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. 

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.