Strength and health are tied together. At least that’s the way it should be.
That’s the reason that probably the greatest physical culture magazine was called by that name.
Yet today more than ever people seem to divorce the two.
There should be little if any difference in training for strength and training for your health. Performance training should not cost a toll on your body.
An old friend of mine is a bodybuilder. One day he was talking about how he would pay the price for his training in his later years. Wrecked shoulders and the like. I grimaced. That’s not the way is should be. Its certainly not the way it has to be.
At the same time there are those that go balls to the walls in their workouts. They train hard in order to become healthy and fit. But then they go and chow down at a fast food place.
It’s amazing how many people do this. They have one side of the coin but completely lack the other.
Then there are those health nuts. The vegan guy who doesn’t know as much about nutrition as he thinks he does. Avoids meat but eats ’fake meats’ that have who knows what in them. The guy who weighs 100 lbs. and couldn’t lift a barbell in the squat. (You should realize I’m using stereotypes in order to make my point.)
Jack LaLanne said, “Exercise is king. Nutrition is queen. Put them together and you’ve got a kingdom!”
Live by that saying and you may live long and healthy as Jack has.
I show you the best methods and training tools I can on this site. I work to bring you the best.
Now I’ll be doing the same with health with a new section on the site. The Health section will feature articles, recommendations and more. The cutting edge and best information out there.
Trust me, when you see some of this information you will be blown away.
My primary reason in getting to this field is performance related. Yes, I want radiant health. But I also want my body to perform at its best at all times. To never get sick and break down. To heal old chronic injuries. To be able to marshal all its forces towards my goals in training and life.
These things are possible. I make no claims to be perfect. But I do strive for perfection. Won’t you join me?
In strength,
Logan Christopher
P.S. And on this note I have an important message for you tomorrow.
Filed under Health, Nutrition by on May 12th, 2010. Comment. 
100 lb. Keg Press
I may not have been writing recently but I sure have been training.
And about a month ago I went to my friend Doug’s gym Rise Above Performance Training.
I was a trainer for Doug when he went through the RKC and we stayed in touch after that. He was holding an anniversary party and strongman competition and asked me to come down.
By the way, if you live near Belmont, California you should go check it out. More info can be found at www.RiseAboveStrength.com.
Right when I arrived, the strongman competition was just getting started. I jumped in no hesitation. Here’s a summary with some lessons learned at the end. Also I hope you enjoy the pictures and videos.
The first event was a keg press. Even with all my training this was actually the first time I ever pressed a keg. At 100 lbs. this one proved difficult. I managed 3 reps, knowing with a little practice I could at least double that number.
The second event was the tire flip. It was a light tire so it was done for max reps in 2 minutes. This one I excelled and taking first place by a single rep.
Rolling Thunder
The third event was weighted pushups. Throwing chains over the body then doing reps between two concrete blocks. This was my worst event of the bunch.
The fourth event was the Rolling Thunder. If you are unfamiliar with this one it’s a grip tool put out by Iron Mind. The thick bar and rotating handle makes it difficult to grip. We kept adding weight to see who could lift the most.
The last event was a medley. Pushing a sled, carrying a 70 lb. keg overhead, doing a farmer’s walk with 120 lb. dumbbells and pulling a rope with a weighted sled on it. All this was done for time.
Overall I placed third or forth out of out of the seven. Not bad when you consider most of the competitors where bigger and more muscular then me. And the fact that they trained there and most of these events were familiar to them.
Would have loved to go there and dominate but the primary concern was just to have some fun. Its great to get to use your training that you work so hard to build every once in a while. And competition is always fun.
And afterwords I did a few of the things I’m known for. Kettlebell juggling, tearing phonebooks, cards, bending nails and even a horseshoe.
Speaking of kettlebell juggling tonight Scott Bird from Straight to the Bar is holding a twitter chat on the subject. To come join the conversation go here for details.
This video will show a couple clips from everything that went on there.
Phonebook Tear
Another good reason to compete or do something like this is it shows you how you’re doing. Even though I had never pressed a keg before I got to see how my training has prepared me to do that. I got to see how my conditioning would hold up in unfamiliar exercises like the tire flip and medley.
And it would point out weaknesses, like my horizontal pushing strength, which I am now adding back into my training. Everything for some time has all been overhead pressing. Not anymore.
So go and compete. Take a different training class once in awhile. Try using a new training implement. This is your call to action. Get out and do it!
And if you enjoyed this post please comment below.
In strength,
Logan Christopher
P.S. There’s a big announcement coming tomorrow so watch your email inbox for that.
Filed under Conditioning, Feats of Strength, Hand Strength, Kettlebells, Lifting Technique, Odd Objects, Strength Training Concepts, Videos by on Oct 28th, 2009. 4 Comments.
