Muscle Blasts from the Past
Yes, I, too, watch the news. I urgently apply the remote looking for the best spin of the latest catastrophes, while adding my own dopey remarks as if they mattered. Laree sits back and watches the real dave draper in action -- the bomber at the controls. My comments are thoughtful and substantial: He’s a bum, she’s a jerk, that’s a lie, they’re all thieves, politicians should be imprisoned, and so on.
In truth, daily events are part of the reason why many of us work out with zeal: Muscles, strength and fitness topped the list early on, but the gnawing stresses of the times have many of us at the gym’s door for sanity and relief.
A good gym is a way-station, a refuge, a place of your own to lick your wounds or prepare you for the good race tomorrow. The field, the track, your garage, The Weight Room in Santa Cruz, or the World Gym in Scotts Valley, the gym is where you cleanse, restructure, restore inside and out; no miracles, no magic, no kidding. You forgive, you forget, you remove the thorns, you ease the pain, you count your blessings like reps and sets. You become reunited with yourself as a friend who's worthy, and, silently, those around you know you better and enjoy you more and life is good for a long time.
Do not go one week without two workouts. Ever. These can be the thirty minutes that save you from the dreaded muscular disease, The Gap.
You've heard of The Gap, haven't you: an unmanageable malfunctioning of the disciplinary tract, which leads to the deterioration of the walls of the will? Some folks have been known to succumb to the wretched disorder for months, losing muscle tone and gaining a tire (excuse me) around the middle. Mild discontent, guilt, irritability and sloping shoulders accompany The Gap. Loss of energy and stamina are not uncommon and binge eating has been observed among serious Gap sufferers.
Some seasons pressure us to limit our exercise schemes, and obliging the pressure is natural and right. Summer vacations and winter holidays beg for time off. Be aware and recognize the safe and friendly boundaries of maintenance training and faithfully heed them until the more favorable times when you can blast it with hungry might. Failure to do so leads to despicable consequences. Prevention is easier than the cure.
My creed goes something like this: Keep it simple, stick to the basics, train consistently with enthusiasm and intensity, use logic, be creative and intuitive, be confident in your applications, be happy and deal with your misery. Be real. Stop fussing.
There are absolutely no secrets. Nothing's new. Collect the necessary information and get to work. The clutter of intelligence, the waste of words describing a simple thing, the superior heaps of decaying mental rubbish surrounding the notion of exercise and sensible eating is maddening. Why, there are people out there who have read so much they think they actually know something. The learning's not in the reading, it's in the doing.
It's not uncommon for me to refer to the unhealthy and unfit condition of society as a reflection of its apathy, complacency and ignorance. My references are not insensitive comments on the undesirable fitness level of the people on the streets. They are not condemnations but instructive pleas to set the dormant into motion. They are not intended to ridicule the overweight but rather stir the sleeping. They call the weak to strength with no tone of mocking in the voice. The mocking, rather, is in the ear.
Exercising and eating right regularly prepare us for the tough days ahead. Exercise is a constructive diversion that relaxes and reduces stress, strengthens the body, mind and spirit, establishes confidence, builds brotherhood and sisterhood, adds considerably to the resources of the country and prepares it to win the good fight.
You’ve heard my sermon before: exercise and eat right for good. It is not clever or original, profound or poetic, but it’s exact. Today, more than ever, we need to be exercising, at home, on the streets, at the park or in the gym. I’m a gym rat and for those who frequent such entertaining places, I have composed five short workouts that are music to the ears.
Some days we rock and some days we roll and some days we hum a tune to ourselves, and the beat goes on and on. The workouts are immediate, to the point and effective for focusing hazy and roving minds and stimulating weary bodies when performance levels are low and we’re out-of-key. Call them sing-a-longs, or metal harmonies, or humming and clanging, or noisy, the snappy rhythms keep the mood up and creativity afloat without expectation, crescendo or maximum performance.
Sing-a-longs are harmonious superset combinations that stray from the norm yet retain integrity. Supersetting is a style of training where two or more exercises that complement each other are performed one after the other to enhance training output. This multi-set training not only condenses our workout time, but also increases our productivity considerably. Robust metallic harmonies are designed for temporary use (a day, a week), but can be modified to fit into your training schedule regularly if they feel right. Because they're novel, they're fresh to the mind, fresh to the body.
With some exceptions, the jangling combinations listed here can be performed using the pyramid system of reps and weight, or an 8-10 rep range using a moderate fixed weight. Four sets of any slumpbuster is a minimum. If you're pumping and having fun, take it to 5, 6 or 7. One combination, if pushed, might be enough to maintain your well-being and connection with the gym. Two combos can be mixed according to your needs, desire and energy.
I must admit, I’ve been singing less and groaning more these days (R ‘n R can be exasperating). Don’t get me wrong, bombers; I appreciate groaning and similar expressions of man-against-steel, but a concert of groaning is like a dirge. Hence, the simple spontaneous supersets:
~ Floor-to-ceiling, one-arm dumbbell clean: A common kettlebell movement practiced with a common dumbbell. The alternating, left -- right performance simulates supersetting. Hold onto a rack, position your body stably and dig in. Start light and consider whole body engagement. You learn as you go. I taught myself, so can you teach yourself. This is a test, bombers. (4-5 sets)
~ Flat dumbbell press and seated bentover row: same pair of dumbbells, they never leave the hands till the combination set is complete. You know how to do flat dumbbell presses, right? Good. At the end of the set, sit upright and place the dumbbells on your thighs; position yourself at the very end of the bench, bend over and allow the dumbbells to extend to the floor without touching. Swell. Take a few deep breaths, focus and pull the weights from a forward, hanging position to a mid- to upper-back position with tight contraction and determined might. Feel the cooperative, relief and burn and pump. Six reps will do nicely. (4-5 sets)
I do a similar extended-set combination with seated dumbbell alternate curls.
~ Here’s a favorite extended set combination -- a high rep (25-35), multi-position movement -- I practice to warm up the torso, engage the triceps at various sites, work the serratus and lats and generally stimulate the system. It’s an instinctive exercise; that is, it depends on your attention to muscle engagement and methodically exhausting the system of muscles engaged.
Ready? Terrific. Start with your standard pulley-pushdowns with a moderate weight to assure 12 powerful, yet isolated reps. Do them. Now stagger your legs, one behind the other, and lean into the apparatus and perform another five eager reps from a handle-high-up position to a locked-out position before you, this action done with the honest aid of your thrusting body.
Focus on this performance as we go beyond one or two simple muscle groups, and involve numerous connected regions. We expand muscle recruitment, maximize their output, cause them to stretch and co-work and burn and pump -- indications of healthy overload, a fertile soil for hypertrophy, AKA muscle growth. There’s more: The heart and lungs are getting a run for their money; the grip is working overtime; there’s, of course, rhythm.
Now, reposition the stagger-step away from the pulley system and allow your arms to extend and your body to stretch out without the loss of cable resistance. You’re leaning forward and balanced by your grasp on the cable handle. From this neutral placement, draw the handle downward, simulating a stiffarm-pullover action. Lats and serratus and the underside of the tris are desperately at work with the remaining muscle strength and endurance you have. Another five reps. Almost done. Return to your starting position, if you can remember it, and hold the handle close to your torso and perform five or 10 isolated rope tucks to recruit the final fibers of your abdominal area. There. Don’t you feel better now?
4-5 sets are required, depending on needs and desire. Vary reps according to fatigue. This stuff is mean to be fun, as well as productive.
Night is closing in and its time to fold up the wings. Love these long summer days, more time to play. Yeah, right!
Happy skies, girls and guys. The Bomber
IOL Online Personal Training Program
Did
you sign up for Dave's expanded
email yet?
It's
free, motivating and priceless!
We'll also send you a link to Dave's free Body Revival
Tips and Hints booklet with your confirmation notice.
BILL PEARL/DAVE DRAPER LIVE SEMINAR DVD
The Package includes a one-hour-and-fifteen-minute tape of the July seminar, two muscular slide shows, plus a 32-page booklet outlining the subsequent interview between the mighty one, Bill Pearl, and me in which we discuss some favorite subjects untouched by the seminar. ~Dave
Cut through the confusion! Grab your copy Brother Iron Sister Steel to make your training path clear.
Readers agree: Dave new book, Iron On My Mind, is non-stop inspirational reading.
Our IronOnline Forum will answer your training and nutriton questions right here, right now.
Golden Era fans will rejoice in this excerpt from West Coast Bodybuilding Scene.
Are your shoulders tight? Do your shoulders hurt when you squat? It's practically a miracle! Dave's Top Squat assists sqatters with shoulder problems.