Can you imagine having a 4 year old kid and telling him that if he wants to go to his room upstairs, he has to climb the rope his dad hung from the ceiling down to the bottom floor? According to Zach Even-Esh, that is exactly what athlete and physical culturist Steve Maxwell did with his boy.

In his article, like one of mine, “Pack Light, Train Hard“, which was featured on straighttothebar.com, Zack says some very telling things about grip strength, machines and where the serious strength athletes are going.

From his post, “With serious lifters leaving the fancy gyms and opting for their garage, basement or backyard – grip strength is becoming a serious focus.”

Zach started off the post with, “The typical gym is often packed with machines.”

As I recently have written, Scott Brengel and his strongman freaks were forced out of our machine-infested training warehouse of a gym because they now want to attract a new clientele. I knew we were in trouble when the first “improvements” were to install patio furniture outside near the main entrance. Starbucks next, perhaps?

Next came a crop of trainers from a nearby trainers gym along with their overweight and outtashape clients. Mike C observes that the new business model is having trainers working with multiple clients at a time. Is Club Z turning into a trainers gym?

With 24 Hour Fitness just down the street, our “new and improved” box may look more and more like that. No sour grapes from me though. You have to make money to stay in business and prosper. Scott and the Freaks are very small subset of people who train in gyms and a few more of us are only a slightly larger subset and we aren’t going to make any gym any money.

So where do we go next? The garage? The backyard? The park? In an upcoming post, I’ll have more to report on where the local heavy-lifting, tight gripping, bumper bouncing hard-core lifter can go lift the way it is supposed to be done.

Monday, 11/24/08

Rest Day

Tuesday, 11/25/08

Snatch Clusters (2+2):

45/65/75/85/95 total 20 reps

Front Squats, x2:

135/135/155/165/175/185/205/215.

Kettlebell Swings, 53# H2H: 20
Kettlebell Snatches, 53#: 2×20

Hungarian Core Blaster:

80×10x2
85×10x2
90×10x2

Wednesday, 11/26/08

Squat Clean Clusters, 2+2

115/115/115/135/135

Box Squats, 10 x 2

60% 1RM @ 205 x 5
70% 1RM @ 240 x 5

Thursday, 11/27/08

Big Rest Day, Bigger Eating Day. Happy Thanksgiving!

Friday, 11/28/08

Back Squats, x 3 up to 85% 1RM:

135×5/185×5/
225/245/265/275/285/295/300

GHD Sit-ups: 5×10, between Back Squat sets
Back Extensions: 5×10, between Back Squat sets

Good Mornings, x 2:

95/105/115/135/135

Saturday, 11/29/08

DE Deadlifts, x 2: 1 minute rest between sets

60% 1RM @ 275#, 6×2
70% 1RM: @ 325#, 6×2

Hungarian Core Blaster Swings x 10:

80# x 3 sets
90# x 5 sets

135×10

Sunday, 11/20/08

Snatch, x 2:

45/65/70/75/80/85/
95/95/100, missed 2nd/100/100/100/100.

GD Sit-ups, between snatch sets: 7x 10

Bench Press doubles:

45×10/95×10/115×5.
135/155/185/190/195/200/200/195.

Is it true that turkeys will drown looking at the sky when it rains? I’m not sure, but I almost did! It was more of a slosh than a trot in the 2008 Dana Point Turkey Trot 10K race this morning.

Val and I headed down to Dana Point early this morning under the threat of light rain, but neither of us were prepared for what was to happen shortly after the start of the 10K. The sky opened and dropped a torrent of rain for about 30 minutes. Despite the downpour, the runners seemed to be undeterred as the mens’ finishing times for the top 3 were under 30 minutes.

Val thought should she would finish around 45 minutes and unofficially she came in at around 46 minutes and did not report any real problems. I’m grateful the race wasn’t any longer than a 10K though! As soon as the race was over, we were out of there looking for some warm and dry, coffee and cocoa!

From Val, the drenched runner and MarkFu, the soggy spectator, Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Thanksgiving is the day to acknowledge all we are thankful for and so in that spirit, as I wish all the readers of MFBB a Happy Thanksgiving, here is what I am thankful for from the perspective of health and fitness.

• I am grateful for my good health. I recently got the results of my physical with blood test and passed with flying colors!
• I am thankful for all my gym friends, freaks, acquaintences and training partners who can take a share of credit for my successes.
• I am grateful for my personal bests over the year.
• I enjoyed competing in my first, (and possibly last) Highland Games.
• To the Moynihan Institute for all the smack and humor.
• I am very happy that our gym found a way to not only stay open but to upgrade the facility.
• I am grateful to have a gym that has allowed me to bring in my bumpers and do Olympic lifts.
• I am fortunate to have found good teachers to help me with Oly lifting, kettlebells and powerlifting.
• I am happy and grateful to have enough equipment to be able to train independently of the gym if I desire.
• As I expressed to Nico Coetzee, I am thankful for all his hard efforts in keeping Met-Rx open during the lean times.
• I would be remiss in expressing gratitude for a relatively injury-free year.

Recalling all the things I have gratitude for is all fine and dandy, but their are some turkeys that need to be called out and get the Scraggly Turkey Award.

• To the trainer who dropped a Silent But Deadly fart while training his clients and gassing out the rest of us. He may have even shit his pants for all I know. It was nasty!
• To all the trainers and their clients who are too lazy to rack their plates and put things away when finished.
• To gym management for making me remove my bumper plates.
• To the knuckleheads who walk perilously and obliviously close to me while I am snatching or kettlebell swinging.
• To all the chatterboxes who distract those of us who are training hard.
• To all the mirror narcissists and big egos.
• To the crappy music the gym generally plays.
• To the dweebs who use the squat racks to do bicep curls.
• To trainers teaching and allowing lousy technique with their clients.

Mostly, though, I would like to thank all of you who read this blog and hope you continue to check back often. Thank you! Happy Thanksgiving!

Several times a month, “Rant Irishman”, the titular head of the popular Moynihan Institute goes off on the state of fitness training and saves his best smack for the world of Crossfit. Clearly, Rant himself is definitely not a fan but he attracts both the fans and those detractors of Crossfit with a sense of humor. This video was posted on his site for our amusement.

More ripping is done on the Olympic lifting trend in “Olympic Lifting Overrated“. Fun stuff!

Oympic Lifting, Rant Irishman, Moynihan Institute, Crossfit

I use free weights almost exclusively because I enjoy them and the benefits I derive from their use. Even if they were not as safe as using machines, I would still prefer to use them. Read the rest of this entry »

I had a strong lifting day today having done 5×5’s in both the deadlift and the overhead press, setting personal bests in both. To maximize my benefits, I had branched chain aminos in a drink while I lifted and had a post-workout recovery drink. Later in the day, I enjoyed a high protein dinner. Before bed there is just one last thing to do before dropping off to sleep-take my ZMA.

ZMA is a high performance OTC supplement consisting of aspartate and methionine forms of zinc, magnesium and vitamin B6. All are essential nutrients and I recently wrote of magnesium and how common deficiencies are of the important mineral in the general population and even more with hard-charging athletes.

ZMA should be taken on an empty stomach an hour before bedtime for the best results. Of course, getting a good night’s sleep is vital for recovery and that is the time the body releases anabolic growth hormone for repair and muscle-building. Adding ZMA over an 8 week period can increase free and total testosterone by more than 30% and about a 4% increase in IGF-1 according to a recent study done with NCAA football players. Anabolic hormones and quality of sleep will both increase. It is likely you will attain deeper, slow wave sleep stages. (I sleep deeper than normal and wake up more rested and refreshed. My dreams sometimes are a little stranger, but for me, entertaining!)

The upshot of ZMA supplementation is enhanced strength, endurance, recovery and growth and replace the deficiencies that hard exercise contribute to.

Remember, growth occurs during sleep and ZMA will help to maximize everything you do in the gym. Give it a try.

ZMA, magnesium, zinc, B6, recovery, anabolic hormones, testosterone

You can get both on the internet, but in my gym, hard-core has given way to soft-core. As I have written in the past, Met-Rx has accommodated more diversity in training styles than any gym in the area. If cardio equipment is your thing, there is plenty of equipment to train with. Almost 9,000 square feet is jammed with machines to work just about every muscle in isolation. Swiss balls, med balls, cable machines and dumbbells are always in use. We have two squat racks and a safety squat rack which is what the hard-core members use for heavy squats and deadlifts and everyone else for knee raises and bicep curls. I had brought in two sets of rubber bumper plates for use in the Olympic lifts and they got plenty of use by those who knew what they were meant for.

Nothing stays the same, however. Met-Rx is now Club Z and the most hard-core of the hard-core, members of the Freak Factory, the strongman athletes, have been given their “termination” papers and I have had to remove my bumpers from the gym.

A few months ago, we all lamented the imminent closing of Met-Rx which was bailed out at the 11th hour by a member who was also a well-known bodybuilder in his day. The gym remains open under new ownership and changes are afoot designed to bring in new members, especially women, according to the new owner. He alleges the heavy lifting and dropping bumpers going on in the corner somehow intimidates and scares off those women. I don’t know which women, but none that I know!

In any age, making a gym profitable is a tough thing and this economy is making it tougher still and so changes are being made to increase the membership rolls. One of the first things done was to put out nice patio furniture outside. Why, I have no idea. The next thing was to get rid of the “extremists” who “do powerlifting”. Actually, what they do is what people have done in gyms long before the age of the shiny chrome and fern gyms of the 80’s and 90’s; they lift heavy, train hard, make some noise, drop some iron, sweat and go home.

Hardcore? Not!

They are dinosaurs though and had to become extinct to make room for more trainers and their out-of-shape clients who are needed in large numbers pay the bills to keep the joint open.

Crossfit saw this trend back in 2002 and labeled them “Globo Gyms” and “boxes” and people who wanted true fitness left the boxes in droves and never looked back.

Pretty!

What we had at Met-Rx until recently was the ideal but the ideal wasn’t bringing in revenue so the transformation will be another yet another gym for the masses.

Those of us who train “old school” have to go back to the garage until another facility opens that welcomes the type of training that really makes people strong and fit.

Steve Belanger’s Old School Garage Gym

Steve Belanger, Crossfit, hard core, Globo Gym, squats, deadlifts, strongman, powerlifting, Olympic Lifting,

Monday, 11/20/08

Rest Day

Tuesday, 11/21/08

Snatch Clusters, 2 + 2 w/15 seconds rest between pairs, 2 minutes between sets.
65/75/85/90/90/ (20 reps)

Snatch singles:
100/110/115/120 power/120/

Sandbag (100+ lbs) Clean + 5 Zercher Squats + Push Press + 5 Back Squats x 6 sets.

Wednesday, 11/22/08

Shortened session. Good Mornings, 5×5

95/115/125/135/145.

Thursday, 11/23/08

Another shortened session. Back Squats, 7×2 .

135×5/185×5/225×5/245×5/
265×2/275×2/295×2/285×2/305×2/285×2/275×2.

Friday, 11/21/08

Rest Day

Saturday, 11/22/08

2 Snatch + 5 Overhead Squats

65/75/75/75/90/90/100/100/110/110/  (20 snatch + 50 OHS)

Sunday, 11/23/08

Deadlift, 5×5:

135×8
225/275/315/365 pr/335.

Overhead Press, 5×5:

95/115/135/160 pr/150

Monday, 11/10/08

No Workout

Tuesday, 11/11/08

Squat Snatch:

65×2/65×2/75×2/80×2/85×2/90×2/100×2/110/110/115/125/135 pr/135/140 ps, also a pr/

Back Squat:

135×10/225×5/245×3/275/285/295/315 (93% 1RM) /315/315/315/

Wednesday, 11/12/08

Deadlift Triples:

155×5/155×5/
245/315/335/365/375/385/

Hungarian Core Blaster Swings, (HCBS) x 10:

90/100/110/115/115/

Thursday, 11/13/08

Snatch:

65×2/65×2/75×2/85×2/90×2/100×2/105/110/115 ps/

Overhead Press, 5×5:

95/115/135/145/155/

Friday, 11/14/08

Rest Day

Saturday, 11/15/08

Baggin It

Sandbag Medley, 3 rounds @ 70# x 10:

Bent Row
Back Squat
Squat Cleans
Push Presses
Shoulder Squat (10 each side)
Zercher Squat
Step-ups
Good Mornings

Sunday, 11/16/08

Squat Clean Clusters, 2+2:

90/115/135, missed #2/145/125/

Box Squats, 12×2, 50-60% 1RM:

135/155/175/175/185/185/205/205/215/225/225/225.

Back Extensions, 3×15
GHD Sit-ups: 3×10
Reverse Hypers: 3×15 @ 50#
Reverse Crunches, 3×10