AGGRESSIVE STRENGTH MAGAZINE

---

ISSUE 98 - 5/15/2006

1. AGGRESSIVE STRENGTH QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"Stop explaining yourself, stand by your damn convictions."
- From the movie "Cobb"

Requiring the approval of others is a guaranteed path to misery. Depending on praise and recognition is fleeting and empty. Moreover, being a slave to the opinions of others makes it impossible to live life fully. It is a waste of energy. Why is recognition and praise from others so important? Sure, getting feedback from other people is a good idea. Getting advice from experts is a good idea. Especially experts that can provide insights you missed and save you lots of time with their knowledge. However, the need to explain your values and goals to others is not necessary. Receiving praise and recognition can be motivators which help you achieve your goals. Nevertheless, what if the praise and recognition never come? Then where is the motivation going to come from? Would you still want to achieve your goals if no one ever knew about the accomplishments besides you? The real value in accomplishments is not the recognition that may come, but the person you become in the process. The praise and accolades will pass. However, the person you become in the process is yours to keep for the rest of your life. In the end all that you have are your convictions.

A while back a lady asked me why I am a vegetarian. She did not ask me in a respectful manner but in a confrontational manner. In other words, she wanted to convince me that my belief system was flawed and put me in a defensive state. I turned the game around and asked her to explain her religious beliefs to me. She in turn become very defensive. She did not see why she had to justify her spiritual beliefs to me. Of course she is right and does not have to. However, being a vegetarian is part of my spiritual belief system. My beliefs and my convictions are mine and while I am happy to talk about them, I do not need to defend them or justify them. My spiritual beliefs are not harming others and do require defense. To digress for a second, I always laugh when people that have half of my strength and size tell me that it is not possible to get muscular and strong on a vegetarian diet. Even with the truth in front of them, they choose not to see it. Many people live their lives in a similar manner. They let their attachments to what they believe is the truth prevent them from actually seeing the truth. A very self-destructive path to follow.

Getting back to this week's topic, life is too short to require the approval of others. Real friends will support you and offer constrictive criticism. I am always astonished by people that put tremendous weight in what others think of them. I have seen people get excited about an opportunity and lose all excitement after negative feedback from people they trust or admire. The great emperor of Rome Marcus Aurelius stated, "I have often found it strange that every man loves himself more than anyone else, and yet values his own opinions of himself less than the opinions others have about him." Stop putting everyone else above you! Develop some self worth and grow a backbone. Stop giving up due to fake friends and negative family members that get a rush from impeding your growth. Such people are not worth dealing with. There are many "dream stealers" out there. These people are energy vampires that feel empowered by putting others down and taking action to impede the successes of others. In fact, energy vampires get a kick out of seeing other people fail. Such people are not worth trying to change. That is their nature so just avoid them like the plague.

One things is for sure. If you require praise and recognition from others in other to accomplish goals, you will not get very far. In fact do not even bother getting started. Stay on the couch and keep watching "American Idol" and "Desperate Housewives." Real motivation and determination come from within. If you are not prepared to persevere when the odds are stacked against you then just forget about your goals. People that let negative feedback stop them from pursuing goals are people that never really wanted the goals.

Remember recognition and praise are fleeting, the person you become in the process of life is yours and no one can take that away from you.

Live Life Aggressively!

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:

• Operation USA http://www.opusa.org
• Mercy Corps http://www.mercycorps.org
• Oxfam America http://www.oxfamamerica.org
• America's Second Harvest http://www.secondharvest.org

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

The 80/20 Rule For Incredible Strength Gains

By Mike Mahler

While there are literally hundreds of strength training exercises to choose from, very few are actually worth doing. The few exercises that are worth doing are the exercises that provide the most bang for your buck. In other words, the few exercises that are worth doing are your ticket to massive increases in strength, size, and or muscular conditioning depending on what your goals are and how the exercises are implemented.. I like to refer to these exercises as the "20% Club."

In the business world there is a phrase that 80% of business comes from 20% of your clients or customers. As a result smart companies keep the 20% members happy. Unfortunately many companies make the mistake of showing more concern for potential customers rather than current customers. More often than not these companies do not last too long. Many companies that have a sales team also realize that 80% of sales are produced by 20% of the sales team. Thus, it is smart to keep the 20% people happy and incorporate incentive plans to get them to stick around. A similar philosophy can be applied to productive strength training. Trainees that ignore the 20% exercises that provide the most bang for the buck are the same trainees that never make any meaningful progress. They are neglecting the exercises that provide the greatest benefit. Big mistake! They fail to realize that the "20% Club" exercises will produce 80% of their gains. Actually they may even provide 100% of your gains.

I get a ton emails from people that are incredulous about the benefits of training programs that emphasize compound exercises. Compound exercises work several muscles at a time. Some great examples are: The Clean and Press, Pull-ups, Squats, and Deadlifts. Many men do not believe they can get big well developed arms without doing any isolation exercises. On the other hand, many women do not believe they can tone up without focusing on isolation exercises for the glutes, inner thighs, and midsection. Of course, the reality is much different. Kettlebell Swings for example will do much more for solid glutes than leg extensions. Just ask Senior RKC Brett Jones who has his glutes squeezed by his male and female clients on a daily basis (mainly male clients ;-). Fitness star Pauline Norden swears by deadlifts for building rock hard glutes and hamstrings and she certainly has the results to back it up. Weighted Pull-ups will do much more for building big biceps than barbell curls and Military Presses are much more effective at blasting the triceps than triceps pushdowns. Regardless, of the prevalence of information highlighting the benefits of compound exercises, I continue to get bombarded with emails from trainees that want to know the secrets for well developed arms. They are often shocked when I state that I do not do any bicep and triceps isolation work and spend 100% of my time on compound exercises. Moreover, I rarely include isolation work in my client's online programs. Instead, I focus on exercises that provide more value. Not only is this extremely effective, it is also a time efficient. You can get a full body workout with three exercises or less and have more free time to enjoy other activities. Great news for people that have a life outside of training and bad news for stimulus addicted trainees that have no life outside of training. Here are some of the 20% exercises that will provide 80% to 100% of your gains:

Barbell Deadlift: This exercise is so powerful that top strength coach Pavel Tsatsouline wrote an entire book about it, the classic "Power To The People." The Deadlift works every muscle in the lower body and a ton of muscles in the upper body. It is a powerful exercise and an exercise that all men should be doing who train with barbells. Yes, ladies you should be doing it as well as no other exercise will work your posterior chain as effectively as the Barbell Deadlift. Since I train primarily with kettlebells, I like doing high rep Kettlebell Deadlift sets with my 105lb bells. I do 2-3 sets of 20 or one set of 40 as a finisher at the end of my strength workouts. Kettlebell Exercises such as heavy Double Swings, Double Snatches, and Double Cleans also offer many of the benefits of the Barbell Deadlift and are acceptable alternatives.

Barbell Squat: No other exercise will do more for building powerful legs and overall size than the barbell squat. Why do so many trainees avoid them? Because they are brutal and most people are lazy and lack mental toughness. You can do sets of curls all day long without breaking a sweat. However, one high rep set of barbell Squats with bodyweight on the bar will leave most trainees smoked and begging for mercy. The payoff for the suffering? Massive gains in size and strength. What about ladies who do not care about strength and do not want size? Well every lady I know wants a great pair of legs, and no exercise will get you there faster than the Barbell Squat or at least some version of the squat. Ballet dancers do tons of bodyweight squats and have incredible legs.

At this point you may be wondering where all of the upper body exercises are? Lets drive an important point home before moving forward. The majority of your body is not in your upper body. According to Dr. Al Sears author of, "The Doctor's Heart Cure" "your upper body only contains about 15 percent of your body's total muscle mass. If your increased their size by 200 percent, you would not notice a measurable difference in your body's total muscle mass." Dr. Sears goes on to state that working the quadriceps and hamstrings are the keys to building substantial muscle mass. Yes, men I hate to tell you this but doing twenty sets of curls and fifty sets of triceps pushdowns are not the secrets to building a powerful body. In fact for most trainees doing any isolation work is a waste of time. Focus the majority of efforts on Barbell Squats and Barbell Deadlifts. Yes ladies this advice applies to you all as well. One exercise that falls within the 20% club and provides the best of both worlds is the Clean and Press. The Clean and Press is so effective that you could build an entire program around this exercise. In other words, just do the Clean and Press with heavy weights two to five times per week. Again the frequency and intensity depends on your goals, individual recovery abilities, and several other factors that my online clients know about.

Barbell Clean And Press: I love this exercise and as many of your know, I do most of my weight training with kettlebells. Thus, I do the Double Kettlebell Clean and Press a great deal. In fact on days in which I am really busy, I just do Double Clean and Presses though out the day (Pavel's GTG program). For example, I will do five sets of four on the Double Clean and Press with 88lb kettlebells during the day. I just leave 30 minutes to an hour in between each set and do 5-6 sets total. In fact I am going to do a set right now and will be back in a minute. Okay I am back after a great set and a nice CNS boost. The Clean and Press works the legs, core, back, shoulders, and triceps. Push your hips forward and look up at the barbell as it goes up and your bring the chest in as well. Recently, bodybuilding legend Franco Columbu told me that he and Arnold used to treat standing Barbell Presses as an upper chest exercise. Franco stated that it is one of the best exercises for well developed pecs. I am not a bodybuilder as strength is my main focus, but I do agree with Franco that the Press is a great drill for pecs. In fact I rarely ever do floor presses or bench presses and spend most of my pressing time on some version of the overhead press. Many of the old-time strongmen used high rep Clean and Presses with heavy weights as an overall body builder or what I like to call a "man maker." How come no one does high rep clean and presses anymore? For the same reasons why most trainees do not do barbell squats, they are damn hard. Of course, once again the pay off is incredible gains in strength and depending on how you train and eat, size as well.

In the next issue I will go over some more killer exercises and reveal some 80/20 programs for gym workouts and kettlebell programs. Be there.

Confused about productive training? Need help with program design? Click here

.

---

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

---

5. AGGRESSIVE STRENGTH MUSIC RECOMMENDATION

Here is some info on the greatest hardcore/metal band of all time. The founder of "Cro-mags" Harley Flannagan does all of the kick ass music on my DVD's. If you love intense music while you are working out, you owe it to yourself to get this CD. You will not be disappointed.

CRO-MAGS GREATEST HITS UNRELEASED MATERIAL,WHITE DEVIL& MORE

CRO-MAGS GREATEST HITS PLUS UNRELEASED MATERIAL!

ORDER NOW WHILE LIMITED SUPPLY LASTS!! ONLY A FEW COPY'S LEFT!!!
28 TRACKS PLUS UNRELEASED MATERIAL LIVE TRACKS AND MORE OVER 78 MINUTES OF CRO-MAGS GREATEST HITS AND MORE!!!
$10 PLUS $5 SHIPPING ( $6 OUTSIDE OF U.S)
SEND CHECK FOR $15 ($16 OUTSIDE OF U.S) TO

HARLEY FLANAGAN
P.O BOX 16
TROY NY
12182
U.S.A

ORDER NOW WHILE LIMITED SUPPLY LASTS!! ONLY A FEW COPY'S LEFT!!!! For more info on "The Cro-mags" and "Harley's War" go to CroMags.com.

---

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!

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.