Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Suns out, stop half assing it!




Sunny days here in good ol' Grants Pass Oregon! Yesterday I even set up a pad and a foam roller outside and took in some rays! Felt like I was back in Venice for a second.  I'll take that for a nice change out of the cold fog we have been stuck in.  Vitamin D for everyone fo free haha!

Today I wanted to get into how we at Eternia expect the programmed accessory work to be done. I believe I have went over this a bit, but from time to time I think it's a good idea to go back over it again.  Roughly 80% of our training is accessory work or special exercises.  If you think you are going to get everything (all the gainz) out of the training by half assing 80% of the workload you are highly mistaken.  There is a reason we harp to you about tracking and logging what you are doing on a day to day basis. We expect you to attack your accessory work just as hard as your main lifts.  You should be pushing to push more weight each week in each acc lift.  If you don't know what you did on that movement from a previous week then how will you know what do to the following.  Going through the motions on 80% of your workload isn't going to get you anything.  Eternians don't have ass shit. We have sayings at Eternia for a reason.
1) We Don't Miss
2) All In/ Both feet in
3) Two Footed Jump Kick Shit
4) Don't half ass  anything, always full ass it

From my writings I think you can get a good idea of what we mean by all of those.  Those sayings are there for a reason.  Follow the code and you will be on the way to where you want to be.
Lastly I wanted to talk about the exact opposite side of the spectrum.  Biting off more than you can chew.  We see this happen a lot as well.  You feel like you want to try to keep up with somebody, so you try to do the weights they are doing.  You know that you can't, but you do it anyways.  You either don't get all the reps and quit or you pretend you did.  You're cheating yourself.  The rep layout is there for a purpose.  You getting 5 out of 10 reps isn't what we are looking for. Do yourself a favor and hit the weights you know you can for the amount of reps you are supposed to.

In summary, if you want to get all the possible results of your training you need to be all in and commit to the whole load of work.  Don't just hit the stuff hard that you want to do and leave all the rest on the table by half assing shit.  Buck up, hammer down and get the work in.  You can thank me later.

Sleep easy Eternians


Thursday, February 5, 2015

Weekend at Deuce, WestSide Barbell and golden nuggets!





Good afternoon Eternians near and far! More ramblings coming at you from yours truly.  This last weekend I had the opportunity to fly down to sunny Venice Beach, Ca. for a Westside Barbell seminar at Deuce Gym.  I thought why not write a blog about that since it was such an awesome weekend!

Well where do I start?  I'll kick it off from the beginning and how it all came together.  My brother from Norther California Joey Hoey of the Fitness Coalition posted about Deuce Gym having a photo contest giveaway for a free Westside Barbell seminar taught by Shane and Laura Sweatt.  Now, some of you know we train the conjugate system at Eternia, so the first thought that came to my mind was.. that would be awesome to get to go to that!!   Being the person that never wins that kind of stuff and saving for my wedding that's coming in a few short months, I thought that will never happen.  My boy Joey posted his photo and I kind of felt like I had to at least give it one shot.  A vision popped in my head!! I got to the gym to train that afternoon and told Mike what we had to do.  We got to it.  Here is the outcome of that...


That there is what started this whole thing off.  After a few weeks, Logan from Deuce Gym hit me up and told me if I could get down there I won!  I couldn't even believe it! This was an opportunity I could not pass up and had to make it happen.  Booked a plain, hotel and car and it was on.  The next few months seemed to take forever and I couldn't wait to get down there.  

Friday comes, bags are packed and it's time to roll! Codi drops me off at the airport and I'm all jazzed up! They tell me my flights about 30 min late and that I'll cut it close but should make it to my connecting flight.  Well long story short after a bunch of delays and missed flights I got to LAX around 8:30. rental car by about 9:30.  I was just happy to be down there! Joey was kind enough to keep me posted as to where he was and I hooked up with him and the whole crew for some much needed grub at this place called Clutch.  Now let me tell you, this was my favorite place I ate while there.  The tacos and wings were Clutch at Clutch.  We ate at some awesome places all weekend but this was my favorite.  
OK now to the good stuff the seminar.  Being able to be coached through the movements from Shane and Laura was an awesome opportunity! Picked up some great cues on things I can work on that will for surely help my game.  Next, being able to watch and take in how they cue and coach others is another big takeaway for me from the weekend. I want to go over two other big takeaways from this weekend of awesomeness, both which attack the mental side.
1- Attacking your acc work as hard as you attack your main lifts.  Accessory work is 80% of our training.  If we are attacking 20% of our training at 110%, and going easy on the other 80% that's not going to get us the results we want.  Tracking our Acc work is not only needed but necessary to keep the advancement going.  We also need to be moving quickly though it at a good pace and looking to move heavier loads each weak.  I think allot of people can focus so much on the main lift and just kinda cruise control the accessory stuff.  Attacking the acc movements with as much intensity as the main is an important piece of this puzzle of strength.  
2- Mental toughness.  Mental toughness has to do with what I just went over as well as a few other parts of training.  We also need to look into our mental game.  We cannot defeat ourselves before we even try something.  Just because you haven't done something before, doesn't mean that you can't do it.  Beating yourself up mentally before you even try will shoot any change that you had of doing whatever that may be right in the foot.  Whether that is a weight you have never squatted before, or something else but if you start off by having doubts in yourself that is a major whole in your mental game.  Being mentally strong is just as important if not more important that being physically strong.  Being physically strong will not make you mentally strong, but being mentally strong can help you get physically strong.  

Being able to make this trip and get this opportunity was an awesome experience I am so very grateful for.  Got to hang out with some amazing people, learn, lift, eat, learn, laugh, and eat for an entire weekend.  Can't thank Logan from Deuce and Shane and Laura Sweatt for such a great weekend.  Everyone showed a guy from a small town up in Oregon, which I think Logan has figured out now -hint it's the one above California and below Washington hhah, a great time that will not be forgotten. Pics below from the weekend! Photo cred to Logan from Deuce! 

This is Deuce!