Six Rules for Success

Six Rules for Success

Here are six rules for success. I will let you read them first, and then tell you the author at the end of the post.  Some of you may be familiar with them, but you may be astounded when you discover the author.

1. Trust in yourself.  You cannot be successful relying on the approval of others before yourself.  You have to understand your worth.
2. Break some rules.  Not laws, but rules.  We have so many rules in our society, that if they were never shattered, women would not vote and the four minute mile would have never been broken.
3. Don't be afraid to fail.  If you are afraid of failure and cannot get past this frightening thought, then you will never take the chances necessary to succeed.  
4. Don't listen to the negative influences.  If you allow these people to influence you, then you are doomed.
5. Work your tail off.  Do not ever assume you have a comfortable enough lead.  Be a champion and out work everyone.  
6. Always give something back to the community.  This will make you successful in things far more valuable then money.    

Now, any ideas?  Well he was an immigrant to America that was a world champion athlete, writer, producer, actor, governor, presidential appointee and violinist. - Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Despite what you may currently think of the man, these are an excellent set of rules to use as a blueprint to becoming a champion or simply attaining your goals.  

Alex

Apologies

I have to apologize for the lack of posts the past 5 weeks.  But as I prepare for my first Bodybuilding Competition on 12/3, I have also been changing careers.  Busy time to say the least.  I will be back in full swing in about 10 more days.  Here are some photos of 2 weeks out.  I feel like I have been preparing for this my whole life.  Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!! All I get is eggs and chicken.
-Alex

Money Where My Mouth Is

O.K.

I have done a lot of talking about goals and achieving them, so here is where I show where I have been and where I am today.

I currently am 5 weeks out from my first Bodybuilding Competition.  I am on track and everything is proceeding according to plan.  There have been some smashed fingers (dumbbells) that slowed my typing the past two weeks, but overall I am on pace.

 I have done my home work and I am fine tuning parts in the gym.  My current weakness is posing and I am devoting a great deal of extra time to this now.  So see below how far I have come.

 Me in 2002 (228lbs)

 Me in 2008 (220lbs)

Me 7/11 (Cut Down to 169lbs)

 Me 10/30/11  (177lbs)

 Me 10/30/11  (177lbs)

Just remember, with dedication and diligence you can achieve anything.  Your will is stronger than you think.

Old Wisdom for a New Fight

"It is more than a personal matter, it is a sacred duty owed to society for us to bring ourselves to the highest degree of physical and mental efficiency."

The above statement could have easily been said by any celebrity trainer on TV over the past few years.    However, this statement was said by Eugen Sandow in 1897, the father of modern bodybuilding and physical fitness.  With the rampant rise of obesity, we have seen a more moral reason to help others.  I feel it is my obligation to help others reach their mental and physical peaks.

Mr. Sandow was as far ahead of his time in athletics as Stephen Hawking is in Astro-Physics.  I have been recently reading his books, all published before 1900, and he approaches the body just as my system does.  He did not have lots of fancy machines and treadmills, he just had Dumbbells and Barbells.  But he utilized compound movements and "real world" workouts.   Just look at his picture below and see for yourself if he knew what he was doing.

He was the first to publish the ideal measurements for a man, started the first health clubs, proponent of women sports, fought for the inclusion of physical education in schools, and even created the British Military Training System (which principles are still in use to this day).  He is so revered in Bodybuilding that his image is the statue for the Mr. Olympia Award.

His philosophy on the wellness of both mind and body can be surmised as a state of mind where the impossible becomes possible and you set your own limits.  Eugen Sandow's belief was that once you see these benefits you are less likely to do things that will harm this balance.  I know this first hand.  I look at everything in life in terms of does this "help or hurt" my goals.  If it will hurt my goal, I walkaway.  And that is true strength.

"Health is a divine gift, and the care of the body is a sacred duty, to neglect is to sin.  But while this may be termed a sin of omission, it is also true that a great deal of the sins of commission are due to an unhealthy state of body and mind." -Eugen Sandow

Education of a Gym Rat

Having been trained since I was 13 on lifting weights, I always assumed every American Male had the same great teachers and coaches.  As I get older this is far from the case.  The evidence is in the gym every morning. Many people have horrible form on just about every exercise.  They also cheat with every set.  Guys and Gals cheating is a occasional principle, not a rule.  You will get far more out of a set, by picking a weight you can handle and do the exercise properly, rather than using too much  weight and cheating.

The gym etiquette is also awful.  How many times do you see plates left on bars, leg presses loaded to the hilt and dumbbells all over the floor.  For some reason many people think they are surrounded by their mothers who will cleanup after them.  I grew up in gyms where the penalty was getting kicked out.  Plates left on too long combined with  the force of gravity causes the bars to warp.  Leaving machines loaded and dumbbell on the floor is just plain rude and unsafe for others that come behind you.  I can guarantee that there is no gym in this country or others where they tell you doing these things is OK.  So clean up after yourself.

When it comes to doing the movements properly, The Smart Body Initiative will have videos for over 300 movements.  The always accessible videos will have a rep mode at the beginning to refresh those that need it and it will be detailed in the second half.  Each video will last no longer than 60-90 seconds.  This will allow you to have a trainer at your finger tips.  Stay tuned here for more info as we approach the launch.

Train to Failure
Alex

The Laboratory of Life

Have you ever wondered why people who spend hours a week on the treadmill or elliptical always look the same.  If we take diet out of the equation (we will discuss diet in detail later), we can start to look at these people (and many others) as your experiments in a gym.

Like I have said since the beginning, this blog is intended for those willing to asses and change.  And to take the next step in the journey we need to know where you want to be.  What is your goal body style?  Is it lean, muscular, powerful or fast? Simply put, look at what people do in the gym and how it effects their body.  Start to notice the particular workouts of people and how they are the same every week.  And these people wonder why nothing changes.  Your body is very smart and adapts quickly, especially if your mind allows complacency. But, we will cover these "rut" workouts in detail next week.  

If you happen to be around runners that train you can easily see this principle in action. When training to be a runner, you obviously have a difference in approaches to a 100 meters then 1500 meters or even a marathon.  If we look at the bodies of each these you will see them get leaner to longer the distance they run, which is an obvious result of their individual training.  So, if you run 20 plus miles at a time, you will not be able to hold muscle mass as easily as a sprinter.  This is a basic example, but look at the other members in your gym and asses their bodies and see if that is what you really want.

The Smart Body Initiative will give you the personalized tools to find the workout that will create the body you want.  We have geared our system to help you achieve your goals without paying a trainer  $50-$100 per hour.  So until the launch, start doing research in your own personal "Gym Lab".  Start to generate the drive to change and see what is going on around you everyday in the gym.

Someone told me long ago "if you listen to your neighbors, they will always be your neighbors", so pick who you want to live beside.

Train to Failure and Grow
-Alex

Start a Journey III

Now that you have had time to evaluate you current state.  We need to decide on the intended state.  You will need to find a goal of  how you want to look when you are finished creating a Smart Body.  These goals are essential and should be your primary inspiration. For your sake, never be outworked.  Always push your self to failure and your goals will be reached.   This is why I began talking about goals during your evaluation period.  You need to understand that without the proper tools to set goals, you will never achieve them.

For some you goal may simply be weight loss, others gain muscle.  No matter what your desired goals are, set them in stone.  Fix them in your mind as to where you want to go,  From there we will develop a plan.

Tomorrow I will discuss the plan and steps toward creating a success full healthy lifestyle.

Train to Failure.
-Alex

Three Principal Principles

To achieve a lifestyle change you must make sure you have your mental focus in the gym at an all time high.  When attacking any workout you need to make sure you are focused and ready to train your body.  To do the Smart Body system and create a real Smart Body, you need to follow these three principles below.  You actually owe it to your workout and yourself to follow these.


1.  Strain the muscle but work the group!
   -Visualize every movement as if your body were a machine.  Make them as fluid and exact as possible on each rep.  Even when doing more iso-centric movements, other muscles are involved.  Think of these as a group and have them work in conjunction to complete the exercise.  


2.  Train Hard and Fast with minimal rest!
  -Limit you rest to 60 seconds or less between sets.  This will not only aid in fat loss, it will provide a type of cardiac workout you cannot get from a treadmill.  


3.  Shut up and Work!
   -Remember the word "work" is in workout not "talk".  The gym is not a social scene, you are then to train.  If you want to change your body and become an athlete, then you must train like one.


These principles are a big part of the Smart Body Initiative.  Stay tuned for more as we get closer to the launch of the ultimate personal trainer.


-Alex

Goal Setting Part Three - Motivation

The third big component of setting and achieving your goals is proper motivation. For some this is easy they simply find it in themselves.  But even those lucky few need someone to help provide the needed push when you are ready to give out.  I have been fortunate over the years to have several good lifting partners.  However, my style of workout is very hard and demanding and I need someone who wanted the same punishment.  Once I found such an individual, the gains exploded.

Arnold said it best when he said that none of his success in the gym, could have happened without partners like Franco Columbo and Ed Corney.   This energy will allow you to change your body and have support attempting a larger array of movements in the workout.  Trust me when I say it is contagious.  You will both find that you no longer plateau, you just keep climbing.

My current lifting partner and I have been creating our own system that will help other achieve their body change goals a lot quicker.  But before we launch and you are ready to start, find a good partner for the gym. Because it never fails, when one of you is about to quit, the other lights a competitive fire that makes the workout even more beneficial.  It is this support that makes failure more possible and a great deal more fun.  I challenge everyone to find a compatible workout partner that has similar goals and dedication.  You will not be disapointed in the results.

Goal Setting Part Two - Ignorance and Confidence

Mark Twain stated that to succeed in life you need two things; "ignorance and confidence".  This is very true, however the success part of the equation, comes from balancing between the two.  Let's look at both.

Ignorance- Obviously this is the one you want in the smallest capacity.  You do not want an ignorance against learning.  Life is about lessons and failure.  Each happens to us every day.  Someone is teaching us a lesson and we fail at something everyday.  It is how we react to this acquired knowledge and how we respond to our failures.  I have told my two sons that failure is part of life, ignorance to adapt and overcome failures, will lead to more failure.  You can apply ignorance here.  Be ignorant of failure.  Take it as a lesson; then adapt and overcome.  Also be ignorant of negative forces. If someone is constantly telling you that you cannot do something, it is your choice to accept their belief.   Confidence from others cannot ever outweigh your own self-confidence.
 

Confidence- Confidence is not conceit.  If you believe in yourself, you can accomplish something special.  It shows in your every mannerism. You will carry yourself with pride and conviction.  Also, you will have the diligence to learn from every failure with a renewed since of accomplishment.  And that is exactly what failure is, an accomplishment.  You have achieved a ceiling in your mind, body or soul.  The character of a man is how he build confidence from within and challenges those ceilings to rise above his failures.

To conclude, simply be ignorant of others confidence in you and be confident in yourself.  You will find that learning from your failures will allow you to reach your goals much faster.

-Alex

Machines Versus Free Weights

While some machines are beneficial, especially when rehabbing an injury, they are more like a crutch.

The more your use them the more you depend on them. 

 Let's face it, a machine does some of the work for you.  Is that not the opposite of the reason you come to the gym?  I believe that the word "work" is in workout.  So to make your body into an unstoppable machine, you must try to stay away from the machines.  You will find that your body will respond with quicker gains.

Your joints and skeletal structure will receive a greater workload and stress resulting in a better "frame" for muscle growth.  And remember if you want to lose weight, a quick way is to add muscle.  It takes more energy to operate a muscle cell than a fat cell.

So start today and change your routine.

Train to Failure Everyday
-Alex

Goal Setting Part One - Will Power and Failure

Will Power

Friedrich Nietzsche believed: "that Will Power is the main driving force in man; achievement, ambition, the striving to reach the highest possible position in life; these are all manifestations of the will to power."


It is with this in mind that I set my goals.  Simply put, I believe that I am the only road block to my success.  Therefore when I set a goal I do it with a Will that Powers my ambition and achievement.  I visualize success and make sure that when I am in the gym my mind is focused on the task at hand.  So make sure you are fixed on your athletic goals when you train.  Do not be thinking about a football game, a movie or a girl.  It is only an hour or two a day, so don't cheat your self and concentrate.  


FAILURE


Nietzsche also said "that which does not kill us, only makes us stronger".


This is the best way to view failure.  We need to fail every day.  We learn from failure and our bodies do as well.  Do not always think about numbers when doing sets, instead push yourself to failure.  If you do this everyday you will break down barriers you thought were impossible.


Train to Failure and Will your self to success


-Alex

Start a Journey

Monday's first step toward a new change is evaluation.

This may come as a shock, but if you have been working out in a gym, health club, spa or other workout facility, you have been in a laboratory.  There are many types of experiments going on that you have not even noticed.  You have had a wealth of information at your finger tips, you just did not know how to read it.  Here is an example.

There is a guy in your gym that does not do any lower body, guaranteed.  They are everywhere.  My first strength coach called them "light bulbs".   Big on top, chicken legs down below.  It is not that they can't work legs, it is because they won't and most times they are just too lazy.  Why else would you ignore a muscle group that makes up over 60% of your muscle mass.  Now take a good look at this guy the next time you are in the gym.  I will bet that he slightly stoops over with a small but growing hump in his upper back.  This is probably due from so many pushes, his chest has grown but outside the rib cage, but not inside.

Do you want to know what is the best exercise for expanding the chest, and promoting overall championship level chest development?

SQUATS!!  Nothing makes you breathe deeper and expand that rib cage to allow for bigger chest gains.

Now this is just one example of the information at your finger tips.  Find a member of your gym that you want to look like and ask him what they do for a workout.  And if you want to be a "light bulb" by all means go for it.  But I would much rather be up against a man that can bench 315, then a man that can power clean 225.  Do not waste your time and evaluate what you are doing.  If your body has not changed or responded to your current training.  Then now is the time to change.

Train to Failure
Alex

Two Keys to Youthful Cellular Growth

Keys to Cellular Growth

Resveratrol and ubiquinol are not new compounds and supplements.  But the accepted list of benefits seems to keep growing.  I have known about the Anti-Cancer and Cardiovascular effects of Red Wine and the stem cell activity realtionship with CoQ10, but I was skeptical of both until I took the plunge and started to supplement them both.  

I must say I was impressed and the Ubiquinol seemed to take effect much quicker than I expected.  The first place I noticed a difference was my skin.  The tone and pigment seemed to start to looking more healthy (could not bring myself to type younger, but that is what I was aiming for).  

Below are some of the new benefits either backed by studies are are currently being studied. Keep them both in mind the next time you get ready to check out at bb.com or wherever you purchase your supplements.

Resveratrol 

- Neuro-protective effects-   Reduces the formation of Brain Plaque.

- Anti-inflammatory effects-  Inhibits accute and chronic inflammatory process

- Cardio-protective effects-  French Wine Paradox, Inhibition of vascular cell adhesion

- NO Stimulation  -  Stimultes the NO Synthase in the body 

- Anti Diabetic effects -  Possesses hypoglycemic and hypolipidimic effects 

-Antiviral effects  - Has proved effective against many viruses

Ubiquinol 

Cardiovascular effects- can as much as double the ejection fraction, this measures the ability of the heart ventricles to pump blood

Antioxidant- Only lipid soluble antioxidant synthesized in the body.

Neural Health-  Has shown to slow development of Parkinson's disease.

Anti-Aging and Anti-Inflammation - Because of high absorbtion rate the antioxidant levels help to fight aging deterioration of skin cells and inflammation.

-Alex 

Training for Goals

Have you ever trained for a specific goal?   Have you put in the many hours of sweat to get your body ready to compete in something, only to fail because of the gray matter between your ears?

Well I am going to tell you why you failed. You were isolating muscles for training put not working on the mental will power to succeed.  I have had many coaches that told me never to go into competition without knowing you were the best.  This is no bravado or arrogance, but a confidence that you can achieve anything.  

I am 5' 7" and was always a horrible jumper.  I just had no vertical lift or height in my jumps.  I began to train on more challenging box jumps and kept reaching a plateau that was unacceptable.  So like I always do, I inspected and reviewed my training and progress, so I could reassess.  

Here is what I found, I had no confidence that i could jump higher.  My mind was the only limiting factor.  Once I eliminated failure as an option, my jumps soared higher every week.  I can now from flat footed, reach a 52" high box jump.  And that is not half bad for a 39 year old.  So in summary, you must eliminate failure from your mind to achieve your goals.

Train to Failure Everyday

Alex

Eating More or Less

First, there is no biological reason to eat three meals a day.  You have heard it before, you tend to eat too big of a meal and usually are overweight and have digestion problems.  That was me.  Not I worked out everyday, played rugby and was very active.  But except for my post workout protein shake, I ate just three more times a day.  My weight was always fluctuating and had constant heartburn.  I had a good friend who suggested the following:

1. Diligently write your meal times out and track calories for a week.
2. Average out you total calorie intake for each day.
3. Now split that same calorie count over 6-8 (preferably 6 or more).
4. Now watch your metabolism rise and lose weight without any additional physical work.

HERE IS WHY

Your stomach is still a muscle controlled organ that uses calories to digest food.  When you overfill the stomach and the enzymes and muscles are over worked, you pump in more acid to aid the digestive process. So split up the meals make the stomach work all day and watch weight disappear.  I eat 10 times a day.  I eat every 2-2.5 hours.  Depending on what my goal is I average between 200-400 calories per meal.

Try it for a month and I promise you will have more energy, lose weight and have less stomach discomfort.

Train to Failure Every Day!!
Alex

Saturday Afternoon Supplement Spotlight: Go Green

Today's must have Supplement of the week:  Green Tea

Around six years ago I tried my first green tea.  It was one of the Lipton Diet Citrus and I was hooked.  Well as you can imagine that got expensive.  So I decided to experiment with brewing my own and came up with a great batch that is strong and makes two gallons.  I go through around 6 gallons a week.  

I substitute a minimum of 40oz a day of my water with green tea.   Experiment even if it is just a hot cup of green tea each day.  Ideally try to have a glass around 90 minutes after you have finished your workout.  I promise the energy and fat loss will amaze you (all other things being equal).

Alex 

Start a Journey

Have you been a diligent gym goer for years?

Are you in good shape, but you look the same as you did last year?

Do the same workout and exercises every week?

Well let's start a journey to "re-boot" your body and start to reverse the clock and change your physique.  If you are ready for a mental and physical challenge that will send shock waves to your body and wow your friends, then stay tuned.  But first lets start by looking at traditional Isometric based workouts versus Compound movement based workouts.

Let's first look at life.  Is life made up of single Isometric movements?  Do you only use your lats when you start a lawnmower?  No, of course not.  You engage your legs, back, core and even neck muscles.  So if this is the case then why would your workout be made up of solely Isometric movements?  There is no reason, it is just simply "how we were taught".  I am not taking away from the benefits of a bench press, but there is no reason to do it every week.  There are hundreds of other movements that target the chest, but add an additional muscle group, thus making it a compound movement.  When you realize that your body and more specifically your muscles are like cogs in a machine, the better off your workout mentality will be.  You will begin to do things you could never do before.  I am 39 years old and regularly do box jumps of over 48 inches.  Am I a special athlete, no.  I am just a guy who wanted to jump higher and looked at what I needed to do to accomplish this.

Personal trainers cost a fortune and I see them in my gym everyday, watching me.  It is really funny, they will even imitate the movements that I have created.  I take this as a complement, and strive to work even harder.  Think of me as your R and D department.  I have done the research, and with your motivation can turn you from a V6 to a V8.  Below is a link to my Bodyspace page where you can see my transformation over the years.

http://bodyspace.bodybuilding.com/arrakis_rugby/


IF YOU FOLLOW THIS BLOG YOU MUST OPEN YOUR MIND.  A good deal of what I will describe is against conventional weight lifting theory, but the results are real.  If you want to change you body then stay tuned for the Smart Body Initiative Blog.

Train to failure everyday!
Alex