Iron weights - 1.... Powerlifter - 0

Yup...looks like that was the final score alright.....

Weightlifter Knocks Himself Out Cold - Watch more free videos

Has the pendulum swung back the other way again?!

Ugh.....are we back to the "stand on one foot - atop a dyna disc - doing 5 lb. bicep curls" workouts again?! I'm afraid we might be folks. The crazy things I used to see a few years ago are being seen more and more in my gym. There was a time when my gym looked like a training facility for Circue De Soleil wannabes and while it's no where near the old "bubble boy workouts" (my favorite term for some of the infamous Swiss ball 'exercises' I used to see), it seems to me that trainers are starting to reach into the old-school grab bag to keep their clients happy?? BTW, your clients should be happy with RESULTS not with the fact that they dig their workouts because they remind them of Gymboree play dates. It's disturbing that in 2007, a time when we know that unsupported, free weight, compound exercises should be the rule rather than the exception, we are seeing this phenomenon re-appear. Hey, if a guy wants to do 5lb. bicep curls sitting on top of a Swiss ball while his trainer is being paid $80 an hour to spot him (yes he's being SPOTTED in the above pic....), that's his prerogative. Peace.

Mad Hops!

I think that a lot of volleyball vertical jumps are either blown out of proportion or carry somewhat of an Urban Legend appeal. Regardless, Cuba's 6'5 Leonel Marshall has some amazing hops. He has a reported 50in. approach jump...if this is true, the crazy thing is that a 6'5 man probably has a standing reach or 8'6 or so. Add in the 50 in. jump and it puts his touch at about 12'8". Giddy-yup! Enjoy the freak show.

Longer is better.....or so they think

I have been teaching indoor spin cycling classes for about 10 years now. It's an enjoyable activity for me as I am able to get a super-intense workout completed in a relatively short period of time. For years, the classes at my club ranged from 45min. to 60 min.....we even had the occasional 2 to 3 hour marathon classes usually offered on the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas etc. (you know, the big guilt days). I recently started a 30min. "High Intensity Interval Spin" class....I mean we ALL know the effectiveness of anaerobic-style training on fat loss, fitness, even aerobic system benefits right? Uhh, apparently not all of us do... I mean I get one of the best workouts of my life during this 30 min. class, usually dropping more calories than I do in a HARD 45 min. spin class...crawling off my bike as I leave the room. When I look around at the rest of the class, however, I just don't see the effort that I would hope to see in such a short spin class (ahh, the dreaded comfort zone...). To top it off, my 60 min. class is completely full (55+ people) most days....my 30 min. interval class maybe gets a dozen members. People just don't see the value in coming to a class that's "only 30 minutes". It's to bad, we have come a long way in this field when it comes to conditioning concepts.....it just hasn't trickled down to Joe or Jane-Gym goer!

CATZ - Training made SIMPLE!

I am in the process of doing a couple of CHAOS sport-speed DVD's with my good friend and colleague Jim Liston so I made my way down to Pasadena to visit Jim at his new facility. Jim is the brains and the brawn behind the ever-growing CATZ sport training facility franchises that are tearing across the USA. To say that I was impressed with Jim's brand new facility in Pasadena, CA would be a BIG understatement. The last time I was there it was a beat-down, old warehouse and now it is a thing of beauty (see the pics for yourself). The thing that sets Jim's facility (and all the CATZ facilities across the country) from other places is a very simple premise.....no gimmicks, no gadgets, no easy way to get to the top. You have to WORK to reach your goals, the higher the goals, the harder the work. I have known Jim for many, many years now and we have always talked about what it takes to get athletes ready to perform, to get people fit, to get kids healthy. The answer? Hard work. I tell you one thing, if you've ever met Jim you find out one thing very quickly, this is a guy who loves what he does and does what he does with a vengeance. His attitude and energy is contagious and it shows in every single person he come in contact with. Just being in his place, talking with him etc. and you want to get a workout in ASAP! This is why Jim is so successful at what he does...this is also why I am so proud to be associated with Jim and the CATZ way of training!

Concept......

To completion!

Keep your eye out for our 2-DVD set on CHAOS Sport-Speed training. It will be like nothing you have ever seen! Jim and I will be presenting on CHAOS at the NSCA National Convention this July in Las Vegas and I will be taking CHAOS training on the road with the Perform Better 3-day Functional Training Summits!

Good news for the weekend!

This was sent to me from my good friend Mike Roussell (who, BTW, wrote the nutrition chapter in my book). Looks like great news for the weekend ey?! Let's get healthy!

“From a nutritional standpoint, beer contains more protein and B vitamins than wine. The antioxidant content of beer is equivalent to that of wine, but the specific antioxidants are different because the barley and hops used in the production of beer contain flavonoids different from those in the grapes used in the production of wine. The benefits of moderate alcohol consumption have not been generally endorsed by physicians for fear that heavy consumers may consider any message as a permissive license to drink in excess. Discussions with patients regarding alcohol consumption should be made in the context of a general medical examination. There is no evidence to support endorsement of one type of alcoholic beverage over another.”

-Nutritional and health benefits of beer( Am J Med Sci. 2000 Nov;320(5):320-6.)

Pressure on the carotid artery....

Olympic weightlifting coach Bob Takano used to talk about one of the dangers of a loaded bar resting too high on the neck during a Clean catch. The dangers involved the weight of the bar pressing against the carotid artery and cutting off blood circulation.....too much pressure for a period of time and we could get something like this.



This is the first time I have actually seen this happen.....yikes!

Walking the walk in this field.....

Just some random thoughts about experts in this field. The fitness and conditioning world is filled with tons and tons of 'experts'....it really is tough to filter through and find out who is legit and who isn't. My Friend Alwyn Cosgrove made the analogy comparing a fitness expert and a black belt martial artist. I really like this comparison! If you are a legit black belt you will surely be able to stand the test of your expertise, same goes for being a legit fitness expert right? Anyone can say that they are an expert or that they are a blackbelt and the reality is that, for the most part, you will never get called out on it. People will usually take your word for it right? The true test is getting called out on it and walking the walk. 'Fake' fitness experts get exposed when you find that they don't actually train folks, they don't get results, or they don't really make a living in this field. 'Fake' blackbelts probably end up getting their ass kicked.

Here is legendary strength and conditioning "expert" Chuck Berry at work on the USC campus

Power Training Bonus Offer.... FINAL DAYS!

The sales of the special offer I have had for my book have gone MUCH better than I expected! I am actually to the point where I only have a few books left to sell along with the other bonuses. Take advantage of this offer as I will no longer offer it once all of the books are gone! The offer includes:

- A Signed copy of Power Training ($20 value)
-Coach dos.com t-shirt ($20 value)
- Advanced 12-week 'Cardio Strength training' program to go along with your PT workouts ($50 value)
-Free shipping in the U.S.A. ($10 value...extra $10 for locations outside the U.S.A.)

Order your Power Training Bonus Package TODAY! Power Training Special Offer !

Awesome pics by Embry Rucker!

It never ceases to amaze me how good some people are at their chosen crafts. During the writing of my feature article in the Dec. 2007 Men's Health issue (The New Rules of Strength) I not only got to meet a great writer in Joe Kita but also an extrordinary photographer by the name of Embry Rucker. Embry and his assistant drove up to Santa Clarita to spend most of the day shooting photos for this article. It was about 105+ degrees that day and they were in the gym with me and my basketball players, in the weightroom with me and 80+ football players, and outside in the sweltering heat taking shot after shot! Well, Embry ended-up getting some great shots for the article but many of the ones that didn't make the Men's Health article were fantastic. These are from Embry's blog....make sure to check it out as he has some great photos posted both there and on his website @ http://www.embryrucker.com/ .

From Embry's Blog on Oct. 30, 2007.....
the cougars of coach Dos
*I went up to 'College of the Canyons' for Men's Health last month to shoot Coach Dos AKA Robert Dos Remedios, & some of his athletes.... it was a thousand degrees & these guys worked there asses off...
Posted by embry_rucker at 7:39 PM

"The New Rules of Strength"

Well, I had the great fortune to have a feature article written about me and my book called "The New Rules of Strength" in this month's Men's Health (Dec. 2007). It was a great experience as I got to meet and hang out with a great writer by the name of Joe Kita. Joe is a great guy and a hell of a writer having written several best selling books including Another Shot: How I Relived My Life in Less Than a Year which helped land him a visit to the Oprah Winfrey show! Now most of us know that once you get to the Oprah show, you've pretty much arrived at whatever it is that you do!

Anyway, it was a tremendous honor to have an article written about me by such a great writer.....here it is!

http://www.menshealth.com/cda/article.do?site=MensHealth&channel=fitness&category=fitness.tips&conitem=f5a7dd1c3d006110VgnVCM10000013281eac____&page=1

Internet Trainers Part DEUX!

Ugh! Here we go again.... so a while back a trainer from Canada decided to email a good friend of mine to tell him that he was too skinny and too fat to give training advice and that multiple bouts of fighting cancer was no excuse for his physical state. Being the person that I am, I emailed this trainer and basically asked him if he was A) psychotic B) stupid or C) a little of both. It turns out that he was a lot of both. I was forwarded his blog from a couple of months after and the guy calls me out by name as 'randomly' emailing him one day to tell him that he had a chicken-neck and birth-giving hips (okay, okay so I did throw a few jabs at him...) and that I said something about celebrity trainers not knowing anything. First off, I would NEVER email someone for no reason and say something like that. Secondly, I never actually called him a celebrity trainer since I don't believe that training one of the Olsen Twins would actually classify you as a trainer. I mean, how would one of those sessions go? "Hey Ashley/Mary Kate, eat this sandwich and don't move around too much....gotta get ready for swimsuit season". Anyway, I digress, the thing that this really comes down to is the whole idea of throwing stones when you live in a glass house. I mean, are you really going to call someone out on his physique while you have an incredibly awkward one yourself? (and DIDN'T have to go through 2 massive bouts of chemo...) This is why I think there is actually something not right with this guy....he goes out of his way to email someone to tell him that cancer is no big deal (and at the same time also talked smack about Valerie Waters, a REAL celebrity trainer who actually knows what she's doing) in the process. Why? I would normally say that there is some other underlying issue but there isn't....this dude is just a jackass....there's a lot of them out there folks. Welcome to the World Wide Web!!!!

Damn you Mike Boyle..Damn you to HELL!

Okay, so many of you know that Mike Boyle has taken his existing website that was chock-full of great articles, info, forums etc. and made it into a pay site. So what has the response been like? Well, for me, my first reaction was "It's about time". So many of us have used Mike's information, cited his articles, prodded him for information in the past...for FREE. Why would anyone scoff at the fact that Mike has finally decided that his information is now actually worth $?! Believe it or not people have scoffed....and boy do they continue to scoff. Well, I think that this is actually Mike Boyle's fault! Yup, I said it....Mike has spoiled all of us into believing that great, sound, effective training advice is something that you get for FREE. Damn you Mike! Damn YOU!

Okay, seriously, let's analyze this shall we? I believe that the cost for a subscription to www.strengthcoach.com is $67 ....A YEAR. Yeah guys....$67 a year....$5.58 per month.... $.18 per day. Damn you Boyle! What do you think we're all made out of money or something?! Where the hell am I gonna come up with frickin $.18 per day?! If I spend that $.18 cents on Mike's stupid website how will I afford my $4.25 Starbucks iced cafe latte (soy of course) each weekday morning? Yeah, the latte that costs me $4.25 each day...$93 each month....and $1122 each year?! Oh wait! What about that $1.19 pack of gum I get every week?? That strengthcoach.com membership might mean that I might have to give up my $62 yearly gum allowance.

Okay the sarcasm is getting to me. Bottom line.....I went onto strengthcoach.com the other day (for the first time) just to explore. Within about 30 min. I had printed 3 training spreadsheets, wrote about 4 pages of notes, and got two new exercises that I implemented THAT DAY. Hmmm, would that be worth $.18 for that day? What was that worth to me in terms of $? Well, I have paid over $300 to attend a conference and got MUCH less usable info than that. You can't even put a price on something like this...to be able to get info that is usable right now is incredible. Even to find a little way to tweak an exercise so that you can now implement it with your athletes/clients is invaluable. Sure we can all say that we can search and find free stuff all over the 'www' for free but that is really hit and miss. I have read comments from folks that have said that they can just email professionals in this field and get the answers to all of their questions for free. Really? I get about 20-30 emails per day from people all over the world (who don't know me) asking me for advice, information, programs etc. and I couldn't possibly spend the time to answer and help everyone individually (at least in any sort of detail). I wonder who these 'professionals' are that have all day to answer questions from people they don't know on the Internet? Sure, I have a great circle of friends in this industry that I can rely on for answers to my questions but I don't believe that just anyone who emails these guys would get the same answers as me. Does that make sense?

Maybe it's just me.....I love to learn new stuff, I enjoy reading about how others train their athletes/clients, I don't mind spending money.....hell, I spend more the $67 a week on beer alone and lastly for those who scoff at paying $.18 a day for a surplus of information (that is so large that you couldn't possibly read through it all) I have a couple of thoughts....

#1 You should probably go get a job.
#2 If you are training people for a living, you might want to change jobs as you aren't doing it very well (if you can't afford $.18 a day).
#3 You are probably one of those guys who already knows it all so you wouldn't be reading this blog anyway.



Peace out! DOS

P.S BTW, I am almost out of books so my MH Power Training Special Offer is just about to end (so do someone up for Christmas will ya?!)

NEVER give up!

Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.

-Michael Jordan-

Okay, want to see what can happen when you flat-out never give up? Check this out....simply AMAZING!

http://www.d3football.com/dailydose/2007/10/28/trinity-millsaps-and-the-must-see-moment?loc=interstitialskip

Wow! Talk about athletic ability!

Found this video a few days ago. I am completely awestruck at this girl's ability to change direction and moreso her ability to decelerate. This is a great demo of CHAOS Training and the application to sport performance!

My weekend to remember!

Just got back from my weekend up in Eugene Oregon where I got to see my Cal Golden Bears pull off an amazing win in one of the most hostile college football environments in the country, Autzen Stadium!. On top of that, I got to hang out with my former college strength coach and mentor Robin "the Messiah" Pound (who lives in Portland) and shoot the shit about old times.

Got to be a part of ESPN Gameday with Corso, Herbstreet, Fowler and about 3ooo+ Oregon Duck fans bright and early on gameday....no worries, though, found some great CAL fans to enjoy the game with!

So what did I come away with? Hmmm...let's see. Well, first off, the University of Oregon has as much of a college environment as any SEC or Big-10 school. Second, CAL is pretty good football team that will give USC everything if can handle and then some come November 10th. 3rd, Desean Jackson IS all that and a bag of Doritos and 4th, I was once again reminded why I love college football so frickin much! Giddy-YUP!

GO BEARS!

Men's Health Fit Schools

My friend and editor at Men's Health Scott Quill has started a really great program to fight childhood obesity and improve Physical Education in our schools. As a former K-12 Physical Educator, I can attest to the lack of activity our youngsters are being exposed to each and every day. Please support this new program!

www.MensHealth.com/FitSchools

Mission Statement:

The Men's Health FitSchools Initiative helps fight childhood obesity by improving physical education. With support from fit-minded companies and leading youth fitness experts, Men's Health provides the resources and information necessary to ensure students a healthy, active life.

5 Principles of MH FitSchools:
1. Help schools build a safe, inclusive, and accepting environment for physical activity.
2. Make fitness a fun and engaging experience that kids will look forward to.
3. Introduce kids to a variety of activities, so every child has the opportunity to enjoy exercise.
4. Give kids the knowledge to improve every minute outside school, and throughout the rest of their lives.
5. Inspire schools and communities to take control of their health, and work together to find solutions that will help at-risk children.

RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE!!!

Okay, so I'm not talking about these bad-ass mofos right here....errr, I'm talking about SPIN CLASS RAGE! Yup, it was only a matter of time before some guy lost his mind in that sweaty box filled with 50 steaming bodies that we call a Spin Studio. Oh, and lose it HE DID! Check this out...

Broker accused of 'spin rage' at gym
By PAT MILTON, Associated Press Writer Tue Sep 18, 10:57 PM ET

NEW YORK - A Wall Street stock broker has been charged with assault after he became enraged during a cycling class at a posh health club and slammed a fellow member and his bike against a wall, according to a complaint.

Christopher Carter, 44, a broker at Maxim Investments Group, was at Equinox gym taking a spin class, a high-impact workout using stationary bikes. He apparently became so fed up by member Stuart Sugarman's hooting and grunting during the workout that he picked up Sugarman and his bike and hurled them into a wall.

"This is spin rage," said Samuel L. Davis, Sugarman's attorney.
Sugarman, 48, a Manhattan hedge-fund manager, suffered a back injury that required surgery to correct a herniated disc pressing on his spinal cord, Davis said.
Carter was charged with a misdemeanor assault and was released on his own recognizance Monday, according to the Manhattan prosecutor's office. A criminal complaint charges that Carter caused a back injury to Sugarman.

Carter's attorney Michael Farkas denied the claim. "We intend to vigorously fight this charge," Farkas said. "We await the truth to come out, which will be a vastly different story than Mr. Sugarman's."

The incident took place last month at the Upper East Side gym, which is frequented by celebrities and wealthy business executives, Davis said. Sugarman, who weighs about 200 pounds, was enjoying the "euphoric experience" of cycling and was making noises to increase his high, according to Davis.

"Carter yelled over to him to shut up," Davis said. "My client yells back: 'This is spin class. If you don't like it, leave. Stop being such a baby,'" he said. With that, Carter walked over to the bike, lifted it into the air and flipped it over, Davis said. Sugarman got back on the bike and continued the class but stopped when he began to feel pain, Davis said. He called 911 from his cell phone and was taken to a hospital.

Can you just FEEL the hardcore intensity here?!?! Can't we all just get along?

Men's Health Power Training!

The book has officially launched folks! Should be available in all bookstores and amazon is shipping out all the pre-orders (thanks to all who have been waiting patiently for the book release!).

I did a interview with Mike Roussell on his Maxout radio show about the book...check it out!
http://www.maxoutradio.com/podcast/maxoutradio017.mp3

Pick up a copy of the book from Amazon here!
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1594865841?tag=coados-20&camp=14573&creative=327641&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=1594865841&adid=1MXQYC8BAQP3V0TSHF6V

Hang on while I get this call......

Do I even need to say anything??

Ahhh....gotta love the underdog!

Know what stadium this is? Okay, don't hurt yourself....it's Kidd Brewer Stadium on the proud campus of Applachian State University in Boone, NC. 18,000 seats of raving fanatics for the reigning two-time Division IAA champion Mountaineers.

Okay, you know what stadium this is? Much easier right? It's the BIG HOUSE in Ann Arbor, MI @ The University of Michigan. Home to approx. 108,000 lunatic Wolverine fans and also the location of the greatest upset in Michigan history last weekend as The Mountaineers defeated the Wolverines 34-32. For those of you who don't really get the significance of this victory/defeat (whichever side you're on...) let me put it this way. Never, I'll repeat, NEVER has a Division 1AA football team EVER defeated a ranked Division I team in the HISTORY of NCAA football. To go a step further, Applalachian State has 45 scholarships, perhaps a handful of legit D1 guys on this squad (mostly D1 bouncebacks), and has a yearly budget that is probably on par with what the University of Michigan spends on their MARCHING BAND during ONE GAME WEEKEND. Moral of the story? "It aint the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog". Hats off to the underdogs!

Up next for Appalachian State.....a sold out home game against Lenoir-Rhyne. WHO??? Yikes!Probably what the Michigan fans were saying before last Saturday's kickoff huh.....

The Entire Reason we use Olympic Lifts with our athletes....

I have always weighed-out the teaching-time to benefit ratio when it came to using the 'full' lifts like power cleans and power snatches (and their variations) vs. a simple jump shrug from the hang position or a clean or snatch pull from the floor. Well, I then came across this study that compared power outputs of hang cleans vs. jump shrugs.

http://www.nsca-lift.org/Abstracts/detabs.asp?id=507

This is a pretty significant finding as jump shrugs take VERY LITTLE teaching time for most folks. It also makes the point that we don't need to 'catch' the weight to get the explosive benefits of many Oly lit variations. I emailed the primary author (who is a former college S&C coach) and he said he decided to look at this comparison since he did a lot of jump shrugs due to lack of teaching time and many athletes who just could not get proficient at the full movt. He said he thought the power outputs would be similar but never would have thought that the Jump Shrugs would actually result in greater numbers. Food for thought...especially if you are training individuals who might tend to be a bit 'motor-challenged' at times!

Is it ever really too late????

This is an amazing story of a 59 year old attempting to make a Div III football squad (that's NOT him in the pic on the left BTW). All indications point to him making the team quite easily as his position coach (linebackers) has stated Mike Flynt is the biggest, strongest linebacker he has on this squad. Mike is a former Div I strength coach who still benches over 400lbs. and is put together pretty well. Mike played on the Permian High School 1965 (a year before I was born...) state championship team (from "Friday Night lights" fame) and went onto play ball at the Univ. of Arkansas before getting into some trouble and transferring to Sul Ross State University in Apline, TX (where he got into some more trouble....seems Mike liked to get into a few scraps now and then). Anyway, this is a great story and tribute to the human spirit (and body!). I can't imagine banging with my own football athletes at the age of 41! It is believed that, if he plays in a game, Mike will be the oldest person to ever play college football by around 18 years or so!

Flynt, 59, making comeback with Sul Ross State University
Associated Press
Updated: August 22, 2007, 12:24 PM ET

ALPINE, Texas -- Mike Flynt was drinking beer and swapping stories with some old football buddies a few months ago when he brought up the biggest regret of his life: Getting kicked off the college team before his senior year. One of his pals asked why he didn't do something about it? So Flynt started a comeback -- at age 59. Flynt has returned to Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas, 37 years after he left -- and six years before he goes on Medicare. And, he's has made the roster of the Division III Lobos and could be in action as soon as Sept. 1. Flynt enrolled in graduate school so he can take advantage of his final semester of Division III eligibility. Flynt is giving new meaning to being a college senior. After all, he's a grandfather. He's eight years older than his coach and has two kids older than any of his teammates. His youngest child just started at the University of Tennessee. Flynt's position is still being determined, but he used to play linebacker. Wherever he lines up, just getting into a game likely will make him the oldest player in college football history. Neither the NCAA or NAIA keeps such a statistic, but research hasn't turned up anyone older than mid-40s. And with around 200 pounds on a 5-10 frame, about the only visible difference from his playing days is a shaved head. He's in tremendous shape for his age because he's made a living out of working out. A longtime strength and conditioning coach at Nebraska, Oregon and Texas A&M, Flynt has spent the last several years selling the Powerbase training system he invented. He recently taught it to some of the military's special operations forces, keeping up with them in their workouts.

On a similar note, my hero Randy Couture will be defending his UFC heavyweight title this weekend in Las Vegas @ UFC 74..... at the tender age of 44! I will be there to witness greatness.....

Mark Henry and the Famous Thomas Inch Dumbbell performance!

This is the legendary inch dumbbell performance by Mark Henry. For those of you who are not familiar with the Thomas Inch DB, it weights about 173lbs. and has about a 2.5in. diameter handle. I have tried to pick one up off the floor and could not break the weight from floor contact....it would just roll to the side. Watch Mike play with this thing...the most impressive things is how he just picks it up, walks it over to the table, and sets it down!

Kipping vs. Pull-ups

Regardless of the fact that thee girls are kipping rather than performing "pull-ups", it's still HARD WORK. I challenge just about any guy to match these numbers... Kip or No-Kip!

Internet forum 'Haterz'....

Man, does this shit ever end? Did you know that there are entire populations of people that hang out on internet forums, piling up thousands and thousands of meaningless posts all in an attempt to belittle fitness 'experts' on the www? Notice that I have experts in quotes since, as I have said many times before, many of these gurus don't actually train anyone. While I may not dig much of what many of these experts have to say, I find it hard to justify taking time out of my day to track theses 'experts' posts, read their articles, check there blogs and then go back to some circle jerk forum to talk shit about it. Yup, this is what these losers do folks. A good friend of mine emailed me his take on these ass-hats....I think it about nails it on the head.

There's a slew of internet fitness/nutrition "geniuses" that slither around the internet popping into message boards to show how smart they are. They spend a lot of time doing it because they desperately want to be heard, but the real world simply doesn't care what they have to say.

Damn, that's perfect isnt' it?! Nobody gives a shit what they have to say....nobody guys. Keep reading internet 'research' articles, skim your functional anatomy books for all the right words, post your pathetic, sub-par vids on youtube.com....it means shit. You're still just a poser....a wannabe.....a bleacher bum who is jealous of real-life professionals. Hey, keep posting though...who knows, someday, having 5,000+ posts on 5 different sites might actually result in monetary gains. Maybe someday you'll get the respect of real people, not interet forumites who won't even post their real names. Okay, maybe not.

As I said before, it is flattering yet about as Buffalo Bill-creepy as it gets to know that people are tracking my every move, my posts, my blog, my forum statistics....get a life geniuses. Gotta go take a shower now..ewww. BTW, it's nothing new folks. How do you get attention? Well, you can be great at something and get praise or you can be the jerk-off in the back of the classroom that keeps interrupting class and making crude remarks....hmmm, wonder which ones these guys are?

P.S. Watch how fast excerpts from this blog post will appear on some dos-bashing web forum thread. Ha Ha!

P.S.S. Don't forget that this week Alwyn Cosgrove will be coming onto to my forum to answer your questions in the Q&A area. Be sure to come by, sign-up (if you haven't already), and post your questions for AC to answer! Coachdos.com Discussion board

Football Season is getting CLOSE!!!

This is why college football is the best sport on the planet!! University of Wisconsin fans doing their FAMOUS end of the 3rd quarter rendition of "Jump Around"!

It's all about the atmosphere guys!!

Good enough to get Blogged TWICE!

Okay, this is not a blog of mine, it's from Alwyn Cosgrove's blog. I just had to post it again since it is a CLASSIC blog post. I only hope that you folks out there realize that so much of the fitness and conditioning 'programs' found on the internet these days are complete bullshit.....

Do the math...
I've pointed out in seminars and articles before that there are a surprisingly scary number of individuals writing program sin books and articles that quite simply have not ever been performed by real people in real world situations.One I usually point out is featured in a "national" manual for a personal training certification.The exercise is Multi Planar Lunges and is performed for 3 sets of 25 reps each plane at a 422 tempo with a 90s rest.For those of you unfamiliar with the terminology - 422 means an 8 second rep.8 seconds x 25 reps = 200s200s + 90s (rest) = 290s per set3 sets = 870sBoth legs = 1740sThat's 29 minutes of lunges each plane! There are 3 planes! That would be 87 minutes of lunges!Bear in mind that this is only one of 13 exercises in that program....I also saw another "great" one the other day. This routine had beginners doing a chest and back workout that would consist, in total, of 35 work sets. The average rest period was 90s between sets. If you added up all the rest periods as prescribed in the program- they would add up to 54.5 mins.The author also points out that you should only work out for an hour. So you would have to get your 35 work sets done in 5 1/2 mins. Or about 9.5 seconds per set. With an average set of 10 reps in this program, you'd have to be moving some! Or using machines to do your exercises.Time machines.This is an example of what I call "hot-dog" programming. Looks good, lots of people like them, and they are quite popular. But when you start to look closely at what they are actually made of...And they come from "trainers" who write articles and don't, or have never, actually trained anyone.--AC www.alwyncosgrove.com

Ps - another quick BS indicator - anyone who thinks they have nutrition figured out to 1/100th of a gram of carb intake per pound of body weight. I'd love to see the data they have collected on clients who took 0.56g per lb instead of 0.54g before deciding what was too much and what was too little...

BTW, a reminder that Cosgrove will be on my forum answering your questions in the Q&A section so come over and post your questions for him this week! http://coachdos.activeboard.com/

Q & A with the Conditioning PROS !

Hey Folks, I just started a new deal on my discussion forum called "Featured Q & A with the Conditioning PROS". I will announce a guest expert and Visitors will be given a chance to post any and all questions they can think of to pick their brains.

Our first expert will be my good friend and fitness training legend Alwyn Cosgrove. Head over to the forum and post your questions....AC will be answering them in a week or so. He has promised to answer ALL of your questions! In addition, I have done a mini e-interview with Alwyn that I will post prior to him coming on to answer the questions. BTW, I have been updating my website by adding articles, pictures, services and my video clip page will be up and running very soon! www.coachdos.com

Dem Scots LOVE their pubs!

Thought this was one of the funniest things have seen in a while. I guess those crazy Scots have their priorities straight! Thanks to Alwyn for emailing me this pic.....this pic was taken as the terrorist bombings were going off at Glasgow Airport. The caption reads "Oblivious: In the shadow of death, passengers enjoy drinks and take phone snaps as a plume of smoke looms outside"....and I thought I loved my beer! How do the Scottish react to terrorist attempts in their country? This about sums it up!

Those CRAZY Complexes!

My friend Alwyn Cosgrove has a great article on Complexes for Fat loss up on the t-nation site....great stuff! We cover some complexes in our Combination Lifts DVD but we are now working on a new DVD that will cover complexes exclusively. Keep your eye out for that along with another DVD we are working on that will go over our favorite KILLER Tabata Protocol exercises.

So you think YOU'RE fit?!?

The amazing Annie of Crossfit fame....pure BEAST. I believe that that is her newborn in the background of one of the camera angles. Unbelievable...

Ahhhh...the safety of a Smith Machine!

NOT. Saw this on Charles Staley's site about a week ago. Looks like the poor guy is also standing on some sort of angled platform???

Do you need the best equipment & facilities to get results? NAH!

I was thinking about this the other day. Some of the best strength and conditioning is going on at places you've never heard of. Universities, high schools, and gyms (and even a lowly JUCO) that are not "big time". A couple of years ago I visited the Hungarian weightlifting training hall and got a chance to sit down with their head coach Imre Szuga to pick his brain. Looking around the room I thought to myself, 'wow, I have better equipment than this!'. It was then that I truly understood that the programming, effort, and teaching trumps everything else. Who cares if you have the latest Powerlift squat racks and glute hams? So what if my platforms are made out of plywood from Home Depot rather than from custon stressed hickory wood. My success here is not based on having the best equipment or being at the "big time" school....it's based on the fact that we teach and train harder than anybody else.

Here are a couple of pics of the Hungarian Training Hall......FAR from fancy but with world class results. The Girl with me in the 3rd pic is Gyongi Lickerez.....at the age of 15 Gyongi set a Jr. world record with a 100kg (220lb.) snatch and a 122.5kg (270lb.) clean and Jerk in the 148lb. weight class (for reference sake the American records are only a couple of pounds more than this....she did these lifts @ the age of 15!).

Wont' find this glute-ham in any fancy equipment catalogs!

Moral of the story? Just DO WORK already! Great thing happen to those who work HARD.

Understanding Bloggers....

As I mentioned in my very first blog post, I'm still trying to figure out the whole idea of 'blogging'. From my point of view, I see it as a way to talk about things related to my field, things that are being talked about and discussed on my web site, products that I think are great etc....basically things I know something about. What I don't understand is why people would blog about shit that they and their 3 friends who visit their blog talk about. Isn't that what email is for? Who really wants to hear what you're thinking about when you walk down the isle at the supermarket? I mean do outsiders really want to know how dysfunctional your marraige is or that you are 53 and have no family and friends and that you actively maintain 4 different blogs at one time? Giddy-yap geniuses. The entertaining part of this particular blog is that I can get berated and called obscenties by a guy who would cross the street if I was walkng down the same sidewalk as him. I think we call that being an 'internet badass' right? Anyway, keep lurking my forum guys.....you might learn something.

Have I really become such a huge part of these individual's lives that they would actually create a blog devoted to calling me an asshole? I guess I am.....and in a way I guess I'm flattered (well, and creeped out at the same time). Why do I feel like my picture is on this guy's refrigerator right now?? Can you say Buffalo Bill?? Ugh.....

Enough on this topic.....let's get back to fitness tomorrow!

BJ Penn is BAAAAAAACK!

For those of us who caught the BJ Penn vs. Jens Pulver fight on Saturday night, we finally got to see BJ Penn back in SHAPE! I'm SO glad that BJ decided to hire a strength & conditioning coach to work his ass so that we would have a chance to see the 'prodigy' back to old form. Had BJ been in shape when he fought St. Pierre and Hughes, I think he would have EASILY won both fights. I hope BJ decides to stay in the 155's for a while to win the title and clean house a bit. I don't think anyone (including Sean Sherk) can beat him when he's in shape....anybody. BJ is the perfect example of an unbelievable fighter who was missing something very simple......strength and conditioning. Add that into the mix and watch out world.

Early in his career, BJ was considered one of it not THE greatest MMA fighter in the world (pound for pound). There is no indication that can't get back to the top of the mountain again. Keep training brah!

www.coachdos.com for all your strength conditioning needs!

Olympic lifting at the HIGHEST level

There is no doubt that the Chinese have taken Olynpic weightlifting to the NEXT level. The women, in particular, have dominated like nothing ever seen before. Here are some great training pics of some of the best athletes on the planet...


How's this for a posterior core exercise?!


Who says you cant get JACKED from the Oly lifts?!


Did I mention that they are all incredibly flexible...




And ATHLETIC????



For a look at an amazing photo album of these athletes go here! WOW.....

Good One!!

Okay, so this is sort of another rant but what the hell.....it's time.

What is it with fitness forums these days? How is it that the number of posts all of a sudden correlates with your fitness I.Q.? Most of you will know what I am talking about. You know, the car mechanic, computer programmer, realtor etc. who likes to workout and spends 4 hours per day online @ T-nation, Bodybuilding.com, or other fitness forums. I got no problem with you doing what you want in life but what on earth makes these folks feel that they are qualified to not only dispense training information but to JUDGE products and services put out by ACTUAL fitness experts?? Because you have 5,000+ posts?? Because you 'research' any and all things fitness on the internet?? FYI, I don't go down to UCLA and critique the treatment techniques of their cancer doctors nor would I go to McDonalds and tell the kid in the back how to shake the fries. What a joke. I think the funniest thing is that when an actual fitness expert, in an attempt to qualify themselves, states their experience and/or education these 'internet experts' are always quick to say things like "well, it's not about your formal education in exercise science" or "years of experience in the field is overrated" etc. Isn't it strange how those who poo-poo education and experience are the ones that don't have either??

Myself and many other conditioning specialists have gone through years and years of rigorous academics along with thousands of hours of hands-on, in the trenches WORK. You want to offend me? Just try to say that you are on the same training level due to your forum posts or god forbid your blog (whole different blog post that I will save for later). You want to offend me further? Critique my upcoming book when it comes out and tell me what's wrong with my programming.....what's wrong with my writing style.....what's wrong with my font size and margins. Yeah, getting crititqued by someone who hasn't the foggiest idea of not only what I do at work every day of my life but of the book editing and artistic design process....GOOD ONE.

I really have a love-hate attitude toward the internet. On one hand it is an unbelievable resource to learn, share, and even make a few bucks. On the other hand, it has spawned a couple of loathesome creatures....the internet "training guru" who doesn't really 'train' anyone and, for lack of a better term, the "forum bleacher bum". You know the guy that talks shit from the stands while the pros are doing their work. We all know that the bleacher bum would do this better or would have done that differently right?? Right.

If you want to read about real-world conditioning, discuss things on a regulated forum etc. come visit http://www.coachdos.com/ . See you there!

Why would a TRAINER need a workout made by another trainer?!

I used to feel this way back in the day....until I fell into sort of a rut in my training. Things just seemed to be going stale and, to be honest, I was having a hard time getting motivated to go to the gym. Sure, I know all the tricks as far as unloading, changing exercises, undulating your cyles blah-blah-blah but in this case, I was just tired of listening to ME.

This is where my friend Alwyn Cosgrove comes in (no, that's not him pictured above...). Not only is this Shrek-sounding dude one of my good pals, he also happens to be perhaps the best in the business. yeah, that's right... THE BEST. Alwyn has once told me that he never writes his own training programs. My reaction was "HUH?!?!". This thought had never before come into my mind, I mean, why would a guy like me ever need help writing a training program??? Well, to make a long story short, I had Alwyn write a program for me and it did wonders for both my body and my mind. There really is something different about doing a program that someone else has created not only JUST FOR YOU but from another perspective. It was a great opportunity for me to take a step back and see how Alwyn's mind would work based on my goals and abilities. For the next few workouts, I actually looked forward to each new workout!

So what's the moral of the story? Well, basically it's that we all need to step back sometimes and realize that we may benefit from someone else's expertise and perspective. Doing so made me do some exercises that I never would have even attempted before! To see some of Alwyn Cosgrove's products, visit his website. Also, if you want to try a personalized training program based on YOUR individual goals, shoot me an email and see if this might be worthwhile for you!

Beware of the Olympic Lifts....You might just improve your performance!

This is actually something that I have discussed on numerous occasions. It is from the a H.I.T. training website who's stated mission was to 'debunk the Olympic lifting establishment'....it doesn't seem to exist anymore BTW.

Attention: Risk is Real! We received an e-mail this week that we feel stamps an exclamation point on the issue of weight room safety. As we have said before, risk in strength training is inherent, however we feel that a coach can reduce the risk by installing a fundamentally safe program. In the past, coaches have discredited our stance on safety claiming that athletes have never been hurt while performing quick lifts under their supervision. We remind coaches that just because a loaded bar does not fall on an athlete in the weight room he can still sustain an injury. Low back injury is real despite the fact that the coach can not see it. Any coach can identify the injury in the weight room such as a plate falling on a kid's foot. However, the coach does not see the athlete squirm in pain as he tries to put his socks on in the morning after a set of heavy power cleans . Coaches, the risk is increased and the injuries are real when working with quick lifts. Due to the sensitivity of this letter the names have been withheld. Coaches we just ask that you place yourself in this athlete's shoes. Could this football player been an asset to his team without performing quick lifts? We'll never know.

Hi, Coach Rody I returned to College at the age of 29 to play football for [a competitive N.A.I.A. Team. Things were going great until I herniated a disk in my lower back doing clean and jerks in our 2000 spring strength training program. It ended my football career. I have been recommended for surgery. The reason I write you is because our strength coach runs a complete Olympic lifting program. He feels that it is superior for building strength for athletes. Before I even knew what Olympic lifting was, I ran a 4.48 forty and verticle jumped 35+ (among the top three on the team). I also had very strong lower and upper body strength.I think this coach is dangerous and I have heard several of our athletes complaining about injuries from his methods. In fact, many of the athletes lift at other gyms to gain strength and size because the strength coach (who is an avid Olympic fan) will not let them do exercises like the bench press [in the college's weight room] .One of many examples of how risky this man is: he has all returning football players do a one rep max of the clean and jerk at the very beginning of two-a-days football camp. It is amazing to me the administration has not acknowledged this unsafe behavior. I have heard he was let go at other institutions, possibly because of this.... Our national champ track coach (also a football coach for 30 years) rejects [this coach's] program but the football coaches seem to be naive about it. Is there any advice you can give me to help expose this risky program and present a stronger case to the administration. Sincerely, Steve

Steve, First, we wish you the best of luck in your surgery and recovery. Secondly, there is a ton of research pointing to the problems that you have addressed. We have mentioned in previous articles, books by Matt Brzycki, that are great for their bibliographies alone. You should consult these sources before making a presentation. Avoid being confrontational, as this mind-set will hinder rather than help your cause. Simply present the facts, safety concerns, and strength gains that can be made without quick lifts. Keep in mind, Olympic lifting coaches are not the enemy. Olympic lifting is a wonderful sport and thus the lifts have their place. Like you, we simply feel they serve no useful purpose in the realm of training traditional athletes. The risk outweighs the benefits. Good luck.

First of all, where is all this 'research' that shows that the Olympic lifts are more dangerous than H.I.T. - style lifting? I have NEVER.....I repeat, NEVER had one single athlete ever get hurt performing an Olympic lift variation of any kind. Now let's do the math, it's not like I just started using these lifts...we're talking 150-200+ athletes per day for many, many years folks (using Olympic lifts every single session). I am always amazed that the folks that know nothing about the Olympic lifts are the ones that bad-mouth the hell out of them. As far as the athlete in the letter goes, I would look at a few things first. #1 he had no previous experience in the Oly lifts and might have been lifting beyond his abilities. #2 I might also question this individual's core strength since this is an often neglected area (especially posterior chain) in many bodybuilder-type strength programs. #3 being a 29 year old is not exactly an advantage when coming back into the realm of the 18-22 year old man.

I thought I would break-down one of the site's "position stands" on "common sense"...

Use Common-Sense Coaches have long instructed athletes to perform exercises quickly thinking that this will be best to increase the athletes' power. The fact is that the faster the repetition the less productive in terms of developing power and explosiveness. It is obvious that if the weight can be moved quickly then the load is too light to develop significant power. (This website) also finds it very interesting that none of these Olympic lifting advocates believe that contant muscle tension is an important factor in developing power. This ensures that the muscles are doing the work. Why is it that these coaches stay away from this issue? Another issue that we have addressed before and will address again is the issue of safety in a strength training program. Studies do indicate the reps that are performed slow produce more force output and therefore more power. That being the case, wouldn't the slower method be the choice for our athletes? This is another issue that (this website) finds incredibly surprising. We receive e-mails from coaches saying that the Olympic movements and their variations are actually more safe than the slow movements.

Well, to be honest, I can remember an athlete getting hurt performing bench press and squats but like I said, never while performing an Olympic lift variation. I find it amazing that the H.I.T. folks insist on using the power formula yet only ever address the amount of load being moved...what about the time factor. Let's remember that virtually all sport activity is #1 momentum driven and #2 dependant on TIME. No such thing as slow speed folks. The line about a weight being too light if you can move it fast is also pretty funny....hmmm, let's watch Hossein Rezazadeh of Iran move 580lbs. about 5 feet in about a 1/2 of a second. Oh yeah, that weight is too light to develop any power right?

In fact, let's do a power comparison right now...let's compare the world record bench press and a single power clean rep from one of my volleyball girls (during a SET).

Power = strength / time....OR mass x distance divided by time

World record bench press:

1,010lbs....moved approx. 1 foot....takes approx. 4 seconds = 252.5 power units.

Volleyball athlete power clean (single rep of a set of 3):

152lbs....moved approx. 5 feet.....takes approx. .8 seconds = 950 power units.

**Note: try doing the math on the 580lb. Clean & Jerk!**

Folks, force production is great and the reality is that any sound strength and conditioning coach knows that there need to be MANY tools in his/her toolbox so there is a place for strength-based exercises. The problem is that TIME is a huge factor in sport performance. Sure, force production is great but if you can't produce it FAST ENOUGH, the play is over. Take a look at this graph. It compares three groups, a strength training group, an explosive training group, and a group that did NOTHING. At 200 milliseconds (the time in which most critical athletic movements occur), the power training group is blowing everyone away. The untrained group is right with the strength training group at this time period...remember that they did NO TRAINING AT ALL!

The site no longer seems to be in service which just might be as well since you might actually get dumber from reading some of this 'logic'. You won't, however, get dumber reading the articles and participating in the discussion board @ my website!

How's THIS for a "core" exercise?!

Okay, have you guys ever seen 'stand-up paddle boarding on a long board? It's pretty impressive to say the least, in fact, big wave legend, Laird Hamilton recently completed an amazing trek from London to Dover on a bike then crossed the English Channel via Stand-up paddle board! All this to raise awareness for autisim and an upcoming film on Autism titled "Beautiful Son" by Don and Julianne King.

It took the 6'3 215+lb. Hamilton 5.5 hours to bike the 148 kilometers from London to Dover then, after an hour and a half rest, he took off on the 43 kilometer paddle-board adventure in stormy and rough conditions on the English Channel. He completed the crossing in 6 hours. Oh, and he then covered the 235 kilometer distance from Le Torquet to Paris on his bike in 8.5 hours....why? Because he can.

So why my sudden facination with Laird Hamilton and his Paddle-boarding? Well, I recently read a short article by Jason Winn (an ex-athlete of mine who now owns BonkBreaker energy bars) and how he trains each week with Laird, Don Wildman (Founder of Bally Total Fitness, 9 time Ironman), Chris Chelios (Detroit Red Wings, 23 year veteran), Timmy C (Base player for Rage Against the Machine, AudioSlave), among others. One of the things they do religiously is stand-up paddle board as they feel that it is one of the best core training exercises on the planet. I don't doubt it for a second. I saw a guy doing this out in front of the beach house where we are staying and it looked like WORK just staying up on the board....can you imagine crossing the English Channel on one of these!?!? I officially have a new fitness hero.

Check out the world's best big wave surfer in action!