Saying Goodbye to a Decade of Breaking Muscle

It is time for someone else to lead breaking muscle through the next decade.

It's been 10 years since Breaking Muscle started. When I started I wrote about what interested me at the time because I couldn't find the information anywhere else. I got into yoga, CrossFit, Russian kettlebell training, MMA, and that led me to weightlifting and gymnastics, but the trade press was mostly about bodybuilding and physique, with very little else. What interested me and Breaking Muscle was niche and hard to find and definitely not mainstream.

Continue reading

Saying Goodbye to a Decade of Breaking Muscle

It is time for someone else to lead breaking muscle through the next decade.

It's been 10 years since Breaking Muscle started. When I started I wrote about what interested me at the time because I couldn't find the information anywhere else. I got into yoga, CrossFit, Russian kettlebell training, MMA, and that led me to weight lifting and gymnastics, but the trade press was mostly about bodybuilding and physique, with very little else. What interested me and Breaking Muscle was niche and hard to find and definitely not mainstream.

Continue reading

Homepage | Breaking Muscle

Break muscle

Menu

  • fitness
  • Trainings
  • To eat healthy food
  • reviews
  • Write for us
  • Trainer & Trainer
  • business
  • eBooks
  • about us
  • Contact us

business

A guide to the right shoe choice for athletes

Stress management and hypertrophy
 Tarek Shuhaibar discusses stress management strategies to improve your body, strength, and mental health.

Stress management and hypertrophy

12 Rules for Optimizing Your Health for a 21st Century Mindset
Comfort and convenience have made it harder than ever to be mentally and physically healthy.

12 Rules for Optimizing Your Health for a 21st Century Mindset

The challenge of getting on the podium at the CrossFit Games
Meet Jamie Simmonds, the third fittest woman in the world and an international CrossFit champion.

The challenge of getting on the podium at the CrossFit Games

A better approach for the beginner than "I saw it on Instagram"
Yes, there are a lot of fit looking people who love to post sexy looking fitness moves all over social media and most of them don't come with an attempt not to try this at home unless they have a disclaimer.

A better approach for the beginner than "I saw it on Instagram"

A Guide to Recovery and Training for Trainers and Parents
What you do after your workout can determine what you get after your workout.

A Guide to Recovery and Training for Trainers and Parents

A plague of strength is the best kind of plague
This episode offers you breathtaking stories about how people exercise and the social, political and economic pressures that physical culture has put on at different stages of humanity.

A plague of strength is the best kind of plague

A 5-step progression to the Bar Muscle Up
You need these five basic movements to build your first bar muscle - and how to get there without injuring yourself.

A 5-step progression to the Bar Muscle Up

A six-week sled training program
As foolproof as sledging is, some people still slaughter it, resulting in poor shape and wasted energy.

A six-week sled training program

An introduction to daily wavy periodization
DUP has regained popularity with powerlifters and regular fitness goers in recent years for good reason.

An introduction to daily wavy periodization

Conditioning for strength athletes
Fitness and stamina overlap, but they are not the same.

Conditioning for strength athletes

Strength training for ice-cold athletes
Yunus Barisik emphasizes the need for more strength and outlines how he structures the training of his ice hockey athletes in order to optimize performance.

Strength training for ice-cold athletes

Lifting Big, Dylan, Jazz and Skinny Jeans
More than anything, music has helped me learn a visceral connection to movement and lifting weights.

Lifting Big, Dylan, Jazz and Skinny Jeans

Helping ordinary people build incredible bodies
There are several ways to achieve fitness, from bodybuilders to the general population.

Helping ordinary people build incredible bodies

4 ways the pandemic saved my gym
What I learned when COVID forced me into a situation where I needed to improve or my employees would lose their jobs and I would lose my business.

4 ways the pandemic saved my gym

How to Use Diet Periodization for Maximum Muscle Strength
Your exercise and diet choices should work synergistically to help you achieve your physical goals.

How to Use Diet Periodization for Maximum Muscle Strength

I challenge you to train like a human
How you can use our bio-evolutionary programming to make our training more fun and interesting in today's world.

I challenge you to train like a human

Do world-class warm-ups for world-class performance
A successful warm-up should improve your performance and prevent pain and injury.

Do world-class warm-ups for world-class performance

Adopt your exercise habits to build better motivation
You can improve your motivation and the likelihood of exercising consistently by simply changing your mindset and taking responsibility for your training experience.

Adopt your exercise habits to build better motivation

Protein in its purest form - 25% DISCOUNT WITH CODE: BreakingMuscle25

The will and the way

Ultimate body weight

Olympic weightlifting

28 day clean eating challenge

Push, pull and flourish

Flexibility 101

Glute goddess

Handstand strength

DB strength of women

Barbell basics for women

Strength training for beginners

Ignite: fat loss

Muscle building strength

Rowing for weight loss

Barbell Shred

Simplify muscle development by making your workouts easier
This workout plan has a refreshing and healthy approach that you can use in any gym to build more muscle and achieve your goals.

Simplify muscle development by making your workouts easier

The 12 Week Fat Loss Enhancement Workout
The Only 12 Week Three Phase, Three Method Fat Loss Plan You Will Ever Need To Quarantine The Weight Gain.

The 12 Week Fat Loss Enhancement Workout

8-week training plan for push-up strength and power
The push-up may be off the radar for most strength programs, but it's still a powerful addition to any fitness plan.

8-week training plan for push-up strength and power

5 effective and easy upper body strength routines
Here are five surefire upper body exercises that can be a part of any strength, strength, weight loss, and / or general fitness program. I've also included recording forms so you can keep a log of your workouts.

5 effective and easy upper body strength routines

5 powerful lower body strength routines
Looking for a good leg workout? Here are five simple workouts to help strengthen your lower body. Includes full training details and a downloadable logging form.

5 powerful lower body strength routines

4 core pull-up exercises for women
Follow these exercises to strengthen your abs and do your first pull-up in no time.

4 core pull-up exercises for women

Better athletes: from cradle to grave
Here are tips from Rick Howard, an expert in long-term athletic development, to always being an athlete.

Better athletes: from cradle to grave

5 essential exercises for the strong runner
Strength training is a critical component of any high-performing, successful runner as it helps prevent injuries and build muscle strength.

5 essential exercises for the strong runner

Physical readiness for firefighters: 12 week training plan

How to self-diagnose your shoulder pain

Top 10 Foods to Gain Muscle Mass

10 landmine exercises you have never tried – and shouldn't have tried –

The 8 minute mile standard

7 exercises to maximize hand, wrist and forearm strength

Greasing the Groove: Here's How It Works for You

10 exercises without equipment for strong legs

Understanding energy systems: ATP-PC, glycolytic and oxidative – oh my god!

5 mistakes new coaches should avoid
Let my pain be to your advantage as I've rounded up a few common mistakes coaches make early in their careers.

5 mistakes new coaches should avoid

Emotional intelligence as a success marker for fitness training
Educating people in fitness, nutrition, health, and wellness requires emotional intelligence. Successful personal trainers abound in EI.

Emotional intelligence as a success marker for fitness training

Redline for results
If you're unsure of the role conditioning plays in achieving your goals, or you don't know how to program it effectively, then this is a must do.

Redline for results

No legs, no worries - keep your upper body strong and fast
The seated dumbbell cleans and pushes for stability, strength and a strong back.

No legs, no worries – keep your upper body strong and fast

Blood flow restriction cuffs (BFR) for boundary pushers
 These blood flow restriction cuffs (BFR) can be the new addition to your exercise regimen if you are serious about your workout.

Blood flow restriction cuffs (BFR) for boundary pushers

A guide to not only surviving but thriving through menopause
This book is a basic, informative, and fun step-by-step guide on how to thrive through menopause.

A guide to not only surviving but thriving through menopause

A crispy algae delight for vegan athletes

Hydrow Review – Full Body Home Happiness

A weight vest for beginners

The practice of natural movement

Everyone's bike: the NordicTrack S22i

Protein To Go: Au Bon Bone Broth

A comprehensive guide to fitness floors

Keep an eye on your diet on the go

Can Colostrum Change Your Life?

Sandbags to help you bring it together

The ultimate isometric exercise guide
Paul Wade, the author of Convict Conditioning, has a lot to say about isometric training and exercise.

The ultimate isometric exercise guide

Choose slings and wrist wraps based on function
The wrist wraps and slings you need depend on the type of exercise you are doing.

Choose slings and wrist wraps based on function

The Njoie Nforce Percussion Massage Gun
Percussive massage guns can cost up to $ 500, but there are cheaper variants that are more suitable for casual users.

The Njoie Nforce Percussion Massage Gun

How to Eat Fat
If you're interested in a keto diet, this might be the snack hack you've been looking for.

How to Eat Fat

The keto diet: basted egg with lemon ricotta

A Free Keto Diet Recipe Book: Salmon Stuffed Avocados and More

Eating well in old age: pikeperch with a parmesan crust

20 Ways To Prepare Poultry: Chicken Potstickers

Jackfruit: protein for sporty summers

Summer barbecues: how about clean eating and a dish made only from vegetables

Subscription Eating – Not your mom's food

Prebiotic Food: Broccoli and White Bean Soup

No powdered protein bars

Food intolerance: should I get tested?
The companies that continue to promote the IgG blood tests either do not fully understand the function of the IgG antibody, or worse, they do and continue to sell their product anyway.

Food intolerance: should I get tested?

The Athlete's Friend, Eggs: Best Buying Practices
Fun fact in case you missed it - the only difference between brown and white eggs is that brown eggs are from chickens with brown feathers and white eggs are from chickens with white feathers.

The Athlete's Friend, Eggs: Best Buying Practices

Turkey piri piri burger
When your summer gets hot, spice up your burger game with these turkey piri piri burgers.

Turkey piri piri burger

Greek pimiento burger
Go on a culinary summer vacation in Greece by combining all the typical flavors in one delicious grilled burger!

Greek pimiento burger

Caprese chickpea burger
Make your summer meal lighter with this chickpea-based veggie burger.

Caprese chickpea burger

Ginger shallots pork burger
Change up your grill burger routine with something unexpected.

Ginger shallots pork burger

Gym Owners: How Do You Measure Your Success?
Unfortunately, many gym owners don't even count the money they don't pay themselves and lose sight of what really matters in a successful gym business.

Gym Owners: How Do You Measure Your Success?

The 6-week challenge: play a losing game
6-week challenge versus a professional coach for life: What business are you in? You can't be in both.

The 6-week challenge: play a loser game

Don't leave a customer behind

A practical experiment on muscle fiber activation

Training of the over-specialized athlete

Rational periodization in strength training

The coach's approach: evidence versus intuition

Productive programming: that's how it works

Longevity in Fitness | Breaking Muscle

John Du Cane is the author of Qigong Recharge, editor, fitness guru, and accomplished businessman. I was lucky enough to speak to him recently. At first I thought we'd steer the conversation towards kettlebell and John's pioneering work in seeding the fitness industry with quality kettlebell trainers, but something else caught my attention. And so we talked about resilience and longevity.

John's journey began in South Africa, where he spent his youth. At a young age he felt a connection between life and energy. I understood this as his awareness of the life force of the human body and the energy connection between people.

John says, "I was always surrounded by nature and thinking about the world."

John started his qigong and tai chi practice in 1975 and has owned and operated Dragon Door Publications since 1990, where he spans everything from martial arts to isometrics, aside from popularizing tough kettlebell training under the RKC banner.

Qigong and resilience

As a qigong student, John Du Cane understands how our breath is a tool with which we can develop physical and mental resilience.

Qigong is an art that originated in China and is taught to warriors to be fully aware of their bodies and movements. I asked him if a particular segment of qigong would help modern martial artists develop this kind of resilience.

He suggested the iron shirt qigong.

If the breath is energy and energy of life, it makes sense why we breathe in a way that tenses our core muscles when doing exercises like running, pull-ups, or lifting heavy weights in general.

Longevity in fitness - fitness, weight lifting, strong man, diaphragmatic breathing, kettlebells, martial arts, self-confidence, core strength, training at home, pushing boundaries, energy, energy systems, posture, resilience, qigong

Control your breathing

Many books and courses on breathing techniques have been published.

If you're ever intrigued enough to buy a copy of John Du Canes Qigong series on Amazon, I'd also recommend buying a copy of Breathing for Warriors by Belisa Vranich and Brian Sabin.

These books contain a lot of information, tips, and tricks to begin your journey of breathing mastery.

According to John, it can take you many years to learn to control your energy through qigong. Development takes a long time because it goes beyond the physical aspects of our being. It helps us develop mental strength that sharpens our intuitive mind.

Train your inner being

This ability can help us navigate life by making meaningful choices. I've made some decisions in life that were logically right but didn't feel exactly right. Ultimately, these decisions led me to point one because I chose to ignore this sense of inner knowing.

This sense of inner knowing is your intuition, and if you choose to cultivate it through qigong, everything that happens to you will happen for you.

It's a change of perspective – a deeper understanding of your purpose on this planet.

Teamwork makes the dream come true. John began his friendship and working relationship with Pavel Tsatsouline when he enrolled in Pavel & # 39; s classes. Pavel & # 39; s technique, charm and articulation skills prompted John to contact Pavel to publish his programs.

In an interview with John, I asked him, "Was it because of all the decades of cultivating and training your intuition that you knew inside that this partnership was going to be a success?"

John Du Cane replied that it might be difficult to understand what was going on in his universe, but it makes sense that he derives his strong self-knowledge from training his inner self.

Kettlebell movement

At the time, kettlebells were not a trend or part of general exercise programs. Even Pavel stated that it was likely a very niche market in which to reach elite strength athletes and other interested professional athletes.

Little did they know that the kettlebell movement was going to become a worldwide phenomenon.

The kettlebell challenge offered people a platform to develop their strength, breathing and resilience all rolled into one. At this point, it's probably safe to say that as long as we're alive and excited about life, we always want to push the boundaries.

We're pushing boundaries to find the answer to the question we've all asked ourselves: Is there more to life than just our daily routines and duties??

A training program called the Russian Kettlebell Challenge (RKC) was born, which resulted in millions of people worldwide having the initials RKC tattooed on their bodies. It is safe to say that there is more in life for anyone who wants to challenge themselves by signing up for this rigorous program.

As Pavel says, "I'll show you how to be a better man. If you don't know, I'll show you. If you don't want to, I'll make you."

Kettlebell mechanics

I am a reflective learner who uses knowledge from the outside world to make it my own internally. My experience with kettlebell workouts has been amazing.

But to do it well, it will take more years before the pursuit of perfection is the journey of a lifetime.

My first encounter with the kettlebell helped me uncover my bad habits in terms of posture, breathing, and timing. I was a strong young man in my late teens and I always found ways to add to my exercise regimen.

The first thing I noticed was that it was easy to get injured with poor form.

In particular, arching your back is not advisable when you are on the downward swing. It also means that I used my arm and hip strength without reaching the full potential of my core strength.

Having abs is cool, but the ability to flex and relax your core at exactly the time you want is the next level.

The repetitive movement of tension and relaxation with which we perform the kettlebell swings can be applied to other forms of fitness such as martial arts and rugby.

There's a lot to do, but the good news is if, like me, you have a kettlebell in your room or office, you can get more exercise time to perfect your form and breathing. It only takes around 10 to 20 minutes for a real workout, which means it's less invasive for your time.

Connor Mcgregor, UFC multiple weight champion, once said, "Accuracy beats strength and timing beats speed."

Hope you made your way to find your form of perfection. If this trip is in fitness, I would highly recommend you buy a copy of John Du Canes Qigong Recharge and Pavel's Fast and Loose-Secrets of Russian Champions.

Longevity in Fitness | Breaking Muscle

John Du Cane is the author of Qigong Recharge, editor, fitness guru, and accomplished businessman. I was lucky enough to speak to him recently. At first I thought we'd steer the conversation towards kettlebell and John's pioneering work in seeding the fitness industry with quality kettlebell trainers, but something else caught my attention. And so we talked about resilience and longevity.

John's journey began in South Africa, where he spent his youth. At a young age he felt a connection between life and energy. I understood this as his awareness of the life force of the human body and the energy connection between people.

John says, "I was always surrounded by nature and thinking about the world."

John started his qigong and tai chi practice in 1975 and has owned and operated Dragon Door Publications since 1990, where he spans everything from martial arts to isometrics, aside from popularizing tough kettlebell training under the RKC banner.

Qigong and resilience

As a qigong student, John Du Cane understands how our breath is a tool with which we can develop physical and mental resilience.

Qigong is an art that originated in China and is taught to warriors to be fully aware of their bodies and movements. I asked him if a particular segment of qigong would help modern martial artists develop this kind of resilience.

He suggested the iron shirt qigong.

If the breath is energy and energy of life, it makes sense why we breathe in a way that tenses our core muscles when doing exercises like running, pull-ups, or lifting heavy weights in general.

Longevity in fitness - fitness, weight lifting, strong man, diaphragmatic breathing, kettlebells, martial arts, self-confidence, core strength, training at home, pushing boundaries, energy, energy systems, posture, resilience, qigong

Control your breathing

Many books and courses on breathing techniques have been published.

If you're ever intrigued enough to buy a copy of John Du Canes Qigong series on Amazon, I'd also recommend buying a copy of Breathing for Warriors by Belisa Vranich and Brian Sabin.

These books contain a lot of information, tips, and tricks to begin your journey of breathing mastery.

According to John, it can take you many years to learn to control your energy through qigong. Development takes a long time because it goes beyond the physical aspects of our being. It helps us develop mental strength that sharpens our intuitive mind.

Train your inner being

This ability can help us navigate life by making meaningful choices. I've made some decisions in life that were logically right but didn't feel exactly right. Ultimately, these decisions led me to point one because I chose to ignore this sense of inner knowing.

This sense of inner knowing is your intuition, and if you choose to cultivate it through qigong, everything that happens to you will happen for you.

It's a change of perspective – a deeper understanding of your purpose on this planet.

Teamwork makes the dream come true. John began his friendship and working relationship with Pavel Tsatsouline when he enrolled in Pavel & # 39; s classes. Pavel & # 39; s technique, charm and articulation skills prompted John to contact Pavel to publish his programs.

In an interview with John, I asked him, "Was it because of all the decades of cultivating and training your intuition that you knew inside that this partnership was going to be a success?"

John Du Cane replied that it might be difficult to understand what was going on in his universe, but it makes sense that he derives his strong self-knowledge from training his inner self.

Kettlebell movement

At the time, kettlebells were not a trend or part of general exercise programs. Even Pavel stated that it was likely a very niche market in which to reach elite strength athletes and other interested professional athletes.

Little did they know that the kettlebell movement was going to become a worldwide phenomenon.

The kettlebell challenge offered people a platform to develop their strength, breathing and resilience all rolled into one. At this point, it's probably safe to say that as long as we're alive and excited about life, we always want to push the boundaries.

We're pushing boundaries to find the answer to the question we've all asked ourselves: Is there more to life than just our daily routines and duties??

A training program called the Russian Kettlebell Challenge (RKC) was born, which resulted in millions of people worldwide having the initials RKC tattooed on their bodies. It is safe to say that there is more in life for anyone who wants to challenge themselves by signing up for this rigorous program.

As Pavel says, "I'll show you how to be a better man. If you don't know, I'll show you. If you don't want to, I'll make you."

Kettlebell mechanics

I am a reflective learner who uses knowledge from the outside world to make it my own internally. My experience with kettlebell workouts has been amazing.

But to do it well, it will take more years before the pursuit of perfection is the journey of a lifetime.

My first encounter with the kettlebell helped me uncover my bad habits in terms of posture, breathing, and timing. I was a strong young man in my late teens and I always found ways to add to my exercise regimen.

The first thing I noticed was that it was easy to get injured with poor form.

In particular, arching your back is not advisable when you are on the downward swing. It also means that I used my arm and hip strength without reaching the full potential of my core strength.

Having abs is cool, but the ability to flex and relax your core at exactly the time you want is the next level.

The repetitive movement of tension and relaxation with which we perform the kettlebell swings can be applied to other forms of fitness such as martial arts and rugby.

There's a lot to do, but the good news is if, like me, you have a kettlebell in your room or office, you can get more exercise time to perfect your form and breathing. It only takes around 10 to 20 minutes for a real workout, which means it's less invasive for your time.

Connor Mcgregor, UFC multiple weight champion, once said, "Accuracy beats strength and timing beats speed."

Hope you made your way to find your form of perfection. If this trip is in fitness, I would highly recommend you buy a copy of John Du Canes Qigong Recharge and Pavel's Fast and Loose-Secrets of Russian Champions.

Train Hard, Recover Harder | Breaking Muscle

Because of my email inbox and Instagram DMs, post workout recovery is a hot topic. I get all sorts of questions about recovery techniques.

  • "Can you rate my supplement stacks?"
  • "Should I do active recovery training?"
  • "When do I foam?"
  • "How would you change my diet on rest days?"
  • "What post-exercise stretching routine should I do?"
  • "Do ice baths or cold showers help my winnings?"
  • "What about cupping, compression garments, and percussion massagers?"

I'm glad people are paying some attention to their recovery. Unfortunately, I think they are paying their attention to the wrong pieces of the recovery puzzle. In this series of articles, I'm going to help you maximize your recovery and results by focusing on what really matters.

I will explain::

  1. Why stress is a double-edged sword and how to deal with it.
  2. Why recovery starts with great programming
  3. The two most powerful recovery tools and how to optimize them
  4. Six other recovery methods that work

This trend towards paying more attention to recreation is admirable.

In part, this is not surprising I like to remind people that instead of lifting bigger and stronger weights, they are recovering from lifting weights.

I have tried many times to illustrate the importance of recovery by presenting progress as a simple equation:

Stimulus + recovery = adjustment

Stress can be good

Stress can be both good and bad. Good stress, or what psychologists call eustress, is the type of stress we feel when we are excited. Exercise is a burden on the body. With sufficient dosage, it is undoubtedly useful.

Bad stress comes in two forms:

  1. Acute Stress triggers the body's stress response, but these triggers and emotions are not happy or exciting. In general, acute stress does not take a heavy toll. The stress response is fleeting and the body quickly returns to homeostasis or its pre-stress state.
  2. Chronic Stress is bad. It occurs when we are repeatedly exposed to stressors that take a heavy toll. We often feel down, overwhelmed, and trapped by this stress. For example, a stressful job with a donkey for a boss or an unhappy relationship at home can cause chronic stress.

Your tolerance and ability to cope with stress are different from mine.

Our tolerance also fluctuates over time. There is only so much stress to deal with. When you are under too much pressure you become overwhelmed. Your recovery from exercise will suffer during times of high stress.

Managing your stress level improves the quality of life.

It improves your digestion, rest, mood, and productivity. It will also improve your muscle building and fat loss.

Coping with stress; Not avoidance

Note that I am calling it stress management – not avoiding or reducing stress.

The fact is, you can't completely avoid stress.

However, you can improve management. The better you deal with stress, you will be happier, fitter, leaner, and more muscular. In short, life is getting better.

What is stress

The body's control center is the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The ANS regulates the involuntary functions of the human body. The stuff that happens without you consciously thinking about it, like breathing or digestion.

The ANS has two branches::

  1. The parasympathetic is also known as resting and digestive mode.
  2. The sympathetic is the fight or flight mode.

These two work like a seesaw. Whenever one of the modes is activated, the other is not activated. When one is up, the other is down.

Unfortunately, your body cannot differentiate between different types of stress.

When the sympathetic nervous system is upregulated, it can't tell the difference between the stress of a life-threatening event, challenging workout, or the asshole that just cut you off in traffic.

To deal with stress, we want to spend most of our time in a parasympathetic state. However, the reality is that we spend too much time in a personable state. The uninterrupted flood of stress adds up when we face daily challenges.

This sympathetic state has many negative health effects and inhibits our ability to build lean muscles and reduce body fat.

In my experience, so many hard-gainers have difficulty seeing progress because they are chronically stressed and are working to manage stress, which increases their anxiety and creates a downward spiral.

Instead of winning hard, I refer to these people as easy losers.

Their stress levels cause them to lose profit at an alarming rate at the slightest change in a routine or a life circumstance because they handle stress badly.

With this in mind, it is time to identify strategies that can be used to control stress as much as possible.

Heart rate monitoring to help manage stress

A good indicator of your stress level and your parasympathetic versus sympathetic dominance is your waking heart rate.

By monitoring your heart rate, you can get useful data that can help you assess your general stress status and determine when it is increasing.

Significant increases or decreases in your waking heart rate indicate when you are experiencing higher periods of stress. I suggest you get a decent heart rate monitor to assess this. You can also examine heart rate variability apps to add another tier of rating.

Be more productive with less stress

Cal Newport talks about how the autopilot can help you be more productive and less stressed. He says that there are two types of work in his world:

  1. Regularly occurring tasks

  2. Tasks that do not occur regularly

Being autopilot applies to almost everyone.

The problem with tasks that occur regularly is that they are so numerous that if we try to manage them on the fly, we get left behind and overwhelmed.

I believe that feeling of being overwhelmed is one of the main drivers of stress in people's lives. It is certainly a major cause of mine.

To cope with this, Newport assigns a specific time slot to each regularly occurring task. He calls this his autopilot schedule. He found that he doesn't waste time or energy prioritizing and planning tasks on a daily basis. You're on autopilot.

Once you've assigned this stuff to specific times and made it a routine, you can assign any other available times to other things that interest you. This method requires some advance planning, but it pays off.

The last point is to understand that it will take time to refine and adjust this process.

Fortunately, you're so much more efficient that you have the time to make adjustments as needed.

The miracle morning routine for positivity

When you have a morning routine to start your day, you are on the right foot and set the scene for the rest of the day.

You can run the day instead of the day you run.

I am a supporter of the Miracle Morning Routine. I'm doing the express version, which takes less than 15 minutes and has six steps.

The six steps are::

  1. remain silent

  2. Affirmations

  3. Visualizations

  4. exercise

  5. read

  6. Write

Various apps are available to walk you through the process.

If I stick to the Miracle Morning routine, I will be more productive and feel in control.

Meditation combats stress

Meditation is a great way to combat stress. I haven't gone full muesli yogi yet. When I get a little older, I may fully embrace Zen.

I am aware that the word meditation has negative connotations in some people (my cereal yogi reference is a case in point). So if you're not ready to think about meditation, call it silence, chillaxing, mindfulness, or whatever makes you comfortable.

Instead of fully meditating, I sit quietly and concentrate on my breath for a few minutes.

Abdominal breathing, breathing deeply through your nose and slowly exhaling through your mouth do the trick.

If you want a guide, the Headspace app is excellent. I did some of the 5-10 minute guided meditations and it definitely calms you down. Those few minutes a day have a remarkable effect on managing your stress levels.

Mindfulness

Being mindful or present is all the rage these days.

There's a good reason for that. We live in an always connected, yet very distracted world. The sheer amount of input competing for our attention is mind-boggling.

Living in this always distracted state is stressful and is similar to attention deficit disorder (ADD).

Try to fix this:

  • By focusing on one task at a time
  • Then try to be present during this task.
  • Immerse yourself in the sounds, smells, sensations, images and tastes of everything you do.

It doesn't matter whether you keep a diary in your leather-bound notepad while you have a coffee, hang out with friends over a barbecue or write the sales pitch in front of your laptop in the office.

When you are fully in the moment, you will become more productive, efficient, and effective in everything you do. It will help improve your mood and filter out potential external stressors.

Cheesy quote alert:

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery and today is a gift – that's why it's called the present.

– Eleanor Roosevelt

Emotional responses last 90 seconds

In his book The Chimp Paradox, Dr. Steve Peters on our chimpanzee brain and how it can control us. When the chimpanzee takes over, the logic evaporates and the emotions take over.

Too often when we are under stress we act emotionally. The chimpanzee in us becomes irritable and can wreak havoc before we know what happened.

When we get an emotional reaction to something, it usually wears off after about 90 seconds if we don't respond to it.

Pema Chodron talks about it in the book "Living beautifully: With uncertainty and change".

Emotions will drain and drain. In stressful situations, they can rise up inside you like a tsunami. It's only natural. The best way to deal with stress and keep it under control seems to be to accept the emotions. To feel it. But don't act on them. If you act on them, you add fuel to their fire. They will rage higher and longer. Instead, let them burn themselves. Then, when you are calm and the logic has returned, think about how you can avoid repeating the situation that put you in a position of stress and brought up negative emotions such as fear, worry, hate or fear.

– Pema Chodron

Take a deep breath

While feeling the emotions, it may be a good idea to inhale deeply through your nose, hold for a few seconds, and then exhale through your mouth.

This deep breathing has an incredibly calming effect on your body. In my experience, it can help speed the reduction of negative emotions when they occur.

A side effect of stress is shallow breathing.

Shallow breathing interferes with proper oxygenation to cells and reduces your body's ability to recover.

Given that I love to say, "You don't get heavy weights, you make a big recovery from lifting weights."

I've said it twice in this article, so it should be obvious why I believe that if you get stuck in a stressed, shallow state of breathing, it will limit your gains.

Tip for recovery after exercise: With a few simple breathing exercises you can switch from combat or flight mode to rest and digestion mode after training.

This breathing immediately reduces stress, increases the oxygen supply to the cells and accelerates the recovery processes. Exercising in the evening will also help you relax and fall asleep.

Sleep is the most powerful recovery tool available to you. It is therefore of vital importance!

Breathing exercises can also be useful as a proactive stress management tool when done daily. As I mentioned before, I try for a few minutes every morning. It creates a wonderfully calm feeling. I would never claim to be calm, but this is probably the next thing I feel.

Gain perspective

Is it that bad what challenges you? Most of the things we worry about are not that important. It is rarely life or death, or it leads us to financial ruin.

Sit back, take stock, and ask yourself, "What's the worst that can happen?"? "

Often you can gain perspective, look at the stressor objectively and place its meaning appropriately in the hierarchy of events, needs, desires or stresses in your life.

Then nine times out of ten you will relax and find that you unnecessarily twisted your knickers.

Bonus tip::

Step away from your phone – no, not this second – continue reading this fascinating article 🙂 Then step away from your phone.

Phone addiction

What do you instinctively do while waiting for a train or a queue? Most of us reach for our cell phones. This dependency for our phone wasn't the case 10 to 12 years ago.

We'd have to wait – just preoccupied with our thoughts or maybe the conversation has started with a stranger waiting next to us (conversations with real people, in person – that's strange).

We have lost the art of patience, waiting and thinking.

Boredom is a thing of the past. There's always a notification, something on social media, YouTube, or Netflix to keep us entertained. We are still joining the matrix and we seem unable to extract ourselves.

Smartphones have many advantages (don't get me wrong, smartphones are amazing). The downside is that we have become slaves to them.

Our phones increase our stress and anxiety and help us achieve a personable state.

Try to take some time – some kind of digital detox. Turning off / on airplane mode can reduce stress and anxiety. It can also enable you to achieve the mindfulness and presence that I discussed earlier.

It is not easy to take time for our phones. Smartphones are addicting! I have problems with this, but I know that when the phone is out of sight, when I'm at work or out with family, I'm less stressed, more productive, and happier. This struggle also applies to those I am with. Start small and build time.

Some ideas to control the usage of your phone are:::

  • Don't check for the first 30 minutes of your day.

  • If you are doing important work, please switch it to airplane mode and set a timer for how long the work task should last. Don't look at your phone until the time is up.

  • No smartphones with meals

  • Put your phone in a different room at home so you don't get distracted by it.

  • Are you watching TV with your wife, girlfriend, husband, boyfriend, friends, family, cat or dog? Keep the phone out of sight. Enjoy doing what you do and the fact that the phone doesn't distract you.

  • Set up restricted areas. Whether it's physical (e.g. not in the bedroom) or time zones (e.g. not using the phone for the first hour after getting home from work), this rule improves the quality of your relationships to important other people.

  • Set a good example. If you want to be less distracted when spending time with your partner, the first thing you should do is consciously be less distracted. Then, when you suggest that they do the same, they are more likely to respect and value your opinion. Trying to impose it on them before you have achieved it will meet with resistance.

Hope the stress management tips above are helpful to you.

If you can use some of these to help manage your stress levels, you'll be a happier, more productive, and focused person. You will also benefit from rigorous exercise programs and translate your training into noticeable gains in strength, size, and body composition.

In the second installment in this series, The Importance of Structured Training Programs in Recovery, I explain why significant recovery begins with excellent program design.

In it, I outline the four key concepts you will need to understand how to optimize your training and maximize your recoverability.

Train Hard, Recover Harder | Breaking Muscle

Because of my email inbox and Instagram DMs, post workout recovery is a hot topic. I get all sorts of questions about recovery techniques.

  • "Can you rate my supplement stacks?"
  • "Should I do active recovery training?"
  • "When do I foam?"
  • "How would you change my diet on rest days?"
  • "What post-exercise stretching routine should I do?"
  • "Do ice baths or cold showers help my winnings?"
  • "What about cupping, compression garments, and percussion massagers?"

I'm glad people are paying some attention to their recovery. Unfortunately, I think they are paying their attention to the wrong pieces of the recovery puzzle. In this series of articles, I'm going to help you maximize your recovery and results by focusing on what really matters.

I will explain::

  1. Why stress is a double-edged sword and how to deal with it.
  2. Why recovery starts with great programming
  3. The two most powerful recovery tools and how to optimize them
  4. Six other recovery methods that work

This trend towards paying more attention to recreation is admirable.

In part, this is not surprising I like to remind people that instead of lifting bigger and stronger weights, they are recovering from lifting weights.

I have tried many times to illustrate the importance of recovery by presenting progress as a simple equation:

Stimulus + recovery = adjustment

Stress can be good

Stress can be both good and bad. Good stress, or what psychologists call eustress, is the type of stress we feel when we are excited. Exercise is a burden on the body. With sufficient dosage, it is undoubtedly useful.

Bad stress comes in two forms:

  1. Acute Stress triggers the body's stress response, but these triggers and emotions are not happy or exciting. In general, acute stress does not take a heavy toll. The stress response is fleeting and the body quickly returns to homeostasis or its pre-stress state.
  2. Chronic Stress is bad. It occurs when we are repeatedly exposed to stressors that take a heavy toll. We often feel down, overwhelmed, and trapped by this stress. For example, a stressful job with a donkey for a boss or an unhappy relationship at home can cause chronic stress.

Your tolerance and ability to cope with stress are different from mine.

Our tolerance also fluctuates over time. There is only so much stress to deal with. When you are under too much pressure you become overwhelmed. Your recovery from exercise will suffer during times of high stress.

Managing your stress level improves the quality of life.

It improves your digestion, rest, mood, and productivity. It will also improve your muscle building and fat loss.

Coping with stress; Not avoidance

Note that I am calling it stress management – not avoiding or reducing stress.

The fact is, you can't completely avoid stress.

However, you can improve management. The better you deal with stress, you will be happier, fitter, leaner, and more muscular. In short, life is getting better.

What is stress

The body's control center is the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The ANS regulates the involuntary functions of the human body. The stuff that happens without you consciously thinking about it, like breathing or digestion.

The ANS has two branches::

  1. The parasympathetic is also known as resting and digestive mode.
  2. The sympathetic is the fight or flight mode.

These two work like a seesaw. Whenever one of the modes is activated, the other is not activated. When one is up, the other is down.

Unfortunately, your body cannot differentiate between different types of stress.

When the sympathetic nervous system is upregulated, it can't tell the difference between the stress of a life-threatening event, challenging workout, or the asshole that just cut you off in traffic.

To deal with stress, we want to spend most of our time in a parasympathetic state. However, the reality is that we spend too much time in a personable state. The uninterrupted flood of stress adds up when we face daily challenges.

This sympathetic state has many negative health effects and inhibits our ability to build lean muscles and reduce body fat.

In my experience, so many hard-gainers have difficulty seeing progress because they are chronically stressed and are working to manage stress, which increases their anxiety and creates a downward spiral.

Instead of winning hard, I refer to these people as easy losers.

Their stress levels cause them to lose profit at an alarming rate at the slightest change in a routine or a life circumstance because they handle stress badly.

With this in mind, it is time to identify strategies that can be used to control stress as much as possible.

Heart rate monitoring to help manage stress

A good indicator of your stress level and your parasympathetic versus sympathetic dominance is your waking heart rate.

By monitoring your heart rate, you can get useful data that can help you assess your general stress status and determine when it is increasing.

Significant increases or decreases in your waking heart rate indicate when you are experiencing higher periods of stress. I suggest you get a decent heart rate monitor to assess this. You can also examine heart rate variability apps to add another tier of rating.

Be more productive with less stress

Cal Newport talks about how the autopilot can help you be more productive and less stressed. He says that there are two types of work in his world:

  1. Regularly occurring tasks

  2. Tasks that do not occur regularly

Being autopilot applies to almost everyone.

The problem with tasks that occur regularly is that they are so numerous that if we try to manage them on the fly, we get left behind and overwhelmed.

I believe that feeling of being overwhelmed is one of the main drivers of stress in people's lives. It is certainly a major cause of mine.

To cope with this, Newport assigns a specific time slot to each regularly occurring task. He calls this his autopilot schedule. He found that he doesn't waste time or energy prioritizing and planning tasks on a daily basis. You're on autopilot.

Once you've assigned this stuff to specific times and made it a routine, you can assign any other available times to other things that interest you. This method requires some advance planning, but it pays off.

The last point is to understand that it will take time to refine and adjust this process.

Fortunately, you're so much more efficient that you have the time to make adjustments as needed.

The miracle morning routine for positivity

When you have a morning routine to start your day, you are on the right foot and set the scene for the rest of the day.

You can run the day instead of the day you run.

I am a supporter of the Miracle Morning Routine. I'm doing the express version, which takes less than 15 minutes and has six steps.

The six steps are::

  1. remain silent

  2. Affirmations

  3. Visualizations

  4. exercise

  5. read

  6. Write

Various apps are available to walk you through the process.

If I stick to the Miracle Morning routine, I will be more productive and feel in control.

Meditation combats stress

Meditation is a great way to combat stress. I haven't gone full muesli yogi yet. When I get a little older, I may fully embrace Zen.

I am aware that the word meditation has negative connotations in some people (my cereal yogi reference is a case in point). So if you're not ready to think about meditation, call it silence, chillaxing, mindfulness, or whatever makes you comfortable.

Instead of fully meditating, I sit quietly and concentrate on my breath for a few minutes.

Abdominal breathing, breathing deeply through your nose and slowly exhaling through your mouth do the trick.

If you want a guide, the Headspace app is excellent. I did some of the 5-10 minute guided meditations and it definitely calms you down. Those few minutes a day have a remarkable effect on managing your stress levels.

Mindfulness

Being mindful or present is all the rage these days.

There's a good reason for that. We live in an always connected, yet very distracted world. The sheer amount of input competing for our attention is mind-boggling.

Living in this always distracted state is stressful and is similar to attention deficit disorder (ADD).

Try to fix this:

  • By focusing on one task at a time
  • Then try to be present during this task.
  • Immerse yourself in the sounds, smells, sensations, images and tastes of everything you do.

It doesn't matter whether you keep a diary in your leather-bound notepad while you have a coffee, hang out with friends over a barbecue or write the sales pitch in front of your laptop in the office.

When you are fully in the moment, you will become more productive, efficient, and effective in everything you do. It will help improve your mood and filter out potential external stressors.

Cheesy quote alert:

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery and today is a gift – that's why it's called the present.

Eleanor Roosevelt

Emotional responses last 90 seconds

In his book The Chimp Paradox, Dr. Steve Peters on our chimpanzee brain and how it can control us. When the chimpanzee takes over, the logic evaporates and the emotions take over. Too often when we are under stress we act emotionally. The chimpanzee in us becomes irritable and can wreak havoc before we know what happened.

When we get an emotional reaction to something, it usually wears off after about 90 seconds if we don't respond to it.

Pema Chodron talks about it in the book "Living beautifully: With uncertainty and change".

Emotions will drain and drain. In stressful situations, they can rise up inside you like a tsunami. It's only natural. The best way to deal with stress and keep it under control seems to be to accept the emotions. To feel it. But don't act on them. If you act on them, you add fuel to their fire. They will rage higher and longer. Instead, let them burn themselves. Then, when you are calm and the logic has returned, think about how you can avoid repeating the situation that put you in a position of stress and brought up negative emotions such as fear, worry, hate or fear.

Pema Chodron

Take a deep breath

While feeling the emotions, it may be a good idea to inhale deeply through your nose, hold for a few seconds, and then exhale through your mouth.

This deep breathing has an incredibly calming effect on your body. In my experience, it can help speed the reduction of negative emotions when they occur.

A side effect of stress is shallow breathing.

Shallow breathing interferes with proper oxygenation to cells and reduces your body's ability to recover.

Given that I love to say, "You don't get heavy weights, you make a big recovery from lifting weights."

I've said it twice in this article, so it should be obvious why I believe that if you get stuck in a stressed, shallow state of breathing, it will limit your gains.

Tip for recovery after exercise: With a few simple breathing exercises you can switch from combat or flight mode to rest and digestion mode after training.

This breathing immediately reduces stress, increases the oxygen supply to the cells and accelerates the recovery processes. Exercising in the evening will also help you relax and fall asleep.

Sleep is the most powerful recovery tool available to you. It is therefore of vital importance!

Breathing exercises can also be useful as a proactive stress management tool when done daily. As I mentioned before, I try for a few minutes every morning. It creates a wonderfully calm feeling. I would never claim to be calm, but this is probably the next thing I feel.

Gain perspective

Is it that bad what challenges you? Most of the things we worry about are not that important. It is rarely life or death, or it leads us to financial ruin.

Sit back, take stock, and ask yourself, "What's the worst that can happen?"? "

Often you can gain perspective, look at the stressor objectively and place its meaning appropriately in the hierarchy of events, needs, desires or stresses in your life.

Then nine times out of ten you will relax and find that you unnecessarily twisted your knickers.

Bonus tip::

Step away from your phone – no, not this second – continue reading this fascinating article 🙂 Then step away from your phone.

Phone addiction

What do you instinctively do while waiting for a train or a queue? Most of us reach for our cell phones. This dependency for our phone wasn't the case 10 to 12 years ago. We'd have to wait – just preoccupied with our thoughts or maybe the conversation has started with a stranger waiting next to us (conversations with real people, in person – that's strange).

We have lost the art of patience, waiting and thinking.

Boredom is a thing of the past. There's always a notification, something on social media, YouTube, or Netflix to keep us entertained. We are still joining the matrix and we seem unable to extract ourselves.

Smartphones have many advantages (don't get me wrong, smartphones are amazing). The downside is that we have become slaves to them.

Our phones increase our stress and anxiety and help us achieve a personable state.

Try to take some time – some kind of digital detox. Turning off / on airplane mode can reduce stress and anxiety. It can also enable you to achieve the mindfulness and presence that I discussed earlier.

It is not easy to take time for our phones. Smartphones are addicting! I have problems with this, but I know that when the phone is out of sight, when I'm at work or out with family, I'm less stressed, more productive, and happier. This struggle also applies to those I am with. Start small and build time.

Some ideas to control the usage of your phone are:::

  • Don't check for the first 30 minutes of your day.

  • If you are doing important work, please switch it to airplane mode and set a timer for how long the work task should last. Don't look at your phone until the time is up.

  • No smartphones with meals

  • Put your phone in a different room at home so you don't get distracted by it.

  • Are you watching TV with your wife, girlfriend, husband, boyfriend, friends, family, cat or dog? Keep the phone out of sight. Enjoy doing what you do and the fact that the phone doesn't distract you.

  • Set up restricted areas. Whether it's physical (e.g. not in the bedroom) or time zones (e.g. not using the phone for the first hour after getting home from work), this rule improves the quality of your relationships to important other people.

  • Set a good example. If you want to be less distracted when spending time with your partner, the first thing you should do is consciously be less distracted. Then, when you suggest that they do the same, they are more likely to respect and value your opinion. Trying to impose it on them before you have achieved it will meet with resistance.

Hope the stress management tips above are helpful to you.

If you can use some of these to help manage your stress levels, you'll be a happier, more productive, and focused person. You will also benefit from rigorous exercise programs and translate your training into noticeable gains in strength, size, and body composition.

Stay tuned…

In the second installment in this series, I'll explain why significant recovery begins with excellent program design.

In it, I'll outline four key concepts you will need to understand how to optimize your workout and maximize your recoverability.

I Was Wrong | Breaking Muscle

When we are strung together, we should say these three words with our tails between our legs and a strong flicker to our confidence. I'm not going to get on my high horse and go through a Pinterest list of virtuous bullet points of how personal growth starts here and how courage is found in those moments, blah blah blah.

My reason for writing this is that I was wrong a lot.

I know what it feels like to be a young coach who has one of those epic moments when the thought of "Ohhh shit, I think I screwed it up" rushes down your back like a fire station alarm.

And in that moment, you see your career, approach, and entire belief structure flash before your eyes.

It's a slap in the face for sure, but one that has a ton of benefits.

I hope you can put your ego aside and admit that some of your trusted may hold you and your clientele back.

Toes up

My career began in the spring of 1999. According to the dictionary definition of the word, I was a map-wearing meathead.

I loved the weight room, started my college career in strength and conditioning, and couldn't have been happier. I thought it was great to start work at 4am. Less sleep meant I could be in the gym longer. When I stopped training at 7 or 8 p.m. it was perfect.

I didn't want a relationship or family anyway. I was that guy.

One of the coaching cues we've used for years was toe up! Toes in our squats or deadlifts, basically any closed chain exercise.

The intent was good in that we were trying to get the lifters to shift their weight back. We knew much of the back chain would appear online when the heels are buried.

It was the day and age that all problems were attributed to rear chain problems.

"Do you have chronic migraines?"

"It's because your back chain is weak."

"Break up with your wife?"

"There are problems with the rear chain."

"Do you have erectile dysfunction, irritable bowel syndrome, chronic nosebleeds, sleepwalking, or severe acne?"

"A regular diet of RDL should fix everything." – Yes, so we preached.

And we preached it. And then something funny happened. We had a lot of lower back problems, especially when squatting. These complaints were also in recent years when political correctness was not an issue.

We have attributed every injury or chronic problem to the child's lack of toughness or softness.

Then, seven years after my career, I heard a friend of mine give a lecture at a kettlebell class I took on the big toe and how he has a direct neurological relationship with the glutes:

  1. The big toe
  2. Grab it
  3. Glutes come up

Wait what?

The glutes are part of the rear chain, but it's like the rearmost of the rear chain.

Oh shit, I think I screwed this up.

After experiencing this myself, my mind raced through the kids I had trained up to this point, including the soft-ass kids with lower back problems. Have I been holding back my athletes (by the thousands at this point)?

Could I have been the reason all of these kids had lower back problems? The cold hard truth is very likely yes.

A message

I've told this story before on this website, but it needs to be repeated. With this popping up over and over again, I really wanted to become the second coming of my mentor, Mike Kent.

Coach Kent is a national coaching treasure. There is no one like him and every athlete he has ever met has loved him. I was one of them and I really wanted to be like him.

Problem is, I couldn't see how adaptable he was to different groups.

I became the soccer version because I played soccer for Coach Kent, and I thought that version was the silver bullet to get any athlete to work.

Was i right? I was golden in football:

  • They loved the way I trained them.
  • I was tough but playful when the time was right.
  • I pushed her and didn't want to listen to anyone or complain for a second.
  • I challenged them as men and asked them to reach outside of themselves during each training session.

In retrospect, I was kind of a tyrant and they ate it up.

Insert our women soccer team. You can imagine what's coming – the same recipe. I trained hard, made no excuses, refused to let her complain, and pushed her harder than ever.

And I've lost every single one of them. When I say lost, I mean I earned the nickname The Weight Room Nazi.

You hated me.

They hated getting into the weight room, and I got to the point where my skin would crawl knowing they were up to date for the day.

Instead of inspiring them or showing them how to dig deep, they continued to descend into disinterest and carelessness. It was the worst.

That was the reason::

  • You were a bunch of spoiled rich kids?
  • You had some poor coaches in front of me that the athletes let the athletes run over them, and now you finally had someone demanding hard work?
  • Have I met young women relatively new to weight training?
  • They didn't believe that blood makes the grass grow. And maybe the ladies thought if you say such a thing you sound like an idiot.
  • Most of all, these 25 young women weren't soccer players, and my approach was what failed?

Oh shit, I think I screwed this up. I will let you decide.

Death of the ego

There is right, and then the insecure, desperate, and manic need has to be right. Most of us live somewhere in the middle.

And the whole reason for writing this article is to challenge you to a soul search.

I didn't promise Pinterest moments, but I've been in the game for nearly 22 years and I salute the whoops-a-daisy moments. I've learned enough and seen so much that sometimes I feel like I've seen it all.

And then I realize that I don't know everything.

Our ego works for a number of reasons. Some are productive, but most are toxic. And as coach or trainer, we have chosen an important decision-making profession. We are the last word, the long arm of the law.

Most of us have a lot of education (degrees and certificates) and are confident in our thinking. Because of the physical nature of our actions and the incredible adaptability of the nervous system, the body adapts and gives us recognition when we don't deserve it.

I dont know

Dr. Susan Puhl (may she rest in peace) was my lecturer in advanced movement physiology and my chair during my thesis. She was as smart as she came and was a blast in the classroom.

I love telling this story about my first group presentation in her class.

We took up the subject of height and its effects on the human body. The instructor divided us into small groups and we spent an entire evening presenting our sections.

Each group had 3-5 people and we were responsible for each section individually for a few minutes. We were all a little nervous, and then the first student gets up and starts her serving.

Within the first few minutes, Dr. Puhl her a question. At that moment the lady gave an answer that she believed could pass.

Dr. Puhl commented: "Wrong – try again. "

The young lady made one more attempt to work her way through the answer.

All we heard from the back of the room was, "No, the wrong answer, please try again. "

The student's share should be a few minutes. But the exchange lasted 20 minutes as she sobbed in front of 18 strangers.

Round and round they went. The more this girl tried to shit, the more Dr. Don't pull them off the hook.

In the middle of this debacle, I began to sink into my seat because I was up next, feeling the fate that might come my way.

Another guy in my group named Victor was already scared of the presentation, so I'm pretty sure he was sitting there in a puddle of his urine.

Just before this poor girl's soul was about to leave her body for good, Dr. Peel the dogs off.

Dr. Puhl said: "Do you know why I don't stop?" And the wet mess of someone in front of us said, "No, why?"

Your answer was straightforward.

"It's because you clearly don't know but refuse to admit that you don't know. So you'd rather think of answers than admit that you don't know. I would have liked to have accepted that and let you move on, but instead I wanted to see how long you would shake off guesswork than swallow your pride and let us all know that you have no answer. In the future, the answer is simple; the answer is, I don't know. "

– Dr. Susan Puhl

From that moment on, things changed for all of us. As you may have thought, while standing up and answering questions, I stumbled upon myself to give the reliable and bulletproof answer, I don't know.

I appreciate the need to be right. I understand the image we are trying to maintain and we don't want to look unprepared. But do you know when to stop talking in circles and try to pull an answer out of nowhere.

And never bullshit. Let them know you don't know, but you will find out and get back to them with a response as soon as possible.

What we've always done

  • Do you know how many studies were in the very first issue of the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research? Four.
  • Do you know how many studies were featured in the last issue of the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research? Nineteen.

What the hell does all of this have to do with this article??

By the time I showed up, I was nerd spending my evenings and weekends at the library in Eastern Kentucky reading all the research I could get my hands on. I've read every word in the first five volumes (34 currently) of this publication.

Because of this journal and related scientific journals, the profession has accelerated discoveries and improved old ones.

When I started, the profession was in diapers. Well, I mean, the evolution of strength science is like a rocket ship. We are developing at breathtaking speed.

The reason I'm bringing this to you is because I was guilty of myself, maybe more than anyone.

The phrase "What we've always done." rolls right off your tongue.

It's also the greatest answer of all. It tells us that you are lazy. It gives me all the information I will ever need about you.

I experience this as we speak, a professional night of the soul. I'm on the last nine of my careers and what we've always done doesn't make a lot of sense.

Yes, there are mainstays in my system, these exercises or groupings that would be the hill on which I would die. But many of the things I have been preaching for two decades are losing their luster. Why? Because I tinker with other things.

I hear fresh voices and watch some brilliant people do unconventional things that are downright better at getting the results they want. This openness is contrary to what I've always done.

To give you some insight, a lot of the traditional exercises like squats and dead and how we performed them don't work.

I'm a big procrastinator. When we do this in the weight room, we do it in the field. And to be honest, I am struggling to lie to myself that the transmission is how I need it or how I envisioned it. Was it all a lie? In real time I'm telling you, oh shit, I think I screwed this up.

I stand on a mountaintop of epic proportions in the world of admitting that I was wrong. I question the structure of my system.

Not because I was wrong all along, but because there are better options now.

You can't be wrong if it's the best choice available, but when a better alternative has shown its face it's a real crossroads.

I'm not exactly sure where I'll be in a year. Stay tuned and find out.

Look, we all have to face the music at some point. The day will come when you discover that something you prescribe to your clientele is not working. And that's okay. It's pretty liberating to be honest.

I'm too old to waste any more time.

My reputation has never really been my concern and I'm certainly not afraid to tarnish it now. It's easy for me to admit when I'm wrong and say "I don't know" (great love for you, Dr. Puhl). It gives me room for something better.

I want to be excellent and I don't have time to throw away.

Embrace being wrong. It happens. Do what is asked of you, and then move on. You will do better.

I Was Wrong | Breaking Muscle

When we are strung together, we should say these three words with our tails between our legs and a strong flicker to our confidence. I'm not going to get on my high horse and go through a Pinterest list of virtuous bullet points of how personal growth starts here and how courage is found in those moments, blah blah blah.

My reason for writing this is that I was wrong a lot.

I know what it feels like to be a young coach who has one of those epic moments when the thought of "Ohhh shit, I think I screwed it up" rushes down your back like a fire station alarm.

And in that moment, you see your career, approach, and entire belief structure flash before your eyes.

It's a slap in the face for sure, but one that has a ton of benefits.

I hope you can put your ego aside and admit that some of your trusted may hold you and your clientele back.

Toes up

My career began in the spring of 1999. According to the dictionary definition of the word, I was a map-wearing meathead.

I loved the weight room, started my college career in strength and conditioning, and couldn't have been happier. I thought it was great to start work at 4am. Less sleep meant I could be in the gym longer. When I stopped training at 7 or 8 p.m. it was perfect.

I didn't want a relationship or family anyway. I was that guy.

One of the coaching cues we've used for years was toe up! Toes in our squats or deadlifts, basically any closed chain exercise.

The intent was good in that we were trying to get the lifters to shift their weight back. We knew much of the back chain would appear online when the heels are buried.

It was the day and age that all problems were attributed to rear chain problems.

"Do you have chronic migraines?"

"It's because your back chain is weak."

"Break up with your wife?"

"There are problems with the rear chain."

"Do you have erectile dysfunction, irritable bowel syndrome, chronic nosebleeds, sleepwalking, or severe acne?"

"A regular diet of RDL should fix everything." – Yes, so we preached.

And we preached it. And then something funny happened. We had a lot of lower back problems, especially when squatting. These complaints were also in recent years when political correctness was not an issue.

We have attributed every injury or chronic problem to the child's lack of toughness or softness.

Then, seven years after my career, I heard a friend of mine give a lecture at a kettlebell class I took on the big toe and how he has a direct neurological relationship with the glutes:

  1. The big toe
  2. Grab it
  3. Glutes come up

Wait what?

The glutes are part of the rear chain, but it's like the rearmost of the rear chain.

Oh shit, I think I screwed this up.

After experiencing this myself, my mind raced through the kids I had trained up to this point, including the soft-ass kids with lower back problems. Have I been holding back my athletes (by the thousands at this point)?

Could I have been the reason all of these kids had lower back problems? The cold hard truth is very likely yes.

A message

I've told this story before on this website, but it needs to be repeated. With this popping up over and over again, I really wanted to become the second coming of my mentor, Mike Kent.

Coach Kent is a national coaching treasure. There is no one like him and every athlete he has ever met has loved him. I was one of them and I really wanted to be like him.

Problem is, I couldn't see how adaptable he was to different groups.

I became the soccer version because I played soccer for Coach Kent, and I thought that version was the silver bullet to get any athlete to work.

Was i right? I was golden in football:

  • They loved the way I trained them.
  • I was tough but playful when the time was right.
  • I pushed her and didn't want to listen to anyone or complain for a second.
  • I challenged them as men and asked them to reach outside of themselves during each training session.

In retrospect, I was kind of a tyrant and they ate it up.

Insert our women soccer team. You can imagine what's coming – the same recipe. I trained hard, made no excuses, refused to let her complain, and pushed her harder than ever.

And I've lost every single one of them. When I say lost, I mean I earned the nickname The Weight Room Nazi.

You hated me.

They hated getting into the weight room, and I got to the point where my skin would crawl knowing they were up to date for the day.

Instead of inspiring them or showing them how to dig deep, they continued to descend into disinterest and carelessness. It was the worst.

That was the reason::

  • You were a bunch of spoiled rich kids?
  • You had some poor coaches in front of me that the athletes let the athletes run over them, and now you finally had someone demanding hard work?
  • Have I met young women relatively new to weight training?
  • They didn't believe that blood makes the grass grow. And maybe the ladies thought if you say such a thing you sound like an idiot.
  • Most of all, these 25 young women weren't soccer players, and my approach was what failed?

Oh shit, I think I screwed this up. I will let you decide.

Death of the ego

There is right, and then the insecure, desperate, and manic need has to be right. Most of us live somewhere in the middle.

And the whole reason for writing this article is to challenge you to a soul search.

I didn't promise Pinterest moments, but I've been in the game for nearly 22 years and I salute the whoops-a-daisy moments. I've learned enough and seen so much that sometimes I feel like I've seen it all.

And then I realize that I don't know everything.

Our ego works for a number of reasons. Some are productive, but most are toxic. And as coach or trainer, we have chosen an important decision-making profession. We are the last word, the long arm of the law.

Most of us have a lot of education (degrees and certificates) and are confident in our thinking. Because of the physical nature of our actions and the incredible adaptability of the nervous system, the body adapts and gives us recognition when we don't deserve it.

I dont know

Dr. Susan Puhl (may she rest in peace) was my lecturer in advanced movement physiology and my chair during my thesis. She was as smart as she came and was a blast in the classroom.

I love telling this story about my first group presentation in her class.

We took up the subject of height and its effects on the human body. The instructor divided us into small groups and we spent an entire evening presenting our sections.

Each group had 3-5 people and we were responsible for each section individually for a few minutes. We were all a little nervous, and then the first student gets up and starts her serving.

Within the first few minutes, Dr. Puhl her a question. At that moment the lady gave an answer that she believed could pass.

Dr. Puhl commented: "Wrong – try again. "

The young lady made one more attempt to work her way through the answer.

All we heard from the back of the room was, "No, the wrong answer, please try again. "

The student's share should be a few minutes. But the exchange lasted 20 minutes as she sobbed in front of 18 strangers.

Round and round they went. The more this girl tried to shit, the more Dr. Don't pull them off the hook.

In the middle of this debacle, I began to sink into my seat because I was up next, feeling the fate that might come my way.

Another guy in my group named Victor was already scared of the presentation, so I'm pretty sure he was sitting there in a puddle of his urine.

Just before this poor girl's soul was about to leave her body for good, Dr. Peel the dogs off.

Dr. Puhl said: "Do you know why I don't stop?" And the wet mess of someone in front of us said, "No, why?"

Your answer was straightforward.

"It's because you clearly don't know but refuse to admit that you don't know. So you'd rather think of answers than admit that you don't know. I would have liked to have accepted that and let you move on, but instead I wanted to see how long you would shake off guesswork than swallow your pride and let us all know that you have no answer. In the future, the answer is simple; the answer is, I don't know. "

– Dr. Susan Puhl

From that moment on, things changed for all of us. As you may have thought, while standing up and answering questions, I stumbled upon myself to give the reliable and bulletproof answer, I don't know.

I appreciate the need to be right. I understand the image we are trying to maintain and we don't want to look unprepared. But do you know when to stop talking in circles and try to pull an answer out of nowhere.

And never bullshit. Let them know you don't know, but you will find out and get back to them with a response as soon as possible.

What we've always done

  • Do you know how many studies were in the very first issue of the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research? Four.
  • Do you know how many studies were featured in the last issue of the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research? Nineteen.

What the hell does all of this have to do with this article??

By the time I showed up, I was nerd spending my evenings and weekends at the library in Eastern Kentucky reading all the research I could get my hands on. I've read every word in the first five volumes (34 currently) of this publication.

Because of this journal and related scientific journals, the profession has accelerated discoveries and improved old ones.

When I started, the profession was in diapers. Well, I mean, the evolution of strength science is like a rocket ship. We are developing at breathtaking speed.

The reason I'm bringing this to you is because I was guilty of myself, maybe more than anyone.

The phrase "What we've always done." rolls right off your tongue.

It's also the greatest answer of all. It tells us that you are lazy. It gives me all the information I will ever need about you.

I experience this as we speak, a professional night of the soul. I'm on the last nine of my careers and what we've always done doesn't make a lot of sense.

Yes, there are mainstays in my system, these exercises or groupings that would be the hill on which I would die. But many of the things I have been preaching for two decades are losing their luster. Why? Because I tinker with other things.

I hear fresh voices and watch some brilliant people do unconventional things that are downright better at getting the results they want. This openness is contrary to what I've always done.

To give you some insight, a lot of the traditional exercises like squats and dead and how we performed them don't work.

I'm a big procrastinator. When we do this in the weight room, we do it in the field. And to be honest, I am struggling to lie to myself that the transmission is how I need it or how I envisioned it. Was it all a lie? In real time I'm telling you, oh shit, I think I screwed this up.

I stand on a mountaintop of epic proportions in the world of admitting that I was wrong. I question the structure of my system.

Not because I was wrong all along, but because there are better options now.

You can't be wrong if it's the best choice available, but when a better alternative has shown its face it's a real crossroads.

I'm not exactly sure where I'll be in a year. Stay tuned and find out.

Look, we all have to face the music at some point. The day will come when you discover that something you prescribe to your clientele is not working. And that's okay. It's pretty liberating to be honest.

I'm too old to waste any more time.

My reputation has never really been my concern and I'm certainly not afraid to tarnish it now. It's easy for me to admit when I'm wrong and say "I don't know" (great love for you, Dr. Puhl). It gives me room for something better.

I want to be excellent and I don't have time to throw away.

Embrace being wrong. It happens. Do what is asked of you, and then move on. You will do better.

How to Snack Fat | Breaking Muscle

Is It a Good Time to Start a Keto Diet? Fat Snax can help.

If the spread of Covid-19 has motivated you to take extra care of your health, research the keto diet should be.

We can tell you that the keto diet will help reduce inflammation and induce metabolic correction to help boost your immune system. However, if you want more specific information, please refer to the US National Library of Medicine.

If you're used to snacking all day, sticking to a strict diet isn't easyespecially if you have side effects like the keto flu or are just feeling tired.

Hopefully the information in this article will help you combat fatigue, enjoy delicious snack alternatives, and try this recommendation out.

Craving for Carbohydrates on Keto?

Fat Snax, a keto-friendly snack that I think tastes like Cheezits and Sun Chips.

Personally, I think the Fat Snax almond flour crackers are the bomb!

Fat Snax, a keto-friendly snack that tastes like Cheezits and Sun Chips

Not only were they able to cut the carbohydrate count to 3 grams, but they were also able to reproduce the taste of the snacks that most of us ate as adults.

However, if you are wondering how legit these crackers are, here is a roundup of how great they were when I ate three packs in one sitting.

  • They didn't fall apart and made a mess on my desk. I don't know about you, but I like having a clean desk. I prefer not to bother with stains, especially when it comes to my keyboard and the pages of books I have opened.
  • These crackers have a lot of flavor. I tried all three flavors in one session and none of them are tasteless.
  • I dipped them in sauces and they didn't break. If you enjoy a side of salsa or guacamole with your fries and crackers, this is the place to go. They won't make you wet.

Overall, I would give 8 out of 10 for taste, concept and ease of use. Make sure to seal the bag if you want to save the rest for later.