When you do a static stretch, you may feel as if you’re able to stretch further, which makes you think that you’ve increased that muscle’s readiness for your actability. In fact, you’ve only increased your mental tolerance for the discomfort of the stretch. The muscle is actually weaker. I notice that dynamic stretching is at its most effectiveness when it’s relatively sports-specific. You want to activate the joints and muscle tissues that you will need for the task at hand.

By using dynamic movements, we use the muscles in a way that we would use them in a sport and we build it in each person’s program. Some movements that have increased range of motion in our athletes include: straight leg dead lifts, windmills, wall squats, box lunges, overhead squats with a press, swings, 1-leg dead lifts and shoulder dislocations.

A client named Annie illustrates of how dynamic movements have increased her power, flexibility and range of motion. The last three months she gave up static stretches and included the dynamic movements listed above. In those three months she saw a significant improvement in her range of motion and did not have to go through the tedious routine of holding stretches for long periods of time every night.

When people complain about tightness in their muscles and want to stretch them, tightness is usually the secondary problem, whose primary cause is from another muscle that’s not functioning well. The underlining problem is from muscle imbalances most of the time. Muscle imbalance is the combination of abnormal muscle weakness and tightness. When you try and stretch the tightness you are ignoring the cause. In the long run you can make the problem chronic.

Here is a breakfast and dinner that I had in the last week:

Breakfast:
Oatmeal
2% milk
Walnuts
Bob’s Red Mill muesli
Banana
Cinnamon
Blueberries
4 fish oil capsules
2 hardboiled eggs
Whole milk latte

Dinner
Beef tenderloin
Beets
Sweet potatoes
Brussels sprouts
Quinoa
Zucchini
Spinach salad with almond slivers and olive oil
A huge piece of Kitty’s special cheesecake

Here’s an example of a meal I ate after a 150min ride on the trainer where I burned 1400 calories:

Nachos
Black bean tortilla chips
Three steaks cut up
Black beans
Cheese
Salsa

Make sure you eat for a purpose. I ate an entirely different way when I was not training for an endurance sport. If your goal is to excel at an endurance sport I highly recommend adding healthy fats to your diet and changing the order you eat your food. Make sure you earn your calories though!

However once I signed up for the Ironman I accepted that I needed to be all in. I will grow and change by trying new things. I am looking forward to this journey and what I will learn along the way but I will enjoy returning to my true self at the end of this pursuit.

The first thing I did was set some ground rules for myself. There are times when I need to be inflexible and times when I need to be open to flexibility. I will always expect more from myself, my body, and mind. When I fail I will learn from it and when I succeed I will never be satisfied. I will never make excuses when I fail; only corrections.

As far as training goes, so far I have only begun to establish a base by developing my aerobic capacity. I’ve also focused on eliminating what I don’t need. In 3 weeks, I have lost 15 pounds of upper body muscle, which would serve no purpose for Ironman and would only add weight that I don’t need to carry for 146 miles.

I’ve started working on my endurance training foundation. It is generally easy (a relative term) and rarely very hard; just time consuming. It has been difficult not going hard all the time. It is a challenge for me to keep the big goal in mind and focus on the baby steps I need to take to get there.

There needs to be balance, so if you want to eat like crap you need to earn those calories. I eat 6,000 to 7,000 calories a day, but I earn every calorie whether it is through biking, lifting, swimming, running, etc.

The same can be said pertaining to your sport. Nicole for example puts in hours and hours of curling a week stacked on top of training in the gym. That is why she is amazing at curling and an Olympic athlete.

I was just featured in Shape magazine (http://www.shape.com/fitness/workouts/seen-tv-fitness-products-do-they-work) to provide advice about gizmos that give you the quick fix. Many people believe in these products and think that they can get the results without doing the work. You need to ask yourself: Are you willing to plan out your meals for an entire week? Are you willing to work so hard in the gym that you are sore for two days?

The people who are tempted by shortcuts are not interested in fitness and conquering their own weakness. When people are used to the easy road choosing amongst the quick fix and hard work it is an easy choice. While the results on the outside might appear to be the same in some cases the way you feel inside will determine the results in the future.

When you come to the gym I can give you all the tools needed to succeed, but in the end it comes down to you. In other words, what you are willing to do will determine the results. If you cannot invest in yourself, what is worth investing in?

Using sandbags is extremely functional as it relates to your everyday life style. We train in the gym to get stronger and for specific goals, but when we lift something at home it is usually awkward with the weight not spread out equally. I do not recommend only lifting sandbags to increase your absolute strength, and they should never be substituted for barbell and weight training but used as a bonus instrument.

There are several things that make sandbag training very useful. It is a great tool for grip strength, which is an area that usually holds people back from lifting heaver weights. You also recruit more muscles when lifting the awkward object. Sandbags are cheap and easy to make so it won’t break your budget. Finally, anytime you lift an unstable object, your core will engage itself more and help protect your back in everyday lift lifts.

When first learning to use sandbags, I would start with replacing compound movements and big strength movements with the sandbag. This includes squats, deadlifts, pulls, Turkish get ups and presses. When those start to feel easy, try adding explosive movements and metabolic movements to shed some fat. This includes cleans, jerks, running, slamming, pulling, pushing and even jumping.

So give sandbags a try and remember it is not a replacement for training with dumbbells and barbells, but it can be a great tool for mixing up your routine so you do not plateau.

When you are a professional athlete or at the Olympic level, you plan your life and everything else around your training program. When you are at the top of the pyramid in your sport, workout intensity and order is extremely important and all other things are secondary.

For most people who do not make a living from their sport, life throws challenges at you with your family, job and other commitments so allow some flexibility in your life. You need to have balance and priorities in order to help you reach your goals.

It is important to have a workout schedule that helps you reach your goals and objectives, but do not let it consume you and your life. If you are a ways away from being the best at your sport, adjust training to the situations of your life. Work out and train but give yourself a break if you miss a workout and need to do it the following day.

Once you can enforce your agenda on your life, a workout program needs to be adaptable and should be done based on recovery and circumstance. There is no sense stressing yourself out–be the best you can be based on your schedule.

So, if you find yourself awake with the little man, here’s a blog post that resonated with me, Sarah Hueniken’s “Redefining Failure”. It is so like our discussions of mental muscle. It also is informative when it comes to my struggles with my sport climbing inconsistency and overwhelming fear on hard leads.

Thanks for training me, Pat.
Annie

At Pat’s Gym we do not believe in the one-size-fits-all approach. Training done here is individually based according to an athlete’s goals pertaining to their sport. Do you really think that an Olympic curler, professional hockey player, mountain biker and climber should train the same way?

Unplanned training and doing exercises just to do them is fine for the average purpose, but if you have a specific goal, you need to train a specific way. Finding the right amount of intensity, volume and recovery is different for every individual that walks in the door. If the same thing worked for everyone, wouldn’t everyone be the best at what they do?

My goal is not to bash CrossFit, P90X or Insanity. In fact, I like several of the movements that they use, but the question is: what do you want to get out of training? For you to reach your goals do you need conditioning and strength training, and which characteristics are most important in those categories? Speed, endurance, power, strength, or mental toughness?

The work we put in the gym helps us in the field we use it in, not the other way around where the sport becomes time in the gym. When an athlete’s sport is very technical, general fitness will contribute less to the sport. On the other hand, specific fitness will play a huge role in sport. Specialized programs work and it has been proven by the work athletes put in at Pat’s Gym. You become what you do, where you work out and whom you work out with.

If your only concern is getting in a short workout to make you feel better about yourself, by all means doing something is better than not doing anything. If you have specific goals and are willing to put in the time and effort to reach those goals, Pat’s Gym will make a program that will get you there and hold you accountable. The choice is up to you.

In general the people who use supplements have the worst diets and worst training practices.  They don’t want to put in the time and effort to train hard, recovery correctly and eat healthy. To me, food quality always comes before supplements. If you have no discipline when it comes to your diet, there is absolutely no reason for taking supplements.

There are times when I think you should take vitamins and mineral supplements when you are lacking something in your diet, but they should never be a replacement (hence the name “supplement”). There are also certain times when whey protein can be used for added protein or in a meal and a recovery drink after a workout.

I think that supplements can provide small performance improvement, but unless you are already at the top of your sport physically and mentally, don’t waste your money. You would be better off learning correct ways to train, recover and protect your body by knowing exactly what you are putting in it. Take a triathlete as an example: instead of spending an extra seven thousand dollars on a bike that is 20 pounds lighter, put in the time and lose eight pounds of fat and increase your power to weight ratio.

Some supplements that I have used are ones that help improve immunity. When I was sailing at the Olympic level and traveled a lot, I was more susceptible to getting sick. I could not afford to miss training and sailing on the water because of illness, so I took advantage of supplements that provided immune system maintenance.

There is always the debate of caffeine used in training or used in sport. I have seen the benefit more in a sport and less in the gym. If you need caffeine to get up for a workout, you are probably over-training or lacking on sleep and recovery. Since caffeine is a stimulant, it can help performance during short extreme efforts or at least give you that perception of intensity.

I think the main thing to take away from supplements is that when they are used wisely they can be beneficial, but when you take advantage of them and rely on them, you will experience negative effects. There is no quick fix and you always need to take accountability for your choices.

When I do a high-intensity workout at Pat’s Gym, I get butterflies and sometimes I am point-blank scared.  If you have never experienced this feeling, then you haven’t worked hard enough and intense enough.  In other words, your workout is too easy, which leads to minimal gains.

To get the most out of your workout, you need to have a certain level of intensity. Now does this mean go intense every time you work out? No, you need a balance and need to know when to take it easy and when to go hard.

People who train at Pat’s Gym do not just show up for their session and go through the motions.  When they come to the gym for an intense session, there should be some anxiety beforehand. We do more than exercise here and expect a lot.

An example of an intense workout comes from the group that I train with on Fridays. I am nervous every time I set up the workout because I know I am going to leave it all at the gym, and I expect the same out of everyone who trains with me. Everyone who participates is pushed to their limit and gasping for air afterward.

Again you should not train like this every day, especially on recovery days. Recovery is just as important–if not more important–than intense days. So remember to take it easy on your recovery days and go tremendously hard on your intense days.