How often should you lift?

A question that often arises among my clients is how often should they lift weights.  The answer is actually pretty complicated as each of them are different within their routines, ability, and even training age.  The probl
em is that virtually all advice that has been given is basically correct.   You must adapt it to your circumstance and not conform to what has been given to others. 

I'm an advocate of high frequency training.  This methodology varies the load, sets, reps, speed, and rest within the context of only a few exercises.  For example, I am performing a squat every day workout plan.  I have a client who is performing a dead-lift variation of this plan, but with less variability than mine.  The good part is you know what general movement you'll be performing that particular day, however which variation of that movement is up for grabs. 

Let's go with mine as an example.  It's built off a monthly plan, so for 30 days, I squat.  This goes against conventional wisdom that you should rest a muscle (or group of muscles) each day, but I promise you that you see some major progress each and every week.  The major variations of the squat are Back & Front Squats, though with and without a belt. 

The benefits of this is the exceptional amount of volume that we receive in the training.  We also receive a fair amount of intensity (weight) when we train high frequency.  This allows for some significant response from the muscles and thus an improved body composition and strength.  Before I conclude on the high frequency training, know that most elite level weightlifting programs consist of high frequency training, rather than the 1-2x per week training that most conventional programs suggest.

Now, this isn't suggesting that you should begin to lift the same lift(s) every single day, just that it's an effective method to improve strength & body composition.  Most however do an exercise only 1-2x per week only.  Now, there's some definite merit to this as well, especially in the muscle growth concept (and to some degree, strength).  Muscles need rest to grow, the central nervous system (the thing that's primarily responsible for making you strong) needs rest to improve.  The upside is that you can easily see improvement with 1-2x/week training, however the longer that you have in between training sessions the less practice that you receive and thus the less proficient you are at a particular thing. 

Sometimes training frequency doesn't matter, what matters is that you hit it each and every week.  As you continue, you'll see progress.  Fail to go ahead with training and overthinking it will result in you failing in general.  So even if you only know 1-2 things, go ahead and hit those things each and every day.  You'll see progress, and you'll see proficiency. 

Keep your consistency with your training, if it's every day or every other day or every week.  Your frequency only matters when you're highly trained, but know
that you need to train and train hard to see progress.  

No benefit to prolonged warfare....

There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare
- Sun Tzu

Strength training is boring.  The act of becoming stronger takes time, energy, and determination but nevertheless is still boring.  On the other hand, this boring can be super effective at getting you strong.  However at some point, you will not receive any benefits to the program as your body will have outlasted it's adaptability (for now).  

For the most part, strength training is a war.  It's a war against your body.  It's a war against gravity and usually a heavy-ass thing being pulled down by it's forces.  Strength gains can be fast or can be slow, not unlike gaining ground in actual warfare.  Sometimes you reach an area of which you gain nor lose ground, sort of like "digging in the trenches."

Over time, this "digging" leads to a retreat.  It's not to say that you are over-trained, just overreached for a period.  This can ultimately diminish your return and no benefit takes place.  Failure to change the plan or to rest can result in no more gains and just wasting your time.  

Often it's the cycling of different programs and plans that will lead to the largest gains and the fewest failures.  Sometimes it's the exact same lifts as a prior plan, but it's the organizational change that makes the difference.  In all fairness, the main lifts such as the deadlift, the squat, the bench press, the overhead press, and hell, even the pull-up are all the best things out there.  If you can do well in all of these, you're strong in general.  

Strength gains are made by manipulating the sets/reps/weight, and consistently pursuing greater and greater workloads.  They're gained by being patient and hanging on just long enough for it to become ineffective.  Too long and it's a failure and no benefit.  The war is then lost.  

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!

Push from the heels and keep that chest up

Last week, I posted on the deadlift as it's one of the largest builders of awesomeness that there is.  It builds muscle, strength, explosiveness, and all around bad-assery.  With all of this awesomeness comes a price, the nervous system takes an epic beating over time.

Enter, the squat.  The squat is another one of the greatest exercises known to man.  The beauty in the squat is that it can literally be done anywhere and with anything.  While you're reading this, you can bust out some body-weight, or "air" squats; or you can load up a barbell and work everything in the process.  

Squats are traditionally held on "Leg Day," of which you guessed it, you work your legs.  But the squat is much more than that, it's one of the best mass builder, strength builder, and fat burner that you can possibly perform.  It's right up there with the deadlift as one of the largest builders of awesomeness.  

Performing this lift isn't all that complicated, but perfecting it is.  The carryover into every day activities is also unmatched, as long as you're walking.  With very few exceptions should anyone not perform this lift.  Every sport known to the human race benefits from this lift.  Every activity known to the human face benefits from this lift.  

Summary is, everybody can benefit from a simple yet somehow brutally demanding exercise.  Even with no weight, you can improve your life, legs, and lungs; with weight, so much more.  Now that you're done reading this, go ahead and try a few.  

Why I hate cardio and love lifting weights

I freaking hate cardio.  It's not really the feeling after that I dislike, but mostly the process.  Now, there's some amount of cardio that I love, and it's boxing and Muay Thai, but most of your "conventional" cardio like running or cycling or swimming I find to be extremely boring.

Weights, on the other hand, don't lie to you.  Now I'm not talking about hitting up some biceps curls or some machines, I'm talking real weights like squats, deadlifts, overhead pressing, and bench press.  The weights are either "I can do" or "I can't do," when you make the attempt.

Cardio, in the conventional sense, is drawn out and honestly not very exciting.  I used to love running and honestly I have some great memories running with some very awesome people.  Sadly, I just don't enjoy that action anymore.  Swimming is something that I can do to survive, but not for fitness.  Honestly, I just like the ability to not drown.  Cycling hurts my butt, so enough said.

When you lift, it's short and sweet.  Yeah, it may suck something awful at the time, like sets of 10 squats, but nevertheless you can hit it and quit it.  In the end, you keep adding weight to the bar and see what you can do.  Honestly, being able to lift over 400lbs is much more satisfying than bein
g able to run a mile at all.

The best application of both cardio and strength is in combat.  Muay Thai and Boxing both highlight strength and cardio by being able to strike hard and often.  This is a thing that anyone at any age can go ahead and do and in addition to your normal fitness goals with it, it helps to reduce stress.

Obviously, I'm an advocate for the martial arts and combative
.  I believe that in addition to improving your fitness that it helps to improve your life in general.  Combine this with weights and I think you've hit a gold mine.  

Eating for the fluffy pillow

In my previous post, I described some of what I do regarding training the fluffy pillow.  For this post, I'd like to go into the food side of things.

For me, the nutrition side of things is the most difficult.  Not to say that I don't know what I'm doing, but I freaking love food.  For the most part, I see the best results compositionally when I do a super low carbohydrate meal plan.  The upside of this is that I do tend to see a heavy reduction in mass, mostly fat mass, but the downside is I also tend to see a dramatically reduced performance when it comes to exercise.

Most with a similar shape such as myself benefit immensely off of a lower carbohydrate diet.  However, carbs truly benefit the performance aspect of the fluffy.  So it sometimes boils down to either a composition goal or a performance goal.  There are ways to get both, and it requires a significant amount of planning and discipline, something that my life with 3 small kids is nearly impossible to complete.

I generally try to stick with eating as much protein and vegetables as I can.  Usually, for breakfast I have a quart container full of vegetables such as cucumbers, peppers, celery, carrots, and/or an apple as well; I also have a banana to accompany that.  I use a protein in my coffee that is a collagen peptide base, rather than your traditional milk-based proteins.  My goal last year, at least nutritionally, was to have vegetables for breakfast nearly every day, something of which I've carried into this year.  This year's goal, nutritionally, was to do the same but for lunch, and so far meeting a moderate degree of success.

I try to have my starchier carbs around my workouts, which the super-intense ones are only 4x per week.  I still try to maximize what I can take in, but with clients it's sometimes difficult to escape long enough to consume anything.  My kryptonite is around when I'm home from work or on the weekends when I have more time to eat something other than what I've prepared for lunch at work, usually Oreo's.

In the end, I try to keep as healthy as possible.  My goals are more or less training goals rather than compositional goals, though I wouldn't hate those when they come.  Goal setting is a characteristic of training, and not exercising.  Nevertheless, the dietary side of things is my more complicated part of my life.  

Training the fluffy pillow

As I had talked about in my previous post, I'm a bit fluffy, not fat, but fluffy.  Could I be smaller?  Yes.  Could I be bigger?  Yes.  The difficulty is not the exercise component for me, it's predominately the diet.  For this post, however, I'll be going over training considerations as well as what my personal weekly exercise load looks like.

I used to love to run.  When I got out of the Marine Corps, one of the things that I can honestly attribute to defining me was running.  I liked lifting at the same moment in time, however, I did spend a considerable greater amount of time hitting the trails or the street.  This was therapy for me and I made some wonderful friends while I performed this action.

About 2 years later, I got into lifting and Muay Thai, which became the new therapy for me.  Honestly, this has been something that I look back upon and realize that it was at this point that my life changed towards where I am today.  I love lifting and I love Muay Thai, they are both therapeutic and they both will tell you when you're doing something wrong.

I bring this up because it's pivotal to training the fluffy pillow.  Since I would be considered predominantly an "endomorph," I can lift heavy weights but also need a fair amount of aerobic training to include to keep the fat down.  4 days each week I get about 2-3 hours of boxing either by actively coaching (donning the mitts and moving with my participants) or sparring.  So with that consider it my "aerobic" time.  I also lift anywhere between 4 hours and 6 hours per week, depending on the program of which I'm running.  So that sums at about 12-16 hours per week of activity.

I also average over 12000 steps per day, something that may at a desk job fail to receive.  So in addition to all of the training that I get either by participating or personal, it's a large amount of daily activity.

In reality, this is probably what keeps me from being obese.

For my body time, some serious lifting, as well as some serious aerobic training is vital to keep someone such as myself healthy.  I thrive with both and many I know with similar shapes do as well.  It's just I have the privilege of incorporating everything as part of my work, unlike many others who are stuck at a desk.  Not only am I impacting my physical health, I'm mentally under much less stress than my peers in other positions.
You don't have to be a personal trainer to enjoy this type of training.  All you need to do is partition time out of your day, likely every day, towards some form of this exercise.  Some in the morning and some later in the day would be perfect in many instances, but not all.  Evaluate your priorities and your body type, and if you find that you're like me and hold a little extra fat then lifting and intense sports may be right for you.  You have nothing to fear.