The 90/10 Principle

There’s an old adage that 10% of life is made up of what happens to you, and 90% of your life is made up of how you react to it.

I’m a fan of this saying, but this isn’t the same 90/10 principle that I’ll be talking about today (though it does seem loosely related).

It’s a common misconception that getting in shape is a purely physical task.

Yes, you read that right. I said it’s a MISCONCEPTION.

While it’s true that fitness does stem in part from performing frequent exercise on a regular basis, but viewing fitness as just this would do a lot to explain why so many people find getting in shape so terribly difficult. After all, it’s so simple on paper – isn’t it?

The “Exercise” Myth

We get hundreds of emails, forum posts and messages at WorkoutBOX. However – if everybody read this prior to emailing us, our overall volume of questions would probably be cut in half.

Why?

Because about half of them are similar to the following question:

Hello from Travis

After over a year of awesome work by Shauna and Lance, our fantastic WorkoutBOX bloggers, we’ve decided to take our blog in a brand new  direction.

They have done a phenomenal job, and we want to thank them for everything.

Before I get into what direction we’re going to be going, I should first introduce you to the new writer…

Quadruple bypass at the take out window

Creative marketing geniuses in the restaurant industry have outdone themselves once again. The good people at Friendly’s have now put KFC’s “Double Down” burger to shame with their new “Ultimate Grilled Cheese Burger Melt”. There’s nothing really special about the burger itself, it’s just your typical huge patty with lettuce, tomato and some sort of sauce. The magic ingredient here is all in the bun. The top is a full grilled cheese sandwich and the bottom….yep, same thing! Copious amounts of saturated fat sandwiched between simple carbs and even more saturated fat! 

The Romanian deadlift…butt lift with a barbell!

Most of us (men included) spend a lot of time and money on some, if not all of the following…hair products, cosmetics, colognes, spa treatments, plastic surgery, botox injections, salon services and moisturizers. The goal is to appear fresh faced, youthful, polished and put together from the front. But how much time do you spend thinking about what you look like to people as you walk away?

I’m going to give you one way to dramatically improve that posterior view and best of all, it won’t cost you a cent! Oh, it may hurt, in fact if you do it right it will be a bit uncomfortable, but in that ‘hurts so good’ way.

Slow and steady for greater gains

Time under tension. It’s a training method used to increase muscle mass, strength or endurance by simply timing the concentric (lifting) and eccentric (returning) portion of a repetition. By measuring the time that the muscle is held under tension while incorporating adequate resistance and proper form, growth and/or strength can be stimulated.

Generally we are taught that in order to gain strength we should lift very heavy weights, using a rep scheme of roughly 2 to 6 for only 2 to 4 sets and take long rests in between. For hypertrophy the ‘golden’ rule is to lift moderately heavy weight for a rep scheme of 8 to 12 and anywhere from 3 to 5 sets, taking half the time to rest compared to the strength training guidelines. Although sound advice and albeit effective, it only works for so long. At some point you will need to add a different stimulus in order to continue to progress. This would be a good time to try time under tension specific workouts. By switching to this format for one week out of every 6 or so, your muscles will get that much needed ‘shock’ and the stimulus will prompt more growth and/or greater strength gains.

Here’s how it’s done. First of all you’ll need a clock. You may also need to abandon that whole cookie cutter rigid rep scheme too. Let’s go with the formula for strength first. Sticking with 2 to 4 sets and a rest period of 2 to 4 minutes in between, instead of counting reps you’re going to count the seconds it takes to complete those reps. The total time under tension should be in the range of 5 to 30 seconds per set. Let’s say you’re performing Barbell Curls for 2 reps. The lifting phase of each rep could be 4 seconds with a 1 second pause and 3 seconds to lower the weight, for a total of 8 seconds. Simple math says 2 to 3 reps per set will keep those biceps under tension for a total of 16 to 24 seconds. Perfect.

Now for  hypertrophy, the time under tension should range between 30 and 60 seconds per set, with 3 to 5 sets and a rest period of 1 to 2 minutes in between. If you use the same time under tension formula as above you would perform a minimum of 4 and a maximum of 7 reps per set.

You can manipulate the time per reps as much as you’d like, for example you could use a 4-1-4, 2-2-2, 3-0-3, etc. The only thing that matters is the total time under tension per set. Of course you will have to adjust the weight you lift to accommodate the amount of time you use for both the concentric and eccentric phases. If you choose a 2-1-2 formula, you will be able to lift a heavier weight than if you use a 4-1-4. Another bonus of slow lifting…if done properly it completely eliminates the use of momentum. If you are lifting a heavy weight very slowly you simply will not be able to use momentum and therefore will place additional stress on the specific muscle you are working.

Once in a while slow it down a bit and add a week of time under tension training to your workout routines to really see some progress!

Should I work out when I’m sick?

How sick is too sick to work out? First you must ask yourself (and be honest with your answer) are you really sick or just feeling a little lethargic and less than motivated to get to the gym? Being tired and ‘not feeling into it’ is one thing…we all have those days. Illness or being over worked and over tired is another issue altogether. We’ll start with the general rules when it comes to exercise during illness. First of all there a few circumstances where exercise is an absolute no-go, the biggest of which is having a fever. If you’re struggling with a fever a workout is completely out of the question. Your body is already overheated and dehydrated and exercise will simply compound that no matter how much air conditioning you are exposed to or amount of water you consume. A fever is a sign of infection and is your bodies way of fighting that infection so let it do it’s job by resting and drinking plenty of fluids.

Biggest Losers. Losing weight, gaining illness.

Learn the art of patience. Apply discipline to your thoughts when they become anxious over the outcome of a goal. Impatience breeds anxiety, fear, discouragement and failure. Patience creates confidence, decisiveness, and a rational outlook which eventually leads to success.

- Bryan Adams

When the infamous weight loss reality show The Biggest Loser premiered in 2004, I will admit I was a huge fan. I loved the premise, the trainers and the motivational inspiration. As a trainer myself I found the weight loss expectations and the workouts to be realistic and contestant appropriate…in season 1. Fast forward 6 years and my opinion has changed dramatically, so much so that I know entirely discourage my clients or anyone else for that matter from watching it and feeding into the propaganda. Over the years the show has completely lost it’s focus and has gone from being a positive, health conscious public service announcement to an overly dramatized (Jillian), sponsorship sick, dangerously unhealthy hour of unrealistic expectations based solely on shock value.

Post Vegas weight loss

My apologies for the number of days since my last post. My schedule has been jam packed for the past 2 weeks in preparation for my wedding which took place in Las Vegas last Wednesday!! Yes I married the man of my dreams in sunny, hot Nevada at the Valley of Fire national park on Cinqo de Mayo. It was the perfect day and a week filled with love, romance, food,  mushiness, food, booze, shopping, booze,  gambling, food, shows, booze and…more food.

Who would you trust with your physique?

If the world today was as abundant in brotherly love, kind thoughts and world peace as it is in weight loss ‘advice’, it would most certainly be a perfect place! Every day we are bombarded by the latest, greatest, headline newsworthy ways to be lean, ripped and free from the ‘muffin top’. Everyone has their opinion whether it’s the gym rat with the huge pipes working out next to you or the Grandma behind you in queue at the Starbucks. These days everyone is an expert (and their dog too).