The Legend of Qui-Gon Jinn

Qui-Gon Jinn vs. Darth Maul

           In the era before the Empire, there was a noble Jedi named Qui-Gon Jinn. He was a Jedi Master who was an ambassador of peace and a trainer of many young padawans. In the famed Theed Palace, Qui-Gon and his apprentice Obi-Wan fought an astonishing lightsaber battle with a vicious Sith Lord named Darth Maul. During the fight, Obi-Wan was separated from the two and Qui-Gon engaged the Sith Lord alone. When the two foes were separated by an energy barrier, Qui-Gon knelt and meditated to restore his essence while Maul paced back and forth like a caged animal. When the energy barrier dropped, the two battled once more and, unfortunately, Maul was the superior combatant.

           Shortly thereafter, Obi-Wan returned to the fray and was almost bested by Maul as well. However, overconfidence and arrogance proved to be the dark lord’s undoing. Maul is slain, tumbles into the abyss, and Obi-Wan races to his fallen master. Even in death, Qui-Gon’s final words are for Obi-Wan to train young Anakin Skywalker as Qui-Gon believes he is the chosen one who will bring balance to the Force. Qui-Gon is correct. Anakin is the chosen one but it takes a full generation for the wise Jedi to be proven correct.

           Now, you may be reading this going, “Ryan, how does this have anything to do with weight lifting?” Like always, stick with me. I am building to something here.

Qui-Gon in meditation

           Qui-Gon Jinn was an ambassador, an emissary, a negotiator, a mentor, a teacher, and a combatant only when all other avenues were exhausted. Darth Maul was trained for one purpose: to kill Jedi. On that fateful day, Qui-Gon was bested by a superior combatant. There is absolutely no shame in that. The guy was just better. But even in his death, Qui-Gon was selfless and thinking of others.

           Maul meets his end because is silently gloating and lording over Obi-Wan Kenobi, just waiting for the next kill. He is overconfident and he dies because of his arrogance. We see Qui-Gon laid to rest in the funeral pyre but there is no funeral for Maul. He is not mourned.

           I think it is only natural as training progresses that you are going to start looking around the gym. There is always going to be someone out there that is bigger, stronger, faster, more defined, and has less body fat than you. There is always going to be someone better. You may look at pictures of people posting selfies on Instagram or see these fitness models and become discouraged because you are comparing yourself to them. And yet, you don’t know the filters applied, if the pics were professionally taken, Photoshopped, or what went down before that pic was taken. Remember, it is a highlight reel.   

           This is why I have often said that you don’t want to just be known as a bodybuilder. It is great to have a muscular physique (that goes for men and women) but it is better to know the science of how it was achieved. It is better to put in the work day in and day out so you can appreciate every block of stone laid to build your pyramid. What did you have to study and learn to achieve this look? Are you just a body? Have you counterbalanced this by studying philosophy, theology, or a few self-help books? Have you cultivated an artistic side? Admired art? Spent time with friends? Enjoyed life?

           This is where you have to ask yourself: What are you training for?

           If you are like me and the answer is “To be a better me,” that involves not just lifting weights but studying nutrition and finding ways to improve. Do you want to be a Sith Lord that just exterminates Jedi? That seems like an empty and hollow existence and – news flash – there is always going to be someone better than you.

           Or do you want to be the Jedi that is helpful and selfless and in tune with the universe? That person is confident in who he (or she) is and is happy with the levels of improvement that they are creating in all aspects of their lives. Now, go forth and do likewise. Enjoy your Friday.

Training as Therapy

           Someone once said, “Poor people don’t go to therapy. Poor people drink.” I feel this is a pretty accurate statement. When things were really bad for me, I did seek out counselling. My job offered this wellness program where anyone could go and see a shrink and they would pay for three one hour sessions. So I did my three free sessions and that was about it. I didn’t feel like a got a whole lot out of it (how can a therapist get to know you in three hours?) and I wasn’t any better for having been there.

           I know a lot of people turn to drugs as an escape. I live a pretty sheltered life. I wouldn’t even know where to score drugs if I wanted to but I cannot stand smoking and I have a nightmarish aversion for needles which pretty much rules me out as a drug abuser.

           I have seen the staggering downward spiral that drinking can cause and I want no part of it. I am not anti-alcohol or anything but I need a reason to celebrate if I am going to knock back a few beers. And it can’t be, “Hey, the day ends in ‘y’!” I’ve had the same bottle of wine in my fridge that I was saving for the season six finale of Game of Thrones.

           I knew I was serious about my training when I met some friends at a bar last month to socialize and I had water. Before you start with all the “L7 wienie” comments (Sandlot reference ftw!), I was sitting their calculating the calories and how beer is basically liquid bread. But I was there more for the company than the drinking anyway so it all worked out.

           I think people turn to drugs and alcohol because they hate their life. Truth be told, I enjoy my life very much. Why would I want to escape it? Still you have to find some sort of outlet for your stress. I have often said that I use things like Photoshop as my therapy. It appeals to my meticulous nature. I also do some painting and other artistic endeavors. Obviously writing is a great stress reliever. World of Warcraft helps. But at the end of the day, nothing has helped me deal with stress more than working out. The reasons for this are several.

           First, I go hard in the gym. I am talking dripping sweat and out-of-breath hard. For this reason, everything at my 9-to-5 seems easy by comparison. The stress of dealing with angry customers or inept bank officers is inconsequential compared to the strain of a massive deadlift. So it makes the stresses of my job easier to tolerate.

           Second, being physically exhausted certainly makes sleep easier to achieve and a good night’s sleep makes the next day a lot easier to face.

           Thirdly, stress can often be used as a fuel to reach new plateaus. The Dalai Lama often preaches about how hate destroys the vessel that carries it, so you vent that frustration by transforming that hate into one or two more reps. As your body begins to transform, those extra reps start generating joy.

           Yoda warned us fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate leads to suffering. I think working out generates the opposite effect. Hate leads to reps, reps leads to transformation, transformation leads to happiness. Once you start to see those traps begin to develop and those abs begin to pop, you think back about all the hurt and pain you were going through and you actually appreciate the pain that pushed you to that next level. Then you admire the results of your hard work all the more.

           People often look at going to the gym as a chore or a task. I bound through the door with energy thinking, “It is time to go to work!” It all depends on how you look at things. Hopefully reading this will skew your perspective a little and make you look at that iron a little differently. Don’t look at it as an obstacle to conquer. Look at it as a tool to fashion you into a weapon.   

Verifying a Need for Glutamine

           Ah, Labor Day. My diet during this past three day weekend was best described as “unsupervised child at a birthday party.” I did donuts, brownies, and pizza for dinner… I really slacked off from the regiment and I did not care one bit. I think we all need those cheat days to get us revamped. But with that behind me, it was time to get back to the regiment. Unfortunately, due to poor planning on my part, I forgot to restock the fridge at work with milk and I didn’t want to swing into Walmart all sweaty and gross. When I am looking my best, I see no one I know. When I am post-workout or fresh from mowing the lawn, I am guaranteed to run into twelve people from my graduating class that I haven’t seen in a decade.

           So, I just decided to go straight home after my workout and I skipped my standard dose of glutamine, amino acids, and my whey protein shake that I keep set up at the office. (I want that whey protein in my system as quickly as possible post-workout.) The problem with certain supplements is that it is hard to tell if they are really working until you have a couple of workouts without them. Given the soreness presented as I was getting ready for bed and again this morning, I do feel it is safe to say that my post-workout cocktail is certainly helping minimize the soreness and helps with the overall recovery process.

           Now, it is possible that this soreness is the result of taking three days off. I am also only running on about six and half hours’ worth of sleep. Those factors could be contributors but the soreness presented as I was getting ready for bed and given how it carried over to this morning, I am hurting. The workout clocked in at just a shade over an hour and I burned over 1,000 calories which is pretty standard for a session. I didn’t stack on super heavy weight. I did fairly normal reps and standard exercises. I didn’t go above and beyond with yesterday’s workout.

           Given that the workout was fairly standard and that three days is not an epic amount of time off and with the only major change being the lack of supplemental support, I have to deduce that the cocktail is living up to the hype and helping my performance by minimizing soreness and downtime for recovery.

Frank "The Chemist" Zane

           So do you NEED all these extra supplements? No. You can survive without them. However, if we look at the research provided by Frank Zane (Mr. Olympia in 77, 78, and 79 – Under 200 lbs. & Overall Winner), he talks about the importance of glutamine and amino acids:

           “Why extra glutamine? Well, it’s a very important Amino Acid Glutamine, this is the Amino Acid that your body pulls out of muscle tissue when you’re starving, people who are on diet or hungry a bit more than normal generally tend to lose muscle mass depending on what else they eat and how hard they exercise.

           So, when you take Glutamine, the Glutamine is pulled out of the chain of Amino Acids in your body and is sent to your liver where it’s turned into carbohydrate. If you take Glutamine in free form, you minimize that effect, so it’s really good for someone who is on diet and wanting to get the most out of the calories they eat and not get anything extra that they don’t need.”

           If I am reading all the research right, once you start trying to work out while maintaining a caloric deficit (i.e. to lose weight), your body starts sucking the natural glutamine out of your muscles. By taking a scoopful of powder glutamine powder, you are telling your liver, “Here take this!” and it leaves the glutamine in your muscles alone. This allows your muscles to repair because the levels of amino acids remain high.  

           And this is why The Mountain on Game of Thrones uses glutamine so much in his diet. So, glutamine doesn’t make you stronger but it helps keep those muscles functioning at a top level. Who says bodybuilding is just for dumb-dumbs? SCIENCE!

No Ifs Ands or Butts About It...

          One of the keys to having an impressive physique is about muscle symmetry. This is why you cannot just train chest and arms. You need to work everything so that you look proportionate. I am a big believer of antagonistic sets, which means for every push, you do a pull. For every Bench Press, I am countering that with some sort of row (Seated Cable Row, Dumbbell Row, Bent-Over Barbell Row, etc.). This means my middle back is getting a workout as much as my chest, which actually improves my overall bench press. For every overhead press to develop my shoulders, I am countering that with some sort of a lat pulldown.

           And while people grumble all the time about it, leg day is extremely important. For all the ladies out there, if you want to have a nice booty, there is no two ways around it. You gotta squat. Squats and Deadlifts are the mother of all leg exercises for several reasons.

           They are a multi-joint exercise which means your hips, your knees, and your ankles are all involved in the exercise. This means it is engaging your lower back, your core, your quads, your calves, and everything in-between. It is strengthening tendons in your knees and your hips.

           Legs are also longer and stronger, which means this is where you can really load the bar up with weight and go to town or you can load the bar lighter and go for longer sets. That heavy weight is forcing you to strain more. Strain means an elevated heart rate which means more calories burned.

          You can do “sculpting” exercises like one-legged cable kickbacks or cable adductors and abductors but with these, you cannot generate the kind of strain that comes from a good Trap Bar Deadlift, a Romanian Deadlift, Straight-Legged Deadlift, or Barbell Squat.

          The problem with Squats and Deadlifts is that this is the exercise that can get you hurt if you don’t know what you are doing and that can be intimidating to novice lifters which is why you need to crawl before you can walk. Working with a trainer and going light until you can master the form is very important in your initial training phases. And as you begin to develop your Squat and Deadlift form, you are going to see certain changes that happen in your legs, especially in your quads. In particular, you are going to see the Vastus Medialis take shape.

          As much as you want it to, a well-developed vastus medialis is not going to come from cardio exercises alone. They come from squats. Now, there are some men out there that are “Leg Men” and will notice and appreciate well-toned legs. But everyone likes a good booty. And if you want that booty, you gotta squat. Case in point, the photographic evidence provided here.

          While it is natural for the eye to be drawn to her, ahem, assets, pay attention the front of her thighs. That is not surgical enhancement. That comes from hard fricking work. And I am willing to bet vital parts of my anatomy that whoever this girl is, she is in the weight room several times a week.

          So, if you want a booty, you gotta squat… no ifs, ands, or “butts” about it. Ha! See what I did there!?!

No One Cares... But Bust Butt Anyway

“It is a sore thing to have labored along and scaled the arduous hilltops, and when all is done, find humanity indifferent to your achievement.”

--Robert Louis Stevenson

 

          The harsh reality is… no one cares. No one cares about your fitness journey. No one cares about how much weight you’ve lost. No one cares if you’ve shattered a personal record yesterday. As you continue down your road of self-improvement, it is human nature to share your accomplishments. You managed to run that mile, master that exercise, or conquer that fear. You think, “This is something to be proud of! I am becoming a better me!” We go to our favorite social media outlets for validation of our progress. You get some likes and some words of encouragement. But secretly, people hate you for your success. It doesn’t mean that all your friends are jerks. Again, it is basic human nature.

          Psychologists will explain that a person’s success holds up a mirror to the other person and reminds them of what they could be if they walked the same path. It reminds them of how they have come up short. And people hate to be reminded of their failures.

          But the other extreme can be equally demoralizing. Case in point, there is this guy I graduated high school with. On a Facebook video, I watched him bench press 400 pounds. That is more than I can squat! There is always going to be someone out there that is stronger than you, smarter than you, richer than you, faster than you, better looking than you, funnier than you… There are going to be people that you will try to measure up with and you will never be good enough.

          When you see someone bench 400 pounds, you don’t ask things like: How long have you been training? Is he in the gym twice a week or twice a day? There are all sorts of factors that you will never know. We don’t see the failures, the injuries, the setbacks, the research, or the techniques that didn’t work out… We just see the highlight reel.

          Reading this right now, you might feel a little down in the dumps. “So, Ryan, you are telling me that no one cares if I lose weight, secretly they hate me for it, and there is always going to be someone out there better and stronger than me?” Yep, pretty much.

          “So why even do it?” Well, my friend, you do it because it is the right thing to do.  

          I’ve said openly on here I want to look good naked but I am the only one that sees me naked. Sure, I want to be ready if my relationship with Katy Perry takes off but for some reason that hasn’t happened yet. Part of me thinks that I should compile all these essays into a book and publish it… but no one will ever read it. I see the analytics on how many “page views” this blog gets. (Hi, both of you!) If no one will read it, if it doesn’t sell, if my improvement is not recognized, and if no one cares, why do it? Why waste my time? Why even train in the first place?

          The answer? Because it makes me happy. Because it is the right thing to do.  

          I lift weights to make me healthy, so I can feel good about myself. I don’t lift weights to impress the ladies. If that happens to occur, that is just icing on the cake. But if that is your sole reason, when you figure out the ladies don’t care or you see that guy bench pressing twice what you are capable of, your motivation wanes. If you are doing it to impress your significant other, when the breakup occurs you won’t do it anymore. It is the same thing with motivation. Anyone can work hard when the gym is full. Can you work hard when the gym is empty? When there are no eyes on you, when there are no accolades, no nods of approval, can you go just as hard or harder?

          I lift weights it because it is turning me into a weapon. Granted, I am a sword that will never be pulled from its sheath but it doesn’t matter. I hated who I was before. I like who I am becoming. I enjoy the research. I enjoy seeing what this process is sculpting me in to (regardless of how slow). And if people don’t care or don’t like me, it doesn’t bother me because I am the only person that I am on this journey with. Friends move, marriages divorce, parents die, kids get old. I am the only one in this life with me until the very end. So if you are your only co-pilot, you better like who that person is. Life is sweeter that way.

          And if it is the right thing to do, you do it. Praise or no praise, you do it because all that hard work is making you a better person. And that is its own reward.

 

“It’s far better when doing good work is sufficient. In other words, the less attached we are to outcomes the better. When fulfilling our own standards is what fills us with pride and self-respect. When the effort—not the results, good or bad—is enough.”

–Ryan Holiday, Ego Is the Enemy

Elevating Your Heart Rate to Maximize Fat Loss

           The goal of any exercise program is to elevate your heart rate. The more intense your program, the more your body is screaming to get blood and oxygen pumped into those muscles. Your body is burning calories and that is attributing to your weight loss. So, how hard do you need to work to get to that fat burning stage? Let’s use a little math to figure things out.

           You want to figure out your Max Heart Rate which is 220 minus your age. For me, as a 41 year old, that means my Max Heart Rate is 179. Now, generally speaking, the zone where you are hitting the “fat burn” is 60% to 70% of your maximum heart rate. I only learned this after I had been wearing a heart rate monitor for a few of my workouts but this is a learning process for me too.

           I try to register my heart rate after most sets. Do a set of Bench Presses, check the rate. Do some Seated Cable Rows, check the rate. On average my heart rate was floating in the high 130s. Occasionally I would see a spike over 140 if the weight was really heavy and I was straining really hard. So I break out the calculator… 70% of 179 is 125. 60% of 179 is only 107. This means that if I can maintain a heart rate between 107 and 125 beats, I am burning fat.

           Considering when I would check my heart rate and I was never dropping below 130, that means I am doing awesome! And how do I sustain this heart rate? The key lies in Circuit Training (aka Antagonistic Sets). For just a brief refresher course, Antagonistic Sets are two exercises that complement each other. If you do an Overhead Shoulder Press, you then immediately do a Lat Pulldown afterward. You are not just waiting around to shake off that fatigue. You could even throw in a third exercise, something ancillary like a Dumbbell Calf Raise or a Forearm Dumbbell Raise. All that strain keeps the heart rate elevated, which means you are burning more calories.

           So how much of a difference does this strategy make? If you log into the My Fitness Pal app and log “Strength Training” as a cardiovascular activity, it will ask you how long did you work out? If you punch in 60 minutes, the base amount of calories they estimate is 331 calories.

           I recently asked a friend of mine that is a runner. She tracks her runs via Nike’s app. She said that an hour run at a 5 mile per hour pace, will burn her approximately 530 calories. Obviously, the more you run and the more frenetic the pace, the more you will burn but who can sprint for an hour?

           Meanwhile, using circuit training and minimal reps… My calculations show that 1 hour in the gym nets me 900 calories burned. Let me stress that. 900 calories. That is basically two meals. At first I thought something was wrong. But like they say, once is an accident. Twice is a coincidence. Three times is a pattern. As of this research, I can consistently get to 900 calories in an hour’s worth of work.

           Now, that is not to say that you can just stroll in, go about a standard milk run workout, and expect 900 calories to melt away. I clang and bang. I don’t socialize. I put my headphones on and I go to mutha humpin’ work. The other regulars know once my headphones go I on, I get into my zone very quickly. My music is loud and I stay focused. I am not strolling about in between sets. I am not hitting on the chicks. I am there to work. To paraphrase the immortal Rowdy Roddy Piper, I am there to chew bubblegum and kick ass… and I’m all out of bubblegum.

           I think there is a reason why medical science is proving that resistance training is superior to straight cardio when it comes to weight loss and the evidence is clear. 530 calories burned running versus my 900 calories burned while pushing iron. I have said it before and I will say it again. Sure, I could run on the treadmill but who jumps off the treadmill and flexes their thighs in triumph? But I can get done and hit a Double Front Biceps pose and feel pride in my accomplishments. 

Materiam Superabat Opus

          Here a while back, you may have seen the trend on social media involving the “Love Your Spouse” challenge where you are supposed to post pictures of your spouse to show how much you love them. I read an article on how one person refused to take part in the challenge because it is a glorification of the “highlight reel.”

          Let’s think about selfies for a moment. How many do you take and swipe through before you find that perfect one? Do you flip through them saying, “Ugg, my eyes are droopy in this one. Don’t like my smile in that one. Well, I guess in this one I don’t look as fat…” You can then go through and do color corrections and apply filters and do all this stuff to make that picture look amazing. And then you post the selfie and wait for the “Likes” to start rolling in. I am not going to say that it is fake but it’s not exactly 100% real either. It’s a highlight reel.

Me at 243 pounds

           I am not pointing fingers here because I do the same thing. Here, just to show I am not blowing smoke… This is one of my most recent “gym selfies.” I use an old boudoir photography trick. My hips are always turned 45-degrees away from the camera with my front leg bent slightly and then I twist so that my shoulders are squarely facing the camera. This slims and tapers the waist. Go ahead, try it in the mirror, you will see what I am talking about.

           Don’t get me started on the “Facebook Fishers.” We all know that person. They throw out vague statements with no explanation just so they can get all those “keep your head up, girl” comments to validate their self-worth.

          I feel life is one big balancing act. It is a razor’s edge that we have to walk. You cannot love yourself so much that you become egomaniacal but you cannot hate yourself so much that you sink into hopelessness. You don’t want to be a braggadocio but you cannot be all “I am such a worthless peon” either. Remember, confidence is one of the sexiest things on the planet.

           Now, just so I am not a highlight reel hypocrite, allow me now to shine a light so you can see my imperfections. Over two years ago, I started FURYAN STRENGTH. If you haven’t read through this whole thing, the name is derived from Vin Diesel’s RIDDICK film series where Furyans are some of the baddest mammer-jammers in the galaxy. I had no idea what I was doing and I built this program from the ground up through research, study, and good old fashioned trial and error.

           I had very specific goals when I started. I had found my “why.” The truth is I hated my physical appearance. I was tired of being overweight. I told myself that I wanted to cut a striking figure when I walked my little girl down the aisle. I wanted to be physically attractive. Women can say all they want about how they want a guy that makes them laugh but I’ve never heard women swoon over the latest Adam Sandler movie trailer but let a sequel for MAGIC MIKE get announced… 

           Through this, I’ve dropped weights, injured my ankle, smashed fingers, been on the verge of vomiting, and even shed an occasional tear. Not kidding about that last one. I’ve consulted trainers, spent countless hours on websites, and I even weigh my food. But this struggle has made me a better person.   I have had people tell me that I am doing a great job and I am thankful but ego is the enemy.

          In all of my training, I have made it a dedicated task to stay humble. I still see all my flaws, probably more than any other person ever would. I know this because here a while back I was basically felt up and molested by an aggressive woman and rather than feel my head inflate with pride as she was squeezing my muscles, I was embarrassed for the praise…

          I am not where I want to be yet and the only way I can get there is through hard work. There is no magic pill, no special drink, no shortcuts. I have to clang and bang and sweat and curse and cry. You have to hate to elevate.

           But in doing so, it also makes me a modest teacher. I’ve given my program to several people when they asked me. It is this blog you are reading here. And just last week, I was answering a question for a trio of ladies picking up weights for the first time. I was happy to help because I wish I had a mentor to guide me at that phase. (Did you know how to target the three different delts for nice rounded shoulders?) They told me, “Maybe if we keep this up, we will get to look like you.” I responded so quickly, it was just instinct, “You all need to elevate your standards.”

           Humility. Humility in the face of praise. Humility makes you bust your ass. You have to believe that you are good enough. You have to believe that you CAN do it. But once you start believing that you have achieved it and that you are great, you’ve lost. You lose that hunger. Your aspiration dips. You start believing your own hype. I seem to recall a certain movie title ROCKY III that was built around this entire concept. The antidote for this poison is iron.

          Iron is the great equalizer. Iron doesn’t give a shit about your pride. Iron doesn’t give a shit about your hype. Iron doesn’t give a shit about your ego. 200 pounds is 200 pounds. Lift it or don’t. Iron will humble you faster than anything and despite how far you have come, it will remind you how far you have to go.

          And when your resolve is wavering, remember this. Materiam superabat opus. The workmanship was better than the material.  Imagine a martial arts master that has climbed the ranks. The more he learns the more he realizes how deadly he truly is, so the more he learns the less apt he is to use what he knows because he knows how bad he can mess someone up.

          All that hard work you put in will transforms you and not just physically. If you stay humble and stay hungry, you become a teacher. You will be supportive of the novice that is nervous walking into the gym for the first time. You will become inspiration for those that are struggling, offering praise and encouragement. But if you let your ego run unchecked and start believing your own hype, you become that arrogant guy strutting about in a barely there tank top. Free advice, kids. No one likes that guy.

          Now take this lesson and apply to aspects in your life: job, family relationships, whatever. Ego is your enemy. You’ve still got a lot to learn. Stay humble in all things. Now, go forth and do likewise.