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.