Training is easy when you wake up after 8 hours sleep, someone does your laundry, cooks for you, and there is all the time in the world to do what you want. Those days ended long ago for me, but, that doesn't mean those days will never come back. Having a Chef and a cleaning team is certainly something I plan on having, but, in the mean time, I am usually getting 5 - 6 hours of sleep per day, working from 7 am - midnight. Training is never perfect with such a schedule, and getting strong, … [Read more...]
Lucky? I don’t think so!
My wife was watching FOX news a few hours ago and I caught a few minutes with her. I'm not a big news watcher, too much negativity for me. The interesting thing that caught my attention was the guest they had on the show who was the founder for the NAAO, National Action Against Obesity. The newscaster was trying to make her feel bad about the entire airplane seating debate for being obese and how some people are big bones, etc, etc. ALL the excuses were raining down and MeMe Roth stayed tough … [Read more...]
Ancient Strongman Training
Lifting odd objects has been around for ages. I have books from the mid 1800's that show men lifting sandbags, stones, bars with cemented stones on the ends, ice blocks with handles and other muscle and strength building movements that would shock onlookers of today. The great thing is, this style of training requires no gym membership, and trust me, I have heard some of the music being played in these gyms! I bought a protein shake from a gym and heard a song "pumping"....''Don't be cruel, to … [Read more...]
Poker or Chase the Dream?
I was at a coffee shop one day and the guy working there saw my Underground shirt on. He told me he saw us on you tube, heard about us, saw us in the paper. He told me he was trying out for the nearby minor league Baseball team, but he never made the cut the year before. He was a skinny dude, no doubt, so, I asked him, what are you doing now to change that? … [Read more...]
Time for change
Change can be a good thing. I am feeling a need for change. It starts from a point much deeper than my emotions, it's just a Gut feeling I have. I find myself running home rather than driving home. I begin removing favorites such as squats and deadlifts, and return to a lot of bodyweight training, kettlebell workouts, sandbags and sledge hammers. Sprinting becomes more common place, as does jumping, dragging sleds and running with the prowler. Removing breads, milk and dairy from … [Read more...]
Save BIG on Mother’s Day
As a husband, a father, and of course, first and foremost, a son to my mother, Mother's Day has take on new meaning to me. It's a BIG deal. If you've been reading my Blog, you know how proud I am to be a father, and how seriously I take it. Without my mother, without my wife....things would be quite different around here. As challenging as it is to balance all of these amazing things in my life I am very, very blessed. And, I need to make sure I kick some serious ass for my wife this Mother's … [Read more...]
Q & A and stories on grip strength
Got a question via e mail and wanted to share this bad boy.... Question: I own a small gym in St Louis and have recently added a few thick bars to my collection. I had a new member ask me an interesting question the other day, he wanted to know what muscles were benefiting from using a thick bar that would not benefit by using a regular size bar. He also asked if you only used the thick bar would that hurt him in the long run because he is a pitcher and a quarterback on his high school … [Read more...]
LIFT STRONG Fundraiser – You In?
This Saturday, our LIFT Strong fundraiser is going down. The competition will be heated and anyone who doesn't have the eye of the tiger is lunch meat for the rest, it's that simple. Predator or Prey. Your training will tell the truth at LIFT STRONG. The training has been hard, but maybe not hard enough. The Competition will tell us if we have done our work or not. There will be lots of spectators, so remember, you're also invited :) The Events Will Be: … [Read more...]
You’re invited to my gym!
In case I forgot (which I think I did....) On Saturday, May 10th, at 12 Noon, I will be holding my annual LIFT Strong fundraiser, a strongman contest for my athletes who are raising money to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Feel free to come and watch. Looks like we have approx. 15 competitors attending. This event is done out of respect and admiration for my close friend and mentor, Alwyn Cosgrove who created the product at http://LIFTstrong.com. There is no fee to come … [Read more...]
a night at the movies with Joe DeFranco
Wow, what a night Thursday was.... Sorry for the delay on this, I've been pretty wiped out since Thursday night :) Stay tuned though, because I will have some cool trip footage of my times Thursday night to be posted here on the Blog :) If you haven't heard, last Spring and Summer a film crew was recording every second of action at Joe D's place and it was churned out and whipped into an amazing documentary. I'm tlaking about the stuff you've seen in Pumping Iron, except there is … [Read more...]