapid results  Then the gains cease. Blessed are those early and astounding physical gains: tangible, irrefutable, positive and profound. These early dramatic gains are often mistakenly attributed to whatever random system of training or diet the acolyte stumbled on to when they decided to "commit to get fit."

Likely it was some hip, popular, au currant exercise or diet style, something all the rage at that particular point in time, perhaps a Boot Camp paired with the South Beach Diet. Pilates anyone? Power Yoga? The Zone Anti-aging Diet? The acolyte decides to immerse themselves in a serious fitness effort and POW! The results stack up so fast the acolytes head is spun around; he feels he has stumbled on to something that needs to be shared - that's when the trouble starts and the physical gains cease. 

Factually the early initial results should be attributed to the untrained status of the acolyte.  
    Here is another little-known fitness truism: the more untrained the individual is the greater the rate of initial progress. A man at 90% of his god-given genetic potential has to work one hundred times harder and way smarter than a stone cold beginner in order to elicit 1/100th the progress.  An untrained acolyte can work moderately and stupidly and make huge gains in that magnificent initial burst - for a short period of time - the athletic elite need work way more intensely and way smarter and for way longer to elicit way less progress: infinitesimal by way of comparison.

As any Mac Daddy coach or athlete knows, the real question is not - how best do we trigger gains for an untrained body? Any lame-o program implemented with gusto can accomplish that - The real secret to fitness success is reigniting gains after that gorgeous initial burst of progress inevitably and invariably subsides.

This is the core fitness conundrum, the transformational riddle of the ages.

Acolytes mistakenly attribute magical transformative powers to those random fitness regimens initially used. Some acolytes develop rabid devotion to these luck-of-the-draw methods. Some develop a fanatical, fundamentalist mindset and will proselytize and actively seek to convert non-believers to their incredible fitness system, a system that factually ceased delivering results no more than six weeks after commencement.   

Some loyalist will stay with a particular routine for years. How sad is that. They develop a predictable blind spot that prevents them from seeing the eight hundred pound gorilla sitting in the center of the room: that cold fact is this - since that initial fitness burst, that magnificent solar flare, they have made zero quantifiable progress, nada.

Real Fitness Pros understand that every fitness system of training or diet has a finite shelf-life. Recognizing when a system has run out of steam, recognizing when no more results are forthcoming, is both an art and a science in and of itself.

Progress in fitness need be determined objectively, not subjectively.

No need to ask someone how you look if you've lost 20 pounds of fat and added five pounds of solid muscle - you know how you look - you look one hell-of-a-lot better than you did than you looked before you started!

Progress in fitness should be coldly accessed and reduced to mathematical certainty: you are either losing fat or you are not. You are either adding muscle or you are not. You are either improving or degrading.  Treading water, at least in fitness, is a myth. As a member of the human species you are in a continual state of flux. Physical homeostasis is a myth; there is no such thing as 'staying the same.' The physical shell, The Soft Machine, is either improving or degrading.

Real Fitness Pros know (from decades of personal observation, empirical data and training others) that workout or dietary regimens need continual rotation, usually every four to six weeks.
Top athletes have formalized the systematic rotation of exercise. This formalized system of rotation has evolved into a strategy known as periodization. Periodized training strategies are always set into timeframes. Exercise rotation occurs in anticipation of stagnation. Once a training strategy is set into a timeframe, the athlete then reverse-engineers, starting with the desired final result: what is the goal? What constitutes the finished physical product?  Weekly training goals are then established. The sequential attainment of weekly goals eventually deposits the athlete at the predetermined finish line.

The classic 12-week periodization "cycle" consists of three, 4-week "mini-cycles" tucked inside a larger "mezzo" cycle. Take a look at the table/chart below. This is an example of periodized training template. In it, a hypothetical athlete seeks to add twelve pounds of muscle in twelve weeks while simultaneously increasing strength substantially. For illustrative purposes, we assume he starts off this program with a 300 pound squat, a 200 bench press, 315 deadlift and an overhead press of 150 pounds.

90 days later our athlete is able to rep these weights; each successive week he pushes his bodyweight up one pound. No more, no less. Anabolism is established by eating plentiful amounts of wholesome foods. By being discriminating in his food choices, weight gain is muscle gain. Manly cardio is done four times per week on the "off" days.  Here is how a Pro would set up a periodization template for a student...

12 Week Periodization Cycle
   
Week   Squat    Bench   Deadlift   Overhead  Press              Bodyweight
1         185x8    145x8    200x8      75x8                                 180
2         195x8    150x8    210x8      80x8                                 181
3         205x8    155x8    220x8      85x8                                 182
4         215x8    160x8    230x8      90x8                                 183
5         225x5    165x5    235x5    100x5                                 184
6         235x5    170x5    245x5    105x5                                 185
7         245x5    175x5    255x5    110x5                                 186
8         255x5    180x5    265x5    115x5                                 187
9         270x3    190x3    285x3    135x3                                 188
10       280x3    195x3    295x3    140x3                                 189
11       290x3    200x3    305x3    145x3                                 190
12      300x3    205x3    315x3    150x3                                  191

The athlete starts off handling moderate poundage for eight rep sets. He ends up handling heavy poundage for strength-peaking triples. Each week he grows larger, each week he grows stronger. His 12 pound weight gain is muscle gain because he eats lean protein, fibrous carbohydrates and fruit in ample amounts and to near exclusion. He performs cardio to keep the metabolism elevated.

Weight training occurs three times a week. He performs cardio exercise on his non-lifting days. Light cardio, such as outdoor power walking carrying a weighted pack, swimming or hoisting kettlebells keeps the metabolism from becoming sluggish. Cardio aids digestion and speeds recovery by forcing blood through battered muscles thereby pushing out toxins and accumulated waste products. Periodization is the coin of the realm amongst the athletic elite. Periodization is the art of legislating change.

The fundamentalist fitness acolyte shuns change. He clings to played-out regimens that once bestowed real results. Elite athletes have a veritable closet full of exercise and dietary regimens, each ready to roll out at a moments notice; ready to rotate into the mix the moment stagnation rears its ugly head.

Empirical experience has demonstrated that a sufficient amount of time need be directed towards a serious transformational effort. Periodization cycles typically range in length from between 6 and 16 weeks, with 12 being the average length for a serious periodization effort. The twelve week cycle is classically sub-divided into three, 4-week cycles. A predetermined performance level is established in the major lifts. All exercise results are logged. Periodization of cardiovascular training and diet are also highly recommended and will be the subjects of future articles.

If you are a fundamentalist acolyte - cease and desist! If you are not using periodization tactics then time to start. If you are resisting and avoiding change - let go! Change is a wave to be surfed; otherwise it becomes a tidal wave that drowns you. 

If you are a motivated individual interested in taking your fitness efforts to the next level, contact Marty at www.mgso@embarqmail.com and enquire about becoming a phone client. Gallagher works with a limited number of phone clients around the world.   

      

     

Beware the Blissfully Ignorant Personal Trainer (BIPT)
Reducto ad absurdum: The reduction of a weak argument to absurdity
Reducto ad ovum: The presentation of an invincible argument

Jogging is the coin of the realm when it comes to aerobic-related fitness training. I think starting an unfit individual on a jogging regimen is quite dangerous, potentially injurious and totally unnecessary. The irreducible goal of cardiovascular training is to systematically elevate the heart rate and there are a hell-of-a-lot safer and equally effective ways for the unfit to elevate their heart rate without resorting to jogging.

Someone new to fitness, someone dramatically overweight or out-of-shape needs very little in the way of sustained exercise effort to cause the heart rate to skyrocket; someone untrained will have tendons, ligaments and muscle insertion points tender as new buds and sprouts on a spring plant. To subject out-of-shape, physically fragile neophytes to jogging or running, straightaway, on day one, is playing with fire. What could be more devastating to delicate hip, knee and ankle body parts then the thunderous impact of slam-step jogging? For the unfit, running is begging for injury. Imagine 200-plus pounds of bodyweight crashing down on virgin knees and ankles with every stride-step?

This collective blind-spot within the fitness industry needs to be addressed. Those that blindly prescribe jogging as the base aerobic activity are putting overweight individuals at risk. The weak 'pro-jog on day one' argument needs to be reduced to absurdity. Making the overweight and out-of-shape run is dangerous advice masquerading as cutting-edge orthodoxy. Jogging is uniformly recommended by the uniformly uninformed for use by the uniformly unfit. Reducto ad absurdum.

Jogging for the heavy or out-of-shape individuals is completely unnecessary.

Fitness experts love to jam round pegs (clients) into square holes (their system). Personal trainers love to jog and run as part of their own fitness regimen; so naturally they have a favorable bias towards running. Normal people just starting out on their fitness journey are capable of generating an elevated heart rate with the greatest of ease - so why push past the cardio redline?  The collective industry blind-spot is rooted in the ignorance of a critical element of the cardio equation: cardio intensity. All cardiovascular exercise has three benchmarks...

Duration:
Frequency:
Intensity:    How long is the session?
How often are the weekly sessions performed?
How hard does the heart work during the session?

The most dangerous breed: the BIPT (Blissfully Ignorant Personal Trainers) How ironic is it that the same anal-retentive personal trainers that insist trainees log every set, notate every rep and poundage, demand individuals working under their auspices jot in a nutrition log every bite of food and every sip of a beverage - purposefully ignore how hard a person's heart is beating when subjected to exercise they prescribe?

➢    If an out-of-shape woman can generate 85% of their age-related heart rate maximum walking briskly - wouldn't that information seem important for a fitness professional writing an exercise prescription?

➢    If the dramatically out-of-shape individual's heart rate soars to 85% when asked to walk quickly, what heart rate do you suppose they generate when mindlessly forced to jog on Day I at 90% to 100% to 115% or more of their age-related heart rate maximum? Is this not maximally dangerous? How about tender body parts?

➢    When the human heart is pushed passed it's redline limit, stress-related heart attack, heat stroke or total physical collapse lie just around the corner. We haven't even touched on the injury potential of repeatedly slamming those Clydesdale feet down with elephantine steps.

➢    If the BIPT were to strap the new client up with a heart rate monitor they would see the shocking truth of how high the client's heart raced when made to jog. There is no accurate way to determine exercise intensity without the use of a heart rate monitor.

Anytime a groupthink mentality takes root, an echo chamber comes into being. In this case the echo chamber consists of fitness experts and personal trainers nationwide reaffirming to one another that having totally untrained overweight and out-of-shape clients jog - on day one - is A-OK. Jogging is an accepted industry standard for cardio. Making a person with zero fitness experience (someone who gets gassed carrying a sack of groceries from the car to the kitchen) suddenly begin jogging, borders on malpractice.

With each jog step the totality of the obese person's massive bodyweight comes crashing down on one foot/leg/ankle/hip; tendons, ligaments and connective tissue around the knee, ankle and foot are slammed on the ground with terrific force with each excruciating step. Untrained people do not glide when they jog, they slam-step; each crushing stride creating another opportunity for tender tendons or ligaments to be ripped away from insertion points.

Meanwhile the BIPT exhorts the untrained obese person to "Move faster! Lift up those knees! Pick up the pace!" The human heart is the size of a person's clenched fist. When the under-used heart pump is suddenly required to propel a huge mass of flesh across the landscape, the heart-pump struggles mightily to keep up. The intensity of jogging is way past anything the tiny pump has known or is used to.

Imagine a 1966 61-cubic inch, 40-horsepower VW Bug engine placed in a 5,000 pound 1965 Cadillac El Dorado body. Now imagine that little engine in the monstrous body is forced to race for 30-minutes. Imagine taking your family minivan to Daytona speedway and suddenly and without warning, mash the accelerator pedal to the floor and keep it there for the next 30 minutes as you zoom around the banked speedway. In each case the engine is jeopardized by the intensity of the work. The analogy is totally appropriate and dramatically highlights the jeopardy to the untrained jogger.

BIPTs continually confuse exercise mode (jogging) with the exercise goal. The goal is to systematically raise the trainee's heart rate to a preordained rate. The goal is NOT to become adept at jogging. Jogging is a tool, not a goal.

No one debates that cardio is a really good thing for an obese individual to practice on a systematic basis. Where the idiocy takes root is when personal trainers mindlessly insist on certain modes that may be inappropriate. What is the rationale behind jogging? I nominate Herd Mentality and lockstep groupthink: most personal trainers, being mindless followers, couldn't identify an appropriate heart rate for a client if asked. Or if they did it they would say something inane, such as "I want my clients to stay in the fat burning zone." But that's a subject for another time. If you ever have the misfortune to fall into the clutches of a BIPT and they demand you jog - tell them "No jogging for me Jack! Reducto ad absurdum!"  

Everybody wants to make a buck on the plight of the overweight. There is an obesity epidemic in America. A recent New York Times article pegged the number of obese people in this country at 30% of the general population. Over the age of 50 the number of clinically obese rises to 40%.

The military reports that 40% of potential enlistees are refused because of obesity.

➢    A 200-pound obese person holding a 30% body fat percentile carries around 60-pounds of body fat.

➢    A 200-pound obese person holding a 40% body fat percentile carries around 80-pounds of body fat.

Imagine having to haul around 80 pounds of fat? Hold a pair of 40-pound dumbbells in each hand and walk around a bit: this gives you an idea of how much weight this represents.

Here is an evil statistic: amongst poor people, for the first time in the history of civilization, the number one plight of the poor is not starvation or malnutrition, but obesity.

How best to melt adipose tissue off the obese individual is the subject of great controversy; within the fitness community there exist widespread collective insanity as to causation and solution.

One irreplaceable element of the obesity solution is the use of cardiovascular exercise. Forcing the cardio-challenged body of an obese person to suddenly work at 100% (or more) of capacity is asking for big trouble.

The 60 Second Heart Rate Drop: Faster is better

Here's another aspect of cardio exercise nearly all personal trainers are unaware of: the rate of decline in heart rate after spiking to a high point during intense exercise.

To ascertain the 60 second drop, exert maximally in a cardio activity. Now stand still for sixty seconds - how many beats per minute does the heart rate drop?

If the heart rate drops 12 beats or less in 60 seconds then that person is in danger. They should avoid stressful exercise until they see a doctor. A well conditioned athlete will drop 15, 20, 30 beats (or more) in the sixty second test.

Out-of-shape people that spike their heart rates often have a difficult time getting their racing hearts to calm back down. People in average physical condition will experience a 15 beat drop.

You can use the sixty-second test to periodically test your level of conditioning. If, for example, you were to power walk up a steep hill and your heart rate spiked to say 158, and after standing still for 60-seconds, your heart rate dropped drops to 140, that would represent an 18 beat per minute drop.

Log that information along with the date, locale and bodyweight. If two months later you hit the same hill and this time you spike up to 162 beats per minute and in 60 seconds drop to 138, you have generated a 24 beat per minute drop. You can rightfully view that as real progress and an indicator that you are on the right track. A heart that recovers quickly from being spiked is a real indicator that the fist-sized pump is working well. As you become lighter in bodyweight, your drop rate will improve.

Anyone interested in phone training with Marty can contact him at mgso@embarqmail.com - he works with dozens of individuals worldwide and his methods are geared towards eliciting tangible results for normal individuals. "If you are motivated and tired of being out-of-shape, I have a commonsense method that generates real results for regular people."

Phone Coaching enables you to do something different than in years gone by: you can actually gain fitness traction and morph that body!    

Stupidity (or insanity) is proverbially defined as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Nowhere is this hackneyed adage more accurate than in the crazed world of New Year's fitness resolutions.

It is only natural that so many individuals feel compelled to make a resolute resolution to improve upon their current fitness state-of-being. To paraphrase Dean Wormer in the movie Animal House, "Fat, stupid and out-of-shape is no way to go through life son."  It is only natural that pollsters, and those who keep track of such things, repeatedly determine that fitness-related New Year resolutions continually rank at the top of any and all resolutions. With so many people determined to improve their health and fitness, with so many individuals concerned about the shape and current configuration of their physiques - why do 99% of all resolvers fail so miserably and so predictably? If you are one of the millions of fitness resolution makers, is there a way to break the Sisyphusian cycle? Are you doing the same thing (making a fitness resolution) over and over (year after year) in the same way (using orthodox fitness templates) and expecting different results? (A radically transformed physique.)

Perhaps this year it is time for you to step outside the box of conventional fitness thinking and utilize a completely different solution for the same nagging problem.  

The question is this: Is there a way that you can restructure your approach towards body renovation that steps completely outside the box of conventional fitness thinking as it relates to New Year resolutions?

First let us examine the goal: what is it all fitness resolution makers seek? At the root-core they all seek a renovated body. What constitutes successful physical renovation? The answer is simple: we seek to obtain a significant decrease in body fat and a significant increase in muscle mass. Though resolution seekers would have wildly varied and divergent goals, all of them can be achieved by: obtaining muscle and reducing body fat. Let us show you the wildly varied resolutions that have the same solution...

Resolution: "I want to lose twenty pounds and look great at the class reunion in May."
Solution: Oxidize stored body fat, build muscle.
Resolution: "Now that I've turned 50, I want to retard or slow the aging process."
Solution: Oxidize stored body fat, build muscle.
Resolution: "My doctor says I am becoming a diabetic and I want to curtail this trend."
Solution: Oxidize stored body fat, build muscle.
Resolution: "My wife is losing interest in me as a lover."
Solution: Oxidize stored body fat, build muscle.
Resolution: "I can't fit into any of my clothes anymore."
Solution: Oxidize stored body fat, build muscle.
Resolution: "I have no energy and I am continually stressed out."
Solution: Oxidize stored body fat, build muscle.
Resolution: "I want to make the varsity athletic team."
Solution: Oxidize stored body fat, build muscle.

You get the idea...all fitness resolutions (despite differing goals) can achieve fruition by successfully and favorably altering body composition. The problems begin when you seek viable solutions to oxidizing fat and building muscle.

There are millions of motivated, sincere individuals, people ready, willing and able to generate the requisite effort, devote the necessary time and energy needed to actually create a fully realized physical metamorphosis - what they lack is an effective game plan and a competent advisor to provide "in-flight" monitoring.

As we age, the battle to lose fat and add muscle develops a sense of urgency. With the passing of each year the need to "do something" about physical disintegration morphs from ego and vanity into something more profound: the need to avert, forestall or correct a cataclysmic health catastrophe.

This sense of fitness urgency usually correlates to the warnings of a physician: perhaps a heart attack is a distinct possibility; perhaps the doctor alerts you that a stroke or some obesity-related disease lies just around the next chronologic corner. As the years pass by, the need to improve the configuration and condition of the body shifts from ego, self-esteem and attracting the opposite sex into the gravitas of life and death. Someone once said (and I paraphrase) that clarity comes easily to a man about to be hung. No one is more cognizant about the advantages of health and fitness than someone caught in the clutches of some health disaster.

As we age, fitness becomes a method by which we extend the quality and quantity of life. We use fitness to hold back the hands of time.  As the great Irish Philosopher Mae West once said when quizzed how old she was, "Honey - It ain't the age - it's the mileage!"

For many sick and enfeebled folks, it is too late for fitness. For the motivated and intelligent it is never too late. Back to our premise that stupidity (or insanity) is defined as doing the same thing over and over and expecting differing results: how many times, how many years, how many dollars must we stupidly spend on our doomed attempts to gain fitness traction? Rolling into the year 2009, perhaps it is time to grasp the fact that purchasing a new piece of exercise equipment, going on the latest fad diet, joining or reactivating a gym membership, purchasing the latest miracle nutritional supplement, hiring an expensive personal trainer - are all more variations of 'doing the same thing over and over.' Is it psychologically possible to break this old fitness tape loop and step completely outside the "Box" of conventional fitness groupthink?

Our fitness efforts fail because they are fragmented. Boot camps, Pilates, Power Yoga, Step Aerobic Class, Spin Class, weight training, jogging, dieting using the latest tactic - you name the fitness method or mode and taken singularly they are all doomed to failure. Every singular fitness undertaking cannot and will not, in and of itself, deliver the renovated body you seek. Each caters to one small sliver of the overall fitness equation. Unless unilateral homage is paid in a balanced fashion to four separate and distinct disciplines failure is a foregone conclusion. Every effective fitness game plan needs...

1.    a resistance training element
2.    a cardiovascular training element
3.    a nutritional game plan
4.    psychological recalibration

Better to do a little resistance training, a little cardio, a little nutrition and a little Brain-Train than to immerse yourself in one, two or even three of the four fitness disciplines. My beautiful Irish wife (rightfully) calls me "Mr. Analogous" so I ask your forbearance with my amazingly appropriate analogy: imagine spending considerable time and a mountain of money constructing a race car. You spend gobs of cash constructing a 600 horsepower racing engine; the suspension is state-of-the-art, the vehicle has been sent to the wind tunnel and streamlined...everything is perfect with one glaring exception: you have only one tire. Without four tires (weight training/cardio/nutrition/brain-train) the most elaborate and exotic racecar is a nonstarter. Sort of like your doomed fragmented fitness efforts...without the inclusion and disciplined execution of the four interlinked and integrated fitness elements, without balance and precision, you are caught in the fitness tape-loop of doing the same thing over and over - yet expecting different results.

Phone coaching; stepping outside the box of conventional fitness groupthink: I have phone coached elite athletes for twenty five years. I am talking Hall-of-fame athletes. I developed a formalized system for long distance coaching that yielded phenomenal results. I eventually tired of being on the telephone for hours at a time in what seemed a never-ending stream of training-related phone calls. Working with elite athletes preparing for national and international competitions is nerve-wracking: with so much riding on the outcome, a series of missteps can derail six months of work. In the end, it all became too much and I retired from coaching. A decade later and I found myself drawn back into the coaching world. This was directly attributable to two significant developments that advanced the art of "remote coaching."

The advent of the internet eliminated the need to communicate all information verbally. Instead of endless phone calls, calls that nailed me down to a particular place and time, individuals could e-mail me training and nutrition results and I could e-mail them back with comments and the next step - Halleluiah!

The second major change was my decision to no longer work with competitive athletes, rather to work with 'regular' individuals. I found that working with motivated normal people intent and committed to "the process" was both refreshing and reinvigorating. It was far easier and much less stressful to elicit results from untrained individuals than from a champion already at 90% of their awesome genetic potential. Plus normal folks weren't cursed with preconceptions and didn't debate me over every strategic move.

Using Purposefully Primitive methods on relatively untrained individuals proved to be unbelievably beneficial and effective. Across the demographic board, clients of every age and every degree of fitness or un-fitness made staggering progress at a rapid rate. It was gratifying beyond words to be able to reach out and help those sincere individuals in need of help. My formalized procedure is simple and effective: I set up a customized resistance and cardio training regimen. I set up a custom nutritional game plan - all of which is based upon the individual's situation and available time. Equally as important as devising a customized training and nutritional template, I monitor progress three times a week via e-mail and once a week I talk on the phone with the individual, discussing what has happened and what we are projecting to happen in the coming week. They know what is expected of them and they know I will be 'looking over their shoulder.'

I analyze each individual training session and based upon performance provide a prescription for the next session. Nutrition is leveraged to achieve weekly fat loss goals. At the beginning of the process we set up an overarching game plan and set the plan into a timeframe: the big goal is subdivided into small weekly increments. We establish weekly mini-goals and if each weekly mini-goal is attained, we eventually end up at the predetermined overall goal. The overall goal is profound: physical transformation. On four separate occasions each and every week, week in, week out, I offer input in the form of e-mails and a phone call. I continually issue 'report cards.'

If you are interested in stepping outside the orthodox box of conventional fitness groupthink, if you are ready to break the Sisyphus-like tape-loop of unfulfilled fitness resolutions, if you are using the fractured and fragmented fitness modes and methods and netting substandard, unsatisfying results - contact me at www.mgso@embarqmail.com.

For less than the price of a personal trainer you can sink your teeth into something substantive and satisfying, something that actually yields real results for regular people: tangible, irrefutable, uncontestable, indisputable results. Body fat is systematically reduced while simultaneously new muscle tissue is built. If you are sick and tired of making the same old resolutions that yield the same predictable non-results, drop me an e-mail.

The Master Race Super Trainer: A few years back I interviewed one of the world's most famous personal trainers for a nationwide muscle magazine. This guy trained celebrities and was tanned and lean and rich and related off the record and not for publication that "out of every ten new clients, only one or two make it." On average only 10 to 20% of those seeking his very expensive services ended up with the renovated body they sought to begin with.

What a pathetic success rate.

Not surprisingly this high profile "expert" was a scream-and-yell type dude and advocated a "one system fits all" approach. He used a lot of weird exercises and exotic machines and devices to differentiate his system from the equally weird and ineffectual systems championed by other experts. He routinely beat the living hell out of clients and used what he called a "disciplined approach." He was big on discipline and his system required clients "be perfect" from day one. Anyone that was unable to do so was dismissed as "not wanting it bad enough" or "weak minded" or "undisciplined."

How easy is it for a trainer to demand that clients "be perfect" 24-7-365? This guy insisted his mindless minions train five to seven times per week for 90 minutes at a shot and these supervised sessions were a little slice of hell on earth. Galley slaves had it easy by comparison.

He used brutal "giant sets" and loved to administer forced reps to beat the client down further. He insisted the most out-of-shape client start every session with a run on a treadmill during which he exhorted out-of-shape clients to 'pick up those knees!' Morbidly obese folks were told to run as if they were being chased by Jeffrey Dahmer waving a butcher knife. The Perfection PT told his clients to eat skinless, tasteless chicken breasts or $10 a pound fish, steamed broccoli and brown rice five times a day, seven days a week for the rest of their lives. Any deviation or questioning was evidence of "mental weakness."  

No wonder Super Trainer had a pathetic 10% success rate. This sadist was at the apex of a Personal Trainer fitness pyramid: he had a legion of sycophant PTs spread across the country and they all used his cruel methods and tactics.  

Savage Personal Trainers need to be great talkers. They make their living by being persuasive and compelling. They have silky smooth sales pitches and are experts at convincing prospective clients to join up: they relate that all that is keeping the client from undergoing a complete physical renovation is a few grand of disposable income. The gullible sign up and unknowingly commit to a modern version of the Bataan Death March. Bright-eyed eager-beaver clients predictably drop out of these non-refundable programs within a month or two. Not to worry: those "undisciplined losers" are instantly replaced by a new crop of fresh-faced eager-beaver recruits. Thus the process begins anew. This approach is definable and identifiable by its "one-size-fits-all" approach: be perfect from day one and stay that way, ad infinitum.

My approach differs dramatically. I have a near perfect renovation success rate that I attribute to only working with highly motivated individuals. I use a customized approach that is based on the premise that everyone's situation is different and everyone needs a different program, one that melds with differing physiological and situational realities. I establish easy initial benchmarks in three legs of the fitness triad and over time use "creeping incrementalism" to improve benchmark performances. Here are a few snapshots of some of my varied clientele. You'll note that each uses a differing tactical template. If you are interested in phone and personal training with me, contact me at the e-mail address provided at the end of the article...  

Justin in Iraq: In my rural Pennsylvania neighborhood, the boys coming out of high school don't go on to college: they go to Iraq and Afghanistan and fight. I have a special place in my heart for the American warrior. When Justin approached me about e-mail training (no phone calls from the front lines) I took him on. Naturally this was free of charge. As a young 20-something soldier, Justin wanted to gain muscle and power and take advantage of a lot of free time between missions. We devised a five day a week rolling split wherein he would blast legs on day 1, chest on day 2, back on day 3, shoulders on day 4 and arms (biceps and triceps) on day 5. The military makes sure he gets plenty of cardio and provides him with plenty of calories. When not on maneuvers, he can eat often and can eat surprisingly healthy. His diet is Purposefully Primitive all the way: lots of protein and vegetables. Justin stands 5-9 and weighs 175. Here is a typical dispatch from him to me...

Last nights workout was awesome. It was the best one to date. I had someone watch my squat depth and all squats were well below parallel - 2 inches or more and all were paused. I really like this 'tri-set cycle' - my legs get a great pump. I took 8-10 mins rest between tris-sets. I will try to get someone to take a pic on the next leg day of my squats.
 
3 squat sets at 185x5, all paused and all super deep
3 leg curl 66x12 reps
3 calf raises 145x12 reps

After the workout I was pretty hyped up and excited. I would pause the squat for a split second then explode upwards. My form felt a lot better last night then it has so far. I love this stuff! Later!


Beck: Beck was an out-of-shape 59 year old determined to do something about his devolving physical condition. His goal was to weigh 199 by January 1. He stands 5-10 and started off with me weighing a biscuit shy of 230 pounds. I had him power-walk and perform the three lifts thrice weekly. He went on our lean protein/fiber diet. He came to visit on his first day and I walked him around the farm. Beck had to take a lot of breaks to catch his wind. In the gym he managed to plate squat 45 pounds for 5 reps and deadlift a 135 pound barbell for six reps. Fourteen weeks later Beck had shed 31 pounds of body fat, added five pounds of muscle and hit his goal of a 198 pound bodyweight 30 days ahead of schedule. He recently deadlifted 225 for a triple, bench pressed a pair of 55 pound dumbbells for three sets of 10 reps and has squatted 205 for reps. Here's a recent progress report...

Here's what I did to pre-empt Thanksgiving dinner:
 
Exercise                   sets    Reps            Weight
Deadlift    1    3    135
    1    3    165
    1    3    225
Lat PD (curl grip)    2    10    130
Lat PD (bench)    2    10    120
Lat PD (Behind)    2    10/8    100
           
           
 I added some rear delt work plus T-bar rows for mid back.  Did an hour of power-walking. The back of my left knee is still a little sore, but did not affect deadlifts - an old running injury. The three reps deadlifting 225 were heavy but doable.  I find it interesting that 135 pounds (my first workout deadlift max) is now my warm-up weight in both the deadlift and the squat.  That means the gains are consolidating as I go.  Excellent! Proven results! Also interesting is that now I'm part of the unofficial "club" of serious weightlifters at the gym - not muscle heads, just guys that know what they're doing.  Your program is recognized without my saying anything. 

Jim V.  Jim is 53 years old and sits at a desk all day long.  He sought my services twelve weeks ago and when we commenced he weighed an out-of-shape 205 pounds standing 5-9. He immediately took to our limited menu of resistance training exercises and power-walking. Jim cleaned up his food selections, reduced his gourmet vino intake and in the first seventy days lost 35 pounds of fat and added 5 pounds of muscle: he now weighs 175 pounds. Initially Jim struggled with a 45 pound plate in the ultra-deep pause squat. A 54 pound kettlebell taxed him nicely in his deadlifts in session one. This past week Jim participated in a single-rep "report card day" and managed a deep 205 pound rock bottom-squat, a 195 pound paused bench press and a 265 pound deadlift. His cardio capacity has skyrocketed. Jim V and Beck are not atypical for our over-50 year old trainees.

Hey Marty, you wanted to hear from me as I performed the new workout
routine. The template for Day 1 was as follows.... 

I squatted 100 pounds for 1 set of 20 reps after warm-ups.  I completed all 20 in good form. They started to really burn around rep 13 and everything past rep18 required willpower. I could have gone on and done 3-5 reps more if my life depended on it. I walked out of the garage looking like a young Steve Reeves.  Calves: rep-out on each calf: rest, then a set of 20 using both calves. Good burn; 12 reps on left calve. 13 on right.  20 for a set using both calves. Man, when the calves quit, they quit! Overhead barbell Press: 45,55,65,75 pounds, all 8 rep sets - then 85 pounds for 5 reps. I did cardio this AM. Knees felt fine and it felt good to be outside again. The one problem I have is that the polar heart monitor gauge is not back lit so I have to stop under street lights to see where I am in terms of heart rate and cals. (It's dark at 5:00AM).

Bruce the Attorney: This 47-year old attorney started with me a month ago and was already lean as a steel post: possessing an 8% body fat percentile. Bruce was seeking to add muscle and we decided on adding one pound of muscle per week. At 5-9 he started off with me weighing 159 pounds. Four weeks into the program he now weighs 163. Bruce is a cardio machine: a multi-time Iron Man participant, he is a human anatomy chart. He indicated that he had never gotten any significant traction in resistance training but nowadays that is a thing of the past. To hit our goal of adding one pound of muscle per week for 6-10 straight weeks, Bruce needs to continually "feed the machine." As an experienced cardio athlete, he knows all about hard and sustained work. Here is a recent e-mail from Bruce...

Week 4;  Day 1...Marty: here is the summary of today's workout:
*SQUAT - 3 sets of 10 reps @195; no problems
*BENCH - 3 sets of 10 reps @ 145; no problems; last reps on last set were hard!
*SUMO DL - 3 sets of 10 reps @ 215; no problems
 Bodyweight is back up to 163 and fairly steady there. Due to some unexpected child related events, I did not get to do my 4 mile run but will probably do that tomorrow.


The Kiwi Doctor: I was approached by a medical doctor in New Zealand about personal training and I jumped at the opportunity. He heads a private firm and lives on a small farmette. This guy is no skinny-fat doctor lecturing you about health: 47 years old, he stands 6-3, weighs 245 pounds and had very specific and realistic ideas about where he was and where he wanted to get to. His goal was to hit 90 kilos (198 pounds) while improving his strength, muscularity and cardio capacity. He wanted me to 'look over his shoulder on a weekly basis' to keep him on track and focused. We converse weekly and he shoots me an e-mail three times weekly updating me on lifting and cardio sessions. His goal is to lose 2 pounds of fat per week for 10 consecutive weeks - while adding 5-10 pounds of functional muscle. He is dead on course currently. 

Marty
 
Quite pleased - I made my 1.1 kg bodyweight reduction again. The resistance training is good - I can feel the effects after a workout but nothing is hurting. The cardio is good - I made a 1,000 calorie burn yesterday climbing on quite a steep hill nearby.  Climbed about 1500 feet and jogged slowly downhill in 73 mins.  Might try this once a week

Friday morning
Front Squats: 3 sets of 9 reps with 50 kilos.  OK but wrists a bit uncomfortable at first - came right by 3rd set
Overhead Press: 3 sets of 9 reps w/ 30 kilos Last rep on 3rd set a bit hard, otherwise OK
Sumo Dead Lift 3 sets of 9 reps w/70 kilos. OK but breathing hard!
 
Slight tweak in my side neck muscle after the weights - maybe did a rep with bad form of something - pretty sure it was on the Sumo Dead Lifts which are the heaviest.

I have developed a shuffle/jog for cardio which works well.  A full jog raises my HR to 80-85%.  A fast walk on the flat is about 60%.  The slow shuffle/jog is stable at about 72-74% and I can do 30 minutes non-stop.  I will try for a longer session at the weekend - maybe 90 minutes and should be able to do this non-stop

Don from Dallas: With three young boys and a fulltime job, this man's most precious commodity is time. Weighing slightly less than 300 pounds, standing 6 foot, this former athlete had fallen victim to the "sedentary job" syndrome. Sitting at a desk behind a computer for 10 hours a day creates the ideal situation for adding body fat. Consuming fast food loaded with estrogen-inducing chemicals adds to the toxic stew; throw in the metabolic slowdown that infects men in their late 30s and you have a recipe for adding fifty pounds of body fat in five years. Don has been on the program for three weeks. Don echoed the New Zealand Doctor, 'I like being accountable each week and having specific - yet obtainable goals - this approach is workable for me."

Most heavy men learn to love weight training. They grow to enjoy the outdoor walking cardio using the heart rate monitor and predictably have problems with the food portion of the fitness equation. Don is highly motivated and by triggering some of that athletic muscle memory we'll get him squared up in short order.

Marty,

Came back today per your advice. Felt very strong for all of the benching - so I added 10 lbs to the last set...all very good paused reps. The three sets of 20 reps in the ultra-deep, weightless pause squats were all completed - but it was still a challenge. I felt good on the first set. 2nd set required some concentration and the third set was difficult. Sumo dead left weight feels good. All 5 reps on all sets were controlled. I used the water rowing machine for cardio and went for 35 minutes. I took breaks in order to let my heart rate come down to the 140's...Here's my most recent workout session...

Bodyweight squat - set 1 20-reps; set 2 20-reps; set 3 20-reps
Bench press - set 1 155x7; set 2 155x7; set 3 175x6
Sumo deadlift - set 1 165x5; set 2 165x5; set 3 165x5

Joe: This 240 pound athlete is a club level flag football player and sought my services in order to improve his innate athletic abilities. Joe bought an unusual set of problems to the table: quick and agile, he had developed chronic back pain that flared up when he weight trained or performed cardio. He feels his condition was undoubtedly linked to his high-impact all-out running during games and practice and the innumerable body blows.

Our problem was that orthodox weight training was triggering back-pain flare ups. I instituted a radical approach: on the squat and sumo deadlift I had him do three to five single rep sets. My old training partner, Mark Chaillet, built unbelievable size, power and strength on an exclusive diet of singles in three lifts: back squat, bench press and conventional deadlift. While no Personal Trainer on the face of the earth would prescribe single rep sets, being a counter-intuitive Purposeful Primitive, I know factually that singles can and do work in certain circumstances. This unorthodox road is working quite well so far....

Marty,

AM Training:
Front Squats: 195 x 1; 195 x 1; 195 x 1

Flat DB Bench (paused reps) 75 x 1; 75 x 1; 75 x 1

Sumo Dead: 225 x 1; 225 x 1; 225 x 1

Today was great! I finished the session in 30 minutes. Everything went up explosively. Squats are getting heavy but are still doable. Bench press is fine and I can't wait to hit the hundred-pound bells. Sumos were good. Every rep went up fast.  My same day PM cardio work-out was as follows...Hill Sprints: 5 reps x 70-80 yards per sprint. 40:26 minutes duration and burned 541 calories.  Avg HR was 146 - 78.9% of my Age-Related-Heart-Rate Max. High HR was 167 which is 90% + of my ARHR Max. My sixty second drop times were all 12-15 Beats Per Minute. I have been drinking an "energy drink" before I run and I think they were contributing to my low 60-second drop times. The drinks are loaded with caffeine and "fat-burners" and really elevate my HR.  My partner noticed the same low drop times when he had caffeine before running. I will run "caffeine free" the next few runs to see the difference.  Just for kicks I reset the heart rate monitor after the workout and kept it on until I got home. Here are the results: In 41 minutes I burned another 418 calories! My avg HR was 125bpm or 67.6% of ARHR max. Well that's it! Let me know what you think.

John the Coach: Big John stands 6-3 and weighs 350 + pounds. He is an offensive line coach at a small college and like so many football coaches John let his bodyweight get away from him. He had a successful college career and his playing weight was 275 pounds.

Our long term goal was to whittle him down to his old playing weight. John visited me last week and I put him through our ultra-basic no-weight squat, dumbbell bench press and sumo deadlift routine. He could not get over how difficult a proper, no weight squat could be. Despite years of squatting, he had never been shown how to squat correctly and the difficulty was eye-opening. His back muscles are much stronger than his leg muscles and he was allowing his hips to rise up at the start of every ascent. By forcing his tailbone to stay underneath his massive torso, no-weight pause squats gave him the thigh workout of his life. He power walks in his neighborhood every morning. Propelling his mass up and down hills allows him to easily attain the requisite 70-80% of age-related heart rate maximum. His cardio sessions are 30-minutes. Our goal is to lose 3-pound per week for ten straight weeks while simultaneously adding 10 pounds of muscle.  

Marty,

Monday my bodyweight was 349.6 pounds. I got in 30 minutes of cardio.

Ultra-deep weightless pause squats: 
Set 1, I made 20 reps, felt relatively easy, got tired on last couple, still relying on the hands to pull me upward a bit...
Set 2, I got 15 reps - the first 15 felt really good - so I thought I'd do 16 with hands out straight. . . Bad idea! I bottomed out!
Set 3, I used my handholds and made 18 reps. I may still be lifting my butt up a bit coming out of the hole - but I am definitely feeling it in the thighs! I am concentrating on pushing upward off the heels. Set 3 felt pretty good. I'm definitely getting low enough and improving. Not sure if technique is where it should be yet. But definite improvement! 

Pause and stretch Dumbbell Bench press: 
Set 1 - 40lbs dumbbells - 10 reps - really felt it on reps 9 and 10, but no problem.
Set 2 - 50lbs dumbbells - 7 reps - felt the bells were in the front of my shoulders.
Set 3 - 50lbs dumbbells - 9 reps and just couldn't get 10 up. Definite improvement. 

Sumo Deadlift:
Set 1 - 5 single reps. First 3 were definitely best, last 2 bent a bit at the end. 
Set 2 - 5 single reps. May have been over bending a bit, not sure, my legs were tired!
Set 3 - 5 single reps. Much better. Feeling it in thighs and lower back - to a lesser extent.

Still bending over a bit on the uplift; less so on the descent. Thanks again for your time.

If you are a motivated individual seeking to lose fat and add muscle, find out more about Marty's phone/e-mail personal training services by contacting him at MGSO@embarqmail.com   
 

I am taking a break from updating you on the progress of my phone train clients this week (blame it on Thanksgiving). I thought instead I'd let you see this great review of The Purposeful Primitive which has just appeared in the latest issue of Exercise for Men Only:

Reviewed by Rich Fitter, Exercise for Men Only

    First of all, this is a fun book to read and one I thoroughly enjoyed. The Purposeful Primitive was filled with practical fitness information, wit and wisdom. If you have an interest in reading about the exploits of history's strongest men, this is your book. If getting stronger as fast as possible is your goal, this text can tell you how.
    Author Marty Gallagher is a former Masters World Powerlifting Champion, who also coached the U.S. team to a victory at the 1991 World Powerlifting Championships. A fitness writer for nearly 30 years, Gallagher has had over 1000 articles published, and is renowned for his ability to explain the intricacies of strength training in the simplest of terms.
    The first 10 chapters are devoted to legendary strongmen, whose training philosophies and methods are discussed in great detail. This approach gives readers a look at the diverse paths to success taken by these giants. This tome reinforces the fact that there is not one universal method for getting stronger, and by relating to one of these legends, you may discover a training routine that suits you.
    In the nearly 400 remaining pages, the author delves into the topics every man must understand to get the most from his workouts - nutrition, cardiovascular exercise, mental approach, workout structure and proper exercise performance. Each topic is discussed at length, and Gallagher draws upon his vast experience as a coach, researcher and through discussions with experts in each field.
    The chapters on mental preparation were particularly interesting, much of them discussing Eastern philosophy, positive thinking and visualization. The mind/body connection is a topic often overlooked in most other fitness books, but The Purposeful Primitive discusses it thoroughly. Much of what is covered can not only be applied in the weight room, but also at home or work. It will help you design a mental plan for success in all your endeavors.
    Nutrition is always a hotly debated subject and the book uses two nutritional heavyweights - John Parrillo and Ori Hofmekler - to show the diversity of the subject. Gallagher shows how two completely different approaches to diet and nutrition can be applied to the reader's goal of building a stronger, leaner body. Very interesting stuff!
    The chapters devoted to strength training pull no punches. Gallagher is clearly a free weight man and shows readers how to build functional strength that will benefit them in everyday life. His exercise descriptions are detailed and clearly depict how to safely get the most out of weight training's most valuable exercises.
    Few books can explain how a man can achieve his best physical condition, (without coming across as bland or overly technical) as The Purposeful Primitive can. Readers will be amused at many of his gym anecdotes, enthralled with feats of strength, but most of all learn what they need to know to succeed in the gym.