Can You Create A Great Body With The Olympic Lifts?

One of my personal favorite methods of training is Olympic Weightlifting and it's variations. I'll admit it, I love to rip a heavy weight from the ground to overhead in one explosive, powerful and graceful movement like the Snatch. I also love to rip the bar from the floor to my shoulders and then powerfully drive it overhead like in the Clean and Jerk. And I love all of the overhead pressing, squatting, high pulling, snatch balancing and more that come with it. I personally find the Olympic lifting methods to be amazing for developing speed, power, explosiveness, flexibility, conditioning, strength and more. But, can you develop an amazing body through Olympic lifting?

I know when most people think of the strength sports they couldn't tell you the difference between Powerlifting, Olympic lifting and Strongman training; which is a shame. All three of them are amazing sports, and yes, all three of them are very different sports. Also, most people only envision the super heavy lifters that tend to carry a little more body fat, and they never realize that the lifters in the lower weight classes tend to be anatomy chart ripped.  Just take a look at the picture above to see what I mean.

And I know that there are a host of personal trainers that will say things like: "The lifts are too quick, there's not enough time under tension to gain muscle and get ripped." or, "There's no isolation movements so you can't develop great muscles with the O-lifts." or, "There's no muscle confusion, so you can't get a great body that way." or a host of other reasons why they don't believe that one can develop a great body with the O-lifts.

So, let's take a look at some bodies that have come out of the Olympic Weightlifting World:

Dmitri Klokov:

Lu XiaoJun:

Zoe Smith:

Marilou Dozois:

Cara Heads:

The Legendary Bill Starr:

The Legendary Dave Rigert:

My Man, the Immortal John Grimek:

Li Hongli:

As you can see, training hard and heavy with the quick lifts of Olympic Weightlifting and their variations can, without a doubt, lead to an amazing physique.

I think that the only real reasons why people tend to poo-poo them is because they are a little technical (although if you're training for fitness and health you don't need perfect technique) and they're hard. But, hard work is the only way to develop a great body.

Yours in strength and health,
Brett Stepan

A Little BMI Bashing

Ah, Body Mass Index (or BMI) the stupidest, most ridiculous thing in fitness just won't go away. It's funny how people started to realize that the old school Height/Weight chart was bullspit, so the medical field came up with BMI. To test your BMI you add you height in centimeters to your weight in kilograms and divide by two. If you're below a 25 you're supposedly healthy. If you're between a 25 and 29 you're supposedly overweight. And, if you're over 30 you are supposedly obese.

Hmmm, in the picture above where I'm doing the handstand on the park bench I am 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighing around 195 pound with a 9 percent body fat. Yet according to BMI I'd have a rating of 30.5 meaning that I'd be Obese. I don't see it.

It's funny to me that people actually think that body fat is somehow calculated in their BMI. People wake up! It's not. It's simply taking the height and weight scale and putting in a little math.

In my post a while back about the stupidity of BMI I used some examples of people that would be overweight or obese according to the BMI and it included Dara Torres, Jessica Scofield, LeBron James, Kevin Garnett and more. Today I'm going to show you some more folks who would all be considered overweight or obese by the BMI standards:

For Example:

Dana Linn Bailey

Dwain Chambers:

Mandy Stafford:

Derek Poundstone:

Sara Backman:

Mariusz Pudzianowski:

Cara Heads:

Jamie Lewis:

As you can see, all of these people are very impressive physical specimens. Each one of them is insanely strong, in shape and pretty damn awesome. Also, each one of them would be considered fat or obese according to the Body Mass Index. Can we just get rid of that damn thing once and for all and have people realize that it's not how much you weight, it's what that weight is made up of.

If you're at a sub-10 percent body fat level I don't care if you have a 48 BMI, you're ripped and impressive. If you've got a BMI of 20 and you have a body fat percent of 38 percent, you have way too much body fat.

Stop worrying about your BMI, get in the gym and lift heavy and hard and develop a great body, not a skinny weak body.

Yours in strength and health,
Brett

A-Rod, Performance Enhancing Drugs and more

As I start out this post I'll admit, I've never used any type of Performance Enhancing Drug (PED) nor do I have any desire to. That being said, however, I have no problem with someone that chooses too, and I'll tell you why.

It's sad in our society that someone like A-Rod, who has possibly used PEDs to enhance his performance at his particular sport, make his sport more entertaining, and deliver more of what the fans of his sport want is being crucified in the media and booed at the games; while LiLo, who abused narcotics like cocaine and alcohol for no reason other than to get high and escape reality, gets a standing ovation from the audience at her latest interview. WTF! I don't get it.

Why do we villainies athletes that make the choice to use PEDs to enhance their performance, yet we embrace celebrities who make the choice to use narcotics.

For example, when people think of the late Lyle Alzado, Andreas Munzer or Don "The Ripper" Ross they say things like, "yeah, they were cheaters." or, "they wouldn't have died if they didn't take the 'roids." or other things like that. Yet when Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson or Chris Farley overdose and pass on people consider it a "tragedy" and say that they were "taken too soon."

Anyone else see a huge double standard there?

How come Robert Downey, Jr. can fuck up, become an addict then clean up his act and be embraced and seen as someone that overcame their demons and be allowed to make a comeback (and I love Robert by the way, I think he's a fantastic actor and a cool dude); while Lance Armstrong has been suspended from his sport for life and has been erased from the record books? How come celebrities are allowed to clean up and make a come back, but athletes are banned and forever known as cheaters?

Speaking on the same subject, what would you call it if someone went in to a doctor's office and had them inject them with loads of hormones in order to elicit a specific outcome that may or may not happen? And that these injected hormones would cause them to grow extraneous facial hair, lose handfuls of hair while they shampooed, caused wild mood swings and many other side effects. Am I talking about the latest steroid scandal about the doctors that allegedly injected A-Rod and many others? No! I'm talking about infertility clinics.

Apparently if your goal is to have a baby you can do all the steroids that you want and do them legally. I've personally seen numerous women go to the infertility clinics and suffer from the same type of side effects that the steroid and PED taking athletes that I know suffer from. And more than half of those women didn't wind up with a baby. How come it's okay for them, but not okay for these athletes?

And don't get me wrong, one of my nieces was created this way and I love her to death and couldn't imagine not having her around. My point is simple, we crucify athletes that make the choice to mess with their hormones through the use of steroids, testosterone and growth hormone; but when a woman decides to follow the same route in order to possibly create a baby it's some how okay.

It's quite a double standard that we have here isn't it?

And trust me, most peoples' view on PEDs and 'roids is wrong. How often I hear people say, "oh yeah, he can hit the ball like that because of the 'roids." or, "I'd look like that too if I used the drugs he was using." or, "I'd be able to lift like that if I took drugs." or many other similar statements that basically equate to steroid and PED users being cheaters that are looking for the easy way out. Well, I have to say, every PED user and steroid user I've ever known were already the hardest working bad asses in the gym before they decided to juice up.

I can honestly say, every single one of them was working their ass off. Every one of them was already a star in their sport, the strongest and most fit person in the gym, and jacked beyond belief. They've all been the guys that are already working at the top of their potential and they chose to take the juice so they could work even harder.

Now, I know I can't say that every user is this way. But, from my experiences being around guys that were juicing, they were already incredible long before they injected themselves. So no, you wouldn't look like them, be as strong as them, or be able to play like them if you took their drugs.

I say we make them all legal. At least it would be interesting to find out how powerful these drugs really were. Let's see how much of a change they actually would make in sports. I know in MMA, almost every time I see a fighter get busted for PEDs or 'roids, it's the guys that just got his ass kicked. So, obviously it doesn't make you a better fighter. Let's make them all legal and see if all of the records will really be shattered and let's see just how much of an impact they'd have on the games.

I'd be willing to bet that the impact wouldn't be anywhere near as great as many people seem to think.

Of course, not being a user myself, this is all speculation on my part. Now, go train hard and heavy.

Yours in strength and health,
Brett

Strength Training or Endurance Training:

In a post a few years back I used the following picture to demonstrate the difference between the results of sprint training (which is a form of power and strength training) an marathon running (a form of endurance training). For those of you that don't want to go back through the archives, here it is again:

As you can see here there's quite a difference between the two athletes. One is a lean, jacked, powerful mother f-er while the other one looks like he just got released from Auschwitz.

When you see a comparison like this you can clearly see the results of either form of exercise. Steady-state "cardio" (or slow long-duration training) in the form of jogging, biking, swimming etc. eats up muscle tissue like it's going out of style. And not just your pecs, abs, and biceps, but also your heart (which is simply a muscle) and the muscles in and around your other organs. It also plays havoc and stops your body's production of growth hormone, testosterone, IGF-1, as well as compromises your immune system and accelerates the aging process while teaching your body to store body fat to fuel itself for those long swims, jogs, etc.

Sprint training and other forms of power and strength training (powerlifting, Olympic lifting, gymnastics training, strongman training, etc.) burn fat, build muscle (as well as bones and connective tissue), increase production of Growth hormone, testosterone, IGF-1, etc., strengthen  your immune system and slow down the aging process while teaching your body to burn body fat instead of storing it.

Need some more proof. How about comparing the bodies of World record marathon runner Paula Radcliff:

with that of World class Powerlifter Jessica Scofield:

Or even looking at a group of Kenyan marathoners:

Then checking out the body on sprinter Dwain Chambers:

I don't know about you but I'd much rather have the look and performance ability of all of our strength and power athletes over the endurance athletes any day.

Talk with you all later.

Yours in strength and heath,
Brett Stepan

A Very True Poem

“Down the road, in a gym far away
A young man was heard to say

“No matter what I do, my legs won’t grow!”

He tried leg extensions, leg curls, leg presses too
Trying to cheat, these sissy workouts he’d do!

 From the corner of the gym where the big guys train
Through a cloud of chalk and the midst of pain

 Where the big iron rides high, and threatens lives
Where the noise is made with big forty-fives

 A deep voice bellowed as he wrapped his knees
A very big man with legs like trees

 Laughing as he snatched another plate from the stack
Chalked his hands and monstrous back

 Said, “Boy, stop lying and don’t say you’ve forgotten!
Trouble with you is you ain’t been SQUATTIN’!”
- Jeff “MADDOG” Madden

Such True Advice, now go train hard, heavy and smart.

Yours in strength and health,
Brett Stepan

A quick one for the guys

When I was a kid these were the images of a Man for us, these were the images of a Hero:

Sly, from Rambo First Blood Part 2, looking Awesome
 

The Austrian Oak, no need to say any more
 

Van Damme looking chiseled
 

Franco Columbo, strength personified

big Lou, Anyone need to question why he was both the Hulk and Hercules

And we tried our damndest to emulate them. We worked our asses off and we grew up strong fit and healthy.

Now a days things have changed dramatically.

It scares me that I've seen the medical and scientific studies that show that the average 20 somethings have the testosterone levels of 60+ year olds. And no one seems to care.

I've actually heard guys now a days that have actually said, "I don't want to train heavy, because I don't want to get bulky."

Now, even though that's a mis-informed and untrue statement when women make it, I can at least see where they are coming from.

However, coming from a guy it's just plain insane.

Why would any self-respecting man not want to have muscle?

I don't get it.

Hmmmmm.....Maybe if we look at the "hero's" of the day.......

Really Brad, come on you can do better

fist of all, Robert, shower. Then gain about 60 pounds of muscle

Really Justin, I know you're only 18, but come on. You can do better than that

You're a cool guy Adam, but I've actually heard people say this is buff. Really?




Now, I know that some of you will say, "yeah they might not be big, but they have abs."

 

That's great, but abs on someone that skinny is kind of like boobs on an obese woman, they're there but they really don't count.

 

Come on guys, we can do so much better. I know we can. Grow a pair of testes, get under the bar and start squatting, and eat some good steak. Get your testosterone levels back to what your folks had when they were your age and become men. Get rid of this manish, boychild yet kind of girly thing and step up.

 

I know we can reclaim manhood again. How do I know, because I can see glimmers of our greatness in certain individuals like....

 

Dwayne Johnson

Hugh Jackman

Georges St. Pierre

And more. Men who want to be men. Who enjoy being fit and strong, healthy and lean, jacked and bad ass.

 

 

Claim your spot with these guys and let's see a resurgence of men on this planet.

 

Now, go train smart, hard and heavy and I'll see you under the squat bar.

 

Yours in strength and health,

Brett Stepan



 

A Quick Post For The Ladies

Alright Ladies,

I figured a Great way to get you all pulled in and ready to read was to post a little Shemar F'ing Moore shirtless, with promises of more. So, here you go.

Now, as a straight man I'll be the first to admit it. He is delicious to look at, and seems like a great guy to boot, so we'll give you some more Shemar later. But for now we have to have a little tete a tete.

First of all, let's set the record straight.

Ladies, I know that there is a huge societal pressure out there for you to look a certain way. I get it. It sucks.

But ladies, that societal pressure ain't coming from us guys. And before you leave me a million different hate comments at the end of this blog please continue to read the rest of this post.

I know that you ladies think that us guys want you ubber thin with a small backside, thighs that don't touch, no hips and all of that jazz. But it isn't anywhere near the truth.

I don't know a single guy who watches an ubber thin bag of bones lady walk buy and thinks to themselves, "yeah, I'd like to hit that." It ain't happening.

Ladies, us guys love your curves. We love a good ass. We love good thighs. We love hips. We love breasts. We love every curve on your body. So it's not us that is trying to make you get rid of them.

Want some proof.

Let's take a look at a few examples.

Here's Marilyn Monroe, someone that has stood as the personification of beauty since the 1960's and notice, her thighs touch. She has hips. She has a booty. She has boobs. She has curves and shape. There's not a guy around that doesn't find her attractive.

How about Jayne Mansfield. Again there are hips, thighs, a booty and boobs. Curves galore and yet no guy would ever say, "man she needs to lose weight."

How about Sophia Loren. Widely considered one of the great beauties of all time. She has boobs, hips, booty, thighs, and wonderful curves.

And, since I know you're all saying, "whatever Brett. Don't you have any proof from the last few years, not from 50 years ago?"

Yes, I do.

How about J-Lo. She's famous for her booty and thighs, and she has a great rack. Not a waif by any means.

What about Beyoncé. The girl has curves galore. Great thighs, great booty, great hips, great body.

How about Salma? She isn't tiny either. Great booty, great hips, curves for day. I don't know anyone that doesn't find her stunning. Do you?

What about Sophia? The woman's hot. Yet she still has curves galore.

And what about my girl, Gina. The woman's gorgeous. She also has a booty, thighs, hips, shoulders, abs, arms, and more. She's strong and tough, yet no man would ever kick her out of the sack.

So, ladies. I think that pretty much proves my point. Us guys love curves. We're not looking for you to have your knees being the biggest part of your legs. we're not looking for your elbows to be the biggest part of your arms. We're not looking for you to lose your butt or your thighs. We're not looking to see all of your ribs. We like the curves that god and nature gave you.

Now, it's your turn to embrace them, also. Curves are healthy. In fact, if you want your hormones to ever be optimized, you need your curves. And all of us guys support you keeping them.

Now, to keep my promise, here's a little more Shemar:

And don't worry ladies. I'll be picking on my own gender in the next post.

Until then, keep training hard, smart and heavy and I'll talk with you all later.

Yours in strength and health,
Brett