What I've Been Thinking About...
I have been thinking about different ways to improve my diet and came to the most obvious conclusion one could think of: if it is not in the house, you will not eat it. The inverse is also true. Easter Sunday was a great example of that as I wolfed down more cupcakes than I would like to admit! Then we brought the leftovers home which led me to wolfing down even more on Monday. Back to back days of cupcake destruction is not an ideal path for success. Lesson learned...I hope! It is hard to turn down the temptations day in and day out when the stuff is right in front of you. I, myself, am an all or nothing kind of guy. If I am going in, I am going in. I don't do "just one bite" so I try to make up for that weakness with having strict discipline and saying "No". But, as you can see, it doesn't always work out and a moment of weakness turns into devouring a handful of cupcakes... or was it two handfuls? So my advice is this, if you don't want to eat it, do not buy it. If you do not want your kids to eat it, do not buy it. If you do not want your other half to eat it, do not buy it. You see where I am going with this here? If you don't trust your ability to moderate your consumption of things than remove that part from the equation and do what Nancy Reagan wanted us all to do and "Just Say No!" Fitness Tip of the Week The value of using a wearable device like a Fitbit has been a total game changer for me. Personally, I use the device to track steps and for their "zone minutes" feature. I set a goal to average a certain number in each category by the end of the week and the device keeps me honest. The steps are self explanatory but let me describe how the zone minutes work. For my body type, zone minutes kick in when the heart rate exceeds 109 bpm. If you exceed 134, then you get double the minutes. That 109 mark often occurs on a brisk walk or doing work around the farm. The 134 number gets hit when I go out for a jog. Strength training doesn't always get me in either of these zones so I have to plan in cardiovascular training sessions in order to reach these numbers. This is something I was not doing before as I thought walking and strength training were enough. Turns out, I was wrong! No matter your fitness level, a wearable device can be a great tool for increasing your activity levels and improving your overall health. It gives you a "Point A" which is where you are now, and by knowing this you can create a plan to get to "Point B". Say, for example, you want to walk more. That is a vague comment but when you use the device you get measurable data. You cannot make improvements to things that can't be measured. It is very easy to get lost on the path from A to B if you do not know where you are at the beginning. One thing to remember: The better conditioned you get, the harder it becomes to hit these numbers. It will take more work for you to get your heart rate up because you are better conditioned. This is a good thing. Having the device allows you to monitor progress and encourages you to appropriately increase the workload to reach your numbers. More work equals a fitter you. Building Strong Kids... Marisa and I often discuss how we can encourage healthy eating habits in our daughter and not create an unhealthy relationship with certain types of foods or behaviors. An example of this would be using food as part of a reward system. We don't want to consistently say things like, "If you do X, we will let you eat Y". When you do that, X becomes a negative thing to them and Y becomes a reward. If you want X to be a part of their diet, you cannot put negative connotations around it. The potential solution to this issue was presented to me while listening to a podcast last week. Katie Wells, aka Wellness Mama, said she encourages her six children to eat at least one bite of everything on their plate before letting them decide what they want to eat. By doing this, they introduce a variety of foods to their palate and the autonomy to control what they consume. They learn that if I eat healthy items, I feel good. If I eat unhealthy items, I feel like poop. If I eat too much, I may feel sick. If I eat too little, I will be hungry again soon after. These, like all lessons, are best learned when children explore them on their own. Remember, if it is not in the house, it makes it hard for them to eat it. What I've Been Reading War is a Racket by Smedley Butler This guy is one of those old school badasses whose toughness comes out in his writing. At the time of the writing in 1935, Butler was the most decorated soldier in American history as he was the recipient of two Medal of Honor awards. His entire life revolved around becoming a solder and in the end, came to the realization that the thing he loved so much was led by corrupt individuals who had no business being in the positions they were in. He breaks down his thoughts with three key points...
Quote of the Week "If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you" -- Gospel of Thomas
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What I've Been Thinking About...
I was at a conference last weekend hosted by the National Strength & Conditioning Association (NSCA) at West Chester University. These events are always informative and it provides an opportunity to learn and grow with other like minded strength coaches. One thing that I happened to take notice of this year are the presenters who stay for the day and the presenters who show up, present, and leave. It is my understanding that the best coaches, teachers and leaders are always learning. They read, they discuss, they learn and they listen. As someone who pays to attend and to learn from those who know more than I, I always appreciate the presenters who spend time talking to you and more importantly, actively listening to what you are saying and give you the best answer they could possibly come up. I even know of one presenter who lost the love of his life one month ago and still decided to come and do what he could to elevate his profession. He is a great man and my heart goes out to him. Fitness Tip of the Week While attending, a University professor who has studied High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) presented on the most often neglected issue in regards to HIIT: INTENSITY. It is not how many sets, how many reps, or for how many minutes. It is how hard you work during the ON period. For example, I hear tons of people discuss how they do Tabata's. Then they go on to explain that the class runs for 40 minutes, and instead of 20 seconds on and 10 seconds off for 8 rounds (That is the exact Tabata protocol cited in the research), they do 40 on and 20 off, or they do 16 rounds, or they use any other idea you can come up with while training "Tabata". I don't want to get too far into the weeds here with sciency stuff but the Tabata protocol is defined as working at 170% of your VO2max. For reference, 100% VO2max can be held for about 6-8 minutes. To equate this to running, this is a very fast jog. In order to work out at 170% of your max, you need to be going VERY hard. This is not lollygagging with a light weight and chatting with your workout partner. This is almost all out effort for 20 seconds. After 8 rounds of that, you should be laying on the floor. If you're not, the training intensity is not where it needs to be. Moderate training gets moderate results. If HIIT is the goal then push hard when it is ON! Be a Coach, Not a Tyrant... I was listening to a conversation between Navy SEAL Jocko Willink and Psychologist/Author Jordan Peterson. During their talk, one of them brought up the phrase, "competence beats obedience". No successful team or organization can survive the test of time if the organization relies on tyrannical power. If yelling, screaming, and punishing is your motivating tool, things will eventually not end well. Those on the other end of tyranny will unite and stand up to the leadership. Sometimes, this will be a verbal uprising. Other times, it will be to sabotage a project or mission, even if it does harm to their own livelihood, just to prove their point. This type of behavior has examples in all walks of life, from the animal kingdom, to business, to the local high school basketball team whose players had enough of their coaches yelling and screaming. On the opposite end of the spectrum is competence. Competence is teaching your team not only the how, but also the why. The answer is never because I said so. The answer is always the purpose. Without purpose and meaning, long term adherence and motivation will dwindle. Humans will only blindly follow orders for so long. One more note from the conference... Two presenters from Rutgers University stopped down to discuss their program to get the students on campus more physically active. To me, this is admirable work. College campuses are not typically known for being a beacon of physical fitness. Actually, the opposite of that seams to be true. Quick meals, binge drinking, sitting in classes and doing hours of class work really seem to put a damper on their physical health. "The Freshmen 15" is almost a universal rule, and for some people like myself, it was more like a "Freshmen 30". I set the bar high and doubled what everyone else was doing! In actuality, the college years for me were some of the more depressing years of my life. One would think the independence would have been great but I struggled. I had too much time on my hands and I did not manage it well. There were too many negative behaviors and not enough positive behaviors. This led to inconsistent grades and eventually to me leaving that university. Still to this day, I struggle with idle time. I like to be working on something and often times on the move. There is an old saying that goes, "A rolling stone gathers no moss." I am trying to be that rolling stone and by sharing this, as well as the work that those employees from Rutgers partake in, hopefully they can help another person similar to "20 year old Chris" get their body in motion and being a productive student on campus! Quote of the Week "Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence" -- Abigail Adams What I've Been Thinking About...
I was listening to an interview with Yeonmi Park, a women born in the dreaded country known as North Korea. She spoke of the atrocities that she saw growing up and the horrors that still exist there today. After hearing what she has gone through, it makes me think how lucky I was to be born and raised in this country. This place has its faults, there is no denying that, but when you hear an interview with someone like Yeonmi Park, you realize that things here, in the words of Rocky Balboa, "ain't so bad". When you hear stories about what is going on in other parts of the world like Ukraine, you realize things here "ain't so bad". When you read about Uyghur Muslims being put into labor camps, forced sterilization, and genocide in China, you realize things here "ain't so bad". We are so far removed from violence and difficult times that it almost seems like we try to create them in different forms. Our news is filled with nonsensical headlines that totally lose grasp of the big picture. I like what movie director Michael Bay told an interviewer in regards to Will Smith's actions: "There are babies getting blown up in the Ukraine right now. We should be talking about that". Fitness Tip of the Week I was listening to an interview recently on physical activity in the younger population. Here are a few things that opened my eyes...
To increase adherence, one needs to understand the importance. Why should we care about our physical fitness? Once it is gone, so too goes your freedom and independence to do what you wish. Think about what life would be like if you had a broken leg. Everything will take much longer, you may need someone to help you up stairs, carry your things, or drive you places you need to go. Your freedom and independence go out the window when something like this occurs. Now think about being 50 and being injured, obese, or in chronic pain. Life gets much more difficult when you feel awful and your reliance on others increase. Some of these things can be avoided or delayed with partaking in physical activity. As Socrates once said, "it is a disgrace to grow old through sheer carelessness". We have to care enough about our future to avoid suffering from the maladies of inactivity! What I've Been Reading... Forrest Gump by Winston Groom A few weeks ago I was listening to "The Forrest Gump" of Strength Training Marty Gallagher share stories on his podcast. During the episode he shared that the Forrest Gump movie starring Tom Hanks was based off a book by the same title. This was news to me as I never heard of it before. So I did what any other bibliofile would do and bought it! So far, so good on this as I am about one-third of the way. Like all other adaptions from book to screen, there are a few inconsistencies. My favorite so far is that in the book, Forrest is 6'6", 245 pounds, and runs the 100 meter in 9.5 seconds in the book. From an athletic point of view, these measurables are off the charts! Think more Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson than Tom Hanks if you are trying to get a visual. Lessons from the Greats As mentioned last week, I recently wrapped up reading a book titled Coan: The Man, The Myth, The Method. I have spent some time thinking about this mans accomplishments and am astonished. Here is a man who went from a 4'11" and 97 pound freshmen in high school to becoming 5'6", 220+ of solid muscle. How was he able to do it? Inch by inch. He made slow and steady progress day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, decade after decade until he became the best. Self-mastery was always his goal. It was not fame, adulation or attention. In order to make these improvements, he had to constantly ask himself: Will this help me reach my goal or hinder me? Inadequate sleep, poor diet, poor training, stress, lack of focus, inattention to detail were all things that would keep him from reaching great heights so he made an effort to eliminate them. In the end, he stayed on the path and finished his career as the Greatest of all-time. This question, "Will it help or hinder me", can be applied to your own life in whatever you set out to do. With each day we can all be a little better and answering this question honestly can help get you there! Quote of the Week "Things without reform should be without regret. What's done is done" -- Lady Macbeth I hope you all have an awesome week! Chris Fluck Fitness Tip of the Week
I was having a conversation with an athlete this week regarding diets. They mentioned a parent was about to go vegan and wanted them to join in. I shared my thoughts on how the modern diet is pretty poor so anytime someone makes a big change, they most likely will see results for a period of time. The results come from eliminating the junk that your old diet contained and not necessarily a result of the new foods they are consuming. This new eating style works wonderfully for 4-6 weeks but then something begins to change. It is at this point that the body becomes adapted and the results begin to level off. The gains slow down and the motivation to stay on the path begins to dwindle. The same idea can be applied to the gym setting. When you embark on a new training program, the initial strength gains are primarily due to novelty. The improvements stem more from the neurological system then the muscular. This means the brain gets more efficient and the task feels easier. It doesn't necessarily mean your muscles are stronger. All this adaptation is good for making improvements in the exercise but around 4-6 weeks, the neuromuscular adaptations slow down and it is time for the muscular system to take over. It is at this point that "the gainz" slow down.This is a common breaking point for gym goers and adherence begins to slip. Here is what I propose to avoid it: work hard on something for 4-6 weeks, then change a component of your program (or diet). It can be anything from totally changing the exercises, or performing more reps, or cutting down the rest time between sets. Change one or two things up, continue to challenge yourself and your mind and body will be happy you did so! Gym Happenings To those that live in the northeast, the weather in the spring time is as unpredictable as Will Smith at the Oscars! Last week we wrapped up part one of our Intro to Strength & Conditioning program for kids aged 10-12. This is a great age group to work with as there ability to learn and adapt to the training elements thrown their way is incredibly high. One week they cannot lift the bar for a rep and the next they can do 5 reps with no help at all. The excitement they show when this occurs is off the charts and it becomes infectious. I look forward to what the future holds for this crew as some will be taking part in the next phase of our intro program. Starting tomorrow, April 4, we are launching part two of our Intro program. It helps if you participated in part one but it is not a prerequisite to join part two. One principle that we always try to follow is to make sure the exercises done are developmentally appropriate. The levels of maturation and experience between a 10 and 12 year old could be quite large. In these circumstances, we adjust the exercises to fit the child to keep everyone safe and moving in the right direction. If you are interested in more information and/or to register, click here: Intro to S&C In addition, we are launching our first Good Friday Speed, Agility & Fitness clinic. This two hour session is designed to teach the fundamentals of movement on the playing field as well as in the weight room. We will introduce skills, apply those skills in drills and games, and then finish the session in the gym performing tasks like jump rope, sled pushes, medicine ball throws, rope climbs and more! For more information, click here: Speed, Agility & Fitness Clinic Lastly, our summer youth camps will also be announced within the next week or two and as of now, it is looking like we will be hosting camps in the three weeks prior to July 4th, and the three weeks after the week of the 4th. More on this to come soon! What I've Been Reading... Coan: The Man, The Myth, The Method by Marty Gallagher. This book highlights the career of Ed Coan, the greatest powerlifter of all-time. In it, he was asked what he deemed the most important qualities that a powerlifter should have. Here is how he summed it up: "if I were to rank traits most responsible for powerlifting success, I would place tactical brainpower at the top of the list, followed by perseverance, hard work, and then maybe genetics". I would argue that these qualities, in that order, are the most important aspects of success in any field. It is the mind that will make you or break you. The greats know and understand this. Us normal folk need the occasional (or frequent) reminder. What I've Been Watching... Hamilton on Disney+ I am no expert in regards to theater performance and production but damn this play is good! Who would have thought that you could mix hip hop and the Revolutionary War into a pot and create something so entertaining? This play is based off the book Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow. I dove into this book at the beginning of 2021 and was surprised about what I learned about the man and the other Founding Fathers. Growing up, most historical figures are put on a pedestal. You learn about their virtues and all the good they did for their country. What you don't get is the dark side of the founders and this book (and play) gives you quite a bit of that! This is the second time I watched it and wouldn't be surprised if I end up viewing it again! Quote of the Week "It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it" -- Upton Sinclair What I've Been Thinking About...
I had a conversation this week with a recent college grad and we were discussing their future plans. While doing so, I was reminded of a scene from one of my favorite shows The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. In it, the main character decides she is no longer going to accept being an opening act. She wants to headline and if the place isn't going to offer it, then she will turn them down. One of her friends who is also in the business caught wind of this and gave her a pep talk. Actually, it wasn't a pep talk, it was more like a "Don't you screw this up" talk. The window of opportunity is only open for so long. When opportunity presents itself, we must be ready to accept and dive in. The only way we can ensure that we are ready is by putting in the work. In Maisel's case, the work that needed to be done was her performing her act over and over, refining and improving each night. By not accepting work, she wasn't getting better. When you are not good, the opportunities will no longer be available. The friend in the scene said to her, "Don't plan, work. Just keep working". It is the only way we are going to get better in this world. We must work and continue to work if we want to become a better version of ourselves! Fitness Tip of the Week A few years ago I was introduced to the Japanese term kaizen which was explained to me as constant, daily improvement. The idea is that each day, we should be slowly inching our way to becoming a better version of ourselves in something. It does not have to be be one big sweeping change but rather slow and steady progress. Think more turtle than the hare in this approach. In regards to fitness, if we take the kaizen approach of constant daily improvement, it is important for us to start training at a level that is somewhat simple in nature. In essence, set the baseline low and with each week, slowly raise the bar higher and higher. Continue to raise the bar until you reach a level that you have never reached before. The best improvements are the ones that last. The improvements that last are the ones that take time to develop properly. For example, a crash diet may get you the weight loss in a short amount of time but it often doesn't stay off. What does stay off is the slow decrease in bodyweight week after week, month after month, year after year. The same approach can be taken when you try to improve in just about everything. Do not to rush progress. Like a nice piece of meat, you want to slow cook the process! Perspective is All We Have... A few weeks ago we were in California and I ran into a situation where I was being a bit of a baby. Marisa had a work convention about 40 minutes from where we were staying so Emilia and I dropped her off in the morning. As we prepared to come home, I plug the address in to head back and see the drive is going to take over two hours! I was annoyed and frustrated for about 25 minutes of the drive. At this point Emi asked to stop somewhere to go to the bathroom and I gave up on the idea of getting home in a timely manner. After the bathroom break I told her there was going to be a lot of traffic heading home and the ride will take longer than anticipated. She looked at me and said, "It's ok Daddy, we got stuck in traffic going to Mimi's house. I am brave when we get traffic". After hearing that, I realized that if a 3 year old doesn't really care about getting stuck in traffic then neither should I! Emi's mindset snapped me out of the pity party and accepted the fact that there is nothing I can do about the traffic. The circumstances we faced were out of my control so I made an effort to make the best of it. On days like this, it is easy for us to take on the "woe is me" approach and start blaming the world for our situation but we forget something important: the world doesn't revolve around you. In the grand scheme of things, a few hours in the car with your daughter pales in comparison to some of the horrors that go on in the world. If you need an example of real problems, look no further than Ukraine. Terrible things do happen in this world but being stuck in traffic is not one of them. Get over it and appreciate the moment. What I've Been Reading... Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell This book tells the story of poverty in both Paris and London in the late 1920's and early 1930's. Orwell lived among the impoverished for months in an extreme example of investigative journalism. The book is broken down into two parts. The first being his time in Paris, the second, his time in London. During the Paris years, he pawned just about everything he had except for the clothes on his back. Eventually he found work in a restaurant performing the lowliest of tasks. Fed up, he hears of a job opportunity in London and heads there. When he arrives, the job is not available for over a month and he has little to no money. Stuck with limited options, he takes to living with the traveling homeless known as tramps. Eventually, he gets the job and his lot improves but the stories and people he experienced over this time led to a pretty interesting book! In the end, Orwell shares his thoughts on the experience living amongst the homeless. He learned very quickly how things can spiral downward and sympathized greatly for those left without a home who had to survive on little to no food and depend greatly on a system that doesn't really seem interested in helping those who need it most. Quote of the Week "Victory is to him who fights the longest" -- Boris, a homeless man George Orwell befriended in Paris I hope you all have an awesome week! Chris Fluck |