First post of 2012. (5 months late!)

It has been a while since I have written anything, but I have had situations and questions that have come my way that I want to divulge.

As a coach, many of the questions that come my way are "how can I improve?"or "what did you do to get where you are now?"

I think my answer is to these questions is:  'do things right'.  I am a bit of a technician.  It's the way I teach, the way I learn, and the way I train myself.  There are many ways to do something wrong and only a few ways to do something right.  Study the right way to do something and (try to) never do it wrong.  Progress slowly.  I am not the one in the gym to push beyond my technique.  Remember, Mechanics, Consistency, Intensity. 

So as far as general training advice.  This is what you have to do in no particular order:

-Eat right.  Lots of meat and vegetables.  Eliminate grains and sugar and alcohol ideally.
-Sleep an adequate amount ~8 continuous hours a night.
-Drink lots of water.
-Lift heavy things (barbells, kettlebells, dumbbells, stones, kegs, people, sandbags, anything.)
-Lift lighter things with a higher volume.
-Lift  medium sized things at a moderate volume.
-Push or pull against gravity at a variety of angles off various apparatuses, add weight sometimes.
-Balance your training between your left and right side and your front and your back side and your upper and lower body.
-Train bilaterally, unilaterally and with odd shaped/sized objects.
-Train your grip.
-Increase your neck strength.
-Emphasize the posterior chain (hamstrings, butt and back) in your training.
-Train clean and jerk and snatch.
-Improve your front squat, deadlift and push press before you try to clean and jerk heavy.
-Improve your snatch-grip deadlift and overhead squat before you try to snatch heavy.
-Mobilize everything: hips, shoulders, wrists, ankles, and spine.
-Get or stay flexible.
-Play on the rings a bunch for upper body strength.
-Run, jump, climb, crawl, roll, skip, bound...move your body from point A to point B in various ways.
-Take your shoes of more often.
-Do not stress.
-Do not get injured.
-Enjoy what you are doing.  The journey is the fun part.
-Breathe.
-Be Patient.

The Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, he said:


“Man.


Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money.


Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health.


And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present;


the result being that he does not live in the present or the future;


he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”

Paleo in a Nutshell Part 1: Food

Here is a video about food.

Paleo in a Nutshell Part 1: Food

Work, Rest, Play, Pray: Explained

Work, Rest, Play, Pray: Explained by Dan John

Great article from a veteran lifter and coach.