5 Ways to Maintain or Improve Your Athleticism By Jason Ferruggia

Yes, the aging process makes it so we are not as athletic (not as fast, powerful, and explosive) as we once were.  But another big reason that we lose SOOOO much of our athletic ability as we age, is because we no longer perform athletic movements.  So, don’t blame everything on your age.  Sitting on your butt and/or not working out like an athlete is just as big of a culprit for not being able to touch the net rim anymore.  In THIS article Jason goes over 5 ways to maintain or improve your athleticism.

Bench Press Technique: Should You Keep Your Feet Up? By Eric Cressey

Every guy in the world lives to bench.  And I don’t see this changing anytime soon.  I have nothing against the bench press, but I DO have a problem with HOW MUCH emphasis the typical dude puts on this exercise.  BUT, if you’re going to do it, you might as well do it right.  EC asks the question; “Should You Keep Your Feet Up?”  Short answer is, NO!  To get the reasons why, check out THIS post.

Elbows Flared + Feet Up = How NOT to Bench Press

And if you are feeling lazy and don’t feel like doing any further reading, check out the video below of me benching along with some cues to ensure you are using proper bench press technique.

If any of your buddies are “Mr. Bench Press,” (you know, the guy that benches 3 times a week, 52 weeks out of the year), be sure to share this post with him.  It’ll help save his shoulders in the long run.

That’s it for now.  Until next time…

Below are a few good blogposts for you to check out…

Dr. Bowden is one of my favorite nutrition experts.  In this post, he talks about red meat and why it is actually GOOD for you, as opposed to the devil of the world that many make it out to be.  The flawed studies on red meat has led to a bunch of misinformation.  Meat that is highly processed (coming from large factory farms) is WAAAY different than meat that comes from grass-fed cows.  In the end, the studies should NOT lump processed meat and grass-fed meat in the same category.

I think of it like this; Kool-Aid is not good for us, we know that.  Since kool-aid contains water, does that mean we should avoid water?  I think not.  Get rid of all the sugar, and you are left with good, healthy water.  Same thing with meat; get rid of all the processing in some of these meats, and you’re left with a food that has many benefits.  Check out Dr. Bowden’s as it goes into more detail than my brief summary…

Processed Meats: What’s Inside May Kill You – by Dr. Jonny Bowden

Many coaches/trainers are not big fans of direct arm work (i.e. curls for the girls and tricep pushdowns).  Now, I too get frustrated with those dudes that spend 75% of their time doing concentration curls RATHER THAN the big-boy movements like deadlifts, push-ups, chin-ups, and squats.  BUT, if you want bigger arms, you better be doing some direct arm training.  Right Jason? …

My Take On Direct Arm Work - by Jason Ferruggia

This one is a older blogpost by me.  One of my biggest pet peeves in this field is when someone says that they are a “TRX guy” (or whatever piece of equipment they choose to define themselves as).  Those that do this – stupid, just stupid…

Tools In Your Training Toolbox – by me

Hope you all have a great Sunday!

Don’t forget, if you haven’t done so already, connect with me on facebook and twitter.

This comes from an interview that Jason Ferruggia did with Chad Waterbury.  Chad just came out with a new fat loss book called Body of F.I.R.E.  In the interview, Jason Asked Chad; “What are the three biggest mistakes you see people making when trying to lose fat?“  Part of Chad’s answer;  ”The first mistake is performing long duration cardio at a low intensity. Nothing wastes muscle tissue faster than jogging for an hour. When muscles are forced to continuously contract for 45 minutes or an hour, that energy has to come from somewhere. The body is very stubborn and doesn’t want to use fat for energy because it’s much easier to break down muscle tissue instead. This is why marathon runners are skinny and weak.” 

And then, in the comments section below a reader asked Jason; ”

“I know you’ve said in the past Jay that you don’t like mid-range stuff because humans weren’t born to run long distances. Almost all the research articles that I’ve found show the complete opposite. I have no doubt that high-intensity will get you jacked, but is it really because we’re born to do it?  Is there something I’m missing?”

And Jason’s response;

“Way back in the hunter gather/ caveman days humans did two things- they walked for long durations going out to gather food and supplies needed to build shelters, and they sprinted after their prey or away from predators who were trying to eat them. They never jogged for the sake of jogging or if they were migrating to another region they walked, not jogged.

Yeah, you can run long distances if you want to. But it is the worst form of exercise for your body.”

I couldn’t agree more.  You can see that I’ve previously written similar – check it out here and here. 

Moral of the story; when getting your cardio in, keep the intensity low (like a 30 minute walk) to help burn some extra calories, contribute to speeding up the recovery process (like after a hard weight training workout), and to help preserve muscle (medium paced jogs are just fast enough/intense enough to actually impede recovery).  And perform high intensity cardio, something like the examples I gave in the links I provided just above.

This holds true for non-athletes and athletes alike.  So keep it low intensity or high intensity, but avoid medium at all cost.