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!?!