“It takes no special talent to give up"

Rant and Tip for January 3, 2011

Quote: “It takes no special talent to give up”, Unknown

Giving up is something that many of us do. It is very easy and as the quote states takes no special talent. People give up on their diets, give up on their exercise routines and simply give up on life challenges everyday. However if they exercise a little perseverance than can succeed in anything they really put their mind to. The problem is most people think they can succeed by only going half way. Then they wonder why they did not succeed. When following a diet plan they try to make a lot of changes to it and wonder why it didn’t work for them but it did work for someone else. They will say that it just does not work and they give up. Take the time to learn to eat properly whether that is as a competitive athlete or a person looking to better their lives through a healthy diet. If you take the time to learn the program it will be successful.

Yesterday was a bench day. As I started my workout I was happy it was a light week. Finished my sets of 5 with 275. With in the next 8 weeks I will be finishing my sets of 5 with 325. That will be a nice treat. I am hopeful with this aggressive program I will be on track to hitting my goals by June. With the worlds happening in May, I will also be working in the bench shirt on Wednesday. It will be interesting to see what the guys at Albany Strength have in store for me. Last time in the shirt we finished with a 3 board at 415. I would like to bring that down to a 2 board and see how I do with that. We use 3 spotters on that kind of weight and this brings up the subject of safety. When I was younger I would do some pretty dumb stuff in regards to weight training. I remember on more than one occasion working to muscle failure and having to let the bar rest on my chest and roll it down my body to get out from underneath it. Or which you have probably seen in the gym on in online videos dumping the weight off one side and having the other side crash to the floor due to the imbalance that is caused. This really is not a good idea. If you are going to work to muscle failure be sure to have a spotter that knows what he or she is doing. Be careful we do not want anyone losing any teeth.

Diet has been good the past few days however the amount of food has been a little over board. It is wise to keep in mind even when eating the proper foods that you can still over eat. The difference is your body will process the food much faster and handle the additional calories better. While I had put on 2 pounds by New Years day. This morning I have already lost those 2 pounds. You see those calories that I had over consumed on were not sugar or simple carbohydrates. So they were not digested so fast that they had the opportunity to turn to fat. My metabolism handled the additional calories and processed the food in quick fashion.

With the New Year upon us I thought I would be important to discuss other aspects of living healthy. One area I am really paying more attention to is finding ways to help friends quit the smoking habit. I know this is a difficult endeavor. I see people struggle with it all their lives. I have family members who saw what my mother went through and yet they still smoke. I have talked about electronic cigarettes and how they can help. How ever you need to realize that you do not need them either. There are many websites out there to help you quit smoking. Please for the sake of yourself and your family, make this the year you quit smoking. Keep in mind running that mile will get a lot easier once your lungs are no longer filtering out those carcinogens.

Have a great workout!

Tip: If you are unable to do a pull up one way to improve is to do a negative pull up. Using a chair get your chin above the bar and lower yourself slowly. Using your arms and back muscles to accomplish this slowly. You can also do inverted pull-ups. This is done from a bar that is only about 3 to 4 feet off the floor. Lie underneath the bar and grasp the bar firmly. While keeping your core tight pull yourself up. You will be pulling less weight and working your core. As you improve and can do more reps try the pull up again. Keep working it until you can get a full pull up.