How to Find Enjoyment in Every Moment of Training
The answer:There's an elegance and grace that makes training more enjoyable.
Listen for the Key Moment:What fly fishing and training have in common.
Labels: Shawn Phillips, Start Strong, training
Should You Train Muscles To Failure?
by Shawn PhillipsThe answer:For maximum results in the least amount of time, take a set to failure.
But first…build your neurological networks.
Listen for the Key Moment:Failure defined…
I agree... male or female, young or old, must follow this advice and this principal. On the same topic, sort of... , is about working your abs with hundreds of reps. Let me ask you this... would you pick up a dumbell and do 100 reps of curls to get better biceps? Would you do 100 reps of bench press with 25 pounds? or would you bench 200 pounds for 6 to 9 reps? Same thing goes for abs guys and gals. Low reps, high weight and high intensity.
Labels: Shawn Phillips, Start Strong, training
Typical Monday and Wednesday Training Schedule
I told an online friend of mine Rich Tweten who is a
personal trainer in Vancouver about my training day on Monday.
Rich is know for training movie stars. One of which is Kristen Dalton who was in Stephen Kings "Dead Zone" and just recently played Jack Nicholson's girlfriend in the Oscar winning "Departed" from 2006.
Kristen Dalton in The Departed
He was surprised at how much work I do, so I thought I'd post what my days are like on Monday and Wednesday.
These two days are special because of my Taekwondo training. I do Taekwondo on Mondays and Wednesdays, so they're added to my normal training routine.
7am Wake up, have a glass of water and a cup of Calli tea
8am Meal #1 Egg White and Chocolate Whey Protein Mix drink with about 1 Tbsp of Udo's oil
9am In the gym for my morning cardio on the Cybex ArcTrainer
10:30am Meal #2 - 8 Egg white omelet with 3 extra whole eggs, ¼ cup oatmeal and a handful of raw cauliflower
1:00 Taekwondo training for 1.25 hours
3:00 Meal #3, chicken breast and a large salad
4:30ish Weight Training - Chest and Back (currently)
5:30 Meal #4 Post Workout Shake Egg white and Chocolate Whey protein shake with 1 Tbsp Udo's oil
6:30 Meal #5 Steak or Chicken breast and large salad
9:00 Meal #6 Chicken breast or Steak and large salad
This would be on a non carbohydrate cycle day of course because there are no starchy carbohydrates in this meal plan.
This just happens to be what I was doing on Monday June 25th. Protein shakes are not typical, but I'm finding that with the amount of training and the travel times associated with them, I just don't have the time to cook full meals in between training times
Food is more thermogenic than protein shakes because it requires so much more work to digest it, that it burns a lot of fat in the process. At least with the shakes, I'm getting the protein and fat that I need from the best bio-available protein sources… egg whites and whey protein. If I had the time, I'd favor a cooked meal over the shakes
So yes, three training sessions on Mondays and Wednesdays. 9am, 1pm and 4:30 pm
Labels: training
Weight Training Program With A New Baby - Q and A
Q: Hi Rob,
I was wondering what your opinion on these are?
My wife's about to give birth to our first baby in a week or two & I'm sure I'm going to be limited time wise in the gym.
What would you recommend for a routine?
Thanks
Steve D.
A: Congratulations. I'm wondering what you mean exactly as I could take this to mean your training over the next few weeks, or your training after the baby arrives.
Either way, with limited time, I'd simply switch up the program to make it quick and heavy with lots of off days to recover and spend time with wife and baby.
Change is good. Changing your program every 6 weeks is a must. I answered another reader question about
How To Deal With A Mental Blockage In Weight Loss and recommended this very same thing called
Periodization.
After time, your muscles begin to adapt to the stress. Changing your program every 6 weeks keeps the body guessing as to what's happening next and it continues to adapt and grow.
A rest is also good, so in this case with limited time and a new baby, I'd reduce the amount of time in the gym as my method of change at this juncture.
You should not be training any longer than 1 hour at a time anyway. Research suggests that the optimal amount of time to train is actually 30 to 45 minutes, but certainly no longer than one hour. After the 1 hour mark, your hormonal state would be doing more damage than good. For more information about this, I invite you to sign up for my 5 part
How To Build Muscle E-Course.
So, what I suggest is to cut back to 30 minutes of training 3 or 4 times a week. Do one body part at a time, use compound exercises and super sets to maximize volume. Use heavier weights and lower reps (in the 6 to 8 range) and get out after 30 minutes regardless of whether or not you're finished your assigned exercises.
You go heavy, you focus on one body part, you maximize volume and then you go home. Wait 24 to 48 hours and then train again.
I don't know what your program looks like now, so this may be something totally new to you. Again, for more information on the logic behind this, go sign up for the
How To Build Muscle E-Course.
Work one body part every other day using this type of split:
1. Chest
2. Back
3. Shoulders - but a little lighter
4. Arms
5. Legs
(with a day of rest between each body part)
You work the entire body over 9 days and then have a day off before starting again. Shoulders get worked in any upper body exercises, so they're stimulated during Chest movements as well as Back movements. Train them just slightly lighter on their day so as to avert injury. Then you've got two more days of training of Arms and Legs before using your shoulders again on the Chest day.
As well, by giving yourself a day between, you're allowing much more time for recovery and the full use of all the Testosterone that occurs from the rebound affect after training. If you train every day, you will interrupt the Testosterone output by releasing more cortisol. Do NOT train every day. Allow for the rest.
I'll be writing more about
Hormonally Intelligent Exercise over the next few weeks, so make sure you subscribe to my blog posts for updates.
With the new baby coming, or when it arrives, you're going to have to optimize your sleep as well. Cutting back on training time and allowing for more rest between days, gives your body a chance to pump out lots of HGH, which improves sleep and stress levels. I get a kick out of supplement companies that offer HGH for you to buy when you can just have your body create it itself.. free (well, I guess you have to pay for it with a bit of pain).
What I'd like to impress upon you is to allow for the rest periods. If this type of program seems foreign to you, give it a try. Think of it as a "Training Holiday" if you will to at least get you to do it. You will probably find that you get better results than the current program you're following.
Good luck with the baby. Some pictures would be a nice follow up!
Labels: Reader Questions, training
What's The Right Amount Of Time You Should Train
Brought to you by
Shawn PhillipsThe answer:It’s not about the distance (length of your workout), it's about the depth (quality of your intensity).
Join me this week when I share my insights on how to maximize your effectiveness and efficiency in the gym.
Shawn Phillips does a weekly "Start Strong" audio clip answering readers questions. I interviewed Shawn in 2003 and he became a part of my interview package at
Fat Loss Insider Secrets.
I've recently cut the amount of time I spend in the gym as well. Where I once spent 2 hours at a go, then cut back to an hour (and WILL NOT go over an hour), and have recently cut back even more. I get in, get the job done and get out. It's about Hormonally Intelligent Exercise like Rob Faigen, Jeff "the muscle nerd" Anderson, Nick Nilsson and many others talk about. It makes a lot of sense.
Labels: muscle building, Shawn Phillips, Start Strong, training
Lethargy – To Train Or Not To Train?
By
BigCanukvisit our sponsor
How Do I DietAs per usual, as the winter settles in, a lot of the guys I hear from are telling me the same thing; that with the cold season, their zeal has dropped and their workouts are diminishing. I also am in that category. It's real tough to live in a country where cold weather is prevalent almost half the year! I've always told myself I would one day live in a country where the climate would be more tropical but so far it hasn't transpired. I envy those people who live in paradise all year long! But enough of my whining about the winter. There are certain things that can be done to combat this natural occurrence.
Outside of changing my training when necessary, a couple of tricks I use to take the edge off winter are these items. First off, I bought a hot tub. You know, it's interesting how sitting in 103-degree water makes the snow and cold become so tolerable all of a sudden.
Another trick is to be tanned. While everyone else around seems to be looking pale and white and sickly, it seems that nothing looks as good as a healthy looking tan. Obviously the sun isn't going to do the job and although the medical research won't exactly say that sun tanning beds outright cause skin cancer, it seems the general consensus is that they are bad for you. So what's a guy to do? I ordered an oral tanning product called "Canthaxanthin". The stuff works and best of all, it's non-toxic to the body. So you get to look tanned and don't have to worry about the bad effects of it on your body.
For the training aspect. We all know how hard it is to get into a workout especially when you're not excited about it. Well, I've finally stumbled onto a little key that helps unlock those lethargic training times.
First of all, tell yourself that you are only going to the gym for a half-hour to train. Surely, you can spare a half-hour out of your day, right? Next pick the body part that is your favorite to train. Usually, this is not what you're supposed to do as it takes away from the intensity of what's needed to pick up those lagging body parts but in this case, we're trying to just get into an intensity mode. It doesn't take long to find the workout falling into place and going well once your favorite muscle group starts feeling that pump and burn. The next thing you know, the half-hour is over and you've accomplished the most important thing of the day. Your workout. Most of the day, we give and sacrifice our time and abilities for others whether it be work or play or visiting family/friends but when you're at the gym, that is for you.
Try to make it count as the best it can be.
I hope this helps beat some of those lethargic times that is sure to come along and hit every one of us sometime during the winter months when it is tougher to get motivated.
* Editor's note: If you've ever felt there was something holding you back in life, ruining your plans and stopping you from being who you want to be, you were right. The fact is, there is a single source of all your problems, stress, unhappiness and self-doubt. It's called the reactive mind - the hidden part of your mind that stores all painful experiences, then uses them against you.
Peak Potentials Training offers a course called
Warrior Camp that helps. A warrior is "one who conquers onself". Being by taking the
Millionaire Mind Intensive which will help you get rid of limiting beliefs and then go on to take the Millionaire Mind course.
Tags: Training,
Muscle Building,
Lethargy,
Reactive Mind,
Peak Potentials,
Millionaire MindLabels: exercise, lethargy, millionaire mind, muscle building, peak potentials, training
