The Death of Manliness

I just fixed my gate!

It’s not perfect and it probably wouldn’t hold up in a storm but it opens and closes and the panel, which was not level with the others preventing me from locking it properly and thus leading to it snapping off, is now securely screwed into place.

Screwed I may add using a my hands and a screw driver. No cheating by using power tools for me! Just plain old brute force and ignorance… The manly way!

As you may have noticed I’m proud of this. Just as I am proud as hell of the new flushing system I fitted back in December that is not only still working like a charm (6months later) but also has it not leaked.

Why am I so proud? Because in an age of computers where you can get information about any subject at any time and learn anything at the click of a mouse, we are forgetting how good it feels to do the most basic things.

We are the only species in the world that have the ability to use tools to do more than poke or bash stuff. We all love a documentary where we see apes cracking nuts with stones or using sticks to get bugs out of a hole to eat. We don’t think about the fact that we can do so with our hands other that push buttons. (Once again I am aware of the irony that I am typing this).

So what does manliness have to do with it?

Men used to have a place in the world. We used to fight wild animals, hunt, fish, build, fight and defend. We used to farm, load, carry and protect our loved ones and our land from predators all with strong hands and strong back.

Men used to be powerful and strong, warriors and kings!

Have you seen what man has become?

The modern- and I use this term lightly- “alpha male” is a shiny, orange, sweet smelling, overly preened peacock with soft hands and manicured nails!

The amount of times I see one of these “men” and say to myself if I looked like that at his age I would of been punched is beyond me.

My question is; what do women see in that?

Don’t get me wrong I understand the need to be well presented. But fake tan and plucked eyebrows is pushing it.

There is nothing manly about spending longer to get ready to go out than your wife/girlfriend.

Speaking of which, when did it become fashionable to wear her clothes? This is not just me picking on the younger and more fashionable believe me. I was actually told by someone that their boyfriend buys his jeans from 5he women’s section because they fit tighter… TIGHTER? Why the hell would you want to wear tighter jeans? I split the back out of 3 pairs of trousers last year picking stuff up in suit trousers because my legs and glutes are too big and I couldn’t hitch.- if you are unfamiliar with the hitch it is pulling your trousers an inch or so above your ankles to add a little extra seat room when sitting etc.

Even the gym community has been hit with this. The gym is a place of testosterone and sweat.-Ladies you all know the respect I have for female weight lifters and a lot of that comes from your ability to put up with the testosterone and smell of sweat.- it is not the place for designer t-shirts and worrying about your hair! You are there to work, to sweat and to feed your primal need to be a true Alpha Male!

The kind of Alpha that makes all those Beta’s cower at your manliness. The kind of Alpha that makes the ladies notice you, want to be associated with you because their primal instinct is to be with the biggest, strongest and most powerful.

So stop talking about where you get your fake tan from!

By no means am I suggesting that men are superior to women. I am however slightly concerned that we are allowing our instincts as men to be dampened. We are no longer striving to be manly.

We have evolved from the caveman, we no longer need to hunt, our homes are no longer at risk of being raided by neighbouring tribes, but we still need to be men.

We need to fix stuff with our own hands, cook meat over a flame (if there is an opportunity to catch a fish or skin a rabbit that’s extra man points) not ask for directions when we are lost and make our loved ones feel protected and safe.

They say chivalry is dead but that’s mostly due to men not being confident enough to open doors for ladies, or take off their jacket and get wet in the rain so their partner doesn’t have to.

Women have always been men’s equals. It doesn’t mean they don’t need a little extra care every now and then. So stop worrying about your own hair and worry about theirs, they look better than you anyway.

So next time you have an opportunity to be manly grab it with you bare hands and put a little effort into it.

Take care

The Long Game

While writing my last post about Ego Training I got thinking about another closely linked subject, stretching and mobility work.

How many of us actually take the appropriate amount of time to warm up, stretch out and mobilise our joints before we crack on with a work out?

Sure we do the cursory arm circles, maybe an extended lunge and a few body weight squats but how often do we really take the time to prep our bodies for the punishment they are about to receive?

I know that I do not do enough. Regardless of my previous injuries and the few trapped nerves I have, and despite the weight and volume I subject my body to at 8:30 in the morning, I don’t not take enough time to “warm up” sufficiently.

Now let’s just decipher the meaning of a warm up for a second. A warm up is not the afore mentioned shoulder circles, lunges and squats. It’s not even 10mins on a cross trainer or stationary bike. It’s a good 30-60 seconds per muscle group I.e. Calves, hamstrings, quads, lats etc on a foam roller, followed by some joint mobility work -ankle and wrist rotations, hip rotations etc.- then a few light sets of an exercise best suited to the muscle group you intend to work e.g. Bench press.

Now I’m not saying 10mins on the stationary bike won’t increase your core temperature and the blood flow to your muscles because it will and that is definitely helpful. It will not however get your central nervous system firing, preparing your body to perform the exercises you intend it to at the best of your ability.

So if it is such an important part of training why is it so over looked?

In my opinion there are a few reasons why;

Firstly, time. It is hard enough for most people to dedicate and hour to the gym which when you count up the additional time spent getting there and back, changing into kit, out of kit, showering and the actual session you are looking at more like 2 hours. To then add 15-20mins warming up and cooling down you can safely say something’s got to be sacrificed.

Secondly, it’s boring. Seriously there is nothing fun about turning your head over your shoulder, holding it for 5seconds and turning back to the front 5 times per side to warm up your neck. Or rolling your shoulders 10times each way. It’s dull as hell.

Thirdly, it hurts! I’m not kidding rolling your tight overworked muscles over a piece of solid foam (or in some cases a solid rubber dog ball-yikes!) is not a pleasant experience for anyone. Yes you get that nice “just had a massage” feeling for about 3 seconds after you stop rolling whichever particular muscle you were working but then you move on to the next one and the pain starts all over again.

And fourth and finally if you are anything like me, you have psyched yourself up for the workout and just want to crack on with the good stuff.

Now I can lecture myself all day about the importance, the benefits and the necessity of a good warm up bit it’s that final point that will win every time.

I love training, I plan my sessions, I choose my goals, I psych myself up and by the time I get my kit on I am chomping at the bit to chuck some metal around. But is that the smartest way to play the game? Is it going to to keep me lifting until I’m old and grey? Probably not.

So here’s my plan, it’s been on the go about a week so it’s still in its infancy but…

I have written shorter workouts but I am still getting to the gym at the same time.

I have incorporated lighter “warm up” loads into my program so I don’t just rush in with the big stuff, and I am adding a little more mobility work in before I start.

I have also added 15mins gentle cardio to the end of my workouts to allow for my heart rate and core temperature to come down before I stretch out.

The goal for me is to be in better shape than most 30year olds when I’m 50 so I need to play the long game.

If I kept going the way I was I’d be a broken wreck of a man in 10 years. I need to train smart and treat my body with a little more respect.

What’s a few extra minutes a day anyway?

Take care

Brains Over Brawn

So here’s one for the lads.

There is a phenomenon amongst the world of weight training that will touch every man at some point or another. I have been as guilty of it in the past and am suffering for it. It is almost a right of passage which if left unchecked can ruin your lifting career and leave in a worst state than you were when you started.

What I am referring to is what is commonly known as “Ego Training”. Lifting too much weight regardless of the effects it has on your form, the strain it puts on your joints and muscles and the all round damage it can do to your body.

Dont get me wrong in order to increase your speed, size, strength, agility or whatever other goal you may have in the gym you need to push the boundaries. Without testing the limits you will never progress.

What I am talking about here however is lifting way more than you can manage, jeopardising your form, basically doing whatever it takes to get that weight up just so you can tell people that you can do it.

Now for all of you out there reading this that do lift you will probably have a similar image in your head as I do. You are picturing that guy, probably in a snap back cap and oversized vest with his nipples hanging out, grunting away as he hurls the over loaded barbell up from his waist, pulling himself on to his tiptoes while hyper extending his back, in order to get that weight to the top only to let fall back down to the start position and almost dropping the bar. In his head he just performed a biceps curl.

My question is if he were to stand up straight, lock his elbows into position and actually “curl” the bar by contracting his biceps and not swinging the thing up like a true biceps curl should be executed. Would he be able to lift even half as much weight? the answer is a resounding no!

What Malcom the meat head doesn’t realise is; by lowering the weight and performing the exercise with strict form, he would actually see better results.

But lets step away from Malcom for a moment.

A few years ago I discovered the Deadlift, and i fell in love with it. The concept of the lift is simple, grab the bar and lift it off the floor. It is one of the ultimate tests of strength, using almost every muscle in the body and it turned out I was good at it.

With a low centre of gravity, strong legs and good grip strength I was increasing my weight by the week!

The problem was I didn’t know the complexities of the exercise, I wasnt aware that by squeezing my lats and locking them into position and keeping my spine straight I would be protecting my back from injury. I didn’t realise the importance of keeping my core tight or squeezing my glutes. I just muscled that weight up with all my might, tearing it off the ground with a rounded back, pushing through my toes instead of my heels and leaning back too far at the top.

If I’d known what I know now about the deadlift 2 things would have happened. The first, I would have reached my personal best a lot sooner. The second, my back would be a lot healthier than it is today and I would still be making progress instead of starting from scratch again after a lay off.

You see all that was important at the time was getting those numbers. Feeling as amazing as I did after making that new maximum lift. I was a beast! Now I’m slightly broken. luckily the damage isn’t permanent and I am in the process of correcting the problems.

Another example is that of a friend of mine who is one of the most technically savvy personal trainers I have ever met, was still overwhelmed by the power of ego.

I’ll set the scene;

It’s peak time on a Tuesday night in the gym, it’s coming to the end of a workout and its time to perform Turkish Get Ups. once again for those not in the know this exercise involves holding a weight in one hand above your head as you transits from laying on your back to a standing position and then reversing the movement. It’s as complex as they come and this guy is REALLY GOOD AT IT! He does a couple of warm up reps to get the movement right then he goes for the maximum… 50kg!

Now before I go any further I need to point out this isn’t the first time he’s done this not 5 days before i had spotted him whilst he managed the weight with both arms. He is technically proficient and capable of handling the weight… but he was no longer nervous.

When I helped him do it the first time the gym was quiet, it was just he and I and all his focus was on the weight in hand, he was nervous as hell but he did it. This time round there were more spectators as not only is this exercise not in most people’s repertoire but he is also lifting a small adult above his head (seriously one of my friends weighs less than that soaking wet).

He takes a deep breath, raises the weight above his head and starts the exercise. He gets to a sitting position, he bridges his backside off the mat, he wavers, he corrects himself, he starts to move his knee behind him, he loses control of the weight and before he can move out the way it lands on his left forearm smashing it.

You see the ego is a powerful thing, in most cases you end up like me with a few niggles, if you are lucky you will be able to chuck weights around like Malcom the meathead and apart from looking a prat and not getting the true gains you could. Or you could be as unlucky as my friend with metal plates in your arm.

So how do you avoid the allure of the ego?

You plan your workouts, you learn as much as you can about the exercises you are performing, you make sure your form is strict and your movements controlled. You increase your weights in steady increments and you make sure you have a spotter for the big lifts that is savvy enough in his/her knowledge to tell you when you are pushing it, when your form is slipping etc.

Again I need to reiterate that you need to push your limits to progress, but you needn’t do it all at once. And no matter how much weight that person is lifting, you don’t need to prove anything to them. if you want to make a 200kg deadlift you will, eventually.

Don’t sacrifice your health for the perception of strength. It looks good now but you’ll feel it later and I don’t know about you but i want to be lifting into my old age.

Take care

Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff

When was the last time something truly terrible happened to you?

I’m not talking about dropping a wine bottle out of your shopping bag (something my wife will never live down), locking yourself out, or even the car breaking down.

I’m referring to the life changing, stomach churning, terrible that makes you rethink your life as it was, is or could be.

You see we spend so much of our time worrying about the price of petrol or the fact that the sun is shining for the first time this year and we are stuck in an office or whatever, that we don’t stop to realise that things could be a lot worse!

The funny thing is that the big nasty life changing terrible stuff is actually better for us than the daily grind.

Why? Because when something like that comes along we are forced to focus, adapt, and cope. We have to take control of ourselves, of our emotions and get ourselves back on track.

A big nasty terrible incident makes you realise who means the most to you, what is important to you and most importantly what and whom is not.

It is something that puts your daily worries and complaints into pale insignificance and the worrying thing is that forget.

When was the last time you said you had an awful day?

Think about it? Think about what made that day awful?

Maybe you woke up late so you had to skip breakfast only to sit in traffic on your way to work, you finally get to work only to find an email saying that a deadline has been brought forward and you aren’t near ready! You then rush lunch to complete it, you hand it in and then the email comes round correcting the deadline change; you didn’t have to panic but now you are behind on the work you had planned to do. You feel stressed to the eyeballs but crack on anyway cos it’s only a couple of hours until you can leave. You get out of work ASAP and head to the gym only to find you left your trainers at home in your rush. By this point you’ve had it and head home to a pile of bills on you door mat.

Bad day sure but life changing? Probably not. If you’d planned a bit better you would have been fine.

Let’s face it you could have lost your job, you could have been in a car accident, you could have been hurt or hurt someone else. There are any number of negative things that could have a changing effect on your life, but most of the time stuff just sucks a bit.

My point is we need to look at things a little more positively, we take for granted the fact that we have a roof over our head and food on the table. For most of us a tough month means we have to forgo a night or two out or cut down on the luxuries. We don’t ever consider that things could be a hell of a lot worse.

So my suggestion is don’t sweat the small stuff. If your job sucks that much quit.

If feel like you don’t have enough time in the day, plan a bit better and if you want something to happen… Make it happen cos complaining about it won’t help.

Take time to appreciate what you have and try and find something to smile about every day. You’ll be surprised how good life is when you stop to notice it.

Until next time

Take care

Why we do what we do.

We all have our reasons why we exercise. For health reason perhaps or to improve at a sport.

For some people however the reason they initially stepped foot in a gym was to prove something. To show the world that we are more than we appear to be.

In order to achieve anything you need the right motivation. A reason to make it happen and clear idea of how to get there. The methodology and science of true body building (I have mentioned before that this term refers to the improvement of ones physique and should not be directly linked to muscle bound monsters). Naturally leads to improvements in your diet, and sleep patterns. You become more structured in your daily life and thus more productive. You will become more in tune with your body and understand how to become more balanced.

Forgive me if this sounds like a sales pitch but it truly is the way I feel.

Before I started lifting seriously I was hideously disorganised. I literally floundered from one thing to another with no real purpose. It was only through learning the importance of planning and structure to improve the effectiveness of my workouts that I began to understand how to make the rest of my life more efficient.

Now bear in mind I have been training for a long time now and it a big part of my life but I have friends that have only been at it a few years and I can already see new habits forming.

One friend of mine looked like a baby giraffe trying to climb a tree the first time we trained together. He had no coordination, he was always late, and he was weak as a kitten but now he is almost a qualified personal trainer and has recently started a career as an armature kick boxer. He is utterly dedicated.

My wife began training properly to look good for our wedding -she nailed it by the way beautiful doesn’t come close, I nearly cried… Nearly- she now trains every morning at 6:30 (the nutter) and says she feels worse for not doing it.

The fact is habits have been formed and they are seeing themselves improve on a daily basis.

But let’s return to motivation.

Whatever your reason to start training you have to have a reason to continue. In my job I see people join the gym with every intention of quitting after just 3 months. What’s the point? You won’t see any significant changes, the ones that make me smile are those that want to see how they go and end up converting to 12month contracts after 10 days! These guys have read an article saying never commit to a contract and it has taken them no time at all to realise they need to commit to get the results they want. These are the people that I speak to daily and every time ask how they are getting on. I know how they are getting on, I asked them yesterday but they are always more that happy reply because they like to tell people that choosing to push themselves, choosing to make the effort, choosing to stay on track makes them feel awesome!

Even when you are laying on the floor too scared to get up because you know it’s going to hurt. Nervous of walking down stairs in case your legs give way because you pushed them too hard, need help taking off your t-shirt because you simply cannot lift your arms high enough. Even then you have a secret smirk to yourself because you have the motivation to go that far.

So whatever your reason for putting yourself through it, whatever inner demon drives you to test your limits, whoever it was that you wanted to be better for, to prove wrong, to stand up to. Thank them.

I say this because the reason many people start body building is due to bullying in some capacity. What few people realise is that it was surviving that bullying that made them tough enough to stick out the toughest workouts. To improve on every session. Lift more, lose more, run further, jump higher. Those small minded idiots that called my friend fat have no idea how tough she is now, and I wouldn’t recognise 1 of the kids that pushed me around at school but I quietly remember them when I need to reach a new personal best because they were my motivation to start and I thank the stupid sons of bitches.

Until next time,

Take care