In vs. Out

Mixing it up

As many of you have noticed, I've been doing video posts for the last couple of weeks.  Mostly, I want a handle on how I'm going to do posts going forward.  Sometimes, I get more out of being able to speak what I would like to say rather than write what I'd like to say.  Therefore, I'm going to make an attempt at both.

Yes, I know I do my video posts from my car, but it's the one place that I can do a video without being interrupted at any point.  I also choose not to do any workout videos, because like you really want to watch me run?  It also happens that sometimes when I lift, I'm in a room that's really busy with music and activity and so it's difficult for me to set up my phone to do some good footage.

With that being said I'm going to make more of an attempt to mix it up.  Thus, you'll be seeing written posts such as this one, video posts of me talking about things, and content posts of me lifting/running/boxing, with a commentary.

Much of what I've posted for the last few weeks has been an experiment in what to do and not do regarding my posts and I feel that this structure would serve the best.  More to come soon!

Fight the dad-bod! Nutritional journey

My nutritional challenge for myself.  

Fight or Flight!

Cardio, the villainous monster that we all hate!

Vacation Mode

As you may have noticed, or not, that last Friday I didn't post anything.  I was on vacation with the family and I truly attempt to leave work and play separate.

We were camping in the Great Smokey Mountains and it was fun, minus the 90+ degree days we were experiencing at the time.  Which leads me to my next point.....food and heat.

I'm not sure if you've noticed, but you tend to eat less when you're warm.  We were walking around for hours in the heat and honestly I never really felt hungry.  We did eat, but mainly small meals that we had prepared ourselves, which is contrary to what we usually do when we head over there.  The nice part about essentially bringing your own place with you, in our case a camper, was that we can have more reasons to prep and cook our own food than we did before.

Ironically, I have a client who the week before went to some of the same places and she usually has a better diet than I do, but in her case, she was eating most of the dine-out or fast-food options that there are there, which is super-contrary to her goals.  But she wasn't alone, she was with her husband and friends and thus was somewhat subject to what they wanted.

Nutritionally, we did pretty well considering we had a whole bunch of southern cooking near us and if you know anything about that is that it tastes good and isn't good for you.

I'll be back on schedule this week so look forward to having the Friday post.  

Run away! Run Away!

An after run thought on running and lifting. 

Attack on the Dad-Bod!

Talking about how life sometimes is difficult and to find time to work on your own fitness.  Enjoy!

Is it all about length?

If you've been reading my posts for awhile, you may have noticed that I don't post 1000-2000+ word posts.  I bring this up because of a podcast that I was listening to yesterday which talked about how to hire a blogger, of which I clearly don't assume that I am.  I choose to keep my posts relatively short because I have a hard time reading ones that are that long.

I am usually a fan of short, to the point, things.  Sometimes fluffing up the posts is distracting for you all as my readers and is unnecessary.  

I'm considering adding some video posts rather than typing them up.  A few individuals who I follow, mostly politically, film in their car.  So I was thinking of doing the same.  Therefore some future posts, while still somewhat short, will have me talking about it in real life rather than a post like this.  

Thank you all for reading this and I want to keep expanding from here and give you the best content possible.  Happy Friday!.....and to all the mom's out there, Happy Mother's Day!

What goes up?

This post will close out my series on various lifts and their importance, at least to me.  Not to say that there aren't any others that I consider, I just consider what I've talked about so far and about to speak of to be the most important.

This post will focus on two exercises, one is easily a lift, as it involves a barbell; the other can be considered one, but is often not included as a lift.  The first, the overhead press (or military press, shoulder press, etc.; plus variations.) is probably one of my favorite lifts, mostly because I'm not too awful in performing it.  The second is a gym-class favorite, the pull-up.  The pull-up is another of my favorite (mostly) exercises, as it's something that can humble or highlight.

The overhead press is simply pushing a barbell over your head until your arms are locked out.  As with most of the lifts explained prior, this isn't all that complicated, however it is very difficult.  To draw upon which muscles are engaged, it is a large percentage of your shoulders but without core strength (abs, lower back, glutes) you will not be successful in performing.  Additionally, arm strength can play a role as if your triceps are weak, then you'll likely fail at this lift.  So while you can lump this lift into a "shoulders day," realize that it's much more than that.

The pull-up is an extremely effective upper body exercise as is the overhead press.  Unlike the overhead press or even the bench press for that matter, this is not an exercise that can be made easier, or at least easily.  Your body weight is largely the resistance factor here and if you cannot move it, then you cannot do it.  There are ways to cheat the system and that's with the use of bands or a "partner assist," which can go wrong in many different ways.  The purest form of the pull-up is from a "dead hang," which is when your arms start out completely locked and you pull up until either your chin surpasses the bar or your chest/collarbone reaches the bar.  The muscles here include the upper back (yes, I know that there's more than one muscle here), shoulders, arms, and even the core (surprised?).  So another "bang for your buck" exercise.

These exercises/lifts make up the core of my training philosophy.  Now, I understand that many people struggle to perform even some of these, and that's ok.  Not everyone is able to or will be able to (or for that matter, want to be able to) perform these movements.  But success in these can improve overall fitness in a short workout per day.

For more information on how to do these lifts mentioned here or in prior posts, send me an email and I'll be glad to help!

In harmonious execution

For the last several weeks I have been talking about golf and the components that make it up. Today I will conclude my posts regarding the general breakdown of golf and the physical attributes needed for success.

So, first was on mental preparation as you move towards the ball. Next was on the shoulder and it's importance, last week was on the hips and what they do, now it's on the synchronous execution of all of these parts and the success you will generate with them.

Without focus and clarity, your game is going to be terrible. Healthy shoulders will allow for the proper follow-through of your swing. Healthy hips will for the ball to fly with ease. But if you consistently break these into individual parts, you will fail.

Your body is so much more than parts. It's an orchestra of reaction and action that when one part is not functioning properly, the rest will fail with it. So it's more than strength, endurance, flexibility, focus, and knowledge...it's all those sections combined to provide you with movement and success.

When one part fails, the body will try to work around it, but it's not the same. Have you ever tried to take a shot with a hurt shoulder? You can, but your focus is off because you don't want to make it worse. But we are often too stubborn to acknowledge our weakness or inabilities.

Our bodies in golf and in other activities work in harmony within itself. We are greater than parts and often no less than such. Train the mind, body, and soul and you shall achieve success on the course and in life

Work in harmonious execution.

All shapes and sizes, like round.

If you follow me on Instagram, you'll see that I'm trying this hashtag called #fightthefluffy.  I won't lie to you, I'm pretty new at the Instagram game and I'm still trying to work it in my favor.  In any case, #fightthefluffy truly explains what I'm trying to do in my life, and in the life of others.

This brings me to body-typing.  I would be what's considered an endomorph, or as I prefer to call it....fluffy.  I can put on both fat and muscle pretty easily.  Thus, if I lift I can get muscular with a fair amount of fat over all of it.  Or, if I eat what seems like anything, I gain fat pretty easily.  This forces me to modify my training and dietary regimen as I become hyper-fluffy.  Therefore to be successful at being a little leaner, I need to do cardio and low-carb.

The next body type, of which I have secondary characteristics of is an ectomorph.  These individuals have a difficult time gaining both muscle and fat.  Generally, it takes a bunch of food and lifting to get any kind of mass.  These are usually runners or cyclists or any endurance athlete.

Final type, of which I pretty much I have no characteristics, is a mesomorph.  Mesomorphs are usually lean and muscular.   These individuals have an easy time gaining muscle and tend to stay lean.  Wrestlers and running backs fit this profile pretty well.

There you have it, body types.  This helps to guide training and dietary methods because obviously, some have a harder time to gain muscle and fat than others.  So think about yourself and how easy or difficult time it is for you to gain or lose fat and muscle and you'll get an idea of what type you are.  

The lift that conquers me

Everyone who lifts has one that conquers them.  I happen to have 2 that tend to beat the hell out of me. These two are the Snatch (Olympic lift) and the bench press.  I honestly don't perform the snatch too often, so I don't want to even pretend I like it or can improve.  However, the bench is something that I do perform more frequently.

The bench press is a relatively simple exercise that involves you laying on a bench, lifting a bar up off the pins, bringing it down to your chest and pushing it back up.  Simple right?  As the squat and the deadlift, which I had posted about previously, are simple they are not easy.

Some of the most effective and the best things that you can do aren't complicated, but often they're not easy.  And at some point, you'll encounter one that conquers you, regardless of how often you attack it.  This isn't to say give up.  It's just that you keep attacking and don't give up.

For your upper body, there are not too many things that are more effective over the bench press.  I might argue the pull-up or even the overhead press, but still, they are different altogether and will be the subject of a later post.

Lifting is war.  Each success that is made is like a battle that has been won, but the war never ends.  Sometimes there are setbacks, sometimes roadblocks, sometimes difficult terrain, but keep the faith in that you'll prevail in the end, as long as you don't quit.

The lift may conquer me, but in the end, I'll conquer it.  

Put your a$$ into it!

Last week I talked about the shoulders in golf, today it's the hips...better yet, that ass of yours.  Golf is no different from many other sports in that your hips are everything.  If you
can get your hip flexors and glutes strong, you will have a strong game (that is if you can deal with the wind, heat/cold, or everyone staring as you make the shot).

As with everything else in your body, you move as a unit, not individual parts.  So strengthening your glutes, while improving your golf game, will also make the rest of you much stronger and more resilient.

An easy way to strengthen your glutes is to just flex your glutes as you stand there.  You can target it much more, but that's something that you can do any day, anywhere, and without looking too weird while you do it.   Some of the other things that you can do look a little awkward and thus are unlikely to be performed in a much more public setting, unless you just don't care.

I've also alluded to the glutes being your "core" in a previous post, and thus I won't be saying much more about it here.  Just know this, your core is everything in the game of golf.  Weak core = weak game, strong core = strong game.

So put your ass into it, your game will thank you and you can probably get some $$ or whatever from your friends when you do it.