Even off track, fitness follows.

I apologize for the lack of updates. It seems every week, I have to find new ways to fight the resistance life throws at me. It keeps making it harder to harder to push against the "give up" current, but I'm not. I'm treading on. Don't worry, I haven't given up on fitness. I don't think I ever will, come to think of it. Now that I've found it, and am hooked, I'm not giving it up for any dumb reason. And any "reason" there might be to give up a healthy lifestyle is just plain dumb no matter what.

Have I Been Working Out? Yes, Just Not As Much..

While I haven't been to the gym since Thursday, I got a great HIIT and leg session in that day, and did some jiu-jitsu training with a really good buddy & trained abs with him on Saturday as well. Then, when he left, I worked on my shoulders. On that particular Thursday, I hit a new PR, and dabbled with the assisted pullup machine: preparing for the upper body strength I know I'll soon have, with proper progression and diligence.

Oh wait, I remember now.. that article I mentioned? The one I wrote that just mysteriously disappeared? Yeah, I talked about the self-defense stuff, the throws, and the abs, and hitting a new PR: 95 lbs on free barbell squats. 3x8. After a HIIT session. [SN: I'm still miffed - I worked HARD on that post!]

[ANOTHER SN: You know what? This makes me think - and is gonna make me sound like a jerk - but... after work, screw the people at home for like, 1 hour. They can wait. I'm gonna drive straight to the gym after work and squat. I need to gain more strength, and I need the growth.. I've been slacking.]

But as I was saying.. fitness is with me 24/7, whether I want it to be or not. It's always on my mind. I'm not all about aesthetics though (although I really like working on them). I read DangerouslyHardcore.com regularly. I keep learning more and more, re-reading over and over again, until I understand. I cannot ever be content just because something is working for me, or for someone else, because my nature needs me to know just why things are happening the way they are.



There are so many articles, fitness gurus, online trainers, tips, tricks, advice colums, forums, etc. out there that it's quite difficult to figure out where to start. I've been an enthusiast for over a year now, and I've now honed down my personal principles, and I've become more specific in my goals. I've also become adhesed to the works of a few fitness professionals I've come to admire over the months. Here are just a few of those names:

Kiefer

I re-read Kiefer's material regularly, and read all of his most recent articles regarding the nutrient timing and hormonal responses that are such core elements of his books The Carb Nite Solution and Carb Back-Loading. It's thoroughly working for me, even though some days I am half-assing it. And by half-assing, I mean that I'll go ultra-low carb for the majority of the day, then go home, and right before bed I'll eat out of that box of Mariano's all-butter macadamia & white chocolate cookie that sits atop my fridge. Or go to a party and have a tray of brownies all screaming at me to eat one of them. (Yes, brownies scream at me. Inside my head. Either it's my kryptonite, or I've completely lost it.)

He has a YouTube Channel (@DHKiefer), which I listen to regularly as well. To hear the explanations from him directly through those videos has definitely been helping me learn everything I can, that he has to offer so far. I respect the fact that he's willing to put this stuff out there, even though a lot of people might doubt him. Well, so far, what he has brought to the table has delivered, and I can say that with certainty because I have been practicing his dietary protocols myself, in spite of doubt and previous indoctrination. So I'm inclined to believe him more and more, with every video and every article, especially since he backs everything with solid proof and heavy research - research that I, myself, and slowly delving into.

Hell, I also love reading all of the articles his staff posts oh DH. I just can't get enough. Every article is like candy for nerdy people. Eep.


Julia Ladewski

  I've also started reading up on Julia Ladewski's strength conditioning model. It's just a bit of a bonus that she's a female powerlifter and strength coach, as well as a fellow mommy. With a rocking set of abs. And get a hold of this - she practices Carb Back-Loading too (read her personal experience here)! But really, she too is incredibly smart and someone I've started to take pointers from - and because of it, I'm slowly incorporating a lot of strength-developing sets in my routine, further encouraging me to lift heavier and heavier. Thus, the 95-pound squat.

Bret Contreras

And how can I not mention Bret Contreras? He was the first fitness professional whose articles I started reading religiously. He's known as The Glute Guy. Like Kiefer, he was discontent with something, and researched thousands of articles, journals, and executed many tests and research models to come up with definitive conclusions for maximum results. In this case, instead of diet, Bret was hell-bent on the glutes. People's butts. How to make them strong, how to make them grow, how to shape them, etc. Butts galore. Here you can find one of his most popular articles expounding on the training of the glutes.



I discovered him trying to search for the best way to train the glutes. My glutes are not small or weak or gangly, but I really would like to improve their shape and size. I always have - why not, right? While I love the squat, I noticed it was developing my quads much more than anything. Barbell lunges did the same, too. While not a bad side effect at all (the quads just make my already big legs pop - in a fit way) I didn't like how everyone was saying it is the most effective exercise for the glutes. No, no, no.. otherwise the junk in the trunk would be popping as well.

And if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't know now that training glutes and hips (by the exercises he has tested and recommended) makes for more explosive sprint, squat, and lower body performance. I wouldn't know just how significant it is to strengthen ones' hips. And thanks to him, I've found one of my favorite exercises, the barbell hip thrust. Highly effective glute isolation. When I read his recommendation for this exercise, again at first I was skeptical. I decided to experiment with it for a few weeks (sound familiar?). And now, I am cranking out 50-lb hip thrusts and noticing much more firmess, strength, and definition in my glutes. TRIED AND TESTED.


Conclusion

What I love about these people is that there is no room for bullshit. Plain and simple. One of the main reasons I hate society today is that, in an era brimming with free knowledge, people are still very willing to swallow garbage - and spit it out, as well. I don't like when people try to tell me to accept something [anything] as a fact before either 1) being certain that they believe it as well, or  2) have tried and tested it themselves, or found reputable ways to prove or argue that fact. I just named three people who I find to be beacons of hope in this day and age - in the fitness world. But while their main focuses are on fitness, their character gives me much to believe in. It tells me I don't have to listen to garbage. And best of all, it lets me know that if they can do it, then so can I. There are more out there - more likeminded people who try to spread the truth more than living complacently and letting false crap swim in their heads - so we're not alone.

And in the end, even though life keeps trying to make me give up on getting fit, I'm not going to listen. Hell, I might even go spread it - I'm already beginning to "infect" people around me. :-)