I was reading a blog the other day about having patience as a surfer, and my mind immediately jumped to physical training - especially the specific sort of training we do. Patience? In a modern world where info is at the tips of our fingers, mail gets delivered at the speed of light, we're used to instant gratification, and desire the path of least resistance (I actually saw a private training gym the other day called "Easy Fitness"), patience is a hard thing to come by. Problem is, without patience, mastery is unachievable. I started thinking about it, and came up with five reasons that patience is absolutely necessary for mastery in fitness, athletics and sport.

1. It takes time to learn the movements. Rome wasn't built in a day. It takes some people years to learn the fundamentals of the Olympic lifts. Years!

2. It takes time to become proficient in the movements. It took me about 5 years to develop my squat. 5 years!

3. It takes time to develop strength, true strength. Ever wonder how your dad developed those Popeye forearms? A LIFETIME of doing stuff… a lifetime. Think about that for a minute… 40 years, 50?

4. It takes time to develop flexibility. This one is the most obvious. I've been working on my flexibility for what, 15 years. It's still not where I want it to be, and probably won't ever!

And what does it take to have patience?

Patience takes courage. In your journey, you will stumble and fall, it's part of the process. It takes strength and courage to stand back up, dust yourself off, and keep going. For true mastery, quitting isn't an option.

Patience takes discipline. It's easy to let yourself off the hook when you wake up in the morning and "don't feel like it", or are "too wiped out" after work. Excuses are a dime a dozen - funny how you never hear a true master offer an excuse. He is there day after day, week after week, month after month, practicing his craft, showing up, making it count.

Patience takes practice. How do I know? Because I've been practicing fitness since I was a freshman in college - 30 years. I've had many failures, some successes, lots of time off, injuries and sickness, and lots and lots and lots of long stretches of uneventful, boring, mundane training. Many times without seeing results for months or even years.

Next time you start feeling like you should be "getting it" faster, or after 6 months of doing this, you're not where you think you should be, consider how long it takes for most people; you're probably moving right along, exactly where you're supposed to be.


Wolfie
Eat for growth, train for strength, live for the MOMENT.

Actually your "Core " has been an industry buzz word for some time now. At one point it actually had some relevance. Lazy people sitting around all day and not using their body as nature intended definitely led to a weak core. However, just about every Pilates studio, globogym trainer, bootcamp facility and exercise infomercial now markets to you by using the term "stronger core". Hell, even the AB Bean now tightens your core.  They know that when you see this term you think "I need to lose some fat around my tummy". They hope that this marrying of a passé fitness term and your need to shed the 20 lbs of chewed bubble gum from your ass will pry some of your hard earned cash from your wallet.

http://www.sportsinjurybulletin.com/archive/core-stability.html

Just so we all know what we are talking about lets define your core.

Definition: The balanced development of the deep and superficial muscles that stabilize, align, and move the trunk of the body, especially the abdominals and muscles of the back.

Core training theory: the purpose of training "your core" is because somewhere along the line of evolution we became lazy, overweight  sacks of adipose tissue and the deep muscles of the abdomen and muscles surrounding the spine no longer function as they were intended to. You core muscles are supposed to fire milliseconds before your body engages in any movement or aggressive exercise. This "firing" protects the spine by creating a tight supportive column of muscle that prepares you for aggressive movement.

Clear enough?

So in todays perverse exercise culture the market gurus and psuedo trainers have you doing tons of stability ball crunches, weird bosu ball exercises, reverse crunches etc. Most of these are, if not a waste of time, at lease an inefficient means of getting a stronger torso and in the process losing some bodyfat. In the early days of this core focused training a lot of trainers starting training athletes with a focus on this. They put away the heavy squats, cleans and deadlifts and had these athletes "draw in the core" and balance on one leg while squatting on a bosu ball. What they created were a bunch of football players who couldn't effectively block and tackle or move an opposing player out the way. The upside of all this core training is these athletes sure looked cute when they got their belly buttons pierced and headed to the beach in a mankini. Total and utter hogwash, typical of most trainers out there.

What any good strength and conditioning coach always knew and what CrossFit has brought back into the light is the absolute necessity of functional movements. These are movements you do in everyday life. Squatting, picking things up, putting stuff over your head. The exercises that accomplish this best tend to be compound barbell type movements like the dead lift, back squat, overhead squat, cleans, snatches etc. Add to these if you will a steady does of kettlebell swings, pull ups, push ups and other gymnastic type exercises and now your training your core!  You will now be a person who is " harder to kill and more useful in general". That last quote is my favorite from strength and conditioning coach Mark Rippitoe.

I know, we now have made you a core training super cyborg with all these old fashion moves but your still a little soft around the midsection right? Guess what? This has very little to do with the exercise selection and more to do with the fact that you like like to eat pizza, pasta and drink too many adult beverages. When you clean up your eating habits ( Paleo diet/zone diet) and train like an athlete versus a primadonna bikini model things will change for you. You will find yourself performing like an olympic gold medalist combined with a Navy Seal wrapped in a suit of body armour and looking better naked in no time at all.

For those of you who of you who are little more stubborn you can still find a good Pilates dvd or the abdomizer online. Good luck with that!

Wolfie
Eat for growth, train for strength, live for the MOMENT.

One of the things in my life that continually mystifies me is how something as simple and pure as the push-up has become so confusing and impossible for so many people. This is like the exercise equivalent of every adult in the world suddenly forgetting how to walk (yet still wanting to do the triple jump). 

This very issue is what caused me to add ":KT" planks into every day of our warm-up for the foreseeable future. I was embarrassed by the inability of people in the gym to do excellent push-ups and decided that the movement will be broken down and retrained until you can do an awesome push-up.

The priorities for the push-up as I see them are, in order: correct and rigid posture, including head position; range of motion; elbow orientation; resistance.

First and foremost, if someone can’t hold his or her body tightly in a straight line from ankle to ear, they’re unable to do proper push-ups. You can kick and squirm and fight this idea all you want, but you can’t escape it. You should be able to visually draw a straight line from the ankle, through the hip and through the shoulder at any point in the push-up, and the head and neck should remain in a neutral position—dipping the chin to the floor isn’t getting you to the bottom of the movement and only makes you look like a saggy hunchback who is likely incontinent. 

This rigid alignment should never change throughout the exercise. Don’t push your shoulders up and then later bring your hips up to meet them. This isn’t a push-up and it looks weird. Next is the range of motion. This shouldn’t have to be specified after saying “push-up” but there seems to be some confusion surrounding it. At the top, the elbows should be completely extended and the shoulder blades protracted. At the bottom, the chest should be in light contact with the floor. Again, in both of these positions and everywhere in between, the body should be straight and rigid.

This full range of motion in my opinion should take precedence over the degree of resistance. That is, if you can’t complete a push-up to full depth from the toes, you need to modify it somehow, such as moving to the knees or elevating your hands. Remember when on your knees, you still need to maintain a rigid straight body—the knees simply replace your ankles in this case. The hands can be elevated on a wall, but the wall gets in the way of the face—you’re better off moving the hands to a plyo box or bench so the head can travel without obstruction and make the correct posture possible. 

I encourage athletes who can do a few standard push-ups to begin workouts with them and move to an upper body elevated position when you can't achieve full  range of motion. This can be difficult on the ego, especially for men, but the benefits are worth any potential embarrassment. No one loads a weight on the bar and benches it halfway down because it’s too heavy (well… excepting board pressing and the like); they start with a weight they can move through the entire range of motion and build up from there. Why the push-up (and pull-up for that matter) are viewed differently, I don’t know. 

I prefer the upper arms to be within about 45 degrees from the sides of the body. This allows the shoulder to move through that full range of motion more easily and naturally. Moving the hands wider and bringing the elbows farther from the sides will usually make push-ups easier for people, but it also limits depth for most people and starts tearing up the shoulders pretty quickly. 

The push-up is one of those things that when done well doesn’t draw much attention—it’s not a flashy feat of athleticism. However, in my opinion, how one performs a push-up is indicative of that individual’s athletic foundation, and possibly more importantly, how committed one is to excellence in movement and performance. Sloppy push-ups suggest to me a superficial interest in athleticism and a degree of laziness. Put a little attention and effort into the simple things and it will pay returns in the more complicated and interesting ones.

Wolfie
Eat for growth, train for strength, live for the MOMENT.

You hear the term mental toughness used all the time. So and so is labeled mentally tough, what does that mean? What is mental toughness? Can you teach it? Can you learn it? I don't believe in mental toughness, never have. I think mental toughness is a term without much meaning; it is a convenient label that is often used as an excuse. 

I do believe in willpower, determination and perseverance. Athletes who  are mentally strong achieve that because they work to strengthen their willpower muscles with consistent steady effort. They use failures as stepping-stones to success. They will take risks but above that, they are consistent and steady in their approach. All the best athletes that I have been around have those qualities. I don't believe you can teach mental toughness by doing mindless workouts that make the athletes tired. The willpower and determination that builds mental strength comes from consistent mindful effort day in and day out, exercise-to-exercise, set-to-set throughout the workout each day. There are no magic workouts to develop this. It is a mindset; it is a willingness to put yourself in positions that test your concentration, your determination and your ability to execute in stressful situations. You are what you train to be, if you go through the motions and just do the work you are not building the mental strength necessary to excel in the competitive cauldron. Bring your mind to the workout, be fully engaged and build mental strength to parallel the physical strength, speed and endurance necessary to give yourself a chance to succeed.

Wolfie
Eat for growth, train for strength, live for the MOMENT.

There are two types of people in this world – ones that know what they want and go out to get it, and ones that know what they want but do nothing to attain it. It’s easy to make excuses for why you cannot do things. But nothing in life is free, and not every goal is going to be simple to reach. Regardless of position, situation, or circumstance, if you want something you have to work for it.
But it’s incredible how many people bitch and whine about why they can’t do something. Why they can’t eat right, lose weight, run faster, lift more, study more, work harder, whatever. No matter what suggestion is made to these people about how they can change their ways, it makes no difference. They have decided in their own minds that what they want is unattainable.

Reality check: If you cannot commit to getting something no matter what, you don’t really want it.

Assuming you sleep 8 hours a night (which you should), you have 960 minutes left in your day, or 16 hours. If you only dedicated 60 of those minutes to working on your goal every single day, you’d still have 900 minutes, or 15 hours, left to fill up with other things. The problem is not that you don’t have time. The problem is you don’t know how to apply yourself and stick to an organized schedule. You cannot really want something but not really want to get it. You’re contradicting yourself. If you really want something, you will do what it takes to get it. That’s how you distinguish between the things you do want and the things you don’t want in life.

When I was a kid, if I saw some toy I wanted from the  store, I worked until I could get it. I’d mow yards, collect pop bottles and aluminum cans and trade them in for money, or offer to help someone clean up for a dollar or two. Over time and with a lot of patience, what I wanted would finally be mine. It didn’t always come right away, but it would come to me eventually, and I can tell you right now that you wouldn’t have seen anyone more proud of themselves than I would be at that moment.  Most of the time, I didn’t get stuff from my parents, or friends, or the rest of my family. I earned it through working. Now that I am older, things are even harder to get, but still possible. The same principle applies – I cannot get where I want to be by sitting around and making excuses for myself. I can only do whatever I can to get it.

That’s how it is with anything in life. Nothing is going to come right away, and if you’re looking for a quick-fix for everything, you’re not going to find it and you might as well just give up now if you insist on keeping the same attitude. If life wasn’t challenging, we’d all grow bored. If it was so easy to get a good body, a nice house, a great job, and a hot spouse, we’d all be walking around dressed in silk suits, driving Ferraris and coming home to a warm milk bath. Unless you’re stupid lucky enough to win the lottery, you’re going to have to work for every cent you earn. And even then life will still have its struggles; some more than others, but struggles nevertheless.

And it’s not just about money. It’s about everything in life. Your body, relationships, possessions, your dreams. Nothing is attained by sitting around. Things can only be accomplished through believing in yourself and pushing forward.

Life isn’t always going to be everything you expect it to be. But you gotta suck it up and stick it out. The only other option you have is to go sky diving without a parachute. It’s up to you, but I’d rather be collecting pennies and going for a jog outside if I couldn’t afford a gym than sitting around on a couch, crying about my boring life and how it isn’t fair that I have to work for my successes.

Be glad you even have a life. So many people have wanted to live theirs and were denied the opportunity. Live yours, without excuses, and with less worry. Just take a breath, grit your teeth, smile, and keep truckin’.

Good things come to those that wait, but better things come to those that work their asses off. 

Wolfie
Eat for growth, train for strength, live for the MOMENT.