Friends,

You've heard me say enough times by now that the push up always has been and always will be one of my favorite full body strengthening movements - and for good reason:

1. It does not restrict the movement of your scapula like the bench press does, ensuring less chance of inflammation and impingement

2. It can be performed anywhere, anytime - no equipment needed!

3. Low density (low rep sets) push ups can and should be performed intermittently throughout the day - you will be amazed how well this develops your chest, core stability, and overall pushing strength

4. You can easily increase or decrease the intensity/challenge of the push up simply by altering the fulcrum/pivot point/leverage - for example elevating your feet and performing a decline push up, or perhaps making it an entirely unilateral movement and performing a one arm push up - 
I dare you not to get strong if you are intermittently performing one arm push ups throughout the day!

I could elongate the list but those arguments should be enticing enough to get just about anybody on the push up bandwagon.

So, for this week's strength tip, I decided to cover how to set up the optimum push up position. Enjoy and post any questions you have below!

Friendly Friends,

I hope you all find yourselves in good health this holiday season.

Here is my gift to you:

A hybrid workout combining a horizontal strength based routine robbed from my FVT eBook and two complexes taken directly from my metabolic conditioning eBook.

Utilize this as a preemptive strike on your metabolism before you wage war on your holiday feast tonight.

ho.

ho.

ho.


...you'll thank me later....

Friendly friends,

Callous tears suck. They hurt. A lot. They prevent even the toughest and brawniest of men from training at times ===> and less training time is never a good thing.

So what should you do if you suffer from a callous tear??

1. Don't get a callous tear! The best preventative measures include clean technique and smooth callouses. It got cut off at the end of the video, but be sure to keep your callouses filed down. Yes, you're going to have to go metrosexual and file down your grizzly callouses, either with an emory board or a pumice stone - the best time to do so is typically after a hot shower. Just grind off that nasty dead skin to ensure that your callous are buttery smooth, But whatever you do, DO NOT grind away your entire callous ===> Just trust me on this one. This way, when your callouses are smooth, the chances are diminished that a kettlebell or barbell will snag any part of your callous and tear the whole thing off with it.

 2. Tape Appropriately. Below is a video on how to tape your hands should you suffer a callous tear. This is a classic method used by many gymnasts that I learned while assisting at an RKC. Enjoy and post any questions you have below in the comment section.

Friendly Friends,

Don't over complicate your strength practice. Here is a quick video explanation of SRS and also how to perform weighted dips without destroying your shoulders! Enjoy and please pass it along!


Stay Strong my Friends,

 - Pat

Friendly Friends,

The Cossack (or the long stretch) has long been one of my favorite mobilizers. As far as bang for your buck stretches go, it's hard to come by a movement more effective than the cossack stretch for opening up the hips and loosening up the posterior.

Enjoy this video we put together to help you improve your cossack stretch.

Friendly Friends,

Sometimes it's fun to just blow things up.

Try this at the end of your next horizontal pressing routine.

Just don't expect to be giving any hugs the next day.

_ Friendly Friends,

I want to tell you about three very special friends of mine, who all happen to be VERY good at what they do.

My first friend is an utterly remarkable golfer. I mean, probably the absolute best in the world! I’m not even lying! But no,  I’m not going to mention his name, for the sake and respect of his privacy, but he won the PGA championship more than once, and was recently involved in a public scandal of sorts regarding his infidelity toward his Swedish wife.

My second friend has an astonishing eye and vivid imagination when it comes to producing blockbuster film after blockbuster film. Again, out of respect to him, I will not mention his name. But let’s just say he directed Jurassic Park… and ET.

The last of my three friends, happens to be the front man of one of the most successful rock groups of all time – U2. Like my last two friends, I won’t mention his name, but it’s Bono.

Now what do all three of these commonly uncommon gentleman happen to have in common except for the common fact that they would all share the same common  humor of conveniently pretending to “forget” who I am if you happen to mention my name to them?

Talent?

Undoubtedly so.

But there is little in this world as common as unsuccessful people with talent.


Luck?

Undoubtedly so.

But luck is no more than the moment that preparation meets opportunity.

What each of these three gently gentle gentleman have in common is work ethic and persistence.

They KNOW the value and the payoff of due diligence and practice.                 

To be good at something you must practice.

I will reiterate.

To be good at something – YOU MUST PRACTICE.

Name me one person in the world who is good at golf without ever golfing?

Name me one person in the world who is good at playing the piano without playing the piano?

I hope I have made my point clear. In order to get good at something, you must do that something. The same goes for strength. If you want to be strong, then you have to practice being strong.

Don't over complicate it.

Keep reps low, sets high, and allow for adequate amounts of rest. Pick stuff up. Put stuff down. Eat food. Sleep well. Here are a few videos to help you start investing in the art of strength.