A YEAR OF FIRSTS.

You will never be as strong as you desire but the effort is the entire point of transformation.

What the fuck did you do last year that hadn't before? If you don't know or did nothing new, you need to reconsider your approach and intent to physical fitness. I am willing to bet your strength, appearance, injuries, and attitude reflect that too. The key to meaningful longevity can be summed up in three simple words.... Always a student. Force yourself to remain relevant by submitting to new endeavours. Challenge the mind and the body will grow. Accept you won't ever know everything. Choke your ego and put it to sleep. Remain focused with head down, eyes open, and mouth shut. Unveil every hidden shade of your craft, from now and beyond death. Like the old saying goes "Everything works until it doesn't."

So from couldn't to could. This calendar year I learned new things that humbled my ass. Showing me how not strong I was/am. Learning these maneuvers left an immediate impact on my physique and improved my big lifts significantly.  Below are the movements I implemented and experimented with. All of these are still part of what I do in the gym weekly. So, can you do these? Have you done these? Why? Why not?

Overhead Lunges: 

Mastering the Overhead Lunge

This showed me how soft my core really is because it was harder on my core and shoulders than on my legs which is why I love em. The feedback from this exercise is immediate both during sets and the following day. I could feel exactly what muscles were sore. Don't need too much weight to start. I just use the barbell to start 10 sets of 5-7 each leg. Now I am working at sets of 7-10 at 95-110lbs. My goal is 135lbs. 10 x 5. I am creeping to that goal sooner than anticipated.

Areas of noticeable difference: my entire core, ability to move efficiently with weight, middle and rear delts.

Dowel rod for shoulder /banded shoulder stretching:

4 minute video: increasing shoulder flexibility with dowel rod.

These have without a doubt made me stronger since introducing them 7 months ago. Not just in my warm-ups but in my life. I do these every morning. My shoulders, posture, back pain, and flexibility have seen dramatic change. Please do these. Doesn't take much time and the benefits are high value. 10 rotations front to back pausing at the top to stretch then coming back down slowly. It is hard to describe this step by step so here is a guide I used when I started doing these.

Areas of noticeable difference: warm up time decreased, wakes me up in the morning, posture, flexibility, and decrease in weird shoulder strains I use to get from deadlifting.

Rowing:

HOW TO ROW. ITS NOT THAT FUCKING HARD PEOPLE.

Thumbin' through an old Men's Fitness on the shitter a few months ago I came across a spread about this dude Bobby Maximus aka Gym Jones. The name I was familiar with, but I admittedly brushed him off as kind of a fitness personality dolt who yelled out catchphrases. Im a fucking idiot. I was wrong. This dude's mentality and approach to complete fitness is directly in line with how I operate. I credit this dude with igniting my interest in rowing.

Anyhow, in that issue he included 7 or so workouts he uses when measuring overall strength. Two of them were rowing....

1. Row 500 meters in under 1:45
2. Row 2000 meters in 8 minutes.

I tried both thinking I could hack it and I nearly died. I was butt hurt but I didn't walk. I accepted the failures and vowed to meet the time hacks in the near future. s of this entry I can hit 500m in exactly 1:45 seconds and I can row 2000m in 8:40 seconds. It ain't easy but it aint impossible. fucks wit it.

I use to only do 30/30 sprints or uphill sprints for cardio and conditioning. Now spirints are a slice of my overall metabolic conditioning. Rowing is not boring, easy on the knees, and fun because you are able stimulate yourself psychologically in so many different ways. Time, calories, meters, strokes per minute, etc...

Areas of noticeable difference: Not wanting to die, mental fortitude, curing my hangover

Hangover Rower:  (2 mins rowing/1 min rest for 8 intervals. Aim for 500m on every work interval)

Dumbbell Thrusters:

These fucking suck. You have to be a able bodied squatter to execute these without "bad" pain. If you can front squat efficiently you will likely excel at these. However, if you dont front squat or you can't squat very heavy then use these with light weight (10 or 12 pounds). If you can squat respectable weight in relation to your body weight then go a little heavier. Try 8x8 for a wake up call. When I started I could barely move 20's and my entire body came crashing down with that sick cat hunchback. Now I can crush thrusters using 50's.

Areas of noticeable difference: core strength, quadricep development, endurance, and explosive strength.

Pull-Ups:

I use to do these in the Army but stopped well before I was even out of the service. Training for the Murph back in May forced me to pick them back up. Best thing I ever did. I am a monster at pull ups now. I can do sets of 10 till dark, I can do 20 pull-ups unbroken, and I can knock out crazy sets with 35-40lbs. on my back.

Areas of noticeable difference: stomach, biceps, and middle back.

Box Jumps:

You wont get big legs but you will get sore. These directly translate into a faster, more explosive squat. The trick is not to jump high but to get your legs up as high and fast as possible. Think Lloyd from Dumb & Dumber jumping on the hotel bed in Aspen or that bizzare arthouse New Order music video with stoic weirdos dressed as neon shapes. Box jumps are also my favorite thing to superset with a heavy single leg movement. Like barbell reverse lunges into high box jumps.

Areas of noticeable difference: faster movements on the deadlift and squat, endurance increase, and slightly impressing myself with multiple sets of 5 at 38".

STAY GRIM. HIT THE GYM.