Random Thoughts...

• I've seen quite a few workouts lately that call for 50 chin ups? Really? 50 chin ups? I know a handful of people who can do five good chin ups. I would like to know how many chin ups the people writing up these workouts can actually do. Maybe it's not so unrealistic if you have 30 minutes to put aside to knock out 50 chin ups. Then I saw another workout yesterday that called for fifteen 400-meter runs...hard. That's a world class 800-meter runner workout. Not for someone who's trying to get ready for a 5k or lose 5-10 pounds.
• Sometimes I think it would be less painful to drop a 100lb dumbbell on my foot then to hear people ask me to do "abs" or to do some crunches "to get rid of this" while pointing at their midsection. Last week, right after I had someone do a set of Valslide Body Saws, which comes as close to a "core" exercise as possible, they asked me, "Can we do some abs?". Where's that dumbbell? Make it 120lbs.
  
• I think a good majority of the time it's not the training or nutrition program to blame for not getting results. It's the adherence to the program that is the problem. When a program calls for four sets of reverse lunges with 8 reps in each set, 3 sets of 15 reps of machine leg curls is not the same thing. Or when a nutrition program calls for eating breakfast each day, eating breakfast only three days of the week is not the same thing. Stop blaming the programs and start blaming yourself. If you really want to achieve success you're going to have to comply, most of the time. A little cheat here and there is fine, but the less and less you start complyng the less and less your chances of success are.
• In regards to programs, one thing I never do is write up my own program. If I did it would consist of things I like to do or things I'm pretty good at and long rest periods between exercises. It probably wouldn't consist of things that I need to work on, set/rep schemes that I hate or some type of interval training that is going to crush me. So as a trainer if I am not writing up my own program, why is someone who doesn't have a good grasp on program design writing up his or her own programs? Yes, I'm speaking to you Bobby Bench Press.
• One simple quick fix to getting leaner? Give up the booze. You want a beer or a glass of wine here and there. Fine. But if you're really looking to shed that body fat the alcohol has got to go. A couple things happen with frequent alcohol consumption. One, it's just empty calories. Two, when you're out crushing beers the fat burning process is turned down. Your body will metabolize those frosty brews before it metabolizes anything else. Third, if you are Harry Hangover chronic alcohol consumption is going to suppress your testosterone levels. I'm not saying to give it up forever. But try giving it up for a month and see what happens.
• Strength coach Dan John has an approach on fat loss that I particularly like. He suggests attacking it for 28 days. Go all out. Get strict for 28 days. Step your training up. Cut all the crap out of your diet. Dial in for 28 days. Hell, it's only a month. Once that 28 days is up, just go back to some type of maintenance plan.
• I don't care how much you sweat, how sore you are, how winded you are after a workout or how many calories you burned. None of these three things will necessarily result in getting stronger, getting leaner or improving performance. The funny thing is that the people who desire to sweat or be sore are usually the ones who are not getting anywhere with their workouts. It's easy to sweat or get so sore that it's painful to sit on the john. Do jumping jacks in a sauna for 5 minutes or jump off a 20 foot roof a couple of times. Show me you can go from doing zero to a couple chin ups. Now I'm impressed and you're probably leaner and stronger.
• Remember, we're hosting Warrior Workouts every Sunday @10am.

Oh yeah, one final thought. The Red Sox are what they are: not very good.