The New Year is well upon us.
But I’m not here to talk about resolutions. To me the idea of New Year’s resolutions are a joke because of all the baggage they hold.
Despite the root term of being ‘resolute’ they are anything but. And if you can make it into February most people would say you’re doing well. Pfff!
The problem lies in how people treat them.
What really needs to be done is to set goals and plans to achieve them. For the past few years I’ve used the transition into the New Year to review the last year. Find out what worked and what didn’t. Not only setting goals for the next year but setting the plans to accomplish them.
It’s a constantly evolving process. Each time more powerful than the last.
One method that works well is to set what your ideal day will look like come 2010. I did this last year and it’s a little scary how accurate it was to what’s happening today. You can be sure I did it again this year stretching the limits even further.
But be forewarned, all of it will never work without one key ingredient: ACTION!
This applies to everything in your life but I want to focus on physical culture specifically for a minute.
Having a resolution to exercise more is worthless. Setting specific goals to accomplish whether its to lift a certain weight, do a feat of strength, compete, or lose a certain number of pounds, is what you have to do.
Most people never reach these goals or become truly strong because they falter somewhere along the way. Lose their motivation. Get side-tracked by some shiny thing. Or just continue without making any REAL progress for months on end.
And damn it if I haven’t been there too.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. I want to help you achieve your training goals in 2009. And I’m going to do my best to do just that.
This is going to be unlike anything you’ve seen before. Stay tuned for more details. And if you have questions or comments send them in. I’d love to hear from you.
In strength,
Logan Christopher
P.S. I’ve recently joined Facebook one thing I plan on really using this year. It’s unique and interesting. If your on, go here to become my friend.
Filed under Strength Training Concepts by on Jan 7th, 2009. Comment. 
First off, there’s a new feat of strength up on the site. This one’s on Muscle Control. I’ve included a video of a few abdominal moves too. While it’s not much practiced these days, it’s worth the effort.
After my last message I’ve been wracking my brain figuring out the best way to deliver much needed information on hitting your training goals. I think I’ve got it now.
So stay tuned. There’s going to be a special event sometime this month and you won’t want to miss it.
On a similar note, how have your workouts been going in the New Year so far?
Personally, I took a whole week off to recover but now I’m back hitting new record after new record in every workout.
This message may be short but there’s already too much going on so that’s it for now.
In strength,
Logan Christopher
Filed under Feats of Strength by on Jan 9th, 2009. Comment.
I’ve been training for many years now. Gone through tons of different programs using a multitude of tools. From dinosaur training to kettlebells, combat conditioning to barbells, gymnastics to feats of strength and many more.
I’ve gotten stronger along the way and I like to think I’ve also learned a thing or two about what really works.
During the time I’ve had my ups and downs. I’m talking about super productive plans where the gains came at incredible speeds. I’ve also gone through periods where nothing seemed to work.
I’ve come a looooong way from doing the workouts from the bodybuilding mags. Laughing just thinking about that.
Getting stronger, leaner, and hitting new PR’s is not complicated, yet so many people seem to have problems with it.
I want 2009 to be your best training year ever as well as mine. That’s why next Wednesday on January 21st I’m holding a free teleseminar on ‘Achieving Your Training Goals’.
My aim is to pass my knowledge onto you. To distill my experience of what works and what doesn’t, so that you can move forward.
Progress comes fast when you do things right. There are certain keys to progress and when you use them you can help but to move forward.
And this isn’t the same material re-hashed. I’ve learned from the best in many fields. And I’ve learned from my own experience. You’ll get it all.
So jump on the call. You’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain since it costs you nothing.
Head on over to the sign-up page to register for the call right now.
In strength,
Logan Christopher
Filed under Uncategorized by on Jan 12th, 2009. Comment.
What is vital power?
Bernarr MacFadden, the father of physical culture, explained it as such:
“Vital power is more than the capacity to pursue your work with comfort! It is more than the power of endurance! It is, as has been said, life itself! It is the force that is hidden latent in the seed of everything that is created. It builds the beautiful human structure, cell by cell, within the womb of the mother. It is the power that makes us attain a certain stature. Without it we cannot be safe-guarded against disease. With an abundance of it we can defy contagion.
“The lack of vital power is easily discerned. If you are frightened somewhat, does your heart begin to beat furiously and suffocating? If you run, are you distressed for lack of breath? Is your digestive apparatus easily disarranged? Do your kidneys or liver give you trouble? Are you subject to sever headaches? Do you lack strength and endurance? Does an ordinary day’s toil fatigue you? Does even a little addition to your usual amount of labor leave you exhausted? If so, you may rest assured that you are lacking in vital power.
“It is he who is able to retire at night and sleep soundly, who awakes refreshed in the morning; who leaves home for his business feeling strong and contented, and able to do and dare; who goes blithely and easily through the day’s work; who finds rest, not fatigue in an evening’s recreation; who can stand an extra strain upon his physical resources when that strain comes; who enjoys life and does not find time for moping or for dreading; who always feels as is he could cheerfully undertake to do far more than the task that faces him; who hardly realizes the meaning of illness, and who believes that health is largely a result of will power; who enjoys every waking moment of life and who feels that his career does not give full scope to his energies–THIS IS HE WHO POSSESSES VITAL POWER!”
This comes from his book Building of Vital Power and is as true today as when it was published over 100 years ago in 1904.
Last night I was out at a show of my friends’ band in Oakland. We didn’t make it home until almost 4 in the morning. I woke up about four hours later. Now I normally sleep between 8 and 9 hours a day. Quantity and quality of sleep is a necessity especially when you train hard.
However, when some people might let the lack of sleep destroy there efforts in the day, when you have a huge reserve of vital power you can power through it without slowing down. Not only did I get up and start working, I completed my workout even surpassing my goal for the exercise.
If I kept up this behavior for days on end it would surely catch up to me, but one day of just about any sub-optimal behavior, whether eating poor foods, lack of sleep, even a night of drinking should not derail you.
But sometimes these things gets in the way of your training goals. That’s another subject I’ll be going into at the upcoming free teleseminar a week away. If you haven’t already signed up make sure you do.
If you want to make 2009 your best training year ever make sure you are on this call. I promise I’ll be well-rested and ready to deliver great hard-hitting content to you.
In strength,
Logan Christopher
Filed under Recovery, Strength Training Concepts by on Jan 14th, 2009. Comment.
I’m was reading ‘No Limits’ a book by Michael Phelps last night. I’m not all that far into it but one thing is abundantly clear.
He never would have gotten to where he is without his coach.
Sure there is a lot else that went into his winning eight gold medals at the past Olympics, but he makes it clear that his coach was there with him every step of the way for support, to challenge him, and much else.
Phelps was in the spotlight but I can guarantee you every athlete who sat on the podium a few months back also had a coach who was instrumental in them getting to that place.
I think that tells you something. If you want to reach the highest levels you sure as hell aren’t going to do it alone.
This can be a hard lesson for many to learn especially if you have a lone-wolf attitude.
But it is a lesson you have to learn. Mentors, coaches and your peers have so much to teach that you couldn’t possibly learn it all by yourself in just a single lifetime.
And the great thing is you don’t have to. Nowadays there is so much help at your fingertips. But are you going take it and put it into action?
For all these reasons and more I’m starting a mastermind group to help you build strength, health and fitness.
Make sure you look hard at this offer because its only available through then end of the month, less than a week away.
This could be the your ticket to glory, because with proper coaching there’s no telling how far you can go.
Click here for more info on the Strength Mastermind
In strength,
Logan Christopher
Filed under Uncategorized by on Jan 27th, 2009. Comment.
Added two new feats of strength to the site. They are practiced widely these days but if you want some true strength you’ll have to give them a try at one point or another.
Check them out.
In strength,
Logan Christopher
P.S. And just wanted to let you know that time is running out on joining up for the Strength Mastermind. It goes away after this Saturday.
Filed under Feats of Strength, Oldtime Strongmen by on Jan 29th, 2009. Comment.
How you structure your workouts is vitally important to your success. I talking sets, reps, exercises, and workouts from one day to the next.
There are many ways to do it and almost all of them will work to some degree, but depending on what you’re going for, certain options are more appealing then others.
Do you do a full body workout everyday? Or a split schedule? Are you working the same exercises or muscles everyday? Or do you hit things only once a week?
These are important things to ask yourself.
You have to adequately recover in between workouts. But you must train often enough that you make forward progress.
And here is what no one else selling exercise plans is telling you. What works for one person may not necessarily work for you.
Is one set done to failure going to get you to your goals? Maybe and maybe you need to do more volume. Perhaps Option A would work, but Option B would give you faster results.
I started writing this trying to give you some answers, something concrete to apply to your training, but it looks like I’ve just raised a bunch of questions.
Oh well, sometimes you need to ask those questions. Look critically at your training. There is time for experimentation to find what works best for you even while you train hard. Over the months and years this sort of experimentation will pay off in spades.
But don’t forget that what works now may not always work as well.
Let’s use myself as an example. While most of my workouts would be considered full body they contain different focuses. Currently this is pressing one day, pulling the next and squatting the third, to repeat the cycle again.
Splitting up workouts in this manner works great for me rather than trying to do complete full body workouts each time I train. Equally important is the fact that I enjoy it.
But that’s not all I do in these workouts. Today for example, between sets of weighted one leg squats I bent steel. I’ve always found that this combo, intense leg work and bending, works wonders together. Be prepared to have to lay down on the ground between sets though because it can get rough. If I bent steel between pressing or pullups it would be a different feel.
The most important gauge of how your workouts are working for you is how much you’re making progress. If you’re not moving forward then you’re doing something wrong.
In strength,
Logan Christopher
P.S. Got another new feat up on the site. This one is on driving a nail through a board with your hand.
Filed under Strength Training Concepts by on Jan 31st, 2009. Comment.
