Some good words on the pursuit of perfection and excellence

Vince Lombardi once said, "While we may never achieve perfection. The pursuit of perfection will allow us to achieve excellence."

So true, I love it!

Walt Whitman was right

Walt Whitman once said, "If anything in this world is sacred, the human body is sacred."

I believe that he spoke the truth.

1-arm cartwheels and the morning practice

Awesome morning practice today. Hit 5 sets of assisted muscle ups with slow negatives in a super set with 5 set of handstand holds. Then moved onto 2 sets of 1-arm cartwheels on each side, 2 sets of butterfly kicks on each side, 5 sets of feet elevated push ups, 3 sets of chin ups, 1 set of lunges and 5 sets of back of wrist push ups. Felt awesome. Here are the final 1-arm cartwheels for the day.

196 pound 1-arm rows

So, on Monday night's training I decided to see if I could nail all of my sets of 5 reps in the 1-arm row with 196 pounds, making it heavier than I am (I weigh 193 right now). And yes, nailed all 6 sets. Had them sandwiched between body flies, bottom position front squats and midsection work. Here's the final set.

Rings combination, a different view

Monday morning practice: Hit 5 sets of muscle ups super setted with 5 sets of handstand holds, then went to 4 sets of rings combos super setted with 4 sets of tuck planche holds, hit 5 sets of false grip paused pull ups super setted with 5 sets of German 50 push ups, then hit 2 more sets of pull ups, 5 sets of back of wrist push ups and 1 set of lunges. Here's the final set of the rings combo from a different angle.

weighted pull ups with bodyweight plus 88 pounds

From Saturday: An awesome training day. Hit 300 wide grip push ups, 50 pull ups and a crap load of lunges this morning. In the evening hit 6 sets of 5 for weighted reverse grip dips with bodyweight plus 108 pounds, then hit 6 sets of 5 for weighted pull ups with bodyweight plus 88 pounds, then finished up with a 3 minute set of timed squats. Here's the final set of weighted pull ups with bodyweight plus 88 lbs

Friday night conditioning fun

From Friday night: Awesome training day today. Hit 300 classic push ups, 50 pull ups and a bunch of lunges this morning. Then hit a nice and strong 4 rounds of this beautiful conditioner. Finished off with some volume work for the midsection. Here's, I think, the 3rd round:

Loving the clean pulls

After Thursday morning's training, Melissa and I hit 6 sets of military press, 6 sets of snatch grip high pulls and 6 sets of clean grip high pulls. Here's the 6th and final set of the clean pulls with 335 pounds.

Does morning training interfere with evening training?

How does morning practice effect evening training? Thursday morning I hit 5 sets of muscle ups, 5 sets of handstand work, 4 sets of rings combos, 4 sets of tuck planche holds, 5 sets of false grip paused pull ups, 5 sets of push ups, lunges and more. Did it have any detrimental effect on Thursday evening's training? Not at all. Here's the 6th and final set of military presses with 185 pounds.

You have to love it when the handstand feels this easy

I was working my parallet handstands today and found that even when I tried to throw myself off balance I was able to recover. You have to love when you come down because you want to, not because you have to.

Naling the clean pulls

After the BTN presses and the snatch pulls I finished off the night with 6 sets of clean grip high pulls from the hang. Nailed it with 335 pounds. Here's the final set:

Killing the snatch pull

After the BTN presses it was high pull time. Hit 6 sets of 3 for Snatch grip high pulls from the hang with 275. Here's the final set.

Working the weakness

Working the weakness and nailing 6 sets of behind the neck strict presses with 165. Here's the final set:

German 50's

Finished off this morning with 5 sets of German 50s and 5 sets of false grip explosive pull ups with a pause at the top on the rings. Here's the final set of German 50's.

Rings combo for reps

Hit some awesome stuff this morning. Started with 5 sets of muscle ups super setted with 5 sets of handstands on the parallets, then hit 4 sets of rings combos super setted with 4 sets oftuck planches on the parallets, then finished with 5 sets of German 50's super setted with 5 sets of false grip speed pull ups. Here's the final set of the rings combo for doubles.

Awesome Conditioning

For this evening's training I went back to one of my favorite conditioning routines. Hit 4-6 rounds of the following with no rest between movements:  10 Tiger Squats (5 per leg), 20 1-leg Burpees (10 per leg), 30 1-leg hip thrust/ leg curls (15 per leg), 20 Split Lunges (10 per leg) and 30 seconds of wall drive sprints. Awesome stuff. Here's my 3rd round.

Wushu style Butterfly kicks

Finished off this morning's practice with a few sets of Wushu style butterfly kicks (which I hadn't practiced since last August, so they're not too pretty right now) and 5 sets of Feet-elevated push ups. Here's the final set of butterfly kicks.

1-arm cartwheel time

Haven't worked on tumbling since last August, so it's time to get back into it. Here's today's final set of 1-arm cartwheels to get back in the tumbling mood.

An awesome night of training and 176 pound 1-arm rows

Monday night was an awesome training night. Started out with 6 sets of 5 reps of weighted dips with bodyweight plus 141 pounds. Then moved onto 1-arm bent rows for 6 sets of6 reps on each side with 176 pounds. Then finished up with Bottom Position squats for 6 sets of singles working up to 355 pounds. Here's the final set of 1-arm bent rows (used two 88 pound K-bells).

Geting back to planche training on the parallets

Did these (tuck planche holds) in a super set with my rings combination. Here's the 5th set. Then, finished up with 5 sets of l-sit false grip paused pull ups and 5 sets of German 50 push-ups

Back to hitting combinations on the rings

Hadn't hit the rings combination since August. Here's my first run through. Not to shabby at all.

Back to handstands on the parallets

Hadn't worked seriously on the parallets since August. Here's my first handstand back. Felt pretty good. Did 5 sets of 3 handstands in a super set with my assisted muscle ups. I'll be back to all my parallet work soon.

Back to the rings and assisted muslce ups

It's getting beautiful outside so it's time to bring back the acrobatics. Here's my 5th of 5 sets of assisted muscle ups on the rings. Haven't worked seriously on rings work since October, feels good to be back, even the false grip feels good.

BMI, one of the absolute stupidist things on the planet!

Those of you that are regular readers of my blogs, my articles, my tips and even my facebook know that I love to bash the BMI (Body Mass Index). I do this simply because the BMI is so fucking ridiculous. BMI is the old height/ weight scale with some added math. Take your height in centimeters and add it to your weight in kilograms and divide by 2. It never takes into account what your bodyweight is made up of. For example, if you're 5'5" and you weight 200 pounds with a 48% body fat, a big hanging gut, love handles, bat wings, saddle bags and the like; yes, you're obese.

But, on the other hand, if you're 5'5" and you weight 200 pounds with a 6% body fat and you're rocking chiseled abs, a mountain range of muscle for a back, awesome legs, incredible arms, great shoulders and a strong neck guess what? You're not obese.

Here's a great example.

According to the BMI, Olympic lifting legend Dmitri Klokov is morbidly obese:

Seriously. According to BMI, this is obese? Really?

Hmmmm........sounds a little stupid and ludicrous to me.

Stay strong, train hard be muscular and don't give a damn about what the BMI says!!

Having a nice healing week: Monday's wrap up

With Melissa having an unfortunate accident while power cleaning and me dropping the bar on my neck while working the BTN Push press last week, we decided we were feeling a little beat up. So this week is all about healing and recovery. Along with my normal mobility and stretching drills I worked 4 sets of feet elevated push ups and 1 set of German 50's. Then at night, Melissa and I worked some Eishcen's Yoga. A great day.

And, of course, had some fun playing on the rings:

An exercise y'all should be doing

For today's tip I'm going to start off by giving you all an assignement. I want you all to check out the bodies of male gymnasts. I know, for you ladies and some of you guys out there this is going to be a tough assignment. How dare I mae you look at hot bodies. I should be ashamed of myself. Now, I want you to check out the you tub video were Cara Heads is recovering from an injury so she's doing some active recovery work in the pool. Then, I want you too check out people like John Grimeck, Marvin Eder and Steve Reeves. From there, check out people like Dmitri Klokov and all the top crossfit chicks (Yes I just said chicks. No, it's not offensive, I used it as a term of endearment). Now, that you've done all that I want you to think about what all these physiques have in common.

Yes, they're all awesome. Every one of these people looks incredible. That's not what I'm talking about. Yes they're all strong, fit and ripped and train and eat the way we talk about in these tips. Awesome too, but not what I'm talking about. What I'm looking for is the fact that every single one of these people spends a ton of time on overhead work and it has paid off hugely. All the Olympic lifters and crossfitters spend a ton of time on pressing, push pressing, jerking and snatching weight overhead, as well as doing overhead squats. The crossfitters and the gymnasts all spend a ton of time doing handstands on various apparati (like th floor, parallettes, parallel bars, pommel horses and rings), as well as working on various types of handstand press ups, straddle ups, lever ups, push ups and more.

Yes, great bodies, ones that are ripped, lean, athletic, healthy, strong and fit are more often than not built by people that spend a lot of time on overhead work. Why, because overhead work fucking rocks! Nothing hits the body in quite the same way as overhead work does, especially when it's done either standing or while standing on one's hands.

So, where am I going with this? I'm going to give you all a lift that you should be doing that is one of the all time best overhead lifts. Yes, military presses, overhead presses, jerks (whether they're push jerks, split jerks, power jerks, or; for the people that are more flexible than a gumby doll after being nuked in a micro wave; squat jerks), snatch balances, snatch grip presses, thrusters, back thrusters and more; are all great exercises and they all should be done at various times. But, one exercise should be a staple in everyone's program. That lift is the Behind The Neck Push Press.

What does this lift work? Let's see, you'll work your hands, forearms, triceps, shoulders, traps, upper back, upper chest, mid back, lower back, sides, midsection (no, it's not your core, it's your midsection. Only useless trainers that no nothing about training call it your core), butt, thighs, calves, ankles and feet. As well as you heart and lungs. So, yes, in a sense it's truly an all out, full body movement. (This is also why body parts splits are fucking stupid. Where would you put a movement like this in?)

Now that we've established what the lift works, let's look at it's benefits. It'll increase your strength, power, explosiveness, speed, agility, coordination, athleticism, balance, body awareness, and full body unity while building muscle, bones, tendons and ligaments and burning fat. Sounds great, doesn't it? And it beats the hell out of any type of shoulder machine, or any other type of machine as well.

How do we do it. First off, whenever you're pressing in front of the neck you should think about having your hands closer to shoulder's width apart. This will keep them safe. Yes, wide grip presses can be good, but close grip gives you better results, more safety and allows you a stronger pressing position. That being said, it's kind of the opposite when you press behind the neck. You don't want to go snatch width (although the snatch grip behind the neck press is a great movement for another time), but you should be wider then you'd be if the bar was in front of your neck. I like to have my pinkies or rig fingers on the outside rings of the bar, that works for me.

So, load up a bar on a pair of squat stands or in the power rack and start off like your going to do squats. Bar is placed on your traps and upper back, your hands are somewhere by the outside rings, your tight and stable. Unrack the bar and take a small step backwards. Tighten your entire back, your midsection, your butt, your thighs and your shoulders. Pull yourself into a quarter squat position and then violently reverse directions like you're trying to jump. Drive all the way through the toes. This violent upwards drive will start moving the bar upwards off your back. Press up hard and strong against the bar, pushing it up in a straight line until your arms are locked out straight. Your legs should be locked, feet flat on the ground, your arms locked out behind the ears, barbell overhead. Pause and hold for a second then lower the bar back to the starting position.

Simple, right? Awesome!

The key is to follow what the band Disturbed said in the first album, "Bring the violence, it's significant." This is 100 percent true with this lift. It's not a quarter squat followed by a press. It a violent and angry explosion that's more akin to jumping and throwing the weight off of you to the lockout position.

When you're returning the bar to the starting position, be careful. It should be a heavy enough weight that you won't be able to control the negative action completely. Lower it under control until the bar is around middle of the head to top of the head height, then do a somewhat controlled drop to the upper back while cushioning the impact with your legs. Don't drop it to far forward or it'll land on your head or neck, which will leave you with a headache for a few days (trust me on that one). But, don't drop it to far back either or it will slide down you back and take your shoulders with it (even worse than dropping it on your head, in my opinion, however I was born with a hard skull.) Unless you have the shoulder flexibility of Royler Gracie on a bunch of muscle relaxers this will lay you up with some shoulder problems for a while. So, take some time to use a light weight and find you're proper groove in how to drop the weight to the right spot on your back. It'll take some time, but it's worth it.

I personally prefer doing these for singles and doubles; but I've also used them with triples and 5's. I like hitting 6, 8, 10, or 12 sets of 1-2 reps with really heavy weights. However, you can also use these for some Metabolic conditioning with a light weight for either timed sets of for sprints. I'd say to try both methods.

Make sure that your shoulders are healthy before trying these, however. In our society most people have a forward shoulder hunch from too much time spent sitting in front of the computer and that can easily make any type of behind the neck movement much harder. Also, with the huge amount of time that the typical gym rat spends benching, most of them have even more problems with forward hunched shoulders. (It's amazing, only in our day and age would the most popular weight training exercise be one that you perform while lying down.) Come and see me and I'll show you how to clear up those issues, and get your shoulders nice and healthy.

After that, add this one into your routine and you'll love the results. Now, go train hard and heavy and create your greatness.

Yours in strength and health,
Brett

Nothing feels like

There's an old weight loss saying that goes something like this, "nothing tastes as good as being skinny feels." I think that's wrong, so I'm going to amend it and say, "nothing feels as awesome as being strong, fit and healthy."

 

A great morning warm up

This is a great warm up in the morning, I shoot for 4-6 sets of 5.

Thursday morning neck work

I get a ton of questions on my neck work routine, here's Thursday morning's: I aim for 4-5 sets of 12 in each direction.

How about some 21's?

Hit some super sets of curl 21's and overhead extension 21's. Here's the final set of the curls.

An awesome conditioner

After hitting a good DT chest workout and a bunch of push ups it was conditioning time. Love this one. Without stopping hit 2 cast wall walks, 7 handstand push ups, 2 cast wall walks, 7 pseudo planche push ups, 2 cast wall walks, 7 dips and 7 pull ups. Repeat for 4-6 rounds. Here's my final round of the night.

Mass building still going well

A little blurry, but not bad:

A little clearer:

Training around injuries

With my hip injury acting up I decided to hit my 6 sets of squats as strict dynamic tension squats. Felt good. Not as good as squatting, but a nice change of pace. Here's the wrap up:

An awesome day of training

Awesome training day yesterday, it consisted of neck work, handstand and planche practice, 6 sets of BTN presses, 6 sets of 1-arm bent rows and 6 sets of dynamic tension style squats. Here's the final set of 1-arm rows with 158 pounds (a 70 and an 88 pound K-bell)

What happens when I get mad at myself for screwing up a set?

What happens when Brett gets mad at himself for screwing up on a set. The final set turns from 3 reps into 7 reps, lol. A great night for BTN strict presses.

The world always looks awesome when you're upside down

Love the weighted pull up

After six sets of push presses it only makes sense to nail six sets of weighted pull ups. Here's the final set with bodyweight plus 70 pounds.

Adding standard push presses back into the mix

Decided to put some standard Push Presses back into the training, hadn't gone heavy with these in a long time, and was pleasentaly surprised. First night of having them back in nailed 6 sets of singles with 235 pounds. Felt pretty strong too, :) Here's the 6th set.