Category Archives: Bodybuilding
Iron Warrior – Josh Leeger
vs. 
I’d give this fight even odds. Here is what my bro Josh had to say about what the Iron Game means to him:
What does the Iron Game mean to me? To me, it’s meant transformation. Let me explain.
As Nate pointed out in one of his posts, the Iron Game is similar to the Riddle of Steel. As Thulsa Doom says – “Steel isn’t strong, boy. Flesh is stronger!…What is steel compared to the hand that wields it?”
The Iron is the same way. The Iron has no strength. In fact, it has the opposite of strength.
What you learn after dealing with it long enough is that you have to be strong within. You exert your will against it time after time. The Iron Game isn’t about winning or losing. It can’t be, because you’ll always lose. The Iron will always have one more pound…one more plate…one more rep.
The Iron Game is about learning, striving, persisting.
In the face of certain failure, you persist. In the face of pain, you strive harder. When the Iron hurts you, you find the real culprit staring you down in the mirror. In the face of the Iron you’re forced to reckon with yourself. It is a path of self-reckoning.
Who am I? What am I capable of? When I can’t do it, what exactly is stopping me? Is it “impossible,” or did I simply not prepare myself for this? Since the game can’t be won, the questions continue, like a never-ending Zen koan.
Those Zen riddles were designed to take the student beyond the place where their rational mind could “figure things out.” “What is the sound of one hand clapping” goes the famous riddle. Meditate on that long enough, and logic breaks down, words lose any meaning, and Reality appears all at once, slapping you in the face. People who experience it are called “enlightened.” They laugh, they cry, they put their shoes on their head and walk out of the room.
The Iron has always been the same for me. It is a thing never “solved.” It sits and waits (or should that be “weights”?). You move ahead, you move backward, it stays the same.
And through that process, YOU comes through. Through the struggle, the only things that are always there are You and the Iron. Your body might have changed. You might be stronger or weaker that day. But somehow “you” is still there. The Iron might be chrome-plated or raw. It might take the shape of a dumbbell or a barbell, but there it is, somehow the same as it always was.
The Iron Game for me has always been this Riddle. It’s the Riddle of life, that the followers of the ancient Mystery Cults in Greece and Rome used to go into ecstatic trances after. It’s the Zen koan of the physical body, of physical reality.
Solve it, and you’ve reached enlightenment. Just don’t tell me the answer.
Nate’s Notes: You know, its rare to find someone who is just as passionate about the Iron Game as me, even though my life is basically spent in gyms. But my good friend Josh is one of those guys. From powerlifting to bodybuilding to even Highland Games competition, the guy just loves to train.
He also happens to be one of the smartest guys I know in the game. When I have a biomechanics or physiology question, he’s the guy I turn to. He’s made the Iron Game his career — ten years running a training business along with thousands of hours researching through seminars, self-education, and in labs and libraries attaining his Masters degree in Kinesiology.
In my ten years in the industry, he is one of the best connections and personal friendships I’ve made. If you are passionate about this game, then you can’t go wrong connecting with him as well. Here’s where to do it: http://leegertrained.com
Fake Tans, Fitness Events, & Photo Shoots
My wife and I just got back from a whirlwind, fitness extravaganza weekend down in L.A. We wanted to update our family and friends with all that went down during our “business” trip. In honor of my favorite show — Sportscenter — here is a top 5 countdown.
#5. Kalai competed in her first ever fitness/bikini show. She placed 3rd. I was able to sneak out from backstage and watch her from the crowd. She looked frickin’ amazing. People in the audience could not believe that she is 38 years old. I overhead a group of women next to me say they thought she was 23.
The best part about it is that she reached this shape in a sane, reasonable way. Nothing extreme. Apparently, there were never-ending tales backstage about women who had done 2+ hours of cardio a day, dieted on starvation level calories and/or no carbs (and are unknowingly destroying their metabolism, hormonal profile, and setting themselves up for a huge weight rebound), and had pretty much given up all semblance of a normal life for months in exchange for a few minutes of prancing around onstage. Crazy huh? One woman was incoherent backstage because she had not had anything to eat or drink for over 36 hours. Is that chasing glory or battling a different kind of eating disorder?
Kalai plans on writing about her training and diet leading up to the show. I can follow through with the science behind this process. There are so many myths and misinformation (especially regarding the female body composition transformation process) in the industry, its time to set the record straight using both science AND practical experience. Either alone is meaningless.
#4. I placed 6th in my weight-class, just out of the top 5. It seemed that this time around the judges preferred size a little bit more then definition. That’s cool. People asked if I was pissed? No way, how can you get mad over a sport based on subjective opinion. Some like apples, some like oranges, it’s all good. Here’s a link to the line-up, you can be the judge: Ironman Naturally lightweight comparisons (The tallest dude, 5th from left-to-right, with the maroon panties — I mean posing trunks).
#3. Our photo shoot the next day was the true highlight of our trip. We worked with Natalie Minh, an LA-based photographer who has shot for a lot of the major fitness magazines. She was great, and the shoot was a lot of fun. She was patient and encouraging with our rookie-asses. She definitely thinks we have potential as fitness models, especially with the whole couple’s angle, and thinks we should focus more on that than bodybuilding/fitness competitions. Kalai and I agreed; besides, we enjoyed the photo shoot so much more than the show.
She was very impressed with Kalai and mentioned that she will be submitting some of the photos to mainstream fitness magazines. In other words, Kalai is going to be a fitness star, I’m just along for the ride. Cool with me. Kalai can motivate, we both can educate. We’ll put up some of the shots when we get them in a separate blog post.
#2. 2011 plans. We plan on spending the first half of the year launching our new website/blog and helping share what we’ve learned about the physique transformation process with our family, friends, and clients. Can’t wait. I think we’re one of the few out there in the industry that can back up our advice with science and practical experience. Athletes with IQ’s, trainers/nutrition advisors with real world, practical experience — crazy!
At the end of the year, we plan on doing the Musclemania World fitness model show. Like I said, we are going to start focusing more on that route than the bodybuilding/figure competitions. Should be some good exposure and movement in that direction. Is this the next fitness couple (maybe I need to wear some heels)?
#1 The L.A Fitness Expo was packed and crazy — bodybuilding, powerlifting, arm wrestling, sumo wrestling, mma, magazines, supplements, equipment. It was definitely a cool site, but there are only so many fake tans, fake smiles, and fake tits you can take (yeah dudes, I know that last comment sounds crazy but trust me, after awhile you just want some semblance of normalcy).
We want to say thanks a lot for the support you’ve given us through this time. We hope to return the favor with content that helps you reach your goals.
Ironman Naturally – 2 Weeks
As I said in my last post, the rest of this year is going to be about helping you reach your health and fitness goals. But the next 2 weeks is about my wife and I reaching our goals. We’re off to the Ironman Naturally competition in LA on 1/29 and a photo shoot on 1/30. I figured I’d put up a couple of updated photos. Does anyone else think my giant melon-head is too big for my body right now?
I’ll see if I can convince my wife to put up an update photo as well.
Choosing the Right Program in 2011
One of the “Miyaki-isms” I repeat almost daily in my training business is this: training for performance is different than training for appearance. That slogan has been sprinkled over various articles and posts on this site. As the New Year approaches and everyone starts setting their goals and resolutions, I thought I’d take a moment to readdress that issue. I want to ensure the training program you choose in the New Year matches your training goals.
I would say that most people’s New Year’s goals are related to appearance — we want to change our body composition and lose fat. Great. But here is the problem for you. Very few trainers these days are prescribing programs that are appropriate for physique development (and on a side note, maybe that’s why there are so few trainers who are actually in shape themselves — ever think about that one)? New-age, “innovative” trainers are focusing on things like functional training, balance, unstable training, sport-specific training, multi-directional/multi-movement complex exercises, etc. These are all fine and have their place, but they are not ideal, or lets say efficient, for changing how you look.
There has been a blending of strength training concepts in today’s program designs. This results in a jack-of-all-trades and expert at none kind of a thing. That’s cool if that is what you want, but if you just want to look good/change your appearance, you need to prioritize, and focus solely on the training principles that emphasize specific physiological adaptations. Here are some different responses your body can have to training protocols:
1. Balance: This is mostly a nervous system response, not a muscular one. The body gets better at recruiting the muscles/motor units that stabilize the body.
2. Strength: This is also mostly a nervous system response, with some muscular side effect. A lot of strength development is the body getting more efficient at turning on all of the motor units in a given muscle group, and generating maximum force for a single lift (or 1-5). This is good for producing force, but generally the muscle fibers do not spend enough time under tension for an adaptive response.
3. Endurance: This is mostly a metabolic response, not a muscular one. The body gets better at dealing with lactic acid, and becomes more fatigue resistant.
4. Multi-directional/multi-movement exercises. These have become more common-place in the gyms — twisting, lunging, one arm-thrust curls. Again, because of the complexity of the movement, this is more of a nervous system response than a muscular one. The body gets more efficient at moving in multiple directions and planes of motion, but none of the individual muscles receive enough tension and overload for physique development. Rhythmic gymnastics helps you move in multiple directions too, but its probably not going to help you look much better, unless you are Will Ferrell in Old School.
5. Power: This is all about learning how to generate a lot of force and accelerate through a movement. Golfers generate a lot of power, but most golfers are fat. Are you beginning to see the theme? This is more of a nervous system “thing” then a muscular “G-thang”.
6. Flexibility: This is about improving your body’s range of motion. It has nothing to do with physique development. Sorry folks, but yoga and stretching are not going to get you ripped.
7. Muscular development: Finally, what we really want. Building muscle shapes the body and boosts the metabolic rate (which in turn helps you burn fat). This is about tension and overload on the muscle. This is best accomplished with basic exercises — compound and isolation – working the muscles through their natural functions and planes of motion with enough resistance AND a certain amount of time under tension and volume.
Here’s the thing, most programs these days focus on 1-6, very few focus on #7. Fancy multi-directional movements and training on unstable surfaces are about 1 and 4. Boot camps, group exercise classes, and cross-training programs generally highlight 3-5. Yoga and stretching are about #6. And guys loading up the bar with too much weight, using shitty form, screaming, and eeking out 3 horrible reps is about #1, if anything at all.
I feel bad for the consumers who have no clue about proper training and come into the gym in the New Year. They get hooked up with trainers who have no idea how to train people for physique development. They think they are training for body composition change, but when you analyze their actual programs, you discover they are training for anything and everything BUT their goal.
Take some accountability for your own results. I highly you suggest you read my Body Composition Training 101 Series. This will give you a knowledge-base so you can critically analyze different training programs, and find one that is appropriate for your specific goals.
Maybe if you educate yourself, you won’t have to make a resolution next year because you’ll finally accomplish this year’s goal.
Hapa’s and Ronin
Happy Halloween! Do you have your costumes prepped and ready to go? I used to go as The Crow almost every year — the original Crow with Brandon Lee, not the horrible sequels. I think Edward Furlong was the last Crow — ridiculous. But I haven’t been able rally and roll the last few years. The last Halloween I actually went out there was a gang fight right in front of us, and two people were shot about a block away. I figured I’d stay away from that stuff for a while. I don’t need to risk getting killed to have a good time (it’s funny how things change when you actually start to have something to lose).
This past week I had the honor of being asked to write a guest post for HapaVoice.com. It was a great experience. This was my first non-fitness related writing piece since I took up the pen. I enjoyed the change of pace. This is from their home page:
ha•pa (hä’pä) adj. 1. Slang. Of mixed racial heritage with partial roots in Asian and/or Pacific Islander ancestry. n. 2. Slang. A person of such ancestry.
Hapa, literally “half” in Hawaiian, was originally used as a derogatory term to describe people of biracial ancestry. Today, many multiracial individuals of Asian or Pacific Islander descent have embraced the word as a term of prideful self-identification. Although some object to the term’s appropriation and perceived misuse outside of its traditional Hawaiian context, “Hapa” has been widely adopted by the Asian and Pacific Islander multiracial communities, and even by some multiracial, non-Asians.
While many Hapas take pride in their ancestry, some find that their multiracial identity creates personal dilemmas and social challenges.
HapaVoice.com was started by Erica Johnson to provide a resource and community for anyone struggling with identity. I think it is a great resource for Hapa’s, but lessons can be learned no matter who you are or what your background is. We all need to be more accepting of others’ ethnicities, backgrounds, and life philosophies.
But don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about the fitness game. This week I want to introduce you to my network of health & fitness professionals (The Ronin Warriors). To be the best you have to surround yourself with the best. These are the people I go to when a question or topic is outside of my personal area of expertise.
As you know I primarily focus on physique development, fat loss, and body composition transformations. But my team has it all covered: fitness psychology, medical nutrition therapy, rehabilitation, posture/alignment corrections, and sport performance training. We’re growing every day. I am excited to keep brining you new tools and content so this site becomes your go-to health & fitness resource.
Check out the HapaVoice.com piece if you are interested in something different. Then check out the Ronin Team.
See you next time my friends.
Musclemania Contest Prep on Bodybuilding.com
I competed in Musclemania America 2009 after a five-year hiatus. Check out my article on Bodybuilding.com to learn how I trained for the comeback. I learned some valuable lessons from the process that have influenced what I am doing for my upcoming contests.
Sample Workouts
In other articles on this site, I’ve explained my belief that bodybuilding and fitness-style training is the best way to lose weight and shape your body. To sum it up:
- Training for performance is much different than training for appearance.
- Training for core strength, balance, posture, and corrective exercise are all much different than training for appearance.
- Bodybuilding and fitness-style workouts (body part splits, target training, a certain amount of volume, proper rep execution and tempos) are the best mode of training for physique enhancement/body composition change/appearance-based training.
- The most effective training and nutrition programs are simple on paper/theory but are backed by complex science and tons of research.
- The most ineffective training and nutrition programs are complex on paper/theory. They are full of flash, fluff, trends, and so-called “innovation” (and are generally trying to sell you on a product or system), but are backed by minimal research and science.
So what does a bodybuilding and fitness-style program look like on paper? Here are some sample training splits and workouts. These are not meant to be done indefinitely. As a trainer and coach, I generally rotate exercises, order of exercises, rep tempos, rest periods, and other variables to vary the training stimulus. I also make changes based on the goals and progress of the client. I do, however, think these are good plans to get started with on your fitness journey. They hit every major muscle group and move the body through different planes and ranges-of-motion. At least you won’t be balancing on a ball like a seal thinking you are actually working out.
SAMPLE 1: 2-DAY FULL BODY SPLIT
Day 1 — Full Body
Split squats 2 x 15
Hamstring curls 2 x 15
Pull-ups or lat pulldowns 2 x 15
Hammer Strength, machine, or cable wide grip rows 2 x 15
Flat dumbell bench press 2 x 15
Dumbell shoulder press 2 x 15
Cable triceps extensions 2 x 15
Alternate dumbell curls 2 x 15
Crunches with legs in the air 2 x 15
Day 2 — Full Body
Dumbell sumo squats 2 x 15
Leg press 2 x 15
Close grip pull-ups or lat pulldowns 2 x 15
One arm dumbell rows 2 x 15
Incline dumbell press 2 x 15
Dumbell side lateral raises 2 x 15
Skullcrushers (lying triceps extensions) 2 x 15
Cable rope curls 2 x 15
Bicycle crunches 2 x 15
SAMPLE 2: 3-DAY PUSH/PULL SPLIT
Day 1 – Chest, shoulders, triceps
Incline dumbell press 3 x 10-12
Cable fly 3 x 10-12
Dumbell shoulder press 3 x 10-12
Dumbell side lateral raise 3 x 10-12
Cable triceps extensions 3 x 10-12
Skullcrushers 3 x 10-12
Day 2 — Legs, Core
Leg press 3 x 10-12
Dumbell sumo squat 3 x 10-12
Hamstring curls 3 x 10-12
Leg extensions 3 x 10-12
Calf raises 3 x 10-12
Crunches with legs in air 3 x 10-12
Day 3 — Back, biceps
Pull-ups 3 x 10-12
Hammer strength or machine wide grip rows 3 x 10-12
One arm dumbell rows 3 x 10-12
Lower back extensions 3 x 10-12
Alternate dumbell curls 3 x 10-12
Dumbell concentration curls 3 x 10-12
SAMPLE 3: 4-DAY UPPER/LOWER SPLIT
Day 1 — Legs/core I
Dumbell sumo squat 3 x 10-12
Leg Press 3 x 10-12
Split squats 3 x 10-12
Hamstring curls 3 x 10-12
Calf raises 3 x 10-12
Hanging leg raises superset plank holds 3 x max reps
Day 2 — Upper Body Push
Flat dumbell press 3 x 10-12
Incline dumbell press 3 x 10-12
Dumbell shoulder press 3 x 10-12
Dumbell side lateral raises 3 x 10-12
Cable triceps extensions 3 x 10-12
Skullcrushers 3 x 10-12
Day 3 — Legs, Core II
Squats 3 x 10-12
Stiff leg deadlifts 3 x 10-12
Bench step-ups 3 x 10-12
Leg extensions 3 x 10-12
Calf raises 3 x 10-12
Crunches w/ legs in the air superset bicycle crunches 3 x max reps
Day 4 — Upper Body Pull
Pull-ups 3 x 10-12
One arm dumbell rows 3 x 10-12
Wide grip hammer or machine rows 3 x 10-12
Barbell curls 3 x 10-12
Alternate dumbell curls 3 x 1012
SAMPLE 4: 4-DAY BODYBUILDING SPLIT
Day 1 – Back, Abs
Pull-ups 3 x 10-12
Wide grip hammer or machine rows 3 x 10-12
One arm dumbell rows 3 x 10-12
Rack Deadlifts 3 x 10-12
Hanging leg raises 3 x max reps
Stability ball crunches 3 x max reps
Day 2 — Chest, Biceps
Flat dumbell press 3 x 10-12
Incline dumbell press 3 x 10-12
Machine fly 3 x 10-12
Push-ups 1 x max reps
Barbell curl 3 x 10-12
Alternating dumbell hammer curl 3 x 10-12
Dumbell concentration curl 3 x 10-12
Day 3 — Legs
Squats 3 x 10-12
Leg press 3 x 10-12
Hamstring curls 3 x 10-12
Leg extensions 3 x 10-12
Calf Raises 3 x 10-12
Day 4 — Shoulders, Triceps
Seated dumbell press 3 x 10-12
Barbell shrugs 3 x 10-12
Dumbell side lateral raises 3 x 10-12
Machine or cable rear delt fly 3 x 10-12
Rope cable triceps extensions 3 x 10-12
Skullcrushers 3 x 10-12
Training Prep on Bodybuilding.com
I’m excited to share that my second article has been posted on Bodybuilding.com. When I submitted it I was training for a competition in August, but as you know from my last post I have instead set my sights on the Musclemania California show in October, and the INBA Natural Mr. Universe in November. I’ll be updating my progress along the way on their site, and will of course keep you all apprised as well.
Check it out here:
A Secret You Shouldn’t Keep
I’ve always told people that if you have a goal, you need to tell people about it. The more people you tell the better, but you need to share your goal with at least one other person. Why? Because this holds you accountable to pursuing and achieving that goal. If you keep your goals a secret, you have no one to call you out when you are slacking off or falling off track. It’s too easy to just forget about your goal when the going gets tough.
By not telling anyone about your goal, you automatically give yourself a way out. If you quit and give up, no one knows that you were even chasing after something. And more importantly, no one knows that you failed. You can just start over again with no real consequences. At least if you tell someone and you bail out, you’ll have to deal with the questions of what happened.
I’m not a lot of things in this life. I have many faults and shortcomings. But one thing I know that I am is a man of my word. If I tell someone about my goal, than I’d be breaking my word if I didn’t chase after it. That’s not going to happen. This motivates me to follow through 100% with the goals I’ve set. I may still fail, but once I tell someone I’m going after something, I will never fail because I didn’t give it my best shot.
So, I’m going to put myself out there and tell all of you about the immediate goal that I have. Read the rest of this entry
Reading, Writing and Photographs
Well, lots of exciting stuff has happened since my last post. Here’s what’s going on:
1. I got my first article officially published. Bodybuilding.com picked up one of my nutrition articles, set up a cool bio page for me, and asked me to regularly write two articles a month. I’m excited because I’ve been a huge fan of this site for years and it is great exposure — they get thousands of hits daily. Check them out!
2. I got the official, professional photos from my Musclemania America Contest from last year, finally! I’ve added them to the gallery section if you want to check them out.
3. There was a great article in the NY Times about the importance of diet for fat loss. It basically reinforces what I’ve been preaching for years — exercising is ineffective for fat loss unless you have a solid nutrition plan to back it up. Read it here.
Okay, I’m working on a few new articles and should have them up for next time.
Take it easy,
Nate
natemiyaki
Kalai Diamond
