DESIGNING BETTER LIVING THROUGH STRENGTH
Subscribe Above
EUGENIZATION
a personal training blog

From the category archives:

Program Design

How To Bounce Back From Illness (and Get Back To Working Out).

June 3, 2008

There’s almost nothing quite as frustrating or annoying as feeling as though you’re making progress, then getting sick. Worst part is, if you try and force the issue, it’s all too easy to make yourself even more sick and lengthening your infirm time, setting you back even further.
Here’s a multi-part plan for you to [...]

Read the full article →

How to Test Yourself.

May 29, 2008

Benchmark yourself.
That’s right; hold yourself to your progress.  What I’m asking you to do is to test yourself.  Not in the Marines’ “Everyday you don’t test yourself is a day wasted sir!” way, but by performing a workout that tests your current ability against your past ability.
The athletes reading this post are all slapping their foreheads [...]

Read the full article →

Addressing Weak Points.

April 29, 2008

Medhi writes, “The exercises you struggle with are the exercises you need to do.”
Truer words never spoken.
If you’re like most people, you tend to gravitate towards and perform exercises that “feel good” to you.  If you’re a guy, for example, you may enjoy performing barbell bench press or dumbbell biceps curls.  If you’re female, your preference may be [...]

Read the full article →

Exercise Order.

February 18, 2008

Does the exercise order in a workout matter? Yes.
You have more energy at the beginning of a workout than at the end, so you will tend to do best on exercises that come sooner in the routine.
Case in point: A trainee who always starts his routine with bench press and always ends with leg [...]

Read the full article →

Rethinking Your Workout Plan: 8 Points for Optimization

January 3, 2008

As we discussed in yesterday’s post, the initial step in achieving your goals is, of course, having them in the first place. However, while setting goals is important, the key to success is continued action in the direction of your goals. Unfortunately, I’ve seen countless trainees struggle with workout plans that [...]

Read the full article →

Context: Is What You’re Doing Right For You?

September 1, 2007

The vast availablity of information on the Internet is a double-edged sword; while it is true that you’ve never before had so much information so readily available at your fingertips, you’re often missing the vital links that make that information usable, understandable, or even appropriate.
In no other subject is this is this more true than [...]

Read the full article →

Planning Your Comeback.

August 6, 2007

Q: “How much should I lower my weights after a break in training?”
Well, like everything else in life, the answer is context-specific. How long of a break? What goal are you training towards? What is your level of fitness?
If, like most people, you’re coming back from a week or two in Spain, drinking sangria and [...]

Read the full article →

The Best Way To Get Nowhere Fast.

July 31, 2007

What’s the most effective method of ensuring that you’ll fail to achieve your fitness goals?
Well, you’re right – by not starting in the first place, i.e., doing nothing.
Touche. You got me there. Ok then, assuming you’re actually doing something, what’s the death knell for results?
A: Not having FOCUS on one thing (which is hopefully the [...]

Read the full article →

Don’t Fix What’s Not Broken; If It’s Broken, Fix It Right Away!

July 12, 2007

Above: Very…impressive, but you still shouldn’t vary your workouts just for variety’s sake.
Reading this post on Seth Godin’s blog reminds me of a very good point. As Seth says,
“…if it (a business)* doesn’t work when you’ve got one (location)*, it’s extremely unlikely to work when you have dozens.”
*added by me for clarification
I’m often [...]

Read the full article →

Quick, Efficient Workouts.

June 24, 2007

Above: By following the principles of a quick, efficient workout, Dubya could spend less time in the gym, and more time on his policy-making. Or maybe not.
From old-school HIT to Afterburn to Crossfit, there has been a veritable explosion of workout and exercise regimens pointed at getting you fitter faster. In fact, an [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →