The Best Of 500 Posts

All aboard the cheesy train.

I can’t even start by saying that this has been a long road to 500 posts as I’ve been doing this less than a year. I still feel as though my blog, writings and my continuing study of nutrition and fitness are in it’s infancy stages. There is so much more to all of this than what I’ve done, what I will do and what I am currently doing. There’s a great quote that says, “Don’t tell me the sky is the limit when there are footprints on the moon.” Now, I’m not conveying that anyone has ever told me I have a cap to what I can do here, but I often try to put one on myself. I always want to see this end target or I sometimes push that if I can get to a certain point in a task that I’m good to go. That’s bogus.

The goal is to go beyond the expectations of my own limitations.

Alright, so we’ve boarded the cheesy train and I gave myself a little pep talk to keep pushing forward. Let’s reminisce over what’s been done thus far. Here is a list (since I love lists) linking to some of my favorites from the first 500 posts here on The Spartan Warrior. Remember, I didn’t write all these posts, but they have appeared on my blog.

Must Reads:

• Nutrition For Newbies
• Understanding Calories, Macronutrients, Intake and Diet
• How To Calculate Calories And Macronutrients (extensive)
• IIFYM - If It Fits Your Macros

The Best Of The Rest:

• Intermittent Fasting
• Whole Eggs vs. Egg Whites
• Creatine: What Is It And Why You Should Take It
• Top 10 Reasons Heavy Weights Don’t Bulk Up Women
• The Male Fitblr Directory
• The Leangains FAQ
• Become A Spartan Warrior
• Seven Training Ideas That Changed My Running Forever
• Diet Soda Isn’t Bad For You
• The Iron by Henry Rollins
• Supplements: What’s The Deal?
• Ten Foods You Should Be Eating by Zahrada
• How To Lose Fat: A Beginner’s Guide by Zahrada

Tagged Posts:

• Motivation
• Recipes
• Women And Lifting

Thanks to everyone for being a part of this great experience so far!

No Excuses November: Half Way

We’re two weeks into November and there’s a lot of you out there that claimed you wanted to make no excuses this month and get in 15 solid workouts without complaining or crying about it.

How are your doing so far with your goal?

The Spartan Warrior’s: Basic Workout Template

Lately I have received quite a few e-mails and messages asking for a generic workout routine to focus on strength training. What I’ve done is thrown together a basic template for a strength training program that is focused on your three major lifts being the deadlift, bench press and squat. On each of these days I have included the primary accessory exercises that accompany the major compound lift for each day.

Guidelines

1. The first exercise in your workout should be your primary, compound lift. This should be performed after warming up adequately without causing any fatigue prior to your first working set. Generally speaking, this is up to 70% of the weight you would use for your initial first set.
2. The set and rep ranges are specific to each exercise. Personally, I have seen better gains in strength and size when deadlifting higher sets for lower reps. A standard set/rep range would be 3x6-8, which means 3 sets of 6 to 8 reps.
3. Rest for an appropriate amount of time (3-5 minutes) between each set. This will allow you to move a maximum amount of weight each set for best possible gains in strength.
4. Always use a weight for your working sets that is heavy enough to the point where you cannot do more than 1-2 more reps outside of the rep range without using a spotter.
5. Every set should be lifted with max amount of intensity and focus. Note I did not say speed, but intensity.

Day 1: Deadlift Focus

• Deadlift: 5x1-2
• Pendlay Rows: 3x6-8
• Weighted Chin-Ups: 3x6-8
• Low Cable Rows: 3x10-12
• Shrugs: 3x6-8

Day 2: Rest

Day 3: Bench Press Focus

• Bench Press: 3x6-8
• Incline Bench Press: 3x6-8
• Cable Flyes: 3x8-10
• Weighted Dips: 3x6-8
• Overhead Press: 3x6-8

Day 4: Rest

Day 5: Squat Focus

• Back Squat: 3x6-8
• Leg Extension: 3x8-10
• Stiff Legged Deadlift: 3x6-8
• Seated Hamstring Curl: 3x10-12
• Seated Calf Raise: 3x6-8

Day 6: Rest

Repeat starting with Day 1

The best workout program is the one that you can stick to.

Understanding Calories, Macronutrients, Intake & Diet

If you haven’t read this already then I highly implore you to read on. I just added this post to my side links for easier access in the future.

If you have read this, well, read it again because I made some minor adjustments to make things easier and it’s worth the overview.

Enjoy.

thespartanwarrior:

How to easily calculate (estimate) your caloric intake:

• Your maintenance caloric level is 14/16 kcals per lb of body weight
• Your fat loss caloric deficit is 11/13 kcals per lb of body weight
• Your size gain caloric surplus is anything over maintenance

Keep your focus on getting the majority of calories from protein sources and whole foods to establish a good base of vitamins and minerals in your diet.

How to easily calculate (estimate) your macro-nutrient intake:

• Protein: 1g - 2g of protein per pound of bodyweight.
• Fat: 0.35g - 0.45g of fat per pound of bodyweight.
• Remember that protein has 4 kcals per 1g, fat has 9 kcals per 1g and carbohydrates have 4 kcals per 1g. Now, just fill in the rest of your caloric intake with whatever you want (poptarts, pizza, waffles).

Here are some important points:

1. Cardio does not fix a bad diet.
2. The key to fat loss is caloric deficit.
3. The key to size increase is caloric surplus.
4. If fat loss is the goal, then there is no need to be in the gym more than three days in a week.
5. If size gain is the goal, follow a program for strength and/or hypertrophy. (WSSB, SL, Smolov Jr, etc)
6. Optimal fat loss is obtained through weight training, not cardio.  Weight training builds muscle and promotes fat loss. Cardio promotes fat AND muscle loss.
7. It does not matter when you eat or when you workout.
8. The majority of your intake should come from whole foods for the purpose of getting micronutrients (vitamins/minerals) in your diet as well as macronutrients (protein/fat/carbs).
9. There is no perfect answer. No magic pill. No cure-all routine. The only common denominators are hard work, dedication and your motivation.
10. Diet > Lifting Heavy > Cardio

If you’d like to read more in depth, may I recommend these fine articles:

• Nutrition For Newbies
• How To Lose Fat: A Beginner’s Guide
• Intermittent Fasting
• Eat Whatever You Want - IIFYM
• The Dirt On Clean Eating

Please stop making it so hard on yourself. It really is this easy.

Pre, During, & Postworkout Nutrition

By Alan Aragon

Hierarchy of Importance

When speaking of nutrition for improving body composition or training performance, it’s crucial to realize there’s an underlying hierarchy of importance. At the top of the hierarchy is total amount of the macronutrients by the end of the day. Distantly below that is the precise timing of those nutrients. With very few exceptions, athletes and active individuals eat multiple times per day. Thus, the majority of their day is spent in the postprandial (fed) rather than a post-absorptive (fasted) state. The vast majority of nutrient timing studies have been done on overnight-fasted subjects put through glycogen depletion protocols, which obviously limits the applicability of the outcomes. Pre-exercise (and/or during-exercise) nutrient intake often has a lingering carry-over effect into the post-exercise period. Throughout the day, there’s a constant overlap of meal digestion & nutrient absorption. For this reason, the effectiveness of nutrient timing does not require a high degree of precision.

The Primary Laws of Nutrient Timing

• The First Law of Nutrient Timing is: hitting your daily macronutrient targets is FAR more important than nutrient timing.
• The Second Law of Nutrient Timing is: hitting your daily macronutrient targets is FAR more important than nutrient timing.

Fitocracy + Invites

Fitocracy is the game you play to improve your fitness. Play it to track your progress, compete against your friends, and get real results in your physical fitness.

To play, just enter your fitness activities on the Play page each time you work out. As you enter your activities into Fitocracy, you’ll earn points. Over time, you’ll earn enough points to get to the next level. Leveling up means you’ve been keeping up with your fitness. But watch out, every so often leveling up unlocks a special challenge. Beating the challenges and leveling up means you’re making progress.

It’s fitness challenges + progress tracking tool + game.

Currently it’s an invite only, but I have 80 invites to give out!

Click here to join Fitocracy!

——————————————————————————————————-

Here are some links you might find interesting:

Follow me on Fitocracy!

Fitocracy:

• Website
• Tumblr
• Twitter

Founders:

• Brian Wang - Tumblr & Twitter
• Richard Talens - Tumblr & Twitter

Exercise You Should Be Doing: Turkish Get-up

The TGU is a highly functional movement that requires all the muscles of the body working together in order to accomplish the task. 

• Picture - Step By Step
• Video

For the purposes of this article I am assuming you will be starting with a lighter dumbbell when first learning the movement, and progressing up to a barbell or kettlebell. I perform Turkish Get-ups with a dumbbell ranging from 80lbs-100lbs. I did not start using heavier weight until I was 100% confident my form was perfect.

When first learning the movement it is best to practice with either bodyweight or a very light object. Just because you may be strong, don’t think you can just pick up a heavy weight and start doing this, as you may be setting yourself up for injury.

How To Do A Turkish Get-up:

   1. Lying on the floor, safely move the implement into a locked out position straight up with your right hand. Your shoulder should be tight in the socket. Your right leg will be cocked, your right foot alongside your left knee.

   2. Pushing off your right foot, roll onto your left hip and up onto your left elbow.

   3. Push up onto your left hand.

   4. Holding yourself up on your left hand and right foot, bring yourself up off the ground, and thread your left leg back to a kneeling position. You are now left knee on the floor, right foot on the floor, and implement locked out overhead in your right hand.

As stated, your arm should be locked out. You will be stronger in this position than in a flexed position, where the muscles would be doing all the work. This is a whole body exercise and particularly a shoulder developer, it is not meant to tire your arms out.

   5. From the kneeling position take in a deep breath, tighten up, and lunge forward to a standing position.

   6. Reverse the process to come back down to the floor.

   7. Repeat with the other side.

Remember that a Turkish Get-Up is not complete until you return to the start position. The descent is one of the hardest parts, which is why I see so many people on YouTube doing a Get-Up to the standing position, and then dropping the weight to take a break to flex for the camera. Their Turkish Get-Ups do not count.

Where do I start?

In the beginning of adding Turkish Get-ups to my workouts everything was about form. I started with a very low weight and worked on perfecting each movement in the exercise. I would usually rack up about 10-12 reps per side before stopping for the day.

As I’ve moved up in weight, the reps have become less. Think of it like a deadlift. More sets, less reps. The reason being is that the move is VERY taxing on your entire body. You will feel them. They will hurt. The benefits you receive from them are phenomenal though. Strength, flexibility, concentration, power. The work your everything: shoulder, core (resctus abdominus, obliques), wrists, grip, quads, hams, glutes. If you do them correctly you will feel them the next day.

Currently I am doing 5-8 sets of 2-4 reps per side and I always warm up.

1. 65lbs x 4 reps (each side)
2. 70lbs x 2
3. 75lbs x 2
4. 80lbs x 2
5. 90lbs x 2
6. 100lbs x 1

Why should you be doing them? (by scottydog28 via reddit)

• Shoulder Health: The benefits of shoulder packing are pretty well known. Here is a great article from Bret Contreras’ site. This should also have carry over to any shoulder press movements in addition to strengthening the entire joint.
• Core: Yes, they were right. Your core gets trashed. Sitting up and in the intermediate stage, you are really using your core for stability.
• Strength: The TGU is really like 5 exercises in one (in progression): Floor Press, Weighted Situp, Weighted Plank, Weighted Lunge/Split Squat/Squat, and overall isometric hold. The more weight you do with each, obviously you will get stronger.
• Focus: A TGU takes ~30 secs to perform. Far longer than pretty much every other dynamic exercise. Concentrating on each part of the movement while holding heavy, face crushing metal above your head really helps you focus. By the end, there is very much will power and concentration needed to fight your fatigue and finish properly.
• Proprioception: When all you’re looking at is the heavy bell over your face while performing a series of complex movements, you become very aware of each part of your body and where it’s at and where it needs to go. How any slight adjustment affects what you’re doing becomes immediately clear.
• Balance: This pretty much speaks for itself. Try doing it without any weight and get up. Now imagine with a heavy weight in your hand. Any derivation from a proper path and you will dump the bell and/or fall over.
• Flexibility: You will learn to bend in the right ways and in a slow and controlled fashion to do a heavy TGU.
• Time under tension (on body): All that time under tension really puts a strain on your connective tissue (from your wrist right down to your toes) and I’m going to go a step further and say also your bones (but that’s part of ‘Things I Believe but Can’t Prove’). Everyone knows that muscles get strong fast, connective tissue does not. Doing TGUs will help strain and heal your ligaments and tendons in a way most quick and dynamic exercises do not, strain over time. I would also dare say it’s a safer way to strengthen them since it’s pretty much isometric.
• Time under tension (on CVS): If you’re not breathing hard after a heavy TGU, you must be one bad mother. Spend 30 secs under real strain and your heart will thank you (while you may hate it).
• Grip: You will feel it in your forearm and wrist. You are crushing the bell to hold it in place. Your wrist is preventing any lateral movements. They are doing them at the same time for a prolonged period. Your grip will get tired by the end.
• Confidence: What can I say, there is no feeling like standing up from the ground with 100 lbs (45.4 kg) over your head.

The topic of exercises that I think you should be doing is going to be a series of posts. Each post will use the tag “eysbd” as a marker so that they can be searched out with ease. Starting off this series I have chosen the Turkish Get-up.