MUSCLE CHURCH: Our Father, the Iron

I won’t ever try to pass myself off as an expert in anything other than myself, but I want to share some of the wisdom I’ve learned along the way and hopefully from my lifetime of failing some of you can glean something useful. I don’t mind saying that I am a person who has failed in life repeatedly and will continue to do so, because so much more is learned from failure than from success. At all levels, in any industry, failure is the driving force behind evolution and refinement but in our society we still demonize failing and my belief is that the constant barrage of “perfect” people on social media further eats away at those who are just trying to do a little bit better. There is a cost for success, but not every failure is a true setback-I contend that most are not. Let us take a trip back in the time machine to me in the ninth grade. I was then a doughy 260-270 pounds without an ounce of knowledge about training or nutrition, but I was in weight lifting class because I...

It's easy to get bogged down in the goal-setting, poundages and blood, sweat and tears on a blog about working out but funny things happen too. Maybe some of us old school blood and guts trainers don't always want to admit it but there is a lot of nonsense that goes on in the gym, and this is one such tale. For those that don't know me well, you will come to learn that I find myself in weird situations-often of my own doing! When I worked night shift I came to fall in love with overnight workouts. For about 4 solid years I was working a shift of something like 5pm-5am and on those rare nights off, I spent a few hours training. I am not a before-work trainer and sometimes after work on night shift was just too much for my brain to handle, so I always took advantage of my nights off to get a good long one in. My old gym, East Shore Athletic Club in Charleston, SC, had a 24 hour facility and it became my second home. I'd mop and take the trash out and clean up some n...

Often we get in a routine where it becomes easy to just say, ‘fuck it, I’m out.’ In society these days we have so much of everything that many things we truly want and value don’t seem to be worth too much. Going to a movie doesn’t mean anything if I can just stream it at home. Buying an album is just clicking a button. So much of what we do and say in life becomes meaningless because it’s so interchangeable. When you enter the arena of the gym things have a finite value. At your job things might be that way too; whether it’s fixing a car or filing reports, some things are concrete. However, we tend to think of being goal-oriented as the non-stop journey toward something, instead of the way we get there. It’s not always about the end result, it’s about the process. If you want abs. If you want a promotion. Hell, if you want to live another day-it doesn’t come automatically and you don’t earn it by accident. Whatever you want in life, has to come at a price and you pay that pri...

Here's a little something for you all to think about as you get ready to do whatever it is that you do. Every single day, you make a choice. Think about that statement. I'll even repeat it for you... Every single day, you make a choice. You wake up. Go to work. Eat your little sorry lunch. Grab an unhealthy ass snack because you didn't meal prep on the weekend. Drag yourself to the gym. Cut corners with your program. Sulk on home and get on Facebook and like a meme that says, "being an adult means you're tired all the time." That's the daily routine for a lot of you out there because at no point in the cycle did you say, "wait a minute, this shit ain't working and I have the power to change it." You see every single day you're blessed enough to wake up, regardless of your circumstances, you make the choice to live you best life. You either decide to do well or at least do better, or you just let the inertia of life take you wh...

It's that time of year, you guys all know it. The gym is crowded like a club on half price drink night and you're lucky if you get to bench at all during the week. The masses are adorned with the brightest of yoga-like material and the smell of fresh New Balance trainers and discount Amazon "fitness hoodie" is like a low-hanging cloud over the gym. Those of us who visit the gym 12 months out of the year know that January is impossible, February is complex and March is usually the end of the line for the Resolutioners, but I'd like to submit that there is something we can all learn from them. It's easy to get wrapped up your own bullshit. Even if you're a successful lifter or competitor, it gets very easy to start believing your own hype. I like to think I stay pretty grounded but this New Year I had to take a step back and it was good for me. Why do people make resolutions and why do they fail? This isn't news at all, but it's so simple the less...

Today could be called an 'assistance day' or to some 'chest day.' I'm not really into that mode of thinking. I like doing one bench press and some bicep and tricep work all together. My chest is so big now I don't like to do too much for it because it's just too big and I gotta live in this world! My biceps are growing too and following this workout I legit popped a seam in the sleeve of my Hulk shirt! What can I say? As C.T Fletcher so famously said, I commanded them to grow!  Poundages were about 60-75% of where "I am," for those that keep track of that. I train instinctively unless there's a contest on the horizon so the pounds kinda just are what they are. Certainly nowhere close to maxing out on anything.  Enjoy! Always start with some real good stretching for about 10 minutes! Elliptical, steady for 20 mins Ab Crunches 50 x2 Side Bends w 35lb plate 20 x2 Incline Bench 135/15 x2, 225/12, 235/10, 240/10 Close Grip I...

I can't put it into words most of the time. Sometimes when people give me that look that says, 'why do you put yourself through all that' I just don't have an answer. I just smile back and say 'it is what it is' and the conversation falls away. I even had the idea that I'd create a website to try to tell the world why I do it but the truth is I really couldn't tell you. There are moments that stick out. I can remember workouts from years ago like they were yesterday and I remember how I felt and the moments when I broke through a barrier or in some cases, and perhaps even more rewarding, helping others break barriers. I guess in a way I look back at my lifetime in the gym thus far and I feel like it's a career of sorts and there are times when I realize that my life has been more defined by my time under the weights than anything. I remember the first time I loaded six plates on the military press and how it was so easy and looked so impressive! ...