The Unknown

Welp, I just left my stable, medicore paying job last week, which officially makes me Unemployed.

San Diego is officially off the table for now as I didn't feel I was making that decision for the right reasons.

Ultimately I was in a job that made me feel unhappy and decided that enough was enough. Life is too short to show up everyday and dislike your job more than you actually like it. There were definitely things I enjoyed about the job, largely the people. The day to day work just isn't for me and isn't what I want to do for the rest of my life, so I left.

What do I want to do next? No idea, which is the hard part because companies like to hire someone who knows what they want to do. I understand that but at the same time I don't.

How can anyone truly know what they want to do unless they've actually had some experience doing it? Maybe being transparent is a little too much for the interview process, should I just bullshit my intentions to get a job? Nah, thats not who I am or what I want to do.

Maybe I'll hire myself if nobody else will. Lord knows I'll pay myself like nobody else will. Let me take something that I'm genuinely interested in and good at, and package that information to help transform their bodies and lifestyles. That kind of sounds like something I'd like to do...

-Cj

Real

Life is hard. Embrace it and take action with intention.

Leg Day light work

Stormy and muggy day today in the great NW. Quite unusual for this time of year, but I will take the cooler weather given it was about 82* in my room this morning at 2 AM. 

Legs are hurting today from the workout yesterday. It’s crazy to me how much of a difference missing a leg session or two makes. A lot of people inquire about what I do for leg day at the gym so I figured I should probably start to keeping track of it (maybe there is value there I can eventually monetize).

Before I go into further detail let me explain three things: 

1) I've been doing this consistently for the past 7 years. I don't use a belt, pads, straps, braces etc... I started with proper form at lower weights and have worked my way up from there.
2) I use a box when squatting to help control how low I go. I tend to go more than parallel without the help of a box so using one helps keep me at 90*. When I increase weights I place a 35 LB plate on the top to give me an extra inch or two of leverage, which makes quite a difference. 
3) The only supplements I take are BCAA's or amino acids, because I typically lift on an empty stomach, and occasionally creatine, although not in a while. 

So here is what a typical leg day for me looks like:

Squats -

•  1x5 @ 135 

Box Squats - 

• 1x3 @225
• 1x3 @295
• 1x3 @ 315 
• 1x3 @ 365

Box Squats with 35lb plate -

• 1x3 @ 385 
• 1x3 @ 405 
• 1x2 @ 405 

Cool down - Box squats (no plate)

• 1x5 @ 315 
• 1x5 @ 225

 Hamstring Curls 

• 4x5 each leg @95 lbs 

Various Plyometrics (will explain these in more detail in the near future) 

So as you can see, it's nothing too complicated. Sometimes I feel like people make things like getting in shape to be so complex when in reality it’s not at all. I like to think that L.E.S. is more, and by LES I mean lift, eat, sleep, and repeat. If you have those things in check, it’s tough to oppress results. 

-CJ 

PS: Here is why people tend to ask me about what I do for leg day-

Back wearing the 45 like Jordan & leaving no risks on the table

Can't believe its been a year since I posted last...Hoping my next post comes a little sooner before then lol.

Its been an interesting year to say the least, including plenty of hi's and low's. I've learned a lot and that's a plus, but I definitely feel like I left a lot of 'risks' on the table. Some might see that as a positive, but in my shoes at this juncture in my life, I don't want to let that happen again.

I've come to realize that a lot my ideas/realizations, great or not, have just been those and nothing more. Meaning the execution on these revelations has been very poor to say the least. I'm tired of that. I don't want to spend the next 20 years of my life, wishing I would have actually applied all of the revelations I've had over that span. So I'm not.

After living in the great state of Oregon for the last 25 years, I am officially taking my talents, or lack thereof, to Southern California and San Diego this fall. I'm excited, nervous, and anxious, but the one thing I know I wont be? Regretful.

See you soon SD...

-CJ

L.E.S is More: Part 1 - Lifting

Lifting-

In my experience and observation, it is possible that one can reach a desired weight or composition by purely focusing on their diet. However, adding a weight training regimen will help expedite results and allow one to reach their goals faster.

For the average person or beginner, I think it's good to aim for lifting 3x/Week. Those three days can easily be broken out into chest/back, shoulders/arms and lower body. This allows you to hit all the key muscle groups and do so effectively.

If you don't have access to a gym, don't fret. Getting outside and being active 3-5x a week is a great substitute. Whether it be walking your dog, hiking up in Forest park, or riding your bike to and from work, those activities will all help expedite the process. The goal here is to just avoid being sedentary.

It’s important if you are a beginner to at least start with a lower weight to ensure proper lifting technique and form. It pains me to see people load the bar up with weight, only to severely limit their range of motion. If you have some anxiety about using low weights because of how it may look, let me just say that everybody started there at one point. Additionally, it's important you gauge your results compared to your goals/expectations. DO NOT compare yourself to your peers because there is no concrete basis for comparison and it will only have a negative effect on your mental approach.

So here is an example of a basic lifting routine and lifts one could use if they decide that weight training 3x/week would work for them:

Chest/Back

• Dumbbell Bench Press
• Seated cable rows
• Incline Dumbbell bench press
• Pullups

Shoulders/Arms

• Dumbbell Shoulder press
• Rear Delt Raise
• Lateral DB Raise
• Seated Curls
• Dips

Lower Body  

• Squats
• Lunges
• Hamstring curls

Stay tuned for the Eating portion of the L.E.S. is More series, coming soon!

-Colin

L.E.S. is More

I’d like to set this up as a little intro into a 3-part series called “L.E.S is More”

L.E.S is a simple acronym for Lift, Eat, Sleep, or as I’d like to think, the bare essentials of getting into shape or living a healthy lifestyle. 

In today’s world we are able to access much more information than we were 10-20 years ago thanks to advances in online capabilities. Why this can be a good thing, it can also lead to information overload. How do we know what is healthy? What lifting method works the best? What supplement will help me do X & Y? With all the new information available, it seems we tend to forget the basic things that built the platform for those questions to even be asked. This is why I encourage people to step away from the overload and focus on the three most crucial elements to any successful body or lifestyle transformation.

Lift. Eat. Sleep. 

Each subsequent post will go into a little more detail of how LES can actually be more, and how to take advantage of each component to achieve maximal results.

Trust me; I used to be that guy on the other side, trying to find the latest supplement or latest and greatest routine. It wasn’t until I stepped away and really thought about what my goal was. I wasn’t training to be the next Ronnie Coleman or Bo Jackson; I just wanted to maximize what my body could do for my personal satisfaction. Subsequently I realized the differences between doing those special routines and taking those magic pills/powders are clearly immaterial & PFW (s/o to my fellow accountant’s lol). 

So please stay tuned and on the lookout for the next couple posts. Step away from the information overload, assess what your true goals are, and focus on the basics of: Lifting, Eating, and Sleeping. Give it some time and hopefully you will be achieving those goals like I am…

Act with Intention

It's been way too long since my last post and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't lightweight embarrassed writing this now, knowing damn well 2 months ago I set a goal to post weekly. I apologize for that. Hopefully the 3-4 people (maybe generous haha) that actually read this blog will understand and know that I let myself down at the same time.

I wanted to keep it short today and post a great TED talk that I watched the other day and really got the wheels in my mind turning about the future. Being a 20-something myself, its almost overwhelming to imagine all the possibilities and options life presents us with if we use our resources and act with intention. In my opinion the possibilities are endless, only by definition and genetic limitations. However, that has still got to leave us with at least a million possibilities, right? And that may be a conservative figure. Regardless, i'd much rather be overwhelmed by my options rather than underwhelmed.

To sum the video up, Meg stresses that we spend our 20's working towards something, acting with some intention and not just mindlessly drifting along and putting things off because of this illusion of how much time we have in the grand scheme of life. The choices we make now shape our future. We need to get rid of this notion that we can waste our time during our 20's and finally get serious once we turn 30's. I think she really hit it on the head when talking about the flight of an airplane and how such a slight change of course, upon takeoff can be the difference of landing in Hawaii or Alaska.

Let's forget age for a minute and live with some urgency to force ourselves into acting with intention in our everyday lives.

 “To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan and not quite enough time.”

-Leonard Bernstein                                  

-Colin