Tag: Liz Benda

Make Luck Your Bitch

“Shallow men believe in luck or in circumstance. Strong men believe in cause and effect.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

Have you ever known someone with “bad luck”? I mean, real shit luck. The kind of person that can find the one dog turd in a park with his shoe? The kind of person that always gets gypped of the prize in the cereal box? The kind of person that never gets the promotion, can’t pay the bills, gets sick all the time, family won’t talk to them, has asshole kids, etc. This person’s perception becomes one of two things:

1) “There’s no point in trying, I just have shitty luck,”  which causes the person to never start.
2) “I will try, but nothing is ever going to happen,”  which causes the person to never finish.

In the immortal words of BJJ legend Kurt Osiander: “You fucked up a long time ago.”

In most cases, the way a person views his “luck” is a matter of perception. For a really fascinating read on this, check this study out: THE LUCK FACTOR. The summary of which is that there really is no such thing as “luck”. At least not as most people believe. Much of the good and bad luck we encounter is a result of our thoughts and behavior. Most importantly…sometimes shit just happens.

“Good luck” and “bad luck” are just ways to define the results (consequences) of our efforts. In everything you do, results correlate directly with hard work…or being lazy…both still yield a result.

“But wait, Ethan, I busted my ass and things are still fucked up?”

Yes, but did you get a RESULT from your effort? Just because it wasn’t the result you wanted, doesn’t mean it is negative. Did you learn something? Most likely. Was it helpful to you or someone else? Probably.

REMEMBER THIS: Every single huge success story also includes colossal failures. WAY more failures than success. If those people viewed those failures as “bad luck” they would have dismissed the lesson learned. They would never have continued on to greatness. Those people took those “failures” and learned…changed…adapted…grew.

This is true for every goal: lose weight, get stronger, make more money, quit smoking, and any other New Year’s Resolution cliche.

So the question is this:

Are you offensive or defensive?
Pro active or reactionary?
Positive or negative?
Lucky or unlucky?

YOU ARE ALL OF THOSE!. You have to be. You are human. You CAN’T be purely “offensive” without being naive, you can’t be purely “pro-active” without ignoring possibilities, you can’t be “positive” all the time without sounding insincere, and you can’t be “lucky” all the time because shit happens.

It is your PERCEPTION of these realities that determine whether you are living your life or being a victim of life. Don’t be life’s whipping boy.

“Ok, great, Mr. Smarty Pants, but now what?”

  1. Recognize that you are failing because you are REALLY good at making excuses and justifying them with bullshit. If you want to do something, you can do it. Start here: An Argument for a Mid-Life Crisis.
  2. Understand “consequences” and “results” are the same thing. The only difference is in your attitude and perspective. If you do positive things…good things…most of the time, you will get a positive result. If you get a negative result, it’s still a result. Learn from it.
  3. Shit happens. Not because God hates you, not because of bad luck, not because you were a dick in your past life; Shit just happens. Accept the shit and move on.
  4. Know that you are going to mess up. You will probably mess up real bad. Remember…YOU messed up. You did it to yourself. Own it. Move on. Do better.

“If you own your luck, you make it your bitch” –Me

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.

starsky

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!!!