Lifting For Two

Are you a gym loner?  Are you one of those people who hits the gym solo, day in and day out, in your own little world, at your own intensity level, and with your own goals in mind?  Well, thousands upon thousands of people are, and you know what?  That's just fine.  Some people work well alone, and most of the time I think I fall into this category just fine.  For months on end I've been hitting the gym solo, and have gotten plenty of personal records in the process.  Lots of people do the exact same thing with great success, so what's the problem?  Well, the thing is, by working out alone, you may be falling into a hidden trap, and squandering your own potential.

What do I mean?  Well, let me put it this way.  It's much easier than you think to set both your goals and your intensity levels far too low, and lose out on quite a bit of possible muscle gains.  In fact, you could get stuck in a rut without even realizing it.  Sure, I've given you ways to prevent this, such as setting short term goals which you have to try your darndest to stick to, or getting your diet right so you have maximum energy and feel ready to hit the heavy stuff day in and day out.  But honestly, the most effective motivation in a workout is sometimes just another person.

I can speak from personal experience here.  Whenever I've had the pleasure of another person to lift alongside, I've felt better and more motivated than any other time.  The reasons for this are quite simple, and I bet you all could figure them out.  However, because that wouldn't make much of an article, I'll post them here regardless:

Assistance:  Whether it's loading the weights, checking for good form, or just moving equipment around in general, you can get your next workout set up faster with someone else helping you.  You can also make sure you're doing it right.  Though a mirror works fine to check for squat depth, it'd sure be nice to have someone else there checking it for me as well.  And if your back rounds during a heavy deadlift, they can yell at you to drop that sucker before you get hurt, before you actually GET hurt.  That'd be nice, wouldn't it?

Distraction:  When the weight gets heavy, and you're there alone, that's all you can think about.  It's just you, under this stupidly heavy weight, and you need to squat it from top to bottom to top again.  And god it's heavy, why's it so heavy?  It wasn't this heavy yesterday, was it?  Oh my god I can't do this.  But I'm going to try anyway...so I here I go...and then BAM!  You fail.  You dump the weight, make some noise, and miss a chance at another PR.  Sucks, doesn't it?  There are two ways to alleviate this.  Take some weight off (hah! like that'll happen), or get a friend to come and watch you.  Performing for someone else can actually have a positive effect on lifting ability.  Your friend creates a distinct distraction that can easily take your mind off the task at hand, and instead get you into the right mindset to make the lift.  They can talk to you, root you on, tell you to push harder, and most likely you'll listen, and succeed.  Plus, having a friend there makes even the longest workouts fly by.  Just don't get chatting instead of lifting.

This distraction aspect also works GREAT with cardio.  I hate running, so whenever I had to go for a run I'd try to find someone to run with.  MUCH EASIER! 

Competition:  This used to be my driving force back in high school, with a guy named Cameron Stiles.  He and I would go back and forth trying to push out more reps with more weight (in fact our motto was jokingly "more weight, more reps, less rest") than the other could do.  Usually he won, considering he had about 10 lbs more muscle than I did, and was also built like a full-back (short arms, short legs, resembling an M1 Abrams Tank if you squinted.)  Nevertheless, he pushed me to get stronger faster than I ever had before, and god was it fun trying to beat him.  Next chance you get, bring a bud to the gym who's around your strength level, set up a few competitive lifts, and have at it.  You'll not only get a great workout in, but you'll feel like a beast WHEN you beat him.  And if competition doesn't get your mind in the right place to lift, I don't know what will.

Encouragement:  I've sort of covered this one already, but on a hard rep sometimes someone yelling appropriate encouragement can really push you through.  Keep in mind this needs to be the right tone of voice, intensity, volume, etc., so most likely not every one of your buddies will get you lifting that last rep as efficiently as they could.  For me, again, it was Cameron.  He had a way of yelling at me that just made me angry, energized, and extremely determined to get that last rep.  Haven't found someone else yet who could do the same.  But give it a shot, bring a friend and egg each other on, because a little encouragement can go a long way.

Safety:  Now this one kind of seems like a no brainer, but I'll mention it anyway.  Squats I'm not so concerned about, anyone who really knows what they're doing can dump a bar backward or forward, but on something like a bench press, seated military press, or anything else where you're suspending a bar over your body with no place to really throw it if it goes bad, it'd be nice to have someone there to pull the thing off you when you can't lift it anymore, right?

A Few More Reps:  This one kind of goes with the safety topic, though not exactly.  See, when you're benching alone, you know you need to rack it before you get to that one "grinding" rep, where you may or may not get stuck under the darn thing.  If you have someone there spotting you, and they know what they're doing, you can ALWAYS go for broke, and go right until you can't lift another rep.  Then, the best part is, your friend can help you push one more out by gently, lifting up on the bar and alleviating some of the weight on the concentric phase.  Heck, you can do that same thing four or five times and really push your body over the edge so much that it HAS to grow to adapt.  Go past your max, and you'll put on muscle, quick.

Creativity:  If you put two brains together, usually you can come up with better programming and more effective exercises than you would normally on your own.  You can discuss what you're feeling in your bodies throughout the workout, and determine what your next lift should be accordingly.  You can even design routines and lifts on the spot, and confuse your muscles enough so that they'll be forced to grow big and strong.  And trying new and crazy things can really make you feel impressively strong, and walk out of the gym that day feeling truly accomplished.

So there you have it, exactly why you should try to work out WITH someone else the next chance you get.  You'll push harder, be more efficient, creative, and effectively worked.  Plus, I can almost guarantee that it'll be a lot more fun (if you're working out with someone you actually like...).  Give it a shot, I'm pretty sure you'll see what I mean.  Progress comes quickly when someone else is there to help.

Get a buddy, hit the heavy weight, and as always, GOOD LUCK!

The Short Term Key

Short term goals are some of my best friends, and through writing this article I hope they become some of yours as well.  These little goals are not only easy to think about, but are easily achievable!  That's right, they're goals that you have a very good chance of achieving quite quickly.  Ahhh, doesn't that sound nice?  Accomplishment.  Love that feeling.

And conveniently, they're probably the best stepping stone to that long term goal looming dramatically over your noggin, constantly in your thoughts, keeping you awake at night (muahahahaha....).

But seriously, consider the short term goal your sword, to slay that giant beast.  The bat, to knock down that wavering pinata.  The axe, to hack at that massively daunting oak.  You get the idea.

First, let's define what a short term goal means in OUR situations (at the gym, of course).  They can easily be applied to lifting weights, cardio, flexibility training, even diet!  And the best part is, they keep you on track, keep you coming back for more day in and day out.  And probably their most important job is to keep you feeling good, accomplished, and satisfied.  Let's find out how to start setting some short term goals, shall we?

What can you do now?  This statement is purposely quite general.  What are your current strengths, skills, flexibility, calorie/nutrient consumption, etc.  How do you stack up?  Maybe you bench 190lbs for 4 reps.  Maybe you can jump on a 36" box 5 times in 8 seconds.  Maybe you eat 2500 calories a day and want to lose 3 lbs.  You're only going to know where you stand if you make an effort to record these type of things!  Write them down!  Put them on a note in your ipod (I have one on my iphone entitled "Current PR's"!  Make a voice recording!  I don't care which, just make sure you record your abilities, because if you don't I can almost guarantee you won't make progress (or nearly as much as you could.)

How do you feel?  This one's a little bit harder to fathom, but not too hard to grasp if you really put some thought into it.  After you did those 4 reps of 190lbs on the bench press, how did you feel?  Were they extraordinarily easy?  If that's the case, why the heck did you stop?  Were they super duper hard?  Was it your MAX? How about that diet?  If you're eating 2400 calories, how full do you feel throughout the day?  Are you starving?  Bloated?  Tired?  MAKE NOTES OF THESE THINGS AS WELL.  These feelings are important in order to set short term goals effectively.

What's your long term goal?  Remember what I said in my New Year's resolution article?  Set a long term goal that's challenging.  Make yourself work, reach, exert near maximum effort as often as you can while avoiding injury.  How do you plan to impress your friends (and more importantly, yourself), if you don't have to power yourself to a higher, fantastic level?  Be ambitious.  Record a goal for yourself that you can be seriously proud of when you complete.  Write it down, and PUT IT WHERE YOU CAN CONSTANTLY SEE IT.  You need constant reminders to be successful.  It's human nature.


Now, set your first short term goal! You've got all the factors in place to be able to set your first short term goal.  Now keep in mind, there's still an art to this.  Don't make it an immediate short term goal.  At the earliest, make it for tomorrow.  For the beginner, I'd suggest either weekly, or bi-weekly goals.  Monthly is a little lengthy, and gets to be vague.  Let's look at the examples above, and set some goals for those people:

If you bench 190lbs for 4 reps now, how about 195lbs for 4 reps next week?  Easy enough to do, eat right and get proper recovery, and you'll be there in no time.

Do you run for 10 minutes now at 7.0 miles an hour?  Aim for an extra minute next week, at maybe 7.2 miles per hour.  Or better yet, add another thirty seconds every two or three days.  Maybe only 15 seconds!  How easy is that?

How about the diet one.  If you consume 2400 calories now, and feel hungry, replace 200 calories of a guilty  "snack" food (like Tostitos) with 100 calories of some sort of bean salad, or a handful of peanuts.  Simple!

And the great part about short term goals is that they ADD UP QUICKLY.  It's easy to look at a short term goal and scoff, thinking the whole time about "so what if I squat 5 lbs more than last week."  It's 5 little pounds!  But if you could do that all year (which would be extremely difficult, but isn't unachievable,) you'd be squatting over 250lbs more than you did at the beginning of the year!  WOW!

But what if you fail?  Don't sweat it!  If we all hit every one of our goals every single time, we'd all be Olympic champions!  Recover, recuperate, regroup, re-motivate, and try again in a day, or two, or a week.  Don't lollygag, but don't rush into it.  It's really like walking a tight rope.  Push yourself, but on a consistent and realistic basis.

Finally, let's cover the topic you're all probably considering.  What if you don't set any short term goals?  Well, everybody works their own way, but you have no idea how many people I see go into the gym and do the same exercises every day, doing the same number of push-ups, same number of squats with the same weight, and same amount of time on the treadmill.  They don't have goals, they just want to say they go to the gym, and convince themselves that's all that matters.  Blahhh...boring...and believe me they won't get far.

How about those who have the big goal in mind, but no little ones?  Well, I've heard a lot of people say they want to bench 350, but don't go about getting there with any sort of routine or consistency.  They're dumb about it.  And what happens?  They get sidetracked, tired, burned out, and inevitably...FAIL.  Sure, there are exceptions, but in my opinion those exceptions are few and far between.

So that's the scoop.  Short term goals are what bring the big, crazy goals into perspective.  They're stepping stones across the huge waving river (there I go with the analogies again...).  Set them, and start seeing that sweet, sweet progress.  

Keep setting goals.  Keep breaking records.  You'll be surprised at how far you'll get.  Good Luck!

Gorilla Strength

Every now and then, I like to remember my place in nature.  My strength, my diet, my bodily abilities, they're all highly evolved traits that have manifested themselves over thousands of years.  Darwinian nature at its finest, right?  And to see us humans in comparison to other creatures really puts in perspective that, wow, is all this evolution really.....evolution? I mean the term evolution implies that we are evolved, more advanced, newer, more up to date version of our animal friends.  But if you compare our fellow human beings to our more native brethren, the jungle apes and monkeys, what we've gained in smarts, we've lost in functionality.

Before I get into my real animal comparison, let's first look at our nearest cousin, the chimp.  A full grown male chimp is said to be nearly three times stronger than an adult man.  And even the adolescents can have their way with just about any zookeeper.  I remember watching shows of "wildlife specialists" playing with the little toddler chimps (which could already walk, climb, swing, and do other things no human toddler, or adult for that matter, could ever dream of doing).  The little guys were practically ripping the arms off of these animal loving humans.  And they're just tiny little babies!  Seriously, that's pretty amazing.

And to get to my main point, let's examine the gorilla, probably my favorite creature of all time.  These guys are massive, the largest males weighing over 400lbs!  Yet they can still swing from one arm at a time, and have extreme intelligence and dexterity.  And just wait until you hear how strong these guys are.  It's been rumored that an adult male gorilla can be anywhere from 6-16 times as strong as the strongest human male to ever have walked this earth.  16 TIMES STRONGER!  WOW!  That's probably the most amazing thing I've heard in a while, and one of the hardest to fathom.  Can you imagine snapping 2 inch steel rebar, or thick bamboo stalks, with your bare hands?  Both have been done by gorillas, the latter on a regular basis.  That's just phenomenal.

And what's more, look at a gorilla's diet!  They're herbivores!  We spend so much time worrying about protein intake, and getting massive amounts of lean meat in our diet just to put on a little bit of measly muscle.  The gorilla is basically eating raw salads all day, and consuming nothing but plant protein, which doesn't quite add up as fast.  And yet they still could toss a washing machine around like a beach ball.  So what's the deal, how are gorillas able to complete such incredible feats of strength?  Well, there are a few key reasons that may help to explain why gorillas are the beasts that they are.

First, let me put a disclaimer down that all my research has led to possible theories, and shouldn't be taken for absolute fact.  

Type II fiber:  Remember when I went over this subject?  It's mostly in my "Strength v. Size" article here: .  Read up!  Gorillas are supposedly composed of much more type II "fast twitch" EXTREMELY DENSE muscle fiber, which is drastically more efficient at creating vast amounts of immediate force.  This extreme density results in having a LOT more fiber per unit area than a human could ever dream of possessing.  

Muscle Recruitment:  It's quite possible that gorillas, through their own specific evolutionary processes, have transformed themselves into much more efficient muscular beings as a whole.  That means that they can use more of their total muscle fiber whenever they put their mind to it.  An average male who does NOT work-out is said to only be able to recruit around 20% of their muscle fiber to use at any one time.  That's so inefficient it upsets me to be of the human race.  When working out, you eventually increase the connections between your muscles and your brain, and after years of training you can increase this figure significantly, however you'll never reach 100%.  I doubt you'll even come close.  I'm not sure of a gorilla's exact muscle recruitment percentage, but I'm willing to bet it would be much more than even the most experienced weightlifters.  

Brain vs. Brawn:  Believe it or not, a lot of our daily caloric intake goes toward thinking!  Approximately 10-20%.  That's a pretty decent amount, and can explain why you're physically tired after a long test.  Gorillas, while very intelligent, don't have our kind of mental capacity, and therefore a lot more of that food energy goes right to those giant muscles.  This is the same for chimps and other monkeys as well, and helps to explain why they're so much stronger for their size.  

Diet Volume:  Sure, gorillas are MOSTLY vegetarian.  But don't forget that a full grown male gorilla can consume nearly 40lbs of vegetation a day.  No-matter what the heck is in all that, there's got to be plenty of every nutrient you could ever need for muscle growth.  

Body shape:  If you didn't know anything about a gorilla's strength or physiology in general, it'd still be easy to guess at their massive muscular abilities just by their body shape.  I mean just look at them!  They have massive chests, short legs, giant shoulders, and a fantastic set of core muscles.  All their muscle fiber is in relatively efficient positions compared to that of a human.  We're lanky, and not built for brute strength.  Our legs and arms are too long, and our core is relatively pathetic.  We can't compare with the pure physical nature of the beast.

So there's some food for thought this Monday morning.  Remember your place among the wild creatures, and remember that no matter how much you lift, or how clean you eat, the gorilla eats cleaner and lifts more weight than you could ever imagine, and usually does it on a daily basis.  Pretty funny how evolution works, isn't it?

Stay strong, be the beast, and good luck!

Performance Weekly #1: Whey vs Casein Protein

So, being a gym rat myself, I've decided to post at least one (it'll probably end up being way more than that) performance/strength/muscle building article per week.  I have always been a huge supporter of any sort of exercise, and believe it can do wonders for absolutely anybody.  Ten minutes a day out walking your dog is better than another ten minutes on the couch.  That will always be true.

I for one though, like to push it hard.  Being an Olympic style weightlifter, I am in the gym for at least an hour a day, sometimes twice a day, squatting, snatching, clean and jerking (you know, that sport you maybe have accidentally flipped to one day while the Olympics were on?)  pressing, and in general pushing my muscles to the absolute limit day in and day out.  And many of you are right there with me, whether you be a runner, biker, bodybuilder, swimmer, maybe even a Polo player (though I think the horse does most of the work there.)  You all work your muscles hard, sweat harder, and sleep soundly at night.

We all know the concept of working out.  You go to the gym, lift a few weights, and get stronger, right?  Well there's a lot more to it than that, but in general, yes.  However, if your goal is to get stronger, faster, you could be drastically hampering your progress if you're not supplementing your body correctly.  See, when you lift weights until exhaustion (when you feel the burn), what you're actually doing is forcing your muscles to work in an anaerobic state.  This means they're running off lactic acid instead of oxygen.  This chemical process works, however lactic acid is destructive to your muscles, and begins to break them down.  After your workout, your muscles use available sources of protein, carbohydrates, and various other nutrients to begin rebuilding the damaged fibers, and this time will try to build them a little bigger and denser than they were before, in an attempt to avoid such destruction.

However to do all this, you need supplementation.  One of the most common supplements on the market today to help with your strength goals is the humble protein shake, which you've probably seen in the form of Whey Protein Powder.

Whey is a staple in the fitness industry.  Those that don't know much about lifting still seem to know that they can buy a cheap tub of Whey protein at Walmart, mix some with water, drink it after their workout, and believe they have done their bodies a favor.  And they have!  But when you drink one of these shakes, what are you actually giving your body?  Why is Whey protein so helpful?  Well first things first.  Whey protein itself is a by-product of cheese production.  It is an extremely dense protein source, packed with all sorts of delicious nutrients, amino-acids, and other things your body needs when it's crying for food right after a workout.  Most protein you'll buy at the store is flavored (I like chocolate), and has a lot of other vitamins and related supplements that are beneficial to building muscle pre-mixed into it.  There's also a good source of simple carbohydrates, which will spike your insulin right after a workout, encouraging your body to absorb the protein AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE.  These carbs will also help refuel your muscle glycogen levels.  So in all, if you're one who does any sort of physical fitness activity, I would suggest incorporating whey protein into your post workout nutrition.  You'll be building lean muscle mass that will help you feel stronger, perform better, and will actually increase your metabolism to help burn off unwanted fat.  You'll be a lean, mean, performace machine.  A win-win situation for sure!

Side Note:  After a workout is pretty much the only time you want to voluntarily spike your insulin levels.  

So that's all fine and dandy, and now we have a great protein source to rebuild muscles after our intense gym session.  But we've got another problem.  If quick, powerful muscle gains are desired, we've got to realize that the body doesn't only rebuild muscle right after our workout.  Oh no, our body is constantly working on those destroyed muscle fibers, and it takes it's sweet time.  In fact it's most favorite time to work is at night, when we're asleep.  After two hours of deep sleep, our body begins to release Human Growth Hormone (HGH) to build those tired muscles back up to use the next morning.  But there's the problem.  What aren't we doing at night, which our body NEEDS us to do in order to have the raw materials necessary to build muscle back up?  EATING!!!!  We're practically starving ourselves all night!  That's not a good formula for muscle growth.  If only there was a quick, easy way to circumvent this problem.

Enter Casein Protein.  Unlike Whey, which is not optimal for night time growth because of it's extremely fast absorption rate, Casein absorbs into your muscles slowly, essentially feeding them all night long. Casein protein is often found in dairy products as well.  Basically, it is a slow acting alternative to Whey, so when taken right before bed it feeds your body all night as it slowly used by your body.  You can buy tubs of Casein protein powder, just like whey, but if you're not quite as serious about muscle building I would suggest trying this simple alternative:  Before bed, take a tablespoon of natural peanut butter (the fats in peanut butter have the same effect of slowing nutrient absorption) along with half a cup of cottage cheese, a food rich in Casein Protein.  Take these less than half an hour before you hit the hay, and watch your muscles grow. 

Another side note:  Just as whey protein is optimal before bed because it absorbs too fast, Casein isn't optimal post workout because it absorbs too slowly.  After your workout you want to cram nutrients into your muscles at light speed.

If you want to know more about the subtleties of both these protein sources, I suggest reading some articles over at www.bodybuilding.com.  They've got some top notch experts who write fitness related articles every day, and they've got all the science behind it.  I'm just trying to keep up with them =].

Last side note:  If desired, the absorption of Whey protein powder can be slowed by mixing it with non-skim milk, or almond milk, or with a tablespoon or two of PB due to the same nutrient slowing effects of the fat in either the milk or PB.

So now you know about Protein.  Get out there, lift hard, and feed your body right.