Category: training philosophy
The Truth About Strength Without Bulky Muscle
I was having a chat the other day with one of my personal training clients. He was telling me that a bodybuilder had explained to him that “gaining muscle is the only way to get stronger.”
Well, that’s what happens when you invest more in pre-workout supplements and tanning lotions than in furthering your knowledge. Luckily my client knows better than to take the advice of everyone and their mother when it comes to their fitness program and just come to me with questions.
In this case, though, it wasn’t really a question. It was a sarcastic quip because my guy knows it’s not true, partially because of the feats of strength he’s seen me do. (Here’s my demo reel in case you don’t know what I’m talking about)
He also knows this because he’s seen tremendous strength gains himself without having to look like a tanned moonrock to do it. As a matter of fact, I often times give very noticeable and measurable increases in strength during the first day of the one week trial membership of the personal training program that I offer. One of the reasons I offer it is because it gives me a chance to prove to my potential client that what I do works quickly.
If I can get someone stronger, during the first session, it’s not because they’ve put on muscle. At least not in the beginning.
The strength gains happen via neurological efficiency, which I initially learned about through the teachings of Pavel Tsatsouline. Basically, your brain sends a command signal through your nervous system which tells your muscle fibers to contract, which pulls on tendon which pulls on bone and that is how movement occurs. It’s illustrated wonderfully in the gif below. (Thank you to whoever created this gif, it’s a wonderful illustration)
At any given moment, your body contains enough muscle fibers to lift a car off of a human being, but there are various things called mechanoreceptors throughout the body that measure things like proprioception but can also act as strength limiters to prevent us from overdoing it and ripping ourselves apart. In muscle cars, we can think of it like making sure the torque of the engine doesn’t bend the chassis.
It’s a good thing that those mechanoreceptors are there because they keep us safe, however, they are overly conservative. The average person only has approximately 25-30% of their muscle fibers available at the moment and is reserved for those life or death instances that you read about in Reader’s Digest.
This strength deficit can be overcome mentally (which is what I had learned to overcome as I underwent the path of the steel bending strongman and became the subject matter of my motivational speech).
For people starting out though, the easier and more pain-free way of getting stronger is to simply improve the communication between your brain and your muscles and the strength of that signal that tells your muscle fibers “contract!” My first strongman mentor the late, great New Jersey’s Superman Greg Matonick once explained it to me like this;
“Think of the central nervous system being like a babbling brook. The more water that goes through, the deeper the streambed becomes until it becomes a mighty river.”
A lot of what strength training is is simply teaching your body and mind that it doesn’t need to hold back quite so much and that it’s ok to give a little bit more. You do this by not forcing the process, but by allowing it.
Changes and adaptations of the central nervous system happen very quickly. It’s why I am able to help my personal training clients get very noticeable and measurable increases in strength within the first week, often times within the first personal training session.
This is how you can get stronger without putting on a ton of bulk. If you know someone that should read this please share it with them. If you would like help, give the one week trial of my personal training studio a try.
Eric Moss is a world record holding professional strongman, author, speaker and personal trainer. In the tradition of the strongmen during the turn of the century, he performs feats of strength such as bending steel and breaking chains as part of a show and speaks on goal achievement for corporations, nonprofits, government as well as for schools and universities. His exclusive personal training studio is in Boonton Township New Jersey with Lewandowski Chiropractic and is close to Mountain Lakes, Denville, and Parsippany New Jersey.
The question you need to ask yourself
I enjoy writing. I found my voice as an author years ago with my original fitness blog and recently decided to start one up again. As I find myself snowed in today, I found a bit of extra time to be able to write another article, but had no clue what to write about.
Ironic really because the topics of health, strength and fitness is a never ending sea of possibilities, which itself presented a challenge.
You see, in a never ending sea of possibilities, it can be hard to see clearly (see what I did there?). In other words, it’s hard to remain focused on the important things, and the things that provide the most bang for the buck.
In the world of strength and fitness training there are literally thousands of exercises to choose from. This poses a dilemma in that all of them work to an extent. Personally for me, I stick to the basics, and ask my personal training clients to do the same thing.
Why? Because the basics, are what truly works. It’s easy to get sidetracked, especially because other things work too. When that happens, simply ask yourself;
“What is the main thing I can do that will help me reach my goals?”
And the answer will reveal itself after just a little bit of digging. An example of this is if someone wanted to drop body fat, and they aren’t making progress, they can ask themselves what they can do to change their situation. One thing might be to hire an expert to help. And that expert might ask them what they are doing that isn’t in alignment with their goals. If they don’t know, then find out.
A game changer might be simply journaling your food and what else you are doing. Or it might be fasting or giving up sugar, it varies by the person. Simple right? Something complex is accomplished by simplifying it to one actionable step that you can take that provides a high bang for the buck.
My daughter Aurora in her newborn shoot. Photo credit Lynda Renee Photography.
When my daughter was born I knew I wanted to be a great father to her. I figure I’ve got about 10 years to put a good head on her shoulders before the preteen years hit and I become an idiot in her eyes.
Having two businesses (a personal training business and an inspirational speaker/strongman business) and all the craziness that comes with them, it can be very easy to lose sight of what is truly important.
When you watch shows like “Teenage and Pregnant” it often boils down to lack of attention from the father. I prefer to avoid this if I can.
A goal should be quantifiable, so I set a very simple goal for myself to make sure this doesn’t happen…whatever it is find a way to make her laugh every day. I’m not always successful (sometimes I’m out of town giving an inspirational strongman performance, or my wife has her on a trip and I have obligations which prevent me from going), but I think it’s the fact that I am trying that really makes the difference.
So whether it’s your health, strength and fitness, your career or your life goals…to make sure your time is well spent, ask yourself “What is the main thing I can do that will help me reach my goals?”
And last but not least, DO IT. It might be that simple.
If you want to see if I can help with this test drive my personal training services with my one week trial membership. You’ll see gains in useable strength within the week, often times within the first session.
Eric Moss is a world record holding professional strongman, author, speaker and personal trainer. His personal training studio is in Boonton Township New Jersey with Lewandowski Chiropractic and is close to Mountain Lakes, Denville and Parsippany New Jersey.
10 day cleanse
I do a lot of my work from my home, both for promoting my professional strongman and speaking business as well as odds and ends for my personal training studio.
Since my wife also does a lot of work from home she often has day time television on and I catch snippets here and there. Last week while I was responding to an email I overheard a promotion from some diet “guru” who had written some “best selling diet” book who was going to be doing a segment on a 10 day cleanse.
I didn’t watch the segment, I don’t need to because I’d be willing to bet that I’ve seen it before. Cleanses aren’t a new thing and come around in some form every so often, usually using some kind of “detoxifying tea” or something else from a multilevel marketing supplement company.
Here’s the truth, no ingredient that you put into your body with the exception of water going to cleanse you. That’s what your liver and kidneys are for. The only “cleanse” would be done by fasting, and that’s really just giving your body a break from taking in new toxins.
The other issue I have is “10 day this”, “21 day that”. Stop thinking short term and start thinking long term. Yes programs can be short in duration but that’s really just a stepping stone to another longer term solution. The fact of that matter is that taking charge of your health is a life time journey that won’t be solved with a short term fix.
One of the goals that I have in my personal training studio is that for the duration that I am with my clients, I will teach them all the things they need to know so that when our time is up, they will be able to do it on their own, not that I want them to go or anything.
I want you to come initially because you need my help to cleanse you (see what I did there?) from the misinformation that populates the fitness industry. But I want you to stay not because you continue to need me, but simply because you enjoy the atmosphere and continual results.
But the only way to see if myself as a coach and my system of training is right for you is to take my one week personal training trial membership and try it out for yourself.
Eric Moss is a world record holding professional strongman, author, speaker and personal trainer. His personal training studio is in Boonton Township New Jersey with Lewandowski Chiropractic and is close to Mountain Lakes, Denville and Parsippany New Jersey.