Muscle ups are a highly technical gymnastics movement that require hours and hours of practice for most athletes. First you must be very comfortable with pull ups and dips, then you must practice kipping, then you have to get comfortable with gymnastics rings, then you can begin to put it all together in a full muscle up. Jumping muscle ups are one tool you can use to begin your muscle up journey.
If you follow our Podcast, Coach’s Corner, or this Blog you’ll notice that we’ve been talking an awful lot about habit and behavior modification. This shift in focus happened at about the 10,000 training hour mark at The Hill; when we started to track archetypes of success.
Any discussion of behavior modification wouldn’t be complete without addressing Decision Fatigue, or “the deteriorating quality of decisions made by an individual, after a long session of decision making.”
I think we can all relate with this. Let’s think about the decisions I make before I leave the house in the morning:
When I do coaching with other business owners, we talk a lot about systems. Systems and protocol put low-value activities and decisions on auto-pilot so the entrepreneur can begin to move on to higher-level decisions. Not only to make those decisions, but make sound decisions.
Look at your day. I know…we’re all busy. But really take a look. What are the areas you can put on auto-pilot? Food and nutrition decisions are huge areas we can all automate. So are dress and fashion. I’m not saying you need to wear a black turtle neck everyday – but you can easily systemize tops/bottoms into corresponding sections in your closet.
You don’t need to go full Steve Jobs today. But, let’s just look at your morning routine. Where can you automate to save up some sound decision-making for high-value items such as career, health, and relationships?
A proper set up is essential for a successful lift. Make sure you’re in a good spot to optimize your levers and pull as much tension into the bar as possible to get everything ready and headed in the right direction.
Adam Orr: Ironman
Congratulations to our good friend and longtime member of The Hill Family, Adam Orr, on completing his first ever Ironman! An Ironman is a day-long race consisting of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, than a 26.2 mile run. Adam has done endurance race training for awhile, the past year has been very focused on this Ironman race. For more details on his training, check out this episode of The Hill Radio.
While Adam was away doing his Ironman in Flordia, we celebrated him by doing this workout:
Alone or with a partner, for time: 2000 meter row then 30-20-10 hang power cleans & Toes to bar then 400 meter lunges and broad jump.
I’ll take it any way I can get it – Turkish, instant, french press, or iced. But there’s still nothing better than a hot cup in a ceramic mug. It’s for this reason that I typically opt to ditch my travel tumbler for a mug on my morning commute; it just tastes better.
If you’ve ever ridden in my passenger seat, you’ve been greeted by a tumbling graveyard of ceramic as you open the door. I have this terrible habit of finishing my morning coffee, setting the mug on my passenger seat, and not bringing it in at the end of the day.
Every time I see that pile of mugs I think to myself: “Self – is it really that hard to carry in one mug a day?” But, I’m tired at the end of the day with my mind reeling with push notifications, excitement to relax, and a full DVR. At the end of a couple weeks my car looks more like the dish pit at a greasy spoon diner than a vehicle.
I know that if I bring them in everyday life would feel just a tad less chaotic, that I wouldn’t feel embarrassed when I give people rides, and we wouldn’t need to implement mug-rationing at home. But, as we see everyday, it is pretty difficult to build new habits – no matter how seemingly insignificant.
So, what is your metaphorical coffee mug? What is that one small hurdle that you’re constantly coming up against to achieve your goals? Maybe it’s a simple as eating breakfast or laying out workout clothes.
One thing is certain – you’ll never be able to intellectualize your coffee mug. I’ll never be able to identify the reason or strategy behind my stupid little quirk. But I can develop habit.
As the weather begins to get chilly, I get really excited to squat in sweatpants. I also cringe at all the asinine workout trends that are lurking behind the New Year. Since 2015 was the year of positivity, I’ll save you a tirade and give you a definitive guide to choosing a workout plan or gym.
Please please please … before you part ways with any money for fitness or diet advice, check all of these off the list. A sound program includes the following:
I’m not talking only barbells here (although I’d like to make a strong case for it at another time). As we age, it becomes increasingly more important that we develop strength about a full range of motion. This can be done through bodyweight exercises, gymnastics, or moving around stacks of lumber.
Here’s the kicker: it must be progressive. Meaning, you increase your ability to move more of either your own bodyweight or an external load. Or, move the same load faster & longer. But, the same moves at the same weight at the same intensity won’t cut it long-term.
Your motivation to start something new will last 6 or 8 weeks. Seriously. I know you think this is the year, but it isn’t. UNLESS you find something that carries you beyond that initial motivational bias.
Chasing skills is a key aspect of continued motivation. I love the 8 Limb Yoga principle – chasing mastery as one builds a pyramid, but never achieving it. Having small benchmarks – a yoga position, your 1st pull-up, or a backflip – will carry your new fitness practice well beyond that initial motivational hump.
Not trying to get too hippy-dippy here, but your journey is primarily one of behavior modification – not physical fitness. I’ll hit that again: the biggest hurdle between people and health is behavior modification. NOT the right workout, diet, or product.
Behavior change and the understanding of the self is realized through interpersonal connection. This can be reinforced by a coach, co-workers, a therapist, a yogi, or a personal trainer. Here’s a good test: if you’re going it alone, it’ll last about as long as your motivational bias – 6-8 weeks.
There it is; your 3 absolutes for a fitness program that sticks. Take a few test drives and let us know what you learn!
Eh, sorta true. But let’s get real – that analogy is played out. I mean, who really gets into adulthood and approaches their personal finance with that attitude? Let’s try to mature the analogy a bit.
Maybe 7. Maybe 9. I don’t recall but I do remember the first time I made enough ($10) to open one up, we went straight to Sunflower Bank. I had no idea how to write a check or make deposits but I imagined my hard-earned $10 sitting in a magical vault guarded by guys with Uzis.
Two years later I opened a savings account. After a couple summers of sweeping warehouses, I had amassed a small ($50) fortune that needed to be leveraged at 1%-2% interest.
I think you see where I’m going. As we get older, our personal finance options turn into IRA’s, pensions, mortgages, life insurance, HSA’s – and the list goes on.
Are you 6 months into a consistent training program? Great! Keep making those deposits in your checking account! Keep growing that balance.
Are you 2 years in? It’s probably time to open a Savings account and begin leveraging your fitness assets. What does this mean? Perhaps, it means you will begin to acquire some higher-level skills to keep you interested. Think: double-unders, pull-ups, muscle-ups, Weightlifting. Perhaps, it means you will develop strength as an asset to leverage. The idea here is to introduce the concept of Delayed Gratification into your training.
5 years in? Guess what – a checking account won’t suffice any longer. You’ll need to explore some more mature investment vehicles. Think about what you’re eating, how you’re sleeping, how you manage stress. How are your relationships? Are you of service to others when things aren’t going your way? Notice that I didn’t advise you to put more money in your checking account (read: I NEED TO TRAIN MORE!!!). Maybe you should explore some tax-deferred options. Has this metaphor gone too far?
You get the idea. As you mature as an athlete, so must your efforts. But, like personal finance, you shouldn’t open elaborate portfolios without mastering the simple balancing of a checkbook. You’ll know when it’s time. Good news: you have about a dozen awesome financial advisers at your disposal. Use them!
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