20 Nov
Blog

You’re Not an Elite Athlete, So Stop Acting Like One

Immersed in your computer screen, sit in silence and watch a repetition run flawlessly. The seemingly effortless movement from start to finish leaves your mind searching for answers.

Like a voyeur you scroll again and again through the wondrous world of the internet. Everything you see is perfection on all levels, the elite work of the full-time athlete. Suddenly you're no longer comparing your maximum repetitions with the other guys in the gym, but with a Russian strength athlete who is only half as heavy as you. The waistband of your shorts clicks back into place as you check your manhood and feel the shrinkage of defeat.

But elite-level performance is based on simplicity and consistency. The comparison between you and the young woman is actually an insult to her pursuit of success. Before you get all of the elite, you need to understand that you need to fall back on the basics that exist inside and outside the gym.

Elite-level performance is based on simplicity and consistency.

1. Earn the right to progress

Training is a lifelong pursuit. The mistake many athletes make is failing to realize that every exercise is based on a certain basic level of movement. Sliding your feet and catching the bar deep in a snatch comes from hours spent in deep squats. From practicing with a wooden pole, when your whole body is yelling at you, to jumping on the pole like your hero.

“Training is more than just physical presence. Improving every aspect of your time in the gym is a mental exercise. "

Regardless of the sport or skill required, there is a simple question that needs to be answered. Where are you currently on this continuum of skills? You have to be honest and find your own starting point and then move forward gradually.

What you then have is information that you can translate into your own training plan. They adapt to the training behavior of your own body and do not break down your body with the volume that only a well-drilled machine of an athlete can handle.

2. Move with the aim of improving yourself

You don't have the luxury of filling your day with all the nuances of exercise. So let's be honest. Is the latest animal crawling pattern that everyone will see benefit your troubled ankle that you always complain about when you struggle in the squat?

"Is the latest animal crawling pattern you see everyone doing to benefit your troubled ankle that you always complain about when you crouch fight?"

From the moment you walk into the gym you have a purpose. Training is more than just physical presence. Improving every aspect of your time in the gym is a mental exercise.

Elite, everyday athletes, training, mindset, sports psychology

Working on Purposeful Movement with Dmitry Klokov.

Does your movement preparation deal with mobility problems? Does this core drill complement a compound lift? Do you lose yourself in another world during your rest periods by scrolling down your phone or are you focusing on breathing exercises to recover faster? It's your decision.

3. Find radiators, not drains

Life will expose you to two different types of people. On the one hand, the person who always has a problem and complains all the time. The kind of person who with their negativity drains life from one person to the next.

"Your training room should be filled with a community of radiators that not only take your training, but also your everyday life to the next level."

Then you will encounter the energy boom that radiates over a smile from another athlete in the last seconds of a skin-ripping kettlebell snatch. This person is great to be with, and of the two, it will be the one who will keep you in the zone.

In a healthy and productive training environment, leave the little glitches of life behind you. Your exercise room should be filled with a community of radiators, which not only take your training, but also your everyday life to the next level.

Elite, everyday athletes, training, mindset, sports psychology

Radiant energy after 715km in the boat with friends.

4. Find the right coach

At some point you have to make decisions yourself. As soon as you step onto the ring, the playing field or the secluded platform, you are in control. This is not applied simply by reading a book. It's an immersion in your workout and sport with a trainer who slowly gets you to ask your own questions.

“If you want to achieve more than you currently think possible, then look for a coach, preferably through a recommendation. Listen and above all trust his process. "

Spending two weeks with the 2004 Russian Olympic champion, Dmitry Berestov, asking endless questions and watching the coach-athlete interaction left me in no doubt. To quote Berestov himself: "The best athletes have been trained to think and not to hang out."

If you want to achieve more than you currently think possible, then look for a coach, preferably through a recommendation. Listen and most importantly, trust his process.

Elite, everyday athletes, training, mindset, sports psychology

Me with Olympic champion Dmitry Berestov.

5. Get a living

You're more than just a six pack or a good gluteus muscle. You're a living example of what you're doing outside the gym walls. Two hours of exercise won't undo a missed meal, endless nights of poor sleep, or a work-life balance that burdens you more than the thought of a 2km rowing time trial when you are just over six feet tall (or is that so?) just me?).

"Remember, there is such a thing as life, especially when training isn't about life, death or medals."

Jokes aside, building up all of the small loads will go a long way when you put the pressures of volume and intensity in your workout time. Something is going to give way, and it's usually a part of the body. Remember that there is such a thing as life, especially when training isn't about life, death or medals.

diploma

It's easy to get caught up in the details of the programming and the OCD-like sexiness of the numbers, percentages, paces, and rep ranges shared across the internet. Realize that there is more to being elite than just spending time in the gym.

More like that:

21 Sep
Blog

What Is Transepidermal Water Loss? How To Stop It

If you suffer from dehydrated or dry skin, one of the causes may be transepidermal water loss (TEWL). Translation? You lose water and moisture from your skin. TEWL can lead to a variety of dry skin conditions – including severe dehydration – but there are ways you can moisturize your skin or prevent dryness in the first place.

What is transepidermal water loss?

To understand TEWL, let's look again at the layers of our skin. Our skin is made up of three primary layers, the outermost being the epidermis (also known as what you are looking at in the mirror). The dermis is the middle layer and the hypodermis is the innermost layer. TEWL occurs when water from the dermis passes through the epidermis and evaporates through the skin barrier.

Dermatologist Anna Guanche told Allure: “The skin barrier consists of the epidermis and especially the hard, outermost layer of the stratum corneum. The epidermis is what we normally call the outer layer of the skin, but it is made up of five layers. The outermost layer of the epidermis is the stratum corneum. "

When the stratum corneum is compromised, moisture evaporates through the ineffective skin barrier, and you can expect very dry, dull, or dehydrated skin. Your skin is usually clever enough to regulate water loss and retain moisture, but sometimes certain factors damage the functioning of your skin barrier and make dryness worse. If you're wondering if TEWL has compromised your skin barrier, knowing what to look for helps. Symptoms of TEWL include flaking, itching, skin tension, and redness.

Transepidermal water loss infographic

Which factors trigger transepidermal water loss?

TEWL can be triggered by:

  • Skin conditions such as eczema, dermatitis, or rosacea
  • Dry weather or excessive time with dry indoor air (e.g. from air conditioners and central heating)
  • Excessive washing, exfoliating, and scrubbing with harsh soaps
  • Allergies, diabetes, or kidney disease
  • Skin aging with decreasing sebum production
  • Sunburn or sores
  • chlorine

How to stop transepidermal water loss

The most important part of preventing TEWL is ensuring a healthy skin barrier. You may be thinking, "What is a skin barrier and how should we protect it?"

A healthy, functioning skin barrier blocks environmental stimuli and keeps all the good things, like natural oils and moisture, inside. A compromised skin barrier does a poor job of maintaining the health of your skin conditions like dermatitis or dryness due to ineffective water retention that can lead to skin damage. To keep your skin's ecosystem healthy and prevent TEWL, take a look at the lifestyle and skin care tips below.

1. Use moisturizing products

Moisturizing is an important strategy for maintaining skin health and treating impaired skin barrier function. Eminence Organics Director of Product Development Colette Liebermann Says, "Preventing TEWL will keep the skin barrier healthy and hydrated. Richer creams bind moisture and thus prevent water loss while sleeping. "

Woman with dry hands

Night creams, for example, are an essential part of skin care. At night, the skin is in recovery mode, which means that it is the ideal time to use ultra-rich creams with a higher concentration of active ingredients to increase moisture, restore the skin and improve the complexion. This is an especially important step for mature skin. Our Marine Peptide Collection is designed to reduce transepidermal water loss with rich anti-aging formulas that lock in moisture. Some products in this collection contain exopolysaccharide, an ingredient that helps limit TEWL and improve skin hydration.

TEWL can be further reduced through the use of skin care products that contain humectants, occlusive and emollient agents. These are important ingredients found in moisturizers. Humectants (like glycerin and hyaluronic acid) draw water from the environment into the skin. But that's not enough – you need something to prevent that moisture from evaporating. Because of this, you need occlusive agents like beeswax, which act as a lipid barrier for water retention. Emollients also minimize TEWL and are also used to make moisturizers more plump.

2. Use a humidifier on an impaired skin barrier

If you live in a dry climate or are prone to dry winter weather, try a humidifier in your home to see if your skin has time to heal. Studies have shown that humidifiers that produce "water particles in nano-size" "have a positive effect on skin moisture and skin barrier function".

3. Skin moisturizing techniques for bathing

If you already have dry, dehydrated skin, ScienceDirect recommends placing a damp washcloth or towel on the area while your hands or feet can be treated by soaking in a bowl. Soak in warm (not hot) water for about 10 minutes, then apply an occlusive moisturizer to lock in the moisture. When moisturizing the face or neck, ScienceDirect recommends placing a damp washcloth or towel on the area while your hands or feet (ex.

4. Avoid harsh detergents and excessive exfoliation

Excessive washing, excessive exfoliation, chemical skin care, and some acne treatments can all lead to a damaged skin barrier and trigger skin conditions. It's also always best to consult a dermatologist if you're not sure what exactly is triggering your symptoms. As a general rule, avoid over-cleaning or the use of foaming cleansers, which may strip your skin of oils. It is safer to opt for a gentle milk cleaner. Also choose your active ingredients wisely. Ingredients such as retinol and alpha hydroxy acids can worsen the effectiveness of TEWL.

Do you suffer from TEWL? Discover the Marine Peptide Collection, designed to reduce water loss and lock in moisture.

11 Jun
Blog

Stop Overdoing Sport Specific Training

For most lifters, specificity is an overused training philosophy. I know this is a controversial statement in strength training communities, but I'm still not sorry I said it. It's the truth, and this quarantine gives us a unique moment to test this theory.

Let's talk about what specificity is. In short, it is the training principle that states that you improve a particular skill by performing that skill, not other related exercises, but repeatedly perfecting that particular thing. If it is not yet clear, I believe that the specificity in strength circles has become too dogmatic.

When specificity is needed

But the people who benefit from the specificity are top athletes who have to be exceptionally good at their sport. This applies to elite weight lifters and powerlifters as well as elite sprinters and professional running backs. Most athletes that fit in this category already have solid overall strength, are genetically freaked out, and physically fit for their sport. The only thing left to do is to become more and more efficient with details.

But just liking a sport or even being good at one doesn't make you a top athlete who needs to be overly specific in your training. And I would argue that even the best lifters could benefit from spending some time building non-specific power. The problem is that they never listen.

When the gyms were closed

But one day when we Americans thought we had found out everything, the government decided to shut down the country, including our beloved gyms, and no dumbbells were found at once. There are no garage gyms here in NYC, so we all had to lift in our tiny NYC apartments. This meant that my gym had to transform from a barbell gym to a kettlebell, barbell, and odd object gym overnight. But that was a blessing in disguise.

So what we did differently from most others is that we didn't kill people with senseless metcons.

When Yuri Verkoshansky said, "Any idiot can make another idiot tired." We believed him.

So we threw burpees overboard in favor of light speed work. We focused on individual limb movements and trunk stability work as well as sensible, measurable methods to improve the condition of our athletes. At times, this included things like AMAP sets, which were not used as finishers, but rather were incorporated into training cycles aimed at building up work capacities. There is a difference.

More important than anything else, we have developed programming that targets where we knew our lifters were defective. By definition, these movements are not specific. But I'm going to tell you what's going to happen, not because I'm a clairvoyant, but because I've been here for a while. You will come back better.

To be able to better define it, we have to be clear: these athletes have neither additional weight for their primary lifts nor larger muscles. That doesn't mean better here. What will be better is that they return to training with:

The long-lasting effect of this phenomenon is that in the long run they become better, healthier and, yes, stronger. Not seeing training in this regard means neglecting one of the most basic principles of human strength.

We can only accumulate until we need a delay. This should be done in your training at both the micro and macro levels. So let's do a favor and Use this time to do what we should have done a long time ago – stop exaggerating the details.

If you are in New York or are ever in the area, drop by and visit me at JDI Barbell, one of the few standalone barbell boxing gyms in town.

10 Jun
Blog

Stop Overdoing Sport Specific Training

For most lifters, specificity is an overused training philosophy. I know this is a controversial statement in strength training communities, but I'm still not sorry I said it. It's the truth, and this quarantine gives us a unique moment to test this theory.

Let's talk about what specificity is. In short, it is the training principle that says you master a certain skill better by performing that skill, not other related exercises, but repeatedly perfecting that particular thing. If it is not yet clear, I believe that the specificity in strength circles has become too dogmatic.

When specificity is needed

But the people who benefit from the specificity are top athletes who have to be exceptionally good at their sport. This applies to elite weight lifters and powerlifters as well as elite sprinters and professional running backs. Most athletes that fit in this category already have solid overall strength, are genetically freaked out, and physically fit for their sport. The only thing left to do is to become more and more efficient with details.

But just liking a sport or even being good at it doesn't make you a top athlete who needs to be too specific in your training. And I would argue that even the best lifters could benefit from spending some time building non-specific power. The problem is that they never listen.

When the gyms were closed

But one day when we Americans thought we had found out everything, the government decided to shut down the country, including our beloved gyms, and no dumbbells were found at once. There are no garage gyms here in NYC, so we all had to lift in our tiny NYC apartments. This meant that my gym had to transform from a barbell gym to a kettlebell, barbell, and odd object gym overnight. But that was a blessing in disguise.

So what we did differently from most others is that we didn't kill people with senseless metcons.

When Yuri Verkoshansky said, "Any idiot can make another idiot tired." We believed him.

So we threw burpees overboard in favor of light speed work. We focused on individual limb movements and trunk stability work as well as sensible, measurable methods to improve the condition of our athletes. At times, this included things like AMAP sets, which were not used as finishers, but were incorporated into training cycles that were aimed at building up work capacities. There is a difference.

More important than anything else, we have developed programming that targets where we knew our lifters were defective. By definition, these movements are not specific. But I'm going to tell you what's going to happen, not because I'm a clairvoyant, but because I've been here for a while. You will come back better.

To be able to better define it, we have to be clear: these athletes have neither additional weight for their primary lifts nor larger muscles. That doesn't mean better here. What will be better is that they return to training with:

The long-lasting effect of this phenomenon is that in the long run they become better, healthier and, yes, stronger. Not seeing training in this regard means neglecting one of the most basic principles of human strength.

We can only accumulate until we need a delay. This should be done in your training at both the micro and macro levels. So let's do a favor and Use this time to do what we should have done a long time ago – stop exaggerating the details.

If you are in New York or are ever in the area, drop by and visit me at JDI Barbell, one of the few standalone barbell boxing gyms in town.