AGGRESSIVE STRENGTH MAGAZINE

---

ISSUE 73 - 8/24/2005

1. AGGRESSIVE STRENGTH QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"If we can accept whatever hand we have been dealt-no matter how unwelcome-the way to proceed eventually becomes clear. This is what is meant by right action: the capacity to observe what's happening and act appropriately, without being distracted by self-centered thoughts."
- Phil Jackson

You can either get angry and complain when trying circumstances are delivered to you, or you can get angry and do something about the circumstances. Many people unfortunately do the former. They sit around and wonder why the hardship is happening to them. What did they do to deserve it. Why them and not someone else. Sometimes, it is obvious why a hardship occurred. If you use a lot of recreational drugs and end up in the hospital, should you be surprised? If you spend more money then you make and end up going into serious financial debt, should you be surprised? Of course not. Regardless, off how you ended up in a difficult situation, you are better off keeping a clear head and focusing on what you can do to improve the situation. The sooner you accept the situation, the sooner the mind will process solutions. By the way, accepting the situation does not mean accepting defeat. If you lose all of your money in a business, I am not saying that you should accept that and not bother to make back the money and try another business. What I am saying is that you should avoid complaining about a situation or being in denial about a situation. Sure complaining is a natural response and there is no need to suppress it. Just get it out quickly and move on.

Here is a personal example. Back in 2000, I got severely sun-burned and developed a "coal burn" (For a while I thought that it was a skin condition called vitiligo, but that is not the case). The "coal burn" was on the lower right side of my face and neck. Basically, it is a loss of pigmentation. This literally happened overnight so there was no way for me to adjust gradually. At first, I thought that it was something that would go away after a while and I did not worry about it. However, as the months went by, there was no improvement. The rest of my face returned to normal and this seemed odd to say the least. I went to several doctors and each one stated that I had a skin condition called "vitiligo" and that the loss of pigmentation would spread all over my body. One idiotic doctor even stated that the next place it spread to would be my rear end and testicles! I jokingly asked if I could transfer the loss of pigmentation on my face to those areas ;-)

The skin condition while not affecting my physiology negatively, certainly had a negative effect on my mental outlook. I got very angry about the situation and reclusive as well. I avoided social situations and tried to keep people to my left so they would not see the burn scar. Too make a long story short, I got tired of being a slave to the condition and eventually accepted the condition and decided to use it to my advantage.

The advantages became much clearer when I started my strength training business in 2002. One, I not have to worry about being mistaken for someone else. Who else has a burn scar on their face and a black and white goatee (one half white side burn as well). People remember anomalies. I decided to do things that I normally would not have had the confidence to do before my face got burned. I felt that this was my way of taking charge and not letting the scar hold me back. Sure, it still bothers me from time to time. However, I am no longer a slave to the condition and enjoy life fully.

I am not saying that I am glad that it happened. Nor am I saying that I would not accept a cure to the condition. I am just saying that every hardship is a chance for you to discover what you are made of. What I like to do is place myself in the future looking back at the present and ask myself if I will be looking back with pride or with shame? This mental trick has always worked to help me focus in the present and do my best to rise to the occasion. No pun intended ;-)

This week's quote is from the book, "Sacred Hoops" by Phil Jackson

Live Life Aggressively!

Mike Mahler

---

2. AGGRESSIVE STRENGTH TRAINING ARTICLE

This week's excellent tip comes from my friend and Strongman Bud Jeffries. Bud's new book "Twisted Conditioning II" is off the hook! Bud shows a variety of training tools and how to combine them for comprehensive strength. How to combine a variety of training tools is one of the most common questions that trainees ask. Make sure you pick up Bud's book for some excellent tips.

Getting The Job Done By Bud Jeffries

"Most lifting still breaks down into basic categories. For instance, barbell squats, barbell pulls and barbell presses. But there are literally a thousand or more variations, which you might do. Now some obviously are more effective than others, the basic barbell press or basic barbell deadlift or squat and row type movements are the most popular for a reason. They are the simplest, they work the most muscle, and they are the most effective. However, there is strength gain to be made from doing things that are simply different. Why shouldn’t we try it? In moving into the mindsets of ultimate strength and ultimate endurance and being good at everything and the fact that you can be and there’s no point in limiting yourself, so why not try some of everything? Odd lifting people, Bill Clark especially, have some brilliant ideas. For instance, always work your strength and your weaknesses together. Get good at things, and try new things all of the time. Never leave the gym on a bad note. That’s one of my favorites of his euphemisms that he puts out in his newsletter for the USAWA. Meaning that if you’re having a bad day on your squats, and you’re just having one of those days when you’re not particularly pumped, find a lift you haven’t done in a while or find something brand new to try. Be inventive in what you do. Adapt, improvise, overcome and conquer. Always leave feeling good about something. There has to be some moment in every training session that produces happiness, satisfaction and joy for you. You should condition yourself to it and you should look for it in every training session. The moment of progress, the moment that you really enjoyed lifting.

That being said, there are a ton of different lifts you can do. Deadlifts of multiple different styles, be it straddle or hack type lift with the barbell behind or between your legs instead of like a regular deadlift. Multiple different finger variations or uses of different types of bars, thick bars, works with dumbbells, presses of all different variety. For instance bench presses with feet in the air, presses, pulls and deadlifts with multiple objects such as the two barbell deadlift, the two barbell deadlift and walk, different types of Turkish get up, (what the USAWA calls the Gardner or Half-Gardner), or different types of Zercher be it two arm, cleans of all kinds, stiff legged cleans, cheat curls, the rectangular fix… the point is, find something that is unique to you. Find something you enjoy, find something you make or can get the equipment for. Experiment, adapt and move on for yourself.

In any training, especially in this type of training where you’re attempting to find your own physical parameters and move to the beat of your own drum, deciding your own path and inventing as you go along are two of the most important factors. Don’t let your mind be locked in to the lifts that we think of as normal or okay, or that I suggest, or that anyone suggests. Make up your own."

Kettlebells

"I am sold on kettlebells and think you should be too. Also building into the great conditioning that a kettlebell gives is the fact that most of the exercises are ballistic or explosive in nature. This does two things. First it prepares you more for the real world, because very few real activities take place slow and controlled. Yet, in using the kettlebell you can do these exercises safely with the explosive style. Second because the individual repetitions require and explosive movement. They produce a great conditioning effect even though you may not do quite as many repetitions, because an explosive movement requires intense muscular contraction and forces your heart and lungs to work very hard.

Intervals for Superior Strength & Endurance

"In using the idea of intervals and the idea of continuous movement and increasing in aerobics without decreasing in power what you really wish to do if you’re doing a pure conditioning workout is mix your intervals so you can create continuous movement. By using this continuous movement or bouncing back and forth between two or more intervals or different parts of the body you are thereby giving your muscles a greater stimulus to strength via the work and rest interval and your aerobic system greater strength and endurance via keeping your heart and lungs constantly taxed. While the interval usually means you will be working at a higher interval than an steady state exercise, aerobically you will be maintaining a relatively steady state while at the same time training some muscular endurance and teaching your body to have grater power output. This flows to every type of workout that we use really depending on whatever way you wish to put it together as well as they type of movement you wish to use. You can break your workouts down so that you concentrate on different things at different times."

Fighting Workouts

"1. Ultimate Self-Defense workout – Basic Sample. Begin each workout with a fast thorough but easy warm up of bodyweight exercise joint looseners and stretching. Also any basic lift warm ups you prefer. Squat 10 singles. Begin with a moderate weight and add to it every round as you feel you can. Mix with one to two-minute rounds on the heavy bag or something you can strike or with a live partner. Each round should contain basic practical self-defense strikes for both sides of the body. Short straight palm strikes inside hooks, elbows, knees, low kicks, and reaction strikes. You can mix these together or work on each individual one for a round. Add in also improvised weapons and strike a post or bag with them. Concentrate on good body mechanics and natural fast reactions. Finish with a set each of neck, ab, calf and grip work. This is only one way to do this workout. In place of the squats you could put any heavy barbell exercise or strongman, or alternative conditioning movement depending on what level of conditioning or type of strength you wish to emphasize."

Let's Mahler-ize This Workout

What I'm going to do here is kind of mix my style and Mike's style. Mike has an excellent kettlebell DVD out where he really discusses in detail many kettlebell strength and size exercises, most of them double kettlebell exercises. He also has written a great deal about high octane cardio, which is an interval style of cardio similar to what I discussed in the earlier paragraphs.

So let's combine the fighting workout above with the kettlebell double exercises and the interval cardio concept. Begin every workout with the basic one as stated in the above paragraph and finish with a couple of auxiliary exercises as state above.

Day 1 do 10 sets of 5 reps each of double kettlebell floor presses and double kettlebell bent over rows. Between each set do one to two minutes at a hard pace on a heavy bag mixing up your strikes. (That should be 5 presses, 5 rows, one to two minutes on the bag, repeat 10 times.)

Day 2 do 10 sets of 5 of double kettlebell military presses and 10 sets of 5 to 10 double kettlebell front squats mixing each set with the same one to two minutes on a heavy bag. (That should be 5 presses, 5 squats, and one to two minutes on the bag, repeat 10 times.)

Day 3 do 10 sets of 5 double kettlebell swings and 10 sets (5 each side) of 5 kettlebell windmills (left side for one round, right side for the next), mixing each set with the same one to two minutes on the heavy bag. (That should be 5 swings, 5 windmills, one to two minutes on the bag, repeat 10 times.)

This is a brutally tough workout but the core of the workout should take you less than 30 minutes. It should also help you to simultaneously build muscle, high level strength, killer endurance and burn fat. Enjoy!

For more information on Bud's new book, click here.

---

3. GET THE AGGRESSIVE STRENGTH DVD COMBO PACK TODAY

"Kettlebell Solutions for Speed and Explosive Strength is incredible! All of the exercises are explained and displayed perfectly and leave you with no questions. There is absolutely no filler and it gives so many options to add to your arsenal. Watching it gets me so amped up to train! One of the best things is the Free DVD User guide to set you on the right track. I love all of the exercises and together with Tke Kettlebell Solution For Size and Strength, I will never get bored of training!"
- Chris Pontius of MTV's Wildboyz and Jackass

---

4. 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!

---

5. 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.

---

6. 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

---

7. KETTLEBELL TRAINING INFORMATION PAGE (NEW)

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

---

8. AGGRESSIVE STRENGTH MAGAZINE ARCHIVES

http://www.mikemahler.com/newsletter

---

9. AGGRESSIVE STRENGTH ARTICLES

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

---

10. AGGRESSIVE STRENGTH TRAINING JOURNAL

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

---

11. RECOMMENDED READING LIST

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

---

Until next time.

Live Life Aggressively!

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

Mike Mahler

ARCHIVES:

• 2007
• 2006
• 2005
• 2004
• 2003

Home • Store • Aggressive Strength Magazine • Kettlebell Information • Testimonials • Massage • Journal • Contact • Links

Copyright © 2003-2007 Mike Mahler. All Rights Reserved.