AGGRESSIVE STRENGTH MAGAZINE

ISSUE 105 - 8/02/2006

1. AGGRESSIVE STRENGTH QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"Nobody who goes too deeply into debt can count on having peace of mind. You may have it for a time, but now and again the debt comes into your consciousness and you feel you are not quite your own master; somebody else owns a piece of you."
- Napoleon Hill in the book "Grow Rich With Peace Of Mind"

Our society seems to have forgotten what peace of mind actually is. Many people are addicted to constant stimuli and instant gratification which ensures that peace of mind is an impossibility. The main reason why people go into personal debt (personal debt is not the same as business debt or education debt) is because they want to quench their material desires without having to make the necessary sacrifices. Just put it on a credit card and worry about it later.

I always get a good laugh from people who claim to be self made and independent and at the same time have tremendous credit card debt. Just because you are not living with your parents or borrowing money from your parents does not mean that you are self made or independent. If you have credit card debt, you are not independent. In actuality no one is really self made but that is a topic for another newsletter. When you have credit card debt, you only have the illusion that you are independent. The reality is you are a slave. When you owe other people money you are not the master of your destiny. There is a big difference between earning money first and then getting what you want and not having any money and having credit cards and getting what you want without genuinely earning it.

Do I think credit cards are evil? Of course not! I do not think credit cards are evil. In fact I think the opposite. I think credit cards are great and I have a few myself. The key is I pay the total balance on time every month. My credit cards offer many benefits such as: free airline tickets every year (I have many miles saved up and my girlfriend and I will be taking a trip to Hawaii later this year), free movie tickets (comes in handy when you see a crappy movie), discounts on gas, and 5% cash back on purchases. Moreover, if I lose my wallet, no big deal. I usually never carry much cash and credit cards are easy to cancel and replace.

Credit cards can be a great way to borrow funds for starting a business. Credit cards were a real life saver when I started my training business. I almost lived off of one credit card that offered 0% APR for eight months. The key is I paid off the total balance by the eight month. I did not use the credit card for fun stuff but as a source of credit without interest for my business. You cannot beat that. Credit cards are a great tool when used wisely. Credit cards do not get people into trouble, people get themselves into trouble with credit cards. If you cannot have credit cards then do not have them. However, do not think that it is the credit cards fault that you do not have the maturity to handle them.

Saying that credit cards are bad is similar to saying food is bad. People would not be fat if it were not for food. More specifically if it were not for unhealthy food, people would not be fat. Lets just ban food! Imagine a bunch of overweight people calling for a ban on food because they cannot handle food properly. Ridiculous to say the least. No one is putting a gun to your head and making you eat junk food. It is a choice in which you have complete autonomy. You can choose not too eat junk food and you can choose to eat healthy food. If you choose to eat unhealthy food and get unhealthy and overweight, then it is your fault and no one else's. If you go into tremendous debt with credit cards it is your fault and not the credit cards. No one forced you to buy things that you do not need without having the money to pay for them.

Of course financial debt is not the only source that makes peace of mind impossible. Never living in the moment and always letting distractions surface prevents peace of mind. Everyday I see people having worthless conversations on their cell phones. Here are some common cell phone conversations that I unfortunately over hear frequently:

"Hey honey I am at the grocery store and wanted to see if you wanted cocoa puffs or fruit loops. Why am I calling you about this? Because I have a cell phone and I need to use it at least once every thirty minutes?"

"Hey baby I am at the video store. Let me walk around the entire store and read every title on the shelf so you can tell me what we should get. God forbid I actually make a decision on my own."

"Like oh my God, I got bitten by like so many mosquitoes when I went camping the other day. It was so not cool. Now I am on the beach walking and instead of enjoying the sun setting and having some time to myself I am wasting your time with this lame ass story."

"What do you mean the Gardner did not come today to trim the edges! My whole day will be ruined if he does not come. Oh I will have to call you back, I just crashed into the car in front of me. Of course it is not my fault as they should not have been in front of me while I was talking on my cell phone!"

"Wow I cannot believe that my workout took three hours! It could not possibly be due to all of the calls I am making in between each set could it?"

"I just got my cell phone bill today and it is $10,000 for last month! I just cannot believe it. I only use my cell phone 24 hours per day. This is an outrage. Now I will have to sell my car to pay the bill. Oh, I forgot the car is on lease. Oh well looks like I get a chance to join my local homeless community."

I could go on forever with these examples. Yet, I am sure you get the point unless you are on your cell phone right now. Now do I think that cell phones are evil? Of course not. I have one myself and it is a great tool to have for emergencies, traveling, and many other things. However, similar to credit cards, cell phones are abused to no end. Many people are addicted to using their cell phones and would probably have a heart attack if they gave up their cell phones for just one week. What is wrong with being alone from time to time?

No doubt cell phones have probably surpassed TV as the biggest time waster. In addition, cell phone usage is far from cheap and no doubt contributes to peace of mind robbing financial debt.

There are many forms of debt that results in peace of mind evading you. Financial debt, unhealthy debt, time wasting debt and too many others to name. Do not live another day half baked under the weight of debt. Make moves to liberate yourself and have the most important attainment of all: peace of mind. Liberation is worth sacrificing for and worth working for.

Live Life Aggressively!

Mike Mahler

Mike Mahler

2. HELP THE KATRINA VICTIMS

My friend and top body worker Dianna Linden recently sent me a list of non-profit organizations for helping out the Katrina Victims. Here is the list:

I encourage you to take a look at the above organizations and make a donation to the one that sits well with you. Also if you want to help out animals, make a donation to http://www.bestfriends.org.

3. AGGRESSIVE STRENGTH TRAINING ARTICLE

Do You Need An Exercise Vacation?

By Mike Mahler

Overuse injuries and burning out often come from doing the same exercises over and over again for years. I am always amazed when I see trainees do the same exercises with the same weights and the same reps for years. The idea of doing another exercise or a completely different program has never crossed with minds. Why is this? One of the reasons is many trainees have "pet lifts." These are the exercises trainees always gravitates towards. A common one for men is the bench press. Many male trainees will spend a half hour or more on the bench press and then ten minutes or less on everything else. Hit the same pathway over and over again at an intense level and injuries ranging from mild to severe are sure to follow. Every once in a while it is a good idea to take an exercise vacation in which you put your pet lifts a way for a month or so and focus on exercises that you normally never do. Often this helps make training interesting again and often it helps obliterate a training plateau. Lets look at some common exercises and some examples of what you can switch to for your exercise vacation.

The bench press is a favorite of many trainees and no doubt it is a solid exercise for building the upper body. However, it is certainly overused by far too many trainees. Many bench pressers never do overhead pressing which makes overhead pressing a perfect choice for the bench press vacation. Here are a list of exercises to choose from:

If you are already doing some standing overhead work and needs some variations that are closer to the bench press you can do:

Next lets use a kettlebell example. Many kettlebell trainees follow programs that revolve around the One-arm KB snatch or the One-arm Swing. Both are great exercises. However, both are exercises that are worth taking a vacation from every once and a while. Here are some variations:

Basically, give the exercises that you are used to doing a vacation every once and a while and look for exercises that are similar but different enough that you get a different stimulus. Right now I have a minor injury to my left shoulder. Under the advice of my body worker Dianne Linden (best bodywork in LA, email her at: diannalinden@earthlink.net ) I am taking a vacation from overhead lifts and focusing on some other presses that I have not done for a while. Thus, I am having a good time focusing on other presses that I normally do not do such as the One-arm KB Floor Press, Lifeline USA's Power Pushup 2 Pushups, and even some isolation work in the form of lateral raises and front raises to bring my left shoulder back into play. Overhead presses have been one of my pet lifts for sometime and a full month off from them is not easy mentally, but is a necessity right now.

If you have been at a plateau for a while on a particular lift, give it a short vacation and work on something else for a while. You will most likely be pleasantly surprised with the results.

If you have any questions about my program design services, click here for more information.

Also, if you are looking for a DVD that covers the five pillars in detail, check out my size and strength DVD.

4. GET THE AGGRESSIVE STRENGTH DVD COMBO PACK TODAY

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5. AGGRESSIVE STRENGTH PERSONALIZED PROGRAM DESIGN SERVICES

"Lost 10 lbs and went down from a size 12 to a size 8 in jeans – that was something I expected not to happen for another 10-15 more lbs! So thanks for your guidelines – they really have helped a lot."
- Michele Milevoi

Tired of trial and error? Want a training program that actually works? Click here for more info!

6. NEW AGGRESSIVE STRENGTH PRODUCT RECOMMENDATIONS

I have just added some great new products to my website including: medicine balls, the ultimate portable gym, and some pull-up straps that allow you to do a pull-ups anywhere! Click here.

7. THE AGGRESSIVE STRENGTH SOLUTION FOR THE ROAD WARRIOR

Tired of terrible hotel gyms and getting out of shape on the road? Tired of doing bodyweight only routines in your hotel room because there are no other options? You need Lifeline's resistance cable products. Not only are they light and portable but they provide enough resistance to humble the strongest athletes around. Click here for more info

8. KETTLEBELL TRAINING INFORMATION PAGE (NEW)

http://www.mikemahler.com/kettlebell_info.html

8. AGGRESSIVE STRENGTH MAGAZINE ARCHIVES

http://www.mikemahler.com/newsletter

10. AGGRESSIVE STRENGTH ARTICLES

http://www.mikemahler.com/articles.html

11. AGGRESSIVE STRENGTH TRAINING JOURNAL

http://www.mikemahler.com/journal.html

12. RECOMMENDED READING LIST

http://www.mikemahler.com/reading.html

Until next time.

Live Life Aggressively!

Mike Mahler

Feel free to email me with your comments and feedback at mahler25@yahoo.com

Mike Mahler