Dynamic Strength and Conditioning: Short Term Thinking Causes Long Term Nightmares

You know how we look at some of the stupid stuff teenagers do, shake our heads, laugh and say "they think they're immortal, wait till they're our age". I look around at the people my age and I shake my head, laugh and say, "they think they're immortal, wait till the hammer comes down and they're wishing they made some changes earlier on.". My point is it doesn't matter how old we are, almost all of us suffer from short term thinking. Living for the moment and not worrying about what's coming down the line. This is most obvious with our health. Many of us do a really great job taking care of ourselves. Eating well, staying active, making a positive impact on the people around us through our decisions and actions. Then there's those who wake up in the morning at 40 years old and 40 pounds overweight feeling symptom-free for the moment and decide that 2 for 1 egg mcmuffin deal will be perfect for the drive into the office to get fueled up for the next 9 hours on their ass. "Mmmmm, maybe I can stop at Wendy's for their new Baconator for lunch".. I wonder why they call it the Baconator. Sounds kind of angry. It's possible that half way through the sandwich you can literally hear your arteries start slamming shut as your on your way to your first massive coronary. I was listening to a DJ on the radio the other day bragging about being 100 lbs overweight and feeling great. I think the guy in the car next to me was listening to the same program. He was about 300 lbs, had the remnants of a jelly doughnut on the side of his mouth as he was smiling and nodding his head in approval to whatever he was listening to.

So let me throw this out there and you can argue it if you'd like. You're not immortal and what you do today will most certainly affect your "golden" years as they like to call them. Want to know who calls them the "golden years"? The doctors and drug companies who reap the benefits of people's poor life decisions. Let me also throw this out there. If you're out of shape today, but feel "symptom-free", it's temporary and you're going to pay for it big time at some point. And it won't be a gradual slide, it will be a sudden plummet. You can choose not to believe this. That's the beauty of denial. Have another Baconator and wash it down with a six pack of Bud. Doctors drive around in Mercedes and live in mansions because of that attitude.

People complain about not having time or money to workout.. Neither excuse flies. Everybody has time. You don't need to workout 2 hours a day to get a great workout. As we've proven day after day at Dynamic Strength and Conditioning, you can get a phenomenal workout in as little as 20 minutes if you're willing to work really hard.. Here's two examples:

Using just bodyweight do as many rounds as you can in 20 minutes:

10 burpees

10 situps

10 pushups

10 tuck jumps (two footed jump pulling your knees as high as you can, preferably to chest height. you can clap your hands under your shins at the top of your jump if you're getting your knees high enough)

10 pullups (assisted, unassisted, jump negatives or whatever modification you need)

A world class athlete would struggle to get 15 rounds. Somebody who just ate a baconator would struggle to get 2..

If you have two kettlebells of the same weight, or even dumbbells, then do the following:

In a 15:15 work:rest ratio, do each of the following exercises for 5 minutes before moving to the next.

double kb swings

double kb thrusters

double kb cleans

double kb front squats

(If you don't have kettlebells, then you can come to the only kettlebell gym in Southern New Hampshire and do workouts like this all the time :)

OK? I think I just destroyed any idea that you don't have enough time to get in a good workout. Everybody has 20 minutes in their busy day.

Another excuse is money. I can't tell you how many times I've had people tell me, "I can't afford it.". Really? Our bodies need certain things. Things we absolutely need are food, clothes, shelter, and exercise. Of the 4 things I just listed there is only one thing on the list that's free. Can you guess which one it is? Problem with exercise is that many of us don't have the motivation or knowledge to get productive workouts on our own which is where the gym comes into play. I'll admit that my gym costs more than Gold's or Planet Fitness.. But those gyms suck, unless of course you want to be a bodybuilder with a bunch of non-functional, range limiting muscle mass that only looks good in a mirror. "Results" like that may be useful at Planet Fitness, but they aren't useful here on Planet Earth. In my gym, every person who has walked through the door and stuck with us has seen real-world results that have led to a positive increase in their quality of life. Every one! That is not an exaggeration or some bold marketing claim. It's a fact. So what is that worth in the long run? In the long run it means less doctors visits, less prescriptions, less time in rehabs or nursing homes. It means better quality of life, more time with your kids and grandkids, it means aging youthfully. It means being as close to immortal as you're going to get. Is all that worth $3 a day to you now? If money is one of the reasons you don't workout, is it time to reconsider and try to figure out how to re-budget $3 a day to give yourself a better life? And that's only if the free method I've already given you doesn't work.. No excuses..

Here's my workout from yesterday.. 5 rounds of:

-100 bodyweight squats.. flat foot, "ass to grass" squats

-20 knuckle pushups.. 3 second repetitions. pushups done from knuckles to allow for a deeper range of motion through the shoulders. Slow, controlled negatives with hips, chest and nose touching the mat at the same time on the way down.

-20 jacknifes (aka V-ups)

-10 twisting hanging knee raises from a rope.. i made up this one yesterday because I wanted to make the knee raise harder. Anything done hanging from a rope is really tough on your grip and forearms. Adding the twist in the knee raise and making sure you get your knees up to your elbows every time is amazing core work. Brutal, effective bodyweight exercise.