Retirees taking the time to build muscle to help themselves reduce the risks of age-related illness by working out in a group – setting to off-set the on-set of ageing”
We are all ageing.
We all lose strength & bone 🦴 mineral density as part of the ageing process.
We are all ageing.
We will die eventually. Nobody gets out of life, Alive.
I hypothesise that there is a direct observable CAUSE & EFFECT relationship between a person’s MOBILITY & MUSCLE 💪 BUILD & STRENGTH.
My understanding is that There is a 1% decrease in strength every year after the age of 25, more so in females than in males. By the age of 60 you would have lost > 30% of your strength and bone mineral density (oesroporosis).
This is largely a preventable cause.
My tip: do weight training (progressive)to “off-set the on-set “ of ageing. We are depreciating but the depreciation rate affects the “effective useful life of the non-current asset”(accounting terminology and analogy) from my 10 years as An Accountant/Business Consultant.
Every person has a body they are inhabiting that depreciates/ages at a different rate. Some faster than others. You come across individuals that look and behave older than their respective age.
Combined with a suitably balanced nutrition plan to suit you (age, activity level, body type etc), cardio exercise & a flexibility program, you can slow down the ageing/depreciation rate.
This would have a positive flow-on effect on the life that you’re living.
For example, the risk of living your retirement years with high susceptibility to fractures and breaks of Bones 🦴 would drop significantly.
The risk of Experiencing severe mobility issues that restrict the scope of your activities will increase. These can have severe consequences on a person’s health.
It could contribute to rising mental illness rates leading to suicide, dementia etc.
Photo (above): don’t end up like this friend of mine in the photo… you have the power to do something about this NOW).
He regrets not being made aware of the benefits of weight training & soon something preventative in his early life
It affects your mental state
Ultimately, it (immobility) affects your mental state and put you into a negative mindset. Over 25% of the aged population who have hip surgery due to falls die within a year. That’s great for doctors and surgeon’s pockets and lifestyle but disastrous for the poor individual
Change in habits now – begin the workouts you’ve been putting off and start eating 🍽 more balanced meals.
Your activity levels will have a significant impact on the QUALITY of your life, not just your length of life.
It’s never too late to start.
So… start… Just DO IT (love this original Nike slogan)
Life is about choices. Choose well.
It’s your ONE ☝️ LIFE after all (unless you have 9 lives like a cat 🐱… meow!!)
Cheers 🍻 & ahoy!
The Old Captain Viking Pirate 🏴☠️ ⚔️Muscle 💪Monk ⚔️😎 …& thoughts on ageing & mobility issues & its relationship with Muscle
We ALL need to summon the Superhero within to build & hang on to as much muscle as possible to stave off the early on-set of ageing-related illness
In my experience in the Health & Fitness Industries over the last 3 decades, I have found that the decision to include mega-loads of cardio or hardly any at all swings through the bodybuilding culture like the pendulum of a clock.
“Bodybuilding “ here includes anyone (from the skinny teen all the way to the grannies in the 90s) … who use weights of any kind to build muscles/strength and/or attempt to change their body shape.
There’s a new fad with a new name every few years or so, backed up by some new (limited) study and an awareness marketing campaign led by some famous ‘celebrity’.
Many who favour cardio claim that it allows them to eat more. That is good, right? Eating more is anabolic, isn’t it?
On the other end of the cardio spectrum, supporters of LESS CARDIO insist cardio is the most catabolic thing that can be done. They claim that it has to be avoided.
I won’t pretend to try to solve this dilemma but I will give you some facts, as I see it and have experienced it. Hopefully, it takes you closer to the doorstep of your ultimate condition.
It’s your BODY SHAPE, not BODY WEIGHT that MATTERS most.
The 80:20 Principle.
First, let’s clarify what is the actual goal in terms of physiology?
Based on one of Nature’s Principle (the 80:20 principle), the vast majority of “fat” in our body (over 80%) is collected in one form and stored in body fat cells.
The process that the body uses to consume this energy and effectively get rid of it – is called lipolysis.
I’m going to try to detail the mechanism of this process with exercise (avoiding diet for now).
In my experience of helping hundreds of individuals over the years is that I find that The difficult part is when : we have to apply these “truths” to the many different circumstances and body types that we find in the sport of Physique Artistry/Bodybuilding.
Become better at “being comfortable at being uncomfortable “ to keep your pendulum ticking … & your life, living
Everything is hormonal-driven.
Activity-related hormones epinephrine and norepinephrine speed up lipolysis greatly.
When we start working out, we firstly use the readily available energy in our blood, called GLYCOGEN. The body starts shuttling out these glycerol and fatty acids (fat) from our body fat cells.
research shows that the greatest increase in fat usage starts immediately upon exercise, hits a peak level within 5 minutes, sharply decreases, by the 15-minute mark starts to plateau, and within 30 minutes is back almost to a rate matching a control group.
So, what do we do with the common knowledge that carbohydrates (blood sugar/glucose) are used exclusively for the first 15-20 minutes of cardio?
As most of you are aware, blood sugar is the dominant source of energy used by the cells of our body at the start of exercise. As you do cardio, the body digs into longer-term energy stores, the liver (through the action of the hormone glucagon) starts pumping out stored glycogen and as described, body fat cells start releasing glycerol and fatty acids.
The question we then ask ourselves is – does the liver run out of glycogen? When it does, what happens then?
People ask – “why?” … I /My curiosity continually askS “why not?”
Seek possibilities… always
As long as Body Fat is available …
It is quite obvious that When we are exercising, we are moving the body towards an Energy Deficit.
My understanding is that the body & in particular, The liver, tries to contribute to the energy deficit.
How does it do this?
it does so by converting amino acids into glucose. I’ve learned that the liver has a reservoir of aminos available. Despite this, this process is STILL a catabolic phase. And what is “catabolic?”
Interestingly, though, even during the harshest, longest bouts of exercise, studies show that only 3 to 6% of energy is consumed from amino acid use.
As long as fat is available, the body spares protein as if it were the most precious commodity it has. Nice to know the brain agrees with us on that one. We need to dig a little deeper to get a better understanding of how the body tends to operate.
There are many variables we need to bring into the equation before we even address things like duration, frequency, and intensity.
Even a small percentage of amino acid use can add up if it’s a repetitive occurrence. I also mentioned “as long as body fat is available”…
Same weight. Different body composition. The right has higher Muscle: Fat Ratio. L: 15% body fat. R: 6-% body fat.
Body Type.
Many individuals don’t get to that stage (under 10% body fat) to worry about not having sufficient body fat available to be used as Energy, during exercise.
The variable of BODY TYPE is an important consideration when deciding HOW MUCH CARDIO an individual should do. There are 3 main body types – ectomorph, mesomorph and the endomorph.
In my experience, An Ectomorph, has to have a healthy fear of “too much” cardio since they will be at the top end of the population in terms of using amino acids for energy. The more, the better, in their case.
In the middle of the spectrum, those that lose moderately slowly (like me) need to understand that muscle preservation is their greatest asset. We need to see cardio as a very necessary part of their daily habits and any kind of preparation for competition.
It has been and still is, a KEY daily habit of mine.
On the other end of the spectrum, you have the Endomorphs. For these individuals, more, rather than less cardio is the way to go. They usually have a lower metabolic rate to begin with and tend to carry a very high level of fat deposits.
The more cardio, the better.
The Rate of Lipolysis.
Here is where armchair interpreters of research often start showing that it takes more than throwing some big words around to master the subject.
KEY FACT: The rate of lipolysis is virtually unchanged whether we’re at just 25% of our VO2 max or 85%.
That means that whether you’re walking on a treadmill or slamming out 30km/hour sprints, your body is releasing the same amount of body fat to be used.
Before you say, “Aha!! I knew that slower, longer cardio sessions were the right thing to do,” don’t!
You first have to differentiate between just releasing fat to be used and actually using it.
If you maintain a slow or high pace, a percentage of the energy will come from your fat cells . That’s a given.
In the case of the former, even though the body is releasing fat to be used, when it’s not used, it simply resynthesizes the glycerols/fatty acids and re-stored as body fat.
So, we then ask other key questions like:
1. Due to a slower rate of usage, should one just perform a longer duration and ultimately use the same amount of calories as someone doing a shorter but harder session?
2. Which will use more body fat and which will be less catabolic?
You should Keep in mind that the body has a vested interest in using these fatty acids for energy.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to deduce that Glucose and glycogen (the energy currency of our body & brain 🧠), aren’t in endless supply.
It’s obvious that when activity levels increase, the body needs to turn not only to its larger material source of energy, but it wants to be efficient at it. Remember that – it wants to be EFFICIENT AT IT.
As the RATE OF LIPOLYIS is increased, so is the blood flow to the exercising muscles, and so are the chemical processes that convert the fatty acids into usable energy.
TWIST IN THE ROAD.
Here is yet another twist in the road.
As intensity increases, these glycerols are used at a higher rate – a good thing. But, when exercise intensity reaches a level where blood flow is necessarily shunted more sharply to the working muscle tissue, blood flow to the available fat stores is restricted tremendously, decreasing the rate of fat that is made available to be used as energy.
That is why I tell all my former students that the OPTIMAL TIME to do cardio & burn more fat is first thing in the morning, upon waking and … on an empty stomach.
Like I said earlier , If we perform light cardio we release just as much body fat as high-intensity work. What is the risk of losing muscle here?
Answer: the risk of losing muscle is low.
However, but then due to a slower rate of fat usage, we simply re-store the released body fat.
So, you may be thinking – “why don’t We just do longer sessions of low-intensity cardio?”
Yes, you could but it would not be the most effective use of your time. And why?
Well, research shows after 30 minutes, fat release actually decreases – not increases as conventionally taught.
Trying to keep every variable straight is like trying to catch a greased pig. It’s like the squirrel in the animated movie Ice Age; as soon as you stick every available finger and toe in the leaking wall of ice, another confusing point of physiology springs out of a new crack.
No wonder there isn’t a consensus on the subject.
As I mentioned in the beginning of the article, you would be making a mistake if you take this article as covering every facet of the subject – think of this as just an outline and the book isn’t finished.
Seeing your progress, any progress, however small, is a motivating factor.
ACTION PLAN.
Read on for an action plan…
The ease of your body’s ability to burn body fat will affect how much cardio you do. This is depended on your body type & genetics.
Being that all of cardio is catabolic, you want to do the least you have to in order to be shredded.
For some that may mean twice a week and for others that may mean twice a day.
Consider two glaring facts:
One: Your body immediately starts releasing body fat with exercise and continues for 30 minutes until the law of diminishing returns virtually eliminates any further benefit.
If we are going at too slow of a pace, the released fat gets re-stored and if we get too high in our intensity, we shunt blood flow away from fat cells. As such, I believe, there are two types of cardio that we can benefit from and still meet our goal of sparing as much muscle as possible.
The first is thirty-minute sessions at a good pace – heart rate sustained at 130-150 beats per minute for most people. Remember, even at just 25% of our VO2 max we’re going to be releasing all the body fat that we can, but we need a pace that will actually use what is released, but not so much intensity that the body goes into a fight-or-flight mode channelling blood to the muscle tissue systemically and away from the adipose cells and organs.
The best natural bodybuilding athletes/champions know and understand how to do this better than almost everyone. Their “Double-edged sword” of keeping /maximising muscles and maximally losing fat is the challenge /opportunity.
I also believe the value of super-high-intensity cardio is tremendous but you have to weigh the catabolic effects and the fact that it won’t take long to be counterproductive and decrease the amount of fat actually being released (due to the changing blood flow patterns).
I would recommend using high-intensity sessions 1 to 3 times per week for 15 to 20 minutes to create longer-term fat usage through the increased metabolic effects.
Ectomorphs may have plenty by doing just 10-minute high-intensity sessions, but even endomorphs shouldn’t do more than 2 to 3. The amount of actual leg muscle recovery necessary should be a limiting factor – you’ll need to recover almost like a leg workout.
A major turning point in Alan’s life was coming to me for help. I helped him, help himself … build his bridge from where he was to … where he wanted to be.
Saved his job … saved his marriage … saved his life.
Base-line
The “baseline” 30-minute sessions could be done daily or even twice a day for those who lose weight slowly or have more lower body stores to contend with.
That doesn’t mean that longer, slower cardio is worthless, you just get a fraction of the fat loss after the first 30 minutes.
Breaking up an hour of cardio into two sessions can net more fat loss if the pace is high enough and consistent. This is what I do. I try to do 30 minutes walk in the morning on a treadmill and another in the evening if I have the time.
The great thing about human performance research, however, is that we’re still very much in a pioneering phase.
Studies conducted with different variables keep adding to our understanding and more specific information is sure to be discovered.
ME. Mistake-riddled ME…. But I am happy being IMPERFECTLY PERFECT, just as Jesus Christ was. His life was a great example of what FAILURE was. Not an easy path to follow …. But I will. Because I BELIEVE in JESUS and what he stood for. Just like GOD intended.
… too numerous to list here.
I have made many mistakes. I will try to express it in words like this.
When I should have let my unusually strong 💪 stubborn-ness to dig deep;
But instead, succumbed to a feeling of weakness and gave up hope …
And ….
On … and … on … and … on ….
One thing is certain –
There’s still more mistakes to come
Life goes on
One thing that I have learned from making tonnes and tonnes of mistakes … of having experienced so many fuck ups …. Of failing multiple times is …
That I am more COMFORTABLE at tolerating the UNCOMFORTABLE FEELINGS of making a mistake … or fucking up … of failing … of failing …. Of failing. …..
I don’t see mistakes as mistakes anymore … but instead as OPPORTUNITIES to find solutions …. To stretch boundaries …. To DESIGN NEW RULES …. To CREATE something DIFFERENT …. To START ANEW.
I’m unsure of the future …
But I am not concerned;
I will rely on those closest to ME …
And I will share their burdens … as they share mine;
I WILL continue to ..
LIVE & LOVE 💕.. & LEARN … with the understanding that I am IMPERFECTLY PERFECT and …
Until my physical form on earth reaches its finite end and my spiritual self continues into INFINITY…
Because …
I BELIEVE that GOD is ALWAYS WITH ME …
And that makes me FEEL INVINCIBLE.. as I AM GOD … I AM INFINITE.
When Alan came to me, he was in a bad place – not having enough sleep despite seeing many “experts”, was on the verge of losing his job and his marriage. With immense courage he undertook the plan I developed for him using my Lifestyle framework principles . He not only started sleeping again (from 700+ apnoea per night to under 4) … he lost > 25+ kg and got his life back.
The cost to get to below 4 per-cent.
I learned something very early on in my foray in to the sport of bodybuilding (almost thirty years ago now) and the art/sport of bodybuilding & physique artistry: the leaner I got, the harder it was to lose body-fat!
I knew pretty early on that I could just ‘clean up’ my diet a little and chop and change here and there, and drop from 14% to 8% body fat in a matter of weeks. I usually stay below 15% body-fat year round, just something I’ve done now for the last 15 years at least.
However, I also learned that when you get to single digit body-fat %, it gets even harder to lose unwanted body-fat. But, I’d get on the treadmill and x-trainer or bike in the gym a number of times in a week and drop under 10% (you can begin to ‘see’ your abdominals clearly around 9%). I keep going and then I get down below 7%. Now, to keep dropping bodyfat to 6% and then to 5% can get pretty hard, especially when you’re doing it the ‘hard way’ … NATURAL and no assistance from steroids or performance-enhancing drugs.
Sometimes, the body just does not want to barge and literally stalls your progress. Let me give you a secret, it is fucken brutal to go below 5%. Very few people go ‘there’. It is a very ‘spiritual experience’ to say the least but it can also be a soul-destroying for those unprepared for the challenges.
So, there I am .. slugging away at the cardio machines on low-carbs, hypoglycemia and fearing muscle loss. Sometimes, I question – ‘what was I doing wrong?’ Isn’t a kilo a kilo? Being at 6% is quite an achievement but I wouldn’t dare boast about getting to that point if everyone else in the world would stop there too! Competitively, they don’t. Regardless of the cost, winners DO NOT stop at 6%. Just to make the Finals (Top 5) at amateur shows, you need to get to around 4%. That is just the standard that is at minimum.
The cost to get below 4% is different for everyone. That’s what I had to get down to to beat the best Natural Bodybuilders in the World at my first of two consecutive World Natural Bodybuilding Championships, almost 15 years ago now. Here’s a tip: you’ll look your best but you’ll feel the worst you’ve ever felt.
Quite ironic, I know. I’ve been there many times in my life. Not a nice to be for very long. I believe, it is the closest thing you come to experiencing death, without dying.
Teaching you to love yourself better and more. That the most powerful show of self-respect is to say ‘no’. Saying no to foods that are not aligned to your desired body image is the highest form of self-respect and love.
Genetics: a gift and a curse.
In the sport of bodybuilding, like most other sports, genetics can be a gift and a curse that either propels you forward or holds you back. I didn’t have the height genetics for example to play basketball and dunk but I certainly have a healthy dose of Type IIb muscle fibres necessary for explosive power, muscle growth and size. You may never have my back and lats insertions and I may never have your biceps peak, even though we both try and train to maximum.
The thing is genetics dictates muscle SHAPE. And muscle shape is muscle shape.
My daughter appears to have taken after my wife in body shape and my son appears to have my build. No amount of training would transform one in to another. They will just be bigger version of what they already are (what steroids and performance enhancing drugs do) – a person’s strengths will be even stronger and weaknesses will be enhanced too.
So, it is similar to body fat storage and metabolism.
Here’s the thing, in addition to this covid epidemic, we also have an increasing mental illness epidemic, a broken-families/home epidemic, an obesity epidemic etc. Conservatively speaking, two thirds of modern-societies are overweight and childhood obesity is consistently rising. If you dig a little deeper, something more surprising arises. Among the developed countries, though childhood obesity has increased that much in 30 years, the bottom 50% of the BMI (body mass index) hasn’t increased at all. That means the leanest 50% of kids across the world haven’t gotten fatter at all, but the heavier you are on the BMI, the higher the increase in obesity.
Translation: if a child has the genetics to become obese, then due to today’s societal changes (mom’s not home cooking, greater than 60% of our meals being out now, less activity, etc.) they get even heavier. But, children who don’t have the genetics to become obese, though they live in the same culture with the same foods and temptations don’t gain weight.
Keep your pendulum swinging … because to be stuck at one end is not life-affirming To successfully transform your body, one needs to be a better master of their internal Balanced & Breathing.
Some Genetic Differences.
Have you wondered what some of those genetic differences are?
From my insatiable curiosity of the how the human body and mind works, and my experience of helping hundreds of people over the last 3 decades, here’ a few things I have found –
I have found a few things, firstly, as children, we go through two “filling up” and two “expanding” phases in our growth. I can readily observe this in the two pre-teen son and daughter. The amount of body fat cells our body creates is mainly genetic but also is influenced by how much we eat during that first year of life and the period right before puberty. An individual may have 20 billion body fat cells and another may have 200 billion. All of the hormones that cause body fat storage now have 10 times the load for the triglyceride loading.
And what is triglyceride loading? Google it and see what you find.
Let me share an example – You’re cruising along, the diet is going great, and then you read an article on-line that says once a week you need a “giant CHEAT meal” and load up with 10,000 grams of carbs for fear of muscle loss. What do you some people do, then? Yep, you guessed it … they visit their nearest Pancake shop and eat enough to break the world record. Obviously, this is an extreme example and the ‘carbing up’ wouldn’t really take that much at all. This is also part of the reason I tell almost every person that has successfully transformed themselves NOT to be tempted to get any information from any source, except from me. There is less clutter and noise in their heads and so, better overall progress made to their original goals.
Do you want to know why this practice is a fallacy? Well, you can certainly fill up your glycogen stores with some fruit, that’s right … a simple apple or banana. And you can refill your liver with two lemon tarts? Here’s a fact – 350g to 500g of carbs can pack all of your muscle tissue with all the glycogen it can hold? Any more and you could seriously make yourself feel sick and very uncomfortable.
Here’s the catch: after consuming all those mountains of pancakes to your tilt, your body goes in to reverse. You IMMEDIATELY stop burning body fat. Normal circulating amounts of insulin are three times that of glucagon – your best friend in fat loss. That’s right, your BEST FRIEND in fat loss is the opposing hormone, Glucagon. Not Insulin! That means we’re three times better at storing fat than losing it.
Not what you wanted at all, right?
It is a great feeling to do this … but make sure it isn’t your ego that is leading. Beating genetics to get a certain result is a great achievement all in itself. Stubbornness, well that’s ok.
Evolution favours Survival.
When it comes to evolution and your biology, your body is made to be conservative and to hang on to every ounce of fat for possible future famines. Your body is designed to Survive. It’s main concern is not how your abs look on the beach or how you look in a coat of competition tan on stage at a contest, naked in front of a thousand people. No, your body is built for survival.
So, when you’re cutting back on carbs and in a state of ketosis, or calorie-deficit, your body’s primary objective is to continuously look for ways to store fat. That is just what the body does.
Insulin is your enemy my friends, brought about by you having an unscheduled “high carb’ meal/day(s). Glucagon production stops and insulin not only shuttles glucose to the muscle, but it also tells the liver to go in to the ‘glucose-to-fat’ conversion mode. The body basically begins hording the fat. That’s right, it shields the fat and makes it very hard for you to burn this. I’ve heard all the excuses, some were –
“But is was just one meal! But my body needed it! But I just had one dessert! But I even though it was three cups of rice, it was clean food!”
Your body doesn’t care – it just wants to store. Now, if I have 200 billion fat cells and you have 20 billion, who is better at storing fat? Who can afford more slips on a diet plan? Certainly not me (the person who struggles to get lean at 200 billion fat cells for example).
Balance & symmetry brings you closer to harmony … to beauty …closer to infinity. Just like mathematics does
Work WITH your body, not AGAINST it.
I believe the majority of people who venture into transforming their body, work against it. They don’t work with it.
There are so many related hormonal/biochemical reasons that some people are naturally thin and some are heavy. Working against your genetics is a hard day in the office, every day. Yes, we can do our part to gain or lose weight despite our genetics, but it’s a real slug-fest … a real battle. I’m oversimplifying and skipping important issues to make the point, but one more factor in weight loss that has been given much play is the hormone, leptin. Leptin is secreted by fat cells and basically, let’s you know when you hungry or full. It is the primary signal carrier for hunger/satiety. When enough filling occurs in the fat cells, leptin is released and tells the brain that you’re not hungry. When not enough leptin is present, hunger is the king.
As you probably know by now, there are three body types – the ectomorphs, the mesomorphs and the endomorphs, basically the skinny, the stocky and the fat types. There is a marked difference in the endomorphs (obese tendencies) versus the ectomorphs in terms of leptin. Experimental studies show obese children deficient in leptin eat dramatically less and lose weight when leptin is brought to normal amounts.
A friend and former student/client of mine who achieved the impossible. Following the Quality Plan I designed for him and adopting my “3-legged stool’ framework, Nathan went from 125+kg to 88kg. A massive transformation given he is leaning towards the ‘endomorph’ type. I have not seen anyone work as hard as this man. Very proud of what he achieved.
So, what are the lessons here?
There are four but I will just mention two. Firstly, if you have a body-type which is, you came from a family of obesity and endomorphic, then you will be ‘carb-sensitive’. If that is the case, then, you are definitely not an ectomorph and WILL just have to work that little bit harder. Sometimes, a whole lot harder. You may have to drop your carbs very low just to release fat cells and then increase the probability of using them as energy. That is difficult.. but there are tricks available. Knowing when to ‘cycle’ your carbs is essential and you will need to do more cardio and be willing to suffer more. I have had clients like these over the years and I take my hat off to them. They are real modern-day warriors.
There is little consolation when you feel like you’re not getting anywhere with your body transformation and weight loss. The scale can be very mean to those endomorphs. It is literally a “David vs Goliath” and where David beat Goliath and the tortoise beat the hare for these folks. You have to hang in there if you’re a ‘carb-sensitive’ individual. Hang in there … and summon all the patience you can muster. You will need it.
You will WIN this race and achieve your goal. You will kill Goliath.
Know YOU. Know your strengths. Work to your strengths. Not some of the time … ALL the time.
Until next time,
Quality lean muscle that “flows” takes time & a goal of balance & symmetry
At 4.2% at my 1st world championships. Getting to 4% body-fat was very hard, staying there was harder.
The very popular “most muscular” pose. It brings the ‘house down.’
Work on strengthening the spirit within. It is part of the foundation of love – the unknowable.
Beginning the journey for anything worthwhile achieving is never easy … but you’ve got to Start – Just DO IT (I’ve always loved this NIKE slogan … so powerful).
Taking the initial step toward redesigning your body can be an empowering experience.
And if you manage to do what so many can’t – stick with the plan after that initial burst of enthusiasm wears off – you’ll also discover that it’s one of the smartest things you’ve ever decided to do.
I remember my first time, over 30 years ago.
I was scared. Plain & simple. And I don’t like being scared, matter of fact I don’t let any fear get the better of me. I tend to face my fear head on since I was a kid (probably why I sorted out issues with “bullies” in school, a lot of times letting my “fists do the talking “).
But I was simply (& admittedly, embbarresingly scared.
Scared of the clanging & banging of iron & metal on metal. Scared of the big looking men (mostly male dominated at that era). Scared of all the strange looking machines.
When I walked out of the gym that 1st day, I told myself that I would learn as much as I could get my hands on (the internet was in its embryo stages ). So I got my hands os many library books on the human body ‘ muscles & nutrition & anything resembling bodybuilding.
I was a sponge & took a whole semester to learn as much as I could (along with my studies in my first commerce university degree).
Abdominal/thighs pose at the Asia-Pacific Australian Natural Bodybuilding Championships. Placing: 2nd in Australia.
So, these notes are written for you in mind .. picture this : –
It’s day one of your bodybuilding journey . Embarking on a journey, your journey into bodybuilding is no small endeavour: you deserve props just for making the decision & moving forward.
After 30 years here are my Key/primary points – (useful tenets/nuggets of wisdom you can keep in the back of your brain).
Use them as “❤️alentine Guiding Principles “.
Should you ever lose your way along the road to strength, health & your best body, these principles will help you get back on track quickly.
A good teacher is hard to find but finding a good student is even harder. Plan the work – to work the plan. Photo: discussing fine points of one of my programs with retired legend of rugby – Phil Waugh.
🌴❤️Principle #1: Listen 👂 to your body.
Your body & brain 🧠 are in constant talk. How often your brain chooses to listen determines how well your body will respond to what you ask for.
It is not a two-way communication (equal) pathway though.
Latest neuroscience suggests that it is mostly a”1 way street”. The body sends 80% of messages to the brain 🧠(via the Vagus nerve).
Good bodybuilders listen to their bodies better than anyone on earth.
Get in touch with different types of pain when you exercise. There’s two types-
i) the dull, mild pain that comes from working a muscle that isn’t used to being worked. This pain means, “Rest your body, let it repair itself, then continue strengthening it.”
ii) Then there’s the sharp, strong pain that comes from pulling a muscle, twisting something the wrong way, or worse. This means, “Put down the weight & walk away!”
Knowing the difference between these two kinds of pain can make a world of difference in your training.
Note: I have not had any major injury in over 3 decades of weight training. It is important to teach yourself the ‘tortoise approach’ or the conservative approach to training as I have found that this is the most efficient and effective way to achieve long-term, sustainable results and stay injury free as you age.
Here’s me doing my favourite pose at the World Championships. Contest: 2007 World Natural Bodybuilding Championships held in NY, USA. Ranked: 4th Best Natural Bodybuilder in the World. Believe in yourself. Trust in yourself. Make your Being and your Doing – ONE. Vv.
🌴❤️Principle #2: Prepare for Pressure
Your biceps & chest will grow (mine certainly did). As soon as these do, you will also receive attention from your peers who not only admire your newfound courage.
They will also secretly wish you don’t have so much of it.
Just be aware.
The next time you decide to say “no” to that slice of cake 🎂 at your best buddy’s roommates cousins’s birthday in order to stick to your diet, expect more than one person to try to talk you into having “just one bite.”
There are countless doubtful thoughts 💭 that little voice over your shoulder, saying, give up man, you won’t achieve it.
And then I think about one of my many mentors life tips to me –
“Remember, the heart 💔 ALWAYS precedes the mind.”
Interpret that however way you want. Apply these 3 principles to your thinking & life and keep building momentum in your daily habits that contribute to your overall goals.
Now, go get back on the horse and ride him like you’ve never ridden him before … go to the gym and lift those weights and help those muscles, help you … feel the ‘essence of life’, Vitality … & Have a great day and life …
Cheers & ahoy 🍻!!
The Old Captain Viking Pirate 🏴☠️ Island 🌴 Muscle 💪 Monk 🏴☠️❤️alentine …& getting back on track
The old Captain Viking Pirate 🏴☠️ ⚔️Enjoying a beer 🍺 in a hot 🥵 spring day here in Sydney Australia 🇦🇺
You perform your reps, sets and workout with one of the tools – dumbells, when you search for that ‘elusive pump’ feeling in the gym.
In my almost three decades in the ‘iron game’, I have learned many things.
About gyms, about people, about different training methods and styles, about perceptions, about limitations, about the mind, and about muscles, fat loss and body sculpturing.
I have learned a lot, filling my domain knowledge of subject areas that have always been fascinated about. And still am.
The Gym
I’ve always believed the gym was a micro-cosim of society. It is a metaphor for Life.
It does not represent reality – it tells (beautiful lies) about people. What it basically says, in my opinion, is I’m bigger or better than I really am. It is a kind of fantasy world.
But the gym is also not pure fantasy – it voices and indirectly describes and reflects, the real world (outside) by people the same people that make up the gym, by inventing little worlds that resemble it, loosely or closely.
I find it fascinating because, like Forest Gump said of life – “life is like a box of chocolate, you never know what you’re gonna get.” That is exactly how I feel before each visit to the gym. You never know what you’re gonna get, like who will be there, what equipment will be available when you need it, whether the gym will be “packed to the rafters” or quiet and empty.
No, you never know what you’re gonna get.
The gym alters reality to allow us to ‘see’ reality better.
What I find most interesting is that the gym lies (if it is a good gym), to reveal the truth to you (about the world outside the gym).
Each person in the gym has their own history, their own story, if you pause and ‘listen to what they’re not saying.’ Each person’s story is a metaphor for an aspect of the Real World.
The gym, in a sense, and among other things, is allegory. What it gives you (if you’re willing to listen and look and feel) is the real world – indirectly.
Maybe, that is why the gym is appealing to many of gym-goers world over. Maybe, it just allows us ‘let be.’
It allows the world each person is creating within their minds to come into being for themselves and everyone else in the gym … by leaving the real world (outside) well enough alone.
Just for those minutes or hours they are in the gym.
The gym allows each user the ability to create their own worlds in their minds. That is one of the reasons why, I think the gym has been so appealing to me all these years because it is fundamentally, how real life goes.
You see, most people proceed each visit to the gym with ignorance and uncertainty; then they get glimpses of the ‘truth’ – their truth, or moments of understanding. And, if you’re like most people, you rarely (and usually too late) get to ‘see’ the whole version of reality.
The gym is, maybe, the TRUEST REALISM.
Members of my ‘extended family’ when I used to own and manage my gym for seven years. Some of the best and hardest years of my life so far. I loved leading the members (predominantly males – 70%) and they allowed me to take them to unchartered territories for us all. The gym was (unlike today’s) a social place. An ‘inbetween home’ between your place of work and your home. That’s me on the extreme left.
The workout.
Every workout is got to be about some part of the body or … I guess, these days, the ‘whole body.’ Every workout has got to be about something at the very least.
It doesn’t take much to do a workout – less still to do a set or just a handful of sets. In terms of action, I mean.
A workout to me is more than just a number of sets or selected exercises performed for a pre-selected number of repetitions. To some, a workout in the gym with traditional weight-training equipment is akin to a meditation hour or so. No, a workout is the pattern of a thing, a living thing – its rhyme and reason. It is what a moment or a memory or silence is about, if that makes any sense.
A workout does not need to be scientific. There are many types of workouts and I have tried and experimented with many over the last three decades.
To me, a workout is the genius of a thing. A workout could comprise just about anything, it may even be nothing. A workout is what you experience to write the story you are writing in the gym.
The Sets
A Set is simply, one tool a gym enthusiast might use to fulfil his goal to achieve a workout, the workout he or she imagines he is going to do. The set is, to some extent, a form of a workout in itself which uses action as its mode, usually in the form of a slight discomfort or pain.
The set intricately and closely connects one exercise to another, usually through a causal chain, ending in a moment of pain and pleasure or what I refer to as ending in a climax.
I have done thousands of sets since I began lifting weights in my late teens almost thirty years ago. To me, a set is a miracle and a mystery. A set is the track from somewhere to somewhere else – the start and the beginning of a mii-project, a small journey.
It carries the performer from silence to understanding, from nothing to something.
A set to a workout is like a river is to a whole catchment. Namely, everything. The part serves the whole; it is what the whole comes down to.
It is the point, the ‘dot.’
Sets alone or sets performed in no particular order mean something to the enthusiast but not much. I find that when I am doing a set, I am telling a part of my story, my life because what I am striving for ultimately is, meaning. And how does meaning arise when you’re doing a set?
It arises when I put the repetitions required to perform each and every set into an order in which I have learned to recognise a pattern of relationship (through the many thousands of sets and workouts I have performed over the last 3 decades).
I then derive meaning.
Over the years, I have learned to recognise relationships between sets and causality. We all have that gift for seeing and attributing meaning patterns – and for storing and repeating them in mind and workouts when recalling. We do this for almost everything in our lives, it is just easier on our brain as the brain relies heavily on autopilot, ultimately to conserve energy.
We humans, make sense of life that way, by learning how things interact, what causes what. The only thing is, like anything else, learning so, takes time.
Climaxing at the end of a set is one kind of pleasure, a lot of time, with pain thrown in to the mix. The completion of the pre-determined number of sets is not the point of the workout.
So, the point of a workout as I see it and story-tell, is in the ‘feeling.’
It is the feeling that allows one to build and soak in the ‘essence of the exercise.’ And how do you get the essence? That involves much, much more than just lifting a weight against gravity and moving the weight from point A to point B.
I will save that ‘find the essence of the exercise’ to another blog.
Providing a little bit of assistance. My pupil here ‘feeling the essence’ of the exercise. All relationships require work and time . Sometimes, its the little things, that determine your success in pursuit of a worthwhile goal.
Reps
Reps, is the shortened version of repetition. Part of gym lingo. It is the basic unit of a set and the building blocks of your workout. It is the number and tempo that dictates what kind of set you’re doing and the feeling you get at the end of the set (if you get any at all).
Not every rep is the same, just like not every golf swing is the same, using different clubs for different strokes.
Performing the rep is when you ‘get your hands dirty.’ It is when you feel the blood pumping excitedly through your veins. It is when you sweat. You sweat to earn those muscles. The rep is when you experience what I call a ‘continuous progression of focused moments.’
Some people call this meditation.
Everyone is at varying levels of meditation and are, ideally, working towards improving their meditation ability or what we, bodybuilders refer to ‘mind-muscle’ connection.
This is when you ‘feel the essence’ or what Arnold calls the ‘pump’. It is an elusive thing and not many gym rats get to experience this climaxing moment. It is the holy grail of lifting weights. It is one of the factors that separate real bodybuilders from the gym rats.
So-called self-help gurus have, for decades now, spoken about how one can ‘get in touch with one’s inner-self. Well, I have news for everyone, bodybuilders, real, authentic bodybuilders have been their inner-self for over a hundred years now.
Bodybuilders have a very highly level of understanding of getting in touch with one’s inner-self, because you couldn’t really get any more any ‘in touch’ with yourself then getting in to the individual cell, with vitality-infused blood.
Feel the essence, I say!
Fully focused! A true warrior & champion. Phil applying principles in one of my programs and adopting my framework. Focusing on making every repetition of every set of every exercise as ideal as possible. Practise does not make perfect – Perfect practise makes perfect! Photo: Retired Champion Ex-Australian Wallaby Captain & NSW Waratahs Captain and player in action under my watchful eyes.
Synergy
Sets alone or sets carried out in no particular order could mean success … but very little: Second set, 8 to 12 reps, power on the positive, control on the negative with a 2-1-3 tempo! Oh, I get it. A workout is completed; sense of achievement arise. How does that happen? It happens because the gym enthusiast/bodybuilder puts the sets in an order in which he has learned to recognise a pattern of relationships and so can derive satisfaction and purpose. It happens because of the innate human avidness of the human GIFT for seeing and attributing meaning to patterns – and for storing and repeating them in mind and body and spirit (dare I say, speech).
We humans make sense of our life and in the world we live in by learning how things interact, what causes what. The way every cause has its effect; the way every action has its actor, its object and its consequence. So, most gym rats learn that for every
What I am trying to say is that put a man and woman who like the look of each other in a place together and what you’ll get pretty soon, among other things, is someone doing something; and someone doing it back; and two people doing something together. What you get is ‘synergy’.
Sex; a relationship; perhaps issues. What you get is sets performed – simple, compound, complex and compound-complex, fragments and fractals.
What you get is synergy.
Anyone can ‘lift weights’, but unfortunately, not many can lift weights with synergy. And how do you do you make those reps, those sets perform their alchemy and achieve synergy and purpose.
I have found that one can learn the many different types of training ‘techniques’ and ways of lifting without ever knowing what the essence feels like. Just like you can understand the whole scheme of evolutionary history, without ever knowing why a minah bird moves exactly, and with such intelligence, as it does – why that is necessary and how it came to pass.
Achieving and feeling the essence and flowing with synergy in your workouts is another lively mystery.
A tip: one needs to learn rhythm. This comes after years of deliberate mind-muscle-heart-spirit practise. One of the greatest joys of doing a workout is not just achieving synergy but also making music within.
That is when you get hold of ‘that mystery’ and master that miracle within.
Good repetitions of good sets of good exercises performed well, amongst other variables, performed with synergy and music .. .makes for a good workout.
And the more balanced and elegant one’s sets are, the sounder they are structurally, the better one’s workouts will be.
You approach what I refer to as the ‘state of beauty’ … an enlightened state that brings you closer to balance and symmetry, a state of finite bliss. A state of enhanced balance and symmetry, when done correctly.
Not many gym enthusiasts ever get to that state. That is ok, most don’t. … and most don’t know how to, either.
Until next time,
Captain Viking Pirate Vaughn-Van-Valentine (VvV)
Collage of some bodybuilding poses
Collage of members of my gym in action … many, many years ago.
Quality Plan + Quality Implementation allowed Team Valentine (my wife & I) to beat the best in the sport here in Australia and stand on the stage against the best in the World.
Muscle is precious. Build muscle then, do everything you can to preserve it.
Don’t believe everything you read, see and hear
Don’t believe the headline – eating and drinking in excess this Christmas will not help you lose weight!
But I am making a point as to how we can become needlessly fearful (because of all the conflicting views out there) of exercising with weights or eating certain foods or doing just about anything.
Everyone seems to have an ‘opinion’ these days with the proliferation of social media and a lot of these views have insufficient and inappropriate evidence (scientific) to back them up. This applies to almost everything, but especially, weight/fat loss and exercise and eating and drinking, because well, we all do these activities, more or less.
It seems that everyone is suddenly an expert.
Anyone can show how, by selectively citing some scientific research and blowing it all out of context, you can build a case for any argument, including the subject heading that I have used.
If you have a small amount of scientific nous, it is super easy for someone to give an opinion and by selectively citing some scientific research (based on some ridiculously small sample) and blowing it all out of context. You see this quite regularly on mainstream media as the ‘sensationalism’ of these stories sells ratings.
The thing is you should strive to not believe everything you read, see and hear. Manage your funnel better.
Have no doubt. Help yourself first. God will meet you half way … he ALWAYS does. All you ahve to do is: BELIEVE.
Key habit: Build muscle.
Below is the start of my view on fat loss and body re-engineering …
If you need to lose fat leading up to the festive season and summer (in some parts of the world – like Sydney, Australia) – build muscle. Naturally. Full stop!
There are countless weight-loss programs on the net and every where you go and read. Terrific for increasing awareness. However, fat-loss plans and weight-loss plans that don’t include strength training, fundamentally, rob the body of muscle.
Now, you don’t want to do something that robs the body of muscle because the process of ageing does this anyway. Ageing, is partly, by definition, the deterioration of muscles due to the reduction in protein synthesis.
Weight-training to build muscle ‘off-sets the on-set of ageing’. It is the potion of youth. It keeps people younger, longer. I know, because I have witnessed these people who seem to look and act five, ten, fifteen and twenty years younger.
The common denominator: they build muscle!
I love Chess growing up. I beat the University Chess Champion once. Life is like a game of chess …. you’ve got to learn to think many steps ahead … but also be able to ‘play what’s in front of you’ A delicate but necessary balance to succeed at anything in life for that matter Become a better chess player of life
Train SMART. Live BETTER.
I’ve always told everyone I have ever helped over the last two decades that every kilogram of muscle is a fat burning dynamo! Yep, a fat-burning dynamo.
If you compare your body’s metabolism (the rate at which it ‘burns’ calories) to that of an engine of a car, when you build lean body mass (muscle), you increase the engine size and power of your body. Your car engine (metabolism) goes from, say, a 1.8l engine to a 4.0l or even an 8.0l engine over time.
Muscle loss reduces calorie requirements, makes fat loss more difficult, and creates increased obstacles to the maintenance of a lean body, once the excess fat has been lost.
Fundamentally, your ‘life-force’ (or vitality) will be sucked out of you and you will literally feel like cr&p! Every single minute of every single day. Now, why would you or anyone for that matter want to feel like that every single day. I could and still can’t understand why people still do this to themselves. Instead of doing ‘life-affirming’ actions, they instead do ‘life destroying’ actions.
Not smart. Not sustainable.
Put simply, and to sum up – always remember, to help maintain a lean body, build muscle. To do this you need to Train SMART. Live Better.
It is as simple as that!
However, like some philosopher once said, “the easy things are also the hardest things to do”.
If you can dream and imagine a much more improved physical version of you and believe in executing a plan to get you there, by all means go for it!
With 8 x Mr Olympia – “The King”, Ronnie Coleman. Now, this man built and carried on his frame an unbelievable amount of muscle – 300lbs worth of it!
And don’t worry if you have never entered a gym in your life or you haven’t done anything since your late teens or early twenties. It is never too late to start.
Regardless of your age, or how out of condition you may think you are at present, I believe it is never too late to start an exercise program. The power to decide rests in your hands (literally when you start lifting weights in a gym to help the person in the mirror – YOU).
You can transform your fitness and muscle strength at any age, along with your appearance, and health. I believe this is important because from my observations as a coach over the years, when people’s image improves, their performances improves too. Feeling good about yourself is an important part of being a well-balanced human being.
Make that choice – for you or a loved one. Make that choice to help you so that you can enjoy not just a long life but a good quality life by lowering the risks of early on-set of age-related physical and mental diseases. Respect and love the most important person in the world to you – YOU, first.
That way, by default, everyone gets the best of you, too.
You have one life, make the most of it all the best in the choices you make. No one else can make them for you, so choose well.
5 key areas to manage your living better … for better balance in your life
To assist in the quality of your life right now, consider improving on these 5 key areas to manage your living better – for better balance in your life:
Eat – well composed, portioned meals, more frequently. If it is green leaf (and not a frog), include it in your meals.
Water – drink adequate levels of water daily. An average adult should aim for 3L per day.
Move – a combination of weight training, cardio and stretching done two to three times per week.
Enjoy yourself – don’t forget to have fun and laugh at least once a day.
Socially engage with your community in person.
Get, learn and apply the basics (of life) right so that YOU can ….
Muscle is precious. Build muscle, then do everything you can possibly to do to preserve what you have. You will thank your lucky and wise stars as you age.
Don’t accelerate the ageing process as age does it for you anyway. Build muscle, as if your life depended on it (and it does). Build muscle as it is your personal preventative insurance against age-related diseases as your life ticks on … tick, tock, tick, tock!
Then, watch your energy, mental state and vitality soar to new heights and ….
Live, really live.
Until next time,
Cheers & ahoy!
The old Cap’n Viking Pirate Evangelist Muscled Monk … & managing your weight during Christmas festive season and beyond
Be the best you can be for you, first, then by default, everyone gets the best of you. Vv.
Learn the basics of exercise in the gym. Learn to be more coachable – learn the rules so you know how to use them better in the future. This applies to most rules in life. Vv.
My gym experience has taught me a lot about people, about human nature. I love observing human behaviour in action, it fascinates me.
As most of you would agree, there is no doubt that people are different. We are all different and unique but we also are more alike than we like to think. We are all wired differently and that wiring lends itself to certain skills, environments and roles rather than other skills, environments and roles.
Some people find it very difficult to change. Some people need to learn to be more coachable, if they are to achieve their full potential and avoid some of the mistakes other people and previous generations have made.
There was this member of the gym I used to own for a number of years that was very stuck in his ways of training. I always tried questioning him on why he did things the way he did and he was very inflexible to learning something different. An alternative.
His reason: he had been training with weights for longer than me and he didn’t have anything to learn. Fair enough. I did not want to force him to stop doing harm to himself but I felt it was my role and duty of care to point out the potential risks he was putting himself and others in the gym, now and in to the future.
This a story about how too much of a good thing can be bad for you and relates to one particular exercise: the wide chin-up exercise.
Let’s call this individual “Dave”.
You see, he loved doing chin-ups. Some of you may know it as ‘pull-ups’. He loved it so much he did it every time he came to the gym for his ‘session’. He came to the gym about four times per week. He really loved doing very wide chin-ups and prided himself on lifting an additional 40kg dumbbell hanging from his waist for reps. He was certainly strong. He was very dedicated.
The one major drawback with his weight-training sessions was the fact that he loved doing chin-ups so much. Now, there’s nothing wrong with having a favourite exercise and this exercise is a great one.
Learn the rules of life. Learn the rules of training in the gym. Learn to be more coachable to manage your ‘risk:benefit ratio’ in life. Vv.
However, one should always be aware of doing that particular activity too often as it increases one’s risk of injury. And this is exactly what happened to our poor friend Dave. As we have all been told over the years – “too much of a good thing can be bad for you”.
I had a great chin-up bar. Matter-of-fact, I had another installed beside the original just because men had different size hands and preferred varying grips. It was a winner – for Dave and for every other enthusiast.
At the very start of his relationship with me, I gave him a piece of advice regarding his training regime that was rejected stubbornly every year for five years, before his accident.
Yes, he did have an accident.
My piece of advice was: don’t overdo an exercise.
I told him that he should probably cut back on the frequency of his chin-ups (doing it every day, every week for the whole year) to consider doing it in one workout every fortnight, that he should consider doing the many other exercise options available that would target the same muscles that chin-ups did but with minimal risk to his joints.
Minimising potential risks to his tendons and ligaments around the elbow joints. I basically tried to tell him to give his joints more rest and recovery, which in turn would probably see him spur on more muscle growth than what he was used to.
I suggested the traditional “Lat Pull-down” machine. A perfect alternative and there were a few ways of doing this exercise too.
That was unacceptable to him. Period!
He said that only ‘sissies’ did the exercise. I couldn’t believe he said that, calling everyone who ever did machine lat pull-downs a ‘sissy’, including me! I reminded him of some of the best backs built over time due partly to machine lat pull-downs. They used the machine lat pull-downs religiously!
He didn’t want to hear it. He was happy doing what he was doing and had been doing all his life. We went through this same conversation at least once every year. Me warning him about the excessive nature of his exercise choice of chin-ups and the damage he was potentially doing to his elbows further down the track.
Anyway, in his fifth year of training in my gym, Dave went missing from the gym for about a month. I called up to see if he was ok like I did for anyone of the hundreds of members that I didn’t see for more than four weeks.
He returned to see me in the gym the next day.
A mentor told me once – “no one cares how much you know until they know how much you care. Me & former client -Glenn. One ☝️ of the hundreds of members of my Family Gym I once owned & managed for 7 years. They came because I cared. I gave them “results with care” (my slogan)
He wasn’t able to train in the gym, in particular he couldn’t use his arms without experiencing excruciating pain through the elbows. All pushing and pulling movements were no longer possible. He basically couldn’t train and he wasn’t coping with this lack of activity very well and didn’t know what to do.
Dave felt a little embarrassed and admitted it was one of the biggest training mistakes he had ever made – not listening to my little piece of advice over the previous five years. The high risk of injury I had made him aware of every year for five years had manifested and now he couldn’t do the exercise he loved to do but even worse, he also couldn’t train. Period!
He was a mess. Physically, emotionally, spiritually. He needed help.
I sat him down and let him rest his head on my shoulder. I said it was alright to cry. All grown men have a license to cry. He did just that.
I told him to forget about the past but to learn from it. I gave him two options to help him make his way back to where he was but I needed him to listen and let go of prior beliefs regarding training.
He needed to set new beliefs. He needed to understand and introduce a new paradigm. He needed to learn to be more coachable and unlearn some irrelevant old habits. He was going to have to accept the guy that looked back at him in the mirror now – not twenty years ago in his youth.
He needed to be agreeable. Kinder to himself. He needed to love himself more.
He did.
He learned to do this after almost twenty five years of training in the gym. Yes, he was training and gaining a lot of ‘experience’ but it was not getting him anywhere. He was just getting more and more experience of getting it wrong.
Not good. He trained mainly with his ego and did not leave it at the door each time he walked in to the gym. Does not get you anywhere and generally leads to disaster as his case showed.
I devised a plan of recovery for him and he got back the use of his arms, particularly his elbows. As the pain sub-sided and he started exercising after a little while, his whole demeanour and life improved.
True Leaders develop Leaders. Here we have former Australian Rugby Wallaby Captain – Mr Phil Waugh, allowing himself to be led and coached to help him, help himself … find his best self. Leaders have belief, they have faith but most importantly … they have hope. That tomorrow will be better than today.
As you know, ‘knowing is one thing, doing is another.’ A wise man once told me that ‘elephants don’t bite, mosquitoes do!”. It really does apply in this case and in many things in life, where too much of a good thing can be bad for you.
Dave did not take care of the mozzies (like the frequency of performing the exercise) and as a result, the compound effect of incorrect technique combined with unnecessary frequency leads to unwanted joint injury.
The message in this story could apply to all areas of life where too much of a good thing (chin-ups for Dave) can be bad for you. Dave learned the hard way and didn’t want to learn from other people’s experience. He didn’t allow himself to be coached. It takes courage to understand your faults but it takes even more courage to make changes to help prevent a huge mis-hap later.
Life is short. There are rules in the gym and gym training, just like there are rules of life. Learn the rules, so that in time you can have the wisdom to discern what is relevant and not.
Live life with quality and integrity and live it to the fullest. Know yourself and be true to yourself.
Have fun with your workouts and have fun with life.
Learning HOW to exercise with proper technique is paramount to achieving your goals with Maximum gains/benefit & lower risks of injury/failure Be more coachable snd find yourself a suitably qualified & experienced coach in the area you hope to improve in.
Education through a perception of the truth. Increasing your awareness, taking sufficient and appropriate actions and adapting accordingly is key towards self-improvement. All done in my programs. I love 💓 helping people who strive to help themselves by increasing their awareness… of the power & ❤️Itality within themselves. It’s never too late to learn and UN-learn bad gym (& lifestyle ) training habits learned in different phases of life. Photo: Former pupil – ex Australian Rugby Union Wallaby Captain – Phil Waugh embracing new knowledge. Having a Growth mindset. Vv
I have been very fortunate that in over twenty three years of training in the gym I have not been seriously hurt in any way. I am very proud to say that in that time I have not seen a physiotherapist or chiropractor for any training-related injury.
I have always been a stickler for form and ideal exercise execution. Always. Accelerated increased awareness from the guidance from some of the best coaches in various fields such as martial arts, power-lifting, boxing, athletics, squash, soccer, hockey, rugby and resistance-training has also contributed heavily to me staying injury-free.
Mastering the basics in any physical endeavour is paramount to you excelling in and enjoying the experience while doing it. Everyone that I have ever helped over the years get educated in applying the basics of training all the time – not some of the time! This loosely applies to most worthwhile goals in life.
Getting injured is a pain. Apart from the physical pain, one has to endure days, weeks or even months of re-habilitation. It can drain one of mental and emotional energy too and be quite costly if the injury is very serious.
Hey, there are many professions that thrive on you getting injured – physiotherapist & chiropractors are two. So, if you’re stubborn in your old habits … just keep doing what you’re doing … & “open your wallets” to them.
Over the years, I have adopted certain routines with deliberate practise (habits) that I believe decreases my chances of getting injured while training in the gym.
Below are 5.5 key tips to help you lower your risk of injury:
My whole goal from the very first time I lifted weights was to build a more balanced and symmetrical physique. I believe this is one of the main key factors in me staying injury-free all these years. This is despite me lifting relatively heavy weights for most of this time (especially the two years when I trained for the World Championships in New York).
For example, a lot of people train the ‘mirror muscles’ more than they do the muscle in their posterior chain (muscles you don’t see in the mirror). This leads to asymmetry and muscle group imbalances.
Not a wise thing to do.
Focusing say, on your chest and shoulders and biceps (the ‘show-me-your muscles muscles) and neglecting your upper back muscles like the traps and rear delts and middle back can spell disaster. The most common gym-related injury for young men world-wide are shoulder injuries primarily because of this.
Muscle imbalances lead to increased risk of injury in the respective joints and muscles.
Besides, why do you want to be the strongest or biggest guy when you can build the most balanced and symmetrical physique for your frame. This is more aesthetic and more pleasing to the eye.
So, leave your ego at the door and work towards a better shape – a more balanced and symmetrical physique. If you don’t, you may regret it later.
Results with care. Here, Brad is ‘feeling the essence’ of the exercise and inching closer to his best self. He is in total control and ‘feels’ the muscle being worked. Vv
Tip #2: Be aware of your breathing technique.
I believe incorrect breathing technique is one of the main contributors to getting injured when training in the gym. Keep this in mind – for:
Pushing motions (bench press; shoulder press) – exhale at the point of contraction (when your arms are furthest away from you)
Pulling motions (lat pulldowns; biceps curls) – inhale when your arms are furthest from your torso.
Breathing also helps you with the next tip.
Ex-Australian Wallaby Captain – Phil Waugh performing a set of squats. Using good exercise technique(which includes proper breathing) is paramount to success.
Tip # 3: Focus!
Concentrating on your breathing and what you are going to do with the weight for those 15 to 45 seconds (a set) is critical to lowering your risk of injury.
Every fibre and cell in your body needs to 100% fully-focused! Don’t get side-tracked by other conversations and mentally block out all distractions. Focusing certainly aids you putting on good lean muscle. Period!
A slight loss of concentration could lead to less than ideal execution of exercise leading to increased levels of risk of injury.
I have developed quite a few formulas relating to peak performance over the years and one of the most important ones is:
“Focus = Results” (a shortened version of my formula).
Tip # 4: Always assess exercise execution with ‘risk:benefit’ ratio mind-set.
Exercise choice and safety – a particular exercise that may be safe for someone may not be for another.
High-risk lifting – improper execution of certain exercises can increase levels of risk for very small increments in benefit. The range of motion of exercises need to be tied in to the ‘risk:benefit” ratio of the exercise and the trainee’s goals
Always avoid “high-risk’ lifting. This relates to variables such as excessive weights; excessive number of repetitions; excessive range-of-motion and so forth.
Tip # 5.5: Apply correct training principles.
I’ve always believed that building muscle is like LIFE. It relies on two principles:
There are many principles to building and keeping muscle and after 23 plus years in the gym I have concluded that the two above and this next two principles – 3) control and 4) feel are key towards lowering your risk of injury.
All beginners and intermediate trainees or less experienced gym enthusiasts should master these before ‘going heavy’.
When you keep it simple and focus on the full range of motion of the exercise with continuous tension, you increase your ability to build good, quality muscle.
Because you are 100% focused and are using the right weight for you to correctly execute the exercise, you have better control and feel. This allows you to ‘work the muscle, not the joint’.
If you can’t control and feel the muscle being worked, you’re not building muscle, only ego.
A lot of people still aspire to the ‘No pain, no gain’ maxim but I think you should not follow this. Listen to your body: never do anything that hurts and don’t train if you hurt yourself or suffer from an existing injury.
results. Vv. “> Chris enjoying a well-deserved rest between sets. A ‘set’ as I define it is: a continuous progression of 15 to 45 sec ‘focused moments’. Focus + heart + visualization ===> results. Vv.
Most injuries happen over time, through cumulative effect of muscular discomfort and micro-scopic tares and inflammation of tendons and ligaments around the joints. Most injuries are the result of an imposed force exceeding the structural strength of the involved body-part.
Don’t copy the super-stars and genetic elite who look and train the way they train because most of the time you don’t know their full story and so this may give you a false sense of direction and could lead to injuries.
Those who don’t do away with the maxim ‘no pain, no gain’ and try to train like the super-stars usually regret it, sooner or later. A better maxim to adopt is ‘No brain, no gain”.
Strive to Train SMART. What I mean by this is that I have always promoted a more conservative approachto training. My own experience and what I have learned from observing countless other trainees – has taught me that a more conservative way to training is not only the most effective but also the safest way to train not only in the short-term but more importantly for your long-term health.
Strive to stay injury-free. You’re in the gym to work on making that person you see in the mirror (you!) – better. Not for ego.
You want to still be doing this activity and off-setting the on-set of ageing (by building muscle) well in to your 80s and 90s if you live that long. It will certainly add quality to your life. Like I have said before, Muscle is the potion of youth!
All the best in your training this year.
Embrace my Triple A to self-improvement: be more aware; take appropriate actions and adapt accordingly to reach your goals in life.
Cheers and Happy January to you!
Until next time,
Just like friendship, genuine muscle requires a lot of time and hard work to be built and sustained. You do this by adopting an ‘adaptive strategy’ of self-tuning. Vv.
Retired rugby legend: Ex-Australian Wallaby Champion Captain & True Leader – Phil Waugh. Setting his own standards of excellence in all areas of his life, following my framework. Working towards improved balance and symmetry in his life.
One of the most painful sights I see on a man is small shoulders.
When I say ‘small’, I mean that he or she is genetically small on the upper torso width, and I am not talking about ‘lat width’ here. Admittedly, shoulder width is limited by a person’s clavicle width. The smaller the clavicle width, the smaller the shoulder width.
Some blokes accentuate this problem though. In the gym, they focus on their chests, arms and back and forget about their shoulder widths – the very thing that adds to the elusive ‘x-frame’ that every man strives for in shape in his life.
The elusive ‘x-frame’ is somewhat a rare commodity in the modern-day masculine shape. If a man has a narrow clavicle width, he starts out with an disadvantage but he does not have to stay that way. How could he address this problem? Well, the smartest thing to do is to lift weights and to build the shoulder muscles. And what are they?
Well, firstly – they help define (from a physical point of view) what a true man is. I know this statement is rather old fashion and somewhat controversial, but I believe it still holds true. A man’s man is partially defined according to the shoulders he has on him.
Obviously, this is not the only point of ‘being a man’ but it does contribute to the aura of what it means to be a man. Secondly, no man in his right mind would not want bigger shoulders than he already has. In my opinion, the bigger the better. Bigger is better in this aspect. Full stop!
The shoulder muscles are used every time you push or pull or twist your upper torso. That means every time you use your arms. They are some of the most used muscles in the body since you were a toddler.
The shoulder muscles are composed of three distinct muscle heads – the posterior, the medial and the anterior deltoids. All three heads need a good delicate balance throughout. This can be enhanced through weight training.
A good sequence of exercises could include:
Barbell presses.
Barbell upright rows.
Dumbell side lateral raises.
Rear dumbbell later raises.
Dumbell shrugs.
The pursuit of harmony (balance & symmetry) poses a few challenges to help us get closer to its achievement. To achieve order and beauty one needs to strive to wade through chaos (disorder) in everything one does.
Like I said earlier, one of the most painful sights (from an aesthetic point of view) is to see a grown man with less than ideal shoulder width. Most men fall short of the ideal ‘x-frame’ width. Most men have the choice to do something about it. Most men can help build those shoulder boulders with a application of a well thought-out weight-training program.
Another important point I would like to stress is that what is most important is not that you have ‘big’ shoulders. No, anyone can have big shoulders! What is most important is to develop the ‘caps’ on those shoulders. Shoulder width is all about ‘caps’, not so much muscle meat.
So, work on your width with weights. Yes, I encourage that.
But when you do, remember to build those ‘twin caps’. Remember to ‘cap’ those delts (short for deltoids). There’s a lot more to just lifting weights when it comes to sculpturing your physique. Like I have always said, anyone can lift weights, but very few ever learn how to sculpt a physique, just like anyone can swim, but very few can swim like an Olympian.
Part of the key: Focus.
All the very best in your workouts.
All the very best in your search for balance and symmetry. All the very best in your search for beauty. As Keats said “Beauty is truth and truth, beauty. “ How true. You get closer to beauty through the search for balance and symmetry or elegance in all areas of your life.
So, build those delts, those shoulders but most importantly, build those ‘caps’. It is those caps that will help you attain that elusive ‘x-frame’.
Awaken the sculpture, the artist in you. Build those shoulder boulders!
Let loose …
Until next time,
2007 World Natural Bodybuilding Championships staged in NY, USA. Represented: Australia. Placing: 4th. Judging criteria heavy on balance and symmetry.
Back Double Biceps – few days out from the Australian Natural Bodybuilding Championships Result: 2nd in Australia. Here, you can see the “x-frame” and shoulder boulders in action. Takes years of focused work.
Changing lives. Empowering people. One life at a time. 
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