“But, this is how I know you didn’t do it…”

Dan shares the "Big 21" ...tough!

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"But, this is how I know you didn't do it…"

Sometimes, I answer too many questions. My wife, as many of you know, was/is a Hemingway…yes THOSE Hemingways…and I need to practice talking like Uncle Earnie:

Click here to view the embedded video.

You see, it comes to this sometimes: people ask me questions because their mouths can formulate noises and these noises can heard by my ears to make my brain work. The questioner has the ability to literally ask anything as my friend Crazy Jerry used to say: "You have a Toyota in your nose." You can say the sentence, but it means nothing.

I have this believe that you can only train HARD in blocks of two, four, six and, maybe, eight weeks. Then, you slide back to "medium." For dieting purposes, the great ones get it: Atkins Two Week Induction is genius. Chris Shugart's Velocity Diet of 28 days of practically nothing but protein shakes works. After those short intense bouts with food, you are different: celery becomes butter and carrots are candy. It's hard to live normally like that. Now, we all know that the best diet and exercise program for fat loss is found in the book, "The Road." I enjoy telling people it is a delightful comedy…



Most of the time, you need to do those wonderful workouts that I love to call "Punch the Clock" workouts. I suggest doing all the basic human movements, work on your issues with corrective work as you need it, improve your technique on one or two exercises, break a good solid sweat and get the heart rate up and pat yourself wisely on the back. As I said in a recent interview, most people have three hard workouts a year: Monday, Wednesday and Friday of the first week of January and they put it off again until next New Year's Day.

I think 200 easy workouts a year or even as few as 150 (three times a week with a little vacation) trumps those three hard ones each and every time. Of course, with "easy" and "hard" and "medium, your mileage may vary, but you get the point.

Oh, I LOVE hard workouts. I have dozens of them that I can give you. But, well, that's the issue. My program, Mass Made Simple, is NOT the kind of thing one should attempt lightly. I get emails with "I can't squat," "I don't have a bar," or "I don't want to lift heavy" and, frankly, this is not the Mass Made Simple Mentality. I think it would be possible to do MMS twice a year as a teen. After that, once a year would be a lot. It takes a lot of time, energy and discipline to do this program and it is a sell out system for six weeks.

I'm not sure you can do this and recover from hip surgery. I'm just guessing here, of course. This would be hard to do when on vacation. It would be really hard to do if you have six kids during Christmas.

What's my point. There...

Dave

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Manage Your Options!

Another great one from Dan John!

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Manage Your Options!

The problem with the Strength, Conditioning and Fitness community today is that we have all fallen in love with the videos of NFL guys or SEALs or UFC fighters do this and that and this prepping for something. Yeah. Me, too. I want to be that guy. I'm going to buy some tribal tats and some clothes that hug every inch of me and crank up the noise and…

And, that is great. Bless you. Then, comes the reality check: I'm always the biggest guy in the picture and I was four inches too short for my position to play in the NFL. I didn't join the Navy, so, well, that option was out and, to be honest, if you have never been punched in the face, I'm not sure why you would want to find out how it feels in a televised event.

For most of us who are trying to scrub a few pounds of fat that has frowned over the belt or compete in a sport with a just a few qualities, we can get caught up in all of this stuff. And that is the problem. As I have noted endlessly: "Everything works…for about six weeks!" Then what? I'm not going to abandon you here, just follow along for a few minutes.

Years ago, Doctor Tom Fahey told me that all an elite level discus thrower needed for strength levels was the following:

Bench Press: 400

Squat: 450

Snatch: 250

Clean: 300



To be honest, for the average person, these are big numbers, but in the area of strength training, they are modest. To get to these numbers, it would take two to five years of concentrated training for a person with a thrower's body and mentality. At the bodyweight of most throwers, those numbers work out to two "F's" and two "D's" when you compare them to the world record for the sport specialist. That is a lousy GPA!

In my case, I basically benched for four years, then Olympic lifting only for the rest of my career. In hindsight, I think it was an error as a blend of the two sports may have been best. One of my favorite articles of all times notes:

*"Brian Oldfield, Al Feuerbach, Bruce Wilhelm, and Sam Walker favored the quick lifts, while George Woods and Randy Matson leaned toward the strength lifts. …if there was any real consensus among the champion shotputters, it was that a mixture of quick and strength lifts is effective."

Dave Davis, Track Technique, March and June 1974

Here is the issue for a discus thrower, and in a moment I will expand this out to most people: One can achieve the highest levels of strength for throwing through several routes. These include:

Olympic lifting

Power lifting

Strongman Training

Highland Games

Power Bodybuilding

Frankly, they all work. I'm sure that blending these some how would work better than just doing one, but that would be a tough experiment and probably would involve a Time Machine, like the one I am working on.

You see, these schools of strength training are "Options." If there is a key to understanding Quadrant ...

Dave

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Hate time off...

So, last week I gave my six day plan a break for the first time in a long while. I put the weights down and just continued my 3 day run plan. It worked out great and I was feeling super refreshed to start lifting this week until.....I got sick. So..I'm now one run into this week and I've forced myself not to lift or do anything else since my last run. The only aid is the fact that my team of motivators and workout partners is also sick. Aside from that..it has been horrible trying not to workout. One of my training partners has the same issue and we both feel like we are wasting away into weakness. These times really point out my complex with lifting and running and missing workouts as well as resting. I guess sneezing and blowing my nose while typing this should be my cue to give things a break. The current plan is to get in two more runs this week as long as the bug goes away. If all goes well, I'm looking for a Friday/Sat run.. Counting kcals has been my only way to stay connected with my fitness goals for now..

Saturday morning 10 mile

Had an exhilarating 10 mi run this morning. It was sensory overload for me because I tried a new route. I enjoyed road, trail, and gravel throughout the run. While in the woods I had to take off my headphones just to be able to take in all the new scenery and noises. Thankfully, I only had one dog run in that was quickly resolved. I also learned that taking a little time off from my 6 day training cycle was a great idea. My legs felt good today and I was fresh for the run. Looking forward to the Yargo half coming up in a few weeks.

Gaming, lifting, and a general update

Gaming-
Recently I have been getting back into some of my older ps2 titles. I snagged a copy of half life for $5 off Craigslist and have been really enjoying the game. I see a connection between half life and the dead space series on my ps3. Both are kind of sci-fi shooters/thrillers. I have also been getting some iPhone gaming in recently. I purchased Rage and original Doom and am enjoying both. I think you can never go wrong with anything ID Software makes. It's been kind of nice to always have a mobile Doom fix on hand. I'm not sure what it is about that game but, I continually come back to it. I always think its the nostalgic value and the fact that I was never allowed to play it in my youth. I remember watching my neighbor play it on his fancy pc that had 16mb of ram! I always thought it was the coolest. Lastly, I have been getting into eBay more lately. My new thing is trying to flip games for a profit and as usual, snagging old cheap games for my collection. I recently bought chessmaster for ps one and a strategy guide for my copy of half life. I got so excited looking at the manual for half life, I figured I'd see how much a strategy guide could benefit me. I'm super slow to beat games and I love the cover art associated with games so again, I thought the guide might be something I would enjoy, plus they are pretty cheap.

Lifting-
I have been on my six day plan for a while now and have actually made gains! My power cleans, military press, curls, dead lifts, and bench have all shown growth in my recent data. I ran today with a co worker which was great because we think very similarly and it is always nice to have someone around like that to bounce ideas off of and motivate you through workouts. I ran for the previous two days and although today was a good run..it was a reality check too. My body shouted at me to take a break. I felt a really strong urge to give myself a few days rest. I have a horrible mental problem with taking time off but I know it is necessary right now. I'm looking forward to the gains this will help create when I come back to the next lift cycle. I am also planning to try and start a new eating regimen that will hopefully help me get back some mass in a lean way. I'm very nervous to steer outside of my daily calorie allotment but I'm hoping boosting protein won't cause any fat gain. Losing 30lbs has been great but, I'm tired of feeling like a toothpick at 150lbs! I have a feeling I may be going into the crossfit realm again but with a more serious approach this time. I'd like to get a few more weeks of data from my current plan an then move into WODs. For now though...I'm taking a little time off to heal and grow..

Great quick trail run today with my coworker. Pace was nice and...

A shot from the Garmin

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Great quick trail run today with my coworker. Pace was nice and...

Great quick trail run today with my coworker. Pace was nice and quick and his fancy watch linked it all together.

My body already feels better from the self inflicted exile from lifting heavy things over my head.

Met my lady and kiddos for pizza afterwards and got a lot of stares from others around the restaurant. 1/2 looked at the tattoos which is normal for me, but the other 1/2 kept staring at my shorts.

If hitting 40 in 2 months and I refuse to run in long shorts anymore. Proper not friction shorty running shorts are my required uniform.

All in favor of shorty running shorts that are totally appropriate and fit correctly, say I

Dave

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4 Georgia trail miles tomorrow- Goal under 40 minutes

I enjoyed this run with a  co worker today.

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4 Georgia trail miles tomorrow- Goal under 40 minutes

4 Georgia trail miles tomorrow- Goal under 40 minutes

Dave

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