Summer Cool Down

Not sure why he's doing yoga in
what appears to be cargo pants.

To say it's hot out is an understatement. The weather around here these past two days has been well over 90 degrees. It's so warm I imagine ice cream melts before it even hits your lips.

As a result, exercise becomes a bit more strenuous and taxing on the body. However, it's not impossible. Similarly to warming up in the winter, we can stay cool in the blazing sun. Of course, we just need to be smart about it.

1) Clothing

• Keep it minimal and light. Guys can get away with a pair of shorts and going shirtless. Girls will need to sport a tank top. I somewhat advise against hats since it retains heat, but if the sun is burning your head it might be wise to protect it.

• If you exercise barefoot outside remember hard surfaces become hot. You don't want to step out only to have your feet burned.
  

2) Combating Heat

• Whatever you're doing, sip on cold fluids. I prefer water over sports drinks. Sports drinks don't quench my thirst as well as water. Water also allows you to periodically splash your face/head. Drink and splash frequently, but be careful not to use the entire container early in the workout. You don't want to feel bloated or be without anything to drink.

• Take frequent breaks. Look for areas of shade to cool off.

3) Exercise Duration & Selection

• Exercise can't be over-the-top-balls-to-the-wall intense. Keep the session moderate or light intensity around 30 minutes to 1 hour.

• Don't do a handstand or anything where your head is upside-down. The blood rushing to your face is a terrible and nauseating feeling.

• If you're lifting, stick to low volume. Sets of 4 reps and keeping it 10 total reps or below is a good idea. For example, 2x3, 4x2, or 5x1 all would be great parameters to work with. Static holds like planks shouldn't be held too long - 20 seconds max.
  

• Take breaks of 2 minutes or more to get control of your breathing, find some shade, and allow your body to handle the heat.

4) Recovery

• After your session, take 5-10 minutes to cool down. Perform a mix of light activity such as walking, going up & down stairs, jumping jacks, arm circles, planks, push-ups, stretching, or other bodyweight movements. Give your body a moment to readjust to resting mode.

• Meditation is a useful tool. When you complete the cool down, find a quiet spot, close your eyes and take 10-15 minutes to focus on your breathing.

• Take a shower to wash the sweat off and de-stress.
  

If you don't exercise regularly, I suggest skipping exercise altogether in hot weather. Some may say it's crazy to do anything in the heat. It's not crazy. Whether it's practice or a game, athletes play in this weather.

I did it twice the past two or three weeks - once yesterday and another time in late May. I noticed the weather was well over 90 degrees and thought it would be interesting to try. The worst thing about it? Having to hold a barbell while your feet are on fire.

Why would I do it? Well it's a nice test of mental toughness (albeit not a huge one) and I like a challenge as much as the next guy/gal.

Secondly, some of the most bad ass athletes did out-of-the-box stuff. Take for instance Vasily Alexeev. This guy would toss weights into the Volga river and lift. I don't have a river nearby - not that I'd go into any of these murky waters - but I'll gladly try something new.

But back to the main point. You can exercise in hot weather as long as you're smart about it. Take a barbell, dumbbells, kettebells outside or perform bodyweight exercise.

Just have fun with it.

Olympic Lifting: Preparation

Pyrros Dimas looking
like a beast as usual.

I wasn't sure what to post today, but I knew I wanted to deliver more exercise content. I figured why not discuss Olympic weightlifting. I've noticed it becoming more popular, but the lack of a USAW coach's instruction acts as a limiting factor (another is finding an Olympic gym). I originally was going to write about strongman training, but thought more people will enjoy this.

I'll do one brief post on O-lifting each week for the next four or five weeks. However, I'm not a USAW Olympic coach, an elite weightlifter, or for that fact the most knowledgeable on the subject. I'm simply interested in sharing what I learned as I became more involved with it.

If you're not aware, Olympic weightlifting is the sport comprised of the snatch and the clean & jerk. The technical aspect of the lifts make the sport difficult. You have to be quick, strong, and have great technique to do well. I'll be oversimplifying things in these posts, but it will allow beginners to understand the movements easier.

If the movements are broken down, they can be recognized as a series of three or four separate lifts. They start out as a deadlift, become a shrug-jump movement, a squat, and then the addition of a press in the clean & jerk.

Prerequisites

As great as it would be to just give it a go and have the bar smash you in the chin or on your head, the lifts demand a lot of mobility in the ankles, hips, upper back, and shoulders. Luckily for me, I can refer to the following resources:

• Ankle mobility

• Hip mobility; I also recommend the following drill:

• Thoracic and shoulder mobility
  

If you don't focus in on these areas progressing along will be difficult. Pick exercises from each section and use them daily.

The last prerequisite I have to add is you have to know how back squat and deadlift. Both movements are integral in the primary lifts. If you can't do either, practice in the mean time along with the mobility drills.

And that's where I'll end it. A bit short, but I did say the posts will be brief. Next week I'll talk about triple extension, posture, hook grip, and more.

Other posts in this series,

• Part 2: Set-Up
  
• Part 3: Assistance Exercises
  
• Part 4: Full Competition Lifts
  
• Conclusion
  

Exercise Cues: Locking Out Overhead

Burly looking fellow. Must be a European lifter.

When it comes to Olympic weightlifting, most people talk about Glenn Pendlay or Greg Everett. I personally haven't read much from either coach. Instead I'm a big fan of Tommy Kono.

While watching one of his lectures* he briefly mentioned a tip on performing the jerk. He said to have your arms to cover your ears resulting in your elbows pointing away from them. This in turn will better help keep the weight overhead.

When using dumbbells I noticed a similar tip myself. I keep the weight racked close and in line with my ear. Otherwise if it's not close to you it becomes a struggle to hold the weight and press it up.

Next time you're doing any type of vertical press, try bringing your elbows to your ears as you press the weight overhead.

*See his lecture here.

Refinement of the Way

Character for "the Dao/Way."

The past few weeks I've been lax with my approach to training and writing. I usual follow a set routine, but instead I did everything on the fly.

I didn't do this out of laziness to plan. That's actually further from the truth. Rather, I've noticed the most elite and exceptional individuals did what was best for themselves. In their own realm they were above and beyond everyone else, such as Michael Jordan, Bruce Lee, and Jack LaLanne to name a few.

That's the distinguishing factor. The greats do their own thing and create their own individualized methodology. It's their own formulated system which works best for their own body. Within training and life, it takes a great deal of experimentation to find it. To find that special thing isn't easy.

Daoism calls it "the Dao," or "the Way" when translated into English. The name itself isn't important. What is important is that when it's found, you'll find yourself dedicated to it with a strong passion and as a result work won't feel like work. It will be your livelihood.

And that's what I'm in search for as I attend graduation this morning. To find my own Way: to develop and refine it in life.

"Wherever you go, go with all your heart." - Confucius

Exercise Cues: Pressing

If you think about exercises in certain ways it can make them easier to perform or help hammer in a few subtle details. For any pulling exercise, one you might have heard is to initiate and think of the pull through your elbow to retract your scapula.

Since pulling through the elbows is helpful, I wondered if the opposite is true. I now lock out and press through the elbows for pressing exercises. Additionally, a second point to concentrate on is the wrists.

Pay attention to these two points.

I've found pulling/pushing the bar through the elbows and wrists helps me press better. Racking and locking the weights into my chest has been much more solid and enforced a firm posture.

Just a quick tip for today. Have a good weekend everyone.

It Looks Good On Paper

What's written isn't
the same as what happens.

Before embarking on an endeavor or project it helps to write out a rough draft highlighting the major points. Doing so helps refine the plan further guiding it to become more structured. What we end up with is something a little more concrete to follow than the initial rough draft.

In an ideal world, execution of the plan would be perfect to what we wrote down. Unfortunately the ideal world is just that - ideal. Realistically speaking, the plan that's been created can't be prepared for every curve ball thrown at it. Whether we like it or not, there are always a host of variables at play.

As a result we have two opposing ends on a spectrum. At one is the perfect "ideal" plan where everything goes accordingly, while at the other end is the real world where everything can change in an instant. The former contains our original plan while the latter is the first trial run of it. Usually there are a few problems encountered when we try to enact the hard work we wrote out.

I'm certainly not trying to shoot down anyone's hopes. Rather I want to point out it's not always - more like never - straightforward in life. When it comes to exercise and nutrition, micromanaging every detail will only make you obsessive. For short term plans it is possible, but in the long run you need to keep your sanity.

From personal experience in the gym, I don't get to do everything I ponder up in my own head. Sure new exercises sound good in my mind, but when I attempt to do them in the gym it may be a total wreck. At other times availability of equipment might force me to switch exercises. In the realm of nutrition, I don't get to choose every meal if I have to attend a social event or if something comes up last minute. Instead I'll have to consider substitutes and alternatives.

Understand what looks good on paper isn't necessarily how it will turn out. Be prepared to make adjustments and adapt when the moment calls for it rather than having a failed effort or giving up.

Building Blocks of Lifting

We all have
to start somewhere.

I always liked this piece from Carter. It speaks volumes about having the patience to learn things properly from the start. Enjoy!

"Have you ever, in your adult life, been spoken down to like a child? That condescending tone; that instructive air of arrogance - oh boy I bet your blood boiled! Well I hope to avoid that but if you’re a beginner in the weight room, I’m telling you right now that you’re not unlike a child. And like a child, you may want something – in this case a program – but you’re not going to get it. Why? Because you’re not old enough – in training years that is.

Okay so preface or no preface, I can see that you’re still starting to redden in the face at my brazen assertion but please bear with me. Although I’ve likened you to a child, I promise you that I’m not going to speak down to you as I might a child. Quite the contrary, I’m going to reason with you. And I’m going to do so by starting with an analogy.

When you were in early grade school, did they teach you calculus? Did they hand you a crayon and tell you to write a lit review on Dr Seuss? Did you run gel electrophoresis to prep for mass spec analysis? No, of course you didn’t. You learned what numbers, letters and objects were. In other words, you were taught the very basics. Before you could perform math, you had to count from 1-10. Before you could read or write, you had to recite the alphabet. And way before you were taught what DNA was, you had to know that Jimmy had to excuse himself to the door on the right while Jenny had use the door on the left.

Your parents and teachers certainly expected you to learn and to advance your abilities along but they didn’t expect you to know how to make use of the fundamentals before being comfortable with said base units. Their patience in these early years was likely shaped by your young age but their expectations were given form by understanding – consciously or not - how we as human beings learn. That, as remarkable as we humans are, we still need to break things down or build things up from the sum of their parts. In other words, we need to have a grasp on the building blocks before we can begin building.

So knowing that you had to learn the alphabet before being able to read Barbell Back Squat in an exercise program; and knowing that you had to count to 10 before you could decipher what 3 x 8 meant when the set x rep scheme was provided in the plan; I ask you now, just why the heck do you think you should start a program or system without having a firm handle on the base units involved?

The fact is that you shouldn’t. We’re an “I want it now” society but when the weak link in the chain is you, not much can be done until you’re brought up to speed. And being brought up to speed involves being comfortable with the basics. What are the basics when it comes to resistance training, you ask? Six compound lifts that give form to any other exercise you could possibly want or need to perform. These being:

Squat
Deadlift
Bench press / push-up
Shoulder press
Bent-over row
Pull-up / Chin-up

Learn how to perform the above 6 lifts and you’ve unlocked the reading, writing and arithmetic of the weight room. Don’t learn how to perform these lifts and resistance training will always be a second language. Not unlike broken English or having to add by using your fingers, sure you may get by but it will be an arduous, non-optimized time.

So do yourself a favour and take the time and effort now to get comfortable with the big 6. And no, you probably won’t get comfortable with them by watching a video or reading instructions – especially in the short term.

So yes that does mean that you’re either going to have to spend day in and day out, week in and week out and month in and month out playing around on your own; or that you’re going to have enlist the help of someone – in person – who can help you. I don’t care if it’s Uncle Johnny, the neighbour’s son who just got home from university, or a paid professional. Your task is to learn these lifts by whatever means necessary.

If you do go the paid professional route, it doesn’t mean that you have to hire them on to train you or to run you through some inane bosu ball circuit put together by the suits who run the club. So ignore their sales BS or their assertions of “you have to do this or do that.” Go in there, tell them “I’m going to pay you to teach me these 6 lifts over the course of the next 2 weeks.” Trust me, if they’re worth your employ – that is they know what they’re doing – they’ll appreciate your request and happily have you well versed and on your way to a better you in no time."