Squats – THE Best Exercise?

I was talking with one of my clients this morning and he said he had read an article online describing the benefits of the squat and that they are one of the best exercises you could do, particularly as you age.

When it comes to strength exercises, I’ve always been partial to the deadlift-but there is nothing that says you can only train one or the other-right?!?! 

In hardcore gyms the barbell back squat is THE cornerstone exercise.  It separates the men from the boys.  Many weenies try to claim that weighted Bulgarian split-squats or front squats are as good as, or better than, the glorious barbell back squat; but those that claim this typically have toothpicks for legs or are just trying to get a new book published-or usually, BOTH.

Ivan Chakarov with a perfect back squat - this legendary photo is of his famous no-no-no (no belt, no wraps, no spotter) 270kg triple.  Photo courtesy of Iron Mind.

The barbell back squat rules hands down.  Please save your “oh my back hurts”, or “front squats are more athletic” arguments for someone who cares.

The back squat allows for the greatest loading, I can’t think of anyone who front squats more than they back squat, thus it will make you stronger.

The back squat contributes to massive amounts of muscular development in the legs-read the book “Super Squats”- the exercise in the program is the barbell back squat, not the Bulgarian wobble board blindfolded super corrective non-contraindicated iso-lunge.

What if we get outside of the hard core gym?  Is the squat still king, even if it is performed without a barbell on the back?

As we age I believe the squat is a great choice to maintain leg strength and hip, knee and ankle joint mobility.  In fact, a full-range-of-motion body-weight squat is an incredibly healthy exercise.  If you can sit on your calves with your feet completely flat (this is imperative-heels DOWN!) you are working your hips and knees through their greatest possible range of motion while providing for a tremendous stretch to the low back and Achilles tendons.

We are born with the ability to squat all the way down with flat feet-just look at any toddler they will often squat down and sit on their calves as they play.  Unfortunately due to a combination of sitting in desks from pre-school on, and the lack of developmental physical education programs, this ability is lost over the years. 

A popular picture of a toddler with details of a perfect squat that circulated the internet and social media sites a while back.

I was talking with one of my instructors, Chen Zhe, at the Shaolin Institue where I study Taiji and he told me that growing up in China he often ate while sitting in a full squat position and that it was a position of rest as well.

Snake Creeps Down, this is one of my favorite Taiji movements. This beautiful posture is a fantastic display of  hip, ankle and knee mobility as well as strong legs.  Photo of Dong Zeng Chen courteousy of www.chipellis.com.

This makes a lot of sense to me.  Typically when we rest we sit on a chair, when we do this we can increase the compressive loading on our spines by up to 40% (according to an article I read a while back)!  This coupled with the typically weak core musculature most American adults display is a recipe for major low back pain.  Gee, can you think of anyone you know who suffers from low back pain?  However, if we possessed the ability to rest in a full squat position not only would we contribute to exceptional mobility in the hip, knee and ankles; we would also stretch out the lower back and Achilles tendons.  Say goodbye to back pain!

Granted the barbell version may not be advisable for everyone, but deep, full range of motion, flat-foot body-weight squats would be a good idea to do on a regular basis.  If you can’t perform this movement, then practice.  Strong, healthy legs are a good idea for everyone, particularly as we age.

Stay Strong AND Healthy!

-Scott

Strength vs. Skill

One of the biggest arguments I see with athletes, particularly fighters and grapplers, is "strength vs. skill".

This argument is absolutely ridiculous to me, typically because people act like you are only allowed to possess one OR the other.

Why not have both?

I've heard so many fighters or fight coaches say that a fighter possessing excellent technique will beat a stronger but less skilled fighter.  This may be true, however what about when the exceptionally skilled fighter fights someone who possesses a greater degree of strength and equal technique?  I'm putting my money on the strong, skilled guy personally.

My good friend Brian, a guy who knows his way around an MMA gym AND a squat rack, made an excellent point to me one day when we were catching a workout at the ATL's legendary ECF Gym, "Scott, if strength wasn't important to fighters why are so damn many UFC fighters failing their steroid tests?"  He's right, it's probably not to look good at weigh-ins.

I have been doing strength & conditioning work for a very good grappler, Jason, who is a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.  I saw Jason compete in November, 2011 at Grappler's Quest in Dalton, GA.   In the no-gi division Jason competed against a grappler who out-weighed him by 35 lbs--and won!  Jason took first in the no-gi division.  Later, in the gi division, Jason competed against the same guy and lost.  This guy won the gi division and Jason took 3rd.

After the tournament I asked Jason what happened, how did he lose to a guy he beat in the no-gi division?  Jason said the guy got a hold of his gi, pulled him in and was just too damn strong to do anything with.  

Consequently Jason dropped from about 215-220 lbs all the way down to 182 lbs for Pan-Ams!

Jason after winning one of his matches at 2012 Pan-Ams!

Obviously, Jason's skill allowed him to beat this athlete in the no-gi division, but the other guy's strength was a huge factor in the gi division.  Jason started adding in a steady diet of strength and power training to his grappling prep and his teammates noticed real quick. 

The strength vs. skill argument is old and tired.  If you are a grappler, fighter or any sport athlete for that matter, it would do you a tremendous amount of good to make sure strength and power training were part of your preparation program.  Just make sure it is not at the expense of your sport-specific work and you'll be fine.

Stay Strong and Healthy!

-Scott

Quick Update from the Vegas

I'm getting ready to board a plane B&J to Atlanta after a week at our second home and just wanted to let you all know about a couple things we have going on right now.

First-we are doing an anti-resolutionist new member promotion for our Extreme-Fit Kettlebell Boot Camp class. New members may join for $89.00 for the month of December a $90.00 savings off the regular monthly rate.

Also, if any of you current members refer anyone who joins we will give you 50% off next months dues!

Second-for 2013 we will be hosting a transformation challenge open to all personal training clients and class members. Registration info will be posted soon. First prize will be an iPad mini, 3 free personal training sessions and a month of free classes. Second prize will be 3 free personal training sessions and a month of free classes. Third prize will be a month of free classes.

We hope you will take advantage of these great offers and make 2013 your healthiest year yet!

Also, I finally started hammering away at my next book while enjoying a great view of the Vegas strip. This book will be different from anything else I've done yet. It's time to bring health and fitness back together!

Time to board! I'll post more information about this and other upcoming programs once we're back in the ATL.

Stay Healthy AND Strong!

Scott

Forget Healthy Nutrition, Just Take a Pill.

I saw the most ridiculous commercial the other day on TV. Typically most of the TV my wife Lisa and I watch is DVR'd shows that we like, thus allowing us to skip commercials. We purposefully avoid the news and prefer to create our own reality and opportunities instead of buying into the crap that gets spoon-fed to us via the tube'.

However, I was a little slow on the remote and got stuck watching a commercial that made me sick. Walgreens is running a commercial basically encouraging you NOT to pursue healthy nutrition as an option for wellness. That's right, don't listen to people who tell you to eat vegetables and fruits, no no no. Instead get down to the pharmacy and let one of their experts fill your prescription.

Seriously, when I see this bulls@$t it says to me, "Hey, you in front of the TV. We think you are a stupid mother-f$%ker. Here's another big heaping spoon-ful of s%#t. Enjoy, moron!"

Instead of pushing good nutrition and a healthy lifestyle as a means of preventing illness and maintaining wellness, just take a pill. (BTW - this works for weight-loss too!!!)

Give me a f*&king break.

If you haven't seen the video, fortunately the folks at I Live Chiropractic posted it. Hit this link to check it out for yourself.

Click HERE to watch this ridiculous commercial. Way to go Walgreens!!!!

Now please understand I'm not bashing Western medicine. I pay for my health insurance every month, and I have a fantastic doctor I see once a year for my annual physical for him to basically confirm how awesome I am.

I think doctors should educate patients on adopting healthy lifestyle practices, good nutrition, exercise, stress reduction, etc. Let's use medicine only when absolutely necessary. In a life and death situation YES give me the damn drugs. If I have the sniffles? Sorry, but I'm passing on the pills. We are over-prescribed. Yeah, it's great for big Pharma, but is it great for you?

Come on people, think for yourself and don't let these big corporations piss on your minds.

Wake up.

Stay Strong and Healthy,

Scott

The Mind and Body Connection for Optimal Health and Fitness

Today during Taiji class my Shifu, Grandmaster Shi Deru, talked about health and why we do what we do. He regularly sees people who are sick recover and get well again naturally. This is a huge topic of interest to me as it is the direction my personal training as well as the focus of my business has taken in the past year or so.

The founding fathers of Physical Culture-like George Hackenschmidt-knew the importance of developing the mind as well as the body.

I've always found it interesting that the fitness industry has become so far removed from health. It has become all about cosmetics, drugs, pills-look good at any cost. Unfortunately, in the fitness industry (I refuse to call it the health and fitness industry until things change) those who often look the healthiest are in fact very unhealthy. I fell victim to this myself. Supplements, pills, anabolics, fat burners, you name it; I tried it all in the name of (health) and fitness.

Then I had a realization. We have everything we need to be fit AND healthy. If we are not producing something, if we are getting sick, if we are not recovering-it does not mean we need to take a pill, potion or powder. It means we need to fix something within ourselves. I believe for most people this means developing the mind as well as the body. This is not just an eastern concept-it's a theme that is quite obvious in George Hackenschmidt's excellent book "The Way to Live in Health and Physical Fitness".

Shifu's comments about health today led me to ask him a question about why he thought that people who eat well and exercise still get sick. His answer was very simple but incredibly brilliant and insightful. He said they fail to do the internal work, to develop their minds. They succumb to negative energy and negative thoughts that ultimately manifest in unhealthy ways in the body.

Make no mistake, pumping your body full of chemicals and non-natural substances in an effort to "get fit" will result in anything but. Sure, you might look like Hercules for a little while, but there will be a price to pay for chemical and physical abuse. Many will argue this, and I would have to as little as a couple years ago.

Shifu told me we need to bring the mind back into training and focus on internal development as well as external development. Working hard is good. Training hard is good. However we cannot neglect the development of our mind. Strong healthy minds and positive thoughts will produce good energy and strong health bodies.

Meditation is one way to strengthen the mind, but don't let it end in the lotus position. Meditate in everything you do. Why is this important? When you meditate, when you truly quiet your monkey mind, when your mind becomes blank and allows thoughts to pass without attachment, you are now present. You embody your true nature which is pure being. Why not be present in all you do?

Shifu teaching us about the importance of mediation.

Think about how much of your time-your life-is lost to regretting past events and fearing future events. When your mind is living in the past and future it is preventing your from being here, in the now. And guess what? Now is all there is. The past is nothing more than a previous series of now moments and the future is a series of now moments that have yet to occur-so why let them rule you?

Instead, try to be present in everything you do-whether it is sport, exercise, study, driving, talking with friends and family, etc. Be present and give the present moment your full attention. I believe this is why people become addicted to adventure sports such as rock climbing-it's hard to be terrorized by the past or worry about the future when you are hanging off the side of a cliff by your fingers and toes!

When we bring our mind into training, we encourage internal development in addition to external physical development. If we truly want to be fit AND healthy we must connect the mind and the body.

I believe when good health is achieved, and all aspects of physical and mental development are in line, our potential is limitless!

"Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you." -Lao Tzu

Stay Strong AND Healthy!

-Scott

Great nutrition blog by Matt Frazier!

I'm in Vegas this week and while I am teaching a kettlebell trainer certification on Sunday, the rest of the week is vacation, thus a less creative blog this week-the dreaded "re-post". However, this is a good one!

Here is a great blog with healthy eating tips from Matt Frazier of "No Meat Athlete". Matt's blog was recommended to me a while back by my friend Laura and I highly recommend subscribing to it. Don't let the name fool you, this post is great for vegans/vegetarians and cannibals alike.

http://www.nomeatathlete.com/simple-healthy-eating-guidelines/

My favorite advice is to focus on eating raw vegetables and fruits (yeah go figure!).

I think his recommendation to start the day off with a smoothie and to eat a salad in the afternoon is great.

I particularly like green smoothies (50% greens and 50% fruit) and strawberry/banana green smoothies are great post-workout. 

I do sometimes add some RAW protein or brown rice protein and raw honey to the post workout smoothie as well. 

I hope you enjoy Matt's post as much as I did and can apply some of these great tips to your nutrition.

Now back to the craps and blackjack tables!!!

Stay Strong AND Healthy,

Scott

Great Re-post from Jim Wendler!

I have been in the training industry for over 13 years now and have seen all the fads-one of the worst is "sport specific training". It really is as simple as lift to get strong, run for speed and condition, and practice your sport for specificity. Granted things like flexibility and mobility are important as well but the idea of trying to mimic sport movements in the weight room is ridiculous.

Squat, push and pull heavy stuff to get strong and practice your sport to get better at your sport.

Jim Wendler posted a nice blog at his website-www.jimwendler.com (I recommend checking his site often as he generally contributes great articles and blogs, and if you don't already own his 5/3/1 book remedy that, now.)

Check out this link to Jim's blog featuring a quote from Mark Rippetoe regarding the development of strength for athletes. Then think about it. Then think about all the bullshit in the sports training industry. Then realize Mark is 100% on the money!

http://www.jimwendler.com/2012/09/lifting-for-sport-great-quote-from-mark-rippetoe/

Stay Strong AND Healthy!

-Scott

Shane Carwin Interview (from April 2010)

I'm getting pretty excited for the start of the new season of The Ultimate Fighter! Shane Carwin and Roy Nelson are the coaches this season and I have been a huge fan of Shane's for a long time. I had the opportunity to do a phone interview with Shane back in April of 2010 that I submitted to a magazine I was writing for at the time. The interview went unpublished and instead I submitted to Elite Fitness Systems for publishing on their website. Since TUF kicks off next week I decided to post the interview I did with Shane on my blog. While I'm sure a lot of his training and physical preparation has evolved since this interview, I still feel the information he provided was awesome. Enjoy!

Shane Carwin is arguably one of the strongest, most powerful heavyweight fighters in the UFC and over the course of his 12-2 professional MMA career he has definitely shown he can throw a devastating punch. 

Prior to his interim heavyweight title victory over Frank Mir at UFC 111, Shane had knocked-out or submitted each of his opponents in under two minutes and had never seen the second round of a fight until his first career losses to Brock Lesnar, a fight Shane nearly ended in the first round, and Junior Dos Santos.

Shortly after his 3:48 first-round knock-out of Frank Mir, I had the opportunity to speak with Shane about his strength training and conditioning program and why it is important for fighters to spend some of their time in the weight room.  Here’s what he had to say.

(Author’s note – Keep in mind this interview was conducted on April 7, 2010 and was originally submitted to a magazine for publishing prior to his July 3, 2010 heavyweight title fight against Brock Lesnar, but went unpublished. Since then, Shane underwent back surgery, to relieve pressure on compressed and pinched nerves near the end of 2010, and his training and nutrition strategies have changed somewhat to accommodate his return to professional MMA competition. However, I feel that the information he shared with me is too good to remain unpublished.)

Getting to meet Shane at UFC Fan Expo at Mandalay Bay in Vegas - May 2010! Yes, his fist is as big as my head.

Scott:

Shane, first of all I’d like to say congratulations on your awesome performance at UFC 111.  You were certainly prepared both physically and mentally for that fight and it definitely showed in the octagon.  It seems that more fighters are placing a greater emphasis on strength training and conditioning as a means to supplement their fight training.  This is definitely a shift from the idea that technique mastery is all a fighter needs to be at the top his game.  What is your opinion on strength and conditioning as a supplement to specific fight training for the mixed martial arts athlete?

Shane:

I think it’s absolutely necessary.  Everyone talks about technique now, but everyone is working on technique.  People spend a lot of time studying all these different martial arts and what can really separate you is a good strength and conditioning program.  It’s just like any other sport; I think MMA is going to evolve a lot faster because all these other sports had to go through all these growing pains already. Strength and conditioning coaches already know how to get these athletes to perform at a higher level, that science is already out there for these fighters to take advantage of.

Scott:

In an interview from March 2009 you said that you trained with weights three times per week and ran two times per week in addition to four weekly sessions of jiu jitsu, boxing, Muay Thai, and MMA training.  That’s an insane schedule, particularly when you consider that fact that you work a full-time job and have responsibilities as a father and a husband. Has your strength training and conditioning changed any since then, and how important is your strength and conditioning training to your career in the mixed martial arts?

Shane:

It has changed.  I still do three times per week as far as the strength goes and conditioning is still part of that with the strength, but I get some of the conditioning during sparring and my one-on-one sessions, which we try to vary up a little bit.  Now I have eight practices a week on top of the strength, three are sparring, some are wrestling, and some are one-on-one with jiu jitsu or boxing. 

Scott:

So by the nature of the sport practice itself you are finding that there is a benefit in terms of conditioning?

Shane:

When you are going live you are definitely getting some of the conditioning in that is more appropriate for the sport, such as the pushing and pulling of the body and other things you’re not going to feel just by running.  Running is still good and definitely helps build endurance in the legs so I get some of that in there too.  A lot of it comes from practice and some of it comes from me, I feel what my body needs.

Scott:

I have found that my athletes always make the greatest gains in size and strength by following a steady diet of the basic, heavy barbell lifts such as the squat, deadlift, row, pull-ups, bench and military press.  Do these, or any other lifts, make up the foundation of your strength training program?

Shane:

Yeah, absolutely.  You are not going to get bigger or stronger without doing those core lifts.  There are some other lifts that you can add for explosiveness.  I think the explosive training, along with the core lifts that you said, is the way to go for fighting – it’s basically a take-off of other sports.

Scott:

What about things like kettlebell training, weighted sled work, Battling Ropes, sledgehammer drills, and medicine ball exercises?  Have you used any of these forms of training in your strength and conditioning program?

Shane:

Absolutely, I would say that is a good portion of my conditioning.  I got away from running a little bit because of the pounding and the shin splints.  For conditioning we have had to do more circuit training that involves pushing the sled, burpees, medicine ball slams, plyometric pushups and things of that nature.

Scott:

Can you give us an idea of what a typical training week looks like for you? 

Shane:

Monday, Wednesday and Friday are lifting days consisting of plyometrics, Olympic lifts, strength lifts, as well as some agility work.  My strength and conditioning coach also puts some general physical preparation (GPP) work in there and some core exercises.  This is typically done around lunchtime.  At night I’ll do some one-on-one in boxing and maybe jiu jitsu or whatever practice I feel I might need, it might be some wrestling as well.  Tuesday and Thursday mornings are sparring and at night it is usually wrestling or jiu jitsu.  Saturday is another sparring day and Sundays are my off days.  I think one of the main problems with the sport and so many of the injuries is that there is probably not enough off time because everyone is trying to get all these disciplines in.  It’s not like going out and training football where you train the same position five to six days per week. When you’re training in boxing, kick boxing, Muay Thai, wrestling, jiu jitsu, then do your strength and conditioning work it’s tough to get all that in and be where you need to be.  I definitely think that people can over-train in this sport very easily. 

Scott:

Are there any specific recovery methods you find beneficial, particularly during periods of extreme training?

Shane:

Yeah, I get some Muscle Activation Technique (MAT) work done by a guy named Matt Bernier that seems to help me the most.  I think everybody has different things that work for them.  I also do contrast baths.  At my house I have an ice bath and a hot tub right next to each other and I’ll go five in one and five in the other and go back and forth like that a number of times.  I learned that down in Louisiana when I was training for the NFL in 1998 with strength and conditioning coach Kurt Hester who was helping Chuck Wiley, Alan Fanaca and myself out.

Scott:

Some people might not realize you went as far as you did in football being invited to the NFL Scouting Combine and a projected fifth round pick but did not make it due to previous injuries.  Do you ever miss playing football?

Shane:

Absolutely, I love the sport and unfortunately what happened to me was I bulged three discs and ruptured a disc so at that point I was damaged goods.  You know it is what it is, I loved the game, I still love the game, and just driving in the fall I can smell that grass and get those feelings you know.

Scott:

There is no question that you have built an insanely strong and powerful physique.  I am guessing that was not done by weight training alone.  Is nutrition and supplementation important to your preparation and ability to recover between training sessions?

Shane:

Yeah absolutely, as far as nutrition and supplementation goes, if you are not fueling your body when you are weight training and conditioning to me it’s no good without good wholesome whole foods and high quality sports supplements.  Without the fuel your body is not going to grow.

Scott:

Is there anything you would like to add pertaining to your strength and conditioning or fight training program that people reading this may be interested in?

Shane:

It amazes me that some of these fighters are just now saying they’re hiring strength and conditioning coaches - that’s crazy to me.  I can’t understand how they haven’t been doing strength work the whole time. 

Scott:

It amazes me too.  I’ve always maintained that if you had two athletes, regardless of the sport, with identical skill levels, and one spent time building strength, power and speed while the other only worked on technique, the stronger more powerful guy would win every time.

Shane:

Not only is he going to win, he’s going to destroy the other guy. 

Scott:

Unfortunately I think when some fighters think of strength they picture a huge, super-heavyweight powerlifter who lacks mobility and some of the other skills necessary for fighters and that’s not the case.

Shane:

No not at all.

Scott:

I feel it’s highly beneficial to get as strong and powerful as possible to the point it does not interfere with your fighting skills. 

Shane:

Another thing those people are not going to like to hear is that it takes a long time to develop that strength and power.  It’s not done over a period of months; it’s done over a period of years.  You have to stay committed and dedicated to getting stronger and not expect it to happen overnight.

Scott:

Shane, thank you sincerely for your time, I appreciate it and wish you the absolute best with your MMA career.

Shane:

Thank you.

###

Stay Strong and Healthy,

Scott

Musashi's 21 Maxims

Wisdom from arguably one of the greatest warriors of all-time, Miyamoto Musashi.

Miyamoto Musashi: ?1584? - June 13, 1645

1. Accept everything just the way it is.
2. Do not seek pleasure for its own sake.
3. Do not, under any circumstances, depend on a partial feeling.
4. Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world.
5. Be detached from desire your whole life long.
6. Do not regret what you have done.
7. Never be jealous.
8. Never let yourself be saddened by a separation.
9. Resentment and complaint are appropriate neither for oneself nor others.
10. Do not let yourself be guided by the feeling of lust or love.
11. In all things have no preferences.
12. Be indifferent to where you live.
13. Do not pursue the taste of good food.
14. Do not hold on to possessions you no longer need.
15. Do not act following customary beliefs.
16. Do not collect weapons or practice with weapons beyond what is useful.
17. Do not fear death.
18. Do not seek to possess either goods or fiefs for your old age.
19. Respect Buddha and the gods without counting on their help.
20. You may abandon your own body but you must preserve your honour.
21. Never stray from the Way.

Stay Strong and Healthy,

Scott

And the Lab Results are in...

Just a quick blog for this week.

I had my annual physical yesterday and am incredibly happy with the results. I had a full work up done and everything checked out in the ideal range except for random glucose - that was still within acceptable limits but not ideal, so no worries - and this is the first time it's all been this good. This is a concern as there is type 2 diabetes in my family history. I just need to tighten back up on my use of raw sugar and the occasional junk that has made it's way back into my diet, and focus more on lower glycemic fruits.

In the past when I was weighing 220-230 my BP and lipid profiles were always a concern and not in good ranges - this was my main health concern for switching from a cannibal diet to a predominately vegetarian plan and it's worked very well based on yesterday's results.

As a Cannibal:
BW-220-230 lbs
blood pressure - usually around 125/85 when it was "good" to 135/90 when it wasn't "good"
total cholesterol - 220 mg/dL
HDL - 41 mg/dL
LDL - 130 mg/dL
triglycerides - best was usually 135 mg/dL worst was just over 300 mg/dL


As a Pescatarian:
BW-178-182 lbs
blood pressure - worst was 112/72 best was 102/67
total cholesterol - 151 mg/dL
HDL - 43 mg/dL
LDL - 95 mg/dL
triglycerides - 65 mg/dL

To say I'm thrilled with the results is an understatement! My goal now is to continue to improve these levels and continue getting healthier. Screw aging gracefully, I'm kicking ass the entire way to my next lifetime!

Stay Strong AND Healthy!

-Scott

Barbells and Kettlebells - Two Great Tools that Go Great Together!

It's been a blog-free July, not that I didn't have anything exciting to write about, it was just a busy month for me. It's also the month my wife and I take a couple of weeks off and take a road trip through State College and Pittsburgh, PA for the PSU Arts Festival and to visit family.

In addition I've had a couple of business ventures pop up and have been busy working on those.

Since we have the 2012 GA State Kettlebell Championship (click here for info on the meet) coming up in a couple of weeks I figured I would write a blog on one of the biggest questions I get - how do you combine barbells and kettlebells in an effective training plan?

It's really not that difficult and was the major topic of my book, "Kettlebells for Sport, Strength and Fitness" (despite the fact that many who've never read my book claiming it is strictly a GS - or kettlebell sport - book). Click here for this and all of my other books and e-books.

I prefer to split up my barbell workouts by the main lifts over either a 3 or 4 day training plan. The lifts I focus on are the squat, bench press, deadlift and standing press and for the past 7 1/2 months I've been following Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 protocol exclusively for the barbell lifts. On the 4 day plan I have two upper and two lower days, one for each of the above lifts. Currently I'm experimenting with a 3-day plan in which I've put the press and squat together on day 1, bench on day 2 and deadlift on day 3. It's been working great so far and most of my supplementary work has been more of a higher volume bodybuilding approach, as I am trying to regain some of the size I lost during my near 50 lb weight loss adventure that began in the fall of last year.

Adding the kettlebells into the mix.

I know there are about a billion and three kettlebell exercises, but honestly only a handful have made it into my gym - I prefer swings, cleans, press/push press/jerk (as well as the long cycle variations of these) and snatches. Anything else to me is pointless and can usually be better performed with barbells and dumbbells. However, the traditional kettlebell lifts done for higher reps offer many benefits to the seeker of strength including GPP and strengthening weak points (shoulders, grip and lower back in particular).

I have found the best way to work the kettlebell lifts into the program is to pic 1 or 2 lifts and perform them after the primary strength work. I like to plug jerks, clean & jerks and swings in on squat and deadlift days and snatches, cleans and press exercises in on upper body days personally - although I suggest you experiment and see what works best for you.

Here is a plan I've had much success with in the past and continue to use it regularly in my programming:

Day 1 - squat, squat accessory work, kettlebell jerks, kettlebell swings

Day 2 - bench, bench accessory work, kettlebell snatches or cleans

Day 3 - deadlift, deadlift accessory work, kettlebell clean and jerks (long cycle)

Day 4 - standing press, press accessory work, kettlebell snatches or cleans

As far as programming, experiment and find what works for you. For general conditioning I favor 5:00 + sets of the kettlebell exercises performed after strength work. I have also used more of a kettlebell sport training plan as well as the WKC Elite Fitness protocol with traditional strength training plans for myself and many of my clients and athletes.

Regardless of your goals combining kettlebells and barbells is a GREAT idea!

Stay Strong AND Healthy!

-Scott

End of my Raw Month - It's a Wrap!

So that's it. One month on the raw plan. I'll try to keep this a short wrap up as I'm sure you guys are sick of reading about food.

Progress

At the start of this month I was at 190 lbs and down from 220 when I started a mostly raw diet at the end of September 2011 - I haven't been south of 180 lbs since 2000.

As you probably read in my last blog post the most dramatic drop is in my bodyweight. The cool thing is that I've actually cut back on my training volume and intensity - this proves that if you want to lose weight it is mostly about nutrition, not training. The old saying "you can't outrun a doughnut" is definitely applicable.

My body-composition has changed for the better, I'm much leaner with better definition. My energy during training is outstanding and my focus and mental clarity (particularly during taiji class and practice) is great.

My joints feel really good, even after periods of heavier training.

My eyes are very clear and my skin is good - no cracking or drying - I attribute this mainly to the good fats in avocados, flax seeds / meal and flax oil -- but I could be wrong, sounds good anyway!

Planning

It's true!

The raw foods diet was very easy for me to follow. Probably because I've been eating predominately raw vegan foods since end of September 2011 this wasn't a very dramatic change, I could see how it'd be tough to jump in 100% if you don't eat that well right now.

Here's what I recommend if you want to give this a try:

• start small, begin with one meal a day and a snack or two 100% raw and transition over time
• no matter what make sure the bulk of your raw diet is 80% or better fresh veggies and fruits with some nuts and seeds -- do NOT rely 100% on dehydrated foods and "transition" foods - use these as a treat or variety occasionally
• most dehydrated and transition food recipes call for a lot of nuts, dense calories still add up!
• drink a lot of water
• incorporate juicing - don't give me that crap about juices not being whole foods, yes, I know. What juicing allows you to do is extract the micronutrients, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, etc. from a TON of veggies and fruits to get s super boost of healthy nutrients. Much easier than eating 10lbs of veggies and fruit in one sitting.
• incorporate blended green smoothies - blended your greens allows you to ensure that you unlock all the chlorophyll out of the greens and extract as much nutrition as possible, plus the blended drinks utilize whole food nutrition, so you're getting the fiber and bulk from the fruits and veggies. If you have the time to graze all day and properly chew your food like a cow or horse, skip the blended drinks. I also recommend a Vitamix or Blendtec - they are worth the cash.
• raw vegan eating will assist in detoxification - however if you want to go deeper explore juice fasting - I highly recommend looking at www.juicefeasting.com they are a GREAT resource and have info on healthy fasting for up to 90 days. This has been a very effective approach ion helping people recover from major diseases - it's worth your time to educate yourself at the very least.
• there's nothing wrong with going 80-90% raw - you'll still reap many of the benefits and it will make things like travel and eating out much easier - this is essentially my maintenance plan except when I detox or fast annually from now on.
• at the bare minimum - try to get at least 50-60% of your daily nutrition from raw fruits and veggies - i.e. living food. Want to make it easy? Eat one meal a day 100% raw, the rest of your meals aim to make 50% of the meal raw. Simple.
• don't neglect your fiber.
• a good blender and a good juicer make this stuff really easy.

I could go on and on so if you have specific questions about my experience post a question or email me directly at sshetler613@gmail.com.

Where do I go now

Now that the month is up I'm going to stay mostly raw, my goal was 80-90% for the end of this. I never planned on staying 100% vegan, as I will most likely eat some eggs and a little fish or cheese occasionally; but over time I see me getting closer and closer to pure vegan nutrition - but for only doing this a little over a year now (April 2011 is when I stopped eating meat and fowl) I've made some huge improvements in my overall health and fitness.

Mainly I'm looking at getting my training dialed in and building my strength back while maintaining a lighter body-weight right around the 180 I'm at now.

Thanks for following this month long experiment! I hope it inspired you to take a look at your nutrition and maybe make some changes for the better!

Stay Strong and Healthy!

-Scott

6/13/11 to 6/13/12 - My Fitness Year in Review!

Last year for my 36th birthday I decided to do a fitness test. Joel Jamieson has an online assessment tool, Bioforce Testing Protocol, that he built to test the overall physical preparedness of combat athletes. While I certainly am not a combat athlete, I liked this tool as it measured the following things: strength, muscular endurance, aerobic fitness, anaerobic fitness, explosive power and gave you a total performance index, an upper body and lower body strength profile and an upper body and lower body power profile. In addition the tests were easy to implement.

Keeping with my plan I performed the same battery of tests one year later - this jived well with my eating raw vegan for 30 days plan!

1 Year Fitness Comparison

Scott - before @ 220

-bodyweight: 2011 = 220 lbs; 2012 = 179 lbs

-resting heart rate: 2011 =  90 bpm; 2012 = 54 bpm

-maximum breath hold: 2011 = 36 seconds; 2012 = 1 minute 19 seconds

-max push-ups in 10 seconds: 2011 = 13 reps; 2012 = 17 reps

-double leg triple jump: 2011 = 20' 3.5"; 2012 = 21'

-max push-ups (no time limit, reps must be continuous and never break form): 2011 = 30 reps; 2012 = 45 reps

-2 minute sit-up test: 2011 = 35 reps; 2012 = 55 reps

-max dead hang (NON-KIPPING) pull-ups (i.e. REAL pull-ups): 2011 = 8 reps; 2012 = 20 reps

-squat x 5 reps: 2011 = 240x5; 2012 = 245x5

-bench press x 3 reps: 2011 = 195 x 3; 2012 = 195x3

-1.5 mile run: 2011 = 19 minutes 10 seconds; 2012 = 13 minutes 33 seconds

Scott - 2012 @ 180

Bioforce Test Indexes


-strength: 2011 = 4.5; 2012 = 5.5

-muscular endurance: 2011 = 1.5; 2012 = 3.5

-aerobic fitness: 2011 = 1.0; 2012 = 4.5

-anaerobic fitness: 2011 = 4.5; 2012 = 6.0

-explosive power: 2011 = 4.5; 2012 = 5.5

-total performance index: 2011 = 2.5; 2012 = 5.0

-strength profile: lower body 2011 = 6; 2012 = 7 -- upper body 2011 = 4; 2012 = 6.5

-power profile: lower body 2011 = 5; 2012 = 5.5 -- upper body 2011 = 4.5; 2012 = 6.5

So, there you have it. Bodyweight went down 41 lbs and everything else improved, some better than others. While my strength certainly isn't anywhere near what it was when I was competing in powerlifting, I am happy to see that the numbers went up slightly in the squat and maintained in the bench - as these two lifts are very negatively affected by big drops in bodyweight.

Ultimately at 37 I'm happy with the results. My focus over the next year will be to maintain my lighter bodyweight and continue to build back the strength and power that I lost from my days as a fat, red-faced powerlifter and in addition keeping my new levels of health, mobility, flexibility and overall-fitness in check.

Stay Strong and Healthy!


-Scott

Day 22 or Raw for 30 Days!

As I write this blog it's Day 22 of my Raw for 30 Days birthday plan. So far it's been an outstanding experience! This morning my body-weight was at 180 lbs. I haven't seen 180 lbs since 2002, and I'm definitely a lot leaner and carrying more muscle than I did back then, so at least something good came from being a fat and bloated 220 lbs for all those years.

#1 question I've been asked for the past 22 days - Where do you get your protein? If I had a dollar for every time, I'd have a Bugatti by now...

Despite the lack of "direct" protein consumption I have not atrophied, gotten sick, become "skinny fat", or spontaneously combusted. Yet.

If anything my body composition is changing for the positive, I'm leaning up, getting tighter and definition is improving and the cool thing is I train less than I did before. I still put effort into the workouts, but I have cut my training time down tremendously. Plus my recovery is better and overall I feel a lot better.

This cracked me up! It's funny, this is the type of crap I always used to say about vegetarians and vegans - now I'm on the receiving end. Karma I guess. Oh well - you can't argue results!

Where do I go from here?

With one more week left on my 30 day experiment I've been thinking about this quite a bit. Will I stay 100% raw vegan? Nope. That was never my intention. My goal was to improve from the 70-80% raw vegan plan I was following since September of last year. I wanted to go the 30 days for a couple of reasons, one to prove to myself I could do it since one of the biggest obstacles I see with my clients is motivation and discipline to change their nutrition habits. 

Look, I'm just as busy as everyone else. I work 6 days a week, run my own business and do all the domestic stuff everyone else does. I still have time to eat healthy and workout. 

I'm sick of hearing excuses from people. You are responsible for what you put into your mouth and it takes the same amount of effort to put a handful of goji berries into your mouth as it does a handful of M&Ms. More people need to take ownership of their lives and stop making excuses.

In addition my goal was to use this 30 days to detox and cleanse a bit as well as tighten up my nutrition so that I can maintain an 80-90% raw vegan plan with only 10-20% coming from cooked vegetarian foods. Basically I will continue to follow what I'm doing now with 1-2 servings of cooked food a day. However there will probably be 2 or 3 days a week that are 100% raw and I will continue to do 100% raw periods as well as periods of juice fasting throughout the year to detoxify and maintain the improved health I am experiencing now.

One reason is personal, I want to be healthy and have a very high quality of life through my twilight years and when it's time for me to trade this body in I want to make that transition as strong and healthy (mentally, physically and spiritually) as possible.

I also need to be a role model for my clients. How can people take health, weight loss, and training advice from someone who doesn't embody what they teach? One of my top rules "Don't be the fat trainer selling a fat loss program, DVD or book!"

As a side note - I recently read Dr. Gabriel Cousens' book and watched his DVD on reversing diabetes naturally, due to the fact I have relatives who are diabetics as well as knowing many people who suffer from this horrible disease. It was incredibly informative and enlightening, then my friend Antony posted a link about Dr. Cousens recently on Facebook which reminded me about this - his approach to treating diabetics and getting both Type 2's and 1's OFF insulin and medications is a raw food nutrition plan. Here's a great video intro of his program:

And here's a link to the preview for Dr. Cousens' video I purchased my father:

I'm looking forward to seeing what the last week has in store! Also, last year for my birthday 6/13/11, I conducted a personal fitness test. I repeated the test for my birthday this year and will be posting my 1-year comparisons in the upcoming week.

Thanks for reading!

Stay Strong and Healthy!

-Scott

15 Days into Raw for 30 Days!

And 15 more to go!

After two weeks of raw vegan eating I feel like I'm in the groove with it. This is good and bad. It's good from the standpoint that I can pretty much find the right kinds of foods no matter if we are going out to eat or staying home. It's bad because I can see how falling into the trap of eating the same limited menu over and over would become easy. However this was a problem before I switched to vegetarian nutrition as well.

Preparation is simple - that's one of the things I love about eating this way, nothing to cook! The foods that take the longest are things that I have to prepare in the dehydrator, but even with that it's like 10:00 of prep time to get it ready to dehydrate.

The dehydrator has really opened up some great new options for raw foods, my favorites so far have been the raw sweet bread and flax seed crackers. In addition I've made some guacamole and some awesome raw hummus to eat with them.

Guacamole! 

Raw Flax Crackers!

Raw Hummus - a MUST with the Flax Crackers!

Since this was my birthday week, I loaded up on some raw desserts - raw cheesecake (macadamia nuts, sea salt and dates for the crust and cashews, honey, lemon juice, coconut oil and vanilla for the filling) and some raw chocolate (raw cacao, honey and coconut oil).

Raw Cheesecake!

Raw Chocolate! Happy Birthday to ME!

For my birthday dinner we went to R Thomas Deluxe Grill in Atlanta for dinner. R Thomas has a very healthy, diverse menu with tons of vegetarian and vegan meals and for the resident cannibals they use only free-range hormone-free meats. They have a great selection of smoothies and juices as well. I got a raw vegan entree that had flax chips, sweet potato chips, a mixed veggie salad, mixed veggies, hummus and a couple other raw spreads. I also had a green smoothie and raw apple pie for dessert. Lisa had a raw vegan entree with a veggie / fruit juice. The meal was amazing and if you are in Atlanta check out R Thomas-great food!

Birthday Dinner at R Thomas Deluxe Grill in the ATL!

As I wrap up week two I have to say the experience thus far has been great. I feel better, I recover faster after workouts, my energy is great, my body composition is changing rapidly, I'm much leaner and tighter and my weight is down to 181.5 lbs as of today (190 lbs when I weighed in on June 1).

Scary but this is probably closer to the truth than we'd like to admit!

Even though I only have two weeks of my 30 days raw plan left, I am definitely going to keep up 80-90%  of my daily nutrition as raw vegan, and most likely a lot of days will be 100% raw.

I'd have to concur with legendary turn of the century strongman, George "the Russian Lion" Hackenschmidt, who in his book "The Way to Live in Health and Physical Fitness" said, "I believe I am right in asserting that our Creator has provided food and nutriment for every being for its own advantage. Man is born without frying-pan or stew-pot. The purest natural food for human beings would, therefore, be fresh, uncooked food and nuts."

George "The Russian Lion" Hackenschmidt

I'll have another update at the end of week 3!

Until then,

Stay Strong and Healthy!

-Scott

30 Days Raw - Week 1 Recap

So 1-week of 100% raw vegan eating is in the bag. It's actually Day 10 as I'm writing this and going 100% raw vegan has been an awesome experience so far. I do not plan to do a daily update as the nutrition is pretty similar on a daily basis - I outlined my typical day in a previous blog post. From hear on out I'll only do 1 or 2 updates weekly on the blog as writing, and for you reading, the same daily nutrition over and over will be quite boring.

Here is what I've experienced after the first third of my 30 day experiment.

Juicing the healthy way! A typical breakfast.

-weight is down about 7 lbs (190 - 183) in the first week, getting tighter and body composition is improving, I'm even starting to see those ab things I haven't seen in about 12 years


-caffeine headaches last about 2-3 days, after the third day everything just started getting clearer


-energy is great, I get about 4-5 hours sleep a night and honestly I am waking up at 3am during the week without much of a problem


-energy and strength during workouts is great


-sleep is good, I feel pretty well rested when I wake up


-skin / complexion is clear


-eyes are clear


-recovery post workout is improved, I don't experience much fatigue either, endurance is good


-greater mental clarity


-better focus during work, writing and reading

One of the things that I am really liking is raw foods taste amazing and are very satisfying. I am never hungry. I don't experience any reflux like when I was eating a lot of meat.

Based on a lot of the things I've read particularly the work of Dr. Max Gersen, who's raw juicing and vegan approach to nutrition has successfully helped many people survive horrible bouts with cancer, and Dr. Gabriel Cousens, who has helped numerous type 2 and a handful of type 1 diabetics go completely off ALL insulin and oral meds, raw nutrition is definitely beneficial in healing disease. One of the things I plan to do is get my annual physical toward the end of this month, I can't wait to compare my lab work to my last physical when I was a 225 lb hardcore carnivore!

Raw foods are very easy to prepare as well. Just chop some things up, blend some things up, whatever, prep time is basically but in half.

This past week I have experimented with some of the "transitional" raw foods, some of which require preparation in the dehydrator.

I've made some raw sweet bread, raw flax chip, raw oatmeal, raw banana crepes, raw pad Thai, raw macaroni and cheese and raw cheese cake and it all tastes amazing. It's pretty crazy to eat some of the stuff and think that it is 100% healthy.

My Omega 8006 juicer and my Vitamix blender are the rockstars of my kitchen. While the dehydrated and "transition" raw vegan foods are awesome for some flavor and variety, nothing beats loading up on raw fruits and veggies and the juicer and the vitamix make it super easy. Through the vitamix alone I get anywhere from about 10-20 servings of green veggies and fruits daily-the blender is awesome because you are getting 100% solid food nutrition as it utilizes the entire fruit and vegetable-, plus the juicer adds in the highly concentrated micro-nutrients from fruits and veggies. Between the juice in the morning and the 1-2 blended green smoothies I am getting about 64-96 oz. of super high quality raw veggie and fruit nutrition daily on top of the raw fruits and veggies I eat.

One of the benefits to the blended drinks and juices are that they ensure the extraction of the good stuff in the greens, the chlorophyll, that's locked up in the cellulose. When you eat raw green veggies you really have to chew them up well to break down the cell walls to unlock all the good stuff in the greens (think about cows and horses grazing, all they do is chew). The blender and juicer take care of that for you and ensure you're getting access to all of the health promoting and healing nutrients in the veggies.

Even after my 30 days of 100% raw are up, I plan to be tighter with my nutrition. Prior to this I was about 60-80% raw vegan and 20-40% cooked vegetarian foods for my daily nutrition. I hope to maintain closer to 80-90% raw vegan after this month is up. Travelling will be the hardest, but Lisa is eating more raw now and enjoying it so that will make it easy.

Training has been good as well. Basically I am practicing Taiji and Qigong daily with three classes at my Shaolin School. I'm weight training with conditioning 2-4 days per week, and doing a LOT of mobility, stretching and Indian club work.

Overall I feel much healthier and more fit than ever. Granted due to the fact I've lost about 40 pounds since last September my strength dropped as expected with that much weight loss, but I have begun building it back even though I am still losing weight. Also - contrary to everything I've ever heard non-vegans say about this type of diet, my muscle has not vanished and my bones are not brittle. Body-fat has disappeared pretty quickly though. I guess I am getting a sufficient amount of protein as I have not turned into Captain Atrophy yet. The funny thing about training and vegan nutrition is that no-one talks about real plant-based vegan foods. Everything I read on the internet is usually something to the extent of "vegan nutrition is bad for training, all that fake meat, soy based crap is poison." Um. Yeah. It is. It's hysterical to me that following a vegetarian or vegan diet means loading up on processed soy. Where is the "vege" in vegetarian?!?! It's raw fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds. Anyone I've talked to who is raw vegan, vegan, etc. who trains hard stays away from processed soy like the plague. If you decide to try this nutrition - do your research first. Eat real plant based foods, not processed crap. See video below.

Quick - someone tell these guys to eat some meat or get on the anabolics before they atrophy!

I'm definitely looking forward to what is in store for the next 20 days of this experiment - but raw will continue to be the majority of my nutrition lifestyle for the remainder of my days in this human experience.

Stay Strong and Healthy!

Scott