AGGRESSIVE STRENGTH MAGAZINE

ISSUE 92 - 3/09/2006

1. AGGRESSIVE STRENGTH QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"The problem is not that we have such a short space of time, but that we waste so much of it."
- Seneca

A common phrase is "Life is short." We hear it all of the time and say it all of the time. However, it is one thing to say it and another to act on it. It is safe to say that most people do not act like life is short. Lets face it most of us believe that there is always a tomorrow and that there is plenty of time to get things done. Failure to have a sense of urgency is one of the main reasons why people are complacent. Working a job that you hate now? No big deal, you can always find something better later. Bored with your life now? No big deal, just watch five hours of TV today and take action tomorrow. Similar to eating unhealthy food, we often do not reap the negatives of our unproductive actions right away. In other words, you are unlikely to acquire a health problem after having lunch at McDonalds once. However, continue to do so for several years and you are on track. Skip working out a few times this week and you may not notice the negatives. However, skip working out for three months and now you are forty pounds overweight. Smoke a pack of Marlboro's everyday for a month and you may feel fine. Do it for ten years and you probably will not feel so fine.

One of the only positive things about attending a funeral of a loved one is that it drives the point home that you life will come to an end and that it can happen at anytime. It is no longer impersonal. When you hear about terrible things on the news you may feel bad but for most people it will not drive you to make meaningful changes in your life. However, when it becomes personal, you no longer have any illusions. The problem is that the feeling usually does not last too long and you eventually fall back into your comfort zone. How would you feel if your life ended today? Would you be at peace that you lived a full life and passed on doing what you love? Thinking about death is never pleasant, but it is necessary to keep things in perspective. Otherwise, it is all too easy to live a life of delays. A life in which you waste time day after day until there is no longer any time left to waste.

I often like to poke fun at television watching as a real time waster. No doubt watching TV is often a real waste of time, but it is only one of many things. Gossiping about the personal lives of others and complaining about what other people are not doing for you are much bigger time wasters. Attempting to get attention and approval from others is a real time waster. Relinquishing responsibility for your life and happiness to others is not only a waste of time but very destructive. Not talking to your significant other because you just had a big argument over something trivial. Waiting for things to happen instead of taking action and making things happen is a big waste of time. Repeating the same ineffective actions for ten years. Just because you are getting older does not mean that you are getting wiser. Many people never grow because they repeat one year ten times or more! In reality, you could easily watch four hours of TV per day and still have a productive meaningful day. However, there is no way that you are going to have a productive day when you are not proactive about living your life fully. The biggest waste of time is living as if you have all of the time in the world. Make today the day that you take action. You do not have to do anything dramatic. Just take a step in the right direction.

This week's quote is from "The Strong Art Of Living" by Tom Morris. Special thanks to newsletter reader Scott Heckly for sending me a copy.

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

When Life Gets Stressful, Turn To Back-up Training Programs

You are two weeks into a killer training program and everything is going right. Your nutrition plan is dialed in, you are getting eight hours of deep sleep every night, and you are focused and energetic at every workout. You love the feeling of being stronger at each workout and the sense of accomplishment that comes with finishing every workout like a winner. The ways things are going you have no doubt that you are on track to achieve your training goals for the year. Then all of a sudden something unexpected happens. The harsh realities of life hit you like a snowball in the face. All of a sudden you are only getting in five hours of sleep per night and you are stopping by Starbucks so often that their quarterly earnings have doubled just on your purchases alone. The training program that you were achieving incredible progress with is no longer realistic so you decide to quit working out for a while until the storm of life quiets down. Unfortunately, that time does not arrive for several months. When you finally make it back to training, all of the gains that you had made are gone. Even worse you are weaker then before you started the last program. If only you had had a back up plan.

Training like anything else in life requires a back-up plan. When you go on a road trip ideally you will not get any flat tires. However, life is rarely ideal and if and when a flat tire does occur, you want to have a spare so you are not standing on the side of the road with your thumb in the air.

The problem is that many trainees approach working out with an all or nothing attitude. Either you are training with all guns blazing or not at all. Mottos such as “train heavy or go home” or “no pain, no gain” are ingrained in the psyches of many trainees. As a result, many trainees do not think that condensed workouts are not even worth doing which is far from the truth. In this article , I am going to use the well-known 5x5 training program as an example of an ideal program and provide some sample back-up options.

5x5 Program For Strength And Size

The classic 5x5 program really does not need much of an introduction. I have written about it many times and it is a well-known program for building strength and size. Briefly, it calls for doing five sets of five repetitions for each exercise. When you can do five reps on all five sets, add five pounds. Here is a sample 5x5 program:

Monday and Thursday (Upper Body Focus)

Do A-1 and A-2 back to back. In other words, do a set of A-1, wait 90 seconds and then do a set of A-2 and wait 90 seconds. Continue until you have completed all of the sets.

Do A-1 and A-2 back to back. In other words, do a set of A-1, wait 90 seconds and then do a set of A-2 and wait 90 seconds. Continue until you have completed all of the sets.

While the above 5x5 program is not exactly a brutal program, it can be too much for many trainees when stress is high. Thus when your cortisol levels are surging, switch gears and apply the following:

5x5: Back Up Program (Option A)

Monday and Thursday (upper body focus)

Do A-1 and A-2 back to back. In other words, do a set of A-1, wait 90 seconds and then do a set of A-2 and wait 90 seconds. Continue until you have completed all of the sets.

Why did I pick the One-arm Dumbbell Bench Press and the Renegade Row? In addition to working all of the muscles in the upper body, both of these exercises activate the core tremendously. Thus in addition to covering the pushing and pulling muscles, your core is taken care of as well in a time efficient manner. Translation: you do not have to do any additional abdominal work.

Tuesday and Friday (Lower Body Focus)

Only one exercise! Are you crazy? No but you are if you think that you can get away with training with high intensity and high volume when stress is high. Just because a program is very simple in terms of lack of complexity does not mean that it is not effective. In fact one of the main reasons why most trainees fail with programs is due to picking overly complex programs. Enough on that lets get back to the deadlift. The standard barbell deadlift is basically a mix of the squat and stiff legged deadlift. While it will not provide as complete a leg workout as doing squats and stiff legged deadlifts, it will get the job done and is the ultimate exercise for the trainee with limited time. In fact if you only have time for one exercise, the barbell deadlift is your weapon of choice.

This 5x5 back up program can be used in many ways. If you are having a rough week you can replace the 5x5 program with the back-up program completely. If you have a moderate increase in stress, you can replace two of the workouts from the 5x5 program with two of the workouts from the backup program. For example replace Thursday’s upper body workout with the backup option and Friday’s leg workout with the deadlift workout from the backup program. Finally, if you are having a rough day, just replace your scheduled workout with the corresponding workout from Back-up Program A.

While Back-up Program A is sufficient for many trainees, it may not be enough for those under a higher level of stress. At that point it is time to reduce the program even further and become the ultimate minimalist. Check this out:

5x5 Back-up Program B

Monday and Thursday

Well, it does not get much more basic than this. The One-arm Dumbbell Bench Press takes care of the upper body and the Barbell Deadlift takes care of the lower body. What about a pulling exercise such as pull-ups or bent-over rows? In addition to being a great lower body exercise, the Barbell Deadlift is a pulling exercise as well. Yes this program is not perfect and would not be what I would pick when stress is low. However, worst-case scenario you will maintain strength with this program and more than likely you will make progress. It is much easier to do a bang up job on a few things than it is with several things.

Now what do you do, if you cannot even find time to get the back-up program B program into play? It is time to find a new job or get a new life. There is no reason why you cannot find time to get two 10-15 minute workouts in per week. If your stress levels are so high that you cannot recover adequately from the above program then you need to re-evaluate your life. Regardless, if you fall in this category, take the sets down to one per exercise. Where do you go after that? Check out Tony Little’s Gazelle machine as clearly strength training is not for you.

Back-up Program For Kettlebell Training (Strength focus)

Back-up Program A

Monday and Thursday (upper body focus)

Do A-1 and A-2 back to back. In other words, do a set of A-1, wait 90 seconds and then do a set of A-2 and wait 90 seconds. Continue until you have completed all of the sets.

Tuesday and Friday (Lower Body Focus)

Do B-1 and B-2 back to back. In other words, do a set of B-1, wait 90 seconds and then do a set of B-2 and wait 90 seconds. Continue until you have completed all of the sets.

Back-up Program B

Monday and Thursday

Next time I will go over some back-up programs for muscular endurance and fat loss workouts.

What is better is than a back-up training program? My personalized program design services. Click here for a personalized program.

4. 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

Kettlebell Solution for Size and Strength

Kettlebell Solution for Size and Strength

If you enjoy lifting light kettlebells and have no desire to be strong with a powerful physique, then this DVD is not for you. However, if you are ready for a new challenge with kettlebells and desire to maximize the benefits of kettlebell training, get this DVD today.

The Kettlebell Solution For Size And Strength will show how to get much stronger with kettlebells and build a muscular physique as well. This detailed DVD is for all levels and covers the basics enough for beginners and offers new challenges for experienced kettlebell lifters.

» Click Here for More Information, or:

Kettlebell Solution for Speed and Explosive Power

Kettlebell Solutions for Speed and Explosive Strength

Super comprehensive kettlebell training DVD that goes over how to build speed and explosive power in four different categories: Full body explosive power, Upper body explosive power, Lower body explosive power, and Rotational explosive power. Translation? You will be one explosive hombre after you practice the exercises on this DVD and follow the programs in the Free Kettlebell Training DVD E-book. I did not leave anything out on this DVD. Even if you do not care about getting faster and more explosive, you will love the wide variety of exercises that this kettlebell training DVD contains.

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5. AGGRESSIVE STRENGTH MINI-INTERVIEW OF THE WEEK

This week's interview is with Chris Pontius star of the movie "Jackass" and MTV's "Jackass" and "Wildboyz"

MM: What do you do to stay in shape?

CP: I train with kettlebells four times a week. Monday and Thursday, I focus on the upper body and Tuesday and Friday, I focus on the lower body. I usually pick a pushing exercise and a pulling one and go back and forth between the two with very short breaks. For example, here is the program I'm working on this month: Monday-Hang Clean and Press Renegade Rows and then some core work. On Tuesday I do Front Squats and Double Swings. On Thursday Double Military Press and Double Rows followed by more core work. Finally on Friday I do Front Squats and Snatches Timeframe varies depending on the program I'm doing. It can range between 15 to 40 minutes.

MM: What kind of nutrition plan do you follow?

CP: I try to eat a lot of organic food with a good balance of protein, fats, and carbs. I don't eat red meat or chicken and I try not to eat a lot of processed foods.

MM: Do you take any nutrition supplement?

CP: Yes, I use protein powder, L-glutamine, omega 3, and CLA.

MM: Has training always been part of your life or something that you got into after you got into the entertainment industry?

CP: Exercise has always been part of my life. I grew up skateboarding and surfing. Later I got into weight training on and off for several years. Then, about six months ago, I started training with kettlebells and really took to it.

MM: How has your training regimen benefited you as an entertainer?

CP: I think being in good shape gives you a tremendous amount of confidence in yourself which is so important if you are an entertainer. Besides that, most people prefer to watch healthy and fit looking people.

MM: What are the biggest mistakes that people in the entertainment industry make with regards to training and diet?

CP: Just like anyone, they don't research the most effective ways to train. They don't eat right and many don't eat enough.

MM: What advice do you have to peers on maximizing the benefits of training?

CP: Identify your training goal, research how to get there, and stick with it. Choose exercises that hit large groups of muscles instead of wasting your time doing a bunch of little muscle isolating routines. Don't just start training without any plan. I messed around with weights for years wasting so much time. Ever since I started reading up on programs and got advice from Mike Mahler, my results have been amazing and I probably work out less than I did before. I think the best advice that I would give anyone is to get on a training program that is personalized to them. I think there are a lot of trainers out there that pretty much train all their clients the same. Monday is back day, Tuesday is chest day, etc. and 30 minutes of cardio. I have one friend for example that is trying to lose weight and that is the program his trainer has him on and now he's just gotten stocky with a beer belly. It's so frustrating trying to convince that he's not training for what he wants to accomplish.

MM: What projects are you working on now?

CP: Right now I am filming "Jackass the Movie 2" which is coming to theaters in the fall. I have also written a book that should be released around the same time.

MM: Thanks for taking the time for the interview Chris.

Make sure you check out Chris Pontius on his show "Wildboyz" every Friday night on MTV. For more info, click here.

6. 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!

7. 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.

8. 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

9. KETTLEBELL TRAINING INFORMATION PAGE (NEW)

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

10. AGGRESSIVE STRENGTH MAGAZINE ARCHIVES

http://www.mikemahler.com/newsletter

11. AGGRESSIVE STRENGTH ARTICLES

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

12. AGGRESSIVE STRENGTH TRAINING JOURNAL

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

13. 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