Jacob Campos is The Head Strength and Conditioning Coach for Select Athlete Training Systems.
During the course of his career, he has had the privilege to develop and coach numerous MLB and NFL athletes, as well as NCAA All-Americans.
A 2010 Graduate of Texas A&M University - College Station, Jacob earned his Bachelor's of Science Degree in Nutritional Science. He is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) and United States Weightlifting Performance Coach (USAW).
How to regain consistency back in your training, nutrition, and life.
4 ways to start becoming a consistent machine.
Consistency is the only real indicator of a successful athlete. This carries over to anybody who isn’t even competing but just wants to work out. Either way, consistency is a deciding factor of whether we were going to get the results that you were trying for. All forms of learning and person of development all depend on the regular repetition of training. Want to be stronger? Be consistent with your workouts. Want to be healthier? Be more consistent with your food choices.
The best program in the world , if there ever was one or if it ever exists, would go nowhere for any athlete if they didn’t they did not have consistency completing the workouts on a regular basis. Sorry if I burst anyone’s bubble, but just cause you paid for the weights, doesn’t mean the weights are going to lift themselves.
All this sounds pretty simple and it is. But anyone can tell you it is not easy all the time. So what are some ways that you can be more consistent in your daily life to make sure you’re getting the results you are currently working for ? in his article we go into a few different ways and how you can regain consistency back in your training, your diet, in your overall day-to-day life.
Start off by creating an itinerary for your day.
Every professional sports team in Collegiate team that I’ve ever been a part of has always had an itinerary for every day, every month, of every year. They give a very detailed outline of what people will be doing and where they will be going every day. You can start doing this in your daily life by mapping out how you want your day to look the night before. So if you just can’t find the time to do yoga in the morning because you find yourself rushing, then you just need to make sure you make the time each morning to do your work out by writing it down on a schedule. This cannot be done in your head. You have to plan it out. You have to plan hour by hour of every day what you’re going to be doing to maximize the efficiency of each day. Do you work all day? I understand that it may be hard for you to get your workouts in after a long day of work, but you just have to plan in the time if you’re not training for a competition of any sort then it makes it even easier. At this point you need to follow your program and whether it’s a 20 min, 30 min, or 1-hour workout you just need to make sure you get it done. Success does not come without a cost. Sometimes that cost is bigger in some things but the payoff is always worth it.
Become responsible for either a workout partner, coach or even a program.
This is a great way to start off being more consistent. This will make you more responsible for someone other than yourself. And letting that person down, it’s probably the worst thing you can do in that situation. One of the main reasons people hire a coach it’s for this exact reason. Ideally, your coach should be there in person helping you and supporting you in any way they can, but remote coaching is also very effective. It’s not always ideal, but having someone take you through the process is not only going to hold you more accountable and make you feel more responsible for yourself and for your coach. Same goes with the workout partner. Ideally, they would be there with you supporting you, encouraging you, but you’re not always the case. Sometimes, just like the coach, they cannot always be there and may have to support you remotely. Again, this is still very effective and can make you much much much more consistent than if you were to try and tackle your workouts by yourself.
If you feel like you have the gist of a program, sometimes just hitting percentages on a program is good enough. If you’re going off of program where you have to hit exact percentage is every workout this forces you to be more consistent and hold you and accountability far greater than just a workout randomly.
Act the part
Base your goals around behaviors and not the overall outcome. This makes it much easier to justify in our minds. If you goal is to lose 50lbs in a month, first of all, that is not realistic, you may not be too happy when that goal is not being met. BUT, if you base your goals and your accomplishments on creating better habits, then you are able to make every outcome positive if you stuck to your new practice. In an “I want it now world” it is easy for us to think that we can achieve our goals in little to no time. Guess what? Anything that is worthwhile takes time. Want to be stronger? Stick to a long-term program because it’s going to take time. Trust me, I see the magazines too. They do not make it easy for us since they are always advertising the new and improved way of working out or dieting. Even our local gyms and CrossFit boxes tell us that their “programming” is the best and only to follow their style of training. Most of the time they don’t have the experience or knowledge to coach and train a group. (this is something to look into if you are joining or are currently part of a gym – who is your coach? What have they done? Who have they coached that is successful AND for how long?)
Look, as long as you make it a point to stay with your behavior goals, you have no other choice other than to succeed.
Be more Flexible
I know it sounds almost the opposite of being consistent but hear me out. I am talking about be more flexible with yourself and your time. Sometimes when we miss a workout or have a bad meal, we tend to think to ourselves like nothing matters anymore. Then we just fall off the wagon. I don’t think you should even be thinking about “getting back on the wagon” because you’re always on this wagon. (what?) Yes, you have already decided this was going to be your life, so now it’s time to own up to it. If you miss a workout on Wednesday, don’t beat yourself up and skip out the next couple workout or even try and make that one up. Simply just keep going like nothing happened or if you need to just do it the next day. There really is no reason for you to drive yourself crazy because you missed a workout or meal. Be more flexible with yourself and you will find that things are actually a lot easier to schedule and accomplish in the long run. We are playing the long game when we commit to this life of training. You may not hit your goals within the first 3 months and you should know that. You need to view your training over the course of 6 months, 1 year, etc. But at the same time, this means you need to keep track of what you’re doing during your training and meal prep. Because it is not possible to skip an entire month and expect to see results. This all depends on your goals and ultimately it is up to you and your coach to determine what those are.
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What you need to do to start weightlifting effectively.
So you’re into Olympic Lifting? That’s great! But I wanted to make sure you are getting to most out of your program. I wanted to clear up so things just you don’t randomly do 5×3 Cleans before a random workout and call that an Olympic lifting program or a plan.
First, I encourage you to find yourself a USAW certified coach who has been coaching for a few years and has seen a few Olympic lifts before. All you have to do is ask your coach if they are USAW certified. Kinda simple.
Second, You need to understand that there is an enormous amount of flexibility required before you can start doing the full Olympic lifts. If you do not have the flexibility, then you need to seriously start thinking about getting into a Mobility routine. Something like mobilitywod.com will work very well.
Next, you need to understand the following qualities that every Olympic lifting training plan should have. Every program should:
Be easy to understand and monitor
Be cyclic in nature
Have built in checks of progress
Allow for individual creativity
Allow for the inclusion of remedial movements for error correction
It is recommended that each training session contains:
One Olympic Movement (Classical or a Derivative)
One Pushing Movement
One Pulling Movement
One Leg Movement
One “Core” movement
Then you start thinking about the objectives of your training. Your plan should always work to increase your performance, increase your work capacity, decrease the rate of an injury, and always be refunding your Technique.
Then, if you really want to start excelling in Olympic lifting, you need to understand that there is a process through each workout session. You should always have a part of the warm-up and achieving a better level of Mobility. You need to have your Technique building exercises. You also need to have your strength and power building exercises. In the final part of the workout are your flexibility and cool-down session. Depending on the session, this may take anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and a half.
Beginners, Intermediate, Advanced Programs and Plans are ALL DIFFERENT. This is because a beginner does not have the work capacity or even the muscle endurance to perform multiple times a week. In the first year of training, a beginner should be working out specific Olympic lifting no more than 3 times per week. And in the first six months, the athlete should be focusing primarily on technique and really not worried about the weight on the bar. For the next 6 to 12 months they can start adding a little more weight depending if they are proficient in their technique at that point, at least well enough to start handling more weight on the bar. During their second year of training, they can now add another day of training making that up to four times at training sessions per week of Olympic lifting. And on the third year, you can bump that up to 5 times a week. This will keep you safe and effective throughout your entire training planned.
Listed below is a program that one can follow after about 6 months of training. This is a textbook way that an athlete can start training and get the most out of their plan.
Monday
3 Position Snatch – High Hang, Hang, Floor (1 rep each x 7 sets)Jerk – 6 sets x 2 reps up to 75%
Cleans – 5 sets x 3 reps up to 80%
Overhead Squat – 5 sets x 5 reps
DB Sotts Press – 3 sets x 6 reps
Wednesday
Jerk – 5 sets x 3 reps up to 85%
Power Clean – High Hang, Hang, Floor (1 rep each x 7 sets) up to 75%
Snatch – 5 sets x 3 reps up to 70%
Press in Split Position (work on both splits) – 3 sets x 3 reps
Back Squat – 3 sets x 3 reps
Friday
Clean and Jerk (2 Cleans & 1 Jerk x 8 sets) up to 75%
Snatch – 6 sets x 3 reps up to 80%
Snatch Grip Behind the Neck Push Press – 4 sets x 3 reps
Front Squat – 5 sets x 3 reps
(Calling an audible, if you were a multi-sport athlete like someone who participates in CrossFit or any other sport you may not be able to complete the entire workout each day listed above. Therefore, stick to doing the main lifts and substitute the secondary lifts.)
Action steps: 1. Find a coach. If you cannot find a coach make sure you plan out your program as best you can and follow the guidelines. 2. Get flexible. Go to mobilitywod.com to seek flexibility advice. 3. Understand the qualities of an Olympic lifting training plan. 4. Understand your objective.
5. Understand what level the path you are. Are you a beginner, intermediate, or an advanced level athlete.
6. Create your plan. Or, have a coach help you. 7. Execute.
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Your thoughts are everything. Think about this for a moment, what was the first thought you had when you decided to read this article? Was it a positive one? If it was you would be reading this in a much better mood than if you were to say to yourself, what is this crap about? You see your thoughts are going to determine your perception. A champion thinks in certain ways that are always in their favor. They see the world differently than most people. They either succeed or when they “fail” they learn from their mistakes. There really is no “failing” in the traditional sense.
Now, what does this mean for you? Well if you want to succeed in any type of athletic activity you must believe that you are going to succeed before it even happens. A quick test you can do is get into a plank position and hold it for as long as you can, make sure you time it. Then start saying a positive mantra or affirmation. For example, something simple as “I can do this”, over and over again until you physically just drop. Then try it again, after a full recovery, except this time with a negative phrase, like “this sucks” over and over again. Test this and see which plank was easier and you held longer. I can almost with 100% certainty that when you tell yourself the positive phrase you are able to hold the plank better than the negative phrase.
What I have done for the rest of the article is compiled together some of the best videos and books that I could come up with to get you started on developing the Mindset of a Champion.
8 Characteristics of Champions
Up first is from a podcast called “The School of Greatness” by Lewis Howes. In his podcast Lewis interviews Aubrey Marcus and they dive into the champion’s mindset extensively. Aubrey has incredible insight into what makes a champion from talking to his friends, who are world-class athletes. In the podcast Aubrey goes over the 8 Characteristics of Champions:
Champions utilize belief to their advantage
Champions are great students
Champions are tough
Champions master their minds
Champions have rituals
Champions are absolutely relentless
Champions are in a serious relationship with their body
He is also the creator of ONNIT and the supplement that they bring up, AlphaBrain, you can find by clicking the link here: http://bit.ly/onnitalpha
Unbeatable Mind by Mark Divine
Next up, I bring to you a great book that has the power to completely redefine the way you perceive mental toughness. From Amazon.com “With over 100 Five-Star Reviews, Unbeatable Mind (2nd Edition) has deeply impacted the lives of thousands of people seeking strength in their thinking, mental-state, and self-development with a curated package of tools and techniques not easily found anywhere else. In this revised and updated version of Unbeatable Mind (3rd Edition), Mark Divine offers his philosophy and methods for developing maximum potential through integrated warrior development. This work was created through trial and error proving to thousands of clients that they are capable of twenty times more than what they believe. The powerful principles for forging deep character, mental toughness and an elite team provided in this book are the foundation of the Unbeatable Mind ‘working in’ program of Divine’s SEALFIT Academies and renowned Kokoro Camp. They are being employed by a growing number of coaches, professors, therapists, doctors and business professionals worldwide. Commander Divine is a retired Navy SEAL and human performance expert who works with elite military, sport and corporate teams, SEAL / SOF candidates and others seeking to maximize their potential, leading to more balanced success and happiness. The training is leading to breakthroughs in all walks of life and cultivating a robust community of practitioners.”
This book is loaded with great lessons and advice on how to be successful. From Amazon.com “Even among the most elite performers, certain athletes stand out as a cut above the rest, able to outperform in clutch, game-deciding moments. These athletes prove that raw athletic ability doesn’t necessarily translate to a superior on-field experience its the mental game that matters most.
Sports participation-from the recreational to the collegiate Division I level-is at an all-time high. While the caliber of their games may differ, athletes at every level have one thing in common: the desire to excel. In The Champion’s Mind, sports psychologist Jim Afremow, PhD, offers the same advice he uses with Olympians, Heisman Trophy winners, and professional athletes, including:
– How to get in a “zone,” thrive on a team, and stay humble
– How to progress within a sport and sustain long-term excellence
– Customizable pre-performance routines to hit full power when the gun goes off or the puck is dropped”
Hey, you don’t have to listen to me. Check out the only and only Dr. Eric Thomas talk about being Allergic to Average. He starts it up at :45 sec.
I am pretty sure this is enough to get you through the rest of the week on stuff to check out. Make sure you have your mind right before you even attempt anything. Because when you start, you will start to see the abundance in everything you do.
Does this sound familiar? You have a workout that requires you to lift your chin over a bar but you realize that you have to scale the workout because for the past couple years you’ve been working out, you never really learned how to develop the strict pullup. Well you’re not alone. Many people fall victim to the pullup. It’s ok though. There is hope. As long as you are willing to take the time and put in the work, you will be stronger than you ever have.
The pullup is the secret to all your dreams (I hope not) and it’s one of the most bang for your buck exercises that were listed here in this article.
Listed below is not really rocket surgery. These are some tips to help you start developing the strength to start pumping out pullups in no time.
Hold on to the Bar!
Surprise right? You need to get your ass up on that bar. This is actually something that Ive seen overlooked time and time again. People say “I’ll just do pullups in a WOD” (but they can’t do them, and resort to a band….) Look if you can’t do a pullup you need to do Bar Holds and Hangs. This can be done at any given point of the day. (Except when you are suppose to be at work. You can’t just start doing pullups in the office…) Even if you know you can’t one stinkin’ pullup. You need to develop the grip strength, the shoulder strength, and the back strength before you even think about performing the movement. If you say that you can’t hold on to the bar, then you already lost. Get up there and do some holds and hangs. Shoot for a specific time to be up there. Try and hold your chin over the bar for 10 sec., then 20 sec., then 30 sec., etc. Before your know it you’ll up there for a minute and things will be so much easier. Do the same thing with the hangs. Make sure your shoulders are back and down, and hold on to the bar with your arms fully extended.
2. Perform Negatives
Alright, so you can hang from the bar and it doesn’t hurt your feelings or hands to be on there. Great! Now one strategy is to start working on the eccentric (lowering) part of the movement. So unless you have a short pullup bar, you’re going to need a box to jump up and get your chin over the bar. You are then going to proceed to lower yourself self in a nice a controlled movement. At first, you may be only to do it for 2-3 sec., especially if you are brand new, but eventually, you’ll be able to do sets for 10 sec. at the minimum. This will dramatically help you because you are developing the strength within the movement. You just might surprise yourself and instead of jumping back up, you accidentally just pull yourself up there.
3. Stick to a Program
Look, it’s going to seem like this process might take a while, but just like anything else if you stick to it you will see progress. If you know you are really overweight and are carrying a lot of extra body fat, then the program would also include some type of fat loss. This is very simple. I’m not saying it is easy. But it is as simple as consistency. Make sure you are determined to get after it every day you workout. There is no excuse bigger than your goal and if your goal is to get a freakin’ pullup, then go do it. Simple.
Want more tips and a program like this? Join the facebook group where we go over many, many more ways you can be stronger today. UPDATE: A complete Pullup Workout Progression LIVE VIDEO in the group! Just click here:
4. Inverted Rows
These can be very powerful for developing the back. When you perform an inverted row you start recruiting and activating more muscles that will develop a proper pullup(1). They can also reduce scapular dyskinesia (rounded shoulders). Inverted Rows will help you develop a solid base to start with press movements, such as the bench press and the overhead press. You can perform the movement on a Smith Machine (its real use), Gymnastics Rings, TRX, or just put a barbell lower on the rack. So do these. Do these often. When you are performing a CrossFit workout, don’t be a cop out and go to these as a default though. You’ll never get stronger if you are always doing the same easy thing. You can do it. Start developing your entire back.
5. Stop the Kipping
Probably what many CrossFitters don’t want to hear. But guess what? That’s not going to make you any better if you can’t perform an absolute minimum of 5 strict pullups. Why? Well, that’s simple, your shoulder is not strong enough. And to be honest, it’s probably still not strong enough until you can start doing sets of pullups. Listen, why do you think so many people have problems with injury and CrossFit? Because they have not built a foundation of strength before they start doing all the very technical stuff.
Don’t do CrossFit? Then there is no reason to put your shoulder through that kind of stress. You have to know what your goals are before you start working out. Working out is NOT random. You can vary your movements but it must be a systematic and smart approach. Not random.
I am not against kipping if you do CrossFit. I am against people who think they are ready to be at the CrossFit Games but they cannot do a simple set of 10 strict pullups and I see them swinging around a pullup bar pretty much having a seizure. Don’t be that guy or girl. Work on your kip swing while you are developing the strength. Then your life will be so much easier and you will be on your way to being injury proof.
6. Ditch the Bands and the Machines
If God wanted you to do a pullup with a band, he would have created you with one on your foot when you are born. Stop it. You’re not helping yourself. Especially if you are against machines like the smith machine and the leg extension. The band for pullups is what the elliptical is to running. Nobody runs a marathon on the elliptical. Enough is enough. Become strong. End of story.
7. Practice, Practice, Practice
The pullup isn’t easy for most people. That’s fine. But that’s what makes it so great to learn. You must have patience with yourself before you become a pullup King or Queen. Before you know it, you’re going to be pumping those reps out like you’ve been doing it your whole life. Just like anything you do it takes practice and consistency with that practice. Practice with different types of grips. Practice with different tempos. Just be consistent.
Look we know you want to get stronger. What I have done is put together a quick guide Power and Speed so you can start really developing your athletic capabilities. Download you copy of the ebook here at freebook.selectathlete.com
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It is possible to lose fat and better your performance. You just need to understand the training.
Look back at your last training day. You are on your back gasping for air, making a sweat angel and rolling around the gym floor like an injured calf. How helpful is this when it comes to your training? Does this align with your goals?
Do you train just to suffer or are you training to become an effective athlete? Is every workout the worst workout you have ever done? Alright masochist, we are going to reevaluate the reason you are dying every workout.
If you decide that the reason you want to workout and train is to lose body fat then dying every workout may not be the only option for you. In all reality, there are better options to mobilize excess fat on you body. You need to start training smarter and monitoring your heart rate during your training.
Why heart rate monitoring?
Because this is the sure way to start gauging how well you mobilize fats on your body instead of glycogen (stored glucose / sugar). You see, when your body is an aerobic (with oxygen) state this is a direct reflection of how well you can use fats for energy. The heart rate is a correlation with the body’s need for oxygen.
This is not your Slow Easy Cardio.
You will still be putting in work to achieve maximum results off this protocol. We are going to work off the 180 Method and here is how you do it: Subtract 180 minus your current age. This will give you an accurate number of beats per minute(BPM) your heart rate should be at during your training. This will not be easy to maintain if you are used to training really slow all the time. Similarly, this is not easy to maintain if you are used to killing yourself every workout. You will need to target your heart rate zone but subtracting 10 BPM for the low end of your zone. So if you are a healthy active 35 year old, you will be training at a heart rate zone of 135-145 BPM. The ideal time you should be doing this is a minimum of 20 minutes per day. Every day.
There are some exceptions to this formula. If you are untrained or just getting back into training and working out, you will want to subtract 5 BPM from your initial number. So that same 35 year old will be training at a heart rate of 130-140 BPM.
Improve your Performance.
You may be used to staying a 160 BPM and now I’m asking you to stay around 140 BPM. It might be when you first start out on this journey it may take you 15 min to run a mile. Well, you’re probably not very good at utilizing fat for energy.
As you train and consistently eat right over time you will be able to get back to the times you were running before and possibly improve your best running times at a pace where you are predominantly burning fat for energy.
What if I don’t have a heart monitor?
This is an easy remedy for anyone to try. Perform your exercise with your mouth closed. This will ensure that you are optimally taking in as much oxygen as your lungs and heart can handle during the current stage of training.
Look, this is not to say that you should never redline and go hard once and awhile on your fat burning journey. But, this all depends on what your goals are and how close you are to achieving them. This is not easy and it is definitely a gut check when you first start off. You will probably want to quit and just go back to what you were doing before, especially if you were hitting personal records all the time. I will not knock you. You deserve all the benefits and rewards of training you can get. BUT, if you are having a hard time losing weight. If you are not trying to compete in a highly competitive arena for a while (or at all) then you should give this a shot for at least a month. You still need to lift heavy things and continue to work on your movement mechanics.
What’s Going on in the Background of your Training Plan?
You’re not missing more gym time, I promise.
Do you often think that when you are training, you always need to do more? You need to spend more time in the gym to get better results. Well, depending on what you are training for, more is not necessarily better. It’s what you do outside the gym that greatly impact and can actually increase your productivity in the gym. We are going to look at how Nutrition, Recovery, and Mindset Training affects your overall program and how you can start implementing today. For any athlete, at any level, these 3 topics are generally overlooked but are equally, if not more, important as time spent in the gym. These are the Secrets of top tier athletes.
Nutrition
One of the topics people should not talk about along with politics and religion. But the truth is, no matter what you do in the gym you will not get the most out of it, unless you are properly fueling yourself.
This can get quite complex but we can break it down to a few Main Points:
Drink water. No sodas or other no calorie power drinks out there. Divide your weight in lbs by 2, that’s how many ounces you should be drinking on a regular basis. Obviously more on training days.
Eat real foods. Processed foods is a no-go. No cereal is not good for you. Low-fat crap in a box is also not good for you. Stay on the outside aisles of a grocery store, skip over the bread section (they try and pretend that’s healthy) and do the majority of your shopping there.
Eat for your goals. If you don’t have any, get some. If you want to lose weight, well, you must change up your macros to do this. Same goes for if you want to gain weight.
Now, we can get into counting your macronutrients and such but I go over that in the Select Athlete Elite Fitness Facebook Group. So you can go over there, join the group, and get all the free info you want.
Recovery
Alright, you just hit the gym HARD, your muscles are pumped with blood and you probably can’t see straight. You just know you’re going to be sore for the next couple of days. But what do you do? Sit your happy ass down and binge watch Friends and Parks and Rec on Netflix. Sorry my friend but this is not recovery. You are only making things worse for yourself. Instead of making sure your body doesn’t completely tighten up (like your pants after a cheat weekend) you must make sure that you are performing some sort of rest, myofascial release, and mobility training when you are not in the gym.
Greater mobility will also result in greater strength, power, and speed output. If you can also move through a greater range of motion, you will also be more resistant to injury.
If you realized that you are not recovering properly, or just want to do a better job at it, here are some principles to follow.
Sleep. This is probably the single most important part of recovery. Proper levels of sleep provide a hormonal balance, muscular recovery, and mental health. A good amount of sleep is anywhere from 7-10 hours a night.
Hydrate. Just like the nutrition part of this article. Hydration is key to your health, performance, and overall fitness.
Stretching. Since you know you need to move well and remain pain-free, stretching is the way to do it. I’m not talking about bending over and touching your toes. I mean getting a proper dynamic stretch before you workout and do static stretching after (do it anytime of the day actually if you can).
Myofascial Release. Muscles and trigger points may need to some assistance being released to make it a healthy tissue. Foam rolling and other tools can be used to help facilitate the relaxation of the muscle.
Heat and Compression. Research has recently shown that using heat on a sore area can decrease the effect of DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) after a workout1. Also, more research has shown that wearing compression garments post-exercise acts to increase blood flow, which may enhance arterial muscle blood flow and result in improved recovery2 .
Look simply put, a simple yoga class is not enough. That may be only one aspect of your recovery. You need to make sure you are treating your body with enough detailed attention as much as you do playing Pokemon Go.
Mindset Training
The often most overlooked part during anyone’s training. The difference between an Elite Athlete and you is simply a mindset. They can already see themselves on a podium every morning before you can even wake up and eat your frosted flakes. But this doesn’t mean you can’t start making a change now. This just means that you need to realize it first.
You, and only you, have the ability to change your mindset to a positive and abundant one (if it’s not there already). Nobody is going to do this for you. Nobody can. In a world where everyone seems to be entitled to everything, including a trophy, you cannot be part of that crowd.
There are practices that you can incorporate so you can win in your mind first before you even step onto the field, gym, etc.
The first things you can start doing as soon as possible is learn to breathe from the diaphragm. This may sound easy but take notice of your breath, are you taking short choppy breaths or are you taking full complete breaths through your diaphragm? It’s time to start taking control of your mind and body. A simple practice to start would be to inhale for 4 seconds and exhale for 4 seconds for about 5 minutes of diaphragmatic breathing. Take time to start focusing your mind. Practice this anytime but before and after you train would be a great time to do this exercise.
Another important practice that you can incorporate into your training is learning how to Meditate. Meditation is key to helping you focus and calming your mind. If you have every tried it and felt like you can’t do it, that’s kind of the point. You may not be a monk in 24 hours but at least you can practice calming your mind and witnessing your thoughts. Many of the world’s greatest athletes practice some sort of meditation to keep their minds clear and their focus sharp.
Start practicing by with your breath awareness practice and every time a thought comes up in your mind just let it disappear and resume focusing on your breath.
There are many other practices like goal setting and visualization but this can be for another day. (or you can learn more about it in the Select Athlete Elite Fitness Facebook Group)
Conclusion
This stuff is not always on the attractive side of training but it is more than necessary. If you eat right, recover correctly, and train your mindset you will be farther advanced than you ever thought you could be. This will also place you ahead of most of your competition.
The Athletic Physique: A Functional Body Enhancement Workout Program
Create a body that performs as good as it looks.
Functional training has gotten a lot of press lately and for good reason: This is not a new concept though, people should be moving “functionally” all the time but not everyone workouts out the way they move in their daily lives. What’s the point of working out if you are “all show and no go?” In other words, what’s the point of working out if you cannot be stronger than your mother? That’s like putting 26’ rims on a car with an engine that’s underperforming because you never looked under the hood.
Your body is made for performance. A strong set of legs, back, and shoulders developed not only for mass but for your 7 Primal Movement Patterns: Squat, Lunge, Push, Pull, Twist, Bend and Gait. (Paul Check anyone?) When your body is strong and works together, synergistically, you develop a different type of strength that is not developed by traditional workout splits. When you crush a single muscle group every time you step in the gym, you literally cripple any chance of using that muscle group in your daily life for the next few days. Where is the capability in that? Where is the true strength?
Case Study: Does this sound like you? Let’s say you were to have a traditional “leg day” and you literally do the leg press machine and leg extension machine until your quads are about to pop off your knees. Let’s also say that you using every additional “intensity technique” in the book, drop sets, super sets, high reps, negatives, and assisted reps only to hobble out of the gym feel like your legs just got ran over by a truck for the next few days. Is growth really taking place? Or are you just going after the pump and the feeling of being sore? Are you just pretending to recover properly?
Also, does this make you avoid activities due to your need to “recover” for several days? Are you chronically sore and always in a state of pain from the brutal workouts that are probably not producing the results that cool magazine or website or even trainer promised?
ENTER THE ATHLETIC PHYSIQUE
We are going to create a body that performs as good as it looks. Your functional physique is a practical and performance-based outlook on your fitness.
The purpose here is to merge the idea that you can have the looks and the performance of an athlete without sacrificing one for the other. Because if you are being honest with ourselves, who doesn’t want to look like a professional MMA fighter or NFL star and then have the muscle to be a functional human being?
Let us take a look on how you can work toward this goal in the gym while dominating outside the gym as well. It’s time you stop hanging your head out of “exhaustion” and looking beat down when you leave the gym. It’s time to make our efforts in the gym benefit us in the real-world.
MINDSET CHECK
First and possibly last, you need to stop thinking like a traditional “meathead” (time to start thinking like a “functional meathead”) and get away from killing a single body part until it turns to mush. It’s time to start thinking about the whole body as a functional piece of equipment – what happens when your body is being treated as a Formula-1 Race Car.
No matter what sport, baseball, football, basketball, tennis, etc…, the athlete needs to have a baseline of movement to maintain and express a functional body. The ability to twist (swing a baseball bat), sprint (off the line), press (shoot a basketball) requires a body to handle those movements – even to an elite level.
It’s time to start varying your training, using different movement planes, and different levels of intensity. It’s time to start using your body as a whole functioning machine.
SORRY YOU’RE PROBABLY WEAK
Now, since I am assuming (making an ass out of you and me) that you workout like a lugnut instead of a Racecar, we are going to address the most common weaknesses most people have during their training. Don’t worry, we are always trying to make even the most ELITE athletes stronger in these areas. This list is not the end all be all either. This is just the beginning of an experiment you will be conducting on yourself during your pursuit of strength and cconditioning.
CORE STABILITY: When someone is confining their training to machines and seated/supported exercises, they are only weakening their core. The trunk of your body is made to stabilize you. This is what gives you control of total body strength. Developing a strong and stable core is the key to transferring energy and developing strength.
POSTERIOR CHAIN: All the muscles you do not see in the mirror. The traps, posterior delts, the entire back structure, glutes, and hamstrings. These muscles combined are the motor of the body. Without these muscles developed you are only saying to yourself that you want to be weak forever. Stop being weak, train your posterior chain.
RANGE OF MOTION: Let’s face it, your mobility probably sucks. I’m now suppose to tell you it’s not your fault…but it really is. You stopped moving like a human. You sit all day at work, you sit when you watch T.V., you sit when you eat, you don’t do full range of motion (don’t lie to yourself) when you lift, the list goes on and on. You must develop the entire range of movement through each muscle complex to strengthen its function.
PRESSING: This can kind of tie in with range of motion because unless you have been coached on how to press, you probably are doing more harm than good. Having your shoulder go through a full range of motion when you press may not feel right when you do for the first time. Whether you are overhead pressing, bench pressing, or doing dips you must learn the way your shoulders move to strengthen the entire shoulder complex.
IMBALANCES: Unilateral training will quickly get you stronger because most likely you favor one side more than the other. This is a recipe for injury down the line. I want you to actually try this, grab a 55 pound dumbbell and perform a 1 leg – 1 arm Deadlift (Hold the weight in your right hand and perform on your left leg). How many reps until you become tired and unbalanced? Now switch. Which side is easier? Case and point. (if that was too easy grab a heavier weight hoss)
BODYWEIGHT: When you coddle yourself with light weights and machines all the time you tend not to use your total body in a movement. Achieving a mastery of bodyweight may take you a while but it is worth it when it comes to strength and muscle conditioning. How many pullups can you do? Compare that to how much you bench… If you have been training wrong…it won’t be good.
YOUR NEW TRAINING VARIABLES
Listed are some of the training variables you will use for your new functional athletic physique. Pay attention to each week of training as they may emphasize one more that the other. By the end of the program it will even out.
STRENGTH: You will learn how you can develop brutally raw strength. This is achieved by concentrating your main lift (which will be a big compound movement) to lower amount of reps and higher weight.
MAX POWER: This is the product of force and velocity. There are also many different variations and conditions affecting the way in which power can be displayed. It can be displayed during either maximal or submaximal joint actions (varying on the joints involved). It can also displayed against an external resistance or against a variable external resistance. Also, power can be exerted and measured while the involved muscles are lengthening or shortening. (This is also known as the concentric or eccentric muscle actions)
ENDURANCE: This can often be overlooked and skipped during an athlete’s training but this is a very important aspect of performance, your muscle endurance will not only serve as a functional benefits but this is also why athletes are very lean. Endurance is the reason why you will be able to endure the intensity of your training.
CARDIO: This is different from muscle endurance. Very rarely do athletes partake in low-intensity steady-state cardio. You will adopt a more high intensity interval training, this will allow you to be more efficient with your time and energy.
SPEED: This is your distance divided by your time. Sprinting and running, not jogging, will train your body’s ability to accelerate. Through this kind of workouts will aid in your loss as well. Training for speed is another reason athletes tend to be leaner than most people.
INJURY PROOFING: This is what we like to call PREHAB. It’s not REHAB because you will be training your body against common injuries before they may occur. Maybe you are already injured or are recovering from an injury, through PREHAB you will be making sure that injury doesn’t happen again.
YOUR ATHLETIC PHYSIQUE
This program that is laid out for you will address these variables and much, much more. Your training slate is now clean you are now on a new path to rebuilding not only you but also your training program. At first, this may not seem like an easy task to follow. You will be challenged daily. You will be tested weekly. If you do decide to partake in this journey, this will take discipline and consistency importantly a complete and true belief in yourself.
Here are a few pointers when beginning theAthletic Physique Training Program:
Give the program some time. Is require you to be consistent for the minimum of 4 weeks, preferably 8. When starting any new program it may take some time to fall in line and progress to be made. There’s no such thing as an overnight success, you will build muscle and strength in a few days, this requires discipline and dedication. Take control of your physique today.
Each workout will be in with some prehab and a proper warmup. This is crucial to your strength and power. If you decide to skip this part you will see you gains slow and your risk of injury dramatically increase.
This is a fast-paced type of training. You must pay attention to your rest periods. If you rest too long, you might as well go home.
Challenging yourself a daily is key. Just because you do some supersets doesn’t mean you go light and make it easy on yourself. Assuming you are executing with proper form, get after it, go heavy and attack the challenge.
Form is crucial. It is the reason you can lift without hurting yourself. Check your ego instantly at the door and realize you need to execute the workouts with as close to perfect form as possible.
If you find yourself not able to finish the workouts, it’s ok. Drop the number of sets down and finish strong. Don’t just sacrifice intensity because your ego said keep going.
If you are still up for a challenge read on.
Each Week and Day will be divided into “themes” or Phases.
Weeks 1&2: Hypertrophy and Muscular Endurance
Weeks 3&4: Strength
Weeks 5&6: Power
Day 1: Lower Body
Day 2: Upper Body
Day 3: Total Body
THE ATHLETIC PHYSIQUE TRAINING PROGRAM
Foam Roll: Make sure you spend 5-10 minutes foam rolling. Roll out your quads, hamstrings, calves, glutes, back, shoulders, and lats.
Dynamic Warm-Up: Before you train – you need to warm up.
10 Yards Apart
Knee Hugs
Quad Pull
Straight Leg March
Toe Touches
High knees
Butt Kicks
Lunge
Side Lunge
10-20x Squats
In Place
Trunk Rotations
Arm Swings Across
Arm Swings Up and Down
Triceps Stretch Overhead
10-20x Pushups
10-20x Pullups or rows
On a knee
Hip Flexor Lunge (w/band)
Hip Flexor Lunge w/ a quad pull
On your Back
Hamstring Pumps
Leg Across Body – Open Up Chest (T-spine stretch)
Post Workout Cool Down: Make sure you stretch out after you are done with the workout with a comprehensive stretching routine.
Do you think of yourself as an Athlete? Well in our opinion if you are a human, you are some sort of athlete and you should start thinking about yourself that way.
On your adventure to sculpting the body of your inner athlete, there are a variety of exercises and movements that can help or even delay your results. When it comes to training, you can easily confuse yourself with all the machines and special programs/plans during your journey. Movements such as the Deadlift, Squat, Pullup, and Overhead Press are tried and true exercises that athletes cycle through during the course of their lifetime of training. Once you master these movements, it will open the door for you in terms of more complex movements for your future. This will inevitably help you develop the body of an athlete, which is something that we all truly want, right?
Deadlift
The First exercise we will discuss is the deadlift. The art of picking something off the ground, possibly something extremely heavy. This movement elicits one of the greatest hormonal responses in our body when executed with intensity. In other words, the greater the hormonal response, the leaner and more muscular you will become. There are actually many benefits to incorporating this exercise into your training program, let’s discuss why.
It is a total body exercise which means it will build muscle mass and get you stronger at the same time. It work’s more muscle groups at one time than any other exercise-yes, even more than the squat. The deadlift focuses on stabilizing the core and all the muscles surrounding the hips and lower back. It easily improves your grip strength. When executed without the aid of wraps, the deadlift will by nature develop your forearms and overall grip strength. Your arms and shoulders will ultimately be affected by this miracle of a lift. They will grow bigger and stronger with every workout. Your shoulders will learn stability, which in turn directly affects your trapezius development. (those muscles by the neck, on your back) Guess what else you use to pick up weight? You probably guessed it, your legs. Your glutes and all muscles associated are completely activated at full contraction during the deadlift. Building mass and strength like an athlete will be the reason you must be obsessed with this lift. Furthermore, deadlifting will undoubtedly develop the back in its entirety.
Executing the deadlift correctly will build unrivaled mass while strengthening all the major muscles groups.
Squat
Known as the King of all Exercises. There is a reason many elite athletes consider this a staple exercise in their routine. There are many ways to squat and develop unparalleled mass and strength but for the sake of argument, we are just going to discuss the barbell back squat. Along with the deadlift, the squat creates an anabolic response in the body. You will see great mass and strength gains when you perform this exercise properly. This means that all the upper body movements that you probably already do will actually get better because of this lower body blast of an exercise.
Many, many athletes perform the squat to run faster, jump higher, even hit harder. There have been numerous studies that have proven this fact. This movement develops all the muscles in your legs and instead of listing them all here, just look down at your legs and look at someone else’s from behind (because you can’t see the back of yours) and then you’ll see what the squat will develop. My point is if you do the squat, you will look bigger, be more powerful, and gain more strength than if you didn’t.
Pullups
One of the most effective upper body strength builders anyone can do. It’s simple (but really not that simple). Just pull yourself up to a bar. Many elite athletes can easily do twenty or more in a single set. It easily strengthens and builds your arms and upper back. The lats, forearms, biceps, and middle and lower traps are all targeted while you execute the movement. Athletes incorporate this exercise into their workout program to effectively train their muscles throughout the entire back which is bombarded with enough stress to make them grow stronger, more powerful, and overall larger.
Want the upper body of an elite athlete? Train your upper body like an elite athlete. Do Pullups.
Press
Want to forge the upper body of an athlete? Athletes usually train their shoulders depending on the demands of their sport. Many athletes also use the press as a diagnostic tool. Many athletes tend to have imbalances in their shoulders, including scapular instability, rotator cuff muscles, deltoids, and pectorals. They do the press to eliminate these problems and decrease the risk of injury.
The overhead press is the most efficient movement to train your shoulders, triceps, core (all muscles that stabilize your spine), and upper legs. Taking the time to incorporate this potent exercise into your program will allow you to increase your strength and mass in other pressing movements such as the bench press and dips. Isn’t getting stronger, more powerful, and larger muscles what we are ultimately after? Do the press and all your dreams will come true.
I wanted to share a few infographics that I have found to be helpful when looking at dieting and nutrition. Today’s post will include infographics about gluten-free diets, the ketogenic/paleo diet, and the vegan diet. It is not up to your trainer to tell you what you should be eating (since that should be a nutritionist’s job). You need to inform yourself on what you should be eating in general. We need to understand that everyone is different and responds differently to different types of foods and our overall diet.
A great infographic on gluten-free eating. If you have celiac’s or a mild form of the disease (gastrointestinal problems associated with gluten) then this is a good start to help you out make better decisions on your food options.
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The paleo diet has become very popular in the world of CrossFit. It sounds simple enough, eat the way a caveman would have eaten in the paleolithic era. Check out the graphic below to learn a little more.
We all have that one crazy vegan friend. It’s ok, they bleed just like you and me…lol. Maybe those vegans are on to something. I mean, think about it, they are pretty healthy right?
Thanks for reading everyone! If you would like to join the closed group to talk about the diets, fitness, etc..with a community that actually care about their health, go ahead and CLICK HERE TO JOIN. In the group, we have strength and conditioning / nutrition professionals actively interacting with anyone interested in fitness and nutrition. Maybe you can bring your own take into the group.
like the coach, they cannot always be there and may have to support you remotely. Again, this is still very effective and can make you much much much more consistent than if you were to try and tackle your workouts by yourself. 
