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Showing posts with the label hard training

On Lent and Lifting

  Thoughts on Fasting, Training, Self-Sacrifice, and the Intersection of Religious Practice and Lifting     I am an Orthodox Christian.   I was baptized and chrismated in a “Slavic” Orthodox Church before Easter 2011.   I write that at the outset so that you will understand the next part, which is the fact that usually the date of Pascha (Easter) in the Christian East—Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox, along with, I suppose, whatever remnants of Nestorian Christianity still remain—and Easter in the Christian West (Catholicism and Protestantism) fall on different dates.   (This is not the place to discuss why they are on different dates, but if you want to read more, here is an article last year from The Greek Reporter: “ Why Orthodox and Catholic Easterare on Different Dates .”)   But this year they fall on the same date later this month (April 20 th ), which means that all Christians worldwide are in the middle of Lent as I write these words. ...

Hard Work and Challenges

Some Thoughts on Hard Training, Challenges, and Other Such Stuff      In my last essay on “ Outdoor Workout Challenges ,” I mentioned the body’s need for challenges on occasion, and gave some workout ideas for loaded carries and odd lifts.  In this essay, I just want to discuss hard training in general, and give some thoughts on when—and when not—to use challenges and other hard forms of training.      First, the body does need to be challenged constantly in some way.  But this doesn’t mean that one has to always go “all out” at each session, much less on each and every work set.  For instance, the act of working out on a regular basis is itself a challenge to the body.  Your body grows bigger and/or stronger—or fat loss occurs—through adaptation and accumulation.  Without pushing your body to do more and more on a regular basis, this won’t transpire, and results won’t happen.      Our ...

Outdoor Workout Challenges

  Some Training Ideas for Outdoor Fall Lifting Using Loaded Carries and Odd Lifts      I have written before that my favorite time of the year to train is the Fall season.  In fact, last year, around this exact same time, I wrote a piece on Fall training that was mainly centered around sandbag workouts.  In this essay, I want to do something a little different by giving you some different and varied training ideas for outdoor lifting using loaded carries and other “odd” lifts.      For the first time this year, it’s starting to get a little cool here in central Alabama where I live.  And when coolness sets in, I like to take some training implements and objects from my garage to the yard, where I can lift, carry, drag, flip, or push them in assorted ways.      Last night, after completing a full-body workout consisting of front squats, kettlebell cleans, bench presses, chins, and barbell cur...

Thursday Throwback: REAL High-Intensity Training

     If you don't know already, I'm really not a fan of what is commonly called "H.I.T." training, and I'm REALLY not a fan of Mike Mentzer.  However, this doesn't mean that I have a problem with H.I.T. training as it was initially conceived.  What follows is a post I did around ten years ago that I thought would be good to re-post as a Thursday Throwback, especially since I have noticed a small resurgence of interest in Mentzer. REAL H.I.T.   Make  Real  Gains with Brief, Intense Workout Programs The back of Dorian Yates, probably the best-built  ALL TIME of any H.I.T. proponent.       For years now, high intensity training (commonly referred to as H.I.T.) has been one of the most controversial training methods in the bodybuilding world.    The proponents of H.I.T. seem to think that it’s the only method capable of truly transforming the “average”, drug-free bodybuilder.    On the other side you h...