Better Is Better

Singapore Swing (Clubbell® Swing that is)

I am on the eve of departure for my second trip to Singapore.  On my first visit, I could not help being struck by an impression that this small nation-state in the South Pacific is both a figurative and literal hub of East meets West.  And what better backdrop could you have for a system like Circular Strength Training®?

The CST system itself is akin to a hub of the best in Eastern and Western ideas on physical culture.  The synthesis and systematization of ancient physical arts into a modern and reproducible practice is the keystone to what Coach Scott Sonnon has achieved with CST.

As I make my final preparations for the CST Singapore event, I am filled with excitement at being able to share the system with this group of forward thinking Singaporeans.    It almost feels like I am completing a circuit.  What a perfect fit Singapore will be for Circular Strength Training®.  Where better to start an Asian wave of physical culture than a city which already perfectly understands the beauty that comes from a fusion of East and West or of ancient and modern.

I am lucky that this seminar will be filled with both seasoned CST athletes and others who are completely new to the system.  I have the opportunity to shepherd in a group of new CST athletes and instructors.  I take this very seriously and plan to show them the best CST has to offer.  I’m also excited about working with some seasoned CST veterans who have never before had the opportunity to get live coaching.  It will be a real treat to see what they have done with their practice in isolation.  And it will be a privilege to be involved in the next evolution of their journey.

I’m certain that this event will only be the first spark which starts a wildfire of CST practice in Singapore.  I’ll be giving you updates as I can throughout the experience.  I look forward to sharing the exploits of this group of Singaporean athletes, trainers and seekers of health and wellness.

Get off one cheek and speak Crazy English

Driving home yesterday from giving a Prasara yoga class, I heard a piece on the radio about a guy named Li Yang (Crazy Lee) who has spawned a huge movement in China to learn English through his unconventional method of shouting it out at the top of one’s lungs.  The idea is to get students to move past the fear of losing face.  Making a mistake is a big deal in China, so most students of English just stick to their textbooks and never get past square one.  With everyone shouting English, that stigma evaporates and students can move past their reticence.

Crazy English reminded me of a TED talk I listened to a few weeks ago by conductor Benjamin Zander.  His core message was to be a “one-buttock player.”  By this he meant that you have to let what you are doing carry you away.  And one who is immersed in their task (their music) will naturally start to be moved by it and will end up on only one cheek (butt cheek of course).

Both Crazy Lee and Zander are talking about getting past that fear of not being perfect.  They are talking about getting started and taking action.  It comes down to avoiding the paralysis by analysis syndrome.  I remember a story from Dr John Berardi’s DVD a few years back in which he talked about his friend who wanted to start running.  The friend asked for some advice about shoes.  He asked for some advice on his form.  He subscribed to a running magazine.  He amassed a ton of information about running, but he never actually put one foot in front of the other.

As Woody Allen once said, “Eighty percent of success is showing up.”  Once you start putting one foot in front of the other, you begin the process of building momentum.  And once that happens, your goal becomes self-perpetuating.  “Right” decisions actually become easier than “wrong” decisions.  Once you start playing, and your butt cheek leaves the bench, it is almost hard to stop.  You start to look forward to your training sessions.  You start to hanker for that clean, healthy meal.  You start to daydream about that new sport you have taken up or those dance classes your spouse talked you into.

Find something that has the potential to get you off one butt cheek and go with it.  I think  “one-cheek” engagement is the only true path to sustainable results in anything.

Sydney, Australia CST Workshop Details

I'm on the eve of departure for the Austral-Asia region.  I leave for my first stop, Singapore, in just a few days.  Then it is off to Oz where I will have the pleasure of working with the Flow Academy in Sydney to offer a 3-hour Circular Strength Training workshop.  I may also potentially be available for some private coaching for any of you who are in the area and looking to take your CST practice to the next level.  Drop me a line if you want to look at that possibility.

Here are the tentative details for the workshop:

Venue:  Sydney Masonic Centre (to be confirmed)
 
Date: 13th of August
 
Schedule:  *8am registration
                 8.30am - 11.30am (3hrs)
 
Cost:  $297**
 
Includes:
-Intu Flow complete pack, including 3 DVD's, exercise charts and mini clubbells
-3 hrs with Adam and assisting CST instructors
-Bonus CST product
 
**if participants have their own clubbells workshop is $150
 
I would strongly encourage people to elect the product pack option to have ownership of mini clubs and the extension program with wall charts will help support effective personal training with CST after the workshop. (the CST bonus product is a Clubbell for Circular DVD as added support material retail $39.95)

Contact Flow Academy for more information or registration:
t. 61292648866

The Katana Analogy

I don't buy 100% organic.  But I certainly believe in going organic and make a concerted effort to make that choice when I can.  There are a host of reasons, including the environment.  But the main issue for me is a selfish one.  I would much rather put something in my mouth that is clean, nutritious and grown the way nature intended it than something that is artificially coaxed into abnormally huge and shiny proportions with any number of chemicals.

This topic came up the other day in discussion with a friend.  And my friend came out with something that stunned me.  He wanted to know why he should pay more for something that is "natural."  To him, natural meant it should be closer to "free" I guess.

To me, the argument was back asswards.  Why pay more for a better product?  That is the question I would associate with organic food.

I gave the example of a katana (samurai sword).  You can get yourself an authentic sword crafted by a highly skilled artisan.  This guy can probably put out one or two pieces a week.  But they are beautiful, balanced and long-lasting pieces of art.  Or you can pick yourself up a cheap knock-off at the local martial arts warehouse that was made from composite metals injected into a mold in a factory somewhere that spits out 500 swords a day.  Which is worth more?

I liken the organic farmer to such a craftsman.  He can't just gorge his soil with additives and spray his crops with chemicals to mass produce food.  He has to learn to nurture his land and entice it to yield its potential.  He has to study, experiment and amass information, know-how and skills that allow him to sustain his output from year to year without the help of artificial aids.  To me, that is craftsmanship and it is worth a heck of a lot more than the mass production of conventional farming.

Some may say, "yeah, but its just food - it is gone as soon as you put it in your mouth."  Untrue.  It lives on as part of the consumer.  What do you think we are made of?  We take what goes into our mouths and incorporate it into our own organism.  I'm probably not even half-organic in my consumption at this point.  But I can assure you that I feel immeasurably better than I used to before incorporating organic eating.

For now, my organic path is made up of baby steps and compromises.  But I still hold to the ideal that the goods of the craftsman are far more valuable than the goods of the factory.

Photo: by Marcus Vegas on Flickr

Health, Priorities, Happiness & Personal Choice

We had friends over for breakfast yesterday.  As is often the case, I did not eat what everyone else was eating.  Instead, I had a delicious concoction of sautéed spinach, smoked salmon and feta cheese.  Obviously, for those eating fresh baked bread, jam, bacon and other goodies, I come off as either a weirdo or an extremist (probably a bit of both).  It's not that I don't like those other things.  I will even indulge in them when I want to, especially when we have company or are celebrating a special occasion.  But there are times, like right now, where my priorities are in another place.  Right now, as I've mentioned in previous posts, I'm near the end of a fat loss Battle Plan (and I won by-the-way).

Because of where my priorities are right now, I derive more pleasure from eating cleanly and feeling like every fork in the road takes me towards my goal.  That is what really makes me happy right now.  And that is what allows me to pass up on the goodies that are right in front of my face without feeling deprived or jealous (most of the time).

But anyway, the gist of this post actually hinges around an interested conversation which ensued after breakfast. We were talking about BioSignature modulation, which I recently added to my training services.  It is a method which uses skinfolds to build a sketch of the trainee's hormonal profile in order to tailor nutrition, supplement and exercise coaching.  The idea of a profile lends itself to the question of what a perfect profile would look like.  And that is what my friend wanted to know.  What does the most perfectly healthy human look like and how do they act to get that way?

The problem is, rather than referring to a perfect profile, it is much more realistic to refer to each person's individual situation as a point of departure.  This turned into a very philosophical discussion about health, happiness and priorities.  And for me, it constantly came back to some advice that I give my clients time after time.  Everything is a choice.

When a client asks me, "do I have to eat like this?"  My answer is always, "of course not!"  No one can choose your priorities for you.  It all depends on what you really want.  Do you want the Peanut Butter Cup (I love those things - don't ask me why) or do you want to feel energetic and lean?  There is no right answer.  Yes, I mean it! 

If not eating the Peanut Butter Cup is going to make you miserable, then eat it.  I know plenty of people who do no exercise and eat whatever they want.  And they are always smiling, laughing, making merry, having fun with their kids and friends and generally just leading a full life.  They are making the right choices for them. 

I know other people who make the same exercise and eating choices but who are totally miserable with themselves over it.  They are not making the right choices.  Their priorities, at least on a subconscious level, are not coherent with their actions.  In fact, I've lived this many-a-time.  I've been known to go on a bit of a sugar binge from time to time (I'm a serious sugar addict for those of you who don't know).  And the whole time I am hating what I'm doing, but don't stop myself.  I'm not talking about an occasional indulgence, which I enjoy whole-heartedly, but an all-out landslide that lasts for days (caveat - it doesn't happen very often).

The point is, there is no perfect diet and exercise plan.  There is no perfect lifestyle.  No one can impose a lifestyle on you that you sincerely do not want.  You need to synch up your health and lifestyle choices with your priorities.  Do that, and you will be the happy version of you.  If not, you'll be miserable.  Choose what is right for you.  But just remember that some holes are easy to dig and hard to crawl out of.  So give some earnest thought to your future happiness too.  It is part of the equation.  And as Brad would probably say, whatever you are eating, enjoy it (since it is going down the hatch anyway).

Fat Loss Battle Plan Report

A while back I posted on my belief that fat loss is really a battle (or series of battles) followed by a "peace keeping" mission.  I thought I would post about the results of my most recent battle.  Every winter, I tend to be a bit more indulgent with my body composition.  I did the same thing this year, but left it on a bit longer than usual.  So when summer arrived, I realized it was time for a "Battle Plan."

So, the past 4 weeks have been full-on fat loss.  Here are the results:

Scale Weight:  69.8 kg  ->  69.2 kg
Body Fat:        11.9%   ->   8.7% Body Fat
Lean Mass:      61 kg    ->   63 kg

So, in just under a month...
3.2% Body Fat reduction with a...
2 kg (about 4.5 lbs) increase in Lean Mass

The testing was done using Harpenden calipers on a 12 site test by an extremely experienced coach (very important for accuracy).

And yes, of course you can lose fat and gain muscle at the same time, you just have to be disciplined about it and do it right.  And that is where the most important part of this process comes in.  Although I coach others to do this day-in and day-out, when it comes to my own progress I too need an outside eye to guide me.  Everyone needs a coach to get optimal results.  I'm lucky enough this summer to have access to one of the most renowned body-composition experts in Canada and have been able to pick his brain in tailoring my own training, nutrition and supplement plan (my Battle Plan).

Now, I'm exactly where I want to be and I just need to develop (with my coach) a "peace keeping" plan in order to stay here.  Sometime soon, I'll detail the Battle Plan I used and lay out my basic principles for you.  Until then, think about what you want to achieve and find yourself a coach.  And if you will permit me some shameless self-promotion, I have several online clients who have achieved and are achieving phenomenal progress.

Cheers,
Adam

Ten Minutes of Torture (er, I mean training...)

Sometimes you just feel the need to go all out and see where your limits are (at least I do).  And this itch often hits me mid-Summer.  So, in honour of that itch, I concocted a little metabolic conditioning routine that really takes it out-a-ya.  I did this last week for the first time and came in at twelve and a half minutes.  Yesterday I clocked it at 10:16.  Here's the bad medicine...

100 Clockwork Squats (50 per shoulder) with Bruiser Clubbell
25 Kipping pull-ups
15 Quad Box-Jumps
10 Quad Hops
5 Mountain Climbers
5 Quad Box-Jumps
10 Quad Hops
15 Mountain Climbers
25 Kipping pull-ups

Give it a try if you want!  Post your time in the comments if you choose to accept the challenge... ;-)

CST's Training Hierarchy Pyramid

I am working on drawing up these slides for part of my presentation at the upcoming CST Singapore seminar.  As a follow-up to this previous post on CST's Training Hierarchy Pyramid, I thought it might be fun to upload the slides and post them here.  Obviously, most of the context is missing, but if you read the other post, these slides will add a few tidbits and some visual interest.  Enjoy!

From www.coachsteer.com: CST Training Hiearchy Pyramid Overview

view presentation (tags: circular strength training thp)

Intelligent Movement Quotient

Brian Grasso, of the International Youth Conditioning Association, presents a very important concept which he refers to as Athletic Intelligence.  I was happy to see this post, as it seems like my mission in life has become trying to explain to people the importance of paying heed to the quality of movement and not just the quantity of movement that you can perform.  Having a huge bench press does not necessarily mean that you are "fit."  The big question is, fit for what?  And that is where the qualitative aspect comes into play.  There are sports where a huge bench press can be pretty predictive of better performance.  But again, only if that specific strength is integrated into the overall athletic development of the athlete.  In other words, it's not just the quantity, but the quality.  It isn't just about being strong but about how you use that strength.  It is about applying the right amount of strength at the right time.  You can think of the result as something akin to timing & coordination or grace & fluidity.  In Circular Strength Training that concept is distilled down into one word.  Flow!

Although the word evokes an esoteric or mystical quality, in fact it is a very concrete phenomenon.  And it essentially boils down to learning how to get out of your own way.  Take away the hindrances that are holding you back and lay on the driving forces that can propel you forward.  That is where flow lies.  But you can't just jump into Flow, you need to incrementally seek out the energy that drives flow, embrace it, redirect it, commit to it, coordinate it and, above all, get out of its way.  Coach Sonnon's FlowFit is a great example of that exploration of flow.  It moves the body through increasingly sophisticated variations on movement in 6 Degrees of Freedom.  In other words, it guides the body through every possible direction of human movement and gradually invites movement to become more and more complex.  This helps us to discover the energy which drives us forward without setting off the restrictive forces that would seek to hold us back if we progress too far, too quickly in our movement complexity.

There is an old truism which states that "strength is a skill."  I could not agree more.  But like any skill, we should constantly seek to add sophistication to it.  In basketball, we don't learn to shoot a good free throw and then just leave it at that, constantly perfecting that free throw shot.  We move on to jumpers, layups, three-point shots, etc.  So in strength, why do we stop at the squat, deadlift and benchpress when we can move on to more complex applications of our strength.  I'm not saying that those exercises aren't good, they are certainly staples for many athletic endeavors.  We don't give up the free throw when we learn all the other shots.  But if we don't expand our movement palette, we won't develop our "Intelligent Movement Quotient."

We need that wide variety of patterns and options to choose from if we want to get to a state where our bodies are able to improvise movement situationally.  And the only way to get to that array of opportunity is to train intelligent movement in multiple planes with sound mechanics.

Live Strong

Guy or gal, tall or short, big or small, being strong is never a bad thing.  It feels good to be strong.  I'm not talking about being muscular, jacked or pumped, but knowing that you have the strength to do what you need to do.  It has a primal feeling of power attached to it.  And that makes sense from the standpoint of our evolution.  A weak caveman would not have been able to stick around for very long, if you know what I mean.  But it is also a bit of a paradox.  The work the caveman had to do to survive, in and of itself, made him (or her) strong.  Do the work to get strong, be strong to do the work (or don't survive)!

Nowadays, there is a dichotomy between life and strength for many of us.  Sedentary jobs and lifestyles force us to adopt more "artificial" means of remaining strong.  Pec decks and Smith machines are about as far from that natural strength building work as we can get.  But there are ways of getting closer to what made our ancestors strong and healthy.  There are patterns and tools which better mimic what the demands of primitive life imposed on us.  Things like swinging heavy stuff (like the guy on the right) come to mind.  There is certainly something primal about doing a TBF with the 25 lbs Clubbells. You can't help but feel strong when your done!

But there are many ways and many tools for getting and staying strong.  The important thing to note is that it is worth the effort.  Anyone leading an active lifestyle could probably have told you that anecdotally, but science also tells us that not only does being stronger make us feel better, but it may also equate with living longer.  Evidence of grip strength being correlated with longevity has been around for a while, but a new study (Ruiz JR, et al. Association between muscular strength and mortality in men: prospective cohort study. BMJ 2008;337:a439) also relates general overall strength to a decreased risk of mortality.

So do something to get and/or stay strong.  Both the quality and the quantity of your life may depend upon it...