Happy New Year! We hope you had a festive, fun, and HEALTHY holiday season.

We’re starting 2012 with a new look for the website, and will be coming at you soon with new content as well.

Stay tuned!

Here is a link t0 the most effective, but most difficult, ab exercise in the world:

The Truth About Ab Training

Billy Zane knew it was inevitable.  He proclaimed, “its a walk-off” as Derek Zoolander and Hansel prepared for their epic runway showdown.

I’ve repeated the following statement multiple times on this site and within articles for various publications:  most people could cure their overweight blues, reduce insulin resistance, dramatically improve other biomarkers of health, and reach a reasonable, “healthy” bodyweight by improving their diet and WALKING alone, no formal exercise sessions necessary.  Read the rest of this entry →

Hope everyone is having a great summer.

I had the privilege of being featured in this month’s issue of Men’s Health magazine.  The article was written by the great Lou Schuler, a former Men’s Health editor, regular freelance contributor, and author of several best-selling fitness books (including the Testosterone Advantage Plan).

The article was about the secrets of athletes who push themselves to the max.  It featured three different types of athletes:  a powerlifter, a triathlete, and me (the bodybuilder/fitness guy).  I can’t believe I was chosen as the third guy.  It was a great honor.

As cheesy as it sounds, I have to honestly admit that being featured in a major fitness magazine has always been one of my major goals.  I guess it is because I grew up reading them, and thought if one day I was one of the athletes people were reading about, that somehow meant “I made it”, whatever that means.

I can now say I’ve been in the same magazine as Sam Worthington, the dude from Avatar and Terminator 4.  I told my mama I would be famous some day .  Ok, I know not really, but let me feel good about myself for a day.

Kalai has posted up some snippets from the article here: Men’s Health article link

So I knocked off one of my major goals thanks to Lou Schuler.  We’d like to help you reach some of yours.  I think a good article we wrote related to this piece is this one: The Power of Goals

And go out and get the Sept issue of Men’s Health.

Ronin:  Samurai warriors with no lord or master.  They often spent their lives wandering the land seeking knowledge, testing their skills in individual combat, or becoming mercenaries — joining together with samurai clans to fight in larger territorial battles.

He studied all the traditional philosophies, but then he began to form his own philosophy, and he came to the realization that you just can’t borrow another person’s philosophy.  You have to learn about yourself and create your own philosophy, your own way of life. — Linda Lee (on Bruce Lee).

The essence of jeet kune do:  1.  Research your own experience.  2.  Absorb what is useful.  3.  Reject what is useless.  4.  Add what is specifically your own.  — Bruce Lee.

Remember that man created method and not that method created man, and do not strain yourself in twisting into someone’s preconceived pattern, which unquestionably would be appropriate for him, but not necessarily for you…The individual is more important than the system. — Bruce Lee.

I’ve always considered myself to be somewhat like a ronin warrior — kind of a drifter, a wanderer, sometimes feeling lost in the real world (outside of athletics), trying to find a purpose or path.  I’m not good at following orders or trying to conform to what popular opinion deems is the “right” Way.  I never really got caught up in trying to follow society’s conventions or a traditional path — with pretty much anything.

I’m not saying that to sound cool or revolutionary or counter-culture, it’s just my natural, authentic disposition.  We can’t fight who we are in spirit if we have any chance of being happy.  And in fact, the times when I was the unhappiest and most anxious in my life was when I was trying to be something that I’m not.

I’ve always tried to follow my gut, and that has led me down many different roads in this life based on my interests at the time (although the one consistency has always been my love of the gym).  It’s probably not the greatest approach to achieve what most would equate with traditional success, but at least I have a few good stories to tell.

This journey has caused me to adopt a ronin-style approach to life in general — serving no single master.  I don’t get caught up in dogmas or religiously adhering to specific “systems”.  I try to pull from various resources, picking out the best parts, and then proceeding with what I feel is the most effective and efficient approach.

This has influenced our approach to the fitness game — we feel in a positive way — both for us AND for you.

This is true in our approach to training.  We have trained solely for cosmetic reasons at times (Nate – bodybuilding/fitness modeling, Kalai — bikini/fitness modeling), as well as for sport performance at others (Nate — football, track & field, martial artists, gymnastics, professional wrestling/stunts, Kalai — volleyball, marathon running, cycling).  Trust us, there is no single right way for everyone, everywhere.  There is merit and validity in numerous approaches.  The training program simply must match the athlete’s goals at the time to optimize results.  Of course those can evolve or change over time, thus the program may need to change.

This is true in our approach to nutrition.  We have pulled from anthropological studies, research studies, scientific journals, anecdotal evidence, interviews and “coffee talks” (Ok, sometimes maybe “booze talks”) with fellow athletes, coaches, trainers, and friends, Paleo Nutrition, Sports Nutrition, Bodybuilding & Fitness Nutrition, the traditional Japanese Diet, and so on.  Activity levels, body type, individual metabolic & hormonal factors, physique goals, performance goals, and lifestyle factors all must be considered when designing an optimum diet for each individual.  No single diet fits all.

This is true with our approach to philosophy, sports psychology, behavioral psychology, motivational strategies, “thinking”, or whatever else you prefer to call it.  Kalai has her formal education as a Master’s in Psychology, as well as practical experience as an athlete and coach in the NCAA.  I have in the trenches, real-world psychology experience from over ten years working with individuals, groups, and teams in my private training business.  And I also have real world experience with kind of being crazy (yes Kalai is being honest, I do literally think I’m a samurai).

And our conclusion?  Different strategies, different teaching methods, and different coaching methods work for different people.

For the Iron Warrior Principles that are the core of this site, you’ll see in the “legends” section that we’ve learned from many great warriors of the past.  And with the training, nutrition, and psychology articles, we’ve been influenced by many great athletes, coaches, and educators of the present.  We want you to do the same, and hope we can become just one of many valuable resources in your fitness journey.

Now I’m not saying you should have training and nutrition ADD or jump from program to program without giving something a chance to work.  Results take time.  And I’m not saying you shouldn’t believe in something.  After all, if you don’t stand for something, you stand for nothing.  As you see, I certainly have my opinions on what are the most effective and efficient ways to achieve results.  But I’m smart enough, and humble enough to know that there can be more than ONE WAY to skin a cat, or I guess more appropriately, to peel off body fat).

As Bruce Lee used to say, “I have the absolute confidence not to be number two, but then I have enough sense also to realize that there can be no number one.”  In other words, I believe in our methods (which are actually a combination and hybrid of several different methods), but I also concede there are other, equally effective and valid approaches.  We are not disregarding or demeaning other professional’s opinions, we are simply presenting our own.

The bottom line, and our sincere, honest message to you is this:  you gotta find your own way man, or girl.  You have to take some personal accountability, do some self-experimentation, and find what resonates with and works best for you.  Yes, you are going to need guidance.  Yes, you are going to need coaching.  And since we have a lot more experience than you probably do, you should expect that we can, at the very least, point you in the right direction.  We’ve made a lot of mistakes along the way, we’ve learned the mistakes of our clients, and we think we can help you avoid making the same ones.  But honestly, we can only give you our best guess as to what we think might be the most efficient path for your physique transformation process.  Why?

As much as we know about the human body (and by we I mean as a collective group:  scientists, researchers, physicians, coaches, etc.) — physiology, metabolism, endocrinology, etc. — it’s still only a tiny fraction of a true understanding of how this complex organism works.  I mean, how much do you think we REALLY know — 10%?  I’d say that’s being very generous.  Anyone who thinks they know more is giving themselves too much credit.  Why do I get aroused watching Rachel Ray prep a spring salad?  Explain that one to me from a scientific perspective.  You can’t, it just doesn’t make sense, but it happens nonetheless…

That’s why you can’t just rely on science, or theory, or marketing hype, or one-size-fits-all systems.  Results should be the ultimate guide.  Getting you real world results, sometimes through a trial and error process that lies outside of any one system, is what matters most.  If our advice helps you get to where you want to go.  Great.  If we feel pointing you to another coach or professional’s advice would be more beneficial, we’re just as happy to do so.

Learn, apply, experiment, take what is useful, discard what is useless, lather, rinse, and repeat until you get to where you want to be.  This is a lifelong process.  We hope we can become one of the many resources that help you through it.  The content on this site is presented as A WAY, not THE (only) WAY.

Legends

I am passionate about the Iron Game.  I’m also passionate about the Way of the Warrior, and warrior cultures in general.  I want to share with you some of the philosophies I’ve learned from these cultures, and how they can be translated and applied to various aspects of the Iron Game.  I believe certain warrior principles are powerful psychological tools that can help us succeed during our Iron Journey.

Here are some of the various resources that I have been exposed to throughout my personal studies, and from which the warrior principles have been compiled:

1.  Miyamoto Musashi

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Miyamoto Musashi is widely recognized as the greatest samurai warrior of all-time, and his legend is unparalleled in Japanese culture.  He was a ronin — a masterless samurai — that wandered the land learning martial arts, sword skills, and philosophical insights from some of the greatest teachers of his time.  He incorporated that which was useful into his own approach, and discarded that which was of no use.

Throughout his travels he would test his skills by challenging the best warriors of each province, school, and town to individual battles.  Musashi never lost a duel throughout his life, defeating many great samurai masters.  When all was said and done, he had accomplished his life’s mission of becoming the greatest swordsman of all time.  And when he laid down his swords for the final time, he was undefeated in over 60 individual duels, not to mention the other full scale regional wars and battles in which he was a participant.

Before his death Musashi summarized his fighting style, personal philosophies, and principles of superior technique in The Book of the Five Rings and Go Rin Sho. His philosophy has stood the test of time and remains highly influential in Japanese culture.  His principles can effectively be applied to martial arts, competitive sports, business, and most importantly for us, the Iron Game.

2.  Bruce Lee

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Most people recognize Bruce Lee as the greatest and most influential martial artist of all-time.  They also remember him as a successful Hong Kong and Hollywood actor.  What many people don’t know is that Bruce Lee was an equally gifted philosopher.

Bruce Lee borrowed from many different disciplines to create his unique, superior form of martial art — jeet kune do.  He also borrowed from many different philosophers and cultures, East and West, ancient and contemporary, to create his own personal lifestyle philosophy.  Lee used these principles to achieve high levels of success in every endeavor he pursued.

One of his students and friends, John Little, encapsulated Lee’s philosophies in his books The Warrior Within and Striking Thoughts.  Lee’s influence on the martial arts community and the American public in general remains strong decades after his death, and his lessons can certainly help us during our own battles in the Iron Game.

3.  Hagakure (The Book of the Samurai) & Bushido (The Way of the Warrior)

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These books explore the instruction, philosophy, and code of behavior that foster the true thoughts and spirit of the traditional samurai warrior.  I found that without exception, each story, anecdote, or lesson could directly be applied to the Iron Game, and to life in general.

Beyond these I have pulled from additional resources including:

The Spartans

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Greek Heroes

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And even fictional characters like Conan The Barbarian (and if you have not seen this movie at least a dozen times you are not welcome on this site. Just kidding, but not really).

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Keeping with the themes of the Ronin and “the individual is more important than the system,” these principles are not rules, nor any kind of formalized system.  They are only guidelines.  Take from them only that which resonates with, or benefits you, personally.  And add your own individual experiences and life lessons on top of it.  Every man or woman must find his or her own way.

If you’d like to share with your Iron Brethren some of your own personal lessons that you think would help us out — warrior principles, pre-game speeches, in-gym psych-ups, anything — we’d love to hear about them.  Contact me directly with your story.

First, you must choose a goal before you can achieve it, and second, the more difficult and dangerous your goals is, the more effort you must put into achieving it.  All achievement starts with goals, and Musashi emphasized that you should be ambitious in setting them. — Samurai Strategies

One must edge forward like the inchworm, bit by bit.  The gods and Buddhas, too, first started with a vow. — Hagakure.

The first rule of achieving your goal — know what you want.  I don’t really worry about the reward, but to set in motion the machinery to achieve it…When you drop a pebble into a pool of water, the pebble starts a series of ripples that expand until they encompass the whole pool.  This is exactly what will happen when I give my ideas a definitive plan of action. — Bruce Lee

Goal setting?  I know what you hardcores are thinking right about now.  Setting goals is for wimps right?  It’s for little girls and desperate housewives who are going to take control of their lives and empower themselves.  It’s for powerless office workers who can’t get their bosses to stop riding them.  It’s for cheesy, self-help seminars and gurus.  It’s not for the head of the wolf- pack, the alpha males, or the queen bee’s, or is it?

What if I told you that you’ve been setting goals — albeit most of the time subconsciously — all of your life?  Hitting new strength levels and PR’s, reaching a certain level of body fat percentage or conditioning, rehabbing an injury, winning a competition, or winning a world championship?  What if I also told you that CONSCIOUSLY setting these goals, keeping them always in the forefront of your mind, and setting a definitive plan of action towards achieving those goals can be the difference between consistent mediocrity and consistent excellence?

I know that I’ve achieved more personally, athletically, and financially in the last two years than in the ten years prior because of the fact that I’ve been actively setting and pursuing personal goals.

Setting goals is a powerful tool that can be used in almost every aspect of our lives — self-improvement, career advancement, educational development, athletic achievement, communication, and financial control.  Those who have never used goals for guidance or motivation tend to write them off as self-help nonsense.  Those who have experienced their power set and monitor goals on a regular basis to maximize their true potential.

All achievement starts with goals.  You have to know where you want to go first before you have a chance of reaching that final destination.  Setting goals helps us block out life’s distractions and narrow our focus to a specific task at hand.  It helps us set priorities in our lives.  It gives us the power to tap into our energies and abilities and use them to maximum effect.

Goals provide us with specific reasons for performing our daily actions.  Without goals we often wander from moment to moment, task to task without a purpose.  We end up spinning our wheels, stuck in the same spot as years past, with no real accomplishments to show for it.  Actively striving to achieve our goals propels us forward and upward to new heights.

REAL ATHLETES VS. WEEKEND RATS?

Athletes and coaches understand the power of goal setting.  In the off-season or at the start of the season, players and teams set specific goals for the upcoming year.  They then set a specific plan of action to achieve those goals.  They begin with the small immediate steps right in front of them, have those steps build upon each other, and then start making exponentially bigger and bigger strides until the ultimate goal is accomplished.

Football is a great example.  The ultimate goal is to win the Super Bowl, but that starts with a simple commitment to off season workouts and conditioning programs.  Then come productive training camps and preseason games.  Then the goal is to win in week 1, and each successive week that follows.  As the season progresses the stakes rise — its win the division, secure home field advantage, win the divisional round, win the conference championship, and finally, win the big dance.

Ambitious goals motivate athletes to work hard and push through the rigors of training.  It helps them to work through the daily grind of the long, competitive season.   It gives them a reason to make the sacrifices necessary to reach the top of the mountain.

To maximize our potential in the Iron Game, we need to borrow this practice from traditional sports.  We need to treat bodybuilding, power lifting, or whatever aspect of strength training is your “thing” as a real sport, not some weekend hobby.  We must live the life of a true athlete, and act accordingly.  We can’t just go through the motions like 90% of the gym population.  Housewives balancing on balls don’t need goals, but real Iron Warriors do.  We need real goals with real timelines and we need to hold ourselves personally accountable to the active pursuit of achieving those goals.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION (The 7-Point Plan)

What is it that you want to achieve in the Iron Game?  Do you want to make Ronnie Coleman look tiny, Bruce Lee look fat, deadlift a house, rehab an injury faster than Wolverine?  Here’s what you need to do in the real world to start regularly achieving success:

1. Set a goal: We want a lot of things in life, but at times we have to narrow our focus to a single, specific task at hand in order to achieve greatness.  If we spread ourselves too thin, we end up spinning our wheels.  What is it that you want to achieve more than anything else at this moment?  Think prioritize, some other stuff will just have to get put on the back burner for now.  Do you want to win a pro, national, state, or local bodybuilding competition, ditto for power/strength sports, rehab an injury, correct some muscular imbalances, or reduce chronic pain?

2. Write it down: These days, people talk a lot, but do very little.  It’s not what you think, read, analyze, or say, its what you DO that counts in this world.  Writing your goal down is the first step in taking it out of the world of meaningless words, and putting it into the world of meaningful action.  It’s right there in front of you on a damn piece of paper, and you yourself actively put it there.

3. Place your goal where you can see it every day: It’s too easy to get lost, sidetracked, or distracted in this hectic world.  You need to keep your goal in the forefront of your mind at all times if you have any chance at success.  Put your goal up in a place where you will see it multiple times a day to remind you of its importance: on your desk, as your computer screensaver, in your calendar/day-planner (paper or electronic), on your fridge, or on your bedroom wall.

4. Set a timeline: Yeah I borrowed this from the whole S.M.A.R.T. goals philosophy.  Who cares?  It’s good info.  You need to have a concrete time frame in which you want to achieve your goal, otherwise you can keep procrastinating, putting things off, starting again tomorrow when you slip up, etc.  Bodybuilders (pre-contest phase) and strength athletes (training meso/macro-cycles) are already familiar with this approach.  But even if you don’t plan on competing, you still need a timeframe, we’ll call it an in- season, within which you need to get the job done.  Goals without a timeframe remain goals, and not accomplishments, forever.  Give yourself a finite amount of time – say, 12-16 weeks — to attack your goal.

5. Tell at least one other person about your goals: The more people you tell the better, but you need to share your goal with at least one other person.  This holds you accountable to someone, and forces you to actively pursue your 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 give up when the going gets tough.

By not telling anyone, you automatically give yourself an easy way out. If you quit, 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 all of the questions about what happened?  No one likes to look like a weasel.

That’s why I love those UFC Countdown shows.  The fighters tell the whole world about their goal – beating the crap out of their opponent and winning the title.  They put pressure on themselves, and must train hard to back their talk up.  If they don’t, there are serious consequences.  It’s lights out for them.  Put some pressure on yourself to work toward your goal.

6. Find the most efficient path to your goal: This generally involves learning the process from experts, and from professionals who have successfully traveled down the path (and have helped others travel down that path) that you want to go.  Meatheads — we are a stubborn bunch aren’t we?  We know everything and no one can teach us anything.

If you think you know everything, you are doomed to stagnation.  Why not take a look around and see if you can learn something new from an expert in your particular sport?

7. Start with the little steps: So you have your “Super Bowl” or “World Title” goal, but accomplishing it is still a long season away.  What are the immediate steps you need to start taking right NOW to move closer to that goal?  You need to jump in the car and start taking all of the turns, roads, highways, and exits before you reach your final destination.

What do you need to do in the next month?  Increase your PR by a few pounds, drop some body fat, or correct a muscle imbalance?  Make a plan and implement it.  What do you need to do in the next week?  Train 5 times without missing a day and eat 35-42 meals all geared towards recovery or development.  Well, commit to that and actually do it, no more bullshit excuses. What do you need to do in the gym tonight?  Quit messing around, train like you have an immediate short-term goal staring you in the face, and attack your workout like a man on a mission.

IT’S IN YOUR HANDS NOW

If you still think goal setting is for pussies, then there is not much more I can say to you.  I can only help those who want to be helped.  But be careful, you may end up the bitter dude “hating” on everyone, reading about other peoples’ success stories instead of living your own.

Principle #1 – Kaizen

Throughout your life advance daily, becoming more skillful than yesterday, more skillful than today.  This is never-ending. — Hagakure.

There is a tendency in other cultures for most people to stop training, to stop trying to improve, after they reach a certain level of skill — and this is one of the reasons why the Japanese have had an advantage in virtually everything they do.  They have been culturally conditioned to never stop training. — Samurai Strategies

Make at least one definitive move daily toward your goal.   Aim at perfection in everything, though in most things it is unattainable; however, they who aim at it, and persevere, will come much nearer to it than those whose laziness and despondency make them give it up as unattainable — Bruce Lee

Kaizen is a Japanese word that literally translates to “improvement” or “change for the better”.  But Kaizen is more than just a word.  It is a lifestyle philosophy incorporating a focused effort to strive for constant and continual improvement in all areas of life.  In modern Japanese culture, it is most often applied in the business setting — the never-ending pursuit of improving the productivity and efficiency of your business.

Of course, this principle can be effectively applied to the Iron Game as well.  I’d even go so far as to say the Kaizen Principle — whether it is consciously applied or subconsciously practiced — is what separates the elite from the average.  How are you better today than you were yesterday?   No matter where you currently fall under the spectrum, if you constantly strive to improve, you will see results.

Have you reached some kind of a plateau?  How can you bust through it?  The answer lies in the details.  Can you be more regimented with your diet, or up the intensity in the gym?

Strength coach Charles Poliquin frequently talks about this concept in its relation to progressive overload.  He discusses how the idea of constant and continual improvement can effectively be applied to protocols designed specifically for increasing strength.

The application is simple.  With each successive training session, the lifter should attempt to add one more rep to the set or a little more weight to the bar.  This ensures constant improvement.  Charles specifically talks about adding the smallest plates in the gym (2.5lbs) to the bar each time you train.  This sounds like nothing, but small increases made consistently over time add up to big improvements.  In a twelve week training cycle, a weekly increase of 5lbs total on the bar nets a 60lbs increase in your lifting total.  Not bad, especially for an advanced lifter.

This mentality should not stop with just progressive overload.  I believe the Kaizen principle can extend out to all aspects of the fitness game, and can bring you closer to reaching your goals.  Here are some practical examples:

• Lifting Technique: Better technique can reduce rebound, momentum, cheating, or using other, unintended muscle groups to complete a lift.  This maximizes tension on the target muscle, which of course leads to optimal overload and development. Better technique can also leave you less susceptible to traumatic injury, reduced wear and tear on the joints, and chronic pain.  Can you look for ways to perfect your technique?  Can you slightly improve your exercise form in some way?

• Nutrition: If you eat 5 meals a day, that totals 35 meals in a week.  How many of those meals are bringing you closer to your athletic goals?  How many of those meals are taking you further away from your goals?  Can you improve on that ratio?  If you are eating good 85% of the time, focus on increasing that to 90%.

• Alignment/Muscle Balance: Do you sit at a computer all day?  Do you have terrible posture as a result?  Are tight muscles inhibiting your range of motion or causing chronic pain?  Are lengthened, weakened muscles making your posture or performance suffer?  Can you look for ways to improve muscle imbalances or lifting discrepancies?

• Recovery: Are you living more like an athlete or more like a rock star?  If you are going out partying every night, drinking, doing recreational drugs, etc., you are not providing the best environment for your body to improve its appearance.  Are you treating the Iron Game more like a lifestyle or just a hobby?

• Sleep: This is one of the most overlooked components of development.  Proper sleep can help reduce cortisol levels, increase growth hormone levels, recharge the nervous system, increase cellular repair, etc., all leading to better development.  Can you be more consistent with your sleep schedule, go to bed an hour earlier for better recovery, etc.?

• Hydration: Virtually every cellular process in our body requires water.  Can you improve your hydration levels?  Can you drink 2 liters of water instead of 1?

I think you can see that the list could go on and on forever.  There are always ways in which we can improve — as athletes, as coaches, and as people.

The summary of the Kaizen Principle, then, is to never be satisfied with your current level of skill or development.  Always try to improve, in every aspect of your life.  There is always someone out there who is stronger, bigger, leaner, or more skilled than you are.  If you are starting at the bottom of the mountain, that’s the only way to climb to the top.

And even if you happen to be at the top of the mountain now, remember kings and queens fall, and heroes rise to take their place.

Hey all,

Some new content is up on my other site.  We have a few new “principles” and q and a’s to help you out.

Here is the link:

fatamericafitamerica

Also have a few new interviews up with different sites/blogs in the media section.  We are going to redesign this site soon.

Take care