One Hundred Percent

It’s no secret we love AirBikes. 

It’s also no secret that most people hate them. 

The reason we like them and clients hate them is the same: they’re incredible hard. As coaches, our job is to get a good training response from you. Sometimes that means going 100 percent. On an AirBike, finding 100 percent is easy and safe. It’s low skill and self regulating. 

We probably won’t have you deadlift or squat 100 percent of what you could handle. You can get all the strength benefits minus the risks hanging out at 80 or 90 percent. On a rower or SkiErg, 100 percent requires a high degrees of skill and with that probably several months of practice. 

When you have that 10-30 second interval on the AirBike though, let loose, go 100 percent and don’t hold back. It’s one of the safest ways we can get maximum effort out of anyone. It’ll help your endurance, power output and mindset. Let it rip the next time your program calls for some AirBike intervals. 

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Exercise and Don't Exercise

One of the presentations I went to last weekend was about health from an evolutionary perspective. You’re familiar with it. We used to be hunter-gathers so we walked a lot, moved a lot, slept on the ground and constantly worried about predators. It was a high stress lifestyle.

The presenter said something like this:

Exercise, it will save your life. Don’t exercise, it will also save your life.

What he was referring to was that early humans usually had periods of rest after a big hunt or travel day. Resting allowed you to hide from predators, recover, stuff your face and get ready for the next big day. 

The take away message was that our urge to sit on the couch and eat a whole pizza comes from a long time ago. That primal instinct to overeat easy calories and to not move is built into our software. In modern times we have the luxury to ignore these primal signals since we have things like refrigerators, cars and iPhones.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

It's About the Wires

Flex the long head of your biceps muscle. Now, turn on sartorius muscles in your thigh. You likely have no idea what I’m talking about, and if you do, you probably had a difficult time isolating specific muscles and getting them to turn on. 

Why is it whenever we teach someone a new exercise, their first question, “what muscles does this work?”

Strength training is about improving movement quality. Learn better patterns to get stronger in more beneficial shapes that will become your default in the real world. What muscles you’re working is much less important than the positions and shapes and movements your body makes. 

It comes down to this. It isn’t about firing muscles, tendons or ligaments, it’s about the wires. Your nervous system is what makes movement happen, it teaches you what feels good, what feels bad. Your nervous system adapts to build strength, improve range of motion and increase power.

Don’t worry about getting your pec minor to fire on a push up. Instead, make sure your shoulders are moving in a safe, productive shape. 

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Some Days Off

I got to see Dan John speak this weekend. He is a legend in the field of strength and conditioning and I saw him speak once before, way back in 2012. Dan John made things like walking around the gym carrying heavy kettlebells popular. He even coined the term goblet squat. 

One of the slides near the end of his talk dropped the jaws of most attendees. See, Dan John has this great ability to simplify complex things, like health:

Floss

Go to the doctor 

Wear your seatbelt

Eat Fruits and Veggies 

Go heavy sometimes 

Go long sometimes 

Go medium sometimes 

Have a group to belong to 

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Dragging

Stoic Philosophy can teach us about attitude and mindset. I’ve been dragging a bit this week and I’ve pulled up this quote several times to check myself. Marcus Aurelius, Emperor of Rome, had trouble getting out of bed 2000 years ago, just like we all do now.

“At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: ‘I have to go to work — as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for — the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?’”

So you were born to feel “nice”? Instead of doing things and experiencing them? Don’t you see the plants, the birds, the ants and spiders and bees going about their individual tasks, putting the world in order, as best they can? And you’re not willing to do your job as a human being?"

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Done

I was dragging my feet yesterday before my workout.

I wasn’t excited about it. I considered changing my planned workout, but couldn’t get excited about anything else either. I figured I would give it my best attempt. After a 15 minute bike ride to warm up, and further delay putting a barbell in my hands, I loaded the bar a did a few power cleans. 

Blah. 

They just didn’t feel great. I managed to get to my working set weight and after doing two sets, I called it a day and took Clem for a long walk instead. 

No matter how good your plan is, sometimes you just don’t have it. It can be frustrating, but it happens to all of us. Move on and come back ready for the next one.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Heavy Goblets

We’re doubling down on the goblet squat and their effectiveness as a strength, stability and stamina builder. 

We’re on a mission to get more people squatting heavier kettlebells. It’s a skill on it’s own to pick up a heavy kettlebell and get it into the goblet position. It takes practice. Without any technical breakdown, the best way to practice, pretend light kettlebells are heavy.

This way, when you’re faced with the difficult task of getting a 53 pound kettlebell from the floor to your chest, you’ve had practice reps with the 26, 35 and 44 pound bells first. 

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Slow Down

We recently had a team meeting about programming and our big focus was slowing down.

Getting people to use control to show us they own a movement.

Can you stay balanced? Feel it in all the right spots? Express strength or speed or power after a long pause or decent?  What happens to breathing? 

Tempo is progress. 

Slow down.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Time and Organization

Nothing makes you feel more overwhelmed than not having enough time. Enough time to fit in work, exercise, walking, reading, seeing friends and all the other things we juggle in life. I use the calendar on my iPhone, and it syncs with my laptop so I’m always aware of meetings I have or hours I‘m on the floor coaching. 

Nothing helps me get organized like a notebook and pen though. I lay out my running sessions for the week, which days I need to pack lunch and bring extra clothes and any big projects I’m working on.  None of that makes in to the formal calendar, but it’s the stuff that makes the wheels turn.

If you need to workout more, eat healthier or give yourself more free time, maybe it isn’t a problem of having enough time, maybe it’s a problem with organization. Maybe you aren’t prioritizing the way you need to. For me, 15 minutes on Sunday morning gives me an outline of each day and gives me a game plan heading into the week.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Consistent Pursuits

The other day I listened to runner Rickey Gates on the Rich Roll Podcast. It was a great episode, and Rickey has done a lot of cool things like run across America, run every single street in San Francisco and competed at a high level all over the world in ultra trail running.

Fascinating stories aside, something Rickey mentioned on the podcast really stuck with me. He talked about consistent pursuits. Specifically, he talked about how he’s been running for 25 years, and how sticking with something that long lets you really get to know it, which, translates to knowing yourself. Gates was very clear - this pursuit doesn’t need to be physical, it can be knitting, reading, woodworking, painting, lifting or a host of other things. My question to you: what you you consistently pursued for many years on end? If you’re in search of something, I have good news for you, strength and conditioning can fill that void. 

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

More Weight Please

Back in 2015 we had just two medicine balls. An 8 pounder and a 12 pounder. For most of the year, the 12 pound ball got zero use. No one wanted to use it, not because it was heavy, because it was the heaviest. People would look at their options and shy away from the heavier ball purely because it was the heaviest option. Once we added a 20 pound ball to our arsenal, people would casually grab the 12 without second thought. 

I expected the same thing to happen when we added the huge 88 pound kettlebells. Except I was wrong. Instead of shying away, people wanted to pick them up. People wanted to see if they had the strength to lift that thing off the floor. Deadlift confidence went up. We were pumped. 

Since so many of you are casually deadlifting the 88, we got a 100 pound kettlebell. I’m predicting two things. Many people who have lifted the 88 will easily progress to the heavier, larger bell. The people who were maybe scared of the 88 no longer will be, since it’s no longer the heaviest. Who’s going to be the first to deadlift it? Will any one be able to swing it? What about a get up? I’m excited to find out. 

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Struck a Nerve

When I got home on Monday night, I was reflecting on how my day went. The past two Monday’s punched me in the face and I felt like I was reacting to everything and totally unprepared. On Sunday, I took 20 minutes and organized my week in my notebook, a practice I normally do but have gotten away from over the past couple months. I came up with a rough idea for workouts for the week, coaching schedule, meetings and even came up with a game plan as to how I would eat each day. It was really helpful and instead of Monday morning being a total shock to the system, I was ready and prepared. 

Back to Monday night. I was home and reflecting on the day and I still needed to make an Instagram post to the Gain page. So I asked the Gain Community a question, “Grade yourself, how did you start the week?”

To my surprise, this was the least interacted with post ever. People did not like that I asked them to be introspective and actually grade themselves on how they did. Now, I don’t really care about the likes, but I hope it made you stop and reflect and ponder how things could have been better or different. In order to improve, we need to be able to reflect and be introspective and frequently ask ourselves, how did I do today? 

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

First Gain Social of 2020

The last Wednesday of every month we host a get together for Gain members to flex their social muscles, have a bite to eat and enjoy a drink with some other Gainers. 

I’ll be making chili for the occasion tomorrow. Stick around after your workout or come back and hang with your gym friends and coaches. 

Wednesday 1/29

6:30pm-8:00pm

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Dialed

There are 16 weeks between now and the race I’m training for. It’s time to double down on focus, sleep, food and of course, running. Most of the year, my workout plan is to do whatever I feel like. Sometimes I’ll do something I’ve been neglecting and other times there are dedicated periods of focus on one particular movement or movements. Probably once a year, for 12-16 weeks I get dialed in as best I can to ramp up for a big race.

There’s a misconception that you need to be dialed in all the time for training to be effective. This of course, is not true. As we head into the 5th week of 2020, remember, it’s okay not to be all in, all the time. Choose periods where you’re going to workout more, be more strict and also pick periods of downtime. This is crucial to long term fitness success.

Trying to be in race shape all year is a formula to burn out. Ramp it up hard once or twice. Work toward something specific. The rest of the time, make sure you’re still getting after it, but maybe it’s less focused than a ramp up for an event or goal, and that’s okay too. 

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Beyond Impossible

Have you had an impossible burger yet? They weren’t on my radar until I started noticing McDonalds, Dunkin and Burger King advertising their healthier-than-red-meat alternatives.

That’s when I became suspicious. I have vegetarian friends and clients telling me how tasty they are and how much healthier they are than real meat. Why are fast food chains who are driven by profit, and not the health of their consumer, trying to sell them? It doesn’t make sense. 

The other day in McKinnon’s I saw an advertisement for vegan seafood. 

My issue, and the reason I’m bringing this to your attention isn’t to bash vegans or vegetarians. In fact, I think we can all up our vegetable game. The issue is that you’re being lied to. Impossible Burgers and non-meat shrimp aren’t health food. They’re highly processed, multi-ingreidient, fake food. They’re as fake as Twinkies and Oreos and all that other stuff we like. It’s junk food in disguise as health food. 

As I already mentioned and would like to reiterate; I have nothing against being vegan or vegetarian. There’s no doubt about it though that real, whole, unprocessed foods are the path to a long and healthy life. If fast food chains are hawking your new favorite product, I’d question their motive and I’d question whether or not it’s actually a health food or a marketing scam. 

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Sleeping More

I was never the teenager who slept until noon. The early morning is my favorite part of the day. Waking up between 4-5am has a drawback though, you need to get to bed early in order to get a full 8 hours. I’ve never focused on getting 8 hours. I usually just go to bed when I’m tired. 

For the past week, I wanted to see if I could get a solid 8 hours every night. What would I need to do differently and how different would I feel getting an extra 30-60 minutes each night? 

Here are my stats for the past 7 nights:

1/17/20 -  7h31m

1/18/20 -  7h46m

1/19/20 - 7h15m

1/20/20 - 8h6m

1/21/20 - 8h40m

1/22/20 - 7h29m

1/23/20 - 8h43m

I feel more awake and more willing to do things like clean the kitchen, do the dishes and pack myself a lunch when I hit that full 8 hours. On days I only get 7, I find myself reaching for an extra cup of coffee early in the morning and again later in the day. Nothing shocking there. I try to take a short power nap every day, regardless of the amount of sleep I get.

Nothing surprising here, right? I feel more awake and alert when I get more sleep. We all know that and we all know we should probably be sleeping more. The reason I’m sharing this with you today is two fold.

First, to hold myself accountable. By sharing, I now have some social pressure to keep going with my experiment. Secondly, if you’re one of the many people who have talked to me about getting more sleep, I wanted to show you that it isn’t going to happen by just hoping you sleep more. Work on your night time routine, set a hard bedtime, try some breathing or tea or no screens and figure out what works for you. Track your nightly Z’s to get some data on how you’re doing so you can figure out how to improve. It won’t happen without some effort. 

Justin Miner 

@justinminergain

Long Term Thinking Isn't Slow Moving

I talk a lot of thinking long term. It’s important and the inability to do so is why people have the relationships with health and fitness that they do. They can’t see one, five or ten years into the future to see how small daily actions impact the long run. 

James Clear posted this on Instagram yesterday:

“The paradox of life is that the greatest returns come In the long-term, but opportunity cost of moving slowly is huge.

Long term thinking is not slow acting.

Act fast on things that compound. Never let a day pass without doing something that will benefit you a decade from now.”

These small decisions we make everyday impact us years in the future. It’s about making small tweaks each day over a long period of time. What are you going to do today that will help your future self?

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

Trigger Point

You’ve probably done this week’s warm up by now. If you have, you’ve already experienced the discomfort of rolling your shoulder muscles with the lacrosse ball. Rolling, or sometimes annoyingly called myofacial release, is a method of applying pressure to cranky spots on your muscles. 

These cranky spots, sometimes known as trigger points can limit range of motion, create discomfort and even lead to postural imbalances. Nothing takes the place of a skilled massage therapist, but with a ball we can take a pretty good crack at sore or tight or stiff muscles. Rolling will restore motion and give you access to ranges you didn’t think you had.

The posterior shoulder, which we’re focusing on this week is particularly tender. That’s because it’s a high traffic zone. Lots of muscles, tendons and ligaments and fascia all merge together and connect on the shoulder or shoulder blade. These muscles all want to move with one another. Rolling can help restore these sliding surfaces, essentially making everything under your skin cooperate better. 

It’s uncomfortable. But don’t cut it short. If you’re skeptical, try a test and retest to see the difference it makes. Try a push up before and after your 2 minutes of shoulder rolling and you’ll notice the difference right away. 

Justin Miner 

@justinminergain

Universal

My favorite coaching cues work for multiple exercises. I’m not sure they’re even cues, but principles of movement. Today, we’re going to talk about foot pressure, and keeping the weight on your mid foot. Whether you’re deadlifting, squatting, lunging olympic lifting, jumping, rowing or skiing, the mid foot principle applies. 

The idea is simple. We want our weight balanced between the toes and the heel. Not too much in the heel that your toes lift and not too forward that your heel lifts. In the middle, in the sweet spot. This allows you to call in for reinforcements and recruit all your potential strength. It almost guarantees proper body alignment elsewhere, your feet won’t lie. 

Whether you’re deadlifting, squatting or even bench pressing today, see if you can find that sweet spot of pressure on your foot. You’ll be surprised how much it cleans up your movement.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain

The Sweet Relief of Pressure

I registered for two races yesterday.

I was telling Hannah about the races and my potential plan to sign up for them. Just thinking about having something on my calendar to train for brought a huge relief. It was like a weight lifted off my shoulder - I’ll have something hanging over my head to make me push hard, train consistently and get out of my comfort zone.

I needed the pressure of something to train towards. It makes running in the rain and mud easier, easier getting in pre-dawn runs and after sunset runs. I’m excited to dial it in.

What’s on your calendar holding you accountable?

Justin Miner 

@justinminergain