Get More Out of Your Workouts NOW (and it won't cost you a dime)

The Secret Your Personal Trainer Won't or Can't Tell You

The one thing great about the web is that I can express my self to tens of thousands of people a day instead of just a class, a team or my wife and friends. Today I was working out with a friend of my, another 40 something who does Ironman triatholons for which the training is not necessarily overly insane, but takes way to damn long. I really don't have the time to train for a 110 mile bike ride. start at 8:00am and get done at 3:00pm...oh then tomorrow you have to run 30 miles and after that, go swim for 2. Don't start correcting my on the distances chumley, this is training.

Anyway, he's got me on the treadmill doing some ridiculous hill running interval workout. Note here: I hate the treadmill but it's mid January and I hate the cold even more. I'm done running in sub-30 degree weather. we get to talking and the subject of improvement, getting stronger, getting faster even when we're in our 40's, 50;s and beyond comes up. We look around and we see the same faces at the gym every day and you know what, they all look the same. they're not thinner, stronger or faster. They're just...the same.

Hey, I'm 42 and i have a six pack, run 6 minute miles and can rip off around 30 pull ups. I can still do more than what I did as a competitive athlete. The only difference is recovery time. But to tell you the truth, I was so banged up then between football, wrestling and Judo, even when I was in great shape, I was not injury free. Now at 42 I'm in the shape but I don't have anything pulled, broken and I'm not concussed.

My buddy is no different, a scholarship athlete at Michigan and an accomplished triathlete, we're both in pretty good shape, regardless of our age.

So enough talking about us, the point he brought up was this, why is it that the vast majority of people show no signs of improvement.

BECAUSE YOU DON'T PUSH YOURSELF

OK, there are some benefits to doing the same work out, and jogging the same distance everyday. at least your getting your heart rate up, but if you want to look better, be stronger and run faster you have to...Lift more weight, run farther and run faster!

That's the big f'ing secret and there's NO WAY AROUND IT sunshine.

Combine that with a high protein diet and a multivitamin, you're all set. Drink more water, less soda and booze and you're on your way. Diet is a completely new post that I'll tackle later.

For example: I've been training my wife for the last 5 months and she's getting in great shape compared to her friends who spend as much or more time in the gym than she does. She or I don't use balance balls, we don't take spin, yoga, pilates, power core, zumba or stripper classes. All we do is run and lift.


Does this Ball Make My Butt Look Big?




Yes, we vary exercises and repetitions and YES there is a method to what we're doing, but it's not something out of the ordinary. which s a completely different post as well (shit now I have two more things I need to write).

I'd like to think that I'm some genius trainer, which, we all know I am, but it's in my ignorance that I'm a genius.

THE SECRET TO GETTING IN SHAPE...PUSH YOURSELF YOU PANSY!

What ever you're dong right now: add more weight, run longer, farther and faster.

Grabbing a couple of 10 pound dumbells and sitting on a balance ball every day is a joke. I watch these trainers putting housewives through stuff that is just designed to create interest, not results. If you have good technique with your weight lifting you will not get hurt. However, you may get hurt when you slide off the ball and the dumbell hits you in the head.

If you just did dead lift and military press for 5 sets, 10 to 15 reps (week 1) for muscle building, 5 reps for power (week 2) and mass or 20 reps for endurance (week 3), Ended with 4 sets of 25 reps of abs and 4 sets of 25 reps for lower back and then ran/walked for 60 minutes 3 to 5 times per week in 3 months you'll be an animal.

Just increase the weight when the sets become easier and increase the speed when you feel you can. NOTE: some days you will lift more and run faster than others.

The point is, what ever work out your doing, push yourself!!! I have a life of pushing myself. I know what it's like to have to puke after or during a workout. I lke when my lungs burn and my vision is blurred.

Do I feel like working out or practicing every day. Ahh...HELL NO!!! would much rather sit on my ass, have sex, drink red wine and order take out. (I still do that, but only after working out).

All athletes, professional and otherwise, don't feel like pushing themselves until after they get started. A body at rest wants to stay at rest, a body in motion will stay in motion. I start every workout with, the idea that I'm just going to warm up and go light. But then after I break a sweat and the endorphins kick in, I'm like, well, I came this far, WTF? The next thing I know is that I'm running farther, pushing more weight than ever before.

Injury is not an excuse, you just need to work around it. I've blown out my knee, torn my pectoral muscle and broken almost every bone in my hands and wrists (all when I was much younger). Even though I have shoulder issues as well, I've learned to work around it, so should you.

My dad used to say is it a hurt or an injury? An injury has swelling, discoloration, limits your range of motion and has a lot of pain. A hurt, well, just hurts. Note: if it is treated with an ACE BANDAGE, it's a hurt.

Finally, you're not working out if you can:
Read
Drink a cup of coffee
Engage in conversation
Change the Channel
Eat

Listen, if you're having trouble at the gym and you've hit a plateau, you need to push yourself. If you think you're pushing yourself and you're not seeing results over a 6 to 8 week period. Then you're not really that tough.

I'm just being honest, because that's the only way I know how to train.

Damian Ross, CEO The Self Defense Company

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Nothing to Lose or Everything To Live for?

Is it better to have nothing to lose or everything to live for? We tend to think that if someone has "nothing to lose" they're more dangerous than the person with something to lose. It's as if the man with something to lose is distracted or weakened by his emotional and financial ties. It's as if building a life makes you mentally and physically soft, while living a life without any ties or commitments enables you to stay sharp and hard.

At first glance this appears to be true. The street thug, junkie, scumbag is cunning and fights to survive on a regular basis while your average, law abiding citizen who hasn't fought for anything since the 7th grade.

It's true, untrained, your average person is cannon fodder for the street. The average person is in no condition to resist or even avoid predators. Untrained it's no contest. Your post athletic body is going to fail.

But that's not where I was supposed to be going with this. The question is "Is it better to have nothing to lose, or everything to live for?

For the answer I look to the Spartan Culture. For centuries a large percentage of the Spartan Society centered around war and the preparation for war. While other cities of the day only trained or several weeks a year, the Spartans trained year round. Their training began at age 12 and their service ended at age 60. Out of all the Greek cities, Sparta was the most free for both men and women. A citizen of Sparta went to bed knowing that their city would not be sacked and pillaged. A farmer knew that his crops would not be burned and his lands taken away. A citizen of Sparta knew that they would not be enslaved.

The Spartans knew that if they trained and prepared for war, they wouldn't lose their way of life. A part of their training was the study of Phobos (fear) and spent a great deal of time managing fear. Fear was the enemy. Fear freezes men in their tracks. Fear will make you fail. Failure meant losing the battle. Losing in battle meant losing the Spartan way of life. This was unacceptable.

The Spartans discovered that in order to conquer fear, you must look at the opposite of fear. The opposite of fear is not bravery or courage, yet this motivation makes men brave and courageous. The opposite of fear is love. Love of brothers, love of family, love of God and love of country. Love is what makes men brave.

While someone with nothing to lose will be quick to engage in violence, it's the man with something to lose who fights the hardest. A soldier will fight a lot harder in his homeland than he will on foreign soil. You will fight harder in your home than you will out in the street. When all that you care about hangs in the balance, you will fight the hardest.

The problem is, regular people get soft. Human nature makes us complacent and we become scared little sheep. We all know the bumper sticker slogan "Freedom is Never Free." Well, let me ask you, what have you paid for your freedom? Do you think the taxes you pay so some 20 yr old can fight a war over in the sand or your local police can patrol at night does the trick? What about you? What happens if you find yourself on the wrong end of a junkie's fix or some juice-head's roid rage? What if that car you accidentally cut off decides to run you off the road? Are you going to make it home to enjoy the things you hold close to your heart? I hope so.

When I was younger I trained for sport, then later for survival at work. Both are valid and worthy endeavors but seem self-serving when compared to my motivation today which is far greater and far deeper than anything I have ever felt. And it's only getting more intense.

My motivation to train is simple: the more I care for, the more I want to live, the harder I train. The harder I train and prepare, the more I enjoy the things that mater most in my life. Now I train for a fight much bigger than myself. Like the Spartans, I have no fear because I love so much. A little corny, but true none the less. The harder I train, the more I love, the more I enjoy life. I laugh harder, sleep deeper and well...do the other things better as well.

At the end of the day, the guy who has nothing to lose has an expiration date on him. He will make a mistake due to carelessness. Give me the guy with everything to lose and let me train him and put him on my team.

Damian Ross
www.theselfdefenseco.com World's Most Lethal Self Defense

www.legaluseofforce.com Police Combatives Training

www.familysafeprogram.com Keep Your Family Safe

www.teachselfdefense.com Turn Your Passion into Profits

www.selfdefensecompany.com Corporate Center

FREE TRAINING FORUM: http://theselfdefenseco.madmooseforum.com

Brady Quinn's Muscles and Mike Cracked His Molar

Today my four year old son informed me he wanted muscles. After looking at Brady Quinn on the cover of muscle and fitness he looked at his arm and looked at Brady and declared "I want muscles."

He also said I don't want those muscles, I want muscles like yours dad.

Now I know what you may be thinking "awe that's cute, he wants to be like his dad or, wow, you're bigger than Brady Quinn (at 24 YES, at 41...no).

His remark was a result of a realization, a moment of clarity. I believe he probably realized that there is a great amount of work that goes into getting Brady Quinn Muscles. He confirmed my suspicion, Brady Quinn's muscles are too big.

Anyway, thanks Junior.

In other goings on, Mike Archangel our director of development missed the weekly meeting because he cracked his molar on a coconut. I don't exactly know what or how a coconut was doing in Uniontown, PA and how it found itself on a collision course with Mike's mouth, but it happened and it did. I look forward to hearing the garbled story when we talk tomorrow.

Damian Ross

How About Giving Your Training Dummy a Hand?

Build a better mouse trap, that's what I say. SDC Instructor Dan Neddo has done just that. In his studio he has literally given his training dummy a hand and added a little wrinkle to SDTS instruction.

By using PVC and bungee cords he has added another dimension to his training and instruction







With a pair of old shoes or boots plus a dolly to your training dummy (SEARCH for THE RACK post on this blog to get directions)and you have the greatest training partner of all time. Never late, won't get sick, complain or get hurt.

Create solutions NOT excuses.

Damian

Damian Ross
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Self Defense Company
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