AGGRESSIVE STRENGTH MAGAZINE

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ISSUE 71 - 8/11/2005

1. AGGRESSIVE STRENGTH QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"The warrior who keeps death in the forefront of his thoughts will know the power of his words, whether he is speaking or answering others, and will not engage in pointless arguments."
- Daidoji Yuzan

We have all probably heard the saying "live today as it if it were your last day." Sounds great in theory. However, it is hardly a practical way to live your life. If today were truly your last day, would you care about working out, eating healthy food, and building your business? Probably not. All of the things that are important when you actually think that you have some time to enjoy the results become irrelevant. Hardly a philosophy that will lead to a meaningful existence. On the other hand, never thinking about the fact that your life will come to end some day is a sure fire to live a loser existence. You will be a professional procrastinator that always puts things off and always says, "Well, there is always tomorrow to do something." Similar to many things in lie, the path is in the middle and remembering that you will die some day and actually believing it will give you some incentive to avoid procrastination and other delaying tactics.

If you follow Daidoji Yuzan's advice, you will find that you will not waste as much time each day. Life is not an endless road in which you always have more time. Saying that there is always tomorrow, next week, or next year, is a sure fire way to waste today. What you do right now will determine what your future has in store for you. When you wake up with the notion that the clock is ticking, you get your life into perspective. All of the trivial things that you thought were important no longer concern you as much. Accepting a boring existence doing things that you do not enjoy becomes unacceptable. Sure, life is about sacrifices and we all have to do things that we do not enjoy. However, that is not an excuse to avoid creating opportunities and taking advantage of opportunities. . To many people, their own death is a depressing thing to ponder. I am not saying that you should obsess about it and live in paranoia thinking that your life can end at any moment. However, remembering each day that life is short and that you do not have all of the time in the world will create incentive to live more fully. Assuming that you actually believe the latter. The younger you apply this philosophy to your life the more you will get out of it. Thinking that you have all the time in the world leads to the path of procrastination. Stay on that path too long and opportunities will continue to evade you. Realizing that the clock is ticking will make today more important and what you do today much more critical.

For more info on Daidoji Yuzan, check out D.E. Tarver's translation of "The Code Of The Warrior."

Live Life Aggressively!

Mike Mahler

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2. AGGRESSIVE STRENGTH TRAINING ARTICLE

What Don't You Know About Yourself?

Many trainees spend a great deal of time researching various training plans and training tools hoping to find something that will work. I do this myself and I encourage others to do the same. However, a mistake that many trainees make is not acquiring information about themselves. I am not talking about anything spiritual, although that is important as well. I am talking about your physiology and how that determines to a great degree the results you get from strength training. For example, do you know what your testosterone levels are? What about your growth hormone levels? How are your adrenal glands? Insulin levels? Blood pressure? The list goes on and on. Most trainees probably know what their blood pressure is and basic information such as cholesterol is often provided at a regular medical check up. However, very few trainees know what their Testosterone and growth hormone levels are. Why is this important? According to top strength coach Charles Poliquin, the ideal range for male trainees for free testosterone is 800 nd/gl or higher. However, Poliquin states that most drug-free athletes are at 500-550 nd/gl which Poliquin conveys is way too low. Thus, to really maximize your workouts, you need to get your T levels into the 800 nd/gl zone. For all you know, you can could be at 300 nd/gl or less. By the way ladies, T levels is also important for you and obviously you do not want to get your legs up to the ideal range for men, but you want to look into what the ideal range is for female athletes.

There are many reasons why your testosterone levels may be low or not ideal. One, you could be stressed. Either from over training, lack of sleep, emotional stress etc. Two, you may have a poor diet that is too low in healthy fats. There are dozens of reasons why your levels may not be ideal. What are some of the common signs of low testosterone levels? fatigue, low sex drive, difficulty getting stronger and adding muscle, and depression. If you have any of these symptoms, I would encourage you to make an appointment with your doctor and have your testosterone levels checked. Make sure you have your growth hormone levels checked as well as your adrenals. If your adrenals are really taxed, that may be the reason for low testosterone levels. If your adrenals are doing fine, then there may be other reasons. The point is that the more you know about your hormone levels and other indicators of health, the more you will know about how to improve your training. If your Testosterone levels are low, then now is not the time to do high intensity or high volume workouts. It may be a time to take a week off or spend a month doing some lighter training to give your body a re-charge. If your growth hormone levels are low, then you may need to work on improving the quality of your sleep or simply getting more sleep.

A few simple things that you can do to encourage optimal T levels is to limit workouts to 45 minutes or less, take ZMA (zinc and magnesium), and have as many successes as possible in your life. Every time you accomplish a goal, whether it is a training goal, a business goal, doing well on a sales call etc, your testosterone levels go up. Every time you are a victim or down on yourself your testosterone levels go down. In others words, if you have a job in which you take a lot of crap from your superiors that will have a potentially negative effect on your testosterone levels.

One thing to consider, is the type of doctor that you go to. Should you just go to regular M.D., or an M.D. that is well versed in holistic medicine? I would go with the latter as regular M.D. are often quick to recommend medications rather than getting down to root causes. Also, going to a doctor that is familiar with strength training is ideal. Regardless, the choice is yours and knowing what your levels are for various hormones is an important way to determine how you should train and what lifestyle choices you may need to modify. It could very well be the reason why you are not making training progress. To find a holistic M.D in your area, click here.

Also Check out Dr. William Wong's articles right here.

Aggressive Strength Bonus Tip

This week's bonus tip comes from top kettlebell instructor Dylan Thomas. Make sure you email Dylan regarding his upcoming September kettlebell in Northern Virginia.

The S.O.S. (Switch Off Snatch)

Sometimes you just want to feel an exercises, not count reps, but with one hand KB drills like the snatch, you run the risk of working one side more than the other if you just "go by feel".

Other times you want to perform a "strength performance" as opposed to just banging out reps of one thing, setting down and then on to the next or more of the same. You want to be continuous and flowing, especially if your a martial artist, dancer or endurance athlete. Maybe you are interested in KB juggling, but some of the moves have a high risk of dropping the bell. No big deal if you are outside, but another matter if you train indoors, be it your home or a gym. Well, the S.O.S (Switch off Snatch) addresses all of the above.

Here is the what, how and why of this drill. Take a KB in one hand . Snatch it overhead, then swing it back between your legs. Now one arm swing it, with a slight bend in your arm. Spin your thumb upwards at the apex of the swing, and let go of it. Catch the bell in your other hand, with the handle vertical. turn your palm towards you as you swing the bell back between your legs. Repeat the sequence. No need to count reps, unless you want to, but the point is you can go by feel or better yet for time. If you start on your left, just make sure the KB is back in you left hand before you stop and you did equal work on each side. This is an awesome drill that mixes the Snatch, the one hand swing, with a had off (aka DARC Swing) and a simple KB juggling or H2H drill. Give this a try next workout and let me know what you think.

Next time, we will use the S.O.S, with 2 other KB drills for a full body, quick ass kicking.

Shugyo!

Dylan Thomas,KB/S&C Instructor
Martial Strength & Conditioning

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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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