new sports performance blog on the way

 just want to let you know that in the process of putting together a new blog.

 Even though it's under construction you can still take a look at, and provide some feedback. Here's the link.

Weight Training for Sports Performance

Are You An Exerciser Or An Athlete

This is part 1 of 2

By Charles Staley, B.Sc, MSS
Director, Staley Training Systems

Probably 90 percent of all American adults are sedentary, fat, and/or just generally soft and out of shape. The fact that you're reading this probably means you're in the remaining 10 percent, which is to your credit.

When I look at the active minority however, it's clear that 90 percent of them are what I call "exercisers." Allow me to explain and define:

Exercisers want to look better, and despite years of neglect and bad habits, they want it yesterday. They try to achieve this end through manipulating the law of thermodynamics. Eat fewer calories, burn more calories. In other words, create a caloric deficit and (hopefully) lose weight and be somebody.

Athletes want to perform better, and despite years of hard training, they still see new PR's in their future. They achieve this end through consistent and progressive training, directed toward a competitive goal

Most exercisers assume that the more an exercise hurts, the more calories it must burn, and therefore, the better it is for you. Similarly, exercisers assume the worse a food tastes, the better it is for you, and if you buy into the law of thermodynamics, it's not hard to see the kernel of truth in this assumption.

Ultimately, being an exerciser is a hard way to go. The exerciser lifestyle is about denial, self-loathing, and guilt.

You've got to make sure you put in enough punishment on the treadmill, and you've also gotta make sure you never eat anything that tastes good. No wonder people hate exercise as much as they hate dieting. I happen to hate both practices myself.

There is a better way however, and that better way is to adopt the mindset and lifestyle of an athlete. Athletes, don't exercise, they train. They don't diet; they refuel. They don't avoid, they seek. If you go into any Olympic weightlifting club, you'll notice that they don't do exercises, they do "the lifts." (meaning, the snatch and clean & jerk). In fact, most weightlifters refer to their workouts as "practices" as in "I'm going to practice."

Exercisers are perpetually trying to "lose weight." When a wrestler or MMA competitor needs to drop weight for a competition, they call it "cutting." Notice how the former sounds negative and reactive, while the latter sounds positive and proactive?

The biggest problem associated with having an "exerciser" mindset is that it compels people to make exercise choices that are contradictory to speed, strength, power, and generally, Type IIB physiology. Here's an example:

You read an article about "time under tension," and since the author is a world-famous strength coach, you decide to give it a shot. On your next workout you decide to squat using a "4-1-2" tempo, meaning a 4-second descent followed by a 1-second pause, and finally, a 2-second ascent. You quickly learn that "TUT" is a very painful experience, and since you associate pain with gain, you're hooked.

It's not until 3-4 weeks later however, that you begin to realize that your agonizingly painful squat routine hasn't put any beef on your quads or hams, and as far as strength goes, you actually feel weaker!

Any motor-learning professor could tell you why...your 7-second reps dramatically reduce the tension on your working muscles, which in turn reduce Type IIB (fast twitch) fiber recruitment in favor of more slow twitch motor units. This sucks, because now you're weaker and slower.

You might assume that the athletic lifestyle is beyond your reach. But being an athlete isn't the exclusive domain of elite performers. In fact, quite the contrary: by strict definition, most athletes are not elite! Instead, being an athlete is a lifestyle and a perspective. It's the way you go about business in the gym. It's a professional attitude, as opposed to an amateur one.

The exerciser does it because he has to; the athlete does it because he wants to.

Making the transition from exerciser to athlete is simple, but not necessarily easy. In the next part of this series, I'll present 5 Critical Practices that'll help you make the switch.

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About The Author

Charles Staley...world-class strength/performance coach...his colleagues call him an iconoclast, a visionary, a rule-breaker. His clients call him “The Secret Weapon” for his ability to see what other coaches miss. Charles calls himself a “geek” who struggled in Phys Ed throughout school. Whatever you call him, Charles’ methods are ahead of their time and quickly produce serious results.

Click here to visit Charles' site and grab your 5 FREE videos that will show you how to literally FORCE your body to build muscle, lose fat and gain strength with "Escalating Density Training," Charles' revolutionary, time-saving approach to lifting that focuses on performance NOT pain.

Want to Burn More Belly Fat During Exercise

Atlanta,
there has been lots of research done with respect to body fat and spot reduction. You know how many people now are looking to lose belly fat but want to keep the shape of their butt they're so proud of.

Experts and personal trainers have claimed that there's no way to spot reduce. They, me included have said that there is no way that you are able to pick and choose where you can take of the fat.

Recent studies are showing that it may in fact be possible. Scientists have studied exactly WHERE fat is burned from in order to fuel certain activities and it looks as though there may be a unique connection between the muscles being exercised and the fat cells used to provide the bulk of the long term fuel for your training.

NOTE: This is NOT definitive yet, but it holds promise.

It also supports my theory (and again, this is ONLY my theory!) that your MIND-MUSCLE CONNECTION plays a STRONG role in how much, and WHERE you can burn fat.

In this article, I reveal a unique tip that I use to increase the "mind-muscle" connection to (again, in theory) burn more belly fat from your training by implementing a crazy "cardio fat blaster"...

How To Burn More Belly Fat During Exercise

1. First, if you have the muscle Nerd's best-selling book "Combat The Fat" program, you know that he is a HUGE supporter of LOW intensity cardio as a fat-burner.

2. Start this exercise session with a low effort warmup of about 5 minutes on a treadmill, bike, or other exercise equipment.

3.follow up with one set of WEIGHTED CRUNCHES until failure. keep it to just one set

4. do a 10 minute LOW INTENSITY cardio activity. It can be any carido exercise that you like, some examples are; Rowing, jumping rope, jogging, bike...

5. follow that with one set of HANGING LEG RAISES, again to failure. This is to be followed by your second 10-minute bout of low intensity cardio doing a different type of exercise than you had with your last activity.

6. next do a single set to failure of HANGING ROTATIONAL KNEE RAISES...then on to your 3rd round of cardio. Again doing a different activity from the last, though you can repeat wht you did the first round.

And so it goes on, switching back and forth between an abs exercise and low intensity cardio.

For your follow up abs exercises, I suggest (in order)...

=> Hanging Knee Raises

=> Either crunches or V-ups

As you can see, we slowly decrease the intensity of the abs exercise choices with each set as you get closer to the end of your workout.

But in essence, by training your abs throughout your cardio session, you send a "message" to your body WHERE you want all that fat-burning cardio to do most of it's work.

You may think this crazy, but give it a try and see if it doesn't make a difference in where your measurements start reflecting results!

Atlanta Personal Trainer

Eat pizza to get lean - Cheat your way thin

“Cheat Your Way Thin” by my friend and fat loss nutrition guru Joel Marion was released about a month ago. That program that literally turned the world of fat loss nutrition upside down.

Joel has done his homework in putting together this product. 6 years and 308 research papers on the regulation of human body weight and metabolism, along with years of working with “real life” clients to perfect the approach. From that:

Joel developed the complete Cheat Your Way Thin system.

This system scientifically teaches you how to use your favorite foods including pizza, ice cream, pancakes, burgers, you name it to accelerate fat loss by overriding your body’s starvation protection mechanisms.

That’s correct, you can actually lose fast FASTER by CHEATING when done strategically.

And while that may initially sound like a pretty crazy claim, let me assure you, it’s ANYTHING but.

When Joel first released the full 7-component package of manuals, audios, video, workbooks, and checklists last month, he ran a special 3-day promotion that allowed people to get the entire package at less than half price.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have a chance to thoroughly review the product until just a couple weeks ago, but, check this out:

I just spoke to Joel and since we missed it the first time around he’s agreed to open up that same less than half price 3-day sale again for my readers!

not bad, huh?

If you want to learn that full system that Joel's clients use to literally eat whatever they want while stripping away fat faster than most "dieters" ever could, you CAN--but don’t pay full price.

In fact, don’t even pay HALF price.

As my subscriber, for the next three days you have the opportunity to grab hold of this ground-breaking fat loss information at LESS THAN HALF PRICE.

Just use the below special link to access the “hidden” page on Joel’s site:

the complete Cheat Your Way Thin system

Again, do NOT go to CheatYourWayThin.com and pay DOUBLE like everyone else is doing right now. Instead, use this special link:

the complete Cheat Your Way Thin system

If you've ever hit a diet plateau, if you've ever struggled to see the number on the scale change, or if you've ever felt guilty after eating something you "shouldn't have" while dieting, then you owe it to yourself to check out this powerful, game-changing information.

Frankly, I’m excited to share Joel's program with you because I know it’s going to help so many people finally "click" with dieting and fat loss.

Here’s to your upcoming success!


Jason, CSCS

P.S. Get ready to see some powerful testimonials and before and after pictures when you visit the site. Not only is this program scientifically based, but it’s been proven to work in the REAL world with real people time and time again.

the complete Cheat Your Way Thin system

P.P.S. One last thing: Attached to the "Add to Cart" Button on the site is a little icon that I want to specifically point out to you--it's a 60 Day, Money-back Guarantee. This way, you KNOW when you click “Add to Cart”, you're protected.

Completely risk-free, for a full 60 days, you can try Joel’s entire system.
With that kind of guarantee, the only thing you’ve got to lose is your stubborn body fat!

Try the complete Cheat Your Way Thin system Completely risk-free, for a full 60 days

Ab Training - 10 Overlooked And Misunderstood Facts Part 1

Part One

As a strength coach and personal trainer in Atlanta people come to me all the time with different theories about ab training, for the most part they are all wrong. Training people in Atlanta to have 6 pack abs takes lots of work and a smart approach. Take a look at the first part of this article on ab training.

By Charles Staley, B.Sc, MSS
Director, Staley Training Systems

Here are 10 of the most overlooked and misunderstood facts about abdominal training - some of these may fly in the face of what you THINK you know to be facts! Keep an open mind and read the explanations.

You may still not agree but it might just change your ideas on how your abs should be trained.

This is Part 1 - keep your eyes peeled for Part 2, coming soon!

1. Using A Belt Makes Your Abs Stronger, Not Weaker.

This is perhaps on of the most pervasive myths that people hold about abdominal training, and about training in general. Let's apply some simple common sense to the issue: if you can lift more weight with a belt than without (and virtually all people can), are your abs "asleep" as many people who have you believe? Or, are they working harder than they would be without a belt?

The reason you're stronger with a belt is that it gives your abs something to contract against. Imagine you want to train your legs and all you have is two primitive options:

1) You can "leg press" a heavy box by pushing against it with your feet while sitting on a slick floor. Or…

2) You "leg press" a heavy box by pushing it with your feet while sitting on the floor with your back against a solid wall.

Which option do you think will result in more tension for your leg muscles? Obviously the second option is far preferable, because by wedging yourself between an immovable object and a heavy movable object, you can create a high level of tension on the muscle's you're trying to train.

Using a belt during heavy squats, deadlifts, or Olympic lifts works the same way- by giving your abs something to push against, they can create greater intra-abdominal pressure, allowing you to 1) lift more and 2) lift more with less chance of spinal injury.

Just having a belt however, doesn't ensure success- you've gotta use it properly. The three key things to remember are:

1) Wear the belt high enough so your abs can exert pressure against it- many people wear a belt too low and rob themselves of the potential benefit

2) Don't wear the belt too tight- a looser fit allows your abs to get better leverage against the belt. And finally…

3) Get a high quality belt- some nylon/Velcro belts won't stand up to heavy use. Case in point: I recently purchased such a belt from my local Sports Authority and broke the buckle the first time I used it (must be my weakened abs from excessive belt use). Thinking it was a fluke, I returned the belt for a new one, and once again, broke it the first time I used it.

2. Having A 6-Pack Is About Diet, Not Training

You can train abs, all abs, nothing but abs, all the time, and still not have a six pack UNLESS- and here's the kicker- unless you're below 10% bodyfat. And probably you'll need to be below 8% bodyfat. The truth is you already have abs- you just can't see them. Since this isn't a nutrition article, I won't elaborate on how you should eat, so if you need help in that area, you might consider an expert nutrition consultation.

Now of course, you can drop bodyfat through training as well, but not "ab training per se:" instead, focus your efforts on challenging the largest possible muscle groups. My favorites include heavy weight circuits including a mix of Olympic lifts, power lifts, and strongman lifts.

3. The Main Function Of Your Abs Is Not Force Production

Although the abdominal muscles can and do function to flex and rotate the trunk, I'd argue that their primary function is to prevent unwanted motion. Specifically, strong abs help to protect the spine in two ways:

1) They create intra-abdominal pressure which helps to counteract compressive forces resulting from axial loading (e.g., squats, deadlifts)

2) They help to prevent forces that take the spine out of its preferred neutral position. More on this in the second installment next week….

Stay Tuned For Part 2!

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About The Author

Charles Staley...world-class strength/performance coach...his colleagues call him an iconoclast, a visionary, a rule-breaker. His clients call him “The Secret Weapon” for his ability to see what other coaches miss. Charles calls himself a “geek” who struggled in Phys Ed throughout school. Whatever you call him, Charles’ methods are ahead of their time and quickly produce serious results.

Click here to visit Charles' site and grab your 5 FREE videos that will show you how to literally FORCE your body to build muscle, lose fat and gain strength with "Escalating Density Training," Charles' revolutionary, time-saving approach to lifting that focuses on performance NOT pain.

Personal Training in Atlanta - Top Atlanta fitness trainer

Fat Loss Interval Workouts - 04/25/09

Thought I would share a quick clip of a friend of mine and one of his total body workouts.

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I am a personal trainer in Atlanta, GA. If you would like other ideas or help with your workouts let me know and I will be glad to help.

Private Fitness Training Studio in Atlanta.

Just one of the many Exercises You Shouldn't Be Doing

Leg Extensions

Unfortunately this exercise is done all the time in weight rooms and fitness centers all around Atlanta and the rest of the country. Leg extensions seem to be a regular exercise in most leg training programs. One reason this maybe the case is that sitting down and pumping out reps of leg extensions are a lot easier than squatting. The front squat is an excellent choice for leg development but man, it sure is hard.

I know you feel a good "burn" in your upper thighs when performing this exercise, but it is not a very efficient leg exercise. It basically isolates the muscles above the knee, your quads.

A second reason to stay away from leg extensions while training at the gym is that they create a lot of stress an torque on your knees. You may end up hurting your knees in the long run.

The only time this exercise has much benefit is in a rehab setting where these muscles directly surrounding the knee need to be developed for stability and strength.

PS - Still skeptical you can lose fat without cardio?

I promise you don't need cardio machines to burn fat.

Grounded Personal Training, Atlanta's Fat Loss Solution