build muscle Archives - THE STRONGER LIFE

An Argument for a Mid-Life Crisis

OH SHIT, I’M OLD!

Yea, it happens to the best of us. One day you crawl out of bed, your body cracking and groaning, do the slow shuffle into the bathroom and catch a glimpse of…your dad (or mom) in the mirror.
“SONUVABITCH!”

Like an 80’s movie montage your life flashes before your eyes. Where did my body go? Where did my dreams go? How did this happen? Why did this happen? Why is God angry at me? I already covered some of this here: 3 Things That Pussified You After 30

But guess what? Your freak-out is the first step to getting your shit back together.

Think a minute about how you progressed as a human being. For most of us it was a steady motion of moving forward, fucking up, learning, moving forward again. This starts when we are infants learning to walk. It gets more complicated as time goes on: athletics, academics, dating, working, marriage, parenting….then….you get complacent. You quit moving forward, to avoid having to fuck up, to avoid having to learn, to avoid having to move forward. Whether you do it intentionally or unconsciously, it happens. Learn more here: 3 Reasons You Fail & How to Fix It

So you’re done freaking out…now what?

1) Make a list

Choose 5 things you want to change. These can be vague and general: “travel more,” “look better,” “read more,” etc. You really just want to identify some general changes. Do this without creating caveats. A lot of people will think of excuses why they CAN’T do something at almost the same time they think of what they want to do. This is probably what got you stuck in this mess in the first place.

2) Get specific

Break down your general list. If you want to travel, pick one place you really want to go. If you want to look better, pick a body fat percentage, or a clothing item to fit into. You get the point. Once again….no excuses. Just write it down.

3) Prioritize

Don’t list it by what is feasible. List it by what would make you happiest. STOP MAKING EXCUSES! You’re allowed to be selfish about this. These are YOUR goals and it’s YOUR happiness. One thing (especially women) tend to do is worry about taking care of everyone else’s needs. This is stupid. The greatest thing you can do is set an example of how to live a life of meaning. So do it.

4) Do it…Do it

Guess which one of these on your list you are going to start with? Good guess. Now comes the hard part; You actually have to do something. Monetary restrictions holds back a lot of dreams. I get this. However, I bet you spend money on stupid shit. Do you spend $5.00 a day on your stupid Grande Frappucino Mustachio Carmello Vanilla coffee with extra smug on top? Stop it. BOOM! I just saved you over $1500 a year to put toward your goal. I also probably just solved your dad-bod/mom-bod problem too.

5) Don’t be a stereotype

Yea, mid-life crises have some negative manifestations: cheating on your wife with the check-out girl at Bed, Bath, & Beyond, buying a motorcycle, getting glute implants, etc. are not cool. These are manifestations of a deeper hatred for your shitty life. Honestly though, if number one on your list is: “get glute implants,” maybe you and I should part ways. Oh, and stay the hell out of Bed, Bath, & Beyond!

If you are a younger man or woman and you’ve read this far, I am going to give you the key to success in life: re-invent yourself every 5-7 years. Sometimes this is as simple as buying a new wardrobe; Sometimes it’s as complicated as quitting a job and finding a new career. Complacency is the killer of dreams, kids. The goal in life is to strive for something better every day. It doesn’t have to be monumental, but it has to be.

I HATE WORKING OUT

My confession: I hate working out. I’m over it. I’ve been lifting since 1989. That’s a long time to be sore.

I’ve done all the lifts. I’ve done all the programs. I’ve done all the protocols and systems. I even invented some along the way. I’m fucking tired.

So now I’m trying to determine why I still do it. I remember a friend of mine in marketing telling me, “People are most motivated by fear of loss”.
So, that’s the simple reason: I don’t want to lose what I spent most of my life trying to achieve. Though I’m not sure if I’m ok with just routine maintenance….just keeping the jalopy on the road. I would like to think I can still improve.

But it has to be more than fear of loss. It would be easy to justify quitting. Have you noticed the average 40+ male? I think I’m ahead of the game. I could quit working out and still be in better shape than anyone at my 30 year high school reunion.

So what is it that keeps me in the gym?

I HATE SELF-INFLICTED MEDIOCRITY! 99.999% of everything you do is a choice. Most people that aren’t sociopaths will instinctively choose things that society deems appropriate…wash your hands after you poop, don’t kill anyone, don’t beat your kids or pets, etc. These are rules we follow to get along with other human beings. But what about the less obvious choices that either make us better or keep us in a mire of self-loathing?

You get up, you follow all rules of hygiene, you don’t kill anyone or beat your kids or pets…so far so good. Then you CHOOSE to eat a half-dozen donuts…you didn’t have to eat something crappy…you CHOSE to. Then you feel like shit, you make excuses…”didn’t have time, blah blah”….BULLSHIT. Not having time for a good meal is still a choice…you fucked up way before you realized you fucked up. This becomes a pattern. You have CHOSEN mediocrity. Which is cool if that’s what you want. But don’t complain about it, because this is what you have chosen. It’s YOUR fault. YOU fucked up. YOU are to blame.

I refuse to be the catalyst for my own demise.
Is skipping a workout more comfortable? Yes.
Is eating shitty food easier? Yes.
Is giving up easy? Yes.
Do I want to wake up in 10 years and wonder why I look and feel like crap? NO.

So, here is my (very) basic plan for not accidentally on purpose waking up a hot mess:

1)Schedule your workouts like it’s a priority The key to this is to be honest and realistic. Don’t schedule 2-a-days knowing that it’s damn near impossible. I lift 3 days a week for 60 minutes, and do 1 day of metabolic training. That’s it. I get in, work hard, move on. You may need to find a workout buddy to keep you on track. Or hire a personal trainer to keep you on schedule. Or just quit being a pussy by making excuses.

2)Schedule your food Know what and when you are going to eat the day before. Even if you plan on eating crap, write it down. Now you OWN it. It’s a choice. You can’t say “it was an accident”. You will eventually notice it’s just as easy to eat healthy than it is to eat poorly. I’m not saying you have to eat “perfect” every day (whatever that is). What I’m saying is that you need to own up to your choices.

3)Schedule your fun By far, this is where people fuck up the most. I know, you’re like “but, Ethan, I want it to be spontaneous.” Fuck that. You can’t handle spontaneous. Spontaneous takes resources and time you probably don’t have. I know about 2 people that can have spontaneous fun. They have a shit-ton of money. Like, buying a Lamborghini with cash kind of money. You don’t have that. If you do, send me a private message. You will find that you will spend more time thinking about how to enjoy yourself and your family. More importantly, you won’t fill that time with other BS.

4)Surround yourself with like-minded bad-asses If your friends suck, you will suck too. This has been proven scientifically and sociologically. Find some people that share your same vision and goals; People that will make you feel guilty when you make the wrong choice. Unfortunately, this means getting rid of the ass-anchors that hold you down. Or at least learning to ignore them.

5)Know your goals How can you possibly make wise choices that will advance you to greatness if you don’t even know what that greatness is? This is why I still lift even though I don’t enjoy it like I used to. It fits with my goals. Most people have seen my “success flow chart”. If not, here it is:

No, it’s not always that simple. But most of the time it is.

I’m obviously no guru or master of anything (I’d be the one buying Lambos with cash), but I know this: life is all about choices, and sometimes choosing the things you NEED to do rather than the things you WANT to do puts you in a better situation than you would ever plan (or not plan) to be in.

The Secret Is Out (Building a Diamond)

Thanks to my good friend Bryan Krahn, the programming I’ve been using with my clients and myself for 13 years as a combo metabolic conditioning/strength building/boredom smashing workout has been made public. If you missed his post, you can read it here: http://www.bryankrahn.com/lose-fat-by-building-muscle
He calls it the “Kidney Shitter”. I’ve always called it a “Ladder,” but since the former is scary and the term “Ladder” is used for a different type of strength programming, I have decided to call it the “Diamond Protocol”. This sounds very James Bond-ish and sexy, and it actually describes the layout of the program well.

The Options: I’ve used this same protocol in a variety of ways, but here are the 3 main options:

1)Antagonist Muscle Groups: biceps/triceps, chest/back, etc.

2)Compound Legs: ham & glute dominant/quad dominant

3)Full-Body: Leg/Push/Pull

The Setup: This workout requires some planning the first few times you do it. The more exercises you know, the more fun this can be. You will need 6-9 exercises. This means that if you are doing antagonist muscle groups(i.e. biceps/triceps), you will need at least 3 exercises for biceps, and 3 for triceps. If you are doing full-body, you will need at least 2 leg, 2 push, and 2 pull. I recommend just going with a 6 exercise Diamond to start. If you do the quick math, at minimum, you will be doing 36 sets. At the max. end with 9 exercises you will be doing 81 sets. Yes, you read that right; 9 sets of 9 exercises = 81.

You will do one exercise, rest 20-60 seconds (less rest for the beginning and end of the diamond, more for the middle), then do that same exercise again and add one more, short rest, then 1 and 2, then add another. So on and so forth. When you get to the apex, you start subtracting off the front end.

The programming for a 9 exercise diamond looks like this:

1
1,2
1,2,3
1,2,3,4
1,2,3,4,5
1,2,3,4,5,6
1,2,3,4,5,6,7
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9
2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9
3,4,5,6,7,8,9
4,5,6,7,8,9
5,6,7,8,9
6,7,8,9
7,8,9
8,9
9

HEY, THAT’S A FUTHER MUCKIN’ DIAMOND!

The Weights: You should choose a weight of which you could do 20 reps with difficulty. You can also do bodyweight (pushups, pull-ups, jump squats, jumping split squats, etc.), sprints, jumprope, or crazy stuff like sled-pushes.

The reps: your rep range is going to be 8-15. Why is this such a wide range, you ask? Because you won’t be changing the weights you choose at the beginning, and like I mentioned before: YOU COULD BE DOING 81 SETS! This means that at the beginning, you may be hitting 15 reps of an exercise, and toward the end it will only be 8 before you fail. If you want to go the more H.I.I.T or Supramax training route, you could do 30-60 seconds of bodyweight or cardio-esque exercises also.

The Time: This is what always surprises people. The 6 exercise diamond, when done correctly, will take about 18-35 minutes (yup, 36 sets in 18 minutes). The 9 exercise diamond will take close to an hour. How is it possible that you can do 81 sets in an hour? Simple answer: you ain’t resting much, Jack. Your rest time is capped at 60 seconds, and for most of the diamond it’s going to be less.

The Frequency: Do not do this protocol more than 3 times a week if it’s your primary way you want to work, and no more than once a week if you are supplementing your normal lifting program. It’s just too taxing on your neurological system and recovery gets to be an issue.
Keep in mind too my basic rules: http://www.thestrongerlife.com/muscle-less-bs/ . Never stick to one type of training, rep range, set range, or modality. The Diamond is yet another tool in the toolbox.

The Results: I have used this for years with great results in strength, hypertrophy, and metabolic increases for me and my clients. Several years ago when I was really into developing this system, my own BMR when testing on a gas-exchange test after doing ONLY this type of workout for over a year was around 2400 calories. Translation: my metabolism was cranking’.
I was 192 lbs. at around 8-9% body fat, and my bench, squat, and deadlift tested at around 80% of my 1 RM from the previous year of doing traditional absolute strength training; However, my 10 rep max was SIGNIFICANTLY higher in all those lifts, and my heart rate recovery was wicked fast. The only reason I quit doing this as my primary workout programming is because I got bored with it after a couple years. Now that I’ve been doing traditional bodybuilding splits for a while, I’ve gone back to using a diamond as my conditioning/metabolic training at the end of the week. It’s also my go-to when a willing Canadian Bro like Bryan Krahn comes into town and wants to do something crazy for arms.

The Warning: The diamond is no joke. I have used it for all populations by just adjusting the type of exercises (a bicep curl is going to be significantly less stressful than a dumbbell snatch), but even at the “easy” end this can be a rough one for people. Just like any program, start slow and get comfortable with it. Most importantly, NEVER SACRIFICE FORM FOR REPS!!!

More Muscle, Less BS IN 8 STEPS

I feel like things have gotten convoluted as far as what you REALLY need to do to build more muscle. Every day there is some huckster trying to tell you the NEWEST and QUICKEST way. Screw that. Here it is, plain and simple, in 8 steps.

1) Lift ALL the weights Yes, ALL the weights. Not just machines, not just free-weights, not just rubberized ones on a platform, not just your bodyweight…ALL the weights. You will not find any research that says one way is always better than another. You WILL find that variety is key to solid muscle gains and strength as well.

2) Lift ALL the rep ranges Yes, ALL of them. From 1-100. I keep most of my reps around 8-15, but I will hit a 1RM occasionally just for shits and giggles. I often program in sets of 50-100 reps as well. If you’ve never done 100 reps of squats, continuously, with 100 lbs, you’re missing out on one of life’s great moments in human survival. Using all these rep ranges also allows for using a variety of equipment, tempo, advanced strategies (supersets, drop sets, eccentric focus, etc).

3) Do A LOT of sets When Bryan Krahn was up for The Fitness Summit we hit 64 sets of arms in 45 minutes! He thinks it was only 40 because I lied to him and he uses Canadian math. We did 8 sets of 8 exercises with moderate weight in an 8-12 rep range. You know what it felt like when we were done? Like we did 64 mother-effin’ sets of arms! This is when programming your workouts becomes key. Nick Tumminello has a kick ass way of programming workouts that make them more efficient. I stole a lot of his ideas from Strength Training for Fat Loss and modified them only slightly for myself and my clients. Working out this way will also help with No. 5 on this list.

4) Eat ALL the food I mean food variety. Dudes and dudettes focus on eggs, chicken, and shakes. That’s cool, but you would have to eat a ridiculous amount of eggs, chicken, and shakes to get the calories to build quality muscle. Remember: more protein doesn’t equal more muscle. OPTIMUM protein intake is important though. Go for 2-3 GRAMS per KILOGRAM of LBM. This is obviously adjusted as your LBM increases. If you don’t know your LBM, you should. Knowing your body fat percentage and lean body mass is important for No. 5 on this list.
Equally important is food variety. You need the calories to hit your goal. Don’t know what that is? Go find someone competent (there are a handful out there) to figure it out for you. You don’t need to OVEREAT, just eat for your goal. Don’t overcomplicate this either. There are “strategies” and “systems” but if you just eat lots of quality food (and sometimes not-so-quality food), bust your ass with the weights, and you will gain muscle.

5) Don’t get too fat This kind of goes with number 4. If you are a dude, you can sit at 10% (generally six-pack worthy), if you are a dudette, you can sit around 18% and still build muscle. No need for those ridiculous bulking phases of the 90’s. After all, what’s the point of building muscle if no one can see it? If you are a fatty now, you might want to get on a cutting phase until you hit something closer to those percentages. I have not had a client yet that couldn’t maintain these percentages and add muscle at the same time.

6) Rest A lot of people fuck this up. We live in a society of energy drinks and stress. Program rest times into your life. Not just from your workouts, but life. I know…you’re like, Ethan, but…blah blah family blah blah work… SHUT UP! You watch too much tv! Shut it off and chill out with your own thoughts for a few hours instead. Take a walk. Commune with nature. Do some yoga. Whatever hippie shit calms your mind. In the end your pituitary gland, your muscles, and your brain will thank you.

7) Be patient Building muscle takes a long time. It is contrary to what your body wants to do. Muscle requires more energy, which requires more calories, which requires more hunting and gathering. It is against nature. Be patient!
Don’t focus too much on “6 week programs”. At most, unless you are on the Mexican muscle juice or brand new to lifting, you will get about 1 pound of muscle in 6 weeks….at best. Your first years lifting will be the years of your greatest gains. Take advantage of this. After 3 years, it slows down considerably. This is not a bad thing. If I continued to gain the same as I did my first year, I would be over 700 lbs. My grocery budget couldn’t handle it.
You know when people talk about working out as a “lifestyle change”. That’s not bullshit. If you are serious about it, you need to become workout guy or girl for the rest of your life. Does this mean balls-out every day? No. This means putting in the time though. I have been lifting for 26 years…the majority of my life. I am 41 years old and in better shape than most 18 year olds. But that’s the lifestyle I chose…to care about not being a fat weak slob. I want the other parents at my son’s school functions to stare. I want his friends to ask me if I can lift a truck.

8) Repeat for the rest of your life Consistency is key. Period. Done.