A Training Day In The Life Of: Missy Edition!

Alright, for today's post I wanted to share a training day in the life of my beautiful bride, Melissa. So here's Missy's training day from this past Tuesday:

15 minutes of warm-up including foam rolling, joint mobility, cable work, dynamic stretching, loaded dynamic stretching and bodyweight movements. Then on to the work:

1.) Sumo Deadlifts:  5 sets of 3 reps with 275 pounds. Resting just enough between sets to let me do my sets.

2a.) 1-arm Kettlebell Rows: 4 sets of 8 reps per side with 88 pounds
2b.) Walking Lunges:  4 sets of 8 reps per side with bodyweight plus 70 pounds.
Perform 2a.), rest 30 seconds, perform 2b.) rest 30 seconds, and repeat until all of the sets are done.

3a.) 1-leg Natural Leg Curls: 4 sets of 10 reps per side with bodyweight.
3b.) Standing Abdominal Roll-outs: 3 sets of 6 reps with bodyweight.
Perform 3a.), rest 30 seconds, perform 3b.), rest 30 seconds and repeat until all of the sets are done.

5 minutes of joint mobility for a cool-down.

Missy was tearing it up really well.

Talk with you more later.

Yours in strength and health,
Brett Stepan

Drop that Body Fat!

Did you know that if you increase the level of growth hormone being produced in your body, your body will naturally burn off excess body fat?

It's true.

According to Dr. Ronald Klatz, "the amount of growth hormone after the age of 21 to 31 falls about 14 percent per decade, so that the total 24 hour growth hormone production rate is reduced by half by the age of sixty." This, along with deminishing levels in the production of androgenic hormones like testosterone and progesterone is part of the reason why the average person begins to lose muscle and gain fat as they age.

However, it doesn't have to be that way.

Now, performing bouts of long duration exercise like jogging and riding the bike can help you lose weight, a huge amount of that weight loss will be from lost and eaten away muscle tissue, including muscle tissue from the heart and lungs which can lead to "Jim Fixx" syndrome. Along with that, this long duration training will also shut down your production of growth hormone and the androgenic hormones.

Heavy resistance training, on the other hand will stimulate the production of growth hormone and the production of the androgenic hormones and help you lose weight. And that weight loss will be mainly from body fat, not from muscle.

By training your anearobic energy system, through heavy resistance training and sprinting, you'll not only drop the excess body fat, but you'll also slow down the aging process (it's wonderful what increased natural production of growth hormone and the androgens does), improve your immune system, create stronger bones and tendons, create stronger muscles, stabilize and keep the body more injury proof, and you'll look much better in or out of your clothes.

There's a caveat though; you have to work your ass off. Use heavy, multi-joint movements (squats, deadlifts, cleans, snatches, etc.) with smaller rest intervals between sets. This will flood your system with lactate which is part of the way that it tells your brain to produce more growth hormone and more androgens.

So, if you want to drop the fat, drop the bike. Instead pick up some heavy-ass barbells and start working.

Yours in strength and health,
Brett Stepan

The Immortal Wisdom Of Dr. Mel Siff

Today's post is going to be a quick one. The great Dr. Mel Siff said this of training, and I don't think I've ever heard it said better:

"Never try to train minimally. Also, never try to train maximally. Always strive to train Optimally."

I don't think I've ever heard it better.

Yours in strength and health,
Brett Stepan

Some great words from Will Smith

"Too many people spend money they don't have on things that they don't want simply to impress people they don't even like."--Will Smith

I have to hand it to Will, that's a great quote. And it's so true. It's amazing how many people really spend a huge amount of their time simply trying to impress others. I see it all the time in the fitness industry. People that haven't produced any actual results since 1995, yet they try to impress everyone with how hard their training is, how long they train for, how many reps they do, what type of circus stunts they can perform, or what ever.

It's amazing how, when you step aside of your ego, and let go of the need to impress others and instead focus on what really counts, that's when the results come. Talk with you more later.

Yours in strength and health,
Brett Stepan

An interesting conversation

The other day I enjoyed a wonderful get together with some good friends. It was an awesome time. At one point in the conversation someone brought up the old saying, "If I could only do it over again, how different I would do it." I couldn't relate. I shocked everyone in attendence when I mentioned that I personally have no regrets and nothing that I'd like to do over again or do differently in my life. They all seemed really suprised and asked me why. I told them that everything that I've experienced has made me in to who I am, and I wouldn't change that for anything. And I personally view that as a great way to live.

I've had this conversation with a number of people in the past and many times they'll question me on some of the major events that have occured in my life. A lot of times people will ask if I'd have changed anything leading up to when I broke my back. And, truth be told, no I wouldn't. Yes, at the time it hurt like hell and it sucked. Rehabing sucked even more. But breaking my back was one of the best things to ever happen to me.  I learned a great deal about things in my life that I was doing wrong, what the human spirit is really capable of and what really matters in life. Things I may not have learned about without this incident happening.

I tend to look at any of the "negative" things or "failures" that I've experienced in life in the same way. I've learned much more from these events than I ever had from the successes. I tend to look at it as God and nature want to teach me what I need to learn in order to become the person that they want me to be. I'm a little stubborn though, so sometimes they have to slap me across the cheek and really teach me the hard way.

I've also been asked, "Well, don't you wish that you had started dating Melissa sooner, or that she had come into your life sooner?" And again, I'd say no. We started our relationship exactly when we were supposed to. When she first came into my life I was a young, insecure, immature punk. I needed to grow into being a man before her and I started our relationship.

I've also been asked (back when Melissa and I were still competing professionally on the dancsport circuit), "Brett, don't you wish that you started dancing as a kid. Imagine where you'd be right now if you had." Again, no. Dance came into my life at the exact time it was supposed to. Had I started when I was a kid I probably would have been burned out by it and moved on to other things in my life before I was an adult. Having found it when I did was perfect.

Now, I'm not saying that I have any secrets to life or that I'm perfect or anything like that. I just know that I love who I am and I love my life. I also know that I love the direction that my life is heading and where it's going. All of this is a product of everything (both good and bad) that has happened up until this point and I wouldn't change a thing. It's a wonderful feeling when you can look back and truly say, "I have no regrets and I wouldn't change a thing."

I'll talk with you more later.

Yours in strength and health,
Brett Stepan