Working Around Injuries 62/84

So picture this; you're out at the lake on the weekend, enjoying the outdoor activities when you crash off of your jetski and sprain your wrist. It doesn't hurt too bad but I kind of ruins your weekend. You get to the gym on Monday and realize that the injury is way worse than you thought and you can barely use that hand at all. You've been putting in great time at the gym and you don't want to lose everything you've been working on. So what do you do? Take a break? Work around it? Work through it? Let's talk about it.

Depending on the severity of the injury, there's almost always a way for you to continue hitting the gym and making gains without having to lay on the couch and get fat. Pretty much any extremity injury can be worked around, that is most any injury to an arm or a leg. If that's what you're dealing with then, to be frank, it's not an excuse to skip the gym. You may not be able to do some of your favorite exercises but you can still work on other things. The basic rule for this is "if it hurts, don't do it". Avoid things that hurt and do pretty much anything that doesn't. We'll take my recent hamstring injury as an example. A couple Tuesday's ago a had a pretty minor high hamstring pull while playing sand volleyball. I finished the match but knew that it was going to be a bit sore. I also knew that a lot of my normal leg day activities would have to be put on hold. Did I use this as an excuse to skip the gym? Hell no! I just did what I could. I already do two upper body days so those stayed almost exactly the same, then when leg day came I just did things that didn't hurt. The only real pain I got was from hip hinge exercises like deadlifts and RDL's. This left light squatting, and things for my calves, adductors, and abductors, as well as isolation exercises like leg extensions. Was it ideal? No. Is it better than nothing? Of course. Moral is, don't use an extremity injury as an excuse to be lazy.

Now, obviously, there are some exceptions. Back injuries are nothing to mess with. Neither are neck injuries. If it hurts to move, probably don't go exercise. Just follow the same rule "if it hurts, don't do it". In these cases, do whatever you need to do to get well as fast as you can so you can get back to being healthy and getting exercise. Don't do anything stupid to make things worse.

On the topic of injuries, I am not a fan of ice. This is a completely different conversation but I just want to get this out there. Kelly Starett has a couple great videos that can probably explain this a bit better then I can but the basics are that our bodies have developed, over thousands of years, a way to heal ourselves and we're silly to think we can make much of a difference. Also, ice may actually increase the amount time to takes to heal from an injury due to backflow of some of the "garbage" you're body is trying to remove.

Along the same lines, I am a fan of ice baths and, obviously, chryotherapy but that is a much different story than simply putting an ice bag on a sprained ankle in a futile attempt to heal.

Everything here comes down to this; unless your injury prevents you from moving without a ton of pain, you should still be doing whatever you can, without pain, to continue making progress in the gym and keeping your health up as high as you can.

The Most Important Exercise for Fat Loss 61/84

You've probably seen me post before about how exercise really doesn't play a huge part in fat loss. Actually, it plays almost no part at all. This is due to a variety of factors including the fact that your body may actually slow your metabolism down after exercise to make up for the calories you burn.

Does this mean you should stop working out? Of course not! Exercise has innumerable benefits for your health and longevity that makes it an extremely important part of your life. But from the perspective of fat loss, what you do for an hour in the gym every day doesn't make much of a difference. In reality, what you do the other 23 hours of the day make much more of an impact on your waistline.

From an exercise perspective, daily activity makes a world of difference more for fat loss that other exercise. Basically, it you workout hard for an hour then sit in a chair or lay on your coach the rest of the day, you're never going to be as fit as you can be. Obviously, nutrition is still the most important factor for weight loss, but being active as often as you can will help.

This is one (of many) reasons why desk jobs or so bad for people's health. Things like standing work stations can help with this, but even standing for hours on end is still being sedentary. The best option for people in an office setting would be to move around as much as you are allowed. Sometimes sit, sometimes stand, and get up and walk around as often as you can. When you have a break, try to be active and go for a walk instead of finding somewhere else to sit.

Also, get ahead of the game by being active before and after work as much as possible. Walk often, play sports, and move often in your house. The more you can move around the better.

As weird as it may seem to say, the arbitrary goal of getting 10,000 steps in a day isn't really that bad of an idea. The number doesn't have any real reason behind it but it can still be something to strive for. I've worked with people who only get half of that each day and for those people, making better every day lifestyle choices is just, if not more, important that exercise choices.

Moral of the story, move around as much as you can and try to be sitting and standing still as little as possible. Combine this with good nutritional choices and a well structured workout plan and you'll live a long and healthy life

The Herceg Strength Cycle 60/84

Do you want a really simple plan to help you get stronger? This is a time tested program that I have used over and over to PR on basically all of my lifts, as well as the members at the CrossFit gym I worked at. It's simple, to the point, and it works.

When I first started working at The Arsenal in 2013, I told the owner that I would write us a strength program to supplement our conditioning we were doing. I was very adamant that we needed this and pushed hard. He gave the OK and a deadline to get it done. So in typical fashion, an hour before the meeting I had forgotten to do it  and still had nothing. I had an idea for what I wanted to do, just no concrete plan. I wanted to do something basic and progressive that made logical sense and followed a certain pattern. I scrapped this together super quick and took it to him. We tried it with the entire gym and 12 weeks later the amount of PR's was unbelievable. Everyone, left and right, just smashing new personal bests. It worked even better than I had expected, well enough that we did it again a few weeks later. And we'll enough that I did it again, two more times, in my own and hit new bests on every lift involved.

So what makes this plan work so well? Probably the simplicity of it. All I did was take the rep max percentage for a given rep and reduce it by 5%. I know that sounds confusing so I'll explain. Typically a 5 rep max (the most weight you can do for 5 reps) is about 85% of your 1 rep max. So I started the program with working up to 5 reps at 80%, 5% less than the estimated max. I did this week by week, reducing the reps and increasing the percent, and it worked like a dream. Here's what the percentages looked like

5,5,5,5,5 - 60,65,70,75,80%
5,5,4,4,4 - 65,70,75,80,85%
5,4,4,3,3 - 70,75,80,85,90%
4,3,2,2,2 - 75,80,85,90,95%
4,3,2,1,1 - 80,85,90,95,100%

Obviously the left side is the reps and the right side is the perfect of 1RM  for each set. Like I said. The first week works up to 5 reps at 80%. You'll also notice that this is only 5 weeks, but my program took 12 to complete. That's because each week was repeated twice in a row with different exercises before moving onto the next percentages. That gets you 10 weeks plus 2 deload weeks for a total of 12. That looks like this

Wk 1: 5,5,5,5,5 - 60,65,70,75,80%
Wk 2: 5,5,5,5,5 - 60,65,70,75,80%
Wk 3: 5,5,4,4,4 - 65,70,75,80,85%
Wk 4: 5,5,4,4,4 - 65,70,75,80,85%
Wk 5: 5,4,4,3,3 - 70,75,80,85,90%
Wk 6: 5,4,4,3,3 - 70,75,80,85,90%
Wk 7: 4,3,2,2,2 - 75,80,85,90,95%
Wk 8: 4,3,2,2,2 - 75,80,85,90,95%
Wk 9: 4,3,2,1,1 - 80,85,90,95,100%
Wk 10: Testing week

2 deload weeks as needed: 5,5,4,4,4 - 50,55,60,65,70

Now, I don't want to give away all of my secrets here but you can pick any exercises you want and they will fit into this program, and you will get stronger at them. I would pick 3-4 exercises one week and another 3-4 for the second week. You can use whatever you want for powerlifting, weightlifting, CrossFit, or just general strength training but I would stick to the main compound lifts. Accessory work will follow a different plan.

Give this program a try (I would recommend two upper and two lower body days) if you want to get strong. From my last time doing this, I still have my PRs in back squat, bench press, front squat, and sumo deadlift. Also, if you want me to do the work for you, I'll write you a personalized program with this setup guaranteed to get you stronger. Just shoot me a message and we'll get to work

The Importance of Progress Pictures 59/84

I've talked in the past about using different metrics to track progress outside of just looking at the scale. I love using body fat percentage and circumference measurements to see a little more concrete progress but there's a way that's usually more important to people.

If you ask most people what their goals are they will probably tell you a weight or a pants size they want to fit into. but when you dig a little deeper, you find out the weight doesn't actually matter as much as simply what they look like. They feel that if they hit a certain weight, they will like the way they look, instead of just focusing on the mirror and forgetting the scale. So if people really only care about what they look like why not just use the mirror as their guide? This can be pretty tough because you can't see that much progress that quick day to day, especially if you're not tracking in any way. But, if you're keeping a record of what you look like, it can be an effective way to track progress that actually matters to you.

Obviously, this is where progress pictures come in. Taking pictures often and in the same position can give you a reliable means of seeing whats going on. Have you ever talked to someone who's lost a bunch of weight but they feel like they don't look any different? It happens all the time, and it happens because when all you do is look at yourself each day it makes it much harder to see the small changes over time. For these people, once you show them a picture of them at the start they automatically see a huge difference in the way they look. This is the magic of visual progress, instead of seeing the small changes numerous times each day, you can look back and see massive progress all at once.

Here's what I recommend to my clients when they take their pictures

- Take one from the front, side, and back
- Avoid baggy clothes so you can see the differences, underwear is usually best and remember, no one else needs to see them if you don't want too
- Take a picture each week in each position
- Try to do it in the same place with the same lighting and the same time of day
- Just like the scale, morning is best because your appearance can change drastically throughout the day
- After a month, compare week 1 to week 4 and you might be surprised at the difference.

Again, this is something that I recommend everyone do. If you still do weight and measurements then you may not need to take pics every week. I do mine about once a month because I understand how to use the scale without overthinking it.

I know that this is going to feel weird and super uncomfortable for some people but I promise you're going to love that you had that "before" picture one six months when you love the way you look. If you need help getting started then please reach out to me. I have a number of free programs on my site but sometimes a personalized plan is the best thing for you. I am also on a mission to drastically increase my Instagram following so if you want to help me out please follow me on there. I will be posting there most often for a bit to try and increase that media. You can follow me @Greg.The.Trainer and I wold really appreciate it!

No One is Going to Do It For You 58/84

Losing weight is hard! We all know this by now, it's no secret. Sure gaining muscle can be hard too depending on who you are but it's different. Losing fat means you need to be hungry and that's uncomfortable, plus you have to eat salads and they're gross. But in all seriousness it really is a tough job, if it weren't then everyone would be skinny right? But there are a few things that you really need to understand that can make the process so much easier for you. These fall more on the mental side of things, which in most cases can be much more important. Once you really embrace these, it liberates you and allows you to do what you need to do to see results.

1. Realize that you are in 100% control.

This is your body and your life, no one can make you do anything that you truly don't want to. This can be magical for the fitness world because it allows you to realize that you control everything, and that gives you all of the power. If you don't want to eat something then don't eat it, no one can make you. If you want to go to the gym then go! No one has the right to stop you. Once you embrace this, and stop letting other people try to dictate what you do, you will hit your goals so much faster. Have that hard conversation with someone if you don't feel like they're helping you the way they should, it will be worth it in the end.

2. Start taking 100% responsibility.

This is similar but also the opposite. If you're not taking full responsibility for everything, the losses and the triumphs, then you need to start and see what a difference it can make. If you keep trying to pass the blame to other people then you're never going to get as far as you could. You ate bad because your friends wanted to go out to eat? It's totally fine to go with but did they put the food in your mouth? Of course not, you chose to do it and you need to take responsibility if you want to be truly successful. But, do you know what the great thing about this is? It still means you have all the control. Since you're taking responsibility, you don't to the rely on anyone else (not that that's bad) and can allow yourself to reach your full potential.

Here's the bottom line on these two; it's up to you and no one else. No one will do it for you and no one can stop you. You have to put in the work and you have to make the sacrifices. But you also can't blame other people when things aren't going the best. There will be hard times and when you are able to embrace these two things then it will help you get through them even faster!  Hopefully this didn't come off too harsh, I've never been that kind of trainer and I don't ever expect to be, but sometimes saying the right thing at the right time may be exactly what someone reading this needs to hear!

No, People At The Gym Are Not Judging You 57/84

What is your mentality when you get to the gym? Are you a stud who walks around like you own the place? Do you hide behind a cardio machine because you don't know how to use the weights? Do you just stick with classes because you like having someone tell you what do to? For most people reading this, I'd be willing to bet it isn't the first one. Most people are too afraid of being judged or stared at to venture out into the heart of the gym and start lifting some weights. But do people really care? Is anyone actually judging you for doing it? These are all questions I will be answering for you.

Hitting the gym can be scary, I get that. I have been going to different gyms for years but to be honest I still get uncomfortable when I go to one that I'm not a regular at. I'm definitely not worried about doing exercises wrong or doing a program that looks silly, but it's still hard for me to walk in somewhere and own it. This let's me realize how excruciatingly hard it must be for someone who doesn't have almost 15 of lifting under their belt. At Xperience, we try to do our best to make sure that new members feel comfortable and know basic exercises and how to use the machines, but it still takes some time for people to really get accustomed to a place without feeling self conscious about being there.

I'm just going to be up front about this, unless you're doing something that is inherently dangerous to others, most people really don't care what you're doing. I'll also let you in on this secret, people are probably not staring at you, and if they are, it's because they are uncomfortable and looking to see what other people are doing! Just like you. 90% of people at the gym are self conscious, even if they don't show it or look like they own the place. Every dude in there is looking at the guys who are bigger then them and every girl is looking at everyone they want to look like, but no one is judging anyone for being there, I promise you that.

Once we realize that everyone is uncomfortable, we can start to get over our fears and start getting stuff done. Everyone is willing to support you and help you, and anyone will give you advice if you ask, just don't be afraid. If you want to get a head start on this, come see me at Xperience Fitness in Appleton or shoot me a message about what program would be the best for you to do based on your goals. Just having a good workout that you can feel confident in can make a big difference in increasing your confidence in the gym. Don't be afraid to ask because I will help you! Also, don't forget to subscribe to my blog while you're hear. You'll get a ton of free stuff like my Top Fat Loss and Muscle Gain Tips, a free macros calculator, and a free 30 minute consultation call with me to make sure that you're on the right track!

Why You Should Meditate Daily 56/84

For fitness goals everyone always focuses on diet and exercise, which is obviously important. But there are other major factors that people fail to even think about that could make or break your progress. One of those is sleep, which is arguably more important than diet or exercise for fat loss. The other is stress which, when too high, can absolutely kill any progress no matter what your fitness goal.  Here I am referring to the bad type of stress, called distress. Distress can make you fat, kill your gains, and totally wreck your hormones. We want to keep distress down as low as possible and in today's fast paced world it's becoming harder and harder. But there is one thing that can work for you better than anything in reducing stress and increasing mental health.

Normally when people think of meditation they tend to either think yoga or something a little more other-worldly. Most people don't think of it as something you should do each day to make your waistline shrink. While daily meditation won't have a direct effect on your body fat, it can have a very powerful indirect effect.  Meditation has been shown to lower cortisol levels and almost instant reduce stress, with the effects lasting for a decent amount of time. And as I said, lower stress means less fat.

Deep breathing exercises can also have a profound effect on posture and even back pain when done correctly. When you practice deep breathing through your diaphragm (not your chest) you start to relax the other muscle that are connected to it. All of our muscles are connected by a layer of tissue called fascia, and when a muscle is tight, it's fascia can pull on other muscles as well. As it turns out, the fascia of the diaphragm is connected to that of the psoas. Your psoas, which is a main hip flexor, is also connected to your spine. When your psoas is tight it pulls on your spine and can cause back pain, which is actually a rather common cause. This means that if you can learn to relax your diaphragm with deep breathing, you can give some relief to you psoas and thus your back pain. This alone, in my opinion, is reason enough to at least give meditation a try.

So here's where to start. Take 5-10 minutes out of your morning each morning and practice deep diaphragmic breathing. Either lay flat on your back (don't fall asleep) or sit up tall in a comfy chair. I have started sitting on the floor to help with posture. Breath in and out through you stomach, letting your belly rise and fall, and try to focus only on your breathing. Guided meditation can be great too. There are some awesome 10 minute or less videos on YouTube that can guide you through the process depending on what your goals are. Try this and let me know what you think, and keep in mind that mental health is just as important as physical health