I will conquer what has not been conquered
Defeat will not be in my creed
I will believe what others have doubted
I will always endeavor to pull esteem, honor, and respect out of myself
I have trained my mind and my body will follow...
Who am I? I AM A CHAMPION!
I will acknowledge the fact that my opponent does not expect me to win
But I will never surrender
Weakness will not be in my heart
I will look to my comrades and to those who are a part of me in this world and those who have trained me
And I will draw strength from them
Who am I? I AM A CHAMPION!
I will gladly go out into the field of battle
And I will move in everything I can do
And I will reach my field of battle by any means at my disposal
And when I get there, I will arrive violently
I will rip the heart from my enemy, and leave it bleeding on the ground
Because he cannot stop me
Who am I? I AM A CHAMPION!
To my side I have comrades, comrades that have been with me through thick and thin
Who have sacrificed their blood, sweat and tears
Never will I let them fall, never will I let them down, and I will never leave an enemy behind
Because our opponent does not know my heart
Who am I? I AM A CHAMPION!
No one will deny me, no one will define me
And no one will tell me who and what I am and can be
Belief will change my world
It has moved continents, it has moved countries, it has put men on the moon
And it will carry me through this battle
Who am I? I AM A CHAMPION!
Defeat, retreat: those are not in my words
I dont understand those definitions
I dont understand when things go wrong
I dont understand mistakes
But I do understand this:
I understand victory,
And I understand never surrendering
No matter how bad things go my heart and my mind will carry my body through limits and weakness
Who am I? I AM A CHAMPION!
Today will be that day
Not tomorrow, not next week, but right now, right here
In your house and in your homes
Who am I? I AM A CHAMPION!
History will remember me
I will not let worrying affect my cause
I will define myself
I will write my own pages
And no one will tell me what I cannot be
I will never give up
Not until Ive given everything I got
Because who am I? I AM A CHAMPION

“So you have to tinker with it, lift enough to stimulate growth and strength gains, and do it in such a way that you can recover and adapt before your nerves forget all about the fact that they had to lift something heavy a few days ago. You can try and track every little thing, or you can just work hard, lift in an appropriate rep range with a weight appropriate to that rep range, and let your body figure it out, because it’s smarter than you anyway, and we’re still trying to figure out how it all works. You just need to put together a reasonable schedule, be consistent with it, and accept that some days you will feel like crap and feel weaker and still blow it out of the water, and some days you will feel great and miss lifts you got last time with ease. Don’t stress over it, just stick with the weights, eat and sleep good, and you will get stronger. It’s a process, and it takes weeks, months, and years rather than days and hours. So consistency, rather than training to the point where you have failed with a given weight, and rather than gotten one more rep with five pounds less, is what will make you grow. Go to failure or don’t. Just make sure you leave the weight room knowing you’ve done something in there, and chances are you’ve done enough.”-Mike Webster

GET STRONGER

Hard work is free. I don't know your goals but if you bust your ass you will get whatever results you want.
- SDMF

 “To be number one, you have to train like you’re number two” – Maurice Green

 

To many people over think their training, work hard, eat big, sleep as often as you can, and do compound movements. It works.--Josh Havoc Stottlemire

TO BE GREAT...

7 reasons to lift stones

 

by Jedd Johnson

1. Manly Fun

What do you think of when you see a giant freakin’ rock? You think about how massive the sucker is. You wonder how the hell it even got there. You think, man, I want to try to lift that thing.
Stone lifting is just plain fun. Picking them up and throwing them around makes you feel good and makes you look forward to the next stone workout.

2. Super Strong Back

Most personal trainers will tell you to keep your back straight when lifting weights. While this is a good idea to a degree, the fact is real life situations don’t always involve setting your back in perfect posture.
Breaking a tackle, pushing your car out of the mud, loading the keg into the kegerator, flipping your friend’s Honda, fighting a bear – sometimes, your back is going to be rounded. Atlas stone lifting puts you in the round back position and prepares you for real life force production.

3. Killer Instinct

You have to be somewhat of a psycho in order to lift stones. Your mind has to be just mixed up enough to put yourself through the tasty torture of stone lifting.
There is pain involved as the stone scrapes off your forearm skin. But the pain also brings power, and when you start improving and begin lifting heavier and heavier stones, it’s the biggest rush you can have. Nothing matches the feeling of lifting a new PR stone – bungee jumping, asking out a chick, robbing a bank – nothing else comes close.

4. Monster Core Strength

You might not get a rock hard six pack from lifting stones, but you can bet the rest of your core that actually matters is going to be solid. There won’t be any worries about strength in your lower back, lats, hammies, and glutes after a few months of stone training.

5. Big Meaty Arms and Shoulders

Stone lifting involves a great deal of pulling and stabilizing throughout the full range of the lift. This time under tension pumps your arms up and inflates the shoulders. Your shoulders will be so wide after stone lifting that you’ll be blocking out the sun and they’ll be showing drive-in movies off your back.

6. Get the Reputation of a Bad Ass

There’s no need to grow a stove pipe mullet to show you are an intimidating S.O.B. Lifting stones for fun will set you apart from everybody else!
The whole neighborhood is going to refer to you as that crazy guy that lifts stones. If people can’t find your house, just tell them to ask one of the neighbors who the strongman is. At least that’s what I do. Prepare to be the talk of the town.

7. Athleticism

The force needed to shoulder stones and load them onto platforms simulates the very important athletic movement pattern of triple extension – the near simultaneous straightening of the ankles, knees, and hips, which is responsible for many powerful movements in sports.
Triple extension is responsible for movements like sprinting, leaping, bounding and other sports power movements. Start lifting stones and you’ll be playing above the rim, leaping over linemen and speeding around the base path.

"Argue for your limitations, and sure enough, they're yours."
~Richard Bach

Being a real lifter is not about a number, or a medal, or somebody else telling you that you are a real lifter. It is about commitment to the iron and strength of purpose.--UNKNOWN

FREAK

You don’t try to “lose weight and get stronger but still be able to run a marathon while becoming an amateur strongmen and train for the police academy”. That’s a sure sign of a Fitness Hipster. Go be average on your own time, Fitness Hipster. We are training, not fitnessing. -Jim Wendler

“Victory is reserved for those who are willing to pay it’s price.” – Sun Tzu

PAIN

Wat of the Warrior

 

When you tell a strength athlete, or any athlete for that matter, how much pain they are going to be in later on in life... believe me, we know... you're not telling us anything new... but the thing that pushes us past the fear of pain is the fear of never doing anything amazing.. worrying about pain down the road leads to a very boring life

-- Zach Gallmann

Forget about aging.  Resolve to be meaner than a rattlesnake, tougher than a grizzly, and harder than the nails they will one day put into your coffin.  Keep it up until they nail the lid shut.  If you find you are able, protest even that.  -Colin Webster

ALL YOU GOT

Notes from MIKE WEBSTER

The training equipment is that of a minimalist—barbells, racks, benches.

He noted that a closer grip on the bench press was more applicable because he needed tricep strength.

He took exhaustive training notes.

Although he used different schemes, he recommended 5×5 on the classic lifts.

He performed all types of speed and speed-endurance work – 40’s, 100’s, 400’s, and 800’s

The training atmosphere was business like. You didn’t play around.

He used higher reps to build “body armor” and train different areas of the strength continuum. He felt higher repetitions helped him maintain his strength throughout the game.

He did drills specific to his position to make him a better snapper and to get off the ball faster. This is the whole specific physical preparedness (SPP) I talk about. So while he was a squat freak, he also knew that he needed specific practice to get better at his position.

He ran long distances, developing the aerobic system (something most coaches would gag and die over today).

He ran the stadium steps. Again, aerobic development. He felt this helped his legs remain fresh throughout the game.

He sought technical mastery for his position. He trained to get off the ball faster and snap more accurately.

He used higher repetitions at points if he felt beat up.

On par with Bill Starr, he took outrageous supplements.

Didn’t train just to train. He understood what would make him a better snapper, and trained for it. “In fact, in later years he tried to drop a few pounds every season, he said it was necessary for an older player to stay quick off the ball.”

He ate three meals per day.

He had a low resting heart rate for a strength and power athlete. (Hello aerobic training.)

He sought refuge in nature after the season. An extreme deload? Or perhaps the ideal deload?

He realized that maintaining a high level of performance throughout the game was most important. (Hello again aerobic development.)

He realize the importance of slow progress over time. This is what I call “crock pot strength.” Slow cook it. “Even at five pounds a month, that’s still 60 pounds in a year, so if you keep going and don’t quit, in two years you have added more than a hundred pounds to your lifts, and that’s how you get great as a powerlifter. Just take it slow, be patient and don’t get hurt, and you’ll get there.”

“We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.”
- Jesse Owens

Get Stronger

CAMBER BAR SQUATS

This is probably the oddest looking bar and like the Buffalo Bar, great for relieving stress off of the shoulders. But the bar is much more than shoulder relief – it really turns squatting into a different movement.
What most people first notice when using the Cambered Squat Bar is how unstable the bar is. The weight rocks back and forth and forces the lifter to stay very tight and controlled. While this might sound like a good thing, this makes it the last bar I'd let a beginner use. When someone is trying to learn a new movement, the last thing you want to do is throw more curveballs at them.
The concentric phase of a squat with a Cambered Squat Bar is always interesting. Due to the instability of the bar you can't push as fast at the bottom, but you have to push tight; tighter than you normally would (or should) with a straight bar.
This is a great way to remind you to stay tight and push with a controlled and steady force out of the bottom of the hole. For someone that spent their life training with a fast concentric phase, this was a real learning process for me. But slowing down with this bar allowed me to learn how to squat faster because the concentric phase had to very focused.

EXCERPT FROM:by Jim Wendler
http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/6_specialty_bars_for_strength_and_size&cr=

To die under a squat rack, that's acceptable. To die at a board meeting, that is not.-- Al Oerter

MOVE!

FLOOR PRESS

. The floor press is almost like a box squat for your arms. For some people it really helps with the mid range to lockout. The Floor Press is an outstanding exercise because it allows you to utilize an extremely large load, therefore, the triceps get maximal activation. It amazing how fast a newbie to this exercise can add 75-100 lbs.The floor press is performed by setting the hooks or supports up in a power rack so you can bench press while lying on the floor. Get under the bar with your shoulder blades together and shrugged into your traps. Tuck the elbows and unrack the weight. Lower the weight until your triceps hit the floor. Pause for a split second, then press the weight back up in a straight line. This movement can be done several ways. The first is with straight weight. Just warm up using three to five reps in an ascending pattern until you reach your one rep max. The second way would be to work up to 60% of your best bench press. When you reach this weight, you'll begin adding one 20-pound chain on each side of the bar with each additional set until you max out. For developing strength off your chest, using straight weight would be the best bet because it'll teach you to press out of the bottom with maximal weights.When you floor press with your legs straight in front of you, you will be able to floor press WAY LESS weight than what you would be able to bench press. On the bench press you are using other muscles such as your legs for drive and there are so many ways to cheat. However, when you floor press with your legs straight in front of you, there is no way to cheat! Therefore, you will discover your real upper body power without all of your other muscle groups and technique playing a role! When you floor press with your legs straight you will be able to attain additional power, which the flat bench press alone cannot provide.

The Old dog is always....dangerous. Always has a bite left

SUGAR DETOX

The average American consumes 32 teaspoons of added sugar per day. That’s right—32 teaspoons a day. (Test your sugar IQ!)
We all know that sugar can lead to weight gain, but that’s just the beginning. People who eat a lot of sugar have nearly double the risk for heart disease as those who eat less, according to data from the Harvard Nurses’ Health Study. They’re more likely to develop insulin resistance and diabetes. They also tend to look older because sugar triggers the production of advanced glycation end-products (AGEs), chemical compounds that accelerate skin aging.
If you want to avoid these problems, you may want to kick the sugar habit with an easy-to-follow sugar detox. Here's how...
It’s not enough to merely cut back on sugar. In my experience, patients need to eliminate it from their diets—at least at the beginning—just like addicts have to eliminate drugs from their lives. In fact, a study showed that sugar cravings actually are more intense than the cravings for cocaine.
You don’t have to give up sugar indefinitely. Once the cravings are gone, you can enjoy sweet foods again—although you probably will be happy consuming far less than before. After a sugar-free “washing out” period, you’ll be more sensitive to sweet tastes. You won’t want as much.
Bonus: Some people who have completed the four-week diet and stayed on the maintenance program for four or five months lost 35 pounds or more.

FIRST STEP: THREE-DAY SUGAR FIX

For sugar lovers, three days without sweet stuff can seem like forever. But it’s an essential part of the sugar detox diet because when you go three days without any sugar, your palate readjusts. When you eat an apple after the three-day period, you’ll think it’s the sweetest thing you’ve ever tasted. You’ll even notice the natural sweetness in a glass of whole or 2% milk (which contains about three teaspoons of naturally occurring sugar).
You may experience withdrawal symptoms during the first three days. These can include fatigue, headache, fogginess and irritability, but soon you’ll feel better than you have in years.
Caution: If you have any type of blood sugar problem, including hypoglycemia, insulin resistance or diabetes, you must consult your physician before starting any type of diet, including the sugar detox diet. In addition, if you are on insulin or an oral medication to control blood sugar, it is likely that your dosage will need to be adjusted if you lower your daily sugar intake.
During the three days…

• No foods or drinks with added sugar. No candy, cookies, cake, doughnuts, etc.—not even a teaspoon of sugar in your morning coffee.
• No artificial sweeteners of any kind, including diet soft drinks. Artificial sweeteners contribute to the sweetness overload that diminishes our ability to taste sugar.
• No starches. This includes pasta, cereal, crackers, bread, potatoes and rice.
• No fruit, except a little lemon or lime for cooking or to flavor a glass of water or tea. I hesitate to discourage people from eating fruit because it’s such a healthy food, but it provides too much sugar when you’re detoxing.
• No dairy. No milk, cream, yogurt or cheese. You can have a little (one to two teaspoons) butter for cooking.
• Plenty of protein, including lean red meat, chicken, fish, tofu and eggs.
• Most vegetables, such as asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, peppers, kale, lettuce and more—but no corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, winter squash, beets or other starchy vegetables.
• Nuts—two one-ounce servings a day. Almonds, walnuts, cashews and other nuts are high in protein and fat, both of which will help you feel full. Nuts also will keep your hands (and mouth) busy when you’re craving a sugary snack.
• Lots of water, but no alcohol. It’s a carbohydrate that contains more sugar than you might think. You can drink alcohol later.

NEXT STEP: A FOUR-WEEK PLAN

This is the fun part. During the three-day sugar “fix,” you focused on not eating certain foods. Now you’ll spend a month adding tasty but nutritious foods back into your diet. You’ll continue to avoid overly sweet foods—and you’ll use no added sugar—but you can begin eating whole grains, dairy and fresh fruits.
WEEK 1: Wine and cheese. You’ll continue to eat healthy foods, but you now can add one apple a day and one daily serving of dairy, in addition to having a splash of milk or cream in your coffee or tea if you like. A serving of dairy could consist of one ounce of cheese…five ounces of plain yogurt…or one-half cup of cottage cheese. You also can have one serving a day of high-fiber crackers, such as Finn Crisp Hi-Fibre or Triscuit Whole Grain Crackers.
You also can start drinking red wine if you wish—up to three four-ounce servings during the first week. Other alcoholic beverages such as white wine, beer and liquor should be avoided. Red wine is allowed because it is high in resveratrol and other antioxidants.
WEEK 2: More dairy, plus fruit. This is when you really start adding natural sugar back into your diet. You can have two servings of dairy daily if you wish and one serving of fruit in addition to an apple a day. You can have one-half cup of blackberries, blueberries, cantaloupe, raspberries or strawberries each day. Or you can have a grapefruit half. You’ll be surprised how sweet fruit really is. You also are allowed one small sweet potato or yam (one-half cup cubed) daily.
WEEKS 3 AND 4: Whole grains and more. The third and fourth weeks are very satisfying because you can start eating grains again. But make sure it’s whole grain. Carbohydrates such as white bread, white pasta and white rice are stripped of their fiber during processing, so they are easily broken down into sugar. Whole grains are high in fiber and nutrients and won’t give the sugar kick that you would get from processed grains.
Examples: A daily serving of barley, buckwheat, oatmeal (not instant), quinoa, whole-grain pasta, whole-wheat bread or brown rice.
You might find yourself craving something that’s deliciously sweet. Indulge yourself with a small daily serving (one ounce) of dark chocolate.

Source: Patricia Farris, MD, FAAD, clinical professor at Tulane University, New Orleans, and member of the media-expert team for the American Academy of Dermatology. She is coauthor, with Brooke Alpert, MS, RD, CDN, of The Sugar Detox: Lose Weight, Feel Great, and Look Years Younger (Da Capo Lifelong). www.DrPattiFarris.com

DESIRE

REVERSE BAND SQUAT

 

 

by Matt Kroczaleski

The reverse band method offers several benefits to powerlifters. First, it allows a lifter to handle more weight than would otherwise be possible, which offers both physiological and psychological benefits.
Psychologically, having more weight on your back or in your hands mentally prepares you for supporting and lifting those loads down the road when not using bands.
Physiologically, bands adjust the force curve to work more efficiently with your body's own natural leverages. In other words, the load is decreased in the portion of the lift where your leverages are poorest (typically the bottom part of the movement) and increased where your leverages are best (near lockout).
This mimics the force curve of a competitive powerlifter using supportive gear like bench shirts and squat suits, while also significantly strengthening the musculature needed in the lockout portion of the lift.
But the benefits extend even to noncompetitive lifters. Raw lifters often struggle with the lockout portions of the bench press and deadlift, and there's arguably no better method for fixing this than the reverse band method.

excerpt from http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/bands_for_size_and_strength&cr=

Weighted Chins

BY Jim Wendler

I like them. I’m not voting for them in the next    “Five Awesome Exercises” election but they certainly have their place. I’ve championed chin-ups for years, mostly    because they’re great for the upper back, lats, and arms. And because you can do them anywhere – chin-up bar, top of the  Smith machine, scaffolding, top of the monolift, playground  equipment, etc.
Weighted chins are a good idea IF you can do them, and even then    you still need to keep bodyweight chins as part of your training  (unless you can bang out multiple sets of 20 with good form). And  if that’s the case, gain some weight! Now of course there are people, usually some sort of Lifting Forum Queen, that would like to point to the VERY strong Konstantin Konstantinovs and tell me how wrong the prior statement is.  But you can’t use the exception to prove the rule.  And you just proved yourself to be unreliable and weak.
If you want to add some weighted chins as part of your training repertoire, start light and see how you do. Make sure you use something that doesn’t allow the weight or dumbbell to swing too much when you do them. I recommend a good chin/dip belt or    simply get a piece of chain and hang it from your lifting  belt.
Harry Selkow at eliteFTS.com has a great chinning program that’ll increase your weighted chins AND your bodyweight chins. My approach is simpler. One day I’d do bodyweight chins for 50 or more total reps. The next chin-up day I’d do a couple sets of weighted chins, either multiple sets at a given weight (for example 5 sets of 6 reps with 45 lbs.) or work up to an  all-out set with the heaviest weight I can handle.
As much as I love doing chins, they’re still not squats, presses, cleans, and pulls. They’re great to do, but I’m not going to lose sleep if my strength on these goes up and my chinning strength remain stagnant.
You can’t sleep with all the women in the sorority, so just be happy you got some trim.

TRAIN