I’m happy that my last post “Deadlifting 101” got as much positive feedback as it did. For those of you who read it and could pull some ideas and information from it, I’m glad!

I got several requests after that article to do a squat tutorial. Since I had mentioned awhile back that I will do one, I will live up to my word. I will try to condense things and break them down as much as I can without you falling asleep in front of your screen, but the squat is a lot more technical than the conventional deadlift, and requires a little more explanation in order to completely grasp how the movement is supposed to be done.

So bear with me.

(PLEASE NOTE: While I understand the mechanics, how-to’s, and science behind a squat, I still have things to work on myself! It is hard, and if you’re not someone who “gets it” right away, don’t worry. It takes a lot of practice to remember the cues and have everything work together in a fluid motion. No lift is ever immaculate or perfect, and there are always technical flaws and things to be worked on. We are constantly learning. The important thing is that you know how it’s done so that you can correct problems when they turn up.)

THE SET-UP

First things first. If you’re one of the people who is in a rush to get under the bar and finish the lift, slow the fuck down. Rushing the set-up is the biggest problem a lot of people make. They will duck under the bar and lift it on their back within a second, which is when the grotesque chest dropping and upper back rounding occurs most frequently. Slowing things down and taking time to make sure you are very tight at the start will ensure that you stay protected and solid throughout the entire movement and look a little less like the hunchback of Notre Dame.

A lot of people don’t know how to set their hand width properly. They’re either way too wide, or not wide enough. I say that if you are not a very large person or don’t have a particularly muscular upper back, keep your grip width more narrow to create a shelf with your traps for the bar to rest on. If you are a much larger person, you can afford to have your arms a little wider. Unless you’re a 300 lb. super-heavyweight with a very muscular back (in which case you wouldn’t really be reading this tutorial), there is no reason to have your hands all the way at the end of the bar. It’s just silly and won’t help tighten your upper back if your back is not big enough for it. The best thing to do here is to play around with different hand widths before squatting your regular weights to see what distance makes your back the tightest.

A trick I learned recently from a fellow powerlifter is to set your hand width on the bar BEFORE getting under, so that when you dip down to get the bar on your upper back, everything is much tighter. I used to dip under the bar and set my hands after, but I found that doing it beforehand and not changing the position of your hands kept my back a lot tighter and made it easier to keep my chest up. Ladies, if you have long hair I suggest putting it in a bun or a braid kept to the side to make sure this is easier for you.

You’re going to want your upper back VERY tight. So tight in fact, that you could hold a pencil between your shoulder blades. You want your back to remain this tight throughout the entire set. As you tighten your back and get under the bar, raise your chest and make sure it is out and high. This is a huge priority, because it’s what will prevent you from doing a good-morning on the way out of the hole.

That's a tight back.

Don’t flare your elbows up behind you. Try to keep your elbows tucked under the bar as much as possible, and avoid bending your wrists. Remember, your hands are there to keep the bar in place, not to support the weight. Too much wrist bending can result in injury or tendinitis. If you have a problem keeping your wrists straight, wear wrist wraps to increase the pressure and keep them in line. I have to do this as well, and a lot of squatters also do this especially if they squat low-bar.

Bar placement depends on personal preference. I find that low bar squatting (bar on the rear delts) causes more forward lean,and involves more of the lower back, as well as putting a lot more emphasis on the glutes and hamstrings. It is harder to get very low in a squat with a low bar placement (though this is remedied by maintaining great hamstring/hip/glute flexibility). For a lot of people it helps them lift more weight, and it’s popular amongst powerlifters. A high bar placement is set at the top of the traps right below the neck, and is also referred to as an “Olympic style squat”. It helps you stay more upright and get lower, but a lot of people find that they squat less weight with an Olympic style than with a low bar style.

Then of course, there is always the in-between, where it isn’t quite low bar and not quite high bar. All in all, it’s really down to preference, and the only real WRONG bar placement that you can have is putting the bar too high up so that it’s resting on your neck and spine rather than your traps, which is just begging for injury. Find what suits you and your leverages and stick with it. Try not to go back and forth between low bar and high bar squats.

Moving on…

Get completely under the bar when you are setting up. Do not unrack it with one leg back and one leg forward (common error). Your neck and traps should be pushed back into the bar when you are setting up. You want to really keep it back in there and tight. Arch your back slightly, take a breath, and un-rack the bar. Let the weight settle COMPLETELY on your back before you walk back. Do not just unrack the bar and start walking back, or you will begin to come loose. Again, slow down.

After you have waited a second or two, you want to step back with as few steps as possible to make sure you remain tight and to conserve energy. The rule is 3 steps. Some beginners until they find a groove for their foot width will need a few more steps and some shifting to find their proper position, but this should be minimized as much as possible. Remember, use as few steps as you possibly can.

Foot width, like with the deadlift, is determined primarily by preference. While some people will choose to have a wider stance, some people will also prefer a much closer stance. What I don’t suggest for a raw lifter is to squat in a sumo stance. There is no real reason for this, and it will take too much of a toll on the hip flexors. It’s also much harder to get lower, and this is mainly a squat stance used by equipped powerlifters.

A general rule of thumb is to have your feet shoulder-width apart, with your toes pointed out slightly. The toes pointed will help take stress off the knees, and will also help you engage your hamstrings and glutes more so that you can get your hips through at the lock-out. The more narrow your stance, the more emphasis is placed on the quadriceps. Which is why I personally prefer something in between narrow and wider, so that I get a good balance of quad, hamstring, and adductor involvement. Stance takes experimenting to see what works best for you. Choose the stance that works best for your leverages and level of comfort (to a certain degree).

THE START

So now that you are in position with the weight on your back, it’s time to start the breathing. A lot of people neglect this part and will simply start dropping down into the squat. They don’t realize how important taking deep breaths and holding them before the descent is when it comes to staying tight throughout the rep.

The breath should always be taken deep into your stomach. Don’t breathe through the chest. Not only will the breath be shallow but it will be harder to hold, and your core will not be very tight. If you use a belt when squatting, you will want to take a deep breath and push out as hard as you can on the belt.

I prefer to take two quick breaths before finally taking in a really deep one and pushing against the belt. Remember that the entire time I am standing there, I am just as tight as I was when I first un-racked the bar. Never let your muscles relax while you are breathing.

THE DESCENT

After you have taken your breath in, hold it, push your abs into your belt very hard (or if you are not wearing a belt, just tighten your stomach). Push your neck and traps into the bar, arch your back, sit back, and go down.

You should set your point of focus the same as a deadlift. NEVER look completely down or in the mirror. Set your focus straight ahead and slightly down, or slightly up. Keep your head and neck in a neutral position and focus on one spot.

When you’re squatting, you have to push your knees out to the side as much as you can. As Dave Tate said, think of trying to spread the floor with your feet. Push against the side of your feet and open up. This is very important for proper hamstring and glute activation through out the movement.

You don’t want the squat to be a 2-3 part movement. As in, one part of your body goes down, and then the other, then the other, etc. Like the deadlift, it should be a fluid movement…down and up. Your knees and hips should be moving at pretty much the same rate.

Do not worry about knee travel unless your weight is coming onto your toes. If your knees are the first thing to come forward and you feel the weight shifting to the front of your body, it is because you are not sitting back enough, and you are transferring the load to your upper back and quadriceps, rather than your glutes and hamstrings.

Remember that the body will ALWAYS compensate for a weak muscle by supporting the weight with the stronger muscles. The body does not know what good form is, it only knows that there is a heavy ass weight resting on it, and it needs to lift it somehow. The key is training yourself to use certain muscles primarily. Your glutes and hamstrings can support a lot of weight if you train them to, and those are the muscles that most of the lifting should be done with.

Always break with your hips first, not your knees.

THE ASCENT:

Just like on the way down, you will want to keep your knees out. This will help you lock-out the weight better and will prevent that common sticking point mid-squat when you just can’t seem to get your hips through. Many times if I failed a squat mid-way, it was because I was not utilizing my hamstrings as much as I could have, and my knees were pointed forward which made it hard for me to get my hips through. So it’s important that you stay focused and remember to keep your knees out so that your hamstrings can be worked to their fullest capacity.

You will rise with your chest and head first. Imagine a string being attached from your chest to the ceiling, pulling it up. If you let your chest drop, that is when the bar rolls and the weight gets shifted to the front of your body rather than the back. If your chest is up, everything will stay tight, and will prevent forward lean.

Don’t raise your hips too fast, because this can also cause you to do a good-morning on the way up. Just like you descend in a uniform motion, you should come up in the same way. Drive your hips up to lock out the weight. You really have to squeeze your glutes very hard and force your hips forward. The lock out needs to be done with your hips, not your knees.

If you’re making a squat max attempt or near max attempt, I think it’s important to let out some air once/if you reach a sticking point on the squat, since your goal is not to pass out during the squat from holding your breath too long. Let out some air in a hiss when you hit that spot.

COMMON PROBLEMS AND HOW TO CORRECT THEM

1. Butt “winking”. This is when you reach a certain point in the squat where your lower back rounds and “winks” at the bottom. This can be dangerous, and you can injure yourself badly if you’re not careful. It’s caused by a number of things, including (but not limited to) inflexibility, lower back weakness, loss of your arch during the movement, and loosening of the lower back during the movement. My suggestion to correct this problem is to incorporate more PC work such as good-mornings, SLDL’s, hyperextensions, rack pulls (below the knee), and lots of hip flexor/hamstring/glute stretching.
2. Losing the arch. Pretty difficult one to overcome, and takes a lot of practice and concentration. You have to really be focused and know how it feels to keep the arch throughout the entire squat. Once you lose that arch, your back can get quite loose, which can cause the winking mentioned above, back rounding, and good-mornings out of the hole. You will need to strengthen your mid-back and lower-back muscles and also practice holding your arch for longer periods of time. Build your back with the assistance exercises mentioned above, as well as practicing your arch with lighter weights until you can build up to holding it completely when the weights get heavier.
3. Bar rolling on back. This is caused by your upper back not being tight enough. If the bar is securely on your back, there would be no reason for the rolling.
4. Knees caving in. This comes from mainly from a lack of hamstring and glute strength, and can be corrected with the proper assistance exercises. I recommend SLDL’s, good-mornings, GHR’s, hip thrusts, and wide-stance box squats. You also must concentrate on pushing your knees out throughout the whole movement, like I mentioned earlier. Mobility work and glute activation work is also important before beginning your squats.

QUICK TIPS:

• Think of “bending the bar” over your back. This will cause immediate tightness and help you keep the bar in place on your upper back.
• Do whatever it takes to help you get that weight up when it feels tough. Some people like to breathe out air with a hiss, while others let out a loud grunt. If it helps you lift it, then go for it. I don’t care, and most other people don’t care either. If they complain just throw them over your back and squat them for a clean set of 10.
• Start out with mental cues. Think, “Head up, chest up, arch back, hips back, knees out..etc” if it helps you to remember. If you can’t think of all that at once, get someone to yell at you “hips back!” or “knees out!” to help you.
• WEAR FLAT SHOES. I cannot stress this enough. Barefoot, even. Unless you have squatting shoes, which is just as good. Stop squatting in goddamn sneakers. Invest in a cheap pair of high-top Chuck Taylors/converse and squat in those.

Have fun, and remember to be patient with yourself. It takes time to master the technicalities of the movement. Always keep a learning attitude about you though, and remember that it is a work in progress. Don’t try to rush things or they get sloppy. Go at your own pace, and practice with lighter weight if you need to.

Also keep in mind that when performing a 1-rep max effort attempt on a squat, there are going to be more technical flaws than a weight you could do, say, for 3-5 repetitions. In the case of a competition, sometimes there are more errors in form simply due to the fact that the athlete is doing whatever he or she can to get the weight back up.

However in training, you should strive to keep your technique as clean as possible to prevent injury and ensure that you have a long life filled with many more days of squatting pain-free.

In training, 95% of the time it will be form over weight. You’re training your body, not your ego.

The deadlift is by far one of the easiest compound exercises to learn, in my opinion. Then again, there are technicalities to it that cannot be avoided, and if done improperly, deadlifts can leave you in a lot of pain due to strain or injury.

So while it’s not a difficult lift in theory (pick up the weight, put it down again), there are right ways and wrong ways to do it.

I’m going to break it down in points, and hopefully you can note an issue that you may be having as well and how you can fix it. This post will be covering conventional deadlifting.

THE SET-UP

Everyone has a certain stance that suits them best. I have seen some people pull with feet no more than an inch apart, and I have also seen people pull in a semi-sumo stance, with their arms still on the outside of their knees. The key here is finding a stance that works for YOU. If you do not know exactly what that is, a good starting point is having your feet hip-width apart, or a little bit narrower.

If you are a slow puller off the floor (i.e. harder for you to lift the weight the first 2-3 inches rather than locking out), you should aim to have your feet a little straighter in front of you, at least while in training. Doing so will help you be a little faster off the floor. Pointing your toes out slightly will make it a little easier to engage your hamstrings and get your hips through at the top, which will support your lockout if you have the opposite problem (weak lockout, strong off the floor.)

After you have gotten your foot width decided, the next step is to see where the bar is relative to your feet. You want the bar right over the middle of your foot. You do NOT want to start with the bar already at your shins.

Next is your hand placement. Place your hands just outside your knees. I find that the closer my arms are to my legs, the tighter everything feels. I also use a mixed grip, which means one hand under and one hand over. It’s much easier to lift heavier weights with this grip rather than double-over-hand. Especially if your grip is weaker and you are still building it up.

Some people prefer to bring their hips down and hold that position for a few seconds before pulling. In my opinion and in my own experience, this is very inefficient. I like to make use of a bit of stretch reflex at the bottom before I begin pulling, since it helps me engage everything and make sure that my muscles are tensed and ready to go rather than relaxed. So after I set my feet, I always set my hands, and then I do not dip down until I am ready to pull. I find that waiting in the pulling position before you begin limits the amount you will pull, because your muscles are not as tense and there is no “bounce” in a way.

SO. Set your hands first, and bring your hips down to pull only right before you start to make sure that you are engaging everything properly with no muscles relaxed.

THE PULL

A big problem some people have that can result in bad injury is retracting their shoulder blades before they begin the pull. This is an absolute NO, and should never be done. When you stand up your shoulders are going to come back anyway. Retracting your scapula before pulling will only lead to injury.

Now that everything in the set-up is correct and you have your hands in place, bring your hips down just low enough so that your shins touch the bar. This is where you should be pulling from.

However, there are those of us who are a little bit at a disadvantage due to leverages, and sometimes you get what is known as a “high hip puller”. I am one of them. Even bringing my hips down until they touch the bar is not always enough sometimes. What I suggest in this situation is a little bit of a “dip” at the bottom.

What I mean by dipping, is to bring your hips down a little lower than you would normally pull from, and then “bounce” them up to the correct height. The second you feel that your hips have met the appropriate height, begin your pull.

Here is an older video of myself as an example:

And for those of you who are even higher hip pullers, a larger dip may be more appropriate at your discretion. Here is another example from my friend Robert Trettin:

Again, this is what I do because I have a short torso and long legs, so it works well for my leverages. If you have great deadlifting leverages and can pull without having to dip down, then that’s awesome. If your hips are too high at the start, try dipping down like I suggested. It makes a world of a difference.

Remember to keep your chest up and out. Take a deep breath and hold it. Arch your back. Your head should be in a neutral position. Fix your gaze on a spot in front of you and/or slightly down. Slightly up is fine, and I find that looking up as I’m locking out can help sometimes. Never look straight down on the floor when you pull because you will throw yourself off, and of course, never look in the mirror.

As you begin the pull, you want to keep the bar as close to your body as possible and try as much as you can not to let the bar drift in front. Ever see those guys with bloody shins after a deadlift? That’s how close the bar needs to be to your body. Keep it in at all times.

QUICK TIP

What I like to imagine, is that I am not pulling the bar off the floor, but rather I am pushing myself into the ground. This automatically tenses your glutes and hamstrings, engaging them in the movement. If you concentrate of pulling the bar off the floor a lot of the tension tends to shift to your upper back, taking your legs out of the picture. Your legs play a big role in deadlifting, so make sure that everything is fired properly.

Also, when you feel like you’ve been grinding it for an hour, it’s probably been closer to a couple of seconds. Next time you feel like failing it when you’re almost there, just give it a couple extra seconds (provided your form is at least passable). It may be all you need to lock out the weight.

FINAL NOTES:

Everyone has different pulling styles, and it takes time to find your own groove. The best thing to do is play around with different widths, hand placements, etc. and find which one suits you best.

Most basics have been covered in this post, and pretty much anyone can benefit from at least starting with this form, and from there tweaking it to match their own bodies perfectly.

Never be one of those people that trains AROUND their weak points. If you have lagging body parts, build them. If you don’t have good flexibility to get your hips lower, then stretch. Don’t be one of those guys (or girls) that says “Oh, I’m not flexible enough for that, I’ll just do it this way” or “My hamstrings are weak, so I have to pull more with my back”, etc. All I hear is a bunch of lame excuses for your ineffective training. Admitting to your weaknesses is one thing, so long as you make a constant effort to improve upon them. Admitting to them and then doing nothing to strengthen them is what’s the wrong thing to do.

Hope this helps. Happy deadlifting!

It’s kind of a hard feeling to describe, but the way I see it, it’s like I’m becoming extra adventurous. Having taken quite a long break from a lot of things to retrace my steps and reevaluate my life, I’ve been making greater plans for my future. And the refreshed feeling comes from knowing that rather than believing I have to start again from scratch, I’m simply taking every opportunity and all the potential that I already have and expanding upon it. Making use of all my resources. Realizing where I could be if I put in the work.

The craziest part about all of this is that I’m jumping in with both feet. Do I know what I’m going to do tomorrow? Fuck no. But I know that I want to make every day count, and move towards what I want. Even if it’s just in little ways…you build a house one brick at a time.

In a way the future is quite scary. We all have our ideas of what we want to do in life, but sometimes our fear hold us back from accomplishing them. Fear holds us back from going to new places, seeing new things, meeting new people, having new experiences. We fear that we aren’t capable of enjoying all of this in our lives, and thus settle for mediocrity. It’s not that we have no desire to excel above and beyond, it’s that we do not find ourselves worthy enough, or able enough. There is something that always holds us back.

Now I am beginning to see that the ability is there. The sad part is how long it’s taken me to realize it.

I have determined that everything I want to be and could be is possible if I could only acknowledge my capabilities. If I refused to set boundaries for myself then there is no stopping me.

The funny thing is that something like this should have been understood a long time ago, but I was too busy feeling incapable that I didn’t stop to think that perhaps I was meant for greater things. I have so many ideas, passions, opinions, that it’s difficult to just shut it all away and sweep it under the carpet. What is to be gained in being average? When I am old, will I look back on my younger years with regret for the things I didn’t do? Will I choose to live the life I want, or settle for something less than what I dreamed?

These are all things that I had been asking myself. And every time I think about giving up my goals and dreams just because I didn’t have the courage to go out and achieve them, it makes my heart sink. I don’t want to work a dead-end job. I don’t want to live in a rut, or subject myself to other peoples’ opinions and ideals.

I want to create memories. I want people to remember me for something. I want to do what I want to do in life, and how I want to do it, no questions asked. I want to travel the world. I want to be successful. I want to be a better person. I want to live fearlessly.

And now all those things that I have wanted to do but didn’t think I could, will be done. All it takes is an attitude adjustment. My outlook on everything has changed since I cleaned the lens I was looking through. Life is not that grim, but it’s here to challenge us. Life challenges us every day to be a better person, and to do something worth noting.

Believe and you can achieve, or so they say. And it’s about damn well time I started believing.

“The people crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones that do.”

This is my awesome dog, Charlie. She's been keeping me sane lately.

I’ve gotta say, the last few months have been shockingly busy and draining for me.

There are a lot of changes going on in my life right now and I have to say I’m quite excited for 2012 and what it will bring me. BIG things are going to happen, this I know for sure!

Lately things have been all sorts of crazy. Ups and downs. We know we all have them. The one thing that has been very consistent is my training.

I thought I’d share this video with you as a fair reminder that I haven’t dropped out of weight lifting to pursue a life of gaming, drinking, and eating nachos. That’s something I do when the day is done, and my training is out of the way

My most recent PR. You better believe I’m getting 315 at my meet!

I also update my Facebook page daily, so feel free to follow me on there as well. I hope all of you have a kickass weekend! I’m sure looking forward to some good food and time spent with family.

Peace!

So over the last two weeks or so, there has been quite a lot of hype over the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. When I first heard about this, I was neutral to it. I love Victoria’s Secret lingerie and I can admit to being a complete lingerie fiend, so I do enjoy watching these sorts of things.

I had unfortunately missed the live broadcasting on the day of the show, but had intended to watch it at a later date. I wasn’t surprised when I logged on to Facebook and saw all the posts by both male and female individuals regarding the show. I was even less surprised to see that all of them could fit into perfect stereotypes.

The men had statuses that fell under two pretty general statements:

“That’s the goal, ladies. Get to it.”

and:

“Wives, girlfriends, and women all over the world will be going into deep depression tonight.”

And so on.

I chuckled at most of them. Men will be men, and it was funny to see their reaction to the show and even funnier to see that the ratio of men to women watching this fashion show was at least a 5:1. Again, not so surprising.

The women’s responses were to be expected, and I could tell what every girl was going to post on their status before they even posted it.

“Those girls are so skinny! How can guys even like that, really?”

“Oh man, the models make me want to go anorexic!”

“I don’t want to look like those girls. I don’t want to have to starve myself to get that shape.”

“I see a bunch of sticks walking around on stage dressed in lingerie. This is exciting.”

“Fake boobs, fake hair, fake smile, loads of makeup, and stilettos. That’s a Victoria’s Secret Angel for you.”

Adriana looked absolutely amazing in this. One of my favorite outfits or hers during the show.

Well, I had to see what all the fuss was about. So I snuggled up with a large blanket and a cup of coffee, and proceeded to watch 45 minutes worth of lovely ladies prancing around in their underwear on stage.

Let me be clear on something: I think Victoria’s Secret models are absolutely drop-dead sexy.

This isn’t to say that they have my goal physique, or that it’s something I strive for, or that it’s even something I recommend striving for. I am saying that these women are beautiful, and carry themselves in a way that most women could only dream of. Fashion designers and photographers search the GLOBE for these kinds of women who not only carry an elegant air about them, but that have beautiful features and bubbly personalities to match.

Candice has the most beautiful structure.

Anyway.

I hate the way men and women create a barrier between themselves by saying things from a negative stand point. Words are very powerful things, and they can make or break someone.

Please note I am NOT taking sides either. I am again, completely neutral.

NOTE TO MEN:

Before posting things like this or saying these sorts of things to women, try to think about what you’re saying in a reasonable manner. First off, if you really wanted your wife or your girlfriend to look like this, you wouldn’t begin by saying things like “Girls everywhere will fall into depression tonight”. Regardless of how much truth is in those words, it does not help anything one bit.

Women by nature are extremely emotional creatures. They have tendencies to be insecure, jealous, competitive, comparative, and many of them rely on the reassurance of their men to let them know that they still think they are beautiful.

Should they have more security and confidence? Certainly. And maybe you’re the kind of guy who doesn’t want to sugar-coat things and tell the girl, “No, the dress doesn’t make you look fat at all.” When really you’re thinking, “That bandage dress makes you look like a lumpy sock.”

But you have to understand that even if you pressure a woman into looking a certain way by making blatantly insensitive statements, she will still never be secure with herself. She will always feel like she isn’t good enough and that she’s “too fat” and needs to “diet more”, etc. And that’s when you have men posting on forums and asking their buddies how they can get their woman to stop being so insecure.

You might like it if she looked like Candice, but making her feel bad that she doesn't won't help her get there.

I am NOT saying that men are the cause of women’s insecurity at all. All I am saying is to be mindful of how you bring things across, because it can affect the way they view themselves and the method they use to get to that goal, and will determine whether you have a hot yet confident girlfriend on your hands, or a hot yet extremely insecure one instead.

There are rare cases where the woman is not off-set by the comment and will use it as motivation, and those women are wonderful creatures, and you should be happy to have one on your hands. However, most women simply won’t react in this way upon hearing a negative comment.

Keep in mind that these models are chosen based on their height and structure as well. They are all tall, and most of them born naturally slimmer. Not to say that it doesn’t take work to improve upon and maintain their current look, but a shorter person with a larger bone structure would never be accepted in a Victoria’s Secret fashion show simply because they didn’t have the ideal structure. This is the way it works in the modeling world. This is why all women can’t look like this simply through diet and exercise.

Your body also has a natural set-point with bodyweight, and not all women are born the same. Some have naturally smaller structures and slimmer physiques, and their set-point is much lower, making it easier for them to attain this look without doing too much damage to their hormones. Going too much lower than your set-point can often result in a disruption of menstrual cycles, and can bring on osteoporosis.

These women did not become models because someone was telling them that is what they should look like. They became successful models because they had a passion for that look, and for that industry. Their hard work that they put into achieving their physique and making it up to the top was a result of their own choices for themselves.

PRESSURING and making people feel insecure is not what is going to give them the confidence to get back into shape. It’s going to make them approach their physique changes in a negative manner.

No bueno.

So to tell women that this is what they should strive for without knowing their past when it comes to body image and relationship with food, you could be enforcing negative views and destructive behavior.

Even if you want to shrug it off and see it as me overreacting, I’m telling you right now that your carelessness with your words could be the trigger for someone’s eating disorder or distorted image of themselves. You cannot mold everyone into looking how you want them to look.

You never know, so watch your words. That’s all I’m trying to say.

And if you simply don’t care whether or not your words have a negative impact on those around you, then you are an asshole, and I wish you best of luck with forming long-lasting relationships in the future…because you’re going to need it.

WOMEN:

Putting each other down is not going to help either. While I don’t necessarily try to achieve the look of one of these models, they are still (for the most part) relatively healthy and active women. They are not typical runway models that completely starve themselves and drop like flies. They still eat healthy, and get plenty of exercise.

Yes they are thin. So what?

I myself prefer the look of a thicker/curvier physique for a woman because I believe it’s more healthy and sexually appealing (no homo, just saying).

However, posting the kinds of statuses I stated earlier only makes you appear insecure. Honestly speaking, I believe it’s done as a sort of self-assurance from your friends and family that you really are beautiful.

You shouldn’t have to have that kind of constant reassurance. And even if you need reassurance, don’t post your insecurities for everyone to see. It’s unattractive and fueled by jealousy. If you really did not care for how these women looked you would not see a reason to put them down.

I draw the line when it comes to what is healthy and what isn’t healthy. When people start developing terrible relationships with food and with their body and when they stop functioning normally, I believe they need to take their health more seriously and listen to their bodies.

And from what I see, quite a few of these women display even less neuroticism with their eating habits than some of your most beloved fitness models. Kind of ironic, huh?

But don’t hate on Miranda Kerr because she’s thin. She’s still healthy and just had a healthy baby only months before she stepped on the show stage wearing barely anything, and looking just as vibrant as ever. These women have managed to still keep their sex appeal and femininity, and they have load of confidence. That to me is beautiful regardless of their body size.

Now that's a hot mom!

Does this mean you have to strive to look like her? Not at all. You don’t even have to like the way her body looks. All I’m asking you to do is LET IT GO. Stop letting your jealousy be known to all the world, because no one wants to hear about it.

Focus on improving yourself first and foremost.

 —————————-

All that being said, EVERYONE can benefit from doing more squats.

As a final note, if it’s perfectly acceptable for men to post things regarding how their women should look, it should also be perfectly acceptable for their wives and girlfriends to post pictures of nice-looking men and say:

“Hey guys, this is the goal…get to it.”

Pick your poison. Don’t dish it out unless you want it thrown back at you, just saying.

Life happens, and between juggling present work, looking for new work, and with all the holidays and different things coming up the distraction has been rather large. Luckily I still have internet and a working computer so all is well.

Training update:

Arms are healed up completely and my impingement is gone. I’ve also started cycling in regular back squats into my program again, and they feel rather odd after having done front squats and box squats for so long. Have to re-learn what it feels like to hit proper depth and all that. Feeling strong though, and I’m squatting 245 for doubles (multiple sets). I believe 300 will be a piece of cake come February.

Diet update:

Found out my scale was broken (go figure) and I’m weighing in at around 140 lbs. now. I’m also on the higher end of carbs right now, so I feel like an increase in my water and a decrease in carbs will have me drop a good 4 lbs. at least, so my cut should not be too hard. I don’t want to dip below 130.

For those who haven’t seen, here are some recent progress pictures:

As stated in the beginning, life has been pretty hectic but things are slowly starting to mellow out, at least for the next month or two.

Also, if you’re in a Christmas mood and feel like baking, add these babies to your list of cookies to make. You won’t be disappointed. Trust me.

“SNICKERDOODLES” with White Chocolate and Coconut

So much win.

You need:

1/2 cup of butter

1/2 cup of shortening

1 1/2 cups of sugar

2 eggs (large size)

2 tsp. vanilla

2 3/4 cup of flour

2 tsp. cream of tartar

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. of salt (omit if using salted butter)

White chocolate chips (The more the merrier)

Shredded coconut (As much as you want)

How to create this deliciousness:

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2) Cream liquid ingredients and sugar. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl, and then add to the liquid mixture. Stir in chocolate and coconut.

3) Roll dough into balls and place on an un-greased baking sheet, about 1-2 inches apart (depending on how large you make the balls).

4) Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until set but not hard. Remove IMMEDIATELY from the baking sheet to cool on a wire rack.

5) OMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOM.

I had gotten very little sleep the night before.  Although 95 and 105 flew up fast. 115 was an absolute catastrophe. From what my training partner Alan said, when I was about halfway through the press and trying to drive my head under the bar, my right elbow came up slightly which threw everything off.

My left shoulder gave out, and I had to dump the weight somehow and I sure as hell wasn’t going to risk dumping it in front because it definitely would have hit my head from the position I was in.

So, I dropped it behind me. Since my arms were already bent it was a rather painful fail, since not only did my shoulders twist around to dump the bar, but so did my elbows. THANKFULLY I am very flexible or this would have ended pretty badly. Alan thought my shoulders were getting torn out. It looked horrible, I’m sure.

Turns out I have a mild impingement in both of my elbows now. Must have pinched my radial nerve.

Moving on…

I had max box squats yesterday. I knew I had to max out, and yet I decided to be reckless and drank way too much the night before. Woke up still drunk, and was hungover for the entire day.

My entire right arm was numb and in a lot of pain throughout the training. I had to take 4 ibuprofen to keep the pain down, and it was still difficult.

However, I made a 25-lb. PR on my box squats. I ALMOST got 300, but due to a flaw in my technique I failed it.

Coach’s Notes:

“Good job. Next time when coming up off of the box push your head back harder and your hips forward a little quicker. This will get your hips under the bar faster and reduce the strain on your back. This also cuts down your chances of dumping the bar forward when the box is not there for you.

Very, very well done on the squats. Told you your squat goal was possible. If you stay healthy, and this really means eating right and stretching, you can probably put up 300 at your meet. Do not let the holidays screw you up.”

NEW GOAL:  300 lb. squat in February. It’s happening.

No. Excuses.

That’s right. I’m competing again.

I have exactly 12 weeks and 6 days to break the squat record (125kg) in the 60kg division for this federation. My aim is 128kg, or 281.6 lbs.

When I told my coach my goal, his response was:

“You have to bust your ass. It will be damn hard. You cannot lose focus or slack off. It will be one of the most difficult things you have ever done. Largely because your head will fuck with you. 90% of lifting is mental.”

If I know anything, it’s this. It’s going to be really hard. Breaking this record would mean a 20-lb. competition PR for me, in a lighter weight class.

BRING IT, SON. I got this.

I’ve recently acquired some new training partners at my gym. Found out that a group of strongmen train at my gym in the later hours (7-8pm) so I decided to pick up training with them, since it’s great motivation and I push myself much harder when I’m surrounded by support. They’re pretty beastly strong as well, and aren’t afraid of a little chalk and a lot of roaring. I like that in a lifter.

Here’s a couple of recent training videos, followed by some notes from my coach:

“Good. Your elbow position is fine on the way down, but when you change directions you make a common mistake and allow your elbows to lag. Push your elbows up out of the bottom and allow your hips to follow them.”

This seems to only happen with me when the weight gets much heavier. Need to remember my cues and stay focused, remembering not to drop my elbows at all at the bottom.

But that 175×2 front squat was a huge PR for me. Earlier this year my max front squat was 165 belted. I just did 175×2 with no belt, after a heavy deadlift session.

To be exact, I did this double right before moving onto front squats:

You want something, go after it and get it. And then once you get it, go for more.

280…you will be mine.

For 99% of things in life, procrastination is a bad approach to getting anywhere.

That project deadline for work that you have coming up at the end of the month won’t disappear if you decide to put it off. Paperwork and responsibilities won’t go away. Eventually things just keep piling up and you lose track of time. Then once you come back to everything you realized how big of a mess you created for yourself.

When it comes to emotional eating, however, procrastination is one of the best tools you can use to overcome your spontaneous cravings. The method I have used before is something you’ve probably all heard of already. It’s been mentioned countless times by psychologists as one of the absolute best ways to overcome cravings and forgo temptation.

What I’m referring to, of course, is the 20-minute rule.

The 20-minute rule consists of distracting yourself and putting off the craving until the craving subsides. If you feel tempted to eat something you know would trigger more cravings or cause you to binge, you give yourself 20 minutes before indulging. During these 20 minutes you don’t sit in the kitchen or anywhere near food. You go for a walk, call up a friend, drink some coffee or a cup of tea, whatever. Just get your mind and body away from the craving. After 20 minutes, hardly anyone has to reassess whether or not they still have the craving, because by that time your body has taken the hint, and you have successfully distracted yourself.

A good way to determine whether the hunger you are experiencing is true hunger or an emotional response is to take a look at how it feels. Did it come on suddenly, and do you have an irresistible urge to eat a lot of carbohydrates, sugar, fats, or a combination? Or did it build up subtly to the point where you were doing an activity and stopped it to think, “Hey, I’m kind of hungry.”

If you're doing this, you're probably not eating because you are simply "hungry".

If you have a craving in response to an emotion it often comes off as desperate. Bingers will frequently eat things very quickly, almost in a panic, as though it’s going to disappear if they don’t, and they want to get in as much as they possibly can so that they can “start over” tomorrow. If you ever find yourself eating in this way, and what you are eating just so happens to be in very large quantities, your hunger is on impulse and emotion, not because your body is  actually starving for food.

The one exception for this would be if you were at a very low body fat percentage (women especially) and/or not getting in enough nutrients and calories for your body, in which case a lot of the hunger response could be hormonal as well as emotional.

(NOTE: It is very rare for an emotional eater to go after protein, vegetables, or fruits as a binge. Simply because as an emotional aid, these foods do next to nothing. Or at least not in the capacity that “comfort foods” would. If you find that you are overeating on these items as well you may want to reassess your diet to see if perhaps you could be changing something to suit your body’s needs better.)

Anyway, back to the 20-minute rule.

Of course, some people might have the wrong approach with it when they tell themselves “In 20 minutes I can have this if I’m still craving it.” Because they will enter the 20-minutes anticipating the craving and thinking only about the food rather than finding a proper deviance. They wander around in circles of 20 minutes thinking to themselves “Chocolate chip cookie…mmmmm you will be mine soon you little bastard. You will soon be mine…just 15 more minutes…” and then once the 20 minutes are up you throw your hands in the air and run to the kitchen in a frenzy to devour whatever it is you had your mind on.

Out of sight, out of mind, out of tummy. Just because a craving hits, doesn’t mean you have to give into it. Cravings have nothing on you when you choose to make your own choices acting on rational thought rather than on impulse.

Think of it this way: Your cravings are like that persistent sleazeball you met at a party who white knights you to no end, flirts with you endlessly, and tries at every moment to sweep you off your feet. You may not particularly like him. But if you keep flirting with him even in just a friendly way and support his pursuits, he will stick around in hopes you’ll give in. Ignore him for awhile, don’t respond to his cute little one-liners, and he’ll slouch off to creep on some other person.

Everyone, meet Cravings.

So, due to popular demand, I have created a Facebook page for myself and my blogging. This means there will be more frequent posting, training videos, pictures, and random updates.

Follow it. Spread the word. All your support over the last year has been very appreciated.

Munchies, Muscles, and Mischief – The Fan Page