A few weeks ago my good friend Jeremy called me as I was walking into the Apple store for an appointment with one of their computer geeks (I love those guys). He was going on and on about how sick he was. He asked me if I was sick because apparently, everyone out in the Detroit area is. I responded with my usual comment, "Jeremy, I never get sick." The very next day I was sick as hell. That was roughly two weeks ago. I haven't been able to train and was starting to feel like a skinny fat man. I was finally able to get back at it today.
I needed to get a mind blowing pump in order to feel like a man again so I decided to do a hypertrophy workout or an anabolic primer if you will. Here's what I did:
A1: Donkey Calf Raise: 3 sets of 8-10 Rest:0
A2: Standing Calf Raise: 3 sets of 12-15 Rest:0
A3: Body Weight Calf Raise: 3 sets of 30 Rest:90 Secs (These are performed with a quick bounce and as fast as possible)
B: Clean Grip Dead Lifts: 3 sets of 10 Rest:120 Secs
C1: Flat Dbell Presses, Neutral Grip: 3 sets of 8 Rest:90 Secs
C2: Supinated Pulldowns: 3 sets of 8 Rest:90 Secs
D1: Low Pulley Fat Bar Reverse Curls: 3 sets of 6 Rest:90 Secs
D2: Lying Dbell Tricep Extensions: 3 sets of 8 Rest:90 Secs
I planned on starting with dead lifts, but both power racks were being used by guys doing barbell curls (typical for a commercial gym). So I had to do something, so figured I'd knock out some quick calf work. After all, summer is hopefully coming and you gotta have jacked calves if you're gonna wear shorts.
I finally feel alive again. Tomorrow I'll probably go back to splitting up lower and upper body workouts. I'll start with legs and do a moderate volume workout.
I'll keep you posted,
Chris Grayson
3/25/08
3/16/08
Show Me The Passion And Education And I'll Show You The Money
Q: I'm a personal trainer out in Arizona. I've been training people for 5 years and I'm starting to get really bored training average people and I'm considering advancing my knowledge so I can train athletes. I talked to another trainer who mentioned you and your blog/website because you are doing what I would like to do. My question is, there's several athletic facilities out where I live and many of them advocate completely different training philosophy's. Is there a way to know which one would be the best? I want to learn as much as I can and as fast as humanly possible.
A: I feel your pain. I had the same problem about four years ago. But there shouldn't be anything to consider. If you're bored and you want to train athletes then do it. Don't stand in your own way. Here's some things you must know.
First and foremost, to be great in this industry you must continue to learn, so reading a lot is paramount. This should be common sense, but to my surprise, most trainers I've come in contact with in my area don't do much of this. This tells me they don't have much passion for this industry and in my opinion, need to get out. Next, find a mentor. If you find out down the road that they aren't that knowledgeable, find another one. So if you take this job and find out it sucks, leave it. That should pretty much be a no brainer.
Another must on education is attending seminars. Last year at this time I lived in Chicago. I was an independent contractor at a gym in the downtown area. Perform Better had a 3 day seminar from Friday thru Sunday. I knew several trainers in the Chicago area and I saw none of them there. I asked a few of them why they didn't go and they told me they hadn't even heard of it. My jaw hit the floor. How in the hell could you not know one of the biggest personal training organizations in the United States.
This tax year I handed my account receipts totaling just over $25,000 on books, cd's, dvd's, and seminars. Over a third of my income. This year I'm opening my first private sports performance facility with my business partner and it's because I'm great at my job. Why? Because of passion, which equals education, which equals knowledge, which equals money. I'd like to state though that I don't do it for the money. I do it because I love it which makes the money come. If you're in it just to make money and not because you love it, you won't excel at it. Don't put the cart in front of the horse.
Here's a few things I would make sure of before hiring on to this performance facility you're looking into:
1. A structural balance assessment: If there not doing this then I'd question there education and therefore their passion. There's a lot of info out there on assessment or screening tests.
2. Collecting Data: Workouts must be progressive. Without this, the body has no reason to change since there's no adaptation required. Loading parameters must be written down and tracked to know when there no longer working. This is evident by math. If you're not getting stronger, you need to change your workout.
3. Soft tissue work and dynamic mobility drills: Bottom line, if there's any problems with fascial tissue and length tension relationships in muscles, the body won't function properly. Again, there's lots of info out there on this topic so there should be no excuses. Yet I still see people doing static stretches before lifting weights.
4. Energy System Development: Picking the right energy systems that are appropriate for the sport. For example, having a high school football player doing aerobic based training is wrong regardless of his position and you should be shot.
A: I feel your pain. I had the same problem about four years ago. But there shouldn't be anything to consider. If you're bored and you want to train athletes then do it. Don't stand in your own way. Here's some things you must know.
First and foremost, to be great in this industry you must continue to learn, so reading a lot is paramount. This should be common sense, but to my surprise, most trainers I've come in contact with in my area don't do much of this. This tells me they don't have much passion for this industry and in my opinion, need to get out. Next, find a mentor. If you find out down the road that they aren't that knowledgeable, find another one. So if you take this job and find out it sucks, leave it. That should pretty much be a no brainer.
Another must on education is attending seminars. Last year at this time I lived in Chicago. I was an independent contractor at a gym in the downtown area. Perform Better had a 3 day seminar from Friday thru Sunday. I knew several trainers in the Chicago area and I saw none of them there. I asked a few of them why they didn't go and they told me they hadn't even heard of it. My jaw hit the floor. How in the hell could you not know one of the biggest personal training organizations in the United States.
This tax year I handed my account receipts totaling just over $25,000 on books, cd's, dvd's, and seminars. Over a third of my income. This year I'm opening my first private sports performance facility with my business partner and it's because I'm great at my job. Why? Because of passion, which equals education, which equals knowledge, which equals money. I'd like to state though that I don't do it for the money. I do it because I love it which makes the money come. If you're in it just to make money and not because you love it, you won't excel at it. Don't put the cart in front of the horse.
Here's a few things I would make sure of before hiring on to this performance facility you're looking into:
1. A structural balance assessment: If there not doing this then I'd question there education and therefore their passion. There's a lot of info out there on assessment or screening tests.
2. Collecting Data: Workouts must be progressive. Without this, the body has no reason to change since there's no adaptation required. Loading parameters must be written down and tracked to know when there no longer working. This is evident by math. If you're not getting stronger, you need to change your workout.
3. Soft tissue work and dynamic mobility drills: Bottom line, if there's any problems with fascial tissue and length tension relationships in muscles, the body won't function properly. Again, there's lots of info out there on this topic so there should be no excuses. Yet I still see people doing static stretches before lifting weights.
4. Energy System Development: Picking the right energy systems that are appropriate for the sport. For example, having a high school football player doing aerobic based training is wrong regardless of his position and you should be shot.
3/14/08
To Eat Carbs Or Not To Eat Carbs, That Is The Question
Q: I wanted to know your opinion on daily carb intake. I've been reading these books (Protein Power, Dr. Eades) and they seem to be very negative on any insulin in the system. I'm wondering what you think is the role of carbs especially for someone weight training.
A: We at GTS do Biosignature readings with a 10 site skin fold reading. Biosignature readings are the best non invasive way of finding out what's going on hormonally in the body.
The subscapularis and the suprailliac identify how carb tolerant you are. The subscap is a marker for genetic carb tolerance and cardiovascular disease (CVD). If you're not carb tolerant and yet there's a lot in your diet, your liver will increase triglycerides and thus increase your chances of CVD. The suprailliac is a environmental marker for carb tolerance. So even if your subscap reading is low (telling us you're carb tolerant), we still monitor your suprailliac to make sure you're not eating more carbs than you can metabolize.
Even if you're carb tolerant, we advocate carbs with a high phytonutrient (PN) value. So pop tarts and rice cakes are out. Some of my favorites are sweet potatoes, yams, quinoa, couscous, and brown rice. If you're carb tolerant, you should eat carbs at every meal or you won't achieve your leanest potential. If you're not, we typically only recommend them post workout and occasionally your last meal of the night to raise gaba and serotonin, which will help you relax and, therefore, improve your sleep quality. Keep in mind, how lean you are in the two mentioned sites would determine if and how much carbs you get. If an athlete's body fat is above 10mm, we have them consume glutamine and glycine with their post workout shake instead of carbs. This will replenish glycogen without spiking insulin. We only have athlete's spike insulin postworkout, and only if insulin is their friend. If your body fat is over 10%, insulin is not your friend.
A: We at GTS do Biosignature readings with a 10 site skin fold reading. Biosignature readings are the best non invasive way of finding out what's going on hormonally in the body.
The subscapularis and the suprailliac identify how carb tolerant you are. The subscap is a marker for genetic carb tolerance and cardiovascular disease (CVD). If you're not carb tolerant and yet there's a lot in your diet, your liver will increase triglycerides and thus increase your chances of CVD. The suprailliac is a environmental marker for carb tolerance. So even if your subscap reading is low (telling us you're carb tolerant), we still monitor your suprailliac to make sure you're not eating more carbs than you can metabolize.
Even if you're carb tolerant, we advocate carbs with a high phytonutrient (PN) value. So pop tarts and rice cakes are out. Some of my favorites are sweet potatoes, yams, quinoa, couscous, and brown rice. If you're carb tolerant, you should eat carbs at every meal or you won't achieve your leanest potential. If you're not, we typically only recommend them post workout and occasionally your last meal of the night to raise gaba and serotonin, which will help you relax and, therefore, improve your sleep quality. Keep in mind, how lean you are in the two mentioned sites would determine if and how much carbs you get. If an athlete's body fat is above 10mm, we have them consume glutamine and glycine with their post workout shake instead of carbs. This will replenish glycogen without spiking insulin. We only have athlete's spike insulin postworkout, and only if insulin is their friend. If your body fat is over 10%, insulin is not your friend.
3/8/08
A Return To My Roots
I, along with my close friend, colleague, and business partner Ben, have been anxiously anticipating our sports performance center to open so we can train athletes and ourselves with the best tools and techniques that we know.
We're currently training at a Powerhouse Gym in Canton, Michigan. Since we've been extremely busy with our new business escapades, we've decided to incorporate some great old school body building workouts into the mix:
1. To put on some much needed muscle mass since we've lacked consistency and
2. Because of boredom of having to train in a commercial gym.
We trained shoulders and arms last night and both got a sick pump from this workout. If your workouts haven't been anything but great, give this a try. I guarantee a mind blowing pump or else your testosterone levels are in the toilet.
A1. Seated DBell Press, Neutral Grip: 3 sets of 6-8 reps Tempo: 4010 Rest: 0
A2. DBell Side Laterals: 3 sets of 8-10 reps Tempo: 3010 Rest: 0
A3. Cable Rope Upright Rows: 3 sets of 10-12 reps Tempo: 2010 Rest: 2 Minutes
B1. Close Grip Supinated Chins (hands 4-6 inches apart): 3 sets of 4-6 reps Tempo: 4011 Rest: 0
B2. Standing Barbell Curls: 3 sets of 6-8 reps Tempo: 3010 Rest: 0
B3. Incline DBell Curls (60-70 degrees): 3 sets of 8-10 reps Tempo: 2010 Rest: 2 Minutes
C1. Dips: 3 sets of 4-6 reps Tempo: 4010 Rest: 0
C2. Close Grip Bench Press (hands 10-12 inches apart): 3 sets of 6-8 reps Tempo: 3010 Rest: 0
C3. Seated EZ Bar French Press: 3 sets of 8-10 reps Tempo: 2010 Rest: 2 Minutes
If you decide to give this a try, let me know how it went. And if your testosterone is as low as a pre pubescent girl scout, I can help.
We're currently training at a Powerhouse Gym in Canton, Michigan. Since we've been extremely busy with our new business escapades, we've decided to incorporate some great old school body building workouts into the mix:
1. To put on some much needed muscle mass since we've lacked consistency and
2. Because of boredom of having to train in a commercial gym.
We trained shoulders and arms last night and both got a sick pump from this workout. If your workouts haven't been anything but great, give this a try. I guarantee a mind blowing pump or else your testosterone levels are in the toilet.
A1. Seated DBell Press, Neutral Grip: 3 sets of 6-8 reps Tempo: 4010 Rest: 0
A2. DBell Side Laterals: 3 sets of 8-10 reps Tempo: 3010 Rest: 0
A3. Cable Rope Upright Rows: 3 sets of 10-12 reps Tempo: 2010 Rest: 2 Minutes
B1. Close Grip Supinated Chins (hands 4-6 inches apart): 3 sets of 4-6 reps Tempo: 4011 Rest: 0
B2. Standing Barbell Curls: 3 sets of 6-8 reps Tempo: 3010 Rest: 0
B3. Incline DBell Curls (60-70 degrees): 3 sets of 8-10 reps Tempo: 2010 Rest: 2 Minutes
C1. Dips: 3 sets of 4-6 reps Tempo: 4010 Rest: 0
C2. Close Grip Bench Press (hands 10-12 inches apart): 3 sets of 6-8 reps Tempo: 3010 Rest: 0
C3. Seated EZ Bar French Press: 3 sets of 8-10 reps Tempo: 2010 Rest: 2 Minutes
If you decide to give this a try, let me know how it went. And if your testosterone is as low as a pre pubescent girl scout, I can help.
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