being that i have been in 'what the fuck was i thinking land' for so long .. the first month - 6 weeks of my training is going to be total body shock training .. not for the faint of heart but it works

strength is what im looking for ... more so pound for pound strength ... lifting 400lbs is cool ... when your 165 lbs .. not really so much when your 250 lbs

so like i said in the previous post ... im 183 lbs ... i could stand to lose a little weight .. 13 lbs to be exact 170 is a nice clean starting point

im going to be focusing on the prime lifts [w very few exception]

training is going to be 7 days a week

many training experts are going to have a red flag by reading the following ... trust me i know what im doing ...

.. yes muscle confusion is key .. and this routine couldnt even fool jessica simpson if it tried but the cycle is a very limited 6 weeks and when using weights during this phase , the heaviest i am going is ~ 35-40% of my 1RM.

the key focus is to drop me 13 pounds ....SAFELY..... and to increase my conditioning and RELATIVE STRENGTH .. key word there is relative .. i want to keep / slightly increase the strength i have while decreasing my bodyweight .. a little tricky .. but doable.

during this phase i usu just stick w cla .. a few cups of green tea during the day and a minumal amount of protein ...

i do not like to overload the body .. especially at the start of a training cycle ... the reasons are that the body has its own set of natural 'reserves' i like to extinguish those reserves first so that my body knows ... 'oh fuck .. he's using that up .. i gotta make more' .. before i go sticking this and that and every other type of suppplement in my body

ill get into supplementation when i start to supplment ... but until then .. and actually due to my low amount of income ... we will be sticking w a minimal amount of 'supplemented' protein and green tea.

the key movements i will be focusing on are

the squat
the deadlift
push ups
body weight squats
lounges
pull overs
push press
snatch
abs - to a sickening extent

these sound like a lot of movements .. but ill show you what im going to do w it .. its perfectly fine

there is going to be an 'upper' day ... a 'lower' day and a plyo day ... rotated ... this weight is extremely light ... focusing on SPEEEEEEEED

here's a little formula for power

POWER = [weight x distance] / time

here's an example : you have two lifters ..

just to make this easy we'll say both lifter's have a 1foot bench stroke [the distance from your chest to lockout]

lifter one can bench 200 pounds and it takes him 2 seconds to do it.
so ..... 200lbs x 1 foot = 200ft.lbs / 2 seconds =
100 ft. pounds per second of power

lifter two can only bench 100 lbs but he can do it in 1 second
so ..... 100 lbs x 1 foot = 100 ft. lbs / 1 second =
100ft. lbs / second

you see .. even though lifting one is benching 2x the amount of weight ... their POWER is the same

im writing the training cycle as we speak and will put it in my next post

A Warrior's Spirit Never Dies

ok this blogging thing is all new to me so bear w/ me.

here's what's up .. for in terms of this blog .. to keep my name out for personal reasons .. im going to refer to myself as spirit. easy enough right .. its not a fighting name .. its not an alter ego .. lol it is what it is ...

my name is spirit .. im your everyday kid from NJ ... yeh NJ .... lol ive heard em all .. 'jersey girls arent trash ... trash gets picked up' .. they go on and on .. to make it even more cliche .. i live about a stone's throw from the beach .. real life mtv down the jersey shore ... man did you guys make it worse for us =0

i have been an athlete all my life .. im a natural competitor .. most times to an unhealthy level. sports in highschool .. wrestling .. baseball .. track ... my junior year in highschool i slide into the catcher and tore my hip flexor muscle .. for those of you who are slow on the anatomy scale ... thats a tiny muscle that goes from your hip .. to your pelvis / upper thigh area ... anyways ... fuck me ya know .. im out for the season ... im pissed as hell ... on crutches .. etc etc ..

so my tired ass is hobblin out to my back yard to a set of dumbells that i have to either side of a picnic bench .. where i would prop the hurt leg up on a lawn chair and continue to do bench presses til my arms gave out from lactic acid .. only summer i ever got my summer reading done .. go figure .. anyways

the guy who did my rehab for my leg just happened to be a national level powerlifter named andrew .. why his name matters .. idk .. but that was his name ..

towards the end of my rehab .. he asked me to stay after a few times and watch them lift ... my jaw dropped .. 400lb bench presses ... 500 lb squats .. .. 565 lb deadlifts .. to a 17 year old kid ... used to looking good solely for the purpose of getting laid ... this was a whole new world .. i was captivated ...

i trained .. to a sickening level .. to a point where my life and location was relevant to my next meal ....

i was so consumed and fascinated by the body and its strength .. that i went on to get my CFT [certified fitness trainer] certification, my SSC [specialist in sports conditioning] certification through ISSA and eventually the big daddy .. my CSCS [certified strength and conditioning specialist]

oooooh just ahead of time .. grammer .. spelling ... not my highlights .. so if it sounds phonetically correct .. im going w it .. so should you

by the time i was 21 .. i held 3 national titles .. and even made several attempts at national records in the bench press ... boasting a 400 lb bench press at 165 .. and a 421 bench press [competition is metric] .. might have even been 424 at 175 lbs [6lbs light in the 181 class] .. my love was my body .. my deadlift was 455 .. and my squat 405 ... and then it happened ..

any athlete goes thru it ... i cracked

what if im not strong enough .. what if im not fast enough .. what if i cant do it .. over and over and over in my mind like a tired record player .... i stopped lifting .. the pressure of competition got to me and i cracked .. here i am 4 years later .. trying to make a comeback .. not into powerlifting .. but rather fighting

this blog is going to be a day to day fitness / life process journal .. its going to be chock full of lifting tips .. tricks .. training cycles .. and knowledge for you .. the reader ...

going in to see where my lifts were after 4 years of no lifting ...
squat was .... 405 ............... now .... 250
bench was [raw (no bench shirt)] ... 315 ... now .... 275
deadlift was .... 455 ..... now ....365

i am 183 pounds at the moment

my goal for one year is :
squat .. 500

bench 365

deadlift 500

the styles i have chosen are : bjj wrestling and kali

i mean theres nothing to lose right ?