AGGRESSIVE STRENGTH MAGAZINE

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ISSUE 74 - 9/06/2005

1. AGGRESSIVE STRENGTH QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"So have a blast at what you do. And if you're not, change your game. Nobody's going to declare world peace anytime soon, and until then you might as well knock yourself out."
- Stanley Bing

One thing that the hurricane Katrina should remind all of us, especially the victims of the hurricane, is that our world can be turned upside down at any moment. We never know how much time we have or what will happen next. A day being miserable is a day wasted. A day not enjoying life when you have the resources to do so, is a day wasted. One thing that I do not tolerate is negative people. Now all of us can be negative from time to time and that is not always a bad thing. Sometimes it is a way to transition into something positive. However, some people enjoy complaining all day long about their luxury problems and how screwed up the world is. These people walk around with a black cloud over their heads. Usually they do so for no valid reason. They have two legs to get out of bed in the morning, plenty of food in the cupboard and a roof over their head. Many people are not so lucky and we do not have to look too far to see that.

On the other hand, people that are blunt and call a spade a spade are not necessarily negative. Just because someone tells you what you do not want to hear, it does not mean that the person is negative. I like brutal honesty and do not want people to sugar coat advice that I can benefit from. Being realistic does not mean that you are being negative. If someone tells you that making million dollars in your first year of business is unrealistic especially given the fact that you have never made more than $1000.00 in your life, that person is not being negative. He or she is telling you something that you need to hear. Having a goal of Military pressing twice your bodyweight in one year, when you cannot even do half of your bodyweight is not likely to happen. A coach that tells you that you can dot it, is doing you a disservice and simply telling you what you want to hear. Truth is often brutal, but it can be liberating as well and used to your advantage. When you know where you are you can develop a plan to get to where you want to go. When you are in denial and have the illusion that you are somewhere else, then your starting point is also a fantasy. When you face the truth, what you need to work on becomes abundantly clear and the path to improvement reveals itself as well.

This brings me to my next point regarding the concept of "fake it until you make it." When was the last time that you wanted to hire a fake? If you need to fake it, then you are not going to make it. You cannot fake confidence. You either have it or you do not. Confidence comes from experience and achievement. When you actually make progress, confidence will build. Faking it all day long and achieving nothing will not get the job done. Get started, accept where you are, and move forward from there. If you are a beginner, then that is what you are. Pretending that you are in expert is not going to turn you into an expert. Lets use public speaking as an example to illustrate this point further. On one hand you have an expert public speaker that has done the deal a thousand times. She can get up on stage without any preparation or notes and give a great lecture. On the other hand, is a novice to the public speaking arena. If he is smart, he will do some visualization exercises the night before the lecture, have some notes with him in case he goes blank (this happens to everyone) and put some time into preparing for the lecture. If he decided to model the expert speaker and just go up on stage without any preparation, I can promise you that it will not turn out very well. Nothing can take the place of experience so do not bother trying. Sure, you can learn a lot from other peoples experiences. However, some things need to be learned by personal experience. Do not be afraid to do what you love in life. Find a career that does not feel like a job and you are on the right track. Just avoid putting blinders on and dodging the truth bullets and the necessity of experience on your path to success.

This week's quote is from the book, "Sun Tzu Was A Sissy: Conquer Your Enemies, Promote Your Friends, and Wage the Real Art of War" by Stanley Bing

Live Life Aggressively!

Mike Mahler

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2. HELP THE KATRINA VICTIMS

My friend and top body worker Dianna Linden recently sent me a list of non-profit organizations for helping out the Katrina Victims. Here is the list:

• Operation USA http://www.opusa.org
• Mercy Corps http://www.mercycorps.org
• Oxfam America http://www.oxfamamerica.org
• America's Second Harvest http://www.secondharvest.org

I encourage you to take a look at the above organizations and make a donation to the one that sits well with you. Also if you want to help out animals, make a donation to http://www.bestfriends.org.

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3. AGGRESSIVE STRENGTH TRAINING ARTICLE

The Negatives of Over Exercising

Unlike most people, newsletter readers such as yourself love to train and stay in shape. Getting motivated to workout and spending time learning about training is not the hard part. The hard art is training for results rather than the stimulus of training. For example, many runners will suffer through knee injuries, joint pain, ankle injuries etc because they are addicted to the endorphin rush that comes from running. I know many runners that have ruined their knees, required knee surgery, and then could not wait to get back to running again. Is it just me or does this sound messed up? Reminds me of drug addicts that cannot wait for their next fix, or smokers with lung problems enjoying a cigarette. The problem with over exercising is that you end up becoming unhealthy like someone that does not workout at all. Think that I am exaggerating? Fine, when your growth hormone levels disappear and your immune system is gone for good you can have the last laugh. There was even a study that showed that athletes have lower testosterone levels than people that do not even train (look up the study at http://www.t-nation.com)! How is this possible? I have no doubt that the athletes had higher testosterone levels than the average person at one time. However, after years of excessive exercise and stress, anabolic hormones took a nose dive.

The truth is that exercise is like food, medication, or anything else that can be done in excess. Eat the right amount of food and you will not get fat. Eat more than that as most people do and you will start piling on the pounds. Take the right amount of a medication and you may not have any side effects. Go beyond that and suffer the consequences. More is not better folks. Doing three workouts in one day five times a week, is not going to speed up your progress. Training to failure on every set is not going to make your stronger. Doing maximum loads at every workout is not going to speed up your progress. As someone that really enjoys training myself, I can understand that it can be difficult to take a day off or God forbid a week of from training. However, the longer you train, the more intense your workouts are, the more recovery time you need. If you want to train daily then you have to modify the volume and intensity. For example you could use Pavel Tsatsouline's 5x5x5 program in which you pick five compound exercises and do one set of five five days per week. Avoid training to failure and take three to five minute breaks in between each set. No, you will not likely get the stimulus that you are addicted to. However, are you after results such as getting stronger or in better shape, or are you a stimulus addict? If you do not have the discipline to moderate intensity, then do not bother with daily training or even frequent training. You are better off training infrequently or doing one hard workout per week, one moderate workout, and one light workout. Regardless, until you learn to avoid training for the stimulus and for results you will always end up over training. Do that for enough years, and the inevitable health problems will follow. Don't believe me? Have your doctor check your testosterone levels, DHEA, cortisol, adrenals, and so forth. Check them again after a few years of "stimulus training" and see for yourself.

Remember that strength training is for getting stronger. Not for your fix.

For more info on the negatives of over exercising, pick up "The Best Natural Sports Medicine Book" by William Wong, N.D., Ph.D.

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Bonus Aggressive Strength Tip

This week's bonus tip comes from Marisa DeMaio BA, CFT, RKC:

Are you dieting? Are you exercising? Both? Why? Chances are, if you are reading this article, you are likely to answer "yes" to at least the "exercise" question. And that's a good thing. Here are some basic tips and considerations which I share with my students so that they can make appropriate, rational, and effective dietary decisions without compromising their health or decreasing the enjoyment of their lives:

1. Evaluate your training program and determine what your body REQUIRES in order for you to attain higher levels of excellence.

2. Evaluate your training goals, both short and long term, and periodize your diet accordingly so that you can reap the maximum benefit during all phases of training.

3. When selecting a diet, ask yourself the simple questions: a) Will I be able to stick to this? b) Can I stand the food which is being suggested by this diet? c) What sacrifices am I being asked to make? and Can I realistically make these sacrifices? d) What are the benefits I stand to gain from following this diet? The food we eat should serve to energize and prepare the body for the demands we place upon it. We should enjoy the foods we eat and feel better as a result. Before committing to a dietary regimen, consider why you are doing so.

Make sure the newly selected diet is something you can live with. Determine whether the diet makes sense given your current training program and future goals. Be realistic about what you hope to achieve through the dietary modification, and be honest with yourself about how effective these modifications are. Carve nothing in stone and be prepared to tweak and make adjustments as you go. Your diet should always reflect and enhance your training and your lifestyle.

For more info on Marisa, check out her excellent website.

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6. NEW AGGRESSIVE STRENGTH PRODUCT RECOMMENDATIONS

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8. KETTLEBELL TRAINING INFORMATION PAGE (NEW)

http://www.mikemahler.com/kettlebell_info.html

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11. AGGRESSIVE STRENGTH TRAINING JOURNAL

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12. RECOMMENDED READING LIST

http://www.mikemahler.com/reading.html

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Until next time.

Live Life Aggressively!

Feel free to email me with your comments and feedback at mahler25@yahoo.com

Mike Mahler

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