Author: D C

Sometimes goals get in the way. Maybe we follow a strength program in order to get to the novice level or the intermediate level only. Why? Because we can’t see beyond that. But why can’t we? How do we really know where the program might take us? Will we only follow the program to the novice or intermediate level? I think a lot of people lack faith and commitment. They won’t put in the effort and they won’t stick with it for the long term. They’ll be sidetracked by something on Youtube or something that they see somewhere else. This “new thing” might seem like a short cut to our goal, but the problem might have been the goal in the first place. The fact is, we don’t realize our own potential and place too many limits on ourselves. Sometimes we need to throw the goals out and just follow the plan where it leads. But that assumes you have a plan in the first place. Do you?

I never know how these posts go over but I just love writing them. Finding new music is hard for me since the stuff I like to play in the gym isn’t mainstream and I’m cut off from so much where i am. I just stumble on this stuff.

I’m very protective of what we play in the gym. Until recently we’ve let people play a little of whatever they want and I’ve gone in sometimes and thought WTF is this?!? I hated it because I hate rap and pop just in general. Don’t like it in any way. Plus people were getting a bit bitchy about turning it up when we said it was too loud. So I got a new stereo that we locked up and now we play set music.

This is important to me because we’re trying to establish a certain culture in the gym. It isn’t for everyone, it isn’t supposed to be. It reflects my values and beliefs and I was letting other people play their stuff but it alienated me. I felt like a stranger in my own house. That’s not gonna happen.

So here’s the stuff we’re playing these days. Hope you like it and if you don’t, you will after hearing it over and over. 🙂

This was so epic that when I first heard it, I actually got out of my chair and started working out. That’s how powerful this is. It’s like aural testosterone. If this doesn’t make you want to work out, there’s no hope for you and you should join an aerobics class with the other nice ladies.

BIG fan of As I Lay Dying. I realize the style doesn’t suit everyone’s taste. But again, if this doesn’t make you want to work out then nothing will. Look at the singer, he even has big delts!!

Here they are working out in a gym like ours:
Good bunch of guys.

And for the ladies, we have something more hard rock-ish. Great band, good tunes. See that look in her eyes? Oh, man!
Enjoy!

The largest gym in Taiwan recently sued the “consumer protection agency” and unfortunately, they lost. Full story here.

Now right up front, I don’t agree with the gym’s policies and I would never go there. The dispute was apparently over the fact that if you buy a personal training package, you couldn’t get a refund for that package in the future nor could you change trainers. I see why they don’t offer a refund — they deeply discount the package if you buy more/stay longer. So now customers can get the benefit of the cheaper price for agreeing to stay longer without fulfilling their end of the bargain by….you know….actually staying longer. The second part I agree with — people should be allowed to change trainers within reason. I don’t know why the gym wouldn’t agree to that but maybe they have their reasons.

The reason this bothers me so much though is that we’re about 5-10 years away from being able to run any kind of small business, and it’s nonsense like this that’s making it happen.

When is ANYONE EVER personally responsible for ANYTHING they do? When? Someone chooses a gym, walks in the door (no one dragged them there, did they?), takes a tour, decides to join, SIGNS the contract, etc. I don’t see any slaves in this equation. No one was forced at gunpoint to do anything. If someone doesn’t like the gym policies then it’s bizarrely simple — GO SOMEWHERE ELSE!!!!

As a society we get further and further away from any hint of personal responsibility and there will be consequences that people don’t realize. We expect to be saved from every bad decision we make but the person at fault is never, ever us. It’s someone else.

The problem is the idea that “the customer is always right” but they aren’t. The customer is always right, right up until it’s bad for business. And who makes the call whether or not that’s bad for business? The business does, NOT the customer.

Now we love our customers but about once a month we get a request or even a demand that is simply beyond what we’re willing or capable of doing. Satisfying this customer simply isn’t worth the trouble. Example? I traded 25 emails with a guy wanting to buy a product so he knew what he was getting and then he wanted to send it back after he got it because it wasn’t what he expected. I said no. When I take my time to send 25 emails then I’ve gone way beyond any reasonable expectations of me as a business owner.

A friend in the swimsuit business recently closed shop after a customer bought a swimsuit, wore it the beach, got sand it in, then demanded a refund because “it was dirty when I got it.” This stuff happens but it shouldn’t.

And here’s the thing — we business owners need to start telling the customer this. When people make unreasonable requests, I push back. Unreasonable demands need to be called out and customers that are more trouble than they’re worth need to be shown the door. We make the vast, overwhelming number of our customers and clients very happy. The rest shouldn’t be allowed to ruin it for everyone but with a government and a society that tells them nothing is their fault, they have the political power to do it.

People need to start taking personal responsibility for their actions and they need to be called on it when they aren’t. A business should make it’s policies clear but when it does, you either accept them or you’re free to go somewhere else. Telling business owners that “you’re not the boss, I’m the boss” is absolutely unacceptable and will make a lot of small businesses go bankrupt. We aren’t large, faceless corporations with large staffs. But the same demands get made on us because many people believe “the 40 hour work week is the modern form of slavery” and if you have a business then “you didn’t build that, someone else made that happen.” This kind of thinking is totally ignorant of how difficult it is and how much work and personal money a business owner puts into the business. We try our best to make it look effortless and we want to be stoic about it all, but believe me, the risks are huge and it’s a ton of work. We try to hide it because it’s unseemly, even unmanly, to complain about how difficult it is. But when people with a huge sense of entitlement make unreasonable demands that might threaten the business, then we need to openly talk about this stuff.

Modern people are used to being endlessly courted and pandered to and there are serious political and societal consequences to this process. Before you sign your name on a contract, think about what you’re agreeing to and if you do agree to the demands of the contract, then be a man or a woman and uphold your end of the agreement. It’s really that simple.

Hello and welcome to what we hope will be an annual event — Taiwan’s first ever Tactical Strength Challenge (TSC)
Here’s what the competition part of the challenge looks like:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ODDVcHMOz8]

The challenge has two parts: 1. you agree to make the deadlift, pullup, and kettlebell snatch a part of your workout from now until the first weekend of May 2013 and keep us updated on your progress, AND/OR 2. if you feel so inclined, you come compete at the TSC competition on 04 May 2013 at Formosa Fitness.

On the morning of May 04, we have weighins at 10am and the competition starts at 10:30am. Everyone gets three chances to pull a deadlift max. When everyone has pulled, everyone (guys and gals) does a set of max pullups. You’re done when your feet hit the floor. After that, you do a set of max kettlebell snatches in 5:00 with the 12kg (women) or 16kg (men’s beginner), or 24kg (men’s open division). The winner is the one who gets the most points in the three events.

AND ALL PROCEEDS GO TO CHARITY! We’re supporting Chinese Taipei’s deaf athletes.

If you’re interested in joining, please signup here.

We’re excited to be bringing this type of competition to Taiwan for the first time. It’s your chance to participate in an international fitness event.
I can answer any questions folks might have.

Hope to see you there!

 I’m constantly amazed at the number of people who think they might trip over a Mr. Olympia trophy on their way out the door or stumble over an Olympic gold medal on their way to the bathroom in the morning. We need to face facts, most of us just aren’t as advanced as we think we are.

I see this in a couple of areas. The first is women and weak men that start training and then get worried that they might be “getting big” and they don’t want that. What happens so often is that people are in such terrible, horrible shape when they begin that ANY exercise at all increases their bodies demand for and absorption of protein because their newly started exercise routine causes muscle stress all across the body. This means that a new jogger that previously did absolutely nothing will notice their biceps getting slightly bigger because holding the arms in a semi-flexed position for 30:00 3x a week placed more stress on their biceps than they’d likely ever experienced before. Trainers will notice that these folks make gains on their bench press without benching just because the act of swinging the arms for 30 minutes stimulates some small muscle growth in the chest. When this growth happens, the newbie gets all worried that they’re “getting big.” No, I’m not making this up.

The problem is that folks who don’t exercise have no idea of and no appreciation for just how hard it is to gain a lot of muscle. They’ve been lied to by the infomercials that it can happen overnight so they’re afraid it might happen to them. Trainers that tell folks how to exercise to make their muscle smaller don’t help the issue either. Yes, they exist too, I’m sorry to say.

The other area I see this in is any debate over technique like high-bar vs. low-bar squat or the angle of the hip in the deadlift, etc. When you find out that the people arguing might have a deadlift of 80kg then you really have to wonder about the quality of the info provided in the debate. How about this? You follow your favorite technqiue until you pull some decent weight and then get back to us?

I teach a lot of beginners and I do think there’s such a thing as beginner’s form and let’s say “advanced form.” We should be teaching form and more importantly explaining why we do things a certain way so folks will understand. You can also get away with a lot of things when you’re already strong that beginners can’t get away with. And a lot of people’s form on various exercises (think bench press) is designed for people to “get a pump” and not to get strong — a big problem IMO. But arguing about angles, etc. is minutia compared to doing the actual work one way or the other. Arguing about “what’s best” is best saved for when you’re possibly going to bump into that and that’s a few years down the road for most folks.

Rather than waste time worried that we’ll end up looking like Ms. Olympia or that our technique might hamper our chances at an Olympic medal when we’ve only been lifting for 3 months, perhaps we’d be better off focusing on the basics both in lifting and in nutrition.

But I know — that’s boring, right? 🙂