Rocky and Son: Genetics and Discipline
Here's the late Rocky Johnson and his jacked-at-50 son, Dwayne. It's been noted that the elder Johnson liked to party and drink and had young children with two women. So to provide for his two families, he adopted a frugal lifestyle and lived on “beer, sliced cheese, and bologna.” And the dude looked like THAT? How? Johnson senior benefited from great genetics for building muscle & looking...
Forget you’re on a diet.
There are many cutting-edge tips and tricks and "biohacks" that reportedly help you lose fat faster. Most of them will provide you with little other than something cool to talk about with your friends if or when the subject turns to your diet. But there are also lame, boring things that nobody wants to discuss (much less do) that can make a diet much easier to stick to—and, as a result, more...
What I learned from Randy Savage’s mystery training partner
When I was a kid I would pay a drop-in at the local World Gym to watch all the massive dudes workout, even pretend that I was one of them. One day in walks Macho Man Randy Savage (there was a match in town) along with some other big dude that I didn't recognize. They skipped the change rooms and went straight to the rack and started squatting, quickly working up to 3 plates a side. Mystery...
Figure out plateaus by checking for brown M&Ms
Back in the 80s, Van Halen was the biggest rock band in the world. Their live performances were legendary, as was their artist rider. An artist rider is a part of the performance contract that specifies everything the artist requires to perform that day. Van Halen’s long rider had "a large bowl of M&Ms, all brown ones removed.” Seriously. For years, this was dismissed as typical rock star...
What is and isn’t beyond our control
A memory popped up in my timeline, from the second or third time I saw Arnold working out at Gold’s Gym Venice. Not the first time I saw him, but it was the only time in my life I felt sorta star-struck. Now, I didn’t start having heart palpitations or follow him from machine to machine, but I did do way too many sets of deadlifts across from him while thinking, “Holy shit, thats really Arnold.”...
Learning from client frustration during the holiday season
The holiday season is upon us. Hell for some it kicked off last month with Thanksgiving! It's a time for rest, relaxation and family. Many folks find diets (or healthy eating plans) tough to follow this time of year. I know I do and I don’t even have a social life! It often leads to feelings of frustration, even cases of “what's the point of even trying to follow a diet and exercise plan?” which...
We all need validation
Every so often I'll break my own rule and enter one of THOSE online discussions. You know the type. Someone asks a question about their diet or exercise program, sometimes even posting it and asking for "feedback please." Yet every suggestion or bit of feedback actually just puts them on defence. ME: "You say low carb diets get you lean faster than moderate carbs. Are you counting your...