AGGRESSIVE STRENGTH MAGAZINE

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ISSUE 56 - 2/10/2005

1. AGGRESSIVE STRENGTH QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Subtlety and modesty are appropriate for nuns and therapists, but if you’re in business, you’d better learn to speak up and announce your significant accomplishments to the world-nobody else will.”
- Donald Trump

A common mistake that many people have is that they either promote themselves too aggressively or not at all. Both are problematic but I rather make the mistake of the former rather than the latter. Forget about ever getting a great job or being a successful entrepreneur if you do not learn how to promote yourself. Often, in job interviews, your resume gets you to the interview but does not get you the job. Many people have told me that they know whether they will hire someone the second they walk in the door. If you cannot sell your self well, which is essentially what an interview is all about, why would anyone hire you to sell his or her products or services? One would hope that you know yourself better than some company’s product or service and that you feel more confident about yourself than some company’s product or service.

In the strength training profession, many trainers are frustrated with slow progress or no progress. They lament that they feel they are talented and worth paying for, but cannot seem to make enough money. Usually, a common flaw that unsuccessful trainers have is that they do not know how to sell themselves. People are getting fatter and unhealthier every year so there is certainly a market. The problem is that it does not matter how good you are if no one knows who you are. Many trainers have some of the essential ingredients for being successful. They are in shape; they have an abundance of quality information; they are good with people, and they love what they do. Regardless, in most cases these essential ingredients will not be enough if you do not know how to apply effective self-promotion techniques or simply choose not to.

There is no excuse for not knowing effective self-promotion techniques, as there are tons of great books on marketing, networking, and promotion. One example is Ryan Lee’s excellent marketing program for trainers (go to http://www.ryan-lee.com) Choosing not to self promote usually stems from fear. You are afraid that people will think that you are in ego maniac or very arrogant. I can understand this fear, but worrying about what people think is a sure-fire way to never get your business off the ground. If you are confident with your abilities, products and services then this fear is unwarranted. If you are not confident with your products and services then it is time to move on to another line of work.

Be prepared to make mistakes when it comes to marketing. Be prepared for people taking shots at you. Be prepared for people not liking you (especially when you start doing well). Big deal! To quote Donald Trump again, “Everyone has an opinion. In most cases, it’s not worth the paper it is written on.” Welcoming constructive criticism is always a good idea as there is always room for improvement. However, worrying about people that are petty with nothing better to do than to take shots at you is a waste of time. These people want to see you fail to feel better about their own inadequacies. Disregard them and keep moving forward. At the end of the day, you should be glad that people are talking about you rather than worrying about it. Worry when no one is talking about you as that means that your presence is insignificant.

In conclusion, don’t be afraid to promote yourself or to be proud of your accomplishments. If you do not care about what you have to offer, then chances are high that no one else will either. Just remember that confidence is contagious but cockiness is not. One can be backed up and the other cannot. Proceed with confidence!

Live Life Aggressively!

Mike Mahler

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2. AGGRESSIVE STRENGTH TRAINING ARTICLE

Should I Go Fast Or Slow?

There is a lot of confusion among trainees regarding lifting speed. Some strength coaches such as Louie Simmons believe in being fast and explosive while other strength coaches such as Pavel Tsatsouline believe in lifting in a slow and controlled manner. However, if you look a little deeper you will realize that both camps are on the same page. Lets examine the slow and controlled methods first.

Pavel Tsatsouline, author of “Beyond Bodybuilding” emphasizes the importance of being as tight as possible when doing “grind” exercises such as bench presses, military presses, and deadlifts. The harder you contract your muscles, the more fibers you recruit and the more control and power you will have when lifting weights. This business of getting tight is something that few trainees take the time to master. Go to any gym and you see the common sight of men bench pressing by lowering the bar in an uncontrolled fashion and bouncing it off there chests in the pathetic hope that the bar will make it back to lockout. Most of the time it does not. Even if it does, the trainees butt is so high off of the bench that a Mack truck could pass underneath. This is an example of a trainee that does not know the importance of muscle recruitment and proper exercise technique. This trainee, needs to read Pavel’s book “Power To The People” a few hundred times.

Next, Louie Simmons believes in getting the bar from point A to point B as quickly as possible. Louie has his trainees use a variety of “forced acceleration”(bands chains etc) methods to blast through sticking points. Louie states that if you lift a weight as quickly as possible, it will not slow down and you are less likely to fail. Lifting heavy weights quickly develops fast twitch muscle fibers that are necessary for maximum strength. Louie even has his trainees devote one day to speed training and another day to maximum strength.

Okay, now the kicker is that you cannot lift a weight as quickly as possible, if you do not know how to get as tight as possible. Otherwise, you will end up like our contortionist bench press friend at the gym. He may have the speed, but has no control. Without control heavy weights will always evade you, which is good as lifting heavy weights without control is a great way to get injured. Thus, the key is to learn how to get as tight as possible by following Pavel’s techniques in “Power To The People.” However, eventually, you will find that you need to speed of the tempo of an exercise to lift more weight. This does not mean that you have to compromise tightness. As my colleague and Senior RKC Rob Lawrence stated, “Lift as fast as possible while staying as tight as possible.” In other words, don’t lift at a slow pace, if you can go faster under control. Speed is a critical component of strength training. This will take practice, but will be much easier and safer when you have a foundation in “staying tight.”

Now keep in mind that lifting tight and fast is for people that want to get as strong as possible. If you are interested in getting bigger then there is a place for slow negatives and slow and controlled reps. Flexing your muscles as hard as possible and lifting in a slow and controlled manner is also a great way to build solid dense muscles. Thus at the end of the say, lifting speed depends on what your goals are. Regardless, I think that any trainee can benefit from a “Westside” approach and work on both speed and maximum strength.

For more information on Pavel Tsatsouline, go to DragonDoor.com.

For more information on Louie Simmons, go to Westside-Barbell.com.

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7. KETTLEBELL TRAINING INFORMATION PAGE (NEW)

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

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8. AGGRESSIVE STRENGTH MAGAZINE ARCHIVES

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10. AGGRESSIVE STRENGTH TRAINING JOURNAL

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11. RECOMMENDED READING LIST

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

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Until next time.

Live Life Aggressively!

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

Mike Mahler

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