This two-part column will be my way to bring everyone up to date with what’s going on with my training, and some of what’s going on at elitefts.com.
The best way I know to do this will be in sections, but please note there is a very special bonus section at the end of part 2 and NO it’s not a sales pitch.
So here goes....
Work With Passion
One of the main reasons for my lack of log posting isn't that I haven't been training (covered below) it's that almost all of my time has been spent working. I can honestly say I've worked more in the past 15 months than I ever have in my life - totally by choice.
Over a year ago we had to change just about everything we do as a business. Everything from Marketing to Product Fulfillment had to be changed and streamlined. We had to find more cost effective ways to do everything and we did. This wasn't an easy process and I'm very fortunate to have the staff I do, otherwise we wouldn't be in the position we are now.
Last November things really began to pick up (sales, web hits, etc). This continued through December and we ended with the best November and December in the history of the company. While I knew at the time my staff was over-worked, we were put into a very awkward situation. If we hired people and sales dropped back down, we would have to let them go - something I don't ever want to do. So, my staff dug in and picked up the slack. Meanwhile, I had to begin reanalyzing all of our systems again.
Long story short, sales haven't gone back down - they've gone up with record months in January, February and March looking to be an all time record. At the same time, many of our systems were strained. Thus we’ve had to bring in new technology, new people and new systems. Since December, we've increased our staff by 30 percent and aren’t done yet. My goal was to have all these positions in place and trained by the end of February.
Circling back to the first statement I made in this section “time spent working,” I would like to explain exactly how I define this. Time spent working doesn't mean shit! Anyone can work long hours and get nothing done, or take way too much time doing busy work that won't move them or their team forward. It's far more practical to execute the work you're doing and to make the work have purpose. For me, this is strategic work that will help the company advance. One philosophy is to just do those things that have purpose and then use all of the free time for yourself. This may work great in certain sectors, but in my world business is VERY competitive, so the more purposeful work I can get done - the better.
Let me break it down like this. Let's assume everyone works 40 hours per week.
Person A - Spends most their time screwing around and might get 10 hours of real work done per week.
Person B - As with person A, gets 10 hours of real work done per week, but stops and spends the rest of the 30 hours doing junk work.
Person C - Also gets the same 10 hours of real work done per week, but then figures out how to also use the other 30 to get 30 more hours of real work done per week.
Person D - Same as person C, but then takes it one step future and figures out how to delegate even more work to staff, contractors, etc.
I've been all these people and I’m now working on taking it to the next level - training managers to be C people.
Maybe there’s a way to do this all in 10 hours a week (Hire a CEO and CFO), but I'm not there yet.
The Bag of Passion
Just a quick note to illustrate how training parallels just about everything.
We all know there's a bunch of bottom dweller idiot trainers - gurus or whatever you want to call them out there. They promise the world and many use cool buzz words, look good, are very strong, etc - but in the end they are morons who really don't know anything.
Many even go as far as to write material on how to earn thousands of dollars being a trainer when they're lucky if they have 15 clients themselves.
Anyhow...we know this already, right?
I've been researching different e-commerce platforms and directions. We've spent the last 14 months upgrading all of our internal platforms with one more to go. After this, all the web platforms need to be upgraded. The cart, of course, is the biggest concern, as it will take a lot more research, time and money to complete. To say I'm taking this very serious is an understatement.
I've been looking at options such as hiring more internal programmers, outsourcing, building a new platform, building on our existing one, and a combination of all these - plus other options. This has lead to meeting and interviewing many unique individuals and firms - who ALL have the best solution.
Keep in mind the serious complexity of this. This has to be 100% compatible and tie in with our new internal platform. Yet, "Mr. I Know Word Press" thinks he can do this ALONE in a couple weeks - then tells me how powerful video is for online sales and we need to add a widget.
A FREAKING WIDGET!
What about coordinating inventory count? Streamlining our CRM to the site? Aligning pricing? I guess these are all "secondary issues" that fall behind a piece of embedded code.
Then, there's the guy who has a buddy that who "does websites."
What!
"Does web sites."
What does this even mean?
Funny how IBM and other big platforms need a team to do this and are quoting two to three months, yet Joe Blow is sure he can "rip it out" in week...maybe sooner if he can get his buddy who "does web sites" to help out.
"Rip it out??????"
Is this like rubbing one out? WTF!
I'm confused!
I had one guy pushing his "social media" status tell me he could create a site for me to post the videos on that would showcase my brand…basically a blog. I showed him our you tube page and he said...
"This is exactly what I'm taking about. You see the image you have at the top where it says store, Q and A, and logs?"
I answer...Yes...?
"I can create a page where you can actually click on those and they will take you to your site."
Really? Why don't you try to click on it real quick and see what happens?
He then clicked the banner and next thing you know we're directed to the store. I'm then asked...
“How did you do that?”
Are you freaking serious!? I'm meeting with this firm about web site programming and I get asked this?
Are people really so freaking stupid to fall for this crap and hire them nitwits?
Note to self - I need to be asking how in the hell I ended up in the same room with these guys in the first place before asking questions like this.
Granted, I understand most people aren't trying to set up a major platform and there are some great alternatives and economical options out there - but come on?
If you fall for this crap you deserve to get burned.
I could go on for pages about this, but here is the similarity.
There are a bunch of absolute nitwits setting up web pages who are pushing the ability to make big $$$$, big SEO...actually if these letters even come out of their mouth that is a great sign to RUN. Do not ask questions, but RUN as fast as you can. Tag all of them "social media" positioning.
These guys are like the bottom dweller personal trainer.
If you want to find a great trainer look for the guy who looks like they train, ask who they've trained with and who trained them. Then, ask who they've trained.
If you want to find a great programmer look for the pasty person who has one icon on their desktop you can understand (they look the part). Then, ask who they have worked for (who they have trained with), where they went to school (who trained them) and what sites they have set up (who they have trained).
Same Rules - Different Game
Oh, here are a couple of the other things I look for...in real life, I may be wrong, but in my head I'm right.
If they hand me a cold bottle of water I know they don't have enough staff. We're in a recession, so people are packing their lunches more now then ever. There shouldn't be any room in the fridge if they have a full team.
I also always try to visit on very short notice. I'll be your way in a few hours, will you be around? If they say yes, I know they have no deadlines, and nothing better to do.
I look in the trash can. I'm not going to give away all my secrets, but if the can is empty with no liner - I'm not doing business with them EVER. This can mean only a few things.
1. The don't complete their work.
2. They get distracted easy.
3. They are not detail oriented.
4. If it isn't their job, then they don't check the details of their staff's or custodial service work.
5. If they ran out of bags, they don't know how to plan ahead.
There are some other things I think it can mean but the important part is that there's nothing that can be good about this.
The one thing I always look for is if they have a BAG. If so, THEN I look for the balls to go with it.
Training With Passion
This has been my current training set up:
Sunday: Chest - Biceps
Monday: Cardio
Tuesday: Shoulders
Wednesday: Hamstrings
Thursday: Back - Triceps
Friday: Cardio
Saturday: Quads
* The focus of my training right now is on training density.
* Cardio is set at 2 times per week at 30 minutes. More is added as needed. Covered in diet section.
* Most sets are taken to failure with 20 percent trained past failure.
* Reps are in the 10 - 15 range with the exception of quads (15 - 30).
* Sets between 20 - 30 large body parts, 10 - 16 small.
NOTE: I've tried low volume training in the past while dieting and it never worked for me and always gave me a flat look. Low volume work is great for me to build strength, but doesn't provide what I need while dieting. The only time I will drop the volume is if my carbs are very low.
Using a basic training log format I wouldn't be able to show and explain what I'm doing so I'm going to lay out a few of the training days and show the past several sessions for them. The best way I’ve found for me to build muscle is to wave cycles where the volume, load and density increase for a 3 - 5 session cycle and then drop back down with new movements.
Below are my past three quad days. What you’ll notice is that the first week is relatively easy. The sets are on the low end and very few are being taken to failure. Since the focus is on muscle building, I keep the rep speed slow to moderate and very controlled. Over each session - right now once a week but may come down later with split sessions – I’ll add weight, sets and movements to increase the overall volume and workload. At the same time, I try to get the sessions done faster as the weeks ramp up. Week one is what I call a lazy pace. I take my time between sets and don't worry about it at all. Week two can be described as "about right" meaning I go when I feel I'm ready. Week three and on is under a minute between sets. This is to increase the training density of each session.
I’ll stay with this phase until I can't push the volume and load at the same time. In other words, when I can no longer add more sets and more weight it's time to move to the next phase. The next phase will be built with new movements while dropping back to the volume of the first week, then ramping back up again. My usual time per phase is three weeks, but I’ve been able to push it for six if I bridge into progressives. I won’t change until more than 50 percent of the movements don't progress. This helps to accommodate bad days and dietary factors. I should also say I've had some phases that changed after two weeks. It all depends on the movements and how light you begin the first session. My goal for this cycle is to get four out of each session.
Here are my last four quad days:
Quads & Calves - First Training Session
CALVES:
Seated Calves 3 plates
15 x 2
4 x 12
Toe Pushes One Leg
225 2 x 15
QUADS:
Leg Extension
1 x 15
2 x 15
3 x 15
4 x 15
Power Squat
135 x 20
185 x 20
225 x 20
Leg Press
600 x 20
700 x 15
800 x 15
800 x 15
Quads & Calves - Second Training Session
CALVES:
Seated Calves 3 plates
15 x 2
4 x 12
Toe Pushes One Leg
225 3 x 15
Standing Calf Raise
200 3 x 15
QUADS:
Leg Extension 1 plate
1 x 15
2 x 15
3 x 15
4 x 15
5 x 10
Power Squat
135 x 20
185 x 20
225 x 20
275 x 20
Leg Press
600 x 20
700 x 20
800 x 20
900 x 20
Quads & Calves - Third Training Session
QUADS
Leg Extension 2 plates
2 x 15
3 x 15
4 x 15
5 x 12
5 x 12
Power Squat
135 x 20
225 x 15
315 x 20
315 x 20
Leg Press
600 x 20
700 x 20
800 x 20
900 x 20
1000 x 20
Lunges
5 x 10
5 x 10
5 x 10
5 x 10
5 x 10
Hip Raises 4 sets to failure
Leg Extension
3 x 15
3 x 15
3 x 15
3 x 15
CALVES:
Toe Push
315 x 20
315 x 20
405 x 20
405 x 20
Seated calves 3 plates
3 x 15
3 x 20
3 x 20
3 x 15
Quads & Calves – fourth training session
QUADS:
Leg Extension 2 plates
2 x 15
3 x 15
4 x 12
5 x 13
Power Squat
135 x 20
225 x 10
315 x 10
365 x20
*NOTE: At this point I knew this would be the last week using this routine. The strength and endurance was not going up and it was very hard to keep a moderate tempo of the sets I did do. I noticed this on the extensions and begin cut down the volume on my Power Squat warm up sets to make sure I could still get a good final set. When I know this will be the last session of a routine I really crank it up and go as hard as I can because I know the routine will completely change the new week and will have much lower volume.
Leg Press
600 x 20
700 x 10
800 x 10
900 x 15
1000 x 20
Strip Set – Started with 900 and went to failure (not sure how many but guessing around 30-40), 800 to failure (maybe 15-20), 700 to failure (somewhere over 20), 600 to failure (also over 20). I knew this would be brutal so I had Ted and Jon strip the weights and make sure I did not quit on any of the set too soon.
Lunges
** There was no way these were going to happen
Hip Raises 4 sets to failure
Leg Extension
3 plates for 10 sets of 10 reps with a 20 count between sets.
CALVES:
Toe Push
315 x 20
315 x 20
405 x 20
405 x 20, 315x20,225x10 – As a strip set
Seated calves 3 plates
3 Plates x 15
3 x 20
3 x 20
3 x 15
My cardio to this point is three or four, 20-30 minutes steady-state sessions per week. This is more to aid in recovery at this point than for any real fat burring. This however will go up next week.
Dietalmost With Passion
My original plan was to do a very low carb diet, but after speaking to several people who have helped me in the past and some who haven't - I decided to use a carb cycle approach. This isn’t to say very low carbs won't come in later. Right now, I'm on a "keep it simple" diet. My only goal is to keep the carbs at or under 200 grams per day and the protein between 300 and 350. This is all I have been tracking.
I wrote “almost” for a reason. Check back for part two to see if this plan is actually working.
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