Guest Post by Shawn Charlebois, CUSC L1 Somebody much smarter than me once said “We Are What We Repeatedly Do”. I don’t know about you but I want to be strong. I did a lot of growing up in jail. My real education took place between the block walls of Central North Correctional Center. I did 8 years inside and during that time I got to do a few critical things: KNOW MYSELF KNOW WHAT I STAND FOR BE CONSISTENT WITH MY EFFORTS & CHARACTER These 3 key factors are the building … [Read more...]
I Changed My Mind: REAL World Strength AND Bodybuilding
It must have been 6 years ago or so, I remember the moment quite clearly. We were outside The Underground Strength Gym, the athletes were hitting their finishers and training like farm boys. Back and forth they went pushing and pulling sleds, carrying the anvil, the atlas stone, dumbbells, kettlebells and sandbags. A BIG bodybuilder and his skinny friend began approaching. The bodybuilder was jacked. His friend looked like a typical high school kid weighing about 160 lbs or so. The … [Read more...]
Odd Object Lifting For “Functional Strength”
Through my own experiences as an athlete and training other athletes, I was taught a powerful lesson that was once (and perhaps still is seen as a fad): Training ONLY with free weights and bodyweight exercises is limiting your potential in developing strength above and beyond the "norm", especially if you're an athlete. The body quickly gets bored and adapts to training methods unless you implement variety. Variety can be the training tools, the speed of the exercises, the range of motion, the … [Read more...]
QnA: “MAN Strength” – How To Get It & Lessons from Chuck Sipes
Above, Golden Era Bodybuilder & BadAss, Chuck Sipes, Hiking During His Regular 4 Week Mountain Treks While Working For The California Youth Authority. I recently received an e mail regarding something that hits home to me, BIG time. This question embodies The STRONG Life; Developing Strength BEYOND the gym, Strength that builds the mind AND body. Strength that carries over to your LIFE. I answered via Video, so go ahead and check this out and listen carefully to my message..... … [Read more...]
Are Weak People Ruining This World?
While at Jason Ferruggia's bachelor party last week we spoke about his training on Muscle Beach, using bodyweight exercises only. Jason mentioned some dude who he sees training on the beach all the time, 2 hours every time, lean and mean, jacked and ripped.... … [Read more...]
The BIG Reasons Behind Bodyweight Training for Athletes
Yesterday I exchanged text messages with a friend of mine who has been lifting for 20+ years. He was talking about how he can relate to everything I went through as we've been both training hard and heavy for well over 2 decades. The nagging injuries, the strange pains in our feet, injuries from simple daily tasks like walking down the stairs in the morning. Today, we laugh at these injuries because back in the day we would NEVER have guessed that being so strong could contribute to … [Read more...]
When Giants Roamed the Earth
Original Article by Jeff Everson Excerpt from the book 'Forgotten Secrets of The Culver City Westside Barbell Club' by Dave Yarnell. Before the last epoch of the Cenozoic era, some 65 million years ago, great beasts roamed the earth. These ponderous dinosaurs weighed as much as 100 tons and were over 120 feet long. Some had teeth the size of a child. Most had brains the size of an egg. The dinosaurs died out and were replaced by a higher form of life. Likewise, at one point in time (the late … [Read more...]
REAL World Strength vs Pretty Boy Bodybuilding
It was the Fall of 2007...... Interesting story from today while training a crew of wrestlers and football players.... Two high school kids stopped by the gym while we were outside flipping tires, pulling and pushing sleds, carrying kegs, sandbags and Kettlebells. One of them looked to be 220 lbs of drugged up muscle. How do I know? Because this same kid attended a speed & strength camp that I ran 3 years prior when he was a freshman weighing 130 lbs. Three Years later, he's 220 and … [Read more...]