Warm-ups are very individual, and I’m not a big believer in extended non-specific warmups with a bunch of weird mobility exercises for every imaginable movement pattern. We’re training to be strong, athletic, and anti-fragile. If you start thinking you need 15 mobility exercises before you can train, we’ve got a problem.
Read MoreIf you don’t follow me on Instagram (@mjttraining), you should. I’ve been doing Instagram fitness Q&A’s every Friday. I’ve been getting requests through DM’s to elaborate on several of them so I figured I’d start compiling some of the most popular questions with longer/better answers than I can provide in an Instagram story.
Read MoreNothing worth having ever comes easily or quickly.
A friend posted on Facebook the other day. He said, “Long term success isn’t about being consistently intense, but intensely consistent.”
Read MoreBodyweight training is awesome. It’s convenient, doesn’t require a lot of space, and can get you strong and conditioned. However, bodyweight training shouldn’t just be limited to high repetitions. You can train maximal strength and build muscle too.
There isn’t much difference between programming bodyweight exercises and traditional lifts. We’re still training the same types of movements. We just have to get creative when it comes to adjusting intensity based on your ability level.
Read MoreWe all know carrying around excess fat is unhealthy and that our society is fatter than ever before. Soft times make soft people. However, being “overweight” or “obese” are specific terms, and we have to understand what they mean before we can do anything about them.
Read MoreOnline coaching won’t replace in-person coaching anytime soon, but for many people it’s fast becoming an ideal way to get expert fitness guidance at a fraction of the cost of traditional 1-on-1 in-person training. Here’s why it’s so great and why I’ve chosen to offer it.
Read MoreDoing something to work on your fitness is certainly better than nothing. However, I want you to get the most out of your limited time to train. We all have many life commitments, some of them taking priority at different times. How can you maintain a healthy lifestyle while juggling priorities and limited time for fitness?
Read MoreThis week is National Police Week, a time to remember those that have fallen in the line of duty and acknowledge the sacrifices that officers and their families make to maintain our society. ⠀
Read MoreImproving your physical health and fitness isn’t just about looking good.
During my time as a police officer, I developed severe anxiety. I had multiple panic attacks per week. I barely slept. I hated pretty much everyone I encountered and my social life was non-existent. I lived on caffeine and fast food. I gained weight and had severe back pain from sitting in a car all day wearing forty pounds of gear, all at the ripe old age of 27.
At work, I was on top of the world. Outside of work, my life was a disaster.
Read MoreNathan is preparing for US Army Basic Training in the summer. When he approached me about training, he’d been doing a basic lifting and calisthenic routine, and had good push-up and sit-up numbers along with good run times. He’d been in the gym for a while but needed help further improving his performance. As he’s joining the military in his 30’s, he wanted to maximize his physical abilities to help his ranking for OCS and eventually Ranger school.
Read MoreHow much you bench, bro? Ignore the gym idiots who want to tell you all about how much they benched in high school before they hurt their shoulder. Here are some rapid-fire tips to help you increase your bench press and stay healthy doing it.
Read More“Injury prevention” isn’t a thing. We can never completely prevent injuries. I prefer to talk about “injury mitigation” - there are some basic things you can do that may reduce your risk of injury, and if you do get injured, will help you bounce back quickly.
Read MoreYou may have heard that strength training will make you bulky, slow, or tight and inflexible. None of those things are true. In fact, strength training will make you a better runner, even if you couldn’t care less how much weight you can lift or the overall health benefits of being strong.
Read MoreTraining plateaus are part of the process. You can’t avoid them. They’ll last longer than you think, and the more experienced you are, the longer they’ll last. Multi-year plateaus aren’t uncommon, especially when injuries and other life stresses are involved.
If you’ve been dealing with a plateau for a long time, relax. You aren’t broken and you aren’t an idiot for not figuring it out yet. You’re normal and human.
However, plateaus shouldn’t last forever.
Read MoreLike everyone else, I go through periods of extremely low motivation and lack of discipline. Just because I work in the fitness industry doesn’t mean that I just love being in the gym and working out all day.
Sometimes the gym is the last place I want to be. But training is a privilege. Be thankful for the gift of movement. Don’t squander what you’ve been given.
Read MoreWhen you think “functional” training, think the deadlift. Name a hard “real world” physical task that doesn’t involve picking something up or require a strong back and legs. I’ll wait.
I’ve built my deadlift to over 3x bodyweight, with a personal record of 605lbs at 200lbs bodyweight. It’s not a record-breaking weight, but it isn’t terrible either.
Here are a few things I’ve learned over the years of building my own and my clients’ deadlifts.
Read MoreLike any other athletic activity, lifting weights is a skill. If you want to be any good at it, you have to practice, and you have to specifically practice the skills that you want to improve.
In many training programs, there’s a lot emphasis placed on recovery and not doing too much, often to the detriment of skill development.
Read MoreOur identity is fundamental. It’s how we make sense of the world and relate to others. By addressing our identity, we get at the heart of why we make the decisions we do.
Your outcome is your destination. Focusing on the process gets you there. But knowing the kind of person you want to be pushes you along the path.
Read MoreNo later than October 2020, the new Army ACFT will become the fitness standard for the US Army. It’s substantially different than the previous PT test, and in my opinion is a much better test of all-around readiness. It’s also not a bad way to assess your fitness if you’re a police officer or firefighter.
Read MoreEarly in my training career, I fell prey to an all-or-nothing mentality. My early approach wasn’t optimal. I still made progress over time, but I was never able to learn what really worked for me.
Here’s a better approach, and the one I use now, both with myself and my clients.
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