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Upper Back Is The New Chest

Upper Back is the New Chest

How much do you bench?

An age old question, asked by bro’s the world over since the beginning of time.

The bench press is considered the ‘Number One’ exercise for developing the chest, and is also a massive ego exercise for every man. If I had $1 for every time I have had clients and friends come to me and ask, ‘How can I bench more?’, I would be a moderately rich man.

Generally, when at a bench plateau the answer is to do more chest and triceps. Not a bad idea, these are the prime movers in the bench press so it makes sense to train them up. Over the years, however, I have slowly shifted my perception of bench press and I now see it as a fundamentally whole body exercise.

To me the bench press is not a specific chest exercise. It is an expression of upper body pushing power. So if you want to pump up your numbers it’s time to start thinking outside the box.

If you want to improve your bench press – train your back.

Something all the world’s best bench presses have in common is the fact they look like they have a tortoise shell on their backs. A large bench press requires stability in the shoulder girdle and high quality scapula motion. A strong upper back will facilitate this outcome.

Three of my favourite exercises for upper back development are:

Banded Face Pull – I like to perform this in sets of 15 to 20, big focus on getting elbows above shoulders. Focus on keeping it upper back and shoulder - as you get tired you will try to turn this into a shrug

Underhand Band Pullapart – Done correctly this exercise will shred your lower trap and rear delts. There are many variations with this as well. Once my athletes are competent with this movement I like to add in a slight elevation of the band from chest to nose and back. This forces the athlete to maintain the lower trap contraction whilst moving the scapula into upward rotation. For this exercise I like 1 set of 100

Z-Press – Counter intuitive I know, but done correctly nothing will burn your upper back more than correct Z-pressing. As a movement it brings together both our face pull and band pullapart into the one motion. This is why I like to add the elevation element to the pullapart. When you come to overhead press you need to be able to hold some retraction whilst driving upward rotation of your scapula. You can program a Z-press in a number of different ways, however, for a beginner keep the weight light and work in sets of 15. Put a premium on quality of movement.

Upper back is the new chest (#lads) and you might be surprised to see how much your bench improves from adding in some of these simple exercises a couple of times a week into your training program.

Video through the CAMPVS YouTube channel is available for this article.

 

http://nathanielhodges.blogs.com/my-blog/2016/05/an-under-utilised-gem-in-the-gym.html

 

http://nathanielhodges.blogs.com/my-blog/2016/04/spirituality-for-performacne-tactical-breathing.html

 

for training goodness check out

Jonathon Danaher ǀ BExSS ǀ ASCA lvl 1
Head Coach – Valkyrie Strength and Performance
email: [email protected]

​Instagram: @valkyrie_strength_performance

mob: (+61) 0439393904

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Notes for those who want to do more research

Joe Defranco has been a big influence on how I coach and he is a massive fan of training up your #backboobs. I have unashamedly taken a number of cues from him in this area of training and for good reason. They work. So if you are looking for extra resources on upper back training check him out!

https://www.defrancostraining.com/upper-back-training-secrets-to-avoid-shoulder-injuries-increase-power/

CAMPVS Athlete Profile #1

Introducing Tommy Cachia

he has played rugby union at a national competition and also at a state level. He has competed at a regional level in swimming and could hold in his own on the volleyball court . Struck down from a persistent patella tendon injury cut the endeavours of playing semi-profession/ professional rugby short. He then found the art of Muay Thai and has been training for 6-8 months now and is looking to have his first fight in September. He is looking to return to rugby union next year to fuel the passion that's very real.

Tommy spends a fair bit of his time at CAMPVS being coached by Benny and is in full training mode to step into a coaching role at CAMPVS. Above his very clear achievements he's backed by one the best characters iv seen for a young man his age and he's showing all the clues for a successful career. Keep an eye out for this up and coming coach and athlete.

The 4 Real Reason People Fail In The Gym & What You Can Change

Let’s get really really clear on why people fail when they finally make the decision to take control of their health, strength, fitness or generally anything under those categories. After looking back over some journals and then placing against my current years of experience in the industry it becomes clear why people never follow through and it’s never any of the following.

 

Time, money, access to education, kids, distance, travel time, support networks, competency in the gym, current fitness level or even belief in oneself!

 

Here are the biggest components that determine success and lasting change:

 

1. Its no secret that goals are important but why is it that we know this but still don’t do it? Because the word “goal” has been so overused by the industry that it has no weight or meaning. What clients need is a clearly defined OBJECTIVE that needs to be achieved within a scheduled timeline. How do we give the objective weight? By associating ourselves with the person who lives that objective. J How does this person train? What does this person wear? How does this person eat? How does this person plan? How does this person celebrate? How does this person help others do the same? Once this is written down we essentially become this person. Goals are out OBJECTIVES are in.

 

2. From day one up until the objective is achieved, it is just a big bunch of decision making and then managing those decisions. So why is it so hard for clients to make the right decision when we have given them every single resource they could need and map, that if followed would see them achieve the objective? When a client “falls off the wagon, or misses a session” they made that decision based on the current person they think they are, because of the background story they keep hearing “what’s the point? I’m never going to make it, I don’t want to annoy anyone, its better if I stay like this, I don’t deserve it” and so on. What if they make their daily decision being the character in point 1? Being the character they are moving into and making decisions from that place? Would the percentage of poor choices go down? YES. MAKE DECISION FROM THE VERSION OF YOU AT SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION.

 

3. I see so many people who are great at the above 2 and can hold the end in mind in great detail but still be very derailed when the daily plan of eating and training are thrown off by an unseen event. Some classics are forgetting gym clothes, not packing food, someone forgets the kids, client is prepared for deadlifts and coach says “we are doing conditioning today” haha. My point is adaptability!! Understanding that from point A to point B things will change and the plan will most likely change at times. Being flexible in your behavior and anticipating early that change will happen can mean you make solid choices and those small choices eventuate into success. Going for some quick sprints in the park with some explosive push ups and chin up holds are 10x better than spitting the dummy when your circumstances mean on a certain day you cant get to the gym. Not only that you are also training your art of utilization and the belief that “there is always a way”.

 

4. My final key reason for people failing is understanding that you can never use your emotions as EVIDENCE. As coaches we all have clients that say the following “I feel “. “ I feel I’m getting fat, I feel I’m getting skinny, I feel I’m getting weak, I feel I’m not good enough”. FEELING something actually means nothing to yourself or a coach I’m sorry to say J if you have clear measures in place that are in line with the objective and they are showing positive, then your feelings mean nothing. Simply the fact of you thinking that way will destroy your ability to fulfill 3 (adapt) and 2 (conducive choices) because what you are really saying is “I’m not the person that can fulfill the objective”.

 

 

Hope this helps some coaches and clients alike bridge some gaps about why we can have all the information and plans that have worked over and over but some clients still fall short.

 

 

Other articles regarding retention, compliance and achievement are:

 

http://nathanielhodges.blogs.com/my-blog/2016/04/a-deeper-observation-of-high-performers-what-are-you-missing-out-on.html

 

http://nathanielhodges.blogs.com/my-blog/2016/03/8-ways-to-get-your-arse-to-the-gym-as-a-student.html

 

http://nathanielhodges.blogs.com/my-blog/2016/02/10-overlooked-components-of-powerlifitng-preparation.html

 

Hodges

 

 

 

 

 

When You Stop Chasing Opinions You Attract The Wise

Opinion Vs. Laws

 

In this day and age in training, nutrition and business everyone has their opinion of what will work and what wont. Social media is a festering living organism that gives everyone a voice on topics they have no idea about. It makes it worse when we have social media “celebrities “ that have quite following pushing products, opinions and philosophies.

 

Here is some advice for anyone wanting to learn more about any topic on planet earth, if someone is trying to explain to you a concept, model or framework and he or she use end reference e.g. “This is the only way it can work” or “ if you apply it in this way it will never work”. Tread carefully if you’re taking it on board.

 

If this doesn’t land with you it’s ok, just recognize that the outcome you want to achieve has 294874 (literally that many) ways to get there, some roads may be tougher than others but you will arrive if you utilise a few LAWS along the way.

 

The Law of hourly rate.

 

This can be called a law because its always happening whether you like it or not, the question is whether you are taking advantage of it. You seem to like electricity although you have no idea how it actually works. Think about this, if you were your own boss and you were being paid for every hour in the day would you still have a job? To put it bluntly what are you doing every single hour of every single day taking tiny steps toward your ultimate outcome?

 

Now this has been said over and over but here is something that will make it hit home. What if a professional bodybuilder just an hour a day gave him/herself a “break” from his/her personal legend where they sat on the couch watching TV eating ice cream? Here’s the worst part of this situation, the sitting and eating can be rectified but now this person has lost an hour where he/she was not thinking about and feeling what standing on stage in first place is like. This cannot be regained. It sounds ridiculous for a bodybuilder to do that so why are you doing it? Maybe you don’t know your ultimate outcome? Here’s a start, what is that one thing you do that all of life’s stressors and worries go out the window? Start there.

For those chasing an outcome or a result you may be waiting on others or most definitely navigating some challengers, your going through hell your on the perfect path if you give up your back at square 1 with nothing. When your stuck on the waiting game and you feel you are doing everything you can. Turn to yourself and learn more about you, see yourself achieving whatever it is you want, learn to ask beautiful questions, act as if you have already achieved it, and pull others along with you.

 

The Law of Gratitude

 

When was the last time you sat and focused on everything you have, everything you have created and everything you have achieved? All of the best leaders and athletes in the world do not operate for self-satisfaction. Ask any of the top athletes what it meant for them to win. “ I had to win this one for my team mate, for the coach, for my family” how many times have you seen an athlete win the whole way through a tournament only to fall in the final bout? It’s a pattern and it goes like this. Lets take a tennis player for example

“ I have an opportunity to share my talents and show my team what it means to me for them helping me out this whole preparation” this psychology = smart decision-making, smart strategies and patience. When the player gets to the final match

“ What could I do with all the winnings, people will see me as a champion, I will be respected in the sport” this psychology is extremely internal and selfish, this = rushed decisions, short-term gains, anxiety.

The player loses the match.

 

It doesn’t make sense on any level to receive more of what you do not express gratitude towards. If you are wanting/needing more clients be there 100% and give everything you can to the clients you have currently, they are putting food in your mouth. Feel grateful for every dollar you have, every chance you get to train.

 

Try this.

If you wanted to be grateful for 20 things what would they be? Write them down and notice how much good you have. Spend 5 minutes expressing gratitude before your next meal and see how good the food tastes even if it is chicken and broccoli.

 

It’s so easy to sit back and find things we are not happy with I challenge you to challenge yourself and see how much good you can find, that’s the magic.

more fun things.

http://nathanielhodges.blogs.com/my-blog/2016/05/a-good-sign-youre-just-about-to-break-through-is-when-it-seems-nothing-is-happening.html

 

http://nathanielhodges.blogs.com/my-blog/2016/05/why-you-may-be-suffering-at-workchoosing-rewards-over-environment.html

 

http://nathanielhodges.blogs.com/my-blog/2016/04/spirituality-for-performacne-tactical-breathing.html

 

Nat

 

 

 

Its Provocative ... Gets The People Going!

 

 

The majority of people start out in the gym with a buddy that has some sort of experience. Its rare that your lifting journey starts with a well informed, well educated established coach or athlete. When we first step foot inside a gym the first-person that gets recognition is the guy with a huge chest or arms are shoulders. This gives the young gym goer some purpose or aspiration then the training begins…usually consists of training the muscles that the young lifter can see Chest, Shoulders, arms, back and legs (unintentionally neglecting hamstrings).

 

This approach will yield a result, some strength in the bench press some overall hypertrophy of major muscle groups. During this time undoubabtly this will be said somewhere along the way “ squats, deadlifts and lunges will hit your glutes hard” By no means is this statement wrong but there has been some advancements lately by a brilliant guy and coach by the name of Bret Contreras who extensively studied the activity of the hip girdle and surrounding musculature namely the glutes (glutei maximi, glutei mediei and glutei minimi) The role of the glutes has always fascinated me as they are always unseen but always talked about and I couldn’t wrap my head around why my glutes only became sore after uni lateral lower limb movements not the already mentioned back squat and deadlift. A few notable authors and coaches have claimed that the king of the gluteal is the squat and deadlift…

 

The repeating theme here is that axial loaded (top to bottom) is the key to getting lovely lady lumps. Here is an easy to understand example of why this doesn’t make sense, all muscles have a line of pull, which is on display when competitive body builders become very lean. The striations of the muscle dictate the pennation angle and line of pull, notice a body builders striated glutes the fibres run predominantly mediolateral (side to side). . Yes of course the glutes are hip extensors but in combination with other hip extensors during compounds movements are they really being worked as hard as what we think? EMG research has proven this to be the case that smaller side-to-side movements and anteroposterior (front to back) movements have shown far greater EMG readings then a 1rm back squat (Contreras, 2013).

 

Here is a list of glute exercises in order of progression that everyone should be doing

 

Supine hip extension (glute bridge)

Single leg Glute Bridge

Fire hydrants

Clams

Band clams

Quadruped hip extension

Quadruped hip hyperextension

Light band pull through

Reverse hypers

KB swings

Hip thrusts

Barbell hip thrusts

Back extensions

Band back extensions

 

Please notice that all exercises listed are either anteroposterior or mediolateral loaded.

 

IMPORTANT

90% of the population cannot access there glutes as we have slowly progressed to a society of seat dwellers , it is imperative that hip flexors , ITB (Illiotiobial band)and TFL (tensor fascia Latae) , hamstrings , adductors and erectors be addressed with stretching mobilisation or manual therapy to allow for glute function . If a client or acquaintance

You know likes to squat and their predominant DOMS are in quads and low back please advise them to read this or any of the work by Bret Contreras.

 

Training when you are a poor student

http://nathanielhodges.blogs.com/my-blog/2016/03/8-ways-to-get-your-arse-to-the-gym-as-a-student.html

 

 

Different approach to strength

http://nathanielhodges.blogs.com/my-blog/2016/02/unconventional-client-unconventional-coaching.html

 

 

Nat

 

 

4 Key Elements When Starting a Training Facility

 

 

I keep hearing all these gym start stories about people who sound like they were living in a third world country when they opened their gym. Here are some of the classic lines

 

“I had to sleep in my gym for the first 3 months”

 

“We never put the lights on”

 

“ I was eating tuna and rice for weeks and weeks”

 

“ I nearly lost the gym because of un paid bills”

 

“I had to remortgage the house”

 

What the actual f%^& where you doing then? Clearly these people put themselves in un reasonably risky position. Do not get me wrong when you take a risk there is no better way to get you up early and going hard but what’s the point of these stories? Because its wrapped as “inspiration” are we supposed to think “oh my god, that sounds terrible but look at you now making SOME money and your lights are on “ ….do these stories make people excited? Ummm No!

 

Its so ridiculous and amusing, some gym owners might get a bit out of joint and say “well you don’t know what its like!” and they would be right I don’t know what its like because my gym turned a profit the first week it was open. Since day 1 we were having so much fun and create so much energy around the gym that it was infectious. I would go home at a reasonable hour and have time to play with my dogs, cook dinner and get in some down time either reflecting, writing or thinking and not in the noble pretentious way in my personalized library where I have many leather bound books [Ferrell] but in a mans way on the toilet. A quote from my business partner and me “ A man does his best thinking on the toilet, between clients “

 

So why do people feel the need to share such stories?

 

Because it fulfills a human need inside them! The story is not for the audience. It’s a selfish way of gaining some significance. “Look how hard I had it but look at me now”

 

Currently I’m sitting at a market and its early, people are slowly wandering in with bed hair and both hands double-parked with Coffee. I can hear a fresh juice maker ticking over as it crushes oranges and the crackle of a barbeque browning chicken skewers. There is a tall guy with a well-groomed beard, very stylish slick hair and a tight Hawaiian shirt selling “raw treats” he looks miserable. Next to him is a greased up hot plate with fat German sausages trying not to explode and a vender with a cheeky smile on his face. I’m over looking this interesting mess en scene actively trying not to laugh at the image of a gym owner cross-legged between the squat rack, in the dark, eating tuna in spring water because the flavored ones are too expensive but fuck it because he’ll die by the iron and he has 22inch arms. The German sausage guy is in his element.

 

I digress,

 

Here’s some real inspiration for people in limbo trying to decide whether to open a gym or not.

1. If you’re already in the industry put all your efforts into gaining a reputation for getting a result number one. Another way to get people to listen to you is do not put other gyms or professionals down, do not gossip or talk shit, do not complain or make excuses.

2. Calibrate yourself honestly with this tool

How do you see yourself? How do others see you? And do they match? If not get that aligned

       3.   Peel back the layers of the reasoning why you want to open a gym and find the core, if    your thinking goes straight to money, say goodbye to every cent you have. If your thinking is “I just want to help people” again say goodbye to all your money not because its false but because it lacks detail. The real reason is emotional it should either bring tears or give you Goosebumps and the only way to feel this is if the reason you started is because of something bigger then just yourself.

4. Keep your structure and services simple with 3 options; less is more in this case. It appears that having multiple payment and service options confuses and makes people question what your about when just because someone comes into the gym in the middle of the day they pay less? (Off peak & peak times)

 

Hodges

 

 

 

An Under Utilised Gem In The Gym.

While dan busts his arse on some SSB lunges Liam sucks in the big ones haha

A tip when performing a walking lunge variation is to allow your chest to be slightly angled toward to ground almost coming in contact with the lead quad... conventionally we are taught to be very upright but because of the momentum of the load traveling forward this will cause some extension through the back decreasing glute activation and much more stress on the knee.

let the chest go with the natural path of the bar keeping a strong alignment of the rib cage and pelvis and allowing glutes to get a solid hip extension on take off.

Some other tools to use when performing a walking a lunge and variations.

Barbell lunge, Barbell Front Lunge, KB Lunge, KB Overhead Lunge, KB Rack Position Lunge, DB Lunge, Cambered Bar Lunge, DeadBall Lunge, MedBall Lunge (close hold or extended hold)

A small shift in where you perceptually place your focus while performing the lunge will determine its SUCCESS OR NOT. 

Breathe deep into the hip before heel strike, reverse the movement with volition, take a decent stride and get uncomfortable.

 

More on Gluteal Training

http://nathanielhodges.blogs.com/my-blog/2016/05/big-booty-bitches.html

http://nathanielhodges.blogs.com/my-blog/2016/02/unconventional-client-unconventional-coaching.html

 

 

 

Hodges

Spirituality For Performance & Tactical Breathing

Spirituality for performance and tactical breathing.

 

Only only a few things will determine the constructs of your reality or “the” reality depending on your beliefs. One will be your intention, what do you intend on doing or being or feeling or having?? The second will be what you focus on, is it one thing or multiple things? There have been numerous accounts in which peoples contribution to the world have been overlooked because they have had more then ONE focus and their name in the history books has fallen by the way side. If your mind is giant cloud of seemingly endless “stuff” how many things are you trying to focus on? Using lasers as a metaphor…all its power concentrated on 1 point will cut through anything in due time.if the forces of the laser was hitting separate components then there would NEVER be a breakthrough.

 

It’s only in the down time that you can really grasp anything remotely spiritual. When everything is traveling exactly how you want it then please continue doing that and being happyJ there will always be troughs and unpleasant surprises. In these times is when we can discover our true impermanent s and irrelevance that we are here for the merest moment. It is only when we can wake up to the reality that there will be billions of people after us and before us that we know nothing and that “self” goes out the window. …This is when you can leave your blueprint on this world to experience all the joys and wonder this existence has to offer.

 

We all will encounter very large and very small challenges during our time here but the solution to all existing challenges does not live in the same atmosphere. We are conditioned to experience reality through the extremely limited 5 senses. Touch, taste, smell, sight, sound. What would your experience be if you maintained the 5 senses but removed all notions of thought? …. Weird? Wonderful? Liberating? I don’t know. Keeping in mind that we are creatures living on this planet with a s%^& load of other creatures that have insane abilities like sonar, light recognition, frequency and vibration recognition ….so what information, data and other forces are we potentially missing out on that could be the answer to that irritability you have been feeling? This is my version of spirituality.

 

I don’t choose to believe in God because it places a symbol on something that means a million different things to different people. I do believe we are connected to all living things, pretty hard to deny when we are literally made of the same 4 key components J so why can we not have access to all phenomena? Truth is we can but we are taught to be obedient, compliant, and play by the rules…. we get rewarded for the above which is a nice way of saying THNK YOU FOR FOLLOWING THE MASSES AND CONTINUING THE MARCH OF MEDOCRITY. Anything described by science has to travel through the 5 senses to be understood by our very limited version of reality and not to mention the bias and opinions of the scientist conducting the research (YouTube Neil Degrasse Tyson BRILLIANT). On the thinking of NDT he notes something very thought provoking. We are only 1% different to common apes and it seems as though we are worlds and worlds ahead. What if there existed another consciousness that was 1% higher than us?? Do you think they would want to be involved with us? With no trust in the political parties with any TRUE leaders, no trust in what we get fed with on television and a constant state of “threat” with the economy and “terrorism” hahahaha nope because it’s a train wreck

 

http://nathanielhodges.blogs.com/my-blog/2016/02/10-overlooked-components-of-powerlifitng-preparation.html

 

A Deeper Observation Of High Performers ...what are you missing out on?

Exposure µ Performance

For years I thought the more I locked myself away, worked on myself and ensured I wasn’t influenced by people who would bring me down, I thought I would surpass everyone else.

When my youngest brother made the biggest move of his life to chase his dream in futsal and relocate to Brazil practically broke, amongst all the fear he encompassed he shared probably one of the greatest gifts. He told me, if you were to graph performance, it would be linearly proportionate to exposure. He went on to explain that, “the more one decides to expose himself/herself to life’s experiences, the higher they will perform indefinitely.” Figure 1 below illustrates the relationship.  

Figure 1. Performance vs. Exposure

 

 

When this image was placed in front of me, it made me think of the greats. Robert Kiyosaki served the military and became one of the greatest educators of all time; Donald Trump served the military and eventually became one of the greatest property developers ever; Bill Gates dropped out of college and opened his own business that eventually served to be one of the greatest computer company’s ever; Arnold Schwarzenegger served the military and moved to America where opportunities flourished in front of his eyes before he could even imagine them, and the list goes on.

In order for a powerlifter to maximise their strength capacity, deadlifts, squats and bench press cannot be the only exercises performed on a training basis – it simply pays no benefit. There is no coincidence a powerlifter undertakes pendlay rows, chin ups, box squats, paused squats, cleans, glute hamstring raises and all the other accessory exercises you can perform. The fact is, powerlifters require exposure. The more you expose the athlete to exercises that they have not yet experienced, the higher their performance increases. The same phenomenon applies to all activities, and in general, life.

For years I practiced the general hypertrophy training recommended by most training institutions, ‘8-12 reps x 3 sets.’ I saw minimal change, and whatever change I did experience was within the first month; from there the change was just maintained as my body became accustomed to the habitual routine. Once I experimented and went against the current norms with things like low rep squats for multiple sets and sets of 50 curls.

My performance as an individual started to match those who I struggled to challenge, and in most cases, I excelled past them. What was learnt from being an athlete was soon applied to the idea of living, and with that barriers were torn down faster than I could keep up. Opportunities were being thrown at my face and all I could do was take; there was no room to think, just act. It was the fact I chose to expose myself, accept that there was no perfect, just experience.

We think that the most important thing is to serve others, be selfless and be a contributor. The fact is, we have to be selfish. We can work as a team for so long but at the end of the day, if we do not have a sense of ourselves, we will become lost in a world that is infinitely growing. At the end of the day, what is important is what we think of ourselves. If we cannot wake up early in the morning smiling with ourselves, there is no point to continue doing what we do. It is happiness that defines where we are as people, without happiness we all may as well die.

Before you go on to believe that performance is the result of hiding yourself away from the crowds, remember that with exposure comes performance.

8 Ways to Get Your Arse To The Gym As A POOR Student.......y first training experience

Always be a student.

 

Gym memberships are expensive and some of the bigger commercial gyms will lock you in for a selected period of time. When your young and living with your folks some are lucky enough to get expenses covered by them for your leisure activities e.g.: getting the biggest biceps at school. Unfortunately I was not one of these kids. I am going to give a small insight into where and when my journey starting in the weights room and how to get the best out of yourself with little or no money at all.

 

I was heavily overweight in my early teens; at this very point right now I am only 4 kgs heavier and only slightly taller at a towering 5’7. I was convinced I would play rugby league for the mighty doggies so at 13 I made the choice to find myself some weights to lift. The 2 gyms in my town where in riding distance but come with hefty prices. Mum and dad could just put food on the table let alone fork out gym fees so the idea quickly fell through but I didn’t let go of it that easy.

 

Pre season footy training began for another year with the older boys and the first session was at an old boxing gym all I remember from that session was feeling like my lungs where tearing at my rib cage, tunnel vision of my mate in front of me shadowing boxing with 1kg weights as if he had had 20 beers and all the forwards clutching at hammies and ankles and taking a “breather”. What was the structure of the session? Where talking about a country town footy club, chaos induced vomit would be a way to describe it.

 

In my delusional state I noticed a multi-station pin loaded machine held together with rust and the dreams of failed boxers. There was also a few dumbbell handles with different sized plates, 1 barbell and a bench press that only had a decline bench. After the session I went over to inspect and it was all in working order but was never used, I asked the owner if I could come in the afternoons just to use it as the boxing coaching was there as a youth project and was free for kids around the area. He said yes on one condition, I had to finish the boxing sessions before I could use it. Sounded like a fair trade for me unknowing what I just signed up for.

 

The following Monday afternoon I was faced with this

-15 minutes continual skipping, if you missed skip 10 push-ups

- Bag work combos 2 min on 1 min off

- Body weight circuits with 500m runs around the block

- Continuous shadow boxing with 1 kg weights for 10 minutes

- Finishing with getting belted in the ring by kids half my weight

 

Doing this as an unfit 86kg, 5’5 13 year old damn near killed me but I never forgot why I was there. All I managed after that was some lat pull downs kneeling on the cement, some reverse fly’s (because all good NRL players had traps like cakes of soap) I finished with standing curls with uneven Dumbbells. At the time I had no idea how pivotal this was and what would come from it. I rode home to my pre dinner ritual of 2 toasted cheese and salami sandwiches.

 

I continued at this gym for 6 months and a grew to enjoy the boxing before my weight training it also took around 15 kg of weight off me and the weight training had added some size to my upper body, I was either genetically blessed with big legs or trying to run being super fat gave me legs. Either way not a leg was trained during those faithful 6 months. When I returned to the field I was faster, stronger and a much better player for it. After this period of time the trainers who ran the gym let me use the weights without having to do the boxing.

 

For my birthday I received a week pass to the local commercial gym, excitement was high as this had the potential for endless gains. I walked in to the cleanest most well presented training environment I had been in. I mean this gym had carpet everywhere and no dust or dirt. I found the only piece of equipment I was used to, the bench press although this one was flat. There was already weights loaded on it so without checking I jumped in, un racked and squeezed out 3 reps of 80 kg I did this a few more times and then explored all the machines, bars and pairs of Dumbbells.

 

After the week I was hooked I couldn’t go back to the boxing gym so with no money and addicted to training I walked straight up to the owner and told him “ I really want to train here but I don’t have a job or a bank account what’s the chances of using it for 1 hour a day?” He looked at me and said, “ Sorry mate no freebies”. I thought oh well worth a shot, again not taking no for an answer I worked out that if I convinced other members to us me as there “ bring a friend for free” I could train. So that was the plan of attack for the next few weeks and of course the owner wasn’t stupid. He came over and said, “ Nat I like your passion but you cant keep training for free, but if you drop all the pamphlets in letter boxes i'l give you 3 months free membership “. Music to my ears and I thought easy done what a legend. When I finished I walked over to reception and he handed me the biggest pile of pamphlets id ever seen. Got them all done over the weekend and the begging of the following week I was a full-blown member.

 

By this stage my love of training had taken over from my dream of playing NRL. This was the point when I realized what I wanted to do. I went through the phase of just wanting to the biggest guy in the gym, then all I wanted was abs, then I wanted to work in a gym and so on and so forth.

 

I received my first tub of protein powder a few years down the track not even making the link that meat and protein powder on a basic level achieved the same thing so I was convinced this was the answer and I had just unlocked the da Vinci code of gains. This sparked my thoughts about food because tot his point I had not even considered what I was eating id just eat (which was generally a lot).

I just started asking all the big guys in the gym what they eat and what I should be eating, after some discussion it always came back to roughly 5 foods. Meat, potato, eggs, rice and milk. I thought “ great, easily accessible low and behold got home and looked in the fridge pretty much had all bases covered, cheers mum.”

 

10 years down the track I look back and think about all those small things have accumulated into what I do now and I am so appreciative of those times but saying that, it was my attitude towards everything that made it possible I had every opportunity to put it in the too hard basket but that wasn’t an option so here are my tips on how to have construct a training lifestyle when the odds are stacked against you.

 

1. Always keep it clear in your mind why you’re training in the first place and how it makes you feel. This is your internal inspiration keep that at the forefront and the following will find its way to you.
2. Ask and you shall receive, money doesn’t mean you cant train, people in the fitness industry are some of the most passionate people especially private gym owners
3. The best food to help your training is very accessible and cheap, I asked for a Coles gift card for a birthday and purchased 50$ worth of meat. Refrain from buying supplements
4. Ask local gyms if you can do work experience or volunteer at the gym
5. The gym I attended was closed Saturday afternoon and Sunday so I would go the beach and pick or stones and big logs like a deadlift followed by short sprints
6. Some parks now have equipment built in for example chin up bars, dip stations etc.:
7. Surround yourself with people who want to train as bad as you, not only will they push you but also help you out when times get tough
8. Never burn bridges at gyms.

 

Some more reading on comp prep and training for spirituality

 

http://nathanielhodges.blogs.com/my-blog/2016/04/spirituality-for-performacne-tactical-breathing.html

 

http://nathanielhodges.blogs.com/my-blog/2016/02/10-overlooked-components-of-powerlifitng-preparation.html

 

 

Nat