Home Gym Quarterly Winter 2019

USD $4.99

HOME GYM WINTER 2019

QUARTERLY

The (Not So) Chubby Crossfitter Should You Finance Your Home Gym?

How to Coach Yourself

Build Old School Grip Strength

LIVING THE STRONG LIFE WITH

ZACH EVEN ESH

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HOME GYM

QUARTERLY

TABLE OF CONTENTS ON THE COVER

20 FEATURED

So you want to lift a 45lb Plate by the Hub?

You Aren’t Training Your Core and Why You Should Be. By: Chris DiDonato, EMT-P, NASM-CPT, GFS, MMACS - pg 5 The Treadmill Effect, and how to avoid it...

By: Peter Keller - pg 9

By: Riccardo Magni

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To Finance Or Not To Finance Your Home Gym, That Is The Question

by Christina Jogoleff

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The Pushup

by Tom Meehan - pg 34 Keep Moving When Your Moving By: Marisol Swords - pg 50

The (Not So) Chubby Crossfitter - Sarah Tierney

How to Coach Yourself

Editorial Advisory Board Randall Strossen, Founder, IronMind Enterprises Diana Young, Financial & Media Consultant Nick Nilsson, BASc Mad Scientist of Muscle Graphic Editor/Director: Kellie Kilgore Graphics, LLC

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By: Marisol Swords

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By: Anna Woods

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Welcome to the pilot issue of Home Gym Quarterly. This magazine will serve as an extension of what we offer on the Garage Gym Life Magazine site, our contributors are a mix of veterans who have been with us since we first transitioned from a simple blog to new talents who caught our eye with the quality of their work.

We began garagegymlifemagazine.com in 2016 with the goal of creating what you hold in your hands now— a general fitness magazine designed specifically for home gym owners, regardless of how they choose to work out in their homes. It’s surreal to see it come to fruition and we hope that you’ll give us the feedback we need to keep this train rolling.

As always, we appreciate you taking a chance on this crazy experiment and know that we understand your passion for training at home because we do it too. We know the feeling of going down to the garage, out to the backyard or into the living room to pursue fitness goals that really only have meaning to us. This is in many ways, a rebellion against the magazine status quo because we’re putting you, the home gym owner, front and center in every article, ad and image.

Enough rambling from me. Enjoy the magazine and welcome to the Rebel Alliance.

John Greaves III Publisher/Editor 3

THE WHY PROJECT

A Documentary about What Motivates Us 4

You Aren’t Training Your Core and Why You Should Be.

By: Chris DiDonato, EMT-P, NASM-CPT, GFS, MMACS Fitness professionals, athletes and those interested in functional movement have been aware of the benefits of core stabilization training for decades.

However, for most fitness enthusiasts, core and more importantly stability training, fall in to the gym forgotten land as if it was a fitness craze that came and went in the mid 1980s.

The core is a complex grouping of muscles that comprise the pelvic floor, transverse and rectus abdominis, the internal and external obliques, glutes, diaphragm and several other smaller adductor muscles.

In addition to being the body’s center of gravity, all movement originates from core musculature.

In order for efficient movement to take place, an optimized core and (in my opinion, more importantly) glute complex is required.

For many, the glutes are an underdeveloped muscle grouping. They are comprised of the Gluteus Maximus, Gluteus Medius and Gluteus Minimus along with other structures including the Piriformis, Quadratus Femoris, Gemellus Inferior, Gemellus Superior, and the Obturator Externus. This entire network is vital to posterior chain health and more often than not, when underdeveloped, is responsible for lower back pain.

When glute musculature is well developed, the burden of supporting the upper body is taken off the lower back (and its relatively small network of spinal muscle attachments) and transferred to the glutes, which are larger and better equipped to handle the weight load.

If the thought of adding more exercises into your already packed program vexes you, fear not. Simple tweaks to the exercises you may already perform may be the answer.

As with any exercise, proper form is required to perform the following exercises. Without proper form, you are wasting your time and increase the chances of injury tenfold.

If you are new to core and glute work, simply start by taking some of your seated lifts and perform them while standing. Engage the core by drawing your navel (belly button) to your spine, while being able to breath normally. There is a fine balance in doing this and you will quickly master it. To progress these movements, begin to perform single leg movements (such as the single leg cable row, demonstrated here). After the single leg movements are mastered, elevate your core game by utilizing a bosu ball, balance board or other unstable surface.

Keep in mind, your body enjoys being placed in safe, 5

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unstable positions. Be a pal, and give your body what it enjoys.

The following exercises can be incorporated into your routine a few times a week minimally. The core is a large grouping that is capable of being trained more frequently than you think.

shoulders directly over the elbows. The pelvis and back should be in one low, straight line. Your pelvis should not be arched to the sky. Engage your abdominal muscles by drawing your navel to your spine and remain in this position until you cannot hold proper form any longer.

Kettlebell Swing: Place your feet shoulder width apart and get in a hip hinge position, maintaining slightly flexed knees. Grasp a kettlebell (or dumbbell) and in one smooth motion, swing it between your knees, controlling the weight on the upswing while contracting your glutes. Remember to keep the shoulders back and retracted down. This exercise can be used for gaining strength and to elevated the heart rate during a superset.

Single leg standing row: Begin the exercise by activating the core (bringing the navel to the spine) and driving your elbows drive behind your back while being held tightly against the sides of your body.

Repeat while standing on the other leg. Slowly return the weight, maintaining control of the handles.

Unilateral Farmer’s Carry: Stand upright with a heavy dumbbell or kettlebell in one hand. Ensure that your shoulders are level. Slowly walk 10 or 20 yards, switch hands and walk back to the starting point.

Woodchopper: Place a resistance band or a cable machine pulley in a high position. Stand facing the band or pulley and grasp the handle or rope. With straight arms, pull the cable by rotating your trunk to the left side of the body. Slowly return the cable and repeat with the right.

Plank: Assume the pushup position with the 7

Weighted Crunches: This variety of crunch is the same as the standard version, however you will grasp a heavy dumbbell or kettlebell in your hands. Ensure that your shoulder blades are coming off of the floor or mat as you crunch.

Chris DiDonato is a National Academy of Sports Medicine certified personal trainer and paramedic based in Suffolk County, NY. He has subspecialties in golf fitness and mixed martial arts conditioning. His personal training focuses on functional fitness for first responders and clients in need of rehabilitation and of those in advanced age. Chris can be found on Instagram at@and_still_chopsand via email at Chris@ responderfitness.net.

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Seated pull-in: Sit on a bench with your legs extended in front of you, similar to the position for a Russian twist. While engaging your core, slowly bring your knees towards your body. Keep your knees together for maximum engagement. Slowly return your legs to the starting position. You may need to sit on a pad or bosu ball to protect the coccyx.

The Treadmill Effect, and how to avoid it...

By: Peter Keller 9

We’ve all seen it happen. Maybe it’s you, maybe it’s your parents, maybe it’s your grandparents, maybe it’s just a friend. The holidays are coming to a close, everyone has had to break out the elastic waistband pants and loosened up a few notches in the belt.

Now January is coming. New Year’s resolutions are in the offing. What’s the number one resolution that people make? “Next year it’s going to be different. Next year I’m going to lose weight, and to do this, I am going to buy a treadmill.”

On January 1st, the treadmill is purchased.

It might even be put together on that same daybecause there is a ton of motivation. “This treadmill’s going to change our lives. We’re going to become thin again. We’re going to become handsome again, we’re going to become beautiful. Our sex life is going to be like two animals in the African Savannah tearing at each other.”

January 2nd comes around, and they get on the treadmill. They huff and puff and make it happen.

Then January 5th comes around, “Yeah, I’ll get on the treadmill sooner or later.” Now it’s January 10th.

“Ah, you know what? I need a place to put this towel before I fold it.” By January 15th, what used to be a treadmill is now a clothes rack. A crappy clothes rack.

An expensive clothes rack. One that takes up a ton of floor space and makes them feel guilty every time they look at it.

This, my friends, is the treadmill effect. It’s the bugbear of all home fitness. People start with such a strong desire to change their lives and make a big move. They buy an expensive item to try and improve their lives, but mere days later, the purchase is for naught That treadmill eventually finds it way 10

onto Craigslist and starts the cycle anew.

The treadmill effect is one of the worst things that you can do if you’re a dedicated garage gymmer.

That’s because every dollar you spend in your garage gym is sacred. Every square foot of floor space in your garage gym is sacred. You need to do everything you can to build up an amazing garage gym, spending those dollars and your floor space wisely, and then make sure you use it.

Holly Markwart uses her Beachbody coaching group to keep her accountable motivated to avoid the Treadmill Effect.

Why does the treadmill effect happen? There are a few different reasons.

Reason number one for the treadmill effect is that human beings are wired to make big, grand moves. It’s just in our psyche. Think about every movie you’ve ever seen. Almost every movie has got something huge happening; some massive change, someone rising to an occasion. But here’s the truth.

Most humans don’t rise to occasions. They fall to the level of their training. They fall to the level of their habits. So, while it’s psychologically comforting to make big, grand moves, big grand moves are risky.

They rarely work. They come with potentially big upsides, but with low hit rates.

Second, people tend to overestimate their willpower. They think, “I can do this. I’ll get a treadmill. I just need to step foot on it everyday.”

And it’s true. You are going to put one foot in front

CrossFitters Jaime Taylor and Amanda Greaver keep each other motivated to train.

of the other every single day, one way or another. But it’s going to take willpower to make those feet go on the treadmill instead of going to the couch, going to refrigerator, going to bed. And most people just don’t have the willpower to do that.

The treadmill effect is hugely damaging to your garage gym. So how do you avoid it?

First, replace willpower with habit. Everyone has that friend that seems to have Herculean willpower.

They’re always getting up at 5:00 AM and lifting, or getting up at 5:00 AM and running, or they’re getting up at 5:00 AM and doing something, anything other than sleeping at 5:00 AM, which is really what any reasonable human being should be doing at 5:00 AM. Or the friend that looks at the cupcakes in the office and says, “No, thank you. I’m going to eat my carrots and my chicken breast and my broccoli for lunch.”

Here’s the secret for most of those people- it’s

not about willpower; it’s about habit. Habit beats willpower. The great news is that you can use a little bit of willpower to kickstart habit formation.

There have been many, many articles that report that three weeks- 21 days- of doing things, is what it takes to form a habit. The latest science says that is overly simplistic, but generally on the right path. The way you make a habit is consistently do something on a regular basis until it becomes part of your life.

Recent studies have shown that different habits take different number of days to form. A study that’s cited in an article by brainpickings.org (https://www. brainpickings.org/2014/01/02/how-long-it-takesto-form-a-new-habit/) notes that for most habits, it takes more than 21 days for a repeated action to become a habit. In fact, some habits can can take 66 days or more to become formed. However, if it’s an easy habit, like drinking a glass of water automatically after breakfast, it takes about 20 days. If it’s a difficult habit, like working out, it can take 84 days or more.

That’s three whole months to make something into a habit!

So how are you going to make working out on your new piece of equipment a habit?

Make time for it in your life. Are you going to get a new GHD for the garage gym? Amazing. However, if you’re not going to program that into your regular routine, it’s probably going to suffer the treadmill effect. You’re going to use it every now and then, and then eventually you’re going to use it to store things.

That big pad looks like it’s made to lay a jump rope or some resistance bands on it.

However, if you put that as part of your warm-up, part of your cool down, and you work it in regularly, pretty soon you’re not going to know what you did without that GHD. Never, ever store anything on your garage gym items. I have a huge, huge belief that you should never have anything that’s not related to your garage gym at rest within your garage gym. That means when you bring groceries home from the store, you put them away or you put them in the kitchen. Don’t put them down in your garage gym. When your kids bring their toys in from the driveway, they put them away immediately or at least put them in a part of 11

your garage that’s not the gym. The reason for this is, when you leave your garage gym floor open and easy to access and easy to work out on, you end up using that garage gym.

Leverage some social pressure. Got a new reverse hyper in the garage gym? Invite some friends over to work out with you. Show them how to use that reverse hyper. Make sure they know that you got a reverse hyper. They’re going to be excited about and they’re going to ask you how it has improved your lifts, how it has improved your mobility, how it has improved your body. And you’re not going to want to tell them, “Oh, I’ve never use the thing.” This is going to work social pressure into helping you form that habit.

Don’t get discouraged if you fall off the horse for a few days or weeks. You can always get back into the habit. You can always program that exercise back into your workout, and then you’ll be back into it.

And, hey, if worse comes to worst, you can always sell it on Craigslist. Just kidding. Just use it!

Now, as a bonus, I had mentioned earlier that human beings love the big, grand gesture, but that’s not how most people work. So how can you tell if you’re actually going to use that GHD? Steal a little technique from the startup world.

There’s a protocol for starting a company or building a product called lean startup. One of the tenets of lean startup is to create what’s called a minimum viable product or MVP. An MVP is the easiest, fastest product that you can get to market that satisfies the minimum requirements of what the market might want.

Why would you want to use a MVP in the startup world? The main reason is so you can avoid investing a ton of time and money into a product that may die when it hits the market.

Before you drop $600 on a GHD, figure out what you want the GHD for. Do you want it to do gluteham raises? Do you want it to do sit-ups? Let’s say that you mainly want it to do glute-ham sit-ups. What I challenge you to do before you spend $600 on the GHD, see if you can make a habit of doing normal sit-ups into your routine. If you can’t make a habit of doing normal sit-ups in your routine, then you’re 12

probably not going to make a habit of doing gluteham steps in your routine. Do you want to make ham raises part of the routine? Make back extensions part of the routine. It’s cheap, free, easy to do. Once you see that you’re doing those on the regular, then you can have a higher comfort level if you’ll actually do them on the expensive machine that you bought.

In conclusion, the treadmill effect sucks. It’s really just you lying to yourself. You think that you’re going to make these huge changes in your life, you spend a lot of time and money to try and make those changes, and then the changes fail. So, instead of falling for that treadmill effect and turning a beautiful piece of equipment into a clothes rack, focus on making things a habit, and even try and test out the MVE (minimum viable exercise) before you drop the money.

I hope this was helpful! Now go out there and lift something heavy!

Peter Keller believes in strength. He is the founder of Fringe Sport, a strength and conditioning equipment company that helps people improve lives through Strength. Fringe supports the garage gym revolution. Check them out at www.fringesport.com or on Facebook or Instagram. (Links https://www.facebook.com/ FringeSport/ https://www.instagram.com/ fringesport/) Mention that you read this article in Garage Gym Life Magazine and the worker bees at Fringe Sport will throw a little extra swag into your order.

www.strengthshopusa.com

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To Finance Or Not To Finance Your Home Gym, That Is The Question

by Christina Jogoleff 14

“At-Home” Does Not Equate to Most Cost savviness).

Effective When thinking of funding something at home, it is Question to consider: important to debunk the myth that because it is “at“Is it financially sound to finance your home gym home” this somehow implies more cost effectiveness equipment so you can get everything you need right and/or simplicity. A lot goes into creating anything away?” new at-home, including a home/garage gym.

While this question may seem simple to answer in Any hobby or interest is going to require dedicated either a yes, or no fashion, let us unpack a few things time, energy, and capital. Of course, there are ways and dig a bit deeper. to mitigate over-spending and taxes, but if you are planning on creating a home gym because it is First, Financially Sound: “cheaper” than something else you have in mind, this Before investing into anything or taking out another would be the wrong reason. So, if this is your reason, line of credit, we want our finances to have a solid please stop yourself while you are ahead. foundation. What does this even mean?

Yes, having a home/garage gym can save you time, I am going to give an example for a family, energy, and maybe the monthly bill of a membership. however, this is applicable to a young single person, Your new home/garage gym will require an initial and as a young single person, you will be ahead of investment, and more than likely, it will grow into a the curve if you are financially sound going into any love-filled passion that will want more (and more). relationship or building a family/business.

This is the same with any hobby or interest. Anything we put our hearts into, tends to grow. It is the beauty Ask yourself: of humanity and our spirituality. So, you will find -Do we have 3-5 months of living expenses in cash more power in accepting that you are embarking on savings for emergencies? an ever-growing journey (that requires some financial 15

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-Do we have the proper amount of life insurance if either of us were to pass away? And for our children (this is a wonderful way for building generational wealth and creating funds for college, first cars, children’s weddings, down payments on their first homes, etc. -- fun fact: life insurance does not need to be reported when children apply to financial aid for college) -Are debts paid down or off ?

-Do we have a good habit of saving a percentage of our income?

-Are all bills being paid (without strain)?

These are just foundational questions and have nothing to do with wealth accumulation. If you answered NO to any of these questions, you may not be in the place to finance your home gym (or anything for that matter). Create a solid foundation of savings, protection, income generation and paying off current debts before delving into more debt.

Solutions to Become Financially Sound: Often, when I work with people and ask them what would help them save more, they typically respond, “If I earned more money.” However, this is most likely not true. Also, I am not some finance fairy that can magically increase your earnings. We must build the habit of saving (or financial soundness) first, because if you are familiar with blowing your money, when you get more, guess what? You will blow it.

While I would love to go into solutions to becoming more financially sound, I do not want to take away from the initial question. Let’s discuss Financial Fitness and quick tips to build a solid financial foundation another day.

Finance: The Credit Line Financing anything really should be a last resort.

Building credit in this country is wonderful, and to have purchasing power requires establishing good credit. However, far too often people want to finance their home, car, business, travel, shopping sprees, and now their home gym (or any personal hobby). It is the American way of life to live beyond our means,

have the most current anything, and be drowning in debt. Seriously! Do not do this. Be different.

Don’t finance something just to have that something.

Align with what it is you want, and trust God/ universe will provide a means to get this.

Home Gym What are you training for? What are your life goals?

You may think these do not go hand in hand with creating a home gym, however when we discuss financing a home gym we are now meshing our personal life goals (business, family vacations, bigger purchases like a home or car) and our training goals (do you plan on competing, is this recreational, or are we taking overall preventative health measures) Whether you are training to become a competitive athlete or merely training to have more energy, financing your home gym has now entered the realm of your (personal) finances. First and foremost, if you have a spouse, make sure you two are on the same page. If s/he is hesitant to support a home gym, maybe take some time to identify something s/he thinks some of the money should be going towards (debt, proper insurance coverage, savings, another personal investment, etc.)

Attain the Home Gym: Do your research. Learn how much things cost. Find used items, close out sales. Do this even if you are not ready to purchase today, because this will let you know how much to be ready to spend (remember align with what you want. Get really clear on the amount of money needed, the equipment you need for your set up— and God/universe will provide).

Do your research and have fun delving into the world of home gym equipment, knowing it will become a reality sooner than later.

Set aside a certain amount you can spend on your home gym right away. Maybe you cannot get everything you want, but maybe you have some cash to work with right now. Having done your research will let you know what you can start with.

Set a (bigger) goal to save for and then when you reach that goal begin some of your (larger 17

equipment) purchases. Accumulate equipment over time. Maybe you do not have the money for weights, so investigate resistance bands, TRX, or even used weight sets. I know when I was first started building my home gym, it was about collecting what I could, I didn’t have a complete set of dumbbells for years.

I took anyone’s left over anything. Someone was moving and didn’t want their bench, free weights, bands, what have you. Perfect, I will give them a new loving home. I was still able to get in a solid full body workout without having a complete set of weights.

Identify what your essentials are and build your home gym around these needs. Also, begin telling others you are interested in doing this (not the whole world), but I’ve found that as I share what I’m working towards, it opens doors of opportunity.

You never know who might have an inside scoop on someone selling gently used equipment.

Do I Finance or Not? Simply, the answer is no. As with anything, it is a bit more complex if we dive a bit deeper than the polarities of yes vs. no.

However, if you’re financially sound, then, finance your home gym! Most likely you’ve developed the habits of paying things off quickly, using credit as a tool to build yourself, and it will be paid off quickly

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without accrued interest. However, since you’ve created a financially stable foundation, you may also have the means not to finance it and planned for a purchasing equipment to build your home gym.

Christina Geri Jogoleff, is aSan Diego based financial adviser. Her professional background in academia, social justice, and energy healing foster a unique approach to financial wellness that thread together wealth accumulation, protection, spending, saving and giving to the community. Fitness was the catalyst that ignited betterment in her life and anchors her well-being.

As movement healed her life, leaving academia was necessary. Her fitness journey began with half marathons, shifted to Spartan races, endurance training, and calisthenics, and now primarily focuses on weightlifting.

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Living The Strong Life

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e with Zach Even Esh

by John Greaves III

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Zach Even Esh has been a strength and conditioning industry maverick beginning when he had athletes doing odd object carries and heavy barbell lifts when his competitors were posting images of their clients balancing on balls and using one dimensional machine training to build “functional fitness”. Today, as many of his contemporaries are getting away from training the public and instead trying to coach younger coaches; Zach is returning to his roots as a teacher to change the American physical education system from the inside.

Zach, you started out as a home gym-based coach before you opened up your warehouse gyms. A lot of trainers and coaches want to make that move into a commercial space. But what are some key indicators you think they should look for that say that a coach is ready to make the move into a commercial space?

That’s a great question. My first spot was when I lived with my parents out of their garage, which was crazy small. I don’t know what the square footage was, but I remember the ceilings were just so low that the basketball player would duck his head down when he was dead lifting. We had a utility bench in there that I would prop under a toolbox to do incline benching. I had a squat stand that I picked up from New York Barbell. Not York Bar Bell. I think the squat stand was $114, something like that. I had a dip bar. I had a pair of 50 and 100 pound dumb bells. I had very little room in there. It was during the summer, so I would train them in the backyard. I would take them to the local playground. And I just had a handful of kids from the neighborhood.

Once I started really researching and getting into becoming a strength and conditioning coach, I saw everybody had what was called a studio, at the time.

Not too many people had a warehouse. Crossfit hadn’t even been out yet. I was looking at, I guess, strip mall, prime real-estate, which is not so good. I remember just looking at the cost of it. I was like, “Man! how am I going to do this? I’m a teacher!”

That’s when I started coming across the old stories 22

of Bill “Peanuts” West. The original Westside Barbell.

And they trained out of Bill Peanuts’ garage. They would train in the garage and a little bit outside of the garage. And they just had a squat rack and a utility bench.

When my fiancée, when we got engaged and we were looking at houses, I was like, “Man, I’m just going to look for a house with a two-car garage.

Preferably detached”. But I did not find that. So we found a house with a two-car garage. I don’t know what the square footage of that was, but I recall how I transitioned out. I remember the thought process and the whole plan. I was studying so much marketing, John, that people don’t even study to this day. I was studying marketing from Ryan Lee who back then was really just putting out so much content for any coach or fitness professional. I was subscribed to a monthly audio CD he had. I was subscribed to a Dan Kennedy newsletter, who was really the top tier marketing coach for small business owners or any kind of owners. I understood building

websites. I had built websites, newsletters, all these things before I’m trying to get out of the garage.

There was this commercial gym that I used to train at in the town I worked in while I was teaching. I would always stop there to pick up a protein shake.

He had this little warehouse garage right next to his main gym. His main gym was 5,500 square feet. It was a commercial gym. He opened this small spot next to his gym, because he saw a gym literally right up the street open up. That gym was kind of ... I don’t want to say higher end, but it was attracting a more professional clientele. Where his clientele were powerlifters and body builders. He opened this little spot. 1,500 square feet. It was like, he opened it in ‘04, maybe earlier. And they had BodyPump classes, karate classes in there. And it fell through. It went out of business. Inside, he had an undercover, underground poker— they had a betting area.

I remember he found me. He was like, “What are you doing back?”

I’m like, “I’m training athletes out of the garage.”

He’s like, “Man, if you ever want to rent space, I’ve got this spot”.

And he showed me the spot. I remember looking at it. It just looked huge. The ceilings were higher, the space was double the size of my two-car garage.

And when he told me the rent, I believe he said the rent was $1,500 a month. I had gone in and out of that spot two or three times looking at it, envisioning what my business could be in there. I was in my two-car garage I think for three or four years. I had, I don’t know, two dozen, maybe three dozen kids in the garage.

But I was writing for EliteFTS every week. I had my own website. I had written for Men’s Health and Men’s Fitness while training out of my garage. I had written for the local newspaper. I had built myself into the authority and an expert before even thinking about having the gym. And then Alwyn Cosgrove, we had a conversation. He’s like, “Listen man, you’re known all around the world, but you’re not even known locally. How big time can you become if you’re training people out of your garage?” That was probably ‘06, ‘07. I remember saying to him “Dan John writes for T-Nation and he’s in his garage”. Blah,

blah, blah. It just got me thinking. “Man! Am I just going to completely play it safe and never go for it?”

That’s when I finally said the rent is $1,500 a month.

Before I allow myself to sign the lease, I have to double that income. Because I knew that 1,500 bucks a month rent, then I’m going to be paying for some gym equipment. I’m going to be paying for a phone line. I’m going to be paying for whatever.

Toilet paper, paper towels, cleaning supplies. All these little things that add up. I’ve got my garage membership up to $3,000 a month. Also back then, John, what I was doing was very rare. I was able to charge a premium much higher even than the one I’m charging it now, believe it or not, back then with infinitely less knowledge. The fact was I was so different than everybody else that I was able to charge that premium. My membership back then was $275 -$375 a month. We’re talking, I started training people out of my parents’ garage in ‘03.

I built it up to the $3,000 a month and transitioned the kids out of the garage. I signed the lease in 23

May 2007. I remember my dad and I rented a small moving truck. And we went up to a horse supply place in north Jersey, on the boarder of Pennsylvania.

I picked up all of the horse stall mats, rubber flooring.

Drove down. Called up the kids. They helped me put it all into the gym. Moved the equipment. Literally got started and didn’t even have time to have all the ducks in a row. Meaning, I was teaching. I was renting from the guy who owned the gym, so I didn’t even go the township to announce that we’re in the business. It’s like, “You’re renting from me, you’re under my gym name”. It was kind of this really imperfect scenario.

But on the flip side, all of the things I did have in place— like what I mentioned with all of the writing for magazines, the website. I had a YouTube channel.

Back then it was very easy to get your key word ranking on Google. If it was Edison, New Jersey, it was Edison, New Jersey strength and conditioning.

New Jersey wrestling workouts. All of these things.

I really aggressively did outreach. I contacted every wrestling coach, every sport coach I knew. I was teaching in the school and I ran a sport, strength, and speed camp for the school and then got the kids to come to my gym. The mistake I feel a lot of people make today is they don’t have anything, they don’t even have a client, and they just take a big loan from the bank or they borrow money from somebody else and they open up shop, and they don’t know how to advertise. Today, you need to learn all the business stuff because that’s the unfortunate truth.

That’s why a lot of these great strength coaches, they can’t even run a gym because they can’t run the business side of things, and so they continue to just train other coaches. It’s almost like a bad process, because they’re helping other coaches become better at coaching, but those coaches still need to learn the business aspect. Those were just some of the crucial things I did that let me transition from garage to the first warehouse.

Let’s unpack a couple of the things that you said. I remembered you saying that about coaches needing to become more balanced about the business side of things as well as 24

just coaching. You said that on Instagram live yesterday, I remember. Before we get into that.

Let’s talk about setting your prices. I don’t know if you agree with this or disagree with this, but I think people undervalue their fitness. They’ll cheerfully pay $2,000 or more for a squat rack and then they’ll nickel and the dime the guy that’s going to teach them how to use it safely and effectively, right?

Absolutely.

I think a big part of that is you got a lot of people who are trying to make a name for themselves. And so they have their prices artificially low. Because they’re like I want everybody to be able to afford my services. But to me, that just reduces the perceived value of your services. How did you know how to set your prices?

I don’t remember exactly what was going through my mind back then when I was out of the garage.

But reading so much of Dan Kennedy’s business courses— I read everything he did. I was even in his top tier, like a diamond coaching program. It was $600 a month of newsletters and interviews.

Everybody that was succeeding was top tier pricing and they added lots of value. Number one, nobody could really compete with me on results. I still believe in that to this day. There’s people that might look like they’re doing the same stuff or might have a better looking gym, but with regards to results, I stand by that.

To me, you need to get charged. You need to price things accordingly. I found that when you price low, you attract people who are going to complain and nickel and dime everything. I learned that so many years, whether it’s online or it’s in person.

Dan Kennedy was a huge influence. Anybody that was sharing with his no BS newsletters. Whether that person owned a pizzeria or a jewelry store or a clothing store. There were people with such different businesses. Landscaping, you name it. They were all premium priced people who offered a premium

service. They also delivered premium results.

What he always spoke about was kind of tiered membership. You have a lower level, a middle level, which the majority will take. And then there’s high level membership which almost 20% will take. You have 60 to 50% in the middle. And then you’ve got about 20 or so percent at the top and bottom.

I had people that could train unlimited, people that could train twice a week, and people that would only train once a week. I’ve had people taking that top tier at 375 a month. A good amount, the middle.

And very, very few took the once a week. And then I got to a point, I don’t know how many years ago, probably four or five years ago, where I said, “All right. No more of this twice a week this, three times a week that. It’s unlimited training or you’re just once a week. No more of this middle ground.” Because I was allowing people to, if you did ... any membership you took, the bonus or the value addon I said was you could use the gym unlimited. You could get coached once a week, but then you could come in and be unlimited. And then I found people that were signing up for once a week, but their kid was showing up five days a week and we’re still coaching the kid.

We’re not going to let the kid come in and do the shit wrong. We’re still coaching the kid.

Four years ago, I started using the software system for my gyms, for management. That’s when I said I’m going with a very simple business system, because I’m a coach. That’s what I want to focus on is the coaching.

I would take athletes through, then it was a ton of body weight training, kettlebell. I took them through every kettlebell exercise I knew, every bodyweight exercise. Then it was the next day another workout.

Then it was power lifting and strongman. They were training so hard. Then I found that people didn’t want to do the training. Everybody was like I’ve got this injury. What if I can’t do this or I can’t do that.

And these kind of weekend certifications because somebody would want to watch and not participate— I’m such an aggressive person with hands on and really having a high standard, I couldn’t take it.

But from a business aspect, I did a one day intensive.

It was cheaper. People could just do one day, this and that. That was the beginning of the discount everything, Amazon service. I want my results yesterday for 50% off shit. And then I realized people were not traveling. The thing that hit me is I traveled so often once, like a four and a half hour flight. Somebody that was 45 minutes away was like, “Man, let me know when you’re in neck of the woods.” I’m thinking to myself, “I AM in your neck

Let’s talk about something else that I think would help up and coming coaches. The Underground Strength coach certification is how you actually train coaches. But you’ve made some changes to it. And anybody who wants to be certified under you now has to travel to Jersey so you can watch them train people. What were the reasons you felt a change was important?

Before you used to have people they could just come in for a weekend.

Right. When I first started it in ‘08, I remember it was hard. We started with the intro workout that 25

of the woods. I flew here and you’re a forty-five minute car ride away. You don’t even need the hotel!”

Then another time, I was in Florida and [a gym owner down there] would not bring his staff to the certification because it was not at his gym and it was not free for him or his staff. He was like, “Hey, man, I’m not going to pay for it and it’s not in my gym five minutes away.” He wanted it so bad, but he’s like, “Nope, not doing it.” That’s when I went all online and I just got tired of all these excuses that people were constantly sharing with me. I just could not tolerate it.

How long is the internship period or apprenticeship period, if you want to call it that?

As of recent, I ended my relationship with NESTA. Good ending to a relationship. It was great working with them. But I just wanted to get back to controlling the cert. Not doing it as an open enrollment. And doing it, I’m going to have to reopen it and put it up on my own platform. But if it’s online, you could go through the course, but you don’t get certified unless you spend time here.

Now, how much time that’s going to be, it’s probably going to be a Friday evening meetup and then a Saturday, Sunday weekend. Is that enough? Is two days enough? Probably not. My buddy Matt Wenning does a three month internship where they pay him to do the internship. And then they get certified in his conjugate training system. Which is, that’s what we need. We need people who are willing to do the time.

And it’s just tough, man. Putting your name out there.

And it’s one day or it’s a weekend.

I just didn’t want to run a business like that. And that’s really the sad part of things is you create a business and then you realize all these flaws are in it. And then you got to decide, do I want to be okay with this imperfection? Or, do I want to lose money and raise the standard? And that is a tough decision to make. Some people have no problem making that decision. For me, I said, I’m just going to lose the money. I’ll lose the money and not keep it open for anyone and everyone. I’m just more about having a high standard. I don’t want to let it be so mediocre 26

and let anybody slip through the cracks. I’m going back to my early days of if you want to train with me, you have to try out.

I’ll probably only make the Underground Strength Coach course available to members of the Underground Strength Academy because that will give them so much more study material and reference materials and video footage and the ability to see the evolution of my training.

That’s a big reason why I went back into teaching.

Because I realized my part and my mission is to change the lives of these kids through strength.

Every strength coach out there who trains athletes, what’s been happening is they stop training athletes because they lose the kids to the high school mandatory weight room to an unqualified coach. Or they just can’t run a business that way, so they train adults. But I train all athletes at my one location. At my second location, we train a blend of athletes and adults. Our adults train like our athletes. But the whole thing of me getting back to teaching is I’m not going to allow this unqualified coach to train my kids when they’re in high school. I’m going to start creating a change through strength versus complaining.

I decided, you know what? I’m going to get back to being in the schools and that allows me to run my gym back to the fight club style. Where you need to try out and get invited in here.

I’m looking aggressively for farmland where I’m going to put the gym in a barn and I’m going to build the baddest MF-ers.

You’re going to pay for a year in full. None of this monthly crap. I’m a teacher. I have a full-time income.

I have an online business. I’ll run seminars from there. But for gym membership, it’s going to be very strict policy.

The Garage Gladiator program. We already talked about the Underground Beast Strength.

And then you also do a workout of the month.

That’s actually three different offerings you have for people who are distance coaching clients.

But what’s the difference between Garage Gladiator and Underground Beast Strength and

then the workout of the month that you give to anybody who’s a member of your website?

Underground Strength Academy, that’s the undergroundstrengthcoach.com site, that has every workout. I’ve gone through the Underground Strength for I don’t know how many years. I basically take them through a video and I take screen shots of what we do at the Underground Strength gym with the athletes. That’s our Underground Strength workout of the month. It used to be Garage Gladiators, but I just changed it to Gladiator Strong.

That’s an app on Train Heroic. I remember my first try out, I actually called it Ancient training methods for modern day gladiators. I remember thinking just train like a gladiator. Basic free weights, outdoor training. The Gladiator Strong, I usually run it in two

week mini cycles. It’s only 10 bucks a month. There we go about the cheap training. It’s really a great program for anybody training in a garage, a global gym. If you’re a coach at a high school weigh room, you could utilize these workouts for the athletes.

But it is very similar to what we do at the Underground, minus some of the odd objects. I still throw in sandbags, kettlebells, things like that. But it’s mostly free weights, calisthenics. It’s about strength endurance, power endurance, grit, durability, putting on that functional strength inside. It’s got that blend of weightlifting, powerlifting, some Golden Era bodybuilding, the calisthenics I use. It’s a blend of everything, which is really what works for athletes and for men who want to be confident and feel that toughness. That program you can access through your apps. You just get part of the Train Heroic app.

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It’s called Gladiator Strong. There’s a form on there.

I don’t think I have the Beast Strength program on the Underground Strength Academy. There’s two. It might be on there. There’s two programs I have not added to the membership site, which is Bodyweight Body building and the Underground Strength and Sports Performance manual. That Underground Strength Sports Performance Manual is my system of training. The manual itself is 400 plus pages. Then you got Beast Strength. I’ve got the Kettlebell Body weight Hybrid program in there. The reason why I created a lot of these different programs is a lot of people reached out to me. They had different wants and desires. Some people wanted just kettlebells and body weights. Other people wanted a program that’s just three days a week that’s very simple. That’s where Gladiator Strong came about. Then we’ve got the wrestling programs for all the wrestlers and the combat athletes that follow me.

The tough thing is putting everything under one roof and really just focusing on simple stuff. But I’ll tell you what. That membership site started in 2005 and I have never stopped updating it. I’ve been updating it to almost 2019. What’s that? Fourteen years of content in there? That’s a lot, my man.

I got that Underground Beast Strength. My kid who is in the Marines now, he just started his second enlistment. I got that when he was in 8th grade. I know it’s been around a long time.

We have a lot of kids going. We’ve had a lot of athletes opt out of going to college and go in the Marines. A lot of them.

Your passion for coaching aside, what key things need to happen every day for Zach Even-Esh to grow his business?

Man, I don’t even think I’m the guy to speak to on growing the online business. My focus right now is not so much the business, but the vision and the mission. I’m not so focused on the dollars. What I’m focused on right now is I got back to teaching.

Last week I presented a school district to the middle 28

school and high school sport coaches on strength and conditioning. In February, I’m speaking at the Jersey Health and Phys Ed state conference on strength and conditioning. What needs to happen is every day I need to move forward, make progress and make connections with people in the school systems or who work in the state educational system.

Whether it’s teachers, coaches, administrators, even the politicians. I need to really make more connections with them to get my training system into the schools to give these kids a safe and topnotch training program.

Versus at the local high school, he played football in college, so he’s our strength coach. I’ve coached at Lehigh and Rutgers, two Division 1 varsity programs, top 10 wrestling programs. Those kids don’t know how to lift and they would not be able to run any weight room. And they’re top 10 university teams.

That’s my goal right now. Every day I need to change somebody’s life through strength. I send out an email almost every day through the Strong Life Insider.

Being back into teaching and having that full-time income, it’s changed the way I look at the business.

I’m not focused on making dollars today. I’m focused on growing something that’s going to outlive me and that maybe I can sell down the road.

But more importantly, I’m getting my training system into the schools. I think from there, the business end, I don’t want to say will take care of itself, but essentially I think the only ... I don’t want to say the only program. But we have a lot of online ads and stuff in schools, but the program before that in schools was Bigger, Stronger, Faster, something like that. And I want more of a system of development, thinking of what the Russians always did. What do our middle school athletes get? What does the incoming high school athlete get? What does the experienced high school lifters get? That’s what I’m focused on growing and making the gym, getting it out of the warehouse space, at least one of them, and getting a private piece of property and putting in the barn. And building a place of only working with who I want to.

I had a kid do a trial last week. The mom basically said, “We’ve got one year left. He didn’t have a good

year in football. He doesn’t really lift with his school because he’s not that good.” And the mom, when I just checked in, “Hey, following up. Seeing if you have any questions.” She’s like, “Well, he started thinking about it and he’s not so sure he wants to do the 25 minute ride each way. He also said his car is the kind of car that gets pulled over a lot and he’s not sure he wants to do that and maybe get pulled over.”

She’s like, “I got to respect how he was so honest with me.” I always say, “I hate to judge people and I shouldn’t judge, but here I am judging.” It’s like why do we give our kids such weak options?

You said that you did not succeed in football and you’re not even training. And your team skills are not good and you’re worried about a 25 minute ride? And then you’re fabricating an excuse about getting pulled

over. Drive the speed limit and be just dedicated, man! These weak excuses. As a father myself, I have two kids, when my son goes for private baseball training, it’s 45 minutes. That’s without the traffic.

My daughter’s tennis is 30 minutes to an hour each way. That’s what it takes. I’m always interested to hear where parents came up with this idea of, “I’m leaving it up to him.” If I leave everything up to my kid, he won’t get out of bed until 10:00 AM. He’ll sleep. He’ll not go to school. You need to tell your kids what to do.

You need to give them at least sometimes a no option.

Why do we give the option of mediocrity? That’s like this kid. He did a really good job training. He would have been a great fit here. I was really shocked to hear a 25 minute drive is his excuse. And then

https://www.garagegymlifemagazine For Athletes Who Train At Home

Model: Wes Jenkins Powerlifter Garage Gym Owner Charlestown, West Virginia

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another BS excuse, he’s afraid to get pulled over. If I could be frank with that mom, I would have said, “That’s pathetic. Your son said he wants to become great. And if you’re his mom, then you need to push him and he needs to stop being so weak about these excuses.” And I’m really putting it nicely right now.

It’s so weak. And that’s why I always say convenience and excellence are not found on the same road.

Maybe from the garage gym setting, convenient. But many of the people reading are like, it’s convenient to just get in my gym. But I’m doing that because I’ve got four kids, two kids, or I worked a night shift. By the time I get home and take care of my family it’s 10:00 PM and I want to get in a thirty minute session and the gym is closed. Or, I don’t want to be in a gym where everybody is sitting on their phone.

None of this twenty-five minutes away, I’m going to get pulled over bullshit. I am bothered with myself for somehow letting that kid slip through the cracks?

How do you not know it’s 25 minutes away and how is this car an issue now? I don’t want to be involved in any of that bullshit.

You touched on this in your YouTube video response to my initial questions but I want to get into it a little bit here as well. Because I know some parent who reads this is thinking it. It’s a lot easier to tough when the person you’re coaching isn’t your kid. What are some ways that you build mental toughness and emotional resiliency in your son and daughter?

My son is 10. My wife, “Ethan has to go to the gym with you tomorrow, because I’m taking Summer to tennis. He’s going to your gym, because if he’s not at your gym, he’s lazy, he’s not doing anything.” And he’s like, “Mom is right.”

I bring him to the gym. He knows to just do some stuff. Start carrying some kettlebells, throwing the medicine ball a little bit. Do some sleds. Then I have him work in with the middle school kids. He just starts playing with those kids and they’re having fun.

He starts forgetting that he’s doing a workout. He’s just having fun, getting after it.

Then he’s like, “I’m done.” I’m like, “Nope, you’re 30

not done. Collin, give Ethan one exercise to do.”

Collin is like, “Do 10 burpees.” Then I’ll say, “Jake, give Ethan something to do.” “All right. Ethan, do as many pushups as you can.” I don’t care what he does, but he’s in there doing it and he’s building pride in himself by doing work when he maybe didn’t feel like it.

There’s a part of me that’s like, “Oh my God, is he going to burn out?” No. He doesn’t come and work out at my gym. He just comes and does stuff. That’s not a workout. There’s no organization to it. It’s just him being amongst other kids getting after it. That’s a great example. He shows up. They’re high fiving him. He hears loud music. He sees kids squatting and dead lifting and power cleaning. He’s now learning that that is what’s normal. And sitting home making excuses on your video games is bull crap. That is not normal.

If any of my family’s friends, neighbors, et cetera want their kid to train with me, I don’t charge them.

And I say, “But here’s the rule. You’re not allowed to stop. You have to train year round. If it’s in season, you got to train once a week. And if you stop, that’s it. You’re out.” My own neighbor transfer once a week. I do say to him, but I want to be more blunt with him, “Dude, get off your video games and show up three days a week. Stop telling me you’re too busy and have homework.” I say to a lot of the kids, I’m like, “Guys, you don’t have five hours of homework a day. Don’t bullshit yourself. You’re sitting on your phone. And you either want to be great or you don’t want to be great.”

This is a time travel question. You go back in time and you run into yourself at the height of what you were doing training athletes at home. This is before you were looking at the commercial space. This is young Zach training kids at home. What advice do you give m about mentoring? What book do you recommend, anything? What would you tell him?

Number one, I should not have left teaching. I should have stayed with teaching. When I left teaching it was ‘09 or 2010. I should have stayed with teaching and continued to build the training system

inside the school district or found another school district that was really looking to be more open minded with that respect. That’s number one. But back then, business was much different. Things were way different. Hindsight is 20/20 and the world was a way different place in 2010. There was so much less competition online and with the gym business. When you’re 29, 30 you’re just thinking differently.

Books to read. I’ve read so many great books. I think everything happened, the timing was right for what I did back then, to be honest with you. If I didn’t leave teaching, I would not have coached at Lehigh or Rutgers. I would not have been able to travel the country doing all those certifications, running so many seminars, whether it was training or business.

The timing was right. That experience through the past seven, eight years, nine years, built my resume to allow me to do what I’m doing now. Which is this platform to have people understand that, “Hey, man, Zach is the authority on the strength and conditioning model for the kids and we need to get him into the school.”

I spoke at Georgia Tech. I spoke at the Under Armour facility. I’ve spoken at these big conferences.

And that’s from the guy who started out of his garage that people laughed at. So-

you can find at the independent level that are dying for hungry interns. Guys that are going to show up every day. Guys that are going to help with cleaning, help with coaching, help with the business end of things, help with the video. Guys that are going to say yes to everything versus coming up with excuses.

Find an independent gym owner like myself, like Elliott Hulse, like these other guys out there that are really in the trenches. And do a minimum of three months. And then go somewhere else. Travel somewhere else. There are places that have these internship semesters. They gather other aspiring coaches and they live, four or five or six of them, crammed together in an apartment. It becomes a life experience where they get a full immersion. I think

Let me tweak— Tweak that question. Let’s see what we come up with.

Let’s tweak it. How about this? My son, the Marine who I mentioned earlier, wants to be a strength and conditioning coach when he gets out of the Corps. I said, “I’m talking to Zach Even-Esh. What do you want me to ask him?”

He said, “Ask him how I find a mentor?”

After the Marines, I don’t know if he plans to attend college afterwards, but if you’re going into the college sector, they want you to have an undergraduate degree. It’s required. And many of them want to see a Master’s degree. An advanced degree. Many of these college strength coaches, they get a TA position. They become an intern. They intern multiple times. But there’s guys like me that 31

that life experience with other aspiring coaches is something that you can’t do once you’re in college and tied down. That kind of freedom I think can be so much more powerful than what you learn in a college classroom. That would be extremely powerful.

And then on the flip side, strength and conditioning is a very tough business. Not only is it a tough business, whether you’re on the independent level or the college sector, but oftentimes it doesn’t pay that well. What I’ve seen some of these up and coming coaches doing is they’re getting PhDs so they can teach in the university or they’re getting a physical therapy degree. I think when you’re young, you’re not thinking of those longterm things. I think after going

through internships, there’s certainly other aspects that you could and should add to your strength and conditioning repertoire. That might be acupuncture.

It might be sports massage therapy. Those things that you could add on that differentiate you.

The world is changing, so there’s jobs now, John, that are being created that didn’t exist one or two years ago. It’s a tough call. It’s hard to say what’s the correct answer. I’m really sticking to my guns about doing multiple internships that you might have to pay into. Places like Altus, out in Arizona. Paying into places like that. Matt Wenning. Coming out to myself, Elliott Hulse. Guys like us could always use a great hardworking person who’s hungry to learn.

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All right. Last question. This one is fun, all right?

Same time travel, but this time we’re going to go see grandpa Zach. He’s got his suspenders on, pants pulled up around his nipples with an Underground shirt on, Underground Strength T-shirt on. What do you hope Grandpa Zach is doing?

Sitting on my deck on a cabin somewhere out in the middle of nowhere with a barn off the side of the cabin that has weights in there. And I’m just living the simple life. Not too much noise. No cell phone.

No connection to the Internet. A dog and just some real basic life style.

Nice.

Real basic.

So you’re not going to be teaching strength and conditioning to shuffleboard players?

Ha, ha! Simple, man. I won’t be paid teaching anybody anything. If you want to learn, you’re going to come train with me. That’ll be the learning.

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The Pushup

by Tom Meehan

Body weight exercises are unrivaled in their simplicity and serve as a necessary foundation to any fitness program. Achieving true mastery of one’s own body weight has numerous benefits that transfer into other areas of fitness— balance, coordination, core stability and strength. These movements require no equipment, can be performed anywhere and have variations that are often limited to the imagination of the person performing them. So, although you may be in a hurry to load up the barbell, remember that without a strong foundation of the basics, your house (or garage) of fitness will eventually fall.

Let’s start this discussion with one of the most fundamental movements – the pushup. There’s a ton of variations to this simple movement, such as the elevated pushup, dive bomber pushup, and handstand 34

pushup. But, before you start trying the newest fad you’ve seen on YouTube, it’s important to learn the nuances of the basic pushup. How hard can it be?

You just lower your body to the floor and push back up, right? Well, yes and no. While doing lots of pushups with that standard can be helpful, you’ll see better results (as in, more gains) if you adhere to the following points of performance: Points of Performance Stack the arms Place your hands on the ground approximately shoulder width apart, keeping your fingers pointed forward. Roll your shoulders back and down to pack them tightly in the socket and stack the arms

– shoulders directly above your elbows and elbows directly above the wrists.

rotated and prevents the elbows from flaring out too far. You can try this quickly at home to see what I mean:

Complete the plank To finish the starting position of the pushup, fully extend the body with the balls of the feet making contact on the ground. The body should be one rigid, straight line from the neck to the heels. In order to achieve and hold this position, squeeze your butt, abs, and thighs. This will help you avoid sagging the hips.

Torque the hands Creating torque with your hands promotes tension throughout the upper body but, perhaps most importantly; it keeps your shoulders externally 35

From a tabletop position (hands and knees), stack the arms with the fingers forward and, without allowing your hands to move, slowly turn the pits of your elbows to face forward. You’ll notice that your shoulders naturally begin to turn to the outside and even move down into the socket. In addition, you will feel the rear part of your shoulders and upper back begin to tighten. For my military folks – stand up with your arms by your side naturally. Then, move into the position of attention and notice how the pits of your elbows turn forward your shoulders move back and down. This is a more secure, preferred position for the pushup. At ease, everyone.

Lead with the Chest All too often, a person will be seen doing pushups by leading with their head (we call them “neck scrunchers”) or dropping their hips (known as “saggers”). Be honest, at one time or another you have been “that guy” or “that girl.” It’s ok, next time you are at a gym simply look around – you are not alone. But, you have the ability to separate yourself from the pack by leading with the chest.

When you are ready, begin your rep by pulling your chest to the ground in a controlled motion as opposed to just dropping down. Controlling the descent will help you keep awareness of your body, as it should be moving as one piece with your elbows tracking more towards the hips than the shoulders.

Continue this controlled descent until your chin, chest, and hips touch the ground at the same time.

Arrow position Once you are at the bottom of the pushup, your body should be in an arrow position. What do I mean by this? Well, from a bird’s eye view, your body will resemble an arrow – your head as the tip of the arrow extending out approximately 45 degrees to the arms, with your body serving as the spine of the arrow. This position is much preferred to the commonly seen T position. The arrow position will keep the focus on the pectorals and triceps while reducing strain on the rotator cuff and labrum.

Push to full extension The moment is here – time to drive the body upwards in a display of awesome power! Push through the ground until your arms reach full extension and you find yourself back in the starting position. Just make sure that during ascent that you maintain the straight line, rigid posture and you will have performed a true pushup.

When done correctly, the pushup is a full body movement that, once perfected, can lead to impressive gains of strength. Now that you have followed along and performed a true pushup, how many more can you do? Can you make it to 50?

References Cannon, Kelsey. “10 Secrets to the Perfect Pushup.” Men’s Health. 11 Dec 2014. https://www.menshealth.com/fitness/g19547153/10-secrets-to-the-perfect-pushup/?slide=1 Glassman, Greg. “The Pushup.” CrossFit Journal, Issue 07. March 2003. http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/07_03_Pushups.pdf

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a half years as a civilian police officer for the City of Alexandria, VA Police Department, where he received the Gold Medal of Valor, Chief ’s Commendation, and Virginia Chiefs of Police awards.

Currently, Tom lives in Navarre, FL and works as a military contractor. He spends his off time working out in his garage gym, hanging out at the beach, and playing with his dog, Ruger.

Certifications CrossFit Level 2, Gymnastics, Endurance, Movement & Mobility ISSA Certified Fitness Trainer (CFT) Specialist in Exercise Therapy (SET) Corrective Exercise Specialist (CES) Specialist in Strength & Conditioning (SSC) Specialist in Fitness Nutrition (SFN) Specialist in Sports Nutrition (SSN) Dragon Door Hardstyle Kettlebell Certified (HKC) Tom Meehan has over a decade of experience in the fitness industry and has trained a vast array of athletes, ranging from homemakers to professional MMA fighters to members of the Special Operations community. He holds numerous certifications from CrossFit, the International Sports Sciences Association (ISSA), and Dragon Door Kettlebells and has recently achieved his Associate’s degree in Exercise Science from the International Sports Sciences Association (ISSA). He is a combat veteran of the United States Air Force, serving six years as a TACP/JTAC, completing two combat deployments, one of which was featured in the documentary The Fighting Season by Ricky Schroder.

Prior to his military service, Tom was the head CrossFit trainer for Capital MMA & Elite Fitness in Loudoun, VA. He also spent three and

Social Media Instagram - @TJM275 YouTube – TJM 275

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Sarah Tierney

The (Not So) Chubby Crossfitter

by Marisol Swords

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Sarah, your Instagram begins with a photo that states simply, with minimal caption, “This is what fed up looks like” As a person who self identifies as a thug, this is an intriguingly bold statement, explain to me why this is where you chose to start this portion of your movement journey.

I made the phrase “This is what fed up looks like” my tagline after reading Tony Robbins’ Awaken the Giant Within. After starting and failing over and over again to lose the 60lbs, I finally reached a breaking point; something had to give. By posting about my journey, I’m showing what being fed up looks like.

My favorite part is it hasn’t been perfect. People think if they start a new diet or exercise plan, they need to follow it perfectly and if they don’t, they’ve failed or must not want it bad enough or don’t have willpower.

That’s just not the case. I still battle with binge eating and low motivation, but what makes me successful is I dust myself off right then and there (as opposed to waiting until Monday to start again) and continue on.

No more “day ones”.

Street Parking is an amazing community that provides programming for home gym athletes from all corners, talk to me about why you chose them for programming your home training and what made you transition from a box Crossfitter to an at home Crossfitter?

I stopped going to my local affiliate for two reasons: my budget needed trimming and I didn’t have time.

I am a single mom and I felt bad having to treck my kids to the box every day. That was in June of 2017. I’d heard of Street Parking by being a longtime fan and follower of Miranda Alcaraz. Seeing how inexpensive it is and not needing a whole lot of equipment to start (I only had dumbbells and a jump rope), I signed up last October. The kicker is I didn’t do all that much with the membership for months. I was unmotivated and incredibly out of shape. I sat on the sidelines watching all the social media posts fill my newsfeed on Facebook and Instagram. Then in March of this year I decided it was time to start using the membership and be consistent. Since then

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I have logged 160 of their workouts in a sixth month span.

I enjoy reading your captions when you open up, and yet there is a distinct tone change in your writing when you choose to do something definitively. Very early on in your IG feed, you begin your 100 Days of Crossfit; posted again with minimal caption. What prompted this energy spike in your dedication and turned on beast mode Sarah?

The energy spike came when more people started to care about what I had to say. In the beginning I had only 121 followers. Then I began getting comments and DM’s daily, and knowing people were becoming invested in my journey helped trigger that change in the way I write.

As you continued through your 100 days, I notice you began to open up about past Sarah. Can you unpack what brought you to this iteration of your fitness journey versus your original approach to health and wellness?

As time passed, I realized one crucial thing: mindset is the biggest fortune teller. I never understood just how important it was until I started analyzing what went wrong in my life. How could a healthy and athletic 23 year old do a complete 180 and gain 60lbs in a year and a half ? Subsequently, what needed to happen to go from very overweight back to a healthier size? Talking about past Sarah helped me do that.

What needed to change for me is I had to deeply understand that consistency and perseverance was the only way to get what I want. I’ve read it a hundred times, you’ve read it a hundred times… but for some reason, these concepts did not click. I felt there was still a program or diet plan out there that would be my magic pill, so to speak, when in reality I was sidestepping the hard work. That’s what made this year successful: I stopped avoiding what needed to be done (eating well and working out consistently), 40

and stayed with it even when I felt I was plateauing or nothing was happening. No matter what I refused to quit this time, and that’s been the biggest change compared to previous attempts at losing weight.

A quarter of the way into your 100 days, you hit a slump and finally admitted it to your coach; did this reality check re-energize the rest of your 100 days?

It’s scary to open up about your failures to your coach because they’re so invested in your success, and I’m a people pleaser so it was even more uncomfortable. Fortunately it wasn’t Molly’s first time around the block and her graceful response helped me shed the shame that comes with falling short. I used to get caught up with giving in to food temptations and feeling like I was a failure because of it, when in reality I’m just human. Showing yourself grace through a hard journey like weight loss is crucial and it took me a long time to figure out how

to do that.

Did you end up running that 8k? If not, I don’t blame you, I won’t do running!

No, the winter lasted longer than I hoped and I’m not a winter runner.

I am a mom who lifts at home specifically for stress management purposes; my daughter gets involved in movement culture in a variety of ways because of my influence.

How do your kids participate in your home gym CrossFit life and how do you still maintain a private space for yourself ?

My kids are only interested in training with me if it means prolonging their bedtime HA HA! My son likes to count my reps for me. A lot of times they come visit me mid-WOD and I like their company.

I’m not particular one way or another to keep my workout space private because they’re older (10 and 8). It’d be different if they were toddlers and needed constant attention.

Non-judgement of self teaches us nonjudgement of others, reciprocity and compassion. You made an amazing and indepth post about this on June 19, 2018 regarding self-reflection; tell me what sparked that post?

Self-awareness is super important. It took me eleven times to figure out that going grocery shopping while I’m hungry is a bad idea. It’s trial and error. People get wrapped up in their mistakes (like I did when I kept wondering why I would bring junk home—well, that’s what happens when I shop while I’m hungry!).

Instead of beating myself up for it, I look at is as a lesson and move on. It sounds so simple and cheesy, but again, too many people get wrapped up in what they do wrong. That’s why I share my self-reflection because someone may be struggling with the same thing. I love getting it to click for people.

About half way through your 100 Days, you

decided to add on 50 Days no sugar, what prompted this move? I’d lose my mind, I already cut many things out of my eating regimen due to allergies and being plant based, I like my sugar right where belongs: in my tea! But I applaud your efforts, so how is this coming along?

I lasted 18 days into the 50 days of no sugar. Despite not reaching the full 50, it was the first time I went two and a half weeks without sugar, and I’m proud of that small win. I’ve discovered throughout this journey that I can maintain weight easily while still having dessert once or twice a week, but if I want to lose fat, I need to be more rigid. As I go on to lose the last 35-40lbs, I’ll continue to stay low sugar and eat lots of veggies and lean protein.

I see you are part of the #mealprepmafia.

Yet another activity I have admiration for, particularly since you are a working single mom!

How does this assist your journey and support your success through these challenges?

My meal prepping has changed over the months.

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What I do now is cook extra for dinner and pack that as my lunch the following day. I used to meal prep on Sundays, but by Wednesday I hated what I had cooked, so I wouldn’t even bring it to work with me. The fresher it is, the better. Spending hours on a Sunday cooking is not my idea of a good time anyway.

I see you are prepping for another run in May 2019; have you changed your training at all to prep for it?

Not really. I want to maintain enough fitness so I can run a 5k consistently through the winter, but the real training will begin in March. I am joining my local running group’s training program where we meet every weekend for our long runs. That helped keep me accountable when I trained for my last half marathon in 2014. Running is hard enough, not sure I can manage doing it alone!

So, you tried Keto? Can you go deeper as to your individual experience with it? It’s not for everyone, and based on your post, it looks like it didn’t agree with you; what happened?

I tried Keto and it didn’t last. My sister was successful on it but trying Keto after completing the Whole30 wasn’t a good idea. On Whole30 I was eating so many veggies, potatoes, and lean meat. Keto is no starch and fatty meats—a complete 180. I wasn’t sleeping, and eventually I wasn’t eating all that much because I wasn’t looking forward to my next meal.

This was a clear sign that Keto wasn’t for me. I’m glad I tried it because now I’m not asking “what if ?”

On August 20, you made a post that touched on a subject that is a passion of mine: stress management and self-care. It looks like you realized that these are the unattended components of every training program; what other practices do you participate in to keep you grounded, managed and cared for?

There is a big gap with training and nutrition programs when it comes to teaching people lifestyle 42

changes. Mindset is a huge piece, but it’s easier to sell a lifting program than it is coaching someone on changing the way they think.

One practice I do for self-care is I make Sundays entirely my own. I don’t make plans or do things I don’t want to do on a Sunday. Sometimes that means I work out, other times I don’t. I sleep in and take my morning slow.

Another practice is sitting with a cup of coffee and a journal every morning and writing down ten big dreams I have. They need to be so big that I would be embarrassed if someone read them. One of these dreams is I want to travel to CrossFit boxes. I want to get face time with overweight people afraid to start CrossFit because they think they have to already be fit to start; that’s just not the case! Adding more to the CrossFit family is the purpose behind sharing my journey.

I was so excited to see your September 13 post where you had a community meet up with other Street Parking members. You made it back to a “box” with strangers who were parts of a common unity. Unpack that experience: the

travel, the camaderie and the return to a Box environment after more than six months of Street Parking™ programming at home.

I love how normal it is to show up at a random box and start working out with strangers. After class is over, you’re slapping high fives and doing fist bumps with people who don’t even know your name. I’ve missed the feeling of suffering through a workout next to someone else who is suffering too. Even better when it’s with other Street Parking™ members who I’ve been following on social media all year. I make it a point to visit my local affiliate every now and then for things like the Murph workout and when they host the CF comp Fall Brawl in early November. Even though being a member at an affiliate can’t be my reality right now, I still try to keep one foot into that crowd.

Tell us about the Ultimate Hawaiian Trail Run experience. What sparked you to do it?

I was invited by Street Parking™ to do it with them as a group. I did not train for it, and knowing what I know now, I don’t see how I could have prepared for it. It was miles of climbing and sliding up and down slopes of mud. You needed ropes to pull yourself up the hills. It required a lot of mental toughness to finish that race. To be honest, I had zero fun because it was so hard! But I’m happy I did it and I can’t wait to do it again.

1. I write every morning what my ten big dreams are, and I write them as if they’re already happening (example: I am a published author. I have abs.)

2. I post every day on social media for accountability 3. I cook extra at dinner, so I have lunch for work the next day; otherwise, I’ll buy not-so-healthy stuff from the cafeteria 4. I balance my checkbook and look at my budget every day. If one part of my life is not doing well (relationships, work, finances), it affects other areas of my life.

5. One daily habit I got rid of was Netflix, which I cancelled back in June, and it has changed my life. I used to spend at least three hours a night “relaxing” in front of the TV, but it was a time thief. Now my house is cleaner, I spend more time with my kids, and I’m more productive than ever before.

If 2020 Sarah showed up to talk to you right now, what do you hope she’s there to say?

Future Sarah will definitely be proud of what I’ve been able to accomplish. I’m on the right path and I have the drive to crush whatever obstacles are ahead.

She’d say, “You’re so amazing for not letting yourself get in your own way.”

What did your kids think of their mom conquering her goals like a boss and then creating new ones just for fun?

My kids aren’t fully aware of the whole ‘conquering goals’ aspect of my journey. They see me working out, they know it takes hard work, but that’s where it ends for them. CrossFit is normal. They won’t fully grasp what I’m doing until they’re older.

What are your five key daily habits for staying on track with your plan?

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If you could have a conversation with 2016 Sarah right after your sister’s wedding, what would be the topic?

The conversation would definitely have a tough love vibe. “How did it feel taking shots of vodka in the car before your sister got married because you were so insecure? Did you like avoiding the photographer all night? Was the binge eating worth all this drama and sadness? Why couldn’t you just do the work in the first place so you could enjoy this day, instead of spending the entire time thinking about how big your arms look, how chubby your face is, or whether your belly was sticking out in your dress?”

What do you think her reaction would be to 2018 Sarah?

The old me would react to 2018 Sarah with complete shock! For the longest time I didn’t think I was capable of changing my health. I thought I’d be fat forever. I’d be elated and excited to see that I’m finally on the right track. It’d give me hope.

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Marisol Swords is a certified Macefit.com™ coach with a background that includes powerlifting, yoga and martial arts. Marisol has conquered a learning disability to earn a degree in HumanEnvironmental Sciences / Food & Nutrition. She calls herself an educated thug with the occasional joke.

AirGym.com Workout at a Verified Home or Commercial Gym

Fueled By:

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How to Coach Yourself

By Anna Woods

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After leaving a local CrossFit gym, it was an adjustment to move in my garage and go from handson coaching and feedback daily, to silence and hopes that I was still moving correctly. It wasn’t long before I realized the value in having eyes on you consistently because bad habits sneak in before you know it.

I started using my iPhone propped up with a shoe in the corner, to record my lifts as I was completing them, so I could be my own set of eyes. After a session, or even between lifts, I would stop the camera and play it back looking for certain things in my lifts I knew were areas of weakness. I’d go back to the barbell and retry the lift, I’d record it again, and hope that I made the change needed. Over time I got better at knowing which angles worked better for which lifts, what to look for at certain angles, and how to make the changes.

And this has helped me be better coach and trainer as well, because I can walk to the exact angle I want to see a lift executed to know best what I’m looking for in their lift.

1. Front: • Check symmetry of left side of body to the right • Ensure that knees are externally rotated from the hips out over the 2nd and 3rd toes throughout the entire squat • Check that big toe is in contact with ground • Examine intra-abdominal pressure (360 bracing of core). You should not see indentions in the obliques or rectus abdominals

Here are a few of the best practices I’ve learned: Best Video Angles for Squats: (Note: These same cues can apply to a split squat, a lunge, or a pistol squat.)

2. Side: • Check neutral spine from head to tailbone • Ensure that knees are externally rotated from the hip • Check that knees are staying just behind or just in front of the toes • If completing the front squat, check quality of the 90* angle of the front rack position (elbows up, shoulder blades back and down) • As you near the bottom of the squat, check for “butt winking” or that the butt or pelvis does not tuck under the body--this means your rib cage is lifted and your hips have run out of room, therefore calling on the lumbar spine to come into play.

• Check that head is not up and that low back is not 47

arched • Rib cage should be down

Deadlifts/Pulls (These coaching cues/visuals can apply to a single leg deadlift or an Olympic lifting pull as well.)

The best video angle for deadlifts is the side.

• Check neutral spine from head to tailbone • Ensure that knees are externally rotated from the hip • For conventional deadlift, check that knees are in line or just over the top of the bar.

• Check for pressure in big toe • Check that head is not up and that low back is not arched • Rib cage should be down • Shoulder blades should back and down, and not shoved to the front of the sockets 48

• Intrabdominal pressure (360 core expansion) throughout entire lift

Anna Woods is a wife and mother who has based her entire career on helping other people find their value and worth through fitness, nutrition and especially the belief that “I am enough.”

A published author, motivational speaker and athlete, Anna is a Crossfit Level 1 Coach, an ACE-Personal Trainer and a Functional Aging Specialist. She describes herself as an outdoor enthusiast, OCR Adventurer, Crossfit Competitor and Triathlete. Her goal is to redefine fitness from basing our worth and progress off a scale number to that of crossing our own personal “finish lines.”

Yeah, you take a lot for granted. When life hums along, you don’t think twice about the things that can bring your life to a screeching halt.

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Keep Moving When You’re Moving

By Marisol Swords

Moving is an event that should take place a handful of times for the average person, unless of course it’s your job to move around the planet. Of all the positions I’ve held in life, mother and wife have always been primary and those roles have required I move. A lot. When presented with the opportunity to move to the Pacific Northwest, somewhere our family had never been, we jumped. Part of this move required us to drive a vehicle from one coast to the other while one of us flew. Can you guess who drew the short straw? (Actually, it was my husband, but I like driving and I’m better at it, so we decided I should do it instead.)

I had the best of intentions. Powerlifting, yoga, meditation, and martial arts all fall under my movement umbrella. All I needed was enough space to not break anything or knock anyone out and I’d be good; I had this.

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Planning vs. Execution Honestly speaking, every home gym athlete only needs body weight and imagination for absolutely any space to become a gym. But as a strength athlete looking to keep those squat booty gains, there had to be weights in my programming. My bare necessities came down to: • Two pairs of kettlebells: medium and heavy-ish • One Adex™ adjustable mace with 15 lbs. of weights (very compact) • One pair of five-pound steel Persian clubs.

• One yoga mat These items took up minimal space and provided maximum impact. To prepare me for the challenge of minimalistic training (and living for that matter), our employer was kind enough to remove all my training gear (as well as everything else we owned)

and ship it a ridiculous amount of time in advance of our drive to avoid any temptation on my part. You know, to make sure I was good and ready to survive the shock of not having a full garage gym on the road. (So hard to type a sarcastic eye roll so you’ll just have to use your imagination here.)

During the numerous weeks of living in my stripped bare home before we departed, I enjoyed playing with my smaller implements and the freedom of minimalist strength training. It was easy to maintain both my strength and my mobility practices— this was going to be easy-peasy on the road!

4. Estes Park, Colorado to visit mountains 5. Salt Lake City, Utah to visit sleep 6. Boise, Idaho to visit potatoes 7. Kennewick, Washington to visit ridiculous mountain pass roads 8. Arrive at new home in Kitsap County, Washington state First stop My fit fam in Mississippi: everything according to plan; this is awesome.

Next stop My aunt in Arkansas: still training; still completing my programming; still on track.

Salinas, KS It was at this hotel that even my daughter’s attempts to find a treadmill in their so-called “gym” resulted in a machine that behaved more like a trampoline you had to chase.

After nine hours of driving this was the first night my body said NOPE. I opted to break out the yoga mat and hit the stretches to try to save the shattered and road weary remains of my lower back and hips.

Tired, hungry and white-line blind, I passed out during svasana. Nine hours of sleep later, I wake up grateful I had decided to do corpse pose in the hotel bed instead of 5 mm of neoprene above its questionable carpet. For the record, no, I was NOT willing to give up sleep to rise with the sun and train.

Nomad Gym: Intention vs. Reality Truly I intended to strength train much more during my two-week cross-country drive but the only implement to see use was the yoga mat. Now, the drive time was a solid forty hours broken up over two weeks so that we could visit specific locations along the way. The planned route was: 1. Gulf Coast Mississippi to visit family 2. Little Rock, Arkansas to visit family 3. Salinas, Kansas to visit tumbleweeds

Estes Park, Colorado A ton of miles and hours of driving later, any guess who only wants to do yoga and sleep when they arrive to their next location? If you guessed me, you’re right.

The thought of attempting to unpack a single item, much less a weight training implement, made my face twist in agonizing avoidance.

Road Yogi There truly is not much to report after Colorado.

For one reason or another, I did not hit any of my planned cities and had to choose pinch hitters on the fly. Each day’s drive was more exhausting than the 51

last as all I desired to do at the end of each drive was copious amounts of yoga and sleep. My motivations morphed from a compulsion to train that came from within me to simply a desire to sleep without seeing white lines when I closed my eyes.

My road warrior training became more road yogi as I stopped, dropped, and yoga’d at every rest stop and gas station as necessary. Each night became about simply unwinding the tension in my body and easing the hypnosis the road had done to my mind.

My training had become about maintaining my sanity, forget the gains.

Humbled, well stretched, and hanging on for dear life, I arrived at my destination on the Kitsap Peninsula of Washington State. As a person who has worked hard to keep their New York sized ego in check, this trip knocked it down even further while at the same time reinforcing an important lesson of which I continually remind myself: Everything I can do is all I can do.

do the manageable variables when taking training into less than ideal conditions. I believe in learning from lifters so I reached out to Theresa England who recently completed a long distance move while training consistently.

Theresa’s Story Our move happened quickly. My husband was asked to fly in for an interview July 11, and we arrived in St Pete on August 20. Since we were going to be new to the area, we decided to do a short-term vacation rental and stored our household stuff for the first few months. This is one reason I knew that gym equipment had to go with me.

For me, training was not optional. If I give myself the option of “not training” then it is more likely to slip off the daily to-do list. That is the way I approach training from a day to day basis. I enjoy it, but I also don’t view it as optional. I knew that with some planning, there was a way to make it work.

As you can see from the infographic, I didn’t leave anything to chance.

Everything on the road went as planned, because I was able to control it and make it work. I feel like having a mindset that can think outside the box and find the good in any situation is so important in fitness.

I did heavy squats on an uneven gravel driveway. I performed WODs in a hilly field. These are all things outside my normal way of training that added to the level of difficulty of training. I really enjoyed that aspect of it.

I didn’t confine myself to the mindset of “this is how I train, this is what I do”. I ventured out, found new goals that would work with my situation, and in turn found a passion for powerlifting.

The Bottom Line While planning goes a very long way toward a strong finish, knowing when to be fluid and flow will save your sanity and having a multitude of backup plans doesn’t hurt either.

Reflecting: Here’s How it Could Have Happened Each athlete’s needs and limitations vary widely, as 52

“When pursuing this type of adventure, keep an open mind. Things don’t have to be perfect to get

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something accomplished or even improve your fitness” Theresa says. “People, even home gym owners, sometimes tend to think they need a garage and perfect set up to train or start a program. I am

on my second month of moving plates in and out of the house to my patio for my training sessions. Not ideal, but honestly it works. It doesn’t always have to be ideal conditions, but there’s always a way to train”.

Theresa England's

THERESA'S STORY

F1

FACTORS I CONSIDERED DURING MY TRIP

KEYS TO SUCCESSFUL WORKOUT ROADTRIPPING

GET YOUR MINDS ET RIGH T UP FRO NT .

01

For me, training was not optional. If I give myself the option of “not training” then it is more likely to slip off the daily todo list. That is the way I approach training from a day to day basis. I enjoy it, but I also don’t view it as optional. I knew that with some planning, there was a way to make it work.

Evaluating my situation BEFORE leaving our driveway made ALL the difference in the world!

PLAN WELL AND PLAN AH EAD.

02 SPACE This was a cross country drive in a four door Toyota Tacoma with two dogs, a cat and another human. My barbell and power rack, while tempting, were grossly impractical. .

KNOW WH AT Y OU NEED (AND T AKE IT ).

03

LOCATIONS While researching hotels and stay locations for the drive, I discovered that an entire swath of the middle of the country is severely lacking inglasses affordable Aim for 8-10 of fluid perhotels day and drop in powerlifting gyms. My choices were Motel 6’s and La Quinta’s in the middle of tumbleweed towns or five-star resorts; barely an in-between. With few practical options, I went the “cheap motel with no gym” route most nights.

PERSONAL EXPECTATIONS Will my body want to do this after driving for all those hours; will I want to give up sleep after all that driving?

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I’m incredibly blessed to have a supportive husband. I knew I had to have a barbell with me, but I was also going to have a dog and 3-year-old in the car. My husband is the one who suggested the U-Haul trailer. He said, “training is nonnegotiable, and you need your equipment.” Honestly, he’s the best.

Everything NOT with me was going to be in a POD from late July until December.

I took a U-Haul trailer behind my SUV. We based the size trailer off what I felt like I needed and price of trailer. I took the 5x10 trailer, which was perfect for the equipment I needed, plus some things that I just wanted to have. In this trailer I took: air bike, barbell, one set of plates, a bench, free standing squat rack, med ball, 4 sets of dumbbells, one kettlebell, two small stall mats and a sled.

USE YOUR S TOPS WISELY.

04

We had two straight days of ten-hour driving including one night in a hotel, to get to Tennessee. I didn’t take any rest days the week up to the move, and I had planned to rest the two traveling days. I have a three-year-old, so we stopped to get out a few times a day. He would ride his bike at a rest area, and I could chase him around or grab some air squats just to move. The plan then was to train out of the U-Haul once we got to my mom’s farm in TN then after five days head to Florida and resume training.

PRE-PLAN Y OUR FUEL.

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I bought a really good cooler, and food prepped for two days of traveling before we left Colorado. I labeled everything by the day I would use it and then pre-tracked them into my macro app. I honestly feel like nutrition tends to be one of the major stressors during traveling, and I was not going to leave it up to chance. With everything weighed, measured, and pre-tracked there was no room for error. Before I left Tennessee, I did the same thing for the last day of traveling.

ROAD RECOVERY.

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We drove from morning until my son’s bedtime. Knowing that my nutrition was covered and drinking plenty of water was about all I knew I could do. Making the most of stops did help, walking, sprinting with my son, grabbing some air squats- everything helps.

Marisol Swords is a certified Macefit.com™ coach with a background that includes powerlifting, yoga and martial arts. Marisol has conquered a learning disability to earn a degree in HumanEnvironmental Sciences / Food & Nutrition. She calls herself an educated thug with the occasional joke.

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So you want to lift a 45lb plate by the hub?

By Riccardo Magni One of the all-time classic strength feats is to lift a 45lb plate by the hub. This was definitely a test of strength in the “olden days” and there’s no reason why you can’t learn how to do it too. Let’s look at what the feat entails and outline a program that can help you get there.

First things first To begin your quest to lift the 45lb plate by the hub, you need to assess where you are. By that I mean you need to first start with a 25lb plate and see if you can lift that. If you’re successful with the twenty-five then you need to graduate to the 35lb plate. If you conquered the 35lb plate, you should be feeling pretty good about yourself at that time.

If you have done a 25lb and 35lb, by all means, have a go at the 45lb plate! It may budge, it may stay welded to the floor. Whatever the case may be, let’s look at different ways to train to help you conquer this feat. And make sure to train each hand!

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How to get it done It is imperative that you have the plate well chalked and also that you have chalk that works well for you. There are many different brands of chalk and everyone seems to have a different preference of chalk. I like Hand Armor chalk. Experiment with different types of chalk yourself and see what you like. I would train the hub two times per week. One day I would use a plate loaded hub system like the Ironmind hub or the Barrel Strength Systems Dub Hub. The other day of hub training I would practice lifting only plates. Using the idea of a twelve week system, I would first start off with finding your max on the plate loaded hub system that you’re using be ii the Ironmind hub or the Barrel Strength Systems hub. Once you know your max on that hub and you know what kind of plate you can lift, that makes the job a lot easier and figuring out the weights that you would use. The table below outlines a program that may help you lift plates by the hub using a loadable

hub trainer and a series of plates that you can hub.

Remember, if the plate is too easy by itself, microload the plate with a series of small plates around the edges of the plate that you are picking up.

Week

Trainer

Plate

1

Max

Max

2

5 X 5 with 75%

10 X 1 with an easy plate

3

5 X 5 with 77%

8 X 1 with the plate + weight

4

5 X 5 with 78.5%

6 X 1 with the plate + weight

5

Max set of 5

5 X 1 with the plate + weight

6

5 X 3 with 80%

Max

7

5 X 3 with 82%

8 X 1 with the plate + weight

8

5 X 3 with 84%

6 X 1 with the plate + weight

9

Max set of 3

5 X 1 with the plate + weight

10

5 X 1 with 90%

4 X 1 with the plate + weight

11

5 X 1 with 91%

3 X 1 with the plate + weight

12

3 X 1 with 93%

Max

Where do you get plates to lift by the hub?

You can go to Play It Again Sports and look for plates. You can look on Craigslist for good plates to hub. Sometimes there are some fantastic deals there. eBay can be another great source of plates. and sometimes you just might find a gym that wants to get rid of some equipment and they might have one.

A final place to go is to a grip contest. At a contest there will likely be people that already have the plates that might want to get rid of them or know people that might have some for sale.

An important thing to note is that there are many variations in the way 45lb plates are built. Some plates have three-inch hubs, some plates have fourinch hubs, and some plates have five-inch hubs.

This is an important factor in how you attack the lift! Furthermore, some plates have spokes that are decorations on the plate to make them look cool and they can get in the way of your fingers. Finally, another factor in the hub lift is how deep the hub is. On some plates, the hubs are very shallow which gives you less surface area to grab with your fingers, making the lift trickier.

increase in strength is the plate also gets bigger and the longer the plate gets up to the 18in (450 mm) dimensions of a standard sized plate the more the weight gets away from your hands which makes it harder. One of the things you can do with a 25lb hub is to start adding smaller plates around the edges of the plate to make it slightly more challenging to gradually build your way up to lifting a 35. You can do the same thing for a 35-pound plate in order to gradually build yourself up to a 45-pound plate. And of course once you get really good, you can start putting weight on a 45-pound plate like you may have seen other people do.

Other feats: So once you can lift the 45-pound plate by the hub, what else can you do with it? Of course, you are only limited by your imagination but here are some ideas: Farmers walk, Hub plate curls, and hub plate rows.

Snatches and hub transfers are also some cool feats that you can do. It is very, very important that you have a safe, clear area so if you need to drop the plate, your feet will not get hurt and neither will either your pets, kids, or lifting partners in that area.

Some of these feats are best performed on grass or outside because if you do need to drop the plate, it will not get damaged and neither will anyone or anything else.

Riccardo Magni is the secretary general of Armlifting USA. He is an international competitor in Armlifting, a coach and athlete across multiple strength sports.

What to do if you get stuck There’s a big difference in the strength required to lift a 35lb hub versus a 25lb hub. And of course, even more of a strength difference to lift a forty-five versus a thirty-five. Part of the reason for the huge 57

In their own words...  I had been working through some knee issues that forced be to get out from under the barbell for quite a while.  I ended up purchasing some kettlebells and tackling Pavel’s Simple & Sinister program at home and have never seen the necessity in paying for a gym membership since then.

David Albers

@durable_dad Physical Therapist Garage Gym Owner Kansas City, Missouri

58

It’s MY space. There’s no negativity there. There’s no male dominance. As a homeschooling mother, it’s actually not as easy as one would think.

Sometimes I want to leave the house.

Other times it’s amazing being able to step outside that garage door and get work done while being available to everyone also.

Yolanda Presswood

@yolandapresswood Powerlifter, Nutrition Coach, Model Garage Gym Owner Los Angeles County, California

59

All I need is a barbell and a few other things and I'm good.

Natalie Suazo @natalieadair Powerlifter, Online Fitness Coach Saint George, Utah

60

The power of the upper body comes from the rest of the exercise as well. I like basic CrossFit moves and also climbing, lifting, jumps etc. But I do not do extra arm, shoulder and back workout systematically because they get enough power from pole fitness.

Katja Mäkynen @itstrainingdaytoday pole fitness performer Finland

61

I know what it feels like and looks like to be out of shape. I know how much work it took for me to get in what little bit of conditioning and shape I’m in now and I never really mind the journey.

Brian Pankey @uncleboo56 Masters Strongman Competitor Backyard Gym Owner Dayton, TN

62