Pats Are Back!

First off, I am going to make this a quick post as I was away this weekend and need to get caught up!

1.) My Pats are back! Sitting at 5-2, and in first place with Matt Cassel at the helm...I'll take it!

2.) SOME muscle groups can be trained frequently for muscle growth and development. Among them are abs, calves, forearms, bis, tris, and neck. It makes sense really. The larger the muscle group, the more time it needs to recover.

3.) Whatever training split you are currently on...make sure it MAKES sense. Don't destroy your tris the day before, or even 2 days before you hit your chest up...it just doesn't make sense to do this, it will limit the gains your chest could have made with fresher triceps.

4.) Train with someone stronger than you are. And watch the gains! This is so underrated, and yet so important.

That's about it for today...get after it!

You have to EAT

I am baffled at the number of high school kids that want to talk to me about supplements, most of them from a company that markets directly at this age bracket that has products that all end in "IK". I say it is all "Bull-%*#%-IK."

I ask these same kids what they eat for breakfast and they typically respond "a bowl of cereal." If you are eating a bowl of cereal for breakfast, then you are not serious about getting bigger and stronger. End of story. Training aside, to get bigger you NEED to eat a high calorie, high protein diet, drink plenty of water, and sleep a lot.

Wanna get big? YOU HAVE TO EAT!

Then, and only then we can look at possibly adding a creatine supplement to your diet. JUST CREATINE. None of those pre-mixed expensive creatine weight gainers...you know what that stuff is? Dehyrdated fruit punch and creatine. If you want to pay $70 for a month of that crap, go ahead. Or you could mix it yourself at 10% of the cost.

If you are in high school, fix your diet. Get 30-50 (depending on your size) grams of protein 6-7 times a day. along with plenty of good fats, fruits, and vegetables. Follow a smart training routine.

AND GROW.

Pair Your Exercises

Here at PTS, we believe in efficient, intense workouts. To this end, we cannot have athletes sitting around for very long, especially if we only have them for an hour or so. During our workouts, we pair ALL of our exercises. This leads to a far more efficient workout than if everything was performed using traditional, "straight" sets. Even on out most demanding Max Effort lifts, such as Squats, Deadlifts, and Bench Presses, we perform our Neck and Ab work between sets. Once we get into the heart of the workout, we pair upper body "pushes" and "pulls," and all lower body exercises are paired with core movements.

I believe that the benefits of pairing your exercises include:

1.) A more efficient workout. Simply put, we do more work in less time.

2.) "Active" rest which leads to increased performance on additional sets. For example, say you are performing pushups and pullups. If you just performed 2 sets of pushups in a row, with minimal rest, chances are you would not perform very well on your second set. By pairing the pullups with the pushups, even though you are not "resting" you are taking a longer amount of time between pushup sets, and allowing for optimal performance on your second sets of both exercises.

3.) Increased Intensity. Pairing your exercises gives your workouts a tremendous amount of focus, and can help maintain an elevated heart rate, and enhance conditioning. I would be remiss if I said that we have never had an athlete "lose their lunch" during a workout. While I do not pride myself on this, and do not think it is overly healthy on a regular basis, it is an indicator that pairing your exercises certainly leads to a more intense training session. And more intense training sessions lead to GAINS.

Check out a sample PTS Upper Body workout:

SETS X REPS: i.e. 1-4 X 8-10 (1-4 Sets of 8-10 Reps)

1A.) Incline Bench Press- Work Up to a Max Effort Set of 4-6

1B.) Neck Extension- 1-4 X 20

2A.) Alternating DB Bench Press- 1-4 X 6-10

2B.) Pullups- 1-4 X 6-10

3A.) Trap Bar Shrugs- 1-4 X 8-15

3B.) "Arnold" Shoulder Presses- 1-4 X 8-15

4.) Upper Back Finisher- 1-4 X 12-20

Gun Show: 1-4 Rounds

This workout takes anywhere from 45-75 minutes, but performed in straight sets, it would take far longer than that. Give your workouts a boost and pair your exercises!

Free Protein Shake!

Hey guys, it doesn't get much easier than this!

Here at PTS, we are trying to make this blog as interactive as possible.

To this end, the first person to place a comment under this post will receive a free protein shake at their next workout...get on it!

 

Working Around Injury

 

When an injury occurs, you really have 2 choices. You can sulk, pout, and feel sorry for yourself, or you can seize the moment, and work on a weakness.

Let's say you are a football player who has always had a very strong upper body, a not-so-strong lower body, and have suffered a season ending shoulder injury.

You have 2 good legs! Use this time to get your legs freaky-STRONG! Build up your neck!

Don't ever let an injury set you back...instead, view it as an opportunity to build up other areas, and make those areas even stronger.

There is ALWAYS something you can be doing to make yourself a better athlete. Go ahead and work on your weak points, and get better because of it.

NO EXCUSES.