1. DO NOT buy any books or manuals that tell you how to loose fat, you don’t need them. If you already have, then you will be better served eating them for their fiber content than actually following them.

2. DO follow a training program that uses compound movements (squatting, deadlifting, presses, Olympic lifts) with progressively heavier weights. You must train hard in order to stimulate the anabolic hormones in your body. When you train this way muscle magically appears and the body uses a tremendous amount of calories; two very important factors involved with loosing fat. (Try Bill Star’s 5×5 workout.)

3. DO eat 6-8 times a day.

4. DO include a protein with each meal that either walks, flys, or swims. (no F$%@ing vegetable products unless you have the metabolism of a beef cattle.) Protein meals elevate metabolic rate.

5. Do include a low glycemic carb with every meal (<70 GI), This keeps insulin levels in check.

6. DO include a good fat with every meal (olive, high oleic safflower, CLA, flaxseed oil, ect.) This will further reduce your insulin response.

7. DO include a soluble fiber with every meal. This will lower the GI.

So to sum it up train hard and eat like an athlete, not a yoga instructor!

–
Sean
Pure Strength

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Tags: Rants by Sean
No Comments »

What is this functional for…Doggie Style

Paraphrasing Dr Mel Siff from Facts and Fallacies Fitness, the term Functional Training came out of the scientific and therapy worlds from the terms “structure” or form referring to the “phenomenon of growth of the substance forming the organism, and function referring to the way in which the organism operated. “
If we apply these definitions to training for sport, structural training would be directed towards “enhancing, maintenance and growth of the various systems of the body, whereas functional training would refers to the way these systems operate and produce motor output.”
Out of this work the principle of form follows function emerged which we find today in many forms of Physical Therapy
So now these so called “Functional Training” experts are confusing training for healthy athletes with “functional training” Just because they are not using machines, balancing on a ball and training in multi-dimensional space does not necessarily make it functional. This is not how the functional process was ever defined and it is not an accurate description of the training processes that are intended to enhance athletic or sport performance.
What is more alarming is that these same Functional freaks have gone ahead and labeled some training functional while saying other training is nonfunctional.
Doesn’t function really come down to the requirements of the activity? If you need to rehab a torn labarum gotten while performing stupid human tricks on a swiss ball, than perhaps jerking from behind the neck would not be an appropriate choice of exercise. But does that make it a non-functional exercise? It makes it the wrong exercise for the job at hand.
That being said, it is a fact that the Olympic Lifts produce the highest power output in the human body. I would say that power is a coveted trait in sports, then why is it not included in the “functional training” arsenal. There are companies dedicated to “functional” training for athletes, yet if you take a look at the information they are producing, you will not find anything on using the Olympic lifts for power development. Are they really helping athletes become more functional?
All training is functional if it is applied correctly. As far as it applies to training athletes, if the conversation includes wobble boards, wrapping yourself in theraband, or any other physical therapy toys, then you are talking about rehab. If that is the case then get the hell out of my weight room, and go to the training room!

–
Sean
Pure Strength

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Tags: Rants by Sean
No Comments »

A few weeks ago I was walking thru the parking lot to get to the weightroom at Long Beach State to train with Nomad Weightlifting Tribe when a flyer on a car caught my eye. I picked it up and started to read it. As my eyes gazed onto the page, I started to get a pain in my ears. The more I read the more the pain intensified. I then realized it was my head exploding! I quickly diverted my eyes and the pain subsided.
Below is the cause of this near fatal head trauma.

Please read at your own risk!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Tags: Rants by Sean
No Comments »