AITank: Fitness Explained

First of all let me extend my best wishes to fellow contributor Chris aka Dr.Swoll, in his endeavor to complete the MS 150. It truly is worthy cause and your support is indeed very valuable to fund multiple sclerosis research. I started thinking about what it would take to complete 180 miles in the Texas hill country and one thing stood out above all the other things I could think about and that is having a strong mind.

There comes a point when all of us think we can not go anymore. Another step would kill us, turn of the pedal drain what little energy we have left, rep under the weight of a barbell. Well the truth is, you are thinking you can’t so how the hell could you possibly expect go any farther? No matter what you are doing, this point is what many of us like to call the wall.

Time stops, its a surreal moment actually, and you are given a choice. I mean this very literally — your body actually asks your mind if it wants it to go further even though it may hurt, even though our bodies think we are spent and have nothing left to give. Those of us with the courage to take the harder path will say no, I want you to keep on going; whatever happens after that I will deal with when the dust has settled.

I mean it is true isn’t it?

Workout with a spotter. Trust me, you will get so much more out of your workout you will wonder how you managed without one.

A spotter helps you get those last reps out of each set. You know the ones that usually threaten to crush you because you cannot push the weight anymore, well a finger or two from a spotter allows your good workout to become an absolutely mental one.

By getting those last reps out you push your body harder into an adaptive response which means your body will work harder to get stronger and bigger post workout. Your pumps will be massive and your muscles huge.

Take a friend with you, someone that is somewhere around your fitness level and help each other. Yell at each other under the weights because that is what we need every so often. Someone to yell at us and remind us that we haven’t quite got it yet, though we are most certainly working towards our goals.

So next workout push it that much harder with a proper spotter.

The past few years have been unkind to many of the world’s top athletes. Olympic hopefuls to MLB sluggers to Tour De France cyclists have all fallen prey to intense scrutiny as we seek to maintain the image of a pure natural athlete. I am not going to talk in specific about any one athlete in particular, but rather the culture of altering our bodies by way of non natural processes.

Everyone wants to be the best, be at the pinnacle of whatever sport or activity they may be participating in. We get it in our heads that to beat everyone else, we have to give ourselves a one up and this is where steroids and other performance enhancing drugs (PEDS) enter into the equation. Sure there are side effects to their use, but they can be mitigated by incredibly careful, doctor assisted monitoring. What I mean is frequent blood work and hormone panels. 98% of PEDS users do not fit into this category. So why even decide to go that route? You are short changing yourself, determining that you will fail at achieving your goal without even trying.

Some will say, oh but I have peaked after one year of training. It has been a damn year you idiot. Even two or three still leaves you in the relative area of newness to lifting. You might know how to train better but as far as packing mass, you have not been doing it for all that long. If you are 6 foot 200 pounds, you have not peaked.

At one point or another, we all think our strength has plateaued. You know the feeling. Your bench has been going up for the past few months then all of a sudden you cannot move anymore weight. In fact you might be doing less reps of the same weight. If you have experienced this, your muscles have passed from their adaptation phase of growth and you are now experiencing the effects of over training.

I would suspect that 80 percent of the people that will read through this article are or have experienced the effects of over training in their workout regimen. “Love to lift” syndrome as I call it. Amateur and experienced lifters alike just think that being in the gym 7 days a week doing 20 sets per muscle group is the key to size. Well ask those people how long its taken them to get to whatever size they are. Likely answer is many years.

What everyone out there needs to understand is that our bodies get used to a routine. Their are specific neurological processes that I am referring to and will talk about in depth in a later article, but for now lets simplify the idea to, our bodies need to be confused if we want them to keep growing. This necessity for confusion is why all good routines offer variety in the exercises one can perform.

Think cycles. Optimally a workout cycle should last 7-9 weeks depending on your physiology. This means you workout for those 7 to 9 weeks then take a whole week off.

This is one that comes out of some of the chapters in my life, I am just sharing some bits I have learned along the way. At one point or another I think we all doubt ourselves and wonder if we should have kept on going when we stopped, not done something when we did or conversely, done something when we did not. Then comes the self questioning and we begin to run ourselves down faces pushed into the dirt by the likes of our own hand. I have learned that this self destruction is good for nothing. In fact it is bad for something, and that something is you.

When we turn the finger on ourselves, what we are starting is a train wreck of problems. And no, I am not implying that accountability is a bad thing, in fact it is one of the core pieces of our character. What I am saying is that when we turn the finger on ourselves and attack who we are, nothing is going to get better. Knowing that this may sound like ridiculous optimism, we must always find ways to keep on keeping on despite anything that happens as a result of an action we take. So, for those rolling about in confusion let me provide an example.

You are training to be able to run a sub 6 minute mile. After 3 months you are stuck at 6:15. Weeks pass and you simply cannot get your time any lower.

Here are some really impressive exercises that will probably take some practice, but are really fun to try. Leave us some comments and let us know how you do!

Ultra wide doorframe pullups:
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With spring break and summer fast approaching, the number one question that will start to circulate is how do I tone up to get a swim suit body or get that mythic six pack so I can show the world. It starts with knowing how to plan a lean diet. Rule number one: never skip meals. Dropping the number of meals you take in per day lowers your metabolic rate and increases the level of nutrient oxidation. This means you will feel lethargic and what fat you have, your body will fight to keep as long as possible based on a primal survival instinct. Rule number two: eat 5 to 6 meals per day. This will kick start your metabolism leading to a higher basal metabolic rate, or BMR, and will stabilize your level of nutrient oxidation making your body more efficient at utilizing food you put in it.

With the basics out of the way lets talk details now. The goal for a leaning or cutting diet is to be high in protein, low in fat and have a decent amount of carbohydrates. If you wanted to talk ratios it would be approximately 42% carbs, 38% protein, 20% fat with the fats being primarily healthy sources such as olive oil, flax oil, fish, peanuts, fruits and veggies like avocado. Look for good carbs to come from items such as, oatmeal, whole grains, yams, beans, and pasta. For good clean protein look to chicken, turkey, egg whites, seafood like tuna, low fat or fat free yogurt, soy products and 2% and lower milk.

Every man, woman or child that has ever walked this Earth has faced obstacles in life. Small or large these trials are the blocks that forge who we are, defining our individual character through each success and failure. Some people seem to think that failing to succeed makes having tried at all a pointless fact. Ask this of those individuals: what do you accomplish by sitting on your ass criticizing me. We are never going to win every battle but it is impossible to win at all without first attempting. Arm yourself with passion for what it is you are trying to accomplish. True passion is the fire that breathes life into our souls and from this synergy a steeled mind is born. A strong mind is a formidable weapon to bear against any trial that may arise in life because believing is the first step to achieving any level of success. Believe in yourself above all else, that you can do what is needed to do the impossible or unthinkable, then get out there and work. Either at a desk, on the grid iron, on the 18th green or the final stretch on the tarmac, work with all your passion and then some. Push your limits. If you look at your performance and think you are doing good, push harder. Complacency casts all to many a rising star back into the shadows as there are always others who are going to want it more and will do what you will not to get to the top. So we will chronicle these everyday events, people conquering insurmountable tasks and will provide insight and wisdom as best we can to help you go farther and push yourself harder. This blog is aimed at exposing who we are, what we are made of and how nothing can hold us down unless we allow it. Be driven in life and watch as the objects standing in your way fall to the ground; this is the code.