Check out this killer post by Elliot below…

If you’re like me, you probably want nothing more than to feel like a ’super-stud’ every time you take your shirt off in public. You want to have the confidence to say, ‘Boy, this sweaty shirt is chaffin’ me’, then reach over your shoulder and tear your shirt off like Brad Pitt in Fight Club. When you know that your pecs look like two soup bowls inserted beneath your skin, and your abs are as hard the asphalt you stand on, it’s tough to keep your shirt on!

Today you are gonna learn the top 5 training principles that you MUST implement in order to make your physique and performance goals… a reality. But, before I open the info-floodgates, there is something you’ve got to understand. Men… all men, should recognize that we are athletes and our training programs must reflect this.

Even if you’re a ‘pencil pusher’ or a ‘white collar crook’, the essence of your being is athletic. In order to see any type of fitness results it is essential to recognize that Squats, Power Cleans, 40 Yard Dashes and Vertical Jumps are not only for NFL Combine participants… they are for you!

1. You’re An Athlete By Design

The foundation principle of everything that I teach all begins with one extremely powerful phrase: “We are primal beings living in a modern world”

Our physical bodies have been unchanged for thousands of years. In fact, today, our bodies are an exact expression of what our ancestors were over 100,000 years ago. It is believed that it takes about 100,000 years for 0.001percent of a genome to change… so yourself and Primal Man are for all intents and purposes… the same.

What has changed is how WE have chosen to live, if you can even call it that. As we have ‘advanced’ in technology we have regressed in physical strength and stature.

We function at a much lower capacity than were inherently capable of. This is analogous to those people who buy off-road vehicles that will never see anything but concrete! You’ve been given the ultimate athletic tool… use it.

2. Short, Hard and Intense Workouts Yield Lean, Hard and Muscular Bodies

When you spend over an hour in the gym sitting on useless ‘fitness machines’ while you’re waiting to do your ‘next set’…your nervous system’s primal response is to release Cortisol and Glucocorticoids – which are stress hormones, (these make you sick, sad, fat and, stupid) in response to your body thinking… “Holy Cow, we’ve been training for over an hour… perhaps we’re being chased by a tiger and need to preserve body fat”, then it begins sacrificing muscle tissue for energy! This is called The Catabolic Effect. Also, workouts exceeding 1 hour have been shown to be associated with a rapid decrease in androgen levels.

This is why marathon runners look so emaciated… id much rather look like one of those Lock, Stock & Ready Sprinters with muscles rippling across their backs and abs.

3. Aerobics and Cardio Training Is Boring & Ineffective

You’ve seen the chunky aerobics instructors;  they do cardio all day long… don’t you think that they would be a bit leaner? Well, there is a scientific reason as to why they are chubby even though they bounce up and down on those colorful blocks all day long. In fact research has shown that aerobic instructors who taught an average of 3 hours a day maintained a body fat of 22-24% – mind you, that Olympic athletes hover around 9%.

Especially with repetitive exercises like aerobics the body adapts quickly to the stimulus and ceases to respond to the stimulus. Also, you begin to become very fuel-efficient… Listen, think of a metabolism that has adapted to long treks of cardio as being a Honda… it burns very little fuel (i.e. fat) but can go miles and miles. Think of a metabolism that is roaring with increased mitochondria activity (as is present in someone who weight trains with circuits) as a Hummer, large fuel combusting metabolism!

Here’s why this is so important! You want a stronger heart, without the fat saving response of long boring cardio treks. That is why I teach my clients how to do work capacity sets. We take 4-6 exercises and complete them back to back with no rest and aim to complete them all with in about 2 minutes… if your heart is not ready to pound out of your chest after that, then maybe you should visit your veterinarian!

Here’s a simple circuit that you can do at home – first 20 squats, then 20 lunges, then ’step ups’ on a bench 10 each leg, finally do 10 squat jumps and get it all done in less than 90 seconds! Kick-ass workout!

We begin every session with Plyometrics and then get right into 3-5 “work capacity” sets for upper and lower body.

4. Get High on Oxygen & Sunshine

Besides the fact that training on treadmills and ’sit down’ exercise equipment is less effective than getting your feet on the ground and learning how to use your own bodyweight, training indoors can be detrimental to your performance and fitness results.

As ‘primal beings’ we are in need of several vital elements and forms of energy. The suns rays are nourishing to your mind as well as body. It is well documented that those who live in the cooler northern climates that enjoy less sunshine through out the year are several times more likely to suffer from depression.

Also, if you’re like most Americans you work and live indoors (maybe). In fact, the average person spends 90% of their time indoors. Several health experts have propounded that our homes and workplace are the most toxic environments in our lives. Many studies have stated that toxic particles and fumes found in your home and workplace include: air fresheners, spray starch, paints, mothballs and even ‘new car’ smell kills more people every year than automobile accidents!

So, what do you do? Train in the great outdoors! When I train my Strength Camp clients at Vinoy Park in St. Petersburg Florida, not only do we benefit from the sweet bay breeze but also the scenery is beautiful enough to give a nun spring fever!

5. It’s Gotta Be Fun!

Drop out rates for exercise programs are almost as high as the drop out rate in my old middle school! The bottom line is, if you don’t enjoy it – you wont do it. The most effective way to ensure that you stick with your training program is to change it often. This doesn’t mean hop from one modality to the next before you get any results. It means stick with your weight-training program for a minimum of 90 days but change the exercises you use for each body part every few weeks.

This not only keeps you interested but also, your nervous system will be challenged with the new exercises and be forced to adapt. This yields fast and long-lasting results!

To learn more about Elliot and take advantage of the 50% off sale on Lean Hybrid Muscle before it ends on 3/11/2010, click HERE now.

Related posts:

1. 10 Reasons Why I Don’t Do Aerobics
2. Train Smarter
3. What it Takes to Train at Renegade Gym

Pearl Jam- There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t listen to some Pearl Jam. They are my all time favorite band by a mile (Public Enemy is second, for those keeping score). I’ve seen them over 50 times live and will see them at least another 50-100 more times. The two best training tracks off the new record are Got Some and Gonna See My Friend.

La Coka Nostra- This is the original three members of House of Pain along with a couple other lesser known friends of theirs. As far as hip hop training music goes, this is the best thing out there right now. I believe it’s also the best thing Everlast has ever done in his entire career, and I have followed him since his time in Ice T’s Rhyme Syndicate. There hasn’t been anything in hip hop close to this in the last five years. Almost every song on A Brand You Can Trust is gym worthy.

La Coka Nostra member Ill Bill has a few tracks featuring the rest of the crew that are worth getting as well: This is War, War is My Destiny, Pain Gang, It’s a Beautiful Thing.

Also check out Problemz and Get Outta My Way by Slaine. Both tracks also feature other members of the crew and are great for the gym.

Viking Skull- Hard rock/metal without being silly hardcore and unbearable for most human ears. There are a few good songs but my favorite is Start A War.

Obie Trice- I’ve been a big fan of Obie for years now. Recently I downloaded Welcome, Got Hungry, On & On, I Am. All good stuff.

50 Cent- Death to My Enemies, Crime Wave, I Get Money, I’ll Whip Ya Head Boy (featuring M.O.P. & Young Buck)

Eminem- I love Em as much as anyone but I truly feel that he wastes his talent on silly subject matter a lot of the time. He’s at his best when he’s angry and rapping with purpose. Having said that Elevators is a decent warm up track. I’m hoping for big things on his next record.

EPMD- Pioneers of old school hip hop and one my top five all time favorites. They recently came out with some new stuff which is gym worthy. Putten Work In (featuring Raekwon), Actin Up, What You Talkin (featuring Mobb Deep)

Rakim- Another leader of the old school. How to Emcee is a good warm up or cool down song.

KRS ONE & Buckshot- Yet another old school legend returns. Some of the best tracks are Survival Skills, Robot

The Black Keys- They recently did a hip hop album which is pretty damn good. They play, other guys rap. Dollaz & Sense featuring Pharaoh Monch & RZA is the best track to train to.

Rass Kass- Burn This Bitch Down

The Roots- Here I Come, Get Busy (featuring Dice Raw & Peedi Peedi)

Young Buck- Do It Myself

Royce da 5’9”- Royce is an underrated but incredibly talented MC who knows how to make some good training music. I recommend Gun Harmonizing, Dinner Time (featuring Bust Rhymes), Duck Down, Death Day, No Way to Stop Me, Count For Nothing, Scary Movies (featuring Eminem), Nuttin to Do (featuring Eminem)

Slaughterhouse- Fight Klub, Onslaught 2, Yeah

Wu-Tang Clan- Kill Too Hard

Raekwon- House of Flying Daggers

Dropkick Murphys- Loyal to No One, The Warriors Code, Shipping Up To Boston, The State of Massachusetts, Flannigans Ball

Beastie Boys (featuring Nas)- Too May Rappers

Jedi Mind Tricks- Animal Rap, Tibetan Black Magicians, Heavy Metal Kings, Butcher Knife Bloodbath

Army of the Pharaohs- Battle Cry, Feast of the Wolves

2Pac- Hit ‘Em Up, The Realist Killaz (featuring 50 Cent), Troublesome ’96, Ghost, Against All Odds, Untouchable

DMX- I wasn’t a huge fan back in the day but over the last year I have come to embrace DMX in the gym. Outside of the gym I would find most of this to be intolerable. For training I like: Don’t You Ever, Fuckin with D, Comin For Ya, Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood, Intro, Stop Being Greedy, One More Road to Cross, Get it on the Floor, X Gon Give it to Ya, We Go Hard (featuring Cam’ron)

Marilyn Manson- Definitely one of my favorites in the gym. My latest download of his is Arma-Goddamn-Motherfuckin-Geddon. Not as good as classics like The Fight Song, Better of Two Evils, Mob Scene or Little Horn, but not bad.

Static X- Another long time gym favorite. Besides the old classics we have recently been rocking Terra Fied, I’m The One, Z28, Hypure, Lunatic, The Only

Rollins Band- Nothing new here, but I have grown a bit tired of screaming satanic death metal lately (must be that “getting older” thing). I still like it but just can’t take as much of it as I used to. As a result I have found a renewed passion for stuff like the Rollins Band. Some of my favorite cuts are: What’s the Matter Man, Tearing, I See Through, Gone Inside The Zero, On My Way to The Cage, Low Self Opinion, Are You Ready, Do It, You Didn’t Need,

Black Flag (see above)- Six Pack, Life of Pain, Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie, My War,

Orange 9M- When You Lie

For heavy squat or deadlift days I still like to crank up some of the following stuff for 20-30 minutes. After that I need to take it down a notch as my eardrums can’t tolerate more than a half hour of it…

Slayer
Killswitch Engage
Chimaira
Underoath
Five Finger Death Punch
Slipknot
In Flames
Deftones
Superjoint Ritual

If anyone’s interested I’ll list all the stuff I listen to outside of the gym sometime later this week, as it’s nearly 180 degrees opposite of this stuff.

Please leave your comments below and add your recent favorite training music.

Related posts:

1. More For Your Eardrums
2. Hardcore Hip Hop For Hardcore Training
3. Spin the Black Circle

For more information on what you get and to become a member right now click HERE.

Related posts:

1. Spin the Black Circle
2. What it Takes to Train at Renegade Gym
3. Training: Renegade Style

People all too often ask, “How much can ya bench?” A more appropriate question would be “How many pull ups can you do?” The pull up measures your strength to weight ratio better than almost any other exercise known to man. You are pulling up  one hundred percent of your bodyweight, in the exact manner the human body was designed to work. It’s one of the most natural exercises you can do. While not everyone can squat or deadlift due to lower back or knee problems, pretty much everyone can do pull ups. Or should be able to do pull ups…

To this day I am still haunted by the image I witnessed in a local park a few years ago when I was there training. A man my age was there with his wife and his son. He was shooting some hoops, watching his kid play, and basically just enjoying the beautiful July weather. At one point he wandered over to the pull up bar and got on it. He then proceeded to twist and squirm and strain for the next 10-15 seconds as he attempted and failed to do one pull up. ONE PULL UP! Now mind you, this guy was not obese. He had the average adult male physique- 5’9”, 165 pounds with a 38 inch waist, ten inch arms and “a chest like a wet blanket,” as Frank Rizzo of The Jerky Boys would say.

The second hand embarrassment was enough to make me want to dig a hole and jump in it.

“Look at the man you married, honey. I can’t do a single pull up. But don’t worry, I can keep you safe.”

“Hey buddy, watch how strong daddy is. Don’t you want to grow up to be just like me?”

To paraphrase Matt Rhodes, a man who can’t do pull ups is a woman. Or some other form of living being, because the women at my gym can do ten or more. But you can’t call yourself a man if you can’t do pull ups. It’s as simple as that.

Below are the top 10 ways to improve your pull ups.

1) Don’t go to failure- This is the biggest problem I see with pull ups. Everyone goes to failure on every set. That’s because it’s so easy to do. As soon as a single rep does not look exactly like the previous one and you can’t get as high, the set is over. If your speed slows down noticeably the set is over. You would never continue a set of squats if you could no longer lock out the weight. If you got all the way up on rep five but were only able to get up ¾ of the way on rep six you wouldn’t proceed to do four more reps of partials until the set ended with the weight crashing down on you and crippling you. But that’s exactly how people finish their sets of pull ups. The form gets worse and worse and worse, and they keep going and going and going, climbing up the invisible ladder, swinging and kipping. When you do this you get no stronger. And most of the time you get weaker. The negative effect of training to failure is seen more on chin ups than any other exercise. No one knows why this is, but trust me, that’s how it is.

2) Lose excess body fat- If you are carrying excess body fat your ability to do pull ups will be greatly reduced. Extra body fat is good for lifting more weight in certain exercises that require greater leverage like the squat and deadlift. But that’s all it’s good for. Other than that it’s unhealthy and unsightly.

3) Start in the proper position- All too often people start in the dead hang position with their scapula elevated and their shoulders touching their ears. This is dangerous and incorrect. When you do this all of the tension is placed on your tendons and ligaments instead of your muscles. When you get on the bar you want to pull your shoulder blades down and lock your shoulders into their sockets. This is a far safer position and ensures that the stress will be placed directly on the muscles and not the tendons and ligaments.

4) Maintain a slight elbow bend throughout the set- This goes hand in hand with the above tip. Before starting your set you want to bend your elbows ever so slightly. This bend should barely be noticeable, but it will have a huge impact on your elbow health. Do not start with your elbows completely locked. This, again, places all of the stress on the tendons and ligaments instead of on the muscles. On each successive rep you should lower yourself until your arms are nearly straight, stopping just shy of lockout. But don’t use this as an excuse to cheat. Just shy of lockout means that your elbows are “99% locked out;” you just don’t want that complete extension.

5) Initiate with the lats- When you start to pull, be sure that you fire your lats first; not your biceps. If you have trouble feeling your lats, as many newbies do, have someone poke or slap your lats a few times before you start pulling. Even having a partner keep his hands in contact with your lats throughout the set may help. It may also look a little strange to other members of your gym.

6) Drive your elbows down- To get the most out of your lats when you chin you should think about driving your elbows down and back. Don’t simply pull with your biceps.

7) Pull your chin to the bar- I used to be a stickler for having people pull their chest to the bar. I still instruct beginners to do that, knowing full well that they won’t be able to, but that it will at least instill the importance of getting high. You only need your chin to clear the bar. That last few inches does very little for you lats and instead focuses the stress on the smaller, weaker muscles of your upper/middle back. The pull up should be used to target the lats, first and foremost. Don’t waste energy struggling with that last few inches at the top. Get your chin over while keeping your back arched and then lower yourself. Use other rowing exercises to target those smaller upper back muscles and use the pul up to smoke your lats completely.

8] Use a variety of grips- There are countless ways to pull your body up. You can do chin ups with your palms facing you at a number of different grip widths. You can also do chin ups with your palms facing each other, or pull ups with your palms facing away at multiple grip widths.  You can pull up on bars, rings, fat bars, ropes, towels, suspension straps, beams, Eagle Loops, and even baseballs or softballs hanging from a chain. The variations are endless. Use as many different chin ups as possible to avoid burnout or overuse injuries.

9) Use a variety of rep ranges- To do a lot of pull ups you need strength and you need endurance. Strength is built with low reps. You can do low reps with a weighted vest or dip belt or you can simply perform more difficult variations of pull ups. Endurance is built with high reps. This is where the use of bands comes in handy. Having a few different levels of band tension will allow you to vary your rep range greatly. This will help you boost your chin up numbers a lot faster. Some days you train in the range of 1-5 reps for maximal strength. Some day you train in the range of 6-12, and others you train in the range of 15-30, with a band, to improve your endurance.

10) Strengthen your grip- The stronger your grip is the easier pull ups will feel. I suggest getting a Captains of Crush Gripper and using it a few times per week. You can also add in some more specific grip work at the gym like fat bar holds, hexagon dumbbell holds, as well as various pinching and crushing exercises.

Start using these top 10 ways to improve your pull ups today and drop me a line to let me know how they’re working out for you.

Please leave your comments below.

Related posts:

1. How to Improve Your Chin Ups
2. How to Improve on Chin Ups
3. How to Build Big Traps

There were lots of great discussions over the weekend and as always I learned a thing or two from everyone I had the chance to speak with. Whenever you get the chance to be around guys like this you have to be sure that you are absorbing as much information as possible.

I hope to do more with these guys in the future and will be bringing you some great interviews and collaborations both on the main site and in the members section.

A lot of people had questions for me on plant based eating and were interested in making the switch to a healthier, performance enhancing diet. I was excited to hear that Lee Taft hasn’t touched meat or dairy in five months and said that, in his mid forties, he has never felt better in his life. He said he has more energy, never gets sore anymore, recovers faster than he used to and is no longer plagued by some of the minor injuries that used to bother him. It’s always great to hear more stories like this, confirming what I have experienced personally and with all of my clients who have made the switch. The benefits are just too powerful to ignore any longer.

I think I even convinced IYCA founder, Brian Grasso to make the switch. I will keep you updated on his progress and will expand on this whole plant based nutrition concept some more very soon.

Thanks again to everyone who came up to say hi over the course of the weekend. It was great meeting all of you and I hope to see you again sometime in the future.

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On any given day there’s a good chance that I’ll sell all of my material possessions and move into the wild. Or at least I dream I will. I imagine a life with no TV, no internet and no cell phones, where I am eternally happy and stress free. I know that the internet makes our lives easier and helps many of us, including myself, make money. It’s just that it also complicates things and takes up too much of your time, if you let it. We live in a society where everyone always needs to be plugged in. I, for one, just want to be unplugged more often.

A couple years ago I got rid of email on my phone and then downgraded to something more basic without all the bells and whistles. On most days, now, I don’t even turn my cell phone on until somewhere between noon and four in the afternoon. I can’t really explain why, except for the fact that maybe I miss the eighties and early nineties, when people couldn’t get a hold of you at anytime, no matter where you were. That and the fact that it helps me be more productive due to far fewer interruptions.

When it comes to checking regular email these days, forget about it. I can barely bring myself to login to my account, never mind read dozens of emails and respond to them.

And that’s exactly how I feel about complicated training programs. When I let my guard down and check out some other training sites on occasion, my head often starts to spin when I read some of the recommendations that are being made. Bill Starr was the first strength coach to work at both the collegiate and professional level. He was the strength coach for the Baltimore Colts when they won Super Bowl V. No matter what the guru’s may tell you about slide boards, balance training, kettlebell swings, Bosu balls, tempo training, eccentrics and simultaneously working one arm with the opposite leg, the fact of the matter is that not much has changed in the last forty years when it comes to effective strength training. As Bill said himself, “the more simple a program, the more it will achieve the desired results, which is greater functional strength.”

An effective strength training program doesn’t need more than thee to five total exercises per workout. If you write a program with more exercises than that it’s usually for entertainment value, not for results. People should concentrate on quality not quantity and strive to do fewer things better.

If you are an athlete that usually means you will only be training for three to six months out of the year. The rest of your time will be spent playing or practicing. For three to four of those months you should be squatting. Back squats reign supreme, but you could also do front squats for variety and overhead squats to improve your mobility and build functional strength and stability in a completely different manner.

I love deadlifts, but the reality is that most athletes would be better served doing some sort of Olympic pull. A snatch or clean variation, and preferably both, should be part of the program. There’s less risk and more benefit.

If you are also running and jumping, which every athlete should be doing, there is very little need for anything else in the weight room aside for mobility work such as hurdle step overs, duck unders, some joint prep work and some isometric bridging exercises. All of this should be part of the warm up and does not constitute the strength portion of the program.

If an athlete is very inflexible it would probably benefit him to do some split squats or Cossack squats and hold the stretch position at the bottom for a few seconds. Romanian dead lifts or single leg RDL’s could help as well. Loaded stretching that you turn into an exercise seems to be more effective than regular stretching; which bores most athletes to tears. Some extra tight guys will need both. But, there is nothing inherently more “functional” or “sport specific” about single leg exercises, as some coaches suggest. They can be used in certain cases but they aren’t necessary when an athlete only has 12-16 weeks to train. If you have six months to train, I would recommend starting with unilateral work at the beginning, for the first couple of months. For everyone else with limited time, you need to get the most bang for you buck, which means you need to head to the squat rack.

For the upper body athletes need to press vertically and horizontally. Bench presses, inclines and military presses are at the top of the list; especially for football players who will most likely get tested on one or two of these. Personally I prefer to use weighted pushup variations or dumbbells most of the time but when guys are getting tested you are left with no option. These exercises are great assistance movements, however.

Chin ups and rows should also be included to balance out the upper body training and keep the shoulder region healthy. A wide variety of chins should be included to help avoid any possible tendon issues that can arise from using the same grip too often.

If you pick one of each of these exercises and use the proper set and rep scheme you have as effective a strength program as you can find. If, in one workout you were to snatch, squat, press and chin what more would you possibly need? That’s a program that will get you strong. When you start adding in rear delts, concentration curls, Cuban presses, right leg/ left hand step up and military press, fancy tempo schemes and all that nonsense you take away from the effectiveness of the program; not add to it. People need to understand that every single muscle group does not need individual attention and isolation. When you do snatches and overhead presses you eliminate the need for direct external rotation, shrugs, rear delt and rhomboid work. That’s bang for your buck right there…

Athletes play their sport. That is how they get conditioned optimally. They run, jump, cut and do agility drills. That is how they develop the ability to do these things better; not by doing weight vest multi-planar lunges on the slide board. You need to build strength in the weight room and play or practice your sport frequently so that the strength transfers over. Most “sport specific exercises” and all that clown nonsense do very little.

Interestingly enough, the guy who DOES need all that extra stuff in the weight room is the thirty or forty year old guy who’s just training because he loves it, but isn’t competing in a sport. For him, the workout IS his sport. If all he does is powerlifting or Olympic lifting he will most likely be pretty banged up in a few years and getting one step closer to a shoulder or knee surgery on a daily basis. Guys like this, who train year round, should only squat and deadlift for blocks of 12-16 weeks, once or twice a year, if at all. It really depends on their injury history and goals. If all he does is bodybuilding, he might look good but will possess no functional strength or the athleticism to compete in a pick up beach volleyball game. One spike attempt and he may tear an abdominal muscle, lat or rotator cuff. So this guy actually needs so called “sport specific training” more than the athlete does. Weird but true. Plus, anyone who trains year round definitely needs more variety than the athlete who only trains for a few months. But, only after you have been training for a few years and have mastered the basics. This is another article for another day but I will address this in full detail very soon with specific case studies.

An athlete, training for only 12-16 weeks, however, should pick big, basic exercises that get the job done fastest. These are usually simple, old school barbell exercises. Sometimes dumbbells or bodyweight exercises can work just as well, but you have to remember that many athletes will be getting tested on a barbell lift (or three) at camp so they need to train on them during the off season. That and the fact that it is so ingrained in our heads that strength (especially for football) is measured by the numbers you clean, squat and bench press.

The point of all this is that if you want to get better results from your training you need to simplify. Complicated routines lead to lackluster results. Like Bruce Lee said, “simplicity is the key to brilliance.” It also helps you get bigger and stronger a whole lot faster.

Simplify your program to amplify your results.

Please leave your comments below.

Related posts:

1. A Muscle Building Program For Huge Legs
2. Another Reason Your Muscle Building Program Sucks
3. Questions and (no) Answers

Although I am incredibly happy for the city of New Orleans I am also a big Brett Favre fan. I thought it would have been a cool story to see Brett come back and lead his team to the Super Bowl after having the greatest season of his long career.

I particularly liked the post game press conference when Brett said that no matter what anyone else thinks he’s going out on top. To dominate like he did at forty years old is very impressive. Think about that for a second… The guy is forty…and a professional athlete… in one of the most brutal, physically demanding sports on the planet… and dominates. It’s amazing when you put it in perspective. Especially since most average guys in their forties are fat, lazy, weak and out of shape. Hell, most average guys in their thirties fit that description.

I often run into former high school or college athletes who are in their thirties now and have long since stopped doing any sort of physical activity. Their reasoning is that they are “too old, “over the hill,” or “washed up.”

“Dude, I can’t do heavy squats or deads anymore. I haven’t done that since college. I don’t need to be doing that stuff at my age.”

I point them in the direction of Brett Favre, Randy Couture or Louie Simmons and tell them to listen to some old Ice Cube; particularly “Check Yo Self.”

Speaking of which, a forty five and forty six year old guy main evented a UFC pay per view Saturday night. If that’s not motivation to get off your ass and train harder I don’t know what is. It definitely got me thinking about where I want to be in ten years.

As usual, we did a good twelve hours of cooking yesterday and my friend, the master chef, Mike DeSanti was at it again. Mike’s family has a history of recipes that go back several generations and he has taken cooking classes and worked as a chef in restaurants around the world. Red quinoa salad with string beans, chick peas, and peppers. Green pea salad with artichokes. Some kind of wacky mushrooms on toasted French bread. I’ve been twisting Mike’s arm to get these recipes together in some kind of format that will allow me to share them with all of you guys in the near future. Hopefully he complies. You wouldn’t believe the creations he comes up with.

We found a new vegan cheese that they sell at the deli counter at Whole Foods which really stepped the pizzas up a notch. One plain pie, one with “meat,” and one with roasted garlic. Jen made the world’s greatest escarole and beans with some vegan pesto and a few incredible desserts like pumpkin pie, brownies and coconut quinoa cookies. I didn’t realize until recently that you can replace eggs in a dessert recipe with tapioca starch. Good to know. But then again, I’m usually on the couch while Jen and Mike man the kitchen. Every so often I wonder over to spill something, break a glass or suggest that the first pizza could have been cooked a few minutes longer or used more cheese. I like to think of myself as more of an idea guy. I think…

It’s been a while since I have posted anything about music and there have been lot’s of requests so stay tuned for that one day this week. Until then…

Please leave your comments below.

Related posts:

1. Sunday Cheat Meals

Since I eat pretty clean throughout the week my goal on this day is to jam down as many junk food calories as possible. But even at that, I try not to get into too much deep fried, saturated fat, heart attack food.

Breakfast will often be something like blueberry buckwheat quinoa pancakes. Yup, all that in one cake. We smother that in maple syrup and top it with some more fresh blueberries. This will be followed up by a bowl of fresh fruit topped with shredded coconut.

Since pizza and football go so well together we always make a few pizzas throughout the day with crusts that we buy at Whole Foods and some home made or jarred, organic tomato sauce. On one of them we’ll throw an olive tapenade with some onions. On another we will put some fake ground beef and peppers and onions. Sometime’s we’ll get fake meatballs or sausage and put this on a pie as well. Depending on the day or mood we’re in we may or may not add soy cheese to the pies. Or some days we’ll mix and match. I don’t eat these fake meat or cheese products during the week at all and avoid all soy and wheat, in fact. But on cheat days all the rules get broken.

One of my favorite pizzas is the beet and sweet potato pizza. We bake the beets and diced sweet potatoes first, and then put them on top of the pizza before putting it in the oven. It’s incredible.

We almost always make homemade hummus and have a huge tray of vegetables to counterbalance the junk food. Along with the veggies I will also go through an entire bag of Lundberg rice chips. Sometimes two. And a sleeve of some type of vegan cookie. Oh, and a bag of dark chocolate covered almonds from Whole Foods. Honestly, I could get through the day just on those. Give me a sack of those and I’m a happy man.

Then we get to the four o’clock game…

Around half time of this game is when we are looking at “dinner.” This could be fake riblets, kale slaw, baked beans, rolls and a big salad. Another favorite is veggie burgers and dogs on fresh rolls with sautéed onions, sliced avocadoes, homemade fries and ketchup.

Dinner could also be eggplant parm with brown rice pasta like we had last Sunday, compliments of my good friend and master chef, Michael DeSanti. Mike makes an incredible assortment of vegetable based dishes that always make up a large part of Sunday’s menu. One of my favorite green dishes is sautéed rainbow chard.

Other times dinner will just be some kind of lentil stew with onions, celery, carrots, kale, garlic, spices and potatoes. If we don’t have potatoes we might just pour this over brown rice pasta.

On days we don’t want to put too much effort in to dinner we will just make fake sausage and peppers sandwiches. There’s also an assortment of quinoa and brown rice dishes we make as well that I will cover another time.

By the time the eight o’clock game rolls around we are getting ready for dessert (as if I hadn’t had enough already). I’ll always whack down a pint or two of Purely Decadent coconut milk ice cream. This will be accompanied by some home made cookies or brownies and a glass of almond milk.

Recently we made a raw chocolate pudding consisting of avocadoes, carob powder and maple syrup. Combine all the ingredients in the food processor, chill for about 10-15 minutes and then shovel it down. Really good stuff.

At that point of the night I’m done and will be lucky if I can keep my eyes open to see the fourth quarter. On Monday morning it’s back to clean eating for the next six days. And a much needed visit with the Prowler.

Please leave your comments below.

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2. My Diet
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Now I know this may come as an odd statement, considering what I do for a living and the fact that I am a part of the fitness industry. But I really don’t care to “give the gift of fitness” to people. I’m not going to be showing up at your front door dressed as Richard Simmons and telling you to pull your fanny of the couch because “it’s time to get fit!”

I don’t give a shit.

Before I go any further I should point out that I am not talking to most of my regular readers because, obviously you wouldn’t be here if you fit the description. Rather, I am pointing out the fact that people have often mistaken me for the wrong guy and I am trying to clear that up.

If you want to sit around and eat donuts all day why would that possibly bother me? And why would I want to motivate you? I’m not Jenny Craig or Matt Foley the motivational speaker who lives in a van down by the river. What you do is your choice. Sure I will make fun of you, laugh at you and encourage others to do the same; but it’s your life, not mine.

If you are too stupid to realize that regular exercise and a healthy diet is a necessary part of life I’m not going to waste my time telling you. Get on some prescription drugs, order a sausage pizza and watch another episode of Friends.

People ask me all kinds of questions when they find out what I do for a living.

“How do I lose this?” (grabbing a handful of a 48 inch waist)

“I don’t know.”

“How long should I do the stair climber for?”

“I don’t know.”

“I can’t give up carbs but I want to get lean. What should I do?”

“I don’t know.”

“I only have twenty minutes to train, twice a week. What should I do?”

“I don’t know.”

“I know you’re into all that heavy lifting but I can’t do that. What can I do instead?”

“I don’t know.”

“I’m a girl and I don’t want to get too bulky so how should I lift?”

“I don’t know.”

“How do I get motivated to go to the gym?”

“I don’t know.”

You either want to do something or you don’t. I’m not in the business of motivating people. Sure, I’ll shout some words of encouragement to serious trainees before they attempt a new squat max, and may even question their manhood in an attempt to get them even angrier. And I’ll cheer a guy on during a grueling conditioning finisher, but if you are not internally motivated already, you’re looking toward the wrong guy for help. I just don’t care enough to waste my time on those types of people.

Often times people will tell me that they want to train with me and that I if they hire me or come to my gym I really need to push them. No, I don’t. You need to push yourself. You’re hiring me for my program design skills which are based on 16 years of experience. I am not a cheerleader. Any nitwit can yell at someone like a drill sergeant. Just because a workout is hard doesn’t mean it’s effective. Just because a coach yells loudly it doesn’t mean he’s smart.

If you can’t find it within yourself and are not driven to excel, there is nothing I can do for you.

I’ll give hard working, motivated, intelligent people everything I have. But for everyone else I have no time or patience. I know this offends many people. But it’s just me being honest.

If someone needs to lose 15 pounds of fat in order to compete at a higher level in a weight class sport I’m all for helping them. If someone needs to lose 150 pounds I don’t have a clue what they should do. All I know is they shouldn’t have gotten into that situation in the first place. And allowing themselves to do so shows me they are undisciplined and lazy. I have little tolerance for these types of people.

There’s nothing I like more than helping guys get bigger, stronger and faster. Taking a new guys squat from 225 to 455 is a lot of fun for me. I know how to do that. But I don’t know what fat people should do. I don’t know what lazy people should do. And it doesn’t interest me to find out.

I told some fat people recently that they couldn’t out train a bad diet. Some were offended. They thought that as long as they trained hard on some high intensity circuit type workout a few days a week they would get lean.

They won’t. Nobody gets lean from doing kettlebell swings and burpees. If you’re eating clean, these will help, but unless your diet is spot on you aint losing an ounce. All the exercise in the world will do you no good without eating properly. These are the cold, hard facts, my friends.

So before you send me another email telling me that I am discouraging fat, lazy people from even trying to get fit in the first place, please realize that I don’t care. These are not my kind of people and that is not my market.

You must have the wrong guy.

Please leave your comments below.

No related posts.

Although there are other people at the controls, manning and updating my websites, I do read all of the mail, and the questions I get asked most often (hundreds upon hundreds of times now) are about my diet. All of the emails and letters are so hard to keep up with, so I finally sat down and decided to write a comprehensive look at my diet. I’m writing this on the fly, so even though it’s long, I will most certainly leave some important things out.. ‘Sorry’ about that in advance.

This is not going to be political or preachy. I am not here to push my beliefs on anybody. This is a chance for all of you who have asked for diet advice from me, to get some ideas and hopefully gain a better understanding of how easy it is for me to maintain athletic performance with the foods I consume. In the mean time, I will simply lead by example.

I noticed that a lot of fighters write down what they may generically eat on a given day and simply post that as their “diet”. I’m sure this leads to confusion with most readers and still leaves many questions unanswered. My diet, in particular is extremely varied and also very specialized.

As you will see, I eat completely differently when I am cutting to 155, than when I am simply in training without having a weight-cut… And even more differently than when I am lazying around, eating whatever I want and getting fat…

By no means whatsoever, is this ‘the gospel’ of vegan eating… I am just sharing what I do… It may work for you, it may not… Take what works and discard the rest.

I can tell you right now, I don’t spend nearly as much time doting over my diet as most people think.. I know what to eat and what not to, and following those guidelines, I’m looking to get it done with and get on with my day…

I usually don’t have the time to cook, so unless my girlfriend is cooking for me (she’s great), or I am eating at a restaurant, I am usually looking for something quick and easy…

A few articles on me have gone into detail on what my daily diet is like… This one in particular stands out: MMA digest article

Also, Mike Mahler happens to be the one person whose diet I followed in the beginning of my change to a vegan diet. He inspired me and I hope I can do the same for some of you… I urge you to check out his diet if you’re interested in mine.

Before I get into specifics, I’d like to address something that ties into the same discussion…

For the record, I cut dairy completely out of my diet in 1999 (over 5 years before I ever committed to a full-Vegan diet)… This was due to an allergy that I developed in my adolescent years to dairy that affected my sinuses and everything connecting to them. For a good part of my teenage years, I suffered from severe ear infections and chronic Vertigo (which is completely miserable). It took me a few years of to finally realize that the antibiotics were only temporarily subduing a much bigger problem. I did my research and finally found the source. A lot of people don’t realize how hard milk, whey, and other dairy products are on the sinuses and respiratory system, and the dairy industry would like you to believe that you need milk to get calcium. That notion is as oxymoronic as you can get. Although not everybody has as severe an allergy to dairy products as I did, I just wanted to point out that after years of battling with ear and sinus infections, eliminating dairy completely cured my problems. Anyone with similar problems may want to try it for a while.

Also, let me just say that although protein intake is important, especially for athletes, I find the usual listed “requirements” for protein are blown completely out of proportion, and the thought of consuming “1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight” during down time seems ridiculous to me… I truly feel that all the articles telling people to eat that way are written by people who copied the diets of fanatical body-builders and tried to present them to the general public. If you ingest that much protein a day, you’re taxing your liver and kidneys big-time… For example, I walk at 168lbs and I usually eat between 100 and 140 grams of protein per day when I’m in grueling, peak training… When I’m taking time off, I don’t pay attention to it and I’d say it’s usually around 70 grams a day, give or take…

One thing I consciously try and do is eat a higher amount of Alkaline-forming foods than acid-forming foods throughout each day…  I don’t have time to get into the whole “alkaline foods” discussion, but I’ll just leave it out there, that there is plenty of info about it on ‘teh interweb’…

Ok, first here, I’m going to list some regular foods that I eat a lot of, along with an explanation on each one. Essentially these are of some basics that really make up a large portion of my weekly caloric intake…

Afterwards, I’ll list some broader ideas of diet, some supplements, then list some junk foods I eat and finally some daily examples…

Brown Rice: One of my main sources of complex carbs along with Oatmeal… I buy the ‘microwave in the bag’ frozen brown rice from Trader Joe’s… It’s pretty easy to make and can be added to almost any meal.
Wild Rice (actually a grass seed) is even better if you can get ahold of it.

Portobello mushrooms: These are great. Good protein source, low calories, low sodium… Can be sauteed or stir-fried with vegetables. I eat many of these when cutting weight.

Tempeh: This is a Tofu-based food and a good source of protein and fiber… Although a little bitter when eaten plain, I find that some flavorings can really make this good…

Quinoa: This grain is sometimes a chore to cook, and if you live in the middle of nowhere, it might be hard to find, but it’s a great source of not only carbs and protein, but fiber as well. This is one of the most nutritionally complete foods out there with a full, balanced set of amino acids…

Black Beans, lentils, etc: Really, many Mexican foods I find to be pretty substantial as long as there’s some beans and rice in it… Lentils are great in soup and have some decent protein and fiber… My girlfriend makes some really good lentil soup as well as squash soup.

Now, here are some things I will simply list and then explain how they work with my system.

Drinks: I drink water 99.9% of the time… Rarely do I ever feel the need for soft drinks or juices, although I might add some orange juice to a protein shake to make it taste better…
I drink in excess of 1.5 gallons of H2O per day when I’m training hard and about 1 gallon per day on the regular.

Wheat: My diet is not “wheat-free” but I do my best to avoid it… It’s an allergen (mild for most people) and not as easily digested you might think… Every now and then I have something that has wheat gluten in it as well… I’m not really into sandwiches, so bread is easy to avoid. I do eat pasta every once in a while and I might have some wheat tortillas, but if I had my choice of carbs, it’d be brown rice or quinoa. On a side note, they have come out with some good rice-based pastas that are identical to normal wheat pastas in every way.

Fake meat products: These are usually geared towards people making the change to vegetarianism and are made to mimic various meat products… I usually don’t mess with these all that much, with the exception of “riblets” made by Gardenburger brand… Most of the stuff out there doesn’t taste anything like meat to me (unless it’s seitan) and I don’t need my food to. Unfortunately, if you live in the midwest, or any place who’s stores haven’t adapted to vegetarian diets, you may find that these are the only things sold in the frozen section without meat or dairy… On the other side of this, many vegan restaurants have great fake meat products that are much more palatable than the stuff sold in the stores.

Vegetables: These are very necessary. I don’t eat them as much as I should, but when I do, it’s broccoli, peas, corn, green beans and spinach most of the time.   Whenever I have a salad, I do my best to use organic kale or baby spinach as the main source rather than romain or iceberg lettuce.   The leafy greens like collards, spinach and kale are extremely good for you.. Don’t sleep on them.

Nuts & seeds: I find almonds are the best for me.  Some articles have stated that they boost testosterone…  I can’t say that’s true or false, but I do find almonds to be superior to most of the other nuts and seeds out there…
Trader Joes sells raw, sliced almond flakes that can be turned into powder (if you have a chopper) and put into a protein shake.

I do eat peanuts sometimes, and natural peanut butter, but too many peanuts can be bad for you because of the naturally-occurring toxins in them.   I eat cashews in moderation, and I usually stay away from Macadamias when I’m cutting weight because of their high fat content.   I don’t eat as much seeds as I probably should, but Pumpkin seeds are definitely recommended… They are high in iron, which is important, because as an athlete, iron can be lost rapidly through sweat.   Sunflower seeds are also pretty good and are a decent source of protein and vitamin E…

Seitan: although this stuff is delicious and has the most meat-like texture, it is essentially just wheat gluten and is pretty hard to digest… I stay away from it when I’m in hard training, but during the off-season, it’s fair play. Many restaurants have good meals with seitan.

Soy milk, almond milk, etc: I don’t eat cereal all that much, but when I do, I prefer almond milk and rice milk over soy milk… Just a personal preference. These can be added to protein shakes too. Rice milk is a little thinner that almond and soy usually…

Sodium: Many of the foods I really enjoy have a lot of sodium in them. I have no problem eating moderately sodium-rich foods until I get close to cutting to lightweight… Sodium causes you to retain water, so it’s pointless to consume if you want to drop water weight. 3 weeks before a fight, I start watching my sodium intake, and by the week of the fight, I’m down to less than 100 grams per day.

Supplements:
Vega : This is awesome. It has everything I need and it’s quick and easy. Although not ideal, I could really live off of this with no problems. Full nutrition. Vega makes powdered whole food meal replacements and energy bars that I eat pretty much every day. Their meal replacement uses hemp protein and pea protein as a base. When I’m taking this and/or The Ultimate Meal (see below) I find there’s no reason for a multi-vitamin.

The Ultimate Meal : I swear by this stuff, it’s a whole meal and has made up a huge part of my diet for 3 years now. It’s a bit of an acquired taste, but I truly notice myself feeling better when I use it daily. Remember to follow the directions and add the apple and banana. (This is not your normal “add powder to water” supplement)

Organic food bar : These are great for cutting weight… there is some fat but it’s good fat, and there’s hardly any sodium. Made of mostly almond butter and date paste.

Cliff Builders Bar : As far as protein bars go, these are the best tasting and pretty addictive… There’s a decent amount of sodium and calories, so they’re not ideal when you’re cutting weight.

Protein powders: I stay away from soy as a powdered protein supplement, and not because of the idiotic claim that it is “bad for men because it boosts estrogen” (which is complete nonsense), but because it doesn’t have a full amino acid spectrum and has less protein content percentage… Instead of soy powder, I use brown rice protein from Nutri-Biotic brand when I’m looking for plain protein supplement. Nutri-Biotic Rice protein has an 80% protein content and all the amino acids. I also find that Rice protein is digested a lot easire than soy.

Junk Food:

I eat a ton of soy ice cream and vegan cookies when I’m not dieting… This is my weakness, but my metabolism burns most of it off…

Also, I eat a lot of Thai food from vegan restaurants that, although normally not considered ‘junk-food’, certainly has a lot of fat and sodium. Example: Yellow Curry (made with coconut milk) with tofu and deep fried soy “chicken”… Oh yeah, I’m a potato chip fiend too…

Even with all the sugary stuff I indulge in, I do my best to completely avoid high fructose corn syrup.

Examples:

Ok, here is an example of just one day of my diet leading up to a lightweight fight that I posted on a blog a while back…

You must remember that this week and next are atypical of what I’d normally eat calorie-wise daily compared to, say, a month or more out… There is no way I could sustain this low-calorie diet for long periods of time… I love vegan cookies and Thai Food too much.

Morning: woke up at 166lbs and after a short 35 minute run and some calisthenics, I had The Ultimate Meal, which is a pulverized meal replacement. I swear by this stuff. There isn’t a single other product out there that comes close to this as far as recovery goes in training. Put it in a blender, add some water, an extra scoop of rice protein powder, an apple and a banana and I’m good to go. 400 cal

Noon time: Organic food bar 300 cal

Afternoon: Low-carb tortilla chips with Salsa. Soy yogurt with Fresh Pinapple. 350 cal

Mid Day: After working a private lesson at 3pm, and then at 4:00 sparring, consisting of five 5-minute rounds with 30 seconds rest and finishing with jump-rope interval training, I had a Clif Bar immediately to replace glycogen and help speed up recovery so I can function in my third workout. 250 cal

Evening: Rice Noodle mushroom soup with sautéed high-protein tofu added. Fresh pineapple. 300 cal

Night: After my Night workout in west LA, which consisted of 45 mins grappling, followed by ab work, I had a Clif Builders Bar and a rice protein shake. 350 cal

Last meal: Salad w/ baby greens, artichoke, olives, mushrooms, high-protein grilled tofu and light goddess dressing. Fresh strawberries and grapes for dessert. 300 cal

So that’s 2250 calories total, which is fine since I’m training 3x a day. The next week I’ll start to taper off my training and cut out all the sodium, so that I’m not retaining water.

_______________________________________________

Here’s an example of a typical (non-weight cutting) training day:

Breakfast: Oatmeal and soy yogurt with fruit.

Snack: almonds and dried cranberries

Lunch:
Barley salad
Sauteed zucchini and mushroom and ‘garden’ flavor tempeh with curry dipping sauce.

Midday:
Vega shake, Clif Builder Bar.

Snack: Tortilla chips and Guacamole

Dinner:
Brown rice pasta with fresh portabello’s and eggplant and marinara sauce.

Late night:
Coconut sorbet with pineapples.

Ok… well, I hope this answers at least a few of the diet questions some of you may have, and if not, I don’t know what to say… It took me almost 7 months to get around to writing this, so who knows when my lazy ass might get around to writing more…

Thanks for all the feedback and positive emails, you guys… Even though I can’t always write back, I hope all of you understand that I’m grateful to have such loyal and intelligent fans!

Take care,

Mac

For more information on Mac check out www.MacDanzig.net.

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