Eat Big, Train Big, Sleep Big

By Charles Staley, B.Sc, MSS
Director, Staley Training Systems

If you’ve heard the expression “eat big, train big, sleep big” before, you’ve already been exposed to the key components of all successful mass-gaining programs.

If you’ve taken this advice to heart and acted in it, you’ve already experienced the synergistic power of reprogramming your metabolism.

If you haven’t tasted the Kool-Aid yet, what are you waiting for?
The rationale behind the “Big 3″ philosophy is rooted in simple evolutionary biology. If you consider the essential components necessary for successful species-propagation, you arrive at a few inescapable conclusions:

1) In order to pass on your genes to the next generation, you need to survive long enough to reach sexual maturity. This means (among other things) having the ability to create a portable energy supply in the form of excess fat deposits.

2) In order to create an excess layer of bodyfat, you’ve got to be able to taken in more calories than you need, on a consistent basis.

3) A big part of this equation is carrying a minimum amount of muscle (relative to your survival needs), since muscle is metabolically expensive to create and maintain.

As you flesh through these 3 points, you quickly arrive at the idea physique for survival purposes: “skinny-fat.” So first off, congratulations are in order, because I’m guessing (by virtue of the fact that you’re reading this article), you’ve got the perfect physique for surviving to mating age!

OK, I get it- you just want to be bigger.
Been there, done that- at age 18, I weighed 148 pounds at 6′2″, and I wasn’t particularly lean either (today at age 49 I’m about 213 pound at that same height, and still not particularly lean, but I’m currently carrying about 177 pounds of lean mass, which is more than my total bodyweight was as a skinny 18-year old)

Hopefully I’ve managed to adequately explain the problem- mother nature doesn’t really buy into your plan to get all big and jacked.

Which leads to the solution- you’ve gotta fool ol’ mother nature. And we’re going to do that by convincing her that 1) you actually need more muscle in order to survive (”train big”), and that you’re taking in plenty of food- on a chronic basis- to justify those muscles (”eat big”).

And along the way, we’re going to further pacify your survival safeguards by sleeping big, which serves the purposes of reducing your energy expenditure enough to allow even more additional muscle growth.

Let’s discuss each component of the “Big 3″ equation in more detail…

Training Big
When I speak of training “big,” I’m really talking about adhering to a handful of tactics and principles. These concepts are not controversial, cutting-edge, hard to understand or implement. In other words, they’re not “sexy.” (If you’re among the 87% of readers who just closed this browser window- SEE YA!).

For the rest of you, let’s explore the tried-and true components of successful mass-gaining programs:

1) Restrict your training to multi-joint movements performed with free weights.
All forms of squats, deadlifts, presses, and pull-ups fulfill this requirement. The “non-approved” list is much larger: any & all forms of exercise machines, including pec dec, leg curl, leg extension, and leg press.

Don’t do curls, ab exercises, or calf movements. Also avoid all forms of running, swimming, cycling, aerobics, stretching, and/or dance classes. Refrain from any form of pilates, functional training, spinning, tae-bo, yoga, body pump, and/or any device/method you see on a TV infomercial, including Total Gym, Bowflex, P90X, Hip Hop Abs, The Perfect Pushup, Iron Gym, etc. If I’ve missed anything (and I have, trust me), simply line up the questionable exercise you’re thinking of with the first sentence above: “restrict your training to multi-joint movements performed with free weights.”

2) Train 3-4 days per week.
Not 1, 2, 5, 6, or 7, or any number higher than that (no two-a-days, in other words). Can you train 3 days one week and 4 the next? Yes. This should be the most simple recommendation to understand and follow, so I’ll move on to the next point…

3) On your “work sets,” use weights that are heavy enough to prevent the performance of more than 10 reps in a single effort.
Yes, that means you have a lot of flexibility in the weights you select, and the set/rep brackets you use, all the way from singles with super heavy weights to 10 reps with more moderate weight. There is no single “ideal” set x rep equation- anything in the “10 reps and under” category will prove effective.

What really matters is how many “quality” repetitions you perform in a session. By “quality” I mean reps where you expose large muscles to high tensions. Let’s explore that in just a bit more detail…

Creating High Tensions: Load VS Speed
If you load up a bare to a weight that’s just slightly less than you can lift, and perform one rep, you’ll have exposed your muscles to a very high tension- that’s probably obvious. What’s less obvious to a lot of people is that you can get similarly high tensions by lifting lighter weights.

The way you do this is with acceleration. Using between say, 65 and 75 percent of a weight you could lift only once, performing sets of maybe 2-5 reps per set, using as much controlled speed as possible on the “positive” (concentric) phase of the lift, creates as much tension as a very heavy weight would.

And it’s both safer and more fun to boot. So in your mass-training, use a variety of weights, but always move every rep as fast as possible.

4) Limit (And Time) Your Training Sessions.
Most experts would say that 60 minutes is a maximum ideal length for a weight-training session, but I’ll go out on a limb and use 90 minutes instead.

The reason for my recommendation is that if you’re using effective exercises (as described earlier), you’ll need a relatively large number of warm-up sets before you can tackle your work sets for that exercise. So for example, you don’t need to do much of a warm-up for tricep kickbacks or the adductor machine, but you do need a significant warm-up for a deadlift workout or a heavy bench press session. This is especially true once you get stronger- which you will.

5) Limit each training session to no more than 4 exercises.
The reason for this recommendation is dictated by the previous suggestion regarding workout length. If your total session is limited to 90 minutes, and assuming that you’re using effective exercises as recommended earlier, you’ll only have 22.5 minutes per exercise, and that includes warm-up sets. That’s not a lot of time if you’re working hard. So remember, the recommendation is no more than 4 exercises- in many cases, 3 is even better, and very often 2 exercises per session is absolutely ideal.

It’s not about hitting the muscle from all angles, muscle confusion, or any other bullshit you’ve picked up on the internet somewhere- it’s about picking 1-2, or maybe 3 big, hard movements, and working the piss out of them.

About The Author

His colleagues call him an iconoclast, a visionary, a rule-breaker. His clients call him “The Secret Weapon” for his ability to see what other coaches miss. Charles calls himself a “geek” who struggled in Phys Ed throughout school. Whatever you call him, Charles’ methods are ahead of their time and quickly produce serious results. His counter-intuitive approach and self-effacing demeanor have lead to appearances on NBC’s The TODAY Show and The CBS Early Show.

Currently, Charles competes in Olympic-style weightlifting on the master’s circuit, with a 3-year goal of qualifying for the 2009 Master’s World Championships.

Learn More About EDT Training!

You can build muscle and strength and burn fat in as little as 15 minutes, 3 times a week with EDT…it works for EVERYONE - male, female, young, old…your body simply has no choice but to get results!

Click here to learn more and get your copy today!

Martial Artists Ten Most Common Strength Training Mistakes

By Charles Staley, B.Sc, MSS
Director, Staley Training Systems

Noted sports scientist Dr. Paul Ward uses the following formula to predict success in athletic competition:

Productivity = Potential — Losses Due to Faulty Process

While your potential was determined at birth, there’s still much that can be done to minimize the mistakes you make along the way.

After years of training and consulting to competitive martial artists, I’ve compiled a list of the ten most common errors (all of which I’ve made myself at one time or another) that martial artists make when embarking upon strength training programs:

1) Not training for strength:
Many martial artists feel that strength training is counter-productive, causing one to become too large and slow, despite the fact that in every other sport known to man, it makes athletes faster. Training like a bodybuilder (see mistake number 3) can certainly produce these undesirable effects, but properly designed strength training programs improve strength, speed, agility, endurance, and technical performance. Strength training should be viewed as a tool, the utility of which depends upon the context it’s used in.

2) Training for the wrong kind of strength:
Strength as a bio-motor ability has many expressions. All human movement requires strength, and for this reason, all athletes must concern themselves with developing their strength levels to the utmost. What many don’t know, however, is that there more types of strength than there are bogus ab-training gadgets on late-night info-mercials!

Here’s a partial list:

Maximal Strength: The amount of musculoskeletal force you can generate for one all-out effort. Maximal strength is your athletic “foundation,” but it can only be expressed in the weight room during the performance of a maximal lift. While only powerlifters demonstrate this type of strength in competition, martial artists need to develop high levels of maximal strength in every muscle group.

Relative Strength: This term is used to denote an athlete’s strength per unit of bodyweight. Thus if two athletes of different bodyweights can squat 275 pounds, they have equal maximal strength for that lift, but the lighter athlete has greater relative strength.

Competitive events which have weight classes depend heavily on relative strength, as do sports where the athlete must overcome his or her bodyweight to accomplish a motor task (such as a jump kick). Further, events which have aesthetic requirements (kata competition, for example) rely heavily upon the development of strength without a commensurate gain in bodyweight.

Strength can be developed through two very different means— by applying stress to the muscle cells themselves, or by targeting the nervous system. The former method is accomplished through the use of bodybuilding methods (repetitions between 6 and 12), and results in strength gains through an increase in muscle cross-section. The latter is accomplished through higher intensity loads (repetitions between 1 and 4), and increases in strength are the result of the body’s improved ability to recruit more of its existing motor unit pool.

For martial artists and other athletes who depend upon relative strength, bodybuilding methods should be used sparingly, unless a higher weight class is desired. Most strength training sessions should consist of high intensity, low repetition sets, which improve strength through neural adaptations rather than increases in muscle cross section.

3) Training like a bodybuilder:
My consultations with competitive martial artists reveal that bodybuilding is the predominant paradigm in today’s strength training world, at least in this country. But bodybuilding methods are designed to produce muscle mass, not strength. And while bodybuilders are strong, their relative strength is poor compared to other explosive strength athletes. These methods have some degree of utility for beginning martial artists as a means of attaining basic fitness, but after a year or so, they should be used sparingly, if at all.

4) Using insufficient intensity:
Most martial artists can relate to doing hundreds of pushups, sit-ups, and leg lifts in class, but as soon as you go beyond approximately 12 repetitions, the stimulus is too weak to favorably improve strength values. Think about it: as a martial artist, would you rather have the ability to perform weak techniques for hours on end, or the ability to deliver explosive, powerful techniques when it really counts? In training, you reap what you sow.

5) Lack of variation:
While many people realize that the training load must be progressively increased, few understand that the training stimulus must also be periodically be varied in order to prevent stagnation. Elite sprint coach Charlie Francis recommends changing the training program whenever there is a one week plateau in strength gains. Internationally acclaimed strength coach Charles Poliquin utilizes alternating phases of high volume with phases of high intensity in order to keep his athletes progressing.

6) Lack of periodization:
Periodization refers to planning the training process. For most, the idea of planning is intuitively obvious with regards to business, family, and finances, but when it comes to training, most people don’t make the connection. While many people attribute the success of Eastern-bloc athletes to illegal steroid use, periodization deserves the real credit. The martial arts seem to be the last sport on earth to take advantage of this important tool!

7) Excessive use of machines:
“Machines” according to exercise specialist Paul Chek, “are like sleeping pills for the muscles.” Chek is referring to the fact that machines tend to rob the stabilizer muscles of adaptive stress. Stabilizers are muscles which anchor or immobilize one part of the body, allowing another part (usually the limbs) to exert force. The most important stabilizers are those of the trunk— the abdominals and trunk extensors. If the motor cortex detects that it can’t stabilize the force provided by the prime movers, it simply won’t allow the prime mover to contract with full force.

Ignoring the principle of specificity:
The body’s adaptation to training is very specific to the type of training that has been endured. This is sometimes referred to as the “S.A.I.D.” principle— Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand. So, as an obvious example, if you want to develop strength in your legs, you have to do strength training exercises for the legs.

Less obvious than the previous example is the fact that exercises must be done at specific volume and intensity ranges in order to elicit the desired result. For example, if you’re trying to grow muscle, you must perform exercises in sets of five to ten repetitions— roughly corresponding to 70 to 85% of your maximum capability for a single repetition. It’s not enough to simply make sure you’re training the right muscles!

Commonly, instructors make the mistake of thinking that if an exercise “mimics” the desired skill, it is specific. A common practice involves trying to improve punching speed by rapidly “punching” with light dumbbells as fast as possible.

But this method is flawed, because the angle of resistance is incorrect, assuming that this exercise is done while standing erect. A better approach would to be to perform dumbbell bench presses, which correctly align the muscle fibers against the resistance being used.

The specificity principle is abused in other aspects of martial arts training, as well. Most instructors train their students aerobically, despite the fact that nearly all forms of martial art, including self-defense scenarios, are predominately anaerobic. Another common example is the practice of slowly extending a kick, and then holding the leg in mid-air until the instructor gives the signal to return it to the floor. While this method may work if you intend to find employment as a human mannequin, for the purpose of improving kickingpower, it borders on useless.

9) Ignoring rate of force development:
Being strong won’t help you if you don’t have enough time to display it! In the martial arts (as in most athletic endeavors), the problem is that the amount of time to develop maximum muscular force is extremely limited— usually only a fraction of a second. While high levels of maximal strength are a necessary prerequisite for the development of speed strength (power), too much time in the weight room grinding out heavy weights at slow speeds, without switching to speed strength methods later in the training cycle, results in slow athletes.

The ability to apply muscular force rapidly is called rate of force development, or RFD. While bodybuilding methods slightly improve maximal strength, it has a negligible effect on RFD. Training with heavy weights significantly improves maximal strength, but again, the RFD remains largely unchanged. Only when speed strength methods (plyometrics, ballistic training, etc.) are used, is the RFD significantly improved.

10) Ignoring the antagonists:
Muscles work in pairs— for every muscle in the body, there is another muscle that is capable of opposing its force. This “pairing” mechanism is how we are able to move with precision of movement and speed. However, when one part of this pair becomes too strong in relation to the other, force output capability suffers.

Unfortunately, many athletes unknowingly reinforce this imbalance every time they train, thinking they are respecting the principle of specificity by training only the prime movers (or “agonists”). An example would be a martial artist who reasons that since the quadriceps muscle extends the leg during kicking, the quadriceps should receive the brunt of the training focus.

Before long, the hamstrings (which are the antagonists in kicking movements) are weak in proportion to the quads, and power output declines. At this point, the martial artist may conclude that weight training “slows you down,” because for him, it did.

Here’s the problem in the above example: the weaker the antagonists are, the sooner they will contract and oppose the prime movers (to prevent joint hyperextension), resulting in a slower movement. But stronger antagonists are less sensitive to this protective response— the body “knows” that they are strong enough to decelerate the limb at the last possible moment. The next time you watch elite boxers on TV, notice the development of the lats and biceps. Great punchers always have well developed antagonists.

(Bonus Mistake!)

Mistaking strength training as the ends rather than the means: While it might seem ironic, the objective of strength training is NOT increased strength per se, but improved athletic performance. I would suggest that sports conditioning coaches keep this in mind as they design conditioning programs for their athletes.

About The Author

His colleagues call him an iconoclast, a visionary, a rule-breaker. His clients call him “The Secret Weapon” for his ability to see what other coaches miss. Charles calls himself a “geek” who struggled in Phys Ed throughout school. Whatever you call him, Charles’ methods are ahead of their time and quickly produce serious results. His counter-intuitive approach and self-effacing demeanor have lead to appearances on NBC’s The TODAY Show and The CBS Early Show.

Currently, Charles competes in Olympic-style weightlifting on the master’s circuit, with a 3-year goal of qualifying for the 2009 Master’s World Championships.

Learn More About EDT Training!

You can build muscle and strength and burn fat in as little as 15 minutes, 3 times a week with EDT…it works for EVERYONE - male, female, young, old…your body simply has no choice but to get results!

Click here to learn more and get your copy today!

Why BMI Could Actually Discourage Training!

By Charles Staley, B.Sc, MSS
Director, Staley Training Systems

Author’s note: I wrote this when the BMI index began making the news. It struck me that the BMI actually discourages training— see if you agree.

Warning! Exercise Increases Your Risk of Weight-Related Health Problems
The BMI is designed to replace the old height/weight charts created by health insurance companies. But the question remains, what is the accuracy, not to mention, the utility, of the BMI?

First, let’s start with a definition. You can calculate your BMI by dividing your weight in kilograms by your height in meters squared. (If you’d prefer to spare yourself the mathematical trauma, just head over to The Department of Health and Human Services at http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/ (they have a BMI calculator which you can use to instantly calculate your supposed level of risk of overweight.)

An Interesting Test Case: Me
I recently did just that, and at 205 pounds and a height of 6′1″, I landed a whopping BMI of 28— nearly obese by BMI standards.

According to the NIH, you’ll need a BMI of 24 or less in order to qualify as having a “normal” weight. So I kept plugging in lower and lower bodyweights, finally going all the way down to 180 pounds to obtain a BMI of 24.

I wonder, what would the consequences of losing 25 pounds be for me? Of course, a fairly large portion of this weight would be muscle— If I make the assumption that I’m currently 15% bodyfat, that means I only have 30.75 pound of fat on my entire body. So, to lose 25 pounds without losing any muscle, I’d end up with less than 2% bodyfat, which is probably not enough to sustain life.

So, that means that the 25 pounds would be mostly muscle. Since a pound of muscle burns approximately 18 calories a day, my metabolic rate would be lowered by 450 calories a day.

Also, this dramatic loss of muscle would certainly profoundly reduce my strength levels. While I have more than enough strength to get through my daily activities, muscle mass and strength both gradually decline as we age.

So I always look at muscle like “money in the bank:” the more I have now,
the more I’ll still have when I’m 60, 70, or 80 years of age. So the bottom line seems to be, if I choose to adhere to NIH’s guidelines, my health and functional status will surely decline!

Conversely…

Another very important point to consider are the legions of people who will score very acceptable numbers using the BMI, but who in fact are overfat. Despite what many people think, it’s common to find people who appear to be of normal or even low bodyweight, who in fact are overfat, because they have such low levels of muscle mass.

Consider the research conducted by Dr. William Evans at Tufts University: Evans discovered that the as women age, in many cases their leg girth tended to remain constant, however, upon CAT scan analysis, it was found that the fat mass was increased, while the lean mass had decreased. In other words, their external appearance had not significantly changed, yet their bodyfat percentage had increased.

And Even Further…

Because muscle weighs more than fat, embarking on a rapid, unhealthy weight-loss scheme will reduce your BMI much more effectively than losing weight in a healthy and rational manner (the faster you lose weight, the more muscle you lose). So I would like to venture the proposition that the new BMI will encourage fad weight loss programs and starvation diets.

Is There a Better Alternative to the BMI?
Yes. Have a reputable fitness professional measure your bodyfat percentage (call the International Sports Sciences Association at (800) 892-ISSA to find such a professional in your area). Over the past several years, there have been important new developments in bodyfat measurement techniques, and today, there are several options available. Various methods have varying degrees of accuracy, but if you always use the same method, you’ll have an accurate standard of reference.

In other words, you may not know your exact percentage of bodyfat, but you’ll know if your percentage is increasing or decreasing.

I don’t know why this is such a hard pill to swallow— it’s bodyfat, NOT bodyweight that determines your health and functional capacity. There will never be a height/weight chart, regardless of what anyone chooses to call it, which can predict optimal bodyweight, because such charts never take a person’s muscle mass into account.

About The Author

His colleagues call him an iconoclast, a visionary, a rule-breaker. His clients call him “The Secret Weapon” for his ability to see what other coaches miss. Charles calls himself a “geek” who struggled in Phys Ed throughout school. Whatever you call him, Charles’ methods are ahead of their time and quickly produce serious results. His counter-intuitive approach and self-effacing demeanor have lead to appearances on NBC’s The TODAY Show and The CBS Early Show.

Currently, Charles competes in Olympic-style weightlifting on the master’s circuit, with a 3-year goal of qualifying for the 2009 Master’s World Championships.

Learn More About EDT Training!

You can build muscle and strength and burn fat in as little as 15 minutes, 3 times a week with EDT…it works for EVERYONE - male, female, young, old…your body simply has no choice but to get results!

Click here to learn more and get your copy today!

Re-Tooling Your Training Strategy For 2010

By Charles Staley, B.Sc, MSS
Director, Staley Training Systems

As each new year looms near, most of us feel energized with a sense of renewed possiblities for the new annual cycle. And while the energy generated from this optimism can be of enormous value, it’s equally important that your overall plan is sound. Here then, are 7 questions that you can use as you inventory your progress in 2009, and also for engineering an even better plan for 2K10. These 7 questions were culled from my own training inventor for this past year, and I’m certain that you’ll find them as valuable as I did.

1) Saying “yes” to one objective means saying “no” to other objectives. Are you willing to do this?
The topic of goals and goal-setting is very familiar and well-understood, but here’s a take on the subject that I rarely hear discussed. Specifically, are you willing to dismiss some very compelling desires or goals in the quest to focus on an even greater objective? Put another way, are you trying to achieve too many goals simultaneously? In my own case, after a year of lifting poorly in the 94kg (206.8Lb) class in the sport of weightlifting, I made the decision to return to the 105kg (231Lb) class after discovering that it was actually less competitive. I had been struggling to make weight to lift in the lighter class, and my results suffered accordingly. So I gradually gained about 12 pounds to my current weight of 220Lbs, and I’m experiencing exciting progress in my workouts. My first meet in 2010 will be the Grand Canyon Games on January 30th, and I expect to make a new PR total at that meet (I’ll keep you posted).

Now here’s where the “saying no” part of the equation comes into play: I’m not as lean as I’d like to be at my current weight. I.e., I’m not completely happy with how I look at 220. This is something I’ve decided to accept in the quest of renewed progress and a higher National ranking. As you inventory your own situation, should you be sacrificing one or more of your personal objectives for the sake of a bigger win?

2) Which is the greater bottleneck: your plan, or your execution of that plan?
It’s very common to seek further refinement of your plan, but far less common to scrutinize your comittment to that plan. After all, a bad plan isn’t your fault, but poor work ethic most certainly is. If asked to speculate, I’d say poor execution leads to failure more often than using a poor program. I’ll have more to say about optimizing your program a bit later in the article, but for now, suffice it to say that it’s worth taking a long, hard look at your work eithic and consistency. How would you rate it on a 1-10 scale? If you have a coach or a training partner, how would they rate you? Do you both arrive at a similar number?

3) Is your current training regime recoverable?
A time-worn saying among coaches goes something like this: your program is only as good as your ability to recover from it. Assuming your work-ethic is indeed solid, you might ask yourself another difficult question: is your current plan unrealistic in terms of volume, intensity, and/or frequency? Do your Type-A tendencies have you in the gym 5-6 days a week, with no planned recovery weeks? Does your pride in your work-ethic blind you to the fact that your plan simply isn’t delivering results? Hint: If you’re on a solid program and you’re a hard worker and you’re still not getting satisfactory results, the missing link is recovery. This might mean less training, better nutrition, or exploring soft-tissue therapy.

4) Are you ignoring any obvious errors in your training?
So far, the argument could be made that the previous 3 points are “obvious.” But maybe not. In fact, sometimes the most obvious mistakes are the ones we’re least likely to discover— it’s called “proximity bias:” the closer you are to something, the less aware you are of it. I hope this article points to some more common “obvious” mistakes, but it’s worth further exploration for all of us. Do you get adequate amounts of sleep? Are you eating enough protein? Is your lifting technique acceptable? Are your goals realistic? These are but a few questions worthy of your consideration as you anticipate changes for the new year.

5) Do you train alone?
If you are, I’d STRONGLY suggest that you enlist social support for 2010. Training alone is a significant handicap. Although it can be done, the value of having knowledgeable and enthusiastic coaches and/or training partners cannot be overstated— it’s no accident that most of the World’s most successful athletes- particularly successful strength athletes— train in groups. From Westside Barbell Club to the Olympic Training Center, group training is, and always has been, a critical component of success.

6) Did you compete in 2009?
My colleague Dan John is one of the leading voices in the commnadment that “Thou Shall Compete,” and I’m doing my best to further the call. Competition gives you a valid reason to train. It shows how you react to pressure, and brings the best out of you. When you compete, you develop valuable friendships and collaborations that inspire further progress. And as many people find once they start competing, you might just have talent that you never knew about. Why not put yourself to the test and prove me wrong?

7) Are your goals and training consistent with each other?
This last question intersects and to some degree overlaps a few of the previous ones. It’s important nonetheless, because when your goals are non-harmonius, you get nowhere faster than any other error you may be guilty of. To echo an earlier point, trying to lose weight and improve your maximal strength is a recipe for failure. A recipe that even I made the mistake of following in 2009. Less obvious blunders might include trying to succeed at more than one sport simultaneously, trying to be bigger and leaner simultaneously, and/or choosing competitive activities that are inconsistent with your natural abilities— a fast-twitch-dominant person trying to succeed at endurance events, and/or a long-levered person trying to succeed at weightlifting are two possible examples of this.

Make 2010 YOUR Breakthrough Year

I trust these 7 points of introspection will be helpful as you plan your own 2010 training strategy, but don’t limit yourself to these 7. If you’ve had your own thoughts on the matter, please share them with me by clicking the “comments” link below. I’d love your input, and others may also benefit from your experience and wisdom!

About The Author

His colleagues call him an iconoclast, a visionary, a rule-breaker. His clients call him “The Secret Weapon” for his ability to see what other coaches miss. Charles calls himself a “geek” who struggled in Phys Ed throughout school. Whatever you call him, Charles’ methods are ahead of their time and quickly produce serious results. His counter-intuitive approach and self-effacing demeanor have lead to appearances on NBC’s The TODAY Show and The CBS Early Show.

Currently, Charles competes in Olympic-style weightlifting on the master’s circuit, with a 3-year goal of qualifying for the 2009 Master’s World Championships.

Learn More About EDT Training!

You can build muscle and strength and burn fat in as little as 15 minutes, 3 times a week with EDT…it works for EVERYONE - male, female, young, old…your body simply has no choice but to get results!

Click here to learn more and get your copy today!

Examining the Value of Aerobic Exercise: Part 2

By Charles Staley, B.Sc, MSS
Director, Staley Training Systems

Author’s note: Of all the articles I’ve written, this two-parter has perhaps generated the most phone calls, letters, and e-mails. Now that I’m a few years older (and hopefully wiser), I’m perhaps not quite so anti-aerobic, although I still stand by the basic principles stated in the article. Just like any tool, aerobic exercise can be useful or harmful, depending on your objectives and the dosages you use. Regular small doses of steady-state exercise can actually improve recovery, but of course, too much can sap your strength and lead to muscle wasting.

Ever since the “jogging craze” of the ’70’s, aerobic exercise has been the method of choice for those attempting to “lose weight.” Gradually, the resistance training area of most gyms and clubs is being scaled back to accommodate all manner of equipment designed to elevate the heart rate. With the aerobic revolution in full gear, I feel compelled to ask, “Why are people getting fatter and fatter?”

For those who have critically studied sport training and exercise physiology, this is a rhetorical question.

A quick look at any national level track meet speaks volumes about the effects of aerobic versus anaerobic training

Compare the physiques of 100 meter sprinters against long distance runners, such as marathoners. Although sprinters do little or no aerobic exercise (it’s not specific to their events), they are just as lean (if not leaner) than their aerobic counterparts. They also have more attractive physiques, which is a by-product of the muscle they’ve gained from hours in the weight room and short-term, intensive running. By contrast, the marathoner’s lack of muscle gives him a “flat” physique. His extensive and frequent forays into the aerobic zone have caused his body to lose muscle (since muscle weighs more than fat, it is the body’s preferred tissue to cannibalize in the interest in lightening the load).

If you’ve been trying (unsuccessfully) to lose 10 to 20 pounds of unwanted fat, despite spending hours upon hours on the stairclimber, read on. Anaerobic exercise may not be politically correct, but it IS physiologically correct—if fat loss is your objective.

Since our language affects the way we think, let’s begin by revising our vocabulary for a moment. I’d like to encourage you to delete a few words from your personal dictionary. Words like tone, shape, contour, sculpt, and all the rest of the vague descriptions you hear on late night infomercials. These terms are irrelevant with respect to the adaptations you can expect from any form of exercise. In reality, there are only two bodily tissues that you have two ways: You can gain, or lose. (By the way: tone simply refers to a state of partial, involuntary contraction, a result of muscular work. Even the most rotund can have muscle tone, and the thinnest people sometimes have no tone.)

So the goal is to gain muscle and lose fat. When you do so, let everyone else call you toned and sculpted.

Of course, many people, influenced by the exceedingly massive (and rare) physiques adorning the covers of muscle magazines, shirk at the prospect of gaining muscle. It’s a shame— myophobia keeps more people from achieving their fitness goals than any other single factor. Just a few pounds of added muscle can make a dramatic difference in your physique, not to mention your health and well-being. Muscle (unlike fat) needs calories to survive. The more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism will be. Bigger muscles burn more calories than smaller ones, even during sleep!

Personal trainers— people who earn their living by making substantial changes in their client’s bodies— regard resistance training as the most important item in their professional “toolbox.” Dave Sinnot, trainer of many top Hollywood stars, including Sean Penn and Angela Bassett, is amazed at people’s avoidance of weight training: “People who think that aerobic training is the ultimate fat loss method are totally missing the boat. I’ve worked with people who spend half their waking hours doing some form of aerobics.

They complain that they aren’t getting results anymore. As soon as we shift emphasis to weight training and nutritional modifications, they always start improving immediately. It’s like their body was begging for it!” Dave related to me that Angela Bassett (star of “What’s Love Got To Do With It”) was not blessed with great genetics as many people assume, and was actually “pudgy” when he started working with her.

What’s the best approach for people wishing to improve their body composition? First, don’t eliminate your aerobic sessions. It’s a good practice to do a handful (three or four) of 20 to 40 minute sessions a week. More than that, and your body starts to drop valuable muscle in an effort to adapt. Second, take another look at your resistance training program. Most people simply don’t spend adequate time and effort in the weight room, and those that do make one or more of the following four mistakes:

1) Too many exercises: One exercise per muscle group per workout is plenty. The key is to pick the right exercises, and work them hard. Forget about “hitting the muscle from different angles” and “shaping” exercises— this is all propaganda stemming from bodybuilding circles.

2) Ineffective exercises: Don’t avoid so-called “hard core” exercises for fear of getting a result. Choose multi-joint exercises, such as squats and their variations, bench presses and their variations, lat pulldowns, and shoulder presses. Smaller muscles such as biceps, triceps, and calves will receive adequate exercise when you do the multi-joint movements mentioned above.

3) Insufficient intensity level: High reps DO NOT “tone” a muscle! For beginners, high reps are important to strengthen connective tissues, and to allow for technique mastery. But for optimum muscle building, stay in the 6 to 12 range for the majority of your workouts. If and when you get to the point where you don’t want additional muscle, just cut back on the volume and frequency of training.

4) Lack of progression and variety: If you don’t seek increases in strength, your body will stop responding. Similarly, if you train in exactly the same manner for extensive periods of time, your body will adapt to the monotony, and stop responding, no matter how good the training program is. For this reason, there is no perfect training program. Most successful trainers use several programs, which they rotate as needed.

As a final suggestion, remember that the entire personal training profession was founded upon the fact that resistance training works! Don’t make the mistake of thinking that you’re beyond benefiting from one. Personal trainers make their living by getting fast results for people. For information on finding a certified trainer in your area, please call the ISSA at (800) 892-ISSA.

Consider These Facts:

1) According to a recent study presented in IDEA magazine, the average female aerobics instructor has 18% bodyfat. This is higher than the average female competitive weightlifter (16%).

2) According to a recent study published in Muscular Development magazine, muscle necrosis (tissue death) and inflammation can be observed in the calves of marathon runners 7 days after a race.

3) According to Dr. Marc Breehl, a leading anesthesiologist specializing in cardiac surgery, the enlarged hearts of aerobic athletes are weaker, not stronger than those with anaerobic backgrounds.

4) Resistance training has numerous benefits to the heart and vascular system, including improved ejection fraction of the left ventricle, and improved elasticity of the arterial walls. This from Power: A Scientific Approach, by Dr Fred Hatfield.

5) Virtually everything we do in life is anaerobic. Aerobic activity is an artificial state which the human organism is not well adapted to. For the majority of individuals, loss of function associated with aging is due to lack of strength, not aerobic capacity.

About The Author

His colleagues call him an iconoclast, a visionary, a rule-breaker. His clients call him “The Secret Weapon” for his ability to see what other coaches miss. Charles calls himself a “geek” who struggled in Phys Ed throughout school. Whatever you call him, Charles’ methods are ahead of their time and quickly produce serious results. His counter-intuitive approach and self-effacing demeanor have lead to appearances on NBC’s The TODAY Show and The CBS Early Show.

Currently, Charles competes in Olympic-style weightlifting on the master’s circuit, with a 3-year goal of qualifying for the 2009 Master’s World Championships.

Learn More About EDT Training!

You can build muscle and strength and burn fat in as little as 15 minutes, 3 times a week with EDT…it works for EVERYONE - male, female, young, old…your body simply has no choice but to get results!

Click here to learn more and get your copy today!

Solutions To Elbow Problems

By Charles Staley, B.Sc, MSS
Director, Staley Training Systems

Co-authored with Dr. Sal Arria

Considering the incredible and constant strain that it’s subjected to, the elbow is a stoic joint indeed. The elbow is a ginglymus or hinge type joint formed by the humerus bone of the upper arm and the radius and ulna bones of the lower arm. Although only flexion and extension occur around the elbow itself, the joint also permits rotation of the radius around the ulna.

Like the knee, the elbow is encased within an extensive synovial membrane, which synthesizes synovial fluid for the purpose of lubricating the joint.The elbow is quite stable, owing to the numerous tendons and ligaments that contribute to it’s integrity. In fact, many people are amazed to learn that over a dozen muscles cross the elbow joint— not just the biceps and triceps!

Causes and Pre-conditions for Elbow Problems: A Closer Look at the Problem

Acute traumatic elbow injuries are thankfully rare. Those that do occur are almost always the result of extreme stress in power and explosion events such as Olympic weightlifting and throwing. Falls (such as in skating, football, rugby, and equestrian events) and impact (as in football, combat sports, and hockey) also sometimes result in sudden traumatic elbow injury. Traumatic injuries of any type must receive immediate medical attention by a qualified sports medicine physician.

Chronic injuries in the elbow are usually a result of overuse. Boxers often suffer from such conditions. Of great importance is the fact that most trainees fail to consider the cumulative impact of all stressful events on the elbow, limiting their attention to training-related stress only. On the job, mechanics (constant work with wrenches, screwdrivers, etc.), secretaries and office workers (constant typing, and writing), and health professionals (massage, physiotherapy, and other forms of physical manipulations) are at risk for repetitive overuse syndrome (R.O.S.) to the elbow, due to constant and excessive contracture of the gripping muscles— all of which cross the elbow joint.

Most R.O.S. of the elbow is seen in the dominant side, so “handedness” becomes an additional factor to consider in these types of injuries.

Among athletes, throwing, particularly in baseball and the javelin event are leading causes of R.O.S. of the elbow. Boxers are also susceptible (from the high volume of punches thrown in training and competition), as are tennis players and golfers. Bodybuilders, fitness enthusiasts, and recreational athletes are not by any means immune to R.O.S.

The biggest problem with the elbow is the tiny size of the tendinous attachment sites, of which there are many. These sites can become progressively weakened by both impact and the dynamic forces of leverage. This leverage means that 10 pounds in the hand equals approximately 45 pounds at the shoulder joint, for a person with average arm length.

Another way to view this phenomenon is to compare the force you get by turning a bolt with a long handled wrench, as opposed to a short handled wrench. Now consider that a tennis player, for instance, makes this already long lever even longer by putting a racquet in the hand! The impact of repetitively hitting the ball, compounded by the very long lever arm created by the racquet, results in cumulative microtrauma to the tendinous attachment sites at the elbow.

Over time, if not treated, these tendons actually begin to fray, much like a nylon rope would if stretched beyond it’s tensile strength. Eventually, the tendon can detach from it’s attachment site at the elbow, requiring surgical repair.

Treatment Options: from Conservative to Radical

Rest: The most effective yet overlooked aspect of post-injury recovery is simply to become more aware of and markedly limit activities that cause pain and swelling to the affected area! In light of the elbows ubiquitous role in almost all human activity, this is no easy task!

Forearm Strap: Used by tennis players, golfers, and other athletes with elbow problems. The strap acts like a “shunt,” absorbing impact and vibrational forces before they reach the tendinous attachment at the elbow. One of the best straps is the Interceptor, by Weider.

Aspirin Therapy: Aspirin reduces edema (swelling). Recovery simply does not begin until edema has subsided. Experiment with dosages— in many cases, low dosages of aspirin work just as well as large doses, with less possibility of stomach irritation. To protect your stomach lining even further, try crushing the aspirin tablets between 2 spoons and mixing them into a glass of milk. Since the body eventually develops a tolerance to it., use aspirin judiciously— only when needed most. Always check with your physician before implementing a regular schedule of aspirin therapy, no matter how small the dose.

Diathermy: A high frequency form of heat which can penetrate as deep as 2 1/2 inches into injured tissues. Administered by a chiropractor or physical therapist, diathermy promotes circulation to the injury site, accelerating the healing process. Diathermy should precede cryo-therapy treatments.

Electro-stimulation: Moderate to intense amounts of intermittent electrostimulation are applied directly to the injured tendinous area for 10-15 minutes per session. This form of electrostimulation is most effective when it follows diathermy and is followed up with cryo-therapy.

Cryo-therapy: After diathermy, construct an ice pack by placing crushed ice in a “zip-lock” bag. Cryo-therapy is very beneficial in reducing edema, reducing pain, and pumping muscular tissues free of accumulated training-induced waste products. Spend at least 15, but no longer than 20 minutes on the ice.

Cortico-steroids: Administered by injection to the injury site, corticosteroids help to reduce inflammation and pain. The drawback, however, is that these agents cause a breakdown of collagenous and ligamentous tissue after repeated injections.

Proliferent-injection Therapy: is injected directly into the injury site, causing an “artificial injury” which then provokes the collagenous cells to begin restructuring themselves more quickly.

Surgery: In the most extreme cases, a torn or avulsed tendon or ligament may require surgical re-attachment. This is “the final straw” when it comes to solutions for joint problems! Many methods are used, including tendon grafts, and stapling.

Prevention is the Key

Fortunately, most serious elbow problems can be completely prevented with good training and work habits, and immediate intervention upon the onset of trouble. Never train through elbow pain— instead, seek the immediate guidance of a qualified sports medicine physician or chiropractor.

About The Author

His colleagues call him an iconoclast, a visionary, a rule-breaker. His clients call him “The Secret Weapon” for his ability to see what other coaches miss. Charles calls himself a “geek” who struggled in Phys Ed throughout school. Whatever you call him, Charles’ methods are ahead of their time and quickly produce serious results. His counter-intuitive approach and self-effacing demeanor have lead to appearances on NBC’s The TODAY Show and The CBS Early Show.

Currently, Charles competes in Olympic-style weightlifting on the master’s circuit, with a 3-year goal of qualifying for the 2009 Master’s World Championships.

Learn More About EDT Training!

You can build muscle and strength and burn fat in as little as 15 minutes, 3 times a week with EDT…it works for EVERYONE - male, female, young, old…your body simply has no choice but to get results!

Click here to learn more and get your copy today!

The Law Of Progression

By Charles Staley, B.Sc, MSS
Director, Staley Training Systems

Author’s note: This article was inspired by a conversation with a well-known strength guru friend of mine. He commented that 5 pounds a week is the usual load increase that most of us use, but if you project that out over a year, it equates to a 260 pound increase. You guessed it— I went home and wrote this article.

As my colleague Will Brink likes to say, “From Mentzer’s ‘one set to failure’ to Poliquin’s ‘German volume training,’ there is no program which recommends using progressively lighter weightloads from week to week.” Brink is of course, alluding to the universal requirement of all successful strength and mass gaining programs: progressive overload.

One well-known pro bodybuilder recently told me that as long as he was training to failure, he felt assured that he was using the highest possible intensity, and therefore, it didn’t matter what weights he used. Most people, after seeing his physique, would hesitate to argue with such convoluted logic.

(Incidentally, Matt Mendenhall jokingly calls this phenomenon the law of excessive mass: i.e., “I’m bigger than you, so I’m right!”) But I would remind such people that the individual in question possessed several attributes which allowed him to succeed despite his poor choice of exercise protocol:

1) He chose great parents for his avocation;
2) He was probably a dru… I mean, a recreational pharmacologist;
3) Perhaps most importantly, he possessed the ability to work extremely hard on a consistent basis for a long period of time.

With this in mind, you should immediately grasp the foolishness of “average” trainees (which the vast majority of us are) attempting to use this individual’s training methods.

Training is Stress!

Let’s start off with an analogy: If you went from a sedentary desk job to working as a lumberjack, your body would undergo some interesting adaptations as it struggled to cope with the unfamiliar environmental stressors inherent in that profession.

You would most certainly develop caluoses on your hands as a result of grasping axes, saws, and other implements for hours each day. These callouses, however, would be exactly the same size one year after getting your new job, three years after, six years after, ad infinitum. Why? Because after the initial shock, the degree of stress to your hands never changed over that period of time.

Training is no different. Most bodybuilders make great progress for the first year or two, but then never look any different from that point on. Many of these people understand the importance of progression, but lack the skills necessary to implement it properly.

The Training Load

In sports science jargon, the training load is defined as “the sum total of all training activities for a given unit of time.” The training load has two important components, both of which can be used to provide overload— volume, or the amount of work done, and intensity, or the difficulty of work done (Incidentally, as a rule of thumb, you should seek to establish a certain level of intensity first, and then add volume, rather than the other way around).

Before you can plan a certain level of progression, it becomes necessary to have a way of measuring each of these components. Volume is usually calculated as the amount of weight lifted multiplied by the repetitions performed with that weight. However, this traditional calculation is being called into question by some latter day thinkers. Charles Poliquin was the first to say that the actual time that a muscle is under tension (TUT) must be considered as well. If this seems too anal-retentive, let me ask you a question.

If you perform a set of 10 reps with 135 pounds, and your lifting speed (or tempo) is 6 seconds per repetition, and your training partner used the same weight and reps, but executed each rep at 3 seconds per repetition, did you each perform an identical amount of work? Clearly, no. This scenario illustrates the fact that the training load can be increased simply by gradually slowing down your lifting tempos over successive workouts. Reducing rest between sets also increases volume, since the workload will be performed in a shorter period of time. So, to use another example, if you and your partner both perform 3 sets of 10 reps with 135 pounds using identical tempos, but you rest one minute per set while your partner rests two minutes between sets, you achieved the greater volume.

Intensity is the second component of the training load, and it is normally expressed as a percentage of your 1RM (one repetition maximum), or the greatest amount of weight you can lift for one repetition in proper form. But here’s the catch with 1RM’s: they’re always changing. This means you never quite know for sure what your 1RM is for any given lift. Which doesn’t mean you shouldn’t test for 1RM’s every 8 weeks or so— you should. Doing so gives you a guideline to work with. It’s just important to realize that 1RM’s are a dynamic measurement. For this reason, I usually prescribe repetition bracketsrather than percentage of 1RM when I write training programs for my clients.

When considering intensity, it’s important to realize that any change in your exercise technique— no matter how slight— changes the equation altogether. For instance, if you normally use a 3 second tempo (meaning, you complete each repetition in exactly 3 seconds) when testing for your 1RM, and the next time you test you’re able to add 5 pounds to your 1RM but it took you an extra second to complete the lift, it’s not an accurate indication of improvement. Establish your testing parameters, and then stick to them so that you have a consistent protocol when testing. If you do not, you’ll have no real way of knowing whether or not you’re improving.

Incidentally many people use the phrase “high intensity” to describe workout that are actually high volume or high density (which refers to the work/rest ratio). So just to be clear about our terms, remember that intensity has nothing to do with how much pain you’re in, or the fact that you frequently experience reverse peristolisis and out-of-body experiences after your leg training— it simply refers to how much weight is on the bar relative to your current maximal ability. Using this definition, we could say that performing 315 pounds for 1 rep is more intense than 10 reps with 310 pounds, even though the latter effort is far more difficult to perform.

The Volume/Intensity Relationship

Volume and intensity are mutually exclusive concepts— you can’t have high intensity and high volume simultaneously. If this was possible, you’d be able to do three sets of ten with your current 1RM! Yet both volume and intensity are necessary to achieve results— high volume loads create more lasting adaptations, while intense loads create faster adaptations which are more temporary. This apparent paradox is one of the primary reasons for periodizing (or cycling) your training.

Although you can implement the principle of progressive overload by increasing volume or intensity, it’s important to realize that increases in volume are more sustainable than increases in intensity. In other words, for a trainee with 10 years experience who can squat 695 for a single repetition, it’s much easier to progress by adding reps and/or sets than it is to try to add weight to the bar during any given repetition bracket

Which Type of Progression is Best?

In his book Science of Sports Training, Thomas Kurz identified three distinct methods which can be used to increase the training load over time:

1) Rectilinear method: Loads are continuously and uniformly increased. An example of rectilinear progression is to attempt to add five pounds to the bar every time you perform squats.

2) Stepped Method: Load are sharply increased, then held at that level for a period of time, before being sharply increased again. An example would be using the same weight, say 185 pounds for five sets of five reps, for a period of four weeks, and then increasing to 225 pounds for four weeks for the same sets and reps, and so on. This method, when used by advanced athletes, can result in fast, but temporary strength increases. Not effective for beginning or intermediate lifters of less than 4 years of continuous lifting experience.

3) Wavy method: Loads are gradually increased for several sessions, and then decreased for one or more sessions, and so on. A classic example of this loading scheme is as follows:

While increases in load are slower than the previous two methods, this technique lends itself to more sustainable progress, and as a result more satisfaction, and fewer injuries from training.

The Law of Sustainable Progression

Should an athlete progress as fast as possible? Or perhaps as fast as is comfortable? Or, should you just choose some arbitrary unit— say 5 pounds per week? There is a way to make some sense of this. The key is to determine the amount of progression that you can sustain over a prolonged period of time. Let’s take the 5 pounds per week scenario, which incidentally, is commonly used by people who make great progress initially, but who hit a wall after a year or two. While 5 pounds a week seems like a very gradual progression, if you take the time to extend this level of progression over the long term, you’ll find that it equates to an increase of 260 pounds per year! In such a scenario, the athlete would be a world class powerlifter within 2 years! Since this happens to very few people, it is a useful analogy to prove my point.

The previous scenario violates what I call “The Law of Sustainable Progression.” Fast increases in training loads soothe the ego and make for fairly impressive short term gains, but they can’t be sustained. A slower progression over a longer period of time leads to better and more lasting results than a faster progression which can only be sustained for a short period of time. Further, large, sudden increases in training loads are associated with hitting an early and false plateau, which can lead to injury, as the athlete resorts to more and more extreme methods in an attempt to break out of this plateau.

So progress as slowly (and also as consistently) as you can. Equipment companies are responding to the concept of “micro-progression” by providing more variable weight stacks which allow for smaller jumps. One company, Benoit Built, makes specialized magnets (called Plate Mate) weighing between 1/4 and 5/8 of a pound which can be attached to plates, dumbbells, and weight stacks. The beauty of Plate Mate (besides portability) is that they allow you to make minute, yet sustainable progressions from workout to workout. Putting this concept in terms you can relate to, let’s assume you’re a 250 pound bencher. Using a progression of 2.5 pounds per week, you’ll be a 380 pound bencher in one year. Even this is a very significant increase, but by using sound training programs and recovery strategies (see sidebar entitled “The Role of Recovery in Progression”), it can be done.

In the Final Analysis…

Bodybuilding is a subjective sport. But because there is a very real correlation between training loads and hypertrophy, you can assure progress by carefully designing your training programs and then closely monitoring the results of these programs. If your training load is gradually and consistently increasing, you’re making progress.

Methods of Employing Progressive Overload:

1) By increasing time under tension. Start with 6 repetitions per set, utilizing a 4-0-1 tempo. Each set should therefore take 30 seconds to perform. Each workout, increase the tempo by one second per rep, until you reach 10 seconds per rep. At this point, should choose to increase the weight, reduce the tempo, and begin progressing again.

2) By increasing the weight lifted. Using a standard set/rep scheme for each workout, add between 2.5 and 5 pounds to the bar each session. 3) By increasing the number of reps per set. This method is useful with exercises where you initially have a low level of strength, such as pull-ups or dips. Using the same load each workout, start with 1-3 reps per set, and add one rep per set each workout. Once you reach more than 12 reps per set, you should then employ more weight and/or slower tempos.

3) By increasing the number of sets per workout. Although it has its place, be cautious when adding sets to your workouts. For example, going from three sets to four is a 25 percent increase in volume for every given exercise!

4) By increasing the range of motion. Using the same load each workout, start with a reduced ROM, and gradually increase it from workout to workout. For example, you can perform bench presses in a power rack, starting the movement from the bottom-most position, which is set by the height of the pins. On the first workout, you might only work the top 3″ of a bench press. Each workout, drop the pins one notch, until you reach full ROM.

5) By reducing the rest intervals between sets. This has particularly good results when attempting to improve relative strength. Using the same load, number of reps, and tempo each workout, simply reduce the rest intervals by 10 seconds each workout.

6) By using “stutter” or interrupted sets. Rather than performing a continuous set, you can select a heavier weight, and rest briefly (5-10 seconds) between each rep. One method I sometimes employ with my athletes is to ask for a maximum number of reps in a specified time period— say, 2 minutes. They can use any number of sets or reps— they might for instance perform a set of 8, rest 20 seconds, do a set of 7, rest 30 seconds, then 5 reps, etc., until the time period expires. When using this method, always maintain consistent exercise form and speed of execution.

Sometimes, two or more methods of progression are used simultaneously. For example, from workout to workout, you may choose to add both weight and reduce rest between sets. This is usually employed in situations where a trained athlete is coming back after an extended layoff, and is able to make rapid improvements from workout to workout due to his extensive training experience. The problem with this method however, is that when you do make progress, you won’t know which factor to attribute it to.

The Role of Recovery in Progression

Better recovery means more frequent training sessions and therefore, faster progress. Although recovery will take place regardless, there are two particularly effective means you can take to accelerate recovery from training: massage and nutritional management.

In my work with athletes, I have found that expertly-applied massage can improve recovery times by as much as 40 percent. In fact, I find it so effective that I require prospective clients to receive massage therapy at least once per week. According to my colleague Dianna Linden, an elite-level softtissue worker located in Santa Monica, California:

“Spasms keep muscle fibers in a contracted state and disable their capacity to perform within the muscle when it is under load, therefore decreasing strength by whatever percent of that muscle stays contracted by the spasm. This weakens the muscle and increases its potential to tear near the edges of the spasm. By working regularly with an athlete the therapist can provide feed back which is a far more accurate account of how the muscles are handling the stress levels they are exposed to.”

Of course, nutrition plays a vital role in recovery as well. Although there are many factors to consider, adequate protein is crucial— I consider one gram per pound of bodyweight per day a minimum standard. Creatine monohydrate and branched chain amino acids immediately following training.

About The Author

His colleagues call him an iconoclast, a visionary, a rule-breaker. His clients call him “The Secret Weapon” for his ability to see what other coaches miss. Charles calls himself a “geek” who struggled in Phys Ed throughout school. Whatever you call him, Charles’ methods are ahead of their time and quickly produce serious results. His counter-intuitive approach and self-effacing demeanor have lead to appearances on NBC’s The TODAY Show and The CBS Early Show.

Currently, Charles competes in Olympic-style weightlifting on the master’s circuit, with a 3-year goal of qualifying for the 2009 Master’s World Championships.

Learn More About EDT Training!

You can build muscle and strength and burn fat in as little as 15 minutes, 3 times a week with EDT…it works for EVERYONE - male, female, young, old…your body simply has no choice but to get results!

Click here to learn more and get your copy today!

Goal Orientation

By Charles Staley, B.Sc, MSS
Director, Staley Training Systems

Author’s note: I know that goal setting is viewed as a bit cliche, but it’s hard to argue against once you consider it carefully. My first exposure to the con cept of conscientious, aggressive goal setting occurred in the early 80’s when I tool a course from Success Motivation Institute based in Waco, Texas. It made a huge impact on me, and I wanted to see if I could present a con vincing argument for the idea. I’m quite happy with this article— I think it expresses the concepts very simply.

Paradoxically, everyone agrees that goals are important, yet less than 5% of the population has one…

Someone recently asked me if I’d ever like to be able to bench press 500 pounds. I replied that, no, not really, because obviously, if I had really wanted a 500 pound bench, I would have taken the steps necessary to get it, which I obviously haven’t. Now of course, it might be the case that even if I applied maximum effort and resources to the goal of bench pressing 500 pounds, it might not be in the cards for me anyway.

But my point is that selfactualized people make things happen, rather than hoping they will happen. (Incidentally, I’m also philosophically against playing the lottery, because it takes you away from making it happen and toward hoping it happens.).

Where Are You Going?

We all have desires, things we hope to achieve in life. The question is, what exactly do you want? And how badly do you want it? How serious are you really? Have you really considered what you’ll have to give up to get what you want?

Anatomy of a Goal

A goal is a written expression of intent to accomplish a specific, personally meaningful objective within a predetermined time-frame.

Based on this definition, I’d guess that fewer than 5% of all people have even a single goal at any one point in time. Sad, isn’t it? If you’re in the 95% club, this article will show you how to cross over. As a starting point, let’s examine the above definition point by point:

1) A goal must be stated in writing: If it isn’t written, it isn’t a goal. Period. It may be a wish, or a vague desire, or a fantasy, but it isn’t a goal, and you’re not likely to achieve it.

2) A goal must be specific and measurable: Your desire to become “as big as a house” isn’t a goal. It isn’t specific enough. We need to talk pounds at a certain bodyfat percentage, not real estate.
In order to be specific, your goal must be quantifiable. This is a very significant for bodybuilders, who’s sport is by definition qualitative and subjective.

Why Are You Going?

3) A goal must be personally meaningful: Your goal must be worthy of your unconditional resolve and personal sacrifice (defined as giving up something in order to gain something greater as a result) for the allotted time-frame, or you won’t bother to pursue it. It must have real value and undeniable potential to improve your life. The desire to get down to 7% bodyfat by May 1st so that you’ll look great at the beach this summer is specific, challenging, and has a completion date, but other than soothing your ego, what meaning does it really have?

Now of course, if this goal (getting down to 7% bodyfat by May 1st) is part of your long-range objective to become a champion bodybuilder or fitness competitor, we now have a more meaningful context for your objective, since your competitive aspirations will have rewards above and beyond ego-gratification, such as career possibilities, character development, and so on. Once you can see the complete range of benefits that accomplishing the goal has for you, you’ll be ready to commit enormous personal resources to achieve it.

Now think back to your original motivation— looking great at the beach. Is this goal really worth the considerable time and effort that it’ll take to achieve? If so, proceed. If not, explore other goals which will significantly impact your life when you accomplish them.

Additionally, goals must be framed in such a way that they push your emotional “hot buttons.” For example, it may be that you have a goal to parallel squat 400 pounds by your 30th birthday which is in eleven months. Your current PR is 355. This is a specific, challenging, and presumably meaningful goal for you. However, step back for a second and consider which sounds more attractive: 400 pounds (a nice even number), or, 405 pounds, which is (4) 45 pound plates on each side of the bar. Or, if you happen to weigh 205 pounds, perhaps the concept of lifting 410— double your bodyweight— has the most appeal.

There is no right or wrong answer here— the point of the exercise is to see how slightly different ways of framing an objective can effect your emotional reserves. Which option seems most appealing to you?

4) A goal must be challenging: If your goal isn’t challenging, you’re not likely to mobilize significant resources to attain it. For example, using the previous example of the 400 pound squat, some would argue for a more “realistic” goal of 365 pounds. However, while certainly realistic, a 15 pound improvement in 11 months is hardly the stuff of dreams, is it? In fact, it’s such a small increment that you might be likely to forget about it before the day is over! Better to aim for the stars and fall on the mountain peaks, as they say.

How Long Will it Take?

5) A goal must have a specific date of completion: Time-frames are what create pressure to get the job done. Your time frame must be aggressive, but realistic. If you’re not sure if your goal can be accomplished within a certain time frame, you’ll have to either base your time-frame on personal past experience, or you may have to do a bit of intelligence work in order to find out.

6) Your goal must be stated in the positive: Remember the old story where the football coach says to his star receiver “Whatever you do, don’t drop the ball!”? Guess what he ended up doing? You can’t plan to not accomplish something.

A Few Essential Items to Pack for the Trip

The following collection of strategies and skills are like a psychological “toolbox” which will properly arm you while in pursuit of your objectives.These tools are found in the blueprints of all champions, not only in sport, but in life as well.

Visualization and Imagery: If you can’t genuinely picture yourself achieving your goal, it’s very unlikely, probably impossible that you will achieve it. The old, overused, cliche axiom “conceive, believe, achieve” is packed with truth. Let me relate a story from my martial arts background. When I taught martial arts professionally, I always had very successful kid’s classes.

Occasionally, during a quiet moment either before or after class, or simply when the moment seemed right, I would take a kid from a beginner’s class, and I’d remove my black belt and tie it around his waist. Words simply cannot express the wonder and complete change of “state” that would instantly overcome that child— you could literally see the gears turning as that child imagined what it would be like the day he achieved the rank in the future.

You know the old expression “I’ll believe it when I see it”? Long before I ever squatted 400 pounds, I saw it clearly in my mind. I actually practiced by loading the bar on the power rack and just pondering the day when that bar would be mine. I’d even perform “walk outs” with the weight in preparation for the big day. I also frequently used Olympic bumper plates, which are much thicker than iron plates for their weight— using bumpers, a bar loaded to 176 pounds occupies about the same space as 405 pounds of iron plates. This way, I was really able to see myself squatting 405.

Funny thing was, the day I actually lifted 405, it wasn’t particularly a big deal for me— I’d felt as though I’d already done it, and this was simply the physical expression of a capability I already knew I had. The moral of this story is, I could give you 50 ways of becoming more successful, but if I could remove your self-doubt, those 50 things would improve all on their own!

Affirmations: An affirmation is a statement of belief. It can be regularly recited, or written and posted at a place that you’re likely to see it often during the course of a normal day. The concept of affirmations is to overload your psyche with positive belief statements until there is no longer any room for preexisting negative self-perceptions— much like taking a jar filled with water (which represents old, limiting beliefs), and filling it with pebbles (representing the positive affirmations) until all the water has been forced out of the container.

Although the concept of affirmations is often the butt of late night TV humor (e.g., Saturday Night Live’s Stuart Smalley), in truth, they are very powerful tools for the acquisition of goals. The mind is immensely powerful— if you can control it, that is. Ever notice how women will tell you that they gained too much muscle after 2-3 weight training sessions? Or have you ever heard lifters (usually guys) extol the virtues of XYZ supplement, even though science has proven it completely useless? This is the power of belief, my friends. If you can harness that power to a well-designed plan, the battle is already half-won.

Sample affirmations:

“Because I expect to succeed, I find it easy to take daily action on achieving my goal.”
“I am responsible for my own future. I expect to succeed. I control my own destiny.”
“I dream big dreams, believe in them, set goals to achieve them, and take action to make them become reality.”

Create your own affirmations to support your goal, as well as the habits and attitudes necessary for achieving your goal. Write them on note cards and choose a consistent time to read them at least once a day.

Modeling: A very useful concept, popularized by Anthony Robbins (if your only exposure to Robbins are his info-mercials, don’t rush to judgment— his concepts and teachings have very real merit), implements what I call the “don’t reinvent the wheel” principle: find other people, similar to yourself, who have accomplished similar goals. Then, find out what they did to accomplish the task(s), and repeat those steps. Since all humans share essentially the same biology and physiology, you should get the same result, or at least very similar results.

For example, if your hectic, 6 day a week work schedule is a severe obstacle to accomplishing your goal, find a talented lifter who has succeeded with a similar schedule. Find out how he managed to do this, and then implement the same strategy. Chances are very strong that it’ll work for you as well.

Cognitive dissonance: The mind can’t maintain two contradictory beliefs simultaneously. When you’re trying to extinguish a negative or limiting thought process, or emotion, cognitive dissonance can be your best friend. Let me provide an example from my competitive fighting career: When you step into the ring with a skilled opponent your own size or bigger, and you don’t have Don King on your side, it’s natural to be afraid. After all, you can get hurt doing this stuff! While fear is not entirely a bad thing (it’s a self-protective mechanism), it does tend to make you doubt your abilities, and your skills erode accordingly.

Over my own fighting career, I learned little trick that helped me enormously: I learned to act. I would put on an air of total disregard, joking with my opponent, yawning, goofing off, and so on. It’s called “acting as if…” What I learned is that you can’t be scared and act like you’re bored simultaneously— something has to give. Incidentally, this can also be called the “fake it ‘till you make it” principle.

How does one apply this principle toward the acquisition of challenging goals? Going back to my personal experience with the 405 pound squat, I remember that I thought, acted, and presented myself as a 400 pound squatter long before I could actually do it. I would look for any and every opportunity to demonstrate this, for example, squatting 315 completely cold (i.e., no warmup) when someone asked me to demonstrate something about the lift.Although inwardly, it was quite a challenge for me to squat this weight cold, outwardly I’d act completely nonchalant about it, talking through the lift and acting as if I could squat that weight all day long.

The idea behind all of this is that I was gradually convincing my unconscious self that I was a 400 pound squatter. With a bit of creativity and imagination, you’ll come up with various ways to employ the “fake it ‘till ‘ya make it” principle in your own training. And if it’s not obvious by now, yes, it IS dangerous to squat big weights without a warm-up.

About The Author

His colleagues call him an iconoclast, a visionary, a rule-breaker. His clients call him “The Secret Weapon” for his ability to see what other coaches miss. Charles calls himself a “geek” who struggled in Phys Ed throughout school. Whatever you call him, Charles’ methods are ahead of their time and quickly produce serious results. His counter-intuitive approach and self-effacing demeanor have lead to appearances on NBC’s The TODAY Show and The CBS Early Show.

Currently, Charles competes in Olympic-style weightlifting on the master’s circuit, with a 3-year goal of qualifying for the 2009 Master’s World Championships.

Learn More About EDT Training!

You can build muscle and strength and burn fat in as little as 15 minutes, 3 times a week with EDT…it works for EVERYONE - male, female, young, old…your body simply has no choice but to get results!

Click here to learn more and get your copy today!

Fundamentals for Martial Artists

By Charles Staley, B.Sc, MSS
Director, Staley Training Systems

In sports training jargon, the abdominal and low back musculature are often referred to as the “core” of the body. The importance of these muscles to athletes is that they transmit forces— either from the lower extremities to the upper extremities (such as when a boxer executes a punch against the heavy bag), or from the upper body to the lower body (such as when a martial artist delivers a spin crescent kick).

The core musculature also plays a significant role in stabilization during almost every movement, from squatting in the weight room, to running, throwing, and jumping.

Additionally, the abdominals play an important role in protecting the body during moments of extreme exertion, such as lifting a very heavy weight, or in absorbing an impact (such as a fall during judo practice). Specifically, during such an exertion, the athlete will instinctively exhale against a closed glottis, called the valsalva maneuver. This exhalation creates greater intraabdominal pressure, which acts to stabilize the lumbar spine from the inside.

In his popular and informative training seminars, abdominal training expert Paul Chek makes the point that when the stabilizer muscles possess inadequate strength, the motor cortex of the brain will not allow the prime movers to contract to their expected potential. This is simply a protective mechanism— if the body realizes that it can’t stabilize a certain movement, it simply won’t allow the movement to be performed.

My experience working with athletes in a variety of sports collaborates Chek’s sentiments. In fact, an easy way to make almost anyone stronger is to improve abdominal strength. Many martial artists intuitively recognize this fact, but our experience reveals that most martial artists (and athletes in general) cling to outdated and ineffective methods for training the core muscles of the body. In the following section, I will present methods (and justifications for these methods) of training the core musculature.

Core Musculature Function

The core area of the body can be be categorized into five groups of muscles, according to function:

1) The trunk flexors (the rectus abdominous) 2) The trunk extensors (the erector spinea) 3) The side flexors (quadratus lumborum) 4) The flexor-rotators (the internal and external obliques) 5) The hip flexors (the illiopsoas, illiacus, and rectus femoris)

Training the Trunk Flexors

The primary trunk flexor is the rectus abdominous. This muscle originates at the diaphragmatic arch, and inserts into the pubic symphysis of the pelvis. Since the primary function of this muscle is to flex the trunk (such that the sternum and pelvis are drawn toward each other), the most direct and effective exercises are those which cause trunk flexion. Any form of crunch or reverse crunch serves this function best. All abdominal muscles are composed of predominately slow-twitch fibers, and as such, tend to respond best to high repetition sets.

The trunk flexors may also be trained through “hanging leg-raises” and related movements, as long as the exerciser maintains a 90 degree angle between the thighs and trunk. Since this is extremely difficult— even for very strong athletes— we generally recommend avoiding this type of movement.
During crunches and similar movements, the athlete can modify arm position in order to manipulate the level of resistance. The least resistance occurs when the arms are straight and outstretched along the side of the body during the movement.

A more difficult variation is to cross the arms against the chest during the exercise. The most difficult variation is to place the hands such that the fingers are touching the head at a point just behind the ears. Avoid interlacing the fingers and clasping behind the head, which can strain the cervical vertebrae, and encourage co-contraction from other muscles. Additional resistance (in the form of a medicine ball or weight plate) can be used when the athlete’s bodyweight is no longer sufficient to cause an improvement in strength. Note: Avoid anchoring the feet and extending the legs, since these practices tend to shift the exercise stress away from the trunk flexors and onto the hip flexors.

Training the Trunk Extensors: The erector spinae are the predominant trunk extensors. Strong trunk extensors are necessary to balance the strength of the rectus abdominous, and to maintain efficient postural stabilization and control. They are most commonly trained through the use of the back extension exercise, performed on a specialized apparatus designed for this purpose. However, in order to minimize co-contraction from the gluteals and hamstrings, the athlete should be positioned in such a way that the navel is directly over (not in front of) the pad or bench. With this positioning, the pelvis is stabilized, allowing the exercise stress to fall directly onto the erectors.

Training the Side Flexors and the Flexor-rotators

One of the most common “ab” exercises seen in commercial gyms and health clubs today is the dumbbell side bend. Most proponents of this movement recommend it as an exercise for the obliques, but in reality, it is an exercise for the quadratus lumborum— the primary side flexor. For martial artists who rely heavily on kicking skills, the side flexors should be systematically trained. But most other athletes (who don’t have a reason) should avoid training this muscle, since over-developed side flexors have been associated with low back pain. Further, performing side bends has no significant effect on the waistline, since the quadratus lumborum is such a deep-lying muscle.

Training the Flexor-rotators

The flexor-rotators are the internal and external obliques. These muscles cause trunk flexion as well as rotation when they contract unilaterally (one side at a time), but cancel each other out, causing only trunk flexion when they contract bilaterally (both sides simultaneously). Thus, uni-lateral exercises, such as twisting crunches, are most effective for developing these muscles.

When performing twisting crunches and their variations, use the same guidelines that were presented in the section on trunk flexion, with the exception that the exercises should curl the trunk up and diagonally, such that the left armpit approaches the right hip, and vice versa. Avoid touching elbow to opposite knee, as this encourages too much cervical and hip flexion.

Training of the flexor-rotators should be prioritized over the pure flexors, since most athletic and day-to-day activities involve rotation with flexion, as opposed to pure flexion.

Training the Hip Flexors

Many people excessively train the hip flexors thinking that they’re training the abdominals. Sit-ups, leg raises, “flutter kicks,” and hanging leg raises are all primarily hip flexor exercises. That doesn’t necessarily make them bad, but most people tend to have chronically short hip flexors, which can compromise the structural dynamics of the lumbar spine. Short hip flexors are also associated with low back pain. Of course, martial artists must have strength in these muscles, but normally, time spent drilling with kicks is sufficient for this purpose.

Many martial arts techniques involve simultaneous hip flexion, trunk flexion, and rotation. For this reason, I recommend using a wide variety of exercises. An excellent tool is the “physio-ball”— an oversized “beach ball” which can be used for a variety of core exercises, including crunches, sit-ups, back extensions, and many more. With a little experimentation, you can devise dozens of multi-planar exercises which have a high degree of transfer to your sport techniques. Medicine balls are also an invaluable tool for core training.

Many exercises can be developed using the medicine ball and physio-ball together. An example is to sit on the physio-ball (feet anchored by heavy dumbbells), and perform medicine ball sit-ups with a partner. The unstable environment provided by the physio-ball, combined with the ballistic, multi-planar aspects of the medicine ball throws, makes this a fruitful exercise for those desiring sport-specific strength.

Core training can be periodized over the training cycle. Early in the cycle, exercises tend to be single plane, of a slow, steady tempo, and conducted in a stable environment. Another goal during the early stages of the training cycle is to eliminate weaknesses, so special attention is paid to muscles which need extra conditioning. Gradually, the emphasis shifts to multi-planar, ballistic exercise conducted in a less stable environment.

Abdominal training and bodyfat deposition

Abdominal training does not significantly affect the layer of fat which oftentimes covers these muscles. Many people become a slave to crunches, situps, and TV info-mercial devices, when the real issue is bodyfat, not abdominal conditioning. In fact, many of these people probably have superbly conditioned abs. Bodyfat is reduced through a comprehensive training program incorporating resistance training and caloric manipulation— NOT abdominal training!

About The Author

His colleagues call him an iconoclast, a visionary, a rule-breaker. His clients call him “The Secret Weapon” for his ability to see what other coaches miss. Charles calls himself a “geek” who struggled in Phys Ed throughout school. Whatever you call him, Charles’ methods are ahead of their time and quickly produce serious results. His counter-intuitive approach and self-effacing demeanor have lead to appearances on NBC’s The TODAY Show and The CBS Early Show.

Currently, Charles competes in Olympic-style weightlifting on the master’s circuit, with a 3-year goal of qualifying for the 2009 Master’s World Championships.

Learn More About EDT Training!

You can build muscle and strength and burn fat in as little as 15 minutes, 3 times a week with EDT…it works for EVERYONE - male, female, young, old…your body simply has no choice but to get results!

Click here to learn more and get your copy today!

Three “Tweaks” That Will Maximize Your Workout

By Charles Staley, B.Sc, MSS
Director, Staley Training Systems

Here I present three methods which, when used consistently, will help you spend less time in the gym while getting better results at the same time.

Only applied knowledge is power, so don’t just read, but apply!

Front Loading
Efficient people instinctively try to get the majority of their work done early in the day (this also applies to week or month). The rationale is simple: you have more energy early in the day than you do later on.

Therefore, when I create training programs for my clients, I rarely indicate a standard amount of rest between each set. Instead, I’ll indicate a time-frame for all sets to be completed in (for example, 8 sets of 3 repetitions to be performed in 15 minutes - you might recognize Escalating Density Training parameters in this example!).

In this way, my client will instinctively attempt to get a “head start” by taking shorter rests between the initial sets, which will permit longer rest intervals for later sets.

Since fatigue accumulates over the duration of a workout, front loading is far more efficient than using standard rest intervals between sets, which is how 99% of all people organize their workouts. Interested in joining the one-percent club? Apply this concept to your workouts starting today— the rewards will be significant and immediate.

Use Antagonistic Pairings
Every muscle in your body has a “partner” (called the antagonist) which is capable of opposing it’s contractile forces. For example, when you perform a biceps curl, the biceps muscle would be termed the “agonist” and the tricep would be the “antagonist.” (the easy way to remember these terms is to think that the agonist is the one that is in agony because it’s performing the work).

As you curl the weight, the motor cortex of your brain signals the triceps to relax in order to allow the biceps to contract. This phenomenon is called Sherrington’s Law of Reciprocal Inhibition. Here’s how we can take advantage of this phenomenon in a very practical way:

You first perform a set of barbell curls, and then rest perhaps 1-2 minutes. For set two, you perform a set of lying dumbbell triceps extensions. As you do so, the biceps muscles are “inhibited.”

The triceps contraction actually forces the biceps to de-activate, which simply means they will recover faster as a result of having performed the set of triceps extensions. You then rest, go back to the curls, and back and forth until all sets for both exercises are completed.

There are three additional benefits to the use of antagonistic pairings:

If you perform (for example) 5 sets of biceps curls one after the other using two minutes of rest between each set, you obviously get two minutes of rest between each set. However, if you perform a set of curls, then rest two minutes, then perform a set of triceps extensions, rest two minutes, etc., you now achieve more than four minutes of rest between two sets of the same exercise, even though the total workout duration remains the same.

Training muscles in antagonistic pairs ensures equal (or at least similar) strength development around both sides of the joint. This is very important for overall size and strength gains, because if the strength ratio between agonist and antagonist is significantly disparate, the brain will reduce your strength levels in an effort to protect your joints.

In the preceding example, as you perform your biceps curls, you are keeping the involved joint warm for your next set of triceps extensions. Over time, this can be very meaningful in terms of joint integrity and health.
Here are a few examples of muscle pairings which correspond to the principles
I’ve just discussed:

Lats & Pecs

Biceps & Triceps

Quads & Hamstrings

Abdominals and Low Back Musculature

Lats & Triceps (biceps are usually heavily involved during most lat exercises)

Pecs & Biceps (triceps are usually heavily involved during most pec exercises)

Use Submaximal Accelerative Efforts
If your best bench press for one rep is 300 pounds, then obviously the most amount of tension you can place on the targeted muscles will be just slightly more than 300 pounds.

However, Soviet force-plate research has shown that a load corresponding to 65% of your maximum capability (195 pounds in this example) can also result in 300 pounds worth of tension, provided that the weight is maximally accelerated. You might argue that there is no advantage either way, since both methods produce approximately the same amount of force.

However, there are distinct advantages to using “submaximal accelerative efforts” as opposed to the maximal weights method:

Using the above example, if you use 300 pounds, you can only perform one rep, and then you’re done. If you use 195 pounds for sets of three using maximum acceleration, you can perform multiple sets— usually between 8 and 12 sets can be performed before there is a significant decline in lifting speed. This allows far more total volume within a session.

When using submaximal accelerative efforts as described above, you’ll always have several reps in reserve on any given set, which means you can dramatically reduce the need for a spotter (although using a competent spotter is still a good idea when using unfamiliar exercises).

Our bodies are essentially hard-wired to accelerate whenever performing difficult motor tasks such as running, lifting, or jumping. In fact, people have to be taught to move slowly, since it is far more efficient (and instinctive) to take advantage of momentum when performing motor tasks such as lifting heavy weights.
If these ideas seem unusual to you, let me stress that the most successful people in life are open-minded.

Have you ever adopted a new habit that ended up having a significant positive impact on your life? The three concepts I’ve presented here have had that effect on my own training, and on the results I’ve achieved for my clients. I’m confident they’ll produce similar results for you as well.

About The Author

His colleagues call him an iconoclast, a visionary, a rule-breaker. His clients call him “The Secret Weapon” for his ability to see what other coaches miss. Charles calls himself a “geek” who struggled in Phys Ed throughout school. Whatever you call him, Charles’ methods are ahead of their time and quickly produce serious results. His counter-intuitive approach and self-effacing demeanor have lead to appearances on NBC’s The TODAY Show and The CBS Early Show.

Currently, Charles competes in Olympic-style weightlifting on the master’s circuit, with a 3-year goal of qualifying for the 2009 Master’s World Championships.

Learn More About EDT Training!

You can build muscle and strength and burn fat in as little as 15 minutes, 3 times a week with EDT…it works for EVERYONE - male, female, young, old…your body simply has no choice but to get results!

Click here to learn more and get your copy today!

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