The Variables

Why hello there again, Mr. Contest Prep Red Deer, Mega himself is here to tell you another one of his wild ideas straight from his brain to your eyes. Or something like that at least.

This is a bit late for the New Year's resolution people, but none the less I would like to share my views on how some of the coaching process works for myself and my clients.

Does anyone remember algebra? ME TOO (har har) !

Basically, the less variables you know in the equation, the harder it would be solve.

ABCDEFG = H

If we want to know H (the end goal), then we're going to have to turn some of these variables (ABCDEFG) into constants (an actual value, ie. "7").

Lets say A is the amount of sleep you get every night. Let's say we know you get 8 hours of sleep every night. Perfect. For the use of our example, lets say A=8.

Let's say B is the Food you eat each day. C is the amount of cardio you do. D is the workouts you do per week. E is your stress levels. F is your environment/social setting. G is physical limitations such as rotator cuff injuries, knee injuries etc.

The more you can CONTROL  these, the more we can solve for H. Individuality will put more things in front of H (so some people  might have ABCDEFGHIJKLMN = O) or less.

So, we set your food at a certain amount. Now we know the value for B. We get you on a workout program. D is now a constant as well.

Do you see where I'm going with this?

If you vary your cardio and your food intake every week/day... now we don't know the values for B and C. How the HECK are we going to be able to know what to change to solve for H?!?

Also when assessing progress, don't change more than one variable at once. Think about it: if we change A,B, and C all at once, and progress occurs, how do we know which one was the cause for most of the progress?

 There are going to be some variables also that effect  one another. Let's say you wanted to change C, and do more cardio. This could negatively effect E,  causing your stress to go up because now you need to allocate more time to the gym. Conversely, maybe you're one of these crazy people who enjoys cardio, and C positively effects E, causing your stress levels to descend.

This is how PROPER individualization can occur.

Control your variables to the best of your ability.

Listen to your body. Work with it, not against it.

As always, Mr. contest prep red deer wishes you the best of luck in your goals.

A Big Secret

Mega Marty, Mr. Red Deer Contest Prep is back again, bringing you all the tricks and secrets there is!

Today I'm going to chat about a big secret that people have been scratching their heads at. My competitors, and clients that are training to improve how they look are taught some of the "Mega Principles". Now I do NOT claim to have came up with these, but my coaching of eliciting these principles is definitely one of a kind. My goal with  my competitors in the off-season is to get them eating as much food as possible, without gaining too much fat. So, how can my clients, especially my girls, be eating (to the normal person) huge quantities of food, and not overdoing cardio by ANY stretch? Well Mega Marty blog reader, let's try and shed some light!

So, what I'm hearing is, "I don't get it. I eat well, I workout following a sound program, my results are really, REALLY slow. What am I missing?"

This DOES apply to both men and women, but I'm talking mainly to women here.

Take a look at the girls who are in great shape. Okay, now watch them train. More often than not, ESPECIALLY outside of the insanely genetically gifted, they'll be borderline killing themselves. I'm talking they're giving it everything they got,  in terms of execution of their sets, reps,  workouts, technique,  everything. Now, this DOES that a special kind of lady to be able to do this. To be able to go in on HER OWN and crush a set of 135 lbs+ squats. Not at that level yet? Work towards it.

You'll find these girls out of breath. Usually sweating profusely. Body shaking from their workouts, during and after.

They won't be spending hours in the gym. They'll go in, kick ass, the leave to go eat MORE to fuel their muscles.

THAT is the secret.

I've said it time and time again to people asking these questions, to watch a certain couple of girls (or my own clients) workout. What do you notice? The intensity.

I've touched on intensity before,  but here are some general guidelines to follow:

These girls aren't using nearly enough weight...

1) Lift some damn weight.  

Yes, you've heard you have to lift heavy now from me to gain muscle. This is such a huge principle. You REALLY think that the 5 lb laterals you're starting your shoulder workouts is giving enough stimulus to build a great set of shoulders? I saw today someone said "Stop lifting weights lighter than your purse!"

Exactly.

2) Stop taking years in between sets.

Watch the clock. Some people have the exact opposite and do sets too quickly. I like to have a GENERAL (extremely general and will be a client to client, program to program basis) guideline of 1.5-2 minutes for the bigger compound exercises (ie.deadlift) and 45 seconds - 1.25 minutes for the smaller exercises (ie. triceps push down) Then go again. Doing exercises faster than the prescribed time? You didn't use enough weight/perform the exercise correctly. Waiting longer than 2.5 minutes? You're taking too much time.

3) Control your weights on the negative portion, explode on the positive.

Now once again, GENERAL guideline, but things like squats? Shoulder Press? Bent over rows? CONTROL your negatives. Letting the weight drop/fall back to the starting position will have you miss out on a TON of muscle building benefits. Also, just pushing the weight back to the starting position without a controlled, explosive force usually won't yield enough for to cause muscle fiber damage. Of course, there are exercises where you want constant tension and controlled, slow positives, but in GENERAL? Try blasting the weight back up with impeccable form.

There are 3 things I would DEFINITELY implement into your current program if you aren't already, or at the very least take a look at how your workouts are, and see if these apply to you. 

"Why don't I look that that Marty?"

"They destroy themselves, properly."

As always, Mr. contest prep red deer wishes you the best of luck in your goals.