Self Sabotage

Self Sabotage is the name of the game.  This is what destroys bodies, minds, dreams, and souls.  Self sabotage prevents you and me from achieving our dreams, our dream bodies, our dream minds, and living the life of our dreams.   I have been a personal trainer for over 10 years here in Columbus, Ohio where their are more gyms per capita than anywhere in the world.  I have aspirations to start a second location either in Gulfport, Mississippi.

Within the realm of our health here are some common ways that I self sabotage on a regular basis.  I know I should eat lots of veggies, lean meats, and minimize processed foods.  I know I should cook healthy meals on a regular basis.  But how often do I actually eat healthy?  Not nearly as much as I should.  I like what I like.  I eat too much pizza, I eat out more than I should, and I do not eat enough veggies.  I probably eat like an average american.  But do I get sick like an average american?  No!

If I am self sabotaging with my nutrition on a regular basis how is it that I do not get sick very often?

Well, I train.  I train regularly at least 3 days a week usually 4-5.  Even on days where I do not want to do a thing I often end up doing more than most people do all week.  Yesterday I rode my bike about 7 miles, did a light workout in the morning and evening.  Today I will do long rounds on the airdyne bike, flipping the tire, kettlebell swings, kettlebell snatches, and punching the bag.  I will go as hard as possible for a short period of time, switch to an ab exercise and switch back.  3 minute rounds and then heavy box squats and 1 arm rows with a rep scheme similar to 10-6-6-4-4.

Their is no best way to get strong, to get lean, or to get healthy.  Sometimes the key is just consistency.  Can you be consistent?  Can you get better?  If you could replace just 1 bad habit with a better one what would it be and why?  Do you drink lots of pop?  What if you replaced your three cans of pop a day with green tea?  The authors concluded that 3 or 4 cups of green tea could increase metabolic rate by 4% over 24-hours. That translates into burning an extra 50 to 100 calories a day. There is still need for more human studies to understand how green tea works, but drinking green tea certainly can't hurt.

That means with 420 less calories per day and burning 100 you could in theory lose over a pound a week simply from 1 small change.  Identify your bad habits, fix one each week, become consistent with your workouts, become healthy, become resilient, become a hammerhead.  

Losing weight is great but what I really like, what I really love, where my passion is is seeing people get stronger.  I want to see girls squatting and deadlifting more than they weigh, knocking out pullups, doing adventure races.  I want all of my personal training and small group training clients when they go into another gym not only to be stronger than every one there but to have more endurance and even know more styles of training and more exercises than any trainer in the gym where they are at.  I love variety.  People ask me all the time if Jackhammer is like Crossfit?  No their is much more variety, a slight emphasis on the power lifts, and whole body workouts every single day.  If this sounds like something you want or need in your town let`s connect and see what we can make happen!  Nate

A quality fitness training program should make you feel better, feel more confident, and improve multiple aspects of fitness.  Ideally you should have a quality warmup to loosen up the muscles and get blood flow to the muscles you are training that day.  If you have movement limitations you should be doing corrective exercises to try to improve those limitations so that you can move properly.  At Jackhammer Strength Training a small group training and personal training studio in Columbus, Ohio located within 2 miles of Upper Arlington, Hilliard, and Grandview Ohio we screen all clients using the FMS system.  Rather than a 3 point scale though we do a pass or fail.  If you want to know more about the FMS check out this link right here:

http://www.functionalmovement.com/fms

At Jackhammer Strength Training it is my goal to get people as fit as they want to be while having fun in a safe manner.  Every session is different.  Some days I will have 6 completely different training plans and other times I will reuse a workout from one day to the next with little subtle changes.  The great thing about having small groups is that if you come in on Monday I know what you did and therefore you what you should or should not do on Tuesday.  Contrast that with a gym getting 15,20 or 40 people per session and they are going to be doing tons of things they probably should not be doing.  This is what causes injuries.  

It is great to have extremely challenging workouts from time to time.  These could be 3 minutes or even a whole hour.  Yesterday and this morning we did a very challenging workout called the Momentum 300 challenge :

Momentum

300 Challenge

• 25 Hip Thrusts

• 10 Burpees

• 50 Snatches (25 each arm)

• 10 Burpees

• 25 Push Ups

• 10 Burpees

• 50 Swings (25 each arm)

• 10 Burpees

• 50 Clean and Push Press/Jerk

(25 each arm)

• 10 Burpees

• 50 Mountain Climbers

(25 each leg)

I felt pretty good to get this done in 14 minutes. I used a 25 pound kettlebell for the swings, snatches, and 2 25`s for the clean and jerks.  Two people beat me Wes who is the assistant OSU rugby coach and Kelly who I invited in just so she could do this workout.  Once you are adept with kettlebells this workout should take between 10 and 16 minutes.  This can be done as a warmup, whole workout, finisher, or monthly challenge.  

One of my clients really liked this so I have come up with 5 similar challenges which I would love to help get you fit enough to complete.  The key to getting fit is a desire and the key to staying fit is consistency.  Consistency in your workouts, nutrition, sleep, and staying injury free are all key components to staying fit.  

This year I have had 2 injuries a pulled hamstring and plantar fasciitis both as a result of playing Australian Rules Football or Aussy Rules.  If you do not know about the greatest sport in the world you can check it out here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxhqXzVBen4

You can exercise or you can train.  Not everyone should train but everyone should exercise.  If you want to train you should have a specific goal.  My goals right now are to get my heel better so I can play Australian Rules Football again.  Beyond that I want to do a 1000 pound low plank and deadlift a car this year.  Both will be difficult but I can do them if I am consistent.  If you have a goal let me help you as I know I can help you get there faster than you can on your own.  Just this summer I made a plan for my niece to follow to get her first pullup and 6 weeks later she did her first pullup.

We can do small group training, personal training, in home personal training, corporate training, and even on line training.  Whatever your budget, whatever your experience, whatever your goals, whatever your schedule we can make something work for you.

If you know anyone that might have a goal bring them on in I would love to give you both a free week of small group training and help you reach and surpass all your goals.

Thanks,

Nathan Jordan

Jackhammer Strength Training

3002 McKinley Ave. Columbus, Oh 43204

614 499-4633

Interested or Committed?

Their is a huge difference between being interested in something and being committed to something. Here are some health related things that I am interested in eating healthy, losing weight, and lowering my cholesterol.  These are all things I should do but I am not committed to these things. I eat what I want and when I want.  Sometimes I do eat things that will help me to be healthier, lose unwanted pounds, and lower my cholesterol but I love to eat and will continue to eat the way that I do until I have something happen where I really need to change my eating habits.

I am interested in eating grassfed beef but it is much more expensive than normal beef and for that reason I am not committed.  I am interested in taking my various supplements on a regular basis Russian Bear Test Booster, Glucosamine, Garcinia Camobgia, Acai, Fish Oil, Flaxseed, Multi-vitamin, and whey protein but I am not committed to taking any of these regularly.

On the fitness side I am interested in running but not to run a 10 k or half marathon.  I just want to be able to play Australian Rules Football longer and harder.  Their is one thing with regards to my own fitness and health that I am committed to  I am committed to getting more mobile,  stronger, and more powerful.

What do I do to become more mobile, stronger, and more powerful?  Great question I work on my mobility doing things I am learning from the Mobilty Project www.mobilitywod.com.  I work on specific things for my hips, knees, ankles, shoulders, wrists, and lower back.  I also subscribe to newsletters from experts like Eric Cressy the shoulder expert at http://www.ericcressey.com and Mike Robertson at http://robertsontrainingsystems.com.

I work on becoming stronger and more powerful by doing deadlifts, rack pulls, box squats, medicine ball throws, pullups, plyo pushups, kettlebell swings, kettlebell snatches, dumbbell snatches, bench presses, incline bench presses, lunges, hip thrusts, bulgarian split squats, cleans, snatches, and even box jumps.  I follow guys like Louis Simmons, Dave Tate, Jim Wendler, Fred Hatfield Yuri Verkoshansky, and Mell Siff.

I may not be as strong as you, mobile as you, or as powerful as you but you know what I am stronger than I was last year, I am more mobile than I was last year, and I am more powerful than I was last year.  You know what else I will be able to say that again next year.  Find what you are interested in, commit to it, find the experts to help you and get it done.