Wednesday, December 31, 2014

SET GOALS



Hello Eternians near and far.. I’m back again.  Sitting here thinking about this new year of 2015 coming up, only one day away.  Plenty of you out there are gearing up for tonight to get in one last hu-rah for the year before you start your plan of attack for 2015.  This got me thinking a bit.  I want to talk today about not setting “New Year Resolutions” but goals instead, as well as a plan of attack to get you to them. 

The problem I see with setting resolutions instead of goals is that with resolutions we are usually focusing on things we are getting ourselves to NOT do rather than DO.   I myself am a doer!  Not doing puts a negative tone in your mind.  This isn’t about being negative, it’s about being positive.  It’s much easier to get yourself to do something than to try NOT to do something.  A lot of times by DOING something, you won’t even care about or want to do the things you would have made a resolution not do to. 

Research done in sports psychology leads us to believe that the world’s greatest athletes all set very clear goals for themselves.  They have daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, and multi yearly goals they set. Some small some large.  They know that there daily goals, when met, spill into their weekly goals, and so on.  By setting clear and distinctive goals, you set yourself up for success. 

You should sit down and think of some goals as well as a plan of attack to get to those goals.  Just setting a goal is not enough.  You need to put into place a plan  or a system that you are going to use to help get you to your goal.   I’m not going to get into the usual lose weight, firm up, get healthier usual New Year crap.  Let’s take for instance you have been doing your best to work out, “eat good, but you really want to make 2015 the year and you are willing to finally do what it takes to make it happen.  You need to set some distinct, measurable goals.  Let’s say for instance you currently squat 200 but you feel you should be able to squat 250.  Is that a measurable goal?  Yes.  Now let’s look at why you aren’t there and what we need to put into your system to make it happen.  Are you eating enough?  Are you eating enough of the right foods?  Are you sleeping enough?  Are you recovering enough?  Here is a big one, are you really putting your all into your workouts, or are you going through the motions?  All of these can effect what’s going on with your main goal of that squat.  Now, yes that doesn’t include some of your performance imbalances but that is another article all together which we will get to.  So, we have this goal of adding the 50 lbs to your squat this year. 
System
Daily - 7-8 hours sleep, enough good calories to aid in our recovery, putting your all into your training sessions
Weekly - Making all of your training sessions for the week solid.  We all have bad days here and there, it’s making the most of every session we can muster up.
Year Goal-50 lbs added to back squat
Monthly Goal- Add 4 lbs to back squat

Now let's look at a few more strong points to help us get to our GOAL in 2015.  For us to keep solid track of our progress we need to be logging our day to day activity.  Get yourself a notebook of some sort. If you are tracking what you are doing it will help you keep yourself accountable and give you something to reference.  Keep track of food, how your day was, how you slept, how your training went.  You get the picture, it all goes in there.  Last piece of this puzzle is letting others in on your goals.  Friends, coaches, training partners you name it.  We are here to help, keep you on track and answer questions for you.  

Guess what the by-product of all those awesome stuff you will be DOING is?  Not only are you going to be killing your GOALS in 2015, I’ll bet you look leaner, stronger and all around more bad ass.  You’re welcome.

Looking at what’s holding you back from your end GOAL and being a doer, I promise you will take care of all those resolutions you want to keep yourself from doing.  When you have your eye on the prize, the small dumb things tend not to matter so much anymore.


Stay positive, keep kicking ass and set yourself some solid GOALS for 2015.  GET ETERNIA STRONG! 

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Stop The Hate


Hello hello everyone! Well, here we are getting ready to kick off a new year.  2015 it’s going to be.  Can’t believe this year has blown by so fast.  With this new year time we know there are going to be some New Years fitness resolutions.  I’m all for it people.  Find something you love and get yourself moving.  I wanted to just write a little about a lot of shit talking that tends to go on in the fitness industry, from small tiny towns to the world it’s no different. 

For some reason or another, people tend to have a very solid opinion about their style of training that they love.  I get it 100%, and I’m stoked that you are so passionate about it.  My problem that I have is there tends to be a lot of bashing on other peoples choices of training.  This tends to come with zero first-hand knowledge of what other groups or individuals may be doing.  Shouldn’t you be happy that they are doing something, rather than nothing?  Just because they don’t find what you do appealing to them, should that be cause for such negativity?  Could there be a better way?  Sure, that’s possible in ones opinion.  Don’t worry I’ll talk about my opinions in a minute, but those are opinions.  I will not bash somebody’s choice of exercise. 

Whatever form of exercise you choose, somebody will tell you that is stupid.  Whether you are a bodybuilder, runner, biker, yoga-er, zumba, crossfit, powerlifter, strongman, performance train… the list goes on and on.  People from all other forms will love to bash one of the others or all.  It’s about doing what you love.  Some people love running.  Do I think running is the best use of your time for exercise? Nope, but if you enjoy that have at it.  Some people wouldn’t choose to run but would choose to ride a bike.  Something wrong with that? Not at all.  Some might choose to be a bodybuilder, others may choose to crossfit.  Should one get so upset at the other?  No, be happy that they are doing something.  I understand that everybody wants to nitpick each other group out besides their own, but I have a news flash for you.  There are dipshits in every single one of those categories. 

Now, along these same lines comes diet.  Each of these different groups of people tend to latch on to certain types of eating.  This tends to be more fuel for the fire for each group.  Each one believes there way is the only way.  I’m going to tell you this right now.  There are a shit load of ways to eat/diet.  All of these ways are 100% better than the way that the general population in the USA eat.  There is a reason why the US has the highest obesity statistics in the world.  Two thirds of Americans over 20 are overweight.  One third of Americans over 20 are obese.  That’s 1 in 3 Americans, people.  Oh, it gets worse.  Nearly 20% of children 6-19 are obese.  This percentage has over doubled in the last 30 years.   Quit your hating and shit talking and be happy that these people are doing something for themselves.  Do you have to agree with it, no not at all.  Keep your opinions to yourself and be happy for them.  I’m not talking about these people trying to lose weight with 500 or 1000 calorie diets, or trying to take some magic pills.  I’m talking about somebody choosing a style of eating, whether it be counting there calories or macros, paleo, caveman, backloading, no carbing, carb cycling, eating clean, or even lord help me vegan.  Sure I have my opinions about some of those but hey if they like what they are doing have at it.  All of that is more healthy than what is going on in the 75% of Americans daily diet.  If your friend lost 100 lbs from THEIR choice of diet and busting THEIR ass with THEIR choice of exercise, you best be happy as shit for them and give them some fucking support or plan on being taken out of that friend list. 


Ill close with this.  I have friends from all sorts of exercise back grounds.  Do I choose to do what they do?  Some of them yes some of them no.  Am I going to bash them for wanting to get in awesome shape an step on stage to show it off?  Nope not at all.  Is that for me? No, it’s not what keeps me training but it is what keeps them in there.  Support people, be positive, and don’t believe you know everything about what goes on in other peoples training/diet.  Bring this new year in with a positive vibe! Keep crushing those weights, pounding that pavement or whatever it is you choose to do.  Get out there and get active. 

Monday, June 30, 2014

New Video

Quick blog update! I know I have been slacking like crazy and I'm sorry about that! We have been busy at Eternia working our butts off so I have slacked on here. Have no fear I will be back up and writing here on out with some more run on sentences and rambling, which I know you have been missing.  
Our friend Austin Herr of Portland Or happened to come down a few weeks ago to take a break from the hustle and bustle of Portland.  He stopped in and asked if he could put together a video for us and he had some cool ideas.  I figured why not! Here is the end product. Thanks again Austin! 



Eternia Athletics from AustinHerr on Vimeo.

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Having what it takes

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Hello fellow Eternians and Eternians from afar. Sorry for the delay in my blogging, I know you have been hitting refresh after refresh just hoping something new would come about. Well today is your lucky day haha! This whole post is just rambling from my head so for you writing Nazis, don't hate. I said I would talk about the whole, "what is this paleo thing" in my last post. I will get to that but first I wanted to talk about a few things first. Having what it takes....

What's your goal? This is where I would like to start. What do you want out of your fitness training. Are you trying to get in shape? Are you wanting to loose weight? Are you wanting to loose weight and get in shape? Are you wanting to get bigger and stronger? There are multiple "what do you wants", and as we all know lots of different ways to get to your end goal. We want to help you get there, BUT you have to want it. There lies my question.... do you have what it takes?

Let's say you change nothing in your diet at all and just add training with us to your daily regimen. What will this do for you? Will you get more fit? Yes, you will. Will you loose weight? Maybe, maybe not. Will you put on some muscle? I would say yes. Will you get stronger? Yep that's a yes too. I hope you can see where this is going. What I'm getting at here is that whatever you do, the training is going to benefit you. How much it benefits you is up to you and if you have what it takes to get every last bit out of your training you can. If you want to get in shape, loose the fat, put on some muscle aka "toning" up like you ladies like to say lol, get stronger, faster, and pretty take your overall badassery to the next level you need to take a step back and look at what your putting into your body. I hear people out there that constantly asking questions like why can't I get ripped, or "toned" or Gandhi cut or Jesus lean, or jacked or whatever it is you wanna call it. They all say I mean I eat "clean" most the time or I'm sure I could eat a little cleaner but I'm mostly eating good. Always like the one maybe I just need to do more cardio and eat less ahhaha. I see way to many people training allot and eating way to few of calories. If somebody has you eating 1K or less calories and training, you might wanna take a look someplace else. If you wanna be cut down to where your abs are visible and you aren't one of the lucky genetic freaks out there that eats whatever they want and are shredded all the time then you need to address if you have what it takes. To get to that level you are going to have to address what you are putting in your body.

 I find it funny that allot of the people that ask these questions are posting pics of themselves on there social media out boozin it up all the time. Seems like this would be obvious but it just isn't I guess. Again, do you have what it takes to meet that goal. Does that mean you can't drink and be shredded? No, cause there are people out there that can, but if you are asking this question... you aren't one of them. Is drinking all the time more important to you than being cut and and packing on muscle? That's 100% ok, but quit trying to out train your drinking. Can you drink in moderation a few beers or some red wine here and there and still get results? Some can and some can't. Moderation is the key and yes it is doable to have some now and then. But, if you are truly doing what it takes diet wise and it's not working then you gotta ask yourself... is the juice worth the squeeze.

I know I know, next you are going to say.. but I see you crushing donuts and burgers and whatnot. There are ways to cycle carbs as in CarbNite or CarbBackloading. I'm not going to get into all of the details with this in this post, but these styles of eating can be tailored to different goals. If you are looking for my recco on overall diet I'm not going to start you with that.  I am more than happy to give you what I usually start people with. I like to call it a paleo-ish athlete diet. Without getting to deep into paleo or CarbBackloading, eating a higher fat/protein rich diet of organic veggies and meats when possible in the 5am-5pm range of the day and a leaner meat/vegi with carb evening. Sweat potato, potato's, white rice are my personal go to carbs that seem to digest well for me. Now, as Codi know's I'm not a huge sweet potato fan so you won't see that very often. Mostly white rice for this guy. So this is a good place to start. Everyone is different and everyone can tweak it to work for them. This is a very sustainable way of eating. From there we can tweak what kind of sweets you may add and when but that is a whole different deal.

If you are a person that can't just change what you are doing, try just taking out some of the crappy things and putting in some good things in there place but nothing crazy all at once. Wean yourself into it. If you can't kick the drinking, start with cutting a day out. So if you are a Fri and Sat night drinker like a lot of people. Pick one of those days and don't do it. Easy as that. You will notice a difference I promise.

I could go on and on about different what if's and whatnots. I could talk about different diets and ways of eating. There are so many ways to skin a cat, I am only speaking from the experimentation I have had on myself and those around me. The main point of all this is to ask yourself do you have what it takes to actually meet the goal you have set for yourself. If you don't that's ok, but re-asses what is important and what is not.  photo Sleeping-lion-black-and-white_ea.jpg

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Happy 2014 Eternia!







Good morning Eternia! Now that the dust has settled after all the Holidays have passed us and we can get back to normal schedule, I figured I better write another blog post.  I know I know, all 5 of you that read this have been chompin' at the bit waiting for a new post to pop up.  Hahaha sorry for the delay.  To kick of this year I figure I would address a few questions that have come up over the past month or so.  So without further adieu.... here we go.

I've gotten the question allot if we are a CrossFit Gym.  The short answer is no, we are not a CrossFit Affiliate. Does this mean we don't like CrossFit. It sure as hell doesn't.  All of our trainers are CrossFit Level 1 trainers, as well as CF Olympic Lifting, and others.  It's not that we don't agree with CF on most things, it's more that we don't agree with how the structure is laid out.  I think the idea of you being able to do whatever you want with your gym and not having to follow any guidelines starts off sounding pretty awesome at first.  My problem with that is as CF gets bigger and bigger, more places continue to open what CF started as starts to get very far from what it was set up as.  Reminds me of this game we play sometimes.  You have a group of people start off with 12 blank flash cards.  One person writes something on the top card and passes it to there right.  The person on the right then reads what is on the card and then moves that card to the back. On the new blank card they draw what they vision the card  they had just read.  So for instance, Johnny goes fishing is written on the top card and the person draws Johnny on a dock with a fishing pole in the water.  After this the cards are passed again, the next person looks at the card with the drawing, puts it in the back and writes a sentence of what was drawn.  This goes on and on until you have your pack of cards back with the sentence you wrote. You can only imagine what last card drawing would be and how far off track it gets by the end.  That is how I feel CF is getting.  You can open a gym, pay HQ $3500 bucks a year so you can put that CF at the beginning or end of your name and call your gym a CrossFit Gym.  Whatever goes on after that is up to you.  If you feel like doing some kind of yoga/zumba/weightlifting you can.  Again, that sounds great that you can do whatever you want.  Problem with this is now everyone is grouped into the same group. When something negative pops up, you are now grouped into that as well.  My personal opinion is there are some really awesome CF Gyms out there, and there are allot of really bad ones.  We didn't feel like being grouped into anything.  Does this mean we don't like crossfiters and CF Gyms, heck no, we love em. We just feel that we could spend that money better on the athletes in our gym to better themselves then use the money to better our Google search standings.  

Now, the obvious next question is well what kind of training are you doing then. Are you doing CrossFit?  How I like to answer this is, our class structure is set up like your usual CF which is a warmup, some workout, and a cool down of some sort.  So I would say base structure could be roughly like that.  Now, CrossFit is a General Physical Preparedness program, or GPP for short.  Now, we do continue to believe there is nothing wrong with a GPP program in the least! They are great, we just feel there could be some changes made/added that can take that to the next level.  You will hear a lot of CF spots say they are a GPP program with a strength bias.  This is a great start, but we feel this comes up short again.  Two issues that can be fixed with this are more real strength work not 2 days a week of some kinda of squat and some kind of press and call it good, then doing 4 30 min metcons a week.  There also lies the fault of zero assistance work.  You want you members to get stronger and lift heavier weights, but many have zero lifting background. Zero assistance musculature to hold heavy loads.  You will hear, well these are full body, functional movements so they are working the whole body all musculature.  Check your injury rate and let me know how that's workin for ya.  How many shoulder injuries, how many low back injuries.  Time has come for letting your members use the gym for what they pay you for. You gotta build a solid base to assist holding heavy loads.  We are a performance gym, wanting to build performance athletes.  You can start from zero baseline and be one if you want to put the work in and we are happy to help anybody of any fitness level meet that goal as long and THEY WANT IT! We like to say we are a place for motivated people only, and that's what we mean by that. We are here to get you strong, fit, fast, athletic, lean, yoked, jacked, cut hahah whatever it is that you are wanting out of your fitness. We do this by making you stronger, faster and generally a more bad ass version of your current self.   

So what kind of training will we be doing then? Well, you will get to do all sorts of things.  You get to flip tires, drag-push-pull weight sleds, squat deadlift and press.  You will also learn the Olympic Lifts.  You will learn these in progression with light load, as in a PVC pipe until we feel comfortable with you putting weight on the bar. Sounds a lot like stuff you would see in a CF Gym right.  Well we differ from that just a bit.  You won't see those Oly lifts used in super high rep workouts.  You won't see super high rep box jumping over and over. You won't see over extended GHD sit ups. You will see more strict pull-ups than you will see kipping. We also will use things pulled from many other facets of the fitness/strength world.  You will Bench press... yes I know I said it you will bench.  You will do multiple variations of the bench press, as well as squat and deadlift.  You will pick up heavy things, carry them and put them down. You will get to pick up heavy stones and put then back down.  You will sprint, you will run, you will row, you will jump and you will ride.  You will also get some "bodybuilding" movements in your training as well.  Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!! Yep I said it. Assistance work to make you stronger in all your other lifts and well and pre-hab against injury.  I really don't think what we are doing here is anything new or revolutionary, I just don't feel it's done enough! 

Our goal is to build a community of people that want to really take this training as part of there life to better it.  We want people that all they can think about all day is getting to the gym.  We want people that want to push themselves and allow others to push them.  We don't care where you start, just that you have the drive to want it!

I hope this clears up a few questions or at least gives you an idea of what goes on behind those 3 big roll up doors in the world of Eternia. You may even get a glimpse when the sun is shining, doors are up, jams are flowing loud, and bars are slammin.  Next up I'll chat about the "Paleo" and clean eating.  Sleep easy Lions, weak you will not be!