The End of an Era- Nike Frees

The Death of My Beloved Nike Frees

The Day has come and I am extremely sad. Yesterday as I was squatting I realized that the sides of my age-old Nike Frees were giving more than they should be. These shoes have been with me through two knee surgeries and a foot surgery. Over the past 4 years, I have grown to love them. I will still be able to wear them around, but I believe that it'd be best to not wear them to workout any more. (maybe I still can on upper body days)

The replacements-

I am hoping to invest in a nice pair of Vibram Five Fingers in the near future. I have heard so many great things about them and I would like to give them a try. 

These are my feet. 

Until I can get my hands on a pair, I will be using my other pair of Nikes. These aren't Frees and in turn, in my opinion, are nowhere near as good. I like to switch up things so I don't get bored and that is the reason I don't plan on getting another pair of Frees. If the Vibrams don't turn out the way I want. I believe I will most likely search for a pair similar to my old Frees. 

Quit Cheating Your Squats- Get Low

 Squat Day-

Today I squatted and I felt it was one of the first times in a long while that I didn’t feel as though my knee was really hindering my squat. I can get lower than I could ever hope for before any of my knee problems. Before injusry, blaming my tight hips was a constant echo in my life. (You don’t go through two avulsion fractures of the pelvis without tight hips and quads..) What I didn’t realize at the time, was that everything that I did was contributing to my hips and quads being tighter and tighter and I was content in just being the guy with tight hips that couldn’t get low in his squats. I couldn’t squat low, so I developed my quads further and compounded the problem. I never stretched enough, and I paid for it.  It may have helped the tightness in my quads losing half the size of one of my quads and considerable size in the other, but that isn’t the only reason.

Iron never lies

There is one activity that I had to endure for a long period of time while I was hurt that I attribute to being more flexible now. This activity is wearing a brace from your hip to your ankle that keeps your knee locked into place. Try putting a sock or shoe on while you have a straight leg and you will understand. If every time you want to touch your feet you have to do a hamstring stretch, you are going to loosen up.

Being able to get to or past parallel is very important.

1.Better for Your Knees-

Stopping half or quarter of the way down makes the knees take on the majority of the force of the movement whereas when past parallel the hamstrings and glutes will assist in softening the blow to the knees and help stabilize as you move back up.

2. Develop Your Hamstrings and Glutes-

When you get to or past parallel your hamstrings and glutes are recruited. Rather than simply developing Quad strength, parallel squats develop the hamstrings and glutes. You don’t want huge quads and no hamstrings.

Today’s workout-

4x6 Front Squat

3x6 Back Squat

3x6 Box Squats

4x8 Single Leg- Leg Extension

3x6 Front Squat- Push Press

^^^I cannot for the life of me figure out the name that the Crossfit Games gave to these, any

Mope or Motivate, Your Choice.

Some days, things are going to occur that are going to make you not want to do anything at all. Something will happen and it’ll put you in a bad mood. There are only two ways that you can handle it. You can either let it get to you, and bring down your whole day, or you can use it to motivate yourself.

I BOMBED my Spanish test today, starting my day off on a bad footing. All I wanted to do was curl into a ball. Instead, I used my time to be relatively productive. Today’s work out, was one of the best I’ve had in a while because everything just clicked. I was angry, and I took it out on the weights.  You need to channel your bad days into a purpose, anger is a great motivator. If you can salvage a bad day, you can do anything.

Today’s Workout-

8,6,5,3,1 Bench Press

3x8 Heavy Weighted Dips

2x Max 135lb burn-outs

3x8 Incline Bench Press

3x8 Tricep Push down

Morale of the Story

 Use the negatives in your life as positive. I don’t believe that everything happens for a reason, but I do believe you can make the best out of what happens.

P.s. a few things I learned today-

1. I'm not actually good at Spanish. 

2. Putting Creamsicle flavored protein powder in eggs isn't a good idea. 

What Are 5 Things That You Have Learned Today?

What Have You Learned Today?

You learn something every day. You may think back on your day and say, “Today seemed pretty ordinary, I must not have learned anything.” This is wrong. If you think about it the right way you will realize that you picked up some tidbit of information that you may have not originally thought was new to you. These can be small, but they’re always there.

There is one reason that I think of things this way and I “blame” it on my mom. When I was in middle school, every day that I saw her after school she would ask me, “So, what did you learn today.” 95% of the time I told her that I hadn’t learned a single thing the whole day. This went on for a long time, with me continuing every day saying that I hadn’t learned anything. After a while I started noticing when I learned something new more often. I would write down at least a few things that I had learned during the day. Most times it was random facts; I have always loved knowing as many random facts as possible, but sometimes it would be simple nuances about somebody that I didn’t know before. Being a stubborn middle school kid, I kept it to myself and kept telling her that I didn’t learn anything. Oops. 

I’m not going to pretend that I do this every day, but I do it often enough. I don’t often write them down like I used to. I feel that I’m at the point that if I just think about the things that I learned in a day, it is good enough for me. I think that doing this has opened my eyes to being able to judge people’s character more easily and realize how often you actually learn something new. If you don’t realize that you are learning, it doesn’t stick in your memory as well. Try to look at the world through a different lens and think back to what you did today and pick out 5 things that you learned today.

5 Things That I Learned Today

1. Subway Has Free WiFi-

Image from Subway.com

               Today I was studying hard for my anatomy lab quiz today (muscles that move the elbow and wrist) and I needed a break from my environment and needed food. Instead of wasting time cooking I took a trip to Subway with my notes and computer in tow. Not knowing whether I could use the internet at Subway I was prepared to go to the Library after I ate. Instead as I was walking in I saw a sign saying “Free WiFi” so I got a sub and camped out for a few hours.

I think I did well on the quiz as well.

2. How to Properly Front Squat-

               During my workout today I decided to front squat. This is something that I haven’t done too often throughout my life and I wasn’t exactly sure how to do it. So I used my observation skills and mimicked someone to the best of my ability, but I felt way too much pressure in my wrists. When I got home I looked up how to front squat better so that next time I can do much better.

              

  Taking a few fingers off the bar when you front squat will relieve the pressure on your wrists.

I read a great article on proper form and how to front squat more at T-Nation Front Squat Tips

3. I know Spanish a LOT Better Now Than the Beginning of the Semester-

               We had an in-class essay today and it went incredibly well. The words just flowed onto my paper without too much effort. This is a pretty nice observation because I would really like to keep improving.

4. I Haven’t Reached a Plateau on my Dead-Lift Yet-

               I was worried that I was about to plateau in Deadlift after having a poor showing during last week’s deadlift day. I was sore for a few days and I probably over-did it a little. Taking the weekend off and feeding my body a little more than usual did great for my recovery and today I set my new Personal Best at 195Kg. I want to keep moving up and be around 215Kg in the next month or so.

5. I Haven’t Been Drinking Enough Water-

               I had been doing so well, for the longest period of time in my life, drinking enough water each and every single day. Just today I realized that the last 2 weeks I have been drinking about ¼ of what I had been drinking. I’m going to blame this on becoming content with drinking water as I felt I needed it, and that it’s harder to drink a lot of water when it’s cold outside. So, as of today, I’m drinking a ton of water again. Yay me!

               Think of one thing that you learned or realized today. If you have time please comment yours below. I would love to read all of your newly found knowledge. If you have a lot of time, list as many as you feel necessary. The more comments, the happier I will be. :)

Today’s Workout-

6x6 Slow on the way down Pull-ups

3x6 then 3x2 then 1x1 Deadlift

3x6 Front Squat

3x6 T-Bar Rows

4x8 Inverted Bodyweight Rows

4x6 Cable Rows

10 Things You Can Do to Be More Productive

10 Things You Can Do to Be More Productive-

            Fitness requires a fine balance between all the separate aspects of your life. Every aspect of your life pulls the others in certain directions either towards or away from being fit. Being able to stay productive is one of the characteristics that make being an overall “fit” individual possible. When it takes you four hours to do a simple task that should have taken one, you lose three hours that could have been spent working on other parts of your fitness (*coughcough working out cough*) Having more time available to you, will also create a less stressful life. Having always been near the top of the unproductive group of the world, by necessity, I have come up with ways that I stay productive.

1. Create a list of things that are productive and a list of things that are unproductive-

           Use this list to determine whether the activity that you are currently participating in is productive or not. If the activity is productive, keep on rocking. If it’s unproductive, determine what you should be doing instead.

2. Give yourself some time for being unproductive-

Set a timer to a certain amount of time while you are doing an unproductive task and make sure you stop when the timer is up.

3. Take breaks-

 Nobody can stay focused and productive forever. If you've been really productive, you deserve to take a break. If you have time and you've been productive for a long period of time, you need a longer break, go workout. It will give you a huge boost of energy and really, I have working out on my list of things I NEED to do anyway. Two birds, one stone.

4. Do Push-ups while working-

While I’m doing homework, I often find myself straining to stay on the productive task. If I force myself to do pushups every 15 minutes that elapse with my homework unfinished, regardless of what I spent the time on, I find that I crank out homework quickly and efficiently without wasting as much time.

5. Try using a White Noise generator-

Simplynoise.com

block outside noise and help keep your mind clutter free. On your computer, I suggest http://simplynoise.com/   3 separate types of noise and an oscillation mode to change it up. My favorite is “brown noise” with the oscillator on.

6. Figure out what certain types of music does to your productivity levels.

 I find that during normal homework, such as prob

lem solving and note-regurgitation, I excel listening to soft soothing music that I am familiar with so I disregard any lyrics. During essay writing, I find myself being much more productive listening to high-paced techno. I’m sure everyone is different, figure out what is best for you.

7. Get rid of cable-  

               All having cable does for you is gives you a reason to waste time. If you have a show you watch, there are other ways to watch shows without cable. Having the ability at all times to flip on the TV and surf and waste time watching shows you don’t even like, is a productivity killer.

8. Take tasks in chunks-

               When you have something you need to do. Cut the task into much smaller mini-tasks. If you think of how much you have to do, it really takes away from your ability to start. If you have 8 smaller things to do, it won’t be as hard to start.

9. Drink More Water-

               If you are dehydrated you will have less energy an

d nobody wants to be productive when they’re tired. Remember that if you are feeling thirsty at all, you are already dehydrated.

10. Lose Yourself-

               Make yourself available to only do your work. If it isn’t necessary for your work turn off the internet. Have someone (hopefully not too evil) change your social media passwords for the period of time you need to work. “Lose” your phone in the other room. The world is full of distractions and the less distractions, the better.

Today's Workout

4x4 Bench Press

4x4 Incline DB press

4x10 Weighted Dips

3x8 DB Flyes

3x8 Skull-Crusher 

5 Excuses for Skipping Workouts You Can No Longer Use

1. “I’m Tired.”

If you are feeling fatigued, working out will wake you up. In a University of Georgia study it was found that people in both moderate-intensity(jogging) and low-intensity(walking) exercise regimens had a 49% and 65% reduction in feelings of fatigue compared to a control group (no exercise). So if you’re feeling a little tired and thinking about skipping your workout today, remember that if you get your blood pumping, even a little bit, you’re going to feel more awake and less fatigued.

This is different than if you are feeling tired from sickness. Low to moderate intensity workouts tend to raise your immune system response, but high-intensity workouts tend to suppress your immune response. Listen to your body and adjust accordingly.

UGA Study

2. “I don’t Have Time.”

If you don’t ever have time for a workout you are simply lying to yourself. Yes, being a college student, I know that there are times where it is incredibly difficult to find a full hour to devote to working out. The thing is you don’t need to spend a full hour working out to get an incredible benefit.

 I introduce HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training). The basis of HIIT is to go all out for a period of time and then go at a slower pace for a rest period and then repeat. I won’t go in-depth into it but I will include a very detailed post that I have saved in my StumbleUpon Fitness list (favorite non-exercising hobby). HIIT not only takes less time than most workouts, but it burns more calories during and after your workout. Think of it as working really hard now to burn more calories all day not doing anything. Sounds like a plan to me.

High Intensity Interval Training Information

3. “I’m Sore.”

If you’re sore get over it and go workout. Work on something besides what you worked on yesterday. If your muscle is sore, you probably shouldn’t work it harder. You don’t want to get hurt. If you ran yesterday, and your legs hurt, go lift upper body today. We aren’t simply talking about needing a rest day. Everyone deserves a rest day every once in a while. You can get a workout in today if you’re still sore from yesterday. Stop making excuses.

 Remember, there is a difference between a sore muscle and a hurt muscle. If you have had pain in your muscle longer than 3 days, you may have tweaked or strained a muscle. Take a few days off of any work on that muscle. Again always listen to your body. Working out is going to make you sore, but if you do it properly you shouldn’t hurt yourself. Freak injuries happen, listen to your body.

Me playing a Disc Golf tournament

4. “I’m not the working out type.”

There is no reason why you can’t get a workout in a way that doesn’t feel like a workout. If you like to hike, use that as your workout. If you like go fishing, paddle a boat. Find something that you like doing that requires you to move. You don’t have to be moving at an intense pace to receive the health benefits. My personal favorite non-working out workout is Disc Golf. I’ve grown up playing Disc Golf my whole life, I love the game and I never really realize that I’m walking a few miles every round I play. All those miles walking add up. Any activity helps.

5. “I don’t know how.”

This excuse is one that really gets to me at a personal level. The amount of easy to read and free information available these days is ridiculous. If you google any lift, any workout, or any exercise related problem, you are going to find an abundance of information. There are better sources than others, but if you click on any random link in those searches, you are going to be ahead of where you started.

Simple Exercise Information Resources

1. Google random workout related searches.

2. Use StumbleUpon.com and search “fitness” or “workout plans” and sit back and get workout ideas thrown at you.

3. Ask staff or someone at a gym.

               A lot of times you can get helpful hints from just asking. The staff is there to answer questions. I’m not telling you to always ask questions of people working out, but most people can give you tidbits of quick information as they go.

4. Get a personal trainer.

               This can be expensive but worth it. If you truly don’t know where to start, a personal trainer can be a valuable investment.

You are no longer allowed to use any of these excuses. Next time you try, remember this article, and hold yourself accountable. The next time you try to make an excuse to why you can’t workout today, ask yourself if it’s a valid reason that you shouldn’t or just a frivolous excuse. 

Treat Your Workouts Like a Competition

             

My Main Motivation- Treating My  Workout Like a Competition

            All my life I have been a highly competitive person. I wanted to win everything that I ever participated in, and I always wanted to be the best that I could be. As I grew up I made games out of everyday tasks and challenged myself to do it better or faster. I took pride in being part of a team because it gave me something to try to become the best at. I participated in four varsity sports in High School. All these sports were opportunities to widen my range of competition and it is in these sports that I created my foundation of my fitness. To be good at sports, you have to be in good shape. Throughout High School, getting in shape for a sport was what I used as my prime motivator to workout. After High School, I didn't have that same reason to workout and it killed my motivation.

                          

          I finally replaced that lost prime motivation when I started treating my workouts like a competition. I channeled my competitive personality into making a game out of working out, realizing that I didn't need to be competing against anybody to make use of my competitive nature. This game wasn't me comparing myself to anybody else. This game was trying to set my own high-scores. Think of it as single player mode on your favorite video game. Every time I am in a weight room, I am trying to make myself better so that I can lift more the next time I lift. I want to be better next week, than I am this week. I am never really satisfied with being static. The need to move forward is a constant, powerful, motivation in my life.

You never stay the same. You either get better or you get worse. –Jon Gruden

        What You Should Do-      

         The next time you are having troubles motivating yourself to workout, try treating it like a game. Try to be better than yourself. One thing I love to say is that everybody starts somewhere.

Things to Understand:

1.  It is okay if you can only lift the bar.
2.  It’s okay to be lifting next to someone who can lift more than you. 
3. There is no problem if you are on a treadmill next to someone in better shape than you. 
4. Nobody cares if you are in worse shape than them. 

I personally am motivated by seeing someone in terrible shape trying make themselves healthier. I'm not motivated by seeing ripped people in the gym. I know that it takes so much more effort to change than to keep doing what you already do.

In most board games, you each take turns to start. In fitness, people just start the game at different times.

If you can only lift the bar this week, maybe next week you can slap some 2.5lb weights on the ends of that bar and lift it. The key is to stay moving forward. 

Lift Hard, Rest Hard, and then Rest

Lift Hard Even On Your Light Days

Some days you need to de-load a little and lift less than normal days to help your body repair a little. Today was only half like that. I brought my total number of lifts down, but lifted hard. With only having three lifts on my list today, I did something I don't normally do and had Deadlifting and Power Cleaning on the same day. It was hard and I guarantee I couldn't do as much weight on Power Clean as normal but I accepted that and went to town on it as best as I could.

        It's never too late to become what you might have been. -George Eliot

180 Kg Dead Lift

Today's Workout-

3x4 then 4x2 Deadlift  Increasing Weight Each Set 

3x4 Power Clean

4x6 Pendlay Rows

1 set Max Reps of Bench 135 lbs-  33 reps

            Just to see how many I could do and get the blood pumping a little. 

Tomorrow is a much needed rest day. Rest days are just as important to building muscle as the workouts themselves. Your body cannot build your muscle if you damage it before it has had time to repair. Take a day off every once in awhile, it is also important on keeping yourself from burning out. One day of rest is more than worth keeping you on a schedule. If you've been working hard, enjoy your days off.

To Squat or Not to Squat

To squat or not squat.

There really is no question, Squatting should be in your exercise regimen. The squat goes along with a few other exercises that you can not forget to have in your workout list. 

Lifts Not to Forget- 

-Squats
-Deadlifts
-Pull-ups
-Power Cleans
-Bench Press


This list is not in any sort of order of importance. These lifts all recruit multiple muscle groups which leads to more work in multiple areas for one workout. Maximizing your time in the weight room is very important. Everybody wants the "Get Ripped Quick" workout but there is no get ripped quick secret, but there are get ripped faster secrets. Utilizing compound lifts is a main component of being able to slim down quick. I seldom have a workout that doesn't have one of these five lifts in it and I try to have them relatively early in my workouts so that I can put my full effort into them. Nobody cares how much you can curl, but people ask how much you can squat/bench/power clean. These are the lifts that I compete with myself to be able to see an improvement with my own personal bests. Finding your own personal motivation is important and that is mine. Beating myself. Try to do something that you couldn't do the week before. I used to squat 445 lbs. After two knee surgeries, I am ecstatic to be able to get 5x275lbs. There was a long point where I couldn't squat without any weight. That is a humbling experience. I now simply try to improve, the body I want will follow.

Today's Workout-

Squats 4x6

Single Dumbbell Clean and Press 3x6

Calf Raises- 3x10

Barbell Shrugs- 4x10

Leg Press- 

           2x10 single leg 

           3x10 double leg

I wanted to put in Power Clean in today as well but decided against it because I am deadlifting tomorrow and there were no platforms available and I wasn't about to sit and wait for one. 

Have a great Friday everyone. Do work. Much Love. Follow me @fitness4student and don't forget to stay awesome. 

5 Reasons You Cannot Afford to Forget to Lift Heavy Weights

There is a stigma surrounding lifting heavy weights. Some people don't want to get bulky. This is a common thought process especially by  females. This idea that lifting heavy weights will make you look like Arnold is unfounded and pretty far from the truth. You don't get huge overnight; you don't magically wake up and find that you can't reach your opposite shoulder because your biceps get in the way. Bodybuilders work for years and years to achieve the body that you see. 

There are many benefits that lifting heavier weights will provide you. I will go through 5 of the main ones here. 

1. Increase Calories Burned-

Lifting heavier weights will increase your caloric output dramatically. It will do this two different ways.

        a. Calories burned after heavier workouts through-out the day are raised. 

        b. Lifting heavier weights will help you build muscle faster. More muscle on your body leads to more basal calories (calories burned to maintain normal health) burned throughout the day. 

2. You Build Muscle Faster-

I understand that this was said just a few lines above, but it is important enough to restate with greater detail. If you do want to get huge like a bodybuilder, this isn't quite the article for you, but you have to more than simply lift heavier. It is a big part, but as all physiques, it requires a heavy dose of kitchen therapy.

Building muscle will make you look more toned. Every pound of muscle you put on is like losing fat. More muscle will make you look thinner. Lifting heavy weights, will get you thinner, and get you there faster. 

3. Lifting Heavy Will Reduce Injuries-

Yes you must lift heavy with good form and proper safety precautions. This is a must, but building more muscle will help stabilize your major injury sources, your joints. I know that building strength around a joint is huge. After both of my ACL reconstructions main goal along the way was to increase the strength in all the muscles that surround the joint. When a muscle is weak you have less control of it and cannot rely on it for stabilization. By working harder in the gym, you can reduce the chance of a freak injury. 

4. Increase Bone Density-

Lifting heavy weight puts more stress on your bones, this recruits more osteoblastic (bone building) activity and will increase your bone density. Your body is an amazing adaption machine, when you stress your body; it adapts to be able to take on this increased stress, causing improvements. 

You should already be having enough calcium in your diet, your maximum Calcium levels in your bones peaks at around 25 so try to have enough calcium to get that starting point high to have higher bone density as you age and get closer to osteoporosis.  

5. Lifting Heavy Weights Makes You Feel Good-

There isn't much that gives you a better feeling than doing something that you were unable to do a short time before. Building the muscle to be able to lift a heavier weight than you could before causes me to have a great sense of accomplishment. I reached a new personal best on Dead Lift yesterday. The whole room seemed brighter afterwards. I am going to write an article about this soon, but one of my main motivations to lift is my competitive nature. I am not able to compete in organized sports like I was in High School. I needed to have a new fitness mindset, so I created my new philosophy of trying to beat myself. There isn't anything wrong with trying to be the best you can be at something.

A few disclaimers: Always lift what you are comfortable with. This is not an excuse to go try and load up more than you are ready for. No, you shouldn't only lift Heavy. You should incorporate lifting heavy into a routine that gives you a high enough degree of variation. Muscle confusion is important this is the reason you need to load up the weight sometimes. Keep your muscles guessing. 

Finally, have a great day. You deserve to feel good about yourself. Make today the day you give yourself a pat on the back. 

Some days you realize it just isn't your day

Some days you realize that it just isn't your day. What matters is what you do to push through it. Some workouts will be, being blunt, terrible. What makes or breaks your workout is how you adapt. You should have an idea or a set plan of how you are going to spend the time during your workout. If you notice something about your plan isn't quite feeling right, change it on the fly.  Sometimes its just lowering your weight on a set and other times it is completely rearranging which lifts you will perform. People lift to make their body adapt. You can't let your mind be stagnant, adapt your thinking along the way.

Today I had a terrible workout today. I was groggy, tired, and not being at all productive beforehand and I tried to get that out of my head before I started. I just couldn't shake it. I couldn't do as many reps at weights that I've done many times. It just wasn't my day. I lowered my weights and kept going. I finished that and reassessed my whole workout plan. I changed it on the fly. I cut out four lifts and added in two others. I feel as though I maximized what I got out of my workout today for what my body was telling me I was able to put into it. Being "in tune" with what your body is telling you is one way to dramatically reduce injury and increase productivity.

Today's Workout-

Barbell Bench Press-
8x225
6x235
4x245<---failed.. blahh
6x225
4x225

Barbell Incline Press
2x4
2x6

Dumbbell Bench Press
3x6

Dips
15 Fast
3x10 Painfully slow

I leave you with a quote. Don't forget to follow me on twitter @fitness4life and please subscribe and comment.

We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.
-Author Unknown

Start of The School Year- Deadlifting is Great for the Whole Body

Start of the School Year-

It has been a hectic start to the current school year. Scrambling to get things done, (find a job, apply for my degree program, pay bills, get back into the swing of things school-wise). It has been a great first month of school and my activity level is through the roof even though I am entirely too busy for my liking. 

I have been thinking of where this blog can move forward from this point. I don't want to just write about things simply to write. I'm not trying to simply drive as much traffic in the hopes of raising my compensation. I am trying to create a lifelong path for myself as well as entertain my audience and reach the as many people to help as I can. This has brought me to a few ideas that I hope to start implementing as soon as I can. 

One of these changes I would like to make is recruiting people to write articles and share their own workouts. I feel as though only having my single perspective of fitness misses out on a wide variety of opinions and niches of the fitness world that is impossible for one person to cover. I feel as though having (a) partner(s) would help dramatically. If you have any ambition to either write an article or two, or write articles a few times a week, I plead that you contact me. 

Lately, I have turned to doing Deadlift and Back days twice a week. This has lead me to feel as though I have a bigger back as well as a stronger lower back and core. I was reading an article on bodybuilding.com that was talking about Deadlifting and how good it was for stimulating your whole body. In the middle of reading the article, I stopped and thought to myself, "Why have I not been deadlifting?" I couldn't give myself a logical reason. Sure, I thought about how I have a bad knee. That's just an excuse. It wasn't a reason I couldn't be doing one of the best lifts for my body. I finished the article, looked in the mirror and realized that my lower back was pitiful and needed to catch up to the rest of my back. The next day I did a workout similar to the one I did today. You can find this article here at http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/randy51.htm Just a nice article that is an easy to read personal informative narrative. 

If you want to get your whole body working and get that great feeling of just picking up heavy weights off the floor while getting an incredible workout. Try this.

My deadlift/ Back Workout looks like this-

50 Pull-ups any grip/ any form  for time 

3x4 Warm up Deadlifts

3x4 Work Load- Increasing 10kg each set

3x2 Work Load- Still Increasing 10kg each Set.

3x6 Pendlay Rows*

3x6 Single Arm Cable Rows

3x5 Lat Pull Down

3x6 T-Bar Row

*Pendlay Rows are like bent over barbell rows but In between each rep make sure you let the weight rest on the ground. Pull up the weight to your chest with an explosion. Remember to keep your back in an athletic position. 

Patience is a Virtue- Goals

When you don't achieve your goals right away, don't get discouraged. Transformations take time. When you are making goals it is important that you pick realistic timelines for completion. Your goals need to have a specific timeline as well. If you create a goal and say, "I'm going to achieve (blah blah) sometime in the next 3 months" you lose all credibility for that goal. You'r making it easy for yourself to put it off until the last month. Instead, say, "On this date (blah blah)  I will achieve (blah blah)." Set a realistic goal at a point that is challenging yourself a little but not too hard to accomplish. If you set a three month goal, and you don't achieve what you want after 3 weeks, you cannot get discouraged and just quit. You need to have determination and stay patient, results will follow. This advice can be used in any type of goals. Use it for your goals today.



Today's Workout-

3x5 Close Grip Bench
3x5 Squat
2x12 Skull Crushers
2x5 Dead Lift
2x8 One Arm Tricep Extension
2x8 Two Arm Tricep Extension
2x12 Tricep Pushdown

Abs-
2x20 Plate Twists
2x30 second Front- Side- Side Planks

Don't Be a Slave to Your Scale

A scale can be a very beneficial tool used in your weight loss/ weight gain goals when used efficiently. You cannot however base where you want to end up on a number on that scale. If you do this, it can lead to you to be disappointed because your hard work isn't getting that number lower. If your body looks better, YOU'RE GETTING SOMEWHERE. Who cares about that number on the scale. I personally weigh myself multiple times a day. This is mostly because of my obsession with how much and for how long things I put in my body affect my body weight. It's okay for me to see what my weight is whenever I want because I don't let it bother me if I'm not where I want to be. I know there are many reasons why the scale might not react to my efforts right away and I am okay with that. My goals are to look better, feel better, and be healthier. I use the scale as a helpful tool rather than let it get me down. It is always nice to look at the scale after a workout and hit a new low you've never hit before. YES I know it's water weight, but if I make a surprise jump down a few pounds it feels good. If you can't just listen to the positives the scale tells you and forget about the negative results, weigh yourself once a week. IF you're more confident, weigh yourself whenever you want. I know that if I keep working hard I'll get to where I want to be, whether or not a scale is telling me I'm getting there. So don't be a slave to your scale, use it as a tool, use it to better yourself and don't forget to take it with a grain of salt.

Excellence- My thoughts

The word excellence by definition means the quality of being outstanding or extremely good. I think about how I can attribute to my excellence each and every day. If you are not working towards your own excellence, then you are working against it. There are only 24 hours in the day, and 8-10 of those hours are recommended to be spent sleeping. That gives you 16 to do with as you wish. 16 hours to either hurt your excellence or propel you towards your excellence. Don't waste your potential, we all have it, it just comes down to who wastes more of it. I was having a conversation with a close friend today and I was talking to him about how I could help myself achieve what I want by making a simple decision. It would only help a little and I wasn't sure if I should because of that. He told be, "at least it's better than doing nothing." Those words clicked. If you have a chance to do something to better your position, or propel yourself towards your excellence, take it. Whether it's a bottle rocket sized propulsion or smaller. It will still benefit you. I read an article today that talked about this quote, "The best time to plant an apple tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is today." You can't go back 20 years. Do what you should have years ago today because you don't want to have to regret not making a move later. Go make a move today to help you get to where you want to be tomorrow.

Today's Workout- Power Clean/ Curl Day

2x 15 Gorilla/ Hammer Curls

3x6 Bicep Pull Down

2x5 Power Clean

4x5 Straight bar curl

3x10 Box Jumps

3x8 Straight Leg Dead Lift

2x5 Hang Clean 

Abs- Plate Dips/ Plate Twists   2x20

Squats and Triceps

      Great combo right? Today's workout had me feeling nauseous most of the time. I kind of screwed up when I took my pre-workout compared to the last food intake I had, and that could have played a role in my nauseousness. Or it could have just been that it was the first time that I squatted to leg fatigue rather than knee fatigue in the last 8 months. It felt great, even though I felt like I was going to pass out after. I can't stress how good that makes me feel though. Every time I squat to that extreme I get a rush of energy running through me for the rest of the day. I get that workout high from squatting and that's why I like it.

Remember that compound exercises (exercises that use more than one muscle and joint) burn more calories and get better results with less reps. Another thing to keep in mind is that when you use your lower body in a lift you burn a lot more calories than upper body lifts. This is because your legs are (or should be) bigger than your upper body. Working your legs hard is better for fat loss than only working your upper body. If you want to get a better body faster, go do some squats. Do it.

You don't need to go to a gym to do squats. Do body weight squats, Grab something heavy around the house and hold that and squat. There are tons of ways to get around going to the gym. Utilize these ways.


Today's workout-

3x8 Close Grip Bench
2x10 Parallel Squats
2x10 Sumo Squat Jumps
2x10 Skull Crushers
2x8 Straight Leg Deadlift
2x10 Step-ups
2xFail Dips
2x10 Overhead Tricep Extensions
2x10 Tricep Pushdown

Abs
2x24 Plate Twist
2x24 Plate Oblique Dips
2x30 Three-way Planks

Pole Sculpt Review and Today's Workout

Pole Sculpt Review

Yesterday I went to try out the "Pole Sculpt" Class at the same place that I do ZUMBA. Going into it, I was nervous that I was going to have to spin around and such, like a stripper. I wasn't really excited for that idea and was happy when she explained that we wouldn't be spinning around like a stripper and would be climbing and holding our body weight up in different ways to work different muscles. When we were starting the instructor told us that we could use some sticky wax to help keep our grip, at first I thought that I would be fine. I was wrong. We had just finished ZUMBA and I was really sweating it up. I put the grip on and it helped quite a bit. It was still hard getting the hang of the grip techniques to prevent slipping and I was having a lot of trouble. The instructor said that eventually I would get much better and the gripping the pole would be easier. Looking past the grip aspect, the class was HARD. I could really feel the burn in my shoulders and arms as we were going along. My goal is to be able to do the flag (arms extended above your head with legs straight out horizontally) eventually so I will be going to these classes as much as possible. It was a good time and I would suggest it to anyone who wants to work hard at something.


The last few days I have been doing workouts twice a day and I've been feeling great. On Monday I went to the playground with a friend who is joining the army and we made up a workout on the spot and it turned out to be a really good workout. You don't need to go to a gym to get a workout. Just crossing the monkey bars can be a really good workout. You can do push-ups and pull-ups and dips and all sorts of exercises on playground equipment that you would normally do in gym. If you want to succeed, you have to be willing to do things that are out of your norm. Don't make excuses, you can go workout.


Today's Workout-


2 rotations of Max
          -Wide grip pullups, Narrow pullups, neutral grip pullups
3x10 Lat Pull Down
3x10 Lat Hammerstrength Row
3x8  Bent-over Rows
2x20 Back Extensions
2x 30 second Supermans

I'm about to go for a nice jog, I plan on running more and more to work my knee so that I can eventually run as much as I want without being sore. That's my goal right now.

Daily Workout-Power Clean Day and Zumba Review

Power Clean Day-

       ZUMBA Review

    Last night I attended my first ZUMBA class and, to say the least, it was interesting. It had me sweating pretty quickly. It reminded me that I can't even pretend to dance, yet it was fun trying. My legs were burning after only a little bit. Now that I think about it, I probably got a better workout out of it because jumping movements are really hard for me still most of the time. The answer to the question "Were you the only guy?" is yes, I was. It was a little awkward but it felt like a good enough workout that it's worth going to. I feel as though it will help me with my rehab to get back to being able to hop, jump, and cut. My knee was very sore from all the hopping movements that are all over in the class. I feel that if I go a few more times I will be able to actually do all the movements rather than just getting a little overwhelmed in my inability to dance. I would definitely go again. Even if I feel awkward shaking my hips around. 

  Today I had my last therapy and worked really hard there and then went and had a great workout with some varsity football players. I forgot how much I like to Power Clean. There isn't many exercises that make me feel the same way as when I Power Clean. My legs get tired and my arms get droopy, but it makes me feel great afterwards. It was a great day for working out and my body feels fantastic. Check out everything I did between my two workouts below. 

  As I'm still working on how to get the page with exercise descriptions up and running. The link below is a link to show how to properly do a Power Clean.

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/PowerClean.html

Today's Workouts-

     

    Therapy-

       Do everything for as long as possible

       

       Bosu Ball Squats

       Bosu Ball Squat Medicine Ball catches

       Bosu Ball Side and Front Lunges

       Box Toe Taps

       Box Jumps

   Workout-

   

     2x8 Power Clean

     4x5 Straight Bar Curls

     Abs

          2x20 Plate twists, 2x20 Plate dips, 2x 30 Second Front, Side, Side Plank.

     Hang Clean Progession (Shrugs, Upright Rows, Hang Clean)

     2x Fail Gorilla Curls/ Hammer Curls

     3x10 Straight Leg Dead Lifts

       

Bench DAYYYYYYYYY! and Legs

Bench Day, and some Legs.

     Today was bench day, my favorite day of the week. Everything went alright.. I failed on my last rep but besides that everything went well. I didn't get quite as much weight as I wanted to get but it felt like it was an alright for the amount that I've benched in the last few weeks. My knee felt great doing the workouts I did today. When it gets sore, it doesn't stay sore for as long as it had in the past. I think I'm coming to the homestretch on my recovery. I ran a little bit after lifting and my knee still feels fine. In a little while I am going to be attending my first real ZUMBA class of my life. I'm a little worried, I think it'll be fun. I'm not really sure how great of a workout it will be, but I think that I am always willing to try anything. My mom just signed my sister and I up for unlimited fitness classes for the next 2 months. Classes include Yoga, Zumba, Core, Pilates and Pole Sculpt classes. I intend to try all of them so be watching for updates on how they go. Have any of you tried any of these types of classes and have a review of how they are? Comment below. :) P.s. Thanks Mom :)

    I am still working out how to get the page with descriptions of each workout up. I've hit a few roadblocks that I have to maneuver around. For now, if you don't know what a lift is check out.http://www.exrx.net/Exercise.html or google the exercise name with "description" after it and pick the exrx link. Very helpful website with tons of information.




Today's Workout-

3x 10  Platform Step ups
Abs
   -V Situps
   -Leg in and outs
3x 10/8/6 Bench Press
3x8 Front Squat
3x10 Hammer Strength Dead Lift
2x 20 Incline and Decline Pushups


I'm off to go Zumba. (Can Zumba be a verb?) I will have an update on my opinions of it tomorrow. Wish me luck. Lots and lots and lots of luck.

Daily Workout- Hang Clean Day

Hang Clean Day-

    As always I am more than happy to take criticism on what I write about and how I go about doing things on this blog. Today my sister suggested that most readers wouldn't know what some of the lifts that I write about are and how to properly perform them. She suggested that I create a separate page on this blog to list a description of all the lifts I put in posts. In the next few days I will be hopefully (barring design difficulties) implementing this. I believe that this step will make my page and my writing more appealing to the casual onlooker. I am open to any ideas I receive so please, if you have a suggestion, comment or tweet at me to let me know at @fitness4student.

     Today's workout has me more sore than I have been in a long time. The combination of my knee problems and simply not doing a lot of hang clean recently is going to take its toll on me tomorrow morning. Good thing I'm planning on attending yoga in the morning to have my active rest day activity. Reminder if you haven't read my blog from last fall about yoga here is a link. http://collegestudentfitness.blogspot.com/2012/10/yoga-classes-my-experiences-and-health.html

     It is important even on a lifting rest day to get some sort of exercise in and yoga is a perfect option for that. So go out tomorrow, be active, have fun. I know that's my plan for tomorrow. Don't be sedentary, be active and be on the lookout for the new page with descriptions of all the lifts. Until then, I believe I am using common enough names to google and be successful finding what you need


Today's Lifts-

      3x10 Hang Clean to Front Squat
      3x12 Pectoral Fly  with Max Set of Push-ups following each
      2x5 Single Arm Dumbbell Clean and Press- Each Arm
      2x Shoulder Series
             5-10lb Weights   Arm lifts- Palm down in front, Palm up  in front,
              Palm down to the sides and Iron Cross ( Hold weights out in a "T" at shoulder level)
      3x5 Hang Clean Progression( Shrugs, Upright Row, Hang Clean)
   
      Abs- 2x24 Each
             Sitting Leg In and Outs
             V- Leg touches


Have a great rest of your day.

Daily Workout- Triceps and Legs- In Gym

Tricep and Leg Workout- In Gym
     
          Today was a very nice workout and had me pouring sweat for most of it. As with yesterday's workout credit goes to my high school strength coach. It was a nice variety of different lifts to compliment each other. The order of lifts for the week plays on each other nicely so it never seems like you are going to over exert a muscle. It has been a great week for workouts and I'm very excited to be back blogging about my hard work. It gives me an extra reason to be active and do what I already love doing. I have received a great deal of support from people and that reinforces the idea that this is a good thing. I thank you all for reading and hope that you get some sort of motivation out of it. I hope that everyone can find the time in their schedule to make working out a habit.


        "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." ~ Aristotle


      Today's Workout-

           3x8 Close Grip Bench Press
           3x8 Squat
           3x8 Skull Crushers
           2x20 Plate Twists
           2x20 Plate Oblique Dips Each Arm
           2x 30sec Push-up Plank/ Side Planks
           2x Failure Dips
           3x12 Tricep Pushdown
           3x8 Straight Leg Dead Lift


      Go out and be active and get a workout in. If you haven't been working out, there is no time like today to start. Follow me at @Fitness4student for motivational quotes throughout the day.

Daily Workout- Back

Back Workout-

   Today I was lucky enough to lift in my high school weight room that I am still in love with. I've never been in a weight room that made me feel as at home. It has the right amount of free weights as well as an abundance of Hammer Strength machines. You just don't get the same kind of lift out of pulley machines as you do out of a hammer strength machine. I also missed the atmosphere that is created in that weight room. I am going in a few minutes to do some cardio so working out is on top of my mind right now. I'm just trying to get into the zone right now. I cannot take credit for this workout, my high school strength coach created it and it reminded me of how much I liked (and hated at the same time) going to lift at his workouts. These type of intense workouts are important for building your body to be ready to compete in an athletic sport. The lowered rest time that is expected in between each set really helps for your muscle endurance. 

    My Workout Today-

            Warmup- Agility ladders

 (as fast as you can, for me and my knee that turns out to be pretty slow.)

          -3x6 Pull-ups (Wide grip, Narrow grip, Neutral grip)(3 sets each)

          -3x8 Bent over rows

          -3x8 Hammer Strength Lat Pull down

          -3x20 Calf Raises

          -3x8 Hammer Strength Row

          -2x20 Back Extensions

          -2x30 second superman holds

          -4x20 (sit-ups, crunches, scissor kicks in a row)

I can tell you that I was beat because the pace that we went at for this workout makes it tough. One after the other, short breaks. It really got the sweat going. 

My cardio later will most likely be minute intervals on the ARC machine. Please comment, follow, share my blog with all of your friends. It would be much appreciated. Check back tomorrow for my daily workout. 

5 Easy Weight Loss Tips to Help You Today

5 Easy Weight Loss Tips to Help You Today

          Sometimes all you have to do to start towards your weight loss goals is stumbling across a well put together list of easy things you can do to lose weight. Recognizing this, I decided to put together a list of tips that I personally find very helpful.


      1. Eat Less: Often times changing your entire diet is difficult. You have to move slow and not make too drastic of changes. Instead of changing your entire diet, to start your way to weight loss just eat a little bit less. A wrestling coach I had in high school one told me and a friend, when we were contemplating eating barely nothing to make weight, that it wasn't a smart idea and we had to do it a better way, he said, "Think about how much you eat normally. Every meal only eat half as much as you normally eat. You can survive on half of what you eat now, and this is much better than just not eating." If you listen to your body, you don't ever need to be extremely full. Instead of the 4 pieces of pizza you eat and feel really full after, eat 2. The pounds will start melting off.

    2. Drink Water: There are many reasons why drinking water can help you lose weight.
                -To burn calories efficiently, you body must have enough water.
                -If you feel hungry at a non-mealtime, you can drink a glass of water to curb the hunger.
                -Drinking water with a meal can make you feel more satisfied with less food.
                -Dehydration harms your ability to exercise. To have a better workout, drink more water.
                   
    3. Eat More Protein: You should be eating protein with every meal. It will help your muscles repair themselves nicely as well has fight off hunger pangs better. Try for a 40%/40%/20%  split of
Complex Carbs/Proteins/Fats. Try to stick to the leaner proteins, turkey over ham, fish over steak.


    4. Do High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT): Interval training is the new wave of fat-loss Cardio. The best way to burn fat isn't to jog for an hour in your fat loss zone, the best way to lose fat is to burn more calories. In a 16 minute HIIT you can burn more calories than an hour at steady pace. Along with more calories burned during the exercise, HIIT ramps up your basal calorie output for hours after you are done working out. You need to remember that the majority of your daily calories burned are outside of the gym. If you can raise the amount burned outside of the gym by spending less time IN the gym, I think that's maximizing your efforts.

   5. Weight Train: Girls, I'm going to say this once right now but I will say it a thousand more times. LIFTING HEAVY WEIGHTS WILL NOT MAKE YOU LOOK LIKE A BODY BUILDER. If you want to "Tone" your muscles and tighten up areas that you aren't happy with, LIFT WEIGHTS. Weight training is essential for building a lean body. If you only do cardio to lose weight, the majority of your weight lost will be in muscle mass. You can't look lean and toned if you don't have any muscle. You can only look skinny. Being overly skinny is not the current trend and I think that it should stay that way. No one wants a twig. Having more muscle, increases your basal caloric output, or how much calories you burn just sitting around. To maintain your muscles, your body has to burn more calories and in turn will help you lose fat easily.

Go ahead and hit that like button, share this on facebook and twitter. Comment below and I will field any questions that come up.

 I will be going to workout soon here. My workout post will come shortly after that. Be well.

Therapy and Leg Day- Opportunity

Therapy Day-

     Today I had therapy for my leg. I was finished with therapy for awhile but I was at a point where I was allowed to go further into exercises such as jumping and I had no idea where to start. Going back to therapy has given me a better baseline to know what I am actually capable of doing. It has helped a lot and I am very happy with the decision to go back. Having someone telling you what to do and wanting to push yourself to the limit in their guidance is a very good way to reach your full potential. This brings me to an important tip.

Choose a Workout Partner Who Motivates You

     If your current workout partner isn't motivating you to
                 1. Go to the Gym  2. Work Hard 3. Stay Focused.
    you need to pick a new partner. There are people out there that better suit your goals. Pick someone who doesn't let you skip a workout you had planned. Pick someone who doesn't just want to talk to you the whole time instead of doing work. Pick someone who is better than you to ask for a little help. If you lift with someone who can lift a lot more than you, strive to be them. Different people offer different incentives of being their workout partner. Weigh the options and pick the best one for you.

      Therapy today consisted of-
       
       10 minutes on the Elliptical
       Walking lunge with medicine ball twists
       Resistance Band Back Pedaling
       Resistance Band Karaoke Drills
       Resistance Band Side Shuffles
       Leg Press Until Fatigued
       Balance Exercises
       Step ups- Right leg Left leg up then Right leg Left leg down
                  As fast as you can for about a minute.
       10 minute cool-down on the stationary bike



    Today I locked in the privilege to work with my high school football team in the weight room and I am more than ecstatic about it. Just being in the weight room that I love the most made me jump into a group and start lifting with them. While I was in there I got a text from a teammate that said "Raider Pride til You Die" and I would have to agree. I miss being in competitive sports and this is an opportunity to stay in touch with the program that gave me so much as well as help out the next generation.

Revival- Comeback

Revival-Rehab

  

             I am back. I've been away from this for far too long and I've been waiting for the right time to get back at it. For the last 6 months I have been rehabbing an ACL reconstruction and meniscus trimming. I had been living injured for the 2 months before I had the surgery, hoping that I wouldn't have to have my second ACL reconstruction of my life and it would just heal by itself. It didn't heal.. So I am still on the long recovery back (congrats Adrian Peterson for being a much better healer than I am). Knowing the things I learned from my first blown-out knee helped me dramatically to stay in better shape and in a better frame of mind. My first injury is what started the slow spiral to my 40 pound weight gain. I was determined to not let my body take that kind of abuse again. 

          6 months later, my right quad is still about half the size of my healthy left quad. This is the driving force in my workout plans currently. I have to be very careful still with my cardio. I just received the okay to start jumping a few weeks ago. While I am allowed to jump, I am not allowed to cut athletically yet and won't be cleared to play any athletic sport for a couple of months. This is a byproduct of a second ACL reconstruction as well as a byproduct of having a cadaver graft for the ACL which takes a little bit longer to heal. 

        My workout plans now are based on Upper-body switching off with Lower-body each day taking rest days on Wednesday if I feel sore and resting the majority of Saturdays and Sundays. I am currently doing all of the upper-body muscle groups every day that I work upper-body and the same for lower-body. I am working in modifications each day so I never do the exact same workout two days in the same week.

        The majority of my training has been molded into sets of 6-12 depending on the day with 2-3 sets of each workout. A lot of my lower body workouts I have been doing single leg variations of exercises so that my body is unable to try and cheat and let my healthy leg take the most of the weight. I also try to work a little bit extra in my right leg to try to catch up as much as I can. 

        Today was an upper-body day, and I am in a different gym for the summer and I'm starting to get into a good routine in this gym. Going to this gym means there is less free weights and more machines. I try my best to do as many lifts on the dumbbells as I can. Before the last month I had not used dumbbells as much as I wanted to. The only thing I am really missing for free-weights is being able to bench. There is something about having a good bench-press Monday that just makes life seem to have a little extra color in it. I just have to work my muscles in a different way and, to be honest, this isn't too much of a bad thing. It gives me a chance to confuse my muscles. 

         My workout today-

                        6 Minute warm-up on the stationary bike

                        

                        3x8 Dumbbell Shoulder Press

                        3x8 Pull-ups (use assisted pull-up if a guy was on it forever and you had to do it last instead of second in your workout..tsk tsk)

                        2x20 Dips (close to failure)

                        3x8 Bicep Curls

                        3x8 Lat Pull-Down

                        3x10 Tricep Pushdown

                        8 minutes on the Arc trainer 1 minute intense intervals 

         Sometimes all you need is a little prod of inspiration to get you out there working to improve your health. This blog had been such an inspiration to me knowing that people were reading what I did in the for my workout each day. This made me excited to create new workouts to try and test out.It gave me the prod that I needed to work that little bit harder. If reading my blog can give that inspiration to a single person, I would be overjoyed. I may have a new body part in my knee, but I'm still the same person who wants to be the biggest help that I can be. I am more than willing to respond to questions in the comment section. I would actually be overjoyed to know that I could be of some help. So please, do NOT hesitate to comment.