As the world becomes a busier and busier place for so many of us, it seems that rather than think for ourselves, and do what is best for us, too many people blindly copy other materials.

I’m talking about copying someone else’s workout, rather than take bits and pieces of what works for you.

I’m also talking about the endless information on the web. Watch me write about a topic and rather than a fellow strength coach create his own idea, he takes the words right from my pages without his own heart written words.

I talk about both of these scnearios because if you want your training to truly be meaningful, you must create a style of training that works for you, not your friend or others, and, it must create an emotion that allows you to lose yourself and find yourself.

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I think it’s much easier than people make it when it comes to getting stronger, adding muscle and getting faster….and I mean getting these results FAST!

Make no mistake regarding “easy” and “simple”. Easy is walking in the park…simple is hitting one arm rows with 150’s for 10 reps per hand without wrist straps. Even simpler is a set of squats for 15 - 20 reps….but damn are the results amazing!

We have our athletes on a system of training that just keeps on dishing out results, and man do I wish I had this info when I was younger. I’m glad I have it now
My Dad should have told me about what he did back when he grew up in Romania as a kid. Gymnastics, sprints, jumping over hurdles and boxes, swimming, wrestling and boxing…the well roundedness of such a style of training develops an impressive foundation for the athlete.

I should have been forced to run with the sled as he had to run with my brother and I every winter.

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A few weeks ago one of my clients saw me training before they were about to tear it up.

I had about 15 minutes so I tore through some heavy power cleans supersetted with ring dips.

He knew I was ALSO going to train at the end of the night to finish off where I left off.

He asked me, “Don’t you feel exhausted and weak at the end of your work day, after so many hours of work plus the workout you’re doing?”

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I have been getting a lot of people stopping into the USC Gymnasium inquiring about membership after getting flack for training hard at their own gym.

If you live in the states, you know the gyms I’m talking about, right?

WOW, NYSC and soon to be popular, Retro Fitness. If you want to train like a Gladiator, forget it, you’ll never survive at these posh health clubs.

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When times are tough I notice most people down size, or slow down, or reduce or flat out quit.

I read somewhere, and honestly can’t remember the book, about how the greats always expanded and created when times were tough, while the other 95% down sized or shut down.

Take now for instance, this endless talk of a recession is causing many people to change the way they live, the way they do business, etc.

Instead, people should always be in a mode of creation so they can have whatever it is they want.

Same applies to training. Do you want certain results? If so, you must expand, learn more, take massive action and find a way to make it happen.

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Being that I’m from NJ, I’m sure you know I am a big fan of the now extinct show, ‘The Sopranos’.

Tony is one BIG guy, aka, he’s one FAT dude!

Believe it or not, I know a guy who looks pretty close to “T” himself. The ironic thing is, this guy was not long ago a lean and mean 205 lbs.

Now, he’s a button poppin’ 280 lbs!

It’s scarey because he ballooned up in weight rather quickly, and he did the same way most other men do it, and that’s once they get comfortable in a relationship.

I offered this guy my help, but I think he’s scared of my training, but hey, I don’t blame him, he probably thinks I’ll smash him with some tractor tires and who knows what else
He keeps saying, “I need to get back into things slowly”. So he walks a few miles almost every night with his wife. It’s a good one hour walk. My workouts can be as short as 15 minutes, but, that’s not the problem.

His problem is all the excuses he makes….

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Today I was at my homeboy Ryan Lee’s Millionaire Workout Workshop. Ryan delivered some hard hitting info and I was sitting front and center to soak it all in.

Being a student at all times is critical for success. Should we ever stop learning? We both know the answer all too well. The most successful people have HUGE libraries…..and BIG TV’s.

I suggest starting with the BIG library first
The take away point I want you to realize first and foremost is that at this event I was spending time with highly motivated people who focus on growth, creativity, productivity and a great outlook on life.

I stay away from the complainers and the naysayers. You should do the same. The powerful effect of hanging around other highly motivated, like minded people is HUGE.

The art of avoiding the negative complainers is a slick one and can work like this…. the complainer begins ranting and talking about his / her poor environment, poor situations, etc….

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I just wanted to give some answers to the questions that have been coming in regarding my upcoming Gladiator Fitness Seminar with Steve Maxwell on July 12, 2008.

http://combatgrappler.com/seminars.html

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Question: I am not a martial artists or jiu jitsu practioner, will this seminar still benefit me?

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Quite often I get some strange people roaming into my gym wondering what we do and feeling they can do it.

Today, while training someone who is 3 weeks out from an MMA fight and going through his first “trial by fire” I have to remind the guy watching NOT to pick up our Kettlebells. It’s the same as me grabbing his car keys and taking his car for a ride. It’s common sense, don’t touch what isn’t yours. This seems to be a problem for too many people to understand.

Next, while training this fighter, the bothersome individual asks how much it costs to train with us….my answer, “We don’t train just anyone, we train athletes and lots of fighters”…..he replies, “I fight a lot.”

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Slightly over 2 years ago a young wrestler began training with us….

He weighed 88 lbs at the time and was 1 month out from wrestling season in which he would be wrestling at 103 lbs.

We had little time to prep before the season and in the first 3 weeks of the season he broke his collar bone during a wrestling match.

When you’re weak and have little strength and muscle, you can bet that your ligaments and bones are also weak.

Through the years we trained him with our Underground methods and every year he kept packing on the muscle and adding lots and lots of strength.

Believe it or not, we did not use a whole lot of barbell work….no back squats and no bench presses.

We didn’t have the need for them for the most part. Everyone needs something different, we can’t prescribe the same thing for everyone all the time, and this was certainly one of those times.

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